Fustia

Spare the Rod and Spoil the Child

Does Grandma love your child more than you do? “More?” you’d say. “Of course not.”

But Grandma never corrects little junior. Little junior is “perfect” in her eyes. She can recount every cute little memorable moment of his life. So can you, of course, and your love for junior is “perfect” regardless of what he ever does… but do you see him as really, absolutely “perfect” like Grandma does?

Well, at first, maybe, but then you realize you have to prepare junior for life. You have to caution him against running out in the street without looking. If you catch him stealing or lying, he has to be punished.

Why? So that he doesn’t get hurt; doesn’t get into worse trouble later on in life.

It’s often called “tough love” - love that is for his own good.

In fact, while Grandma certainly loves junior, it’s hard to say that “more” applies. After all, junior is your baby, not hers, and if you had to assign “more” love it would likely go to you, not Grandma.

Why? Because you love him enough to stop him from making mistakes.

And even if one could measure love, when Grandma see you punish her “perfect” little junior, you’ll hear “Was that really necessary? Don’t pick on him. Don’t you understand how perfect he is?”

And you know that yes, it was necessary, and that you are not picking on him… you’re trying to make him even better.

You’re not saying that junior is bad. You’re not “blaming” him. You are putting junior’s well-being first, regardless of how it makes them look to Grandma.

Tough love: it’s every parent’s joy and bane.

You do it because you love him enough to want the best for him. To give him strength and wisdom. To help him survive the reality he will soon enough have to face alone.

This is pretty obvious to any parent… so where am I going with all this?

Here:

Tough love is what Democrats do for their country: love it enough to try to help it grow and be strong. Love it at least as much as Grandma’s blind “perfection” - and just enough more to insist on tough love.

So, when Republicans say Democrats are blaming the country; say that they “don’t understand”, they are being like Grandma, and seeing junior as “perfect” and not like mom and dad, who know that the best thing is some tough love. This is a rugged world, and we need our country strong and wise… and just like with junior, we are doing it out of love, and pride and care.

Perhaps Grandma needs to be reminded of that.

Let me see if I got this right:

your every phone call and email is monitored by the government;
you can be whisked away in the dead of night and thrown in prison until hell freezes over, with no notice to anyone, even your family;
you can be tortured;
your home can be seized by local government for any reason they like;
we are at war in two places, and our military cannot respond to anything new;
your retirement funds have been wiped out;
the economy is in the worst mess in our history;
unemployment is soaring;
most American businesses are owned by the Chinese and Arabs;
it costs $75 to fill your gas tank;
you have been lied to for eight years by your government;
your children will be paying higher taxes all their lives to pay off the national debt;
jobs are being shipped overseas;
in natural disasters, you’re on your own;
corporations are making windfall profits, while Americans starve;
returning soldiers are living on the streets and fighting for benefits;
health care is beyond the average American;
millions of people have lost their homes;
food prices are rising…

… and you want to re-elect the Republicans!!!???

You want to elect the man whose “senior economic advisor” is the very guy who got us into this economic mess in the first place?

A man who can’t use the internet?

A man who thinks we can and should stay at war for 100 years?

A man who thinks “the economy is strong.”

A man whose campaign even Karl Rove says “is lying.”

Let me ask you one question:

HOW DAMNED STUPID ARE YOU?

(Do I seem more than a little hot under the collar? Yep, I am. I LOVE this country and what it stands for, and the Republicans are TRASHING it! Voiding the Constitution; taking away our rights; selling it off to foreigners; eliminating the middle class. Our Founding Fathers would be ASHAMED! So yeah: I’m pissed off.)

There are people on the right of the political spectrum whom I admire and respect. I disagree with them, but that’s what makes life interesting. This little rant is aimed at the right-wing nut jobs out there.

Boy! If I had a nickel for every time a letter to the editor appears in the local newspaper beginning: “Don’t those lefty liberals know we’re at war? The Democrats are supporting the terrorists. They want to see the terrorists win. They don’t support our troops.”

This is a person who is responding hysterically, having been terrified by Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh and George Bush.

Let’s take a look at those statements.

“Don’t those lefty liberals know we’re at war?” That’s got to be the most ignorant comment ever. There is likely no one in the entire United States over the age of 10 that does not know we’ve got troops on the ground in the Middle East, and that there is a group of terrorists out there trying to kill everyone in the world who doesn’t hold to their religious beliefs.

