THE ADDLED PARANOIACS AMONG US

Okay.  Here I go again.

Although I had hoped to expound upon another topic, those delightful paranoiacs who put so much faith in their handguns continue to escalate my agita.

 Last week, I came across an article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution about an altercation that transpired – allegedly – following a minor fender bender. Continue reading →

It appears as though the health service of the Veterans Administration is finally beginning to move off its dependency upon the crutch of prescription medicines.

The standing operational policy at VA clinics has long been to send patients directly to the pharmacy.

After all, there’s a pill for whatever ails the veteran, and writing a “scrip” is far simpler, not to mention a damn site faster, than actually wasting time attending to a medical issue.

Besides, while the Government spends uncountable taxpayer dollars on the tools of destruction, it makes a sham attempt at “fiscal responsibility” by procuring only meds that have passed their patent expiration dates.

Thus, the vet is typically being treated not with the latest, state-of-the-art remedies, but with mendicants that are, in many instances, nearly two decades behind current scientific proficiency.

When in doubt, or unable to provide something approximating proper treatment, the VA doctor will prescribe ibuprofen or aspirin in large doses.

The aforementioned are precisely the reasons why I steered clear of VA healthcare for 30 years, until there was no choice.

Now, it would seem, the VA is attempting to wean itself off the teat of laboratory cures in lieu of Mother Nature.

Oh, ‘tis but a wee step, to be sure, but one in the right direction, nevertheless.

In direct contradiction to archaic Federal laws that have stood for more than 70 years, the VA has announced that it will recognize the legitimacy of cannabis as a bona fide curative – at least for veterans in states that have passed medical marijuana laws.

Currently, there are 14 states with “medical marijuana” laws on the books:  Alaska; California; Colorado; Hawaii; Maine; Maryland; Michigan; Montana; Nevada; New Mexico; Oregon; Rhode Island; Vermont; and Washington.  Despite being Federal territory, Washington, D.C. is also on the list.

An already passed law in New Jersey will take effect this January.  Voters in Illinois will decide on the issue this November, while in California all-out legalization is on the ballot.

One might find it somewhat surprising that several of the states on the list are bastions of conservatism that rarely vote Democrat.

Despite the deep pockets of Big Pharma, along with those of gargantuan chemical-industrial conglomerates (such as DuPont and Dow) and the liquor industry, even these megacorporations’ worst efforts can no longer impede education of the public regarding the medical benefits and manufacturing possibilities of hemp.

Vilify the “noble weed” as these entities might try, there is no way to dance around the facts that marijuana use is non-addictive, and there is nothing on record to indicate that anyone has ever died as a direct result of “pot.”

The only reason violence has any association whatsoever with cannabis is because, although being extremely popular, it remains illegal, making profitability a prime motivator for traffickers.  As with booze, prohibition hasn’t worked – it’s time to repeal the Stamp Act.

But, I digress…

The VA has for years withheld medication, specifically painkillers of the narcotic, or opioid, variety (morphine, oxycodone, methadone), from patients who use illegal drugs; such insipidness will no longer be the case.

Lumping marijuana with hardcore narcotics is, by itself, one of the major flaws in drug policy, as they emanate from wholly disparate families.

Calling pot a “narcotic” is akin to comparing your juicy, medium rare rib eye steak to the sprig of garnish placed atop it by the chef.

In accepting its use by vets who have legal access to cannabis, the VA has concluded that the system will ultimately save money on prescription drugs – most of which are potentially dangerous and highly addictive.

This new directive is also vindication of marijuana’s potential for catharthis.

This may only be a baby step, but it’s a giant stride in flushing out our corporate-sponsored Government-controlled habit.

In a world that’s increasingly far too overmedicated, the VA fighting off its own addiction is a welcomed remedy.

For more information, visit the Department of Veterans Affairs:  <; or Veterans for Medical Marijuana Access: http://www.va.gov>; or Veterans for Medical Marijuana Access:  >.

Shalom.

Jerry Tenuto has earned a BS in Radio-Television and an MA in Telecommunications from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.  In addition to some 25 years in broadcasting, he is a seven-year veteran of the U.S. Army.  Since 1995, Jerry has found himself trapped in a “Red” enclave within the middle of the “Blue” state of Illinois, which he refers to as “slow death hell.”

The other day, I recounted to my son, Pete, a story about hitchhiking while a young undergrad at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.

In 1972, people were neither particularly freaked out about picking up hitchers, nor too scared to thumb a ride.  Songs extolling the praises of riding the asphalt as a free spirit were commonplace (“Me and Bobby McGee”; “Sweet Hitchhiker”; “Hitchin’ a Ride”).

On several occasions, when traveling alone, I played the part of “hitchee.”  During a trip to see several of my Army buddies in New York City, the journey became boring, tiresome, and somewhat daunting – not to mention uncomfortably hot during August in a 1965 Dodge Polara with vinyl seats and no air conditioning.

Somewhere in eastern Ohio or western Pennsylvania I spotted two longhairs with their thumbs out.  If one hadn’t had a guitar slung over his shoulder, I might have passed them by.  (Ignoring the whole Charlie Manson-as-musician thing as an anomaly, I inferred that these guys were essentially harmless.)

As it turned out, they were college students on their way home to Newark, NJ, after spending the summer hanging around the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco.

I had a reservation at a Holiday Inn about midway through Pennsylvania, and (perhaps somewhat foolishly) snuck them into my room.  Happy to finally be spending a night inside, they considered sleeping on the floor plus unlimited use of indoor plumbing somewhat akin to luxury accommodations.

When I deposited them near the Newark airport the following day, I was sorry to say farewell.

On the return trip, I picked up a westbound passenger in the same general area.

That guy was a young Frenchman who had spent pretty much all of his money just getting across the pond.  His destination was Chicago, but he’d only had enough for airfare to New York.

In true French fashion, he had embarked upon his quest for love of a woman.  As it turned out, she lived less than a mile from my North Side apartment; to his great pleasure and surprise, I was able to drop him off right at her door.

Conversely, my own experiences as a “hitcher” were usually of the local variety, born out of necessity rather than for travel purposes.

At 15, I had a job at a McDonald’s about five miles from home.  Most days, my Mother wouldn’t give me a ride, requiring that I take the bus.  A major problem was that the bus route ended over two miles from the McD’s.  So, I generally thumbed the last leg of the way.

I shall never forget the time a woman of 60 or so picked me up in her air-conditioned 1966 Polara two-door hardtop.  Unlike the “Plain Jane” version as described above, (originally) purchased by my Father, this car had all the bells, whistles and bling – including a 383 Hemi V8.

It was obvious that this woman smoked like a prohibition against cigarettes was about to begin.  She also drove as though automobiles were to be banished the next day.

In all honesty, I never rode with a teenager who had as heavy a foot, or weaved between cars as much – she was Northern Illinois’ very own version of Jan and Dean’s “Little Old Lady From Pasadena”.  That woman scared the shit out of me.

Moving forward six years, the occurrence which I had related to my son took place on a blisteringly scorching Saturday afternoon.  Without going into great detail, I didn’t have a car at university that quarter because my parents remained mired in the 1940s.

Seeking carnal pleasures and/or a little noble weed, I went along with a pair of young ladies to their trailer in a “park” south of Carbondale.  When it became obvious that there would be no success regarding either pursuit, I headed back to town.

The midday heat being almost paralyzing, I sought free vehicular transport.  It short order an old school bus pulled up.  The driver was a young man who had transformed the conveyance into a most remarkable rolling apartment.

In addition to a kitchen, living area, and sleeping space, he had installed an incredible stereo system with speakers all around – better than most home systems of the day.

The guy was a musician, a modern day troubadour who traveled a circuit of college towns.  He was, as Peter Fonda said of the farmer in “Easy Rider”, “…doing his own thing in his own time.”

My point in all this is that, back when I was a young man, beautiful people were found everywhere.  We had no logical reason to fear extending a helping hand to, or reaching out for a little help from, our contemporaries.

At 30, in Pete’s lifetime one would not, could not, even consider giving a ride to a stranger; nor would anyone with half a brain think about hitching a ride.

The world has become treacherous, and it has nothing to do with terrorists.

We have lost pretty much all sense of the camaraderie and brotherliness that bubbled up throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s.  We tail-end baby boomers, my generation, tried to share love for all living beings and spread the fruits of goodwill throughout the family of man.

These days, most unfortunately, whenever anyone speaks out for peace and understanding, the response is typically virulent and insulting – oftentimes threatening — from those who dwell within the realm of intolerance.

Self-importance has soured mankind’s focus, and our family has become an utterly dysfunctional lot.

How sad.

Shalom.

Jerry Tenuto has earned a BS in Radio-Television and an MA in Telecommunications from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.  In addition to some 25 years in broadcasting, he is a seven-year veteran of the U.S. Army.  Since 1995, Jerry has found himself trapped in a “Red” enclave within the middle of the “Blue” state of Illinois, which he refers to as “slow death hell.”

“A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”

Well, the activist Right-wing “Gang of Five” in control of our Supreme Court, led by that tower of uberconservatism John Roberts, continues its insurgency against sense, sensibility, and all who comprise regular American citizenry.

Whenever convenient, these nabobs toss the concepts of “state’s rights” and “local mores” out with the bath water… along with anything else even remotely resembling rational thought.

It has become painfully apparent that nary a one is capable of comprehending even the most simple, logical and obvious examples of the written word.

This gross defect in their collective make-up becomes increasingly evident with each new decision; so far, the Roberts’ Court has a near-perfect record of ruling on the side of either big business or Conservative extremism, both of which are generally joined at the hip.

In decision after decision, these five mountebanks have head-butted Middle America silly and thrown us to the wolves.

The latest salvo was the trashing of Chicago’s longstanding ban on handguns – a law that stood for 30 years, upended because of a suit brought about by one solitary paranoid old man.

The idiocy of his suit in the first place was that the guy already owned long guns; he just wanted to have a handgun.

In a clear-cut case of stupidity run amok, any erstwhile “law abiding” Chicago resident (or anyone in any municipality anywhere) may now keep a handgun in his or her home.

The reasoning behind this paranoia to own a pistol is that the “gangbangers all carry with no restrictions whatsoever”.

This is the blatantly moronic whine of racists who resent our “Negro President”, and fear young “Negroes” who commit crimes against other African American citizens.

(Okay, so the geezer who brought forth the suit is himself Black.  It doesn’t take a law degree to realize, however, that the NRA sponsored this man’s litigation all the way to the Supremes because of his race and age.)

That said, anyone who knows anything about Chicago (of which the “Gang of Five” is wholly ignorant), or pretty much any other major U.S. city, knows that gangbangers tend to operate only within their own ‘hoods.  It is rare for them to venture into areas where they are more “noticeable” and cannot function under the aegis of fear, i.e. predominantly white neighborhoods, or those controlled by gangs other than their own.

Hell, the typical gangbanger is a frightened little putz who, when taken out of his own “comfort zone”, will wilt like the proverbial wallflower at a junior high school dance.

Hence, the “gangbangers” of whom the paranoid gutless gun-crazies are so frightened almost never commit crimes against “stable” white folks.

