So many things have been happening I thought I'd bring readers up to date as well as tie up some loose ends and also answer some questions/comments that have arisen in regards to some of what I've written in previous blogs.
First, this writer's been heavily involved in creating music for the past 18 months. I finally have some worthy music to share with the world and y'all can get a taste of Steven Lance's music by visiting my MySpace page. I was just featured on WVKR's [91.3 FM] "Secret Music" show hosted by Scott Raymond. Scott interviewed me and played my music for a whole hour this past Sunday (23 August 2009). My CDs will be available here after September 7, 2009; just type Steven Lance into the search box. The first CD that will be available is titled, "4 Never and Ever." By mid-September, I'll be releasing my second CD titled, "Green Hole." By November I hope to have two remastered CDs of older work available titled, "Outward Bound" and "No Boundaries." So, to say I've been busy is a gross understatement! I had to arrange for sales and credit card access, do the cover artwork, finalize song order for each CD, etc. etc. etc.
Thrown into the mix I had a construction gig and computer work to attend to. So, the last eight weeks have passed in a swirl. But some things did manage to stand out and maintain a grab-hold of my consciousness: Like the "grassroots" anti-health care reform crowd showing up at Town Halls across America all riled up and denouncing with red faces and spittle foaming from their mouths the socialist "ObamaHealthCareBill" (no such thing in existence). Especially that woman crying and carrying on, lamenting in sob-choked voice: "Where's my America?! I want my America back." She haunts like acid-sour puke stuck in the throat after a 48/7 weekend liquor binge.
And, to which America might she have been referring? Let this writer take at crack at that: The America that allowed troglodytic white people to lynch "niggers" without fear of prosecution? Where dumbfuck redneck hillbillies were/are held up as the epitome of what patriots are all about? Where drunk, stupid, loaded gun rack in the truck, never read a book and proud of it, flag-wrapped with hand o'er heart proclaiming, "My country right or wrong," serve as badges of honor? You mean, That America, Lady?
That these spectacles were orchestrated by demagogic insurance lobbyists hoping to whip up the "idiot mob" yet again to feverish proportions, there can be no mistake. Disagree? Do you actually believe these folks arrived at local Town Halls sputtering and chest-puffing and heaving and pushing and disrupting for the sake of disruption because of policy issues? The policy as detailed in some 1100 pages contained in the three bills floating around the halls of Congress? Guaranteed none had even read the documents in question. Those that claim to have read those bills are likely quoting "facts" from propaganda pamphlets put out by the Insurance lobbyists that spin the actual facts until they're dizzy then claim said facts are actually derived from those bills. Kinda like how a mosquito is derived from a 747 (yeah, as in scraped off the windshield). Not close. No cigar? Oh, no. The cigar was gotten anyway as now the "public option" seems destined to the dust bin of history. And, of course, that is what the motive was all along; not better, more affordable health care for the people and making sure that all Americans are insured. Any public option will be direct competition for insurance companies and people will flock to the cheaper alternative thereby decimating insurance profit margins. After all, grassroots sounds so democratic as opposed to the reality of, " well-heeled interest groups are helping to organize the town hall mobs. Key organizers include two Astroturf (fake grass-roots) organizations: FreedomWorks, run by the former House majority leader Dick Armey, and a new organization called Conservatives for Patients' Rights. The latter group, by the way, is run by Rick Scott, the former head of Columbia/HCA, a for-profit hospital chain. Mr. Scott was forced out of that job amid a fraud investigation; the company eventually pleaded guilty to charges of overbilling state and federal health plans, paying $1.7 billion — yes, that's "billion" — in fines. You can't make this stuff up."
I've attended hundreds of Town Hall meetings and never saw such antics until just last election when the party having lost power (for the first time in fifty years) went on a binge of lying, fabricating myth whole-cloth as regarded the zoning code the new administration was doing. Hundreds of people showed up spewing smoke from their ears. They disrupted and shouted down those in disagreement. One after another these irate residents spewed venom against the "these people" [their code words for the gay, radical, socialists that had won a majority the prior election; a.k.a., Democrats]. As these obviously ill-informed, mentally challenged individuals poured out their anger, nothing would appease them. They were positive the "zoning code" was going to limit how many children they would be allowed to have. I shit you not! Where did they get such profoundly skewed misinformation? Anonymous "newsletters" made available around town; the fact that the perpetrators wouldn't even put their names on them should have been enough warning that the contents were suspect. But, nooooooooo…speaker after speaker repeated the alleged atrocities contained in those anonymous shit-rags. And I'm talking about people that sit on major governmental boards; Zoning Board of Appeals and Planning Board members actually fanning the flames of discontent by spewing rhetoric fit for octagon cage fights denouncing what the code contained even though the code contained no such things!
