2012: The Worst of the Rant
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| Awaiting instructions from Moscow ` |
Here it is, folks! Another recap of the WORST of the RANT. When I was fifty-three, it was a very weird year. Very weird indeed. Here's living proof:
January 4:
January 4:
Another example of the
spreading intellectual rot of the United States of America; a country
which at one time (Hold onto your hats, generation Xers!) was the best
place in the world in which to live. It's not anymore. It ain't even
close.
January 17:
When even some "liberals" are expressing a sense of teary-eyed nostalgia for the likes of Ronald Reagan, that's all the proof you need to understand that the political wheels
have come off the planet. And the fact that a Casper Milquetoast
moderate like Barack Obama is viewed by many as a left wing radical is
further proof that the American people have lost their bearings - to put
it as mildly as possible.
January 22:
Here's another thing to take to the
bank, boys and girls: Romney (assuming he will be the nominee) will be
placed in the same position that McCain was forced into in 2008. In
order to bring out "the base" he will be forced to place on the ticket
with him someone (like Sarah Palin) who is such a right wing extremist
that he or she is in serious danger of falling off of the face of the
earth. Remember how well that worked out for them last time 'round? As
it did four years ago, the choice of running mate will scare the living
shit out of moderate Americans. Just you wait and see.
February 6:
In spite of everything - including a concerted effort to deny the ballot to traditional Democratic voters in Republican-controlled states all across the country - I'm more confident than ever that 2012 will not turn out to be a banner year for the right wing in this diseased land. That's not to say that I'm ecstatic over the thought of the Democrats in control of the government. Not at all. They're merely the lesser of two evils. Let me put it to you this way: The thought of the Dems controlling things might send me to the nearest tavern to drown my sorrows away. With the GOP in power again, I might very well be tempted to head toward the nearest bridge.
In spite of everything - including a concerted effort to deny the ballot to traditional Democratic voters in Republican-controlled states all across the country - I'm more confident than ever that 2012 will not turn out to be a banner year for the right wing in this diseased land. That's not to say that I'm ecstatic over the thought of the Democrats in control of the government. Not at all. They're merely the lesser of two evils. Let me put it to you this way: The thought of the Dems controlling things might send me to the nearest tavern to drown my sorrows away. With the GOP in power again, I might very well be tempted to head toward the nearest bridge.
February 16:
It's almost inconceivable to me how much lower the standards of the GOP manage to fall with each passing year. Their new flavor of the month for February 2012 appears to be Rick Santorum, a man who could be mistaken for George W. Bush's not-too-bright younger brother. He kinda reminds me of Bobby Kennedy with birth defects. Is this yet another passing fad? Just a little over a week ago I was hoping against all odds that he would be The One crowned at the convention this summer. A Santorum candidacy would be bound to bring in a million laughs. I then dismissed the very idea as absurd. Fate has never been as kind to me as that.
It's almost inconceivable to me how much lower the standards of the GOP manage to fall with each passing year. Their new flavor of the month for February 2012 appears to be Rick Santorum, a man who could be mistaken for George W. Bush's not-too-bright younger brother. He kinda reminds me of Bobby Kennedy with birth defects. Is this yet another passing fad? Just a little over a week ago I was hoping against all odds that he would be The One crowned at the convention this summer. A Santorum candidacy would be bound to bring in a million laughs. I then dismissed the very idea as absurd. Fate has never been as kind to me as that.
February 25:
They have spent the last thirty years trying to appeal to the kind of
people who historically were not too interested in the political
process: insanity junkies. And all of their efforts have payed off quite
well for them - a little too well as it turns out. The "party of Abraham Lincoln" has devolved into the party of Uncle Fester. That demographic that the political scientists refer to as "moderates"
(I call them "purple agitators" myself) have taken a good look at what
the GOP has become and they're headin' for the hills. And many of the
so-called "Reagan Democrats" are disillusioned to say the least. It's
almost as if they got all decked-up for that dream date with Marilyn
Monroe, but when the door opened, standing there to greet them was
Typhoid Mary in her loveliest party dress.
March 12:
In the Spring
of 1992, Picture-perfect Mitt packed his picture-perfect Mrs. and their
picture-perfect kids into the family station wagon and took off for a
twelve hour drive from Boston to Toronto. Good ol' Mitt! He just
couldn't bear to leave his dog
Seamus behind languishing in a kennel. Isn't that sweet? Well, not
exactly. He stuffed the poor creature into a dog carrier and strapped
the crate onto the roof of the vehicle. En route, Seamus
protested this harsh treatment by making a bit of a mess - which
apparently started to leak down onto the windows of the car. This is the
most apropos example of the "trickle down" theory I've ever heard of.
Halfway toward their destination, Mitt pulled into a rest stop and
calmly hosed-down the station wagon, Seamus and the crate. They then
went on their merry way, Seamus and crate refastened to the roof. Once
they arrived at their destination, Seamus ran away and became a
temporary refugee of sorts . Legend has it that he sought asylum from
the Canadians.
April 1:
The Stand Your Ground laws came into existence for no other reason than the fact that the National
Rifle Association was able to bribe and threaten enough legislators in
enough states to get them passed. It's almost as if these hideous
bastards just can't get enough blood to spill on our streets. To make
matters worse, the American people (the white ones anyway) have yet to
stand up in mass outrage at what is happening. As long as the victims
are disproportionately poor and (like Trayvon Martin) black, why work oneself
into a nasty snit over the carnage? Maybe what is needed to wake people
up is an epidemic of middle class white kids being slaughtered.