Meanwhile, the penile-challenged gun-crazies fail to realize is the damage that a bullet can do.  The majority of them were most likely never in the military, and I sincerely doubt any of them ever saw the aftermath of a gunshot.

Virtually everyone I’ve spoken with who either was in the military or law enforcement is against the proliferation of handguns among the masses.

The Chicago City Council, in one of its more lucid moments, voted 45-0 to make certain requirements necessary:

One handgun per person per month (in perpetuity);

Registration fees paid up front;

Mandatory training at an approved facility;

All but one handgun in the home locked up at all times;

Handguns remain in the home, unless secured in a vehicle traveling to or from a range;

Insurance.

Of course, the fanatical paranoiacs filed suit against these restrictions immediately upon their passage.  It approaches the insane to want to purchase 12 pistols per year, but they want to buy more, and in addition they don’t want proper training… and they don’t want to pay registration fees… and they don’t want to be insured against any damage that bullet does once it leaves the barrel…

And they want to carry a piece whenever they venture out of the house… in a city of 3,000,000 people.

Let’s face it, the only people who want handguns in Chicago are angry paranoid wusses.

I am still trying to read into the Second Amendment where it says “handguns” for “individual personal and family protection”.

The activist Righties of the Roberts’ Court are full of shit, and we Americans are getting the overflow shoved right up our backsides.

Shalom.

 Jerry Tenuto has earned a BS in Radio-Television and an MA in Telecommunications from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.  In addition to some 25 years in broadcasting, he is a seven-year veteran of the U.S. Army.  Since 1995, Jerry has found himself trapped in a “Red” enclave within the middle of the “Blue” state of Illinois, which he refers to as “slow death hell.” 

Let the Teabaggers crow all they want about the “big victories” they’ve scored in primaries around the country.

Their braggadocio, to a large degree, makes quite entertaining television.

All they have done is push viable candidates, who had real chops within the Republican Party, out of numerous races – leaving doors wide open for opponents in the Middle and on the Left to amass votes from more moderate-thinking voters.

Let the Teabaggers crow all they want about the “big victories” they’ve scored in primaries around the country.

Their braggadocio, to a large degree, makes quite entertaining television.

All they have done is push viable candidates, who had real chops within the Republican Party, out of numerous races – leaving doors wide open for opponents in the Middle and on the Left to amass votes from more moderate-thinking voters.

As long as those candidates do their homework and have enough sense to hit the right notes.

The reality of the Tea Party movement is that it isn’t as big as FOX(NotReally)News would have us believe.  At most, it probably encompasses 25% of the voting public.

And, having virtually no minority voters within its ranks, this cluster of angry middle-aged-to-elderly, self-absorbed White folks lacks any true traction.

Led by the likes of the uneducated “so White he can’t go out into the sunlight without creating a blinding glare” Glenn “Cry Me A River” Beck, and the under-educated quitter-cum-opportunist “Sister Sarah” Palin, it’s frighteningly hilarious how so many people can allow themselves to be so buffaloed by liars, charlatans and buffoons.

I hesitate to inject either of these con persons’ names into any of my columns, but sometimes such inevitability simply cannot be avoided.

It is a low down dirty shame how middle-Americans can be so gullible as to heap honor and praise upon purveyors of divisiveness and hatred who are raking in millions of their (ostensibly hard-earned) dollars by the dozens, while crying that the “Big Government of un-Christian, America-hating Barack Hussein Obama, is “stealing” their paychecks.

At four months to go, the candidates the Teabaggers have backed are being exposed for the prevaricators they truly are – with irrevocable malfeasances that previously kept them out of the public arena now surfacing under the microscope of media scrutiny.

In her run to oust Nevada Democrat Harry Reid from his Senate seat, upstart Sharron Angle has yet to present a focused, workable platform.  Her entire campaign has concentrated upon hatred and distrust of Mr. Reid the person, whom she claims can outspend her because he’s rich and she’s just a poor working girl.

Worse than that, Angle reiterates the Teabagger bellyache against Government as evil that should be abolished, even if it takes violent overthrow.

Yet, her goal is to become a member of the most elite 100 people in the nation.

Here in Illinois, we have a dunderheaded congressman named Mark Kirk who lied, literally, his way into office.  He further built upon those falsehoods to garner a Republican nomination for the Senate seat vacated by President Obama.

In 2008, Kirk ran against bona fide Iraq war heroine Maj. Tammy Duckworth, a combat helicopter pilot who lost both of her legs resultant from enemy fire.  The career politician bullshitted his way to victory at the polls by embellishing his own war record.

His exaggerations of personal “heroism” grew even longer than Pinocchio’s nose during the senatorial primary.  On numerous occasions, Kirk bragged of prestigious awards and accolades for exemplary performance under hostile conditions.

In truth, he was a reserve intelligence officer who never got anywhere near a danger zone; the “awards” he claimed either never existed, or were of the “organizational” variety.

Organizational awards are often presented after those whose accomplishments that earned them have already been reassigned, yet may be displayed by anyone who thereafter joins that unit.

The only “qualification” Kirk is running on is an ongoing smear campaign against his opponent, State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias.

Granted, both candidates have more baggage than Illinois needs at this time, but holding up a phony military record to garner votes is about as low as a politician can get.

Now, caught in webs of deceit of their own making, both of these candidates are hiding out from the press in their respective states.  The self-proclaimed “poor” Ms. Angle has apparently found enough money in her coffers to hire a high-priced public relations firm to scrub her image.

The real horror in all this is that a platform based solely upon hatred of the way things are, with nothing more to offer than anger at Government in its current configuration, is no way to solve problems that call for well-thought out solutions.

Yet, adherence to unbridled preaching from the likes of Glenn Beck, who channels Joe McCarthy uncensored to a nationwide audience for four hours each day, and Sister Sarah, the money-grubbing 21st Century embodiment of fanatical Sister Aimee (Semple MacPherson), has already negatively impacted legislation intended for the betterment of all Americans.

Fortunately, such dangerous extremism from a vocal minority has, in the past, never made it past the starting gate; it must not now be allowed to further damage our Nation’s essence.

It is imperative to our very freedoms that Americans capable of cogent thought, with an ability to recognize the bigger picture, get out to the polls this November and vote these zealots away.

Shalom.

(Jerry Tenuto is an erstwhile Philosopher and sometime Educator.  A veteran with seven years of service in the U.S. Army, he holds a BS and MA in Communications from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.  Depending upon your taste in political stew, you can either blame or thank Jerry for his weekly “Out Of The Blue” feature in The Lone Star Iconoclast.  Visit his blog Blue State View at illinoiscentral.blogspot.com)

We are all aware that fallout from the BP offshore disaster, which might best be described as “fubar”, has been devastating on many levels around our Planet.

We are all aware that fallout from the BP offshore disaster, which might best be described as “fubar,” has been devastating on many levels around our Planet.

The most tragic, heartwrenching, and immediate results, of course, are centered amid the 11 workers on the doomed rig who lost their lives.  Typically, people don’t leave home for work and expect not to return.

Words cannot express my deep sympathy for these men; I won’t even try to imagine the pain and suffering that their families and friends must be enduring.

To their survivors, as well as the 17 workers who were injured and their families, please know that you’re in the minds and hearts of people all over the world.

Next to be severely impacted are those hard-working shrimpers and other seafood gatherers of the Gulf region.

These folks have a job I know I could never do, working insanely long hours (days and weeks non-stop, in many instances) at one of the most physically challenging occupations, for pay that hardly seems worth the effort unless the catch is sizable – with the hazard of death always just beyond the horizon.

It is distressing to think that their livelihood, perhaps their entire way of life, may be shattered for generations, possibly never to return.

Then, the commerce from tourism, a huge source of income for all the states which share the Gulf region, will be largely non-existent this year, and for untold seasons to come.

Moving on to the corporate level, BP itself is in deep trouble, its image as well as fiscal viability having sunk lower than whale shit.

However, nobody has taken the time to look at the “trickle down” effect this calamity has had across Main Street, USA and beyond.

Independent dealers who have contracts with BP, small operators of convenience marts, our neighbors, are getting shoved into oblivion by a ridiculous knee-jerk reaction to something over which they have absolutely no control.

Drive by any BP station and note the absence of activity.  It has become quite apparent that people have forsaken their regular coffee and donut stop in an effort to boycott the big corporate bad guys.

In the process, they’re ruining small business owners whom just two months ago were considered friends.

I can fully understand it if someone doesn’t wish to use products that carry BP brand name, specifically gasoline and diesel fuel.

However, in bypassing the convenience store that just happens to be contractually associated with BP, by getting your cigarettes and soda at the Shell (or whatever) mini-mart down the street, you’re effectively putting the person you’ve always done business with out of business.

I know of one guy who showed up one morning and found the locks to his store had been glued shut.  How freakin’ stupid is that?

It didn’t cost BP anything to get his locks replaced; it cost the station owner.

On top of that, his business has been off by some 80% since the oil rig explosion.  That figure is store receipts as well as gasoline sales.

The loss of revenue doesn’t stop at the individual shop.  A boycott of the stores that operate under the BP logo trickles down to those people who derive their income from supplying these marts.

These same salespeople may not supply the Shell mini-mart two blocks away, so they will not necessarily recoup the loss elsewhere.

Thus, they and their families have to adjust for a reduction in income.

And, the companies they work for will also feel the pinch.

You don’t wish to buy BP gasoline, fine.  The dealers don’t set the retail price, and generally only make a couple of cents per gallon, anyway, so in itself filling up elsewhere won’t be the end of the world for them.

But, it would be to everyone’s advantage to make the extra stop – change your gasoline brand, but make a concerted effort to get your totable stuff from the guy where you’ve always shopped.

Of course, only the wholly unsophisticated wouldn’t realize that no matter where one buys gas or diesel, it’s entirely possible the source refinery was owned by BP…

Was it irony, coincidence, or intentional that just this past Sunday the Sundance Channel reran “Who Killed The Electric Car?” (2006), the four-star documentary that examined the success of GM’s EV1, and its subsequent destruction by the corporate giant?

Happy motoring, my fellow American!

Shalom.

(Jerry Tenuto is an erstwhile Philosopher and sometime Educator.  A veteran with seven years of service in the U.S. Army, he holds a BS and MA in Communications from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.  Depending upon your taste in political stew, you can either blame or thank Jerry for his weekly “Out Of The Blue” feature in The Lone Star Iconoclast.  Visit his blog Blue State View at illinoiscentral.blogspot.com)

Long ago, I ceased to be amazed at the complicity of the corporate-run mainstream electronic media to skew the public discourse in favor of the right, and the arrogance which it displays in doing so.

Long ago, I ceased to be amazed at the complicity of the corporate-run mainstream electronic media to skew the public discourse in favor of the right, and the arrogance which it displays in doing so.

Until the seventh year of the American people and our Constitution being held hostage by the RoveCheneyBush regime, when Democrats finally wrested control from a Republican Congress dutiful to the Party rather than constituencies, Dubya was treated as though he truly was King George XLIII.

The guy was given a pass on virtually everything he said (no matter how lunkheaded), or did (despite its blatant illegality).

