The Star Chamber?

I think this was the name of an old movie with Michael Douglas. I suppose I could go look it up on IMDB.Com but it's not that important to this post, so...
To tell you the truth, if I saw it at all I don't remember much about it. I think it involved our Hero (Catherine's lucky husband) uncovering a conspiracy wherein a group of old, rich white guys ruled the world from their little hideaway somewhere.

I am NOT a big conspiracy person which makes me hate "birthers" and "truthers" and now "deathers" all the more. It's also one of the reasons I have such a hard time taking Ron Paul seriously. Truth be told, I think he's a whack job who somehow manages to keep it [mostly] under control. (His son, by the way, is just an opportunist. But I digress...)

Having set all that up for you, if one takes even a quick glance around, there IS something fishy going on. Just in the past two weeks I've read a somewhat buried, casual article talking about how the price of oil recently doesn't really justify the price we're paying for fuel. It appears that the last time gas cost us so much, oil was even more expensive. I don't know if that's true and I probably won't bother trying to find out. I've also read how the average pay for a CEO is now HIGHER than it was pre-recession. Okay, that seems a little reckless to me, but as with the oil/gas question, I don't pretend to be a guru of economic theory. (unlike most of my friends in the business world.) It does, however, seem a bit strange to me that while CEO pay has increased - which is usually an indication that a company is doing better - the unemployment rate is still hovering at 9%. That's where I start having some problems. Somebody's got some 'splaining to do.

Did you notice how in the first few hours after bin laden was snuffed, even Republicans who one might consider "enemies" of President Obama were, naturally, congratulating the military and intelligence communities but ALSO the President on a job well done? It happened. It's in print (if you can still find it anywhere. It appears some of those articles now return 404 Error messages.) By the next day, almost as if someone had turned a switch, the rhetoric became very Pro-Bush and even Pro-Bush policies - Torture anyone?) What the hell happened overnight? My own Democratic Senator, Kay Hagan, can't even bring herself to congratulate the leader of her party in her press releases. (These pieces I'm mentioning really do sort of fit together, at least in my own mind, so hang on dear friends.)

Let's face it: Whether it's because he's a dark-skinned man or the dark-skinned man's policies, or for both reasons, there are more than a few people out there who don't like his being our President and who have made it their goal to make sure he doesn't get another term. I think, by now, it should be clear than many of them will say and do just about anything short of murdering him to make sure he doesn't get a second term. As I've mentioned too many times, FROM THE FIRST DAY AFTER BARACK OBAMA WAS ELECTED, THERE ARE THOSE WHO HAVE DONE THEIR BEST TO SABOTAGE HIS PRESIDENCY. It started with Rush Limpdick and his infamous "I hope he fails" remark and has continued unabataed since then. NO President in our history has ever faced such brutal opposition from the Republicans in the House and Senate who have blocked his EVERY move (even when they were on record as having supported such moves prior to his taking office) to the "Birthers" and the Tea Party spreading lies and quarter-truths. With our nation in such deep muck last November, all Bitch, umm, Mitch, McConnell could say was "Our number one goal is to make sure President Obama doesn't get another term." I'm frankly amazed at how well that went over with so many people. It seems to me there were and ARE more important priorities to label Numero Uno. (Yes, thank you, I speak Spanish occasionally.)

Does it look to anyone else like there is a well orchestrated, concerted effort to get rid of Obama even at the expense of Our Country? It's sure looking that way to me. I don't think I'm crazy and I'm not running for the tinfoil. Hell, I'm not the brightest bulb on the tree but if I can see this, why can't so many other folks see it?

The other day I had a cathartic moment when I ran across the post of one of my California friends on the Book of Faces (Amen). He and some of his friends (and, in fairness to Connor, he is a REALLY decent guy who just happens to be more conservative than me) were discussing the "mysterious circumstances" surrounding the bin laden raid and, of course, it turned into a bash President Obama session. I should have known better and just left it alone but I just HAD to put in my two cents. (Those of you who know me are probably laughing out loud at the thought of me keeping my mouth shut even when I'm in enemy territory.)

It wasn't pretty. It was also rude of me to get so involved on someone else's thread and I went back the next day and apologized to my friend and to the thread group. I should have said my piece and moved on and I MIGHT have except for one pinhead who sounded like so many other Conservatives and "Libertarians" out there: He didn't spout anything but opinions and when I tried to present him with "facts" it became clear he was oblivious. He doesn't KNOW any facts. He only knows what he's been told by God only knows who. Faux News? Rush? Please God, tell me it's not Glenn Beck! Or...maybe he just doesn't like black people. Of course he made sure to point out before it came up that he wasn't a racist and to call me that was just a liberal talking point. *sigh* I guess if the guy, Grady-what's-his-name, who calls black people "nigras" has the gall to say he isn't racist, anyone can say it now. (By the way, I grew up hearing the word "nigra". It was the "polite", less white trash version of nigger. Kind of like saying "cooter" instead of "pussy" maybe?) I don't think I've ever had such a bad day on Facebook. I was physically sick reading the venom that was being spewed by a few of these folks.

One thing stuck with me though and that was a comment made by the worst of the lot that, and I'm paraphrasing, "We don't have to worry about this (bin laden being found and killed under Obama's watch) because if the economy doesn't improve he doesn't have a chance." He may well be right. But if he is, and if so many people in corporate America (YOUR Chamber of Commerce!) want him gone and have no problem saying so publicly, who's to say the game isn't being rigged to that effect? Just like there was some sort of signal (?) suddenly passed among Republicans to spin bin laden's death as a Bush victory, who's to say there hasn't been some kind of signal passed that is keeping American corporations from hiring even as their business is starting to take off again? Who's to say that the reason we're paying more than some think we should be for gas relative to the price of oil per barrel that someone has gotten the "order" to keep gas prices higher as long as they can. How else do you explain, I believe it's, what, 14 billion in profits by Exxon last quarter? Actually, it's almost difficult to come up with any OTHER reason these things are happening. I wish I could because if this is even partly the case, it is truly a sad statement about the death of the Democratic process.

The most frustrating part of this is that I'm not sure there's anything anyone can do about it. If people don't want to do their duty as citizens and become informed, and by "Informed" I mean something besides Fox News (and MSNBC for you liberal types) I, or you, or anyone else can post all we want and they won't bother to read it. If corporate America and Fox News, using their buzzwords like "Socialist", "Hitler", "Nazis", "Atheist", "Godless" and on and on, have convinced average Americans that Obama and the Democrats are a signal of the end of the "American Way of Life", there is NOTHING I can say that is going to get through to them.

I am really fearful about what this country is headed towards. You should be too.