Bureaucracies tend to move on their own momentum–or, more often, their lack of it. But sometimes they can be moved to act by primal, old-fashioned fear.
This was true during the 1950s of Senator “Tail Gunner” Joe McCarthy, when he claimed to have a list of varying numbers of Communists serving in the U.S. State Department.
McCarthy’s accusations failed to uncover–let alone convict–one actual Communist. Nevertheless, they moved the State Department to carry out a Stalin-like purge of its own ranks.
Many of the agency’s most experienced officers were fired–especially those who had had the foresight to predict the triumph of Mao Tse Tung over the corrupt, incompetent Chaing Kai-Chek.
Today’s bureaucracies can still be moved by fear. Case in point: That of the Republican Party. And the object of that fear is Right-wing commentator Rush Limbaugh.
MSNBC Political Analyst Chris Matthews refers to Limbaugh as “The Boss” of the Republican Party and has offered airtime to any Republican willing to come on Hardball and publicly disagree with Limbaugh on any major issue. So far, there have been no takers.
The reason: Fear of being turned out of office at the next election.
Limbaugh hosts The Rush Limbaugh Show, which is aired throughout the U.S. on over 400 stations and is the highest-rated talk-radio program in the United States. When he talks, his “dittohead” audience listens–and acts as he decrees.
On June 5, Limbaugh, 59, married Kathryn Rogers, a 33-year-old party planner from Florida. The ceremony was attended by 400 guests at The Breakers, the sumptuous landmark hotel in Palm Beach, Florida.
This was the fourth time at the altar for Limbaugh, whose three earlier marriages produced neither children or lasting happiness for the man many Rightists consider “Mr. Family Values.”
Perhaps this latest marriage will. But, if it doesn’t, Limbaugh will have yet another possible chance for true love. In this case, the lucky bride would be Ann Coulter.
Coulter is a constitutional attorney, conservative social and political commentator, author, and syndicated columnist. Like Limbaugh, she is notorious for her right-wing political opinions and the controversial ways in which she defends them. Coulter has been engaged several times, but never married.
A marriage between Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh would prove the greatest love-match since the Macbeths. Thus, all that remains is to find a way to bring them together. And the best way to do that is to show Rushbo and Annie the resulting fruits of such a blessed union.
Thus, the following musical tribute to G.O.P. (e)harmony:
“NAZI GIRL”
(To be sung to the tune, “Barbie Girl”)
RUSH:
Hi ya, Annie!
ANNIE:
Hi Rush!
RUSH:
Do you wanna go for a ride?
ANNIE:
Sure Rush!
RUSH:
Jump on….
ANNIE:
I’m a Nazi girl in a Nazi world.
Life as a racist, it’s bodacious!
You can strut and shout, that’s what I’m all about.
Imagination, hate is our creation.
RUSH:
Come on Annie, let’s go Nazi!
ANNIE:
I’m a Nazi girl in a Nazi world.
Life as a racist, it’s bodacious!
You can strut and shout, that’s what I’m all about.
Imagination, hate is our creation.
I’m a blond bimbo girl in a right-wing hate world.
Wind me up, turn me loose, I’ll go slander.
RUSH:
You’re my doll, rock n’ roll, feel the glamour in pink.
Kiss me here, touch me there.
Hanky panky….
ANNIE:
You can touch, you can play, if you say: “I’m always Right.”
(uu-oooh-u)
I’m a Nazi girl in a Nazi world.
Life as a racist, it’s bodacious!
You can strut and shout, that’s what I’m all about.
Imagination, hate is our creation.
RUSH:
Come on Annie, let’s go Nazi!
ANNIE:
(Ah-ah-ah-yeah)
RUSH:
Come on Annie, let’s go Nazi!
ANNIE:
(uu-oooh-u)
RUSH:
Come on Annie, let’s go Nazi!
ANNIE:
(Ah-ah-ah-yeah)
RUSH:
Come on Annie, let’s go Nazi!
ANNIE:
(uu-oooh-u)
ANNIE:
Hear me lie, hear me brag, say whatever you please.
I can dress like a slut, I’m a right-wing prick tease.
RUSH:
Come jump in, bimbo friend, let us do it again.
Hit the town, fool around, let’s go Nazi.
ANNIE:
You can touch, you can play, if you say: “I’m always Right.”
You can touch, you can play, if you say: “I’m always Right.”
RUSH:
Come on Annie, let’s go Nazi!
