The liberal obsession with the Koch Brothers

Sounds like a brand of soda pop. I never really heard about the Koch Brothers until liberals started talking about them so much. Conservatives also seem to like to comment on the liberal obsession with the Koch Bros so conservatives have an obsession with their obsession just like they have an obsession with reading NY Times editorials (hey guys they're just editorials, don't let them ruin your day). Charles and David Koch of the Koch Industries have been responsible for much charitable giving to various cultural and medical institutions but Harry Reid and Chuckie Schumer say they're unAmerican for funding anti-ObamaCare ads and for calling for smaller government. BB has a bit of a Koch fetish too so maybe he can explain. The pro-Obama Hollywood tripe that spews out daily is ok though.

Further thoughts on Pope Francis

Haven't been selling as much seafood at work as we thought we would despite a fairly strong demographic showing of Catholics in the area then I thought maybe I missed the memo, maybe this theological modster changed the rules again and we can now eat meat on Fridays during Lent. He has so many things in his head that are spilling out right now (e.g. civil unions) that the Vatican is scrambling to spin things along the lines of don't read too much into his words he's still upholding Church teaching but I'm wondering how long they can do this before they say Houston we have a problem. He was recently voted Man of the Year by BOTH Time magazine and the gay-rights magazine The Advocate so unless he's down with that I would have expected a polite but clarifying letter-to-the-editor to the gay review. The phrase I'm hearing most lately is he's some sort of rock star. That's kind of an interesting analogy considering the personal history of most rock stars and it kinda puts faith on a cheap pop culture level (Justin Biebs in charge of interfaith/ecumenical affairs?). If I may borrow a line from the classic Sidney Poitier movie Guess Who's Coming to Dinner Francis seems to be saying to all the mostly dead popes except one who have gone before him "it's time we got the dead weight of your generation off our backs" (Spencer Tracy was a great actor btw). Things are murky right now but Francis' foglight seems to be beckoning in the opposite direction so try not to hit all those traditionalists bobbing in the water as you steer towards some progressive's promised land. Does he have a Facebook page yet?

Mitt Romney had a better grasp of foreign policy

Just sayin'. Most countries these days are responsible for at least one or two positive contributions to the civilization-at-large. Of course everything is Made in China today but Japan has given us superior cars and cameras for example and even South Korea has Samsung headquartered there. Has Russia ever given us a digital camera, a computer chip, a smartphone or a new tablet? Russia is known for two things only - vodka and its military buildup. I remember learning in high school that a large % of the Russian economy, maybe it's even the majority is devoted to its keeping up its military might. Putin is an anachronistic leader and seems to have a very bad case of those cold war blues. Putin doesn't like Pussy Riot, he doesn't like the gays and he's not into going forward. Of course Obama's red lines mean nothing, it'd be like Gilbert Gottfried being a bar bouncer. A former director in the KGB vs. a former Chicago community organizer and I'm thinking my Dad is right Hillary would have been a better president at least on the world stage. So what's gonna happen now if Crimea becomes officially annexed to Russia again? is Obama gonna issue one of them executive orders he likes so much say banning the import of their famous drink? It's like as soon as the Sochi Olympics were over Putin couldn't wait to get back to the action. So has anyone apologized to Mitt Romney yet?

& oh btw Happy Birthday

I'm just a few days shy of my 50th B'day and already I got a one-year membership offer from the AARP in the mail yesterday (didn't know they did this that early)and if I join now I get a free tote bag. Then for practically the whole past year my doctor has been peppering our discussions with the subject of colonoscopies. I feel like a vampire, I've been alive for half a century already. There's something gauche and vaguely offensive imo about all of this as I feel you should enjoy your birthday without incident instead of others overlaying it with dreadful reminders. It should be a light and happy time no matter what your age but in this case instead of thinking about a birthday cake with candles they got me thinking about the ass then the AARP got me thinking about my mortality (how much more time do I have?). Hell instead of downloading the latest issue of the Nat'l Review why don't I just subscribe to Arthritis Today? So is a colonoscopy indicated at the exact stroke of midnight as soon as you turn the big 5-0? I think it has more to do with our cultural OCD obsession with round numbers that end in zero. Remember all the media coverage of the 47th anniversary of JFK? didn't think so. Maybe in a few years time, hell maybe in a few months I'll get a brochure from Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx. I've pretty much decided after much thought and Internet sleuthing the full hardcore 4' colonoscopy is off the table for me and I've said as much. As well I don't need a handy travel bag with the AARP logo just yet but thanks just the same. I pretty much just want to enjoy my birthday so leave me alone. You turn the 1/2 century mark and they got one foot in the grave for you already. Lastly conservatives have spent a lifetime talking about the importance of the rich and powerful that they can make you feel pretty insecure about yourself. Of course the sex-drenched men's magazines don't help matters and don't take into account all your romantic failures so when you put the two together you're supposed to be a Trump or a Koch Bros. who gets laid all the time. Better yet after you're done with me you can put a birthday candle in there and leave the tote bag on the side:)