I guess any kind of intrusive surveillance is OK, as long as it’s for taxes instead of catching terrorists.
Posted by Deuce Geary on at 3:24 am
How else to explain a report in the Charlotte Observer that North Carolina is considering monitoring vehicle mileage of private citizens in order to tax them according to mileage and road use? The monitoring would be accomplished either through regular odometer readings or, more ambitiously, through GPS tracking:
With gas-tax revenues plummeting, the state of North Carolina is looking seriously at taxing motorists for how far they drive.
If the “road-use tax” is implemented, it would at first be simple – with the state checking your odometer annually and taxing you based on how many miles you have driven. But transportation experts say new GPS technology could allow the state to charge people different rates based on when and where they drive, in an attempt to manage congestion.
I’m anticipating no objections from the ACLU, at least as long as the government promises not to to use the GPS monitoring to identify, track, or apprehend terrorists.
HatTip/The Skeptcrats
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Why Does the NYT Have a Junk Bond Rating?
A White House spokesman said, "I don't know if the Times' junk bond rating is causing a lack of reporting or whether their lack of reporting has caused their junk bond rating."
Hat Tip/Ace of Spades
Hat Tip/Ace of Spades
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Maddow Demands Proportionality and Effectiveness
I have this quote of Maddow from a NewsBusters transcript:
"But while we're on the wild wide world of scary tour, of course, Israel has started another war. A third straight day of airstrikes on Gaza, the death toll now more than 300 people. Israel says they are doing this to prevent Palestinians from firing rockets into southern Israel. First of all, there's the question of proportionality as to how many people those rockets have killed versus how many people the Israeli bombing has now killed. There's also the issue of effectiveness. In the midst of this massive air assault killing hundreds of civilians in Gaza, a rocket fired from Gaza today killed a man and wounded seven in the Israeli town of Ashkelon. Effectiveness. Three Israelis were also stabbed by a Palestinian in a Jewish settlement in the West Bank today. Is there a military solution to this problem?"
I find her criticism empty and useless since she won't say what the Israelis should do to properly protect their citizens. Most Americans probably see Israel as responsible for the present shooting war since there has been a dinosaur media news blackout on the recent attacks on Israel from Gaza. The media have begun their coverage in the middle of the story. They start covering when Israel begins a counter attack and do not place Israel's actions in context. If the dinosaur media had gotten together and conspired to make Israel look bad in spite of the facts they would have done pretty much what they have actually done.
My visceral reaction to Maddow's lying sermonizing is to suggest that she should go to Gaza and explain to the Israeli forces via loud speaker exactly what they are doing wrong. She can use the loud speaker to describe to the attackers what the proportional and effective response should be. By confining her wisdom to MSNBC and Air America she is merely preaching to the choir.
"But while we're on the wild wide world of scary tour, of course, Israel has started another war. A third straight day of airstrikes on Gaza, the death toll now more than 300 people. Israel says they are doing this to prevent Palestinians from firing rockets into southern Israel. First of all, there's the question of proportionality as to how many people those rockets have killed versus how many people the Israeli bombing has now killed. There's also the issue of effectiveness. In the midst of this massive air assault killing hundreds of civilians in Gaza, a rocket fired from Gaza today killed a man and wounded seven in the Israeli town of Ashkelon. Effectiveness. Three Israelis were also stabbed by a Palestinian in a Jewish settlement in the West Bank today. Is there a military solution to this problem?"
I find her criticism empty and useless since she won't say what the Israelis should do to properly protect their citizens. Most Americans probably see Israel as responsible for the present shooting war since there has been a dinosaur media news blackout on the recent attacks on Israel from Gaza. The media have begun their coverage in the middle of the story. They start covering when Israel begins a counter attack and do not place Israel's actions in context. If the dinosaur media had gotten together and conspired to make Israel look bad in spite of the facts they would have done pretty much what they have actually done.
My visceral reaction to Maddow's lying sermonizing is to suggest that she should go to Gaza and explain to the Israeli forces via loud speaker exactly what they are doing wrong. She can use the loud speaker to describe to the attackers what the proportional and effective response should be. By confining her wisdom to MSNBC and Air America she is merely preaching to the choir.
Queen Jane Approximately
When your mother sends back all your invitations
And your father to your sister he explains
That you're tired of yourself and all of your creations
Won't you come see me, Queen Jane ?
Won't you come see me, Queen Jane ?
Now when all of the flower ladies want back what they have lent you
And the smell of their roses does not remain
And all of your children start to resent you
Won't you come see me, Queen Jane ?
Won't you come see me, Queen Jane ?
Now when all the clowns that you have commissioned
Have died in battle or in vain
And you're sick of all this repetition
Won't you come see me, Queen Jane ?
Won't you come see me, Queen Jane ?
When all of your advisers heave their plastic
At your feet to convince you of your pain
Trying to prove that your conclusions should be more drastic
Won't you come see me, Queen Jane ?
Won't you come see me, Queen Jane ?
Now when all of the bandits that you turned your other cheek to
All lay down their bandanas and complain
And you want somebody you don't have to speak to
Won't you come see me, Queen Jane ?
Won't you come see me, Queen Jane ?
Bob Dylan
And your father to your sister he explains
That you're tired of yourself and all of your creations
Won't you come see me, Queen Jane ?
Won't you come see me, Queen Jane ?
Now when all of the flower ladies want back what they have lent you
And the smell of their roses does not remain
And all of your children start to resent you
Won't you come see me, Queen Jane ?
Won't you come see me, Queen Jane ?
Now when all the clowns that you have commissioned
Have died in battle or in vain
And you're sick of all this repetition
Won't you come see me, Queen Jane ?
Won't you come see me, Queen Jane ?
When all of your advisers heave their plastic
At your feet to convince you of your pain
Trying to prove that your conclusions should be more drastic
Won't you come see me, Queen Jane ?
Won't you come see me, Queen Jane ?
Now when all of the bandits that you turned your other cheek to
All lay down their bandanas and complain
And you want somebody you don't have to speak to
Won't you come see me, Queen Jane ?
Won't you come see me, Queen Jane ?
Bob Dylan
Transparency Update
When we last left Team Obama's adventures in transparency we had begun to define what Democrats mean by the word. Just as the U S Assistant Attorneys General don't usually call them Democrats but prefer terms like suspect and candidate #5, the inquiring mind must not expect precise use of the word transparency. To Team Obama the word means the ability and drsire to hide information about government from the public. In fact, they get an Orwell Award for their total perversion of the word. The MSM all get an honorable mention for making this abomination possible.
Lynn Sweet in the Chicago Sun Times has this to say about Obama and transparency:
"During the presidential primary campaign, then candidate Obama, still an Illinois senator, made a pledge I heard for the first time on Oct. 24, 2007. In a school gym in Dover, N.H., Obama said if president, he would post his meetings on the Internet. That was interesting to me because Obama's Senate staff had been very selective about what Obama Senate-related meetings they disclosed and seemed to be guided by a ''less is best'' policy.
A month after the election, on Dec. 5, John Podesta, a transition co-chair, issued an Obama transparency policy. When it comes to meetings, ''the date and organizations represented at official meetings in the Transition headquarters or agency offices'' would be ''posted on our Web site,'' at www.change.gov.
Indeed, the ''seat at the table'' section states ''on this page, you can track these meetings, view documents provided to the Transition and leave comments for the team,'' but the statement is only partly true.
What is posted are materials -- for example, briefing or position papers -- submitted by groups in connection with a transition meeting. There is no list of meetings on the site, with a meeting defined in the policy as having three or more participants. "
Lynn Sweet in the Chicago Sun Times has this to say about Obama and transparency:
"During the presidential primary campaign, then candidate Obama, still an Illinois senator, made a pledge I heard for the first time on Oct. 24, 2007. In a school gym in Dover, N.H., Obama said if president, he would post his meetings on the Internet. That was interesting to me because Obama's Senate staff had been very selective about what Obama Senate-related meetings they disclosed and seemed to be guided by a ''less is best'' policy.
A month after the election, on Dec. 5, John Podesta, a transition co-chair, issued an Obama transparency policy. When it comes to meetings, ''the date and organizations represented at official meetings in the Transition headquarters or agency offices'' would be ''posted on our Web site,'' at www.change.gov.
Indeed, the ''seat at the table'' section states ''on this page, you can track these meetings, view documents provided to the Transition and leave comments for the team,'' but the statement is only partly true.
What is posted are materials -- for example, briefing or position papers -- submitted by groups in connection with a transition meeting. There is no list of meetings on the site, with a meeting defined in the policy as having three or more participants. "
Monday, December 29, 2008
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Mika, Mika, Mika, Don't You Know Krugman Suffers from Poor Reality Testing??
The Republicans used ugly tactics in the recent election? ? ? This is a good case of what psychologists mean by the term poor reality testing. By which they mean: that nutcake is so distracted and controlled by his insanity that he has no clue what's going on in the real world.
They Want to Make This Woman Secretary of State?
Let's even leave aside her extreme lack of experience in foreign affairs. The constitution states in article one, section six that the fact the senate has increased the pay of the secretary of state during senator Clinton's term makes her ineligible to be appointed to that office.
hat tip/Founding Bloggers
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Complications the Princess Didn't See Coming
This From the New York Times about recent Patterson and Bloomberg reactions:
The governor is frustrated and chagrined, the advisers said, because he believes that he extended Ms. Kennedy the chance to demonstrate her qualifications but that her operatives have exploited the opportunity to convey a sense that she is all but appointed already. He views this as an attempt to box him in, the advisers said.
“You have people going around saying, ‘Oh yeah, it’s a done deal,’ ” said one of the advisers, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the selection process and did not want to anger the governor. “The quickest way to not get something you want is to step into somebody’s face.”
The governor’s frustration follows reports last week that Kevin Sheekey, a top deputy to Mr. Bloomberg who has been advising Ms. Kennedy, had called a labor leader and told him that Ms. Kennedy was going to be senator, “so get on board now,” and that a member of Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s staff was helping Ms. Kennedy reach out to unions.
It was not clear on Tuesday whether the governor’s reaction would seriously damage Ms. Kennedy’s chances to win the appointment or if it merely reflected Mr. Paterson’s desire to regain control of the selection process after Ms. Kennedy’s very public political debut.
Waffling
But Ms. Kennedy’s ties to Mr. Bloomberg’s political team and her waffling over whether she would support a Democrat in next year’s mayoral race appear to be angering some Democrats. On Tuesday, Sheldon Silver, the Assembly speaker, became the most senior elected official in the state to say that that Mr. Paterson should not select Ms. Kennedy to the Senate seat.
HT/dKos
The governor is frustrated and chagrined, the advisers said, because he believes that he extended Ms. Kennedy the chance to demonstrate her qualifications but that her operatives have exploited the opportunity to convey a sense that she is all but appointed already. He views this as an attempt to box him in, the advisers said.
“You have people going around saying, ‘Oh yeah, it’s a done deal,’ ” said one of the advisers, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the selection process and did not want to anger the governor. “The quickest way to not get something you want is to step into somebody’s face.”
The governor’s frustration follows reports last week that Kevin Sheekey, a top deputy to Mr. Bloomberg who has been advising Ms. Kennedy, had called a labor leader and told him that Ms. Kennedy was going to be senator, “so get on board now,” and that a member of Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s staff was helping Ms. Kennedy reach out to unions.
It was not clear on Tuesday whether the governor’s reaction would seriously damage Ms. Kennedy’s chances to win the appointment or if it merely reflected Mr. Paterson’s desire to regain control of the selection process after Ms. Kennedy’s very public political debut.
Waffling
But Ms. Kennedy’s ties to Mr. Bloomberg’s political team and her waffling over whether she would support a Democrat in next year’s mayoral race appear to be angering some Democrats. On Tuesday, Sheldon Silver, the Assembly speaker, became the most senior elected official in the state to say that that Mr. Paterson should not select Ms. Kennedy to the Senate seat.
HT/dKos
Friday, December 26, 2008
Ben Stein Tries to Make Sense of Richard Dawkins' Raving
And then God says to Bertrand Russell, "Why did you try so hard to not seek Me? And why have you denigrated the search to anyone who would listen?"
