IN YOUR FACE, SCUMBAG!

Where did we go so wrong?  For 200+ years Americans have admittedly done a fair amount of bickering among ourselves (our Civil War being the most dramatic example), but we somehow managed to get along well enough to keep us moving forward to become a land of freedom and opportunity for all (well, some more than others). 

But somewhere during the 1980's (?) things began to change.  We became less tolerant of anyone who disagreed with whatever we believed.  We became intensely polarized.  Today liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans, have built a no-man's-land mine field between themselves.  Some of you who may be more politically knowledgeable than me might disagree, but as I recall it the one person who most personified this winner-take-all, take-no-prisoners brand of partisan politics was Rep Tom DeLay of Texas.

DeLay was the Republican House Whip.  He was the guy who "whipped" all his party members into voting exactly as the party leadership said, or else.  You crossed him at your own risk.

Our national leaders after WWII understood it was in our best interest to NOT totally humiliate our recently vanquished enemies.  We allowed the Emperor of Japan to maintain his title, and helped the Europeans rebuild via the Marshall Plan.  Unfortunately Tom DeLay missed history class the day that was discussed.  By the time he made it to a leadership position in Congress he had earned a reputation as the meanest SOB in town.  He was never interested in negotiating with the Democrats, but only in stomping them.  He wanted to steamroll them, kick 'em in the teeth, scalp them, and finally disembowel them and spit on their carcass.

Each party dug in their heels.  The hard-core "base" of each side refused to believe that their guys could ever do anything wrong, and that the other side could ever do anything right.  For 8 years Republicans were constantly at Bill Clinton's throat, and Democrats returned the favor by constantly sniping at Dubya Bush for his 8 years in office.  Each thought they had been wronged, and it was 100% the other parties fault.  They themselves were always right, regardless of the facts.  (Truth was there was plenty of blame to go around.)

We moved from the gutter into the sewer when Barack Obama was elected President.  The Senate Republican Leader, Mitch McConnell, openly admitted it was his goal in life to see to it that Obama was a one-term President.  Many even refused to believe Obama was American born.  Anything the Democrats proposed, the Republicans automatically opposed, sight unseen.  If any Republicans might have wanted to participate in the drafting of ObamaCare, their leadership took them aside and beat them senseless.  "NO COLLABORATING WITH THE ENEMY!"

Now the tables are reversed.  Republicans are proposing a replacement healthcare plan, and they wouldn't in a million years throw the Democrats a bone to get them to play ball.  If they should be offered a seat at the table, I'm sure the Democratic leadership would put any party defector before a firing squad.

And here we are in 2017.  Donald Trump is President, and his family and administration are under attack.  The smoke and stench of something going on between Russia and his administration, if not the President personally, is pretty powerful.  The Republican base refuses to even acknowledge anything smells, and the Democratic base is ready to start build gallows.  As Republicans and their media stooges (FOX News) see it, the crime is not that they did it, but that they got caught because someone leaked it to the other side's media stooges.  "HOW DARE THEY CATCH US!"

IMO we've pretty much hit bottom.  Today our choice is between the Party of Oil  and the Party of Water....they will never mix.  The best quote I've heard in months was this morning when a commentator on TV, a Republican, called Washington politicians "the lowest form of human life".  Too harsh?  I think not.

Oh, and Tom DeLay?  He was indicted and convicted for money laundering in 2011 and sentenced to 3 years in prison.  However, in 2013 his conviction was overturned by a highly partisan (surprise!) Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.  

I'm honestly not trying to be a Debbie Downer, but just a realist.  Individually we're wonderful people, willing to work together to better our neighborhoods and communities and schools.  But the minute we put on a red hat or a blue hat, we turn into animals.  If civil discourse isn't actually yet dead, it's definitely on life support.  Hurts to hear, doesn't it?

S

Just pokin' the bear....

Later this week President Donald Trump will meet one-on-one with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, at the G20 summit in Germany.  Putin has over the past two decades proven to be a master geopolitical manipulator.  He managed to take over a run-down, disastrously managed piece of real estate and then bluffed his way onto the Big Stage.  

