The Bully

Although he presented himself as an upstanding student, he was, in fact, a terrible bare-knuckled bully. And he had assembled around himself a number of like-minded aggressive poltroons … so many, in fact, that they once outnumbered their schoolyard victims. They would confiscate from the meek their lunch money or sift through any unhidden lunch bags for the more luscious items. They forced many of the smarter students to do their homework and to keep their quizzes and test uncovered so that they were easily copied. They brewed up numerous hazing rituals whose only purpose was the humiliation of their victims. Yet, the bully and most of his cronies regularly attended Sunday school, dressed fairly well, went through the motions of community outreach (volunteering at food pantries, taking their pets to senior centers, etc.) and appeared to most adults to be perfect teenagers. They were even elected, generally out of fear or naïveté, to most of the student government offices.

Even the school administration and the local constabulary were not really clued into the severity of the trouble-making by this group of bad actors. Yes, there were occasional complaints, but they were mostly ignored by higher-ups as being sour grapes. Didn’t these kids get good grades, often run things, and volunteer in the community? Finally, like in the movie, A Christmas Story, one of their perennial victims couldn’t take it any more and snapped. When the number-one bully threw a snowball hitting him right in the face, he went wild, attacking the bully with arms flailing and spittle spewing from his bleeding lip. He wailed on the bully. He quickly had him pinned down and mewling for help. Even this bully’s compatriots seemed reluctant to aid him because this one act of rebellion had quickly spread to the rest of their erstwhile victims. They had been transformed into a posse standing up to this outlaw gang. They even shouted down the bullies and dared them to act to help their leader.

And the next day, this very same bully went to the school principal and unashamedly ask that the school start a program to stop such violence as he was subjected to the previous day. He also suggested, with his halo shining brightly if a bit askew, that yesterday’s posse be castigated for their ganging up on his pals and that they be punished for their hate speech. That afternoon the principal called an assembly of the entire student body and the now angelic bully gave a very moving talk about how everyone should be less hostile to one another and now sit together in classes and school assemblies. Most of the unclued-in students cheered and did the wave

If you haven’t already guessed it, the above vignette is an allegory for something much bigger that is happening today on the U.S. political scene. Can you guess what it is?

Enter the Dragon

I am very far from being an expert on China. This usually doesn’t stop me from leaping in with my thoughts though. So, I will here offer a few naive views on this country … mainly because the rhetoric is beginning to climb elsewhere. Many believe that, because of its geographic size, massive population, exploding economy, high repository of native intelligence augmented by a good educational system, and apparent national energy, China is destined to dominate the world (economically) in a matter of only ten to twenty years (see the CNBC article ). This may be so but, according to many pundits in the 1980’s, wasn’t Japan also going to dominate things … remember "Japan Inc." Like Japan, China may also suffer a few hiccups on its way to world domination.

Let’s look at a few statistics. China’s land area is 3,696,100 square miles versus 1,656,425 for the United States. China’s population is over 1.6 billion people versus the U.S.’s only around 309 million. However, the U.S.’s GNP is close to $13.8 trillion, currently growing at about 1% per annum. China’s somewhat suspicious GNP numbers are $4.2 trillion, growing at around 10% per year. More interestingly the GNP per capita in China is about $870 whereas, in the U.S. it is over $33 thousand … quite a gap. But just imagine what China’s GNP would be if the per capita number was even $10,000.

There are a number of things that worry me about this Dragon of the East. They are:

1 - The possibility of another Cold War. China has, for a number of years been building up it military capabilities (see the Guardian article) including the recent boast that it will be able to take out (U.S.) aircraft carriers. It will not be too long before U.S. military strategists will need to respond to these threats with significantly increased defense spending on our part … probably post-Obama. This Cold War will (does) include China’s causing mischief with surrogate states like North Korea, Iran and Venezuela,

2 - At some point in the not too distant future, I would expect China to annex some additional territory (as they once did with Tibet) like parts of Mongolia or even Taiwan. I’m not sure that the United States (or Russia) knows exactly what we (it) will do when this circumstance presents itself.

