Fruit Loops
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Much like the lie-laden GOP rebuttal to the President’s State of the Union address, fruity cereals are artificially flavored and colored, and not very good for you. Not that the True Believers who bought Mitch Daniels’ rebuttal hook, line, and sinker would know that. Surprisingly, it’s not just lack of information that leads to arch conservatism – it’s also due to plain old stupidity. According to a recent study, a low IQ tends to make people follow conservative ideologies, fear change, and support draconian (go ahead, go look that one up - we’ll wait…) laws, policies regarding behavior, and punishments for breaking the law. Who’d a thunk it?
This explains, of course, the fact that only 17% of Fox viewers went to college, and how successfully the GOP candidates can use outright lies to keep their base spun up. Of course, they need outright lies, because the truth undermines their candidates. The economy is getting better. The bail-out of the automotive industry did save hundreds of thousands of jobs and prevented financial ruin. Green energy and rebuilding our infrastructure would generate jobs and stimulate the economy, and the GOP is blocking any forward movement on a jobs bill. The 1% are continuing to ship jobs overseas rather than hire Americans, and oh that’s right – Osama bin Laden is still dead. The list goes on and on.
Of course, the SOTU did have a few holes in it, and we enumerate them in today’s show. It also included misguided support for fracking, a practice that’s already ruining the drinking water for thousands (soon to become millions) of people, livestock, and wildlife living within the Marcellus Shale. So over here on the left, where we may have some bizarre ideas (take care of the poor, support the middle class, stop bombing other countries, don’t deny people the right to vote, take care of the environment), we are completely capable of finding and pointing out fault in our leaders – even the ones we voted for.
Speaking of voting, we hope the residents of Massachusetts will give Elizabeth Warren their votes, and get rid of Scott “Centerfold” Brown. Her 30-second smack-down (see today’s links) of Mittens Romney is proof enough of her wisdom and willingness to call a spade a bloody shovel. Of course, it’s been a while since intelligence and directness were respected traits in this country. We now worship wealth and celebrity, elevating Kardashians, former Playboy Bunnies and reality show “stars,” toddlers in beauty pageants, and illiterate alcoholics from New Jersey to the pedestals we used to reserve for true geniuses and real heroes. We lionize a corporation that needs to install netting to catch the bodies of suicidal employees (we’re talkin’ ’bout YOU, Apple!) and racist wingnuts cheer when an ignorant hag waves her bony finger in the President’s face, in an unforgivable public show of disrepect for that office.
The left may have thought Bush was an actual moron, and we may have expressed real outrage for his policies and lies, but none of our Congresspeople ever yelled “You lie!” during a Presidential address. We, unlike the rabble on the right, know how to sit quietly and behave when tradition and decency require it. We also had enough ammo to oppose Bush based on the real things he did and said, and didn’t have to make things up (we’re talkin’ ’bout YOU, Mittens!) to invent an opponent one could successfully oppose.
Progressives may also smoke more pot, but according to another study (as you’ll discover in the Lunatic Fringe segment), this is far less dangerous for everyone than drinking. Humans need an escape, they need to zone out – now more than ever. The pharmaceutical companies don’t want weed to be legal, because that’d cut into their sales of antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs. The government wants to keep it illegal so the for-profit prisons can keep their populations high (so to speak) and we can continue to incarcerate 10% of our population, most of which is poor. It’s also easier to demonize a plant that anyone can grow and profit from and to turn the growers into criminals than it is to get eliminate the reasons people are so damn stressed out in the first place.
So, with or without some herbal relaxation, go have a bowl of Fruit Loops and enjoy this week’s links:
Study Links Low IQ and Conservative Ideology
Unite Against Citizen’s United
9 Crucially Important Issues Obama Ignored in the SOTU
Mitch Daniels’ ReBUTTal to the SOTU
Apple Driving Workers to Mass Suicide?
Mittens’ Blind Trust Not so Blind
Could be a Bad Day for the Boehner
5 Reasons to Get Stoned Instead of Drunk