Let's be honest for a moment....Russia is just a second-rate conventional power, with a nuclear arsenal they won't dare use.  Putin understands "Mutually Assured Destruction" as well as Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev, and Gorbachev before him did.

At one time Putin had considerable leverage over Europe by threatening to withhold from them Russian natural gas shipments.  Europe has wisely worked around that threat and has in fact grown a pretty impressive backbone, led by Germany's Angela Merkel.   Growing up in Communist East Germany, she knows full well the evil reach of the Russian bear.  Even the new French President, Emmanuel "Pretty Boy" Macron, has shown he's willing to stand up to Putin.

After Putin blatantly sent his forces into Ukraine and seized the Crimean peninsula, the supposedly limp-wristed Barack Obama joined our European allies and others to put crippling economic sanctions on Russia.  And after Putin's people were caught red-handed cyber-messing with the US, Obama again bitch-slapped him by seizing two Russian-owned compounds in America and sending home a planeload of Russian "diplomats".

Meanwhile, back in America, President Trump is reportedly paying scant attention to anything "Russia" when the topic comes up in his regular security briefings, infuriating all our intelligence chiefs who know full well of the growing Russian mischief.  Trump has zero knowledge of and zero interest in learning anything about geopolitics.  For 71 years his interest has been in making money, not practicing international relations, and it looks like he isn't going to change his ways now.

Putin will be coming into the G20 meeting with guns blazing.  He will reportedly be demanding the two properties back in America, and will be wanting a rollback of the earlier economic sanctions imposed on his Russia.  Our European allies are standing pretty firm against giving Putin a second chance.  They for good reason don't trust him....he's in their back yard!

All eyes at the G20 will be on Donald Trump's response.  Will the leader of the most powerful economic and military power in the history of the world stand firm with Merkel and Macron and the rest of Europe, or will he cave to Putin?  Which begs the question:  If he caves, why?  What incriminating evidence does Putin have on Trump?  

The infamous "dossier" compiled by a former British MI6 agent, the basis for a special investigation now underway by Robert Mueller, suggests the Russians have compromising sexual or financial material on him.  Trump of course denies it all.  I predict that if Donald Trump caves, the dossier conspiracy theorists will gain immense credibility.

If Trump is scared to call out Putin for the gangster he is, I'm not.  My blog pageviews from Russia have already shot through the roof.  I'm apparently already a burr under somebody's* saddle there, and I'm loving it!

S

* Probably a computer algorithm keeping track of negative comments about Mother Russia.

LATE EDIT:  This on Yahoo News this morning...

Exciting times we live in!

Ever wonder who "owns" your favorite politician?

Well, now you know.

Here is the list of donations to presidential candidate Super Pacs (minimum $10,000 per donation) for calendar year 2015.  Early in 2015 Jeb! Bush was the anticipated GOP nominee and it showed by the immense war chest he accumulated, 43% of it from Wall Street donors.  By the second half of the year he had fizzled, and he had no new donations.

Next came Tea Party wunderkid Teddy Cruz, the guy who wants us to believe he is NOT part of the establishment....except someone forgot to tell Wall Street, where a whopping 57% of his PAC money came from.  Or maybe they were just being kind to Theodore's wife, who is a partner at Goldman Sachs.  *shhhhhhh*

Surprising (to me at least) is Hillary Clinton, who came in 3rd.  I would have thought she and Bill would have had deeper tentacles into the Banking Class.

Last were The Donald and The Bernie, who had no Super PAC money at all.  And both are VERY serious contenders, which I'll betcha is totally chapping Wall Street's ass!  *snicker*

For those of you who have read my diatribes to date vilifying Rafael Edward Mother Teresa Martin Luther "Ted" Cruz and asked, "Why Scott, what do you mean he's not what he seems?  He's such a nice boy.  Just last week I got a nice note from God Almighty Himself endorsing Ted"....I say wake up and smell the raw sewage!

Only 3 state primaries/caucuses into the campaign, and look what he's already shown us:

Just days before the Iowa race he sent out a very official looking "voter violation" mailer calling out those voters BY NAME who he thought might NOT vote, hoping to shame them into going to the caucus representing him.  It was so official looking the Iowa Secretary of State had to put out a notice saying this was all bogus and did NOT come from the State.

