July 21, 2007
by Mike Palecek

Is This Heaven?

No.

Though we often think of it that way, I suppose. Movies sometimes make it seem like that. Like at the end of the day our faces hurt from smiling so much.

This is Iowa, where we've got this douche-bag named Steve King representing us. [They could have had me!]

It's still Iowa - thanks for asking ...

There's really nowhere for you to go in Moville or Des Moines or Guthrie Center if you do not buy into this game being played.

The game is you do this and you get health insurance, sex, bottled beer, steaks when you want them, self-respect, clean sheets, warmth.

If you decide you do not believe in "a smile in every aisle" you lose those things almost immediately.

Game over.

Some rare moments in the life of a highly-paid, respected, elected representative of the people:

* King's comments made at a Republican fundraiser in Boulder's Conference Center showed he compared illegal immigrants to stray cats that wind up on people's porches. King said at first stray cats help by chasing mice, so people feed them. King added that the stray cats then have kittens, which are liked for their cuteness, but eventually the strays, fed by the people, end up getting lazy, just like illegal immigrants. King would not comment on what he said on that day.

* King said about the recently killed al-Zarqawi, "There probably are not 72 virgins in the hell he's at. And if there are, they probably all look like Helen Thomas."
(Quote from a recording transcribed by Radio Iowa at the 2006 Iowa Republican convention.) Sioux City Journal, 6-22-2006

* Congressman Steve King called Senator Joe McCarthy, whose interrogations of alleged Communists was condemned by the Senate, a "Hero for America" and called a peace and civil rights activist not "consistent of American values."

* King referred to union organizers who sought employment at non-union employers as "economic weapons of mass destruction."

* King called the torture of Iraqi prisoners by their American captors as "What amounts to hazing."

* Des Moines Register editorial, 10-9-2005: Spare us more embarrassment: Replace King.

Okay, well, yep, I did run for Congress in 2000.

I had a paper route and was trying to write novels. I'm the guy sitting out in the front lawn at a card table, newspaper bag on the grass. I'm wearing no shirt, maybe no shoes- watch your eyes - sweat pouring down his face, wiping it out of his eyes, trying to see to make words with two fingers on a manual typewriter.

Yep.

Believe it. I'm out here. Son of Spam.

The people deserved better than me, but I wanted to see what I could do.

Anyway, I ran for Congress as a Democrat, saying shut down the Air National Guard base in Sioux City, kill the death penalty, release Leonard Peltier, bulldoze the prison walls, open the border to any poor family trying to get in here to make a decent living for their family.

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Typical Democratic Values.

One would think.

Not so.

Anyway, not to go into too fine a detail, the local, state, and national Democratic Party did not take a liking to me.

But what they think should not be a priority.

Today's Democratic Party came here in the night from the planet Who-Gives-A-Flying-Fuck.

Look at them. You can tell they are aliens. They have no testicles, no breasts.

They are not real Democrats.

Some day we can only hope that the real Democrats will return.

You will know them by the scars on their knuckles, the steel in their eyes, the sand in their gut - by their spirit, their drive, their compassion for the poor.

Real Democrats do not give one holy crap about saving their own lives so that they may live so god-dam long they have to be finally unplugged - these folks would give their lives for the poor, for right, for truth.

You will know them when you see them, even though you probably have not seen one in your lifetime, unless you might have caught a glimpse of Paul Wellstone.

It's really no use looking now.

These aren't them.

And when you only have Democratic imposters from the planet Lets-Go-Windsurfing-Instead, you wind up calling a mutation like Steve King, "Mr. Congressman."

seeya

- Mike

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Mike Palecek [send him email] is an activist for peace and social justice. He served time in federal prison for civil disobedience and has run for US Congress. He has authored a number of books [click here to view] on behalf of the cause.