Thursday, September 15, 2005

MREs Are Too Good for These Folks, Huh Barb?

Hank Williams was a guy who circled a lot of blocks more than a few times. His songs document a hardscrabble existence, the sort of story that America is famous for. Honky-tonks and lost love are common themes of course. But there's also the song "House of Gold," which includes the lyrics:

People steal, they cheat and lie,
For wealth and what it can buy.
Don't they know on Judgement Day
Gold and silver gonna pass away.

. . .

I'd rather be in a deep dark grave
And know that my poor soul was saved
Than to live in this world in a house of gold
Deny my God and doom my soul.

That tune came to mind when I learned of Barbara Bush's recent over-the-top remarks regarding the victims of Katrina who do not share her regal status.

I gather I was far too gentle or timid (a common and unfortunate habit of progressives lately) in a recent post speculating that the un-president's mother must be mighty upset at junior's inability to mature beyond his chronic third-grade stage (chronic detention, presumably). I had envisioned kindly old Barb, like a disgruntled restaurant co-worker, self-throttled to the point of eruption, still unable to honestly tell lead dog how badly he is blowing it, getting revenge by squatting over shrub's cereal.

I was wrong on at least two scores. Little queeny is in total denial that there is any odor at all to the excretions of her cuddly little war criminal. And while I thought I might be a little over the top predicting her behavior, I was too kind there too. She was absolutely venal, nasty, wholly unable to relate to real people, and otherwise anti-empathetic in her recent notorious comments about the fate of the poor in New Orleans. I obviously underestimated how vacuous she apparently is and what a total loser on the overall scale of human qualities.

The average right-wing bush supporter would go apoplectic at the idea that misbehavior of a child should be rationalized and even excused on the basis of parenting failures. They wouldn't want to miss a chance for capital punishment just because mama is a psychopath, would they? In this one case I'd have to agree. GHWB and Barbara clearly deserve incarceration for their past crimes and parental criminality, but awol-boy stands alone.

It should be no surprise that folks with an incredible fortune accumulated largely through at best marginally legal profiteering including commerce with the Germans in the run-up to WWII might have trouble dealing with reality. Their shtick seems to have always been to promote human misery and then profit from it. Sound familiar? September 11, 2001 was an absolute windfall for them, as the war in Iraq has been and no doubt the Katrina aftermath will be. They should have a motto over the mantel in Crawford:

Every Disaster Must Have a Silver Bush Lining

It would be one thing if their riches were due to hard work. From what I can tell there's been little of that in the Bush history. Sleazy business dealings, outrageous munitions sales, sleeping with the enemy, insider trading, white-collar crime, that's all they know. The Bush family portfolio undoubtedly would provide all the exhibits needed to document the need for the Geneva Conventions.

It's hard enough from what I hear when a person wins a big-dollar lottery to stay grounded. When you are part of a dynasty more or less based on exchanging goods for cadavers and blood it seems that it would be pretty essential to mute that little voice that asks how the other person might be feeling. (That's that "empathy" that the wimps keep on about.)

Obviously Barbara long ago designated whatever little voice of that sort she might have had for the Big Sleep. Euthanasia of a sort, I suppose. Or is that in the abortion category?

These swine will be remembered for what they are. Cheating, lying influence-peddlers is about as polite a description as one can come up with, though it risks being overly polite. With any luck one or more or them will turn out to be sentient enough to take the appropriate cyanide. Heroes, martyrs, icons, that ain't gonna happen.

Billy Holiday is another American icon who is certain like Hank to continue to epitomize the spirit of America. She certainly grappled with reality and what people who don't inherit wealth deal with:

"God Bless the Child"

Them that's got shall get
Them that's not shall lose
So the Bible says, and it still is news
Mama may have, papa may have
But God bless the child that's got his own
That's got his own

Yes, the strong gets more
While the weak ones fade
Empty pockets don't ever make the grade
Mama may have, papa may have
But God bless the child that's got his own

When you've got money
You've got lots of friends
Crowding round your door
When the money's gone, and all your spending ends
They don't come round no more

Oh the rich relations may give you
A crust of bread and such
You can help yourself
But don't take too much
Mama may have, papa may have
But God bless the child that's got his own
That's got his own