A Nasty Plot Shift

"I think Americans just don't know sometimes which Mitt Romney they're dealing with. Is it the Mitt Romney that was on the side of … against … the Second Amendment before he was for the Second Amendment … was it before he was before these social programs, uh, from the standpoint he was standing, uh, for Roe vs. Wade before he was against Roe, uh, Roe vs. Wade … uh … he was … uh for Race To The Top. ... Uh … (long pause) ... he's for Obamacare and now he's against it. … I mean, we'll wait until tomorrow and, and, and wait to see which Mitt Romney we're really talking to."

Governor Rick Perry
GOP debate, 22 September 2011

Goodness gracious, this is not good. My wildest dream - that either Michele Bachmann or Rick Perry would somehow make it to the Republican National Convention next summer - has gone up in flames; or so it would seem. If a month is a lifetime in American politics (as the politicians love to remind us) a year is a millennium.

Perry's disastrous appearance at last Thursday's debate in Florida seemed to put the ol' kibosh on his presidential aspirations. And it was only a matter of time before Congresswoman Bachmann said something irreparably stupid. When she blurted out that a certain vaccination caused mental retardation, it proved to be too idiotic for Florida Republicans even - an accomplishment in itself to be sure. In a straw poll conducted in that state a few days ago, she registered near the bottom. This only a month after her moment on the mountaintop in Iowa. The Democrats are depressed by these turns of events and I can't blame them. With a comparative moderate (at least by modern-day standards) like Mitt Romney as the nominee next year, President Obama's reelection is more uncertain than ever. Or is it?

There is a silver lining for the Dems behind this dark cloud. The nitwits that comprise "the base" of the GOP are not going to be motivated to come out in droves for a former governor of Taxachusetts who brought health care to his state - and who also happens to be a Mormon. Remember this, too: Between now and the convention, Mitt Romney is going to be saying a lot of really stupid things - things of monumentally idiotic proportions. That is the only way to win the nomination of that party anymore. Think about it! Have you been watching these people? Who's the most impressive and articulate one of the bunch? Jon Huntsman! And he's not even registering with these people. In fact he's at the bottom of every poll!

Willard Mitt Romney's pandering to that party's nitwit base during the primaries - particularly in the deep south and the Midwest - will only come back to haunt him when he faces the president in the general election. Fifty years from now, when historians gather in judgement of Barack Obama's political career, if they're only in agreement on one point it will be this one:

This was one lucky son-of-a-bitch.

THE CHRISTIE EQUATION

I'm blushing as I write these words. Much as I hate to admit this, I've gotta be upfront with you and just say it: Chris Christie has grown on me. That is not as hard for me to say as you might think. I don't live in New Jersey - and I'm far enough away from it's border that whatever happens there doesn't effect me much. That being said, I've come to admire the governor's gruff bluntness. You can accuse the guy of many things. Being a phony ain't one of them. Some operatives within "the party of Lincoln" are begging him to get into the race, but Christie isn't budging. He is reminding people of General William Tecumseh Sherman when he refused the GOP nomination a century-and-a-half ago:

"If nominated I will not run. If elected I will not serve."

Everyone is wondering: What's up with this guy??? I have a theory. In his years as United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, there were allegations that Christie was somewhat "ethically challenged". These allegations followed him into the campaign for governor in 2009. My theory is that Chris knows damned well if he announces his candidacy for the president, a few industrious reporters are going to dig up a few things he doesn't want them to find. Maybe I'm wrong about this - and forgive me if I am - but I can't believe that any ambitious politician would turn down what Christie is turning down if he didn't have a small chorus line of skeletons in his closet. I'm not saying that he's done anything that could put him in prison for a long stretch, I'm just sayin'....This is pure speculation on my part but there it is.

