So Republicans are upset about the deficit? Sure they are.

Or as Claude Rains (Captain Renault) said to Rick in Casablanca --

"I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!"

I may be wrong in attributing the policy to Grover Quisling, but it was created back in the early Reagan era -- and said, in short (I paraphrase):

"Just piss the money away as fast as we can -- say it's for National Security. And when we're waay in the hole, we can turn to the liberals and say: 'We'd really like to provide health care but we don't have any money left."

A planned spoken -- even published -- policy?
Really? Remember Star Wars? (The missile defense program not the movie.)

That was 1980. From 1981 through 1993, money poured out of the treasury like blood in a Quentin Tarantino movie.

And then from 1993 through 2001, in the Clinton administration, Young Bill balanced the budget, over and over again, digging our national way out of debt, bit by bit. And they hated him for undermining their Nova Mob Policy (i.e., Wm Burroughs, Nova Express just agitate and steal until it all explodes and move on to the next exploitable planet)

And then, it took another Bush-leaguer to finish the job... from 2001 to 2009, Frat Boy and his evil puppet master plundered every last goddamn cent we had or could ever expect to have. Most of it (many many MANY billions) went to Puppet Master's pals at Halliburton, those pals who had paid him so well just before he took office.

Quid pro motherfucking quo.

You know, China does NOT have the most wonderful government in the world, not by a long shot, but they do know how to do some things --- one of them is that crimes against the economy are rewarded with the death penalty.

Hang 'em high.

Ahh, we can dream ... in mine, they're all strung up and made into a giant Calder-esque mobile, hanging from their necks, rotating slowly in a light breeze, and -- finally -- doing something positive by providing revenue for the government:

Hit the dead bastard in the face
with a fresh road apple -- only $25.00!

Last take on the terror behind Rick Perry's eyes

Forget the speculative stuff posted below --- the important thing was that he was obviously terrified when looking into the camera on the remote interview with Hannity, and wondering what that was about. (Unless it was being horrified that his dream of being president had led to this -- having to actually stand and talk to Hannity.)

So guessing at what is it? Gay? Pederasty? Playing clarinet? All irrelevant...

Thursday's debate made it clear -- it was the horrifying realization that it was all slipping away from him, that he just wasn't smart enough to play in the big leagues. Maybe not smart enough to know it was BECAUSE he wasn't smart enough, but he could see it all turn to sand and drift between his fingers.

Following his denunciation of Obama's "appeasement" and betrayal of Israel answered by Netanyahu himself saying, essentially, "Hey cowboy -- you're full of crap," the debate made it clear -- not just falling short of the nomination -- waay short with even Michelle Bachmann showing him up, but losing it all in Texas.

It's not about him being stupid. As I said before, Texans are tough and and often harsh, kicking ass whenever, but they don't diss dummies.

They DO, however, piss on losers.

And Jimmy Dick Perry's future as a loser was being revealed to him, as if the veil was drawn back and a giant middle finger was being flipped at him, accompanied by the cosmic laugh deriding him, personally, laughing and saying: "Shoulda left well enough alone, cowboy. You knew you shouldn't run last year, said it right out loud. But you didn't pay attention to your own better judgment. Can't say you weren't warned --- by yourself."

That was the terror -- seeing that he'd overreached and lost it all.

As my father used to say sarcastically about such as he:

"And it couldn't happen to a nicer guy."

UP AND DOWN THE LADDER OF ABSTRACTION --- Not exactly Korzybski or Hayakawa, but wottehell, boss...

Rationalizations and Excuses

UP THE LADDER

Adam says:

"Eve shouldn't have been allowed to show me the fruit."

Eve says:

"The serpent shouldn't have been allowed to tell me what the fruit actually does."

The serpent says:

"Didn't someone say something about TRUTH around here? Something about CHOICE? Doesn't the public have a right to know?"

God says:

"Some things affect garden security too much to discuss and need to be classified."

****************************

DOWN THE LADDER

God says:

"I've got a universe to run here and it doesn't help to have you people running off at the mouth and whining: 'I don't like ticks... I don't like plague... I don't like mucus and crib death and hemorrhoids...'

"You people can't do my career any good anyway. You can only hurt me by questioning my perfection and giving aid and comfort to the enemy. We've got a war going on here, between heaven and hell, and we need solidarity. Now is not the time to criticize. Trust me. I know what I'm doing."

The serpent says:

"This war between heaven and hell has been going on since the beginning of time and we've been getting the same story all along, 'Trust me, I work in mysterious ways. I'm the good guy.' We've heard it. It sucks. The information is only classified to cover up payoffs and theft and blunders. The enemy knows all that stuff. We're the only ones who aren't supposed to find out.