Then just hours before caucus time in Iowa his staff sent out both a written message and a voice mail to their precinct captains telling them to spread the word that Dr Ben Carson would be leaving the race right after the caucus and that a vote for Carson would be wasted, and urge his supporters to come over to the Cruz camp.

So how many of the few thousand vote margin of victory for Cruz in Iowa could be attributed to these dirty tricks?  We'll never know.

Now in South Carolina Teddy ran a TV spot showing a 20-year-old +/- TV interview with the late Tim Russert where Donald Trump said he was "pro-choice", which is the kiss of death to a GOP candidate in evangelical-rich South Carolina.

Except he totally forgot to mention that The Donald had more recently publicly told of his epiphany when he came to become "pro-life", which makes this ad a blatant smear.  Trump's sharks sent a "cease and desist" letter and threatened a lawsuit.  Cruz said "bring it", he wasn't skeered, but in reality he's probably sweating it.  This was an obvious attempt to defame and he knows it.

And just yesterday the Cruz camp photoshopped a picture to seemingly show a smiling Mark O Rubio shaking hands with a smiling Brick O'Bama, celebrating their Rubio-Obama trade pact, never mind that there was no such thing. 

Aren't politics fun?  Every day is SO exciting!  I can't wait to see what dumb thing Trump will say next, or what fraudulent act Cruz will do next.  :)

S

Is this any way to run a country?

"Listen up Prez O'Bama....I know the Constitution says the President has the privilege of nominating Supreme Court Justices and we, the United States Senate, have the responsibility to interview and ultimately approve or disapprove your nomination, but screw that shit.  Don't waste your time.  I don't care who you send us the answer is 'no'.  NO, NO, NO!  Got it?"  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Sadly the United States Supreme Court yesterday lost a Justice who was, by all accounts, a brilliant legal scholar, Justice Antonin Scalia (front row, second from left).  He also happened to be a staunch Constitutional conservative.  By all rights the sitting president, Barack Obama, should immediately begin the search for a possible replacement, and he probably will, but his nominee will be a non-starter, whoever he/she might be.  

That's because Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, backed by virtually every Republican Senator, says he won't even schedule a hearing on a replacement, much less allow a vote.  He says the next president (he's assuming he will be a Republican) should have the right to nominate a replacement.  I get it....he wants to replace a conservative with another conservative.  But I'm pretty sure the Constitution does not allow such blatant cherry-picking.

It seems to me, and I'm pretty sure if he was still here Justice Scalia would agree, the Senate is REQUIRED BY THE CONSTITUTION ("speedy trial", speedy hearing...same thing) to schedule a time to consider the president's nominee, followed by an up or down vote.  No where does the Constitution say a lame duck president should forfeit his right to offer up a nominee.  It just doesn't say that!

Now if President Obama is dumb enough to nominate some radical extreme left-wing pseudo-commie, the Senate Judiciary Committee should be able to call a hearing to order, ask a couple of questions, ask for a show of hands, and still be able to make their 11am tee time.  I have no problem with that.

But what if President Obama were to find several sitting federal judges with plenty of opinions to their credit, who have shown they can fairly and without prejudice or political ideology decide a case based on the principles of the Constitution?  Should he not be able to even nominate one of them?  

And to be fair, a lame duck President Trump/Cruz/Rubio/Kasich, etc should be able to send a nominee to the Senate, and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer should be obligated to give him/her a fair hearing, too.

This is what it's come to my friends: the people we sent to Washington to represent us, in other words our EMPLOYEES, have just told us fuck off!

THEY HAVE SHOWN THEY ARE MORE THAN WILLING TO THROW US ALL UNDER THE BUS, AND TRAMPLE ON THE CONSTITUTION THEY TOOK AN OATH TO UPHOLD, IN ORDER TO PROTECT THEIR OWN POLITICAL POWER AND POSITION.

