Who would have believed that a Republican candidate for president could come along, so odious and mendacious, that he would make you miss the warmth of Newt Gingrich and the sincerity of Mitt Romney? Behold Rick Santorum.

Sure, ex-senator Rick was fun for a while, the shithead next door who’s repressive social believes were so extreme that even the Italian Catholics of South Philly kicked him to the senatorial curb in 2006. A few months ago, Santorum was just another jester piling into the Republican clown wagon, elbowing for position against light-weight buffoons like Herman Cain and Donald Trump.

But then the unlikely happened: Ricky became the Repug front runner and the media cognoscenti were certain that the intensified scrutiny would bury Santorum under five tons of Pennsylvania slag. Whoops! What actually happened was that the more Santorum flung his verbal feces around, the higher he rose in the polls. Apparently, his brand of coercive bible-thumping and repressive misogynism has been deemed by the perpetually angry Republican primary voters as just the right antidote to the evil Obama.

Emboldened, Santorum ratcheted up the rhetoric. He oppurtunistically siezed upon the recently manufactured birth control controversy, declaring that Obama is waging a war against religion and suggesting that birth control wouldn’t even be neccesary if American women just kept their damn legs together. More recently, Santorum further burnished his dipshit credentials with some convoluted gibberish that Obama blasphemes the bible by putting “the earth above man”. In Ricky’s world,  land rendered barren by hydraulic fracturing is all part of God’s plan.

As more and more christo-fascists scuttled out from under the tea party woodpile to show their support, Santorum and his acolytes stepped up the attacks on Obama’s otherness by declaring that the president is pursuing a “radical Islamic policies“, then quickly playing the “misspoke” game. This kind of weasly chickenshit is endemic to Santorum’s campaign. He’s willing to say anything, no matter how extreme, repugnant, or ignorant,  but is never willing to own it. In his world, Santorum is constantly being misquoted and misinterpreted by the liberal media who are out to play “gotcha” journalism.

In a sane world, ticks like Santorum would be engorging themselves out in the far reaches of the political forest, not in your backyard. And whether or not he gets the nomination is largely irrelavent. Santorum is merely a vector. The disease of intolerance he is spreading will  linger long after after he has scurried back under his rock.

Meme:  ”an idea, behaviour or style that spreads from person to person within a culture.”

Trope: “a word, phrase, expression, or image that is used in a
figurative way, usually for rhetorical effect”

With great reluctance, tinged with shame, do I admit to having watched each Republican presidential debate this fall. At first it was out of mere curiosity. ( Will any of these jokers say anything even slightly original or thoughtful?) Then it was for the comic effect. (999!) Then, ultimately, is was just morbid curiosity. (Jesus! “Lethal injection” is an applause line?)

The curiosity phase of my compulsion was satisfied within the first 15 minutes of the first debate; no, none of the jokers was going to say anything original or thoughtful. Obama-care, blah, blah, blah, Israel, blah, blah, blah, guns, blah, blah, blah, Job creators, blah, blah, blah, God, blah, blah, blah, etc.

The humor segment was short lived as well. “999″ stopped being funny the moment that I realized that the bombastic black dude really meant that shit, and that he would base his presidential campaign on some half-assed plan that would, if actually implemented, amount to the most massive shift of the federal tax burden from rich to poor in American history. Rick Perry was funny for a while, too, then he was merely pathetic. Too bad that  the one thing he said that made any sense and showed even a hint of humanity during the course of the debates, a rare sentiment that wasn’t a dog whistle or a rebel yell, a statement to the effect that it would be heartless to refuse to educate immigrant kids in the state of Texas, was what ultimately destroyed Perry’s campaign. But then again, that’s the Republican Party for you: cheer capital punishment, boo gay soldiers, applaud the idea that uninsured sick people should be left to die, and generally just act like a bunch of assholes.

Morbid curiosity set in around the 4th or 5th debate. The lame-o, jaw dropping questions, the inane responses, the petty arguments, the ghastly awkward moments, and the sheer stupidity of the candidate’s policy positions, all conspiring to create a train wreck atmosphere that was difficult to ignore. And the weird thing is that it wasn’t only sick fucks like me that were watching these horror shows; they were ratings winners! Lots of people were taking this stuff to heart, as if there was some serious intellectual debate as to whether the pizza guy, the cowboy, the bug-eyed lady, the hair cut, or the crazy uncle would make for good presidential timber.

