OLD GUY XMAS

You know? I just realized that at my age I’ve been listening to Xmas hymns and songs for 67 years now, and I have earned the right to be a curmudgeon about carole listening. I’m tired of them. I’m tired of the false hope that this seasonal orgy gives to the disheveled. I’m tired of orgies of giving on false pretexts. I’ve earned the right to my view, and I need not feel ashamed of not going along for the sleight of hand “ride”. Or is that “job”? What a relief—to see I’ve earned my hard-earned skepticism. And here’s a big fat phaaaaarrt in the imagined savior’s face to go along with my skepticism! Now, is that shocking, or what?


THESE DAYS

Today, December 17, 2004, new reports show that Bush operatives are holding prisoners in Guantanamo in secret. And that Bush’s next budget will decimate programs for the poor, the handicapped and the mentally ill so that his tax cuts for the rich can be made permanent. Further Bush’s U.S. refuses to be part of the world wide emission control efforts represented by the Kyoto Accord while another report shows that the rich are spending richly at high end stores while the rest of us cut back on our gift giving because, frankly, we just can’t afford it.

Irresponsible, cruel, secretive—what more do we need to know before we realize that this Bush character has tricked his wife Laura into thinking he’s a nice guy? (This morning just heard we ought to have a new bumper sticker that reads, “IMPEACH LAURA!”.) Many a mafioso wife didn’t know the full range of her husband’s murderous ways. As for those unrelated Republicans who support him—well, my fear is that most of them don’t read and get most of their news distorted and censored straight out of the mouths of sex addict O’Reilly and the drug addict Limbaugh.

And locally, we see Republicans like Kate McCaslin who is working hard to destroy the reputation of Spokane’s Regional Health District head, Thorburn. Kate doesn’t like the Health District leader doing a good job because if the job is done right, some of Kate’s friends might be forced to shut down their businesses. Would anyone expect a Republican to put public interest above personal profit? I know better. I hope that you all do too.


BELIEVE IT OR NOT?

Arianna Huffington says that we Democrats need to stick to our populist roots, our “left-leaning” roots, which stress economic fairness and social justice. She believes that a drift to the center only exacerbates our cause by suggesting that our core values were false all along. I tend to agree with her, though, currently, I know I feel fear at the thought of losing any more battles because the American center has temporarily lost its way, its heart and its mind. But, actually we must believe that fairness is an American trait which will eventually reassert itself after this current Republican madness fades away.
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"The last time I tried to make love to my wife nothing was happening, so I said to her, "What's the matter, you can't think of anybody either?" —Rodney Dangerfield