barbara friedland

What did you say?

I am a great believer in our Constitution, especially the Bill of Rights.  A democracy can not exist without freedoms, especially of speech.

There are times that constraints might have to be used, as in oft cited and possibly abused circumstance of national security.

I suspect that Presidents and others, Dick Cheney, have employed such to simply hide the evil being executed.

Of course all of our liberties are vital to a healthy society.  George W. Bush is a moron, who stole the Presidency, twice, and then ruined the world.

Leaders and citizens should find ways to enlarge our freedoms not restrict them.  Bush and Cheney are evil incompetents at best and war criminals in all probability.  

As for the last statement, let's have a trial and decide in court.

But I digress.  I am always uncomfortable about reigning in anyone's speech.  Bush is probably a traitor as well. 

Often times, other factors can simplify  the situation.  As in the case of profanity- being cognizant of the medium and the audience.

Kathleen Parker is a syndicated columnist who is lucky because the job she deserves would have her asking if folks wanted "fries... with that."

Ms. Parker, while bemoaning the execrable cartoon that tries to tie together a dead chimpanzee and the stimulus package, she feels the ensuing and ongoing protest is worse.  President Obama must prosecute the criminals of the previous administration.

Ms. Parker is upset because a cartoon that depicts a chimpanzee shoot by police and garnered from recent events was connected to our first Afro American President, and there are demonstrations in front of the newspaper that printed it.

In order to have a free society, there must be empathy, knowledge of past events and common decency. 

 Self censorship would help.

No jokes about the Nazis, war torn countries and histories peppered with slavery and death. 

Of course the right boundary in humor is hard to determine, but imagine you are the group in question that could take offense.  Chinese- Rape of Nanking- no. 

Demanding justice, non-stop is different. 

One does not demean Mr. Cheney because he is balding or has a bad heart. Instead, there should be calls for him to be accountable for his actions.

Indict Bush, Cheney and the whole sorry lot.

Who cares?

For Pete's sake, who cares who represents Illinois as the junior senator?

Enough.  It is not as if this body has any import or role in our government. 

 

It just spent 8 years being a rubber stamp to clearly the most corrupt and yet 

inept administration in the last hundred years and probably our history.

I frankly would not mind if a mottled cucumber becomes the esteemed member from

where ever.

It is important who teaches our children and fixes our cars and runs our companies, both

small and large.

Of course, the moral and intellectual tenor of a President sets the tone for his staff and 

advisers, so it is better to have an Obama than a McCain or Pallin.

Here is a handy guide, if you would not let someone repair your roof, then there is a good

chance he, or she, will not be a good representative or leader,

Oh, you cry, President Obama knows very little if anything about tar and slate.  But he would

learn.

A man who has advanced degrees in microbiology tiled my son's shower stall.  It is a work of art.

The design took patience, intelligence and craft; all attributes that he possesses.  The proof is on the wall.

My next thesis will be about my contractor, a dry drunk and Born Again who terrorized me for

eight years.  Yes, my contractor not the previous Chief Executive, who coincidentally, fits that

description.

But I digress.  

Back to the Senate.  David Vitter remains in the upper chamber and folks want to eject Burris?

John McCain, so called Maverick, is back representing Arizona, or maybe just himself, so what is

the diff?

If the Senate, and its sister body the House of Representatives wants to take a stand, then let's start

prosecuting the criminals of the Bush years.

And no, being an unelected President does not provide immunity.

Spare us a truth commission.  Just change the flysheet on the report from the 911 Commission.

If the moral ire is in high dungeon, there is plenty to be accomplished.  Let us show the world

we prosecute war criminals.  No matter what.

And, after Bush and Cheny, as well as Rumsfeld, Rice, Addington and Powell, in addition to the hundreds 

of evil minions who catered to their nefarious plans, have all been held accountable and punished,

if there is time, then proceed against Mr. Burris.

Go at it.

But first things first.

Indict Bush.

Grey is the new black.

I know a conservative who believes that George W. Bush did a good job.  The only problems, in his opinion, occurred when the war criminal, I mean former President was too liberal.  

I can't imagine what is referring to except drinking policies.  Or disregard and contempt of laws and national pacts.  Otherwise, not so much.  Liberal, I mean.

