January 9, 2005 – Happy New Year – Let Us Begin.
I have been at a loss about what to Rant about since the New Year. Do I Rant with empathy for those who have suffered as they faced the uncontrollable rage of Mother Nature? Do I Rant at the continuing incompetence of the Bush Administration, and his cabinet of yes men and women who sing in a continuing chorus of common voices, dissension not to be heard? Do I Rant against the Christian Right, who seem more than happy to take my tax dollars to support their agenda, but not at all willing to consider that in return for paying my taxes, I get some say in my government. Or, do I Rant at the American people for being, in general, so damn stupid and lazy that they have put us in this mess we are in right now. Happy 2005. Let the Ranting begin.
w TSUNAMI CENTRAL, AKA HOW OUT OF TOUCH IS THIS ADMINISTRATION? How easy would it have been for this Administration to say, “we have looked at the initial images after this disaster, we are assessing the damages, and how we can help, and we are initially committing to get the money wheels of relief rolling, with more coming once we better understand the scope of the problem. Then, once we better understand what is needed and how we can best help, we will work with the rest of the international community, hand in hand, to show that mother nature’s power can be met and overcome by the goodwill and hard work of man and nations.” First, isn’t that basically what we were going to do? And second, I sometimes think that folks in the Bush Administration are either smoking crack or drinking Jesus Juice, because nothing else explains why they say or do the things they do. The President is MIA on his Crawford, Texas ranch playing Texas Ranger for the holidays, and now, we are shucking and jiving as fast as we can to make up for his and his minions’ failure to understand other people’s suffering. Big surprise: a bunch of privileged men, living privileged lives, not having sensitivity others’ suffering.
w GEORGE BUSH – I NEVER HEARD AN OPPOSING OPINION . . . WELL, I NEVER HEARD ONE: Anyone else concerned that an already isolated President who does not read the newspaper is going to be further removed from whatever bit of reality this man of privilege/pretend Texas Ranger has within his grasp will be lost by his clear intent to filter out any dissent from his daily dialogue. Please, someone, anyone, wake this guy up and let him know that decisions made in a vacuum are not decisions, they are affirmations of unchallenged opinions, unchallenged. An opinion not challenged does not mean you are right, it just means that no one has the balls to question you. It means you are surrounded by either sheep or cowards. What kind of leader is only comfortable leading sheep or cowards? Ours. Just ask Colin Powell.
w I HAVE GIVEN ONCE, TWICE, NOW I AM GETTING ANNOYED: As if we don’t feel guilty enough for the blessings we have, now we have all Tsunami coverage all the time. Everyone now seems to be jumping in on the act if giving as if it part of some required reading. Radio stations, TV stations, movie stars, sport stars, even Kobe Bryant have gotten into the act. Don’t get me wrong, I am glad the folks in need are getting money, but this whole disaster has turned into one big PR opportunity for those in need of some sort of image reclamation. And, God help you if you do not give. Those of us who give because it is the right thing to do, are being asked to give and give again, and at some point you wonder, hey, what about the Sudan, the African AIDs crisis . . . There is no doubt about it, these folks need help, a lot of help. But, there is going to come a time when we are going to be weary of this, and want to move on to something else. This all Tsunami all the time guilt is going to get a little too much for some of us to take. We have short attention spans here. Get all of the money now, because 80% of us in the US will not have the empathy to give again come 6 months from now.
w CHRISTIE TODD WITTMAN: she just wrote a book “ It’s my Party Too” – talking about how the Republican Party belongs to the moderates as well as the far right. Well Christie, let me tell you something – you are wrong. By the way, where the hell were you for the past four years. Perhaps you should have spoken up once or twice while the party was being hijacked by the far right and we would not be in the mess we are in right now. I have an idea; maybe you will form a third party – those who do not look to God or political correctness to form policy decisions. We will call it the people’s party, and we will actually try to follow the constitution and all it its amendments when we administer the laws. We will govern from the middle, and we will be inclusive. And we will never win a seat in any governing body because no one will ever fund a single campaign because we will not scream loud enough or pimp ourselves hard enough to get elected.