But now to rescue the world from this circus comes the sanctimonious,  two-faced Newt Gingrich, the pseudo-intellectual “brains” of the tea party movement, as oily and unctuous a politician as to ever slither along the banks of the Potomac. The chattering class would have you believe that Gingrich is some kind of big thinker with personality issues, the reality is that Gingrich is a narrow-minded opportunist and a self-absorbed prick.

I’m no longer curious, morbidly or otherwise, about the perverse reality that would prevail should the likes of Newt Gingrich assume the presidency. (Or Cain, or Perry, or Romney, for that matter.) Curiosity, in fact, would likely be outlawed under their regime. It interferes with dogma. It questions authority. Curiosity goes hand-in-hand with science. Curiosity leads to understanding, then to empathy, then to sympathy, never good when the rats are racing, and the dogs are looking for their next meal.

It’s about time, at least a month or more. But, ya know, thinking is so much easier than actually doing. So I’ve been mind-bloggin’ recently. And I have no particular expertise in hurricanes, other than non-chalanting a dozen or so in North Carolina and Florida over the past few decades. That said:

Let’s get down to cases. This Republican field of “presidential”  candidates is worth noting: they are blithering shit-heads, everyone of them. That the Media, including the old-guard media, takes these losers seriously is borderline criminal.

Rick Perry? Are you fucking kidding me? I warned, on this website, back in November, 2010, that this cracker was comin’. He reminds me of the truck drivin’ ”Edgar” (Vincent D’Onofrio) in “Men in Black”, a  cretinous “bug” dressed up like a cowboy. This guy is going buck-wild on the American people, and a non-surprising number of dumb-nuts are dropping their drawers for this bullshit artist. Let’s face it: this country routinely loves to get corn holed by some big talkin’ Texan, or some other variation on the farm boy image. Remember the Gipper? W? Bubba?

But this Republican cluster-fuck is way more creepy than anything those war-mongering , globalist whores could have ever imagined. The crude, paleolithic snorts emanating from the mouths of Perry, Bachmann, and Santorum rightfully should disqualify them from the human race, much less a presidential primary. And the tin horn phony Romney looks like he’s overdosed on adderall trying to out-bullshit the bullshitters.

But the one thing these dickweeds have in common is their fidelity to a fuck-the-middle-class agenda. It is true,  as Supreme Court justice Potter Stewart once famously said,  that obscenity can’t be defined, but you’ll know it when when you see it. And, according to that standard,  the Repug’s deep-throating of tax-evading multi-national corporations is obscene. Equally obscene is the  plume of societal ignorance that allows the dark forces of discompassionate greed to be confused with the intent of the founding fathers or the Constitution. This country deserves a major slap in the face for even opening the door to this scandolous mob of trick-or-treater’s.

At this major crossroads in American history, I’d like to say that it’s high time for Obama and the Democratic party stand up to this villainous rape of the middle class, but unless The People show that they finally give a shit, I don’t hold out much hope.

The stock market, sucked downstream for the past week, finally plunged  over Vernal Falls today and the finance “experts” on CNBC are still searching for the body. Ya gotta love those guys. Their favorite phrase, when calamity strikes, is ”it was predictable” ,although none of them ever manage to predict it.

But in some ways, this shit storm was predictable. America’s GDP  is down, unemployment hovers around 10% (with another 5% of Americans simply having given up ever finding work again), Europe teeters on the brink of insolvency, and last month’s budget debacle made Washington the world’s laughing stock. And investors are a twitchy bunch with a herd mentality who react emotionally when things begin to slide.

But what was amazing about today’s market crash was how much it rapidly accelerated during this morning’s address by President Obama. Ostensibly the prez was attempting to assure the quivering masses that everything was gonna be just dandy, that Standard and Poors’ downgrade of the U.S. credit-worthiness was unfair, and, as Obama put it, “We are still a Triple A country!” That was about the point that traders began to bale big time and red barf covered the stock screen. It was probably not reassuring that Obama’s speech came 45 minutes after the announced time, but there’s a bit of history behind this: every time Obama (or Tim Geithner) speaks during business hours, the market begins to tank. Obama is like the William H. Macy character in the movie “The Cooler”,  the guy employed by the Vegas casino because he brings such bad luck to other gamblers. The fact of the matter is that, no matter how hard Obama attempts to appease them, the business community flat-out dislikes him, doesn’t trust him, and can’t wait for him to go away. 

