Ol' Fuzzy's Soapbox: June 2017

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Supreme Rulings

So SCOTUS sided with Trump on the travel ban, in part. That only makes sense to put a stop to the ridiculous misuse of legal precedent to make to country unsafe for a little political mileage. Why are the conservatives gloating. It isn’t like a major victory was won. Every one of those judges that decided to block all of the president’s actions on national security because he said things during the campaign that offended them knew it was judicial overreach. I am only glad we are not paying for their one-upmanship already. It is only a matter of time to see if any terrorists slipped in while they held the door open.

But let’s become civil now. It has been over six months since Trump took office and the country is still in operation. Congress is still the opposite of progress. And the Supreme Court of the United States is still reducing the rights of American citizens at home. Did you know that you do not have a right to an attorney in post conviction (that means after the appeal is exhausted) procedures? SCOTUS has ruled that a lawyer can wreck your chances of obtaining justice once the appeal is over and you have no recourse. Just have to suffer.

When a lawyer represents a client in a court of law, it is an awesome responsibility. The court cannot entertain any communications, motions, etc. from the litigant except through the attorney. They are the gatekeepers of your so called right to access to the court. If the lawyer doesn’t like the client or is lazy or negligent, the client’s life and the lives of those who rely on him/her are ruined. Do lawyers care? I don’t know. From my experience, I would say no. So what can be done about it? I’m open to suggestions.

Ol’ Fuzzy is not employable and was denied for disability benefits. The only thing I have is the blogs. But I don’t qualify for ads on the blogs until September. If you like the scribbles I post, please help me keep it going. You can leave me a gratuity by dropping a buck or two in Ol' Fuzzy's Tip Jar. This is a PayPal account I opened on Wednesday, April 5, 2017.

Friday, June 23, 2017

Health Care and Grudges

So the Republicans in the Senate have put out their version of the new health care law. The hyperbole is not fulfilled. But what did you expect? Political reality must be faced. The House version is probably the one that will be finally sent to Trump’s desk anyway. Let’s hope that we can get health care when it’s all over.

The problems they are trying to address stem from the nature of free market insurance. No self-serving businessman is going to volunteer to lose money. His board of directors and the stockholders would be in arms to get rid of him. So that’s why Obamacare is failing. What the Republicans have put up as a replacement isn’t a complete overhaul, but a patch on Obamacare.

Remember, Obamacare was originally copied from Mit Romney’s health care plan in Massachusetts. Romney was, is and will remain a Republican. The Republican objections to the original plan are based not on the source, nor the method, but on their fixation with states’ rights and the Marketplace god. The real reason they hate it, however, is that they didn’t have a say in it. It was rammed down their throats by the Democrats when they held the majority of both houses of congress. All the political drama of the past nine years stems from that grudge they’re still nursing. That is why we have to let our politicians know we don’t care about political grudges.

Oh, I am so sorry. You do care about political grudges? Well if you can’t get over it you don’t love this country. The political grudge-keeping is what is tearing the nation apart. We are never going to repair our political system so long as we carry the extra baggage of grudges against the opposition. They are opponents, not enemies. When you view political opponents as enemies, you give your real enemies a free hand in destroying you.

Conservative or Liberal, we all are patriotic Americans, we all care about the nation. Let us work together by thinking about our shared values and throw the grudges on the ash heap where they belong.

Rant over….

Thursday, June 22, 2017

Georgia on my Mind

The special election in Georgia is over. The Republican won, not surprisingly. The district is soundly red. So why do the Liberals complain about rigged elections? The liberal media polls showed the Democrat leading. They always do. If you only ask people who agree with you the answers will only reinforce your prejudice.

Let’s get over it, put it behind us and move on. If there was voter fraud, and I doubt there was, it will be caught and the parties responsible punished. I find it ironic that the Democrats, notorious for stopping all laws aimed at ending voter fraud, would complain about their entitled election being lost to voter fraud. I worry about the souls of people who fill their minds with such negative thoughts. They make themselves appear like a three-year-old having a melt-down in the store because “mommy wouldn’t buy me candy.” If it’s ugly to see a child do it, it’s that much uglier to watch an adult do it.