w GO ARNOLD GO, GO ARNOLD GO: Arnold Schwarzenegger, after a year of playing nice with the right and left in Sacramento, has finally dropped the other shoe, and proposed radical state reforms. He has challenged lawmakers to curb spending, reform pensions, overhaul the prison system, change the way teacher’s are paid, and overturn the most basic building blocks of California's political system. Schwarzenegger made it clear that he is prepared to go to the people to do what the Legislature will not. "The people of California demand reform . . . That is what the recall election was all about. That is what the ballot process is about. And that is what this special session is all about. . . . If we here in this chamber don't work together to reform the government, the people will rise up and reform it themselves. And I will join them. And I will fight by their side." Schwarzenegger is finally trying to take on some of the most powerful interests in state politics, and it is about time someone spoke for the people: All I can say is GO ARNOLD GO. GO ARNOLD GO.
w IT’S ONLY PAYOLA IF IT’S MUSIC, NOT PUBLIC POLICY. Will someone, please call a special prosecutor on the shenanigans going on in the White House’s mismanagement of our tax dollars. Most recent embarrassment, news that the Education Department paid conservative, black, commentator Armstrong Williams $241,000 to help promote President Bush’s No Child Left Behind law. The money was funneled through the Ketchum, Inc. public relations firm. Williams (a onetime aide to Justice Clarence Thomas) produced and aired a commercial on his syndicated television and radio shows featuring Education Secretary Roderick R. Paige, touted Bush's education policy, and urged other programs to interview Paige. He did not disclose the contract when talking about the law during cable television appearances or writing about it in his syndicated newspaper column. In short, he did not disclose that he was on the government’s payroll, and the government was complicit in this. How is this any different from the whole payola scandal that engulfed the music industry when radio stations were given bribes to play certain songs. And, this is not an isolated incident. The Education Department already had paid Ketchum $700,000 for, among other things, to produce a video release on the law that was used by some television stations as if it were real news. How is this not a bribe?
w FOX, HENHOUSE, AND VOTES: Can we please have non-partisan election officials managing our state elections? Republican or Democrat, it does not matter, I just find it a little disingenuous for us to be tying to impose free and fair elections on other countries when it is clear that we cannot do it at home. Ohio, a highly contested state in the past election, was rife with apparent partisanship, and the actions of that State’s Secretary of State only made matters worse. Ohio, where there have been many, documented complaints about voting irregularities and where many believe that had all of the votes cast actually been counted, Kerry would have won. Ohio, where its Republican Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell boasted of helping “deliver” the state for President Bush and said he was “truly pleased” to announce Bush had won Ohio even before all of the state’s votes had been counted and described Senator Kerry as a “disaster” who would have reaped “terrible” and “horrible” results on both Ohio and the United States. Yeah, we can trust these results. Democracy in Iraq. Let us first get it right in Ohio.
w It is nice to know that everything that is old is new again. Hey, if it worked in El Salvador, it might just work in Iraq. I think I am going to be sick. Things have gotten so bad in our “Mission Accomplished” fiasco that we are going become the devil incarnate in order to make things “better.” Call them terrorists, call them insurgents, call them freedom fighters, call them whatever you want as long as we find a way to destroy them. The solution under consideration: return to simpler times of Ronald Regan and El Salvador, and use U.S. government funded or supported forces that hunt down and kill rebel leaders and sympathizers (along with many innocent civilians). The US Government is considering sending Special Forces teams to advise, support and possibly train Iraqi squads to target and kill those we cannot control. Nice to know this is how you win the hearts and minds; by becoming the very thing you hate. That this option is even being considered should make everyone ill.
So there you have it, the first Rant of 2005. There is just too much to Rant about to focus on one issue. Alberto Gonzales, Donald Rumsfeld, Social Security Reform, Tax Reform, and a host of other issues did not even make this cut. Unfortunately, I fear that we will all have much to say these next coming months. Happy New Year