Mothers Day, 2023

If you came here looking for Poetry Sunday, you'll need to wait for two weeks. Today, we revisit my traditional salute to mothers everywhere.

Today is Mothers’ Day, the one day each year we set aside to honor the lady we undervalue the other 364. It’s the day we remember the person who made our hurts better, explained our homework, cooked our meals, washed our clothes, drove us where we needed to go, warned us about our less-savory acquaintances, embarrassed us in front of our friends, and did her best to point us down the straight line of a moral and upright life.

Mothers are the wonderful and woefully underappreciated people from whom the Army and the Navy stole their one-time recruiting slogans - the Army's "We do more before 9 AM than most people do all day," and the Navy's "It's not just a job, it's an adventure." With all due respect to Soldiers and Sailors everywhere ... you guys ain't got a clue.

Somewhere in my web surfings I found this little riff on how we look at our Mothers at different ages:

Age 4: Mommy can do anything!
Age 8: Mom knows a lot!
Age 12: Mother doesn't know everything.
Age 14: Mother doesn't know anything.
Age 16: Mother is so old-fashioned.
Age 18: Her? She's out of it.
Age 25: Mom might know something about that.
Age 35: Before we decide, let's ask Mom.
Age 45: What would Mom have thought about that?
Age 65: I wish I could talk that over with Mom.

It’s true.

My mother passed away twenty-two years ago at the far-too-young age of 74. She spent a long and honorable life raising four children who, I like to think, made her proud ... most of the time, anyway. And in her twilight years, her once-formidable mind ravaged by Alzheimer’s Disease, she missed much of the result of her love and care and sacrifice – a son who finally knows how to dance (and who may yet write that book she thought he had in him), a small army of grandchildren, and six beautiful great-grandchildren who will never know her love and wisdom and off-the-wall sense of humor that brightened the lives of everyone who knew her.

The next generation of Mothers has taken over. My beloved daughter Yasmin and the best daughter-in-law in the world, Tabitha, between them are raising the world’s six greatest grandchildren. And someday those wonderful grandchildren will sit down on Mothers’ Day and reflect – just as their grandpa does today – on the woman who gave up so much of her own life and dreams to make them who they are.

Take the time today to give your Mother a hug and a kiss. Someday, you’ll wish you had.

And so again this year, I wish all the mothers out there doing the world's toughest job, a very happy Mothers' Day and many more to come. We couldn't be what we are, or do what we do, without you.

And lest you think I'm getting too maudlin about the whole thing, here's a picture from long ago of my Dad with four then and future moms: my daughter Yasmin, my sister Lisa, Agnes, and my mother ...

We're a weird family, but somehow we've all turned out all right. More or less.

Have a great Mothers' Day!

More thoughts later.

Bilbo

Cartoon Saturday

Please, just make it stop ...

Der Furor was found guilty on multiple counts of sexual abuse, battery, and defamation by a Manhattan court and ordered to pay plaintiff E. Jean Carroll $5 million in damages ... which, knowing Der Furor's history of paying his debts, she'll never see; Covid-era restrictions on immigration have ended, and the nation is braced for a surge in both legal and illegal immigration at the southern border; astronomers have discovered what they believe to be the largest stellar explosion ever detected, more than 10 times brighter than any recorded exploding star and exceeding even the largest recorded angry rant by Der Furor; New York GOP representative and serial liar George Santos was arrested and charged with 13 counts of wire fraud, making false statements to Congress (gasp!) and other offenses ... he was released on $500,000 bond, posted - of course - by anonymous supporters; and in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a man caught on traffic cameras riding an electric scooter on Interstate 94 (speed limit, 70; his estimated max speed, 15) escaped a high-speed police chase when he exited the highway and went out of camera coverage.

This week, I thought I'd feature a collection of cartoons about books and the printing thereof, before the raging conservatives remove them all from the libraries ...

Who better to write the history of the dinosaurs? ...  

There's trouble down on the farm ...

This is what happens when literature is dumbed down for the current audiences ...

Sounds right ...

He's right, you know ...

I'm absolutely sure this is how it went down ...

It makes sense, doesn't it? ...

A million monkeys can't churn out the works of Shakespeare, but ...

Perfectly accurate ...

Suddenly there came a tapping ...

And that's it for this week ... turn off the computer and go read a book!

Have a good day and a great weekend, and come back tomorrow for my annual tribute to Mothers everywhere. More thoughts then.

