I am not a blogger by nature; I have no idea why anyone would be interested in the minutia of my hourly comings and goings, comings and goings, comings and goings. I don't have the time or inclination for small talk. I am a writer who cannot help going off on political tangents.

Twitter is beyond me in every sense of the word. “Now I’m almost home.” “Now I’m getting out of the car.” “Now I’m getting out my keys…”

This is the way we waste our time! Have we nothing better to occupy ourselves? Are we THAT arrogant? Me, me, me, me? (Have you tried “The Sims Three? FABULOUS game! I spend HOURS nightly playing it and playing God to my Sims family!).

OK. 2010. Were you expecting a cheerful, hopeful message? Forget it. For good or bad, I’m a pessimist by nature.

I've always held hope that, as always, our country would screw its head on straight and self-correct. I no longer believe this will happen anytime soon. If there is one thing the useless and fruitless debate over "health care" has proved to me, it is that either pimps or whores populate the entire political structure from the White House to the lowliest post office clerk. There are no longer any public servants; merely power that wishes solely to perpetuate itself. The Demints and Liebermans of that distorted and amoral world soon bring the few politicians who try to do the right thing back into line.

My reading of history informs me that this dynamic is nothing new; the U.S. has ALWAYS been about profit and power. From the construction of our Constitution to this day, the chief concern of the wealthy folks who govern us has been to protect their assets. The only thing that has changed is the apathy and willful ignorance of the electorate, and the shameless manner in which the pursuits of the aforementioned wealth and power are worshiped. 

It's all out in the open my friends! Our country is being stolen from us in broad daylight! On Television! A country that was never intended to be “ours” from day one.

Take a gander at C-Span. Watch a full day of the US Senate in full cry.

Then tell me I'm wrong.

What happened to Obama? I actually contributed hundreds of dollars to that lying SOB. He gets elected, then throws us all under the bus. Don't bullshit ME pal. You stated flat out that a government-run public option was the ONLY WAY to keep the insurance companies in line, and bring down premiums. And don't talk to me of "expanding coverage." Health care coverage is a whole 'nother animal from health care. What good is it going to do ANYONE to expand Medicaid if doctors won't accept the paltry payments Medicaid offers, and we can't access care? The same goes for Medicare. And you didn't even see it coming (or maybe you did). You let the bill be gutted to the extent that it won't even BEGIN to help with the problem. In three years the Republicans will use the failure of the very bill they helped destroy to take back... uh, what was that word? Oh, POWER! You let those lying maniacs defame you and destroy the dreams of the people who worked for and contributed to your campaign. And you did NOTHING. In fact, you sucked up to them to such an extent that it seemed that you AGREED with them.

What it boils down to is that YOU, Mr. President, were unable to twist the few arms that needed twisting to do the right thing. Hence, you are, as politicians go, incompetent.

After having your signature initiative blow up in your face, you then turned to Afghanistan and Iraq.

$186 billion this year ALONE for those two follies-in-progress. All funds recently passed both houses with ease. Yet they can't find $90 Billion per year for real health care reform? Are you aware that in the Iraqi constitution (written in large part by the very Conservatives who now rail against “government-run health care”) there is guaranteed government-run health care? No kidding. Do you think bringing up that fact might have eased the task of selling the concept to the American public? You said NOTHING!

No hope. Sorry all you optimists, persuaders, RATIONAL folks. There are those who will not be rationalized with or persuaded. They are senators, congressmen, presidents, and corporate heads, all the PRAGMATISTS we elect time and again to think for us. It's kind of like a guy who owns only two shirts and can’t afford to wash them; when one starts to stink, he throws it on a chair somewhere and dons the other. Eventually, THAT shirt will ripen. Having only two shirts, he gets the original one off the chair, buttons it up, and pretends it doesn't still stink. This is what has become of our once functional two-party system. Come 2010 we will put back into power the very people who screwed us for eight years, and hope they don't still stink.

Count on it.

As for me, I intend to do something I swore I'd never do. I'm going to vote for whatever left-wing progressive third-party candidate who chooses to run.

When Ross Perot ran in '92, we all laughed at him. Ultimately he gave the election to Clinton, which sort of worked out, I guess. He did however come up with a line, which I'll never forget. During one of the debates, he commented on the then current political situation. He stared into the camera, right eye gleaming insanely, and declared: "It's time to grab a shovel... and go clean out the BARN." Now it’s eighteen years later, and we have yet to muck-out the barn.

My apologies Ross. And Ralph.

I sincerely hope that we as a country and as a people will come to our senses. I hope that, with the dawn of yet another decade we will force our leaders to act sanely. As a race, we have not progressed one iota since the first human discovered that another of his kind could be killed with a sharp shard of flint strapped to a wooden shaft. Not one iota. To paraphrase Mark Twain: Man is the only soldier. He hires huge armies of paid assassins to guard his land and to prevent others from grabbing slices of his. And in between wars, he washes the blood off his hands and works for “the Universal Brotherhood of Man.” With his mouth.

I hope I’m wrong. I hope we will all work for the betterment of each other, that we will at long last realize that our neighbor’s fate is the same as our own. That what misfortune befalls ANYONE, befalls us all. I sincerely hope that we will demand of our government that they stop pissing our tax dollars down rat holes in the Middle East such as Iraq and Afghanistan (they all despise us and will turn on us as soon as we have armed and trained them and leave), and instead return them to Americans in the form of sorely needed services.

I sincerely hope so.

But, as I’ve said, I’m a pessimist by nature.

Here’s where I usually thank you for your attention, and invite your response. There are no responses to most if not all of the columnists who write here, so I’ll not waste my time. I’ll just assume that you all agree with every word I write. I’ll simply wish you good luck, a happy New Year, and remind you that you get the government you work for and inform yourself about.

Usually…