Crony Communism

Hayek's Road To Serfdom Had Several Prominent Bumps

The phrase Crony Capitalism is being bandied about a lot lately, with the usual implication being that Capitalism, of the laissez faire sort, is just peachy, and it is only when the poor, innocent, just-fell-off-the-turnip-truck-last-night Capitalist is seduced by yon Politician, dressed in red with fishnet stockings, and hanging out beneath a street lamp, that  miscegenation occurs, and an illegitimate bastard named Crony Capitalism, pops its little head out of the birth canal and proceeds to pay Mommy and Daddy back for their illicit tryst, at a murderous rate of interest. And, the only way to keep this type of third rate rendezvous from occurring,  is to end all government regulation that stands in the way of said Capitalists from making as much money as their grubby little yacht can ferry to the Caymans.

But, this type of apologetic, is NOT new. It has been pushed before by the unlikeliest of propagandists, the Apologists for Communism. While Karl Marx was able to conceive of a economic/power system whereby the means of production were centrally planned and controlled, it took the non-philosopher types like Lenin and Stalin and Mao to move the process along from books to bullets, so to speak. And here is where the problems with Communism arose.  It is hard to push the ersatz compassion of from each according to his abilities to each according to his needs when millions are being slaughtered or condemned to various gulags and labor camps.  Even for those who could swallow the twin bo-bos of death and imprisonment, and still mumble something about sacrifices,  the common good, and omelets,  the comparison between Communist and Free Market economies was unsettling.

People behind the Iron and Bamboo Curtains were hungry, cold, and condemned to suffer shoddy goods, when goods could be had at all.  Vehicles, affordable by only a few, were complete pieces of crap, if home made. Meanwhile, on the other side of The Wall, people ate well, sat warmly in winter, coolly in summer, and could afford to trade in their clunker every three years for a brand new clunker! Dead Kulaks notwithstanding, this kind of stuff was giving Communism a bad name. People were beginning to snicker.

Sooo, the idea of Crony Communism (although not called that)  was invented. The trick was to divorce the theory of Communism from the reality of Communism by blaming the problems on the political side.  Communism per se wasn’t bad, it was just the way pure Communism was hijacked by these evil and/or misguided folk like Stalin. What people were seeing in The USSR and Red China wasn’t REAL Communism at all! It was just the perversion of Communism by intercourse with the political class, and if only you could go back to pure laissez  faire economic Communism, free from all that transitional political pollution stuff, then Communism would work like a charm!!!

Now, the same silly argument is being advanced by the Apologists for Capitalism. The last three years, and arguably the last thirty or so years, have been nothing if not a complete indictment of the failures of either under-regulated or stupidly-regulated Capitalism. Mark Rosenfelder (Zompist) wrote of this several years ago, and used the Banana Republic meme so rare then, and so common today.

http://www.zompist.com/libertos.html

Economics and Politics are just nicer names for Money and Power.  Perhaps the two were not so intertwined in The Garden of Eden, but outside the East Gate,  past the Cherubum and the Fiery Sword, the two have been getting it on for quite a while.  Read the Code of Hammurabi and see how many of the laws relate to contractual and economic rights. What is particularly ironic is that the damning of Crony Capitalism is pouring out of the same mouths who then turn right around and beg the government for favors! Gee, sometimes the best favor a cop can do for a crony is to just look the other way while a crime occurs.

While rightfully castigating  the recipients of bailouts for having privatized their profits while socializing the costs, or interfering in the process, the same  advocates then plead for the government to interfere in the process, and end  regulations–including  minimum wages, worker’s comp, and pollution laws or, begging for tax breaks to locate their new Widget Factory in the Lucky State or Fortunate Nation, all so that they might make a few extra bucks while passing the costs along to society. I am reminded of Me, as a teenager, begging for the car on Friday night because I was mature and adult enough to be careful and get home on time, and then Me,  locking my bedroom door, laying on my bed with my stuffed animals, kicking my feet, and crying because Daddy said, “No.”

Communism and all other systems where the government has too much power are going to degenerate into the Monstrosities of People’s Republics. Capitalism and all other system where the few have too much power are going to degenerate into the Monstrosities of Banana Republics. I think the Human Race can do better than either of those.

Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter

Bonus: Tito and Tarantula’s “After Dark” – From Dusk Till Dawn

I'm Too Sexty!!! - A. Weiner Parody Song

In An Effort To Outdo Charlie Sheen, 

A. Weiner Rolled His Pants ABOVE His Ankles

I’m Too Sexty – A. Weiner Parody Song
by Squeeky Fromm
To the Tune of Right Said Fred’s “I’m Too Sexy"

I’m too sexty for my wife,
Too sexty for my wife,
Wife’s going to leave me.

