Year end Mutterings

Year End Mutterings (with no particular order or organization)

        We're told today that Theresa Guidice (a "real housewife" of somewhere ) is out of jail and back home. So?

        So, real housewives don't live in mansions with nannies. Real housewives don't get sentenced  to federal sleep away day camp (Danbury, essentially a day spa for "our kind of people")  for 40 several counts of securities fraud.  The news blurb also detailed the Guidice's fight to keep their mansion from foreclosure as they owe Wells Fargo just under $200,000  in punitive judgment and have over half a million in unpaid taxes. In spite of all this, which might make a prudent parent (the hubby is off to jail next) consider downsizing, there was a new Lexus SUV in her driveway Christmas morning!

          I am torn as to which aspect of this actually bothers me the most.  Is it the blatant display of white privilege gone wild? Is it the example of conspicuous consumption enabled by criminal acts?  Not really, we've seen this all before. I think what bothers me the most about this (and the vast majority of "reality stars" is that anyone really gives a shit about these relatively worthless examples of waste, fraud, and abuse of  opportunity.

        Speaking of real housewives, how about that Tonya Couch?  As we speak, she is reposing  in a Texas Jail, having been extradited from Mexico, where she had fled with her son, epic waste of flesh, Ethan.  You remember  Ethan - The poor kid who suffers from "Affluenza"?  Ethan was living in his own 4,000 square foot residence with wet bar at age 16 when he got all likkered up and killed four innocents with his vehicle. At trial, his mother, the aforementioned Tonya, admitted she never had any recollection of ever disciplining  Ethan. No shit? Again, my mental list of reasons this is troublesome  is varied. Mostly it is simply questions which I would love to have answered.

        Where is the father? He was at court, yet we've never heard a word from him as to why he has allowed his wife (with his complicity) to ruin their child.  Is Ethan deaf, dumb and blind? That would be just about the only way a 16 year old could ever truly not know that drunk driving was "not  OK."  

        OK, let's  concede that Ethan Crouch is/was flawed as a human being due to parental neglect to the point of  there being little hope for meaningful rehabilitation.  While Texas is not usually known for being forward thinking in legal matters other than leading the league in executions, it actually has a separate offense known as "Intoxication manslaughter" which carries a minimum of two years' incarceration and could actually result in up to 20 years in jail.  Only impairment is necessary for conviction, but Couch was 3 times the legal limit for DUI! These circumstances and the resultant outcome still beg several questions. What action was taken against the parents for neglect?  How much did they pay the "expert" hired gun psychologist who floated the "affluenza defense." Finally, why was there no appeal by the state's  prosecutor of  the ludicrous decision by the judge to award probation for killing four people? I find it difficult to believe that the Judge's financial outlook has not brightened as a result of  his decision.  Ask yourself what would have been the result if the identical crime had been committed by a non-white Texan of ordinary or modest means. Justice for sale in Texas!   

        At year's end, we're already deeply embroiled in the next November's election hoo- ha. I really like the UK idea that campaigning must be limited to six weeks before the actual election day. We have been exposed  to some of the most venal, xenophobic , and downright inappropriate campaigning I've ever seen, while also being treated to displays of epic ignorance which are so outré  as to amaze and amuse.

        Trump leads the pack with such gems as: "My IQ is one of the highest — and you all know it! Please don't feel so stupid or insecure; it's not your fault." Or how about: “Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.” (it was about here that I decided that the "J" stands for "jerk off "!)  Or, finally, if sexism is your thing: “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her… wherever.”

        I must admit that, while Trump is supremely offensive, he probably isn't certifiably insane, but several Far Right wannabees blur the line. Examples include: "Mormons believe that "Jesus and the devil are brothers," "When Chuck Norris does a pushup, he isn't lifting himself up, he's pushing the Earth down. (Mike Huckabee), "

     “The idea that the Crusades and the fight of Christendom against Islam is somehow an aggression on our part is absolutely 'anti-historical' (ed: NOT!), And that is what the perception is by the American left, who hates Christendom.”  "All the people who live in the West Bank are Israelis. There are no Palestinians. This is Israeli land." (Rick Santorum)

        The hands down champion of the irrelevant and ill conceived misstatement, however is Dr. Ben Carson who, while apparently good at cranial hemispherectomies, sucks at essentially every other reality of life in the real world. Examples include

"My own personal theory is that Joseph built the pyramids to store grain. Now all the archaeologists think that they were made for the pharaohs’ graves. But, you know, it would have to be something awfully big if you stop and think about it..."

" Fox News as the only thing keeping the United States from becoming Cuba."

"Hey guys, everybody attack him. He may shoot me, but he can’t get us all,'"

"Obamacare is really I think the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery."

“First of all, we have to understand how the Constitution works. The president is required to carry out the laws of the land, the laws of the land come from the legislative branch. So if the legislative branch creates a law or changes a law, the executive branch has a responsibility to carry it out. It doesn’t say they have the responsibility to carry out a judicial law. And that’s something we need to talk about.”

        No, Ben, YOU have to understand how the Constitution works! Actually, this last one  is perhaps the most troubling because it shows a person who considers himself a viable candidate for the presidency who doesn't have the grasp of how the Constitution and Government work  that  we require of high school students.

        Finally, although  this late 2015 quote  comes from Ben Carson, it could have just as easily come from Palin, Bachmann, Huckabee, Santorum  or any of a host of others who have a religious agenda which, they seem to believe, trumps reality.  

         “The pledge of allegiance to our flag says we are one nation under God. Many courtrooms in the land on the wall it says ‘In God We Trust.’ Every coin in our pocket, every bill in our wallet says ‘In God We Trust.’ So if it’s in our founding documents, it’s in our pledges, in our courts and it’s on our money, but we’re not supposed to talk about it, what in the world is that? In medicine it’s called schizophrenia and I, for one, am simply not willing to kick God to the curb.”

        Sounds good, doesn't it? Sort of like "Chocolate."  The problem is that Carson's statements and the implication  therein are egregiously incorrect.   Where to begin?

        First and foremost, Our pledge of allegiance wasn’t written until 1892, and the words “under God” weren’t added until 1954. So, neither our pledge nor the words “under God” have anything to do with our Founding Fathers or the values on which this nation was founded.  In fact, 104 years lapsed between the Constitution's adoption and the Pledge of Allegiance. Another 62 years passed before in a flurry of McCarthy fueled jingoism, we added "Under God."   As far as  “In God We Trust” being on our currency, that didn’t happen until 1864. Again, 77 years  after our nation had already been founded. As far as our nation’s motto becoming “In God We Trust,” that didn’t happen until 1956, again  during the Cold War as some kind of asinine response to communism. Once again, this was a move that had nothing to do with our Founding Fathers or the creation of this nation.  It is deeply troubling to me that this sort of statement is blandly accepted by those who like the way it sounds and are apparently untroubled by the total fallaciousness of it all.

        The one promise I can make for the new year is that it will get worse before November.