Mr. Fantastic nearly resembled the Human Torch Today... Gah!
Flame On!
This is the battle cry used by none other than the Human Torch, the youngest member of the Fantastic Four, the super-powered Marvel Comics quartet from which Invisiblewoman and I, Mr. Fantastic take our Kossac monikers.
Boy am I pissed off this morning. Invisblewoman (IW) and I have started our day at our local coffee shop, the glorious Java Cat, a LGBT-owned business here on the shore of Lake Mendota in Madison WI. If ever you get to zany, Madtown...stop on in. Anyhoo...
After settling in with our beverages and gelatos...I popped open my laptop and started sifting through the news of the day (Yay, Greek voters!), but found something that very nearly caused me to suffer rage-based spontaneous human combustion. Check it out after the artsy squiggle, sometimes called the fold.
Mr. Fantastic is a rather gentle soul, both in the comics and in context of your pal here on Kos. In fact, and ironically enough, were you to set me ablaze... I would most likely stop, drop and roll, slowly get up, dust myself off and offer you counseling. Nothing short of reminding me of the assorted horrors of Act 10 and immediately placing me in a cage with Scott Walker (with no witnesses...ahem) would cause me to lose my cool.
However, the Washington Post this morning has an opinion piece written by Kathleen Parker (NO relation to Peter Parker...aka Spiderman, TYVM) entitled "The unexpected rise of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump". Yes, this nitwit has deigned to lump Bernie and the Donald TOGETHER! While I flat-out refuse to link you to this piece of unparalleled, unbecoming and unmitigated drivel, allow me to share a lowlight or two.
Seeing the title of this hit piece drove my blood pressure to heights more commonly associated with forced out-of-body experiences, it was the content of the copy which really induced a fit of arterial havoc, if not complete apoplexy! Says the hack, er... author,
"Sanders, a socialist running on a platform that should send shivers up the spines of most Americans, drew his largest crowd of the season — nearly 10,000 — in Madison, Wis., last Wednesday night. The anti-establishment candidate, who wants to break up big banks and redistribute wealth, makes President Obama (and Clinton) look like robber barons by comparison."
Let's pretend for a minute that not every damned article about Sanders, or one that that simply MENTIONS the profoundly humble and plain-spoken Senator, never fails to call him a socialist. The notion that his platform is something to be feared, and through implication is as wrong-minded as Trumps racist ramblings...is a form of stupidity so great, that if it had mass, the singularity would swallow the earth with more efficiency than Galactus ever could!
"I wish I were as ruthless as Kathleen Parker..."
The follow-up statement, though just as painfully insipid, is wrong on so many levels it surpasses banality and lands squarely in the category of the absurd where it puts up its feet and says, "Yeah, I'm back... got any pretzels?!"
Anti-establishment? Check. Comparison designed to make Hillary the candidate of reason? Check again. Not only would Bernie's platform, if implemented, serve to SERVE the long-term interests of ALL of us (the establishment included... it's hard to profit from a nearly lifeless planet with a destitute population, ya know), but to quote the man himself, "in my view", the notion that Bernie would make Obama and his ilk look like robber barons comparatively is not something to be afraid of. Frankly it would mean the US finally got it's mojo back.
So there it was. The moment that nearly caused me to burst into flames. Were it not for my own ability to talk myself down from the heights of Mt. Conniption, they would STILL be picking up bits o' Mr. Fantastic off the walls. End of rant. Please take a moment to sit silently for a moment sometime today, and sent Bernie a though based in goodwill and appreciation. He prolly needs THAT as much as he does your donations right now, given the negativity that his meteoric rise has engendered.
"Excuse me. This is your serenity speaking. Simmer down, will ya?"