So, are we not all equal then? But I thought.....

January 18th – Eartha Kitt; now there’s a name to conjure with…and anyone who’s heard her rendition of ‘Santa, Baby’ and doesn't immediately understand all there is to know about sex but were afraid to ask from just one hearing, even though it had nothing to do with that filthy habit, is either deaf (like me) or deceased (not like me). It was on this day in 1968 that she famously put ‘Ladybird’ Johnson in touch with the facts concerning Vietnam and the present state of American children, reducing the U.S. first-lady to tears apparently. It’s worth quoting what she said: 
“The children of America are not rebelling for no reason. They are not hippies for no reason at all. We don’t have what we have on Sunset Boulevard for no reason. They are rebelling against something. There are so many things burning the people of this country, particularly mothers. They feel they are going to raise sons — and I know what it’s like, and you have children of your own, Mrs. Johnson — we raise children and send them to war.” 
Pretty straight-talking, common-sense, intelligent stuff you might think... well, apart from the fact that the last thing any one of the President's children was going to be asked to do was to go fight and get killed; that was just for the offspring of the proletariat but apart from that, pretty straight-talking, common-sense, intelligent stuff. Well it would be to any other human being but, you see, she made the cardinal error; she made this statement to a politician’s wife and not someone married to just any old politician but someone married to the President of the United States, and when you say these things to the wife, you criticise the husband by proxy…and his POLICIES.

You and I are old enough now to know that when dealing with people in power the one thing they will never admit is that they’re in the wrong; others are, you are, circumstances are, everybody else is, but never them. Their personal pride and arrogance forbids it and in a democracy, where the voice of the people supposedly leads the country, the acceptance by a leader of any degree criticism makes them look weak, nationally and internationally…but more importantly inside their head.

You only have to watch the footage of Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair swaggering down the carpet to their joint Shitehouse...oopppsss, sorry, my error, Whitehouse press conferences, their chests puffed out (big men bestriding a small world) their arms held stiffly and away from their body (to give a tougher, squarer outline and show off broad shoulders on which to carry the troubles of the world) their hands turned backs to camera, fingers slightly spread (to increase their span size and make those hands look bigger, safer) to understand the mindset of the folk we’re dealing with. But one thing remains constant; they are in charge. They know it and they know we know it. 

So, how did the supreme leader of what was then the most powerful nation in the world deal with Ms. Kitt’s home truths and his wife’s tears? Well, from that day on, Ms. Kitt’s seemingly burgeoning U.S. career stalled and really never got going again…and it wasn't by accident: nothing in politics ever happens by accident. The vindictiveness of the powerful knows no bounds when they feel they or their position is even slightly threatened by any one of us…us children of a lesser god. And believe me they have all the tools at their disposal in order to underline the saying;

“Revenge is a dish best served cold.” 

Lesson for the day: Know who you’re dealing with and what you are up against when you voice an opinion that’s even vaguely off-kilter to the actions of the powerful and the more in the wrong they are the more brutal will be their retaliation.

You only have to look at the way the chemical giants and government agencies treated Rachel Carson when she published ‘Silent Spring’ (the chemical giants that funded and continue to fund the political class...just like the NRA does) and the treatment of Ms. Kitt, to know that:

a). Under similar circumstances they’ll do exactly the same thing again, and again, and again and,

b). Politicians, like big business, are NOT your friend. They want your money or your sacrifice, the last thing they want to do is go down the pub for a drink with you after you've told them they and they’re policies are shit…OK?