"Something is rotten in the State of Denmark" (Hamlet)

.....I have a few things to say, and I hardly know where to begin; so I'll just begin with an item I read in the paper today. It seems that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, of course---but that doesn't make him a bad person--would like to see Congress take another look at the 14th Amendment. That section of our Constitution guarantees U.S. citizenship to every child born in America, whatever the parentage. In other words, Mitch is apparently concerned that the child of an illegal immigrant might one day become President of the United States. What a horrible thought! David Broder of the Washington Post claims that if this is an example of what it would mean to have more Republicans on Capitol Hill, "watch out."

.....This bit of news about what McConnell is looking forward to is one of the things that is depressing me about what is happening in this country that is uniquely unexperienced in the annals of my memory. It seems that there are all kinds of bickering and bashing going on. The bickered bashees are Obama, Palin, the Tea Party, the Democrats, the Republicans, Fox News, TV Personalities, Joe, the plumber, the Media, and the man on the street. The bashers are Obama, Palin, the Tea Party, the Democrats, the Republicans, Fox News, etc., etc. I'm beginning to feel like Hamlet who said, "O! God! How, weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable appear to me all the uses of this world. Fie on it! O! Fie." I find myself in agreement with that appraisal and I am also fie-ing all that needs fie-ing upon.

.....For example: I am fie-ing, O! fie-ing the fact that the recently opened South Florida National Cemetery, located in nearby Lantana, has two entrances that are barely noticeable to travelers riding by. One would think that there would at least be obvious, well groomed landscaping, with the South Florida National Cemetery's name engraved in marbled stone, and gated entries. Now, there exists right across the road from this National Cemetery, a well manicured and richly endowed housing community who are for some reason being protected from the draconian results they feel would accrue to that community from a too-well noticeable entrance to this--heaven forbid! cemetery. Now, I would think that the war veterans interred there would supersede any bruised sensibilities of the residents of nearby housing facilities whose names and entranceways are very well documented. Fie on them! I say.

.....Now, one might ask why am I so vehemently fie-O! fie-ing the preceding accounts. Well, back in the 20th Century, at a time when George W. Bush occupied the White House, he summoned my daughter to Washington to become the Undersecretary of Veterans' Affairs for Memorial Affairs. This meant that, after confirmation by the Senate, she would be a member of his cabinet responsible for overseeing every National Cemetery in the United States. The National Cemetery in Lantana was funded and approved on her watch. As a matter of fact, she sent one of her employees down here and she asked me to help him pick out a proper site for the cemetery. He and I drove around all day to five different locations in West Palm Beach, and I, myself and me, picked out the very same spot where the South Florida National Cemetery exists today. And so I was proud to help my daughter, do something worthwhile for the country. And now, I would like to see the country cut the crap.