I am pro-Choice.  That means I am the decider when it comes to issues of personal health, personal happiness, and personal wealth…and with that, the distribution of such wealth.  Today, I have made the personal choice to strike the Susan G. Komen Foundation from my list of annual giving.  I choose to put people above politics, to fund local centers directly, and to get my green out of the pink so to speak.  In light of the Foundation’s recent decision to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood, I will no longer race for the organization, bike for the organization, walk three days for the organization, or snowshoe for the organization.  Yes, I said snowshoe.

Now, the Komen foundation denies that it caved to political pressure from the right wing when it threw Planned Parenthood and thousands of poor women under the anti-abortion bus.  Personally, I believe the somewhat rose-colored organization is showing it’s true colors…yellow.  Komen sites the ongoing federal investigation into tax-payer funding of Planned Parenthood as the impetus behind revoking the funding.  Komen conveniently ignores the pink pachyderm in the room in that this investigation hinges on an ideologically based report by the anti-abortion organization, Americans United for Life.  This investigation smacks of Congressional over-reach by Rep Cliff Stearns (R-FL), and let’s face it, the ACORN doesn’t fall far from the tree.  To the Komen foundation, I say fine, investigate, but what happened to innocent until proven guilty?

This is what really stinks.  All tied up in a nice, pink, bow is the Komen Foundation’s new Vice President of Public Policy, Karen Handel.  Supported by Arizona Governor, Jan Brewer, and Fox News pundit, Sarah Palin, Ms. Handel made it perfectly clear in her primary bid for Georgia governor last year that she planned to eliminate grants for Planned Parenthood.  In a statement on her campaign blog dated July, 2010:  “During my time as Chairman of Fulton County, there were federal and state pass-through grants that were awarded to Planned Parenthood for breast and cervical cancer screening, as well as a ‘Healthy Babies Initiative’…Since grants like these are from the state I’ll eliminate them as your next Governor.”  The Komen VP may have failed in her bid for governor of the Peach State, but not in her pledge to defund Planned Parenthood.

Handel also posted, July, 2010: “I am staunchly and unequivocally pro-life. I believe in the sanctity and inherent dignity of human life, and I will be a pro-life governor who will work tirelessly to promote a culture of life in Georgia…. I believe that each and every unborn child has inherent dignity, that every abortion is a tragedy, and that government has a role, along with the faith community, in encouraging women to choose life in even the most difficult of circumstances…. since I am pro-life, I do not support the mission of Planned Parenthood.”

Come on, Ms. Handel.  Abortion makes up about 3% of what Planned Parenthood provides as services.  In the last five years, aided with funds from the Komen Foundation, Planned Parenthood provided 170,000 breast exams and 6,400 mammogram referrals to low income women, who otherwise, in the United Stated of America, would have been left out of the healthcare system.

In this political climate, it’s pretty easy to play political football with the lives of the poor.  It makes for a good sound bite to say you are a person of faith, but let’s face it, doesn’t it seem that you are a little too heavenly minded at times to do much earthly good?  I am pro-choice, but I am also pro-life.  My working definition, however, is not that life begins at conception and ends at birth.  Life lasts, well, a lifetime.  And for the needy and the least among us, that lifetime could be pretty short with no early cancer detection and no screening.

On the charity’s website, Nancy Brinker, founder and CEO of the Susan G. Komen Foundation asks at the end of her statement expressing her sister’s story, “Could one person really make a difference?”  Yes, Ms. Brinker, I certainly think so…it’s your choice what kind of difference you intend to make.  Perhaps the race for the cure you should be worried about is blind ideology.  It, too, is a cancer that should be cut out.

As regular readers of the ‘Schmootz blog can attest, I don’t write about myself very often…at least outside of my political ponderings or entertainment selections that I deem personally worthy (or unworthy) of a viewer’s time.  I tend to observe the world from thirty thousand feet looking down, instead of from ground level looking up and out.  I know, it’s safer that way, and I don’t pretend it as anything else.  I’m not above a few Freudian defense mechanisms of my own.  Lately, though, I have been writing from the deep, personal trenches, and whether the results will ever see the light of day, it remains to be seen.  What I do know is that this reflective experience, coupled with a few curves life has thrown at my family as of late, has compelled me to reflect upon my good fortunes and to appreciate more the plentitude of which I am graced.