Every bona fide reporter, longstanding members of the Press Corps included, or recognized and respected news service that dared to question Dubya’s actions or policies was summarily banished from official briefings.

None but those overtly willing to regurgitate precisely what the White House line happened to be at the moment were allowed to sup from the official feast – most of which was talking-point propaganda.

And, of course, George the Younger was typically portrayed in a glowing light.

Even now, those of the mindset that Dubya made a first-rate leader carp that he was hounded by the media, while the press now allows President Obama all kinds of leeway.

It’s convenient to forget that:  Only those who would report favorably were allowed on Executive field trips;

None but avowed Bush loyalists were ever allowed into any venue where George made an appearance.  On the rare occasion that a heckler might make it through the intense scrutiny of the gatekeepers, that person was silenced, forced out of the hall, and, often, arrested for exercising a right granted all Americans by the 1st Amendment;

The White House used taxpayer money to finance its own scripted “news” items, which were supplied at no cost to (alleged) news outlets, then gladly aired by stations with Right-wing agendas;

Operatives within the Executive Branch, primarily the newly-redefined untouchable Vice President Branch, were allowed to make policies and award contracts behind closed doors – with no Congressional oversight whatsoever.

Through it all, the unwashed masses, made up largely of self-righteous Christian zealots and the frightened elderly, were suckling at the teat of FOX(NotReally)News.

FOX, lorded over by Neocon activist Australian Rupert Murdoch, had, since its inception, been fostering the far right agenda; it created George W. Bush as a candidate, and we all know how instrumental this ersatz news channel was in getting him illegally installed as High Sheriff of the United States.

The bile which flowed through FOX’ teat poisoned its dunderheaded viewers, already sorely lacking in balanced perspective due to years of manipulative misinformation, with far more divisiveness and animus than we’ve known in this Nation since antebellum sentiment resulted in civil war (or, as southerners still refer to it, the “unpleasantness between the Nauth and the Sou-uth”).

Now, FOX has created its own corporate-based, synthetic “political party”, bullshitting its adherents into believing that this is a “grassroots” movement.

Truth be damned!  Rupert further crosses the line by paying political hacks, the likes of Newt Gingrich, Sister Sarah, Karl Rove, et al, to muddy the waters of public opinion through espewment their own unified Rightology, with no counter-argument permitted.

Meanwhile, as this Australian megalomaniac maneuvers the American political landscape into his version of what our Nation should be, does the rest of the corporate media expose Murdoch for the turd he is?

No.  They do everything possible to emulate Rupert’s channel, in a futile attempt to siphon off some of its ratings.

But the fiercely loyal FOX audience doesn’t care if they’re being lied to and manipulated – they want to believe, accepting FOX’ message as gospel.  No open-minded media outlet is ever going to pull these jamokes away from BillO, Sean and company.

The one true anti-FOX alternative, MSNBC, has unfortunately swung so far to the Left that its pontificating has turned off even hardcore Liberals (yes, I am a Liberal, and damned proud to admit it).

However, in order to best FOX in the ratings, the other news services have fallen into a well of non-thinkism, the result being Americans are left only with newspapers as the purveyors of truth… sort of.

Sadly, we all know where the newspaper industry is headed.

My fellow American, you and I are screwed.

Shalom.

(Jerry Tenuto is an erstwhile Philosopher and sometime Educator.  A veteran with seven years of service in the U.S. Army, he holds a BS and MA in Communications from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.  Depending upon your taste in political stew, you can either blame or thank Jerry for his weekly “Out Of The Blue” feature in The Lone Star Iconoclast.  Visit his blog Blue State View at illinoiscentral.blogspot.com)

We are all aware of signage wherever we go.  Signs are impossible to escape or ignore.

We are all aware of signage wherever we go.  Signs are impossible to escape or ignore.

Although many people consider signs as blight upon the land, eyesores to the beauty seeker (as then-1st Lady Lady Bird Johnson noted when she insisted that billboards be barred along Interstate highways), they are a necessity for commerce.

Who would possibly know that Native American artifacts (hand made, in Asia) could be purchased two exits down the road if “Cactus Pete” weren’t allowed to draw tourists in to his snake oil emporium?

Without billboards, nobody would have ever bought and enjoyed one of those wonderful Stuckey’s pecan rolls.

And, on a smaller (sizewise) scale, if not for signs we wouldn’t know where to find the local optometrist office, or how to get to a garage sale, or which houses are up for sale.

The thing is, signage has gone through a huge makeover since the economic belly flop.

Outdoor advertising rentals have dwindled noticeably; wherever I go, more and more billboards are consigned to proclaim the ominous message, “Advertise Here.”

For instance, since the inception of the motorized vehicle and paved roads, a staple of billboards have been those that advertise automobiles.  However, with the doldrums manufacturers have gone through in recent years, roadside car adverts have nose-dived.

Restaurants, which often rely upon travelers “just passing through” to increase foot traffic, no longer have the extra income to pay for billboards announcing their presence.

Case in point:  The original Dixie Truckers Home, just down I-55 apiece from Normal, up to a few scant years ago was a continuous beehive of activity, with an almost always full restaurant any time of the day or night.  Go there now, even during peak mealtimes, and at best maybe 25% of the tables are occupied.

Not so long ago people waited in line at the Dixie’s gas pumps; now it’s rare to see two vehicles total in the “automobiles only” fueling area.

Even the tarmac where semi drivers park while they rest up, shower, and eat used to be crowded at any given time, but these days has very few if any 18-wheelers.

Another observation is a reduction in realtor billboards.  Perhaps the most ego-driven line of business short of television newsreaders, for decades it seemed as though every third billboard had some agent’s 15’ high picture smiling down at the passersby.

Now, these home brokers aren’t turning around enough properties to cover the expense of such self-satisfying indulgences.

(FYI:  Even in the best of times, if a realtor has enough disposable income to afford a billboard, he or she is already making too much money.)

It isn’t as if houses aren’t being put up for sale.  Good gawd, I see “For Sale” signs virtually everywhere.

Often, a given block might have two or three, or more, houses on the market.

What has caught my attention is the fact that most homeowners are eschewing the old school of thought that because it’s too difficult to sell a house on one’s own, one must engage a real estate broker or agent.

I have been noticing not just an upswing in houses up for sale, but most of the signs are of the generic variety.

Many other folks go with For Sale By Owner (FSBO).  This is essentially a clearinghouse that provides a source for buyers to search without being hassled by some “enthusiastic” salesperson desperate for a commission.  FSBO also assists the homeowner with the ins and outs of selling property.

The rates charged by FSBO for its services are generally less than half of the commissions and fees typically assessed by the realtor.

In this current economic environment, people are finding it increasingly difficult to make payments on a house and maintain same.  So, they’re putting their homes on the market.

But, the market is extremely soft, and maximizing return on their investment in property has become increasingly difficult.

Say you have a house that sells for $250,000.  Out of that, you’re probably going to shell out on average a 6% commission, or $15,000, to a realtor.

As the seller, you’re already ahead of the game with FSBO at 2% ($5,000).

By acting as your own agent, you can deal the property down to $240,000 and still come out ahead.

It just comes down to simple arithmetic and common sense – if you eliminate fees and commissions by cutting out the middle man, you can charge less yet have a more profitable return, while at the same time expand the pool of interested, qualified buyers.

Then, once we all sell our homes we can live in our cars or SUVs, traversing the North American highways, exploring all the beauty and sights of the continent that we’ve missed while tied to a job just so we could pay off those freakin’ mortgages.

Thus, the increased numbers of travelers will push forward a need for more billboards, resulting in a boon for that segment of the economy.

And, such mobility shall surely benefit roadway eateries and rest havens, such as the Dixie, which shall flourish yet again from the escalation in traffic…

Ain’t America great?

Shalom.

(Jerry Tenuto is an erstwhile Philosopher and sometime Educator.  A veteran with seven years of service in the U.S. Army, he holds a BS and MA in Communications from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.  Depending upon your taste in political stew, you can either blame or thank Jerry for his weekly “Out Of The Blue” feature in The Lone Star Iconoclast.  Visit his blog Blue State View at illinoiscentral.blogspot.com)

In case you weren’t paying attention, know that our British brethren – those good people who gave us our native tongue – have just held an election.

In case you weren’t paying attention, know that our British brethren – those good people who gave us our native tongue – have just held an election.

Despite reading several newspapers from London every day, I’m not entirely up to speed on their electoral cycle or system.

The best I can derive is that they hold an election whenever people get pissed off at the current administration.

Anyway, there were three candidates for Prime Minister:  incumbent Gordon Brown of the Labour (I love how they add that “u”) Party; challenger David Cameron, Conservative Party; and, upstart Liberal Democrat Nick Clegg.

After the votes had been tallied, no contender had a distinct majority.  Unlike the U.S., where a president might win with a plurality, in the U.K. it is required to have received at least 51% of the vote.

According to their “unwritten Constitution,” as best as I can decipher.

I don’t understand the specifics of the final selection process, but for whatever reason Mr. Clegg was allowed to decide who would become PM.

He selected Mr. Cameron; Mr. Clegg then hired on as Deputy PM.  Thus, Mr. Brown was consigned to vacate his digs at 10 Downing Street.

However all that worked out is not what I am writing about today.

What I find fascinating is the aplomb by which the new government is taking shape.

Imagine if we had a Democratic president and a Republican vice-president.  That is essentially what the Brits have now, or shall have once the new PM officially takes office.

These two political opponents, Cameron and Clegg, have entered into what they refer to as an era of “new politics”; they are agreed to work together as a coalition government.

All for the sake of a better future for Great Britain.

Imagine that!  Leaders from both sides of the “aisle” working in harmony to move their country forward out of the doldrums.

This agreement has resulted in enough Members of Parliament for the Liberal Democrats to be a potent force in British Government for the first time in 70 years.

Beyond that ascertainment, I really can’t go into further depth.  I don’t understand the machinations and nuances of British governance enough to elucidate with any expertise on precisely what the nuts and bolts of this congruence entail.

From what I can deduce, even your typical Englishman isn’t real clear on how the process works.

I am playing with a handicap at a game those good folks have lived with all their lives.

It is as if I brought a baseball bat to a cricket match…

My point, and please accept my apology for taking so long to get around to it, is simply this:  Members of Congress, both the House and the Senate, need to check their egos and personal agenda at the door when entering their respective chambers and work together.

Take a lesson from our former overseers.

Despite the best efforts of President Obama to work harmoniously for the good of the Nation, he has been stymied at every juncture, not just by Republicans, but self-interested Democrats as well.

You people on The Hill are bringing down America with your whining and pissing and moaning about every freakin’ little obscure fine point within each and every bill or initiative.

Work together, for crying out loud!  If the bill passes and proves to be a failure, you can always enact a countermeasure.

Because of several bold visionaries America was at the onset, and remains, a grand experiment.  Great Britain is now, thanks to a pair of visionaries, entering into its own grand experiment.

Wouldn’t it be grand if our elected “leaders” pushed aside their own self-interests and just engaged in some lawmaking?

To all Congresspersons and Senators, pull your heads out of your (or each other’s) asses and move America forward.

Sheesh!

Shalom.