So: yes - we are just as aware of that as you are.

Such an author always then goes on to suggest that the war is “protecting us from terrorists.”

Aha! So it’s a matter of your own personal safety then. You’re afraid of dying, and for some reason you think members of the opposition party are, what? unafraid of death?

Er… no. I’d like to live out my life, just like you.

So next, it goes “No, no. It’s not me. Our troops are protecting our country… our way of life.”

Finally: you’re beginning to close in on it. So what actually is our way of life? It’s our rights and freedoms. And exactly where is that spelled out for us, our children and the generations to come?

In our Constitution and our laws.

In fact, the oath for federal office, from President on down, doesn’t say anything at all about protecting people or property; it says “… support and defend the Constitution of the United States… so help me God.”

That’s the part those hysterical people don’t seem to realize: while those of us on the left are just as aware of the dangers of the modern world; just as afraid of death… we are actually willing to put our own lives on the line to protect and defend our way of life: the Constitution.

You see, I actually did serve our country in a time of war…unlike George Bush, Dick Chaney, Donald Rumsfled, Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Reiley.

And, no: it was not my job to protect you… it was my job to protect the Constitution, which defines our way of life.

Which is why it gripes the hell out of me to see those people that have never even served, start breaking our laws and revoking the protections in the Bill of Rights, which they took an oath before God to “support and defend.”

And I’m only one of the literally millions of Americans who have gone into military service since this country was founded to “support and defend the Constitution.” To protect our way of life… only to see in our time, a bunch of dilettantes start crushing it under foot.

Do you think supporting this country is easy? Do you think being a citizen of this nation is easy? Not in the least. It takes courage to defend our way of life, to defend the Constitution precisely because it is hard to do so when we are in fear of physical danger.

THAT is courage: being scared to death and doing the right thing anyway; not cowering behind actions which break our laws; not hiding behind changing our Constitution for a moment’s security… that’s nothing but yielding to the terror.

It makes me sick to my stomach to see our “leaders” using the terror card to scare the American public into destroying our Constitution, and trampling all over the rights so many brave Americans actually died to protect.

You want to see who has done more to damage this country than any bomb-throwing cowardly terrorist could possibly ever do? Go look in the White House; the Supreme Court and the chicken-hawks on both sides of the isle in the Houses of Congress.

“The Democrats are supporting the terrorists.” Oh, my Gawd. Does the writer of these words really believe that over half of the population of the US is against this country?

What kind of world must that be for you to live in? Your neighbor wants to see you dead! Do you stay locked in your closet, armed to the teeth?

That is so outlandishly paranoid as to suggest the writer be committed for observation.

“They don’t support our troops. They want to see us lose.” This gets crazier by the second. Half of those troops over there are Democrats. Are you actually saying that they are traitors?

Those troops are our sons and daughters. Are you seriously suggesting that half the parents in the US want to see their children die?

Look: here’s the real difference between you and me -

I’m willing to die to protect our way of life…

… and you: you’re willing to let me.

Go take a civics lesson. Learn why this country is so important in the history of the world. (Hint: think “Constitution.”) Understand why it’s difficult in times of fear to make the right choices.

“The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself.”

Can you not see the great disservice done to the US by a President who intentionally spreads fear? Instead of asking for our help; instead of telling us to be brave, he instead insists that we are all going to die unless his pals in the huge corporations are made immune from breaking the laws we have; unless the Constitution and Bill of Rights are re-written.

Where the hell did his oath to God Almighty “I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States…” go?

Those are our leaders?

And finally, just because this is, somehow, beyond you to understand; because you are slightly hysterical from fear, do not wildly accuse those around you, (who understand why we need to protect the Constitution) of cowardice… they are the heroic ones.

Who would you want next to you in the foxhole: Rush? BillO? George? or the real heroes who have already put their lives on the line for you, and to protect unto our own death, your right to say the most incredibly stupid things?

And then there’s this: if you start trying to change our Constitution; start trying to remove the rights granted by it; start saying the law doesn’t apply to friends of the President or powerful corporations… then it is you, sir, who is the actual traitor here… not me… and it will be my sworn duty to protect our country from you!

So, before you write another letter to the editor which only displays your ignorance of what it really means to be an American, go take a look in the mirror… a long, hard look.

Then be thankful that some of us out here actually do understand, even if you don’t.

