What A Pathetic Group

Back to the drawing board. What are those Congressmen thinking to vote against one of the most important bills in this nation's history? Do they not understand basic economics? Are they not aware that there are times when you have to compromise your principles to do the right thing? Were they that insulted by Nancy Pelosi's ill-advised comments about the Republicans? Would it have hurt Nancy to keep her mouth shut for a change? What a pathetic group! And so much for McCain's party leadership skills! As for Bush, he's done. He just doesn't have enough brains to quietly leave town.

Where Is Today's Leadership?

I just finished watching the 7 part HBO series 'John Adams'. There was a lot to be learned in this series but without question the most obvious thing is that when viewing today's political landscape, there is a sad lack of leadership approaching the caliber of Adams, Jefferson, Washington, Franklin, Madison, Hamilton and so many more of that time. While Bush & Cheney are busy attempting to undo what the men above accomplished, it's also true that Obama and McCain fall short. Depressing.

Joke of The Day

It is Sarah Palin's view that because she can see a chunk of ice in Siberia from her breakfast nook, she is eminently qualified in the matter of foreign affairs. Now that you've picked yourself up from your fit of hysterical laughter, consider the sobering fact that she actually believes this!!! End of joke.

It's A Bird! It's A Plane! NO, it's Super McCain!!!

So.....what does one make of John McCain suspending his campaign, canceling the debate, jumping on his white stallion and riding into Washington at the eleventh hour to save the day!!!????
I thought so. Me too.

Seven Hundred Billion Dollars

There are a lot of things I don't get these days and one of them is what's going to actually happen to the $700 billion the Treasury Secretary wants for a bailout. Here are a few of my questions:
Where's the money going?
Who's actually getting it?
Are the people who defaulted on the loans that created the mess to begin with getting any of it? If so, who are they and why are they getting it? In fact is the assumption that the mess was created by bad loans correct? If not, what did do it?
What will happen if Congress says 'NO'? A free market is just that, free. Let the chips fall where they may.
Just a few questions. I'll let you know what I find out.

More Great Lies

You've heard of the 3 great lies, right?
The check's in the mail.
Of course I'll respect you in the morning.
I'm from the government and I'm here to help.

Well hospitals have a 'great lies' version all their own. Read on:
This might pinch a little.
This might be a little uncomfortable.
The doctor will be right in to see you.
Just push this button and someone will be right in.
Hi, I'm Suzie. I'm a first year nursing student but I've done this dozens of times.
And finally the best one of all: I'll be right back.

Let's Clear Things Up

In case you're a little confused.....
* If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're "exotic, different."

* If you grow up in Alaska eating moose burgers, you're a quintessential American story.

* If your name is Barack, you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.

* If you name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you're a maverick.

* If you graduate from Harvard law School, you are unstable.

* If you attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded.

* If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.

* If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.

* If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian.

* If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian

* If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.

* If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system, while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you're very responsible.

* If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's.

* If you're husband is nicknamed "First Dude", with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.

OK, things should be much clearer now. . . .

Message to Joe Biden

Hi Joe,
It was nice talking to you yesterday & I'm happy to hear you're looking forward to your October 2nd debate with Sarah Palin. Here's the advice you asked for:
First-be polite and respectful. She's earned that much.
Second-don't talk down to her or be patronizing. That will backfire on you quickly.
Third-don't be afraid of her. At the GOP convention she came out with both barrels blazing. Now let's see if she can take it as well as she dishes it out.
Fourth-hold her accountable. Point out her obvious ignorance on many issues and point out her flip-flops.
Fifth-while doing all of the above, keep it simple & to the point. You have a tendency to 'bird walk'-to say the least. Curb your enthusiasm!

Good luck. I'll be watching.
Sincerely,
Your friend George

More on Sarah Palin

As anyone who hasn't been on Mars for the past week or so knows, there's a lot going around about Sarah Palin. But one of the best pieces I've seen so far appeared recently in Newsweek. It was a column written by Anna Quindlen. She sums up the situation in her typically logical fashion.

Here's a link to that piece. It really puts things in perspective:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/157543

Vote Republican? Absolutely. Here's Why

I’m voting Republican because the government will give more tax breaks to the needy rich. Besides, a little money might trickle down to me.

I’m voting Republican because we need to censor books in our public libraries, especially if they’re offensive to fundamentalist Christians.

I’m voting Republican because they’ll lie us into more unnecessary, trillion dollar wars and kill even more people (but hopefully not the unborn).

I’m voting Republican because they’ll continue to edit scientific papers to fit their agenda.

I’m voting Republican because I’m pro-life for the brain dead and unborn. Once you have your uncle’s baby you’re on your own – it builds character.

I’m voting Republican because I love it when businesses pay their executives outrageous amounts of money. Tax breaks for companies that outsource jobs overseas inspire other businesses – profits go up and Americans lose their jobs. What could be better? Business will always regulate itself and protect the public – whether it’s toys or dog food.

I’m voting Republican because I want them to finish shredding our Constitution.

I’m voting Republican because I needs that AK-47 to hunt ‘possums for stew.

I’m voting Republican because they’ll turn my prejudices into law…and my horse really doesn’t like me anyway.

I’m voting Republican because the poor oil companies need even more record profits. I’m happy that my tax dollars will cover their incentives.

For Two Bonus Points:

I’m voting Republican because they’ll continue to grow our national debt and bankrupt the country. Besides I like being owned by China and Dubai.

