"Why Mockingbirds and Sacred Cows?" you ask. That's easy. In my favorite novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee dared to challenge the sacred cows of 20th Century America, many of which still wander the pastures of our minds befouling our political discourse and bulldozing our societal maturation.
Besides, I firmly believe that a generous helping of roast sacred cow, well-done, is the best response to the question, "Where's the beef?"
This cartoon appeared on the editorial page of the March 26 Columbus Dispatch.
In response, I sent the following letter to the editor.
Editor,
I strongly object to Jeff Stahler's editorial cartoon which appeared in the March 26 Dispatch. It shows a rock labeled "CHANGE" lying on the floor of the Oval Office, a broken window through which it had been thrown, and a man telling President Obama, "Another message for you, sir."
With this cartoon, Mr. Stahler, who also draws the "Moderately Confused" panel which appears on the comics page, has shown that he is quite a bit more than moderately confused.
The call for change in America is coming from the political left. The rocks, bricks, and other items which have been thrown through windows since the passage of health care reform legislation have come exclusively from members of the political right. Their representatives have voted 100% against change, and they have been inciting and endorsing violence since last August and then disingenuously denying any responsibility when it occurs.
By running this cartoon, you have cast your lot with a group of bullies who are very good at spreading misinformation and quite willing to abandon the rule of law whenever they don't get their way.
Shame on you.
George A. Denino
I'm not expecting my letter to be published. After all, the editorial board of the Dispatch dances to the tune played by the Ohio Republican party bosses.
Compare the shallow and misleading Stahler cartoon with the same day's insightful and factually accurate effort from Stuart Carlson.
Truth be told, I have found it almost impossible to find words which adequately express my revulsion at seeing the members of the once-proud Party of Lincoln beat the drum of simplistic populism in an odious attempt to destroy the presidency of Barack Obama through a campaign of thinly-veiled bigotry parading as patriotism.
But the passage of health care reform legislation suggests that the use of such tactics offers no guarantee of either political or popular success.
To be sure, the legislation is imperfect, and the process was messy. However, that is a testament to the strength, not the weakness, of a country whose population is so diverse as to merit being called The Melting Pot.
Americans may be dumb, but they're not stupid. Like all humans, they want the assurance of permanent ease promised in the simplistic myths spun by their self-serving leaders. Eventually, however, they recognize that the path to truth and genuine freedom demands not their blind adherence to the norms of the past but a leap of faith to the promise of a better though uncertain future.
Those who have learned this lesson are speaking out on behalf of that promise, and their voices offer a clear, eloquent, and intelligent contrast to the words of derision and divisiveness embraced by the fear and hate-mongers of the radical right.
Frank Luntz - conservative political consultant and pollster
Much as he did to help the "Party of No" fight health care reform, Republican strategist Frank Luntz has penned a memo outlining a strategy to defeat the financial reform efforts of the Obama administration.
Say that the proposed legislation is not reform, but that it is a bailout for big banks and lobbyists which you oppose.
Framing positive legislation as a negative in this way allows those who oppose reform to gain the unwitting support of the people who most desire it.
As the self-proclaimed opponents of big government, Republicans are both in fact and in deed the embodiment of George Orwell's Big Brother. Following Luntz's advice, they worked tirelessly to convince the American people that health care reform was socialism and to sidetrack meaningful debate on the issue by encouraging tirades by teabaggers against "death panels," rationing, and coverage for undocumented immigrants, none of which are in the proposed legislation.
Republicans do this in an attempt to regain political power, which they have openly stated they would use to reinstitute the failed and pernicious policies of the previous administration. Those policies turned surplus into debt, patriotism into profiteering, and international good will into an excuse for launching an unnecessary war. All this and more the Republicans did while claiming to be morally and patriotically superior to those who attempted to speak truth to their lies.
Big Brother cannot survive where lies can be openly refuted by an educated populace. Thus it becomes necessary for the GOP to foster ignorance and to attack educated opponents as subversive, arrogant elitists who are out of touch with "the real world." Of course, it is nearly impossible for any political party to implement such an ambitious and malevolent agenda without help from the media.
