Boycott all NFL games

As I am writing this, word is that the NFL is telling the Chicago Bears that they are NOT allowed to wear patches promoting Washington High School. This would be a way of showing support for tornado devastated Washington, IL.

Really? This is the same organization that made ever single player wear pink to support the borderline corrupt Komen for the Cure organization? Really?

So, here’s my solution. Kick ALL NFL games off of Comcast and Mediacom for the remainder of the season.

They won’t support us, so we shouldn’t support them.

Filibuster isn’t a dirty word

Filibuster.

The word just sounds dirty doesn’t it?

Filibuster, Filibuster, Filibuster.

The United State Senate last month took a vote to end the practice of allowing individuals to engage in unlimited debate to essentially quash any vote from being taken.

In theory, I’m not all that opposed. Here’s why:

The Senate likes to consider itself the greatest deliberative body ever. One reason is the filibuster. The fact that ANY ONE MEMBER can essentially call a halt to the rushing locomotive of pending legislation is supposed to be a plus.

But the power of ANY ONE MEMBER to kill legislation is limited. There is cloture. Any 60 members can vote to end debate. This means that in many cases, they need 60 out of 100 possible votes to pass legislation.

What this means, if that for the most part, bills have to be pretty good to get passed.So that’s why, in theory, I don’t have a real huge problem with little legislative devices that can put breaks on dumb laws. We are a republic, not a democracy. Our founding fathers were rightly scared to death of majority rule.

In practice, some pretty stupid bills pass the Senate and eventually become law. The Patriot Act is one.

And let’s look at the recent past. We have a divided Congress. More than half of the House of Representatives are Republicans, who seem Hell-bent on trying to out Tea Party each other. The numbers are kind of reversed in the Senate, where the Republicans are in the minority.

But remember, the Senate is the greatest deliberative body on Earth. And the minority has RIGHTS. So, the Tea Party sect members have been strutting around filibustering President Obama’s nominees for administrative posts and judgeship.

Now, there’s always been a bit of this. Someone rubbed somebody the wrong way, and they get blocked. But the Tea Party Senators have started using this little device to

hold back up-or-down votes on dozens of nominations. And the Democrats, fed up with this, pulled the “nuclear option” and voted to END these sorts of filibusters, simply so the President could regain the power to appoint the people he wants to office

Here’s what Senate DIDN’T do. They didn’t end ALL filibusters. ANY SINGLE MEMBER can still prevent it from coming for a vote, provided 60 votes are there for cloture. So, bad bills have a shot of dying in the Senate. Goody.

Now, the Republicans vow vengeance, and claim that the Democrats will someday be in the minority themselves. Really? You mean a Republican president will be able to appoint his own people to vacancies, provided he or she can get 51 votes in the Senate?

The horror.

This is a big slap in the face for the Republicans, who just don’t get the idea that everyone is getting sick of their Tea Party stupidity.

All this Kennedy idolatry is getting out of hand

I was a baby when JFK was killed. My Mom was feeding me in front of the television when she got the news. That means that EVERYONE with any memories of JFK is over 50. Anyone who was an adult with a job when he died is now 68. In another 20 years, the vast majority of the people who could remember him will be dead.

Perhaps then we can discuss his presidency without resorting to hagiography.The media coverage of the 50th anniversary of this death has been excessive, almost bordering on bad taste. Do we REALLY need to see a segment on the fate of the Stetson he was given the day before he died? And please, stop sticking cameras in front of poor Maria Oswald’s face.

And guess what? Kennedy has an approval rate of 90 percent. Yeah, that number is solid.

He was a good president. Not great. Good. I have heard otherwise rational adults say they would rush out for vote for ANY Kennedy running for any office, doesn’t matter which one. Now, I’ve heard of Kennedy cousins who devote their lives to public service.

But the idea of rushing out to vote for some kid who’s lifted himself up from the line of coke he’s just snorted to run for office is just stupid.