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Steven Weber

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America: Banged

Posted: 07/26/11 12:46 PM ET

So it's come down to this.

The Republicans, emboldened by their own hate of this president and the audacity of his color, scared by their fealty to superstition and having utterly succumbed to the fiction of an Ayn Rand world where real men are self-reliant and real women worship those real men, have brought us to this.

In an orgiastic display of greed and gall, the Republicans have chosen to bring the temple down on their own heads to prove their potency rather than participate in democracy.

No amount of false equivalencies, no shortage of blaring disingenuousness will hide the truth about them: they are the greatest threat this nation has faced.

Hyperbole? Pshaw! The Republicans latest and greatest move in their bitter quest for control over all the things they have come to despise has aligned them with villainy on a scale not seen on these shores.

Ever.

They hate the poor. They hate the old. They hate the middle class. They hate "the other". They hate empathy. They hate reason. They hate law.

They hate you.

They hate themselves.

And they will never admit it, can never admit it. Self-awareness just ain't in 'em. Whatever it is that makes them so loyal to the simplistic goal of merely "winning" will make this nation lose all it has gained.

And to the people who have been lured into supporting this last big push, those lost souls who labor under the delusion that they will benefit from their loyalty to the cancer that has become the Republican Party, the cancer that has eaten away at the decency that once epitomized America, by the time your realize your mistake, it will be too late.

So this is how the country ends. WIth a bang.

 

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11:59 AM on 08/01/2011
We also hate mayonnaise. Weber has turned into a cartoon. Every blog post, from beginning to end, filled with non-specific ranting lightly dusted with smug cleverness. Mr. Weber is the liberal stereoptype of the elitist pudknocker that whines and whines all day long. "How can you not see things the way I do? It's so clear to me how things ought to be. Why don't you see things the way I do? You must be evil capitalists or stupid hicks.". Even if you happened to be right, people would choose to disagree with you solely on the principle that they did not want to be aligned with with such a whiney Chicken Little. Hate and contempt drip off this man's pen every week for those that don't agree with him. I read it to make sure I'm not in agreement. America endures and prospers.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
SirReal1
11:11 PM on 08/04/2011
"I read it to make sure I'm not in agreement."

Always a good way to determine what YOU believe. Make sure it's not what your perceived opposition believes. That certainly hasn't hurt anyone on the right. Especially when they have come out in opposition to the President on proposals that they either originated or supported before he agreed.

Certainly doesn't indicate any particular pathology.

"America endures and prospers."

This, however, does.
11:57 PM on 07/30/2011
You forgot hope. They hate hope too. Anyone who feels any hope for the future of this country is a sap, according to the Republicans.
05:02 PM on 07/30/2011
From these eyes it seems the vast majority of spending under Bush was deliberate so this moment would come where now the same people who helped amass this huge debt will now cry for fiscal responsibility. And instead of those who benefited from the spending orgy being forced to repay the social safety net will be dismantled, ultimately resulting in a win-win for the Republican Party.
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blarneydude
I can handle the truth. Now let's talk about you.
12:55 PM on 07/29/2011
You know what bothers me, looking at our two major parties?

I mean, other than, well, our two major parties?

One appears motivated significantly by faith and hope, and the other primarily by fear.

"...bitter quest for control over all the things they have come to despise" kinda sums it up.

Freaks don't have enough of what they are freaks about. Coke freaks don't have enough; speed freaks don't have enough; control freaks don't have enough.

The biggest paradox in American society, to me, is that the very clear Party of the Rich is backed most ardently by large numbers of the poor.

What motivates both the party and the poor? Largely, fear. In the case of the latter, it's understandable.

In the case of the former...what are they so afraid of? Why are they so intent on pushing a large segment of their base over the economic edge? Why are they so bent on shielding those who benefit disproportionately from the protections for which taxes pay from paying taxes? Why does the old adage 'them as has, gets' sound like a critical campaign plank for them?