But even if he were to enter the race, compared to the rest of the frontrunners - including Mitt Romney - Chris Christie is as liberal as it is possible for a Republican to be in this day and age. Compared to the rest of the jackasses on that side of the aisle he looks like Franklin D. Roosevelt. Despite a strong endorsement this week from Rupert Murdoch, he is not likely to inspire the base very much. In a recent interview - and God bless him for saying this - he said that gays and lesbians are God's children and that we should accept them for who they are. Trust me on this one, kids; as beautiful as that statement is, it's not going to play too well in Peoria - Arizona. It might do a little better in Peoria, Illinois but not much I suspect. He's also been publicly scornful of the extremism of the conservative movement. I'll say it again. Barack Obama is one lucky som'bitch.

I'm still hoping against hope that Rick and Michele will be able to get their respective acts together. I want one of them to get the nomination so bad I can almost taste it. It doesn't matter in the least which one. Can you imagine how delightfully twisted either of their campaigns would be?

PLEASE, FATE! I'M BEGGIN' YA!

Tom Degan
tomdegan@frontiernet.net

AFTERTHOUGHT:

Happy birthday to my cousin Shawn Bliven who turns forty-two today. I remember the night of September 27, 1969 like it was yesterday, pal. My dear old Grandma Degan's first great-grandson. You were big news! Come to think of it, you still are, How the hell do you do that?

SUGGESTED READING:

Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72
by Hunter S. Thompson

Required reading for any self-respecting political junkie. Here is a link to order it off of Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/Fear-Loathing-Campaign-Trail-72/dp/0446698229/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317167168&sr=1-1

Normally I would suggest that you order it from your local, independently owned bookstore - but they no longer exist. Let's just stop kidding ourselves here and now, okay?

Here's a link for more recent postings on this disgusting site:

http://www.tomdegan.blogspot.com

Cheerio! Pip! Pip!

Welcome Back, Mr. Prez!

Yeah we tease him a lot

'Cause we've got him on the spot

Welcome back

Welcome back! Welcome back! Welcome back!

John Sebastian

I'm almost embarrassed to use those lyrics as the opener to this piece. With the monumental exception of Three's Company, Welcome Back Kotter was absolutely the worst "successful" sit-com of the seventies. It had some of the lamest "comedy" writers in the history of literature ("Up your nose with a rubber hose!") Just awful stuff. But the show's theme song wasn't too bad, and it works here. Welcome back, President Obama. We've missed you. Your dreams were your ticket out.

I had started to wonder what happened to that fellow I had voted for three years ago. I had expected a progressive-on-fire, and all I got was this Casper Milquetoast-moderate, sound asleep in the middle of the road - not a good place to be. But there he was the other day out in the Rose Garden, saying what was screaming to be said; that this nation's economic burden shall no longer be placed solely on the backs of the poor and the vanishing middle class, and that the miniscule class of people who are hoarding most of the nation's wealth shall be forced to pay more - A helluva lot more, baby! - in order to save America's desperately crumbling infrastructure.

The president has placed himself in the most enviable political position of any politician that I can remember. The tone of next year's campaign has been set: that the middle class must be saved. Watch in glee while the Republicans try to find a way to defend the utterly indefensible; while they draw a smiley face on the morally reprehensible. This is gonna be funny!

Here's a little something you can bet the farm on. The next thirteen months will see the right wing beside themselves as they scramble - like sadistic little mice - to change the topic of discussion from that of economic fairness, to the subject of that BIG, BLACK, BOLSHEVIK BOOGIEMAN in the Oval Office. They won't be able to take back the senate and the White House - nor will they be able to retain control of the House of Reprehensibles - without exploiting the worst racist tendencies deep within America's tormented soul. That is their biggest hope. That is their only hope. 2012 might very well turn out to be a most interesting political year. Talk about understatement!

In addition to playing the race card, it's a fairly easy guess that they'll drag out their moth-eaten bag of "family values" for good measure, as hard as that argument is for many of us to swallow these days. The Republicans don't give a shit about American families - or the families who gross somewhere under a million per. This is a party that cares about one thing only - that the obscenely rich get obscenely richer. To hell with the rest of you.

What they're doing in Wahing-TON?
They're just looking out for Number One
And Number One ain't you
You ain't even Number Two!