That'll change things pretty damned quick - you'd better believe it.
[AUTHOR'S NOTE, 1/2/13: Newtown, Connecticut changed things.]
April 8:
Let us face some serious facts here, campers: if Mr. Rick [Santorum] had been born with dark skin he'd today
be organizing birthday parties for preschoolers at a Chuck E. Cheese
somewhere in central Pennsylvania - Spring Grove perhaps - a nondescript
little town where I attended prep school nearly forty years ago. The very fact that we're even talking about this guy tells
me more than I really want to know about the pathetic state of American
politics and politicians these days. Rick is merely a symptom of a disease
that is consuming America's soul. That's not to suggest that the 2012
Clown-Car-Race-to-the-Bottom hasn't been an amusing thing to watch.
Perish the thought please.
April 18:
If I'm writing about a person who has made the news, I usually spend about three to four hours researching them beforehand. I really can't be bothered with Ted [Nugent]. I know everything
about him I need to know and I want to know nothing more. Quite
obviously the man is a no-talented fool and a has-been. He
hasn't charted anything in decades. The only way he can give his
royalties a little boost every now and then is by coming out in public
with a full-tilt freakout against commies, hippies, pinkos and lefties.
It really is kinda sad when you think about it.
May 2:
John Edwards is finished as a public person. Richard Nixon was able to slither his way back from Watergate to become a respected (by some) author and foreign policy adviser. A scandal involving prostitutes ended the political career of New York governor Elliot Spitzer. Today he is the host of a program on Al Gore's Current TV and is doing quite well for himself. These guys - and more than a few like them - are proof that (contrary to the old adage) there are indeed second acts in American life. There will be no second act for John Edwards. His carefully scripted play has closed for good. When this public humiliation is all over he will disappear. He will pop up in an occasional "Whatever became of" article but that's about it. You will never see or hear from him again.
John Edwards is finished as a public person. Richard Nixon was able to slither his way back from Watergate to become a respected (by some) author and foreign policy adviser. A scandal involving prostitutes ended the political career of New York governor Elliot Spitzer. Today he is the host of a program on Al Gore's Current TV and is doing quite well for himself. These guys - and more than a few like them - are proof that (contrary to the old adage) there are indeed second acts in American life. There will be no second act for John Edwards. His carefully scripted play has closed for good. When this public humiliation is all over he will disappear. He will pop up in an occasional "Whatever became of" article but that's about it. You will never see or hear from him again.
May 15
I really don't believe that Mitt
Romney goes to bed at night dreaming violent dreams about stuffing gay
people into a doggie crate and tying them to the roof of his station
wagon for a twelve hour joy-ride from Boston to Toronto. I am sure that
he has evolved along with the rest of humanity with regard to his true
feelings about homosexuals and Irish Setters.
May 29:
When I was a kid, in the household I grew up in anyway, whenever a major news event would break, you involuntarily went to CBS News to find out what was happening. Back in the good old days, the CBS reporters and commentators had serious gravitas - Murrow, Cronkite, Sevareid - it didn't get any better than those guys, They used to refer to the news division of CBS as "the diamond of the Tiffany Network". Of course those days are gone forever. As far as news and information is concerned, "CBS" might just as well stand for "Cowardly Bull Shit". Every bit of credibility they had left was
forever destroyed in 2005, after they caved-in to the political
pressure put upon them by Bush Mob and forced Dan Rather out the door.
June 17:
June 17:
Marijuana should have never been made illegal in the first place. Why
in 2012 are we still having this same, idiotic conversation? Is
it a "gateway drug" as they never tire of reminding us? Quite possibly
an argument can be made there. But if it is a gateway drug, so is
Miller High Life - the Champagne of Bottled Beer. Let's get a grip
here.
`
`
June 24:
GET THIS! Barack Obama and Eric Holder (two dark-skinned guys) concocted a scheme that would have forced good white people everywhere to voluntarily give up their guns. The
plan was to run MILLIONS of weapons into Mexico. The spread of violence
as a result of all those firearms would surely spill over across the
border onto American streets - resulting in the
countless murders of innocent white children with red hair and freckles
and names like "Rusty" and "Muffie". The result of the carnage would
force the American people to demand a ban on all guns. It's an evil, liberal plot, you know.
July 14:
The only way out of the ditch that the "job creators" have dug us into will be by raising their taxes. And I'm not talking about a modest increase - I'm talking about soaking the bastards. That'll create some jobs pretty damned quick. For a period of at least ten years, we need to bring the tax rates of the richest half-a-percent back to where they were when Eisenhower was president, when a lot of them were in a ninety percent bracket. Just to refresh your American history, the economy did pretty well back then. Am I waging class warfare here? You'd better believe it, Buster. And I ain't takin' no prisoners, baby!
July 20:
This is the way it's going to be from now on, kiddies. When a country has the stupidest gun laws in the western world (laws that are getting even stupider by the year) it's citizens should come to expect this sort of thing. Our lawmakers have no intention of correcting this unacceptable situation. Most of them are too terrified of the power of the National Rifle Association to do the right thing. Fifty-seven years ago John F. Kennedy (one of history's more celebrated victims of gun violence) wrote a book that profiled examples of great political courage throughout American history. He wouldn't have much material to work with were he around today to write a sequel. Cowardice abounds. Get used to living in a country in ruins. This is the way it's going to be from now on.