Dishonest, incompetent, stupid, evil and unAmerican, I grant you.  Liberal, no.

The same person also stated that the only reason that Obama won was because he is black.  If that is a single, winning criteria, why wasn't Jesse Jackson elected? 

By the way, thank you universe for preventing that.

Without spending time listing President Obama's attributes, including an IQ that uses three figures, I need to state that he is not really black.  More grey.  And that' s not good.

Obama is of course mixed race, raised primarily by maternal relatives who were white.  He was exposed to many cultures including Asian, and attended institutions where minorities were, and are, in the minority.

But the grey reference comes from the seemingly unending need to be liked and to compromise.  The hail to all and bipartisan good feelings.

This is what should be said to Republicans, the few remaining dodo birds in our national legislative offices: get on board or get out of the way.

Or at the very least, offer constructive criticism and earnest input.

Who cares what they think?  Because anyone paying attention knows full well what their views are.  And they are not pretty.  Nor logical, appropriate or even democratic.   Small "d". 

Stop reaching across the aisle.  All that can come of such gestures are a Charley horse and watered down legislation.  Not to mention a lot of whining and lost time in the interim.

Far be it from me to ever refer back to aWol as a role model of anything except pure ineptitude wrapped in evil, but......

What the previous occupant of the White House did, was demonize the opposing party.  Even though he was unelected, both times, such concerns did not trouble George W.  He basically called Democrats traitors and interested only in helping the terrorists.

Actions he actually accomplished through his pathetic reign and idiotic administration. 

Ironic.

Really, no one is actually saying to harm the few remaining Republicans in Congress.  My mother never killed insects.  She caught them and put them outside.  

Just don't listen to them.

A quick digression.  Yesterday, in honor of President's Day. a cadre of historians ranked our Presidents.

Even the unelected ones. 

The consensus was that there are 6 men who were worse Chief Executives than George W.

Really?  

Although it was determined that Herbert Hoover- yes that one- was a better manager of the economy than our own Baby Bush.

By the way, stop rating William Henry Harrison.  One month in office is not enough time to even extrapolate his abilities if he had lived.

And his 30 odd days were better than the 8 horrific years of Bush.

Back to the issue at hand.  President Obama, I know this is antithetical to your very nature, but be bold and lead.  Take down your opponents and right past wrongs.

Which means, in part:

Indict Bush.  Cheney.  Woo.  Gonzalez.  And the whole sorry clan.

Kathleen Parker has returned to the dark side.

KP is the assignment that no one in the army wants.  

Or the initials of Kathleen Parker.  After a brief flirtation with truth, justice and the American way, Parker is returning to her roots, a conservative columnist. 

A job that is becoming increasingly harder to do.

If one is a megalomaniac who is more concerned about eating than the truth, hint Rush Limbaugh, such loyalties might not be so hard. 

Ditto for folks more interested in sex abroad and with co-workers, hint Bill O'Reilly, than getting the facts straight, also might be able to shovel the crap effortlessly.

Parker is clearly grasping at nothing.

She feels that Obama is an amateur.  He appears young and unformed, she whines and opines. 

She is upset that he apologized.  For what- improper vetting by his staff or perhaps wanting Washington insiders?  After 8 years of no one admitting anything, his words were a balm on the collective citizenry.

President Obama is helping to reeducate voters to understand that complex issues warrant detailed analysis, thought and debate.  Kudos to him for enlarging the ubiquitous sound bite to fully explain salient problems and solutions.

Parker misses the brevity of Bush, who did not have the synapses to repeat a question posed to him, let alone respond.

This columnist does not understand that folks who reside in houses made of silicon and sand should not throw stones.  No one can mention Presidents reading to school students without the image of George W., paralyzed for 7 minutes, clutching onto My Pet Goat, as our nation was under attack.  Parker alludes to this in a smarmy way, an afterthought.

The fact is that the previous occupant of the White House had not diligently read intelligence briefings and failed to listen to his predecessor's staff in regard to Bin Laden and other dangers.  The height of immaturity is refusing to do the work required of a job, being unable to execute even minimum duties of same and the inability to articulate the simplest sentences.

