Monday, September 29, 2008

These fragments I have shored against my ruins

Take it away, T.S. Eliot:

When Lil's husband got demobbed, I said—
I didn't mince my words, I said to her myself,
HURRY UP PLEASE IT'S TIME
Now Albert's coming back, make yourself a bit smart.
He'll want to know what you done with that money he gave you
To get yourself some teeth. He did, I was there.
You have them all out, Lil, and get a nice set,
He said, I swear, I can't bear to look at you.
And no more can't I, I said, and think of poor Albert,
He's been in the army four years, he wants a good time,
And if you don't give it him, there's others will, I said.
Oh is there, she said. Something o' that, I said.
Then I'll know who to thank, she said, and give me a straight look.
HURRY UP PLEASE IT'S TIME
If you don't like it you can get on with it, I said.
Others can pick and choose if you can't.
But if Albert makes off, it won't be for lack of telling.
You ought to be ashamed, I said, to look so antique.
(And her only thirty-one.)
I can't help it, she said, pulling a long face
It's them pills I took, to bring it off, she said.
(She's had five already, and nearly died of young George.)
The chemist said it would be alright, but I've never been the same.
You are a proper fool, I said.
Well, if Albert won't leave you alone, there it is, I said,
What you get married for if you don't want children?
HURRY UP PLEASE IT'S TIME
Well, that Sunday Albert was home, they had a hot gammon,
And they asked me in to dinner, to get the beauty of it hot—
HURRY UP PLEASE IT'S TIME
HURRY UP PLEASE IT'S TIME
Goonight Bill. Goonight Lou. Goonight May. Goonight.

What a repulsive display today. If there really a crisis, the people in Washington sure the hell aren't acting like it. Pelosi dumps a 55 gallon drum of bile on the Republicans whose votes she needs right before the vote, doesn't get them, and then the Republicans take their ball and go home.

The reasonable conclusion - this isn't really a crisis, it's just kabuki theater. I mean, if the financial system was really on the verge of collapse, Pelosi would have had the votes going in, right? And if Republicans realized the gravity of the situation, they would have gone along, right?

All last week I tried to maintain my equanimity about this clusterbleep. Tried to be fair, even though there was ample evidence which side was primarily responsible for getting the ball rolling some 30 years ago (that's a hint). Even tried to look the other way while Barney Frank (D-Fannie Mae) and Chris Dodd (D-Countrywide) tried to escape blame. In a just world, both of them would be facing federal indictment, instead of crafting legislation that obfuscates their role in the mess. They'll skate, though. They have for years and nothing is going to change about that any time soon.

George W. Bush is the only actor in this mess who is certain to leave the stage in January. The cretins on the Hill will return, quite likely joined by a new President who spent his formative political years tied to ACORN. Happy days are here again!

The only solace? Even though it's not part of Catholic theology, I fully expect that there will be enough karma to go around for all these miscreants.


Shantih shantih shantih

4 comments:

W.B. Picklesworth said...

I fully expect that we will get what we deserve. There's plenty of blame to go around (though I share your sense of injustice vis-a-vis the Democrats getting away with murder and not getting called on it.) Thing is, there is strong support in this country for pandering to wishes and dreams in defiance of basic principles. I'm not just talking about economics.

I love this country a great deal, but it never pays to forget who we are: a whole bunch of sinners who desperately need to repent. Our foundations are shaky right now and no policy or election is going to change that because too many people do not live according to godly principles. How can we expect government to work when we ask our representatives to ignore Constitutional principles in order to enact legislation or spending that we want? Why do we expect newspapers to tell the truth when we give them our money anyways when they lie?

Mr. D said...

Ben,

You are right, of course. There is no question that there is strong support in this country for pandering to wishes and dreams in defiance of basic principles.

And you are doubly, triply, quadruply right that too many people do not live according to godly principles. I see it every day. And I am a sinner, too. Every day I need God's forgiveness.

Guess my post was just a middlebrow primal scream....

Anonymous said...

Another reminder that we no longer have Statesmen as our representatives, we have politicians. They haven't been trained in anything except for being politicians. As the market tumbles, and perhaps crashes in the next few days, they get to take a couple of days off and eat bon bons...What a crock of @#@#&*(&.....

Gino said...

karma may not be catholic, in a theological sense, but the concept of making the bed you lay in is not too foriegn.