God bless our troops and our citizens… and even the letter-writers who apparently never learned how their own country actually works. And while you’re accusing me of being a traitor, I’m not accusing you of anything except fear and hysteria, born of ignorance. While you want me locked up, I just want you to get a grip, and learn how our country works.

Because, apparently unlike you, I still believe that we’re all Americans here, and this country, and its Constitution, is worth saving.

ALL OF THEM! Democrats and Republicans alike.

None of them had the balls to protect our country and our Constitution from the fascists in the White House. Their own jobs were more important to them than our country.

Congress FAILED the American people in the most craven way. The media, which was supposed to be our last defense FAILED the American people in the same cowardly way.

The American People… failed the country in the most craven way.

Stand up for your country, you jerks! Defend the Constitution. Since you don’t have the balls to impeach these criminals, then try them for war crimes when they are out of office!

Where are the PATRIOTS?

I’m glad I old, and going to die sooner rather than later. The Great American Promise died with this administration, and it died with the full blessing of Congress and the American People: pure apathy.

Shit: you deserve what you get.

How pathetic.

I cannot find words to describe how low she has sunk.

(Later, after some thought:)

Some of the talking heads said Bill & Hillary were “masterful politicians” and others called them “quintessential politicians.”

“Quintessential” - yes; “masterful” - no.

Over the last few months, I’ve watched her dissolve under the pressure of an all-out need to win.

I’d -love- to finally have a female President - it’s been too damned long that this country has gone without one. (For those that don’t know me, by the way, I’m a (old) guy, despite my first name.)

I’d love a woman as Commander in Chief… but as I noted here months ago: just not -this- woman.

If she were masterful, then perhaps, but she’s not - she’s just a quintessential practitioner.

A master of the art will wait; a practitioner will forge ahead. A master would not have spoken the “under fire in Bosnia” bit; not have referred to her “white working-class voters” nor, in a final act of despair, brought up assassination.

A master politician would have seen to it that those words, designed to instill doubt in the public, were spoken by others… and a true master would have seen to it that the others were in the opposition party.

A master would not have changed the goal posts after every defeat; he’d have seen the writing on the wall, and retired to regroup… and if necessary, simply retired to fight another day.

Hillary has been slowly collapsing under the weight of the campaign; under “old inside the beltway politics” against the new hope; under the vaporization of her dreams… and it has been interesting, painful and, at last, sad to watch.

Her dreams no longer mesh with reality, and clawing and scratching at them will not bring them back. Part of her knows that… and has known it for a few weeks now. But the other part of her slogs on, which unlike the pundits I do not see as a “warrior spirit” but instead as an increasingly pathological need to win at all costs.

Look at her face; her posture. She is no longer “firing on all cylinders.” Perhaps it’s exhaustion, but I think that’s only part of it.

She is holding out for a miracle, even if that miracle is the darkest and most horrible kind.

George Bush has the same kind of split from reality.

We don’t need another President who cannot handle things as they are; who is willing to destroy his party and his country in search of the fulfillment of his own fairy tales.

At least we got to Hillary’s meltdown before she became President.

I’m all for a woman President… but it’s not the shape, nor the color of the body: it’s the person inside. It’s the kind of judgements he or she will make.

Hillary’s judgement is not up to the task.

I can’t vote for a person who tries to win by changing the rules as she goes along; uses sexism, racism and pandering to the national horror of assassination.

8 years of the national tragedy that was George Bush is 8 years too much. We teeter on the brink of disaster. We need a better person in the White House… not “just a woman” and most certainly, as she has proved, not this one.

As I write this, is 9:30 AM, 28 hours after a wild-fire started near Aptos. The sky yesterday was a smokey yellow. Last evening’s television news from as far north as San Francisco devote most of the newscasts to the efforts.

We rely on our local news outlets to keep us informed… and when a disaster strikes, we need -immediate- updates.

So this morning I headed over the KSBW web site… only to find that the last update was 11 hours ago! (Well, they had some photos updated at 7:30, but photos are no help.)

Now, I have to admit wondering why, since the day their web site came up, they mentioned it literally dozens of times during their newscasts. Once or twice maybe, but incessantly?

I assumed it had to have something to do with money. Today, prompted by the lack of needed immediate updates, I decided to look a bit deeper.

