The Marriage Appreciation Training Uplifting
Relationship Program fails to find couple willing
to abstain from premarital sex for $10,000 prize.
I saw somewhere the other day that someone said they would vote for Bill Sali because he represents Idaho values. Here are just a few of Sali’s “no”votes (courtesy of The Mountain Goat Report):
Bill Sali opposes easier access to small-business loans. Bill passed 380-45.
Bill Sali opposes funding for scientific research. Bill passed 397-20.
Bill Sali opposes restrictions on maritime pollution (359-48) and on dogfighting and cockfighting (368-39)
Bill Sali opposes protection for whistleblowers. Bill passed 331-94.
Bill Sali likes noxious weeds. Bill passed 390-10.
Bill Sali opposes the National Science Foundation. Bill passed 399-17.
Bill Sali opposes improving Head Start. Bill passed 365-48.
Bill Sali opposes technology innovation. Bill passed 385-23.
Bill Sali opposes putting more cops on the streets. Bill passed 381-34.
Bill Sali voted against the 911 Commission's recommendations. Bill passed 371-40
Are these really “Idaho values?” Bill Sali has proven himself to be utterly useless as an Idaho Congressman. In fact, examining his votes makes one wonder if he really represents or is useful to anyone at all, even those out-of-state interests that fund his misadventures. Vote for Minnick.
Jim Risch says it would be terrible to have a “liberal” in Congress representing Idaho. He seems to believe the world would end if such were to come to pass. So why not elect another conservative from Idaho and buck the tide of what appears to be an overwhelming Democratic victory. He or she would certainly have a lot of clout in a Democratic Congress and administration. An Idaho conservative at the moment would seem to be as useless as Bill Sali (if that were even possible). Vote for Larry LaRocco, who is not exactly a liberal, unless compared to Craig or Risch, but is a good and competent man who can be depended upon to truly represent Idaho values.
Here in Boundary County we have some unusually fine Democratic candidates for office for the first time in many years. Vote for:
Tom Hollingsworth
Steve Elgar
Jerry Pavia
John O’Connor
It is well past time for a change in our local politics. These are all dedicated and knowledgeable people who have the best interest of our community at heart and will break the pattern of secrecy that has characterized our county government for the past few years.
I do not understand the continuing hysteria over Iran. This seems to me to be an example of ignorance and thoughtlessness. Iran has not attacked anyone for more than 200 years. Iranians are intelligent people that represent a culture thousands of years old, a culture that values poetry and art and a love of learning. There is no evidence they are actually trying to build a bomb, but even if they are it will surely be for purely defensive purposes (to defend themselves from an aggressive U.S. and Israel who keep threatening them and trying to interfere in their affairs). They most certainly would not attack Israel with a nuclear bomb, the very idea is ridiculous. Iran has offered more than once to negotiate with the U.S. only to be spurned by Cheney. And of course they have vital interests in Iraq, a neighboring country that has attacked them in the past. They have far more reason to be “ meddling” there than we do. But when it comes to Iran we seem to throw all reason and common sense out the window and just continue with this blind approach to problems that could quite likely be solved through peaceful negotiations. Perhaps Obama can attempt a more sensible approach to a country that offers no threat to us.
LKBIQ:
Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain.
Friedrich von Schiller
TILT:
Winston Churchill is said to have started every morning with a bottle of champagne.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
Polls
Refused sex by his roommate,
young man breaks window
and urinates on her dog.
What can one make out of polls? Most everyone agrees that polls can and are sometimes manipulated to say what they want them to say. So what do you say when you just don’t believe one? For example, virtually all polls, both national and statewide, show Obama leading by anywhere from 4 to 14 points, except for one poll that claims he leads by only 1 point. I don’t know about you, but for me, I’d say I don’t believe it. In this case it seems that 50% of the sample were Evangelists, which, I guess, explains the different result. But sometimes it is not obvious what the problem may be. For example, today I saw where 33% of those polled said they would not vote for a black man. I don’t know what the sample was, where it came from, or anything else about it. But I don’t believe it. I believe there are many people in the U.S. who will not vote for a black man, I just don’t believe it could possibly be 33%. My disbelief in this poll stems simply from the fact that it does not correspond with my personal experience. My personal experience, of course, is biased because among my personal friends there are none who would say such a thing. However, even with people I know more casually, from many different walks of life and different ethnic groups, races, ages, and genders, I do not believe 1 in 3 would vote on the basis of race. I doubt that even in Idaho, the reddest of red states, you could get one in three voters to say such a thing (or even vote that way). One in eight, perhaps at most might hold such sentiments. I cannot prove this but I believe it. We have come a very long way since race-baiting was commonplace and I don’t think younger people fall for it anymore. Thus the young woman’s claim to have been attacked by a 6’ 4” black man because she was a McCain supporter, who reportedly scratched a “B” on her face after giving her a black eye, is not going anywhere (obviously now that she has admitted she lied). She has something to do with the McCain campaign and it is not clear if she thought this story up on her own or if she had help. I suspect in this case it might even end up gaining votes for Obama. Whether the McCain campaign had anything to do with this I do not know, but it is very clear they have been playing the race card all along.
After making fun of Obama’s statement about spreading the wealth around, the McCain campaign takes donor money and spreads it on Sarah Palin. They seem to be unable to do anything right. Now they are even attacking Obama’s visit to Hawaii to see his dying grandmother. Rush Limbaugh, the world’s greatest liar and windbag, thinks Obama is there because of his birth certificate. It has already been established that his Hawaiian birth certificate is perfectly genuine but morons like Rush just can’t give it up. Sarah even outdid herself in a speech when she haughtily made fun of research of fruit flies, not knowing that research on those tiny creatures has already produced material of value on autism. Nothing seems to embarrass her, she just goes on babbling about McCain’s talking points and dragging down his campaign. It has become so bad that some think she is going it on purpose to position herself for a Presidential run in 2012. Wow! It just goes to prove the old saw, “ignorance is bliss.” I hear the fat lady singing.
LKBIQ:
I always wanted a happy ending... Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity.
Gilda Radner
TILT:
Cats are known to occasionally make friends with skunks.
young man breaks window
and urinates on her dog.
What can one make out of polls? Most everyone agrees that polls can and are sometimes manipulated to say what they want them to say. So what do you say when you just don’t believe one? For example, virtually all polls, both national and statewide, show Obama leading by anywhere from 4 to 14 points, except for one poll that claims he leads by only 1 point. I don’t know about you, but for me, I’d say I don’t believe it. In this case it seems that 50% of the sample were Evangelists, which, I guess, explains the different result. But sometimes it is not obvious what the problem may be. For example, today I saw where 33% of those polled said they would not vote for a black man. I don’t know what the sample was, where it came from, or anything else about it. But I don’t believe it. I believe there are many people in the U.S. who will not vote for a black man, I just don’t believe it could possibly be 33%. My disbelief in this poll stems simply from the fact that it does not correspond with my personal experience. My personal experience, of course, is biased because among my personal friends there are none who would say such a thing. However, even with people I know more casually, from many different walks of life and different ethnic groups, races, ages, and genders, I do not believe 1 in 3 would vote on the basis of race. I doubt that even in Idaho, the reddest of red states, you could get one in three voters to say such a thing (or even vote that way). One in eight, perhaps at most might hold such sentiments. I cannot prove this but I believe it. We have come a very long way since race-baiting was commonplace and I don’t think younger people fall for it anymore. Thus the young woman’s claim to have been attacked by a 6’ 4” black man because she was a McCain supporter, who reportedly scratched a “B” on her face after giving her a black eye, is not going anywhere (obviously now that she has admitted she lied). She has something to do with the McCain campaign and it is not clear if she thought this story up on her own or if she had help. I suspect in this case it might even end up gaining votes for Obama. Whether the McCain campaign had anything to do with this I do not know, but it is very clear they have been playing the race card all along.
After making fun of Obama’s statement about spreading the wealth around, the McCain campaign takes donor money and spreads it on Sarah Palin. They seem to be unable to do anything right. Now they are even attacking Obama’s visit to Hawaii to see his dying grandmother. Rush Limbaugh, the world’s greatest liar and windbag, thinks Obama is there because of his birth certificate. It has already been established that his Hawaiian birth certificate is perfectly genuine but morons like Rush just can’t give it up. Sarah even outdid herself in a speech when she haughtily made fun of research of fruit flies, not knowing that research on those tiny creatures has already produced material of value on autism. Nothing seems to embarrass her, she just goes on babbling about McCain’s talking points and dragging down his campaign. It has become so bad that some think she is going it on purpose to position herself for a Presidential run in 2012. Wow! It just goes to prove the old saw, “ignorance is bliss.” I hear the fat lady singing.
LKBIQ:
I always wanted a happy ending... Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity.
Gilda Radner
TILT:
Cats are known to occasionally make friends with skunks.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Laughable
The McCain campaign would be downright laughable if things were not so serious and if it did not generate so much hate. Could there be anything funnier than McCain saying that Obama would say anything to be elected? What has happened to McCain between 2000 and now? He has changed his positions on just about everything and has obviously said things clearly intended to do nothing but get him elected. For him to criticize Obama for something he has been much worse about cannot be anything other than laughable. And what does his pick of Sarah the wicked say about him other than that he is willing to do anything to get elected. And isn’t it funny how McCain’s descriptions of Obama have changed over time: first he was just a nobody, then a naïve and inexperienced freshman Senator, then a Chicago politician, then an opportunist who just doesn’t understand anything, then a celebrity, a terrorist who hates America, a socialist, and possibly even a communist and Muslim (and of course black all along). Nothing McCain has tried has caught on with the public, and virtually every accusation he has made about Obama has turned out to be more true of himself. He and his imaginary VP have managed to stir up a hotbed of hate to the point where his followers, and especially hers, are shouting out terrorist, treason, waterboard him, and even kill him (interestingly, I think no one has shouted out hang him, I wonder why). I do not think there has been a precedent for a campaign to announce publicly they were just going to attack their opponent’s character and try to destroy him. I know there has been some bitter campaigns in the past, and I know dirty tricks have not been unknown, but even in the bitterest campaigns I don’t believe there was an attempt to actually destroy the opponent. This latter strategy is basically un-American in that even if it fails it damages the winner who has to then go on to the Presidency with that handicap. It is a terrible thing McCain/Palin have done, shameful and unconscionable, and they say they are actually proud of these people who turn out at their hatefests.
I confess to serious wonderment about whether we should even listen to any more campaign talk. If there are those who haven’t yet made up their minds they must be dead from the neck up and probably shouldn’t be allowed to vote in the first place. But more importantly, what is the point in listening? First, it is perfectly obvious that much of what they say are just plain lies. Second, even if they are not just lying they are promising things that realistically can probably never happen, and third, whatever they say, no matter what it is or how sincere they may be about it at the time, will necessarily be what they will do once in office. In other words, realistically, you cannot predict what they are going to do from what they say they will do, so why bother to listen? It becomes very difficult to separate lies from promises well-intended, although sometimes the lies are so obvious and blatant they cannot be overlooked. It seems to be the case that no one could ever get elected to public office unless they told some lies. Sometimes the lies are just embedded under the surface and never have to be publicly faced. For example, if an atheist were to run for President, his atheism would not be an issue because it would be covered up by his membership in some church or other. Or one could claim to have served honorably in the military but had been, in fact, derelect in their duties but had it covered up. Frankly, I sometimes hope (and even expect) that a candidate will not do something he or she claims they are going to do (because they could probably not get elected if they did not take such a position). In any case, McCain/Palin are poisoning the well for the winners, engaging in a political policy of scorched earth. Such is the legacy of Bush/Cheney/Rove.
LKBIQ:
Whenever I dwell for any length of time on my own shortcomings, they gradually begin to seem mild, harmless, rather engaging little things, not at all like the staring defects in other people's characters.
Margaret Halsey
TILT:
Kumquats can be hydrophytic.
I confess to serious wonderment about whether we should even listen to any more campaign talk. If there are those who haven’t yet made up their minds they must be dead from the neck up and probably shouldn’t be allowed to vote in the first place. But more importantly, what is the point in listening? First, it is perfectly obvious that much of what they say are just plain lies. Second, even if they are not just lying they are promising things that realistically can probably never happen, and third, whatever they say, no matter what it is or how sincere they may be about it at the time, will necessarily be what they will do once in office. In other words, realistically, you cannot predict what they are going to do from what they say they will do, so why bother to listen? It becomes very difficult to separate lies from promises well-intended, although sometimes the lies are so obvious and blatant they cannot be overlooked. It seems to be the case that no one could ever get elected to public office unless they told some lies. Sometimes the lies are just embedded under the surface and never have to be publicly faced. For example, if an atheist were to run for President, his atheism would not be an issue because it would be covered up by his membership in some church or other. Or one could claim to have served honorably in the military but had been, in fact, derelect in their duties but had it covered up. Frankly, I sometimes hope (and even expect) that a candidate will not do something he or she claims they are going to do (because they could probably not get elected if they did not take such a position). In any case, McCain/Palin are poisoning the well for the winners, engaging in a political policy of scorched earth. Such is the legacy of Bush/Cheney/Rove.
LKBIQ:
Whenever I dwell for any length of time on my own shortcomings, they gradually begin to seem mild, harmless, rather engaging little things, not at all like the staring defects in other people's characters.
Margaret Halsey
TILT:
Kumquats can be hydrophytic.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Vienna Style?
Woman kicks and hits deer attacking
her smallest poodle, suffers abdominal
bruises from defensive counter attack.
According to the RNC, when Hamas or some other similar organization endorses Obama, they are telling the truth. However, when al Quaida endorses McCain they are really endorsing Obama. Got that? As I cannot stand any further Republican nonsense I have decided to focus on one of these occasional items that bother me absolutely needlessly, what is "Vienna Style."
I like liver and onions – occasionally. The other day I found a recipe in one of Mario Batali’s cookbooks for “Liver and onions Vienna style.” I made this for myself and found it quite satisfactory (although if you followed his recipe too faithfully your liver would be somewhat overcooked). Later, out of curiosity, I looked on Google for a recipe for Vienna style liver and onions and found no such recipe. As near as I can make out, “Vienna style” in this context, according to Mario, involves cooking the flip side of the liver on top of the onions and adding a small dash of balsamic vinegar. This seemed to me a rather insignificant difference, but I guess if it makes liver and onions into Vienna style that is all well and good. Similarly, I used to have breakfast with a friend in a rather posh restaurant where he always ordered “Poached eggs Vienna style.” As I recall this was something like a combination of milk toast and poached eggs. I thought it was disgusting but it was, they claimed, “Vienna style.” He claimed it made him more virile.
Anyway, I finally just googled “Vienna style.” Wow! What I learned was mind- boggling. Not only is there a Vienna style for liver and onions and poached eggs, there is also a Vienna style for sausages and frankfurters, veal scallops, beef, schnitzel, spaghetti, and coffee, and probably even more culinary achievements. Interestingly enough, the only Vienna style I could find that was actually defined in some way was for a Vienna style lager.
Pursuing this theme further, I learned there is a Vienna style for clocks, celadon, accordions, towels, porcelain, orchestra parts, chairs, jewelry, vases, shoes, coat racks, home office sets, hotels, printed pages, and even white horses. When I came to “Vienna style love” I threw in the towel, fearful of what else I might actually uncover. I decided that except perhaps in the case of lager (a copper or reddish brown colored beer with a slight malt sweetness) and sausages (a squat, fatty canned creation that is bad for your health but has been around forever), there is no general or quintessential “style” that meaningfully defines these disparate items. Vienna style seemingly has no real meaning, although I suppose in some cases it might mean it was manufactured in Vienna (although even this is giving them the benefit of the doubt). I guess just about everything that exists is or could be described as “Vienna style” if you wished. I hesitate to even think about where “New York Style,” or “Chicago style,” or “San Francisco style,” or “New Orleans style,” might lead you. I’m pretty sure there’s no “Idaho style.” So be pleased to know you have just read an authentic Vienna style essay.
LKBIQ:
It is a far, far better thing to have a firm anchor in nonsense than to put out on the troubled sea of thought.
John Kenneth Galbraith
TILT:
American English has far more words for penis than Eskimos have for snow.
her smallest poodle, suffers abdominal
bruises from defensive counter attack.