I’m voting Republican because they’ll keep making the government bigger and their wealthy friends even richer. A little might even trickle down to me.

AND THEY'RE OFF..........

Well, here we go. We’re off and running. You can practically see the veins popping out of the heads of the McCain/Palin camp as they scream in righteous indignation over Obama's use of the metaphor 'lipstick on a pig'. No matter that McCain used the same expression describing Hillary's health plan. Then when you factor in the media's frenzy in spotlighting this, you've got a good old-fashioned brouhaha. But don’t worry all you Obama fans out there. Sarah’s going to get hers (Oops! I didn’t mean anything by that, honest!). The press is already investigating her attempt way back when to have books removed from the school or town library-can’t remember which. And on and on it will go ad nauseum until election day at which time the voters will be so fed up with the whole thing they’d vote for Paris Hilton just to end it all. I think I’ll start keeping unofficial track of the ‘controversies' as they come up starting with the two described above. Stay tuned. More are sure to follow.

Hysteria unleashed

Well, well, well. The news stations are all abuzz over the latest polls showing McCain now slightly ahead of Obama. It would seem Sarah Palin has given the GOP ticket the boost it desperately needed.
Let's analyze the situation: What you have here is an attractive, young woman who obviously has good speaking skills and, on top of that, has a feisty temperament. It must have been on the basis of this that the people polled-apparently young women- made their choice. It couldn't have been anything else because there ISN'T anything else! The fact that this 'person' is wholly unqualified to fill the shoes of the President of the United States seemed to be lost on them. Amazing, absolutely amazing. Now it's up the Obama & Biden camp to take off the gloves and start playing real politics instead of worrying about being called bullies.

Elitist Obama?

Elite, n. 1. The best or most skilled members of a given social group. 2. A small and privileged group.
American Heritage Dictionary, c 198
This morning’s guest on Meet the Press was Joe Biden. The interview with Tom Brokaw was generally unremarkable because Brokaw threw him some pretty soft pitches but one thing did come up that’s been the topic of other conversations and articles, to wit, the appearance of ‘elitism’ in Barack Obama. Just yesterday I read an article in a news magazine that suggested this issue might be a problem for Obama. These are just the latest in a long-running series that pops up from time to time.
The idea that someone in American politics might be among the ‘elite’ suggests they are arrogant snobs who tend to look down on the rest of ‘us’ (that would be YOU, certainly not me). It’s been said by numerous political pundits that the American people wouldn’t be happy with anyone unless they’re like us (actually YOU, not me). But let’s be clear about something: who exactly do you think it is that wrote the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution???? The ‘Elite Class”, that’s who! Does this country really want someone who isn’t ‘the best or most skilled member of a given social group’? I certainly don’t and if that means they act a little ‘uppity’ from time to time, oh well. As far as I’m concerned this whole thing gets down to the anti intellectual, anti education element of this country. All you need to do is look at the present administration for evidence of this. No one has shown more contempt or been more dismissive of the world of Science than Bush & Cheney. Unfortunately, it doesn’t stop there. Why do you suppose it is that teachers, generally better educated than the general public, are among the lowest paid professionals in this country but not abroad? So if Obama is ‘elite’, good. We need more people like him, not fewer.

Worst Case, Best Case

Exactly 2 months from today registered voters will select a new president. I see two possible scenarios shaping up:

Worst case: Death by 'ism'. As we have seen or heard, Sarah Palin is a feisty gal who can mix it up with the best of them-maybe. Let's see what happens when they start getting a little rough with her. Will she retreat to her corner, whining about 'sexism'?
And how about McCain. If it starts getting a little rougher, will he start whining about 'ageism'?
As for Obama, we've already heard him hint at 'racism'.
Biden? He might start talking non stop for the next 60 days!

Best Case: Everyone behaves like adults, setting forth their ideas in a clear concise manner without getting personal thereby letting the American people make their choice.

One thing's for sure: Everyone can rejoice in the fact that there are only a few short months left to the worst, most damaging presidency in the history of this republic. Hallelujah and praise the Lord!

Random Musings

1. A short time ago I read a great book called "The Downhill Lie" by Carl Hiaasen who is a newspaper columnist and author of several hilarious novels.
The book is about his reemergence into golf after 20 years. He actually calls it a relapse! I bring this up because I played golf Sunday for the first time in 2 years and much of what he said was too true. If you ever played golf, you've got to read this book. You'll relate to it easily (unless of course you're a scratch golfer in which case I don't want to know you-just kidding, Pete).

2. So New Orleans apparently dodged a bullet-sort of-this time anyway. It brings to mind a few questions:
Should the federal government be helping the residents of New Orleans? Yes, of course. That's why we have agencies like FEMA.
Should the federal government be spending hundreds of millions of dollars helping these folks rebuild in exactly the same place instead of somewhere else that's a little safer maybe? I'll leave the answer to that to better minds than mine!
Did you happen to catch the news clip of Junior in NO telling people that things were better this time because residents heeded the warnings of FEMA and got out of town. Like it was their fault Katrina was such a disaster. What a jerk! McCain or Obama. Who cares? Anything is better than this bozo.

Better and Better

It keeps getting better and better. Sarah Palin's 17 year old daughter is 5 months pregnant but plans to marry the father soon! If you're a Democrat you don't really give a crap because you believe in letting people live their lives however they want as long as you don't bother them. But if you're a conservative Republican, you're looking to jam your values down the throats of all others. Well, so much for that Conservative base McCain's been pandering to!! Now what???