In a couple of days, I’ll sit down to the American holiday of Thanksgiving, where pepper spray seems to be this year’s condiment of choice.  As I occupy my thoughts, I surmise that I am certainly not one of the richest of Americans when comparing bank accounts, though let me say here, I am extremely relieved and much obliged that I have a good job that provides an ample surplus for my actual needs.  Where I do find an obscene abundance of wealth, however, is in the indices where monetary estimations are difficult to apply.  It is here that I find myself in the fortunate 1% of love, family, and friends.  As a result, I feel that I should be liberally taxed to expound upon my thankfulness in proportion to my earnings.

My partner and I, though legally unwed and filing separately, have been together for quite a few years.  I believe in a Kardashian matrimonial timeline, we have been in power-of-attorney bliss something synonymous to the Pleistocene era.  I often refer to her as my better three-quarters because I believe a realistic relationship it is never 50-50.  Just like the Dow Jones, there are emotional ups and downs, mostly due to speculation, but there has never been an extended period that I didn’t receive a special dividend like hearing the garage door go up after a long day and knowing she will walk through the door at any minute; like waking in the middle of the night to a head on my shoulder and an arm across my chest; like her mother’s difficult chicken soup recipe when I have a cold (the only time she ever cooks); like that extra vote of confidence to push me over the top and that honest shot of humility to pull me back from the edge.  For that, I am eternally thankful.

Over the years, I have made quite the capital gain in friends, and I can honestly say that  we anxiously rely on common shares of each other’s company.  From technical advice, to new grilling techniques, to obscure pop culture trivia, our investments in these mutual corporations of real personhoods have certainly paid off.  What might have started from some obscure individual fund, now matures as virtual writing advice over mutual morning coffee or hours long Skype exchanges half the world away.  There is a saying that you can pick your friends, but you can’t pick your family.  As far as I’m concerned, no statement has ever been more true, but speculation has served me quite well over the years, and I have a few friends who are more of a family asset and thankfully come with a lifetime guarantee…one in particular, an inheritance over several lifetimes.

So, yes, I am a one-percenter.  I am blessed with a wealth of intangible assets that have been created by a loving work effort yet defy physical measurement.  I say tax me more so that that there is such a thing as an equal share of a grateful, giving heart.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone…it is my sincere hope that you add goodwill and kindness to your balance sheet.

Reiterating without repose the sad commonality that corporations are people, Republican presidential frontrunner, Rick Perry (R-TX), compared the GOP fight for lower corporate taxes to the Civil Rights Movement.  I’m not making this up.  Yesterday, on the day the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial was opened in Washington, DC, Governor Perry was speaking to a group in Rock Hill, South Carolina.  Yes, South Carolina, where the first shots of successful southern succession were fired.  When asked if he cared to comment on the state’s place in Civil Rights history, Perry began to correlate the need of freedom from over-taxation, over-litigation, and over-regulation to the struggle of civil freedoms in our nation’s history.  Watch.

Well, yeah, now that you mention it, Governor, why should CEO billionaires be forced to sit in the back of the limo?  Where is the justice?!  Perhaps we could all get behind a new Corporate Civil Rights Act that will ban discrimination based on bank accounts.  Anyone?

Please, Governor, don’t mess with my intelligence.  To compare your fight to increase the wealth of your campaign donors to the struggle of African Americans in a 1960’s segregated South is a travesty.  How in the hell can you include in the same breath tax loopholes for millionaires, tort reform to protect millionaires, and lax oil and gas rules applied to billion dollar big oil to the beatings, burning, and bigotry of an entire race of human beings?

