Rant time. I take a few weeks off, turn it all off, tune it all out, take a deep breath and let it go....go ...go kayak...go see my brother...go surf...check in on what really matters to me...and BLAM, if it aint one thing, it's your mother...so much going on...so much to talk about...big things, Samford, Iran, Supreme Court, etc., little things (like Billy Maes dying)...I gotta rant...gotta do it....shit coming off my chest in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.....
So like I said, I checked out for vacation...went to Charleston (total coincidence) for 10 days prior to the Samford wierdness and all that ensued...which brings me to Mark Samford.
The GOP somehow supports this douchebag and is subtly shifting the debate to why Samford should be forgiven, using religion as a shield this time instead of a sword...NOT SO FAST...not so fast....FINE. I'll forgive him if you, the GOP, say once and for all, written in stone like Moses's tablets, that: Politicians' private lives are less important than their job performance...ALWAYS...it's off the table; The GOP strategy of hounding Bill Clinton on personal and character attacks was wrong, the news outlets who perpetuated that propaganda were wrong and the lemmings who lapped it up and became drunk and rabid on the hate on which it was based were misled...by you...misled by the GOP for years into thinking personal attacks were more important than policy. IF they will agree on a rule, admit they previously broke that rule and that the product of their breaking that rule was misleading a majority of Americans, then I'll forgive Samford for being a sanctimonious, self-righteous hypocrite who can't walk his own talk.
Is anyone else already sick of the Michael Jackson death circus? Look, props to the King of Pop, royalty among many, villain to some. But this thing is just getting started. Custody fights. Will contests. LaToya. Lawyers galore....what important news will be drown in the fever pitched spittle drenched stream of nonsense flying from Nancy Grace's mouth on "Headline News"? ugh.
The Supreme Court: reverse discrimination? Who cares...that case is likely to become a fact specific interpretation, soon to be addressed legislatively. What is WAY MORE INTERESTING, IMHO, is the case addressing a political action committee's power to run attack ads within 30 days of an election in violation of McCain/Feingold. Is it okay for well funded corporations to pick sides politically and use their considerable resources to create slick, polished attack ads to influence an election? It is precisely such Shenanigans that brought us George Bush and precisely the tactic the GOP wants available in the future. WANNA SEE A REAL ACTIVIST JUDGE? Just watch the conservative majority slowly turn an artificial legal construct, like a corporation, into a quasi-person, with all the Constitutional rights and protections of real humans, like you and me, but with less and less of the personal responsibility and accountability we are expected to exercise. Consistently the conservative judges expand the rights of corporations while limiting their accountability to humans. A corporation, which exists only because of a law and a piece of paper, has more rights than you. Next time you hear a Republican using the term "activist judge" to impugn a democrat who stands up for the rights of real people under the Constitution, flesh and blood Hu-Mons, just remember that the Conservative majority is playing Dr. Frankenstein in their little uber-capitalist laboratory. What could possibly go wrong?
Healthcare: Great topical segue considering how related the GOP's failed experiment with "unbridled, unregulated capitalism" is to the reason WHY WE NEED PUBLIC HEALTHCARE. If there is one lesson to be had from the past eight years, it is that business cannot always be trusted to provide the answer. When business was left to provide the answer, business was corrupted by greed....corrupted to the point that it nearly toppled our economy...do we truly comprehend what that really means? It means unregulated capitalism became so corrupt that it posed a national security threat...a security threat that required an unprecedented governmental response in the form of massive cash infusions. Right or wrong, we had no choice but to spend. If healthcare is similarly left to the free market to dictate its availability, the same inherent greed and corruption that nearly collapsed our economy will ultimately create another national security threat...the threat posed by an aging, ailing and angry populace. Business can't be left to provide the answer, because business will strangle us for profit. Our government, which exists by us, of us and for us, should be far more trustworthy. Government has a role. A big role. Think of healthcare as a return on your tax investment.
Farah Fawcett...sigh...in many ways, she was my first girlfriend. I was like ten or eleven when I bought THE poster, which adorned my walls each of the next seven years...I guess I miss her, which reminds me of someone else I miss...Farrah's poster sat right next to another poster I had for a long time...a poster of Uncle Sam...I guess I miss him, too....
Firefighters being promoted to Lieutenant and Captain? Look, these heroes do an heroic job, but IMHO, they escape scrutiny way too much because of their first responder status. But I've got a little gripe with all the cops and hose toters out there and this "reverse discrimination" case is all the excuse I need. Captains and Lieutenants...why are your overtime costs so goddam high, why are your budgets bloating? Since when does a firefighter make nearly six figures a year to work 4 days a week, 3.9 of which are typically spent polishing the truck, lifting weights and playing ping pong? At a time when government spending is such an issue, why can't you get more efficient and effective? I don't mean to pick only on cops and firefighters....really, this practice of overtime abuse is rampant throughout fed/state/local government .... I merely figure that if someone can bring it up with this group, then addressing the others can only be easier. Or maybe one of them will realize its their patriotic duty not to abuse the taxpayer and start fixing it before we have to. You do an honorable job, now bring honor to your job.
Iran: Should Obama do more? As a former soldier and long time student of Middle Eastern history and politics, I say the speech he gave in Cairo, preceding the Iranian election by days, was pitch perfect and on point...the result....the Iranian electorate felt emboldened to seek change, itself....consider all we've seen in Iran over the past four weeks and then consider that it has all come about organically, without bludgeoning anyone with our freedom hammer. In Iran there now exists an open dialogue about "freedom"...what it means, for men, women, children...democracy by example...that is good foreign policy.
To those inciting war, I say STFU. If you truly believe in freedom and democracy, then you should believe the Mullahs will never be able to get this toothpaste back in the tube. Any military intervention will ruin this movement and further entrench the anti-western radicals....great recipe for another unnecessary war and the needless destruction of another ancient culture. Two other foreign policy recommendations would cement change in the Middle East: 1) Get Israel to stop building settlements; 2) ask a Muslim ally like Saudi Arabia, Dubai or the UAE, to state whether democracy is compatible with a church run state? The first issue is beat to death. The second issue furthers the internal dialogue within Muslim countries as to whether democracy can exist in a society controlled by religious leaders, many of whom have radical anti-western views....oil is not a good enough reason to ignore the fact that Saudi, Dubai and the UAE are, in many respects, as guilty of radical religious and anti-American extremism as Iran and the Taliban. Ultimately, this discussion must be had...and it would do U.S. good to revisit the issue domestically, as well, and put to bed once and for all, another cheap piece of GOP political propaganda.
Why does Lindsay Graham always look like he needs to take a crap?
rant off.