BULLPEN AND B.S.

Former big league pitcher, Jim Bunning, now serves as a conservative member of the Senate.  He has announced that he is not going to run for re-election.  But his reasoning is not the same as Senator Bayh, Democrat from Indiana, who also announced he will not run.  Bayh is sick of the petty bickering, but Bunning would not have been elected if he chose to run.  The differences between the two Senators is far, far wider than that.

GOP Senator Bunning has taken the role of the do-nothing conservatives to heart.  He will try to stop anything that has any relationship to Democrats...anything.  So, he alone stands in the way of moving forward on extending jobless benefits.  He probably wouldn't be the roadblock if he were running for office.  Not only his constituents are angry with him, but so are many Republicans.  But the Republicans will not break their negative ranks to "out" him.  Of course all Republicans are worried about the implications of his stubborn roadblock.  It affects all people who are unemployed or underemployed, and that is a very, very large number.  Each Republican will feel a backlash because the general public is far more sensitive and understanding than the stalwart do-nothings.  Imagine a major political party so hellbent on doing nothing that they will hurt their own nation and even some of their consituents.  That is a very cynical and insensitive position.  But the conservatives feel they have enough negativity sympathizers on other issues to off-set this one miscue.

The United States is in a horrible situation.  We have the stumbling, bumbling, lacking-in-leadership Democrats screwing up just about everything.  And we have the Republicans screwing up everything with their "no bill will pass this Congress because we can stop everything...and we will!"  Is there a single loyal American in either House, in either party?  Do politics trump what is good for America?  Are we so goofy in our focus on our own navel in Congress that we will actually hurt the United States?

The men and women who sit in the House and Senate are sabotaging your U.S. and mine.  How juvenile can one be?  Whatever happened to loyalty, patriotism, adherence to the spirit of America?  How low will we allow the U.S. to sink into an immoral, unethical morass?  How many people have to be unnecessarily hurt by this cynical Congress?  Does bigotry play a role in all this madness?  Is it a reflection of selfishness?  Has greed capitalism so captured us that we are now haunted by it?  Have we so bought the propaganda of greedy corporations and special-interest groups that we are willing to sacrifice our own nation to make a point?