Enter FOX News, the GOP's partner in fostering and promoting the dumbing down of America.
FOX airs a steady diet of the same verbal subterfuge outlined by Luntz round-the-clock and calls it journalism.
On January 29, President Obama spoke and then answered questions at the House Republicans Caucus in Baltimore. During the question and answer session, FOX cut away from the live coverage when it became apparent that the President was delivering an ass-whuppin' to 140 sound-bite spouting legislators playing fast and loose with the facts. This allowed the FOX "reporters" to spin the story into one more in keeping with the network's ideologically driven agenda.
To emphasize that point, it is worth noting that after the question and answer session ended, FOX went live to broadcast the entire Republican response without interruption. So much for "fair and balanced" news.
"WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH."
Long live Big Brother!
That's the bad news.
But there's good news as well.
For more than a decade, the constant barrage of misleading statements and outright lies made by Big Brother through his Ministry of Truth went unchallenged. Today, folks appear to be realizing how they were duped, and moderates like Jerry Remmers are speaking out against such duplicity in articles like this: An Easy Expose of GOP Strategy
George Orwell would be happy. After all, his purpose in writing "Nineteen Eighty-Four" was to warn us about men like Frank Luntz, not to praise them.
On the day after President Obama's first State of the Union address, I offer you two assessments of the content and importance of his speech, both of which I received in email messages from friends.
The speech was aimed not only at Americans who are concerned about what appears to be an unraveling of the fabric of our national unity but also at those who sat on their hands and appeared to be completely unconcerned about anything beyond their personal political fortunes.
Disclaimer: Both of these articles contain rough and possibly offensive language.
That having been said, I believe they are incisive, accurate, and well worth reading.
You don't do what he did unless you know — calling out not only the political opposition for its opportunistic nihilism, and not only the United States Senate for its structural inertia and for the remarkable number of venal gobshites among its membership, but the Supreme Goddamn Court of the United States, sitting right there in front of him, for handing down a recent decision that guarantees that every election for the foreseeable future will have all the essential integrity and nobility of a Moroccan bazaar. You don't do that, getting Justice Sam Alito mumbling under his breath like a drunk on a subway, unless you know you're the only president in the room.
As a former English teacher, I feel compelled to point out that this article contains a significant number of grammatical and spelling errors. Nevertheless, the writer has, in my opinion, captured the essence of the President's message to America.
There's no teaser. You'll just have to read the whole thing.
Today's Doonesbury is a perfect metaphor for the cluelessness of the American mass media, which finds it more profitable to report on superficiality rather than substance and to draw conclusion based on ideology instead of facts.
Oh, and if you don't understand how this cartoon inspired my commentary, you are part of the problem.
I just got this from a friend and had to share it.
Talk about an appropriate response to Pat Robertson's asinine remarks!
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This hilarious letter to the editor, written by Lily Coyle of Minneapolis, appeared recently in the Minnesota Star-Tribune:
Dear Pat Robertson, I know that you know that all press is good press, so I appreciate the shout-out. And you make God look like a big mean bully who kicks people when they are down, so I'm all over that action. But when you say that Haiti has made a pact with me, it is totally humiliating. I may be evil incarnate, but I'm no welcher. The way you put it, making a deal with me leaves folks desperate and impoverished. Sure, in the afterlife, but when I strike bargains with people, they first get something here on earth — glamour, beauty, talent, wealth, fame, glory, a golden fiddle. Those Haitians have nothing, and I mean nothing. And that was before the earthquake.
Haven't you seen "Crossroads"? Or "Damn Yankees"? If I had a thing going with Haiti, there'd be lots of banks, skyscrapers, SUVs, exclusive night clubs, Botox — that kind of thing. An 80 percent poverty rate is so not my style. Nothing against it — I'm just saying: Not how I roll. You're doing great work, Pat, and I don't want to clip your wings — just, come on, you're making me look bad. And not the good kind of bad. Keep blaming God. That's working. But leave me out of it, please. Or we may need to renegotiate your own contract.
