Bread and Circuses

(Crossposted at http://paranoidpyro8503.blogspot.com/2009/06/bread-and-circuses.html)

Roman Poet Juvenal

“Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions — everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses.”

–Roman poet Juvenal in Satire X

Michael Jackson died this past weekend. I know that must shock you, as there has been suprisingly little coverage of it in the news. I mean Michael Jackson has been famous since he was about 8, and sold a lot of records over the years. Sure he was no head of state, he didn’t invent anything significant, he didn’t cure any diseases, and he had some legal issues over the past couple decades, but you would think that he would warrant a passing mention in the news somewhere along the way.

Ok, obviously that’s sarcasm, as you can’t turn on any news station (or radio station, for that matter) without learning of his death. I typed in “Michael Jackson” into Google news and got the following result: Results 1 – 10 of about 121,496 for michael jackson. Well that number by itself doesn’t say much, so let’s look at another important event that occured this past week: Cap and Trade passing the house. Once again, plug “Cap and Trade” into Google news and we get: Results 1 – 10 of about 14,089 for cap and trade (Also for reference: Results 1 – 10 of about 33,381 for national healthcare.). Huh, seems like a tad bit of a disparity to me. After all, Congress passes bills all the time and a famous person’s death is seen as significant (I wasn’t alive then, but I hear the death of Elvis Presley was something of significance at the time).

Well hypothetical person asking the seemingly rhetorical question, I shall answer you. The Cap and Trade scam passed by Congress will end up affecting 99%+ of the population if it passes (and isn’t rescinded later on), whereas Mr. Jackson’s death will have absolutely no discernable impact on 99%+ of the population. For those unaware, the purpose of this bill is to cap Carbon Dioxide (you know, that gas you exhale each time you breathe) emissions put out by companies because it might possibly warm the earth up 1 degree over the next century. I know, I’m concerned too. But on the bright side, the bill is only about 1500 pages. But how could our Representatives, even as super-smart as they all are, have managed to read that entire bill, including 300 pages worth of ammendments put in at 3 AM the morning of the vote? Why it’s simple….they didn’t. Ask any of them. But it had to be passed, this was one of President Obama’s pet issues. Upon passage of the bill, he said:This legislation will finally make clean energy the profitable kind of energy,” the President said:

“Creating new businesses, new industries, and American jobs that pay well and cannot be outsourced.” It will offer rural communities and farmers new revenue streams from emissions reduction strategies and renewable energy technologies.

He dismissed the concerns of increased costs of energy, saying that, “in about a decade, the price to the average American [of energy] will be just about a postage stamp a day.”

Huh, funny that he says the increase will be negligible, when during the campaign he fully admitted:

“You know, when I was asked earlier about the issue of coal, uh, you know — under my plan of a cap-and-trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.”

But none of this matters. After all, Michael Jackson died, and they’re supposed to do an autopsy any day now! Obama had better hope somebody famous dies when this hits the Senate, or that somebody REALLY famous kicks the bucket when his Nationalized Health Care bill comes up later this summer.

Bread and circuses, and the crowd is placated.