What's next?  The burning of courthouses, state houses, or our capital building in Washington when words spoken there offend a certain power class?  Assassinate candidates who seem a little too independent minded?  Maybe call in citizens for IRS harassment who dare make eye-contact with elected officials?

This has GOT to stop or else the coming revolution (?) won't be the polite garden-party type Bernie Sanders has in mind.

S

A train wreck in not-so-slow-motion

For the life of me I don't understand why so many in the world look to the United States for leadership.  We wouldn't know "leadership" if it bit us on the butt!  There may be a very few potential "leaders" lurking in our political landscape, but they either have no chance of getting the nod to lead, or THEY DON'T WANT IT!

It wasn't long ago I was pooh-pooing the "Young Guns" in the House of Representatives, those being Republicans Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan, and Kevin McCarthy, their best-of-the-best.  Yes, the same Kevin McCarthy who just dropped out of the race to become the next Speaker of the House.  Back then I thought they were too rigid, too my-way-or-the-highway, too cold to effectively lead.  

Turns out McCarthy is now deemed not cold enough to please the 40 or so members of the Tea Party (now calling themselves the Freedom Party) who are bullying the rest of the Republican's.  They're like the Nazi Brown Shirts of the 1930's, sans the actual physical beating of opponents.  Current Speaker John Boner is looking like an absolute moderate.  Don't get cocky Democrats, you're no better.  Nancy Pelosi?  Really?  She's the best you have?

And the Senate....Oh dear God, we've hit bottom!  Mitch McConnell (R)?  Harry Reid (D)?  The Mafia should study them to learn the fine art of real organized crime.

Which leaves President Barack Obama.   Sir, please explain it to me again, slowly....what exactly is our foreign policy?  If it's to get run over, then I give you a perfect 10.  You say we're involved in Syria in order to help send Assad packing.  So who's going to take his place?  One of those flea-bag rebel warlords we're supporting now?  You know they're just suckering you, right?  They don't give a rats ass about working with us.  In fact they hate us.  They'll still take our money, but they hate us.  Why can't they hate us on their dime?

And who do we have in the wings?  Donald Trump, entertainer extraordinaire.  Dr Ben Carson, has no chance.  Carly Fiorina, ditto.  Ted Cruz, pond scum.  And a bunch of others who have less than no chance.  Hillary, too many skeletons in the closet.  Bernie Sanders, even his supporters say he could never be elected.  

*crickets*

What the hell has happened to us?  Our potential is limitless, our people incredibly dynamic.  Our compassion (excluding the Freedom Party) comforting, our power to do good beyond the reach of anyone else in the world.  And we're squandering it.  DOH!

You know that revolution we haven't had in 239 years?  Don't look now, but....

S

You can crawl out from under the bed now, Mr. President

World leaders from almost every major nation walked arm-in-arm in Paris on Sunday, leading over a million Frenchmen in a show of solidarity against terrorism.  Note I said "almost".  Can you figure out who's missing?

Yep, no Barack Obama.  Or VP Joe Biden.  Or SecState John Kerry, or any distinguished group of former presidents such as George W. Bush and/or Bill Clinton.  Somewhere in that photo is the US Ambassador to France (read: big Obama financial contributor)....that's who was there representing the United States of America.  I'm embarrassed.

You've heard the old saying, "Lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way"?  Have we become so weak-kneed that we don't want to offend anyone?  Are we leading from the rear? 

I've heard/read in much of the media that our once close working relationship with the anti-terrorism forces in Europe and elsewhere has cooled considerably.  Why?  Why wouldn't we want to nip this societal cancer in the bud?  Internally our law enforcement seems to be doing a good job, but there's a big, wide world out there beyond our borders where terrorists are recruiting and training. 

I think the French just bitch-slapped us.  They voted with their presence at that march that they have the cojones to stand up to evil.  Not negotiate with it, not knuckle under to it, but step on its throat.

Vive la France!  Lead on.

S

What's the old saying? "If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem."

DOH!  Where's a good lightning bolt when you need one?

Is anybody besides me sick of the politicians going all nuclear over Brick O'bama's immigration "reform" executive order?  The Republicans won't address immigration, so Obama issues his order, right or wrong, and the Republicans run straight to court, whining what a dictator he's being.

