Monday, September 26, 2011

The Pizza King

Do you remember that great scene in "Back to the Future" when Dr. Emmett Brown doubts Marty's story that he is from the future.  So he asks him: Then tell me, "Future Boy", who's President in the United States in 1985? And Marty replies:  Ronald Reagan.
To which Dr. Brown says in utter disbelief: Ronald Reagan? The actor?


Well, folks, if the seasoned Republican voters in Florida have their way, get ready for the pizza king.  That's right.  Herman Cain WON the Florida straw poll, beating Rick Perry with 37 percent of the votes to Perry's 15 percent.

Now, I grant you, it in no way grieves me to see Perry lose.  But to the Pizza King?  (In case you have been living in a cave--which, come to think of it, doesn't sound so bad these days--you may not know that Herman Cain's SOLE claim to fame is that he was the chief executive officer for Godfather's Pizza.)

True, the number of Republicans voting in this straw poll was  2,657 people.  So 1,062 people think the pizza king should be president.  Maybe they like his 9-9-9 plan: 9 percent tax rate on personal income,  9 percent tax rate on corporate income, and 9 percent national sales tax.  The simplicity is breath-taking.  Even though no serious economist gives this plan any credence.  Oh, for goodness sake, we want simplicity. 

We don't want to have to think about anything.  And if someone tells us that something is a THEORY, well, kiss that piece of knowledge good-bye.  After all, doesn't theory mean "not proven"?  Republican candidates are falling all over each other trying to see who can "diss" science the most.  Poor Jon Huntsman (uh-oh--here's one of those inescapable word combos--you, know, like "the doomed Donner party" or "the ill-fated Titanic") took the bold stand of supporting evolution by saying "Call me crazy, but..."

But, folks, think we must.  For example, how can Herman Cain with straight face propose the simple 9-9-9 plan, when the last 9 means poor people (and everyone else) paying a 9 percent federal sales tax.  If you're poor, paying 9 percent sales tax is a killer.  A rich guy won't mind paying 9 percent on his yacht, but a poor guy paying 9 percent on food?

Or another example, how can Rick Perry say he thinks the science on global warming was rigged, when Texas is experiencing unheard of weather extremes, and is--as one analyst noted--on fire?  Literally!

Well, if Professor Brown couldn't believe that Ronald Reagan, the actor, was president, how about the pizza king? 

Oh, do you want that pizza with extra cheese or pepperoni?
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Full disclosure--the photo of the pizza?  Why, that's from Godfather's Pizza website.

6 comments:

Climenheise said...

I don't know, Donna, he may be on to something! We have the GST in Canada, a national sales tax. Only 5%, but hey! I wonder what 9-9-9 would generate. You may need 12-12-12, or 15-15-15. At least it would mean that the wealthy would have to pay and couldn't loophole their way around the national sales tax. Agreed that it makes the burden on the poor heavier; but it may do other good things too.

The problem of diss-ing science: a friend commented that the experiment with neutrons appearing to break the speed of light barrier was more evidence that scinetists keep making mistakes. He couldn't seem to see that apparent errors are opportunity for scientific rigour and potential breakthroughs in knowledge. But when we're vsick, we suddenly want medical science to fix everything -- and right now!

KGMom said...

Daryl--your observation on apparent errors and how scientists respond--so right.
When a scientist encounters a confounding piece of information, he/she doesn't quit. They redouble efforts and keep going. Gov. Perry seems to think--hey, if there's a scintilla of controversy, blame science and doubt any conclusion.

NCmountainwoman said...

And to think...the Floridiots paid good money in order to participate in the straw poll.

Anonymous said...

The whole political scene makes me shudder. If these people can't believe something so obvious as climate change, it scares the bejeezus out of me to think of any of them as the Commander in Chief.

Did you read the NYTimes piece about how the antichrist figures into the madness?

Anvilcloud said...

Is there anyone left with tight screws in the former GOP?

Tossing Pebbles in the Stream said...

To think that Cain is the best of a bad lot is scarry.

The only politician that gives me a little hope for your country is Elizabeth Warren.

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/09/201192583333656288.html

Her populism, straight talk, and intelligent analysis is what the Democrats need to challenge the Republican insanity.