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DIG DIRECTOR
Gore Vidal is an internationally acclaimed novelist, essayist, playwright and screenwriter whose historical fiction and collected criticisms have garnered him the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award, among others. An outspoken political activist, he ran for the U.S. House in New York in 1960 and in the 1982 senatorial primary.
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President Jonah, Meet Oliver Cromwell!A Dig led by Gore Vidal
Today, as I sit, like so many Californians, at the heart of what seems to be a vast burning bush, I realize that Jehovah’s jinx of the weirdest American president is as operative in this lowering pre-Halloween season as it was last February when, guided by Scripture, I posted here on the Internet the bad news that our nominal president was seriously jinxed by an unrelenting deity who, from his throne of fire, now blows fiercely upon the west coast of the United States, spreading from San Diego to Malibu to Lake Arrowhead. Lucifer’s finest new-minted flames, a reminder to us, President Jonah’s Supreme Court-appointed subjects, that our ruler is triply cursed for his disobedience to obey his Lord not only long ago at Nineveh, but lately compounded by his inability to destroy all of Baghdad, a city hailed in that magical musical comedy, “Kismet,” by a song entitled “Never underestimate Baghdad.” But a jinxed president’s estimate is bound to be fatally wrong even in the eyes of his creator.
While contemplating the ill-starred presidency of G.W. Bush, I looked about for some sort of divine analogy. As usual, when in need of enlightenment, I fell upon the Holy Bible, authorized King James version of 1611; turning by chance to the Book of Jonah, I read that Jonah, who, like Bush, chats with God, had suffered a falling out with the Almighty and thus became himself a jinx dogged by luck so bad that when a Stone Age cruise liner, thanks to his presence aboard, was about to sink in a storm at sea, the crew for safety’s sake threw him overboard and—Lo!—the storm abated. The three days and nights he subsequently spent in the belly of a nauseous whale must have seemed like a serious jinx to the digestion-challenged mammal who extruded him much as the decent opinion of mankind has done to Bush.
Originally, God wanted Jonah to give hell to Nineveh, whose people, God noted disdainfully, “cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand,” (rather like the people of Baghdad who still cannot fathom what democracy has to do with their destruction at the hands of the Cheney-Bush cabal). But the analogy becomes even more precise when it comes to the plague of hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico that led to the Curse of Katrina upon a plainly incompetent president, as well as one who has been plainly jinxed by whatever faith he cringes before. Witness the ongoing screw-up of, say, prescription drugs, and the revival of an ancient race war in Louisiana. Who knows what further disasters are in store for us thanks to the curse Jonah is under? As the sailors fed the original Jonah to a whale, thus lifting the storm that was about to drown them, perhaps we the people can persuade President Jonah to retire to his other Eden in Crawford, Texas, taking his jinx with him. We deserve a rest. Plainly, so does he. Look at Nixon’s radiant features after his resignation! One can see former President Jonah in his sumptuous presidential library happily catering to faith-based fans with animated scriptures rooted in “The Pet Goat.” Not since the glory days of Watergate and Nixon’s Luciferian fall has there been so much written about the dogged deceits and creative criminalities of our rulers. We have also come to a point in this dark age where there is not only no hero in view but no alternative road unblocked. We are trapped terribly in a now that few foresaw and even fewer can define despite a swarm of books and pamphlets like the vast cloud of locusts which dined on China in that ‘30s movie ”The Good Earth.” As I mentioned last February, I have read many of these descriptions of our fallen estate, looking for one that best describes in plain English how we got to this now and where we appear to be headed once our good Earth has been consumed by fire and only Rapture is left to whisk aloft the Faithful. Meanwhile, the rest of us can learn quite a lot from ”Dark Ages America: The Final Phase of Empire” by Morris Berman, a professor of sociology at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. I must confess that I have a proprietary interest in anyone who refers to the United States as an empire since I am credited with first putting forward this heretical view in the early ‘70s. In fact, so disgusted with me was a book reviewer at Time magazine who, as proof of my madness, wrote: “He actually refers to the United States as an empire!” It should be noted that at about the same time Henry Luce, proprietor of Time, was booming on and on about ”The American Century.” What a difference a word makes! Berman sets his scene briskly in recent history. “We were already in our twilight phase when Ronald Reagan, with all the insight of an ostrich, declared it to be ‘morning in America’; twenty-odd years later, under the ‘boy emperor’ George W. Bush (as Chalmers Johnson refers to him), we have entered the Dark Ages in earnest, pursuing a