Soooo… the election.  8 years ago this space was rife with politics.  The ascent of Barack Hussein Obama was stunning.  We were tired of Bush.  It was clear our country had made a mistake by going into Iraq and had indeed made the world less safe.  People like me pinned their hopes and dreams on this man.  This broken man.  Different than the rest of us but really no different and idiots like me thought he could transcend the system.  Pull our country together...Hopey Changey type stuff.  Oh well.

He was not transcendent.  Even worse he galvanized the people who disagreed with him.  They were dispersed and weak and dispirited from the Bush Presidency.  But when faced with a liberal black man with a super majority they came together… an angry 20% to block vote for change and whipping up enough fear the Republicans swept that democratic majority out in 2010 and more importantly took over ⅔ of the state house just in time for the census and reapportionment cementing the divide through Gerrymandering that would make Elbridge Gerry very, very proud.

The Tea Party Rose.

The Republican Party began to be commandeered by its base.  The leadership of the party went along with the whipped up frenzy assuming they could control it and… it turned on them. Classic Republican leaders dropped like flies because they were not conservative enough.  RINOs.  Republicans in name only.

But Obama got re-elected.  

Half the country was scared by the strident right which had been whipped into a frenzy by their leaders to fear the liberal, progressive, community organizer, Kenyan, Muslim President and his ilk.

Two sides who hate and fear one another and above all despise and distrust our political system.  Blow it up and tear it down!

The Base of the Democrats rallied around Bernie Sanders pulling the Democrats further to the right.  The base of the Republicans never rallied around anyone sporting 15 or 16 candidates and it looked to be a free for all but it was never even close.  The base argued about who was purest and the entertainer, megalomaniac who understood the media hijacked the entire process with a solid base of 30% in each state who were feeling angry, disenfranchised and they wanted the guy who looked like the biggest asshole to be their bully for change.  And they got him.  In Spades.

So now we are left with a bad choice.  Hillary Clinton is an old, self dealing pol.  She and her husband were low level dealers who have maintained a legacy of self enrichment post Presidency which is unparalleled in American History.  She is not likeable but she is smart and motivated and is a product of our system.  She would be the most disliked and mistrusted candidate in history but for her competitor.  Her competitor is a self aggrandizing, narcissistic sociopath who has never done anything for another human being that he did expect to get a personal or business advantage from.  I don't know why he ran but at this point he is behaving like the proverbial dog that caught the car.

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/06/the-mind-of-donald-trump/480771/

It is going to be a Hobbesian choice of epic proportions.

We will end up as divided as we started. I wonder how our grandchildren will judge us for the “leadership” we have raised up.  I do believe our country and our constitution will survive as it always has but we all need to think again about when we are going to stop villainizing our leaders, defunding our government and making sure that they cannot do the job we elected them to.  We will need to have courage to find a consensus and a way to move forward as more than a divided nation and find some new leadership that will not manipulate a minority within their own party to disenfranchise the good old american middle.  The disenfranchised middle is the group of people who should be railing about taking our country back.  We will see.

A Modest Proposal For January 2014

Soooo…. the news.  The NEWS?  The gnu’s? The newz?

I am reasonably well read.  I take the St. Louis Post Dispatch out of sympathy and sense of obligation.  I read the Wall Street Journal Every Day.  I get the New Yorker Weekly.  I listen to NPR almost incessantly in my car and in a vain effort to understand my brother I listen Glenn Beck several hours a week.  I watch “Meet The Press” every Sunday and follow it up with Fox’s weekly news show.  Sometimes I scramble home from work to watch the national news at 5:30.  Historically, I try and stay away from the freestanding silos of cable news but there was a dark period during the last election where I would watch FOX or MSNBC as I got dressed but that was too depressing on all counts.  The point is, historically, I  like the news.

But that seems to be changing.  I really enjoy the local NPR station, The provide a lot of news and although they are not “Fair and Balanced” they provide different voices and often illustrate that there are two sides to issues and that some have “nuances’. I do not find them particularly liberal but understand myself well enough to realize I have become indoctrinated.  I generally believe that:

1.  Everyone should have health care

2.  Immigration, even illegal immigration has made our country great and we need to let this latest group of criminals in.