3 - China’s one-baby-per-couple policy has caused the birth rate in China to be reduced. However, the ratio of male to female babies is now about 6 to 4. This presents a dangerous demographic situation when all these males reach maturity. Certainly domestic crime rates or even military adventures seem far more likely under such a situation (see my tongue-in-the-cheek blog on this subject, Another Modest Proposal).

4 - Walmart has greatly helped China keep its economy and employment growing. However, it won’t be too long before we in the United States stop stuffing our house with goods made in China. Here, I am not criticizing the quality of Chinese products. I am more criticizing the penchant of the American consumer to purchase things that they truly don’t need. I kid my wife that the next time she returns from the Christmas Tree Store with a bunch of discretionary stuff, our house is going to explode. When this U.S. consumer buying mania abates, China will have more difficulty (unless it has its own explosion of consumerism) keeping its population employed. This is a situation that will auger (poorly) for increased citizen unrest.

5 - To me, China’s fatal flaw is its lack of democracy and political freedom. I know that we, in this country, feel superior to China because of this national defect on its part. However, what will happen if they decide to shuck these chains? I would both feel good but then know that the days of U.S.’s world dominance are surely numbered.

And when was the last time you saw a bald eagle flying off with a dragon in its talons?

Palin Paradox

Sarah Palin was ridiculed when she was on the John McCain ticket as his V.P. candidate for failing a Katie Couric question about what newspapers she regularly read.  Perhaps a better word was "castigated." The opinion makers painted her as a boob ... if you'll excuse the expression ... for fumbling this one question.  Obviously she was a rube, a hick of the first order, and didn't deserve to be one heartbeat away from being President.

That was then and now, two years later, she is again being taken to the woodshed by these same media darlings for being a primary cause of the Tuscon (alleged) shooting spree by Jared Loughner that killed six and wounded more than a dozen including Representative Gabrielle Giffords.  This was because Palin had "targeted" Representative Giffords seat in the recent elections as being one that the Tea Party should focus on winning.

Now additional poison darts are being directed at Ms. Palin for using the term "blood libel" Tuesday on her Facebook page, decrying the treatment she was receiving. Apparently, this term has an historic connotation in that it was once (falsely) used to condemn Jews for using the blood of Christian children in their rituals (see blood libel).  Also, more apparently the Wall Street Journal had used this same term on Monday to describe this same media kerfuffle (see WSJ use) over the Tuscon-shootings aftermath.  Now here is the paradox -- if Sarah Palin is so stupid and buffoonish, how does she know the historic "blood libel" reference when this author, whose been around the block more than a few times, knew not of it?  And, if she picked this reference out of Monday's Wall Street Journal, at least we know she learned something from the Couric interview.

One last thought ... why isn't the Wall Street Journal also being excoriated for this term's usage by these same prancing princes of the privileged pedantic press?  Perhaps because it buys ink by the barrel?

A Slave to Convention

Both Jesse Jackson Jr. and the New York Times (among others) have accused the Republicans of being racists because they did not include Article 1, Section 2, Paragraph 3 in the reading of the Constitution at the opening of the House of Representatives yesterday. This part of the original Constitution, which was repealed by the 13th amendment (1865 -- two years after the Emancipation Proclamation) and therefore removed from the Constitution, states that slaves (read blacks) were to be counted as 3/5ths of a person when determining a state’s representation in Congress and tax distribution.

Now this part of the Constitution has been portrayed by many as being racist when it was, in fact, exactly the opposite. The Southern states wanted slaves to be counted in full to determine each state’s representation in Congress (which would have given them more Representatives and more power). The Northern states objected and claimed that, since slaves were chattel and couldn’t vote that they shouldn’t be counted at all … claiming that, if this was permitted, the Northern states should be able to include their chattel (horses, cows, tables, chairs, etc.) as counting toward the number of Representatives that they could send to Congress. The abolitionists went even further saying that slaves could be counted only if they had been freed by their masters (see three-fifths compromise).

