All About Weiners (and I don't mean 4th of July BBQ)

Dear readers, please consider this an opinion-based editorial. I'm going to be frank about how I feel in the situation of Rep. Anthony Weiner vs (scumbag) Andrew Breitbart and the dog and pony show that has distracted our media, all of it, for days now.

Rep. Weiner has been a consistent and effective voice in the US Congress, post-teabag-infiltration, for what I consider to be common sense.  Common sense tells me that if the poor are lifted up and the middle class are supported, our economy is strengthened. Wipe out those who can barely buy groceries much less toilet paper or a new TV?  Foreclose on those in the middle income brackets and reduce their paychecks to boot? Who will buy a new car or refrigerator or add a deck and garden to their homes? Who will put aside monies to pay for college for their kids? Who could even think of upgrading their current heating and cooling systems to ones that pollute less?  The economy as a whole has no option but to suffer as a result.

Common sense says that the economic drivers of our nation are you and me, the consumers of basic goods and services.  Common sense also says that if the consumers are pinched due to stagnant wages (or wage reduction, and hey I know something about that) or higher prices for fuel and food and transportation, they won't be able to enjoy the fruits of their labors.  No vacations, at least not expensive ones.  No home improvements except for the direly needed ones.  No new vehicles, better look for used ones when old Bessie finally costs more to maintain than she's worth. Forget hiring service providers from lawn mowing to child care to tax preparation to pest control.

Common sense conservatism, such as that touted by the extreme right-wing idealogues, hurts our economy and hurts our potential for growth. In that sense, Rep. Weiner is ahead of the curve, recognizing that without a guarantee of health care, we all suffer even if you or I don't fall ill.  Without a security blanket, we all suffer, even if you or I don't need it at this time. Without someone in Congress checking one of the other branches (the judicial in this case) you and I can be casually tossed under the bus when it comes to almighty Supreme Court decisions.

Was Anthony Weiner's private life exposed for political reasons?  You betcha.

Personally?  I could care less what Anthony Weiner does or did in his spare time online via social networking. And I don't understand why it is a big deal for anyone else, either. I do not want to see the pictures.  I don't care how graphic they are. It's like peering into someone's bathroom or bedroom, and I don't belong there. Full disclosure: I have sent and received "x-rated" images between myself and someone I originally met online.  Maybe you haven't.  Yes, I've since deleted them all.  That's just what happens, and it isn't horrid.  It isn't despicable.  It just is. It doesn't make me or the other person a bad person at all.  Humans are sexual beings by nature.  It just is that way.

By hook or crook, Breitbart has managed to purvey "porn" and hopes to be rewarded for it. Like I said in the beginning, he is despicable. My skin crawls when I see him talk. He thinks he's got another great notch in his imaginary belt of coups, but in truth all he's done is place himself lower than Larry Flynt on the scale of respectable story-tellers.


Was the Democratic party tinged with scandal as a result?  Yes, sadly.

But hey - the Republican Party has managed to survive several times as many scandals, and worse ones to boot.  Yes, I am sad. Yes, it stings.  But no, it still is none of our business.  May it remain that way.