It's crap like this that really causes me to become sick of American Politics. The GOP Fail Doctrine has been the biggest dive into the world of *TEH STOOPID that I can recall in my lifetime.
The earliest instance--When Flush was made the official spokespig for the GOP, and insisted he wanted Obama to fail at everything. Other poly-ticks soon followed suit. Joe Wilson screaming out, "You Lie" at our president like a hungover frat boy. Mitch McConnell, Orrin Hatch, Senator Lee, and the list goes on and on.
Even Romney wanted Obama to Fail.
Romney said, "I want liberal policies to fail. I want him to fail in trying to put in place a health care plan that takes away the private sector from health care. I want him to fail in this cap and trade program as long as China and Brazil and Indonesia are not going to play in it. But I want him to succeed as a president, meaning, I want him to succeed in strengthening our economy, keeping us free, bringing our troops home in success from Iraq and Afghanistan. But I don't want his liberal policies to succeed. Boston Globe
Romney wants Obama to fail in instituting the same program that Romney created on a national scale for healthcare, and Romney wants Obama to fail in offering any solutions to Global Climate Change. --The other GOP mouth pieces didn't pull any punches. They just wanted Obama to fail, period.
Very mature! stay classy GOP!
Each and every one of these marchers for the moronic seemed completely unaware that if Obama fails miserably, the country will likely go with him. So of course these petulant statements of aggressive, self-service made me gasp for oxygen.
As much as I strongly disliked President Bush, I never once wanted him to fail. I sometimes wanted him to suddenly become intelligent. I wished he would have become a more mindful leader. I often prepared for the worst and hoped for the best in his case, in particular. But I knew what would happen if he *Failed. He often supported policies official and unofficial that I despised and found offensive. Policies that damaged our country to such a degree that our next president inherited not a surplus, but a deficit, two official wars and a couple of unofficial ones, and a beltway and a country so divided that we live in a state of constant deadlock when it comes to the will of the people.
Hoping your president fails is like hoping for an asteroid strike. It's like telling the world you have already decided which species shall inherit the earth and it isn't your species, because if your wish comes true, then it's likely that there will be nothing left of humanity but scorched DNA samples and some graffiti under the rubble.
The attack however is much more broad than just President Obama. Obama's presence simply threw some proverbial incendiary on *Teh Crazy. These attempts to tear our country down in order to rebuild it as a Plutocratic-Theocracy have been ongoing. This stuff is decades old.
In the collective mind of the GOP, making the country fail is the equivalent of pulling the emergency break. They don't see it as catastrophic, but simply a means to a desired end.
So when I read a headline today at the Huffpo detailing yet another attack on Planned Parenthood-- it was just more of the same.
Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.) released a labor, health and education spending bill on Tuesday that would defund Planned Parenthood and Title X, block the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, allow any employer to deny women birth control coverage under the ACA for "moral reasons" and increase spending for abstinence-only education. Huffpo
1. Keep Women ignorant of their own bodily processes so that they cannot make informed reproductive choices or plan their pregnancies.
2. Deny them affordable, comprehensive gender specific healthcare such as but not limited to, reproductive cancer screenings, STD tests, pregnancy tests, prenatal care, abortions, day after pills, or birth control pills in general. See Title X [enacted by President Nixon in the 1970s]
3. Violate a woman's First Amendment Rights by imposing religious beliefs on them through legislation, and through the allocation of tax dollars at the behest of Christian Mullahs.
4. Deny men, women and children affordable comprehensive healthcare by making health insurance so expensive that it is out of reach for the average blue collar family or college student or elderly patient.
5. Insure that if a person does become catastrophically ill, regardless of their past accomplishments, work history, etc., that they might be forced to loose everything they have built up for a lifetime, including a modest home, car, savings, retirement, college funds for their kids, or any kind of safety net whatsoever financially speaking.
So basically what the GOP want from us--We the people--They want to return to the days when people died of syphilis, they want an explosion in HIV cases, they like it when women in particular die of reproductive cancers, they want an explosion in head and neck cancers [tied to hpv], and they want women dying of having too many babies too close together. They want women dying of ectopic pregnancies, and to have as many catastrophically ill, or stillborn babies as their god requires.
Fail Doctrine. What could be bigger than this aspect of it. Totally preventable, treatable conditions left untreated in order to teach the rest of us sluts a lesson about having sex. One might ask--are they really Baptists or are they secretly Christian Scientists? But that's another diary altogether.
You will notice that there is no legislation attacking dirty dick syndrome. They aren't pushing moral objections on cialis or viagra, or penis pumps, urologists, or any of that. They are only going after women and children and the very poor.
