The Day the Music Died

I have been told that when I manage to keep some humor in what gets posted here, everybody enjoys it more. I'll try, but George Carlin died last night and that really sucks. I've been walking around all day, reciting the seven words you can't say on TV. I must not have been doing it in the right places, because I didn't get arrested. Nuts. He was what I sometimes called "contemptuously honorable". He was a rascal who told the truth, no matter how ugly, and blasted everyone who deserved it when they were being undeniable idiots. He was reprehensible in a totally acceptable manner. Outrageous and with lots more guts than most of us. He did a one-man HBO special not long ago. Some of his best work, I think. Catch it if you can. I would expect HBO to schedule re-runs in his honor. Have your VCR ready.

Coming right on the heels of the passing of Tim Russert, this was not good news and no way to start a week. I've read a ton of stuff in praise of Russert in the past few days, and the public tribute done in DC was very tasteful and touching and reverent. Tim would have liked all the laughter at his memorial service. It would have suited him. And I forgave him for being Catholic long ago. On the other hand, I read some articles today, labeling him as just one of the MSM sell-out crowd in the Washington media. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I don' t think, as some do, that he was complicit in the bullshit that got us into Iraq, but there's always at least two ways to look at everything. I'll prefer to keep my memories of the funny, smart, fat Irish guy from Buffalo. If more people would "Go get 'em", as he advocated every week, we wouldn't be in some of the messes we are in.

I just submitted this for publication. We'll see if it flies:

Notice: Marriage Counselor Needed!

Despite repeated efforts and pleadings by Dividedwefail.org , among others, and the infrequent conciliatory gestures made by the moderates of both political parties, the widely advertised (and routinely hyped) marriage of the two sides of our government appears to be on the rocks. And the children are suffering for it. Beneath the expensive haircuts and the proper coifs, inside the carefully tailored suits (or pants suits) and beyond the appearances of sincerity, grace and feigned compassion, there is bitterness, bickering and some ideological adultery going on. And it can be nasty. Some one has even gone so far as to say that Obama is black and that McCain is old. It gets worse.

Everyone knows that politics in America is identified as left and right, labeled blue and red, named Democrat or Republican. And everyone knows that the respective members of these parties don’t care much for one another (sometimes, tradition sucks). And we also know that they don’t particularly like it when one or the other has either the final say-so about current affairs. More especially, the competition heats up when one side has more money than the other. Power, and the ability to use it to walk away the victor, is the only desired result. Should a few lives or futures or ethics be lost along the way, there is no cause for alarm. This marriage of convenience seems to stay in place as long as everyone gets a paycheck and gets enough vacation time. But stay out of the kitchen.

Apparently, though the good of the country be damned, this “my side vs. your side” hostility has come to overshadow the reason(s) this government was originally established. I think the founding Fathers would be appalled. This country was supposed to move forward and set an example for the world. Instead we seem to have a perpetual prelude to divorce court. There is no forward motion, there is only paralysis. I can’t think of one decision, on any issue, that this country has made of late that any other country would aspire or look up to. Shall we talk about Gitmo and habeus corpus? And which side won that one? Oops.

What has finally become important today is that one faction WINS. It seems that either one partner or the other must be made to skulk away in shame and defeat. It matters not any more if the victor(s) will eventually do anything of merit for the populace or their constituents, it only matters that one side or the other comes out on top and, in the view of the public and their colleagues, soundly trounces the other. This may be in matters of the economy, the social well-being, military decisions and exertion of might or virtually anything else that requires legislation for the distribution of pork.

No one in any elected capacity seems to be truly representative of the people who helped them rise to where they are. Being of one ilk or the other, and being the winner, is far more important than anything else. If you follow the tone of the feud between Bill O’Reilly and Keith Olbermann, you might get the picture. But this is not supposed to be about ratings and rantings: it’s supposed to be about the welfare of the country. And this incessant squabbling is ruining everything. .