Governor Perry didn’t you learn anything about the Freedom Rides of 1961?  How about the Little Rock Nine?  The dogs and the water cannon in Birmingham, Alabama?  Surely you have heard of the Ku Klux Klan?  Perhaps you could name an important Supreme Court Decision…like Brown vs. Board of Education?

I guess we know now why the State of Texas is revising all the history text books.

I have to hand it to my Conservative friends.  You did it again, and I don’t blame you for dancing in the streets.  I’m sure at this moment, Capital Hill is sporting many more Republican Boners at its head than merely the House of Representatives.  Once again, you put in your closer in the bottom of the 9th, with bases loaded, and my President up to bat.  And whiff.  Funny thing, though, this game is nothing but a field of dreams.  Yes, build an imaginary debt crisis, and they will come.

The American debt ceiling has been raised dozens of times in recent history, many during Republican administrations, with hardly any pang of heartburn at all.  During the Bush administration the ceiling was raised no less than seven times without blinking an eye or binding its hands to budget cuts.  Watch.

If you haven’t read Naomi Klein’s, The Shock Doctrine, I recommend it highly.  Ms. Klein’s message conveys that in the media frenzy of war, disastrous acts of nature, or economic instability (if you can’t find one that is occurring at the time, make one up) legislation can be passed by agenda-led politicians that would never make it through the scrutiny of common sense during so-called normal times.  The Patriot Act is an example tied to the War(?) on Terror, and now there is this debt deal in response to some manufactured debt crisis that began its rumblings shortly after the new Tea Party members of Congress were sworn in.

The stock market, unlike the bond market (indicator of true government debt), began fluctuating, sure, but the stock market is about as fickle as a teenage girl’s affection.  If you think the stock market of today is an adequate indicator of our country’s economic stability, think again.  Savvy politicians know it’s more a measure of our collective neuroses.  When my therapist asks how much anxiety do I feel today, I say I don’t know, let me check the Dow Jones.  The more scared the investor of impending world doom, the more jumpy the markets become.  Thank you, 24/7 news cycles.

We can argue economic ideology until Michele Bachmann has an intelligent thought, but it’s no great secret that I’m a demand girl.  I believe spending creates demand, and in an unprecedented time where the private sector either can’t…or won’t, then the government has to.  Cut government spending programs like food stamps right now, and where will WalMart or Safeway make up the difference in sales?

A myriad of independent economists, the Simpson-Bowles Commission, even that loathsome Gang of 6(66), recommended increased taxes and decreased tax loopholes, along with spending cuts, if there absolutely has to be a budget deal as ransom for the debt ceiling raise.  I would have yelled my opposition to cuts in education, the interior, Pell Grants, and yes, health care, but I would have swallowed it with a shot of something strong knowing that with increased revenues there would be a truly shared sacrifice.

What the hell happened?  All tax revenues are off the table?  I can hear it now, “But ‘Schmootz, there are Republican-prized defense cuts in the package.”  Oh, well I’m sorry, I feel much better knowing that the Republicans got only 98% of what they wanted!  Oh, and then you say, “But ‘Schmootz, the Bush tax cuts are set to expire in 2012.”  Baaahahahahaha!  Watch.

I used to lament the fact that my President is weak in the face of Republican strategy.  I used to say that he is at heart a community organizer, and therefore a bad negotiator, as he always begins his bidding from the middle.  Now I’m beginning to think my President is less a victim of this train wreck and more a driver of the locomotive.  First a watered-down healthcare bill with no public option, second, a complete cave-in on cutting the Bush tax cuts, and now what could be called a possible evisceration of the defining ideals of the Democratic party over the last 40 years.  I don’t know what else to call it any more.  I need to see some kind of strength in leadership.

Now some “O”-bots might call me a whiner and a complainer, and that I should support the Democratic ass no matter what.  Well, that’s not going to happen.  Starting today, I reached my own economic ceiling.  This is to let all those who are sending me emails and mailing me forms of intent, just stop.  My maximum private contribution is going instead to my local food bank and my local school; the shelter for the working poor and the elderly center; Project Angel Heart and Meals on Wheels…and if I forgo a few shopping trips, there is extra for Planned Parenthood and a few others.  I’m putting down a few in-town grass roots.

