GOOD RIDDANCE TO THE CLINTONS' POLITICS OF PERSONAL DESTRUCTION?By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MCGANN
Published in the New York Post on January 29, 2008.
What does Ted Kennedy’s endorsement of Barack Obama really mean?
In addition to seriously boosting Obama’s chances for the Democratic nomination by anointing him as the generational heir to John F. Kennedy, there’s something else that’s just as important for the body politic: Ted Kennedy, Barack Obama, and the voters of South Carolina may have personally tolled the death knell for the Clintons’ reprehensible politics of personal destruction.
It’s about time.
For more than thirty years, no one has been able to stop Bill and Hillary Clinton from routinely acting on their shared base instinct: to annihilate anyone who gets in their way, in whatever way it takes, however long it takes, whatever it costs And then to enjoy watching their targets suffer.
Throughout their long public careers, they’ve had no moral overseers, no one to challenge them. The sycophants surrounding them simply implement their orders, never questioning them. So after successfully employing their slash and burn tactics for years, they’ve come to truly believe that their reprehensible politics are justified, even necessary.
Remember Hillary’s glee when she announced that the “fun part” of the campaign was about to begin – her attacks on her fellow Democrats? She was serious. The Clintons have repeatedly and successfully embraced the politics of personal destruction – and enjoyed every minute of it.
In Washington, Arkansas, and recently in South Carolina, they’ve used whatever slimy tactics they felt they needed - ruining reputations, invading the privacy of their targets by dispatching private detectives to comb their records and troll through their trash, lying about their opponents, blackmailing and threatening women who dared to say yes – or even no – to Bill Clinton, releasing confidential employment records.
Remember how the Clintonites released Linda Tripp’s confidential employment files to Jane Mayer of The New Yorker after Clinton hit man Harold Ickes met with Tripp’s boss? Years later, the Department of Defense settled a lawsuit with Tripp for over $600,000 for invading her privacy. And then there were the stories branding Monica Lewinsky as a ‘stalker’ who was trying to hurt the president? Those were traced back to Sidney Blumenethal, a Clinton White House adviser, and the author of the right wing conspiracy theory that Hillary so loves. Of course, then it turned out that this ‘stalker’ had been called by the President from the White House hundreds of time and invited into the Oval Office for sex in the private kitchen. Then there was Gennifer Flowers –smeared by George Stephanopoulos and James Carville as a liar and opportunist. Eventually, Bill Clinton admitted under oath that he, in fact, had a sexual relationship with Flowers. Etc., etc., etc. And none of these folks have ever apologized for their as the brass knuckles enforcers of the Clintons.
Throughout the recent primaries, Bill Clinton has been Hillary’s hit man, especially in South Carolina where he was in charge of branding Obama as the ‘Black candidate.’ Shamelessly distorting Obama’s words and deliberately using the race card to try and marginalize the first serious African-American candidate for president, Bill Clinton worked overtime at stirring dissension.
It’s been revolting.
And it seemed that no one could stop them.
Until Barack Obama. Until Ted Kennedy. Until South Carolina. Until the voters said: ENOUGH.
Now the voters of South Carolina and the Kennedys have stepped forward and openly challenged the tawdry Clinton politics of personal destruction, their hit job on Obama, their use of the race card, their claims of dynastic privilege.
On Saturday, 55% of the South Carolina voters said ‘NO’ to the Clintons. After listening to the two of them disparage Obama, distort his record, dis his hopes and dreams for America, South Carolina backed Obama and his politics of hope.
And Ted Kennedy, in his lofty endorsement of Obama, served notice on the Clintons that the days of their politics of personal destruction are over.
Apparently Senator Kennedy called the Clintons last week and demanded an immediate end to their transparent racial politics and attempts to destroy Obama. They ignored him. After the polls closed, Bill Clinton’s surly and irrelevant reference to Jesse Jackson’s showing in South Carolina twenty years ago was meant to diminish Obama’s victory. But the press and the public – and apparently Senator Kennedy – caught the unattractive performance on YouTube.
Now, for once, someone has challenged the Clintons’ dirty, outdated, and unacceptable politics.
Ted Kennedy has made it clear that the Democratic Party and the voters of America are no longer going to tolerate and ignore the Clintons sordid personal politics.
Bravo!
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Clinton = Mess. No Surprise Here
Property manager: Clinton campaign left a mess behind
CLINTON, Iowa — The manager of a downtown Clinton building said Thursday he’ll likely never rent office space to a political campaign again after the mess he says Hillary Clinton campaign staffers left behind after the Iowa caucuses.
Duane Jones, who manages the Wilson building at 217 5th Ave. S., said he rented six rooms to the Clinton campaign beginning in June or July and ending a few days after the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses. Jones said when he went into the building after the campaign staff had cleared out, he discovered garbage, spoiled food, holes that had been drilled in the walls to run phone lines without his authorization, and stains on the carpet that will require some of the carpeting to be replaced.
“ Generally speaking, they left quite a mess,” he said.
He said a smoke alarm in one of the offices was missing and he noticed the windows in the building were sometimes open even on cold days, leading him to believe the campaign staffers were smoking in the building, which is not permitted.
Jones said he kept the $500 deposit the campaign staff gave him to rent the space, but it wasn’t enough to cover the damage expenses. He said he had contact with Clinton campaign workers in Des Moines and at the national campaign headquarters in Virginia, and finally received a check for $1,750 on Thursday that he believes will cover his expenses for cleaning up.
Jean Pardee, chairwoman of the Clinton County Democrats, said Thursday she was “shocked” and “frustrated” to hear about the mess. She said she had heard that at least one downtown property owner refused to rent space to political campaigns this year because of a similar incident involving another candidate during the previous Iowa caucus campaign.
Ray Fredericksen of Clinton, who served as the Clinton County chairman for the Clinton campaign, said Thursday he was not in the campaign office very much, but did not notice any damage the last time he was there, which was caucus night. He said the first he heard about the allegations was Thursday.
“It’s really news to me,” he said.
A call to Clinton’s campaign headquarters was not immediately returned.
"and stains on the carpet that will require some of the carpeting to be replaced" - Well, it's good to know that Bill took the time to stop by the office
CLINTON, Iowa — The manager of a downtown Clinton building said Thursday he’ll likely never rent office space to a political campaign again after the mess he says Hillary Clinton campaign staffers left behind after the Iowa caucuses.
Duane Jones, who manages the Wilson building at 217 5th Ave. S., said he rented six rooms to the Clinton campaign beginning in June or July and ending a few days after the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses. Jones said when he went into the building after the campaign staff had cleared out, he discovered garbage, spoiled food, holes that had been drilled in the walls to run phone lines without his authorization, and stains on the carpet that will require some of the carpeting to be replaced.
“ Generally speaking, they left quite a mess,” he said.
He said a smoke alarm in one of the offices was missing and he noticed the windows in the building were sometimes open even on cold days, leading him to believe the campaign staffers were smoking in the building, which is not permitted.
Jones said he kept the $500 deposit the campaign staff gave him to rent the space, but it wasn’t enough to cover the damage expenses. He said he had contact with Clinton campaign workers in Des Moines and at the national campaign headquarters in Virginia, and finally received a check for $1,750 on Thursday that he believes will cover his expenses for cleaning up.
Jean Pardee, chairwoman of the Clinton County Democrats, said Thursday she was “shocked” and “frustrated” to hear about the mess. She said she had heard that at least one downtown property owner refused to rent space to political campaigns this year because of a similar incident involving another candidate during the previous Iowa caucus campaign.
Ray Fredericksen of Clinton, who served as the Clinton County chairman for the Clinton campaign, said Thursday he was not in the campaign office very much, but did not notice any damage the last time he was there, which was caucus night. He said the first he heard about the allegations was Thursday.
“It’s really news to me,” he said.
A call to Clinton’s campaign headquarters was not immediately returned.
"and stains on the carpet that will require some of the carpeting to be replaced" - Well, it's good to know that Bill took the time to stop by the office
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Bill Has A Dream....
Sometimes something happens in the news that, while not significant, is interesting, and you want to comment on it. Sometimes it’s better to hold off for a few days, and then comment around the “news surrounding the news”.
As some of you may have seen, last Monday, on Martin Luther King Jr. day, Bill Clinton fell asleep during a service commemorating Dr. King. Now before you think I’m going to start piling on Bill here, I will admit that I too have been known to nod off in church before. And I also am well aware of the rigors of the campaign trail, and that they have to be pretty hard on a sixty-one year old man who has semi-recently had heart surgery.But Bill, if you’re going to nod off during a campaign stop, do you really think it it’s smart to A) nod off at a service honoring Dr. King, B) when said service is ON Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and C) the speaker you are nodding off during is none other than Martin Luther King III? And did I mention that Mr. Clinton was seated directly behind King III (well, you can see that from the picture to the right).
But to me, the story isn’t so much the fact that Bill nodded off, something that by the way Bill has a habit of doing (He fell asleep during Ronald Reagan’s funeral – does that mean that Clinton puts Reagan and Dr. King on the same level of interest?). What I want to focus on today are some of the blog comments about the incident, not from the “evil conservative” sites, but from The Huffington Post, a liberal blog. Here we go (Huffpo comments in red, my comments in black):
“This type of news is all the media can come up with. TABLOID fluff. Meanwhile more soldiers were killed in Iraq yesterday but that is old news isn't it?” – Certainly the death of any soldier in Iraq is more important than Bill’s nap, but the fact is those deaths will occur whether or not this story happened or is covered. Had the press pushed the nap story as being as important as any news coming out of Iraq you might have a point, but I don’t remember seeing any “Nation mourns as Bill takes nap” headlines.
“Obviously a doctored photograph.” – This is one of my favorite comments, because it was echoed by so many other people making comments. First of all, do you think that major newspaper chains would run an “obviously” doctored photo? Also, on the same Huffington Post site where the photo appeared was a video of the incident. Also, why would a LIBERAL website like the Huffington Post run a doctored photo of Bill Clinton?
“He has had health problems and being exhausted isn't an indication a person is a racist. It means they're human. I used to support both Clinton and Obama equally but all the outrageous attacks accusing the Clintons of being racist has really made me decide that I don't want Obama for President.” – I included this quote to show you the Clinton’s tactics are actually working. Anyone of any intelligence who has watched this campaign closely knows that the only time Obama has ever brought up race at all is when he is responding to a Clinton attack. But the thing is, the Clinton’s know that most people do not follow the campaign closely, so their little “scorched earth” strategy against Obama is actually working.
"Because Axelrod and Plouff were behind the camera, sent it to all of the media circuits and threatened to sue them if they didn't release it.” – Okay, I have to admit, this one had me puzzled. I googled “Axelrod & Plouff” and found out that they are advisors to the Obama campaign. According to “Lonestarr”, the nut bag who left this comment, Axlerod and Plouff videotaped this (because God knows there probably wasn’t any media coverage at an MLK Jr. Day event where the former president and MLK III were speaking). So then they threatened to sue the networks who didn’t run it. Wow.
“There's nothing wrong with dozing off in the midst of a campaign for your spouse. What is most disturbing, is when he wakes up and feigns attention. The hand cupping the ear to hear better, the phony nods of agreement... He lies even when he's sleeping.” – “He lies even when he’s sleeping.” Brilliant
"We have lots of serious issues in this country. I don't want people distracted by these petty issues and telling everyone "you have to be very, very, very, very, very careful when you talk about the civil rights era" and calling everyone racists.” – I chose to include this one because it actually makes sense – something you don’t see too often on a liberal blog.
“F'crissake, it's a photo from the NY Post. You'd have to be a total moron to rely on that rag. For all you know, that photo was taken while he blinked, or looked down for a second. How dopey. This website has a lot of gotcha' misleading blogs, doctored photos, and misleading headlines. Some of you are just too willing, too gullible to be believed.” – And some of YOU are so gullible that you believe the Clintons are not capable of any wrong, despite overwhelming evidence. Sure, I too think the NY Post is not the most reliable source, but two minutes on Google would have given you the same info from much more reliable sources. And again, viewing the video pretty much says it all.
On another subject, an AOL straw poll today shows that Hillary Clinton has the support of 46% of the people voting in their straw poll, and Obama has the support of 45%. Hillary has 3,784 votes, and Obama 3,801. Now only when a Clinton is involved can the candidate with fewer votes be the one with a higher percentage of the votes.
Until tomorrow………….
“There's nothing wrong with dozing off in the midst of a campaign for your spouse. What is most disturbing, is when he wakes up and feigns attention. The hand cupping the ear to hear better, the phony nods of agreement... He lies even when he's sleeping.” – “He lies even when he’s sleeping.” Brilliant
"We have lots of serious issues in this country. I don't want people distracted by these petty issues and telling everyone "you have to be very, very, very, very, very careful when you talk about the civil rights era" and calling everyone racists.” – I chose to include this one because it actually makes sense – something you don’t see too often on a liberal blog.
“F'crissake, it's a photo from the NY Post. You'd have to be a total moron to rely on that rag. For all you know, that photo was taken while he blinked, or looked down for a second. How dopey. This website has a lot of gotcha' misleading blogs, doctored photos, and misleading headlines. Some of you are just too willing, too gullible to be believed.” – And some of YOU are so gullible that you believe the Clintons are not capable of any wrong, despite overwhelming evidence. Sure, I too think the NY Post is not the most reliable source, but two minutes on Google would have given you the same info from much more reliable sources. And again, viewing the video pretty much says it all.
On another subject, an AOL straw poll today shows that Hillary Clinton has the support of 46% of the people voting in their straw poll, and Obama has the support of 45%. Hillary has 3,784 votes, and Obama 3,801. Now only when a Clinton is involved can the candidate with fewer votes be the one with a higher percentage of the votes.
Until tomorrow………….
Monday, January 28, 2008
Barack & Hillary, Sweeney Todd, And A Really Bad Day To Be A Church Leader
The worst thing about Sunday is that it is usually a pretty slow news day. I guess that’s probably the best thing about Sunday’s as well. Just a few totally unrelated comments today.
U So Ted Kennedy endorses Barack Obama today. I’m not sure that’s a good thing, but for Obama it probably is. I just hope for Kennedy’s sake – and every other Senator and Congressman (I’m sorry, congressperson) that Obama win’s the nomination, because if Hillary wins she will make those who supported her opponent pay.
