Think it can't happen here? Think again

The images from Cairo are disturbing as thousands take to the streets to protest.

They're protesting a faltering economy. They are protesting poverty. They are protesting a non-responsive government that is ignoring their pleas for stability.

The situation worsens as Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak shuffles his feet, making superficial changes to his government to try to appease the protesters while not realizing that he is the problem.

The rioting and protests in Egypt should serve warning to U.S. leaders, who don't seem to have a very good handle on what is taking place here.

We have huge unemployment. We have a shattered economy. We have a non-responsive government that drifts farther and farther away from reality with each passing day.

The unrest in Egypt? Don't kid yourself, it can happen here.

All it will take is a blunder of some kind during the dog days of summer when tempers comingle with the heat in a dangerous, volatile soup of discontent.

It could be a bum arrest on an inner-city street. It could be a cracker gone over the edge. It could be political debate gone awry, but the finger is on the trigger in America and there is a frightening chance it can be pulled.

We saw, just before Christmas, how Congress strung out the American unemployed, using them as a political chit, refusing to approve additional emergency unemployment funds until the last minute before the holiday recess. We see now a Congress intent on repealing a health care reform bill. Why? Because it could add to the national debt which is, admitedly, out of control. But, instead of making cuts to the precious earmarks so beloved by our leaders, they want to implode a system of safety nets put together to ensure the health and welfare of our people.

The distance between rich and poor continues to grow. The rich, insulated and protected -- for the time being -- don't quite get it. Sure, their paychecks may not have expanded with the same regularity and predictability of the past, but, they're still doing OK. They can make the mortgage payment, can trade in the family wheels for a new car, can put their kids through school. The poor? Many have lost their homes. They baby the old clunker along, hoping to get another 100,000 miles out of it. College? They do the very best they can and are silently ashamed that they can't provide for their kids like their parents did for them.

At some point, it could all boil over.

People are learning that corporate America has little interest in their welfare. It's the profit margin, the year-over-year comparison that matters, not the people who have put in long, hard years of effort. Instead, loyal employees become unwitting targets because they have worked long enough to earn a salary at the upper end of the company pay scale. Get rid of them, hire some kid out of school as a replacement and the bottom line looks better. More money for the money machine.

The loyalty dies off when jobs are shifted overseas. Wrap your arms around this. A mining company in this country can dig for ore and ship it overseas to be refined, then have it shipped back here for sale and make more money than hiring Americans to do the work. Why is there no tariff on these companies that are adding to the economic misery of so many? It would be one way to level the playing field.

How long before the bile chokes in our throats, the frustration overflows from our hearts and the anger spills out unrestrained?

Take a good look at what's going down in Cairo.

It could happen here.

A false sense of civility staged at State of the Union

In this time of brazen civility, members of the U.S. House of Representatives have decided that when they filter into the House Chamber for this year's State of the Union speech instead of segregating into Democrats and Republicans, with one group sitting on one side, the other a nasty sneer across the aisle.

The impact will have about as much punch as a bunch of high school kids who decide that they will sign a petition and present it to their principal because they don't get enough pizza on the lunch menu.

It's a hollow gesture, especially when one congressman jokes that he is taking a date and that they'll share a box of popcorn and a Cokle with two straws.

"Can't we all get along?" was a catch phrase that may has sounded poignant but had no practicality when Rodney King uttered those words in the midst of the L.A. riots and it holds even less today coming from the mouths of lawmakers, a self-serving bunch of actors dedicated to preservation of their nice, cushy jobs and benefits.

This results, of course, in a fair degree of hubris sprinkled throughout the House and Senate chambers, without the slightest hint of humility, which is why this hands-acxross-the-aisle looks good but does nothing to nourish a public civility that is deep in the tank.

These people are no more prepared to lay down their weapons of deception in exchange for the balm of conscience.

The State of the Union gathering, therefore, will be a shame, a game, a public display of affection aimed more at generating a buzz than bliss.

I mean, if we really want to turn on the television and watch a bimbo do the dry hustle, just tune in Snooki on "Jersey Shore." Me? Forget it. I have this allergy to silicone. It makes my tummy hurt just to look at them, uh...it...uh...you know what I mean.

