Winning

While certainly not caught up in much of popular culture, one would have to be blind and deaf to overlook the ongoing saga of actor Charlie Sheen. The amusing thing to me about the whole situation is the derision of his unfortunate behavior by a popular media attempting to exploit it at every opportunity for ratings and revenue.

Now it can be funny as well as tragic when you see someone with everything make a mess of things in their life. (Can you say Brittany Spears and Lindsay Lohan?) It's far less amusing when the same behavior is being exhibited by members of Congress where the ongoing budget debate is concerned however. Let's remember after all, that it was a lack of common sense, responsibility, and good judgment led the last Congress to a failure to even vote on a budget bill for the fiscal year of 2011 (the first time that this has happened in this nation's history). 


Now that a new Congress is in session and the year's more than half over, you would think there would be a desperate scramble to reach some kind of agreement. You'd be wrong however. Oh, there's something going on in DC where the budget's concerned, but not anything that makes any sense or recognizes the reality of the situation. 


To date, the Senate still has yet to find the time to vote on a budget proposal of any kind. They do however, appear to have the time to throw stones at the House for passing one that they don't like. Rather than proposing an alternative budget or trying to come to some agreement with the lower house however, they would rather demonize House Republicans for doing their jobs. 


It now begins to appear that they are finally growing tired of passing the continuing resolutions that allow things to go on pretty much as usual, and will soon allow the federal government to shut down. (Oh that we could make such a situation last...) 


Politicians it seems recognize that this shutdown may, as it did in 1995, hold political advantage for one side or the other. They are therefore are using the situation as a strategy to allow posturing for the election still 18 months off. 


Interestingly enough, in the midst of this we find the Senate's Charlie (Schumer of New York), behaving much like the star of "Two and a Half Men"; and revealing similar behavior by being caught with his political pants down. He rather idiotically outlined his party's backroom strategy on the continuing budget debate on a cell phone call without realizing the mainstream media (which were supposed to jump on the call at some point) were already listening to and recording it.  


Forced to deal with the fact that he had been caught in public in what most would consider a rather embarrassing position, like his entertainment counterpart, Chuck merely shrugged off the whole affair. After all, while his actions were shocking, irresponsible, and juvenile; they remain a 'winning' strategy. That after all, is what much of politics appears to be about these days. Not running the country effectively, attempting to deal with important issues like the runaway deficit, shrinking the size of government, or even doing the job you were elected to do. No, this is about competing with members of the other party, making the other guy look bad, and insuring your chance to do a job a couple of years from now by refusing to do it now. 


The worst thing about the whole despicable mess is that just like Charlie (Sheen and Schumer), the rest of these adolescent assholes (yes, I used a bad word) are sitting back and laughing at us while continuing to make a mess of things. But hey, enough of my words. Being a huge fan of quotations, I think the best way to end this "Tale of Two Charlies" is to share some of the wit and wisdom of one of them, and let Charlie Sheen share a few things about life in his own words:


"But you can't focus on things that matter if all you've been is asleep for forty years. Funny how sleep rhymes with sheep. You know." "I don't have time for their judgement and their stupidity and you know they lay down with their ugly wives in front of their ugly children and look at their loser lives and then they look at me and they say, 'I can't process it' well, no, you never will stop trying, just sit back and enjoy the show. You know?" "I'm dealing with fools and trolls and soft targets. It's just strafing runs in my underwear before my first cup of coffee. I don't have time for these clowns." "That we are to stand by the President right or wrong is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." "Boom, crush. Night, losers. Winning, duh." 


Couldn't have said it better myself ...