Rocker, author, and activist Henry Rollins recently joined Mike Papantonio on Ring of Fire to talk about his latest tour, his recent role on the hit show Sons of Anarchy, and he shared his thoughts on Sarah Palin and the tea party movement.
Henry Rollins: The Supreme Court & Tea Parties
Henry Rollins: H For Hunger
Henry Rollins: A Mad Dash, Anarchy and America
This is my original comment when I first listened to this:
Thank you RoF for having Henry Rollins on! Henry, I’m a big fan of yours and you are funny but you are also a good person.
You are doing great things to help the hungry. I also loved Henry’s take on these people who are down to their last penny but STILL have to have another kid. That bugs me as much as it does Henry! I liked his take on Palin and the 5 kids she has. I would like to know Henry’s thoughts on that family in AR the Duggars….you know, that couple who has cranked out 19 kids?! WTF?! Henry did alude to this just being a way for some people to think they are adding to the White population. But I think the Duggars, namely the wife, needs a shrink! This woman has a pregnancy fetish. Not normal..sorry. She has a psychological problem…no doubt. Henry is also upset as we are about this Citizens United. You bet this is Fascism! We just saw on the news about how Toyota is trying to make politicians back off on any investigation into their faulty cars. Citizens United decision already in progress. This is just the kind of stuff this horrible decision opens the door for.
I would like to add a few thoughts now that the visuals are here. The “H For Hunger” clip was excellent and powerful!!! Great job Henry! The way you travel around and see these horrilbe things and do something about them….you are the real deal!
You are the kind of person who puts their money where there mouth is…thank you! I also liked seeing the clip from Henry’s show “Sons of Anarchy”….looks like a perfect fit for Henry. I’m also surprised that Henry finds in his travels that people around the globe still love America. I think it is more the MYTH of America they still love. I also agree with Henry that we don’t need another war (Iran) or any war for that matter. It’s time all war ends. Peace. You go Henry…we need voices like yours! Now here is a clip Henry made during the Bush years about Ann Coulter. It is hilarious!!! Enjoy! Here’s the link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgSBhlw-o9E&feature=related
Although I have heard this interview from a few weeks ago, it was good to listen again.
I had not picked up on, originally, Henry Rollins’ comments about the free speech concepts that we Americans have. In other countries, denying that the Holocaust happened or How it happened is grounds for the law coming at you.
I sort of appreciate that, and I also wonder how it can not be abused, this cracking down on “free speech” when it’s the kind of speech that is clearly meant to perpetuate hateful lies.
I also liked seeing “Dubya” in the wonderbread suit.
As for the Tea Party movement, as a Liberal, I feel like I am in a bind. I Don’t want to join these people in their simple-minded, yet highly enraged attacks against Obama (let alone their racist attacks against him).
On the other hand, I am sincerely angry at Obama and his administration. I just read this piece, by Scott Horton:
http://harpers.org/archive/2010/01/hbc-90006368
After reading how the Eric Holder “justice” dept. is stonewalling an investigation into the “suicides” of Guantanamo, it’s very hard to Not see Obama and his admin. as participating in the very same evils that the Bush admin. were the authors of. In fact, Horton makes the highly convincing case that this IS what is happening.
Re: The “H for Hunger” documentary footage; Colleen is right: it’s Very powerful.
Rollins sounds extremely angry, in that clip of his documentary. Mike mentions the anger that Rollins has, in an admiring way. I can see that.
Still, it’s hard to hear Rollins spit out this anger in his documentary More than it is to see those sad, powerful images of the starving people.
To some extent, we are Used to such images. Who, after all, has Not seen them, in one way or another?
Rollins, when he Talks about the kids diving into the fly covered sh*t, so desperate are they to eat Anything – now That is powerful.
I’m sorry I don’t have the money to send to these countries (including right here, in the USA) where people starve. Hunger is a Hideous problem, and like everything else, politics seems to be the one thing that, more than anything else, stands in the way of people being able to eat. The resources are there – or can Get there, to the people – but they are Blocked.
This is truly evil.
Americans are often demonized for being too fat. I’m sure that there is a selfish-factor here, yet how easy it is to demonize fat Americans, rather than to put the demonization where it may Properly belong – on those means of “distribution” that Rollins talks of, that prevent food from getting to the starving people, and on corporations like Monsanto, that withhold their food and care only about profit.
Henry Rollins talked to Mike about Obama needing to have “more backbone” and I used to agree, but I’m getting a little more cynical, these days.
I’m beginning to think it’s not a lack of backbone, it’s a lack of moral certitude. Obama and his admin. appear to be covertly taking on a lot of Bush era policies.
As a person, Obama comes across as likable and intelligent, and maybe because I’m smart enough to appreciate it, I actually Like the fact that he can sound like a college professor (and he taught constitutional law, so it makes sense).
Hearing the snively tones of Bush – the “I’m The Decider” deal leaves Me cold, still.
Wishing Obama was more like Bush, as Mike and Henry mentioned (and I Know what they mean, I think: they want Obama to be tough and unapologetic for his policies) strikes me, now, as an awful irony.
Maybe Obama IS like Bush, but smoother. Nicer. More liberal, but considering what the “more liberal” part refers to – a president who put a big Patriotic stamp on torture – is that Really saying much?
I think not.