Biding My Time

As a blogger there are times I feel like I'm just wishing away my life.  That's not the best idea at my age but I'll give myself a pass because the weather hasn't been conducive to get out and go.  But I am wishing away time until the elections become viable with real candidates running.

What has me stymied, since it's what I write about, is the political stalemate we're in.  No matter how much railing is done and it doesn't matter who's doing it, nothing seems to change.  Nor is it going to until after the congressional elections in November I fear.

One thing I'm sure about is the President isn't going to change his ways. He'll continue posturing, do his own thing when and as often as he can, and threaten the bad guys with "consequences".

We know how that goes.  So do the bad guys. So it's a push.  Ho hum, they say and go right on about their business.  Vlad looks like he may luck out with the Olympics.  So far the terrorists have been non-existent which isn't a surprise.  They delight in watching the world run around in little tight circles because of their chatter.  They really don't need to sacrifice their suicide bombers unless they really want to destroy people and property.  Chatter does just fine if all they want for the moment is to keep everyone a nervous wreck.

Congress is still the same.  Neither side is doing anything constructive.  Their attitudes toward each other remains belligerent much as mine has been toward them. If the Republicans would only say something.  Someone has to take the lead sometime before October!

The media, except for FOX, still protects the administration by the questions they don't ask.  The pundits on FOX, for the most part, still embarrass themselves by making it evident as to how little they know about how government works.  The likes of Hannity have all the answers they seem to think and try to force an agreement out of guests by shouting down opposing opinions. It scares me that he's threatening to run for office.  If enough of his fans beg hard enough.

I actually wished I had my camera last night as I watched a split screen discussion with the sound off.  Both men's mouths never stopped.  Maybe you had to be there but it went on for so long it was really funny.  And you know if anything was actually said you'd not know what even with the sound on!  So much for trying to stay informed by watching anything on the tube.

So here I sit.  I've lambasted just about everything I can think of.  Without anything new to latch on to I'm really stuck.

So what am I to do?  My accomplishments so far this year are meager at best.  I've had three shots in my back and a forth upcoming next week.  I've so many steroids in me I'm thinking of going to spring training and seeing if a team might pick me up.  Oh, yeah,  I've got another dandy scar from another basal cell removal.  The self absorbing stitches are coming out through my cheek instead of dissolving.  Makes for curious mirror time.

Gosh, when my physical ailments interest me more than the world at present, I know I've got an attitude problem. Okay, another senseless synopsis for a lack of content here.  Maybe I'll go get some tweezers and have at those stitches!

What Happens When The U.S. Abdicates

It's not a pretty picture out there.  Our Secretary of State, while emitting 10s of thousands of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere, is flitting around the world lecturing nations about the state of climate change, saying that doubters are akin to flat worlders.  Nothing like insulting them

Then I wonder how long it's going to take him to realize, forget the idealism, diplomacy isn't working anywhere.  The Palestinians have told him to go pound sand.  Aid to Syrian civilians suffering in Homs has been cut off once again.

Polio is still ravaging Pakistan due to aid workers being killed. Couples are still being stoned to death when accused of adultery. The Ayatollah in Iran says out of one side of his mouth he has no objections to the negotiations regarding his nuclear program and out the other says they aren't going to go anywhere anyway.

Worst of all perhaps is the North Koreans eradicating it's own people by bringing back those who have fled to China and if pregnant inducing an abortion and finishing the job by the child by drowning or merely suffocating the infant. And our best connection to the country is Dennis Rodman.

Meanwhile back on the home front the President is using the privilage of Presidential fiat to an alarming degree for the most dubious of reasons.  Health care, immigration, gay marriage, pot to name a few.

Congress has structured itself into a non-functioning body.  The leader of the Senate keeps legislation at bay by not bringing anything to the floor for a vote.  The House Republicans remains divided and the Democrats aren't far behind.  You hear nary a word from the Republican leaders in either branch.

