A Tale of Two Twits

            #1:  Fooley Farfin has been unemployed for two years.  He makes a few dollars scrounging aluminum cans, and accepts whatever temporary work he can find.  His unemployment suffered a hit with the sequester, so he no longer takes his prescription meds.  Lately, he needs help cleaning himself up to seek those erstwhile temp jobs.  Recently, he found a handgun in a dumpster.  He used his “can” money to buy bullets from a guy.  Night before last, he mugged a man.  Grabbed him from behind in between street lights, put the gun to his ear, and told him, “Give me all your money, or I’ll shoot you.  If you don’t cooperate, you’ll be guilty of murder.”

            #2:  Felonius Fogg has been working steadily for years.  He is highly regarded by those who hired him, and by many co-workers.  In the course of his employment he has enriched himself.  He is well-to-do these days.  He’s spent a good deal of his career finding ways to help the people who have helped elect him over the years.  He doesn’t forget a kindness.  He maintains that government should be mostly absent from domestic affairs.  He supported the last debt ceiling battle.  He’s calling for another showdown with the President, where congress will grind the government to a halt if Affordable Care Act provisions are funded.  “If the President won’t agree to de-fund ACA,” the honorable Fogg says, “it’ll be his fault that there’s no money to run the country!”       

Cretins at Work

            Well, winning is the main thing.  So, what is a loser to do?  Some have decided to lie, cheat, and steal to kill the success of the winner.  We have heard no end of lies about leadership, unwillingness to negotiate, birther conspiracies, Constitutional violations, and much much more, laid at this President’s door. 

Some losers want to cheat the people out of affordable health care, and they have cheated us out of over $100 million (the operating cost of their failed congressional attempts to do it).  When it comes to stealing, these same losers have been successful.  The income inequality in America is legendary among nations.  The prosperity we could have enjoyed has been stolen to bribe the God of Austerity, instead of priming the economy. 

But they want more.  Losers are again planning to damage America.  They want to hold this country hostage until Affordable Care Act provisions are defunded.  Another debt ceiling tantrum is swirling in their hearts.  Never mind the legitimate business of the country which will go begging.  Never mind our international reputation for financial reliability.  The straw man of debt reduction is calling.  The people who want government to control womens’ reproductive rights are demanding that government has no right to help America’s sick and needy.  Game on!  Stop the government until we get our way!  Around here, it kinda seems like the inmates have taken over the asylum.  The next step will be colorful barricades around congress proclaiming, “Cretins At Work!”

How To Succeed At Murder

            We are now hearing calls for a review of ‘Stand-Your-Ground’ laws in this country.  A thorough examination of these provisions and their impact couldn’t be more welcome.  While very few people object to an individual defending him or her self in the face of criminal threat, these laws do not adequately (if at all) address the intent of all the parties present and involved in stand your ground situations.  Self defense against crime ought to be legal.  If criminal activity is established in accordance with the law, and/or the circumstances involved, the criminal should be deemed to have responsibility for the event.  HOWEVER, such determination should rest on what ALL parties to the event were doing.

            Thus it should be a criminal offense for volunteers to violate Neighborhood Watch protocol and the instructions of police representatives who are communicating with them.  Who does not understand that, “We don’t need you to do that…” (follow a citizen), means get back in your car and go away.  It does not mean continue to stalk someone, and conduct yourself like a suspicious predator.

            Unless these stand your ground problems are addressed, anyone can get away with murder.  Just make your way to a stand your ground state, frighten some kid into attacking you, pretend to be afraid for your life, and shoot him.  

            Around here, we think the overdue examination of these laws makes sense.  And it is hard to politely express our disappointment with Neighborhood Watch.

Unskunking the Deal

            Many people are concerned over the decision to select Kearney as the new Veterans’ Home site.  Troubling questions have arisen.  Was the outcome a done deal before the competition began?  Who brought the “shut-up” squad down on Don Shuda and why?  What complaints was he forwarding that posed such a burden?  Are problems addressed with alacrity and enthusiasm by Vets Affairs?  What does the decision to leave Grand Island say about DHHS’s responsibility to its long-term employees and their charges.  The news media have a responsibility here.  Many questions demand investigative journalists’ attention on behalf of Nebraskans and the Veterans who have served our country.

            Kearney may indeed be the best location.  But attempts by highest level bureaucrats, elected and otherwise, to balance past state budgets on the backs of Nebraska’s needy children, have given DHHS an already heavy sack of rocks to carry.  Credibility is an issue.  Add the confusing (at least to the public) meanings of site selection criteria.  Plus the many Nebraskans who feel there are misdeeds afoot.  Consider the appearance of bribery as candidate cities lined up with their millions and their discount coupons!  It’s a recipe for misunderstanding.

            Regardless of the integrity of the site committee, the process has taken on the stink of the fix.  Around here, we think that requires DHHS and the committee to take its tomato juice bath and get rid of the smell.  They would be ill-advised to just ignore it and flee to a nearby city.

The Word Whisperer

            Who makes words mean virtually anything without apparent effort?  Sorts and discards contrary facts, so the desired message remains unharmed.  Highlights the truth you knew was there by revealing little pieces of vague supporting “evidence” you can assimilate and appropriate to the cause.  Even if it is a truth that hides from logic, without substance, without molecules, empty and vaporous as a mirage.  What conjurer is this, that gently bends our ear and constricts our thoughts? 

It is the ancient savanna living survivalist in each of us—the primordial voice that so often steers us to safety, and yet so often steers us wrong—the reason that reason has such difficulty changing our minds.  It is why we listen to our Rush’s and our Rachel’s when we could be enjoying Rachmaninoff or Roy Orbison.     

            Around here, we think it’s important to know of this word whisperer, this silent mental majority that is capable of outvoting our counter-intuitive best interests.  Only conscious actions provide countervailing authority.  Like researching facts, observing what works, and deliberately overcoming the commercial advertising that distracts us from our desired outcomes.

            Try some brightly conscious analysis before a major purchase.  Is it the best way to reach your goals?  What’s the opportunity cost—what else could you do with the money?  Try it next time you vote.  Research voting records, beyond the apparent, behind the facades.  Do they reflect your values, or is someone tapping something ancient to whisper in your mind?