3.  Government holds the potential of improving peoples lives in some limited situations.

4.  I do not believe that corporations have constitutional rights or that the founders intended same.

5.  I do not believe that money is “speech” or that the founders intended same.

6.  I think I live in the greatest country in the world at the best possible time to be alive.

7.  I think my children’s future and the countries future is what we, and they make it.

So I guess that makes me a pinko but as I said, I have some awareness of my socialist/communist/progressive/Christian leanings.  The Post Dispatch I am told is a liberal publication but I just think of it as a shitty publication.  Their own editorials are all liberal, some stupidly so but they publish Krautheimer and George Will and David Brooks as well as the liberal columnists.  Almost every day they publish a letter from a reader  going off on the President so, they try and show some other sides but more than anything, it is just a bad paper with a lot of Associated Press stories, no analysis and trivial local coverage.  As I have stated in the past…”you can wrap fish in it.”

The Wall Street Journal is awesome for international coverage and runs a steady drumbeat of “the colored boy is ruining the country” in it’s domestic reporting and editorials.  But I like it as far as providing a more intellectual right wing point of view as well as the best international coverage.  Better than the Times.  I do not agree with their editorial page much but it is well  written and often well argued.  I believe that The Hoover Institution at Stanford exists solely for the purpose of turning out Wall Street Journal Editorial page fodder.  But I like it.  It challenges me.  This is good.  Rupert Murdoch and Fox own the Journal but it still has a modicum of journalistic integrity. Murdoch's ownership and his influence has compromised that as any owners politically leaning effect the editors who have their paychecks signed by them.  I can live with that.

Fox is less than useless.  A drum beat of pretty and angry woman and spluttering, overcompensating, self important, effeminate, angry men.  They are fair and balanced like a lynch mob and their “We Report, You Decide” along with “Fair and Balanced” provide the best example of Orwellian NewSpeak, other than “The Affordable Care Act” and “Operation Freedom”.

Glenn Beck is a demagogue and an entertainer who makes money by making people frightened.  I guess in a free country that is acceptable but as a Christian American I abhor the politics of fear that he spreads.  It is not a source of news and his “Blaze” web site and TV channel are more than shameful but… it is a free country.  The “fat man on the radio” Rush Limbaugh is no different.  They set up false narratives that support their agendas but never be confused, their agenda is to make money by feeding the people in their silo.  A false narrative is something along the lines of citing a school in Omaha sending a kid home for waving around a picture of a gun as evidence of the FACT that America has become irrationally intolerant of guns and violence.  

http://consortiumnews.com/2013/04/18/the-power-of-false-narratives/

But lately I have been suffering fatigue.  It has been building since 2008 but the 2012 election capped it and since then it has been once again a steady drumbeat and it is starting to fill me with anxiety… and a little dread.

Obamacare

Debt Crisis

Shut Down

Sustainable Energy

Iraq

Benghazi

Nuclear Option

North Korea

Climate Change (go ahead and argue it’s made up...I dare you)

The next debt ceiling increase

Fill in the blank

_____________________________

Everything is a pile of shit.  Government has failed, the Fed has failed, big banks have failed, “Mainstream Media”...FAILED, FOX...failed, our schools have failed, curtailing gun violence, FAILED, Mid Eastern Policy, FAILED… it goes on and on with everyone attacking everyone else and no one listening or working with anyone who disagrees with them because listening and compromise are SIGNS OF WEAKNESS! The idea that all of these problems are complex and do not allow simple solutions are an anathema to the way all these media/news/entertainers make their livings.  

It is starting to make me mentally ill and all who know me would say MORE mentally ill and no one needs that.  It literally makes me jittery to turn on NPR and when I switch over to FOX it is worse.  Everyone is so earnest and so genuine and everything is not just a disaster for me and my family but is a disaster for our grandchildren AND OUR IMMORTAL SOULS!  

Really?  Can anything be that important?  More to the point, is EVERYTHING so important?  Can EVERYTHING be threatening our democracy, our environment, our morals and of course OUR CHILDREN!?!?  The answer is obvious and the answer is no.  I like being informed but these guys have screwed the pooch.  I am a Christian.  My hope is for the future and my faith is in God and his plan.  I cannot continue to be thrashed by this litany of “EVERYTHING IS HOPELESS AND WE NEED TO BUY GOLD, STORE FOOD AND BUY GUNS”!  It seems wrong to me but it also seems wrong to rail against the people who believe this.  There a time when we just ignored crazy people in our country.  Now we elect them, give them microphones and we read their blogs and often give them money.

I am not going to create the answer but as a news junky I am going to try 30 days without news.  No Post, No Wall Street Journal, Music in my car and perhaps some time alone with the Bible on Sunday mornings before church.  Maybe some books on tape or TED talks or something...anything.  I do not know if I can do this.  Also, if there is news on in my vicinity I will try not to listen.  I will be happy to discuss things with people who are tuned in but I really am going to try to read some of the books that have stacked up on my shelf and spend a little bit more time in contemplation. It is going to take some planning and I am inviting you to do the same thing.  Opt out.  30 days.  We can encourage one another if you're brave enough.  Let’s reclaim our anxiety and breathe deeply and avoid these earnest, well intentioned new sources predicting our doom. Just for a month.  Unless it feels too good to stop.  If you are of a mind join me.  