July 26:
It's sad that people who are not white need to wait until they are no longer "minorities" in order to receive equal protection under the law (At present they don't have that protection - and you're kidding yourselves if you think that they do. Just look at the prison population). But as long as they have waited, I don't think they'll have to wait much longer. As uncle Bobby said, "The old world is rapidly fading. Please get out of the new one if you can't lend a hand". Or as Sam Cooke sang nearly fifty years ago, "a change is gonna come". Sam didn't live to see that change. Bob Dylan probably will live to see it. In fact, we're damned-near there. We have no other choice but to accept it. The history of the next century will primarily be the story of how well (or badly) white America dealt with that inevitable change. Deal with it well, my friends. History will smile upon you.
August 12:
If you cast your precious ballot for the Romney/Ryan ticket on November sixth, don't be expecting the kind of enlightened moderation that was personified by Theodore Roosevelt - that last great Republican president. The working and the middle classes will be shouldering most of the the tax burden - and the rich? (excuse me, I meant the "job creators") They will be taxed at an even lower rate than they already are. Remember how well those Bush Tax Cuts worked out last time around? It sent the economy right into the abyss. If you're expecting a different result the next time these knuckleheads are in control of the White House, that's the very definition of insanity. Stay the hell away from sharp objects, okay?
August 18:
FUN FACT: Two months ago the Texas State Republican Party announced that part of their platform at the 2012 National Convention will be the demand that the Voting Rights Act of 1965 be repealed as unconstitutional. Since they made that announcement there has not been a single word of reprimand toward them from the RNC - nary a peep. Was this a great country or what!
August 31:
Did you happen to check out last night's conclusion of the 2012 Clown Car Race-to-the-Bottom? If this is the best the GOP can do for der Mittster's Coming Out party they're in worse shape than I thought. It was a dud and-a-half from beginning to end. And did you catch Clint Eastwood's pathetic Bob Newhart impersonation? Painful and embarrassing! What the hell were they thinking when they allowed him to go out there unscripted? The very sight of him debating that empty chair gave me the same kind of almost sympathetic feeling I got watching Michael Moore interviewing a feeble-minded Charlton Heston in the film Bowling for Columbine. As George Carlin might have said, it's time to "check his calender". Too sad for words.
September 6:
Think about this, folks: When FDR was elected eighty years ago, he was not able to undo the mess he inherited from the Republicans in one term. He wasn't even able to do it in two terms. It took him nearly a decade! Unlike Roosevelt, Barack Obama will not be allowed the luxury of four terms. It will probably take two - possibly three - different presidents to clean up this mess.
September 11:
Forty-four years of biographical hindsight informs us that [the Beatles] were four, humanly flawed, imperfect - and in many respects - troubled men. Oh, but that music. That timeless, perfect and beautiful music. I'm willing to forgive these guys just about anything. I was only four months shy of my twelfth birthday when the Beatles broke up forever in the spring of 1970. When I was a little boy they were the undisputed princes of the Planet Earth. To me they seemed to be invincible. The deaths of John Lennon and George Harrison proved for all time that they were not. Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr are today elderly men for whom eternity now beckons. They were - and are - as vulnerable in their grip on this slender thread as any of us. Imagine.
September 17:
It cannot possibly be understated, the mess this president inherited when he moved into the White House on 20 January 2009. If you'll be so kind to recall, we were losing three quarters of a million jobs a month. Barack Obama was able to stem the tide and then reverse it. We'll soon be approaching Month Number Thirty-One of continuous job growth. Are you silly enough to believe that even deeper tax cuts for multi-millionaires and billionaires will make those figures any better? Have another sip, pal. In fact I may join you.
September 19:
MEMO TO MITT: The little eight-year-old girl who skips over to the corner candy store to buy an Almond Joy candy bar pays taxes. Everyone pays taxes. Some pay too much. Others (like you, Mitt) not enough. That's your civics lesson for the day, Mitt. You could use a lot of them.
October 11:
In a matter of a few months a sixty year, unblemished career and reputation have been reduced to ashes on the alter on public opinion. His reputation as "the winningest coach in football" has been erased from official memory. What a waste; what a pity, and how unspeakably sad. Where have you gone, Joe Paterno?
October 21:
Publicly Bobby Kennedy referred to George McGovern as "the most decent man in the senate". Privately he called him "the only decent man in the senate". In my opinion he was the only man who ever sought the White House who was a true "Christian", that is to say he took the words of the Sermon on the Mount quite literally and tried to live by them - both publicly and privately. He was the peace candidate in 1972. His entire candidacy was more-than-likely a lesson in futility. Americans didn't want a pacifist living in the White House in 1972. Forty years later they still don't want one. We do love our wars, don't we. We're a warlike people. That's primarily why we are today a nation in ruins. Deal with it.
November 1:
I do know this, though: those who love to wail and bitch about the evils of "big government" will be keeping their clueless mouths shut for the next couple of days - maybe even until Tuesday. Like last year in Hurricane Irene's aftermath, a lot of people will be thankful that the government which many Republicans want to "shrink until it's small enough to drown in a bathtub" is still large enough to deliver them from starvation and despair. A few days ago when Mitt Romney was asked fourteen times if he still planned on doing away with FEMA (as he said many times during the primaries) he refused to answer the question. Go ahead. Vote for Mitt; I dare you.
