"The Rant" by Tom Degan

The Stupidity of Deregulation

2009-12-14T04:46:00.082-05:00

The bill that has just been passed in the House is called, "HR 4173". It is designed (in theory anyway) to protect honest investors from the type of predators that have been openly and legally running rampant on Wall Street for thirty years now.

Don't hold your breath waiting for whole chapters to be written about HR 4173 in the history books. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 it ain't. This proposed new law is so riddled with loopholes it might as well be rendered next-to-useless. It was passed 223 to 202 - with not one Republican legislator voting in favor of it. Not one. Even a law as watered down as this one is unacceptable to these bastards and bitches. That fact alone illustrates more than any other the moral bankruptcy of that hideous party.

Well, HR 4173 is a start - I GUESS. What the American people are in dire need of at this point in time is a comprehensive history lesson. At the moment the Republicans within Congress and without (and more-than-a-few Democrats) are in the process of trying to sell us on the idea that the re-regulatory direction in which the Left wishes to take us will ultimately be a bad thing for the economy - that it will cost jobs, punish honest brokers, strangle America's entrepreneurial spirit, force our daughters to become lesbians, blah, blah, blah....

The regulations put into place in the nineteen thirties by Franklin D. Roosevelt and his "Brain Trust" guided the marketplace for nearly fifty years. Since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in the late nineteenth century, unregulated, out-of-control capitalism was known to periodically wreck havoc on the American economy. Every decade would experience at least one serious meltdown of the Stock Market and more than a few financial depressions. In that era it was widely accepted that in a robust and healthy economy these periodic calamities were inevitable and unavoidable.

Along came FDR. As far as anyone could tell there did not seem to be a hell of a lot of substance to the man. The journalist Walter Lippman described him as a man in possession of a first class temperament and a second class intellect. His distant cousin, Alice Roosevelt Longworth (Teddy's daughter) publicly dismissed him as a "feather duster". The nation and the world would learn in due course, however, that there was more to this pampered squire of Dutchess County than met the skeptical eye.

Although it has become almost a cliche it is undeniable: Roosevelt saved capitalism by tempering its excesses. While it was not perfectly flawless, the rules put into place by by the New Dealers worked pretty well for almost fifty years - until the nineteen-eighties, that is. That was when the American voters (for reasons I still can't figure out) overwhelmingly decided that sending Ronald Reagan to the White House would be a really neat idea. Reagan was a feeble-minded, failed "B" movie actor at the dawn of senility who should have been in an assisted living program somewhere, being spoon-fed oatmeal. Instead, January 20, 1981 saw him taking the oath of office as the fortieth president of the United States. Life is kind of funny that way, ya know?

Reagan and his team were hellbent on dismantling the legacy of FDR and the New Deal. "No!", they told us. "The unprecedented economic expansion of the post World War Two era is not because of regulation, but in spite of it", they assured us. "Let the market regulate itself and all will be well! There will be dancing in the street! It will be morning in America again!"

Nearly three decades later that philosophy has been forever exposed as the scam it obviously was to anyone who bothered to pay attention in the first place. The chickens have come home to roost with a vengeance. The economic carnage that we have experienced in the last year was bound to happen and had been predicted for years (including on this site: December 31, 2007 and June 9, 2008). It was as inevitable as the sun setting in the west. Twenty-nine years ago, the fortieth president put his country in jalopy without a steering wheel. This is the road he sent us hurling down.

Here's a promise, America: One day very soon you will wake up and realize what a complete fool Reagan was.

After eight years of Reagan and four years of King George I, A Democratic president came to town who might have at least attempted to put an end to the orgy of deregulation that was slowly destroying the U.S. economy. Instead he merely aided and abetted it. The main reason I left the Democratic party nearly twelve years ago? Two words: BILL CLINTON.

It is a lesson that we have learned so many times throughout our history it's embarrassing to realize that we had to learn it yet again: the Progressive creates, the Plutocrat destroys; The Liberals invest in society while the Conservatives invest in themselves. The result whenever the right wing has been able to seize all three branches of our government has always been the same - a social and economic shit storm. This is the fourth time in our history we've learned that lesson. How many more times will we have to make the same mistake? We've made it so many times it's starting to get boring. Seriously.

Here is a fact of life that is so Civics 101, it amazes me that Republican legislators have never had the wit to figure it out. You're either going to have one of two things:

You will have a functioning, healthy and thriving society where our children get the best education possible; where jobs are plentiful and crime rates are low; where the infrastructure is sound and running at full capacity....

....or you will have a situation where the wealthy are taxed at the lowest rate imaginable. You cannot - you will not - have both. If you don't believe me, the next time you decide to take a vacation, spend it in Texas or Mississippi. Send me a post card.

Last night on 60 Minutes, President Obama expressed frustration that Wall Street still doesn't "get it". Of course they don't get it! The taxpayer-funded bailout was handed over to them unconditionally - minus regulation, if you will. Expecting them to do the right thing was beyond naive - it was insane. They've taken all that money and they've decided to hoard it, not pump it back into the economy as they were supposed to. These people have a single motivation: to make as much money as possible. They don't give a hoot in hell about right or wrong. They don't consider what is good for Main Street. All they think about is profit. People this amoral need guidelines - they need rules and regulations - otherwise America's economic reality will mirror the situation as it existed prior to 1933 (and since 1981): economic anarchy.

You say you want a revolution....

It's coming, baby, like it or not. Lately I've noticed a peculiar thing: people who describe themselves as Conservative finding common ground with people who describe themselves as Liberal. This can't be a very nice thing for American politicians to contemplate. When regular people like us can figure out what is really behind their Three Card Monty scheme, it's only a matter of time before all the cards come tumbling down.

You tell me it's the institution....

HR 4173 is merely a baby step in the right direction. For three long decades these assholes were permitted - by law - to run roughshod over our economy, looting our national treasure in the process. As Sam Cooke once sang, "a change is gonna come". So much more needs to be done. So many old laws need to be re-instituted. Imagine cleaning up a blood bath with a Kleenex. That is essentially what HR 4173 amounts to. We have a long road ahead of us.

Well, you know, we all wanna change the world.

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net

FOR THE RECORD:

Twenty-seven Democrats voted against HR 4173. That faint rumbling you hear in the distance is the sound of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt doing somersaults in their graves.

The photo at the top of the page is of FDR and his cabinet on their first full day in office, March 5, 1933.

AFTERTHOUGHT:

I've just discovered a very thought provoking site called The Peace Tree. It says at the top of the page:

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace."

Beautiful! Here's a link:

http://www.thepeacetree2.blogspot.com/

Cheerio!

Jammin' with the Dickster

2009-12-07T17:04:00.049-05:00

What a festival of laughs 2009 has proven to be - and to think that it's not even over yet! The rib-tickling, unintentional humor that has been provided to us in the last year courtesy of the extreme right has been more fun than the law should allow. It hasn't been the most fascinating political year - not by a long shot - but it has, without a doubt, been the most fun. There are so many contenders for the title, Jackass of the Year, it might in the end prove difficult, if not impossible, to categorize them. Which brings me to the topic of Dick Cheney.

Back in January, as the First Fool's reign of error was winding down, for a curious reason I may never be able to explain, I was feelin' kinda blue. Soon Dickie and Dubya and the entire Bush Mob would be gone - FOREVER! Say what you want to about that hideous duo, they made for great copy. What was I going to do now that they were gone. I would probably have to get a real job. Oh, curse you, fate! Wicked, wicked fate!

As it turns out, there's been more material than ever to write about. The Clown Army is on the march and our old nemesis, Dastardly Dick Cheney, is leading the charge. Isn't life beautiful? Forgive me, sweet, blessed fate.

Remember when Bush "chose" Cheney to be on the ticket nine, long years ago? In actuality, it was Cheney whose chose Cheney. Poppy Bush charged his former Secretary of Defense with the mission of finding a suitable running mate for his half-witted kid. After a vigorous and detailed "search", Dick came back with the stats: As it turned out, he was the best person qualified to run with Junior as V.P. candidate. Almost three years ago I imagined the conversation that must have taken place:

The Dickster: GEORGE! I have found your ideal running mate!

Dubya: Great! Who is it, Dick?

The Dickster: You're not gonna believe it - IT'S ME!!!

Dubya: Whoa! What're the odds!

I have always believed that it was a perfect illustration of the utter stupidity of Bush and the people around him that they swallowed all of this without batting an eye. And do you remember the term that all of the talking heads and pundits were using to describe Cheney when Bush made this fateful decision? He had "gravitas", they chimed. Gravitas. The story keeps getting funnier with every passing moment of historical hindsight. Gravitas indeed.

EXTRA! DEGAN COMPLIMENTS BUSH!!!

Yeah, I never thought it would come to this either. But credit must be given where credit is due; and the fact is that the former president has behaved (on the surface at least) fairly admirably since he left office. For the most part, and unlike most of his former colleagues, he has avoided the temptation to be hysterical on the subject of the Obama White House. Then again, it must be conceded that when one has presided over the most failed and corrupt administration in the history of the republic, it usually is a good rule of thumb to keep your mouth shut. Cheney, on the other hand, is without shame. This is precisely what makes the man such a scream!

His most recent kvetch? Obama was "dithering" on Afghanistan. Dithering? Pray tell, do my ears deceive me? Barack Obama was "dithering" on whether or not to send an additional thirty-five thousand kids into harms way? He dithered???

Oh! Dastardly Dick! Oh! Vile, deceitful Dickie! If thou had thus dithered, might not thy fellow countrymen and women have awaken this morn to a more content and peaceable homeland? Oh, vile and blundering Dick! Naughty Dick! Thou contemptible rascal!

If you read my last piece, it's no secret that it is my profound belief that Obama is committing a monumental mistake by escalating the war in Afghanistan. But let's give the guy a tip of the hat, okay? At least he had the good sense to think long and hard about what he felt he needed to do - unlike the previous administration that dove head-first and smiling into this stupid, fucking quagmire. In spite of my criticism, I believe (I hope) that Barack Obama is essentially a decent guy who means well. As stated previously, it is way too early to give an etched-in-stone assessment of this administration. We need to see where Election Day 2012 finds us. We shall see what we shall see.

At the moment it would seem that Dick Cheney and his disgusting daughter Liz are Number One on the Shit Parade. The darling girl is now promoting a movement ( and, PUH-LEEZ, I hope this is true) that would make dear old dad the GOP nominee in 2012. This can't possibly be, can it? Optimist though I may be, my luck has never gotten this good! Could this merely be a dream from which I am yet to awake? Pinch me, please.

Is a Cheney Candidacy in 2012 really in the cards? Probably not. Given his precarious health, it's not very likely that he will even live to see the next election. But then again, nearly three years ago - on this very site - I wrote a piece called, "Richard B. Cheney 1941-2007" where I predicted that he would not even live to see the '08 election. I wasn't hoping for him to die (cross my heart, I wasn't!) it was simply that, given his history of heart attacks, I was just being realistic - or so I thought at the time.

But like the imaginary science fiction screenplay I've written about the man "The Thing That Wouldn't Go Away", he remains - tormenting the daylights out of us for as long as his precarious mortality will allow.

Wretched Richard!

What we have here is one of those mixed-blessing kind of moments. Dick Cheney won't be going away anytime soon, of that you may be certain. And as long as he remains at the extreme-right-of-center-stage of this extremely amusing review, I think I just might stick around for the show. It is the type of scenario destined to provide truckloads of joy for progressives all over the country: Cheney and Sarah Palin, ripping each other to bloody shreds in the primaries of 2012. Can you even imagine what fun that would be to watch?

This is why President Obama's utter timidity in dealing with the Republicans in Congress is so damned frustrating. He obviously spends a hell of a lot of time thinking about the next election when it is plain to see that he has not a thing to worry about! The "party of Lincoln" is falling apart. Ronald Reagan is dead and he's not going to rise from the grave at midnight tonight to lead them back to the promise land. There is no golden boy/girl on the horizon who will be able to miraculously restore their national credibility between now and then. The GOP has been overtaken by a cabal of criminals and halfwits. With each passing day, this reality is becoming clearer and clearer to the American people. The Grand Old Party (for the time being at least) is over. Kaput.

I'm all for a Cheney candidacy in three years. If the man's health can hold out and given the direction that party seems hellbent on going, Dead Eye Dick is the right wing's made-to-order candidate. They can count on me - not only for a vigorous endorsement - but for a cash donation as well. And while we're at it, let's make things really interesting and throw Michele Bachmann into the mix!

And you thought 2008 was interesting? 2012 ought to be a hoot!

Tom Degan
tomdegan@frontiernet.net

AFTERTHOUGHT 12/11/09:

A few nights ago on Sean Hannity's moronic FOX Noise program, Cheney actually accused President Obama of giving "aid and comfort" to America's enemies and called his the most "radical" administration in American history. Medications please.

The Lost Lessons of History

2009-12-01T06:38:00.083-05:00

President Obama is coming to town tonight - or as close to my town as any president is ever likely to get. As far as anyone can tell, the last sitting president to visit Goshen, NY was Ulysses S Grant in the 1870's.

During the nineteenth century Goshen was a drinking man's town and Grant was not unknown for his libations. The old bastard probably felt right at home here - as I would have, too, I'm sure. He would stay at a place called the Occidental Hotel which used to occupy a prominent spot in the center of the village. In that bygone era it was the place to stay when you passed through town. Sadly, after decades of neglect, the old building was torched by its owner in an insurance scam in 1983. Today it is a weed-infested vacant lot.

George Washington came through town during the Revolutionary war (His famous Headquarters was close by in Newburgh). His time spent here was over a decade before he assumed office, however. Gerald Ford came here in the 1990's to inspect a meat-packing plant less than a half mile down Route 17M from where I now sit - but that was about twenty years after he left the White House.

Although he won't be stepping foot in this town, Barack Obama will be at West Point tonight, which is located right here in Orange County, just twenty-nine miles away. The worst kept secret in Washington this morning is the fact that he is going to announce a plan to increase the number of troops serving in Afghanistan by thirty to thirty-five thousand. Well, what the hey! It appears that this president (of all presidents!) has failed to learn some basic history lessons.

Take this to the bank:

We will lose the war in Afghanistan. Just as in Iraq, every serviceman and woman who has died there has died for no reason. Russia and merrie old England learned this lesson a long time ago. You would think....Never mind.

Suffice to say, on my best day I do not receive one tenth of the information that President Obama receives. I don't read any of the Presidential Daily Briefings that are placed on his desk every morning. Obviously he is in possession of a wealth of intelligence that you and I are just not privy to. Maybe we should be giving him the benefit of the doubt - and I have been doing just that, I promise you. But from my vantage point it appears to me that this president has failed to learn the lessons that have been passed onto us down the decades by the administrations of Franklin Delano Rossevelt and Lyndon Baines Johnson - lessons involving bold action in times of economic crisis (more on that another day) and the utter folly of waging wars that cannot be won.

I want to believe in this president. He is the chief executive I worked harder to elect than any other in my lifetime. I realize that it is simply far too early in this administration to write a final assessment of his term of office. That being said, my confidence in the Obama White House is ebbing rapidly. Where in the hell is all of this change I could believe in? Is the Bush Mob still in charge? What gives?

NOTE TO THE RIGHT WING:

No, I am still exceedingly grateful that John McCain and Fascist Barbie did not win the election last year. Have another sip.

The irony underlying this entire mess is the fact that Obama had a tiny window of opportunity during his first week or so in office where he could have ended this thing with the stroke of a pen. Remember, this was not his war. The only reason we invaded Afghanistan to begin with (on the surface, at least) was to kill or capture Osama bin Ladin, mastermind of the 9/11 attacks - that was it. When every opportunity to do so had been badly blundered due to the incompetence of George W. Bush and company, they changed the nature of the mission for no other reason than to save their hideous faces. It had nothing to do with bin Ladin, they assured us. It was all about "nation building". Nation building!

And that is where we find ourselves at the miserable present. Before the sun sets this afternoon, another American kid (or more) will be sacrificed on the alter of stupidity for no other reason than to prop up a government which has been identified by the organization, Transparency International, as the second most corrupt in the world. Congratulations to Somalia for taking home the gold. Whoopee!

Whatever the future brings, American involvement in Afghanistan is going to end tragically. We should do now what we should have done forty years ago and get out while the getting is bad - as opposed to catastrophic. Barack Obama would be wise to heed the suggestion Senator George Aiken of Vermont gave to President Johnson so long ago - which LBJ failed to act on: Declare victory and get the hell out of there.

What we have here is a classic case of American ethno-centricism. Afghanistan is not a nation that is likely to embrace an idea as historically foreign to them as democracy any time soon (And when I say "any time soon" I am speaking in terms of the next one-thousand years - give or take a few centuries). How can a country be expected to enter the twenty-first century when that same country has yet to experience all of the modern wonders of the nineteenth? This is a really bad idea.

"And it's - ONE! TWO! THREE! - What are we fighting for?"

Country Joe and the Fish

Well, hey there! Come to think of it, that's a damned good question when you get right down to it: Just what the fuck are we fighting for? Let us examine the possibilities, shall we?

American interests? It can't be that! Given the fact that Afghanistan's only export seems to be opium, and taking into consideration our fabulously successful war on drugs....Nah! It couldn't be that!

Freedom and democracy? Tee! Hee! Hee! I'm sorry, I was just kidding! The Afghan people are now living under the rule of a "leader" who is only in power because he stole the recent election. Hamid Karzai is many things - you'll get no argument from me there! - Thomas Jefferson he ain't. Trust me on that. Let this be etched in stone: Any country that views its women as inferior beings not worthy of basic human rights is a country not worth one drop of anyone's blood. NEXT....

Aiding a developing nation? In order for a country to be classified "developing", a bit of "development" should at least be moderately apparent. Afghanistan is stuck in the fifth century and seems intent on remaining there.

What are we fighting for?

Let me rephrase that: What are the children of the poor and working classes fighting for? Between you and me, I've only known one person in combat in the last seven years. I don't know him anymore. He was killed when a roadside bomb was detonated in front of the vehicle in which he was a passenger. His name was Irving Medina. He was twenty-two.

What was Irving Medina fighting for?

