OIL SPILL DISASTER: Happy memories of the area.

The oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico brings back memories of the area I spend some great years in.

One year after graduating from Holy Redeemer High School (Class of 1965), I was attending Wayne State University (pre-med program) on a four-year scholastic scholarship… but I was not really going anywhere because I was a goof-off!

I could not support my grades(C+) required to maintain a “deferment” from the military draft and therefore became draft material but before they could make me into cannon fodder, I signed with the Air Force where I basically continued my medical education and eventually served in various positions in the medical corps.

At one point in my military career, I was stationed in a hospital at Keesler Air Force base in Biloxi, Mississippi. Imagine, a naïve, Catholic boy from a basically all Polish parish in West Detroit setting up residence in the deepest part of the South in the late 1960s.

I befriended many southern good ole’ boys that took me under their wings to teach me everything about Southern Coastal living; and I had a ball. Everything from drinking Jim Beam bourbon while driving a 1953 Chevy to gigging flounder by flashlight in the bay to going into the Gulf on an old shrimper and fishing for Lemon fish under oil derricks.

I learned to appreciate and love this form of life that I have never experienced before and grew to understand the people that lived and worked on the coast.

The damage and desecration that the oil spill is causing to the Gulf area and to the people that live and work there is personally painful to me especially when I remember the great times I experienced there in my youth.

When I returned home in 1970, I was a changed man ready for adulthood and all that came with it…but the memories remain.

CATHOLICISM: U.S. Nuns Investigated?

HEADLINE: Progressive Adrian nuns are under Vatican’s microscope.

When my wife saw this headline in today’s Detroit Free Press she was incredulous; what the hell is the Vatican doing investigating U.S. nuns when they should be concentrating on digging themselves out from the priestly sex scandal.

I have been taught by nuns through grade school and high school. These were the old fashioned nuns with only the face and hands showing. As I remember, some nuns were smart, some just plain mean and some that were actually progressive. They all lived in the convent close by and never appeared without their habit on.

Later, when I was in college, there were nuns in civilian clothes studying right along with me. I never really learned about all the reforms that U.S. nuns went through since my days in high school but obviously things have changed and I think the Vatican is concerned about those changes and ole’ Benedict would prefer to reel in those changes and maybe actually take a few steps backwards to the good ole’ days.

I read about nuns actively and openly backing Obama’s health plan even when U.S. bishops were strongly against it due to abortion issues. I wondered how that could be possible since they all took orders from the same source.

I have also read how nuns were protesting the way the priestly sex abuse scandal was handled or mishandled. They maintained that they were silenced when they tried to report their suspicions about certain priests (I think they made a movie about that).

The Vatican is concerned with U.S. nuns because they are outspoken and educated and not mere house maids to priests and bishops.

The article mentioned that the Vatican is concerned about views some nuns are advocating that runs counter to that of the Vatican among which are allowing female priests, recognizing homosexuality as a normal condition and not a sin, allowing contraception and even abortions in some cases; the nuns are “progressive”.

I can understand the Vatican’s concern about progressive nuns and the danger they pose to the old boys club of geriatric twits in the Vatican but if the time has come, and I feel it has, to clean house and let a new, fresh breeze of modernity and rationality blow through dusty old Catholicism, than progressive U.S. nuns maybe just the group to lead that charge…go for it ladies!

POLITICS: Less Government or No Government?

I was amused by all the attention being paid to what Rand Paul (son of Ron Paul) said in the media lately and the questions as to what he really stands for. You may know that Rand Paul ran as a Republican in the Kentucky primary for a U.S. Senate seat which isn’t out of the ordinary BUT he ran against a Republican that was formally endorsed by the Republican Party, and Paul won by a very wide margin.

Paul was supported by the TEA PARTY because he is against big government and against basically all taxation. In fact, Paul is really a LIBERTARIAN like his father but Libertarians don’t do well in elections so he ran as a Republican.

The reason he is in the news is that he made some “outrageous” statements that shocked even his Tea Party supporters while Libertarians just beamed in approval. This is one of those learning moments for American voters kind of like a “be careful what you wish for…” moments.

Paul said that he is against racial discrimination but businesses should be free to serve who they want to (1960 Greensboro soda counter sit in). He also took Obama to task for leaning on BP for the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico; accidents happen so leave businesses alone.

