New Stupidity Epidemic

The County Commission for Pinellas Florida has recently voted to end water flourination. The reason is that the local Tea Partiers have, in addition to all their other stupid notions, are now launching a war against flourination. Back in the 1950's ultra-right crackpots were fond of claiming that flourination was some kind of "communist" conspiracy to turn "our brains to jelly." The real "jelly brains" are the old paleo-conservatives and their Tea Party successors, who exhibit a stubborn and aggressive ignorance. An ignoramus with a cause is a dangerous thing.

Dare We Hope?

Last Tuesday's elections brought some good news for Progressives. Voters in Ohio repealed at GOPer plan to break public sector unions. In Mississippi voters rejected a proposal to declare that "life begins at conception." Mississippi is supposed to be the "reddest" state of all. I guess this shows that the American people are not all right-wing Tea Party yahoos. But can we build on this momentum for the next years elections?

The Goper Follies

It's funny how in just a couple of months Rick Perry has gone from the Great White Hope of the right to the bottom of the standings. I guess he overdid the anti-intellectuailism bit: it's one thing to show contempt for learning and education and quite another to come across like a dumb-ass. Herman Cain is being dogged by multiple accusations of sexual harrassment; he should complain about a "high tech lynching" (it worked for Clarence Thomas.) Michelle Bachmann has antagonized even her former supporters.

It seems that the GOP establishment has lined up behind Mitt Romney. Not that I'd want to see him in the White House; he wants to cut taxes and go on a military spending spree, and he claims he's going to "balance the budget." This is how we got into the mess we're in today. In any case the Fundamentalists and the Tea Partiers are going to learn that it's the big corporate interests that are really in charge.