Get over it Parker.  We have an intelligent and caring Chief Executive.  He will not do a jig and leave before answering questions. He will not joke about WMDs as our military is being killed. The new President, although a fitness buff, will not be biking while Rome burns.  Or New Orleans drowns.

Obama will be accountable to the American people, all of them.

That is the height of maturity.

Indict Bush.

-- 

The earth is not flat

I know that scientists were burned at the stake for even suggesting that the earth was not the 

center of the universe.  That our planet in fact rotated around the sun.

Astute scholars were able to ascertain, by the way the horizon met the ocean, that our world was

in fact round and not flat.  Explorers were not in danger of sailing off a tip and plunging into, I don't

know what.  Such people were scoffed at for generations.

Sometimes it takes centuries to dispel fallacious myths and ideas.  Often, circumstances coalesce

to demonstrate the true inanity of favored concepts.

Like tax cuts for the ultra wealthy.  No, having the most financial elite of our citizenry pay less taxes

will not help the economy.  Reagan, the late President, did not live long enough to witness the utter

debacle of the ongoing application of his theories.

Why is it that the less government guys always stumble out of office with the biggest deficits?

And, a corollary, if the public sector is so bad- stay home and stop running for office.  Or in W.'s case,

stealing power.

How great, really, is the private sector without some help?  Say, Halliburton.  And more recently, every single bank and Wall Street firm had their hands out.  

The ethos of Reagan and his evil spawn is corrupt and wrong.  Deregulation does not work.  

The natural extension of Reaganesque and Bushian beliefs are evil and doomed for failure.

Business: good.  Wealthy people good.  Government regulations that affect business: bad.

Government programs who help citizens, especially those in need: bad.

Republicans must be spurned from government with the same vigor that child molesters

are barred from schools and daycare.

More voters are realizing the truth about the party of Bush and Reagan, but not Lincoln.  It is a group

of narrow, evil, prejudiced men and women who believe in religion that discriminates and besides

forking over money to the rich and connected, is bereft of any compelling idea or strategy.

The Republican party has been intellectually and morally bankrupt for decades.   But folks were too

busy wishing Reagan was their grandfather- everyone except his actual progeny and wanting to party

with aWol Bush, to actually listen to their beliefs. Or what they were truly saying.  And doing.

At the present time, as our country, nay planet lies in ruins, only 5 of the 50 states in our country,

are solidly red.  Which begs the question, why so many?

The GOP is rapidly becoming DOA. 

The newly elected head of the RNC has some shady financial dealings,

including campaign money directed toward his sister who provided both web work and catering.

Michael Steele, the person in question, had the gall to run for the United States Senate from the great state of Maryland against a brilliant and seasoned legislator.  Steele lost by a significant margin. 

Now he is trying to justify some clearly illegal monetary maneuvering while fumbling in his attempts to

disparage President Obama.

The Republicans, like the Whig party, the dodo bird and New Coke, is headed for extinction.  There are not

enough partisans remaining to allow folks like Bush and Cheney to steal an election, let alone win one.

Indict Bush.

A or B

I apparently had a semantically driven childhood.  I used to play the game what would you rather....

As in:

Kiss Rush Limbaugh or drink gasoline.

Vote Republican or just cut out the middleman and create a huge public debt.

Fete Dick Cheney in lieu of straight devil worship.

Trying to school George W. Bush instead of teaching a pig to sing.  Or play poker.

Listen to Mitch McDonnell or pour acid in one's ears.

Watch Fox news versus just beating one's head with a hammer.

Regular Bill O'Reilly viewers as opposed to the women he harasses.

Either or.  Dick Cheney's wife or hunting companion. 

A Bush Presidency versus a compliant Congress.  Both should be ashamed and take

responsibility.

Blagojevich or Paterson.  Maybe special elections for vacant Senate seats would

be preferable.

Sarah Palin or any  born again, hateful, narrow, prejudiced, sadistic and greedy woman who 

gets pregnant the same year as her daughter.

Todd Palin contrasted with Levi Johnston- just different generations.

Fake butter or fake eggs.

Sean Hannity stacked up against a imperious windbag boar.  If porcine animals could pontificate.

George W. Bush's thinking stacked up against his articulation.  Fool me again, that makes three times.

Alberto Gonzalez versus no law at all.