So, in order to get the Constitution ratified, a compromise was reached at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, wherein slaves were counted as 3/5ths of a person to determine the population of a state to enumerate how many Congressmen they could elect … meaning Southern states would have fewer Representatives and thus less power. One might understand that Jesse Jackson Jr. might not know the details of this 3/5ths Compromise, but the New York Times, with all its august egg-head scholars, should know better. I guess one might use this arm-waving pontification by the NY Times as a perfect example of demagoging (see demogogy).

The Constitution

The U.S. House of Representatives will commence its 112th session tomorrow by reading the U.S. Constitution. This act has been called a “dog-and-pony show” (Alan Colmes on his blog), “meaningless political theater” (the National Examiner), a “gimmick” (Ezra Klein, on MSNBC ), a “stunt … arrogant” (the Fort Lauderdale SunSentinel), an “empty, pompous, self-righteous act … racist” (the New York Times), “ritualistic … total nonsense … propaganda” (Jerry Nadler, congressman from New York City), a “tea-party fetish” (Rachael Maddow on her blog), a “symbolic sop to the tea party” (LA Times), “a total waste of time” (Time Magazine), an “air-kiss to the tea party” (Barney Frank), and “a bit of pageantry” (The Daily Kos). And I found these numerous brick bats in only about 20 minutes of searching on Google.

Does the majority of the Democrat party hate the Constitution? I certainly hope not. But, if in fact many of them do, may I suggest that they refuse to take their oaths of office when they are sworn into federal office. After all they then do swear (right hand raised and left hand on the Bible) “to preserve, defend and uphold the Constitution of the United States.” And, if they do refuse this oath, then they should not be allowed to take their elected offices. So there! … simple enough?

Addendum: Speaker Boehner did a brilliant thing yesterday. He made all the members of the House reswear their oath of office. See: HERE. I wonder how many Democrats actually followed his direction ... or had their fingers crossed?

The Rapture

There are a number of Christians who believe in “The Rapture” … effectively Judgment Day … when the world will end and all saintly people will immediately rise unto heaven. And now a number of these Christians are convinced that this fateful day will commence May 21st of this year (see Judgment Day). This event may indeed happen, but color me skeptical.

A while back I entered a New Yorker magazine cartoon competition in which you were asked to supply a caption for a captionless cartoon. I didn’t win, but I thought my submission (for the above cartoon) was clearly of the New Yorker genre and should have at least gotten an honorable mention. My entry was: “Somehow I thought that The Rapture would be a little more selective.”

$330 Million

Tonight’s Mega Millions jackpot is estimated at $330 million (I suspect it will be bigger). The odds of winning on a single $1 ticket are 176 million to one. Thus, according to a game-theory construct, buying a ticket in this lottery is worthwhile since the expected return is almost $2 for a $1 bet (330/176). So today I bought $20 worth of tickets which makes my odds of winning 8.8 million to one (176/20) … still pretty long odds but a bit of an improvement. In fact, one might compare the odds of winning on the purchase of one ticket to the chance of you trying to contact an old friend (who you know lives in the U.S. but not where) by picking up the phone and punching in 10 random numbers after hitting “1.” If, when this phone call is answered, it is your old friend, then you have won the equivalent of the Mega Millions lottery.

It actually would make more sense to buy 176 million tickets since winning $330 million (more or less) would be almost assured. (However, I doubt if you could find a convenience store that would accommodate such a request.) Although not exactly the same analogy, Michael Graham on local talk radio makes the salient point that, if you had bought every Mega Millions ticket sold over the last 15 picks, you still wouldn’t have won since this is the number of consecutive no-winner drawings.  He adds that he never buys lottery tickets since the lottery is effectively a tax on the stupid.  I guess I have now moved with both feet into this category.

