Whenever you find yourself
on the side of the majority,
it’s time to pause and reflect.
-- Mark Twain 

A nd so, I reflect:

Another year will soon be gone by …

And so swiftly at that …

Whether I should be glad or sad …

I don’t know that . . .

As y’all can see I am also a poet.  Dyok lang, of course.  But as I write this, I am sad.  For once again, Israeli warplanes are on the attack, dropping bombs on the Palestinian people of Gaza City, hitting a mosque, a university and a television station, killing three hundred Palestinians so far.  And Israeli soldiers and tanks have massed along the border getting ready to move inland for “ground operations.”

In war, ground operations could mean indiscriminate killings and a slaughter of non-combatants.  But Hamas officials said, no matter what the consequences were, they would fight back and call for more suicide operations to counter the Israeli strikes.

The air strikes, Israel said, were in retaliation for the “sustained rocket fire” that came from Gaza into its territory.  They said the Hamas were to blame.  They claimed the Hamas fired first.  But why did the Hamas fire those rockets into Israeli territories?  News reports didn’t say. 

Maybe those Hamas were just cruising for a bruising.  Just like the Hezbollah of Lebanon.  Remember that war a couple of years ago?  The Hezbollah fired those rockets first into Israel.  I suppose they were also cruising for a bruising then.  Israel retaliated and annihilated the country of Lebanon with U.S. made bombs….

Ms. Condoleezza Rice, Mr. Bush’s Secretary of State went over there to stop the bombings and the killings and the insanity and idiocy of that war, but to no avail.  As the firebombs seared Lebanon and the Lebanese people, she shrilled uselessly.  While her boss, Mr. Bush, twiddled his thumbs.   

I don’t really wanna talk about the bombings and the killings of people and the insanity and idiocy of war … or the uselessness of shrills.  It’s depressing.  I am so glad that this administration is on its way out.

BARACK H. OBAMA IS MOST ADMIRED: So I heard BHO won another election.  This man is awesome: According to USA Today/Gallup polls, he dethroned Mr. Bush as the nation’s most admired man this year.  I don’t think we all need national polls to know that.  Just like we all don’t need polls to tell us that Mr. Bush is America’s worst president since Richard Nixon.

But in 2001, right after the 9/11 terrorists attacks on America, Mr. Bush was THE most-admired man.  What goes up, must come down.  It’s the law of nature.  Mr. Obama will come down, too, one day from his media-made perch.

But right now, that’s unthinkable yet.  Because right now, the man can walk on water. 

Despite dirty Chicago politics where he sprung from, he’s unassailable, he’s flawless, and he’s said to be gifted.

And though NOT God, he’s nevertheless the Messiah in many people’s minds.  Or, THE Moses and the “mostest” of all.

As described by The New York Times Columnist Nicholas Kristoff: “American voters have just picked a president who is an out-of-the-closet, practicing intellectual … an Ivy League-educated law professor with a fertile mind … who is actually interested in ideas and comfortable with complexity … who speaks in paragraphs rather than sound bites … and who seems to understand that the world abounds with uncertainties and contradictions …”

Yeah, yeah, okay, okay, he’s THE MAN na.

On women, the one who was voted the most-admired, according to national polls, was: Hillary Rodham Clinton!  And guess who took second place?  I kid you not: Governor Sarah Palin!!!  So, you miserable Palin Bashers, eat your hearts out.  True, her selection as John McCain’s running mate appalled many, but it also energized a lot of people.  Me, included. 

EXCERPTS OF A PHONE CONVERSATION BETWEEN BLAGO & RAHM: Y’all know who these two are, right?  Blago is Governor Rod Blagojevich of Illinois.  Rahm is Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Chicago and President-elect Obama’s choice as Chief of Staff of the White House he’ll soon occupy.  And, y’all know what’s going on, right?  The guv wants to sell to the highest bidder the seat that Mr. Obama has now vacated.  From what we heard, Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. of Chicago … that’s right, the son of Reverend Jesse Jackson, wants the seat and was found to have offered $1-million for it.  But, of course, Jackson Junior has denied that.

Chicago politics is out of this world, I tell ya.  Corruption and the profanities of its leaders are profound.  Positions in government, elected and appointed, are sold and bought and bartered … like street drugs.  

What follows is an excerpt of a phone conversation between Blago and Rahm that was wiretapped by the FBI on Nov. 10, 2008.  The phone that was tapped was Governor Blagojevich’s home phone.  Their conversation was about to end here.  The bleep-bleep words were the “F” words and the “A” and the “S” words that these twerps used to talk to each other.

BLAGO: Oh, now you’re bleeping Godfather.  Bleep-bleep!

Emanuel: No, bleep-bleep, bleep-bleep, bleep-bleep!

Blago: Bleep-bleep!

Emanuel: Listen up, bleep.  The bleep’s gonna hit the fan, maybe tomorrow, maybe next month, and when Fitz brings down the hammer, it’s gonna be my name that’s going through your head.  You won’t know the hows and the bleeping whys, but it’s gonna have my bleeping fingerprints all over it.  Have a great life, FATSO!  (Click)

My dear readers, y’all have a great life, too, this coming New Year!  Cheers.  JJ