The Writing on the Wall

I can't decide which is more predictable and frustrating:  Buzz Kill's Bull Shit or watching half of the US population blame the other half for our current governmental woes as we continue to play out Jay Gould's boast that he could hire one half the working class to kill off the other half.

What I really don't understand is how so many entrenched Democrats can be howling and pointing at the Republicans when it's been clear for decades that rich white guys, aka Businessmen and women, were taking all the money with systematic determination and without regard for anyone but their own selves.  And they are so focused on the money that I'm not sure you can even say they care about their own selves unless they like the idea of living in underground bunkers.
Actually, they might like that whole cold war concept.

Woody occasionally points to this document, the Powell Manifesto, to illustrate just how thoroughly rich white guys implemented their ideas.  An introduction to the Manifesto explains:

In 1971, Lewis Powell, then a corporate lawyer and member of the boards of 11 corporations, wrote a memo to his friend Eugene Sydnor, Jr., the Director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The memorandum was dated August 23, 1971, two months prior to Powell’s nomination by President Nixon to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Powell Memo did not become available to the public until long after his confirmation to the Court. It was leaked to Jack Anderson, a liberal syndicated columnist, who stirred interest in the document when he cited it as reason to doubt Powell’s legal objectivity. Anderson cautioned that Powell “might use his position on the Supreme Court to put his ideas into practice…in behalf of business interests.”
Though Powell’s memo was not the sole influence, the Chamber and corporate activists took his advice to heart and began building a powerful array of institutions designed to shift public attitudes and beliefs over the course of years and decades. The memo influenced or inspired the creation of the Heritage Foundation, the Manhattan Institute, the Cato Institute, Citizens for a Sound Economy, Accuracy in Academe, and other powerful organizations. Their long-term focus began paying off handsomely in the 1980s, in coordination with the Reagan Administration’s “hands-off business” philosophy (http://reclaimdemocracy.org/powell_memo_lewis/).

About the same time as Powell was confirmed for the Supreme Court, George Carlin was perfecting his  Seven Dirty Words routine,  CBS cancelled The Smothers Brothers' Comedy Hour, and Tom Lehrer's That Was the Year that Was had already been out for years.  So what I really don't understand is how anyone can continue to think that our elected officials are doing anything besides sucking corporate dick while they're filling their own bank accounts when you don't even have to read tedious historical documents like The Powell Manifesto.  All anyone has ever had to do is pay attention to George Carlin, who performed his classic bit on the American Dream on HBO back in 2005.



Yet people who have seen The American Dream clip over and over continue to blame Republicans and  praise Obama and the Democrats.  It's all so stupid, so frustrating and so annoying that I can hardly stand to turn on the computer to see the headlines - much less the blatherings on Facebook.

Meanwhile, Buzz Kill and I are performing the same old dysfunctional dance around money that eventually resulted in our divorce.   The number of times we'll have to repeat this routine is limited, however, because sooner or later, Velvet will get a job and move into his own place.  Buzz Kill's bullshit might continue for years and years, but at least I won't be involved.

Life with Buzz Kill has been easier ever since that day he was getting in my face telling me to shut up and go to work and I said he was a big, fat Israeli Bulldozer and I was not his Palestinian anymore.

It would be great if American workers would say the same thing about this fucked up system and go on a general strike or something instead of bending over and taking that Red, White and Blue dick up the ass.