America No. 45

Notes from among the maddening crowd: A running commentary on the sociopolitical landscape.

     Please note: This endeavor, a continuing post, consists of primarily short observations and comments, with the most recent of same being at the TOP of this file.  I shall attempt to keep this going through our obscenely protracted 2012 presidential election cycle, replete with its shallow candidates and its shallow rhetoric.  All I ask is you think and consider the source(s) of whatever you read or hear.  Be aware and wary. Thanks.

31 January 2012.  We shall soon learn the winner of the Florida primary-Uncle Mugwump or Dat's Kapital.  Either way America shall be the loser.  America's political class are as the canary in the coal mine-a warning of impending death.  America's death.  What a sad, shallow and corrupt lot they are.  Question: Are there really those who are seriously considering between Uncle Newty Mugwump and Dat's Kapital? Seriously? How does one distinguish between these two?  Could we pit them against one another in the ring? I won't suggest mud wrestling, as the campaign is far dirtier.  How dumbed down have the NAPs become? NAPs? New American Proles, of course.

26 January 2012.  Arizona's Gov. Brewer recently confronted President Obama on the tarmac to waggle her bony finger in his face.  The hypocritical neocon/demagogue Right, pseudo-conservatives, loved it.  Question: How would the neocon/demagogue faction have responded had some dyspeptic Democrat governor waggled their finger in Dubya's face? Remember how unglued the neocons became when the Iraqi journalist, al-Zeidi, threw his shoe at ol' Dubya? When Dubya was President we were admonished to respect the presidency, but now, with this darkie, Virgil Tibbs Obama, in office, well...And make no mistake, this race is primarily about race.

24 January 2012.  Uncle Newty's Scary Movie: Uncle Newty is like the evil character in a horror film, who, assumed dead, abruptly pops up, and with a maniacal grin, hurls himself at the survivors.

24 January 2012.  Well, since my 4 January post, the Mittster has had his Iowa taken away (to Santorum), has won New Hampshire, but was beaten by Uncle Newty in South Carolina, and now in Florida we are told Uncle Newty is surging.  Thus, again I ask: Cannot a nation of over 300 million do better than the Mittster and Uncle Newty? The party of the elephant is stampeding itself into oblivion.

4 January 2012.  Oh, boy! Iowa is in the books and the Mittster is on the way to becoming O'Bushma's opponent in the seemingly never-ending 2012 election cycle.  What, you thought it would be someone other than the Mittster? So, America shall have a choice (Choice?) between Bam O'Bushma and a shallow frat boy and cardboard cutout.  Cannot a nation of 310 million do better than this? Is that all there is? Well, at least batty Bachmann has pulled up stakes...Whatever happened to Sarah P? Perhaps Donny "Comb Over" Trump shall save u.s....

31 December 2011.  The body bag is being readied for Year 2011, but how about ending the year with a flair?  Wouldn't it be karma if Mayor Bloombust, NYC's wanabe Napoleon, and his T-Square invited guest, Lady Nuisance, were to get their speedos caught on the T-Sq ball and said ball were to malfunction and...Well, HAPPY NEW YEAR, proles!

31 December 2011.  There is no drama in the Republican race, as the frat boy, cardboard cutout, Mitt Romney shall win the nomination.  Hey, maybe he'll choose the Trumpster as his running mate.  How would that be for justice?

31 December 2011.  Uncle Newty is melting...mel*ting...Oh, what a world, what a world...Good riddance, Uncle Newty!

27 December 2011. Whaaaa? Uncle Newty ain't gonna be on the VA ballot? What purpose is there for the former American Republic to stumble on? Perhaps, Uncle Newty thought u.s. too UN-attractive to continue fighting on.  So, does this mean America shall have to choose between Mitt, the cardboard cutout, and O'Bushma, the Dubya impersonator? Who said there is no longer drama in America...well, aside from when LiLo shall next fall off the wagon...

27 December 2011.  Sorry I haven't posted since 11 December, but overwhelming Christmas guilt forced me to my bed...

11 December 2011.  Did you watch the most recent pseudo-presidential debate? The one on ABC with Diane Sawyer? Did you notice how Uncle Newty and Mitt sought to trump (no pun intended...Okay, it was...) one another on Israel? Sickening! Bebe is my friend...No, I have known Bebe longer than you...UGH! Hey, are these stiffs running for POTUS or for a seat in the Knesset? Talk about bowing and scraping to another country, to another leader.