Eve says:

"Everyone's getting hurt by this war. Win or lose, nothing's going to be left. It's not about heaven or hell -- it's about who's got the big one... That's all you care about.

Adam says:

We don't need a heaven or a hell. The price is waay too high. I think it's a racket, so take my name off your sucker list and don't call me again.

************

Korzybski -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Korzybski

Korzybski and others -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-7gZkPoeMY

S. I. Hayakawa -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._I._Hayakawa

Ladder of Abstraction -- http://www.vhstigers.org/ourpages/auto/2006/6/20/1150832524918/0%20Hayakawa_s%20Ladder%20of%20Abstractions.pdf

Clarification of the Hannity-Perry posting below:

I don't care if Rick Perry is gay or Martian -- as far as I'm concerned, he is, in the words of the vastly underappreciated Robert Gover:

"The lowest form of humanity -- a yahoo."

The points -- which I wasn't including or making clear late at night -- were (or should have been):

1. The look of terror some people get when facing a TV camera, which I have found through experience (having to reassure non-actors that it isn't a mind x-ray) to be "What if it can see inside my head?" "What if it can see my real thoughts?"

2. The look of shame... wondering wottinhell could this guy be ashamed of?

3. My mistake of only looking at him in terms of his Texas constituency where it could likely be about gayness, whether the rumors had some basis in fact or not (either BEING gay or dealing with baseless rumors about that could be political death with HIS people in Texas.) But in context of looking into a national audience lens, it could reflect fear of something that's OK with Texans being seen by THEM (i.e., Americans), like being a Dominionist or pissing against the wall out behind the ice house, or whatever.

4. But all that radiating paranoia, a la Richard Nixon, tells people "He's Hiding SOMETHING! What could it be?" And that body-builder armoring makes those of us who jump to conclusions from superficial things, think "Gay?" (Or no, no,no, NOT gay... EXCEPT for that time in the locker room...)

5. The point being that big strong tough guy ass-kicking Texan was terrified of SOMETHING, and I, like so many journal-esque bloggers, like to write fiction.*

6. The underlying scare-factor MAY be related to the danger of OVERREACHING, a sickness running through the Republican party like flu season this past year -- overreaching puts the overreacher in danger, i.e., the current congressional Republicans' overconfident intransigence may actually cost them their majority in the next election and for some time to come -- if Perry does the Rumplestiltskin he sneeringly resembles and fails in his national bid, he'll lose his Texas base in the process.

Hemingway with his guns and macho is relevant and was apt on this point -- I may be mistaken but as I recall, in Old Man and the Sea there was an exchange that went: "What defeated you?" "I went out too far." and also -- "A man can be destroyed but not defeated."

Reaching for the big prize and failing can cost him everything he has. Because the bright light can show the world what he actually is. And as I made clear -- I think he's a vicious subhuman low rent thug whose political career is all fake smiles, nasty threats, intimidation, and stealing public money to pay off his pals. And if he disappears into the mist and drowns in the swamp with all the others like him, good riddance.

*************
* A writing instructor once told me: "The truths of fiction are more important than the truths of history. And if I felt differently, I'd be an historian."

And I would like to point out that journalists, historians, politicians, et al deal in (we can only hope) FACTS -- and that's not the same as truth even if they call it that.
Those who say they deal in TRUTH -- priests, imams, ministers, rabbis, et al -- they sell OPINIONS --- TRUTH? They don't even do facts. So much for today's moment of sacrilege.
------------
Links

The Kitten Trilogy

Robert Gover (http://robert-gover.blogspot.com/)

Robert Gover http://astrologersroundtable.blogspot.com/2010/12/jupiteruranus-awakening-and-wikileaks.html

Robert Gover - Biography

I swear, it was an accident -- I have never watched Hannity

I was channel surfing and stopped when I saw James Richard Perry staring straight ahead, being interviewed -- if one can call it that -- by this weird looking talking head with bad hair.

His name was Hannity --- oh, him -- I've heard of him, but that wasn't what caught me, and Hannity wasn't quite repugnant enough to make me keep on moving this time as I always have when seeing that face in the channel surf.

Jimmy Dick was fascinating to see.
He wasn't there in person, but on remote, and was staring straight into the camera.
Weird expression, but one I'd seen before.
I used to produce local tv shows.
Regular people, not actors.

He was afraid.

He was afraid the camera could see behind his smiling mask, could see some secret that no one was allowed to see.

He wasn't in the same room where he could use his big boy body energy to override. And he wasn't used to that.

Being on tv, oh yes, he was used to that.
But being on tv and being asked questions about who he was when he couldn't play the questioner -- no.

Danger.