Mr. President, can I really break away from the political process and redirect my own discretionary funds in a way to help those who are actually hurting out there?  Yes, I can.

Politics is so bad in Washington DC, even I quit watching.  If I wanted to see a bunch of pandering, poor actors pretending to be potential bedfellows, I would tune-in to Rizzoli and Isles.

I turned off C-SPAN and CNN and was turned on by Sy-Fy (Warehouse 13) and web streaming.  I prefer the drama and childish bickering of Project Runway over that of the Beltway, because at least in Runway, something is sewn up at the end.  Over on So You Think You Can Dance, when you’re kicked in the teeth by a sidestep, you see it coming.  And on All My Children, I know for certain that the real Erica Kane has been kidnapped, locked away in an asylum, and replaced by an inadequate poser.  As for my President?  I have know idea.

I will admit, however, that just as a good same-sex soap storyline piques my once dormant interest, a rare moment of political clarity can capture my less than undivided attention.  Recently, in the fog of the debt ceiling uncivil war, there emerged from the soup a surprising, “mavericky” make-sense, lone voice.  Watch.

Now, frequent readers of this blog know that I tend to meander to the political Left, and I have been hard on John McCain from time to time.  At one point, I had a great deal of respect for the once moderate man, but now, I just can’t help but think of him as the one who turned the media spotlight on that small-headed, primitive pest from Alaska allowing it to scurry from its containment in the northern tier.

Well, I say, better late than never, Senator McCain.  And don’t you worry, better people than Eric Cantor have called you a troll…one of those is probably me.  Tea Baggers steeped in stupidity like Sharron Angle and Christine O’Donnell should be called out with bi-partisan support.  But just between you and me, had those half-wit Hobbits been better candidates, the Dems would have never kept the Senate.  Michele Bachmann, keep talking.

So, as our Republic goes back to the maturity level of summer camp color wars, I’m going back to my regularly scheduled programming.  Let me know if the 14th Amendment of the Constitution is invoked…I have a few things to say about that, too.

Can you tell I’m a little angry?  Hell yes.  Not because Anthony Weiner sent questionable photos over the internet to another adult; there is nothing illegal about that.  I emailed and instant messaged “art” photos of my partner and me to friends and family all over the country.  Big fucking deal.  I am angry that Representative Weiner was such a prick to try and cover it up in such a lame-ass way that gives that hack Breitbart his pseudo-credibility back and more distraction on the 24/7 news cycle.

Anthony Weiner is not a hypocrite, he’s just an idiot.  Have you seen his wife?

Unlike Senators Vitter, Craig, and Ensign; Representatives Foley, Souder, and Lee; and Governors Sanford and Schwarzenegger, Congressman Weiner never legislated against anyone’s civil rights, questioned my family values, or measured himself (no pun intended) against the morality of another.

Personally, I believe there is nothing that Anthony Weiner has done on the internet that discredits his work in Congress, but I am not a resident of the 9th District of the State of New York, so my opinion regarding his tenure doesn’t matter.  I will say, being stupid is not a crime, and if it is, perhaps we should be talking about Paul Revere.

I promised myself that I wouldn’t do it, but I did.  I made a pact with me, all in the name of preserving my somewhat stable mental health, that I would NEVER again look at the results of the average American taking the citizenship test.  I failed, not because I am some kind of masochist, but because I am an eternal optimist when it comes to my fellow man…and woman.

Newsweek conducted a poll of 1,000 citizens of the United States, yes, REAL citizens, and asked them to take a mock citizenship test.  Now, the REAL citizenship test is much more involved, but this was a good attempt to give the participants an idea of what REAL Americans should know about our history and our government.  After looking at some of the answers, I am more convinced than ever that we live in an idiocracy!

