Big Fuckin' Rant On Morality, Politics, And Clinging Desperately To Imagined Wrongs

[filkertom]

This was set off by some of the comments in the thread below.

Bill Clinton is a crook.

Happy?

Does it make you feel so much better about the world that a married man spent two years trying not to reveal an extramarital affair with a woman half his age? That, in the midst of all the things he had going on -- most of which were based on trying to run the country -- he had to fight for his political life against a shitload of pitbulls doing the same thing.

But Clinton's a crook.

Meanwhile, the Bush administration has, among other things:

• engaged in numerous illegal actions, from unlawful redistricting to vote suppression, resulting in at least one and possibly two national elections being at the very least extremely suspect
• lied us into an illegal war, invading a country which posed no threat
• beggared the country by [a] keeping the cost of the war off the books and [b] giving absurd tax breaks to the corporate sector and the super-rich
• violated the First and Fourth Amendments to the Constitution
• violated the FISA laws
• violated numerous treaties to which we are signatories, including the Geneva Conventions
• advocated illegal spying and torture as valid methods to "fight terrorism"
• broken or worked around many environmental regulations that would have penalized corporations which pollute
• violated rules about contract bidding to give lucrative deals to companies run by its friends and supporters, many of whom have engaged in human rights violations and war profiteering

And we're not even getting into the many, many stupid things they've said and done that aren't necessarily illegal but you can't believe grown people would do that in public.

But Clinton's a crook.

To those of you who say this, especially those of you whom I love who say this, I realize that you may not forgive me for the following two words:

FUCK YOU.

On his worst day, Bill Clinton is one of the five best presidents we've ever had. He cared, and cares, about the country and its people. He's smart as all hell, knows his stuff forward and backward, and (gasp) can use the English language correctly.

Yeah, he violated the law. He didn't tell a grand jury -- that he got forced in front of because of rampant, relentless Republican operatives trying to nail his ass on anything because he'd had the temerity to deprive Poppy Bush of his birthright as Preznit -- the truth about an extramarital affair that was nobody's goddamn business except his, hers, and their families'.

And I'm sick of it.

I'm sick of the sexual repression; I'm sick of the hypocrisy.

I'm sick of the world freaking out because we saw Janet Jackson's nipple. It was a kinda nice nipple, y'know? But it was a nipple.

I'm sick of having shows on late-night cable that we pay for being bleeped, as if no one had ever heard those words before.

I'm sick of Paris Hilton's announcement that she's celibate being of any interest to anyone besides her S.O.

I'm sick of politicians who claim to be moral, while secretly having affairs all over the damn place.

I'm sick of the Vatican, a bunch of old celibate white men, telling everybody else how to fuck and when to fuck and when not to fuck and that God wants every single possible baby born and how immoral you are if you do it before marriage or with somebody of the same sex or in some funky position or with an animal or whatever's on Benedict's Dry-Erase board this week, while they protect child molesters and contribute to overpopulation and the spread of disease by denying people around the world basic health care information because (eeek!) they might have sex.

THEY'RE GONNA HAVE SEX. Got it? Good. Sex is one of the strongest instincts we have, hot-wired into us by that constantly offended prude of a God they go on about.

I'm sick of people who pretend that sex is bad.

I'm sick of people who genuinely believe sex is bad.

I'm sick of the moralizing scumbag fuckwits who believe the only purpose of sex is procreation, and who would force women to be breeding machines because Every Sperm Is Sacred.

For that matter, I'm sick of the lackwits who voted for a spoiled fucktard of a binge drinking alcoholic while telling themselves he's the guy they'd like to have a beer with.

I'm sick of the people who claim something called "compassionate conservatism" exists.

I'm sick of the people who have been brainwashed into thinking that someone lying about a private sexual affair is as bad as or worse than promising $15 billion in AIDS relief money and then not delivering it. Or who believe that same-sex marriages affect you or your marriage in any way. Or who think throwing stem cell lines in the trash is more "moral" than using them for research. Or who think that a girl is "asking for it" if she dresses in a way you consider to be provocative. Or who believe that parents should always be told about their kids' abortions, because all family situations like that are perfectly good with no possibility that the parent is [a] emotionally unstable in a dangerous way or [b] the one who knocked the kid up.

The most important freedom we have is the right to privacy. Not that anyone on the far side of the aisle seems to give a shit anymore. But that's the biggie. The privacy to live how you want; to think how you want; to vote how you want; to say what you want. The only restriction should be that you can't hurt anyone or anything else.

And so Bill Clinton is a fucking crook, all right? Because we as a society are so screwed up that, in trying to hide an affair, he was battered hither and yon until he was in front of a grand jury and his silver tongue failed him and he made an ass of himself.

And I would put Bill Clinton back in office today if I could.

Because his affair was not our business.

And we have much, much bigger crooks in power, and they're trying their best to stay there.

Guess who I'm more worried about.

Comments

[valkyrwench.livejournal.com]

*heartfelt applause*

Thank you. Mind if I link to this?

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

[bows] Go right ahead.