Frank Zappa

Wake the fuck up. The only way these people can survive politically is via the old, tried-and-true route of division and distraction. Their ideological antecedents tried the same thing exactly a century-and-a-half ago. Do you remember how that ended? It wasn't very pretty as we all know. I am not saying that we've arrived at that same place. I'm not even vaguely implying it. Not at all, dear reader! It's just that Rick Perry has twice hinted at Texas secession. Not that there would be anything wrong with that mind you.

This new-and-improved, revamped Barack Obama gives me a rush of "hope". Remember that word? Less than a week ago on this very site, I was toying with the depressing possibility of a Rick Perry victory next year. All bets are now off. It is apparent that the president has been reminded that his party is (or at least it's supposed to be) the party of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the New Deal. For over fifty years those programs did many good things for this country. In the early eighties when Ronald Reagan began the process of destroying the New Deal, America's infrastructure began to fall apart - not to mention the American middle class. The genius of the Conservative movement is that they have been successful at placing the blame for this destruction on the Left. As the late Lenny Bruce once said, "How's that for moxie???"

This may sound astonishing but it's true. There are a number of reasonable and intelligent people out there who are registered to vote in GOP primaries. In fact I personally know a lot of them! Smart Republicans are a bit more numerous here in the northeast than they are in the deep south or deep in the Midwest. The hope of these poor souls - that the "party of Abraham Lincoln" will wise-up and nominate a comparative moderate like Mitt Romney - is dwindling by the day. And when the candidacies of Michele Bachmannn, Ron Paul and Herman Cain die on the vine, it will be Rick Perry who will gather the putrid fruit. Romney can only hope for Jon Huntsman's support in the end. That's about it.

Did you notice that I didn't even bother to mention the names Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich in that assessment? Honestly, are there two human beings in politics today more hopelessly pathetic than Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich? I ask you.

The argument being made against Barack Obama - from the right and the left - is that he's had over three-and-a-half years to clean up the mess he inherited and he has failed horribly. It's a valid one to be sure. What must not be forgotten however is the fact that for the first two years of this administration's existence, the president was being obstructed at every turn by a confederacy of reactionary Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats. When the GOP took back the House last January, that obstruction became total and overwhelming.

Given all invective that has been hurled at him ("YOU LIE!") it is a testimony to the man's fortitude that he has been able to get anything done at all. This president will only be successful in his second term if both houses on congress are in the hands of progressive Democrats - and good ol' Bernie Sanders. Otherwise all we can expect is four more years of right wing gridlock. Have you had enough of the quagmire? I have, that's for damned sure!

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net

AFTERTHOUGHT:

Elizabeth Warren announced her candidacy this week for the for the Massachusetts senate seat that was held once upon a time by Teddy Kennedy. I think she will be able to take it. I certainly hope so. She is an extraordinary woman. Sign up to take part in her campaign:

www.elizabethwarren.com

Count on me being on the team!

UPDATE, 9/22/11:

All the evidence pointed to Troy Davis' innocence, and yet he was killed by the state of Georgia late last night at 11:08.

All civilized countries have done away with the barbaric practice of capital punishment. What the hell is the matter with us?

The authorities at the prison he languished in during his final days refused him a last minute polygraph test. Why? What did they have to lose?

Oh....right....he might have passed it. They'd have lost another dead body....Never mind.

Try to have a happy first day of Autumn.

DIE! DIE! DIE!

Brian Williams:
"Your state has executed two-hundred and thirty-four death row inmates, more than any governor of modern times [Cheers from the audience] Have you struggled to sleep at night with the idea that any one of those might have been innocent?"

Rick Perry:
"No sir, I never struggled with that at all."

From the GOP Presidential Debate
7 September 2011

Ah, yes! I love it! Civics for sociopaths! Politics to die for! Life is quite beautiful thank you very much.