According to the RNC, when Hamas or some other similar organization endorses Obama, they are telling the truth. However, when al Quaida endorses McCain they are really endorsing Obama. Got that? As I cannot stand any further Republican nonsense I have decided to focus on one of these occasional items that bother me absolutely needlessly, what is "Vienna Style."
I like liver and onions – occasionally. The other day I found a recipe in one of Mario Batali’s cookbooks for “Liver and onions Vienna style.” I made this for myself and found it quite satisfactory (although if you followed his recipe too faithfully your liver would be somewhat overcooked). Later, out of curiosity, I looked on Google for a recipe for Vienna style liver and onions and found no such recipe. As near as I can make out, “Vienna style” in this context, according to Mario, involves cooking the flip side of the liver on top of the onions and adding a small dash of balsamic vinegar. This seemed to me a rather insignificant difference, but I guess if it makes liver and onions into Vienna style that is all well and good. Similarly, I used to have breakfast with a friend in a rather posh restaurant where he always ordered “Poached eggs Vienna style.” As I recall this was something like a combination of milk toast and poached eggs. I thought it was disgusting but it was, they claimed, “Vienna style.” He claimed it made him more virile.
Anyway, I finally just googled “Vienna style.” Wow! What I learned was mind- boggling. Not only is there a Vienna style for liver and onions and poached eggs, there is also a Vienna style for sausages and frankfurters, veal scallops, beef, schnitzel, spaghetti, and coffee, and probably even more culinary achievements. Interestingly enough, the only Vienna style I could find that was actually defined in some way was for a Vienna style lager.
Pursuing this theme further, I learned there is a Vienna style for clocks, celadon, accordions, towels, porcelain, orchestra parts, chairs, jewelry, vases, shoes, coat racks, home office sets, hotels, printed pages, and even white horses. When I came to “Vienna style love” I threw in the towel, fearful of what else I might actually uncover. I decided that except perhaps in the case of lager (a copper or reddish brown colored beer with a slight malt sweetness) and sausages (a squat, fatty canned creation that is bad for your health but has been around forever), there is no general or quintessential “style” that meaningfully defines these disparate items. Vienna style seemingly has no real meaning, although I suppose in some cases it might mean it was manufactured in Vienna (although even this is giving them the benefit of the doubt). I guess just about everything that exists is or could be described as “Vienna style” if you wished. I hesitate to even think about where “New York Style,” or “Chicago style,” or “San Francisco style,” or “New Orleans style,” might lead you. I’m pretty sure there’s no “Idaho style.” So be pleased to know you have just read an authentic Vienna style essay.
LKBIQ:
It is a far, far better thing to have a firm anchor in nonsense than to put out on the troubled sea of thought.
John Kenneth Galbraith
TILT:
American English has far more words for penis than Eskimos have for snow.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Something smells fishy
Man wins first prize for handcrafts
at county fair for designing and
constructing his own coffin.
There’s something fishy in the state of the campaigns. Barack Obama has a ten point lead in the national polls. He is leading or at least tied for the lead in most of the so-called battleground states, he has been endorsed by a majority of the major newspapers, he raised 150 million dollars from 623,000 new contributors last month, many generals, including Colin Powell have now endorsed him, he plays to completely unprecedented crowds wherever he goes, he is leading in virtually all categories of voters from young voters to Catholics to women, Hispanics, Blacks, and is running ahead or even with white working class voters. Sarah Palin has dragged down McCain, he has already conceded Michigan and Colorado, most everyone agrees his campaign has been a disaster, and yet, much to my amazement, some people claim that the race is narrowing now that it is coming down to the finish line and McCain may even have a chance of winning. Am I missing something? How can this be? McCain apparently has all his hopes pinned on Pennsylvania, where Obama is leading. How could McCain/Palin possibly win under these circumstances? The only chance, it seems to me, is by somehow stealing the election (in Pennsylvania, but also elsewhere). Do Republicans know again that the fix is in (as they apparently did in 2004)? But could they have sufficient chutzpah to believe that they could get away with stealing it, given the overwhelming support for Obama? Remember, there are many more registered Democrats than Republicans in addition to the support for Obama mentioned above. Is it merely the MSM trying to keep us interested in the campaign by claiming over and over that it is going to be a close race?
Now I am advised by my resident political analyst (my son Julian) that as McCain has definitely pulled out of Colorado there is virtually no chance at all that he can win unless, somehow, he can win in Pennsylvania and a couple of other states where he is significantly behind. So he will put everything he has into Pennsylvania where he is at the moment also behind. It looks grim for McCain/Palin (hooray!). But who knows what might happen in two weeks? Don’t count you chickens…It ain’t over ‘til it’s over, the fat lady has to sing, and don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes.
I made a slight mistake last night when I reported that bigotry had returned to Boundary County. Actually, I’m sure it never entirely left, but it has been quiet for some time. It appears that the same thing has been happening in Sandpoint where signs have been defaced with a spray painted “N.” I assume they just paint N because they don’t know how to spell what they have in mind (or else they are so frightened of being caught they have to abbreviate). No doubt whoever it is doing this must be numbered among the most ardent supporters of Palin, the “base” that McCain is so proud she brought in for him. I cannot imagine anyone in their right mind being sorry to see them go down in ignominious defeat. I’ve heard it said that Palin has her eyes on running for President in 2012. This is among the most hysterically funny things I have heard in a very long time.
LKBIQ:
If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.
Mark Twain
TILT: Jelly roll pans have sides on them. Cookie sheets do not have sides.
at county fair for designing and
constructing his own coffin.
There’s something fishy in the state of the campaigns. Barack Obama has a ten point lead in the national polls. He is leading or at least tied for the lead in most of the so-called battleground states, he has been endorsed by a majority of the major newspapers, he raised 150 million dollars from 623,000 new contributors last month, many generals, including Colin Powell have now endorsed him, he plays to completely unprecedented crowds wherever he goes, he is leading in virtually all categories of voters from young voters to Catholics to women, Hispanics, Blacks, and is running ahead or even with white working class voters. Sarah Palin has dragged down McCain, he has already conceded Michigan and Colorado, most everyone agrees his campaign has been a disaster, and yet, much to my amazement, some people claim that the race is narrowing now that it is coming down to the finish line and McCain may even have a chance of winning. Am I missing something? How can this be? McCain apparently has all his hopes pinned on Pennsylvania, where Obama is leading. How could McCain/Palin possibly win under these circumstances? The only chance, it seems to me, is by somehow stealing the election (in Pennsylvania, but also elsewhere). Do Republicans know again that the fix is in (as they apparently did in 2004)? But could they have sufficient chutzpah to believe that they could get away with stealing it, given the overwhelming support for Obama? Remember, there are many more registered Democrats than Republicans in addition to the support for Obama mentioned above. Is it merely the MSM trying to keep us interested in the campaign by claiming over and over that it is going to be a close race?
Now I am advised by my resident political analyst (my son Julian) that as McCain has definitely pulled out of Colorado there is virtually no chance at all that he can win unless, somehow, he can win in Pennsylvania and a couple of other states where he is significantly behind. So he will put everything he has into Pennsylvania where he is at the moment also behind. It looks grim for McCain/Palin (hooray!). But who knows what might happen in two weeks? Don’t count you chickens…It ain’t over ‘til it’s over, the fat lady has to sing, and don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes.
I made a slight mistake last night when I reported that bigotry had returned to Boundary County. Actually, I’m sure it never entirely left, but it has been quiet for some time. It appears that the same thing has been happening in Sandpoint where signs have been defaced with a spray painted “N.” I assume they just paint N because they don’t know how to spell what they have in mind (or else they are so frightened of being caught they have to abbreviate). No doubt whoever it is doing this must be numbered among the most ardent supporters of Palin, the “base” that McCain is so proud she brought in for him. I cannot imagine anyone in their right mind being sorry to see them go down in ignominious defeat. I’ve heard it said that Palin has her eyes on running for President in 2012. This is among the most hysterically funny things I have heard in a very long time.
LKBIQ:
If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.
Mark Twain
TILT: Jelly roll pans have sides on them. Cookie sheets do not have sides.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Bigotry returns to North Idaho
Practicing his “quick draw”
man shoots himself in
both his leg and foot.
Bigoted mental midget surfaced in Boundary County last night. Someone sprayed a black “N” across the O in an Obama sign. No matter how hard you try you can never get rid of all the lice. Write N, for nutcase. Apparently this kind of thing is going on all over the country, signs being stolen, mutilated, homeowners being threatened for having Obama signs in their yards, Obama supporters being threatened and so on. Someone took an Obama sign from the yard of a Minister and replaced it with a Confederate flag. In North Carolina someone shot a bear cub, draped it with Obama signs, and left it on a campus. Hey, what else can you do when you are politically and morally bankrupt? Can such tactics work? Of course not, but those who engage in them are apparently too stupid to realize it. By the way, Paddy Power, an important bookmaker in Ireland, has already paid off the bets on Obama, 1 Euro for every 9 bet on Obama. He says the race is over. Never underestimate the skills and intelligence of Irish bookmakers.
It appears that with only fourteen days left for campaigning McCain and Palin have decided to go with their absurd claims of Obama’s socialistic (or even communistic) tendencies. Next they will tell us Obama has two heads and a tail and is intimate with the Devil himself. McCain has even suggested that tax breaks for the middle class are welfare. Tax breaks for the obscenely wealthy and huge corporations are different. McCain and Republicans just cannot give up on their belief in “trickle down” economics, no matter how blatantly and how many times that has failed. Mitt Romney today, interviewed by David Gregory, repeated the mantra again – tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy stimulate jobs. This has been shown decisively by now not to work, but they are so socialized into it they just cannot conceive of anything different. Perhaps we should have our own “cultural revolution” and send them all to work in the fields for a while where they could be re-socialized. It would help to solve the immigration problem as well. And, as economic conditions are deteriorating so quickly here in the U.S. we probably won’t be getting many immigrants for a while anyway.
And speaking of such things, were you aware that there is the “real America” and everything else? Sarah Palin has indicated this is so, the real America apparently being small towns and rural as opposed to the not real America of the cities. Others of her ilk, like Michelle Bachmann of Minnesota, believe we are divided into anti-Americans and pro-Americans. Now, how do you like that for bipartisanship and national unity? They are not the only two who apparently believe this crap. We are, though, divided into two Americas, the filthy, greedy rich and the middle class and poor. The discrepancy between these two groups has never been wider or more problematical. McCain and the Republicans would keep it as it is, Obama would try to level it a bit.
In a very general sense there are some genuine absurdities built into our contemporary culture. For example, doesn’t it strike you as absurd that insurance companies should be determining medical procedures and such? Similarly, doesn’t it strike you as absurd that Congress should be determining how drugs should be dispensed and available? Doesn’t it also strike you as absurd that a bunch of mostly older white males should determine what a woman does with her body? We have somehow come to accept these things as if they make sense when, in fact, they are nonsensical. We should have a single-payer universal health care system without the interference of insurance companies. We should leave it up to doctors and their patients to determine what and how many drugs individuals need. And Congress should stay out of the abortion business, along with what goes on in the privacy of our bedrooms.
I have said from the beginning, just as many others have said all along, Palin is not qualified to be President. Now Colin Powell has said it. People do seem to be paying attention as Palin is now believed to be the single worst drag on the McCain campaign and Obama’s lead seems to be increasing everywhere. Let’s get it over with and see if we and our country can recover from these nightmare years of the beginning 21st century.
LKBIQ:
“Superstition, bigotry and prejudice, ghosts though they are, cling tenaciously to life; they are shades armed with tooth and claw, they must be grappled with unceasingly, for it is a fateful part of human destiny that it is condemned to wage perpetual war against ghosts. A shade is not easily taken by the throat and destroyed.
Victor Hugo
TILT: Do not practice your quick draw with a loaded revolver.
man shoots himself in
both his leg and foot.
Bigoted mental midget surfaced in Boundary County last night. Someone sprayed a black “N” across the O in an Obama sign. No matter how hard you try you can never get rid of all the lice. Write N, for nutcase. Apparently this kind of thing is going on all over the country, signs being stolen, mutilated, homeowners being threatened for having Obama signs in their yards, Obama supporters being threatened and so on. Someone took an Obama sign from the yard of a Minister and replaced it with a Confederate flag. In North Carolina someone shot a bear cub, draped it with Obama signs, and left it on a campus. Hey, what else can you do when you are politically and morally bankrupt? Can such tactics work? Of course not, but those who engage in them are apparently too stupid to realize it. By the way, Paddy Power, an important bookmaker in Ireland, has already paid off the bets on Obama, 1 Euro for every 9 bet on Obama. He says the race is over. Never underestimate the skills and intelligence of Irish bookmakers.
It appears that with only fourteen days left for campaigning McCain and Palin have decided to go with their absurd claims of Obama’s socialistic (or even communistic) tendencies. Next they will tell us Obama has two heads and a tail and is intimate with the Devil himself. McCain has even suggested that tax breaks for the middle class are welfare. Tax breaks for the obscenely wealthy and huge corporations are different. McCain and Republicans just cannot give up on their belief in “trickle down” economics, no matter how blatantly and how many times that has failed. Mitt Romney today, interviewed by David Gregory, repeated the mantra again – tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy stimulate jobs. This has been shown decisively by now not to work, but they are so socialized into it they just cannot conceive of anything different. Perhaps we should have our own “cultural revolution” and send them all to work in the fields for a while where they could be re-socialized. It would help to solve the immigration problem as well. And, as economic conditions are deteriorating so quickly here in the U.S. we probably won’t be getting many immigrants for a while anyway.
And speaking of such things, were you aware that there is the “real America” and everything else? Sarah Palin has indicated this is so, the real America apparently being small towns and rural as opposed to the not real America of the cities. Others of her ilk, like Michelle Bachmann of Minnesota, believe we are divided into anti-Americans and pro-Americans. Now, how do you like that for bipartisanship and national unity? They are not the only two who apparently believe this crap. We are, though, divided into two Americas, the filthy, greedy rich and the middle class and poor. The discrepancy between these two groups has never been wider or more problematical. McCain and the Republicans would keep it as it is, Obama would try to level it a bit.
In a very general sense there are some genuine absurdities built into our contemporary culture. For example, doesn’t it strike you as absurd that insurance companies should be determining medical procedures and such? Similarly, doesn’t it strike you as absurd that Congress should be determining how drugs should be dispensed and available? Doesn’t it also strike you as absurd that a bunch of mostly older white males should determine what a woman does with her body? We have somehow come to accept these things as if they make sense when, in fact, they are nonsensical. We should have a single-payer universal health care system without the interference of insurance companies. We should leave it up to doctors and their patients to determine what and how many drugs individuals need. And Congress should stay out of the abortion business, along with what goes on in the privacy of our bedrooms.
I have said from the beginning, just as many others have said all along, Palin is not qualified to be President. Now Colin Powell has said it. People do seem to be paying attention as Palin is now believed to be the single worst drag on the McCain campaign and Obama’s lead seems to be increasing everywhere. Let’s get it over with and see if we and our country can recover from these nightmare years of the beginning 21st century.
LKBIQ:
“Superstition, bigotry and prejudice, ghosts though they are, cling tenaciously to life; they are shades armed with tooth and claw, they must be grappled with unceasingly, for it is a fateful part of human destiny that it is condemned to wage perpetual war against ghosts. A shade is not easily taken by the throat and destroyed.
Victor Hugo
TILT: Do not practice your quick draw with a loaded revolver.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Socialism. flee for your lives
Man sues Pompano Beach nightclub
where pole dancer’s shoe flew off
hitting mirrored ceiling and him.
