A Sucker Born Every Day

Much has already been written, exposing the machinations of the multibillionaire Koch brothers. To be fair, they're only two among several plutocrats who are hellbent on remaking America into a social Darwinist dystopia. And, my point is...? I don't care how many there are; there are too many. The most infuriating thing is their cowardice, hiding their identities behind "social welfare organizations," which appear to have as much if not more influence in the current campaign than Super PACs. How convenient to maintain a public persona of being philanthropists while bombing America's social fabric into the Stone Age.

As for the teabaggers who love them, I think there needs to be a sequel to Thomas Frank's What's the Matter With Kansas? to explain how these six-fingered, knuckle-dragging, sister-loving crimes of humanity willingly choose to participate in their own economic self-destruction. Given the demographics of the teabag "movement," the good news is that in a few years most of them will be locked up in nursing homes, left to waste away in their right-wing dementia. Until then I'll look forward to the day when I can happily tell them, "So long, sucker."

Mittbull - Inherently Dangerous

I watched Romney go on the attack during his recent stump speeches, and it has been interesting to watch how he is trying to come across as being tough, aggressive, etc., etc., etc. What I see mostly is nothing new, namely his willingness to say or do anything, truth be damned, to get himself elected. True, all politicians will do that...to a degree, but Romney has taken it to a new, lower level. Why the pitbull reference? Besides being one of the more aggressive breeds, it is now being considered in some localities, such as my home state of Maryland, to be "inherently dangerous," just like Romney and the GOP's retrogressive agenda for America.

OG in the (White) House

The recent "leaks" of President Obama's deep involvement in selecting drone targets have resulted in most of the media focusing on the administration's pursuit of the leakers rather than any kind of analysis of the consequences of the policy. There have been some good op-eds, which is encouraging, but I'm struck how the Obama administration seems hell-bent on outdoing the Bush administration not only in its use of drone attacks (5 times as many in half the amount of time) but also by the energy and vigor with which they're attempt to construct a legal defense for it. The Bush administration was a bunch of amateurs compared to this group. I guess when the do something (wrong), they really do it right.

That's change we can believe in. <sigh....> Here's the 'toon:

The Pain in Spain

I think Paul Krugman's column today in the NY Times captured best the lunacy and viciousness of the European Central Bank's monetary policy. They are all for bailing out the banks, the very criminals who got Spain into this pickle, but won't lift a finger for the working women and men who were and are the innocent victims of the crisis. Instead the technocrats and plutocrats who love them patronizingly talk of the need for the peones to embrace austerity as if its the path to spiritual transformation.

What's next? They bring back Torquemada and Spanish Inquisition to torture the Spaniards into see the light? I'm sure the Republican-dominated US Congress won't be far behind, and poor Barack Obama will be forced to sell another piece of his ever-dwindling soul to hop on that band wagon.

The butcher Assad has been slaughtering women, children and men for the past year and a half, and the Western powers are only now expressing outrage? But do not fear; Kofi Annan, the great enabler of the Rwandan genocide of 1994, is in on the spot, and his peace plan is working by golly. We've reached, and I quote, a "tipping point."

I've heard all of the geo-political arguments why military intervention in Syria is a non-starter and I understand that arming the wrong rebels (read: terrorists, aka, "the bad guys") might only make things worse. Here's what I don't get. The only thing stopping the UN Security Council from doing anything other than giving Syria another feeble wrist slap is Russia. I can understand if we've lost all leverage with the Assad regime, but have no more strings to pull with Moscow? That's pathetic. Now is the time to go from wrist slap to bitch slap. But I digress...here's the 'toon:

Taking Concrete Steps

I guess I'm a sucker for wordplay but the tag line for this cartoon was, sadly, only all too self-evident. Over the weekend we saw a DVD on the very same subject, and it may have inspired me a little, but I doubt it.

More likely I think I'm just not patient enough to tolerate these diplomatic gabfests where the world's "leaders" enjoy a few ostentatious days living large to address the world's most pressing issues. I'm pretty sure the idea of being in solidarity with those whom they serve never really enters their heads. And it's probably too much to expect that they achieve anything meaningful in the interest of those with the least voice, power, etc. I just wish they'd drop the pretense that they are actually concerned about poverty and get out of the way and let the more serious, competent folks do what's necessary.

Tuck and Get Rolled

Surprise, surprise. The latest employment figures show less private sector job creation, more public sector layoffs and less workers bothering to even bother...And with this being an election year I'm sure Obama and the Democrats will be even less willing to do anything to actually solve the problems confronting this country. Even this morning I heard on the radio another shameless example of Obamian spinelessness.

"Campaign operatives" scrambled after Joe Biden, who has taken on the mantle of the administration's only straight-shooter, had audacity (remember that word?) to say, "I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women, and heterosexual men and women marrying another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties. And quite frankly, I don't see much of a distinction -- beyond that."

Good grief. Obama feels compelled to back off of THAT?! Basic civil rights??? Beyond pathetic...

Workers of the world...ah, never mind. Go back to the breadline.