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NPR has a commentary by Robert Franklin, a professor of theology at Emory University in Atlanta explaining what Hillary and Nagin were talking about, and who they were talking to when they made their remarks.

His comments made clear to me why Hillary used the word, plantation, and I now can honestly say that it was the easiest way of getting her point across to her audience. Oh, her point is not what the Republicans assumed it was.

For those too lazy to listen, in the context of the Black church, “plantation” is a place of privilege where you might work, but your existence and opinion are of no consequence to the “elite”. For most people, that’s a pretty accurate description of Congress for a very long time: if you don’t have money or power, they don’t care about you.

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Both Steve and Bobby posted on James Webb’s New York Times editorial complaining about the attacks of the current leadership of the Republican Party on veterans.

For more background there’s this CNN article on the “purple heart band-aids at the 2004 GOP convention.

The poem that Webb quotes is Tommy by Rudyard Kipling, a well known piece among the military for most of 150+ years since it was written because of the truth it still contains.

John McCain, Max Cleland, John Kerry, Jack Murtha – all had Vietnam Service Medals, Purple Hearts, and one or both Silver Stars, Bronze Stars. They have all been slimed by these people. How much respect did Colin Powell receive? General Shinseki?

James Webb has a Navy Cross, but that won’t stop the attacks.

The Republicans don’t want to supply the troops with body armor. If the troops had efficient body armor they would be much harder to stab in the back.

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On local radio my senior Senator, Bill Nelson, reported on his chat with Alito.

Nelson is occasionally off-the-wall so it wasn’t surprising he wanted to ask about Kelo versus New London, the Supreme Court decision permitting the government to take private property through eminent domain and transfer it to another private person for development. The case was extremely unpopular in Florida and Nelson is running for re-election, so there was some method to this.

Guess what? According to Nelson, Alito doesn’t believe in private property rights any more than he believes in privacy rights. So, it would be fair to say that Alito is really annoyed by the existence of the Fourth Amendment.

[Update: The Miami Herald verifies Bill “Waffle Willie” Nelson covered eminent domain with Alito, but still can’t decide what to do. If you flip a coin, Nelson would call “edge”.]

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The misbegotten idiots that passed this Medicare Part D should be required to work their way through this mess before they ever draw another cent from the Federal Treasury. They should be locked in a room with a telephone and receive neither food nor water until they actually get an answer from one of these companies.

They should be given the standard monthly prescription bottles from one individual and be required to locate a plan that would actually be useful to that individual or starve.

I have been roped into helping some people who are trying to deal with this mess. The web sites don’t work worth a damn and the feedback links are broken when they even exist. The telephone numbers are nothing but a collection of bad music as you are put on hold if the call is answered at all.

No one was ready for this. The government and the companies don’t have a system in place. I’m dealing with upset people, and widespread incompetence.

The Shrubbery has asked the companies to help!? If the companies were capable of helping in this situation it wouldn’t be this screwed up.

Cronyism, corruption, and incompetence – it’s the Republican way.

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