Run! Flee! Take to the hills! Hide in your closet or bomb shelter! Obama the socialist is coming! He’s going to (gasp) “spread the wealth around.” Leave it to the Republicans to panic at the mere suggestion of socialism. You might well think the world was coming to an end. Just what is it that Obama wants to do that is such a grave threat to our American way of greed. Let’s see, he wants to increase taxes on the few obscenely wealthy individuals and corporations so he can give tax breaks to the middle class (we already do this with our progressive income tax, he wants to do a bit more of it). He wants to provide universal health care (like all industrialized countries except ours, and we already have Medicaid and medicare, to say nothing of social security). He wants to help people afford to go to college without graduating 50 to 100 thousand dollars in debt (this is not a problem in most other industrialized countries and, of course, universal publicly funded elementary schools have long been in existence in America). McCain wants to deregulate the medical profession as we did the financial institutions (what a marvelous idea, we’ve seen what it did to our financial institutions and also what it did to the energy markets). Obama’s plan for health care for all still (unfortunately) involves the insurance companies and will not be a single payer system, which most everyone acknowledges would be more efficient and less expensive. McCain also wants to privatize social security (another really marvelous idea, especially at the moment). Republicans want us to believe that socialism is really communism and they always compare it to the Russia of Lenin and Stalin, to China, and Cuba. They never compare it to Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands and other countries that practice forms of social democracy (and do very well by it). In fact, what Republicans in the U.S. believe in, is a primitive form of social Darwinism that most other “civilized” nations gave up long ago. It’s a dog eat dog world, let the poor starve, they don’t pay taxes, you get only what you pay for, the one with the most toys wins, it’s your own fault for being poor, consume, consume, consume, greed is good. Edward Hyam summed it up nicely: “Capitalism turns men into economic cannibals, and having done so, mistakes economic cannibalism for human nature.” Interestingly enough, most “uncivilized” peoples, being much more egalitarian, do not have this problem. Not all humans are by nature (or nurture) invariably greedy. Sharing is very common among them. Now that one (1) percent of the people in the U.S. control more wealth than the lowest 50 percent, and greed has run rampant for the past eight (or more) years, perhaps we can collectively come to our senses? Not if McCain and his Republican colleagues have anything to say about it. Their idea of socialism is to give more and more to those that have, and less and less to those who have not. It is long past time for them to go (and good riddance).
I have never been a fan of Colin Powell, especially since his disgraceful participation in bringing about the Iraq “war.” But I think he certainly got it right when he endorsed Obama and castigated McCain for his truly dirty campaign and pick of the hopelessly unqualified Sarah Palin as VP candidate. What I thought was even better, however, is when he made it clear there is nothing wrong with being a Muslim in America, and told us about the death of a Muslim soldier buried in Arlington cemetery. The MSM seem to have conveniently ignored this part of his endorsement. So as they would say in Ausralia, “good on ya” General Powell.
LKBIQ:
“When fanatics are in charge there is no end to oppression.”
H. L. Mencken
TILT (things I learned today):
Tasers do not work on wild boars.
where pole dancer’s shoe flew off
hitting mirrored ceiling and him.
Run! Flee! Take to the hills! Hide in your closet or bomb shelter! Obama the socialist is coming! He’s going to (gasp) “spread the wealth around.” Leave it to the Republicans to panic at the mere suggestion of socialism. You might well think the world was coming to an end. Just what is it that Obama wants to do that is such a grave threat to our American way of greed. Let’s see, he wants to increase taxes on the few obscenely wealthy individuals and corporations so he can give tax breaks to the middle class (we already do this with our progressive income tax, he wants to do a bit more of it). He wants to provide universal health care (like all industrialized countries except ours, and we already have Medicaid and medicare, to say nothing of social security). He wants to help people afford to go to college without graduating 50 to 100 thousand dollars in debt (this is not a problem in most other industrialized countries and, of course, universal publicly funded elementary schools have long been in existence in America). McCain wants to deregulate the medical profession as we did the financial institutions (what a marvelous idea, we’ve seen what it did to our financial institutions and also what it did to the energy markets). Obama’s plan for health care for all still (unfortunately) involves the insurance companies and will not be a single payer system, which most everyone acknowledges would be more efficient and less expensive. McCain also wants to privatize social security (another really marvelous idea, especially at the moment). Republicans want us to believe that socialism is really communism and they always compare it to the Russia of Lenin and Stalin, to China, and Cuba. They never compare it to Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands and other countries that practice forms of social democracy (and do very well by it). In fact, what Republicans in the U.S. believe in, is a primitive form of social Darwinism that most other “civilized” nations gave up long ago. It’s a dog eat dog world, let the poor starve, they don’t pay taxes, you get only what you pay for, the one with the most toys wins, it’s your own fault for being poor, consume, consume, consume, greed is good. Edward Hyam summed it up nicely: “Capitalism turns men into economic cannibals, and having done so, mistakes economic cannibalism for human nature.” Interestingly enough, most “uncivilized” peoples, being much more egalitarian, do not have this problem. Not all humans are by nature (or nurture) invariably greedy. Sharing is very common among them. Now that one (1) percent of the people in the U.S. control more wealth than the lowest 50 percent, and greed has run rampant for the past eight (or more) years, perhaps we can collectively come to our senses? Not if McCain and his Republican colleagues have anything to say about it. Their idea of socialism is to give more and more to those that have, and less and less to those who have not. It is long past time for them to go (and good riddance).
I have never been a fan of Colin Powell, especially since his disgraceful participation in bringing about the Iraq “war.” But I think he certainly got it right when he endorsed Obama and castigated McCain for his truly dirty campaign and pick of the hopelessly unqualified Sarah Palin as VP candidate. What I thought was even better, however, is when he made it clear there is nothing wrong with being a Muslim in America, and told us about the death of a Muslim soldier buried in Arlington cemetery. The MSM seem to have conveniently ignored this part of his endorsement. So as they would say in Ausralia, “good on ya” General Powell.
LKBIQ:
“When fanatics are in charge there is no end to oppression.”
H. L. Mencken
TILT (things I learned today):
Tasers do not work on wild boars.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Sex and the vacuum cleaner?
Michigan man arrested
for sexual encounter with
car-wash vacuum.
Is there really a law in Michigan that prohibits sex with a vacuum? If so, where did it come from? Is this an ongoing or recurring problem in Michigan? Was there a precedent? Just what does the law say? I’m dying to find out. If anyone knows please advise.
Michelle Bachmann, a Republican Congressperson from Minnesota, claims that Obama is anti-American. But not to worry, she thinks Pelosi, Reid, and many other liberals in Congress need to be investigated as anti-American. This is a Congressperson from Minnestota? I though that was a liberal state. How did this strange woman get elected? Was this part of her platform, or did she just lose her mind after being elected? Republicans say the darndest things.
It is reported that 100,000 people turned out in St. Louis to hear Obama. Apparently 75,000 turned out in Kansas City. Major newspapers all over the country have endorsed Obama, including the Chicago Tribune that has never endorsed a democrat for 161 years. The L.A. Times, the Washington Post, The Seattle Times, and many other of our major newspapers are now on board the Obama express. But interestingly enough, some people are still talking about the Brafia stealing the election once again. I cannot see how this could happen, given the overwhelming support Obama is receiving. Nor can I imagine what might well happen if they do try to steal it and succeed. I suggest there would be such a massive outcry those responsible for the theft would have to leave the country before they were torn limb from limb. I feel pretty confident this is one election that is not going to be stolen, no matter what they try.
Obama has run a brilliant campaign, of that I think there is little doubt. But what makes it even better is that McCain has run a campaign so dismal as to be almost unprecedented. And his pick of Sarah Palin will have to go down in history as one of the most serious blunders ever. I’m reasonably certain that McCain and his advisors realize this now, but there is little they can do about it except go on pretending she has at least some redeeming quality (which I certainly cannot find). The danger in this is that they are in the process pulling Obama down and making his coming Presidency more difficult. I fear it’s going to be another four or eight years like the Clinton Presidency, where the Brafia will make it virtually impossible for him to govern, bringing up one red herring or nonsense charge after another. This was, when they went after Clinton, and will be if they continue the same thing with Obama, anti-Americanism in the extreme. It used to be when an election was over everyone would pretty much support the winner, the new President. There were differences about policies and such, to be sure, but generally speaking there was at least an attempt at cooperation. Not so with this bunch of gangsters. They will stop at nothing to gain back power, the country be damned, all the while carrying on about bipartisanship (I am quite convinced they have no understanding of what bipartisanship might be). Never forget just how much bipartisanship they provided when they were in power (none). Under Bush it has always been “my way or the highway.” Now that they are about to lose they will whine endlessly about the lack of what they themselves never provided in even an elementary form. Nitwit Bachmann and her colleagues are the ones that need to be investigated for anti-Americanism. You can rest assured that as long as the neocons are still around there will be no bipartisanship (and they will blame Democrats, of course). Never, I think, in all of American history, has there been such a sleazy, slimy, slippery, single-minded, bunch of simpletons in charge of a major political party. I doubt we will make much progress on any of the horrendous problems they have brought us until they are purged from our midst. Vote Obama/Biden, vote Democratic as if your life depends upon it, it quite likely does.
LKBIQ:
“ In real life, I assure you, there is no such thing as algebra.”
Fran Lebowitz
for sexual encounter with
car-wash vacuum.
Is there really a law in Michigan that prohibits sex with a vacuum? If so, where did it come from? Is this an ongoing or recurring problem in Michigan? Was there a precedent? Just what does the law say? I’m dying to find out. If anyone knows please advise.
Michelle Bachmann, a Republican Congressperson from Minnesota, claims that Obama is anti-American. But not to worry, she thinks Pelosi, Reid, and many other liberals in Congress need to be investigated as anti-American. This is a Congressperson from Minnestota? I though that was a liberal state. How did this strange woman get elected? Was this part of her platform, or did she just lose her mind after being elected? Republicans say the darndest things.
It is reported that 100,000 people turned out in St. Louis to hear Obama. Apparently 75,000 turned out in Kansas City. Major newspapers all over the country have endorsed Obama, including the Chicago Tribune that has never endorsed a democrat for 161 years. The L.A. Times, the Washington Post, The Seattle Times, and many other of our major newspapers are now on board the Obama express. But interestingly enough, some people are still talking about the Brafia stealing the election once again. I cannot see how this could happen, given the overwhelming support Obama is receiving. Nor can I imagine what might well happen if they do try to steal it and succeed. I suggest there would be such a massive outcry those responsible for the theft would have to leave the country before they were torn limb from limb. I feel pretty confident this is one election that is not going to be stolen, no matter what they try.
Obama has run a brilliant campaign, of that I think there is little doubt. But what makes it even better is that McCain has run a campaign so dismal as to be almost unprecedented. And his pick of Sarah Palin will have to go down in history as one of the most serious blunders ever. I’m reasonably certain that McCain and his advisors realize this now, but there is little they can do about it except go on pretending she has at least some redeeming quality (which I certainly cannot find). The danger in this is that they are in the process pulling Obama down and making his coming Presidency more difficult. I fear it’s going to be another four or eight years like the Clinton Presidency, where the Brafia will make it virtually impossible for him to govern, bringing up one red herring or nonsense charge after another. This was, when they went after Clinton, and will be if they continue the same thing with Obama, anti-Americanism in the extreme. It used to be when an election was over everyone would pretty much support the winner, the new President. There were differences about policies and such, to be sure, but generally speaking there was at least an attempt at cooperation. Not so with this bunch of gangsters. They will stop at nothing to gain back power, the country be damned, all the while carrying on about bipartisanship (I am quite convinced they have no understanding of what bipartisanship might be). Never forget just how much bipartisanship they provided when they were in power (none). Under Bush it has always been “my way or the highway.” Now that they are about to lose they will whine endlessly about the lack of what they themselves never provided in even an elementary form. Nitwit Bachmann and her colleagues are the ones that need to be investigated for anti-Americanism. You can rest assured that as long as the neocons are still around there will be no bipartisanship (and they will blame Democrats, of course). Never, I think, in all of American history, has there been such a sleazy, slimy, slippery, single-minded, bunch of simpletons in charge of a major political party. I doubt we will make much progress on any of the horrendous problems they have brought us until they are purged from our midst. Vote Obama/Biden, vote Democratic as if your life depends upon it, it quite likely does.
LKBIQ:
“ In real life, I assure you, there is no such thing as algebra.”
Fran Lebowitz
Friday, October 17, 2008
Did you ever...
Have you ever seen anything like it? The McCain campaign I mean. Can you believe that McCain has actually succeeded in getting two (perhaps more) days of media coverage by inventing a mostly fictitious character called Joe the Plumber? When you don’t dare to talk about the issues because you know you will lose the election if you do, what do you do? First, you try to trash your opponent. When that appears to backfire where do you turn? How do you get everyone’s attention diverted from the issues you do not dare to confront? Why…you invent a mostly fictitious character called Joe the Plumber and you claim, among other things, that Obama is picking on him. Joe the plumber supposedly claimed that if he realized his dream of buying a plumbership (if that’s what you call it) he would have to pay more taxes because of Obama’s tax proposals. The fact that there is barely a thread of truth in this absurd charade seems to have escaped the MSM who have spent the last two days featuring it as something newsworthy. As it turns out, Joe the Plumber is not even a plumber. Whether he is even a plumber’s helper is even in doubt because he has no license to be either plumber or assistant plumber. Then there is the fact that he has apparently no chance whatsoever to buy the business. If he did buy the business, and if it was successful, it would not make a profit of $250,000 per year and would not be subject to any new taxes. Joe the Plumber is also in arrears on his last year’s taxes, is a right-wing loony, thinks Social Security is terrible, and obviously understands virtually nothing about tax plans or anything else. This is a complete non-issue that should not have occupied anyone’s time for more than 30 seconds. But Joe’s house has been ringed with news-people, he’s been interviewed, vetted, examined, and whatever, more than a mere 15 minutes of fame. He finally admitted that yes, under Obama’s tax plan he would in fact pay less in taxes. This is a sad commentary on the state of our news-people, but we have known about them for some time now, inept, uninterested in real news, lazy, partisan and basically useless for the purposes they should be serving. For the past eight years, at least, they seem to have confused reporting with stenography. Can you believe that McCain actually claimed in a speech today that Obama was attacking Joe the Plumber. This episode is so bizarre, so hysterically ridiculous, so devoid of meaning, so pointless, so almost incomprehensible, so beyond the pale, lacking in merit or substance it simply makes a complete mockery of our election system. Frankly, something like this should disqualify a candidate on the grounds that they are not being serious. This is, after all, an election to pick the leader of the most powerful and influential nation on earth. Joe the (fake) Plumber is merely a figment of McCain’s apparently diseased imagination, along with that woman he imagines could actually be President of the United States. It should have been made clear to McCain some time ago that he should either crap or get off the pot, either face up to the issues and be serious or get out. His campaign is nothing but an insult to the American people and Sarah Palin a bad joke. All else having backfired and failed they have now turned to robocalls that are so scurrilous and below-the-belt they give a new meaning to slime. What is worse, this sliming of Obama will carry over into his Presidency, making his job just that much more impossible. It is completely immoral as well as un-American. McCain/Palin are a disgrace to all Americans and should be treated accordingly. But at the moment Palin goes on babbling her lies and hatred and McCain remains more or less fixated on Ayers and anything other than the issues. McCain seemed almost pleasant last night at the annual Alfred E. Smith roast, and did, I thought, a nice routine, slightly better than Obama’s although he was very good also. But the McCain of this campaign is not pleasant, not at all, apparently his unbridled ambition to be President has turned him into a kind of roviating monster, willing to do or say anything to get elected, and seemingly comfortable in the slime that surrounds him. It is sad, even tragic, and too late in the game to do much about it. It won’t happen, of course, but McCain/Palin should probably just concede to spare themselves and the nation any further embarrassment.
Root Canal
It takes a lot of trust
to lie with your head
near the belly of a stranger,
cradled in his arms,
as his hands brush your lips to
perform a mysterious artistry in your mouth.
I never knew a root canal could be so intimate.
Linda Langness
Root Canal
It takes a lot of trust
to lie with your head
near the belly of a stranger,
cradled in his arms,
as his hands brush your lips to
perform a mysterious artistry in your mouth.
I never knew a root canal could be so intimate.
Linda Langness
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Dumb lines
Grandma dies, daughter and grandson
cremate her in back yard firepit,
continue collecting her retirement.
