Post #300: Random Observations

The following spasmodic drivel consists of a few minor observations that I had scribbled on the backs of envelopes (Lincoln used to do that!) or had posted on various websites throughout the internet. Best of luck making coherent sense out of any of it....

1. In spite of all the obstacles that the GOP has thrown into his path, Barack Obama can take credit for a few accomplishments. At this point most polls indicate that the electorate is hellbent on putting the House and Senate back into the hands of the Republicans this January - thereby guaranteeing that nothing will get done between 2011 and 2013. Personally I don't think that's going to happen. The American people are starting to be turned off by the mindless, shit-for-brains extremism of that party. The next four months are going to be extremely interesting.

2. Early Friday morning I was watching on TV Land an episode of the long-dead sitcom, Three's Company. It was even more awful than I remember it. Although I won't say it was worst program in television history, it was - beyond a doubt - the worst successful one: Bad (over) acting, bad writing - everything about that program sucked. The show was almost irresistible: so jaw-droppingly terrible it's actually fun to watch - very much like any of Mitch McConnell's speeches. During the closing credits I noticed that the particular episode I had just viewed was taped in 1980, the year America decided that sending a feeble-minded reactionary named Ronald Reagan to the White House would be a really cool idea. There was something in the water that year. There must have been.

3. The most amazing thing in the aftermath of the BP/Gulf of Mexico catastrophe is the fact that the Republicans (and a more-than-a-few Democrats) are not even considering a moratorium on deep water drilling. These assholes just don't get it. They never have. They never will. The problem with most politicians is that it is not in their interest to think long range. All that really matters to them is the next campaign. Those campaigns are paid for, in large part, by the very companies (BP for one) that are destroying the environment. This is a good argument for either public financing of the electoral process or term limits - or both. In the meantime the country will only continue on its downward spiral. Fasten your seat belts, kiddies!

4. Other than C-SPAN's Washington Journal, Morning Joe on MSNBC is the best wake up program on cable television. The fact that the idiotic FOX and Friends has higher ratings is a better example than anything I can come up with as to how dumbed down America's political conversation has become in the last thirty years. Former Republican congressman Joe Scarborough (whom I have to admit has grown on me) may be a bit of a pompous blowhard on occasion, but he has the slightly left-of-center Mika Brzezinshi there to keep him in line. The guest rostrum every morning consists of a healthy mix of opinions and ideas. It's pretty "fair and balanced" - as opposed to their half-witted counterparts over at FOX.

5. Regarding Sarah Palin, Keith Olberman put it perfectly when he said, "That woman is an idiot". I agree. She must be "refudiated".

6. There is no argument that Mel Gibson is a very talented guy. At this point it is also beyond doubt that he is an extremely disturbed human being. But, hey! Who among us isn't a bit nutty at times? He should disappear for five years into a monastery. I am serious! My suggestion would be Our Lady of Gethsemane - a Trappist monastery in Louisville Kentucky where Thomas Merton lived for the last twenty-seven years of his life and where he wrote his spiritual masterpiece, Seven Storey Mountain, among many others. Gibson has been described as a devout Catholic. That being the case, the place would be the ideal location for him. If there is anything the poor, misguided wretch could use at this stage it is a bit of meditation and inner contemplation. He could come out at the end of five years a new Mel Gibson. The old Mel Gibson could definitely stand a major overhaul. Maybe we all could.

7. I've said this before, but the upcoming thirtieth anniversary of his passing compels me to say it again: I sure do miss John Lennon.

8. Michelle Bachmann is a drug abuser. I know what I'm talking about. Have I any concrete evidence to make such a claim? No. All I have is a well-earned diploma from the University of Been There/Done That. I used to have a substance abuse problem and I can spot another user a mile away. Whatever the venue, it's obvious from her glazed eyes and her dilated pupils that the poor gal is usually so stoned that she is barely lucid. Also, her shrill monotone way of speaking - that on top of her paranoid delusions ("Obama wants to bring back slavery!") are textbook examples of a person far gone into drug-induced psychosis. This is a woman in dire need of treatment. I'd love to party with her. I really would.

9. As I mentioned within days of him taking the oath of office a year-and-a-half ago, the president should never have wasted a minute of his precious time trying to find common ground with the kooks, criminals and fools who have hijacked the Republican party. Their only agenda has been to see to it that he - and, thus, the American people - fail. That is the reason they were able to derail the Clinton presidency. At long last Obama seems to be coming to realize this nasty truth. Recent days have shown a new (and welcome) militancy in his rhetoric toward the "loyal" opposition. Better late than never. Give 'em hell, Barry!

10. Martin Luther King had a dream. Glenn Beck has a scheme. The Beckster is planning to mark the forty-seventh anniversary of the August 1963 March on Washington with his own gathering at the Lincoln Memorial, site of the original march. His purpose will be to call attention to the "radical socialist agenda" of the Big Black Boogieman currently in residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The only problem is the fact that he neglected to get a permit for the event. That fact alone is proof of the man's jaw-dropping arrogance. Al Sharpton will be commemorating Dr. King's dream on the same day at the same location. Al bothered to take the trouble of getting his permit. This ought to be really interesting.

11. Back in January any hope Harry Reid had of being reelected had vanished in the breeze. Then a miracle occurred in the form of a Tea Party caricature named Sharon Angle. This silly woman has been hopping around the state of Nevada with one foot on the ground and the other in her mouth, virtually guaranteeing victory for Reid on Election Day. I say this with no real degree of jubilation. Although he is preferable to Angle, Democrats like Harry Reid are the reason I left that worthless party over a decade ago. They used to be "the Party of Franklin Delano Roosevelt". Not anymore.

12. It's going to be a long, hot and weird electoral season. Of this you can be certain: The campaign of 2010 will be the funniest, dirtiest, most entertaining midterm election in living memory. Have some popcorn at the ready.

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net

SUGGESTED VIEWING:

One Bright, Shining Moment:
The Forgotten Summer of George McGovern

An excellent documentary about McGovern's 1972 campaign against Richard Nixon.

AFTERTHOUGHT:

The photograph at the top of this page, taken in the autumn of 1981, shows Tom Degan (left) turning a deaf ear to brother Pete's sage advice.