Kochs Invade the Land of Enchantment

Hyatt Tamaya Resort

Saw on the teevee "news" yesterday that access to the Hyatt Tamaya Resort on the Santa Ana Pueblo, just  was barred to the public because some mysterious "private party" had booked the entire place for an event.

Who?

They wouldn't say. But valiant reporters ferreted out the truth:

The Koch brothers, both of them together, had rented the entire place for a do of some kind and demanded that no member of the public be allowed within a mile of the place. Prolly a good thing, too.

The Zombie Eyed Granny Starver was with them.

Golden Boy, eh?

Presidential timber.

The Face of the Future.

I am in awe.

New Mexico deserves better than this.

[Now they say that little weasel Cantor was there, too. Ick. And Susana La Tejana. Ew. Unclean.]

Life At Versailles, Or The Other "Debate"

Versailles

These people have been on the Government Teat too long.

I arrived back at our place in California just as the Vice Presidential "Debate" was beginning, so, still zzzzz-y from the long drive, I sat down to listen to and watch a bit of it. At least Martha Raddatz was awake, I'll give her that, and she maintained some sort of control of the boys.

Well, that was my impression. Both Biden and Ryan came across as boys, literal adolescents having at one another, more for fun and for show than for any real object at all, because both of these boys know that no matter who eventually sits in the Big Chair (and the not-quite-so Big Chair nearby) the strings will still be pulled by the same people, and the results will be about the same because the goal is the same: Empire, economic calamity (for the masses), and some sort of permanence, ie: "certainty" for the High and the Mighty.

There were times when Ryan came across as just a punk, which seems to be his personality in any case, but I don't know that my judgement about these things is actually valid any more, being as that I'm more of a codger these days than not.

By his advanced years -- 70 now, is he? -- Biden should have come across as the Doddering Old Count puttering around the Palace since he's been in office (thus part of the Palace culture) for nearly all his life (wasn't he first elected when he was a twenty-something... punk?)  Well, maybe that's how younger people saw him last night, but I myself saw him more as the older frat brother slapping around some random pledge. Ryan wasn't a real person to Biden (I don't know that anyone who speaks in constant sound bites and talking points could be mistaken for "real" in any case). He was an object, a cat toy.

For his part, Ryan seemed to enjoy it, but then he loves him some attention, doesn't he?

The world Ryan wants for the rest of us is one of submission, misery and despair. Apparently, this grows out of his religious faith somehow; but then I guess after the rejection of the reforms of Vatican II (now 50 years ago) the Church really does want to go back to submission, misery and despair for all except the Highest of the Mighty for whom no flattery is out of bounds.

Biden is old enough to remember Vatican II and the reforms that resulted, and like the Rebel Nuns, he seems to think that that now antiquated version of the Church ought to still mean something. Yes, well. Good luck with that.

How did misery for all (except those on top) become the standard outlook for the younger generation?

Do they even realize it?

But there is no less misery misery in Biden's future vision, such as it is.

And this is why both of these boys are basically Bubble Boys, living in the Palace of Versailles, completely divorced from the People they ostensibly serve.

Yes, they have personally suffered somewhat in ways that many of us can relate to, but I'm not at all sure that either of them can relate their own suffering and loss to what the millions encounter. On the other hand, I can easily imagine them ordering the masses to "suck it up like I did." True empathy is not really a strong suit of Versailles.

Back in the day, Versailles was "open." Anyone who could make their way to the Chateau was admitted so long as they were unarmed. They had essentially free rein to roam the corridors and grand salons at will; many were able to directly encounter one or another royal functionary, count, or duc, and it was even possible for the unwashed to encounter and directly petition the King Himself -- though such encounters were rare. In a sense therefore, the Ancien Regime was at least theoretically in closer touch with the masses than our own isolated and heavily protected Royals are. When the déluge came, therefore, the Anciens were not entirely unaware that the People were, shall we say, discontent.

These days, however, it is not at all certain that those who have lived in a version of Versailles all their supposedly adult lives -- like Biden and Ryan to take but two -- have any idea that the masses are not altogether delighted with them.

After his Victorious Performance at the previous "debate" with Obama, Romney attempted to adopt the trappings of Royalty, asserting his "interest" in and "care" for "all the People," but it is obviously a charade, something he knows he is supposed to do which he doesn't carry off very well. Ryan doesn't have to play that game -- and he doesn't -- any more than Biden does.

They're just  boys   playing. Doing what they do.

Somehow, I am not reassured.

"Tell Me Lies"

I only watched a little bit of the Ryan Lie Fest last night. I had to water the lawn.

What I did see of it though was almost shocking in the breadth and depth of the lies and dissimulation coming out of that man's mouth. We expect politicians to lie as a matter of course (and for them, a matter of honor, oh yes) when they address the People, but this was in another category altogether.

