Happy 2009...if possible.

2008. Whadda year! From the heights of glorious imagination, stupendous accomplishment, mindblowing ecstacy - and relief - (all related to the Obama campaign, of course, from beginning to end) to the depths of human contemptible behavior, this year has been a dizzying ride.

It seems that nothing has been done in moderation. Reaching the pristine air of the mountaintop, or plunging directly to the smoldering toxic flames of purgatory, human beings displayed the absolute best and worst of their animality.

The Best: Millions of people dug deep into their best selves to come together, as never before, for a common purpose - electing Obama - and exhibited the inimitable strengths of the human spirit, riding as one on the waves of commands coming from the campaign, demonstrating the best of our pack behavior*. What a result!

The Worst: Politicos and businessmen flaunted the most mind-bogglingly egregious behavior that smacked of a pathological lack of any conscience whatsoever, and narcissism** that was beyond the pale. Whatever dybbuk flipped the switch in these guys (were there any women?), must be laughing its head off at the destruction and chaos these human hurricanes left in their shit strewn paths. Hey, the armed forces need new recruits. Well, here's a group of dickhead tough guys who should be forced to join the Army (Marines won't have them), for at least two tours in Iraq, Afghanistan or wherever their dastardly selves can be regularly humiliated by their awful cowardice.

Whither we go next? Will we be treading water all year, out of necessity, and just be glad to make it through to 2010? Will these really sour lemons we've been handed make it impossible to get even a drop of lemonade out of our lives in 2009? Well, the fact that Obama will finally be taking office, and Bush will be slinking off to Crawford, could well be lemonade enough for me. That said, and as we all know, Obama has some pretty intractable issues to deal with, and we're certainly not all going to be on board with his decisions; but, I'll be happy to be unhappy with them.

Now is the time to reevaluate our priorities - some by necessity, some by taking a good hard look at what really matters to us. Passion for whatever interests us can open the door to so many possibilities through creative thinking, being adventurous and taking risks into the boundless beyond. The world awaits. Well, most of the world. So, here's to an Interesting 2009! ONWARD!


* Dogs have a well-developed social system. This system establishes orderly relations among the members. In order for a group of animals to function efficiently the system must have an order and a process of communication which helps to promote that order.

** Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) is a personality disorder defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the diagnostic classification system used in the United States, as "a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and a lack of empathy."

The narcissist is described as turning inward for gratification rather than depending on others and as being excessively preoccupied with issues of personal adequacy, power and prestige. Narcissistic personality disorder is closely linked to self-centeredness. (DUH)

Senator Kennedy I Presume?

I was googling the words 'disgraced', 'corrupt', 'indicted', 'impeached', 'financiers', 'politicians', 'CEO's', and so on, as I wanted to try and get a count to include in this post; but, lo and behold, the numbers are mind-boggling. The people who, We The People, entrust to represent us in the marketplace or the halls of government and justice, do so with blind faith, and spend little time digging beyond the media and public relations representation of those people. Do we get what we deserve for not holding our representatives accountable? What I do know is that WE need to take more responsibility for who we elect to office, who we place our money with, who we reward with celebrity, who we accept at face value when we intuitively know better. Ideology be somewhat damned...good ole fashioned honesty should be our benchmark. Here are just a couple of organizations that monitor corruption close to home and internationally, and check out, or START a citizen watchdog group of your own: http://www.crewsmostcorrupt.org/
international group: http://www.transparency.org/

So, where does Caroline Kennedy come into this? Aside from all of the arguments that she doesn't have the experience, hasn't been elected to office, etc., as have many current 'experienced' senators when they started out, Caroline Kennedy doesn't have any tainted baggage, and, I would venture to say, would be incorruptible. That alone makes her qualified. Ok, aside from political chits she may have to pay back. But, how refreshing to have someone who hasn't been in 'the game' and who can bring a fresh perspective to the problems that will be facing her as senator. My only question about her candidacy is whether she has the stamina, and fire in the belly, to withstand the media onslaught that will be sure to dog her forever.

So, even though we have elected a straightforward, honest, transparent President, Barack Obama, We The People, cannot just sit back and expect that, all of a sudden, everyone will drink truth serum and become honest, upstanding citizens. We need to take responsibility, join a watchdog group, and hold these people accountable.

In the famous words of Howard Beale: "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore." This should be the rallying cry of every concerned citizen. It is amazing how this rant withstands the test of time...it could have been filmed yesterday. To help us keep up the outrage, and remind us of our stake in governance, let's watch this every so often, and let's get out of our chairs and 'walk the walk': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_qgVn-Op7Q

A Rabid Dog Cornered

Everybody's weighing in about Governor Rod Blagojevich. I have nothing insightful to add except to say that don't expect him to vacate the office unless he's dragged out of there in a white jacket. He's cornered and has absolutely nothing to lose, so he'll do whatever the hell he pleases and say anything the hell he wants. And if this rabid dog attacks, you can be sure his target will sustain serious injuries. That target could well be Obama as the symbol of everything that Blagojevich isn't and as the one person who was in his path to greater glory.

So, let's send in Tony Soprano to deliver a little message to Rod...one that he would understand. In the end, Governor Blagojevich would be a very wise, happy, and thankful person to be given the opportunity to resign. Otherwise, we'll have to send in Paulie Walnuts.

Obama Backtracks on Windfall Tax...Windfall Being a Misnomer

I have been trying to educate myself on what exactly a windfall tax is. To put it simply (I think), if oil companies make above a certain percentage of profit, they are taxed on it. The argument seems to be that it is unfair to tax these windfalls as it just disincentives the oil companies to do R & D. Their thinking apparently is, why would they spend money to explore or develop innovative ways to create new energy products when all they're going to do is be taxed on those profits. And, the right wingers say all taxes are bad for the economy. Right. I'd like them to realistically explain where we would be without them.

But, PUHLEASE. I understand that corporations should be free to make barrels of money because they're in business, and that's the whole point of being in business, right? But shouldn't they also have a conscience? There's a diagnosis for behavior that 'withholds' like that, it's called passive aggressive. Corporations that withhold their R & D, or whatever Damocles sword they hold over the government's head, are bad citizens and need therapy.

Now is exactly the time that these corporations should be kicking in $ of their own free will to help out the economy. Instead of paying PR firms to gussy up their image, they could do it themselves by being good corporate citizens and volunteer(!) a percentage of their obscene profits. Just think of the mileage they would get out of it. Let's say Chevron - who has a big reimaging PR campaign going on right now - took that PR money, and, instead put it into an emergency fund to help consumers (and no top-heavy administration costs to fritter it away).

During the primaries, Obama talked about repealing the tax breaks for oil companies that are already in place. What happened to that? Boy, I would hate to think that he is already caving to the oil companies. For what? Why? And, this I don't understand...what difference does it make if the price of oil is down for now? That's ostensibly the reason that Obama retreated from his promise of an "emergency energy rebate" for the beleaguered middle class. We all know that what goes down will also go up. Eventually.

I seem to have posed more questions here than comments...I guess because there are so many unanswered questions about how Obama will make good on his promise of taking on corporations. Please President-elect Obama, show the corporations some tough love, and hold their feet to the fire. Make 'em do the right thing. And, show US, the little guys, some real love, and go to bat for us as you said you would. That's why we voted for you; that's why you are where you are. We love you, but don't piss us off. Please.

Richardson Appointment

The appointment of Bill Richardson, as Commerce Secretary, must have been a bit of satisfying retribution for the Clintons as they knew how much Richardson wanted to be Secretary of State. Maybe that was even a part of Hillary's thinking as she pondered whether or not to accept the appointment. As we know, they, and all 'good' politicians, never forget and the Clintons considered Richardson's endorsement of Obama the ultimate betrayal.

These two Secretaries are the real rivals, not simply "competitors", as Richardson said in his press conference address. Let's see if this spirit of koombya infects all of Obama's so-called Cabinet of Rivals. This should keep things interesting.