HT/Terry Ann online
Thursday, December 25, 2008
The Dry Salvages from Four Quartets
I do not know much about gods; but I think that the river
Is a strong brown god--sullen, untamed and intractable,
Patient to some degree, at first recognised as a frontier;
Useful, untrustworthy, as a conveyor of commerce;
Then only a problem confronting the builder of bridges.
The problem once solved, the brown god is almost forgotten
By the dwellers in cities--ever, however, implacable,
Keeping his seasons and rages, destroyer, reminder
Of what men choose to forget. Unhonoured, unpropitiated
By worshippers of the machine, but waiting, watching and waiting.
His rhythm was present in the nursery bedroom,
In the rank ailanthus of the April dooryard,
In the smell of grapes on the autumn table,
And the evening circle in the winter gaslight.
The river is within us, the sea is all about us;
The sea is the land's edge also, the granite
Into which it reaches, the beaches where it tosses
Its hints of earlier and other creation:
The starfish, the hermit crab, the whale's backbone;
The pools where it offers to our curiosity
The more delicate algae and the sea anemone.
It tosses up our losses, the torn seine,
The shattered lobsterpot, the broken oar
And the gear of foreign dead men. The sea has many voices,
Many gods and many voices.
The salt is on the briar rose,
The fog is in the fir trees.
The sea howl
And the sea yelp, are different voices
Often together heard; the whine in the rigging,
The menace and caress of wave that breaks on water,
The distant rote in the granite teeth,
And the wailing warning from the approaching headland
Are all sea voices, and the heaving groaner
Rounded homewards, and the seagull:
And under the oppression of the silent fog
The tolling bell
Measures time not our time, rung by the unhurried
Ground swell, a time
Older than the time of chronometers, older
Than time counted by anxious worried women
Lying awake, calculating the future,
Trying to unweave, unwind, unravel
And piece together the past and the future,
Between midnight and dawn, when the past is all deception,
The future futureless, before the morning watch
When time stops and time is never ending;
And the ground swell, that is and was from the beginning,
Clangs
The bell.
T. S. Eliot
Is a strong brown god--sullen, untamed and intractable,
Patient to some degree, at first recognised as a frontier;
Useful, untrustworthy, as a conveyor of commerce;
Then only a problem confronting the builder of bridges.
The problem once solved, the brown god is almost forgotten
By the dwellers in cities--ever, however, implacable,
Keeping his seasons and rages, destroyer, reminder
Of what men choose to forget. Unhonoured, unpropitiated
By worshippers of the machine, but waiting, watching and waiting.
His rhythm was present in the nursery bedroom,
In the rank ailanthus of the April dooryard,
In the smell of grapes on the autumn table,
And the evening circle in the winter gaslight.
The river is within us, the sea is all about us;
The sea is the land's edge also, the granite
Into which it reaches, the beaches where it tosses
Its hints of earlier and other creation:
The starfish, the hermit crab, the whale's backbone;
The pools where it offers to our curiosity
The more delicate algae and the sea anemone.
It tosses up our losses, the torn seine,
The shattered lobsterpot, the broken oar
And the gear of foreign dead men. The sea has many voices,
Many gods and many voices.
The salt is on the briar rose,
The fog is in the fir trees.
The sea howl
And the sea yelp, are different voices
Often together heard; the whine in the rigging,
The menace and caress of wave that breaks on water,
The distant rote in the granite teeth,
And the wailing warning from the approaching headland
Are all sea voices, and the heaving groaner
Rounded homewards, and the seagull:
And under the oppression of the silent fog
The tolling bell
Measures time not our time, rung by the unhurried
Ground swell, a time
Older than the time of chronometers, older
Than time counted by anxious worried women
Lying awake, calculating the future,
Trying to unweave, unwind, unravel
And piece together the past and the future,
Between midnight and dawn, when the past is all deception,
The future futureless, before the morning watch
When time stops and time is never ending;
And the ground swell, that is and was from the beginning,
Clangs
The bell.
T. S. Eliot
V. D. Hanson Wonders if Democrats Don't Prefer Aristocracy to Democracy
Caroline Kennedy’s Moment — A Sad Reflection of Our Times
The probable appointment of Caroline Kennedy, the 51-year-old daughter of former President John Kennedy, to fill Secretary-of-State nominee Hillary Clinton’s New York Senate seat is both laughable and yet a parable for our bankrupt times.
Consider aristocratic entitlement. Ms. Kennedy apparently spends a great deal of her time divided between her Park Avenue Upper-East-Side Manhattan townhouse and her hereditary estate on Martha’s Vineyard. She has had no real experience with the ordinary lives of New Yorkers, either a few dozen blocks away in Harlem (despite a sudden ad hoc lunch last week with the Rev. Sharpton at a soul food diner) or the state’s rural towns to the north.
Ms. Kennedy is about as undiverse as one could imagine. She was educated at exclusively private schools among those of her like race and class. Her financial security is due to either inheritance or marriage; there is no evidence of a self-employed stellar legal or business career. But there is plenty of evidence that Ms. Kennedy reflects the current Democratic Party’s obsession with celebrity and Hollywood-like imagery — as we see from the recent politicking of everyone from Oprah to Sean Penn, the Senate run of comedian Al Franken, and the messianic cult that surrounds Barack Obama, from his vero possumus Latin seal to his mass rallies with Greek temple backdrops.
Press reports suggest that the current political junkie Ms. Kennedy was an erratic voter in the past. In any case, her positions on both state and national issues are perhaps doctrinaire liberal in the Kenndyesque sense. But we can only assume, rather than know, that, since she has not in the past voiced any strong views about anything in any detail. Unlike dozens of veteran, hard-working and savvy New York state and federal office-holders in the Democratic Party, who would be both qualified and happy to serve out Sen. Clinton’s term, Ms. Kennedy has never run for, or held, public office. Her only prerequisites for Senator are her pedigree from her father and her purported celebrity mystique passed on from her mother Jackie. She certainly has shown none of Hillary Clinton’s grittiness, traipsing over the rural haunts of America in a bright blue pantsuit, quaffing boilermakers at biker bars and reinventing herself as a sort of Annie Oakley everywoman, clinging to guns and religion.
In 2007 Ms. Kennedy was, in fact, a strong Hillary Clinton donor and supporter, but jumped ship and joined Obama once he surged in the polls at the beginning of the year, when the national media and the fossilized icons of the Democratic Party underwent some sort of ecstatic catharsis and mass hysteria akin to what Euripides’s Bacchants experienced on Mt. Kithairon.
That savvy metamorphosis into an Obamiac explains Ms. Kennedy’s sudden me-too piggy-backing into national politics. Indeed, her current newfound political zeal seems predicated on the larger Obamania craze, a sort of brand name groupthink in which romantic liberals imagine a return of JFK’s lost Camelot.
The probable appointment of Caroline Kennedy, the 51-year-old daughter of former President John Kennedy, to fill Secretary-of-State nominee Hillary Clinton’s New York Senate seat is both laughable and yet a parable for our bankrupt times.
Consider aristocratic entitlement. Ms. Kennedy apparently spends a great deal of her time divided between her Park Avenue Upper-East-Side Manhattan townhouse and her hereditary estate on Martha’s Vineyard. She has had no real experience with the ordinary lives of New Yorkers, either a few dozen blocks away in Harlem (despite a sudden ad hoc lunch last week with the Rev. Sharpton at a soul food diner) or the state’s rural towns to the north.
Ms. Kennedy is about as undiverse as one could imagine. She was educated at exclusively private schools among those of her like race and class. Her financial security is due to either inheritance or marriage; there is no evidence of a self-employed stellar legal or business career. But there is plenty of evidence that Ms. Kennedy reflects the current Democratic Party’s obsession with celebrity and Hollywood-like imagery — as we see from the recent politicking of everyone from Oprah to Sean Penn, the Senate run of comedian Al Franken, and the messianic cult that surrounds Barack Obama, from his vero possumus Latin seal to his mass rallies with Greek temple backdrops.
Press reports suggest that the current political junkie Ms. Kennedy was an erratic voter in the past. In any case, her positions on both state and national issues are perhaps doctrinaire liberal in the Kenndyesque sense. But we can only assume, rather than know, that, since she has not in the past voiced any strong views about anything in any detail. Unlike dozens of veteran, hard-working and savvy New York state and federal office-holders in the Democratic Party, who would be both qualified and happy to serve out Sen. Clinton’s term, Ms. Kennedy has never run for, or held, public office. Her only prerequisites for Senator are her pedigree from her father and her purported celebrity mystique passed on from her mother Jackie. She certainly has shown none of Hillary Clinton’s grittiness, traipsing over the rural haunts of America in a bright blue pantsuit, quaffing boilermakers at biker bars and reinventing herself as a sort of Annie Oakley everywoman, clinging to guns and religion.
In 2007 Ms. Kennedy was, in fact, a strong Hillary Clinton donor and supporter, but jumped ship and joined Obama once he surged in the polls at the beginning of the year, when the national media and the fossilized icons of the Democratic Party underwent some sort of ecstatic catharsis and mass hysteria akin to what Euripides’s Bacchants experienced on Mt. Kithairon.
That savvy metamorphosis into an Obamiac explains Ms. Kennedy’s sudden me-too piggy-backing into national politics. Indeed, her current newfound political zeal seems predicated on the larger Obamania craze, a sort of brand name groupthink in which romantic liberals imagine a return of JFK’s lost Camelot.
IF I TOLD HIM A Completed Portrait of Picasso
If I told him would he like it. Would he like it if I told him.
Would he like it would Napoleon would Napoleon would would he like it.
If Napoleon if I told him if I told him if Napoleon. Would he like it if I told him if I told him if Napoleon. Would he like it if Napoleon if
Napoleon if I told him. If I told him if Napoleon if Napoleon if I told him. If I told him would he like it would he like it if I told him.
Now.
Not now.
And now.
Now.
Exactly as as kings.
Feeling full for it.
Exactitude as kings.
So to beseech you as full as for it.
Exactly or as kings.
Shutters shut and open so do queens. Shutters shut and shutters and so shutters shut and shutters and so and so shutters and so shutters shut
and so shutters shut and shutters and so. And so shutters shut and so and also. And also and so and so and also.
Exact resemblance to exact resemblance the exact resemblance as exact as a resemblance, exactly as resembling, exactly resembling, exactly
in resemblance exactly a resemblance, exactly and resemblance. For this is so. Because.
Now actively repeat at all, now actively repeat at all, now actively repeat at all.
Have hold and hear, actively repeat at all.
I judge judge.
As a resemblance to him.
Who comes first. Napoleon the first.
Who comes too coming coming too, who goes there, as they go they share, who shares all, all is as all as as yet or as yet.
Now to date now to date. Now and now and date and the date.
Who came first Napoleon at first. Who came first Napoleon the first. Who came first, Napoleon first.
Presently.
Exactly as they do.
First exactly.
Exactly as they do too.
First exactly.
And first exactly.
Exactly as they do.
And first exactly and exactly.
And do they do.
At first exactly and first exactly and do they do.
The first exactly.
At first exactly.
First as exactly.
At first as exactly.
Presently.
As presently.
As as presently.
He he he he and he and he and and he and he and he and and as and as he and as he and he. He is and as he is, and as he is and he is, he is
and as he and he and as he is and he and he and and he and he.
Can curls rob can curls quote, quotable.
As presently.
As exactitude.
As trains.
Has trains.
Has trains.
As trains.
As trains.
Presently.
Proportions.
Presently.
As proportions as presently.
Father and farther.
Was the king or room.
Farther and whether.
Was there was there was there what was there was there what was there was there there was there.
Whether and in there.
As even say so.
One.
I land.
Two.
I land.
Three.
The land.
Three.
The land.
Two.
I land.
Two.
I land.
One.
I land.
Two.
I land.
As a so.
They cannot.
A note.
They cannot.
A float.
They cannot.
They dote.
They cannot.
They as denote.
Miracles play.
Play fairly.
Play fairly well.
A well.
As well.
As or as presently.
Let me recite what history teaches. History teaches.
Gertrude Stein
Would he like it would Napoleon would Napoleon would would he like it.
If Napoleon if I told him if I told him if Napoleon. Would he like it if I told him if I told him if Napoleon. Would he like it if Napoleon if
Napoleon if I told him. If I told him if Napoleon if Napoleon if I told him. If I told him would he like it would he like it if I told him.
Now.
Not now.
And now.
