The Charismatic Lords of the Millennium

Nobody’s Opinion; It was bad enough that last week President Bush came out with a big brother photo-op, along with the announcement that he hoped that his brother Jeb Bush would run for President---but this weekend we had to have Newt Gingrich endorse Jeb Bush for President too:

“He’s a very unique, charismatic leader with extraordinary capabilities,” said Newt.

Nothing like getting started early.

Also, last week Hillary Clinton released a video to promote herself to be re-elected as Senator, and her husband Bill did most of the selling, saying all sorts of endearing things about her. But really--- who in their right mind thinks that if Hillary became President, (which is the real reason the film was made) Bill would just decorate the White House?

It would be as if Henry VIII had run Ann Boleyn to be elected as Queen, just so as to get himself back into power again. The question with the modern King and Queen Bill and Hillary would be…who would cut off whose head first?

These two groups of families are so addicted to power, that they are trying to arrange themselves a job as leaders until the aliens have to come down and probably take them out for us.

“Hello Earthlings…I see you cannot get rid of these numbskulls. We have decided to take them off your hands and take them to another planet where they can still rule…earthworms. Try not to let this happen again.”

Personally, it stinks. Boys are dying in Iraq and our “Lords” of the Bush and Clinton dynasties are throwing us back to before the Revolutionary War. At this moment they are probably even ordering Presidential Plate designs with the proper names and dates, until way past the year 3000.

I’m starting to think all this bashing each other is all a big charade.

Who else out there thinks that these two families have gotten together and came to some kind of agreement? Hillary for 2008-20012: Jeb for 2016- 2020, then Chelsea would be the next in line by then. And we’ve all seen the other nephews of the Bush’s waiting in the wings. Gingrich will be forever a knight at the square table. If they run out of heirs, they will just clone.

During America’s early struggles to get away from “infinitesimal deities,” as John Adams use to call the Lords, a man very sensibly tried to talk reason to the freedom loving people living here.

“Kings succeed each other, not as rationals, but as animals. It reverses the wholesome order of nature. It occasionally puts children over men and the conceits of nonage over wisdom and experience. In short, we cannot conceive a more ridiculous figure of government, then hereditary succession. It is inhuman to talk of a millions sterling a year, paid out of the public taxes of any country, for the support of any individual, while thousands who are forced to contribute thereto, are pining with want, and struggling with misery. What is called the splendour of a throne is no other than the corruption of the state. It is made up of a band of parasites, living in luxurious indolence, out of the public taxes.”---Thomas Paine.

Well…we see that not much has changed, except the people back then were much more educated as a whole. Ok...the Bushes and the Clintons would say;

“But we have been democratically elected! It’s not hereditary!”

It’s hereditary if they have all the money, the connections and the power, to put in place a system of laws whereby the chances that they will be re-elected is pretty much a fact.

As Bill Clinton would say, “It depends on what the word “is” means.”

And as this nobody would answer, “It also depends on who makes the rules of is, which is not us commoners at the moment.”

Just how bad a shape are we Americans in, when we have come to accept the idea that it’s actually OK to have decades of the same rich nobles and ruling classes deciding the fate of us all? They live better than Kings, but it is never reported, is it?

It’s as if, as long as the word “King” is stricken from all of our school textbooks, we the people, would not recognize a duel monarchy even if Roger Clemens threw it at our unsuspecting heads.

But don’t feel bad, the people in England are frustrated too.

In 1997, Tony Blair and the Labour Party ran on a promise to introduce legislation that would make the House of Lords an elected second chamber. But, as soon as he got in office he changed his mind, and even wanted to add to the number of Lords in the House.

Tony Blair has boatloads of charisma.

You see--- in England the House of Lords are like our Senators, with the difference being…
you can only become a Lord by hereditary, (think of Kennedy) or being granted the post by the sovereign on the advice of the Prime Minister, or picked by the Law Lords. (Sort of like a cabinet or Supreme Court)

Tony Blair is not just unpopular in England because of the Iraq war. Tony Blair supposedly has been selling Lordships posts to friends. (Mostly from London.) He has fought for the non-elected House of Lords to remain unelected. He broke his promise.

Sound familiar?

So what do we do? How do we stop this insanity of having the same families and their heirs from remaining in power forever, until doomsday?

Where’s our Thomas Paine?

Maybe we should just go ahead and become a monarchy again, build the Bushes and the Clintons a big castle somewhere, and let them come out and give speeches, but take all power away from them, as they did the Queen of England.

And then just keep the House. The Senators can go over to England and become Lords.

I’m sure Tony Blair will find some room from them.


Nobody’s Perfect; Senator Frist is trying to pass an amendment making the burning of the American flag illegal. What it should really say is that the flying of the Mexican flag in America is illegal. Somehow he got it mixed up. Hopefully, his record as a doctor is better.

Nobody Knows; In 1275 Edward I called a meeting of Parliament. He needed money. The common representatives from the towns agreed to give a fifteenth of all their movable property. They had a few other taxes on wool exports, and then they were told to go home and collect them. The actual laws (of course) were decided by the earls, lords, and bishops. Now, in 2006, we common nobodies have to work until May to pay our Kings. The peasants of England had a much more equitable tax burden.

Nobody Cares: It was reported today that Iraq has a lower civilian violent death rate than Washington D.C.. The thing that Iraq actually does have in common with Washington D.C. is…nobody knows where all the bodies are buried.