He was covering something that was really shameful -- shameful to him, anyway.
Nothing outlaw -- he's Texan.
Nothing like hookers or strippers or gambling or drugs ..
those wouldn't need anything more than that great big smile and a "We-e-ellll, you know."

Getting D's and F's at A&M?
Hey -- being dumb as a dead snake is ok in Texas.
Lots of really smart people there -- I lived there, worked there, met them, worked with them -- some of smartest people I've ever met -- worked there -- got to know the way things worked, guys are tough, but there's a decency in the code -- and they don't mistreat dummies.

Killing someone?
Hell, he's got 237 notches on his belt -- what's one or two more, done personally?
He wouldn't want that out there, but it wouldn't make him ashamed.

It's about what might be shameful to him, shameful in the eyes of the men he pushes around.

And like Nixon, who projected waves of paranoia, dark deeds covered up with scowls and gravitas, Jimmy Dick covers up the shameful whatever it is with Good Ole Boy smiles and shoulder slaps. And all that just makes people want to know -- "Hey! What's he trying to cover up?"

My guess -- gay.

I'm not nearly the first person to look at the bodybuilder's chest and shoulders, the controlled posture, all the smiling and nodding at other candidates during debate, almost as if he spoke no English but wanted to be friendly.
Giving the big smile and the thumbs up.

And once that possibility crosses the mind "I wonder -- is he gay?" -- it settles in and become more than just a possibility -- becomes perceived reality.
The mind becomes Nancy Grace ... Clothes, posture, hair, etc... yeah, it all fits, and fantasy supplants reality.

Politics is about mythic image.*

History is driven by mythology, and the great poet Charles Olson pointed out that mythology is "that which is said about that which is said."

(What does that mean? In other words, it didn't matter what Nixon did, and it didn't matter what he said -- "I'm not a crook" -- what moved history was what people said about what he said.)

So it doesn't matter what Jimmy Dick really is -- gay or straight.
And it doesn't matter that some people -- like me tonight -- say "I think he's in the closet."

What will happen with him depends on what people say about statements like that one, doesn't matter if it's a real fact or not. And it's kind of poetic, that his career may be affected by statements that are total fantasy. Like the ones he makes.

*****************

* Nixon looked like the guy in western movies who ran the bank and stole land from widows and orphans. Daniel Ellsberg looked like a hero, like the hero he was. Nixon's fall was predictable and inevitable.

An interesting quote triggers a thought

Said/written by the wonderful Dorothy Parker:

“If you want to see what God thinks of money,

just look at all the people He gave it to.”

And as this ominously interminable election season cranks up, I've noticed many of the most egregious assholes, those who spin out their tired theories and cobweb covered platitudes on the sacred nature of wealth, on the importance of the money game they play -- one in which there will never never never be any risk of loss, that anti-socialist game they so laughingly call free-market capitalism, that the government can ONLY be allowed to interfere in most private aspects of the lives of the people who aren't them, but never never never interfere in their ways of light-fingering loot from working people or bribes from their bagmen, the ones they call "Campaign contributions"... and etc...

Noticing how many of them got their wealth by inheritance from someone whose criminal tactics now are so far past the statute of limitations they're covered with the dust of sanctity...

In other word, rich assholes who love to call themselves "self-made men." *

GHW Bush who built his own wealth by "borrowing $50,000 from my uncle to start a business," completely oblivious to the fact that in 1952, the number of people who had relatives with a liquid $50K could be counted on the arrogant middle finger of one hand.

The Koch Brothers, whose only work is to buy changes in state laws to protect the money their daddy left for them.

Willard Romney, Jon Huntsman, et al ... **

All of them arrogant about how all them thar boobs out thar need to work hard hard hard to get money.
All of them arrogant about the hard work it takes to acquire wealth.
All of them arrogant as they pretend they can even imagine what it takes to start from scratch.

And another quote from the 30's comes to mind, this one from H.L. Mencken:

"Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats."

------------------

* Same principal here as with all those Rec Room Patriots who were just too fucking precious to do military service (even when there was a universal draft -- i.e., universal in the sense that ALL the poor and dark-skinned kids had to go if called up) -- but who are so well known for those salivary flecks that spray while they scream -- frothing at the mouth -- that the country's survival depends on going to war RIGHT NOW! (Survival meaning they get to keep their wealth by paying off THEIR masters with the blood and bodies of the ones who wear the uniform -- See Smedley Butler's War is a Racket).
Lots of people call them chickenhawks, but I tend to still think of that term as specifically applicable to pederasts. Because even though the political clowns who send people to go and kill and die to cover up their payoffs and political posturing are fucking them, it's the metaphorical use of the word to describe a different kind of sexual sickness, as in fucking-them-over. (Wilhelm Reich)

**Yes, of course I left out Bush Junior, thought it too obvious, but when making lists...