I find the following, from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, an excellent metaphor for the current campaign, or anything else for that matter. I've always held an especial esteem for the Fruminous Bandersnatch and feel to this day that he has gotten short shrift from the liberal media elites.
`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?"
'Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.
`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
I hope that this makes as much sense to you as the American political scene makes to me.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
Off with her clothes.
The big deal (if it is a big deal) about Sister Sarah’s clothing scandal is how it looks to the little people from her “real America” who are already getting whacked by the pending doom that is our economy. I am not worried that a campaign would spend their donors' hard earned on making the candidate as appealing as possible. Or that they spend their money recklessly. Remember when Hillary had a $95,000 pizza bill back in Iowa? This is just the way they do things. But how does it get out? You don’t hear about overspending and mismanagement with the other side.
I purloined this from the HuffPo’s Sam Stein:
“Democrats (in this scenario) are not prone to forgiveness. After all, it was during this same campaign cycle that Republicans belittled the $400 haircut that former Sen. John Edwards had paid for with his own campaign money (the funds were later reimbursed). And yet, the comparison to that once-dominant news story is hardly close: if Edwards had gotten one of his legendary haircuts every singe week, it would still take him 7.2 years to spend what Palin has spent. Palin has received the equivalent of $2,500 in clothes per day from places such as Saks Fifth Avenue (where RNC expenditures totaled nearly $50,000) and Neiman Marcus (where the governor had a $75,000 spree)."
Palin received more valuable clothes in one month than the average American household spends on clothes in 80 years. A Democrat put it in even blunter terms: "Her clothes were the cost of health care for 15 or so people.” However, Stein leaves out that Edwards paid out $114,000 of campaign money for four two and a half minute videos of himself to someone he was boinking at the time.
The McPalin team was quick to point out that the clothes will be given to charity after November 5th. But I think I have a better idea. She should eBay the clothes after she loses. Just the silky stuff could pay back the $150 K and I’m sure a lot guys would like to get hold of one of those red leather Michael Jackson jackets that has become her sartorial signature. Of course that means that Baby Trig will have to give up his designer Dr. Dentons and the First Dude will have to trade in his suits and go back to oil skins and snowmobile outfits.
The tenor of the campaign loves this kind of mud to throw and, even if it is not a big deal, it becomes a red flag for other shenanigans. Because, there’s also too, the business of flying her kids on commercial airlines with her to more than a dozen events to the tune of $22 K at taxpayer expense. Surely the Gov. is entitled to fly first class. This includes a $700 a night flop at the Essex House on Central Park for her and Bristol who was not even invited to the event. You have to say, she’s a good mom. But a pricey Governor. She naturally wants to be with her kids so instead of working out of the capitol in Juneau where the law makers and department heads are, she stays at home. This part doesn’t seem right. She charges the state a per diem for each night spent in her own house. Three hundred and twelve of them! The legality of this move is now under review, by the GOVERNOR’S OFFICE. YGBSHM!
The likeable and smart Lawrence O’Donnel, an MSNBC mouth, who knows a thing or two about campaigns, is certain that all the hoopla “doesn’t matter.” He’s probably right. Even SNL only gave it one line this week. He told his fellow hecklers, “She doesn’t pick out the clothes.” The campaign (in its omniscience) picks out her clothing for the “look” they want to see, just as they put the words in her mouth that they want to us to hear. They seem to have gotten the wardrobe better.
In retrospect, Schmidt and company are going to wish they had let her speak more of her own words. The few times I’ve seen her speak on her own she was a different sounding, much more likable person. I was impressed with her interview when she said she would run things differently [from the campaign] in terms of how she presents herself and that she did not like the current content of the robo calls. It isn’t easy to for someone to have to change their personality on a dime to suit someone else’s idea of what they want you to sound like. She got where she is by Sarah being Sarah. The girl is all personality with an 80 percent favorable rating in her current job. She stands out like a tomato-red leather jacket. And then the campaign says, yeah but let’s tweak it. Let’s have a committee decide what should come out of her mouth. Of course that didn’t work so hot with Katie. Forced to read talking points off her lap she looked foolish. You might say it backfired. But they keep pushing her out there to shout “socialist” and “elite” to people who don’t even know what the words mean.
One other thought. Michelle O went on a TV program called The View in a $148 dress from the GAP and that’s what all the chatterers talked about for a whole news cycle.
I purloined this from the HuffPo’s Sam Stein:
“Democrats (in this scenario) are not prone to forgiveness. After all, it was during this same campaign cycle that Republicans belittled the $400 haircut that former Sen. John Edwards had paid for with his own campaign money (the funds were later reimbursed). And yet, the comparison to that once-dominant news story is hardly close: if Edwards had gotten one of his legendary haircuts every singe week, it would still take him 7.2 years to spend what Palin has spent. Palin has received the equivalent of $2,500 in clothes per day from places such as Saks Fifth Avenue (where RNC expenditures totaled nearly $50,000) and Neiman Marcus (where the governor had a $75,000 spree)."
Palin received more valuable clothes in one month than the average American household spends on clothes in 80 years. A Democrat put it in even blunter terms: "Her clothes were the cost of health care for 15 or so people.” However, Stein leaves out that Edwards paid out $114,000 of campaign money for four two and a half minute videos of himself to someone he was boinking at the time.
The McPalin team was quick to point out that the clothes will be given to charity after November 5th. But I think I have a better idea. She should eBay the clothes after she loses. Just the silky stuff could pay back the $150 K and I’m sure a lot guys would like to get hold of one of those red leather Michael Jackson jackets that has become her sartorial signature. Of course that means that Baby Trig will have to give up his designer Dr. Dentons and the First Dude will have to trade in his suits and go back to oil skins and snowmobile outfits.
The tenor of the campaign loves this kind of mud to throw and, even if it is not a big deal, it becomes a red flag for other shenanigans. Because, there’s also too, the business of flying her kids on commercial airlines with her to more than a dozen events to the tune of $22 K at taxpayer expense. Surely the Gov. is entitled to fly first class. This includes a $700 a night flop at the Essex House on Central Park for her and Bristol who was not even invited to the event. You have to say, she’s a good mom. But a pricey Governor. She naturally wants to be with her kids so instead of working out of the capitol in Juneau where the law makers and department heads are, she stays at home. This part doesn’t seem right. She charges the state a per diem for each night spent in her own house. Three hundred and twelve of them! The legality of this move is now under review, by the GOVERNOR’S OFFICE. YGBSHM!
The likeable and smart Lawrence O’Donnel, an MSNBC mouth, who knows a thing or two about campaigns, is certain that all the hoopla “doesn’t matter.” He’s probably right. Even SNL only gave it one line this week. He told his fellow hecklers, “She doesn’t pick out the clothes.” The campaign (in its omniscience) picks out her clothing for the “look” they want to see, just as they put the words in her mouth that they want to us to hear. They seem to have gotten the wardrobe better.
In retrospect, Schmidt and company are going to wish they had let her speak more of her own words. The few times I’ve seen her speak on her own she was a different sounding, much more likable person. I was impressed with her interview when she said she would run things differently [from the campaign] in terms of how she presents herself and that she did not like the current content of the robo calls. It isn’t easy to for someone to have to change their personality on a dime to suit someone else’s idea of what they want you to sound like. She got where she is by Sarah being Sarah. The girl is all personality with an 80 percent favorable rating in her current job. She stands out like a tomato-red leather jacket. And then the campaign says, yeah but let’s tweak it. Let’s have a committee decide what should come out of her mouth. Of course that didn’t work so hot with Katie. Forced to read talking points off her lap she looked foolish. You might say it backfired. But they keep pushing her out there to shout “socialist” and “elite” to people who don’t even know what the words mean.
One other thought. Michelle O went on a TV program called The View in a $148 dress from the GAP and that’s what all the chatterers talked about for a whole news cycle.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
McPain in my ass
McWrinkly Dude has just now and finally pushed me over the edge of a teetering purchase of respectability I had for the old Navy pilot now turned political whore. He is now on the stump saying over and over, “I’ve been fighting for this country since I was 17 years old.” Does he really think that? His 23 sorties dropping bombs from some reasonably safe height amounts to similar number of hours in the air “fighting” for our country. Someone figured out that he got a medal and a half per hour of “combat”— which is the way his deck has been stacked all his life.
His father’s considerable pull got Johnny into the Naval Academy (at age 17) and while he did manage to finish in the allotted time he did so without having applied himself in any way. He was in freakin’ college! Does that mean that everyone who went to college, even William Ayers, was also fighting for their country during those years? “McNasty,” as he was known in his putatively prestigious prep school, although I never heard of it when I was in DC six years, was almost thrown out of Annapolis twice (his Mom got him a reprieve) and spent most of his four years on probation. Then, with almost the worst grades in his class, he got into flight school, a prestigious and highly coveted slot. I have to believe that the Admiral had some-say so for the fair haired scion and future flier.
He distinguished himself as a flier by crashing three planes and getting one shot out from underneath him. One of the planes that he made an unscheduled landing in went short of the mark. He was used to commandeering navy craft to see his soon-to-be-wife up in Philly. After attending an Army-Navy game there and a raucous night of partying, he (again) stalled his plane and had to eject. Fortunately the crash killed no one. Is that part of fighting for one’s country?
A few months before his final flight he was in his plane waiting for take-off on the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal. His A4 Skyhawk was hit accidentally by a rocket from another plane. Not his fault of course, but would you want to fly with this guy? After the Forrestal incident where he hardly aquitted himself with valor, he told Johnny Apple from The Times, his new buddy, that he wasn’t so sure he “felt too good about dropping napalm on civilians.” Talk about valor; no wonder they gave him 28 medals.
Nobody can say what they would do while being tortured in any situation but according to declassified government documents McCain did receive special treatment at some points during his hideous captivity because Hanoi was anxious to trade in on his famous father who was ordering air strikes on the north. McCain III turned down early release which he could see would be a disastrous public relations ploy and a morale buster for the troops. Excellent judgment, but even he would agree now that an interview he gave to a Cuban psychologist, arranged by his captors, was not a good choice. In it he did not limit himself to name, rank and serial number.
Only the Swiftboaters of the last campaign would try to drag this guy through the mud and I am not doing that here. But there is a record and it is not one of “fighting since I was seventeen” and that’s what he said today at a rally. He was passed over for Admiral with every break on his side except a gift for hard work. He was a notorious philanderer and playboy which buried his chances. An excellent article in the latest Rolling Stone goes into greater detail if you can stomach it.
I think that Johnny’s chances to fly in Air Force One are sinking like so many of his aircraft. And when people are talking about his experience you would think that the guy who has been on the political scene all these years, “fighting” away, would have the clear advantage. But there is no experience that simulates the kind of decision making that takes place in the oval office.
Obama defenders tout his “first class intellect” as the principal qualification they would like to see from the next president. Or any president, really. We don’t get a lot of that in the White House. We do get some pretty smart ones. Some thought the Trickster was a brilliant operative, if just a little too evil. The Slickster wasn’t smart enough to stay out of trouble but his record speaks for itself. What we need is first class intellect and experience. But I suppose, if wishes were fishes we’d lunch on lox.
I’ll tell you what I like for experience: A scrappy, fatherless kid with a funny name that worked hard enough to scholarship into the most prestigious prep school in Hawaii, then get into Occidental, Columbia and Harvard, made president of the law review, made it to the Senate on his first shot and put together an organization and bankroll that beat the Clinton machine and now looks to calmly dispatch with Sen. McSpoiled for the most powerful job in the world and come away from it with people saying he did it with aplomb and his dignity intact. That’s what I’m talking about.
What you gotta ask yourself is: If the experience of hanging in the halls of power is so great, would you vote to keep W in, who’s been “at the helm” for the last eight years?
His father’s considerable pull got Johnny into the Naval Academy (at age 17) and while he did manage to finish in the allotted time he did so without having applied himself in any way. He was in freakin’ college! Does that mean that everyone who went to college, even William Ayers, was also fighting for their country during those years? “McNasty,” as he was known in his putatively prestigious prep school, although I never heard of it when I was in DC six years, was almost thrown out of Annapolis twice (his Mom got him a reprieve) and spent most of his four years on probation. Then, with almost the worst grades in his class, he got into flight school, a prestigious and highly coveted slot. I have to believe that the Admiral had some-say so for the fair haired scion and future flier.
He distinguished himself as a flier by crashing three planes and getting one shot out from underneath him. One of the planes that he made an unscheduled landing in went short of the mark. He was used to commandeering navy craft to see his soon-to-be-wife up in Philly. After attending an Army-Navy game there and a raucous night of partying, he (again) stalled his plane and had to eject. Fortunately the crash killed no one. Is that part of fighting for one’s country?
A few months before his final flight he was in his plane waiting for take-off on the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal. His A4 Skyhawk was hit accidentally by a rocket from another plane. Not his fault of course, but would you want to fly with this guy? After the Forrestal incident where he hardly aquitted himself with valor, he told Johnny Apple from The Times, his new buddy, that he wasn’t so sure he “felt too good about dropping napalm on civilians.” Talk about valor; no wonder they gave him 28 medals.
Nobody can say what they would do while being tortured in any situation but according to declassified government documents McCain did receive special treatment at some points during his hideous captivity because Hanoi was anxious to trade in on his famous father who was ordering air strikes on the north. McCain III turned down early release which he could see would be a disastrous public relations ploy and a morale buster for the troops. Excellent judgment, but even he would agree now that an interview he gave to a Cuban psychologist, arranged by his captors, was not a good choice. In it he did not limit himself to name, rank and serial number.
Only the Swiftboaters of the last campaign would try to drag this guy through the mud and I am not doing that here. But there is a record and it is not one of “fighting since I was seventeen” and that’s what he said today at a rally. He was passed over for Admiral with every break on his side except a gift for hard work. He was a notorious philanderer and playboy which buried his chances. An excellent article in the latest Rolling Stone goes into greater detail if you can stomach it.
I think that Johnny’s chances to fly in Air Force One are sinking like so many of his aircraft. And when people are talking about his experience you would think that the guy who has been on the political scene all these years, “fighting” away, would have the clear advantage. But there is no experience that simulates the kind of decision making that takes place in the oval office.
Obama defenders tout his “first class intellect” as the principal qualification they would like to see from the next president. Or any president, really. We don’t get a lot of that in the White House. We do get some pretty smart ones. Some thought the Trickster was a brilliant operative, if just a little too evil. The Slickster wasn’t smart enough to stay out of trouble but his record speaks for itself. What we need is first class intellect and experience. But I suppose, if wishes were fishes we’d lunch on lox.
I’ll tell you what I like for experience: A scrappy, fatherless kid with a funny name that worked hard enough to scholarship into the most prestigious prep school in Hawaii, then get into Occidental, Columbia and Harvard, made president of the law review, made it to the Senate on his first shot and put together an organization and bankroll that beat the Clinton machine and now looks to calmly dispatch with Sen. McSpoiled for the most powerful job in the world and come away from it with people saying he did it with aplomb and his dignity intact. That’s what I’m talking about.
What you gotta ask yourself is: If the experience of hanging in the halls of power is so great, would you vote to keep W in, who’s been “at the helm” for the last eight years?
Friday, October 17, 2008
Plumber's crack
The whole country is talking about this guy but there seems to be a little gap between the image of Joe the friggin plumber, the center of the candidates debate on Wednesday, and the actual guy out in OH who doesn’t have a plumber’s license, whose real first name is Samuel and from what I can tell, he’s not even really bald! I think he shaves his head and then uses bees wax to get that reflective sheen.
"I'm getting ready to buy a company that makes $250,000 to $280,000 a year," he told Obama in an exchange that showed up on YouTube. "Your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn't it?" Keep in mind, he has not yet bought the three man operation.
Here’s the point that seems to be missing from the argument that simply stated is: If Joe buys the plumbing company will he pay higher taxes? No. The company may have sales of up to $280 K but Joe him self is not going to take a salary of $200 thou, which is what would be his “higher taxes” threshold as an individual. The $250K number is for a household. Joe is on crack if he thinks he can pull $199,000 out of his fledgling firm for owner’s compensation, but if he did, he would remain in the 36% bracket as opposed to the egregious, small-business busting 39%.
But Joe’s potential business has two helpers, at least one vehicle, an office, inventory, insurances, an accountant and an occasional lawyer all of whom/which will want to be paid before Joe gets to keep any of the total revenues for himself. Oh, and also too, he’s buying the business which means he will have debt, which is a good thing, because if things don’t work out then he can go chapter 13 and get a Bush bailout.
That is, if he can get a loan at all. Has he not heard that the banks that have received a piece of the $700 B “rescue plan” are still loath to lend? They are said to be hoarding the money because of the riskiness of investing in our country’s solvency. But even as I click and clack, the leader of the free world is saying to the US Chamber of Commerce, and me, that because of the actions of his administration, we are on the road to a better brighter future. In fact his plan sounds damn good. But it is also factual that he is full of shit and none of his big promises have panned out. We haven’t found bin Laden, the war is not nearly over and of course Brownie was a total loser and three years later New Orleanians still struggle for promised relief. So Joe, don’t hold your breath.
I thought BHO was a little snarky in a clip from the campaign trail when he quipped something along the lines of “How many plumbers do you know that are making $250, 000 a year?” But the point is well made. Although that kind of cash is not inconceivable for owners of plumbing companies, it isn’t bloody likely that a guy with his own truck and his wife doing the bookkeeping is pulling down that kind of long green. Certainly not around here.
And yet dissecting the veracities of Joe’s narrative now trumps the most important story in this country since the twin towers vanished. The carnival barkers would rather talk about how many times “Joe the plumber” was mentioned during the candidates debate than they would try to parse the candidates economic proposals for their audiences. SNL should be a hoot this week.
Joe’s fifteen minutes of fame won’t hurt him. It may even help him to get a loan. He certainly won’t have any trouble developing a customer list especially if he has already registered “Joe the Plumber” as a trade name. No, it looks like the worst problem Joe is going to have is making the painful three-point hike into the 39% tax bracket. I would love to share his pain.
"I'm getting ready to buy a company that makes $250,000 to $280,000 a year," he told Obama in an exchange that showed up on YouTube. "Your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn't it?" Keep in mind, he has not yet bought the three man operation.
Here’s the point that seems to be missing from the argument that simply stated is: If Joe buys the plumbing company will he pay higher taxes? No. The company may have sales of up to $280 K but Joe him self is not going to take a salary of $200 thou, which is what would be his “higher taxes” threshold as an individual. The $250K number is for a household. Joe is on crack if he thinks he can pull $199,000 out of his fledgling firm for owner’s compensation, but if he did, he would remain in the 36% bracket as opposed to the egregious, small-business busting 39%.
But Joe’s potential business has two helpers, at least one vehicle, an office, inventory, insurances, an accountant and an occasional lawyer all of whom/which will want to be paid before Joe gets to keep any of the total revenues for himself. Oh, and also too, he’s buying the business which means he will have debt, which is a good thing, because if things don’t work out then he can go chapter 13 and get a Bush bailout.
That is, if he can get a loan at all. Has he not heard that the banks that have received a piece of the $700 B “rescue plan” are still loath to lend? They are said to be hoarding the money because of the riskiness of investing in our country’s solvency. But even as I click and clack, the leader of the free world is saying to the US Chamber of Commerce, and me, that because of the actions of his administration, we are on the road to a better brighter future. In fact his plan sounds damn good. But it is also factual that he is full of shit and none of his big promises have panned out. We haven’t found bin Laden, the war is not nearly over and of course Brownie was a total loser and three years later New Orleanians still struggle for promised relief. So Joe, don’t hold your breath.
I thought BHO was a little snarky in a clip from the campaign trail when he quipped something along the lines of “How many plumbers do you know that are making $250, 000 a year?” But the point is well made. Although that kind of cash is not inconceivable for owners of plumbing companies, it isn’t bloody likely that a guy with his own truck and his wife doing the bookkeeping is pulling down that kind of long green. Certainly not around here.
And yet dissecting the veracities of Joe’s narrative now trumps the most important story in this country since the twin towers vanished. The carnival barkers would rather talk about how many times “Joe the plumber” was mentioned during the candidates debate than they would try to parse the candidates economic proposals for their audiences. SNL should be a hoot this week.
Joe’s fifteen minutes of fame won’t hurt him. It may even help him to get a loan. He certainly won’t have any trouble developing a customer list especially if he has already registered “Joe the Plumber” as a trade name. No, it looks like the worst problem Joe is going to have is making the painful three-point hike into the 39% tax bracket. I would love to share his pain.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
First amendment.
My old pal and favorite skipper Christo Buckley got whacked from his job writing a column at the magazine his father founded. He had written in the new, and quite good, Tina Brown blog, The Daily Beast, that he was endorsing Barack Obama. This of course was a great get for Tina since Chris’ pop was famous for being one of the loudest architects of the revival of conservatism in the last century. He, WFB, also founded the bible of that movement, The National Review.
Until 24 hours ago young Buckley (younger than me anygate) had a column in his Dad’s old rag. Nice touch with the père no longer whinnying amongst us. But the backlash from people who had no business sticking their nose into a Brown blog was so overwhelming that when he playfully told Publisher Rich Lowery that he would send a letter of resignation, it was accepted before the ink was dry.
I’ve tried to read the NR a couple of times because they have some pretty good writers. But it so smacked of one-sidedness that I realized they weren’t trying to reach my ilk but more interested in pandering to the base, which is to say bowing and scraping to the one-eyed shrew, the buck almighty. Buckley said that the magazine was deluged with hate mail and the repeated cries to “cancel my subscription.” He notes that had happened even when WFB was in charge and he would retort, “Cancel your own goddamn subscription.”
Why is the idea of free speech so loath to the lapel-pin patriots who certainly must know that the first amendment is FIRST because it is the most important. When Sarah Palin nailed what she thought were hecklers at a rally, she made sure to remind them that people are dying in battle to protect your right to say whatever you want (which in this case was, “Could you speak up?”). We all have the right to say whatever we want, legally. You might get punched in the nose for expressing your opinion but basically we agree that it is a “right” and it is immutable. BTW, if there is a fire in a crowded theater, it’s okay to alert the patrons.
Here in the North Country, which is right now pimped-out in the panoply of autumnal awesomeness, we have a local rag that people love to rag on. They call it all manner of names that they think cute and pretend to barf when ever someone asks, “Did you read that article on whatever in the Sun?” Not the sports certainly, but the other stuff. The paper is such a hot topic that I was told the reason I didn’t get hired (years ago) at the Granite State News was because I had defended the Sun. Now there is somebody making their living on the first amendment actually telling me that there are certain things you shouldn’t say, even if you are asked?
