Well, for heaven’s sake, I guess they were right after all, those cranky republicans. They didn’t want their kids exposed to President Obama’s socialist political message. I mean, if the school system isn’t a safe place, protected from all those nasty politicians from the wrong side of the tracks, where is?
And the President delivered just as they expected. What was his message?
Stay in school
Work hard
Listen to your teachers and your parents
Man, how unAmerican is that? This guy, our pseudo-president (see he’s not a real president, cuz he wasn’t born in Amurrica. He was born in Hawaii, and we all know what than means.) is appealing to kids to be rational and to pay attention to their academic studies.
Is he kidding? Doesn’t that sound like Commie propaganda? It’s obviously lifted directly from Mein Kampf, or some other Fascist, or socialist booklet.
These clever republicans have certainly acted in the best interests of their kids by keeping them home, or better yet taking them out to Pizza Hut. Wouldn’t want them exposed to a successful Black man, now would we?
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Friday, September 4, 2009
Thinking Out Loud
Suppose, just suppose that George W. Bush was not an imbecile. I know, I know; it stretches the mind to imagine such a thing. But, just for laughs, suppose. And suppose, as a result, he actually understood what happened on 9/11—that is, that airplanes hijacked by mostly Saudi Arabians who had been trained in Afghanistan, were responsible for destroying the World Trade Center, et al.
Now what would a smart person have done?
Attack Iraq? Hmmm, I think not.
I’m imagining that a truly smart person might have convened the world’s powerhouse nations, together with the world’s Muslim nations (wealth and power often don’t seem to go together) to decide that we had all had enough of this Jihad crap. That maybe it was time for the world to end the jihadi nonsense before it led to Armageddon.
Now the Taliban in Afghanistan, protecting Osama & Co., might have objected to such a meeting and such a decision, especially since they reside mentally somewhere in the 12th century. But screw them. Surely the world powers, with the help of the World’s Muslim Nations, could figure out a way to isolate the Taliban. Note, there isn’t any sensible way to quickly bring democracy to a country such as Afghanistan, with or without the Taliban. Democracy is a 20th century concept and the Afghans are a 12th century people. Never the twain shall meet.
But I’m thinking that the Europeans, the Arab sheiks/kings, even the Pakistanis, might have been convinced to cooperate in a global jihadi-pacification campaign, one that wouldn’t lead to destroying the world. Who knows, if we (the powers that be) actually managed to succeed in talking down the Irish from their decades-long campaign to terminate (with extreme prejudice) one another of their several religions, perhaps the Arabs and the Jews might have been convinced finally to end the 60-year war in Palestine.
Think of what the world would have thought of George then.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. But then Sadaam Hussein would still be in power. So what? So would the latest leader of North Korea. And so would the latest leader of Burma/Myanmar or whatever the hell it’s now called. And so would the crazies who now lead Iran.
And some of you are thinking, “yeah, but the world’s powers would never have agreed to any such thing.” Again, so what? How could we possibly have been worse off than we are right now?
Would our national debt now be in the range of $12 trillion?
Would Osama Bin Laden still be at large?
Would there still have been between four and five thousand American soldiers dead?
Would there still have been between 100,000 and one million Iraqi’s dead, not counting the several million refugees created by our war in Iraq?
Instead, because George W. Bush was an imbecile, and his cabal of neo-con-men and women pursued war policies only the stupid could love, we now have a president whose every option seems constrained by the idiocies that were put into place before him.
Makes the mind reel.
Now what would a smart person have done?
Attack Iraq? Hmmm, I think not.
I’m imagining that a truly smart person might have convened the world’s powerhouse nations, together with the world’s Muslim nations (wealth and power often don’t seem to go together) to decide that we had all had enough of this Jihad crap. That maybe it was time for the world to end the jihadi nonsense before it led to Armageddon.
Now the Taliban in Afghanistan, protecting Osama & Co., might have objected to such a meeting and such a decision, especially since they reside mentally somewhere in the 12th century. But screw them. Surely the world powers, with the help of the World’s Muslim Nations, could figure out a way to isolate the Taliban. Note, there isn’t any sensible way to quickly bring democracy to a country such as Afghanistan, with or without the Taliban. Democracy is a 20th century concept and the Afghans are a 12th century people. Never the twain shall meet.
But I’m thinking that the Europeans, the Arab sheiks/kings, even the Pakistanis, might have been convinced to cooperate in a global jihadi-pacification campaign, one that wouldn’t lead to destroying the world. Who knows, if we (the powers that be) actually managed to succeed in talking down the Irish from their decades-long campaign to terminate (with extreme prejudice) one another of their several religions, perhaps the Arabs and the Jews might have been convinced finally to end the 60-year war in Palestine.
Think of what the world would have thought of George then.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. But then Sadaam Hussein would still be in power. So what? So would the latest leader of North Korea. And so would the latest leader of Burma/Myanmar or whatever the hell it’s now called. And so would the crazies who now lead Iran.
And some of you are thinking, “yeah, but the world’s powers would never have agreed to any such thing.” Again, so what? How could we possibly have been worse off than we are right now?
Would our national debt now be in the range of $12 trillion?
Would Osama Bin Laden still be at large?
Would there still have been between four and five thousand American soldiers dead?
Would there still have been between 100,000 and one million Iraqi’s dead, not counting the several million refugees created by our war in Iraq?
Instead, because George W. Bush was an imbecile, and his cabal of neo-con-men and women pursued war policies only the stupid could love, we now have a president whose every option seems constrained by the idiocies that were put into place before him.
Makes the mind reel.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Steeleisms
Be afraid seniors, be very afraid. Michael Steele, (head doofus of the republican cartel) is talking about “saving” Medicare. In his opposition to any, repeat any public health insurance plan/option, Steele has been mumbling noises about Medicare. Whenever republicrats begin talking about saving a popular program originated by the democrats, I know that program has been targeted by them for “termination with extreme prejudice.”
The republicrats have largely been focusing on stupid Americans for their campaign to rid the world of health care. You know, the people who don’t seem to understand that Medicare, Medicaid, the Military health care, and the VA health care systems are actually government programs. They’ve been yelling at meetings that they, “don’t want the government messing with their Medicare program.” Even when informed that Medicare is already run by the Government, they are not to be pacified.
So, having captured the nation’s stupid people, the republicrats are now apparently trying to bring the broader population of seniors within their sway by doing what they always do--lying to them. That they have chosen Steele as their spokesman seems perfect, since he seems to be an idiot, albeit a middle-aged idiot.
His central point seems to be that Medicare is run inefficiently, whereas private health insurance is run efficiently. He has no data to back this up of course, and most accounts show a dramatically lower administrative cost to run Medicare than to run the private health insurance companies- He wants to cut Medicare, but doesn’t say where. His NPR interview this morning with Steve Inskeep bordered on the incoherent.
Let us all—we seniors who now rely on Medicare—hope that Mr. Steele will be kept very far away from deciding any changes to the Medicare program. In a recent article on Mr. Steele in the Washington Monthly, Steve Benen concludes:
“The GOP's record on Medicare is clearly embarrassing to the party. In the 1960s, Republicans fought against Medicare's existence. In the 1990s, Republicans shut down the federal government because a Democratic president wouldn't tolerate proposed GOP cuts to Medicare. In 2008, the Republican presidential ticket ran on a platform of cutting Medicare.
And in 2009, the chairman of the Republican National Committee has decided, over the course of 24 hours, he's both for and against the Medicare program, for and against Medicare cuts, and for and against privatization.
From there, Steele talked up the ridiculous "death book" lie, either unaware of or unconcerned with reality.
The mind reels.”
The republicrats have largely been focusing on stupid Americans for their campaign to rid the world of health care. You know, the people who don’t seem to understand that Medicare, Medicaid, the Military health care, and the VA health care systems are actually government programs. They’ve been yelling at meetings that they, “don’t want the government messing with their Medicare program.” Even when informed that Medicare is already run by the Government, they are not to be pacified.
So, having captured the nation’s stupid people, the republicrats are now apparently trying to bring the broader population of seniors within their sway by doing what they always do--lying to them. That they have chosen Steele as their spokesman seems perfect, since he seems to be an idiot, albeit a middle-aged idiot.
His central point seems to be that Medicare is run inefficiently, whereas private health insurance is run efficiently. He has no data to back this up of course, and most accounts show a dramatically lower administrative cost to run Medicare than to run the private health insurance companies- He wants to cut Medicare, but doesn’t say where. His NPR interview this morning with Steve Inskeep bordered on the incoherent.
Let us all—we seniors who now rely on Medicare—hope that Mr. Steele will be kept very far away from deciding any changes to the Medicare program. In a recent article on Mr. Steele in the Washington Monthly, Steve Benen concludes:
“The GOP's record on Medicare is clearly embarrassing to the party. In the 1960s, Republicans fought against Medicare's existence. In the 1990s, Republicans shut down the federal government because a Democratic president wouldn't tolerate proposed GOP cuts to Medicare. In 2008, the Republican presidential ticket ran on a platform of cutting Medicare.
And in 2009, the chairman of the Republican National Committee has decided, over the course of 24 hours, he's both for and against the Medicare program, for and against Medicare cuts, and for and against privatization.
From there, Steele talked up the ridiculous "death book" lie, either unaware of or unconcerned with reality.
The mind reels.”
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
The Senate is Poorer
The passing of an iconic figure. He was flawed, but then so are most great public figures. His enemies , and he had many, would never let him forget Chappaquiddick. But somehow, he managed to get past that awful tragedy in which a young woman died. Teddy kept on, as probably he had to.
As a younger senator, he seemed to have the right instincts for social justice, but he wasn’t skilled enough, or charismatic enough to pull it off. His pursuit for the ultimate throne—the presidency—seemed a Quixotic pursuit, aimed more at securing his brothers’ legacies than his own. But then, having failed at that game, he came into his own. He secured a position of power in that most powerful club—the US Senate-- and he used that power for public good, unlike many, perhaps even most of his senate colleagues.
Senator Kennedy is one of the last of his kind—rich public officials who succeed in giving back to the nation, and whose instincts seem drawn to at least try to better the nation. Many rich people still give—through foundations, or simply private giving. But Kennedy tried to give back by becoming a powerful friend to that public that has few friends, and fewer still powerful and rich friends. He pursued civil rights, health care reform, and other socially useful causes just because they were right, while others in this club, Jesse Helms for example, fought tooth and nail to prevent social progress.
The nation is poorer with his passing.
As a younger senator, he seemed to have the right instincts for social justice, but he wasn’t skilled enough, or charismatic enough to pull it off. His pursuit for the ultimate throne—the presidency—seemed a Quixotic pursuit, aimed more at securing his brothers’ legacies than his own. But then, having failed at that game, he came into his own. He secured a position of power in that most powerful club—the US Senate-- and he used that power for public good, unlike many, perhaps even most of his senate colleagues.
Senator Kennedy is one of the last of his kind—rich public officials who succeed in giving back to the nation, and whose instincts seem drawn to at least try to better the nation. Many rich people still give—through foundations, or simply private giving. But Kennedy tried to give back by becoming a powerful friend to that public that has few friends, and fewer still powerful and rich friends. He pursued civil rights, health care reform, and other socially useful causes just because they were right, while others in this club, Jesse Helms for example, fought tooth and nail to prevent social progress.
The nation is poorer with his passing.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Giving up or In
Ok, so I guess the wealthy right wing has won. Health Care Reform is now over, and we can get on with other ways to kill/confound the Obama Presidency. It’s too bad, really. I actually thought he had a decent shot at fixing our broken health care system. It’s especially too bad for the 45 million uninsured, and the growing ranks of unemployed and uninsurable families. They really needed some of that “finest health care system in the world” but, thanks to the republicans--special thanks I guess to Rupert Murdoch--we will now have to keep on making believe we’re a great nation.
The problem as I best understand it, is that without a true public option, we cannot afford to cover the currently uninsured. We probably cannot even sustain the current system. The Public Option was truly the best shot we had at transforming our system into one that we could both afford, and that would cover everyone. Without it, we have no chance, and we might as well fold up our tent now, and steal away into the night.
Like Vietnam, let’s declare victory and go home. Who will be the last person in the US to have health care?
The problem as I best understand it, is that without a true public option, we cannot afford to cover the currently uninsured. We probably cannot even sustain the current system. The Public Option was truly the best shot we had at transforming our system into one that we could both afford, and that would cover everyone. Without it, we have no chance, and we might as well fold up our tent now, and steal away into the night.
Like Vietnam, let’s declare victory and go home. Who will be the last person in the US to have health care?
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Just Wondering
I’m wondering about the economics of health care reform. I know that republican-christians seem to believe, a) that they don’t want to pay for health care reform at all, and, b) that Jesus may well take care of them (at least senator Grassley of Iowa thinks and says so). So, maybe, just maybe, we should examine a health care reform act that is aimed only at democrats (whether they’re Christian or not), That is consider a much smaller public option for democrats only, one for which democrats only would pay. If democrats, and others of that ilk are told they need to pony up through the US tax system for a health care that would cover only democrats, that would still include at least 100 million people. If you could develop a public plan that eliminates the need for that group to buy private health insurance, it would save them a bundle, thereby enabling them to pay the taxes required to sustain a public health care plan. Private insurance companies would then have to compete for the reduced private market of republican Christians. And just imagine the super health care the republicans could be buying for themselves . . . and with no death panels, at all . . ., well at least no public death panels. I imagine the private health insurance companies would still reserve the right to pull the plug on granny, but you can’t have everything, right? Everyone would thereby be happy . . . right????
Just a thought . . . trying to be helpful in these troubled times . . .
Just a thought . . . trying to be helpful in these troubled times . . .
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Getting a Grip
Getting a Grip
I have begun thinking that Republicans have lost their grip on reality altogether. In watching the most recent episode of the Jon Stewart show, he played a few bits from recent Fox “News” shows. Glenn Beck yells in rage that this is no longer “his country.” People attending the pseudo-town hall meetings are seen yelling about how they are scared of Obama, with one woman yelling that she “wants her country back.” Jim DeMint of South Carolina, a congressman who has been compared with Jesse Helms, informs his constituents that the United States is now like Germany under Adolph Hitler.
They seem vaguely psychotic, or simply good actors feigning rage.
I started thinking that these crazed people need to get on the road and begin driving.
First, I thought, they need to drive all the way out to Arizona, to Canyon de Chelly, where the Navajos have a reservation, with a history dating back to 950 AD, when the Anasazi lived in the pueblos there. It would be useful for these people to ask permission to attend a Navajo council meeting, so they could address the assembled Navajo people on their fervent wish to “take back their country.” I am left wondering what the assembled Navajo people would say to them.
Then, after they leave the Navajo reservation, I would suggest that they drive East, maybe going first to Detroit . . . inner city Detroit. I would suggest that they attend a Sunday church service in a black church there, and that they address that assemblage on how scared they are of President Obama, and how they want their country back.
Then perhaps they might drive to another city, I’m thinking maybe Atlanta and the Ebenezer Baptist church, where they could inform the mostly black audience there about their great fears of this first Black President, and how he resembles Adolph Hitler, and how they feel like the residents of Jewish Ghettos, just before the Jewish residents were hauled off to concentration camps to be gassed.
After those experiences, perhaps these crazy people might begin to understand just how far out of touch with reality they have moved. They might then be able to consider driving to the nearest dump and offloading their mostly racist attitudes and detritus. Then I would suggest they attend their neighborhood church and ask God for forgiveness.
Couldn’t hurt.
I have begun thinking that Republicans have lost their grip on reality altogether. In watching the most recent episode of the Jon Stewart show, he played a few bits from recent Fox “News” shows. Glenn Beck yells in rage that this is no longer “his country.” People attending the pseudo-town hall meetings are seen yelling about how they are scared of Obama, with one woman yelling that she “wants her country back.” Jim DeMint of South Carolina, a congressman who has been compared with Jesse Helms, informs his constituents that the United States is now like Germany under Adolph Hitler.
They seem vaguely psychotic, or simply good actors feigning rage.
I started thinking that these crazed people need to get on the road and begin driving.
First, I thought, they need to drive all the way out to Arizona, to Canyon de Chelly, where the Navajos have a reservation, with a history dating back to 950 AD, when the Anasazi lived in the pueblos there. It would be useful for these people to ask permission to attend a Navajo council meeting, so they could address the assembled Navajo people on their fervent wish to “take back their country.” I am left wondering what the assembled Navajo people would say to them.
Then, after they leave the Navajo reservation, I would suggest that they drive East, maybe going first to Detroit . . . inner city Detroit. I would suggest that they attend a Sunday church service in a black church there, and that they address that assemblage on how scared they are of President Obama, and how they want their country back.
Then perhaps they might drive to another city, I’m thinking maybe Atlanta and the Ebenezer Baptist church, where they could inform the mostly black audience there about their great fears of this first Black President, and how he resembles Adolph Hitler, and how they feel like the residents of Jewish Ghettos, just before the Jewish residents were hauled off to concentration camps to be gassed.
After those experiences, perhaps these crazy people might begin to understand just how far out of touch with reality they have moved. They might then be able to consider driving to the nearest dump and offloading their mostly racist attitudes and detritus. Then I would suggest they attend their neighborhood church and ask God for forgiveness.
Couldn’t hurt.
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