Ok, because I am a glutton for punishment, let’s go over some of the answers.  A whopping 73% couldn’t answer correctly why we fought the cold war.  The answer is Communism, and it seems somewhat ludicrous in light of our now pandering relationship with China.  I would like to know, though, if anyone answered “global warming” to the “why we fought the cold war” question.

When was the Declaration of Independence adopted?  Well, 33% of those polled didn’t know it was July 4, 1776, but more disturbing, 6% of a thousand US citizens couldn’t circle Independence Day on a calendar…though they did enjoy the movie.

Sadly, 81% could not name a power of the Federal government.  Though I can see where some of my brothers and sisters would answer, “x-ray vision into our personal lives”, that is not a super power of the Fed.  There are several answers, print money, make treaties, declare war, etc.  I’m not too surprised the majority of people missed that whole declare war thing…seems like we are always zoning off to war without declaring much of anything.

Seventy (70) percent of REAL Americans don’t know the Constitution is the supreme law of the land.  And not surprising, 63% have no idea how many Supreme Court justices are on the bench interpreting it.  That’s a Citizens United decision of a more frightening sort.

On a positive note, however, because as I said, I am an optimist of my fellow American, 71% of the people do know that Joe Biden is our Vice President.  One can only surmise that he could have reached the 90th percentile mark had he shot one of his friends in the face.

I can think of a couple of reasons why Europeans and other world countries continue to kick our collective asses on history and government tests such as this.  One, Schoolhouse Rock is no longer a Saturday morning viewing staple between mind-numbing adolescent programming, and two, I will suggest, is the overwhelming have/have not disparity in the American school system that is not seen in most other industrialized nations.  A state budget balanced on the backs of our nation’s children is not the answer to closing this learning chasm.  As a science professional, I would like to impress upon our politicians that there is a whole other decidedly deciduous forest out there…if they will only look farther then their own privileged family trees.

Yes, I am a Left-leaner, a Liberal, a socialist, a pinko commie (though most Americans don’t know what that is), or possibly a Progressive…you apply the moniker, I don’t care.  What I do care about is this land that I love, our hesitance to have an honest discussion about funding our future, and the path we are Jay-walking down as a nation.

I admit my first reaction, upon hearing of the lives lost and the attempt on Congresswoman Giffords’ life, was to blame the scorching political climate of Arizona.   The targeted talking points of her mid-term Tea Party opponent came rushing back to mind.  Sarah Palin set her sites on that district releasing a firestorm of warring ideology.  Vandalism, death threats, and a vocalized, personal unease from the Congresswoman were the result.  These are just the facts, but absent from the facts are any direct correlation between the ugly commentary and the events that occurred outside the Tucson Safeway.  There is no irrefutable evidence that Jared Laughner went rogue over Palin’s prose.  There is no Glenn Beck blackboard in the basement.  There is no hard indication that the shooter’s rush came from the radio.  Until the alleged gunman begins to speak, whatever was brewing beneath this boy’s surface is speculation.  So far, it just is what it is…another tragic mass killing from gun violence by a disturbed individual.

I can tell you as one living in the geographic as well as figurative shadow of Columbine, the “why” is something continually pondered.  Was it heavy metal music as was suggested?  Was it the daily bullying by those with a socially louder voice?  Was it their disengaged parents?  Was it a mental illness, a marginalized, goth lifestyle, or just simply good versus evil?  Going on twelve years past, the questions are still being posed.  But there is another one…was the ease upon which these individuals purchased their weapons of mass destruction a factor?  That question has been answered, yes.

Now before you start revving up the “just another anti-gun Liberal” machine, let me just say that I am a gun owner.  I grew up in a hunting family, and though the thought of Bambi on my wall makes me nauseous, I can eradicate clay target pigeons with the best of them.  I am not afraid of guns, but I do respect the power they possess.  That being said, I have no problem with stricter control on firearms.  For those who confuse gun control with a loss of personal freedom, I have to ask, what is the difference between this and the Patriot Act?  Staunch defenders of the post 9/11 legislation’s bending of First Amendment liberties, extoll themselves as having “nothing to hide”.  Well, my feelings exactly as it pertains to the Second Amendment.  I have nothing to hide; hold my purchase a few days until a background check is complete.

