How To Take a Sponge Bath

     1.  Wash down as far as possible.

     2.  Wash up as far as possible.

     3.  Then wash "possible".

The GOP goose chase is down to three candidates and worried Conservative activists who know their asses from their elbows are praying that Santorum is not "possible."

However, we liberals recognize that Santorum is indeed possessed of all the necessary functioning features of "possible" and we will be overjoyed to see them laid bare.

I know, I know....after Bush v. Gore it is dangerous to assume the country won't stand for the election of still another fellow from the land of the misbegotten, but we can still hope that lunacy won't strike twice.


Watching Torquemada Rick having to truly defend his 15th century positions to a more homogenous audience  could be the best entertainment of the 21st century. Of course Obama could tear him a new "possible", but I think the true dismantling of the bigot will come from an incensed intelligentsia, if such indeed exist in this country.


Therefore, I have abandoned all hope of having that lump of lard and his moon base (I don't mean Callista)  providing me with a few months of popcorn-munching entertainment and am putting all my body English in favor of Santorum.

A Pundit! How Twee

Meghan McCain has put on her big girl pants and is sitting at a table of talking heads on MSNBC.  She just used, twice in nearly the same sentence, the new, Internet-inspired term "emoticon" (a smiley face?) for the term "modicum" - which means "small amount."

Granted, she has a very pretty face; she has a great deal of self-assurance; she has been around politics all her life; she may appeal to young people; her father is a U.S. senator with a very recognizable name. 

Apparently these are the attributes that win you an interesting job associated with enlightening the public. I would have thought something more exceptional would be required.

On this same television channel, Lawrence O'Donnell has been doing promos for education. In one he reveals the information that only 20 percent of the population in this country is college educated.

He made the argument that when the G.I. Bill of Rights was instituted after WWII, (when only six percent of the  populace was college educated) conservatives called the Bill "welfare." O'Donnell pointed out that this educational advantage (given in exchange to his father for risking his life for his country) allowed him to get a good job and put his five children through college.

Why is it conservatives are so eager to keep mediocrity a standard to strive for?

In the half century since that war, the rise from six percent to 20 percent of college graduates is not a very impressive advance. While it is in itself a startlingly modest figure, added to that is the depressing fact that many college "educated" leave their alma maters nearly as stupid as when they entered.

As much as I am egalitarian by nature, I truly hate ignorance and those who wallow in it. No, I don't like unkindness and unfairness to the least among us, but it makes me wild with fury when those with more material wealth than they need are chary of sharing with those who have nothing. Especially when the plight of the underprivileged is brought about through lack of educational  and cultural advantages denied to them by the resistance of the right to invest in their betterment.

While I have no real beef with Meghan McCain, I would hope that since her advantage over others has been mostly a fortune of birth, she would make every effort to expand her horizons and invest some time in exploring the mysteries of her mother tongue.

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Tongues in Need of a D and C

I'm no prude, but I was born in an era when "vulgar" words were not used in "polite society." They were around, and generally overheard, but not employed by women or children.

Today, however, they are not just used, they are all but tattooed on the tongues of both.

Rummaging through  Face Book entries this morning, I found one posting that recounted the Twitter comments of the younger generation expressing disappointment in their Christmas presents.

See: http://www.buzzfeed.com/daves4/people-who-didnt-get-what-they-wanted-for-christma.  (I don't know how to give you a live link but the above url should get you there.)

Not only did the sentiments shock me, the verbiage and the attitudes  made me want to vomit.  It spewed from the mouths of youngsters who, it appears, have never known discipline or been taught manners or been exposed to culture of any kind, except that which litters the streets of city, suburb and Internet, and resides in the homes of the morons so prevalent in our society.

It inspired in me such a wave of fury with this country for allowing this to happen, I wanted to grab them and their parents by their hair, along with all the conservatives who want to deny expenditure on  education and culture, along with the ACLU nutcases who have made teachers afraid to correct their students, and lambaste their heads on some sidewalk.

Since this is an impossible dream, I won't apologize for it. However, failing such violent measures, there must be some way to raise up our children, and ourselves, into some more graceful plane of existence.

As I said in the beginning, I am not a prude. I have been known to use some colorful expressions.....but there are some that are raunchy beyond description.

I am disturbed that so many women regularly and frequently say and write the noun (or verb) in WTF. Why is that necessary? Is it a way to assert yourselves? If so, believe me....there are much better, more effective ways to do that. 

Used sparingly, I have to admit, it is an expression that can be quite effective. But any effectiveness will disappear as it becomes the accepted form of disdain.

At the risk of invoking a tiresome trope, shouldn't we all "think of the children" and try to raise the standards of  not just the words they use, but the sentiments they convey.

Perhaps one New Year's resolution in this direction might lead to more. Let's teach the children to raise their sights and help them to acquire a measure of gentility instead of allowing them to expel  mindless filth, just because they can and we are too lazy to reprove them.

Ours is a language so rich it is more than capable  of communicating every nuance of emotion and activity that exists. Let's share it with the young.

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Son of Tom (Uncle, that is)

I'm a firm believer that too many of the least well informed and the least well financially endowed among us have been artfully convinced by Conservatives to support politicians who do not represent their own best interests.


The have-nots who have attached themselves to more liberal representatives are called "brain washed" by one of our more unlikely GOP candidates.


No question, Herman Cain is a smarty. I'm trying to determine if "patina" or "veneer" best describes his intellect. I make the differentiation of  the two by how recent is the acquisition and how deep it goes.

He uses his basso profundo voice to good effect. By enunciating carefully, clearly and in unhurried fashion, he gives off the tonal clues people attach to education. But he is glib, not truly educated.

I believe the impression he is giving to the hoi polloi  has evolved from his learning how useful mimicry is. Mimicry is used most successfully in the insect world where edible insects mimic the patterns of the poisonous ones.   

In other words, he sounds good, tastes bad.

Perhaps this is too harsh an indictment. And I probably wouldn't have made it so quickly had it not been for the interview Lawrence O'Donnell conducted with him last week. An interview that was criticized, even by brilliant liberal intellectual Melissa Harris-Perry, for being unfair because of O'Donnell's apparent premise that because he was black he was required to participate in the civil rights movement.

O'Donnell asked him why he did not. That he was in high school at the time was a credible excuse, if one needs an excuse. But his further explanation that he was following his father's advice to keep his head down and not get in trouble was a less convincing and viable reason. His description of his father's credo was unfortunately reminsicent of Uncle Tom.


Keeping your head down, working hard and not asking for help is an admirable formula for success. He can't be criticized for that. However, he is succeeding because braver, more visionary activists risked everything for his right to succeed in a white world.

And succeed he has. Unfortunately, his current sympathies still do not lie with those who laid down their lives so that he might bloviate on the merits of capitalism.


He should be on the griddle tonight. I will be interested to see if he maintains his equilibrium now that he will be a target of his political  peers.

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