Priorities

God, Country, Notre Dame is the inscription over the eastern door of the Sacred Heart Basilica on the campus of the University of Notre Dame. It is meant to convey the conviction of graduates: service to God above all, then to country and alma mater thereafter. Got me thinking about politics and priorities. The party of “no” during the first two years of the Obama administration, Republicans successfully ran last November on putting job creation first and foremost. And they captured the House of Representatives by a vast margin. Six months into this new Congress, what has become of the promised “jobs” agenda? Eliminating funding for NPR and Planned Parenthood grabbed headlines. Read my lips, no new taxes – even for the richest 2% of Americans, for corporate jets or for oil companies – has been a familiar refrain. I’m sure these important issues are aimed squarely at employing more Americans. Some in the lamestream media now suggest that the GOP’s overarching strategy for the next 18 months will be to derail efforts aimed at spurring the economy and job growth, and thus Obama’s re-election chances. Robbed of oxygen, the fire will be snuffed out. Which comes back to priorities. How about: God, Grand Old Party, Country. Now that’s an agenda I can believe in!

Slacker

I rarely read the newspaper. I don’t know many people who do anymore. I figure, if it’s not spoon-fed to me on Fox News, the most trusted name in “news,” then it’s not worth investing my limited-attention span. But I did pick up a newspaper last week, and was shocked to read about a 59-year old man who robbed a North Carolina bank. For $1. His attorney said that James Verone was a good law abiding citizen before robbing the bank. In addition to being unemployed, Verone has chronic health issues. Evidently he robbed the bank so he could receive (free) health care in jail. I say throw the book at this slacker. He should do what every other American citizen who cannot afford health care does – go to the emergency room. It doesn’t matter if he can’t pay for treatment. Somebody else will pick up the tab. Like the hospital. And eventually the people who pay ever-higher health insurance premiums.

New York, New York

Family values took another hit this week when the New York state legislature approved gay marriage by a narrow of margin, becoming the sixth state to do so. Score another one for Adam & Steve, as gay rights opponents would say. I’m certainly no biblical scholar, but I don’t think Adam & Eve were actually married. Who would have presided at their ceremony, if they were the first two humans created? So, they must have had children – Cain and Abel – out of wedlock, just like Bristol Palin. But I digress. Gay couples have been able to adopt for some time. So, why not marry? Shouldn’t our society want to foster the kind of stable household for children that marriage provides? The fact that nearly 50% of marriages in the USA now end in divorce is beside the point. If two people love each other, let them enter into a legally binding agreement, regardless of sexual orientation. Sounds romantic. As that lefty pinhead and confirmed bachelor Bill Maher would say, gays should not be immune to suffering the same curse of sexless marriages that straight people have had to endure for centuries. As well as the blessings of lifelong loving, committed partnership.

40 Year War

In 1971, America declared “the war on drugs.” Are we winning? Who exactly are we fighting? How do we measure success? How much have we spent on this “war?” Over the last 40 years, we were run out of Viet Nam, invaded Grenada and Panama, undertook Desert Storm in Kuwait and Iraq, bombed Serbia, initiated a war to rid Afghanistan of the Taliban, invaded Iraq (again), and recently participated in the bombing of Libya, along with a variety of “police actions” worldwide almost too numerous to count. But one constant has been the prolonged “war on drugs.” And what do we have to show for it? An emerging narco-state in Mexico, with drugs flowing north and guns flowing south across the border. Defending a government in Afghanistan that supplies 90% of the world’s opium. 2.3 million Americans incarcerated in jails and prisons, up from fewer than 500,000 when the drug “war” was declared. In California, 11% of the state budget funds prisons, while 7.5% goes to higher education. So, is it time to declare victory? Or should we listen to bleeding hearts like Jimmy Carter (and the Global Commission on Drug Policy) and consider alternatives for dealing with the illicit drug trade. Like decriminalizing possession of less than an ounce of marijuana. And substituting treatment for imprisonment of non-violent people who use drugs. And concentrating coordinated international efforts on combatting violent criminal organizations which trade drugs across national borders. Sounds like a lot of liberal, defeatist wishful thinking to me. It’s better to stay the course; just keep trying harder to make a failed approach succeed. Now that makes perfect sense!

We're #37

The life expectancy for Americans is up. We’re living longer than ever before: 75.6 years for men and 80.8 years for women. Must be because we have the best medical care in the world. So, how do we stack up to other countries? Tied with Cuba at 37^th, way behind 11^th ranked Canada, and trending downward. Bostonians may be celebrating the Stanley Cup, but Vancouver-ites will live longer. Socialist European countries do quite well, placing 14 in the top 25 for life expectancy. Diet, exercise, obesity rates and uneven access to health care are factors contributing to our international fade. But there is a silver lining. We’re still ahead of China (80), Russia (135) and India (139). So, maybe 37^th isn’t so bad. Hey, we can’t expect to be #1 in everything.