Bilbo

Great Moments in Editing and Signage

First batch for May - get 'em while they're hot!

Well, an award is an award, I guess ...

It's an interesting combination of products to sell ... maybe you can get a good deal on casters for the furniture pieces, too ...

It's a good, descriptive label, you have to admit ...

I think I'll go with the curved yellow ones ...

Anything I could say would be problematic, so I'll  just leave this one here ...

I guess they'll sell their produce to anyone, even rude beggars ...

I like to hyphenate in the winter, too. My word processing program helps with it ...

I've always found this to be true ...

Okaaaaaay ...

Ol' Charles is a really good sport ...

And that's it for this week. Enjoy a curved yellow fruit for a healthy snack while you wait for tomorrow, when Cartoon Saturday returns. More thoughts then.

Bilbo

Rites of Degradation

One of my favorite blogs, Miss Cellania, a while back posted a link to a very interesting article titled "Unmaking a Priest: The Rite of Degradation."

I was familiar with the term defrocking, which refers to the dismissal of a priest who has been found ... unpriestly. The official name for this process is "The Rite of Degradation," described by The Catholic Encyclopedia as "a canonical penalty by which an ecclesiastic is entirely and perpetually deprived of all office, benefice, dignity, and power conferred on him by ordination; and by a special ceremony is reduced to the state of a layman, losing the privileges of the clerical state and being given over to the secular arm." The Rite of Degradation is, in fact, a complex ritual designed to demonstrate that the priest being defrocked is being peeled like a canonical onion, visibly stripped of the layers of distinctive clothing that had marked him as a man of God.

Since I stopped going to church many years ago, I found the article to be of general rather than specifically religious interest, although it did remind me of the whole issue of ceremonies, rites, and rituals, which I find fascinating.

Religious rituals are probably the most common ones that we encounter on a daily basis, although there are many other sorts of ceremonies, some with religious overtones - such as last weekend's coronation ritual that formalized the rule of Britain's King Charles III. Military change-of-command ceremonies, weddings, presidential inaugurations, state visits, funerals, courtroom trials - all respond to a human need for stability and consistency in an unpredictable and chaotic world. Sex doesn't escape this need, either ... as the libertine Sir Stephen noted in the soft-core pornographic novel "Story of O," "I have a fondness for habits and ritual." And you may remember the old TV western series "Branded," which followed the adventures of a man unfairly (and in a graphic ceremony at the beginning of each episode) drummed out of the Army because of alleged cowardice.

But let's not talk about religion and sex and the Army for a moment ... let's talk about the unfortunate lack of a Rite of Degradation in the Constitution. 

As we go through the drawn-out agony of unpacking and - hopefully - punishing the crude venality and lawlessness of Der Furor and his administration, one wishes the founders had done better than establish  simple impeachment as the penalty for malfeasance in office. Article 1, Section 3, Clause 7 states that,

"Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law."

There's nothing about prison, drawing and quartering, exile, or the like. Of course, the Founders didn't want European-style royal punishments, so I guess that was to be expected. But it would have been nice if there'd been something more visible to underscore the seriousness of offenses against the public trust. We don't have presidential sashes to be stripped away, crowns to be removed from heads, or orbs and scepters to be ceremoniously broken, which rather limits the sort of satisfyingly ritualistic expulsion we can perform.

It would be nice if we had a Constitutionally-enshrined Rite of Degradation - a political ritual by which a President, Member of Congress, or appointed and confirmed federal official, is shown to be entirely and perpetually deprived of all office, benefits, dignity, and power conferred on them by election or appointment - that would not only remove malefactors from office, but graphically demonstrate the penalty for abusing the public trust. What form might that take?

A President or Vice President might be made to stand on the South Lawn of the White House while the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court uses a large hammer to smash a plaster replica of the appropriate seal of office before the Capitol Police escort them to the White House gates, usher them out, and close and lock the gates behind them.

Senators and Representatives might be made to stand in the well of their respective chamber while the judgement is read, after which their fellow members would all turn their backs before walking out, leaving the expellee alone in front of the C-SPAN cameras.

Justices of the Supreme Court could be forced to remove their robes on the front steps of the Supreme Court building, drop them to the ground, and walk across them as they leave the building for the last time.

Cabinet officers and other high-ranking appointees could be filmed carrying their personal effects out of their offices in cardboard boxes under police escort.

