A Tough Decision. Yeah, Sure.

Whatever the outcome in the rapidly changing Middle East, one thing is for certain--the price of oil will rise. It will rise to where it always should have been if the corrupt leaders of the region hadn't been giving the oil away to industrialized countries at the expense of their own impoverished citizens.

New regimes will probably nationalize oil fields so that Middle East countries can finally start benefiting from their own natural resources. This is a good thing--but oil prices will soar.
The U.S. can either use this as a motivation to develop new energy sources OR as an excuse to escalate domestic oil and gas extraction--further destroying the environment for the profit of a few.
Given the reactionary, Big Business stooges currently infesting Congress, I'm not optimistic about this decision.

" . . . blah, blah, blah, JOBS, blah, blah, blah, DEFICIT, blah, blah,

blah, TAX AND SPEND, blah, blah . . . "
This is what the Tea Partiers on the Hill are saying.

Here is what any truly patriotic American with an IQ higher than a Labrador retriever is hearing:
"At last, an economic crisis! What a perfect opportunity to shit-can all those unions, the EPA, Public Broadcasting, NEA, Planned Parenthood, Medicaid, Social Security . . . "

This is an absolute outrage--particularly the union busting. Many unions have lost the life-savings of their members to fraudulent Wall Street scams. Now the victims are being expected to help the crisis caused by these scams with more sacrifice--while the Wall Street shysters give themselves bonuses.
Americans should be hitting the streets like Egyptians and Libyans.

Great Moments In Hypocrisy #2: Conservatives Outraged By "Activist Judges." Unless, Of Course, The Judge . . .

Here we go again. Once more, the stupidity of an Alaskan governor has put our state in the national spotlight.
New Republican governor, Sean Parnell, is 1 of the 26 governors refusing to accept at least some parts of the new health-care law. He is now the one and only governor to reject the whole package, including federal grants for implementing insurance changes.
Gov. Parnell bases his decision on the Bush-appointed Florida judge, Roger Vinson, who has expressed the opinion that the law is unconstitutional.

Parnell is a very confused man. He seems to think that a judge's opinion is legally binding.
Look, Sean--judges have opinions, just like everyone else. But they're only opinions. When it comes to enacting legislation, we have laws.
Can you imagine what this country would be like if judges' opinions were suddenly legally binding?
"You can't give me a ticket, officer. My buddy, Judge Jones, thinks we should be able to drive as fast as we want."

Apparently, Gov. Parnell cares more about his Tea Party street cred than the Alaskans who would benefit from "Obamacare." Maybe he wants to join up again with Sarah and run as her VP. A perfect pair.
Meanwhile, if you're one of the 100,000 Alaskans without health care, better try to stay healthy. Good luck.

Women: Vote These People Out Of Office--While You Still Can

Despite all the blathering about jobs and the economy, the new Republicans in Washington seem to be more interested in conservative social issues. Particularly women's issues.

And, as usual, they haven't bothered with the facts.
They want a law banning federal funds for abortion. We already have one--it was passed 30 years ago.
They want to dismantle Planned Parenthood--the agency that's efforts with contraception have kept America's abortion rate one of the lowest in the world.

The anti-choice fervor in Congress is so strong and out of touch with reality that one freshman Tea Party congressman has actually introduced a bill that would make killing an abortion doctor "justifiable homicide." (!)
Women and women's rights advocates should be up in arms. At the rate this new reactionary Congress is going, by the time it's finished with business American women will be lucky if they can still vote.

Dear Speaker Boehner,

God bless you for dropping all that nonsense about jobs, medical care, and tax reform and concentrating on what really matters to this country: Abortion.
I've been praying on this matter and God assures me that you are absolutely right. He ain't making no exceptions for rape or incest or medical problems. Abortion is a sin unless it's for the pregnancy of a congressman's mistress and that's all there is to it.
Keep up the good work.

Yours in Christ,

Rev. Phil A. Steen
Zion Baptist Church
1900 Bible Beltway
Columbus, Ohio
USA

A Prediction

I don't like making predictions, but here goes:
I predict that John Boehner's tearful rise to Speaker of the House will be short-lived. Scandal involving his extra-marital affairs will drive him from office and we will again be subjected to his public waterworks. (I find the weeping over his childhood, which included working in the family business, to be particularly offensive. Come on, John. Your father owned a business--that supported a wife and 12 children. How about kids that grew up in coal mines and sweatshops, or lived on the street? Give me a break!)

And, as a standard hypocritical assclown (Boehner has been fond of praising marriage as the "foundation of American society"), the ex-Speaker will, of course, cop a Jesus plea. Along with the shameless bawling, we will have to endure his being born again as a Christian and . . . Oh hell, you know the drill.

If it sounds like I'm gloating over Boehner's impending doom, you're right.
I can't stand this fool and I'll be happy to see him get what he deserves.

