During Bush Lite's reign of error -- even in the first eight months of 2001 -- we started referring to the U.S. politically as "Canada's retarded brother."
Yes, that's not at all PC. In fact, to quote a retarded (his word) co-worker, "That's not retarded. That's
stupid."
________________
FWIW, Clinton is promising a better future, if we dig in & do some work. A dangerous proposition to a public dominated by a minority of bawling sheep protected by self-appointed guard dogs of questionable sanity (who mostly want to reserve for themselves a ready supply of food & amusement). Let's call it "a chicken in every pot, if you make minimal effort."
Meanwhile, Trump continues to tout the classic GOP nonsense that promises "steak yesterday, steak tomorrow... but never steak today." That is, we had Golden Years under the last Republican administration -- almost always an outright lie -- & all we have to do to Make Us Great Again -- almost always a stack of obvious lies -- is buy another four years of shit sandwiches.
I don't need to LIKE Clinton to vote Democrat. Is this politics, or a highschool popularity contest??
________________
If anyone can find the original usage/version of "steak yesterday, steak tomorrow," PLEASE enlighten me!! I'm pretty sure I first saw it used in a 1933 op/ed piece, but now Google only returns SIX hits... & one of 'em (about guitar synths, naturally) is mine.
________________
When a Right Wingnut says something threatening, & it goes over badly, they wrinkle up their pert little noses & say, "Whatsa matter -- don't you got no sense of humor?? We was just havin' a little fun!!"
... sorta like a Mob enforcer who's spotted bloodying someone up in an alley.
________________
Before I ever read
Kurt Vonnegut's fiction, I snagged a copy of his essay collection
Wampeters, Foma & Granfalloons, pieces originally published 1966-1974.
You've probably never read even one. Read them. It's a mixed bag, all of 'em sadly overlooked, & I think KV was a very good novelist but an outright master of short prose, period.
Within is an article that totally shaped my political outlook. Originally published in Harper's Magazine (November 1972),
"In a manner that must shame God himself" took on the entire political system in this country... & IMNSHO things have NOT improved since.
The two real political parties in America are the Winners and the Losers. The people don’t acknowledge this. They claim membership in two imaginary parties, the Republicans and the Democrats, instead.
The problem here with Wikiquote is that they take a great-sounding snippet & remove it from context -- IMO totally defeating its intent.
See, Vonnegut goes on to point out that the Winners are made up of the Republicans + the Democrats... & everyone who declines to get 100% behind one or the other (both carefully selected by our nations version of the Communist Central Committee) is free to be a Loser. From there, the concluding words are utterly damning, a ringing modern
"Sinners In the Hands of an Angry God" --
The Winners are at war with the Losers, and the fix is on.
The prospects for peace are awful.
________________
Nothing has changed since. My rallying cry since the '90s has been
FIRST WE CRUSH THE REPUBLICAN PARTY -- THE DEMOCRATS ARE NEXT.
I'm glad that Trump appeared. He's gleefully undercutting the GOP, & I'm hoping he succeeds in causing longterm (hopefully permanent) rifts.
If it helps any, the Ted Kruz's Kraaazy Kristians are undermining Trump, in hopes they'll made Plastic Teddy the 2020 presumptive ASAP.
________________
One last thing. I'm probably one of the few people on this site who's been associated with
the Society for Creative Anachronism.
I'm likely the only one who's read
Iron Dream of Camelot, a scurrilous & very well-considered pamphlet written by one "Woodford of Lorien" (apparently a Michael Woodford) in the mid-1980s.
(The title references Norman Spinrad's
The Iron Dream, a novel made up almost entirely of the novel
Lord of the Swastika from an alternate Earth where Adolf Hitler stayed away from politics & instead wrote science fiction.)
Within, Woodford lays out his case that the SCA is like college sports, with things being run by the biggest, meanest, stupidest jock with the hottest cheerleader by his side, & their cadre of ass-kissers.
In 1999, more than a decade later, things hadn't improved. If you look up the ONLY
eek
Google hit, one Eke has written
Basically, my conclusion was that the SCA is a society for fighters and their girl friends. Anything else you do is merely an accoutrement to glorify the reigning stickjock.
A Johannes responds,
that estimation is not too far from reality. I'd prefer to think instead of a "Path of Power," which begins with the first fighter practice and ends with Duke-Sir-dom, and which somehow, somehow, anyone who approaches a sword can plug into but those who choose something else have no claim to.
Trump is puffing himself up as the biggest, stupidest jock. His style is to bully, to shout down, to threaten. He demands that you give him whatever he wants. If you balk, he threatens you with armed reviolt by his whipped-up Brownshirts -- soon we'll see a logo that looks a little like this --
A vote for Trump is a vote for fear & its continuation.
