It's easy, as 2016 comes to a bittersweet end, to be a bit pessimistic about our future, both as individuals and as a nation. We've just elected a cretin who has not the the intelligence, temperament, experience, or humanity for the job to be our next President. Democrats lost an imminently winnable chance to regain control of the Senate. It's possible that a foreign country, Russia, directly interfered in our election and our national media is too happy with its Trump ratings to care much, and republicans, assholes that they are, are fucking proud of it. We're about to say goodbye to arguably one of the five greatest Presidents this nation has ever seen, a man of integrity, compassion, and wit who bailed this nation out (Thank you, President Obama) in one of its darkest hours who will now have to sit idly by and watch his tremendous legacy be left in tatters. Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Food Stamps, and many other of our social safety net programs may be torn asunder as republicans give away even more of our country to the wealthy, who already have so much more than many of them deserve. The rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer...
And yet...and yet...
Much like It's a Wonderful Lifethere is every bit as much of a chance that the calamity before us will bring out the best in all of us. Donald Trump could very well turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to the Democratic Party. After he's done giving even more to those who have more than enough, maybe more and more Americans will wake up to the fact that so many of the wealthy really aren't that bright and really don't give two shits about the rest of us. And that, while government has its faults, the problem is really a greedy and hedonistic Corporate America. And it's entirely possible in four years that we could flip a few thousand votes in a handful of states and take back all three branches of our government, and be the ones who really drain the swamp, and make America once again a nation that works best for its poor, its working class, and its middle class.
Shortly before my father died, as he was in the final throes of lung cancer, I was going through a difficult period in my life, and being the clueless asshole I was, I was complaining to my father, he with the puffy jowls and peach fuzz gray hair atop his shiny head from chemotherapy and a few mere months to live, about how hopeless it all seemed. And my father, a man who was never much like me, a staunch republican and a man who saw the world in black and white, but always loved me anyway, gave me his final gift, when he said to me, "Never stop believing that one man can make a difference."
I intend to spend the next year proving that I haven't stopped believing.
And as the song says, maybe eventually "...We'll take a cup of kindness yet/For auld lang syne..."
Fuck Donald Trump,
And have a Happy New Year,
emaycee
In a somewhat fitting end to 2016 here on FNJ, we're featuring a tune about a world weary man who's questioning just what the fuck it is that he's witnessed so far in this goofy old world--and much like most of us heading into 2017, the song ends with much uncertainty and no easy resolution.
Happy fucking New Year!
Jackson Browne was part of the vaunted L.A. music scene of the 70's, joining with the likes of Joni Mitchell, The Eagles, Crosby, Stills, and Nash, Linda Ronstadt, and Warren Zevon to form a veritable Who's Who of 70's pop. Browne went on to somewhat quietly put together a hell of a career--selling 18 million albums, having a couple of top ten singles, a number one album, and being inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriter's Hall of Fame. Along the way, Browne also released one of the most novel albums ever--1977's Running on Emptyis a collection of all new material that was recorded while on tour: in hotel rooms, on the tour bus, and in concert (it's really a hell of a record, too). Sadly, Browne's life has not been without tragedy--his first wife committed suicide less than a year after their marriage, leaving Browne to raise their two-year-old son alone. But Browne, in his own understated way, has persevered.
Browne is also known as a political activist (especially when it comes to the environment and nuclear power) and is a long time supporter of the Democratic Party and its causes. Bravo, Mr. Browne!
Released on his aptly titled debut LP, Jackson Browne, in 1972 , "Doctor My Eyes" would become the first hit single of Browne's career, reaching #8 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100. Only twenty-four when he wrote it, the song shows both a subtlety and a worldly wise weariness beyond his years. Oddly, though the song is pessimistic by nature, it is somewhat musically upbeat, featuring a jaunty piano and some dandy guitar work that compliments the piano well. Browne's vocals are subdued (as, truthfully, they are in much of his work) but earnest, and while such a style wouldn't work for say, Bruce Springsteen, it suits Browne and "Doctor My Eyes" well. In the end, it's another song that sounds just as good every time I hear it today as it did every time I heard it when I was still a teenager--though its context, like me, has changed greatly over the years.
Liner notes: "People go just where they will/I never noticed them until I got this feeling/That it's later than it seems...."
As we near the end of a not particularly good year (Hillary, Hillary, Hillary...and the Senate, too and that's not even counting the personal ups and downs), we're featuring a song about a not particularly good year but one in which, like 2016, there is still "reason to believe maybe this year will be better than the last." Plus we're like two days from Christmas--gotta offer something hopeful....
Counting Crows were formed in Berkley, CA in 1991 by songwriter and pianist Adam Duritz and guitarist David Bryson (the only two constants in the band's 25 years, though several members have been around for most of the ride). While they've had a good deal of success with their studio releases, most of it came very early in their career and they've only released 7 studio albums in that time (with sales of over 20 million and counting). Counting Crows are known for their live performances, and have toured virtually constantly since their formation. There's not a lot of glory there (though they have been nominated for an Academy Award for best song, "Accidentally in Love" from Shrek 2, which, truth be told, is not one of their better efforts), but if they're still selling records and performing this far down the road, they most certainly must have done something right. And I have to admit that though they'd never make my top twenty-five favorite bands, I've always had a bit of a sneaking kindness for them and enjoy listening to their greatest hits now and again and again.
While "Mr. Jones" is by far and away their best known and most played song (and a fine tune it is), there's a subtle beauty to the way Duritz melds sorrow to hope in "A Long December" (released in 1996 on their Recovering the Satellites LP--reached #6, with a bullet!on the Billboard Hot 100). Duritz has said the song is about a particularly difficult time in his life, when a friend was seriously injured after being hit by a car combined with the stress of trying to make another hit album after the success of their debut, but I've always thought the song epitomized the existential juxtaposition of finding that sliver of hope while still in the throes of depression. There's a wonderful line in the song where Duritz sings "...And the feeling that it's all a lot of oysters but no pearls/All at once you look across a crowded room/To see the way that light attaches to a girl..." and in those three lines are all the hope and possibility you need. The song is driven by a catchy and stark piano, some seriously honest vocals by Duritz, a nice, though uncomplicated, guitar solo midway through, and closes with a minute or so of "Da da da das" which are interspersed nicely with some well-timed "yeahs."
Ain't it the truth, dept.: "...It's been so long since I've seen the ocean...I guess I should..."