Libertarians are for small government; they would have no government (anarchy) but they realize someone has to handle national defense and other tasks better left to a national organization like a national government, but that is it!

Tea Party members who are usually pretty conservative, should realize that our government is involved in our lives in a major way and if you want government to get out of our lives, as Tea Party members profess to want, they should be prepared for the results which Rand Paul is articulating.

Conservatives consider the anti-choice / pro-life issue as very important. Libertarians think the government should have no voice in this issue (or any other issue) and therefore individuals should decide whether they want an abortion or not and doctors and medical centers are free to do as they wish without any government interference.

Just try to imagine a life free of most government control; it’s hard to do. I laughed at Tea Party screamers demanding that government get out of healthcare; these were seniors on Medicare.

Absurd, you betcha, but I am glad Rand Paul is creating this teaching moment; maybe those screaming the loudest will stop and think a little.

VATICAN: Up to the Lawyers now?

HEADLINE: VATICAN DETAILS U.S. SEX ABUSE DEFENSE

The Vatican is starting to feel some legal heat coming from the U.S. as lawyers representing abuse victims are smelling money and a lot of publicity.

The Vatican is expected to state that U.S. bishops are not employees of the Vatican because they aren’t paid by Rome, don’t act on Rome’s behalf and are not controlled day-to-day by the pope THEREFORE the Vatican and the pope are NOT responsible for any U.S. bishop’s actions.

Harold points to the case of Boston Archbishop / Cardinal Bernard F. Law who was forced to resign in 2002 for covering up a myriad of priestly sexual abuse cases, was transferred to Rome by Pope John Paul II and now basically lives the life of Riley in his old age and the Vatican claims that bishops do not work for the Vatican?

I don’t think that defense will hold up as bishops take an oath of obedience to the pope. The pope appoints disciplines and removes bishops; he is the boss.

I feel their only logical way out of this mess is to claim immunity as a FOREIGN SOVEREIGNTY of which the pope is the head (king).

This stands to be a historic case with a lot of the Church’s dirty laundry on display. I am interested in a 1962 document from the Vatican called CRIMEN SOLLICITATIONIS which some say urges bishops to keep abuse evidence secret.

More on this later…

RELIGION: Supporting the Pope?

THOUSANDS FLOCK TO VATICAN TO BACK POPE OVER ABUSE

That headline and picture made the airwaves today and I bet there were many who scratched their heads in puzzlement.

Thousands of ITALIANS (150,000) crammed St. Peter’s Square to cheer the Pope on with signs like “Together with the Pope” or “Don’t be afraid, Jesus won out over evil”. OK what does all that mean?

The Pope has admitted that the Church has been infected with sin from the inside and must be purified. OK what does that mean?

One pro-Vatican official at the demonstration said that “We want to show our solidarity to the Pope and transmit the message that single individuals make mistakes but institutions, faith and religion cannot be questioned”. What?

Obviously, the official does not understand that the Church as an institution is made up of individuals and if the individuals are rotten than so is the institution and if the individuals have been rotten for a very long time than so has the institution and to purify this mess may involve outsiders who have not been contaminated; I don’t believe the Vatican can purify itself from the inside.

On another note, a priest in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts is calling for the pope to resign. Father Jim Scahill (priest for 36 years) has exposed one sexually abusive priest in the area (Richard Lavigne) and his enabler Bishop Dupre who was also an abuser.

Now that is the kind of person that can purify the Church if it’s not too late.

As far as faith and religion is concerned, yes it can be questioned and should be because what kind of God allows his representatives on earth to molest innocent children and then cover the crimes up? What kind of religion allows that?

The 150,000 people cheering the Pope must be mindless of the fact that the Pope, the Church, the religion and their faith, failed to protect thousands of innocent children from the officials running the Church. In that manner, the people cheering the Pope are also responsible for the crimes committed by their Church.

RELIGION: Catholics revolt?

As you know, I have been following all things Catholic for some time now and feel that the Catholic Church is on the cusp of seeing some fundamental changes in the way it operates or at least I hope it is.

