The last 2 weeks have been whirlwind at my house. It all started at the end of May, when a friend of mine, who was working as the Library Aide at the school our kids attend, called me up to let me know that she decided to resign her position effective at the end of the current school year. I spoke to her on a Saturday after I worked a 5 hour shift at the library - starting at 8:00am - and before I had to pick up one son at a birthday party to take him to another birthday party. And we had a hell of a thunderstorm that afternoon, too.
Anyways, after speaking with my friend, I decided to email the principal and let her know I would be pleased to be considered for the position. The same day I emailed the Principal, my parents came to visit because my husband and I were leaving the next day to travel to New York City to see "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart.
We flew up to NYC on the morning of June 2, and boy did we luck out. It was perfect - around 75*, sunny, just a beautiful spring day in the Big Apple. We met a friend of my husband's for lunch, then spent about an hour and a half walking around the Times Square area, seeing Broadway, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, and Central Park.
We had tickets for the Daily Show that night, so around 3:00, we decided to head down to 11th (between 51st and 52nd) to get in line. The ticket confirmation recommended being in line between 3:30-4:30. I checked my cell phone when we got in line and it said 3:33. By my count, there were between 80-100 people ahead of us. As we read the fine print on the ticket confirmation, we noticed it said something like, having your confirmed tickets does not mean you get tickets into the studio...I was a little concerned, but felt pretty good about our chances getting in.
The show starts handing out studio tickets around 4:40pm. The crew hands out 240, and the 240th person in line was 6 people in front of my husband and me. Bummer! We had flown all the way up there to watch the show, but it did not appear that we would get in. But....then the crew handed out 15 additional tickets which were described to us as being for "VIPs" who show up last minute. If the VIPs showed up, they got in...if not, we would get in. We got numbers 7 and 8 in that group of 15.
Fast forward to about 6:00pm. We're still in line (yes, nearly 2 1/2 hours later), edging our way closer to the door to the studio. We eventually get in through the front door and go through the security process and metal detector. The studio crew comes out to tell us they'll take the first 16 people who have the VIP tickets, and since there are only 15 of us, we all get in for the show.
As luck would have it, since I had a small bag with me (unlike most of the people in our group who had just come from work and had briefcases and larger bags), we got through the security process first in our group. So we're waiting to go in, are directed into the studio, and told we could take whatever seats were available, which, just happened to be the VIP seats....and we end up sitting in the front row! The show itself was fantastic - the guest that night was none other than Scott McClellan and he was on for almost the entire program. I would have loved to have seen Rob Riggle or Samantha Bee, but beggars can't be choosers, I guess.
So on Tuesday, we return to Virginia, and I set up an interview with the principal for Wednesday afternoon to interview for the open library aide/media specialist position. On Wednesday, I work a 5 hour shift at the library, and quickly race home to freshen up a bit before my interview. On my way home, I heard on WAMU (the local NPR affiliate) that a tornado was spotted in Loudoun County (to our West) and the entire listening area was under a tornado watch. As I left my house at around 2:55 to head to my interview, I heard some rumbles of thunder off in the distance and thought, well, I guess we won't be having swim practice this afternoon. I got about 3/4 of a mile down the road and noticed the first traffic light was out. I slowed down and noticed a few rain drops. About 200 feet further, I think I drove through a tornado. The rain came down in sheets, trees were bending from side to side, branches started flying around me, wires were coming down. I've never been so scared...I kept thinking, just let me get to the school, just let me get to the school....
As I get to the main intersection which is about a block from the school, I notice that all the traffic lights are out and the shops have no power. I'm still thinking about my interview, though I just want to get inside the school. I get there, and not only is the power out, the kids are in their tornado drill positions, in the hallways with their heads covered. I'm not surprised, I say, since I think I just drove through part of the tornado! Anyways, the interview is cancelled (and rescheduled for the same time on Thursday), obviously, so I stay and help the front office deal with the onslaught of phone calls and nervous parents. I take my kids home, and not wanting to drive over another wire lying on the ground, decide to take them a different way. We left the school at 4:00, and got home at 5:20. It normally takes us about 10 minutes to get home.
Upon arriving in our neighborhood, we see that our street is blocked off because a neighbor's tree was struck by lighting and about 1/3 of the tree is lying cross ways across the street. Access to our driveway is blocked, although we could have gone out to the main road and made a series of left turns to get back in the other way. We park the van and walk to our house to make sure nothing fell in the yard or on the house - nothing had, but the power was out. VDOT told our neighbor that it would take 3 days minimum to get the tree off the road, but in an incredible turn of luck, a VDOT crew was stuck on the main road, detoured off into our subdivision (and the one next to us), saw the tree and decided to cut it down and get it off the road. What good fortune!!
Meanwhile, my husband calls to say that the metro is off-loading passengers at East Falls Church because a tree fell on the tracks and they can't go farther west without "single tracking" and shuttle buses are supposed to be taking passengers to the next station. He gets off and there are literally thousands of commuters waiting for the bus and the metro staff seem to be unable to handle the onslaught, so he decides to start walking to the next station (he's still got the blisters to prove it, though they're healing now) and as he's doing that, the next band of severe thunderstorms roll through.
He ends up at West Falls Church, takes the commuter bus to the parking lot by our house, gets in the car and gets home around 6:15. We our time listening to our only battery powered radio, and about 7:50pm, a tornado warning came on for Fairfax County, so we round up the kids and head to the basement. Our youngest son is pretty upset, our oldest son is taking it all in stride, my husband decides to ride out the storm on the back (covered) porch and I'm just wondering what will happen...
Anyway, I wake up at 5:30 on Thursday morning to discover we still don't have power. I take our oldest up to Safeway with me to get ice and batteries, come home, load as much as I can into coolers, and try to figure out how I am going to make myself presentable for my 5 hour shift at the library. I get the kids off to school, head to work and make the best of it. One of my neighbors walked into the library and told me our power went back on around 9:30-10:00, so I asked for (and got) permission to leave an hour early to get the food back into the fridge/freezer. I had enough time to shower, dry my hair, and I had my interview that afternoon.
Friday came and it's my last day in the library, our youngest son's last baseball game for the season, our school picnic. Your typical busy suburban family day I guess. Oh, and I should mention, it was about 3,000* with 120% humidity on Friday - the beginning of the heat wave which I think ended last night with another round of thunderstorms. Saturday and Sunday we spent out on the Shenandoah River camping and canoeing with our Cub Scout Den. It was surprisingly cool at night out by the river, a nice respite from the heat and humidity we'd been slogging through in the Virginia suburbs. The 7 mile canoe trip was pleasant and uneventful (a nice change from our canoeing trip in Michigan last summer when we tipped the canoe over about 3 miles into a 12 mile trip), though by the end, we were all ready to get out of the bright, hot sun.
On Monday morning at 7:45am, I got a call from the Fairfax County schools HR department officially offering me the part-time Library Aide/Media Specialist, which I happily accepted. I was nervous about receiving a call that early in the morning, especially since my grandmother (96 years young) was going in for a second round of surgery to remove/replace her pacemaker, which had a staph infection on the wires and was causing no end of infections and a steady dose of antibiotics, which she's been on and off since December. She came through the surgery in good shape, and is out of the hospital recovering at my parents house.
I went through the Fairfax County HR New Support Orientation yesterday, and they mentioned their policy regarding blogs, My Space, etc., and it got me thinking about my blog. While I don't think there's anything too objectionable here (honestly, who among us doesn't get a case of the "f bombs" while discussing the absolute incompetence of this administration??), the policy is to not have anything that would embarrass the school system, or be objectionable to students or parents. Plus, as the head of the Mock Election being held at the school this fall, it's probably best to keep my political opinions to myself, so, in that regard, I think I'm going to hang up my blogging shoes for now. I know that will disappoint my two loyal readers, but I'm always happy to discuss my views either lounging at the pool or around the kitchen table.
Update: This has been sitting in my edited but not posted file for a few days. School is now officially over for the year, my boys both had terrific report cards (the oldest got straight A's) and both of the boys earned citizenship awards for their classes this year. Our 4th grader earned the overall citizenship award for his class, and our 1st grader recieved (for the second year in a row) the P.E. Citizenship award for his class.
Congratulations doodles and happy 1st day of summer vacation!!! :)
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Monday, June 9, 2008
Medal of Honor Recipients
I don't like it when people say someone "won" the Medal of Honor, or any other military decoration for that matter. You don't "win" the MoH like you "win" a baseball game, you earn the Medal of Honor, and usually posthumously.
Operation Iraqi Freedom has had fewer Medal of Honor recipients (4) than any other conflict (a story for another day). President Bush honored the actions of PFC Ross McGinnis (since promoted to SPC) and presented his parents, Tom and Romayne McGuiness, with the MoH for their son's actions throwing his body on a grenade tossed into his humvee allowing the four soldiers riding with him to escape. SPC McGuiness was killed instantly; his fellow soldiers in the humvee all survived.
On June 3, 2008, Tom McGinnis, spoke at the Pentagon Hall of Heroes, where his son was inducted. He spoke out in favor of Jim Webb's post 9/11 GI Bill, saying,
"We’ve had the support of hundreds and hundreds of people — family, friends, and strangers that have helped us deal with what we had to go through. And this is a good thing. But our troops when they get home also need our support. They put their lives on the line for us, sometimes for four years, sometimes for two years, sometimes for 20 years. But when they get home, they also need our support. And many of these people were very young when they left home, they put aside their education and went into the service because it’s young people that make up the active army and really do the fighting for us. So we owe them an ability to be able to return home and become a productive part of their society. They need to be able to continue their education where they left off. And so I say thank you to the Senate and House who have helped to pass the new GI bill. Now this GI bill only needs the signature of the President of the United States to become law. And I think it’s time that George Bush can sign this bill and make it law to show his appreciation for the support these loyal youth have given him."