short-sighted path that can only accelerate our decline. For what we are now seeing are the obvious characteristics of the West after the fall of Rome: the triumph of religion over reason; the atrophy of education and critical thinking; the integration of religion, the state, and the apparatus of torture—a troika that was for Voltaire the central horror of the pre-Enlightenment world; as well as, today, the political and economic marginalization of our culture.... The British historian Charles Freeman published an extended discussion of the transition that took place during the late Roman empire, the title of which could serve as a capsule summary of our current rulers: ”The Closing of the Western Mind.” Mr. Bush, as God knows best, is no Augustine; but Freeman points to the latter as the epitome of a more general process that was underway in the fourth century: namely, ‘the gradual subjection of reason to faith and authority.’ This is what we are seeing today, and it is a process that no society can undergo and still remain free. Yet it is a process of which administration officials, along with much of the American population, are aggressively proud.” In fact, close observers of this odd presidency note that Bush, like his evangelical base, believes he is on a mission from God and that faith trumps empirical evidence. Berman quotes a senior White House adviser who disdains what he calls the “reality-based” community, to which Berman sensibly responds: “If a nation is unable to perceive reality correctly, and persists in operating on the basis of faith-based delusions, its ability to hold its own in the world is pretty much foreclosed.”
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By John Hanks, May 1 at 6:04 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
I found it!
The secrets of the religionists are out. God (whatever) is what Freud called “oceanic feelings” and they can be found in the upper right hand part of the brain. Since these feelings have a biological source they probably have some survival use - perhaps they serve for necessary illusions under great stress. Theology is not God (whatever). It is an attempt to explain to ignorant people the nature of the unknowable. It is a medicine show con job that finally becomes believable over time. The Oceanic feelings are the emotional root for the stories that make up all the cults and religions. It is important to separate the too. Most people who are against organized religion understand this, but they may not extend it to such theologies as nationalism, etc.
Reply to this | Report thisBy anti-propoganda machine, April 30 at 5:41 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
having read through a lot of gore vidal’s work, i can’t say that this is any less true, it seems so odd that we afford religion such protection when there is no real reason to. I mean really, think about it. If someone has an idea in any category but religion (that you disagree with), it is socially acceptable to act intolerant of it. The attitude may not be considered intolerance, but really, that’s what it is. We afford religion respect and protection for no real reason. If a child in a conservative neighborhood has his house vandalized for his political affiliation, the house is expected to shrug it off, or go after them for vandalism. In a religous setting, the same act is considered a hate crime, and is thought of as being much more serious.
Reply to this | Report thisBy John Hanks, April 20 at 8:50 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
If crooked Jews...
were like crooked Catholics, they would take over our media, finances, and government and pour our money and youth into wars for the Vatican.
I would guess that 60 percent of American Jews are moderate to liberal, and they are completely conned by the right-wing Israel nightmare. It is OK to criticize anything except Judaism and Israel.
Reply to this | Report thisBy hollyse, April 20 at 1:24 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
The fruits of Bush’s efforts, you say, but not yet felt, will surely sink home? Soooooo true and that home is the USA.
Reply to this | Report thisBy Richard Brescia, April 17 at 12:25 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Some on needs to read the 1st amendemnt
“The original amendment to the Constitution is the cornerstone of the way of life in the United States, promising citizens the freedoms of religion, speech, press and assembly.” That is taken from survey of student ignorance about the 1 st Amendment. The quote omits the right to petition government. Vidal made reference to the story.
Reply to this | Report thisBy Gabir, April 14 at 8:40 pm #
(84 comments total)
To John Hanks - Unregistered Commenter
After reading ALL your “posts” , it is painfully obvious that you are a very angry , blindly biased , attention starved , socially ignorant and possibly violent individual . What do you do for a living ? The State of Texas is always in need of executioners in their state Pens - you would make a great recruit and surely would be able to reduce your high anxiety and frustration in that line of work .
Reply to this | Hide 1 reply | Report thisBy John Hanks, April 14 at 9:19 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Re: Gabir.
“Like a good for nothing cock, without having won the victory, some walk away from an argument and crow.” I would guess that you are about 14 years old.