11 December 2011.  Say, what if President Obama (No, I am not a fan) had Newt's resume, that is, what if Newt did not exist but Obama had Newt's history, had Newt's resume, as it were? Why do I ask? Simple: Do you think the same phonies, the demagogues of talk radio (Limbaugh, et al) and the demagogues of FOX non-news would be as forgiving of Obama as they are of Uncle Newty? Surely you jest, sir.

2 December 2011.  Lordy! Lordy! So, the party of (alleged) "Family Values" would have us believe the slimeball Uncle "Lie of Newt" Gingrich is their man to beat?  Herman Cain has fallen from grace, thus it is the graceless Newt Gingrich's game to lose? Seriously? The Republican party has become a Kafkaesque wonderland gone mad.  Am I being redundant? Imagine what Rod Serling would do with this bizzare cast of characters...But wait, there's more! We are now told that Newsmax, one of the neocon's psuedo-news outlets, shall sponsor a debate to be moderated by the egomaniacal Donald Trump, buffoon and spreader of sociopolitical poison.  Shall this serve as another example of Republican Family Values? Say, isn't Michael Caine available? Alfie! What's this Republican madness all about, Alfie?

25 November 2011.  Please, just start the freaking game! If there is one aspect of American society which reflects how widespread the corporate reach has become it is in sport.  America’s sporting leviathans are run solely for the benefit of the corporate state.  Sporting events are mere platforms for advertising and promos.  All the networks are shameless.  I am currently watching the NFL Network.  They had a two hour pre-game show full of blather (and commercials) then switched to the game, BUT the game is not on, as the network continues to drag out the game’s start with more moronic drivel and countless commercials.  The lead announcer keeps promising the game is coming up, but then we are beset with yet more commercials (Three blocs of commercials  in the time it has taken me to write this.).  Instead, they just keep repeating the same drivel over and over and over...

Thanksgiving day, 2011.  And speaking of holidays and turkeys...Do you realize America’s holidays have been turned into succulent corporate turkeys, bred to be carved up by cynical marketers and advertisers, who care nothing more than for their bottom lines? Orwell defined advertising as “the rattle of a stick inside a swill bucket.” But it has become far more refined and cynical than even that stark description.  First, the holidays are fed the appropriate patriotism or schmaltz-laced feed to fit the particular holiday, but always with an eye to product indoctrination and material acquisition.  Of course, aside from the use of iconic images and allusions to idealized America (Oh, and don’t forget sports), our advertisers baste their efforts with a beguiling mix of fear and guilt.  And then they sell! Sell to an evermore pliant and gullible populace, one which will stand in line for hours and days to acquire some bit of nonsense.  A populace which will arise early on Black Whatever Day to run amok for China-made, soon to be returned or broken junk.  Dear reader, do try to resist being turned into something akin to a corporate zombie.

23/24 November 2011.  HAPPY THANKSGIVING! And what have you to be thankful for? Compose a list and check it twice.
23 November 2011.  THIS JUST IN...I regret to report America is no longer being governed in a rational manner, but instead has become but prey for ravenous ideologues and demagogue dogs.
23 November 2011.  It is time to send this Republican non-presidential menagerie back through the looking glass and down to its dark wonderland.
22 November 2011.  We are told the alleged super committee has failed, thus America is now under a budgetary sword of Damocles.  Did anyone expect such a committee, riven by ideology, to succeed?
22 November 2011.  Does not America deserve persons more uplifting than the hate mongering Limbaugh, and the moral and ethical sloven that is Uncle Newty Gingrich?

Newt Gingrich: Scary movie ad nauseam.

      January 2012.  The reliably reprehensible Newt Gingrich has won the South Carolina primary thus exposing the Republican party and its hypocritical religious wing.  Too, Gingrich has provided a clue to the primary (No pun intended) reason why Congress is so loathed, but why nothing is almost never done to transform this corrupt body.
     Mr. Gingrich is a long time wheeler-dealer and holder of carcinogenic principles.  In a past life he served as Speaker of the House, but was essentially propelled out of said position by ethics violations and recidivistic shadiness.  But Newt lingers on, acting in a melodramatic and protracted death scene.  Newt Gingrich is like the evil character in a horror movie who, assumed dead, keeps popping up to make one last run at the good guys.
     Yes, despite his multiple marital infidelities; his ethics violations; his political dealings with Billy Bob Clinton (Remember NAFTA?); his hypocritical attack on the same Billy Bob Clinton as regards adultery; his tours with Nancy Pelosi and Al Sharpton; his Tiffany account; his history professorship at Freddie Mac U.; his being counted out on several occasions...well, he keeps popping up, hurling himself at the electorate with his maniacal grin.  And it is disheartening to listen to voters issue reasons why mad Newt should be allowed to slice and dice them.  Most recently, the religious phonies of South Carolina, who thump their bibles while ignoring basic morals and ethics...Let's see, marriage is sacred, except, of course for Gays...and Newt.
     Those who vote for mad Newt are under the false impression that he shall slay the Big Government dragon, but Newt is an inveterate Beltway insider, one who has been lining his pockets for years.  Newt has no problem with Big Daddy Government on a hospital bed (or wives), as long as he knows he is to get his cut of the inheritance.

