Ask a Stupid Question

So far this has been one strange summer, which used to be the lazy season, a time for repose. Not anymore. Today's news stories have the look and feel of expensive movie scripts, or punches in the gut. The hits just keep on comin'.

Don't look here for answers. I'm stuck with a bunch of stupid questions. You tell me:

Could this glimmer of a revolution in Iran actually be a latent sprout of the Bush foreign policy? In other words - ones that make more sense - were the Iranian people inspired by a "free and democratic" Iraq next door? Or have they been Westernized in other ways?

With respect to Iraq, why didn't the world (meaning the United Nations) impose sanctions on the United States for its unilateral attack on a sovereign nation? Is open hegemony okay for big countries, but not for little ones?

Have they buried Michael Jackson yet? Why do I miss him now that he's gone when I pretty much considered him to be a freak when he was alive? Speaking of freaks, has anybody ever heard of Bruce Jacobs?

As the Obama administration hits the rapids of the health care debate, wouldn't it build confidence to tackle something smaller first, like the price of cable TV? Hasn't that issue languished in Congress for decades, like a baby picked up and dropped by John McCain?

With the highest incarceration rates in the world, don't we already have a damn good head start on the road to government-provided health care?

As for the stubbornly underperforming economy, why have prices come down but wages haven't gone up? Wouldn't increased wages spur demand? Or is it too late for anything that simple to overtake the business class in this country?

Why would Billy Joel have even wanted to sing, "I love you just the way you are"? Was that, like, a compliment back in the day? Was Joe Cocker even worse with, "You are so beautiful (to me)"? Was Steve Miller the only musician with any good lines?

Given that Bush and the GOP had eight years to screw this great nation into the ground, does it make sense for President Obama's critics to denounce him as a failure just six months into his tenure? And is anyone surprised?

So who killed the Republican Party? Without question, conservatives divided their house and so were easily conquered, but who did the dividing? Wasn't it actually Rush Limbaugh with his regular tirades against moderates, RINOs and "blue-blood" Republicans?

(Finally, an easy one. Still stupid, but easy.)

pH 7.2o.o9