[gypsyjr.livejournal.com]

I can't remember if I've ever commented here before, but I've just got to say HELL YES.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Don't recall you, but Welcome. And, Thanks. :)

[zibblsnrt.livejournal.com]

Bah, you missed. I'm insufficiently offended. ;)

It reminds me of some of the local politics. We just had a provincial election a few months back, and we've got a new premier. Last week, he and his wife seperated - no reason given, they just announced the fact and he moved out of their house.

Nobody in the government - nobody, including the nuttier members of the opposition parties - made a peep about it, aside from a few polite condolences to both parties. Hell, some of the nuttier members of the opposition parties actually rhetorically slapped the media around for trying to keep it in the headlines. "Of course I have no comment, it's none of my damned business!"

I gotta say, I was both impressed and pleased.

[twfarlan.livejournal.com]

Hear, hear! Bravo and well said, sir!

[cktraveler.livejournal.com]

I think the whole Western attitude towards sex is a cockamamie scheme to control the memetic spread of ideas through the stupidest imaginable means: outbreeding the opposition.

That said, oh, bravo. Based on what we know, what Clinton did was a violation of his marriage contract, so it was immoral. (I say "based on what we know" because it's possible the Clintons had an open marriage, concealing it for the sake of his political career.) However, it was an immorality unrelated to his ability to serve in office.

If Clinton had invaded countries to impress girls, that might have been comparable to Bush ... but he didn't ... why would he have to? He was the freakin' President. That impresses girls right there.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

See, that's a philosophical point I didn't get into, because it was my own little digression. I think that any President should get all the free sex he or she wants. Any national leader should. Because I want to do anything and everything I can to make sure that the world doesn't get blown up because the Prez is in a bad mood.

People in charge of bombs and economies should be kept as relaxed as possible without medication.

[seanmonster.livejournal.com]

Amen, sir.

[morpheus0013.livejournal.com]

*bows* Thank you, Tom.

[annearchy.livejournal.com]

Amen, Brother Tom. Bravo on your eloquent summation. I'm going to save this to my memories.

[eibii.livejournal.com]

You, I love. Well-said.

[ladypoetess.livejournal.com]

I'm quite impressed, Tom. Eloquently stated.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

You go, Tom! Hit the current crooks with a big spotlight and keep them there, discomforted like the rats and roaches they are!

That said, I gotta say this. You know I'm a Big Bill fan and that I don't give a flying fart in Katrina (or Rita, etc.) about the sex per se.

The only thing that bothered me about l'Affaire Clinton was that he screwed a direct subordinate. Which is usually glossed over, or just given as a check mark by the folks who rant about how he couldn't keep it dry.

Maybe it's just that I've worked in the damned corporate world (investment banking) for too long, but ISTM that if there was anything he did wrong with Monica, that was it. Anything else is between him and his family.

So yeah, one point against. But for all he did -- like having an effective FEMA, moving toward peace in the Middle East, and the things you've already mentioned -- I'd take him back in a heartbeat.

[budsharpe.livejournal.com]

But are you sick of these muthafuckin' snakes on this muthafuckin' plane?

Seriously, I agree with much you have posited here. If you accomplish nothing else today, sleep well knowing you have given me pause to think about where this country is headed. Thank you for that.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

You're welcome, and thank you. And I'm gonna go see about those muthafuckin' snakes sometime in the next couple o' muthafuckin' days. :)

[dragonscholar.livejournal.com]

I owe you a big sloppy french kiss. But as we're both guys, I'll get you a beer. A manly beer.

Offensive? Only to idiots.

I sum up the whole republican/religious right/conservative access as this: lack of responsibility.

You'll get bullshit, you'll get lies, you'll get slander, you'll get moralizing preaching. What you won't get is a responsible explanation of why-and-how. What you won't get is actual evidence. What you won't get is a justification that makes senses as opposed to bullshit.

So, the people who most talk about Responsibility I find are those least likely to practice it.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Now, y'see, there we go again. I mean, I've kissed Moonwolf twice. Full on the lips. The Velcro™ effect kinda sucked, but.... ;)

[per_solo]

*applause*

Now, the 25,000 question...can you put that to music? :-)

[nimitzbrood.livejournal.com]

$diety I was thinking exactly the same thing!

1) This is fantastic Tom and if I could put it up on a big screen in Capitol Hill I would do so immediately!

2) This has got a political song written all over it somewhere. It just begs to be put into the ranks of your other political songs.

I'll be "offended" if it doesn't generate a song somewhere... ;-)

[louisadkins.livejournal.com]

Why would I be offended?

[omimouse.livejournal.com]

Consider yourself seriously hugged and thanked by a highly appreciative Mousie.

[lapislaz.livejournal.com]

"Amen, Brother!" the choir sang.

Heinlein once pointed out (and he undoubtedly got it from someone else, because he was smart that way) that people who become leaders are rarely "normal" in the sexuality department - they are either of the "sex with everything that moves (and a few that don't)" variety or the "so celibate the Vatican is impressed" variety. It comes with the territory. The sexual behavior of "The Leader" has occasionally been the prompt for a revolution or two, but I am curious as to whether it's actually ever been a subject for discussion by such a large part of the masses before. This national obssession we have for who's sleeping with who is not only making us crazy, it's making our government crazy.

