Archive for November, 2009

IMAGINE

Monday, November 30th, 2009

First, in the interest of full disclosure, I am writing my weekly “Sunday” column, on Wednesday, anticipating the time constraints of the next four or five days.  That being said, Thanksgiving will have already passed, so here are a few of the things plan to take note of, thankfully, on Thursday.

Without question, family and friends.  There is arguably nothing more important in life than the good health and happiness of those we hold dear.  With a 13, 12 and 4-year old, I’m more than aware of the blessing of healthy kids.  I also will give thanks for another year of general safety within the country.  In the wake of the Ft. Hood disaster, it is no longer possible to say we haven’t had a terrorist attack on our soil since 9/11, but we haven’t had one of the magnitude of 9/11, and for that I’m thankful.

My gratitude this year however, was, and is, tainted by the distant stench of ineptitude.  It’s not as distant as I’d like it to be, either, and depending on the wind, it sometimes feels very close.  The almost daily missives from Washington, D.C. leave some of us feeling as though we’re stuck in a bad Twilight Zone episode.  The kind of cavalier attitude regarding the events in Ft. Hood, followed, just days later, by the stunning announcement that some 9/11 terrorists will be tried in New York City.  This, followed, just days later, by the announcement that some navy Seals will be tried on assault charges stemming from an arrest incident. Then, the “don’t bother getting a mammogram until you’re 50″  announcement, just as people are wondering about diminished care being a highlight of the new health care bill.  Some bedside manner, huh?

Sometimes I ask my kids, “are you TRYING to piss me off?”  This is how about half of the country, including myself, feel about the Obama administration right now.  A delayed response to the needs of our troops in Afghanistan, on the other hand, fervent pursuit of passage of the health care bill, even including 100 million dollar pay-offs when necessary, in broad daylight.
Misplaced attention, while the economy continues to tank, on pet projects of the majority party, and absent any meaningful dialogue with the other side on concessions or opposing ideas.

For me, it’s easy to remember why we are fooling ourselves in this vain attempt to demonstrate our “fairness” to the rest of the world.  While our judicial system may be the envy of the world, it is at times equally laughable, for instance, it’s inability to convict O.J. Simpson in spite of evidence that was beyond overwhelming.  The world must laugh at us, then, as we parse our legal language down to such tiny snippets that “justice” is little more than a bumper sticker.  I watched a member of the terrorist defense team argue that 3,000 people weren’t murdered on 9/11, and besides, it was less than that.

Then, I imagine a mother and her daughters leaving Boston on an airliner.  She’s getting out books for the kids, or I-Pods and settling in for the beginning of a vacation, or a trip to see relatives.  Somewhere else, her husband is at work, imagining them on the plane, and smiling.  Or maybe a husband, leaving on business, and thinking of his family at home, already anticipating the end of his trip, and wishing he was on his flight home.

Then, at the FAA Center in Nashua, something odd occurs.  They lose radio contact with the aircraft.  First, it causes no great concern, but after several attempts, it gains the attention of managers and senior controllers.  Something is wrong.  In what will seem like the blink of en eye, they will have their answer, and it is a heartbreaking one.

Back on the plane, something odd has happened and their is some chaos near the cockpit.  The mother tries to divert the children’s attention.  Sadly, in the blink of an eye, they, too, will know that something has gone horribly wrong.  In just a short time, those innocent people, and just under 3,000 like them, will endure a brief, and horribly violent death.  A merciless death, preceded by, in the case of the passengers, an ample amount of time to understand the gravity of the situation, and ample amount of time to be completely terrified.  You know you’re about to die.  You think of your loved ones.

It sucks to think about it, doesn’t it?  It hurts to think about it.  But more of us need to, in deference to those who died, we owe them that, and to remind ourselves of the enemy we are facing here.

Trials?  Juries?  Defense lawyers paid for by tax dollars?  An almost assured multi-year event costing tens of millions of dollars, which in the end will have been the trial of America, not the terrorists.  And Europe will snicker, as they should, along with the rest of the world as they watch our self-absorbed, narcissistic attempt to demonstrate “justice” to the rest of the world.  You know…Chris Mathews may have a chill running up his leg…I’ve got one running up my spine.

