I Give Up

I give. I finally give up. I don't understand chess and I certainly don't understand politics. I never was a shrewd and savvy player. No wonder I don't understand the nuances of politics. I was sure we were headed for a war in Syria and all of a sudden the Russians (the RUSSIANS!) intervened and Syria volunteered to turn over their chemical weapons. I never saw that coming. 

Whether President Obama knew the Russians were willing to mediate with Syria about averting an American intervention in their civil war, or it was all a wonderful case of serendipity, I don't care. I'm just happy we're not getting involved in another war. 

The maneuver was a brilliant one. It was like watching a chess master tournament. Obama played the war card, one every conservative dearly loves. I bet it broke their greedy little hearts to side against war after all the wars they've led us into over the years and all the millions they have amassed. They wouldn't have hesitated if Romney was president. That is another good reason Romney wasn't elected. Anytime America enters into a war, or conflict in a foreign country our country bleeds money which gets syphoned into weapons and artillery. War is a money maker for the manufacturers of war.

President Obama hasn't been able to do anything to lead this country in a better future without fighting the Republicans every inch of the way. Mr. Obama is not a stupid man. He knows they will oppose everything he supports. They proved that in their relentless attempts to destroy Obamacare. 

I told you I give up. If every other person on the planet wants to call it Obamacare, who am I to disagree although it really is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). 

If we call it Obamacare it will be part of our lexicon and the President will always be remembered as the President who gave all Americans health care, like President Lyndon Johnson is credited with giving us medicare. That will be a wonderful legacy for President Obama. He promised to give every American insurance in memory of his mother who died of cancer and he kept that promise. 

Presidents have tried to pass some form  of universal  healthcare insurance in America as far back as 1936 by Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It took seventy-seven years and the election of a black president to finally get it done. In that one regard we can thank George W. Bush for that because he left the country in a financial meltdown. 

A social tsunami ensued and America voted for a black man, or a mulatto*, if you will, for President of the United States of America for the first time. Caucasians were no longer top dog on the social ladder in America. That gnawed at a lot of conservative and entitled white men and women. The politicians played on the majorities fears and executed a plan to block every move he makes.

President Obama always expressed a desire for bi-partisanship when making executive decisions. He repeatedly tried to reach across the aisle in an attempt to get the Republicans to work with him. He offered concessions that frankly made me furious. He suggested making some cuts in social security and welfare programs. Still, the Republicans wouldn't budge. They wanted all, or nothing. Nothing else would do for them. They tried to back him against the wall and make him look like a lackey, licking their boots and bowing to their wishes. He refused to do so. He has shown amazing stoicism and endurance. 

The President realizes the Republicans are doing everything in their power to make his presidency impotent and irrelevant by obstructing him at every turn. He is a lame duck president and doesn't have to mind him p's and q's anymore. He is calling the Republicans out on their lies and duplicity by using tactics that clearly show their hypocrisy and motives. His attempt to lure Republicans into siding with him to get involved in Syria shows the truth behind that lie. Republicans will never agree with anything the President wants. I don't know if they're more mad because they hate Democrats that much, or they're just galled to have a black man in the White House. 

I saw horrible vitriol from Republicans when President Clinton was in the White House but never as bad as this. The Republicans and Democrats worked together on the country's business. Now Washington is like a class of seventh graders who get in a tiff and refuse to reconcile. They won't agree on anything. Our country is divided and it is becoming shameful and embarrassing to watch the extremists in Washington try to steer our country off a cliff. It is even more frustrating to watch them try to strip Americans of their hard earned rights, the most valuable being their right to vote. 

We are on the precipice of the complete shutdown and defaulting on our debts and the Republicans have been playing the blame game and denying any responsibility for the shutdown although this shutdown originally started because the Republicans wanted to block Obamacare. They are willing to destroy the economy of our nation, nay, the economy of the whole fricking world just to stick it to Obama. They are pretending that they are representing their constituents but in reality are being duplicitous. They want to bring down the government.

World War II veterans descended on the Capitol after the government shutdown that closed most non-essential federal programs in America, demanding their right to cross closed barriers and exercise their rights to view the monuments. Republican congressmen and senators took advantage of the veterans visit for a photo-op and a little speechifying, don't ya' know. Veterans need to wise up and realize the Republicans are not their friend.

The Republicans are the same men who are trying to cut veterans benefits, social security benefits, meals-on-wheels, reduced lunches, food stamps, head start, and other programs our veterans and their families, and the elderly, and disabled, and the poorest among us depend on to live. Why the hell can't they understand that? I'd really like to know. Is it more important to line your own pockets and obey your corporate overlords than to represent those very people that most need real representation in the government? 

I don't know where we're going as a nation and that scares me. I don't know if Obamacare is the final answer. From the things I've been reading about socialized medicine the best healthcare is universal and the most progressive governments use the people's tax money to pay medical costs. They have a tight hand on controlling cost of medicine, doctors, tests, and administration. 

I've read stories of people from other countries who never get a bill when they have to go to the hospital. Wouldn't that be the best system in America? That is even better than the single payer plan where the government only supervises costs but the patients still pay out. Every citizen, no matter what is wrong with them, could see a doctor and be treated when necessary. People wouldn't have to endure illnesses or injuries because they couldn't afford medical care.

The Republicans have quit harping on Obamacare and are now trying to wring some kind of concession out of the Democratic party via the shutdown. I've been hearing rumblings of infighting in the Republican party with some people demanding a holdout until they get what they want, but more levelheaded members of the party trying to get them to capitulate.

I get upset with the president when he implies he is amicable to the opposition and willing to negotiate with America's social security safety net but I'm beginning to believe that the president knows they will never willingly go along with him and his best bet is to let public pressure work to influence the congressmen to behave like representatives, not obstructionists. 

