The Vote to Kill Medicare

            Just months after losing big in the House during the midterm elections, the Democrats have come up with a few key victories that will seemingly take the wind out of the sails of power hungry sleaze balls like John Boehner and Tea Party buffoons like Michele Bachmann. New York Democrat Kathy Hochul won a surprising special election victory for a vacant seat in the House. Hochul won 48% of the vote, while her Republican opposition won 42% and the Tea Party candidate winning 9% and a Green party candidate rounding out the results with the last 1%. The district where she won has consistently been a conservative district in the past.

            But this victory is only a minor won; the real victory for the Democrats came a day later, when the standoff for Medicare was forced. This put Republicans in a predicament over the bill, authored by Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. In the end, five of the 47 Republicans in the Senate voted against Ryan’s bill that would have killed Medicare by subsidizing it for the private insurance market. This may be a sign that the cut and slash at all cost tactics taken up by the Republicans and Tea Partiers has not gone over well with the public, and that they have most certainly overstepped their boundaries.

            The budget is still high and there is not quality plan in place to fix that. But it looks like the message is finally getting through to our elected officials, especially after the surprising victory of Hochul: if you keep pissing us (the voters) off, you’ll be out of a job come next election. Or maybe even more importantly, a step towards bipartisanship has been taken. But I wouldn’t bet the farm on that one yet.

Trump, Gingrich and Everybody Else

            A few things have happened since the GOP debates were held not so long ago. First and foremost, Donald Trump announced he will not be seeking the Republican nomination, though he still contends that he could “win the primary and the general election.” This marks the end of the road for any fun to be had this election season; though he was hysterically unqualified, Trump was good for a cheap laugh in the sport of American politics. In the end it seemed even the Donald recognized his limitations, and decided to save his money for a future bankruptcy opportunity.

            Secondly, Newt Gingrich announced that he would be running for president, ending barely any speculation of the obvious. Given the choice, I would rather have Trump running any day of the week over Gingrich. Gingrich is the kind of person who has become far too common in Washington these days. He’s an immoral puppet to lobbyists and a chronic flip-flopper on issues like climate change and marriage. He can look Americans in the eyes and tell them they are living heathen lives, but probably doesn’t own a mirror because he can’t bear to look at himself for all the terrible things he’s done to the one who loved him. But at the same time he’s a narcissistic fiend the likes of which even Trump would have to dry heave over. Simply put, Gingrich lacks the redeeming qualities (if you can call them that) that made Trump palatable. He’s just not as fun.

            Another drop out of the Republican race is Haley Barbour, who had far too much baggage to hope to win any states other than Mississippi. If nothing else Barbour is a closet racist who is pretty bad at keeping secrets. His off color comments and his ties to the Klan (or at least reluctance to distance himself from them) would have made it impossible to win, or lose with grace.

            A third member of the non-contender party is Mike Huckabee, despite all the evidence that he himself presented that said the opposite. He made the announcement on his Fox News program, saying that “All the factors say go, but my heart says no; and that’s the decision that I have made.” This move effectively takes away the leader from the Bible-toting, finger pointing weirdoes who think they’re appointed by God to be President of the United States. If nothing else, the GOP has lost another candidate who at least made things interesting.

            Texas Representative Ron Paul announced he was officially running, apparently for one last run at making a real revolution. Outside of this, no one else has stepped forward to declare a run. We’re still waiting to hear from Romney, Bachmann and Palin. Hell, maybe even Giuliani will give it another try. Things are uncertain enough to probably give him some hope.

            It’s still a long way until November 6, 2012, but the climate is already changing. While nobody is off the ground running yet, at least the GOP aren’t at a standstill anymore. As for the Democrats, Obama needs to find a new Secretary of State, as Hillary Clinton is no longer interested in the job. Right now all fingers point at Senator John Kerry, but it’s doubtful if Obama wants to risk losing another Democratic seat in Massachusetts. Who knows, maybe people are fed up enough with Republican Senator Scott Brown that it won’t matter. For now, it’s all still speculation. 

Celtics News

In my last post, I wrote that Danny Ainge would have to start looking for someone to replace Doc Rivers as the head coach of the Celtics. Turns out I was wrong. Today Rivers and the team agreed to a five year deal worth $35 million. He has the chance to become the coach with the second most amount of wins in Celtic history, behind Red Auerbach. Clearly the Big Three Era won't be around for five more years, but with the wily Rivers inked for that long, it looks like the entire franchise is looking at more than just the immanent future.

Where Did It All Go Wrong?

            When you gamble, you have to be prepared to lose at some point. Danny Ainge gambled big once before this and it paid off; he brought in Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to form the Big Three with Paul Pierce, securing the Celtics Banner 17. But when Ainge traded away the franchise favorite Kendrick Perkins, the gamble for instant success fell short, and the Celtics ended their season prematurely to the fiendish Miami Heat.

            It wasn’t just the trade that sent Perkins away that effectively ended the Celtics rule atop the Eastern Conference; it was a culmination of a series of factors. The Big Three has gotten old. The O’Neal factor didn’t pan out as the Celtics had hoped. The productivity off the bench came in waves; sometimes they’d come up big and sometimes they’d just fall flat. Glen Davis was pitiful in the Miami series, Jeff Green was uncertain of his role and Delonte West was injured. But the biggest pitfall the Celtics had was their inability to capitalize on their matchups. Rondo’s dislocated elbow effectively took him out, and somehow the Celtics centers got beat by Joel Anthony who never even had a worthwhile career. But most importantly, the Celtics couldn’t contain LeBron James or Dwyane Wade, and let them score in every way imaginable.

