In Praise of New Jersey

As a tenth generation New Yorker, one might imagine that extolling the virtues of the Garden State is a task which I do not particularly enjoy.  New Jersey is often unnecessarily abused and that has usually been fine with me. But today I have arrived at a crossroads and have come to praise New Jersey, not to bury it.

Last week while driving along the Eastern Seaboard, I pulled into what was once known as a gasoline service station. I turned off the ignition, extracted my credit card, opened the door, and headed to the pump. Suddenly, I was confronted by a black man who demanded my credit card, and fuel requirements. Startled by this unexpected confrontation, it took me a moment to remember I had crossed the border and was now in New Jersey.

New Jersey - Home of the Gas Jockeys.

There are over 3,000 gas stations in New Jersey.

In a recent poll conducted by myself, over 99% of respondents agreed pumping your own gasoline is a pain in the ass. It’s not the worst thing in the world but it’s a dirty, smelly, inconvenient, and ultimately a dangerous job that the oil companies recruited you to do for them for free. Pump your own gas, sucker?

Around 1970 or so, most of the United States was bamboozled into thinking donating their time and effort to the oil companies would be a good thing. Mr/Ms Average Consumer would save a few pennies per fill up and what could possibly be wrong with that? New Jersey did not agree with this get rich quick scheme by the oil companies, and retail delivery of gasoline was kept in the hands of professionals.

Let’s say the average gas station in New Jersey employs four Gas Jockeys full-time over a week. That’s over 12,000 jobs. And that’s a conservative estimate. That’s 12,000 people kept off the welfare rolls. 12,000 jobs over a forty year period. Are you beginning to get the idea? 12,000 taxpayers as opposed to 12,000 welfare recipients. The State of New Jersey kept over 12,000 people off the welfare rolls for forty years by not allowing Ms Average Consumer to pump her own gas. The State of New Jersey prevented hundreds of possible service station explosions and fires by not allowing Joe Sixpack to handle volatile, explosive fluids on his way back from a Giants tailgate. The State of New Jersey helped thousands of young kids help keep food on their family’s table while possibly paying for their higher education.


The State of New Jersey (along with Oregon and Huntington, NY) did not allow the oil companies to turn their citizens into unpaid employees. New Jersey kept jobs in New Jersey, increased their tax base, reduced their welfare costs, reduced the number of gas station robberies by having more people around, kept neighborhoods safer by having more eyes on the street, and made everyone smell just a little bit better by not having that noxious gasoline aroma on your hands and clothes.

Until the 1970s, full service was the norm and self-service was rare.

As much as I hate to say this, congratulations New Jersey! You did the right thing forty years ago and you keep doing the right thing today.

My question is why doesn’t each state demand that explosive liquids be kept out of the hands of unqualified amateurs? Let’s say that states average 2,000 gas stations a piece. Let’s say an average of two full time Gas Jockeys per station. That’s four thousand jobs created instantly. Any state legislator who turns down the chance to create four thousand jobs in today’s economic climate should be recalled.

And for you free marketeers, remember, the price of goods isn’t created by the cost of goods, the price of goods is what the market will bear. Put that in your pipe and smoke it. But not at the same time you’re pumping gas.

This country messed itself up forty years ago (except for New Jersey et al). It’s time to atone for our sins. Bring back the Gas Jockeys for a safer America, for a more prosperous America, and, of course, for a less malodorous America.

Bring back the Service Station. Employ hundreds of thousands of Americans as Gas Jockeys right now. Stop pumping your own gas, the oil companies should work for you, not you for them.

“Hey, you know your left rear tire looks a little low?”

---------------

Grilled Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich

Something worth the bother.

Grilled Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich
 
PB&J, fried, what more could you ask?

What you’re going to need is a frying pan or an electric skillet. These pieces of equipment have been mentioned previously but since you’ve probably forgotten all about them by now, a frying pan is usually used for comic relief in old movies and an electric skillet plugs into the wall and has a thermostat attached. (See Chapter 6, A Kitchen Contains More Than a Beer Chiller)

How about some bread? By the end of all this you should be able to bake a loaf of your own but right now just buy the best loaf you can find. A bread bakery is good, a supermarket is where you’ll usually get what you pay for. White, if you like, or if you insist on being a classicist, but spend a few more pennies and get some bread with some weight to it.

