[Today’s run: 1 mile, with the dog, in rain and wind from Tropical Depression Lee]
I have been paying too much attention to politics recently and it kind of has me down. I thought I would afflict readers of my blog in the hope that maybe that would offload some of my miff (lucky you!).
1. I generally vote Republican. That isn’t because I like R better than D, but I do like Abe Lincoln better than Stephen Douglas or Jefferson Davis. I like Richard Nixon better than Stephen Douglas or Jefferson Davis. I think the worst president we’ve had in my lifetime was Lyndon Johnson. People will tell me that Republicans today are only the rich people. Cool. I wouldn’t mind being rich. Do you think there is cause and effect somehow involved?
2. I kind of liked George W. Bush. I didn’t like everything he did, but generally I enjoyed his style. I liked his 2nd Inaugural Address, about how we would help people who are trying to move toward Democracy. I’m not a military hawk, but I like the idea that we help where we can. I didn’t like the Medicare expansion with Ted Kennedy and I’m not too thrilled with No Child Left Behind. Anything GWB did with Ted Kennedy was probably a mistake, in general. But Ted Kennedy is dead so he doesn’t care.
2a. I don’t like the TSA or the Department of Homeland Security. I’m not upset about the Iraq war or the Afganistan war. I am not much upset about waterboarding, although I think it was necessary because we otherwise weren’t paying enough attention. I think the best defence on airplanes has been passengers who kept their eyes open and weren’t afraid to point out suspicious behavior or even beat up a fellow passenger if their country needed it.
3. I kind of like Barrack Obama, sort of. He seems like a nice guy, has a nice family and he doesn’t appear to run around on his wife. That is more than we can say for the previous Democratic administration. Unfortunately, he spent all of his adult life telling people how to “speak truth to power” against “the man”. Now he is “the man” and I don’t think he knows. I don’t like his stance toward Israel. I don’t think the cabinet officers he selected are much good at being real people. They excel at being bureaucrats, really good at that. So we have a lot of new rules now because it is easier to make rules than it is to come to an agreement in congress and pass a law. But both put real people in the hurt-box. And rules are unpredictable, so the businessmen are all aflutter and not doing business. I would rate Barrack Obama above Lyndon Johnson as a president, but they have similar faults.
3a. The presidents in my lifetime so far have been: Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama. The best of the Democrats have been Clinton and Kennedy. Carter and Obama are good men but poor presidents. On the Republican side the best have been Reagan, Bush(2), Ford, Bush(1) with Nixon maybe in the rear, something like that. So how come only philanderers make good Democrats? I think it is a sense-of-humour thing. The moral Democrats are the worst presidents. The Democrats who are looking for a “legacy” are seriously bad.
4. I like the idea of a flatter tax structure with fewer deductions. GE doesn’t pay any corporate tax because they can hire the best tax dodger experts to get them the breaks. Same with Warren Buffet. I just have Turbo Tax. It would be ok with me f I didn’t have to buy Turbo Tax. Warren B. says, “Tax me more.” The jerk, he speaks with forked tongue. One side tells his accountant to get the most tax breaks, the other side says “tax me more”.
5. I don’t hold out a lot of hope for early retirement. But that’s ok because I don’t really work that hard now. I really need to find a part time job, but with 16% unemployment I would feel kind of guilty about having more than one (and a little consulting on the side.. I know Linux, have your people call my people…)
6. I like that we now all agree the Second Amendment said that people have the right to keep and bare arms. A big thanks to Clarence Thomas for that. Somehow it seems wrong to be thankful that the Supreme Court learned how to read.
7. I think that most journalists are really good at local news. Problem is that there isn’t any glamour or money in local news. After you get above the city/county level, I think most journalists are the same as the rest of us: overwhelmed with conflicting information, so go with what your “gut” says. And most journalists have liberal/Democrat guts.