I would like to say, “See you in the funny papers” but I think I am going to duck those too.

Peace.

The Sequester: Send in the (ass) Clowns

Sooooo...are you shitting me?  Really?  We have an economy that is limping along.  You can call it a recovery but that is generous.  What it is not is in recession but we are... bouncing along the bottom.  In this tenuous thing we have Washington ass clowns (who we in both parties elected) and they are going to tank this economy.  By not having a budget, by not having tax reform, with having manufactured clients several times a year, not having entitlement reform... we are barely making it.  Now they want to heard us off the cliff.

I don’t think we can sugar coat it.  We will look back on this failure as the beginning of the end for this economy.  Only one thing can happen when you cut 85 billion out of defense and entitlements, there is only one thing that can happen.  Job losses, smaller take home pay, less spending.  NOTHING ELSE CAN HAPPEN!  Arguably at this point allowing the sequester to occur accomplishes two major things, one of which is an ideological goal of the Republican party (smaller government or even better for the crazies, collapse of government) and will dump us into a recession or worse, that we will not crawl out of here by the 2014 mid term elections and they think allow a scenario to blame the Republicans.

I don’t know if they are right or they are wrong.  I do no that we have a failure of leadership at the very top.  When will our President speak the truth with love and call for joint suffering, joint sacrifice in order to save the countries economy to give our kids a chance.  When are the Republicans going to join and agree that there need to be more revenues in order to make this happen?  When will Simpson Bowles be embraced, not as an answer but only what it is, a seriously good start.  These people need to be brought to heel.  They need to:
1. If they cannot agree on a “grand bargain” than they need to just cancel the sequester.  DO NOT JUST DELAY IT creating another cliff down the road.
2. Fix tax code temporarily raising marginal rates and closing ALL loopholes including perhaps the mortgage interest loophole (classic government picking winners and losers) and eliminate EVERY corporate tax break and give us a much lower corporate rate.
3. Medicaide, medicare AND social security need to have their ages where appropriate indexed up for age before benefits can start.  Then they also need to be means tested.  If I have 5 million in my retirment account, even though I have paid into the system, I am going to need to give up some of the benefits I have paid in.
4. Healthcare... jeez...I don’t have any ideas about health care.  Explain to people that in the last 6 months of our lives. Accoding to CNN “One out of every four Medicare dollars, more than $125 billion, is spent on services for the 5% of beneficiaries in their last year of life.”  Mind boggling.

Still, do the first three.  I will be sending Clair Mc Caskill, Roy Blunt.  You should write these people too.  It is time for us to demand that the people we have elected.... govern.  That they not make things immediately worse.
ROY BLUNT ( Republican ) (202) 224-5721
260 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
CLAIRE MCCASKILL ( Democrat ) (202) 224-6154
506 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510House Of Representatives Currently Representing Webster Groves, MO
1ST STATE CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT
WM LACY CLAY ( Democrat ) (202) 225-2406
2418 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington DC 20515-2501
2ND STATE CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT
ANN WAGNER ( Republican ) (202) 225-1621
435 Cannon House Office Building, Washington DC 20515-4312
3RD STATE CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT
BLAINE LUETKEMEYER ( Republican ) (202) 225-2956
2440 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington DC 20515-2509

In the mean time I am watching Sunday morning TV and seeing the Republicans and Democrats try and set the stage for who to blame and we need to send a very clear message that we the people are going to blame them both.  And blame them hard.  It will not effect everyone at once but it will immediately effect markets, credit ratings and public confidence.  There are bozos on this bus.

This is the day....

Sooooo... the election is over. Democrats are still talking like idiots about a mandate they don’t have in a divided country. Some Republicans are soul searching like Austin Powers looking for his mojo but many have made up their minds that the “takers” won and that it is all about Republicans (makers) and Democrats (takers). The facts unfortunately do not bear this out as the solid Republican South (minus the great nation of Texas) represent the biggest block of “takers” from the Federal Government. This election, surprisingly was not “about the economy stupid”. If it was in our weak recovery, likely soon to slide back into recession, would have tanked Obama and the Democrats. This election was about tolderance. Tolerance of immigrants (illegals too), tolerance of gays (we dont know that we need same sex marriage but we do not believe in a homosexual agenda to undermine our values) and an ackowledgment that for most of us, even if we believe life begins at conception, that abortion is a very difficult, heartbreaking, soul wrenching problem which does not lend itself to simple answers in a broken world. Economically our country might be swirling in the toilet (although I don’t think that is a foregone conclusion) but this time, tolerance won. Individual rights won. Arguably America won because it stepped back from demonization of those we dont agree with and sent a message...a “mandate” to our leaders to get their shit together and walk us back from the precipice. If it can be done.