Is it politics? Could it be that Obama has been told by his advisers that to pull out now would be political suicide, making his chance of winning in 2012 more difficult than it needs to be? If that's the case, he's as bad as all the rest of them. I suppose that this might be a good argument for limiting presidents to one term. Does he rationally believe that beating the GOP in three years is going to be that much of a challenge? Only a year ago, these geniuses actually believed that giving the VP nomination to an idiot like Sarah Palin was a really neat idea! Given the direction they are now hellbent on going, defeating them in three years is going to be like shooting fish in a barrel, are you kidding me?

It is now apparent that the invaluable lessons of history are truly lost. At the very least they have been lost on Barack Obama - that much is painfully obvious. He is about to commit a blunder so horrific, it may very well prove to be the undoing of his presidency. Somewhere in the eternal void, Lyndon Johnson must be sighing.

What exactly are we fighting for?

Don't ask me, I don't give a damn!
Next stop's Afghanistan!

Tom Degan
tomdegan@frontiernet.net

AFTERTHOUGHT 12/2/09, 10:10 AM:

Half way through the president's speech last night, I turned off the lights and went to bed. I had seen that movie before. I didn't care to see it again, thanks just the same.

The Faux Tan Man

2009-11-25T12:04:00.046-05:00

"Mr. Tan Man, lend me your ear
Your type of thinking, I find very queer...."

As sung by the Chordettes on acid

Who are the people who have run against John Beohner every two years since he entered Congress in 1990? I really must do a google search on this subject. Given the type of Congressman he is, these people, whomever they are, must have been perfectly horrible candidates. That can be the only possible explanation. The voters of Ohio can't be that dumb, can they?

It has just been reported that Representative Boehner's PAC has spent nearly $83,000 - this year alone - on "private" golfing events. This at a time when the unemployment and underemployment numbers in this country are at or over twenty percent. I suppose that would explain Johnny's perpetual tan. The boy's been getting a hell of a lot of sunlight lately, frolicking out there on the greens. As George Gershwin once wrote, "Nice work if you can get it." Very nice indeed.

From POLITICO:

"The Golf events this year sponsored by Boehner's Freedom Project political action committee have stretched from April until October, from Florida to Ohio. And the minority leader didn't hold his events at worn out municipal courses. The most recent outing was a $20, 921.34 event at the plush Robert Trent Jones track in Gainesville, Virginia, an invitation-only private club that was once home to the Professional Golfers Association President's cup."

According to the filings of the Federal Election Commission, the most expensive event cost the "Freedom Project" a total of $29,501.21. This was held in September at the Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, a course designed by Jack Nicklaus. I wonder if they allow blacks and Jews to become members?

"The fact is, this country's going broke....We're spending money we don't have and passing it onto our kids, and at some point somebody's got to say, 'Enough is enough'"

John Boehner

QUESTION:
Where was this jackass when the halfwit from Crawford, Texas was spending the United States into a bankruptcy so paralyzing there is no precedent for it in all recorded human history? Where was his outrage when when the Bush Mob plundered the nation's treasure by making war on a country (Iraq - just in case it slipped your mind) that was a threat to absolutely no one? Is he really serious? That's the really funny thing - he is.

John Boehner is as crooked as they come. Since the departure of Tom Delay he has become the corrupt politician's corrupt politician. He is the new face of organized political sleaze. Someday we'll all realize this. As hard as he may try, he'll never be able to escape the wrath of history. The fact that he has always been (I'll be polite) "ethically challenged" should not surprise anyone who's paid even scant attention to his career these past twenty years.

In June 1995, at a time when Congress was deliberating tobacco subsidies, he was busted handing out checks (bribes - let's be honest) from the cigarette industry to various members in a naked attempt to influence their votes. This incident occurred in plain view right on the floor of the House of Representatives. Is this a great country or what?

Which brings me to something else - not just about Boehner but politicians in general - and not just the Republicans but most of the Democrats as well. When are they going to end this sick and phony charade of being men and women "of the people"? To be sure, there are too many people all over America who are just stupid enough to believe such nonsense. Sarah Palin's book is at this moment the nation's Number One seller. And John Boehner wouldn't keep getting reelected if there weren't enough fools in his district who actually believe that he is on their side. But let's face some serious facts here: working in Washington on behalf of one's constituency is soooo mid-twentieth century. Why can't just one of them have the courage to come out and say it:

"Yeah! I'm a fucking whore for corporate America! What the fuck are YOU ASSHOLES gonna do about it???"

Now, that would show some real moxie! A politician who did that would get my nomination for the annual Profiles in Courage prize that is awarded by the Kennedy Library every year. I might even cast my vote for a person with such guts. I'm just a sucker for chutzpa, what can I tell you!

It's not even as if they are attempting to even hide their corruption any longer. It is overt, out in the open and visible for all to behold - a truly transparent plutocracy. How could they be so arrogant? Why is their corruption so blatant? Because they have got us right the hell where they want us. The depletion of our system of education in the last three decades has paid handsome dividends for these humorless thugs. We have become a nation of morons.

You have got to give a tip of the hat to corporate whore John Boehner and the entire Right Wing movement. Not only do they have a huge segment of this once-great nation believing that the government is bad (an intelligent debate may be made on both sides of that topic) but that all government is inherently bad. When or if the day ever dawns that finds most Americans believing this nonsense, we might just as well rename our country, the United States of Anarchy.

Tom Degan
tomdegan@frontiernet.net

AFTERTHOUGHT:

"Harold's Left" is a blog by a guy named Harold (DUH!) who also serves in the U.S. Military. On his home page he states:

"This is an outlet for American progressives who believe in hope over fear. Fear is the linchpin of the conservative movement and always has been. However, progressives believe in the hope of a more perfect union. The ideological battle between the right and the left has existed since 1776, and when progressives have prevailed, we have become a better nation for it."

His site is an absolute gem of wisdom and common sense and well worth your precious time. Here's a link:

http://www.haroldsleft.blogspot.com

Happy reading, campers!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Sarah Palin: Going Rove

2009-11-18T05:52:00.044-05:00

If you will be kind enough to indulge 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 has our Sarah. Don'cha just love her? I sure do!
`
A woman in Texas by the name of Stephanie Garcia has a blog called, Lady Steele, Modern Super Hero. Yesterday, in a posting aptly titled "Going Stupid", she offered her readers five different variations on the definition of the word "rogue" - courtesy of the good people at Webster's Dictionary:

1. Vagrant, tramp

2. A dishonest or worthless person: scoundrel

3. A mischievous person: scamp

4. A horse inclined to shirk or misbehave

5. An individual exhibiting a chance and usually inferior biological variation

This certainly begs the question: did she or any of the geniuses who surround her have the wit to even do a cursory look into into the definition of that word? And she wants to be president. Is this a great country, or what?

The lady is at it again.I have spent an unhealthy amount of time in the last fifteen months thinking about Sarah Palin. Is she for real? Does she actually believe the nonsense she spouts on a daily basis? Is she insane or merely dumber than dog shit? Her latest contribution to America's shattered political conversation is her memoir, Going Rogue. The fact checkers who were given advanced copies of the book a couple of days before its publication seem to be unanimous in their opinion that it is drenched in distortions and baldfaced lies. She has picked up the fallen torch of Josef Goebbels and Karl Rove: The bigger and more outrageous the lie, the better it may be utilized to further the cause of one's idiotic political agenda. She has learned more-than-a-few lessons from the masters of distortion.

For the record: I have not read Going Rogue, nor do I have any intention of doing so. I have enough political non-fiction to keep up with to waste any of my time on fiction. That is the reason I never read Gore Vidal's historical novel on Abraham Lincoln. What's the point when there are so many great biographies? Besides, it's been quoted and dissected enough in the last twenty-four hours - by Liberals and Conservatives alike - that I'm able to draw some reasonable conclusions.

One such conclusion that is unavoidable is the woman's jaw-dropping 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 fifty pounds, he's toast.

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???"

Ah, substance!

The book offers all sorts of lame explanations as to why the Republicans got their heads handed to them at the polls a year ago - and conveniently avoids the unavoidable: the choice of this idiotic woman to be "one heartbeat away from the presidency" will go down in history as the most profound political blunder of the era. The very fact that she was perceived as a viable, competent candidate is further proof (as if further proof is really necessary at this late point) that the Republican National Committee has been overtaken by maniacs. Did they actually believe that she was up to the task? You bet'cha!

"What do you read?"

That is not really much of a "Got'cha" question, is it? Obviously you would be able to answer it in a heartbeat: "Well, among other things I read 'The Rant' by Tom Degan." (And don't you dare deny that you read it. You're reading it now, GOTCHA!) Ask me the question and I would be able to give you a fairly long list without batting an eye: Time, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, The Nation....I typed that out without a moment's hesitation. And those are just some of the publications I read. So why is poor Katie Couric being condemned by the diva of the Klondike for making such an "unfair" inquiry?

I think that the more relevant question would be this: how come the Governor of Alaska and nominee for so high an office could not answer so basic and simple a question without the benefit of notes and Que Cards?

"What do you read?"

The fact that she was unable to improvise an answer is quite revealing. I mean, who the hell hasn't heard of Time or Newsweek? She couldn't even come up with "The National Review" - the Bible of the right wing! Even Mad Magazine would have been appropriate under the circumstances. If it weren't so funny it just might be a tad disturbing.

The most interesting and intriguing thing about all of this is the total absence from the book's pages of the name, Levi Johnston, Sarah's none-too-bright, former/future son-in-law and the father of her grandson (whom he happily admits was named after the rock band, Van Halen, and his favorite hockey equipment company - genius). He says that his obviously ghost-written and devastating portrait of the Palins in last month's Vanity Fair was only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. This is one kid she really should avoid pissing off. Better to omit him from the text entirely.

It is a given that Sarah Palin will not be going away any time soon. Does she have a shot at the nomination in 2012? Unfortunately the answer to that question is: probably not. Oh! But what a gift that would be! The final nail in the coffin of the right wing as a viable political force in this country. But I believe in miracles, and I'm going to pray that the Republican base shrinks between now and then to such a horrifying degree that the nomination is hers for the asking.

Wouldn't that be a wonderful thing? Can you even imagine?

Tom Degan
tomdegan@frontiernet.net

SUGGESTED READING:

Eleanor and Franklin
by Joseph Lash

It was also made into a two-part, television movie in 1975 starring Jane Alexander and Edward Hermann in the title roles. It is available on DVD.

AFTERTHOUGHT:

The geniuses at Google Ad Sense have decided that since this is a piece on Sarah Palin, they should advertise her book at the top of the page. Don't waste your money.

A party by any other name....

2009-11-12T10:40:00.057-05:00

....would whither and die. As Gomez Adams would say, "Capitol idea, Tish!"

So, this is the Republican Party of Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt, huh? That is (to be polite) a bit of a stretch, wouldn't you say so? To imply as much is like saying that Beach Blanket Bingo was a remake of Battleship Potemkin; or that Wayne's World was an adaptation of Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich - a silly proposition any way you slice it or dice it. Why don't they just rename it "The Tea Party" and be done with it? Or how about (in homage to Monty Python) "The Silly Party"? Anything but the Republican party. It only soils the memory of two great Presidents.

Then again, what's in a name? The damage has already been done and it may very well be irreparable. This was proven yet again on Tuesday in the so-called "New York 23" election, when the extremists from all over the country stormed into town to defeat a woman who was deemed "too moderate" for the half-witted hardliners. They ended up handing a congressional seat over to a Democrat in a district that has not gone Democratic since the nineteenth century. Way to go, assholes!

Who the hell is leading that worthless party anyway? Michael Steele? Please. Mitch McConnell?? Have another sip. Their "leadership" (such as it is) may be found in the form of Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck and Michele Bachmann. Is it the goal of these clowns to destroy the GOP in order that it may be rebuilt in their own, hideous image? If that is the case they're in for quite a surprise. That nutty party is already "in their image". Are they serious when they imply that they wish to move it even further to the right? How "far right" can one move before one falls off of the face of the earth? Are they serious? Here's the good news: They are.

When the grand old party was handed over to the lunatic fringe of American politics at their convention in the summer of 1964, it was only a matter of time before it was destroyed from within. Who would have thought it would take forty-five years for that to happen? Better late than ever, I suppose - but DAMN! Did they have to take the rest of us down with them?

In his column in Monday's New York Times, the usually astute Paul Krugman ended that morning's piece with this extremely rare (for him) clunker:

"The point is that the takeover of the Republican Party by the irrational right is no laughing matter. Something unprecedented is happening here - and it's very bad for America."

No, Paul! BAD PAUL! What is happening here is very good for America! Can't you see? The Republican Party - the party of Strom Thurmond, Jerry Fallwell, Jesse Helms, Spiro Agnew and Ronald Reagan (all mercifully dead) - IS IN THE PROCESS OF COMMITTING SUICIDE! There is no other way to describe what is now happening to them! Professor Krugman, I admire you as much as any writer I can think of - but you must understand that this will not be "very bad for America". Trust me on this one, okay? Good Paul!

All over the print and electronic media this week, the poobahs and pundits are predicting major Republican gains in next year's elections. What is their basis for so bold a prediction? Historically, the party of a sitting president always loses in the midterm elections. It is as natural as autumn following summer. However, they fail to take into consideration one crucial factor: this is no ordinary time.

Given their weird behavior in the last year or so - and given the fact that they will only continue to self destruct in coming twelve months - I cannot foresee them gaining any serious ground in either the House or the Senate on Election Day next. In fact I can only see their numbers diminishing even further. By this time next year, Michele Bachmann will be yesterday's news - count on it.

We can only hope that out of the carnage of the GOP's destruction will come a third party that is a tad more moderate and thoughtful - and I must emphasize the word "Hope". That ain't never gonna happen, baby! It's easy to predict that the Democrats will be running things for a long time into the future. The problem with that little scenario is, as Lord Acton said, "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely" - and the Democrats already have more-than-their-share of corrupt political hacks. For every Russ Feingold there are about ten Max Baucuses. If the Democratic Party is going to be taken seriously in their self-proclaimed roll as the "the party of the people" (and that's getting harder to believe by the day) they need to be purged of their dead weight.

Real reform is needed. And it's not just the GOP of which I speak. The overwhelming majority of our elected representatives - from both parties - need to be challenged in the primaries by reformers intent on taking our country back. That might also mean a challenge to the President in the primary of 2012. It is too early in this administration to give Barack Obama anything but the benefit of the doubt. We'll see where we stand a year or two from now. I want to believe in this guy - and I do believe in him - but the sad and painful truth is that I am starting to become disillusioned with my president.

In case you haven't noticed it, the entire American legislative branch has been taken over by organized criminals. But I'm preaching to the choir here. You have noticed, haven't you! Good for you! The most glaring comparison I can come up with is the mafia. Everybody knows what those worthless sons-of-bitches are all about. Everybody knows they make their living off society as parasites - and yet they operate right out in the open. How much of a no-brainer is it to conclude that lobbying is nothing more than legalized bribery? It's not free speech - it's organized crime! Why is it allowed to fester? Why are you and I allowing it to fester? What the hell is wrong with this picture? Any ideas? Any answers? HELLO, AMERICA???

In the mean time the ship of state is only going to continue to sink. That's alright by me, though. As long as I've got material to write about, I am as happy as a clam at high tide, thank you very much. For someone like me who makes his name writing about the catastrophe that the American political system has become in the last thirty years, these hideous fools are the gift that keeps giving and giving and giving and giving and giving and giving....

As Frank Sinatra once sang, "Don't worry 'bout me, I'll get along."

Tom Degan
tomdegan@frontiernet.net

SUGGESTED VIEWING:

Capitol Crimes
From Bill Moyers' Journal
Available from PBS Video

AFTERTHOUGHT:

Darlene Costner is a retired eighty-four year old woman living in Tuscon, Arizona. She writes a blog called Darlene's Hodgepodge that - in its sweet little way - kicks some serious butt. Highly recommended! Here's a link:

http://www.darleneshodgepodge.blogspot.com

The gal takes no prisoners - again, in a very sweet and loving way. Happy reading, campers!

Tea Partiers

2009-11-06T13:56:00.049-05:00

"This bill is the greatest threat to freedom that I have seen in the nineteen years I have been here in Washington"

John Boehner
November 5, 2009

The greatest threat to freedom in nineteen years? Oh, dear!

I derive a great deal of pleasure from doing what I do. But there are a few points of extreme unpleasantness to be sure. One of these is the fact that I am forced to spend a lot of time thinking about people like John Boehner. The greatest threat to freedom in nineteen years? Where was this asshole on September 11, 2001? Or when the Patriot Act was passed for that matter. Where was this fool in 2000 when the Supreme Court put a stop to the vote counting in the state of Florida and installed the Bush Mob in the White House? The greatest threat to freedom in nineteen years? Have another sip, Mr. Faux Tan Man.

Another convention of half-witted, pissed-off and clueless white people stormed into Washington, DC yesterday determined to destroy the type of health care reform that - if it goes into effect - will surely save the lives of most of the protesters who were in attendance (or their loved ones). It was the sort of weird, indescribable spectacle that makes the train-wreck of American politics (not to mention the got-busting stupidity of so many Americans) such a perverse delight to behold these days. Let's face it: crazy people are always loads of fun to watch - and the jackasses who showed up in Washington yesterday didn't disappoint.

At least one person held up a huge sign that showed a pile of bodies, victims of the European holocaust of the thirties and forties. Above this gruesome reminder of humanity's capacity for evil were the words:

NATIONAL SOCIALIST HEALTH CARE - DACHAU, GERMANY, 1945

Isn't that sweet? That seems to be quite a popular thing to do these days - equating anything connected with this administration and this president to Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. It kind of makes you wonder, doesn't it? But the highlight of the day (for my money anyway) was Congressman John Boehner. He held up a copy of what he claimed was his own personal copy of the Constitution and proceeded to quote from "it":

"We hold these truths to be self-evident - that all men are created equal."

That's not from the Constitution, Johnny. That's from the Declaration of Independence - which was written thirteen years earlier! Were we able to go back in time to 1966 - when I was in the third grade - I could have told you that then, too. When we've gotten to a point where our elected representatives can't even get basic American history right, we're in, as Harry Truman liked to say, "one hell of a fix."

"KILL THE BILL! KILL THE BILL!"

