Dr Speedbump
ON POLITICS

On this page, Dr Speedbump tosses a few bytes at Politics -- if only because its such a big target. Your comments in the Guest Book would be most welcome

Come Senators, Congressman, please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway, don't block up the hall
For he who gets hurt will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside and it ragin'
It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls
For the times they are a changin'
-- Bob Dylan

OK, so the battle ain't ragin' quite like it use to be.
We should be thankful that the country is not constantly torn asunder like it was in the 60s (1960s, 1860s and 1760s). But it's still a great song -- and some divisive issues just won't go away. As I write this, a CNN commentator (Bill Schneider, I think) just said,
"Once they took it to the streets. Now they take it to their web sites."

JUST INSECURE?

Politicans manage to complicate whatever they touch. What do you expect from a perpetual convention of lawyers? I assume the adversarial approach justifies their existence and keeps them on stage. For my first witness, I call Elian Gonzales.

The bureaucratic lifers might feel a bit insecure, too -- even though they are impossible-to-fire and only need to fear suspension with pay if indicted for serial killing of nuns or orphans . When there's a snowstorm in DC (like 2 or 3 inches over 24 hours), "non-essential employees" are told not to report for work. Wouldn't you get yourself there through 4 feet of snow, rather than admit that you (not just your work) were non-essential?

OUR STATE GOVERNMENT

Men can measure the distance to the planets, track the erratic comet through unknown space and foretell its coming, but the doings of the New York State Legislature are past finding out. -- Seneca Ray Stoddard, 1874

It's been 126 years, but what could I possibly add to that?

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS

If a man were drowning 100 feet from shore, a Republican would throw him a 50-foot rope and tell him to swim to it. A Democrat would throw him a 200-foot rope, then walk away. (No Chappaquidick jokes, please ... they're un-funny.)

CERTAIN INALIENABLE RIGHTS

"Is this a great country, or what?"
That's a rhetorical question, of course -- but I'll answer it anyway. "Damn right, it is."

The purpose of Government is to protect us from ourselves. So, is freedom an illusion? Fortunately, the Government has been sufficiently ineffective that we still have the right (and the opportunity) to make many personal choices. Ineffectiveness, with occasional help from the Supreme Court, has been protecting our Constitutional Right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. Note that we have no right to be happy -- only to try. There were no flies on our Founding Fathers.

But is there really a Right to Life? I'll save thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat one for another page. (Woops, I nodded off for a moment -- no fooling.)

I'm am proud to live under the watchful eye of a government that affords us so much personal freedom -- where I (still) have the constitutional right to burn the symbol of our nation ... or to chose not to. In case you've been living in a tree, I'm talking about burning a flag, not a Bald Eagle. The bird is redundantly protected by Federal and State environmental regulations. Now there's yet another fine topic. Is somebody making a list?

TIME TO SHUT UP FOR NOW

I'll conclude with an immortal quote which epitomizes the tolerance that Americans have for someone expressing an opposing view:

"I disagree with what you say -- but I will defend to the death my right to tell you to shut up and listen, you ignorant puppet." -- Anonymous

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