Evil Incarnate

Have you ever felt like the world was imploding around you?  I sometimes wonder.  We've had our share of evil bubbling to the surface of late.  Fortunately at least some of it gets it's due.

It goes to show, too, evil isn't always connected to gun crimes though, to a degree, Jody Arius is. It was minor, perhaps, considering the 30 stab wounds and slit throat that went along with the bullet in the head.

Look at what has been happening most recently.  We have the Tsarnaev brothers of Boston Marathon infamy.  One has met his maker.  We'll see after what will be a long, protracted process, what happens to the other.  Meanwhile the survivors will get on with their lives as best they can.

Then we have the jury still deliberating over Kermit Gosnell, the Philadelphia abortion doctor.  The stories that have come out of that trial make me sick, literally, sick.  One can hope the jury seeks the proper degree of justice for his heinous actions.

On top of all that we have three young women liberated from more than ten years of horror at the hand of Ariel Castro, a sexual sadist beyond imagination.  How will they ever put it behind them?

It would seem men aren't the only monsters who have either gotten away with murder or expected to.  In my mind the jury got it wrong with both Amanda Knox and Casey Anthony.  What combination of mind altering substances brings about behavior such as theirs?

Then there is Jody.  What kind of woman texts a reporter to set up an interview while waiting for her verdict to be read?  Woman heck.  Person.  Period. She's slick, that one.  Her demeanor was as cold as ice.  I'd have been a raving maniac had I just received a guilty verdict to first degree murder as would the people I know.

I've known a person like her though.  Fortunately, as far as I know, that person didn't vent rage as Jody did.  But the manipulation was there.  Cold, calculating, frightening.  There can be something about people like Jody that causes others to not only be drawn to them but also bound to them.  It can become a love hate relationship where you end up despising yourself for your weakness yet not being able to disentangle yourself from the relationship.

I was lucky.  I finally had the opportunity to walk away from it.  I didn't walk, I ran. At times I still find myself looking over my shoulder what's more eyeing every person I meet with a degree of caution.  It's a reason why I'm leery of Facebook among other things. I don't let very many get very close.

It's not the best way to go through life, but proceeding with caution is preferable to suffering the fate of a Travis Alexander.

The news about these people reminds us evil abounds in any manner of guises.  I'm glad I lead a quiet and relatively inconspicuous life.  It makes the five acres I'm about to mow and my nondescript song birds look like heaven - without having to die to enjoy it!

Celebrity And Politics Don't Mix

One thing I took from the Benghazi hearings is that Hillary Clinton wasn't paying necessary attention to her job. Oh, sure, she racked up more air miles than any of her predecessors but what did she actually accomplish?

 Just as bad if not worse seems to be that the President didn't much care.  While the men in Benghazi were fighting for their lives he was in bed.

Then came the ludicrous story about the You Tube video which both the President and Hillary claimed as the reason for the attacks.  According to the witnesses at yesterday's hearings, both knew better.  In essence they lied to the American people but since neither was under oath, so be it.

Now you can argue that the witnesses were no more than mal contents.  Many of you will, especially those of you who feel the President and Hillary can do no wrong.  I disagree.

Both, I believe, have achieved their status due to celebrity, not ability. The voters seem to be content with it.  Consider everyone who has the slightest possibility of running for higher office in 2014 or 16 is working on their own celebrity status.  It amazes me how we embrace celebrity.

Look at Mark Sanford regaining his old House seat.  An adulterer and a liar.  Anthony wanting to run for Mayor of New York.  I'm not sure exactly how one categorizes a man who tweets photos of his underwear covered privates other than shameless.  I have other words for it, but I doubt anyone cares.

Back to the ones who have already achieved high office.  The compliant media ignored the Benghazi story as much as they could to  successfully protect Obama during the election season. Now they are doing the same in anticipation of Hillary's run.

There are just too many verifiable reports of intimidation, too many rewrites, too much righteous indignation for me to believe these witnesses are lying.  Their careers have already been altered. What is left for them to gain?

Will Hillary succeed in fooling some of the people all of the time?  I expect so.  I just hope she and her machine don't succeed in fooling all of the people.  When you listen to former diplomats and military personnel who have actually participated in government tell what could and should have been it becomes apparent what happens when you have celebrity rather than experience at the helm.

When the Secretary of Defense states the forces who were trained and exist to combat situations like Benghazi couldn't be put in harms way I wonder what they are supposed to do. When the Secretary of State asks "What difference does it make now" I wonder why she doesn't understand it makes every bit as much difference as it did the day it happened.

Who do I want to answer the phone at 3:00 a.m.  The people didn't want Hillary last go 'round.  I hope they don't want her this time either because she likely won't.  They wanted Obama.  They got him and he didn't.

I want someone who cares more about their country than themselves.  Unfortunately they seem to be in short supply in both parties.

Dumbing Down Vocabulary

I need some help.  I don't remember exactly when this phenomenon first began but I know it has irritated me for some time.  When did "bust" or "busted" replace broken, break, apprehended, arrested, etc.

When I hear a news anchor reading a serious piece then interject "busted" it's like fingernails on a blackboard to me.  Or is it chalk board these days.  Blackboard is probably politically incorrect.

In yesterday's Wall Street Journal there was an editorial about the over reaching of New York's crop of AGs.   I'm reading along about the current AG's attempt to... ""bust" up the class action law suit..."

Please!  I know government is  trying to redefine much of what is happening in the world.  We no longer have a war on terror.  And groups are overly sensitive to what "they", who ever "they" are, feel are racial slurs.  Like the Washington "Redskins".