Clean Slate

The Egyptian uprising has produced one of the rarest things in history: a country with a clean slate. Most countries emerge from revolution with a military hero or religious zealot as a preordained leader. The Russian, Chinese, and Cuban revolts resulted in neither egalitarianism nor even true socialism--just Stalinism, Maoism, and Castroism. The poor bastards in Iran traded a homicidal dictator (one of "our SOBs") for a homicidal priest.
Alexandria is famous for its library. I hope that it contains some history books and Egyptians are reading them.

Not a shot was fired in this revolution. For the sake of Egypt, I hope that the first one is reserved for the charismatic demagogue who claims that he alone is the savior of the nation, or the assclown with flowing beard and robes who claims to have God on his side.

Dept. Of Things I Worry About: #1

In the future we will have to rely on alternative energy sources (sources other than fossil fuels) but I don't understand how any of these would apply to our most important vehicle for moving people and cargo--the airplane.
Is it really possible to power a plane with solar panels or electric motors?
There is quite a difference between driving a Prius to the supermarket and flying a 747 across the Atlantic.
If we're going to power airliners with electric motors, it seems to me that we'll need to develop either some incredible new batteries or very long extension cords.
Any suggestions?

Technically challenged but legitimately worried (I think),
JK

"First One's Free"

Once again I have been the willing victim of what has to be the greatest scam in history.
I have calculated that the ink in the cartridge I just bought for my printer, if it were sold like other commodities, would cost $5,233.19 per gallon.
The purveyors of this precious fluid have apparently taken a lesson from drug dealers: "The first one's free." Indeed, my printer, which cost less than a decent meal in this town, came with a free cartridge. Now I'm hooked.

I guess we should be thankful that it's our printers and not our cars that run on this stuff.
$4.00 gas doesn't sound so bad when you consider that it would set you back $100,000.00 to fill the tank of your SUV with printer-cartridge ink.
To hell with oil--why aren't we drilling for ink?

A Time For Kicking Bad Habits

Obama just announced that he's "kicked the cigarette habit." Congratulations.
Now how about kicking another bad habit--America's habit of backing the wrong side in popular uprisings.
Come on, Barack, you can do it--voice your support for the revolutionaries in Cairo. Be the shining knight of freedom and democracy that people once expected from this country. Be that guy. We backed Mubarak for 30 years but you were no part of that. Come on, go for it!
And screw all that "orderly" and "gradual" crap. Suleiman has proclaimed that "Egypt is not ready for democracy. Change must be gradual." Gradual. What the hell does that even mean--the Egyptian gestapo will arrest and torture a few less dissidents every month they finally go cold turkey?
Come on, Barack--here's your big chance to get on the right side of history and be a hero. Come on!

This revolution has a great chance for success because it's secular, and, more importantly, it has no single leader to take a whiff of power and turn into a megalomaniac monster--as has been the fate of most modern revolutions.
The Egyptian quest for a true democracy might actually work and we need to fully support it.

Come on, Barack--take your head out of your policy-wonk ass and walk like an Egyptian. Or at least like the sort of American president that the world has hoped for.

He's Talkin' The Talk, But Will Obama Walk Like An Egyptian?

The new events in Cairo are hardly surprising. Fascists like Mubarak seldom give up power without a fight.
And Washington neo-cons and the pro-Israel Religious Right are going to be reluctant to give up Mubarak without a fight.

It's really hilarious watching the McConnell/Boehner gang of hypocritical assclowns suddenly claiming that they "trust Obama to make his own decisions on Egypt." In other words, they know that the president is in a tight spot. Whatever he does, he will piss off a certain block of American voters and they want no part of it. The main concern of these jackals is not American policy but making political hay if it fails. This is the new conservative version of "patriotism."

What I hope Obama does is--nothing. Egyptians have the right to determine their own future without our meddling. Whatever happens, the world will certainly be better off without Mubarak.
Wait a minute! There isn't a Hosni Dubya Mubarak back home, is there?

Good Luck, Egypt

My god, has any president ever had more shit dropped in his lap? This Egyptian thing has Obama once more between Iraq and a hard place.
So far he is following textbook American policy, which is to preserve our economic interests by supporting any non-socialist dictator until he is overthrown and then switch sides. (Romania is a perfect example. George The First backed the monster Ceausescu until he was shot. He then shouted "Death to all tyrants!" and praised the brave people of Romania.)

The wrinkle in this policy is that the new leader might be a socialist-- and we have to intervene. Remember Chile? After we assassinated Allende, Dr. Kissinger famously announced: "We gave them the right to vote, but they elected the wrong man."

With Egypt there is a new wrinkle. Besides the country coming into the hands of a "socialist" who would return its oil wealth to its people instead of American and European corporations, the new leader might be a Muslim fundamentalist. And that's a serious problem.
It's going to be interesting to see how things in Egypt play out and how our government responds.

The Egyptians seem to be following a sane path toward a better government and I wish them luck.