Chest. A Gigolo.

I’m too sexty for my shirt,
A flirty extrovert.
(Pssst! Keep this covert!)

And I’m too sexty for this phone
Did I just hear you moan???
Erogenous zone???

Oh, I’m too sexty for my party.
Too sexty for my party,
No way that I’m resigning!

I’m A. Weiner, you know what I mean
And I sext-message chicks on my BlackBerry.
Yeah BlackBerry, yeah on my BlackBerry
I am very fast on my BlackBerry.

I’m too sexty for my job
Sooo sexty that I throb.
I'm my own Flash Mob!

A. Weiner Schnitzel

And I’m too sexty for my Twitter
Such a sexty critter,
And smarter than Vitter!

I’m A. Weiner, you know what I mean,
But I’m starting to fret about a perp walk,
Oh yes a perp walk, please not a perp walk,
‘Cos underage chicks can mean a perp walk

I’m too sexty for my
Too sexty for my,
too sexty for my

He talked To Strangers

I’m A. Weiner,  you know what I mean,
And it might be my turn to do a  perp walk,
Oh yes a perp walk,  a lousy perp walk
They’ll lock up my tush after a perp walk

I’m too sexty for my cats
Too sexty for my cats
Poor pussy poor pussy cats

Midnight, Not A Sound From The Pavement

I’m too sexty for my wife,
Too sexty for my wife.
Wife’s going to leave me.

Am I too sexty for Craig’s List???

Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter

BONUS:

The Original “I’m Too Sexy” YouTube Video by Right Said Fred.

Tres Outre' - A Poem

Coiffure de la HedgeRows???

Tres Outre’ – A Poem
by Squeeky Fromm

I thought that I would never see
The FLOTUS looking like a tree!!!

But there she is, with Royalty,
Just standing there like shrubbery.

I bet she does not have a clue
The imagery of her hairdo.

Or how ironic it must be
That it is really he, not she

Who should be seen like potted plant.
For giving in to “Yes, We CAN’T”

For Hope and Change he did not push.
He is The One resembling Bush.

Squeeky Fromm,
Girl Reporter

NOTE:  This poem is based on a beautiful one by Joyce Kilmer, which is short enough to enjoy here:

Trees
by Joyce Kilmer

I THINK that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the sweet earth’s flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

I Am Thy Fool - A Sonnet For Romantic Obotski

DOWN The Creek Without A Paddle Is A Bad Thing, Too.

I Am Thy Fool
by Squeeky Fromm

How do I worship thy One-derfulness?
Shall I measure slobber by the barrel,
Or celebrate thy Blessed Birth in carol
Circulated free by the Main Stream Press?

Or shall I be discreet, and not confess
Nor speak of fascination so feral?
Hiding away Love’s risque' apparel
As if it were but some blue stain-ed dress.

Yet, when every momentary stutter
Or pregnant pause is cause for happiness,
Must I draw the shades and close the shutter?
There, in Dark, lest thrill’d legs and lips a-drool
Proclaim, in involuntary mutter
For all the world to know. . . I am thy Fool.

===========================================================

Here is the background for this Sonnet. This is from Skookum at Flopping Aces, and you can find all the links to the original story there:

MEGHAN DAUM, a reporter for the LA Times, has once again tried to promote this lost and forgotten cause or at least has decided to give the dead jackass another sound thrashing, by creative use of weak metaphors. In the true wide eyed form of the typical Useful Idiot that caused Stalin the only laughter in his life that we know of, she explains Obama’s apparent speech impediment without a teleprompter as a true sign of genius. Have patience, the Times actually gives her column space for this lunacy.

Admittedly, the president is given to a lot of pauses, “uhs” and sputtering starts to his sentences. As polished as he often is before large crowds (where the adjective “soaring” is often applied to his speeches), his impromptu speaking frequently calls to mind a doctoral candidate delivering a wobbly dissertation defense.

But consider this: It’s not that Obama can’t speak clearly. It’s that he employs the intellectual stammer. Not to be confused with a stutter, which the president decidedly does not have, the intellectual stammer signals a brain that is moving so fast that the mouth can’t keep up. The stammer is commonly found among university professors, characters in Woody Allen movies and public thinkers of the sort that might appear on C-SPAN but not CNN. If you’re a member or a fan of that subset, chances are the president’s stammer doesn’t bother you; in fact, you might even love him for it (he sounds just like your grad school roommate, especially when he drank too much Scotch and attempted to expound on the Hegelian dialectic!).

