The Gregg mystery

French thief drilling into
safe deposit vault mistakenly
emerges in bathroom.

I confess I do not understand the Jebb Gregg appointment as Secretary of Commerce. It makes no sense to me whatsoever. Maybe it makes sense if Obama was really trying to arrange for 60 votes in the Senate and the plan failed when Gregg insisted he be replaced by a Republican, in which case we can simply say that the plan failed. But that doesn’t make much sense because when Obama learned of the deal he could have withdrawn the appointment. I also cannot see that the appointment makes sense simply because Gregg is a Republican. At least I cannot see that as a necessary and sufficient reason. Then when you learn that Gregg has previously voted to eliminate the Commerce position entirely you have to wonder what gives. When you add to that the discovery that his aide was involved with the Abramhof group the puzzle is even more mysterious. To add insult to injury Gregg has announced that he will recuse himself from voting on the stimulus package, thus denying a critical Republican vote to Obama. So what gives? Is Obama just stupid? Was he just outsmarted? Is he so desperate for Republican votes that he is willing to do just about anything? This is too bizarre for me to figure out.

Is there any way to muzzle Dick the Slimy? Being out of office doesn’t seem to keep him from trying to frighten everyone. Now he wants us to believe that if the Obama administration takes the time to investigate carefully they will understand that everything Bush/Cheney did was perfectly right and understandable and kept us safe for the past eight years. There is absolutely no evidence for this but when did that keep Cheney from saying anything. He has been wrong about everything, virtually a 1000% record of being wrong, but he somehow thinks we should continue to listen to him. Now he is predicting a nuclear or biological attack by terrorists at some point. Anyone could predict that. Does he have any knowledge that we don’t have. He certainly offers none, and given his record of lying and deceit he is, as far as I am concerned, even less credible than I would be if I made such a prediction. Maybe after he’s tried and convicted of war crimes, and in prison (oh, happy day) he will shut up. Many people who have known Cheney for a long time say he is a different person now than he was and they don’t understand him. Does it not occur to anyone that he may simply be mentally unbalanced? He seems to be obsessed with “the dark side” and torture, as well as the fear we will all be attacked by terrorists. Of course we COULD be attacked by terrorists, virtually anyone anywhere COULD be attacked by terrorists, but normal people don’t obsess over it and try to constantly frighten everyone. If Cheney is privy to information no one else has he should come clean and tell us about it – but he pretty obviously is not so informed. Perhaps he just enjoys being a pain in the collective ass.

Republicans seem to be determined to block a stimulus bill, even by filibuster if necessary. And as it is such a massive bill it is relatively easy for them to find things to question. They are trying to change the language so that what began as a stimulus bill is now, they say, a spending bill (you know, Democrats, spending, just like bacon and eggs, Mutt and Jeff, and so on). Of course it is a spending bill. It purports to put money in the pockets of middle class individuals who will spend it, instead of in the hands of the filthy rich who will not be so likely to spend it. The Reagan tax cuts to stimulate the economy have proven to be a dismal failure. Republicans insist we should continue this path. I guess they either are slow learners or don’t learn at all.

Obama wants to cap CEO salaries at a mere $500,000 per anum. The pigs are squealing bloody murder. They threaten to collapse of capitalism, the end of the world, armageddon. They say all the good ones will quit to take jobs elsewhere. I wonder how many jobs are available for greedy multimillion dollar thieves? Maybe if and when justice is done they can sell apples on street corners.

Behold the ego
Set in glowing emptiness
On the edge of time

Noel Kaufmann

TILT:
The word “moose” comes from an American Indian word that freely translates as “twig eater.”