Totally Irrelevant Matters

Usually when I can’t think of something to write about, I play a couple of games of Spider Solitaire, and something floats to the surface.  Today the surface is so congested with stuff that has floated up that so far I can’t pick one of them out.

Bill is watching the Giants v. Cincinnati game, hoping the Giants finally get their act together, but not with too much hope.  I don’t have to worry about what to have for dinner since Bill found a half a frozen BBQ chicken in the freezer, so that has thawed nicely.

We had a great day yesterday visiting with family.  We had a surprise visit from my niece and her husband, both absolute sweethearts, who, on finding it was Bill’s B-day, stopped in Santa Maria and bought and brought a flat of fabulous strawberries.  We shared with everyone who was here, and still have some left for us.  Where we were having our picnic the “no see ‘ums” were out, and they attacked my ear, so had to take off my earrings because they made my ear lobe itch like mad.  I am highly allergic to those little tiny gnats, and they seem to enjoy that. 

(Nothing has surfaced yet!)

Tried to watch the news because I thought I would get fired up about what is going on in the world, but all I got was disgusted, and it is such a gorgeous day (even without rain) I didn’t want to write about that.  Although the next time I hear some talking head compare the left and right in Congress as both being obstructionists I may throw my shoe at the TV.  Again.  They are Crocs so not a whole lot of danger to the TV, but it makes me feel better.

So far, nothing has surfaced, and the game is on, so this is truly a short, and “other totally irrelevant matter”. 

See you all next week.

A no-CARB Diet

(For my blog readers, I had major computer problems last week, up until Thursday evening when someone who knows computers helped me straighten it out.)

As anyone who knows me knows that controlling my weight has always been a concern for me.  For a long time I had a refrigerator magnet that said, “Ewe’s not fat, ewe’s fluffy”, with a picture of a ewe.  So, after this past week or so I have gone back to a mantra I used during the first decade of this century, using my body diet concerns for the body politic landscape of this country.  And that is, a no-CARB diet.

Why the capital letters?  They stand for Cheney, Ashcroft, Rumsfeld, Bush – CARB.  And all of the people who go with them – Condoleeza Rice, Paul Wolfowitz, and the rest of the empty calories that can cause so much damage to the body politic.  I truly wish I could use the past tense when talking about the damage to the body politic, but the CARBs have surfaced again. 

For our country alone they have caused so much anguish and heartache with their 19^th century robber-baron economic policies.  No taxes on the wealthy and wealthy corporations; allowing people and corporations to hide their assets overseas to avoid paying taxes on them; sending jobs overseas to countries with no unions for their workers in order to maximize profits for the corporations, profits which are then hidden in overseas banks; still working to gut our social safety nets that people not just want but desperately need like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP food stamps; trying to either get rid of completely or privatize every government service they can think of, including the Post Office.  And the heirs of the CARBs refusing to cooperate with President Obama to actually help everyday working Americans with government programs such as repairing our failing infrastructures, like bridges and roads.

These CARBS and empty calories lied us into a war with Afghanistan and Iraq on the contention that the Afghanis were the cause of the terror attacks on 9/11.  Completely ignored was the knowledge, known as a fact, that the terrorists on those airplanes on 9/11 were Saudi Arabians!!  But since the Bush family was and are friends of the Saudi family, since they are all ‘oilys’ together, we had to attack some other country.  So we chose a country still living for a good part in the 15^th century with our 21^st century military!  What bravery on the part of the CARBS.  Then to get the Iraq oil, lied us into a war with Iraq which has cost over 4,000 American lives, nearly 100,000 Iraqi lives, 35-40,000 Americans horribly wounded, and costing this country billions of dollars, but gaining Halliburton some 700 million dollars in profits - a corporation that Cheney is closely associated with.

Now the CARBS and empty calories have surfaced again to try to get President Obama and this country to once again militarily go back into Iraq.  What absolute gall!!  Everyone who could think knew what would happen when we left Iraq.  With our stupid policies in Iraq while were still there, we aggravated ancient antagonisms between Sunni and Shia Moslems.  So know they think we can go back in and smooth things over?  And why is the media even giving them one minute of time? 