In the twilight (strike) zone of American sport, the fan keeps getting rung up.

     January 2012.  Can you handle the blunt truth about the ASL?
     Whoa, blogger dude, ASL? What the Hell is the ASL, some new soccer league?
     No, dear reader, the ASL is the American Sport Leviathan, that entity which comprises the whole of our largely out-of-control sports spectrum.  Pro, college, high school and even rungs below, they are all in the ASL’s fiefdom.
     The ASL arose as it became more and more apparent there was much money and power to be had in America’s burgeoning sports leviathan.  I know, I know, in the ideal (Dare I say Pollyannish?) world, sport was meant to be a teaching too for how to behave in the real world, a tool to convey constructive values and an escape from the pressures of everyday life; a seasoning to real life, if you will.  Today, rarely is that the case.    
     Today, sport is just another component of society’s massive, cynical money-generating machine, a grinder churning out a largely tedious product, one packed with all manner of shallowness designed to fatten its base.  American sport has largely become a scam.  A three card monte shill.  A bright and relentlessly hawked come-on.  Yes, in many respects sport provides a generic metaphor for American society, that is, status quo power pulling the strings to hoodwink a pliable mass or in this case the Fan Fool base (Sorry about that, Fan Fool base).
     Who is this status quo? The ASL status quo comprises:
* The various money-soaked leagues and entities: NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, NCAA, MLS, BCS...].
* The corporate cartel.  This aspect of the ASL controls the media network and the moolah for the advertising, the purchase of sky boxes and pay for stadium naming rights.  The corporate cartel also includes the owners, who are essentially allowed to hatch any ruse to separate Da Fans! from their moolah.  You know, like PSLs (Personal Seat Licenses) and the myriad fees surrounding tickets, seating, parking...Too, this corporate entity rakes in moolah from the sale of licensing fees and the subsequent sale of sport-related merchandise.
* The media, who are an integral component of the above corporate cartel, and who busily hype the ruse masking the ASL
* Those fellows who are laughably described as commissioners, but who are in essence but overseers in the service of the ASL.
* The gambling concern, which milks the Da Fans! of their money.
* The player unions, and often their bombastic heads.
* The sports agents, many of whom wield much power.
* The players themselves, although some players are more equal than others.
* Da Fans! who provide are the bottom layer of the cynical ASL pyramid and who support same with their personal moolah, and who keep allowing themselves to be played for stooo-peed (You know, much like the American voter, who keeps being suckered by our non-stop electoral ruse.)  [WHOO-OO! WHOO-OO! Yeaaaa, TEAM! RAH, RAH, ASL! Rickety Rack! Rickety Rack! Kick us in the arse, we’ll keep coming back! (And we’ll pay even more!).].
     ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, ESPN, NFL Network, MLB Network, TNT/NBA, Golf Channel...all put out the same stale platter of processed presentation: Over-hyped events; commercial and promo-jammed pre-game shows (which seemingly last longer than the actual game); drawn out starting times, all of which are as close to 9 p.m. as possible (to ensure millions shall not be able to watch); an endless supply of inane stats and inane Fantasy League drivel; TV screens jammed with icons, promos, pop-ups...; commercial blocs on top of commercial blocs on top of network promos upon network promos; constant stoppages of play (Upon further review...); announcers who spout ceaseless blather; camera fixations on celebs, nincompoop fans and furrow-browed family members; drawn out halftime shows, often featuring annoying, has-been celebs; commercial and promo-jammed postgame shows (which seemingly last longer than the actual game)...
     I shall make a plaintive plea, a novel idea: Dear Networks, SHOW US the #&%$#@*!!!#&^%$ GAME!
     Like that shall ever happen.  No, Fan Fool, don’t fret, as “We’ll be right back after an explanation of the NFLs new overtime rules.”  D’oh!
     For years I was conversant in a wide spectrum of sport, however, I cannot do it anymore, for the aforementioned reasons, and, oh, I often cannot stay up late enough to see these truncated spectacles, as I have to work.  And I am not alone.

American jihadis: Talk radio and cable TV demagogues.

