I've gone out of my way to keep politics out of this blog, since that's not what the blog's about. Sometimes, though, I have to let off a little steam, mainly because I've become a grumpy old man. I think it's hormonal. When you get old, you lose your testosterone, your hair, your teeth, your . . . never mind. Anyway, if you've read this far, please stop. Go find something entertaining or informative to read.
Today's Gripes:
1. I was a college student throughout the 1960s. I thought the questions about freedom of expression had been pretty much settled. I guess I was wrong.
2. I never thought I'd be living in a country where people who don't even know the definition of "scientific theory" would be driving the debate about what could be taught in biology classes in the public schools.
3. Has any president ever made (or tried to make) more disastrous appointments to important government positions than George W. Bush? This one is only the latest. (And can you imagine what Rush Limbaugh would be saying if Bill Clinton had made this appointment?) I'm sure you remember this one and this one and this one, too. Yet we're supposed to believe that the two men recently appointed to the Supreme Court are absolutely the best-qualfied jurists in the country because of the thoughtful vetting and research that's gone into making the choices. UPDATE: Good grief!
4. Why is it that the people in Congress who scream loudest in demanding accountability for every penny spent on education or programs like Medicare and Medicaid don't give a flying fig about accounting for the the billions of dollars we spend every month in Iraq? You'd think they'd feel a little hypocritical, right?
5. And finally, You damn kids get off my lawn!
5 comments:
And you managed to get through #3 without even mentioning former FEMA Director Michael Brown. Maybe it's just my Canadian perspective but didn't FEMA work better under Clinton's guy James Lee Witt than it did under the appointees of George the Elder or the current version?
1. Sadly, we have to continually fight for our rights, since there are so many who feel their rights do or at least should include the ability to decide what our rights are. Shrub, born into what Lewis Lapham loves to call the Equestrian Class, was a trained to be a tool for those who'd like to hold on to every scrap of their power long before he chose also to be a tool for his particular flavor of Christianity.
2. You've been living in that country since the late '70s, at least, Bill...at least the side of truth is (sort-of) winning...which, of course, just allows those on the Unintelligent Design side of the matter to boost their fundraising for the Keep 'Em Ignorant crusade. Happily, individuals on their side sometimes get cocky enough to confuse themselves with their god, such as Pat "Damn you, Dover!" Robertson.
3. Ronald Reagan leaps to mind. His handlers' agenda has contributed mightily to our government's decline...by replacing large parts of the relatively competent if somewhat hidebound federal agency staffs with a patina of political-appointee supervisors of more easily corrupted/corruptly engaged private contractors (aka Beltway Bandits); KBR and such are hardly a New Development. Meanwhile, of course, allowing the likes of Ollie North to run rampant and encouraging the aforementioned Pat Robertson and his ilk. But, gosh darn it, he was Charming and said There you go again, so he was A Great President. Or Not. His admin has been the Atrocious Example for every admin since, very much including the latter-day Nixonite Clinton's.
4. You would if you didn't realize how much easier it is to get pork and kickbacks from military expenditure, particularly if you claim that a policing problem is a war (gosh, good thing terrorism never existed before 2001, oh for that golden era), than from even the medical/insurance establishment, where Actual Results might actually be demanded by people who vote.
5. A. Go to bed, Old Man!
5. B. But they sold all the parks and the cops keep chasing us out of the malls they built on them...
I think you're right, Todd. What I need is a nice nap.
Also, I understand it's the testosterone that kills the hair...I think I'll take the baldness, given the choice (as the balding I hasn't been, really, but it's worked out).
Re: Brent McKee's comment. Wasn't the head of FEMA under Bush I the former Bush II Chief-of-Staff Andy Card. As I remember, he totally screwed up with Hurricane Andrew. Witt brought FEMA up to one of the most respected agencies in the government and Bush II dropped it back in the toilet.
The heck with the kids; let's put all those bad appointees in your yard. Imagine the story material you could get from these bozos.
Jerry House
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