The crowd (which was invited to the event by everyone's favorite extremist poster girl, Michele Bachmann, during an appearance on FOX Noise) could have been hired form Central Casting for all anyone knows. Although some of the signs they held up were crude, homemade affairs, a number of them were professionally made and more-than-likely distributed by the politicians who planned the event. The size of the crowd was estimated by the police to be between three and four-thousand people. Examining all of the news footage I could, I did not see any African American faces among the protesters. That is not meant to imply that there were none there - I am most certain that there were a handful of token Uncle Toms placed in strategic locations throughout. There always are:

"Hee! Hee! Hee! Oh, Mistah White Folks, you sho' is sly!!!"

"I would love to have every one of your viewers join me so that we can go up and down through the halls. Find members, look at the whites of their eyes and say, 'Don't take away my heath care.'"

Michele Bachmann
October 30, 2009

"The whites of their eyes"??? As in: "Don't shoot until you see...."??? What the hell is it with this imbecilic woman and her penchant for violent language? This is the same idiot who less than a year ago said on national television that she wanted to keep people "armed and dangerous" on the subject of taxation. Nice!

What is happening (just in case you failed to notice) is that many of the far-right extremists - within Congress and without - are inciting the brainless masses to violence. Does that sound overly alarmist on my part? As Eliza Doolittle said in My Fair Lady, "Just you wait, Henry Higgins, just you wait." Given the current explosive atmosphere which certain Republican members of Congress have made possible with their irresponsible, inflammatory rhetoric, another domestic terrorist incident akin to what happened in Oklahoma City in 1994 is not only possible - it's damned-near inevitable.

When that happens - Oh, brother! - watching the Republican spin machine surge into overdrive will be quite amusing to say the least. Mark my words: there will be more-than-a-few sleepless nights at Rupert Murdoch's media corporation. Trying to pin the blame for something like that on the Liberals is going to be a tad tricky to say the least. But so brazen are these people you can be sure that they'll give it the old college try. I can see it now....

A small organization of disgruntled Birthers decide that they are going to save their beloved nation from the Big, Black, Bolshevik Bogeyman. They concoct a scheme to blow up a government building in - South Bend, Indiana; Davenport, Iowa; Goshen, NY - take your pick. They make their move just when people are arriving for work. Over one-thousand men, women and children perish in the massive explosion. All of this is done in the name of Jesus Christ, by the way. Go figure.

That night Glenn Beck will look his viewers in the eye and say:

"My friends, can't you see how the evil left wing is driving the good citizens of our beloved country CRAZY?"

The following afternoon, Rush Limbaugh will literally be foaming at the mouth - a side effect from psychopathic, righteous indignation and habitual narcotics abuse:

"I lay the carnage of yesterday's massacre at YOUR DOORSTEP, Liberals! You did this to the good people of [South Bend, Davenport, Goshen]! Their blood is on YOUR hands!"

Would something as horrible as another homicidal attack on our government by a Tim McVeigh wannabe spell certain doom for the loony right wing? More than likely. When that happens, the American people will finally have had enough - which once again proves the old adage that behind every dark cloud there is indeed a silver lining.

As Uncle Bobby Zimmerman once said in a slightly different context, a hard rain's a-gonna fall, baby.

Tom Degan
tomdegan@frontiernet.net

AFTERTHOUGHT:

I apologize for the lag between the last posting and this one. I have been in the process of moving to a new location and have been consumed by the effort. Between the years 1989 and 1996, I moved at least once a year. In 1993 I moved twice! I don't know how I found the strength to do it.

This is my first piece written from my new home - smack dab across the street from an adult book store and a tattoo parlor - a perfectly lovely location. I moved into the place and property values actually went up - that's how bad the neighborhood is! The house is very nice, though. 2590 Route 17M, Goshen, New York. Stop by sometime.

A Plea from Tracy Murphy

2009-10-28T05:32:00.039-04:00

Tracy Murphy has a smile that literally radiates love - love of life, love of humanity, love of animals - everything. It is a smile you can read at night by. She is an animal rights activist from Cheektowaga, NY, which is just outside Buffalo. Recently this good and decent woman became incensed at the presence in that city of the Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus.
`
You would think that by the first decade of the twenty-first century, human beings might have evolved to the point where we would be able to share the planet with the animals that were also placed on this earth by God. I believe that they were not put here merely to amuse us or to feed us. Tracy Murphy shares that belief - passionately - and in an articulate voice which I won't even attempt to paraphrase.

The following is a composite of two different letters she recently wrote. One was to Mayor Byron Brown and the city council of Buffalo, the other was on the website, wnymedia.com:
`
The Ringling Circus has left town, and I am here dumbfounded as to why we allow a business to perform in Buffalo that is clearly abusive to Asian elephants, an endangered species, as well as many other exotic and domestic animals. The inhumane treatment toward animals with whips, blow torches and bull hooks has been documented for years by many animal welfare agencies. Currently there is a Federal lawsuit against Ringling for illegal abusive treatment toward a protected endangered species, the elephants.

The animals are clearly kept in bondage and suffer greatly every day of their lives. Why can we not reach into our sense of common decency and ban these circuses with animals? I ask all of you this question and so do many others:

http://wnymedia.net/wnymedia/brianzabka/2009/10/peta-protests-the-circus/

I care deeply for these elephants, as well as all the animals that are exploited in these circuses. I am not ashamed to stand up for every one of them, and if it takes standing on the street corners of Buffalo to collect thousands of petition signatures to help these animals, I will peacefully and proudly do that. I cannot think of any other way I would want to spend the rest of my life.

As Martin Luther King, Jr said, "One day the absurdity of the almost universal human belief in the slavery of other animals will be palpable. We shall then have discovered our souls and become worthier of sharing this planet with them. Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

Unfortunately, many people do not know who how brutal elephants and bears and other animals are treated in the Circus. During the show, everyone is smiling and happy. The animals seem like they are enjoying themselves with their trainers and having fun as well. This is the image that Ringling wants us to see. However, there is a dark side to the Ringling circus. The Asian elephants are chained for 19 hours a day where they can only lean forward and stand in their own urine. The bears have it just as bad and are kept in tiny cages, hardly having enough room to even turn around. These animals do become neurotic and it is evidenced in undercover video footage taken by many animal welfare agencies. Signs of neurotic behavior (going mad) are elephants and bears swaying their heads back and forth.

All of this is documented and can be viewed at the website:

http://www.circuses.com.

When not in their prisons or bonded to heavy chains, they are being trained with the most cruel methods imaginable. Elephants are violently struck with a long handle with a sharp hook on the end. This is called a bullhook, and it tears into the sensitive skin of the elephant. The beatings are violently repeated until the elephant does the trick its trainer wants to be performed. Even after the training session, the trainers continue to beat the elephant with the bullhook to “keep them in line.”

There is no special bond between a trainer and an elephant as Ringling would want you to believe. There is only pain and suffering between a slave holder and slave. The bears do not have it any better. They are struck as well so they can perform tricks. But for a bear to jump through a hula hoop takes special effort. So the trainers burn the bottom of the bears' feet so they jump. This is the kind of suffering we indeed support if we go to the circus.

This is not about tradition. As Albert Schweitzer once said, “The thinking person must oppose all cruel customs no matter how deeply rooted in tradition and surrounded by a halo. When we have a choice, we must avoid bringing torment and injury into the life of another...."
`
Let freedom ring for these animals. Let freedom ring.

Tracy Murphy

Wish I'd said that, Lady Tracy! Animals cannot speak for themselves. They are damned lucky they have you speaking out on their behalf.

Love and Peace,

Tom Degan

TRACY MURPHY'S REQUIRED READING:

Animals, Properties and the Law
by Gary Francione

In an e-mail I received this afternoon, Tracy told me:

"Gary is a distinguished professor of law at Rutger's University - a very smart man. I think this would be a good book to help open everyone's eyes to the little (or should I say "no") legal protection animals have. He bases that on the moral reasons animals should have rights and must not be considered property. If we continue to view animals as property, then we will never change our mindset toward them. Much like slavery and how slaves were once considered property. I still cannot believe we once did that in this country."

Something to Think About

2009-10-23T08:41:00.027-04:00

They're actually starting to say it! The amazing thing to me is that they're saying it with faces as straight as a two-by-four! I paraphrase:

"We [the GOP] will take the House of Representatives back from the evil 'Democrat' party next year."

Note to Michael Steele: It's the evil "Democratic" party, you simmering twit!

Their hope to regain control of the legislative branch is beyond mere wishful thinking, it is delusional. So far removed from the main stream of political discourse has that party moved since 1964, it is in serious danger of falling off the face of the earth. As someone remarked not very long ago, "That's not a political party; that's a cult." In a recent newsletter written by Michael Moore (link below) he presented an action plan called, "Fifteen Things Americans Can Do Right Now". When it was published this morning on AlterNet, I offered a sixteenth thing we can do: "STOP VOTING REPUBLICAN!"

I then posted something I wrote on this site over three years ago. Here it is again with only minor editing:

TWENTY REASONS NOT TO VOTE FOR THE GOP

1. They have cut the throats of the poor and the middle class.

2. They have looted our national treasure.

3. They have abandoned their constituency in favor of a multi-national corporate behemoth and an out-of-control military industrial complex.

4. They have created a global, geo-political catastrophe in the Middle East that will take at least a century to remedy.

5. They have shoveled a generation of American children into an untenable slaughterhouse in Iraq.

6. They have engendered an economic nightmare so immense that generations yet unborn will still be bearing its burden.

7. They have sold our nation's soul to the highest corporate bidder. They have made a mockery of the First Amendment.

8. They have squandered a trillion-plus dollar surplus with a tax cut for a class of people who didn't need it.

9. They have gutted vital social programs that aid the poor and the elderly which have been in place for over seventy years.

10 They have gutted laws meant to protect working men and women.

11. They have plundered the environment.

12. They have depleted our educational system.

13. They have hijacked this nation's political dialogue.

14. They have ruined our international reputation.

16. They have handed our domestic agenda over to religious fanatics.

17. They have stolen two national elections.

18. They have trampled on our constitution.

19. They have denied voting rights to people of color in at least two states in the last nine years.

20. They have sent our Bill of Rights through the sausage grinder....

They must never - EVER - be allowed to govern our country again.

The grand old party is over.

And to think it used to be known as "the party of Lincoln"! Sheriff? Looks like we got one dead elephant here. And why are the Democrats acting so damned complacent? Don't they realize that they're next? The time is coming when we will have a real "party of the people". When that day dawns, the Dems and the GOP will be just an unpleasant memory - like a long ago New Year's morning hangover.

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net

Here is a link to Michael Moore's call to action:

http://www.alternet.org/action/143444/michael_moore%27s_action_plan_15_things_every_american_can_do_right_now/?page=2

AFTERTHOUGHT:

Our friend Kitty Bruce, the beloved daughter of my favorite comedian, the late, great Lenny Bruce, is holding an auction of her father's personal possessions in order to raise money for Lenny's House, a shelter for women with a history of substance abuse issues. The last day of the auction is October 28. Here is a link to her official site where you can view the items up for bid:

http://www.lennybruceofficial.com/

You can also make a donation to help support Lenny's House by sending a check to:

The Lenny Bruce Memorial Foundation
PO Box 1089
Pittston, PA 18640-5802

"I am not a comedian and I am not sick. The world is sick and I'm the doctor. I'm a surgeon with a scalpel for false values. I don't have an act. I just talk. I'm just Lenny Bruce."

Health Care and Woe

2009-10-16T06:21:00.052-04:00

"Wonderful. The 13 Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee get one faintly rational Republican to join them in a meaningless stab at health care reform and it throws the media into a titillated frenzy about what it all means. It means very little."

Very little indeed. That was the first paragraph of an article that was posted on AlterNet this morning by Robert Scheer. This isn't reform. This is merely an early Christmas present to the insurance companies. Once again you and I have been sold down the river by our elected representatives. Are We the People going to take this lying down? The answer to that question is - sadly and most probably - yes.

Home of the brave? Please.

And incredibly the Democrats are still contently walking around under the delusion that they remain the party of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Their shameful and disgusting behavior this week is yet another reminder (as if another reminder was really needed) that that pathetic party needs to be completely overhauled - or destroyed. In homage to Matt Taibbi's book of four years ago, that donkey needs a good spanking - or maybe it needs to be shot. Let me think this over....

Were you aware of the fact that in countries like England, France and Canada, people over the age of sixty-five are advised not to vacation in the United States because if they get sick or injured over here it could cost them everything? That is the nasty little reality of the America of the first decade of the twenty-first century. Don't believe the Conservatives when they try to make you believe that they hate our guts Over There. Europe doesn't hate America. Actually they love the contributions the US has made to the rest of the world. Let's face facts here: how dreary would this poor old planet be without good old rock 'n' roll, James Dean and Billie Holiday? They really do love America and the American people - it's our government that they can't stand. In fact - and I'm going to go out on a limb here - they hate our government almost as much as the Conservatives do.

My younger brother Jeff is the shame of the Degan family. He not only lives in France, he actually likes it there. He has a French wife and two gorgeous little French daughters (Je vous, les enfants!) Honestly I think the guy is a closet communist. He wears a goatee that is similar to Lenin's - shameful. Back in August, in a letter to his fellow countrymen and women regarding the sorry state of the American health care system - or "Hell Care" as he referred it it (What a card!) - he summed it up by saying:

"In short, in the US, you pay more, get less, and die younger than we do in Europe. What part of that don't you understand?

Well, hey there! That's a danged good question! What part of that don't we understand? Why is it that so many of us have to be dragged, kicking and screaming like half-witted little preschoolers, into the brave new world of change? What the hell is the matter with us anyway? How can it be that such a huge number of Americans cheerfully join movements of mass stupidity and salivate on cue to the sound of Dr. Glenn "Pavlov" Beck's bell?

Once again our representatives in Washington have demonstrated to us that they are far more susceptible to the limitless resources of cash that are pouring in from the insurance and pharmaceutical companies than to the needs of the American people. They don't give a flying fuck about us. Again, to quote my France-loving, commie brother: "What part of that don't you understand?" You say you want a revolution? Well, you know....

As long as they are able to keep us distracted and divided - left against right, black against white, day against night - they'll only continue to do the will of their highest corporate bidders. You and I don't even have a goddamned dog in this fight any longer. For the first time in our history, we could have had the kind of national health insurance that has kept the good people of merrie old England healthy and happy for sixty-three years now! But the only contribution to the discussion from far-too-many Americans is to jump up and down and scream about Socialism. Does it surprise you that the rest of the Industrialized world can only look upon us with a combined sense of pity and amusement? It shouldn't, you know. It really shouldn't.

Bed Knobs and Death Panels

I was struck with a profound sense of optimism almost a year ago when the people sent to the White House an intelligent and qualified man who happened to be an African American. Lately, though, that hope has been dwindling. What needs to happen is this: we, the Haves, need to start educating the Have Nones (I am referring to intellect here). Sooner or later it has to dawn on these nutty people that their "leaders" only care about what benefits the obscenely wealthy. That is their constituency. They're just looking out for Number One.

"And Number One ain't you
You ain't even Number Two"

Frank Zappa

One of these days our ideologically challenged brothers and sisters will wake up from the right wing coma they've been snoozing under for the last thirty years and realize that they've been getting screwed. I think it's safe to say that Liberals and Conservatives both hate the government. The stark difference is this: Liberals want to fix it. Conservatives want to destroy it. Never forget the often quoted goal of Conservative strategist and guru, Grover Norquist: their aim is to shrink the government down to the size where they will be able to "drown it in a bathtub." At a time when our population has exceeded the quarter-of-a-billion mark, the very idea of doing away with government is beyond ill advised - it's nuts. In the good old days they were called "Anarchists'. Today they go by the name, "Republican".

Big government? It's a big country. Think about it.

I don't know what kind of health care reform will come out of this session, but I strongly suspect it won't be much. There is, however a silver lining behind this very dark cloud. I am reminded of the Civil Rights Act of 1957. Don't be embarrassed if you've never heard of it, there really isn't a hell of a lot to remember about it; a mere pittance, really - a scrap of leftovers tossed out to "American Negros" (in the parlance of the age) in order to appease them. But it made the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 - the one we remember - all-the-more easier seven years later.

We'll live to fight another day.

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net

AFTERTHOUGHT:

My friend Veronique Marchal and some of her like-minded friends have started a new website. Veronique is French-born (Just what is it about those people?) The site's motto is: "We provide the WHEN, WHERE and HOW to address social and political issues. You provide the WHO and WHY". Here's a link:

www.andactiononline.com

The site, which is called And Action....Now! is in the developing stages at the moment but shows great promise. C'mon, folks! Be the first one on your block to sign up!

TERRORIST BOMBS MOON!

2009-10-09T09:26:00.050-04:00

By the light of the silvery moon
I want to spoon to my honey
I'll croon love's tune
Honeymoon, keep a'shining in June
Your silvery beams will bring love's dreams
We'll be cuddling soon
By the silvery moon

THIS JUST IN: The moon - that nocturnal inspiration to poets and lovers for centuries - was suddenly and deliberately attacked two hours ago by the notorious Muslim terrorist, Barack HUSSEIN Obama, and his co-conspirators within THE GOVERNMENT.

A clear message has been sent by this radical jihadist to good and decent people everywhere. There is no room for misinterpretation: if they can target the moon - THE MOON! - in such a ghastly and unprovoked matter, it proves - conclusively - that Main Street is not safe. All of us are vulnerable to their insidious wickedness and villainy. Our children must be protected from the radical, hideous agenda of this man and his vile administration. Mark my words, my fellow Americans - today the moon, tomorrow Anytown, USA. OH, THE HUMANITY!

Where will it all end? What sinister plans does he have in store for Christendom? Don't say you weren't warned, America! Don't you dare say you weren't given ample notice of this Kenyan-born extremist's evil intentions for us. I can see it now: Death Panels! Communist Medicine! An abortion clinic in every public school! Generations of innocent American schoolchildren forced to memorize entire paragraphs of the autobiography of Malcolm X! I have seen the future, my friends. It is bleak. Very, very bleak.

Who did this to this grand and glorious land of ours, you may well ask? THE DEMOCRAT PARTY DID THIS TO US! Teddy Kennedy wasn't content to leave this earth without a final assault on the sensibilities of good Conservatives everywhere. He and Barack HUSSEIN Obama concocted the planned attack on our precious moon in a conspiracy so heinous it staggers rational belief. Almost at the moment this lunar holocaust was getting underway, it was announced in Oslo, Norway (OSLO, NORWAY!) that this illegitimate, Barbara Streisand-loving, french fry-eating, birth certificate-concealing Chicago politician had received the Nobel Peace Prize.