Now.
Exactly as as kings.
Feeling full for it.
Exactitude as kings.
So to beseech you as full as for it.
Exactly or as kings.
Shutters shut and open so do queens. Shutters shut and shutters and so shutters shut and shutters and so and so shutters and so shutters shut
and so shutters shut and shutters and so. And so shutters shut and so and also. And also and so and so and also.
Exact resemblance to exact resemblance the exact resemblance as exact as a resemblance, exactly as resembling, exactly resembling, exactly
in resemblance exactly a resemblance, exactly and resemblance. For this is so. Because.
Now actively repeat at all, now actively repeat at all, now actively repeat at all.
Have hold and hear, actively repeat at all.
I judge judge.
As a resemblance to him.
Who comes first. Napoleon the first.
Who comes too coming coming too, who goes there, as they go they share, who shares all, all is as all as as yet or as yet.
Now to date now to date. Now and now and date and the date.
Who came first Napoleon at first. Who came first Napoleon the first. Who came first, Napoleon first.
Presently.
Exactly as they do.
First exactly.
Exactly as they do too.
First exactly.
And first exactly.
Exactly as they do.
And first exactly and exactly.
And do they do.
At first exactly and first exactly and do they do.
The first exactly.
At first exactly.
First as exactly.
At first as exactly.
Presently.
As presently.
As as presently.
He he he he and he and he and and he and he and he and and as and as he and as he and he. He is and as he is, and as he is and he is, he is
and as he and he and as he is and he and he and and he and he.
Can curls rob can curls quote, quotable.
As presently.
As exactitude.
As trains.
Has trains.
Has trains.
As trains.
As trains.
Presently.
Proportions.
Presently.
As proportions as presently.
Father and farther.
Was the king or room.
Farther and whether.
Was there was there was there what was there was there what was there was there there was there.
Whether and in there.
As even say so.
One.
I land.
Two.
I land.
Three.
The land.
Three.
The land.
Two.
I land.
Two.
I land.
One.
I land.
Two.
I land.
As a so.
They cannot.
A note.
They cannot.
A float.
They cannot.
They dote.
They cannot.
They as denote.
Miracles play.
Play fairly.
Play fairly well.
A well.
As well.
As or as presently.
Let me recite what history teaches. History teaches.
Gertrude Stein
Old Post Reposted
Friday, October 12, 2007
How Do You Talk to a Liberal?
This has happened to me at least three times in three months. I have friends and relatives that are liberals. On occassion the talk will turn to politics. They will make a typically liberal comment and if you offer evidence or an argument to the contrary, they turn semi-silent and semi-sullen and don't want to talk any more. And I'm left confused. If you have a belief but lack evidence or an argument to support it, why hold on to it? I guess that explains why I go away feeling they're angry at me. They either blame me for their lack of due diligence or they accept that it is their own fault. And it's easier to blame me than to change their belief system. This certainly helps explain why the daily kos is so lacking in reasoned argument and evidence and so full of nasty, angry and maybe even slanderous attacks. They seem not to have learned in college that ad hominem attacks are not valid arguments but rather fallacious.
How Do You Talk to a Liberal?
This has happened to me at least three times in three months. I have friends and relatives that are liberals. On occassion the talk will turn to politics. They will make a typically liberal comment and if you offer evidence or an argument to the contrary, they turn semi-silent and semi-sullen and don't want to talk any more. And I'm left confused. If you have a belief but lack evidence or an argument to support it, why hold on to it? I guess that explains why I go away feeling they're angry at me. They either blame me for their lack of due diligence or they accept that it is their own fault. And it's easier to blame me than to change their belief system. This certainly helps explain why the daily kos is so lacking in reasoned argument and evidence and so full of nasty, angry and maybe even slanderous attacks. They seem not to have learned in college that ad hominem attacks are not valid arguments but rather fallacious.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Found a Great Website
It's called BlameBush! And below is a whole post as a sample.
No Cabinet Spot for al Zawahri
Al Qaeda's number two, Ayman al Zawahri, released a video today praising Malcolm X, and slamming America as an "criminal imperialist opressor".
I know what you're thinking: he's obviously angling for a spot in President Obama's cabinet. Well, too bad, Big Al, but you blew it with that "House Negro" remark. The Democrat Party does not tolerate such racially divisive language when its directed at anyone but a Black Republican. Perhaps if Zahawri clarifies his remarks and explains that he was actually referring to Condoleeza Rice, there might be a place for him on the pulpit at Obama's church. If he amps up his anti-American rants a little bit, I'm sure he could even get a job teaching at the University of Illinois.
He already attacked the Pentagon once, so that should look good on his resume.
No Cabinet Spot for al Zawahri
Al Qaeda's number two, Ayman al Zawahri, released a video today praising Malcolm X, and slamming America as an "criminal imperialist opressor".
I know what you're thinking: he's obviously angling for a spot in President Obama's cabinet. Well, too bad, Big Al, but you blew it with that "House Negro" remark. The Democrat Party does not tolerate such racially divisive language when its directed at anyone but a Black Republican. Perhaps if Zahawri clarifies his remarks and explains that he was actually referring to Condoleeza Rice, there might be a place for him on the pulpit at Obama's church. If he amps up his anti-American rants a little bit, I'm sure he could even get a job teaching at the University of Illinois.
He already attacked the Pentagon once, so that should look good on his resume.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Still Falls the Rain
The raids, 1940. Night and dawn
Still falls the Rain –
Dark as the world of man, black as our loss –
Blind as the nineteen hundred and forty nails
Upon the Cross.
Still falls the Rain
With a sound like the pulse of the heart that is changed to the hammer-beat
In the Potter’s Field, and the sound of the impious feet
On the Tomb:
Still falls the Rain
In the Field of Blood where the small hopes breed and the human brain
Nurtures its greed, that worm with the brow of Cain.
Still falls the Rain
At the feet of the Starved Man hung upon the Cross.
Christ that each day, each night, nails there, have mercy on us –
On Dives and on Lazarus:
Under the Rain the sore and the gold are as one.
Still falls the Rain –
Still falls the Blood from the Starved Man’s wounded Side:
He bears in His Heart all wounds,– those of the light that died,
The last faint spark
In the self-murdered heart, the wounds of the sad uncomprehending dark,
The wounds of the baited bear,–
The blind and weeping bear whom the keepers beat
On his helpless flesh . . . the tears of the hunted hare.
Still falls the Rain –
Then – O Ile leap up to my God: who pulles me doune –
See, see where Christ’s blood streames in the firmament:
It flows from the Brow we nailed upon the tree
Deep to the dying, to the thirsting heart
That holds the fires of the world,– dark-smirched with pain
As Caesar’s laurel crown.
Then sounds the voice of One who like the heart of man
Was once a child who among beasts has lain –
‘Still do I love, still shed my innocent light, my Blood, for thee.’
—
Edith Sitwell (1887-1964)
Still falls the Rain –
Dark as the world of man, black as our loss –
Blind as the nineteen hundred and forty nails
Upon the Cross.
Still falls the Rain
With a sound like the pulse of the heart that is changed to the hammer-beat
In the Potter’s Field, and the sound of the impious feet
On the Tomb:
Still falls the Rain
In the Field of Blood where the small hopes breed and the human brain
Nurtures its greed, that worm with the brow of Cain.
Still falls the Rain
At the feet of the Starved Man hung upon the Cross.
Christ that each day, each night, nails there, have mercy on us –
On Dives and on Lazarus:
Under the Rain the sore and the gold are as one.
Still falls the Rain –
Still falls the Blood from the Starved Man’s wounded Side:
He bears in His Heart all wounds,– those of the light that died,
The last faint spark
In the self-murdered heart, the wounds of the sad uncomprehending dark,
The wounds of the baited bear,–
The blind and weeping bear whom the keepers beat
On his helpless flesh . . . the tears of the hunted hare.
Still falls the Rain –
Then – O Ile leap up to my God: who pulles me doune –
See, see where Christ’s blood streames in the firmament:
It flows from the Brow we nailed upon the tree
Deep to the dying, to the thirsting heart
That holds the fires of the world,– dark-smirched with pain
As Caesar’s laurel crown.
Then sounds the voice of One who like the heart of man
Was once a child who among beasts has lain –
‘Still do I love, still shed my innocent light, my Blood, for thee.’
—
Edith Sitwell (1887-1964)
Minnesota Canvassing Board Views World Thru Franken Colored Glasses
If these guys are making the decisions Coleman is truly screwed. Which brings up the question if this is more Democrat pay to play. And how much do they cost?
We Will Keep Asking the Question Until You Give the Approved Answer
"Science has long held that homosexuality is biological." Those 'scientists' don't know how or why but they are now PC enough to get grants.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Ovid Elegy IX: Love is War
Every lover’s in arms, and Cupid holds the fort:
Atticus, believe me, every lover’s in arms.
The age that’s good for war, is also right for love.
An old soldier’s a disgrace, and an old lover.
That spirit a commander looks for in a brave army,
a lovely girl looks for in a love partner.
Both keep watch: both sleep on the ground,
one serves at his lady’s entrance, the other his general’s.
A long road’s a soldier’s task: but send the girl off,
and a restless lover will follow her to the end.
He’ll go against mountains and bend into stormy rivers,
he’ll push his way through swollen snowdrifts,
he’ll not rely on excuses, like angry northerlies,
or waiting for suitable stars to take to the waves.
Who but a soldier or lover could endure
cold nights or dense snow mixed with rain?
One’s sent out to spy on attacking forces:
the other keeps eye on his rival, his enemy.
This one lays siege to strong cities, that one his harsh friend’s entrance: one breaks down gates, the other doors.
Often it helps to attack a sleeping enemy,
and strike the unarmed mass with armed hand.
That’s how Rhesus and his fierce Thracians were killed
and forfeited the leader’s captured mares.
Lovers, for sure, will make use of a husband’s sleep
and employ their arms while the enemy slumbers.
Getting past watchman’s hands, and enemy sentinels
is work for soldiers and wretched lovers.
Mars is chancy, Venus uncertain: the fallen can rise again,
while those you think could never be thrown are beaten.
So if you’ve called all lovers idlers, forget it.
Love is all experience and ability.
Great Achilles burns for stolen Briseis –
while you can Trojans, smash the Argive wall!
Hector went into battle from Andromache’s arms,
it was the wife who placed the helmet on his head.
The great lord Atrides, they say, seeing Cassandra
that Trojan Maenad, was enraptured by her flowing hair.
Mars too, surprised, felt the blacksmith’s chain mesh:
there was never a greater scandal in heaven.
I myself was lazy and born to idle leisure:
bed and shade both softened my mind.
Love for a lovely girl soon drove the idler
and ordered him off to earn his pay in camp.
Now see me, active and fighting nocturnal wars.
If you don’t want to be idle, fall in love!
Atticus, believe me, every lover’s in arms.
The age that’s good for war, is also right for love.
An old soldier’s a disgrace, and an old lover.
That spirit a commander looks for in a brave army,
a lovely girl looks for in a love partner.
Both keep watch: both sleep on the ground,
one serves at his lady’s entrance, the other his general’s.
A long road’s a soldier’s task: but send the girl off,
and a restless lover will follow her to the end.
He’ll go against mountains and bend into stormy rivers,
he’ll push his way through swollen snowdrifts,
he’ll not rely on excuses, like angry northerlies,
or waiting for suitable stars to take to the waves.
Who but a soldier or lover could endure
cold nights or dense snow mixed with rain?
One’s sent out to spy on attacking forces:
the other keeps eye on his rival, his enemy.
This one lays siege to strong cities, that one his harsh friend’s entrance: one breaks down gates, the other doors.
Often it helps to attack a sleeping enemy,
and strike the unarmed mass with armed hand.
That’s how Rhesus and his fierce Thracians were killed
and forfeited the leader’s captured mares.
Lovers, for sure, will make use of a husband’s sleep
and employ their arms while the enemy slumbers.
Getting past watchman’s hands, and enemy sentinels
is work for soldiers and wretched lovers.
Mars is chancy, Venus uncertain: the fallen can rise again,
while those you think could never be thrown are beaten.
So if you’ve called all lovers idlers, forget it.
Love is all experience and ability.
Great Achilles burns for stolen Briseis –
while you can Trojans, smash the Argive wall!