Sunday, I ran across an interesting article in the New York Times “FOR PRIEST, INTERSECTION OF FAITH AND DOUBT” by Katharine Q. Seelye.

The article describes a priest (Rev. Robert J. Bowers) of Boston who took an indefinite leave of absence (sabbatical) from the priesthood when his parish was closed in part to help pay for legal fees and cash settlements stemming from the many sexual abuse cases in the Boston diocese. He felt betrayed by Church leadership and their mishandling of the whole sex abuse issue. He could no longer promise priestly obedience saying that “You can’t promise obedience when you feel like you can’t trust the person you’re supposed to obey”.

The article goes on to talk about elderly Catholic women (backbone of the Church) who are asking Rev. Bowers questions like “can you still be a good Catholic and not believe in the authority of the Pope” or variations of what it means to be a Catholic or better yet, a good Catholic. To me, seeing older women question Church leadership and their own faith due to the handling of sexual abuse cases throughout the years, is not only historic but makes me look at Catholics who I have mostly equated to sheep, in a different way; maybe they do pay attention to what is going on?

I have long advocated that the American Catholic Church break free of the Vatican knowing full well that it would not but now I am starting to wonder if that potential exists. The article mentions a poll that found that seventy seven (77%) percent of American Catholics believe that you don’t have to believe in the authority of the Pope to be a good Catholic.

The Rev. Bowers remarked that the Vatican was made up of “very, very old men who can’t grasp what’s happening”.

I will explore this issue in more detail but suffice it to say that the Pope’s and the Vatican’s claim to power rests on the “apostolic succession” principal which states that in the beginning, Jesus created this church and appointed Peter as the head of His church and therefore each Pope is a successor to Peter and thus ordained by Jesus Himself as the head of His church.

Well the apostolic succession claim is not supported by history as we know it (empirically) but is a myth promoted by the Church in Rome as a historic “tradition.

Historians say that Paul (the founder of Christianity and not Jesus who Paul did not know) and the Apostles, did not get along and in fact, opposed each other as to who Jesus was, what he did, what he stood for and even whether he was divine or not. In fact, Paul was trying to buy the Apostle’s favor for his new religion because without it, Paul could not connect even Jesus to his new religion.

The Gospel writers were not eyewitnesses to anything and their words cannot be taken as representing history but they are the ones that created the myths that were used to anchor the Christian faith; Jesus’ Apostles never did sign on.

Was Peter ever in Rome? There is no evidence to support that and there is no evidence that Peter was even a part of the new religion and certainly not its first leader or Pope. The person in charge of the Apostles after the death of Jesus was Jesus’ brother JAMES and we have confirmation of that from sources outside the Gospels.

Did not mean to get carried away but let me just say that the Vatican does not have a valid claim on the leadership of the Catholic Church; they just have been leading the Church for a very, very long time.

Another question worth exploring is what makes a Catholic Catholic…

ISLAM: Free Speech and religion!

The censoring of the TV show South Park (Comedy Central) really got my blood boiling. The episode, satirizing the Danish cartoon depiction of the Prophet Muhammad controversy of 2005 was criticized by a group here in the U.S. calling itself Revolution Muslim. I can go along with criticism (free speech) anytime BUT when the criticism turns into a death threat then that is a different story, even if it is a “thinly veiled” threat.

I can understand the network’s reaction, after all a Danish filmmaker was killed for doing a documentary on women in Islamic society. Remember the riots after the Danish cartoons were published and remember Salmon Rushdie who dared write a novel about the Prophet Muhammad; he had to remain in hiding for years and will always have to be on the alert.

All religions have been criticized at some point (Catholic sex scandal) but only in Islam, its followers feel obligated (by their religion?) to kill anyone criticizing their religion or depicting their Prophet Muhammad in some fashion (cartoons, etc.); what are we to make of this?

It is true that the Catholic Church burned people at the stake for any number of infractions against their religion but that was the Middle Ages; are Muslims still in a Middle Ages time warp?

Because this is an issue that is obviously affecting our society (censorship, etc.) and our basic right of free speech, it needs to be addressed and acted on and not just tolerated. I mean all of Western society needs to act on this issue as more and more Muslims choose to live among us.