Coincidence? I wonder....

Let us stray till break of day
In love's valley of dreams
Just you and I, a summer sky
A heavenly breeze kissing the trees
So don't let me wait
Come to me tenderly in the June night
I stand and I wait
For the touch of your hand in the moonlight
I bring you and I sing you
A moonlight serenade

The moon - that brilliant, seemingly-eternal beam of heavenly solace; that wondrous and mystical light from which has illuminated the nighttime voyages of travelers for untold millennium - has fallen victim to the agenda of Barack HUSSEIN Obama and his compatriots in the far Left Wing. This group will only be happy when they have destroyed all that is kind and gentle about the nation we love so dearly; the nation that an entire generation of Confederate soldiers laid down their lives for. No one is safe from their dastardly intentions - not you; not I; not our children; not their cute little pets with names like "Fluffy" and "Rascal" - no one, I say.

Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the Republican party. We must seize our nation from the grasp of these naughty evil-doers. The mid-term elections are only thirteen months away. These nasty, cretinous mongers of Liberalism must be defeated in November of 2010 - at all and any costs. One-hundred years from today, our great-grandchildren - who will never even know our names - will get down on their knees and thank Heaven above that we who live in these perilous times acted boldly and decisively against the humanistic onslaught of Liberalism. We owe it to them, my fellow countrymen. At the very least we owe that to them.

You're all dressed up to go dreaming
Now don't tell me I'm wrong
What a night to go dreaming!
Mind if I tag along?
If I say I love you
I want you to know
It's not just because there's moonlight although
Moonlight becomes you so....

The Moon - that celestial wonder that has touched the heart of humanity since the dawn of time; that timeless beacon in the night, forever stirring the artist and vagabond alike; that gentle light in the darkness that guides us home from our endless journeys - has been violated. VIOLATED, I TELL YOU! We must see to it for the sake of generations unborn that Barack HUSSEIN Obama and his ruthless cabal of nattering, negative nabobs are punished - beyond the limits of the law - for their crimes against Americanism, motherhood and apple pie. There is nothing these heathen haters-of-America will stop at in order to bring us to our knees before the alter of their Socialist cathedral. Heed my warning, fellow citizens. You ignore me at your own mortal peril.

So I stood with a knot in my stomach
And I gazed at that terrible sight
Of two youngsters concealed in a barrel
Drinking Monkberry Moon Delight

But seriously, folks....

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net

SUGGESTED READING:

Goodnight Moon
by Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd

AFTERTHOUGHT:

Happy birthday in Heaven to John Lennon who would have turned sixty-nine-years-old today. Imagine.

AFTERTHOUGHT 10/13/09:

And to the late, great Lenny Bruce, who would have turned eighty-four today. YADDAH! YADDAH! YADDAH, WARDEN!

The Great White Joke

2009-10-03T09:10:00.066-04:00

Eric Cantor is planning on making a run for it in 2012. Of course it goes without saying that he's never going to get the nomination. That is beyond a foregone conclusion; that is as much of a no-brainer as saying that the sun will set this evening in the west. The religious bigots that now control the Republican party - the so-called "base" - will never - EVER - nominate a Jew as their standard bearer. You can bet next month's mortgage on that. Pigs will fly, the earth will fry and David Duke will be made president of the NAACP before that ever happens.

I get a really uneasy feeling whenever I see Eric Cantor being interviewed on television. The main goal of the GOP these days is to insure that President Obama's administration is a complete and utter failure. They want to see as many Americans as possible suffer in the next three years, ensuring that they will be able to seize control of the executive branch in 2013. If the president succeeds in making life better for his countrymen and women, they fail. It's as simple as that. Mitch McConnell, to his credit, always looks quite uncomfortable when he is forced to justify policies as atrocious as those being put forward these days by that hideous party. But Cantor always has a serene, angelic smile on his face whenever he is forced to defend the morally indefensible - sort of like last week, at a Town Hall meeting when he told a woman whose mortally ill relative had been left bankrupt by her medical bills that she should rely on charity. He seemed so content with himself. Quite strange really.

Here's something that makes Congressman Eric Cantor quite unique among Republican politicians: he's not an idiot. Is he merely going through the motions in order to appease the Right Wing assholes who seriously thought that placing Sarah Palin on the ticket as John McCain's running mate was a really nifty idea? Is his ultimate goal to move the "party of Lincoln back toward the center? My gut-feeling is that he doesn't really believe half the bullshit that he is forced spout, like a half-witted myna bird, day-in and day-out. In that respect he is just like all the rest of them. They have a direction they want to take this country. It is a direction that you and I do not want to go. Trust me.

Almost nine months ago the worst administration in American history mercifully ended. Prior to the judicial coup d'etat that installed George W. Bush in 2000, the biggest nightmare for all progressive-minded people was the extreme right controlling the three branches of our government. Well, for six long and miserable years (2001-2007) they did. And what did it get us? A trillion-plus dollar deficit. Seriously, do we really want to put those people in charge again? I didn't think so.

If you think about it for a moment or two, Eric Cantor would be the ideal Republican nominee in '12. The Semitic Ronald Reagan! He's good looking, he has a really nice speaking voice, perfect manners, a lovely wife, three well-behaved children - and all the substance of a hot air balloon. The guy is made to order, are you kidding me? And just think of the marketing possibilities for the GOP spin doctors:

WE MADE HISTORY FOUR YEARS AGO BY ELECTING A BLACK GUY AS PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. LET'S DO IT AGAIN BY ELECTING A JEWISH GUY!

I can see it now.

You would think that the Republican National Committee would be working overtime to ensure that this nitwit get the nomination three years from now. You would think that they would be foolish not to have the Cantor-for-President machine in overdrive at this very moment, wouldn't you? Ah! We have hit on the crux of the problem, my friends: THEY ARE FOOLS! They and a whole lot of folks who tend to vote in Republican primaries (especially in the deep south).

Consider this: In 2008 the GOP's most impressive candidate, in every respect, was Mitt Romney (which isn't saying much, but there you have it). Who did they end up nominating? Sleepy ol' John McCain - with nuttier-than-bat-shit Sarah Palin thrown in just to keep things interesting. Had they been smart (I know what you're thinking - me, too) they would have nominated Romney. Like Eric Cantor, he's got the Ronald Reagan thing happening for him - only this time it's the Mormon version. Had that happened, Mitt - not Barack - would be sleeping in the Executive mansion at this very moment. How could they be so stupid to let such a good thing get away, you may well ask? What prevented Romney from getting the nomination last year is the same thing that will prevent Cantor from getting it three years from now - his religion. It sort of makes ya wonder why these two became Republicans in the first place, doesn't it?.

My purpose is not to imply that if the GOP are sinners, the Dems are necessarily saints. That's so far from the case that it's barely worth commenting on. One of my missions in the next year is to see to it that every one of those miserable "Blue Dog Democrats" who voted against the Public Option are beaten senseless in the next primary season. The party of Franklin Roosevelt needs to be sanitized.The point I am trying to make is that unlike your average Republican politician, when a Democrat says something hysterically funny, that's usually their intent.

Did you happen to catch Michelle Bachmann's stand-up routine this week? There she was on the floor of the Congress, warning her fellow Americans that if health clinics come to American schools, it would mean mass abortions for hundreds of thousands teenage girls across the country. It was an absolute scream!

Like all people on the extreme Right, Eric Cantor is unintentionally funny. Part of the fun of watching him is the fact that at times he seems not to know what the hell he is talking about. On more than one occasion (and I am hardly the first person to point this out) he has seemed to possess little - if any - real knowledge of more than a few points of the health care debate. Like Reagan before him - handsome face; clueless mind. He is the made-to-order Republican candidate. In the present, to be telegenic is to succeed in politics. Intellect means nothing anymore. In today's atmosphere Jefferson and Lincoln wouldn't stand a chance against the likes of Michelle Bachmann and Eric Cantor. As the Moody Blues used to sing, isn't life strange?

It's a great time to be alive. It really is! The horrific train wreck that we euphemistically refer to as "the American political system" is so interesting and indescribably amusing. I am up every morning before the crack of dawn just so I can be at the Kwik Stop grocery store down town when the papers arrive (There's a shameless plug for you, Ben. I'll expect a check in the mail). After a mere ten minutes with the New York Daily News or the Times, I look up to the heavens with profound gratitude and quietly say, "Thank you." For someone who makes his or her name by writing about politics, these people can only be described as a celestial gift. And while we're on the subject, is it just me or have you noticed lately that C-SPAN is starting to look more and More like Comedy Central? I was just wondering.

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net

AFTERTHOUGHT:

This might be nit picking on my part but it really bugs me. Every time I type the name, "Obama" the good folks at Spell Check inform me that I have gotten the spelling wrong. Here are their suggested corrections:

Obadiah
Obadias
Bamako
Alabama

Right. I've got a fifth suggestion for them: Ob-la-di! Ob-la-da! Life goes on - BRA!

Their suggestions for my "misspelling" of the name "Barack" are almost as amusing:

Ba rack
Ba-rack
Barrack
Bareback
Barabbas

I just got through typing up a list of all forty-three men who have served as chief executive. Spell Check tells me that I got every name right (or, in the case of Martin Van Buren, half right) with one exception. You guessed it: "Barack Obama". The guy has been in the public eye for over five years now. He's been president for nine months! You would think they might have fixed that by now, wouldn't you?

That reminds me. Can anyone please explain to me just what the hell an "Obadias" is? It's not in Webster's Dictionary.

America The Pitiful

2009-09-26T06:03:00.044-04:00

"I love America more than any other country in the world and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually."

James Baldwin

"You cannot reorganize village life to suit the village idiot."

Frank Schaeffer

Yesterday, in an OpEd published in the Huffington Post, Bill Maher wrote a piece which decried the dumbing down of the American people in in recent years:

"We weren't always like this. Inert. In 1965, Lyndon Johnson signed Medicare into law and 11 months later seniors were receiving benefits. During World War II, virtually overnight FDR had auto companies making tanks and planes only. In one eight year period, America went from JFK's ridiculous dream of landing a man on the moon, to actually landing a man on the moon."

While I admire Bill Maher a great deal, I am forced to take issue here. This pitiful America of which he speaks is very real - of that there can be little doubt to anyone who has bothered to pay attention. But like a lot of people on the Left (I am sorry to say) he totally ignores - whether by accident or design - the undeniable advantages of living in the America of the first decade of the twenty-first century.

For example:

I never finished High School. In fact I dropped out at the very beginning of my Junior year. In spite of this unfortunate fact, the I.Q. of my country has dropped to such a horrifying degree in the last thirty years, whenever I arrive at a gathering of, say, two or three-hundred people, I am reasonably confident that I am the smartest person in the room.

Do you have any idea how utterly cool that is? Lighten up, Bill.

I shall illustrate this nasty point by telling a tale of two marches on Washington. One took place in the late summer of 1963, the other in the late summer of 2009. One was promoted by a preacher from Georgia named Martin Luther King, the other by a former "shock jock" from the state of Washington named Glenn Beck. Ouch! Even mentioning the two of them in the same paragraph is somehow disconcerting.

In 1963, the the people were singing, We Shall Overcome.

Forty-six years later, the chant was, We Shall Undermine.

In 1963, a vast and varied demographic of the American people - all races and religions - descended on the nation's capitol to peaceably and nonviolently protest an injustice that was occurring in certain areas of the country to people of a certain skin pigmentation.

Forty-six years later, a Convention of Pissed-Off White People - united only by the fact that they were all habitual viewers of a single cable news channel - rolled into Washington to hurl invective at an African American president for creating a mess that he had absolutely nothing to do with creating.

In 1963, the signs people held up were optimistic: "With Liberty and Justice for All."

Forty-six years later, the signs were ominous: "We Came Unarmed - THIS TIME!"

On August 28, 1963, the hearts of people who marched on the city of Washington DC were filled with love and hope.

On September 12, 2009 they were just full of shit.

Let us boil the comparisons down to their juicy essentials, shall we? Martin Luther King had a dream. Glenn Beck has a scheme.

"Stupid is as stupid does."

Forrest Gump

THE SELLING OF STUPIDITY

In the America of 2009, "STUPID" is a valuable commodity. "STUPID" sells. A couple of years ago, one of the highest rated cable television programs for people between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five was a show that was dedicated to stupid people doing really stupid things. The program was called, "Jackass". It was so successful, its producers were confident enough to make it into a full-length movie!

"STUPID" sells.

A few months ago, an African American named Michael Steele had a plan to bring other African Americans into the fold of the Republican party. How did he plan on accomplishing this damned-near-impossible feat, you may well ask? He was going to offer them watermelon.

"STUPID" sells.

In 2008, a Minnesota congresswoman declared that an investigation should be initiated against every Democratic member of congress for "un-Americanism". Less than a month later, she was reelected.

"STUPID" sells.

Last week at a Town Hall meeting, a woman confronted Eric Cantor with the plight of a close friend whose illness had left her destitute. With a straight face, the congressman suggested to the woman that her friend rely on charity.

"STUPID" sells.

Nearly half-a-century ago, there really wasn't much of a market for "STUPID" in most regions of this once-great nation:

"The energy, the faith, the devotion - which we bring to this endeavor - will light our country and all who serve it. And the glow from that fire can truly light the world."

John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 1961

"I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace."

George W. Bush, 2002

No doubt about it: In the first decade of this new century, "STUPID" has a corner on the market.

How did the country that put a man on the moon a mere forty years ago become so jaw-droppingly dumb? There are loads of reasons for this, to be sure. Not the least of which is the fact that since the dawn of the so-called "Reagan Revolution" a generation ago, the education of America's children is no longer a priority. You see, Ronald Reagan's revolutionaries are not merely content to do away with the Department of Education, these assholes want to obliterate public education in this country all together! That is not merely my opinion, that is their stated, published goal. Do the research if you think I'm exaggerating.

This is not your father's America. Come to think about it, this ain't even your older brother's America. The dumbing down process of recent years has been that swift. If you're not seriously alarmed by what is now happening, you're probably getting up every morning with FOX and Friends. C'mon! Admit it!

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net

SUGGESTED READING:

Trivializing America: the Triumph of Mediocrity
by Norman Corwin

This brilliant essay by Mr. Corwin was written in the late eighties and has been out of print for a number of years. Try finding it on Ebay. It's worth the effort.

AFTERTHOUGHT:

Have you ever been to Elaine's Place? It's a nice place indeed:

http://www.elainesplace.net

AFTERTHOUGHT 10/1/09:

When I first made this posting, I referred to Norman Corwin as "the late Mr. Corwin". I have just been ever-so-gently chastised by a reader named H.M.Covert that Norman Corwin celebrated his 99th birthday on May 3. Not only is he still very much alive, he is still writing. God bless him.

Rabid Blue Dogs

2009-09-21T09:25:00.068-04:00

As we watch the party of Theodore Roosevelt skipping merrily down the road of utter and permanent self-destruction (TRA-LA! LA-LA-LA!) I think the time is long overdue that we have a blunt and serious discussion about the future of the party of TR's distant cousin, Franklin Delano. The tangible cockiness that has been emanating recently from certain quarters of the Democratic party is, to be polite, somewhat misplaced and extremely premature. Although they now have a substantial majority in both houses of congress, it would seem to me that they're not in control. What the hell is going on here?

Here's what's going on: Over fifty conservative Democrats in the House and Senate - the so-called "Blue Dogs" - are hellbent on sabotaging President Obama's plans to make life better for the people of this country.

Hey, Democrats! Although I left your silly party over a decade ago, my heart is still essentially with your platform and agenda. That being said, I would ask all of you to think of me as Dr. Degan, your loving and trusted family veterinarian. After a complete and thorough examination of your beloved pets, it grieves me to offer you this final diagnosis:

Your Blue Dogs must be put to sleep.

Let's stop kidding ourselves and face some serious and uncomfortable facts here, okay? Any chance of serious health care reform is about as dead as the nails the GOP has spent the last nine years hammering into their own coffin. And the biggest irony? It was killed by a coalition of "Conservative Democrats" - or DINOs: Democrats In Name Only - which begs the musical question: With donkeys like these, who the hell needs elephants?

The Democratic party has been plagued by their conservative wing from the time they were formed in 1828. It must be remembered that the Republicans were formed in 1856 as the anti-slavery alternative to the Democrats, many of whom were southern slave owners. For almost one-hundred-and forty years, the "Solid South" was committed - although at times reluctantly - to the aspirations of the Democratic party. The conservative southerners were known as "Boll Weevil" Democrats. To be sure, for most of the Twentieth Century it was an uneasy alliance which existed between northern progressives and southern racists. For all the social and economic progress of the Roosevelt/Truman years, the half-wits that comprised the southern wing of the Democratic party just could not bring themselves to join the party of Abraham Lincoln, "that nigger-lovin' bastard that freed the slaves!"

Look away, Dixieland.

Then in 1964 and 1965 respectively, two earth-shuddering events occurred that forever destroyed the Democratic hold on Dixie: the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. That did it, Bubbah! The very idea of equality with NEGROS was just too much for these assholes to bear. When President Lyndon Johnson signed those two laws into existence, he told his aids, Bill Moyers and the late Jack Valenti, "We've lost the south for at least a generation." It was an understatement. The "Solid South" has been solidly Republican ever since.

In a recent interview, former Mississippi senator Trent Lott said that the great migration to the GOP in the mid sixties was all about economics and had not a thing to do with race. Bullshit. It had everything to do with race. There had been a revolt once before, in 1948 when President Truman courageously told the Democratic convention that he would refuse to accept the nomination unless a comprehensive civil rights plank was included in the party platform. That was all the southern delegation needed to hear. They stormed out of the convention en masse to chants of, "Goodbye, Harry" and organized their own convention which nominated legendary jackass, Strom Thurmond, as the "States Rights" or "Dixiecrat" candidate.

In spite of this and a fourth party uprising on the far left (Henry Wallace and the Progressives) Harry Truman won the election of 1948 simply by showing courage and doing the right thing. It's an example of statesmanship that many present-day Democrats would do well to aspire to.

