Friday, September 25, 2015

My Thoughts on John Boehner's Resignation --

I'll weigh in, FANTASTIC. He's been the ballast to progress, the ball and chain tying us to obsolete, old white, greed favoring ways. Threatening to shut down the government, not working with Dems on important issues of our time, etc., etc., shameful. That he scurries out of the public eye just in time for avoiding the excoriation he should receive is fitting for him. To watch him behind the Pope for over an hour, and hear such beautiful notions and leadership from Francis--and seeing Boehner the man most responsible for the CHASM between where we are and where we should be--was brutal. Mr. Boehner, take your exit immediately and with shame.


Other thoughts on his party and resignation from NYT comments, some more harsh, some more nuanced:


Robert Lee (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/25/world/asia/xi-jinping-china-president-obama-summit.html?_r=1)

Toronto 15 hours ago
Bad week for the GOP. With the Pope speaking out for refugees, global warming and sharing the wealth, and China coming around on carbon emissions, what's left of their sorry platform?

frankly 32

by the sea 22 minutes ago
Maybe the pope touched his heart, and he realized that as captain of the lost boys on Republican Island, he was not engaged in the good fight but the fight against goodness -- with bleak prospects for a favorable judgment from the past, the future, or the Catholic God that Francis embodies. I hope Boehner will next avail himself of two of the church's finest institutions: confession and repentance. Chalk another plus up for the Francis Effect. 


Christine McMorrow

Waltham, MA, 02452 2 hours ago
I have mixed feelings about this. I have no doubt that the papal visit did something to him, as he was weepy all day yesterday. While I doubt it was the final trigger--I think his mind was already made up--I think perhaps the pope's exhortation to stop congressional divisions and enmity really moved him.

That said, Mr. Boehner was an abysmal speaker. He presided over the most contentious, polarizing, do-nothing Congress in likely US history. His feckless betrayal of President Obama over the grand bargain in 2011 enraged me. I think he always tended to play one side against the other in order to save his own reputation.

Well, it didn't work. He fabricated, he prevaricated, he refused to rein in the loony Tea Party (resulting in even more of them being elected the year after) and he continually insulted the president, perhaps to show his most rabid members he could be "tough."

For me it didn't work, and he is as much responsible for the nonstop political impasses as the Tea Party crowd itself. I place 50% of the blame on his shoulders. If he knew he wasn't up to the job, he should have resigned several years ago.

No comments:

Sunset, Venice 12/20/2012

Sunset, Venice 12/20/2012
I've been thinking some about the Winter Solstice, the Mayan end of the 30,000-year-cycle on 12/21/12.

What if in fact the world did end? Even though this probably will not happen, to live consciously it is honest for us to take a bit of an inventory.

Am I happy with how I've lived my life? (Yesterday, I thought mostly yes, with some areas for improvement, as below.) Are there changes I would make?
Would I have tried to forgive those that were hostile or disappointing to me?
Would I spend more time with those I loved the most, telling them that, feeling that more?
Would I be happier, grateful for what I have, what I've experienced, the joy, the beauty in this world?

Maybe the answer is yes to all of the above.
So this time can serve as a point of rebirth for all of us. If we think about it.

Because somewhere along the line I realized I think maybe mankind deserves it. !
The way we are killing each other, killing the planet.
How selfish we are, and snotty to those around us. Petty, competitive. Why is this? Do we have to behave this way? (I say no, it greatly detracts and misdirects energy from the full-time celebration in which we could engage, the great multi-cultural, multi-rhythmic dance we can sustain here.)

Maybe God or the Great Universe is fed up, and will pull the rug out from under us.
Don't think I can say we could blame Him/Her/It.

But it probably won't happen. (Probably not! This time.)

Still we are finite on this ride.

It is a time to think, am I happy with how I've lived my life?
Hopefully most of us can say yes.

For the part of us that have a little worry, a little sadness....
This is the time to be present.
This is the time to be the person you want to be, that can die at peace, that can hope to every day be able to look yourself and the Universe in the eye and say, how beautiful, smiling, and thank you. Let's do that.

Antidotes to Violence, a.k.a., Take Charge of Where Your Head's At - here

Tell Congress to Strengthen Gun Control Laws NOW - here

Good News & Brain Food News -
Christians & Muslims Gather, for Peace here
Good News - Top RIO+20 Summit Posts here
The 'Busy' Trap - NYTimes.com
here