Thanks, GOP

Today is Saturday, 30 July 2011.

There is no necessary and logical connection between raising the debt ceiling and cutting federal spending.

Raising the debt ceiling is simply a necessary condition for preserving the welfare of the nation.

How government works. Doh.

So, why do Republicans wish to make this connection and sabotage the perfectly normal raising?

Some in the Republican leadership seem to wish not to raise, causing economic damage to America (i.e., an anti-American act), so they might attempt to pin the blame on the damage on Obama, in their attempt to regain the presidency.

Others, particularly in the Tea Party faction. Well, they cheered on Reagan and the Two Bushes when they incurred 2/3 of the national debt, now didn't they? Ah, but they were white boys, were they not? So, now, blame everything on ... gosh ... the first Black president.

As a white boy born in Gulfport, Mississippi, I know the Klan when I smell it.

Get a sheet.

And others, they're ideological delusionists, who imagine government and business should be run the same, that there's an "Imaginary Friend Hand Who Controls Markets Perfectly", that Ayn Rand Was the Prophet of God, etc.

If this nation defaults, it will most harm "The Little People".

And throw the global financial system into further disaster.

Thank you, Grand Old Party.

R.I.P., Betty Ford

Today is Tuesday, 12 July 2011.

I'm of two minds about Betty Ford.

Thank you for your honesty and beautiful work about addiction.

However, how could you have been married to an evil reactionary?

National Debts

Today is Thursday, 7 July 2011.

The sad and tragic truth is that average Americans today are as misinformed about most of the great issues of the day as they were in 1964 or 1972, or as were average Moscow citizens in 1934.

One crucial example is the national debt.

Republicans prattle (and many suckers believe) that Democrats are the Big Spenders, when in fact 2/3 of the national debt was incurred under Reagan and the Two Bushes. This is because of the combination of tax giveaways to the freeloading rich crammed down the public throat under Reagan, plus the increasingly bloated military spending which began under Reagan. (Military spending accounted for at least 26% of the federal budget in FY 2010.)

Until each of these situations is drastically reversed, the only way to cut federal spending and reduce accumulating debt will be to cut vital services to average Americans, which is precisely what the Grand Old Party For The White and Wealthy intends.

At day’s end, con-servatives are nihilists.

Gramsci

Today is Tuesday, 5 July 2011.

"The challenge of modernity is to live without illusions, and without becoming disillusioned." -Antonio Gramsci

Gramsci (1891-1937) is one of my favourite Marxist theorists. Much of his work concerns the nature of cultural hegemony and political leadership. His best-known work in English is The Prison Notebooks. He was murdered by the Italian fascist regime through intentional mistreatment and medical neglect in prison.

Happy 4th!

Today is Monday, 4 July 2011.

On this date in 1934, the great Austro-Hungarian physicist, Leo Szilard, patented the chain-reaction design which resulted in the atomic bomb.

Word

Today is Sunday, 3 July 2011.

Republican Presidential candidate Michelle Bachmann compares herself to John Wayne, whom she imagines was also born in her hometown of Waterloo, Iowa. (Not.)

But, it’s appropriate, since was born in Waterloo John Wayne Gacy, who raped and murdered at least 33 boys.

The original Constitution of the USA/USE legitimized slavery.

The hallmarks of slavery are always mass theft of labour, mass rape, mass child molestation, and mass murder.

Bachmann is one of many Republicans who imagine that the USA/USE was founded as a “Christian” nation, with a Constitution inspired and dictated by “God”.

Thus, Bachmann’s “god” endorses molesting children.

Satan is her co-pilot.