I knew it. I knew that when McCain said, “I’m not George Bush” this dumb line would be picked up and repeated as if it were the dominant moment of the debate last night. It has been. Even Eugene Robinson, one of my favorites, remarked on this remarkable “zinger.” I do not understand this tendency to literally swoon over what are basically dumb remarks. I fail to see anything clever about this line. It is neither creative nor stimulating. In fact it is so mundane it should have been immediately forgotten. Obviously McCain is not Bush. No one ever said he was Bush. What Obama and others have said is that he pursues the same policies of the Bush administration (which, in fact, he does). I suppose we might concede that it was a quick and easy way to try to distinguish himself from Bush, but if so, it failed. If anything, it probably just reinforced his identification with Bush. Recent American history is replete with other examples of what I take to be basically dumb remarks picked up and endlessly repeated as though they are part of the wisdom of the ages. “Tear down this wall,” is another one of these ordinary remarks that have been set aside as worthy of worshipful repetition. Another (presumably) more famous was Lloyd Bentsen’s statement to Dan Quale, “you’re no John Kennedy.” Still another that I have heard repeated for years is Hemingway’s remark when F. Scott Fitzgerald reportedly said, “the rich are different from others,” and Hemingway said, “yes, they have more money.” I have always wondered why anyone at all would ever have repeated this (to me) entirely insipid remark (apparently there is some doubt that Fitzgerald ever actually said this). Some have even argued that Fitzgerald’s insight about the difference of the really rich was profound and Hemingway missed the real point. Whether this is true or not, I do not believe this remark is worthy of being enshrined in the literature having to do with American literature. To me, every one of these examples (I’m certain there are many more) are basically obvious observations with no particular merit other than perhaps the contexts in which they were uttered, or the positions of those who uttered them, insipid all. But, then, I am no F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, or John McCain, or literary critic, or whatever, so what do I know?
I have been telling my son and others for quite a long time that Obama was going to win with a Landslide. Whispers to that effect are starting to be heard. Obama is cautioning about being too cocky. If Obama really does win with a landslide vote it will be the first time I will have ever been right about an election. I am trying not to be too cocky.
McCain’s creation, Joe the Plumber, turns out not to be a plumber. At best he must be a plumber’s helper. He doesn’t earn enough money to worry about his taxes increasing under an Obama administration. He doesn’t earn enough money to buy a plumbing business. If he had the business it would not net $250,000 per year. He says he thinks Social Security is stupid, he owes money in back taxes, and turns out to be basically just another right-wing loony. But not to worry, he’ll no doubt be interviewed on various TV programs and will bask in his new found fame (at least for a bit). He would, in fact, benefit from Obama’s tax plan. McCain has said that Joe the Plumber was the winner of last night’s debate. Go figure.
I am trying very hard to understand human behavior (which I sometimes believe is totally impossible). The Seattle Times recently reported a 14 year-old girl so severely starved by her parents she weighs only 48 pounds. Another recent case involved a 3 year-old so shockingly mistreated she had flesh hanging from her body. Not too long ago a woman was convicted of killing her infant by putting it in a microwave oven. A 16 year-old from the Middle East was forced to marry an older man at 13, subsequently brought to the U.S. where she was repeatedly raped and abused by five adults. Child abuse, including sexual abuse, seems to be rampant in our society. Obviously the vast majority of humans do not engage in such activity. But many do. The history of our tenure here on earth is so unpleasant it is difficult to even read about. There is something wrong with our species that I am unable to satisfactorily explain even to myself. I rather doubt I will ever understand it, but I cannot help but wonder about it.
LKBIQ:
There are many things of which a wise man might wish to be ignorant.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
cremate her in back yard firepit,
continue collecting her retirement.
I knew it. I knew that when McCain said, “I’m not George Bush” this dumb line would be picked up and repeated as if it were the dominant moment of the debate last night. It has been. Even Eugene Robinson, one of my favorites, remarked on this remarkable “zinger.” I do not understand this tendency to literally swoon over what are basically dumb remarks. I fail to see anything clever about this line. It is neither creative nor stimulating. In fact it is so mundane it should have been immediately forgotten. Obviously McCain is not Bush. No one ever said he was Bush. What Obama and others have said is that he pursues the same policies of the Bush administration (which, in fact, he does). I suppose we might concede that it was a quick and easy way to try to distinguish himself from Bush, but if so, it failed. If anything, it probably just reinforced his identification with Bush. Recent American history is replete with other examples of what I take to be basically dumb remarks picked up and endlessly repeated as though they are part of the wisdom of the ages. “Tear down this wall,” is another one of these ordinary remarks that have been set aside as worthy of worshipful repetition. Another (presumably) more famous was Lloyd Bentsen’s statement to Dan Quale, “you’re no John Kennedy.” Still another that I have heard repeated for years is Hemingway’s remark when F. Scott Fitzgerald reportedly said, “the rich are different from others,” and Hemingway said, “yes, they have more money.” I have always wondered why anyone at all would ever have repeated this (to me) entirely insipid remark (apparently there is some doubt that Fitzgerald ever actually said this). Some have even argued that Fitzgerald’s insight about the difference of the really rich was profound and Hemingway missed the real point. Whether this is true or not, I do not believe this remark is worthy of being enshrined in the literature having to do with American literature. To me, every one of these examples (I’m certain there are many more) are basically obvious observations with no particular merit other than perhaps the contexts in which they were uttered, or the positions of those who uttered them, insipid all. But, then, I am no F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, or John McCain, or literary critic, or whatever, so what do I know?
I have been telling my son and others for quite a long time that Obama was going to win with a Landslide. Whispers to that effect are starting to be heard. Obama is cautioning about being too cocky. If Obama really does win with a landslide vote it will be the first time I will have ever been right about an election. I am trying not to be too cocky.
McCain’s creation, Joe the Plumber, turns out not to be a plumber. At best he must be a plumber’s helper. He doesn’t earn enough money to worry about his taxes increasing under an Obama administration. He doesn’t earn enough money to buy a plumbing business. If he had the business it would not net $250,000 per year. He says he thinks Social Security is stupid, he owes money in back taxes, and turns out to be basically just another right-wing loony. But not to worry, he’ll no doubt be interviewed on various TV programs and will bask in his new found fame (at least for a bit). He would, in fact, benefit from Obama’s tax plan. McCain has said that Joe the Plumber was the winner of last night’s debate. Go figure.
I am trying very hard to understand human behavior (which I sometimes believe is totally impossible). The Seattle Times recently reported a 14 year-old girl so severely starved by her parents she weighs only 48 pounds. Another recent case involved a 3 year-old so shockingly mistreated she had flesh hanging from her body. Not too long ago a woman was convicted of killing her infant by putting it in a microwave oven. A 16 year-old from the Middle East was forced to marry an older man at 13, subsequently brought to the U.S. where she was repeatedly raped and abused by five adults. Child abuse, including sexual abuse, seems to be rampant in our society. Obviously the vast majority of humans do not engage in such activity. But many do. The history of our tenure here on earth is so unpleasant it is difficult to even read about. There is something wrong with our species that I am unable to satisfactorily explain even to myself. I rather doubt I will ever understand it, but I cannot help but wonder about it.
LKBIQ:
There are many things of which a wise man might wish to be ignorant.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
It ain't over?
Yes, I watched the debate. I wanted to write “it ain’t over ‘til it’s over,” and then, “well, it’s over.” But I guess I can’t really claim that (even though I personally think it is over). There will still be some who think McCain did well, those like Pat Buchanan who always claims McCain wins on points, and others who seem to truly believe that McCain won. But it remains true that most observers think Obama won. I’m not sure winning and/or losing is really very relevant for these contests. I thought McCain did much better than I expected him to do. But I thought Obama did fine as well. As in the other debates Obama kept his cool, didn’t make any mistakes, and looked very Presidential. McCain was not so steady, at times seemed a bit angry and/or upset, and did a lot of what I thought was faked tight-lipped smiling. He was more aggressive than Obama but of course he had to be. Again, I doubt that anything much changed. Those that are supporting McCain/Palin are so far gone that nothing is going to change their minds, whereas Obama’s supporters stay about the same and slowly increase. I don’t know how many viewers understand just how often Obama could have ripped McCain apart, but resisted doing so. This was especially true, I thought, on the question of running mates. Some seemed to think that McCain’s statement, “I’m not Bush, if you wanted to run against Bush you should have run four years ago,” was an important moment during the debate. I suppose some will continue to say so but I thought it was obviously kind of meaningless as it is not something that would have ever happened in the first place, and McCain does represent Bush no matter how much he tries to deny it. When the issue of Ayers came up (the moderator made certain it did) McCain tried to make something of it but failed miserably. Obama merely said the truth of the matter and that was that, McCain dropped it, as did the moderator. It was interesting, however, that while McCain was claiming Obama’s campaign started in Ayers living room, Obama said that was a lie. But it was not pursued. I thought it should have been. If it is indeed a lie, and McCain/Palin have been repeating it endlessly, Obama should have been allowed to dispel it. Anyway, the accusation went nowhere. The questions I thought were good ones for the most part, but they were never pursued in detail which would have helped the viewer a lot more than they did. I thought this was especially true on the subjects of health care and energy. McCain, for example, said we need 45 more nuclear power plants. Neither the moderator or Obama remarked on this which might have been devastating given the controversy over the cost of such plants, the enormous sums of public money that would have to be spent on them (as the private sector refuses to fund them), and the incredible dangers they pose (which McCain dismissed very cavalierly as not a problem). Obama didn’t even mention nuclear energy (I don’t know if he deliberately ignored this or not). In any case nuclear power is an extremely controversial issue that McCain treated as if it were not much more than building a service station. If any minds were changed I would guess they were changed in favor of Obama. The one big mistake of the evening was made by McCain, when Obama was talking about abortions and the life of the mother. McCain basically just made light of the woman’s health issue, indicating that the pro-choice crowd always talked about the life of the mother which, he said, could mean anything. I don’t think making light of women’s health is going to endear him to most American women. As McCain’s reputation on women’s issues is not very strong to begin with, this terrible faux pas will certainly not help. Similarly, McCain sticks to his support of Palin, even though she is clearly dragging down the ticket. He seems to think everyone likes her, especially women. He obviously is confusing the right-wing base with the rest of the world and is apparently not much in touch with reality on this matter. I wonder if he really believes what he says about her or if he feels he has not other option now. Anyway, all the debates are mercifully over, there are only a few days left until the election, and then, glory be, it will all be over (at least momentarily as the next campaigns won’t start until the day after the swearing in ceremony).
I voted early today. I told everyone I voted for McCain. I explained that after listening to the McCain/Palin supporters I finally understood what was actually happening: Barack Hussein Obama is actually a distant cousin of Osama bin Laden. Thus he is both an Arab and a Muslim. He is here under a fake birth certificate in an attempt to take over our country, in collusion with those black helicopters that are coming in from Canada to steal our lawn chairs. The lawn chairs are going to be traded to Bolivia and Venezuela for cocoa leaves that will then be processed into cocaine and sold to black people in Los Angeles and other places, which will encourage them to vote for Obama. Once in power Obama plans to take away everyone’s guns, thus making us helpless against the crazed Muslim hordes that are waiting offshore in their armada to invade. Obama’s father, although born in Kenya, was not really a Kenyan. He was a descendent of the great Prestor John, who was himself a secret Muslim who lured Europeans to Africa under false pretenses and then fed them to his armies of giant black Amazons. Osama bin Laden is in charge of the heroine traffic from Afghanistan, but Barack Hussein Obama wants to also control the cocaine trade so he can afford his harem of beautiful white slave women. I know it’s complicated but it makes perfect sense (if, that is, you are a right-wing lunatic who lusts after Sarah the moose-eating barracuda).
LKBIQ:
“An immense river of oblivion is sweeping us away into a nameless abyss.”
Ernest Renan
I voted early today. I told everyone I voted for McCain. I explained that after listening to the McCain/Palin supporters I finally understood what was actually happening: Barack Hussein Obama is actually a distant cousin of Osama bin Laden. Thus he is both an Arab and a Muslim. He is here under a fake birth certificate in an attempt to take over our country, in collusion with those black helicopters that are coming in from Canada to steal our lawn chairs. The lawn chairs are going to be traded to Bolivia and Venezuela for cocoa leaves that will then be processed into cocaine and sold to black people in Los Angeles and other places, which will encourage them to vote for Obama. Once in power Obama plans to take away everyone’s guns, thus making us helpless against the crazed Muslim hordes that are waiting offshore in their armada to invade. Obama’s father, although born in Kenya, was not really a Kenyan. He was a descendent of the great Prestor John, who was himself a secret Muslim who lured Europeans to Africa under false pretenses and then fed them to his armies of giant black Amazons. Osama bin Laden is in charge of the heroine traffic from Afghanistan, but Barack Hussein Obama wants to also control the cocaine trade so he can afford his harem of beautiful white slave women. I know it’s complicated but it makes perfect sense (if, that is, you are a right-wing lunatic who lusts after Sarah the moose-eating barracuda).
LKBIQ:
“An immense river of oblivion is sweeping us away into a nameless abyss.”
Ernest Renan
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Insanity revisited
Insanity revisited
He’s doing it again. Remember Einstein’s definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over and expecting to get different results. McCain/Palin tried roviating Obama over and over until it became obvious it wasn’t working and they had to give it up (sort of). Now McCain has come out with his financial plan for the economy. And guess what, it’s just more Reagan economics all over again. Aside from a couple of very minor sops to older Americans it basically is another attempt at the failed trickle-down economy that has helped to lead us into this mess in the first place. Namely, give more tax breaks to corporations and millionaires who will supposedly create jobs with it (but in fact just buy more expensive yachts and other toys like $5000 shower curtains and such. You might think that this terrible economic meltdown might have made them aware of the fact that trickle-down just doesn’t work, but apparently not (they seem unable to learn, perhaps even incapable of it). All this plan does is allow the filthy rich to become filthier rich. The Brafia/Republicans just never give up in their attempt to amass all the money that exists (and they have almost succeeded). We barely avoided giving them a 700 billion dollar gift outright, so it appears that at long last the public is on to their scams. The polls seem to reflect this recognition, along with the dismal performances by McCain/Palin.
I confess I can sort of understand greed up to a point. But I cannot understand the greed that has been practiced of late by so many of our wealthy citizens. It seems we are able to tolerate greed of such monumental proportions it must be a kind of pathology. What do these people need with so much money? Take professional athletes, for example. Someone like Michael Jordan, who made millions upon millions of dollars but still does commercials. Or someone like the guy who won an enormous 100 million dollar lottery and announced that he wanted to become a billionaire. Or someone who already has a 45,000 square foot home in Arizona and wants to build a 27,000 square foot home elsewhere, and who also owns one of the largest yachts on earth. Or someone who owns seven or more houses and doesn’t even seem to know how many he owns. Or the hundred thousand dollar birthday parties for their kids, or….but you get the picture. I swear that if I already had more money than I could realistically spend in my lifetime I would stop accumulating and let someone else have a better chance. Obama’s proposal to ask these people to pay slightly more in taxes seems perfectly reasonable to me, but you would think from their reaction he is literally ripping out their hearts. Obama wants to “spread some of the wealth around.” McCain apparently thinks this is an idea so horrible it shouldn’t even be mentioned. I go back to a suggestion I made previously: once you have enough money (let’s say a billion, for the sake of the argument), anything more goes into the national “kitty” and instead of the additional money you get a gold star (just like you got in kindergarten for brushing your teeth). I cannot see how this would hurt anyone and it would certainly benefit society at large. And why should anyone, ANYONE, be paid 100 million dollars a year or more? This is simply obscene and why it has been tolerated I absolutely cannot understand. It is true that some billionaires and multi-billionaires set up foundations and finance research, education, and such, but they can only do so because they have more money than they know how to spend (and they receive tax breaks).
I can’t wait for the final (thank heaven) debate tomorrow night. McCain is so far behind in the polls he would have to pull off some kind of miracle performance. He says he will bring up the Ayers accusation to Obama (I doubt it, it would be very risky). If he really tries to talk economics Obama will slice and dice him. It could prove very embarrassing. McCain is in a very tight spot. Tomorrow may well spell his doom (if his doom isn’t already spelled). He claims to be a fighter. I think he’s just a bully. We’ll see. Somewhere I read today that one of his associates said McCain knew he was putting the country at risk when he picked Palin. So much for country first.
LKBIQ:
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
Albert Einstein
He’s doing it again. Remember Einstein’s definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over and expecting to get different results. McCain/Palin tried roviating Obama over and over until it became obvious it wasn’t working and they had to give it up (sort of). Now McCain has come out with his financial plan for the economy. And guess what, it’s just more Reagan economics all over again. Aside from a couple of very minor sops to older Americans it basically is another attempt at the failed trickle-down economy that has helped to lead us into this mess in the first place. Namely, give more tax breaks to corporations and millionaires who will supposedly create jobs with it (but in fact just buy more expensive yachts and other toys like $5000 shower curtains and such. You might think that this terrible economic meltdown might have made them aware of the fact that trickle-down just doesn’t work, but apparently not (they seem unable to learn, perhaps even incapable of it). All this plan does is allow the filthy rich to become filthier rich. The Brafia/Republicans just never give up in their attempt to amass all the money that exists (and they have almost succeeded). We barely avoided giving them a 700 billion dollar gift outright, so it appears that at long last the public is on to their scams. The polls seem to reflect this recognition, along with the dismal performances by McCain/Palin.