Amen brother. Supporting the troops means really supporting them, and that costs more than simple, inexpensive words. It means helping them through deployments and reunions, providing adequate health care for wounds seen and unseen, sending them into battle with the tools they need to win the fight, and giving them the means to become better educated if they so choose. It's the least - the very, very least - that we can do.
Pass the bill, Mr. President. Do the right thing for the soldiers you lavish with such praise - and spend money on those who have truly earned it.
Operation Iraqi Freedom has had fewer Medal of Honor recipients (4) than any other conflict (a story for another day). President Bush honored the actions of PFC Ross McGinnis (since promoted to SPC) and presented his parents, Tom and Romayne McGuiness, with the MoH for their son's actions throwing his body on a grenade tossed into his humvee allowing the four soldiers riding with him to escape. SPC McGuiness was killed instantly; his fellow soldiers in the humvee all survived.
On June 3, 2008, Tom McGinnis, spoke at the Pentagon Hall of Heroes, where his son was inducted. He spoke out in favor of Jim Webb's post 9/11 GI Bill, saying,
"We’ve had the support of hundreds and hundreds of people — family, friends, and strangers that have helped us deal with what we had to go through. And this is a good thing. But our troops when they get home also need our support. They put their lives on the line for us, sometimes for four years, sometimes for two years, sometimes for 20 years. But when they get home, they also need our support. And many of these people were very young when they left home, they put aside their education and went into the service because it’s young people that make up the active army and really do the fighting for us. So we owe them an ability to be able to return home and become a productive part of their society. They need to be able to continue their education where they left off. And so I say thank you to the Senate and House who have helped to pass the new GI bill. Now this GI bill only needs the signature of the President of the United States to become law. And I think it’s time that George Bush can sign this bill and make it law to show his appreciation for the support these loyal youth have given him."
Amen brother. Supporting the troops means really supporting them, and that costs more than simple, inexpensive words. It means helping them through deployments and reunions, providing adequate health care for wounds seen and unseen, sending them into battle with the tools they need to win the fight, and giving them the means to become better educated if they so choose. It's the least - the very, very least - that we can do.
Pass the bill, Mr. President. Do the right thing for the soldiers you lavish with such praise - and spend money on those who have truly earned it.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Fox News Anchorettes and IQ Requirements
Updates below.
Just out of curiosity, how stupid do you have to be to get a job as an anchor at Fox News? Seriously - if you have an IQ of over 85, are you automatically disqualified from reading the mind-numbing drivel that comes out of the teleprompter?
I'm asking because on June 6, some generic blond talking moron on Fox asked this question:
Seriously? Is this idiot fucking with us or what? Fist bumps are now reserved only for terrorists? Jeez, I guess my son's Rookie League baseball team has got some splainin' to do to homeland security!
Here's a montage of the terrorist appeasers who are fist bumping their way to the destruction of the United States and everything it stands for:
Former Presidential Candidate Joe Lieberman and a fellow terrorist sympathizer:
Golfer Billy Mayfair and his caddie:
Or maybe he's just celebrating going up 40-30 at 6-5 in the 1st set. I report, you decide!
Uh huh. That's quite a defense: others called it a "terrorist fist jab" - so I had not choice but to characterize it that way! Right. I would love to know who thought that the fist pump was anything other than a fist pump, or was inspired by al-Qaeda. Seriously, ED, names please!
As for the "apology" associating the word "terrorist" with Barack and Michele Obama, I'm sure you meant it. Most empty-headed, bleach blond conservatard losers who just got fired usually do.*
*My intent is not in any way to imply that you are an empty-headed, bleach blond conservatard loser, and I offer my sincere "apologies" if you were offended by that, 'k? ;)
Just out of curiosity, how stupid do you have to be to get a job as an anchor at Fox News? Seriously - if you have an IQ of over 85, are you automatically disqualified from reading the mind-numbing drivel that comes out of the teleprompter?
I'm asking because on June 6, some generic blond talking moron on Fox asked this question:
Seriously? Is this idiot fucking with us or what? Fist bumps are now reserved only for terrorists? Jeez, I guess my son's Rookie League baseball team has got some splainin' to do to homeland security!
Here's a montage of the terrorist appeasers who are fist bumping their way to the destruction of the United States and everything it stands for:
Schneider and Cordero:
Giambi and Jeter:
Harry Connick, Jr and daughter Sara:
Former Presidential Candidate Joe Lieberman and a fellow terrorist sympathizer:
Golfer Billy Mayfair and his caddie:
Now, don't confuse the Hamas/Hezbollah/al-Qaeda/SLA/Weather Underground/Minutemen fist bump with the patriotic, All-American, freedom-loving, terrorist hating chest bump, demonstrated here, by all-around class act George W. Bush:
Update: Former President George H.W. Bush "terrorist fist jabbing" Anna Kournikova to show his support of Hamas, Hezbollah, al-Qaeda and the al-Asqa Martyrs brigade.
Or maybe he's just celebrating going up 40-30 at 6-5 in the 1st set. I report, you decide!
Update II: The terrorists and their fist jobs have won!! E.D. ("Extra Dumb?") Hill has lost her show "America's Pulse", though she remains with the network. She "apologized" for insinuating that the Obama's shared a "terrorist fist jab":
Uh huh. That's quite a defense: others called it a "terrorist fist jab" - so I had not choice but to characterize it that way! Right. I would love to know who thought that the fist pump was anything other than a fist pump, or was inspired by al-Qaeda. Seriously, ED, names please!
As for the "apology" associating the word "terrorist" with Barack and Michele Obama, I'm sure you meant it. Most empty-headed, bleach blond conservatard losers who just got fired usually do.*
*My intent is not in any way to imply that you are an empty-headed, bleach blond conservatard loser, and I offer my sincere "apologies" if you were offended by that, 'k? ;)
Friday, June 6, 2008
FOREVER HOCKEYTOWN!
Four cups, 11 years. 104 games. Regular season: 54-21-7. Playoffs: 4-2 series win over Nashville; 4-0 series win over Colorado; 4-2 series win over Dallas; 4-2 series win over Pittsburgh to win the cup.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
June 5, 1968
Bobby Kennedy speaking in Cleveland on April 5, 1968. He was shot by Sirhan Sirhan 2 months later in Los Angeles, California immediately following a speech to his supporters to celebrate his victory in the Democratic Presidential primary.
His brother, Ted, gave a eulogy at St. Patrick's Cathedral and said,
"My brother need not be idealized or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life, to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it."
I wonder what America would have been like with Robert Kennedy as its President. Then, as now, we are faced with a war with no end. In 1968, the nation dealt with a counterculture that rebelled against everything they were taught (now those same counterculturists tell us "don't do as we did...it's sinful!"). The assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. was fresh on the mind of Americans. Rioting in urban areas had happened across the country.
Today, we face different challenges. We are faced with rising prices, with stagnant wages, with a falling dollar, with health care out of reach for millions of Americans. We struggle with Abu Gharib, with Guantanamo Bay, with the long solitary confinement of Americans (and others) charged with terrorism and other crimes, with a Patriot Act that allows the government to read email, listen to phone calls, and review library records. We see movie actors and sports stars paid millions upon millions of dollars, while nickel and dimeing enlisted soldiers for uniforms lost when their humvees were attacked.
We are now a nation where your actions do not count nearly as loudly as your words, where patriotism is measured in the size of your American flag lapel pin and not in what you do for your country, where "liberal" and "progressive" are equal to terrorist and "compassionate conservatism" trumps all, where American soldiers who fight and bleed and sacrifice and give are told to shut up when they disagree with the President.
And through it all, we sit and watch. Unlike in 1968, we do not protest. We do not fight the transgressions we see around us. We do not march in protest of the travesty of the Iraq War. We don't walk to work to show our anger at the oil companies. We are too busy getting the kids to school, or baseball, or swimming, and we barely have enough time to have a conversation about what is really happening around us, and where America has gone wrong.
We have been bullied for 7 years by people who believe that they are right - not just believe it, but feel it to the very core of their being - and are told that those who do not agree are not just wrong, but immoral, and evil, and unpatriotic, and blinded, and appeasers, and haters. I am hopeful that the people who have led this country for 7 years are given a long and painful kick in the ass in November. I hope those people - who sit in judgement of others while ignoring the plank in their own eyes - will come to see the damage they've done to this country, though I doubt that will ever happen. They are wholly convinced of the righteousness of their cause. Getting them to think another way would be like deprogramming a cult member.
I take solace that it will happen. It is coming. I am sick and tired of being sick and tired, and judging by the polls out there, I'll bet you are, too. If you like the way things are, vote McCain. If you are ready for America to take a new course, to set sail in a different direction, if you want America to once again be that city on the hill, that beacon of light and guidance to the rest of the world, then protest. Make your voice heard.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Stop the Presses!
Talk about an earth-shattering event - I'm here to tell you that I agree with Dick Cheney on something. Yes, friends, it's true. Now wipe the coffee you just spit out onto your computer screen and read on.
Ole' Dick was in Virginia yestereday - our former stomping grounds to boot - hobnobbing with the Republican Delegates who were busy voting on a Republican nominee for Senate to run against Mark Warner (they chose Jim Gilmore - you might remember him from such fiascos as ending the car tax and leaving the state billions of dollars in the hole). Ole' Dick, who gave us such whoppers as our troops will be greeted as liberators in Iraq (not true), Saddam's loyalists met with Mohammed Atta in Prague (also not true), and the insurgency is in it's last throes (thousands of dead and wounded American troops later, not true by a longshot), encouraged Republicans to run on the the Bush administration's record of success (!!!) to win in November. And that, friends, is something I wholeheartedly endorse.
I'm hoping the McSame team will run on our successes in Iraq, the high price of gas we're paying, inflation on everyday food items like bread, milk and eggs, the high esteem people around the world have for the United States, the eavesdropping by phone compaines of our calls and emails, and the general douchebaggery of this administration. That, plus picking Charlie Crist as the VP (....don't ask....don't tell...) will make this girls dreams come true!!
And now, ask the children to leave the room as I present you with one truly frightening pic of the VP (and let me be the first to give Lynn Cheney a whole lotta credit for "putting up" with this over the years):
Inquiring minds want to know....My guess? He's either related to John C. Holmes, or he's got a colostomy bag...the secrecy surrounding this administration means your guess is as good as mine...but my money's on the bag.
Ole' Dick was in Virginia yestereday - our former stomping grounds to boot - hobnobbing with the Republican Delegates who were busy voting on a Republican nominee for Senate to run against Mark Warner (they chose Jim Gilmore - you might remember him from such fiascos as ending the car tax and leaving the state billions of dollars in the hole). Ole' Dick, who gave us such whoppers as our troops will be greeted as liberators in Iraq (not true), Saddam's loyalists met with Mohammed Atta in Prague (also not true), and the insurgency is in it's last throes (thousands of dead and wounded American troops later, not true by a longshot), encouraged Republicans to run on the the Bush administration's record of success (!!!) to win in November. And that, friends, is something I wholeheartedly endorse.
I'm hoping the McSame team will run on our successes in Iraq, the high price of gas we're paying, inflation on everyday food items like bread, milk and eggs, the high esteem people around the world have for the United States, the eavesdropping by phone compaines of our calls and emails, and the general douchebaggery of this administration. That, plus picking Charlie Crist as the VP (....don't ask....don't tell...) will make this girls dreams come true!!
And now, ask the children to leave the room as I present you with one truly frightening pic of the VP (and let me be the first to give Lynn Cheney a whole lotta credit for "putting up" with this over the years):
Inquiring minds want to know....My guess? He's either related to John C. Holmes, or he's got a colostomy bag...the secrecy surrounding this administration means your guess is as good as mine...but my money's on the bag.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
GRRRRRLS ROCK!
Joan Jett is one seriously bad ass rocker. That song is AWESOME. I first heard that cover in the 1999 movie Drop Dead Gorgeous, a wickedly funny movie about teen beauty queens. The cover is perfectly done by JJ - kicking ass and taking names - and if (and when) I get a drum set, I am learning that song - and maybe I'll sing it too!
The song, if you haven't guessed, is "Love is All Around", the theme song from "The Mary Tyler Moore" show. I vaguely remember watching that show in the mid 70s on our little 10 inch black and white. The lyrics are awesome - who among us girls didn't think of Mary throwing her hat into the air when moving to a new city or starting a new job?
"Who can turn the world on with her smile?
Who can take a nothing day, and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile?
Well it's you girl, and you should know it
With each glance and every little movement you show it
Love is all around, no need to waste it
You can have a town, why don't you take it
You're gonna make it after all
You're gonna make it after all
How will you make it on your own?
This world is awfully big, girl this time you're all alone
But it's time you started living
It's time you let someone else do some giving
Love is all around, no need to waste it
You can have a town, why don't you take it
You're gonna make it after all
You're gonna make it after all
You're the one most likely to succeed
Just be sure to keep your head
Cause girl you know that's all you need
Everyone around you adores you
Don't give up, the world is waiting for you
Love is all around, no need to waste it
You can have the town, why don't you take it
You're gonna make it after all,
You're gonna make it after all
Who can turn the world on with her smile?
Who can suddenly make it all seem worthwhile?
Well it's you girl, and you should know it
With each glance and every little movement you show it
Love is all around, no need to waste it
You can have the town, why don't you take it
You're gonna make it after all,
You're gonna make it after all."
For fun, here's the 1st season opening theme (with the much less certain "You might just make it after all"):
And here's the song used in Seasons 2- 7 (Mary's "gonna make it after all!"):
As we Queens say, ROCK ON!
I love it when...
...Republicans eat their own. I'm talking, of course, about Scott McClellan and his new book "I worked for the Worst Administration in the History of this Great Republic". No, that's not it, it's "Karl Rove is the Biggest Asshole in Washington, DC (and Texas)!" No, wait it's "Shilling and Lying on the Taxpayer's Nickel". No, it's "You Suckers Got a War in Iraq and Didn't Even Get a Tee-Shirt!" No, actually it's:
Not to be confused with this:
The Republicans are none too happy with Scotty, but let's recall what George Bush had to say about him when his resignation was announced:
WASHINGTON (AP) - White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Wednesday he is resigning, continuing a shakeup in President Bush's administration that has already yielded a new chief of staff and could lead to a change in the Cabinet.
Appearing with Bush on the White House South Lawn just before the president boarded a helicopter at the start a trip to Alabama, McClellan, who has parried especially fiercefully with reporters on Iraq and on intelligence issues, told Bush: "I have given it my all sir and I have given you my all sir, and I will continue to do so as we transition to a new press secretary."
Bush said McClellan had "a challenging assignment."
"I thought he handled his assignment with class, integrity," the president said. "It's going to be hard to replace Scott, but nevertheless he made the decision and I accepted it. One of these days, he and I are going to be rocking in chairs in Texas and talking about the good old days."
As for whether Scotty and Georgie will ever be sittin' 'round chewin' the fat and talkin' about the good ole days? I don't THINK so! (see the video above from one of the funniest mockumentaries to date)
The Mister and I are headed to NYC to see a live taping of "The Daily Show" with John Stewart next week. His very special guest that night? One Scott McClellan. Hopefully the brouhaha over his memoirs will not have faded from the limelight before John gets to take his pound of flesh.
Not to be confused with this:
The Republicans are none too happy with Scotty, but let's recall what George Bush had to say about him when his resignation was announced:
WASHINGTON (AP) - White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Wednesday he is resigning, continuing a shakeup in President Bush's administration that has already yielded a new chief of staff and could lead to a change in the Cabinet.
Appearing with Bush on the White House South Lawn just before the president boarded a helicopter at the start a trip to Alabama, McClellan, who has parried especially fiercefully with reporters on Iraq and on intelligence issues, told Bush: "I have given it my all sir and I have given you my all sir, and I will continue to do so as we transition to a new press secretary."
Bush said McClellan had "a challenging assignment."
"I thought he handled his assignment with class, integrity," the president said. "It's going to be hard to replace Scott, but nevertheless he made the decision and I accepted it. One of these days, he and I are going to be rocking in chairs in Texas and talking about the good old days."
As for whether Scotty and Georgie will ever be sittin' 'round chewin' the fat and talkin' about the good ole days? I don't THINK so! (see the video above from one of the funniest mockumentaries to date)
The Mister and I are headed to NYC to see a live taping of "The Daily Show" with John Stewart next week. His very special guest that night? One Scott McClellan. Hopefully the brouhaha over his memoirs will not have faded from the limelight before John gets to take his pound of flesh.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
On Memorial Day
It's nice to have a day off once in a while, isn't it? Especially now, with the weather getting nicer and school almost out for the summer. But far too often, we enjoy our respite from work without remembering why we have the day off.
I present this video for Memorial Day, 2008.
I present this video for Memorial Day, 2008.
My friends...
they know me so well. I celebrated my almost 40th birthday on Friday, and was fortunate to meet up with one of my closest friends (variously called the "MCBC" and "L'S...") at Panera Bread for coffee (...sigh...like the good ole' days in Cairo...) and then with another (the "QB") to see the Capitol Steps downtown at the Ronald Reagan Building (the irony is delicious: the president most known for being in favor of "small government" has his name on the biggest and most expensive federal building in the country) with our "goozs".
I proudly wore this pin on my purse last night - on the other side from the Pope Benedict pin I got when the QB and I saw him in downtown DC in April.
Anyways, the QB gave me the following for my birthday:
I proudly wore this pin on my purse last night - on the other side from the Pope Benedict pin I got when the QB and I saw him in downtown DC in April.
The coffee mug starts with red and blue states (indicating which team won which states in '04) and then changes to all blue when strong Dunkin' Donuts (or Tim Horton's) coffee is added. Love it!
It's funny, there are multiple political viewpoints expressed among my circle of friends, though we all seem to be united on one point: none of us can stand Hillary Clinton.
It's funny, there are multiple political viewpoints expressed among my circle of friends, though we all seem to be united on one point: none of us can stand Hillary Clinton.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
The Wingers get their panties in a bunch.
AGAIN. Seriously, the wingnuts on the right seem to be perpetually afraid of their own shadow - and everyone else's to boot. For as much grief as I give those cowards for not signing up to fight, we're probably all better off that they're here in the states being douchebags rather than having them sit in a foxhole soiling their pants everytime a person of Arab descent walks by.
Even some of Malkin's brain dead followers know that she's making a mountain out of something that's not even close to a molehill. Rachel Ray is wearing what we call a "scarf". See how the patterns are different between what RR is wearing and a keffiyeh? And how her scarf has long tassles, and keffiyeh's don't? That means THEY'RE NOT THE SAME THING. Morans.
Besides, everyone knows that this is the way to wear a keffiyeh, beautifully worn by our pet olive-wood camel, Ali Talal, who greets visitors in our front entryway:
What's got them all atwitter? This:
Rachel Ray holding an iced coffee. AND OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! WEARING A KEFFIYEH!!1! She's a member of Hamas, no Hezbollah, no she wants to bear Osama's children !!!!1!
Of course, a keffiyeh looks like this:
and this:
Even some of Malkin's brain dead followers know that she's making a mountain out of something that's not even close to a molehill. Rachel Ray is wearing what we call a "scarf". See how the patterns are different between what RR is wearing and a keffiyeh? And how her scarf has long tassles, and keffiyeh's don't? That means THEY'RE NOT THE SAME THING. Morans.
Besides, everyone knows that this is the way to wear a keffiyeh, beautifully worn by our pet olive-wood camel, Ali Talal, who greets visitors in our front entryway:
Update: Oh my god....this Army/Navy store is selling keffiyeh-like scarves! Why do Army/Navy stores want the terrorists to win????
Update again: The good folks at Sadly, No! found this interesting pic, which obiviously means Michelle Malkin is a terrorist sympathizer:
Lucy...you got some 'splainin' to do!!!
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Supporting the Troops - for real
The Senate voted today on another war supplemental (the Senate votes every six months on funding for Iraq and Afghanistan rather than add the costs to the annual budget), and added on Jim Webb's GI education funding bill. As late as last week, Webb was 2 votes shy of getting the 60 needed for a veto-proof majority. Today the Senate stood up and did the right thing and voted 75-22 to pass the bill. President Bush has promised to veto the bill. Good. Do it. The Senate will override your veto and pass the bill over your temper tantrums.
Roll call (with Republicans who stood up to the President and did the right thing for the troops in bold):
Grouped By Vote Position
YEAs ---75
Akaka (D-HI)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bayh (D-IN)
Biden (D-DE)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Bond (R-MO)
Boxer (D-CA)
Brown (D-OH)
Byrd (D-WV)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Cardin (D-MD)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Clinton (D-NY)
Coleman (R-MN)
Collins (R-ME)
Conrad (D-ND)
Craig (R-ID)
Crapo (R-ID)
Dodd (D-CT)
Dole (R-NC)
Domenici (R-NM)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Hagel (R-NE)
Harkin (D-IA)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Inouye (D-HI)
Isakson (R-GA)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kerry (D-MA)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Kohl (D-WI)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Lieberman (ID-CT)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Martinez (R-FL)
McCaskill (D-MO)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Nelson (D-NE)
Obama (D-IL)
Pryor (D-AR)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Roberts (R-KS)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Salazar (D-CO)
Sanders (I-VT)
Schumer (D-NY)
Shelby (R-AL)
Smith (R-OR)
Snowe (R-ME)
Specter (R-PA)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Stevens (R-AK)
Sununu (R-NH)
Tester (D-MT)
Thune (R-SD)
Vitter (R-LA)
Warner (R-VA)
Webb (D-VA)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wicker (R-MS)
Wyden (D-OR)
NAYs ---22 (all Republicans):
Alexander (R-TN)
Allard (R-CO)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Bennett (R-UT)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burr (R-NC)
Cochran (R-MS)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
DeMint (R-SC)
Ensign (R-NV)
Enzi (R-WY)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hatch (R-UT)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Lugar (R-IN)
McConnell (R-KY)
Sessions (R-AL)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Not Voting - 3
Coburn (R-OK)
Kennedy (D-MA)
McCain (R-AZ)*
I'm fairly impressed with the list of Republicans who grew a set and voted yes. It's a real mix of passionate conservatives (Chambliss, Crapo, Inhofe, Isakson, Thune, Vitter, Wicker) and fairly moderate Republicans (Specter, Snowe, Collins, Hagel) and everyone in between.
But speaking of temper tantrums, Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) threw one today and it's got to be seen to be believed.
He's got it completely backward. You will be rewarded if you vote against the Webb bill - with a one way ticket back home on November 5, 2008. Unsolicited advice to McBush: please, please, please pick Lindsay Graham as your Veep. I would love to see the conservative Christians supporting McBush stand up for a guy like Lindsay with some...how shall I put this...interesting rumors about him....
*Apparently, presidential candidate John McBush couldn't be bothered to come back to DC to vote - too busy raising benjamins.
Roll call (with Republicans who stood up to the President and did the right thing for the troops in bold):
Grouped By Vote Position
YEAs ---75
Akaka (D-HI)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bayh (D-IN)
Biden (D-DE)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Bond (R-MO)
Boxer (D-CA)
Brown (D-OH)
Byrd (D-WV)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Cardin (D-MD)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Clinton (D-NY)
Coleman (R-MN)
Collins (R-ME)
Conrad (D-ND)
Craig (R-ID)
Crapo (R-ID)
Dodd (D-CT)
Dole (R-NC)
Domenici (R-NM)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Hagel (R-NE)
Harkin (D-IA)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Inouye (D-HI)
Isakson (R-GA)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kerry (D-MA)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Kohl (D-WI)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Lieberman (ID-CT)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Martinez (R-FL)
McCaskill (D-MO)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Nelson (D-NE)
Obama (D-IL)
Pryor (D-AR)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Roberts (R-KS)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Salazar (D-CO)
Sanders (I-VT)
Schumer (D-NY)
Shelby (R-AL)
Smith (R-OR)
Snowe (R-ME)
Specter (R-PA)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Stevens (R-AK)
Sununu (R-NH)
Tester (D-MT)
Thune (R-SD)
Vitter (R-LA)
Warner (R-VA)
Webb (D-VA)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wicker (R-MS)
Wyden (D-OR)
NAYs ---22 (all Republicans):
Alexander (R-TN)
Allard (R-CO)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Bennett (R-UT)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burr (R-NC)
Cochran (R-MS)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
DeMint (R-SC)
Ensign (R-NV)
Enzi (R-WY)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hatch (R-UT)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Lugar (R-IN)
McConnell (R-KY)
Sessions (R-AL)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Not Voting - 3
Coburn (R-OK)
Kennedy (D-MA)
McCain (R-AZ)*
I'm fairly impressed with the list of Republicans who grew a set and voted yes. It's a real mix of passionate conservatives (Chambliss, Crapo, Inhofe, Isakson, Thune, Vitter, Wicker) and fairly moderate Republicans (Specter, Snowe, Collins, Hagel) and everyone in between.
But speaking of temper tantrums, Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) threw one today and it's got to be seen to be believed.
He's got it completely backward. You will be rewarded if you vote against the Webb bill - with a one way ticket back home on November 5, 2008. Unsolicited advice to McBush: please, please, please pick Lindsay Graham as your Veep. I would love to see the conservative Christians supporting McBush stand up for a guy like Lindsay with some...how shall I put this...interesting rumors about him....
*Apparently, presidential candidate John McBush couldn't be bothered to come back to DC to vote - too busy raising benjamins.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
I love pictures like this
Looks like ole' Georgie has a new BFF! Tell me you don't look at that picture and sing to yourself:
"King Fahd and Georgie sittin' in a tree..."
I cannot begin to imagine the outrage on the right if John Kerry or Al Gore were photographed holding hands (twice - scroll down below!) with the leader of a country that produced 15 of the September 11th hijackers! We would hear about it ad nauseum on Faux News...
Personally, I agree with my friend who thinks the Saudis have some secrets on our country and/or leaders and blackmail us to keep those secrets secure. The only other explanation I can give for our continuing friendship with the Saudis is they feed our oil addiction and we are addicts always coming back for more...
Update: As habibi gooz politely pointed out to me, George Bush's BFF is not King Fahd, but King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, son of of King Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al Saud. You can read all about him here.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Nazi Appeasers are everywhere
Ole' Georgie took his traveling "Bring It On" show to Israel and proved to be the bully we all know him to be.
Here's what he said:
"Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along," Bush said. "We have heard this foolish delusion before," Bush said in remarks to the Israeli Knesset. "As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American Senator declared: 'Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is -- the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history."
First, the American Senator who said, "Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.", was Senator William Borah - a Republican (and isolationist) from Idaho.
Second, I know of one American Patriot who was accused of aiding and abetting the Nazi's. His name? Prescott Bush - grandfather of the current President.
Third, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and current Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice have all expressed support for some type of negotiation with Iran and Syria, either in face to face meetings or in less public settings.
Fourth, what a complete asshole. Seriously. The sooner this country is rid of George W. Bush and his minions the better off we will all be. How dare he go to a foreign country, sit in front of their congress, and criticize the opposition party and compare them to Nazi appeasers.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stated that there is a longstanding policy of not attacking the President while he is traveling abroad. This is just another in a long list of examples of how George Bush expects rules to apply to him, but refuses to return the courtesy - truly the definition of an asshole.
Here's what he said:
"Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along," Bush said. "We have heard this foolish delusion before," Bush said in remarks to the Israeli Knesset. "As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American Senator declared: 'Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is -- the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history."
First, the American Senator who said, "Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.", was Senator William Borah - a Republican (and isolationist) from Idaho.
Second, I know of one American Patriot who was accused of aiding and abetting the Nazi's. His name? Prescott Bush - grandfather of the current President.
Third, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and current Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice have all expressed support for some type of negotiation with Iran and Syria, either in face to face meetings or in less public settings.
Fourth, what a complete asshole. Seriously. The sooner this country is rid of George W. Bush and his minions the better off we will all be. How dare he go to a foreign country, sit in front of their congress, and criticize the opposition party and compare them to Nazi appeasers.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stated that there is a longstanding policy of not attacking the President while he is traveling abroad. This is just another in a long list of examples of how George Bush expects rules to apply to him, but refuses to return the courtesy - truly the definition of an asshole.
My life is Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows...
...That's how this refrain goes, so come on, join in everybody!
John McCain gave a speech today about what life will be like for us in 2013. It is truly going to be shangrila...paradise...wonderful:
By January 2013, America has welcomed home most of the servicemen and women who have sacrificed terribly so that America might be secure in her freedom. The Iraq War has been won. Iraq is a functioning democracy, although still suffering from the lingering effects of decades of tyranny and centuries of sectarian tension. Violence still occurs, but it is spasmodic and much reduced. Civil war has been prevented; militias disbanded; the Iraqi Security Force is professional and competent; al Qaeda in Iraq has been defeated; and the Government of Iraq is capable of imposing its authority in every province of Iraq and defending the integrity of its borders. The United States maintains a military presence there, but a much smaller one, and it does not play a direct combat role.
The threat from a resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan has been greatly reduced but not eliminated. U.S. and NATO forces remain there to help finish the job, and continue operations against the remnants of al Qaeda. The Government of Pakistan has cooperated with the U.S. in successfully adapting the counterinsurgency tactics that worked so well in Iraq and Afghanistan to its lawless tribal areas where al Qaeda fighters are based. The increase in actionable intelligence that the counterinsurgency produced led to the capture or death of Osama bin Laden, and his chief lieutenants. There is no longer any place in the world al Qaeda can consider a safe haven. Increased cooperation between the United States and its allies in the concerted use of military, diplomatic, and economic power and reforms in the intelligence capabilities of the United States has disrupted terrorist networks and exposed plots around the world. There still has not been a major terrorist attack in the United States since September 11, 2001.
The United States and its allies have made great progress in advancing nuclear security. Concerted action by the great democracies of the world has persuaded a reluctant Russia and China to cooperate in pressuring Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions, and North Korea to discontinue its own. The single greatest threat facing the West -- the prospect of nuclear materials in the hands of terrorists -- has been vastly diminished.
The size of the Army and Marine Corps has been significantly increased, and are now better equipped and trained to defend us. Long overdue reforms to the way we acquire weapons programs, including fixed price contracts, have created sufficient savings to pay for a larger military. A substantial increase in veterans educational benefits and improvements in their health care has aided recruitment and retention. The strain on the National Guard and reserve forces has been relieved.
After efforts to pressure the Government in Sudan over Darfur failed again in the U.N. Security Council, the United States, acting in concert with a newly formed League of Democracies, applied stiff diplomatic and economic pressure that caused the government of Sudan to agree to a multinational peacekeeping force, with NATO countries providing logistical and air support, to stop the genocide that had made a mockery of the world's repeated declaration that we would "never again" tolerant such inhumanity. Encouraged by the success, the League is now occupied with using the economic power and prestige of its member states to end other gross abuses of human rights such as the despicable crime of human trafficking.
The United States has experienced several years of robust economic growth, and Americans again have confidence in their economic future. A reduction in the corporate tax rate from the second highest in the world to one on par with our trading partners; the low rate on capital gains; allowing business to deduct in a single year investments in equipment and technology, while eliminating tax loopholes and ending corporate welfare, have spurred innovation and productivity, and encouraged companies to keep their operations and jobs in the United States. The Alternate Minimum Tax is being phased out, with relief provided first to middle income families. Doubling the size of the child exemption has put more disposable income in the hands of taxpayers, further stimulating growth.
Health care has become more accessible to more Americans than at any other time in history. Reforms of the insurance market; putting the choice of health care into the hands of American families rather than exclusively with the government or employers; walk in clinics as alternatives to emergency room care; paying for outcome in the treatment of disease rather than individual procedures; and competition in the prescription drug market have begun to wring out the runaway inflation once endemic in our health care system. More small businesses offer their employees health plans. Schools have greatly improved their emphasis on physical education and nutritional content of meals offered in school cafeterias. Obesity rates among the young and the disease they engender are stabilized and beginning to decline. The federal government and states have cooperated in establishing backstop insurance pools that provide coverage to people hard pressed to find insurance elsewhere because of pre-existing illness.
The reduction in the growth of health care costs has begun to relieve some of the pressure on Medicare; encouraging Congress to act in a bipartisan way to extend its solvency for twenty-five years without increasing taxes and raising premiums only for upper income seniors. Their success encouraged a group of congressional leaders from both parties to work with my administration to fix Social Security as well, without reducing benefits to those near retirement. The reforms include some form of personal retirement accounts in safe and reliable index funds, such as have been available to government employees since their retirement plans were made solvent a quarter century ago.
The United States is well on the way to independence from foreign sources of oil; progress that has not only begun to alleviate the environmental threat posed from climate change, but has greatly improved our security as well. A cap and trade system has been implemented, spurring great innovation in the development of green technologies and alternative energy sources. Clean coal technology has advanced considerably with federal assistance. Construction has begun on twenty new nuclear reactors thanks to improved incentives and a streamlined regulatory process.
And with that, the press corps, hands intertwined with McCain staffers and supporters, joined voices and sang in unison the newly dedicated McCain '08 theme song...
John McCain gave a speech today about what life will be like for us in 2013. It is truly going to be shangrila...paradise...wonderful:
By January 2013, America has welcomed home most of the servicemen and women who have sacrificed terribly so that America might be secure in her freedom. The Iraq War has been won. Iraq is a functioning democracy, although still suffering from the lingering effects of decades of tyranny and centuries of sectarian tension. Violence still occurs, but it is spasmodic and much reduced. Civil war has been prevented; militias disbanded; the Iraqi Security Force is professional and competent; al Qaeda in Iraq has been defeated; and the Government of Iraq is capable of imposing its authority in every province of Iraq and defending the integrity of its borders. The United States maintains a military presence there, but a much smaller one, and it does not play a direct combat role.
The threat from a resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan has been greatly reduced but not eliminated. U.S. and NATO forces remain there to help finish the job, and continue operations against the remnants of al Qaeda. The Government of Pakistan has cooperated with the U.S. in successfully adapting the counterinsurgency tactics that worked so well in Iraq and Afghanistan to its lawless tribal areas where al Qaeda fighters are based. The increase in actionable intelligence that the counterinsurgency produced led to the capture or death of Osama bin Laden, and his chief lieutenants. There is no longer any place in the world al Qaeda can consider a safe haven. Increased cooperation between the United States and its allies in the concerted use of military, diplomatic, and economic power and reforms in the intelligence capabilities of the United States has disrupted terrorist networks and exposed plots around the world. There still has not been a major terrorist attack in the United States since September 11, 2001.
The United States and its allies have made great progress in advancing nuclear security. Concerted action by the great democracies of the world has persuaded a reluctant Russia and China to cooperate in pressuring Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions, and North Korea to discontinue its own. The single greatest threat facing the West -- the prospect of nuclear materials in the hands of terrorists -- has been vastly diminished.
The size of the Army and Marine Corps has been significantly increased, and are now better equipped and trained to defend us. Long overdue reforms to the way we acquire weapons programs, including fixed price contracts, have created sufficient savings to pay for a larger military. A substantial increase in veterans educational benefits and improvements in their health care has aided recruitment and retention. The strain on the National Guard and reserve forces has been relieved.
After efforts to pressure the Government in Sudan over Darfur failed again in the U.N. Security Council, the United States, acting in concert with a newly formed League of Democracies, applied stiff diplomatic and economic pressure that caused the government of Sudan to agree to a multinational peacekeeping force, with NATO countries providing logistical and air support, to stop the genocide that had made a mockery of the world's repeated declaration that we would "never again" tolerant such inhumanity. Encouraged by the success, the League is now occupied with using the economic power and prestige of its member states to end other gross abuses of human rights such as the despicable crime of human trafficking.
The United States has experienced several years of robust economic growth, and Americans again have confidence in their economic future. A reduction in the corporate tax rate from the second highest in the world to one on par with our trading partners; the low rate on capital gains; allowing business to deduct in a single year investments in equipment and technology, while eliminating tax loopholes and ending corporate welfare, have spurred innovation and productivity, and encouraged companies to keep their operations and jobs in the United States. The Alternate Minimum Tax is being phased out, with relief provided first to middle income families. Doubling the size of the child exemption has put more disposable income in the hands of taxpayers, further stimulating growth.
Health care has become more accessible to more Americans than at any other time in history. Reforms of the insurance market; putting the choice of health care into the hands of American families rather than exclusively with the government or employers; walk in clinics as alternatives to emergency room care; paying for outcome in the treatment of disease rather than individual procedures; and competition in the prescription drug market have begun to wring out the runaway inflation once endemic in our health care system. More small businesses offer their employees health plans. Schools have greatly improved their emphasis on physical education and nutritional content of meals offered in school cafeterias. Obesity rates among the young and the disease they engender are stabilized and beginning to decline. The federal government and states have cooperated in establishing backstop insurance pools that provide coverage to people hard pressed to find insurance elsewhere because of pre-existing illness.
The reduction in the growth of health care costs has begun to relieve some of the pressure on Medicare; encouraging Congress to act in a bipartisan way to extend its solvency for twenty-five years without increasing taxes and raising premiums only for upper income seniors. Their success encouraged a group of congressional leaders from both parties to work with my administration to fix Social Security as well, without reducing benefits to those near retirement. The reforms include some form of personal retirement accounts in safe and reliable index funds, such as have been available to government employees since their retirement plans were made solvent a quarter century ago.
The United States is well on the way to independence from foreign sources of oil; progress that has not only begun to alleviate the environmental threat posed from climate change, but has greatly improved our security as well. A cap and trade system has been implemented, spurring great innovation in the development of green technologies and alternative energy sources. Clean coal technology has advanced considerably with federal assistance. Construction has begun on twenty new nuclear reactors thanks to improved incentives and a streamlined regulatory process.
And with that, the press corps, hands intertwined with McCain staffers and supporters, joined voices and sang in unison the newly dedicated McCain '08 theme song...
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Hat Tricks
I like hockey. Despite growing up in a winter wonderland like upstate New York, I didn't really become a fan until I met my husband. I vividly remember watching the Detroit Red Wings getting spanked by the New Jersey Devils 4 games to zilch in 1995. That was depressing, although led directly to the turnaround that gave the cup to the Wings in 1997 and 1998.
Before becoming a Red Wings fan, I couldn't have told you what in the hell a "hat trick" was. It's when a player scores three goals in one game. Sometimes Wings fans would throw Octopi out on the ice after a hat trick, but that's long been banned by the NHL, probably because it's so disgusting to pick up a wet, slimy octopus from the ice.
Why am I writing about hat tricks? 'Cause the Democrats scored one last night with Travis Childers' decisive win over Gregg Davis in the Mississippi 1st Congressional District. In a district that's +10 Republican (meaning there's 10 percent more Republicans than Dems), that went for George Bush with 63% of the vote in 2004, that re-elected former Congressman Roger Wicker (who Gov. Haley Barbour appointed to fill out Trent Lott's seat when he up and left to make money as a lobbyist before the rules changed) with 66% of the vote, where the RNC ran ads tying Childers to Obama, Pelosi and Jeremiah Wright, Travis Childers beat Davis 54-46.
The Republicans have lost three straight special elections, first in former House Speaker Denny Hastert's seat in Illinios, then Don Cazayoux wins in a district that was held by the Republicans for thirty years, and now in deep, deep Red Republican territory in Mississippi.
I'm never one to look optimistically at my party to do well in any election, but I like our odds in November more with each passing day.
Before becoming a Red Wings fan, I couldn't have told you what in the hell a "hat trick" was. It's when a player scores three goals in one game. Sometimes Wings fans would throw Octopi out on the ice after a hat trick, but that's long been banned by the NHL, probably because it's so disgusting to pick up a wet, slimy octopus from the ice.
Why am I writing about hat tricks? 'Cause the Democrats scored one last night with Travis Childers' decisive win over Gregg Davis in the Mississippi 1st Congressional District. In a district that's +10 Republican (meaning there's 10 percent more Republicans than Dems), that went for George Bush with 63% of the vote in 2004, that re-elected former Congressman Roger Wicker (who Gov. Haley Barbour appointed to fill out Trent Lott's seat when he up and left to make money as a lobbyist before the rules changed) with 66% of the vote, where the RNC ran ads tying Childers to Obama, Pelosi and Jeremiah Wright, Travis Childers beat Davis 54-46.
The Republicans have lost three straight special elections, first in former House Speaker Denny Hastert's seat in Illinios, then Don Cazayoux wins in a district that was held by the Republicans for thirty years, and now in deep, deep Red Republican territory in Mississippi.
I'm never one to look optimistically at my party to do well in any election, but I like our odds in November more with each passing day.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Re-marketing the Edsel
So, the Republicans have rolled out their new slogan for the fall election: "The Change you Deserve".
"In a memo to be sent to Republican members today, the leadership hints at a new slogan building on the change message that has already been shown to have political resonance with a public unhappy with the nation’s direction.
It looks like Republicans will counter the Democratic push for change from the years of the Bush administration with their own pledge to deliver, drum roll please, “the change you deserve.” The first element of the party agenda developed over the past few months by the leadership and select party members will focus on family issues.
“Through our “Change You Deserve” message and through our “American Families Agenda,” House Republicans will continue our efforts to speak directly to an American public looking for leaders who will offer real solutions for the challenges they confront every day,” said the memo prepared for lawmakers."
I like it! I really like it! After 7 years of bamboozling, hoodwinking, fooling and tricking the American people into believing that war is peace, up is down, forward is backward, and we all deserve to have our phones tapped, who among us isn't for change?
Turns out these people are. The good people at Wyeth marketed an anti-anxiety medicine called EFFEXOR with the tag "The Change You Deserve", and in their promotional text, asked the following questions:
Are these symptoms of depression interfering with your life?
Not involved with family and friends the way you used to be?
Low energy, fatigue?
Not motivated to do the things you once looked forward to doing?
Not feeling as good as you used to?
If you answered yes to any of these questions then you need "The Change You Deserve." Keep in mind, though, that side effects include :
"...constipation, dizziness, dry mouth, insomnia, loss of appetite, nausea, nervousness, sexual side effects, sleepiness, sweating, and weakness. Ask your doctor if EFFEXOR XR - or the Republican Party - is right for you."
"In a memo to be sent to Republican members today, the leadership hints at a new slogan building on the change message that has already been shown to have political resonance with a public unhappy with the nation’s direction.
It looks like Republicans will counter the Democratic push for change from the years of the Bush administration with their own pledge to deliver, drum roll please, “the change you deserve.” The first element of the party agenda developed over the past few months by the leadership and select party members will focus on family issues.
“Through our “Change You Deserve” message and through our “American Families Agenda,” House Republicans will continue our efforts to speak directly to an American public looking for leaders who will offer real solutions for the challenges they confront every day,” said the memo prepared for lawmakers."
I like it! I really like it! After 7 years of bamboozling, hoodwinking, fooling and tricking the American people into believing that war is peace, up is down, forward is backward, and we all deserve to have our phones tapped, who among us isn't for change?
Turns out these people are. The good people at Wyeth marketed an anti-anxiety medicine called EFFEXOR with the tag "The Change You Deserve", and in their promotional text, asked the following questions:
Are these symptoms of depression interfering with your life?
Not involved with family and friends the way you used to be?
Low energy, fatigue?
Not motivated to do the things you once looked forward to doing?
Not feeling as good as you used to?
If you answered yes to any of these questions then you need "The Change You Deserve." Keep in mind, though, that side effects include :
"...constipation, dizziness, dry mouth, insomnia, loss of appetite, nausea, nervousness, sexual side effects, sleepiness, sweating, and weakness. Ask your doctor if EFFEXOR XR - or the Republican Party - is right for you."
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Ouch
Wow, is Amy Poehler awesome as Hillary Clinton or WHAT? I have a feeling this video cuts a little close to home for the Clintonites...and HRC will not appear on SNL anytime soon.
Let's see...1) I'm a sore loser; 2) my supporters are racist and 3) I have no ethical standards. Yup, that about sums it up.
Let's see...1) I'm a sore loser; 2) my supporters are racist and 3) I have no ethical standards. Yup, that about sums it up.
Fighting the War on the cheap, Example No. 438
Here's the headline from a front page story that ran in yesterday's Washington Post:
"Military considering new cremation policies"
Are you wondering why they are considering new cremation policies? Because apparently some of the fallen troops returning to Dover, Delaware, were sent off to two crematoriums, one of which had this sign out in front of it:
"Friends Forever Pet Cremation Service."
Maybe that's why the military has banned photos of dead servicemen and women returning home in flag draped caskets. It would be too embarrassing for the American people to watch the caskets unloaded AT A PET CREMATORIUM.
Here's what the SECDEF said about the whole matter:
"Defense Secretary Robert Gates believed the earlier situation was "insensitive and entirely inappropriate for the dignified treatment of our fallen," said Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell.
"Our heroes deserve to be better treated than that," Morrell said, adding that a sign at one of the crematoriums noted that it also does pet cremations. He said Gates offered an apology to military families for the insensitivity.
How did this story come to life?
"Air Force Lt. Gen. Frank Klotz, Air Force staff director, told Pentagon reporters that it is not uncommon for crematoriums to provide both services.
Klotz said the issue came to light Friday when an officer who works in the Pentagon went to Dover to pay respects to a fallen comrade who was being cremated. The soldier noticed the pet cremations sign, and was concerned about the fact that the facility handled both human and animal remains.
The officer alerted senior officials at the Pentagon, who notified Capitol Hill and quickly pulled together the policy changes. Arizona Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, sent a letter to Gates calling the report "very disturbing."
Is this really the first time anyone has noticed where our fallen troops have been cremated? Are you honestly telling me that no one else has noticed this over the past 6 years??
I think this is just another in a long list of examples of how this war was misguided from the beginning, mismanaged from about March, 2003 onward, and how every choice we make is guided by one overriding principle: the financial bottom line. It would not surprise me in the slightest to find that this Friends Forever Pet Cremation Service came in with the lowest bid for cremation services.
"Military considering new cremation policies"
Are you wondering why they are considering new cremation policies? Because apparently some of the fallen troops returning to Dover, Delaware, were sent off to two crematoriums, one of which had this sign out in front of it:
"Friends Forever Pet Cremation Service."
Maybe that's why the military has banned photos of dead servicemen and women returning home in flag draped caskets. It would be too embarrassing for the American people to watch the caskets unloaded AT A PET CREMATORIUM.
Here's what the SECDEF said about the whole matter:
"Defense Secretary Robert Gates believed the earlier situation was "insensitive and entirely inappropriate for the dignified treatment of our fallen," said Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell.
"Our heroes deserve to be better treated than that," Morrell said, adding that a sign at one of the crematoriums noted that it also does pet cremations. He said Gates offered an apology to military families for the insensitivity.
How did this story come to life?
"Air Force Lt. Gen. Frank Klotz, Air Force staff director, told Pentagon reporters that it is not uncommon for crematoriums to provide both services.
Klotz said the issue came to light Friday when an officer who works in the Pentagon went to Dover to pay respects to a fallen comrade who was being cremated. The soldier noticed the pet cremations sign, and was concerned about the fact that the facility handled both human and animal remains.
The officer alerted senior officials at the Pentagon, who notified Capitol Hill and quickly pulled together the policy changes. Arizona Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, sent a letter to Gates calling the report "very disturbing."
Is this really the first time anyone has noticed where our fallen troops have been cremated? Are you honestly telling me that no one else has noticed this over the past 6 years??
I think this is just another in a long list of examples of how this war was misguided from the beginning, mismanaged from about March, 2003 onward, and how every choice we make is guided by one overriding principle: the financial bottom line. It would not surprise me in the slightest to find that this Friends Forever Pet Cremation Service came in with the lowest bid for cremation services.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
In honor of Mother's Day...
The family values crowd in the House of Representatives voted against a proclamation honoring "Mother's Day". Seriously.
"It was already shaping up to be a difficult year for congressional Republicans. Now, on the cusp of Mother's Day, comes this: A majority of the House GOP has voted against motherhood.
On Wednesday afternoon, the House had just voted, 412 to 0, to pass H. Res. 1113, "Celebrating the role of mothers in the United States and supporting the goals and ideals of Mother's Day," when Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), rose in protest.
"Mr. Speaker, I move to reconsider the vote," he announced.
Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), who has two young daughters, moved to table Tiahrt's request, setting up a revote. This time, 178 Republicans cast their votes against mothers.
It has long been the custom to compare a popular piece of legislation to motherhood and apple pie. Evidently, that is no longer the standard. Worse, Republicans are now confronted with a John Kerry-esque predicament: They actually voted for motherhood before they voted against it.
Republicans, unhappy with the Democratic majority, have been using such procedural tactics as this all week to bring the House to a standstill, but the assault on mothers may have gone too far. House Minority Leader John Boehner, asked yesterday to explain why he and 177 of his colleagues switched their votes, answered: "Oh, we just wanted to make sure that everyone was on record in support of Mother's Day."
By voting against it?"
Yup. The Republicans in the house, led by their man Boehner (sadly, not pronounced "boner"), voted for Mother's Day before they voted against it. It's going to be a long, long summer and fall for the Republicans. They're already 0-2 in races held in strongly Republican electoral districts (welcome aboard Rep. Bill Foster, who won former House Speaker Denny Hastert's seat and Rep. Don Cazayoux, who won in a district that has been held by Republicans for thirty years). The NRCC, short on cash and common sense, and reeling from yet another scandal involving one of their own, claimed victory in both races. As Nipsy Russell said in "Wildcats", "Rrrrriiiiiiggggghhhhhttttt......."
So...wishing all of you who are mothers a very happy and relaxing day tomorrow...let us all be thankful we do not have sons (or daughters) who fight, yell and needle each other at every opportunity!
"It was already shaping up to be a difficult year for congressional Republicans. Now, on the cusp of Mother's Day, comes this: A majority of the House GOP has voted against motherhood.
On Wednesday afternoon, the House had just voted, 412 to 0, to pass H. Res. 1113, "Celebrating the role of mothers in the United States and supporting the goals and ideals of Mother's Day," when Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), rose in protest.
"Mr. Speaker, I move to reconsider the vote," he announced.
Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), who has two young daughters, moved to table Tiahrt's request, setting up a revote. This time, 178 Republicans cast their votes against mothers.
It has long been the custom to compare a popular piece of legislation to motherhood and apple pie. Evidently, that is no longer the standard. Worse, Republicans are now confronted with a John Kerry-esque predicament: They actually voted for motherhood before they voted against it.
Republicans, unhappy with the Democratic majority, have been using such procedural tactics as this all week to bring the House to a standstill, but the assault on mothers may have gone too far. House Minority Leader John Boehner, asked yesterday to explain why he and 177 of his colleagues switched their votes, answered: "Oh, we just wanted to make sure that everyone was on record in support of Mother's Day."
By voting against it?"
Yup. The Republicans in the house, led by their man Boehner (sadly, not pronounced "boner"), voted for Mother's Day before they voted against it. It's going to be a long, long summer and fall for the Republicans. They're already 0-2 in races held in strongly Republican electoral districts (welcome aboard Rep. Bill Foster, who won former House Speaker Denny Hastert's seat and Rep. Don Cazayoux, who won in a district that has been held by Republicans for thirty years). The NRCC, short on cash and common sense, and reeling from yet another scandal involving one of their own, claimed victory in both races. As Nipsy Russell said in "Wildcats", "Rrrrriiiiiiggggghhhhhttttt......."
So...wishing all of you who are mothers a very happy and relaxing day tomorrow...let us all be thankful we do not have sons (or daughters) who fight, yell and needle each other at every opportunity!
Friday, May 9, 2008
Downfalls
I'm no fan of Hitler. Far and away the 20th century's biggest douchebag, he's just not a funny guy in any way, shape or form. But I gotta admit... these two videos are kinda hilarious. Judge for yourselves.
An interesting take on The Godfather
I'm obsessed with the Godfather. Really - just ask my family. I talk about it all the time, quote the movies (Parts I and II only), read and re-read Puzo's book, and recently read both the Godfather's Return and the Godfather's Revenge by Mark Weingardner (Revenge was the better of the two).
Anywho, Habibi Gooz sent me this editorial from the LA Times with a very interesting take on the Godfather and current events.
'The Godfather' doctrine
Coppola's film offers lessons in diplomacy that we can't refuse.
By John C. Hulsman and A. Wess Mitchell
May 7, 2008
"It is one of the best-known scenes in cinematic history. Vito Corleone,head of one of the most powerful organized-crime families in New York,crosses the street to buy some oranges from a fruit stand. Seconds later, his peaceful idyll is shattered as multiple gunshots leave him bleeding in the street -- victim of a hit by Mafia rival Virgil "theTurk" Sollozzo. By a miracle, he is only badly wounded. Two of his sons, Santino (Sonny)and Michael, and his adopted son and consigliere, Tom Hagen, gather in an atmosphere of shock to try to decide how to save the family. This, of course, is the hinge of Francis Ford Coppola's movie, "The Godfather." It is also a startlingly useful metaphor for the strategic problems and global power structure of our time.
The don, emblematic of Cold War American power, is struck by forces he did not expect and does not understand, as was America on 9/11. Intriguingly, his heirs embrace very different visions of family strategy that approximate the three schools of thought -- liberal institutionalism, neoconservatism and realism -- vying for control of U.S. foreign policy today.
As consigliere, Tom's view of the Sollozzo threat is rooted in a legal-diplomatic worldview similar to the liberal institutionalism of today's Democratic Party. The way to handle Sollozzo, Tom judges, is not through force but through negotiation. Tom thinks even a rogue power can be brought to terms, if the family accommodates his needs and accepts him as a normalized player in the Corleones' rules-based community. In this, he echoes the Democrats' belief that Washington's only option for coping with the Iranian nuclear crisis is immediate, unconditional talks with our latest "Sollozzo," Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But to succeed, Tom's diplomacy must be conducted from a position of unparalleled strength, which the family no longer possesses. Gone are the days when Tom was invariably the man at the table with the most leverage.
Like the petty tyrants who challenge Washington with increasing confidence, Sollozzo is an opportunist who will take things as they come -- as either a revolutionary or a status quo power, but certainly as one out to profit from the transition to multi- polarity. Power on the streets has already begun to shift to the Tattaglias and Barzinis -- the Mafia equivalent of today's BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China). The reality confronting the Corleones is one of increasing multipolarity -- something lost on Tom, who, like many Democrats, thinks he is still the emissary of the dominant superpower.
By contrast, Sonny's response is to advocate "toughness" through military action, a one-note policy prescription for waging war against the rest of the Mafia world. By starting a gangland free-for-all against all possible enemies at once, Sonny severs long-standing alliances and unites the other families against the Corleones. One can imagine that Sonny's shoot-first, ask-questions-later approach would meet with the firm approval of arch-neoconservatives such as Norman Podhoretz and Michael Ledeen. Confronted with the current Iranian nuclear crisis, Sonny would urge an immediate airstrike, and it is unlikely he would make a cost-benefit analysis of the military option:What? A U.S. airstrike would imperil American allies in the region, directly benefiting Al Qaeda? I knew you didn't have the guts to do this, says Sonny, who doesn't let facts get in the way of his desire for action.
This rash instinct to use military power as a tactic to solve structural problems merely hastens the family's decline. Blinded by a militant moralism bereft of strategic insight, Sonny proves an easy target for his foes. In place of understanding the world, he accosts it, and the world, in Iraq as on the causeway, is able to strike back.The strategy that ultimately saves the Corleone family from the Sollozzo threat and equips it to cope with the new world comes from Michael, the youngest and least experienced of the don's sons.
Unlike Tom or Sonny, Michael has no formulaic fixation on a particular policy instrument; his overriding goal is to protect the family's interests by any and all means necessary. In today's foreign policy terminology, Michael is a realist. Relinquishing the mechanistic, one-trick-pony approaches of his brothers, Michael uses soft and hard power in flexible combinations to influence others. Can the Iran policies advocated by candidates in either party be said to proceed from these assumptions?
Thinking long term, Michael also adjusts the institutional playing field to the family's advantage through a combination of accommodation (granting the other families access to the Corleones' New York political machinery) and retrenchment (shifting the family business to Las Vegas and giving the other families a stake in the new moneymaker, gambling). A similar effort at preemptive institutional reform is vital if America wants to persuade its competitors to resist the temptation to position themselves as revolutionary powers. Doing so now, before the wet concrete of the new multipolar order has hardened, could ensure that,though no longer hegemonic, America is able to position itself, like the Corleones, as the next best thing: primus inter pares -- first among equals.
Can any of the candidates vying to become the next president of the United States match Michael's cool, dispassionate courage in the face of epochal change? Will they avoid living in the comforting embrace of the past, from which Tom and Sonny could not escape? Or will they emulate Michael's flexibility -- to preserve America's position in a dangerous world?
John C. Hulsman is the Alfred von Oppenheim scholar in residence at the German Council on Foreign Relations and president of John C. Hulsman Enterprises. A. Wess Mitchell is the director of research at the Center for European Policy Analysis in Washington. A longer version of this article appeared in The National Interest
Anywho, Habibi Gooz sent me this editorial from the LA Times with a very interesting take on the Godfather and current events.
'The Godfather' doctrine
Coppola's film offers lessons in diplomacy that we can't refuse.
By John C. Hulsman and A. Wess Mitchell
May 7, 2008
"It is one of the best-known scenes in cinematic history. Vito Corleone,head of one of the most powerful organized-crime families in New York,crosses the street to buy some oranges from a fruit stand. Seconds later, his peaceful idyll is shattered as multiple gunshots leave him bleeding in the street -- victim of a hit by Mafia rival Virgil "theTurk" Sollozzo. By a miracle, he is only badly wounded. Two of his sons, Santino (Sonny)and Michael, and his adopted son and consigliere, Tom Hagen, gather in an atmosphere of shock to try to decide how to save the family. This, of course, is the hinge of Francis Ford Coppola's movie, "The Godfather." It is also a startlingly useful metaphor for the strategic problems and global power structure of our time.
The don, emblematic of Cold War American power, is struck by forces he did not expect and does not understand, as was America on 9/11. Intriguingly, his heirs embrace very different visions of family strategy that approximate the three schools of thought -- liberal institutionalism, neoconservatism and realism -- vying for control of U.S. foreign policy today.
As consigliere, Tom's view of the Sollozzo threat is rooted in a legal-diplomatic worldview similar to the liberal institutionalism of today's Democratic Party. The way to handle Sollozzo, Tom judges, is not through force but through negotiation. Tom thinks even a rogue power can be brought to terms, if the family accommodates his needs and accepts him as a normalized player in the Corleones' rules-based community. In this, he echoes the Democrats' belief that Washington's only option for coping with the Iranian nuclear crisis is immediate, unconditional talks with our latest "Sollozzo," Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But to succeed, Tom's diplomacy must be conducted from a position of unparalleled strength, which the family no longer possesses. Gone are the days when Tom was invariably the man at the table with the most leverage.
Like the petty tyrants who challenge Washington with increasing confidence, Sollozzo is an opportunist who will take things as they come -- as either a revolutionary or a status quo power, but certainly as one out to profit from the transition to multi- polarity. Power on the streets has already begun to shift to the Tattaglias and Barzinis -- the Mafia equivalent of today's BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China). The reality confronting the Corleones is one of increasing multipolarity -- something lost on Tom, who, like many Democrats, thinks he is still the emissary of the dominant superpower.
By contrast, Sonny's response is to advocate "toughness" through military action, a one-note policy prescription for waging war against the rest of the Mafia world. By starting a gangland free-for-all against all possible enemies at once, Sonny severs long-standing alliances and unites the other families against the Corleones. One can imagine that Sonny's shoot-first, ask-questions-later approach would meet with the firm approval of arch-neoconservatives such as Norman Podhoretz and Michael Ledeen. Confronted with the current Iranian nuclear crisis, Sonny would urge an immediate airstrike, and it is unlikely he would make a cost-benefit analysis of the military option:What? A U.S. airstrike would imperil American allies in the region, directly benefiting Al Qaeda? I knew you didn't have the guts to do this, says Sonny, who doesn't let facts get in the way of his desire for action.
This rash instinct to use military power as a tactic to solve structural problems merely hastens the family's decline. Blinded by a militant moralism bereft of strategic insight, Sonny proves an easy target for his foes. In place of understanding the world, he accosts it, and the world, in Iraq as on the causeway, is able to strike back.The strategy that ultimately saves the Corleone family from the Sollozzo threat and equips it to cope with the new world comes from Michael, the youngest and least experienced of the don's sons.
Unlike Tom or Sonny, Michael has no formulaic fixation on a particular policy instrument; his overriding goal is to protect the family's interests by any and all means necessary. In today's foreign policy terminology, Michael is a realist. Relinquishing the mechanistic, one-trick-pony approaches of his brothers, Michael uses soft and hard power in flexible combinations to influence others. Can the Iran policies advocated by candidates in either party be said to proceed from these assumptions?
Thinking long term, Michael also adjusts the institutional playing field to the family's advantage through a combination of accommodation (granting the other families access to the Corleones' New York political machinery) and retrenchment (shifting the family business to Las Vegas and giving the other families a stake in the new moneymaker, gambling). A similar effort at preemptive institutional reform is vital if America wants to persuade its competitors to resist the temptation to position themselves as revolutionary powers. Doing so now, before the wet concrete of the new multipolar order has hardened, could ensure that,though no longer hegemonic, America is able to position itself, like the Corleones, as the next best thing: primus inter pares -- first among equals.
Can any of the candidates vying to become the next president of the United States match Michael's cool, dispassionate courage in the face of epochal change? Will they avoid living in the comforting embrace of the past, from which Tom and Sonny could not escape? Or will they emulate Michael's flexibility -- to preserve America's position in a dangerous world?
John C. Hulsman is the Alfred von Oppenheim scholar in residence at the German Council on Foreign Relations and president of John C. Hulsman Enterprises. A. Wess Mitchell is the director of research at the Center for European Policy Analysis in Washington. A longer version of this article appeared in The National Interest
Cartoons
The movie Speed Racer - based on the cartoon of the same name - debuts today, and apparently, it's a huge pile of crap. It spurred Lowell at one of my favorite blogs (http://www.raisingkaine.com/ - all Virginia politics, most of the time) to put up a video from his favorite cartoon (Underdog) and ask what cartoons other people remember and like from their childhood. That made me put together my Top 5 favorite Saturday morning cartoons (all from the early-mid 70s):
5. The Brady Kids A total knockoff of The Brady Bunch (with twin pandas!), and, like the TV show, only available in re-runs once I was of prime viewing age. I have all 5 seasons of the Brady Bunch on DVD, met Alice and got my picture taken with her and had her sign my "Alice's Brady Bunch Cookbook", got Marcia's country music CD signed (via my brother), saw the Brady Bunch play onstage at the Kennedy Center ("The Subject Was Noses"), so I've got my Brady Bunch bona fides. No luck with the Brady Kids on DVD...yet.
4. Magilla Gorilla. Not one that usually makes the lists, but I vividly remember watching this show on WPIX (Channel 11) that beamed out of New York City. They had all the cool cartoons, Japanese monster movies, Odd Couple reruns, Pocono commercials, and this video game they played in the afternoons, where kids from NYC called in and played something like Space Invaders yelling "PIX" into the phone to shoot things. It was as cool as it sounds...but WPIX might be best remembered by New Yorkers for this Christmas message (I honestly cannot imagine seeing anything remotely like this on TV these days) and the blazing yule log for apartment dwellers with no fireplaces.
3. Josie and the Pussycats. Totally cheesy all girl band who solved mysteries and/or fought crime. I really wanted to be the drummer. Rock on!
2. Scooby Doo, Where Are You! Loved watching this on Saturday mornings. I remember always being confused as to who the bad guy (or gal) would turn out to be - my younger sister was much better at picking out the criminals. "...and I would have gotten away with it, if it wasn't for you meddling kids!"
And coming in at #1: Superfriends. Simply awesome. "Gathered together from the cosmic reaches of the universe, here in this great Hall of Justice, are the most powerful forces of good ever assembled: SUPERMAN! BATMAN AND ROBIN! WONDER WOMAN! AQUAMAN! And The Wonder Twins: ZAN and JAYNA, with their space monkey, GLEEK! Dedicated to truth, justice and peace for all mankind!" Take that, you Commie bastards!
Despite my feminist leanings, I was more partial to Aquaman for some reason, although Wonder Woman in her invisible jet and lasso totally kicked ass. Challenge of the Superfriends was also cool.
5. The Brady Kids A total knockoff of The Brady Bunch (with twin pandas!), and, like the TV show, only available in re-runs once I was of prime viewing age. I have all 5 seasons of the Brady Bunch on DVD, met Alice and got my picture taken with her and had her sign my "Alice's Brady Bunch Cookbook", got Marcia's country music CD signed (via my brother), saw the Brady Bunch play onstage at the Kennedy Center ("The Subject Was Noses"), so I've got my Brady Bunch bona fides. No luck with the Brady Kids on DVD...yet.
4. Magilla Gorilla. Not one that usually makes the lists, but I vividly remember watching this show on WPIX (Channel 11) that beamed out of New York City. They had all the cool cartoons, Japanese monster movies, Odd Couple reruns, Pocono commercials, and this video game they played in the afternoons, where kids from NYC called in and played something like Space Invaders yelling "PIX" into the phone to shoot things. It was as cool as it sounds...but WPIX might be best remembered by New Yorkers for this Christmas message (I honestly cannot imagine seeing anything remotely like this on TV these days) and the blazing yule log for apartment dwellers with no fireplaces.
3. Josie and the Pussycats. Totally cheesy all girl band who solved mysteries and/or fought crime. I really wanted to be the drummer. Rock on!
2. Scooby Doo, Where Are You! Loved watching this on Saturday mornings. I remember always being confused as to who the bad guy (or gal) would turn out to be - my younger sister was much better at picking out the criminals. "...and I would have gotten away with it, if it wasn't for you meddling kids!"
And coming in at #1: Superfriends. Simply awesome. "Gathered together from the cosmic reaches of the universe, here in this great Hall of Justice, are the most powerful forces of good ever assembled: SUPERMAN! BATMAN AND ROBIN! WONDER WOMAN! AQUAMAN! And The Wonder Twins: ZAN and JAYNA, with their space monkey, GLEEK! Dedicated to truth, justice and peace for all mankind!" Take that, you Commie bastards!
Despite my feminist leanings, I was more partial to Aquaman for some reason, although Wonder Woman in her invisible jet and lasso totally kicked ass. Challenge of the Superfriends was also cool.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Monday, May 5, 2008
John McCain and I have something in common
Neither one of us voted for George W. Bush in 2000!* At least, that's what Arianna Huffington is reporting.
Think about that...the 2008 Republican candidate for President is riding the coattails of a dude he disliked so much he refused to vote for in 2000. I can understand it - after what Bush and Rove did to him it's hard to believe that McNasty could ever be seen in the same room with him, let alone vote for him.
Sadly, I think it's perfectly in keeping with the campaign McSame is running though - for the Bush tax cuts now while being against them in 2001, against the occupation of Iraq in 2003 but for it now, opposing torture in general terms but voting against a torture ban last year. He'll be the 3rd Bush term, god forbid.
*Let me proudly state for the record that I have never, ever voted for anyone named "George Bush" - neither 41 nor 43.
Think about that...the 2008 Republican candidate for President is riding the coattails of a dude he disliked so much he refused to vote for in 2000. I can understand it - after what Bush and Rove did to him it's hard to believe that McNasty could ever be seen in the same room with him, let alone vote for him.
Sadly, I think it's perfectly in keeping with the campaign McSame is running though - for the Bush tax cuts now while being against them in 2001, against the occupation of Iraq in 2003 but for it now, opposing torture in general terms but voting against a torture ban last year. He'll be the 3rd Bush term, god forbid.
*Let me proudly state for the record that I have never, ever voted for anyone named "George Bush" - neither 41 nor 43.
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