(Jerry Tenuto is an erstwhile Philosopher and sometime Educator.  A veteran with seven years of service in the U.S. Army, he holds a BS and MA in Communications from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.  Depending upon your taste in political stew, you can either blame or thank Jerry for his weekly “Out Of The Blue” feature in The Lone Star Iconoclast.  Visit his blog Blue State View at illinoiscentral.blogspot.com)

As far as I can deduce from the news I’ve been reading, it’s open season in Atlanta, Georgia for armed muggings and carjackings against students in that city’s university district.As far as I can deduce from the news I’ve been reading, it’s open season in Atlanta, Georgia for armed muggings and carjackings against students in that city’s university district.

It would seem that Georgia’s ridiculously lax “concealed carry” law, and subsequent amendments, has not deterred the gun-wielding criminal element one iota.

If anything, it’s more likely for multiple crooks to appear out of nowhere and stick guns in a victim’s face.

For example, last weekend four students were in a car that was sitting in the wrong place at the worst possible time.

In broad daylight, a gun was thrust into the face of the driver, while two other perpetrators leveled guns at three passengers from both sides.

The first gunman reached in and took the keys out of the ignition.  Then the two riders in the back seat were ordered into the trunk.  (As crowded as Atlanta is, how no one noticed this kidnapping escapes me.)

All cellphones, money and wallets were collected from the victims, or so the robbers had thought.

The robbers’ plan was to visit ATMs to make withdrawals.  The victims were given the choice to cooperate or get shot.

One of the students put into the trunk was savvy enough to have kept a cellphone hidden.

This person dialed 911, but heard nothing coming from the other end.  So, the attempt to summon help was repeated numerous times.

As a student at Morehouse University, that school’s security police was on speed dial, and a connection was finally made.

The second person in the trunk had pulled the safety latch and raised the lid enough to see where the car was traveling; the person on the cellphone relayed this information to Morehouse security.

By the time they had gotten to a bank branch, police were close enough to immediately swarm upon the car.  Even with such good timing, one of the perps got away on foot.

Afterward, the caller commented to the media that the calls were ignored by Atlanta 911, claiming to have been put on hold at one point.

Atlanta 911 responded that it had answered all of the calls, but because the caller was whispering it could not be determined precisely what was transpiring.

Of course the victim was whispering; the students in the trunk were literally inches from their kidnappers.  One would think that a metropolitan 911 response facility might actually have some sort of audio enhancement function built into its system for just such a situation.

To the credit of Morehouse security, the officer(s) who handled the call proved to be about as professional as any constabulary.

The same weekend, some 800 miles north in a quiet Chicago university neighborhood, two young women were attacked from behind by a cretin who had been lying in wait with a baseball bat.

One of the women is a graduate student from Ireland whose work had just earned her entry into the next level of study, and a visa extension; the other had almost simultaneously been given a promotion at work.  They were walking home after an evening out celebrating their good fortune.

Both of these women are viable, educated people who obviously add something of value to society.

They were beaten mercilessly, in the most chicken-shit manner, by a scumbag with no less than 19 arrests, and multiple convictions, for a plethora of crimes that included assault.

As the attacks occurred, his “woman” sat at the wheel of their getaway van.

Their images were captured within 15 minutes using one of the victims’ stolen credit cards at a gas station.

The Irish lass, by all accounts a most brilliant individual, remains in a coma and, if she survives, most likely has suffered permanent debilitating brain damage.

Her friend has awakened, but months of pain and rehabilitation lie ahead.

It took less than two days for the Chicago Police to catch the alleged criminals, who are now being considered as perps in several other blind assaults and robberies.

Almost predictably, a paranoid gun nut blamed these assaults on the fact that the State of Illinois does not allow civilians to carry weapons.

When someone with a more reasoned perspective pointed out that since they were attacked from behind, there would have been no way for either woman to pull a gun and defend herself, the former responded that a passerby who was carrying could have shot the attacker.

I don’t think I need to spell out the utter stupidity, not to mention insanity, of this kind of thinking.  You, the reader, are certainly intelligent enough to go over the possible scenarios in your own mind… such as, there was nobody else around when the attack occurred.

Even Wyatt Earp banned the carrying of guns in town limits wherever he was tasked with keeping law and order – 130 years ago.

The boldness shown by robbers, and almost daily shootings, in Atlanta serve as proof that concealed carry does not hinder crime; when someone sticks a gun in your face or attacks from behind, there’s no opportunity for the victim to draw, aim and shoot.

Just what does the paranoid concealed carry enthusiast think is going to happen when a robber goes through a victim’s pockets and finds a hidden Glock?

Expanding the acceptability of carrying weapons on one’s person, especially concealed, is not the solution.  We cannot allow our modern 21st Century cities to turn into the Streets of Laredo, circa 1875.

The only reason handguns and assault weapons exist is to kill people, and we need to enter into a concerted effort to rid our society of these scurrilous penile extensions.

Shalom.

(Jerry Tenuto is an erstwhile Philosopher and sometime Educator.  A veteran with seven years of service in the U.S. Army, he holds a BS and MA in Communications from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.  Depending upon your taste in political stew, you can either blame or thank Jerry for his weekly “Out Of The Blue” feature in The Lone Star Iconoclast.  Visit his blog Blue State View at illinoiscentral.blogspot.com)

As my son, Pete, approaches his 30th birthday, I can’t help but wonder, “What have we wrought upon our progeny?”

As my son, Pete, approaches his 30th birthday, I can’t help but wonder, “What have we wrought upon our progeny?”

Pete’s an intelligent young man, able to comprehend more than he might think he can.

I’m ashamed to admit this, but oftentimes he is far more astute than I give him credit for.

Not one to march to the beat of the drummer of conventional thought, it took the lad several years longer than most to earn a Bachelor Degree.  (Okay, it took him 10…)

Not that he would have been any further ahead by flying through university in the usual four or five years.

I saw the young college graduates who were several years older than Pete (GenXers, if you prefer) get hired for jobs at ridiculous incomes of $35K, $45K, and more, even though they had absolutely zero experience.

Then, too, the GenXers would scoff at any job that didn’t offer full benefits and perks – gimmes to which their predecessors who had worked slavishly for decades were still not “entitled”.

More often than not, young women were given first consideration.

Across the board, whether male or female, those who were more pleasant to behold were automatically moved to the short list – abilities, personalities, and smarts be damned.

Pete’s a pretty solid worker, when the job isn’t so mundane as to be rote.

He can think on his feet, usually.

When turned loose on clientele, Pete can commiserate knowledgeably and pleasantly.

So, why can’t he find a reasonably fulfilling, somewhat-lucrative full-time position?

Simple.  Such jobs no longer exist.

For the past five years, he’s been putting up with surly customers and even surlier managers at the local outlet of a well-known department store chain.  Take the Christmas season out of the equation, and he averages 10-12 hours per week.

On a good week, if he’s lucky the store will schedule him for 20-25 hours; most weeks they throw him a bone of four or five hours.

A self-taught guitarist, unabashed at getting up – alone – in front of an audience to play and sing, (something I could never imagine myself doing), he tends to ignore those particular talents because there’s no money in it.

(Truthfully, most venues allow only for payment of drinks and tips, and the good folks around here are unsophisticated in the nth degree regarding tipping practices.)

He can’t make more money as a performer because he’s not in the musicians’ union.  He can’t get into the musicians’ union because he doesn’t have enough of the proper experience.  He doesn’t have enough of the proper experience because he can’t get good gigs because he’s not in the musicians’ union.

‘Round and ‘round goes the carousel.  Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

Pete’s also a good actor, and, when working with a knowledgeable director, has proven himself an excellent actor.

But, as with music, the merry-go-round is essentially the same.

When he does inquire about jobs, the firms don’t even bother to respond.  He gets more calls and mail from the organizations that want their student loan money back.

It’s kind of difficult to repay those loans when one’s income is far below the poverty line, yet these ersatz “banks” keep up the pressure as though the economy has not seen any sort of downswing.  (Thankfully, President Obama has recently changed the repayment rules to favor the student loan recipient, not the provider.)

Oh, I know what you’re thinking:  “Why doesn’t your son enlist?”  “There are plenty of new construction jobs he could look into.”

I spent seven years in the Army, and can safely say that Pete’s not the soldierly type.

As for construction, Pete tried that for a short time, and it’s something he’s just not cut out to do.  Besides, one doesn’t get a good construction job without being recommended to the union by someone, and it takes experience to get a recommendation… once again, the merry-go-round.

He even applied to the local school as a substitute teacher – paid the State of Illinois $50 for a license to teach – but the district, for the first time in its history, was not taking new applicants.

So, not being able to meld his talents into viable, productive avenues of endeavor, Pete goes through periods where he shuns those things that he’s good at, and loves doing.

By now you’re probably thinking that I’m making excuses for the lad because he’s my son.  That is hardly the case.

I wish that he had had some of the opportunities that I was able to experience before turning 30, but most of those roads have been blocked off in a world that has become ever more angry, mean, and dangerous.

I relate Pete’s tale (abridged, to be sure) because he’s not alone in the boat.  In today’s economy, millions of young men and women, many of whom are well-educated, cannot get a solid foothold on life.

To anyone who would blame Barack Obama for the current situation, remember that he came along years after we were deeply entrenched in this disastrous mess.

Pete is capable of doing far more than act or sing, but the opportunities are just not there, and the concept of “it’s not what you know but who you know” is currently in overdrive.

The market may open up in another five or 10 years, but what do our floundering progeny do while their talents lie wasted in dormancy in the meantime?

Oh, well… Happy Birthday, my Son.  We’ll muddle through somehow, together.

Shalom.

(Jerry Tenuto is an erstwhile Philosopher and sometime Educator.  A veteran with seven years of service in the U.S. Army, he holds a BS and MA in Communications from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.  Depending upon your taste in political stew, you can either blame or thank Jerry for his weekly “Out Of The Blue” feature in The Lone Star Iconoclast.  Visit his blog Blue State View at illinoiscentral.blogspot.com)

Yesterday marked a personal milestone. Although this particular milestone was dubious in its nature, about which I’d rather have not thought, the date could not be ignored. It marked the 40th anniversary of my enlistment in the U.S. Army.

Yesterday marked a personal milestone.

Although this particular milestone was dubious in its nature, about which I’d rather have not thought, the date could not be ignored.

It marked the 40th anniversary of my enlistment in the U.S. Army.

I was a mere whelp of 18, far less aware of the world around me and all it had to offer – good as well as bad.

My gawd, these four decades slipped by much too rapidly.  Where did they get to?

“Through early morning fog I see

  Visions of the things to be

  The pains that are withheld for me

  I realize and I can see…”*

When just starting out on the journey, we look at everything with eyes open wide.

As time marches on, and life progresses, we tend to lose focus, keeping our eyes wide shut.

If I take the time that has passed since my rebirth, that first great fearfilled leap into transpires might seem mundane:

A son on the verge of his 30th birthday;

29 years of marriage – five the first time, followed by a 24-year run;

Eight years at university, resulting in two degrees;

14 years of home ownership (that makes me feel tied to a mortgage);

And, so it goes…

With respect to friendships, I’ve learned that the more we travel life’s serpentine path, the more people come into our lives.  Some are wonderful, others not so much.

