Reflections on - The Day After

 

First of all the official Senate vote on the debt ceiling measure was 81 to 18 who voted no.  Lindsey Graham voted yes.  Ted Cruz and Mario Rubio voted no.  Mc Connel voted Yes and Rand Paul voted no.  The House passed the measure by a comfortable margin and it went 285 yes and 144 votes No, or something close to that.  Clearly John Boehner was lying when he told the Networks the Sunday before last that there weren't enough votes in the House to pass the thing.  But John Boehner broke his word to Harry Reed in August that if the sequester were kept intact this whole series of issues wouldn't even be a problem.  The President signed the bill at four minutes to midnight, so I'm informed.  This morning all the government people went back to work and the Parks and the Monuments were quickly reopened, and most importantly the panda cam in the Washington zoo was turned back on.  They said that 24 Billion dollars was lost as far as the economy is concerned.  Rush Limbaugh denied it but he was not at all happy about the government springing back to life and things returning to what passes for normalcy in this country.  Rush was grousing and complaining and he in essence was saying "Wait till next time".  Apparently some crazy woman entered the House Chamber was talking about Gods will and how you can't serve too masters and "God is not mocked".  Of course the difference between her and other House members is s slight the distinction might be hard to make.  Ted Cruz obviously was on the air waves denouncing these accords.  This morning President Obama had a brief press conference reflecting his feelings about the whole thing and how you really can't call it a victory.  The President went on to push for the measures of three bills in particular, but most importantly would be the Immigration bill, which will actually stimulate the economy, and a stimulated economy will grow our way out of the deficet.  I never disputed the fact that Reagan and Bush talked about "growing our way out of a deficet".  My contention with this wasn't the truth of it- - but that this belief is over-emphasized to the exclusion of everything else.  Once this economy gets back on the track we will again see deficets continuing to come down.  Some have suggested we sue the Koch Brothers for the economic loss.  They have 88 Billion dollars between them, so paying a 24 Billion dollar fine would not be an excessive punitive payment for them.  One economic study said that by the 2040's that we would be paying forty percent of our budget in interest on retiring the national debt.  This of course is absurd since the figure is only eight percent now.  And any projection using figures in the last ten years of extrapelating a "normal" pattern from a flookish period in our history, where President Bush budgeted two Wars off the books, and funded Medicare part D where you can't negotiate with the Drug companies the way you can with the Veterans Administration.  The only real "discretionary spending' this President has done was the 750 or so Billion dollar economic stimulus plan, and forty percent of THAT was based on tax reductions.  So logically the Tea Party should be at least Forty percent Satisfied with the stimulus plan.  The difference between W Bush and Obama is that Bush threw away money we didn't have because he Wanted to- - and President Obama spent money because he Had to- - to clean up the economic mess that George W made.

It has been suggested that there have been criminal violations committed by the Tea Party in the past two and a half weeks.  First of all there is the 24 Billion loss in revenues to the economy.  But some would argue that what we have just been through is nothing less than a bloodless Coup that failed to come off.  If you think of it it in these terms it's really no laughing matter.  But some have spoken of violations of the Rico Act.  And there have been charges that this is "Racketeering".  As I understand Racketeering- - it is overtly threatening a government official with material harm- - if he does not either bend or break the law or otherwise exceed to some demands that can't be achieved by the normal democratic process.  I remember Humphrey Bogart in "Key Largo" saying to Edger G Robinson and his gang, "We fought a World War to get rid of the likes of you.  I didn't put my life on the line to come home to an America with guys like you still running loose".   They say that the Rico act is "Committing a crime to make money and using that money to commit other crimes".   So they will "pay to play".  Put the money in the money machine- - and the Congressman spits out the bill you've been wanting pass, by which you will profit.  And you take these profits to run advertizing campaigns to finance candidicies of other government proxies you want in office.  You want power so you can lust for more power such as robing union and pension funds.  You only oppress, in order to have the means to oppress even more.  Of course I have said that those who signed the Grover Norquist pledge- - are guilty of criminal activity because they violated their Oaths of Office.  They promised to serve the constitution and well and faithfully exercise their duties of office.  And these include serving the People and their interests, and not your own.  You can't be true to the legeslative process- - if the very Reason why you even got IN office was to dismantle the government - - by "Shrinking the government so that it's small enough to drown in the bathtub" as Norquest mandates.  But that's how it is now- - and nobody seems inclined to do anything about it.

In soap land- - Christine Di Mira is bounded on all sides by troubles and threats that could ruin all her plans, but she's not worried.  She's in that Rush Limbaugh state of deluded self confidence.   On one hand her fiancee was just informed on relyable information- - that Christine has had an affair and recently, and that Brady would never forgive her if he found out.  This was in a phone call but the other person isn't known to Nicole.  Then there is the flash drive, with the video time-bombs just waiting to go off.  And finally you have the Priest who is to marry the couple- - and his Memory of certain events is starting to come back- - and he should figure the whole thing out any day now.  Brady Black is such a first rate idiot in reality he deserves "Everything he Gets".  You can only warn a Fool so often, but one time- - if he is determined enough in his ways- - - he'll get the royal screwing of his life, with no one to blame but himself.

One preacher said that we need Christian hope because that "Otherwise we live our whole lives a pray to the fear of Death.  He would have us believe without Christ you walk in the shadow of death all the time.  The problem with this is that Christianity offers no material guarantee what so ever that we will somehow "Escape death" if that is even the goal.  We have no idea what is beyond death.  With no evidence at all- - it would seem that obsessing on a Fear for which there is absolutely no information- - Is Not Mentally Healthy.  Some have said "Do you want to cease to exist and exist in a state of Eternal Nothingness?"   The problem is that- - even if we believe theologians- - Everything needs to "Brought into existence" or somehow "Created".  As such even "Nothing" needs certain parameters in order to exist.  In order to say that "something vanished into nothingness" we have to be here IN A LIFE- - observing said "Nothingness".  If we didn't have the time and space and mental frames of reference in this life here and now - - "Nothingness" would mean nothing to us.  We therefore can't say what lies beyond death.  We therefore can't even say that "Nothingness" lies beyond Death- - if THAT is the thing you're afraid of.   I have spoken of Exestentialism as a "Gateway philosophy" to Christianity.  They spend there whole lives bemoaning the fact that "Life is meaningless".   So when someone like Chuck Smith comes along and says "Jesus will give your lives meaning" some of these exestentialists are of a mind set to fall for it.  I'm still trying to figure how "The Church" so to speak- - gave my life "Meaning" that somehow was unattainable to me before.  If you think about it and you would like your life to count for something and have meaning- - how can an Imaginary friend- - or phantom- or whatever - - of somebody else, you have to take HIS word even exists- - how can someone elses' theological imaginings give YOUR life this 'Meaning' you seek.  I dare you to just think about THAT.