Shut the Fuck Up Already!

The Supreme Asshole of the Universe, better known as GWB, is at it again. In a speech the Mater Shit-for-Brains criticized President Obama for negotiating with Iran. He also persists in thinking that US troops could have stayed in Iraq and Afghanistan forever. GWB still believes that by "talking tough" he could control foreign events, which only goes to show how twisted his megalomania really is. Guess we know what to expect if Jeb becomes Pres.

America Really Does Have a Problem

The town of Parma Missouri has just elected Tyrus Byrd, an African-American woman, as mayor. As a result 5 out of the 6 police officers resigned as did city attorney, clerk and water treatment supervisor. The reasons are not yet clear, but does racial bias have something to do with it? Those of us who thought that the election of Barack Obama as President would mean, if not the end of racism, but the end of race as a political issue, have been appalled by how much racism their is in this country. Not only that, but how many people cling to the myth of "American whiteness," as the center of their identity and worldview. The Tea Partiers who claim that they want "their" country back (from whom?) are the latest manifestation of a mental disease that has been plaguing this country's culture since before the civil war.

Here's the thing; the more we keep arguing about race the less time we have to talk about anything else. We don't talk about economic inequality, the environment, or trade policy. For those of us who grew up in the 60s and 70s, when it seemed that America was putting behind racism, it is shocking how this country "back slided" into racism. It is a cancer that keeps recurring.

Who Is Cheating Whom?

A big deal is being made out of the case in which several Atlanta teachers and administrators were convicted of cheating on standardized tests. Every one agrees that what these people did is wrong, but the question that is being missed is whether educational policy is being honestly addressed or is just being used as a political football. When GWB's grandiosely named No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 was passed it among other things demanded more standards and testing in return for higher funding. The higher funding level have never been provided but the insistence of more standardized testing has been maintained. The only beneficiaries have been the standardized testing corporations. Has this really improved the quality of education? Or just another case of corporations profiting at public expense?

The Idiot Box

Medical experts claim that watching television makes people physically passive and thus more prone to health problems. Perhaps worse is that television makes people mentally passive. I myself probably spent my growing years, the seventies and eighties, watching too much tv. Back then television was "worthwhile," but even so I should have used that time for something more productive. Today, broadcast tv is just visual sludge; phony "reality shows," cryptofascist cop shows, sitcoms that aren't actually funny, and trashy singing and dancing contests. I only watch tv when there's something good on PBS.

Some people have been so dulled by television that they no longer know the difference between fact and fiction. Michael Moor pointed out in "Bowling for Columbine," that Fox News, and all of Murdoch owned media, is aimed to keep its viewers in a constant state of panic if not hysteria. The problem is that much of the other media has followed Murdoch's lead. As a result, the corporate media finds it easy to mislead the public with a steady stream of falsehoods and deceptions. Television really turned out to be the Idiot Box after all.