Today’s speech was about as inspiring as plate full of  fermented trout, but it’s not to late. The tycoon community will never look to Obama for leadership, but the rest of the country is. Obama needs to double down, forget all about those phony “green jobs” he’s always braying about, come up with a grand plan to save the economy, and put it all on the line. I personally believe that at this point he has nothing to lose. The plan should include another stimulus of government spending, but this time the money goes to the people, not the banks. Remember all those “shovel-ready” projects that were going to provide opportunity for blue collar guys? They disappeared faster than Bush’s WMD’s. But with another infusion of fed cash, we could re-animate all those infrastructure projects the President talked about so many moons ago. This country’s collective transportation infrastructure is pure crap, with roads, streets, dams, harbors, and bridges in worse shape than most of us can remember. And it wouldn’t be just construction workers back on the tax rolls, it’s also engineers, and concrete men, and lumber men, and the guy who drives the taco truck to the construction site. And who knows, if these people had a little coin in their pockets, maybe even the aisles at Best Buy, or Gap, or Sears wouldn’t be so empty and desolate.

Now I know what you’re thinking, that a tea party controlled congress would never go along with another stimulus bill, especially one that would likely require new taxes. Well, fuck ‘em. With less than 60% of Americans under the age of 65 gainfully employed, with the stock market in free-fall, with the housing market in the toilet, and with Main Street in a state of disrepair, what the hell is Rand Paul gonna say, let’s not kick the can down the road? Well, the cans have all been scavenged from the dumpster and the road is so full of pot holes that the can wouldn’t get very far anyway.

Of course Congress would dig its heels in and fight Obama at every level. And it’s a fight he might likely lose. But, frankly, like the guy in “The Cooler”, it might be the President’s last chance at the craps table. And it might also be the last chance for the American middle class.

Anyone happen to catch this news blurb today, buried in the back of the newspaper? If not, here’s the gist of it: newly minted Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is belly-aching about any possible defense cuts that might come from that bullshit “Super Congress Committee”.

“When you look at national security, I think you have to look at the broader context. It’s not just dependent on the defense budget. It is also dependent on the quality of life in this country.”

Wtf? I honestly have no idea what that means or why it’s relevant to potential defense budget cuts, but it’s clear that this administration is talking out of both sides of its mouth. In case you missed the details, the 8 (4 Repugs and 4 Dims) member “super congress” will attempt to reach a compromise as to where to trim another $trillion or so from the fed budget. If they can’t agree, and they won’t (this thing was set up to fail), then $500 billion will automatically be cut from defense. Panetta actually refers to this as the “doomsday mechanism”. Keep in mind, this is $500 billion over ten years, not next year. To put that number in perspective, our ill-conceived wars in the middle east have cost $3.7 trillion over the past decade. So in other words, if the U.S. were to continue its war mongering for another decade, and the defense cuts were automatically triggered, we’d have to do it on a mere $3.2 trillion.

I’ve long suspected that, for whatever reason, the President Obama is just as gung-ho on national security as that douchbag Bush, just without all the strutting  bravado. His perpetuation of Bush’s policies and priorities has been sickening. Gitmo is still open, we still practise “rendition” to more easily torture our captives, and drones are still dropping bombs on Afghan wedding parties. Same ol’ same old. What’s new is that Obama managed to recklessly open up a new front in the “war on terror”, Libya. There’s been some muttering from the left about this trend, but it hasn’t amounted to much. Case in point is the left’s selective myopia concerning David Petraeus, Obama’s selection to head the CIA. Under Bush, Patraeus was a war-mongering scourge, a pariah. Under Obama midas touch, he’s a hero and a statesman.

At the end of the proverbial day,  Panetta and the Joint Chiefs will get their way. The Administration, now allied with the chicken hawks on the right, will insure that the great sacred cow “national security” will continue to suck up our national treasure and the middle class will continue to suck hind tit.

In response to the Ed Schultz/Laura Ingraham “misogyny” flap:

Good thing the righties are above making “mysogynist” comments.

