Mood:
don't askTopic: "Just Say 'Nyet'"(7)
The outgoing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, is an honorary member of the Fellowship of the Ring. Frodo admires his public persona, especially the heartfelt manner in which he addresses the personal issues of those under his command. Frodo will long remember his testimony in the debate about the ending of DADT in which he expressed chagrin that patriotic brave soldiers had to lie about their sexual preference in order to serve our nation. Similarly, Frodo will long remember the shock and dismay in Mullen's voice as he listened to the questions from troops in harm's way about the financial disarrary in Washington, and how that might impact their families. Not unlike Mullen, Frodo was stunned that these soldiers, as if they didn't have enough to worry about, were worried that they might not get paid, or that their families back home might suffer, or that their wounded comrades might not receive the best treatment money could buy.
The President stood to assure these men and women that nothing would stand in his way in the provision of all the goods and services promised. Frodo has been waiting for Grover Norquist to issue a statement in support of the President and the troops. In fact, Frodo has been waiting for any member of the so-called "Tea Party" (see American Independent Party, George Wallace, 1968) to stand and deliver whatever it takes to assure the American People that our government (see "of the people, by the people, for the people. . .") will keep any of the promises made. The motivations of this part of the American electorate is stated, time and again, to be merely for fiscal responsibility. Frodo, politely, questions the veracity thereof.
The former First Lady, Nancy Reagan, mouthed the words written for her some 25 years ago that are now the cornerstone of the philosophical position of America's "loyal opposition." As noted above, Frodo has changed the words slightly in order to reflect the complete absence of non-partisan effort to make our country a better place. To Frodo, it is self-serving ideology for someone, anyone, to compose such a threat to the economic stability of our nation that our troops fear they will not be supported, and that the "rating agencies" question the truth of "full faith and credit."
These are, at best, ignorant people. At worst, they are a threat to our national stability. Their collective effort to embarrass a President, probably because he is black (so says Frodo), and the danger added to the service of our fighting men and women brings back the aptly used words "collective" and "Nyet."
Don't think Putin isn't just about to wet his pants. The Tea Party might make Nikita Khrushchev truthful, after all.
