Usually Right vs. Facebook

So... it's Friday, October 30, 2015. I haven't updated my blog since September 17th...

As previously noted, I've been spending my "blogging" time on Facebook.

Facebook is good and bad. Good in the sense that I get a larger, wider audience; bad in the sense that when people (particularly those I count as "the good guys") disappoint me by refusing to acknowledge reality... it hurts.

(*SIGH*)

I hate everyone... or so it must appear at times.

(*CHUCKLE*)

Well... being 100% honest... I kinda do.

I see our country going down the tubes... and as if the Sheeple demographic weren't enough to depress me, I'm also forced to acknowledge that even most of my own "allies" in thought and basic philosophy are unwilling to accept the honest to God truth that there's simply NO ONE in politics whom we can trust.

I'm not gonna reiterate - let alone re-post - all the posts and comments I've made on Facebook over the past days and weeks concerning the budget deal that just cleared the House yesterday... (the REPUBLICAN House)... and the Senate (the REPUBLICAN Senate) early this morning...

(In the middle of the night in fact...)

(*SIGH*)

But I will tell you this:

I no longer trust Ted Cruz... or Rand Paul... or Mike Lee.

These men represent the "Tea Party" in the U.S. Senate... and the galling truth is that they didn't even mount a serious attempt to filibuster - and thus stop - the "Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015" from becoming law.

Rand Paul straight out lied to us - deliberately deceived us; tried to pull a fast one by cynically and deceitfully advancing the illusion that he was trying to stop the budget bill from passing. He wasn't. My various Facebook posts on the issue should prove the truth of what I'm saying to all but the most partisan "Paul Lovers" among you.

And "my" guy... Ted Cruz... I have no idea why he didn't do more to try and stop this bill that he railed against... railed again but didn't filibuster against.

Mike Lee? I don't know. I just spend five minutes on the phone with a member of his staff and came away understanding no more than I did before the exchange. The staffer will be "passing my comments on to the Senator."

(*SMIRK*)

And over in the House... we have Paul Ryan. Yea.

(*SNORT*)

I'm just totally disheartened... and disgusted.

ONE... MORE... TIME...

EXCERPTING:

A Heritage Foundation analysis finds that federal spending in 2016 was already expected to climb by more than $200 billion. This was to be a 5 percent rise in outlays in a year when inflation is barely above zero.

Under this budget deal, the spending caps rise by an extra $80 billion over two years, the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) slush fund receives another $147 billion in “emergency spending,” and the debt limit is suspended through March 15, 2017.

So now we are going to see a $430 billion hike in spending in 2016. That’s close to a12 percent spending spree.

The caps and sequester are dead. All fiscal discipline is tossed out the window.

There are no spending reforms, no program eliminations, no new caps to stop the blizzard of borrowing that has lifted the debt ceiling into the near $20 trillion stratosphere.

(*END EXCERPT*)

Well, folks; that's that. This is what a REPUBLICAN Congress has given us. This is what REPUBLICAN Senators like Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, and that fake, phony, fraud Marco Rubio have FAILED to effectively even ATTEMPT to derail.

(*PURSED LIPS*)

To those of you who only read my blog entries... please start reading my Facebook posts.

For those of you who only read my Facebook posts and commentary... please bookmark my blog and check it out every so often.

Several of my friends on Facebook are... bringing me down. This observation isn't a preface to a "bashing," but simply an explanation for why I'm probably gonna be concentrating on my blog postings rather than Facebook postings for awhile. Frankly... it's less painful to not be disappointed by people than it is to be unread by people.

(*RUEFUL SMILE*)

So... to those friends... (and you know who you are)... please don't take either this post or any "pull-back" from Facebook interaction as a "diss." It's not. It's simply... mental self-preservation.

Truth be told, I'd probably be better off if I were tune out of "the news" totally - for awhile at least. Clearly these hammer blows... these betrayals but "my" presidential candidates... by "my" Senators... are having a negative effect upon my ability to "chat" with even my friends without upsetting either myself, my friends, or both.

To those on Facebook who have managed - bothered - to slog through this perhaps self-indulgent ramble... thanks for that; thanks for being my Facebook friends.

Anyway... that's it for now.

BILL

Addendum to My Previous GOP Debate Commentary

HOLY CHRIST...

(*GUFFAW*)

I totally FAILED to mention CARSON!

(*SELF-DEPRECIATING LAUGHTER*)

I suppose in a sense this brain fart is a bit telling. Carson just doesn't "come on strong."

(*SHRUG*)

That said... he's pretty clearly (one of) the smartest guys in the room - in EVERY room he enters.

(*NOD*)

See, folks, even I get caught up in the "performance" aspect of these dog and pony shows!

(Which is why I actually prefer reading transcripts to watching/listening via TV or radio.)

Carson is brilliant... he's MATURE... he's clearly an ADULT in the "perception" sense...

(*SHRUG*)

He also CLEARLY comes across as honest... moral... sincere...

(*NOD*)

BUT HE NEEDS TO ME MORE ASSERTIVE!

He was smart in not rising to the bait as offered up by the moderator, interviewers, and other candidates. He played it cool... and, again... MATURE... as an ADULT.

From my perspective he's mostly right on the issues. Perhaps just as important (indeed, perhaps MORE important), he comes across as a guy who is confident and informed, yet, who KNOWS he doesn't have "all the answers." In other words, where I disagree with him on policy... or where I feel he needs "tutoring" on certain specific components concerning certain issues... Carson comes across as the kind of guy who WANTS to be educated; who SEEKS to have his assumptions challenged and new information and countering perspectives lobbed at him. In other words... he's not just a talker... he's a listener... and he's a "ponderer." (Read: Principled but open to being convinced to change his mind.)