Hector went into battle from Andromache’s arms,
it was the wife who placed the helmet on his head.
The great lord Atrides, they say, seeing Cassandra
that Trojan Maenad, was enraptured by her flowing hair.
Mars too, surprised, felt the blacksmith’s chain mesh:
there was never a greater scandal in heaven.
I myself was lazy and born to idle leisure:
bed and shade both softened my mind.
Love for a lovely girl soon drove the idler
and ordered him off to earn his pay in camp.
Now see me, active and fighting nocturnal wars.
If you don’t want to be idle, fall in love!
I Told You I Didn't Do It and as Proof I'm Going to Tell You Again
At JammieWearingFool largebill offered this comment that sums up the Obama internal review perfectly:
"Wow, this revelation makes me think Nixon was an idiot. Why didn't he have someone issue a statement saying nothing happened? Oh yeah, that's right, the media hated Nixon. Getting automatic approval of your own denial only works if the media is in love with you."
"Wow, this revelation makes me think Nixon was an idiot. Why didn't he have someone issue a statement saying nothing happened? Oh yeah, that's right, the media hated Nixon. Getting automatic approval of your own denial only works if the media is in love with you."
Coulter's Latest Column in Human Events, Some Relevant Quotes
Having indignantly rejected experience as a presidential qualification in the case of Obama, liberals had to raise questions about Palin’s experience gingerly. But, in short order, they threw caution to the wind and began energetically criticizing Palin for her lack of experience. I call that two … two … two standards in one!
. . . . . .
After Palin gave her barnburner of a speech at the Republican National Convention, a friend of mine in a liberal industry told me his friends were aggressively confronting him demanding to know if Palin was raised by a secret cult of Christians that taught children nothing but Creationism and public speaking.
. . . . . . .
The Obama campaign was so alarmed by Palin’s speech, it loudly dismissed the speech saying she didn’t write it. At least that’s what a press release written by an Obama campaign staffer said.
Indeed, the first words out of every Palin critic's mouth were: "Good speech, but she didn't write it." So I guess all liberals were reading the same talking points written for them by the Obama campaign. At least Palin pays her speechwriters. Neil Kinnock is still waiting for his check.
Speaking of Joe Biden, he said that Palin’s speech had a lot of style but little substance. Inasmuch as Biden was Obama's running mate, I think that meant he liked it!
A newspaper in Boston responded to Palin’s speech by interviewing hairdressers who criticized Sarah's hairstyle. (Where were these people after Joe Biden's speech?)
Trendy dinner party opinion soon demanded that all liberals take up the cry that Palin must let the press have a whack at her. Almost immediately after she was introduced to the nation, the cry went up: “When are we going to be allowed to ask Palin questions?”
Palin’s refusal to meet with the press for one week after being chosen as McCain’s running mate was evidently more maddening than Obama's refusal to appear on Fox News for almost the entirety of his campaign.
Everyone acted as if Obama’s feat of running for President for two years constituted a complete and thorough vetting.
It might have been, except that the entire media had apparently agreed: “OK, none of us will ask Obama about Tony Rezko, William Ayers, and Jeremiah Wright.”
Hillary was hissed by the audience for mentioning Rezko at a Democratic debate and George Stephanopoulos nearly lost his career for asking Obama one William Ayers question at another
. . . . . .
After Palin gave her barnburner of a speech at the Republican National Convention, a friend of mine in a liberal industry told me his friends were aggressively confronting him demanding to know if Palin was raised by a secret cult of Christians that taught children nothing but Creationism and public speaking.
. . . . . . .
The Obama campaign was so alarmed by Palin’s speech, it loudly dismissed the speech saying she didn’t write it. At least that’s what a press release written by an Obama campaign staffer said.
Indeed, the first words out of every Palin critic's mouth were: "Good speech, but she didn't write it." So I guess all liberals were reading the same talking points written for them by the Obama campaign. At least Palin pays her speechwriters. Neil Kinnock is still waiting for his check.
Speaking of Joe Biden, he said that Palin’s speech had a lot of style but little substance. Inasmuch as Biden was Obama's running mate, I think that meant he liked it!
A newspaper in Boston responded to Palin’s speech by interviewing hairdressers who criticized Sarah's hairstyle. (Where were these people after Joe Biden's speech?)
Trendy dinner party opinion soon demanded that all liberals take up the cry that Palin must let the press have a whack at her. Almost immediately after she was introduced to the nation, the cry went up: “When are we going to be allowed to ask Palin questions?”
Palin’s refusal to meet with the press for one week after being chosen as McCain’s running mate was evidently more maddening than Obama's refusal to appear on Fox News for almost the entirety of his campaign.
Everyone acted as if Obama’s feat of running for President for two years constituted a complete and thorough vetting.
It might have been, except that the entire media had apparently agreed: “OK, none of us will ask Obama about Tony Rezko, William Ayers, and Jeremiah Wright.”
Hillary was hissed by the audience for mentioning Rezko at a Democratic debate and George Stephanopoulos nearly lost his career for asking Obama one William Ayers question at another
Barack Said
“Our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes -- and I see many of them in the audience here today.”
You Can't Fix Stupid: Huffington Thinks MSM Have Reverence for Bush
From Sunday Los Angeles Times:
"CHOIRE SICHA: It was only recently that this spell of reverence for Bush lifted. Why'd it take so long?
ARIANNA HUFFINGTON: I think it took so long because there is something about the conventional wisdom that is very addictive to members of the press. They don't want to diverge from it too far.
HT/NewsBusters
"CHOIRE SICHA: It was only recently that this spell of reverence for Bush lifted. Why'd it take so long?
ARIANNA HUFFINGTON: I think it took so long because there is something about the conventional wisdom that is very addictive to members of the press. They don't want to diverge from it too far.
HT/NewsBusters
WaPo Ombudsman Has Faint Notion of Bias
From NewsBusters:
In her final column for the Washington Post, outgoing ombudsman Deborah Howell urged the paper to address its lack of political diversity. Since “too many Post staff members think alike,” she advised: “Make a serious effort to cover political and social conservatives and their issues; the paper tends to shy away from those stories, leaving conservatives feeling excluded and alienated from the paper.”
In her final column for the Washington Post, outgoing ombudsman Deborah Howell urged the paper to address its lack of political diversity. Since “too many Post staff members think alike,” she advised: “Make a serious effort to cover political and social conservatives and their issues; the paper tends to shy away from those stories, leaving conservatives feeling excluded and alienated from the paper.”
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Journalistic Malpractise
I want Barack Obama to be successful as president. I want him to be successful in improving the economy. And I want him to keep America safe from foreign and domestic enemies. But I do not think me stifling criticism of Obama will increase his chances for success. And, since the dinosaur media have refused to look closely at Obama, their natural responsibilities in a democratic government must be assumed by someone. So I am doing my small part.
Add to this another problem caused by the media. I feel sure that they overstated the severity of the problems to help elect Obama. I’m quite sure there are some people presently without jobs just because some editors and reporters felt that the election of Obama was more important than truth, balance or people’s jobs. And this will continue to be a problem. The media will frame the reporting of economic news however they feel necessary to help Obama. They will make things look worse so as to increase the amount of power people are willing to cede to Obama and decrease criticism of Obama. They have been and will continue to go out of their way to lay blame on Republicans beyond what is indicated by the facts. And they will continue to refuse to hold Democrats responsible in any way.
They themselves are mostly Democrats and/or sympathetic to Democrats. A doctor is not allowed to treat himself or anyone he is related to because of the dangers that could be caused to the patient by lack of objectivity. Yet hundreds of billions of dollars are being handed out based on the reports of men and women who have proven themselves incapable of objectivity. This is not a prescription for health.
Add to this another problem caused by the media. I feel sure that they overstated the severity of the problems to help elect Obama. I’m quite sure there are some people presently without jobs just because some editors and reporters felt that the election of Obama was more important than truth, balance or people’s jobs. And this will continue to be a problem. The media will frame the reporting of economic news however they feel necessary to help Obama. They will make things look worse so as to increase the amount of power people are willing to cede to Obama and decrease criticism of Obama. They have been and will continue to go out of their way to lay blame on Republicans beyond what is indicated by the facts. And they will continue to refuse to hold Democrats responsible in any way.
They themselves are mostly Democrats and/or sympathetic to Democrats. A doctor is not allowed to treat himself or anyone he is related to because of the dangers that could be caused to the patient by lack of objectivity. Yet hundreds of billions of dollars are being handed out based on the reports of men and women who have proven themselves incapable of objectivity. This is not a prescription for health.
Name That Party
The AP reports on misuse ofcampaign cash in Ohio. No mention of a political party in the story. Even Dumb Stevie has figured out that it's a Democrat.
HT/Hot Air.com
HT/Hot Air.com
From A Crazy On The Right (That's Me, snaggletoothie)
This is part of Thom Hartmann's show in which he tries to prove that all of the recent cold weather is caused by global warming. His argument is meaningless until he can prove that there is as significant an amount of thawing as he claims there is. I would think there would be a noticeable raise of sea level if what he says is true. I live about 4 blocks from the Pacific Ocean. So I will go down sometime in the next few days and check. But the fact that he offers no evidence that thawing is vastly beyond what is needed to maintain homeostasis makes it unwise to believe him.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
FERN HILL
Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs
About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green,
The night above the dingle starry,
Time let me hail and climb
Golden in the heydays of his eyes,
And honoured among wagons I was prince of the apple towns
And once below a time I lordly had the trees and leaves
Trail with daisies and barley
Down the rivers of the windfall light.
And as I was green and carefree, famous among the barns
About the happy yard and singing as the farm was home,
In the sun that is young once only,
Time let me play and be
Golden in the mercy of his means,
And green and golden I was huntsman and herdsman, the calves
Sang to my horn, the foxes on the hills barked clear and cold,
And the sabbath rang slowly
In the pebbles of the holy streams.
All the sun long it was running, it was lovely, the hay
Fields high as the house, the tunes from the chimneys, it was air
And playing, lovely and watery
And fire green as grass.
And nightly under the simple stars
As I rode to sleep the owls were bearing the farm away,
All the moon long I heard, blessed among stables, the nightjars
Flying with the ricks, and the horses
Flashing into the dark.
And then to awake, and the farm, like a wanderer white
With the dew, come back, the cock on his shoulder: it was all
Shining, it was Adam and maiden,
The sky gathered again
And the sun grew round that very day.
So it must have been after the birth of the simple light
In the first, spinning place, the spellbound horses walking warm
Out of the whinnying green stable
On to the fields of praise.
And honoured among foxes and pheasants by the gay house
Under the new made clouds and happy as the heart was long,
In the sun born over and over,
I ran my heedless ways,
My wishes raced through the house high hay
And nothing I cared, at my sky blue trades, that time allows
In all his tuneful turning so few and such morning songs
Before the children green and golden
Follow him out of grace.
Nothing I cared, in the lamb white days, that time would take me
Up to the swallow thronged loft by the shadow of my hand,
In the moon that is always rising,
Nor that riding to sleep
I should hear him fly with the high fields
And wake to the farm forever fled from the childless land.
Oh as I was young and easy in the mercy of his means,
Time held me green and dying
Though I sang in my chains like the sea.
Dylan Thomas
About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green,
The night above the dingle starry,
Time let me hail and climb
Golden in the heydays of his eyes,
And honoured among wagons I was prince of the apple towns
And once below a time I lordly had the trees and leaves
Trail with daisies and barley
Down the rivers of the windfall light.
And as I was green and carefree, famous among the barns
About the happy yard and singing as the farm was home,
In the sun that is young once only,
Time let me play and be
Golden in the mercy of his means,
And green and golden I was huntsman and herdsman, the calves
Sang to my horn, the foxes on the hills barked clear and cold,
And the sabbath rang slowly
In the pebbles of the holy streams.
All the sun long it was running, it was lovely, the hay
Fields high as the house, the tunes from the chimneys, it was air
And playing, lovely and watery
And fire green as grass.
And nightly under the simple stars
As I rode to sleep the owls were bearing the farm away,
All the moon long I heard, blessed among stables, the nightjars
Flying with the ricks, and the horses
Flashing into the dark.
And then to awake, and the farm, like a wanderer white
With the dew, come back, the cock on his shoulder: it was all
Shining, it was Adam and maiden,
The sky gathered again
And the sun grew round that very day.