I confess I can sort of understand greed up to a point. But I cannot understand the greed that has been practiced of late by so many of our wealthy citizens. It seems we are able to tolerate greed of such monumental proportions it must be a kind of pathology. What do these people need with so much money? Take professional athletes, for example. Someone like Michael Jordan, who made millions upon millions of dollars but still does commercials. Or someone like the guy who won an enormous 100 million dollar lottery and announced that he wanted to become a billionaire. Or someone who already has a 45,000 square foot home in Arizona and wants to build a 27,000 square foot home elsewhere, and who also owns one of the largest yachts on earth. Or someone who owns seven or more houses and doesn’t even seem to know how many he owns. Or the hundred thousand dollar birthday parties for their kids, or….but you get the picture. I swear that if I already had more money than I could realistically spend in my lifetime I would stop accumulating and let someone else have a better chance. Obama’s proposal to ask these people to pay slightly more in taxes seems perfectly reasonable to me, but you would think from their reaction he is literally ripping out their hearts. Obama wants to “spread some of the wealth around.” McCain apparently thinks this is an idea so horrible it shouldn’t even be mentioned. I go back to a suggestion I made previously: once you have enough money (let’s say a billion, for the sake of the argument), anything more goes into the national “kitty” and instead of the additional money you get a gold star (just like you got in kindergarten for brushing your teeth). I cannot see how this would hurt anyone and it would certainly benefit society at large. And why should anyone, ANYONE, be paid 100 million dollars a year or more? This is simply obscene and why it has been tolerated I absolutely cannot understand. It is true that some billionaires and multi-billionaires set up foundations and finance research, education, and such, but they can only do so because they have more money than they know how to spend (and they receive tax breaks).
I can’t wait for the final (thank heaven) debate tomorrow night. McCain is so far behind in the polls he would have to pull off some kind of miracle performance. He says he will bring up the Ayers accusation to Obama (I doubt it, it would be very risky). If he really tries to talk economics Obama will slice and dice him. It could prove very embarrassing. McCain is in a very tight spot. Tomorrow may well spell his doom (if his doom isn’t already spelled). He claims to be a fighter. I think he’s just a bully. We’ll see. Somewhere I read today that one of his associates said McCain knew he was putting the country at risk when he picked Palin. So much for country first.
LKBIQ:
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
Albert Einstein
Monday, October 13, 2008
A separate reality?
Observing McCain and Palin in the last few days one has to wonder if they are inhabiting a separate reality. The polls show Obama leading McCain by anywhere from 12 to 4 points. He is also leading or even in virtually every battleground state. So McCain, in a speech today says he is behind by 6 points and he has Obama “just where he wants him,” implying that he prefers to be where he is and will make another comeback. It doesn’t sound very realistic to me. Similarly, when asked about the shouts of terrorist, treason, off with his head, kill him, and such, McCain said he has heard similar things said about him at Obama rallies. I’m sorry, I just don’t believe it, and I have never seen anywhere such behavior being reported for the Obama campaign. The case of Sarah Palin is perhaps even more bizarre. The report on Troopergate was released and it says, among other things, specifically, right there in black and white, that Palin violated the Alaska code of ethics. Her response was to say she was glad to have been cleared of any legal or ethical violations. When asked about this several times she has repeated that she was cleared. Either she cannot or does not read or watch TV, or she is in such a state of denial it verges on the pathological, unless, of course, you might think she does inhabit a separate reality from the rest of us (which, I guess, might be the same thing).
McCain has apparently decided to switch from trashing Obama (which wasn’t working) to making himself the issue. What he is not doing (at least so far) is discussing any of the issues. He does say, of course, that he will fix everything and that we will have all forms of alternative energy (which he has consistently voted against time after time) as well as oil (but we need to start drilling offshore immediately, which he also formerly opposed). And we already know that he will capture bin Laden, win all the wars, solve the economic crisis, and whatever (he never says how he is going to do this, merely that he knows how).
The more we see and hear about Palin the worse she appears. It now seems that her house may have been constructed by the same contractors that built the twelve and a half million dollar sports facility she somehow managed to get built in her home town. Her husband, Todd, claims he built the house himself with some of his contractor buddies. As there is no paper record of anything it is difficult to prove, although it is known that the materials were purchased by the same people who were building the sports facility, and at precisely the same time. I gather this investigation is continuing. But do we, really, need any more information about Sarah? It is perfectly obvious she is not qualified for the office of VP, not even remotely, and even many of the senior Brafia/Republicans acknowledge this sad fact. McCain made a truly stupid choice when he picked her, and if he loses the Presidency (as it looks pretty certain he will) she will certainly have been a contributing factor. She and McCain do not seem to see eye to eye on some very important things, like Korea and Afghanistan, for example. Somewhere I read today that perhaps she doesn’t care because she is positioning herself to run for President in 2012. If that isn’t a case of living in a separate reality I don’t know what would be. Having dismally flunked VP 101, and exposed herself to be little more than a know-nothing fraud, she thinks she can run for President? She and I are truly inhabiting separate worlds, along with her supporters and the rest of the known world.
McCain was supposed to have given his plans for the economy today, but he didn’t. Now they say he will do so tomorrow. I can hardly wait.
LKBIQ:
Where does the violet tint end and the orange tint begins? Distinctly we see the difference of the colors, but where exactly does the one first blending enter into the other. So with sanity and insanity.
Herman Melville
McCain has apparently decided to switch from trashing Obama (which wasn’t working) to making himself the issue. What he is not doing (at least so far) is discussing any of the issues. He does say, of course, that he will fix everything and that we will have all forms of alternative energy (which he has consistently voted against time after time) as well as oil (but we need to start drilling offshore immediately, which he also formerly opposed). And we already know that he will capture bin Laden, win all the wars, solve the economic crisis, and whatever (he never says how he is going to do this, merely that he knows how).
The more we see and hear about Palin the worse she appears. It now seems that her house may have been constructed by the same contractors that built the twelve and a half million dollar sports facility she somehow managed to get built in her home town. Her husband, Todd, claims he built the house himself with some of his contractor buddies. As there is no paper record of anything it is difficult to prove, although it is known that the materials were purchased by the same people who were building the sports facility, and at precisely the same time. I gather this investigation is continuing. But do we, really, need any more information about Sarah? It is perfectly obvious she is not qualified for the office of VP, not even remotely, and even many of the senior Brafia/Republicans acknowledge this sad fact. McCain made a truly stupid choice when he picked her, and if he loses the Presidency (as it looks pretty certain he will) she will certainly have been a contributing factor. She and McCain do not seem to see eye to eye on some very important things, like Korea and Afghanistan, for example. Somewhere I read today that perhaps she doesn’t care because she is positioning herself to run for President in 2012. If that isn’t a case of living in a separate reality I don’t know what would be. Having dismally flunked VP 101, and exposed herself to be little more than a know-nothing fraud, she thinks she can run for President? She and I are truly inhabiting separate worlds, along with her supporters and the rest of the known world.
McCain was supposed to have given his plans for the economy today, but he didn’t. Now they say he will do so tomorrow. I can hardly wait.
LKBIQ:
Where does the violet tint end and the orange tint begins? Distinctly we see the difference of the colors, but where exactly does the one first blending enter into the other. So with sanity and insanity.
Herman Melville
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Sarah?
With no explanation, woman
boils water and pours it on
sleeping husband’s groin.
It must be obvious by now to anyone who can read or watch television that Sarah Palin was an atrocious pick for VP. And yet the powers that be in the Brafia/Republican party are strangely silent. It should be clear that if McCain had any chance of becoming President he has more or less blown it by his impetuous choice of a running mate. So why are his colleagues, like Giuliani, Romney, Bush, Rove, Cheney, Ridge, Snow, Dole, Schwartzeneger, Lieberman, Graham, and etc., etc., not speaking out and demanding that he get rid of her and replace her with a more reasonable candidate? Is it merely because they think it is too late? They cannot still be believing that she is helping the ticket. Have they just given up on this election cycle and waiting for 2012? I strongly suspect it is this latter. Someone had enough clout to insist that he not pick Lieberman or Ridge, why do they not have enough to insist he dump Palin? Very interesting.
Now that Bush/Paulson lost their outrageous bid to just receive a gift of 700 billion dollars, and now that they have completely changed course and decided to do what most economists and others said they should have done in the first place, and now that they have consulted with the heads of the other developed countries, what can we expect tomorrow? Will anyone be convinced that they know what they are doing? Will anyone think that what they are doing is going to be enough? Will confidence in banks be restored? Or will we, after all, just plunge headlong into a serious depression? You have to believe these are interesting times. The Reagan revolution has been put to the test and failed dismally. What would Saint Ronnie say were he still with us. something intelligent, no doubt, like, if you’ve seen one depression you’ve seen ‘em all. I once jogged frequently with a kind of raunchy character who jogged faithfully everyday. I found jogging to be unutterably boring. So one day I asked him how he did it, day after day. He said, “easy, just think about sex.” I suggest this might be good advice for those who have lost so much in the market of late. Don’t blame Saint Ronnie, Bush, Cheney, or the rest of the crooks that brought us down, don’t blame unregulated greedy capitalism or dishonest CEO’s, just think about sex.
Someone I was talking with today said that people with an income of $30,000 a year had no business buying $300,000 homes. I believe that is true. But more importantly, who encouraged and allowed them to do it, and why? Some people and companies got very rich doing just that. Barnum didn’t have it quite right when he said “there’s a sucker born every minute and two to take him,” he should have said there’s a million suckers born every year and a small few to take ‘em. And so the rich get richer year after year, and the poor get poorer year after year, and we are worried about Obama’s acquaintances and what they did when he was eight years old. Of course he IS black, cause enough for suspicion. I haven’t been able to decide what is worse: being black, being a Harvard lawyer, or being a Chicago politician. Even so, I wouldn’t think of voting for an angry senile warmongerer with an uncontrollable temper and an imaginary playmate. Viva Viagra! Up with the skirts and down with the pants! Full speed ahead and damn the torpedos! And don’t forget, a vote for Sarah is a vote for Todd.
LKBIQ:
In Christianity neither morality nor religion come into contact with reality at any point.
Friedrich Nietzsche
boils water and pours it on
sleeping husband’s groin.
It must be obvious by now to anyone who can read or watch television that Sarah Palin was an atrocious pick for VP. And yet the powers that be in the Brafia/Republican party are strangely silent. It should be clear that if McCain had any chance of becoming President he has more or less blown it by his impetuous choice of a running mate. So why are his colleagues, like Giuliani, Romney, Bush, Rove, Cheney, Ridge, Snow, Dole, Schwartzeneger, Lieberman, Graham, and etc., etc., not speaking out and demanding that he get rid of her and replace her with a more reasonable candidate? Is it merely because they think it is too late? They cannot still be believing that she is helping the ticket. Have they just given up on this election cycle and waiting for 2012? I strongly suspect it is this latter. Someone had enough clout to insist that he not pick Lieberman or Ridge, why do they not have enough to insist he dump Palin? Very interesting.
Now that Bush/Paulson lost their outrageous bid to just receive a gift of 700 billion dollars, and now that they have completely changed course and decided to do what most economists and others said they should have done in the first place, and now that they have consulted with the heads of the other developed countries, what can we expect tomorrow? Will anyone be convinced that they know what they are doing? Will anyone think that what they are doing is going to be enough? Will confidence in banks be restored? Or will we, after all, just plunge headlong into a serious depression? You have to believe these are interesting times. The Reagan revolution has been put to the test and failed dismally. What would Saint Ronnie say were he still with us. something intelligent, no doubt, like, if you’ve seen one depression you’ve seen ‘em all. I once jogged frequently with a kind of raunchy character who jogged faithfully everyday. I found jogging to be unutterably boring. So one day I asked him how he did it, day after day. He said, “easy, just think about sex.” I suggest this might be good advice for those who have lost so much in the market of late. Don’t blame Saint Ronnie, Bush, Cheney, or the rest of the crooks that brought us down, don’t blame unregulated greedy capitalism or dishonest CEO’s, just think about sex.
Someone I was talking with today said that people with an income of $30,000 a year had no business buying $300,000 homes. I believe that is true. But more importantly, who encouraged and allowed them to do it, and why? Some people and companies got very rich doing just that. Barnum didn’t have it quite right when he said “there’s a sucker born every minute and two to take him,” he should have said there’s a million suckers born every year and a small few to take ‘em. And so the rich get richer year after year, and the poor get poorer year after year, and we are worried about Obama’s acquaintances and what they did when he was eight years old. Of course he IS black, cause enough for suspicion. I haven’t been able to decide what is worse: being black, being a Harvard lawyer, or being a Chicago politician. Even so, I wouldn’t think of voting for an angry senile warmongerer with an uncontrollable temper and an imaginary playmate. Viva Viagra! Up with the skirts and down with the pants! Full speed ahead and damn the torpedos! And don’t forget, a vote for Sarah is a vote for Todd.
LKBIQ:
In Christianity neither morality nor religion come into contact with reality at any point.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Race?
Is it really going to come down to race? Obama is leading McCain by 9 points nationally and seems to be leading in most of the states as well. This is in spite of the fact that fairly substantial numbers of voters admit to racial bias and say they would not vote for a black man. If some come right out and admit in the open they will not vote for a black, how many more must harbor the same sentiments but not admit it (until they get in the privacy of the voting booth)? If this is true, and it appears that it is, this would seem to be the critical moment in the U.S. for answering the question of race in American society. It seems to me that if Obama is elected it will be a shining moment in American history when we will demonstrate, once and for all, that we truly believe in equality and fair play for all. On the other hand, should Obama now fail because of race, it will apparently demonstrate that for all our talk we are not yet ready to walk the walk. Personally, I believe that Obama should be elected and that if so it will be a truly great moment for us. If he is not elected now, in spite of his significant lead in the polls, it will certainly appear to be racially motivated and our nation will be shamed in the eyes of the world. Thus, this is the most important election most of us will ever see. Not only can we repudiate the absurd Reagan philosophy (if we can even honor it by calling it that) of no government being the best government, but we can also repudiate the politics of race and bigotry. It is most unfortunate that McCain/Palin have chosen to stir up hatred for Obama, to take the lowest road they could find, to engage in the politics of destruction, and to thereby demean themselves in the eyes of most of us. Say what you will, their attacks on Obama boil down to nothing but racism. He is, they imply, a terrorist, perhaps a Muslim, too inexperienced, to unknown, to risky, and so on, but that really comes down to race. He’s black. We don’t know him because he’s black. He can’t be trusted with the Presidency (because he’s black). I’m sure that race could not have been ignored during this campaign, after all he really is defined as black (even though he’s half white and was raised essentially as all white). But it does not have to have been raised in such an unpleasant and hateful way. They could have been honest and said he’s black. Do you want a black man as President? But they decided that would be too blatantly racist so they took the road of terrorism, inexperience, we don’t really know him, and etc. It is strange, in a way, that they seem to be drawing the line at the Presidency. I mean, after all, we have had great black House and Senate members, black member of the Supreme Court, black mayors and governor, black scientists, great black athletes and politicians, even by now black Secretaries of State, and so on. So what is the problem? Perhaps it is symbolic, the fact that a black President would symbolize all that has been wrong with racism all these years, symbolize the failure of the underlying fallacy of black inferiority, symbolize the end of the racist myth for all time. Is the American public ready for this? I sincerely hope so. Let’s end racism forever by electing a black President, a black family, a symbol of what is right about our nation and culture. And let us send a message to McCain/Palin and others of their ilk that what they are doing is unacceptable and outside the bounds of even common decency. McCain finally had to say that Obama is a good man and does not have to be feared as President. He was booed, which proves that his message has already made its mark and it’s too late to undo the injustice he and Palin have promoted. McCain’s admission is coming far too late and is far too little to compensate for what has come before. McCain/Palin and their campaign have now been publicly shamed. Will it make any difference?