None of these will ever happen, of course, but it's nice to dream. Because, in my mind, there are few things worse than abuse of the public trust without consequence ... which is pretty much where we are today.

Have a good day. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

Who's in Charge?

Although I have many British friends and have long been an Anglophile, I must admit that I resolutely refused to watch the coronation of the new king. I have nothing against Charles per se, it's just that we fought a whole revolutionary war to be able to ignore kings. And would-be kings like Der Furor, too.

But the whole king thing got me to thinking about who gets to be in charge.

In the UK and in some other countries, there's a distinction between the head of state (a king, president, or suchlike) who is the representational and symbolic leader, and the head of government (a prime minister or suchlike), an elected or appointed political figure who runs the day-to-day business of governing the nation. Here in the US of A, however, our Constitution combines both of these functions in a single individual - the President of the United States, often referred to in military and governmental circles as the POTUS*. 

It has occurred to me to wonder if we might not be better off if the old saying "two heads are better than one" applied to our government as well.

Our elected president is a political creature, chosen because they** represent the views of that part of the electorate which voted for them and of the monied class that paid for them and expects a return on its investment. As the nominal head of a major political party, the president embodies that party's philosophy of government and works to advance its agenda which, by definition, appeals mainly (often only) to that party's voters.

A head of state, on the other hand, represents the entire nation. The king/queen/president/etc stands above the political fray to provide gravitas, a voice of moderation, a symbol of national unity and integrity, and an embodiment of the nation's core values and principles. 

During the unfortunate reign of Der Furor, our nation became a laughingstock in part because the unhinged and irresponsible language and behavior of the president symbolized to the world not only the bankruptcy of his party's policies, but an America that was angry, fearful, insular, dismissive of its own Constitution, and uninterested in its responsibilities on the world stage. There was no calm and dignified head of state that could provide a moderating counterweight to the ugliness and banality of the head of government.

Sadly, we'll never change to a system like this, for a few reasons. 

One is our view of the eternal and unchanging sacredness of our Constitution, and the deliberately cumbersome process by which it can be amended. If we can't do something about a bastardized Second Amendment that has caused such horrific loss of innocent life, or a system of representational allocation that allows gerrymandering to prioritize party power over voters' desires, we'll never change the whole leadership structure.

Another is the basic question of how the head of state is chosen. There are essentially four ways it can be done: (1) direct election by the population; (2) indirect election or appointment by the national legislature; (3) hereditary succession; or (4) - as in dictatorships - seizing the position by force. 

In a social and political system as warped as the one we have in America today, the first option is probably a non-starter, as voters would almost certainly select along party lines, and the elected head of state would likely be viewed by voters of the losing party as just another political hack. Appointment or election by the legislature is a possibility, but the number of votes for a given party in a House stocked with representatives of wildly-gerrymandered districts would likely result in a selection by party affiliation rather than merit and lead to the same dismissal by supporters of other parties. Hereditary succession is, of course, a non-starter, although we do have a few political dynasties (consider the Adamses, Roosevelts, Bushes, and Kennedys). Seizure by force is the last option, and - until January 6th, 2021, would have been considered unthinkable.

Third is that heads of state tend to rely on all sorts of ornamentation to emphasize the singularity and grandeur of their positions. These may include colorful sashes, maces, robes, official seals, chains of office, ornate crowns, coats of arms, scepters, orbs, thrones, or combinations thereof. Americans historically have eschewed such garish symbols of office, although the previous administration seemed to have a predilection for huge displays of  boorish and tasteless flags, and many of our fellow citizens would consider the Holy AR-15*** 

to be the American equivalent of Charles III's crown, orb, and scepter.

Sigh. 

For good or ill, we're stuck with a system that combines the two offices in one person. When that one person is basically good and decent - a Washington, Lincoln, Eisenhower, Obama, or Biden - all is well, even if some portion of the electorate remains unhappy. When that one person is an unqualified, self-absorbed, useless buffoon - an Andrew Johnson, a Buchanan, a George W. Bush, or Der Furor - the result can be disastrous for both the nation and the world.

So ...

To my British friends, congratulations! Although Charles III may have no real power in your constitutional monarchy, he provides a calm and reasonably stately alternative to figures like Boris Johnson. I wish we could have someone like that to be the adult in the room the next time we wake up drunk and learn we've elected a DeSantis or - god forbid - Der Furor again.

Have a good day. Please vote for rational adults.

