Every week brings its surprises as well as its common current events. Take for example Senator Rand Paul’s filibuster, delaying the confirmation of the Director of the CIA for what turns out to be a fundraising talking point. Meanwhile Roger Ailes, the wannabe genius behind Fox News felt liberated to call President Obama “lazy”. What will he think of next? And finally, while you were sleeping or reading about Kanye and Kim or just trying to pay your bills the Supreme Court heard oral arguments that could lead to the overturning of the Voting Rights Act of 1964. We all may want to pay attention to this one.

The World According to Rand

This past week Teapublican Senator Rand Paul wasted the time and money of the American people by staging a theatrical filibuster in order to hold up the confirmation of John Brennan as the Director of the CIA. Ultimately, when Senator Paul had to use the men’s room after twelve hours of blather, the filibuster ended and Mr. Brennan was confirmed.

What did Rand Paul prove? He proved to his Teapublican base that he was willing to hold up the processes of American government to prove a point. And as a result he is now raising millions of dollars from like-minded chowder heads who think that the answer to all of their problems is chaos.

The irresponsibility prize for this week goes to Rand Paul.

Searching for the Right Word

Last year was not a good year for Roger Ailes. The so-called brains behind brainless Fox News saw himself as the master puppeteer who would use his network to con the American people into voting against their own best interests by electing Mitt Romney.

As we now know, that just didn’t happen. And Roger Ailes and his minions have been left to wonder how could it be that they are not as smart as they thought they were.

Clearly Roger Ailes has gotten past the point of reflection and self-analysis and is resuming his role as attack dog for the right wing of the right wing. In a recent interview he referred to President Obama as “lazy”. Presumably he self-edited “no-good” and “shiftless” out of his comment, but these commonplace racial slurs were lurking just below the surface.

In The World According to Roger Ailes “post-racial” means being able to call the first black president of the United States everything but a child of God.

Wake Up Everybody

The late Teddy Pendergrass recorded a hit song, “Wake Up Everybody”. Perhaps it is finally time for all of us to wake up.

Incredibly, the Supreme Court of the United States has heard oral arguments on a case where the state of Alabama is seeking to overturn the Voting Rights Act of 1964 on the grounds that it is no longer necessary in the post-racial nirvana in which we now live. To make the irony more delicious, Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts seemed to support the Alabama argument by asking if the South was more racist than the North.

The simple answer is that there are no Confederate flags flying over the state capitols in the North and the stars and bars are flying over every state capitol (in one form or another) in the South. That should be conclusive evidence that the myth of a post racial America is a fable that has yet to be told.

Have a great weekend!