Predictions for 2011

Every New Year's Eve a group of friends get together to feast, imbibe, tell stories, Yankee swap, and make predictions for the coming year.  Here are some of the more interesting predictions for 2011:

• Facebook takes second place to a glossier social networking site

• The Euro will decline by at least 20%

• Serious civil unrest in Venezuela

• North Korea will suffer an economic collapse

• Oprah decides to run for public office

• Kate Middleton will be 2 months pregnant at her royal wedding

• Gracie Mansion (NYC) will be held by terrorists for 12 hours: 5 killed, 7 wounded

• True Grit will win Best Movie Oscar

• Prominent Wall St. firm will collapse amidst political scandal

• Suze Orman will file for bankruptcy

• Patriots win League championship and then Superbowl by 14+

• Obama proves he was born in the U.S.A.

• Glenn Beck retires after scandals hound him

• Bottled water co. has massive recall -- contaminated by plastic bottles

• Supreme Court Justice is caught in illegal activities, steps down

• Two major religions talk merger

• A plot to disrupt the power gird is foiled, but only after 1/4 of the country goes dark

• Tiger Woods declares he is gay

• Randy Moss begs to come back to Patriots and is welcomed home

• Unemployment will fall below 8%

• Gold prices will stall but silver prices will go up by 20%+

• More global warming data found to be fudged

• Massive student-loan meltdown -- Uncle Sam foots the bill

• One state will declare bankruptcy

• Colin Firth wins Best Actor Oscar for The King’s Speech

Juxtaposition XII

Time Magazine - 1962

Time Magazine - 2007

The ultimate in recycling ... even to the article on living with cancer!

Update:  Always be suspicious of what you find on the Internet.  I found the 1962 1977 cover on the usually reliable Powerline blog ... and they have since recanted the 1962 1977 image as being Photoshopped from the 2007 image by some unknown party.  See their explanation HERE

Juxtaposition XI




Michael Moore



Jabba the Hut





 

Look for the Union Label ...

The average stagehand in many New York City venues makes a six figure salary. See: stagehand salaries. No wonder tickets to plays and concerts there (and elsewhere) are costing many hundreds of dollars these days.

There is something fundementally wrong when unions can muscle their way into such egregious econimic inbalances.  And many among us just shrug our shoulders and say that "if they can get it, they deserve it." Poppycock!  I think that such golden eggs are in the process of killing the geese that laid them.  I know I refuse to pay such outlandish prices to see the mediocre stage productions they are putting on these days.  And, by the way, the same goes for most sports programs too ... that also cost hundreds of dollars to sit in the nose-bleed section watching some multi-millionaire athlete prance around like a spoiled teenager. 

Eventually, John Q. Public is going to have the scales fall from his eyes ... and these houses of cards will collapse on themselves. Then is when I'll start cheering.

Useful Idiots

Hugo Chavez of Venezuela is not a friend of the United States. Along with his ties to terrorism, Chavez intends to install Iranian missiles in his country, a scant 1300 miles from the U.S. shore (see Iran missiles). After recent setbacks in National Assembly elections in his country (see recent elections) , Hugo Chavez has made an end run around Venezuela’s rapidly crumbling democratic process and grabbed dictatorial powers (see dictatorial powers). This sulfur-smelling dictator of this oil-rich South American country has gradually amassed power over the last twelve years to the point where now he is unlikely to be legally deposed or even voted out of office.

This gradualism should be an object-lesson for us all on how such loss of freedom comes about … like the proverbial frog in the pot of cold water that is gradually being brought to a boil. Joseph Stalin liked to call those fellow-traveler Westerners who supported him in his reign of terror in Russia as “useful idiots.” Unfortunately, we again have a litany of such brain-dead liberals who worship at the feet of this despotic leader Chavez. The list is predictably extensive but here is a gallery of a few of the most notables:

Danny Glover

Sean Penn

Joe Kennedy II

Kevin Spacey

Cindy Sheehan

Barney Frank

Noam Chomsky

Oliver Stone

Jimmy Carter

A PC Christmas

“T’was the night before Christmas ...” The NAACP has complained to the Civil Rights Commission arguing that this line should be updated to read “T’was the night before Kwanzaa ...”

“Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.” The Friends of Animals takes umbrage at the term “creature” and is insisting that it be changed to “lovable, furry thing that should not be trapped.”