Butter. Real butter. No discussion here. All the money you lay out buying quality ingredients will return to you the first time you pass by McDonalds, drive home, and make a meal for yourself, and whoever else you invite to join you. Best to have the butter at room temperature, but, realistically, we both know you just took it out of the refrigerator. Nuke it for five seconds. No more. The bar of butter will be spreadable soon enough.

Peanut Butter.  Ingredients listed on the jar, one thing only, peanuts. Get the idea? You can play around with imposters, posers, and the rest, but go for the pure, the unadulterated, the epic, 100% or nothing.

Jelly or jam. The sweet thing. Your preference. Whatever you decide will fill the need. Experiment. Or use what you know best. It’s your show.

Ready?

Or not.

Set that electric skillet to 350 degrees or put some heat under a frying pan. Warm them up.

Take a slice of that good, solid bread you paid a couple of extra cents for and butter one side. Do the same with another slice. Two slices of bread. Two buttered sides. We are talking a sandwich here. (See Chapter 2, Buttering a Piece of Bread)

Spread some peanut butter (the pure) on the unbuttered side of one piece of bread. How much depends on you. Practice. Practice. Practice.

Same goes for the preferable jelly (or jam). Unbuttered side of other slice. Get that scrumptious spread all around that carbo delivery system.

Now if your skillet is at 350 degrees, you’re there. If you’re using a frying pan, I usually use the little bit of dancing spit method. If you spit in the pan and it dances, you’ve arrived.

Put the buttered side of the jellied slice on the pan. Take the pb slice and place it on top of the jellied slice, butter side up.

Now some folks think you should put a brick on top of this, but that makes it far too squished for the pb&j. Decompression is the theory involved here.

Let it fry for three minutes or so. It should start to brown a little.

Pick up your spatula (Chapter Five, What is that Stuff?), flip it over and let it cook for another three minutes or so until it’s a light brown, toasty and warm.

Peanut butter and jelly. All warmed up.

Eat.
-

My Life in Pictures

Jerry Nadler on Obama's Dereliction of Duty

Nadler: Bush Memoir Proves Criminal Use of Torture, Requires Accountability for the Sake of American Principles and Safety

Nov 9, 2010
NEW YORK, N.Y. – Today, in response to President Bush’s admission in his memoir that he had personally authorized the use of torture while in office, Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) blasted the Bush Administration’s illegal policy and renewed his longstanding call for full accountability for the criminal use of torture. Nadler, Chair of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, urged Attorney General Eric Holder once again to appoint a special prosecutor with a robust mandate to investigate torture committed during the Bush Administration and, if necessary, prosecute those at all levels of government who were complicit in its use.

Nadler issued the following statement:

“I am outraged by President Bush’s own admission in his newly released memoir that he personally authorized the use of waterboarding on detainees while in office. This admission, delivered without remorse or regret, reminds us disturbingly of the persistent lack of accountability and resolution in confronting the crime of torture committed by our own government. The only way forward is to appoint a special prosecutor with a broad mission to investigate and, if warranted, prosecute these known cases of torture.

“Waterboarding has long been considered torture – a view shared by the Obama Administration – and committing or ordering torture is a severe crime under both international and U.S. laws, for which we have convicted foreigners and Americans in the past. The President is bound by the Constitution to ‘take care that the laws be faithfully executed.’ Failure to order a criminal investigation would be a serious dereliction of duty. With President Bush’s admission, no further excuses or evasions are conscionable.

“Failure to provide accountability for torture will reduce American credibility among foreign nations and endanger American troops by enabling terrorists and future enemies to justify torture using Bush’s own words. We already have extensive evidence of how American torture has enraged foreign populations and recruited fighters for Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and various Iraqi militias who have killed and maimed our troops.