More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

* We also have a FLOTUS, or "First Lady of the United States." Should we ever get around to electing a female president, we might have an unpronounceable FGOTUS ("First Gentleman of the United States") or FSPOTUS ("First Spouse of the United States"). And should we ever elect an openly gay president, there could even be a FSSPOTUS ("First Same-Sex Partner of the United States"), although this would probably result in the widespread explosion of heads on the social and religious right. 

** I'm using the pronouns they/them/their in their newly-fashionable roles as non-gender-specific terms when specificity of gender is not germane in the context. It sounds weird and awkward to my 1950's-vintage ears, but times and customs change. Get used to it.

*** Lemme hear you say, "Halleluja!!"

Musical Sunday

Last month saw the death of actor, singer, and activist Harry Belafonte, the man widely known for popularizing calypso music in this country. Almost everyone recognizes at least one of his many hit songs, but this one has always been my favorite - a sad and wistful tune about departures and lost love ...

It is, indeed, sad to think that a man as talented as Harry Belafonte won't be back for many a day. And now we've lost Gordon Lightfoot, too ... but we'll honor him in a future Musical Sunday.

Have a good day and enjoy the rest of your weekend. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

  

Cartoon Saturday

If you were waiting for May to be better than April, I don't think you're off to the start you wanted.

Beloved Canadian singer/songwriter Gordon Lightfoot died at the age of 84; four leaders of the Proud Boys "militia" were convicted of seditious conspiracy for their actions on and before the January 6th, 2021 insurrection; in another blow to the reputation of the Supreme Court, a new report from ProPublica claims that billionaire Republican donor Harlan Crow paid private school tuition fees for the grandnephew of US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas; in the nation's latest rollback of child labor laws, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds said she will sign a bill allowing children as young as 14 to work in roofing, construction and demolition, provided they are part of educational or apprenticeship programs and a parent has granted permission for the work; and in (where else?) Florida, two paramedics have been fired after a patient they declared dead was found to be, in fact, alive ... they apparently mistook the lack of brain activity caused by support of Governor Ron DeSantis as an indication of death.

This week, in recognition of our current political situation, a collection of cartoons that is - literally and figuratively - for the birds.

It was only a matter of time ...  

Birds like a good restaurant, too ...

I guess it's a status thing for birds, too ...

Birds and airplanes don't mix, but there's a green solution ...

Birds have their favorite musical styles ...

It took a while, but they're slowly coming home to roost ...

There's a new scam every day, and he's lucky the homeowner wasn't armed ...

That would be something I'd probably do ...

Why musicians (and a lot of other people) shouldn't own a parrot ...

Everybody's a specialist ...

And that's it for this week's bird-watching here on Cartoon Saturday. I hope it helped lift your spirits a little.

Have a good day and a great weekend. More thoughts tomorrow, when Musical Sunday celebrates the late Harry Belafonte. See you then!

Bilbo

The Right-Cheek Ass Clown for May, 2023

This past Tuesday in this space, I published a post titled "The Most Unfortunate Top-Ten (Plus) List," based on a random tweet I'd found which offered a top-ten list of the most despicable people in America. My own list could neither be limited to ten, nor to Americans, which is a pretty sad commentary on the state of things in the nation and the world.

Today, I find myself once again facing the problem of identifying an Ass Clown awardee whose stupidity, amorality, and general repugnance can represent the nadir of ass clownery ... at least, until the next awardee comes up. I was lamenting the difficulty of making the choice to my wife the other day, whining that it was easier to come up with a top-ten-plus list than a single winner. Unfortunately, she was of no help in making my choice ... in fact, as she's originally from Germany, she tends to look at today's Americans as a whole from a European perspective of head-shaking mystification, if not downright sorrow.

And so, once again, it's up to me. My first inclination was to present the award to the House Republicans, whose cavalier threat to tank the economy over the debt ceiling once again shows the bankruptcy of their ideas and economic policies. Unfortunately, while their despicable behavior risks causing economic misery to millions at home and around the world, it won't actually kill anyone ... at least immediately. The actions of my chosen winners will.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, the tinfoil and toilet paper crown designating

The Right-Cheek Ass Clown for May, 2023

 

is presented to

America's Second Amendment Zealots

Because the Founders had just won a war for independence from a nation with a huge standing army, they were understandably wary of giving a powerful central government sole control of a standing army. They envisioned that the individual states could have their own "well-organized militias" that would serve as a check on the power of a government that might in the future become oppressive. Those "well-organized militias" would rely on a populace allowed ... indeed, encouraged, to "keep and bear arms" so as to be ready for duty when needed. 

