Showing posts with label Propaganda/Ipso Factoid. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Propaganda/Ipso Factoid. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Keeping it Real

Inauguration Day

L
ast year I purchased one of those George Bush countdown clocks for my father who has been one of President Bush's biggest critics. In fact, Dad's been looking forward to this day since President Bush took office eight years ago. Today was supposed to be the big day when the clock would terminate with some sort of electronic fanfare, but instead of playing an electronic version of a Sousa classic, the countdown clock anticlimactically stopped two months ago.

It was fun while it lasted though.
Dad's George Bush countdown clock stopped prematurely, but the wars President Bush initiated are still going strong, and now that President Obama has been inaugurated as the Commander and Chief of the Armed Forces, these wars, and the deaths that will result from them, are now his responsibility.

Thousands of American soldiers and countless enemy combatants and civilians have been killed in President Bush's wars.

How many more thousands will pay the ultimate price in President Obama's wars?

Can you say body bags? Have a Nice War!

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Prop 8 Opponents Boycott Utah

Too much of the post Prop 8 drama has been emotion driven.

One of the most misdirected attempts of vengeance against Prop 8 supporters, is the call to boycott the State of Utah, headquarters of the LDS Church whose members donated millions of dollars to help pass Prop 8 in California last year.


This boycott situation needs to be viewed in perspective, detached from the kind of emotionalism that can disable rational thinking.


There are lots of folks jumping on the boycott bandwagon, but will a boycott of Utah really hurt the LDS Church?

There are approximately twelve million Mormons worldwide, with only about a million of them living in Utah. Most Mormons don't even live in Utah, and believe it or not, Spanish is the most common language in Mormondom, yet the LDS are almost always stereotyped as short-haired, pasty white males wearing the familiar cultic uniform - white shirt and tie. Utah is simply where the LDS Church headquarters resides, while the majority of Mormons live outside of the Beehive State.

It is a big mistake to assume that Utah is an all-Mormon state. There are many areas in Utah where less than half of the population is practicing Mormonism, and not everyone in Utah is in favor of Proposition 8 either. Many Utahans opposed Prop 8, and financially supported the "No On 8" lobby. Yes, out of state money influencing a California election... ironically the same thing the NO on 8 people are angry about.

It also may come as a surprise that Salt Lake City is home to the oldest established gay bar west of the Mississippi River. Sorry SFO, like Brigham said, SLC is the place. The homosexual community thrives there and has been part of Salt Lake society for more than a century. The tour and service industry in Utah, especially in Salt Lake, is among the best, thanks to the professionalism of talented hard workers, and yes, many of them are gay. A boycott of Utah would likely hurt the tour and service industries most because they are dependent on out of state money.

So, who does the boycott really hurt?

A boycott would end up hurting individuals opposed to Prop 8 and wouldn't significantly effect the Mormon Church, their intended target.

A boycott directed at one twelfth of the Mormon Church's population is primarily symbolic. The church won't even notice. "The caravan rolls on."

A boycott of Utah is misdirected and will hurt some of the homosexuals who live behind the Zion Curtain.

Ski Utah!
or
Have a nice boycott!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

UPI Buried Paul


There are a handful of reasons why elections are flawed in the United States.

1 Too many uninformed people vote.
Remember all those stupid people in Florida who accidentally voted for Pat Buchanan back in 1998?* Sure everyone has the right to vote, but apparently, most people are not responsible enough to make good decisions when it comes to slick politicians who promise them the world. Unfortunately, the masses believe their convincing demagoguery, leaving those of us who vote responsibly outnumbered at the polls. Rather than paying attention to what a politician actually stands for, most people are more concerned with:
a- how the candidate looks
b- political labels/state color (gang mentality)
c- who their union supports


2 Unfortunately, vote fraud does exist here in what we like to call the
land of the free. Ironic isn't it? We harp about other countries having fraudulent elections, when right here at home, we allow the same kind of hood-winkery under a red white and blue banner. Patriotique!

