A Rant - Republicans, yes Republicans, are concerned that Obama might be a Socialist.

Out of all the totally ridiculous things in the 2008 elections.... the number one absurdity, in spite of serious competition from Reverend Wright, moose hunting, how many houses McCain owns, flag lapel pins, and Hillary crying in New Hampshire....the number one absurdity is Republicans claiming to be concerned that Obama is a Socialist.

How in the name of All Things Holy, after the last two months, can anyone claim to be concerned that Obama could POSSIBLY rise to the same level of Socialist giveaways as the Republican party and their peerlesss feeder, George W. Bush?

If we had merely given our nation's collective Amex, Mastercard, Visa, and Discover cards to a gaggle of Shanghai harbor whores, could the damage have been any worse? Could anyone have intentionally added 20% to the national debt?

And now they're talking about another stimulus check. You want to know what's funny about that? You really want to know?

Here's what I got in the mail yesterday:

To: The Whited Sepulchre
Fort Worth, TX

Dear Taxpayer,

You are entitled to an economic stimulus payment of $1,200.00 as provided by the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008. You can expect your payment by 10/24/08. If you do not receive it within six weeks of this notice, blah blah blah blah.....

I haven't gotten the first economic stimulus check yet, and the damn fools are already talking about billing my grandchildren for another one ! ! ! Isn't the whole idea behind Keynesian economics something about government being the only entity that can swiftly and efficiently control the levers of the nation's economic engine to prevent catastrophe????? Hell's Bells, when my first check was approved, we were in another universe. Everything, relatively speaking, was just peachy.

I'm re-reading "The Most Southern Place On Earth - The Mississippi Delta And The Roots of Regional Identity" by James C. Cobb of The University of Tennessee.

It's a great book about the area in Mississippi where I grew up. Cobb outlines all the abuses of the sharecropping system, especially the requirement that the (largely illiterate) sharecroppers purchase all of their supplies from "The Company Store" - i.e., the plantation owner.

Here's a brief excerpt about what went on after the plantation owners spent a long hard weekend partying:

Frank Smith recalled being told by a plantation bookkeeper of the time when the planter who employed him had ordered him to charge all the tenant families on his place with another barrel of flour, rationalizing this cheating with the explanation that he had lost heavily at poker the night before and could not bear the thought of his wife and children having "to pay for last night".

Does that remind you of anything in the Year Of Our Lord 2008? Anything at all? Let's see what that paragraph would read like 30 years from now:

(A future historian) recalled being told by a government accountant of the time when Paulson and Bernanke told him to charge every American with $2,500.00, rationalizing this theft with the explanation that their friends at Goldman Sachs had lost heavily in the housing market, and could not bear the thought of their wives and children having to pay for....well, just about anything.

Some people might be offended by the parallels I'm drawing between the 2008 American electorate and 1920's sharecroppers.

Well, if you're not yet offended enough to start voting for 2nd parties.....

Lord have mercy, we're a nation of sheep.