Over the years, the idea of a "well-organized militia" standing ready to overthrow a tyrannical government was replaced by the idea that every person had the right to own and carry, ready for use, "arms" for self-protection against whatever threat was perceived to be on the horizon ... or at the door ... or in the driveway ... or in a passing car ... or in the local elementary school. The "well-organized militia" had turned into a heavily-armed and out-of-control mob.

*

No place is now safe from random gun violence ... not your church, your children's school, your grocery store, your movie theater, your workplace, your car, even your yard. And instead of recognizing the threat posed by the totally unregulated proliferation of military-grade weapons, each time there's another mass murder we blame everything except the weapon.

Those who worship high-powered weapons insist that the weapon is totally safe and blameless in and of itself ... that it sits innocently on the shelf bothering no one until an unworthy person, probably mentally ill, misuses it. They snicker at stupid libtards who don't use proper terminology ("AR" doesn't stand for "assault rifle," you idiot), as if those unenlightened simpletons are linguistically unqualified to discuss matters of life and death, and piously declare that 99.9999999% of gun owners are absolutely rock-solid citizens who would never dream of using that high-powered semiautomatic rifle with a 30-round magazine to do anything other than shoot the occasional squirrel or defend their family against the raging Antifa mobs that are burning the country to the ground.

The gun - in particular the lavishly-customized AR-style automatic rifle - is the newest and best-loved phallic symbol for insecure American men, having long since taken the place of the gigantic pickup truck with huge tires and a mighty trailer hitch, capable of mounting a gun rack and flying a forest of silly flags. The "open carry" of a gun - or of multiple guns - is a common sight in many communities, particularly in the South, and makes it difficult for the public and the police to distinguish between someone ready to commit mass murder and someone who is just scared to death that a drag queen might be in the area. The reality of "open carry" is not always what its supporters believe ...

Those who insist on the absolute freedom to pack iron depend on ridiculous comparisons to defend their position. They point out that more people die in traffic accidents than by gunfire, and ask why we don't ban cars ... ignoring the fact that a car is purpose-built to provide transportation, while a gun is purpose-built to kill. They insist that the problem is not guns, but mental health, and yet object to funding mental health care for those who need it. Many of them insist that they are "pro-life," but ignore the fact that their fixation on the unrestricted freedom to own and carry weapons designed and built to kill are the least pro-life things they could imagine. As commentator Joyce Vance noted in her "Civil Discourse" letter yesterday,

"Guns should not have more rights than people in our society, but they do. And the ultimate irony is that the same crowd that insists on having their assault weapons also wants to prevent women from having an abortion, because: pro-life. They are explicitly okay with those babies being mowed down in the nation’s schools, hospitals, shopping malls, and churches once they’re born, with only the thin veneer of thoughts and prayers to notice their deaths."

The mass murder of children and innocent persons is a price America's Second Amendment Zealots are happily willing to pay to be able to enjoy their passion for weapons of war. They are unwilling to admit that their beloved guns are not a harmless fetish to make a weak man feel strong, but a dangerous menace to the lives of everyone around them.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, the Right-Cheek Ass Clown for May, 2023, is America's Second Amendment Zealots, whose heads are locked and loaded with self-important dreams of overthrowing tyrants, but whose reality is the mass murder of children.

Don't waste your time trying to change their minds. If the fact that "school shooting" is a frequently used term in the news hasn't made them see reason, nothing will.

Invest in a kevlar wardrobe for your family, because it's not going to get any better.

Have a good day. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

* The fact that this cartoon dates to 2010 is itself a sad commentary.

How "Public Servants" Became "Politicians," etc.

The news from (and about) Congress has been pretty dismal of late, and surveys tell us repeatedly that politicians are considered to be among the least ethical and trusted of characters, in some cases ranking below child molesters and - gasp! - used-car salesmen, and only slightly above telemarketers. An old pun tells us that the very term politics derives from the Greek words poly ("many") and tics ("bloodsucking creatures").

MAGAts say they love Der Furor because he's "not a politician," as if the fact that he's an utterly self-centered and proudly immature con artist, misogynist, liar, and general waste of DNA is as important as his complete lack of public service experience, empathy, and general gravitas.

