As I related... as I confessed, in the birthday tribute for Cassandra Peterson recently, I once experimented with lysergic acid diethylamide, commonly known as "acid." Despite the bad reputation the government and law enforcement agencies tried to hang on it (like it causes genetic damage and birth defects), in reality it is one of the most innocuous recreational drugs that exist. It is not addictive. It is less habit forming than marijuana. A tolerance for the drug develops quite quickly, which means you can only use it sporadically to gain it's greatest effect.
However it is debilitating for a few hours, more so if the user is unfamiliar with the effects it does produce. A true hallucinogen, the wavy, multicolored forms and shapes that manifest themselves, and the light headed, erethral state of mind can lead to some fairly outrageous behavior based on some fairly outrageous conclusions that have no basis whatsoever in reality.
I used the drug primarily in the 70s, and had thought it's wide use had been discontinued, or at least curtailed to such an extent that it was almost totally eradicated.
But reading of current events in the news lately I've come to the conclusion that LSD has made a triumphant comeback, and that almost everyone in this country is tripping their freaking heads off.
The current political atmosphere in the United States is such that the extreme right wing of the GOP, which includes Sarah Palin and her Tea Baggers, seem to believe that it is entirely appropriate to let lose and air their deepest bigoted fears and aspirations, and be applauded for it, or any other half baked idea that may by accident pop into the pea brained heads (Friday night I saw a Internet video with some red necked moron in a cowboy hat proclaiming that MSNBC has hired a gay vampire to propagandize to the nations children, in the personification of dear sweet Rachel Maddow who happens to have two small round birth marks on her neck, a true indication of her vampireness).
And in order to feed the cable 24/7 news cycle, the corporate media is constantly putting these loonies in front of a camera and on television. So it seems the crazier you are, or appear to be, the more publicity you are most likely to get, such as this so-called "Reverend" Terry Jones, who doesn't appear to be crazy, rather he seems to be a run of the mill ignorant bigot. This guy, the head of a whole 50 member church (if you can call it that), gained world wide attention by threatening to burn some books, which happened to the Islamic holy text, the Koran, last week on the anniversary of 9/11. He had everybody from President Obama, to Hillary Clinton and General Petraeus, to thousands of Muslims around the world, all worked up due to the publicity he got through the media. He eventually recanted after a huge amount of pressure was put upon him, but I remain surprised there aren't about a hundred others guys out there doing the same thing.
This week all I see on TV, and I'm talking about my favorite cable news source here, MSNBC, the only cable network that provides some semblance of a progressive point of view, is coverage of the likes of Palin, Mike Huckabee, Mitt (Mitt) Romney, and their like, at this Voter Values Summit (the political arm of the Family Research Council), or at some other venue, stirring up the fringe base with absurd, but provocative claims and admonitions. They'll say anything to get in the limelight, and try to get their hopped up, Fox brain-washed base behind them.
And let's make no mistake about this Tea Party which is constantly in the news. Tea Party this, Tea Party that. Well it turns out that the Tea Partiers are a tiny fraction of the GOP, if they even wish to identify them selves with the Republican Party. They aren't black. They aren't Hispanic. They aren't gay, and they aren't young. Studies show the Tea Party consists mainly of disgruntled older Americans seeking to shake up the nation in a decidedly rightward direction, which means as they die off they'll be replaced by their younger deluded right wingers, who hopefully will be a tad more tolerant of the others who live in society with them, and who actually study, or at least become casually aware of subjects before they begin rallying against them. And it would appear that the Republican presidential front runners, such as Palin, Huckabee, and Romney are bending over backwards to appease and placate this tiny fraction of voters, thanks in large part to the publicity they are constantly receiving from the corporate media.
Hey wait a minute, that sounds like a good thing for us Democrats come the general election in November... way to go Tea Partiers! Way to go corporate media! Got any extra tabs or some blotter?
Anyway, that same corporate media assures us that the Republicans are going to win big in November, at least regaining the House of Representatives, and possibly the Senate. I see it all of the freaking time. I see it from the New York Times, I see it on the Internet. I hear it on the radio. I see it on television. Why have a an election if NBC and Fox and all the others have figured out how to travel in the future and tell us who has already won? It would certainly be a lot cheaper and less bothersome than having to go out and find all of those dirty polling places and actually cast a vote, when according to the media it doesn't matter anyway, because they already know who has won! Just let corporations tell us in advance who our next Congress will be so we won't have to go through all of that bother.