It’s odd that the elephant is the symbol of the Republican party, and not the Democrats, because if there is one universal truth, it’s the fact that Hillary Clinton NEVER forgets. NEVER.
U Well, I just had to see what this was all about. The Huffington Post ran the following headline today: Clinton Camp Says Obama Is Now "The Black Candidate" . Well, I have to wonder if that’s a ringing endorsement for the Clinton campaign, that after a year of running against this guy NOW she realizes he’s a black man.
And I really loved this from the same article: “...Clinton campaign strategists denied any intentional effort to stir the racial debate. But they said they believe the fallout has had the effect of branding Obama as "the black candidate," a tag that could hurt him outside the South”
Can you believe these people? And do you know what the sad thing is? If the Clinton’s are successful in destroying Obama’s campaign, in time people will forget these acts and actually consider the Clintons as defenders of civil liberties. Sure they are, right up there with David Duke. Actually, I’d put Duke on a higher moral level, because at least he doesn’t try to hide his true intentions.
U Getting away from politics for a moment, Cindy and I went to see Sweeney Todd this weekend, and while I am reluctant to recommend it, I will. I say that I’m reluctant because a musical about a mass murderer isn’t exactly everyone’s cup of tea, but I certainly enjoyed it. Visually it was quite a treat, but then most Tim Burton movies are. And a big thumbs up to both Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter who did a great job with their roles, and are actually really good singers. Again, not for everyone, but if you’re a fan of Depp or Burton, and don’t mind blood (oh yeah, there’s a LOT of blood), you’ll probably enjoy this film.
U Bank robbers hit a Washington Mutual bank in Palm Desert, California this last Friday. What made this robbery even a little more interesting was that actress Carol Channing was a patron in the bank at the time. As this story was reported across the nation, I’m sure that millions of Americans had the same reaction: Carol Channing is still alive?
U Here’s another great headline I ran across today on the internet: Bone Gives IPod to Japan Prime Minister Fukada, Seeks Support In Anti-Poverty Campaign. Really, is that all it takes? Wow, well in that case I have a slightly used Playstation 2 that I’m willing to donate to rid the world of juvenile diabetes, and a portable DVD player to end the ethnic cleansing in Kenya.
Actually, the funniest thing about this story is that Bono gave the IPod to the PM in the company of Bill Gates. Bono, dude, you could have at least given him a Zune.
U This is weird. Gordon B. Hinckley, the longest-serving president of the Mormon church died Sunday, a church spokesman said. He was 97. The weird part is that Greece's Orthodox Church leader, Archbishop Christodoulos, died Monday at his home of cancer, church officials said. He was 69.
I don’t know, but if I were the Pope I’d be pretty nervous right about now.
U Three days ‘til Vegas, Baby.
U So Ted Kennedy endorses Barack Obama today. I’m not sure that’s a good thing, but for Obama it probably is. I just hope for Kennedy’s sake – and every other Senator and Congressman (I’m sorry, congressperson) that Obama win’s the nomination, because if Hillary wins she will make those who supported her opponent pay.
It’s odd that the elephant is the symbol of the Republican party, and not the Democrats, because if there is one universal truth, it’s the fact that Hillary Clinton NEVER forgets. NEVER.
U Well, I just had to see what this was all about. The Huffington Post ran the following headline today: Clinton Camp Says Obama Is Now "The Black Candidate" . Well, I have to wonder if that’s a ringing endorsement for the Clinton campaign, that after a year of running against this guy NOW she realizes he’s a black man.
And I really loved this from the same article: “...Clinton campaign strategists denied any intentional effort to stir the racial debate. But they said they believe the fallout has had the effect of branding Obama as "the black candidate," a tag that could hurt him outside the South”
Can you believe these people? And do you know what the sad thing is? If the Clinton’s are successful in destroying Obama’s campaign, in time people will forget these acts and actually consider the Clintons as defenders of civil liberties. Sure they are, right up there with David Duke. Actually, I’d put Duke on a higher moral level, because at least he doesn’t try to hide his true intentions.
U Getting away from politics for a moment, Cindy and I went to see Sweeney Todd this weekend, and while I am reluctant to recommend it, I will. I say that I’m reluctant because a musical about a mass murderer isn’t exactly everyone’s cup of tea, but I certainly enjoyed it. Visually it was quite a treat, but then most Tim Burton movies are. And a big thumbs up to both Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter who did a great job with their roles, and are actually really good singers. Again, not for everyone, but if you’re a fan of Depp or Burton, and don’t mind blood (oh yeah, there’s a LOT of blood), you’ll probably enjoy this film.U Bank robbers hit a Washington Mutual bank in Palm Desert, California this last Friday. What made this robbery even a little more interesting was that actress Carol Channing was a patron in the bank at the time. As this story was reported across the nation, I’m sure that millions of Americans had the same reaction: Carol Channing is still alive?
U Here’s another great headline I ran across today on the internet: Bone Gives IPod to Japan Prime Minister Fukada, Seeks Support In Anti-Poverty Campaign. Really, is that all it takes? Wow, well in that case I have a slightly used Playstation 2 that I’m willing to donate to rid the world of juvenile diabetes, and a portable DVD player to end the ethnic cleansing in Kenya.
Actually, the funniest thing about this story is that Bono gave the IPod to the PM in the company of Bill Gates. Bono, dude, you could have at least given him a Zune.
U This is weird. Gordon B. Hinckley, the longest-serving president of the Mormon church died Sunday, a church spokesman said. He was 97. The weird part is that Greece's Orthodox Church leader, Archbishop Christodoulos, died Monday at his home of cancer, church officials said. He was 69.
I don’t know, but if I were the Pope I’d be pretty nervous right about now.
U Three days ‘til Vegas, Baby.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Obama Pulls Out a BIG Win In South Carolina
Wow, did Hillary get her hat handed to her tonight. We knew that Obama would win South Carolina, but this big? Obama more than Doubled Hillary’s numbers, 55% to 27%, the first time anyone has pulled more than half of the votes in any primary or caucus. Is it enough? Hard to say, but it is definitely a huge win.
As of this moment Hillary leads Florida, our next primary, by an average of 18 points. And while Obama can expect a bump from South Carolina, is it going to be enough to overcome Hillary’s huge lead. And don’t forget that a lot of people vote early via absentee ballot, so there are probably a lot of people that have already voted for Hillary, people that are now kicking themselves for that decision.
Now I like politics, you might say I’m a political junkie. And if you are reading this blog there’s a good chance you may be too, and this election cycle has been very, very exciting on both sides. And at this point I’m more interested in the Democratic nominee than the Republican, mainly because my main choice – Fred Thompson – has pulled out. Being a Libertarian, I like Ron Paul too, but lets get serious, he doesn’t have a chance.
I like Hillary because she would be the ideal candidate to run against. While I doubt whoever the Republican candidate is will have the ability to rally the Republican base, I have no doubt that Hillary will have that power. Not the power to unite HER party, but the ability to unite the Republicans. My only fear with Hillary being the candidate is, she could win. And that’s a chance I am weary to take.
Then there’s Obama. While I think that the Republicans can beat him, I think it is less likely than Hillary. And should Obama ultimately win the White House, I can definitely live with that much more easily than Hillary.
Heck, don’t hold me to this, but in an Obama/McCain election, I might even vote for Obama.
Ideally I would like to see an Obama/Somebody race, where the Republicans win. Why? If Obama is the nominee and fails to win the White House, that would make Hillary the likely candidate in 2012. Hillary is also up for re-election in the Senate in 2012, so that means if she runs for President she won’t be running for the Senate. Actually, she COULD run for both, but what does that say about her character. I’m sorry, did I use the words “Hillary” and “Character” in the same sentence?
But the bottom line is if we can push Hillary’s run back to 2012, we have a shot at getting her out of Washington completely. Because remember, even if we shut down her presidential run, she will still continue to be a thorn in our side for years to come.
But if Hillary bombs in Florida, we have a whole new ballgame. Now we just need John Edwards to wise up and get out of the game (and support Obama).
As of this moment Hillary leads Florida, our next primary, by an average of 18 points. And while Obama can expect a bump from South Carolina, is it going to be enough to overcome Hillary’s huge lead. And don’t forget that a lot of people vote early via absentee ballot, so there are probably a lot of people that have already voted for Hillary, people that are now kicking themselves for that decision.
Now I like politics, you might say I’m a political junkie. And if you are reading this blog there’s a good chance you may be too, and this election cycle has been very, very exciting on both sides. And at this point I’m more interested in the Democratic nominee than the Republican, mainly because my main choice – Fred Thompson – has pulled out. Being a Libertarian, I like Ron Paul too, but lets get serious, he doesn’t have a chance.
I like Hillary because she would be the ideal candidate to run against. While I doubt whoever the Republican candidate is will have the ability to rally the Republican base, I have no doubt that Hillary will have that power. Not the power to unite HER party, but the ability to unite the Republicans. My only fear with Hillary being the candidate is, she could win. And that’s a chance I am weary to take.
Then there’s Obama. While I think that the Republicans can beat him, I think it is less likely than Hillary. And should Obama ultimately win the White House, I can definitely live with that much more easily than Hillary.
Heck, don’t hold me to this, but in an Obama/McCain election, I might even vote for Obama.
Ideally I would like to see an Obama/Somebody race, where the Republicans win. Why? If Obama is the nominee and fails to win the White House, that would make Hillary the likely candidate in 2012. Hillary is also up for re-election in the Senate in 2012, so that means if she runs for President she won’t be running for the Senate. Actually, she COULD run for both, but what does that say about her character. I’m sorry, did I use the words “Hillary” and “Character” in the same sentence?
But the bottom line is if we can push Hillary’s run back to 2012, we have a shot at getting her out of Washington completely. Because remember, even if we shut down her presidential run, she will still continue to be a thorn in our side for years to come.
But if Hillary bombs in Florida, we have a whole new ballgame. Now we just need John Edwards to wise up and get out of the game (and support Obama).
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Somebody Help Me.......
I need your help. I know that I have about 50/50 liberal and conservatives reading my site, so I’m hoping someone out there is planning to vote for Hillary Clinton. No? Well one of you has to know someone who is planning to vote for this women. So here’s what I need you to do: Find that person, and have them tell me WHY they plan to vote for this women. I’m being serious here, I really want to know what her appeal is.
And this isn’t coming from a “why would anyone ever vote for a Democrat” angle. I understand the appeal of Obama. I understand on some level the appeal of Edwards. These are not necessary appeals that I relate to, but when it comes to Hillary, outside the fact that she would be our first female president, I don’t get the appeal. The women and her husband have been involved in scandal after scandal, they have shamelessly used race as an issue in this election, and sleaze just seems to follow both her and Bill.
For those that claim she has the most experience, that may be true among the current crop of Democratic hopefuls (assuming what your definition of “experience” is), but we certainly had candidates with MUCH more experience (Dodd, Biden) early in the race, and they never cracked double digits in any of the polls, so I really doubt that the experience card is the one that counts.
Then there is the “voting for her because she is a woman” thing. I guess I can’t just toss this one out, because if I belonged to a group, any group, that had never been represented in a presidential race (black, women, Hispanic, Jewish, gay, Eskimo, etc…..), I’d probably support the candidate that was most like me as well. I don’t think this is a good reason. Imagine if the race came down to Hillary and whoever on the right, and I choose the Republican candidate “because he’s a man”. Or if it was Obama and I chose the Republican “Because he’s white”. Would you support either of those reasons? God I hope not.
Which leaves the reason to vote for her as…… wait, I can’t think of another reason. Because you want Bill back in the White House? Look, as bad as I think George Bush has been as a president, he still has a core group of ardent supports (of which I am not one) that would LOVE to see him in the White House for a third term, yet I have never heard anyone suggest drafting Laura as a candidate to run. “Of course not” you say, “Laura Bush does not have the experience”. Hmm? Oh I know, Hillary has seven years as Senator that Laura doesn’t have, but Hillary keeps going back to those White House years as proof she is ready to “hit the ground running.”
The good news is that a lot of those on the left are FINALLY learning what the rest of the country has known about the Clintons for years. Obviously all of the right wing pundits don’t like her, but each and every day we are hearing from more and more on the left who have set down their Kool-Aid and seen the light. For example, these words from Democratic Senator John Kerry: “I think you had an abuse of the truth, is what happened,” Kerry said. “I mean, being an ex-president does not give you license to abuse the truth, and I think that over the last days it’s been over the top. Things have been said about Barack Obama’s positions that are just plain untrue."
Here is William Greider in The Nation, the venerable left-liberal magazine. The Clintons are "high minded" on the surface but "smarmily duplicitous underneath, meanwhile jabbing hard at the groin area. They are a slippery pair and come as package. The nation is at fair risk of getting them back in the White House for four years."
This from the liberal blog, Digbysblog: "But the Clintons are tearing the party apart. It will not be the same after this. It will not be the same after its most famous leader, and probable ultimate victor, treated a proud and accomplished black man who is a U.S. senator as if he were nothing, a mere impediment to their plans. And to do it in a way that signals, to his supporters, How dare you have the temerity, the ingratitude, after all we've done for you?"
While this is promising, I’m not holding my breath that these folks will not go back to drinking the Kool-Aid should Hillary earn the nomination.
So once again, can anyone tell me why ANYONE is supporting this woman? Anyone?
One other thing. Both Bill and Hillary have been slamming Obama this last week for supposedly praising Ronald Reagan. Well, if that is a sin, consider these comments from the Clintons, from Tom Brokaw’s book “Boom”:
Hillary Clinton: Reagan "Understood" Economic Pressures On The Working And Middle Class, "He Played The Balance And The Music Beautifully." Tom Brokaw wrote, "As for the political climate in America, she (Clinton) understands that America has historically tilted toward the conservative side, with intermittent periods of what she calls 'progressive energy.' She also believes that modern conservatives such as Karl rove are 'obsessed' with defeating her. She prefers the godfather of the modern conservative movement, Ronald Reagan. He was, she says, 'a child of the Depression, so he understood it . When he had those big tax cuts and they went too far, he oversaw the largest tax increase. He could call the Soviet Union the Evil Empire and then negotiate arms-control agreements. He played the balance and the music beautifully.' In 1969, who would have imagined that the Hillary Rodham on the Wellesley commencement stage would find herself thirty-eight years later paying tribute to Ronald Reagan?" ("Boom," p. 404)
And this isn’t coming from a “why would anyone ever vote for a Democrat” angle. I understand the appeal of Obama. I understand on some level the appeal of Edwards. These are not necessary appeals that I relate to, but when it comes to Hillary, outside the fact that she would be our first female president, I don’t get the appeal. The women and her husband have been involved in scandal after scandal, they have shamelessly used race as an issue in this election, and sleaze just seems to follow both her and Bill.