So riddle me this, Batman: how did politicians come to be so detested? When did the people we once looked up to as public servants become bureaucrats or, worse, politicians?

Part of it, I think, is a general distaste for the messy legislative work of a representative democracy that tries to balance the interests of as many disparate groups as possible. If you don't believe your views are being adequately represented and advanced by your elected representative, or that they have signed on to a compromise with which you disagree, they cease to be a public servant and turn into a politician.

Another reason is probably the growth in the size of the population being represented by a fixed number of elected representatives. A House capped at 435 seats by the Permanent Apportionment Act of 1929 has caused the number of constituents per Representative to skyrocket - this chart shows, as of 2020, the number of constituents per Representative ... Montana, with one Representative, has the highest ratio with over 994,000:1; the lowest ratio is in Rhode Island, at about 528,000:1 ... in Virginia, where I live, the ratio is about in the middle, with 731,000:1. How on earth can a single elected Representative hear and respond to that many constituents with a wide range of needs and interests? Although I write regularly to my Representative (and my Senators) on issues about which I care, I know they would never recognize me if I met them on the street ... and how can I know that understand my concerns? It's easy to feel that your vote doesn't really matter to that politician.

And, of course, there's the whole money thing. Running for Congress is expensive, and the people who funnel lots of money into campaigns in ways both legal and illegal, ethical and unethical, want a return on their investment. Good luck getting your voice heard when it's being drowned out by the whirring sound of hundred-dollar bills flying through banks of counting machines.

All this is really sad, especially when we consider that we need elected officials to represent our interests and try to balance them with those of others in search of a workable common ground. For all the whining and bitching on the right about an oppressive government trampling the freedom of hard-working Americans, we have the imperfect government that the Founders established with our Constitution. Unfortunately, the way the Founders structured the government - while good in theory - has resulted in gridlock and enabled the tyranny of the minority ... not to mention that the vague and archaic language of the Constitution has provided centuries of full employment to lawyers and political commentators. 

The Preamble to the Constitution explains why the Founders realized that we need a functioning government: 

"... in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity ..."

I think we can all agree that the goals of the Founders in ordain(ing) and establish(ing) the Constitution have been, at best, imperfectly met. A more perfect Union is threatened by self-segregation into angry red and blue spheres; Justice has been established for those able to afford the best legal representation and select the right judge to hear their case; domestic Tranquility is a still-to-be-realized dream threatened by vast numbers of guns and a population willing to believe hogwash and unwilling to engage in rational argument; the common defence is in good shape against foreign threats, but less so against our heavily-armed and angry fellow citizens; the general Welfare depends on one's economic station and ability to afford food, housing, and medical care; and the blessings of liberty remain unevenly distributed by race, religion, and class.

We elect public servants to try to achieve the lofty goals of the Constitution, but they must act as politicians in order to (1) get elected in the first place and (2) accomplish anything once elected. The best of them work hard to serve the needs and interests of their constituents within the parameters of principled compromise; the worst of them are useless, bloviating showboats* who accomplish nothing but filling angry air time on partisan media.

How do we turn politicians back into public servants? There are a few things we can do.

The most obvious is to take the money out of the system by publicly funding our elections. We must stop allowing special interests, big business, and the ultra-wealthy to purchase a government that works only for them. Sadly, this will never happen, as the ability to change things rests firmly in the hands of those whose interests are best served by the status quo.

Another is to strictly enforce ethical rules for elected officials ... and for the Supreme Court, while we're at it. Nothing turns a public servant into a politician faster than the shameless desire to cash in on the public trust.

We could reintroduce mandatory education in civics in our elementary and high schools. This will also never happen, for two reasons: (1) many Americans reflexively oppose making anything mandatory**, and (2) there's a wide range of opinions on what constitutes good civic behavior**.

Finally, we could - gasp! - realize that a nation like ours, with a form of government like ours, is never, ever, going to satisfy everybody, and that the best outcome of our differences is a grudging realization that we're trying to do the best we can with the tools we have. Sadly, it's hard to do that when we're yelling at each other.

Okay, I'm done. I've run out of gas. The choir has been duly preached to, and it's time to think about pleasant things like my grandchildren, breakfast, and the garden.

Have a good day. Be civil. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

* Yes, Empty G, Lauren Boebert, Jim Jordan, Ted Cruz, Ron Johnson, etc, etc - I'm talking to you.

