Refining American Dreams

BULLIES WITH A BULLHORN

How the mighty have......vaporized.

With each passing day, Republicans stare shell shocked as Obama's lead grows. Even in states they viewed as reliably, solidly Republican McCain is fighting for his life.

The McCainiacs are now forming a circle and shooting at each other. Some blame McCain’s choice of That Woman From Wasillia for the nosedive. Some think McCain wasn’t sufficiently sleazy or smeary. The 'Georgetown cocktail party set' blames the Alaska moosehunting “culture” that spawned a accented airhead who couldn't find Islamabad on a map with a pair of hunting dogs and Google Earth. The Christian Right points at a campaign wasn’t sufficiently Christian, meaning not enough Hellfire and Brimstone, The Elite Right Wing Media want more Reverend Wright videos out now!

The reality is that after two decades of demonizing the Democrats - Bill, Hillary, John Kerry, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, John Murtha, Patrick Leahy (ok he was attacked with an envelope full of anthrax) Barbara Boxer, Paul Wellstone (OK he was killed in a plane crash), Russ Feingold, John Conyers, Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Jimmy Carter, lesbians, gays, blacks, poor, union workers, women, even shoes and coffee, Birkenstocks and lattes were not immune, not to mention the entire City of Hollywood, the people of New Orleans, Barbra Striesand, The Dixie Chicks, Cher, Rosie O’Donnel, Michael Moore and me, has run its course.

In the stark light of an Economic Meltdown what really mattered most to voters turned out to be LEADERSHIP. The absence of any on the Right was proof beyond a shadow of a doubt that the entire Republican Party had been bullshitting with a bullhorn the whole time they were in power. Republicans do not know how to govern. Never did, never cared to. What they knew was how to STEAL. Elections, resources and of course The Treasury.

They were simply war mongers, bank robbers, fear mongers, propogandists. Bullies with bullhorns.

A stark raving mad Emperor and his cohorts in crime mastered ruining lives in the name of protecting lives. They formed a tight circle jerk of loyalists and comrades dismantling America. Everything was taken apart like meth fiends on a Friday night in Freebaseville. In the end when the curtain was pulled away we saw them sitting there, sucking their last pull off the pipe of corruption blaming each other for the mess they made during their drunken power binge. Small and tired and very damaged people who made their way by yelling terrorist in a crowded Mall, lying and using the awesome power of the Presidency to commit heinous atrocities.

But once the pulpit is taken away all that’s left is the bully.

Bullies who name call, and who thrive on public spectacle eventually end up alone. Then they begin to bully each other! That's what we've got now. Republicans attacking Republicans. Republicans ratting out Republicans, and of course Republicans who are just rats jumping ship all together.