For those that claim she has the most experience, that may be true among the current crop of Democratic hopefuls (assuming what your definition of “experience” is), but we certainly had candidates with MUCH more experience (Dodd, Biden) early in the race, and they never cracked double digits in any of the polls, so I really doubt that the experience card is the one that counts.
Then there is the “voting for her because she is a woman” thing. I guess I can’t just toss this one out, because if I belonged to a group, any group, that had never been represented in a presidential race (black, women, Hispanic, Jewish, gay, Eskimo, etc…..), I’d probably support the candidate that was most like me as well. I don’t think this is a good reason. Imagine if the race came down to Hillary and whoever on the right, and I choose the Republican candidate “because he’s a man”. Or if it was Obama and I chose the Republican “Because he’s white”. Would you support either of those reasons? God I hope not.
Which leaves the reason to vote for her as…… wait, I can’t think of another reason. Because you want Bill back in the White House? Look, as bad as I think George Bush has been as a president, he still has a core group of ardent supports (of which I am not one) that would LOVE to see him in the White House for a third term, yet I have never heard anyone suggest drafting Laura as a candidate to run. “Of course not” you say, “Laura Bush does not have the experience”. Hmm? Oh I know, Hillary has seven years as Senator that Laura doesn’t have, but Hillary keeps going back to those White House years as proof she is ready to “hit the ground running.”The good news is that a lot of those on the left are FINALLY learning what the rest of the country has known about the Clintons for years. Obviously all of the right wing pundits don’t like her, but each and every day we are hearing from more and more on the left who have set down their Kool-Aid and seen the light. For example, these words from Democratic Senator John Kerry: “I think you had an abuse of the truth, is what happened,” Kerry said. “I mean, being an ex-president does not give you license to abuse the truth, and I think that over the last days it’s been over the top. Things have been said about Barack Obama’s positions that are just plain untrue."
Here is William Greider in The Nation, the venerable left-liberal magazine. The Clintons are "high minded" on the surface but "smarmily duplicitous underneath, meanwhile jabbing hard at the groin area. They are a slippery pair and come as package. The nation is at fair risk of getting them back in the White House for four years."
This from the liberal blog, Digbysblog: "But the Clintons are tearing the party apart. It will not be the same after this. It will not be the same after its most famous leader, and probable ultimate victor, treated a proud and accomplished black man who is a U.S. senator as if he were nothing, a mere impediment to their plans. And to do it in a way that signals, to his supporters, How dare you have the temerity, the ingratitude, after all we've done for you?"
While this is promising, I’m not holding my breath that these folks will not go back to drinking the Kool-Aid should Hillary earn the nomination.
So once again, can anyone tell me why ANYONE is supporting this woman? Anyone?
One other thing. Both Bill and Hillary have been slamming Obama this last week for supposedly praising Ronald Reagan. Well, if that is a sin, consider these comments from the Clintons, from Tom Brokaw’s book “Boom”:
Hillary Clinton: Reagan "Understood" Economic Pressures On The Working And Middle Class, "He Played The Balance And The Music Beautifully." Tom Brokaw wrote, "As for the political climate in America, she (Clinton) understands that America has historically tilted toward the conservative side, with intermittent periods of what she calls 'progressive energy.' She also believes that modern conservatives such as Karl rove are 'obsessed' with defeating her. She prefers the godfather of the modern conservative movement, Ronald Reagan. He was, she says, 'a child of the Depression, so he understood it . When he had those big tax cuts and they went too far, he oversaw the largest tax increase. He could call the Soviet Union the Evil Empire and then negotiate arms-control agreements. He played the balance and the music beautifully.' In 1969, who would have imagined that the Hillary Rodham on the Wellesley commencement stage would find herself thirty-eight years later paying tribute to Ronald Reagan?" ("Boom," p. 404)
Bill Clinton Praised Reagan's "Unflagging Optimism, His Proud Patriotism, His Unabashed Faith In The American People." In dedicating the Reagan building, Bill Clinton said, "The only thing that could make this day more special is if President Reagan could be here himself. But if you look at this atrium, I think we feel the essence of his presence: his unflagging optimism, his proud patriotism, his unabashed faith in the American people. I think every American who walks through this incredible space and lifts his or her eyes to the sky will feel that.... This is a great day for our country. This is a day of honoring the legacy of President Reagan, remembering the service of President Wilson, and rededicating ourselves to the often difficult but ultimately always rewarding work of America. As I stand within the Reagan Building I am confident that we will again make the right choices for America, that we will take up where President Reagan left off -- to lead freedom's march boldly into the 21st century." (Clinton Dedication of Reagan Library, 5/5/98)
Friday, January 25, 2008
I Love My Wife.
Those of you reading this post that actually know me and my wife Cindy know that I married up. No one of my limited talents and physical appeal deserves a woman as wonderful as my wife Cindy. And just when I think she can’t be more wonderful, she proves me wrong.
Next Friday (February 1st) will be Cindy’s and my 22nd anniversary. Wow, I can hardly believe that it’s been 22 years, and at the same time I can hardly remember my life without her. And as I prepare to start my new job the Monday after our anniversary, My wonderful spouse has informed me that we will be spending three days next week in the happiest place on earth. That’s right, we’re going to Las Vegas. Okay, Okay, I know that Disneyland is suppose to be the happiest place on earth, but I’ve been to Disneyland, and I’ve been to Las Vegas, and I know which one makes ME happier.
Next to the Mrs., I love Las Vegas. In fact, when we finally do make the move back to Iowa, the thing I will miss the most are my twice-yearly trips to Vegas. Vegas is a short six hour drive from our home (and a long six hour drive back), And I generally hit the town every January and July, although last year I wasn’t able to make the July trip, so it’s been almost 13 months since my last trip, and that is too long. Also, I generally make the trip with a group of hard partying friends (I’m the designated driver), and it’s been a number of years since I was last in Vegas with Cindy and without the kids, so I’m really looking forward to the calmer nature and the time spent with my wife.
I’m already restudying my Blackjack tables and getting ready to hit the tables. I’m pretty good at Blackjack, and usually come out ahead. But don’t worry, even if I lose at the tables, I always come out ahead at the Buffett.
Man I love my wife.
Next Friday (February 1st) will be Cindy’s and my 22nd anniversary. Wow, I can hardly believe that it’s been 22 years, and at the same time I can hardly remember my life without her. And as I prepare to start my new job the Monday after our anniversary, My wonderful spouse has informed me that we will be spending three days next week in the happiest place on earth. That’s right, we’re going to Las Vegas. Okay, Okay, I know that Disneyland is suppose to be the happiest place on earth, but I’ve been to Disneyland, and I’ve been to Las Vegas, and I know which one makes ME happier.
Next to the Mrs., I love Las Vegas. In fact, when we finally do make the move back to Iowa, the thing I will miss the most are my twice-yearly trips to Vegas. Vegas is a short six hour drive from our home (and a long six hour drive back), And I generally hit the town every January and July, although last year I wasn’t able to make the July trip, so it’s been almost 13 months since my last trip, and that is too long. Also, I generally make the trip with a group of hard partying friends (I’m the designated driver), and it’s been a number of years since I was last in Vegas with Cindy and without the kids, so I’m really looking forward to the calmer nature and the time spent with my wife.
I’m already restudying my Blackjack tables and getting ready to hit the tables. I’m pretty good at Blackjack, and usually come out ahead. But don’t worry, even if I lose at the tables, I always come out ahead at the Buffett.
Man I love my wife.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Thank God The Fed Dropped Interest Rates, Now I Can See That Concert I Wanted To See....
I see from looking on the Des Moines Register website that Billy Joel is coming to town, with ticket prices at $96 or $50.50. while I am not going to be in Des Moines for the April 15th concert, it’s certainly one that I would love to see. But $96?
Back when I was in High School and College in Cedar Falls, we used to go to almost every concert that came through town. And considering that we had a domed football stadium in town, we had quite a few concerts come through town. And while I always considered concert ticket prices too high, in hindsight I didn’t realize what a bargain concerts were in the 70’s. Early on I remember seeing Kiss, Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Pablo Cruise, and Harry Chapin, and I’m pretty sure that I didn’t pay anymore than $7 for any of these concerts. My good friend Chris and I saw Elton John in 1981 – a pretty huge concert – and those tickets were $9.00 each.
Now when you consider that the minimum wage in 1980 was $3.10 (and I was a minimum wage earner in those days), we’re talking about having to work roughly three hours to earn enough for a concert ticket. That means that today a concert ticket should cost $18 to $25 at the most.
And $96 to see Billy Joel is in no way as high as these tickets are going. Heck, Cindy an
d I saw The Eagles three years ago, and we had to pay a whopping $175 EACH for those tickets. A quick check of Ticketmaster.com shows Van Halen tickets at $147, Bon Jovi at $129, and Def Leppard at $125. At least Def Leppard has Styx and my personal favorite – REO Speedwagen – playing with them. And don’t even get me started on Hannah Montana tickets.
While I live in a small, small town, I’m only three hours away from L.A. or San Francisco, so we can see the big names, it’s just kind of a hassle. And we do have the California Mid-State Fair in Paso Robles, less than 10 miles from our house. This is not your average fair folks – The Mid State Fair is known as one of the top fairs in the country with regards to talent. Last year we had Aerosmith, Daughtry, Bob Dylan, Velvet Revolver, Rascal Flatts, Toby Keith and Martina McBride. And the free entertainment included Foghat (I LOVE Foghat) and Joan Jett. All of these great concerts to choose from, and who did I get to see: The Jonas Brothers. For those of you who don’t have an eleven year old girl in your house, The Jonas Brothers are like Hanson: three teeny-bopper brothers for the Disney Channel set. The things I won’t do for my little girl.
Back when I was in High School and College in Cedar Falls, we used to go to almost every concert that came through town. And considering that we had a domed football stadium in town, we had quite a few concerts come through town. And while I always considered concert ticket prices too high, in hindsight I didn’t realize what a bargain concerts were in the 70’s. Early on I remember seeing Kiss, Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Pablo Cruise, and Harry Chapin, and I’m pretty sure that I didn’t pay anymore than $7 for any of these concerts. My good friend Chris and I saw Elton John in 1981 – a pretty huge concert – and those tickets were $9.00 each.
Now when you consider that the minimum wage in 1980 was $3.10 (and I was a minimum wage earner in those days), we’re talking about having to work roughly three hours to earn enough for a concert ticket. That means that today a concert ticket should cost $18 to $25 at the most.
And $96 to see Billy Joel is in no way as high as these tickets are going. Heck, Cindy an
d I saw The Eagles three years ago, and we had to pay a whopping $175 EACH for those tickets. A quick check of Ticketmaster.com shows Van Halen tickets at $147, Bon Jovi at $129, and Def Leppard at $125. At least Def Leppard has Styx and my personal favorite – REO Speedwagen – playing with them. And don’t even get me started on Hannah Montana tickets.While I live in a small, small town, I’m only three hours away from L.A. or San Francisco, so we can see the big names, it’s just kind of a hassle. And we do have the California Mid-State Fair in Paso Robles, less than 10 miles from our house. This is not your average fair folks – The Mid State Fair is known as one of the top fairs in the country with regards to talent. Last year we had Aerosmith, Daughtry, Bob Dylan, Velvet Revolver, Rascal Flatts, Toby Keith and Martina McBride. And the free entertainment included Foghat (I LOVE Foghat) and Joan Jett. All of these great concerts to choose from, and who did I get to see: The Jonas Brothers. For those of you who don’t have an eleven year old girl in your house, The Jonas Brothers are like Hanson: three teeny-bopper brothers for the Disney Channel set. The things I won’t do for my little girl.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
So Many Topics, So Little Time....
Some days you have to search the dark, deep recesses of your mind for something to write about (and trust me, my mind can be pretty dark sometimes). Often I just find something interesting that someone else has written, and take the day off.
And then there are days like today, with enough happening to fill ten blogs. So lets get started:
+ Fred Steps Down: Okay, I knew it was coming, but it still hurts to see the one true conservative in the race step down. I still have hopes that Fred may play a role as a VP candidate, but I’m not sure the remaining candidates, with the possible exception of Huckabee, are smart enough to see the value that Fred would bring to the ticket. And since I don’t see Huckabee getting the nomination, Fred can probably go back to Law and Order.
This is the time of the year when we start playing “What If” with the candidates. According to most of the polls I’ve seen, any of the Republican candidates can beat either Obama or Edwards, But who really trusts the polls? As for Hillary, she ekes out a victory over all of the candidates except McCain, who would be likely to pull in the independent vote.
Now personally, I think any of the Republicans, with the possible exception of Huckabee, would win in the General Election. Primaries are all about style, and once the nominees are set we get into substance, and we have more substance. I’d probably give the nod to Obama over McCain since that same independent vote he would garner in beating Clinton, he would lose to Obama.
But the only real thing that matters is that it is ANYONE but Hillary. I can live with an Obama victory, but Hillary sends shivers down my spine
+ Speaking of Obama and Hillary: I have watched every debate this season, and the one time I miss one, something actually happens. So Hillary blasts Obama for his stance on the war (When her stance is a true embarrassment), and then she has the Bal…., um, the guts, to blast him on a fundraising “scandal”. This from the queen of fundraising scandals.
At the debate, Obama and Clinton landed several rattling punches over each other’s prior business relationships, with the Illinois senator remarking that he was working to protect jobs from leaving the United States when Clinton was “a corporate lawyer sitting on the board at Wal-Mart.”
In return, Clinton said she was fighting against the policies of Ronald Reagan when Obama was “representing your contributor, (Tony) Rezko, in his slum landlord business in inner city Chicago.”
