First, a Rant...  I freely admit it's a rant..., so if you're not in the mood for another expression of concern about what's happening in Washington, skip all the way to the bottom of this BLOG post and see pictures I got today of friends being happy together.

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WILL THIS STRANGE, SAD, SEPTEMBER SONG NEVER END?

If America were just an idea, a reality show, an episode in a fictional BBC series, we could go to sleep tonight and wake up in October ready to go on with life in a sane, real world.  If Ted Cruz were just a made-up fictional character in a make-belief government; and if the Tea Party were the name of a rock band or a chorus in a comic opera,  the American nation could feel more hopeful about October, November, December and all of the next year.

If there happen to be any Tea Party people reading this, not likely, I hope they’ll ask someone what a rhetorical question is before reading on.  Have we ever had in Congress a more inept bunch of whiners than this fresh gaggle of Tea Party representatives and senators?  Has our government ever been held hostage by legislators more unschooled in basic tenth grade civics than these men and women who insist they are Tea Party patriots first and Republicans second? Has there ever been a clearer example of anti-intellectualism in our government than the drama playing itself out on Capital Hill today? Anti-intellectualism is said to be a disposition that discounts the importance of truth and the life of the mind.  Ted Cruz doesn’t speak the truth, and he surely must know what the truth; so he is a fraud.  His State of Texas deserves better representation in Congress... Well, maybe not all... but on the other hand, I know some very honest, good, hardworking, honorable, truth-telling people who live in Texas; and they deserve better. 

AND DID I MENTION...?

Many of the Tea Party people in government claim a religious devotion and active church affiliation.  Sadly, the ones who quote Scripture with the most fervor are the same ones who actively promote programs that deny help and inflict hurt on America’s poorest citizens.  They loudly proclaimed their support of legislative action that drastically cut the food stamp program.  One representative this week quoted Scripture to justify his support of cuts to the food stamp program.  He quoted the Apostle Paul's saying in Second Thessalonians, “If you don’t work, you don’t eat.  And now were getting reports that a bunch of lazy good-for-nothings are taking advantage of you.  This must not be tolerated.  We command them to get to work immediately--no excuses, no arguments--and earn their own keep.”  

I’m not a theologian, not a Bible scholar, but it’s clear even to me that whatever the First Century tentmaker known in church history as The Apostle Paul is reported to have said on the subject of who should and who should not be allowed to eat can’t possibly outweigh the basic teachings in the Christian Gospel credited to Jesus’ devotion to the poor and to his example of ministering to the poor. 

ENOUGH ALREADY!

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Speaking of eating... and drinking...  I had a very good time today with friends...We ate and drank and told stories to each other.  Life is Good.

Irene's Dessert