Reply to this | Report thisBy John Hanks, April 14 at 6:43 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
Nice Smear Gabir...
Is that all you can do?
Reply to this | Report thisBy Gabir, April 12 at 11:40 pm #
(84 comments total)
3 Days in Bore Vidal's Stomach
I suggest that Bush be sentenced to three days in Mr. Vidal’s stomach . He would probably emerge deaf , dumb and blind - which will hopefully be the fate of Mr. Vidal sometime in the near future . Ashes to Ashes , Dust to Dust .
Reply to this | Report thisBy Tom Doff, April 10 at 9:31 am #
(52 comments total)
I much admire Mr. Vidal, but I believe this analogy is incorrect.
After all, wasn’t it Bill Clinton, not George Bush, who was swallowed by a whale?
Reply to this | Report thisBy Tom Schultz, March 20 at 6:51 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
US as Empire
AS usual, Mr. Vidal, your commentary is learned and spot on. However, as to your being the first . . .
Reply to this | Hide 1 reply | Report thisI haven’t the exact date of publication at the moment, but the Irish-American author Finley Peter Dunne, in the guise of Mr. Dooley referred to the US as “this Imperial Raypublic” on numerous occasions, around the time of the Spanish-American War, when referring to the shenanigans of “me frind McKinley.”
By John Hanks, March 20 at 2:04 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Re: US as Empire
Thanks for reminding me about Mr. Dooley. The Imperial Raypublic has been a continuing nightmare throughout our rap sheet. Those who don’t know history are likely to think it was admirable.
Reply to this | Report thisBy John Hanks, March 13 at 11:54 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
Our constitution and political system are just a
Almost everything that is deemed sacred is a con job. All of our institutions have degraded, poisoned and ripped us off. Bush and Co. are just the latest incarnation of the hideous termites that have directed this country for years. With the media they play us like a piano. They can always send us where they want by changing the subject. In Naziland the screaming never stops. The worst thing you can do is to act as if they deserve any respect.
Reply to this | Report thisBy Purple Girl, March 5 at 5:33 pm #
(193 comments total)
Bravo! but the opera is still playing out.
Poor George he is truely cursed and has allowed himself to be used like a mere pawn in the game designed by Cheney and Sponsors.
Reply to this | Report thisIf Poor George really had a clue- he’d sing a little song for All of US, before he rides off in the sunset. In fact that is the only way he will ever get the chance to do so. George is an ignorant fool, who has placed US in harms way through his mindless self indulgence.
Let US not be distracted by the Court Jester, the Village idiot, while the real culprits slip away again. Cheney is really only a mere ‘moral’, he has such weaknesses. What we fight is an Entity. A mass conglomerate brokering in necessary Natural Resources and human trafficking past,present and futures. Bush & Cheney et al have not been their first minions, nor will they be their last.
Even as an Atheist I see the Four Horsemen have long since arrived, the crescendo to their Masterpiece may not have been achieved just yet.
We have been enslaved by Religious leaders- Then We were given the words and the ability to read the Word
WE have been ruled by corrupt ‘Public Officials"- So we developed a Constitution of Laws and Principles
WE have been betrayed by the Corporations our ancestors built with their blood sweat and tears- now we think of the Global Market
We have caught ourselves in the reflection of the mas Media- and have shuttered at the sight and have joined the WWW instead.
Brick & mortar- only powerful if we deem them so, only wealthy if we see their paper or gold as valueable.
these entities have committed the most heinous of crimes against God,Nature and mankind.
By Me, March 5 at 4:17 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
Freedom sometime
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index. php?id=11015
------------------------
March 2nd, 2008 11:46 am
Indictment proposal gets hearing
By Susan Smallheer / Rutland Herald
BRATTLEBORO, VT – Vermonters have long taken stands on the big issues of the day at town meeting.
Back in 1854, the issue was slavery. Several towns passed resolutions condemning the pending federal Kansas-Nebraska legislation that would have allowed the new states to sanction slavery, according to State Archivist Gregory Sanford.
In 1974, the town of Thetford voted to impeach then-President Richard Nixon, who went on to resign later that year.
Eight years later, 150 Vermont towns adopted a nuclear weapons freeze resolution.
This town meeting Brattleboro voters will decide whether President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney should be indicted for violating their oath of office and failing to follow the Constitution for a variety of actions stemming from the war in Iraq and the war on terrorism.
