The ABCs and DFs of Obama

This is in response to an impromptu and unscientific poll asking Americans to vote on a grade for President Obama for his performance so far. The poll appeared on an MSNBC site and the results are shown on a Newsvine.com site. You may vote by linking here:
Vote A through F for Obama

The basic answer to what I found is - Wow such hate!

In a real poll there would probably be a broader spectrum of votes over the entire 5 letters but this one shows a propensity for the right and their "F"s fighting the Left and their "A"s. So who is correct? Both and neither.

This is America and by the end of the reign of terror (Bush/Cheney in 2008) the polls showed an approval rating of historic lows. But there were still more than 30% who thought they did a good job! Were they wrong? Who cares? Their opinions are theirs and they are allowed to be heard.

But the hate that is spewing from the Republican side of the aisle is way over the top. As we approach a silly milestone known as the first 100 days are we to decide whether or not this cuurent President will have achieved his goals by the end of his term? More importantly is he headed in the direction he said he would go when he campaigned and eventually won the election?

That answer is yes! So since he did win by a large majority then it stands to reason that those same people would feel he is doing a good job. And once again since he had a majority then the poll should show a higher pass than fail ratio.
It does not.
Therefore one of two things is happening;
1 - The "Right" is stuffing the ballot box as though it were Chicago and Daly was running again or;
2 - The more intelligent among us realize that it takes time to undo all the bad things that have happened over the last 8 years. And by the way none of those bad things can really be pinned on Mr. Obama.

The bottom line is that we have to let him have his turn at bat and we should be rooting for him to succeed. We should also let the Limbaughs of the world keep talking because frankly I like them making fools of themselves. That's what America is all about!

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This article was backed up at 12:20:53 pm.

The Beauty Queen vs. Humanity

Well thank goodness we finally have the definitive answer on this whole same sex marriage thing. With Miss California Carrie Prejean’s ''OMG answer we can all go back to the less important business at hand; that of fixing the economy.

Truth be told why would anyone, ANYONE care what an obscure beauty queen thinks in this day and age? It’s just not that important.

"Like, oh my God, if I were to, I don't know, say like another girl, uh um, you know I wouldn't want to like think of marriage, you know? I mean isn't that just like the grossest thing ever? I mean, really.

All I can say is Mr. & Mrs. P must be so proud of their bigoted small minded (assuming there) little girl with the tolerance of tree slug and the way she turned out. Thank God her teats are big because her brain sure isn't!

Carrie in all her splendor
And in her country and family
With bigotry and stupidity for all!

Teachers Teach Different Subject

William Floyd teachers have taught us all a good lesson.

According to Newsday these caring people have decided not to accept their scheduled pay raises because doing so would have necessitated the laying off of at least nine others next year.

I salute their hard decision to turn down the extra money in these hard economic times and I am certain their students will benefit from their largess.

I wish more businesses would learn from these caring people and save the jobs of those at risk. Layoffs may be a band aid for the perpetrating company but in the long run they hurt the entire economy and increase the need for future layoffs elsewhere. They are part of this vicious cycle that we find ourselves in and it is wonderful to see this courageous group attempting to head it off.

As the President keeps saying, “We are all in this together.”

(PS - THIS WOULD HAVE APPEARED IN NEWSDAY BUT THEY HAVE A POLICY THAT THEY DON'T PRINT TWO LETTERS FROM THE SAME WRITER WITHIN A 90 DAY PERIOD. - BUMMER.)

From Desert to Dessert - A Mah Nishtanah Update

I believe it is a fair to say that most people know about the ten plagues that afflicted Egypt during the time of Moses. I mean it is not exactly "Breaking News." And just as many people should also know that the ensuing events are at the core of the yearly Passover celebration.

You probably also know that a mainstay of the Passover dinner, the Seder is the asking of the four questions usually by the youngest at the table. The most famous of these questions is undoubtedly, "Why is this night different from all other nights?"

Well that particular question finally has a new answer after all these years and it happens to be a visual one.

(Click on the photo for a clearer view.)

I wonder if Sasha read the questions in Hebrew.

I trust all my Jewish friends had a Zisen Pesach and to all Zi gezunt!!

