The Strange Week of Disappointments

We are fast approaching the end of a strange, hectic week. Work as usual leaves me psychologically drained at the end of the each day. Then there is an extra added attraction to keep me otherwise distracted from my already too full life: my uncle fell out of bed on Monday night and fractured his hip. He has been transported to a hospital and as I write this rough draft (Wednesday PM) he is in the OR.

Then beyond my life, the world at large had some strange things happen. For example:

Several months ago the Southern Poverty Law Center issued its annual report on hatred in America. The report is usually an eye-opening accounting of all the hate groups in the country. This year, there were more hate groups than ever, over 1300 hate, survivalist, and patriot groups, some vowing to take back the government by force if they see fit to do so. Their proliferation has been pinned on Obama’s re-election and his subsequent push for gun control. The report, most startlingly this year, noted a comparison in the overall mood among hate groups this year with the same time period in 1993 when Oklahoma City was bombed.

At the time the report was issued, MSNBC spent a few hours analyzing the current year in hate, and wondered aloud if our government was adequately monitoring these groups. Then, the strange part happened: a bombing in Boston on Monday killed three and injured over 170.  It seems that the SPLC prediction came true.

So, who did it? While the wheels of justice roll slowly forward, the rest of us can speculate who did it and why. The SPLC has given us a wide number of the usual suspects to choose. Then again, any group bent on terror and eager to heighten their street cred would have claimed responsibility by now. This hasn’t happened. This may boil down to some type of lone wolf Timothy McVeigh character who felt he/she had to make a point in a dramatic fashion.

Meanwhile in Washington…

Two days later, the long anticipated vote on expanded background checks on gun sales was held in the Senate. The vote promised to be a nail-biter, but in the end the majority of our elected officials chose to give aid and comfort to the criminal element by voting down the bi-partisan proposal. It’s as if they didn’t hear about the Boston attack at all. Once again, wild-eyed Wayne-LaPierre-inspired insanity triumphed over common sense.

It was voted down! Unflippingbelievable! I guess it did not have enough support from the people to get it passed. Oh, wait, polls showed that 90% of Americans supported the stronger background checks on gun sales. Gee, that’s 9 out of every 10 Americans were in favor of this idea. In other words, nearly everyone wanted this bill to pass! Again, unflippingbelievable!

Opponents of the bill have argued that it would do little good since criminals don’t obey laws. Well, duh, I guess that’s what makes them criminals. Yet this “logic” could be extended to the extreme that maybe we shouldn’t have any laws at all. Why have any guidelines at all if the “criminal element” refuses to obey them? Indeed, why do we go through this charade of electing officials and charge them with the tasks of defining rules that are suppose to ensure that all of us live long, productive, and happy lives?

This country could save billions if we just eliminated Congress, for all the good they’ve done the American people this year.

And, oh yeah, the Phillies dropped three straight to the Cincinnati Reds.

Overall, it’s been a deeply disappointing and dissatisfying week. It is enough to make the sanest of liberals throw their hands in the air and ask, “What’s the point?”

(Thank you for reading. Sorry if I’m coming off as a bit Grouchy today, and not at all Harpo-ish.)