LKBIQ:
A free market may correct for supply and demand, but it doesn’t correct for greed and theft.
Morialekafa
LKBIQ:
A free market may correct for supply and demand, but it doesn’t correct for greed and theft.
Morialekafa
Thursday, October 09, 2008
Insanity at work
Albert Einstein said that insanity was doing the same thing over and over again and expecting to get different results. Is this not precisely what McCain/Palin are currently doing? As soon as they started attacking Obama because of his so-called ties to William Ayers, ex sixties terrorist (when Obama was 8 years old), their polls started down. They keep on attacking Obama for the same thing while their poll numbers continue to go down. Then they increase the attack and the situation gets worse. But, then, perhaps this isn’t insane, given the fact they don’t dare talk about anything else, like the economy, the number one issue for the American people. I think perhaps the real insanity can be found among those who still support McCain and think Palin is a modern day Joan of Arc (instead of Sancho Panza as George Will has called her). So keep up the good work John and Sarah, you’ll be toast soon enough.
The Stock Market went down over 600 points today, putting it in the 8000 range for the first time in five years. It may even go down further. Do you think those guys on Wall Street don’t know how to take advantage of bargains when they arise. Now, in addition to the 850 billion dollars they were given they will reap probably that much or even more now. No wonder they are taking celebratory 400 thousand dollar junkets in hotels with rooms for their dogs, starting at over 500 per night. Makes one wonder how much their own rooms are. Is this a great country, or what?
John McCain has apparently invented fire but won’t share the secret with anyone else. Well, not exactly fire, but at least how to win wars, catch bin Laden, fix social security and the economy. But he won’t reveal how to do this until he is actually elected President. Apparently having taken some flak for not telling Obama to his face he is a terrorist (or at least pals around with terrorists), McCain has now assured his audience that he will do so in the next and last debate. Want to bet he will? I bet he won’t, although he might possibly try it in much gentler terms than the ones he and Sarah are using at the moment. McCain, I fear, is a bully, which is one reason he won’t do it, but the other reason is that he is himself far more vulnerable on his record than Obama. This is even true of the Reverend Wright nonsense. Interestingly, it seems that it has now become common knowledge that the Reverend Wright is anti-American. I don’t believe there is any evidence of this other than the time he said god damn America in the context of our killing innocent civilians. Indeed, if I remember correctly, he served honorably in the armed services and has always been a patriot (patriots sometimes criticize their government for doing bad deeds). When it comes to preachers both McCain and Palin would be on shaky ground criticizing Obama. The same thing will be true if McCain tries to bring up Obama’s ties to Rezco (is that the right name?), as McCain’s ties to Keating and others, especially the battalion of lobbyists that make up his campaign staff are far worse. This has been much of McCain’s problem all along, everything he accuses Obama of he is more guilty of himself. Sarah Palin is in no better shape on this score as she is rapidly being exposed as a true sleaze-ball with ties to domestic terrorists and those who profess genuine hatred toward the U.S. I find it absolutely amazing that these two sewer rats have come as far as they have.
Tomorrow they are supposed to release the results of the troopergate investigation, in spite of the McCain/Palin desperate attempts to keep it from happening. I have no idea what will come of it but I assume it will not be very favorable to Palin or she would not have tried so hard to cover it up. Will it make any difference to the “base?” Of course not. She could eat one of her children and it wouldn’t make any difference.
Lordy, lordy, what troubles we are in for in the next few months and years. Thanks a lot Bush/Cheney. Have we perhaps learned not to elect another moron to the Presidency, and another evil slime-ball to be with him? I hope so, but watching the McCain/Palin base does not fill me with confidence. I know there are many others far worse off than I am at the moment. Somehow I do not find that knowledge to be very helpful. Why should I feel good about the misery of others? I’m not Brafia.
Wouldn’t it be strange to learn that Osama bin Laden is in charge of the Afghanistan drug trade, managing it for the Brafia? You see, this is what eight years of Bush/Cheney have done to my brain. I trust no one, believe no one, suspect everyone, and would put absolutely nothing past these criminals. Nothing!
LKBIQ:
“They worry one another like mastiffs, scrambling for rank and pay like apes for nuts.”
John Adams
The Stock Market went down over 600 points today, putting it in the 8000 range for the first time in five years. It may even go down further. Do you think those guys on Wall Street don’t know how to take advantage of bargains when they arise. Now, in addition to the 850 billion dollars they were given they will reap probably that much or even more now. No wonder they are taking celebratory 400 thousand dollar junkets in hotels with rooms for their dogs, starting at over 500 per night. Makes one wonder how much their own rooms are. Is this a great country, or what?
John McCain has apparently invented fire but won’t share the secret with anyone else. Well, not exactly fire, but at least how to win wars, catch bin Laden, fix social security and the economy. But he won’t reveal how to do this until he is actually elected President. Apparently having taken some flak for not telling Obama to his face he is a terrorist (or at least pals around with terrorists), McCain has now assured his audience that he will do so in the next and last debate. Want to bet he will? I bet he won’t, although he might possibly try it in much gentler terms than the ones he and Sarah are using at the moment. McCain, I fear, is a bully, which is one reason he won’t do it, but the other reason is that he is himself far more vulnerable on his record than Obama. This is even true of the Reverend Wright nonsense. Interestingly, it seems that it has now become common knowledge that the Reverend Wright is anti-American. I don’t believe there is any evidence of this other than the time he said god damn America in the context of our killing innocent civilians. Indeed, if I remember correctly, he served honorably in the armed services and has always been a patriot (patriots sometimes criticize their government for doing bad deeds). When it comes to preachers both McCain and Palin would be on shaky ground criticizing Obama. The same thing will be true if McCain tries to bring up Obama’s ties to Rezco (is that the right name?), as McCain’s ties to Keating and others, especially the battalion of lobbyists that make up his campaign staff are far worse. This has been much of McCain’s problem all along, everything he accuses Obama of he is more guilty of himself. Sarah Palin is in no better shape on this score as she is rapidly being exposed as a true sleaze-ball with ties to domestic terrorists and those who profess genuine hatred toward the U.S. I find it absolutely amazing that these two sewer rats have come as far as they have.
Tomorrow they are supposed to release the results of the troopergate investigation, in spite of the McCain/Palin desperate attempts to keep it from happening. I have no idea what will come of it but I assume it will not be very favorable to Palin or she would not have tried so hard to cover it up. Will it make any difference to the “base?” Of course not. She could eat one of her children and it wouldn’t make any difference.
Lordy, lordy, what troubles we are in for in the next few months and years. Thanks a lot Bush/Cheney. Have we perhaps learned not to elect another moron to the Presidency, and another evil slime-ball to be with him? I hope so, but watching the McCain/Palin base does not fill me with confidence. I know there are many others far worse off than I am at the moment. Somehow I do not find that knowledge to be very helpful. Why should I feel good about the misery of others? I’m not Brafia.
Wouldn’t it be strange to learn that Osama bin Laden is in charge of the Afghanistan drug trade, managing it for the Brafia? You see, this is what eight years of Bush/Cheney have done to my brain. I trust no one, believe no one, suspect everyone, and would put absolutely nothing past these criminals. Nothing!
LKBIQ:
“They worry one another like mastiffs, scrambling for rank and pay like apes for nuts.”
John Adams
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
McCain the inane
What are we to make of McCain when he is at his most inane? When he is not “my friending” us to death he goes off on his rant about “I know how to win wars,” “I know how to fix social security,” “I know how to fix the economy,” “I know how to get bin Laden,” I’ll get him,” and so on. If this is not inane, what is? It’s like he’s the little old man who no one will listen to anymore. It’s pathetic. Actually, I think you might even regard it as tragic. I mean, he’s not the man he once was, or at least the man he once pretended to be. It’s sad. His quest for the Presidency has caused him to lose whatever honor he once had. Anything to get elected, anything. When he picked Sarah Palin you knew he had thrown away his soul for his apparent obsession. Now she is actually harming his candidacy but he persists in trying to tell us how wonderful she is. He’s a little old man with only one thought on his mind – becoming President at all costs. He’s going to fail, he sees it slipping away and he is absolutely desperate. If I had ever liked him (which I didn’t), I wouldn’t like him now (which I don’t). He is, as an old James M. Cain title put it, “Past all Dishonor.”
Barring some catastrophe it appears we are going to have an Obama Presidency. If it occurs it will be one of America’s finest moments, the culmination of our belief in equality and fairness, an overcoming of the shameful racism that has characterized our country from the time of slavery to the present. Even if Obama should fail to solve all our problems it will still represent a proud moment. And of course Obama will not be able to solve all our problems. How could he, faced with our enormous national debt, two “wars,” a rotting infrastructure, a failing educational system, entitlements, corporate crime, and just about everything else that could have gone bad as a result largely because of the past eight years of Bush/Cheney. And the Brafia will do everything in their power to bring him down. Knowing this the Brafia candidates are drooling over the possibility of running against him in 2012. Indeed, I suspect the Brafia has known all along they were destined to lose this time, and that is why they allowed McCain, an old war hero, to have his shot at it. He is not a good candidate. They could have done better. They didn’t try very hard. Of course I guess it depends upon what you mean by better. Guiliani? Ugh. Romney? Mormon. Thompson? Eek. Huckabee? Just kidding. But there are many strong Brafia out there that could have run. So where were they? Why didn’t they step up to the plate? I suggest it was because they knew they had little chance under the circumstances.
Morialekafa does not have a large following. It has never been promoted in any way. It just exists, one blog among several million. Even so, it does get hits now from all around the world, at least some. An essay I wrote on sardines seems to get the most, followed by one I wrote about Being an Only Child. These must come about randomly so I find it interesting there are so many people apparently interested in sardines (or being an only child). In the early days of Morialekafa I wrote many essays, most of which have not yet been discovered. I guess there are not enough monkeys typing on enough keyboards to have stumbled across them. Ah, well, posterity.
LKBIQ:
Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.
Mark Twain
Barring some catastrophe it appears we are going to have an Obama Presidency. If it occurs it will be one of America’s finest moments, the culmination of our belief in equality and fairness, an overcoming of the shameful racism that has characterized our country from the time of slavery to the present. Even if Obama should fail to solve all our problems it will still represent a proud moment. And of course Obama will not be able to solve all our problems. How could he, faced with our enormous national debt, two “wars,” a rotting infrastructure, a failing educational system, entitlements, corporate crime, and just about everything else that could have gone bad as a result largely because of the past eight years of Bush/Cheney. And the Brafia will do everything in their power to bring him down. Knowing this the Brafia candidates are drooling over the possibility of running against him in 2012. Indeed, I suspect the Brafia has known all along they were destined to lose this time, and that is why they allowed McCain, an old war hero, to have his shot at it. He is not a good candidate. They could have done better. They didn’t try very hard. Of course I guess it depends upon what you mean by better. Guiliani? Ugh. Romney? Mormon. Thompson? Eek. Huckabee? Just kidding. But there are many strong Brafia out there that could have run. So where were they? Why didn’t they step up to the plate? I suggest it was because they knew they had little chance under the circumstances.
Morialekafa does not have a large following. It has never been promoted in any way. It just exists, one blog among several million. Even so, it does get hits now from all around the world, at least some. An essay I wrote on sardines seems to get the most, followed by one I wrote about Being an Only Child. These must come about randomly so I find it interesting there are so many people apparently interested in sardines (or being an only child). In the early days of Morialekafa I wrote many essays, most of which have not yet been discovered. I guess there are not enough monkeys typing on enough keyboards to have stumbled across them. Ah, well, posterity.
LKBIQ:
Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.
Mark Twain
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
What a waste
I watched the debate. What a farce. What a waste of time. What an incredible bore. After listening to two full days of what it is Obama had to do to win, and what McCain had to do to win, and whether McCain would attack Obama, and whether Obama would attack McCain, and whether the format favored McCain, and on and on, we finally saw the debate itself. Basically a nothing. I am quite certain that no one’s mind was changed, we did not learn anything new about either candidate, and the election status quo was undisturbed by anything of note. It was so uneventful I didn’t even bother to listen to the comments. I think I can pretty much guess what they will be in general. Pat Buchanan and others of that ilk will think McCain won, but a somewhat larger number will think Obama won. Obama will be seen as having been more Presidential, in the sense of being calm and collected in the face of provocation. Not that there was a whole lot of provocation. Some will take McCain to task for not having been more provocative, and especially for avoiding the reality of his having Palin label Obama as a terrorist and such. On the one hand McCain is having his VP candidate play the role of attack dog (which she seems to delight in), but he passed up the opportunity to confront Obama to his face on the subject (probably out of the fear of backlash as his own record on terrorists is much worse than Obama’s lack of any such record). The first part of the debate, on the economy, I thought Obama did better. The next part, on Foreign Affairs, I thought they were both pretty dismal. McCain still talking in his ridiculous fashion about victory and how he knows what it is like to send troops into battle (I wonder what troops he ever sent into battle), and how he knows how to win (I don’t know what war he claims to have won), and the usual nonsense. He kept insisting that Obama wanted to attack Pakistan when he knows full well Obama never suggested any such thing. In fact, I would bet that McCain would be just as likely, if not more likely, to pursue bin Laden into Pakistan if the opportunity presented itself (even though he insists that Obama’s statement to this effect means he wants to invade Pakistan). But they both have the ridiculous idea that somehow we should send more troops to Afghanistan (which is like pouring human life down the drain for no purpose). I thought McCain was somewhat subdued (for McCain). This is probably due to the criticism he has received about having such a short fuse and such.
The questions were themselves not very provocative. Apparently they had been picked by Brokaw out of thousands that had been submitted. Most of them were pretty obvious and the answers were predictable. Only one of them I thought was genuinely stupid and should not, in my opinion, been allowed. This was towards the end, by an ex military man, and had to do with a hypothetical attack on Israel by Iran (what would they do in the even of such an attack). As there is no reason to suspect that Iran will ever attack Israel, and of course if they did both McCain and Obama would have to say they would help Israel, it was a question that would have been better left ignored. But they agreed that Iran should not be permitted to develop a nuclear bomb (which they may or may not be doing) as this would be apparently the end of the world. Again, there is no reason to suppose that would be the case. The Iranians are not stupid, if they did have a bomb they would not rush out and bomb anyone with it, anymore than any other nuclear power would do. Nor would they just hand it over to terrorists anymore than anyone else would. If Iran is developing a bomb you could hardly blame them. Pakistan has one, India has one, Israel has dozens. I think it might be argued that Iran having one might be a good thing as it would bring about a better balance of power in the Middle East. But generally speaking I think it would be better if they didn’t have a bomb. But then I think everyone would be better off if no one else had one either, including the U.S.
Sarah Palin certainly is a pit bull in lipstick. And like many pit bulls she is vicious and out of control. When you incite your audiences to yell “treason,” and “terrorist,” and “kill him,” I think you are going to far with your hate speech. She seems to revel in it. I suggested previously that she might well be part of the reason McCain would lose the election. I still think so. Either she and McCain are too dumb to realize this, or they really believe this kind of sleaze will work. As it doesn’t seem to be working they probably ought to give it up (but then what else would they have to do with no positive record of any kind). If the third debate shapes up to be no better than this one they should just cancel it and save us from any further waste of time.
LKBIQ:
Whoso neglects learning in his youth,Loses the past and is dead for the future.
Euripides
The questions were themselves not very provocative. Apparently they had been picked by Brokaw out of thousands that had been submitted. Most of them were pretty obvious and the answers were predictable. Only one of them I thought was genuinely stupid and should not, in my opinion, been allowed. This was towards the end, by an ex military man, and had to do with a hypothetical attack on Israel by Iran (what would they do in the even of such an attack). As there is no reason to suspect that Iran will ever attack Israel, and of course if they did both McCain and Obama would have to say they would help Israel, it was a question that would have been better left ignored. But they agreed that Iran should not be permitted to develop a nuclear bomb (which they may or may not be doing) as this would be apparently the end of the world. Again, there is no reason to suppose that would be the case. The Iranians are not stupid, if they did have a bomb they would not rush out and bomb anyone with it, anymore than any other nuclear power would do. Nor would they just hand it over to terrorists anymore than anyone else would. If Iran is developing a bomb you could hardly blame them. Pakistan has one, India has one, Israel has dozens. I think it might be argued that Iran having one might be a good thing as it would bring about a better balance of power in the Middle East. But generally speaking I think it would be better if they didn’t have a bomb. But then I think everyone would be better off if no one else had one either, including the U.S.