Whatever happens tomorrow will affect everyone in America. If they aren't willing to raise the debt ceiling it will become worse. People have been on furlough, or working without pay, until the standstill is over. I hope they come to their senses tomorrow or the crap will hit the fan. Just when our economy gets going again the clowns in Washington are going to pull the rug out from under us all. The shutdown and a downgrade in the US economy could tilt us back into a deep recession. If this doesn't work, I'm blaming the Republicans. I hope you do, too. Remember this in 2014. I know I will.

Let's hope the Republicans are willing to capitulate and allow the government to reopen like they promised today.

AS ALWAYS

PIO

*mulatto: half white and half black

And So This Is Christmas

It certainly is a strange Christmas season. Scout decorated the house outside with lights but we haven't done a thing inside. Not anything. Scout has some little mice Moma helped him make pinned to a egg carton. Moma's the crafty one who has always encouraged my son's creative side. We haven't even gotten our little Christmas tree out to put them on. I've been sick for a couple of weeks and haven't felt like doing anything.

It's very hard to get into the spirit of Christmas and the joy of the season after the tragedy at Shady Hook in Newtown, Connecticut last week. It brings home the importance of loving your children and family, and holding them close, and telling them you love them because, for some people, it may be the last chance you get to tell them. It only takes one selfish person with a gun, or one driver who is out of control, to turn your life upside down. 

It has been so painful to hear about the lives of the women and children lost in this senseless tragedy that I have avoided listening to the news as much as possible. I still get plenty of information anyway. I am sick of the tragedies that happen across this country because of the lack of gun control. I am tired of the murders of innocent people who are gunned down because some deranged gunman decides to exact revenge against people who have done them no harm. 

We need to do more to make sure that mentally ill people have access to mental healthcare before they decide to do something awful. It's too late after the fact. I read that Ronald Reagan cut back mental health funding in the '80's and that is why there aren't enough programs in place for people to turn to when they have a friend or relative who is exhibiting antisocial behavior. 

It's ironic that Reagan would cut funding to mental health in light of the fact that in 1981 he was targeted by a mentally ill gunman who tried to kill him. He and James Brady, Reagan's press secretary, were shot during the attack, Brady critically. In 1993 President Clinton signed the Brady Handgun Violence Act which required a background check by the FBI before purchasing handguns. The Brady Act expired in 2004 and, because of strong lobbying of the National Rifle Association it has never been revised again. The lobbyists have too much control over Senators and Congressmen to ever allow it to see the light of day.

In light of the slaughter of 20 little kids, you'd think that everybody would be in favor of more control of assault weapons. Instead, I have read people defending the weapons, and all guns, since the terrorist attack at Sandy Hook School. 

I've decided to call them what they are, terrorists. They may be insane. They may be desperate. But they are still terrorists. The country is being terrorized by evil people with guns. When is it going to stop? How are we going to stop it? How many more lives are going to have to be lost in deadly rampages before the American people rise up and demand change?

The Mayan calendar predicted a new era. Many people predicted the end of the world. I enjoyed playing along with the fantasy but, like everything that is hyped, it proved to be a bust and the world is still here. Thank God. Maybe the new era can be a time for change and growth. Maybe the new era marked by the Mayan calendar will usher in a new age of peace and compassion for our fellow man. Maybe, just maybe, people will wake up and start caring more about people than their precious right to own a gun.

I'm not anti-gun. I don't believe the government needs to confiscate every weapon in the country. Someday I want to buy a titanium handgun. I saw one years ago and really liked it. But that still doesn't absolve the testosterone driven ego that thinks being a man means having a bigger and more powerful gun than everybody else. No man needs, or should have an assault weapon. If you want to get your kicks with high powered weapons why don't you man up and join the army? Or, if you can't handle that, why don't you apply to the police academy and become a police officer? Channel that he-man drive to wield a weapon in a productive way.

The Second Amendment states: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."    

I'd say the closest thing we have to "a well regulated Militia" is the National Guard which is supposed to protect America from within her borders. It implies that the Militia must be "well regulated". That, to me, sounds like they have to have regular meetings and exercises designed to respond to any threat the State may encounter. I've never seen a bunch of men get together and practice military skills in my neighborhood. Have you? I've never seen people get together as civilians and use their weapons to prepare for invaders. Have you?

The right to have a weapon has long been established in this country. When I was growing up boys would go squirrel hunting with shotguns. Nobody thought a thing about it. They had relatives who taught them gun safety and how to hunt, but there weren't any bloody attacks on people during that age.

It is a different world today. Most men have never touched a gun, much less own one. They wouldn't even dream of hunting. I'm not discounting the men who hunt. I'm just saying most men today don't hunt. They don't use guns. The world has changed. 

Hunting doesn't bother me. Hunting and killing people, does.

My father and grandfather used to hunt. They owned shotguns and rifles. Nobody I know owns an assault weapon though. There is a difference. If you are a real hunter, you don't need an AR15 or any other weapon that holds thirty rounds. You certainly don't belong in the woods with a weapon like that. 

I hope the tragedy in Sandy Hook was not in vain. I hope the people will demand the Brady Act be reinstated so that everyone has to go through personal background checks. I hope gun manufacturers feel the pressure of their customers and the government and they quit making and selling the macho-man guns that have turned up in so many tragic shootings. I hope we wake up before it is too late. Sadly, it is too late for too many people.

In closing I'd like to say, I have met many people in my life and honestly, I wouldn't want most of them to have a gun. People are not as bright as they think they are. They certainly don't need to be armed and dangerous.

Maybe God will give us reason this holiday season. I sure hope so.

AS ALWAYS

PIO