And the Beards Have All Grown Longer Overnight

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it," offered George Santayana who was not the program director at Clear Channel who pioneered the "classic rock" radio format (though ADHD as so many of us are, you can be forgiven for thinking he was). Welcome to more of the same, but remember, different is NOT better, just different.

It's not even a month since the elections and we're back to same shi(r)t, different day. I grabbed this link out of thin air, though there are thousands of reports you could sample. If the tenor and tone of the quotes from the 'leadership' on both sides of the aisle inside the story don't depress you, how about the 'reader comments' that too rarely transcend 'hanny nanny doo-doo' in terms of logic, eloquence, command of fact and lucidity.

Pay attention! We have over a hundred thousand uniformed men and women in harm's way around the globe so Capital Clowns of every stripe can give one another wedgies on TV talk shows. We, and they, should be neither amazed nor amused by this circus, especially looking in the center ring at the pile left after the donkeys and elephants dance.....

And lest you shake your head in dismay, allow me to be the ghost Christmas Past (even though it's the first day of Chanukah): we did this to ourselves. At some point, we walked away from Politics is the Art of the Possible espoused and embodied by Everett Dirksen, Howard Baker, Mike Mansfield, John Chafee, Hubert Humphrey, Nelson Rockefeller and all the other tall poles in the Big Tent concept (wirklich? Otto, du alte bengal!). Talk about cold comfort for change.

We discarded the art of the deal and decided not only that "half a loaf is better than none" was an idea not fit for RINO or DINO, but, given half a chance, we'd rather burn down the whole damn bakery than put up with any more crap on a cracker. Take that Marie A and hope to heck, beyotch, that AJ nails you with banana-cream-otherwise you'll starve before we'll feed you.

We're going to spend (pun intended) the next two years alternating between Howie and Betty as we pretend this is our legislative/executive interaction process at its very best. For the sake of variety and the illusion of progress, we can alternate the direction of the circles we'll all be heading in. "There's nothing in the street looks any different to me, and the slogans are replaced by-the-bye. And the parting on the left is now parting on the right and the beards have all grown longer overnight." Just in time for those mall Santa jobs.
-bill kenny