Of course the DemParty leadership thought the charges leveled by the "idiot mob" were so preposterous and absurd that no sensible person(s) could actually believe them. Wrong. The election saw Dems lose by the biggest margin in the history of this town that was founded some 300 years ago!!! Smell the whiff of similarity? Obama team is behind the curve big-time. They let this get too out of hand. Even a number of Dems in the Senate (with 60, count 'em, 60 votes!!! Oops…Ted's dead. Make that 59,) have pulled back support for the "public option" because they're up for re-election and such a Town Hall turn-out has scared the be-jesus out of them; countless references to the Republican takeover in 1994 as response to Hillary's healthcare proposals. Imagine…those in the clear majority in both houses, having just won the Presidency, after decades of Republican outrages that have us enmeshed in two wars, brought us to the brink of financial collapse, indebted us to historical degree, grown government to unprecedented size, shredded the US Constitution vis-à-vis torture and civil rights, now become "fraidy cats" because of a bunch of nitwits spewing their ignorance and bad manners? The Republicans who are completely out of the power loop simply fold their arms across their chests, repeat "NO" for every proposal while serving up none of their own and now, organize ersatz "grassroots" movements, foment incivility by scaring dumb folk with lies, half-truths, innuendo, outright fabrications, and this stops progress? This same cowardice applied to charging Cheney and others for breaking the law as regards torturing prisoners and shredding the Constitution; let us look forward rather than the past?!?
WTF?!?!?
Where is Rahm Emanuel? You remember him, Chief of Staff? Renowned far and wide for being a real hard-ass, burn-and-slash type politician, completely unafraid to crack heads for policy advancement? Why hasn't President Obama sent this assassin to visit the wavering jelly-spined Dems and threaten them with ball-crushing clarity of political retribution should they not fall in line and fall in line fast, right NOW? Very simply, FUCK the REPUBLICAN obstructionists! In fact, team Obama should ramp up the ante with bills that ONLY allow for public option; a complete take-over by government, then ask how the Repubs like those choices and when they get the same arm-folded terrible-two-year old antic of "NO" pass one of those "socialist" bills into law! I think the Dems would be hugely surprised to see Americans actually applauding such action. It is completely surreal the way Republicans are controlling this process.
What is brewing is another backlash by "real Americans," you know, those that believe Sarah Palin is Einsteinishly intelligent. They'll flock to the polls and bring us back Republican rule in that the clear majority in both houses will be lost. Which should serve as a elemental lesson to be finally learned: Educate the People or democracy becomes a moronic miasma of mindlessness; ergo spokespersons Rush Limbaugh and Jonah Goldberg stirring the shit (which serves as intellectual debate for the Conservative Right)!
Okay, on to some explanation and clarification. First, it has come to my attention that people may be wondering (in regard to my True Hero blog below), if Fidel Castro was such a social democrat, why were Cuban presidential elections suspended? This writer thought the background info was clear enough as to suggest a logical substrate for such a move, namely, with crucial facilities being bombed, with the country being attacked by counter revolutionary forces aided and abetted by the US, with an entire governmental rework required, with people hungry and suffering, can anyone actually believe elections should have been the primary focus? Think of the enormous amount of work that had to be accomplished, essentially building a new nation. The first priority of the Castro government had to be stability in order to be successful in bringing a better life to el gente, the people. Okay, so why after all these years are there still no elections? Economic blockade by the biggest market in the world makes for continued hardship. Repeated assassination attempts by the CIA coupled with continuing (to this day) attempts to undermine the revolution being made by exiles based in Miami as well as a massive campaign of agitprop for counter revolution being delivered daily by radio and, of course, television, not to mention leaflets dropped from planes urging Cuban citizens to resist the revolution, forces Castro to continue the suspension of presidential elections. Until such time when the United States normalizes relations with the Cuban government, ending its demand for elections as precondition, Cuba must make stability of leadership priority numero uno. And, for those now shaking their heads in disbelief at the hypocrisy, consider this: Revolution is a proven in Cuba. Castro did it with the aid of el gente. If el gente were as bad off and desirous of regime change as the exiles and US Administration try to make us believe they are, Castro would be long gone!
Finally, I've been taken to task for repeatedly dropping the F-bomb in my blogs. Now, to demonstrate precisely the mental process involved: What did you just hear referenced in your mind? The word "Fuck" correct? Not, F-bomb. And if I'd used F*** the mind would likewise hear Fuck. Besides, fuck is an exquisitely agile word with many meanings beyond the act of sexual intercourse (which, by the way, as proved by context, is precisely the usage I never refer to in my blogs). My response to this call for less "colorful" language is, Fuck NO! If people object to a word (regardless of the word) to such an extent that they cast judgment on the piece—deciding not to read it –then those people are simply using the word usage as an excuse to not read and think about what they do not want to think about. It isn't the word, Fuck, at all but rather, the animosity to their Point Of View (POV) which rankles them especially because they cannot counter the arguments made. By their objection they can escape claiming moral superiority. Fuck 'em…They're the problem, not the solution.
So, dear readers, until next time. In the interim, please check out the music of Steven Lance…
Fuck you very much.
