Le Morte d'Eduord

Ted Kennedy died today. For that there is no denying an era in American history has come to its end. The last king of Camelot is dead. Long live...who?

Who now will take up the grand mantle of bulwark of the liberals who want to change America, not for the better, but for the worse?

What will happen to the liberal causes without their lion to roar for them?

Who will tell the children to shut up when they become too unruly?

No one as I can see will or can step up to the plate. If any doubts this, look at how the Camelotians (that's liberal democrats for those of you who don't get it) treated Caroline Kennedy when she tried to get the nod for the Senate seat vacated by Hillary when that carpetbagger became Secretary of State. If anyone should have been heir to Camelot it was Caroline. Right?

Liberalism is the dog that has had its day. Some -- on Ted's side (gee no surprise there) -- are already exploiting his memory by attaching his name to the reform of health care in America. Have they no shame?

I didn't like Ted Kennedy for his politics, and I really didn't like the man, but even if I had I would never use his name to further a cause of mine. That would be, I don't know, like, attaching Reagan's name to legislation for Alzheimer research just to get it to pass.

I may not be the only one who didn't like Ted, by the way. The family of Mary Jo Kopechne, might not be too upset that he's gone. I'm just saying.

At the end of the day what is most significant about the passing of Ted Kennedy is that it is really, finally, the passing of Camelot. A whole generation of Americans grew up with the Kennedys as their Royal Family. This, when there should not be any royalty to revere.

But the name Camelot, as it has been applied to the Kennedy family, says much about liberalism. Elitists (i.e., royalists) who believe in their own superiority over the common man (i.e., us serfs). Even the kings and queens of old gave alms to the poor, and this is exactly what liberals have done, are doing, and will try to go on doing: being compassionate with other people's money.

I could be pretty darn compassionate myself if I only had other folk's money to spend instead of mine own, but the words of Margaret Thatcher come back to me now: the problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.

Isn't this what is happening today? We're running out of money. We're running out of the jobs that create wealth. We're running out of the money that is available to be taxed to pay for government of any form. We're running out of money.

Many whom I have talked to since our President Obama was elected are terrified that he is out to destroy America, as we know it. I repeat here what I have told others before; I do not fear President Obama or his policies. Why? Because America is greater than him and them.

Obama has a vision of America similar in many respects to the vision Ted Kennedy had. Similar enough that Ted endorsed Obama during the primaries. It is possible that Ted Kennedy knew even back then of his ailment and passed the torch, so to speak. Only, I don't think Obama, or anyone else on the left for that matter, has what it takes to carry it.

Camelot is crumbling away and the last lit torch has dimmed and gone out. Long live America.

Take My Internet, Please!

Would someone please come up with something new and better and FREE! These darn moguls want to charge for everything we do online, and frankly it's getting tiresome. Look, guys! If I'm not going to buy your newspapers off the news stand, why would I buy them online? Your magazines, too, for that matter.

It's bad enough that we have to pay for television programming that is mostly worthless just to catch a bit of entertainment or local news. No more free airwaves, are there? I mean, come on paying for three hours of programming a day, or for infomercials throughout the night and weekends. This is obscene.

Now they want to do it to the internet.

I remember when the net first came on the scene and how exciting it was to explore new things without someone shoving an ad in your face, or making you register with UPPER&lowercasepasswordsthatmusthavea!@#$%^&*(or123456789. Why do they care if my password is secure enough or not anyway?

I remember when information over the net was as free as if you had jaunted down to the local library. Not no more it ain't! Sure back then there were still some stuff you had to pay for, but it was your choice. Now there's little choice and soon there will be no choices. Pay to play or get lost is what they'll say.

Well they'll do what they want and so be it. I have enough faith in ingenuity that one day (hopefully soon) someone will come up with something that outdoes the internet and makes information free again. Even if only for a short while. Then when the greedy moguls exploit that venue for money something else will come along. And so on and so forth.

For now, take my internet, please!