“The perversion of our laws and treaty obligations in order to support an illegal campaign of torture is a stain on the honor of our nation, and it is essential that those who committed these misdeeds be made to answer for their actions. As I have long said, it is imperative that the Department of Justice ensure that a special counsel fully investigates the commission of torture, follows the trail wherever it goes, and, if warranted, prosecutes accordingly. There is no legal or moral reason to insulate those who authorized or ordered the torture of detainees.”



http://nadler.house.gov/press-release/nadler-bush-memoir-proves-criminal-use-torture-requires-accountability-sake-american



Dereliction of Duty from Wikipedia

Details

In the U.S. Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), dereliction of duty is addressed within the regulations governing the failure to obey an order or regulation.[2]
§ 892. Art. 92. Failure to obey order or regulation
Any person subject to this chapter who— ... (3) is derelict in the performance of his duties;
shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.
Outside of wartime, the maximum punishment allowed is a Dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and confinement for 1 year (10 years for service members receiving special pay under 37 USC 310[3]).[4]

-------------

And that's for starters.

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Who Benefits Most from Corporate Personhood?

Now that Senator Bernie Sanders has collected over 109,000 electronic signatures in support of the  Saving American Democracy Amendment, which would help restore the definition of citizens as being human beings, you might ask yourself why you haven’t heard about Sanders’ amendment in any newspaper or newsgroup, or on the radio, or on national television.

With all the brouhaha over five Supreme Court justices deciding that corporations, a legal concept, deserve the rights and privileges of an American citizen; one of the interesting aspects of this product of deranged minds remains; who profits from such an Escher-like contortion of freedom of speech?

 

Let’s face it, corporations are incapable of thought, and the Four Supremes Plus One seems to have as much interest in the rights of American citizens as you would find in an early prototype of Babbage’s Analytical Engine.

You might think corporations have been given this pseudo-citizenship in order for them to control the United States government. Think again. For the most part corporations aren’t designed to plan that far in advance. Corporations are intrinsically conservative, not radical. Virtually any change costs businesses money, so it’s in their DNA to be change adverse. So why the drive for corporate personhood?

 

Ever wonder who sets the conversation for the American dinner table? (If that still exists.) Since you’re reading this, you probably read various news sources in print and on the web but you also listen to, or watch, the tubes and be they Fox cryptos or Rachel, Lawrence, or Ed, the political conversation is pretty much dictated by these professional pundits and their questionable news sources.

How do these scribbling, talking heads earn their money? Why do all of them consider news to be how many times Newt Gingrich farts in the face of Mitt Romney? Why distract the informed citizen with daily insignificant political nonsense when something as essential to the American way of life as Bernie Sanders’ Saving American Democracy Amendment receives almost no coverage at all? 

Getting back to the earlier question, the organizations that directly profit the most from corporate personhood are the for-profit media networks. What has been created is a constant election cycle which demands constant partisan advertisements.

Any good ad salesman has a general idea of their client’s advertising budget. What happened with the Four Supremes Plus One decisions that speech=cash and corporations=people, was that the political advertising budgets for corporations were transfigured from Pound Puppies to Wicked Wild Wolves. Media corporations realized that corporate personhood meant corporations were now free to purchase infinite hours of pro-corporate advertisements.

Do you think that the media outlets want to cut their own throats? Do you think that Rachel’s, and Ed’s, and Bill’s producers aren’t informed by their superiors that covering Bernie Sanders’  Saving American Democracy Amendment is actually cutting their own throats?

Remember as you consider whatever distraction MSNBC, CNN, the New York Times, Fox, ABC, NBC, etc., presents you for the day, that all these outlets live on advertising revenue and Bernie Sanders’ Saving American Democracy Amendment would slay their golden egg laying geese.

 

----

Are You a Criminal or a Victim?

There’s a bit of a thief in all of us. Human beings are capable of attempting whatever deed any other human being has attempted, and can conceive of unspeakable actions without ever carrying a single one of them out.

Right now, the vast majority of people in the United States are engaged, to one degree or another, in a criminal enterprise. During Prohibition the vast majority of citizens were involved in a criminal enterprise as well. From homicidal gang lord to neighborhood bartender, when booze was illegal all those in the liquor business were involved in the same criminal enterprise. What mattered was what degree of culpability was involved. A bellboy who dropped a bottle off at your hotel room was not as culpable as an investment banker financing boatloads of booze coming across the border.

Profiting by withholding medical care from human beings in need is a criminal act. Denial of basic human rights for profit has a long and despicable history in the United States. Denial for profit of one human right, liberty, was known as slavery. Denial of medical care for profit is known as America’s current health insurance system.

Who are the victims and who are the criminals?

When a citizen takes twenty percent of their monthly disposable income and signs it over to a for-profit insurance company in order to protect their physical, mental, and fiscal well being; is that person a criminal or a victim?

When a citizen receives one hundred percent of their monthly income by investing in a company which earns a majority of its profits by withholding medical assistance to those unable to meet their price; is that person a criminal or a victim?

These are two minor examples of participants in the same criminal enterprise. Both engage in monetary transactions with organizations involved in the withholding of medical care. But one of them is a victim in that a virtual gun is being held to their head. Your money or your health, mind, and/or property. In the current situation, not buying into the criminal healthcare network puts individual citizens in great jeopardy of not receiving adequate medical attention and treatment when necessary and of losing all of one’s property if not sufficiently covered.

An individual forced to pay into a criminal enterprise is a victim.

There are also those citizens who are the equivalent of slave traders. These people are involved with the for-profit healthcare system for the purpose of extracting wealth from the withholding from their fellow citizens of a basic human right. Within the USA these people act as simple extortionists whose motto might as well be, “Your money or your health.”

An individual who intentionally inflicts harm on a fellow citizen, and who profits financially by doing so, is a criminal.

Most American citizens fall somewhere between these two extremes within the criminal enterprise which is healthcare in the United States. A part-time medical secretary at a community hospital is certainly less culpable than an investor in a medical office which specializes in Medicare fraud. But just by dealing with the present system, we all have blood on our hands to a greater or lesser degree.

And this is what the real criminals want you to feel. They want you to think that if you’re in for a penny you’re in for a pound. That we are all criminals like them.

Rubbish.

If all you do is try and survive and you feel the necessity of purchasing a policy from a for-profit medical insurance company, you aren’t a criminal, you are a victim of the criminal enterprise.

If all you do is invest your money in companies who profit from withholding medical treatment from those in need, you aren’t a victim, you are a criminal and a willing participant in a criminal enterprise.

There is a continuum here which stretches from victim to criminal predator.

Most are victims.

Many are criminals.

Occupy Where the Money Is

George went down to the local Occupation camp the other day. You have to understand, George doesn’t live in a big city. George lives in what people in big cities hardly would consider a city at all. But his hometown is a state capital and as such has an Occupation going on.

Now George’s mayor pulled a smart move when the Occupation first began. George’s mayor welcomed the Occupation with open arms and even provided park space where they could camp and not be hassled by the local gendarmes. George’s mayor said he agreed with the objectives of the Occupation movement and all seemed to be well with the world.

Well, it turns out the park where the Occupation planted its stakes is almost too nice. Everybody put up their tents and marched around for a couple of weeks and now the Occupation in George’s city is where it is.

The Occupation in George’s city is pretty much out of sight and out of mind. By parking the Occupation camp where he parked the Occupation camp, George’s mayor guaranteed that most of the people in his city wouldn’t be subjected to any aggravation by the Occupation. The folks who now live in the Occupation camp, among a whole bunch of empty tents, are trying to maintain while not being a nuisance to the citizens of George’s city.

Location. Location. Location.

Would Occupy Wall Street have worked as well as it has if it had been Occupy Staten Island? For those of you not familiar with the geography of New York City, Wall Street is the heart of the financial world and Staten Island has been referred to by many as a sleepy suburb. Now they’re both New York City but if Occupation Wall Street had been Occupation Staten Island, you wouldn’t be reading this and this wouldn’t have been written.

