So how did you react when you heard the woefully misnamed Supreme Court had upheld Obamacare?
I first felt a flat, cool anger — without passion because it was so without surprise.
I had expected the court would shoot down the individual mandate while leaving the rest — a recipe for economic disaster, of course, since the individual mandate pays for the whole — but a snarkily satisfying slap in the face and at least a small nod in the direction of the Constitution. But nothing those government supremacists do could surprise anybody who’s observing carefully.
Their actual decision is one of those that reminds us (no offense to the Oregon Law Hobbit) why 20,000 lawyers at the bottom of the sea is “a good start”: While it’s a violation of the interstate commerce clause for the federal government to require everyone to buy insurance, it’s perfectly okay to finetax us if we don’t. There’s no mandate, there’s simply a choice!
Make that 100,000 at the bottom of the sea. And counting.
Then I heard Romney’s response and flat-out laughed. He promises to repeal Obamacare and replace it with — every big provision of Obamacare except the hated (but absolutely necessary to the rest) individual mandate. Somehow, this is going to prevent those very useful “future generations” from being stuck with the bill. Sorry, I have no info for you on exactly how imposing Obamacare with no built-in payment mechanism “saves” you poor guys in the “future generations.”
Romney’s campaign reported an immediate spike in donations upon the court’s announcement. And now, too, he gets to keep his #1 applause line.
So yay hooray, both Ds and Rs win the day.
Government 2, the people 0. But hey, all you younger folks who are going to end up paying, whether through Obama’s not-a-mandate or the R’s everything-but-a-mandate … well, do any of these politicians really believe you’ll quietly spend the entire rest of your lives forking over the dough for their grandiosity?
BTW, for those of you who might lose lunch if you have endure Granderson’s spewings again, be aware that Greenwald quotes nearly the whole “Don’t Be Nosy about Fast & Furious” monstrosity.
Show this to the innocents in your circle the next time one of them says if you obey the law you have nothing to fear. Whole family loses everything and goes to jail for … failure to speak Spanish when the feds use a Spanish speaker to frame them.
Five awful (and common) experiences we never get over. This is so true.
Dog goes blind from abuse. Baseball team adopts. Your awwwww story of the day — although in this case, the awwww comes only after a fair share of grrrrr and &^^%$# and how can some &^%%$s stand to live inside their own skin.
Earlier this month, the Tubz were rattling over David Brooks’ plea for us all to know our places and respect our betters. And I was surely glad to see Radley Balko give Brooks and his Olde Establishment snobbery a good fisking.
But me, I laughed. Brooks’ demand for obedience to Authoritah (any old Authoritah) was so pathetic, so obviously a dying cry from the Ancien Regime, that it delighted me. Yay! We’re out of control! Hooray! We point and snicker at the undersized dangly bits and bloated bellies of our naked emperors! That’s just how things ought to be.
Today Michael W. Dean sends another opinion piece in that same ilk. But somehow this one seems harder to laugh at. Partly because real people are dying for this supposed “good cause.” Partly because this is about derailing (or at least wishing away) a hard-won investigation that’s still going on.
I know that’s hard to digest in a society where pregnancies and marriages of D-list celebrities make the cover of People magazine, but there comes a point where the public’s right to know needs to take a back seat to matters like national security and diplomacy. …
Fast and Furious? Please. …
You see, freedom isn’t entirely free.
It also isn’t squeaky clean.
And sometimes the federal government deems it necessary to get its hands a little dirty in the hopes of achieving something we generally accept as good for the country. …
Project Wide Receiver and Project Road Runner — the earlier versions of Fast and Furious under President Bush — were executed with the hope that they will do more good than harm. Hardly anyone in the public knows the finer points of these programs.
Were they legal?
Hell no.
Were they effective?
Who knows?
Were they done as a way to keep America safe?
Yes. …
By allowing guns to infiltrate Mexico’s drug cartel, we thought we could trace them up the ladder to the leaders [Editor's note: Never mind that, with F&F, no attempt was ever made to trace the guns up the ladder -- or anywhere else]. Take off the head and the body dies. As for the innocent people who lost their lives? Collateral damage. That’s the uncomfortable backstory to this scandal. And there are likely other operations like it in our nation’s history that we don’t even have a clue about.
And maybe it’s better for us not to be so nosy, not to know everything because, to paraphrase the famous line from the movie “A Few Good Men,” many of us won’t be able to handle the truth.
Fast & Furious — Gunwalker — was uncovered by “little guys.” David Codrea. Mike Vanderboegh. ATF whistleblowers. Without “nosy” people, the ATF and DoJ would have gone right on sending guns to Mexican gangs so the regime could weep and moan about, and legislate against, the government-created problem. And now we’re all just supposed to shut up and let our betters handle the very situation they tried to bury? And we’re supposed to do it for our own good? Hey, Grander-than-thou — I’m usually too ladylike to say this, but … go fork yourself.