It's a pretty sorry scenario. I would really like to see both parties vote out their current leadership.  And as Brian Schweitzer, former governor of Montana, has suggested, it would be nice to have a Presidential cycle without a Clinton or a Bush in the mix.

With the number of states discussing the possibility of seceding, this is what I could envision.  All the states who want to be allowed to do so.  Among those who did so because they still believe in our Constitution and a government of, by and for the people, go out and form a new nation.  One that would the the antithesis of the more perfect union Barack Obama claimed to espouse but has failed dismally to deliver.

That just might lift my spirits.  As is I find myself tending to lift the wrong kind!

Cruzin' For A Bruisin'

I'm beginning to wonder just what the Tea Party stalwarts represent.  Pig headedness for sure.

Take their in house figurehead Ted Cruz and his attempt to filibuster the procedure to move ahead a vote on raising the debt ceiling. The last thing anyone needed was another fight to the wire on shutting down the government or in this case defaulting on the debt. It isn't even really the debt but rather the interest on it.

Because of his ill advised stunt he forced a handful of wiser Republicans to vote with the Democrats to move the measure forward.  The clean bill went on to pass without the vote of a single one of those Republicans.  Now Cruz and his ilk are threatening to use those votes against the incumbent Republicans in the primaries.  Do it my way or I'll punish you by golly!

To what end does he do this? So they can possibly lose to more like Cruz who doesn't seem to understand that in order to win you have to have the votes.  Maybe they should start by not passing the spending bills that require a rise in the debt limit in the first place.  As it is it indicates that the Republicans are as guilty as the Democrats when it comes to excessive spending.

I understand standing on principle. There is a time and place for it but not in a working house of Congress where governance is a shared proposition and in order to share one must be willing to compromise.  It is not a dirty word. Granted the Democrats, having the power for the moment, have no interest in sharing.  But they stand together as a party.

The Republicans don't.  Those who stand on principle alone are negating what power they do have as a whole. Some of these legislators have Presidential ambitions, Mr. Cruz included. What I see in him is blind ambition and ideology over reason.  I've blamed the Democrats for the same and this is one area I'd rather the two parties didn't share!

If his unwillingness to listen to what Republican leadership has to say and close ranks with them for the good of the party and more importantly, the nation, it indicates to me what type of President he is likely to be. Inflexible.  My way or the highway. Does any of this sound familiar?

The behind the scenes maneuvering is no easy task to be sure, in either the House or Senate, but unless you hold total power like Harry Reid does,  joining with leadership is pragmatic if nothing else.

I'm looking way past charisma on potential candidates.  I'm looking for those who understand what is necessary to move forward rather than perpetuate a stalemate.  Mr. Cruz fails on both counts.

Disincentive to Work? Not In My World

In my world the receipt or lack there of a subsidy to make health care more affordable would never make me leave a job nor can I believe it would for a great number of people. The administration, however, apparently doesn't believe the American people have any work ethic left.

The administration would have us believe 2 million or so jobs are going to go begging because the subsidy is more attractive than earning a decent wage.  The jobs, of course, will still be there.  It's just that people won't take them because they may lose that subsidy.  There was a time when this would have been laughable.

Of course had the health care law done what it was supposed to, it wouldn't even be an issue, but it has gotten so confusing no one is sure just what it will or won't do.  Now it's up to what the people will or won't do.

Claiming that it's a good thing, this disincentive to work, because it will allow one to pursue dreams otherwise unavailable to them because health care is out of reach. It still is for those this law was meant to help.  For most of us everything was pretty good until the government and the insurance companies decided to meddle.  How it will all shake out remains to be seen.

One thing the argument hasn't addressed, however, is how are these people who are so inclined to take a workers holiday going to live?  How will they put food on their tables, pay their rent or mortgages,  or put gas their cars? We tax payers have only so much and even the Fed may decide free money is no longer in our best interest. One can dream. It's about all I have left.