3 Media reports were blatantly biased in this election. During the primaries, I was astounded how Ron Paul's news and support were intentionally ignored, even though he was getting more votes than both Rudolf Giuliani and Fred Thompson who received an abundance of media attention. Even after Rudy and Freddy had dropped out, there was still no mention of Paul even though he had been named the winner in the debates, and had come in second place in a number of primaries. When Huckabee dropped out, the media never bothered to mention that Paul was still in the running, and behaved as though McCain had it all wrapped up. Other news was invented to keep Paul out of sight and out of America's mind. The media effectively buried Paul.

4 Americans have a team X vs. team Y mentality, which makes it easy to ignore anyone who isn't in the spotlight. This kind of narrow thinking allows the
A and B sides of the dark side to maintain control, and prevent honest politicians and third parties from receiving attention.
* And then Al Gore wanted to count every ballot (for himself) which had been discarded... "Count them again."

Friday, October 31, 2008

vOte fOr Obama = vOte fOr mOre WAR

Trick or Treat? A Rhetorical Question


Evidence of Obama support is all around me here on California's Central Coast. It seems that everywhere I go, I see it displayed proudly by a diverse cross-section of the community. Most of my neighbors have Obama yard signs now, and more cars sport Obama bumper stickers than those that don't. It is really quite impressive, too. The thing that is ironic about this situation is the fact that most of these same supporters claim to be anti-war, and even display Obama stickers in close proximity to their anti-war slogans. Sad, but true. The reality of the matter for anti-war advocates, is that a vote for Obama, is an endorsement for escalated war in Afghanistan. Ouch! And no Santa Clause or Easter Bunny either !!! Sorry I had to be the one to tell you.
~&>(-

Happy Halloween

Friday, October 24, 2008

Rhetro Santa Cruz

After closer inspection, what at first appeared to me to be a cute cartoon on the cover of Metro Santa Cruz, turned out to be one of the most offensive mainstream political cartoons I've ever seen. I've been a reader of the local free-paper for many years, and I'm surprised by their apparent oversight on the cover of this issue.

The cartoon, by Steven DeCinzo, depicts a giant, thousand foot tall Super Obama standing on the West Coast of the United States, with bo
th feet firmly planted here in Santa Cruz. His right foot has crushed the Santa Cruz Sentinel building, while his left foot has laid to waste the KSCO radio studios. Why is Obama crushing these two free-speech centers?

The Santa Cruz
Sentinel is your basic daily local newspaper that prints whatever information the Associated Press allows to trickle down, while KSCO is the only talk radio station in the Monterey Bay area whose format hosts numerous political and social views, and is certainly more diverse than every other radio station in the area.

The most unfortunate detail in the
DeCinzo cartoon, is a swastika at the base of the KSCO rubble. What pray-tell is Mr. DeCinzo implying? If he is saying that KSCO is a nazi organization, he should be aware how offensive that accusation must be to the Zwerlings, the Jewish family who owns the station as well as the other Jewish personalities and employees who work at the station.

Following is a tongue-in-cheek Rhetro Zenberg re-interpretation of the offensive cartoon.

A giant smirking monster, like something right out of Jason and the Argonauts, has began it's heinous attack on the United States, starting here in Santa Cruz. His first decisive act was the destruction of free-speech by crushing the local print and talk radio mediums. No voices of descent will be tolerated by the proud self-aggrandizing giant who takes time to pose. The powerful muscle bulge in his arms causes the fabrique of his swastika armband to tear and fall upon the rubble of KSCO at his feet. And he's only just begun.

I usually like some of DeCinzo's depictions of Santa Cruz. Below are two of my favorites.

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Stars and Stripes For... Never in a Bikini!

Sarah Palin demonstrates how to mix alcohol tobacco and firearms.
Faux image

I am already so sick of hearing from and about Sarah Palin that I could puke. And if I'm this sick of her after only two weeks, imagine how her husband must feel. The poor guy must be ready to slit his wrists. Either that or he's heavily medicated on psychotropics.