Right now they are again failing us miserably. Obama has doubled down on increased taxes for those who make over 250k. Although this makes sense to me I think we all forget that we still live in aprogressive tax system. We will not tax everything they make at that higher rate, just the amounts they are making over 250k. Republicans demand entitlement cuts but there is no one who believes we can cut our way out of this defecit. The main thing they cannot do is give ANY ground. The main thing we need out of Washington is certainty. If we are going to be taxed more, TELL US! If we are going to not get social security till we are 70...TELL US! It will all suck but at least we can plan for it and try and do our best. But they won’t. They will not do it becaus we have a broken political class that we have made scred of their own shadows. These margianalized people who we have elected do not have the courage of their convictions and the ones that do are frankly so crazy on the right or the left that I wish they did not.. So what is going to happen is another round of can kicking. Debt cieling raised. Sequester delayed, each side getting a bone of compromise out of the other with a promise to do something way out in the future and we will remain uncertain and continue to have to find our way in the darkness.

Which we can do. If we have the courage of our convictions. If we work hard. We can take care of our families and ourselves. Meet our needs. Take care of those who God throws into our poath who need our care, worship as we please and speak as we please and be blessed even as these idiots drive the ship into the rocks. I decry the Republican visage of “the exceptional American”. I decry it, not because I don’t believe it in my arrogant heart, but because these people who trumpet American Exceptionalism are the ones that are so afraid. they cannnot do anything because the government. they are uncertain because of the government. they cannot sleep at night because of the government. they are worried for their childrens futures BECAUSE OF THE GOVERNMENT! What is exceptional about fear? What I see on FOX news are “Exceptionally Afraid” Americans. What I hear when I listen to Glenn Beck is a man who makes money off of that fear. It sickens me.

 

We are all blessed to live in the greatest country God has put on earth at the greatest time ever to be an American. We are the most powerful Country with the most natural resources in the world. The best combination of soil, water, timber, oil and gas on the planet. We can leave a legacy for our children and granchildren of peace, stability, wealth, strength and kindness if we all just work and take care of ourselves, our families, our churches, synagogues and masques. If we take care of people like we are all taught to do it. We will be great, our children will thrive.

We are responsible for our families and out values. Not the government. We are responsable for our finances. Not the government. If they take more of our bread, exceptional Americans figure out a way to bake more bread. Who are we? We are going to find out. It is going to be hard and it is going to be great. Who are we? Get to work and stop bitching. Who are we? Stop pointing the fingers at other. Who are we? Bake the bread. Enjoy your family and love your neighbor and get to work.

 

Psalm 118: 24 “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

Ruminations

 Happy Sunday.  I am a fallen Republican.  The party lost me somewhere at the end of Clinton’s first term when my young, yuppie, successful professional friends and their wives were all on the porch at the country club and one of the woman was crying about how the re-election of Clinton would literally be the death of us, economically and certainly morally.  As people joined the conversation agreeing heartily with her sentiments I realized that these people did not have a clue about how the rest of the country felt, the direction (inexorably) the country was going towards multiculturalism and how good they, themselves had it.  They were tone deaf.  Some of those people is now a local or regional muckity muck in the Republican party.  The Newt Gingrich contract with America followed by the neo-con (W Bush) takeover cemented their beliefs that they were “right” in the most morally righteous sense and inexorable.

My Christianity (and I do not say this sanctimoniously because “MY” Christianity is DEEPLY flawed) took me in a different direction.  I believe there is a role for government in caring for the voiceless.  I know my church tries but is inadequate to the task.  I know Republicans give more than Democrats and that is awesome but I believe most of that is given from plenty which diminishes the awesomeness somewhat.  The Democrats have always left me squeamish.  I am against abortion (which from my point of view also mandates being against Capital punishment). I believe in allowing Gays to have ALL legal rights accorded to the rest of us.  I think Ronald reagan handled it the “right” way and that we need to make everyone who is here today an American wholesale, ignore their braking of our laws and ackowledged the poverty and hopelessness that brought them here and ackowledge that they are making us a greater America, as every wave of immigrants has made us a greater America. We do need (I think) to secure our borders but I am NOT building a border fence along our 3500 mile border with Canada.  I do not understand why we have been unable to secure our southern borders and would like to have it explained to me.   I believe the wealthy should pay more taxes because no one benefits from our great countries systems more than them, they have proven it.  I will not work any less hard if I am being taxed at a marginally greater rate.  The very idea that people would do that seems asinine coming from a group that trumpets American exceptionalism.  The idea that these exceptional Americans are uncertain and afraid and are hoarding their cash does not sound very exceptional to me.

