Blame Where Blame Belongs

I know I have written about this before, but I don't like to suffer in silence, so here I go again. 

There is plenty of blame to go around where the economy is concerned, so we need to stop putting all of it on President Obama.  There is only so much one man can do, given the opposition he has encountered , not only from the Republicans, but through betrayal of some of the Democrats.  Don't get me started about the Tea Party. Now, I have been disappointed in President Obama in many ways, particularly in the way he keeps giving in to the Republicans on EVERYTHING, even when he had majorities in both houses. At first, it was understandable that he was trying to reach out to the opposition and get them to cooperate, but after a few months, it should have been painfully obvious that they were hidebound and would never give in on anything, even the things they believe in.  That's when he should have dug in his heels. 

And, let's not forget the governors, in particular, Republican governors, who readily or even reluctantly accepted stimulus money and then simply sat on it, instead of using it for its intended purpose.  They have let their states down by not allowing work to start on infrastructure, which would have opened up the job market. But, no. Their inaction has meant no repair of roads and bridges, and many other projects which ought to be obvious to the voters of those states.  We will see if those governors reap what they have sewn in their coming elections.

I think we are going to be forced to take a very close look at all of our elected officials, especially those who supposedly represent us in the House and Senate.  In Arkansas, we took the blinders off about Blanche Lincoln.  We voted her out of office but, in my opinion we elected someone even worse in John Boozman.  But, that part of the state is solidly Republican, which is why Blanche voted the way she did so often. It finally caught up with her, and Boozman will eventually get his comeuppance. 

Our other senator, Mark Pryor, has been a disappointment to many of us, me included, mainly because everyone loved his father, Senator David Pryor.  Speaking for myself, I think we should be ashamed of ourselves for voting for Mark out of our esteem for his father. I didn't stop to think that Mark is not David. My bad.  It's just hard to believe that any son raised by David and Barbara Pryor could go to Washington and vote the way he has on so many issues.

Now, we have all this posturing and bombast over the debt ceiling which, in the end, will have to be passed. We have no choice.   So, as they have for everything else, they have been dragging their feet and insisting on cuts to Social Security, which has no effect on the economy, since it is self-sustaining.  They also want to do away with Medicare, but I haven't noticed them complaining about Medicare Part D (the prescription drug plan which enriches the insurance companies).  We need to call the Republicans' bluff on this issue and see if they actually have the balls to vote no.  If they do, we will surely know who to blame when we default on our loans. 

I just hope we get our priorities straight before end up looking a lot like a third world country.

Stay tuned.

Same Old, Same Old

I voted early, so the election has been over for me for several weeks.  We have a real hot button issue on the ballot in our county this year.  The voters will decide whether the county will go "wet" or stay "dry".  I wouldn't even try to predict how that will turn out.  All I know is that over 1/3 of the registered voters in this county have already voted, and most of them are 50 years old or older. This is not surprising, since most of the young people here flee the county as soon as they graduate from high school. There isn't much to keep them here.

My doctor, whom I love, has been at the forefront of the "drys".  He is not a particularly political person, but he is a devoutly religious person, so this issue was apparently important enough to him for him to get involved, and I respect that.  If I didn't know how sincere he is, I might argue with him, but even I won't take on someone who is on THAT particular high ground.  Besides, he's my doctor, and I make it a point never to get into any kind of debate with him, lest he prescribe hemlock, or something.  At my age, I can't be too careful.

In past elections, I have posted tirelessly, cheerleading for the Democrats, but this year, I'm strangely disinterested in the whole process.  I find the "Tea Partiers" amusing, because I know that if and when they are elected, they will be swallowed up by the Republicans, and in two years, they will probably be replaced.  After all, we have been replacing Congressmen every two years for decades, and look what we still have. Only, this year, they appear to be dumber and more radical. And, the Democrats appear to be more cowardly.  

Looking back over the decades, the arguments have been the same, only the sides have switched.  "It's time for a change!" "The system is broken!" "Let's take our country back!" "No more politics as usual!"  "The country is going in the wrong direction!" When the Republicans are in charge, the Democrats are in full cry with these age old mantras. And, when the Democrats are in charge, the Republicans echo the same phrases. Hence, the turnover.