The fresh, cool wave of cleansing clarity has finally arrived to wash away the stain of McCarthy-like attacks on our patriotism, our ideas, our dedication to each other, and our Nation's reputation in the world. When the wave retreats it will take with it the remaining decaying castle the right wing has built on nothing but sand.
http://www.therandirhodesshow.com/index.php

~~~~~~~~translation~~~~~~~~

"All cruelty springs from weakness."(Seneca, 4BC-AD6)

A bully is a convincing, practiced liar and when called to account, will make up anything spontaneously to fit their needs at that moment.

Those who can . . . do.

Those who can't . . . bully.

Bullies were founded on a fundamentally infantile worldview. Bully behavior simply goes with the territory. Besides which, as every good fascist fascilitator knows, an army of bullies, carefully taught to twitch to the tune of a bully amplifying bull-horn is so easy to order into any battle the man behind the screen might choose.

Bullies, bully to varying degrees:

Serial bully types:
Attention-Seeker --> Wannabe --> Guru --> Sociopath

Synonoyms for bully:

bludgeon, bluster, browbeat, buffalo, bulldoze, coerce, cow, despotize, domineer, dragoon, enforce, harass, hector, lean on, menace, oppress, overbear, persecute, ride roughshod, showboat, swagger, terrorize, threaten, torment, torture, turn on the heat, tyrannize,walk heavy

Antonym for bully: allow, leave alone, let it be

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Conversation avec un despote:

And bully says: "I got mine -- to hell with people who are lazy and refuse to get off the couch. I will never be poor again."

Really? Lazy?

"Uh, well, why should I pay my employees anything higher than minimum wage. Workers -- they come and they go. They're shiftless people, who are only looking for a handout from people like me."

Did you ever talk to "them." Find out about their lives? You say you will never be poor AGAIN? Then you have forgotten where you began. You are just another victim of convenient short-term memory loss. I'll call you "Reagan, Mr. I Don't Recall" for definition's sake.

Oh, bullies when confronted, always revert to victim-mode.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Me, egghead? I am a sensitive, ultra-violet Lily

Always have been. I look at my 2nd grade class picture and I see my eyes first, always. They are easy with a sparkle. Best picture I ever took. The smile is natural. But the dress I'm wearing -- it has a story. And the hair I'm wearing -- it has a story.

First the hair: The night before, Mother had pulled every single tiny strand into spike rollers and tight pin-curls. I cried through it all, and was sent to bed, yet never slept. So, yeah, my eyes, in the picture, look sleep deprived -- but not conquered. The hair, though, a perfect coif.

Secondly, the dress: This was the most beautiful dress in the world to me, because Mother LET ME pick it out. The dress was a red, green and gold Tartan pattern with 3 white quarter-sized buttons to my left, alongside an up & down ruffle flourish. Oh, and don't forget the classic white pointed collar. Very Irish, as I see it in retrospect. Yet, there was a bully on the playground who reached out and ripped a hole in my new dress, the day my picture was taken. The day after that, the bully, making sure I was sufficiently terrorized, fabricated a lie about me, egghead, and I received my first and only paddling from a teacher. So . . . there are pain in them 2nd grade eyes too.

Was this egghead's first bully? Hell no. Did my mother tell my story to the Principal? Hell yeah. I learned that day in the Principal's office that my mother loved me, and I had a champion. Now my mother's indiscriminate hair pulling -- that's another matter.

I learn from my 2nd grade picture every single day, 'cause I know all of us can be incandescent -- no matter what -- keeping our passions warm, even heated --- stoking the fire of emotion, ardently in pursuit of TRUTH. This is the core definition of art.

Walter Pater once said about the Renaissance, that it was "an impassioned age, so ardent and serious in pursuit of art."

FAST CAR (Tracy Chapman)

You got a fast
car

I want a ticket to anywhere

Maybe we make a deal

Maybe together we can get
somewhere

Anyplace is better

Starting from zero got nothing to
lose

Maybe we’ll make something

me myself I got nothin to
prooove

You got a fast car

I got a plan to get us out of
here
Been working at the convenience
store

Managed to save just a little bit of
money

Won’t have to drive too far

Just cross the border and into the
city

You and I can both get jobs

And finally see what it
means to be
living

See my old man’s got a problem

He live with the bottle that’s the
way it is

He says his body’s too old for
workin

I say his body’s too young to look
like his

My mama went off and left him

She wanted more from life than-a he
could give

I say somebody’s got to take
care of him

So I quit school
that’s what I did

You have a fast car

But is it fast enough so we can fly
away

We gotta make a decision

We leave tonight or live and die this
way

I remember when we were driving,
driving in your car

The speed so fast I felt like I was
drunk

And city lights lay out before us

And your arm felt nice
Wrapped ‘round my shoulder

And I'e-I, had a feeling that I
belonged

And I‘e-I, had a feeling I could
be someone,
be someone,
be someone

You got a fast car

We go cruising to entertain
ourselves

You still ain’t got a job

And I work in a market as a
checkoutgirl

I know things will get better

You’ll find work and I’ll get promoted

We’ll move out of the shelter

Buy a big house and live in the
suburbs

I remember when we were driving,
driving in your car

The speed so fast I felt like I was
drunk

And the city lights lay out before us

And your arm felt nice
Wrapped ‘round my shoulder

And I’e-I,
had a feeling that I
belonged

And I‘e-I,
had a feeling I could
be someone,
be someone,
be someone

You got a fast car
I got a job that pays all our bills

You stay out drinking late at the bar

See more of your friends than you do of your kids

I’d always hoped for better

Thought maybe together you and me would find it

I got no plans I ain’t going nowhere

So take your fast car and keep on driving

I remember when we were driving,
driving in your car

The speed so fast I felt like I was
drunk

City lights lay out before us

And your arm felt nice
Wrapped ‘round my shoulder

And I‘e-I, had a feeling that I
belonged

And I‘e-I, had a feeling I could
be someone,
be someone,
be someone

You got a fast car

But is it fast enough so you can
fly away

You gotta make a decision

You leave tonight or live and die this-a
Way

Die this waaay
Live and die this waaaaay
Live and die this waay.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Orv_F2HV4gk

Barack Obama is our champion:
He speaks up and gives us all a voice and says I'll be your President and I'll enlist you too, include you too, as part of the plan. He says this . . . after all this terrible shocking and awing disillusionment from the Bush Regime: which drives a person to say why live anymore -- this is hell -- and I'm not a masochist.

Rising from the Ashes of the Bushes & McCains

The Randi Rhodes Show

Live

The Second Presidential Debates

Audio tape of John McCain: You know who voted for it? --- Might never know. --- THAT ONE! [points disapproving finger of blame toward Barack Obama!]

Randi Rhodes: THAT ONE!? Holy Crap! First he couldn't look at him. Couldn't look at him in the first debate. Then he couldn't say his NAME - in the second debate. And then at the end of the debate, and this is why I watch it on the Span. This is why I GET UP out of my chair and I turn my TV off -- I turn it -- THEY ARE THE ILLUSION! I AM REAL! --- TURN IT OFF!

[allusion to movie, Network] And put on the Cspan, and I saw that McCain would not shake Barack Obama's hand? He wouldn't shake his hand. So what do we have here? We have a guy here who wouldn't look at his opponent throughout the entire first Presidential Debate. Presidential being the key word HERE. A man who is offering himself up to BE the President of the United States of America, couldn't look another man in the EYE -- who is also running for the presidency. In the second debate he COULDN'T SAY HIS NAME. And he couldn't SHAKE HIS HAND?

At the end, Barack Obama put out his hand to shake John McCain's hand, and John McCain pretty much used Cindy McCain as a human shield, 'cause he likes to use the women as human shields. [allusion to Sarah Palin's red-meat terror speeches]
http://novamnetwork.com/podcasts/rhodes/premium/RhodesShow-(08-10-2008)-lo.mp3

From Randi's Blog:
Brokaw didn’t even catch a new RESCUE plan proposed by McCain. Suddenly McCain, a man who has steadfastly opposed bailing out homeowners, wants to bail out homeowners? [McCain calls it a homeowner's resurgence]

Obama is steady. Obama is smart. Obama is honest and he loves this country. Obama also knows what you feel in your gut. The beginning of the solution for America's decline must start at the bottom and make its way up to The Treasury. A foreclosure crisis requires a foreclosure solution.

More about that here and Randi's debunking of McCain lies:
http://www.therandirhodesshow.com/index.php?/archives/100-Wednesday,-October-8,-2008.html

