Post 292: some things are more important to do

My plans for yesterday were simple: I’d wallow in all the build-up to the State of the Union speech, watch the speech and responses, and go to bed.

Around 8:30 AM, however, I had a telephone call from the woman at RSVP. A veteran missed the Veterans Administration van to Hot Springs, South Dakota. He had an afternoon appointment to evaluate the next steps to deal with a broken left knee – ow! – and would I be available to take him there?

It was a “no brainer”. This Desert Shield veteran had a serious injury, not some routine check up he could reschedule with no particular consequences, and he turned out to be someone I knew because I worked for decades with members of his family at the hose factory. I know his mother and father, several aunts and uncles, some cousins. Of course I’d drive him to the VA in South Dakota! Gladly!

The trip was uneventful. We got to the clinic ahead of schedule, and that gave him a slight advantage in that they took him in for his evaluation before schedule, a bit of serendipity since the injured knee, in a brace, still gave him some discomfort when we rode over bumps. As you can imagine, the best part of his day would be when we finally got back home and he could better control the discomfort and pain of the knee.

Good luck with the surgery on that knee later this week, Norman!

Six hours and forty-five minutes of my time given to help this man. Though I wanted to wallow in the State of the Union speech hubbub at the start of the day, a telephone call reminded me some things are more important to do.

Post 291: “You lie!”

Following President Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech tonight there’ll be the spectacle of three rebuttal speeches delivered by elements of the Republican Party.

The actual Republican response will come from Cathy McMorris Rodgers. She serves from Oregon in the US House of Representatives. Had the other two “speechifiers” held back, Representative McMorris Rodgers’ response could have served as visual “evidence” that Republicans actually think women can handle responsibilities without a man behind them. The Congresswoman is known to be competent and conservative.

The Tea Party response comes from Utah Senator Mike Lee. You remember him for his part in the Federal Government shutdown in October 2013, as an ally of Texas Senator Ted Cruz. I presume he didn’t cause the shutdown either since Senator Cruz recently made the claim he had nothing to do with it. Maybe it was the Grinch who stole Christmas.

Tennessee Senator Rand Paul will offer up a third response from his Libertarian point of view. Of the three responses, Senator Paul’s seems more an opportunity to promote the Senator’s personal ambitions to be President than a necessity.

I'm trying to find the horns. He doesn't seem to have any horns. Is the Right lying about the horns? Where are the horns???

I’m trying to find the horns. He doesn’t seem to have any horns. Is the Right lying about the horns? Where are the horns???

Three responses. Doesn’t say “one party” to me, though the reality of the Republican Party these days is that it isn’t one diverse party working toward a common goal. It’s three parties within one, all trying to beat out the others, a dysfunctional marriage verging on a divorce.

If the leadership of the Republican Party were capable, they’d work to consolidate these three responses into one. My probably simplistic point of view is one consolidated message would come across as equivalent, just different from that of the Democratic Party’s as delivered by the President. Three individual responses just shows how divided that party is.

Of course, I’m not sympathetic to any of the three, so let them fall on their faces for all I care. I’ll listen, try to hear the messages tonight, but can they top the infamous outburst of Republican Congressman Addison Graves “Joe” Wilson, Sr. of South Carolina, who, in a fit of passion, called President Obama a liar twice during the 2009 State of the Union Address!?

Joe Wilson’s outburst is the most outrageous behavior I’ve every seen during one of these speeches, though the way clapping always follows party lines is a clown joke, grade school posturing.

For that matter, having Republicans sit on one side and Democrats on the other reminds me of how grade schoolers tend to self-segregate into boys on one side and girls on the other of a classroom unless the teacher assigns seats alphabetically. Would America have better government if we arranged the House and the Senate alphabetically? LOL! Couldn’t be worse than what we have.

Civility isn’t that hard. Nor is it too hypocritical to give the President a little polite applause even though you intend to obstruct every damn thing he tries to get done during his term of office: applaud politely but put on a “whiney-face”! Watch Speaker of the House John Boehner if you think that can’t be done.

Post 290: Send in the clowns!

Tomorrow is the wonkiest, wackiest day of the year, the day the President of the United States of America gives his State of the Union speech. I look forward to this exercise to inform the people of the day’s issues and policies proposed by the various elements of our political process to turn America into a Utopian wonder.

...as viewed by Democrats

…as viewed by Democrats

Oh come on! I’m sorry! I tried to write that without irony, but I pride myself on readers who know “snarky” when they come across it! But I do look forward to the four speeches – yes, FOUR!!! – three of which it takes these days to tell us the President is a Nazi-Socialist-Communist-Muslim-Kenyan-big government-bankrupting mistake and not worth our respect but not because he’s black… oh, no!

Regardless, the opposition will continue to obstruct any progress whatsoever in America until they take over the reins of government, which I hope is no time soon if I have my way.

...as viewed by the Republicans

…as viewed by the Republicans

Well, I’ll allow them one term so I can find absolutely everything the Republican President does to be totally wrong and destructive to the American way of life. If his name is Jesus, he still will have no credibility, I guarantee! After five years of Republicans working to subvert the current US President’s efforts, I’ll enjoy watching one of theirs enjoy karmic return on their investment in the success of the Obama presidency!

...as viewed by the TPers

…as viewed by the TPers

Seriously, I pray something better comes about: The real Republicans reclaim their party, and the Tea Party-ites and Libertarians break away to form their own unelectable political stump parties.

...as viewed by Libertarians.

…as viewed by Libertarians.

There will be few, if any surprises tomorrow, though there is the circus of four speeches where one can rail, rant, revolt against any combination of three points of view one selects from the four available.

Ain’t America great? I’m drooling, going into a cross-eyed coma of anticipation at what’s coming! Set up the circus and…

SEND IN THE CLOWNS!