The same thing happens, on a much smaller scale, in my county.  We have two men who run for County Judge, two men who run for Sheriff, and two men who run for Mayor every single election.  Now and then, someone else will jump into the race but it's understood that one of the two men in each race will win.  They keep trading off like that year after year. It's Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dee all over again.  One man is no better and no worse than the other, and nothing much ever changes.   

What will happen after this election?  Nothing. It appears that the Republicans will pick up a bunch of seats.  So, what else is new?  And, what will they actually do when they take over the House of Representatives, beside banking all the million$ the lobbyists have poured into their coffers?  Nothing.

Phooey!

Stay tuned.

What to Say, What to Say

OK, I'm back and I still don't have any bright ideas, so this will probably seem a bit random, to say the least. Nothing much happened in the last two weeks, except that August finally wound down, and for that alone, I am thankful.

Here it is, Labor Day. It is a holiday dedicated to American workers, but this year, maybe it should be dedicated to out of work workers who, in the past several years have been laid off, let go, downsized and talked into taking early retirement. The companies who let most of these workers go have new workers, in Mexico and other countries, where they don't have to offer decent salaries and/or such benefits as healthcare, pension plans, and other perks that American workers have come to expect as part of their compensation.

So, who is celebrating Labor Day this year? Right! Big corporations, for sure. Pharmaceutical companies and health insurers. The rest of us are trying to celebrate as usual, but we're having trouble finding good reasons for it. So, I thought I might be able to help a bit.

Betty's reasons for celebrating Labor Day and predictions for the coming months:

1. School has started, or will start tomorrow, and it will be safe to walk down the sidewalks without getting run over by all manner of kiddie vehicles that aren't allowed on the streets.

2. There will probably be picnics going on all over the neighborhood.

3. We can look forward to balloon races here next weekend.

4. Labor Day marks the start of the holiday season, during which we can attend county fairs and goat ropin's, lots of garage sales and craft fairs. It's the season when women all over the country know where their husbands are from Friday night until Monday morning. On the couch, watching FOOTBALL!

5. This year, we are fortunate enough to look forward to election day in November, at which time the Democrats are expected to pay the price for their betrayal of the President and their general wussiness. They'll get just what they deserve - a bunch of radical, right-wing wackos who don't have a clue about governance, and only think they are going to be allowed to have their radical ways by the Republicans already in office. Won't they be surprised when the realize they don't have the support for their agenda that they expected to have! Those good old boys in the GOP won't have any use for the BillyBobs and Bubbas that they helped to elect after the election.

6. There may well be an uptick in hiring at the first of the year, by those companies who have been holding back until after the elections. The banks will finally start loaning money and the states that accepted stimulus money will start using the money for its intended purpose - infrastructure. Or, at least they will use the funds that haven't already been pocketed by their CEOs, governors, attorneys general, etc., etc.

7. With any luck, by this time next year, Seniors can expect an increase in their Social Security benefits. They may not be too noticeable, what with their healthcare premiums having gone up this year and probably again next year. But, at least we'll feel like we're catching up, even if we aren't. This is going to be possible only if the Republicans haven't managed to abolish Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and Part D (the prescription plan) and have replaced it with their idea of privatization, by investing your payroll taxes in the stock market - and won't that be fun?.

8. And, lastly, people, and possibly most importantly, it's time to put away your white shoes.

Stay tuned.

Nothing To See Here

I know, I haven't blogged in a week, but I just couldn't think of anything to say. I was in a pretty good mood all week, so I couldn't whine and bitch and complain as usual. And, I'll freely admit that I still don't have an idea. But, I'll try.

I can't say that I'm particularly pleased about President Obama's choice of Elena Kagan as his Supreme Court nominee. I'm not particularly disappointed, either. I just don't understand it. I was hoping he would realize that there could be perfectly qualified people outside of Harvard and Yale. And, although I'm not anti-Catholic or anti-Semitic, it seems to me that there would probably be lots of Protestants out there, maybe in the Mid-West, who could qualify. I'm just sayin'.

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What in the world are those poor people in Florida, and others along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico going to do? What is BP going to do? What is anyone going to do, besides play the ever-popular blame-game? I can imagine the frustration and helplessness.

