Does Anything Ever Change

After a month long hiatus, which included a European trip, TNB has returned to find that, although some of the names and circumstances have changed, essentially human behavior hasn't. You can always count on strange events or individual flaws or foibles to provide matters of interest. Witness the following:

• After a Herculean and very expensive effort (and a last minute trip to Copenhagen by President Obama), Chicago received a grand total of 18 votes out of 94 from the International Olympic Committee and was eliminated on the first ballot as the site for the 2016 Summer Olympics. This disappointment was met with raucous cheers from the far right because, although it might be an insult to the United States, it showed to them that Obama was weak!
• Exactly one week later several hundred miles north in Oslo, President Obama was amazingly (and very prematurely) awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. This surprise was met with raucous boos from the far right, because although it might be a compliment to the United States, it showed to them that Obama was weak!
• After not only the above events but the continuing viciousness over health care reform, Rush Limbaugh was asked if he could find one thing positive about the President and replied that he had a good voice. Rush of course had a bad week when he was removed from a list of potential investors seeking to purchase the NFL St. Louis Rams because of his well documented instances of spewing racial hatred (the NFL is 65% African-American). Rush blamed the whole debacle on that guy with the good voice. Really.
• On a somewhat different note, the media was transfixed by the balloon boy incident thus proving that "reality TV" (often scripted) and those who aspire to participate are taking over our culture. OMG!
• Finally, in a lightly reported incident at Madison Square Garden, the coach of an Israeli basketball team playing an exhibition against the New York Knicks was ejected but refused to leave until a rabbi, with yarmulke affixed, who was traveling with the team (which raises funds for an orphanage in Israel) had to come onto the court to intervene. Perhaps he could get invoved in mediating the Middle Eastern conflict. OY VEY!

It's obviously good to be home.

El Toro Crapo

For many years the comedy duo The Smothers Brothers have included in their largely clean routine the made up Spanglish sounding term El Toro Crapo which of course is a euphemism for the common vulgarity B.S. When one assesses the state of some of our institutions and celebrities the inescapable conclusion is El Toro Crapo. Consider:

• Joe Wilson, the idiot South Carolina congressman who was censured by the House of Representatives for shouting "you lie!" at President Obama turns out to bear the actual birth name Addison Graves Wilson. He's no more a Joe than Joe the Plumber (nee Samuel Wurzlbacher and also not a plumber) nor probably Sarah Palin's idol Joe Sixpack. TNB's take on what you hear from this entire group is El Toro Crapo.
• Michael Jordan, arguably the greatest basketball player ever but never mistaken for the greatest person (check out his relatively paltry charitable history) managed at his ungracious Hall of Fame acceptance speech to go out of his way to offend anyone who might have slighted him such as his high school coach who initially cut him from the team over 30 years ago, his college coach (the legendary Dean Smith) for some imagined oversight and several others who have unfortunately challenged him over the years. TNB's opinion on MJ's remarks and most of his other utterances is El Toro Crapo.
• Speaking of overpaid, spoiled athletes, tennis star Serena Williams, who had a profane meltdown at the US Open when she threatened violent harm to a lineswoman just doing her job, took 2 days to apologize after no doubt being warned by her many corporate sponsors (the $10,000 fine levied on her was chump change compared to her winnings). TNB's belief in the sincerity of said apology is that it is El Toro Crapo.
• As far as sincerity is concerned how about all the shocked right wing ideologues who constantly deny that much of their virulent opposition to Obama (especially the ludicrous reaction to his address to schoolchildren) is, as suggested by TNB last week, no more than disguised racism and their inability to accept a black man as President. Each person who persists in these denials (including people known personally to TNB) will henceforth be greeted with El Toro Crapo.

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

The old cynical maxim that no good deed goes unpunished has certainly been illustrated quite vividly recently. Take for example:

President Obama's attempt to use the prestige of the presidency to urge schoolchildren to stay in school and get a quality education, listen to teachers and parents, avoid predators by being cautious on social networking sites like Facebook, etc. sounds like a no-brainer good deed. Oh, but of course he was pilloried everywhere by the usual cadre of right-wing yahoos (sorely in need of more education but obviously beyond hope) complaining that he was going to inject politics in his talk (perhaps some Fundamentalist religion would have been OK). Thus, many timid school districts din't carry the speech. Good deed gets punished equaling at least a PR victory for the ignorant.

Even worse, the President's noble attempt to reform health care and (horrors!) provide all Americans with an opportunity to avail themselves of at least minimum coverage has been met with an apparently successful roadblock by the uninformed, self-centered and just downright nasty. Many (including acquaintances of TNB) have taken to calling Obama a Communist (!) for his efforts. Memo to my fellow seniors--do you consider Medicare a Communist program? Oh, but that's different because if we're all eligible it must be OK. We now have the spectacle of yet another Republican moron, one Rep. Joe Wilson (SC) shouting from the floor of Congress to Obama "you lie" (of course, the President didn't). Lost in the vitriol is another potential good deed.

Although not as altruistic a good deed, because of the commercial promotion involved, Oprah Winfrey's "street fair" taping of her season opening which required closing down a few blocks of Chicago's Michigan Avenue for one business day was received with yet another round of catcalls. One would have thought that the city was brought to its knees. Rather, Mayor Daley and surrounding businesses heartily endorsed Oprah's efforts (she footed the entire bill, including police costs) as casting a very positive light on Chicago.

Is it just TNB's deep cynicism or is there another subtext at work here, besides the "O" heading their names and the fact that both Obama and Oprah are Chicagoans? Couldn't be a tinge of racism, could it?

BLOGGER'S NOTE: If you haven't seen the comment added to last week's post Fear for Your Safety, check it out. A sitting family court judge, who faces sexual predators on a daily basis, includes her chilling perspective.

Fear for Your Safety

Although we have known for some time that the United States, with its entrenched guns culture, is not among the safest nations most Americans believe that dangerous criminals would be kept incarcerated. Yet time and again the headlines remind us that due to incompetence, shortsightedness and just plain stupidity on the part of authorities a violently dangerous criminal might be released in our midst often without anyone's knowledge.

Take the mind boggling case of Phillip Garrido, convicted and registered sex offender, who shortly after release from prison allegedly (with the help of his wife!) abducted an 11 year old girl in California and kept her in captivity for 18 years, fathering two daughters by her. Where were the authorities? Despite repeated visits by sheriff's deputies and parole officers over all this time, no one noticed the backyard compound of tents and makeshift structures where all 3 females lived. Although there were many warning signs no one "connected the dots" just like exactly 8 years ago when the FBI and others failed to "connect the dots" which might have prevented 9/11. Gives you a lot of confidence in law enforcement, doesn't it?

Just this week in Chicago, we have the horrifying case of one Julius Anderson, a violent sexual criminal who over the strong objections of the Illinois Attorney General and Cook County States Attorney was released after 30 years in prison (Illinois has a special law permitting continued imprisonment of such individuals). Almost immediately he allegedly committed two violent sexual assaults. Apparently his release was approved (!) by a contract psychologist who believed he was fit for society. Tell that to the 2 women involved.

TNB wonders which gives a greater false sense of security--making someone register as a sex offender or, in another commonly exploited situation, taking out an order of protection which has routinely been ignored or poorly enforced (check out a number of murders of those who have obtained such an order).

Suggestion to U.S. Attorney General Holder--stop worrying about punishing a few misguided CIA agents in the torture case and start, along with your counterparts in all the States, to make our country safer.

Can You Believe

Can you believe that:

• The "patients" depicted in medical commercials, usually suffering from bladder control issues, elevated cholesterol, osteoporosis and other maladies, all make such remarkable recoveries after using the sponsor's product (of course first asking their doctors) that they are invariably shown romping on mountain hikes, riding horses and swimming the English Channel (OK, not the last one). If that strains your credulity, how about TNB's current favorite-- a middle aged hunk taking Viagra and then riding a motorcycle to the inevitable rendezvous with a very willing partner? Wasn't this drug originally aimed at say a more mature user?
• The so called (self anointed) fashion mavens are aghast that First Lady Michelle Obama was photographed wearing (gasp!) shorts on a beach. Oh, for the good old days--when formality reigned in the White House, as exemplified by Richard (I Am Not A Crook) Nixon being photographed on the beach at San Clemente wearing a suit and tie. This was one classy gentleman.
• Kansas Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins who, before gagging on the foot she inserted in her mouth, called for her fellow Republicans to find some Great White Hope to defeat you-know-who in 2012. That slogan was used a century ago in regard to potential opponents of black heavyweight champion Jack Johnson. We have certainly made great strides in this country since then.
• John Mackey, CEO of organic nutrition supermarket chain Whole Foods, seemed to imply, in an OpEd piece he wrote, that only the rich (like guess who) really deserved full health care and the rest of us should just stay healthy, supposedly by only patronizing his stores. No death panels for him!
• There is such a scarcity of qualified guests for TV talk shows that Illinois Mr. and Ms. Scuzz (a/k/a Rod and Patti Blagojevich) are appearing on The View. Of course, until he was incarcerated, the Today Show regularly featured Drew Peterson. Next up--Bernie Madoff on 60 Minutes?

All this proves, of course, is that anything is believable because as someone more profound than TNB said--you can't make this up.

The Dog Days of Summer

The period between roughly early July and late August has historically been known as "the dog days of summer". One explanation for this term is that the so called "dog stars" (Canis Major and Canis Minor) are then most closely aligned with the sun, thus supposedly contributing to the usual (but not always) sultry weather during such dog days. A more specific definition is that the dog days represent a period of stagnation and inactivity, sometimes accompanied by a frightening wilting of the brain. Consider the following recent occurrences:

• Hillary Clinton, in dire need of some fresh makeup and a hair stylist, nastily answered a question from a Kenyan student by stating that she not Bill was Secretary of State (this after an apparent translation error). She was apparently wilting due to the extreme dog days in Africa.
• Former Republican congressional leader and attack dog (sorry) Tom DeLay has achieved a place on Dancing With The Stars (no, not Canis Major). DeLay's judgment, never admirable, has apparently wilted under the hot Texas sun.
• Millionaire Chicago Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano lamely explained that he wasn't improving after recent back problems because (despite his gargantuan and undeserved salary) he was too lazy to comply with his prescribed exercise regimen. In fairness, the dog days for Zambrano's brain seem to be all year long.
• Speaking of the Cubs, once again the August dog days are being blamed for another monumental collapse although Chicago's summer has been unusually cool and the Perpetual Losers play many more night games these days. Perhaps a hex has been placed on them not by the famous goat but by Canis Minor.
• Previously obscure Sheryl Weinstein, perhaps best known for loudly portraying to TV cameras (outside the court where he was sentenced) that she and her family were victims ruined by Bernie Madoff, announced that she had written a memoir disclosing that while she was chief financial officer of the charitable organization Hadassah (which lost millions by investing with Madoff) she had an affair with Bernie. This story is only of mild interest because there's so little real news during the dog days.

Just Say No

In the perhaps somewhat more civilized Great Britain, the political party or parties out of power at least used to be known as the loyal opposition. Here in the United States, this concept never really took root, but especially ever since Barack Obama became the first foreign born President (oops), the opposition has become in the immortal words of the immortal Spiro Agnew, "nattering nabobs of negativism". In fact, one could say they are exponents of the famous (and futile) Nancy Reagan anti-drug message ---Just Say No. Nancy, of course, is supporting the President (understandably) on his stem cell research initiatives (Just Say Yes) thus angering many in the party which constantly holds up her husband as their ultimate hero.

But there are many other daily opportunities for the disloyal opposition (fueled by Fox News and of course the Internet) to Just Say No. Consider:

• The wildly popular Cash for Clunkers program has been derided by many in the GOP despite real evidence that it is providing some significant stimulus (especially to the beleaguered auto industry) and also is ridding the country of hundreds of thousands of gas guzzling, polluting clunkers. But why approve of something that works (especially when the entire Republican strategy is for Obama to fail, along apparently with the the entire nation)? Snide remarks such as "what's next, cash for chickens?" are more examples of the Just Say No syndrome. Where were these people when their friends in the financial industries were being bailed out last fall, which was not necessarily a bad thing either. But that program was pushed by one of their own, not this radical socialist now in power.
• What reasonable American could find fault with Bill Clinton's North Korea mission to free the two imprisoned journalists (and perhaps offer a tiny diplomatic opening to that isolated and worrisome country)? How about some unreasonable members of the Just Say No crowd who are frantically worrying about what we had to give Kim Jong Il in return? Perhaps Bill arranged a date with the Secretary of State. Hey, nothing's too preposterous for the naysayers to worry about.
• Don't even get TNB started on the some of the absurd arguments against any and all parts of the Obama health care plan, which of course is far from perfect. But come on--some of the speeches given and charts exhibited in Congress explain exactly why Americans hold most members of that body in such low esteem, slightly above steroid using millionaire athletes.

In both 2010 and 2012, there will be ample chances for the U.S. voters to Just Say No to these clowns and their ilk.