01.21.09
Some incisive truth on a night when most of the world has gone mad
I spent the day being somewhat productive and while doing so keeping an eye on live television and web unfoldments, most of which yielded nothing beyond cliches, platitudes, loss of objectivity and dog vomit and horse waste.
Finally, just a minute ago, at Riehl World View, I found something with which I could resonate. An unreconstructed correct take on what happened to our nation at noon today.
What has happened is bad and wrong and is going to lead to a loss of our freedoms and vulnerability to apocalyptic threats the likes of which we’ve not yet seen.
This new president is a clueless socialist.
MR. Dings said,
January 21, 2009 at 1:42 pm
Looked like American Black Expo to me.
MR. Dings said,
January 21, 2009 at 1:44 pm
There are still checks and balances built into the constitution. 8 years of Bush were horrible and he even woke up to it two years ago, 6 years too late. On to another take at things. Yes, we will survive. And hopefully thrive, but I personally have this gnawing fear that happy days are gone for quite awhile and for that, you cannot blame Obama.
MR. Dings said,
January 21, 2009 at 1:44 pm
Lotsa little white girls are excited though.
MR. Dings said,
January 21, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Didja catch that shrill tone emanating from the parade route. Rarely do you hear that Hell, how long did the Beatles last? But they’re still playing their tunes.
MR. Dings said,
January 21, 2009 at 1:50 pm
I cannot see how you can say that what happened, though, is bad and wrong. The people voted for the other guy, dude. This is America. This is a democracy. There was a peaceful exchange of power. You will get your total glee when things continue to turn south. But this time, it will be the other guy’s president. This is a big big world. Hell, dudes and dudettes are lining up to serve Uncle Sam in his armed forces. That ought to make you happy. And the Pentagon has no term limits. Take hope. You’ll get your fireworks.
MR. Dings said,
January 21, 2009 at 2:06 pm
I vividly recall riding up to Indianapolis with three adult Americans the Wednesday after the first Tuesday in November, 1980. We were socialists, some would term us, a library director, a community center director and a volunteer public board member. We were journeying to the Indiana State Library to talk consolidation of certain social services in a back water Hoosier town. Not personally, but gloom/doom certainly prevailed over the election results. Your king was somebody else’s pauper. And our wide-eyed youth today, all gaga over this new king will have to learn the truth. I thought you had, bloggie….
MR. Dings said,
January 21, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Take heart, take heart: WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama will begin to put his imprint on the nation’s war strategy in his first full day in office, gathering his top military and national security advisers at the White House for what is expected to be the start of the new commander in chief’s shift in emphasis from Iraq to Afghanistan.
MR. Dings said,
January 21, 2009 at 2:21 pm
And remember, the banished Colin Powell, who I greatly respect (where oh where are Rummie, Wolfie and Dickie now?) is a significant force in the Obama administration. Ain’t nobody gonna push us around, though the world has this big boy’s number. We cannot invade a country without the bulk of our allies being with us this time. Got it yet? Bush botched the war big time. And he understandably takes the blame for an extremely putrid economy. Y’all have only yourselves to blame. We’re still in the serious shit here. You can cripe a bitch about it or get in there and fight OUR enemies. OUR enemies.
MR. Dings said,
January 21, 2009 at 3:12 pm
I was quite on track for “a retirement that is dignified.” Until….
Shouldn’t I have one like a UAW worker who dropped out of HS to go to work in daddy’s plant? I had to plan one, though, and you know about the plans of mice/men. Guvmnt ain’t gonna give it to us, but it ought to give back what we put in with reasonable amounts of interest. If Bush had been successful in getting that $$$ into private markets, hooh boy. Cant trust the vipers out there and they by and largely are in the Republican party. At least that is still the public’s perception.
MR. Dings said,
January 21, 2009 at 3:21 pm
And I would not be playing the race card here if not infuriated by the preacher’s words in his Benediction at the Inauguration. Well, I never…..
MR. Dings said,
January 21, 2009 at 9:27 pm
What freedoms do you fear losing? Doubtful that you will gain any, if you know what I mean, but what freedoms? What freedoms do you personally think you stand to lose under this administration? And what makes you think that, now that what anywhere from 52% to 78% of Americans thinks was a botched administration domestically and internationally, the Pentagon still won’t be ready to kick some serious ass at perhaps the right moment this time, and that the American public won’t support our troops and that there won’t be enough troops to kick the ass necessary? Is it that you perhaps disagree on whose ass needs to be kicked and when? You are in a dwindling minority if you still think American foreign and defense policy was conducted properly and effectively during the Bush years. All you need is another terrorist attack on our soil, you know, for the tide to turn back towards your favored folks. Not hoping for it, are you? Do you think any American is?