Frankly... I'd LOVE to see Dr. Carson as the VP candidate. (Yep. Over Carly Fiorini.)

And for what it's worth... if somehow Carson were to get the TOP spot... I'd ENTHUSIASTICALLY support him.

Here's the Deal Concerning Last Night's Debates

Some heartfelt (yeah, really!) advice on how to process the debates:

First of all... if you watched the debates - one or both - GREAT! This is what you need to do! (And the same goes for the Democratic Party debates when they occur!)

If you didn't watch the debates... either find and view the debate videos (at least the "Main Event" online), or, locate and read the transcript(s). (Which brings me to my first piece of advice...)

DON'T let the media tell you "what you saw" or what to make of it. If you watched the debates then you should have your OWN opinions concerning who "won," who "lost," and which candidates impressed and/or disappointed... YOU!

The media sucks! They all have their own biases and agendas and few have the integrity to simply "report" rather than editorialize (and try to manipulate readers) via the "narrative" they choose to deliver.

As for the polls... don't let them sway you. Most of them are skewed in order to (attempt to) manipulate you!

(And even if they weren't, why focus on others' opinions and reactions rather than focusing upon your own? If you watched the debate... go with your gut... go with YOUR initial take!)

Second of all... some harsh (perhaps obnoxious) truth. (Ready?)

Media bias, partisanship, incompetence, and lack of honor aside... it's hard to judge the candidates' responses if one isn't intimately acquainted with the reality (or lack of!) of their premises and claims. This is just common sense; and it's a fact. If one doesn't know the objective truth... if one doesn't have a well thought out worldview of one's own... then one will tend to judge a candidate's performance on just that - the "performance."

(*SIGH*)

Folks... I didn't take notes... and I'm not gonna bother to review and outline examples via the transcripts... but believe me... by and large, most of the candidates were/are NOT giving us "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth." While it's more common to avoid actually answering the ACTUAL QUESTIONS and instead embarking upon a distracting ramble, at times certain of the candidates simply... lied!

(*SHRUG*)

Jeb Bush was all over the map! He contradicted himself left and right!

Chris Christie? As regular readers know, I simply despise the guy. Two points though: 1) On style... or performance... Christie was one of last night's winners. He came across as "a grown-up." However... 2) He avoided actually answering certain questions and contradicted himself on others. Bottom line... Christie can be entertaining... he can get you cheering... but in the end... ya just can't trust the guy. (In fact, he may very well be indicted before next year's election... but that's a story for another day...)

How'd Trump do? MY opinion? He was one of the losers. Not badly; certainly not disastrously so; but he certainly didn't kick ass! He knew the moderator and questioners were going to "go after" him. (And they did; the first policy question didn't come until the 35-minute mark!) He knew many of the other candidates were going to target him... and they did. This clearly rattled him in the sense that he overcompensated with regards to going right back after them personally. Oh... don't get me wrong; Trump WON some points; WON certain exchanges; but on the whole (especially during the opening half-hour of the debate) he came across as... "immature." (Hey! Just my two-cents worth!) (Note: Bush did MUCH worse overall!)

Who won the night? Rand Paul.

(*SHRUG*)

Of course... I based this not just on his performance - which was calm, controlled, almost professorial - but upon the "meat" - the substance - of his answers and positions. (But, hey... this is from MY perspective. We'll see how the rest of America felt.)

The other big winner (in my estimation): Ted Cruz. Senator Cruz has stage presence... brains... and sincerity. (And of course he's RIGHT on most of the issues!)

(*WINK*)

How'd Carly Fiorini do? Not as well as she needed to, in my (never) humble opinion. Her performance seemed uneven to me. Too rehearsed. She needed to hit a home run last night and she didn't. She did no better and no worse than Rubio or Huckabee. She PERHAPS did a bit better than Walker.

(*SHRUG*)

Kasich...??? Geezus... he melted down right before our eyes last night. I wouldn't be surprised if he's out of the race before the first primary! (We'll see!) At times... watching the guy... I was worried he'd stroke out right on stage!

Anyway... did I leave anyone out? Yes... in a sense I did. Jake Tapper! Yep... the moderator. He SUCKED!

Again... folks... these transparent morons representing the fourth estate (look that reference up if you must) can't help themselves! To reiterate: The first POLICY question didn't come till 35-minutes into the so-called "debate!"

It really is a disgrace what the media does. Partisanship... "gotchya" journalism... most questions prefaced with "so and so has accused you of blah-blah-blah"...

(*SIGH*)

Bread and circuses, folks; red meat to the mob; not even the pretense of caring more about substance than style.

(*ANOTHER SIGH*)

This country is in DEEP trouble, my friends. We deserve better. Some of us DEMAND better. Most of us don't, though.

And that's my "surface" analysis of last night's GOP debate.

P.S. -- As for the opening debate - the 6:00 p.m. "minor candidates" debate - Jindah did the "least worst" in my (never) humble opinion. Pataki...? A fake, phony, crooked, lying fraud. (*SHRUG*) Santorum? My question is... how's this guy support himself - let alone run for president every four years? Does he have a friggin' JOB to go along with his wife and seven children...??? (Oh... and wasn't there a fourth candidate? I believe there was... but, frankly... I can't recall who he is!)

(*GUFFAW*)