Rand Paul and the Tea Party Show Their True Tea Leaves

The Tea Party appears to be gaining strength, but I still think it's doomed to be a fringe, splinter element in American politics. The reason was recently revealed by the figure who has emerged as its most visible spokesperson--Rand Paul. This candidate for the US Senate from Kentucky showed his true stripes when he stated he didn't believe the government--federal or state--had the authority to force lunch counters at public restaurants or stores like Woolworth's to serve blacks and other minorities. This is the crux of the libratarian agrument and the long-simmering rage of the Tea Party--government is too big and the individual should be not be subject to it. Why not just have 50 separate states like Reagan said he wanted, but then he seemed to have forgotten why we fought the Civil War. Paul says he himself is against discrimination, but doesn't believe the government has the right to tell a privately owned business it can't discriminate--even if that business is serving the public.

The Tea Party has gained strength because there are a lot of people who don't like taxes at all and haven't put two and two together and realized those taxes pay for things like schools, libraries, police, and cleaning up disasters like oil spills and hurricanes. The anti-taxers have joined up with the libratarian ideologues like Paul and the hysterical bigots who just can't stand the idea of a black president or anyone speaking Spanish and want things back to where they were when white people were the unquestioned top dogs.

I recall an older male relative of mine a few years ago telling me he was in a convenience store behind two Hispanic guys and they were speaking Spanish to each other. My relative actually said to them, "Hey, this is America. We speak English here." Now I can see gettting a little miffed if you were asking directions of a complete stranger or conversing with a shop-owner in a major city of the USA and this stranger or shop owner didn't speak English. Maybe you wouldn't be justified, but I could empathize with your feelings. But dictating what language people should be speaking to each other is going a bit far and this is the sentiment of the Tea Party and of the Arizona immigration law. Yes, undocumented workers should not be here, but there is nothing wrong with teaching multicultural studies in state-funded schools or giving anyone the history of the country they or their ancestors are from originally.

I believe there are legitimate concerns about the size of the defeceit, but that is only part of this movement's concern. I think many have this unrealistic dream of living out on the prairie where the only law is the sherriff in town and a man and his kinfolk live on their own land and the damned goverment leaves everyone alone expect when there's a big disaster. They want to go back to 19th century, no regulation. let business do what it wants and if they go bankrupt so be it, or if they cheat everybody blind, so what? They think the world is too big and they want it simpler and their government simpler and smaller too. Honey, I got news for you, the world is bigger and more complicated and we ain't never goin' back to the way we were. So you can sing that song all you want, but those scattered pictures and hazy watercolor memories are gone for good.

Scenes from the Life of an Amateur Comic Book Collector (14)--Lois Lane Fights the Death Penalty

The most recent comic haul (see earlier post) has yielded a fascinating insight into the mindset of the comic-book industry. Evidently it was quite liberal. In Lois Lane #44, published in 1963, the first story "The Murder of Lana Lang," features Lois being sent to the gas chamber for killing her red-haired rival for Superman's affections, Lana Lang. But it turns out the whole scheme is a stunt cooked up by Lois and Lana to prove the death penalty is cruel and unusual and an innocent person could be sent to their maker because of circumstantial evidence. Lois pretends to fight with Lana then takes her to a desserted island and leaves clues pointing to Lois as the culprit in Lana's supposed demise. Lana will return at the last minute and prove she hasn't been killed and Lois would have been executed for a crime she didn't commit.

But Lana runs into a storm at sea and is knocked unconscious. Lori the mermaid rescues her and Superman manages to straighten everything out. The governor pushes for an end to the death penalty. But strangely, Lois and Lana are not persecuted for attempting to pull over a balloon-boy-type hoax.

An other interesting comic is Prez: First Teen President, a short lived series from the early 1970s in response to the voting age being lowered to 18. In this four-issue series, not only is the voting age lowered but so is the eligibility for president and members of Congress, flooding in an 18-year-old named Prez for President. He appoints his mother as his secretary and an Indian companion named Eagle Free as head of the FBI. Kooky, huh?

