With Gusto

Few people get through life without saying something embarrassing. I've done my share but the most embarrassing thing I’ve ever done did not involve saying a word. Although I did, in a manner of speaking, make myself heard.

For a few years, I taught at a middle school conveniently across the street from a very busy McDonald’s. Most mornings I stopped in, ordered coffee and an Egg McMuffin, and settled down with the sports page of the Washington Post. It became routine and like most routines it became comfortable. Sometimes, that’s not a good thing.

Hot coffee, an Egg McMuffin, and the early morning light of a beautiful October day throwing leaf patterns across the room distorted my sense of place. I forgot where I was and being male ... think active gastrointestinal system ... and being ... I believed alone in the world … well, who would have thought a run of the mill McDonald’s would have acoustics rivaling Carnegie Hall?

The tone of the room altered and like Dorothy I realized I was no longer in Kansas. I slowly lowered my paper and was greeted by at least a hundred people ... frozen in mid bite ... staring in my direction. There was nothing to do but raise the newspaper, wait as long as I could, and slip out the side door.

The next morning I skipped breakfast and went straight to school. On my desk ... just the way I like it ... was a cup of McDonald’s coffee with two creamers and two packs of sugar. No one ever claimed responsibility.

High Places ...

"For behold, He who forms mountains and creates the wind And declares to man what are His thoughts, He who makes dawn into darkness and treads on the high places of the earth ..." Amos 4:13

I grew up in the Appalachian region of Kentucky and my friends and I spent a lot of time in the mountains. As children, we tore up cardboard boxes and slid down the sedge grass on the lower slopes. We drank from cold, mountain springs and swam and fished in the rushing waters of silver quick streams.

As teenagers, we spent a lot of nights parked on wide spaces along the roads that crossed the mountains. We drank beer and sat on car hoods and tried to grow up. We struggled with doubts, argued, and debated philosophy in accordance with beer consumed. There was never a better place to be young.

It was Huckleberry Finn in the Appalachians. It was James Still’s River of Earth. In the shadow of Still's sun-ball, we were “a borning, a begetting, and a dying.”

Sadly, it seems the love of money always trumps plain good sense and in recent years Old King Coal has rearranged the Appalachian landscape. There's money to be made and the most cost effective way to make it is to blow the mountains apart and scrape up the coal.

Streams that have nourished the rivers of Kentucky for eons are choked off now. Trees that have stood watch since Daniel Boone walked through the Cumberland Gap lie broken and rotting on the ground ... the destruction of entire ecosystems ... the death rattle of a dying industry ... 

Genesis says we have been given dominion over the earth and over the plants and animals of the earth, If that's the case, I'm pretty sure God envisioned careful stewardship not carte blanche issuance of mountain top removal permits.

The Appalachians are among the oldest mountains on earth and they are sacred ... the province of the pilgrim ... and when coal is mined it should be mined in the least intrusive way possible. When we destroy places of the spirit, we erase our collective memory ... and we lose our ability to appreciate our smallness.

Here's Terry Muncy ... 

It Was You Ronnie

Ronnie, when you announced your candidacy for president in 1979, you gave us these inspiring words. "A troubled and afflicted mankind looks to us, pleading for us to keep our rendezvous with destiny; that we will uphold the principles of self-reliance, self-discipline, morality, and, above all, responsible liberty for every individual that we will become that shining city on a hill."

That's good stuff, Ronnie. So, what happened to the "morality and responsible liberty?" How about the slaughter of our marines in Beirut? Did their lives matter? Were the lies later told by your party to invade Iraq an example of the morality you reference? How did your vision of a "shining city on a hill" lead us to this place of despair for so many? What part did you play, Ronnie?

Wasn't it you who allowed Poindexter and North to set aside our Constitution and operate a shadow government while you napped? Of course it was. It was also you who fired the air traffic controllers and encouraged the ongoing assault on unions that has destroyed America's middle class. You are the person most responsible for creating a corporate aristocracy in America and a wealth disparity unseen since the Gilded Age.