....
------------------------
Can the people of Washington, D.C., forbid Bush to enter their town? So he would have to fly to the White House by helicopter?
Then, a little late of course, one could have tried to ban political candidates who don’t oppose the war or support(ed) torture (almost all)…
How about banning army recruiters from schools, colleges, villages and towns?
...
Every sting matters, said the bee.
Reply to this | Hide 1 reply | Report thisBy Cynthia Royce, March 13 at 6:40 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
Re: Freedom sometime
I read that Brattleboro had indeed passed this measure, which I find very sensible. The reaction of the White House was rather amusing, something along the lines of “Huh?”, but with more words.
What is this advertisement for John McCain doing on this Web page, I’d like to know?
Cheers,
Cynthia
Reply to this | Report thisBy odlid, February 20 at 10:00 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
Hi John, I like the insect thing. But you malign insects everywhere with your comparison. Think of the busy, busy honey bee or the tireless leaf-cutter ant...all good citizens of our planet. Pinworms might be closer to the mark. You must present alternatives, great one. Bomarc, holy shit. Haven’t heard that one in a while. Vacuum tubes, I’ll bet. How about Snark, Nike Ajax, launch on warning, failsafe point, duck and cover...? I’ve already done my Curtis LeMay screed under a different nic but you got to love these mad bomber types. They worry too much about precious bodily fluids, though. Remember that Slim Pickins ride down the pike?
Reply to this | Report thisBy A. Z. Arrow, February 12 at 11:17 am #
(37 comments total)
SECOND PART (conclusion)
Well folks, remember, “It could be worse, ” and I suspect, “it will be worse”: unless the current ruling class ideology is immediately placed in the dumpster of history. These problems will fester and will carry into the next administration unless the present crop of government “executive”from the Punder-Elite is brought to justice. This process of healing can begin by demanding thst Congress arrest Bush , Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, Bill Crystol, Joe Lieberman, and a representative assortment of warmongers and send them off to the Hague to stand trial for war crimes against the people of Iraq ( 1,173,734 murdered by this war) and against the people of the United States.(with 3,960 U.S. Military Personnel Sacrifice.)
Lets cut the military budget by 50%.
Cut all funding of the War of Aggression Against the People of Iraq.
In America it is either “Rule by fear,” or it’s “rule by law?”
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/0 4/ED5OUPQJ7.DTL
~A.Z. Arrow
Reply to this | Hide 1 reply | Report thisBy John Hanks, February 12 at 11:58 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
Re: I take it to the streets
I just got back from a lively conversation with a B-24 pilot, a B-52 pilot and a Bomarc Missile engineer. I am a Navy veteran. We have lively conversations about politics in a local coffee shop and people overhear us every time we meet. I make the same arguments that I make on this site. I always express the basic notion that the human race is made up of crooks, suckers, and lazy cowards. That the human race stops growing intellectually and emotionally at 14 years old, and that most of our institutions are responsible.
I don’t try to convert. That is always a major mistake, because you set up a vertical dynamic that way. You just have to speak plainly and as honestly as possible. (That means dump the Marxist jargon.)
Reply to this | Report thisBy A. Z. Arrow, February 12 at 10:57 am #
(37 comments total)
John Hanks wrote: “Americans learn enough stupid things by the age of 14 to be susceptible to every crook that comes down the pike.”
Often they elect these crooks to the highest offices of government.
As a result, we have the perpetual class war against the American people, (commentt 506):
Bush is requesting a 3 trillion dollar federal budget. One trillion dollars of this proposed budget is ear marked for the Pentagon.A figure that does not include emergency appropriations for the War of Aggression Against the People of Iraq, the ultimate social cost of the Bush administration’s assault on the Bill of Rights, or the operational economic liabilities of an authoritarian police state that accompanies the waste of American wealth on the Military-Debt-Complex and on economic inequality. Chalmers Johnson looks at the fiscal crisis and threatening bankruptcy confronting the American Empire. http://www.countercurrents.org/johnson080208.htm
Bush’s proposal, if this attains Congresszional support, will be used to cover exiszting tax give-a ways to the highest income strata, and for his continuing, unnecessary, PNAC driven war. The current federal debt is now at $9 trillion dollars and will increase dramatically under this new budget. The Military Debt-Complex will soon request an additional “emergency” expenditure of $700 billion dollars (or more) that is not contained in this “class war” budget, and that emergency request will dramatically add to deficit spending, if ( or szhould I say, when) Congress passes that “request” using patriotism as an excuse. (This ‘emergency appropriation” will be gobbled up by war profiteers, racketeering Corporate Contractors, and will quickly disappear into Bush’s “nation building” sink hole in Iraq.
