A short so long for Ted Kennedy

Since most of my friends and relatives think that my liberal tendencies run just a little to the left of Uncle Joe Stalin, I thought I would surprise them with a very short post noting the death of the “Liberal Lion” Sen. Edward Kennedy.

Ted Kennedy was the second Kennedy brother of John F. who never made it to the coveted presidency. That worked out okay for people on both sides of the political spectrum. The right didn’t get the liberal Kennedy brother as president. The left and center got a pretty damn good legislator and one hell of an orator of the likes one never sees anymore in Congress. Byrd was an old-time orator but he has just become too old to do the job. I’m sorry to say.

Ted Kennedy had his faults like all human beings. He wasn’t a good driver to say the least. But he was a tough old bird who did a lot of good for a lot of people.

If you didn’t like him or can’t find something for which to admire him, I’m sorry. I can find good in even the sorriest individuals on Earth with maybe the exception of Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Michelle Malkin, Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity … Oh, Limbaugh does a good impression of a pig running around with a stick in his mouth when he inserts a cigar. My uncle used to say when he would see someone smoking a cigar: “I guess it’s going to rain. I see a pig running around with a stick in his mouth.” You had to be there.

So there is my short eulogy for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., the late. Rest in peace.

The Black August of 2009

Black August. Perhaps some day the folks who were once proud to call themselves Republicans will look back on that month — August 2009 — painfully and remember it as the month that that the once Grand Old Party went down in flames.

It all started out so well. Party operatives who helped gin up faux outrage over voting problems in Florida which resulted in Bush v. Gore were really getting little old ladies and Joe Sixpack riled up over the Obama health care plan. The media, lovers of conflict more than life  itself, were eating it up. Local TV reporters would run over their own grandmothers to catch a town hall meeting held by a local congressperson, just hoping for soundbites by those feigning anger, some of whom consumed Medicare while screaming against government-run health care.

Even some polls were saying the American public was, for awhile, not all on board with insurance reform if a public option was to be part of the system.

But as the month waned and late summer drifted into its last few weeks, the Republicans saw their well-oiled machinery come apart at the seams when their opposition was smacked down by the “Big B.” Yes, backlash.

It didn’t take much to turn the public against the anti-reformers. A couple of Democratic congressmen got roughed up at their townhall meetings. Other rallies got out of hand. Some punches were thrown, some signs batted about, a couple of women, children and their pets were hurt.

The backlash grew and grew. The next midterm election saw an overwhelmingly Democratic Congress. State assemblies which once were governed by solid GOP majorities fell. The following year saw rancorous state Republican conventions throughout the country. The conflict between the extreme right and moderate wings of the party became so intense, that the party finally splintered.

Today, most Republicans see little hope that their once loved party will ever regain its stature as a national party. Perhaps there would be one GOP today instead of several little parties that are unable to generate voter interest had things been differently way back when. During that dark, black August so long ago.

Ted Poe: To Birth or Not to Birth

U.S. Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, is embarrassing his constituents again. I am one of them. Poe, the former headline-happy judge turned right-wing nut champion, has shown himself to be in the forefront of the “Birther” movement.

The so-called “Birthers” are those who either cling to the fantasy or have helped perpetuate it that President Obama was born in Kenya. Poe has at the very least done his share to make sure this second round of raising the birth issue gained a little press. Others among the Birthers believe Obama’s election to U.S. president is part of some larger conspiracy.

Poe, who shows up touting his right-wing views on CNN’s Lou Dobbs and various Fox News programs, was  one of the sponsors of a bill that would require presidential candidates to produce a copy of their birth certificate. Somewhat ironically, Poe and others pushing the “Birther Bill” voted for a resolution honoring Hawaii’s 50 years in the the union and noting the Aloha State is the birthplace of Barack Obama.

Officials in Hawaii today once again affirmed that Barack Obama was born in Honolulu.

Back to Poe, he has proven that he is more interested on hot-button issues that will get him on Must See Right-Wing TV than helping out the home folks back in the 2nd Congressional District of Texas. For instance he appeared on one right-leaning TV show, I think it was Lou Dobbs, using El Paso as a backdrop. While I too have concerns about El Paso I am not a congressman. Poe is and he doesn’t represent El Paso.

Although the district no longer represents the heart of the East Texas Pineywoods as it once did —  the 2nd being urban and in the affluent ares north of Houston certainly more Republican —  it is easy to determine that Ted Poe is no Charlie Wilson.