Ronald Reagan or any rich, white, bigoted, homophobic man who professes to hate government but

seeks it out and then ruins it.

Indict Bush.  

Love and Horror

Just in time for Valentine's Day:  what if you love a monster?

Does that make you one as well?  Do their sins and transgressions adhere to your soul?

What if one is unaware of the darker side of their lover?  If all one can see are the finer qualities

while the evil lies submerged.  For the moment.

There are those who continue to want others whom they know to be evil.

My mother always said that one can never know what goes on in someone else's life-

and thus by extension, their bedroom.  Their mind.

Not a digression.  Read The Reader.  I know times are tough.  Go to a library and borrow a copy.

I have the book and would be happy to lend it.  I realize that it is a move.  I will probably see it.

When it parachutes onto video or reemerges on premium cable.

It has been said that the acting is superb.  But I am captivating by the nuances of language and

the observations of the narrator.  Only words can convey certain thoughts.

What is unconditional love and whom does one owe that to?  Parents?  Children?  Siblings?

Spouses?

If one discerns betrayal or venal actions later, once the relationship has ended, does that sully

the connection that had existed?

If one overlooks venality or cruelty, does that make the love stronger or push the relationship

into enabling and unhealthy?

I often wonder about those who have chosen partners and remained while clearly cognizant of

disturbing traits or actions.

On the continuum of no one is perfect, where is the line drawn?  After always being late but before

war criminal?

By citing examples I am not saying that the deeds of such are equal.  But the query remains.

Eva Braun- instead of taking poison, what if she had lived, taken her punishment and tried, in

small measure to atone?

What does a wife do when her husband is clearly a callous murderer or careless Commander in

Chief?

There were cries for Hillary Clinton to leave her husband over issues of infidelity.  But no one has

called upon Laura Bush to divorce a man who is directly responsible for death, loss, and mayhem.

We are still unable to actually calculate the vast ruin.

What if your child does the unthinkable?  Or your parent, someone that had always been a role model?

Can morality be subject to compromise?  Okay, I will marry a Wall Street executive but not a gun runner?

As a person, a citizen of the world, do you owe others a tocsin if your loved one is dangerous?

What do we forgive, try to change or simply prosecute?

Are we whom we love?  Or are others just a small part of the make-up of each individual.

In many states, you can receive the death penalty just by being the unknowing getaway driver

from a fatal robbery.  

Indict Bush.

Bats

I used to be afraid of bats and driving in the snow.

If I had known better, I would have been paralyzed with dread at the onset of a Bush Presidency, stolen or otherwise.

Who could have projected 8 years in the future and foreseen the horror of his blundered, and frankly, evil leadership.

I have come to peace with slick road conditions.  I proceed slowly and have improved my technique.

As for bats, I have studied these mammals, the only ones that can fly, and have embraced what they offer.

Specifically, the ingestion of insects.  Okay, they are not pretty but neither are most people.  

For the sake of humor and this essay, I will state that I dislike bats.  And children.  OPC-  Other people's children.

I adore mine.  

For years I would avoid anyone younger than 10.  Cross the street or change tables in a restaurant.  LIke any prejudice, I would dismiss an entire group, based on prejudice.

Which brings us to what I really despise.  Abhor.  Detest.

Republicans.

And not one has demonstrated a reason to like them as individuals, or writ large.

And so begins my list of what I hate.

Remembering that I don't really loathe bats and kids.

Thus:

Republican bats.

Bat children.

Republican children who like bats.

Bats who like Republican children.

Young bats that are Republican.

Bats who support the Wall Street bailout but not the stimulus package.

Republicans who harm children.

Republicans who hurt the environment and thus wildlife.

Rabid bats.

Rabid Republicans.

Children who hurt bats- or any living thing.  That includes you W.

Bats who vote for Republicans.

Rockers who eat bats, or at least bite off their heads.

But what I really despise are cruel and incompetent folks who steal elections

and occupy offices that they could never command or master.

Legislators who refuse to learn from past mistakes.  Tax cuts for the wealthy

does not work.  Nor does deregulation.

People who start unnecessary wars.  And profit from them.

Bush.  Cheney.  Rumsfeld.  Rice.  Powell.

And the entire evil coterie that cocooned this administration.

Indict Bush and Cheney.