As we await the verdict of nine Supreme Court Justices on the constitutionality of all or part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), it is worth asking what the remaining Republican Presidential nominees would create in its place. We know that they would have to create something, because each is committed to the rapid abolition of what they insist on calling “Obamacare”. Mitt Romney’s Plan for Jobs and Economic Growth is quite clear: “An Order to Pave the Way to End Obamacare,” it tells us, will be the first of “five executive orders for Day One” of a Romney presidency.[1] Newt Gingrich would be similarly engaged on the first day of his presidency. So too would Rick Santorum and Ron Paul. All four remaining Republican presidential candidates are enthusiastic First Day Abolitionists!

As I've been regaled with requests to blog (or more accurately, "get off my lawn, go shit on your own"), I've been looking for inspiration to return to a post (or reason to quit commenting at all, and Get.A.Life, as I often suggest to others).

It's not that I'm not inspired or urged on by events, with a chronic distaste in my mouth. But what to say that I haven't already said or is being droned on by others?

[yes, I posted something like 150 diaries of my own over the course of a couple of years - some serious, humorous, distasteful, incendiary, lame, and other aspects to my personality]

One reader's comment, "I call it Somerbyitis," almost got an "oh yeah" response, but it goes back to Greenwald and Digby and Gene Lyons' "Fool for Scandal".

I'm tired of people making shit up. Left, right, conservative, liberal, centrist, whatever.

Just to let you guys know what I am up to, I thought I would blog a blog about my new initiative, "The Bush Center Freedom Collection." This week, I hosted China founder Bob Fu who said, “President Bush is a compassionate and unwavering advocate for freedom, especially in China."

These days I tend to fly under the radar because I do what I do for the good of all humans and not for publicity (I told turd blossom to take a hike), but I wanted my buddies here at Dagblog and my friends at RedState to know what the little woman and I were doing with this new freedom emphasis. I plan to bring other freedom marchers to town as well.

After the ceremony, I invited Bob to break some boards with his karate (he said he wasn't into that so I was disappointed) and we all went to Asia kitchen for lunch (they have a great buffet). As you can see from the picture, Bob eats pretty good.

Brussels Belgium - Flickr

Most people in this country try are totally ignorant of how people outside of it live.  In fact according to this piece from a 2006 Denver Post, “Only about 23 percent of Americans own a passport, and only 10 percent of those actually leave the country.” That’s not very many and I am sure the figure now is much lower. It also does not even specify the destinations. This was not always the case. When the dollar was higher, there was significantly more travel and in the 1950s and 1960s when there was still a military draft, a lager number of service men and service women would be stationed in Germany or France of Greece or some other NATO country for their length in the military.

Does the US Supreme Court practice bullying? Under the guise of “seniority,” the newest justice is expected to perform menial tasks such as answering the conference door during closed sessions,  transmitting orders of the Court to the court’s clerk— and serving coffee to the others. How many years did Ruth Bader Ginsberg have to stand before she was allowed to sit for photo ops? Are these time-honored practices another form of hazing as we see in college fraternities or the military academies—a rite of passage?

The recent focus on bullying has captured the nation’s attention, from pop stars such as Madonna, all the way to the President and First Lady. And now there is a major movie based on real life experiences of children. We’ve read numerous accounts of bullying in the classroom, hazing in college fraternities and in the military. And among Wall Street traders. We’ve seen repercussions at a distance in cyber bullying and webcam spying. And blatant examples in hate crimes, sexual harassment, and the devastation caused by gangs. Intolerance of differences and control of others by coercion: hardly characteristics of democracy.

Each of us can recognize inhumane, anti-democratic practices and change them into positive encounters.