As much as each person we meet brings the pleasure of new flavor to life’s potluck banquet, those very few who stick around for the long haul provide the true sustenance of life.

At the outset, we race along as though anything that’s worth doing must be done now.

With the wisdom of maturity comes the realization that it’s a marathon, not a sprint.

And, with few exceptions everything we do depends upon the outcome of a 50-50 decision.

My Father was not possessed of an adventurous spirit.  Somewhere he lost the chutzpah his own father had displayed by coming to America, sans parents, as a 12-year-old.

Dad always took the safe path, more concerned with taking and holding onto the first regular job that came along than venturing out to see what might be available beyond the horizon.

Such a narrow view always seemed like a waste of the possibilities the planet held open to us.

For as long as I can recollect, my choice has been the path that my Old Man never would have followed.

Even so, I have often wondered about the road not taken.

However, there’s no percentage in worrying about “What if..?”

I had a long talk with my Godmother (I’ve written about “Goomah Irene” several times on these pages) during Easter weekend.  Although Irene’s a devout Catholic, and I have chosen to embrace Judaism, she has never once expressed any condemnation of my “lapse.”

When I explained that it was great emotional dysfunction that pushed me out of the house and into the Army less than a year after high school graduation, despite a war raging in VietNam, my “Goomah” asked it I ever regretted the decision.

I didn’t need any time to think about a response.  My answer was that, had I not taken that giant leap away from the nest at such a young age, I might never have left the county.

Being just 18, I benefited from a heightened ability to appreciate new surroundings, and learn from the ensuing encounters; had I waited a few more years, my sense of adventure may have been curtailed.

There is myriad variety among people and places in the world around us, more than any of us can experience in a lifetime, and far too many individuals fear that which is beyond their own front doors.

It is a shame to waste all that we can taste from the banquet of life; I’m always ready to try the next course.

“The sword of time will pierce our skins

  It doesn’t hurt when it begins

  But as it works its way on in

  The pain grows stronger… watch it grin…”*

Don’t wait till it’s too late to enjoy the feast.

Shalom.

* “Suicide is Painless (Theme from M*A*S*H)” by Johnny Mandel

(Jerry Tenuto is an erstwhile Philosopher and sometime Educator.  A veteran with seven years of service in the U.S. Army, he holds a BS and MA in Communications from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.  Depending upon your taste in political stew, you can either blame or thank Jerry for his weekly “Out Of The Blue” feature in The Lone Star Iconoclast.  Visit his blog Blue State View at illinoiscentral.blogspot.com)

Public discourse in this country has left the parameters of reasonableness far behind, crashing headlong into the realm of madness. Perhaps the most irresponsible person on the planet, Sarah Palin, thinks she’s cute when inciting rabid masses comprised of the ignorami, whipping them up into a frenzied mob.

Public discourse in this country has left the parameters of reasonableness far behind, crashing headlong into the realm of madness.

Perhaps the most irresponsible person on the planet, Sarah Palin, thinks she’s cute when inciting rabid masses comprised of the ignorami, whipping them up into a frenzied mob.

Sarah, or her handlers (Can you say, “Todd”?  Sure, I knew you could), is (are) well aware of the racist sentiments that fester deep inside the hearts and minimally-functioning minds of her fans.

And, “fans” is a precise description of these angry, aging white folks.  Sarah loves the attention she is afforded by her personal lemmings; they provide the bitter sustenance necessary to feed and nurture her wretched ego.

Of course, Sarah (and Todd) also love the six-figure paychecks for 30 minutes or so of speechifyin’ to blind Palinistas.

Not once has the Almighty Mrs. Palin, since her unfortunate ascension onto the national stage, offered one tangible idea; nor has she put forth so much as one word that might lead to a solution of any problem facing Americans.

Facts be damned, Sarah Barracuda gives her fans just what they want – rhetoric, assumptions, accusations, and hate, all wrapped in a blanket of smart-assed sarcasm.

Emotional pot-stirring is all anyone who looks to Sarah Palin for direction can handle.  

Very few, if any, of these folks will ever be mistaken for individuals who can think for themselves.

The ratings successes of their FOX(Not Really)News and talk radio heroes — Glenn, Sean, Bill-O, Rush, et al. – bear out the low common denominator that unites them.

Lest we forget how continual insidious utterances from Karl (good ol’ Turd Blossom); the disgraced (and dishonorable) Newtie; and, the epitome of black-hearted families, that lovable Cheney clan, serve to churn up the bubbling cauldron of discordance.

And, the ersatz “grassroots” movements with catchy names, i.e. “Tea Party”, are a simple (and simple-minded) method of mobilization of the most banal among our neighbors.

These fools gladly roll around in the manure that’s continually being spread in front of them, never stopping to think for 20 seconds that they have made multi-millionaires out of the puppetmasters who manipulate and control the conservative psychobabble.

What they fail to grasp, possibly above all else, is that the provokers with microphones have, while accusing those in the majority of stealing Americans’ freedoms, usurped their own inborn freedom to choose.

Since first opening her piehole on the campaign trail in 2008, Sarah has invoked a position of hatred for anyone who might not be like the rest of her audience (dare I say, less than white?), while spewing chunks that suggest the righteousness of empowerment through firearms.

Emboldened by the near-seditious, self-serving fecundity of a number of Congressional Republicans on the far, far right — most notable among them the certifiable Michele Bachmann of Minnesota – Sarah has amplified her not-so-veiled call to arms.

Unfortunately, a portion of the adherents who feel that no one other than the right-wing attack machine speaks for them feel it’s their solemn duty to take America back from the Kenyan and his band of filthy Progressives, by any means available.  (As we have all learned in recent months, progressive = socialist; socialist = commie.)

It has been 46 years and four months since the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.  Disturbingly, a significant number of American adults regarded as good the news of the man’s murder; the majority of them have likely passed on by now.

However, most of those who, at the time, openly applauded or cheered the announcements in middle and high school classrooms are probably still with us; they are the same age as the typical “teabagger” or “birther” or what have you.

We were fortunate to have recently dodged an attack, with the possibility of a horrific outcome, from nine imbecilic domestic terrorist wannabes who plotted to take out law enforcement officers, along with their families, en masse.  (One of these morons was captured in my old neighborhood outside of Chicago.)

Can we cease all this angry talk of rising up before tragedy ensues?

Does there have to be an act of violence before those in control of the “Conservative” discourse rein themselves and their listeners in?

No, Sarah Palin, the media did not create a mindset that embraces violent overreaction.

You are a demagogue who stands at the forefront of responsibility in fomenting such an aura of hostility in our Nation.  And, while utilizing your lopsided personal Christian ideology as camouflage, you love being the instigator.

The very thought of Sarah Palin makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

Shalom.

(Jerry Tenuto is an erstwhile Philosopher and sometime Educator.  A veteran with seven years of service in the U.S. Army, he holds a BS and MA in Communications from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.  Depending upon your taste in political stew, you can either blame or thank Jerry for his weekly “Out Of The Blue” feature in The Lone Star Iconoclast.  Visit his blog Blue State View at illinoiscentral.blogspot.com)

That is the only word that aptly describes Congressional Republicans. This past Sunday evening, March 21, 2010, my son, Pete, and I put our regular viewing of FOX* animated sitcoms on hold to watch the drama – longtime stifling of progress as manufactured by the Republican Party – that was unfolding on C-SPAN.That is the only word that aptly describes Congressional Republicans.

This past Sunday evening, March 21, 2010, my son, Pete, and I put our regular viewing of FOX* animated sitcoms on hold to watch the drama – longtime stifling of progress as manufactured by the Republican Party – that was unfolding on C-SPAN.

It was apropos that new life was breathed into our Nation on the first day of Spring.

Through it all, the Grand Obstinate Party was in rare form.

Despite the histrionics of Mr. Tanning Bed (Minority Leader John Boehner, who represents .07% of the American people, yet blusters incessantly as though he is the caretaker of a majority viewpoint), reform of the health care system in the U.S.A. put forth its first steps that night.

His “no you can’t” rant showed the pathetic excuse for a leader in full bore incivility at its worst; an egomaniac of the highest order, Boehner is possessed of, and by, an attitude of entitlement to decide what’s good for all Americans.

Based, of course, upon which entity lines his campaign coffers with the most lucre.

It is painfully obvious that Boehner holds no respect whatsoever for President Obama, and each observer can only make his own mind up as to from whence that level of contempt emanates.  He certainly shows no compassion for those whom fate has treated in a less fortunate manner.

The fact that Boehner proffered no condemnation toward the angry white protesters who shouted out “nigger” at several Democratic members of Congress, and “faggot” at Barney Frank, is a sad commentary on where this guy’s head truly resides.

Oh, but it isn’t just Boehner; the ludicrous assertion by his personal sycophant and toady extraordinaire, Obstructionist Number 2, Eric Cantor, that bullying from Democrats led to vicious threats (and even some potentially dangerous actions) against Democratic members of Congress only serves to keep the undereducated, misinformed 35% (who are not, as Republicans are so fond of repeating, the majority) pathetically in lockstep to fear-based, fact-challenged insinuations as spewed forth by commenters on FOX(NotReally)News, et alia.

Republicans of the 21st Century seem to have an innate disconnect with and revulsion for truth or reality.

Note the burn notice on David Frum:  While not one of my favorite people on the planet, the Right-wing extremist dared to expose the stranglehold that allowed FOX(NotReally)News to control the Republican Party.  He later referred to the passage of the health care initiative as one of the worst defeats of the GOP since the 1960s.

For such blatant honesty, Frum was summarily discharged from his long-held position as an opinionator at the uberconservative American Enterprise Institute.

So much for our Constitution and the 1st Amendment.

Imagine… the very idea of this guy invoking Freedom of Speech.  What hubris!

It is pathetic that every single Republican in the Senate and the House voted not of his or her own conscious, or for the good of tens of millions of Americans, rather to a person they kept in lemming-like march with the Party above all else.

What is even more pathetic is that, after the bill went back to the senate for reconciliation and a second vote was forced in both chambers by Republican nit-pickers, once again not a single member of the Grand Obstructionist Party offered a “yea” vote – even after getting their own way.

Anyway, as soon as the votes had been counted on the House floor last Sunday evening, I called Pete over to the dining room window and turned on the light at the rear of our house.  We watched the illuminated backyard for a couple of minutes.

Nothing happened.  The ground didn’t quake; the car wasn’t swallowed up by cavernous cracks in the driveway; no sinkhole opened up to devour the trees; our neighbors’ houses, as well as ours, hadn’t crumbled into piles of rubble.

The next morning dawned to reveal a beautiful early Spring day; it was sunny and warmer than usual for March.  We were able to work in the yard for the first time in months – in shirtsleeves and shorts, at that.

This was not, as predicted by Tanning-Bed Boehner, “Armageddon.”

It was, as he and the rest of the 35%ers feared, the beginning of a new American attitude – that hope shall be the spark that lights our way to a better and brighter tomorrow for all.

The politics of stifling progress is nothing short of pathetic.

Shalom.

*The entertainment programming on FOX Network, a mere 16 hours per week, should never be confused with the misinformation spewed forth by FOX(NotReally)News, all day, every day; people who stay glued to the latter virtually never tune in to the former.  

(Jerry Tenuto is an erstwhile Philosopher and sometime Educator.  A veteran with seven years of service in the U.S. Army, he holds a BS and MA in Communications from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.  Depending upon your taste in political stew, you can either blame or thank Jerry for his weekly “Out Of The Blue” feature in The Lone Star Iconoclast.  Visit his blog Blue State View at illinoiscentral.blogspot.com)

Damn it, Congress! Do something, already, you stagnating assemblage of self-interested fools! We finally have a President who wants to move our Nation forward, and all (most of) you nabobs do is sit around and bluster nonsense. The credit card companies, having discovered all the loopholes in your consumer protection initiatives, continue to violate the folks for whom you claim to be looking out.

Damn it, Congress!

Do something, already, you stagnating assemblage of self-interested fools!

We finally have a President who wants to move our Nation forward, and all (most of) you nabobs do is sit around and bluster nonsense.

The credit card companies, having discovered all the loopholes in your consumer protection initiatives, continue to violate the folks for whom you claim to be looking out.

Meanwhile, executives at the big banks you bailed out have pocketed all the tax revenue you handed over to them to stay in business – more moneys that came from the same taxpayers whom they’d been raping all along.

Because 30% of the aging white people in America are regurgitating talking point chunks spewed forth by a handful of grossly overpaid ultraconservatives – they who control the radio and cable airwaves, leaving no room for open and fair discussion with any semblance of balance – you run and hide from comprehensive, universal real health care reform.

Everyone knows that the alleged “health care insurance providers” are nothing of the sort; they are conduits for huge paychecks and bonuses that go directly from the contributors’ paychecks into the executives’ bank accounts.

Not one of these companies gives anything close to a shit about the human beings they claim to cover.  It’s all about profit, as proven by their sickeningly obscene profits.

It’s not about, as you insist, the cost to taxpayers – anyone with half a brain can figure that out.  What it’s really about are the vulgar contributions delivered by truckloads to your campaign war chests.

While people are scraping by, either underemployed or unable to find employment at all, you sit on your privileged asses and osmose money by the barrel for allowing the annihilation of Middle America to happen.

When it comes to throwing indeterminate sums of taxpayer money at wars with no reason to be waged whatsoever, replete with loss of life and untold human suffering, you can’t piss it away fast enough.

But when it comes to actually returning tax moneys to the people in the form of infrastructure improvement or, gawd forbid, health care for everyone, your argument is “it’s socialism” that will “cost too much.”

Not providing health care to everyone is costing all of us far too much!

And it’s been going on far too long.

Like anything else, universal health care is not the perfect solution; yet, we remain the only industrialized country that refuses to care for our own.

For every Canadian citizen who seeks specialized treatment in the U.S. (typically of the privileged class), I’m certain there are thousands who are generally satisfied with their overall care.

Like Canadians, folks in the United Kingdom tend to live to a ripe old age, and more often than not they’re hearty and hale.  I read the daily news from England; there’s no endemic of Brits dying because they’ve been failed by a tax-funded health care system.

During three years spent living in Germany, not once did I see any citizen of that country sickly or in dire trauma because they lacked access to health care – and it was the U.S. government that restructured and set up their system.

Germans, too, tend to be active well into ripe old age.

The people of Hawaii swear by their “socialized” universal health care, where all medical expenses are fully covered by the state.

Contrary to what Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) recently spouted on ABC-TV, the “crap” Americans are fed up with is that which comes from the House and Senate (yes, members of both parties are guilty) to serve only the interests of the ersatz lawmakers and their corporate sponsors.

Be careful about taking a stand, however.  The reaction by the media to Rep. Patrick Kennedy’s (D-RI) fiery address on the House floor provided their own self-impeachment.

Across the board, “news” organizations labeled Kennedy’s indictment of their complicity in misdirecting attention away from the national debate by repeatedly focusing on salacious side issues (most recently the tale of fallen NY Rep. Eric Massa; several years ago Kennedy’s own substance abuse problem), rather than the important business at hand, as a “blow-up” and a “rant.”

Their self-serving reaction only succeeded in proving his point.

Thus, until the monopoly of corporate-friendly information dissemination is broken, all we’ll get is tripe masquerading as filet – democracy in action be damned.

Shalom.

(Jerry Tenuto is an erstwhile Philosopher and sometime Educator.  A veteran with seven years of service in the U.S. Army, he holds a BS and MA in Communications from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.  Depending upon your taste in political stew, you can either blame or thank Jerry for his weekly “Out Of The Blue” feature in The Lone Star Iconoclast.  Visit his blog Blue State View at illinoiscentral.blogspot.com)

People – let’s call them “friends” and “relatives” – are always forwarding useless tidbits of trivial data, ersatz humor, and rose-colored reflections on life, circa 1955, to me via e-mail over the Interweb. The unifying premise among most of these communiqués is the lament, “Why can’t things be like they were in the good ol’ days?” Because, that which people remember after they reach middle age and beyond (okay, elderly status) as “better” or “simpler” times occurred while they were children.People – let’s call them “friends” and “relatives” – are always forwarding useless tidbits of trivial data, ersatz humor, and rose-colored reflections on life, circa 1955, to me via e-mail over the Interweb.

The unifying premise among most of these communiqués is the lament, “Why can’t things be like they were in the good ol’ days?”

Because, that which people remember after they reach middle age and beyond (okay, elderly status) as “better” or “simpler” times occurred while they were children.

And, in most cases, childhood is a simpler time.  At least, it’s supposed to be.

During childhood, we generally choose to not concern ourselves with politics or world events.  Even when we are aware of such adult concerns, we tend to let them roll off our shoulders and accept the life that’s playing itself out in our own environment.

About the only things youngsters really care about are the end of the school day, playing baseball or whatever, and avoiding anything remotely resembling responsibility.

People who were in their youth during the Great Depression might talk about how hard life was, yet they always seem to reflect upon that period as “the good old days.”

Those (on the North American continent) too young to be drafted while World War II was wreaking hell on Earth, reducing South Pacific paradises, Europe and, eventually, Japan to massive infernos and incalculable devastation, generally accepted rationing and the extended absences of fathers and brothers (in far many instances permanent) as “the way things are.”

Despite being inundated throughout the 1950s with bullshit like “duck and cover” (as if that would save your ass when the missiles came), the sight of Civil Defense shields on public buildings did not freak us out.  No one much fretted over the end of the world.

Actually, we learned to freak out all by ourselves as the 1960s rolled along its own hallucinogenic course.

It’s rather curious, and certainly no coincidence, that the carnage in Vietnam, an upswing in marijuana usage, and a broader experimentation with psychedelic substances began in earnest after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Nor is it coincidence that the open and often turbulent protestations against America’s governmental policies, especially with regard to war against non-aggressor peoples, escalated after Robert f. Kennedy was assassinated.

As much as I enjoy watching classic 1950s television such as “Superman,” “Have Gun-Will Travel,” “Cheyenne,” “Leave It To Beaver,” “Dragnet,” “M Squad,” et al., I take them for what they are – good storytelling (okay, so “Superman” is often just silly, but it’s early-50s silly).

The production values may not hold a candle to today’s television fare (after all, early television producers were still fumbling around in the dark), the stories these shows tell, the values presented therein, remain – more than 50 years after their initial presentations – as apropos in the 21st Century as they did back then.

Any way one looks at it, life was complex “back in the day.”

As it always was, and always shall be.

Thus is the inescapable nature of man.

It was 50 years ago that President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned us of the great evil growing like a cancer in our midst, the “military-industrial complex” to which we have become subservient.

Three years later, his successor — our President — was murdered in a coup to advance the madness of power that has wrought myriad wars and global unrest; this act and its official overlay of veneer deposited the seat of power to a self-selected few that has made them wealthy beyond all conceivable acuity while strangling Americans with the demolition of our tenuous economic system.

Driven to distraction by a woefully underreporting corporate media, wherein opinion and insinuation masquerade as “news,” which is conspicuously abetted by five extreme Right-wing activist Supreme Court justices, the American public, undereducated for generations, is just sucker enough to accept such forced feeding.

Even though he was born after this shitstorm began, those who fear our “negro president” – for no reason other than he’s not of the white privileged class – blame Mr. Obama for everything that’s wrong with the United States of America.

Why?  Because, instead of educating the unwashed masses, the aforementioned media focuses only on the negative, and provides no support whatsoever for movement in a forward direction.

Where we once had reason to “hope,” even that has been turned into a four-letter word.

So, please don’t tell me about how wonderful life was back “in the good ol’ days,” because keeping the blinders on is what got us here.

Shalom.

(Jerry Tenuto is an erstwhile Philosopher and sometime Educator.  A veteran with seven years of service in the U.S. Army, he holds a BS and MA in Communications from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.  Depending upon your taste in political stew, you can either blame or thank Jerry for his weekly “Out Of The Blue” feature in The Lone Star Iconoclast.  Visit his blog Blue State View at illinoiscentral.blogspot.com)

For the past five years or more, I’ve used TurboTax to file my tax returns, as well as those of my family.  Typically, it would take about two minutes for the disc to download, then maybe another five minutes or so to get the updates.

BRING A DISH TO PUT ON THE TABLE

These past few days have been most frustrating.

For the past five years or more, I’ve used TurboTax to file my tax returns, as well as those of my family.  Typically, it would take about two minutes for the disc to download, then maybe another five minutes or so to get the updates.

Yesterday, installation of the 2009 version took more than four hours, turning my entire day into utter disarray.

After two hours of repeated downloading efforts that resulted in excruciatingly long waits vacillating between “install” and “uninstall” modes, I was left no choice but to call the TurboTax customer service number.

The respondent was a most amiable young lady named Jenne, located somewhere in the Philippines (yes, I was struck by the irony of having someone in the South Pacific assist with my income tax software).  She said that this inability to properly install the 2009 version was generating more than a few calls from flabbergasted and aggravated users.

Far more pleasant than most U.S.-based customer service people with whom I’ve dealt, Jenne stayed on the line with me in excess of two hours before we corrected the download problems by circumventing myriad programs in my computer.

Several lengthy pauses in the process awaiting computer processing of one function before going on to the other allowed Jenne and me to engage in friendly conversation.

Jenne told me that it would be 90 degrees when her shift ended at 9:00 in the morning.  I doubt that she fully comprehended my response that it was only 30 degrees in America’s midsection, where we had been surrounded by snow and ice for six weeks.

There, I’ve managed to combine two extremely frustrating situations into one thought stream.

This came less than 24 hours after I had gone around and around (literally) with a multi-layered student loan agency (agencies?).

At least four entities were involved in the loan process, none of which wanted to discuss repayment procedures.  Each telephone operative referred me to another number, until it came full circle and I was told to contact the first number I had called.  Talk about frustrating!

Yet, in the overall scheme of things my personal frustration cannot even hold a candle to that which President Obama must feel in trying to deal with Republicans.

Sitting through most (roughly six hours or so) of Thursday’s Health Care Summit, it was remarkable to watch Mr. Obama react with aplomb to the utter arrogance and disrespect shown by the party of corporate ass licking.