The trade debt has now surpasses the federal government’s debt by an additional two trillion dollars: the stock market is in decline; and there is a looming “currency crisis” in the value of the greenback. Bush is counting on China, Japan, Saudi Arabia and Russia to purchase U.S treasury notes and his administration is counting on U. S. taxpayers to cover their mounting interest liabilities on these “market to government ‘investments’”.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18832.htm
Twenty years of intentional deceit and public ignorance about “Trickle Down Economics” has ended objectively in total economic failure. The conservative myth about “deregulation of the market” has objectively intensified, an sppeed-up global monopolization, and theses policies( during both the Clinton and Bush administrations) have accelerated the outsourcing of capital, industry, and jobs (That is, Capital flight in search of a slave labor force.)
New job growth in 2007 (lower paying service sector jobs) is but half that of the 2006 --a 50% decline in one year.
The rising price of fuel, food, heating and shelter has blown the top off the charts. And there is the circus spectacle of Bible beating politicians that preach “creationism” and that seek to subordinate the United States Constitution to a retarded fundamentalist theology. Science research is in decline and accompanied by a “brain drain” to nations with greater respect for free scientific inquiry such as Japan, New Zealand, Ireland, China and Sweden.
Since “misery likes company,” our Congress is proud of having joined Bushin these fcollies, and it too has allied itself with the warmongering Neonazicons and in Bush/Cheney’s efforts at trashing the Bill of Right, impossing secret government, eavesdropping on American citizens, and rationalizing the torture of prisoners of war.
http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/76388
~A. Z. Arrow
Reply to this | Report thisBy John Hanks, February 10 at 5:45 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
By age 14
Americans learn just enough stupid things by age 14 to be susceptible to every crook lie that comes down the pike. They are not made intellectually and emotionally immature. The media keeps them intellectually and emotionally immature by pandering to that level of development.
Even simple villagers know enough to compare notes about strangers. We have lost the art. We don’t talk, think, read, or write. We are perfectly groomed suckers.
Reply to this | Report thisBy alicecbrown, January 29 at 9:36 am #
(11 comments total)
State of the Union last night
MOre mispronunciations, more lies, and more gobbledy-gook by the Democratic governor of Kansas. Why can’t we have a leader such as Russ Feingold step forth as head of the party? Why do we have Cheney and his monkey, Bush still in power rather than rotting in jail as the war criminals they are?
Reply to this | Hide 1 reply | Report thisAt this point with the inferior slate of presidential candidates, I’ll be satisfied with one who can pronounce English.
By John Hanks, January 29 at 11:53 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
Re: State of the Union last night
Let’s not give this frat boy filth the status of criminals. They are priceless examples of insect depravity. They should spend two hours a day chained to light posts with signs and funny hats. The rest of their day should be spend visting schools and telling the stories of their endless, hustles, lies and crimes.
Reply to this | Report thisALL AMERICANS ARE CROOKS, SUCKERS, AND LAZY COWARDS. They need to see what can sometimes happen when the country is infested with Republican termites.
By bc41, January 27 at 6:16 pm #
(21 comments total)
I would like to know what strategy Bush had when, as it seamed, in Pelosi’s delivering of her final political move of “no funding bill for the war,” and that following the inclusion of benchmarks, how Bush delivered the reversal. Suddenly there are the Sunni awakening groups with tentative approval by Sheittes, and the victories there on have changed but not solved our dilemma. I noticed that when Bush was challenged at that time, people in the middle east I read about in the newspaper started thinking and talking frankly about how they felt about things: Maliki, our generals, field commander, the leader of Iran, Iraqi legislators. A moment of sanity, ok to think out loud no matter if you agree or not.
