It's The "Hell-a-day" Season...

Never fails---crack of dawn that day after Thanksgiving and "tent cities" miraculously appear around Wal-Mart, sometimes stretching for miles as crazed shoppers battle to be first to get their greedy paws on this years "must-have" toy. Normally mild-mannered, friendly neighbors become raging fiends when those doors open at 4a.m., and woe to the hapless store employee who gets in their way! Teeth bared, claws unsheathed, these "holiday" shoppers are ready to kill for those famously-advertised limited quantities ("only six Playstations per store..."), while all the while those caroles grind out endlessly from the loud-speakers....
Good Will Toward Men? Fuhgehdaboudit! No time to help that little old lady who somehow got caught on your cart as you plowed your way through the mad hordes; hey, it's kill or be killed during the shopping season, y'know. She would have most likely driven her wheelchair into you if things had been the other way around, right?
Besides, why the hell do these old cripples always insist on getting ahead of normal people? Don't they know only the strong survive holiday mega-sales? Hell, if they want their grandkids to get this stuff, let'em get on the parents to do it. No red-blooded American parent would allow their little Johnny or Susy to go without that hideously over-priced, sweat-shop-produced (by little hard-working Juanitos y Susitas overseas) flimsy contraption all the poor kids on your blockhave been crying about since September. You care enough to fight for your kids rights to have everything, whether or not they need it---so why don't those? Damn peace-protesters, probably; too busy bawling over filthy kid-terrorists in Iraq to care for their own, naturally. What's this country coming to, I ask you?
Christmas shopping is an American tradition, for cryin out loud! Just like turkey, and the Pilgrims and Indians sitting down to table on the first Thanksgiving... What? You say they didn't celebrate that way? The Pilgrims actually stole the food from the Indians, then let 'em all starve? Well, that's the American Way. Survival of the Fittest and all that. We work hard for what we get, so we're entitled to it. The rest of the world complains----tough! God's on our side....
And so it goes, folks. Have yourself a greedy little Christmas/Chanukah, and don't forget to give thanks to that Almighty Dollar, either. Did someone just say mammon?

Whoops! Sorry, Nancy...

I don't know why I thought Pelosi's first name was Barbara. Stupid of me, really. After all, I'M always complaining about Fox, but THEY at least got her name right! My bad.
At any rate, Murtha lost, so she backed down on her demands somewhat, but for how long ? Hopefully the Dems will get more moderates, and also the GOP. Iraq is almost hopeless, and Bush is STILL threatening Iran. Sigh. One problem at a time, fellas. Remember even WE didn't fight WWII on both fronts at once, and that's when we had the draft, too. If Vietnam taught us anything, it was you CAN'T keep on fighting all over the place---securing Hamburger Hill one day only to abandon it the next, then come back next week and have to fight over it all over again. Of course, politicians NEVER seem to listen to generals. Yes, MacArthur WAS right about Korea, but so was Truman...
Who's right about Iran is a moot point, though. Once a country has nuclear reactors, how do you prevent them from making plutonium? And the more we sit and threaten, the more time Iran has to develop WMD. Do we simply "cut and run" from Iraq to invade Iran? That's what we did in Afghanistan---after declaring we'd "won", naturally. Guess who's back in Kabul. Right, the Taliban we supposedly "defeated". "Mission Accomplished" and all that...
I figure by the time Bush's reign is up, he'll have made the whole Middle East "safe for facism". We certainly haven't made it safe for DEMOCRACY, now have we? Who taught Dubya history? Are we Rome, that we can spread "democracy" and "freedom" by force? Then how come it was always wrong when the SOVIETS "liberated" other countries? Wasn't the fact that they were over-extending themselves militarily one of the reasons the Soviet Union finally collapsed? Oh yeah, and don't forget Ronald Reagan, too. Sure, he yelled "Mr. Gorbachov, tear down this wall!", and just like Jericho...
So, we have a respite (of sorts) before January's "changing of the guard", I guess. Except for those @#$% phone calls from the pollsters about who'll we'll vote for in '08---the ones where the stupid machine disconnects after you pick up the receiver. Oh well, have a nice day...

Our Elected Offi----uhh...