At this point Obama should have brought up Hillary’s role in defending the Black Panthers, as an intern at a law firm headed by the President of the California Chapter of the American Communist Party.
Honestly, I think the entire democratic primary results could have been decided last night with one easy sentence, one that would go down in debate lore with Lloyd Bentsen’s “…and you sir are no Jack Kennedy” jab at Dan Quayle. Jus imagine Obama looking into the camera and stating “I can’t believe I’m getting a speech on morals by a Clinton.” Campaign over.
+ Is It True Because You Say It, Or Do You Say It Because It’s True?: I was going to write this great piece today on all of this economic doom and gloom coming out of the media, and whether they were merely reporting on economic woes, or whether or not they were actually contributing to these woes with their dour predictions. And then my Blog friend Doug over at http://www.iowageekonline.com/ went and beat me to it. Sure, I could put my thoughts down, or I could just direct you over to Doug & Jody’s site and ask you to read the post titled: Stupid Headlines of the Day. Well done Doug!
+ I Must Be A Masochist: Sometimes I shove sharp bamboo sticks under my fingernails. Sometimes I just cut ¼” deep valleys into my abdomen and pour Morton’s salt into the wounds. But usually when I want to inflict real pain, I just flip over to the Randi Rhodes Show on Air America.
All I did was listen to ten minutes – just ten minutes – of Ms. Rhodes show today as I was waiting to pick up my daughter from school. These were just a few of the tidbits that I got out of that short time period (remember, this is the same woman who claimed that Blackwater started the California fires, and claimed she was mugged by a "right-wing operative" after a drunken blackout.)
First, we should elect Hillary because we already know all of her scandals, and we have no idea what skeletons might be hiding in Obama and Edwards closets. Well heck, using that logic we should work to change the constitution to allow us to re-elect George for a third term. Oh, and Randi, I have a little hint for you: There are still PLENTY of skeleton’s in Hillary’s closet.
Next, in a discussion on those very scandals, Randi informs us that whole Paula Jones thing never happened. Never mind that Bill settled the case for over $800,000 – a princely sum for something that “never happened” – nor that Bill was found guilty and impeached because he lied about the Jones case to a grand jury. Now I always thought that was pretty damning evidence, but apparently Randi knows something the rest of us don’t.
Have you ever heard Bill Clinton referred to as “our first black president?” Of course you have, and if you ever wondered where that came from, Randi filled us in today. Apparently Republicans hate Bill Clinton as much as they hate black people, therefore Bill is “our first black president.” Using this logic she also concludes that Mr. Clinton was also our first gay president and our first female president, because Republicans hate them as well.
Can you imagine if a conservative host claimed that democrats hate blacks, gays and women? All hell would break loose. Ms. Rhodes should consider herself lucky that no one actually listens to her show.
+ R.I.P. Heath Ledger: Wow, Heath Ledger is dead at only 28 years old. Apparently he was found near empty sleeping pill bottles, although at this point it has not been determined if the possible overdose was accidental or suicide. Ledger had several memorable roles in his short career, including a gay cowboy in Brokeback Mountain, and most recently appeared in I'm Not There, in which he played one of the many incarnations of Bob Dylan.
Ledger also recently finished filming The Dark Knight, in which he plays The Joker to Christian Bale’s Batman. From the previews, I think this could have been one of Ledgers greatest roles. Sadly it will be his last.
+ On A Lighter Note: Well lets face it, wouldn’t anything be a lighter note after that last story? But today the nominations for the Oscars were announced, and I’d like to put my two cents in. Cindy and I try to see all of the nominated pictures each year – not always an easy task considering that some of the art fare doesn’t make it to our small town – and we still have a few to see before I can give my official picks. But in my mind mind it’s going to be tough to beat “No Country For Old Men”.
So what do you think? Any input?
+ As if this wasn’t enough: On top of all of this going on, I start a new job in less than two weeks, and I have a lot of work to do to get ready. I decided that since I was going to be running a large book store, it was time to brush up on the classics. I’ve already finished “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish” and “The Cat In The Hat”, and now it’s on to “Goodnight Moon” and “Everybody Poops”.
Actually, I can probably skip “Everybody Poops”, as I have been doing a pretty good job of following the Clinton campaign already.
And then there are days like today, with enough happening to fill ten blogs. So lets get started:
+ Fred Steps Down: Okay, I knew it was coming, but it still hurts to see the one true conservative in the race step down. I still have hopes that Fred may play a role as a VP candidate, but I’m not sure the remaining candidates, with the possible exception of Huckabee, are smart enough to see the value that Fred would bring to the ticket. And since I don’t see Huckabee getting the nomination, Fred can probably go back to Law and Order.This is the time of the year when we start playing “What If” with the candidates. According to most of the polls I’ve seen, any of the Republican candidates can beat either Obama or Edwards, But who really trusts the polls? As for Hillary, she ekes out a victory over all of the candidates except McCain, who would be likely to pull in the independent vote.
Now personally, I think any of the Republicans, with the possible exception of Huckabee, would win in the General Election. Primaries are all about style, and once the nominees are set we get into substance, and we have more substance. I’d probably give the nod to Obama over McCain since that same independent vote he would garner in beating Clinton, he would lose to Obama.
But the only real thing that matters is that it is ANYONE but Hillary. I can live with an Obama victory, but Hillary sends shivers down my spine
+ Speaking of Obama and Hillary: I have watched every debate this season, and the one time I miss one, something actually happens. So Hillary blasts Obama for his stance on the war (When her stance is a true embarrassment), and then she has the Bal…., um, the guts, to blast him on a fundraising “scandal”. This from the queen of fundraising scandals.
At the debate, Obama and Clinton landed several rattling punches over each other’s prior business relationships, with the Illinois senator remarking that he was working to protect jobs from leaving the United States when Clinton was “a corporate lawyer sitting on the board at Wal-Mart.”In return, Clinton said she was fighting against the policies of Ronald Reagan when Obama was “representing your contributor, (Tony) Rezko, in his slum landlord business in inner city Chicago.”
At this point Obama should have brought up Hillary’s role in defending the Black Panthers, as an intern at a law firm headed by the President of the California Chapter of the American Communist Party.
Honestly, I think the entire democratic primary results could have been decided last night with one easy sentence, one that would go down in debate lore with Lloyd Bentsen’s “…and you sir are no Jack Kennedy” jab at Dan Quayle. Jus imagine Obama looking into the camera and stating “I can’t believe I’m getting a speech on morals by a Clinton.” Campaign over.
+ Is It True Because You Say It, Or Do You Say It Because It’s True?: I was going to write this great piece today on all of this economic doom and gloom coming out of the media, and whether they were merely reporting on economic woes, or whether or not they were actually contributing to these woes with their dour predictions. And then my Blog friend Doug over at http://www.iowageekonline.com/ went and beat me to it. Sure, I could put my thoughts down, or I could just direct you over to Doug & Jody’s site and ask you to read the post titled: Stupid Headlines of the Day. Well done Doug!
+ I Must Be A Masochist: Sometimes I shove sharp bamboo sticks under my fingernails. Sometimes I just cut ¼” deep valleys into my abdomen and pour Morton’s salt into the wounds. But usually when I want to inflict real pain, I just flip over to the Randi Rhodes Show on Air America.
All I did was listen to ten minutes – just ten minutes – of Ms. Rhodes show today as I was waiting to pick up my daughter from school. These were just a few of the tidbits that I got out of that short time period (remember, this is the same woman who claimed that Blackwater started the California fires, and claimed she was mugged by a "right-wing operative" after a drunken blackout.)
First, we should elect Hillary because we already know all of her scandals, and we have no idea what skeletons might be hiding in Obama and Edwards closets. Well heck, using that logic we should work to change the constitution to allow us to re-elect George for a third term. Oh, and Randi, I have a little hint for you: There are still PLENTY of skeleton’s in Hillary’s closet.Next, in a discussion on those very scandals, Randi informs us that whole Paula Jones thing never happened. Never mind that Bill settled the case for over $800,000 – a princely sum for something that “never happened” – nor that Bill was found guilty and impeached because he lied about the Jones case to a grand jury. Now I always thought that was pretty damning evidence, but apparently Randi knows something the rest of us don’t.
Have you ever heard Bill Clinton referred to as “our first black president?” Of course you have, and if you ever wondered where that came from, Randi filled us in today. Apparently Republicans hate Bill Clinton as much as they hate black people, therefore Bill is “our first black president.” Using this logic she also concludes that Mr. Clinton was also our first gay president and our first female president, because Republicans hate them as well.
Can you imagine if a conservative host claimed that democrats hate blacks, gays and women? All hell would break loose. Ms. Rhodes should consider herself lucky that no one actually listens to her show.
+ R.I.P. Heath Ledger: Wow, Heath Ledger is dead at only 28 years old. Apparently he was found near empty sleeping pill bottles, although at this point it has not been determined if the possible overdose was accidental or suicide. Ledger had several memorable roles in his short career, including a gay cowboy in Brokeback Mountain, and most recently appeared in I'm Not There, in which he played one of the many incarnations of Bob Dylan.Ledger also recently finished filming The Dark Knight, in which he plays The Joker to Christian Bale’s Batman. From the previews, I think this could have been one of Ledgers greatest roles. Sadly it will be his last.
+ On A Lighter Note: Well lets face it, wouldn’t anything be a lighter note after that last story? But today the nominations for the Oscars were announced, and I’d like to put my two cents in. Cindy and I try to see all of the nominated pictures each year – not always an easy task considering that some of the art fare doesn’t make it to our small town – and we still have a few to see before I can give my official picks. But in my mind mind it’s going to be tough to beat “No Country For Old Men”.
So what do you think? Any input?
+ As if this wasn’t enough: On top of all of this going on, I start a new job in less than two weeks, and I have a lot of work to do to get ready. I decided that since I was going to be running a large book store, it was time to brush up on the classics. I’ve already finished “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish” and “The Cat In The Hat”, and now it’s on to “Goodnight Moon” and “Everybody Poops”.
Actually, I can probably skip “Everybody Poops”, as I have been doing a pretty good job of following the Clinton campaign already.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
I Too Have A Dream….
Of course my dream is a little different than Dr. Kings, and illegal in at least 38 states, but hey, a dream is a dream.
Today we celebrate the legacy of Dr. King, a man I greatly admire. I’m afraid that if the good Doctor were alive today he would be disappointed in what we as a people have done with his dream in the nearly 40 years since his untimely death. Oh sure, we have a black man as a viable candidate for the President of the United States as well as a black Secretary of State, the second African-American in a row to hold that position. And when you look back on the world that Dr. King left behind, a world with separate lunch counters, separate water fountains, and segregated schools, it seems like we have come a long way since Martin Luther King, Jr. first espoused his dream.
And yet I can’t help but feel that we have so much further to go, and the people stopping us from getting there aren’t the southern white racists and Klan members, but the white liberals and the “so-called” black leadership in this country.
Lets get this out of the way first: There ARE some white racists out there who really want to “keep the black (Hispanic, gay, etc…) man down”, and there is no room in America for these people. These people are antiquated idiots, and I will not give them a platform for their hate speech. That being said, these people represent a miniscule amount of our population, and yet if we listen to these voices on the left, those group’s views are the same as the vast majority of the right. Folks, it just ain’t so.
And if Dr. King could hear the words of his “successors” – and in reality no one could succeed Dr. King – I think he would be appalled. Compare any speech made by King with a speech – any speech – by Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, or Louis Farrakhan, and there is only one conclusion you can come to: There is no comparison. Dr. King spoke of progress, he spoke of opportunity, no matter how slim that light of hope may have been. Sharpton, Jackson, and the others speak of the exact opposite, no matter how slim the notion of racism is.
Consider this: The Washington Post in 1995 wrote about black, white, Hispanic and Asian views on race. Pollsters asked middle-income members of each race whether “past and present discrimination” is responsible for your group’s problems. 84% of blacks answered “Yes”. When middle-income whites were asked whether “past and present discrimination” holds blacks back, only 30% answered yes. Granted, a black person can probably answer this question with more experience than a white person.
But here’s where it gets interesting. When Hispanics were asked if “past and present discrimination” was responsible for holding them back, 43% said yes. Yet when Blacks were asked if “past and present discrimination” was responsible for holding Hispanics back, 58% said yes. In other words, 30% more blacks perceived discrimination against Hispanics than did Hispanics themselves. And when Asians were asked if “past and present discrimination” was responsible for holding them back, 31% said yes. Yet when Blacks were asked if “past and present discrimination” was responsible for holding Asians back, 41% said yes. Again, 30% more blacks perceived discrimination against Asians than did Asians themselves.
So what does this mean? Well, there is room for interpretation, but the way I see it is that for the last 40 years – after we lost Dr. King – Black Leadership has been preaching that every problem facing the black community is due to racism, which means that no one is preaching that blacks themselves have the power to determine the course of their lives. Look, one of my favorite shows, one that I watch each and every day (thank you TiVo) is Cops. And I have seen numerous times where the cops have arrested a black man for whatever – car theft, selling drugs, burglary – and the perp is screaming “racism, racism”, despite the fact that he was caught red handed, sometimes caught by a black cop. Explain that?
As for white liberals, one of the main reasons that we are facing some of the issues we are is due to white liberal condescension. Two of the greatest problems facing the African-American community today are a 70% out-of-wedlock birthrate (with the teenage out-of-wedlock birthrate at nearly 90%), and a 44% high school drop out rate. But when was the last time you heard anyone in a liberal position talk about these issues. Don’t strain yourself, because I doubt that you can come up with one. And yet the fact is that an African-American currently below the poverty level who graduates from high school and refrains from either fathering or mothering a child, has a 94% likelihood that he or she will rise above the poverty level. It’s a no-brainer, and yet liberal “compassion” – which is actually liberal condescension – ignores this problem, a problem if properly addressed and worked on, would all but eliminate the economic gaps between the races.