You know the old political ploy of inventing a crisis/war/catastrophe to take attention off yourself when you're caught asleep at the wheel?  "No, don't look here.  Look over there."  That's what this amounts to.  If the Republicans don't like what Obama is doing regarding immigration, put a legitimate, DETAILED plan of their own on the table for discussion and schedule a vote.  

Hello?  Boner....Mitch?  Anyone?  Still waiting....

Here's my beef:  The Republicans have said for several years that they wouldn't tackle immigration reform until after the election.  Going unsaid was the fact that they wanted to pander for votes in all quarters.  They didn't want to take a stand on anything that might cost them any votes.  

In other words, they were more concerned about THEIR jobs than they were about the good of the country.  Shouldn't that itself disqualify them from holding public office?  

Don't get me wrong....the Dems are as self-centered as the Republicans.  They are all too willing to throw us under the bus, too, if they can keep their jobs (and all the graft that goes with it) for a couple more years.

IMO, unless we're willing to give the boot to Mitch and Boner and Nancy and Harry and all their respective "yes men" (and based on recent election results, we aren't) nothing in Washington will ever get any better.  America is as successful as it is IN SPITE of Washington, not because of it.  

I still have this crazy, nostalgic idea that leaders are paid to LEAD.  Silly me.

S

How awkward was THAT?

The big story in today's newspaper was the State Dinner hosted at the White House last night by Brick and Michelle O'bama in honor of their special guest, the President of France.  I read that, then looked at the photo and thought, "Since when did Bob Newhart become the President of France?"

I looked closer through my steroid-eyedrop-filled inflamed eye and saw that it wasn't Bob Newhart at all, but Francois Hollande (pronounced "o-LAUND").  The awkward part was he showed up alone, or as we called in back in my yout, stag.

Poor Francis.  Poor France.  It looks like they've pretty much hit bottom.  For a while it looked like they might make a comeback when they dumped that old guy (can't remember his name) who used to be President and elected Nicholas Sarkozy.  Actually he wasn't anything special either until he hooked up with my old girl friend (before K, of course), Carla Bruni.

I first met Carla when she was a singer / songwriter...

She would sing me beautiful love songs in French.  Or maybe it was just the Paris phone book put to music, I have no idea.  Anyway, we kept our fling private, or at least she did.  VERY private.  (She used to cryptically call me Who?)

But like most long-distance romances ours eventually floundered and Nick the Shark got her on the rebound.  I really didn't mind because he was pretty much a zero by himself and now he at least had an attractive lady to take to fancy parties.

I like to think of it as my little contribution to American / French relations.

But now look what the French have gone and done.   They elected "o-LAUND", their economy sank even deeper into the toilet, he left one "companion" for another (which now looks like they had little more than a one night stand), and now he shows up stag at a fancy party in his honor.  He couldn't even get a woman to go with him on a private jet to a free dinner in America!

But as they say, all's well that ends well.  Michelle made a few calls and set "o-LAUND" up with a friend of hers on a blind date.  It was said that everyone had a nice time, "o-LAUND" agreed to keep sending us Dannon yogurt, and we agreed to keep sending France old Jerry Lewis movies.  Diplomacy at its finest.

Vive la France!  ;)

S

       

He has big brass ones, I'll give him that!

So Afghanistan's #1 shakedown artist, El Presidente Humid Carbide, wants the US to jump through hoops, kiss his ass, and empty our pockets into his collection plate or he won't allow us to keep US troops in his beautiful Club Med of a country much longer.  His Committee of Elders says we can stay, so long as we bring more truckloads of money.

Meanwhile President Brick O'bama wants the US to keep 10,000-12,000 troops there for years to come.

What's wrong with this picture?

S

Well played, Pootie-Pooh

It should show up on YouTube any second now and is sure to go viral....Russia's Vladimir Putin tap dancing all over Barack Obama's face.  Admit it Barack.  Students for years to come will be doing their Doctoral Dissertations on the many ways you botched your handling of the Syrian mess, and in contrast how Putin aced his opportunity.