I was truly surprised that the straw man didn't select the plastic man to be his running mate. I suppose that would have been too obvious of a defeat for the Republic-cons who have to make it appear as though they're trying to win.

Great distraction though! Snappy dresser too!

YUCK!

Thursday, September 4, 2008

The Ron Paul Revolution Will NOT be Televised

Thank You For Voting
You Have Selected
WAR

America's broken two-party system has spoken, and selected two pro-war candidates who will pretend to go eyeball to eyeball for the winner takes all title, President of the United States of America.

There were two truth tellers early on in the presidential primaries, but both were quickly silenced as the media machine distracted the frenzied onlookers. Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul both attempted to inform their respective parties, but most Americans were hypnotized by the flickering light box in their living rooms, and robotically performed their programmed voting task, "Must vote for war."

Signs of Support

One thing I found interesting about this election was visible support through bumper stickers and yard signs. Strangely, I've seen very little visible support for Republican candidate John McCain, yet there are still lots of signs and stickers endorsing Ron Paul. In fact, until recently, there was more signage for Ron Paul than everyone else combined. Now that the primaries are over, and both parties have had their conventions, the visible support for Obama is in the majority. Hillary signs and stickers started popping up a few weeks before Super Tuesday, and there were a handful of Kucinich stickers on cars around town too. I saw a total of five Romney yard signs, and a couple of bumper stickers, but Mr. Plastic was nearly as invisible as Huckabee, for whom I saw zero signage.

The Huckabee factor was incredibly successful with the
give them wool, and they''ll pull it over their own eyes tactic. As the republic-con running in second place post Super Tuesday, Huckabee successfully diverted attention away from Ron Paul... and that Mormon.

Isolation and Insulation

Americans have a Team X vs Team Y mentality, which the media exploits to make it easy to ignore everyone else. This kind of narrow thinking allows the major parties to maintain control, and prevents viable third parties from receiving equal time. It also serves to isolate the anointed candidates from the truth-telling Pauls and
Kucinichs within the Republicrat stronghold, effectively insulating the American citizens from the truth.

Water Fight


The remainder of this presidential campaign will be kind of like floating down a river on rafts. The Democrats are in their raft, the Republicans in theirs, distracted, and engaging in a water fight. They're having such a good time splashing each other that they've forgotten about the waterfall ahead. I'm attempting to paddle to shore, but the distracted party goers won't heed my warnings and won't get out of my way.

Here we go!

Saturday, July 12, 2008

San Jose Mercury News - Stolen!

Today, for the fourth consecutive Saturday, someone has successfully stolen my Saturday edition of the San Jose Mercury News.

I don't even like the newspaper, but I figured that since it's an election year, and given the fact that I'm a big propaganda connoisseur, it seemed appropriate that I should subscribe for a few months.

When the first paper arrived, I was treated with a stately image of presidential candidate Barak Obama, contrastingly positioned next a cooky looking, sunglassed and baseball capped John McCain. Positioned next to McCain, in a completely unrelated story on rising fuel prices, a photo of a guy, (wearing cap and glasses similar to McCain's in the adjacent image), holding a gas nozzle which appeared as though it was pertruding from the Republican presidential candidate's head. Subtle, but effective.

I am fascinated with what is so special about the Saturday edition of the paper that would drive someone to go out of their way to steal it every week. I feel like I'm missing something now.

Maybe I'll set up a surveillance camera outside. At least I would know if the paper is indeed being stolen, or simply not being delivered.

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Tainted Tomatoes and Painted Potatoes


Whilst the rest of the nation cowers in fear of its newest media-declared boogy man, tainted tomatoes, I spent my day under sepia* skies, enjoying a variety of the forbidden fruit... or is it a vegetable?

The Mr. Potato Head public easily forgets other pressing concerns to accommodate new information, and focuses frantically on the latest media scare.