Anyway, you have probably stopped reading.  Sorry.   I voted for Obama.  I am not proud of the fact.  He disappointed me in that in his first term he had a mandate to call us to something greater but instead was the flip side of the same coin and it saddened me.  We march on now into a murky, difficult future.  Let’s do it boldly.  Let’s hope President Obama can be better and smarter. He is off to a bad start.  His first speech was not a hand being reached accross the aisle but a scolding “send me the bill I want, I have a pen”.  What a bunch of crap.  What a tone deaf message.  He is like a dog with a bone.  The Republican leadership needs to save face.  They deserve a chance to react rationally without being bullied and Obama is blowing it, AND he does not have a strong enough position to win.  

Let’s hope the Republican leadership realizes that if they can assist in a recovery, they can assume the mantle again in 2016 with a fine man who is not defined by traditional marriage, the right to life and illegal immigration.  George Bush ruined compassionate conservatism and that is a shame because ultimately empowering individuals to succeed is the most compassionate thing.  But if we cannot figure out how to do that, Jesus told us to take care of them if we can.  The government provides one way of doing that however imperfectly. Government is not inherently evil, only inherently stupid.  It can be fixed.

God’s peace and thanks for stirring my brain.  Sorry about the diatribe.  There is much to be said for being the loyal opposition.  The Republicans have lost that.  People like you have the power to bring it back and I would be happy to come back home to the party of Lincoln.  I pray for change but America remains the greatest country in the world and we are blessed beyond our comprehension.

There's Got To Be A Morning After

Soooooo.... the Diner Review was conspicuously silent on this years election.  In 2008 I had to have 20 posts or more related to politics, the election, Obama, Mc Cain, Palin... it all seemed like high drama.  This year it just seems... or seemed...silly.  It still does.  6 billion spent so we can have the same general people in place as before.  A prospect of more ideology, more doctrine, more purity of political purpose and more gridlock.  I could of voted for either of them for President.  Part of me definitely wanted someone else to blame and wanted a new shot at something different.  Our President powerfully disappointed me in his first term.  Yes, he inherited an economy that had fallen off the cliff, and a world economy that was just about to go.  Hard for us to be healthy in a much touted global economy when the globe is not so healthy itself.  But still, he disappointed.  He was elected the first time with a real mandate for real change, and he failed us.  he might have tried to be the opposite of George Bush which was welcome but he was the opposite side of the same coin.  He had an opportunity to lead us in a bold new direction and redirect the conversation about what it means to be the greatest country in the world and the responsibility that comes with it.  Not to live in a million dollar house and drive a hundred thousand dollar car and provide your children’s every whim, but to be a leader of the world based on our famed Judeo-Christian beliefs.

But he screwed the pooch.

He stimulused us in an old fashion way feeding the Democratic pork and running up more debt. He failed to regulate seriously his friends in the banks and “too big to fail” is now policy whether we admit it or not.  People are still focused on themselves and their things and getting rich.  Class warfare became the re-election theme and it worked.  The Democrats ran a really good guy, a religious guy with respectable values and a history of success.  But he was wooden, and he was so damn rich and ultimately 51% could not relate or did not want to relate.

So we are now in worse need than we were 4 years ago.  We spent our way down the road and doubled and tripled up on the debt.  The world economy is still teetering on the edge.  We still have an un-swallowed rat of housing debt rolling and roiling through the snakes stomach and the student loan bubble is about to burst.  There are some positive things but they all pale in front the mountain of debt.

So.... fortunately for the President I have it all mapped out.  here is a way to really make a difference and make things happen.  To be the aspirational leader you were orginally elected to be when each of us pinned our hopes and dreams on your Muslim, not born here, community activist ass.

1. Ask (tell) Harry read and Nacny Pelosi that they must step down from leadership.  They have been divisive and are spectacularly unsuccessful.  They taunted when they were in control and skulked and connived when things didnt go their way.  they are polarizing and they represent the old way that brought us here.  Be polite, throw them a nice party and get them out of the way.  The Republicans have the same problem but Boehner is a human being.  The little guy, Eric Cantor should be fired to as being a divisive, smug little prick but HE is not your problem.  Pelosi and Reed are.  Do the right thing.

