Confusin' but not Amusin'

Wisconsin Postal worker
delivers in the nude to
“help woman cheer up.”

Confusin’ but not Amusin’ is about all I can say about the tax bill that is currently under consideration, having been approved by the Senate but not yet by the House. Hardly anyone seems to like this bill except the mainstream Republicans. The Tea Party hates it, even Mitt Romney doesn’t like it, the Progressives hate it, President Obama doesn’t like it, but it will probably pass anyway, perhaps with a bit of tinkering. Of course different groups dislike it for different reasons, some of them because it doesn’t do anything for some, some because it doesn’t do enough for the rich, some because they don’t like the way it was created, some because of the estate tax changes, some because it’s not permanent, and no doubt some because Obama had something to do with it, and so on. But as so many seem to dislike it intensely it would no doubt probably be wise to let the House kill it and start over from scratch. I do find it amusing when I see it described as “Obama’s tax bill,” as though he somehow single-handedly forced Republicans to accept it. Why isn’t it called the Republican’s tax bill, they are the ones that doggedly clung to their demand that the obscenely rich become even more obscenely rich or they would not allow anything to pass until they got their way? I confess to be confused about this because it is so intrinsically wrong, both morally and economically, I cannot understand how anyone could vote for it. I also cannot believe there are people so greedy that no amount of money seems to satisfy them. It is up to the House to save us from this travesty, but don’t hold your breath or get your hopes up very high.

Someone pointed out today that Wikileaks is only doing what the Fourth Estate used to do, that is, uncover news and exposing it for what it is. I believe this is basically correct, our MSM has long since abandoned what must be considered real news in favor of infotainment or worse, simply reporting what they are told to report. Once the corporations took over control of the major news outlets this was inevitable. Obviously these corporate giants should be broken up and made more competitive and more objective. No one should be allowed to have a virtual monopoly on the news.

Here it is, Christmas once more. Another innocent tree sacrificed for an event that probably didn’t happen to celebrate the birth of a person who may not have existed. Of course the event that is supposedly celebrated has been mostly obscured by the crass commercialization of it all. The success of the Christmas season seems nowadays to be measured by the amount of money merchants managed to get people to spend (largely on Chinese made junk). The standard Christmas carols that I have heard now for 81 years have taken on an aura of mechanical monotony, but even so they are far better than the more modern songs that are slowly replacing them. Sometimes I think if I hear Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer one more time I might burst something, “I Saw Santa Kissing Mama” makes me sick, as do some of the others. In spite of all this I am not really a humbug, I do enjoy the season, the food and drink, the conviviality and even “The Night before Christmas” (but, alas, not the Nutcracker). I think I might enjoy it all if there was much less of it. Excesses of anything, like gluttony, are unpleasant.

If you haven’t seen it, you should get on Buzzflash and watch the video of Vladimir Putin singing “Blueberry Hill.”

LKBIQ:
Dear Lord, I've been asked, nay commanded, to thank Thee for the Christmas turkey before us... a turkey which was no doubt a lively, intelligent bird... a social being... capable of actual affection... nuzzling its young with almost human- like compassion. Anyway, it's dead and we're gonna eat it. Please give our respects to its family...
Berke Breathed

TILT:
According to Google there are more an one million books published worldwide each year.