I'm not saying that their fear is ungrounded. There is a lot of knee-jerk government spending, a lot of pouring money down ratholes. (In the defense budget in particular.) Abuses occur. At least when the Democrats err, however, they err on the side of making things better for everybody, not just for a few.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Leadsled
Love-child of the ghosts of FDR and Napoleon
12:01 PM on 07/29/2011
As always Mr. Weber's prose is highly enjoyable and quite accurate.
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The Smartest Monkees
Planet of the Apes? We're on it, baby!
03:49 PM on 07/28/2011
The neutrino is an interesting thing. It is an elementary particle so small, that it can literally pass through a block of lead a light year thick without hitting anything.

I wonder what it's chances of not hitting anything would be, while trying to pass through the skulls of some people who believe defaulting on the US debt is a smart thing to do?
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HUFFPOST PUNDIT
Rooster Coburn
Less Gov't + More Responsibility = A Better World
05:38 PM on 07/28/2011
First, let's cut it !
Next, we'll cap it !
And finally we'll balance it !
Berettasskeeter
For what we are about to receive, may we be truly
09:09 AM on 07/29/2011
From Merriam-Webster: "default: failure to do something required by duty or law : neglect
2archaic : fault
3: a failure to pay financial debts
Who has said that we will default? Democrats. Who has NOT said that the nation will not pay it's debts? Republicans. Therefore, Democrats are implying that they do not wish to pay the nation's debts, NOT Republicans.
Semper fi
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The Smartest Monkees
Planet of the Apes? We're on it, baby!
09:26 AM on 07/29/2011
Did you just wake up from some dream with that convoluted concoction, Berettasskeeter?

Pizza with anchovies is never a good idea before bedtime.

Go back to sleep, and try to dream a more coherant dream this time.

If you're having trouble getting to sleep, try counting the Foxes sheep.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Leadsled
Love-child of the ghosts of FDR and Napoleon
12:09 PM on 07/29/2011
Umm, you don't understand causality do you?
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The Smartest Monkees
Planet of the Apes? We're on it, baby!
07:55 AM on 07/28/2011
I just saw a Huffpo headline that stated: "Tea Party Bashes Boehner"

As a male member of the species, I cringe picturing that...
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triplettam
Mind Bender
04:59 PM on 07/27/2011
Hey Steven. How come they're moderating your post so heavily? I thought you took care of that.
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HUFFPOST BLOGGER
Steven Weber
Winner of 1967 Pond's Cold Cream Man of the Year
05:50 PM on 07/27/2011
Alas, I have been stripped of my moderating privileges. Not sure why...
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
SirReal1
06:06 PM on 07/27/2011
WTF?

Ooops, that'll probably get me banned for life.

I'm ready to look for a new home. Please let me know if you decide to post at another forum. I will SO be there.
11:04 PM on 07/27/2011
You were a moderator? That explains so much to me.
Berettasskeeter
For what we are about to receive, may we be truly
03:01 PM on 07/27/2011
What a load of nonsense! That the current crop of Republican lawmakers, elected in response to their policy promises, are trying to hold true to their word to limit the federal government, is terrific. The question is whether they can hold the line on spending and debt increases. We, the People, are responsible for ourselves! That is the government our Founders built for us, and everything they wrote about their deliberations says the same. There is no evidence that reaching the debt limit will do anything other than fiscally restrain the government from further seizing our assets to spend on "bridges to nowhere". There is no hatred of the old, the infirm, children, etc., and the author cannot point to ANYONE who has so much as implied such hatred.
Semper fi
06:55 PM on 07/27/2011
Very good, concise comment. Sanity in the midst of lunacy. Semper fi.
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The Smartest Monkees
Planet of the Apes? We're on it, baby!
08:58 PM on 07/27/2011
You believe supporting the defaulting of the US debt for the first time in US history, is "sanity" speaking?

Wow, CCape. Just wow!
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The Smartest Monkees
Planet of the Apes? We're on it, baby!
07:24 PM on 07/27/2011
The Ryan bill wants to dismantle Medicare, NOT to lower the deficit, but be used to lower the tax levels of the wealthy to 25%! Talk about a load of nonsense!

