We need Bill Hicks right now.


Bill Hicks (December 16, 1961, five days before I was born -- February 26, 1994)

The rest of Steve Earle's pantheon is fine, but right now we need Bill Hicks. He would make this situation funny. He would recognize our voting dilemma:

He would also recognize our politicians for what they are:

Oh, and Steve Earle, w/ the song with the pantheon in it:

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travelerxxx's picture

What else can you say?

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Hillbilly Dem's picture

I couldn't agree more------------------------------------------------------------------------>

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"Just call me Hillbilly Dem(exit)."
-H/T to Wavey Davey

Mark from Queens's picture

Falseness of polls, austerity for war and Billy Clinton becoming "one of the Big Boys" when he bombed Iraq.

There's just so many gems.

But it seems Warner Bros has shut down access to lots of his stuff. Bastards. His entire catalog needs to be seen over and over by the entire populace. Speaking of which, I'm pissed reminded of the Hicks book published by a British print press was lent to a friend I haven't seen a couple of years.

For me, Carlin's "American Dream" could be the crystallization of his visceral disgust with consumerist, war mad and vapid America. I'm sure almost everybody has seen it, but this in my opinion is the best piece of political comedy ever:

Two great interview clips into his sagacious philosophies.

First he tells of the pivotal time in which he left the blinding "mainstream dream" because he was an outlaw and a rebel. Gets down with 60's counterculture because that's who he really is.

Then he reaches the same conclusions Twain and Vonnegut did about human kind.

If anyone can locate links to Hicks please post them.

Great comedians are a life force for social movements.

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"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:

THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"

- Kurt Vonnegut

Not Henry Kissinger's picture

Party on, Bill.

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The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?

Big Al's picture

Jill Stein or Gary Johnson? Doesn't seem like it to me. Seems like they knew the political system was a farce no matter what party or candidate.

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Cassiodorus's picture

Carlin was against voting, remember?

His stated position starts at 1:46.

Hicks died before the Green Party became big enough to scare Democrats.

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"The thing that's so striking is this tremendous failure of imagination in the West." -- Douglas MacGregor

Mark from Queens's picture

As usual he makes a great case for not. "Garbage in, garbage out."

Was so moved by his life's work that I transcribed some of the pieces that really resonated with me.

"I have solved this political dilemma in a very direct way: I don't vote. On Election Day, I stay home. I firmly believe that if you vote, you have no right to complain. Now, some people like to twist that around. They say, 'If you don't vote, you have no right to complain,' but where's the logic in that? If you vote, and you elect dishonest, incompetent politicians, and they get into office and screw everything up, you are responsible for what they have done. You voted them in. You caused the problem. You have no right to complain. I, on the other hand, who did not vote -- who did not even leave the house on Election Day -- am in no way responsible for that these politicians have done and have every right to complain about the mess that you created...

Now, there's one thing you might have noticed I don't complain about: politicians. Everybody complains about politicians. Everybody says they suck. Well, where do people think these politicians come from? They don't fall out of the sky. They don't pass through a membrane from another reality. They come from American parents and American families, American homes, American schools, American churches, American businesses and American universities, and they are elected by American citizens. This is the best we can do folks. This is what we have to offer. It's what our system produces: Garbage in, garbage out. If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you're going to get selfish, ignorant leaders. Term limits ain't going to do any good; you're just going to end up with a brand new bunch of selfish, ignorant Americans. So, maybe, maybe, maybe, it's not the politicians who suck. Maybe something else sucks around here... like, the public. Yeah, the public sucks.

There's a nice campaign slogan for somebody: 'The Public Sucks. F*ck Hope!'

Because if it's really just the fault of these politicians then where are all the other bright people of conscience? Where are all the bright, honest, intelligent Americans ready to step in and save the Nation and lead the way? 

We don't have people like that in this country; everybody's at the mall, scratching his arse, picking his nose, taking his credit card out of his fanny pack and buying a pair of sneakers with lights in them!"

I'm thinking long and hard about not voting. At the moment I'm resolved to voting for Jill Stein for President for the 2nd time in a row.

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"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:

THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"

- Kurt Vonnegut

riverlover's picture

for None of the Above. I could be wrong and we will never know.

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.