[Photo of Dan Maes taken from his website which you can look up for yourself if you like pain.]I've been around a long time and I'm getting old. Maybe that's why it's hard for me to understand what is happening in the good ol' US of A.
In my youth I was taught to believe in my country because of its inherent concern for truth and justice and its devotion to democracy - the whole notion of government of the people, by the people, for the people. Americans, my elders said, stuck together, cared for each other, and tried to ensure everyone got a fair shake.
Hah! As any historian knows, that is bullshit. Those things may have been the ideals upon which the country was based, but it has never lived up to them. From the very beginning it has been a fight to keep the elitists, the rich, the corporatists and the religionists from taking control and turning the nation into their own fiefdom!
But, and this is important, Americans, in the past, often pretended to want to do the right thing. Few politicians anywhere would dare step into the public eye to say he or she didn't care about the poor or the unemployed. Even fewer would stand on a soap box and brag about being wholly owned by various corporations. And with the exception of certain southerners, members of Congress were generally quite careful when it came to making racist statements.
Today, that reticence has all changed, particularly on the Republican side of the aisle. The Republican Party has, for the past couple of decades, bared its soul and there's nothing there! It is bereft of character and its innards are rotting in a core of hate and spite wrapped up in a boiling brew of religious idiocy and racism that will, if the GOP has its way, bring our president and country down. The Republican Party has become, in its current incarnation, quite similar to the Afghanistan Taliban. Read the platform of the Texas Republicans. Or read this.
Which brings me to the Teapot Crackpots, most of whom are so damn dumb they have no idea they are being supported, sponsored and manipulated by the billionaire Koch brothers who want nothing more than to destroy President Obama! (For more on Charles and David Koch, go to Jim Hightower's website here.)
(The following comes from Think Progress, via AlterNet.)
Denver, Colorado has, since 1992, been a member of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives, "an ... association that promotes sustainable development and has attracted the membership of more than 1,200 communities, 600 of which are in the United States."
That's the first part of the story. The second part has to do with Denver's mayor, John Hickenlooper. Hickenlooper is a Democrat and is running for governor of Colorado. A few months ago, Hickenlooper started a bike sharing program which has been a big success. One would think he would earn some plaudits for his efforts, even from those who are mentally challenged.
But no! A Repugnican by name of Dan Maes (also running for governor) thinks the bike program is part of a sinister plot to turn "Denver into a United Nations community." It's a hidden conspiracy which "will be exposed," says Maes. Yessiree. Hickenlooper is part of a dastardly UN plot to destroy our beloved country!
Now, not only is Maes probably insane, but he may be crooked as a shepherd's staff, too. The resume posted on his website seems to be "inaccurate," or as he says, "out of date." In other words, it's full of lies. See more on that here.
Not surprisingly, Maes is a darling of the Tea Party crackpots. Soulless and stupid, Maes epitomizes the Repugnican Party in 2010.
And here is a group of rightwing freaks, scary as all hell, who are endorsing Maes for governor.
You might want to run for cover!
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