In a prescient plot in Prez number 3, a rag-tag army of isolationists not unlike the current Tea Party movement attempts to assassinate the Prez when he pushes for a law banning all hand guns! The rebel army pays its men with phony confederate-like money and their camp is called--wait for it--Valley Forgery. (Knew you'd love that one!) This was in 1972 and that gun-control issue is still with us. The Tea Party-like army, lead by a descendent of George Washington advances on the capital. The forces clash right outside of the White House. Prez proposes he and the leader of the insurrectionist fight hand to hand to decide the outcome. The Washington descendant cheats and substitutes a huge wrestler-type for himself, but the Prez has been trained in Indian combat by Eagle Free and he bests the big bruiser who turns out to be agovernment counterspy. BTW, I bet none of the Tea Party people actually drink tea, they probably think it's all sissy and elitist. Coffee is good enough for them.

And speaking of sissy stuff, one of the newly purchased comics contained a one-page public service announcement called Touchdown for Picasso. In many comics, there would be the equivalent of PSAs offering advice on the right way to study, how to behave on a bus, not dropping out, starting a hobby, having a productive summer rather than just goofing off and reading comics, etc. This one features two kids after school. One says to the other "Hey, my parents have an extra ticket to a Beethoven concert tonight. Wanna go?" Rather than pounding the little poindexter to a pulp, his companion simply says "That's sissy stuff. I wanna be a football player." The miniature barbarian later learns his football hero is not only a classical music lover, but also an amateur painter (horrors!) I doubt this little vignette resulted in an increase in concert attendance among the small fry, but it may have shown an uptick in tolerance for those of us who enjoyed movies like "Gay Purree." That picture deserves an entire column of its own. You could see it as a litmus test for future gayness. Show it to a kid and if he asked "Where can I get the original soundtrack?" you could measure him for his interior-decorator sash right then and there.

Palin Appeal

Quote from a Dec, 7, 2009 New Yorker article on Palin: "To an extent unmatched by any recent political figure, she offers the erasure of any distinction--in skill, experience, intellect--between the governing and the governed. As one supporter told Conroy and Walsh (authors of "Sarah from Alaska," a pro-Palin tome), "If she can run a home, she can run the government." Palin agrees: "There's no better training ground for politics than motherhood." Yes, except households don't go to war with other households and settling arguments with the kids over who gets to watch Spongebob is not quite the same as settling the Middle East crisis.

I understand Palin's appeal. She's the mom from next door you might meet at the Walmart. She's just like you. She ain't got no fancy degree (she went to four different colleges in five years!) She writes notes on her hand--some find that endearing. She doesn't remember all the founding fathers or even when the Korean War was. So what! You don't have to be a walking encyclopedia to run the the most powerful nation on earth. All you need is common sense, some lip gloss and a pair of waders.

Everybody lovers her--for different reasons. The left wants to keep her in the spotlight so they can say "This is the best the GOP has to offer? You're kidding, right? Obama wins in a walk." The Tea-baggers (and yes, I will call them tea-baggers despite their sensitive protests to be associated with a sexual practice) love her because she repeats back their slogans and makes 'em feel good and everything. The only ones who don't love her are the moderate Republicans who fear that she will drag down their chances to take back the White House in 2012.

Why Are Republicans Eating Each Other Alive?

I hate to admit it but the GOP is in a fairly good position for 2010. There is growing dissatisfaction with Obama because he doesn't seem to be able to clean up the enormous pile of shit left behind by the previous administration with a wave of his magic wand. The economy hasn't been fixed and it's been almost a whole year. C'mon already, what are you waiting for, the impatient babies of the nation are whining. So the Repubs can take advantage of that by seizing the volatile independents in the middle who have no political convictions, they just want their meals on the table, cheap tickets to NASCAR and for their asses not to bet blown up.