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Fixed: Misspelling of Granderson’s name. The actual spelling is not only … well, actual, but so very fitting.
Last night I was talking with somebody who has a lot of the same problems in his life that I do. They grind him down and I think he’s becoming (or more likely long ago became) very bitter.
I was bitter when I was young. I’d be lying if I said things don’t get me down, even now. I’ve bled all over these blog pages often enough that you surely know I get depressed, frustrated, head-banging, angry, sad, and all the other dreary etceteras of life. More than once — heck, more than 1,000 times — I’ve wanted to chuck it all and become a hermit in a cave.
Okay, a warm, well-furnished cave with a harmonious color scheme, beautiful art, fabulous garage-sale finds, and a sufficient number of large dogs. But a cave, more or less. Where nobody could find me and nobody would ever hear of me again.
But really, when I’m not on one of Those Moods, I’m grateful. And — to my surprise — happier and healthier than I’ve ever been in my life.
It’s a relief to get this far and realize that (barring some bonk on the head that changes my personality for the worse) I’m not going to age into miserable curmudgeonhood.
Come to think of it, that’s one of the things I’m grateful for.
Along with:
A world full of friendly supporters and “friends I’ve never met” — not to mention some I actually have met
A sense of humor
The best comment section any blog ever had
Being able to work from home
Gewurtztraminer in an elegant ($5 for 4 at a flea market) glass
That the Bill of Rights still exists as a model and a beacon, even if it’s being battered to ruins
Backwoods Home
That we aren’t going quietly into tyranny
A couple of friends who recently got me through One Of Those Moods (you reading this, J and K?)
The dogs, of course
And even the cat, though grudgingly because I’m not willing to admit she could turn me into a cat person
Library books
Netflix
The ‘Net, which makes so much possible
That when my old favorite actor, Johnny Depp, quit being a real original and resorted to just doing “Johnny Depp schtick,” Rhys Ifans rose to take his place
Pastels, colored pencils, and beautiful papers
Greenery, of which the NorthWET has such abundance
I could go on. And on. And that, too, is something to be grateful for.
Yeah, life sucks sometimes and government sucks most all the time. And sometimes our own temperament defeats us. But I am so glad this choice is here — to be grateful even in the midst of suckage. And to find that simple gratitude helps blow the suckage into mist. In my best moments, I suspect that gratitude and some of the inner strengths that go with it could even play a role in blowing government away.
Your contribution can help a starving writer/crafter (no, not me) write his next novel and develop a novel new idea involving handmade papers and seeds. I’m talking about Carl-Bear Bussjaeger, long-time freedomista, who explains it all at that link.
Once he reaches his goal, 50% of all further contributions will go to three named charities — one for animals, one for guns, one for kids.
Even if you can’t contribute, please spread the word via your blog, your Facebook page, or any appropriate forums and listservs.
How to make an herbal raw honey ointment to treat burns and wounds, provided you don’t mind slathering something that looks like gelled split pea soup on yourself or those you love.
And speaking of those you love but (take it from me) others probably don’t, Malaysia Airlines, bless the marvelously shriveled little hearts of its executives, is experimenting with child-free sections on its aircraft. I’ve marveled at how, when I get on an airplane, I’m always seated in the crying-baby section. Or next to an evangelical church lady who has never flown before and who wants to spend the entire flight clutching my arm in terror while assuring me that Jesus will save us all.
Friends I respect despise Gabe Suarez. Other friends I respect follow and admire him. Having no experience of the man, I’ve sat happily on the fence. But I can now say with conviction … well, no. Read his words and decide for yourself.
I marvel that anybody can write political satire these days, since every time you turn around, government does something weirder than any satirist could dream up. No surprise people are always mistaking Onion articles for real news. But it’s a great surprise to me that Onion writers don’t scream in despair and run off and get jobs as White House press lackeys. Same talents, probably higher pay.
Regardless, at the bottom of that rabbit hole, I found the Silly Stuff archive of my ancient, beautiful Wolfe’s Lodge (created for me by a nice, respectable person who chose to remain nameless and now maintained by Bill St. Clair). Thought y’all might enjoy some old-time (ca 1997-2000) laughs this weekend.
I wrote (or co-wrote) a lot of the pieces based on then-current news and then-in-power politicians. So not everything makes sense now (though you still might recognize Barbara Boxer, Phil Graham, Teddy Kennedy, Bill Clinton, and a few others in “Welcome to the Party”). But if I dare say so myself, there’s some fun stuff.