You spoke of Morning in America but brought forth only darkness and despair. You're the one who begat George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Grover Norquist and the countless legions who have diminished our Republic. You are the true patriarch of the Tea Party and current Republican wannabes like Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and Rick Perry are your idiot progeny.

Good job, Gipper. Good fucking job.

Rewind the Insanity

"Pick Sarah Palin," they said. She'll bring in the women's vote. Sure

she's dumb but she looks good and we can control her." 

"Get her on the phone ... bring her on board," I said. 
"Oh yeah. I said it. God forgive me I did."

"Then, I said I cheated on my wife because I had worked so hard for the good of the country I needed to calm down some. I swear to God, Rick, the Teabaggers lapped it up."

"Ron, I swear .... make one more negative remark about me and I'm telling everybody you're Secret Service code name is Depends."

"Well, I don't care what the others say, Lindsey. You look fabulous."

"Damn! I make it to the top and America finally gets around to judging a man by the content of  his character. Thanks a fucking lot, Martin ..."

Sing Along With Cletis

Randy Randy

Give us your answer do

Are you crazy

Thinking we’d vote for you

I shouldn't deign to disparage

But it won't be a miscarriage

Cause your deceit

You lying cheat

Means America would get screwed

Christie Christie

Wassa matta witchu

Are you bonkers

Thinking we'd vote for you

What a terrible miscarriage

Is yours and Jersey's marriage

And we'd rather be switched

Than see you hitched

To the rest of America too

Newtie Newtie

Give us your answer do

Are you loony 

Thinking we'd vote for you

Your poor wife's embarrassment

Due to your serial harassment

Means we'd rather be switched

Than see you hitched

To the rest of America too

Voices From The Clown Car

" .... War? Oh, hell yeah! Thumbs up ..." 

 "... sure I got free eye glasses through a government program and mamma was getting food stamps but just think what I could have been without Big Brother interfering in my life ..."

" ... George W Bush? The name sounds a little familiar but I can't place him. Is he in the movies or something ..."

" ... I swear ... that bitch is wearing my pumps ..." 

"... really? ... so if evolution is survival of the fittest how do you explain idiots like me ..."

GOP Hopefuls ..... God Save Us

".... that's right ... the first thing I do each morning is wake up and smell the coffers .... er coffee ... smell the coffee ..."

"Oh myyyyyyyyyy ... look at the size of the wallet on that man ..."

"How do we best help working people? How the hell should I know? Do these look like the hands of a man who has ever done a lick of physical labor in his life ..."

"Hmmmm ... immigration reform? .... Give me a minute ... don't rush me ... trying to remember what I said yesterday ..."

"And my head I'd be scratchin' ... While my thoughts were busy hatchin' ... If I only had a brain ..."

Really Mike? Really Rand? Really?

Recently, Reverend Mike Huckabee criticized President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama for allowing their children to listen to the music of  Beyonce Knowles. I have to tell you the sound you heard at that time was me falling off the couch.

Not two days before Huckabee said this I came across an article on the internet regarding Rev Huckabee’s son. The piece detailed the horror of David Huckabee, then seventeen years old, and a friend who hanged a dog while working as camp counselors. Some years later, the same son was arrested for carrying a gun onto an airplane.

I'm not sure what music Rev Huckabee permitted at home but at this point I want to know how the hell he has the balls to criticize anyone's parenting.

And what of Senator Rand Paul linking Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky to Hillary Clinton’s current pursuit of the presidency. Normal people consider that quite a stretch but it isn't necessarily surprising considering Sen Paul's obvious issues with strong women.

Like Huckabee, Paul is another smug, self righteous nut job who has also done a less than stellar job parenting. Just the other day his twenty-two year old son was arrested in Kentucky for driving under the influence of alcohol and without proper insurance. This on top of being drunk and disorderly on an airplane a couple years back.

Personally, I'm thinking William Paul's behavior is the result of Sen Paul's libertarian philosophy ... to hell with rules and regulations, son ... don't let that dang nanny government get in your way out there ... 

Here's Jimmy McMillan's take ... 