The President invited members of Congress to a potluck dinner, but Republicans in attendance showed up without one dish to contribute to the meal.

John Boehner set the tone by strutting in with a look on his puss as though he was sucking on sour lemons; that pissy expression never left him for the entire day.

Even the casual observer would note that whenever Boehner is in the presence of the President, the supercilious House Minority Leader looks as though he can’t leave the room fast enough and find somewhere to vomit.

Both Boehner and his lap dog, Eric Cantor, sat down behind stacks of documents two feet high.  This was a puerile effort to ratchet up fear of a lengthy bill among those non-thinkers who buy their bullshit in wholesale quantities; never mind that health care is a subject of highest order complexity.

Immediately following the President’s announcement of the summit two weeks earlier, Republicans began riding the talking point wave, initiated by Tanning-Bed Boehner, calling it nothing more than “political theatre.”  It’s rather hilarious that the only attendees who brought stage props were those very same Republicans…

Sadly, the mainstream media pretty much universally disregarded this exhibition of glaringly hypocritical hubris.

It’s absolutely unconscionable that the ersatz news reporting organizations completely missed the subtleties not only of that, but virtually everything else that transpired.

Despite inclusion of numerous Republican-based ideas within the bill, members of the Grand Obstructionist Party repeated, ad nauseum, the talking point to scrap the bill and start over from square one.

Uninterested in anything remotely resembling compromise, Republicans proved to all America that the GOP simply wants everything their way – i.e., minority rule.

Without reiterating the sheer volume of contentiousness that is the Republican Party, here are a few key exchanges that were mostly ignored by the phony corporate news services:

Continuing their tradition of evading responsibility as “Party leaders,” Republican top dogs Mitch McConnell and Boehner, devoid of a scintilla of a substantive proposal between them, relied upon Lamar Alexander for opening remarks.

After presenting a less than accurate summation of the bill at hand, including a wholly erroneous depiction of Senate Democrats using reconciliation for passage, Alexander was laid to the mat by several roundhouses from (former boxer) Harry Reid, who said he was welcome to his own opinion, but not his own facts.

About the only thing McConnell had to offer was a complaint that, despite the President’s Republican-Democrat-Republican-Democrat-etc. format, the Democrats had used more than twice as much time.

Mr. Obama silenced Ol’ Mitch, pretty much for the rest of the day, by reminding him who was President, that nobody had been designated official timekeeper, and, even if one existed, it was his bailiwick, thus any time he used was not to be measured with that of Senators and Representatives.

In her wrap-up, Nancy Pelosi admonished those of her GOP colleagues who had filled their comments with falsehoods, and went so far as to denounce the health insurance industry for its “shameful” behavior.

The mainstream news slackers have repeatedly taken Mr. Obama to task for waiting a year to hold this summit.  What they failed to express, or comprehend, was the sheer brilliance of his methodology, the deftness of his touch in dealing with complex issues and opposition to reason.

The President allowed the debate to be dragged out by Republicans who shill for their corporate backers.  Then, after giving them enough rope, he let GOPers entangle themselves inextricably in a collective noose through a public display of their unwillingness to work with Democrats, or for the American people.

Mr. Obama’s final comment to Republicans — that, by showing a complete unwillingness to reach across the aisle and work together harmoniously, Democrats had been left no choice but to forge ahead without them — was a sterling example of the kind of leadership his supporters have seen in the man from the outset.

For all those pundits and commentators who say Barack Obama is weak, the fact is nobody rises to the office of President of the United States without exceptional strength of will – and such strength has to be multiplied in exponential factors if the person is African-American.

Almost comically, the very next day, as if to cement proof that Republicans possess absolutely no handle on reality, or that which might even remotely appear as showing any interest in the good of their constituents, Rep. Steve King (R-IA, 5) got up in front of Congress and the World to extol the virtues of lobbyists, stating that somebody needs to stand up for the lobby.

I could never find words more apropos than King’s to better illustrate the depth to which moral turpitude permeates the contemporary Republican Party, and how remote its members are from the citizens of the United States of America whom they allegedly serve.

Shalom.

(Jerry Tenuto is an erstwhile Philosopher and sometime Educator.  A veteran with seven years of service in the U.S. Army, he holds a BS and MA in Communications from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.  Depending upon your taste in political stew, you can either blame or thank Jerry for his weekly “Out Of The Blue” feature in The Lone Star Iconoclast.  Visit his blog Blue State View at illinoiscentral.blogspot.com)

Good gawd, we’re certainly an angry lot, we Americans. Consider this lunatic in Austin who set his house on fire, then flew an airplane into the local IRS offices.  Despite the overwhelming vilification among the general populous, there are bound to be thousands of malcontents, as misguided as he was, who consider him a hero.  (I refuse to use his name here, because that would only add to any glorification of the guy’s act.)

Good gawd, we’re certainly an angry lot, we Americans.

Consider this lunatic in Austin who set his house on fire, then flew an airplane into the local IRS offices.  Despite the overwhelming vilification among the general populous, there are bound to be thousands of malcontents, as misguided as he was, who consider him a hero.  (I refuse to use his name here, because that would only add to any glorification of the guy’s act.)

Progressives and Liberals got good and angry in December of 2000 when the addled Rehnquist-controlled Federalist Supremes became ultra-activists and facilitated the coronation of Bush the Lesser as King George XLIV – thus legitimizing voter nullification in direct negation of the most basic and sacred tenets of Constitution of the United States.

Our anger increased exponentially when the 2004 election was stolen by the same usurpers through detestably archaic voter suppression tactics reminiscent of elitist Jim Crow laws, along with strategically employed unverifiable voting machines.

Oh, but since the legally-conducted 2008 election didn’t go their way, Righties who embraced the RoveCheneyBush Regime, replete with all its tyrannical destructiveness, have entered into a new stratum of indignation based wholly upon hate, racial bias, fear, and conjecture.

So, now they’re angry at the majority of their fellow Americans – human beings they consider inferior because of differences in skin tone or ethnicity or ideological makeup.

You know, I’m pretty damned angry myself.

I’m angry that…

Democrats, with a commanding majority in both the Senate and House, have allowed the corporate-friendly Republican minority to bring the most important issues regarding America’s business to a standstill.

My fellow Social Security recipients and I won’t receive a cost of living (COL) increase this year.

The Chicago Cubs were outpaced in free agent acquisitions and between season trades by the St. Louis Cardinals.

I can no longer afford to attend a live Major League baseball game (hell, I’ll be lucky if I can squeeze out enough to go to a Class A game in Peoria).

Thousands upon thousands of good Americans are languishing in prisons, tossed in among hardened career criminals, just for having a little marijuana in their possession.

A recent study in California that proved numerous positive aspects (viable curative properties) of pot has received little to no recognition in the mainstream media.

People putt along in the middle or left lane on an Interstate highway, remaining completely oblivious and refusing to move over while numerous vehicles are forced to pass on the right.

The guy who just passed me doing about 90 still has a McCain/Palin bumper sticker (more often than not, drivers who show the least regard for traffic laws and safety display Conservative stickers – many as behind the times as Bush/Cheney).

The mainstream media continues to suckle the Dick Cheney and his wholly unaccomplished daughter Liz, providing them with free airtime to spew their family’s unique brand of bile-filled hatred, fear and divisiveness.

The service drainpipe in my basement is clogged, requiring constant monitoring of washing machine cycles to prevent overflows, and I can’t afford to pay a plumber to clear it out (see previous anger issue regarding no Social Security COL increase).

The primary care physician provided me by the Veterans Administration is at best inept, a schmegege who’d rather stick up for his nurse than attend to needs of his patients.

The aforementioned VA nurse is incapable of empathetic human interaction, rewords everything I tell her, behaves like an adversary rather than an adherent of the tenets of Florence Nightingale, and acts as though it’s the patient’s responsibility to make her life easier.

I haven’t had steak in months, and there isn’t a good restaurant to get a proper steak dinner within 120 miles of Normal, Illinois.

Life in Normal can easily be described as slow death, but I can’t move because I’m tied to a mortgage (again, refer to the previous comment regarding no COL increase).

Tundra-like conditions have kept the entire region blanketed in snow for weeks now, and the forecast for the next five days is more frigging snow.

I can’t afford to go somewhere southerly even for a few days respite (again, refer to the previous comment regarding no COL increase).

Some of the most devastated sections of New Orleans remain untouched disaster sites.

I have to wait until March 6 for the first televised Spring Training game.

The Beatles can never reunite.

My good friend Veto died of cancer last September at the age of 52.

We drifted apart in his final years, as Veto had become an angry misinformed white conservative.

There are so many among us who are blinded by hate, completely intolerant of anyone who doesn’t subscribe to his or her own personal views.

Sarah Palin is considered by so many as the voice of reason.

Corporate entities have now been awarded free rein to take over the American democratic process.

The current activist Federalist Supremes will conceivably have decades to rewrite longstanding laws and dismantle the Constitution with extreme prejudice.

While we’re supposed to live in an age of enlightenment, there are more guns in the hands of Right-thinking citizens and criminals than any time in American history.

Right-wing zealots, such as Justice Samuel Alito and Rep. Joe Wilson, get away with refusing to afford proper courtesy and respect to Barack Obama due his high office as the duly elected President of the United States.

Civility has left our great Nation and headed off into the netherworld.

Most armed conflicts result from a “my god is better than your god” mentality, and it’s entirely possible that there is no god.

Although my son graduated from university more than a year ago, he’s been unable to make any headway regarding gainful full time employment.

As much as I’d like to be positive and cheery, I can’t shake off my own pissoffedness.

Shalom.

Go, Team U.S.A!

(Jerry Tenuto is an erstwhile Philosopher and sometime Educator.  A veteran with seven years of service in the U.S. Army, he holds a BS and MA in Communications from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.  Depending upon your taste in political stew, you can either blame or thank Jerry for his weekly “Out Of The Blue” feature in The Lone Star Iconoclast.  Visit his blog Blue State View at illinoiscentral.blogspot.com)

When one lives on what is essentially the frozen tundra, surrounded all around by mounds of snow, there’s not much impetus to venture outside where sub-freezing temperatures reduce the human anatomy into acquiescent numbification. So, I spend a lot of time in front of the televiewscreen.  Since weaning myself off the massteria* (fear and loathing heaped upon our psyches disguised as “news” by the 24-hour non-news newschannels), I’ve found hours and hours of fun stuff to watch.When one lives on what is essentially the frozen tundra, surrounded all around by mounds of snow, there’s not much impetus to venture outside where sub-freezing temperatures reduce the human anatomy into acquiescent numbification.

So, I spend a lot of time in front of the televiewscreen.  Since weaning myself off the massteria* (fear and loathing heaped upon our psyches disguised as “news” by the 24-hour non-news newschannels), I’ve found hours and hours of fun stuff to watch.

For instance, on HGTV, there’s “Holmes on Homes,” okay, where a Toronto-based ubercontractor brings his expertise around to put right disastrous aftermaths after charlatan contractors have wreaked havoc on good Canadians’ houses, eh.  Mike Holmes makes Bob Vila look like nothing more than a shill for Sears… oh, right, he is.