Enjoy:
Fuck Donald Trump,
But have a happy holiday anyway...
emaycee
While I'm one of the few Liberals/Democrats/Progressives who was not disappointed by yesterday's Electoral College charade (I think choosing Hillary Clinton would have set a dangerous precedent, and don't forget that in 2004 had 80,000 voters flipped in Ohio that John Kerry--mercifully--would have been President despite losing the popular vote by better than 3 million votes)--though it might have been fun to watch millions of republicans' heads implode--I still think we are in extremely dangerous times and are being led by a man whose grasp on reality is tenuous at best. To wit:
Alex Jones, the batshit insane right wing radio host, this week said that Hillary Clinton has personally murdered, chopped up, and raped children. And while you're digesting that utter lunacy, keep in mind that after his electoral college victory, Trump personally called and thanked Jones and vowed to reappear on his radio show.
I'm not sure if I should be completely embarrassed to have such an idiot as our leader or utterly terrified that such an idiot has his finger on the nuclear trigger.
Either way, it's going to be a very fucking long four years.
In his continuing effort to sell out our institutions and the very souls of America's citizens to Corporate America, Donald Trump has chosen Andrew Puzder, CEO of exquisite cuisine providers Hardee's and Carl's Jr., to be the Secretary of Labor. For those not familiar, Puzder is a man who:
Vehemently opposes the Fight for $15
Wants to repeal Obamacare, which is the only way the folks who keep his restaurants in business can afford healthcare
Opposes the Obama administrations new overtime rule because in some alternate universe his "managers" would prefer to have a job title rather than the income
Oversaw a chain in which 60 percent of their restaurants have been found to be in violation of labor standards
Has zero governmental experience
On the bright side, though, we're one step closer to the torches and pitchforks going medieval on the rich folks asses....
Fans of Friday Night Jukebox (all three of you) may remember that Christmas fell on a Friday last year, and as such, our featured tune was "Christmas in Prison" by one John Prine. And where I noted that song was one of the most hopeful songs I'd ever heard, this week's tune, "Sam Stone," is one of the saddest. In fact, in 2008 it was voted #8 in a Rolling Stone poll of the ten saddest songs of all-time.
Merry Christmas!
Anyhoo, since we've already done the half-assed John Prine bio. we can do a condensed version for those not familiar. Discovered in 1971 by Kris Kristofferson, Prine has been recording and touring now for forty-five years, has never had an album chart higher than #55, has no Billboard Hot 100 singles, and has remained one of music's truly great unknown talents and songwriters to most of the general public. Still, he has won a Grammy Award for best folks album (The Missing Years), andcounts Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Roger Waters, and the aforementioned Kristofferson (among many, many others) as fellow artists who consider him one of the best songwriters in American folk music history.
Released in 1971 on his aptly titled debut LP, John Prine (#452 on Rolling Stone's Five Hundred Greatest Albums of All-Time), "Sam Stone" is the tale of a war veteran (though it's never mentioned specifically, due to the date of release it's popularly assumed that Sam Stone fought in Vietnam) who comes home with a significant drug addiction (again, not noted but assumed to be heroin). Prine chronicles his and his family's struggles with as much compassion as you'll ever hear in a pop song, and has as memorable of a chorus as you'll ever remember, especially the first two lines: "There's a hole in Daddy's arm where all the money goes/Jesus Christ died for nothin' I suppose...." Complimented by a funereal organ (either a church or a funeral home, you decide), a lightly picked acoustic guitar, and Prine's gift for turning a phrase, "Sam Stone" takes us though Stone's crumbling life, and unlike most songs, there is no happy ending or moral to the story: Stone O.D.s alone and his family is left to trade his house for his burial. It's a vivid portrait, sung with empathy but not pity, and a fine addition as song #103 on this musical journey.
Lyric sheet (this is one of my favorite lines ever written, not just musically, but in every form the written word has ever taken): "Sam Stone was alone/When he popped his last balloon/Climbing walls while sitting in a chair...."
The second most important story in America right now (the first being the Vladimir Putin lead Russian hacks that influenced our election) is what's happening in North Carolina--where the republican party is working overtime to pass legislation to usurp the will of the people by stripping powers from the newly elected Governor (Roy Cooper--who just happens to be a Democrat) and the State Supreme Court (which the Democrats just happened to win the majority in last November's election), and giving said powers to the republican controlled legislature and republican controlled lower courts.
As if it's not bad enough that republicans are more than happy to let a foreign nation dictate our elections, they are now willing to overturn the will of the voting public in their never ending grab for power.
I say this without the slightest hint of hyperbole--these actions are the most un-American, unpatriotic, and treasonous we've seen since Benedict Arnold sold his soul to the Redcoats.
I'm with this guy--despite the peace sign above, anyone who thinks we're going to win the soul of America by holding hands and singing "Kumbaya" while planting a tree is seriously deluding himself. It's time for an all out war with President Oompa Loompa and his republican minions:
Per Kos: Trump is illegitimate so sing it from the rooftops.
Meet our new best friend, Mr. Phil A. Buster. We need to filibuster, filibuster, and filibuster some more until republicans nuke it (likely) or quit (not)--and if they nuke it, then they own every shit piece of legislation they ram through.
What this guy says: Maryland congressman Jamie Raskin, "We're not letting any prepped-out Harvard Business School neo-Nazi strategize us into becoming Germany 1933 and we will not let a cabinet of robber barons and white nationalists destroy everything the civilizing movements of the last century created." More candidates like this for us, please!
Hold Democrats feet to the fire--when Chuck Schumer tells republicans to make our day by attacking Medicare make certain that he's not only talking the talk, but walking the walk, too.
In the words of Thunderclap Newman,
Hand out the arms and ammo
We're going to blast our way through here
We've got to get together sooner or later
Because the revolution's here, and you know it's right
And you know that it's right...
Barring a drastic change of heart from the American people, Donald Trump will enter office next month as the most unpopular President-elect in history. As of this month, Trump's unfavorable rating is at 58 percent; his favorable rating is at a paltry 37%. Which leaves him at a negative 21--ratings that are just slightly north of the favorability rating of the guy who farted on the crowded elevator, vis a vis his fellow passengers.
And since a solid majority of Americans are opposed to Donald Trump, it follows that a solid majority of Americans are going to be opposed to his policies as well. Thus our mantra must be oppose everything, oppose everything, and once more with feeling, oppose everything...because it's good politics to give the American people what they want.