The GOP is so out of touch with women, that they don't seem to realize that our comprehensive healthcare services even for insured women isn't all that and a bag of chips. How anyone could claim that the GOP doesn't hate women is beyond me. All that the GOP does is the equivalent of a big fat note to American women that says:
Die! BITCH Die!
But it keeps getting better. The same spending bill also attacks Sesame Street, NPR, PBS, and Americorps.
More Fail Doctrine.
Sesame Street teaches values like diversity, multiculturalism which is the bane of the talibangelical existence. You know why?
Multi-culturalism brings about mixed race couples and children. I know *they say it's about religion and it is, but really this is one of the big clinchers right here [shades of Bob Jones].
Multi-Culturalism also promotes respect for all races, creeds and nationalities in general. You know--scary rainbow people!
See this 70s version of Sesame Street: The skin I'm In.
We All Sing With the Same Voice.
Ellen DeGeneres who is openly gay, appears on Sesame Street.
And of course First Lady Michelle Obama--Mrs Obama Plants a Garden.This couldn't have possibly set the GOP in a spin. It combines Obama, Race, [sekrit religion] with environmentalism. She breaks another big rule--never empower the impoverished urban poor! Ever!
The religious aspect of this is that Christianity must never have to share the stage with another religion as an equal. So any depictions of that will result in a backlash.
Elmo does Hanukkah
Sesame Street does Kwanza.
Oh Boy Elmo's going straight to Hades for that one!
To understand the broader issue, you need to know that this promotion of Christian Supremacy [aka Dominionism] is why there are alternatives to the National Day of Prayer. After all, Focus on the Family doesn't want other religions participating in [read tainting] this Christian-only event.
Visibility on any stage means credibility, it means status and authority. And there are certain Christian Sects who cannot tolerate that at all from other religions and won't. But beyond that they will actively sabotage attempts by other religions to have their voices heard in addition to silencing Atheists, and Humanists. This can take the form of excluding other faiths from public events like the NDP, to making sure that laws are written in a manner that favors their religion over others, and religion in general over non-religion. And television programming must only reflect approved messages. Any positive depictions of perceived religious rivals is simply unacceptable.
Humanists Advocate Alternative to National Day of Prayer.
The Interfaith Alliance also has been organizing alternatives, inclusive versions of this observance for several years now.
This is just an example. For more simply take a look at the issues surrounding Faith Based Initiatives programs. Because what we see is allocation for funds that promote one sectarian interpretation of a specific religion while there are simultaneous attacks on multi-culturalism, interfaith ideals, and first amendment rights. All of these are glaring illustrations of attempts to legislate religion on the American people, using our own tax dollars in violation of our very national character as well as our laws.
The GOP attacks Sesame Street in particular, but really this is PBS programing, or Public Broadcasting System. And PBS supports other controversial programming that would be a direct threat to the Corporate-Dominionist agenda.
Frontline
Since 1983, FRONTLINE has served as American public television’s flagship public affairs series. Hailed upon its debut on PBS as “the last best hope for broadcast documentaries,” FRONTLINE’s stature over 30 seasons is reaffirmed each week through incisive documentaries covering the scope and complexity of the human experience.
Complexity is a sin.
Take a look at Frontline's Topics:
Race/Multiculturalism.
Religion.
American's Increasingly Uneasy when Politicians Talk Religion.
The series — which you can watch in full here — examines how religious dissidents helped shape the American concept of religious liberty and the controversial evolution of that ideal in the nation’s courts and political arena; how religious freedom and waves of new immigrants and religious revivals fueled competition in the religious marketplace; how movements for social reform — from abolition to civil rights — galvanized men and women to put their faith into political action; and how religious faith influenced conflicts from the American Revolution to the Cold War. IBID
Frontline covers Environmental Issues. Everything from Hurricane Katrina, to Global Climate Change, to GMOs and the BP Gusher. I can see how certain mega-corporations that seem to have incestuous liasons with religion, might get their panties in a wad over these stories. Some are even underwriters for PBS Programming like Frontline, so it would be convenient if legislated-religion took PBS down so that the corporate powers didn't have to get their hands dirty, doing this themselves.
So lets look at NOVA:
NOVA is the highest rated science series on television and the most watched documentary series on public television. It is also one of television's most acclaimed series, having won every major television award, most of them many times over.
Why would the GOP want to end an acclaimed series, that has won every major television award many times over? More of the fail doctrine of course. Good is bad, up is down, ignorance is education.
You know the old saying, The beatings will continue until morale improves!
NOVA The cool thing is, you can watch these shows online for *free, and sometimes you can check DVDs out from public Libraries as well.
