1 Boring Old Man

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

There’s not too much question about what some of the newest Republican Talking Points are going to be. Republicans have balls. Democrats want handouts. It looks like Rush Limbaugh is going to become an op-ed writer for the Wall Street Journal [My Bipartisan Stimulus], and "Fair and Balanced" Fox News is now writing memos to Republican Congressmen [Don’t Cave]. And they’re having a field day cherry-picking the stimulus bill, or should I say $TIMULU$ bill.

I imagine that there are some legitimate beefs about the bill, things that are PORKULUS [Rush’s term]. But, unfortunately, that kind of Minority oversight [a good thing] is not the reason they’re doing it. Were they being serious, they’d be negotiating and making suggestions. Their only suggestions have been tax cuts of the Reagan/Bush/McCain variety. They’re abrogating their responsibility by their obvious theatrics, and their Media Wing is right in step.

I guess it’s naive to continue to hope for anything like a working government with a two Party system. The Republicans are posturing to put the Democrats in the position of being responsible for everything, and then picking it apart piece by piece ad nauseum. It’s so loud, they make it hard to think. Obviously, things like the ATV Trails are in there because they are "shovel ready" and put people to work. There’s a lovely old wooden building in our downtown area [one street long running 3 or 4 blocks] that was built as a "Woman’s Club" by the W.P.A. in the late 1930’s. It’s been a school, a library, the Lion’s Club, a Catholic Church, and now it’s an Art Center. We’re working on getting it on the National Registry of Historic places. Who needed a woman’s club in the late 1930’s? The W.P.A. people who built it; the women who used it; and the generations of people who have used it since then. The whole point is to refurbish America by giving jobs to the people who are out of work.

But there’s no good point to these antics. It’s partly political power play and partly an ideology that has tunnel vision. In this case, I think it’s also racism. They’re hoping to tap those racist trends that are still there and build on them – black people on welfare looking for handouts. And then there’s the left over anti-communist meme. The essential Talking Point is under the picture on Rush’s site above, "He talks like Reagan, but it’s pure socialism." On the Traditional Values Coalition site they’ve coined the term, "Obammunist" [Obama + Communist]. Obama, Democrats, Progressives are now the "Welfare State Kings." It is shameful a strategy. I pray the American people are wise enough to read it right this time around.