And we must remain vigilant in our reminders of just how despised President Oompa Loompa is--contrary to what the national media and republicans (and even some seriously misguided Democrats) would have you believe, Ronald Reagan was not that popular as President. This is a convenient myth to try to justify the ravages of the Reagan devolution. It's taken us a generation to repair that damage--no sense in wasting another generation on another bozo.
Out attitude toward President Oompa Loopa should be, in the words of Bob Dylan, "...You're an idiot babe/It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe...."
Over the course of the next four years, we need to continually call out the bigotry of the republican party and President Oompa Loompa. From voter suppression to white nationalists to neo-Nazis like Steve Bannon to Donald Trump thanking African-Americans for not turning out to vote (or being prohibited or discouraged by all the hoops they had to jump through) never let the American people, the American media, or Democratic supporters forget that the republican party is a party built on hatred of people merely for the color of their skin.
Period.
In the words of Three Dog Night, "...A child is black, a child is white/The whole world looks upon the sight, a beautiful sight...."
No matter what republicans do--repeal Obamacare, slash Social Security and raise the retirement age, give even more tax breaks to the wealthy, privatize Medicare, fellate Wall Street and Corporate America--it is vital that we make sure that they fucking own it. Democrats have spent the better part of the last ninety years crafting programs and legislation that empowers people and lifts them up. If republicans are intent on dismantling the Social Safety Net and making the rich even richer as part of their survival of the fittest in Dystopia, U.S.A. campaign, then we need to make sure that everyone knows it was republicans who oversaw and caused the ensuing train wreck.
In the words of Bruce Springsteen, "...Wherever this flag's flown/We take care of our own...."
Anybody else out there just a teensy bit curious why Michigan republicans sued to end the election recount because there was no voter fraud but are now trying to pass three voter suppression bills because of voter fraud? Anybody out there just a teensy bit doubtful of the Trump campaign's motive in vociferously denouncing all of the recount efforts? Anybody else wondering exactly what it is the CIA knows about Russian interference in our election that the Trump people are so afraid of the American people knowing about?
In the end, it might just end up being so much bluster (or not) but the questions are real, they're valid, and, as an added bonus, they further serve to de-legitimatize the Trump presidency. In the end, the questions about where President Obama was born or whether or not he was a Muslim proved to be a whole lot of nothing, but it didn't stop the press from covering it and it didn't stop the Obama administration from having to answer questions about them. And we should be more than happy to return the favor.
Welcome to our fucking world, republicans!
Never let anyone forget that Trump got slaughtered in the popular vote and that there are all kinds of doubts about the legitimacy of his electoral college "victory."
In the words of The Call, "...I don't think there are any Russians/And there ain't no Yanks/Just corporate criminals/Playin' with tanks...."
One of the reasons I started Friday Night Jukebox was for songs like this week's tune--songs that weren't hit singles but were often diamonds in the rough (and just as often more enjoyable listening than the actual hits). And while their debut album featured two delightful top twenty singles (" Do It Again" and "Reelin' in the Years"), I also don't think it was an accident that this week's song was the closing piece on said album.
Steely Dan is, more or less, the brainchild and band of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen who are the only two constants in the band since its formation in 1972. Since its first couple of albums, Steely
Dan has used a slew of session musicians to record the nine studio albums they've released over the course of the last 44 years. Their heyday was from 1972 until their breakup in 1981 (during which time they released seven of their albums) and were a constant on AM and FM radio with numerous top 40 hits and a devoted following. They reunited in 1993. Through the years they've won a Grammy Award for album of the year, sold millions of records, and were eventually elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001. And they've always been an oddity for me personally, as their sound, especially as time wore on was heavily influenced by jazz and I've never been much of a devotee of jazz (that's not a denigration--jazz just never moved me the way it moves others).
And it may also explain that, while I've loved several of their LPs, their first is still my favorite, and is by far and away the most pop and rock oriented record of their career. Well, that and the fact that Becker and Fagen have quite the knack for catchy tunes and clever and oh, so subtle lyrics.
If you're a child of the 70's, as am I, you'll know that all the cool kids (or at least those of us who liked to pretend we were cool), knew of and listened regularly to Can't Buy a Thrill (title borrowed from the first line of Dylan's "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry")--the album itself was a trip into Coolsville (and was ranked #238 on Rolling Stone's five hundred best albums of all-time). It's one of those rare albums that has nary a bad tune, several great ones, and none more enjoyable than "Turn That Heartbeat Over Again." It's also notable as the only Steely Dan song where Becker and Fagen traded lead vocals in the same song.
Near as I can tell, the song is an allegory of sorts. featuring chastising vignettes concerning a stick-up man, drug running, and the evils of too much drink, and yet stuffed in between these sad tales, is one of the most hopeful (and catchy) choruses ever which concludes with the plea to "turn that heartbeat over again." I'm not really certain if that heartbeat is the one when you meet that special him or her or the heartbeat when your favorite team wins the World Series or the heartbeat of watching your child be born or grow or even the heartbeat of listening to a really good song, but I'm pretty certain that turning any one of them over again would be a most delightful experience. The song also features a nice instrumental break in the middle with a fine guitar solo from Jeff "Skunk" Baxter. And for those having their doubts, this was one of the first songs I downloaded after the Beautiful Girl brought the wonders of the digital age into our first apartment together, and I happened to notice that after about a month the Beautiful Girl, who didn't know Steely Dan from the Man of Steel, had added "Turn That Heartbeat Over Again" to her favorites....
Liner notes: "Love your mama, love your brother/Love 'em till they run for cover...."
When Liberal stalwart Xavier Becerra announced he was leaving the House of Representatives to become Attorney General of the state of California, there was some head scratching among the Democratic base...until Becerra made it perfectly clear that he was taking the position to act as the first line of defense against President Oompa Loompa and his republican minions. Litigate their legislation, litigate their legislation--just like republican Attorney Generals did to President Obama these past eight years. We can stymie a lot, especially considering that New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has already plenty of experience fucking with republicans and that would give us two of the three most populous states in the union giving a big fuck you to Ooompa and his boys.
In the words of Patti Smith, "...And the people have the power/To redeem the work of fools...."