December 1:
These three chiefs executive - Lincoln, [Theodore] Roosevelt and Eisenhower - are just three reasons the present-day Republican party have to feel justly proud. Isn't it funny that not one of them are ever mentioned in the GOP's campaign literature? What's even funnier is the fact that most of the grand-old-partiers who lived in the White House are remembered today as complete failures. Reading their propaganda you would think that Ronald Reagan was the first Republican president, wouldn't you? History's final judgement has yet to catch up to Reagan. It will, though. It will.
December 15:
The tragedy in Newtown this week defies reason and common decency; but don't think for a minute that a change is going to come. Any half-witted, psychotic little geek with an attitude problem and a fist-full of dollars will still be able to walk into any gun shop in Anytown, USA and take home a handy-dandy, semi-automatic, military assault weapon specifically designed to kill an entire roomful of men, women and little children - and do it quite quickly and efficiently, too. Our lawbreakers disguised as lawmakers will still act as whores to expediency and campaign contributions. American children will still be slaughtered on the alters of greed and human stupidity. That ol' River of Blood is gonna still keep on flowin', baby! Nothing is going to change - nothing. Why bother getting so bent out of shape over the inevitable? I'm not.
***********************
And what a long, strange year it's been. I don't expect the quality of our national dialogue to improve at all in 2013. That's okay. I thrive on this nonsense.
Have a grand one!
Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net
SUGGESTED LISTENING:
Ding Dong! Ding Dong!
by George Harrison
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJR44H48POo
Ring out the false, ring in the true
Ring out the old, ring in the new
July 14:
The only way out of the ditch that the "job creators" have dug us into will be by raising their taxes. And I'm not talking about a modest increase - I'm talking about soaking the bastards. That'll create some jobs pretty damned quick. For a period of at least ten years, we need to bring the tax rates of the richest half-a-percent back to where they were when Eisenhower was president, when a lot of them were in a ninety percent bracket. Just to refresh your American history, the economy did pretty well back then. Am I waging class warfare here? You'd better believe it, Buster. And I ain't takin' no prisoners, baby!
July 20:
This is the way it's going to be from now on, kiddies. When a country has the stupidest gun laws in the western world (laws that are getting even stupider by the year) it's citizens should come to expect this sort of thing. Our lawmakers have no intention of correcting this unacceptable situation. Most of them are too terrified of the power of the National Rifle Association to do the right thing. Fifty-seven years ago John F. Kennedy (one of history's more celebrated victims of gun violence) wrote a book that profiled examples of great political courage throughout American history. He wouldn't have much material to work with were he around today to write a sequel. Cowardice abounds. Get used to living in a country in ruins. This is the way it's going to be from now on.
July 26:
It's sad that people who are not white need to wait until they are no longer "minorities" in order to receive equal protection under the law (At present they don't have that protection - and you're kidding yourselves if you think that they do. Just look at the prison population). But as long as they have waited, I don't think they'll have to wait much longer. As uncle Bobby said, "The old world is rapidly fading. Please get out of the new one if you can't lend a hand". Or as Sam Cooke sang nearly fifty years ago, "a change is gonna come". Sam didn't live to see that change. Bob Dylan probably will live to see it. In fact, we're damned-near there. We have no other choice but to accept it. The history of the next century will primarily be the story of how well (or badly) white America dealt with that inevitable change. Deal with it well, my friends. History will smile upon you.
August 12:
If you cast your precious ballot for the Romney/Ryan ticket on November sixth, don't be expecting the kind of enlightened moderation that was personified by Theodore Roosevelt - that last great Republican president. The working and the middle classes will be shouldering most of the the tax burden - and the rich? (excuse me, I meant the "job creators") They will be taxed at an even lower rate than they already are. Remember how well those Bush Tax Cuts worked out last time around? It sent the economy right into the abyss. If you're expecting a different result the next time these knuckleheads are in control of the White House, that's the very definition of insanity. Stay the hell away from sharp objects, okay?
August 18:
FUN FACT: Two months ago the Texas State Republican Party announced that part of their platform at the 2012 National Convention will be the demand that the Voting Rights Act of 1965 be repealed as unconstitutional. Since they made that announcement there has not been a single word of reprimand toward them from the RNC - nary a peep. Was this a great country or what!
August 31:
Did you happen to check out last night's conclusion of the 2012 Clown Car Race-to-the-Bottom? If this is the best the GOP can do for der Mittster's Coming Out party they're in worse shape than I thought. It was a dud and-a-half from beginning to end. And did you catch Clint Eastwood's pathetic Bob Newhart impersonation? Painful and embarrassing! What the hell were they thinking when they allowed him to go out there unscripted? The very sight of him debating that empty chair gave me the same kind of almost sympathetic feeling I got watching Michael Moore interviewing a feeble-minded Charlton Heston in the film Bowling for Columbine. As George Carlin might have said, it's time to "check his calender". Too sad for words.
September 6:
Think about this, folks: When FDR was elected eighty years ago, he was not able to undo the mess he inherited from the Republicans in one term. He wasn't even able to do it in two terms. It took him nearly a decade! Unlike Roosevelt, Barack Obama will not be allowed the luxury of four terms. It will probably take two - possibly three - different presidents to clean up this mess.
September 11:
Forty-four years of biographical hindsight informs us that [the Beatles] were four, humanly flawed, imperfect - and in many respects - troubled men. Oh, but that music. That timeless, perfect and beautiful music. I'm willing to forgive these guys just about anything. I was only four months shy of my twelfth birthday when the Beatles broke up forever in the spring of 1970. When I was a little boy they were the undisputed princes of the Planet Earth. To me they seemed to be invincible. The deaths of John Lennon and George Harrison proved for all time that they were not. Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr are today elderly men for whom eternity now beckons. They were - and are - as vulnerable in their grip on this slender thread as any of us. Imagine.
