Ping Pong Expediancy

Now we are learning a new phrase, among so many new idiums we are learning these days thanks to the media such as "proactive" and "prostate health". We've learned about something that's going to be done that apparently the Republicans have been doing for a long time, but it doesn't make the news until the democrats do it. They are bypassing the usual conference committee in the legeslative process for the Health Bill. All that's missing is the green light on your dashboard. What people have feared all along is becoming a reality. The Senate version of the Health bill is going to be accepted whole, without any changes lest they lose some of their precious sixty votes needed for passage. To do this house members will have to be talked out of otherwise constructive measures such as the millionaire's tax and the dreaded Public Option. The bill is pinged and ponged and amendments are added in mass to the House bill untill it can be manipulated to look just like the senate bill. Then President Obama can have his little victory. The insurance and drug companies can rest easy knowing all their campaign donations to Obama will be paying off. But as I said the Republicans already made use of this ping - pong procedure for such infamous bills as the Patriot Act, where nobody seemed to object. The republicans did a lot of things and threatened to do a whole lot more if they didn't get their way, that they now have suddenly developed a conscience and don't want the Democrats doing.

Well today a defensive President Obama crouched and bared his teeth and groweled in his toughest possible macho stance. But you know such behavior still won't impress Rush Limbaugh and Glen Beck. I'm just waiting for these two to name all the things our President did wrong. They no doubt will cite the civil court trial of the 9 - 11 master-mind or the closing of Guantanamo Bay. What the President did, besides the interrupting of my soap opera at a key plot moment, was to take all the blame for things that went wrong. The President promaces quick and decisive action to remedy all the security problems we have with our airports. One could scarcely envision President Bush making a more resolute speech, and had a President Mc Cain given that same speech word for word, Praises would be heaped on him by the Right. But that won't happen. The President cited a "failure to connect up the dots". He characterized it as not an information gathering failure but an information processing and coalating failure. It all comes down to agencies of the government sharing collaborating with the information they have. Now where have we heard of such a failure before? Oh yes, President Bush and his failure to dissern that 9 - 11 was about to take place. Like I say, with each passing day the distinction between Presidents Bush and Obama becomes more slight. Personally I agree with Ron Reagan, who said today that "You can't prevent all accidents; Things happen". It's a cliche expression, 'shit happens". Rush Limbaugh would be quick were it a private vendor of a product to say "There is no way you can prevent mishaps from happening". Rush reminds us, rightly, that life sometimes throws you a curve ball. But somehow when it comes to Al Qaeda, our government owes it to us to insure that nothing EVER will happen to an American citizen, and that ANY price is worth paying. But certain security procedures, be it wide spread drug testing for who knows what, or else "total security" on an airline, isn't a reality. These airliners are in business to make money after all, and they can't go frightening off customers through excessive security procedures. Personally I'd prefer the sniffing dogs to either the "super thorough pat down" involving the genitals, or these nude X ray scanners. Why are people no longer concerned about radiation to the genitals. What happened to that heavy shield the dentist puts over you to protect your vital organs. Frequent business flyers would have to find these procedures a pain in the ass- - perhaps literally (!) after a while, and in time all this security would slow commerce and reduce corporate profits. Let's appeal to Obama's business side.

3 D TV is coming. Well, I don't know what entertainment will be like in the future but my eyes don't work well for 3 D and people like myself and Leo Le Port think the whole business is largely a waste of time. But I suppose some people thought when they began making movies in color, so perhaps I'm dating myself. If you want monsters leaping off your TV screen into your living room, then have at it. Of course Google and the Android Opperating system- - among so many "new systems" are coming out now, promacing to revolutionize the computer experience. They have been saying that E mails are becoming a thing of the past. CD's may be becoming a thing a thing of the past and not only the desk top but the notebook computer will become a thing of the past as we move to tablet computers with their touch screen capabilities, as well as the Smart Phones taking over the Phone market, which they have yet to do.

In a Bob Dylan song about New York, Bob Dylan says, "They said it was the coldest winter in seventeen years. I didn't feel so cold then". Well for about two thirds of the country this is the coldest winter in 25 years. I remember the winter of 1977 as being cold in one of my astro projection lives. I don't remember 1985 as being especially cold but I'll take their word for it. People are saying that "The Gulf Stream conveyer belt is shutting down" and so England is seeing cold like they've never had before. But people are saying that the watch word now is not global warming but "Climate Change". I guess that could cover just about anything. My heart goes out to all those people shivering in the rest of the country and hope fuel oil and natural gas prices aren't so high that they are unable to properly heat their homes.