Turns out that after years of crusading for massive labor beatdowns, a lower minumum wage, a globally apocalyptic and hallucinogenically ill-considered war on drugs, and scores of other issues recited verbotim from hard-right prayerbook, Nancy Reagan has taken a stance in favor of … embryonic stem-cell research.

Well, obviously, it’s because her husband has been so ravaged by Alzheimer’s. And obviously only someone with a heart of tempered steel would not feel pity for her situation. Fortunately, when it comes to Nancy Reagan, I actually do have a heart of tempered steel.

More precisely, her simpering hypocrisy reminds me of the whole reason that socialized health care rocks: Because it forces the rich to care about the quality of a nation’s welfare. Most of the time, of course, the brobdignagianally powerful could not possibly give less of a fuck about the lives of the meritless gnats scrabbling by in the bottom four-fifths of the American economy (to say nothing of the rest of the world). AIDS? Yeah, yeah. Crappy exploitative work? Cry me a river. Huge hydroelectric and oil/lumber concerns shredding the environment? Hippie.

But — whoops — as soon as someone powerful actually has to grapple with one of the horrible problems faced by tons of other people in society face, the hue and cry goes up; something must be done!

Grumble, grumble. Like Nancy Reagan actually gives a shit what I or anyone else says, but whatever. What’s the point of having a blog if you can’t write stuff that doesn’t make a shit’s worth of difference to the known universe?

I feel better now, I suppose.