Still no word on what the bunny has to do with Easter.
And are Easter eggs supposed to be bunny eggs?
Obama has a perception problem that he is not patriotic. Some serious pandering will be required to correct this.
New conspiracy theory making the rounds - Pro Bush factions within the FBI pushed the Spitzer investigation because of Spitzer public statements blaming the MBS fiasco on the Bush administration's malfeasance. It is a political prosecution.
Nothing will change in Iraq. Ever.
Those PKK Kurds that Turkey keeps trying to kill really are bad guys. We can still like the Kurds in general, though. The Kurds like us, but so do the Turks. But they hate each other. So, where we stand on making northern Iraq a free Kurdistan is tricky. (They share a border.)
If the price of gold keeps falling, that's a good sign. It means you can buy stock again.
Goldman Sachs credit rating downgraded? Say it ain't so. I thought they had avoided the whole suprime mess. What happened?
If oil does go to $200 a barrel, we'll open ANWR and invade Venezuela. Don't forget Panama. Only the Venezuelans really will welcome us, as long as we don't stay too long. Venezuela's upper and middle classes view Chavez as the new Castro, and are leaving the country as fast as they can.
Treasury will form some sort of new RTC and take some of the pressure off the Fed. The resulting fire sale will beget new fortunes and avoid a Japan style long term stagnation.
BP will get kicked out of Russia and it's interests bought out by Gazprom.
David Shuster will cheer up, lose weight, and get his own tv show on MSNBC by Labor Day. He's way more interesting than Tucker Carlson or Dan Abrams. Or even John McLaughlin and George Stephanopoulas for that matter. But maybe not Tom Laughlin. (Implied trivia question - no fair using Google.)
In most of the world, Easter is called "Great Day" or "Great Night." Easter is an ancient German goddess of dawn. The irony is that it was those crazy German Goths who destroyed the city of Rome after it turned Christian. And now we name the most important Christian holiday after a German pagan goddess.
When is Easter? Beats me. I have studied it and still cannot explain how to calculate which Sunday Easter will fall on. Any explanations will be appreciated.
And Snake Nation is engaged. To a man.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Geezer Talk Express
McCain and Ferraro Verbally Wander Off
Showing off their 150 years of combined "experience," John McCain and Geraldine Ferraro showed that words do matter this week, separately letting their tongues wag away until they were each blue in the hair.
Ms. Ferraro shared her latest insight about racial issues in America, after the Obama speech, which is that she doesn't like being "lumped in" with Pastor Jeremiah Wright as an example of oldsters who say embarrassing things. I thought I could actually see a thought bubble appear over Hillary's head saying, "Please, please, please, just shut your stupid pie hole."
Famous White Woman Gerry Ferraro
(Notice the Feminist Eagle pin symbolizing Mother America sitting on an egg.)
Obviously Gerry doesn't get either Obama's message of coming together, or the political reality of the damage her ramblings continue to do. Come on Gerry! The fact that you don't like it is a big part of the point! Having a national discussion on race is going to be uncomfortable, and we are all going to have to deal with people we may not like or hardly know. But the point of this is that if we want to do something good for America we have an opportunity to muster the will and self discipline to do it now. It's like going to visit your relatives over the holidays. You dread it on the drive over because your cousing will bring her junkie boyfriend, Aunt Sybil will cry, and Uncle Fred will get drunk and cut a stinky one. But after forcing yourself and your immediate family to spend the weekend in close proximity with these people, you feel a little better for reconnecting and keeping the family going. You're a liberal feminist Icon. Show some leadership. Force yourself to reach out. It will be good for the country.
Meanwhile, the venerable John McCain continued to incorrectly claim that Iran was training Al Quaida terrorists, which is so ass backwards that even President Bush doesn't claim it to be true. Despite the fact that Senator McCain repeated this statement multiple times over several days, the press is pretty much giving him a pass on it, calling it a slip of the tongue. He didn't cath his own mistake, though. Joe Lieberman had to whisper it to him. But whether he said it on purpose or by mistake, it is very troubling that he has it so wrong, either way.
McCain & Lieberman - Dream Ticket?
(Their Mom likes to dress them like twins.)
John McCain is a great American, but that doesn't mean he deserves to be President. If he's having trouble keeping Al Qaida and Iran straight, I think that may be a symptom of a real problem.
It's often said that the Sixth Commandment is the most difficult to keep. (Honor thy mother and father - just so you don't have to guess.) These are good examples of why that is.