Instead, in my opinion, we should all read very carefully the book by Vincent Bugliosi, famed Prosecutor, The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder.  This book lays out in a very logical and legal manner why W. should be prosecuted for the deaths of so many people, Americans, Afghanis, and Iraqis and also for the crime of war profiteering.  When we send some poor schumck to prison for the possession of a few ounces of marijuana and let someone who has caused so much death and destruction to so many simply because he was president is criminal in itself.  In my opinion, all of the CARBS and empty calories ought to be put on trial for war crimes against humanity, and/or for war profiteering.

 

 

 

Test

This is a test to see if I have access to this blog.

Ideologues? Where? Everywhere!

After Newt Gingrich began preaching that the way to defeat Democrats was to denigrate them every time one needed to mention a Democrat, Democratic policies, or anything Democrat or Democratic, the vitriol and inability for Congress to do anything constructive has gotten worse and worse.  On July 13, 2011, as reported in ThinkProgress, Gingrich made the following comment:

 

“I believe we’re in the biggest crisis since the 1850s. You look at the spiritual collapse of America, you look at the social collapse of the American family, you look at all the problems we have economically, you look at the collapse of our governmental institutions, you look at our inability to control our own border, you look at the rise of China. And you have a Secretary of Defense who’s living in la-la land. I’ve known Leon Panetta for a long time. He is a nice man. But if he thinks we’re winning over al Qaeda, what I’m really frightened of is he may actually believe it. I mean, 10 years after 9/11 — I’m going to give some speeches on this in August — we’re in worse shape today than we were 10 years ago.” 

This is probably one of the most gentle of Gingrich’s comments about a Democrat.  To the radical conservative right, maligning, vilifying and degrading liberals, progressives, Democrats, or anyone caught talking to a person from the left was the name of the game. See Ann Coulter’s book, “If you have to talk to a liberal” as an example. At the same time, there have been innumerable whines from the right about how terribly Democrats talk about Republicans.  All one has to do is watch Fox News, and the constant excoriating of the left goes strong 24/7. 

It has gotten to the point now that every time the Republicans insist that President Obama is derelict in not doing something, and then he does it, they immediately freak out and begin all sorts of crazy-thinking verbal attacks.  This because President Obama is a Democrat, but also black.  I’m never sure which the right-wingers dislike more!  About equal, probably.  Witness the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, which the righties were screaming for last month, and then when it happened, they screamed that it was the wrong thing to do.  No thought, no analysis, only ‘group-think’. 

“A won because he is a registered Republican who was completely backed by the local Republican establishment. B is registered DTS (Decline to State or Independent), so he had no party backing. The Republicans have a 5% lead in party registrations in X County and quite frankly Republicans are very faithful to their party. Notice that 5% is exactly the gap between A and B. It is unfortunate that A chose to make this a partisan campaign (why would anyone think that a Republican would make a better DA than an Independent or a Democrat), but it was a smart move. He also knew that most loyal Republicans would overlook his ethical lapses.” 

So imagine my surprise when someone who is known to be a liberal, and an effective thinker, posted the above on Facebook.  I have changed the names of the candidates to A and B, and referred to our county as X.  Now it is true that many Republicans supported A, but so did many Democrats.  Some Republicans undoubtedly supported B.  And, the local Democratic Party put candidate B’s name on their circulars that were mailed out.  Now I have had lunch with both A and B and found them to be dedicated and very effective at what they do.  What disturbed me about the posting is the assumption that all Republicans are exactly alike, and therefore any Democrat who voted for A approved of an alleged ethical violation, even though if A had chosen to pursue it, so did B have one.   

When I was in office one of my strongest supporters on social justice issues was a Republican.  And earlier this year a very good friend of mine died who was a staunch Republican.  We all still liked each other.  In my family someone supported candidate B while I supported A.  So, I’m supposed to throw that person out of the house because she voted for someone that I didn’t?  I don’t think so.  As a matter of fact, we had a great 45 minute conversation this morning.  I don’t think she had an ethical lapse, nor does she think I did.  We simply believed that our candidate was the best for the job.  I think this is called democracy. 

Ideologues can be anywhere and everywhere.