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There was a captain with whom I served in the Army who might be the dumbest human being I have ever met. Moreover, he was positively the most egotistical man I have ever met. The combination would have surely gotten people killed had the Russians and East Germans ever crossed the border. He lacked respect for non-commissioned officers. He could not read a map. He regularly sucked all the motivation from my soldiers. It was a constant battle to respect the two bars on his collar. It was a constant battle to maintain my soldier’s respect our commander. It was made worse by his lack of respect for his chain of command.
At the end of the day however, I always waded through his crap with the respect his office deserved. I ALWAYS addressed him as sir.
Tonight on live national television in the hallowed halls of Congress someone called the President of the United States a LIER. Those halls have seen wars from without and wars from within. In those halls, good men and women who we elected have discussed the bill of rights, war, civil war, slavery, women’s suffrage, terrorism and impeachment. Those men and women were just as diametrically opposed as they were tonight yet, people didn’t call each other liars. They especially did not call the President of the United States a liar to his face.
I have disagreed with Presidents. I have been violently opposed to the policies of many Presidents. A certain recent President who defamed the house we let him borrow made me both livid and sad at the same time. After all, the White House was never designed to be the President’s sex palace. I never called him a liar.
Maybe I am being over sensitive but, I believe a Congressman who believes it is ok to call the President of the United States a liar under these circumstances has no capacity for compromise or moderation. I believe his constituents should be embarrassed. I think all Republicans should demand an apology in writing tomorrow.
Shy of that demand for an apology and a rethink by conservatives of how the public trust should affect their behavior, I am sad for our country tonight. I wonder if the Congressman and those who support him are capable of the civility required to run this country. I wonder what other things the same rationalization which allowed the Congressman to call the President a liar, will allow he and his supporters to do.
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What the crap are some Roman Catholic Bishops thinking when they decided this week to help legislate healthcare reform. When Archbishop Joseph Naumann and Bishop Robert Finn wrote a joint pastoral statement on the subject this week, they sounded more like some right-wing think tank than spiritual leaders. This is in spite of the Associated Press reporting the letter “was not meant to scuttle reform or help Republicans.” Naumann and Finn were not alone. Many other Catholic Bishops who agree seem to also be more worried about costs and out-year deficits than morality. Naumann and Finn write:
The writings of recent Popes have warned that the neglect of subsidiarity can lead to an excessive centralization of human services, which in turn leads to excessive costs, and loss of personal responsibility and quality of care.
If Bishops were concerned about abortion issues or end of life issues, I could understand why they would be obligated to give guidance on the morality of such sections of the legislation. I however, think they should rethink their political stance. Centralization may be producing better results than they might think.
Since the bishops are now policy wonks and have mentioned Medicare insolvency by 2019, I am confused by what is said later:
A hasty or unprincipled change could cause us, in fact, to lose some of the significant benefits that Americans now enjoy, while creating a future tax burden which is both unjust and unsustainable.
The key to Medicare solvency and our nation’s ability to reduce its debt is the reduction of exploding healthcare costs. They mention the exploding costs while seeming to advocate the status quo. They are also silent regarding healthcare profiteers and what I believe are immoral profits by insurance companies and pharmaceuticals. Protecting the status quo for profiteers is sadly what right-wingers do. These Bishops and their supporting peers seem to have caste their lot in with the right wingers. They latch on to a few items in a bill which has not even been voted out of committee in the Senate and try to scare us to death about healthcare reform. Unlike the right wing politicians however, they do this with the vestiges of the Roman Catholic Church.
The moral authority of the Roman Catholic Church can be a powerful catalyst for change. Archbishop Desmond Tutu helped bring down Apartheid and Pope John Paul the Second helped bring down the Soviet Union. This power however, brings with it, at a minimum, a social responsibility. Using the church’s clout to make political hay seems beneath the Bishops. Maybe they should keep in mind the Catholic Church has also been a part of other governments in history with less than stellar results.
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Labor Day has become the last chance to go to the beach before the kids go back to school instead of a celebration of our blue collar work force. With the decline of labor unions, we seem to have forgotten the power of motivated, intelligent and well paid workers. In the global economy, it has become increasingly clear our kids will be forced to get some education past high school. With good reason, parents are urging their kids to go to college and steering them away from a life of blue collar labor. This is understandable because blue collar workers are under siege from all sides today. Since, all but the most innovative and complex items will be manufactured in China for the foreseeable future, why would a parent wish for a life of layoffs and shrinking wages for their child. Why is the blue collar class even necessary in the new global economy?
Why should we care about our blue collar work force? Wouldn’t it be better for the United States if all blue collar workers were sent back to school to be doctors, lawyers, engineers and scientists?
Doctors, scientists and engineers are critical for US success in the global market place (a column for another day) but, we dismiss the blue collar worker at our peril. During World War II, we overpowered our enemies not only with our military but, with pure unadulterated industrial might. A pilot who survived a shoot down in that war would have a brand new plane the next day. This allowed total air supremacy in Europe and near air supremacy in the Pacific. The blue collar work force was so important in this effort we put our wives, daughters and mothers to work outside the home for the first time. The same is true to a certain extent today.
We need to maintain our ability to build military equipment in our country. Some would say our strategic partners like the European Union will be happy to build our tanks and planes for us. Let’s say, for example, we need to bomb Dilbert’s favorite place, Elbonia, into submission for harboring terrorist. For this example however, the EU has economic ties to Elbonia. Without a blue collar work force trained to build planes required for the war on Elbonia, the EU could simply cut us off.
The strongest argument, beyond defense, for the maintenance of a healthy economic middle class may be the situation we find ourselves in today. In previous recessions, the American blue collar worker was there to buy our way out. Cars, washers and big-screen TV’s were the economic engine which made life better for all. Today, with blue collar workers the victim of falling wages, increasing healthcare costs and credit extended to them by unscrupulous financial markets, they are simply not able to help. They work harder, smarter and productivity has never been higher. Blue collar workers, however have taken a beating and are sadly not up to the task. Many economist will tell us the 2009 recession will be long and deep because the blue collar worker is not there to bail us out.
So as you soak up the last rays of summer or fire up the grill, I am sure one of your free market worshiping absolutist friends will be there. They will tell you Darwin was right and economies work best on the principle of “survival of the fittest.” They will tell you it is natural, no, required, for blue collar workers to lose their jobs to cheaper Chinese workers. They will tell you business should be free to systematically exterminate blue collar workers who want to organize or demand a part of the stockholder’s dividend. After all, they will say, companies owe them nothing.
I might tell them to give the blue collar worker a break at least on Labor Day.