The March of Madness

In an irregular attempt to understand what makes the Left tic, every once in a great while I tune into MSNBC. I marvel at the congregation of far left clowns on this un-watchable network. Circus performers such as Chris Matthews, Rachael Maddow, Ed Schultz, Tameron Hall, Martin Bashir, Al Sharpton all strive hard to make their colleague, Lawrence O'Donnell, appear nearly normal. I wonder how Joe Scarborough cannot be sufficiently embarrassed to just quit. I wonder also how a decent man like Pat Buchanan lasted 10 years in this wasteland. I scratch my head when I hear any of this group spew his or her hatred of common sense and common people. Who watches this remarkably biased crowd, and why?

Sure, it is no surprise that leftist journalistic outlets such as The New York Times, CNN, The New Yorker beat the drum for Obama and his regime but MSNBC is certainly a bridge too far. This group never even challenged the Obama expansion of our national debt, their war on business, their desire to raise taxes, the feckless stimulus, the total absence of 'shovel ready' jobs, the false forecasting of costs for ObamaCare, the transferring of wealth from one social class to another.

The U.S. is in an internecine media war, sort of an extension of the Cold War. The Left has fairly successfully conspired to get its message out via newspapers, art, music, film, schools and TV. Perhaps it could be argued on behalf of MSNBC that if the professional Left was not represented by these clowns we would not be aware of the insidious salami slices taken away from us on an annual basis. After all, if today's Democrat Party was run by Joe Lieberman, Evan Bayh, Scoop Jackson and if the media left wing remained being led by the likes of Tim Russert, Walter Cronkite or David Brinkley then we would have little--certainly less--about which to be agitated.

The sheer unpleasantness of the political Left--the hypocritical, the PC attitude, the sanctimoniousness, the taxing, the redistributive desire, the pedantry--is all manifest regularly on MSNBC. Can they not do better?

Even beyond MSNBC how often must we endure the likes of Alec Baldwin or Barack Obama lecturing us on the de-merits of the United States? How often must it be suggested that because I am firmly against the destructive economic policies of the Obama regime that I am a racist? Just what is racist about being for reduced federal spending and a smaller national government?

The idea put forth by Obama and his cronies that money can be taken out of the private sector to be given to the government to grow the economy, as long as it is called an 'investment,' is a fallacy on its face. Has Obama ever run a lemonade stand, a bank, a retail store? Yet he wants to 'grow the economy.' We are in this mess in mid-March due to his arrogance and the likes of his loony and useless sycophants at places such as MSNBC. God help us all.

Heroes

Earlier this week I was in Charlottesville, Virginia learning much about an America hero, Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson was certainly a very impressive man in spite of his epoch consistency on slavery and women. He was after all a farmer, a surveyor, a lawyer, a planter, a writer, a collector, an innovator, an amateur agronomist, a Governor of Virginia, a diplomat, a Secretary of State, a Vice President under John Adams, our third President, the drafter of the Declaration of Independence, the builder of Monticello and the designer of the University of Virginia. No doubt a Renaissance man who did much in his 83 years. Among other things, he wrote over 90,000 letter in his lifetime, perhaps making him a "blogger" of the 18th and 19th centuries. He can be credited with being the de facto founder of the Democratic Party (although in those days it was known as the Republican Party, no doubt still much to the confusion of 12 year old school boys throughout the country), and creating an American political idea which dominated until about 1860. He was over 6'2'' so if there had been basketball in those days he probably would have also been the Bill Russell of his day.

My heroes have only been three: Mickey Mantle, Milton Friedman and Ronald Reagan. Perhaps Jefferson never made it into my pantheon because I perceived him to be a Democrat and maybe, just maybe, I should reconsider. Clearly Friedman and Reagan were conservatives but what is known of Mantle and his political proclivity? Not much, but I think we can stipulate he was conservative: an Oklahoman, a country boy, a white male, a drinker, a New York Yankee center fielder (akin to being an IBMer), a Hall of Fame player, a resident of Dallas. That's probably enough. Plus he won the Triple Crown in 1956!

So I have these three heroes; and now I contemplate adding a fourth. But a Democrat? I think for the time being I will confine old Tom Jefferson to a separate category to be labelled in oxymoron fashion "Liberal Heroes." Who might be added to this group? Certainly not Obama, Clinton, Carter. Not even JFK based now on what we continue to learn of his sexual exploitations. Maybe Scoop Jackson but definitely not Wilson nor FDR. Truman? ML King? Maya Angelou? Karl Marx would, I think, be much too liberal. No, for the time being Jefferson will be alone in this category for me. Maybe someone who reads this might have a good suggestion for a hero in this category but until then TJ will proudly stand alone.

Crossroads for Catholics

It is perhaps safe to say what Obama and company would like to happen to religion is the following. In their strategy, birth control is just the first skirmish in their greater campaign to officially establish, "secular fundamentalism," as our national "faith." If he's reelected, abortion will be the next "reproductive right" to be added to the mandatory "coverage" menu. Planned Parenthood will become the neighborhood, "worship centers." This also means, according to Obama's plan that the Catholic "dominoes begin to fall."

As weak and capricious as its U.S. Bishops have been, the Roman Catholic Church still stands as the greatest remaining obstacle to this diabolical, "evangelizing." For Obama to achieve his goal then, the Church will have to be dismembered. The weapon? The theological "independence" with which Bishops and clerical academics have dangerously flirted with for years.

The Obama policies would, by definition, mean the the end of most Catholic health care, academic and social services. But would it? Or would it cause a staged schism between the factions, which the Obama policies have cynically created? Would the "social justice" clergy (Marxist), academics, government, and Kumbaya "cafeteria Catholics" organize, a "reformed" Catholicism, a sect not unlike the U.S. Episcopalian Church? This "Catholic" sect would follow the gospel according to Obama. Their willingness to accept abortion mandates and the rest, would make them the natural "heirs" to the "Catholic" social services and health care entities in question.

The other side of the Catholic divide would remain traditional Roman Catholics, under the spiritual and episcopal authority of the Pope and Church in Rome. The goal then will be to marginalize these Roman Catholics as the radicals and oddballs. Parishes would choose whether they wished to belong to a "reformed" congregation, or one subject to Rome. Those choosing allegiance to Rome could soon expect their "tax exempt" status to be withdrawn.

If you do not believe this is what Obama and his "Catholic" Democrat cohort in DC as well as the leaders of much of "Catholic" academia have in mind...well, you just haven't been paying attention.

On the other hand, as a very, very good friend who happens not to be Catholic said recently to me given the assault by the Obama regime on Catholics, "We're all Catholics now."

Last night in NYC at yet another fund raiser Obama eclipsed even the Pope when he compared himself to Gandhi and Mandela. Whatta guy.