So what's so bad about NOVA? Well their huge selection of Evolution programs for starters!
I highly recommend What Darwin Never Knew! My kids do too! My eldest also recommends Intelligent Design on Trial.
The attack on award winning public television programming is really an extension of the attack on public education in general, primary and higher education. It's more of that desire to make America as a whole fail, by doing everything possible to keep the masses ignorant and ill or misinformed. What other reason could there be to begin to keep Americans ignorant, poor and ill, or in the very least living on the precipitous edge of poverty? How can one wrap themselves in a flag and claim patriotism or even it's shadowy twin Jingoism, when all their actions point to a desire to destroy America from within, eating away at it's heart and soul like worms in rotting wood?
Another NOVA program, Secrets Beneath the Iceexplore the Science behind Global Climate Change. The denialist camp are primarily composed of religious nuts and industry folk. So it's no mystery to me why these programs are being attacked. Religion once again is simply a proxy for corporate interests. See also Extreme Ice --another show examining global climate change.
Here is a Nova Program on Clean Energy! Keep in mind that the GOP is fighting the military right now over the military's attempt to go green.
Where did we Come from? Human Evolution--
And there is more on NOVA that has fed this ridiculous controversy.
Nature
Silence of the Bees. Loss of Habitat, pesticide abuse--all environmental issues, and all forbidden issues! Nature has a whole section devoted to the Environment and Conservation.
Why would corporate powers align themselves with religious extremists? Because it creates a society where forced conformity on the job is supported, perpetuated and even strengthened by forced conformity via a dominant religious paradigm in the private life. Deviants, dissidents, and subversives are easier to spot in a world like that. Easier to spot, punish and silence.
And if the people are coerced into being in lockstep with a church, imagine how much easier it is for a corporation to take advantage of that conditioning on the job, in society and politics?
What else is on PBS Programming?
African American Lives
Africans In America
America Investigative Reports
From Portland to El Paso, Chicago to Miami, San Francisco to Hartford (and of course in Washington, D.C.), investigative journalism in the United States is alive and well. Every day, reporters are on the trail of those in government, corporations, and other institutions who fail to protect those they serve, whether by covering up harmful actions, using their influential, public-service positions to reap personal gain, or otherwise betraying the public trust. The reporters chase down leads, question those in power, receive anonymous tips, crunch electronic data, analyze boxfuls of paper documents, visit the scenes, cultivate sources, pursue hunches, check and recheck facts - all in an effort to hold accountable those who are supposed to be serving the public interest. And when it is time to publish or go on the air, they hope that not only will wrongs be righted, but also that if they are, the "system" will have a chance to work.
Yea, I cannot imagine what would possibly set the powers that be off, during this time of union busting, conspiracies, and revolving door politics and cronyism.
America At the Crossroads--this looks subversive!
Affluenza--the antithesis of the Name it and Claim it ministries!
America Revealed. It sort of looks like a Freakonomics breakdown of our country. It's a good program. And without bothering to address controversial issues, it could open some eyes about where our energy comes from, how it is utilized, the aging of our grid/infrastructure etc., Basically this is another antidote to ignorance that needs to be disposed of.
The Ascent of Money
Scientific American Frontiers with Alan Alda. It's got science in it--need we say more? Hot Planet, Cold Comfort. Global Climate Change as the great equalizer.
Hot Times in Alaska More Global Climate Change. Also covered--Human Evolution! Yikes!
Botany of Desire--based on the book by Michael Pollan. A unique blend of foody mentalities with environmentalism and sideways thinking outside the proverbial box. "Flowers. Trees. Plants. We've always thought that we controlled them. But what if, in fact, they have been shaping us?"
There are multiple programs that could draw GOP ire for any number of reasons. Another program that stuck out in particular: The Democracy Project for PBS Kids. Everyone knows that if you aren't getting your information from Faux News, then you are reading unapproved material! The date says 2008, it has not been updated for the 2012 election, that says a lot.
Disconnected, Politics, the Press and the Public. This site comes right out and asks questions and tells the reader they don't necessarily have the answers. The problem is, they asked at all. Curiosity is a sin, just like imagination and independent thought.
After looking at this portion of PBS programming the point I am making is, that PBS encourages Independent Thought, Curiosity and Queries, Investigations, and Dialogue.
Those are not qualities or practices that fit well in a theocracy or a fascist state. Forced homogeneity means never having to justify your decisions or answer any pesky questions. Getting rid of PBS would go a long way in depriving Americans of quality televisions programming that is also free.