MR. Dings said,
January 22, 2009 at 1:14 am
So does this sound more like the outgoing administration than the incoming one?
http://www.populistamerica.com/erosion_of_democracy_and_freedom_in_america
In his 1935 novel, It Can’t Happen Here, Sinclair Lewis showed it most certainly can happen here. He wrote about a charismatic senator who becomes president, claims to be a reformer and a champion of the common man. It’s all cover to hide his alliance with the corporate interests of his day and the support of religious extremists he appeals to. Instead of serving the people he denies them their rights. He then takes full advantage of the Great Depression economic crisis to support a strong military and pass unconstitutional laws during a national emergency. He further convenes military tribunals for civilians and calls dissenters unpatriotic and even traitors. Sound familiar?
Anyone reading this book will be scared wondering if it really can happen here. Anyone living in the surreal age of George Bush and his out-of-control extremist neocon administration knows it already has, and we haven’t yet found a way to stop it. This is no time for complacency. We’re all now “enemy combatants.”
The Populist Party of America seeks solutions to our problems through the decentralization of power; limiting the federal government to those duties listed in the Constitution along with a strict aderence to the Bill of Rights. The rest must be left to “The States or to The People.” Your liberty is our goal; governmental form is simply the method to achieving it.
MR. Dings said,
January 22, 2009 at 3:52 am
Oh well, to all a good night. Muslims, Jews, Christians, Hindus, non-believers. We’ll all think what we think. It’s 10:47 EST in America this day afterh the inauguration. Enuff said. Ta ta. See you all at the omega point or whatever awaits us all.
Bentnotesmanhisself said,
January 22, 2009 at 3:50 pm
Which administration does Sinclair Lewis novel sound more like? Well, neither, or more accurately, combination of the two. Charismatic senator promising reform? TCM. Guy tied to “corporate interests?” FHers cartoonish view of W.
What freedoms do I fear losing? The freedom to keep my money. The freedom to say what I want on the radio. The right to define health care as I see fit and go where I wish to obtain it. But enough about my person freedoms. Here’s what freedoms I fear Americans in general will lose:
The right of car consumers to have an unfettered choice in the products they buy in terms of fuel economy, design and cost.
The right of those comprising car companies to make the products they deem most marketable and profitable and that they just damn well feel like making and selling.
The right of radio stations to air opinion programs of any damn ideological makeup they feel like airing.
The right of human beings to be born.
The right to be free of enemy attack.
The right of parents to choose to educate their children privately.
The right to maintain some sort of meaning to English-language words such as “marriage.”
That’s my starter list. More to come.
Use of the word “neocon” by those who clearly don’t know its meaning is pretty pathetic and an indication of how half-baked their worldview is.
Re: you post about the ride to Indy in 1980: Oh, yes, I’ve learned the truth. Free markets, common sense and Judeo-Christian values work, and socialism and mass celebrity worship don’t.
Bentnotesmanhisself said,
January 22, 2009 at 4:39 pm
And while car companies and radio stations are specific examples in those particular areas of freedom loss, such loss will spread to other types of organizations.
MR. Dings said,
January 22, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Where were you when the right of human beings to be born was lost 36 years ago today? You’re going to blame this on a 2 day old Democratic administration?
The court issued its decision on January 22, 1973, with a 7 to 2 majority voting to strike down Texas abortion laws. Burger and Douglas’ concurring opinion and White’s dissenting opinion were issued separately, in the companion case of Doe v. Bolton.
And the right of radio stations to air opinion programs of any damn ideological make up they feel like making I will of course defend.
The right to be free of enemy attack was lost on 9/11/01, under whose watch?
More rebuttals later. Thank you for responding though.
MR. Dings said,
January 22, 2009 at 4:55 pm
The car companies were bailed out under Repubby watch, not the 2 day old Demo administration.
MR. Dings said,
January 22, 2009 at 4:56 pm
We the people own them and the banks now. That was a Repubby thing.
Bentnotesmanhisself said,
January 22, 2009 at 5:08 pm
Did I say anything about Pub-era bailouts being a good thing?
My point re: abortion is that the new regime will certainly do nothing to move toward reversal of Roe v. Wade and will in fact make matters much worse with the Freedom of Choice Act.