Fast forward sixty-one years and we find that the party of FDR's major headache is no longer the Boll Weevil racists but the Blue Dog corporatists. They have no intention whatsoever of seeing meaningful reform placed into law for their constituents. Max Baucas, the leader of the Democratic opposition to President Obama's proposed health care bill, is in the pockets of the insurance and pharmaceutical industries. He and his gang of Republicrats are determined to do the bidding of their corporate masters - you and I be damned. A reader who goes by the name of "Kat" just made an astute posting in the comments section of this piece which I think needs to be quoted:

"If I wanted [Republican] obstructionism, I'd have voted for it."

Indeed. This is certainly not the type of change I can believe in. It's time for the suits at the Democratic National Committee to get off their asses and work to defeat these worthless Blue Dogs at the primary level next year. Barack Obama's goals for the American people have been thwarted at every turn by these jackasses and their allies within the the extreme Right Wing of the GOP. They need to be brought down. The only way that is going to happen is via an uprising from within. There are enough progressive (LIBERAL) Democrats in the purplest of purple states (and even a handful of red states) to make this happen.

Sit, Blue Dog, sit! Good, Blue Dog! Nice, Blue Dog! Now be a good little doggy and lie down and play dead! On second thought, lie down and stay dead! GOOD boy!

What gives here anyway? I grew up believing that the Democratic party was the "party of the people"! I was reminded of this again last weekend when I made a little pilgrimage to the FDR Library in Hyde Park, NY. President Roosevelt ushered regular people like you and I into the twentieth century. He brought electricity to the rural south! The middle class that we all now take for granted - which hadn't even existed prior to the New Deal - is now in serious danger of vanishing. Look around you. The signs - ominous and disturbing - are all there. The entire reason for the existence of the Loony Right Wing since 1964 has been to roll back the advantages gained by the New Deal and the civil rights movement. Do you think I'm being an alarmist? Fine. Just keep sending these Right Wing extremists and these Blue Dog Democrats to Washington and see what happens.

The Democrats are not going to distinguish their party by trying to sell themselves as Republican Lite. They're not going to turn America around by foolishly preserving the policies of the last thirty years. They need to educate their constituency by showing them the folly of their abhorrence of things "Left" and "Liberal". Three-quarters-of-a-century ago, American democracy was saved by a government that was decidedly left-of center in all but a few areas. It can happen again. But it's only going to happen if WEEDA PEEPOLE refuse to turn right at the next crossroad. It is only down the road.

Now if you'll excuse me, Dr. Degan has some Blue Dogs on his table that need to be put out of our misery.

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net

SUGGESTED READING:

The Defining Moment
by Jonathan Alter

This extraordinary book is the story of Franklin D. Roosevelt's first hundred days. It's also as good an example as any I can offer as to how the Liberals once saved this country. They can do it again.

Still MORE Right Wing Lunacy

2009-09-15T06:17:00.053-04:00

Ever heard of Lou Pritchett? I had never heard of the man before Saturday afternoon when my friend, Yvonne, e-mailed me me something he wrote that has been making its way through cyberspace in recent months. The piece, which is called "An Open Letter to President Obama", is so stupidly written that under normal circumstances I would have dismissed it as a hoax - or the type of satire made famous by the late Lenny Bruce. But these are not normal circumstances and these people are anything but "normal". As Tom Lehrer once observed ,"Satire died the day they gave Henry Kissinger the Nobel Peace Prize."

According to a google search, he is "an acclaimed author, teacher and speaker." Acclaimed by whom is not made clear. He is also, if I'm to believe what I read, a former executive with Proctor and Gamble, a company based in Cincinnati, Ohio, whose contribution to the American marketplace ranges from Puffs facial tissue to Old Spice aftershave. The twenty-one paragraphs in his letter are mercifully brief. I am presenting the complete text here with my naughty comments sprinkled within. The guy is a laugh riot:

"Dear President Obama: You are the thirteenth President under whom I have lived and unlike any of the others, you truly scare me."

Woooooh! The Big, Black, Bolshevik Boogieman's gonna git'cha!

"You scare me because after months of exposure, I know nothing about you."

I'm sorry, Lou, but the question is just screaming to be asked: Have you been reading the newspapers in the last three years? I was just curious.

"You scare me because I do not know how you paid for your expensive Ivy League education and your upscale lifestyle and housing with no visible signs of support."

Lou! You caught us red-handed!! His education was funded by Democracy Now, The American Communist Party and Ed Asner. Call it a hunch, but I have a funny feeling that the very thought of a successful, upper class black man doesn't sit too well with you. I'm not far off the mark, am I? Not that it's any of my business, but who the hell paid for your education, Lou?

"You scare me because you did not spend the formative years of youth growing up in America and culturally you are not an American."

Sure, Lou, he's a Kenyan born Arab terrorist. And I'm Carlos the Jackal. Medications, please!

"You scare me because you have never run a company or met a payroll"

You've got a valid point here, Louie boy! The same could be said of John F. Kennedy, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and George Washington - and we all know how disastrous their administrations turned out to be. NEXT....

"You scare me because you have never had military experience, thus don't understand it at its core."

True. We need a man in there with the military experience of George W. Bush. You're a scream, Lou!

"You scare me because you lack humility and 'class', always blaming others."

This statement is so unbelievably moronic, I'm not even going to bother commenting on it.

"You scare me because for over half your life you have aligned yourself with radical extremists who hate America and you refuse to publicly denounce these radicals who wish to see America fail."

Radicals who wish to see America fail? Who are you talking about, Lou? Oh! You must mean Teddy Kennedy and Arlen Specter! Good point, Lou. Let's move on, shall we?

"You scare me because you are a cheerleader for the 'blame America' crowd and deliver this message abroad."

Are you referring, perchance, to Obama's official apology for the CIA-fueled overthrow of the sovereign, democratically elected government of Iran in 1953 - which heralded the birth of the organized Islamic extremism that is our biggest headache today? You're absolutely right, Lou! Obama should not have apologized for that shameful chapter in our history. That apology should have come from President Eisenhower a half century ago.

"You scare me because you want to change America to a European style country where the government sector dominates instead of the private sector."

Yeah, Lou, and he's going to force our teenage daughters to marry BLACK LESBIANS! Be afraid, Lou. Be very afraid.

"You scare me because you want to replace our health care system with a government controlled one."

Just like the ones in England and Canada that have worked pretty well for over fifty years? OH, MY GOSH! HEAD FOR THE HILLS!!!

"You scare me because you prefer 'wind mills' to responsibly capitalizing on our own vast oil, coal and shale reserves."

Again, this one is just too damned nutty to even dignify with a comment.

"You scare me because you want to kill the American capitalist goose that lays the golden egg which provides the highest standard of living in the world."

Wrong again, Lou. Like FDR in the thirties, he is trying to save capitalism by "tempering it's excesses". Nice try, though.

"You scare me because you have begun to use 'extortion' tactics against certain banks and corporations."

You mean the same banks and corporations that have been looting the American economy for almost thirty years now? SHAME ON YOU, BARACK OBAMA!

"You scare me because your own political party shrinks from challenging you on your wild and irresponsible spending proposals."

An ironic statement if ever there was one, Lou. He and his political party scare the hell out of me for their failure to challenge wild and irresponsible clowns like you.

"You scare me because you will not openly listen to or even consider opposing points of view from intelligent people."

Are you speaking of his failure to consider the opinions of "intelligent people" like yourself, Lou? What is he thinking?

"You scare me because you falsely believe that you are both omnipotent and omniscient."

Omnipotent and omniscient??? Have another sip, Lou.

"You scare me because the media gives you a free pass on everything you do."

Obviously you don't watch FOX Noise or listen to AM radio, Lou. That's a very good sign.

"You scare me because you demonize and want to silence the Limbaughs, Hannitys, O'Relllys and Becks who offer opposing, conservative points of view."

When has he demonized any of these fools, Lou? How has he tried to silence them? Give me one example. I'm waiting.

"You scare me because you prefer controlling over governing."

How has President Obama attempted to control you, Lou? Forgive me for pointing this out in so public a forum, but you sound just a wee bit paranoid, Buster.

"Finally, you scare me because if you serve a second term I will probably not feel safe in writing a similar letter in 8 years."

Yeah, Lou. Just keep it up and I promise you this: you'll end up in one of the many Left Wing Gulags that we're building - at this very moment - at President Barack HUSSEIN Obama's orders. Have a lovely day, Lou!

I will offer no further comment. Lou Pritchett's silly comments speak for themselves.

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net

AFTERTHOUGHT: A reader (and dear friend) who goes by the name Carolyn K, just posted this message in the comments section. I'll let her have the last word. It's perfect:

"Reality Check: God bless the fact that we live in a country where we are allowed to criticize the government and to have an open, intelligent discourse between opposing views. There are no demons here, Lou, except for maybe the ones in your head."

AFTERTHOUGHT, 9/18/09:

I just received the news that the "Mary" of the legendary folk trio, Peter, Paul and Mary, passed away the other day. Now there was a life well lived! A dragon lives forever, but not so Mary Travers. God rest her sweet soul.

Mr. Wilson Goes Town Hall-istic

2009-09-12T06:39:00.040-04:00

Isn't Joe Wilson a hoot-and-a-half? I'm not referring to the Joe Wilson who was married to Valerie Plame, the CIA operative whose cover was blown by Karl Rove and company in an act of cynical (and illegal) political revenge. The Joe Wilson I refer to in this piece is the ideologically challenged congressman from South Carolina who interrupted President Obama's speech to a joint session of Congress the other night in words that will be in the first sentence of the first paragraph of his obituary:

"YOU LIE!"

If this knucklehead lives to be one-hundred-and-twelve, his outburst Wednesday evening will be the only thing he will be remembered for - much like Preston Brooks, another reactionary, half-witted South Carolina congressman from a bygone era - who today is remembered for no other accomplishment except nearly beating abolitionist Senator Charles Sumner to death in that very chamber over a century-and-a-half ago. What drove the Honorable Mr. Brooks to attempt murder in that hallowed setting? It was Mr. Sumner's heroic stance against the evil institution of slavery that nearly cost him his life at the hands of a fellow lawmaker. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

David Letterman put it well: Joe Wilson did Governor Mark Sanford a great service on night of September 9. Sanford is now only the second most embarrassing politician to hail from that nutty state.

This really is an amusing thing to behold. In case you've been having a difficult time trying to figure out what the hell is going on with Wilson in general and the Grand Old Party in particular, here are the Cliff Notes: The extreme right wing is at the moment having a collective, massive nervous breakdown. They just refuse to accept the nasty little fact that a black guy is now the most powerful human being on the face of the earth - and it is killing them. As they did ten years ago when Bill Clinton was president, their plan is to go to any and all extremes to thwart the administration of Barack Obama.

Here's what's happening, boys and girls: The "party of Abraham Lincoln" (Imagine that!) has forever been exposed as morally and ethically bankrupt, and they are now in the process of implementing their "scorched earth" policy. In other words, if they have to go down, they have every intention of bringing the rest of us down with them.

If you thought for one minute that the loony right wing had lost all the marbles they could possibly lose - OH, BROTHER! - As the late Al Jolson used tiosay, "You ain't seen nothin' yet!" It really is kind of funny - to a point. Here's the part that's not so funny, in fact it's a very ominous development indeed: Wilson and his compatriots within the vast right wing conspiracy are urging on the less enlightened of their constituencies into a violent fury; a rage born of lies and propaganda.

Do you remember what it was that Barack Obama said that caused Wilson's wrath? The president was patiently trying to explain to the country that his proposed health care bill would not cover the treatment of illegal immigrants. It wasn't a lie; it was the truth. The bill does not cover those in this country illegally. But - politically speaking - that inarguable fact does not work very well for Joe Wilson. It is essential that his constituents believe that "Obamacare" is merely a taxpayer-funded Christmas gift to dark-skinned people.

There are certain truths we need to come to terms with about the state of South Carolina and the people there who identify themselves Republicans. In order to do that we need to turn the old clock back nine years.

Early in the 2000 GOP presidential campaign, John McCain gave George W. Bush a serious and unexpected thrashing in the New Hampshire primaries. When the Bush Mob arrived in South Carolina the following week, they knew they had to take drastic measures if they were survive to the convention later in the summer. So they raised the issue that has been a sure bet hit in that state since Reconstruction: Race. It works every time down there. Go figure.

The Bush campaign initiated a phony "telephone poll" which asked the musical question:

"How would you react if you were to find out that Senator McCain fathered an out-of-wedlock child with a black prostitute?"

It worked. McCain, who had arrived in the state with a decided lead in the polls, was soundly defeated. But for the stupidity of the Republican voters of South Carolina, this country might have been spared eight years of the worst administration in American history. How's that for irony?

This is all about the underlying, hideous factor of the racism that is so deeply ingrained in the American character. The attempt to portray this president (Of all people!) as a socialistic, left wing extremist doesn't even pass the giggle test for people who have bothered to pay attention to their times and their history. Let's face it - Franklin D. Roosevelt, he ain't! They can't obstruct his agenda with a manufactured scandal regarding his personal life, as they did with Bill Clinton. eleven years ago. Their only hope is for enough of the American people to become really frightened by the Big, Bad Negro Commie. An ironic description when one takes into consideration how boringly moderate Obama really is.

Think about this: In the last presidential campaign only one of the nominees of the two major political parties was born in the United States - Barack Obama - John McCain was born in Panama. Do you find it as revealing as I do that it was the black guy had his citizenship called into question? How much more proof do we need of the overt racism that is inherent in that party - or in our own country for that matter? Honestly, this isn't rocket science, folks!

Joe Wilson and the nincompoops on the far right have opened a Pandora's Box that may very well prove difficult to close. What they are now doing - consciously or unconsciously - is prompting their brain-dead masses toward violence and intimidation. And let's not forget the untidy little truism that a lot of these folks are armed and dangerous. Who can forget the asshole who showed up outside one of the president's Town Hall meetings in New Hampshire last month with a gun strapped to his leg? My biggest worry is that that little incident is merely a small illustration of worst things to come.

Listen, I really hate to be the bearer of bad tidings here, I really do. But if you can't foresee some kind of Timothy McVeigh-style domestic incident somewhere down the pike, you're a hell of a lot more optimistic than I am. Also, if you are not seriously alarmed by what is now happening to our beloved country, you're not paying attention.

And now Glenn Beck is all set to become the Martin Loony King of the Far Right with his stupid March on Washington today.

Isn't life interesting?

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net

Hey, Kids! Meet The Beatles!

2009-09-10T05:20:00.062-04:00

John Lennon
Paul McCartney
George Harrison
Ringo Starr

Let them take us down....

I realize that the times we live in are just too damned weird to focus any degree of attention on a rock 'n' roll band that released its final recording forty-years-ago last month - two of whose members are gone from our midst. Think about it. In 1969, at the height of all that was then going on, any columnist who would have devoted a entire page to the greatness of the Paul Whiteman Orchestra would have been laughed out of the business. But this isn't just any band we're talking about here. With the exception of the President's address to a joint session of Congress last night, I didn't spend much time yesterday dwelling on affairs of state. September 9, 2009 belonged to the Beatles.

Yesterday marked the long-awaited release of a box set containing every commercial LP and single made by the lads from Liverpool between the years 1962 and 1970. What makes this package different from what has previously been available is the fact that the engineers at EMI (the studio in London where they did most of their work) have digitally remastered the recordings from the original multi-track tapes. It was like listening to them for the first time all over again. The Beatles have never sounded better - To tell you the truth, I never dreamed that was possible.

To the best of my knowledge, I was the first person in Orange County to purchase the set. I was there bright and early at the FYE store in Middletown, NY. They were ten minutes late in opening and I'm afraid my impatience got the better of me. You should have seen me, rattling the closed gate, yelling only half in jest, "I WANT MY BEATLES, DAMMIT!!!" Nothing worked; not even when I threatened to write a letter to my congressman in protest would they budge an inch. Fortunately, the people who run the place are all-too-familiar with my little eccentricities and did not feel threatened enough to phone the authorities. Their restraint was truly impressive.

After purchasing the package, I wandered aimlessly on the back roads that separate the mall from where I live, listening to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - from beginning to climactic end. The songs have a clarity that is indescribable. The miracle of recorded sound will be bought home once again in the next few weeks to the millions of people who purchase any of these recordings. Those incredible voices, eternally young, forever alive, resonate across the decades. Close your eyes. You're back in Studio Two at the Abbey Road Studios, sitting in with the lads on a long-ago recording session. In the classic song, Strawberry Fields Forever, John Lennon told us that nothing is real. I would beg to differ. The sounds emanating from these new mixes are very real.

To most people over the age of fifty, the Beatles have a special place in our hearts. Fellow Baby Boomers: Can you even IMAGINE your childhood without the Beatles? Not me! There had never been a band like them before. The likes of the Fab Four are not likely to pass this way again. They arrived on our shores at just the right moment - two-and-a-half months after the assassination of a beloved president. We were not only ready for the Beatles in February of 1964, we needed them like a tonic.

We all have our personal memories of the phenomenon that was Beatlemania. I remember the Ed Sullivan Show. I remember seeing A Hard Day's Night at the movie theater around the corner from where I grew up. I remember being at my cousin Mike Cullen's home when I first saw the Sgt. Pepper cover ("Mike! They're wearing mustaches! What's that all about???") I remember exactly where I was standing in the summer of 1968 when I happened upon a girl from the neighborhood who was listening to the new Beatles record, Hey Jude, on a small transistor radio. I remember my reaction to the news that they had broken up. It wouldn't last, I thought. Someday they'll Get Back to where they once belonged. I really believed it - for an entire decade I believed it. You may say I'm a dreamer. That dream ended forever on a horrible night in December of 1980 when John Lennon was forever taken from us due to an insane act of cold-blooded murder.

"Nothing to do to save his life, call his wife in."

"I read the news today, oh boy!"

"The dream is over."

Two years ago, on the fortieth anniversary of the release of the landmark Sgt. Pepper LP, I wrote a piece on this site called, Why the Beatles Still Matter:

"Late one night, not very long ago, I had a dream that the Beatles were still among us, making us laugh and sing in the same way they did when they were the undisputed princes of the Planet Earth all those years ago. That's what was so wonderful about the Fab Four; they not only sang like the scruffy angels they were, but they were so damned funny! All one has to do is view the films, A Hard Day's Night and Help, and you're once again reminded that they were a great comedy team - one of the greatest. When I awoke from that dream - thinking it had been real - the blunt realization that the Beatles are gone forever was too depressing to even contemplate.

