Big Lies and Little Lies

It is said that history gets written by the conquerors. A very post-modernist thought for an old saying, isn't it?

In my lifetime, I have watched the manipulation of history by those whose fates were ascendant: So Ronald Reagan was credited for the fall of the Soviet Union and neo-conservatives are now claiming Vietnam could have been won if we'd only been willing to spend more lives. Those are Big Lies. They affect our understanding of our own past, our ability to learn lessons provided.

I have also watched the power of the little lies: the Clintons had people murdered; Gore was a perpetual liar, and Kerry was a weak wimp. The little lies can change history, too, and have in devastating ways. But they are still little lies.

Obama is being besieged by little lies: He pals around with terrorists; he's non-christian and somehow exotic while at the same time being a typical Chicago pol, "a guy of the streets." I'm not even going to bother finding you links. You'd have to be living in a cave not to have heard it.

This time, because of Obama's incomparable grace, the little lies will not change history.

So I'm getting ready to leave town for a few days and I wanted to leave you chewing on a couple Big Lies floating around this season, lies directed mostly at poor people and those working on their behalf.

The first Big Lie is that poor people are responsible for the housing crisis and, by extension, the collapse of the entire global economy. Heard anyone mention the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA)? The conservative talking heads are all over it. All the way back to Carter go the roots of the crisis in the storyline of this Big Lie. Too many poor people being given mortgages for houses they couldn't afford.

That is a ridiculous pile of crap. Look at where the highest rates of foreclosures are: Las Vegas? Miami? California? These are not houses that were bought by poor people.

And look at who issued the original paper behind most of this crap. Did neighborhood banking institutions issue the bulk of sub-prime mortgages? No, they did not. It is Countrywide and other non-bank lenders who peddled the garbage we now have to clean up.

We are compelled to educate ourselves so that we can smack this shit back. Instead of a bunch of links giving you the facts behind this Big Lie I give you one really good one.

The assault on ACORN is another Big Lie, just the latest in a long line of GOP voter suppression tactics. I can't believe the MSM is giving this so much air. (OK, yes I can.)

There is absolutely no evidence that voter fraud is a significant problem in this country, while there is plenty of evidence of GOP-erected obstacles designed to prevent poor people and minorities from voting. Go read this about that.

Traveling most of the next several days. Posting will be sketchy.