I sympathize with Buckley having been fired from the Carroll County Independent at the beginning of the summer for writing a letter to the editor in the Sun. The publisher dropped me within hours of the letter's appearance. Dig it: A newspaper man fired one of his writers for writing in another paper! I still can’t believe it. But having been fired a good deal in my longish life I took it with equanimity because I knew that I couldn’t stay if they wanted me to back off of certain subjects or even just warned me to not write in other publications. It was of course very flattering to think that what I wrote had such impact. Not.
The Sun actually does its job of informing the people. They go beyond their mission of “printing the truth,” mostly, and provide just a shipload of entertainment mostly in the free form ravings of the letter-to-editor writers. This first amendment avenue, for those not fortunate enough to have their own blog, is a gift to the people. While many of us make fools of ourselves on those pages there are abundant laughs and even some information that can be filed under “useful.” It’s a great way to get stuff off your chest and for many a chance to see their name in print and wonder if they should have gone to J school, the better to change the world.
I feel like Thomas Paine in a way. He too worked for free. There endeth that tie except that he was pretty passionate about his pamphleteering. The free press is a really good thing and I worry that we take it for granted. Buckley’s firing is a symbol of those who would curtail that right and practice, that makes America a place of envy to many.
All to say, Buckley’s got nothin’ on the Pigge when it comes to getting canned.
Until 24 hours ago young Buckley (younger than me anygate) had a column in his Dad’s old rag. Nice touch with the père no longer whinnying amongst us. But the backlash from people who had no business sticking their nose into a Brown blog was so overwhelming that when he playfully told Publisher Rich Lowery that he would send a letter of resignation, it was accepted before the ink was dry.
I’ve tried to read the NR a couple of times because they have some pretty good writers. But it so smacked of one-sidedness that I realized they weren’t trying to reach my ilk but more interested in pandering to the base, which is to say bowing and scraping to the one-eyed shrew, the buck almighty. Buckley said that the magazine was deluged with hate mail and the repeated cries to “cancel my subscription.” He notes that had happened even when WFB was in charge and he would retort, “Cancel your own goddamn subscription.”
Why is the idea of free speech so loath to the lapel-pin patriots who certainly must know that the first amendment is FIRST because it is the most important. When Sarah Palin nailed what she thought were hecklers at a rally, she made sure to remind them that people are dying in battle to protect your right to say whatever you want (which in this case was, “Could you speak up?”). We all have the right to say whatever we want, legally. You might get punched in the nose for expressing your opinion but basically we agree that it is a “right” and it is immutable. BTW, if there is a fire in a crowded theater, it’s okay to alert the patrons.
Here in the North Country, which is right now pimped-out in the panoply of autumnal awesomeness, we have a local rag that people love to rag on. They call it all manner of names that they think cute and pretend to barf when ever someone asks, “Did you read that article on whatever in the Sun?” Not the sports certainly, but the other stuff. The paper is such a hot topic that I was told the reason I didn’t get hired (years ago) at the Granite State News was because I had defended the Sun. Now there is somebody making their living on the first amendment actually telling me that there are certain things you shouldn’t say, even if you are asked?
I sympathize with Buckley having been fired from the Carroll County Independent at the beginning of the summer for writing a letter to the editor in the Sun. The publisher dropped me within hours of the letter's appearance. Dig it: A newspaper man fired one of his writers for writing in another paper! I still can’t believe it. But having been fired a good deal in my longish life I took it with equanimity because I knew that I couldn’t stay if they wanted me to back off of certain subjects or even just warned me to not write in other publications. It was of course very flattering to think that what I wrote had such impact. Not.
The Sun actually does its job of informing the people. They go beyond their mission of “printing the truth,” mostly, and provide just a shipload of entertainment mostly in the free form ravings of the letter-to-editor writers. This first amendment avenue, for those not fortunate enough to have their own blog, is a gift to the people. While many of us make fools of ourselves on those pages there are abundant laughs and even some information that can be filed under “useful.” It’s a great way to get stuff off your chest and for many a chance to see their name in print and wonder if they should have gone to J school, the better to change the world.
I feel like Thomas Paine in a way. He too worked for free. There endeth that tie except that he was pretty passionate about his pamphleteering. The free press is a really good thing and I worry that we take it for granted. Buckley’s firing is a symbol of those who would curtail that right and practice, that makes America a place of envy to many.
All to say, Buckley’s got nothin’ on the Pigge when it comes to getting canned.
Friday, October 10, 2008
“That One” takes a knee
I think that Johnny Nutjob truly meant to say “The One,” as Obama was dutifully dubbed after the Berlin rally. McCain meant it as an homage to his nemesis who even he sees as having attained the magicalist of all numbers, forty-four.
It is curious and comical to watch and read the “experts” who preface most questions about the race with, “I’m not in the fortune telling business but…” But what? Kiss my butt Jack. You all slip it into the conversation constantly: “He’s on a glide path as long as things stay static…” yet you would never sully your patinaed halo of sanctity as a down the middle professional news-whore by actually saying, “Here’s what I think.”
Well, here’s what I think (and I have my network’s permission to say so). B. Hussein Obama takes VA, PA, OH, CO and Florida, Florida, Florida. And he does it with style and grace and come January 20th, 2010 when he gives his first of eight State of the Union addresses we will look back and wonder what all the fuss was about? Why were we worried when he took the oath of office on Mao’s little red book that he had borrowed from Billy Ayers? (That’s the only part I’m kidding about.)
Hell, Bullet Head Schmidt, bring it on! O yes, you can claim that he is from Africa (ain’t we all?) and you can say he is an elitist and try to say he is out of touch with the common voter, and you can say that he palls around with commies and still sneaks cigs, but your guy is a dud. His campaign has flatlined. Except for the perky veep pick.
Very interesting to read this morning that Christopher Buckley, with profuse apologies to his absent pere, is endorsing Obama which is the first time he has ever voted D. He says sadly that McC is not that man he used to be but has become a sputtering, spitting-mad man promising the most unattainable goals to try to woo the uninformed voters who may not have made up their minds yet. McCain’s pledge to balance the budget has about as much possibility of happening as did the eighteen cents a gallon gas rebate that he promised before last summer. I don’t care that blondie promised the same thing; she lost too.
There is so much to read and listen to while trying to sort out what is really going on that it becomes somewhat mind numbing and like the state of the economy it feels whelming. Thursday’s stock market close has the Dow off 38 percent for the year. The crash of ’29 marked the same indicator off 47 percent.
The Crash signaled the beginning of the world wide depression which, in this country lasted about ten years. Setting up for World War II helped to bring us out of it. Strong measures, my friends, and especially for a military as strapped as ours is now. Then there is the human cost. Seventy million people lost their lives in that one, almost a tenth of them in the Holocaust. I don’t think this is a very good option for ending a depression should that eventuality obtain.
What is going to happen? What will the next president (That One) do when he begins to grapple with the myriad other messes that W has left for him? To me it is almost inconceivable that anyone would want this job no matter the perks and prestige. Surely the world is in a better place to recover now from this economic maelstrom than it was 70 years ago. But what I think about is the new position of the players. Iceland is borrowing money from Russia? That can’t be good. China is solvent and we’re into them for a Trillion? Yikes! The Japanese are shoring up the prestigious Morgan Stanley? Is this a time warp?
Buckley’s argument, though hardly original, has it that Obama does have the temperament, judgment and brains to lead this nation. I would add that his superlative organizing skills has to give him a commanding lead over the guy who didn’t acquit himself adequately at Annapolis. McCain gets too much credit for surviving, in life and on this campaign. His desperate veep choice and the all or nothing style he is employing this very day, says absolutely nothing that recommends him to take on the behemoth problems that face this government for another decade, at least.
Now picture this. It turns out that BHO, at eight years old, helped Billy Ayers plan the bombings. McC becomes POTUS 44 and shortly into his administration, his cancer comes back, he develops a staph infection in the hospital and shortly Sister Sarah is number 45. Do you think she will be able to handle all that is to come? You betcha!
It is curious and comical to watch and read the “experts” who preface most questions about the race with, “I’m not in the fortune telling business but…” But what? Kiss my butt Jack. You all slip it into the conversation constantly: “He’s on a glide path as long as things stay static…” yet you would never sully your patinaed halo of sanctity as a down the middle professional news-whore by actually saying, “Here’s what I think.”
Well, here’s what I think (and I have my network’s permission to say so). B. Hussein Obama takes VA, PA, OH, CO and Florida, Florida, Florida. And he does it with style and grace and come January 20th, 2010 when he gives his first of eight State of the Union addresses we will look back and wonder what all the fuss was about? Why were we worried when he took the oath of office on Mao’s little red book that he had borrowed from Billy Ayers? (That’s the only part I’m kidding about.)
Hell, Bullet Head Schmidt, bring it on! O yes, you can claim that he is from Africa (ain’t we all?) and you can say he is an elitist and try to say he is out of touch with the common voter, and you can say that he palls around with commies and still sneaks cigs, but your guy is a dud. His campaign has flatlined. Except for the perky veep pick.
Very interesting to read this morning that Christopher Buckley, with profuse apologies to his absent pere, is endorsing Obama which is the first time he has ever voted D. He says sadly that McC is not that man he used to be but has become a sputtering, spitting-mad man promising the most unattainable goals to try to woo the uninformed voters who may not have made up their minds yet. McCain’s pledge to balance the budget has about as much possibility of happening as did the eighteen cents a gallon gas rebate that he promised before last summer. I don’t care that blondie promised the same thing; she lost too.
There is so much to read and listen to while trying to sort out what is really going on that it becomes somewhat mind numbing and like the state of the economy it feels whelming. Thursday’s stock market close has the Dow off 38 percent for the year. The crash of ’29 marked the same indicator off 47 percent.
The Crash signaled the beginning of the world wide depression which, in this country lasted about ten years. Setting up for World War II helped to bring us out of it. Strong measures, my friends, and especially for a military as strapped as ours is now. Then there is the human cost. Seventy million people lost their lives in that one, almost a tenth of them in the Holocaust. I don’t think this is a very good option for ending a depression should that eventuality obtain.
What is going to happen? What will the next president (That One) do when he begins to grapple with the myriad other messes that W has left for him? To me it is almost inconceivable that anyone would want this job no matter the perks and prestige. Surely the world is in a better place to recover now from this economic maelstrom than it was 70 years ago. But what I think about is the new position of the players. Iceland is borrowing money from Russia? That can’t be good. China is solvent and we’re into them for a Trillion? Yikes! The Japanese are shoring up the prestigious Morgan Stanley? Is this a time warp?
Buckley’s argument, though hardly original, has it that Obama does have the temperament, judgment and brains to lead this nation. I would add that his superlative organizing skills has to give him a commanding lead over the guy who didn’t acquit himself adequately at Annapolis. McCain gets too much credit for surviving, in life and on this campaign. His desperate veep choice and the all or nothing style he is employing this very day, says absolutely nothing that recommends him to take on the behemoth problems that face this government for another decade, at least.
Now picture this. It turns out that BHO, at eight years old, helped Billy Ayers plan the bombings. McC becomes POTUS 44 and shortly into his administration, his cancer comes back, he develops a staph infection in the hospital and shortly Sister Sarah is number 45. Do you think she will be able to handle all that is to come? You betcha!
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Debate night
What do Mc and Billy Ayers have in common? Neither went to jail for wrong doing.