Of course Dr. Kings greatest speech was the “I Have A Dream” speech, and to me the most powerful line in that speech was “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Wow!. And then consider this. The California chapter of the NAACP is condemning the choice of Chinese Sculptor Lei Yixin, who was chosen to sculpt the Martin Luther King monument on the Mall in Washington D.C., saying an African American artist should have been commissioned as the lead artist. So apparently that not judging “by the color of their skin but by the content of their character” only counts with certain colors of skin. Shame on you NAACP! Imagine if a black artist had been chosen to create a monument to Ronald Reagan, and there were protests that only a white artist should create the monument. Imagine the outrage, and outrage there should be. But again, we’re talking about liberal condescension here, so yeah, it makes sense.
And what about the outrage that Oprah is experiencing? Alright, I know this doesn’t really fit todays topic, or maybe it does. Consider this from the Times Online: AMERICA’S favorite television presenter is paying a painful price for her intervention in the US presidential campaign last month. Oprah Winfrey has been dubbed a “traitor” by some of her female fans for supporting Barack Obama instead of Hillary Clinton. Winfrey’s website, Oprah.com, has been flooded with a barrage of abuse since the queen of daytime chat shows joined Obama on a tour of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina in mid-December."
So if Oprah supports Obama she’s “abandoning” her gender, if she supports Hillary she’s abandoning her race. You know, I remember the good old days when we choose our candidate based on WHO they were, not WHAT they were.
Today we celebrate the legacy of Dr. King, a man I greatly admire. I’m afraid that if the good Doctor were alive today he would be disappointed in what we as a people have done with his dream in the nearly 40 years since his untimely death. Oh sure, we have a black man as a viable candidate for the President of the United States as well as a black Secretary of State, the second African-American in a row to hold that position. And when you look back on the world that Dr. King left behind, a world with separate lunch counters, separate water fountains, and segregated schools, it seems like we have come a long way since Martin Luther King, Jr. first espoused his dream.And yet I can’t help but feel that we have so much further to go, and the people stopping us from getting there aren’t the southern white racists and Klan members, but the white liberals and the “so-called” black leadership in this country.
Lets get this out of the way first: There ARE some white racists out there who really want to “keep the black (Hispanic, gay, etc…) man down”, and there is no room in America for these people. These people are antiquated idiots, and I will not give them a platform for their hate speech. That being said, these people represent a miniscule amount of our population, and yet if we listen to these voices on the left, those group’s views are the same as the vast majority of the right. Folks, it just ain’t so.
And if Dr. King could hear the words of his “successors” – and in reality no one could succeed Dr. King – I think he would be appalled. Compare any speech made by King with a speech – any speech – by Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, or Louis Farrakhan, and there is only one conclusion you can come to: There is no comparison. Dr. King spoke of progress, he spoke of opportunity, no matter how slim that light of hope may have been. Sharpton, Jackson, and the others speak of the exact opposite, no matter how slim the notion of racism is.
Consider this: The Washington Post in 1995 wrote about black, white, Hispanic and Asian views on race. Pollsters asked middle-income members of each race whether “past and present discrimination” is responsible for your group’s problems. 84% of blacks answered “Yes”. When middle-income whites were asked whether “past and present discrimination” holds blacks back, only 30% answered yes. Granted, a black person can probably answer this question with more experience than a white person.
But here’s where it gets interesting. When Hispanics were asked if “past and present discrimination” was responsible for holding them back, 43% said yes. Yet when Blacks were asked if “past and present discrimination” was responsible for holding Hispanics back, 58% said yes. In other words, 30% more blacks perceived discrimination against Hispanics than did Hispanics themselves. And when Asians were asked if “past and present discrimination” was responsible for holding them back, 31% said yes. Yet when Blacks were asked if “past and present discrimination” was responsible for holding Asians back, 41% said yes. Again, 30% more blacks perceived discrimination against Asians than did Asians themselves.
So what does this mean? Well, there is room for interpretation, but the way I see it is that for the last 40 years – after we lost Dr. King – Black Leadership has been preaching that every problem facing the black community is due to racism, which means that no one is preaching that blacks themselves have the power to determine the course of their lives. Look, one of my favorite shows, one that I watch each and every day (thank you TiVo) is Cops. And I have seen numerous times where the cops have arrested a black man for whatever – car theft, selling drugs, burglary – and the perp is screaming “racism, racism”, despite the fact that he was caught red handed, sometimes caught by a black cop. Explain that?
As for white liberals, one of the main reasons that we are facing some of the issues we are is due to white liberal condescension. Two of the greatest problems facing the African-American community today are a 70% out-of-wedlock birthrate (with the teenage out-of-wedlock birthrate at nearly 90%), and a 44% high school drop out rate. But when was the last time you heard anyone in a liberal position talk about these issues. Don’t strain yourself, because I doubt that you can come up with one. And yet the fact is that an African-American currently below the poverty level who graduates from high school and refrains from either fathering or mothering a child, has a 94% likelihood that he or she will rise above the poverty level. It’s a no-brainer, and yet liberal “compassion” – which is actually liberal condescension – ignores this problem, a problem if properly addressed and worked on, would all but eliminate the economic gaps between the races.
Of course Dr. Kings greatest speech was the “I Have A Dream” speech, and to me the most powerful line in that speech was “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Wow!. And then consider this. The California chapter of the NAACP is condemning the choice of Chinese Sculptor Lei Yixin, who was chosen to sculpt the Martin Luther King monument on the Mall in Washington D.C., saying an African American artist should have been commissioned as the lead artist. So apparently that not judging “by the color of their skin but by the content of their character” only counts with certain colors of skin. Shame on you NAACP! Imagine if a black artist had been chosen to create a monument to Ronald Reagan, and there were protests that only a white artist should create the monument. Imagine the outrage, and outrage there should be. But again, we’re talking about liberal condescension here, so yeah, it makes sense.
And what about the outrage that Oprah is experiencing? Alright, I know this doesn’t really fit todays topic, or maybe it does. Consider this from the Times Online: AMERICA’S favorite television presenter is paying a painful price for her intervention in the US presidential campaign last month. Oprah Winfrey has been dubbed a “traitor” by some of her female fans for supporting Barack Obama instead of Hillary Clinton. Winfrey’s website, Oprah.com, has been flooded with a barrage of abuse since the queen of daytime chat shows joined Obama on a tour of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina in mid-December."
So if Oprah supports Obama she’s “abandoning” her gender, if she supports Hillary she’s abandoning her race. You know, I remember the good old days when we choose our candidate based on WHO they were, not WHAT they were.
Monday, January 21, 2008
A Good Run While It Lasted
I'm still fighting a nasty bug, so today's post will not be too long. I just want to take a moment and congratulate the New York Giants for earning a trip to the Super Bowl by defeating my Green Bay Packers. It was a tough loss for me, but at least it was a lose that I feel we deserved. Eli Manning did a terrific job of controlling the ball, and the Giants just flat out beat the Pack.
At least now I can root for the Patriots to win it all and end up with a perfect 19-0 season. I knew that a Packers-Patriot Super Bowl was going to be a tough win for us, and it's going to be a tough one for the Giants as well. Who knows though, if Eli plays like he did today, they just might pull it off.
And this time I can say "There's always next year" and actually believe it. Look, the Pack won their division, and so did my Cubs, so this has been a better year than most for me. We'll see you next year Brett........
At least now I can root for the Patriots to win it all and end up with a perfect 19-0 season. I knew that a Packers-Patriot Super Bowl was going to be a tough win for us, and it's going to be a tough one for the Giants as well. Who knows though, if Eli plays like he did today, they just might pull it off.
And this time I can say "There's always next year" and actually believe it. Look, the Pack won their division, and so did my Cubs, so this has been a better year than most for me. We'll see you next year Brett........
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Cheating today.....
I'm sick. I hate being sick, but not as much as my wife hates it when I'm sick. Apparently I'm not a "good" sick person, and since I need to be better for the big packers game tomorrow, I'm taking a break today.
So today I'm going to pass along an e-mail I got titled "New Rules for 2008" By George Carlin. I'm not sure if it was really written by George Carlin. It seems that an awful lot on the internet these days are attributed to George Carlin, but whether it is or it isn't, it's still pretty good. Hopefully I'll be better tomorrow following the Packer's victory. Here it is:
New Rule: No more gift registries. You know, it used to be just for weddings. Now it's for babies and new homes and graduations from rehab. Picking out the stuff you want and having other people buy it for you isn't gift giving, it's the white people version of looting.
New Rule: Stop giving me that pop-up ad for classmates.com<http://classmates.com/> ! There's a reason you don't talk to people for 25 years. Because you don't particularly like them! Besides, I already know what the captain of the football team is doing these days--- mowing my lawn.
New Rule: Don't eat anything that's served to you out a window unless you're a seagull. People are acting all shocked that a human finger was found in a bowl of Wendy's chili. Hey, it cost less than a dollar. What did you expect it to contain? Lobster?
New Rule: Stop saying that teenage boys who have sex with their hot, blonde teachers are permanently damaged . I have a better description for these kids: 'Lucky bastards.'
New Rule: If you need to shave and you still collect baseball cards,you're a dope. If you're a kid, the cards are keep sakes of your idols. If you're a grown man, they're pictures of men.
New Rule: Ladies, leave your eyebrows alone. Here's how much men care about your eyebrows: Do you have two of them? Good, we're done.
New Rule: There's no such thing as flavored water. There's a whole aisle of this crap at the supermarket, water, but, without that watery taste. Sorry, but flavored water is called a soft drink. You want flavored water? Pour some scotch over ice and let it melt. That's your flavored water.
New Rule: Stop screwing with old people. Target is introducing a redesigned pill bottle that's square, with a bigger label. And the top is now the bottom. And by the time grandpa figures out how to open it, his ass will be in the morgue. Congratulations, Target, you just solved the Social Security crisis.
New Rule: The more complicated the Starbucks order, the bigger the asshole. If you walk into a Starbucks and order a 'decaf grandee, half-soy, half-low fat, iced vanilla, double-shot, gingerbread cappuccino, extra dry, light ice, with one Sweet-n'-Low, and One NutraSweet,' ooooh, you're a huge asshole.
New Rule: I'm not the cashier! By the time I look up from sliding my card, entering My PIN number, pressing 'Enter,' verifying the amount, deciding, no, I don't want Cash back, and pressing 'Enter' again, the kid who is supposed to be ringing me up is standing there eating my Almond Joy.
New Rule: Just because your tattoo has Chinese characters in it doesn't make you Spiritual. It's right above the crack of your ass. And it translates to 'beef with broccoli.' The last time you did anything spiritual, you were praying to God you weren't pregnant. You're not spiritual. You're just high.
New Rule: Competitive eating isn't a sport. It's one of the seven deadly sins. ESPN Recently televised the U.S. Open of Competitive Eating, because watching those athletes at the poker table was just too damned exciting. What's next, competitive farting? Oh wait, they're already doing that. It's called 'The Howard Stern Show.'
New Rule: I don't need a bigger mega M&Ms. If I'm extra hungry for M&Ms, I'll go nuts and eat two.
New Rule: If you're going to insist on making movies based on crappy old television shows, then you have to give everyone in the Cineplex a remote so we can see what's playing on the other screens. Let's remember the reason something was a television show in the first place is that the idea wasn't good enough to be a movie.
New Rule: And this one is long overdue: No more bathroom attendants. After I zip up, some guy is offering me a towel and a mint like I just had sex with George Michael. I can't even tell if he's supposed to be there, or just some freak with a fetish. I don't want to be on your webcam, Dude. I just want to wash my hands
New Rule: When I ask how old your toddler is, I don't need to hear '27 months.' 'He's two' will do just fine. He's not a cheese. And I didn't really care in the first place.
New Rule: If you ever hope to be a credible adult and want a job that pays better than Minimum wage, then for God's sake don't pierce or tattoo every available piece of flesh. If so, then plan your future around saying, 'Do you want fries with that?'
So today I'm going to pass along an e-mail I got titled "New Rules for 2008" By George Carlin. I'm not sure if it was really written by George Carlin. It seems that an awful lot on the internet these days are attributed to George Carlin, but whether it is or it isn't, it's still pretty good. Hopefully I'll be better tomorrow following the Packer's victory. Here it is:
New Rule: No more gift registries. You know, it used to be just for weddings. Now it's for babies and new homes and graduations from rehab. Picking out the stuff you want and having other people buy it for you isn't gift giving, it's the white people version of looting.
New Rule: Stop giving me that pop-up ad for classmates.com<http://classmates.com/> ! There's a reason you don't talk to people for 25 years. Because you don't particularly like them! Besides, I already know what the captain of the football team is doing these days--- mowing my lawn.
New Rule: Don't eat anything that's served to you out a window unless you're a seagull. People are acting all shocked that a human finger was found in a bowl of Wendy's chili. Hey, it cost less than a dollar. What did you expect it to contain? Lobster?
New Rule: Stop saying that teenage boys who have sex with their hot, blonde teachers are permanently damaged . I have a better description for these kids: 'Lucky bastards.'
New Rule: If you need to shave and you still collect baseball cards,you're a dope. If you're a kid, the cards are keep sakes of your idols. If you're a grown man, they're pictures of men.
New Rule: Ladies, leave your eyebrows alone. Here's how much men care about your eyebrows: Do you have two of them? Good, we're done.
New Rule: There's no such thing as flavored water. There's a whole aisle of this crap at the supermarket, water, but, without that watery taste. Sorry, but flavored water is called a soft drink. You want flavored water? Pour some scotch over ice and let it melt. That's your flavored water.
New Rule: Stop screwing with old people. Target is introducing a redesigned pill bottle that's square, with a bigger label. And the top is now the bottom. And by the time grandpa figures out how to open it, his ass will be in the morgue. Congratulations, Target, you just solved the Social Security crisis.
New Rule: The more complicated the Starbucks order, the bigger the asshole. If you walk into a Starbucks and order a 'decaf grandee, half-soy, half-low fat, iced vanilla, double-shot, gingerbread cappuccino, extra dry, light ice, with one Sweet-n'-Low, and One NutraSweet,' ooooh, you're a huge asshole.
New Rule: I'm not the cashier! By the time I look up from sliding my card, entering My PIN number, pressing 'Enter,' verifying the amount, deciding, no, I don't want Cash back, and pressing 'Enter' again, the kid who is supposed to be ringing me up is standing there eating my Almond Joy.