This photo kinda reminds me of Dubya and Barb "Wire" Pelosi working "together". Like the time he "playfully" rubbed the German ambassador's shoulders, scared the hell out of the poor woman, and just smirked like a drunken Frat-Boy. Okay, so we kicked out the GOP. Great, except that now the Dems are playing Monkey-See, Monkey-Do. With all the problems we have in Iraq (and possibly Iran soon), all THEY want to do is "pay-backs". And Pelosi has gone nuts, of course, in her glee at finally getting to BE the official "mouthpiece" of the House, God help us! Where are the ADULTS? Are we Boomers going to continue acting like spoiled children until this country finally IMPLODES, God forbid?!
I can't even accuse Fox of making this stuff up, either, because even THEY wouldn't be able to make up something this dumb. And all I wanted was for NEITHER party to get control---so they'd be FORCED to work together, for once. Sure I'd like to see Dubya impeached, but not if we'd just get Cheney. Worse, if BOTH were impeached we'd be stuck with MotorMouth Pelosi, yet.
Does she really believe she'll get AWAY with nominating Alcee Hastings? (I hope I spelled the name right. Where do politicians GET such weird names anyhow?) For a supposedly smart lady, she seems to be lacking a few screws. And Murtha, getting caught on TAPE saying he might just consider a bribe later on! Yeah, so it was almost 30 years ago. Big deal. He's screaming about being "Swift-Boated", but I'd LIKE to see a "swift boat" come take him away, too.
I guess the Dems don't think anybody notices their blunders. Like Clinton with Monica...

A Republic---IF You Can Keep It...

Can we? For how long? Or don't we care anymore? Tomorrow's turnout might answer that---if enough of us turn out, that is. Hell, tomorrow's vote might be our last as well---in a free election, maybe.

Sure, the voting












machines could be "fixed". Then again, who's to know for sure? Look at the last two fiascoes; you really think "they" are going to admit it? So you decide to stay home and whine about how both parties are corrupt, how your little vote couldn't matter one way or the other. Well, kiss the republic goodbye, then. Time to start loving Big Brother, I guess. Sigh.
Has it come to this? Is America nothing more than a nation of super-sized couch-potatoes, popping Prozac and nodding blissfully along to Bill O'Reilly's self-righteous rants, to Neil Cavuto's "happy-talk" Caust Of Freedom propaganda, conserva-bitch whatsername's daily blather on Osama bin Liberals? Puh-leeez! We can't be all brain-dead. I can sometimes agree with Bill, but Neil Ca-baby-face and that bottle-blonde motormouth? FOX used to be a real news channel, but sometimes I think I'm watching a bad imitation of Penn and Teller. At least the latter are intentionally absurd. I'm even beginning to miss G. Gordon Liddy, chas v'sholem! Give me the "Rotting Corpse Of Richard Nixon", at this point (check out the site. It's a hoot).
"...If you can keep it...", said Benjamin Franklin to a neighbor back in 1776, and he was a realist. He expected the Constitution would eventually fail, as every one before it had. What he did not expect, I think, was that the Constitution would simply become a "God-damned piece of paper" to a supposedly conservative "Republican" president! And a "compassionate" one, too. Don't forget the Republican's compassion, of course. Then there's the wonderful Democrats, so fierce for freedom they'll vote any way to stay in Congress. Shame on them all! I say let's vote them all out and start over. We may be electing nothing more than a bunch of new crooks, but we know what we've had. Maybe new crooks will make different mistakes. God knows, the old mistakes can start WWIII any time now.
VOTE, dammit! Sitting home only allows the idiots in Congress to keep on making the same old mistakes. Worse, sitting home means we're finished as a republic; it's that simple. If we're going totalitarian, then let's be honest about it. Otherwise, should this election be contested we might find ourselves looking at another (un)Civil War. Voting is a privilege, not a right. Yes, read the Constitution and see, folks. Women were given the vote in 1920, and another amendment could take it back---same as universal suffrage. After all, if we don't care enough to exercise the few rights we have left (gratis the Patriot Act), then why should Congress not take all of them away?