~~~~~~~~translation~~~~~~~~

Wait a minute. . . . In the last few weeks we have seen the present leadership of this country totally FAIL in leading this country we so dearly love! We have not only seen total economic ruin for many (not counting "empire hussies") we have seen the Bush/McCain regime strike OUT at the American People with divisive and violent rhetoric!

Which has led Maureen Dowd to start speaking in strange Latin tongues in order to make the sense out of "Tu Betchus" woman, "Sara Palina, barracuda borealis" ---- God Bless the Passion of the Dowd:

Vilmingtoni, in Ohionem, McCain’s Mean Girl (Ferox Puella) defendit se gladiatricem politicam esse: “Pauci dicant, O Jupiter, te negativam esse. Non, negativa non sum, sed verissima.” Talk about lipsticka in porcam! Quasi Leeus Atwater de oppugnatione Busii Primi ad Dukakem: “non negativus, sed comparativus.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/opinion/12dowd.html

In other words . . .

Time for . . . . . . . Dancing!

That One Can Dance!!


Remember? When Obama sang at the GOP Convention?

VIDEO HERE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TiQCJXpbKg&feature=related

Below is song Obama sings to McCain's Conventioneers. Looked like they had never heard a song about loyalty, honesty, and commitment? No, no "shock and awe" war talk. Just love.

Never Gonna Give You Up

(Rick Astley)

We're no strangers to love
You know the rules and so do I
A full commitment is what
I'm thinking of
You would not get this from any other guy


I just want to tell you how
I'm feeling
Got to make you understand

Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you.

OBAMA! OBAMA! OBAMA! OBAMA! OBAMA! (After the singing and dancing was over, McCain lost some votes and didn't know it.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Democratic Convention . . . ahhhh . . . HOME

This picture tells the reality: Our future.

The Serious Business of Winking

Never before perhaps has such a tiny gesture assumed such electoral importance as Sarah Palin's wink.
Because while, as the cliche has it, the eyes are the window of the soul, Palin's use of her eyes was a window to the views of women in one of the most hotly contested places in this election.
Palin's eyelash batting got under way from the opening moments of Thursday's contest against Joe Biden - and so did the parsing of its significance at a debate-watching party in Florida.
"She is trying to act like a southern belle. She is not acting like someone who could be president of the United States and John McCain is one heart attack away," said Priscilla Glascock, a 26-year-old nurse who is supporting Barack Obama . . .

