Lions of Liberalism

There are some people you shouldn’t and can’t argue with and they fall into two broad categories. The easiest ones to avoid are those who are struggling with the complexities of walking erect. Much harder to identify though but just as frustrating are those who, on the surface, are very bright and have received a first-class education. But, perhaps, that’s where the problems started.

I freely admit that I’m what is commonly called these days, “left-brained”. I demand data, facts, something you can get your teeth into. I eschew “feelings” in lieu of data. It’s not that I don’t feel things. In fact I like to feel all kinds of things but I’m talking about emotion and you tackle singularly emotional people at your peril if you value your sanity.

A few days ago I drove a friend to the airport and my car radio was tuned to an unashamedly conservative station. I could sense the bristling because the listener is an Obama disciple and every word was rocking a long-held belief system. It started to come to a head when the Rasmussen poll numbers from last Sunday were aired and they revealed that only 27% of likely voters “strongly approved” of Obama. Now it doesn’t take a lot of effort to figure out that represents a huge drop in just 7 months.

The body language was fascinating. I know, I know that left-brained people aren’t supposed to be tuned into touchy-feely stuff like that but I’ve taken the psychology classes and some of it stuck. The arms were crossed and the lips were tight and the conversation didn’t exactly flow. Something had to be coming soon and so why not light the fuse and get it over with?

My intervention wasn’t necessarily intended to be confrontational but I’ve rarely shied away from and so it proved.

I’m retired and so is my passenger and a drop in received benefit, from whatever source, isn’t welcome. Unless you are an Obama disciple. And then maybe it’s OK.

It has been known for months that the gross benefit for Social Security recipients was not going to see a “CLI”, (Cost of Living Increase) mainly because, I think that gas prices came down. But the Medicare premium that is deducted before I see my check will go up. Hey, I’m a math wizard and I can subtract as well as anyone and the end result must surely be less for groceries. And that’s what I voiced.

I was told that I was wrong because the payment was going to stay the same and the fact that my check would be less was due to the fact that the CLI did not include medical expenses. At that point, I shut up and concentrated on getting to Sky Harbor in one piece.

We are 25 years past 1984 when Orwell wrote that “War is Peace and Peace is War”.

I was reminded of the spectacle of Linda Douglass and Robert Gibbs striding out to deny that Obama didn’t really say that which the he has said about the now notorious “Public Option”. It’s perhaps a pity that Goebbels is dead because he could lie more effectively.

I delayed my reaction to Kennedy’s death for a few days and for several reasons. One of those reasons was similar to the reaction to the death of my mother. Her funeral was the only one that I remember attending at which I didn’t weep for reasons that are private and which have no place in this discourse.

And, while I haven’t been invited to Kennedy’s last rites, I doubt that I would declare a sob there either. He spent his political life trying to take my money that I’d earned and give it to those that hadn’t. For him, it was easy because he’d always had it and that because of Daddy’s involvement in organized crime. I doubt that he’d ever checked a bag on an airline in his life.

And, for the first time in a long time, my passenger dare not check a bag for the trip because of the $15 fee.

Maybe Obama will promise to finance that one too.

But with whose money?