I walked in on Ryan's speechifying as he was yabbering about the debt downgrade (that of course has had no discernible effect on interest rates, but that's another issue I won't get into here.) This is what he said:

It began with a perfect Triple-A credit rating for the United States; it ends with a downgraded America.

Which neglects the fact that the S&P downgrade was precipitated by the Republican recalcitrance to raise the debt ceiling -- recalcitrance that Paul Ryan, he of the Zombie Eyes -- had no small part in. The downgrade was the result of hostage-taking and brinksmanship by the very fellow who addressed us so sad-eyed last night.

The speech degenerated from there.

He lied about the debt commission -- that Ryan himself served on and made quite a show of ensuring there would be no agreement from.

He lied about Obama "doing nothing" about the national debt (though what he's doing may not be the right thing, he's not "doing nothing.")

He lied about the Obama government trying to "divide up the wealth" -- when in fact, the policies of the Obama administration and any RnR administration are all but identical in their desire to pump ever more money into the pockets of people like, well, RnR. There is no "dividing" of the wealth, there is only taking wealth (whatever's left of it) from the poor and middle class and handing it by the carload to the already richest of the rich.

He lied about Obamacare. It's far from "federal control" of "your healthcare," it's more like endless insurance company bureaucracy determining what kind of care, if any, you might receive -- provided you've paid enough in premiums for long enough, yadda yadda.

He lied about Medicare -- both what he was proposing to do with it and what Obama has proposed.

He lied about the nature of government debt.

He probably lied about his mother (though I wouldn't know about that).

And of course he lied by omission regarding his greatest philosophical and economic influence, Her Sacred Immortal Presence, Ayn Rand.

I'm glad that from time to time members of the Church whose faith he (probably falsely) professes step in to correct his many errors.

But it doesn't seem to take.

If that was the prelude, we can only imagine what lies will emanate from the Romney acceptance speech later today. After all, as I've pointed out elsewhere, Romney was brought up with the understanding that it was OK for Mormons to Lie for the Lord.

Tell me lies....

UPDATE: Perhaps Ryan's most spectacular lie last night (but I didn't see this part of his presentation) was his oft-repeated lie about the closure of the Janesville, WI, GM assembly plant. For the record:

Ryan and Mars

I was watching a Mars Science Laboratory news conference yesterday, and I was struck with how young the panelists were. Of course, the star of the Mission has been "Mohawk Guy," Bobak Ferdowsi, but yesterday, his stardom was totally eclipsed by a bunch of kids going on at great length and detail about the Mars Mission currently underway in Gale Crater. It was an impressive and important display.

While watching the landing drama at JPL, it seemed that "nothing had changed" at the Space Agencies, it was still being operated the same way, with the hierarchies, the same ranks of monitors,  and the same 3 ring binders they've been using since the days of Werner von Braun.

But no. It's not the same. Not at all. There are similarities, to be sure, because what the Space Agencies are now is built on what they were 50 years ago when the Space Program became an integral part of everyone's life with the orbiting of manned spacecraft. The institutions that set our path to the stars are still the same, more or less, as they were at the beginning.

But it's an entirely different atmosphere and spirit than once pervaded NASA and JPL; these young people have a much greater level of accomplishment, when you get down to it, in their 20's and 30's, than their predecessors might have had in their 40's and 50's. They've done more, they've seen more, and with the spectacularly successful landing of the Curiosity Rover, they've managed an amazing task with grace, courage, and utter confidence in their skill and ability to do the impossible.

I just saw Mitt Romney introduce Randian Young Buck Paul Ryan as "the next President of the United States" and it immediately brought to mind the reality of the Bush Jr. presidency, in which the man who ran the show was VP Dick ("What a Dick") Cheney. And if there is a Romney presidency -- looking less and less likely as this Long Hot Summer drags on -- it's obvious that Mittster will defer to the Young Buck in the transformation of American society into a Randian dystopia.

That's the goal and game plan of our Overclass, and they have chosen Ryan as the man to implement their goals.

Ryan brings a young, indeed an almost adolescent, enthusiasm to the task he's accepted: dismantling what's left of the New Deal and Great Society and restoring America's position as a Third World hell hole the way it was meant to be. Like more than a few adolescents, he obviously enjoys bringing an end to the world as we know it, with as much malice and cruelty as he can engineer. It's a high for him.

The contrast between Ryan and the young people at the news conference yesterday could not be more acute. Ryan is a social demolition expert, that's his job. The young people at NASA and JPL, managing a Mars program that may well result in the first confirmation of life on another world (though I'm not holding my breath), are building what could well be a better future, or at least something that leads to The Future.

Ryan and his owners and sponsors (Willard is a nonentity now) have no such vision. They are obsessed with driving us backwards, destroying what's good in American society once and for all.

It is their mission.

It is their quest.

They are relentless.

It will be interesting to see how much Team Obama pre-concedes to them this time.