Boo!


* So many fires. Is this the end of the world, or just the edge? The sepia hue makes me feel as though I'm living in an old-time photograph.

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Who Will Willy Vote For?

We had a little Willy,
Now Willy is no more,
For what he thought was H2O

Was H8SO
4

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Who's Your Baghdaddy?


I recently stumbled upon this stencil of Saddam Husein near the Rite Aid./(soon to be) Whole Foods bldg in Santa Cruz. It is a bit faded, but still legible.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

BIG Love - Texas Style

Actually, the FLDS only recently migrated to the Lone Star State. For nearly a century, the obscure fundamentalist Mormon sect has been based in the state-bordered twin cities of Hilldale, Utah and Colorado City, Arizona where many of their members still reside.

I've been to Colorado City and Hilldale many times, and have
personally known some of the polygamists who live there because, back in the nineties, I worked with an engineering firm who designed and surveyed many of the streets, and utilities for these communities.

With my t-shirt and long dark hair pulled into a pony-tail, I was obviously not from
there, and a parade of local female driven automobiles rolled by throughout the day to view the spectacle of the long-haired surveyor standing behind a tripod. For lunch I sometimes dined with members of the community in the town cafeteria, or a little sandwich shop on the Hilldale side of town. I also frequented the local well-stocked grocery store, and purchased a couple of books from the used book store.

I felt comfortable discussing any topic with them, including their community. On
most occasions, I was treated with respect by the citizens of these towns who seemed completely normal, except for the fact that they practiced polygamy, and wore funny clothes. Contrary to what the hyperbolic media would have one think, the women there weren't chained to any posts, and in fact exercised a great deal of freedom. They could be seen shopping as far away as Mesquite, Nevada and Saint George, Utah, doing whatever they wanted to do... with or without their husbands.

Welcome to
Texas?

Fundamentalist Christians, especially Southern Baptists, HATE Mormons vehemently, so when members of this decidedly unsavory brand of Mormondom recently moved to rural
Texas, the local family-values folks freaked out. Their anti-Mormon rhetoric was stepped up to frenzy level as presidential hopeful, Mit Romney, appeared as yet another Mormon threat to their uni-dimensional world-view. Big Love was destined to go down... Texas style!

Lone Star State Church


Recently, over four hundred children were taken into protective custody by the State of Texas. Southern Baptist Church buses wisped them speedily away to be re-brainwashed.

Does it bother anyone else that the state used Southern Baptist Church property to transport the children... or was it the church who used the state? In any event... what happened to separation of church and state in
Texas?

"We did it for the children..."

What is most dis-settling about this whole ordeal, is that over 400 children have been taken by the state, and NO CHARGES HAVE BEEN FILED. Child Protective Services claim child abuse, yet have not produced any evidence that this heinous crime occurs with any more frequency among this singled-out polygamous sect than in the rest of society. Personally, I am a bit suspicious of their motives because abuse
was one of the false claims used as leverage against the Branch Davidians which disastrously resulted in the death over one hundred innocent children at Waco Texas on April 19 1993.

Boycott
Texas

The state which gave us George W. Bush, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and the Waco fiasco, has recently been added to my boycott list. Mighty Mo and I had planned to go to Austin
Texas this year for our 22nd wedding anniversary, but now, we don't want to contribute to a yeller state that victimizes innocent children. We'll go someplace nice instead... like Nevada.

Mess With Texas

Friday, March 28, 2008

Dark Side of the Pawn or Pawn of the Dark-Side

I have too many t-shirts. Most of them are industry shirts from the high-tech bubble days that have been collected from trade-shows from all around the world. They're all stored away in a box in the garage and I'll probably never wear any of them.

The t-shirt. It's really quite a strange concept when you stop to think about it. Gaggles of people, including myself,* behaving like walking billboards, providing free advertising for sports teams, rock bands, personalities, corporate logos, and etc.