"In 1995, the night the video Free As a Bird premiered on national television (the first "new" Beatles song in over a quarter-of-a-century) I watched it with a young woman who was born in 1970, the year they broke up. Hearing them sing together again - Paul and George sounding strong and clear; John, by that time long-dead, his voice transferred from an old and faded cassette tape, sounding as if he were singing from far, far away - was a very moving experience. When she noticed my reaction, she laughed and said, "Oh, Tom! What's the big deal?" I told her that no one who did not live through that turbulent era could possibly understand what that band meant to their troubled generation."

BREAKING NEWS:
Music industry officials are now predicting that by the end of 2010, the Beatles will prove to be the best-selling band of the first decade of the twenty-first century. People who should know better are blaming the utter implosion of the record business on downloading and bootlegging. This is not a laughing matter, they're telling us. Oh really? Tell that to Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. Tell that to the heirs of John Lennon and George Harrison. They're laughing all the way to the bank, baby! Maybe - just maybe - there is a certain creativity that is somewhat lacking today. That's just a harmless little theory of mine. Pay no attention to it.

There's nothing you can know that isn't known
There's nothing you can see that isn't shown
There's nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be
It's easy!
All you need is love....

All you need is love. I believed it then; I believe it still. It's a fairly safe bet that in the next week or so, I'm going to be just a tad distracted by the magic and mystery of John, Paul, George and Ringo. When I'm done writing this latest screed of mine, I have a long drive to take. En route, I plan on listening to the new mix of Abbey Road in its entirety. Last night before I retired for the evening, I had a glass of wine and listened to Harrison's Here Comes the Sun. Beautiful! In the words of another one of his songs, "It's all too much for me to take". If your budget precludes you from buying the entire package (Times are tough, I know) you can purchase each album separately. It really is an incredible listening experience. The Beatles are back.

Unlike so many today, the Beatles stood for something. Decades of biographical scholarship now tells us that they were four very flawed and imperfect men, not unlike you and I. But the recorded legacy they left the human race is incalculable. Let me attempt the impossible and sum up the Beatles' message in one sentence: We are the makers of our own dreams. That works for me.

Dream. Dream away....

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net

SUGGESTED READING:

Shout!
by Phillip Norman

The Beatles
by Bob Spitz

HE'S COMING FOR OUR CHILDREN!!!

2009-09-07T07:43:00.074-04:00

Last week when the White House announced that President Obama would be giving a little speech to the nation's children, encouraging them to stay in school and study hard so they might go far in life, who in their right mind could have possibly predicted the shit storm of outrage that is now emanating from the extreme right? Actually, I did predict it - but I am of my right mind - honest, I am! It's just that these knuckleheads are so damned predictable. The sun will rise. The moon will set. Republicans will behave like assholes. It is really as simple as that.

I did the research. At the very least, every president since Hoover at one time or another used the classroom as a political prop. In the past, there had only been a hint of disdain from certain political corners for such events. Of course in 2009 things are a little different. In case you haven't noticed, Barack Obama is not Herbert Hoover.

It's things like this that make my job such a joy. The mind-numbing stupidity of these people never ceases to amuse, believe me. When Ronald Reagan addressed America's school children during his term and went as far as lecturing them on the importance of tax cuts, there was barely a whimper from the Left.Why the big fuss now? What the hell is the big deal? Let's stop kidding ourselves. This is racism at its ugliest. Our darling children must be protected from the socialistic ideas of the Big, Bad Negro. Oh, brother!

Could the basis for their paranoia be that Obama really is the hard core lefty that people like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh are portraying him to be? To quote Joan Rivers, "Can we talk?" Here's the dirty little secret: He ain't. He isn't even close to being one. If he were, people who lean left-of-center (like yours truly does) wouldn't be as disappointed in his performance thus far as we obviously are.

My only consolation in recent months has been the fact that the guy is not George W. Bush. As I said shortly after last year's election, Bush was such a monumentally awful president, even Obama's failures will look like brilliant statecraft by comparison. Although that has certainly turned out to be true, to be honest with you I was still expecting a bit more from this president. The good news is that at this writing we're barely eight months into his presidency. We will see where we are a year or two from now. To write Obama off now, as more-than-a-few Progressives seem to be doing, would be a great mistake.

Here is yet another example (as if any more were really needed) of how the Republican party has moved so far to the fringe Right in the last thirty years, they are in serious danger of falling off the face of the earth. How anyone could possibly interpret the president's remarks to read that he is trying to indoctrinate American children in "socialistic ideology" - when those remarks have not even been written yet - is beyond idiotic. We're talkin' full-blown lunacy here! It is also another clear example of the eye-popping stupidity of more than a few Americans.

Is Barack Obama such a clear and present danger to these nitwits that they would feel compelled to protect their children from him by keeping them home when he speaks? Are they that insecure? It would seem to me that we should have turned the corner with regard to our irrational racial fears decades ago. As with Bill Clinton, they are stopping at nothing in order to torpedo this president's agenda. As I've stated on this site more than opnce the GOP's only hope for political salvation is the complete and utter failure of the Obama administration and, thus, the American people. They want unemployment figures to go into the double digits. At this moment they are doing everything humanly possible to see to it that that happens.

What could the president possibly say in a ten minute chat that would conceivably send these kids head first into the abyss of Communist ideology? It staggers the imagination but let's give it a try, shall we?

"Hello, comrades - uhh, I mean, boys and girls - I'm the president! You know, kids, in this grand and glorious land of ours, we have something called "religious freedom". You know darned well what that means, don'cha? It means that you can worship God in anyway you choose without fear of persecution! Do you know what "persecution" means, kiddies? To be persecuted means to be picked on by mean people for no good reason. A very great man once said, 'It does me no injury for my neighbor to say that there are twenty gods - or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.' Gee! He sure must have been a really smart man! I hope that each and very one of you children grow up to be just as smart - and maybe even smarter - than he was!"

DID YOU HERE THAT, MARTHA??? That black son-of-a-bitch is trying to wash the brains of our good American children! Did'ja hear him? He was quotin' Karl Marx or Emma Goldman or Ed Asner or one of them there evil-doin', Commie Bastards!

Actually, it was Thomas Jefferson but who's keeping score?

Yes, Virginia, there are some jackasses out there who believe that Obama is trying to convert their kids into a new generation of Pravda subscribers. My message to them? Just relax and take a nice, deep breath. As someone recently remarked, this in not a policy speech, it's a pep talk. For all his minor flaws, this president really believes in education. His is the classic American success story in which the education he received plays a crucial role in the plot line. He wants to inspire the littlest of us to climb the highest mountains of achievement. What the hell is wrong with that? What's the matter with you people?

You would think the way some of you have been acting that the president is some kind of pervert stalking the neighborhood school bus stop, ready to expose himself. He means your children no harm. He's not trying to turn the little darlin's into Socialists - or even Democrats for that matter. Hell, for all we know he might even inspire one of them to greatness! It's a fairly safe bet that one day more than one of those kids will grow up to be the president of the United Sates of America! Let them be inspired.

In the spring of 1963, sixteen-ear-old Bill Clinton met John F. Kennedy in the Rose Garden of the White House. Did that now-historic meeting inspire Clinton? More than likely. One day in the late 1880s, James Roosevelt, a gentleman farmer from Dutchess County, New York, bought his five-year-old son, Franklin Delano, to the Executive Mansion (as the White House was then officially called) to meet President Grover Cleveland. Said the president to the boy:

"Little man, I'm going to make a strange wish for you. I wish that you never become president."

Just like FDR to spite the old bastard. Maybe old Grover was onto something there. Franklin D. Roosevelt is remembered today in the same way that Cleveland is all-but-forgotten.

So just sit back and relax, folks. Barack Obama is only performing a routine presidential duty that has been performed by presidents for generations. There's nothing to be afraid of. He's not trying to turn your babies into mini Marxists. This isn't the Trotsky For Toddlers program. The president of the United States merely wants to have a heart to heart talk with the children of America about the importance of a good education, that's all. I promise you, we Progressives do not believe in evil, subliminal messages. Chill out!

....STNERAP RUOY LLIK - NERDLIHC

Just kidding.

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net

AFTERTHOUGHT, 8 September 2009, 6:14 PM

President Obama spoke to America's children this afternoon. The world did not come to an end. Everything seems alright tonight.

Glenn Beck: The Louse That Roared

2009-09-03T15:58:00.081-04:00

It always saddens me to see a "Child Left Behind" - all grown up. Glenn Beck would be a text book case. Back in the spring on his unintentionally uproarious FOX Noise program, Beck told his television audience:

"First they came for the bankers, and I did not speak up because I was not a banker. Then they came for the A.I.G. executives, and I did not speak up because I was not an A.I.G executive."

He then looked the camera dead in the eye and ominously told his clueless viewers that eventually "they" (He never specified exactly who "they" were) would be coming for them. It was a gross perversion of the famous Martin Niemoller poem. It was a none-too-subtle effort to compare the Obama Justice Department's prosecution of corporate criminals to Hitler's persecution of the Jews seventy years ago. Nice.

Recently he has been trying to pump up his brain dead masses by flatly stating that Barack Obama is a racist who hates white people. The fact that our president's lineage is fifty percent European and that he was raised by his very white mother and grandparents apparently never occurred to this jackass. Fill the people's minds with hate and fear; that's all that matters. Incredibly, it's working. An alarming percentage of the American people actually believe that Obama's goal is to turn the United States into a Socialist police state.

MEMO TO THE REST OF THE PLANET EARTH:

Most of us here in the states have an I.Q. higher than that of your average half-eaten box of Milk Duds - Really, I promise!

A few months ago I wrote on this site that, being a tad crazy myself (in a lovable and endearing way, I assure you) I have the ability to pick up on the crazy vibe of others. Some people have a subtle, barely perceptible form of craziness - others have crazy to spare. Our boy Glenn is in the latter category. He likes to describe himself as the modern day equivalent of Howard Beale, the character played by the late actor Peter Finch in the 1976 film "Network". It's an apt comparison when you think about it:

He's mad as hell.

The first fact that struck me when researching the Beck biography was the day of his birth - February 10, 1964 - the day before his ideological soul mate, Sarah Palin, was born. Isn't that interesting! Just what the hell were they feeding those kids in the maternity wards of American hospitals forty-five years ago? Later on that same year, the GOP would nominate Barry "In your guts you know he's nuts" Goldwater as their standard bearer. Coincidence? I wonder....

And now the Beckster is positioning himself to become the Martin Loony King of the modern-day, Right Wing movement. He is organizing his very own March on Washington on September 12 at the Lincoln Memorial - the 9/12 Movement, he's calling it. Just imagine Glenn Beck standing under the statue if the Great Emancipator, bloviating in front of a sea of his intellectually-challenged masses. I can see it now....

"I have a scheme that one day my children will be judged not by the color of their white collars but the content of their country club....That one day ALL of God's children - Christians and CEO's; Republicans and John Birchers; right-wingers and MasterCard holders - will join hands and sing in the words of the old Harry Barris spiritual:

"WHEN THE SUN GOES DOWN AND THE TIDE GOES OUT
THE DARKIES GATHER 'ROUND AND THEY ALL BEGIN TO SHOUT
IT'S A TREAT TO BEAT YOUR FEET ON THE MISSISSIPPI MUD

I have a scheme today...."

I'm stating to think that I really have to attend this event. How much fun would that be? I wouldn't be there as a progressive provocateur. What earthly sense would that make? Let's face it: it has now been established beyond any doubt that a lot of these knuckleheads are armed and dangerous. Remember that jackass who showed up outside Obama's recent Town Hall event in New Hampshire with a fucking gun strapped to his leg??? No. Get home alive and in one piece. Just blend in with the crowd and take notes for the sake of posterity. Don't stand out. Does anyone have a baseball cap and a confederate flag I can borrow?

The Tea Party Movement earlier this year was a total failure - a complete fiasco. They tried to make it look like a "grass roots" effort but it soon became clear to everyone that the only "grass" on the agenda was AstroTurf. The entire affair was a cheap and pathetic publicity stunt cooked up (I believe) in the offices of the Republican National Committee. The 9/12 Movement is their last chance to be taken seriously as a force to be reckoned with. No doubt about it, now I have to attend! But it probably would not be a good idea for me to go alone, There is decided strength in numbers, you know what I mean?

MESSAGE TO MY OLD PALS JOHN HARRAGIN AND KEVIN SWANWICK:

What are you guys doing next weekend? Wanna go to Washington and hang out with Glenn Beck? It might be loads of fun! All sorts of possibilities for some serious mischief!

To date, Beck has lost a grand total of fifty-seven sponsors. His act has gotten too weird for even Corporate America. That takes a bit of doing. To be honest with you, I'll miss him when he's gone. In a way that I can't even articulate, people like Glenn Beck have made my life a total delight. If tomorrow people like him and Sarah Palin went away, look for me on the breadline. They have given new meaning to my life. Seriously, I can't thank them enough!

Not since Joe McCarthy shuffled off this mortal coil in 1957 has anyone made a career by accusing people of being communists. Glenn Beck has resurrected the practice. Not only has he found a cabal of secret communists, he has uncovered an entire communist corporation chock full of commies. The name of this company, you may ask?

THE NATIONAL BROADCASTING COMPANY!

You heard me right, boys and girls. The network that gave us Uncle Miltie and Ma Perkins has apparently been secretly sending subliminal messages endorsing Marxist doctrine since it was formed in 1926. This would make perfect sense to me. Every time I watched the Rockford Files I had an unexplainable desire to read Das Kapital.

But seriously, folks. Twenty years after the fall of the Soviet Union, red baiting not only seems silly, it's also kind of nuts. It's not-at-all surprising that an organization would give this idiot a forum (after all, he's on FOX Noise). What's really stunning is the fact that his ratings are relatively high and that so many Americans take his word as gospel.

All kidding aside, half-witted ideologues are a dime a dozen. What separates Glenn Beck from his peers is the fact that he is doing some serious damage to the country he professes to love so much. For all of the comparisons to the Nazis he likes to make with regard to Liberals, Beck's program has much in common with Adolf Hitler's 1923 screed, Mein Kampf. Eighty-six years ago, Hitler attempted to arouse the anger of his fellow Germans by spouting half truths and utter nonsense - exactly what Glenn Beck is doing in 2009. So much of the insane dialogue that has been spewed forth at these Town Hall meetings across the country in recent weeks might have been lifted straight from a transcript of any of Beck's programs.

Beck and his twisted ilk have done the seemingly impossible. They have deflected the blame for America's current economic distress toward Barack Obama. An incredible feat when you take into consideration the fact that the President is one of the few people in government today whose guilt in the matter is almost nil. They have also let loose with a vengeance the very worst angels of the American nature. Opening this Pandora's box was relatively easy. Closing it might prove to be a bit of a problem.

Deep in their hearts
They do believe
That they shall undermine someday....

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net

AFTERTHOUGHT:

To brother, Pete Degan, who turns fifty today.
Been there! Done that!

The Politics of Fear 2001-2009

2009-08-30T02:36:00.050-04:00

Watching George W. Bush at the funeral of Teddy Kennedy yesterday was, to say the very least, amusing. It's always great fun to witness the members of the vast right wing conspiracy confronted head-on with the theological flaws that are inherent in their philosophy. Watching that event with my pal, Kevin Swanwick, we were both mesmerized and just slightly overjoyed to be reminded yet again that the basic tenets of Liberalism are in perfect harmony with our Christianity - our Catholicism: feed the hungry, shelter the poor and clothe the naked. Oh, how I wish the camera would have cut to Bush's face the moment he was confronted with the most famous line (and justly so) from the Gospel according to Matthew:

"I tell you this: whatever you did to the least of these brothers of mine, you did to me."

Jesus of Nazareth

One can only imagine how uncomfortable that passage from the scriptures must have made him feel. Or how about the Sermon on the Mount?

"Blessed are the peace makers
For they shall be called Sons of God."

I imagine being confronted with the words of Jesus Christ might make old George just a tad uneasy. The prayers that were offered up by the youngest members of the Kennedy clan, in Teddy's own words, were the most touching part of the entire day:

"That human beings be measured not by what they cannot do. That quality health care becomes a fundamental right and not a privilege. That old policies of race and gender die away. That newcomers be accepted, no matter their color or place of birth. That the nation stand united against violence, hate and war. That the work begins anew, and the dream lives on. We pray to the Lord."

Lord hear our prayer.

After the mass had ended, and Kevin and I headed into town to get a cup of coffee, I was almost stunned by the good cheer I felt. Ted Kennedy's funeral was truly a joyous event. Truth be told, it was damned-near therapeutic! The politics of joy as opposed to the politics of fear. There ain't nothin' like it in the world, Baby!

Surely Bush and those like him must realize that the teachings of the Prince of Peace are so diametrically opposed to the agenda of the modern-day Conservative movement, that it has gone beyond parody. Seriously, that entire movement has devolved into a gross spectacle sport - the ultimate reality show.

There must have been an audible sigh of relief emanating from the Bush Mob when Senator Kennedy breathed his last breath. The headlines his death was sure to produce meant that - for one brief, shining moment - the public spotlight would be deflected from what had been the major story prior to early Friday morning - that the Bush administration had politicized national security.

The bad news was broken in the form of advance publicity for the soon-to-be published memoirs of Tom Ridge, Bush's former Director of Homeland Security. The most comical aspect of all this are the expressions of astonishment by so many people by Ridge's revelations: that he was instructed to raise the terror alert level at various moments when the administration was in the midst of - shall we say - a "Bad News Week"? How can it possibly be that someone like me - who did not even finish High School - was able to put two and two together while the so-called "Liberal media elite" missed it entirely? What's wrong with this picture? What is astonishing is the fact that in their efforts to terrorize the Amercian people, Bush and company were aided and abetted by none other than Osama bin Laden!

