Do The Distraction!

Over the past few days, my in-box has received several outraged statements from liberals appalled by Michael Savage's mocking of Ted Kennedy's cancerous condition. Seems the radio howler played "California Über Alles" by Dead Kennedys, a 1979 punk attack on Governor Jerry Brown's "Zen fascism" which, in Savage's swirling mind, apparently extends to Kennedy today, the band's name an added twist of the musical knife.

Feh. I've seen worse.

Savage celebrates himself as a "satirist" that liberals just don't get or appreciate. And the funny thing is, he's mostly right -- or in Savage's case, far-right. Anyone who takes this clown seriously deserves all the anguish and anger they put upon themselves. Savage is a dancing bear for reactionary, proto-fascist Americans, a rather large demographic that helps Savage clean up financially and prosper professionally. When liberals like the ones at Media Matters get upset with Savage, or O'Reilly, or Hannity, or Coulter, they become part of the right wing scenario, playing their scripted roles as over-sensitive nellies who shudder at every lunatic remark. This not only encourages and justifies the Michael Savages of the world, it further enhances the media distraction from systemic crime and theft, which is peachy cool for our owners. Let the rubes squabble over bad taste and sick jokes! Just keep them away from what's really going on.

A solid racket, that.

Still, if Media Matters must comment on Savage's musical bit, why not remind readers that Dead Kennedys updated "California Über Alles" when Ronald Reagan was elected, calling the new version "We've Got A Bigger Problem Now." Hippie baiting was replaced with an assault on the corporate-fascist right:

I am Emperor Ronald Reagan
Born again with fascist cravings
Still, you made me president

Human rights will soon go 'way
I am now your Shah today
Now I command all of you
Now you're going to pray in school
I'll make sure they're Christian too

California Über alles
Über alles California . . .

You'll go quietly to boot camp
They'll shoot you dead, make you a man
Don't you worry, it's for a cause
Feeding global corporations' claws

Die on our brand new poison gas
El Salvador or Afghanistan
Making money for President Reagan
And all the friends of President Reagan

Somehow, I doubt that Savage would approve of this version, much less play it while celebrating himself as a punk rocker. But you never know how a screwy dancing bear will ultimately slam and stage dive. Part of the overall routine.

By the way, the above cut comes from "In God We Trust, Inc." which features a cover shot of Jesus nailed to a crucifix of money, complemented on the backside by an illustration of two old white women, smiling and pointing to a Klan cross-burning where the Ayatollah Khomeini makes a cameo appearance. Again, this is no attack on California liberals, so it's unlikely that Savage would adopt it as his own. There is, however, a song on that album that does fit Savage: "Nazi Punks Fuck Off."



Brief, fast, to the point. Wholly appropriate. Doesn't anyone at Media Matters listen to classic punk?

And here are the DK's again, recording "We've Got A Bigger Problem Now." Let's see the dancing bear twist to this.