Monkey See, Monkey Do.

I don't  really mean for all these posts to be a bashing of the Democratic Party; really, I don’t. It just so happens that lately, they’ve been giving me a lot more fodder with which to work than the Republicans have. Besides, I’ve been complaining loudly about the government for years, it’s just now I’ve decided to write about it. And in my effort to remain relevant with anything anyone might want to read, I feel I must keep up on current events, right? No one wants my opinion on the Boston Tea Party, do they? (that is provided anyone wants my opinion at all) Besides, can I help it if the Democrats just keep doing INCREDIBLY STUPID things? Moreover, I live in Massachusetts. You know, the place where no matter what everyone seems to think, feel and vote for, we always end up with a Democrat in power? Yeah, that’s the one. It’s extremely difficult to remain neutral about party affiliation in this state when all the Democratic clowns just keep driving it into the ground. If it makes anyone feel any better, I’ll write about how out of touch with his constituents Romney is in an upcoming post. And if you’re good, I’ll go on to write about how disgusting it is that he has an entire political ad on Florida TV that’s done entirely in Spanish.

Onward to the bashing..... 

WASHINGTON (CBS/AP) — Massachusetts Reps. Jim McGovern and John Olver were arrested on Friday along with actor George Clooney and several others at a protest outside the Sudanese Embassy in Washington.

The protesters accuse Sudan’s president, Omar al-Bashir, of provoking a humanitarian crisis and blocking food and aid from entering the Nuba Mountains in the county’s border region with South Sudan.

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2012/03/16/rep-mcgovern-george-clooney-arrested-in-washington-protest

Let me say up front that I don’t care what George Clooney does in his free time.  Truthfully, it’s nice to see an ultra rich Hollywood type be passionate about something other than money.  So if he wants to go and protest something he feels strongly about, good for him. Now if I were Steven Soderbergh and I was in the middle of directing Oceans 14 and George was supposed to be rehearsing in his trailer, I’d be pretty bent out of shape if I found out he decided to go off and get arrested when he’s being paid to make a movie.

So when I found out two Massachusetts senators were arrested along with him, I felt a lot like Steven would have if Oceans 14 were actually being filmed, and George was nowhere to be found.  Is this what we are paying these Senators to do?  ($174K/yr, ea) Go off to Washington to fight for injustices in countries thousands of miles away from here?  Don’t get me wrong, what’s  going on over in the Sudan is an atrocity, and truly an embarrassment to humanity, but guess what? It isn’t going to change.  With all that we have going on in this country right now,  this is what our esteemed senators think is the best use of their time, influence and position?   It’s not like James McGovern and John Olver just voiced their opinions mind you – that would have been OK. They actually got arrested.  And this isn’t the first time for Senator McGovern either.  He was arrested for a protest against the Sudanese government in '09 for genocide in Darfur. (Sure made a heck of an impact there, didn’t ya, Jim?)   All of this on the taxpayer dime too. (I wont even mention how they are wasting the already strained resources of the DC police).

We have a terrible economy; worst than the great depression. We’ve got crazy high unemployment, and a housing market that’s a joke.  We have hungry children right in our own backyard, and homeless with nowhere to go.  We have people struggling to support their families on one income, while executives of major corporations continue to mistake greed for capitalism. We have a war on drugs that we are not even close to winning, and we have an illegal immigrant problem we have no idea how to handle. On top of all of that, we have a government that wants to trample all over our Bill of Rights.  With all of this going on, should we really be spending cycles on stuff on another continent we can’t control? Don't you think our high and mighty Senators ought to be allocating their precious resources to something a bit more domestic?

Look, I get it, and I know its not popular to act so selfishly in the wake of a story about a dictator using his people as pawns, but James McGovern and John Olver should feel this passionate about OUR country and OUR people.  Jim, here's an idea; go get arrested for fixing our welfare system.  John, while hes off doing that, why don't you go get arrested for giving good honest people jobs that AREN'T part of our already bloated government payroll?  I'll be plenty OK with things of that nature. Heck while you are both at it, go get arrested for finding ways to bring manufacturing back to this country too.

Listen - its not that I don’t care about what happens in the Sudan; I do. I just care MORE about what happens in the US than I do in a country some 6000 miles away.  I was hoping our Senators would too.