Exercise is Good For You              February 19, 2013

            Politicians often fail to agree.  The 112^th congress is an historic benchmark of such failure.  The 113^th is trending apace.  Two things are surprising—that so many were reelected, and that the language of disagreement, in congress, and abroad in our land, is so crudely disrespectful. 

It seems many Americans are taking communication cues from the sewer of political campaign advertising.  Those ads call a candidate’s opponent a lying two-faced charlatan.  They do it every ten minutes, for months.  How hard is it to imagine that that message and attitude adheres, especially with voters who are inclined to oppose the person anyway.  Comments like, “liar” and “thief” and “idiot” and sometimes even, “anti-Christ” and “Hitler” thus appear in public conversation ever after.  And that’s just the mild end of the scale.  The really nasty stuff, the product of mental illness, is sickening.  Upon reflection, you can see that lack of civility demeans the poor soul who displays it, exponentially more than the object of the criticism.  It belies an attempt to manipulate, or a conditioned response and the absence of reason.  If you hear such criticisms and get emotionally angry at the targeted individual, beware—the manipulation has worked!

As for the politicians who are disrespectful in the face of differing opinions, they are insecure, and/or currying anger, and/or believe their own campaign advertising. 

Around here, we think the exercise of public politeness is worthwhile, even when it calls for significant effort.           

It Ain’t Easy Being Purple  February 15, 2013

            Congress is crippled.  It cannot or will not deliver the governance this country needs and deserves.  Polarized seems inadequate to describe the ongoing congressional malfeasance born of gotcha politics on both sides of the aisle.  The old rule that you get the government you deserve is proven by this magnificent exception—this shameful display of the terrible two’s—this sorry soup of incompetence that none of us deserves.    

            Take heart, there is a path to adulthood.  It’s called conflict resolution.  There are many proven healing tactics that can be applied.  Individuals and committees can start by earnestly seeking compromise in structured ways that have been used for decades in the business world.  No, they are not perfect.  And yes, the birthers and the tree huggers are going to have to shut up and deal.  Fringe-group obstructionism, evident in nearly everything congress does, has to fall out of vogue.  There may be cause for optimism in the recent activity of newly elected members who have expressed their determination to turn things around.  Some of the rhetoric is familiar; some is encouraging.

            The key is that congress has to want to resolve differences.  Around here, we think that’s where all of us come in.  Repeatedly reminding our elected AWOL gang members that we want disputes resolved or we’ll support and vote for their opponents in the next election, could actually be a healing tactic.  That means work for us.  It ain’t easy being purple.

Reality Check            February 1, 2013

            OK people.  Let’s can the bullshit.  An armed society is a polite society?  Bullshit!  An armed society is a frightened society.  Think about the last twenty minutes you spent in traffic.  Do you really think we live in a polite society, or that guns can make that happen? The truth is that polite people make a polite society.  Cultivate civility.

            We have a right to keep and bear arms.  The Constitution does not limit that right.  That does not mean that you should believe everything some idiot is saying about “they’re going to take away our guns!”  That’s just bullshit!  It’s designed to whip you into a storm of emotional anger so you’ll go out and buy whatever is legal, and throw a tantrum if anyone tries to do ANYTHING regarding guns, magazines, and ammo.  Check your emotions.  You don’t want to be the measuring pole in someone else’s pissing contest.

            The way to resist the fed gov is to pass unconstitutional state laws?  C’mon people, that’s emotional bullshit.  The correct way to resist has already been demonstrated by all those state attorneys general who wanted to undermine affordable health care—file suit in court and show that a federal act is unconstitutional.

            So now if you polite folks will excuse me, I’m going to exit the media bullshit factory and call my congressman and senators to let them know what I would like them to do…unless you need to use the phone first. 

Unscrewing The Taxpayers

Unscrewing The Taxpayers           January 30, 2013

            I’ve been telling you that congress is the AWOL gang and that AWOL stands for Absent Without Leaving—they’re there, but they’re just strutting and fretting their hours upon the stage, full of sound and fury, and accomplishing nothing.  The fiscal cliff deal revealed a whole new meaning for AWOL—Actually Working On Legislation—a circumstance exponentially more dangerous and costly than the first. 

This time, a small group of Senate “Trust Me” boys added a provision to the final deal that gave Amgen (the dollar dropping drug company) another (that means a second) two-year moratorium on compliance with Medicare pricing on its oral drug for dialysis patients.  It’s worth about half a billion dollars!  Wait, does that mean that the endangered Medicare program will pay $500,000,000 more than it needs to for Amgen drugs? Yuup!  You mean Amgen, the company that is guilty of crime for which it was fined over $750 million?  Yuup!  You mean the American taxpayers are going to pay them the equivalent of 2/3 of their record-setting criminal fine?  Yuup!

Of course this is a provision that had no place in a fiscal cliff deal, benefiting a criminal company that had no legitimate place at the table.  Around here, we call this predatory legislative malfeasance.  This is what your elected representatives are doing to you when nobody is looking.  Why not ask YOUR AWOL gang members what they plan to do to unscrew the taxpayers? 

Short Bursts of Sanity         January 18, 2013

            It seems our ECONOMIC history is one of long periods of self-centered excess punctuated by short bursts of sanity.  For example the industrial revolution in this country, that long ascendancy of the robber barons, culminating in the Great Depression.  Then we had a burst of sanity when we realized that there needed to be a safety net for those who fell or got thrown off the train.  We created Social Security, a cost effective way to protect against the economic decimation of our unfortunate fellows.  It was a path to recovery.  We realized that by taking care of them at a subsistence level, we were actually taking care of ourselves too.  We taxed ourselves and became more prosperous as a country. 

            Some corollaries can be found today in tax policy, and health and climate care.  We are still on our selfish journeys, but people are starting to realize that the healthier we can make the least of these, our fellow humans, the richer we become as a society.  The more equality of income opportunity we provide ourselves, the more stable we remain as a country.  And all but the very selfish or uninformed admit that our environmental burst of sanity is overdue.

            When you hear the next Draconian argument that claims we should abandon others and exist in a free-for-all world, don’t be discouraged.  It’s a sign that change is threatening someone’s journey of callous disregard.  It is the harbinger of another burst of sanity.

The Cheater's Waltz

The Cheater’s Waltz                        January 16, 2013

            Most of us heard that “too big to fail” bank excuse and thought, “We’re getting cheated again!”  Meanwhile regulators delay implementation of rules, congress asks the offenders for their advice on how to unscrew things up, and they all play Alfonse and Gaston holding doors for each other.  Enough!

            It’s time for the Absent Without Leaving gang to pass some meaningful legislation that consigns “too big to fail” back into the garbage.  Shake ‘em up, break ‘em up.  Whatever it takes.  AIG considered suing the Fed Gov because their bail out was too small, and getting screwed could be back in vogue.  The problem is clearly not solved.

No penalties have been imposed on the culprits of the economic meltdown.  No actions have eliminated their excesses.  There’s been bluster, but no effective congressional action to eliminate “too big to fail”.  So, what’s the plan?  Just wait for it to happen again?  Throw another debt ceiling tantrum?  Blow a month on Cabinet appointments?  When the next bubble bursts, you will not be able to use the universal, “I wasn’t ready” excuse.  GET SOMETHING DONE! 

            Here’s the deal Capitol hill, we want you to turn “too big to fail” into “too small to screw us all”.  It’s time to end the piracy.  And it’s your job to get it done.  Around here, we think it’s the least you can do.  And isn’t that level of achievement established in the 112^th congress?  Do your job.  YOU are too big to fail.