     January 2012.  I have written several times on media demagogues, and I never fail to be struck by how many Americans continue to allow themselves to be scammed by these exploiters of patriotism and religion, these self-promoting demagogues on talk radio, FOX, MSNBC...  True, there exist many ignorant and gullible (and just plain stupid) among the citizenry, but still...
     I began thinking of similarities between the media demagogues of talk radio and cable TV and the jihadis who serve as a threat to America’s (and the West’s) political and social cohesiveness.  So, what might be some of the similarities between jihadis and the media demagogues who pollute talk radio and cable TV?
Never-ending outrage.  America’s media demagogues, as with jihadis, are always angry, always outraged over this and that.  However, the demagogues often make use of feigned anger, as they are playing to their audiences and realize they must be angry over a wide array of issues so as to milk said audiences.
False piety.  Both the demagogues and jihadis make big deals of their faith, their religion, but in fact are religious frauds, as they exploit religion.  For the demagogues, religion is but a hook to make more money.
Self-righteousness and omniscience.  Both the demagogues and the jihadis view themselves as self-righteous instruments of a higher calling, and both view themselves as imbued with omniscience, which allows them to issue their self-righteous pronouncements.  But let us consider the demagogues of talk radio Right and of the FOX agitprop channel, and let us consider just how omniscient they are.
     Rush Limbaugh is today’s most successful demagogue by a wide margin, thus let us consider how successful Limbaugh, as well as his Radio Right colleagues and the demagogues of FOX non-news are as regards their political influence:
* Limbaugh et al railed non-stop at the Clintons [Result? Clinton served two terms and Hillary is still prominent in government.].
* Limbaugh et al railed non-stop at Nancy Pelosi [Result? She was a long-standing Speaker of the House.].
* Limbaugh et al campaigned non-stop to have the Democrats defeated in 2006 [Result? The Democrats swept to power].
* Limbaugh et al sought to prevent John McCain from getting the Republican presidential nod [Result? McCain was nominated; Obama won.].
* Limbaugh et al virulently attacked Obama during his 2008 campaign [Result? Obama was handily elected.].
* NOW, 2011/2012, Limbaugh et al are none too pleased with Willard Romney (”He is not a conservative,” railed Limbaugh.), and actively seek to undermine him; replace him with some Super Neocon [The upcoming result? Romney shall be Obama’s opponent in 2012.].
* Limbaugh et al daily rail against the mainstream media, claiming said media undermine and control the thought process of their (the demagogues) audience.  For example, on 6 January Limbaugh told listeners the mainstream media sways the thought process as regards how the citizenry regard the Republican candidates,  [Question(s): BUT does not Limbaugh’s audience watch FOX and listen to talk radio in general and Limbaugh in particular? So how are they swayed?].  
The destruction of reason.  After centuries of humankind striving to become, well, more civilized, we now have media demagogue jihadis who are actively striving to derail the journey by appealing to humankind’s baser instincts. 
The destruction of language.  Both the demagogues and the jihadis debase and destroy language in an attempt to recruit true believer followers.  The more they can strip down communication to a utilitarian chassis, the greater chance they will have of using language as a verbal IED, if you will, to both attract disgruntled followers and then to help destroy society.
Hate as a by-product.  When all is said and done and blown up, hate is the only realized by-product of both the media demagogues and the jihadis.
Demagogues and jihadis are all base, bottom-feeding slugs.  Need I say more?
    

     Finally, one difference: As reprehensible as the jihadis are, at least they are honest about their goal.  America’s talk radio and cable TV demagogues, however, desire publicity and wealth, and disguise their avarice behind false fronts of reason, patriotism and faith.
     Allow me to close with a quote from the poet, Dryden, and one which encompasses both demagogues and jihadis:

“I curse thee not! For who can better curse the plague or devil than to be what they are: that curse be thine.” -From Encyclopaedia of Quotations, Sixth Edition, David McKay, Publisher, Philadelphia, 1893.

Oy vey, Mitt "Quiet Rooms" Romney, another Bush!

[Note: The rampant factionalism of America’s political landscape impels me to include the following disclaimer in all my opinion posts: I am not a Republican.  I am not a Democrat.  I am not of the neocon persuasion, who are but false conservatives.  I am not of the progressive persuasion, who are but false liberals.  I am not of the so-called Tea Party movement.  I do not belong to any organized religion.  I loathe all demagogues, thus disdain talk radio and realize our leviathan-dominated media are corrupted by self-interest, profit and all manner of ideology.].

     January 2012.  In his 14 October 2011 column in the New York Post the inveterate neocon shill, John Podhoretz, quoted the inveterate demagogue/shill Rush Limbaugh.  In his “Dance of the UN-Mitts,” Podhoretz quoted Limbaugh on Mitt Romney: “Romney is not a conservative.  He’s not, folks.”
     Mr. Limbaugh is correct, as Mitt Romney is not a conservative, but, then, neither are Limbaugh and Podhoretz conservatives.  Mr. Limbaugh is a base-albeit successful and committed-demagogue, while Mr. Podhoretz is a base and committed neocon [Mr. Podhoretz’s father, Norman, was a pillar of neoconservatism, as he was the editor of Commentary magazine.  The son has followed in his fathers ideological footsteps.].
     Thus, Willard “Mitt” Romney. 
     Our alleged media and its alleged political hands spent months and countless hours of blather pretending (At least, I hope they were pretending.) that someone else other than the Mittster was going to gain the Republican nomination to run against the hated Obama.  They wasted hours talking about Palin; Bachmann; Pawlenty; Paul; Trump (!!!); Uncle Newty; Bloomberg; Huntsman; Rudy G.; Perry; Santorum...when it was apparent to anyone with the slightest bit of political sense that absolutely none of them would ever be nominated, let alone elected.
     So, now we have Willard Romney, cardboard cutout of the status quo.  He is, to be truthful, Dubya Bush in another guise.  Consider:
* Bush had a facile commitment to attaining power by making cynical use of patriotic and religious iconography; so too does Romney.
* Bush is of the patrician class; so is Romney.  Consider Romney’s recent admonition that certain issues should be discussed in “quiet rooms.”
* Bush made much moolah from serving the inner circle of business predation; so has Romney.
* Bush is a shallow fellow as regards history and foreign affairs (hence Iraq); so is Romney (What war of alleged national security shall we get with Romney? Shall we brace for shock and awe in Teheran?)
* Bush was run as a puppet of the neocons; so, too, I suspect, shall Romney fall under the neocon spell (Who shall be Romney’s brain? Rush Limbaugh? Donald Trump?).
* Bush was stiff around real people; so is Romney.
* Bush was dismissive; so is Romney.
* Bush had a shallow tinny “Heh-heh” laugh; so does Romney.
     Well, you get the idea: America does not need another Bush...or another Clinton...or another Obama...or even one Romney.
     Now, please retire to your quiet rooms and think on this...and no talking...

Junius was correct.

“One precedent creates another.  They soon accumulate, and constitute law.  What yesterday was fact, today is doctrine.  Examples are supposed to justify the most dangerous measures; and where they do not suit exactly, the defect is supplied by analogy.” - Junius.

     January 2012.  Junius was the pseudonym used by a writer to England’s Public Advertiser, 1769-1772.  The above quote was culled from one of his writings.  I have used it, as it serves to reflect the manner in which governments work, and, yes, our government is included.  Governments are created, shaped and run by humans, and we all should know by now the nature of humans is such that if not reasonably checked may lead to all manner of abuses and atrocities.  Do not protest, you know it is true.
     Government is ultimately about its own self-interest, not the interests of its citizenry, and to that end government shall always seek ways and means to get over on its citizenry while making itself bigger and more powerful in the process.
     Consider America’s centralized government leviathan.  In certain circles merely questioning the size and intentions of our massively layered leviathan is enough to have you labelled as a paranoid, a Tea Party type, a conspiracy theorist (I am neither, by the way.).  I concede fringe groups and generic loons make it more difficult for reasoned and responsible critics to criticize government and its ever-growing, insidious tyranny.
     Ever-growing, insidious tyranny? I say, Isn’t that a bit much, old fellow? Well, no, as tyranny can appear in many forms, including a form which appears to many to be palatable and sanitized.  After all, are not soggy asparagus tips all in the presentation?  Does one present them in a simple dish and soaked in tepid milk? Or, inspired, does one slip them on the plate among the sizzling filet mignon, the crisp cole slaw and the steaming red skin potatoes?
     There a lot of soggy asparagus tips out there, and mixed among all levels of American society, but most especially in the government and the corporate worlds.  And We New American Proles are daily enticed to slither said soggy tips down our esophagi, enticed by a myriad of arguments and dandy-appearing arguments and presentations, many of which are self-serving or specious.
     Politicians, lawyers, corporatists, ideologues and demagogues all crave to establish precedents, but only if they serve their particular ends.  But what are those particular ends and do they serve the Republic

America going GAGA over 1.- Just being, and 2.- Nothingness.

     January 2012.  The Durant’s, Will and Ariel (both dead), wrote the magnificent “The Story of Civilization” series, one of which was “The Age of Reason Begins.”  The world and America have seen many ages, and now the world is witness to America’s Age of Just Being and Nothingness,  which, sadly, is not an extension of the Age of Reason.  And after considering this Age of Just Being and Nothingness one must ask: Is that all there is? Is America’s Age of Just Being and Nothingness the final stamp on over 200 years of American history? After all, Rome had its last act before the barbarians came on stage.  Is our Age of Just Being and Nothingness our final act?
     But what precisely is this Age of Just Being and Nothingness?
     Recently I read a piece about a new start-up called Klout (You know, Clout with a “K.”  Klever, yes?).  This Klout measures one’s appeal derived from one’s popularity based on social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter.  At any rate, we are told that Lady Gaga has one of the highest, if not the highest, Klout rating.  Gaga has a 93 or so, and her Klout is higher than the President.  Of course! After all, why follow substance when one can follow a celebrity? Consider New York City’s annoying mayor, Emperor Bonaparte Bloomberg.  On New Year’s Eve last Emperor Bonberg chose the annoying Lady Nuisance to push the button to drop the ball.  In New York City, with all its accomplished individuals, Bloomy chose an annoying celeb.  Such is the Age of Just Being and Nothingness-worship the shallow.
     America’s Age of Just Being and Nothingness is an age driven largely by celebrity, by gadgets, and by social media.  It is an age which places a high premium on being seen.  Being seen on some screen or other.  Being seen and going viral.  Klout.  Nothing but just being; just nothingness and more nothingness...

War of our world: Witness to the collapse of the American Republic.

     December 2011.  Now, on the precipice of a new year, am I the only one suffering a sense of disquiet as to the fate of our former Republic of America? Am I the only one who wonders what happened to transform said former Republic into the soulless oligarchy it is today? Oh, good.  Well, here are just a few of the reasons America is no longer America.  This is not the entire set, of course, but you may collect the entire set...Trade them with your friends...

Erosion of the mind.  The mind? We don’t need no stinkin’ mind.  Hey, I’ve got an app for that mind thingy.  My MeGizmo does all my thinking for me.  Not only do Americans appear to be thinking and reasoning less, but in conjunction they are being force-fed drivel through all their little gadgets.

The decomposing center; the disappearing national cohesion.  As demagogue and ideologue-driven faction-frenzies grow in scope and power, the idea of national cohesion recedes, as does the concept of compromise around a rational center.

The demise of traditions, the evisceration of holidays and the force-feeding of homogeneity.  Traditions, regional and national, are beginning to atrophy, or they have been appropriated by cynical entities seeking to profit off them.  All of America’s holidays are now nothing more than barometers for how much merchandise can be hyped and sold (See, Christmas, an obscene orgy of selling, buying and guilt.). 

The cult of the celebrity and the celebration of boors and boorishness.  Americans are obsessed with shallow celebs and reality TV nitwits, and who are daily stuffed down our media gullets.  Everything now must have a celebrity angle, or it is not considered relevant.  Celebrity bios and birthdays are presented and announced daily.  Even NPR (National Public Radio) seems to have become ensnared in celebrity worship.

Debasement of the self.  Americans have been taught to “act/play the fool” is somehow a democratizing trait.  TV and the Internet constantly present us with fools being celebrated.  At public events the cameras always show us the fools: the fools waving and jumping up and down; the fools dressed as fools; the fools trying to get their fifteen minutes...What, you haven’t seen Chuck “Where’s the camera!” Schumer?

The materialization of society.  Hourly, Americans are subjected to a relentless wave of SELL! SELL!; BUY! BUY! Commercials hector us on all manner of our media and supply the bulk of the time of whatever we watch.  Americans have been conditioned to roll out of bed at all hours and go shop; to stand in line for hours; to camp out in front of Big Box stores; to resort to fighting or stomping our fellow shoppers...And our grinning, alleged media merrily cover all this as though it were children leaving for summer camp.

The encouragement and ignoring of debt, both public and private.  Debt continues to climb, as all aspects of American society have been indoctrinated with the idea of spending without consequences.  Happy face credit card companies ply us with cutesy, consequences-free adverts which show us the joys of debt.  And, of course, our alleged political reps borrow and spend with impunity (Hey, it’s not their money!).

The lionization of media demagogues on talk radio and cable TV.  Media demagogues rule and may be found daily on talk radio and on FOX and MSNBC belching forth their divisive rancor.

The obsession with inane stats and numbers.  Chief among these are the singularly noxious poll numbers, as daily we have heaped upon us the results of numerous inane polls (Tell the truth, do you really remember the results? Of course you don’t.).  Too, one cannot watch any alleged sporting event without being beset by stats crawling across the bottom of our screens, so as to appease the annoying fantasy nerds.