Two debates in the space of five days? Somebody up there must like me. In the midst of the first one I asked myself out loud, "Am I hallucinating this?" I wasn't. This was very real indeed. Thanks to the miracle of modern technology I was able to record both spectacles onto DVD for posterity. Looking at them again last evening was not the ordeal you might imagine. To the contrary it was loads of fun to watch! Unintentional comedy always is - and these twits are the Marx Brothers of unintentional comedy.

The delightful, knee-slapping highlight in accidental rib-ticklers this week was provided by, of course, our precious Michele Bachmann. I'm really gonna miss that gal. Claiming that a certain vaccination for cervical cancer causes mental retardation she pretty much banged the final nail in her campaign's coffin. Her source for this ludicrous claim? Some woman she had never even met before told her so. It reminded me of that classic scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail:

"She turned me into a newt!"

"A NEWT???"

"I got better."

I've been saying for quite some time that the GOP is the party of the plutocracy, and that it has been hijacked by a cabal of white-collar criminals, half-wits and crazy people. I'm not giving away any state secrets here. They don't even attempt to hide their nuttiness any longer. It's out in the open now. But after watching the latest parade of this insane clown posse I had an epiphany: We can now claim - without exaggeration - that this is a party overwhelmed by the presence of sadists.

Both of the audiences attending these two debates were the icing on a very nasty-tasting cake. In addition to the exchange quoted above between NBC's Brian Williams and Governor Perry of Texas, Ron Paul's inference in the debate five nights later - that a thirty-year-old uninsured accident victim might be forced to "just die" - drew hoots and shouts of "YEAH!!!" from these animals. Isn't that sweet? Such compassion!

I should rephrase something I said earlier. Life is not always beautiful, but it sure is interesting - and never boring! Having said that, here is an extremely non-boring statement for you to ponder:

With each passing day it is becoming more-and-more clear that Rick Perry will probably be elected the next president of the United States.

After I wrote that very short paragraph above I stared at it for almost thirty minutes. I then drove a half mile down the road to grab a cup of coffee from the nice folks at the Country Convenience store. En route I pondered what I had written. Do I really believe that? I didn't quite know. Surely, I thought, the American people won't go down that road again. Sending another dim-witted and reactionary cowboy from the Texas Governor's mansion to the Executive Mansion? They can't be that stupid, can they? CAN THEY??? I've got bad news for you:

YES THEY CAN!
YES THEY CAN!
YES THEY CAN!

Rick Perry would be their perfect nominee. He has more of a taste for blood than any of the other contenders - a lot more; more than Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman combined. And while Michele Bachmann may claim an insatiable lust for the blood of evil-doers, she's never actually had the joy and privilege of executing anyone, poor thing.

This got me to thinking about scripture. Although hardly a scholar with respect to the New Testament, I do dabble on occasion. Surely these "Christians" can see the folly of their attitude toward the death penalty - not to mention its ultimate hypocrisy.

"So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, 'He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.'"

Jesus of Nazareth
from the Gospel of John, 8:7

Jesus was coming out against capital punishment in this passage. There's no other way of interpreting it. None. A crowd of biblical tea-partiers was about to stone a poor woman to death - and Jesus stopped them, telling her to "Go and sin no more." He didn't say to this blood-thirsty mob, "Hey listen folks, my mother Mary and I have never committed a sin in our entire lives. We'll kill this gal for you!" He was clearly saying that killing another human being was wrong - PERIOD. I would take these right-wingers a lot more seriously if they had as much love and respect for the born as they profess to have for the unborn.

There was also that bit in the Sermon on the Mount about the merciful obtaining mercy. Why is it that these people continue to hold Jesus Christ hostage when their message and agenda has not a thing to do with His message and agenda? And isn't there a passage somewhere in there that says "Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord"? I'm just sayin'.

SEIG HEIL!

I'm starting to get the impression that the Republicans are a lynch mob posing as a political party. Things have gotten that strange. Their behavior is becoming more Nazi-like by the hour. It should be remembered that when Hitler and his gang took power in the late winter of 1933, there was no talk of exterminating the Jewish people. Had that been the case every Jew in Germany would have gotten the hell out of town while the getting was good - overnight! The horrible reality of the death camps was merely a gradual evolution.

