Twenty reasons why this country has gone to hell and will not recover:
1. Ignorance. Voters re-elected George W. Bush, the worst president in history, in 2004. Texas teaches a myth as "science." Millions still think there were WMDs in Iraq. Most Americans don't know what's in the health care act but they know they don't like whatever it is. And so forth.
2. Barack Obama. He sure can talk.
3. Tim Geithner. Simon Johnson, the respected MIT economist, says Geithner survived eight blunders that should have got him fired. His opposition to Elizabeth Warren as head of the new consumer protection agency is Nos. 9, 10, 11 and 12. I say he never should have been appointed in the first place. (See Reason No. 2).
4. Lawrence Summers. What Tim Geithner hasn't screwed up in economic policy, Larry Summers has.
5. The too-big-to-fail Wall Street banks, which succeeded in neutering congressional attempts at regulation, assuring that they can do even more of the kinds of things that ruined the economy in 2008-09.
6. Mortgage bankers, who will have foreclosed on more than a million homes by the end of this year. Before Bush II the national average was about 100,000 a year.
7. The fiction peddler that calls itself Fox News. There are people who actually believe the Murdoch-Ailes version of the world is real.
8. Congress. Most members are owned by corporations. It has the reverse Midas touch: All the gold it touches turns to straw.
9. Tim Geithner. So bad he counts twice.
10. Greed. Exxon Mobil, BP, Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein, Enron, Shell, Chevron, Bernie Maddoff, Donald Trump, CitiCorp, Aetna, Blue Cross, Humana, Congress, politicians, Comcast, AT&;T, etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc ad infinitum.
11. Wall Street. See Reason No. 10.
12. Joe Lieberman. How sharper than a child's tooth to have a thankless serpent.
13. Sarah Palin. See Reason No. 1.
14. (Tie) Steve Malloy, Cato Institute, Christopher Monckton, Sen. James Inhofe, Daniel Flynn, Feeman Dyson, Ian Plimer and 113 others. Their maps still have blank areas marked "Here Be Dragons."
15. The Republican Party. Will peddle any lie, no matter how outlandish, to get Republicans elected to office or defeat Democratic legislation.
16. The Democratic Party. Spineless, rudderless, gutless; running around in circles seeking a "center" that keeps shifting to the right.
17. The Media. Once the government watchdogs, champions of the people, purveyors of truth. Now the pet poodle of the powerful, propagandist to the people and purveyors of fluff and nonsense.
18. The Punditry. You could fit its collective integrity in a flea's navel and still have room for Dick Cheney's heart.
19. The Tea Party. What's IN those bags besides tea?
20. Christofascists. The do as I say, not as I do crowd. Includes televangelists, politicians who get messages from God and perverters of the Constitution.
21. Jingos. Includes the flag-wavers who insist you have to "love America or leave it." Also those who refuse to believe that other governments and cultures could be superior to ours at anything.
I know. I said 20. If bakers can toss in an extra, so can I.
"Don't tell Momma I'm a journalist; say I play the piano in a whorehouse."