Three weeks after the election of Hitler, thousands of low wage workers across America struck yet again for the right to unionize, better benefits, and $15 an hour. Hundreds were arrested. And it just goes to show that like the U.S. Postal Service, neither rain nor snow nor heat nor the election of a greedy, worker hating fuckwad can stop good folks from working together for the economic betterment of millions of other good folks.
So fuck their right to work for less laws, fuck their Wall Street Cabinet members, and fuck their fealty to Corporate America: in the words of Woody Guthrie, "...Oh, you can't scare me, I'm sticking to the union/I'm sticking to the union, till the day I die...."
As advocated by Markos Moulitsas, we block everything and legitimize nothing--every cabinet member, every policy, every budget, every bill enacted, every proposal. God knows it didn't hurt republicans to stop the will of the American people.
Just because we lost doesn't mean we're wrong about the best way forward for America.
And in the words to Chumbawamba, "I get knocked down/But I get up again/You're never gonna keep me down...."
Politeness and acquiescence are history. Know a Trump voter? Then you know a racist, a misogynist, and a homophobe--friend, family, boss, no matter. End of story. Don't let the comment or aside slide--speak your piece. It's as patriotic as you can get.
This short video from Tess Rafferty really says it all (transcript here for those of you who are like me and read better than you watch):
In the words of Helen Reddy, "I am woman, hear me roar...."
Per Elizabeth Warren, never lose sight--and never let anyone forget-- of the fact that we won the most votes for the President and the Senate and we have a mandate to oppose Trump. His election was a fluke and our Senate candidates garnered 7 million more votes than republican candidates. Democrats have been sent back to Washington to fight for the policies and programs that a majority of Americans want,
And in the words of Billy Bragg, remember that "The Revolution is just a t-shirt away..."
On the second day of Christmas (we're not counting Fridays...):
Per Charles M. Blow of The New York Times, under no circumstances do we forget how Trump ran his campaign, his words and deeds, his threats, his bigotry, his misogyny, his hatred for women, ad infinitum. He may be President, but that doesn't mean we have to kiss and make up. He is not a good man, he is not a good role model for our children, and he should be treated with disdain at every turn.
For those not familiar, every year on March 1st, school children in Illinois are the only ones in the nation to get the school day off--for Casimir Pulaski Day. Also for those not familiar, Casimir Pulaski was a Polish born Revolutionary War hero (he's known as one of the fathers of the American cavalry) who died in battle in 1779. And finally for those not familiar, Casimir Pulaski Day was basically a sop to Chicago's large Polish population. Nothing wrong with that--my two oldest children had twelve March 1st's off from school each and, surprisingly enough, I never once heard either of them complain about it.
And on to Sufjan Stevens...sort of. Near as I can tell, Stevens's career has been nothing if not eclectic and esoteric (add in ethereal and you have my three favorite words beginning with the letter "E"), and not terribly interesting (truth be told I only made it about halfway through his Wikipedia entry--it was truly that boring). Suffice it to say, he's been around since 1999, has released 7 studio albums, tours fairly regularly, and if he had never released Come on Feel the Illinoise (which is actually called Illinoiswith the subtitle Sufjan Stevens Invites You to Come on Feel the Illinoise but I call it Come on Feel the Illinoise because I like the play on words with the Slade/Quiet Riot song "Cum on Feel the Noize" even if it isn't a particularly good song) there's about zero chance he would have ended up on Friday Night Jukebox.
As can be said for several other artists who have appeared in the first 100 posts.
Having lived in Illinois for nineteen years, Illinois (released in 2005) hits home in ways that it might not for many who never lived there--I think the only two people I know who have ever heard of Stevens or the album are my two oldest kids, who spent the majority of those nineteen years with me in the Land of Lincoln. The album is by far and away Stevens's biggest hit, and it sold a whopping 300,000 copies, which in fairness, is 300,000 more copies sold than any album I ever released. Still, it is a very fine album and would probably make my top ten of the 2000's. Despite being largely about the state of Illinois (Stevens also released an album with the theme of the state of Michigan and at one time claimed he was going to write one for each state but later admitted it was nothing more than a publicity gimmick), I think each song could stand alone quite nicely. And none more so than "Casimir Pulaski Day."
"Casimir Pulaski Day" is told through the eyes of a religious boy, who has a religious girlfriend from a religious family, their sexual awakening, her father's disapproval, and ultimately her death from bone cancer on "the first of March, on the holiday," which leads to his questioning his faith. It may well be the most poignant song I've ever heard--Stevens vocals are almost matter-of-fact, hardly above a whisper, and yet they convey the protagonist's pain and sorrow all too clearly. The instrumentation, to me, is almost miraculous--Stevens starts with, as you might expect, an acoustic guitar, but about a minute and a half in he adds a banjo which is not an instrument one normally associates with poignancy and sadness but after listening you will--it adds another layer of texture to the song's mournful underpinnings . He also throws in some of the most sorrowful trumpets you will ever hear, and closes the last minute or so of the song with some choirlike "da da dadas." Add in some wise and heartfelt lyrics and you have a song that is, appropriately enough considering the subject matter, funereal. And unlike all too many songs focusing on a loved one's dying too soon, the song never gets maudlin. It's a paean to love: all its excitement, all its fears, and most of all, its biggest heartbreak.
Lyric sheet: "All the glory when he took our place/But he took my shoulders and he shook my face/And he takes and he takes and he takes..."
Masha Gessen, who has lived under autocracy most of his life and has written extensively about the Russian pig Vladimir Putin, wrote this piece in the aftermath of Trumps electoral college victory, and in a nutshell says fuck Obama's conciliatory tone and fuck Hillary Clinton's far too nice concession speech because we are in a world of shit.
His six rules for surviving Trump (condensed by me):
Believe--no matter how insane--what Trump says. He is going to do it.
Do not believe that any of this is normal, no matter how mundane. It is not.
Congress, the Supreme Court, the Media, the military, and any other U.S. institution that you've believed in your whole life will not save you. They will fall in line.
Be pissed off. And stay that way.
Do not fucking compromise. Ever.
Always remember, no matter the disaster, that there is a future. Things will change.
In the words of Lou Reed ("Legendary Hearts"), "...You've got to fight to make what's right...."
From our next Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos:
“I have decided to stop taking offense,” she wrote, “at the suggestion that we are buying influence. Now I simply concede the point. They are right. We do expect something in return. We expect to foster a conservative governing philosophy consisting of limited government and respect for traditional American virtues. We expect a return on our investment.”