What everyone with half-a-brain understands by now (but what was then apparent to anyone paying attention) is the fact that it was essential for bin Laden's long-term goals that Bush be reelected in 2004. The guy was a virtual poster boy for al Queda recruitment. It didn't take a master's degree in geopolitical strategy to understand that in the videotape released on the eve of the 2004 election, our man Osama was trying to frighten the electorate into voting for Bush. As history painfully shows, his strategy worked beautifully. It is apparent that bin Laden would agree with the assessment of P.T. Barnum who long ago observed that no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.

There are some on the left who are trying to portray Ridge as some kind of heroic figure. Let's be as blunt here: his revelation that he was ordered by then Attorney General John Ashcroft to heighten the terror alert color code in the hours leading up to the '04 election is too little, too late. He should have alerted his country at that very moment what these despicable people were up to. Had he done so,m he would have saved us four more years of what was already the most incompetent, corrupt administration in the history of this republic. Five years after the fact, Ridge is merely exploiting the corruption - which he was a willing participant in - in order to sell a book. He's not fooling me for a minute.

This is merely the tip of the proverbial iceberg. President Obama says America needs to "move on" and has insinuated that an investigation into the crimes of the Bush administration is not in the best interest of the United States. He is as wrong as he has ever been in his life. Were George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney allowed to get away with the crimes they committed against the American people, it would set a precedent too dangerous to even contemplate. It would literally give future corrupt chiefs executive the license to break the law - any law - he or she deemed inconvenient to their particular agenda. As the old, tried and true saying goes, we are a nation of laws - not of men (or of women). Not only is a special prosecutor in order, it is years overdue.

The stark contrasts between the ideals of the Progressive movement and the right wing's backwards and greedy ideology were out in public yesterday for all to compare and contrast at Our Lady of Perpetual Comfort Church in Boston. The differences were so obvious, you could not have missed them had you tried.

Tom Degan

from Room 203 of the Comfort Inn

Goshen, NY

tomdegan@frontiernet.net

SUGGESTED READING:

Conjectures of a Guilty Bystanders
by Thomas Merton

Speaking of Kevin Swanwick....He has started his own literary blog that you ought to have a look at. Here's a link:

http://www.swanwickmuse.blogspot.com/

The guy is good!

Teddy Kennedy 1932-2009

2009-08-26T02:00:00.089-04:00

"To speak for those who have no voice; to remember those who are forgotten; to respond to the frustration and fulfill the aspiration of all Americans seeking a better life in a better land....for all those whose cares have been our concern, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die."

Edward Moore Kennedy, 8/12/80

The lion sleeps....

I'll never forget the night Ted Kennedy gave that speech at the Democratic National Convention after failing to win his party's nomination for the presidency. I was visiting my old pal, Dan O'Brien, who at the time was living in a one-room kitchenette in Liverpool, NY, just north of Syracuse. It was - and remains - the greatest political oration of my lifetime. Watching the event on a small, black and white television set, I instinctively knew that I was witnessing one of those sublime moments in American history that would be remembered a century into the future. Leave it to O'Brien; he slept through the whole damned thing.

My brother, Pete, woke me up just before two AM with the news. Teddy Kennedy died late last night at the age of seventy-seven with his loved ones by his bedside. I assumed that the end was near when he was unable to attend his sister Eunice Shriver's funeral less than two weeks ago. I know from personal experience that when a person with a brain tumor is no longer able to move around with relative ease, it's only a matter of time.

In a life that is littered with ironies, here's the biggest one of all: His three older brothers - Joe, Jack and Bobby - are eternally frozen in our imagination as the personifications of youth and vigor (or "vigah"). How poignant that our final image of the baby of that family will be as an old man, frail and mortally ill.

His was the most impressive evolution in American political history. When he first ran for the senate forty-seven years ago, I was all of four years old. Had I been writing about politics then, it is a fairly good bet that I would have vehemently opposed the candidacy of Edward Moore Kennedy. Let's be honest; in 1962 the guy was a lightweight. He ran for the Democratic nomination against another young man, Edward McCormick, whose uncle John was the speaker of the House of Representatives. During a debate McCormick told him that were it not for his name, his candidacy would be viewed as a joke. It was a point well made. It is obvious when looking at film of that campaign that our boy Ted is in way over his head.

Who would have dared dream all those years ago that this punk kid would one day evolve into the greatest senator ever to walk those halls?

An incredible realization just came to me: Teddy represented the state of Massachusetts for forty-six years, eight months and nineteen days. That is nearly three months longer than all the years his older brother Jack lived on earth. Forgive the cliche that is so overused it has become trite, but this truly is the end of an era, folks.

The man who would be president....

It was a horrible automobile accident forty years ago this summer, which ended the life of a young woman, that would forever end his chance to pick up the torch that had fallen due to the madness of two different assassins. I know this might sound strange coming from someone who was such an admirer of the man, but in hindsight I am happy Ted Kennedy lost the Democratic primaries to President Carter. It was only after he lost that race - only when he came to terms with the truth that he would never be president - that he became the lion of the senate that history will justly remember him as.

He probably never would have been able to defeat Ronald Reagan had he won the nomination. The pendulum of American politics was swinging in an unfortunate direction in 1980. The right wing lunacy that has dominated our national conversation since then was inevitable, I suppose. It was only when he no longer had one eye focused on the White House that he blossomed as a senator. Most of the legislation that bears his name - that he will be remembered most for - post-date the year 1980.

We are fortunate that Teddy spent all of those years in the senate, fighting the good fight for the not-so-fortunate. That he was hated and scorned by the forces of weirdness is as much a testament to the man's greatness as any example that I can offer. I am told by someone who is at this moment watching FOX Noise (I'm watching MSNBC) that they are focusing more on the man's shortcomings than his virtues. That is as it should be. They couldn't say enough about staunch segregationist Strom Thurmond when he died. In certain instances you can tell more about a man by his enemies than by his friends. It will be more than interesting to see how the bloviators in the extreme right wing react to his death. Count on an outbreak of foot in mouth disease.

He was given a gift that would be denied to his three older brothers and one older sister: the gift of years. That he would be the only one of those four extraordinary men to die of natural causes - to live to have a head full of gray hair - is something we should not take for granted. No other family in American history would pay a heavier price in the cause of public service than the Kennedys. The fact that for many years he was a heavy drinker and that his judgment was often clouded should be forgiven. Given what he went through, who among us would have emerged from the storm with our psychological make up as intact as his obviously was? After Bobby was murdered in 1968, it's a miracle the poor guy didn't drink himself to death.

His demons notwithstanding, his heart was always in the right place. He was the son of privilege who spent his entire public life working overtime for the poor and dispossessed. I'll take Ted Kennedy over any of his colleagues - warts and all. Truth be told, I would have loved to have gotten drunk with the guy. That would have been really cool!

It has been said too many times that he never lived up to his potential, that he will forever be overshadowed by his two brothers. I disagree. Given the limited time that fate would allow them, their legacies are decidedly eclipsed by their little brother's. As John Meacham said this morning on the Morning Joe program, "He certainly belongs in the company of Henry Clay and Daniel Webster." As legislators, Jack and Bobby aren't even in Teddy's league. It's not even close.

So many "red state Americans" who regarded him with suspicion if not outright hatred, will probably never even realize how much they owe Senator Kennedy. It's kind of sad that a lot of the people Kennedy worked the hardest for despised him with a passion borne of decades of anti-Kennedy propaganda. Nothing was handier for a Republican running in a conservative district than the image of Bogeyman Ted in a campaign ad. It usually worked.

TEDDY KENNEDY'S GONNA GET'CHA IF YA DON'T WATCH OUT!

I wonder how these people would react if tomorrow - just for a day, mind you - every law Teddy Kennedy is responsible for were made null and void. Call it a hunch but I have a strong feeling that more people than you might suspect are going to miss him now that he's gone.

Teddy, they hardly knew ye!

We're a better country because for seventy-seven years Teddy Kennedy walked amongst us. His impact on the country he loved so much will be felt for generations. The loss his passing means to progressive politics in the United States is incalculable. We need him at this moment in history more than we ever needed him before. It's so unspeakably sad. He's gone and he's not coming back. Now he belongs to the ages.

In the good old Irish Catholic tradition, tonight I'll be drinking a toast or two (or twelve) to you, Ted. Sleep well and thanks.

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net

SUGGESTED READING:

Last Lion: The Fall and Rise of Ted Kennedy
by Peter S. Canellos

Hush! Hush! Sweet Sarah!

2009-08-19T18:52:00.068-04:00

"The America that I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's "death panel" so his bureaucrats can decide, based on subjective judgment, of their "level of productivity in society", whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil."

Sarah Palin
from her Fascism....I mean, "Facebook" page.

The question is literally screaming to be posed: Can this woman possibly get any stupider? I really shouldn't be too hard on her. Sarah Palin has made my life a gut-busting delight and my work so much easier. When one has made his or her name doing what I do - mining the streams of American politics for those choice nuggets of unintentional humor - the former governor of Alaska is the gift that just keeps giving and giving. I really should not get any credit for writing the piece you are now reading. Truth be told, it is writing itself. I am also getting a good deal of aid from my brother, Jeff (photo above).

In a piece that was printed this morning in the Times Herald-Record of Middletown, NY, Richard Cohen made an excellent point - as Richard Cohen has an uncanny habit of doing. He wrote that the term "McCarthyism" should be updated by renaming it "Palinism". Joe McCarthy died in 1957 - seven years before Sarah Palin was born. The dictionary definition that old Joe gave to American politics should be updated because, essentially, he and Sarah are doing the same thing. The only difference between the two is the fact that Sarah, as far as we know, is not a drunk. Said Richard Cohen:

Palin, as wholesome as McCarthy was not, is ready-made for television. Still, she has gone from a 57 percent favorable rating soon after McCain picked her as his running mate to a current 39 percent - a negative landslide of justifiable proportions. Before she fades into fringedom, she will do one bad thing and one good thing - hurt the very people she supposedly champions and expose the appalling opportunism of the Republican leaders."

I have to take issue with something Mr. Cohen wrote in that otherwise excellent piece: I do not want Sarah Palin to fade away into "fringedom" or any other "dom" for that matter. I don't want her to ever go away. Are you kidding me? She is the walking, talking personification of how the Republican party, once the party of Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt, has been taken over by lunatics and morons. As someone recently remarked, it is no longer a political party, it's a cult.

NOTE TO THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT:

When Jesus healed the sick, He did not disqualify anyone because of a "preexisting condition". A little something I think you might want to ponder.

HELP!! THE DEATH PANELS ARE COMING!!!

You've got to give a tip of the old hat to the American people. What could be the explanation for our positive genius for falling prey to the most blatant and obvious propaganda? I have a possible theory if you're interested in hearing it:

We're idiots.

That is the general consensus among the rest of the world. The fact that an imbecile like Our Miss Sarah can "twit" (an appropriate word if ever there was one) about something as ludicrous as "Death Panels" and within hours it is a serious part of the national dialogue shows you that something is...umm...amiss, shall we say? I think it is almost touching that so huge a segment of the American people are so susceptible to such nonsense - touching but hardly surprising. Let's not forget that these are the same people who just nine years ago were hypnotized into believing that sending a half-witted frat boy like George W. Bush to the White House was a perfectly fine and dandy idea. Are you surprised that most of the American public are swallowing the bait hook, line and sinker? You shouldn't be. You really shouldn't.

For the first time in our history, we are within grasp of the type of national health insurance that has worked beautifully in merrie old England for over sixty years. Don't let them try to fool you into believing that it hasn't worked Over There. It has. If the British health care system is so bloody awful, why has it been adopted by every other nation (but ours) in the industrialized world? And here's another tasty little question to munch on: why is it that the English live, on average, two years longer than we do? Can it be the fish 'n' chips? I kind of doubt it.

To listen to Sarah Palin and the bloviators on the right put it, Canadians and Europeans despise their health care system. Oh, really? My brother Pete has lived in Toronto for a decade. "Not true", says he. Brother Jeff has lived in Europe for almost twenty years. "Not true", says he. He went into a little more detail exclusively for you lucky Rant readers. Like his older brother, he's a tad long-winded. In Jeff Degan's own words:

HELL CARE

"As an American who has been living in Europe for most of the last 20 years, one who has visited doctors numerous times in four different countries, whose two children were brought into this world in European hospitals (France and England), who has himself spent a week in a public British hospital, and who underwent an operation in a private British clinic, I think I can say a thing or two about health care in Europe.

"Our out of pocket expenses for the births? Zero. Even though in France my wife spent 5 days in the hospital after the birth of our first daughter, which is standard by the way.

"During the three years we lived in England, we never once paid for medicine for our children. Children get drugs for free in the UK. Visits to the GP are free for everybody.

"My expenses for the week in the NHS hospital? Zero.

"The cost of the operation in the private clinic? Zero, it was covered by my work insurance, as was the post-op physical therapy I needed.

"In Western Europe you would never be forced to sell your home in order to pay for your medical bills, as happens all too often in America when catastrophic illness strikes and the insurance company decides that your condition was 'pre-existing'.

"The quality of the care? Mostly good. French hospitals are excellent, even the food is decent. The food at the NHS hospital was beyond awful, but then again most English food is pretty bad (though they do have great Indian food). At night, they were understaffed, but I am guessing that, apart from that place where Dr. House works, most American hospitals are understaffed at night, too.

"In short, in the US, you pay more, get less, and die younger than we do in Europe. What part of that don't you understand?

"My fellow Americans, you have nothing to fear except those who would use fear to keep you enslaved to the myth of the might of the American health care system."

Jeff Degan

What can I tell you? The guy is a Communist. Not only does he live in France, he actually likes it there. An eternal shame to the good name of the Degan family. Let us boil down his seven paragraphs to their juicy essentials, shall we?

HEALTH CARE IN THIS COUNTRY SUCKS.

Here is (Excuse me, I meant to say, "Here was") a golden opportunity for real reform and the idiotic Americans are screaming about socialism. Is it any wonder that we have become the laughingstock of the Western world?

In the mean time, our gal Sarah will continue to twit away. That is as it should be, I suppose. She really is doing us a great service when you think about it. She is aiding and abetting her party's complete and utter spiral into irrelevance.

YOU GO, GIRL!

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net

AFTERTHOUGHT:

The photograph to the left of this column is of my French-loving, Pravda-reading brother, Jeff. Note the Vladamir Lenin goatee. Shameful.

SUGGESTED VIEWING:

SICKO
a film by Michael Moore

Woodstock Revisited

2009-08-13T06:46:00.132-04:00

"I'm goin' down to Yasgur's farm
Gonna join in a rock 'n' roll band
Got to get back to the land
And set my soul free."

Joni Mitchell

The Woodstock Festival did not take place in Woodstock, New York but in the town of Bethel which is sixty-seven miles due west. The second day of that mythic, three-day concert coincided with my eleventh birthday (I am going to be fifty-one on Sunday. Yikes! Where did the time go?). I remember quite clearly my friend Tom Finkle and I riding our bikes up to the bridge on South Street that overlooks Route 17 - a four lane highway which snakes its way into Sullivan County where the great event took place. It looked like a long and narrow parking lot. The New York State Thruway had been shut down. To the best of my knowledge, that had never happened before and has not happened since.

To say that it was an exciting time to be alive almost sounds redundant. Less than four weeks earlier, two human beings had walked on the surface of the moon, a technological feat that will probably out shine every other event of the twentieth century in the history books that will be written a thousand years from now. As future decades unwind, it is a certainty that the photographic image of half a million kids, partying and dancing in the mud, will not continue to sustain the cultural significance that it does for us today. The years will pass by, the people who were lucky enough to be there will one day be no more, and the Woodstock Festival will be erased from living memory; a mere footnote to a very crowded century. But what a freaking party, baby!

This weekend I'll be listening to my copy of the Woodstock Soundtrack LP - on vinyl, of course. The very thought of listening to it on a compact disc seems somehow sacrilegious. Although I could have done without Sha-Na-Na's version of At The Hop, all in all it's a pretty good collection of tunes. I have always envied my cousin, the noted falconer Tom Cullen, who was a witness to Jimi Hendrix's rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. Can you imagine? Canned Heat's performance of Going Up The Country is one of the great moments in rock history; and for the last forty years, whenever I heard Joan Baez singing Joe Hill, I have had to pause whatever I was doing at the moment and concentrate on it - It is one of the most moving pieces ever recorded on tape.

From San Diego up to Maine
In every mine and mill
Where working men defend their rights
It's there you'll find Joe Hill
It's there you'll find Joe Hill....

Here is a little bit of historical trivia for you: Joe Hill was Edward R. Murrow's favorite song. Bless him, I'm not surprised by that!

"If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution."

Emma Goldman 1869-1940

I often wonder what Lady Emma might have thought about the so-called "sixties revolution". There certainly was a lot to dance to, that's for sure. But in the final analysis, I imagine she might have been just a bit disappointed with the Woodstock Generation. To be honest with you, I have always been a bit cynical on the subject of the Baby Boomers. The dirty little secret that no one (as far as I know) has yet dared to write about is that the youth revolt of the 1960s was born of out of the fact that the sons-of-privilege believed that the Vietnam War should have been fought by everyone and anyone but themselves

Two years after Lyndon Johnson escalated the war with the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, the overwhelming majority of American college students were indifferent to what was going on in Vietnam - if they were aware of it at all. Credit belongs to visionaries like the Trappist Monk Thomas Merton, who condemned American involvement in South East Asia as far back as the Eisenhower administration. In 1959 Merton was - as he would remain throughout his life - one of the small numbers of voices-of-reason in a military-obsessed wilderness. The only thing his abhorrence of war ever got him was an FBI file.

As today, there was a noticeable class division in the young men who were fighting and dying - and not fighting and dying - in Vietnam. President Johnson, to his credit, believed that the sons-of-bankers had the same obligation as the sons-of-butchers. It was only when he ended the college deferments that the country exploded and the anti-war movement began to flourish. Can you ponder what might have happened if this situation existed today? The war against Iraq would not have lasted a day.

There were a few ways to avoid fighting in Vietnam without going to prison as a draft evader. If you were lucky enough to be the half-witted son of a certain congressman from Texas named Bush, you got a much-sought-after placement in an elite National Guard unit - despite your utter lack of qualifications. If in the course of your "service" you decided to go AWOL - no problemo! Some people were a little more politically connected than others, you know what I mean?