Did You Hear The One About The...

Comedians are very bright people. Unfortunately not every one who thinks they are bright are funny and vice versa.

I am not just saying that because I happen to be a funny guy but facts are facts.

Comedians need their intelligence to be funny. When they lose the "smarts" they also lose the laughs.

If you think back to some of the celebrities that made you or your parents laugh by acting dumb you will realize how intelligent they had to be.

Here is a partial list of such people:

Goldie Hawn
(Laugh In's tattooed Go-Go Girl.)


Gracie Allen
(Say goodnight, Gracie.)


Lucille Ball
(Waaaaah)



Judy Holiday
(See her on imdb.com)


Lou Costello
(Hey Abbottttt!)



And other comedians who make us laugh at themselves and us are around today such as Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock.

But then there are the few who although they are funny and see the world in a different way than the rest of us. These few can no longer sit back and make fun of things without getting angry enough to try and change things.

Think of Kal Penn who's character on the hit show "House" just committed suicide so that he, Mr. Penn could commit himself to the new job of associate director in the White House’s Office of Public Liaison & Intergovernmental Affairs.
There are many such concerned citizens and we should wish them well because their success is ours.

Another such committed individual just won an election that took place over 5 months ago. Al Franken (D) was confirmed as the winner of the Minnesota Senatorial race AGAIN this week after a panel of three impartial judges ruled that the second recount of votes affirmed the original result in his race against Norm Coleman (R).

You may remember the now Honorable Al Franken from his years as a writer and some-time star of Saturday Night Live. Obviously the man has a brain which he uses. I wish I could say the same of his opponent, Mr. Norm Coleman who is still trying to drag out the election in the hopes that he can keep the duly elected Senator from fulfilling his duties in Minnesota and DC.

The Republican brain trust (I use the term loosely) has evoked the stolen 2000 Presidential election as a blueprint for their right to appeal the election results. They stated last week that, "It was okay when the Democrats went after President Bush in 2000 and tried to overturn the results but now they won't let Mr. Coleman do the same." Perhaps that's because it is not the same!

The facts as usual are being distorted by the wrong side of every aisle these days. What the party of NO is failing to point out is that Mr. Gore, who had a fantastic reason to appeal the obviously flawed and corrupt results in Florida actually did win the election. But he decided that it was more important for the country to move forward and as a result he conceded the election thus giving Karl Rove one of his many orgasms of the past 10 years.

If the 'wrongs' on the Right wish to actually follow Mr. Gore's lead then they must put down the sword and stop being a laughing stock.

You see unfortunately not all comedic situations or comedians are intelligent or funny.

To Seat the Two Seated

There is a new debate concerning the size of overweight passengers on airplanes. United Airlines is stating that they will start charging people for two seats if they cannot sit completely in one seat with the armrest down. Their reasoning is that the person next to the larger than normal passenger is being placed in an unfair and uncomfortable situation.

They are almost right but their message and response to the problem is incomplete and misguided. It also causes them no pain and ends up actually gaining them a bit more profit.

Many years ago my son sat next to an overweight woman who could not lower the arm rest. As a result she was overflowing into his seat for most of the long flight. It was the most uncomfortable ride he had ever been subjected to. As an aside to this the woman's husband who was a Stan Laurel to her Oliver Hardy sat in first class and regularly brought her food from his cabin. If the airline was so concerned back then they could have suggested that the odd couple switch seats but alas that was not the case.

I am in favor of rights for all but that includes the 'not-so-overweight' populace as well.

The singling out of overweight people is a tough issue. In order to get it right perhaps the airlines could utilize a movable arm rest with comfortable bench-type seating that would allow for one 'larger' passenger to sit next to another, more slender one. The armrest could even be removed thus turning a 3 seat row into a 2 seat one which would then accommodate 2 larger than average individuals.

The stigma caused by the need to move the armrest a few inches would be far less than that of having to buy an extra seat to accommodate a larger girth and could assuage all involved.

Obviously the armrest would have to have the ability to be locked once it was moved. The new equipment might cost the airlines some cash but I am certain they could accomplish the feat by using some of the money they would save not having to fight ACLU led lawsuits.

