Thoughts While Under The Influence

It's been a long day here in La La Land, and I'll admit I've softened the impact with a glass of wine or three. I'm not what the Brits would call 'in my cups', but I am feeling pretty good.

Perhaps because of the chemical lubrication, or perhaps in spite of it, I feel the need to unburden myself of a few thoughts I've held in, for fear of offending delicate sensibilities, some of whom I'm related to. But I can hold silent no longer ...

Rick Santorum is a wannabe theocratic demagogue. At least that's what his persona as related through the news tells me. If he became President, I expect the population of Canada will swell (as long as they'll take refugees). If he became President, I expect there will be succession. A Santorum Presidency might be California's best excuse to become an independent country. I'd say it would be Texas', but that otherwise admirably independent-minded state seems to like theocratic demagogues, so they'll likely stay put.

Newt Gingrich is a tiresome joke that has been told too many times. I get the joke. It's not funny. Go away.

Mitt Romney is a soulless zombie politician. It seems he asks his handlers every day, "What should I say? What position should I take? Where am I?" If there is a real person with cogent thoughts hiding under that ever-variable veneer, I haven't seen it. Of course, that is part of the game: give the hardcore conservatives a reason to believe Mitt is their Man, while perpetuating the idea that underneath the rhetoric Romney is a Man of Reason, who'll do what's right, and not stick to dogmatic positions. There is a very slight chance the latter view may be at least partially true, but I can't sleep at night thinking to what depths a Romney Presidency might stoop to to get re-elected.

And President Obama's not off my hook either. What a huge disappointment he's been to those of us who supported his candidacy in 2008. With a supermajority in both houses of Congress for his first two years, all he got done (that John McCain wouldn't have done) was a Health Care Bill that did NOT contain the logical, hoped-for public option that all of his supporters wanted. And the wars: we are still in Afghanistan; we are actually still in Iraq (not that you'd notice from the news). After 10 years and counting, thousands of deaths of Americans and our allies, and tens (if not hundreds) of thousands dead among Iraqi and Afghan combatants and civilians, what are we left with? Two governments their people hate, and which show us no respect publicly. Allies who harbor our most wanted enemies. Obama inherited a tough situation with this, but he was elected with a mandate to GET US OUT, and he hasn't followed through. In fact, if he were a Republican, the GOP would laud his every move in foreign affairs.

But to be fair, Obama has had a horribly uphill battle, every day of his Presidency. I'll come right out and say it - racism is a least a part of this. No other President in living memory has been called a 'liar' in Congress, has been openly accused without evidence of hijacking liberty, of being socialist, of being a closet Muslim, of not even being American. You just can sense what some people would like to call him openly, but they can't except in closed rooms among similar and safely wrong-minded individuals.

Politicians aren't the only creatures that fuel my ire. Rush Limbaugh is a Big, Fat, Idiot. Oh wait, Senator Al Franken said that in his past life as a satirist. Still true, though. That anyone still listens to him for ANY reason, even as a campy, "he's so awful he's good" kind of lark, is beyond belief. Limbaugh is pure human poison.

And organizations are real pissers too. Fox News is a terrible, terrible, paste-up of biased opinion. The channel has long since abandoned any pretense of 'fair and balanced' and openly targets perceived enemies. The closest channel to Fox in it's intense bias is Russian Television (the 'RT' channel). Ever seen it? Every story on that channel, most of which are anchored by what seem to be American or British ex-patriots, is slanted to diss the USA and selected other western countries. The resemblance in slanted newsmaking (if not in actual opinion) to Fox is hilarious as well as deeply disturbing.

CNN has lost its way (and maybe its corporate mind). This may not be anyone's fault, but more along the lines of 'this time has passed, please move on'. Only, CNN won't give up, go away, or move in any particular direction, it just straggles on as a strange hybrid of serious news and lightly-informed opinion. I'd like to tell CNN to shape up, but I'm not sure there is anything to really be done except fade out.

And it's not just the cable channels. Our primary news outlets feed us headlines that are either generic and devoid of facts, or are pointedly biased. Local news feeds us an endless litany of robberies, rapes, murders, and police chases. No wonder most of us are depressed - and thus need a bit of libation to soften the fall of day.

But chemical palliatives aren't our only options. Politicians, abrasively outrageous personalities, and both Fox and CNN all serve as fodder for The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. These two comedy shows are the mental health lifelines for a majority of well-educated Americans, who otherwise would go insane from the daily crap flung their way in the news. These shows are GOOD THINGS. But they also happen to be bad things too, in the sense they offer us an outlet for our frustrations other than writing rabid letters to representatives, protesting, or organizing unions. While I watch Stewart or Colbert - while I am laughing at the well-written and performed bits, I am sometimes disturbed by the feeling that this may be part of some evil plan to draw off my energy, to pacify me. A new opiate of the masses kind of thing.

And with that last thought I realize I am entirely sober again. Of course the coffee helped. Did I mention I made a cup before beginning this screed?