I'm not implying that the American right wing is in full tilt brown-shirt mode - but it cannot be denied by anyone paying close attention that they are evolving into something perfectly hideous. Ronald Reagan is starting to look in hindsight like a moderate. Richard Nixon is starting to look like freakin' Che Guevara! No, this is not your father's Republican party. It's not even your older brother's. How much more further to the extreme right are these jackasses going to move before they hurl themselves - and the rest of the country along with them - right over the proverbial cliff?

"Let me remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And let me further remind you that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue."

Barry Goldwater
Acceptance speech, Republican Convention, 1964

Let's use old Barry as an example of what I'm talking about. When the Republicans nominated him to run against incumbent Lyndon Johnson in 1964, Goldwater scared the living shit out of mainstream America. In his day he was known as "Mr. Conservative". During that campaign he said he could turn North Vietnam into a "parking lot" by means of low-level nuclear weapons. Nice, huh? Although he won in the old confederacy, he lost everywhere else. It was a landslide for Johnson. And yet when he died in 1998 Goldwater was in a blind funk about the mindless extremism to which the Republican party - his party - had attached themselves. And remember. this was over a decade before the formation of the Tea party!

Were Barry Goldwater to rise from the dead tonight, he wouldn't recognize the Grand Old Party. It's also a pretty safe bet that they wouldn't nominate him to run as vice chairman of the Scottsdale Rotary Club. He'd be seen as too much of a left wing extremist. At the time of his death he was writing a book in collaboration with John Dean of Watergate fame. Dean finished the book a few years ago. It was called "Conservatives Without Conscience".

"And let me further remind you" how these knuckleheads on the far-right view that other Barry - a sleep-inducing moderate named Barack Obama. They have labeled him a "socialist". A socialist! Isn't that a hoot?

Barring a gaffe of earthquake magnitudes (like suggesting that Texas may secede from the union) Rick Perry will probably be nominated as the Republican candidate for president of the United States at their convention next summer. Given the jaw-dropping gullibility of the American people, he might very-well win the election. I really hope I'm wrong about this, but I don't think I am. If you think the Supreme Court is disgusting now (Corporations are people, too!) wait and see what it looks like after two or three appointments by President Perry. Not that I'm saying we'll have to kiss this country goodbye if he is inaugurated on January 20, 2013. We already did that - on January 20, 2001. Another right wing extremist from Texas living in the White House will only be anti-climactic. The damage is complete.

Have a lovely day, kiddies!

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net

SUGGESTED READING:

Goldwater
by Barry Goldwater (with Jack Casserly)

No doubt about it, he was an interesting guy. A very good read.

For more recent postings on this subversive, positively un-American blog, please go to the following link:

http://www.tomdegan.blogspot.com

Happy reading, campers!

Ten Minutes or Ten Years Ago?

"....that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain - that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom - and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Abraham Lincoln

"With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph - so help us, God."

-Franklin D. Roosevelt

"Go shopping"

-George W. Bush

There will be a lot of talk today in the media and out in the blogosphere about what happened to this country ten-years-ago today. I'm terribly sorry but I haven't much to add to the discussion.

In spite of the passage of an entire decade, it refuses to fade from memory, that's for sure. Those attacks might as well have occurred a couple of hours ago - they are that ingrained into our collective consciousness. That it was the most depressing and horrifying day in the lives of most of us is hard to argue with. And the addition of ten years of 20/20 hindsight only adds to the despair. You see, it is now crystal clear - in a way that it was not at the time - that America's luck ran out on September 11, 2001.

And how lucky we were. All throughout our incredible history, whenever this country was faced with an unprecedented crisis, fate had always placed in the executive mansion - by pure happenstance - a leader of great wisdom and ability. Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt come immediately to mind. That wasn't the case on September 11, 2001.