So it must have been after the birth of the simple light
In the first, spinning place, the spellbound horses walking warm
Out of the whinnying green stable
On to the fields of praise.
And honoured among foxes and pheasants by the gay house
Under the new made clouds and happy as the heart was long,
In the sun born over and over,
I ran my heedless ways,
My wishes raced through the house high hay
And nothing I cared, at my sky blue trades, that time allows
In all his tuneful turning so few and such morning songs
Before the children green and golden
Follow him out of grace.
Nothing I cared, in the lamb white days, that time would take me
Up to the swallow thronged loft by the shadow of my hand,
In the moon that is always rising,
Nor that riding to sleep
I should hear him fly with the high fields
And wake to the farm forever fled from the childless land.
Oh as I was young and easy in the mercy of his means,
Time held me green and dying
Though I sang in my chains like the sea.
Dylan Thomas
You're Such A Cassandra
Barack Obama's new science advisor is not so much a scientist as a Cassandra. The New York Times says:
"Does being spectacularly wrong about a major issue in your field of expertise hurt your chances of becoming the presidential science advisor? Apparently not, judging by reports from DotEarth and ScienceInsider that Barack Obama will name John P. Holdren as his science advisor on Saturday.
Dr. Holdren, now a physicist at Harvard, was one of the experts in natural resources whom Paul Ehrlich enlisted in his famous bet against the economist Julian Simon during the “energy crisis” of the 1980s. Dr. Simon, who disagreed with environmentalists’ predictions of a new “age of scarcity” of natural resources, offered to bet that any natural resource would be cheaper at any date in the future. Dr. Ehrlich accepted the challenge and asked Dr. Holdren, then the co-director of the graduate program in energy and
resources at the University of California, Berkeley, and another Berkeley professor, John Harte, for help in choosing which resources would become scarce.
In 1980 Dr. Holdren helped select five metals — chrome, copper, nickel, tin and tungsten — and joined Dr. Ehrlich and Dr. Harte in betting $1,000 that those metals would be more expensive ten years later. They turned out to be wrong on all five metals, and had to pay up when the bet came due in 1990.
. . . . . . . . ..
Dr. Holdren is certainly entitled to his views, but what concerns me is his tendency to conflate the science of climate change with prescriptions to cut greenhouse emissions. Even if most climate scientists agree on the anthropogenic causes of global warming, that doesn’t imply that the best way to deal with the problem is through drastic cuts in greenhouse emissions. There are other ways to cope, and there’s no “scientific consensus” on which path looks best."
OpenMarket.org says,
"Although touted as a member of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences, Holdren was admitted through a back door called the “temporary nominating group”, a process which appears designed and has certainly been exercised to gain entry for large numbers of environmental alarmists who, it is fair to presume from this exception, would not gain election through the normal channel.
. . . . . . . .
The vocal Holdren predicted in the mid-1980s that climate-related catastrophes might kill as many as one billion people before the year 2020 but now brushes off inquiries about such failed catastrophism while continuing to sound a similar alarm. He is a longtime collaborator with none other than failed prognosticator of doom Paul Ehrlich, with whom he collaborated to hold a “Cassandra Conference” in 1988 (Cassandra is the lass from Greek mythology whose prophecies were always true and always ignored).
As I note in Red Hot Lies, Holdren’s name also pops up in various, largely successful efforts to elevate taxpayer funding of the global warming industry. Finally, note that Holdren’s recent record includes being enlisted by Scientific American in its clumsy effort to smear and otherwise discredit Bjørn Lomborg."
He is not just a Cassandra but a backdoor Cassandra.
Nothing new here: even though Democrats frequently invoke the name of "science." Few of them actually know what it is and how it works.
"Does being spectacularly wrong about a major issue in your field of expertise hurt your chances of becoming the presidential science advisor? Apparently not, judging by reports from DotEarth and ScienceInsider that Barack Obama will name John P. Holdren as his science advisor on Saturday.
Dr. Holdren, now a physicist at Harvard, was one of the experts in natural resources whom Paul Ehrlich enlisted in his famous bet against the economist Julian Simon during the “energy crisis” of the 1980s. Dr. Simon, who disagreed with environmentalists’ predictions of a new “age of scarcity” of natural resources, offered to bet that any natural resource would be cheaper at any date in the future. Dr. Ehrlich accepted the challenge and asked Dr. Holdren, then the co-director of the graduate program in energy and
resources at the University of California, Berkeley, and another Berkeley professor, John Harte, for help in choosing which resources would become scarce.
In 1980 Dr. Holdren helped select five metals — chrome, copper, nickel, tin and tungsten — and joined Dr. Ehrlich and Dr. Harte in betting $1,000 that those metals would be more expensive ten years later. They turned out to be wrong on all five metals, and had to pay up when the bet came due in 1990.
. . . . . . . . ..
Dr. Holdren is certainly entitled to his views, but what concerns me is his tendency to conflate the science of climate change with prescriptions to cut greenhouse emissions. Even if most climate scientists agree on the anthropogenic causes of global warming, that doesn’t imply that the best way to deal with the problem is through drastic cuts in greenhouse emissions. There are other ways to cope, and there’s no “scientific consensus” on which path looks best."
OpenMarket.org says,
"Although touted as a member of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences, Holdren was admitted through a back door called the “temporary nominating group”, a process which appears designed and has certainly been exercised to gain entry for large numbers of environmental alarmists who, it is fair to presume from this exception, would not gain election through the normal channel.
. . . . . . . .
The vocal Holdren predicted in the mid-1980s that climate-related catastrophes might kill as many as one billion people before the year 2020 but now brushes off inquiries about such failed catastrophism while continuing to sound a similar alarm. He is a longtime collaborator with none other than failed prognosticator of doom Paul Ehrlich, with whom he collaborated to hold a “Cassandra Conference” in 1988 (Cassandra is the lass from Greek mythology whose prophecies were always true and always ignored).
As I note in Red Hot Lies, Holdren’s name also pops up in various, largely successful efforts to elevate taxpayer funding of the global warming industry. Finally, note that Holdren’s recent record includes being enlisted by Scientific American in its clumsy effort to smear and otherwise discredit Bjørn Lomborg."
He is not just a Cassandra but a backdoor Cassandra.
Nothing new here: even though Democrats frequently invoke the name of "science." Few of them actually know what it is and how it works.
Pillow Fluffing Shuster
My whole life (which began in 1948) journalists have tended to be liberals. But only in the last ten or so years have such large numbers of them completely quit being journalists and passed into this blind and loud worship of some ideas and some men. Maybe it is just a sign of what an empty life secularism brings.
Name That Party
The Los Angeles Times has a story about corruption in the Massachusetts House speaker's office that names no political parties. This isn't a brain breaker. When the LAT runs a story about influence peddling and doesn't report the party affiliation of the politician involved anywhere in the article even Dumb Stevie knows the guy is a Democrat.
I guess the really dumb ones are the people working at the LAT. They still haven't figured you can't make a living putting out a paper that would appeal to only 20% of your possible audience.
HT/NewsBusters
I guess the really dumb ones are the people working at the LAT. They still haven't figured you can't make a living putting out a paper that would appeal to only 20% of your possible audience.
HT/NewsBusters
Friday, December 19, 2008
The River-Merchant's Wife: A Letter
After Li Po
While my hair was still cut straight
across my forehead
I played at the front gate, pulling
flowers.
You came by on bamboo stilts, playing
horse,
You walked about my seat, playing with
blue plums.
And we went on living in the village of
Chokan:
Two small people, without dislike or
suspicion.
At fourteen I married My Lord you.
I never laughed, being bashful.
Lowering my head, I looked at the wall.
Called to, a thousand times, I never
looked back.
At fifteen I stopped scowling,
I desired my dust to be mingled with
yours
Forever and forever and forever.
Why should I climb the lookout?
At sixteen you departed,
You went into far Ku-to-en, by the river
of swirling eddies,
And you have been gone five months.
The monkeys make sorrowful noise
overhead.
You dragged your feet when you went
out,
By the gate now, the moss is grown,
the different mosses,
Too deep to clear them away!
The leaves fall early this autumn, in
wind.
The paired butterflies are already
yellow with August
Over the grass in the West garden;
They hurt me. I grow older.
If you are coming down through the
narrows of the river Kiang,
Please let me know beforehand,
And I will come out to meet you
As far as Cho-fu-sa.
Translated by Ezra Pound
While my hair was still cut straight
across my forehead
I played at the front gate, pulling
flowers.
You came by on bamboo stilts, playing
horse,
You walked about my seat, playing with
blue plums.
And we went on living in the village of
Chokan:
Two small people, without dislike or
suspicion.
At fourteen I married My Lord you.
I never laughed, being bashful.
Lowering my head, I looked at the wall.
Called to, a thousand times, I never
looked back.
At fifteen I stopped scowling,
I desired my dust to be mingled with
yours
Forever and forever and forever.
Why should I climb the lookout?
At sixteen you departed,
You went into far Ku-to-en, by the river
of swirling eddies,
And you have been gone five months.
The monkeys make sorrowful noise
overhead.
You dragged your feet when you went
out,
By the gate now, the moss is grown,
the different mosses,
Too deep to clear them away!
The leaves fall early this autumn, in
wind.
The paired butterflies are already
yellow with August
Over the grass in the West garden;
They hurt me. I grow older.
If you are coming down through the
narrows of the river Kiang,
Please let me know beforehand,
And I will come out to meet you
As far as Cho-fu-sa.
Translated by Ezra Pound
Better Late Than Never
CNN finally thinks Obama should answer questions. The media outfitted themselves with kneepads before the election. Most of them won't be able to get them off.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Ode XIX by Anacreon
Yes -- loving is a painful thrill,
And not to love more painful still
But oh, it is the worst of pain,
To love and not be loved again!
Affection now has fled from earth,
Nor fire of genius, noble birth,
Nor heavenly virtue, can beguile,
From beauty's cheek one favoring smile.
Gold is the woman's only theme,
Gold is the woman's only dream.
Oh! never be that wretch forgiven --
Forgive him not, indignant heaven!
Whose grovelling eyes could first adore,
Whose heart could pant for sordid ore.
Since that devoted thirst began,
Man has forgot to feel for man;
The pulse of social life is dead,
And all its fonder feelings fled!
War too has sullied Nature's charms,
For gold provokes the world to arms;
And oh! the worst of all its arts,
It renders asunder loving hearts.
And not to love more painful still
But oh, it is the worst of pain,
To love and not be loved again!
Affection now has fled from earth,
Nor fire of genius, noble birth,
Nor heavenly virtue, can beguile,
From beauty's cheek one favoring smile.
Gold is the woman's only theme,
Gold is the woman's only dream.
Oh! never be that wretch forgiven --
Forgive him not, indignant heaven!
Whose grovelling eyes could first adore,
Whose heart could pant for sordid ore.
Since that devoted thirst began,
Man has forgot to feel for man;
The pulse of social life is dead,
And all its fonder feelings fled!
War too has sullied Nature's charms,
For gold provokes the world to arms;
And oh! the worst of all its arts,
It renders asunder loving hearts.
American Students Have Been Brainwashed
Heh. You could go to every major university in America and you’d never find a group of people would stand up and chant “We Support Bush.”
Ahmedinejad has those guys brainwashed pretty good.
jimmy the notable on December 18, 2008 at 1:32 PM
all of the above from Hot Air
Ahmedinejad has those guys brainwashed pretty good.
jimmy the notable on December 18, 2008 at 1:32 PM
all of the above from Hot Air
What Even Nixon Couldn't Get Away With
"Even if something juicy does come up, the press will pull off the kind of whitewash and cover up Richard Nixon’s staff couldn’t. We could find pictures of Obama spooning Blagojevich on a bed of cash and the MSM would respond by launching a hard-hitting investigation to find out exactly which pairs of Sarah Palin’s pumps were purchased by the RNC."
from America Needs Me
'
from America Needs Me
'
The New York Time's Gift to Ahmadinejad
This from Hot Air:
“. With the Rod Blagojevich scandal dogging Emanuel at the moment, Nancy Pelosi seems to have sensed weakness in Emanuel’s position, and she has pushed hard at Team Obama instead:
In talks with Emanuel and others, sources say, Pelosi has “set parameters” for what she wants from Barack Obama and his White House staff — no surprises, and no backdoor efforts to go around her and other Democratic leaders by cutting deals with moderate New Democrats or conservative Blue Dogs.