            Danny Ainge has one last shot at redemption this offseason. He has to sign free agents like Jamal Crawford or J. R. Smith to relieve Ray Allen, and add depth to the bench. Most importantly, Ainge has to lay the groundwork to be able to sign and rebuild around Dwight Howard the following year. He also has to begin imaging a world without Doc Rivers, since it doesn’t seem likely he’ll be sticking around forever. One bad trade doesn’t have to define Ainge, but unless he learns his lesson and gets Howard, this year’s biggest trade will haunt Ainge until the day he dies as Boston’s most hated man.

            As for the Celtics here and now, sadly they proved what everyone has been thinking for the past two years. The tank finally ran out, and they just couldn’t run on fumes anymore. Time betrays us all, and the Celtics are living proof of that. But time marches on, and so must the Celtics.

The Race Is On

            The first chapter in the long, cruel and terrible saga that lies ahead of us has unfolded; the first Republican debate was held in Greensville, South Carolina last night, hosted by Fox News and friends. This officially marks open season for campaigning, but the field was looking bare and empty last night. Of the five speakers present, only one is considered an actual contender for the nomination, and that’s the former governor from Minnesota, Tim Pawlenty. The rest of the participants were a bunch of has beens and hacks, none of which will be able to stir even the smallest whirlwind in the shit storm that’s about to come crashing through our televisions each night for the next eighteen months.

            To call this debacle a debate is nothing short of a crime; nobody was debating anything. It was a stage with five self congratulating nobodies who couldn’t muster up anything to say that wasn’t complete horseshit; it was basically a contest to see who could out-America the others. The judges were just Fox News pundits who threw out softball questions, hoping that someone – anyone – could hit a homerun. But they all fell short of the mark, even Congressman Ron Paul, whose days of promoting his revolution seem all but over thanks to his good for nothing son, Senator Rand Paul, tarnishing the name. All he could do was raise the legalization flag, but even that seemed empty and lonesome, like the very last dollar in a gambling man’s wallet; Ron Paul’s progressivity doesn’t seem so progressive anymore.

            The judges also did a colossal disservice to those candidates who actually showed up by constantly reminding the audience that the real heavy hitters weren’t there. Fox and friends were eager to point out that Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Donald Trump and Michele Bachmann (among others) weren’t in attendance. This should have been undeniably insulting to the five on stage, who should have pointed out that they were there to debate, not hypothesize over what Mitt Romney might say if he had actually shown up.

            The most laughable aspect of the debate last night was the fact that Herman Cain, whose largest political accomplishment up to this point was being the former chief executive for a chain of pizza restaurants, was declared the winner by Fox pollster, Frank Luntz. Cain declared that President Obama’s administration was the worst in all of U.S. history and applauded his own lack of political experience as his greatest strength. Cain, however, did agree with Obama’s decision not to release the photos of Osama bin Laden’s dead body, a decision most GOP hopefuls (like backwoods harlequin Sarah Palin) have called cowardly.

            Others in attendance were former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson and Rick Santorum, the former Senator of Pennsylvania. Santorum continuously tried to interrupt any form of praise being given to Obama, saying that “If you look at what President Obama has done right in foreign policy, it has always been a continuation of the Bush policies.”

            These are dark days ahead of us, especially for the GOP. No real contender has come forward, and it seems increasingly likely that many of them might back off and wait for 2016 when they don’t have to campaign against the man who killed Osama bin Laden. The severed head of bin Laden might as well be hanging outside the White House, rattling in the wind with the American flag flying proudly over it. Obama’s got the Republicans scared and running. It will be interesting to see who actually comes forward to fight for the nomination that already seems doomed to failure, to see who wants to be the next martyr of the GOP.

            Time will tell.

The End of Osama bin Laden

            Almost ten years after he perpetuated the worst attack on U.S. soil, Osama bin Laden is dead. A victim of his own creation, bin Laden was killed during a firefight at his million dollar compound near a Pakistani military school. Perhaps we would have more closure if he were to be brought to the United States and tried at the site where the Towers fell before a panel of the 9/11 families, but it’s hard to say bin Laden didn’t get what was coming to him. He deserved nothing better than to be made an example of: that nothing in this world goes unpunished and evil men always get what they deserve.

            Today I’ve heard people congratulating both presidents Obama and Bush on bringing justice to the world, but this statement is ludicrous and tragically flawed: Bush doesn't deserve half the credit he's getting. Bush let bin Laden slip away in December, 2001 at Tora Bora, and even went so far as to say “I truly am not that concerned about him [bin Laden]” in March of 2002. For years, Bush led us all on a wild goose chase trying to catch a man who simply faded into shadow and dust every time he caught whiff of the U.S. poking around in his area of the world. The compound (Abbottabad) that bin Laden was found at was built in 2005; why we spent this long digging around uselessly in the desert and didn’t bother to check there first will always be beyond me. All the credit belongs to President Obama. In less than one term, he delivered on his promise to find bin Laden and send him to hell.

            The dark days that have been looming over the United States for almost a decade have now started to dissipate. Al Qaeda will not disappear overnight, but for now we can all breathe easier. The manhunt for the most wanted man in the world has ended, and al Qaeda looks a little bit weaker in the sunlight now. The Towers are still gone, and the bloody rubble remains as fresh in our minds as ever. But the air feels just a little bit fresher today, and the nighttime not so scary anymore. Good riddance to that asshole. Our occupation in the Middle East seems just as complicated as ever, but maybe now the War on Terror doesn’t seem so insurmountable. After all, we just won the battle that most didn’t think we ever could.