July 08, 2009

Just Beat It, You Lunatics

How’s this for an oversimplification that nevertheless has merit? If you want to see the problem with America, you need do no more than turn on your television set. I’m not referring here to the generic but valid belief that so much of what permeates the airwaves truly is garbage; I’m speaking instead of the revealing public expression of idiocy associated with the passing of Michael Jackson.

There’s a lot I could say about Michael Jackson and his well-documented eccentricities and unfortunate proclivities…but even if Jackson was not the package of weirdness he came to be, what gives with the wailing and breathless mourning for someone few in the world actually knew and who was, well, just an entertainer? Nothing against entertainers, but when has the passing of one ever been worthy of the kind of coverage we’ve only previously given to the death of a sitting president (think JFK)? How will these nutjobs react when someone they actually know and hopefully truly love dies? Will they throw themselves from a bridge, or set themselves on fire? The uncomfortable truth is that they probably won’t be as upset at the passing of a family member as they are at the passing of Jackson, so screwed up are the values and priorities of so many in America these days.

I adored my own parents, but at the moment I came to learn of the passing of each, I didn’t disintegrate into a state of madness…and yet there are countless numbers of people around the world who appeared to do that very thing when the distant oddity that was Michael Jackson went to that great Neverland in the sky.

Perhaps the saddest aspect of all for the people who’ve managed to actually maintain a grip on reality is that we have to accept that these same people who are inconsolable over the loss of Michael Jackson are also people who vote…which means that the choice of our leaders, and, by consequence, the direction of our beloved country, is apparently, to a not-insignificant degree, in the hands of people who are quite obviously insane.

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Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor-At-Large www.ChristianMoney.com

 

June 24, 2009

Is “Arrogant Twit” an Acceptable Form of Address, Senator Boxer?

We’re all familiar by now with the recent brouhaha stemming from Sen. Barbara Boxer’s single-minded insistence on making a complete jackass of herself.  With that goal firmly in focus, the senator dressed down U.S. Army Brigadier General Michael Walsh during last week’s hearing about the progress of restoration along the Louisiana coast in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.  As we’ve all heard, Boxer, exuding great irritation, took issue with the general’s repeated reference to her as “ma’am,” a perfectly respectful and appropriate form of address given the forum and principals involved, and asked to instead be referred to as “senator,” because, as she put it, it’s a title for which she worked very hard.

Let’s set aside that Boxer is herself both supremely arrogant and a pathetic blowhard.  The real issue here is the highly insulting presumption on the part of our elected officials that they are better than the rest of us, demonstrated here by Boxer through her silly demand and associated lecturing tone.  Let me ask…is the entitlement mentality to which elected officials seem privileged something that’s instilled in all who go to Washington, or do you have to have some of it already before you seek office?  Any ideas?

The verbal exchange itself was admittedly minor, but its significance isn’t.  This is but one more piece of evidence that shows we must endeavor to bring an end to the “service” of any elected official who, quite despicably, goes through life convinced that he/she/it is better than the rest of us.

 

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Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor-At-Large  www.ChristianMoney.com