New Rule: Just because your tattoo has Chinese characters in it doesn't make you Spiritual. It's right above the crack of your ass. And it translates to 'beef with broccoli.' The last time you did anything spiritual, you were praying to God you weren't pregnant. You're not spiritual. You're just high.
New Rule: Competitive eating isn't a sport. It's one of the seven deadly sins. ESPN Recently televised the U.S. Open of Competitive Eating, because watching those athletes at the poker table was just too damned exciting. What's next, competitive farting? Oh wait, they're already doing that. It's called 'The Howard Stern Show.'
New Rule: I don't need a bigger mega M&Ms. If I'm extra hungry for M&Ms, I'll go nuts and eat two.
New Rule: If you're going to insist on making movies based on crappy old television shows, then you have to give everyone in the Cineplex a remote so we can see what's playing on the other screens. Let's remember the reason something was a television show in the first place is that the idea wasn't good enough to be a movie.
New Rule: And this one is long overdue: No more bathroom attendants. After I zip up, some guy is offering me a towel and a mint like I just had sex with George Michael. I can't even tell if he's supposed to be there, or just some freak with a fetish. I don't want to be on your webcam, Dude. I just want to wash my hands
New Rule: When I ask how old your toddler is, I don't need to hear '27 months.' 'He's two' will do just fine. He's not a cheese. And I didn't really care in the first place.
New Rule: If you ever hope to be a credible adult and want a job that pays better than Minimum wage, then for God's sake don't pierce or tattoo every available piece of flesh. If so, then plan your future around saying, 'Do you want fries with that?'
Saturday, January 19, 2008
And Tomorrow, A New Baby (Oh I hope not)
Yesterday, a new job. Today, a new car. Okay I didn't get a new car, but the little lady did. And as much as she loved her old Ford Explorer, I can't even begin to tell you how thrilled I am that the new SUV - A Honda CRV - gets almost twice the milage of the old Explorer.We loved that car, but it's time was up. We're through with Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, so we don't have much of a need for a seven seater any more. And now that Blake is in college and has his own car, it's usually not any more than Cindy, Madison and Myself, so the Honda is a perfect fit. And when we bought the Ford gas was $2 a gallon, and since it is now over $3.50 in California, the Honda REALLY makes sense.
And the bottom line is that Cindy is happy, so I'm happy too.
That's all for today - It's been a long evening at the dealer, so this is all I have time for. More tomorrow
Friday, January 18, 2008
Anticipation.....
Anticipation. God how I hate anticipation, and I’m not talking about that Carly Simon song. Okay, I hate that song too, but I’m talking about the real anticipation here. And I don’t care if you are anticipating something good or something bad, anticipation sucks. Okay, it probably sucks more if you’re anticipating bad news, but….. do you get where I’m going with this?
The reason I bring up anticipation is because I have been living with it for the last week, in reality for almost two months now. About six weeks ago I interviewed for a new job, and considering that this was a retail management position – and this was the beginning of December – there were a lot of other things going on to slow down the hiring process. It was after the first of the year that I heard back from the District Manager who had first interviewed me. She liked me, so now it was on to the HR Director.
Of course that interview didn’t get set up for almost two weeks, so there was more anticipation there. That interview went well, I thought, and I was pleased at the end of the interview when the HR manager said she wanted me to do an on-line assessment. I figured, why have me do an assessment if they weren’t still interested? And the assessment was one of those where they have about 200 questions and you answer if you agree or disagree with the statement. Of course agree or disagree is too easy, so you have to totally agree, kind of agree, sometimes agree, and so on. Of course following this assessment there are a whole new set of anxieties. Did I answer that right? Will the answers I provided eerily match those of the Unabomber? Why did I say I kind of disagreed when I only sometime disagree on question 24? Anticipation.
The good news is I didn’t have to freak out for long. I got a call the next day to set up an interview with the Zone Manager, a gentleman in charge of over 150 branches. Hey, they wouldn’t waste THIS guys time if they weren’t interested, right? Or maybe he just had to have a conversation with someone whose test scores showed a level of psychosis unmatched in company history. So last Friday, I had my final interview.
Now I’m on top of the world. Sure, the anticipation level has just been turned up to eleven, but I felt so good about that interview, and I knew my phone was going to ring Monday with an offer. Except it didn’t. More anticipation, but hey, Monday’s are busy days at the district office, of course they weren’t going to call on Monday. What was I even thinking? Idiot!
But then they didn’t call on Tuesday. Well hey, maybe she’s in meetings on Tuesday, surely she’ll call on Wednesday. But she didn’t, and going into today the anticipation had been replaced by a creeping sense of dread, and as the day wore on it was being replaced once again by nauseousness.
Now I’ve interviewed for jobs before that I ended up not getting, and in some cases it really wasn’t such a big deal, mainly because I could take or leave the job I was applying for. And I am currently employed, so it wasn’t like I HAD to get this job or my family would be on the streets. No, what caused so much anticipation this time was the fact that I REALLY wanted this job.
The reason I bring up anticipation is because I have been living with it for the last week, in reality for almost two months now. About six weeks ago I interviewed for a new job, and considering that this was a retail management position – and this was the beginning of December – there were a lot of other things going on to slow down the hiring process. It was after the first of the year that I heard back from the District Manager who had first interviewed me. She liked me, so now it was on to the HR Director.
Of course that interview didn’t get set up for almost two weeks, so there was more anticipation there. That interview went well, I thought, and I was pleased at the end of the interview when the HR manager said she wanted me to do an on-line assessment. I figured, why have me do an assessment if they weren’t still interested? And the assessment was one of those where they have about 200 questions and you answer if you agree or disagree with the statement. Of course agree or disagree is too easy, so you have to totally agree, kind of agree, sometimes agree, and so on. Of course following this assessment there are a whole new set of anxieties. Did I answer that right? Will the answers I provided eerily match those of the Unabomber? Why did I say I kind of disagreed when I only sometime disagree on question 24? Anticipation.
The good news is I didn’t have to freak out for long. I got a call the next day to set up an interview with the Zone Manager, a gentleman in charge of over 150 branches. Hey, they wouldn’t waste THIS guys time if they weren’t interested, right? Or maybe he just had to have a conversation with someone whose test scores showed a level of psychosis unmatched in company history. So last Friday, I had my final interview.
Now I’m on top of the world. Sure, the anticipation level has just been turned up to eleven, but I felt so good about that interview, and I knew my phone was going to ring Monday with an offer. Except it didn’t. More anticipation, but hey, Monday’s are busy days at the district office, of course they weren’t going to call on Monday. What was I even thinking? Idiot!
But then they didn’t call on Tuesday. Well hey, maybe she’s in meetings on Tuesday, surely she’ll call on Wednesday. But she didn’t, and going into today the anticipation had been replaced by a creeping sense of dread, and as the day wore on it was being replaced once again by nauseousness.
Now I’ve interviewed for jobs before that I ended up not getting, and in some cases it really wasn’t such a big deal, mainly because I could take or leave the job I was applying for. And I am currently employed, so it wasn’t like I HAD to get this job or my family would be on the streets. No, what caused so much anticipation this time was the fact that I REALLY wanted this job.
And at 3:00 this afternoon, I got it. You are now looking at – okay, you’re not really looking at me, but you know what I mean – you are now looking at the new General Manager of Borders Books in San Luis Obispo, CA (See picture at right). Sure, I’ll miss Target (where I am currently the Logistics Manager), and I’ll miss the fact that my current job is two miles from home while my new job is 25 miles away. I’ll miss the fact that I currently fill my gas tank once every three weeks. But I am going to love my new job. Books, Music, DVD’s – all things that I really love. And I sure as heck am not going to miss going to work at 3 am to oversee a truck getting unloaded.Who knows, I might even go out and by that Carly Simon CD? Nah…….
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Political Correctness Gone Wild….
I’ve never been a big fan of political correctness. Okay, I HATE political correctness. And just when you think they’ve gone as far as they can, they always take it to another, unbelievable level.Below is the Student “Code of Responsibility” drafted by Bergen Community College in New Jersey
In the full knowledge of the commitment that I am freely willing to undertake as a student, I promise to respect each and every member of the college community without regard to race, creed, political ideology, lifestyle orientation, gender or social status sparing no effort to preserve the dignity of those I will come in contact with as a member of the college community. I promise to Bergen Community College that I will follow this code of responsibility.
1. Honesty, integrity and respect for all will guide my personal conduct.
2. I will embrace and celebrate differing perspectives intellectually.
3. I will build an inclusive community enriched by diversity.
4. I am willing to respect and assist those individuals who are less fortunate.
5. I promise my commitment to civic engagement and to serve the needs of the community to the best of my ability.
Now are all of these things admirable? Well, I doubt that there are many out there opposed to honesty, integrity, and such. But to REQUIRE respect? What is that all about?
And before you say “Yeah, but this is just a symbolic action meant to provoke honest debate”, consider this quote from a college spokesperson today: "The pledge would not be optional .... If you don't agree, it is President Ryan's vision that you cannot attend the school."
And exactly what groups are we applying this “respect” to? Sure, race, creed, and gender are pretty black and white. But what about “Political Ideology?” Do we need to respect White Supremacists or the Klan? Do we need to respect Communists, Socialists of Fascists? And let me ask you this: Do you really think that the liberal minds that came up with this “code” respect conservatives or pro-military groups?
Look, I think that the university has a responsibility to make sure that no member of any group is denied their rights. Should a university force you to like and respect, for example, gay people? No, I don’t think they should. Should they stop you from attacking – verbally or physical – someone because they are gay? Of course they should.
Hey, I know this is a radical idea, but how about we increase respectability for groups through education, understanding, and open dialog. And how about we also understand that certain groups (such as the white supremacists, or any color supremacists for that matter) don’t deserve our respect.
And having read this code, does it surprise anyone that the banner below is prominently displayed at the top of the Bergen Community College website – almost as big as the name of the college? Liberals!
On a completely unrelated note, I think Mike Huckabee has officially torpedoed his campaign (Not that it was all that strong to begin with.) Huckabee told a Michigan audience the following on Monday:
"I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution, but I believe it's a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the Living God. And that's what we need to do -- to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than try to change God's standards so it lines up with some contemporary view."
While I think most of the arguments for “Separation of Church and State” are full of water, I think Mike stepped over the line on this one. Sure, this will play well with evangelicals, but there are not enough evangelicals out there to push Huckabee into the White House, and he needs to broaden his base. Statements like this ain’t gonna do it.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Political Tidbits......
U Citizens United, a conservative group, must abide by campaign finance laws if it wants to run ads promoting its anti-Hillary Rodham Clinton movie, a federal court ruled Tuesday. The court ruling means the group must either keep its ads off the air or attach a disclaimer and disclose its donors.
Campaign regulations prohibit corporations and unions from paying for ads that run close to elections and identify candidates. Citizens United argued that the advertisements promoted the movie and should be treated as commercial speech as opposed to political advocacy
Now if promoting this movie truly violates campaign regulations, then so be it. My question though is why THIS movie can’t be promoted, but Farenheit 9/11 which did identify a candidate (Bush), was allowed to be promoted. Seriously, does anyone have a legitimate answer for that?
By the way, you can view the trailer for the movie and purchase it here: http://hillarythemovie.com/trailer.html
U Okay, here’s what I propose: We should pick a week – any week – an for that week the Obama and Clinton camps should run on nothing but race and gender. Then, once that week is over, no one brings up either of those subjects again. Okay?
Look, we have had numerous veiled racial comments thrown out this week, most of which have been blown out of proportion. For example, Hillary’s comments about Martin Luther King, Jr. and LBJ. Technically, what she said was correct. Was it a little insensitive, especially coming as close as it did to MLK’s birthday? Sure it was. Was it racial? Probably not.
So lets get it all out there, and deal with it. Rather than apply meaning to every little comment, lets just address it, and then bury it. Of course this will never happen, so the other option is to just grow up and act like adults. Yeah, I don’t see that happening either.
U All of this implosion on the Democratic side has been very interesting to watch, and honestly I don’t know who to root for. Oh, being a conservative it’s unlikely I would vote for either Obama or Clinton (and lets face it, those are the only two with a shot – pick up your ball and go home John and Dennis). And frankly, I would rather run against Hillary than Obama because I feel she has more skeletons in her closet than Jeffery Dahmer. But, on the off-chance that the Democratic Nominee actually gets elected, I can certainly live with an Obama White House more than I can a Hillary one. And while some polls show that Clinton would be a stronger candidate, I disagree.
And lets face it, we are not talking about an off-chance, are we? Right now – not knowing who the nominee is going to be on either side – I’d say it’s fifty/fifty as to which party takes the White House. And regardless of who the nominees are, it’s going to be a tight race. Honestly, I think I’m going to have to stay with Obama, because just now as I was thinking of the POSSIBILITY of a Hillary Presidency, I pee’d myself a little.
U Well, we had another Democratic debate tonight. If you’re like me, you need a little….shall we say “incentive” to get through these debates. I used to play a drinking game where I took a shot every time the candidate dodged a question and answered it with a completely different twist. I found that this generally puts me under the coffee table about ten to twelve minutes into the debate.
Not wanting to do that, I revised the rules, and tonight we only took a shot every time Hillary mentioned that she had “35 years of Experience.” Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I had better go and lie down…..
Campaign regulations prohibit corporations and unions from paying for ads that run close to elections and identify candidates. Citizens United argued that the advertisements promoted the movie and should be treated as commercial speech as opposed to political advocacy
Now if promoting this movie truly violates campaign regulations, then so be it. My question though is why THIS movie can’t be promoted, but Farenheit 9/11 which did identify a candidate (Bush), was allowed to be promoted. Seriously, does anyone have a legitimate answer for that?
By the way, you can view the trailer for the movie and purchase it here: http://hillarythemovie.com/trailer.html
U Okay, here’s what I propose: We should pick a week – any week – an for that week the Obama and Clinton camps should run on nothing but race and gender. Then, once that week is over, no one brings up either of those subjects again. Okay?
Look, we have had numerous veiled racial comments thrown out this week, most of which have been blown out of proportion. For example, Hillary’s comments about Martin Luther King, Jr. and LBJ. Technically, what she said was correct. Was it a little insensitive, especially coming as close as it did to MLK’s birthday? Sure it was. Was it racial? Probably not.