“The stockings were hung by the chimney with care” The Cross-Dressers of America want it noted here that this means taupe silk hose with oh-so-cute lacy stuff around the top ... and that only Woolite should be used to wash such dainties.

“The children were nestled all snug in their beds” The North American Man-Boy Love Association wants this changed to “nestled all snug in our beds”.

“... while visions of sugar plums danced in their heads” Michelle Obama has insisted that this phrase be changed to “thoughts of low-fat Greek yogurt” and is threatening to go on The View if she is ignored.

“Mama in her kerchief and I in my cap” The Queer Nation is objecting to the use of such stereotypical male/female bonding units as representing an idealized family.

“The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow” Yoko Ono insists that such sexists comments show that we still live in a male-dominated, piggish society. She wants this word changed to “chest.”

“As dry leaves before the wild hurricane fly when they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky.” The Environmental Protection Agency has issued a complaint stating that leaves left unraked into the winter represents a violation of Sections 125.92: J and 9734.2: D-G of the Omnibus Environmental Protection Law of 1993.

“... with a little old driver” AARP has sought an immediate court injunction to estop such pejorative comments about senior citizens.

“... jolly old elf and I laughed when I saw him in spite of myself” The Little People’s Society has also insisted that the term “elf” and its associated derision be immediately expunged from this narrative.

“On Dasher, on Dancer, on Prancer and Vixen” The ASPCA has issued a formal complaint against St. Nicholas, citing his verbal and physical abuse of these eight tiny reindeer.

“He was dressed all in fur from his head to his foot ...” The Animal Liberation Front has threatened to throw cow’s blood on anyone who dares to dress up in such insensitive costumes.

“... little round belly that shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly” The Surgeon General has demanded that a printed warning be put on this page saying that being obese to this degree could be hazardous to your health.

“The smoke, it encircled his head like a wreath” Henry Waxman, a congressman from California, has threatened to hold hearings unless this line is stricken in its entirety.

“He filled all the stockings and turned with a jerk” Steve Martin has gone to court suing for 10% royalties for the use of the term “jerk”.

“... up the chimney he rose” The Trial Lawyers of America has stated that forcing Santa Claus to enter and exit a premises via the fireplace is demeaning and likely to cause bodily harm. They are assembling a massive class action suit against all those parents who allowed Santa to visit in this manner.

“He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle” The AFL/CIO is demanding to know if St. Nick is a member of their North Pole Teamsters’ local. If he can’t produce proof that he is, they are going to picket New Years.

“Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night!” The National Education Association has objected that this line, and all the rest of this story ... saying that they contain words that are spelled correctly. This is obviously intended to stifle the creativity of our children.

© Copyright, George W. Potts

Don’t Ask …

Last night on the PBS show, The McLaughlin Group, there was a discussion about allowing gay men and women to serve openly in the military. The moderator, John McLaughlin, read a list of countries that allowed such a practice, viz: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and Uruguay. The clear implication was that, if all these countries can do it, so then can the United States. Therein ensued a perfunctory discussion in which three out of the five panelists (including the moderator) favored removing the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy for U.S. military service. The dissenters were Monica Crowley and Pat Buchanan. But, the drum-beat conclusion was that this policy must and will be changed.

However, surprisingly, what wasn’t said by anyone, including those opposed to a change in this military policy was: “Why are not Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea on this list?” This, I think, might have been an important distinction and should be seriously considered when one (and Congress) debates this issue.

Do as I Say, Not as I Do ...

Perhaps, too much wagyu?

Pig Farm

Pig farmers ...

Earmarks

As you may know “earmarks” were once used to identify pigs. Farmers would cut telling notches in their pig’s ears to indicate ownership, much like brands were once used to segregate cattle. So it is appropriate that “earmark” is the term used for the funds that our porkers in Congress are setting aside to funnel our grandchildren’s money into their home districts. I thought these bacon-bringing items were a thing of the past as both Obama and the Republicans have pledged to eliminate them. Guess again.