The morning after any default in our nation's debt obligations, will find you Repubs crying louder than anyone else at the devastation wrought by such childish negligence. I'd be fine with watching you pay for such an inanity, but the rest of us would have to suffer with you. That's unacceptable.

Semper fi yourself
Berettasskeeter
For what we are about to receive, may we be truly
08:23 PM on 07/27/2011
Medicare is NOT an enumerated Power of the Federal Government, but the Ryan bill does NOT dismantle it. It merely changes it. And you have NO evidence that he wishes to lowers the highest tax rates by doing so.
You won't find me crying on Wednesday morning. The fed, at worst, will be forced to scale back on it's many programs.
Semper fi
09:02 AM on 07/27/2011
You people out there, don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Not all Republicans fall for the crap that the party is trying to serve them, myself included. Give us a little credit for possessing enough intelligence to discern the difference between what is reality and what is a sack of bull poopoo. Some of us have voted practically straight Democrat in the general elections because the Republican ideals were just too much to swallow and properly digest. Lot of us just do not like the "ultra" of anythig no matter which side of the isle it originates.
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HUFFPOST BLOGGER
Steven Weber
Winner of 1967 Pond's Cold Cream Man of the Year
02:08 PM on 07/27/2011
You only get credit if anyone knows about it.
This user has chosen to opt out of the Badges program
KarenM
Former Air Force Brat.... I've lived all over the
07:50 AM on 07/27/2011
Yeah... that testosterone is a real bummer!
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
alafonse
It's definitely a crap-shoot.
07:45 AM on 07/27/2011
And when we gasp our last, republicans will point at the president with their accusing fingers, to emphasize that a black man was not able to run the country. That's all they're really aiming for: failure of the president and his party. Once that's accomplished, it will truly be wild west days all over again.
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novabird
It's me, novabird
07:15 AM on 07/28/2011
Gun Totin' Cowboy Democracy, and damn the poor, the old, and the sick.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
ThePeoplesKey
Writer/General Disreputable Rogue
07:03 AM on 07/27/2011
What's most striking to me about nearly every argument republicans make is their absolute ignorance of their own religious belief system they profess to follow and promote. If they'd ever actually read the New Testament, they'd understand that the central message to the whole collection of books is, "Love towards your fellow man/woman is the answer to everything."

Yet, their behavior continuously showcases their hatred of everything and everyone they encounter that doesn't share their absurd view of the world and what it means to be a "community."

If the left continuously held them to the standards that they themselves profess are their guiding "life" principles, they'd have no choice but to either abandon their religion or abandon their political POV. The two are like trying to mix oil and water. Can't happen.

Religion should be the weapon of choice for the left. I've found it shuts them up like two speeding trains hitting head-on, on a moonless night no matter the s-tu-pid-ity of the argument they're making about an issue.

Try it and see . . .
Berettasskeeter
For what we are about to receive, may we be truly
01:39 PM on 07/27/2011
The New Testament, through Jesus Christ, made NO calls for government to take from the productive to give to the unproductive. He calls for us as individuals to take care of our fellow man. There is no, and can be no, collective salvation. All salvation is individual. Nothing we do illustrates hatred of any person.
Semper fi
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
ThePeoplesKey
Writer/General Disreputable Rogue
04:21 PM on 07/27/2011
"Nothing we do illustrate­s hatred of any person."

You're kidding right?

"I won't insult your intelligence by suggesting that you really believe what you just said." - William F. Buckley
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The Smartest Monkees
Planet of the Apes? We're on it, baby!
06:30 PM on 07/27/2011
And what of the rich man who asked Jesus what he must give up to follow Him?

Jesus answered, "Everything." as the rich man walked away.

This is when Jesus turned to his deciples and gave the famous quote, "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter heaven."

