BUNNING STRIKES OUT

I am a huge sports fan. I love the game of baseball, have since I was a kid. So, naturally I know the name of Jim Bunning. One of the greatest pitchers in the history of the game. Spent years taking the mound and mowing down thousands of opponents and sending them back to the bench, bat in hand.

Last week, Congressman Jim Bunning took the mound and mowed down another batter. Only this time, he threw a curve ball. Threw a curve ball, a change up, screwball and knockdown pitch all in one. Only this time, his opponent was not the opposition, it was the American unemployed.......the 9+% of America unable to find a job. Jim Bunning voted no to extending unemployment insurance for the American unemployed, and sent them back to the bench, only this time instead of a bat in their hand, they had a hat in their hands.

Jim Bunning suddenly woke up to the fact that the American government should reduce spending, and should not vote to spend any additional funds they could not afford to pay for. Good idea...only you should have had it when you had the majority in Congress...should have had it when you were voting in countless spending bills, one after the other, and another.

No, you decided to take a stand when your electorate, the nearly 12% of your constituents who are out of work, needed you most. Needed you to do what was right and compassionate for them. They voted you in time after time, and the one time they needed you most, you kicked them in the teeth. You kicked them while they were down, and that takes a very small measure of a man.

You see, at least in this area, Congress reached a bi-partisan agreement, to extend unemployment for those who need help in putting food on the table, and affording to heat their homes....and yes, to possibly afford their homes. But you saw this as a perfect time to take the mound as you always did, alone and make a political statement about spending at the worst possible time.

Time after time, you thwarted attempt after attempt to show some compassion towards those in need and you block passage of the bill. At midnight, they finally gave up on any hope of you regaining your senses...regaining any perspective on a vote that will help those in need. And for what...so you can get your name in the paper? To garner some publicity, to build the reputation as a hard line spending foe?

That day passed long ago, as you approved one drunken sailor spending measure after another. No, what you did was mean spirited and directed at those who are counting on your support in their time of need and uncertainty. You sir, have lost your mind. You are a very small measure of a man. You took the mound and did what no other pitcher had ever done on a pitching mound. You struck out. You struck out and struck a blow against the nearly 10% of American people who desperately need help. And for what? So you can reach a budget?

You didn't just vote no to unemployment, sir. You announced your retirement. Because if you think your base of supporters will sit blithely bye and re-hire you when you come up for re-election next time, you have lost full control of your faculties. The American people will not forget this, sir. Because in the end of the day, we have the final vote. We call the strikes and balls, we controls who stays in the game. And you sir, need to hit the showers.

That is the world....the "World According to Kimba." Thanks, as always, for reading.

A TRUE BI-PARTISIAN EFFORT

PLEASE GIVE UNTIL IT DOESN'T HURT ANYMORE

THE POLITICS OF FEAR

Elections are rapidly approaching, and it is officially silly season, and that is being kind. In fact it is officially the season of gross distortions and full on lies. Lies to make you fear the future. You see the deficit, conservatively estimated to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 3.5% of GDP, is apparently going to rob generations of any hope of a future, and the Chinese are currently scouting out locations for a new Tienanmen square, complete with a huge mural of Chairman Mao.

The simple fact is, running deficits in this economic time is prudent. Used correctly, increasing expenditures, such as in the stimulus package, will create jobs. Funds used to prevent AIG, the financial cyclops of the east, with its massive tentacles into ever financial sector...was prudent. Propping up financial institutions, thus preventing a run on banks with an ever increasing number of bank closures, was prudent. Increasing unemployment benefits and Cobra rights for the newly unemployed, was prudent. Small business loans will help as well.

The current propaganda stemming from the opposition is that the deficit is entirely Obama's fault, and the sooner every liberal is unemployed, the least likely we will fold up the national tent. The fact is, a goodly portion of the national deficit is caused by a lack of national revenue due to the economic times. Add in Medicare and Social Security, not to mention the massive cost of fighting not one, but two wars, and you now have a clearer picture of where we stand today. A condition most economists label not as a crisis, but as problematic. Nothing to be scared or fearful of whatsoever.

But in a country whose collective I.Q. is just above illiterate...a country who will collectively spend millions on something so completely benign as filling out a 1040E tax form (which requires two salient pieces of information...how much you made, and how much you paid in taxes), this tactic works. These are the people Sarah Palin likes to call "real" Americans, who clamor to her like the sheep they truly are. And distorting the facts and making them afraid...very afraid, is good politics. Wave the flag, mention God, and make them afraid.....it works every time.

Considering the caliber of candidates America is willing to send to Congress (actors, comedians, nude centerfold models and athletes), this little sportscaster from Wasilla just might have a bright future, despite having a resume thinner than her depth of knowledge....on just about anything. So she has hit the road, at $100,000.00 per speech, and is the new darling of the Tea baggers, and the "real" people more than willing to pony up her speaking fees.

Come to think of it, I am more scared than you are....not of the deficit, but of whom you might elect next. And that is the world....the "World According to Kimba."