Sarah Palin certainly is a pit bull in lipstick. And like many pit bulls she is vicious and out of control. When you incite your audiences to yell “treason,” and “terrorist,” and “kill him,” I think you are going to far with your hate speech. She seems to revel in it. I suggested previously that she might well be part of the reason McCain would lose the election. I still think so. Either she and McCain are too dumb to realize this, or they really believe this kind of sleaze will work. As it doesn’t seem to be working they probably ought to give it up (but then what else would they have to do with no positive record of any kind). If the third debate shapes up to be no better than this one they should just cancel it and save us from any further waste of time.
LKBIQ:
Whoso neglects learning in his youth,Loses the past and is dead for the future.
Euripides
Monday, October 06, 2008
Desperation
Ninety year old woman foreclosed,
shoots self in chest, recovers,
her mortgage is forgiven.
BAJ: Yes, we have lilacs, many. And the lilac bushes on the farm where I spent my summers so many years ago are still there. They must be about 100 years old, and just as fragrant as ever they were.
I wrote a blog last night but my computer ate it before it was published. I still have no idea how this happened. I am not a computer person.
The stock market fell 800 points today before recovering to lose only 370. You can bet those that brought about the rebound found plenty of bargains to go with their 850 billion gift. Look for plenty more of the same. It seems to me this is a fitting climax to the Bush/Cheney nightmare years.
You know they are desperate when Palin and McCain start bringing up old accusations that have already failed to produce results. And when they admit they are trying to change the subject from economics to character assassination you might think even their base would give up. But, no, I doubt McCain/Palin could do anything, I mean anything at all, that would cause their lunatic supporters to question them. The Obama-Ayers connection they are pushing is not going to fly. And when they start on the Reverend Wright they had better look to their own relationships with various Preachers and Witchdoctors. They apparently believe that the voting public believes in magic (you know, things that once were in contact with one another continue to act at a distance. That is, because Obama met Ayers a couple of times, or knew the Reverend Wright they must think and be the same). What makes this even more ridiculous is that Palin’s husband is identified with a group led by a man who stated how much he hated the U.S. and its institutions. And we know Palin must believe in magic because she had a preacher pray to protect her from witchcraft. I’m afraid the jig is up for them, they’re going down, and it couldn’t happen to a nicer pair. The real skinny on both of them is readily available now on the web and it is not pretty. John McCain is an absolute jerk and Palin is simply Dick the Slimy in drag. Anyway, I don’t want a President who says things like “I betcha,” “darn right,” “doggone,” and claims to be Joe Six Pack. I’ve had it with the retarded speech of Bush and I don’t want some cornball “cracker” in the White House (even as VP). If you haven’t noticed I’m an elitist, sort of. I don’t want a President as dumb as I am. I certainly don’t want a Joe Six Pack as President, especially one who winks at me. I prefer lines like “nattering nabobs of negativism” (without the stealing, of course), or “gazing down the fairways of indifference,” or even “he was born with a silver foot in his mouth.” I like elegance. I’d like someone who can at least speak in complete and intelligible sentences. But I’m not a true elitist, when I am confronted with Daub of beef, Civet of beef, Ragout, or Braised beef, I say balderdash, they’re all just stews.
The great H. L. Mencken once said: “As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”
We already achieved this. I don’t want to see it happen again. It has become obvious that John McCain is not tempermentally suited for the Presidency, as well as going senile, and Palin is far too ignorant and uninformed (to say nothing of just too sleazy). They do make a great pair, however, as both of them are willing to lie in the gutter if that will help them reach their goal. They have dishonored themselves, their party, and the American people. They will soon be merely a footnote to a most unpleasant period of American history.
“Worm or beetle—drought or tempest
--on a farmer’s land may fall,
Each is loaded full o’ruin, but a
mortgage beats ‘em all.
Will Carleton
shoots self in chest, recovers,
her mortgage is forgiven.
BAJ: Yes, we have lilacs, many. And the lilac bushes on the farm where I spent my summers so many years ago are still there. They must be about 100 years old, and just as fragrant as ever they were.
I wrote a blog last night but my computer ate it before it was published. I still have no idea how this happened. I am not a computer person.
The stock market fell 800 points today before recovering to lose only 370. You can bet those that brought about the rebound found plenty of bargains to go with their 850 billion gift. Look for plenty more of the same. It seems to me this is a fitting climax to the Bush/Cheney nightmare years.
You know they are desperate when Palin and McCain start bringing up old accusations that have already failed to produce results. And when they admit they are trying to change the subject from economics to character assassination you might think even their base would give up. But, no, I doubt McCain/Palin could do anything, I mean anything at all, that would cause their lunatic supporters to question them. The Obama-Ayers connection they are pushing is not going to fly. And when they start on the Reverend Wright they had better look to their own relationships with various Preachers and Witchdoctors. They apparently believe that the voting public believes in magic (you know, things that once were in contact with one another continue to act at a distance. That is, because Obama met Ayers a couple of times, or knew the Reverend Wright they must think and be the same). What makes this even more ridiculous is that Palin’s husband is identified with a group led by a man who stated how much he hated the U.S. and its institutions. And we know Palin must believe in magic because she had a preacher pray to protect her from witchcraft. I’m afraid the jig is up for them, they’re going down, and it couldn’t happen to a nicer pair. The real skinny on both of them is readily available now on the web and it is not pretty. John McCain is an absolute jerk and Palin is simply Dick the Slimy in drag. Anyway, I don’t want a President who says things like “I betcha,” “darn right,” “doggone,” and claims to be Joe Six Pack. I’ve had it with the retarded speech of Bush and I don’t want some cornball “cracker” in the White House (even as VP). If you haven’t noticed I’m an elitist, sort of. I don’t want a President as dumb as I am. I certainly don’t want a Joe Six Pack as President, especially one who winks at me. I prefer lines like “nattering nabobs of negativism” (without the stealing, of course), or “gazing down the fairways of indifference,” or even “he was born with a silver foot in his mouth.” I like elegance. I’d like someone who can at least speak in complete and intelligible sentences. But I’m not a true elitist, when I am confronted with Daub of beef, Civet of beef, Ragout, or Braised beef, I say balderdash, they’re all just stews.
The great H. L. Mencken once said: “As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”
We already achieved this. I don’t want to see it happen again. It has become obvious that John McCain is not tempermentally suited for the Presidency, as well as going senile, and Palin is far too ignorant and uninformed (to say nothing of just too sleazy). They do make a great pair, however, as both of them are willing to lie in the gutter if that will help them reach their goal. They have dishonored themselves, their party, and the American people. They will soon be merely a footnote to a most unpleasant period of American history.
“Worm or beetle—drought or tempest
--on a farmer’s land may fall,
Each is loaded full o’ruin, but a
mortgage beats ‘em all.
Will Carleton
Saturday, October 04, 2008
It's over!
Washington state, fearing
diseases, outlaws pedicures
by dead skin nibbling carp.
I know, I know, it aint’t over til’ the fat lady sings, it ain’t over til’ it’s over, and all that, and I could be premature, but I suspect it’s over. The election, that is. At the moment it appears that if the election were held now Obama would win more than 330 electoral votes to McCain’s 165. It is difficult to see how McCain/Palin can make that up between now and November 4th. This is especially true as both McCain and Palin are being more exposed everyday for the frauds they truly are. Both of them have tax questions pestering them, McCain’s temperamental unsuitability for President is becoming more and more apparent, and Palin is learning that she can’t just “cute” her way to the vice-presidency. It appears that you have to know at least something to be VP and Palin is seriously lacking on that score. So now McCain will go negative, really big time negative, and it is going to be ugly. But I suspect that the uglier it gets the less he will gain by it. Yes, negative ads do seem to work, but probably not in a situation where they are obviously the last gasp of desperation. McCain/Palin will soon be history. It couldn’t happen to a nicer pair.
I have worried for some time whether it would be even theoretically possible for Obama to have any success as President, given the enormity of the task he will face. But it occurred to me today that if he does anything at all it will be a resounding success when compared to where we are now. It may be true there is no bottom line to how bad things can get, but in this particular case I cannot see how they can fail to get better. Bush/Cheney have come as close to destroying the U.S. in every respect as it is probably possible to do. We have no international credibility, our military is exhausted, we are in debt about as far as we can be, unemployment is rampant, millions are without health care, our infrastructure is seriously damaged, our educational system is inadequate, and our people are demoralized. It seems to me we can only go up from here. Obama has the potential to become a truly great President (a potential not even remotely shared by John McCain), but even if he proves to be only mediocre he will still be a hero when compared to what is. I have predicted for a long time that Obama would win in a landslide. I still think so.
Autumn has arrived. It is in the air and can no longer be denied. The dominant color here is green because of the preponderance of evergreens. The Ponderosa pines outside my study window are awesome giants to me, but only children among their own. There are Douglas fir, White fir, Lodgepole, White, and other pines, buck-brush, and other evergreen bushes, all of different shades and hues of this one basic and calming color. But here and there this remarkable expanse is broken up with patches of aspen, birch, alder, and cottonwood. The larch have not yet begun to turn and lose their needles that will soon cover the ground around them with that incredible and unique burnt orange of their spent season. Our countryside cannot rival that of New England, but it is quite beautiful nonetheless. When I look at the deciduous trees we have planted here at Sandhill I can witness autumn in all its splendor. The leaves are an unbelievable and stunning melange of color: bright yellows and fiery reds and shades of orange I am certain could never be artificially duplicated. The leaves fall silently, matting the ground with a kaleidoscope of colors that make your senses reel with pleasure and wonder. Our huge chestnut tree is a mass of yellow and greens fading into yellow. Soon all will appear dead, with bare branches against the snow, just as beautiful in its own way. And of course it is the opposite of death, being the very first beginnings of the life that is inevitably to come. Spring here is lovely also, but fall is my favorite time in spite of the ineffable sadness that always seems to accompany it. It is a time of great happiness as well: back to school, football, homecoming, Halloween, Thanksgiving and the anticipation of Christmas. What other season offers so much? The garden is finished and put away. The harvest is over, hay is in the barns, the squash are safe in the cellar, along with the carrots and beets and parsnips and potatoes. Beans have been canned, pickles made, tomatoes dried, canned, and frozen, sauerkraut begun, and enough firewood cut to last until spring. Now is the time to relax by the fire, read, and reflect upon the joys of life and nature. Paradoxically perhaps, autumn is when I feel the most alive, because it is then I think I understand and feel more in touch with the rhythms and profundity of life and nature. The years I spent in California were always unnatural to me, although of course they were every bit as natural as anywhere else to those who were born and raised there. I was not, and I missed the seasons terribly, especially autumn.
LKBIQ:
Fiery colors begin their yearly conquest of the hills, propelled by the autumn winds. Fall is the artist.
Takayuki Ikkaku, Arisa Hosaka and Toshihiro Kawabata
diseases, outlaws pedicures
by dead skin nibbling carp.
I know, I know, it aint’t over til’ the fat lady sings, it ain’t over til’ it’s over, and all that, and I could be premature, but I suspect it’s over. The election, that is. At the moment it appears that if the election were held now Obama would win more than 330 electoral votes to McCain’s 165. It is difficult to see how McCain/Palin can make that up between now and November 4th. This is especially true as both McCain and Palin are being more exposed everyday for the frauds they truly are. Both of them have tax questions pestering them, McCain’s temperamental unsuitability for President is becoming more and more apparent, and Palin is learning that she can’t just “cute” her way to the vice-presidency. It appears that you have to know at least something to be VP and Palin is seriously lacking on that score. So now McCain will go negative, really big time negative, and it is going to be ugly. But I suspect that the uglier it gets the less he will gain by it. Yes, negative ads do seem to work, but probably not in a situation where they are obviously the last gasp of desperation. McCain/Palin will soon be history. It couldn’t happen to a nicer pair.
I have worried for some time whether it would be even theoretically possible for Obama to have any success as President, given the enormity of the task he will face. But it occurred to me today that if he does anything at all it will be a resounding success when compared to where we are now. It may be true there is no bottom line to how bad things can get, but in this particular case I cannot see how they can fail to get better. Bush/Cheney have come as close to destroying the U.S. in every respect as it is probably possible to do. We have no international credibility, our military is exhausted, we are in debt about as far as we can be, unemployment is rampant, millions are without health care, our infrastructure is seriously damaged, our educational system is inadequate, and our people are demoralized. It seems to me we can only go up from here. Obama has the potential to become a truly great President (a potential not even remotely shared by John McCain), but even if he proves to be only mediocre he will still be a hero when compared to what is. I have predicted for a long time that Obama would win in a landslide. I still think so.
Autumn has arrived. It is in the air and can no longer be denied. The dominant color here is green because of the preponderance of evergreens. The Ponderosa pines outside my study window are awesome giants to me, but only children among their own. There are Douglas fir, White fir, Lodgepole, White, and other pines, buck-brush, and other evergreen bushes, all of different shades and hues of this one basic and calming color. But here and there this remarkable expanse is broken up with patches of aspen, birch, alder, and cottonwood. The larch have not yet begun to turn and lose their needles that will soon cover the ground around them with that incredible and unique burnt orange of their spent season. Our countryside cannot rival that of New England, but it is quite beautiful nonetheless. When I look at the deciduous trees we have planted here at Sandhill I can witness autumn in all its splendor. The leaves are an unbelievable and stunning melange of color: bright yellows and fiery reds and shades of orange I am certain could never be artificially duplicated. The leaves fall silently, matting the ground with a kaleidoscope of colors that make your senses reel with pleasure and wonder. Our huge chestnut tree is a mass of yellow and greens fading into yellow. Soon all will appear dead, with bare branches against the snow, just as beautiful in its own way. And of course it is the opposite of death, being the very first beginnings of the life that is inevitably to come. Spring here is lovely also, but fall is my favorite time in spite of the ineffable sadness that always seems to accompany it. It is a time of great happiness as well: back to school, football, homecoming, Halloween, Thanksgiving and the anticipation of Christmas. What other season offers so much? The garden is finished and put away. The harvest is over, hay is in the barns, the squash are safe in the cellar, along with the carrots and beets and parsnips and potatoes. Beans have been canned, pickles made, tomatoes dried, canned, and frozen, sauerkraut begun, and enough firewood cut to last until spring. Now is the time to relax by the fire, read, and reflect upon the joys of life and nature. Paradoxically perhaps, autumn is when I feel the most alive, because it is then I think I understand and feel more in touch with the rhythms and profundity of life and nature. The years I spent in California were always unnatural to me, although of course they were every bit as natural as anywhere else to those who were born and raised there. I was not, and I missed the seasons terribly, especially autumn.
LKBIQ:
Fiery colors begin their yearly conquest of the hills, propelled by the autumn winds. Fall is the artist.
Takayuki Ikkaku, Arisa Hosaka and Toshihiro Kawabata
Friday, October 03, 2008
Fear merchants score again
Fear merchants score again. Well, it seems to have worked one more time, the fear card, that is. The House passed the revised Bailout (Rescue) Plan. The Bush administration put the fear of whatever into Congress by telling them that if they didn’t pass this bill the world would end, small businesses would fail, people would lose their jobs, and chaos would reign. While it is no doubt true that we have big troubles and some action needed to be taken, the urgency with which the crisis was presented stampeded Congress again into passing a very questionable piece of legislation. Other alternatives were ignored because, as usual, action had to be taken immediately, as with the Patriot Act. Remember that the original request was three and a half pages that basically suggested Paulson could be given complete control over 700 billion dollars, no questions asked, no supervision, no reviews. As it was only three and a half pages even a few Congresspersons could manage to read it. Once the full horror of what was being proposed was clear, Congress then made some changes, and added I don’t know how many pages to the document. When this was voted on it failed, much to everyone’s surprise. It was said that it failed because the American public was so dead set against it and so informed their Congressmen. So, back to the drawing board. A new bill was drafted which, I understand, runs to more than 400 pages. You can be pretty certain that no one read this tome. And, as the element of fear itself didn’t seem to be quite strong enough to insure passage, some of the paid-for Senators were instructed to bribe a sufficient number of Republican Congresspersons to get it done. And so, it was done, with something in the vicinity of another 150 billion dollars of pork. We now have a bill that no one knows whether or not it will even work, for a figure that was admittedly picked at random because they said they “wanted a really big number.” The claim is that this new bill will perhaps even result in a profit for the taxpayers, new regulations are built into the system, and everything is going to be hunky dory. The market responded with only a modest 157 point drop and no one is sure what will happen next. That’s what I call really good government. They couldn’t bother to take a few more days, perhaps even a week or two, to make sense of what it is they were doing. Fear drives their feet, so to speak, but money talks, too. Don’t bet that anything much will change and Wall Street will be 850 billion dollars wealthier.