September 17:
It cannot possibly be understated, the mess this president inherited when he moved into the White House on 20 January 2009. If you'll be so kind to recall, we were losing three quarters of a million jobs a month. Barack Obama was able to stem the tide and then reverse it. We'll soon be approaching Month Number Thirty-One of continuous job growth. Are you silly enough to believe that even deeper tax cuts for multi-millionaires and billionaires will make those figures any better? Have another sip, pal. In fact I may join you.
September 19:
MEMO TO MITT: The little eight-year-old girl who skips over to the corner candy store to buy an Almond Joy candy bar pays taxes. Everyone pays taxes. Some pay too much. Others (like you, Mitt) not enough. That's your civics lesson for the day, Mitt. You could use a lot of them.
October 11:
In a matter of a few months a sixty year, unblemished career and reputation have been reduced to ashes on the alter on public opinion. His reputation as "the winningest coach in football" has been erased from official memory. What a waste; what a pity, and how unspeakably sad. Where have you gone, Joe Paterno?
October 21:
Publicly Bobby Kennedy referred to George McGovern as "the most decent man in the senate". Privately he called him "the only decent man in the senate". In my opinion he was the only man who ever sought the White House who was a true "Christian", that is to say he took the words of the Sermon on the Mount quite literally and tried to live by them - both publicly and privately. He was the peace candidate in 1972. His entire candidacy was more-than-likely a lesson in futility. Americans didn't want a pacifist living in the White House in 1972. Forty years later they still don't want one. We do love our wars, don't we. We're a warlike people. That's primarily why we are today a nation in ruins. Deal with it.
November 1:
I do know this, though: those who love to wail and bitch about the evils of "big government" will be keeping their clueless mouths shut for the next couple of days - maybe even until Tuesday. Like last year in Hurricane Irene's aftermath, a lot of people will be thankful that the government which many Republicans want to "shrink until it's small enough to drown in a bathtub" is still large enough to deliver them from starvation and despair. A few days ago when Mitt Romney was asked fourteen times if he still planned on doing away with FEMA (as he said many times during the primaries) he refused to answer the question. Go ahead. Vote for Mitt; I dare you.
December 1:
These three chiefs executive - Lincoln, [Theodore] Roosevelt and Eisenhower - are just three reasons the present-day Republican party have to feel justly proud. Isn't it funny that not one of them are ever mentioned in the GOP's campaign literature? What's even funnier is the fact that most of the grand-old-partiers who lived in the White House are remembered today as complete failures. Reading their propaganda you would think that Ronald Reagan was the first Republican president, wouldn't you? History's final judgement has yet to catch up to Reagan. It will, though. It will.
December 15:
The tragedy in Newtown this week defies reason and common decency; but don't think for a minute that a change is going to come. Any half-witted, psychotic little geek with an attitude problem and a fist-full of dollars will still be able to walk into any gun shop in Anytown, USA and take home a handy-dandy, semi-automatic, military assault weapon specifically designed to kill an entire roomful of men, women and little children - and do it quite quickly and efficiently, too. Our lawbreakers disguised as lawmakers will still act as whores to expediency and campaign contributions. American children will still be slaughtered on the alters of greed and human stupidity. That ol' River of Blood is gonna still keep on flowin', baby! Nothing is going to change - nothing. Why bother getting so bent out of shape over the inevitable? I'm not.
***********************
And what a long, strange year it's been. I don't expect the quality of our national dialogue to improve at all in 2013. That's okay. I thrive on this nonsense.
Have a grand one!
Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net
SUGGESTED LISTENING:
Ding Dong! Ding Dong!
by George Harrison
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJR44H48POo
Ring out the false, ring in the true
Ring out the old, ring in the new
posted by Tom Degan @ 12:39 PM
40 comments
40 Comments:
Regarding your last point, the US is like a primitive and savage culture that accepts human sacrifice, of brown foreigners as well as our own, as the cost of doing business.
Right now there is a semi-automatic weapon on the shelf waiting to be sold that will be used for murder.
We dare not try to interfere with the supreme "free market" deity.
The most sacred thing to elites of corporate America is the holy Bottom Line. The environment and human life depending on it really matter little to them.
I love you, Tom.
Hope your holidays were happy.
S
(Tear running down cheeks while laughing out loud.)
Thank you, Suzan!
Well, Tom, you may choose to call it the Worst of the Rant, but some of these points are right on target. It was a strange year and who knows what 2013 will bring? Whatever, it is nice to know that we have The Rant to look forward to; always something to stimulate the thinking and annoy the trolls.
Keep up the good work!
DD, you are one sick SOB.
Tell us all what would make our culture less primitive and savage so we can flock to your point of view and finally be no longer racists towards brown skinned foreigners?
And since you brought up race (brown foreigners is what you called them, how sensitive of you), you closet racist, what % of the inmates you watch over are white, brown skin and foreigners of any skin color? Do the white skin guests deserve to be there while the rest are their only because of the racist American corruption of the legal system that favors the rich and the whites?
Do you treat the guests of the place of your employment any different due to their skin color? Do the guests of your employment treat each other differently based on their skin color? As one of the informed progressive elite, what are you doing about this miscarriage of justice?