Specifically, Pelosi has told Emanuel that she wants to know when representatives of the incoming administration have any contact with her rank-and-file Democrats — and why, sources say”
The Columbus Dispatch reports that two of the administrators involved in the illegal searches of state databases looking for information about Joe the plumber have resigned. One administrator involved was fired. The head of the department, Helen Jones-Kelly, resigned when it was time for her to return to work after a thirty day suspension that had been until then her punishment in the matter. One has to wonder if these people would ever have lost their jobs if Obama’s position had not been weakened by his situation with Blagojevich and Emanuel.
This all leads to the main question. What does Prince Bandar’s successor know about Obama’s past life that will give him power that no American could have over him? What does Putin know that the New York Times was too lazy and/or biased to find and report? What does Ahmadinejad know that the Washington Post was too biased and insular to find? Was there some nugget that the AP turned its back on while worshiping Obama that will be used by a foreign power to endanger our national security? We’re not even a month from the inauguration and already media incompetence has fed into the weakness of the Obama administration. What weakness? The weakness that comes from lying and covering up and being allowed to get away with it. Democracy only works in the light of day. And there was an unhealthily small amount of it in the recent election.
“. With the Rod Blagojevich scandal dogging Emanuel at the moment, Nancy Pelosi seems to have sensed weakness in Emanuel’s position, and she has pushed hard at Team Obama instead:
In talks with Emanuel and others, sources say, Pelosi has “set parameters” for what she wants from Barack Obama and his White House staff — no surprises, and no backdoor efforts to go around her and other Democratic leaders by cutting deals with moderate New Democrats or conservative Blue Dogs.
Specifically, Pelosi has told Emanuel that she wants to know when representatives of the incoming administration have any contact with her rank-and-file Democrats — and why, sources say”
The Columbus Dispatch reports that two of the administrators involved in the illegal searches of state databases looking for information about Joe the plumber have resigned. One administrator involved was fired. The head of the department, Helen Jones-Kelly, resigned when it was time for her to return to work after a thirty day suspension that had been until then her punishment in the matter. One has to wonder if these people would ever have lost their jobs if Obama’s position had not been weakened by his situation with Blagojevich and Emanuel.
This all leads to the main question. What does Prince Bandar’s successor know about Obama’s past life that will give him power that no American could have over him? What does Putin know that the New York Times was too lazy and/or biased to find and report? What does Ahmadinejad know that the Washington Post was too biased and insular to find? Was there some nugget that the AP turned its back on while worshiping Obama that will be used by a foreign power to endanger our national security? We’re not even a month from the inauguration and already media incompetence has fed into the weakness of the Obama administration. What weakness? The weakness that comes from lying and covering up and being allowed to get away with it. Democracy only works in the light of day. And there was an unhealthily small amount of it in the recent election.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
What's Got Rahn Emanuel So Quiet So Suddenly???
Rahm Emanuel is a big mouth guy who no one could ever shut up. Suddenly not a word has been heard from him for a week. How could this happen? It is difficult to say with precision since the "transparent" president elect will only speak to give the numerous and unbelievable reasons why he won't speak.
So, I guess everyone has to figure this out for them selves. Blagojevich says on the tapes what Obama is willing to offer him to have his own person in that senate seat. So, maybe there was some contact between. Maybe the messenger was Emanuel. If so then both Obama and Emanuel have probably committed crimes for not notifying authorities of the illegal attempt to sale a senate seat.
Maybe Obama is going to try to somehow keep it all together until the inauguration. Then he can fire Fitzgerald and pardon Blago.
Since the dinosaur media remain adamantly opposed to investigating this whole area it will remain wide open to the opinions of bloggers and others with concerns about civic issues.
So, I guess everyone has to figure this out for them selves. Blagojevich says on the tapes what Obama is willing to offer him to have his own person in that senate seat. So, maybe there was some contact between. Maybe the messenger was Emanuel. If so then both Obama and Emanuel have probably committed crimes for not notifying authorities of the illegal attempt to sale a senate seat.
Maybe Obama is going to try to somehow keep it all together until the inauguration. Then he can fire Fitzgerald and pardon Blago.
Since the dinosaur media remain adamantly opposed to investigating this whole area it will remain wide open to the opinions of bloggers and others with concerns about civic issues.
DOVER BEACH By Matthew Arnold
The sea is calm tonight,
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
Upon the straits; on the French coast the light
Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,
Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.
Come to the window, sweet is the night air!
Only, from the long line of spray
Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land,
Listen! you hear the grating roar
Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,
At their return, up the high strand,
Begin, and cease, and then again begin,
With tremulous cadence slow, and bring
The eternal note of sadness in.
Sophocles long ago
Heard it on the Agean, and it brought
Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow
Of human misery; we
Find also in the sound a thought,
Hearing it by this distant northern sea.
The Sea of Faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating, to the breath
Of the night wind, down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world.
Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.
1867
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
Upon the straits; on the French coast the light
Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,
Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.
Come to the window, sweet is the night air!
Only, from the long line of spray
Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land,
Listen! you hear the grating roar
Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,
At their return, up the high strand,
Begin, and cease, and then again begin,
With tremulous cadence slow, and bring
The eternal note of sadness in.
Sophocles long ago
Heard it on the Agean, and it brought
Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow
Of human misery; we
Find also in the sound a thought,
Hearing it by this distant northern sea.
The Sea of Faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating, to the breath
Of the night wind, down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world.
Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.
1867
"The Black Senate Seat" Another Orwell Award Winner
Laura Washington has written this about Barack Obama's senate seat:
"Bye bye, black Senate seat! The political blackbirds are singing a swan song for the hopes of keeping a U.S. Senate seat in African-American hands. The Rod Blagojevich implosion may have dealt that cause a fatal blow.
Last week's stunning pay-to-play charges led to calls around the nation for a special election to choose President-elect Barack Obama's successor.
That possibility has provoked outrage among black community leaders and politicians. Not so fast, they are saying.
Last month, the Concerned Clergy of Illinois demanded that the governor appoint a "qualified" African American "who can fill this vacancy and who has the capacity to be re-elected when [Obama's] term ends in 2010." The problem, as I wrote then, is that black leaders were at odds on who should get the nod."
So Laura and the Concerned Clergy of Illinois get an Orwell Award for furthering the perversion of the word "racist." The word means discriminating against someone based on their race and has been a term of opprobrium until lefties got a hold of it. They have perverted it into meaning something bad if it is pro-white but very acceptable if it is anti-white. They are pimping the language into meaninglessness for their own petty, selfish ends.
"Bye bye, black Senate seat! The political blackbirds are singing a swan song for the hopes of keeping a U.S. Senate seat in African-American hands. The Rod Blagojevich implosion may have dealt that cause a fatal blow.
Last week's stunning pay-to-play charges led to calls around the nation for a special election to choose President-elect Barack Obama's successor.
That possibility has provoked outrage among black community leaders and politicians. Not so fast, they are saying.
Last month, the Concerned Clergy of Illinois demanded that the governor appoint a "qualified" African American "who can fill this vacancy and who has the capacity to be re-elected when [Obama's] term ends in 2010." The problem, as I wrote then, is that black leaders were at odds on who should get the nod."
So Laura and the Concerned Clergy of Illinois get an Orwell Award for furthering the perversion of the word "racist." The word means discriminating against someone based on their race and has been a term of opprobrium until lefties got a hold of it. They have perverted it into meaning something bad if it is pro-white but very acceptable if it is anti-white. They are pimping the language into meaninglessness for their own petty, selfish ends.
Now They've Gotten Transparency All Over the Blue Dress
Here's the first thing that comes to my mind: when the IRS asks me about certain irregularities on my return I tell them to go away while I do an internal investigation. When they inevitably come back I have to just hope there is an assistant attorney general whose job I have complete control over to say he asked me to keep the results of the investigation under wraps.
ORWELL AWARDS
I have to give an Orwell Award to Team Obama for their perversion of the word "transparency." They also get the Award for pimping out "hope," "change," "vetted," "qualified," "post-partisan" and "nonpartisan." They should get a Special Mention for Generally Tearing the Language a New A$$hole.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Danny Deever by Rudyard Kipling
"What are the bugles blowin' for?" said Files-on-Parade.
"To turn you out, to turn you out," the Color-Sergeant said.
"What makes you look so white, so white?" said Files-on-Parade.
"I'm dreadin' what I've got to watch," the Color-Sergeant said.
For they're hangin' Danny Deever, you can hear the Dead March play,
The regiment's in 'ollow square--they're hangin' him today;
They've taken of his buttons an' cut his stripes away,
An' they're hangin' Danny Deever in the mornin'.
"What makes the rear-rank breathe so 'ard?" said Files-on-Parade.
"It's bitter cold, it's bitter cold," the Color-Sergeant said.
"What makes that front-rank man fall down?" said Files-on-Parade.
"A touch o' sun, a touch o' sun," the Color-Sergeant said.
They are hangin' Danny Deever, they are marchin' of 'im round,
They 'ave 'alted Danny Deever by 'is coffin on the ground;
And 'e'll swing in 'alf a minute for a sneakin' shootin' hound--
O they're hangin' Danny Deever in the mornin'!
"'Is cot was right-'and cot to mine," said Files-on-Parade.
"'E's sleepin' out an' far tonight," the Color-Sergeant said.
"I've drunk 'is beer a score o' times," said Files-on-Parade.
"'E's drinkin' bitter beer alone," the Color-Sergeant said.
They are hangin' Danny Deever, you must mark 'im to his place,
For 'e shot a comrade sleepin'--you must look 'im in the face;
Nine 'undred of 'is county and the regiment's disgrace,
While they're hangin' Danny Deever in the mornin'.
"What's that so black agin the sun?" said Files-on-Parade.
"It's Danny fightin' 'ard for life," the Color-Sergeant said.
"What's that that whimpers over'ead?" said Files-on-Parade.
"It's Danny's soul that's passin' now," the Color-Sergeant said.
For they've done with Danny Deever, you can 'ear the quickstep play,
The regiment's in column, and they're marchin' us away;
Ho! the young recruits are shakin', and they'll want their beer today,
After hangin' Danny Deever in the mornin'.
(1890)
"To turn you out, to turn you out," the Color-Sergeant said.
"What makes you look so white, so white?" said Files-on-Parade.
"I'm dreadin' what I've got to watch," the Color-Sergeant said.
For they're hangin' Danny Deever, you can hear the Dead March play,
The regiment's in 'ollow square--they're hangin' him today;
They've taken of his buttons an' cut his stripes away,
An' they're hangin' Danny Deever in the mornin'.
"What makes the rear-rank breathe so 'ard?" said Files-on-Parade.
"It's bitter cold, it's bitter cold," the Color-Sergeant said.
"What makes that front-rank man fall down?" said Files-on-Parade.
"A touch o' sun, a touch o' sun," the Color-Sergeant said.
They are hangin' Danny Deever, they are marchin' of 'im round,
They 'ave 'alted Danny Deever by 'is coffin on the ground;
And 'e'll swing in 'alf a minute for a sneakin' shootin' hound--
O they're hangin' Danny Deever in the mornin'!
"'Is cot was right-'and cot to mine," said Files-on-Parade.
"'E's sleepin' out an' far tonight," the Color-Sergeant said.
"I've drunk 'is beer a score o' times," said Files-on-Parade.
"'E's drinkin' bitter beer alone," the Color-Sergeant said.
They are hangin' Danny Deever, you must mark 'im to his place,
For 'e shot a comrade sleepin'--you must look 'im in the face;
Nine 'undred of 'is county and the regiment's disgrace,
While they're hangin' Danny Deever in the mornin'.
"What's that so black agin the sun?" said Files-on-Parade.
"It's Danny fightin' 'ard for life," the Color-Sergeant said.
"What's that that whimpers over'ead?" said Files-on-Parade.
"It's Danny's soul that's passin' now," the Color-Sergeant said.
For they've done with Danny Deever, you can 'ear the quickstep play,
The regiment's in column, and they're marchin' us away;
Ho! the young recruits are shakin', and they'll want their beer today,
After hangin' Danny Deever in the mornin'.
