READER COMMENTS ON
"Inside Deep Throat"
(14 Responses so far...)
COMMENT #1 [Permalink]
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ewastud
said on 2/26/2005 @ 3:15 pm PT...
"Why is it that Republicans, for decades, have always claimed (with a straight face, mind you) that they want to get the Federal Government off the backs of American citizens, yet whenever they manage to come to power they are invariably the most intrusive with their use of that Government which they claim to hate?"
Re-pubic-ans are opposed to the government regulating the economic activities of their millionaire and billionaire cronies. They have no problem at all legislating their "morality" on the ruled classes. It is part of their scam in appearing to hold power legitimately. If you remember Robert Graves's excellent work put on film on PBS --- "I, Claudius" --- the depraved and decadent Roman emporers and their immediate families were very conscious of putting a clean-looking face to the masses to conceal their profound corruption. It is necessary for them to maintain the existing order. "The more things change, the more they stay the same..."
COMMENT #2 [Permalink]
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Freebird
said on 2/26/2005 @ 3:20 pm PT...
Just read Jerry Mazza's excellent article about Social Security, "Bankrupting Social Security to Finance Fascism", at www.onlinejournal.com. A great read if you're interested in some historical perspectives with modern analogies.
I will have to check out "Throat" movie when it arrives. Otherwise, speaking of movies, go to the foreign film section of your video/dvd store and rent:
FACING WINDOWS with Italian subtitles
and
THE BUTTERFLY with Spanish subtitles
Two great films with underlying stories of fascism, one mixing modern day life with a history of Nazi dominated Italy and the other around the time of the Spanish Civil War. So if you get a chance to read the article or watch the movies, I hope you enjoy the recommendations.
Freebird
COMMENT #3 [Permalink]
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Peggy
said on 2/26/2005 @ 3:27 pm PT...
Brad - VR's "Divestiture for Democracy" is a great strategy, with 80 affiliated groups and millions of supporters! I am impressed. Hopefully, those who SHOULD BE, will be impressed into doing the right thing! And the VR magnetic bumper stickers look GREAT! I will be purchasing some soon. Thank you for all the wonderful work you and others are doing.
COMMENT #4 [Permalink]
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horkus
said on 2/26/2005 @ 3:58 pm PT...
Hey, Brad, nice. Pornography, the can of worm's can of worms. Many social conservatives seem to have this fear that if you embrace your lust, which is natural to all of us, you're gonna turn into a stark raving rapist. That would be true if you lacked compassion, understanding, and a sense of feeling for the other person. Hence, liberals tend to be touchy feely artist/musician types who are okay with their lust. Lust minus compassion=a sexual predator. Why is Hollywood liberal? Go figure.
I look back on Clarence Thomas. The social conservative's social conservative. According to Anita Hill, he's a sexual predator (on the harrasment side of it), and I believe her. Did this guy lack compassion and understanding? You bet. His record on the bench reflects it. People like him think the only way to keep the lusting animal inside you from hurting others is to enforce the idea that lust itself is bad. We all lust. The difference between us and sexual predators is they lack compassion for those they hurt.
Clarence Thomas? Bill O'Reilly and the sex tapes? The late Senator Strohm Thurmond reported to have shoved his tongue down Senator Patty Murray's throat in an elevator? Don't judge the book by it's staged cover, especially when the inside tells a different story.
COMMENT #5 [Permalink]
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Robert Lockwood Mills
said on 2/26/2005 @ 4:19 pm PT...
Are we talking about "Deep Throat" the movie, or Deep Throat the source for Woodward and Bernstein? I never connected the two back then; was that what the movie was all about? Was Linda Lovelace an allegorical character for corruption?
Control of media by government has come a long way since 1972. Watergate had the unfortunate side effect of making presidents of both parties (but especially Republicans) more paranoid about leaks, exposure of lies, their images, etc. Bloggers have to be their own Deep Throats now. The good news is that it seems to be working.
COMMENT #6 [Permalink]
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Brad
said on 2/26/2005 @ 4:27 pm PT...
In this case, we're talking about "Deep Throat" the movie, which spawned "Deep Throat" the informant (Berstein speaks about it a bit in the movie).
The two throats, however, are closely connected in more ways than one might imagine. And the "Inside..." movie sheds a bit of light on that.
COMMENT #7 [Permalink]
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Freebird
said on 2/26/2005 @ 4:42 pm PT...
PS: Italian and Spanish with English subtitles on the movies I recommended...sorry!
Very true Horkus #4. You can also expand that to include lovers of love and lovers of war!
COMMENT #8 [Permalink]
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Peg C
said on 2/26/2005 @ 6:05 pm PT...
This isn't remotely "Deep Throat-y," but I came upon an analysis of our societal divide and the deep anger/resentment of "conservative" for liberal in a fascinating context. Digby quotes large segments of Abraham Lincoln's Adress at the Cooper Union, which contains eerily familiar portrayals of basic human prototypes and the devices by which the southern anti-Republicans deflected all argument by making the Republicans (read Progressives) morally culpable whenever anything bad happened - even when it was to themselves.