Many of the upper class young men who partook in "the revolution" of the 1960s did so only because they believed in their hearts something that only a few of them have admitted to date: that fighting the war in Vietnam - or any war for that matter - was beneath them. Leave that nasty little chore to the minorities and the poor white guys.

When the nightmare that was Vietnam finally ended in the Spring of 1975; when the draft was abolished and they were out of danger - the scenario would be drastically altered as you can imagine. The peace sign would eventually give way to the dollar sign; marijuana was overtaken by the three-martini lunch. Uber radical Jerry Rubin would end his life working for Wall Street.

Many of the guys you can see in the film, Woodstock - smoking dope under the stars, dancing in a torrential downpour, and grooving to The Who - would end up as prostitutes for Corporate America - buying BMWs and voting for Ronald Reagan. The mantle of "Peace and Love" was, I believe, merely a convenient front. As balding, middle-aged men, most of them would gleefully support their nation's illegal invasion of Iraq a generation later. By that time, these assholes weren't the ones who would have to do the fighting and dying.

I'm not trying to say that they were wrong not to support American involvement in Vietnam. They were absolutely correct. If only they had shown a little more consistency. They - WE - are the phoniest, most hypocritical generation in the history of the world.

But, damn! Their music was good!

The last time I looked at my videocassette of Woodstock (which was well over a decade ago) I wondered about the fates of the half-a-million gathered on the fields of Max Yasgur's farm in Sullivan County on that distant weekend. The passage of four decades decrees that a third or more of them have passed on. The average age of the attendees was about twenty-two. Today would find them approaching their mid-sixties; the age many of their grandparents were in 1969!

To be sure, some of them were sincere in their desire to make the world a better place for all. There are many good people of that generation who have kept the spirit of the sixties alive - or have tried to anyway. America is not the same country it was forty years ago. 2009 finds us even more polarized than we were during the age of Richard Nixon.

It is no longer merely a "generation gap" that is tearing America apart. The gaps today are almost too numerous to catalog: the political gap; the health insurance gap; the employment gap; the racial gap; the education gap; the class and income gaps. The world is a lot more troubled and sadder than it was in that long ago, magical summer of 1969. Sometimes I feel like a hostage to time. The truth is, for all the technological wonders of the twenty-first century, I just don't like being here.

NOTE TO MY FRIENDS:
No, I'm not going to kill myself. Chill.

Where I come from, Woodstock has a special meaning to people because it happened here - or close enough to count. From where I now sit, Bethel is a mere forty-two miles northwest. According to this morning's local paper, seventy-five media outlets from all over the world will be covering the events commemorating the anniversary this weekend. That's enough of a reason for me to stay the hell away. I'm not as crowd-friendly as I once was. Besides, I would have preferred to attend the real thing forty years ago. That would have been too cool for words!

Nostalgia is a permanent human condition. Each generation is nostalgic for the last. It absolutely boggles the mind to think that the year 2049 will find those of us who survive looking back on these hideous times with tender longing. Given our silly human quirks, that will probably be the case. Still, it's hard not to reflect on the hope that was prevalent in the summer of Woodstock. We want to believe that there is a magical future where, as John Lennon once imagined, there are no countries; nothing to kill or die for. Maybe we will one day arrive at that wondrous place.

Maybe....

We are stardust, we are golden
We are billion-year-old carbon
And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden....

DANCE WITH ME, EMMA!!!

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net

Suggested viewing or listening:

WOODSTOCK - the film or the album, man!

The GOP's Little Image Problem

2009-08-07T07:42:00.103-04:00

In case you've missed it, the Grand Old Party has been having a bit of a PR problem of late. Maybe I can help them overcome their latest difficulty but (Heh! Heh!) I kind of doubt it. In an article that was posted just this morning on AlterNet (see link below) Francis Schaeffer, a former Religious Right activist who has since come home to Jesus, wrote as follows:

"THE SCORCHED EARTH POLICY: Dick Army and company have been driven mad by their reversal, not just of political fortunes but of seeing that they've wasted their lives. They now know they were wrong: about the country, the free market, war for fun and profit, and what the American people really want. They made their best case and were rejected by the American people -- and by history. Bush was their man and he turned out to be a fool. So now all the the Republican gurus have left is what the defeated Germans of World War Two had: a scorched earth policy. If they can't win then everyone must go down. Obama must fail! The country must fail!"

This is what I've been dreading since last year's election. The loony Right Wing has become even more unglued than their weird history has taught us to expect. They realize that their stupid and twisted ideology has been rendered hopelessly bankrupt by the American people. Then again, their causes always end up in history's trash bin.

From "The Rant", August 9, 2006:

"Conservative causes may look good when viewed through a contemporary prism; but they always - without exception - look foolish, even totalitarian, when viewed through the objective lens of 20/20 historical hindsight. If you don't believe me, look up every conservative cause in American history - starting with slavery! No doubt about it: America is in dire need of a long overdue history lesson, not to mention a course or two in civics."

Now that their cover has been eternally blown, they have no other choice but to encourage "the base" (or what's left of it) into a violent insurrection. That is what has been happening lately at these Town Hall Meetings. Today these people are disrupting Democracy through means of fear and intimidation. Tomorrow it will be by use of firearms. Count on it.

This could very easily be called the Glenn Beck Revolution. The former shock jock-turned FOX News commentator has spent the last several weeks stirring up his clueless masses into hissy fits of rage and paranoia. Beck likes to think of himself as the modern day equivalent of Howard Beale, the character from the classic 1976 film, Network. As I wrote on this site back in June, it's an apt comparison. He's mad as hell.

It really is interesting when you think about it. A person with no journalistic experience whatsoever could hope to find success as a journalist only on FOX Noise. If Howard Stern tomorrow decided that he wanted to change careers and start over as a Progressive commentator on MSNBC, do you really think for one minute that most Liberals would be stupid enough to tune in? If Keith Olbermann tonight called upon the masses to disrupt all public events hosted by Eric Cantor, few if any Liberals, I'm am certain, would follow his lead in blind obedience. Then just what is it with these silly wing-nuts?

By the way, this is slightly off-topic but I have a prediction to make: Eric Cantor will be their nominee in 2012. While he may be utterly lacking in substance, he looks really good on television - the perfect GOP candidate. Here is what their selling point is going to be three years from now:

We made history four years ago by sending a black guy to the Oval Office. Let's do it again by sending a Jew!

Mark my words, boys and girls....

It has always amused and amazed me how easily these people fall victim to obvious propaganda. That is why we are the laughingstock of the entire planet, I suppose. Remember it was only a few short years ago that a large segment of the electorate were hypnotized into believing that sending a corrupt, hideous, half-witted little frat boy like George W. Bush to the White House was a really neat idea.

Beck and his co-conspirators now have a huge segment of Americans believing that if President Obama's plan for health care reform is successful, the elderly will be euthanized. What the hell is the matter with them? The only explanation I can fathom is that they just refuse to believe that what has worked beautifully for over sixty years in merrie old England can be made to work here. They don't know what is good for America. They never have. They never will.

The scorched earth policy that Schaeffer refers to boils down to this one essential and inarguable fact: Some of them at least have bothered to learn American history. They understand all-too-well the ramifications of Franklin D. Roosevelt's victory in 1932 and the effect it had on their political antecedents. So successful was FDR's New Deal at repairing America's social and economic infrastructure after twelve years of Right Wing plunder, the Republicans would not control the executive branch of our government for twenty years. And other than one brief period, they would not control the House of Representatives for a full sixty-two years. They are absolutely determined that history does not repeat itself.

In order for the Republican party to survive politically, Barack Obama - and, thus, you and I - must fail. This very week, when it appeared that the economy might be on the mend, they were out on the talk show circuit, chanting the mantra. "Oh, no!", they bloviated. "the surge in the economy is not because of the president's policies - but in spite of them." Were we to believe the likes of John Boehner and Mitch McConnell, President Obama is the Chauncey Gardiner of American politics.

The days when this country was exclusively run by male White Anglo Saxon Protestants are gone forever - and the kooks and fools on the fringes of American politics refuse to accept this unalterable new reality as fact.

Coming soon to a theater near you - a tale so chilling it will make your blood curdle! A story so horror-laden, few would have dared imagine it only a year ago! Do not see this picture alone - Be sure to bring a friend! DON'T MISS....

ATTACK OF THE NEGROES!!!!

Be afraid, they're telling us. Be very afraid! The white man is no longer in charge. "Those people" are taking over our beloved country. The President of United States (these United States, goddammit!) isn't even an American citizen - he's a goddamned A-rab from Africa! He wants to kill grandma and grandpa! He's plannin' on sendin' our kids to reeducation camps! He's nothin' but a goddamned, latte-swirlin', french fry-eatin', Barbara Streisand-lovin' surrender monkey! Oh, Mammy! Hand me mah smellin' salts 'fore Ah faint!

Those are the depths to which political dialogue in this country has sunk in the last twenty-eight years, six months, two weeks and two days (Do the math). Long gone are days of reasoned discourse for most of these assholes. They are past the point where they could debate the issues on the basis of their ideas - because their ideas are reprehensible. To paraphrase FDR, the only thing they have to offer is fear itself. Pump the people up with hate. That is their final and only strategy.

Forgive me for pointing out this nasty little tidbit of historical fact, but this is the very same kind of inflammatory rhetoric that was polluting the American political landscape on the eves of April 14, 1865 and November 22, 1963. Need I go into detail? I didn't think so. Hardly a day goes by where I don't pray out loud, "Dear Lord, keep him safe."

That being said, here's a friendly little reminder for Glenn Beck and the hate mongers on the Far Right who are doing so much damage to the body politic: if our president is ever harmed in any serious way, you jackasses will have blood dripping from your idiotic hands. Were something that horrible ever to happen, there would be hell to pay. If I were you folks, I'd start working overtime to ensure that it does not happen. Just a thought.

On that cheerful note....

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net

To read Frank Schaeffer's excellent AlterNet piece in its entirety, here's a link:

http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/141833/right-wing_turncoat_gives_the_inside_scoop_on_why_conservatives_are_rampaging_town_halls/

The Children of 1977

2009-08-02T07:19:00.108-04:00

They were the Young Americans.

On the Fourth of July 2009, twenty-three members of Goshen Central High School's class of 1977 got together for a thirty-second reunion. The adults reminisced, their kids went fishing and a splendid time was had by all. No marijuana was smoked. Incredible.

I'm always very grateful to be included in their celebrations because - technically at least - I am not part of the class of '77. I dropped out of school at the beginning of my Junior year, a wasted victim of America's drug culture. I eventually quit the stuff forever the summer after my former classmates graduated - on my nineteenth birthday in fact - which, coincidentally, was also the day that Elvis Presley died. I always like to tell people that Elvis and I quit drugs on the same day, the only difference being that I did so voluntarily. In all seriousness, had I not stopped when I did, I would have died decades ago.

Our high school was not extraordinary by any stretch of the imagination. At the time, my dad was president of the school board. The faculty, to their credit, never gave me preferential treatment because of this. Truth be told, that would have been impossible; I was a troubled kid and a bad student. Our principal and vice-principal were named, respectively, Robert Leslie and Andre Assalian. I have no photographs of them to show you, but just picture in your mind Ronald Reagan and Saddam Hussein and you'll get a pretty accurate mental image.

We had a football team that, as I recall, was one of the best in the county. My memory is shaky on this subject because I only attended one game while I was there. Then, as now, I am indifferent to all sports. The reason for that team's success, I am sure, was because of the presence of my beloved pal, Paul Scesa, and the late Tom Losey. I had been tackled at least one time by both of these guys and, quite frankly, would have preferred to have been hit at full speed by a medium-sized pickup truck.

Compared to the swinging sixties, our decade was relatively low key. By the time we entered Goshen Central in the late summer of 1973, the Vietnam war was pretty much winding down. Nixon had ended the draft the year before in a bid to get the votes of kids between the ages of eighteen and twenty-years-old - a demographic that was voting for the first time in 1972. As a result, none of us guys had to deal with the nightmare our older brothers had faced; getting an induction notice in the mail on our eighteenth birthdays. Our greatest anxiety was getting busted for possession of grass. There was a lot of marijuana around in those days. On the bright side of things, due to the availability of pot, alcoholism among the class of 1977 was rare. Generally speaking, we were a fairly healthy lot, I think.

But it was also the era of a political scandal which overshadowed anything the sixties had to offer. It was an incident which turned me, at the tender age of fifteen, into a stone-cold political junkie - Watergate. We had grown up believing that the men (and they were mostly white men) who represented us in Washington were a fundamentally honest - if slightly goofy - lot. It was the sins of Richard Milhaus Nixon and company - sins which would only be dwarfed by the atrocities committed by the Bush Mob a generation later - which turned most Americans into political skeptics.

The summer before our Sophomore year, political reality would force the President of the United States to resign his office in complete disgrace. Only a pardon by Gerald R. Ford in September would save him from federal prison. It was an incredible time to be alive - not unlike today.

A year before we entered high school, an African American congresswoman from Brooklyn named Shirley Chisholm sought the Democratic nomination for president. In 1972 her candidacy was considered an amusing joke even among most Democrats. Last year, the main contenders for the nomination of that same party were an African American and a woman. Only the extreme Right Wing laughed in 2008. Barack Obama is today the president. "Those who laugh last...."

"There's a Star Man waiting in the sky
He'd Like to come and meet us
But he thinks he'd blow our minds"

David Bowie
from the 1973 album
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars

Perhaps the Star Man hidden in the clouds in 1973 eventually realized that he could reveal himself to us without blowing our collective mind. So much has changed in this country - for good and ill - it really is quite breathtaking when you think about it. We have gone to a completely different place and there really is no turning back. Those are causes for both joy and sorrow, I suppose. Was it mere youthful naivete that made me feel that the world in the sweet summer of 1975 was essentially a nicer, more hospitable place in which to live than it is in the dismal summer of 2009? Maybe. Maybe not.

The freshest memory of that era is, of course, the music. No invention in the history of the world has amazed me half as much as Mr. Edison's talking machine. The ability to reproduce (at the mere click of a button) the sound of a recording session recorded decades before I was born or the sound of a human voice - a century dead - is something I have never taken for granted. Lou Reed will be sixty-eight-years-old on March 2, 2010. But his voice from the evening he walked out on the stage of Howard Stein's Academy of Music in the Spring of 1974 and let loose with a stunning version of Sweet Jane (the Rock 'n' Roll Animal LP) will be forever as youthful and tormented as it was on that long ago night. We may age but our music remains younger than we were all those years ago.

The night of November 2, 1974 stands out: My father drove Kevin Swanwick, Jeanne Farley, Beverly Cathey, Paul Scesa, Dan O'Brien and I down to Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan to see the opening of David Bowie's Young Americans Tour. It was just Bowie and his back-up band - no special effects, no props - none of that garbage. You see, the music was so good back then, you didn't need all of that stuff. I am not trying to imply that there are no great bands today - there are. But they are no longer main-stream. They're called "Alternative".

Just think of the great albums of that era:

Blood on the Tracks by Bob Dylan
Berlin by Lou Reed
Songs in the Key of Life by Stevie Wonder
The Who by Numbers by The Who
Walls and Bridges by John Lennon
Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd
Physical Graffiti by Led Zeppelin
Goodbye, Yellow Brick Road by Elton John
RINGO by Ringo Starr
It's Only Rock 'n' Roll by The Rolling Stones
461 Ocean Boulevard by Eric Clapton
Close to the Edge by Yes
Living in the Material World by George Harrison
Band on the Run by Paul McCartney

I could go on for hours naming them all. Can anyone name for me "an album" or unit of songs on a single CD in the last five years that really stands out like Blood on the Tracks? Give me an hour or so and I might think of one. By the way, am I alone or do you miss the 45 RPM half as much as I do? Dammit, I loved those little discs! I do not miss the 8-Track tape, though. Those things were absolutely worthless. Excuse me, I'm wandering off topic....

To commemorate our reunion, I transferred to compact disc seventeen songs from my original vinyl collection (with original surface noise!) and gave a copy to all who attended - and more than a few who were unable to. All of the songs encompassed the years 1973 to 1977. As I was listening again to the long-dead, haunting voice of John Lennon singing #9 Dream thirty-five years ago, I was suddenly struck dumb by this fact: That recording is as removed in time from 2009 as Glenn Miller's 1939 recording of Moonlight Serenade was removed from 1974 - thirty-five years. Indeed, it must be conceded that, culturally speaking, 2009 is as different from 1974 as 1974 was from 1939. A damned ocean of water as flowed under that bridge, Buster!

It was great seeing them all in one place again. They were a great group of people to grow into adulthood with. One of the topics of conversation I heard discussed was the fact that our parents might not have been quite as dumb as we had thought them to be when we were still teenagers. Never having had any kids of my own, I haven't quite arrived at that place yet but their point is well made. Only four of us, as far as we know, have passed on. Not bad for a class of several hundred kids who are turning fifty this year! I think the biggest surprise of the day was myself. I could see it in their eyes when I greeted them: Tom Degan can still stand upright! Will wonders ever cease?

Being with the children of 1977 again was somewhat of a bittersweet experience. Driving away from the event left me with just a small touch of melancholy. One can't help but be reminded of the tragedies that have transpired since then. My childhood hero, John Lennon, would eventually fall victim to an act of cold-blooded murder three-and-a-half years after the class of '77 went their separate ways; the "bright future" that we all envisioned for ourselves in some cases gave way to tragedy and wasted lives; the "Land of Plenty" that America seemed to be three-and-a-half decades ago has fallen victim to corporate greed and plutocratic excess.

But the treasured memories of a time so different than this one cannot be altered. That is what makes each of us human. One wisp of recognition - the lyric of a long-forgotten song or the smile in a faded photograph - and it all comes rushing back again. It did for us on July 4, 2009.

A final message must go out to Mrs. Warren, who became a grandmother only a few months ago: You're still the prettiest gal in town, Jeanne - and the nicest. My old co-conspirator, Jeff, is the luckiest guy in the world.

"There's a Star Man Waiting in the sky
He told us not to blow it 'cause he knows it's all worthwhile
He told me:
Let the children use it
Let the children lose it
Let all the children boogie...."

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net

AFTERTHOUGHT:

The photograph at the top of the page of the reunion on the Fourth of July was provided by Mark Thompson.

The photo to the left of the column is of the author of "The Rant", aged sixteen, taken in the Spring of 1975