Just the other day, I was rummaging around in the Blogozone in search of inspiration — as per usual, when I found this juicy quote from an Al Schumann article at Stop Me Before I Vote Again:

…it seems far more likely that the Democrats are paying the price, an expected and even welcome price, for demobilizing and demoralizing their base. The Great Liberal Bus is teetering on top of a pile of the people pushed under it. From the very start, the Democrats have fought their activists harder than they’ve fought the Republicans. They’ve had them arrested!

Now, the article itself is about a year and a half old, written during the depths of the healthcare “debate”, but is still amazingly prescient in the context of the intervening two years of inaction, abuse and betrayal by the Democratic Party of its Left/Progressive constituencies, culminating in the recent budget compromise which gave the Rightists in Congress pretty much everything they wanted.

Teetering on top of a pile of the people pushed under it. Jeezus, what an image. Thanks, Schumann.

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Continue reading "Under the Bus, no.2" »

You’ve got to hand it to Obummer, his timing’s impeccable. On the anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King — and one day before capitulating to the Rightists and allowing military commission trials of Guantanamo detainees — Obummer rolls out his 2012 re-election campaign, complete with a smarmy, grassrootsy video, and asks, “Are You In?”

“Are You In?” Jeezus, what the hell kind of slogan is that? It sounds like the wrapup for a venture capital pitch, like a question asked by some newly-minted Stanford MBA trying to schmooze a few million for his crappy-assed Internet start-up.

The “official” unemployment rate is nailed at around 10%, the foreclosure rate is climbing, bankers are getting fatter than ever, Bush’s tax cuts for the rich are still in place, the healthcare system is still in the hands of corporations, we’re up to our asses in three wars, the concentration camp at Guantanamo Bay is still open, our civil liberties are in worse shape than ever, Obummer’s just rolled over for John Boehner on the budget deal — and now Obummer’s got the sheer gall to ask me if I’m “in”.

Like hell I’m “in”. Take a goddamn’ hike, piker.

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Continue reading "Are You In?" »

Really, gang… all you need to know to understand this year’s State Of The Union is: ponies!

And, while I’m at it… am I the only one who watched the part of the speech where Obama gets all jazzed up about all the amazingly awesome fantastically innovative technological wonderfulness Americans have been capable of and thought for a moment that I was watching a segment of Oprah’s Favorite Things?

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At For Want Of A Nail: It’s Hard to Watch Your Speech When Our Power Has Been Disconnected, Sir…

Continue reading "SOTU 2011 Analysis: Ponies!" »

Sorry, gang; can’t help it. Sometimes a portrayal of a situation defies all subtlety and poetry, and forces me to “go Herblock” on it.

If you’ve been paying any attention to the news lately, you’ve probably heard all about the big CEO get-together up at Obummer’s Place, with all the attendant worried blather from the boss media chatterers about whether or not El Presidente is being seen as “pro-business” enough. Well, let’s see… there’s the bank bailouts, the health-insurance industry bailout (aka “Healthcare Reform”), the latest round of bailouts of the banking industry (aka “Financial Reform”) and, of course, the latest sellout to the rich in the form of the extension of tax cuts for the rich under the thin disguise of “tax cuts for all”. After all this, how could there be any doubt about how “pro-business” our Glorious Boy Emperor is? Seriously, the guy’s been pro-corporate since day one, and even before. What the hell are all these big shots on CNBC bitching about? He’s pretty much given them everything they want.

What I’ve enjoyed, though, is the defensive, pushed-button reactions of the White House and Democratic Party “leadership” every time any Progressives or Lefties call bullshit and point out how he’s sold out to corporations on every major issue; they go into the pre-programmed “compromise” rap and brand anyone who objects to “compromise” as an unreasonable zealot or “purist”. What Obummer fails to point out, however, is how all of his “historic reforms” are weak, watered-down half-measures at the very best, and how his “spirit of compromise” involves caving in to corporate interests at every opportunity, appeasing right-wing neofascists and wannabe theocrats, and colluding with the very same class of people who are responsible for the trouble this country’s in now. Y’know, if our side actually got something out of all this compromising, it might not be so bad, but we’ve gotten absolute zero.

So, if being appalled at crass opportunism, cowardice and hypocrisy makes me a “purist”, then, hell yeah, I’m a purist. If wanting an end to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the closure of Guantanamo and Bagram makes me a “purist”, then, hell, yeah. If wanting the control of the healthcare system taken away from corporations makes me a “purist”, then, hell, yeah. If wanting an end to warrantless spying and intimidation and the restoration of the Bill Of Rights makes me a “purist”, then, hell, yeah… just like Frederick Douglass was a “purist”, and Eugene Debs was a “purist”, and Emma Goldman, and Nelson Mandela, and Abbie Hoffman, and Bobby Seale.

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Continue reading "Uh Oh, It’s Herblock Channeling Time Again" »