While the two spouses argue in the kitchen, throwing heated polemics at one other like dishes, shouting examples of all types if misanthropic infidelities (probably true more often than not) and throwing around blame, several other events are taking place: Rome burns, the unregulated price of oil increases geometrically, the public infrastructure crumbles, levees break and rivers flood. All the while, almost every lawmaker in the establishment runs amuck of the very laws they have sworn to protect and obey. It is all charlatanism brought to a new and disheartening low. As if lying under oath, the marriage vows have been forsaken. This is not for better; this is for worse.

The level, the severity or the depth of the assorted crimes and dalliances doesn’t seem to matter much. You can be involved in money laundering, bribery, high-end prostitution, banking fraud, outright lying or legislative corruption at the highest levels. The important thing is that you make sure that everyone knows that you are either a Republican or a Democrat, that you are RIGHT, you are better than those other guys and have more power and influence to keep doing what you have always been doing when it is all over. Whatever you did (or didn’t do) was almost certainly “proper”, and if that other guy did it, it was most certainly wrong and heinous. It helps to have your spouse standing by your side when you (almost) confess, but not mandatory. Dubya seems to get by standing alone, without the frail supporting role of Laura, just fine. Maybe she is smarter than we think she is. But then, at least by his accounts, he is never guilty of anything, anyway.


However, just when I think this acrimony will peak and cause a divorce of such dire consequences that someone may start to see the forest for the trees of that Washington beltway obfuscation, there come momentary lulls. There comes some temporary romance and a kind of lurid metaphorical sexual encounter takes place which clearly, but only temporarily, forestall any beneficial resolution or useful definition. At least for a short time, the need for arbitration (a marriage counselor) will seem to be alleviated and there exists a sort of calm amidst the ongoing storm.

Specifically, let’s look at Pelosi and Co. and how they adroitly made the public bend over and accept the new FISA legislation. Here was a wonderful opportunity to do something progressive, correct, honorable and morally responsible. Instead, there was only cheap, convenient, legislative back-room sex. At the crucial point in the deliberations, the left-right war ceased to exist. Expediency and the ease of in and out without too much fuss was far more important than the long-term good and the will of the people. Shortly thereafter, however, the pots and pans started flying again. Freedom stopped ringing.

Let’s not forget, of course, that somewhat like a meddling sister-in-law, the MSM has had a nourishing role in all of this, choosing what to report (scandal, gaffes, lapel pin usage) and what not to ( articles of impeachment, obvious pilfering of the national coffers by lobbyists and Cheney/Halliburton, obvious side-stepping of the law by Presidential legal eagles), and even allowing the occasion of the passing of a well known political commentator to be the stage for both red and blue actors to parade upon.…Alas, poor Timmy, we knew him well….and the actors all play before the cameras so well, perfectly humble, perfectly choreographed.

All of this is to say, finally that I don’t have much hope for any sort of reconciliation between the two sides any time soon, and certainly not helped along by either of the two proposed “counselors” in the wings. Obama and McCain are both products of this war-ravaged environment and neither will be able to muster the calm, persistent vision or the evenness of temperament and persuasion adequate to resolve the dispute amicably and positively. Neither will be able to coordinate a reasonable divorce settlement that will allow the two sides to live side by side in any kind of productive peace. It is the American-ized version of the Arab-Israeli dispute and Washington is the New Jerusalem.

Sadly, although Obama may have the insight, the zeal and the rhetorical skills, he has no punch and will simply get hit by the dishes flying in the kitchen. He will come away bruised and battered. He will most certainly get steamrolled. He is ill-equipped to moderate between these two seasoned sparring partners. McCain has some punch, but most of it hits below the belt and has no lasting effect that will enable the two sides to productively grow old together. And, the truth be told, steamrollers and guided missiles are more his style. Hardly reconciliatory devices with any mediating value.

As the old sign out on the shop floor grimly reminds the laborers: “The floggings (of us) will continue until (our) Morale improves”. That continual droning sound you hear is of the one spouse, out on the Senate floor, complaining that the other came in drunk too late last night and left dirty dishes in the sink. And unfortunately, it seems the kids are asleep and have no clue what’s going on in the kitchen.

Our leaders seem always to want to be Right, and seldom are, and we just get what’s Left. I’d suggest we call a lawyer, but the damn place is already full of them.

Life goes on in Texas.