We Don't Need No Stinkin' Guardsmen!

I have a suggestion for those who feel that major societal problems like racism are exclusively a thing of the past. You know, the sentiment that the holocaust could never happen again, lynchings ditto, therefore the problem is over.

The tendency is for folks to think the present day is historically superior to the past. Well, for people thinking this way I want you to record/tape/tivo/whatever ANY "Lou Dobbs Tonight" show on CNN, and then watch the program 20 years from now. My guess is that upon viewing the show years from now you will say: "I was actually alive when such a racist program was nationally broacast in my own country? How was that possible?"

I am a very infrequent viewer of Mr. Dobbs' show, but evidently the show has "evolved" from a general "news" program focusing largely on Dobbs' former career as a financial news talking head into "Broken Borders", an unceasing rant with newstoid icing about the failure of U.S. immigration policy. An example of the newstoid inclusions....yesterday a "story" of Mexican President Vincente Fox's response to Prez Bush's National Guard-becomes-Minutemen proposal had video of Fox with the caption below reading: "Mexican President Fox: talks much but offers very little".

The vitriolic slant is directed at any Mexican, period, as well as any American who would dare say illegal immigration is not the single biggest threat to the United States since school desegregation. And that includes Pres Bush, who Dobbs obviously sees as a spineless traitor, selling our sacred country down the Rio Grande river.

Now I admit I'm fairly naive when it comes to watching heavily slanted "news" programming. I took Fox "News" off the surfing station list on my remote control years ago, and know almost nothing of shows like "Geraldo" because, well because why the Hell would I watch a "news" show with Geraldo Rivera? Naivete understood, my reaction to "Lou Dobbs Tonight" is twofold:

1. The program has the complete look and feel of the Jack Van Impe Show. Now if you haven't seen that program, it's because you: 1. don't have religious stations on your surfing station list on your remote; 2. don't have a bizarre sociological fascination with wacky religious TV programming. Jack Van Impe isn't my all time favorite wacky religious program. That was Dr. Gene Scott. But check out Van Impe some time and see him and his giant hair-shielded female assistant host walk you through current events and how they all inevitably lead to Apocalypse and Rapture. It doesn't matter what the current event is: Barry Bonds passing Babe Ruth is a sure sign of the Apocalypse. Albuquerque's HEART Ordinance...sure sign of eventual eternal damnation for all but those who are taken in the Rapture. Anyway, watch Jack Van Impe sometime and then watch "Lou Dobbs Tonight". It's the same show! Just replace "illegal immigrants" with "Jews and Arabs" and the sentences are exactly the same!
2. Remembering that Lou Dobbs was a financial reporter/talking head, it is easy to make the logical leap that Dobbs and his Illegal-Immigrants-are-destroying-this-country mindset is all about keeping your stuff and private property. Just as many folks with lots of stuff like to live in gated communities to protect it, Dobbs and his ilk see "America" as an entire and of lots of stuff. "And it's ours Goddammit! And we gotta protect it. It's our F&*^%$* stuff, man, and we deserve it and they don't, and they're coming over here trying to get it, but it's ours! Ours I tells ya! And we're shooting anybody who dares make a move for it!"

Obviously Lou Dobbs is related to a famous movie character (and why should we think the "news reporter" Lou Dobbs is any more real than a fictional movie character?). Clearly, Lou Dobbs is the son of Fred C. Dobbs. Very clearly.