God Dissents

Wouldn't it be nice to have Bush chastized by a "Higher Authority"? Too bad God doesn't get involved anymore, or maybe he just decided to retire---to another universe! Frankly, if I were God I'd be more than a little ticked off by this Administration's glib insistance that they have his blessing in all things. Then again, he ought to let these smug Republicans know just how he feels, don't you think? With many Evangelicals feeling rather used at the moment, it's disheartening to realize they'll probably vote Republican anyway.
Of course, if you've been reading the news lately it appears no matter how you vote the Republicans will win, even without Kerry's stupid "jokes". Those electronic voting machines can, in some cases, be hacked merely by pushing or pulling on one of the buttons, I've read. No computer knowledge required! Or, as some of the conspiracy nuts are suggesting, the machines have already been pre-programed to flip Democratic choices over to the GOP. In fact, one website I've read actually says why even bother going to vote, since the machines have been rigged!
Well, I say go vote no matter what. Bring whatever photo IDs you need and line up as soon as the polls open, if only to intimidate the terrori---I mean---"Bush Babies" smirking all over the Fox Channel as I speak. Sure, maybe the election has been stolen already, but why make it any easier for the bastards?

HERE I GO AGAIN...

Yes, I'm back into protest-mode (as if you hadn't guessed by now), and I suppose I'll make a fool of myself once again, but what the hell---being officially an "old fart" at 57, soon to be 58 in January---I figure I'm entitled already. After all, what's the point of being an adult if you can't act like an over-grown teenager? Besides, when you get old enough (around 80 or so), it's considered "cute". Like the Red Hat Ladies in their deliberately mis-matched purple outfits, us old hippies can strut our stuff and ENJOY the laughs from the "audience".
I'm serious. Who would consider a bunch of old farts in hippie costume a threat? Even Dubya can't be THAT stupid :=) Then again, I suppose he could. But THINK of it! Protest marches of decrepit old hippies in ill-fitting duds (like that joke about one's youthful "hourglass" figure---the sands having shifted in the meantime...), limping along with crutches, canes, wheelchairs, oxygen mask-ed, the tanks on a wheeled cart trundling behind as we all cackle at the top of our wheezy lungs "Hey, Hey, Dubya, SAY, How Many Kids Didja Kill Today!" (Slightly cribbed from the 60's "Hey, Hey LBJ..." chant of fond remembrance.) I mean, is that genius or what? Don't answer, it's merely a "rhetorical" question, folks.
There'll be ZILLIONS of us pretty soon, if the statistic about one Boomer hitting age 60 every minute is correct. We could have so much fun---"flipping the bird" at political leaders---freely using the F word---farting loudly with every step---some of us finding unexpected "gift-manure" leaking from our Depends Diapers as well---all the way to DC! If that's not prime-time TV, I don't know what else would qualify. We'd be THRICE as disgusting as we were back when, and get away with it. All that "gift-manure" could be collected after the parade and put to good use in people's gardens---or we could THROW the turds at the politicos, like we did in Chicago in 68. Can't you just PICTURE the chaos? Okay, so we'd probably all be dispatched to the glue factory afterward, but we'd have made a wickedly nasty "point". And "brevity IS the soul of wit", as they say. We're gonna probably all be ground up into Soylent Green anyhow, so why "go gently into that" NOT so "good night" (with apologies to Dylen Thomas---I think. I'm not senile enough yet to confuse him with Bob Dylen---although I HAVE forgotten how to spell, it seems...)
Come on, you old hippies/yippies, this might be our finest moment. If not, it'll take at least a WEEK to clean up the street after us...

IT'S THAT TIME AGAIN...