I am already seeing a backlash in Europe against the Muslim invasion, if we want to call it that. In Switzerland, people voted to ban minarets from which Muslims are called to prayer five times a day. In France, President Sarkozy is trying to ban the wearing of burquas in public.

Here, I have just learned that Billy Graham’s son Franklin was uninvited from a “Day of Prayer” celebration due to his anti-Islam rhetoric.

In Michigan, we have the greatest concentration of Muslims in the U.S. They go out of their way to teach others about themselves and their religion. They do want to be part of the American society at large but still keep their traditions. This is not unlike the Poles, Germans, Italians, Irish, etc. that came to this country in the late 1800s and early 1900s, just like my grandparents did. Yes, they wanted to be assimilated but they kept their traditions and lived within their ethnic community. Their children, on the other hand, became totally americanized and moved out to seek their fortune. I believe this will be the way of Michigan Muslims in time but a few of them will become radicalized and threaten the very country they live in.

It is because of our tradition of free speech that these radicals are allowed to threaten us with their words forcing us to limit our free speech. Does that make sense to you? It is the same with Democracy. Radical Muslims use democratic principles to get elected to power and once in power, they cancel elections and become a theocracy (religious dictatorship).

I am afraid this whole issue is going to get ugly and innocent Muslims will suffer because of a few radicals but we cannot allow anyone from preventing us from using our right to free speech. Laws will be passed to make certain speech (threats) a crime and unfortunately the laws will single out Muslims since they are the only ones telling us what we can and cannot say about their religion or we will be killed.

I guess I am sort of conflicted on this issue of free speech but I do know that if any group like the Comedy Network or even an individual feels scared enough by a threat to stop or alter what they intended to do, a crime has been committed and the criminal needs to be stopped and punished. Freedom of speech is a “relative” freedom; you cannot yell FIRE in a crowded theater and I think this applies to those U.S. radical Muslims that feel free to threaten us with death for what we say or think.

MEDICAL: Achille's Tendon Rupture

As most of family now knows, Linda fell in a parking lot just before Easter, trying to stop a wind-propelled shopping cart before it hit a car. She knew she was injured but managed to get home even though she could barely press the accelerator.

I took her to ER where the doctor said it was probably a “frayed” Achilles tendon but nothing to worry about. Eventually we ended up at a foot specialist who pronounced her Achilles tendon as severed and in need of surgery. Since she needed to drive me to my eye surgery, her surgery was postponed till after mine so I could drive her to her surgery – what a double whammy!

Got to Henry Ford Bloomfield at noon, did not get home till after 8 PM. She had general anesthesia which meant a breathing tube down her throat and a local which meant a shot to the right leg nerve (above the knee posterior). She would be on her stomach for the surgery.

The surgery itself took over two (2) hours since they had to pull the ruptured Achilles tendon back down to her heel very slowly and then attach it back to the heel. Recovery will be quite long with the first two (2) weeks just lying around with the leg elevated; after that a cast and finally physical therapy.

What a way to spend the summer…

MEDICAL: Vision and the aging process

Getting older (>60) or the aging process, brings with it specific changes to one’s body. There is an entire medical specialty (Gerontology) devoted to it but few doctors enter this specialty which is unfortunate since the Baby Boomer generation (largest generation in history) is now in its 60s. For this reason it behooves us to learn as much as possible about the aging process.

I have just gone through a medical revelation which might prove important to others.

We all know that our sight changes as we get older. I have worn glasses most of my life (lazy eye syndrome / astigmatism) so I progressed to bifocals and then trifocals but over a year ago, I noticed that my vision was just not a sharp as it used to be. I kept going to optometrists to check if my prescription had changed and they maintained that it did not change.

Later, my right eye kept watering. Since I have allergies, I was prescribed allergy drops for my eye – no help. Then I was told that I had “dry eye” which can be brought on with a lot of computer work so I started using lubricating eye drops – no help.

Then came the pieces de resistance; I had trouble driving at night and that I was not going to take as a normal part of the aging process even though I know many people my age that have trouble driving at night.

I went to my ophthalmologist (not optometrist) and presented my case. He looked and looked into my right eye until he proclaimed that I had a MACULAR PUCKER and he was sending me to a RETINA SPECIALIST immediately; you would not believe all the old people at the office of this retina specialist – wow!

After a barrage of tests and pictures of the inside of my eyes, it was concluded that I need surgery, specifically a VITRECTOMY. It seems as we age, the vitreous inside our eyes contracts and separates from the retina. This is usually a clean separation but in my case it was not so clean and a crease or pucker was left which distorted my vision. That pucker or scar tissue needed to be removed surgically to give me the vision I enjoyed previously.

The outpatient surgery was done with the surgeon looking through a microscope – fascinating! My vision improved immediately and my watering stopped. I will test night driving as soon as I recover (1 week) but I am very optimistic all will go well.

I should have done this long ago and that is why I am sharing my story just in case someone else out there has been experiencing similar symptoms.

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH: Pathetic...

I am sorry that I have to keep returning to the Vatican pedophile issue but it just will not go away or better yet, the Vatican together with its bishops and cardinals throughout the world will not let the issue go away by constantly defending and even deflecting their guilt. I, for one, cannot let their absurdist pronouncements go unchallenged and will at every turn, point out how absolutely ludicrous their positions are which in turn, points to how absolutely low the Catholic Church’s credibility, in all realms, has fallen.

The latest absurdity comes from Mexico and Bishop Felipe Arizmendi, bishop of the San Cristobal de las Casas Diocese in Chiapas State, Mexico.

The bishop sought to blame the priestly pedophile problem on the country’s public-school sex education program. His words, “In the midst of the invasion of so much eroticism, it is not easy to remain faithful in celibacy or in respecting children”.

More words, “When there is generalized sexual licentiousness, it is more common to have pederasty”. For those who don’t know, pederasty is anal sex between an adult male and a boy.

In essence, he is saying that the public-school sex education program creates a milieu that makes it hard for priests to keep their celibacy vows?

I hope you are getting the gist of what this bishop is trying to say in a speech to a convention of bishops. He is saying that because of the public school program, it is NOT EASY for priests to resist having anal sex with young boys so they should not be blamed if they stray into the forbidden.

What about the greater majority of males in this world who are never tempted by pederasty or who are not pedophiles? Most men are normal but it is becoming very apparent that many priests are not normal men which give credence to the proposition that the priesthood is a magnet for abnormal men.

For the bishop to try to blame priest’s proclivities on a school sex-education program is totally idiotic and as one professional counselor in Mexico said “Those of good conscience in the Church should stop this absurdity and find good help”.

Another said, “Blaming the problems that the Catholic Church has had with priests sexually abusing minors on sex education makes no sense…it borders on the pathetic.”

And that word PATHETIC seems to describe the feeble attempts by the Catholic Church to defend and deflect its collective guilt of child molestation.

I once again call on each country’s justice system(s) to prosecute to the fullest extent, the crimes committed by individual priests as well as the crime of covering up those crimes by the criminals’ superiors.

VATICAN: Homosexuality is not pedophilia - morons!

The Vatican has been mounting a fierce defense of the Pope and of the Church amidst increasing evidence that the Pope and the Church were complicit in allowing priests to practice their pedophilia through a failure to act on their part, quickly and decisively to end such crimes either through Church law or the local criminal justice system.

Recently the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarsisio Bertone, speaking in Chile, blamed or linked priestly pedophilia to homosexuality and not as a result of the Church’s celibacy requirement, defending the Church’s unwavering and totally illogical and unsupportable insistence on priestly celibacy.

This statement raised such an outcry among various groups including gay-rights groups, the Chilean government and the French government, that the Vatican had to clarify that Bertone was not speaking as an expert or a professional in psychiatry, psychology or medical matters but merely referring to some studies he had read that link homosexuality and pedophilia.

Here is where the Vatican’s incompetence in all things earthly or human really shines through. Just think, these are the guys that claim the moral and ethical authority in all things earthly as coming from God himself and here they are, stupid as dirt, making stupid statements that show off their ignorance for the world to see. But will Catholics see the light? Catholics have been conditioned for thousands of years to just do as they were told and not to use their brains to independently think things through. I was on track to become one of those robots as some of my friends did but I was saved by some rebellious brain cells I possessed which pulled me out of the hole I was sinking into – and here I am!

Just to be clear. Pedophilia is a sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Pedophiles are usually men, attracted to prepubescent boys; homosexuals are attracted to other members of their gender, homosexuals are not known to be pedophiles.

Homosexuals and pedophiles are drawn to the priesthood; homosexuals because they will be among other men (priests) who hopefully are also homosexuals and many are. They don’t have to explain why they don’t like females; they are forbidden to engage females through their vows of celibacy.

Pedophiles are attracted to the priesthood because they will be among children who revere them as people very close to God who will teach them right from wrong and help them become good and righteous members of our society. The pedophile priests have it easy as the prey is convinced that people of God would never harm them so what they are doing must be sanctioned by God.

Celibacy, a vow to forgo all sexual relations (intercourse) and therefore marriage cannot be something healthy heterosexuals want to deal with or experience no matter how strong the perceived calling from God. In fact, many priest, enraptured by the priestly vocation as a mixed up teenager realize their mistake once they gain some adult wisdom and experience and many leave the priesthood even though they would stay if the vow of celibacy was lifted.

My point today is that members of the Vatican including the Pope are clueless about the real world and the people that inhabit that world and yet they profess to speak from some higher ground of wisdom; a wisdom they derive from God and all I am saying is that this a bunch of nonsense that needs to be exposed by subjecting those holier than thou twits to earthly justice and throwing them in an earthly jail to pay for their sins against humanity and damnn their souls to eternal hell.

POLITICS: A Civil Republican / Dying Breed?

Another thing I noticed on CNN that went against some of my generalizations about Republicans and Right Wingers.

Senator Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) was at one of those town hall meetings filled with Tea Party types or the lunatic fringe (should not equate all Tea Party members with lunatics since I agree with some of their positions) but I digress…

Anyway, a lady asks a really stupid question about Obama’s Health Care Bill something like am I going to jail if I don’t buy health insurance? Coburn tells her that she has been listening to FOX NEWS too much and that their news reports are made up to incite! Can you believe this guy?

Coburn, who was a strong critic of the Obama Health Care Bill, defended Speaker Pelosi as a nice lady. Amid boos and hisses, he said that you can disagree with someone but that does not mean you have to hate them for disagreeing with you.

He then proceeded to lecture the crowd about CIVILITY.

Now this is what I am talking about as far as political discourse is concerned but is it too late? Are gentlemen politicians like Coburn a dead or dying breed? Is the new political force in this country the FOX NEWS bred lunatic fringe and all new politicians will try to court these lunatics by saying what they want to hear like FOX NEWS does?

I salute Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and hope there are other Republicans like him but I am afraid the reality is that his breed is dying because being a gentleman and intelligent are actually negatives to the lunatic fringe.

IRAN: Helping Iraq stabilize?

I read something about Iran and Iraq in today’s New York Times that went against my thinking. I remarked before that Iran, being all Shiite, would try to help Iraq form an all Shiite government and to further this goal, Iran may actually help to make that happen.

In today’s paper, Iran was quoted as saying that Iraq would be served best if a Shiite / Sunni coalition government was formed; how do you like them apples?

A secular coalition of Shiites and Sunnis actually did win the election by a slim margin showing that Iraqis in general probably support a coalition government but the existing Shiite party in power was not going to recognize the victor and, as I have been suggesting, destabilize the country by not having a government at all and allowing al-Qaeda to run wild through the streets which they are doing right now.

It appears that the Iranians are not all stupid even though most in power are. They see the reality on the ground in Iraq and must have reached a conclusion that a civil war in Iraq would not benefit anyone and would only keep American troops there even longer than planned for…

POLITICS: Stupak calls it quits?

I know I have been hard on Bart Stupak, a fellow Pole and fellow Michigander for obstructing the health care bill with his stupid anti-abortion stance, but to make him quit after all these years in Congress?

Well, obviously it was not me that made him quit but more ominously, was it the Tea Party and its fringe of lunatics? Stupak says it is not and has been thinking of leaving for some time now.

I don’t know if I believe him. The idiots on the Right have threatened politicians and their families, who voted for the health bill; some have actually been arrested – can you even believe it?

The Stupak case is doubly interesting because it is so IRONIC. He stalled the health bill due to lack of specific anti-abortion language (no federal money for abortions) and he is being hounded by anti-abortion nut cases?

