Beautiful Horizons

A Lesson Still Unlearned

One of the inexplicable characteristics of the right these days is the fetishizing of CEO's, especially as potential political leaders. It's patently absurd: there is no system of checks and balances in the business world. CEO's need not depend on congress to implement policies. They do not have to forge consensus and compromise if they do not wish to do so; they need merely decree in most instances.

If that is not sufficient to convince anyone, I have two words for you: Silvio Berlusconi.

GOP: National Debt? Extend Tax Cuts!

    I thought the general argument of the Republicans and the Tea Party folks was that the national debt has become a really, really big deal (this discovery was only made possible by the election of Obama).  Not to fear, Senator McConnell have the answer:  Extend all the Bush tax cuts.  Permanently.   Of course there might be this teensy-weensy little problem Erza Klein notes here.  

The "politics" of nothing...but hysteria and bamboozlement

Glenn Beck pulled off his big "Tea Bags Lite" rally today, which apparently had - at least by his claims - something or other to do with the legacy of Martin Luther King.  And "restoring honor."  Steve Benen tries to figure out what the content of this character's "I have a scheme!" rhetoric amounts to.  Apparently, nothing that can be deciphered as coherent.  Ultimately, it's a platform for inchoate fear and resentments - against Muslims, a black President, brown people from south of the border - and lining the pockets of Barnumesque hucksters like Beck and Palin, not to mention the shadow figures like the Koch brothers who are using these clowns as "populist" cover for their gospel of tax-cuts and de-regulation. 

Post-Script:  One of the best commentaries on this ugly phenomenon - other than Jon Stewart's running take-downs - is still THIS: Kazan and Schulberg's masterpiece, A Face in the Crowd (Andy Griffith's finest hour and a terrific performance by the late, wonderful Patricia Neal.)  Here's the Amazon description, which fits Beck to a "T": 

More timely now, perhaps, than when it was first released in 1957, Elia Kazan's overheated political melodrama explores the dangerous manipulative power of pop culture. It exposes the underside of Capra-corn populism, as exemplified in the optimistic fable of grassroots punditry Meet John Doe. In Kazan's account, scripted by Budd Schulberg, the common-man pontificator (Andy Griffith) is no Gary Cooper-style aw-shucks paragon. Promoted to national fame as a folksy TV idol by radio producer Patricia Neal, Griffith's Larry "Lonesome" Rhodes turns out to be a megalomaniacal rat bastard. The film turns apocalyptic as Rhodes exploits his power to sway the masses, helping to elect a reactionary presidential candidate.

What Else Would You Expect From Larry Rohter?

I used to be willing to give Larry Rohter a pass when he was writing about the arts in Brazil, but this comment in an otherwise alright article about Brazilian pop legend Roberto Carlos (full disclosure: I'm not a fan) is lazy and sloppy:

Born Roberto Carlos Braga in a small town in the interior of Brazil, he first performed on a local radio station at age 9.

He was born in a city in a city called Cachoiero do Itapemirim, in the state of Espirito Santo, one of the four states that comprise the Southeast (Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais are the others), not too far from the capital, Vitoria and the headquarters of what may be the largest bus company in Brazil as well as the largest producer of marble and one of the largest producers of granite in the country.

But to the lazy, everything outside of Rio and Sao Paulo must be small towns in the interior.