The Occupation in George’s city is now located in what could best be called a sleepy suburb. Out of sight, out of mind.

George’s city used to be a manufacturing city. That was where the money was. But that work is mostly gone now. Now George’s city is has two large employers. The State and a State University. Now the State capital, close to where George’s Occupation camp now is, employs a lot of people making good but not Wall Street money. Strangely enough, the State University employs a number of people making Wall Street numbers of over half a million dollars a year. (Which is odd because they all sort of work for the governor of the State who is paid a whole lot less than that.)

Plus there are all the students who might join the Occupation if the Occupation weren’t in the middle of what might as well be a sleepy suburb.

George is going to mention that his local Occupation should stop occupying the sleepy suburb and start occupying the State University because George thinks that’s where they should have been to start.

Occupy where the money is.

----

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Luxurious to the touch yet wonderfully dependable in their strength and endurance, these solidly superior garments are the soul threads of corporate America. Woven with fibers softened by the tears and sorrows of billions of victims, these textile testaments to our globalized economy amass a residual strength through the echoes of market famines, oil wars, for-profit health care death machines, privatized torture, and the ever useful fear of homelessness.

Wrap yourself in the empty dreams of dead bottom line types, those who knew the market would correct for everything. Become enshrouded in the despair of new cadavers whose favorite line remains “the money is all green” even as they discover just how many rings of hell there actually are.

Brooks Brothers is proud to present these ultimate in prestige T-shirts for a limited time only. 

*************************

 "Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer." - Michael Corleone

 

*************

CIRCUS RIDER 

VOTE FOR OBAMA! After he arrests Bush

Vote for Obama after he arrests Bush.

Not before.

Not when he starts an investigation which will drag on until after the Presidential election and possibly disappear afterwards.

Vote for Obama when he stops ignoring and violating the law.

Vote for Obama when he jettisons the precedent he is currently setting of allowing those who authorized the torture of powerless prisoners to escape all legal consequences.

Vote for Obama when he follows the law of the United States of America and puts George W. Bush, self-confessed torturer, behind bars.

"Justice delayed is justice denied." 

No matter what reason President Obama may have, he is currently in violation of the law by not prosecuting his predecessor.

The United Nations Convention Against Torture not only obliges its signatories to investigate and prosecute those who commit torture, it views those who are in power to prosecute and who do not do so as being as culpable as those they are protecting.

It is now too late in the game to vote for Obama if he only begins an investigation of those who disgraced the United States by ordering the torture of prisoners. In the last few days various voices have been praising President Obama for his progressive utterances. Many of those disappointed over the past few years by the Republican programs which President Obama has been pursuing, are once again hoping for hope. They assume President Obama has some credibility. After being fooled once, they are doubling down.

Guantanamo is still in operation.

Tens of thousands of troops are in Iraq.

No job program has been implemented.

Americans will soon be forced to purchase medical insurance from for-profit medical insurance companies where lives are viewed as debits or credits.

Self-confessed torturers are allowed to walk free.

If President Obama wishes to once again become a credible human being, there is one thing he can do.

Barack Obama must stop being a war criminal and arrest George W. Bush for crimes against humanity.

After President Obama arrests George W. Bush is when you should vote for Barack Obama for President.

Not before.

If I remember correctly, this is a joke

`12

When should Phil resign as Dog Catcher?

Don't the howls wake you up in the morning? I know they do me. And I'm pretty sure that those packs of rabid dogs growling and prowling around Phil's house probably wake him and his family up as well. Rabid dogs taking control of the streets means the problem has gotten out of hand.

Like I've said before, Phil is a swell guy and if I were in college I'm sure I'd really enjoy taking one of his classes on the history of Dog Catching but right now theory just isn't getting a whole bunch of jobs done.

I have a pretty good idea what you're going to say. The folks who are putting up a candidate to oppose Phil don't want whoever holds the position of Dog Catcher to do anything at all. They say that if it were up to them there wouldn't even be a Dog Catcher. If you don't vote for Phil you're just letting those who want rabid dogs to run totally free win. And nobody in their right minds wants that.