But, there is no depth, there is no sincerity -- at least very little -- in our government these days. Rather, it's a razzle-dazzle to look good, convince voters these guys are doing their job -- they aren't -- and that they "care deeply" about you and me -- they don't.

Dissatisfaction? Yeah, you could say that.

I'm tired of the hustle, the compromise, the coming-down-hard attitude when it comes to you and me; the opening of the vaults for the rich; the free pass for the powerful. The arrogance and indifference.

The decency factor has disappeared from the equation, replaced by deception, a sleight-of-hand, bait-and-switch.

It permeates or government, business world and, our personal relationships these days.

Take me out, coach, and find me a quiet little beach in Mexico where I can watch the whales and walk in the warm sunshine.

I'm tired of phonies.

Olbermann-MSNBC call it quits

Keith Olbermann's abrupt departure from MSNBC Friday night was not unexpected. Olbermann had flirted with the edge of dismissal at the news network before, retreating here and there to resurface and continue on with his nightly rants.

Maybe that's unfair.

Olbermann was, indeed, the first at the network to bring forward a strong voice for liberal politics. He eliminated all pretense of objectivity, which is the norm these days in broadcast journalism, and stated a position that, quite frankly, was lacking. It must have irritated the hell out of his bosses, which is not necessarily a bad thing. But sometimes he was reduced to, well, rants.

On the other hand, he brought fresh perspective to a network that was growing stagnant and although his show frequently pegged anywhere from brilliant to an out-and-out train wreck, he was always interesting.

It was unfair for the network to jump his case when it was revealed he had given money to a couple of political campaigns. Even though he is in broadcast news, he still should have the right to support candidates of his liking without interference from his bosses; he should be able to come and go as he pleases (i.e., the bans several news agencies imposed on reporters for events such as the Restore Sanity and/or Fear in Washington, D.C.); and live a life that is true unto itself.

That said, I also have to admit that for the last couple of years, I have avoided much of what is broadcast on the so-called news channels, jumping in here and there to see what the state-of-the-art is as a curious onloooker, but not leaping into the fray with the eagerness that once had my remote control on speed dial for MSNBC, CNN and those other guys with really loud voices on that other channel.

We can thank Olbermann for bringing Rachel Maddow to MSNBC. We can thank him for taking on Bill O'Reilly. We can thank him for giving progressive politics a voice.

We can also shake our heads at his inglorious performance during the last presidential election, his shoot-from-the-hip attitude that sometimes had even liberals backing away and his massive ego, which he frequently forgot to check at the door. I guess the ego thing is typical of television personalities, so mayvbe we can forgive a part of that.

Olbermann is a very bright man. He knows sports, he knows politics, he knows his niche in broadcasting. And, it is my sincere hope that his dismissal from MSNBC is more a reflection of the bad judgment of talent that is rampant in television "news" these days rather than another misguided attempt to silence the progressive voice.

I mean, how can we take CNN seriously after it bounced the talented Campbell Brown and booked a daily slot for the incredibly lame "Parker Spitzer" show -- failing in the ratings, by the way -- that places a blonde bimbo across the desk from a guy with the countenance of a smarmy old perv who was embroiled in a prostitution scandal. What value does that bring to the network? Probably as much as hiring Piers Morgan to replace Larry King.

Television has become a rather boring, contemptuous village these days with more than its share of idiots running the ship aground. Olbermann was not one of them. As we have seen, however, the NBC brand is not known for good decisions, particularly in the way it dumped in Conan O'Brien's dinner plate while burnishing Jay Leno's backside.

Perhaps TBS will find a home for Olbermann, much like it did for Team Coco.

Might be interesting.

It didn't take long

It was only a couple of days after Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., was gunned down in a grocery store parking lot -- an assassination attempt that killed six others and wounded 13 -- for the tone of the American public to change.

No, we didn't really put our focus on the alleged gunman. Although there is still more shocking news about this guy percolating, attention was diverted elsewhere.


Nope, despite his warm and human comments, President Barack Obama barely had 15 minutes in the spotlight.


And, God forbid we hold those -- Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Sharron Angle, Sean Hannity -- who pose the most vicious/violent/virulent political and cultural stances accountable!


Instead, we turned our attention to a much more important story -- the announcement that, well, there are really 13, not 12 signs of the zodiac.