2. Go to Mitt Romney and apologize for the ugliness of the campaign and the tactics of attack you used to beat him.  Mean it when you apologize.  You should be embarrassed.  You demeaned your office and the country when you allowed your dogs to go after him.  Hire him in a job that is scheduled to disappear at the end of your presidency as (and I know everyone hates the word) Tsar oe Czar of the balanced budget.  Bring back Simpson and Bowles as his Lieutenants.  The orders are simple.  Do as little damage as possible while right sizing entitlements and the military. Put Colin Powell and Petraus on the committee also to assist in getting the military what they need and not what they want.  Taxes will have to be raised through a new tax code.  Give this group carte blanche and support their recommendations.  

3. Be humble and go to Israel.  Sit down with their jack ass Prime Minister who treated you like a school child and tell him that you will commit 100% of Americas military might and financial stability to an Israel that agrees to a two State solution, NOW.  If needed bomb Iraq and send troops in to find and destroy suspected atomic sites.  Then leave.  If Israel balks explain to the American people the bargain you offered and put it to a vote to stand by them with a deal to guaranty their peace, or let them stand alone.  Explain to the Palestinians that they must control their own people and then when rockets fall on Israel that we will support Israel to massively retaliate totally out of proportion to every attack.  Move the Blue Helmets from the UN in between and finance them.  Tell Israel that it is their business where their capital is but it cannot be on Palestinian ground or interfere with their right to visit their holy sites.

4. Leave Afghanistan and make clear to them and Pakistan that the world is sick to death of them.  Make clear our support is behind India and that we will assist the Russians, Chinese and Indians in dealing with their countries if terrorists are harbored there.  Pakistan is the real problem because they have the bomb and are moving towards extremism.  We must have a new UN Security Council resolution wherein everyone agrees that if Pakistan or it’s cousin South Korea use a nuclear bomb that their country will be annihilated.

Part 4 might be a bridge too far.  Shit, Part 3 likely is as well.  Israel is in an untenable position long term.  Not just Iran but the whole Muslim community when they speak frankly speaks of their extermination.  I am not sure the situation can be salvaged but it certainly cannot be done without significant give and take.  Anyway, how about 1 and 2.  Do it for me.

Supremely Stupid

Soooo... I am a pinko. I voted for our current President. I am happy John Mc Cain is not our President and happy Sarah Palin is not our Vice president. Not thrilled, but happy. I painted a lot of childish hopes on this President and he has not fulfilled those hopes but it was not fair to expect that anyone could transcend the partisan miasma that national politics has become. I have gotten over it. I knew he was left with a mess and that he was just a man. I believed our nation had been pulled to the right through 16 years of Clinton/Bush I thought we could be brought back towards the middle.

Instead he galvanized the far right and every election, every discussion is a suicide mission for them. And he has, despite everything ushered our nation further to the right. Less tolerant. More selfish. Less free. Still I appreciated the thoughtful tone he brought to discussions. the reasoned cadence in mad throng.

That having been said I was sickened by his recent attack or at least questioning of the Supreme Court when they were considering the healthcare issue. Granted, I dislike this dogmatic Court. I believe them to be small minded and fully agendaized with kind of a cheap nod towards “original intent” which is one of the most asinine concepts ever foisted on the American people. No one can agree on what the government’s intent was 10 years ago, much less 200 years ago. Certainly Scalia politicized the conversation making it clear this law sucked and he was going to find a way to tear it down, and not a piece at a time but in one fell swoop. That was wrong. It is wrong for Justices to clearly wear ideology on their sleeve and it takes all questions on independance out of the system. Decisions are pre-ordained and pre-judged before they ever arrive and that is sad.

That having been said Obama sank to their level when he attempted to rile up public opinion against the Court. It was like he was trying to incite a mob. It is totally inappropriate for a President to comment on, question and try and bully the Court while a decision is being argued and considered. I demeans the Court, it demeans our system of checks and balances, demeans the President and demeans our country. We deserve better from the President. But in our current climate, everyone plays to their base conventions, common courtesy, history and statesmanship be damned. I do believe these people we have entrusted our political system to are unworthy of their positions and I fear they will incite the people to tear it down.

These are your happy thoughts for the day.

Ahhhh... Politics...of Waterloos At Home And Abroad

There is a portion, a small and deeply troubled portion, of the massive readership of The Diner Review (estimated circulation 3.6 MILLION readers and that is only because they block me in China) that encourages my noxious, one sided, commie political ramblings soooooo.... here goes.