MR. Dings said,
January 22, 2009 at 5:23 pm
Things were bad under Bush, but perhaps worse under O. This bail out mania is already a bad bad thing, we agree. Nothing’s happening but da debt. Still, I believe I live within my household in America a free man, and leave out the front door, less free, but still free as I ever have been. Within increasing governmental constraint that did not at all begin two days ago.
MR. Dings said,
January 22, 2009 at 5:42 pm
The right of parents to choose to educate their children privately.
Oh, don’t worry about that one, the price will just rise, fodder for braggadocio in the jacuzzis of America. Catholics can’t largely afford Catholic educations for their children without subsidy from the parish, but the rich folk (even Protestant, who no recognize a good thing when they see it) can, have and will drive the price up. That madness has gone on for nearly 40 years now. In essence, you can choose to educate your children privately, but it’ll cost ya, big time!
MR. Dings said,
January 22, 2009 at 5:56 pm
The right to maintain some sort of meaning to English-language words such as “marriage.” Again, not started under a 2 day old administration. Not necessarily defending Oman, who has already pissed me off, didja catch the tone in his voice yesterday, one day into it, on lobbyists? I was shocked to hear tonalities never heard before on public airwaves, not that I think the lobbying of America has at all been a good thing. Who’s your daddy? Mine’s definitely not the upstart junior Senator from IL.
Bentnotesmanhisself said,
January 22, 2009 at 6:28 pm
These things weren’t started under a 2-day admin, but this 2-day admin sure as hell will use the courts – and legislature and presidential bully pulpit and any other tools at its disposal – to see that the harmful policy directions are made irreversible.
Also, on the matter of private education costin’ ya, well, of course.
MR. Dings said,
January 22, 2009 at 9:48 pm
My mumsie and daddy, and my 4 siblings all obtained fine private Catholic educations at the cost of whatever my daddy could place in the plate. Why has that changed and who changed it?
MR. Dings said,
January 22, 2009 at 9:55 pm
Can’t you see I’m desperately trying to remain a Democrat? If not a liberal, 19 years beyond when I should have developed a fully functioning cerebral cortex (according to Churchill)? I guess I have to hide in Libertarianism
MR. Dings said,
January 22, 2009 at 10:09 pm
Well, after 12 years of Bushes and 8 of Reagan and he didn’t get them reversed. The gay marriage thing actually gained momentum under Bush 2. Gonna be a continuing battle on that one, but it is an interesting study in how hateful the proponents can get when they hit a roadblock. Guess we gotta wait at least another 4 then to get enough people fed-up, especially with abortion. Hopefully your predictions on weakened national security will not come true. The hit happened of course on Bush’s watch, and for one shining moment, the world was with us. I truly believe he and his posse blew it big time for all of us there, worsening the situation.
MR. Dings said,
January 23, 2009 at 5:27 am
Our highways and byways, socialist?
Our public libraries–ditto
Our public schools and universities–ditto
Our armed forces? Hmm, dunno about that?
Would you do away with these? I think it’s sort of been tried before, like before there were any. Anarchy? Gotta be in the know, i.e. educated for that. Dontcha?
I love MIT’s opencoursware though. Socialist? Or just a free sharing of knowledge from a very expensive private institution of higher learning.
Bentnotesmanhisself said,
January 23, 2009 at 2:20 pm
Blew it big time? Excuse me, but I’m pretty sure we haven’t had another terrorist attack since then.
MR. Dings said,
January 23, 2009 at 2:24 pm
We hadn’t had a terrorist attack before then either.
Bentnotesmanhisself said,
January 23, 2009 at 4:59 pm
Hello? WTC 1993?
Bentnotesmanhisself said,
January 23, 2009 at 5:09 pm
Re: libraries and highways and armed forces: Let’s not be silly, shall we? You know damn well that BN does not espouse libertarianism. The services you enumerate are well within what it’s constitutionally acceptable for government to provide. In fact, the Constitution mandates that government keep us safe from enemy attack.
You don’t have to go to the library to get a book. You don’t have to travel on federal, state or county highways.
But if the FHers get their way, you’ll have no recourse but the state if you want to address a health issue.
MR. Dings said,
January 23, 2009 at 6:16 pm
There is an enormous health care crisis in America. Send us all to the poorhouse, we get sick, as we of course will, and what, who pays? Why yes, we all do. What’s the diff dude?
MR. Dings said,
January 23, 2009 at 9:24 pm
So gimme more freedoms you fear losing. It’s OK if you’ve already lost them. Tell me about freedoms to do what you want just as you go out that door today. Given enuff cashola, if you know what I mean.