This is how I feel about elections, and I'm sure a lot of YOU do as well. Yes, Shifra, there is an election every four years, but all we do is throw out the old crooks for NEW ones. Sigh. Worse, everybody seems to only want to punish the GOP, so those Republicans who AREN'T behind Bush will probably be flushed down the drain with the rest---leaving us with a bunch of career-Dems whose ideas are rather stale. Barak Obama looks good, but you KNOW if he tries to run the Dems will shoot him because they're all so hyped on Hillary. She might be good; I just can't stand her "it's coming to me" attitude. If Condi Rice runs, I'd rather vote for HER, regardless of this Bushwa mess. Or McCain, even. I gotta tell ya, it's hard to be EITHER Republican or Democrat these days! Look at all those candidates switching parties out West...
And it won't help them. Can ANYone honestly believe their shpiel? "I only switched because the GOP is too conservative now" sounds awfully similar to "I'll do ANYthing to be (re) elected". True, some may be telling the truth, except that waiting until the last possible moment to switch gives the appearance of an "avak"", as in "avak loshen hora", for example. To over-simplify,that's when you follow the halacha to the letter in order to be "spiritually" correct, but you know those three people can't keep a secret, either. The "dust of" an aveira, literally. It usually works; however, after all the "dust of" the GOP, I doubt everyone will fall for it.
That's the problem with politics, especially here. God is spelled "Show me the money". Who can afford it? Only those of "independent means", either having money oneself or having wealthy backers. Once elected, lobbies and Big Business (assuming one isn't a crook, which is vanishingly unlikely) will freely lard your "war-chest" so that contenders face almost certain defeat on the advertising level. Assuming one IS a crook then, (barring scandal) one can be elected virtually FOREVER. Besides, it's no secret that congressmen can become almost instant millionaires, what with all those fees for speaking, etc. And don't forget those famous Midnight Pay Raises. Who ELSE has the privilage of deciding their wages? Then there's that idiotic arguement about money equalling free-speech. Gee, I thought ALL our votes counted equally, but now that some of us seem to be MORE equal in proportion to our disposable income, I guess "We, the People" don't really count anymore. Adding in that wonderful 16th Amendment, which defined corporations as "people", too, well, how much DOES it take to have the best Congress money can buy?
Is Diebold a threat? Yes, but not the perfect monster the media implies. It doesn't surprise me in the least that voting machines can be hacked; I lived in NYC for eleven years, after all. With all those "poll volunteers" banging on the side of the machine after three minutes, and yelling "Hurry up", of COURSE all that jiggling would result in votes lost. But why not demand paper ballots? What law says ballots MUST be electronic? Many states have already passed Paper Ballot Only laws. Here in New Hampster, most of us still vote with #2 pencil on paper ballot, behind a red-white-&-Blue curtain tacked onto a flimsy wooden frame. Some towns even HAND-count their ballots, yet. If millions turned out to vote, demanding paper ballots, how easy would it be to fiddle with THAT mess of paper? Well, not counting all those "pregnant" chads, etc....
Okay, there are paper-shredders. I think Ollie North single-handedly gave the shredder companies their best advertising, in fact. And I know that a certain percentage of votes are ALWAYS "disqualified" for one reason or another. Election fraud goes back to the founding of our nation---when George Washington and his opponent both made sure to keep those rum barrels flowing at the polls. Good reason for women not voting then; we DID tend to spoil all the fun for the guys after 1920. Still, the less people who vote make it EASY for voter-fraud, because who CARES nowadays? All "We the People" seem to do is complain that our votes don't count yet, with so few voting, every ONE of those who do vote can count as TEN votes, or more. It's simple math, really.
And if millions turn out? So much the better! The quality of our candidates has seriously dropped since voting fell off recently (no, I don't think it has anything to do with those dropping SAT scores, at least not VERY much). Candidates don't have to work hard for votes, as only the party faithful will turn out, so why should they care about what the REST of us think? A lot of this mess is our fault; we just sat back and let it all happen. Oh sure, we made some noise, but nothing like the protests in the 60s. At this point, Dubya HAS his "Enabling Act". If we don't get off our collective "fat tush" to vote, then we're done. Freedom, as one blog put it, is FAR more than being allowed to download porn and @#$% over the internet. Orwell's 1984 had that; the "proles" were kept in line by having plenty of "free" access to porn, beer, and "pop" music. Sort of the modern equivalent to Rome's "bread and circus" entertainment, except we don't throw Christians to the lions anymore.
Believe me, I WANT to be wrong on this! I'm hoping people will finally "wake-up" after all we've been through. Unfortunately, from what I see thus far it's not gonna happen. Are we so willfully blind as to REFUSE to confront reality? Yes, I'm afraid we are.