Professor Ayers and his equally famous wife Bernadette Dohrn turned themselves in to the authorities and then skated on charges up the ying yang (which has nothing to do with “yin” or “yang”) of blowing up people and things, because of “prosecutorial misconduct.” Say what? These assholes never had to do a day? That is mystifying indeed.
But the McPalin ticket is trying like hell to connect Barry with Billy’s crimes. At the same time they are claiming that McWrinkly Dude was “exonerated” by his fellow Senators and so the Keating smear doesn’t stick, in their minds. But he wasn’t.
Part of the problem is that campaign people can’t tell the truth and think they are not being dishonest when they dish some distortion, but rather, being clever. Somebody says, “My opponent is not telling you the whole truth when he/she says blah blah blah,” and the other person says, “He called me a liar.”
Censure is a warning to a member of Congress if they broke a law or committed a crime. "Censure is a procedure for publicly reprimanding a public official for inappropriate behavior… It derives from the formal condemnation of either congressional body of their own members. The word “exonerate” is not attached to this finding, as it usually is to most comments from Mc III’s protectors. It certainly would have been if it had been deemed that he had NO record of inappropriate dealings with the sleaze-bag S&L snake, Chas. Keating.
Billy didn’t even get a censure. He went on to lead a productive life, still married to the same gal, the rakehell bomb-throwing Bernadette, and they have raised their two kids to adulthood. He has met Obama who talked with him and probably figured that he was an okay guy with some wild stories about his past. But then he is also a friend of Mayor Daly and sits on and ed. board and a charity with Barry, or has at sometime. What is a little curious is that they live three houses from each other and even though Billy has contributed to the Obama campaign back when BHO was representing their district, no invite for a drink or something?
Nobody’s sticking up for terrorists of any stripe. This has more to do with the low sunken point of the campaign and how desperate it looks for Johnny Mc. How could he think that sending Sarahcudda after BHO would improve his image as a take charge guy? It makes me wonder if they aren’t just using her for bait. Let her dangle the Rev. Wright out there so that David Axelrod has to return fire on the Kenyan Witch Doctor incident and poke fun at the speaking in tongues that supposedly goes on at the Wassila Assembly of God Church. I guess there’s no footage of that or it would be more popular than a Tina Fey send up.
Even a died-in-the-wool serial cynic like The Smoking Jacket feels an eeriness about the seriousness of this global financial meltdown. If you watch CNBC for a half an hour you find they have lost their bonhommie and sense of humor. It’s no time to joke. The Today Show had Jim Cramer on again this morning because yesterday he advised TV land to “sell your stocks if you will be having a foreseeable needs for liquidity over the next five years.” He didn’t do his screaming thing but he was pretty forceful and Breathless Curry could only repeat, “really, REALLY?”
Today he calmy repeated it even when Meredith tried to make the connection to “yelling fire in a theater.” The Today Show does not like to upset their viewers. Cramer, to his credit stuck to his guns and said, “What if there is a fire?”
This is topic numero uno. This is what we should be hearing about tonight at 9 p.m. We don’t need no stinking mud slinging and gargantuan whoppers that debase all sides. Let Sarah do the one thing she’s good at because that’s why they hired her. It’s why LA lets Manny be Manny. It’s all she’s got. But the candidates should not pull this crap. I truly hope that Sen. McCain is working his ass off right this minute preparing to make this a debate about where this country is going in terms of financial security and what role we will play in the global financial community. What will he do about it should the fates treat him kindly (?) and put him in charge of this mess?
He’s got to prove that he is a better leader than a pilot. He doesn’t have to out do Obama so much as he has to let his supporters see that he really does have a plan that people can get behind and at the same time make them think that he can steer it though without dumping it in the drink, or clipping some low wires, and especially not getting shot down.
Professor Ayers and his equally famous wife Bernadette Dohrn turned themselves in to the authorities and then skated on charges up the ying yang (which has nothing to do with “yin” or “yang”) of blowing up people and things, because of “prosecutorial misconduct.” Say what? These assholes never had to do a day? That is mystifying indeed.
But the McPalin ticket is trying like hell to connect Barry with Billy’s crimes. At the same time they are claiming that McWrinkly Dude was “exonerated” by his fellow Senators and so the Keating smear doesn’t stick, in their minds. But he wasn’t.
Part of the problem is that campaign people can’t tell the truth and think they are not being dishonest when they dish some distortion, but rather, being clever. Somebody says, “My opponent is not telling you the whole truth when he/she says blah blah blah,” and the other person says, “He called me a liar.”
Censure is a warning to a member of Congress if they broke a law or committed a crime. "Censure is a procedure for publicly reprimanding a public official for inappropriate behavior… It derives from the formal condemnation of either congressional body of their own members. The word “exonerate” is not attached to this finding, as it usually is to most comments from Mc III’s protectors. It certainly would have been if it had been deemed that he had NO record of inappropriate dealings with the sleaze-bag S&L snake, Chas. Keating.
Billy didn’t even get a censure. He went on to lead a productive life, still married to the same gal, the rakehell bomb-throwing Bernadette, and they have raised their two kids to adulthood. He has met Obama who talked with him and probably figured that he was an okay guy with some wild stories about his past. But then he is also a friend of Mayor Daly and sits on and ed. board and a charity with Barry, or has at sometime. What is a little curious is that they live three houses from each other and even though Billy has contributed to the Obama campaign back when BHO was representing their district, no invite for a drink or something?
Nobody’s sticking up for terrorists of any stripe. This has more to do with the low sunken point of the campaign and how desperate it looks for Johnny Mc. How could he think that sending Sarahcudda after BHO would improve his image as a take charge guy? It makes me wonder if they aren’t just using her for bait. Let her dangle the Rev. Wright out there so that David Axelrod has to return fire on the Kenyan Witch Doctor incident and poke fun at the speaking in tongues that supposedly goes on at the Wassila Assembly of God Church. I guess there’s no footage of that or it would be more popular than a Tina Fey send up.