I think I was far too generous to Sarah Palin last night when I opined how well she had done in the debate. I meant to say she did really well (for Sarah Palin). She was articulate, indeed, virtually non-stop articulate. She didn’t answer the questions (but she announced she wasn’t going to), she told many lies (which is par for the course for her party), and she apparently read some of her responses from note cards. She didn’t faint, vomit, or make any obvious gaffes. Therefore, she did well. Her base, along with Pat Buchanan, thought she was brilliant. She apparently thinks she can wink and smile and cutesy her way into the Vice-presidency. And she announced that once she attains it she is going for even more power than Cheney (the Constitution be damned). She smiled almost constantly, what I take to be kind of an evil smile, the smile Sadie Thompson must have smiled when she knew she had it over the Preacher in Maugham’s great short story, Rain.. Gentleman Joe Biden let her get away with murder, refusing to rise to the bait when she was particularly out of line, although he did correct her when she outright lied. That is what he was advised to do. It worked for him as it seems to be clear that he won the debate, and it also seems clear that many women were turned off by Palin’s performance. I don’t think I’d want a President who would wink at me. Palin knew what she was doing. Unable to answer any real questions, and clearly out of her depth, she resorted to what has worked for her in the past, that down home folksy I’m-just-like-you-all approach, with the winks and smiles, cornball language, and witty remarks. As Gwen Iffil didn’t press her with any follow up questions, or ask her if she really knew anything at all, she got away with it. McCain was very pleased. So pleased he apparently didn’t bother to tell her he was pulling out of Michigan.
out on a spring walk
I notice a wildflower
too precious to pick –
what is, what will never be,
it seems at times, are the same
Fumio Ogoshi
I think I was far too generous to Sarah Palin last night when I opined how well she had done in the debate. I meant to say she did really well (for Sarah Palin). She was articulate, indeed, virtually non-stop articulate. She didn’t answer the questions (but she announced she wasn’t going to), she told many lies (which is par for the course for her party), and she apparently read some of her responses from note cards. She didn’t faint, vomit, or make any obvious gaffes. Therefore, she did well. Her base, along with Pat Buchanan, thought she was brilliant. She apparently thinks she can wink and smile and cutesy her way into the Vice-presidency. And she announced that once she attains it she is going for even more power than Cheney (the Constitution be damned). She smiled almost constantly, what I take to be kind of an evil smile, the smile Sadie Thompson must have smiled when she knew she had it over the Preacher in Maugham’s great short story, Rain.. Gentleman Joe Biden let her get away with murder, refusing to rise to the bait when she was particularly out of line, although he did correct her when she outright lied. That is what he was advised to do. It worked for him as it seems to be clear that he won the debate, and it also seems clear that many women were turned off by Palin’s performance. I don’t think I’d want a President who would wink at me. Palin knew what she was doing. Unable to answer any real questions, and clearly out of her depth, she resorted to what has worked for her in the past, that down home folksy I’m-just-like-you-all approach, with the winks and smiles, cornball language, and witty remarks. As Gwen Iffil didn’t press her with any follow up questions, or ask her if she really knew anything at all, she got away with it. McCain was very pleased. So pleased he apparently didn’t bother to tell her he was pulling out of Michigan.
out on a spring walk
I notice a wildflower
too precious to pick –
what is, what will never be,
it seems at times, are the same
Fumio Ogoshi
Thursday, October 02, 2008
VP debate
I watched the VP debate. In all honesty, and much to my surprise, I thought Sarah Palin did a really fine job. She was articulate, had a great presence, seemed to know what she was talking about, and all in all did very well. That is, she did very well for herself, and because she did well for herself she also did well for the McCain/Palin ticket. Proving that she was not an absolute airhead will be an obvious plus. She was well prepared and knew her lines. However:
I’m not sure how fair the playing field really was. For example, it was announced by several people that she was going to attack (which she did). On the other hand it was suggested to Biden that he should not get upset and should act like a gentleman (he did that). But it does seem to me there is a bit of sexism involved in such an arrangement. I think Biden could have been more aggressive than he was but he did pretty well in defending himself and Obama. And, while Palin did well for herself and the ticket, she didn’t really do anything other than simply promote the same old McCain positions. We have to “win” in Iraq and Afghanistan (whatever on earth that could mean). The Democrats want to wave the white flag of surrender. McCain has a great medical plan, he’s always been a maverick, he’s been against deregulation (the usual blatant lies about McCain’s positions). She failed to give even a single example of how McCain’s plans differ in any meaningful way from Bush’s. In short, it was the same old BS all over again, but she did it pretty well. I was pleasantly surprised to see that she is not a complete fool after all. She did absolutely nothing to deny that McCain wants to give billions more in tax breaks to the oil industry, and of course she went on the drill, drill, drill baloney (which will ultimately benefit no one but Alaska residents and oil companies. When she told an out and out lie (which she did several times) Biden was quick to respond, but she remained unfazed. Lying seems to come naturally to members of the Brafia. She went through the McCain BS about when he said the economy was strong he was merely referring to American workers, etc. The usual nonsense. Neither she nor Biden made any gaffes so in that sense I guess it was pretty much of a draw. So were any minds changed? Perhaps. But I doubt that enough were changed to make any appreciable difference.
I must say people are understandably upset and very jittery about the state of our world, especially those with strong positions in the stock market. One of the things that struck me today when discussing this was the ubiquitous statement that “things could be worse.” I wonder, is there a threshold where things could not be worse? How bad do things have to be before they cannot be worse? It seems to me that you can, in general, always argue that things could be worse. You know, if your have the flu, you could have cancer, if you have lost substantial monies in the market, you could have lost everything, if you broke your leg you could have busted both legs, and so on. So how low does it have to go before it cannot get worse? How about when you die? When you die does that represent the worst it can get? How do you know? What if you go to hell? What if you burn in eternal fire? Can it still be worse? I guess in principle it could. It seems to me that saying things could get worse is in the same category as saying you’re sorry. I ran over your children and killed them. I’m sorry. What the hell good does saying you’re sorry do? About the same good as saying things could be worse, I guess.
It seems clear that something must be done to help the economy. I do not think that passing the present bill, which has been made worse than it was by the addition by billions more in pork to appeal to House Republicans is the way to go. Furthermore, I do not believe the world will end if this bill is not passed immediately. There are alternatives that have not even been considered. This is just another example of the administration trying to stampede us into making another bad decision like the Patriot Act. I hope the House will not be panicky enough to vote for this bill tomorrow but I suspect they will. Panic makes people do irrational things even when the panic is artificially induced, and the Bush/Cheney administration has been a master of inducing unnecessary panic. Unfortunately, they are not very good at doing anything about the consequences of their panic machine.
LKBIQ:
The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
H. L. Mencken
I’m not sure how fair the playing field really was. For example, it was announced by several people that she was going to attack (which she did). On the other hand it was suggested to Biden that he should not get upset and should act like a gentleman (he did that). But it does seem to me there is a bit of sexism involved in such an arrangement. I think Biden could have been more aggressive than he was but he did pretty well in defending himself and Obama. And, while Palin did well for herself and the ticket, she didn’t really do anything other than simply promote the same old McCain positions. We have to “win” in Iraq and Afghanistan (whatever on earth that could mean). The Democrats want to wave the white flag of surrender. McCain has a great medical plan, he’s always been a maverick, he’s been against deregulation (the usual blatant lies about McCain’s positions). She failed to give even a single example of how McCain’s plans differ in any meaningful way from Bush’s. In short, it was the same old BS all over again, but she did it pretty well. I was pleasantly surprised to see that she is not a complete fool after all. She did absolutely nothing to deny that McCain wants to give billions more in tax breaks to the oil industry, and of course she went on the drill, drill, drill baloney (which will ultimately benefit no one but Alaska residents and oil companies. When she told an out and out lie (which she did several times) Biden was quick to respond, but she remained unfazed. Lying seems to come naturally to members of the Brafia. She went through the McCain BS about when he said the economy was strong he was merely referring to American workers, etc. The usual nonsense. Neither she nor Biden made any gaffes so in that sense I guess it was pretty much of a draw. So were any minds changed? Perhaps. But I doubt that enough were changed to make any appreciable difference.
I must say people are understandably upset and very jittery about the state of our world, especially those with strong positions in the stock market. One of the things that struck me today when discussing this was the ubiquitous statement that “things could be worse.” I wonder, is there a threshold where things could not be worse? How bad do things have to be before they cannot be worse? It seems to me that you can, in general, always argue that things could be worse. You know, if your have the flu, you could have cancer, if you have lost substantial monies in the market, you could have lost everything, if you broke your leg you could have busted both legs, and so on. So how low does it have to go before it cannot get worse? How about when you die? When you die does that represent the worst it can get? How do you know? What if you go to hell? What if you burn in eternal fire? Can it still be worse? I guess in principle it could. It seems to me that saying things could get worse is in the same category as saying you’re sorry. I ran over your children and killed them. I’m sorry. What the hell good does saying you’re sorry do? About the same good as saying things could be worse, I guess.
It seems clear that something must be done to help the economy. I do not think that passing the present bill, which has been made worse than it was by the addition by billions more in pork to appeal to House Republicans is the way to go. Furthermore, I do not believe the world will end if this bill is not passed immediately. There are alternatives that have not even been considered. This is just another example of the administration trying to stampede us into making another bad decision like the Patriot Act. I hope the House will not be panicky enough to vote for this bill tomorrow but I suspect they will. Panic makes people do irrational things even when the panic is artificially induced, and the Bush/Cheney administration has been a master of inducing unnecessary panic. Unfortunately, they are not very good at doing anything about the consequences of their panic machine.
LKBIQ:
The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
H. L. Mencken
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
Is McCain in the loop?
BAJ: Thanks for the reference. It just confirms what I have always suspected about John McCain. What a jerk!
In an interview today with members of the press, McCain was pressed on, among other things, Sarah Palin, and whether she was helping the ticket. He insisted she was, that she was enormously popular, and that “everyone” liked her. When it was suggested to him that perhaps that was not the case he responded by saying he hadn’t heard that. As the polls have been going down for McCain/Palin, and as part of that is said to be the negative reaction to her, and as quite a few conservatives have been very critical, even suggesting she should drop out of the campaign, what does one make of McCain’s statement? Is he out of the loop? Is it that he does not himself read or watch television, depending upon his staff to clue him in, and they are failing to tell him the truth? Is he simply in a state of complete denial, refusing to believe what is happening? Is he just out of touch with reality? Or does he just assume that the “base” likes her and that is “everyone” as far as he is concerned? I found his statement to be strange indeed.
He also assured his interviewers that he has always been 100% truthful, even insisting that Obama did, in fact, try to start sex education in kindergarten. As he also repeats the lie over and over again that Obama intends to raise everyone’s taxes, and that Palin stopped the bridge to nowhere, can we really believe he is completely honest (as if anyone would believe such a thing in the first place).
Well, as expected, the Senate passed the Bailout bill (now called the “Rescue” or some other euphemism) 74 to 25. This was expected. Now it goes to the House. In the present form it has added something like 150 billion dollars worth of pork, specifically to appeal to House Republicans. So it is actually worse than it was in the beginning. They will try to force the House of accept it because otherwise the world will come to an end (no one will be able to get any credit). This is bad because of course no one has any money anymore so we all have to depend upon credit. I have long maintained that credit card interest is basically the functional equivalent of slavery, the only real difference being that they are not permitted to whip us or otherwise physically abuse us for falling behind. Under the circumstances I suppose there really is not much of an alternative except to pass some kind of bill that will help the credit market. It would be nice if we could make this temporary and try to wean ourselves from this destructive credit system (I doubt there is any possibility of that ever happening). I am old enough to remember when we didn’t have credit cards. Ice cream cones were a nickel, hamburgers a dime, cigarettes, also about a dime, gasoline about twenty cents a gallon, and etc. Somehow we managed to get along. Yeah, yeah, I know, just myths about “the good old days.” There were drawbacks, of course, but bankruptcy was not as common and shopping and consumption were not regarded as ends in themselves. Oh, well, that was long ago. Will the House members give in to the pressure from the White House and Senate, or will they give in to the enormous amount of negative public opinion generated by this gigantic corporate scam? We won’t know until Friday.
The Brafia is so worried about Palin’s lack of knowledge and her potential failure in the coming debate they are already making excuses for her. Gwen Iffil, the moderator, is writing a book about black politicisns so they are crying foul already. Iffil is also a woman but they don’t count that as a plus. Do you think they would object if she was writing a book about female politicians? Rest assured, if Palin is still on her feet and breathing at the end of the 90 minutes it will be counted a runaway victory. “Joe Six Pack for VP” will appear on bumper stickers on every pickup truck in Idaho.
LKBIQ:
I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.
Groucho Marx
In an interview today with members of the press, McCain was pressed on, among other things, Sarah Palin, and whether she was helping the ticket. He insisted she was, that she was enormously popular, and that “everyone” liked her. When it was suggested to him that perhaps that was not the case he responded by saying he hadn’t heard that. As the polls have been going down for McCain/Palin, and as part of that is said to be the negative reaction to her, and as quite a few conservatives have been very critical, even suggesting she should drop out of the campaign, what does one make of McCain’s statement? Is he out of the loop? Is it that he does not himself read or watch television, depending upon his staff to clue him in, and they are failing to tell him the truth? Is he simply in a state of complete denial, refusing to believe what is happening? Is he just out of touch with reality? Or does he just assume that the “base” likes her and that is “everyone” as far as he is concerned? I found his statement to be strange indeed.
He also assured his interviewers that he has always been 100% truthful, even insisting that Obama did, in fact, try to start sex education in kindergarten. As he also repeats the lie over and over again that Obama intends to raise everyone’s taxes, and that Palin stopped the bridge to nowhere, can we really believe he is completely honest (as if anyone would believe such a thing in the first place).
Well, as expected, the Senate passed the Bailout bill (now called the “Rescue” or some other euphemism) 74 to 25. This was expected. Now it goes to the House. In the present form it has added something like 150 billion dollars worth of pork, specifically to appeal to House Republicans. So it is actually worse than it was in the beginning. They will try to force the House of accept it because otherwise the world will come to an end (no one will be able to get any credit). This is bad because of course no one has any money anymore so we all have to depend upon credit. I have long maintained that credit card interest is basically the functional equivalent of slavery, the only real difference being that they are not permitted to whip us or otherwise physically abuse us for falling behind. Under the circumstances I suppose there really is not much of an alternative except to pass some kind of bill that will help the credit market. It would be nice if we could make this temporary and try to wean ourselves from this destructive credit system (I doubt there is any possibility of that ever happening). I am old enough to remember when we didn’t have credit cards. Ice cream cones were a nickel, hamburgers a dime, cigarettes, also about a dime, gasoline about twenty cents a gallon, and etc. Somehow we managed to get along. Yeah, yeah, I know, just myths about “the good old days.” There were drawbacks, of course, but bankruptcy was not as common and shopping and consumption were not regarded as ends in themselves. Oh, well, that was long ago. Will the House members give in to the pressure from the White House and Senate, or will they give in to the enormous amount of negative public opinion generated by this gigantic corporate scam? We won’t know until Friday.
The Brafia is so worried about Palin’s lack of knowledge and her potential failure in the coming debate they are already making excuses for her. Gwen Iffil, the moderator, is writing a book about black politicisns so they are crying foul already. Iffil is also a woman but they don’t count that as a plus. Do you think they would object if she was writing a book about female politicians? Rest assured, if Palin is still on her feet and breathing at the end of the 90 minutes it will be counted a runaway victory. “Joe Six Pack for VP” will appear on bumper stickers on every pickup truck in Idaho.
LKBIQ:
I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.
Groucho Marx
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