As if there weren't enough to worry about, I am reading Lights Out: A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath by Ted Koppel.
In light of President Obama's final State of the Union tonight, I am going to say that the parade of creeps -- and their supporters -- lined up to take charge is the stuff that nightmares are made of.
Based on the performance of the circus act known as the Republican Congress, we are in big trouble. We currently have our crazy uncle holding the purse strings to our country, their kids are all eight-year-old bullies, and because they are religious freaks who don't believe God wanted them to use birth control, there are a lot of those bullies around. They may not be smart, but they know how to riot and they are allowed to carry guns. They may not understand how the world works, but they know how to line up at the polling place and push that button that says "R."
Those right wingnuts in Congress have taken the shock of 9/11, followed by war and a "great recession" and used those horrific events to train the bullies to set their sights on a black president, a woman leader in the House, and the poor and minority people of this country. The Tea Party voters may not be good at math, but they make up for it with enthusiasm: wipe out food stamps and NPR and we can get rid of that nasty federal deficit. Build that wall and we'll have good jobs again, get rid of Muslims and all those white people carrying guns will stop shooting up theaters and churches.
I recently caught a minute of a Rand Paul event on C-Span in which one of those geniuses in the town hall crowd was railing about a government that can't control companies that pollute the environment with things like oil spills. I should have taped it, because I still don't believe I really heard it. "You idiot!" I shouted at the woman. "Don't you know who that IS?" Rand Paul, who would get rid of the EPA, who believes government regulation is bad, bad, BAD.
It takes me back to the beginning days of the Obama administration, when the Tea Party turned up to protest in DC, complaining about the poor public transportation, which had been caused by Tea Party budget cuts.
Which brings me back to cybersecurity. Because while fools like Ted Cruz are implying that "carpetbombing" our enemies will keep us safe, those who truly control the country, like Wall Street and all those companies that have their hands on the electric grid, can't be made to share their vulnerabilities with the federal government or each other in order to make them safe from cyberattack. Like Nikki Haley a couple of years ago, I imagine once our enemies attack Congress will give us a free year of credit reports.
We're holding on to our guns while the smart psychopaths are working on the capability of pulling the plug on our government and industry computers.
And our candidates for president? Clueless. What they do know is how to get the crowd riled up. Much like Barnum and Bailey, they know there is a sucker born every minute, and those suckers are happy to wave their guns and get in line at the voting booths.
And, by the way, I'd like to stop hearing that these are people who have been hurt by economic downturns. Take a look at the people turning up to cheer for Cruz and Rubio. They are teachers and small business people, they are trading in their economy cars for trucks and SUV's again, and they never have to worry about whether to see a doctor or repair the roof. They are pissed off because they have been given permission to be pissed off, and it feels good to have someone to blame, even if they aren't entirely sure what they are angry at.
And if that's how to get elected, our bunch of republican candidates are happy to point them in a convenient direction. The Stupids are not only running for president, but are waving their guns and cheering, and lining up to vote.
I thought it was beyond interesting to hear today that Rand Paul has decided that Bill Clinton's sexual high-jinx while in office were so offensive that anyone who has received campaign contributions from him should return them. In fact, he called Clinton a "sexual predator." The reason I did a double-take at this presumed moral attitude, is that I recalled an incident from Rand Paul's college days which came up during his 2010 campaign.
Paul, who was (seemingly appropriately) known as "Randy," was a member of a "secret society." Their goal in life appears to have been to have a high time and pull pranks. The incident that was made public in 2010 involved the kidnapping of an undergraduate woman. Talk about your pot calling your kettle etc.
But here's what makes the attack even more terribly wrong.
Bill Clinton, regardless of how stupid was his extramarital pursuit of women, was not taking them anywhere or anyhow against their will. The Rand Paul incident was quite the opposite. The young woman was blindfolded and tied up, taken to Paul's apartment where he and a friend attempted to force her to smoke pot. After she refused, they forced her back into the car, took her to a creek, and made her perform a bizarre worship of a god they invented for the purpose of the prank. Hilarious, right?
So you have to wonder about the incredibly bad judgment that would cause him to attack Clinton for behavior that was not even as bad as his own.
I can only assume that the incredibly warped logic had to do with attacking Hillary, who he sees as a likely opponent in 2016, through her husband. And making it seem as though he is a defender of women.
I just wonder if when it all comes down to it, this kind of crazy stuff will result in Rand Paul lasting little longer than Rick Perry, Herman Cain or Rick Santorum when he actually hits the campaign trail. I am hoping it will be a brief but thoroughly entertaining run.
Isn't it pathetic to see John Boehner trying to look fierce saying, "You got your tax increase. No more."
Because the couple of percent that those who make over $400,000 a year are having to pay was waaay too much of a sacrifice, and their lives will never be the same as a result.
And if we then tax estates of a million dollars or more, those poor youngsters who inherit just might have to stand in line for food stamps with the Wal-Mart workers.
And if you've invested a couple of million dollars and have made umpty-million more through that investment, why shouldn't you get to keep every cent of those not-so-hard-earned dollars?
We who have the nerve to fight for a wage that allows us a decent roof, health care, high quality education, and maybe the right to a vacation with our family are really tired of the real whiners. It's the Mitt Romneys and Paul Ryans, the Rand Pauls and Eric Cantors who are doing the whining. Why should their money be used to fund public schools that their kids don't use? Or pay for roads and bridges that are crumbling? Or pay for health care that...
You know what? Each of those whiners gets quality health care paid for by us, the taxpayers. Yet they fight heartily to cut back Medicaid for the poor, Medicare for seniors, and Obamacare for all those of us who have been used and abused by the insurance industry.
They are neither courageous, nor are they patriots. They are the whiners.
