By Philip A. Farruggio:
Do you remember the film ‘King of Kings (1961), the story of Jesus? In one scene, Jesus is going out to the wilderness for 40 days to search his soul etc. He climbs up a mountain peak and enters a crevice. There sits a man, quite polite, inviting Jesus to share his meal. As they talk, the man attempts to manipulate Jesus by daring him to use his powers as the ‘Son of God ‘. It was the devil, that polite and diplomatic man sitting with Jesus. Well, so goes it with our mainstream 2 Party (and now Tea party) system. Don’t they always come as friends and colleagues, inviting us to join them in whatever quest they are on? So many of us follow them and their (so called) ideals for a better America, and a better world. The devil that comes as a friend!
The Republicans love to speak of ‘conservative values ‘and ‘family values ‘and ‘free markets ‘and such. Then, where do they lead you to… Big Banks, Big Oil, Big Military, Big Insurance , Big Media… all at the expense of the little people, we working stiffs who bang out the hours for a ( usually all too small ) fee. How about the small business folks and self employed who take all the risks only to get smashed by some big corporate monster… all in the name of competition? Then we have the ‘holy roller Republicans ‘who think that Jesus is on their side. Yet, they supported the Bush gangs’ illegal and immoral Shock and Awe on Iraq, killing women, children, the elderly, and even little babes not yet ready for hatching…. What happened to Pro Life? They replay that same mantra since we invaded Iraq: ‘We must fight them there so they don’t come here ‘. The Republicans lecture us on ‘family values ‘and then continually legislate to help the super rich at the expense of the rest of us. Along with their soul mates, the Democrats, they vote to bail out the banks while the foreclosures mount, putting millions of families out on the street or into ramshackle apartments. What would Jesus say about that and the fact that CEOs of Fortune 100 companies earn in excess of 400 times what their lowest full time worker earns? Imagine the strange irony that the CEO of one of our largest healthcare insurers earned over 50 million dollars last year, while almost 50 million of us have no coverage.
The Tea Party, an offshoot and ‘far to the ever loving right wing ‘of the Republicans, is a real beauty! They were established (by the Fat Cats) to rail and rave about reforming Big Government and its waste. Then, they are the first in line to salute and cheerlead for the Military Industrial Complex’s phony wars and the record setting 650+ BILLION DOLLAR military budget- not even including the ‘Black Budget of the NSA, CIA and the rest. Wait till all those senior citizen ‘ Tea Baggers ‘ see their Medicare and Social Security being cut, and start getting phone calls from their kids and grandkids about their increased expenses due to local and state budget cuts. Or when the bank they use starts instituting more fees and increases charges because there is no ‘Big Government ‘ to watchdog them anymore. Finally, when they have to enter a nursing home and there is no one to adequately give them the bath or shower they require, or to properly wipe their rear end when they cannot anymore hold it in…. have a cup of tea, party member.
I always save the worst devil for last. Ah yes, my favorite people, the Democrats (or is it Demoncrats?). These are the most shameful of all. Why? Because they should know better! They strut around and pontificate to us 9 to 5 Americans about supporting them in their mission. Some mission! You had the great con man Clinton who ‘felt your pain ‘as he did whatever the Military Industrial Complex asked of him. He sanctions for Iraq starved millions of little kids, limiting their medicine and nourishment. Meanwhile, he allowed the Israelis to continue their ghettoization of the Palestinians (remember Warsaw and Cracow, my Jewish friends?). He signed the Telecommunications Act, which we progressives warned would allow our phone and cable rates to skyrocket … they did. Finally, to show us how a Democrat and the right wing are one and the same, Clinton signed the repeal of the Glass Steagall Act, which then opened the door to the Wall Street wolves and bandits.
Then we come to Mr. Obama, the nice guy who sold his soul many years ago. Always the accommodator, Barack played the phony liberal game all the way to the White House. This guy and his party know not what true liberalism or progressive ideologies are! He has continued all the phony wars and occupations that the Bush gang initiated. He has even re-hired the criminals once called Blackwater to continue their mercenary work… and their murderous abuse of civilians. Obama is all for keeping the bloated military budget where it remains… at the expense of our state and city budgets. Need I go on? Oh yes, and now Libya and Ghaddafi are the next new villains for this Orwellian drama (If only 1984 was required reading for everyone who signs up to vote).
‘The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our signs, but in our selves. ’ Wake up, good hard working Americans and see the devil for what he is… and WHO he is!
POSTSCRIPT: THE DEVIL COMES AS A HYPOCRITE
By now, most of America has heard of the Rep. Anthony Weiner (Democrat, Queens NYC) internet sex debacle. Interesting how just about everyone in the Congress has made this guy into the biggest criminal and deviate since… Don’t get me wrong, Weiner is a fool and an immature child. I and my friends conducted similar escapades while we were 20 years old, single and in college. What really insults my intelligence is how hypocritical the mainstream media and our elected leaders are. How about some outrage for:
The Bush gang and their lying us into a pre-emptive attack on Iraq. Total rubbish that resulted in hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians dead, over 4000 of our young soldiers, and…. Well, you get the drift.
The 2 corrupt and bought and paid for political parties , including the fool Weiner, and his chastisers Pelosi and Reid, that continue to vote to fund our illegal and immoral occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, along with the increased military budgets.
Weiner and his party, going arm in arm with the Republicans, continued the terrible bailouts of the bandits on Wall Street, regardless of the piggish spending of our tax money for bonuses etc.
The ‘man of dignity ‘Vice President Biden, who sat there in front of the entire nation, and told (war criminal?) Alberto Gonzales ‘I like ya ‘, and then voted to approve his nomination as Attorney General. This was the guy, Gonzales, who we all knew (by then) had helped to co write the protocols to legitimatize the use of torture… in defiance of the Geneva Accords, accepted worldwide since 1954!
Weiner, who ranted and raved how he would never agree to a health care reform bill that did not include a Public Option AKA Medicare for All Who Want In , and then ‘ went along to get along ‘ and supported the phony bill. Oh yeah, Pelosi and Reid and most of the Democrats, even the so called progressive ones , including Independent and Socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, all followed the leader and supported it.
Both parties and the idiotic Tea Baggers all continue to participate in the obscene use of private money to run candidates for office. Bottom line: If you don’t raise millions you don’t get elected. Barack is the most recent biggest culprit, by the way.
Philip A. Farruggio is son and grandson of Brooklyn NYC longshoremen. A graduate of Brooklyn College, class of ’74, Philip has been an anti war activist since the Vietnam War. Philip is now Volusia Cty spokesperson for the nationwide 25% Solution to cut military spending. Since the 2000 elections, he has written over 250 columns posted on various sites, including, most recently, Dandelion Salad, dissidentvoice.org and progressivepatriots.net, or at his own blog at www.opensalon.com. Philip can be reached at paf1222@bellsouth.net.