ANNIE:
(Ah-ah-ah-yeah)
RUSH:
Come on Annie, let’s go Nazi!
ANNIE:
(uu-oooh-u)
RUSH:
Come on Annie, let’s go Nazi!
ANNIE:
(Ah-ah-ah-yeah)
RUSH:
Come on Annie, let’s go Nazi!
ANNIE:
(uu-oooh-u)
ANNIE:
I’m a Nazi girl in a Nazi world.
Life as a racist, it’s bodacious!
You can strut and shout, that’s what I’m all about.
Imagination, hate is our creation.
ANNIE:
I’m a Nazi girl in a Nazi world.
Life as a racist, it’s bodacious!
You can strut and shout, that’s what I’m all about.
Imagination, hate is our creation.
RUSH:
Come on Annie, let’s go Nazi!
ANNIE:
(Ah-ah-ah-yeah)
ANNIE
Come on Annie, let’s go Nazi!
ANNIE:
(uu-oooh-u)
RUSH:
Come on Annie, let’s go Nazi!
ANNIE:
(Ah-ah-ah-yeah)
RUSH:
Come on Annie, let’s go Nazi!
ANNIE:
(uu-oooh-u)
ANNIE:
Oh, I’m having so much fun!
RUSH:
Well, Annie, we’re just getting started.
ANNIE:
Oh, I love you Rush!
ADOLF HITLER, BENITO MUSSOLINI, BILL OF RIGHTS, BLACKS, CBS NEWS, CENSORSHIP, CNN, COMMUNISM, FASCISM, FEMINISM, HISPANICS, ISLAM, ISRAEL, ITALIANS, JOHN F. KENNEDY, JOSEPH STALIN, MAFIA, NBC NEWS, NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV, RUSH LIMBAUGH, SAN FRANCISCO MUNICI BUSES, SCARFACE, SOVIET UNION, THE GODFATHER, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE WASHINGTON POST, UNITED SDTATES CONSTITUTION, Vladimir Lenin
THE ALLURE OF CENSORSHIP
In History, Politics, Social commentary on August 16, 2012 at 1:15 amApparently the executives at the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (MUNI) feel that some ideas are so controversial they must be censored.
To do otherwise would violate their commitment to Political Correctness.
Recently, a new ad began appearing on a number of MUNI buses: ”In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat jihad.”
The ads were purchased by the American Freedom Defense Initiative, a conservative, pro-Israel group.
Predictably, the ads have sparked controversy–not everyone agrees with their message. Which is entirely the right of those who support Arab causes or simply do not support Israel.
But MUNI isn’t content to accept that there can be two sides to every argument.
What’s important to this agency’s executives is that no one’s feelings be offended in any way.
“[San Francisco] has a long history of tolerance for all, and while we honor a person’s right to self-expression, there are times when we must say ‘enough,’” said Tom Nolan, chairman of MUNI’s Board of Directors.
“The recent ad has no value in facilitating constructive dialogue or advancing the cause of peace and justice.
“While this ad is protected under the First Amendment, our ad policy and our contractual obligations, we condemn the use of any language that belittles, demeans or disparages others. Going forward, we will review our policies with regards to ads on the Muni system.”
And to show how truly repentant they are, MUNI’s executives have offered to donate all the proceeds from the ad campaign to the San Francisco Human Rights Commission.
MUNI hadn’t wanted to run the ads. But its executives felt they had no thoice.
On July 20, a federal judge in Manhattan ruled that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority violated the First Amendment rights of a pro-Israel group by rejecting an ad the group wanted to place on city buses.
If MUNI had rejected the ads, there was the very real chance that the American Freedom Defense Initiative would file a similar–and likely successful–lawsuit against the cash-strapped transportation agency.
What’s lost in all this is the whole idea of the free exchange of ideas, even those that are controversial.
The answer to the pro-Israel ads should not be a blanket of censorship. On the contrary: Those who disagree with their message should be free to run their own counter-ads.
The truth is that nearly everyone has the desire to play censor in some instance.
The First Amendment wasn’t created to defend the publication of popular ideas. It was enshrined in the Bill of Rights–the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution–to showcase the importance. of giving unpopular views a chance to be heard.
Those who embrace censorship should closely examine its effects on societies that practice it.
For a democratic society, the only acceptable response to attempted censorship is that offered by President John F. Kennedy:
“We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.”
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