(1890)
Sunday, December 14, 2008
My Shameful Admission
I'm going to put it right up front: I think it is wrong to try to auction off a senate seat. There it is. You can think I'm some kind of uneducated, backwards black and white thinking fool. But it is wrong and it is illegal. And something should be done beyond hounding Blagojevich out of office.
Not everyone agrees with me. From Newsbusters I have a quote from Chuck Todd's column "Regardless of how we rail against Blagojevich, at the heart of all politics is pay to play. Yes. There's a thin line between expectations and shakedown. But do any of us really believe that the people who raise huge sums of money for a particular political candidate aren't expecting something for their efforts? Do we relly believe that a person who is vested with the power to give away a Senate seat isn't going to give it to the person who will somehow do him or her the most good?"
On MTP today with Todd was Mary Mitchell of the Chicago Sun Times. who said, "Reality check. Pay to play, everybody knows it. Even, not just in politics. Office politics. Pay to play. You know, if you know the boss, and you need something from the boss, he is going to look around and find the person who is going to do him the most good. He's not going
to hire, put somebody in a place of power that isn't doing him any good. That's the world. That's how the world works. But, there is a line. You got to know how to play the game. And Blagojevich, Governor Blagojevich was tacky in playing the game. That's what people are upset about. They are embarrassed that this man had the nerve to get caught on the wiretap using foul language, actually giving voice to, you know, the wink and nod thing. He didn't just wink and nod, he actually tried to shake people down according to the wiretaps."
Also from Newsbusters I have the story of Mike Barnicle claiming that the Blagojevich story is boring him and he wants to move on to something else. Barnicle says, "I'm going to have to tape my eyelids open with this story . . . because I mean this is getting pretty tedious, this attempted link with Obama and Blagojevich. It's getting pretty tedious. " This inanity came just after Barnicle had assured the world that any action in this matter by Rahm Emanuel will be found to be "above board." This when he has no more information about Emanuel than you or I. So I guess we have to put that down to magical thinking. It was noted that Jon Mecham, the editor of Newsweek, sat listening and nodding approval.
All of these people lack a moral compass. The fact that they can excuse the inexcusable just to try and save Obama any trouble says it all. They are incompetent to speak on public matters. Maybe other Democrats love what they are saying and want to hear more such BS but they do not belong among civilized men. And their disgusting performances bodes ill for the Democratparty and for America.
Not everyone agrees with me. From Newsbusters I have a quote from Chuck Todd's column "Regardless of how we rail against Blagojevich, at the heart of all politics is pay to play. Yes. There's a thin line between expectations and shakedown. But do any of us really believe that the people who raise huge sums of money for a particular political candidate aren't expecting something for their efforts? Do we relly believe that a person who is vested with the power to give away a Senate seat isn't going to give it to the person who will somehow do him or her the most good?"
On MTP today with Todd was Mary Mitchell of the Chicago Sun Times. who said, "Reality check. Pay to play, everybody knows it. Even, not just in politics. Office politics. Pay to play. You know, if you know the boss, and you need something from the boss, he is going to look around and find the person who is going to do him the most good. He's not going
to hire, put somebody in a place of power that isn't doing him any good. That's the world. That's how the world works. But, there is a line. You got to know how to play the game. And Blagojevich, Governor Blagojevich was tacky in playing the game. That's what people are upset about. They are embarrassed that this man had the nerve to get caught on the wiretap using foul language, actually giving voice to, you know, the wink and nod thing. He didn't just wink and nod, he actually tried to shake people down according to the wiretaps."
Also from Newsbusters I have the story of Mike Barnicle claiming that the Blagojevich story is boring him and he wants to move on to something else. Barnicle says, "I'm going to have to tape my eyelids open with this story . . . because I mean this is getting pretty tedious, this attempted link with Obama and Blagojevich. It's getting pretty tedious. " This inanity came just after Barnicle had assured the world that any action in this matter by Rahm Emanuel will be found to be "above board." This when he has no more information about Emanuel than you or I. So I guess we have to put that down to magical thinking. It was noted that Jon Mecham, the editor of Newsweek, sat listening and nodding approval.
All of these people lack a moral compass. The fact that they can excuse the inexcusable just to try and save Obama any trouble says it all. They are incompetent to speak on public matters. Maybe other Democrats love what they are saying and want to hear more such BS but they do not belong among civilized men. And their disgusting performances bodes ill for the Democratparty and for America.
Google: "Yeah,We Decide What Is Relevant. If You Don't Like It Go Back To Dogpile."
Google has come right out and said that their staff decided which search results to return. They don't say how long this has been going on.
Atlas Shrugs, who has been omitted from Google results for awhile says: "Now that Hussein is in the White House, Google (a chief fundraiser and potential member of O's administration) wants to control the news on their man. I never saw this kind of news suppression under Bush. You could say anything, BushChimpHitler, and get away with it.
Entering the dark age ...."
Some other choices Yahoo AltaVista Dogpile
Atlas Shrugs, who has been omitted from Google results for awhile says: "Now that Hussein is in the White House, Google (a chief fundraiser and potential member of O's administration) wants to control the news on their man. I never saw this kind of news suppression under Bush. You could say anything, BushChimpHitler, and get away with it.
Entering the dark age ...."
Some other choices Yahoo AltaVista Dogpile
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Auto Bail Out Cloture Vote
The Los Angeles Times and Rachel Maddow from MSNBC have both said that the auto bail out bill was killed by the Republicans in the senate. That is a bald faced lie. If one examines the senate record of the vote it is obvious that the Democrats could have won the cloture vote if they had wanted to do so. There were 52 votes in favor of cloture. Four of those voting against were Democrats, including their leader Harry Reid.
Another 4 Democrats did not even vote, including vice president elect Joe Biden (though he might have been busy selling his senate seat to the highest bidder). So, if all of the Democrats had voted for cloture they would have had the necessary 60 votes to bring the legislation up for a vote.
I have a strong suspicion about what was actually happening. American citizens are passionately against the auto bail out in large numbers. The Democrats do not want to take the chance that this will come back and bite them on the ass. So they failed to do all they could to win a fight they claim to believe in so as to not take the political flack.
In spite of the plain math of the situation the LAT blamed the Republicans. I've noticed that it has been years since the LAT has had a relationship with the truth. The severe financial problems of the Times indicates that local former readers feel the same.
Rachel Maddow said that the senate Republicans defeated the bill because they do not want American workers making decent wages. But RM is lying since the Republicans could not have defeated the bill without support from the senate Democrats.
Another 4 Democrats did not even vote, including vice president elect Joe Biden (though he might have been busy selling his senate seat to the highest bidder). So, if all of the Democrats had voted for cloture they would have had the necessary 60 votes to bring the legislation up for a vote.
I have a strong suspicion about what was actually happening. American citizens are passionately against the auto bail out in large numbers. The Democrats do not want to take the chance that this will come back and bite them on the ass. So they failed to do all they could to win a fight they claim to believe in so as to not take the political flack.
In spite of the plain math of the situation the LAT blamed the Republicans. I've noticed that it has been years since the LAT has had a relationship with the truth. The severe financial problems of the Times indicates that local former readers feel the same.
Rachel Maddow said that the senate Republicans defeated the bill because they do not want American workers making decent wages. But RM is lying since the Republicans could not have defeated the bill without support from the senate Democrats.
Maddownomics
" I've been to one world's fair, I've been to a picnic and a rodeo and that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard." Dr. Strangelove (Slim Pickens)
What Maddow says makes perfect sense if you look at the situation without any context at all. I am all for American workers getting high wages. But for a family with four or five jobs, lucky to get $10 or $12 an hour, to have to sacrifice so that a few can make $30 an hour and gold plated benefits strikes me as designed for failure. One big indication that there is something wrong here is that the market has told the Big Three that these wages are unsustainable.
But I doubt that Maddow cares about any of this. She just likes to bad mouth Republicans and impute evil motives to them.
Transparency
Obama says he is doing a probe to find out if any of his aides were in any way involved in the attempt to sell his senate seat. Regarding his openness to reporters the AP has this to say:
"Obama's staff has declined to respond to even basic questions, like who is conducting the probe, how long it will take, what issues are being explored and whether they are working with federal investigators. Obama has promised transparency throughout his service and to divulge contacts his staff has had with Blagojevich's office in the coming days. But his staff has locked down on inquiries in the meantime."
To me transparency means that you answer questions and share information Team Obama has an Orwellian take on the word. To them it seems to mean NO answering of questions and NO sharing of information. They seem to talk Blagojevich's language, "Shut the ef up and leave us alone."
Also this from Newsbusters, "A.B. Stoddard. The associate editor of "The Hill" offered up the strange excuse that death threats are preventing Rahm Emanuel from attending press conferences in the course of an MSNBC appearance this afternoon during which she also claimed that "President-elect Obama is taking steps to be as forthcoming and as open and as transparent as he promised he would be." "
Why not just be forthcoming? Why take steps to get there? I guess if you'd never been there you might have trouble finding the way.
A great comment I ran across on HotAir.com (link at left) from whitetop
"Change you can subpoena."
"Obama's staff has declined to respond to even basic questions, like who is conducting the probe, how long it will take, what issues are being explored and whether they are working with federal investigators. Obama has promised transparency throughout his service and to divulge contacts his staff has had with Blagojevich's office in the coming days. But his staff has locked down on inquiries in the meantime."
To me transparency means that you answer questions and share information Team Obama has an Orwellian take on the word. To them it seems to mean NO answering of questions and NO sharing of information. They seem to talk Blagojevich's language, "Shut the ef up and leave us alone."
Also this from Newsbusters, "A.B. Stoddard. The associate editor of "The Hill" offered up the strange excuse that death threats are preventing Rahm Emanuel from attending press conferences in the course of an MSNBC appearance this afternoon during which she also claimed that "President-elect Obama is taking steps to be as forthcoming and as open and as transparent as he promised he would be." "
Why not just be forthcoming? Why take steps to get there? I guess if you'd never been there you might have trouble finding the way.
A great comment I ran across on HotAir.com (link at left) from whitetop
"Change you can subpoena."
Friday, December 12, 2008
Eric Holder
The guy brokered the sell of a pardon that made hundreds of thousands for Bill Clinton. Now Obama wants him in his cabinet. And then he wants me to believe that he was surprised by pay to play politics in Chicago? No, it looks to me like he wants to raise it to cabinet level. dKos who talks like they are morally superior to almost everyone has no problem with Holder selling pardons. dKos underplays it by calling it, "a moment of insider baseball." My government for sell, their blind moral relativity and rationalization.
Carol Browner Another Team Obama Crook
Apparently Obama wants Carol browner to run the EPA. When she ran the agency for Clinton (I still don't know if any honest people will show up in this story) in defiance of a court order she had the hard drives of her and other high level EPA employees' computers erased. This is a quotation from Michelle Malkin
"Incredibly, Browner asserted that there was no work-related material on her work computer. She explained she was merely cleaning the hard drive of computer games she had downloaded for her son, and that she wanted to expunge the hard drive as a “courtesy” to the incoming Bush administration. How thoughtful. Later, her agency admitted that three other top EPA officials had their computers erased despite the federal court order and ongoing FOIA case (the record is silent on whether Browner’s son was playing games on their desktops, too). A further belated admission revealed that the agency had failed to search Browner’s office for public documents as required by Landmark’s public disclosure lawsuit."
Hiding public information from the public should not surprise anyone who is still waiting for Obama to sit down in a serious interview and answer some difficult questions. He only PROMISED openness and change. You didn't think a Chicago pol is actually going to deliver anything new, did you?
"Incredibly, Browner asserted that there was no work-related material on her work computer. She explained she was merely cleaning the hard drive of computer games she had downloaded for her son, and that she wanted to expunge the hard drive as a “courtesy” to the incoming Bush administration. How thoughtful. Later, her agency admitted that three other top EPA officials had their computers erased despite the federal court order and ongoing FOIA case (the record is silent on whether Browner’s son was playing games on their desktops, too). A further belated admission revealed that the agency had failed to search Browner’s office for public documents as required by Landmark’s public disclosure lawsuit."
Hiding public information from the public should not surprise anyone who is still waiting for Obama to sit down in a serious interview and answer some difficult questions. He only PROMISED openness and change. You didn't think a Chicago pol is actually going to deliver anything new, did you?