[smallship1.livejournal.com]

Then there are the American, Russian and Chinese leaders in the Illuminatus books, each of whom had been impotent with his wife for [a largish number of] years, but could achieve orgasm in the mouth of a skilled prostitute within [a small number of] seconds.

Bet you were dying to be reminded of that.

[sunfell.livejournal.com]

I volunteer at the Clinton Library. People ask me why, since I am not a FOB or a fan or anything else. Why do I do it? Because he was a damn sharp President. Just like you said. People come out of there with tears in their eyes when they compare what position the US was in under his administration to what it is today. I mean, they actually cry.

I sincerely believe that his lesser faults will fade with time, and that people will see him as the last genuine President we had.

Like you, I am sick to death of the deathspiral this country is in. I saw it yesterday at the Dueling Pollsters breakfast that ended the annual NCSL convention. They showed graphs- both Republican and Democratic- that indicated that a lot of people are sick of the MF snakes in this MF plane. Or the political equivalent of it. Men, women, young, old... the younger demographic fears for their future. They are afraid that there is too much emphasis on college, and not enough emphasis on debt. There are too many people going for degrees that they aren't going to ever utilize, and not enough people learning the trades. The Republican pollster talked about how his basement flooded in the storms in June, and how he would have paid thousands of dollars to anyone who could keep the water out- and there were no tradesmen who could.

NCSL was a real eye opener.

[eleccham.livejournal.com]

and that people will see him as the last genuine President we had

I certainly hope you're wrong on that...

[aota.livejournal.com]

I 100% agree with you. Getting a blow job in his office is nothing compared to shit that Duba (see corporate hand puppet) has done.

[magicaltrevor.livejournal.com]

Ooh, ooh! I wanna play!

Over and over, the only people I see making any kind of point about anything "immoral" he ever did-- they all keep saying the same thing: "He violated his marriage vows". Oh, big friggin deal.

Lemme tell you something, you marriage-is-teh-sacredz people. It's not. Never has been, never was. Unless it's YOUR fuckin marriage, and YOU say it is. Is Clinton's marriage yours? No. Was Bill's affair yours? Fuck no. Then keep your fuckin morals to yourself. Who's to say Hillary even gave a care that Bill was cheating? Did they ASK her? I don't personally remember her ever having been asked to give an opinion in court about that, myself... and I should think since she's the one everyone's trying to "protect" by forcing Bill to uphold some perceived "sacred" quality of marriage, she should be asked if she needs or wants the "protection".

And guys, re-fucking-lax. It's just sex.

Okay, thank you, Tom, I'm better now. Your post is brilliant and satisfying and I'm showing everyone. Thank you.

[eleccham.livejournal.com]

How do they know what his marriage vows were? Were any of those people at his wedding?

[ororo.livejournal.com]

Well put.

[alicetheowl.livejournal.com]

Hear, hear!

I'm sick of talking to conservatives who, upon hearing mention of the current President's faults, immediately trot out the BS about Clinton's affair. It's ALWAYS their reaction, and I ALWAYS reply, "At least no one died."

I'm sick of talking to conservatives who, upon being confronted with the many faults of our administration, scoff and say that ALL of us Liberals say that. Did they ever think that maybe we say it because it's TRUE?

I'm sick of running into the brick wall of conservative bullheadedness, where they're going to stick behind the President no matter how badly he fucks up this country. We voted him in (I'm not getting into THAT little controversy right now) to do a job, and instead, he's using it to serve the interests of a tiny handful of his best buddies. And no one sees it! Or if they do, they argue it's jusitifiable, and that WE're the "moonbats" who are being unreasonable in thinking there's something wrong with it.

Arrrrrrgh.

[giza.livejournal.com]

> I'm sick of talking to conservatives who, upon being confronted with the many
> faults of our administration, scoff and say that ALL of us Liberals say that.

Note that they are not denying it. :-)

[hanabishirecca.livejournal.com]

I love your work but have never added you. My wife always shares the big things you mention. But after this, I have to add you.

Richard Nixon was always the worst president in my mind. And this was a family thing. Edward Muskie was a close personal friend. My family supported him fully in his campaign and were big, big names in the campaign for Muskie's run for Presidency. And Richard Nixon, well you probably know the story, ruined Muskie both politically and emotionally. So for that reason, I have always held a special hatred for that bastard.

And then Bush was (not) elected...

[hanabishirecca.livejournal.com]

Correction: Edward Muskie was a close friend of the family. I never had the honor of meeting him.

[smallship1.livejournal.com]

YES!!! Oh, thank you for giving me something to agree with you absolutely and unequivocally on. I hate that I can't leave the science/religion thing alone and we always end up disagreeing. I'd like to link to this as well, if I may.

Of course, being the paranoid psycho I am, I always wondered whether Ms Lewinsky was, um, prompted by motives other than twoo wuv when she set her cap at him...but I don't know enough to make a judgment, so that remains mere speculation.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Of course, m'friend. :) And, I will not presume upon the ultimate goals of Ms. Lewinsky... but Linda Tripp, on the other hand....

[the-misha.livejournal.com]

Thank you. :)