America’s Very Own Cuckoo’s Nest
America’s Very Own Cuckoo’s Nest
The novel “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” by Ken Kesey was a protest narrative about society’s intolerance of nonconformity. The book was wildly popular in the nonconformist 60s. It begins with an epigraph based upon a children’s rhyme, a portion of the original which goes:
Wire, blier, limer lock
Three geese inna flock
One flew east,
One flew west,
One flew over the cuckoo’s nest
The rhyme, generally felt to be American in origin, belongs to the genre of “counting games” (like “This Old Man” and “Counting Crows”) used to teach very young children numbers while keeping them entertained.
The cuckoo bird itself is a common songbird with world wide habitation that has a call the sounds exactly like “coo coo” and hence its name (and its association with “cuckoo clocks” that mechanically make the same sound). Its association with stupidity or craziness derives from the fact that the bird repeats its call incessantly throughout the day like a crazy person who speaks senselessly and perseverates. The association of craziness with cuckoo birds goes back to antiquity. The Greek playwright Aristophanes set one of his plays, “The Birds,” in “cloud cuckoo land.”
We don’t, however, have to look all the way back to ancient times for examples. Why, we’ve got a perfect example of “cuckoo land” right now! Ladies and gentlemen, I offer, for your consideration: Washington, DC. The city is positively overflowing with cuckoos. Let’s look at some of the denizens.
First, there’s Adam Schiff:
Does this man LOOK sane to you? If he were a doctor and you were a patient being seen at the end of the day after the office staff left, how comfortable would you be when he entered your exam room?… I thought so. His countenance is so bizarre that there are three diagnoses that come to mind: 1) Severe Parkinson’s Syndrome with its characteristic “mask like fasces”, tendency to reduced blinking and, most importantly (for a governmental leader), progressive dementia. 2) Non Parkinson Progressive Dementia. 3) Side effects of strong psychotropic drugs. Suffice it to say that NONE of these diagnoses are desirable or even acceptable in a putative leader of the American people. (For readers who are medically astute, I’ll mention that another possible diagnosis, Grave’s Disease of the thyroid, is ruled out in Schiff’s case because, while that disease produces proptosis, it does NOT produce the “mask like” countenance that he displays). On top of all this, and perhaps a result of the aforementioned dementias, he seems to be unable to grasp what’s true and what’s false, and, even worse, doesn’t seem to appreciate the gravity of getting caught lying publicly to the American people.
Next, there’s the very curious Bernie Sanders:
Does this man LOOK sane to you?… I thought not. Would you, as a parent, let him take your children on a picnic in the woods unescorted?… I thought not. As noted in a previous essay (Grand Irony, 3/11/20), Sanders is stone cold CRAZY. Flagrantly CRAZY. Howling at the moon CRAZY. Arms waving all over the place CRAZY. Spittle flying all over the place CRAZY. Uninhibited shouting all the time CRAZY. And then, when you consider that he wants to dismantle the world’s strongest economy and abandon the world’s best system of healthcare, he becomes absolutely certifiable.
And then, of course, there’s the inimitable Joe Biden:
Does this man look NORMAL to you?… I thought not. As a parent, would you let this man take your 14 year old daughter for a hike in the woods unescorted?… I thought not. As should be evident, Biden’s type of “crazy” is different from the type seen in Schiff and Sanders. Biden’s type of “crazy” is what I’d call, “CREEPY crazy.” If he can’t keep himself from fondling, SNIFFING and even biting women and girls in public WHILE BEING VIDEOTAPED, what might we expect from him in private?… The mind cringes at the thought. And when he can’t control his anger, again IN PUBLIC and WHILE BEING VIDEOTAPED, what might he do during a national crisis? A video of his recent interchange with an autoworker in Detroit:
And this incident is NOT an isolated one. As David Keene of American Action News put it: “Anyone who dares to disagree with him had better be ready to duck. He called one questioner “fat” and dismissed a female New Hampshire questioner as “a lying, dog-faced pony soldier.” What might he do when provoked by China or Russia?
On top of these “anger management issues” Biden also seems to have a compulsion for boastfulness that exceeds even that of Donald Trump:
Not only does this video highlight his compulsive braggadocio, it also indicates that he does not have enough wherewithal to understand that that his boast here is self incriminating.
Then, of course, there’s Congresswoman Maxine Walters. Ahh, Maxine Waters!
Does this woman look SANE to you?… I thought not. Many Americans have seen the video of her crazy rant exhorting liberals (and trolling ANTIFA) to “push back” against ANYONE in the Trump Administration. It is so illustrative of this woman’s bizzare frame of mind, however, that it’s worth showing again:
In addition to this repugnant repudiation of the traditional American values of civility and decorum, Waters continuously amazes with her verbal non sequiturs and illogical trains of thought. My personal favorite: “I have to march because my MOTHER COULD NOT HAVE AN ABORTION.” (emphasis mine) And she never could quite comprehend the fact that, by the laws of the United States of America, you can’t impeach the President simply because you don’t like him. And, another classic Waters statement, verbatim: “My fear is that if North Korea nukes us, Trump GONNA GET US INTO A WAR.”(!) And, when she offered advice to the far east: “North Korea and South Korea you need to stop fighting; you are BOTH JAPANESE.”(!) And then there was the time, during a House committee meeting, that she criticized the banking industry for its handling of student loans, apparently unaware that the US government, under the direction of President Obama, completely took over the student loan program in 2010! And please note that Waters is the HEAD of the Congressional Banking Committee!!!! No wonder she’s often called: “Mad Max.”
And then there are what I would call “stealth crazies.” Although there are quite a few Washingtonians in this category, I’ll stick with one very good example: Senator Chuck Schumer. Most days, “Chuck” goes about his business in a rather staid fashion that belies his true nature as a slightly unhinged political demagogue. When announcing his strategy to counter President Trump’s travel ban, “Chuck” couldn’t find the strength TO HOLD BACK TEARS:
Tears! Crocodile tears! Over a piece of legislation! Well, boo hoo hoo! It’s time to up the lithium!
And then, in an effort to top even that, on Jan 29, while grandstanding in front of the Supreme Court, “Chuck” verbally THREATENS THE JUSTICES OF THE COURT:
Yes, you heard that right. Addressing Justice Kavanaugh and Chief Justice Roberts BY NAME, stealth crazy Schumer, tells them “You will pay the price!” and “You won’t know what hit you!” And this is from the Minority Leader of the Senate! Pretty crazy, isn’t it? Welcome, dear readers, to Cuckoo Land, District of Columbia.