** Even measures to ensure public health and safety. Go figure.

*** Consider that many Republicans claim that the violent storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, was "legitimate political discourse," and that a former president remains famous for his demeaning and violent rhetoric characterizing his opponents in the most vile and debasing of terms. And what does the Constitution actually SAY, anyhow (see the first cartoon above).

The Most Unfortunate Top-Ten (Plus) List

Like my friend Mike, I enjoy wasting time online, surfing from place to place, learning odd things and finding weird stuff. The Internet is the greatest time sink since ... well ... the invention of time sinks. 

Yesterday evening I was scrolling through my Twitter feed (which is as good a place to waste time as any) when I found a tweet in which the author proposed his Top Ten List of the most despicable people in America, and asked for other nominees.

First of all, I must say that I found it impossible to limit my own Top Ten List to (1) ten and (2) America. Without any effort at all, I came up with a list of 19 names. It's in no particular order except for first place, which is - IMHO - a lead-pipe cinch.

Der Furor - the individual I blame for making crude and boorish behavior acceptable, and a prerequisite for election to office as a Republican. An utterly self-centered and proudly immature con artist, misogynist, liar, and general waste of DNA who totally lacks empathy, gravitas, or recognizable interest in public service. Holds the record for largest number of Ass Clown Awards on this site.

Ron DeSantis - as crude and dangerous as Der Furor, but a little smarter and more devious. A two-time Ass Clown Award winner.

Kevin McCarthy - the man who sold the last shreds of his honor and dignity to gain a job he is completely incapable of doing ... because he sold the last shreds of his honor and dignity to get it. A three-time Ass Clown Award winner.

Paul Gosar - proof positive that anyone, no matter how deranged, can be elected to Congress in some places. A one-time Ass Clown Award winner.

Ron Johnson - Wisconsin is famous for its fine cheese and its most bizarre elected official. A two-time Ass Clown Award winner.

George Santos - a miserable serial liar and stain on the honor and dignity of Congress and those who elected him. 

Matt Gaetz - an attention hog with no identifiable qualifications for office, whose main job seems to be joining with other Congressional extremists to bring government to a halt. A two-time Ass Clown Award winner.

Empty G - a childish windbag less interested in representing her Georgia constituents than in gaining notoriety as a flamethrowing waste of time, space, and oxygen. A four-time Ass Clown Award winner.

Jim Jordan - the Ohio representative notable only for his faux-everyman attire and dismissive, berating style during Congressional hearings. A three-time Ass Clown Award winner. 

Lauren Boebert - a useless blowhard whose evident belief that loud and constant support of the open carry and worship of firearms is a legitimate substitute for legislative competence. Insists that religion should govern the nation, since it's worked out so well in Iran. A two-time Ass Clown Award winner.

Greg Abbott - the openly cruel and racist Texas governor who, in announcing a reward for the arrest of a multiple murderer, identified the victims (which included an eight-year-old child) as "illegal immigrants," as if that was at least as important as the actual murder. A three-time Ass Clown Award winner, including Ass Clown of the Year for 2022.

Rafael Cruz - the noisy, angry Texas senator with a very modest legislative record. A six-time Ass Clown Award winner.

Samuel Alito - the Supreme Court justice whose personal beliefs are clearly more important than the rule of law, legal precedent, and the traditional separation of church and state.

Clarence Thomas - the poster child for ethical cluelessness on the Supreme Court. An Ass Clown Award winner in April, 2023.

Josh Hawley - the man who seems to believe that toxic masculinity and support of the January 6th insurrectionists qualifies him for office. A two-time Ass Clown Award winner.

Lindsey Graham - the angry, lachrymose Senator from South Carolina who went from despising Der Furor to engaging in happily obsequious posterior osculation with him. A seven-time Ass Clown Award winner.

Vladimir Putin - the power-hungry Russian leader single-handedly responsible for the virtual destruction of the independent nation of Ukraine and the deaths of tens of thousands of Russian soldiers and Ukrainian civilians. A four-time Ass Clown Award winner.

Tucker Carlson - who? A three-time Ass Clown Award winner, including Ass Clown of the Year for 2021.

Kyle Rittenhouse - the immature, weepy, gun-toting individual acquitted of murder who has become a poster child for gun rights and the ability to beat the justice system. An Ass Clown Special Award winner.

I could go on, but you get the idea. Who are your nominees?

And by Friday, I need to decide on the Right-Cheek Ass Clown for this month. Help me out, here ...

Have a good day. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo