Sickening!
Dead bodies lying in the road and along the roadside. Buildings collapsing and toppling into increasing piles of rubble. Crippled war and artillery vehicles stalled in the middle of roadways. Bombs exploding as frantic Ukrainians flee their homes desperately seeking safe harbor. And mixed within all the pictures of death, destruction, and mass chaos on television is the occasional appearance of a still photo of Vladimir Putin, the Russian president and the architect of all the death, suffering, and unspeakable horror imposed upon Ukraine. If the daily newscasts reporting all of this aren’t sickening, I don’t know what is.
Disgusting!
Writer’s note: The following is strictly my opinion and in no way reflects the thoughts of Lede’s staff.
As I watched President Joe Biden deliver his first State of the Union Address last week, I was struck by the same thought that has plagued me every time I have watched the STOTUA, no matter who officially has occupied the chair in the Oval Office. And the thought is this: Why in the hell would anyone want that damn job? Talk about a thankless occupation! Words cannot adequately express how much I loathe politics and the majority of the “lawmakers” who are supposed to be “running” the country. They care little for anything but themselves, and some of them are shamelessly disrespectful of the president. A prime example of this occurred last week during the State of the Union Address.
“As Biden spoke about helping soldiers who came home sick from Iraq and Afghanistan with toxic burn pits and the cancers that would one day put them in a ‘flag-draped coffin,’ Colorado Republican congresswoman Lauren Boebert shouted, ‘You put them in! 13 of them.’ Boebert’s response was likely related to the 13 U.S. service members who were killed in a suicide bombing at Kabul airport in Afghanistan in August 2021.”
In a bylined story for the New York Post, Steven Nelson also addressed the reprehensible behavior of Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene, a GOP congresswoman attempting to help disrupt the speech.
“Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert heckled President Biden Tuesday at his first State of the Union Address.
“Greene (R-Ga.) made faces and muttered throughout Biden’s roughly one-hour speech, particularly when he spoke about administering COVID-19 vaccines to children — but Boebert (R-Colo.) earned greater gasps for slamming Biden’s Afghanistan exit by invoking the deaths of 13 US troops in an August bombing at Kabul’s airport.”
The continuing chatter also aroused the ire of Rep. Sean Patrick Mahoney (D-NY) when the two women continued their assault as Biden mentioned his late son, who died during his service in the military.
During an interview with “Business Insider” Mahoney said, “I don’t know that I belong to the same human race as someone who thinks it makes sense to yell at someone when they’re talking about their dead son, and veterans who are suffering because of wounds incurred during their service. So I think it was a disgraceful moment, but we’ve come to expect it from those members, sadly.”
I loudly and clearly echo the sentiments of Mahoney. As much as I disliked and, yes disrespected, the former White House occupant, I would still maintain enough respect for the office that I never would deign to hurl insults at him during something as important as the SOTUA. At a political rally is a different story. If I had the authority (I don’t.), I would strip them of their respective political offices and send them back in complete disgrace to whatever caves from which they emerged and let them spew their barbaric venom by painting on the cave walls. But it probably would have to be paint by numbers so they can understand it. (No numbers higher than three, please, and try to stay within the lines.) If you want to vent on someone who deserves the full brunt of your vituperative rage, heap it on Vladimir Putin. That nut deserves all you can muster. No verbiage is strong enough to express the unjustified insanity he has leveled on Ukraine and its people. It’s inhumane and disgusting. Period. End of rant.
Some Good News
With all of the death and destruction monopolizing the news these days, let’s take a quick peak on the bright side for the moment. Daylight Saving Time is only a week away. That’s right. Next Sunday we set the clocks ahead to give us more daylight, and I can’t understand why we just can’t keep it the year around. Good riddance to those dark days of winter! And glorious spring arrives on March 20, but before you begin dancing, remember that we have had snow in this area in the middle of April! Don’t despair though. It didn’t last long.
Ponder This: I don’t fear death. I just don’t want to be there when it happens.
~ Woody Allen