The $1.1 trillion omnibus budget that was unveiled yesterday in the Senate contains billions of dollars of earmarks in 6,488 separate pet projects, see: earmarks.  That's well more than 10 earmarks per congressman.  Apparently Harry Reid, the Democrats, and yes, many Republicans are deaf, dumb and blind when it comes to the message sent by the American people in this past November elections. We, basically, are seeing a crescendo of middle fingers raised to the American people from within the Capitol building.

How can we fix such blatant and bloated excesses? Perhaps we are rapidly approaching the point where we may have to raze Washington, DC and start over. Maybe we can, justifiably, turn the land there into a gigantic pig farm?

Juxtaposition X

I want to give you your grandchildren's money ... and not just one day a year!

Brier-Patch Politics

In the Joel Chandler Uncle Remus stories (now so politically incorrect that Walt Disney’s great half-animated version, Song of the South, can only be purchased in a pirated version or, English-captioned, from Japan), a just-captured Brer Rabbit beseeches Brer Fox not to “throw me in that brier patch.” And when Brer Fox falls for the ruse, Brer Rabbit hops happily among all sharp thorns and briers singing and taunting Brer Fox with “I was born and bred in the brier patch.”

I think we have a modern day version of this fable in the present tax-rate brouhaha now taking place in Washington. Brer Obama, after years of decrying the Bush tax cuts as ruinous, has (along with many economic advisers) now embraced them as necessary to keep this Nation from suffering a double-dip recession … even including maintenance of the Bush tax rates for couples earning over $250,000 per year (millionaires and billionaires in the Democrat vernacular). Now, if this is the formula for fixing our economic and unemployment problems, why has it taken the Obama administration almost two years to recognize it? And why would Brer Obama ask the Republicans to throw him among all those tax rate nettles and thorns … as it seems his own party might be in open revolt against the idea? I have a few suggestions:

1) The extension of the Bush tax rates doesn’t work to restore economic growth and reduce unemployment between now and the 2012 elections … in which case Obama can repeatedly play “I told you so” in the political debates then. Even though Obama’s Keynesian fire-hose “stimulus” spending over the last two years clearly hasn’t worked, the American electorate will have long since forgotten about this by 2012. So Obama’s political priorities from the beginning seemed clearly to push through as much of his left-wing agenda early on in his administration and the devil take the hindquarters (our Nation’s economic and job growth.) As Rahm Emanuel said, “Never let a crisis go to waste.”

2) If, in fact, there IS the likely turn-around in the economy … but our national debt continues to soar … in which case Obama can appeal to the Tea Partiers that the Republicans and their policies have dug us deeper in debt with the Chinese. (It is not accidental that Obama’s proposal includes this 2 percentage point reduction in employee FICA payments and a 13 month extension of unemployment insurance … both designed to make that brier patch toss even more tempting to the Republicans … but both certain to increase our Nation’s debt burden significantly.)

3) Will the extension of the Bush tax rates stimulate economic growth? Probably not in and of themselves. After all, this will not be a cutting of taxes. It will just extend current tax rates for two more years. However, the 2 percentage point FICA tax reduction probably will help economic growth however damaging this might be to the long-term health of the Social Security System.

4) Strangely, Obama has made this proposal AFTER the November elections when, if made prior to the elections, he might have saved many blue-dog Democrats from electoral defeat. One might even surmise that Obama desired this Republican rout in the House to make it even clearer that Republicans are the ones to blame for whatever happens between now and 2012. In other words, Obama was willing to triangulate himself away from Democrats and to sacrifice his party and even his Nation in order to get re-elected in 2012. Machiavelli, thy name is Obama.

5) The vitriol being heaped on Obama by the left-wing press, bloggers, and Democrat members of Congress effectively makes Obama into a bit of a sympathetic folk hero … one willing (for the first time in two years) to reach across the aisle to accommodate the Republicans.  This also, of course, begins the triangulation of his stance running up to 2012.