Health care. Dead before it gets passed. They will pass something. It just will not accomplish anything worthwhile and will polarize us as a people even further. Obama mistakenly believes he has to pass something. Mistake. Health care as an issue is a mistake for any party or President. That is why nothing has been done. It is easy to say that doing nothing is what has gotten us here and that no Republican has ever tried to reform health care other then to push stronger tort reform and damage caps and to provide more and more safety and profit for the insurance companies with zero...ZERO regulation of how they do their job. Let me be clear. They will pass something. let me also be clear, we will still have costs spiraling out of control, drastically in excess of inflation and that for a lot of people, their care will suffer as we adjust to the new rules. I would prefer they pass nothing to this and unfortunately it is not "getting it right". I still admire the courage it took to try and do something. It has been and will be (as the republicans predicted) his Waterloo. It could not have been anything else. Rahm Emanuel should have told him. The Democrats do want "European style health care". It will lead to a diminution of care for many and maybe even most of it.

My father in law is a very thoughtful man who just had a a quadruple bypass. Before he surgery we were riding to the Race Track and discussing Healthcare (4 months ago) and he said, the Bottom line is that we all expect the best possible healthcare and that every measure and technology be used to take care of us in the best possible way... and that there is no way to afford that. He is right. Once again we have built up expectations for top notch health care as a "right" and entitlement. We are spoiled children. And demanding and unforgiving ones.

PREMISE: BUDGET DEFICITS ARE DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY AND WE MUST STOP THIS PROFLIGATE SPENDING IMMEDIATELY! UNLESS IT IS FOR HEALTH CARE.

One commentator suggested that this European Health Care will demand a European style military (not much) suggesting that you cannot do both. Perhaps that is right. Which brings us to:

Afghanistan: "Never Fight A Land War In Asia". Although attributed in our most excellent culture to the movie "The Princess Bride" this was actually an admonition of General Doulas Mac Arthur regarding the Vietnam War. How much does it say about our culture that "The Princess Bride". Is what we remember. My guess would be that the quote well predates Mac as well and goes back to...the Japanese...the British...The French and Napoleon...Alexander...(you get the idea). Whether it is because of the hugeness of the land mass or the hostility of certain areas we (the Republicans and the Obama administration) have forgotten this general Chestnut though my guess is that it was taught to our generals at West Point.

Along with it you can the idea that history has taught over.... well a few thousand years at least and that is that an occupying army always eventually loses. Why? Because the natives live there and never have to "go home". Ultimately they out last you and the will of the people who sent you.

Along with it add that America does not have the time or the patience to engage in any over seas adventure for more then two terms (8 years). There are no exceptions.

Finally in regard to Afghanistan add "Where Empires Go To Die".

PREMISE: BUDGET DEFICITS ARE DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY AND WE MUST STOP THIS PROFLIGATE SPENDING IMMEDIATELY! UNLESS IT IS FOR THE WAR ON TERROR.

Wake up Barrack! In your campaign and in order to win you changed the focus from from Iraq to Afghanistan. Prudence would have dictated abandoning that premise (and promise) and gotten us the hell out of there and spending that money further working up our intelligence and our border security. There is no national security interest in keeping a massive force there. The country cannot (and does not have the will, the history or the government) to be tamed and "civilized".

So far we have 5300 casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan, not counting any of our coalition (soft laugh) partners or any of the indigenous people killed who we clearly do not care about enough even to bother to count. The estimate regarding Iraq and Afghani casualties is about 10,000 in Iraq and 3,000 in Afghanistan. Most of these deaths were caused not by our troops but as collateral damage from insurgent bombings. Not counting dead in Pakistan (no estimates) that is about 20,000 lives expended.

Dead at World Trade Center: 2976.

Deaths in the first Gulf War (where we waded in and destroyed their military and their country) 294. Hmmm....

The U.S. needs a new policy on terror saying that we will do what we initially did in Afghanistan. When attacked we will identify who the attacker is to the best of our ability. We will go after them wherever they hide and exact a huge price on whoever was and is harboring them. We got that done in Afghanistan 7 years ago. Yes, Bush might might have blown getting Osama, but we totally kicked the shit out of that country. Then for reasons that become more and more unclear we took out eye off them and went to Iraq. Oops.

For these two miscalculations...Obama is a one termer. The 24 hour cable news culture does not allow mistakes. Look at that poor Huckabee guy. Career...over. Why, a pardon he made based on his best and humanly (humanely?) fallible judgment. No mistakes guys. We might never have more then a one term legitimately elected President ever again. You heard it here first. I will miss Obama. So will Glenn Beck.