Best wishes for Good Friday.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Barack's Big Play
Football is America's pastime. The money that professional football, with a 16 game regular season, generates from tv is double the combined money made by baseball (162 game season), basketball (82 games) and hockey (who knows). Here in the South, college football may be the single most powerful social activity.
And do you know what makes a player a star in football? The ability to make "the big play" in "crunch time." That is, the ability to recapture lost momentum. The player who can force the ball into the end zone when all the opposing players know he's coming. The player who somehow comes down with an airborne ball in an endzone melee. The player who gathers his teammates in the huddle and leads them out of looming defeat to victory.
These are the rare individuals that teams, coaches, players, and fans want on their team. These are the players who inspire us with the results of applying years of hard work to improve a talent that God gave them.
Yesterday Barack Obama made a big play.
For weeks he has been mired in the muck of political mud thrown at him. Is he a Muslim? Will he end the war? Is he unpatriotic? Is he naive? Is he qualified to be Commander in Chief? Does he refuse to pledge allegience to the flag? Is his pastor an America hating, anti-white racist?
Barack had been bogged down trying to explain away or refute these so called issues. That, of course, is the plan of his opponents. When he is talking about being a Christian or answering the phone at 3:00 am, that means that he is not articulating his vision for America's future. His time is tied up chasing red herrings, instead of inspiring crowds of Americans hungry for hope and vision and a plan for a better future.
The press is complicit. In their laziness and gossip mongering, reporters and interviewers allow any random mud thrown to become the story. Rush Limbaugh has a very good point when he talks about "drive-by journalism." All many reporters feel the need to do is report that another news source is reporting something, and repeat the story without independently checking it for truth. This is what happened to John Kerry with the swift boat story. All the President's Men it is not.
But with yesterday's speech, Barack made the big play, shook off much of the muck of guilt by association being heaped upon him, and regained his own momentum and his own direction. That's the kind of player we want leading our team. He is back on track. He not only gave a great speach, but he showed that he is the real deal. No whines, no fake apologies. Just a deep understanding of the facts and an intelligible and true explanation of those facts with a perspective on how to deal with them.
He reminded me of an oft-quoted Kipling poem that I will repeat here.
If
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream -- and not make dreams your master;
If you can think -- and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings -- nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And -- which is more -- you'll be a Man, my son!
And do you know what makes a player a star in football? The ability to make "the big play" in "crunch time." That is, the ability to recapture lost momentum. The player who can force the ball into the end zone when all the opposing players know he's coming. The player who somehow comes down with an airborne ball in an endzone melee. The player who gathers his teammates in the huddle and leads them out of looming defeat to victory.
These are the rare individuals that teams, coaches, players, and fans want on their team. These are the players who inspire us with the results of applying years of hard work to improve a talent that God gave them.
Yesterday Barack Obama made a big play.
For weeks he has been mired in the muck of political mud thrown at him. Is he a Muslim? Will he end the war? Is he unpatriotic? Is he naive? Is he qualified to be Commander in Chief? Does he refuse to pledge allegience to the flag? Is his pastor an America hating, anti-white racist?
Barack had been bogged down trying to explain away or refute these so called issues. That, of course, is the plan of his opponents. When he is talking about being a Christian or answering the phone at 3:00 am, that means that he is not articulating his vision for America's future. His time is tied up chasing red herrings, instead of inspiring crowds of Americans hungry for hope and vision and a plan for a better future.
The press is complicit. In their laziness and gossip mongering, reporters and interviewers allow any random mud thrown to become the story. Rush Limbaugh has a very good point when he talks about "drive-by journalism." All many reporters feel the need to do is report that another news source is reporting something, and repeat the story without independently checking it for truth. This is what happened to John Kerry with the swift boat story. All the President's Men it is not.
But with yesterday's speech, Barack made the big play, shook off much of the muck of guilt by association being heaped upon him, and regained his own momentum and his own direction. That's the kind of player we want leading our team. He is back on track. He not only gave a great speach, but he showed that he is the real deal. No whines, no fake apologies. Just a deep understanding of the facts and an intelligible and true explanation of those facts with a perspective on how to deal with them.
He reminded me of an oft-quoted Kipling poem that I will repeat here.
If
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream -- and not make dreams your master;
If you can think -- and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings -- nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And -- which is more -- you'll be a Man, my son!
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