January 13, 2005
They didn’t just kill health care reform, they used its corpse as a platform to redefine themselves as a reform movement that swept away the Democratic majority.Up next: the fascist octopus sings its swan song. [09:01 PM]
Hey, it's Orwell night!
(And I've got a second helping of Orwell simmering on a back burner.)
Where are Democrats looking for inspiration about how to stop Bush's plan? Several party strategists are studying the Republicans' drive to kill the Clinton health care bill in 1993 and 1994. "The analogues are clearly there," says a senior Democrat organizing opposition to the plan.
You know, one would think that someone would have been studying this before now, given that we've known the GOP has wanted to kill Social Security since oh, about 10 minutes after the Social Security Act passed 70 #^@%!@$! years ago.
What the hey, let's break out the no-doze and pull an all-nighter.
Avram, indeed, I noticed that.
About three years ago, Republicans stopped making me think of Orwell and started making me think of William S. Burroughs.
Orwell Night wouldn't be complete without the Students for an Orwellian Society
Patrick, Avram,
I agree. There is also a clear parallel between
"He who controls the present controls the past, He who controls the past controls the present." [Orwell, 1984], and:
U.S.-Led Forces Damaged Ancient Babylon
By Kate Holton
LONDON (Reuters) - U.S.-led forces, using Iraq's ancient city of Babylon as a military base, have caused "substantial damage" to one of the world's most renowned archaeological treasures, a British Museum report said.
The report, quoted in Saturday's Guardian newspaper, said U.S. and Polish military vehicles had crushed 2,600-year-old pavements in the city, a cradle of civilization and home to one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Archaeological fragments were used to fill sand bags, it added.
John Curtis, keeper of the museum's Ancient and Near East department, invited to visit Babylon by Iraqi antiquities experts, also said he had found cracks and gaps made by people who had apparently tried to gouge out the decorated bricks forming the famous dragons of the city's Ishtar Gate....
Jeremy Osner:
I'd rather not abuse Patrick's hospitality here by attempting a parody of how William S. Burroughs might have written, say, George W. Bush's second inaugural speech.
I almost expect the Time Patrol to show up in that news story.
Maybe we could send a couple of spare brigades over to Egypt — I hear tell the Sphinx still has one or two recognizable facial features we could use for target practice.
Jonathan Vos Post: probably a wise choice. Thanks for the suggestion though, it warms the cockles of my consciousness to think about WSB as a speechwriter for the Republicans.
Jeremy Osner:
The grain of truth is that Burroughs certainly did believe in gun ownership, as his wife found out in a William-Telling way.
Anyone want to show us what Bush's inaugural speech would look like if written by someone surprising? Or am I not being true to the spirit of this thread?
Hard-Hitting Moderator: Teresa Nielsen Hayden.
Comments on Jackboot-in-the-melting-pot alert.: