CUTTING THE TIES THAT BIND THE CONGRESSIONAL RIP CORD
By Marcelle Cendrars

CounterPunch, CA
Oct 29 2007

"Just as Mrs. Phelps, in Sidney Howard’s 1926 The Silver Cord,
destroys the relationship between her younger son and his fiancee,
Congress (among other things) destroys the relationship between
democracy and justice. And just as the older son in that play has
to go abroad to begin a healthy relationship, we are going to have
to cut our traditional ties which bind us to Congress, which serve
as a diseased umbilical cord with Congress." — The author’s radical
Theatre professor, Lester Moore of Rutgers University, in notes from
speeches given on the campus of Teachers College, Columbia University,
N.Y.C., 1968.

Jay Leno, whose Late Show entertains millions five nights a week, has a
Jay Walking segment which –after a fashion that’s typical of today’s
television, highlighting humiliation– stops people on the street to
ask them simple grade school Qs like "Where is Washington, D.C.?" or
"Who was President at the time of the Emancipation Proclamation?" that
are designed to make his audience feel superior.

As viewers bathe in their smarts relative to the Trailer Trash
Mentality on display, Jay knowingly snickers, giving hints at times
that help the educationally challenged … not at all for most ("He
had a beard and wore a stovepipe hat!"), and pumps himself up as …

Smarter Than Thou. Not just a collector of classic cars with a Big
Chin, that #1 American TV Host –inheritor of Johnny Carson’s mantle–
knows how to locate Iraq on a map! Well, I took a poll of an even one
hundred people at random recently, and each one –without exception–
noted that the Late Show Jay Walking segment revealed how little the
public knows about Social Studies subjects. No one –absolutely, not a
soul– pointed out that even when respondents answered correctly … it
meant very little. That the whole exercise was centered on trivia. Like
most spot quizzes in school. In the spirit of counteracting that false
Leno bravado, which compounds ignorance with ignorance by emphasizing
the inconsequential, I offer up the following test for J-Bird and
those of his species. And –to make things as easy as possible– we’ll
limit it to a simple Yes or No below: 1A. Has any member of Congress
recently brought up the subject of Halliburton selling materials
used in building nuclear reactors to an Iranian oil development
company as late as 2005? OR 1B. Has any member of Congress called
attention to the fact that Iran’s President Ahmadinejad’s comment
about destroying Israel ("Israel must be wiped off the map.") was
actually a misinterpretation? 2. The Animal Enterprise Terrorism
Act (AETA) of November 27, 2006 was passed by only six (out of 435)
Congresspersons as a process bill which is non-controversial. Did more
than one person oppose the bill which "will have a real and chilling
effect on people’s constitutionally protected rights," according to
Dennis Kucinich? 3. Did Congress do everything it could do (or much
at all) to prevent the S&L Scandal of the 80s (which we’re still
paying for to the tune of $32 billion per year)? 4. Did Congress
come close to doing everything it could have to lessen the number
of deaths in Rwanda in the 90s? 5. Is there any public talk among
Congresspersons about the serious indiscretions concerning Senator
Diane Feinstein’s husband’s war profiteering in Iraq? 6. Did Congress
ever make a move to force Japanese acknowledgement of The Rape of
Nanking as it did vis-a-vis the Turkish Genocide of Armenians? 7. Have
members of Congress kept the majority of their campaign promises this
time around … or ever? 8. Recent temporary measures passed by the
Congress required "a clear notification" for government video news
releases (the dominant form of "fake news"), clearly defining what
that means. 9. Has Congress ever –when push has come to shove–
not supported a President’s war? 10. Let’s make this final question
an easy one: Is Congress doing everything it can to impeach Bush and
Cheney? The answers? No*, I won’t provide them! No way** I’ll have
anything to do with encouraging questions about the U.S. Congress.

*That’s a hint. **That’s a hint too. The author does encourage one and
all to cut our shriveling umbilical cord with Congress, which keeps
feeding us with that which does not nourish us. Keep the proverbial
Apple Pie, but get rid that poor excuse of a Mom, Loyal Spouse of
Papa Prez. The Whole Parental Unit, in fact. Do not honor thy Father
and Mother. Run away from what they call Home.

Marcelle Cendrars, Algerian-American freelancer residing in L.A.,
can be reached at bcendra@yahoo.com.

ndrars10292007.html