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Here we go, again. Another interim election, and another purge of incumbents. Bob Bennett cried harder than Jimmy Swaggart when he lost the other day. Maybe we, as voters, are beginning to wise up and start holding our own representatives accountable, instead of blindly re-electing them for years and years. Could it be that we have finally realized that some of our long-time representatives are not actually doing what we sent them to do? We tend to protect our own and condemn the other states' congressmen/women. It's time to face the music and tell our representatives that we are watching them and keeping track of their votes. Then, if they don't straighten up and stop voting to please the lobbyists, we can boot them out and get someone who will keep our interests in mind. It's a lot easier to get rid of a representative who has only served one or two terms than one who has served for thirty.

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Heard on the news that Joe Biden's son has had a mild stroke. Maybe it's a good thing he decided not to run for Dad's senate seat. The stroke might have been a lot worse. I hope he has a quick recovery.

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It seems that a bulging disc isn't the worst of Tiger Woods' problems. His wife has filed for divorce and gone back to Sweden, apparently. And his "swing coach" has quit. Wonder which one Tiger will miss most.

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I asked my son what tea-bagging was, and he replied, " There are just some things a guy won't tell his mom about." So, I Googled it. And, now I know why he didn't want to talk about it.

Sometimes I wish I weren't so curious.

Kevin Costner, etc.

I watched "Mr. Brooks" with Kevin Costner last Tuesday. I have to admit, that although I like Kevin Costner, he has made a few not so good movies, so I didn't have high hopes for this one. I was wrong. This thriller was good, in spite of the fact that Demi Moore was the co-star.

Yes, there was some violence. But, I like violence, remember? The plot had enough quirks to keep me interested, which is saying a lot, because at my age, I tend to drift during movies that have dull spots, and then I wake up and the movie is over, and I have to run it back to see what happened.

Anyhoo, if you get a chance to see it, you won't be bored.

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So, Hillary will be nominated from the floor at the Democratic Convention. Then, went the voting starts, she will cast her own Super Delegate vote for Barack Obama. And, Barack Obama will, in turn, cast his own Super Delegate vote for Hillary Clinton. Then, they'll all join hands and sing Kumbaya, in a show of unity, with hugging all around.

Happy days are here again.

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This is the last time I'm going to talk about John Edwards, I promise. But, I saw Riele's sister doing an interview on a cable channel and she really lit into him. She thinks the baby is his, she thinks he has given her sister money, and, when asked why she thinks her sister is protecting him, she said, "I don't know. I guess she's in love with him."

I'd rather think she is trying to protect herself because she is ashamed of herself for entering into a relationship with a man she knew was married and had young children.

I'd like to think that, yes I would. But, I don't.

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This comes under the heading of "Things I'd like to live to see".

Someday, during the silly season, two incumbents in some race are going to have a debate that goes something like this:

Dumb: "I've been talking about reforming healthcare and education for the last 20 years!"

Dumber: "Well, I've been talking about reforming them for the last 30 years!"

Talk, talk, talk.

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For the past couple of years, I have been lurking ( I know, I know, two years is a long time to lurk, I should be ashamed, but I'm not.) on a blog called and no cheese. It is the delightful daily journal of a gentleman in England. I love my British Blogbuddies, and don't know why I haven't commented on his blog. I think it's because I would feel like I was intruding on his life. Have you ever read blogs like that?

Anyway, today he talked about his trip to Sainsbury's and what he was going to prepare for dinner tonight and tomorrow night. Since I've never heard of these dishes, and found them fascinating, as well as disgusting (sorry, Your Majesty) I thought I'd tell you about them, since he very kindly linked to the recipes.

Tonight, he's making "Mr. Brain's Faggots", described as a frozen food product available in Wales, England and Ireland made of liverand onions rolled into meatballs, served in a sauce. What's so bad about that, you say? Absolutely nothing. I love liver and onions, myself. But, it goes on to explain that this is different from the traditional recipe which is made of meat off-cuts and offal (pork). And, then, there's this further description: "Usually made of pig heart, liver and fatty belly meat or bacon, minced together with herbs for flavoring and wrapped around a caul (that's a membrane from the pig's abdomen) and baked. Yowser! does this sound a bit like Haggis to you?

Then, tomorrow night's feast will be "Yum-Yum-Pig's-Bum", which consists of a slab of bacon, 1/2 green cabbage, 1/2 white cabbage, 8 potatoes (peeled), salt and pepper. To be boiled within an inche of its life and served with a parseley sauce.