Reply to this | Hide 3 replies | Report thisBy alicecbrown, January 29 at 9:33 am #
(11 comments total)
Latest State of the Union Panderings and Mispronunciations
As we rush like lemmings toward depression riding the latest bubble of alternative energies, I regret that we are a nation of peasants, ignorant of the Bill of Rights that is being shredded daily. Bush is just a mirror of our white trash tastes and beliefs, created by an inferior public school system. Unfortunately, the abdication by U.S. parents of their roles as nurturers has caused the ex locus parentis teachers to enlarge THEIR roles to the extent they don’t have time to teach critical thinking, even if they knew how.
Our slate of presidential candidates allowed by the media to continue does not reflect the best and brightest, just the slyest. So sad ... no courage in Congress to do what we elected the new Dems to do: bring our troops home NOW from Iraq!!!
Reply to this | Hide 1 reply | Report thisBy John Hanks, January 29 at 11:46 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
Critical thinking is a bit of a con
A simple war on stupidity would be more than worthwhile.
Critical thinking is an imaginary “skill”. The war on stupidity is a never ending artistic adventure.
Report thisBy John Hanks, January 27 at 8:00 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Bush had a real strategy?
The only strategy Bush had was to “liberate” the Iraqi people and then liberate their resources. Since the invasion and occupation, Bush has had to keep his money scam alive hoping for divine intervention.
Reply to this | Report thisBy srelf, January 23 at 10:13 am #
(23 comments total)
Re; What!!!???
That was meant for the person known as “defyungodlyvidal”
Reply to this | Report thisBy srelf, January 23 at 10:09 am #
(23 comments total)
What!!!???
What!!??
Reply to this | Report thisBy A. Z. Arrow, January 14 at 9:25 am #
(37 comments total)
Hetzer (below): The Bush/Cheney gang
Hetzer (below): The Bush/Cheney gang are also thugs,war profiteers, Occupiers of nations that belong to other peoples (sand certainly not to their imperial soldiers and corporate thieves) , mass murderers, warmongers, and right wing terrorists who are busy attacking our Bill of Rights. All of them, together with the leaders of the Israeli government should be placed in the Docket at the Hague and charged with the War Crimes that they have committed. As to religious insanity: Bush with his unpredictable wars of aggression is an abomination before Jesus Christ who preached an unequivocal message of PEACE and ,LOVE; America is an insult to the early Christian communist communities and to all sincere religious followers of Jesus, Bush is an insult to the faith of the martyrs and revolutionaries that died for truth and godly motives.
“DOWN WITH THE BUSH GANG AND ALL THE RUNNING DOGS OF OCCUPATION, PLUNDER AND INITIATORS OF OVERT WARS OF AGGRESSION! . . .DOWN WITH THE U.S. AND ISRAELI TERRORIST, AND THEIR LEGION OF OCCUPIERS (quoted from ine one and two of the “NEW CORRECTED BIBLE .ACCORDING TO THE REAL GOD OF TRUTH.”)
and submitted by Arrow on behalf of Sir Cart DuMonde who cannot read or write but is known to be highly educated and wise.
Reply to this | Hide 1 reply | Report this1/14/2008
By hetzer, January 27 at 7:43 am #
(167 comments total)
Re: Hetzer (below): The Bush/Cheney gang
Nobody ever went wrong hating the pretensions of the human race - especially so-called Christians, Jews, Muslims etc. They have a rap sheet as long as Stalin and Hitler’s combined, and they have never found an idol that they couldn’t worship. Jesus Christ was a composite like Betty Crocker, if he existed at all. One of the few smart things he ever did was announce his contempt for blockheads and phonies. Sorry everybody. Jesus says there will be no rapture this time.
Reply to this | Report thisBy Defy ungodly Vidal, January 12 at 2:35 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
President George W. Bush is
President George W. Bush is being maligned by the master of misdirection. Vidal, a closet admirer of Aaron Burr, would have been at home huddling with Burr and Andrew Jackson, the three of them cruising around looking for good Indian land and maybe whacking a Mexican with a stick if no one is looking. His historical soul-mates not available, Vidal has made George W his personal Mexican, poking him with a stick every time this President makes a minor slip; like letting the second most prominent target on earth, the Twin Towers, not be defended. or...stuff like blowing up a small country for no apparent reason...or keep saying nukuler or just not (though no fault of his own) being able to do one thing. Vidal, in summary, is a WHINER. Yes, a hitting Mexican with a stick whiner. George W. Bush will be known to future generations for his inner greatness and his vision for a better world. The fruits of his efforts, though not yet felt, will surely sink home in not so many years.