When real American Indians come out en masse to complain about the name then I might listen.  Until then, go away.

Words used to be fun.  Slang used to be fun but now it always seems to be offensive to some one  some where therefore it must never more be used. I'm tempted to one day write a post using every politically incorrect word or phrase I can come up with.  The problem is there are so many it could turn into a book!

Bust certainly has it's place in the vernacular.  "Spring is bustin' out all over...",  California or bust,  I busted my chops and so on.  Times, however, when there are more appropriate words why are they no longer used?  Is it a fault of education?  Is it lazy writing?  Do the people who write the copy for news readers not know better?  Can't the news readers change it or don't they review their copy before going on air? Maybe they don't know better either.

As for print media, the fault must certainly be with the writer. I'd like to think an editor would change it. Then again, to do so might be offensive to the writer thus lowering his or her self esteem and we can't have that.

We'll just go on dumbing down the language until there are so few words for so many things, no one will have a clue what's being discussed.  We can barely read, "they" want to eliminate the teaching of cursive writing in many schools and now they want to make words so multidimensional they lose their magic, their charm, their poetry.

Face it, there is nothing even marginally appealing about the word bust in it's common usage today. It's a shame.  And a puzzlement.

Absolutists Will Be The Downfall Of The Government - Absolutely

What is an absolutist?  They're the politicians who are of the "my way or the highway" creed. Actually President Obama is one though he has found it hasn't worked too well.

One thing the President has had until quite recently is a party that was in lockstep with him.  He had Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid keeping the troops in line, delivering the truth stretching nasties and passing mammoth legislation that is coming back to haunt them.  Their absolutism is falling apart all around them.  The President continues perpetual motion campaigning.

Why the Republicans don't recognize this is beyond me, especially in themselves.  We're obviously not electing people to office that have any ability to govern what-so-ever.  They'd make better dictators.  That should make us sit up and notice and maybe it's a blessing in disguise most of them as of yet haven't.

Take for instance former Senator Jim DeMint who said that he'd rather have the Republican side of the Senate filled with fellow ideologues than the majority.  What does that get you when you're in a system that demands compromise to get things done?  Maybe it's why he's trying to call the shots from the Heritage Foundation now.

Ron Paul was one.  Rand is right on his heels.  Ted Cruz as a newcomer seems drunk with his own self importance not realizing that as the new guy he's doing himself no favors.  His stands will be remembered.  Plus his manner is often demeaning to those who disagree with him.  This is not leadership, this is self importance run amok.

It really ramped up when the conservatives took over the Tea Party and brought to office too many who were like minded. Remember when our politicians were supposed to represent us?  Now days they tell us what we're supposed to believe and won't budge even if it means loss after loss when it could have been wins.

Has it occurred to any of them this is not governing?  Maybe if terrorism around the world wasn't so imminent and creeping onto our shores and health care hadn't come under government's thumb they would be easy to ignore. They could fuss at one another to their hearts content in Washington and those of us who live in the  real world could get on with our lives.

But as luck would have it, we aren't the ones who govern.  So we get to listen as they deny truths about Benghazi, reality about abortion, gun control, immigration reform and the economy.

It has never ceased to amaze me, when reading comments or Tweets on articles of political interest,  how many take the government to task.  Both parties depending on the subject.  Yet we still manage to elect just enough absolutists that little if any thing in the public interest comes gets done.

Sexual Orientation As Politics Is Disgustingly Over The Top

So basketball player Jason Collins is gay. Do I care?  Not at all.  Does the fact he has admitted to it really warrant a phone call from the President commending him for his courage?  I hardly think so.  Especially if he doesn't want his homosexual orientation to be a very public part of his persona. Well, it is now.

Frankly, if it were me I'd resent it.  I'd resent the idea that someone, especially the President, would try to make political hay out of who I am. I am either gay or I'm not.  I can't do anything about it one way or the other.  Admitting it would be more cathartic than anything else - like anything I might keep hidden about myself that bothers me. We all harbor such things. To me that doesn't equate with courage.

Maybe we're putting the cart before the horse with all this gay marriage business. If people aren't comfortable with themselves in the first place so that it has to become a political issue, maybe that should be the first thing we work on.  All sides.  Not just those who are gay but those of us who aren't who are unaccepting of it - usually due to religious beliefs.  Or just that it's not the norm in our current society.

Besides, he's not the first openly gay athlete. Tennis great Billy Jean King was the first I was aware of.  Then Martina Navratilova.  Female athletes pioneered the way.  Then there is Greg Louganis, the diver.  Does anyone remember the worry when he cracked his head on the diving board?  Oh, probably not.  That was awhile ago. There have been many in a variety of professional sports.

There has been talk for some time now about some NFL players debating whether or not to come out.  What's the problem?  Are you ashamed of who you are?  For those macho types who don't want them in the locker room guess what.  They're already there.  Just like Collins.  Has anything happened?   No.

Frankly, I'm getting tired of the whole issue.  Whatever two consenting adults choose to do in private should remain just that.  Private.  When society can get a grip and go along with that maybe the idea of those two same consenting adults can go ahead and get married won't be so jarring.

As for courage.  Get real.  Leave that accolade for our military who have been left in the Godforsaken outback of places like Afghanistan, going on patrol day in and day out never knowing if they'll be blown to bits before the day is over.  That, my friends, is courage.  While we're properly placing words, let's look at hero too.  Basketball players are not heroes; they're skilled, highly paid athletes.

Those soldiers?  They're the heroes without the pay.  The CIA has directed billions to Karzai while the real heroes return home to no job and food stamps.  Don't talk to me about courage Mr. President.