22 | March | 2011 | Existential Ennui

Tags

education, GOP, middle class, poor, Recipes, religious rightwing, rich robber barons, Stupid America, tex-mex meets China, working class

The religious right-wing nuttery learned that if they put their agenda out front, it was soundly rejected. So they went stealth. They ~~infiltrated~~ got elected to public office in statewide and local jurisdictions, never letting out a peep of what their agenda was.

Once on school boards and in state legislatures, they began pushing their fundamentalist-based principles into our school curriculums and city ordinances.

Karl Rove (Turd Blossom) was pretty darn up front about his desire to turn America into one gigantic GOP juggernaut. That failed to.

It is now quite clear that the GOP, too, has played the magician. While keeping us distracted with the usual dog and pony show of Palin/Bachmann/Limbaugh/Beck/Hannity/Gingrich/DeMint/Huckabee/King circus act, why they went out and got themselves installed in state legislatures and governorships all around the land.

While bowing to the “teabagger” agenda of cutting all them “freeloader” programs such as Head Start and food stamps, and introducing all that right-wing “freedom” to worship and live as you wish as long as it’s “Christian” and between a man and a woman, the really ugly work is being done quietly but efficiently by true blue GOPers.

And what does that entail you ask? Nothing less than the utter reduction to slavery of the poor and working poor, the elimination of the middle class and their endless liberal leanings, and the support and coddling of the rich and wealthy.

In state after state, Repulsigans are systematically lowering taxes for the rich, cutting programs for the poor, and increasing taxes on the working and middle classes.

These immoral hard to call them humans, really believe the bastardization of Darwin’s survival of the fittest, as translated in the 19th century to mean, the worthy rise and become wealthy and powerful, and those doomed to be the rightful underclass, well, they are naturally where they are supposed to be. Married to an interpretation of the bible that then instructs the slave to be obedient, we have voila´, the natural order of things. Now that is some science and bible interpretation going hand in hand if you ever saw it!

Crooks and Liars, building upon Rachel Maddow’s show, which is embedded, shows how the GOP has lackeyed for the uber rich again, following their successes in the 2010 election. Armed with majorities and control in most legislatures, they are busy as bees. Featured are twelve states and the actions being taken to accomplish this fiendish agenda. If your state is listed, well you know what you need to do.

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Stoopid is as Stoopid does. That’s a saying I guess that makes some sense, but sounds more so than it actually is. And stoopid, as we’ve pointed out innumerable times, is what the American public is, by and large. Another of those polls, this time by Newsweek, proves again that the average American is amazing for its ability to walk and talk and maybe even chew gum, all the while knowing almost nothing about the world she or he lives in.

One of the things in this country that is apparently sacrosanct is the educational system. We have always, as far as I know, educated our kids based on localized school boards, supplemented marginally in many cases by a few scattered state laws. Shockingly, we learned that in some states, homeschooling is completely unregulated for instance, meaning a parent who has an IQ of dirt can “teach” their own child, and get them a bona fide “graduation” certificate.

Meanwhile, GOPers/religious fanatics around the country are forcing “balanced” teaching of creationism and intelligent design into science curriculums, revisionist history downplaying racism, American imperialism, and other “embarrassments”.

Is it time to have a serious discussion about how we teach our children? I certainly think so. I think we have to conclude that what may have once worked, no longer does. Our educational system is a failure today for most students, leaving them ill-equipped in the world they are entering, a world that requires some reasoned sophistication about the global issues that now intertwine with America. Our colleges and universities are having to spend nearly the first full year in some cases, just shoring up their freshman on the basics. My god, this was true when I went to college in the 70’s!

Weigh in and tell us what you think.

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What’s on the stove? Wanton pulled pork. What’z dat? Take your basic pork butt, slap some barbecue seasoning on it, lock it in a secure house, bake it at 325° until you can fork break it up into shreds. (3 hours or more) Leave it in its juices, add some of your favor-ITE barbecue sauce. Make a batch of coleslaw, a bit on the sweet side. Take some wonton wrappers, deep fry them, pressing with a spoon to make a depression, fry until crispy, drain…fill up with the pork and top with the coleslaw.. eat until you can’t walk.