The terrible carnage of 9/11 was only the beginning. Our "rulers" (I refuse to describe them as "leaders") used the devastating events of that day as an excuse to plunge this once-great nation into economic ruin via two unfunded wars, while simultaneously granting massive tax cuts for a class of people who already had more money in their bank accounts than they knew what to do with. The results were as predictable as the setting sun. The use of that metaphor is by no means accidental.

If Osama bin Laden's mission on September 11, 2001 was the complete and utter destruction of what used to be the "United" States of America, he succeeded beyond his wildest dreams.

I'm going back to bed.

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net

Remember the time?

America the Beautiful
by Ray Charles

Was this a great country or what!

POST #370: Random Observations

The following are a serious of miscellaneous thoughts and observations that I have recently posted on other sites or drunkenly scribbled into my notebook. Similarities to any persons, living or dead, is purely intentional:

1. No Ordinary Time Indeed

Back during the period between Election Day 2008 and Inauguration Day 2009, Barack Obama's handlers made much noise of the fact that the Prez-to-be was in the process of reading Doris Kearns Goodwin's recently released biography of the Lincoln administration, "Team of Rivals". As I remarked at the time, he was reading the right author but the wrong book. The book he should have been reading was "No Ordinary Time", her study of the years that Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt lived in the White House.

A phrase FDR liked to use on the campaign trail in 1932 and during the First Hundred Days of his administration was "Action - NOW". And it was always bold, decisive action. Nothing timid would do for my man Frankie. I surely hope that President Obama has read that book by now.

2, Political "Comedy"

A couple of days ago, at a rally for Sarah Palin in Indianola, Iowa, a "comedian" named Eric Golub went out on stage for the failed, ex-governor in order to warm up the tea-partiers who had come out en masse. He wasn't very funny. As a matter of fact he wasn't funny at all. His "act" - if that's what you want to call it - was beyond pathetic.

Did you ever notice that all successful political satirists and comedians always - ALWAYS - speak from a left-leaning point of view? There are very few conservative "humorists" out there. Other than Eric Golub the only other person I can think of is the nitwit that does the Mallard Fillmore comic strip (I can't even think of his name - not that that's very important). Neither of them are funny. Why is that? The answer is quite simple:

In order for political satire to work, it must be based on some essential truth. If the basis of one's humor is trying to convince people that old is new - that black is white and day is night - it's not going to play very well. That is why Jon Stewart and Stephan Colbert are so successful. That is also why you will never again hear the name "Eric Golub".

The late humorist Lewis Grizzard was a conservative - and very funny. But he wrote about the cultural aspect of being a "redneck". For the most part he wisely shied away from the subject of politics.

I'm not implying that conservatives aren't at times screamingly funny. They are. Very much so! The problem is that the humor is always unintentional.

3. Scheduling Conflicts

What the heck is wrong with this president? Sometimes I get the feeling that the poor guy is tone deaf politicall­y. Why he would want to schedule an address the to congress at the same moment the GOP presidential hopefuls are having their debate is anyone's guess. Michele Bachmann said that Speaker Boehner did Obama a favor by forcing him to reschedule­. They were the only true words that have come out of her mouth since the primary season began.

Barack Obama should not want to deflect attention from the Republican debates. In fact he should hope and pray that EVERY American watches it! This country needs to take a gander at the collection of kooks, criminals and half-wits that now comprise "the party of Abraham Lincoln". Thank goodness for quotation marks.

I can't wait for that debate. That oughtta be a scream!

4. Married Priests

At St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Goshen, NY, the first major pedophile scandal materialized in the early nineties. The priest in question, “Father Ed”, had been molesting boys in their early teens for a couple of years. To say that the parishioners were traumatized by this would be an understatement. They were devastated. Then something wondrous happened….

Father Ed was defrocked and eventually sent to prison. He was replaced by Father Trevor Nichols. Father Trevor had been an Anglican priest in merrie olde England when he converted to Catholicism. On becoming a Catholic he was transferred to Saint John’s - WITH HIS WIFE AND TWO DAUGHTERS! A married priest! WITH TWO KIDS!