TPP ... Obama's Horror Show

TPP is a horror show and if a Republican president were leading this charge my fellow progressives would be screaming. Obama speaks eloquently to his vision for this treaty but he has lost his way and all his well chosen words do not alter facts.

TPP will lower wages for many Americans, give corporations even more power, and literally usurp our laws and Constitution.

Here's what Bernie Sanders points out ...

1. TPP will allow corporations to outsource even more jobs overseas.

2. U.S. sovereignty will be undermined by giving corporations the right to challenge our laws before international tribunals.

3. Wages, benefits, and collective bargaining will be threatened.

4. Our ability to protect the environment will be undermined.

5. Food Safety Standards will be threatened.

6. Buy America laws could come to an end.

7. Prescription drug prices will increase, access to life saving drugs will decrease, and the profits of drug companies will go up.

8. Wall Street would benefit at the expense of everyone else.

9. The TPP would reward authoritarian regimes like Vietnam that systematically violate human rights.

10. The TPP has no expiration date, making it virtually impossible to repeal.

Now, watch Robert Reich dismantle this horrible legislation in two and a half minutes. 





Want more? Here are two links to well written articles. 

 
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2015/04/trans-pacific-partnership-negotiations-explainer-obama

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/04/18/obamas-trade-agreements-are-gift-corporations

Beware the Heirs of Robert Bork

One of the more important powers delegated to the president by the Constitution is the power to appoint judges ... in particular the justices of the United States Supreme Court. These are lifetime appointments and short of impeachment most justices hang on for a long time. 

Several years ago in Citizens United the Roberts Court essentially ruled money, in the form of political contributions by corporations, is the same as free speech and protected by the First Amendment. This was an astonishing finding on the part of the Court and dramatically changed the political process in our country ... essentially putting our government on the auction block to the highest bidder.

This is the power of the Supreme Court and why we must carefully consider the person who will be appointing future justices. Personally, I make  no apologies for my fervent prayers asking that today's opportunistic and lying Republican leadership be struck by lightning before being allowed to appoint another justice.

During the last presidential campaign, Romney's go to guy for advice selecting potential judges was the odious (now dead) rejected Supreme Court nominee, Robert Bork. Bork would scare the hell out of Attila the Hun ... abject evil.

Here are a few of Bork's views Conservatives so readily embrace:

Bork defended poll taxes and literacy tests for voters and he called the Civil Rights Act unsurpassed ugliness.

He believed politicians should be able to outlaw birth control.

He believed the First Amendment shouldn't apply to literature, art, or science.

Bork believed the Constitution's promise of Equal Protection didn't apply to women.

He ruled that a corporation is free to tell female employees to be sterilized or be fired.

Following Bork's nomination to the Court in 1987, Senator Ted Kennedy took to the Senate floor with a strong condemnation of Bork declaring:

"Robert Bork's America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizens' doors in midnight raids, schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution, writers and artists could be censored at the whim of the Government, and the doors of the Federal courts would be shut on the fingers of millions of citizens for whom the judiciary is—and is often the only—protector of the individual rights that are the heart of our democracy ... President Reagan is still our president. But he should not be able to reach out from the muck of Irangate, reach into the muck of Watergate and impose his reactionary vision of the Constitution on the Supreme Court and the next generation of Americans. No justice would be better than this injustice."

Bork was not confirmed but his influence endures in Conservative circles. Senator Kennedy may as well have been describing Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, or any number of today's Republican hopefuls. 

Those who love our democracy must never allow another Republican to appoint another Supreme Court justice ... can I get an amen? 

They Were Women Then

I smile and shake my head when I hear a politician like Rand Paul showing his obvious contempt for women. He is a fool. Dignity and courage are not ethnicity nor race specific but women seem to have gotten the lion's share. Here's Alice Walker ...

Women by Alice Walker

They were women then
My mama’s generation
Husky of voice—stout of
Step
With fists as well as
Hands
How they battered down
Doors
And ironed
Starched white
Shirts
How they led
Armies
Headragged generals
Across mined
Fields
Booby-trapped
Ditches
To discover books
Desks
A place for us
How they knew what we
Must know
Without knowing a page
Of it
Themselves.