Can the Republicans resist the temptation to toss Obama in among all those thorns of the Bush-tax-rate brier patch? I doubt it, nor do I necessarily think that they shouldn't take the bait. But, if they do, the Republicans should be even more draconian in reducing future government spending and in the draining of the Democrat’s honey pot of all those unspent stimulus funds.  Otherwise, if the Republicans don't believe that they can exhibit such discipline, may I suggest some Brer-Rabbit purloo?

Juxtaposition IX

E. Holder



A Boulder



Bring back Janet Reno ... or even Alberto Gonzales.

Juxtaposition VIII



WikiLeak's Assange



Lord of the Ring's Gollum



Perhaps I'm being too harsh on Gollum ...?

Juxtaposition VII

Exercise can be torture too ...

Hanoi Jane aiming at us.

Old Europe

For hundreds of years we have opened our shores for many millions of old-Europe emigrants to find a better life here in America.  We have fought many wars (and spilled much blood) for (or against) them while they spent much of their discretionary national incomes over the last sixty years on social welfare and beautiful infrastructure ... instead of their own self defense.  We have provided a super-expensive ICBM/nuclear shield for them throughout the cold war.  We spent considerable Marshall-Plan sums clothing, feeding and rebuilding them after World War II. 

Despite (or because of) their not having to spend very much of their GNPs on national defense, they have instead created a cradle-to-grave welfare culture that has sapped much of their national initiative. We have also spent hundreds of billions funding the U.N. that lavishes much this money on their poobahs' luxuriating in Geneva, Rome and Brussels five-star hotels and restaurants.  And throughout it all, we have listened to their derisive sneers and holier-than-thou preachings with general humility.  Recently we have apparently spent many more hundreds of billions of Federal Reserve dollars (that we clearly don't have) shoring up their banks, see the Yahoo! story.  And Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy are queuing up behind Greece to get their financial rewards from Brussels for their fiscal mismanagement.  And rumor has it that Uncle Sam will be a banker at this porker poker party.

And what has the United States received as recompense for all this selflessness?  Croissants, truffles, Rick Steves' travel logs, and spaghetti carbonara.

Nervy

Georgia O'Keeffe's hands

I recently watched the movie, Georgia O’Keeffe, in which both she and her husband, Alfred Stieglitz, suffered “nervous breakdowns” at different points in the film. Now, when was the last time you heard of someone suffering a nervous breakdown? But, in the early 1900’s it seemed to be a plague. Didn’t Zelda, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s wife, suffer numerous bouts of this malady along with most of the rest of our nation’s glitterati. I even seem to recall that my mother had one before I was fully conscious of the world about me.

Back then, when one had a nervous breakdown, one retired to one’s boudoir to be pampered and fussed over … and to be served consommé and madolines for a few weeks until one was oneself again. I am intrigued by this apparent societal construct that has gone the way of the Ad Men four martini lunches. Were these nervous breakdowns just bouts of clinical depression … now treated with numerous pharmacologies? Or were they drug or alcohol benders … now treated by numerous Betty-Ford-type clinics? Or perhaps even just colossal self-indulgences ala Madonna. Whatever they were, they seemed to have slipped beneath the waves of our modern wired society. Too bad! No longer can we take to our bed and be spoon-fed hot tea and given toast points and be read to from Proust by our doting acolytes.

Who's the bigger turkey?

 

Angelina Jolie thinks Thanksgiving is disgusting. See: Gawker

Juxtaposition VI

 

Fair and balanced ...

Juxtaposition V

Acknowledgment: Imus (in the Morning)

A Wine Whiner

Oenophiles often wax poetic about their august wine tastings: "This Reisling has a buttery undertone." "This Chablis is quite flinty." "This Bordeaux has just the barest hint of cherries … or apricots … or almonds." I’ve always found this quite curious. If I am paying $85 for a bottle of wine, why can’t it just taste like a good wine? If I want the taste of cherries, I’ll just buy a $1.25 can of Dr. Brown’s.

Juxtaposition IV

Keep your chin up ...

Sean Hannity has a great line, "Next time Obama gives a speech I'm going to tug on his pant cuff and say, 'Mr. President, we're down here.'"