There has got to be some sensible discourse in this country to curb the violent potential of being the most highly armed country in the world (90+ guns per 100 people) with the least amount of sensible civilian regulation.  And with that, I’m not so sure I mean Rep. Pete King’s (R-NY) proposed legislation to protect legislators and federal officials from pistol packing constituents.  What about the rest of us Mr. King?  We can pass laws protecting the public from the health dangers of sinister circles of second-hand smoke, but we can’t do much about the dangers of flying lead.  Oh, Mr. King, perhaps it’s my cynicism toward the good will intentions of your gesture, but had you introduced that bill after the news reports showcasing protesters with thigh holsters housing semi-automatic weapons near an Obama speech, I would have more faith in the selflessness of your Act.

I know, this is America, and we love our guns as much as we love our muscle cars and the King James version of a good book, but even the western frontiersman, Wyatt Earp, believed in some semblance of gun control in the form of firearm ordinances.  Let’s face it, Tombstone, AZ didn’t get its name because it favored cheap, frozen pizza.  It is not my desire to debate the Second Amendment, and quite frankly, in this political climate, it wouldn’t be a productive process anyway.  What I would like to do, is open a dialogue of possible, responsible, first-step solutions to what most of us can agree is a problem, the extended magazine of 30+ rounds for handguns.  Until allowed to expire in 2004, high capacity clips such as the one used in Tucson, killing six and injuring dozens, were banned in the Assault Weapons Act of 1994.  It would be a fool’s folly to debate another weapons ban, but I believe this particular aspect can and should be revisited in the name of public safety.  It’s been done before.

In the 1980’s the populous of the “me generation” found time to think outside the DeLorean long enough to demand federal legislation banning body armor penetrating, “cop killer” bullets.   President Ronald Reagan signed the bill in 1986, and in doing so said, “This bill, similar to legislation jointly submitted to the Congress by the Departments of Justice and the Treasury in 1984, recognizes that certain forms of ammunition have no legitimate sporting, recreational, or self-defense use and thus should be prohibited. Such action is long overdue.”

We may never know what pushed Laughner over the edge last Saturday morning.  Troubled minds tell tall tales.  Influence and motivations aside, here is our collective opportunity to do better…be better.  Whether it’s citizens and politicos working together at such events as Government at the Grocery, Congress on Your Corner, or hell, Politics on My Patio, rational political discourse for the common good is possible.  We, the people, yes, the collective “we”, can promote the general welfare of our nation and secure the blessing of all our liberties as long as we leave the ideological and pontificating theatrics where they belong…reality TV.

Ok, I would blame this lunacy on the historic eclipse tonight,  but these moon howlers have been at it for months…years!

Opponents of the newly repealed Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy that required gays and lesbians to serve in mandated silence, are continuing to spew vitriol of eminent American casualties due to the distractions of implementing the repeal.  During the Senate debate before the historic vote, Mr. McCain, exemplifying a McCarthyism of the Charlie kind, parroted Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos’ assertion that openly gay service personnel will lead to Marines losing their legs.  What?  Must be battle fatigue, as the general should expect more from his trained service men and women.  After all, as a whole, soldiers, sailors, and airmen have been serving with gays and lesbians for decades.

Now, I have never been in armed battle, unless you count that ambush in a shit-kicker bar, but that’s another blog.  So I will just have to compare my personal civilian experiences of working with professional contemporaries in times of escalating stress.  I remember assisting in a few births in my younger years.  Never in those deliveries, and some were touch and go, do I remember the doctor or surgeon saying, “That’s it; close your legs up, honey, this lesbian is distracting me.”  Not once in testifying before a judge or panel has the presiding officer left the bench due to distraction because someone said my “proud to be a lesbian” undershirt is showing.  And I can’t ever remember, when negotiating punitive damages for environmental negligence, has the opposing side ever left my office in a fit of bewilderment over my NOH8 photo on the desk.   We are professionals; we do our jobs.  And so will the US military.

