...But This Porridge Is Just Right

I don’t have much tonight. Expended most of my energy 48-hours ago wallowing in the sorrow of Black Sunday. Feel free to delight in my misery when you’re finished here.

This afternoon, Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner declared that the 11-page healthcare compromise proposal revealed yesterday by the President in preparation for Thursday’s televised summit is too short. That’s right, too short. If this seems incongruous to you, it could be because you remember the very same John Boehner, as little as four weeks ago, roundly complaining that the previous bill was, wait for it, too long. Yes, Boehner spent months complaining that the bill was too complicated for anyone to understand, seeking out television cameras in front of which to wave the original 1,990 page, 20+pound bill and solid wood furniture on which to drop it. Now he claims the fix for that bill is not complex enough and far too easy to understand. Say John, what’s it like to punch yourself in the face?

On his program this afternoon, Rush Limbaugh declared to a caller that healthcare reform is nothing more than “...reparations for people who can’t read (the bill)...” It’s difficult - if not impossible to combat absolutely ridiculous, racism-tainted stupidity without giving it credibility merely by dignifying it with an answer, so I won’t. But the fact that so many people revere this bowling pin as some sort of prophet of truth is nothing short of disturbing.

In a Brooklyn, New York federal court on Monday, suspected would-be terrorist bomber Najibullah Zazi pleaded guilty to conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country and providing material support for a terrorist organization. Beginning this June he will be interned at ADX Supermax federal prison in Florence, Colorado for the remainder of his natural life. All of this after providing what prosecutors have called “useful, actionable intelligence,” without being tortured or turned over to military custody. I suppose the torture advocates will claim that we could have gotten more information than we did (how they know this I have no idea) had we only strung him upside down by his fingernails for ten hours, and that somehow, life locked in a 6x9 cell 23 hours a day without the possibility of parole in the Colorado desert for the rest of his life is some kind of a sweetheart deal for his cooperation. But with each mounting arrest and admission and conviction, the hysterical shrieking of those critics lacking respect for the law and order foundation and tradition of this nation fade thankfully into the background. As much hay as his naysayers have tried to make of it, his handling of terrorism is the one significant policy point in which on which President Obama’s approval rating has actually INCREASED since taking office.

Finally, last week, disgruntled Texas man Joe Stack, upset with the IRS, (due to the fact he owed tens of thousands of dollars in back taxes), set fire to his mouse, then loaded up his small plane with fuel and crashed it into the IRS offices in Austin. Pundits who typically insist people should be held responsible for their own actions (usually liberals, poor people and people of color) were quick to blame the government, for creating some nebulous feeling of outrage throughout the country that drove this idiot to do what he did. The interesting thing about the response to the incident however, was the extent some people went to in order to avoid labeling the man’s actions an act of terrorism. Well, in the interest We can clear this up pretty easily. Terrorism is defined as the use of violence or threats to coerce and/or intimidate for political purposes. The four page manifesto left behind by the pilot detail his perceived grievances with the United States government and characterize his actions as him taking the only action he could against the “tyranny” of the IRS. Joe Stack was a terrorist, and flying an airplane into a government building in protest of political policy is an act of terrorism. End of story. If Joe Stack had been Joe Abdullah, would there even have been a debate?