Politics As Usual

Here in Massachusetts, we are often forced to witness the ugly workings of cynical politics. Following the death of Ted Kennedy, there was a hue and cry from the local democrats that the world would certainly come to a disastrous end, if we waited until the special election in January to fill Kennedy's seat.


The Democratic Governor Deval Patrick saw the urgency and quickly appointed a party loyalist in an emergency measure to not suffer the 4 months of senatorial vacancy. The argument was that we absolutely needed a special appointee to represent our interests. (Some cynicals opined that Pres. Obama wanted to be assured of a filibuster proof voting bloc just in case the congress was able to get its act together on health care).


Last week we had to watch our most absentee senator in history (Kerry) is wandering around the world trying to upstage Hillery Clinton. How can he be away from his desk during this critical moment? What happened to the emergency? Have they no shame!
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Last night there was a debate among the 4 candidates for Ted Kennedy's seat. The election will be held in January 2010. I was disappointed that all of them assumed that all democratic voters wanted a Ted Kennedy clone in the senate. All the candidates were soft in illegal immigration, very supportive of President Obama's agenda and against the wars.

I actually have to agree with them about the wars. We can never succeed in Afghanistan or Iraq if our mission is to ensure democracy. It cannot happen. Thousands of years of tribal strife will not go away just because we hoisted an American flag over the embassy and installed a leader who seems to pass our leadership test. Our military mission should not be Daddy to the World. The military should not be wasted trying to spread democracy; Bush was right in his assertion that the original mission was accomplished. Afghanistan was purged of Al Quaida; Iraq does not have WMD's. The threat is over. What we are doing now is futile. Bring the troops home.
Just my opinion. Don't shoot me.

Unfuzzy math

I just did the math - $250 times 57 Million. Where $250 is the one-time gift that president Obama is proposing to send each social security recipient in lieu of a cost of living increase, and 57 million is the number of current SS recipients.

The answer is $14 Billion.

As one of those would-be recipients, I am compelled to ask "WTF?"

Much as I like the idea of a lagniappe, there is no logic to support this type of un-necessary government expense on the backs of working folks. $250 can't buy squat. It would make zero difference in my life style, other than incenting me to buy a case of good wine, probably French.

So how does it make sense, when the cost of living (measured by inflation) has actually gone down since last year?

Unless, you think that Obama might see this as a grand scheme to buy 57 million votes in the next election...hmmn.

Wait, I just did another calculation. Me and the missus together would get $500. Now you are talking real money.

But who, ultimately, will pay for this publicity stunt? Hmmn.

Good Idea going Bad?

With all the political blather about health care reform in the news, I remain skeptical that if the thousands of pages of legislative mumbo jumbo will result in a benefit to any tax-paying citizen - much less my family. The idea of helping poor folks get medical treatment at a reasonable cost seems like a good thing, but there must be a simpler way.

Since no one seems to know what the final proposal will say, I feel pretty certain that the result of "reform" will cost me more and reduce the level of service I am getting today.

I fear that the noble objective of "reform" will mutate to appeasement of the many special interests, and once again we will end-up with a costly set of new regulations that no one - including the people who vote on it - understands.

As they say down at the local gas station "If it's broke, and you don't know nuthin' 'bout 'chinery, don't mess with it."

Myth Informed

Pardon me if I am not in the mood to celebrate Columbus Day today. I know what you are thinking: Hey, when you are retired, every day is a holiday. Or, Perhaps you speculate that I am a bit dejected because I had the misfortune of watching losing performances by BOTH the Red Sox and the Patriots yesterday on TV.
While these are indeed valid observations on your part, they are not the reason for my non-celebratory mood. I am bummed-out by too much information.
One of the prevalent myths of my youth was the celebration of the birthday of of a valiant explorer seeking to find an efficient trade route to the East. While the rest of the world thought the world was pancake flat, Christopher Columbus persuaded the royals of Spain to subsidize his crazy idea of heading West to end-up in the East.In 1492, with his trusty ships, The Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria, he left Spain and did not fall off the edge of the Earth. He ended-up in the Caribbean. Thinking he had found the West Indies, he claimed discovery of a New World, called the indigenous peoples "Indians" showed them how to cook turkey in a deep fryer and traded a few beads in exchange for New Amsterdam.
(Ok, I never got good grades in history but I got most of the story right.)
It always seemed like a pretty good story to me. Courageous explorer, hero, visionary. Noble stuff.

But, now we discover that he was not such a nice guy. He was a self-serving tyrant (much like many of my former bosses). He did not prove the world was round since he did not actually find India (so the earth could technically have still been flat). Besides, it turns out that the flat-earth myth was invented in the 19th century by malevolent historians. During Columbus' time, scientists were well-aware that the earth was round. We were never taught that the Columbus agenda included bringing the gift of Christianity to the heathen, and that he subsequently gave the poor natives the most unwanted gift: smallpox (in return, sailors brought a nice little thank-you gift from the New World - syphilis which was hitherto unknown in Spain. You can google all these facts if you want. I find it depressing to learn that this fine hero of my youth was really wrong (and lost) most of the time.

Some modern descendants of the original inhabitants of the New World refuse to acknowledge Columbus as a hero and do not observe his birthday as a holiday. They decry the fact that this should be considered a day for Americans to celebrate. Perhaps I should go to the Casino today to say thank you for giving us New York.

You gotta have Hope

A lot of debate about the Nobel prize going to Obama . Some people think that the award was based on hopes and expectations. I dunno about you, but my hopes have been raised. Perhaps in the next round they'll award the Nobel in literature to someone who has never published anything longer than 800 words.

It could happen.

Ten Four

Some people still stay up late watching TV on Saturday nights hoping to find a laugh or two. Last night on SNL, the opening skit depicted President Obama (Fred Armison) addressing those right wing critics who portray him as an arrogant power monger who is bent on leading the country down the path of Socialism and/or Fascism.
The Armison-Obama character tries to clarify, citing a list of un-fulfilled promises, demonstrating that he has actually had very little impact of the lives of Americans. Closed Gitmo? No. Out of Iraq? No. Health care Reform? Hell no. And so-on. The clip will be viral in the news this week so keep an eye-out.

It is a double-whammy joke because it depicts his critics as hand wringing slippery slope Jeremiahs - and Obama as just another do-nothing politician. Pretty good satire and irony in the same package.

For those who speak twitter, It was LOL funny, but not rolling on the floor funny (ROTFL).

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