Tommy,
I'm starting to wonder if you are a reincarnation of Walter Duranty who served as the Moscow Bureau Chief of The New York Times (1922–36).
Walt was a dumb fuk who wrote a series of articles in the NYTimes telling how wonderfully progressive and "leaning forward" the Soviet Union was.
That's the weirdest cellphone I've ever seen. Why is the antenna on the wrong end?
Oh, you commie pinko hippie freak, you...I love it...keep it up...
Much enjoyed your 2012 political recap - thanks! What a year indeed. I do hope you are right about 2014 being the year we bury the Elephant. I'm sick and tired of he obstructionist anti-science assholes, including most of the Republicant House members from my own state, Virginia. Regards, Michael Bentley
"Antiscience" = questions the concept of interspecial evolution and/or "global warming" psuedoscience.
Neither of which, ironically, have any consensus theory established.
"global warming" psuedoscience and women's bodies that shut down reproduction after rape?
Sheesh....
So what happened to all that pseudo-arctic ice over the past decade? Damn liberal thermometers anyway.
According to the FBI annual crime statistics, the number of murders committed annually with hammers and clubs far outnumbers the number of murders committed with a rifle.
This is an interesting fact, particularly amid the Democrats' feverish push to ban many different rifles, ostensibly to keep us safe of course.
However, it appears the zeal of Sens. like Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) is misdirected. For in looking at the FBI numbers from 2005 to 2011, the number of murders by hammers and clubs consistently exceeds the number of murders committed with a rifle.
Think about it: In 2005, the number of murders committed with a rifle was 445, while the number of murders committed with hammers and clubs was 605. In 2006, the number of murders committed with a rifle was 438, while the number of murders committed with hammers and clubs was 618.
And so the list goes, with the actual numbers changing somewhat from year to year, yet the fact that more people are killed with blunt objects each year remains constant.
For example, in 2011, there was 323 murders committed with a rifle but 496 murders committed with hammers and clubs.
While the FBI makes is clear that some of the "murder by rifle" numbers could be adjusted up slightly, when you take into account murders with non-categorized types of guns, it does not change the fact that their annual reports consistently show more lives are taken each year with these blunt objects than are taken with Feinstein's dreaded rifle.
Another interesting fact: According to the FBI, nearly twice as many people are killed by hands and fists each year than are killed by murderers who use rifles.
Anonymous at 4:32 PM missed the point that far more people are killed in traffic accidents than are killed by rifles. I guess that means that it is OK if we use rifles to kill people as long as the number killed by rifles is less than the number killed by traffic accidents.
No Ron, you have to stop thinking like a progressive! We need to stop killing people with cars, then hammers, then hands, then rifles, if we really want to save lives in a logical manner.
I don't expect the quality of our national dialogue to improve at all in 2013.
Being well on the road to failed state status thing will only get worse. Delusional Teabaggers are edging ever closer to violence because the conspiracy du jour is once again the fear of the evil, islamic, atheist taking away there precious weapons. And to think I once thought the LOTR's charater Gollum's behavior was over the top.
Beach Bum said
“Delusional Teabaggers are edging ever closer to violence…”
Delusional OWS, like other left-wing anarchist movements, is already there…
And, there are many on the left who do actually want to ban private ownership of guns – so, technically, that is not a conspiracy theory – it is a reality grounded in evidence.
Also, Islamists are not atheists.
Just trying to improve the quality of the dialogue, you see…
FOUR MORE YEARS!!
Cant wait until the increased taxes taken from the rich start to roll in, I'm sure this trend will turn around, right??
The irony is those hit the hardest by the Obama economy are the ones who voted for him by the highest percentage.
The dismal jobs situation in America is even worse for young adults, who are suffering an unemployment rate 30 percent higher than the national average of 7.8 announced by Washington Friday.
According to Generation Opportunity, which charts unemployment for Millennials aged 18-29, the rate is 11.5 percent and a shocking 22.1 percent for younger black Americans.
Here's their release just received by Secrets:
December's Millennial Jobs Report: Youth Unemployment at 11.5 Percent
Washington, DC - (1/4/13) - Generation Opportunity, a national, non-partisan organization advocating for Millennials ages 18-29, is announcing its Millennial Jobs Report for December 2012. The data is non-seasonally adjusted (NSA) and is specific to 18-29 year olds:
The overall unemployment rate for 18-29 year olds for December 2012 is 11.5 percent (NSA).
The unemployment rate for 18-29 year old African-Americans for December 2012 is 22.1 percent (NSA); the unemployment rate for 18-29 year old Hispanics for December 2012 is 12.2 percent (NSA); and the unemployment rate for 18-29 year old women for December 2012 is 10.4 percent (NSA).
The declining labor force participation rate has created an additional 1.7 million young adults that are not counted as "unemployed" by the U.S. Department of Labor because they are not in the labor force, meaning that those young people have given up looking for work due to the lack of jobs.
Anonymous replied to my comment yesterday, Jan. 3 at 7:11 PM as follows. “No Ron, you have to stop thinking like a progressive! We need to stop killing people with cars, then hammers, then hands, then rifles, if we really want to save lives in a logical manner.” (comment at 9:53 PM yesterday).
I thought your original comment at 4:32 PM yesterday, to which I replied, was silly, hence my sarcastic reply. Your 9:53 PM reply to my comment in my opinion is (to quote Tom Degan) “batsh*t crazy.” With your sequential order of priorities we pay no attention to rifles until we have solved all the more frequent methods of causing deaths of others?
