forgetting you once said that coal kills people

When speaking about how we must all do what we can to help the victims of Hurricane Sandy, someone helpfully tries to remind Mr Romney of his former position, saying what about the climate, that’s what caused this monstrous storm, but you can see in this video how Mr Romney is completely lost for words. It’s as if he never said what he said nine years ago, and he smiles in an effort to hide his embarrassment, knowing he must’ve said something but he can’t quite recall what it was.

Continue reading

fact checked

The Pinocchio Test

The overall scorecard for Obama’s “Romnesia” jabs is not bad. He pushes the envelope when talking about contraception and especially abortion, potentially the Three Pinocchio category, but nails Romney on his shifting position on taxes and emissions — and his nonposition on pay equity. Overall, the president’s riff earns One Pinocchio.

Americanesia


A patriotic disorder. It cares so much about America that it can forget what America has done. It can forget what America is and can forget that the most powerful country in the world has some responsibilities towards the world.

There’s no mentum like romentum like no mentum I know. Everything about it is I don’t know…

Sandy has romentum at the moment. Continue reading

freedom from reality

The Time Machine

I always thought the flaw in HG Wells’ The Time Machine, which I vaguely remember reading at school, though only very vaguely as that was a long time ago, was the depiction of a future where humanity had reverted back to some kind of primitive society, but now I wonder if that was perhaps Wells’ most prescient prediction. It looks like that’s where we’re headed when you look at the American election, particularly when you look at it from the outside.

Continue reading

the ability of the very rich to forget the context in which they made their money

We could call it Romnesia: the ability of the very rich to forget the context in which they made their money. To forget their education, inheritance, family networks, contacts and introductions. To forget the workers whose labour enriched them. To forget the infrastructure and security, the educated workforce, the contracts, subsidies and bail-outs the government provided.

George Monbiot, 24th September 2012

Continue reading