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CHINA ROSE

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

Before you order eggrolls or get out your exotic plant book, let me explain.  I’m not writing about my favorite Chinese restaurant or picking a name from an Asian escort service, I’m talking “rose” as in the past tense of “rise”.  China “rose” and continues to rise like the creature from the black lagoon.  How far we have come from the days when the very phrase “Made in China” prompted snickers and the immediate assumption  that the product would be defective, break almost immediately, or both.

If you can measure the breadth of a man’s gratitude by the depth of his bow, then our President is deeply grateful to the Chinese.  Hey, I guess we better be.  They own us.  Watching Obama traipse around the Chinese landscape, visit the Great Wall, address students and grovel before leaders, leaves little doubt how tenuous our relationship is.  I take some relief in noting that they did not force him to pay with gold nuggets, a vague indication that they still hold some faith in our currency, but one must wonder how much longer it can go on, and what kind of poo-poo platter awaits us if our economy continues to tank.

It’s interesting, on one hand, China’s meteoric rise as a world power.  I remember Senator McCain, during the early days of his presidential campaign, warning a crowd of Town Hall groupies here in New Hampshire that China was now the second country ever to have aircraft carriers. Up until then there had only been one.  Us.  They were building them in herds, and the equipment is state-of-the-art.  Indeed they have just unveiled a new fighter jet that is said to be dropping jaws in military circles the world over.  We have been swooning over our latest strike fighter, the F-22 Raptor, an absolutely incredible machine to be sure, but now, to be taking second-billing to China…well, that’s a little unsettling.

They are an interesting culture, committed to and invested in education, the way we once were in this country.  They are growing in leaps and bounds, are technologically marvelous in many ways, and yet in other ways, remain as industrially insipid as they ever were.  They shipped hundreds of thousands of sheets of defective sheetrock to our country, most of which went to New Orleans.  It is rich in sulfur and smells like rotten eggs, it oxidizes and corrodes wiring and plumbing, and sadly, most of it has been used in the rebuilding effort in Katrina-ravaged areas.

Remember the poison pet food?  I mean…when you can’t get a dog food recipe right…and then there was the lead paint on toys that they were shipping over here.  We’ve become conditioned to watch for kids eating windowsills, so I missed it completely when my son ate the Monopoly board.  You’ve got to sleep with one eye open around Chinese products.  Hallmark had to recall thousands of “Snow Globes”, the delightful glass orbs that you shake to create a little snowstorm inside…they were defective…made in China…and they refracted light like a magnifying glass and “caught nearby objects on fire”.  Happy Holidays from China.

Maybe the occasional junk-product is a ruse, to throw us off guard, or perhaps they are just nostalgic for their old ways.  More likely, they know what we know and enjoy seeing us quake in their presence, like Paulie Walnuts dropping of a “light” envelope to Tony Soprano.  Look…it’s not like they lent us money on the sly, the whole world has seen the ledger.  Further still, it’s not like they did it to us.  We did it to ourselves.  Administration after administration, from both parties, spending like Michael Jackson at F.A.O. Schwartz.  Expanding government, corruption, waste that transcends comprehension…where did we think this would lead?

Obama may want to spend a few extra days there enjoying some pork-on-a-stick, because he’s get a Hellstorm waiting for him back here, as his now-stuttering Attorney General Eric Holder continues, unsuccessfully, to explain to the American people the reasoning behind his decision to try our 9/11 pal, “Shake and Bake”, in New York City.  One thing for sure about the tempestuous relationship between the United States and China, the old “Golden Rule” applies.  He who has the gold…makes the rules.

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DANCING WITH THE STARS

Sunday, November 15th, 2009

The Limbo.  The Charleston and the Jitterbug.  Dips and swirls, pirouettes and tangos.  Oh…I never tire of it, entertainment as pure as honey.  Wait…I may have confused you.  You’re probably thinking of that popular dancing show.  Celebrities and the occasional politician-gone-awry…think Tom Delay in tight red pants, displaying their dance floor prowess.  In that case, you would have to chain me to my LazyBoy and anchor my feet in concrete.  I don’t even channel-surf near those waters.