“People like us,” she added archly, “must surely be stopped.”
And what American virtues would those be? Racism? Misogyny? Homophobia? How about unfettered greed? Or psychopathy? What about elitism? And Nazism? The War on Women? The War on Workers? The War on the poor? How about hate crimes? Lying? Or plain old hatred?
I'll give DeVos credit for at least being right on two points: First, billionaires like her and her husband, Dick DeVos, are definitely trying to buy our country, and second, even though it was said in sarcasm, she and her disgusting ilk must surely be stopped.
Democrats looking for a personification of all that is wrong with Trumpism would do well to start with the Wicked Witch of the White House, Betsy DeVos.
You know, it's one thing when some numbnuts like Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh makes some outlandish statements about political protesters with whom they disagree, but it's a whole 'nother ballgame when the President-elect of the United States says people who burn the flag should spend a year in jail or be stripped of their citizenship.
And just how long, do you suppose, it is before Mr. Trump starts declaring that not just flag burners, but anyone who disagrees with him or his republican enablers should be sent to jail or stripped of their citizenship as well?
Dissent is the backbone of democracy, and the punching bag of fascism.
Apparently jealous because of the recounts being proposed in a number of states that are taking attention away from his fragile ego, Donald Trump took to Twitter this weekend to claim he actually won the popular vote because of the many, many people who voted illegally in New Hampshire, Virginia, and California.
Idiot alert! To wit:
New Hampshire ranks 41st in the U.S. in total population--approximately 700,000 voters were cast there in November of which Hillary Clinton got slightly less than half, so unless virtually every single fucking Democrat voted illegally, it really wouldn't have made a shit's worth of difference in the 2.2 million votes Donald Trump is currently losing by.
Even if you take away the fact that Tim Kaine is very popular in Virginia and went a long way toward ensuring Hillary Clinton's victory there, it's the same as New Hampshire--the number of Democratic votes that were illegal would have to have been in 30-40% range to really make much of a difference and that's really stretching it even for a republican moron.
And last but not least, California...Hello! McFly! Jesus H. Christ, California might be the bluest state in the union and has given the Democratic candidate nearly sixty percent of its vote in the last three elections. It's akin to Democrats claiming the vote was rigged in fucking Alabama.
Trump should have stuck to states like Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania--oops, guess he doesn't really want to go there either...
Looking for a silver lining in the disaster that is the election of Donald Trump? How about this:
In 2003, California elected an idiotic, grope happy celebrity (Arnold Schwarzenegger) to be its Governor. While he would win re-election (gasp), at the end of his second term he had an approval rating of 23%, and in the five years since he left office, California has become, arguably, the bluest state in the nation.
Here's hoping Americans figure out in four years what Californians discovered in eight: republican leaders are straw men whose only best interest concern is their own.
I've pretty much, since the get-go, thought all the talk of recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania to be nothing more than a lot of noise. I remember reading a few years ago that in the history of elections in the United States there has never been a recount that overturned an electoral difference of 500 votes or greater. As Trump won the three previously noted states by a lot more than five hundred votes...what's the point, right?
While I'd still bet on the recount(s) being a good waste of Democratic (and Green Party as it's lead by Jill Stein) time and money, I have to admit to having my interest piqued just a bit in Donald Trump's reaction to the recount. I mean, I know Trump is an utter fucking idiot, but if Hillary Clinton had won and republicans were pissing away time and money on a fruitless recount, I'd be thrilled. Less time and money for opposition to our agenda, no?
As I said, likely much ado about nothing but you do have to wonder why the soon to be most powerful fuck-up in the world is so touchy about it.
As it's a holiday weekend and folks are most concerned with a) eating, b) spending time with family, c) shopping, or d) just chillin' the fuck out, and especially considering that this week's featured tune will set an FNJ record (that will probably never be beat) for longest song ever (clocking in at a little over eighteen minutes), I'm going to keep this week's feature mercifully short.
Though not a hit single in the traditional sense (most top 40 songs don't last five or six minutes let alone eighteen), Arlo Guthrie (son of folk legend Woody Guthrie) has nonetheless pretty much built a career out of "Alice's Restaurant Massacree" (though he did have one top 40 hit in his career with "City of New Orleans"). Since its release in 1967, Guthrie has released another 29 albums (with nary another hit in the bunch) and toured consistently, though he chooses to perform "Alice's Restaurant" now at only ten year intervals.
The first song on his aptly titled Alice's RestaurantLP (and it takes up the entire first side), "Alice's Restaurant Massacree" is one part satire, one part stand-up routine, and one part war protest song (though Guthrie claims it's more of an anti-stupidity song than an anti-war song, I disagree and since it's my blog, he loses). Loosely based on actual events in Guthrie's life, it's a humorous monologue with some spiffy acoustic guitar that tells the story of how Guthrie got arrested for littering and how the draft board later deemed him unfit to serve in the military for being a litterbug. Though Guthrie himself has taken a rightward turn politically and become a libertarian (and I'm sure his father is vomiting in his grave at his embrace of unfettered capitalism), the song is a potent reminder of a time when the left fought back and won, and in oh so many ways changed our country for the better.
Lyric sheet: "And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day, I said fifty people a day walking in singin' a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out. And friends they may think it's a movement..."
For
all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause
endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.—
Ted Kennedy
Apparently not content with running the state of Michigan, the DeVos family is now setting its sights on the entire country as family matriarch Betsy DeVos today was nominated to be Secretary of Education by Donald Trump despite having no qualifications for the job other than being rich.
For those not familiar, the DeVos family is known for being virulently anti-union and big supporters of the privatization of our kids education (this piece by Mother Jones is truly eye-opening--you're probably safer with Charles Manson as your next door neighbor than with the DeVos family located anywhere within 100,000 miles or so of the United States). They're also known for having the cleanest asses in the state--Governor Rick Snyder (you probably know him better as the man who oversaw the poisoning of thousands of children in Flint) and republican members of the Michigan Legislature have their lips locked permanently to the butt cheeks of each individual DeVos family member.
Our governor is currently being sued by seven children in Detroit because his wonderful emergency manager plan has failed to fund education so miserably that they have no other recourse but to sue just to get educated. Governor Child Poisoner's response? Kid don't have a constitutional right to an education, even though our state constitution expressly grants them that right.
For those wondering what else your kids are in store for under Hitler's choice for Secretary of Education, the city of Detroit currently has a 47% rate of illiteracy, the city of Pontiac has a 34% rate of illiteracy, and the city of Southfield has a 24% rate of illiteracy, all of which are a direct result ofrepublicans running the state of Michigan (they've held the governor's mansion for 18 of the last twenty-six years and both houses of the legislature all but four of those years) with their usual policies surrounding we don't give a shit about you if you're poor.
Do not underestimate the disaster this is for our kids education.
By the way, it also signals that the institutions of our government are now officially for sale to the highest bidder (which ain't you and me).
Yesterday, members of our national media met with Donald Trump to ostensibly discuss access to Trump's Presidency. Instead they were treated to a diatribe in which Trump called them liars and said they should be ashamed of their coverage of him (they should be ashamed but not for the reasons Hitler thinks).
Can anyone imagine the outrage there would have been had President Obama done this in 2008? Or had Hillary Clinton won and done this?
And the outrage over Trump's attack was all over newspapers and TV...exactly where?
William Lloyd Garrison, Ida Tarbell, Edward R. Murrow, and Walter Cronkite are all simultaneously rolling over in their graves.
No, they took their scolding like good little boys and girls and their Corporate Media overlords are overjoyed.
With each passing day it is becoming clearer and clearer that our national media is a complete and total fucking joke and will be no help whatsoever in stopping the most dangerous man to ever lead the free world.
Well lookee here--I don't know if they're coming out of shock (I learned these past few days that I can still laugh) or developing a spine, but Democrats had a good weekend:
Rep. Keith Ellison--and pretty please can he be the next chair of the DNC?--said ten days in and we've already given Trump his chance. He appointed a Nazi to his inner circle (Bannon), an avowed racist to be his Attorney General (Sessions), and an Islamaphobe to be his National Security Adviser (Flynn). In a nutshell, fuck Trump already.
When speaking to a liberal group this past weekend, Sen. Elizabeth Warren vowed Democrats will not compromise on their basic principles surrounding inclusion and diversity. She also invoked Martin Luther King, Jr. to remind them that economic problems are not solved by racism, misogyny, or homophobia.
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi promised Greg Sargent of The Washington Post that like they did against George W. Bush's plans to privatize Social Security in 2005, Democrats were already united against Paul Ryan's plan to turn Medicare into a voucher system, and weren't going to stand idly by while healthcare for Americans in their golden years is turned into a Corporate America crapshoot.
Even ol' Chuck Schumer got into the act--sort of. While still being under the delusion that we might be able to work with Hitler, Schumer did acknowledge that the Senate's Democrats would be the last barrier to Trump and republicans' excesses. Of course this was largely offset by Trump praising Schumer , and learning that every single member of Trump's family at one time donated to Schumer's re-election campaigns. Jesus H. Christ was Schumer a piss poor pick at a piss poor time...
While I'd still prefer a kick 'em in the balls kind of obstructionism, at least it's a start.
"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act."--George Orwell
Like many Liberals, I've been doing a lot of soul searching since Hitler got elected. I'm fifty-seven years old, and though I'm in good health, I know that I've lived a lot more of my life than I have left to live. Chances are good that in the next 20 to 30 years (if I should be so lucky) I'm going to say my goodbyes to this earth and if my fortune really holds, that my three kids will be able to get together at some point after my death and dump my ashes into the Pacific Ocean (seems like a hell of a final resting place). As such, I've spent a lot of time these past ten days or so looking at the three to four hundred books in our spare bedroom that I've yet to read, the hundred or so TV shows that I've got recorded on the DVR (not to mention the entire Sopranos series I have on DVD) and have yet to watch, and the fifty or so movies that I either have also recorded on the DVR or been fortunate enough to receive as gift DVDs that I haven't seen yet as well, and have been wondering to myself, if not now, when? Not to mention that I love sports and I couldn't begin to tell you when was the last time I just sat down to watch a game and wasn't trying to read some political piece or blog or working on this blog as I watched.
And then there's the reality of our political landscape right now--the republican party is the strongest political party in the history of the United States right now. They control all three branches of the federal government, and an overwhelming majority of the state governments. In all likelihood, my ashes will be floating in the Pacific before we see a Liberal majority on the Supreme Court again. Voter suppression is going to get worse--a lot worse. It took a generation to undo Reagan's assault on the economic well being of the poor, the working class, and the middle class (and we're still not close to being done) and it will probably take a generation to fix the utter economic catastrophe that Trump, Pence, Ryan, and McConnell are going to foist upon us.
And you can forget about getting any help from the utterly useless national media. They've already begun normalizing the election of a neo-Nazi, misogynistic, bigoted sexual predator whose designs on the Presidency are beginning to appear to be little more than a way to bolster his business's bottom line.
And the loyal opposition, the Democratic Party? Two words: Chuck Schumer. About the only thing he'll be good for is helping the party play dead until the next economic catastrophe sweeps us into power (see also Clinton, Bill 1992 and Obama, Barack 2008).
So I've been wondering if the 25-30 hours I spend a week reading about politics, writing congressman, signing petitions, and writing this blog wouldn't be better spent during my golden years catching up on everything I've missed the last twenty years or so (at least since the bogus impeachment of Bill Clinton in the 1990's).
And over the last day or two it's dawned on me (and here you can picture me banging my head against the desk my computer sits atop) that I have absolutely no idea how to stop fighting for political beliefs I've had since I was sixteen years old. I justdon't know how. And the world will be no worse a place if I don't read every Ian McEwan or Cormac McCarthy novel, or see every episode of The Sopranos or Breaking Bad, or ever get to view All About Eve or The Descendants. But the world will be a much worse place if I don't punch back as republicans try to run roughshod over everything that makes America great and I hold dear.
And scream. Lots of screaming.
I will lose a lot more than I win. I probably won't live long enough to see the worm turn. Better that, though, than letting the bullies win without putting up a fight.
A revolutionary act a day keeps the fascists away...