You wanna hear the punch line? The little parish did not implode. The sun did not fall from the sky. Huge cracks did not appear in the earth’s surface. In fact, it was nice having them. I became good friends with this extraordinary family. They were – and are to this day – deeply beloved by the people of St. John’s.

Allowing priests to marry would transform the Catholic Church. Having Father Trevor, his wife Marian and their two lovely daughters Catherine and Hannah in their midst certainly transformed the people of St. John’s.

The Vatican really needs to rethink their stand on this matter.

5. FASHION ADVISORY

Note to all the young guys who like to wear their belts well below their wastes: Have you ever seen a photograph of you father wearing one of those silly, powder-blue, polyester leisure suits that were all-the-rage in the early-mid seventies? In hindsight they look kinda stupid, don't they? A little word of advice: Don't pose for any photos that your kids might discover forty years from now. You'll thank me.

6. Rick Perry? Can it be???

With each passing year it's getting easier and easier to question the intelligence of the American people. Look at the latest polling from the GOP primary voters: Rick Perry is leading the pack by a wide margin. Another corrupt, reactionary, half-witted cowboy from the Texas governor's mansion living in the White House? Could it possibly be that we're about to venture down this road again? I wouldn't doubt it for a minute.

Of course as a guy who makes his name these days commenting on the corruption and stupidity of American politics and politicians, I can only say that such a turn of events would be a very sweet deal for yours truly. You say you plan on voting for Mr. Rick next year? Go for it, dude!

7. Still more proof of Sarah Palin's shallowness

When telling the story of how she was confronted at one point with news reports that she and her husband Todd were going to divorce, one would think (indeed one would hope) that she would offer for the reader's contemplation a heartfelt description of her abiding love for her husband; how their union could not be tossed aside like some disposable camera - that she and Todd took their wedding vows seriously. No, there was none of that....

"Dang, I thought. Divorce Todd? HAVE YOU SEEN TODD???"

TRANSLATION: If Todd gains twenty pounds, he's history.

Thirteen years into their marriage, Eleanor Roosevelt was confronted with her husband's affair with her social secretary (and distant relative of mine - I come from a long line of home wreckers) Lucy Paige Mercer. After contemplating divorce, it was decided that they would continue their union. Years later, she confided to her friend Joesph Lash, the reasons for saving their marriage. They were many and complicated. This, I can assure you, was not one of those reasons:

"Dang, I thought. Divorce Franklin? HAVE YOU SEEN FRANKLIN???"

In an article that was posted online this morning on the website Religion Dispathces, a very good writer named Anthea Butler lamented the fact that it is obvious Sarah Palin won't be going away anytime soon. If you will be kind enough to allow me, I would like to propose a toast:

Here's to Sarah Palin; may she never - EVER - go away.

I am going to go out on a limb here: No woman since Eleanor Roosevelt has done more to further the cause of progressive politics in the United States of America than our gal Sarah.

Isn't life strange?

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net

AFTERTHOUGHT:

The photograph at the top of this piece is of the author of this disgusting commie swill and his beloved niece Marieke Pennings, taken at the Bob Dylan concert, Bethesda Woods (original site of the Woodstock Concert) Friday, August 12, 2011. Thank you, John Galdi, for that photo!

SUGGESTED READING:

No Ordinary Time
by Doris Kearns Goodwin

In my humble opinion, this is the finest and most instructive (HINT, HINT, BARACK!) book ever written on the Roosevelt White House. If your neighborhood (like almost every other neighborhood in the United States) has no independently-owned bookstore, here is a link to order it from the nice folks over at Amazon.com:

No Ordinary Time

DISCLAIMER:

I receive no royalty payments from any product purchased off of amazon.com that is linked from this site - not that I don't wish I did, mind you.

Two other good reads:

Shoot Low, Boys! They're Ridin' Shetland Ponies!
and
Elvis is Dead and I Don't Feel Too Good Myself
by Lewis Grizzard

You don't have to be a conservative Republican to love the writings of Lewis Grizzard. The guy was as good as they get! God rest his merry soul.