Phil, resign now and let us run somebody else.


Back when I was a teenager there was a big project I wanted to do. So, one morning I rolled up my sleeves and got to work. By the end of the afternoon, you could see I'd done a lot of work. There were parts and tools all over the place. But as I stood there looking out over a good day's work, I realized something. I realized I was way over my head and really had no idea what I was doing. It wasn't that the job was beyond my intellect. It simply was that I had no idea what I was doing. It went against my grain to realize that I should quit the job and let someone with more experience and talent take over, but that's what I did. One of the smartest moves I ever made in my life.

Some people can sing. Some can't. Some folks can play contract bridge or chess like wizards. Others have no interest or talent. Some folks can sail a boat. Others send themselves and their passengers on a one way tour of Davy Jones' Locker.

Phil, take a look around you. The dogs are running wild. You've spent all the money allotted to your department. You must know by now that you couldn't catch a dog if your life depended on it.

Phil, it's time for you to resign.

I know it's an ego thing on your part. You know you should be able to be a Dog Catcher and that people with a lot less mental capacity than you have managed to be reasonably good Dog Catchers.

That's life.

Phil, you really suck at the job. It's time for you to give it up.

This doesn't mean that we all don't like you. It's just that we really should find something else for you to do. Something a bit more suited to your talents.

Thank you.

Why Phil shouldn't be elected Dog Catcher

Phil shouldn't be elected dog catcher.

Some folks should never get anywhere near a carburetor either. Or a fuel pump. Or a radiator. Or a transmission. You pick whatever part of an automobile you want and some folks shouldn't touch it with a ten-foot long socket wrench.

Now, let's get something straight right from the jump. Phil is one hell of a smart fellow. As far as brains packed into cubic centimeters, you're not going to find a brighter bulb if you searched all around for a month.
Phil knows his history. He knows philosophy. He's studied politics. He's even taught law. You're not going to fault the guy on the academic side, that's for sure.

And personable? You bet. He's got a smile and a set of teeth which could send the hearts of an entire convention of orthodontists all atwitter. Phil can make a whole room happy just by walking into it. There's probably not a digit big enough to describe the number of mothers who imagined Phil with their daughters.

Phil is an extremely intelligent, well studied, personable, charming guy.
Which might be part of the reason he shouldn't be elected dog catcher.

Just like people with absolutely no experience as mechanics shouldn't be paid to put a wrench to an engine, Phil really shouldn't be elected to the post of dog catcher.

Maybe it has something to do with getting your hands dirty. Phil just isn't the kind of guy to actually be able to do the job. Why? Good question. Have any of you ever seen Phil with a dog? He certainly has made a lot of speeches, but nobody has ever come forward and claimed that they've actually ever seen Phil within twenty feet of a dog. If you're going to be the dog catcher around here, you've really got to get a lot closer to the animals than Phil ever has been. You can't deliver a lot of feel good speeches and expect a pack of rabid dogs to lock themselves up in a cage without any human intervention.
You have to get your hands dirty. You've got to go running after the dogs and throw a net over them. You've got to bring those curs down. You've got to break into a sweat and face a pack of bared fangs that want to rip your throat apart. You have to get out of the office, lose your cool, and get down and dirty with a pack of wild dogs.

Phil, as we've all seen, is incapable of any of that.
Just like you wouldn't let any fool with no experience work on your car, you shouldn't elect Phil dog catcher.

Some folks say because he was elected dog catcher last election we should elect him this time around.

But the question remains, has anyone ever seen Phil anywhere near a dog?

Don't elect Phil again.

Are you better off with all those rabid dogs running around?

Don't elect Phil dog catcher again.

Thank you.

---

Mere Mindlessness

And so the blather which presents itself as statesmanship continues. The party of the extreme right dithers on about no government while the party of the less extreme right wing weeps about how it will have to take even more money from the poor and hand it over to their immensely wealthy donors.