I’m talking about the other dancers.  The liberal intelligentsia dancing around those dreaded words while trying to discuss the tragic event at Ft. Hood in Texas.  Most of us know the characters and scenario by heart now, nonetheless, an Army psychiatrist, Nidal Hasan, opened fire on unarmed comrades killing just over a dozen, many more still critical, and within hours of the massacre we learn that the good doctor had a long paper and electronic trail of red flags.  A long record of hostile remarks to fellow servicemen and women, efforts to contact Al Quada, constant complaining about the United States.  Even witnesses who report he chanted “Allah!” as he opened fire.

Still, even our own President could not bring himself to call the act what it so clearly was.  Terrorism.  Muslim terrorism…Radical Islamist Terrorism.  Take your pick.  It is what it is.  The conversation, given the obvious shortcomings of the response by Army brass who clearly knew this guy was imbalanced, at least, should be revolving around the new game of Politically Correct Roulette which is sweeping the nation.  Really, folks…how long are we going to ride this train?  Are we going over the cliff like Thelma and Louise, or might we seize this moment as the bucket of ice water over the head that it should be?

Indeed, President Obama, selective in his use of ethics as he has always been, urged us not to “rush to judgment”.  We should use the same measured approach he used in, say…the Cambridge Police incident.  You remember…Sgt. James Crowley responded to a report of a burglary, approached a man who had been seen rifling the door, who turned out to be the elite Harvard Professor Henry Gates.  Henry got mouthy, out came the cuffs, and the rest is, literally, history.  We all remember the caution Obama used in that situation, saying the Cambridge Police Department had “acted stupidly”.  This, from the man who would “bring us together” with “hope and change”.

Yet, the Holy Grail of dance steps came last Wednesday night when Bill O’Reilly questioned his guest, Sally Quinn, famed Washington Post columnist, about her take on the Ft. Hood slayings.  O’Reilly walked her through it, Hasan’s history of open disdain for this country, in spite of our military having provided him with an education and career.  His attempts to contact Al Quada, his writings, speeches, a litany of facts leading any sane person to one conclusion.  This guy is a terrorist and the act itself was clearly terrorism, rooted in the Islamic belief that we are infidels and that causing our death is a ticket to the Great Beyond.  It took O’Reilly a full six minutes to get Sally to put those words together…”Muslim Terrorist”.  You could almost see her physically gagging on the words, the poor thing.

I found myself laughing, and even O’Reilly and Quinn herself ended with a smile, each knowing the lunacy of what just happened, and everyone knowing that Sally didn’t really mean it.  I’ll bet dollars-to-donuts she was in a rest room washing her mouth out with soap as soon as she got her microphone and wire untangled.

But the episode said it all.  Sally was, for six minutes, the liberal poster-child of political correctness, head-in-the-sand analysis, and demonstrated in stark terms how very divided this country is.  You know, you just can’t argue with someone who refuses to stay on the logic trail.  It’s impossible.  I was laughing, watching O’Reilly become increasingly amazed at Sally’s tenacity.  It really was a stunning few moments.  It was also frightening in its own way.  These are the people “leading” the country.  These are the people who will be hijacking our health care system, and…gulp…managing it.

Mr. Bojangles would have been proud of Sally, and I would sooner have Mr. Bojangles in the White House right now.  Sally did have, as the liberal, elevated thinkers all do, that rather dismissive tone with O’Reilly.   Look…they’re smarter than all of us “regular folks”, us Tea Party crazies and Town Hall rednecks.  They love making fun of us, it’s sport now.  All of us wackos who think a guy who is screaming “Allah” while he guns down unarmed Americans is somehow an Islamic Terrorist.

On the other hand, all of us idiots have managed to pay the bills and fight the wars for this country for the last 200 years or so, and we’ll probably be doing it for the next 200 as well.  No wonder we’re too tired to dance.