Digby ends the article with the following and Lincoln's closing paragraph:
"Lincoln concluded the speech at the Cooper Union with this and I think it's relevant today to those of us who believe that our side is, as Lincoln thought then, the side of enlightened, moral progress:
'Neither let us be slandered from our duty by false accusations against us, nor frightened from it by menaces of destruction to the Government nor of dungeons to ourselves. LET US HAVE FAITH THAT RIGHT MAKES MIGHT, AND IN THAT FAITH, LET US, TO THE END, DARE TO DO OUR DUTY AS WE UNDERSTAND IT.'
"This fight for the soul of America has been going on since the very beginning and it isn’t over yet. We can take heart in the fact that in every great battle thus far, the forces of equality and moral progress have won the day. It's never been easy."
Amazing. I'd never had reason to read the speech this way before.
Here's the link.
COMMENT #9 [Permalink]
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Peggy
said on 2/26/2005 @ 6:26 pm PT...
The Repubs. in power (the rich) control the remaining Repubs. and others (the poor, mid-class) thru diversion: the rich have a lot of money which they want to keep control over, so they divert the attention of the poor and mid-class away controlling any of that money, by creating conflicts over sex, religion, guns and other topics which the poor and mid-class do have control over in their daily lives. The poor and mid-class therefore waste their time arguing and fighting over sex, religion, guns, whatever while the rich keep on robbing them behind their backs - for example thru below poverty levels minimum wages, etc. It's always about money - it's never about sex, religion, or whatever - the poor just don't realize they are being manipulated by the rich and diverted away from their rights and opportunities to improve their lives financially. It's all a lie and a scam by the greedy rich, who have as much sex (and money) and as little religion as they can.
COMMENT #10 [Permalink]
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Peg C
said on 2/26/2005 @ 8:35 pm PT...
Peggy -
Lives have never been improved financially. Lives have only been rendered meaningless when money has entered the equation.
What human beings need is food, shelter, and respect. Period. The present "American Dream" culture distorts the significance of an individual life, which is lived cerebrally if it is lived at all and has nothing whatsoever to do with material prosperity. It has to do with inner richness, freedom; and THAT is what the neo-fascists hope to destroy. Because it is that which most threatens them and their ideology of infinite rapine.
COMMENT #11 [Permalink]
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Bob Bilse
said on 2/26/2005 @ 10:19 pm PT...
"Re-pubic-ans are opposed to the government regulating the economic activities of their millionaire and billionaire cronies."
Ewastud put it so simply. Their policies support the rich getting richer, and the poor getting poorer. End of story.
The rest of this is just them putting their billions to work for them, by selling themselves to the common masses, and getting them to vote against their better interests.
It's a tribute to the success of "smoke-and-mirrors" politics that anyone with less than millions of dollars would vote for any of them. They play to people's fears, rascism, bias, ignorance, and religious intolerance, to gain votes, when, primarily, what they're about is to get the masses to support Fascist/Corporatist economic policies.
That is why you'll never see me debate with the few trolls who surface here. We're not even speaking the same language. A person with their head buried in the sand cannot hear you. With their butts in the air, all they can do is spew gas into the atmosphere.....and it smells, bigtime.
COMMENT #12 [Permalink]
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Peg C
said on 2/26/2005 @ 11:43 pm PT...
I notice that there's a new posting above. I'll save it 'til the morning. Brad, your main claim to fame and
a loyal following is your claim to a scoop in the Clint Curtis saga. Is that going anywhere? Is there anywhere to go with it, beyond innuendo? Can we trust that, if there is a real investigation called for, a real investigation will be undertaken?
I confess that I'm less than dazzled by the reportage in this thread. I want to believe that investigation and truth-finding is the end for this enterprise. But my breath has been held maybe a little too long.
COMMENT #13 [Permalink]
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Peggy
said on 2/27/2005 @ 3:24 pm PT...
Peg C #10 - I agree wholeheartedly. Today I have been worrying all day long about a friend who is working day and night, and weekends, just to pay the mortgage. He's exhausted and has no life outside work. He believes it's for his boys, but he hardly sees them even though he enjoys spending time with them. His health is not good - in fact, this entire weekend he's been in bed with a migraine, although he had planned to work the entire weekend. He's working so some institution/investors can make money off him. I can't see where he or his family are benefitting. I wish he'd just sell the house, pay rent, spend the leftover few dollars on time spent with his boys, and be happy. In a few years they will move out of the house, and then he can work all he wants without the pressure of paying the mortgage, taxes and bills on time to keep the sherriff away. I don't know if he'll understand if I try to explain it to him. Our culture has been brainwashed into "working for the corporation" instead of ourselves.
Bob #11 - You said it better than I - your last sentence is a giggle!
COMMENT #14 [Permalink]
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JD
said on 3/12/2005 @ 9:03 am PT...
"Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people." You all trying to glorify it and attack everyone who stands for any kind of decency is destroying this country, not the "rich" republicans. God loves us all the same, but he loves us enough to give us a clean and pure kingdom when it is all said and done. If you want to embrace your lust (God given desire without bounderies) go ahead but remember one day you will give an account. God will not put any one in hell, but he will allow the devil to drag his own converts there. You will eventually get what your asking for. You better be careful what that is