If Obama or Boehner had a balanced budget and all the discretionary cash in the world, they wouldn't know what to do with it because neither of them have a brain in their heads when it comes to what this country should actually be doing. Both Obama and Boehner are obsessed about counting the pennies in this country's household change jar.

For months what has been dominating the media streams is the debt ceiling. The debt ceiling is a mundane piece of crap, as any twelve year-old lemonade stand owner can tell you. How did raising the debt ceiling, something so routine that it's been done over one hundred times before, become the latest performance piece for drama queens Obama and Boehner?

It plays like this. Boehner, as head of the opposition, has to choose a position opposite that of Obama yet still be within the Republican party play book. Problem: Obama has stolen all the moderate and conservative plays and is running them himself. Boehner is stuck with the extreme conservative play book because that's the only part of the Republican party Obama isn't already representing.

Which is pretty bad for Boehner but great for Obama since all Obama cares about is getting reelected anyway. And it's pretty damn horrible for the country when in the midst of a depression a Democratic president is cutting social programs. 10% unemployment and the Democrats are talking cuts. Remember, it was Obama who signed the extension of the Bush tax giveaways to the wealthiest Americans. Would we be in such dire straits if Obama hadn't signed that extension? And no more friggin whining! The Republicans made me do it! Pitiful. The President of the United States of America has the biggest Bully Pulpit in the world and all we hear from the current Chief Executive is why he can't do anything. Pitiful.

Right now the President should be promoting a two million person job bill and the Republicans should be whining how it should only be a one million person job bill.

Right now the President should be sending to congress an infrastructure bill to top all infrastructure bills and the Republicans should be whining how their districts aren't getting a big enough piece of the pie.

Right now the President should be prosecuting those who ordered the torture of prisoners in the name of the United States and the Republicans should be hiring lawyers and resigning.

Instead Obama and Boehner are playing footsies with each other and counting the future votes.

A pox on both of them.
-----

Ersatz, or not Ersatz?

And now a brief pause.

Bin Laden is dead. No tears were shed. Moving on.

Days after the incumbent president officially announces his hat is now in the ring for reelection, the fugitive is found and killed.

Three wars.

There is time to look back and execute the terrorist but there is no time to look back and prosecute the self-confessed torturer and his cronies.

Mr. Obama is a consummate politician.

The unions no longer back this incumbent with the same mindless tenacity as they once did. Many unionists believe the Democratic Party is now run by what were once called moderate Republicans. They are surprised that the Democrats act as if they are controlled by the same pro-corporate interests as the Republicans. Others are not so surprised.

Out of the West arises a Mormon. Jon Meade Huntsman, Jr. is the scariest Republican to enter the national scene in a very long time. Aside from being a billionaire, extremely well respected in his own state, and a resume which is just this side of tremendous, Mr. Huntsman is something President Obama has always wanted to be, a moderate Republican.

Will the nation back the ersatz moderate Republican, Obama, when a real moderate Republican is on the same ballot?

Will the nation seek to repeat a similar thrill to that of electing the first Irish-Kenyan American to the nation's highest office by electing the first Mormon?

The Republican Party has shown itself to be a mindless herd of rabid sheep when its right wing is allowed free reign. Mr. Obama knows this, which is why for his entire administration he has promoted moderate Republican policies. He has left the present Republicans with no breathing space. In order to mount an opposition, the Republicans have been driven to feed upon themselves as they maneuver to the extreme right. This is brilliant politics; but, as we all know by now, even moderate Republican policy is disasterous for the American people.

Enter Mr. Huntsman.

American voters will usually elect real Republicans when faced with the choice between a moderate Republican and a Democrat who is also brought to you by your local Chamber of Commerce. Obama is no Democrat. He is, however, the person who may be responsible for selling the largest number of private medical insurance policies ever. Not to mention shoveling a dollar or two into the rapacious paws of Wall Street.

Will America vote for the real Republican bastard, Huntsman; or will they stay with the ersatz Republican Obama? Time and a pile of more dead bodies will tell.