If you think Jesus would applaud cutting off government help to "the least of us" who have fallen victim to these hard times, that were engineered by the wealthy to create more wealth at the top 2% level, then you've got a real lecture waiting for you from on high, comes your "judgement day."
01:57 PM on 07/27/2011
Actually, the doctrine of Christ says nothing about forming government entities to take care of the poor. The counsel Christ gave to the rich young man was to sell all that he had and give to the poor and to come and follow him. Any belief that charity and kindness can be done through forceful redistribution is a gross perversion of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Charity comes from the heart and from personal actions with no thought of reward (or of a government job with sweet financial benefits). Government handouts cannot be considered charity since it operates through coersion and is often used as a means to gain and secure more power, both of which Christ recognized among local governments of his time.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
ThePeoplesKey
Writer/General Disreputable Rogue
04:35 PM on 07/27/2011
Did you even read my comment? There's not enough room here to even begin to respond to your absurd understanding of what I wrote. Or to explain to you the meaning of living with "Grace."

Unbelievable . . .
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The Smartest Monkees
Planet of the Apes? We're on it, baby!
07:01 PM on 07/27/2011
Republican Christians who believe what you've just written, have no concept of either what government is, or what their own religion instructs them to do in life.

Jesus said to His followers, that how they treat the least of humanity, is how they treat Him.

Because of the enormous gulf between the wealthy and the poor that has been expanding over the last 30 years (and now reaching obscene levels for "the greatest nation in the world"), many people have nowhere to turn but the government.

The polls show that the majority in the US support SS, Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment insurance, and all of the safety nets we agree to collectively fund for those in their times of need.
You make not like it, but neither do I like the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. Tax cuts that are increasing the debt every minute, because we have to BORROW the money to pay for them. To ask the poor to give, and then hand those cuts to the rich in new tax breaks, is an obscene concept.

If you think Jesus would approve of cutting SS, Medicare and Medicaid, in order to lower the tax rate of the wealthy to 25% (Ryan's plan), you have absolutely no concept of what Jesus taught.
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triplettam
Mind Bender
05:46 AM on 07/27/2011
I don't know Steven. I come from old school protest. One of these days the right is going to say "Let them eat cake" one too many times. The country will begin again, then. The right have no faith in the Constitution (because they don't like it), but I have faith in most of the American people. If the politicians fail us, then it will be up to us. Robert Heinlein once said: "Never try and teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of time and besides it annoys the pig." Those who would follow the narrow minded political theology of the Tea Party will never learn to sing. But those of us who love our country will sing loud and clear:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqUa_G1h3pw
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The Smartest Monkees
Planet of the Apes? We're on it, baby!
06:02 AM on 07/27/2011
Any fan of Heinlein, is a friend of mine. Great and totally apropos quote.
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triplettam
Mind Bender
06:26 AM on 07/27/2011
Friends back. I'm starting "Stranger In A Strange Land" again in the next couple days. I read it every couple of years. Grok?
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Giglawyer
I'm a conservative, and you may not like that.
08:58 AM on 07/27/2011
This may be the most thoughtful post I have read in a while. Good on you sir.
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The Smartest Monkees
Planet of the Apes? We're on it, baby!
01:23 AM on 07/27/2011
Absolutely one of your very best comments, Steven.

I think the thing that is interesting, is that the polls are showing the majority of Americans get that the Republican Representatives in DC are destroying this nation. Even 50% of Republicans polled, are against the current policies of their own party.

Boehner and McConnell and their teabagger masters, forgot that SS and Medicare don't just benefit liberals and Democrats.
Republican voters tend to be against any government program that doesn't benefit them directly, but they kinda like that SS check every month, and not having to seek out expensive health care insurance in their old age thanks to Medicare.
As usual, any Republican motivation to do right, seems to always be selfish in nature.

I must confess that I don't understand this "dangerous game" Obama has played with the Pubs. I believe the address to the nation he gave on Monday night, would have been better given three months or more ago.
And I believe placing SS and Medicare on the block, even if he knew they would never be chopped, was a betrayal of the Dems sacred oath to always protect those programs.

Smarter people than me seem to think this will pan out in Obama's favor, so I guess we'll see.

Anyway, thanks for calling it like it is, and for saying what has to be said about the villians destroying this once great nation.