So the president’s inability to speak fluently without a tele-prompter and sounding like a drunk, according to Ms Daum, is a direct result of intellectual stammering, not to be confused with the more common stuttering that afflicts many mere mortals. Woody Allen, the man who married his daughter, portrays this genius in comedic form and that should help those of us that aren’t sycophants believe the lie. Well done, Ms Daum, your lies are so preposterous that people may be hesitant to laugh at them.
Here is the link to this HILARIOUS and well-written Internet Article, which inspired my Sonnet for the Romantic Obotski—I Am Thy Fool.:

http://floppingaces.net/2011/05/28/la-times-compares-obama-iq-to-characters-portayed-in-woody-allen-films/

Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter

Homo Patheticus - Moody's Downgrades American Men???

Could We have Two Skinny Girl Margaritas, Please? With The Little Umbrellas?

Like the song in the Watchmen movie says, the “words of the prophets” are written in the commercials. Or something like that???  Soooo, there are two commercials which really bring home the sorry state of the American Male.

The first is a Viagra Commercial, and a 50ish something STUD is toodling down the road in his antique looking muscle car when OMG, he gets thrown a curveball!!! There is STEAM coming out of the radiator!!! He is in the desert and people DIE when their cars break down in the desert. Or encounter all sorts of weird people and end up crashing into bulldozers like in Vanishing Point (1971), which I learned about in Death Proof (2007).

But, not to worry!  This is the “Age of Knowing How to Get Things Done!!! Our hero figures this problem out, all by himself!!! He needs to add some water to the radiator, sooo he pops into a gas station, buys some environmentally friendly bottled water, and takes off the hot radiator cap without a rag or anything. Gee, I am like sooo impressed. My father taught me this when I was 16, plus how to use something to keep the hot stuff inside the radiator thingy from scalding me to death. (I even learned how to change tires and check my own oil. Believe it or not, I have dated a few boyz, who couldn’t change a tire and couldn’t even drive a standard transmission. Or shoot a gun. Or hammer a nail. )

Our modern day Odysseus will return from his journey safe, and into the waiting arms of a love starved Penelope, who he can now satisfy, thanks to this being the “Age of Taking A Little Blue Pill .” Sooo, like I am not teasing men about the problems that come with age, but gee, couldn’t our Highway Hercules have faced a little more difficult problem?  Like his fan belt blowing off and him carving out pieces of his own skin with his Leatherman tool to make a new one??? While hungry PUMAs and coyotes and bears watched hungrily??? (Yes, I meant that kind of PUMA–they are tougher than mountain lions!!!)

Here is that commercial:

Next we have the Be All You Can Be Men’s Wearhouse Commercial, where a dorky looking bridegroom is assured that, with the proper tuxedo, he can look nearly as good as the bride. Is this what American men have come to??? The desire to look as good as their bride???  Here is that commercial, but be sure to have a trashcan or something around in case you have to, uh er, uh, OH, never mind:

Sooo, the whole point here isn’t that women want a caveman necessarily, although many seem to. It’s that Madison Avenue usually has a pretty good idea of what sells. And these commercials are telling you something. Can't you just imagine the focus groups behind these. Somebody hooked up electrodes to the test subjects and found a spike when they said, "You can look nearly as good as her!!!"

Or the AdMen in their cubicles trying to find an automotive problem the solution of which would both challenge, and inspire, the Male Ego sufficiently to overcome any performance anxiety. And this is what they come up with??? Adding a little water to the radiator??? Fascinating, I tell you!!! Fascinating!!!

If you have little boys, let them play with toy guns, show them how to change a tire, and maybe think twice about the earrings. If not, America may get to a point where they can’t make enough little blue pills, if you know what I mean.

Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter

[Required Disclosure: I have no interest, financial or otherwise, in any grunty little malebeast, and you couldn't give me one on a bet. If you suffer from E.D. (Emotional Dysfunction), please make sure your heart is healthy enough to  return his telephone call. ]

Clownfish, Lesbian Lizards, and Casey Anthony

Friday Night Happy Hour at Cnemidophorus Neomexicanus Cocktail Lounge, Whiptail, New Mexico

Poor Nemo, the Clownfish. Now he must Find Himself.  Nemo is now an object lesson in transgendering for elementery age school children.

Redwood Heights Elementary School, in Oakland,  is in the hot-seat after the school decided to education students about gender diversity.

 On Monday and Tuesday, students of every grade were taught what the school called age-appropriate lessons about gender differences. Some lessons included all-girl geckos, a transgender clownfish, and boy snakes who act “girly” reports the San Francisco Chronicle

“That’s a lot of variation in nature,” Gender Spectrum trainer, Joel Baum, told the students. “Evolution comes up with some pretty funny ways for animals to reproduce.”

