No Honor Among Thieves

NO HONOR AMONG THIEVES

I think all politicians lie.  That has been true historically and continues into present times.  Lies in the past usually contained grandiose promises about what the politician, if given power, would do for the little guy.  It was the "chicken in every pot" type of lie.

Governments also lie.  An argument can sometimes be made that lies are sometimes justified.  For example, if it's an issue of national security and telling the truth would jeopardize national security, then a lie has some moral basis.

But now we have the team of Romney-Ryan who take lying and falsehood to an unprecedented level.  Willard Romney shamelessly lies and his new sidekick Paul Ryan seems disposed to follow Willard's example.  The Republican Party has reached lower and lower on the morality scale.  At one time there were Republicans who actually condemned the unconstitutional and illegal acts of President Richard Nixon. Today's Republicans probably don't think Nixon went far enough in his illegality because hanging on to power to all that matters.

The one thing you can say about Willard Romney is that he will never be accused, as FDR was, as being a "traitor to his class."  Willard is unabashed in his devotion to the top 1% and the  policies that have created a chasm of inequality in the United States.   He has no love for the planet because addressing global warming harms the lifestyles and profits of the people at the top.  He doesn't care about ending wars because wars are good business too.

THE REPUBLICAN CLOWN CAR

The Internet is ablaze with stories about the Republican candidate Todd Akin, who is running for the Senate in Missouri.  Akin made the totally obscene and ridiculous assertion that women do not get pregnant from "legitimate rape."  I don't know what the distinction is between legitimate rape and illegitimate rape, but rape is a despicable crime no matter what guise it appears in:  violent, date, statutory, incest.  The God Mr. Akin worships evidently approves of rape because people like him always like to talk about the "sanctity of life" and "God's will."

The Republican clown car just keeps 'a coming.  The horns are blaring and the red noses are aglow and the lights are flashing and the car is careening around on two wheels.  I have never liked Republicans, but they are finding ways to take dislike to absolute hatred.  They are doing everything in their power to give everything to the wealthy white elites, to destroy even an already weak social services system, to suppress votes, to give polluters carte blanche to destroy the environment, to demonize gay and transgender people, and destroy constitutional provisions against an alliance of government and religion.  The clown car might be funny, but the implications are horrifying.  We don't need to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan because we already have our own version here at home. 

SCOTT WALKER, WISCONSIN, AND THE PLUTOCRACY

Right-wingers are celebrating the unsuccessful recall election of Wisconsin Governor  Scott Walker.  It's supposed to be the  death knell for unions and a harbinger of the election in November when they hope to get corporate raider Mitt Romney into the White House to orchestrate more attacks against working people.

One letter writer to The Fresno Bee used the old cliche about union "thugs" and how they had been defeated in this election. Any alleged thuggery by unions pales in comparison to the thuggery of the 1% and their concerted attempt to reduce working people to peons.  Walker was funded largely by the billionaire Koch brothers, who exemplify the greed and selfishness of the 1%.  They don't want working people to have even crumbs, much less benefits and decent salaries.

I hope the Occupy Wall Street movement is more representative of the American people than the bought and paid for Governor Scott Walker.

THE LIMITED IQ OF CONSERVATIVES

When you read the letters to the editor section of The Fresno Bee you not only get "treated" to the right wing commentary in the letters, but in the comments sections that follow letters.

I should probably skip the comments section because it's usually the same old nonsense, especially if it's a response to a letter from someone who is not a right-wing wacko.

Lately, the right-wing meme is that people on the left voted for the Iraq war. Therefore, they claim, people on the left who criticize the war are "hypocrites." They conveniently forget that many people on the left opposed the war from the beginning. At the time we were told you were "either for us or against us." The Dixie Chicks made a fairly innocuous comment about George W. Bush and suddenly they were under vicious attack. Members of Congress who voted for the war also did so on the false information provided by the Bush administration. It's amazing how right-wingers, who always howl about responsibility, never assume any.

Another thing that irritates me is the tendency of right-wingers to use cute little labels like "libtard." It's amazingly insensitive in the first place. "Retard" is totally inappropriate to describe people with genuine mental handicaps. Studies also show that people on the left are more informed and more intelligent than right-wingers too, so the suggestion that right-wingers are more intelligent isn't grounded in reality. Name calling is the first resort of people who really can't defend their political philosophy and, Lord, conservatives would have a hard time defending a philosophy that lied us into two wars, devastated the economy, and created record levels of poverty and inequality.

THE CALLOUS DISREGARD OF CONSERVATIVES

There was a letter in today's Fresno Bee that irritated me sufficiently for a comment. The writer is your typical sanctimonious holier-than-thou right-winger who wants to "correct" another letter writer.

This guy revealed himself early when he called the recent despicable pepper spraying incident at UC Berkeley "innocuous." I would like to see some of these right-wingers line up and demonstrate for us how "innocuous" it is to get pepper sprayed or water boarded. If it's no big deal, they shouldn't mind at all demonstrating that for us.

He also goes on to claim that fascism is a form of "socialism." That would probably surprise political scientists. Fascism is the diametric opposite of socialism. At its core fascism is an alliance between big business and the government and the best historical examples are in Italy under Mussolini and Germany under Hitler. We've seen a steady progression in this country toward fascism as big business calls more and more of the shots even when it's to the detriment of our population as a whole.

Conservatives have a hard time defending their philosophy when they have to adhere strictly to the facts, so that's why we see such a constant stream of revisionism and distortion. True conservatism means vast inequality, attacks on civil liberties, contempt for the environment, hatred of minorities, and anything and everything for the very rich. That's a hard sell when it's down to the basics.

ALLEGED REPRESENTATIVES

It's customary for the media when referring to members of Congress to designate them as "Representative" so and so. I think that description is inaccurate.

I have the misfortune to have Jeff Denham as the Congressional representative from this district. I don't think Mr. Denham represents me or most of his constituents on much of anything. He's anti-choice, anti-worker, anti-environment, but very pro corporation and pro top 1%.

I think a better designation for Mr. Denham and others in Congress is alleged Representative. It's what the media use to describe people accused of crimes, but who haven't been convicted yet. The word "alleged" isn't totally accurate, of course, because the crimes of people in Congress are already evident, but we also don't get the benefit of a trial.

CREDIT RATING DOWNGRADED THANKS TO REPUBLICANS

Yeah, I can't tell you how impressed I am with those wonderful Tea Party Republicans in Congress. Standard and Poor just lowered the U. S. credit rating from AAA to AA, which means higher interest rates for everyone. Is there anything these cretins aren't destroying?

This is a direct result of the ridiculous obfuscation on raising the debt limit. None of this was necessary.