What I found is that the KSBW site, like 69 other sites around the nation, comes out of St. Paul, Minnesota’s Internet Broadcasting, Inc., and is primarily filled with ads and news from CNN. While there are provisions for the placement of local news, it all has to be sent to St. Paul, first. And then get in line with the other 69 television stations vying for attention.

“Local?”

Hardly.

The “news” isn’t “new” - it’s 12 hours old. And the web site isn’t as much about serving the local community as it is a revenue stream for KSBW.

I ended up going to the CalFire (state) web site to get the latest information… something KSBW could have done… but didn’t.

As usual in this society, money comes before everything else - even in the face of a disaster.

Sigh…

Tonight, (May 6, 2008) the Obama campaign sealed the fate of Hillary Clinton, and the US will be faced with the option of electing 4 more years of George Bush (in the form of a nice, but befuddled old man) or take the option of a man for his time: Barrack Obama.

This is our country’s darkest hour: millions being forced out of their homes; global polution and a historic, if not humanity-ending, warming; food prices climbing out of reach; self-absorbed religious extremists; the failure of our educational system; a debt that will ruin the future for our children; an economy driven by greed and on the brink of collapse; our country largely owned by foreigners; our prized and world-changing Constitution and Bill of Rights in tatters; and encroaching world-wide famine.

All brought to you by an 8-year “What? Me worry?” Republican rule, featuring Alfred E. Neuman as President.

We’ve had a Yale-preppie frat-boy who wanted nothing more than to be a cowboy, and a regular Joe. He even bought a Texas ranch to keep up the image; learned to chew with his mouth open, and walk with an ape-hanging swagger. And never once could he wipe the “I’m President and you’re not” smirk off his face.

We wanted to see what a (fake) good-ol-boy would do as President and - like we should have known he’d do - he trashed the joint.

Now we’ve got the opportunity to elect a man who cares about ordinary people, not just CEOs; who is actually smart enough to hold the most important job in the world; who will put the values of this country ahead of corporate profits, and the people ahead of his big shot buddies. He will lead; he will make tough choices with an eye to the long term, instead of short-term bottom lines.

We had a good-ol-boy - now let’s try an intelligent adult.

We’re in a world of shit. It’s time to pull together; it’s time for historic leadership.

A few years ago, I was going to start a list of how the Bush administration changed this country. I never did, and I regret it (although I may just go back to the record, and do so anyway.)

However, I am going to start a different list this time: how the Republicans, with their famous “True American” spirit play the election game.

Before this starting date (April 15, 2008) they had already said that Barrack Obama failed to wear a flag pin (yeah? So? Many of them don’t either;) and referred to him as “Osama” and “Barrack Hussein” saying that “If he is elected president, then the radical Islamists, the al Qaeda, the radical Islamists and their supporters will be dancing in the streets,” King said. “They will be dancing in the streets because of his middle name.”

Bill O’Reilly said he’s going “…to lynch Michelle Obama…”

Then there’s U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis, who said “I’m going to tell you something: That boy’s finger does not need to be on the button” to cheers at a Republican gathering. “Boy?!!” Talk about race baiting! Asshole.

After seeing the Republican’s true colors for the past 7 years, is it any wonder that they will, in the full glory of their cowardice, start spreading lies about the Democratic Party nominee’s wife?…

… not to mention Obama himself?

This is the slimiest, lowest, most un-American form of sleaze, and while the 25% of frankly stupid people will believe it, I pray that the decent, honest people who truly care about the U.S. will reject it in full.

These have to be the same slime-balls who cheat on their taxes, and beat their wives. They will lie to your face while stealing your wallet.

I cannot think of a lower form of life than the sleaze-merchants on the right of the Republican party. If Republicans had any honor, they’d reject and renounce these traitors to the American way.

But they will just wink and nod, and say “It’s a free country” and join them in the slime.

God these people make me sick!

I was channel surfing, and paused for a moment on Bill O’Reilly’s show. It took me about 60 seconds of watching him rant to figure him out.

He’s a teenager.

He’s got a predetermined view of (pick a subject) and he spouts it loudly and with ignorant conviction.

Then, when reality doesn’t match his preconceptions, he throws a tantrum.

That’s what children do.

He’s found a way to be a child, and be paid for it: yelling simplifications, platitudes and shallow thoughts, to other mental teenagers. They all gather around, and cheer each other on.

I remember doing that in junior high school.

Must be something traumatic happened to him back then, because he ever grew up, into an adult that absorbs and deals with reality and its changes.