She winked at us," Pepper said in disbelief. "All the claims that the media is sexist and the Democrats are being sexist are out the window. The fact that this woman as a vice-presidential candidate stood on national TV and winked at me completely insults me . . ."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/04/uselections2008.sarahpalin


Kix Are For Kids?

While my favorite cereal boxes keep getting littler and littler, my country keeps getting sillier and sillier when looking through Palin's media filter. Is silly really the right word for these times? I am hearing the word "serious" all the time now. Finally!! I was wondering when common sense would finally slip into the national conversation.

The stalwart conservative, David Brooks was bearing no gifts for Senorita Palin on a Sunday talk show yesterday: He admired her gumption and cleverness, but she was not his cup of tea, nor is she, he said, qualified to be President. Brooks thinks conservatives are not adapting to this New Modern Era. I guess that would be the 20 First Century David is talking about?

Conservative columnist, Kathleen Parker, who has now received 11,000 emails of hate (from conservative, Brooks Brothers types?) knows these times are too serious for the "histrionics of a Sarah Palin." Even Peggy Noonan is cringing about McCain's antics, saying on Cspan, that the economic issues are so "serious" for most Americans that silly attack talk is intolerable for Americans now.

It's like fingernails on a chalk board, Peggy! Being hungry can do that. Americans are saying stop with the game-playing!! Talk about bread and butter issues NOW!!!

The Palin/McCain campaign, not being adept with economics will talk about anything else but, especially if McCain can settle a score with Obama through character assassination. Revenge motives have played a role in most of McCain's life - why would he change NOW?

Palin IS the McCain campaign's Pitt Bull attack dog. Grrrrrrrrr. At this point I would rather be impaled in the heart than hear her voice again. But what's more important about her "voice" is the folksy reach-out to those who are, um, folksy. I just want to make sure the folks are really listening to what Palin is putting out there. Are they checking the information that pours out of her mouth? Do the folks have time during this BIG SQUEEZING BUSH-HUG GOODBYE (with kisses added as accompaniment of course).

What am I talking about when I say squeeze?

Most Americans are working three jobs, because median income has not risen during this Bush Administration.

Americans cannot afford to get information anymore. They're lucky if they can afford the basic Katie Couric tier on their cable bill.

Some Americans are suffering from health problems because of inadequate healthcare or too much healthcare.

What do I mean by too much healthcare? Doctors tend to prescribe drugs first (quick-fix)especially Bush era approved drugs rather than offering a more conservative (preventative?) approach to basic health.

Bush era pharmaceuticals tend to hamper disease rather than alleviate, while Bush Pharma buddies are running away with the BIG BUCKS (just as their colleagues did on Wall Street, War Street, and Oil Street).

These drugs have not been adequately tested, hence the American people are really test subjects for drug companies.

Why do I bring these issues up? Because all of the deals were made at the beginning of W.'s rule. Remember the recount of votes in Florida? The FIX was in then. And the fix was in right after W. was sworn in as the 43rd President of America.

Most Americans are waking up today as they read through all the newspapers. There is some very good investigative journalism that has been conducted and is still being conducted for this country. Yes, Virginia, we do have real patriots in this country still. What is a patriot? One who tells the truth in the midst of chaos brought on by fascistic tyrants. It's happened before in our country (robber barons) and I suppose it will happen again after this one. Be assured, though, we are in the final cycle of throwing these tyrants out.

There is no doubt Palin is the "chosen one." And the Republicans push Palin out there as their Vee Pee pick. Yet I think they want to be "the ones" who make history first by selecting the first woman president (again, another W.-type selection -- by the way).

Yet, Palin (just like George W.) is beholden to the good ole boys that she attests to have taken down. Get real here. Palin hired Exxon funded scientists to appeal Polar Bear protections in her state of Alaska.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/01/sarahpalin.climatechange

No, Virginia . . . or should I say this to Randi Rhodes? No, Randi I would not let my kid do a stay-over at the Palin house for the very same reasons you have stated. Because this Sarah is dishonest and judging from her speech today is willing to go as low as one can go. And that is not what we liberals teach our daughters. The Palin household by all indicators is a dysfunctional, chaotic unit. My daughter, Sarah, knows the difference between right and wrong, she loves her country and knows not to lie in order to gain power (the easy way).

My Sarah knows there are no easy quick-fixes-get your kicks-on Route 66 -- as the junkies would say that pervade Bushworld. And NO, neither she or I know how to execute the wink-and-a-smile. We are too serious for that.