But the party of Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt seems to shooting itself in the collective foot--or rather the right foot is stomping on the left. But skewing to the extreme right with these tea bag nut jobs, they risk losing the center. You win elections by kissing up to the middle. Just ask Barack and Bill and both Bushes. Even Ronnie knew enough not get too Archie Bunker-ish.

The tea parties will definitely help them in the south, but it will kill them up north. Ironic isn't it since tea parties started in Boston.

So I am kinda worried about the midterms, but I still feel OK for 2012. How have they got to challenge Obama? Palin is a joke but a dangerous one that some take seriousky. Huckabee is even-tempered and presents a pleasant front, but is too religious. Romney is an insincere stiff and the evangelics think he's a heretic because he's a Mormon. Maybe someone will emerge we haven't even thought of yet. But Obama's saving grace may be that independents will think he's not so bad when you compare him to the crop of losers on the other side.

Mad Tea Party

(Sung to the tune of "Edelweiss" from "The Sound of Music"):

Right-wing goons

Looney tunes

Every tea party you show up

Flat earth

Obama's birth

You make me want to throw up

That little ditty occured to me last week as the coverage of the Sept. 12 Tea Party march on Washington unfolded and the inflated numbers were rolled out. I got especially enraged when I saw that Fox was promoting the event as if it were the Second Coming and then had the nerve to take out a full-page ad in the Washington Post asking the rhetorical question: "How could ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, and MSNBC miss this story?" Forget the fact that all five of those networks coverd the event to one degree or another, what really made my blood boil was remembering when I marched on Washington--TWICE--as part of a gay rights protest and we got almost NO coverage from anyone--zip, nada, snoozeville. Our numbers were given short shrift by almost every news outlet--the ones that did cover us--and I will bet you any amount of money that if there were some objective, reliable way to count the marchers, we drew just as many people, if not more, as these loony birds. How come no one said "How could you miss that story?" And when gay people march again later this month, there will almost no coverage--AGAIN. You know why? Because we're not backed by big political interests like the Tea Pot Domers are (I just coined that one, like it?)

And now it's revealed a Fox producer was directing the crowd in one of her shots to cheer and yell. OK, maybe they would have been excited anyway, but Foxy lady, you're not supposed to manipulate the story you're covering--in any way. That's called titling the story towards the outcome you want--not being fair and balanced, you know, your network's motto.

It's late at night and I may ramble a bit here: I don't think Carter was right saying an overwhelming motive behind the anti-Obama vitriol is rooted in racism. Some of it is for sure. But a lot is based on fear that the repubs are ginning up. Fear that this big bad boogie man Obama will take away their insurance and cars and guns and country music and grits and NASCAR races and fatty foods and trips to Disneyland. They'd do that if Obama was white, but his being black adds to the fear for some people.

I heard Glenn Beck say he thought John McCaine would have been worse for the country than Obama. What? He said Mccain was a crazy progressive like Teddy Roosevelt. What a whacked out sense of history. Teddy broke the trusts and helped the average working man--the people Beck supposedly loves and wants to elevate. Now we see his real agenda--keep the proles in line, let the corporations control their lives, as long as it's not big government. Also these tea baggers may form their own third party. Oh please, oh please, do it! Do it! Split the conservatives right down the middle and give the Dems the White House and Congress for sure. This was based on an iterview with some former Rep strategist who believes this whole nutbag movement is based on frustration and dissatisifcation with government in general.

Obama explained it really well on Letterman tonight: this whole economic and health care mess is the result of too little government regulation in the first place (under repub adminsitrations) and now these dimwits think as little government as possible is the answer. Just let private enterprise and capitalism run wild and do whatever the market will bear. You know where that will lead? back to the 18th century before unions, anti-trust laws, Medicare, Social Security, etc. etc. right where Fox, Beck and O'Reilly want us.