I'll leave you now, so you can consider your own dinner recipes, and, maybe, just maybe you'll appreciate that meatloaf a little more.

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Stay tuned.

My Bed of Pain

Sorry I haven't posted this week, but I had to concentrate on my pain. I have found that to get the maximum sympathy, I have to moan more loudly and pitifully than I used to. It's a slippery slope, though, and if I'm not careful, I could overdo it and end up in Shady Pines Rest Home.

I slept wrong the other night, and my shoulder and arm have given me fits ever since. I know you young folks won't really relate to this, being supple and agile and all, but seniors will understand how long it takes to recover. As you will have deduced by now, I'm better, although still twingeing, and whingeing.

To make matters worse, it was my right arm.

End of whine.

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Yesterday's primaries ended as predicted with Hillary winning in Kentucky and Obama winning in Oregon, effectively cancelling each other out, I guess. Ho-Hum.

Only three more, and, of course, there's May 31, the day the Democratic National Committee meets to decide what to do with Michigan and Florida. There are reports that they will give each delegate 1/2 vote and let them go to the convention. This puts Obama back in the race in those two states, I guess.

The Democrats are going to have to get it together and make some simple rules for primaries, and then stick to them. All this "moving the finish line" that Hillary is trying to do is getting tiresome. The irony of the situation is that the rules were made to ensure that black voters were represented fairly. And, who was the head of the DNC when these complicated, convoluted rules were made? Bill Clinton, of course.

Talk about something coming back and biting you on the ass!

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I'm just devastated. Ted Kennedy has been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. He will start treatment soon, and I hope it helps. Many years ago, the biggest mistake in his life taught him a valuable lesson, and he learned it well. He has turned into one of the most effective and hard-working senators. With the traumatic deaths of his brothers, he stepped up and became a surrogate father to all of their children.

And, I wish the newspeople would stop speaking of him in the past tense. He's still here, and I, for one, hope he will be for a long time to come.

I Love A Rainy Day

But, enough is enough. These old bones have ached for a month and a half, and I'm tired of it. It's time for a little sunshine.

Looks as though West Virginia put a little sunshine in Hillary's life, at least temporarily. It won't be enough for her to win, but it is enough for her to keep on until the primaries are finally over. She needs to try to recoup some of the million$ she has lent to her campaign.

Which brings me to the Super Delegates. It seems to me that they should have remained neutral until the primaries are over. Same goes for the sitting Senators and Congresspeople and Governors. After all, they are supposed to represent their constituents, so they should let the voters decide the race. Then, when it's all over and the mud dries up, they can endorse the candidate their own state voters chose. Why do we have delegates, anyway, if they are not going to do what we want them to do? Huh?

But, especially the Super Delegates. After all, they're only there to prevent some kind of disaster, aren't they? Like making sure the voters don't elect a blithering idiot? Whatever you might think about Hillary, she is not unsuitable. So shouldn't the Super Delegates sit down and shut up?

I continue to have the sinking feeling that the Democrats have, once again, screwed the pooch, as they say at NASA. This kind of divisive race is not something we needed this year, when it seemed we couldn't possibly lose. We surely CAN lose. It all comes down to whether the voters are more biased against women or black people. We have gotten into the unfortunate habit of voting "against" rather than "for" a candidate.

West Virginia voters showed us which candidate they were against, didn't they? Phew! Did you see some of the comments made by the citizens of that state? Makes one think that maybe we should just build a big old wall around it so none of them can escape and taint the rest of the country. Maybe it's all those coal mines. Makes them live like moles, always in the dark.

And, now that they have made their racism crystal clear, they can go on to vote solidly Republican in the general election.

I don't mind admitting, I have never been as undecided about an election as I have been this one. One day, I think I want Hillary to win, and the next day, I'm convinced that Obama is the best bet.

All I know is I'll vote for whoever is the candidate!

Cindy Who?

Cindy McCain was on "The View", as one of the co-hosts this morning, and much as I hate to admit it, I was impressed. She seemed very comfortable and refrained from quoting from the Republican Playbook. Of course, Elizabeth Hasselbeck was there to do that, if need be. Elizabeth never misses a chance to intone sentences starting with the ominous words, "in a time of war", or, "since we are at war". Cindy acquitted herself very well, I thought.