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Transgender-Clownfish-Controversy-122617749.html

This is not the first time that reverse-Anthropomorphism has been used to explain or justify some aspect of human sexuality and it certainly won’t be the last.

For example, the poor New Mexico whiptails (Cnemidophorus neomexicanus) are an entirely female species of lizard that reproduce by parthenogenesis.  Parthenogenesis is a form of asexual reproduction found in females, where growth and development of embryos occurs without fertilization by a male. They also engage in mock mating behaviour and have the nickname of Lesbian Lizards. Apparently, these girls kiss girls and they like it. A whole lot.

Anthropomorphism is the act of ascribing human emotions and characteristics to animals or non-human things.  It is what made Disney rich. Think Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck here. Reverse-Anthropomorphism, which may be a term I have coined, is the opposite–ascribing animal characteristics to humans. This practice is on very solid ground because like it or not, human beings are part of the animal kingdom. We eat, sleep, breathe, reproduce, and poop right up there with the bears in the woods.

But still, we draw the line somewhere. We have to, or there would be no civilization. For example, no one gives Casey Anthony, who allegedly killed her two-year old daughter, a pass on the grounds that certain animal species kill their young. No, Casey is on trial for first degree murder. Similarly, the “But Spiders Do It!” defense has never been successful for those accused of murdering their spouses. The same is true for rape, killing sexual rivals, and cannibalism. Among humans, these are classified as felonies.

I suspect we are also missing the point on the clownfish and Lesbian Lizards. Both species manage to propagate and reproduce. To my knowledge, with humans, it still takes a male and a female.

Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter

Obotski Kaa Kaa – Just Trust The Government!!! (Lies the Obotski Taught Us, No. 2)

"No", explained Kaa. "It is only snakes in the GRASS you can not trust. TREE snakes are another matter entirely."

Another one of the Lies The Obotski Taught Us during the Three Year Birth Certificate Ordeal, which I am going to rename in a upcoming Internet Article as “The Opaque Years“, is that Birthers were crazy Conspiracy Theorists for not just trusting a certain Hawaiian State Official (Frujinko???) when she confirmed the information on the short form. As I often said during The Opaque Years, I might be wrong, but I am NOT crazy to be suspicious. Well, in hindsight, I was wrong.  However, people do not live in a state of hindsight,  and only have the present and the past to rely on.

AND, based on past history, government officials do LIE, do commit FRAUD, and do MAKE MISTAKES. That is a fact of life. Here are a few examples compiled in 2009 at Washington’s Blog, link below:

 In case you believe that there are only “a couple of bad apples” in the United States, here is an off-the-top-of-my-head list of corruption by leading pillars of American society:

• Senior military officials stole approximately $125 billion dollars out of Iraq reconstruction funds, dwarfing Madoff’s $50 billion Ponzi scheme (in turn, the looting which is now occurring under the bailout/stimulus programs will far surpass $150 billion)

• Texas billionaire Robert Stanford ran a multi-billion dollar fraud scheme of his own

• Senior judges in Pennsylvania have pleaded guilty to falsely convicting and imprisoning hundreds of youths (they got kickbacks from the prisons).

• The government-endorsed ratings agencies which were supposed to accurately rate the credit-worthiness of companies and nations committed massive fraud

There are hundreds of similar stories of corruption which have come out recently.
But surely government employees would have done something to stop such corruption if had known about it, right?
Well, actually:

• Whistleblowers alerted the government about the looting of Iraq reconstruction funds, but nothing was done

• A whistleblower “gift-wrapped and delivered” the Madoff scandal to the SEC, but they refused to take action

• The Treasury department allowed banks to “cook their books”

• The Pennsylvania Supreme Court refused to hear a case regarding the corrupt judges. A month later, only after the judges confessed to criminal wrongdoing, did the Supreme Court change its mind and take any interest

Here is the link:

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/02/united-states-of-america-corruption.htm

I have given some of these examples before, including the massive document fraud in Foreclosuregate. In fact, my very first Internet Article ever was about huge lies told by previous U.S. Presidents. Some of the Obotski I have debated with try to recast this healthy skepticism as somehow saying that past lies or frauds by government official PROVES that Obama was engaged in fraud or PROVES that Frujinko whatever was lying or mistaken. Nothing could be further from the truth.

What history PROVES is that it isn’t crazy to consider the possibility of FRAUD, LIES, or MISTAKE.  And therefore, Birthers were not crazy to be suspicious. If you doubt this, ask a Liberal or a Obot about Iraq. The Weapons of Mass Destruction were not uncovered. Were they just hidden very well, or was there FRAUD??? Maybe LIES??? Maybe MISTAKES??? All of a sudden, I bet Healthy Skepticism makes a comeback.

Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter

BONUS. A Video Of Kaa: