Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Anger, Ego & Healthcare Reform



I have waited to comment on the atrocity that is Healthcare Reform as I found myself so angry as to risk an unintelligible tirade, the literary version of firing a bullet at some idiot Congressman’s field office. I have found putting a little distance between myself, and Lord Falderal’s signing off on the largest publicly funded ego trip since Roosevelt and the New Deal, to be very therapeutic.

What has ensued in the last week since this abortion of legislation was vacuumed out of the womb of Congress is both deeply troubling as well as encouraging.  By encouraging I mean the outrage shown by the overwhelmingly large majority of voters against Healthcare Reform lends well to potentially “throwing the bums out” in the midterms this November.

The troubling part is two fold. First, the thing is law. Law, which will never be administrated correctly because the numbers just do not work. Basically, we have yet another useless and hopelessly flawed piece of legislation that will make welfare look like Microsoft in comparison.

The second more troubling issue is the insidious reversion to violence that has occurred in some factions of the Tea Party. This kind of behavior is not a good thing for Conservatives as a whole. This is the kind of crap that makes the less educated Liberals dive onto the “right wing nut job” bandwagon, screwing it up for those of us who stick to and abide by the more basic facets of the Conservative Republican platform.

Republicans now have a very tenuous line to walk heading up to the mid terms and need to flesh out any extremism in order to attract back into the fold, the Independents that were (hopefully) temporarily dazzled by Lord Falderal’s incredible pile of hyperbole and empty rhetoric. That particular brand of voter is not going to take well to the threats and violent actions of a few angry people who just can’t take it anymore.

That said. What the hell did Lord Falderal and his pack of zombies expect when they passed this piece of crap? Of course people were going to go crazy. No one wanted the flippin’ thing to begin with. The whole “mad as hell and we aren’t going to take it anymore” response is alive and well here in the good ol’ US of A. All the signs were there. Rallies, protests, the fact that only 17% of the whole country wanted Healthcare Reform in first place, should have given someone a clue. And, honestly I have to say if faced with some of these people (Congress) in person, I am not so sure I could keep from popping them in the nose!

Anger is a valid human emotion. The extremism we have seen in the last two weeks is inexcusable for sure. However, the origin of it is pretty easy to understand. For people who love this country and pay attention to what is going on, getting angry is their only resort to being heard. This legislation has cancelled our Representative Republic status and that in turn has pissed of a whole bunch of folk. The jackasses we elected into office are not doing their jobs and the common man has no real way to express himself or herself, except to vote or resort to more extreme tactics.

The recent activity with militias should come as no surprise. It is the oldest form of rebellion in our Nation’s history.  Forming militias is basically built into the DNA of the US. That doesn’t make arming ourselves against our own government a good solution to the country’s problems. The thing about human beings is we still resort to the primordial slime when our backs are up against the wall. We still have war; we still kill and maim each other like some kind of highly functioning Serengeti predator.

What needs to happen is for Conservatives to tone down the violent rebellion rhetoric and have an honest to goodness uprising by coming together and voting this Congress and eventually this President into oblivion. That is the right kind of rebellion. Let’s face it, as Conservatives we have the ammunition needed to do it we just have to stay focused.

Lord Falderal has indeed broached Socialism with the Healthcare Reform Bill.

One of my favorite sayings that I use all the time is “sometimes things just are what they are”. And, this is what it is. I am so fucking tired of listening to Liberals defending Falderal’s actions by saying that Fire, Police, Education and Infrastructure Services are Socialist by their very nature. That is just blatantly wrong.

Fire, Police, Education, Infrastructure creation and maintenance are NOT Socialist programs. There is no redistribution of wealth, they do not create goods, not everyone uses them in their lifetime and we have all agreed as a Republic to pay for them. Some would say that we shouldn’t be forced to pay for things we don’t use. That may be true but we made the decision as one to do it. Yeah, taxes suck, but for these types of services it just makes sense. Unlike Healthcare Reform, we were somewhat well represented when the decision to turn those services over to the Government were made. This is wickedly different than what the Healthcare Reform Bill shoves down our throats.

With Healthcare there IS a redistribution of wealth in that person A’s insurance premiums will be used to offset person B’s health insurance. We are forced under penalty of fine, to pay for everyone else’s healthcare situation. The key here is that EVERYONE is mandated to have health insurance. The means of production, exchange, and distribution of goods and services are all owned by the community with Healthcare Reform. That is Socialism.

And so here we are stuck with a useless law that will never gain any traction, beset on us by an equally useless President whose enormous ego prevented him from working on the issues the public cared about most just so he could experiment with a Socialist agenda and make some kind of show for those who stayed loyal to him. Now more than ever, this President’s power needs to be usurped not by violence, but by a carefully crafted and orchestrated rebellion at the voting booths.



Monday, March 15, 2010

Patrick Kennedy, Nuts? Or, Right on Target?

I don’t know Pat Kennedy, the Democratic Congressman from Rhode Island and as regular readers of this blog probably realize, I was no fan of his Dad.

I do know his brother Ted Jr., however and he is one of my favorite people. I only wish he would run for office someday. We would all be lucky to have him. For those who don’t know him personally all you have to do is watch the footage of the eulogy he gave at Ted Sr’s funeral and you will know him. He is as genuine as the speech he gave. Unfortunately, Ted, Jr. lacks the one thing requisite of all successful politicians; he’s never had an ethical bypass. Therefore, we may never see him chase public office.

Patrick unlike Ted Jr., has inherited a lot of the curse of the Kennedy clan; he likes his booze, (although a currently recovering alcoholic) he also likes his women, and Paddy boy is no stranger to pile of white powder and a rolled up C-note, possibly neatly perched on the mid section of a high class prostitute.

That said, regardless of my disdain for the Lion of the Senate, I have to give his kids the benefit of the doubt based on my experience with other members of the family. Even Patrick deserves a little break given what he grew up with. I know, I know, filthy rich and famous he has no excuse, but think of the psycho crap that went on around him.

If you have seen the footage of Pat’s tirade in Chambers last week, you like me, may think the lad is all kinds of crazy and perhaps there was a little Chivas left over at the Hyannis Compound and Pat may have had a few tosses on his way to DC that morning. Here is the vid in case you missed it.


The main part of the video we are worried about here, is Kennedy’s admonition of the press in covering the war in Afghanistan, it happens right at the end of the video. Forget his crazy notions about how the war is being fought and blah, blah, blah. That is another blog post entirely.

Congressman Kennedy’s assertion that the coverage of the Afghanistan War is abysmal is right on target. He brings up the example of Massa and how there is 24/7 coverage of that fiasco, whilst barely anything of substance on the War. Kennedy asserts Congress like the masses that elected them, are only interested in salacious topics that really have no consequence at all except for political ammunition.

Does anyone really care about Massa, or any of these people engaging in what are acts of human foible? Well, we assume these people are human and subject to the same weirdness in compulsions as the rest of us. For some reason, we hold these people to a higher standard that on its face, just doesn’t exist. I mean we have seen the ultimate in scandal; blowjobs in the White House and semen stained Gap dresses and yet we got over it. These indiscretions are so unimportant in the overall scheme of things.

Meanwhile, we have young people dying across the world trying to ensure we can continue to live in the lifestyles we have become accustomed to, albeit in the last year at seriously diminished levels. Coverage of what is happening in Afghanistan has disappeared into the background.

Think about this for a second, when is the last time you really heard anything about Afghanistan? The State of the Union, maybe? Before that it was probably back in September when Lord Falderal stonewalled the world on how he intended to proceed with troop levels and pull out dates. Other than that, there is rarely a headline of any significance anywhere. Even Fox News who took to the airwaves and blasted Kennedy with claims they cover the War extensively are full of it. Fox may cover it more than the other media outlets, but just by a smidge. What they do cover one has to question the reasoning behind it.

The situation Lord Falderal has created in Afghanistan is rancid. His solution to send in more troops with the goal of pulling them out by July of 2011 is ludicrous at best. The truth is if we pull out without demolishing al Qaeda first, they will take over and become stronger in Afghanistan. Lord Falderal’s strategic thinking with the military is like his thinking with the economy; he doesn’t use the math the rest of us do. In Falderal’s world 1+1=3 somehow, and he will explain how it works. Unfortunately, too many people will believe him!

The reason we don’t hear about the War in Afghanistan in the press is that it is still not Falderal’s War, it’s still Bush’s War. Back when it really was Bush’s War we heard about it incessantly. Nary a day went by when not all of the national and international media had something to say about the way things were being handled.

For some reason the press has been reluctant to cede over the command of the War to Falderal, in the press anyway. It should be very obvious why this phenomenon is occurring. Unlike most of the voting public who are going through buyer’s remorse with Falderal, the media apparently doesn’t want to let go. They would prefer not to label Afghanistan as Falderal’s War. It just doesn’t fit into their ideology and they fear being the ones to call anything he does a failure. They are still holding onto Health Care for fuck’s sake!

So, as crazy as Patrick Kennedy may be, his passion is appreciated and he is ultimately right. This country needs to get back to the basics that matter: protection of our way of life, decent foreign relations, and a sound infrastructure. We have none of that and when the press decides not to cover the issues that relate to those things, as a Republic we tend to forget.







Monday, March 8, 2010

Biden in the Middle East? Where's That 3 Year Vacation When You Need it, Joe?





If you are a formerly popular President who has become somewhat unpopular and need to deal with one of the World’s largest issues, but risk looking even worse than you already do, what is the answer? Well, obviously to send the worst qualified and least ambitious of all politicians to deal with it in your stead.

Lord Falderal has dispatched Gaffemeister Biden to the Middle East to “try to boost Middle East Prospects”. What? Are you kidding me? Guess you should have kept your mouth shut Joe when you said the Vice President doesn’t do anything. You’re screwed now buddy!

Stupid is as stupid does and Falderal has outdone himself this time.

Can anyone honestly imagine Gaffemeister Biden matching wits with someone like Netanyahu who is supremely pissed at the US for ignoring the madman currently in charge of Iran. The fact Ahmadinejad has been screaming on high that 9/11 was a “big fabrication” should give some clue to just how dangerous this dude is and having Gaffemeister Biden involved with anything even remotely close to dealing with such a man is a fool’s errand indeed.

Iran has not been immune to the growing International sentiment that the US has been weakened by the election of Falderal. If anyone thinks that for one minute Iran isn’t developing all kinds of nasty weapons to wreak havoc in the Middle East, they’re crazy. Sanctions and diplomacy are not going to mean spit to development of Tehran’s nuclear program and guys like Netanyahu know it. And, trust me Iran’s nuclear program isn’t going to have anything to do with clean energy!

Israel is well aware of the dangers of Iran and with the United States pussyfooting around whether we would support or allow a strike by Israel, we are not gaining the allies we need to have. Israel was already worried about Falderal’s coddling of the Muslims a long time ago and sending Biden to do his work for him is not going to have a good effect.

Falderal’s policies here at home are bad enough, but his disasters on the International scene are about to become even worse.

I think this gives good insight to the character and substance of Falderal. His administration is sucking bilge water right now and he can’t afford any more heat brought down on him. So, he chooses one of the most poignant and charged International issues to muck up in order to try and save some face. It shows just how out of his league he truly is.

It has been said that Biden’s main job in this visit is to tell Israel not to bomb Iran and to instill in the Israeli people a feeling of confidence that Falderal will ensure their security, but that the US will continue it’s rally for peace. Really? How? How will sending an idiot instill confidence? And, how are the Israeli people supposed to feel secure when the US will not support Israel protecting itself.

The real message Falderal is sending Israel is that he sees Israel as a second-class citizen in the International theatre. He is in essence insulting Israel by sending Biden as his message carrier.

Israel already has a tenuous relationship with Falderal as evidenced by the aforementioned Muslim problem. You may remember that Falderal has made well-publicized visits to Egypt, Saudi Arabia (where he bowed to the King!), and in late March will visit Indonesia. I guess Israel only rates a Biden visit. Falderal also has called for a complete Jewish settlement freeze, which really hurt US-Israeli relations. He has backed off on it a bit, but the damage has been done.

I am not saying Israel should bomb Iran, it would greatly destabilize what is already an unstable situation, but we need to show Israel real support and act more as an partner than some kind of overbearing parent. The United States needs to slow its downward roll towards being a second rate power, but that will never happen if the President keeps lobbing insults at our allies.

The worst part is; Israel isn’t even asking for complete backing of military action yet. What they want now is hard sanctions against Iran. Falderal won’t even give them that. Falderal is worried about sanctions destabilizing the Iranian economy. So? Isn’t that the point? Hit them where it hurts and get them to turn their thinking around. It’s better than a military action.

Sending Gaffemeister Biden is an insult plain and clear, he will not be taken seriously by real leaders. This is a guy who once said in reference to his Vice Presidential qualifications; “I am the most experienced since anybody”. I don’t remember Vice President Anybody, but alrighty then… Biden also gave this quote to a New York Times reporter, “I know as much, or more than Cheney.” Say what you will about Cheney, but I am pretty sure he’s just a tad smarter than Biden!

I do have to admit I would love to be a fly on the wall for this little caper. I imagine the comedy to be endless if not really, really sad.

A member of Falderal’s cabinet once said they wished Falderal could send Biden on a three-year vacation; I bet Joe wishes he would too.


UPDATE: 


Well, Gaffemeister Biden's trip was as predicted a colossal joke. With Israeli headlines such as: "Embarassment", and a cavalcade of snubs and Biden'isms, we once again proved ourselves as a great nation in rapid decline. Nice work Lorad Falderal. How about sending Biden on that vacation now and sparing us further embarrassment.





Wednesday, March 3, 2010

The Obama Religion





Man, I am pissed off about our so-called President, and I know it shows. I’ve lost at least one Facebook friend that I know of because of it and there may be others. And, a good portion of my regular retinue of friends and family feel I am unduly obsessed with hating on Lord Falderal.

Yes, I am obsessed and I need to tell everyone why.

The last year has been a real struggle trying to figure out what it is about this guy that has gotten to my core. There have been politicians at all levels that I have recoiled from and cursed to the bowels of Hell many, many times in my life, but this feeling is epic. I can’t get it out of my mind. At first, I thought maybe I have finally snapped and having too much time on my hands to reflect on his continued syllabus of foibles am internalizing more than in the past.

Then I found a way to help me understand it.

Religion and faith.

I am not a religious guy by any stretch of the imagination. I am a Congregationalist, just for show. I got married once and had to join the Church I wanted the ceremony to take place in. It wasn’t hard as it was my hometown Church I had been involved with all my life, I just had never joined.

I do have a spiritual leader but only by happenstance. I didn’t seek him out he just came into my life. His life experience has been hard and time tested, which is why I call him my spiritual leader. I trust in him not really as a man of the cloth, but as a man in full. This person and I speak rarely; usually when someone in the family is being married or buried, but that doesn’t matter, the advice and knowledge I have gotten from him over the years is more than helpful. My point is that I get religion on its face. I completely understand why people are so ardent about it.

It wasn’t always that way though. Basically, I grew up thinking the Catholic Church was the real root of all evil and shunned learning about any of its tenants and teachings. My only exposure was the occasional wedding or funeral where I would count on someone to tell me when to kneel, sit, say the Lord’s Prayer, tip the Usher, or whatever.

Then I got the case of a lifetime.

I am the former owner of a Private Detective agency. In my career, I was fortunate to get some truly outrageous cases that I was nowhere near qualified to handle, but I took them, did my best and the results were usually good.

One day I was called upon by a New England Archdiocese (name & cases withheld for what should be obvious reasons) to help investigate a few wayward Priests. I was shocked they wanted my firm, and to this day have no idea who referred us.

Fortunately, there weren’t any child/priest situations (had there been I would have solved each one with my Glock, a dark alley, and no witnesses), they were cases involving Priests who couldn’t keep their quills out of the Congregation’s inkwell. In fact, not only were they sleeping with the wives of the faithful, they were bilking them for all they were worth as well as the Archdiocese itself.

At first I treated the client as I would any other. I approached the cases with the same set of rules as always. The job of a PI is to get the truth, not to tell the client what they want to hear or manufacture situations that never occurred. They were paying me a ton of money, way too obscene to impart here, and I was committed to doing the best I could and expected my staff to do the same. That thinking was a mistake.

I had the cream of the crop on my staff; former military guys, ex-cops, computer experts, extremely tough and smart people. They also all happened to be religious with the majority consisting of practicing Catholics.

Very quickly I learned just how important religion is. I had PI’s I thought could handle anything refuse to work on these cases because they could not deal with the idea of modern day Charlatan priests. They just didn’t want to know. I had one guy crack during surveillance, this gigantic, former Marine broke down after witnessing a Priest follow his paramour into her car port, remove his collar and partake in a little afternoon delight. This was after she bought him a new high def flat screen for his quarters at the rectory. He told me the abuse of power was too much to handle and his faith was being torn out from under him right before his eyes.

I thought he was nuts, until I looked into his eyes and saw the pain.

That is the pain I am feeling right now for our country, and even more so for my friends. I value my friends and family more than anything on this Earth. You can take my money, my possessions, anything but my friends and family. I have more respect for them than I do myself, and most of them are diametrically opposed to my political views. It is the memories created by these people that are the essence of my life.

And, they were duped. They were duped by a modern day Charlatan that doesn’t wear a collar, but flits about the world with a TelePrompTer and an arsenal of unobtainable hopes and dreams to sell. That sell job has shaken the faith of many of my friends who believed the crap Lord Falderal was slinging and is still slinging.

Like a bad Priest, he manipulated, took captive and raped the very intellect and goodness that allowed these people to believe his outrageous claims. The powerful and dangerous rhetoric was so well placed, and so well orchestrated it superseded any semblance of common sense to these folks. It created a religious zeal. I have never blamed the people who voted for Falderal; I get why they did it, I blame him and the people behind his assent.

I can honestly say most of my Obama supporting friends regret their choice. There are the few holding out for what would have to be a miracle to change this guy’s fortunes, but I believe it is out of stubbornness, or just unabashed hatred of Republicans and the former Bush administration.

My religion is the United States of America, where at one time anyone could be anything they wanted. Hope wasn’t just a buzzword; it was a way of life. Where the industry of regular people made up the majesty of the country. Our greatness was once predicated on our own individual efforts to make the country work. Now, it is a shambles because of the arrogance and lies of this person making a mockery of the Office of President.

This is why I am angry. It is not Falderal’s job to dictate, it is his job to serve us. It is not his job to push through legislation the country doesn’t want so he can preserve his legacy in the History books. It is not his job to traipse around the globe apologizing for our past actions; it is his job to represent his country with the pride and love of a true American. It is not Falderal’s job to be experimenting with Socialism and acting as a de facto dictator. It is his job to be bipartisan and play well with others in both parties and give the people what they want, not what he wants.

And, although this may seem petty, I believe it provides a good metaphor for how Falderal envisions himself. Falderal is a guest at the White House and like a guest at any home he should treat it with respect and a modicum of decorum. Seeing press shots of him with his feet up on the desk given to Rutherford Hayes by Queen Victoria makes my blood boil, likewise his habit of not wearing his jacket in the Oval. I know I seem like a tight ass here, but these are the kinds of things that cheapen the Office of President.



This is not about partisanship. I wish so badly that it was. I would have been more than happy to be arguing with my friends and family over age-old differences between R’s and D’s for the next four years rather than trying to make them see we are facing the demise of what was once a great country. We can no longer intellectualize politics and government like we used to. Now we are in real danger and have to do something about it.

If even the most liberal of liberals in the Continental Congress knew what this country was going through, they would be spinning in their graves.

My faith in this Government is completely shaken, but not my faith in the people of this nation.






http://blogofirreverence.blogspot.com/2010/01/revolution-yes-we-can.html