Surely Barack understands the American people are tired of 10+ years of war, throwing our youth and our money into efforts to civilize those Heathens of the East.  There was no way in hell we were going to look kindly on picking a fight with Syria.  

If he had really wanted to punish Syria for their use of chemical weapons he would have just cold-cocked them like Presidents Reagan and Clinton did when they found someone kicking them in the shins:  Executive Order....no telegraphing your intentions....no hand-holding with Congress....just BAM!  Some quick strikes, done.

Instead President Obama popped off and drew a line in the sand, then realized he couldn't cash the check his mouth had written.  "Aw, come on Congress.  Jump in with me.  Then when it all hits the fan I can say, 'Hey, they said it was OK.'"

By contrast Vladimir Putin has pulled a rabbit out of his hat, coming across as a peacemaker.  Imagine that!  Pootie-Pooh, a man of peace.  Ha!  Not only is he getting Syria to put their chemical weapons under international control (really?), but he's putting some of his elite Spetsnaz commandos in to "advise" / fight the Syrian rebels.  That civil war is FINIS.  No one is going to back the rebels now....they're a losing cause.  Assad wins.

Vladimir Putin has effectively baled out Barack Obama.  He doesn't have to press for a vote in Congress that he would have lost anyway.  And we don't have to throw another few hundred million dollars (BILLION dollars?) that we don't have into that sewer we call the Mid-East. 

A lame-duck President has just become even more lame.  Don't look for anything else of importance to come out of his administration for the remainder of his term in office.  He'll take credit for a gradually improving economy, but really he's just along for the ride.   That will be his last hurrah.  He's spent.

Game, set, match;  Pootie-Pooh. 

S

The opening salvo of World (cyber) War I

Cyber Command Central, located in a secure underground location in Montana.

It began with an excited, almost hysterical call from a Miz Kelly Park of Frisco, Tx.  She reported that the internet was down.  Not just Facebook, but Google, Pintrest and all the rest were black, too.  An immediate check with CNN, Fox News, and the Home Shopping Network mentioned nothing about the attack, leading Miz Park to believe re-runs had been inserted to make it appear all was normal.  

"It's started", said Air Force Maj. Gen. Ralphie Jordan, head of Cyber Command.

"The Event" had been widely anticipated for quite some time.  China's Peoples Liberation Army Unit 61398, their crack unit of government sanctioned hackers, was immediately suspect.  In past bank hacking incidents the origin had been traced back to a non-descript office building in Bejing, and this is where Cyber Warriors loyal to President Brick O'Bama immediately focused their attention.

Efforts were made to inform the President who is currently traveling in Africa, but nobody in Washington could find the area code for Senegal, and the only State Department official who actually knows where Senegal is was with the President, acting as his guide and food and water taster.  Using Constitutional protocol, Vice President Biden assumed command in Washington during the crisis.

Cyber-nerd reservists were immediately activated and ordered to report to their mother's basements and man their computers.  Auxiliary internet channel 6 was powered up, which fortunately was found to be unfazed by the hostilities.

It was assumed there was chaos in the streets all across America, and perhaps even Europe and Australia, too, but as Twitter was knocked off the broadband no one could be sure.  The fear now is that in 9 months there will be one or more babies born to nerd couples who were so bored without their internet they actually tried sex.

One hour and 38 minutes after it began, Reserve Cyber Officer Sheldon Sakowitz phoned Miz Park and asked her to try tightening the coaxial cable connection to her router.  She did, and the internet surged back to life.  

The investigation continues this morning with forensic cyber-scientists trying to figure out how Chinese infiltrators made it across the border and on to Frisco, TX where they Beta tested their newest internet-crashing technology.

Miz Park is currently negotiating a book deal with the Kindle division of Amazon to digitize her riveting, near-disastrous brush with internet death.   You can pre-order your copy now for WiFi delivery on July 8, 2013.

S

*Under duress (by Miz Park) I must report portions of this re-creation were slightly enhanced for effect.  But only "slightly". ;)

  

In Seattle latte's are out....Cheetos are now in.