Even a died-in-the-wool serial cynic like The Smoking Jacket feels an eeriness about the seriousness of this global financial meltdown. If you watch CNBC for a half an hour you find they have lost their bonhommie and sense of humor. It’s no time to joke. The Today Show had Jim Cramer on again this morning because yesterday he advised TV land to “sell your stocks if you will be having a foreseeable needs for liquidity over the next five years.” He didn’t do his screaming thing but he was pretty forceful and Breathless Curry could only repeat, “really, REALLY?”
Today he calmy repeated it even when Meredith tried to make the connection to “yelling fire in a theater.” The Today Show does not like to upset their viewers. Cramer, to his credit stuck to his guns and said, “What if there is a fire?”
This is topic numero uno. This is what we should be hearing about tonight at 9 p.m. We don’t need no stinking mud slinging and gargantuan whoppers that debase all sides. Let Sarah do the one thing she’s good at because that’s why they hired her. It’s why LA lets Manny be Manny. It’s all she’s got. But the candidates should not pull this crap. I truly hope that Sen. McCain is working his ass off right this minute preparing to make this a debate about where this country is going in terms of financial security and what role we will play in the global financial community. What will he do about it should the fates treat him kindly (?) and put him in charge of this mess?
He’s got to prove that he is a better leader than a pilot. He doesn’t have to out do Obama so much as he has to let his supporters see that he really does have a plan that people can get behind and at the same time make them think that he can steer it though without dumping it in the drink, or clipping some low wires, and especially not getting shot down.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Bad Ass ets
The Senate has now passed the bill from hell and we don’t yet know what Congress will do. They surprised us last time. More importantly, I don’t know what I’d do if I had to vote right now and I’ve heard the arguments for both sides. I still feel so strongly that there will be obscene amounts of money stolen out of the bill from the money monsters who will game this piece of business to a fare thee well.
Already the senate version has tax breaks for Puerto Rican rum producers and some “wooden arrows for kids” company in Oregon. I kid you not. It was for $7 mill. If Ted Stevens wasn’t in court yesterday, for supposedly taking bribes, you can be sure he would have grabbed a taste. The purpose of these sweeteners is to sway the votes of the left or right side of the aisle. If these schmucks won’t stand up now for the right thing to do for their country without being bribed, when will they? It is almost impossible to comprehend the selfish and stupid thinking that makes these people tick. They seem to be proudest of their contributions to political gamesmanship and what they can get away with, but are absolutely spineless when it comes to their duty to make the best decision.
One interesting point is that the voters “seem” to be overwhelmingly against it though I heard a pollster yesterday that said that it was more like 45% that want the “rescue plan.” (“Bailout” being too strong a term for voters who will be easily tricked by this nuance.) And some congress members have claimed that they are voting with their constituents in mind. That should be good. But someone else has pointed out that individual members are sent to congress to do what we cannot do and that is to access and assess the information and do what’s best for the country. They know the little tricks of wording in the bill. They know what the pitfalls down the pike will be. They know the people to ask when they don’t know.
The Monday vote being so close in a 435 person chamber does nothing to clarify which is the way to go. I am instinctively opposed to giving the government this much rope. I do not trust the administration to do the right thing. I am fearful of Jim Cramer’s assessment of Bernanke and Paulson as being the wrong people for the job. But I am equally fearful that if the liquidity markets fail, it becomes a world wide problem.
McCain says he would “fix the system.” But he voted for the Senate versions with the goofball earmarks. He claims “this bill will prevent financial disaster” but cautions that “it is just a tourniquet.” That makes me wonder how much the actual operation will cost. Obama voted for it. And the coin canny Warren Buffet has said that he will buy $3 billion of the bad-ass assets. But even there, you know he’s just skimming the cream and leaving the taxpayers with the toxic wasteland that is the worst of the worst.
What would you do?
Already the senate version has tax breaks for Puerto Rican rum producers and some “wooden arrows for kids” company in Oregon. I kid you not. It was for $7 mill. If Ted Stevens wasn’t in court yesterday, for supposedly taking bribes, you can be sure he would have grabbed a taste. The purpose of these sweeteners is to sway the votes of the left or right side of the aisle. If these schmucks won’t stand up now for the right thing to do for their country without being bribed, when will they? It is almost impossible to comprehend the selfish and stupid thinking that makes these people tick. They seem to be proudest of their contributions to political gamesmanship and what they can get away with, but are absolutely spineless when it comes to their duty to make the best decision.
One interesting point is that the voters “seem” to be overwhelmingly against it though I heard a pollster yesterday that said that it was more like 45% that want the “rescue plan.” (“Bailout” being too strong a term for voters who will be easily tricked by this nuance.) And some congress members have claimed that they are voting with their constituents in mind. That should be good. But someone else has pointed out that individual members are sent to congress to do what we cannot do and that is to access and assess the information and do what’s best for the country. They know the little tricks of wording in the bill. They know what the pitfalls down the pike will be. They know the people to ask when they don’t know.
The Monday vote being so close in a 435 person chamber does nothing to clarify which is the way to go. I am instinctively opposed to giving the government this much rope. I do not trust the administration to do the right thing. I am fearful of Jim Cramer’s assessment of Bernanke and Paulson as being the wrong people for the job. But I am equally fearful that if the liquidity markets fail, it becomes a world wide problem.
McCain says he would “fix the system.” But he voted for the Senate versions with the goofball earmarks. He claims “this bill will prevent financial disaster” but cautions that “it is just a tourniquet.” That makes me wonder how much the actual operation will cost. Obama voted for it. And the coin canny Warren Buffet has said that he will buy $3 billion of the bad-ass assets. But even there, you know he’s just skimming the cream and leaving the taxpayers with the toxic wasteland that is the worst of the worst.
What would you do?
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