Tag Archives: Lyndon Johnson

August 13, 2011 · 9:42 pm

Slick Rick’s Dick Trick

Really, I just like the rhyming headline.  I’m not bothered that Governor Goodhair, the guy who refuses stimulus funds and then complains that the government aid isn’t coming fast enough when his entire state catches fire, the man whose solution to a

Two things Perry really, really loves: Guns and Jesus

drought is to  pray  for rain, the man who actually, seriously suggested that Texas secede from the Union because, by golly, he just hates President Obama that much, jumped into the Republican race between the Iowa Republican candidates debate and the Ames straw poll, stealing the headlines for himself.  That was expected, that’s just politics and it was actually pretty good timing.

But I do object to Rick Perry.  After his massive prayer rally last week, it’s clear that he’s running as “the Christian candidate” and in order to take that title away from madwoman Michele Bachmann, who married her husband (Marcus “pray the gay away” Bachmann) based on a vision from God, he will have to be pretty fanatically Christian indeed.  In 2008 it was flag pins, in 2012 it will be about who  is wearing the biggest cross.  Keep it in church, people.  Religion and politics are not a good mix.

There are several other things I object to about Perry, but I’ll focus on  one.  He is the governor of  Texas.  Now, I hope that doesn’t sound too bigoted.  I know many fine people from Texas (Hi, Kelly! Hi, Gary! Hi, Megan!) but, seriously, the place is a shithole.  They are at, or near, the bottom in all sorts of important stats.  High school dropouts, people below the poverty line, number of people without health insurance, stuff like that.  Perry hasn’t exactly turned that around.  He’s just carried on in the Texas tradition, taking great pride in the fact that they  are number one in number of prisoners executed.

America has suffered enough from it’s Texan presidents:  Lyndon Johnson and the two Bushes.  Now, I know a lot of Democrats love Lyndon for civil rights and the Great Society and I will hand it to him – he was not a racist.  He was a totally unprincipled, power mad politician, a greedy, corrupt warmonger who caused the deaths of millions, but he was not a racist.

Also, some people would point out that the Bushes were both faux Texans.  Bullshit.  They were both elected to political office in Texas before they became President, they both claimed to be from Texas even if they were, spiritually, east coast elitists, and the voters of Texas accepted them.

I’m not saying it is impossible for a good politician to come out of  Texas.  Anne Richards would have probably made a great president.  But Rick Perry is no Anne Richards.  He is very clearly in the George W. Bush mold.

And that is something we really shouldn’t have to  go through again.

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June 3, 2011 · 9:20 pm

11 Words

The so called Pentagon Papers (officially called “United States-Vietnam Relations, 1945-1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense) was the Wikileaks of 1971.  Daniel Ellsberg was Bradley Manning, with the difference that he did get a trial, and was never kept in solitary

The 2nd Most Evil President From Texas Ever

confinement without visitors and forced to stand naked in front of the prison guards.

He got off on a technicality, which is a nice way of ending these things.  Parts of the study were printed in the New York Times in 1971, back when the New York Times was a reputable newspaper, and not just the print section of the propaganda department of the military industrial complex.

The papers proved that LBJ, among others, was lying his ass off about the war and had been for a very long time.  They also proved that JFK, Eisenhower and Truman had been less than honest about what was going on over there but, really, Johnson’s the one who picked up the ball and ran with it.

Now, the Pentagon Papers have been officially declassified, with the exception of just 11 words.  This leaves me with a few questions.  Firstly, what’s the point?  They’ve already been published.  It is like putting on a condom after you’ve just finished having sex.

Secondly, from 1971 to 2011 is 40 years.  Why does it take 40 years to get information out?  McNamara (who commissioned the report) is dead, may he rot in hell, Lyndon Johnson is dead, may he rot in hell, Henry Kissinger is old and irrelevant.  It might be nice to see him face war crimes trials, but I’m not holding my breath.  We have a whole new generation of war criminals we aren’t prosecuting, so why worry about him?

What will we learn in 40 years about the invasion of Iraq, about the election of 2000, about 9/11?  By that time, nobody will care any more.  For all the cries of “Never forget!”, most folks have already pretty much forgotten.

But my 3rd question, and by far the most fun to speculate on, is what are those 11 words which are so super sensitive they are still being kept secret?  Perhaps:

We’re the government.  We can do whatever the fuck we want.

Sure, we killed Jack Kennedy.  You gonna do something about it?

We don’t  care if we win.  Permanent war is the object.

I love the smell of napalm in the morning.  Doesn’t everybody?

I hope nobody ever reads this, or our asses are toast.

The possibilities are endless.

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