So this good Catholic who took an anti-abortion stance even though pressure against him was fierce, is being demonized by anti-abortion forces for eventually signing the health bill? It makes no sense to me but there was an organized drive to protest against him in his Congressional district to drive him out of office – and they succeeded with just the threat and no actual protests.

This is what I mentioned before as being scary; when these idiots actually influence and cause things to change for their benefit. The loss of Stupak is bad for Michigan because his 18 years in Congress gave him seniority and power which he could use for the benefit of Michiganians. Yes, I wanted him out of office because I was mad at his obstinacy but now I am afraid that the person replacing him may be a flaming Tea Bagger!

POLITICS: Palin on Nuclear Policy?

Many, many issues this week but let me start about the nuclear treaty signed by Obama and Russia and the new nuclear policy outlined by Obama. I think and many if not most experts on nuclear issues agreed with the president that the treaty signed with Russia was excellent and the new nuclear policy declaration was very good and much needed.

The only details that matter are that the US and Russia will not make any new nuclear bombs and will reduce by 30% their existing stockpiles; believe me, we still have enough to blow the world up countless of times.

The other detail is a declaration saying we will not use nuclear weapons against countries that do not have any. Special attention was paid to Iran and North Korea, in essence warning other countries that are thinking of developing nuclear weapons to reconsider for their own benefit.

As soon as the treaty and policy was announced I thought, I wonder what the lunatics on the right are going to do with this.

Predictably, Sarah Palin (2012 candidate for president) immediately stated that Obama is endangering our country by weakening it and is scared to punch someone in the mouth that punched him first (not using nuclear weapons against someone that attacked us with non-nuclear weapons such as biological weapons).

When a reporter told Obama what Palin said, he responded that the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Secretary of Defense agreed with the policy and they know a little bit more about nuclear policy than Sarah Palin does to which she replied that what does a community organizer know about nuclear policy.

Palin was appearing at a conservative’s convention with other 2012 presidential hopefuls; she had the most support (loud) at the convention for demeaning our president at every turn. I realize that politicians must attack the incumbent to show how they would lead differently but Palin has brought politics down to its lowest point (if that is possible) by not disagreeing on specific issue points but by using provocative sound bites that bring cheers from the morons that idolize her but by themselves, have no meaning like stupid kids calling someone senseless demeaning names.

As I mentioned before, this type of gutter politics reminiscent of a lynch mob mentality is scary if it actually has clout with people (evidenced by FOX NEWS and their growing viewers) and if it actually can cause something to happen like politicians to quit (Stupak) or others to run based on those gutter politics and sane people to join in on the insanity. More on that later…

TEA PARTY: Who are you?

Just a quick note about the health care bill protesters or Tea Party members or whoever those bozos are that can’t seem to stop screaming about something they object to. I am now convinced that they scream the same old shit without knowing why they are screaming.

This morning I was watching CNN while exercising and a story came up about Congressional Representatives going out into their districts to help people understand the Health care Bill and what it means to them – brave souls after the previous Town Hall Meetings debacle.

In this case, it was a female Representative that seemed pretty much in control of her meeting. People asked questions and she answered them until it came to one fat-ass blond that proceeded to scream her question. The Representative acknowledged her question and said that she will now answer her question BUT it became obvious that this screaming twit did not ask her question to get an answer; she was there to scream, get on TV and disrupt the meeting just like in the Town Hall days.

The Representative was ready, she said she will answer her question but if she did not quit screaming, she would have her removed for trying to disrupt an important informational meeting that others were attending to learn details about the health care Plan – and she had her ass kicked out! Now that is what I call taking control of your meeting!

I have no problem with people wanting to protest or to ask hard questions about the Health care Plan but I do have a problem with people who’s aim is just to cause mayhem by disrupting a legitimate public forum called together for the good of the public.

I have a feeling that whatever legitimate gripes the TEA PARTY originally had (and I agreed with many of them), their message has been taken over by absolute morons that are racist, homophobic and just plain stupid, basking in the limelight that media affords them on the evening news.

I salute the female representative from Florida and hope the other representatives learn how to handle these jack-asses by throwing them out on their asses and I hope the Tea Party (serious) members can get control of their message and their members – I doubt it…