American Idiots

I'm going to spend the next couple of months trying to find my own version of Ohlberman's "Worst Person in the World" and post the related article on Facebook. It shouldn't be hard to find material, as the folks in politics on the right and left are providing quite a bit of it. We have Nazis, witches and gay-bashing on the right. We have rediculous assertions of 'foreign money' and other red herrings from the left. Don't even get me started on the tea-baggers, most of them are just plain crazy. Those of us in the middle just sit back and watch the madness.

Take this one for example:



She really is a nutjob, yet she has 38% support in the polls? Who is saying they will vote for her? Same question, different daffy, how in blue hell does Sharron Angle have 42% - I mean really? I would rather sit down with Beck for lunch than vote for Reid so I do get the None of the Above alternative to a certain extent, but even that only goes so far. Angle? Seriously?

So, watch for my Facebook postings. I'll try and post one daily and I guarantee the affiliated story will be an interesting, and possibly infuriating, one. Feel free to cross-post your own on my wall. It should be fun.

Peace.

The Hoodwinking of America

Ok, its been a while. Yet I can't help but to blog about this one. Last night, I sat next to a nice, older woman at bar of the Tavern of Stow while I had a quick bite to eat. She had the smock and uniform on of the large grocery store chain across the street and had clearly just finished her shift working as a cashier. I joined the conversation she was having with two other folks at the bar regarding, what else, politics of the day. I was surprised to hear that she was a Glenn Beck fan, an Faux News watcher and a big proponent of the Republican agenda. She talked at length about how "that damned Obama" was spending all her money and didn't care about the "regular folk" of America.

Since when did Democrats lose the mantle of the party of the people? Since when did the Republicans, with their yammering on about the Bush tax cuts and their pandering to big business become the champion of the little guy? I mean, seriously.

When I told her that she was putting her cart behind a true horses ass in Beck, letting her know a bit about him, she was shocked. He's just a high-school graduate? But he seems like a professor with his chalk and blackboard! He's never held any position of note other than a media hack? Wow, I thought he must have been one of those guys that tells politicians what to do. Amazing.

Here's an idea, Dems. Tell it like it is. Pull no punches. Hit the nail on the head. All of the applicable hackneyed phrases. The Republicans and their mouthpieces are and they are winning the hearts and minds of the "American People". Stop being afraid of alienating the Right - they aren't coming to the table. There is no opportunity for dialogue with people like Boehner, McConnel and Kantor. Fight back, dammit!

The longer the Dems wait to raise their fists and strike out on their own, the longer more Americans will fall for the claptrap that's being put out there by the Republican B.S. machine and all of their shadowy fake special interest groups. Over60.org? Say the special interest lobby for health plans. Americans for Progress? Say the petroleum lobby. Clean Coal.org? Well, guess that one. All Republican-leaning interests. Here's an idea America, stop getting your political information from one source or listening to 30-second spots that clearly want to spin you in their direction.

Wake up America!

America the Beautiful

I took my son John to the Patriotic Fireworks Music Spectacular at the Cleveland Indian's game last night - which was awesome. There was a large group of Australian youth baseball players and their parents and coaches in attendance who were in town for a tournament. One parent noted, "You Yanks are a special breed. No one loves your country or flag like you do. I think its great!" I said in return, "Yes sir, we do. Yet this is what its all about." And I gestured to the 25,000 parents and children in attendance, all cheering what really is mediocre baseball, eating waterlogged hot dogs, sharing a simple and happy moment in time and in doing so, showing what America is all about.













I think we over-complicate things at times when discussing the American People. Last night was a perfect example of how simple we really are as a nationality. The pervasive stream of negative media content would make it seem like we area nation of perverts, miscreants, criminals and fools - and to a certain extent I suppose we are - but not in balance. Not as a whole. What we saw last night was the slightly goofy, well-intentioned and laughable core of our people stripped clean. It takes that blend of high and low, "book smart" and street raised, wonderous and cynical - that's the "American People".

I just had the pleasure of spending an evening with 25,000 of them, and I hope to do the same again soon.

Happy 4th everyone!

Beware the Ides of Marsh

BP (and Halliburton and TransOcean) in their reluctance to take any responsibility for the horrific accident and subsequent spill in the Gulf have mutually agreed on one thing - that no bad deed will go punished. Its despicable to watch them hem and haw in the Congressional hearings, passing the same tattered buck back and forth between them. The bottom line is, it was BP's lease, TransOceans' rig and Halliburton's usual incompetence. All of them are to blame. None of them really seem to care outside of the oily blemish on their already faded credibility.

While we can't directly boycott Halliburton or TransOcean, we CAN and SHOULD boycott BP. I know that this isn't fair to their individual franchisees - they didn't choose to have this happen to their individually-owned stations, their Subway restaurants and Wild Bean cafes. However, the only way to send a message to BP as a consumer is not to patronize them. I urge all of my readers to fill-up at any other station - according to a great article in the NYT last Sunday on offshore drilling safety BP has the worst overall record so any of them are better. Ironically, Exxon-Mobile is now at the top of the safety list, primarily because of the lessons they learned from the Valdez disaster.

In addition, reach out to your Congressmen and Senators regarding holding BP's feet to the fire over this disaster and asking for more responsible regulation of the nation's oil and gas industry in the future. Demand that they address the ongoing gap in oil exploration subsidies and royalty reduction that was created when oil was bottomed-out under the Bush administration. Demand that they address the ongoing outright theft that takes place when mineral, oil and gas rights on Federal lands are given away to corporations under antiquated and unfair regulations.

For once, let's not allow yet another mega-corporation a 'free pass'. The Gulf and its residents, wildlife, wetlands and offshore ecosystem are going to be suffering for the gross incompetence of BP and their partners for many years to come. They should pay the price for all of it.