Voting with Taxes

Turn on the news and you’ll likely hear a random politician declare with self-assurance: “The American people don’t want their taxes paying for …” War in Libya. Bank bailouts. Socialized medicine. Aid to Pakistan. Abortions. Farm subsidies. You fill in the blank. How does a politician know what Americans really want (beyond the lobbyists calling on him with checkbook in hand)? I say, ask them. Let taxpayers tell the government exactly where their taxes will be spent. It’s a simple idea: vote with your tax dollars. When filing taxes each year on April 15, include one more form: a ballot. Direct democracy. Cut out the middleman – the politician in this case – and go directly to the taxpayer. It is estimated that 20 cents of each 2010 tax dollar was spent on Defense, while 3 cents was spent on Education and 1/10 of a cent on Arts and Culture. Some bleeding hearts would say that’s insane. So let the tree hugger from San Francisco fill out her tax ballot and indicate that all $6,993 of her taxes will go to support Environmental Protection. And let the truck driver from Wyoming stipulate on his tax ballot that 65% of his $5,436 taxes will go to Homeland Security (to complete the anti-terrorist fence along the Mexican border), 35% to Veterans Affairs, and not a freakin penny to Foreign Aid. What could be more American than asking the good citizens of this country what THEY want? Let the mob set the priorities. Money talks, and this inspired idea is something that every rational person can understand. If “Washington is broken” this clearly is the way to fix it; if the people lead the leaders will follow.

The Right to Bear Arms

The NRA is asleep at the wheel. As I read that Jared Loughner, the gunman who allegedly killed 6 and wounded 14 others – including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords – in Tucson on January 8, has been ruled incompetent to stand trial, it struck me that every red-blooded American should be allowed to carry a gun. Anywhere. Anytime. The Second Amendment is clear: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” That means everyone. Convicted felons? Sure. Don’t let them vote, but carrying a gun is their Constitutional right. Terrorists? Yes, as long as they’re US citizens, like Timothy McVeigh. Why are there metal detectors at airports? If I want to carry a gun on a plane, that’s my right. Right, NRA? My right to protect myself 24/7 shall not be infringed. Following the massacre of 32 people at Virginia Tech in 2007, some gun advocates suggested that if people had been allowed to carry guns on campus – in the open or concealed – the violence might have been averted or casualties reduced because students would have been able to kill the killer. More guns in the hands of more people in more places seems perfectly reasonable.

End of the World

I was pissed when Harold Camping predicted judgment day for May 21. First, I’ve not been to church much for years. Religious, no. Spiritual, maybe. Self-righteous, absolutely. So, I’m unprepared for the rapture. But what really chapped me was that preacher Camping had scheduled the end of the world for the day before my birthday. Now, I’m a big fan of Christmas. Presents. Tinsel. Mistletoe. Carols. Did I mention presents? But the holiday spirit is more about “giving than receiving;” that doesn’t make sense to me. Birthdays make sense to me. It’s all about receiving. My day. My 24 hours in the spotlight. Once a year. Is that too much to expect? So, when I woke up on May 22, I rejoiced! I lived to see another birthday. Praise the Lord. But now I’m worried about Christmas. The good reverend has set October 21 as the REAL end of the world. This time, he says, God means it.

Bad Guys Always Win

I’m not a professional basketball fan. But I am amused by the current NBA finals. As of last night, the best-of-seven series is tied at two games each. The Miami Heat are the “bad guys.” LeBron James, the best player in the game today, fled his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers last year for Miami in a brazen attempt to win NBA championships. Who can blame him? He had no chance to win in Cleveland, and now leads the best team money can buy. Only the Dallas Mavericks, the presumed “good guys” in this equation, stand in his way. Americans love to wax poetically about their sports gods. Tiger Woods. Kobe Bryant. Brett Favre. Reprehensible individuals, rich in money and celebrity, bankrupt otherwise. Professional sports is business. It’s theatre and nothing more. Always has been. There are no “good guys” – just entertainers and their handlers, all out to make as much as they can for as long as they can. Now, I can’t wait to read about who wins game five tomorrow night in Dallas!

Double Standard

For as long as I’ve lived, Fidel Castro, the western hemisphere’s arch-enemy of capitalism and democracy – and therefore all that’s great and wonderful about the USA – has ruled Cuba as a caricature in fatigues, smoking a big cigar. Why can patriotic Americans travel and do lots (and lots) of business with China but not Cuba? Because Cuba is a communist country? Because of Cuba’s consistent human rights violations? Its crackdown on dissidents? Its suppression of free press? Oh, wait … that’s China. Maybe it’s because Fidel Castro kicked our CIA-backed ass at The Bay of Pigs in 1961. And while Europeans, Canadians, Mexicans and citizens of most freedom-loving democracies are free to visit Cuba, don’t you think 50 years is long enough for Uncle Sam to carry a grudge?

Doctor Death

Jack Kevorkian died this week. He was a pathologist who served time in prison. His was the public face of “assisted suicide” in the 1990’s. He had a hand in “helping” over 130 Americans end their lives. Some would say good riddance. After all, only God – and the government – should be able to (legally) end an adult’s life. Others would say he was an angel of God, a facilitator for the terminally ill to carry out their end-of-life wishes on their own terms, at a time of their own choosing. But who gives them the right to choose? And who gave Dr. K the right to help them? Kevorkian was 83 when he died of heart disease and cancer. Ironically, he may well have chosen to have his own “Doctor Death” help him end his life, rather than suffer through a painful, lingering demise. But he had no legal right to do so. RIP Jack.

Mike Tyson, Role Model

Kevin has decided to become vegetarian. He and Donna were watching The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Mike Tyson was plugging the release of Hangover 2. Ellen commented about seeing a “be kind to animals, don’t eat them” billboard on Sunset Blvd featuring Mike. Evidently he’s been vegan for a couple of years. Kevin says he’s been considering giving up meat – anything that walks on two or four legs – for years. Somehow, Mike Tyson – the man who bit off Evander Holyfield’s ear – seems to be the inspiration that pushed Kevin to finally commit. Bro, it sounds like you’re too cool to eat meat, but not cool enough to be vegan. Go big or go home!