Not The Right Kind Of "Kick The Can"

We're not exactly sure of what kind of childhood you may have had, but growing up for some of us involved games with other kids in the neighborhood, like "Nine Lives" or "Kick the Can."

If you never had the experience of a round of "Kick the Can," it's a game where the person who is "it" tries to catch all the players who are hiding, and put them into "jail." The person who is "it" is also trying to protect the one thing that can set all those players free - someone sneaking up and kicking over the can, located at homebase.

Unfortunately, in the legislative version of "Kick the Can," it isn't the lawmakers and governors at the state level who are "it" and have to scramble to protect their budgetary cans.

It's the cities and counties.

We've been warning now, for some time, that when the Obama Stimulus money ran out at the end of 2010, that there would be a rude wakeup call for all Americans. Not surprisingly, politicians in nearly every state, at nearly every level, attempted to skew, twist and obfuscate the truth about their city, state, and federal budgetary numbers during the political races last year so that those problems appeared to be someone else's responsibilities.

While that may have been a childish trick, most voters went along with it, and turned politics into a sport, as they too often do. The calendar has turned over, though, and last year's political games have now begun to give way to the political realities of 2011 - like how to pay for the states' fiscal responsibilities.

While California's Jerry Brown has been getting some of the biggest headlines lately, being painted as a Governor trying to steal from his cities to pay for his state's budget problems, he's far from the only example out there.

In Nebraska, the Legislature refuses to deal with the issue by instead putting forth "Emergency only" tax bills, that make the claim that taxes will only go up if the state can't balance its books any other way. Meanwhile, cuts to necessary state services are certain to happen, which will force cities and counties to pick up the tab via higher property and sales taxes.

Without the Obama Stimulus money the states have used to cushion their budgets the last two years, state aid to schools is also projected to plummet in 2011, and likely for several years to come. Unless citizens want to face schools full of kids with no teachers, cities and counties will have to pick up the tab for that, too.

Of course, we're certain all this buck-passing won't stop the state politicians from slapping each other on the back at the end of this year's legislative sessions, congratulating each other on how they were able to balance their budgets again (even though balancing the state's budget is written into the state constitution in most cases - so it's not like the lawmakers or Governors had any choice).

Being fiscally responsible is important to all of us on the Daily Felltoon staff, and we generally consider balanced budgets a good thing.

However, when every state has so many infrastructure projects that need repair or replacement; when there are still massive numbers of people out of work; when private business either can't - or won't - spend, hire, and invest locally; a balanced state budget isn't that much to be proud of.

When a balanced budget is merely a number on a piece of paper, while the actual responsibility of governing continues to be kicked down to the cities and counties, we see little reason for celebration.

This is real governing, folks. This isn't a game for kids - or those too incompetent for real responsibility.

Blindingly Foolish

There are many in the media and in positions of political power who had hoped it would be a while - a long while - before they were faced with another one of those issues that Americans have been avoiding for some time.

In this case that issue is gun violence in America.

As we drew, and read, and translated, and directed, and wrote, and took care of our lives on Tuesday afternoon, two more kids - KIDS! - got seriously injured in another incident of senseless gun violence at a school in California.

We're fairly certain this one won't get the kind of media attention so many others have. "No one died, so it's not that big of a deal," said one member of the national media, behind the scenes, to one of our staffers. We'll leave that person nameless, because their jaded attitude isn't really the point of our commentary today.

Let's be honest with each other for once in our lives about the nature of guns in American culture.

We simply have too damn many of them - and too many in the hands of people who don't respect them, can't use them properly, or simply shouldn't have them due to age or disease, or mental condition. No five-year-old NEEDS a rifle, let alone a handgun. Neither does an 85-year-old, with or without Alzheimer's disease.

Yet in America, right now, right this very minute, there are at least 90 guns for every 100 people. Rich, poor, old, young, insane, sane, every color, shape, size, and ability - there are 90 guns for every 100 people. If you're reading this in a room with less than five people, there are enough guns on average in America that each of you should have two - except for the idiot with the fully automatic machine gun who would only need one. But, of course, he probably owns several already.

It's not that we think the Second Amendment - the vaunted legal statute that far too many Republicans have taken way beyond its original meaning, in part due to their fear of the NRA's power to make or break elections - should be scrapped. We see no problem with responsible Americans who have been properly trained in gun safety, and who have a proper respect for the power of firearms, owning a gun or two.

That being said, there is no reason whatsoever for Americans to have the destructively cavalier attitude towards guns that we do.

It is not just in our use of language that we have been careless in our use of gun metaphors. It's in nearly everything we do, from our books, music, movies, and cartoons, to the very way we approach the idea of managing weapons properly.

In the face of the attempted assassination of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords earlier this month, there have been multiple gun control measures proposed, most of which will never see more than a few words in digital or hard copy newspapers. We doubt that any House and Senate members of EITHER party have the intestinal fortitude to do anything more than dump ineffective platitudes at the feet of those who will be injured or killed in the next heinous gun-related violent event.

At least on this issue, for those of us who still claim some hold on rational thought, there are no party identifications at all.

Our lawmakers are all either cowards incapable of protecting their citizens, or blind fools unable to see that their refusal to act boldly and effectively endangers us all.

Please, please, please remember their actions, and/or lack of such, during the next election cycle.
Or if the next elections seem too far away, just wait for the next gun-related tragedy to remember the cowardice of all those politicians who chose to do nothing at all.

And Now, Back To Your Regularly Scheduled Stupidity…

If you've been paying attention to politics and the media lately, you know that a there was an unusual amount of attention devoted to civility and responsibility last week by nearly every media source, including us.

What you may have missed - if, for instance, you were hosting guests over the weekend, or you were busy hanging around with family - was that the temporary truce between the chronically stupid and the rest of us has apparently already ended.

It began with a town hall-meeting edition of Christiane Amanpour's "This Week" for ABC News, recorded last week.

One of the victims of the shooting tragedy in Tucson was not just allowed, but asked to attend the taping of "This Week" - along with the leader of the Arizona Tea Party. Contrary to the denial some folks we know still suffer from, the Arizona Tea Party has been one of the more militant branches of that vague political movement. In case some of you had forgotten, the Arizona Tea Party includes folks who came to a speech by the current President of the United States carrying assault rifles.

The nearly inevitable reaction of explosive anger by a victim of the Tucson shootings, when the Tea Party leader spouted off some of his rhetoric, should have surprised no one. As veteran media observers, we're willing to bet the "This Week" producer who asked the victim to attend was, in fact, hoping for just that kind of "bonus" media coverage for their show.

The shooting victim was immediately hospitalized for mental evaluation, and has since apologized to the Tea Party leader for that outburst. To his credit, the Tea Party leader doesn't want the victim jailed but rather wants the victim to get the mental health care he needs. Unfortunately, the Tea Party leader still insists his organization is in NO way responsible for inciting ANY kind of violence via incendiary rhetoric.

Sadly, the slide back into the regular levels of stupidity has also already reached Washington, DC.

Republican Eric Cantor and other members of the GOP chastised the Democratic House for not putting forth a budget just a few months ago. Now they have already demonstrated their inability to lead - even though they're now in the majority - by refusing to put forth their own budget .

Yes, instead of proudly taking up the mantle of "Majority" party in the House, the GOP House "leaders" are already claiming they don't really have any power and insisting that the President must put forth a budget BEFORE they do. That way, the Republicans can simply stand on the sidelines and lob rhetorical water balloons at the budgetary decisions of the President.

Many of those same Republicans are also putting forth a great deal of bluster, claiming they're going to repeal health care insurance reform. It doesn't seem to matter to them that the majority of the American public actually wants the law to be MORE expansive, not repealed.

Regardless of how much sound and fury Republicans attempt to whip up on this issue - or any other - the facts still don't change. The GOP House has to pass a budget, they'll have to pass the debt ceiling, and if they want to get anything at all passed into law over the next two years, they'll have to work TOGETHER with a Democratic Senate and a Democratic President, who has the power of the Veto.

In the spirit of last week, we're not going to beat you over the head with more facts that further prove our point. We'll simply remind those in Washington (and elsewhere) who are already attempting to go back to their old divisive ways, to not be surprised when their false fury and needless stupidity meets the cold, hard reality that the only way forward is together.