It looks like Seattle has enthusiastically embraced the recent vote to legalize marijuana in Washington.  ;)

So today is 12.12.12, a "once in a lifetime" event.  Do you have anything planned to celebrate?  Fuzzy's is offering $1.20 tacos all day.  WooHoo!  Yeah, I know....kinda pitiful, huh?

I understand there are women having C-sections in order to deliver their babies on 12.12.12.  Isn't that kinda extreme?  Is it really that big deal?

I see that Ravi Shankar, the famous Indian sitarist, has passed away at age 92.  I never cared for that kind of music, but I surely do enjoy the music his daughter, Nora Jones, makes.

It's looking more and more like we're going over the fiscal cliff on January 1st.  Get out your wallet and prepare to fork over more taxes to The Gubment.  Now they're saying that even if Bronco Bama and John Boner can come to some sort of Grand Compromise, Boner can't deliver the votes from his ultra-ideologically conservative Tea Party faction.   Prepare to be thrown under the bus. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

At our house we don't need no stinkin' "atomic clock".  We have Luke the Wonder Dog.  His internal body clock is uncanny.  Every day, 7-days a week, he wakes up at the exact same time and wants to go outside.  He eats at 6am.  If you're 5 minutes late he'll tell you about it in no uncertain words terms.

At 7:15am he wants to go outside again, not to take care of any bodily function, but just to take a stroll.  Before K goes to work he wants to play chase round the house.  That's a new one.  K did it a couple days in a row and now it's a part of his daily routine.

His other new one is at 7:15pm....that's ice cream time.  I'll often have a small (Weight Watchers) ice cream bar, and he gets to lick the stick when I'm finished.  He doesn't like to be told "no", but he's learning, much to his chagrin.  He's definitely a creature of habit.

Oh....gotta go.  Luke's calling.  ;)

Happy Hump Day.

S

The Grand Conundrum

The headline read:  "Romney blames loss on Obama's 'gifts' to minorities and young voters".  

In a conference call with many of his big-money supporters Mitt Romney told them that it was Obamacare (calling it a gift to lower-income Americans, perceived to be primarily minorities), the Dream Act (which prohibited deportation of young illegal immigrants who were brought here by their parents when they were very young), and the forgiveness of a considerable amount of the interest incurred by students (who are relying on student loans to get their education) that was responsible for his defeat.  He said these "gifts" to targeted groups bought Obama enough votes to put him over the top. 

Or to put it another way, the status quo didn't work for the Republicans.  This needs to be their wake-up call.  They need to find a way to embrace these groups and broaden their base of supporters.  Making the recent election an "us vs them" affair is no way for Republicans to turn their fortunes around.

Here's the conundrum:  Yes, we need to cut our budget deficit.  We can't go on indefinitely running up a trillion dollars a year in red ink.  But at the same time, we DO need to expand health care.  Where a decade ago 65% of companies provided health insurance to their employees, today it's roughly 55%.  You see the trend?  An unhealthy, broke workforce is not what we need to compete economically with the rest of the world.

And we DO need a highly trained workforce, which obviously requires a highly educated workforce.  The days of getting a high school diploma and then spending the next 40 years working at the sawmill are over.  Education costs lots of money, money most families don't have.  Government does, except it's all borrowed money.

And we DO need immigrants.  While many developed countries actually have a shrinking population, ours is still growing, thanks to births to recent immigrants.  Without them working and paying in to "the system" we won't be able to honor our commitments to our baby boomers now at or nearing retirement.  We need to find a way to expeditiously, responsibly admit new immigrants.  And legitimize many (but not all) of those here now.

It seems we need to do lots of things to stay on top in the world, but they all cost money.  Money we don't have.  What to do?

S

Last minute election thoughts

I feel like I'm watching a really interesting football game, with every offensive thrust countered with a defensive parry.  Momentum has changed, subtle adjustments have been made, and a bit of luck has been thrown in, too.  It will likely be a field goal as the clock expires that will give us a winner.  Except this isn't a game.  This is much more serious.  This could conceivably change the way our country is governed for decades to come.  I'm talking about tomorrow's presidential and congressional elections.