TPP ... An Oligarch's Dream

Twitter now permits me to see a list of those I've blocked from interacting with me. My political philosophy is generally progressive so, as you might suspect, the vast majority of those who may no longer view my account are right wing nut jobs.

However, there are also a good number of left wing nut jobs who place their loyalty to Barack Obama far above their loyalty to their alleged principles. Once I realize a person is incapable of reason because of fidelity to a particular ideology I’m through with them.

Now come unto us Trans Pacific Partnership; a treaty orchestrated and championed by Barack Obama which will further destroy America’s middle class and exacerbate environmental destruction worldwide. 

For several years, I've attempted to focus attention on this looming disaster in real life and on the internet. Irrespective of how mildly I phrase my criticisms of Obama and his efforts to fast-track this treaty, many of my fellow progressives scream like the proverbial banshees.

Generally, they make no effort to dispute my points opting instead to make statements like, “President Obama would not do anything to hurt the middle class.” This despite the fact that even a brief reading of the leaked provisions of TPP shows conclusively this treaty is essentially a race to the bottom. It literally gives corporations veto power over duly elected governments . . . via secret courts. Yes, you read that right.

Without a doubt, my progressive friends and followers would be apoplectic if TPP were being put forth by a Republican president. Of course, Republican leaadership is totally on board with this treaty as it helps in their ongoing efforts to create the FSA ... Feudal States of America ... ruled by an elite corporate aristocracy.

Read the paper or watch your favorite cable television news in the coming days. TPP is on the doorstep. Fast tracking has been approved by Congress and that means there will be no public discussion by our elected representatives nor will those  representatives be allowed to amend this disastrous treaty.

I've defended President Obama time and again because he has been unjustly criticized and even vilified by fools and knaves. TPP, however, is Obama's baby and he deserves every serious criticism he receives for bringing this disaster to fruition.

How amazingly hypocritical to speak so eloquently of transparent government, and the need to grow and strengthen America’s middle class, while working secretly to implement an economic treaty that will do the exact opposite.

Read this op/ed from the NYT and see if you are still committed to supporting Obama irrespective of his policies.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/14/opinion/dont-keep-trade-talks-secret.html?_r=0

He Did Make Us A Man ... His Name Was Woody

"Then God sat down -
On the side of a hill where he could think;
By a deep, wide river he sat down;
With his head in his hands,
God thought and thought,
Till he thought I'll make me a man!"

James Weldon Johnson

Every now and then someone steps out of the mists and tells the world the truth. They are never received warmly. If you don't believe me, ask Jesus Christ ...

Jesus is one of my heroes. Another is Woody Guthrie. Woody would be over a hundred years old now so it's doubtful he'd be riding the rails, but there's no doubt he'd still be speaking truth to power.

Listen to the lyrics below and read up on the Ludlow Massacre. Past is often prologue you know. 

  

A man ....

Clowns ... but dangerous 

Eliminate The Cap

Well, they're at it again. This time it's Chris Christie up in New Hampshire making a lot of noise about the need to make hard choices in dealing with the solvency of Social Security. As usual, those hard choices are hard only for the poor and middle class.

Of course, Christie failed to say anything about the most obvious solution for shoring up Social Security ... simply remove the taxable income cap.


Don't be embarrassed if you didn't know there is an income limit for collecting Social Security taxes. Most of you have probably never experienced it. The cap, adjusted each year for inflation, is currently around $117,000 thus most Americans pay 6.2% on their total income. As income rises, the percentage of Social Security taxes paid relative to income drops thus those earning a million dollars pay 0.66% or less.


Why is there a cap in the first place and why does your local school teacher pay 6.2% of her income while those earning a million a year pay 0.66%?  It's the same reason rich folks get tax cuts and subsidies ... the wealthy have more influence on Congress than the poor and middle class do.


Why do we then maintain the income cap in the face of alleged Social Security insolvency? If you ask a commentator at Fox News the reasons are the same lame ones offered up for continuing the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy ... removing the cap would result in a crippled economy and would be a massive job killer ... Of course, this is just more GOP bullshit.