So lets get it all out there, and deal with it. Rather than apply meaning to every little comment, lets just address it, and then bury it. Of course this will never happen, so the other option is to just grow up and act like adults. Yeah, I don’t see that happening either.
U All of this implosion on the Democratic side has been very interesting to watch, and honestly I don’t know who to root for. Oh, being a conservative it’s unlikely I would vote for either Obama or Clinton (and lets face it, those are the only two with a shot – pick up your ball and go home John and Dennis). And frankly, I would rather run against Hillary than Obama because I feel she has more skeletons in her closet than Jeffery Dahmer. But, on the off-chance that the Democratic Nominee actually gets elected, I can certainly live with an Obama White House more than I can a Hillary one. And while some polls show that Clinton would be a stronger candidate, I disagree.
And lets face it, we are not talking about an off-chance, are we? Right now – not knowing who the nominee is going to be on either side – I’d say it’s fifty/fifty as to which party takes the White House. And regardless of who the nominees are, it’s going to be a tight race. Honestly, I think I’m going to have to stay with Obama, because just now as I was thinking of the POSSIBILITY of a Hillary Presidency, I pee’d myself a little.
U Well, we had another Democratic debate tonight. If you’re like me, you need a little….shall we say “incentive” to get through these debates. I used to play a drinking game where I took a shot every time the candidate dodged a question and answered it with a completely different twist. I found that this generally puts me under the coffee table about ten to twelve minutes into the debate.
Not wanting to do that, I revised the rules, and tonight we only took a shot every time Hillary mentioned that she had “35 years of Experience.” Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I had better go and lie down…..
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
I've Got The Music In Me....
I love music. All kinds of music, and I always have. People who are around me when I have my Ipod on “shuffle” are driven nuts, as we go from AC/DC to Dean Martin to Ray Charles to Dr. Dre to Garth Brooks to Bo Donaldson & The Heywoods to.... well, you get the picture. And I am very fortunate because I married a women who loves music just as much as I do. It used to be that if we ever had a fire the first thing to grab was the photo albums. Now, it’s the IPods.And then there are the kids. The kids too are big music lovers, but their tastes tend to veer away from ours. Well, at least the Boy. Blake is a big hard rock/metal fan, and while we share our appreciation of Led Zeppelin and AC/DC, even those bands don’t register with Blake anywhere near the level they do with me. Madison is a different story. Being an eleven year-old girl she’s into Hannah Montana and High School Musical, but Madison is also a huge country music fan. Where did that come from?
Look, I don’t have a problem with country music. Country music was huge in our house when I was growing up. My dad wasn’t a huge music fan, but when he did listen to music, it was always country. And every Saturday afternoon we watched The Porter Waggoner Show, and then on Sunday afternoon it was Hee-Haw. But how did my daughter get hooked on country? To be honest, I have absolutely no idea.
If there was ever any disappointment with regards to my kid’s musical taste, it is the fact that I have had little luck in influencing their tastes. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to control what my kids listen to, I’m merely trying to expand their tastes. I’ve pretty much given up on Blake, but with Maddie I’ve had more luck, mainly because I’m the one driving the car (and controlling the radio).
And then, on Christmas morning, everything changed. Madison got the one thing she really, really wanted for Christmas: Guitar Hero III. For those of you unfamiliar with Guitar Hero, it is a video game for your system (in our case, a PlayStation II) in which the game controller has been replace with a guitar shaped controller. In the game you play classic rock songs on your guitar. And apparently, as you play the song, you gain a whole new appreciation for the classics. My daughter now knows all the words to “Slow Ride” by Foghat, and even Blake has been caught humming “Smoke on the Water”.
And then today, I noticed that I hadn’t seen my daughter for awhile. She wasn't in the sun room playing Guitar Hero. She wasn’t in the backyard on her trampoline, nor was she in her room. Finally, I found her on the computer in our bedroom. “What are you doing?” I asker her. “Downloading Cheap Trick videos on YouTube,” She responded. I have never been so proud. Excuse me, I have something in my eye…….
Speaking of having something in your eye, yesterday The New York Giants defeated the favored Dallas Cowboys yesterday. And at the press conference after the game, Terrell Owens, the Cowboys oft-cocky receiver came very, very close to breaking down. His lip was quivering, and I’m sure that behind his sunglasses his eyes were welling up. On the bright side, Owens is now the frontrunner in the Nevada primaries.
"Three great forces rule the world: stupidity, fear and greed." -- Albert Einstein
“Replace the word ‘world’ with ‘Clintons’” – Bob Peters
Monday, January 14, 2008
Pat, I'd Like To Try To Solve The Puzzle.....
Today I’m going to talk about Global Warming. Actually, Pat Sajak is going to talk about Global Warming. Sajak? We’ll, what you may not know is Pat Sajak got his start on T.V. as a meteorologist. Does that make him an expert? No, but I think it makes him more knowledgeable than the average man on the street. Plus, look at his wife!The reason I am discussing this today is two-fold. First, I found this article on a link over at my friend Jody’s blog last night, and I found the article interesting. Secondly, I used today to clean out my garage, something made possible by near 80 degree temperatures today. Thank you global warming.
I’m kind of on the fence as far as this discussion goes. I do believe there is climate change, I do think that man contributes to it, but I think it’s miniscule. Sure, we’ve had a number of record setting years lately, but if you look at the average temperature by year from 1900 to 1980, six of the top years were in the 30’s. And then it got cooler, so much so that in the 70’s these same scientists were predicting the coming Ice Age.
The earth’s temperature fluctuates. Does that mean we shouldn’t worry about it? Of course not, I think we all need to do our part. That means looking for a high MPG car next time you buy one, turning off lights when you’re not in the room, putting on a sweater instead of turning up the heater – you know, the stuff your mom told you to do.
What bothers me about the “Al Gore” crowd is that most of them are so certain that they are right that they refuse to even debate the subject. Why? Look, I’m pretty darn sure the earth is round, and I have no problem arguing with those who think it’s flat. And what Sajak is doing in this article is not saying that one side or another is right. What he is saying is, hey, before we make huge, drastic changes, lets ask a few basic questions first. What’s so wrong with that?
Man-Made Global Warming: 10 Questions – By Pat Sajak
The subject of man-made global warming is almost impossible to discuss without a descent into virulent name-calling (especially on the Internet, where anonymity breeds a special kind of vicious reaction to almost any social or political question), but I’ll try anyway. I consider myself to be relatively well-read on the matter, and I’ve still come down on the skeptical side, because there are aspects of the issue that don’t make a lot of sense to me. Though I confess to have written none-too-reverentially on the subject, I want to try to put all that aside and ask ten serious questions to which I have been unable to find definitive answers:
1. What is the perfect temperature?
If we are to embark on a lifestyle-altering quest to lower the temperature (or at least minimize its rise), what is our goal? I don’t ask this flippantly. Can we demonstrate that one setting on the global thermostat is preferable over another? If so, what is it, and how do we get there? And, once there, how do we maintain it? Will we ever have to “heat things up” again if it drops below that point?
2. Just what is the average temperature of the earth?
At any one time there are temperature extremes all over the planet. How do we come up with an average, and how do those variations fit in with our desire to slow global warming?
3. What factors have led to global warming in the past, and how do we know they aren’t the causes of the current warming trend?
Again, I don’t ask this in a judgmental way. There is no argument that warming cycles (or cooling, for that matter) have been a part of earth’s history. Why are we so sure this one is different?
4. Why is there such a strong effort to stifle discussion and dissent?
I’m always troubled by arguments that begin, “Everybody agrees...” or “Everyone knows...” In fact, there is a good deal of dissent in the scientific world about the theory of man-made global warming. A large (and growing) segment of those who study such things are questioning some of the basic premises of the theory. Why should there be anything wrong with that? Again, this is a big deal, and we should have the best information and opinion from the best minds.
5. Why are there such dramatically different warnings about the effects of man-made global warming?
Predictions of 20-foot rises in ocean levels have given way to talk of a few inches over time. In many cases, those predictions are less than the rises of the past few centuries. Whatever the case, why the scare tactics?
6. Are there potential benefits to global warming?
Again, I don’t ask this mockingly. Would a warmer climate in some areas actually improve living conditions? Would such improvement (health, crop production, lifestyle) balance any negative impact from the phenomenon?
7. Should such drastic changes in public policy be based on a “what if?” proposition?
There are some who say we can’t afford to wait, and, even if there’s some doubt, we should move ahead with altering the way we live. While there are good arguments for changing some of our environmental policies, should they be based on “what it?”
8. What will be the impact on the people of the world if we change the way we live based on man-made global warming concerns?
Nothing happens in a vacuum; there are always unintended consequences to our actions. For example, if we were to dramatically reduce our need for international oil, what happens to the economies of the Middle East and the populations that rely on oil income? There are thousands of other implications, some good and some bad. What are they? Shouldn’t we be thinking about them and talking about them?
9. How will we measure our successes?
Is the measuring stick going to be temperature, sea level, number of annual hurricanes, rainfall, or a combination of all those things? Again, do we have a goal in mind? What happens when we get there?
10. How has this movement gained such momentum?
We’ve faced environmental issues throughout our history, but it’s difficult to remember one which has gained such “status” in such a short time. To a skeptic, there seems to be a religious fervor that makes one wary. A gradual “ramping down” of the dire predictions has not led to a diminution of the doomsday rhetoric. Are these warning signs that the movement has become more of an activist cause than a scientific reality?
Just asking
Sunday, January 13, 2008
The Pack, The Quake, And Bob Actually Defends The Clintons
Once again I have nothing worthy of an entire post, so here are a few more random ramblings.
U Go Pack: Wow, what a game. Seattle gets two quick touchdowns off of Packer fumbles and goes up 14-0. This had me nervous because the pack has only been down by 10 or more twice this season, losing both games. But then the pack exploded, tying it up before the first quarter was over (and tying the NFL record for most post-season points in a single quarter), and then exploding to win the game by 22 points in a huge snowstorm.
And now, for the first time in 10 years the Packers are in the NFC Championship game. New York or Dallas? Well, we won’t know until tomorrow – and the Giants have been as hot as the Cowboys have been cool lately. Giants win and we’re back in Lambeau next week. Cowboys win and we travel to Dallas, where Brett Favre is 0 and 9. Go Giants…..
U Snow Falls In Baghdad: Lambeau Field I understand, but Baghdad? Yes, snow fell today in Baghdad for the first time ever in recorded history. Do you know what this means? I have spent the entire afternoon compiling a list of things I promised to do if Hell froze over. This means that I will have to vote for Hillary, and there are a couple of girls from college that I owe phone calls to. Oh the humanity….
U Snow I Can Take. Earthquakes? Not So Much: I don’t know if there is anything “Biblical” about this, but just as I am typing the phrase “Hell Freezes Over” we experience a 3.1 earthquake. Now 3.1 isn’t huge, but any earthquake you can feel freaks me out. Four years ago, two days before Christmas, we were hit with a 6.5, which is pretty huge. All of the shelves in my garage went over, spilling every paint, stain and solvent I had on Cindy’s Explorer. The buffet with all of Cindy’s grandmothers good china went over, losing everything. Our fireplace pulled away from the wall, and the kids playhouse, which was supported on four 12 x 12 posts, came down.
Being two days before Christmas, the kids were home and could have been in that playhouse. Thank God they weren’t up there. And in my daughters room all of the dresser drawers shoot across the room. Thank god they weren’t there either. But my daughter and her friend were sitting right in front of the big screen T.V., which had it been on the opposite wall, it would have fallen right on top of them. But given the “wave” nature of earthquakes, all of the items on the east side of the house remained fairly stationery.
In my son’s room, the action was very violent. Everything moved towards the middle of the room, and despite the fact that everything that was on a shelf was now on the floor, the room seemed strangely cleaner than it had been in weeks. Could be my imagination though. Anyhow, ever since that day, and the several hundred (yes, several hundred) aftershocks that came after, I’ve had a, shall we say, healthy respect for earthquakes. Coming from the Midwest, where I had a healthy respect for tornadoes, I can honestly say that I’ll take an “I know it’s coming” tornado over a “What the hell was that” earthquake any day.
U Go Pack: Wow, what a game. Seattle gets two quick touchdowns off of Packer fumbles and goes up 14-0. This had me nervous because the pack has only been down by 10 or more twice this season, losing both games. But then the pack exploded, tying it up before the first quarter was over (and tying the NFL record for most post-season points in a single quarter), and then exploding to win the game by 22 points in a huge snowstorm.
And now, for the first time in 10 years the Packers are in the NFC Championship game. New York or Dallas? Well, we won’t know until tomorrow – and the Giants have been as hot as the Cowboys have been cool lately. Giants win and we’re back in Lambeau next week. Cowboys win and we travel to Dallas, where Brett Favre is 0 and 9. Go Giants…..
U Snow Falls In Baghdad: Lambeau Field I understand, but Baghdad? Yes, snow fell today in Baghdad for the first time ever in recorded history. Do you know what this means? I have spent the entire afternoon compiling a list of things I promised to do if Hell froze over. This means that I will have to vote for Hillary, and there are a couple of girls from college that I owe phone calls to. Oh the humanity….
U Snow I Can Take. Earthquakes? Not So Much: I don’t know if there is anything “Biblical” about this, but just as I am typing the phrase “Hell Freezes Over” we experience a 3.1 earthquake. Now 3.1 isn’t huge, but any earthquake you can feel freaks me out. Four years ago, two days before Christmas, we were hit with a 6.5, which is pretty huge. All of the shelves in my garage went over, spilling every paint, stain and solvent I had on Cindy’s Explorer. The buffet with all of Cindy’s grandmothers good china went over, losing everything. Our fireplace pulled away from the wall, and the kids playhouse, which was supported on four 12 x 12 posts, came down.
Being two days before Christmas, the kids were home and could have been in that playhouse. Thank God they weren’t up there. And in my daughters room all of the dresser drawers shoot across the room. Thank god they weren’t there either. But my daughter and her friend were sitting right in front of the big screen T.V., which had it been on the opposite wall, it would have fallen right on top of them. But given the “wave” nature of earthquakes, all of the items on the east side of the house remained fairly stationery.
