Third World Nation
Russia, or the ex-Soviet Union, always seemed like a Third World Nation to me. Sure it was/is a superpower, but with all the trimmings of a Banana-Republic-on-the-Tundra: a dictator, corruption, violence inflicted on the populace, lousy plumbing ... Mugabe could have been an excellent First Secretary of the Party. All he would have to do is the Michael Jackson thing with his skin and ... Presto! Putin's brother. Of course in Mugabe's particular case it should be more like Rasputin, but let's not split hairs.
But lately (over the past 8 years or so), the Land of Milk and Honey, the United States, has more closely resembled that Banana Republic paradigm: lies from the commander-in-chief, excess stupidity from the Central Bank, pointless foreign wars, widespread corruption, descending standard of living, debased currency, ludicrous political opposition ... we are only missing babushkas in line for commodities and basic living necessities. Geddit? No? Well someone in Venice, Italy does.
How humiliating! But thanks for the discount, anyway, we could use it. Reminds me of East Bloc tourists in the West circa 1989, smoky Ladas, Skodas and Trabants, shabby clothes, 14 to a car, baulking at the price of a burger at Mickey D's in Frankfurt or Geneva. Do you remember how much crap they could tie to the tops of their cars when headed back into the abyss of the East?
And a large percentage of the U.S. population is willing to place their trust Hil-liar, Borat Oboohoo, or the Manchurian Candidate. Romney is out of it ... 'coz his homies tithe to his particular brand of religious demagogy and folks are scared that it might stick or something. Mormonism as a subspecies of cooties.
"Let's all be real afraid, cause they do weird things to kids in their weirdo church." Yup. Like sending them on missions where they learn to sell, save and work hard. Kids that don't smoke, drink or do drugs. Kids that want to start families and have lots of other kids ... wait ... is this starting to sound a lot like Islam?? Maybe the Huckaboobs and Liberals DO have a point. But on the other hand, I can't really think of an Islamic Nation where the "sell, save and work hard" is part of the national creed. More like pump oil, bemoan their fates on the Great Satan, get their women to work, drink tea and smoke shisha. Bomb a few innocents too.
I digress. The one sect, group, set of loonies -- whatever -- that basically still holds onto the qualities that made America a military superpower and global economic engine, is excluded from political consideration because they are weird? But the rest of us are not decadent? Is this what it felt like to be Roman in the year 300 A.D.? Mixing my dates at little -- is Nero currently in the White House or are we about to elect her?
Et tu, Brute?
But lately (over the past 8 years or so), the Land of Milk and Honey, the United States, has more closely resembled that Banana Republic paradigm: lies from the commander-in-chief, excess stupidity from the Central Bank, pointless foreign wars, widespread corruption, descending standard of living, debased currency, ludicrous political opposition ... we are only missing babushkas in line for commodities and basic living necessities. Geddit? No? Well someone in Venice, Italy does.
How humiliating! But thanks for the discount, anyway, we could use it. Reminds me of East Bloc tourists in the West circa 1989, smoky Ladas, Skodas and Trabants, shabby clothes, 14 to a car, baulking at the price of a burger at Mickey D's in Frankfurt or Geneva. Do you remember how much crap they could tie to the tops of their cars when headed back into the abyss of the East?And a large percentage of the U.S. population is willing to place their trust Hil-liar, Borat Oboohoo, or the Manchurian Candidate. Romney is out of it ... 'coz his homies tithe to his particular brand of religious demagogy and folks are scared that it might stick or something. Mormonism as a subspecies of cooties.
"Let's all be real afraid, cause they do weird things to kids in their weirdo church." Yup. Like sending them on missions where they learn to sell, save and work hard. Kids that don't smoke, drink or do drugs. Kids that want to start families and have lots of other kids ... wait ... is this starting to sound a lot like Islam?? Maybe the Huckaboobs and Liberals DO have a point. But on the other hand, I can't really think of an Islamic Nation where the "sell, save and work hard" is part of the national creed. More like pump oil, bemoan their fates on the Great Satan, get their women to work, drink tea and smoke shisha. Bomb a few innocents too.
I digress. The one sect, group, set of loonies -- whatever -- that basically still holds onto the qualities that made America a military superpower and global economic engine, is excluded from political consideration because they are weird? But the rest of us are not decadent? Is this what it felt like to be Roman in the year 300 A.D.? Mixing my dates at little -- is Nero currently in the White House or are we about to elect her?
Et tu, Brute?
posted by Zaphod at Wednesday, April 09, 2008
1 Comments:
Another non-comment comment. At least there's a'Bot out there reading this!
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