Tom Degan has earlier commented that it is far easier to outrun or dodge a blunt instrument than a bullet from a rifle. I believe that argues for a different ordering of priorities than the number of people killed.
The outcry after the Newtown massacre of 20 first graders and 8 adults has been almost exclusively directed at eliminating the private ownership of assault weapons and large capacity magazines.
I believe there is virtually no likelihood of a serious effort to confiscate all guns, including those used in hunting. But what hunter uses an AK-47 with a large capacity magazine for hunting? There has to be some reasonable limit, however, to the firepower available to the general public. For example, how about mortars, 105mm howitzers, or even nuclear weapons?
As to my “progressive” thinking I have owned a shotgun for many years and have fired thousands of shells, most of which I reloaded. I must admit, however, that the only things killed by those shells were made of clay and shot on a skeet range.
Ron,
There can be no reasonable discussion with those who have a seditious, Tim McVeigh type interpretation of the Second Amendment.
They think the Second Amendment is for arming a revolution. That's really it.
Of course they're nuts. Gun nuts.
Tommy,
Walter Duranty died in 1957. What year were you born?
I read that John W. Booth was a Democrat! I heard the Lee Harvey Oswald was a member of the GOP!! And people who shot Presidents Reagan and Ford were members of the NRA AND the GOP!!!. And the killer of RFK was a right wing NRA Christian!! Hard to believe, but its true, just ask DD or Ron B.
The only real solution to this gun violence committed by the right wing, is to take away guns from every American including the police and prison guards. After all any member of the NRA or Christian or conservative or Republican now has the right to own a gun. We must stop that because these groups are the real source of the abuse of the 2nd Amendment. And gun deaths, like in Chicago last year. I cant prove this but it wouldn't surprise me if every trigger person who killed someone in Chicago with a gun was a white conservative Christian GOP member of the NRA from down state Illinois who was there just to kill someone. Maybe even a member of the Tea Party as well.
Next, we can work on "hammer control laws".
Now that’s funny !!!!!
Anonymous said at 7:09 PM on January 4, “Next, we can work on "hammer control laws".
At long last I can say I agree with Anonymous about something. Who would have guessed it?
Anonymous, we really need to work on “Hammer Control Laws” and your help will be sincerely appreciated.
Here in Florida the Matron of the NRA Lobbyists is 73 year old Marion Hammer.
BloombergBusinessweek describes Marion Hammer as follows:
“Hammer authored a landmark concealed-carry law in Florida that by her last count had been passed by 40 other states. She persuaded lawmakers in Tallahassee to pass a bill restricting the questions doctors can ask kids about guns in their home, legislation that at least five other states have considered. Then there’s the Stand Your Ground law that generated controversy when George Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin near Orlando in February. That was also Hammer’s doing, and roughly two dozen other states have passed similar statutes. “There is no single individual responsible for enacting more pro-gun legislation in the states than Marion Hammer,” says Richard Feldman, a former political organizer for the NRA.”
Further in the Bloomberg article they note that “Governor Rick Scott credits her with helping him win his party’s nomination in 2010.” That’s our Governor, the proud holder of a 29% approval rating.
Read more about Marion Hammer at http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-05-17/marion-hammer-the-nras-most-powerful-weapon.
The post about guns vs hammers is ludicrous, firearms killed 8,582 people in 2011. I believe the number of people killed by hammers is inflated also.
Just think how wonderful American will be when Cops and corrections officers have their address published for criminals . Then we can take all guns from everyone including cops and corrections officers so the bad guys wont rob their guns.
What a progressive plan!!
Law enforcement officials from a New York region where a local paper published a map identifying gun owners say prisoners are using the information to intimidate guards.
Rockland County Sheriff Louis Falco, who spoke at a news conference flanked by other county officials, said the Journal News' decision to post an online map of names and addresses of handgun owners Dec. 23 has put law enforcement officers in danger.
"They have inmates coming up to them and telling them exactly where they live. That's not acceptable to me," Falco said, according to Newsday.
Robert Riley, an officer with the White Plains Police Department and president of its Patrolman’s Benevolent Association, agreed.
"You have guys who work in New York City who live up here. Now their names and addresses are out there, too," he said adding that there are 8,000 active and retired NYPD officers currently living in Rockland County.
Anonynous at 12:12, with regards to policeman having their names and address published, just remember that the Bible says those who live by the sword (think guns) will perish by the sword.
Second Amendment rights should apply to muzzle loading flintlock weapons, the right to own any firearm more advanced than that should be negotiable.
At one time, anyone could walk into their local hardware store and buy a fully automatic Thompson sub machine gun.
The Declaration of Independence listed our 'unalienable rights' as 'LIFE, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness'.
Notice how life is listed before liberty?
I'm a gun owner, and always have been, but I don't feel like my right to own guns is threatened because we need some common sense laws to try to reduce the ability of mentally disturbed people to obtain weapons that were designed primarily to kill people in large numbers without wasting time to reload.
"just remember that the Bible says those who live by the sword (think guns) will perish by the sword."
Hear that DD? Your name and address could be published in the Ypsilanti Courier so the family of those who you guard at the Women's Huron Valley Correctional Facility will know where you live. Hot Damn!
This comment has been removed by the author.
So Anonymous approves of publishing personal information, and does it himself, however incorrect it may be, while he condemns it.
