Month: December 2012

A moment of reflection

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I heard about the shootings in Connecticut in passing.  I didn’t get the full weight of what had occurred until Patricia called me and asked if I had heard about the hideous body count.  A little research, and quick check of Facebook (which I was not surprised to find quite a few pages for the shooter, and how he was a great guy and a fantastic photographer), and I was up to speed with the rest of America.  What bothered me further was the comment section under every news article, and a few Facebook posts.

In short, I unfriended someone today.  Not a monumental accolade or something that need be noted in the archives of WordPress history, but it was the statement that summed up the illness of it all.  In short, a man I knew some time ago, and considered intelligent, reasonable, and tolerant stated on his page that he was not surprised that this occurred because it happened in a nation without a soul.  He then went on to give a paltry wave of the hand and condolences to the families that lost loved ones, but the first statement.  “A nation without a soul” stuck hard in my craw like a jagged pebble.

There are now millions, if not billions, of condolences of perfect strangers floating across the world-wide web.  Fundraisers are going up by the hour to help with relief efforts, pay for grief counselors, etc.  We, as a nation, are painted in a muddy hue of soullessness because we do not adhere to the tenants of a self-declared ‘militant’ christian.  My only response would be that the longer you look down the irons of the rifle you believe is protecting you, the more everything begins to look like a target or an enemy.  That immediate attachment of this incident as an indictment of our nation as a whole is disgusting, ill reasoned, and ignorant.

Couple that with the almost instantaneous prattling of fear over gun control legislation, and how the President will steal away our automatic weapons before he has even had a chance to speak on this tragedy (which he did eloquently by the way) lends further to the stereotype that the right is so desperately trying to fight.  My only request is that we stop worrying about our own fears for a moment, and think on others.  Know for a moment that your family is safe, and, for those of you who have children, might dote on them a little more this evening; be inclined to hold them a little tighter tonight before they go off to bed.  For those who lost a child or a loved one today, my deepest condolences.

The die has not been cast with regards to why this wretch took those lives, but the evidence piling up appears to indicate that there were issues at home (at last report his brother was found dead at the residence).  In the days and weeks to come we will know everything about the gunman, his name being avoided here as I do not want to recognize the monster outright.  No, we will find out the why, what, where, who, and when of everything in this case, then it will fade.  My only request would be that we allow that process to be completed before we begin the process of trying to address the results.

Access to firearms and mental health are going to take front stage.  Let us, for a change, be informed before we go into political battle and rattle our sabers for our cause, and decry the boogeymen of the opposition.  This is, as has been stated by many public figures today, a time where consensus can be reached with little thought.  The only matter in that case is giving the people time to grieve and learn what happened.  Then, and only then, can we find a true answer that may very well prevent future incidents like this one.

The ever growing elephant in the room

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What is $474.15 Billion dollars?

The fiscal cliff looms in the distance like a funnel cloud on the hard-packed plains of Texas.  The key difference is we can avoid that wicked looking mess coming our way.  Functionally, this is a historic opportunity, wrapped in gilt and handed to the parties with the same bows and trappings of the holiday preceding the impending fluster cluck that is about to go down.  That gift; a moment to finally stop bullshitting and come together to get this nation on a path to a balanced budget, an aim at reducing the national debt, and reigning in the last decade and change of madcap spending that has gone on.

Those hoping for this know better.  The only thing we, the American public, will get out of this deal is coal in our stockings which will be summarily taken away because it is neither green nor ours to use as an energy resource.

The New York Times has a fantastic Infographic available to the public where you can see firsthand what grew, what shrank, and what is owed to who and where.  I will be frank, if the President or Congress is serious about cutting the deficit and balancing the budget then all the programs they swore to protect must share in some of the bloodletting.

Medicare and Medicaid account for nearly one-third of the budget by itself.  Toss Social Security into the mix and over half the budget is consumed by these two programs alone.  Defense spending.  It rings in, for the first time, lower than the cost of Social Security, and is quickly being outpaced by the interest on the national debt.

This brings me to my beginning question; what is $474.15 billion dollars?  That number is what is owed in interest on the national debt.

It is staggering to look at, and,  mind you, that is the interest.  Not some credit card minimum where part of what you pay hits the principle and we will ever so slowly knock it down.  Nay good reader, this is pure interest without a dime set to the principle.  I’ll be honest, that would be the first number I would be set to tackle for that number will be what kills us.

If the President’s moratorium on discretionary spending (which would freeze the large majority of defense spending but leave social security and Medicare/Medicaid alone) goes through then we’ve only slowed the train down, but it will chug along.  Mayhaps you can knock out some of that principle.  Hold back the rising tides, but the moratorium cannot last forever, and if it is not adapted to, the glut of costs that will come cascading down and crush any gains made.

So, while our elected officials piddle away the hours playing games of imaginary chicken and peek-a-boo with the press, handing out reports of  “nothing to see here” we are getting buried.  The interest grows, and will eclipse the costs of social security and Medicare/Medicaid if left untouched, all the while pledges are being made to not raise taxes on anyone and no programs will be cut.  Looking at the reality on paper/webpage and listening to the news brings two conclusions to mind.  Either those in power want this world to burn for the sake of petty feuds and broken ideologies, or they are, much to our chagrin, monumentally clueless as to what they have brought down upon all of us.  It will come to a day when that cost, just to cover the interest being made on the debt, will choke us out, and we will be forced to cut to maintain or default.  Best to do them now, with flexibility and foresight on our side than a later time when we must cut because there is no other option.  When a monthly social security check is short $21 a month for living expenses versus hundreds of dollars short because there isn’t any money left to paid those who are owed.  Petty promises and pledges won’t mean a damn thing then, and, to be frank, shouldn’t mean a damn thing now.