Maybe next election the folks of the 2nd Congressional District of Texas including Republicans will do as others did in electing Obama and a Democratic-controlled Congress, and turn out Ted Poe so he can do his wingnut act without taxpayers footing the bill.

What'd I say?

Yesterday I commented about the remark made by President Obama at his press conference the night before. Among his statements, Obama said the Cambridge, Mass., police department “acted stupidly” in handling the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. The arrest has turned into a big racial controversy that I feel has more to do with a couple of people with bruised egos, one of which was arrested with charges later being dismissed.

I remarked that Obama was only half right about the incident in which white police Sgt. Jim Crowley arrested Obama’s friend Gates, who is black, for disorderly conduct. Police were called because Gates was thought to be breaking into his own home. Gates became upset over the confrontation, which led to his arrest. I said the incident should have ended when Gates produced identification. I still believe that. But I think Gates should have used common sense and perhaps kept a cooler head.

This morning several Boston-area police unions expressed their outrage — as have many other Americans, many of whom are Republicans — over the president’s remarks.

This afternoon Obama said, in a surprise appearance at the White House press briefing room, that he had called Crowley. While Obama did not apologize he said that he told Crowley he wished he had used a better choice of words during Wednesday’s press conference. Obama also is hoping to put together a “peace conference” over beers with Crowley and Gates. Great, they’ll all get drunk, wind up in a brawl and we’ll have an even bigger brouhaha! Just kidding.

Of course, the controversy won’t end there as I said yesterday it wouldn’t end anytime soon. As someone on cable news said this morning, whenever the president makes a statement on something it extends the matter at least another day. His opponents will certainly try to run the matter into the ground.

Let’s just hope the president can bring peace between the hostiles and have that beer.

Here's to stupidity in America

Let’s not talk about health care reform. It makes my head spin and my doctor said I could stop taking the medication that has made my head do that for the last several days. So, it need not spin more.

I watched President Obama’s news conference last night as he talked mostly on reforming the nation’s health care system. Jeez that guy can be long-winded sometimes. I may have to start calling him Gabby, except that reminds me of Gabby Hayes the old coot Western star as well as a freaked-out parrot I know.

Instead of health care I will briefly mention Obama’s remarks on the controversy regarding the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. Gates is the distinguished prof who was confronted while breaking into his own house by a Cambridge, Mass., police officer. The white officer, basically seemed to dislike Gates’ attitude and arrested the black man for disorderly conduct charges which were later dropped.

Obama admitted his bias in the controversy because he is a friend of Gates but commented that Cambridge police “acted stupidly” during the incident.

It seems after reading of the actions of both Gates and the officer, Sgt. Jim Crowley, that Obama got “it” half-right. If you take the word of both Gates and Crowley, and I see no reason why not to, even though both may be exaggerating a wee bit because they both seem pretty stubborn and pig-headed, both share some blame for the outcome.

First off, the cop was doing his job responding to a call of a possible break-in, something for which Gates should be grateful. Gates showed his ID and the incident should have ended there. But it didn’t. Gates got his nose out of joint.  Crowley got into a snit. Things took off from there.

Before we get all racial let me say one thing. I have seen cops act pretty stupid toward me when I wasn’t doing a thing illegal. One woke me up in the middle of the night and demanded to see my federal ID because I was using a government car and the place in which I was staying was not exactly Beverly Hills. I have had them ID me for walking down the road and when they couldn’t find any other reason to jack with me, they said I was walking on the wrong side of the road. So some, by no means all, police do act stupid at times.

When I do encounter stupidity as such, I try to just let it slide because I know if I don’t I’ll probably be arrested and taken to jail on some trumped-up charges similar to those for which gates was busted.

Granted, I’m not a black man. I haven’t been subjected to what many black men have over time such as DWB, driving  while black. I could imagine it would get very old but I think many would think as I do that if they lose it they go directly to jail, no matter if they are innocent. Oh and here is a dirty little secret, some white people including some white cops don’t like black people, especially black men, who among other names are known by such cops as “perpetrators.”

Thus, from what I can tell in reading about the situation that night in Cambridge, it seems that both the officer and Gates went somewhat over the top. There is a difference though. Gates did live in the house. He apparently broke no laws other than copping an attitude, pardon the pun. So it appears that he was a victim of false arrest.

All of this points to an opinion that, Obama probably shouldn’t have commented, or deflected the question as he can so aptly do at times. Or otherwise Obama should have said both share some blame even though the Cambridge police acted even more stupidly than the president’s friend and in fact falsely arrested a man in his own home.

But it’s water under the bridge. Too bad the water won’t just flow on down silently toward the sea. I just don’t see that happening.