However, just because she impressed me in this instance doesn't mean that I won't be discussing her at length in not so glowing terms when the General Election campaign heats up. Heheh.

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While listening to the news on CNN this morning, I realized that, while we have all been hearing about the "surge" working, we have been thinking about the "war" . Silly us. It's the oil prices that are "surging", and consequently, food prices are "surging". My rent "surged", also. For the second time in two years.

I'll bet the Bush family coffers are "surging", too.

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I just don't know what to say about the cult in Texas. It is being reported that the anonymous call from that "16-year-old" girl accusing them of child abuse, etc., may well have been a hoax. Nevertheless, the Texas authorities are saying that there has been abuse going on, according to Texas law. Did you get a load of the Stepford Wives who came forth to cry on cue for the cameras? Those women CAN'T enjoy wearing those painfully unfashionable dresses and tresses, can they? Finally, this morning, a couple of the men appeared and, guess what? Next to the women, they were right spiffy-looking. Hmmmmmm. Something rotten, there.

I hope the authorities can get to the bottom of it.

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I'll sure be glad when tomorrow's Primary in Pennsylvania is over. Not that it will solve anything. It has just been such a long time since the last primary, and the candidates have been getting sillier and sillier. Wonder if any of those voters in the earliest primaries have been wishing they could change their votes.

Serves them right for insisting on holding their primaries so early, and lengthening the political season.

To be continued.

One Year Out Of Four

I have been listening to campaign rhetoric for many, many years, and there is a certain sameness to it all, don’t you think? When I was a mere child, as far back as elementary school, I heard the grown-ups discussing what this or that candidate promised to do for the country. Hopes are always high that significant change will be made and we will all be better off.

Now that I am much older, I look back on past presidential campaigns and realize that the promises are about the same and the results are about the same, too.

After the election, the winners are fast out of the gate, and quickly make small changes that are easiest to make. These make a big splash, if only because they are the first ones that have been made since the first year of the last presidential term. The candidates all seem to think that they can talk a good game, make a couple of quick improvements the first year, then relax for the next three and the voters will be satisfied.

Sometime during the third year of their terms, they get revved up again, and start talking “change”. But it is always the same thing they talked about before their first term that they have been ignoring for three years. Ever since I was too young to understand what it was, politicians have been talking about universal health care. They have given it different names, like “socialized medicine”, a term coined by the Republicans to scare the bejeesus out of the voters, and it still seems to work for them. The Democrats use the phrase “single payer” to assure the public that the government as nanny is still alive and beating in the generous hearts of the party of the common man.

When they are finally elected, they take one look at the problem and throw up their hands because they are appalled at the difficulty and expense involved. In other words, they give up too soon.

The promise to create more and higher paying jobs looks much more difficult to the person who has just been elected on that promise. So, it will go by the wayside, too, along with the banking and housing problems, which may get a bandaid or two. And, let's not even talk about Iraq.

And, so it goes. Pretty soon, after a couple of decades of identifying new problems and failing to fix them, we have the current situation. An overwhelming list of ills and no cures in sight.

How can we make sure the people we elect will keep their noses to the grindstone and diligently try to make the changes that they promised to make during their campaigns? I don’t know. Some people suggest that we lengthen the term of office of the Presidency to six, seven or eight years, and limit them to only the one term. This idea has some merit. I must admit, the more I think about it, the more I warm to the notion.

This would mean changing the election laws as they apply to the presidency, but how hard could that be? HAHAHAHAHAHAH! Sometimes I crack myself up. But, I digress.

Really, now, we can’t have campaigns that last five or six years due to the length of the terms. So, we’d have to put some limits on them. That couldn’t be a bad thing, could it? It would certainly leave the person holding office plenty of time without the distraction of having to do fundraisers non-stop for their next campaign for the second term. There wouldn’t BE a second term. He/she would have one shot at it. If no significant change was made, the party in power would pay for it in the next election. This would tend to make the party hold the President’s feet to the fire, wouldn’t it?

Think it over for a while. I’d like to return to the subject of the one-term presidency in a later post, and would like to hear your ideas on the subject. Don’t be afraid to disagree. There’s nothing I can do about it except, maybe, pout a little.

In the meantime, I’ll be “fleshing out” my thoughts on the subject, too.

Until later.