Category: Orphans

While natural disasters and the “Japan Syndrome” have been taking place in Asia an old-fashioned “mellavahess” has been growing ever deeper in Libya.

Quadaffi Duck’s forces are steadily taking back some of the gains made by rebel forces amidst continuing talk, mostly outside Libya and off the African continent, promoting intervention to help the uprising. Now it’s easy as hell to say Obama should do this or that. See, I’ll show you.

Obama should order bombing of Quadaffi’s palaces and where intelligence-gatherers believe nut-boy is staying. I’m sure our intelligence has at least an idea. And since we have satellites that can determine whether a tiny camel is salsa dancing inside the head of a needle then surely those spy satellites can tell where the present-day Libyan Army is bivouacked so a couple of  Navy F-18s could scream over head and rain down their lethal arsenals. Who needs a no-fly zone when you take out the entire Libyan Air Force on the ground?

That is not to say the above is what I would do. I would probably be sweating bullets and having a nervous breakdown were I the person who determines the course of action in Libya.

France wants to go in, guns a-blazing, at least after creating a no-fly zone. France. Can you believe it? I am not a perpetual French-basher, Freedom Fries type of guy. After all, Ben Franklin and others  beat the drum for Franco assistance during the revolution. Support came in various from French folk like Beaumarchais, LaFayette, L’Enfant, Maurice Chevalier, Marcel Marceau and Pierre Alsace-Lorraine.  Even though we’ve repaid the French a couple of times over, we still owe them a debt of gratitude. But between Great Britain and France, not a lot enthusiasm exists for Libyan intervention right now.

Just today I heard on one news report some English-speaking Libyans say they need help. It is the first such words I have heard on the subject, or perhaps I wasn’t listening. We should not involve our military into more Middle East conflict or conflict period for that matter, though. But, haven’t we done that with Libya for quite some time? Think back to the Ronny Ray Guns era.

I don’t fault Obama for doing nothing in Libya. Perhaps that is the most prudent step right now. I do think this is the time for Barack Obama, the tall kid with the big ears from Honolulu to step up to the plate and say “follow me.” This country, the democratic nations, the most prosperous nations in the world all need leadership because it is lacking.

People much, much smarter than me are behind the scenes figuring out the first two or three hundred moves before the next move the United States needs to take in all the turmoil in North Africa and the Middle East, not to mention in the Japan Syndrome.

Okay, you might detest oil and the oil industrial complex. But that is what makes the Little Train That Could, Could — at least for the present that is.  We’ve got some real challenges right now. Mr. Barry O, I think it’s time to step up to the plate.

Yes, I realize many people in Japan are having harder times than I am. Children in some unnamed African country are starving. Some people have pain more severe than my own and physical problems more daunting than my own. And what about the youth in Asia (euthanasia?) But damn it, I don’t feel good, I had a crappy stay at a hotel in Houston last night and my truck is in the shop getting what, is to me, expensive repairs.

It isn’t my intention to go into detail because it would be a lengthy list I’d have to write. I already wrote an e-mail to the Marriott manager in Houston. Plus, who cares? At least the Chevy HHR I rented is roomy and possessed plenty of pep to get me out of H Town after my appointment at the VA. And the physical therapist at the VA was a nice guy who saw me for my appointment even though I was late.

I just don’t think it serves much purpose for me to write when I am in a pissy mood, at least write when I don’t have to and  when I am not getting paid for it. Speaking of which, my total bill at the mechanic would be $1,300. I don’t have $1,300. I don’t even know 1,300 people with a dollar. People must think I am made of money. When I am at the grocery store, people come up to me all the time saying they need gas for their cars and only need a couple  of dollars. Been there, but do I look like a banker? Me, with my 11-year-old Toyota pickup, I guess I am an easy mark. I guess I have a kind face. What kind, I don’t know.

Some over-the-top governance by Republicans in states such as Wisconsin as of late could very well backfire in more ways than one.

The GOP Senate in Wisconsin decided Wednesday to unilaterally end bargaining rights for public employees since a quorum-denying pack of Democratic senators fled to neighboring Illinois. The Republicans stripped the union-busting legislation out of the budget bill and passed the cherry-picked portion, claiming they could do it since it does  not require a quorum that includes the 14 missing Senate Democrats. The manner in which it was done reportedly violates that state’s open meeting rules. So there may be civil ramifications as well as criminal ones that GOP legislators face. One thing for sure, the Republicans disabused the notion that the whole thing was about budget and not union busting.

This all seems to be a new wave over a number of states with Republican legislative majorities. All of this is to pay back the people who hate unions, those who spent millions upon millions to get the GOP leaders elected  such as the Koch brothers. Operatives such as Karl Rove also are counting on opponents overreacting such as those who have been protesting at the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison, this according to Huffington Post’s Howard Fineman, speaking on MSNBC’s “The Last Word” Wednesday evening. Fineman believes Rove is betting on overreactions which could turn to something ugly and ultimately could cause a backlash with voters in 2012. It’s still a long way. And Karl’s not been batting 100 percent lately.

Even though the Republicans may be running roughshod over the citizens of those states, and perhaps even acting illegally, it is hoped that folks will keep their cool. Here is hoping the backlash will be on the draconian politics employed by an increasingly fascist-acting number of Republican-controlled state legislatures.

Those a**holes like Rove and others who have no respect for democratic government should be sent a message as well: That it’s time to retire for good.

Sports haven’t been a big topic here lately. It’s kind of the sports doldrums here. I am not a big basketball fanatic. If the Men’s or Women’s playoffs prove interesting to me, then I might watch a game although it is most like I won’t.

Speaking of basketball, the game seems to have its share of creeps. That isn’t to say other sports don’t have their own as well. I found a pretty good list — “The 50 Biggest Creeps in Sports” — from Bleacher Report. I don’t agree with all of them. I don’t even know all of them or what they did. I sure wholeheartedly agree with their number one pick. Thankfully, I had the most minimal involvement in that story as a reporter. I really wish I could talk about the media aspect of the story without getting sued. A confidential agreement with my employer at the time restricts a lot of what I can and cannot say.

But, yes, look at number one. He was selling shoes last I heard.

Much too much news is going on for me to follow with any clarity.

The Republicans, backed by the rich Koch brothers, are trying across the nation to destroy the public service unions.

Meanwhile, the Tea Party wants to shut down the federal government.

The Middle East is erupting. Quadaffi, Gadahffi, Kadaffy Duck, however he spells his name is unraveling, not that he’s had much to unravel to begin with. Sorry for the sentence ending with a preposition.

A major earthquake causes devastation in Christchurch.

Pirates kill American citizens.

And I had to move next door yesterday on my day off. I’m still putting things away.

Surely it’s a news overload, for one whose business and life has been news.  It still is.

But I got to put up a clothes rack right now.