2001-06-28 - 20:29 MDT

THE WONDERING JEW

I Wonder

Molly Ivins, a columnist I truly admire is a lady who can call a spade a damn shovel - - - - openly. If and when His Bushness decides that Molly shall go to the slammer, I will also claim to be a Hopeless Damn Democrat, walking under the influence of caffeine and go to jail with her.

In the Rocky Mountain News, June 27, 2001 the headline her column is, "Bush Giving Away Our Rights."

She appears to zero in on things that have been aimed at us peons, apparently to keep us in our place, scrambling to survive and keep our families healthy and sheltered -- and fed too if possible.

Dubya, she says, "Does not believe in doing anything to hurt big businesses."

She also mentions that, "According to the anti-smoking groups, in the 2000 elections the tobacco companies gave 8 million dollars in campaign contributions, 80 per cent of it to Republicans." "Bush certainly knew when he appointed John Ashcroft attorney general that Ashcroft was one of the leading senators in stopping anti-smoking legislation in 1998 that would have toughened regulations and increased prices." Mollys last paragraph is a rip-snorter, "For hilarious straight talk, I hope you did not miss Bush last week explaining that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission did NOT impose price caps in the West." "The official administraton line is that this is a, 'market based mitigation plan.' Herwith Bush's version; "They're not talking about firm price controls. They are talking about mechanism - to as I understand it, a mechanism to mitigate any severe price spikes that may occur, which is completelly different from price controls" And Molly says, "Glad he understands it."

In the lower right hand corner of the column there is a cartoon by Toles which shows a man in a business suit which is tagged "Atty. Gen. Ashtray" licking the flap of a roll your own tobacco paper which is labeled "Anti-Tobacco Lawsuit."

My idea is the this whole tobacco thing has been mix-mastered to the max, and money has been handed around, but not to the right people. Eight million dollars being spent in hopes to keep penalties from being severe must speak of humongous profits being protected. Could it be that the government and the tobacco companies might have come together in a meeting and each side say, tobacco is addictive, and henceforth everyone who wishes to purchase tobacco shall be carded, cigarrette machines made illegal, and both the government and the tobacco companies come to an agreement that X billions be spent in treatment of nicotine caused ailments and teaching the young not to smoke. Probably would have been much cheaper than the law suits headed into eternity. In this thing it looks to me that both sides have a foot in the same pail of water.

As far as that goes, why not peg the age limit for buying tobacco to the one applied for the purchase of liquor and only allow tobacco products to be sold in liquor stores ? If a person has to be of legal age to buy booze which is addictive too - why not put the two together. Then wait for the hail of curses from all the special interest groups.

I guess in the overall scene it also looks to me that the aim of the Republican Party is to prevent the possibility of one of us peons being able to sue any organization which has money behind it even though big money's actions might be illegal, harmful, causing financial ruin or physical harm.

So along with the "drill, drill, drill oil complex," and the pushing of roads through our national lands which are wilderness areas or land set aside for the preservation and use of "We The Peons," his aim is to benefit big business using some obfuscatory euphemisms that I doubt he can come up with himself. Wonder who his script writer is ? Must be one cunning, educated Republican who conned the people on the street from one of those folding tables with fake stuff on it into buying some worthless trinkets until he could go to college and learn how to fool more of the people, more of the time than ever before, with the written word and from an office yet.

Ya' know Bastion, I don't really care who dreams up these rose colored euphemisms that often are used to perpetuate lies, whatever religion, color, philosophy or education the dreamers have --- euphemisms are euphemisms are euphemisms and most often are used to blind the public to what is really so. We have joked amongst ourselves about a short man being vertically challenged, which often slips in one ear and out the other of a listener even one who is paying a just a little attention. Hell I am not Handicapped. . . . golfers are handicapped, and so are horses - - - - - but I am damn well crippled. Senior Citizen my bum, I am an old man and proud of it. Sometimes it seems as if euphemisms are strung like pearls to hang around the neck of unsuspecting people until a garrotte of those "funny" words is tightened around their necks. There are things talked about in euphemisms amongst "polite society" folks that would make the barmaid in the lowest dive blush.

In this day and age has the "straight skinny" gone completely out of style ? Makes me Wonder . . . . .

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