Did I really hear that?

I did promise somebody that I'd be blogging about non-political issues. And I shall. But I can't help myself on this one, and have to get it out. Non-political thoughts to follow later this week, time permitting, and I'll try to keep this one brief.

I took a little road-trip over the weekend, through largely uninhabited country, and to pass the time, I ended up hitting 'SCAN' an awful lot on the AM band. The end result was that I spent most of the drive alternately listening to conservative pundits bashing liberals without really addressing any issues, and - when that station faded over the horizon - then listening to liberal pundits bashing conservatives without really addressing any issues. It was moderately humorous, actually. But notwithstanding entirely too much time listening to that shit, there's really only three things that stuck.

First, every single one of those people think entirely too highly of themselves. And coming from me, I think that's a pretty bold statement. Especially Mike Savage. I gotta say that he seemed to have both the best spin and the most sweat-of-the-brow invested in his message; if you disagree, call in and prove him wrong, and regardless of whether you agree or not, THINK. I can get behind that. But he still sounds like the most arrogant, ego-centric guy on the face of the planet. Would love to have a beer with that guy sometime.

Second, both the conservatives and liberal pundits have sold their marketing souls to gold brokers. Although diametrically opposed on every other point, pretty much everyone at either extreme of the spectrum has been paid sufficient funds to personally endorse the idea that you and I should buy gold as an investment. Further, we'd be wasting our time buying from anyone except Their Guy. I can see how the conservatives can sell this idea with a straight-face, since an intrinsic part of the far-right platform is that Barack, smiling all the way, is leading us to financial disaster. But I wonder how the liberals can talk about how Barack, smiling all the way, is going to lead us to economic recovery, while still suggesting that gold (whose worth is relatively static in the face of economic prosperity or decline) is a wise investment. Whatever.

The third thing that really stuck was when uber-liberal Randi Rhodes indicated that, in event of global economic meltdown, her plan was to prostitute herself. Up to that point, she was scoring against the idiotic marketing of "survival seeds" or some other such idiocy during Glen Beck's conservative radio show. I'm sure you can imagine the ad spot: "In event of global disaster, non-hybrid viable plants seeds could be more valuable than gold! Buy today, only $150 for enough to plant an acre!" No, this is not an exaggeration of the propagation of paranoia presented in the advertisement. One really would think that Beck should've vetoed that sponsor, or at least required them to pay him enough that he could retire.

But in the course of her criticism, Ms. Rhodes openly stated that in event of global financial meltdown, she already had her own personal "survival garden" between her legs. The implication was that she would simply resort to the Oldest Profession to make ends meet. (Of course, this assumes that she's already exhausted the reserves of gold that she's bought from Her Guy, through some prior exchange of cash, goods, or services.) It struck me that if anyone else on the face of the planet affirmatively suggested that a woman resort to prostitution for survival, Randi would be at the head of the pack of people bearing torches and pitchforks. But - as with racism - sexism is apparently only a sin when somebody else is doing it. I found this to be amusing, in a tragic sort of way.

Having returned to civilization (relatively speaking), I couldn't help myself, and took a look at Randi, just out of curiosity. Having done so, I really hope that in the event of economic catastrophe, Randi has a Plan B, since I think she's probably going to need it.