The denigration of sportsmanship and fairness.  Sport in America has become a cesspool of cheap shots (both verbal and physical), trash talk, gambling, chest-thumping, ME-first posers

The demise of governance.

Read.  Absorb. Think.  Act!
Be obstreperous, not obsequious.

     December 2011.  If you are a reasoned thinker, the thought must have flitted across the windowpane of your mind: America is no longer governed so much as it is whipped into faction-frenzies as demanded by the two predominant American ideologies, and assisted by their true believers and acolytes.
     Ideologies? Wait, you say, America has never been an ideological nation.  Americans aren’t ideologues. 
     True, until recently.  In the over-hyped Sixties America witnessed the Left and the rise of the so-called New Left, many of which now wander the groves of academe.  But despite their spouting of violent rhetoric, the Left/New Left were always more of a laughable proposition than a threat to the demise of America.  Ah, but America has now fallen prey to a more sedate and more insidious ideology, one which has bored its way into the fabric of America.  And that ideology is known as neoconservatism, the false conservatism.   
     The neocons first dead-headed their way into respectability in the Reagan administration, and then took over the administration of the bobblehead “Dubya” Bush.  Once in control of the Bush administration the neocons employed various useful idiots (See Tea Party) and numerous shrill shills (See Limbaugh, Rush and the other demagogues of talk radio, as well as the demagogues of the FOX agitprop channel) to extend their base of largely ignorant true believers.  Neocon demagogues and their addled true believers now control talk radio and the cable TV screech and sell markets.
     In opposition are the so-called progressives, the false liberals.  They have largely disappeared from talk radio and are now centered around MSNBC, the Comcast-owned cable TV station and various websites.
     And both ideologies have numerous fellow traveler websites which entertain the faithful by pumping out ideological argot.  Thus, both ideologies have created faction-frenzies, which have served to engulf a wide swath of American society and many (if not all) of today’s high-profile issues.
     The aforementioned faction-frenzies, as whipped up by our techno-aided ideologues and demagogues, now serve to infuse rancor into all our national issues.  And when one considers the added component of an increasingly deumbed down citizenry, a citizenry more concerned with the false world of pseudo-reality TV and the lives of nitwit celebs, one understands how we have arrived at where we are; understands how ideologues and demagogues now hold sway on issues.
     As a result of faction-frenzies, our party mechanisms have broken down, overwhelmed by ideologues and their demagogue shills on talk radio and cable TV.  In addition, the individuals we elect are not of the best and brightest, but largely of the worst and dimmest.  The Tea Party wing of the Republican party are but a neocon-controlled phalanx of shock troops, sent in to shrilly shout the neocon party line.  They are an obdurate lot and not given to compromise.  And now we have Occupy Wall Street (OWS), another psuedo-populist movement without the urge to compromise.  Indeed, compromise is among the first casualties of a society dominated by faction-frenzies.
     Our ruinous involvement in the obscene wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are the result of ideological faction-frenzy.  These draining ventures have cost America thousands of innocent lives and over a trillion wasted dollars.  And both the bodies and the billions continue to be wasted, primarily in Afghanistan, as our war in Iraq is officially over (I think...well, except for all those contractors.).
    Ideologues and demagogues are a priori thinkers and care little for empirical evidence of history, or of events gone by.  Too, they care little for reason.  Ideologues and demagogues ignore or rearrange the empirical slate to read whatever their thinking is on a given issue.  And in the place of reason and empirical facts we now have faction-frenzies.
     How is that working out for u.s.?

Occupy the apparatus.

ap*pa*ra*tus   n.  1. The totality of means by which a designated function is performed or a specific task executed.  2.  a.  A machine.  b.  A group of machines used together or in succession to accomplish a task...4.  A political organization.  - From The American Heritage Dictionary, Second College Edition.

“Nothing is more surprising than the easiness with which the many are governed by the few.” - David Hume