Reply to this | Hide 6 replies | Report thisBy dgswilson, May 5 at 8:12 am #
(2 comments total)
Re: President George W. Bush is
Sorry, no, that wasn’t satire. Isn’t, wasn’t, can’t make it different by saying it is different. You wrote it; read it. You want out of it? First you need to own it. Hey, everyone makes mistakes and says stupid things...just accept it and move on.
Reply to this | Report thisBy JPBreeze, February 10 at 2:59 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Re: President George W. Bush is
To the ungodly vidal idiot;
The fruits of Bush’s efforts have already been felt, just not in the way he imagined. Whatever grand visions Dubya imagined, were hijacked by the neocon’s, “Project for a New American Century”, which is almost within their grasp. The final piece to the puzzle is to gain control of the internet, which CIA spook McConnell is currently writing.
Maybe you could afford some of us an example where Bush made just a “minor slip”? The crimes of Bushco are to varied and many to be afforded the “just a slip” moniker. As for you labelling Vidal as someone who pokes Mexicans with sticks, where do you get off saying this? Is it because you have done so yourself? Get a life! Maybe you need to read some Ann Coulter, yea, that will get you in a good mood.
Reply to this | Hide 1 reply | Report thisBy the ungodly Vidal Idiot, February 22 at 12:13 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
re: JPBreeze re: President George W. Bush is
JPBreeze, I wrote the original post you and several others have critiqued with your fine wit and grace.
Report thisThe only problem is that you intellectuals either read only the first sentence or have no concept of irony or caricature. Vidal surely understood I was having fun at Bush’s expense. I am stunned that you and other responders are baffled by blatant satire.
By Peter, January 26 at 10:06 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
Re: President George W. Bush is
To defy Ungodly Vidal,
Reply to this | Hide 1 reply | Report thisThe Republicans are smoking something better than i am if they think bush is being maligned!!!
By Peterless, January 28 at 6:44 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Re: Re: President George W. Bush is
Peter, I don’t think you read my post carefully.
Report thisBy hetzer, January 23 at 10:17 am #
(167 comments total)
Re: President George W. Bush is
The greatest crybaby I ever saw was a right-wing nut job caught in a lie.
Reply to this | Report thisBy hetzer, January 9 at 1:47 pm #
(167 comments total)
Republicans are filthy racketeers. They are crooks and traitors.
I’m glad to see the vicious traitors get jinxed once in awhile. But the crook media will protect its own. I think they have already rigged the Democrats for a bogus rescue.
Reply to this | Report thisBy lawlessone, November 12, 2007 at 10:46 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
I gleefully chuckled at Mr. Gore’s idea Bush is really just a jinx who inadvertently causes disasters for all those around him. If I was superstitious or believed in Fate, I would likely find that suggestion a welcome explanation for incredible tidal wave of trouble Bush and his buddies continue to immerse us.
The image of Biblical Jonah in the White House, couldn’t help but conjure up for me other walking disasters from literature. I even wondered if instead of Jonah, perhaps the reference shouldn’t be to the eternally wrong optimist, Candide, or maybe Joe Btfsplk, the sad character in Little Abner who was constantly followed by a cloud of rain. Thanks for the mental fun.
Ultimately though, I realized that none of them, not even Jonah of whale fame, really apply here since in each case including Jonah, the characters were essentially innocent victims. They did not bring the vortexs of troubles upon themselves. Incompetence, ignorance, ego, hubris, laziness and extremely questionable motives played little or no part in their particular pitfalls. With Bush however, all those are present in unending supply.
Moreover, Bush suffers little or not at all the calamities he sows. Other than the occasional disparaging word or image, which he probably never sees or hears anyway, there are few consequences. Unlike Custer, our current leaders are the ones least likely to suffer from their idiocies.
Worse, we are not innocent victims ourselves. After all, although we did not put this putz in power, we allow him to remain there where he can harm us and our descendants. Consequently, we probably deserve what misfortunes befall us. This story unfortunately is a tragedy, not a comedy.
Reply to this | Hide 1 reply | Report thisBy Libgress, January 4 at 11:08 am #
(7 comments total)
Snakebit
Lawlessness said:
“I gleefully chuckled at Mr. Gore’s idea Bush is really just a jinx
who inadvertently causes disasters for all those around him.”