Touted as the most professional fighting force on the face of the planet, perhaps military leaders and aging politicians should take a cue from their own television commercials.  There’s Strong, and Then There’s Army Strong; America’s Few, the Proud, the Marines; and It’s Not Science Fiction, It’s What We Do Every Day (ok, that one’s a little cheesy, but you get my point).  I see no asterisks to indicate the exceptions of weakness while serving with the gay.

Oh, Mr. McCain, I wish you would have been more diligent in your concern for the legs (and minds) of our soldiers when you sent them off to combat in the first place.  War is hell, remember?  To trivialize our military’s professionalism just to make a political point borders on insubordination.  Just as in all historic changes to our military, the highly trained men and women of our armed forces will do their jobs, and they will stand tall.  So in your continued opposition to a done deal, and the others like you, I suggest you come armed with more to stand on…than your weak legs.

After the 2008 election, I thought I would never associate Pink’s heart-wrenching, protest-ballad of outrage to Barack Obama, but as time has shown me over and over again…never say never.

Dear Mr. President:

As I watched your tax presser performance a couple of days ago, I did something for the first time since you were elected, I turned you off.  I just couldn’t stomach a man trying to convince himself, as he was trying to convince me, that this is the change I voted for.  I am long weary defending your “lines in the sand” that are conveniently washed away with each Republican tide of descent.

Don’t get me wrong, I am all for negotiation, but this is exactly what happens when you negotiate from a position of weakness.  Beginning the arbitration somewhere in the middle takes away your mandated high ground.   In explaining this tax agreement, you said the Republicans have a distaste for the part requiring an extension of unemployment benefits.  No, that’s just John Boehner licking his chops from eating your lunch.  The Republicans had every intention of giving up on blocking that measly monetary extension.   They go into it with a higher power…what would Rupert Murdock do?

Mr. President, there is nothing wrong with baby steps in moving forward out of this economic blight.  The injustice comes when the baby steps of a few are taken on the backs of those bent over from the burden.  You are somewhat correct when you say that social security began as an insurance program to help the hardships of widows and fatherless children.  But…when FDR signed that portion of the New Deal, no bail-outs or tax breaks were negotiated benefiting those responsible for the reckless financial dealings that brought on the Great Depression of the 1930’s.

It’s not that I would prefer fighting to compromise, but like that defense attorney that pleads down every case, sometimes it’s nice to see a winnable one litigated in front of a public judge and jury.  I want to see that fiery man of 2007 that took my hand in his and said it will get better; change is coming.  I’m not Pollyanna, Mr. President.  I’ve seen the very ugliness of human nature up close and personal, and I know change is not an action verb.  The sloth-like pace of significant change is tolerable, however, when you feel you are not alone, that there is someone out there fighting with you.

You said yourself that the GOP was threatening collateral damage if the wealthy didn’t get their tax cuts, that the middle-class tax cuts were being held hostage to the high-end tax cuts.  Collateral damage?  Hostage?  I thought the United States didn’t negotiate with terrorists.  That said, what happens in two years, election year 2012, when this same thing comes around again?  Another Slurpee summit?  Please, as it was, you got a well timed orange Slurpee to the face.  The right will find a way to spin it clockwork-wise.  Sarah Palin will accuse you of being weak for caving to a wonked-out Oompa Loompa and of course, pal’ing around with terrorists.

Mr. President, there is no new civility for old fights.  Take Moses for instance.  He negotiated with Pharaoh, but with influence behind his staff.  Now, the Potomac running red is not a good idea environmentally, and that whole first born thing is a little harsh, but you know what I mean.  The people need a visible champion, not one that necessarily wins all the time (being from Chicago, you know what it’s like to be a Cubs fan), but one who keeps fighting even in the face of defeat.  We need a little more Franklin Roosevelt and a little less Fred Rogers.