Well as it turns out... that's exactly what they'd like to do, and will continue doing with a great deal of success if we keep on letting them.
To be continued:
However it is debilitating for a few hours, more so if the user is unfamiliar with the effects it does produce. A true hallucinogen, the wavy, multicolored forms and shapes that manifest themselves, and the light headed, erethral state of mind can lead to some fairly outrageous behavior based on some fairly outrageous conclusions that have no basis whatsoever in reality.
I used the drug primarily in the 70s, and had thought it's wide use had been discontinued, or at least curtailed to such an extent that it was almost totally eradicated.
But reading of current events in the news lately I've come to the conclusion that LSD has made a triumphant comeback, and that almost everyone in this country is tripping their freaking heads off.
The current political atmosphere in the United States is such that the extreme right wing of the GOP, which includes Sarah Palin and her Tea Baggers, seem to believe that it is entirely appropriate to let lose and air their deepest bigoted fears and aspirations, and be applauded for it, or any other half baked idea that may by accident pop into the pea brained heads (Friday night I saw a Internet video with some red necked moron in a cowboy hat proclaiming that MSNBC has hired a gay vampire to propagandize to the nations children, in the personification of dear sweet Rachel Maddow who happens to have two small round birth marks on her neck, a true indication of her vampireness).
And in order to feed the cable 24/7 news cycle, the corporate media is constantly putting these loonies in front of a camera and on television. So it seems the crazier you are, or appear to be, the more publicity you are most likely to get, such as this so-called "Reverend" Terry Jones, who doesn't appear to be crazy, rather he seems to be a run of the mill ignorant bigot. This guy, the head of a whole 50 member church (if you can call it that), gained world wide attention by threatening to burn some books, which happened to the Islamic holy text, the Koran, last week on the anniversary of 9/11. He had everybody from President Obama, to Hillary Clinton and General Petraeus, to thousands of Muslims around the world, all worked up due to the publicity he got through the media. He eventually recanted after a huge amount of pressure was put upon him, but I remain surprised there aren't about a hundred others guys out there doing the same thing.
This week all I see on TV, and I'm talking about my favorite cable news source here, MSNBC, the only cable network that provides some semblance of a progressive point of view, is coverage of the likes of Palin, Mike Huckabee, Mitt (Mitt) Romney, and their like, at this Voter Values Summit (the political arm of the Family Research Council), or at some other venue, stirring up the fringe base with absurd, but provocative claims and admonitions. They'll say anything to get in the limelight, and try to get their hopped up, Fox brain-washed base behind them.
And let's make no mistake about this Tea Party which is constantly in the news. Tea Party this, Tea Party that. Well it turns out that the Tea Partiers are a tiny fraction of the GOP, if they even wish to identify them selves with the Republican Party. They aren't black. They aren't Hispanic. They aren't gay, and they aren't young. Studies show the Tea Party consists mainly of disgruntled older Americans seeking to shake up the nation in a decidedly rightward direction, which means as they die off they'll be replaced by their younger deluded right wingers, who hopefully will be a tad more tolerant of the others who live in society with them, and who actually study, or at least become casually aware of subjects before they begin rallying against them. And it would appear that the Republican presidential front runners, such as Palin, Huckabee, and Romney are bending over backwards to appease and placate this tiny fraction of voters, thanks in large part to the publicity they are constantly receiving from the corporate media.
Hey wait a minute, that sounds like a good thing for us Democrats come the general election in November... way to go Tea Partiers! Way to go corporate media! Got any extra tabs or some blotter?
Anyway, that same corporate media assures us that the Republicans are going to win big in November, at least regaining the House of Representatives, and possibly the Senate. I see it all of the freaking time. I see it from the New York Times, I see it on the Internet. I hear it on the radio. I see it on television. Why have a an election if NBC and Fox and all the others have figured out how to travel in the future and tell us who has already won? It would certainly be a lot cheaper and less bothersome than having to go out and find all of those dirty polling places and actually cast a vote, when according to the media it doesn't matter anyway, because they already know who has won! Just let corporations tell us in advance who our next Congress will be so we won't have to go through all of that bother.
Well as it turns out... that's exactly what they'd like to do, and will continue doing with a great deal of success if we keep on letting them.
To be continued:
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