mondrian’s neon fantod

A brilliant piece on the very real possibility that we could truly slide into fascism.

Our collective forgetfulness about the economic nature of fascism is also dangerous at a more philosophical level. As contradictory as it may seem, fascist dictatorship was made possible because of the flawed notion of freedom which held sway during the era of laissez-faire capitalism in the early twentieth century. It was the liberals of that era that clamored for unfettered personal and economic freedom, no matter what the cost to society. Such untrammeled freedom is not suitable to civilized humans. It is the freedom of the jungle. In other words, the strong have more of it than the weak. It is a notion of freedom which is inherently violent, because it is enjoyed at the expense of others. Such a notion of freedom legitimizes each and every increase in the wealth and power of those who are already powerful, regardless of the misery that will be suffered by others as a result. The use of the state to limit such “freedom” was denounced by the laissez-faire liberals of the early twentieth century. The use of the state to protect such “freedom” was fascism. Just as monopoly is the ruin of the free market, fascism is the ultimate degradation of liberal capitalism.

In the postwar period, this flawed notion of freedom has been perpetuated by the neo-liberal school of thought. The neo-liberals denounce any regulation of the marketplace. In so doing, they mimic the posture of big business in the pre-fascist period. Under the sway of neo-liberalism, Thatcher, Reagan, Mulroney and George W. Bush have decimated labor and exalted capital. (At present, only 7.8 per cent of workers in the U.S. private sector are unionized – about the same percentage as in the early 1900’s.) Neo-liberals call relentlessly for tax cuts which, in a previously progressive system, disproportionately favor the wealthy. Regarding the distribution of wealth, the neo-liberals have nothing to say. In the result, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. As in Weimar Germany, the function of the state is being reduced to that of a steward for the interests of the moneyed elite. All that would be required now for a more rapid descent into fascism are a few reasons for the average person to forget that he is being ripped off. The racist hatred of Arabs, fundamentalist Christianity or an illusory sense of perpetual war may well be taking the place of Hitler’s hatred for communists and Jews.

Don’t worry, my friend, the shrubs will get around to red-baiting and anti-semitism soon enough. If we are foolish enough to let them stay in power, that is…

Buying of News by Bush’s Aides Is Ruled Illegal (it’s the New York Times, so you’ll probably need to register if you haven’t already).

Federal auditors said on Friday that the Bush administration violated the law by buying favorable news coverage of President Bush’s education policies, by making payments to the conservative commentator Armstrong Williams and by hiring a public relations company to analyze media perceptions of the Republican Party.

In a blistering report, the investigators, from the Government Accountability Office, said the administration had disseminated “covert propaganda” in the United States, in violation of a statutory ban.

Praise the lord and pass the ammunition. The crumbling continues!

Which one of these two takes on the same event is true? Not that you’d even really know they were the same event without the names, given the way they’re reported…

So, is it law enforcement or state-sponsored assassination? Any thoughts on which one our current regime leans towards?

author’s note: it’s been a long time since I went subgenius, so my dogma might be a little off. but I believe even that falls safely within the official dogma itself. or, as the subgenii themselves say, fuck ‘em if they can’t take a joke.

J.R. “Bob” Dobbs vs. The Four Horsemen
Of all the grand ideas put forth by the Church of the SubGenius, my favorite has always been the thought that the Rapture as envisioned by Christians the world over has, in fact, already taken place and that we are now living in “the end times” (must be in quotes, must be spoken in great voice of doom). The bottom line is that Jehovah already called the faithful home and no one really noticed because almost no one was really good enough to go. So all of those screaming evangelicals who want you to think that the end is near are actually wrong. The end, it turns out, is already here. And, oddly enough, they’re still here, too. So much for all those unmanned cars crashing into the heathens on the highway like they’d planned.

Anyway, I’d like to submit the following as further proof of this hypothesis…

Meet The Four Horsemen
“The End Times” require some heavy antagonists - the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. You know, Death, Famine, War & The Antichrist. Normally one gets the over-the-top Revelations-style images of the horsemen as being something out of a 1970s scary movie, animated by Ray Harryhausen and all that. But the truth is, you already know the four horsemen by name:

• Death = Dick Cheney. Come on, that’s one’s easy. I mean, technically he’s undead, what with the disappearing to “undisclosed locations” and drinking the blood of children to maintain his unnatural existence. But clearly he represents death even if he isn’t actually death.
• War = Donald Rumsfeld. This one is even easier. A Secretary of “The Best Defense Is Offense” (or offensive) who issues orders that call for torture and a flagrant disregard for the principles of the Geneva Conventions? Unquestionably this is a man whose bloodlust exceeds human limits. And that makes him the personification of War.
• Famine = The Hydra of cronyism & incompetence, currently represented by Michael Brown. Brown, among others, have done their jobs so very poorly that people are literally starving because of their incompetence. These idiots should never have been allowed to graduate from college, let alone assume positions of great importance just because they had a roommate once who knew someone who knew someone. Throw in the “scarcity” aspect of famine and you’ll be able to apply this label to the backroom deals the energy corporations have entered into with this administration, too. I, for one, can’t wait to see the gas lines and heating oil prices this winter.
• The Antichrist = Bush. You knew this was coming. He’s the leader of the pack, the bad boy on the white horse, looking so glorious and noble to so many, deceiving them all as he leads the charge to doom. And if you believe in him then you probably want to kill me right now. Which is a rather anti-christian sentiment, isn’t it? If you are among the 50% or so of Americans who don’t believe in him then you might be worried that I’m actually right.

So there’s the lineup the visiting team has filled out. And for the past six innings they’ve been whipping us but good. But now, when things seem their darkest, a new hope arises, from Dallas of all goddamned places. Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce to you the act you’ve know for all these years… the wisdom of J.R. “Bob” Dobbs!

Take Back Your Slack!
author’s note: the following is a transcription of a cassette tape I found in a moldy box underneath the Congress Avenue bridge in Austin last weekend when I showing off the bats to some evacuees from Houston while the last “there’s no such thing as global warming. that’s junk science. unlike intelligent design” hurricane was bearing down on our asses. it was labeled not before 84 (I think the date probably has something to do with subtracting Jesus’ missing years from the current year).

Bush. Cheney. Rumsfeld and the rest. These bastards deserve not a single iota of Slack, let a lone the MOUNTAIN of SLACK that they have stolen from you, me and everybody! It is time for the STARK FIST OF REMOVAL to show these pinks the GODDAMNED DOOR. Praise BOB! Let’s see them driven before the masses, my Yeti bretheren! ELVIS wouldn’t put up with this kind of blatant criminality! The TWO FISTED FIGHTIN’ JESUS would come down here and throw these money changers the HELL out of the TEMPLE of AMERICA! Their CORPORATIONS sell you FALSE SLACK for $3.50 a gallon and you happily pour it down the DRAIN they disguised as an SUV! REACT to what these [unintelligible] are doing to your HOMEWORLD. ARISE, MUTANT! Hail, Bob! Hail, JHVH-1!

(odd noise, might have been cheering, might have been the screaming of eagles)

Pull the wool over your own eyes! I say that at times like THESE there are WORSE things than being labeled UNPATRIOTIC. Is it unpatriotic to TELL THE TRUTH when no one else will? Is it UNAMERICAN to find fault where fault lives? NO! The book tells us that the Conspiracy burns humans as fuel. But SubGeniuses aren’t humans and they DO NOT BURN. We only suffer when we PRETEND TO BELONG! Don’t let their labels drive you into the DARK PAIN OF COLLABORATION! Speak OUT! We CAN still WIN, MUTANTS. We don’t have to be AFRAID of their vision of the future. As long as even ONE MAN, ONE WOMAN has SLACK then they CANNOT win. The internet is your ultimate SLACK DELIVERY SYSTEM, so use it! ABUSE IT! Don’t PAY THEM for the privilege of sharing their PARANOIA and HATE! Use your WORDS and your WORDS SHALL SET YOU FREE! Praise Bob! Praise

At that point the tape broke. Subsequent efforts to repair the tape failed.

Regardless of the Roberts confirmation, it’s important to remember that the emperor has no clothes.

And a great day for the people of America…

Texas grand jury indicts Tom DeLay

The grand jury action is expected to have immediate consequences in the House, where DeLay is largely responsible for winning passage of the Republican legislative program. House Republican Party rules require leaders who are indicted to temporarily step aside from their leadership posts.

‘Nuff said.

Brown blames locals for bad Katrina response

Once you’ve folded in poker, you’re out. Once you’ve resigned your position at FEMA for utterly and completely failing at your job you shouldn’t go around “testifying” and point fingers at others.

Mind you, I’m not saying that the officials in Louisiana are blameless. But I am saying that Brown is not in a good position to start this crap.