8. Shareholders and Directors of corporations can buy whatever political advertisements they like. I think they are stupid if they try to get too funny about it because they have direct competition who can show what jerks they are if that ever becomes necessary. See above about GE not paying taxes.
9. Attempts at civilizing the Internet or the Movie Industry or Rap Music or whatever other non-civil part of our civilization you find most offensive are doomed. Maybe swearing and cussing and curousing were once limited to those who either loaded ships or sailed them (I doubt!), but now you are doing well to keep your own eyes and tongue under control. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to admonish folks if you think it will help. But making it a law or rule (see above) is a bad idea. I wouldn’t mind if there was a $20 fine for spitting on the sidewalk or swearing at children. But if it’s not going to be enforced then I would rather not make a mockery of our collective impotence.
10. I like being an American. Even more than that, I like being from the Midwest and West, and now living in the South. I like my region, that it doesn’t have to be the same as Boston/Seattle/New York/Washington/Chicago/Los Angeles/San Francisco or where ever else the latest cool place is. If Sarah Palin has a good thing going it is mostly because she is from Alaska. If she were from Cleveland it probably wouldn’t be so interesting.
11. I think that Ross Perot is finally getting his revenge, politics wise. He was right about a few things and wrong about quite a few. But maybe the Tea Party has finally cracked the regular cabal. And that doesn’t bother me at all. In some ways Obama was a cabal cracker too. So everyone is out to crack the cabal. Notice how everybody says they are going to “change Washington” in order to get elected? Big hint there.
12. I would like to be able to invite everyone in as an immigrant. Unfortunately, it seems that a lot of folks just want to stay awhile then go “home”. If that is the case then they should not be upset if things are tight here and we ask them to go “home”. If this is “home” then fine, wade through the paperwork and make it real. I don’t complain about getting a ticket if I drive 75 in a 70 zone, the sign is right there. If you aren’t interested in following our rules than you aren’t interested in being here. I think that having everyone who is born in the USA be automatically a US citizen is a mistake. If I were born on a ship at sea would I be a fish?
13. And speaking of being born, I think everyone deserves to be born. I know some folks don’t make it that far, but that is not a cause for celebration. Some women want to be able to have unlimited abortions. I don’t want to pay for that, and I don’t want to celebrate that. Some cats have lots of kittens and the owners put them in a sack and throw the sack in a lake. It is sad, not a party. Those women are hurting themselves just as surely as if they were drinking or doing drugs. It may take awhile but the effects are real. God sees every sparrow that falls (dies), so I’m pretty sure He knows about the kittens and the babies. It is a great loss that good people are stopped before they arrive. Can we at least be sad about it?
14. And speaking of cats: cats are not people. People are more important than cats. Even people not yet born or people too old to remember when they were born. Even people who otherwise are not nice or can’t get along with everyone else. Any one of those people is more important than any cat. If Hitler needed lunch and the only thing available was a cat sandwich then I’m for Hitler eating the cat, or the spotted owl or whatever the critter might be. No need to be cruel to the cat. End of cat, make sandwich. It’s not that hard. People who are cruel to animals are bad people. That doesn’t make them lesser than the animals, it means they aren’t doing enough in the humanity department.
15. Finally, marriage. You can marry anyone of the opposite sex who will have you, and is of marriageable age, not already married, etc. etc.. If you can’t find anyone that fits the description then you are out of luck. Maybe you should look a little harder. Sexual preference is preference, preference means I’d rather have apple pie than peach pie. It doesn’t mean I deserve pie. Getting society’s big A-OK on your desires is not a right. Sorry. It doesn’t work that way for 13 year-olds or for people already married, or for anybody else come to think of it. You have to deal with the range of options as they are given to you. If your pursuit of happiness takes you beyond those bounds then you will have to deal with whatever consequences come your way, and I sure don’t think it ought to be tax breaks and white tuxes. And if you do find someone who will have you, count your blessings and be good.
If you made it this far, thanks. I feel better. Here is the pancake picture that I didn’t use before:
