Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Dare One Hope?


The anti-union measure in Ohio was soundly defeated. The radical Sharia "personhood" bill in Mississippi went down, too. Can it be that the teabagger wing of the Republican party (not really a wing; pretty much every body part but the head) has gone too far? Might those most adversely affected by the selfish and simpleminded views of teabaggRs (ie everyone but the top 1% -- and when you think about it, as I have, them, too: who doesn't have a stake in the survival of the country?) finally, at long last, be showing signs of cerebration?

Being one who's always sort of admired the idea of America and who prefers to see it stick around, I'd like to think so. On the other hand, the following letters were in my local paper a day or so ago:

I believe it is time to respond to Eugene Robinson's Nov. 1 column, "Let Herman be gone from the spotlight": He seems to be anxious to criticize presidential candidate Herman Cain for something that might have happened 12 years ago. This is another example of researching someone's past to embarrass them and try to get off the real issues that face this nation. There has been no real solid information on these charges, yet Robinson wants him to relax confidentiality rules and release records.

Where was this request when presidential candidate Obama chose not to release educational records, funding, and any background information that could have embarrassed him? When Robinson mentions Mr. Cain's lack of foreign policy, I do not believe President Obama's was very familiar either, with all his voting present during his short time in the Senate. Mr. Cain has many skills for creating jobs, as opposed to a community organizer who blames everyone but himself.

President Obama's statement that he visited 57 states and still had one to go, is rather disturbing, along with so many failed policies. Eugene shows his great writing skills by using words like ignorant, unworkable, goofy, bizarre, unmitigated, ruinous and loopy in describing Mr. Cain. It must be real difficult for Mr. Robinson to see a black conservative excel and he wants to play the race card and confidentiality, both ways. We need a unifier not a divider and a problem solver rather than someone that apologizes for America and needs a teleprompter as his pacifier.

It's as if Fox "news" opened the guy's skull and poured in the talking points. And boy did they stick. Apologizes. Teleprompter. Voting "present."

And the next one:


Regarding the sexual harassment allegations against Herman Cain: We've seen this movie before, haven't we? As with Clarence Thomas, some people feel extremely threatened by a successful black conservative who thinks for himself and isn't created by and/or beholden to the mainstream media and liberal ideology. They're frightened to death of him, so they're out to take him down by any means necessary. It probably won't work -- it's interesting that Cain had his biggest fund-raising day the day after the allegations came out. Several questions come to mind:

If the alleged harassment happened 15 years ago, why is it only now coming out? Since when is raising your hand to your chin a sexual gesture? (He was accused of comparing a woman's height to his wife's height by putting his hand under his chin.) If the allegations prove to be false, will the perpetrators be held accountable? Another reason tort reform is badly needed. Losers should pay. Whether or not the allegations are true, does anyone truly care? It didn't seem to matter much when Bill Clinton was having his way with multiple women while occupying the Oval Office. Yes, he was impeached, but not removed from office.
Hook, line, and repeater. And not a little disjointed.

Clearly, there are plenty out there who will buy whatever the RWS™ sells them. I'd have written a letter in response, but there's a three-hundred word limit; how can you say what needs saying in that format? And, obviously, it wouldn't make an ounce of difference.

So, much as I'd like to think it's possible to turn the tide of willful ignorance and that the aforementioned votes are signifiers, I think it's way too soon to exhale. The gullibility of teabaggers and their manifest desire for simplistic answers to complex questions is more than clear. And optimism hasn't been in my bones for a long time. (Which may explain my recent discovery that, sometime in the last couple of decades, I've shrunk from 6' 4'' to 6' 3".)


6 comments:

  1. Oh-Oh-Way-to-go-Ohio....
    that election's a mute point, Jaw-Jaw's been poaching Ohio businesses like crazy..
    Who wouldn't rather live in Georgia? right to work state, no blizzards, and competitive sports teams.
    and maybe I'm prejudiced cause my lone experience in the Buckeye state was from the backseat of a heater-less 1969 Impala in January 1975...
    Toledo was cold even by North Dakota standards..