In my son’s room, the action was very violent. Everything moved towards the middle of the room, and despite the fact that everything that was on a shelf was now on the floor, the room seemed strangely cleaner than it had been in weeks. Could be my imagination though. Anyhow, ever since that day, and the several hundred (yes, several hundred) aftershocks that came after, I’ve had a, shall we say, healthy respect for earthquakes. Coming from the Midwest, where I had a healthy respect for tornadoes, I can honestly say that I’ll take an “I know it’s coming” tornado over a “What the hell was that” earthquake any day.
One last earthquake related item. In the picture on the right you see the rubble of the “Acorn Building” in downtown Paso Robles. The Acorn Building fell, killing two. If you look at that picture, you will see that three doors down from the Acorn building is a green awning. One year prior to the quake that building – the one with the green awning – Housed “The Yardstick Fabric & Crafts”, a fabric store owned by my wife and myself. We had made the decision to close, and had we not my wife, and possibly my daughter, would have been in this mess. Thank god for small miracles. Okay, maybe not that small.U Well, I Was Waiting For This: Yesterday I commented about Bill Clinton’s “Fairy Tale” remark regarding Obama’s stance on the Iraqi war. Well today it seems Clinton is taking flack from “black leadership” regarding the comment, which they interpreted as not only attacking Obama’s stance on the war, but also his overarching message and his drive to be the first black president.
Look, I’m not in the habit of defending the Clinton’s, but this is B.S.. If you read or listen to Clinton’s original comments, it is obvious that he is talking about the war, nothing else.
Look, I have no problem whatsoever with our having America’s first black president, or Jewish president, or Hispanic president, or even America’s first women president (but God please, not THAT woman). But if that means that every time they say or do something, or everytime somebody criticizes their actions we’re going to pull out the race or the gender card, then count me out. Sure, there’s nothing wrong with pulling the card out whenever an obvious slight to race or gender has been made, but if you need to “read into” comments, then there probably wasn’t anything racially charged there to start with.
I was surprised that, in an effort to explain the difference between the New Hampshire exit polls and the actual vote, several commentators suggested that some people would have told pollsters that they voted for Obama when in fact they may not “be ready yet” to vote for a black man. What sense does that make? Like saying that you voted for Clinton or Edwards makes you a racist? I just don’t get it.
U One Last Thing: Go see “The Bucket List”. Good movie.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Slow News Day
Crazy day, not enough time to really get in deep on any single topic, but there are a few things going on that I thought I’d comment on.
U Dennis gets his way: Well this kind of came out of left field. It seems that Dennis Kucinich is unhappy with the New Hampshire results, and has called for a manual recount, and surprisingly, he’s getting it. Well, he’s getting it because he’s paying for it, so because of that, I don’t have a problem with it.
Now Dennis only got 1.4% of the vote, so I don’t think that he’s calling for a recount because he thinks he won the thing, but because he thinks that there are “serious and credible reports, allegations and rumors” about the integrity of the primary results.
Do I think they are going to find anything? Probably not, BUT if they do find that Clinton didn’t actually receive the votes she did, her candidacy is over. But before you take that as me stirring things up, know that I really think nothing will come of this
U In other political news Bill Clinton today said “There’s nothing ‘fairy tale’ about his (Obama’s) campaign. It’s real, it’s strong, and he might win.” Clinton said this today in a phone interview for the Rev. Al Sharpton’s Radio One network talk show.
Clinton said his “fairy tale” remark on the eve of the New Hampshire primary at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., and had accused Obama of misrepresenting himself on the Iraq war.
Now personally, I’m a believer that you shouldn’t speak out about something you know nothing about, which means that I fully support Bill Clinton in his attacks on Obama. Why? Well think about it, is there really anybody out there who knows more about misrepresenting their stance on the Iraq war than Bill Clinton? I Didn’t think so.
U You couldn’t make stuff like this up: Animal rights group PETA has asked the jail housing a man accused of murdering his girlfriend and possibly eating her body parts not to feed him meat.
The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals faxed a letter Thursday to the Smith County Sheriff's Jail in Tyler, Texas, asking that 25-year-old Christopher Lee McCuin be placed on a strict vegetarian diet to prevent him from being "involved in any senseless killing" while he's behind bars, said PETA Vice President Bruce Friedrich.
"Only in a culture where people routinely kill and eat living, feeling beings — corpses — would anybody think to kill and either eat or pretend to eat a human corpse," Friedrich said in a phone interview.
You might be surprised to know that I actually understand where PETA is coming from here. I too believe that there is a special place in this world for all of God’s creatures, and it’s right next to the mashed potatoes.
U Dennis gets his way: Well this kind of came out of left field. It seems that Dennis Kucinich is unhappy with the New Hampshire results, and has called for a manual recount, and surprisingly, he’s getting it. Well, he’s getting it because he’s paying for it, so because of that, I don’t have a problem with it.
Now Dennis only got 1.4% of the vote, so I don’t think that he’s calling for a recount because he thinks he won the thing, but because he thinks that there are “serious and credible reports, allegations and rumors” about the integrity of the primary results.
Do I think they are going to find anything? Probably not, BUT if they do find that Clinton didn’t actually receive the votes she did, her candidacy is over. But before you take that as me stirring things up, know that I really think nothing will come of this
U In other political news Bill Clinton today said “There’s nothing ‘fairy tale’ about his (Obama’s) campaign. It’s real, it’s strong, and he might win.” Clinton said this today in a phone interview for the Rev. Al Sharpton’s Radio One network talk show.
Clinton said his “fairy tale” remark on the eve of the New Hampshire primary at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., and had accused Obama of misrepresenting himself on the Iraq war.
Now personally, I’m a believer that you shouldn’t speak out about something you know nothing about, which means that I fully support Bill Clinton in his attacks on Obama. Why? Well think about it, is there really anybody out there who knows more about misrepresenting their stance on the Iraq war than Bill Clinton? I Didn’t think so.
U You couldn’t make stuff like this up: Animal rights group PETA has asked the jail housing a man accused of murdering his girlfriend and possibly eating her body parts not to feed him meat.
The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals faxed a letter Thursday to the Smith County Sheriff's Jail in Tyler, Texas, asking that 25-year-old Christopher Lee McCuin be placed on a strict vegetarian diet to prevent him from being "involved in any senseless killing" while he's behind bars, said PETA Vice President Bruce Friedrich.
"Only in a culture where people routinely kill and eat living, feeling beings — corpses — would anybody think to kill and either eat or pretend to eat a human corpse," Friedrich said in a phone interview.
You might be surprised to know that I actually understand where PETA is coming from here. I too believe that there is a special place in this world for all of God’s creatures, and it’s right next to the mashed potatoes.
Friday, January 11, 2008
So Who's Fair & Balanced Now?
My friends on the left are constantly putting down Fox News, and sometimes (not often) they have a valid point. I Just hope they were watching Bill O’Reilly Wednesday evening. O’Reilly was discussing a comment made by Chris Matthews at MSNBC. These are Matthews comments from Wednesday morning:
"Lets not forget, and I’ll be brutal, the reason she's a U.S. Senator, the reason she's a candidate for President, the reason she may be a front-runner, is her husband messed around. That's how she got to be Senator from New York. We keep forgetting it. She didn't win it on the merits..."
So how did Bill O’Reilly, a member of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy (VRWC) at the evil Mothership respond to this allegation: “NBC is a very powerful network, and we have said for years that this network is not fair and it has an agenda a mile long, and now I think their own people are admitting it. Now Mr. Matthews has ever right to say what he wants to say because he is not a reporter, he is a commentator, as I am. But it’s rough, it’s rough business what these people are doing over there. We don’t do that here. We would never say that Senator Clinton got her job because her husband “messed around”. I mean that is, that is a personal attack, and it is questionable whether a network should allow that or not. Senator Clinton, whether you like her or not, is a sitting senator who earned her position by winning the election in New York. And for somebody to denigrate her like that is stunning.”
Look, Matthews worked for four Democratic politicians. He worked in the Senate for five years on the staffs of Senators Frank Moss and Edmund Muskie before himself campaigning (and failing) for a seat in the House of Representatives. He was a presidential speechwriting for four years during the Carter administration, and later worked six years as a top aide to long-time Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill. In other words, we are not talking about a member of the VRWC here.
In a related story (related due to the fact that it involves the media and a candidate), Lee Cowan, the NBC News correspondent covering Barrack Obama said this about covering Obama: “You know I think from a reporters point of view it’s almost hard to remain objective because it’s infectious”
To which NBC News Anchor Brian Williams, speaking on MSNBC, responded: “I interviewed Lee Cowan, our reporter who covers Obama while I was out yesterday, we posted the interview on the web, and Lee says to me “It’s hard to stay objective covering this guy” and it was very courageous for Lee to say that to be honest.”
Courageous? Look, I’ll be the first to admit that Obama is a very infectious man, but basically what this reporter is telling us is that he (the reporter) is no longer objective. If this was a Republican candidate he’d be yanked by the network in a minute, and here the Network anchor is calling this guy courageous. Huh? And okay, I’ll be the first to admit that “Infectious” is probably not an adjective we’ll be hearing regarding the Republican field anytime soon.
On another “Media” note, I spent some time in the car on Wednesday, which means I spent time listening to talk radio, mainly Air America. There was a great deal of discussion regarding the Iranian speedboats that approached and potentially threatened US warships in the Straight of Hormuz, and both the commentators and the callers spent more time blaming the incident on the US, and giving Iran a pass.
While this bother bothered and amazed me, imagine my shock when I found similar comments on the blog of my good friend Chris. Yes, Chris is a liberal, and yes, liberals have shown themselves to let their hatred of George Bush cloud common sense, but I’ve always felt Chris was to smart for that. Yet here he is, questioning the US Navy, and giving credence to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, an organization that was labeled a terrorist organization by the US Congress by a vote of 76 to 22. I realize that Chris’s candidate – Barack Obama – did not vote for the resolution, but he did not vote against it either.
Could this be a staged event by the Bush administration in order to drum up support for attacking Iran? Sure it could be. Could Bill Clinton be the Zodiac Killer? Well, they never found the guy, so he could be…. But why would your mind go there? Look, if this turns out to be a staged event – which I highly doubt – I’ll be screaming at the top of my lungs along with Chris calling for Bush’s impeachment. But if it WASN'T a staged event, I doubt that those on the left will be screaming they were wrong.
Of course Chris’s response was that there is a history of George Bush lying to get us into war. I asked Chris for the proof that Bush knowingly misled us. Chris’s response: “Why don't you show me some proof that there wasn't bad intelligence. The burden of proof is on your side”. Wow. Guilty until proven innocent. Ladies and gentleman, I give you the American Left.
"Lets not forget, and I’ll be brutal, the reason she's a U.S. Senator, the reason she's a candidate for President, the reason she may be a front-runner, is her husband messed around. That's how she got to be Senator from New York. We keep forgetting it. She didn't win it on the merits..."
So how did Bill O’Reilly, a member of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy (VRWC) at the evil Mothership respond to this allegation: “NBC is a very powerful network, and we have said for years that this network is not fair and it has an agenda a mile long, and now I think their own people are admitting it. Now Mr. Matthews has ever right to say what he wants to say because he is not a reporter, he is a commentator, as I am. But it’s rough, it’s rough business what these people are doing over there. We don’t do that here. We would never say that Senator Clinton got her job because her husband “messed around”. I mean that is, that is a personal attack, and it is questionable whether a network should allow that or not. Senator Clinton, whether you like her or not, is a sitting senator who earned her position by winning the election in New York. And for somebody to denigrate her like that is stunning.”
Look, Matthews worked for four Democratic politicians. He worked in the Senate for five years on the staffs of Senators Frank Moss and Edmund Muskie before himself campaigning (and failing) for a seat in the House of Representatives. He was a presidential speechwriting for four years during the Carter administration, and later worked six years as a top aide to long-time Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill. In other words, we are not talking about a member of the VRWC here.
In a related story (related due to the fact that it involves the media and a candidate), Lee Cowan, the NBC News correspondent covering Barrack Obama said this about covering Obama: “You know I think from a reporters point of view it’s almost hard to remain objective because it’s infectious”
To which NBC News Anchor Brian Williams, speaking on MSNBC, responded: “I interviewed Lee Cowan, our reporter who covers Obama while I was out yesterday, we posted the interview on the web, and Lee says to me “It’s hard to stay objective covering this guy” and it was very courageous for Lee to say that to be honest.”
Courageous? Look, I’ll be the first to admit that Obama is a very infectious man, but basically what this reporter is telling us is that he (the reporter) is no longer objective. If this was a Republican candidate he’d be yanked by the network in a minute, and here the Network anchor is calling this guy courageous. Huh? And okay, I’ll be the first to admit that “Infectious” is probably not an adjective we’ll be hearing regarding the Republican field anytime soon.
On another “Media” note, I spent some time in the car on Wednesday, which means I spent time listening to talk radio, mainly Air America. There was a great deal of discussion regarding the Iranian speedboats that approached and potentially threatened US warships in the Straight of Hormuz, and both the commentators and the callers spent more time blaming the incident on the US, and giving Iran a pass.
While this bother bothered and amazed me, imagine my shock when I found similar comments on the blog of my good friend Chris. Yes, Chris is a liberal, and yes, liberals have shown themselves to let their hatred of George Bush cloud common sense, but I’ve always felt Chris was to smart for that. Yet here he is, questioning the US Navy, and giving credence to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, an organization that was labeled a terrorist organization by the US Congress by a vote of 76 to 22. I realize that Chris’s candidate – Barack Obama – did not vote for the resolution, but he did not vote against it either.
Could this be a staged event by the Bush administration in order to drum up support for attacking Iran? Sure it could be. Could Bill Clinton be the Zodiac Killer? Well, they never found the guy, so he could be…. But why would your mind go there? Look, if this turns out to be a staged event – which I highly doubt – I’ll be screaming at the top of my lungs along with Chris calling for Bush’s impeachment. But if it WASN'T a staged event, I doubt that those on the left will be screaming they were wrong.
Of course Chris’s response was that there is a history of George Bush lying to get us into war. I asked Chris for the proof that Bush knowingly misled us. Chris’s response: “Why don't you show me some proof that there wasn't bad intelligence. The burden of proof is on your side”. Wow. Guilty until proven innocent. Ladies and gentleman, I give you the American Left.
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