Why Are We So Angry? Maybe "WE" Are Not

So we have a continuing theme of anger in our country and it seems to at the current administration. The Tea Party people, the Christian right and the “conservatives” all will tell you it has nothing to do with “the President” but the policies AND with the people who are “the system”.

Where is anger at people and administration who brought us here? It is non existent. And it should be. Bush is done. Even Cheney is done. But their cobbled constituency of the biggest American Corporations and Banks and the radicalized evangelical community remains as an incredibly solid base of 20% of the electorate and a boat load of money. These loud, angry people are controlling the debate. They are “motivated”. When engaged what they are motivated to do it is to tell the government to “just stop”. I understand the sentiment but once again where were you for the last 8 years? The government is a big ship that is hard to turn and momentum in any direction is hard to stop. We headed down this road for the last 30 years which were great years. Reagan and Clinton and Bush’s dad ran us down the path that unbridled capitalism (funded by government in many cases) will solve all problems and that government debt has no consequences. Unfortunately we all suspect that Obama will accelerate that process but be clear, Obama has not spent a penny of our money yet. Our deficits and indeed this budget are all creatures nurtured by our past “leadership”. But we have stuff like this going on:

PHOENIX (AP) — About a dozen people carrying guns, including one with a military-style rifle, milled among protesters outside the convention center where President Barack Obama was giving a speech Monday — the latest incident in which protesters have openly displayed firearms near the president.

Good stuff!














I have really appreciated the few Republicans who have said “Elections have consequences.” This guy was elected by a large majority. He was never unclear about what he wanted for healthcare and America spoke that this was “change” they wanted. When faced with being frightened regarding how the details might effect them they have reacted like everyone would and are saying “whoa”. I know the system is broke and cannot be fixed but do not change it if it is going to effect me. We elect people at times for the purpose of forcing us to do unpleasant things and putting a bullet through the head of our current healthcare/industrial complex might be one of those things. Our country voted hugely for change and groups of vocal people, peacefully assembling while carrying guns to meetings and asserting their rights have hijacked that majority will. I have not seen a single tea party member who has said, “I voted for Obama and I made a mistake”. It is important to note that literally tens of thousands of Americans have joined these peaceful/angry/reasonable/spontaneous/coordinated by Limbaugh, Beck and FOX demonstrations. According to the census bureau there are approximately 307,500,013 of us in the United States which means that as many as 307,400,013 have not yet joined these citizen revolts. But you wouldn't know it to watch ANY cable news.

What about racism? Seriously? This is a meaningless discussion. We are NOT a post-racial society and will not be in my life. It is a fact that many of us are VERY uncomfortable having a black liberal as a President. Some of us have let this color and exacerbate our basic opposition to his policies. This is a fact. Live with it. People are human. I do, when watching FOX hearken back to the days when you were a traitor and a commie under the sacrosanct rule (when Bush was President) to "Never Criticize a sitting President at a time of war." And so i not be remiss. Lets talk about ACORN. This organization was originally a good idea. They have blown it and are done. No matter what an organization has stood for you cannot be "entrapped" into the type of stupidity they have and not have organizational accountability for your employees. They as I said are done. I do note with interest that the same cannot be said for pro life organizations when there members kill people. They cannot be blamed for the crazies among them.

This was of course stupid then and it is stupid now. But where from the Christian right is the basic moderator of their faith? Of our faith? Of MY faith? Jesus lived under an oppressive totalitarian regime. In all the Gospels other then "render unto ceasar..." he didn't say squat about it. he wanted his disciples to focus on healing people, helping people and moving them to faith and to concentrate on the higher things. There is this guy who wrote a lot. St. Paul. He wrote a lot of letters to people in strife and dissension. On such group was the Phillipians. They were a generous people and this was a letter of spiritual encouragement. Paul said "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”

So where does that leave us? Well, perhaps all of us are NOT that angry. perhaps by watching Glenn Beck, exchanging email forwards that mock the President, all just reinforce our feeling that EVERYONE feels this way. Maybe talking to people who agree with us and do not challenge our vitriol (especially from a Christian perspective) is self reinforcing of our anger. Perhaps we ought to read a book. Maybe some fiction or maybe even better some American history. because one of the other things that really saddens me is the lack of confidence the angry people have in the greatest Democracy in the free world. Every President, from Lincoln to Obama had been accused by some segment of the country in undercutting and imperiling our Democracy. They have not succeeded in doing it yet. This guy will not be the one to get it done either.

When we are talking about healthcare, government, or our brothers and sisters in the human race... think upon these things. INDEED.

Here was a thoughtful rant on healthcare from an unexpected source, my favorite singer songwriter James Mc Murtry. A tax paying Texan. http://blurt-online.com/blogs/view/2781/