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FOLLOW THE LEADER

Monday, November 9th, 2009

It’s a bit of conspicuous statement.  Follow the leader.  It implies that anyone with a following is a leader, or that anyone you’re following is a leader.  Lemmings prove this to be a falsehood, as do party-loyalists who refuse to think on their own even in the face of the most damning evidence that one’s philosophy is flawed.  This is not a phenomenon unique to democrats, both sides of the aisle have their sycophants.  Blind allegiance is certainly more pronounced now than it has been in a long time, though.

President Obama is tireless in the pursuit of his pet legislative projects.  The campaign to pass government-run health care has been stunning in its breadth and magnitude.  Indecisive on matters military, seemingly oblivious to our worsening economy, completely silent on cultural issues such as the demise of the traditional family structure, rampant violence, and a child pornography business that yields tens of billions of dollars a year in business, Obama is myopic, focused on the passage of a massive health care reform bill that half of the country does not want.

Indeed, the Queen of Vapidity herself, the reptilian Nancy Pelosi, scheduled a Congressional vote for, of all days, Saturday.  I imagine the shades will be drawn and all of the lights will be out, too.  In a perfect world, they could vote it in without informing the public at all.  Yes, that would be the same public that will be paying for this 1.2 trillion dollar, 2,000 page, disaster.

I wish I had a buck for every time I have heard the President and his Jonestown-like followers lament the awful stain on America, that not every single person, citizen or not, has health insurance.  I think our wanton disregard for the treatment of children in this country is a much bigger black-eye, as well as our increasingly violent youth.  Even Europe…yes, Europe, agrees with that.  Somehow, though, those issues get left on the bench, game after game after game.

Then again, to pause and reconsider, or to decide that the country can’t afford this right now, or to insist that our elected leaders who will vote on this historically expensive legislation actually…gulp…read the bill, well…that kind  of bold decision would require leadership.  Anyone paying attention would have noticed long ago, and many of us did, Obama’s inordinate number of “present” votes during his brief tenure in the Senate.  This, more than anything else, made me question his leadership abilities early on.  Frankly, I can’t imagine why there is even a “present” button to be pressed.  I would think two buttons, a “yes” and a “no”, would suffice.

Leadership is like parenting, in many ways, and imagine parenting your kids this way.  “Dad, someone offered me a cigarette at school today.”  “Well, son, let’s just say I’m ‘present’ “  Our President has issues, and one of them is an almost paralyzing fear of making any decision that would offend his “base”, or a past donor, or an old friend from Chicago.  Could there be any other reason for his waffling on the Afghanistan decision?   Haven’t we learned to let the Generals dictate strategy?  Can he not imagine the agony of our military, waiting for support, or absent support, to come home and end that war?  It is insulting that a Saturday vote is scheduled, not for an important military decision, but for a health care bill that practically nobody wants, absolutely nobody can explain or understand, and I haven’t met anyone yet who wants to pay for it, or their kids and grandkids to pay for it.

And you know, it’s no wonder we don’t recognize leadership anymore, there is so little of it.  We barely seem to miss it, in fact, or perhaps have given up on the notion of great leaders inhabiting the Oval Office.  Just a few years ago we saw true leadership in action, when Senator McCain, to the horror of most of his republican counterparts, demanded that the troop surge be implemented in Iraq.  Republicans ran in the other direction, mortified, that while the entire country had simply had it with the Iraq war,  McCain would call for increasing troops.  He called Rumsfeld the worst Secretary of Defense in the history of the country.  And yet, that is leadership.  He put his political career on the train tracks, because it was more important to do what was best for the country, in his opinion, at that time.  I always smirk at political hacks who only go after corruption on the other side of the aisle.  McCain, like Palin, is an equal-opportunity reformer.  This is as it should be, and it lends credibility to their resume.

I believe fully, as well, had the country not made the inexplicable choice, in the 2000 election, of George Bush over John McCain, that we would not have gone to war in Iraq.  McCain has seen the spoils of war, up close and personal.  I don’t believe he would have engaged Iraq with an under-equipped military and a half-hearted effort with no exit-strategy.  He may have engaged, but I believe it would have been a much different action, much more swift and effective, and most importantly, shorter.  We spent four years there treading water, at an incalculable cost in blood and treasure.  Now, we are repeating that history, as we pontificate over the suggestions of the Generals charged with winning the battle.  Either give it everything we’ve got, give these brave young men and women everything they need, and more, or get out.

