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Friday, February 13. 2009
The Party of No
So, a sheriff in South Carolina arrested eight people connected to Olympic champion swimmer Michael Phelps’ bong hit. You gotta be shittin’ me! Sheriff Leon Lett of Richland County (Home of the University of South Carolina), unable to let the prospect of weeks, neigh, months, of headlines connected to an Olympic champion fall by the wayside, is looking to arrest Phelps as well.For being stupid enough to take bong hits with people he didn’t know. That was the stupid part. Smoking pot, for tens of millions of Americans, is pretty normal, just like having a few cocktails. I don’t do either, but I don’t begrudge those who do. Have at it. In fact, on holidays like New Years Eve and St. Paddy’s Day, you amateurs are pretty damn entertaining!
Sheriff Lett’s reasoning, which sounds so legitimate on the surface, but falls short in the reality check, is that he cannot ignore a violation of the law captured in a photograph. So, the good sheriff arrested eight people, including the owner of the bong, in hopes of getting one of them to flip on Phelps.
Of course, the good sheriff didn’t say that in his most recent press conference, but after watching all those Law and Order shows, who wouldn’t want to replicate the TV fare of Jerry Orbach (Great voce di basso) Sam Waterston, S. Epatha Merkerson and the rest who have populated the original program over the years.He’s loving the headlines … but you gotta wonder how he’s handling the hate mail. With so many serious crimes taking place in and around the university and elsewhere in his county, he wants to spend sorely short resources going after a “crime” that took place three months ago, a crime in which there were no victims, just college kids doing what college kids do since … well, before I was in college.
I remember in 1970, going to Madison, WI to visit my brother, a student at the University of Wisconsin. Although my brother didn’t smoke pot—in my presence anyway—the smell of burning marijuana was clearly evident throughout the dorm. Well, until the riot broke out during the May Day anti-war rally taking place that day. Then it was replaced by tear gas.
It’s grandstanding on the part of the sheriff, but it’s become the activity of choice for elected officials, becoming so prevalent Jon Stewart introduced a new segment on The Daily Show called “American Grandstand.” In it, Stewart spotlighted politicians from both major parties grandstanding for the cameras and the one that really stands out is Democrat Brad Sherman, who represents the San Fernando Valley.
A couple months ago he asked the CEO’s of the Big Three Automakers to raise their hands if they were going to sell their corporations’ private jets. None did, they just looked at the congressman like he was stupid. More recently, when the heads of the nation’s major banks were in front of Congress for the next banking bail out — TARP II — he asked them the same question. Same reaction: “Is this congressman for real?”Well, I’m from California and an ardent member of the fringe left of the Democratic Party, and … °sigh° … I have to admit, yes, he’s for real. Republicans have their … err … goofy uncles … but it still isn’t easy to admit we Democrats have ours.
The Republicans, for the most part, are grandstanding now en masse over the president’s stimulus package, despite the compromises president Obama and the Democrats made to get it to pass the U.S. Senate. A collection of House of Representatives Republicans, let by John Boehner, held a press conference denouncing the stimulus package, claiming they weren’t going to be the party of “no” — just on that alone you have to shake your head — and then they all explained why the entire House Republican caucus voted “nay” on the package.
The Party of “No.”Boehner and his colleagues complained about the spending, pointing out a plan to build a high-speed rail between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. They called it “pork.” I call it, and most people call it, putting thousands of people to work for years to build not only the rail line itself, but all the ancillary items that go along with the project in support of the rail system. That’s actually stimulating the economy, at least in this part of the country, but also in places where the parts for the rail system will be created and pre-assembled.
In that press conference Friday, one Republican, Boehner, claimed the president said the stimulus was about, “jobs, jobs, jobs.” Another, Congresswoman Candice Miller from Michigan, claimed the president said it was about building and improving infrastructure … but then railed against it because the bill didn’t give enough to the Big Three automakers for a bailout. And it was the Republicans who railed against the automaker bailout in December. Makes your head spin.The irony doesn’t end there. The Republican alternative, as Congressman Boehner mentioned, was more tax cuts and nothing but tax cuts. Well, as the president said a few days ago, echoing what the vast majority of the electorate proclaimed in November, we’ve tried the Republican alternative for eight years and it didn’t work.
Albert Einstein is credited with the popular definition of insanity: “Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” And yet that’s what the Republicans in Congress want us to do — again: prove we are insane.
Well, we did elect George W. Bush for a second term … I see their point …
On Hardball Republican Congressman Brian Bilbray, the representative for my old home, admitted the Bush policies were wrong — and yet he chose to vote “no” with his fellow House Republicans.
This package will add 380,000 jobs to California alone independent analysts tell us. The Republicans are grandstanding, as Jon Stewart pointed out Thursday Night, because not only are they the minority party, they aren’t supported by the vast majority of American voters. So, they have to appear relevant, and that means becoming “The Party of No.”
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