     December 2011.  Recently, America has witnessed the rise of the so-called Tea Party movement, and, more recently, the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement.  Both entities are pseudo-populist fronts for the ideologies which created and run them.  In the case of the Tea Party, it is a creation of neoconservatism, the false conservatism, whereas Occupy Wall Street (OWS) is a creation of progressivism, the false liberalism.  Both the Tea Party and OWS serve as ideological conduits.  Neither entity represents We the People anymore than the corporate class or D.C.’s Beltway Bog represents We the People.  The Tea Party and OWS are fabrications.  They are playing on the ever-increasing ignorance of the age, an age given over to shallow demagoguery and cynical non-governance...Meanwhile, back in the D.C. Beltway Bog...
     Consider this bitter irony: America has become the country which our Framers formed the original Republic to protect We the People against.  That is, centralized and amassed power.  The British Crown was the source of tyranny for fledgling America.  But current day America is beset with a more pervasive and insidious tyranny, one perpetrated by the very apparatus charged with protecting it from tyranny.  One may call this apparatus many things: the special interest status quo; the Beltway leviathan; the American Oligarchy; the American Crown; generic BIG government, an invasive bureaucratic corpse that won’t stop growing...The apparatus...
     The apparatus? Yes, the collective special interests of both the government and corporate sectors.  The coalescence of the government and corporate sector apparatuses with the singular goal of keeping We the People, dumb, distracted and quiet...or at least perpetually frustrated.
   
     Consider these lines from the Introduction of “Leftism Revisited: From de Sade and Marx to Hitler and Pol Pot” by the late Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn:  “There is nothing more fatal than sentimental amateurism.  The switches were wrongly set in 1789 with the French Revolution.  The three fundamentally leftist revolutions, those that spawned France’s democracy, Russia’s international socialism, and Germany’s national socialism, formed and fashioned the history of the last two hundred years and established the “Centuries of the G”-guillotines, gaols, gallows, gas chambers, and gulags.”
     It could be suggested America today is in “The Age of the D,” that is:  the dumbed down; the distracted; the deluded; the deluged (as in overwhelmed); the disabused; the divisive and the devious, thus what has set in has been decay.
     Consider the following excerpt from Orwell’s 1984:
“...the Party taught that the proles were natural inferiors who must be kept in subjection, like animals, by the application of a few simple rules...
Heavy physical work, the care of home and children, petty quarrels with neighbors, films, football, beer,  and, above all, gambling filled up the horizon of their minds.  To keep them in control was not difficult.”

     Now, let us RE-write the above excerpt to reflect current day America:
...Both the parties, Donkeys and Elephants, viewed America’s proles as easy pickings to be dumbed down and controlled (much like pets), by applying a few simple controllers: The constant grind of government and corporate bureaucracy to keep them busy and frustrated; numerous unprincipled media demagogues to keep them riled up over essentially nothing and each other’s throats; layered debt to keep  the proles buying and paying; daily helpings of silly celeb news and pseudo-reality TV; the daily introduction of petty, lipstick on a pig non-issues; a sprawling and predatory sports industry (and, above all, gambling); booze and fast food; numerous media commercials; constant hype as regards gadgets and [alleged] entertainment vehicles; constant sophomoric allusions to sex and scatological talk...And so it goes, on and on...

The Grotesque Ol' Putrefaction (aka the Republican party), a cadaver fit for a "CSI"/"Bones" cameo.

     December 2011.  Surely you have see at least one episode of “CSI” or “Bones.”  If so, you are aware that the gag-inducing corpse, one in a heightened state of putrefaction, is almost always used as a prop, an introduction to the crime.  It is a sufficiently grotesque cadaver with a rotted, maggot/fly-infested face, and stomach contents of the consistency of aged vomit...a cadaver resembling the current state of the Republican party.  The Republican party has become a collection of moral and intellectual stiffs, a political cadaver farm.  It began with the loathsome, neocon-run Bush administration, an administration which gave America needless war and casualties, and debt; it continued with the addled John McCain, who gave us the dolt known as Sarah Palin (Whatever happened to her, anyway?); Then came Donny “Comb Over” Trump, an odious buffoon;  And then Bachmann, a silly thing; finally the rhetorical weathervane and cardboard cutout known as Mitt Romney, who has recently been eclipsed by the malodorous cadaver of the zombie Newt Gingrich, exhumed and brought to the fore.  And, of course, one must not ignore the triumvirate which serves as the brain trust for today’s Grotesque Ol’ Putrfaction: Rush Limbaugh, a corpulent demagogue, who sits behind a microphone issuing hate and ludicrous drivel as he enriches himself by exploiting the ignorant and likewise hate-filled.  And then there is Rupert “You’ve been hacked!” Murdoch and his carcinogenic News Corp. empire (FOX non-news, Wall Street Journal, NY Post...).  Finally, we have the aforementioned Donny Trump, or Karl Rove (Your choice!), either choice ensures you have chosen a slimy character.
     Since the modern Republican party was founded in 1854 it has fielded for America a wide spectrum of individuals, from the laudable to the loathsome, but since being taken over by the neocons (false conservatives) it has become a slough of death, debt and, finally, despair for those of us who would have rational governance.