Of course the government will take care of all that in due time. They'll come back and make unemployment benefits permanent and depending on your salary level, that will be all you need.  If you want more they'll no doubt come up with a subsidy to make up the difference between the salary you could have earned and your unemployment.  Or welfare.  Instead of a work exchange program they'll subsidize a non-work exchange program.  You'll no longer have to buy groceries.  Food stamps, or whatever the politically correct term for them is, will cover your every need including alcohol as medicinal and pot because we'll need something to forget what a sorry state of dependency we've allowed ourselves to fall into.

Neither the administration nor the media is explaining this latest challenge to cultural stability accurately.  We're left to figure it out for ourselves.  Out of one side of their mouths comes the cry for jobs so the economy along with our standard of living can get back on track.  Out of the other comes the cry to not take them even if they're created or lose that subsidy for health care which you used to have and which used to be affordable.  No wonder people are confused.

We're living through the transition from exceptionalism and world leadership to dependency and burying our heads in the sand.  We're not even leading from behind any more.  We're just behind.  There is no leadership involved.

Please assure me only those who actually follow the news are falling prey to the propaganda of the vultures that would devour us and that the rest of the country is too busy trying to be enterprising to take notice.  Please let them succeed and turn their backs on handouts.

There is still a lot to be said for the self-made.  Some things like the pride of accomplishment and a job well done. If we lose that we've lost it all.  Not a hand out in the world will get it back.

Call A Time Out!

When the quarterback doesn't like what he sees on the field, he calls a time out rather than muff a play.  It doesn't always work, but least it gives him time to look at the options.

We need that now in Washington.  I haven't posted much because trying to sort out all that's going on is so muddled its hard to make sense of any of it.  Since Congress loves their recesses so much I'm suggesting they take one now until after the 2014 mid-terms.

This would give the Democrats plenty of time to run from the President.  It would give the Republicans time to sort out their differences and it would give the President time to get a clue as to what's going on around him.  It would also give the voter a chance to decide just what kind of country they want going forward.

What wouldn't happen if they did this? There would be no rushed legislation. There would be no threat of a government shut down over raising the debt ceiling. The pundits could save their collective breaths.  The media could continue their vacation from the truth yet do no harm.

What would happen if Washington was vacated?  Pretty much the same as if they stayed in town actually.  The Syrians will still have the bulk of their chemical weapons.  The Syrian civil war will continue with the radical Islamists continuing to strengthen their toehold.

Iran will continue inching closer to their nuke. Afghanistan will have a new President.  We know not who  it will be nor what he will represent.  More of our soldiers will perish. Iraq will continue it's backward slide.

The economies in China and Russia will continue to stumble. The Keystone pipeline will still not be given approval.  The IRS investigations will still not have taken place.  What happened in Benghazi will still not be known. The ACA will be an even bigger mess than it is already. Immigration will still not be sorted out. Fracking will remain an issue.

The Tea Party will still be sniping at establishment Republicans and progressives will still be sniping at establishment Democrats.  The President will still be touring the world giving speeches no one wants to hear.  The unions will still be disillusioned.

See?  We really don't need them in Washington. They don't seem to do much.  Those pesky regulations that come out of Washington are coming from cabinet level pols so maybe they could leave town too.

If the same bunch comes back after the election, we will have spoken.  We're satisfied with becoming a European style socialist nation.  No pride.  No ambition.  No glory in winning nor willing to try harder if one loses.  Happy with government handouts.  More free time because we have health care and no money with which to enjoy it.

On the other hand, if there are a bunch of new faces, I'll take it as an encouraging sign. That the status quo is not acceptable.  That we looked to elect those who believe in what our forefathers foresaw the country to be.

It doesn't mean that the Olympics will go smoothly nor the fighting gets no worse nor that jobs appear out of nowhere.  It just means that Washington, for a short but blissful period of time, would have no hand in it.  Therein lies the difference. Especially considering that with their hand in things nothing gets any better anyway.