Making Republicans Vote

Word has it that Senate democrats are not playing fair. “They are trying to scare seniors” suggests a prominent Republican.  How? Well by forcing republicans to vote on their own plan to eliminate Medicare. Imagine that—forcing republicans to vote or shut up is unfair, if not downright un-American.  Voting . . . how awful.
Rep. Ryan, much beloved by republicans because of his plan to eventually eliminate the deficit by eliminating Medicare and Medicaid, is aghast at this turn of events, wherein he might be held accountable for his proposal. He loves speaking about it, especially for a large fee. He just isn’t too keen on having anyone actually vote for it. All those touchy old people, who may be paying attention.
Someday, when China decides that it has bought enough of our debt—and that could happen sooner rather than later should republicans live up to their promises by refusing to vote on the debt ceiling extension—they may decide that German, or Irish debt looks more appealing. Then, we would have no way of financing purchases by the Treasury—you know, stuff like the military, Social Security, Medicare. Rep. Ryan thinks we can escape our debt by reducing cost. Most sane people believe the representative is a doofus, and probably flunked third grade math.

I really hate writing checks to the US Treasury. I really do. However, I actually believe that revenue is the main source of our current debt crisis (thank you George Bush), and that both companies and the middle to upper income classes in America have enough money to float our collective boats.  We desperately need to increase income taxes. That’s the long and the short of it. I know, republicans will insist that our economy will stop functioning if we raise taxes. But they always say that. For republicans, the sky will always fall with a tax increase, and companies will cease being able to function if they are regulated and taxed both.  But they have proven themselves incapable of rational thought on these issues.  The entire republican establishment apparently believes the moon is made of green cheese, the rapture is just around the corner, and the earth really is flat.  After they created the greatest economic debacle since the 1929 crash and the following 1930’s depression, we should not take republican commentary seriously on any economic issue.  They are not believable. More, they are a joke on most serious issues.

And on republican planet McHenry’s Hell, Elizabeth Warren was treated to the republican version of The Big Bang. She was treated as a serf by Mr. McHenry, accused of lying, and then reassured that he really, really, thinks she is a worthy citizen. Mr. McHenry is not known for subtlety . . . or truth-telling.

Thinking and Rethinking About Stuff

So, the candidates are dropping like flies. Getting so, we will need a program to tell us who’s left and who's next to go. I wonder what’s going on? It would seem that, just as a candidate wannabe get’s rolling, someone out there snarls and the candidate drops out, generally whining about how they are doing it for “family reasons.”  Can’t help noticing that they never drop out of Fox News for “family reasons.”

Pretty soon, we’ll be left with a lapsed Catholic who serially cheats on his various wives, a Mormon who thought it was principled for people in his home state to have health care, but socialism if the broader American public is to have health care, and that crazy lady from Minnesota. One assumes that Sarah Barbie is simply making too much money on the lecture circuit (soon she’ll be making as much as our failed President Shrub). The Republican convention promised to be a lot more entertaining a few months ago. This is going to make comedians all over the country have to work a lot harder over the coming months.  Well, so long as the Newtster is in the ring, we will have high comedy all the time.

But on another less comedic front, a recent article by Noam Chomsky on the assassination of Usama bin Laden caused me to rethink my sheer glee at his death. Chomsky is not opposed to bin Laden being brought to justice, but he argues strongly that neither bin Laden nor we got justice. Instead, we got an assassination.  Given our past stance on war criminals, i.e., the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal after “the last good war” our current rush to judgment seems at best at odds with our own history.  Like many, I applauded the attack on Pakistan, and the killing. Now, Chomsky makes me doubt the wisdom of such an approach.  It does in fact resemble the George Bush cowboy approach to international diplomacy—“shoot first and ask questions later.”

I’m still glad that bin Laden is dead, much as I was glad that Hitler was dead. Still, we need to be mindful in such matters, that we haven’t become the very people we despise.

Rapturous

So the r

So the rapture is coming soon to a universe near you.  You could be among  the first to be snatched away to your friendly neighborhood heaven. Just be sure you leave your home, bank account and car to me.

As I best understand it, this Saturday, the world gets divided into heaven and hell. One group of guys gets snatched off the earth to someplace else, and the rest get to remain behind to watch the greatest son et lumiere since time began. Wonder whether the Faux News Network will be around to capture it all on film for the nightly news hour?  Oh, no, I forgot, Rupert and his entire wrecking crew will be among the snatches, so they won’t be here to tell us about it all.

So, let’s see . . . the pope, Franklin Graham, Mike Dingleberry, the Newtster, obviously Sarah Barbie and her companion in crime Michelle Bachman, and all the people rendered stupid by religion will be zipped off to their respective new homes, and assigned harps. But we must remember all those martyrs—you know, Usama Bin Laden and his various buddies who managed to blow themselves up in crowded marketplaces. They will also be there, with their assigned 71 virgins each.  So, the tea party guys will all have to meet and greet with Usama and all the Islamist bozos. Hey, that would be fun to watch . . . and I guess Glenn Beck and Rush will be there to tell them all about it.

So, what does that leave? Well, all the rest of us will have to stay here to watch the show.  Now this presents an interesting scenario. Let’s see—the world is divided into heaven and hell. The pope, the republicans, the Faux News network, and all the Islamic martyrs go together in one direction. All the rest remain behind. It’s sort of an Ikea-like do-it-yourself heaven thing.  The question remaining in my mind is, “so which is heaven and which is hell?”

So, keep your smart phones handy, ready to text your buddies, as you get snatched . . . or not. I wonder . . . do they allow twittering in heaven?

And on another hellish planet, it is rumored that the current FCC Commissioner, Meredith Attwell Baker who voted to allow the Comcast takeover, and was rewarded with a big job at . . . Comcast, is pissed at the Rapture, since she hasn’t even had an opportunity to settle on the big house she was planning on buying as a result of her sellout.

re is coming soon to a universe near you.  You could be among the first to be snatched away to your friendly neighborhood heaven. Just be sure you leave your home, bank account and car to me before you go.

As I best understand it,  this Saturday, the world gets divided into heaven and hell. One group of guys gets snatched off the earth to someplace else, and the rest get to remain behind to watch the greatest son et lumiere since time began. Wonder whether the Faux News Network will be around to capture it all on film for the nightly news hour?  Oh, no, I forgot, Rupert and his entire wrecking crew will be among the snatchees, so they won’t be here to tell us about it all.

So, let’s see . . . the pope, Franklin Graham, Mike Dingleberry, the Newtster, obviously Sarah Barbie and her companion in crime Michelle Bachman, and all the people rendered stupid by religion will be zipped off to their respective new homes, and assigned harps. But we must remember all those martyrs—you know, Usama Bin Laden and his various buddies who managed to blow themselves up in crowded marketplaces. They will also be there, with their assigned 71 virgins each.  So, the tea party guys will all have to meet and greet with Usama and all the Islamist bozos. Hey, that would be fun to watch . . . and I guess Glenn Beck and Rush will be there to tell them all about it.

So, what does that leave? Well, all the rest of us will have to stay here to watch the show.  Now this presents an interesting scenario. Let’s see—the world is divided into heaven and hell. The pope, the republicans, the Faux News network, and all the Islamic martyrs go together in one direction. All the rest remain behind. It’s sort of an Ikea-like do-it-yourself heaven thing.  The question remaining in my mind is, “so which is heaven and which is hell?”

So, keep your smart phones handy, ready to text your buddies, as you get snatched . . . or not. I wonder . . . do they allow twittering in heaven?

And on another hellish planet, it is rumored that the current  FCC Commissioner, Meredith Attwell Baker who voted to allow the Comcast takeover, and was rewarded with a big job at . . . Comcast, is pissed at the Rapture, since she hasn’t even had an opportunity to settle on the big house she was planning on buying as a result of her sellout.

Dreaming Dreams

I was listening earlier to that wonderful source of intelligent humor, Garrison Keillor, making fun of graduation speakers, who often drone on endlessly.  And it caused me to begin wondering what I might say to graduates, were I to be a chosen speaker –since there is precious little chance of such an occurrence, my speculation is really more of a fun game than anything real.

And Garrison of course included, “I have a dream . . .” by MLK in his set. It caused me to think back to my own college graduation some 50+ years ago (I stopped counting at 50 a while back).  And I thought . . . really, I had no dream. Graduation was simply another day, much like all the others.  I had a wife, a baby on the way, and, importantly, I had a job. What more did anyone need? A dream??? That’s for others.  How would my life have been different had I a dream?

Dreams are a bit like life plans. Some folks have such plans; others, like me, don’t.

I went hunting for a job midway through my senior year.  Everyone did. The 1950s. Everything was booming and jobs were available. The aerospace industry was especially attractive for engineering graduates. The Cold War was a good thing for us.  I know, I know. How could a war, hot or cold be described as a “good thing?” Well, at the moment, nobody was dying in that war (Korea was finished for the moment, Vietnam had not yet begun.)  But, that “war” created thousands of jobs making things intended to kill lots of people, with the fond hope that, once produced, they would never be so used.  That was the deal—MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction) was our last, best hope for mankind.

So, our jobs in that industry (high tech death machinery) were, in the final analysis, just jobs, like working in a supermarket, or Wall Street.  It involved no dreams.

Periodically, we engineers would get together socially, drink martini’s and discuss potential scenarios—like where should we go if the Cuban Missile Crisis got out of hand—the seacoast or the mountains, the issue being, where would we least likely get killed or maimed when they began shooting off all those weapons of mass destruction?? But we never really thought it would happen.

Then after a time, during which I began getting tired of the WMD industry, an opportunity came across my horizon, to quit what I was doing and move, as part of a team, to India.

To India????

And that’s what I was thinking. Huh?? Hey, why not?? And that’s what my wife said, when asked. “To India??? Why not?”

Now, that would never have been part of my dream, or my life plan. I simply would never have thought of such a thing . . . and that’s what’s wrong with a life plan, I thought.  Many dreams/life plans foreclose options by giving strong preference to things you think about in advance.  Real plans include goals, and a plausible path for reaching that goal.  But, it all depends on how you phrase the goals I assume. If you think, “hmmm . . . in 25 years I intend to be a partner in a law firm, or a high level officer in a technology company”, or something similar, you may in fact achieve that goal, but you may also foreclose several other optional courses that might have proven more exciting, or simply more interesting.

Alternatively, I think about people who entered school without anything in mind, but simply bumping along taking courses because they were fun, or interesting. They graduate and then what?

So, there should be some kind of life planning that is beneficial.

So, what to do, what to do?  I have always had one major objective—try to keep options open. Finishing high school (or worse yet dropping out) with no thought to college is to foreclose all options associated with college.  It is to limit oneself unnecessarily--it closes doors.  So, getting as much education as seems reasonable (and that almost always means going beyond high school) is always a good course, mainly because it opens more doors.

Then, when one moves into “real life” always being open to something new seems to me a good course. Never foreclose options without first at least trying to understand the options in front of you. That was our India decision. India was never in my dream set; it just happened, and we had open minds.

So, maybe that’s it.  Get educated to open as many doors as possible, and then keep on learning (read actual books). The world is very large, complex, and fascinating. There’s more to life than what can be seen in Spring Valley, New York.

Look around.  Stay open to new ideas.

Oh, and one more thing.

Stop watching the Fox News Channel. It closes the mind, and corrupts the brain.

Threats to the Institution of Marriage

With all the recent discussions and debates about Gays in the US, and their perceived threat to the institution of marriage, I began to consider whether Gays are really the biggest threat to the institution of marriage in our nation. I guess it’s arguably true that providing alternative models of any kind to our youth will make them consider those alternatives more seriously (although all scientific evidence points to homosexuality as a genetic trait as opposed to a lifestyle choice).

However, once we open that door to our thinking about marriage, we need to consider all the alternatives that are available as models to our children. The most recent to cross my mind is the Newt Gingrich model. Here we have a man who fantasizes  that he should be President of the United States. Let’s accept  for the moment that the President, whoever he or she might be, really fits almost any definition of a role model.  So, what kind of a role model is Newt, specifically with regard to that sacred institution we like to call marriage?

Let’s see, Newt was married to one woman. She became quite sick. Newt dissed her, while she was in the hospital, taking off with another woman, who soon became wife number two. After a time, Newt became aroused by yet another woman, engaging in extramarital sex with her. I guess the Newtster has a different attitude about sexual relations with people not your spouse than most of the people now engaged in discussions about Gays and marriage—you know, the Teabaggers and other good Christian Taliban.  So, the Newt switched spouses yet again, taking up with another woman who assumed the temporary guise of wife number three.  Makes one wonder where wife number four will come from.

So, here we have a true role model wannabe who seems to believe that marriage is a sometime thing, perhaps even a casual thing. Whatever will our youngsters think about marriage, when the Newt is on the tube daily, yakking to us, and trying to convince us of one policy or another? I for one, would continue to think, “why would I believe anything this bozo says? He’s not sincere about anything, and can’t keep his dick properly housed.”

So, I’m supposed to believe that Gays make more of a mockery of marriage than Newt Gingrich?

Somehow, I think not.  I wonder what percentage of Gays, once they commit to a “permanent” relationship, flit about as much as the Newt, and others of his ilk? Think hard Mr. and Mrs. America about who you want as role models, and be very careful what you wish for.

And this train of thoughts made me wonder how long it will be before Rupert hires Newt as the resident pseudo-intellectual for the Faux News Network.

Pakistan & Osama

Ever since our special forces team sent Osama bin Laden off to Never-never Land, we have been inundated with speculation about Pakistan’s role in sheltering him and what that might mean for our relationship with Pakistan. What did they know, and when did they know it, is the repeated theme of our news commentariat.

In my mind, there is no great mystery here, but perhaps I am jaded.

When we lived in New Delhi during the 1964-1968 period, we experienced one of the several Indo-Pak wars.  It’s a bit iffy to refer to them as “wars’ actually, since the encounters never seem to last very long.  In our case, Pakistan began their incursions into India, and had their nose bloodied for the effort. I still remember sitting on our bursatti in New Delhi during a blackout. The Paks were equipped with US jet fighters, and the Indians were equipped with Russian SAM missiles for air defence. I remember thinking, “god, I hope the Russians know what they are doing with these SAM missiles.”  I also remember thinking, “man this is a really screwed up world, with us aiding the Pakistani’s and the Russians, our enemy, assisting the Indians. How did we ever get into such a f___ed up relationship?”

The wars never last very long, and Pakistan always comes out the worse for wear. After a time, I began thinking, “hmmm . . . these Pakistani war efforts resemble something. Oh, I know, they resemble the Arab obsessive-compulsive behavior toward Israel. Every now and again, the Arabs, singly or in combination, get it into their heads to attack Israel. So, they mount their attack, the Israelis get pissed, and shoot back, generally with devastating results, and the Arabs withdraw, sometimes with less territory than they had before (see the Golan Heights).  Ditto with Pakistan.

In the case of Israel and the Arabs, it was always at least clear what the Arabs were about. They wanted to “drive Israel into the sea”, i.e., to destroy Israel. That they kept doing the same thing over and over, while hoping for a different result seems to suggest a form of insanity, but maybe it is simply stupidity . . . perhaps too much time in the hot sun. But for Pakistan, it has never been clear what they want.  They’re clearly not intent on pushing India into the sea. I know, I know, they really, really want Kashmir.  But they ain’t gett’n Kashmir. Seems as though they would have gotten that message by now. They’re like an obsessive-compulsive crazy person.—ok, once more with feeling . . .

But given their history, why is anyone unclear about Pakistan  sheltering bin Laden?  The ISI has been a rogue agency within Pakistan for decades. They do what they want and the Pakistani military doesn’t interfere. Seems clear that the ISI has been the responsible real estate agent for bin Laden and that the Pakistani military has known about it.  The Pakistani government isn’t really in control of the country—their entire northwest provinces are semi-autonomous regions, assisted probably by the military and/or the ISI as needed. The “democratic” government of Pakistan is tolerated by the military and the ISI.

Maybe someday Pakistan will turn to democracy seriously, blow up their ISI and rein in their military. Until then, we should always expect the worst from our good friends, the Paks.  And until then, the Pakistanis will have to contend with eating Indian dust, as the Indians roar into the 21st century as one of the world's super-powers.

And on another planet, it is rumored that the Republican party has decided that Jeb Bush is their favored candidate for President, since the Bushes worked out so well for them last time.

Good Hunting

So, they finally did something right . . . the CIA that is. Osama bin Laden, finally captured and killed.  Too bad they shot him in the head. Might have been more fitting to have dropped him from a helicopter into his unmarked watery grave somewhere out in the vast ocean, while still a thinking being.  But, you can’t have everything, I guess.

The most interesting aspect of this action, well aside from the fact that we finally got him after almost 11 years of not chasing him, is the role played by our good friends, the Pakistani’s, especially the Pakistani ISI.  Last I heard, the old man of 911 fame was living in a cave somewhere in Afghanistan, or maybe in the wilds of Pakistan, but definitely in a cave.  A multimillionaire living in a cave with his various wives and kids for ten plus years. Wow, what a concept.

Well, no. Turns out he’s been living in a proper multimillionaire’s palace next door to a Pakistani military academy in the capital.  The ISI (their CIA) didn’t have a clue he was there; nor did the military academy. I guess they’re just not curious about their neighbors, huh? Seems like it would have been  just neighborly, after he moved in, to bake him a pie, and maybe bring over a bottle of a nice (non-alcoholic) wine.  But I guess military folks are a little standoffish in Pakistan.  Apparently, it just isn’t done to get too cozy with the neighbors.

But it makes me wonder how long the Bin Laden’s have been in residence, and who knew about it? I mean, did the local schwarma takeout delivery guy ever meet the old guy?  Didn’t Osama and his various wives ever attend a local concert? And of course, what about the tax collector? They know everything, don’t they?  So, did Osama pay his tax bill every year, like a good alien resident?

And then, you have to wonder whether he sends out e-mails, writes a blog, texts his kids, or even, tweets. I mean, the guy sends out videos to the faithful periodically. Does he use U-Tube??? Does the local Al Jazeera gang know where to send his royalty checks on all the great stuff he’s been sending them??  And doesn’t the guy have, like, 57 wives? Don’t they ever get out for a pedicure, for heaven’s sake? I don’t know, but it seems pretty suspicious to me. Nobody really hides out in a multimillion rupee mansion in the capital of Pakistan, next door to a military academy.  You’d think someone knew he was there all these years. And it took a courier to finally do him in???

So, I guess the CIA can now relax again. They got their man, sort of like the Mounties, only ten years too late. So, I wonder who’s next on their list . . . maybe the head of Goldman Sachs???