Imagine if all the channels we have to learn about Science were on Pay-per-view or Premium Cable Packages? First of all, the programming isn't that great. Most have pandered to guns and a militaristic style faddishness. It's all slightly classier knock offs of COPS! Nat Geo, the Discovery Channel, etc., So when you think about it, what PBS provides in terms of Scientific Programs are both important and Unique in it's scope and it's quality.
The History Channel too--very poor programming. Years ago when it was part of basic cable, the running joke amongst college professors was that it was really the WWII Channel. Non-stop Hitler was a vegetarian, meth addict, inbred, occultist, [fill-in-the-blank] with whatever he was. It was just neverending!
It got old quick.
National Geographic--Border Wars, Wild Justice, etc.,
Animal Planet does slightly better, but I could do without the Animal COPS show. Sorry but I can only handle so much of watching that.
And the "Scy-Fy" Channel or whatever it is--Hey, it's Sci-Fi! As in short for SCIENCE FICTION MORONS! I used to love watching the occasional show about the paranormal or cryptozoology, but holy crap, it's nothing but Ghosts and Bigfoot! Non Stop.
And this is what we have left in the absence of PBS:
Hitler-rama History Channel
Constant End of the World programming--everything from the apocalypse to doomsday preppers. I don't know how people get out of bed watching that junk!
BigFoot
UFOs
Ghosts
A thousand and one COPs shows
Guns out the wazoo--nothing personal, but Sons of Guns was enough.
Sure there is some science thrown in there to satisfy some minimal requirement, but on the whole it lacks the depth of NOVA or NATURE or Frontline. It lacks the story, the quality of investigative reporting, and most of all, just the facts.
I love a good story I do, but current television programming sucks the big one with the exception of PBS.
Which brings me to the next aspect of this mellow-rant.
Take a look at basic cable, and regular non-cable television programing. If PBS were to go away, programming would be equally split between the big channels and the religious channels.
Without cable you can get at least 3 religious channels plus the big three, and VHS.
With basic no frills cable, you get lots of religious programming, lots of ESPN pages, lots of corporate news [aka MSM] the local channels and shopping channels.
So those would be your choices, paranormal, pseudo-history, shopping, religion, tabloid news, Apocalypse, whatever passes for primetime and/or sports.
If you look at non-PBS children's programming it is not so great, full of snark, and lots of advertising for junk you should never feed your kid, and toys I wouldn't buy my kids. The snark I could handle if it was actually teaching the kids something other than just how to be snarky.
No Between the Lions, No Caillou, No Teletubbies, or Sesame Street or Electric Company. No Science Kid programming. Just bullshit that barely satisfies the requirements for educational programming.
Let's face it, we don't get the good stuff on regular television:
The days of good programming on regular television are over.
If we loose this battle expect other programs to go away too. Basically anything that has been attacked as promoting *Teh Gay! Spongebob for starters. Of course it helps that this cartoon was created by Marine Biologist, so there is also that scary science-y factor as well!
As much as Republicans push the "morality" of the Culture War, I think that really they like the current spate of reality television programming that delivers nothing to the public in terms of information we can use.
Who would they rather us watch before going to vote or attending a town meeting?
Snookie or Frontline?
American Idol or NOVA?
Bad paranormal programming or hard hitting investigative journalism?
Would they rather you listened to Flush or Talk of the Nation?
The attack on Americorps appears to be more of the same:
Each year, AmeriCorps offers 75,000 opportunities for adults of all ages and backgrounds to serve through a network of partnerships with local and national nonprofit groups. Whether your service makes a community safer, gives a child a second chance, or helps protect the environment, you’ll be getting things done through AmeriCorps!
Helping children? Protecting the Environment? Get a rope!
NPR is in the same boat. It's like PBS for the radio. Not only do they offend with artsy-fartsy programs like This American Life and Radio Lab, but they also have science programing: Talk of the Nation Science Friday with Ira Flato!
The attacks on these programs and institutions is all about controlling the flow of information to the people.
Information is power.
And not only do these programs provide information, but they also provide a sense of community. Something that is a direct threat to the purveyors of the culture war. It's one thing to attack isolated minorities, it's another thing entirely to take on coherent communities comprised of people who have their own shared identities.
The irony is that the GOP will try and make it sound as if Liberals are getting a good deal with this programing, that receives some funding from the government/tax dollars, after all the programming in question doesn't follow the Faux News format. They always seem to forget that the flip side of that coin is Faith Based Initiatives, because that has certainly been a sweetheart deal for the religious extremists in this country at tax payer's expense.
10:25 AM PT: It just occurred to me, is ALEC behind these pushes to defund NPR and PBS and Americorps, etc., ?