Ophiuchus is now the sign for those born between Nov. 29 and Dec. 17, in case you missed the memo.

The Internet was ablaze with postings about the news of how a wobble in the Earth's rotation, positioning of the sun and other astronomical phenomena changed the astrological book.

I guess this is how we return to civility?

I mean, we saw our politicians lining up to display a more "civilized" countenance than the other guy -- preferably from the other side of the aisle.

We saw wingnuts jump out from both sides of the 2nd Amendment issue -- gun proponents arguing that the assassination attempt should not be a new call to demonize guns; gun opponents suggesting that the 2nd Amendment is outdated.

Personally? The idea of being able to take guns off the streets and out of our homes is an an exercise in ignrance. It can never happen and those who base political careers on the 2nd Amendment from either side are milking a dry cow. Guns will never disappear from the American landscape, nor should they.

New gun legislation? Unnecessary. We have plenty of good laws on the books. The bad guys get their guns from people who understand there is a profitable market out there, that they can make a few bucks peddling their weapons to those who otherwise would be unable to purchase them.

But, gun control is not the issue here today.

It's our shallow mindsets that cannot take more than a day or two to wrestle with a serious problem -- whether it's the dehumanizing of our society or an honest-to-God political discussion rooted in civility rather than vicious attacks.

I don't want to see politics wussified, that would be tragic. We need a good, honest donnybrook when deciding our nation's course.

Health care, the national debt, government transparency are important issues and, quite frankly, there should be no compromise when it comes to passing legislation in these or other serious matters because, as we have seen, compromise accomplishes nothing. All it does is water down a good idea.

But, there is no room for the demonization of those who pose questions or opposing views. All that leads to is attacks on a person's life or livelihood, which is almost as important as making sure we know how the planets are aligned.

Om.

5 dead in attack on Congresswoman

Those of us a certain age can remember the horror.

During the turmoil that was America during the '60s and early '70s, we lost poltical leaders to the gun on a regular basis, from JFK to Bobby Kennedy; from Malcolm X to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Even the conservative wing of American politics did not go unscathed with the late Alabama Gov. George Wallace on the wrong end of a sidearm that left him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

I thought we were all done with that until the news out of Tucson, Ariz. that a madman with a Glock opened fire on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords with a shower of bullets that killed six -- including a federal judge, an aide and a child. Giffords remains in critical condition in a Tucson-area hospital.

Then, reality struck when the Associated Press let loose with a piece that states that during the first three months of 2010 there were 42 threats against federal lawmakers -- three times the number over the previous year. Saturday's assault wasn't the first against Giffords, the AP added. In March, somebody kicked in or shot out a window in her Tucson office, hours after she voted for the health care bill.

What makes this even more chilling is the following day, Giffords was among 20 House Democratic supporters of the health care bill targeted -- literally -- by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on her Facebook page.

Palin's page featured a map pf the United States, with the crosshairs of a rifle scope imposed over each of the 20 Democrats' districts where Palin and John McCain had done well during the 2008 presidential election.

"When people do that, they got to realize there are consequences to that action," Giffords said at the time.

Palin, I hope, is hung out as an accomplice to this murderous attack on these victims, our system.

She and her Tea Party cronies are as responsible as anybody for the grief and greed sweeping the American political system today. Palin and the rest of these ledge-hangers have widened the gap between civility and the guerilla warfare that has become modern-day politics. By suggesting even remotely that these people need to be put into the crosshairs of a lunatic is unacceptable even by today's standards of hatred. The smoking gun rests in her hand.

As much as I dislike, distrust and disparage this woman, I would never suggest that somebody take her out in a hail of bullets.

No, I've seen what happens to a nation when its leaders are gunned down because they suggest the end of war, the extension of civil rights or a point of view that may be a tad out of sync.

We become paranoid, fearful, distrustful.

Only the courageous speak out because speaking out can get you killed.

Where is the civility? Where is the morality?

It's nonexistent, on par with the right-to-lifers who are willing to waste an abortion doctor because of the sanctity of life; a president who unleashes an army against Iraq because he's pissed at Saddam Hussein for dissin' his old man; members of the Tea Party who would do harm to another simply because of their politics.

God help us.