Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Congressional Contempt
The House Judiciary Committee has just issued Contempt of Congress Citations to Josh Bolton and Harriet Miers for their refusal to testify before them in the flap over the firing of the U.S. Attorneys. I find it quite revealing that Congress finds the hubris to issue such writs when they themselves often treat those testifying before them as less than pond scum. I would love to see the executive branch (or the Federal Reserve Bank … or judicial nominees … or the armed services … etc.) make equivalent contempt pronouncements against congressional committees when they are unjustly abused as witnesses. (Remember Attorney Joseph Welch responding to the Senate's Internal Security Subcommittee abuse by Senator McCarthy with “Senator McCarthy have you no sense of decency at long last?” … one of the great moments in black and white TV.)
Monday, July 23, 2007
Mill(ions)
“Massive blaze engulfs downtown Uxbridge mill complex
[Boston Globe], July 21, 2007
UXBRIDGE, Mass. --Firefighters from Massachusetts and Rhode Island battled a massive fire that engulfed a downtown mill complex on Saturday, sending up billowing smoke that could be seen for miles. The eight-alarm blaze damaged or destroyed 65 small businesses inside the 400,000 square-foot Bernat Mill complex, and seven firefighters were injured -- mostly from smoke inhalation and exhaustion,”
This fire conveniently started at roughly 4 AM very early on this past Saturday morning. Why is it that most of the old mill fires in New England usually break out very early on a weekend morning? Now 65 small businesses and hundreds of workers are spit out of luck because of this “misfortune.” I strongly believe that the US should discourage ethnic lightning by copying what they do in Germany with fire insurance – payoffs are only made to reconstruct the destroyed building. Owners who lose their building to fire cannot walk away with a check. They must rebuild in order to benefit from their fire insurance. Makes sense to me … which is why our nation of pols and lawyers probably won’t do it.
[Boston Globe], July 21, 2007
UXBRIDGE, Mass. --Firefighters from Massachusetts and Rhode Island battled a massive fire that engulfed a downtown mill complex on Saturday, sending up billowing smoke that could be seen for miles. The eight-alarm blaze damaged or destroyed 65 small businesses inside the 400,000 square-foot Bernat Mill complex, and seven firefighters were injured -- mostly from smoke inhalation and exhaustion,”
This fire conveniently started at roughly 4 AM very early on this past Saturday morning. Why is it that most of the old mill fires in New England usually break out very early on a weekend morning? Now 65 small businesses and hundreds of workers are spit out of luck because of this “misfortune.” I strongly believe that the US should discourage ethnic lightning by copying what they do in Germany with fire insurance – payoffs are only made to reconstruct the destroyed building. Owners who lose their building to fire cannot walk away with a check. They must rebuild in order to benefit from their fire insurance. Makes sense to me … which is why our nation of pols and lawyers probably won’t do it.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Notes from the Rectory
Los Angeles (AP) -- “After a whirlwind weekend, the negotiations that produced a landmark $660 million settlement between the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles and more than 500 alleged victims of clergy abuse are heading toward a conclusion. Attorneys from both sides, as well as Cardinal Roger Mahony, are expected in court Monday to enter a formal settlement agreement with Judge Haley Fromholtz. The deal marks the end of more than five years of negotiations and is by far the largest payout by any diocese since the clergy abuse scandal emerged in Boston in 2002. Mahony, leader of the nation's largest archdiocese, apologized Sunday to the hundreds of clergy sex abuse victims who will receive a share of the settlement.
‘There really is no way to go back and give them that innocence that was taken from them. The one thing I wish I could give the victims ... I cannot,’ he said.”
Yet another settlement from the Catholic Church to victims of pastoral sexual abuse has been negotiated. This time it was for $660 million … quite a raft of meager Sunday offerings from the supplicants of the Los Angeles Archdiocese. There are two reasons I am commenting on this settlement: 1) the judge in this case, Haley Fromholtz, is a old friend and fraternity brother of mine and clearly has done much to restore the reputation of LA justice after the OJ Simpson debacle, and 2) this is yet another indication of the scope of this scourge that has infected the once-proud Catholic church. I am not a Catholic nor am I condemning the entire corpus of this religion, but I do believe that a culture of pedophilia has permeated the US Catholic church for at least the last fifty years. I remember the old chestnut that went around in the late 1960s: Question, "Do you know how Cardinal Spellman died?" Answer, "Someone gave him a poison choirboy."
And I also strongly believe that a primary nexus of this institutional lassitude was none other than Boston’s own Cardinal Law. For almost twenty years, from 1984 to 2002, this Cardinal was the de facto head of the Catholic Church in America, suggesting and passing on all papal appointments in this country. And it was during this period when little-boy diddling seems to have metastasized throughout the Catholic priesthood. Not that it didn’t exist before, but under Law (irony of ironies), it seemed to have gone unchecked. Abusive priests were continually shuffled around this country with little or no penitence … or warning to their innocent waiting flocks.
This was, to me, unforgivable behavior on Cardinal Law’s part and one can only speculate on his diabolical rationales. I leave it to the reader to come to the obvious conclusion. (Now from Wikipedia) “After his resignation, Pope John Paul appointed Law to several authoritative positions in Rome and the Vatican. He is currently the archpriest of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. He is also a member of the Congregations of Oriental Churches, Clergy, Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments, Evangelisation of Peoples, Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, Catholic Education, Bishops as well as the Pontifical Council for the Family. This is a large number of organizations for any cardinal to be involved in and is partly [responsible for his] residing in Rome.”
The other reason is that he would likely be skinned alive were he to return to the U.S.
‘There really is no way to go back and give them that innocence that was taken from them. The one thing I wish I could give the victims ... I cannot,’ he said.”
Yet another settlement from the Catholic Church to victims of pastoral sexual abuse has been negotiated. This time it was for $660 million … quite a raft of meager Sunday offerings from the supplicants of the Los Angeles Archdiocese. There are two reasons I am commenting on this settlement: 1) the judge in this case, Haley Fromholtz, is a old friend and fraternity brother of mine and clearly has done much to restore the reputation of LA justice after the OJ Simpson debacle, and 2) this is yet another indication of the scope of this scourge that has infected the once-proud Catholic church. I am not a Catholic nor am I condemning the entire corpus of this religion, but I do believe that a culture of pedophilia has permeated the US Catholic church for at least the last fifty years. I remember the old chestnut that went around in the late 1960s: Question, "Do you know how Cardinal Spellman died?" Answer, "Someone gave him a poison choirboy."
And I also strongly believe that a primary nexus of this institutional lassitude was none other than Boston’s own Cardinal Law. For almost twenty years, from 1984 to 2002, this Cardinal was the de facto head of the Catholic Church in America, suggesting and passing on all papal appointments in this country. And it was during this period when little-boy diddling seems to have metastasized throughout the Catholic priesthood. Not that it didn’t exist before, but under Law (irony of ironies), it seemed to have gone unchecked. Abusive priests were continually shuffled around this country with little or no penitence … or warning to their innocent waiting flocks.
This was, to me, unforgivable behavior on Cardinal Law’s part and one can only speculate on his diabolical rationales. I leave it to the reader to come to the obvious conclusion. (Now from Wikipedia) “After his resignation, Pope John Paul appointed Law to several authoritative positions in Rome and the Vatican. He is currently the archpriest of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. He is also a member of the Congregations of Oriental Churches, Clergy, Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments, Evangelisation of Peoples, Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, Catholic Education, Bishops as well as the Pontifical Council for the Family. This is a large number of organizations for any cardinal to be involved in and is partly [responsible for his] residing in Rome.”
The other reason is that he would likely be skinned alive were he to return to the U.S.
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Richie Rich
There is a very interesting double twist to the "Scooter" Libby imbroglio. It seems that Scooter Libby was Marc Rich’s defense attorney in the federal government’s prosecution of him for tax evasion and illegal arms trading in the 1980’s and 1990’s. (This, of course, does not do too much to recommend Scooter’s legal talents since Marc Rich fled to Switzerland rather than go to court.) Marc Rich, as you might remember, was pardoned by Bill Clinton in his last days in office, allegedly in exchange for a million dollars in donations and rumored lip service from Marc’s big-breasted ex-wife, Denise. See:
http://isteve.blogspot.com/2005/10/scooter-libby-marc-rich-connection.html
And now for the rest of the story … an even more profound twist emerges. It seems that Patrick Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor who went after Scooter Libby hammer and tongs as the special prosecutor in the recent Joe Wilson/Valerie Plame outing non-crime, was one of the prosecutors on the Marc Rich case (as described above) … and James Comey, who had appointed Patrick Fitzgerald special prosecutor while John Ashcroft was incapacitated, was previously the other U.S. attorney on Marc Rich’s trail. See:
http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/2007/01/the_pending_mar.html
Now I ask you, why haven’t these revelations been a big news story in the main stream media? And why didn’t Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald recuse himself from the Scooter Libby portion of the Valerie Plame investigation?
All very strange.
http://isteve.blogspot.com/2005/10/scooter-libby-marc-rich-connection.html
And now for the rest of the story … an even more profound twist emerges. It seems that Patrick Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor who went after Scooter Libby hammer and tongs as the special prosecutor in the recent Joe Wilson/Valerie Plame outing non-crime, was one of the prosecutors on the Marc Rich case (as described above) … and James Comey, who had appointed Patrick Fitzgerald special prosecutor while John Ashcroft was incapacitated, was previously the other U.S. attorney on Marc Rich’s trail. See:
http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/2007/01/the_pending_mar.html
Now I ask you, why haven’t these revelations been a big news story in the main stream media? And why didn’t Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald recuse himself from the Scooter Libby portion of the Valerie Plame investigation?
All very strange.
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
The Sound and the Fury II
My first “The Sound and the Fury” piece was greeted with such a chorus of “boos” that I have decided to proffer another set of twenty studied predictions that would come about if Hillary might be crowned as our unsexy prexy:
1) Effective repeal of the Second Amendment (“the right to keep and bear arms”)
2) Presidential pardons for many recently-convicted (rich) white collar criminals
3) The closing of Guantanamo Bay and other U.S. overseas terrorist prisons
4) The scuttling of our strategic defensive initiative (SDI)
5) The disappearance of more FBI files … resulting in the outing of Republican peccadilloes
6) The US Air Force bombing (from 15,000 feet) of the Darfur rebels
7) The re-opening of Hotel 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
8) The naming of Eleanor Clift as the Presidential press secretary
9) The discontinuance of electronic surveillance of suspected terrorists
10) The outlawing of any form of coercive indoctrination of known terrorists
11) Medal of Freedom presentations to Michael Moore, Cindy Sheehan, and Bill Moyers
12) Huge federal funding increases for public radio and public television
13) Nomination of John Edwards and Janet Reno to the Supreme Court
14) The immediate firing of all sitting U.S. Attorneys (just as her husband once did)
15) A continued moratorium on the building of nuclear power plants in the U.S.
16) The dissolution of NATO
17) Chelsea Clinton’s White House marriage (to Rupert Murdoch’s son?)
18) Unilateral U.S. nuclear arms reductions
19) The naming of John Kerry as our Ambassador to France
20) Federal outlawing of cigarettes (but not cigars) and trans fats
Except for the Chelsea wedding in the White House, I expect that most, if not all, of these 40 predictions would still occur if some other Democrat were to win the next presidential election.
1) Effective repeal of the Second Amendment (“the right to keep and bear arms”)
2) Presidential pardons for many recently-convicted (rich) white collar criminals
3) The closing of Guantanamo Bay and other U.S. overseas terrorist prisons
4) The scuttling of our strategic defensive initiative (SDI)
5) The disappearance of more FBI files … resulting in the outing of Republican peccadilloes
6) The US Air Force bombing (from 15,000 feet) of the Darfur rebels
7) The re-opening of Hotel 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
8) The naming of Eleanor Clift as the Presidential press secretary
9) The discontinuance of electronic surveillance of suspected terrorists
10) The outlawing of any form of coercive indoctrination of known terrorists
11) Medal of Freedom presentations to Michael Moore, Cindy Sheehan, and Bill Moyers
12) Huge federal funding increases for public radio and public television
13) Nomination of John Edwards and Janet Reno to the Supreme Court
14) The immediate firing of all sitting U.S. Attorneys (just as her husband once did)
15) A continued moratorium on the building of nuclear power plants in the U.S.
16) The dissolution of NATO
17) Chelsea Clinton’s White House marriage (to Rupert Murdoch’s son?)
18) Unilateral U.S. nuclear arms reductions
19) The naming of John Kerry as our Ambassador to France
20) Federal outlawing of cigarettes (but not cigars) and trans fats
Except for the Chelsea wedding in the White House, I expect that most, if not all, of these 40 predictions would still occur if some other Democrat were to win the next presidential election.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
The Sound and the Fury
Yesterday Warren Buffet endorsed Hillary Clinton for president. With her on stage, his comments started by quoting Peter Lynch saying that “one should invest in a company so good that even an idiot could run it … because one eventually will.” He added that the same is true for a country. This was a gratuitous swipe at President Bush (and does nothing but diminish Warren Buffet in my eyes). The audience laughed and Hillary gave her trademark cackle. This sent shivers up my spine as I sensed that Buffet was but another battleship in the juggernaut that Hillary was mounting that would sweep her and Bill back into the White House. I then got to thinking what would likely happen were this to occur. These are my studied predictions:
1) A significant swing back to favoring the Palestinians and Syrians in the middle east conflict
2) Socialized medicine -- including many of the bureaucratic mandates contained in the original Hillary health-care plan (telling medical student what fields they could specialize in, disallowing and penalizing ANY private medical practices, etc.)
3) Eliminating most of the Bush tax cuts -- killing lower taxes on dividends and capital gains, restoration of the death tax (advocated by Warren Buffet), etc.
4) Increased income tax rates at most tax brackets
5) Relaxed illegal immigration enforcements
6) Removal of U.S. troops from Iraq and Afghanistan independent of the state of affairs in either country
7) “Wink, wink, nudge, nudge” accommodations to North Korea and Iran in their nuclear programs
8) Dramatic reductions in U.S. military and intelligence spending and a resultant devolution in their war on terrorism
9) The return to treating terrorist as criminals within the U.S. legal system
10) Elimination of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in the military
11) Large increases in government spending on social services (back to where they were before her husband “eliminated welfare as we know it”)
12) Important (and dangerous) technology transfers to China
13) The naming of Bill Clinton as our ambassador to the U.N. (with the hope that he will eventually become Secretary General)
14) Mandated draconian reductions in hydrocarbon usage in the U.S. … even if this results in reduced economic growth
15) The restoration of late-term abortion legality
16) The abandonment of Formosa and its re-adsorption back into China
17) The return of the Clintonista’s (James Carville, Rom Emanuel, Paul Begala, Sandy Berger, Jamie Gorellick, etc) into her administration and onto talking-head TV
18) The effective shut-down of conservative talk radio
19) The likely payment of reparations to blacks in America (independent of their heritage)
20) Closer ties and accommodations to Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez
Is this enough?
1) A significant swing back to favoring the Palestinians and Syrians in the middle east conflict
2) Socialized medicine -- including many of the bureaucratic mandates contained in the original Hillary health-care plan (telling medical student what fields they could specialize in, disallowing and penalizing ANY private medical practices, etc.)
3) Eliminating most of the Bush tax cuts -- killing lower taxes on dividends and capital gains, restoration of the death tax (advocated by Warren Buffet), etc.
4) Increased income tax rates at most tax brackets
5) Relaxed illegal immigration enforcements
6) Removal of U.S. troops from Iraq and Afghanistan independent of the state of affairs in either country
7) “Wink, wink, nudge, nudge” accommodations to North Korea and Iran in their nuclear programs
8) Dramatic reductions in U.S. military and intelligence spending and a resultant devolution in their war on terrorism
9) The return to treating terrorist as criminals within the U.S. legal system
10) Elimination of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in the military
11) Large increases in government spending on social services (back to where they were before her husband “eliminated welfare as we know it”)
12) Important (and dangerous) technology transfers to China
13) The naming of Bill Clinton as our ambassador to the U.N. (with the hope that he will eventually become Secretary General)
14) Mandated draconian reductions in hydrocarbon usage in the U.S. … even if this results in reduced economic growth
15) The restoration of late-term abortion legality
16) The abandonment of Formosa and its re-adsorption back into China
17) The return of the Clintonista’s (James Carville, Rom Emanuel, Paul Begala, Sandy Berger, Jamie Gorellick, etc) into her administration and onto talking-head TV
18) The effective shut-down of conservative talk radio
19) The likely payment of reparations to blacks in America (independent of their heritage)
20) Closer ties and accommodations to Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez
Is this enough?
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Smart Alec
Alec Baldwin is an egocentric, arm-candy-collecting metrosexual. A smarmy, bubble-headed, Bush-bashing poltroon. A corsetted, sycophantic, smirking, B-movie thespian. And now a short-tempered, blowhard father. His voice-mail rant against his daughter, Ireland, when she turned off her cell phone rather than take his scheduled call may be a career-ending faux paux. Clearly I don’t respect this fellow, but there is one person I esteem even less – his ex-wife, Kim Basinger. She, the scorned woman, has apparently helped create this spoiled brat of a daughter and, by releasing this tape to the hyena-press, done her best to publicly humiliate the father of their child. She has consequently driven a wedge between these two that may never allow them to have a meaningful relationship. And this will certainly further wound this child. To me, it’s as though she said to King Solomon, “Go ahead, cut the baby in two.” Shame on her! Shame on her! Shame on both of them … but somehow spare their daughter her prancing parents.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Global Warming Warning
The global warming nuts are now predicting drought and flooding will be the result of global warming. Now, when we get droughts or floods (as we have since the beginning of time), it will prove that (man-made) global warming is real. Pleeease! Larry David's wife is now flying around the country in a private jet preaching how we need to stop using fossil fuels. Other nabobs (John Edwards, the Governator, John Kerry, etc.) buy "carbon offsets" (planting trees, etc.) to justify their own profligate cee oh two production. While "The Economist" now opines that new computer modeling says that trees contribute to global warming and we should cut them all down. Will such naive mass hysteria never stop?
Signed,
Euell Gibbons
Signed,
Euell Gibbons
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Clive James
I was just watching the famous critic, Clive James, on Book TV (CSPAN2). He said two things that I would like to share. He first related that when he was once lecturing he noted that while two negatives make a positive, two positives never make a negative. With that, someone in the audience cynically barked, “Yeah, Yeah.” He later said that he never found John Coltrane worth listening to. He followed that Coltrane was “the sonic equivalent of a toothache”. (In the sixties I went with a buddy, Jay Goshen, to listen to John Coltrane at the Five Spot in New York City. Coltrane was so spaced out on drugs that there was absolutely no continuity or art in his performance. While the rest of the audience sat in reverent silence, I turned to Jay and said “The emperor has no clothes.” He nodded and so we got up and walked out.)
Friday, April 13, 2007
IMUS IRONIES
Don Imus, who has been booted by both MSNBC TV and CBS radio for his comments about the Rutgers women’s basketball team, calling them “nappy-headed hos”. This story is full of sweet, sweet ironies … some of which I am now compelled to relate:
1) Imus, who has feathered his New Mexico nest by extorting money and payments in kind (“donations”) from his sponsors and other US corporations, has been taken down by two far greater extortion artists, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. (This is a “borrowed” idea from my son.) Imus went on Sharpton’s New York radio program, I suppose, expecting Sharpton to recognize him for his over-the-years pandering to black rappers (who NEVER use such derogatory remarks). Instead, Sharpton kicked him to the curb. And, I got to believe that most of the sponsors that dropped Imus like a hot potato had gotten a call from Jesse James … er … Jackson.
2) Al Sharpton, who cut his teeth defending Towanda Brawley, and Jesse Jackson, who recently viciously attacked the three Duke Lacrosse players for “raping” that Durham stripper, have both had to back peddle from these outrageous and likely libelous charges. The true irony here is that both these Sharpton-and-Jackson-defended women surely were NHHs.
3) Hillary Clinton benefits enormously from Imus’s demise. Generally once a day Imus would refer to Hillary on his show as “Satan.” This drip, drip, drip of derogatory remarks (I can’t now say dissing) for the next year could not have been good for Hillary’s try at the Presidency. But now, this chronic negative goes away. I am enough of a conspiracy theorist to believe that anything good that happens to Hillary is not accidental.
4) Many of those liberal guests who have appeared on the Imus in the Morning have dropped him like he was radioactive (stolen term). These include David Gregory, Barak Obama, Harold Ford Jr., and James Carville. He has so far been defended only by Paul Bagala, Mike Barnacle and Bo Deitel. Over the next few days many more former “names” and politician guests (who used Imus much as he used them) will go on extended vacations to avoid having to comment on-air and be proven the hypocrites that all are. I’m particularly curious to see on what side Tim Russert will land.
5) Chris Carlin, Imus’s punching-bag sports commentator, also does play-by-play for what football team? You guessed it … Rutgers. This poor schmoo, who daily suffered taunts of vicious and diabolical proportions, is now out of a job thanks to the sadist he sucked up to.
6) In the end I really don’t think that this kerfuffel (another stolen term) had anything to do with the Rutgers women’s basketball team. It just has been a massive settling of scores … kinda like what is going on in Iraq these days, but a tad less bloody.
1) Imus, who has feathered his New Mexico nest by extorting money and payments in kind (“donations”) from his sponsors and other US corporations, has been taken down by two far greater extortion artists, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. (This is a “borrowed” idea from my son.) Imus went on Sharpton’s New York radio program, I suppose, expecting Sharpton to recognize him for his over-the-years pandering to black rappers (who NEVER use such derogatory remarks). Instead, Sharpton kicked him to the curb. And, I got to believe that most of the sponsors that dropped Imus like a hot potato had gotten a call from Jesse James … er … Jackson.
2) Al Sharpton, who cut his teeth defending Towanda Brawley, and Jesse Jackson, who recently viciously attacked the three Duke Lacrosse players for “raping” that Durham stripper, have both had to back peddle from these outrageous and likely libelous charges. The true irony here is that both these Sharpton-and-Jackson-defended women surely were NHHs.
3) Hillary Clinton benefits enormously from Imus’s demise. Generally once a day Imus would refer to Hillary on his show as “Satan.” This drip, drip, drip of derogatory remarks (I can’t now say dissing) for the next year could not have been good for Hillary’s try at the Presidency. But now, this chronic negative goes away. I am enough of a conspiracy theorist to believe that anything good that happens to Hillary is not accidental.
4) Many of those liberal guests who have appeared on the Imus in the Morning have dropped him like he was radioactive (stolen term). These include David Gregory, Barak Obama, Harold Ford Jr., and James Carville. He has so far been defended only by Paul Bagala, Mike Barnacle and Bo Deitel. Over the next few days many more former “names” and politician guests (who used Imus much as he used them) will go on extended vacations to avoid having to comment on-air and be proven the hypocrites that all are. I’m particularly curious to see on what side Tim Russert will land.
5) Chris Carlin, Imus’s punching-bag sports commentator, also does play-by-play for what football team? You guessed it … Rutgers. This poor schmoo, who daily suffered taunts of vicious and diabolical proportions, is now out of a job thanks to the sadist he sucked up to.
6) In the end I really don’t think that this kerfuffel (another stolen term) had anything to do with the Rutgers women’s basketball team. It just has been a massive settling of scores … kinda like what is going on in Iraq these days, but a tad less bloody.
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Monday, March 26, 2007
Most Craven
The following is a list of the top contenders for Mr./Mrs. Craven of 2007. Please vote for your three favorite poltroons:
/__ / Osama Bin Laden
/__ / Hillary Clinton
/__ / Joseph Biden
/__ / Ann Coulter
/__ / Kim Jong il
/__ / Rush Limbaugh
/__ / Jimmy Carter
/__ / Al Sharpton
/__ / Don Imus
/__ / Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
/__ / Jim Cramer
/__ / Keith Oberman
/__ / John F. Kerry
/__ / George Potts
/__ / Katie Couric
/__ / George W. Bush
/__ / Al Franken
/__ / Kofi Annan
/__ / O.J. Simpson
/__ / Jacque Chirac
/__ / Nancy Pelosi
/__ / Bill O’Reilly
/__ / John Edwards
/__ / Sean Hannity
/__ / Barbara Streisand
/__ / Bill Clinton
/__ / Vladimir Putin
/__ / Dick Chaney
/__ / Mike Barnacle
/__ / Howard Stern (either one)
/__ / Hugo Chavez
/__ / Alberto Gonzales
/__ / Chuck Schumer
/__ / Ted Kennedy
/__ / Newt Gingrich
/__ / Lawrence O‘Donnell
/__ / Rosie O’Donnell
/__ / John Murtha
/__ / ________________ (your write-in)
/__ / Osama Bin Laden
/__ / Hillary Clinton
/__ / Joseph Biden
/__ / Ann Coulter
/__ / Kim Jong il
/__ / Rush Limbaugh
/__ / Jimmy Carter
/__ / Al Sharpton
/__ / Don Imus
/__ / Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
/__ / Jim Cramer
/__ / Keith Oberman
/__ / John F. Kerry
/__ / George Potts
/__ / Katie Couric
/__ / George W. Bush
/__ / Al Franken
/__ / Kofi Annan
/__ / O.J. Simpson
/__ / Jacque Chirac
/__ / Nancy Pelosi
/__ / Bill O’Reilly
/__ / John Edwards
/__ / Sean Hannity
/__ / Barbara Streisand
/__ / Bill Clinton
/__ / Vladimir Putin
/__ / Dick Chaney
/__ / Mike Barnacle
/__ / Howard Stern (either one)
/__ / Hugo Chavez
/__ / Alberto Gonzales
/__ / Chuck Schumer
/__ / Ted Kennedy
/__ / Newt Gingrich
/__ / Lawrence O‘Donnell
/__ / Rosie O’Donnell
/__ / John Murtha
/__ / ________________ (your write-in)
Friday, March 23, 2007
MORE PET PEEVES
Ham Rind -- Why is it that many hams and ham steaks now come with a layer of plastic welded to the outside? Ham used to have nice soft tasty fat on its outside, not a cuticle of a non-organic nature that reminds me of the cellophane rind on bologna. And why do U.S. consumers tolerate such nonsense? And while we’re at it, let's get rid of the huge brine injections that meat processors give hams to bulk them up for higher profits. This thumb-on-the-scale trick adds nothing to the taste of ham ... it only causes water to exude during cooking and dilutes the resulting flavor.
“Jumbo” Eggs -- Has anyone noticed that jumbo eggs aren’t often “jumbo” any more? Jumbo egg cartons have “jumbo” compartments, but the eggs you often find there are frequently one or two sizes too small. As an educational exercise sometime, compare the largest egg of a “Large” egg crate with the smallest egg of a “Jumbo” egg crate. Your eyes may be opened.
Strange Names -- Weird spellings of common names is an irksome trend. Novel spellings like Jessye, Eriq, and Alisyn I guess are meant to set children apart ... but they unnecessarily slow the pace of life. How many times a year do people with such nonsensical appellatives have to stop and spell their names during introductions and applications? It’s not just a waste of their time, but also wastes the time of those on the receiving end. It even forces everyone to ask for spelling of those with normal names ... just in case. I suggest that parents endow their offspring with uniqueness in some other, more enduring but less trivial way ... say with character or selflessness or piety or honor. Even common spellings of weird names don’t ensure that the children so named will be so endowed ... witness Chastity Bono.
Commercials on Public Television -- Public television is supposed to be funded by individual and corporate donations and, disputably, the government. So why is it that corporate donations engender what increasing appear to be commercials? Public television is slowly morphing its segment breaks into product commercials. First, just the name of the company was mentioned. Then a corporate image statement of one sentence was added. Then two sentences. Then product names were introduced. Then favorable attributes of these products were added. And through it all the length of these segment brakes keeps increasing. It won’t be long before public television is as commercial as network TV. Then perhaps we might wean them from our government’s funds ...
Vanity Street Names -- Corporations increasingly are adopting vanity street names for their headquarters address -- Apple Computer has Infinite Loop; Data General had Computer Drive; and Gateway Computer has Gateway Drive, etc. Since most of these names don’t exist on city maps, it almost assures that you must stop and ask directions in order to get to these headquarters ... another indication that corporations sometimes behave like they’re above it all.
Free Handicap Parking -- Now I don’t have any problem with physically handicapped people having special parking places. However, why is this parking free? What about a nabob who has a bum leg? He gets gratis parking (near the action) while a destitute schmoo who happens to be physically able must feed a ravenous parking meter. Why do we equate being physically handicapped with being fiscally distressed?
Mothers with Infants Parking -- The other day I saw a sign reserving a parking space in a supermarket lot that said “Mothers with Infants.” Now, since we already have handicapped parking and loading zones, this new category of privilege is a little disturbing. What about “Fathers with Infants” parking? What about “Cars with Faulty Mufflers” parking? What about “Parents with Whining Children” parking? What about “Munchausen’s Syndrome Sufferers” parking? When will it all stop?
Homophobe-Phobes -- People who find in-your-face homosexuals uncomfortable or even offensive are quickly labeled “homophobes” and are automatically criticized or even ostracized by many ... sometimes with a good bit of vitriol. Can we, in turn, stamp those, who rail against “homophobes,” as “homophobe-phobes”?
Trite Expressions of Grief -- A smoldering trend that erupted into a conflagration with Princess Dianna’s death is the trite expression of grief -- a Teddy Bears tied to a chain link fence, a plastic balloon with a maudlin message, a rubber duck with a [blue, red, pink, black] ribbon around its neck, one rose packaged in Saran Wrap, etc. Such anonymous crepe hanging is like chalk on a blackboard to me. In Princess Dianna’s case, the sheer volume of this banality became a public health hazard. Please, please, please ... when I pass on to that place where there are no more pet peeves; let no one memorialize my death with a plastic balloon of any type with any message, however heartfelt.
Icon Flags -- This pet peeve might lose me some friends, so I will be as gentle as possible. What is it with people who have a repertoire of multi-colored event flags that they proudly display at the drop of the tam-o-shanter ... a martini glass, a birthday cake, a snowman, an exploding firecracker, etc.? Do I really care that it’s Aunt Louise’s birthday? Or that tonight they are abusing their livers?
Diagonal Parking in Parallel Spaces -- “I’m so important and rich that I get two parking spaces while you get none.” This is the kind of ludicrous thinking that causes people to park their new expensive, usually foreign, cars diagonally across two parking spaces ... denying others the extra spaces. Greed and anal retentiveness trump neighborliness in this ostentatious power play by these boobs. If I were a miscreant, I would “key” their shiny news, but I am not. However, I shall find no real fault with those that do.
U.S. Female Correspondents Wearing Hijabs (Islamic Head Scarves) -- I find it profoundly offensive to see non-Muslim female TV correspondents (CNN, MSNBC, etc.) reporting from the Mideast wearing hajibs (usually black and white checked) as though they are Muslims and have sided with the terrorists.
Gross Generalizations -- As soon as polls show more than say 60% of the U.S. populous agree with a leftist position (no more war, Bush lied about WMDs, etc.), then talking heads (like James Carvel, Eleanor Clift, etc.) start saying that "All the American people want blah, blah, blah.")
Space "Walks" -- When astronauts work outside their space capsule, it is called a space "walk". Now, this is similar to when you "dial" a phone by pushing some buttons … or why doen't everyone (other than Emeril) call a refrigerator an "ice box?" When you step on the accelerator, do you then say you "whip" your car? Can't we, for God's sake, update our terminology?
“Jumbo” Eggs -- Has anyone noticed that jumbo eggs aren’t often “jumbo” any more? Jumbo egg cartons have “jumbo” compartments, but the eggs you often find there are frequently one or two sizes too small. As an educational exercise sometime, compare the largest egg of a “Large” egg crate with the smallest egg of a “Jumbo” egg crate. Your eyes may be opened.
Strange Names -- Weird spellings of common names is an irksome trend. Novel spellings like Jessye, Eriq, and Alisyn I guess are meant to set children apart ... but they unnecessarily slow the pace of life. How many times a year do people with such nonsensical appellatives have to stop and spell their names during introductions and applications? It’s not just a waste of their time, but also wastes the time of those on the receiving end. It even forces everyone to ask for spelling of those with normal names ... just in case. I suggest that parents endow their offspring with uniqueness in some other, more enduring but less trivial way ... say with character or selflessness or piety or honor. Even common spellings of weird names don’t ensure that the children so named will be so endowed ... witness Chastity Bono.
Commercials on Public Television -- Public television is supposed to be funded by individual and corporate donations and, disputably, the government. So why is it that corporate donations engender what increasing appear to be commercials? Public television is slowly morphing its segment breaks into product commercials. First, just the name of the company was mentioned. Then a corporate image statement of one sentence was added. Then two sentences. Then product names were introduced. Then favorable attributes of these products were added. And through it all the length of these segment brakes keeps increasing. It won’t be long before public television is as commercial as network TV. Then perhaps we might wean them from our government’s funds ...
Vanity Street Names -- Corporations increasingly are adopting vanity street names for their headquarters address -- Apple Computer has Infinite Loop; Data General had Computer Drive; and Gateway Computer has Gateway Drive, etc. Since most of these names don’t exist on city maps, it almost assures that you must stop and ask directions in order to get to these headquarters ... another indication that corporations sometimes behave like they’re above it all.
Free Handicap Parking -- Now I don’t have any problem with physically handicapped people having special parking places. However, why is this parking free? What about a nabob who has a bum leg? He gets gratis parking (near the action) while a destitute schmoo who happens to be physically able must feed a ravenous parking meter. Why do we equate being physically handicapped with being fiscally distressed?
Mothers with Infants Parking -- The other day I saw a sign reserving a parking space in a supermarket lot that said “Mothers with Infants.” Now, since we already have handicapped parking and loading zones, this new category of privilege is a little disturbing. What about “Fathers with Infants” parking? What about “Cars with Faulty Mufflers” parking? What about “Parents with Whining Children” parking? What about “Munchausen’s Syndrome Sufferers” parking? When will it all stop?
Homophobe-Phobes -- People who find in-your-face homosexuals uncomfortable or even offensive are quickly labeled “homophobes” and are automatically criticized or even ostracized by many ... sometimes with a good bit of vitriol. Can we, in turn, stamp those, who rail against “homophobes,” as “homophobe-phobes”?
Trite Expressions of Grief -- A smoldering trend that erupted into a conflagration with Princess Dianna’s death is the trite expression of grief -- a Teddy Bears tied to a chain link fence, a plastic balloon with a maudlin message, a rubber duck with a [blue, red, pink, black] ribbon around its neck, one rose packaged in Saran Wrap, etc. Such anonymous crepe hanging is like chalk on a blackboard to me. In Princess Dianna’s case, the sheer volume of this banality became a public health hazard. Please, please, please ... when I pass on to that place where there are no more pet peeves; let no one memorialize my death with a plastic balloon of any type with any message, however heartfelt.
Icon Flags -- This pet peeve might lose me some friends, so I will be as gentle as possible. What is it with people who have a repertoire of multi-colored event flags that they proudly display at the drop of the tam-o-shanter ... a martini glass, a birthday cake, a snowman, an exploding firecracker, etc.? Do I really care that it’s Aunt Louise’s birthday? Or that tonight they are abusing their livers?
Diagonal Parking in Parallel Spaces -- “I’m so important and rich that I get two parking spaces while you get none.” This is the kind of ludicrous thinking that causes people to park their new expensive, usually foreign, cars diagonally across two parking spaces ... denying others the extra spaces. Greed and anal retentiveness trump neighborliness in this ostentatious power play by these boobs. If I were a miscreant, I would “key” their shiny news, but I am not. However, I shall find no real fault with those that do.
U.S. Female Correspondents Wearing Hijabs (Islamic Head Scarves) -- I find it profoundly offensive to see non-Muslim female TV correspondents (CNN, MSNBC, etc.) reporting from the Mideast wearing hajibs (usually black and white checked) as though they are Muslims and have sided with the terrorists.
Gross Generalizations -- As soon as polls show more than say 60% of the U.S. populous agree with a leftist position (no more war, Bush lied about WMDs, etc.), then talking heads (like James Carvel, Eleanor Clift, etc.) start saying that "All the American people want blah, blah, blah.")
Space "Walks" -- When astronauts work outside their space capsule, it is called a space "walk". Now, this is similar to when you "dial" a phone by pushing some buttons … or why doen't everyone (other than Emeril) call a refrigerator an "ice box?" When you step on the accelerator, do you then say you "whip" your car? Can't we, for God's sake, update our terminology?
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Evacuation Day
In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts they celebrate one obscure holiday which is conveniently concurrent with St. Patrick’s Day. It is called “Evacuation Day.” On this day, the state government closes down ... allowing its many pols and solons to gather at their favorite watering holes to celebrate the banishing of snakes from the ole sod. Once there, they donate a parcel of liquor taxes back to the treasury from which they draw their sustenance. Incidentally, the reason Massachusetts is called a “commonwealth” is that the Pilgrims believed “from each according to his ability and to each according to his need” ... a tradition that lives on in this state unto this day.
Evacuation Day was named to honor the purging that supposedly saved the life of Paul Revere’s mother when she had come down with the croup the night before her son’s famous ride. Her doctor, Elias DeBakey, gave her a double dose of ipecac and prune juice. Then he bled her with leaches; sweated her in a log-cabin sauna; gave her a soapy water enema; and finally, had her down a triple dose of bromide expectorant. She was “evacuated” so completely that she dropped nearly a third of her body weight. But, despite all this bad medicine, she survived ... and the people of the Bay State chose to honor this miracle by declaring this day an annual holiday.
The Irish, when they are not blowing each other up, spend a good deal of their time writing blue-ribbon prose; and, as already noted, have an affinity for amber liquids. On Evacuation Day this tropism becomes an obsession. Brass-railed bars with names like “Galway Bay” and “Glacamora” fill with corpulent-visaged Celts downing tuns of Harp lager and Guinness stout. And, at the tables, sit hoards of green-tie trenchermen devouring nitrided corned beef, bilious cabbage, boiled Bliss potatoes, and Irish soda bread. In the more radical of these establishments, Erse is spoken to cover the intrigues and cabals being planned, abetted by the bravado of booze.
These Sons of Erin, having sated and slaked themselves, finish the day with some sort of melee. On this day, a bloody nose or a broken tooth is a badge of honor. But the belligerents know it’s time to go home when they start seeing leprechauns prancing among the pots of shamrocks on the bar top. Then, after everyone has left, the leprechauns really do emerge, belt down the bar spitsies ... and, invariably, start their own brouhaha. But when in turn, these elves start seeing even littler people hidden among the mosses and detritus of the clover pots, even the leprechauns call it a day.
Evacuation Day was named to honor the purging that supposedly saved the life of Paul Revere’s mother when she had come down with the croup the night before her son’s famous ride. Her doctor, Elias DeBakey, gave her a double dose of ipecac and prune juice. Then he bled her with leaches; sweated her in a log-cabin sauna; gave her a soapy water enema; and finally, had her down a triple dose of bromide expectorant. She was “evacuated” so completely that she dropped nearly a third of her body weight. But, despite all this bad medicine, she survived ... and the people of the Bay State chose to honor this miracle by declaring this day an annual holiday.
The Irish, when they are not blowing each other up, spend a good deal of their time writing blue-ribbon prose; and, as already noted, have an affinity for amber liquids. On Evacuation Day this tropism becomes an obsession. Brass-railed bars with names like “Galway Bay” and “Glacamora” fill with corpulent-visaged Celts downing tuns of Harp lager and Guinness stout. And, at the tables, sit hoards of green-tie trenchermen devouring nitrided corned beef, bilious cabbage, boiled Bliss potatoes, and Irish soda bread. In the more radical of these establishments, Erse is spoken to cover the intrigues and cabals being planned, abetted by the bravado of booze.
These Sons of Erin, having sated and slaked themselves, finish the day with some sort of melee. On this day, a bloody nose or a broken tooth is a badge of honor. But the belligerents know it’s time to go home when they start seeing leprechauns prancing among the pots of shamrocks on the bar top. Then, after everyone has left, the leprechauns really do emerge, belt down the bar spitsies ... and, invariably, start their own brouhaha. But when in turn, these elves start seeing even littler people hidden among the mosses and detritus of the clover pots, even the leprechauns call it a day.
Friday, March 09, 2007
Al-Gored
Last night Boston set a new record for the lowest temperature in recorded history -- not just for March 8th, but for all of March – 3 degrees Fahrenheit. This is a FULL FIVE degrees LOWER than the previous record of 8 degrees/F. It must … it has to be all Bush’s fault!!! And I’m sure we will hear from at least one Al-Gore looney today that such low temperatures are a result of global warming. Don’t try to follow the supporting logic to such assertions for they will basically devolve into, “You just have to believe … that’s all.”
Speaking of believing, it has recently been posited that Christ had siblings and, therefore, clearly was a historic construct. And as a result, the Church of the Latter Day Polar Bears (Al Gore, Pope) is rapidly supplanting Christianity. We will soon be asked to stop buying Polar Seltzer and wearing Polar Fleece as a token of our piety.
Yours in Genuflection,
Saint Elmo (The Vicar of Sesame Street)
Speaking of believing, it has recently been posited that Christ had siblings and, therefore, clearly was a historic construct. And as a result, the Church of the Latter Day Polar Bears (Al Gore, Pope) is rapidly supplanting Christianity. We will soon be asked to stop buying Polar Seltzer and wearing Polar Fleece as a token of our piety.
Yours in Genuflection,
Saint Elmo (The Vicar of Sesame Street)
Monday, March 05, 2007
KVETCHING
Why is it that all those talking heads and (now) solons who are screaming about the Walter Reed/V.A. Hospital “scandal” are the same ones who are constantly kvetching for our government to take over our nation’s health care system (read “single payer” health care)?
Friday, February 16, 2007
Carter’s Little Liver
(From 2/26/07 FORBES Magazine) In 1980 Jimmy Carter signed the Energy Security Act which created the Synthetic Fuels Corp. at a taxpayer cost of $2 billion. It went belly up a mere five years later. I wonder how many Habitat for Humanity houses could have been built with those same 2,000,000,000 (1980) dollars? Maybe 100,000? OOPS!
Thursday, January 25, 2007
CON CONS
I think the anti-victory-in-Iraq vote in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday was a disgrace ... and indicates how evil and self-serving politicians can become when they think that their power base is in jeopardy. If one calls the Neo Cons who are for the Iraqi war “chicken hawks” ... perhaps we should call these Con Neo Cons, "plucked chickens", or "chicken fingers", or “Chicken Little’s”, or even, "Brothers of Islam". During the cold war, Russia liked to call such people "useful idiots". Before you, who may belong to one of the above appellations, takes too much umbrage at these comments, think of the patience that we “chicken hawks” have visited upon you when you have shrieked your insults at us.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
A QUESTION
I have a question for any of you liberals who have graduated into rabidness: Would you have us win in Iraq if that means that Bush would go down in history as a good or even a great president?
Sock Raties
Sock Raties
Monday, January 22, 2007
REPORTAGE
There are two articles in this morning’s newspapers that neatly illustrate a point that the major media outlets in the U.S. have been drumming out an anti-Bush and anti-U.S. message for at least the last two years. Both these articles have to do with U.S. losses in Iraq over the weekend. One is in the NY Times (page A6) headlined “U.S. Toll in Iraq Is 27 for Deadly Weekend” and the other in the Boston Globe (page A6) headlined “Cunning, sophistication seen in Iraq ambush”. Both articles detail how Sunni terrorists, dressed up like American soldiers (but with beards no less) conned their way into an Iraqi government compound and killed five American servicemen.
These articles also highlight a helicopter crash in which 12 American soldiers were killed and other combat incidents: one, where two Marines were killed and another, where five servicemen were killed, both in Anbar Province. The NY Times does mention that the first attack “was repelled by American forces” and that, earlier, and American raid had killed a guard in Moktada al-Sadr’s posse which was then diminished by a quote from another al-Sadr lieutenant as “inhuman and against human rights”.
Both articles managed to bring up other past incidents where large numbers of U.S. troops were killed … and other weekend incidents where Iraqi citizens (including young children) were blown up by insurgents. Neither article thought to report or even estimate bad guy losses.
This is not reportage … this is propaganda, but, unfortunately, not pro U.S. propaganda.
These articles also highlight a helicopter crash in which 12 American soldiers were killed and other combat incidents: one, where two Marines were killed and another, where five servicemen were killed, both in Anbar Province. The NY Times does mention that the first attack “was repelled by American forces” and that, earlier, and American raid had killed a guard in Moktada al-Sadr’s posse which was then diminished by a quote from another al-Sadr lieutenant as “inhuman and against human rights”.
Both articles managed to bring up other past incidents where large numbers of U.S. troops were killed … and other weekend incidents where Iraqi citizens (including young children) were blown up by insurgents. Neither article thought to report or even estimate bad guy losses.
This is not reportage … this is propaganda, but, unfortunately, not pro U.S. propaganda.
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