    Frank "next Surgeon General in the Herb Cain administration" Drackman

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sid,

    If logic and pragmatism were to rule your day- you have no choice but to hold and cherish, at least a little hope. Despite history dictating that no government or culture is eternal or everlasting, that humans are our own worst enemy, change beyond our control whether it be good or bad will happen no matter what (although good change is much more enjoyable to watch or participate in). Is this not a cultural scientific premise? I used to think I had a stake in the future because of my daughter, however, she has come of age, she does have a stake in her own future and has to be responsible for it (whether she likes it or not). These days I have no stake in the future, but I can only hope that her generation, led to water or not, will drink fully of what they witness today. Years from now we will (or our grand children will) laugh at the fact Gay's were once not allowed in the military. Perhaps we will shake our head in disgust at simply the memory of the conservative "foxwalbeckianmart" attempt at population control, and the damage it did to a once great country. Even in my little corner of the world, I hear whispers of disgust from the conservatives commenting about "fux news" (feel free to use that), that possibly it's going over the top telling them how to think about everything in their lives. It is too bad that the loudest, and sometimes the loneliest, (or is it lowliest) screamers get spotlighted in news paper columns, or even the poor misguided wannabe comedics like Franky getting the spotlight on your blog (he sure likes the attention being the biggest commentator). Despite that, there's a lot of folks out there wearing Guy Fawkes masks (I'm purdy sure Franky wears one too- in the closet)! That gives me hope, even if only for a little while. And in geologic terms a "little while", is much more than a lifetime!

    ReplyDelete
  3. To: Cory
    From: Frank
    Subj: Gays/Military

    "DADT" was enacted under a DemoKKKrat administration, just like the TusKKKEegee Experiment.

    Frank "bringin Sexy Back" Drackman

    ReplyDelete
  4. Franky- you're blowing your cover. You know what the laws were before DADT, and at least it was a compromise to the alternative, it's intent is important in history and the evolution of the laws. And those glorious, resilient Tuskegee Airmen, another first in the right direction. I'm with ya pal... I like to hang out here too, but put your mask on and get back in the closet for someone else figures you out.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Umm Cory, your ignorance/pubic school education is showing.
    The Tuskegee Experiment and the Tuskegee Airmen don't have anymore to do with each other than the Peas Eater in Chief's economic policy and the short term rise in the stock market.
    The Tuskeegee Experiment was where from 1934 to 1972 the US government withheld treatment from Blacks with Syphillis. Why? because the treatments for Syphillis in the 30's were quite toxic, Mercurials, Arsenic, etc, and it wasn't clear if the treatment was better than the disease.
    Of course when Penicillin came out, thangs sort of changed, but thanks to typical Government efficiency, nobody got around to cancelling the study until Nixon did in 1972, which is amazing when you consider he was ending the Vietnam War, Negotiating with the Chinks/Russkies, and that whole Watergate thang.
    Thats right, NIXON cancelled the Tuskegee Experiment, not Roosevelt(who started it), Truman, JFK, LBJ,
    Jimmy Cartuh might have, but only cause he was a test subject...
    The Southern State Governments had nothing to do with it, in fact they were quite active in testing for Syphillis and providing/requiring treatment. I mean can you imagiane if Wilt Chamberlain had the Bad Blood?, you'd get a friggin epidemic.
    And its like my Great Grandfathr Nathan Bedford Forrest Rosenbaum said,
    "Better to remain silent than look like a Dumbass"

    Frank

    ReplyDelete
  6. Jeez Frank- My public school education had nuthin to do wit the fact I was talkin bout Tuskegee Airmen not the experiment, but I'm happy you're payin tention. And as my Great Grandfather used to say, "Any dumbass can be an educated idiot". But I do appreciate the history lesson- you're a walkin wikerpedia. Now get back in your closet!

    ReplyDelete

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