Now that's how we know a hypocrite troll and an asshole.
But that's not news. He's always eager to show us what a real jerk he is. Must be his "conservative compassion" or "family values".
Truly an asshole's asshole. That's something to be real proud of there, sport.
How does it feel to have no conscience whatsoever? Very "Right", of course.
DD, elections have consequences, enjoy the next four years.
James,
Learn to read, it was rifles, not guns being compared. A comparison done by the FBI, that far right NRA loving group under the control of an Obama appointee, not GWB.
"When you all go home and you're talking to your buddies and you say, ah 'He wants to take my gun away.' You've heard it here, I'm on television so everybody knows it. I believe in the Second Amendment. I believe in people's lawful right to bear arms. I will not take your shotgun away. I will not take your rifle away. I won't take your handgun away." B.H. Obama Lebanon, Virginia in 2008.
Impeach Obama, he wont take our guns away!
Damned good news from New Hampshire!
DD approves!
A New Hampshire legislator wants her constituents to know that she feels conservatives are the "single biggest threat" her state faces today, and she wants to use her powers to legislate to "pass measures that will restrict" the freedoms of Granite State conservatives.
In a blog post made last month on the left-wing site Blue Hampshire, 3rd District State Representative Democrat Cynthia Chase advised her fellow legislators to use their positions to make New Hampshire less welcoming to any conservative or libertarian planning on moving to her state—not to mention those already in residence.
For those unaware, a conservative project of sorts has been underway in New Hampshire since 2001. The idea is that Americans of conservative ideals are to move to New Hampshire, gather in communities, run for office, and work to drive the state toward libertarianism and conservatism. It is called the "Free State Project" and adherents are called "Free Staters."
These Free Staters figure that the state’s motto, “Live Free or Die,” should really mean something and it is these citizens whose freedoms legislator Chase wants to oppress.
In her December 21 post, Chase wrote that, "Free Staters are the single biggest threat the state is facing today."
"In the opinion of this Democrat, Free Staters are the single biggest threat the state is facing today. There is, legally, nothing we can do to prevent them from moving here to take over the state, which is their openly stated goal. In this country you can move anywhere you choose and they have that same right. What we can do is to make the environment here so unwelcoming that some will choose not to come, and some may actually leave. One way is to pass measures that will restrict the 'freedoms' that they think they will find here. Another is to shine the bright light of publicity on who they are and why they are coming."
Of course, it is one thing to be a proponent of laws that might have the unintended consequences of restricting others' freedoms. If one truly believes in such policies, well, they may be disastrously wrong, but at least they'd be honestly wrong. A fine point, to be sure.
But here we have a legislator that doesn't just want to pass laws that are tangentially restrictive. She wants to purposefully use her powers to write laws to target individuals with whom she disagrees, take away their freedoms and liberties, and all in the hopes that the citizens she is oppressing might move away from her state.
As New Hampshirite Steve MacDonald notes, "this sounds like tyranny."
Imagine if a legislator had written a blog post targeting the freedoms of gays, or women, or some other minority? One would think that the media would go wild with such a story. But here we have an elected official suggesting that government be used in the United States of America to eliminate freedoms for certain citizens in order to gain political control and the media is silent.
Sounds like tyranny, indeed.
What would be the reaction of Conservatives if hordes of Liberals moved to a Red state to change it into a Blue state? Would they welcome us with open arms? I do not think so.
Really James, you think an elected person would attempt to pass a law to stop the movement of people from one state to another? Re-read your Constitution.
Anyway if the FREE market place of ideas, what do progressive have to worry about any way?
We must have better ladder control!
According to the FBI, the total number of gun deaths for 2005 was 10,158, for 2006 it was 10,225, and for 2007 it was 10,129. These numbers fluctuate a little, dropping from time to time. For example, in 2010 the total number of gun related deaths was 8,775 and in 2011 it was 8,583.
These numbers can seem high. And snatched out of thin air by gun-grabbers, these numbers seem to represent death on an unbelievable scale. But when compared with other types of death -- like car accidents, and/or the reckless and intentionally-fatal uses of an automobile -- the gun death numbers literally pale in comparison
For example, according to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the total number of deaths related to automobiles in 2009 was 34,485. In other words, more people died via automobiles in 2009 alone than died in gun-related deaths for the years 2005, 2006, and 2007 combined.
Moreover, according to the CDC, more people died from falls in 2009 alone than died in gun-related deaths for the years 2009, 2010, and most of 2011 combined. (Total number of deaths via falls in 2009 was 24,792.)
The bottom line: Driving down the interstate and climbing rocks and ladders is exceedingly dangerous when compared with owning and using handguns, shotguns, and rifles.
Exactly. Ladders are worse. Why, my ladder was stolen recently, and I'm terrified at how many people the thief will kill with it.
So I guess we should pass laws controlling gravity and inertia before we pass any laws controlling access to guns?
Modusoperandi and De_Bill, sure why not pass your suggested laws, they will have as much impact in stopping death by ladder and gravity as more gun laws will.
After all, its just as much against against the law to kill someone with a hammer or your hands as it is by a gun. But that hasn't stopped people from killing by any means at hand IE, guns, cars, hands, hammer, axes, etc.
Deep Thoughts by Progressives 2013
Why stop at Gun Free Zones? We should also create Crime Free Zones!
My body is my business, but so is what other people earn.
We keep voting democrat, but we’re STILL poor.
Someday I’ll live in my OWN basement!
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