Remember the good ol’ days of the Bush administration, especially in the immediate wake of 9-11, when it was considered border-line treasonous to second guess W’s tragic foreign policy blunders? Criticizing Bush was tantamount to siding with bin Laden, according to the barking jackels on the right, but,  needless to say, things have changed mightily now that Obama is the Commander-in-Chief. Witness last week’s barage of criticism following Obama’s Middle East speech. Mitt “Empty Suit” Romney was outraged that the President had “thrown Israel under the bus“, while fuck-wit Newt Gingrich called it “the most dangerous speech ever made by an American president for the survival of Israel.” Not to be out-dumbed by the likes of Romney and Gingrich, teabagger wet dream Michelle Bachman chimed in with “Today President Barack Obama has again indicated that his policy towards Israel is to blame Israel first.”

The premise for all the Obama bashing was his reference to “pre-1967 boundaries” as a starting point for any Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts, but ultimately anything Obama said would have unleashed the snarling jackels in their partisan-driven crusade to make the President appear to be a anti-colonialist Nigerian in his world view.

The same crowd naturally had no problem with Israeli Prime Minister Netenyahu’s dismissal of Obama’s plan. In fact they seem to relish the idea that “Bibi” sternly lectured the naive Obama. Last week I listened to a radio show  hosted by a salivating bloviator named “Schnitt” who was practically peeing down his leg at the prospect of Netanyahu “schooling” Obama. In fact, “Schnitt” continuously played a cutesy little sound bite called “screw the Jew” in reference to Obama’s policy iniative. It was but one of many examples of the Repub media echo machine straining to portray Obama as a terrorist-loving anti-semite.

And the jackels could barely contained themselves again when the great Netanyahu appeared before Congress this week to reiterate his rejection of Obama’s framework. Of course there was nary a mention in any of this about Netanyahu’s own little surprise that he dropped on Obama’s lap before his meeting with the Prez: that before boarding the plane to Washington, Bibi signed off on another 1500 “settler’s homes” in East Jerusalem, continuing a policy that the U.S. formally opposes of re-populating the occupied territories with Israeli homesteaders. And there was nary a mention of the $3 billion that  American taxpayers kick in each year to keep the Israeli war machine running smoothly. And here’s the really sad thing: the gutless congressional Democrats have now joined forces with the Repugs in denouncing Obama and embracing Netanyahu.

There was once a quaint little expression, “divided loyalties”, that was used to account for Jewish- Americans who would often side with Israel, even if at the expense of their own country. But the pro-Israeli chest thumping that’s taken place in the past week has not been generated by American Jews; it’s been generated by right-wing conservatives and Republican presidential wannabees. And it appears their loyalities are not in the slighest bit “divided”. This bunch can now rightly be called “Israel first” .

Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth, or so goes the adage. And in our dumbed-down society, the lie need not be repeated even that often. Case in point: if we’re really serious about deficit reduction, we have to have to begin with serious cuts to Social Security and Medicare. I’ve heard this lie come from the mouths of everyone from Alan Simpson, of Obama’s National Commision on Fiscal Responsibility, to HBO’s Bill Maher.

The new “truth” is that Social Security benefits are gobbling up the U.S. economy. The real truth is, they’re not. In 2035, when the so-called baby boomers are all comfortably in retirement, benefits will peak at about 6.2% of GDP. They currently represent about 5% of GDP. In raw numbers, according to last year’s trustee’s report, Social Security will be running a $3.8 trillion surplus by 2020, a surplus that has been accumulating since the implementation of reform in 1983, reforms that included boosting the retirement age from 65 to 67, a gradual cut in benefits, and a significant hike in payroll taxes. And any potential solvency issue could be eliminated by removing the cap (currently $106,800) on maximum annual earnings taxed for Social Security.

Ok, I admit it, Social Security is boring. Unless, that is, you’re depending upon it to pay the rent. What’s sexy and never boring is war. Take the 3 biggest wars we’re currently engaged in (excluding the non-war, bull-shit exercise in Libya): Iraq and Afghanistan alone are costing $150 billion this year alone. Still looking for a place to find some room for budget cuts? My favorite: the War on Drugs! This exercise in futility costs the U.S. federal government $15 billion annually, while costing the states another $25 billion. Thank god it’s working! It is working, isn’t it? Isn’t it???

But going after this money would take real guts, not Mitch McConnell guts. Far easier to attack the public employee unions and AARP. Let’s have that long awaited “adult conversation” about entitlement programs. And this time, let’s tell the truth.

A free-ranging discussion on the current and future state of music radio, featuring veteran programmer, Mike Halloran. Click above to play.