They Just Don't Get It Do They!

It has become known today that we seniors will not get an increase in Social Security this year but instead will get a bonus of $250. Whoopee. That won't cover a month's prescriptions for many of us! Where do these guys get their economic bona fides? Or better yet, how do we become one of their pet projects? Then we'd get all the funding we need!

Let's look at the war - again. The President hasn't yet decided if, or how many, troops he's going to send to Afghanistan yet the Senate has striped the funding of fuel, ammunition and training and diverted it to 778 pet projects of their own!

Earmarks, they're called. I thought Obama was going to eliminate at best, or cut down on them at worst. Oh well.

How much are the troops being short changed here? According to The Washington Times $2.6 Billion. With a capital B !

Where is it going? Well, $25 million to a World War II Museum. Fitting isn't it? A museum dedicated to war long past with funds diverted from the one we are currently fighting.

Then there is $20 million for an "educational institute" to be named after Ted Kennedy in recognition for the years he spent on the Armed Services Committee where he fought to see that our troops received top notch equipment such as body armor and Humvees. How much body armor would that $20 million buy for our troops right now?

One Senator had 35 earmarks totalling more than $206 million while yet another had 48 worth $216 million. And we get $250.

Is there something wrong with this picture? What is the matter with these people? They huff and puff and try to justify these expenditures, which the military did not ask for nor want. Meanwhile combat pilots training to deploy are getting half the flying hours they got during the Vietnam war and tank crews get less training than during the Clinton administration when we were not at war!

If you honestly think these people are capable of reforming health care, overseeing climate change and reviving our economy, we'll never be on the same page.

Instead of hoping, week in and week out to no avail, that we might win the lottery, maybe I could just worm my way into a Senator's brain and chant 'fund medicare', 'fund the troops' or 'take a pay cut' until it becomes a pet project. Then we'd all be in fine shape.

In my dreams.

Stop The Bashing Before Someone Gets Hurt!

Whew! It's getting nasty out there. First we're inundated with images of Obama with Hitler's mustache and symbols of hate turning up on a golf course.

Then we move on to the latest in Limbaugh bashing because he wanted to become part owner of a football team. The liberal media did a hatchet job on him that was unprecedented. It is supposedly about a pattern of comments made over years about blacks. How many of them were taken out of context?

Don't get me wrong. I'm no fan of Limbaugh. He's loose with his facts but so are those doing the bashing. They all twist the facts to suit their point of view.

What worries me are the type of comments such as the one from Chris Mathews suggesting that in some point in time someone would step up to the plate and kill Limbaugh.

That's extreme even for Matthews. He did recant the next day. The clip is part of the embed above. The question is, was the damage already done? They succeeded in eliminating him from becoming part owner of the rams. Wasn't that enough?

Criticizing policy is one thing. Questioning ones suitability for ownership in a rich man's club is certainly permissible. Hate mongering is not.

It's time to tone down the rhetoric from those in the administration on down. Let's quit equating people with Hitler and the Nazis be it the President or those who disagree with him. Let's quit taking sound bites out of context and smearing a man because you don't like his politics. As irritating as Limbaugh can be, what point is to be made by lowering oneself to his level?

The liberal media lambastes any and everyone who finds fault with the President and to a lesser degree, his policies and his administration. Yet when one of their own suggests one who they dislike intensely might actually be terminated because of his views, nothing is said.

They best be careful. There are times when what goes around, comes around. Everything is cyclical. The opposition will regain power at some point, and like the elephants they claim as their symbol, they won't forget.

Then it will start all over again. Sigh.

Can You Imagine?

One of the things I do before deciding on what to write is skim headlines from a variety of sources. One of my favorites is Drudge because the header can be totally misleading.

This caught my eye today: MURDOCH, MALONE CONSIDER NBC BUY... DEVELOPING...

Murdoch interested in NBC? The Murdoch who owns News Corp which owns FOX? Wow! Would that be fun to watch!