As I've noted a time or two here on FNJ, I grew up on what back in the day we used to call top 40 radio (and thanks Corporate America for fucking up another good thing and bringing us stale regurgitated tripe--all the same, all the time--as its replacement) wherein AM radio stations played the living shit out of Billboard's top forty or so singles, and spliced that with what used to be called oldies but goodies and a few songs that, someday when they grew up, just might make the top 40, too. It had its drawbacks--really big hits would get played hourly and there's only so many times you can hear "You Light Up My Life" before you're looking for an ice pick to pierce your eardrums. But one of the real thrills--and so much different than now when you can hear a favorite song instantly, and again and again, without waiting until the next time Mom and Dad went to the mall so you could get that 45 single at the record shop--was driving to school, or listening while you did your homework, or just killing time in godforsaken Kokomo, Indiana and waiting, waiting, waiting, until that song that you really loved finally came on WLS 89 out of Chicago and you savored every second because you just didn't know how long it would be until you might hear it again.
As you may have guessed, one such song for me was this week's tune, "Chuck E.'s in Love" by Rickie Lee Jones. Truth be told, I was twenty when it was released and could have driven myself to the mall, but I was engaged to be married in less than a year and if I was going to justify to my fiancee spending $3.99 (yes, you read that right kids, $3.99 for a brand spanking new LP) for an album, I needed to make sure it was really worth it. "Chuck E.'s in Love" most certainly was (well, at least to me, not so sure about my fiancee).
Rickie Lee Jones burst onto the music scene in 1979 with her aptly titled debut LP Rickie Lee Jonesand a star making appearance on Saturday Night Live. Her album would go on to reach #3 on the Billboard 200 and she would win the Grammy (her first of two) that year for Best New Artist. Her second album, Pirates, would reach #4...and that was pretty much the end of Jones's commercial success. Much like Joni Mitchell, Jones ventured heavily into jazz and some experimental music, neither of which has much captured the hearts of the music buying public. Still, as noted above, Jones did secure a second Grammy, and is still releasing LPs and touring thirty-seven years later.
"Chuck E.'s in Love" had its genesis in a phone call--in the late 1970's Jones was dating singer/songwriter/actor Tom Waits and making music with both Waits and his friend Chuck E. Weiss. Eventually Weiss up and disappeared only to call some time later and tell Waits that he'd moved to Colorado because he was in love with his cousin--as he listened, Waits turned to Jones and said, "Chuck E.'s in love" and voila, a song was born. It would go on to to reach #4 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100 and remains one of my all-time favorite songs to this day.
A pop song with jazz overtones and not just a little soul, "Chuck E.'s in Love" documents the transformation of Chuck E. from a confused young woman's dork friend to a man in love and Jones chronicles this with some touching little descriptions ("He don't stutter when he talks" "Christ, I think he's even combed his hair"). Musically, the song is acoustic guitars, some bass, and some drums with some nice dramatic pauses and the melody is catchy as all hell, but the true and absolute wonder of the song is Jones's vocals. She nails the young girl who's wondering just what the hell is going on with Chuck E. and does so with a drawling jazzy style that I'm not quite sure I've heard before or since (even by Jones). And when you get to the end, and realize--spoiler alert!--that son of a gun, Chuck E. just happens to be in love with the "little girl singing this song"...well, let's just say I've been listening to it for thirty-seven years and never fail to get a lump in my throat. Jones vocals captures both the confusion and sheer joy of youth and new love, and turns what could have been just another love song into a one of a kind love song.
Rap sheet: "It's true! It's true! He sure is acquired a cool and inspired sorta jazz when he walks..."
Near as I can tell, the Democratic Party plan for the next 2018 mid-term election is to hope Donald Trump falls flat on his face and we get swept back into power.
How else to explain the election of Chuck Schumer to be our Senate Minority Leader? As a man whose slogan could be "If it's good for Wall Street, it's good for Chuck", it's very hard to see how Schumer will inspire voters who don't turn out in non-Presidential election to turn out in 2018--hell, we couldn't get them to turn out in 2016 in an election against Hitler, and somebody somewhere thinks Schumer will help change that? What the fuck?
Schumer has already said that he doesn't see voters supporting an obstructionist party in 2018 which already shows his utter lack of paying attention to the last several elections--voters supported republicans quite nicely in 2010, 2014, and 2016 even though they accomplished nothing except obstructing any chance at progress for millions of Americans.
Never fear, though, Schumer has made Joe Manchin a part of his inner circle--the same Joe Manchin who said he wouldn't rule out siding with republicans before the election and called Harry Reid (the only Democrat who has shown any spine at all since November 8th) an "absolute embarrassment" for ripping Hitler after the election. Why this is is anybody's guess--Manchin resides in the reddest of red states and even if he switches parties, there's not a potential opponent in West Virginia who isn't salivating at the commercials they can run against the father of Miss I Made Millions Off The Suffering Of Those Who Need Epi-Pens. Apparently Democrats learn nothing from history as it's pretty darn easy to see the comparisons between Joe Lieberman and Manchin--and look what that got us: a big fat nothing.
We also got Debbie Stabenow, my own Senator here in Michigan, whose lone accomplishment in 12 years as a Senator has been to gut food stamp benefits.
They threw a sop to the base with Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Sherrod Brown, but none of them will wield any power and it's really nothing more than giving a lollipop to a crying kid to get him to shut up. It won't solve the problem and will just serve to anger the kid even more when it's gone.
Keep in mind that it took a majority of Americans six years to realize George W. Bush was a bozo--and a Democratic Party strategy of waiting for epic republican failure in two years is a pipe dream (just ask the national media, who completely blew the election--and the Iraq War, and the economic collapse of 2008--and are now blowing the transition).
And that pipe dream is going to take millions of Americans down with it.
I've often felt that the three organizations that have done the most damage to ordinary Americans are the republican party, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Catholic Church. Right on cue, in its never ending quest to prove me right, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops this week announced they "were looking forward to working with President-elect Trump..."
Fucking seriously?
Though I shouldn't be surprised--it's well documented that the Catholic Church while never openly supporting Hitler or Mussolini (the Church was officially "neutral" in WWII--and a big WTF to that) turned a blind eye to fascism in ways they never did with communism.
Can someone explain to me how groping women is covered by "love thy neighbor as thyself"? Can someone explain to me how the love of Christ is reflected in calling Mexicans rapists and drug dealers? Can someone explain to me how hating Muslims is God's work? Or gays? Or women?
Frankly, it's far past time to call the Catholic Church what it is--the world's most powerful hate group.
In the end, it would help to remind everyone that the Catholic Church, for all its claims to moral superiority, over the course of several decades chose its bottom line and land holdings over children who were raped by its leaders.
And that should be enough to discredit it forever.
