Helter Stupid

There is so much stuff I want to post about, so much to write, and I don't think I've got the time to do any of it justice. For what it's worth, all of you should be following the happenings in Jena, LA. Pandagon is a good source, Americablog has had some good stuff. If I had the time, I'd be tempted to drive down there.

But, like the constant reminder to put one your seatbelts, the nagging indicators that we are ruled by a selfish, greedy, maladjusted and dimwitted misanthrope keep coming, week after week.

This week: the knowledge that Mr. Wizard can't make a speech, using the proper names of countries and leaders, without the primer version, like he's some backwards student with phonetic versions of all his textbooks.

Liberia. Sarkozy. It's not cute, it's not a 'common man' touch (after all, every member of the working class I know has had to learn a difficult name of a co-worker, a product, or a process at some time, and usually has no problem). This egregious butthole is so uninterested in the world around him that he can't learn to pronounce the COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD, something most fifth graders learn to do. Holy robotic shit, I can pronounce those countries, and it's not even my frickin JOB.

Yes, this is the kind of thing that sets me off. Chimpy McStupidpants was elected by people who think he's a 'normal guy', someone 'you'd like to have a beer with'; but in reality he's an over-privileged twit who'd actually be a pain in the ass to have a drink with. I've seen guys like this drink; first of all, it's a competition, and he'll challenge you to keep up while he downs shots of tequila; then, it's impossible to have a conversation with him; then he starts groping and leering at any woman around, and finally, invariably, will threaten to punch your lights out.

Last night, I watched Bill Clinton on the Daily Show. Even though I often felt he was far too centrist and accommodating as a President, It still nearly brought me to tears; a man who has an impressive command of the facts surrounding just about everything, a passion for what he's doing, empathy for the people he's with, and real personal magnetism rather than a pastiche of faux populist accents and mannerisms.

How far we've fallen; how far still to fall.