I don't know when it became popular to put images and signs on the traditionally short-sleeved, upper-torso garment, but today, t-shirting is a multi-billion dollar global industry. The casual uniform of choice for the early 21st century.

I remember one particular T that I wore in grade school which featured an old looking, long-haired stoney-eyed hippie brandishing the dual-fingered peace sign. Across the image swept the groovily sculpted text, "I'm so far out that I'm in." I made it myself... with help from my mom, who actually did all the work of ironing the image onto a clean and wrinkle-free pale green t-shirt. No one could iron better than my mom. I remember how the toxic fumes rose up and permeated the room as she pressed the iron firmly against the paper side of the appliqué. The heat from the iron transferred through to the rubber-ish chemical substance on the other side of the paper
appliqué which melted into the fabrique of the shirt, bonding permanently to the garment. We never considered that it might be harmful to inhale the fumes... we were in Tooele after all.

I had a good selection of concert shirts when I was in high school. I could wear a different T every day of the week. All of my shirts from that era are gone now except for my very extra special Residents Eskimo t-shirt which has recently been commandeered by my son. It's quite faded now, and way too small for me, but it suits him perfectly. Its funny to think that I wore it when I was about his age.

Currently, my favorite t-shirt features the unmistakable image of leftest-rebel Che Guevara as an Imperial Storm Trooper. I purchased it in Mexico a couple of years ago when I was vacationing during the holidays with the Mueller Clan. The artist was incredibly insightful to envision Che as a pawn of the dark side. Around these parts, Senor Guevara is renowned as some kind of folk war-hero/freedom fighter. Ironically, these are the same people who claim to be anti-war. One person's terrorist, is another's freedom-fighter.




* Sporting my Phil Hendrie Show T as I whapetty tap away at the keyboard.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Democratic Delegate Dilemma in 3-D

I've been receiving a lot of flack about my presidential primary predictions for 2008. Back in early January, it seemed like John McCain was a long-shot to receive the Republican nomination, and that Clinton was a sure shoe-in on the left foot.

Now, only a couple of months later, it appears that John McCain is the shoe-in, while Hillary Rodham-Clinton is slightly behind in a neck-and-neck race with Obama for the Democratic nomination. Caught up in the historicity of the moment, it seems like everyone is predicting Obama as the big winner now. But not Rhetro Zenberg, (that's me).

Here's how it will play out

At this point, neither Obama nor Clinton can procure enough delegates to receive their party's nomination. That decision will have to be made at the Democratic Convention in Denver this August 26-28. Mr. Obama will go into the convention carrying more delegates than Ms. Clinton, however, this isn't about popularity... is it? Remember Al Gore? Yes,
Barack Obama will receive the majority of the votes in the primary, however he will not become the Democratic nominee.

My prediction is that it will be determined that the states carried by Obama in the primary will likely go Republican in the general election, and that Clinton strongholds, some of which are swing-states, will be more effective against McCain. And Hillary Rodham-Clinton will become the Democratic nominee, and on her way to becoming next President of the United States.

Presidential Race-ism

Remember, that it was the Democratic Party who fought against emancipation in the 19th century. The Democrats are not the party of civil rights, any more than the Republicans are the party of family values. Right now, the puppeteers of the Democrats are providing us with an entertaining song and dance routine, but when the show is over, status quo will prevail, and Obama will take his place in the back of the political bus.

There will be no outrage... there's plenty of great TV programming prepared to keep everyone distracted. And maybe, Barack will endorse Hillary as her vice-presidential candidate. That would make everyone content...when the Democrats win in November.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Zoned Out on Zone Doubt


I wonder what they did with all the pharmacists???

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Signs of the Times

The day after my impaled tire incident, while I was riding my bike home, at the same place on Cayuga where I had the flat the previous day, and about the same time of day as well, an old 1970's Chevy pickup truck passed me bearing a RUDY bumper sticker... the first one I had ever seen. Next to it was a McCain bumper sticker... the first one of those I had seen as well. Wow, two firsts on one truck.