The Reuters article indicates this is not likely because of antitrust concerns, but it sure is fun to contemplate. How would all the pro-Obama talking heads cope with having to turn into, say, a Glenn Beck or Bill O'Reilly? Can you imagine Keith Olbermann having to parrot O'Reilly? Goodness, what would he do for his Worst Persons segment?

Who would mimic the sobbings of Beck? Maddow maybe? Nope. That's sexist to equate a woman with crying jags. And Chris Matthews. Who would send tingles running down his leg? Would Andrea Mitchell go back to being a real reporter? At one time she was one of the best! Could Chuck Todd compete with Major Garrett?

Wow. Imagining NBC becoming a shill for conservative issues is mind boggling, though it would make things more fair and balanced. There would still be ABC, CBS and CNN to carry on the Liberal agenda. NBC, FOX and MSNBC would then level the playing field.

Let's see. Anchors. CNN has Anderson Cooper to FOX's Shepard Smith. ABC is going to have Diane Sawyer, CBS has Katie Couric. NBC's Brian Williams would have to watch his back! Ann Curry is waiting in the wings.

This is truly the stuff of dreams. Daydreams. Or ~ maybe nightmares!

A Minute of Nonsense Just For A Change Of Pace

It seems to be taking forever to get these snippets organized and put together but it is still fun. Sure beats my usual blogging, especially when my followers are clobbering me! Ah, well, to each his own.

Today was one of those days. Our irrigation pump froze and we had a gusher. The router on our computers went out. The Brits are giving Hub a fit on an insurance renewal for a field of oil rigs which will probably put our long awaited vacation on hold one more time. It's freezing cold.

So. I read the headlines and thought, 'Nah, not today'. I'd rather play with my dog. You can too for about 50 seconds!

There's Nothing Noble About The Nobel...

...if you've done nothing to earn it! It was a travesty when Al Gore won it in 2007 for espousing faulty science and a bad movie. Never mind it had nothing to do with "peace" except in the most abstract of terms.

Now Obama has won it on the come. Nominations closed February 2. He took his oath of office January 20. He got the award based on campaign rhetoric. The award has been diminished to the point of being meaningless no matter how hard the committee tries to justify it.

In response to the curiosity expressed by a friend in New Zealand, here's one American's take on the whole situation. I see Obama as a man with few convictions beyond raw ambition, a vision of the country that frightens most of us, a timetable meant to overwhelm opponents into paralysis, and a man unable or unwilling to make tough decisions.

I'm going to ignore everything the pundits are saying as to how this award will help or hinder his presidency. This is what I observe. If he's not out campaigning, he's dithering. He campaigns for a concept in health care reform that has the country up in arms and his own party at odds with themselves. He campaigns for a bill that has yet to be finalized, making promises that cannot be kept.

He has abrogated responsibility to Congress. This is not leadership. Pork abounds. Threats of veto's are non-existent.

He has Czars roaming the country dictating pay for executives while ignoring contract law. This isn't leadership, this is abrogating responsibility to unelected individuals who consider their dictates to be above the law.

He sits at the head of the table while his security advisers haggle over strategy for Afghanistan. Again, there is discord within his own party. Say what you will about Bush, he was able to make a decision. Obama agonizes while troops continue to die for a cause yet undefined. This is not leadership.

If he spent as much time with health care and insurance experts defining and redefining our health care needs as he is with his national security team, I might feel better. I fear though, the reason why he hasn't is because his expertise is in selling rather than formulation.

I listened to a pundit complain about his Sunday's spent on the golf course. What difference does it make? He's not governing. I wonder how long it takes him to play a round. There are decisions to be made. How long does it take for him to decide which club to use? Or is his caddy named Rahm? He'll call the shot.

There once was a time the Nobel Peace Prize was a coveted award based on extraordinary accomplishment. Those days appear to be gone forever. Like so much else this country used to hold dear.

Never again will I be swayed by rhetoric alone. Friends who questioned my passionate defense of Obama warned me. But like the country, we saw what we wanted to see rather than what really was.

I've learned and I fear the country has too. It's going to hurt.