Y’all quit being so ugly to each other!

Rant over….

Sunday, June 18, 2017

Enough Already

Alright, people. These immature tantrums have gone on long enough. You political activists have so much hyperbole floating around that there’s no real way to tell fact from fiction. People have been injured and killed over memes and hyperbolic posts that don’t have much connection to reality. The facts are that the government of the United States of America is working as the Constitution intends. If you don’t like the Constitution because it allows people to disagree with you, you don’t like the United States of America, a nation founded on the concepts of political freedom and the right to disagree with the government and the other political factions.

Let us get it out in the open. Everyone who hates the United States Constitution for the freedom it allows others to disagree raise your right hand. Okay, look around at the raised hands and you will see the ones who have the courage of their convictions to admit they’re enemies of the United States. Those are the ones to watch for treasonous activities.

Now the real problem is all the ones who agree with the hand-raisers but were afraid to raise their own or were too sly to let anyone know what they’re planning. There have been too many riots called protests and too many violent acts perpetrated in the name of some political agenda. News flash: Communism is a bankrupt concept that has always failed and Fascism will be vigorously resisted wherever it appears. So don’t try to bring it to these shores.

When the fascists tried to take over the United States government in the 1930s, Gen. Smedley Darlington Butler, USMC (Ret.) swiftly put it down because they were fool enough to try to recruit him into their scheme. The Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines that served in combat over the last decade and a half are not going to support any violent overthrow of the government. That leaves you with the cowards, the incompetent and the untrained. Don’t expect to overthrow the government with them. They are vastly outclassed by the ones they oppose.

There is a reason the United States has lasted so long. It’s recorded in all those patriotic songs that anti-American activists hate so much. Because free men and women are willing to place their lives in danger to protect that freedom from those who would impose tyranny upon us in any form, the United States is free. And we’re going to keep it that way so long as there is blood in our bodies.

I for one took an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic. That oath didn't come with an expiration date. Ask Tammy Duckworth, the courageous Democrat in Congress who gave her leg in Iraq, what that oath means. In the words of the United States Marine Corps, with whom I served when service was politically incorrect, Semper Fidelis, always faithful. OORAH!

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Assault on Dignity

Today a peaceful ballpark in Alexandria, VA was disrupted by gunfire. An untrained (thankfully) gunman opened fire on members of the United States House of Representatives as they practiced for the annual baseball game between Democrats and Republicans in the House. I don’t care that it was a practice by the Conservative members that was attacked. That is not the issue I intend to address today. What I do want to talk about is the cause of the shooting.

Liberals will claim the Conservatives brought it on themselves. Conservatives will make equally preposterous claims about the Liberals. The fact is the hate between these two groups has gotten to the point that some people believe they have to shoot members of the other side. I thank God it wasn’t a veteran who did the shooting, there would have been a massacre and it would have provided more grist for the mill of vet-bashers.

Folks, hate breeds violence, which in turn breeds more hate. When do we get off this merry-go-round of self destruction? We don’t need to hate. We want to. Is it because we have so isolated ourselves from direct contact with each other that hate is the only strong emotion we can muster? Whatever, as a society we must change the way we view each other and the way we post about each other.

If a conservative and a liberal wee to sit down together and talk about the issues they care about, they would discover a lot more they have in common than what divides them. The only real difference between Conservatives and Liberals is the means they use to accomplish those ends. Conservatives are more personally liberal, generous with their time and money to help the people in need around them. On the other side of the coin, Liberals tend to espouse massive government programs to do the same things. The other issues are merely distraction from the main one.

Since there’s so much the two sides have in common, why do they hate each other? Let’s put an end to it now. Let’s stop posting and sharing inflammatory memes and slogans. Let’s stop projecting our fears into the perceptions of our fellows for our opposite-party members. Let’s decide to be civil toward one another and heal our society before we wind up without one.