Here's what has been bugging me for months now:  Mitt Romney's choice of running mate.  I've always thought of Romney as a moderate, but in the primaries he recited loud and often the Tea Party line, which scared the bejeebers out of me.  At the first debate Mitt did a complete 180, coming across as a moderate, and his fortunes improved immediately afterwards.  I'm hoping the "new" Mitt is the "real" Mitt, but in the background he's still there....his running mate, Paul Ryan, and I wonder. 

Be very afraid...the Young Gun leadership (L-R, Reps. Kevin McCarthy, Eric Cantor, and Paul Ryan)

Ryan is a proud member...a leader, even...of the Young Guns, a group of extremist, ultra-conservative Republicans who want to gain control of, first, their party, and then the country.  They have demonstrated they are willing to throw the entire country under the bus* as long as it will hasten their power grab.  (Suggested reading:  Do Not Ask What Good We Do:  Inside the US House of Representatives by Robert Draper.)  

They practice the concept of the more they can do to paralyze the country (by their obstruction) and discredit their opponents, the worse things will get and the sooner The People will turn to them to fix things.  The pain the rest of us must endure in the process is of apparently no concern to them.  To them the end justifies the means.  I agree there are lots of things that need changing, but IMO the changes need to be made thoughtfully with a scalpel, not with an ulterior motive and a meat cleaver.  All these guys have are meat cleavers.

Now I read that Paul Ryan, "quiet for now, is planning for an active role" as Romney's VP.  "...if the Republican ticket prevails, Mr. Ryan plans to come back roaring, establishing an activist vice presidency that he said would look like Dick Cheney's under President George W. Bush."  (There are to this day many loyal, moderate Republicans who cringe at that thought!)  He says he will "reach out" (to Democrats) across the aisle.  (Riiight...and pigs will fly south for the winter.  It's just not the way the Young Guns do business.)

I just hope that if Mitt Romney should win he governs like the responsible moderate our country needs, and not like a "slash and burn" Young Gun.  And as for Paul Ryan, "Vice Presidents should be seen (at funerals of foreign dignitaries) and not heard."

If you disagree, that's fine.  Just be glad we live in America where we're all free to express ourselves however we like.  :)

S

*The current budget "sequestration" mess and past (and future?) budget impasses...the work of the Young Guns.

Football and lawyers...talk about a hodge-podge post!

For one weekend a year my brother and I do our impersonation of the Hatfield's and McCoys.  That would be this weekend, when Texas Tech plays Texas.  I'm an alumnus of Texas Tech, while he is a graduate of the University of Texas....sort of.  Not the University of Texas at Austin, the Longhorns (it's a tough, stringy-meated cow), but the University of Texas AT DALLAS, the Fighting Insurance Salesmen. *Zing*

I usually can't get too "in your face" with him because more often than not UT beats us, but this year we're actually favored to win.  He jumped the gun yesterday and showed up wearing his Longhorn ball cap, but I've dusted my "Double T" cap off and will come armed today.

Would it be improper to ask God to let me kick his ass this year?

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Tell me again why we need lawyers?  I recently read several articles that made me wonder.

One was talking about how the bankers have 3,000-5,000 lawyers and lobbyists working full-time to thwart the implementation of new banking regulations that would curb their ability to roll the dice like they did a few years ago.  That drunken binge ultimately required the taxpayers spend several trillion dollars to bail them out.  

Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act which sought to reign in the banks, but the banks have fought every word, every paragraph, every attempt to implement it, and they're winning the battle.  Dodd-Frank is still pretty much an empty shell at this point.  That would make it Lawyers, 1; The People, 0.

The other article told of how Bronco Bama and Mittens Romney both have thousands of lawyers fanned out all across the country looking for the slightest excuse to file a lawsuit in order to thwart the will of The People in next week's election.  Make that Lawyers, 2; The People, still 0.

The US today has over 1.1M lawyers.  I say we keep a few hundred and then send the rest to the Northeast to help clear debris and haul trash.  In other words, to DO SOMETHING CONSTRUCTIVE!

That, or it's off with their heads!  (Hey, I'm trying to be fair about this, 'cause, you know, I'm a compassionate kinda guy.)  *wink*

S