Mike Papintonio remarked that such a hapless schmo is referenced
Reply to this | Report thisin the South as being ‘snakebit’
By Guitarsandmore, November 8, 2007 at 10:19 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
There once was a pundit named Hannity
Who possessed neither reason nor sanity
Champion of slobs
A disgrace to the Gods
What he held to be truth was just vanity
There was an old man named George Bush
Who put the whole country on its tush
Lost in pursuit
While ignoring the truth
The country impeached him with a Whoosh!
There was a mean, mad, dog named Cheney
Who snarled, bit, chewed, barked, and pissed on me.
Deserving a kick
I launched him real quick
And so was revealed this epiphany:
When government ignores your commands
Reply to this | Hide 1 reply | Report thisAnd pees on the truth in your hands
Gently remind them
By kicking behind them
Its your dollar they have in their hands!
By observer, January 9 at 10:38 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
Re: Guitarsandmore Jan 8
Man that s- is just too damn FUNNY- take that on the road!
Reply to this | Report thisBy Cynthia Gair, April 4 at 6:15 pm #
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Anyone who’s wondering what a credit default is - anyone who hasn’t heard this should listen to this amazingly clear, fascinating, and alarming interview with Michael Greenberger
Reply to this | Report thishttp://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=8 9338743
By John Hanks, December 18, 2007 at 1:26 pm #
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I can see media and corporate filth laughing together like the Beavis and Butthead they are. We will never get their attention. That is why I talk, talk, talk, and put signs on my car. Millions know what is going on. They just need to see that they are not alone. There is also Air America radio, thank God.
Reply to this | Report thisBy Bill Blackolive, December 18, 2007 at 10:34 am #
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Gore, enough already. We do not need your humor today when untold many are tortured. Please get back to 9/11 is inside. Shaking the cage long enough will have corporate TV talking finally. Please, please.
Reply to this | Report thisBy Bill Blackolive, December 18, 2007 at 10:28 am #
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Gore, hey. That 9/11 is an inside job is better conversation than being funny. Enough, please. Please get on back at your original: 9/11 is inside. In all the stupifying chickenshit we need to get the enfeebled across the starting line, gang up and get it going. Too much time wasted already, time now is death, starvation, torture, imprisonment for thousands, millions. Gore, it is time to make some true noise, rattle the mob truly. Enough already.
Reply to this | Report thisBy TAO Walker, November 18, 2007 at 6:26 pm #
(166 comments total)
Gore Vidal has long offered theamericanpeople an antidote to the steady diet of toxic pablum most of them mistake for “information” about the condition their condition is in. He has been candid, as well, in conceding that those who need it most are the least likely even to be aware of it, nevermind actually going so far as to down a dose.
This old Indian has observed the same suicidal incapacity, in Vidal’s countrymen and -women, and over a considerably longer time. Now here in the terminal phase of a project aimed at nothing short of the total subjugation of our Mother Earth and all Her natural Children, those perpetrating the great gangbang no longer even pretend otherwise....evidently confident their subjects are too demoralized to raise even a token resistance to their ultimate degradation.
This “global” stress-to-destruct test, with six-and-a-half billion involuntary human guinea-pigs as the designated crash-test dummies, is no more the work of feckless two-legged power/fear-mongers than a Kansas feedlot is the work of its bovine inmates and the hapless human crew who abuse them. Our Mother Earth has been under murderous assault by a “race” of insane fools from elsewhere in the Living Universe for over ten thousand years now.
These tormentors (everything we know about them we’ve learned the hard way) have finally come to the end of their rope here. Their last desperate ploy is the threat of taking us all with them, if we don’t let them go, and help them on their dirty way. That simply isn’t in the cards.
So get ready, Boys and Girls, because we’re going all together through “The Eye of the Needle.”
HokaHey!
Reply to this | Report thisBy John Hanks, November 15, 2007 at 6:37 pm #
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Sorry David. You can’t speak for anyone but yourself. I will fight against this filth until my last breath - alone if need be.
Reply to this | Report thisBy david, November 15, 2007 at 2:41 pm #
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Sorry, Gore, no one cares enough to do anything. We are all hostages to the Repubs and Dems. Neither will serve the populace, only themselves. RIP America 1776-2001
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