Again, leadership is required here.  I am astonished at the tunnel-vision that this administration incorporates.  Much more interested in social engineering and income re-distribution than in making any difficult decisions, especially those that rock the base boat, this President seems increasingly in over his head.  Change?  I never thought I would say it, but that actually seems like a good idea…now.

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THE NEW NORMAL

Sunday, November 1st, 2009

Increasingly I am reading reports that seem to be trying to give us the “easy let-down” regarding our economic recovery.  Not surprising to many of us pragmatists who have noticed that there really isn’t anything going on in this country that would inspire an economic recovery.  A trillion dollar bail out didn’t seem to help…well…help middle-class Americans, I mean.  It helped repay lobbyists and their businesses that helped elect our President, but it never seeped down below that top layer, did it?  We are losing our edge in every market, foreclosures continue to mount, so there is no rebound for the construction industry, the tech industry is stagnant, and I can’t imagine what it is that is supposed to be the watering can that sprouts the seeds of economic growth.

Republicans were nearly as effective at over-spending under President Bush, but he did have the wild card of 9/11 that carried a price tag that we will never be able to tally accurately.  That dreadful day carried a heavy fiscal price tag, though, and Bush can’t be blamed for that.  Still, in recent history, it has become the primary function of both parties in the federal government to spend like loons, and pass the cost on to whichever generation has any money left to pay for it.

What is unique to our current administration is their inimitable expertise with word play, their obsession with, and belief in, their own intellect, and an undying belief that the rest of us can be fooled as simply as the old tap on the left shoulder from the right side of your prank victim.  Nowhere is this more evident than with the new phrase being bandied about in a variety of print stories bracing us for the cold reality that many of us have known is coming.

“The jobs are not coming back as quickly as we thought they would.  In fact, many of the jobs will not be back at all.  What used to be middle-class will become poverty-level.  People will have to make lifestyle changes…”  Like what?  A second husband so we can have three-income families?  What’s best is the description that has been applied to this forthcoming “lifestyle adjustment” that working Americans can expect.  It’s being called, the “new normal”.

Golly.  How come I never thought of this?  Kind of a universal lowering of the bar.  When you can’t fix it, just adjust what is “normal”.  It’s as brilliant as it is perverse.  “Sorry about backing into your car.  That’s not a dent, though, its just the new normal.”  I’m thinking of the countless times in my life when I unnecessarily held myself accountable for mistakes or poor performance, or any other transgression for that matter.  “It’s not that I’m late for work every day, sir, it’s just the new normal.”  Sure, you worked hard, sacrificed, watched your money, and other people’s mistakes are now your responsibility.  You were so good at holding yourself accountable for your own mistakes, and paying for them, that we thought you’d like to do it for everyone else, too.  Citizen or not, by the way.  We feel its important for everyone to have health care, whether or not they work, are citizens, spend their money on drugs and alcohol…whatever.  You need to give more of your paycheck to them.  Don’t worry…you’ll get used to your “new normal”.

And what happens to the “old normal” when we get a new one?  Who gets it, or does it go to the “old normal” junkyard?  Also, isn’t adjusting “normal” kind of a Catch-22?  I mean…it’s not normal anymore if you change it, right?  The word itself indicates a benchmark.  You can’t just move the benchmark, because…well…because it’s a benchmark, stupid.  “Normal” is where we measure from, not to.  If we place “normal” on a sliding scale, then, in reality, there is no normal.

These are questions sure to cause headaches, but they are worth asking.  Afterall, it is increasingly clear that our “progressive” administration, the ones who put the “czar” in bizarre, are all about changing “normal”.  Indeed, mocking and disparaging “normal” Americans is one of their favorite past times.  They don’t like “normal”…it’s not progressive enough.

I will close by asking all of you who plan on getting rid of your current “normal” and getting the “new normal”, to please keep the old one in your garage for a while.  I have a feeling, it’s going to appreciate in value and that there will soon be many people pining for the old normal and willing to pay dearly for it.  Not only is the old normal going to appreciate, we’re going to miss appreciating it.

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