It's Obama's Fault

No matter what goes wrong, it's Obama's fault. Whenever anything untoward occurs, one can be certain Fox News and the Republican goons, from Michele Bachmann to Karl Rove, will be clamoring for coverage to inform us that Barack Obama has caused us and our nation irreparable damage. Recently Bachmann has blamed President Obama for "arming terrorists," being responsible for the disappearance of a Malaysian airliner, and Russia's invasion of Crimea.

In addition, the racists disguised as Tea Party members have established Facebook pages dedicated to blaming the U.S. President for everything imaginable. Some recent posts: President Obama "used the military to seize the government after he was defeated in the election." (Speaking of alternative universes.) Another FB post refers to the President as a "secret muslim socialist nazi." (Is it possible to be all three at the same time?) A man in Minnesota burned own his own home and blamed the President. (Raw Story, 1/6/14)

I wish Barack Obama had been around back in the day -- days when I was young enough to do stupid things. "Yes mom. I have a hangover. I drank a wee bit too much last night, but it was Obama's fault."

What a make-believe world the Republicans have created. "If it's bad, it's the black guy's fault." And, in their world, reason and common sense have no place. They do not try to explain why the President is responsible for the missing Malaysian jetliner; they just toss it out there and their lackeys at Faux News keep repeating it.

For example, did you know that the President of the United States is responsible for:

• the severe winter storms of 2014
• the Target credit card hacking
• the U.S. Hockey team's semi-final loss at the Winter Olympics
• the Boston Marathon bombing
• the suspension of Phil Robertson from "Duck Dynasty" 
• the economic collapse of the George W. Bush administration
• the increase in gun-related violence
• the persistent drought in areas of the US
• the obesity epidemic
• the Fukushima nuclear disaster
• hypnotizing Mitt Romney, causing him to say stupid things
• attempting to promote family values by raising the minimum wage
• refusing to do the bidding of the gun manufacturers ,aka, NRA
• the toxic drinking water in West Virginia
• the inordinate number of military rapes
• the New York Knick's dismal season

And the list goes on and on. For a while the right-wing, fundamentalist Christians blamed everything, the 9/11 attacks, hurricanes, autism, and dementia on the gays and lesbians; but once Obama became president, the entire Republican party adopted the blame-it-on-Obama tactic. It's amazing they are willing to attribute so much power to one man. 

On the other hand, since we are playing the blame game, I too would like to blame President Obama for;

• not shutting down Guantanamo Bay prison camp within his first year
• not reigning in the NSA and its unconstitutional spying
• not pushing harder for a single-payer health care insurance program
• not completely killing the Keystone Pipeline project 
• not having the Justice Department investigate the so-called charter schools
• not demanding a small tax on financial transactions like the purchase of stocks and derivatives
• not prosecuting the Wall Street "geniuses" who created  this country's "Great Recession"
• not calling out Catholic bishops for using "Religious Freedom" as an excuse to discriminate and breach the wall of Separation of Church and State
• not demanding a moratorium on fracking on public lands
• not immediately freezing Russian assets in the US after the Crimean invasion. The Russians had time to move their money out of the US before assets were frozen 
• not pushing more vigorously for federal fair voting regulations
• not challenging Paul Ryan for his racist remarks about inner-city men
• attempting to achieve bipartisanship with the Republicans who swore themselves to obstructionism

Perhaps we should stop playing the blame game and follow the advise of President John F. Kennedy: "Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future."

Lenten Sacrifices?

Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent:  40 days during which  certain Christians engage in prayer, penance, almsgiving, atonement, sacrifice, and self-denial. For some it is a period of fasting; for others it is a matter of giving up something -- often luxuries. These days it's popular to give up the social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) for Lent; back in my day in the sixties I had a few friends who gave up their virginity, but that probably had nothing to do with Lent. Thanks to my many well-placed sources, I have learned what the rich, the famous, and the infamous are giving up for Lent:

• Vice President Joe Biden is going to give up talking for twenty minutes a day -- probably during his nap.
• President Barack Obama is giving up listening to Joe Biden.
• The Republicans have vowed to continue obstructing anything that might create jobs. (They're not really giving up anything because the concept of giving something up is "socialist crap.")
• Sarah Palin, on the other hand, promised to give up shooting large mammals, including Chris Christie. Not only that, Sarah is going to submit herself to the penance of reading at least one newspaper during Lent -- of course, in Sarah's world "reading a newspaper" means looking at the pictures.
• Speaker John Boehner. You may have thought he would give up cigarettes, wine, or golf. Wrong; he's giving up on trying to rein in the Tea Party. He is going to drink their "Kool-aid," and become a lacrimonious footnote in American history.
• Vladimir Putin is going to attend anger-management  and anti-bullying classes together with Chris Christie. They think it's a class on the best techniques of arm-wrestling.
• Former congressman Anthony Weiner is going to give up sexting and promises to take two cold showers a day.
• The Cleveland Browns are giving up any hope of having a winning season.
• The Toledo Blade is going to have one issue a week which does not have a dog story.
• Peyton Manning is giving up the "Omaha, Omaha" call. His new call is: "Seattle, Seattle" which means: here they come, run for your lives.
• The U.S Catholic bishops are giving up Girl Scout cookies. They have a reason for that, but it sounds much like discrimination.
• Ohio governor, John Kasich, is giving up working people's right to vote.
• Creationists and climate-change deniers are giving up the brains they were born with.
• The University of North Carolina is giving up fake classes for athletes. It seems the NCAA and other institutions of higher learning frown upon the practice.
• Ohio Attorney General, Mike DeWine, has given up his "pay-to-play" scheme until Easter, after which it will be back in play.
• "El Chapo" is giving up control of his drug cartel, but after Easter he plans to escape and take over again.
• Republican vice presidential candidate, Paul Ryan, is giving up on all random acts of kindness. Of course, that is not new; he is a devoted disciple of his favorite Russian, Ayn Rand.
• Texas Republican, Rafael "Ted" Cruz,  is giving up on shutting down the government. That didn't work very well the last time he tried -- it cost US taxpayers 24-26 billion dollars.
• Fox News is giving up any pretext of being objective and fair.
• American conservatives are going to give up calling Pope Francis a socialist for a day or two.
• Bill Clinton is going to keep the dogs under the porch for forty days.
• Tim Tebow wants to join a Trappist monastery, but the monks are questioning his skill set.
• For Lent, Ted Nugent has totally given up the use of reason.
• Mitt Romney, you remember him, in the spirit of Lent is closing one of his Swiss bank accounts. He is moving the money to the Cayman Islands to be near his other off-shore money.
• Rush Limbaugh on the other hand, refuses to give up his belief that Ohio senator, Sherrod Brown, is black. In fact, he refuses to give up anything because he is the  Ubermensch.
• George W. Bush is giving up painting nudes of himself. Laura informed him that such painting was sick.  For now at least, he will paint potted plants. You may argue there is no difference, but he maintains the plants have more color.

As for myself, I have been so fortunate that I have so many "things" I could give up and I will gladly give up those "things," but I will fight to death to keep my family and friends.