Freedom for the Majority Only

Freedom is a wonderful thing. And with our freedom comes the ability to govern ourselves under a time honored system of laws. But isn’t it funny how our laws are there to protect the guilty more than the innocent?

When arrested for a crime the alleged perpetrator has so many rights that it is not prudent typing them all in here however the victim is left out in the cold. In fact many trials are conducted by a prosecutor and a defendant with the victim not even involved! The case goes before the court as “The people against so and so.” And in many cases, such as suspected rape the victim is ‘cross-examined’ to such an extent as to make her or him seem the guilty party!

We have gun laws protecting the rights of the individual to own a fire arm because the Second Amendment to the Constitution is often misread as giving the individual that right. And the gun lobby is famous for their totally inane argument that guns don’t kill people; people kill people. Of course without a gun the people would have to point their fingers and shout "bang" real loud to cause any harm.

We have laws about freedom of religion and that is a nice one until one religion gets too full of itself and in its strength attempts to change other laws.

Laws are the most important part of any civilization. They set us apart from the animal world.

Our laws are generally just and uphold the majority rule with an eye toward fairness for all. But what if we just used the majority rule and outlawed any minority for the heck of it and because we can? We might herd all the minorities into interment camps. We've seen how well that works! We might also outlaw all religions other than the most prevalent one. But that might not be such a good idea for most of us in America since the most popular religion of the world is not one of our favorites at the moment.

Luckily we are not that stupid.

Or are we?

We are imposing our views, and by ‘our’ I must leave myself out on this one, on same sex marriage. The nation as a whole is against it and the Church (just about all churches) will fight it to the death.

But individual states are finally succumbing to the idea that it is wrong to deny the rights of this minority based on religious views because if we do start to govern solely by majority rule we are doomed. That is just not a path we can afford to go down.

We must add another freedom to our constitution if not by official amendment then at least as an unwritten understanding. And that freedom is the freedom to love and to marry that person with whom we wish to love, honor and cherish for all time till death do we part.

Amen.

Tax and Love

The ongoing debate about gay marriage has passionate voices on both sides.

An open debate is a good thing. The problem with this debate however is that the leadership in government is listening to one side more than the other and the side that is getting their opinion heard should not even be a part of the discussion in the first place.

I am speaking about the church, and by that I mean all religious institutions not just the Catholic Church although they are the most vocal.

In America we were founded on many principles including the separation of church and state. We live by this separation to the drastic extent that churches pay no taxes. And since they produce no product that can be taxed they are for all intents and purposes outsiders.

On this day, April 15^th when there are protests about taxes going on around the country it should be evident that the taxpayer wants a stronger say in the use of his or her money. Taxpayers want to make sure that their voices are heard. (We are actually paying less taxes than we did under Bush and far less than they do in many European countries.) However if you don’t pay taxes in America then you should not be heard nor should you have a say in our government!

Naturally the Gay and Lesbian community are in favor of same sex marriage. The union of two people for the sake of peace and harmony should not harm anyone nor cause anyone to fear for their lives. It should be viewed as a statement of commitment between two taxpaying and law abiding citizens of this country. The church may not like this but until they pay their fair share of taxes they should do their grumbling in the sanctity of their tax free environment and leave the decisions to those of us living in the real world.

As for the argument often stated that gay marriage defiles the sanctity of marriage and threatens civilization I would point to the great civilizations of the past that flourished for centuries and upon which our modern world is based. These societies did not condemn love but in fact encouraged it as a motivator. They urged their citizens to do the right thing and protect their loved ones making no distinction between the sexes. They did not question the cause of the love or the legality of it but rather rejoiced in its wonder. And if you need to argue that same sex marriage threatens the sanctity of yours then I submit your marriage was not a strong union to begin with.

And if you are against love then isn’t it true that you espouse hate? Is that what the church wants? Because whether or not they want it hate is what they are creating. The so-called religious right attacks same sex marriage as unholy. I say that the intrusion of your beliefs into other people’s affairs is even more so. If you are religious and believe what the people of the Gay and Lesbian community are doing is wrong then let God decide their fate. Remember your religious teachings - "Vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord." Do not take his work into your own hands for that would be BLASPHEMY.