HGTV also offers several “house flipping” shows, which detail the travails of money-grubbing Americans – possessed of far too much disposable cash and a scarcity of real ambition — who attempt to achieve big payoffs, with minimal time and effort, as they are screwed by money-grubbing contractors – whose goals are also big payoffs with minimal time and effort.

As the houses, typically refurbished way beyond original budgets, remain unsold for months on end, these series serve as video testimony to explain one of the root causes behind the banking meltdown.

Over on BBC America, for several hours each day one can learn the value of antiquities and collectibles (“Cash in the Attic”; “Antiques Roadshow”), or pick up housecleaning tips from Kim Woodburn and Aggie MacKenzie as they scour their way through the nastiest homes across Great Britain on “How Clean Is Your House?”

Then, there are the histrionics and hysteria of chef extraordinaire Gordon Ramsay’s “Kitchen Nightmares,” replete with dialogue so blunt it probably keeps an entire team of censors employed full time.

Science and true-life reality series make for interesting time-fillers that provide knowledge as well as entertainment.

Up and down the channel selector there are any number of movies and television series reruns, some old (“Gene Autry”) and others quite recent (“Criminal Minds”), some great (“All in the Family”) and others putrid (“Three’s Company”).  What was once a vast wasteland has become a veritable smorgasbord of intellectual victuals.

Too bad so many people skip the fun or thought-provoking fare and keep their tuners locked down on FOXAnythingButNews all day, every day.

Lately, I’ve been revisiting an old friend from San Francisco, one Mr. Paladin (“Have Gun-Will Travel”).  Whether that was his first name or last name, no one really knew; nevertheless, he was one exceptionally well-rounded guy with a true sense of what’s properly just, not to mention how to live well.

It doesn’t hurt that he is lightning fast on the draw, with an aim that would have put Annie Oakley to shame.

Most of the adventures Paladin (Richard Boone) involve aiding the downtrodden, or forging a solution by getting people to look inside themselves and act with civility toward one another.  He uses his gun only after all erstwhile tactful avenues have been explored, and an adversary forces his hand.

For hiring his talents, whether to right an injustice or stop a festering range war, Paladin is paid quite handsomely; his regular fee is $2,000.00.

Usually concerned with the human condition, “HGWT” boasted a cornucopia of television’s more erudite writers, including Gene Roddenberry and Gene L. Coon, who went on to fame as creator and producer/writer (respectively) of “Star Trek.”  Before the end credits roll, the savvy viewer can literally taste either man’s deft wordplay, and recognize the germination of science fiction’s greatest manifestation.

One episode of “HGWT” in particular struck me as uncannily contemporary:

While passing through a town after completing an assignment up the road apiece, our intrepid hero discovered that parents have been frightened into keeping their children away from the local school.  Of 18 students, only four still attended classes.

The reason the children were being kept at home was because the biggest rancher (Coley) had decided he didn’t like certain aspects of the curriculum; he had issued the schoolmarm an ultimatum to leave town or he’d subject her to physical harm and burn down the schoolhouse.

Being the mid-1870s, Civil War wounds, physical as well as emotional, remained open and sore for many folks.

A former Confederate officer, Coley took offense that the teacher described Quantrill’s Raiders as thieves and murderers who used the war as an excuse to terrorize innocent folks.  It didn’t matter that she had also painted Union Gen. Sherman’s slash-and-burn campaign as an outrage, and described war itself as horrific.

Despite apparently having neither a wife nor children, Coley was determined to eliminate any inconvenient truth, and force his own personal historical “facts” down the throats of impressionable youngsters.  Having enough money to assemble his own mishmash of gunslingers and reprobates, he was able to intimidate most of the community in the manner of his hero, William Clarke Quantrill.

While his private army ganged up on Paladin, outnumbered five-to-one, Coley assaulted the schoolmarm and a young girl.  He was finally brought to his knees by the least likely of people – the girl’s father (a storekeeper), and one boy’s father and brothers.  The latter were scratch farmers, proud Confederate soldiers who had suffered various disabilities in battles against the North.

It’s extremely disappointing to be an American in the 21st Century, to know that this type of insidious mindset was recognized as problematic – and portrayed in a teleplay — as long ago as 1958, yet, we continue to be bullied by self-righteous, unthinking clods, not necessarily parents, who would dismiss truth in lieu of ramming conjecture down the throats of our youth.

Creationism.

Intelligent design.

“Global warming is a hoax.”

Teabaggers.

The negro president ain’t even an American citizen – he’s a socialist Nazi Muslim.

Fanatical religious fundamentalists.

Five Right-wing activist justices controlling every decision that emanates from the Supreme Court.

Whatever happened to that “knight without armor in a savage land?”

Severe winters aside, Canada keeps looking more and more like paradise to me.

Shalom.

For anyone who was paying attention… Last week I referred to a double play involving a right fielder, shortstop and catcher as 7-6-2.  Well, it’s mid-Winter and I’m in need of my own Spring Training.  I should have described it as 9-6-2.  Oops.  Pitchers and catchers report this week!

*Coined in the song “Trouble,” from Meredith Willson’s “The Music Man”

(Jerry Tenuto is an erstwhile Philosopher and sometime Educator.  A veteran with seven years of service in the U.S. Army, he holds a BS and MA in Communications from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.  Depending upon your taste in political stew, you can either blame or thank Jerry for his weekly “Out Of The Blue” feature in The Lone Star Iconoclast.  Visit his blog Blue State View at illinoiscentral.blogspot.com)

Sometimes it’s hard to reach up to that stirrup, but I believe I’m ready to get back in the saddle.  Of course, it helps that pitchers and catchers report Feb. 17!  Early this week I came across the Winter League Championships from Margarita Island on MLB-TV.  Gawd, I needed to hear the crack of the bat as much as Barry Bonds needed his human growth concoctions.  To paraphrase one Count Dracula of Transylvania, “Children of the diamond… what sweet music they make.”

Dear Leon –

 Sometimes it’s hard to reach up to that stirrup, but I believe I’m ready to get back in the saddle.

 Of course, it helps that pitchers and catchers report Feb. 17!

 Early this week I came across the Winter League Championships from Margarita Island on MLB-TV.  Gawd, I needed to hear the crack of the bat as much as Barry Bonds needed his human growth concoctions.  To paraphrase one Count Dracula of Transylvania, “Children of the diamond… what sweet music they make.”  

 It was great to watch some live, major league-level baseball.  I’ve caught parts of games involving Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Mexico.  There have been bona fide pitchers’ duels; prodigious home runs (one to center that I didn’t think was ever going to land); lightning on the base paths; and incredible double plays…

 For instance:  Bases loaded and one out; Jason Simontacchi on the mound for Venezuela with a 4-0 lead over Puerto Rico.  A bloop fly to center could score two, but the center fielder, running in, catches it on one bounce.  Without missing a beat, he notices the runner on first hasn’t moved, and tosses to second for a force.

 The shortstop takes a quick look around, sees the lead runner only a couple of steps off third, and throws home.  The catcher tags the guy out by at least four steps.  7-6-2 DP – inning over, threat ended.

 Watching these games has been a great mind-clearing escape; it’s easy to figure why so many players in the Bigs come from this part of the planet.

 Aah, baseball, the nectar of life… I hope there’s more on today!  (After this, I’ll have to wait until March 6 for live baseball — the first televised Cubs’ spring training game.)

 Superbowl… Bah!  Humbug!  That overblown tribute to the corporate brainwashing of America is nothing but Pavlov’s experiment in hyperdrive!

 As for the weather of late, although it got brutally cold for a few days, we hadn’t had any snow in several weeks.  Still, even though we had some serious rainfalls, there was so much accumulated snow that not all of it washed away.  Overnight we got a dusting of powder, but nothing that would increase my SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder).

 Earlier this week I went to a meet-and-greet for my friend, Dr. David Gill, who’s running for Congress again (you may remember my column about his wife dying of cancer in 2007 at 42).  After taking 2008 off to rebuild his life, a grassroots effort is now picking up steam to unseat the incumbent this November and send David to Washington in 2011.  It was good to schmooze with like-minded people at a Democratic cabal – kind of restored my faith in the American voter.

 Since being on my self-imposed hiatus, I’ve come up with a couple of earth-shaking questions that require asking:

 Why does my cat poop on the floor?  She started doing so about six months ago.

 The vet doesn’t have an answer; he’s as perplexed as I am.  One of his suggestions was to add a box, but she regularly misses it (within two feet).  We even added a third box, so she now ignores all three.  Fortunately, her avoidance of the boxes doesn’t include pee…

 What’s up with idiot drivers who refuse to engage their turn signals?  Jees, it takes soooo much effort to flip that lever up or down.

 Along the same line, why is it people stop in the thru lane to wait for oncoming traffic to clear when on their left there’s a clearly marked turn lane sitting unused!?

 (One possible answer is that oncoming traffic will not honor the turn lane.  I was in one the other evening when a car came barreling toward me straddling the middle of the street, forcing me to swerve right to avoid a head-on crash.)

 Why do the editors of Politico.com allow blatantly racist comments from individuals who continually refer to Barack Obama as “the negro president” to go unchallenged?

 Why is it a supermarket chain always begins its sales on Thursdays, yet sends out coupons that don’t take effect until Friday?

 In what country did the “Gang of Five” grow up?  You know who I mean — those Right-wing Federalist elitist prigs within the Supreme Court whose activist opinions erode our Constitution by trampling the rights of the common man in favor of corporate entities.

 Why is English as spoken by many British people mostly unintelligible?

 Why won’t Congressional Democrats just tell the Republican minority to sit down and shut up while they take care of the Nation’s business?

 Why didn’t my parents leave me at least one heirloom valuable enough to lift (or at least help subsidize) my family out of interminable debt?

 Why must I remain mired in Illinois, where the weather sucks and political options are mostly worse?

 In the Land of Lincoln, Stevenson, Dirksen, (Paul) Simon, and Obama, how did we cultivate such pathetic politicians?

 Did you know that paleontologists now figure that dinosaurs may have been multi-colored, not grayish-green and black, as has always been assumed?

 One final thought:  President Obama was 100% correct when he suggested to Congressional Democrats that they turn off CNN, Fox, and MSNBC, stop listening to the pundits, and start connecting with the people.

 The 24-hour newschannel has become the schmutz that’s poisoning America’s font of reason.  It takes no more than five minutes tuned into any of them to realize they offer little in the way of news and far too much opinion and speculation.

 For the past six months or so I’ve avoided the mainstream media like the plague it is, and quite frankly I don’t miss the angst that comes from all that bullshit.

 Want news?  Tune to the BBC.

 You can get your opinion fix right here.

 O, fercrissake, now the snow is coming down like this is the Northwest Territories.  Crap!

 Shalom.

 (Jerry Tenuto is an erstwhile Philosopher and sometime Educator.  A veteran with seven years of service in the U.S. Army, he holds a BS and MA in Communications from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.  Depending upon your taste in political stew, you can either blame or thank Jerry for his weekly “Out Of The Blue” feature in The Lone Star Iconoclast.  Visit his blog Blue State View at illinoiscentral.blogspot.com)