Most Americans are patriotic and more than willing to make individual sacrifices for the good of the whole. Ironically, the objections for paying a fair share usually come from those who can most afford to show their appreciation for all America has given them.

Here's the truth of this from an honorable man ...


"... eliminating the cap makes the system more progressive and minimizes the added burden for low and moderate income workers ..." Jimmy Carter ~ 1977 

Ayn Rand and Her Hateful Progeny

H.L. Mencken cautioned us years ago about our fellow citizens. "Never underestimate the ignorance of the American people," he said. Mencken was a pretty cynical fellow but he nailed that right on the head.

Still, many of us were shocked when we first learned so many of Christ's followers had embraced Ayn Rand. The coupling seemed a bit incongruous.

Seems to me you really can't serve two masters. If you ascribe to the hate filled philosophy of Ayn Rand, there's no room in your heart for the teachings of Jesus Christ. Rand and her followers view the *takers* among us as parasites. Jesus viewed them as our responsibility to lift up, to love, and to be made whole. 

Jesus said love the poor for they are your brothers and sisters and love your neighbor as yourself. Ayn Rand said if the poor get in your way take a board to their lazy asses. If your down and out neighbor is threatening your property values, burn his fucking house down.

Congressman Paul Ryan has said the reason he got involved in public service in the first place was primarily because of Ayn Rand and for years he has required his staff to read Atlas Shrugged. Rand Paul, current presidential candidate and also a disciple of Ms. Rand, brags that he has read all of her novels.

As Republicans, both Paul Ryan and Rand Paul  promote policies that would crush the most vulnerable members of our society. Apparently, neither sees a conflict with their selfish Randian views and their Christian faith. 

I will not be supporting any who channel Ayn Rand. Actually, maybe we can work together and put Miss Rand's philosophy back where it belongs ... in the dorm room garbage can.

Libertarian My Ass

          So, I meet you at a party and I tell you I’m a libertarian. At this point you have certain expectations of me, some subtle and some not so subtle. Phrases like “less government” and “fewer regulations” are some of the more obvious concepts you now associate with me.

          We talk for a while and you find I want to expand the budget for the Defense Department. You don’t say anything at this point, but you do find it rather odd considering the vast amounts of money we already spend on defense.

          You sip your wine and move the conversation to social issues. You find I consider marriage a religious rite and that I'm opposed to same sex marriage. You dig deeper and find I'm also ardently pro-life. To what extent, you wonder so you ask under what circumstances I approve of abortion. I hedge my answer but you press me.

          Are rape or incest exempted you ask. I look around nervously trying to gauge the political sensibilities of those around us. I do this a lot these days. I mumble and again evade the question as best as I can.

           Feeling somewhat uncomfortable I change the subject and put out my hand. By the way, I say, I don’t think we've met. My name is Rand Paul. I'm currently a United States Senator and I’m running for president.

           Sure you are you think and move off to find another drink. But I really am I say. I'm a libertarian just like my dad and I ...

Note from Cletis: He really isn't you know ... Read here

http://thinkprogress.org/election/2015/04/06/3643093/rand-paul-not-libertarian/

Pick and Choose Christians

It's difficult to find much fault with the teachings of Jesus. He laid out a morality that requires each person to do for others and kept it simple but we'd never know that considering the zillion interpretations of his philosophy. 

Chapter and verse poker between Christians and their fellow Christians are the stuff of legend around my way. *I'll see your Luke and raise you a Matthew* is an example of Scripture poker often heard in homes and churches. Generally, these efforts are not efforts to better understand and follow the Way but are more essentially efforts to cover one's ass.

The rampant use of guns in our society is a perfect example. It's difficult to imagine the Prince of Peace packing but many of today's Christians swear Jesus would have been a card carrying NRA member who'd blow your ass away as needed. When pressed, they'll find a basket full of out of context verses to prove their point.

Apparently, and thankfully, my bible is missing this Gospel of Glock. You can't love your neighbor and shoot him too seems pretty simple to me. 

Amen ....