Is this one, by The Sovereign Investor, which purports that Donald Trump will be the greatest President ever, even greater than Washington, Lincoln, Reagan, and Kennedy (note they left out probably the second greatest President, FDR), because he understands some new digital technology that will improve our GDP by 8000%.
As bad as the media has been thus far about accepting the unacceptable, it is nothing compared to what the business world and Corporate America will do. I've already received an e-mail from Linked In telling me how great Donald Trump was going to be for women workers (I promptly unsubscribed)--assuming, of course, they don't mind having their private areas groped by men who, thanks to the election of a sexual predator, now will feel even more emboldened to treat women like sex toys.
No, the only people Trump will be the greatest President ever for are bigots, misogynists, sexual predators, white nationalists, and neo-Nazis.
When I write Friday Night Jukebox each week, the song I've chosen was picked months ago. I keep a notebook by my computer that lists each week and what song will be written about for that week (I currently have songs lined up through February of 2018)--and there's really no order to how a song is chosen. I hear it, or remember it, and I think, "Man, that'd be a great one to write about..." and I log it in my FNJ notebook.
Little did I know when it was originally chosen that "The Bitterest Pill (I Ever Had to Swallow)" by The Jam, would pop up in the same week as the single most disheartening election of my entire existence. And let me tell you, the election of Donald Trump was one mother fucking bitter pill to swallow--though I have to admit I'm hoping this trend of FNJ songs reflecting current happenings continues and I win the Powerball jackpot the week I highlight "Money (That's What I Want)" by Barrett Strong....
In 2002 Virgin Radio did a poll and eventually a countdown of the top 100 English music acts of all time and the top five in order were Queen, The Beatles, Oasis, David Bowie, and...The Jam. I note this because the first four had substantial, though to somewhat varying degrees, success here in the States, and The Jam had none. Their most successful album here was Sound Affects which peaked at a celestial #72 (and probably not with much of a bullet either). Nonetheless, The Jam would probably make my top five favorite bands of all time (and their greatest hits package Snap! is the greatest greatest hits package ever, bar none), and I can honestly say I've met exactly one person in my life who liked them--and that was a hundred years ago when I was in my early twenties.
And here's where I go full on fan boy: heavily influenced by my all-time favorite band The Who and the band I think is the most underrated group ever, The Kinks, The Jam musically were a mix of sixties pop, Rhythm and Blues, punk, and new wave, and lyrically were political, poetically English, and never lost sight of their working class roots. Paul Weller's vocals varied from anger to matter-of-fact to sorrow and never sounded false or contrived. And, as an added bonus, they dressed super snazzily. Sadly, the band lasted all of five years (1977-1982) before a bitter break-up (Weller and bassist Bruce Foxton didn't speak for twenty years and though now reconciled, Weller said he and his children would have to destitute and living in the streets before he'd ever consider a reunion), releasing only six albums, but leaving dorks like me a host of songs to marvel at into our old age. Weller would go on to form the Style Council (not for me) and have some solo success; his band mates did what lesser talented band mates usually do: form lesser talented bands that have as many hits records as I do: zero.
Released as a single in 1982, "The Bitterest Pill" surprisingly enough is not about disappointing election results but rather about love lost and the ensuing heartache when said love finds their soul mate who in no way whatsoever resembles you. I don't want this post to turn into a novel (well on its way!) so suffice it to say that the song combines the best of sixties soul with vocals that fluctuate between heartbreak and, unsurprisingly, bitterness, and all the while it's catchy as all hell, because, what the fuck, just because you're miserable doesn't mean you can't dance.
Lyric sheet: "For the bitterest pill is hard to swallow/The love I gave hangs in sad coloured, mocking shadows..."
Anybody who thinks the election of Donald Trump was about bucking the establishment is an utter fucking idiot. Ninety percent of incumbents won re-election. This election was about racism and misogyny, with a little homophobia on the side.
Best of all, the fucking idiots who elected Trump have no clue what they've unleashed. To wit:
Obamacare is toast. 20 million Americans are going to lose their health insurance, but on the bright side, they won't have to worry about rising rates. No health insurance, no rising rates! By the way, have a pre-existing condition? Feel free to die shortly and penniless.
Republicans aren't stupid enough to completely do away with Social Security, but they will gut it and raise the retirement age. You'll also be forced to gamble your retirement on Wall Street, which is unfortunate because it would probably be safer to invest it in lottery tickets. Also, hope you enjoy Friskies and Purina Cat Chow! That's all you're going to be able to afford after republicans finish cutting the benefits you spent a lifetime paying in to.
Medicare is toast also--you'll get to spend your golden years sicker, in more pain, and broke. On the bright side, you'll die younger so it'll be a few less years having to eat that cat food.
Hopefully you'll have a good paying job. One of the first things they'll do after repealing Obamacare is cut food stamps and welfare. Yeah, a few of their white folk supporters will go hungry and homeless, but there's no way we can have those pesky brown and black kids eating and having a place to live. Hell, they might grow up to be President--we don't want to make that mistake again!
Jobs! You elected a man who specialized in outsourcing American jobs and you can kiss a bunch of those goodbye. The economy has been a disaster under every fucking republican President for the last fifty years. Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and both Bushes combined had less jobs created in 28 years than President Clinton and President Obama created in sixteen. And the jobs they'll create? You can start practicing now: "You want fries with that?"
And you can turn the lights out on Roe v. Wade. While American woman will still get to choose what they do with their own bodies, chances are good that every hilljack, redneck state run by descendants of the incest kid from Deliverance will outlaw it. So hopefully you can afford to fly to New York or California, and if not, I'm pretty sure Dry Cleaners still use wire hangers. And since 70% of abortions are chosen by women who live in poverty, there'll be lots more hungry and homeless kids for the rich folks to tsk, tsk over.
Finally--guns! They'll be allowed everywhere and lots more Americans will be dying from gunshot wounds. And since the vast majority of gun killings are done by family and friends, we'll get to spend more time with our kin at funerals! Also, it'd be a good idea to invest in funeral homes and coffin manufacturers--business will be booming!
The average American gets paid just enough so he doesn't quit his job, and works just hard enough so he doesn't get fired.
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross." Source unknown
Uncle emaycee Wants You For the Coming Class War! Enlist today....
Capitalism: Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you can exploit his labor, become filthy rich, and keep the poor bastard living paycheck to paycheck for the rest of his life.