As I continued riding home, I thought about how strange it is that the big Republican front-runner has no visible support (at least in our community) except for one sticker on an old truck, next to a RUDY sticker... which implies to me that McCain wasn't his first choice. In contrast, there are hundreds of stickers and yard signs for the front-runner of the Democratic party. Barack Obama obviously has the biggest showing of support here in Santa Cruz, which is not very surprising given the fact that Surf City has a predominantly Democratic populous.

What is surprising, is how much visible support there is for the invisible candidate. Ron Paul also has hundreds of signs and stickers strewn about Santa Cruz County. He had more than everyone else combined for awhile there, but lately I see more Obama yard signs and bumper stickers every day. Obama's visible support is reflected in the polls, which currently puts him in the lead of his party, unlike Paul, who most folks assume is out of the running, or an insignificant third-party candidate because the media has so successfully ignored him... This is strange, and a little scary, considering Paul has more grass-roots support, and more remaining budget than any other Republican candidate. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Ron Paul is a real boy, and not a puppet, like John McCain.

Hillary has the next best showing of support in Santa Cruz, but has nowhere near as many signs and stickers as Obama or Paul. I still see lots of support for Dennis Kucinich too, even though he is officially out of the race now. I saw five Romney yard signs, and about that many stickers, but have never seen a single Huckabee sticker or sign. So here's the breakdown for visible support* here in Santa Cruz County... as I see it.

First place: Obama with hundreds.

Second place: Paul with hundreds - Paul had more support early on, but was recently surpassed by Obama signage.

Third place: Hillary with about a hundred.

Fourth place: Kucinich with less than one hundred stickers on cars in town.

Fifth place: Romney with ten or so signs and stickers.

Sixth place: Edwards with about four bumper stickers.

And, least but not last, is a tie betwixt McCain and Rudy with one sticker each, (I suspect I'll see more McCain ssupport as November draws nigh).

In last place, with NO visible showing in Santa Cruz, is Mike Huckabee with a big fat ZERO.

If an outsider, who knew nothing about the candidates came to Santa Cruz, they would assume that the election was between Barack Obama and Ron Paul.

* Yard signs, bumper stickers, graffiti, home made signs... the stuff one might see while touring about our fine berg.
Former President Clinton encourages passers-by to vote for Ron Paul.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Have a Cigar & Ballooner Eclipse in Wisconsin

Hey, diddle diddle
a cat named Fidel
the clown jumped over the loon

the big dog barked
to see such sport
and the dish was eclipsed by balloons

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Romney FoLDS

Who'da thunk? I'm a little more than a bit surprised that presidential hopeful, Mitt Romney suspended* his campaign today. I figured that his pride would drive him to continue chasing the white whale to the ends of the earth. Looks to me like he's been persuaded by someone to hand the nomination over to the borrow and spend conservative, John McCain, in order to prevent a brokered convention.

Huckabee supporters are celebrating tonight, knowing that the Mormon threat has been thwarted. The funda
mentalist Christians, (who make up about 99.9% of Huckabee supporters), have been indoctrinated to view Mormonism as a non-Christian cult with Masonic and occultic origins. The Christians are all too happy to utilize the Mormons' organizational skills and personnel to support certain political causes, but it was really not long ago that the good old family values Christians were killing Mormons and stealing their property... forcing them to flee from the land of the free, for religious freedom. For now, the Christians are happy to use the masses of Mormons as the enemy of their enemy, but will certainly not allow one to ascend to the highest position in the world's most powerful nation.

I hope that everyone who threw their vote away on Romney can sleep at night knowing that they could have supported someone who would have pursued peace and prevented the United States from making future unconstitutional and fiscally irresponsible blunders. Next time? My gut feeling tells me, probably not. I think this was our last opportunity to elect a non-gadiantonian.

*
A suspenseful, non-committing way of saying that he QUIT.