Unhealthy and Uneducated and for the GOP

As the Republican thieves continue driving wheelbarrows of cash out of the American treasury (and wherever the borrowed money comes from), fewer people have opportunities for good education or health care. That's just the way of the market, right?

Well, let's follow that to a logical conclusion. If the only way one can get health care for oneself and one's family (because one can't get a good job of one's lack of a good education) is to join the military, then get in line!

Cannon fodder typically comes from the ranks of the uneducated, and "Leave No Child a Dime" is delivering more and more undereducated Americans to the recruiting offices.

I, for one, would prefer a healthy, educated America. I think they would make better workers, and more thoughtful voters.

Vets, We Appreciate Your Pointless Sacrifice

When Republicans get power, it seems that one of their priorities is Meaningless Emotional Gestures. To wit: the "Defense of Marriage Act" and Ronald Reagan National Airport. Protecting Us from Them is a given, so keeping gay couples down is a softball pitch. Naming Rights also come with power, and the yahoos have had at it with a vengeance. I will never refer to National Airport as anything but its original name.

The kicker came yesterday as I drove on "Vietnam and Gulf War Veterans Memorial Highway" in New Hampshire. Now that's Supporting Our Troops! Even though both (now all three) adventures were dubious, it's important to make some sort of Statement to assuage the ambivalence felt about them. "And it's one, two, three, what are we fighting for?"

Other than transferring borrowed money to "Loyal Bushies" and continuing to frighten the soft headed electorate, I don't know what the unfortunate sons and daughters are doing over there. Well, now that we've been there for longer than World War II, the main objective seems to be "Not Losing." It might be easier if someone could define Victory.

Rallying behind the Pointless Sacrifice is difficult when the people start asking "Why." That's where Naming Rights come in!

Fujimori's Fate for Cheney & Bush?

They brought Alberto Fujimori back from Chile to face charges of human rights abuses and corruption. Hmmm. Let's think, warrentless wiretapping? Check. Chargeless detentions? Check.

We also have no-bid inflated contracts given to Republican loyalists (regardless of qualifications, many just "two guys and a laptop" shops) and the largest going to a company that continued payments to the Vice President after he took office and the administration began an invasion and occupation. (Halliburton's stock price has gone from $6.50 to over $40 in the last five years. No connection, I'm sure.)

It gives me hope. There's no real chance for their prosecution before they leave office, but maybe after!

End the Republican Occupation of Washington

Maybe not a "Permanent Democratic Majority," a la the "Permanent Republican Majority" that Karl Rove had in mind (we need some loonies around to remind us what silly ideas they can come up with--and keep us from getting silly, ourselves). I am talking about a fairly clean sweep, though. I know there are "safe seats" gerrymandered around the country, most egregiously in Texas, so there's no real risk of getting all 435 and 33 next year, but still...

Then, maybe, there can be action in addition to hearings. Let's prosecute!

Vacation: A Clarified Definition

We recently returned from a "vacation." Actually, it was a trip to a far away place to celebrate a graduation. We stayed in a resort. There was a bit of time to play. It was not, however, a vacation.

I posit a clarification to the definition of vacation. A vacation cannot include anything mandatory, however "fun." If there is any expectation or obligation, that day, at least, cannot be counted as a vacation day.

Maybe it is too much to ask, but someday I'd like to do nothing significant. Let me rise, eat, play, nap, eat, and sleep.

Could Somebody Please Tell Me Again Why I Should "Support Our Troops"?

There never was a more rhetorically unassailable phrase. Of course we don't wish the volunteers ill; nevertheless, I have difficulty understanding how the ribbons and unceasing chant mean anything more than a validation of their mission and actions. And I can't do that.

It would be political suicide to question this evil turn of phrase, but that doesn't mean it should be forbidden to mention how pampered this gang (for whom the bar for enlistment continues to be lowered) has become.

"Some front-line units continue to operate out of spartan outposts where a hot meal is a luxury and flush toilets unknown. But growing numbers of troops live on giant installations complete with Wal-Mart-style post exchanges, movie theaters, swimming pools, gyms, fast-food eateries (Subway, Burger King, Cinnabon) and vast chow halls offering fresh-baked pies and multiple flavors of ice cream. Troops increasingly live in dorm-style quarters (called "chews," for "containerized housing units") complete with TVs, mini-refrigerators, air conditioning/heating units and other luxuries unimaginable to previous generations of GIs."

So when the administration begs for more borrowed money to "Support Our Troops" in the manner to which they have become accustomed, it may strike some as a bit disingenuous that the implication is that all the money is being spent to protect them. Well, a pointless and unnecessary "war" (in truth nothing more than invasion and occupation, complicated by a pandemonium of armed thugs intent on resistance and fratricide) is rather difficult to explain. The logic must be, by necessity as fluid as a bag of Jello®, and so it is.

Tell me, why are they there? Are we each getting our $4,000+ annually for their actions? I hope they're enjoying their perks, it sounds like more opportunities for fun than I have! Your tax dollars at work.

That's enough.

Leave No Defense Contractor Behind

I know now that I should have thrown all the little money I had into defense and oil stocks after the coup of 2000. Look at the new budget for validation.

RIP Molly Ivins

With this I mourn Molly Ivins.

The world has few enough smart people, and far too few of them come from Texas.

When my brain finally started growing in, her words helped me come to terms with politics.

Why her? Why Ann Richards? Why the good and not the evil?

Howl at the moon. Mourn the sharp-witted and brilliant.

In an age when and country where the President sounds like "Mater" from Pixar's "Cars" and the smart men he "defeated" sound like college professors, we needed brave voices like Molly's. Who will stand up and be the next H. L. Mencken heir?

Time

"And then one day you'll find
Ten years have gone behind you.
No one told you when to run,
You missed the starting gun.
So you run and you run to catch up with the sun, but it's sinking.
Racing around to come up behind you again.
The sun is the same in a relative way, but you're older.
Shorter of breath, and one day closer to death."

Roger Waters/Pink Floyd said that in 1973, and it resonates with me today. But it's 20 years, or more.

Where the FUCK did the time go? How the FUCK did I get here? Why the FUCK didn't I ... ?

Where's Chris Doty?

"Nobody said it was going to be fun. At least nobody said it to me."
- Richard (The Big Chill)

Washington Chess

Has anyone else made the connection between John Negroponte's move to #2 at State and Dick Cheney's forthcoming resignation?

Here's what I expect to happen:
1. Dark Lord Cheney resigns for "health reasons."
2. Bush preemptively pardons him.
3. Condi moves to VP, the third Bush "impeachment-protection Vice President" (including Quayle).
4. Negroponte gets Secretary of State.

Watch for it before too much longer.

Forks in the Road

Maybe it's because I'm sitting here at age 45 watching the kids in the tub, but while watching "The Devil Wears Prada" (with frequent pauses to deal with assorted domestic crises) this New Years Evening I had another epiphany regarding how things might be different. If I'd had the vision to follow my bliss to RIT and avoid being sent to Mount Vernon Nazarene College I might be shooting fashion in Paris instead. Or had I come back from Japan and sent a blind letter to the Smithsonian HR office... But either of those would have resulted in three fewer marriages and four fewer children. Hmmm.