Snake Oil and the Snakes Who Sell It.

One of the arguments I consistently hear conservatives use against Health Care Reform is that “Government can’t get anything right! Why let them into healthcare?” (Right before they get on the interstate to buy a burger that was inspected by a Fed.)
Well, let’s look at some other facts and predictions by our Right-wing brethren, shall we?
It would seem that the Conservatives who argue against government involvement have quite a few favorite lines to throw out. Let’s take a detailed look at their logic using…their logic.
We are just a few years into the experiment but it would appear, according to the numbers, that the divorce rate in Massachusetts has dropped since homosexual couples have been allowed to marry in that state. I guess one group is defending marriage more than the others? They’re here, they’re queer and they’re not getting divorced like you folks who defend marriage.
Shall we touch on those awful weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? Perhaps the Iraqi connection with 9/11? Maybe we should skip those and go right to the part where our troops were met with flowers in the street as liberators. "It could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months." Ah, Rumsfeld: WRONG! How about G.W. Bush, over six years ago: “Good news to the men and women who fought ... their mission is complete.” WRONG! And six years ago Cheney told us “I think it'll go relatively quickly, …
Weeks rather than months.” When he was asked how long the conflict would last. WRONG!
Karl Rove predicted a majority for Repubs in 2006. That didn’t quite work. He also stated “"The Republican philosophy is alive and well and likely to reemerge in the majority in 2008." Well, isn’t that cute. And wrong. Very, very wrong.
How about Bill Kristol? "If [Hillary Clinton] gets a race against John Edwards and Barack Obama, she's going to be the nominee. Gore is the only threat to her ... Barack Obama is not going to beat Hillary Clinton in a single democratic primary. I'll predict that right now." Wow. Wrong-a-palooza!
Peter Mulhern in 2007- "In this case conventional wisdom is not just wrong but comically so. [Fred] Thompson will win the Republican nomination for two reasons. First, he's a very impressive candidate. Second, there's no realistic alternative. He will win the general election for the same two reasons." Wrong-a-long-a-ding-dong.
Ann Coulter in 2007- "I think it's probably going to be Romney for the Republicans, Hillary for the Democrats." Not even close!
Rudy Guliani in 2008- "We'll win Florida. It's an unconventional strategy, but I've never followed conventional wisdom before; it's always worked." Somebody call Rudy. Tell him he is SO wrong.
Rush Limbaugh- "I think [Obama has] been dead in the water since the primaries.” Ouchies!

"High tech is potent, precise, and in the end, unbeatable. …Look, I want to give the high-five symbol to high tech." —George Bush Sr., on the growing tech bubble. Remember that busting in our faces like a cheap bubble gum bubble?
Do you remember being told that even if you disagreed with the President you should have respect for the office? Guess what- It was a Republican who screamed out his (totally false) opinion in the middle of President Obama’s speech.
Now, this same group, this same mindset, is telling us all that Healthcare reform will be the end of us. They shout the word “Socialism” without being able to define it. They insist, through all of it, that they are compassionate.
How many times can you be sold the same snake oil? How many times can you believe? How many times am I expected to see the same people following the same group making the same bad predictions before it is no longer rude to laugh in your face?
We all know the adage "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and
expecting different results.” So how many times are you going to listen? Really.

Pugilistic Linguists and the Temple of Thought

I am not a linguist, but shouldn’t language become simpler over time? What does it say about our language and specifically about US culture that our language is apparently becoming more convoluted? And can we stop and take a look at how the Conservative movement has taken control of so many situations by taking control of language?
Truthers don’t seem to be too interested in facts. Birthers are not concerned with childbirth, outside of single child’s birth. Freepers are not worried about delivering more freedom. Birchers do not seem to care about the fate of trees.
This bastardization of our language seems to be about normalizing the fringe. I say it is high time that the liberal crowd took advantage of it. We should start labeling things ourselves, we should take over a few words and see if we cannot spread them like wildfire.
Do you believe that two people who love one another should be allowed to marry, regardless of gender? I say you are a ‘Lover.”
Are you of the opinion that health care should be available to all, regardless of income? I dub you a “Carer.”
Would you agree that a homosexual can be patriotic and should be able to demonstrate that patriotism by serving in the armed forces and fighting for their country? I say we call you a “Fighter.”
If someone you know drives a gas hog vehicle capable of carrying eight passengers and they do not regularly carry eight passengers we need a new name for them as well. Hawgs is a label taken year ago by our two-wheeled friends so I suggest we call them ‘Gassy.’
If you believe abortion should only be available to victims of rape, I guess we have to call you a ‘Raper.’
As for those who work against environmental laws and believe that industries should be able to dump more and more poison into our environment; welcome to the debate ‘Dumpers.’
Hannity, Limbaugh, Beck? Well, they keep dumping crap into the debate. ‘Crappers’ it is.
Think about it. And remember that this fight is non-violent and capable of being won.

The Culture of CaCa

When did the current level of debate sink lower than a sea cucumbers fartmaker? When did conversing in order to find a truth or compromise die a messy, painful death and leave a bloated carcass in the sun to mark where a chance for consensus once stood?
It would seem that the current infatuation with anti-intellectual clap-trap snuck up on us, which is embarrassing. It was about as stealthy as one of those giant walking tanks from the last decent Star Wars movie but it ninjaed right up behind the whole country and slapped an atomic wedgie on our best opportunity of improving our culture at the expense of Glenn Beck and Keith Olbermann getting a shoulder ride around the gym while Formal Argument got a swirly in the locker room. And then, suddenly, it stood on our neck and called our mother names. Making a sound argument or appealing to supposedly universal ethics now make you as popular as a cello player at the football rally. How did that happen?
When was it that facts became the mullets of conversation? When was it that opinion came to be a flamethrower with attached shotgun and fact became the annoying hum from your fridge everyone has learned to ignore? What seismic shift occurred that led so many of us to believe that believing was more important than knowing and that knowing had nothing to do with proving? And when did proving come to be considered the social equivalent of spitting in someone else’s Big Gulp?
The surest proof of this final surrender is in the number of people who use the phrase “Nothing can change my mind.” If nothing can change your mind I don’t think you can actually call your skull-filler a mind. Even a rat will take the better way through amaze once it has been made apparent.
However it happened, it is too late to stand around placing blame like an overweight accident investigator. Let us fight back! How? Intolerance! The next time someone insists that their opinion is as valid as any fact treat them like a telemarketer with a lisp and thick accent. And even that is not enough. It is time to start reacting to sound arguments like chocolate in chocolate sauce with a chocolate filling. Congratulate people when you hear them being brave enough to cite a valid source. Give footrubs to the rational, offer a ride to anyone willing to debate clearly. Get out the carrot AND the stick. It isn’t too late.