Thursday, December 11, 2008
23 People in US Gay for A Day
The NYT says:
"In San Francisco's gay Castro district, residents and merchants said they endorsed the message behind ''Day Without a Gay'' but didn't think a work stoppage was practical given the poor economy and the strike's organization.
''If we are going to make a huge impact and not be laughed at, then we have to take the time and make the time to communicate with all the parties. We could have shut down a lot of the hotels,'' said David Lang, a gymnastics coach. ''In theory it's a great idea, but it's being done wrong and now that it's been done wrong, I don't think it will be done again."
. . . . . . .
Out and Equal Workplace Advocates, a San Francisco-based nonprofit group that promotes equality for gay and lesbian employees, suggested that same-sex marriage supporters could send an effective message beyond Wednesday by openly discussing the issue at their workplaces.
''When people go into the voting booth and vote against (gay) rights, they often have no idea they are voting against the person sitting next to them in the next cubicle or office,'' said Selisse Berry, Out and Equal's executive director.
. . . . . .
Berry noted that only 20 states have laws to protect workers from being fired for being homosexual, making lesbians and gays reluctant to reveal themselves to co-workers in most jurisdictions.
''Constantly lying about our weekends at the water cooler or changing pronouns, that takes up so much energy that we could be putting into our jobs,'' she said."
I've never been that crazy about the term 'gay.' Maybe PRONOUN CHANGERS would work better.
"In San Francisco's gay Castro district, residents and merchants said they endorsed the message behind ''Day Without a Gay'' but didn't think a work stoppage was practical given the poor economy and the strike's organization.
''If we are going to make a huge impact and not be laughed at, then we have to take the time and make the time to communicate with all the parties. We could have shut down a lot of the hotels,'' said David Lang, a gymnastics coach. ''In theory it's a great idea, but it's being done wrong and now that it's been done wrong, I don't think it will be done again."
. . . . . . .
Out and Equal Workplace Advocates, a San Francisco-based nonprofit group that promotes equality for gay and lesbian employees, suggested that same-sex marriage supporters could send an effective message beyond Wednesday by openly discussing the issue at their workplaces.
''When people go into the voting booth and vote against (gay) rights, they often have no idea they are voting against the person sitting next to them in the next cubicle or office,'' said Selisse Berry, Out and Equal's executive director.
. . . . . .
Berry noted that only 20 states have laws to protect workers from being fired for being homosexual, making lesbians and gays reluctant to reveal themselves to co-workers in most jurisdictions.
''Constantly lying about our weekends at the water cooler or changing pronouns, that takes up so much energy that we could be putting into our jobs,'' she said."
I've never been that crazy about the term 'gay.' Maybe PRONOUN CHANGERS would work better.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Roman Wall Blues
Over the heather the wet wind blows,
I've lice in my tunic and a cold in my nose.
The rain comes pattering out of the sky,
I'm a Wall soldier, I don't know why.
The mist creeps over the hard grey stone,
My girl's in Tungria; I sleep alone.
Aulus goes hanging around her place,
I don't like his manners, I don't like his face.
Piso's a Christian, he worships a fish;
There'd be no kissing if he had his wish.
She gave me a ring but I diced it away;
I want my girl and I want my pay.
When I'm a veteran with only one eye
I shall do nothing but look at the sky.
WH Auden
I've lice in my tunic and a cold in my nose.
The rain comes pattering out of the sky,
I'm a Wall soldier, I don't know why.
The mist creeps over the hard grey stone,
My girl's in Tungria; I sleep alone.
Aulus goes hanging around her place,
I don't like his manners, I don't like his face.
Piso's a Christian, he worships a fish;
There'd be no kissing if he had his wish.
She gave me a ring but I diced it away;
I want my girl and I want my pay.
When I'm a veteran with only one eye
I shall do nothing but look at the sky.
WH Auden
Buddy Rich's Last Words
Buddy Rich was a great jazz drummer. Just before he died a nurse asked him if anything was bothering him. His reply and last words were, "Yes, country music."
Monday, December 8, 2008
Sunday, December 7, 2008
William Blake
Mock on, mock on, Voltaire, Rousseau:
Mock on, mock on: ‘tis all in vain!
You throw the sand against the wind,
And the wind blows it back again.
And every sand becomes a Gem,
Reflected in the beam divine;
Blown back they blind the mocking Eye,
But still in Israel’s paths they shine.
The Atoms of Democritus
And the Newton’s Particles of Light
Are sands upon the Red Sea shore,
Where Israel’s tents do shine so bright.
"Cold Cash" Jefferson Loses and NYT Cries 'Foul'
This is NewsBusters.org written by Tim Graham
Controversial Rep. Bill Jefferson (D-Louisiana), the congressman who notoriously hid tens of thousands of dollars of federal sting money in his freezer, lost his House seat in a shocker Saturday in an election delayed by Hurricane Gustav. Anh "Joseph" Cao, a 41-year-old Republican, will be the first Vietnamese-American in Congress. Obviously, this happened with next to zero national media attention, just as Rep. Jefferson was re-elected in 2006 after the freezer revelations without much national media attention. Will they report this ethnic first now?
Controversial Rep. Bill Jefferson (D-Louisiana), the congressman who notoriously hid tens of thousands of dollars of federal sting money in his freezer, lost his House seat in a shocker Saturday in an election delayed by Hurricane Gustav. Anh "Joseph" Cao, a 41-year-old Republican, will be the first Vietnamese-American in Congress. Obviously, this happened with next to zero national media attention, just as Rep. Jefferson was re-elected in 2006 after the freezer revelations without much national media attention. Will they report this ethnic first now?
Reporter Adam Nossiter in the New York Times suggested that the system failed, that a black-majority district failed to work as it was designed. Nossiter found that the problem was a surge of white voters angered by corruption charges:
The upset victory by the lawyer, Anh Cao, was thought by analysts to be the result of a strong turnout by white voters angered over federal corruption charges against Mr. Jefferson, a black Democrat who was counting on a loyal [read: black] base to return him to Congress for a 10th term....
HOLY SONNET X. John Donne
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those, whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure, then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.
Thou'rt slave to Fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well,
And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And Death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Auto Bail Out
At Hot Air .com there was this great comment from RalphyBoy about the auto bail out.
I writing Jeep/Chrysler to ask for a “bailout” from the Liberty that I bought a few years ago…. What A piece. I won’t list the reasons by recall/breakdown/WTF here, but they are about to get it all!
With 80,000 miles on that vehicle, which was my once in my life buy what I want, load it up, damn the price auto, it has been a painfully long ownership of potential disasters, major inconveniences, and after warranty expensive repairs.
When I tried to sell it 2 years ago, I found that I would have had to all but give it away…
Feel the pain Chrysler… If you survive that, maybe you’ll be better for it. If not, good riddance.
Where Are Those Jobs????
This is from Jammie Wearing Fool.
First, the economy was still growing when the Democrats took control of Congress two years ago. There were growing problems in the macro economy to be sure, but there was also time to deal with them. But all the Democrats were interested in, as well as the MSM (redundant, I know), was demonizing Bush so they could get a Democrat elected President.
Second, in the same month that Obama was elected President, 533.000 jobs were eliminated in. Here is one reason why.
1. Take over 17% of the economy by nationalizing health care services.
2. Be offensive and act fast.
3. Don't provide any details, just get some sob stories out there in the media.
4. Raise taxes on "the wealthy" punish businesses, and deficit spend (thus also raising taxes via the back door). See, if you cut your payroll, you stand a good chance of limiting your exposure to Obama's higher taxes.
And then some folks wonder why 533,000 jobs got cut in November.
A large part of the reason is Obama's socialistic plans to punish business and make them pay into some fund per employee. Fewer employees, less health insurance tax you have to pay.
This will create more incentive for business to contract out work, automate, anything but increase employment.
I predict the biggest growth sectors in the next four years will be automated business systems, agencies that contract out labor, and the federal government.
Befuddled Media Can't Figure Out Where 533,000 Jobs Went
There are several aspects to the current recession that the mainstream media will not tell you about or connect together.
First, the economy was still growing when the Democrats took control of Congress two years ago. There were growing problems in the macro economy to be sure, but there was also time to deal with them. But all the Democrats were interested in, as well as the MSM (redundant, I know), was demonizing Bush so they could get a Democrat elected President.
Second, in the same month that Obama was elected President, 533.000 jobs were eliminated in. Here is one reason why.
Daschle maintains the efforts to bring about universal health coverage in the first two years of the Clinton presidency took too long. In a book published earlier this year, he urged the next president to act immediately to capitalize on the goodwill that greets any incoming administration. His speech and recent behind-the-scenes meetings with lawmakers and consumer groups address that point.He cited other lessons, too. This time around, lawmakers can't try to address every detail when it comes to legislation.
"We need to be on the offense," Daschle said.
"Details kill," Daschle said. "If we get too far into the weeds, if we produce a 1,500- or 1,600-page bill, we're going to get hung up on all the details and we're never going to get to the principles."So let's summarize the plan:
Once Congress does take up a health plan, it also can't divert attention to other subjects, he said.
"Let's not put it down, let it lie there for months and months and figure out a time when we can get back to it later," Daschle said at a Colorado Health Care Summit organized by Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo.
Nevertheless, any health care overhaul will have an enormous price tag. During the campaign, Obama said he planned to pay for expanding health coverage in part by increasing taxes on the wealthy and requiring larger businesses to provide health coverage or contribute a portion of their payroll to a new public insurance plan. The current recession provides a significant obstacle to both options.
1. Take over 17% of the economy by nationalizing health care services.
2. Be offensive and act fast.
3. Don't provide any details, just get some sob stories out there in the media.
4. Raise taxes on "the wealthy" punish businesses, and deficit spend (thus also raising taxes via the back door). See, if you cut your payroll, you stand a good chance of limiting your exposure to Obama's higher taxes.
And then some folks wonder why 533,000 jobs got cut in November.
A large part of the reason is Obama's socialistic plans to punish business and make them pay into some fund per employee. Fewer employees, less health insurance tax you have to pay.
This will create more incentive for business to contract out work, automate, anything but increase employment.
I predict the biggest growth sectors in the next four years will be automated business systems, agencies that contract out labor, and the federal government.
Mark Steyn Nails It Again: MUMBAI MASSACRE
Three paragraphs from Steyn's recent column about the Mumbai massacre summarize the most relevant points about that event and so much else.
Last week, a Canadian critic reprimanded me for failing to understand that Muslims feel "vulnerable." Au contraire, they project tremendous cultural confidence, as well they might: They're the world's fastest-growing population. A prominent British Muslim announced the other day that, when the United Kingdom becomes a Muslim state, non-Muslims will be required to wear insignia identifying them as infidels. If he's feeling "vulnerable," he's doing a terrific job of covering it up.
We are told that the "vast majority" of the 1.6 billion to 1.8 billion Muslims (in Deepak Chopra's estimate) are "moderate." Maybe so, but they're also quiet. And, as the AIDS activists used to say, "Silence=Acceptance." It equals acceptance of the things done in the name of their faith. Rabbi Holtzberg was not murdered because of a territorial dispute over Kashmir or because of Bush's foreign policy. He was murdered in the name of Islam – "Allahu Akbar."
I wrote in my book, "America Alone," that "reforming" Islam is something only Muslims can do. But they show very little sign of being interested in doing it, and the rest of us are inclined to accept that. Spread a rumor that a Quran got flushed down the can at Gitmo, and there'll be rioting throughout the Muslim world. Publish some dull cartoons in a minor Danish newspaper, and there'll be protests around the planet. But slaughter the young pregnant wife of a rabbi in Mumbai in the name of Allah, and that's just business as usual. And, if it is somehow "understandable" that for the first time in history it's no longer safe for a Jew to live in India, then we are greasing the skids for a very slippery slope. Muslims, the AP headline informs us, "worry about image." Not enough.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Hurrahing in Harvest
| SUMMER ends now; now, barbarous in beauty, the stooks arise | |
| Around; up above, what wind-walks! what lovely behaviour | |
| Of silk-sack clouds! has wilder, wilful-wavier | |
| Meal-drift moulded ever and melted across skies? | |
| I walk, I lift up, I lift up heart, eyes, | 5 |
| Down all that glory in the heavens to glean our Saviour; | |
| And, éyes, heárt, what looks, what lips yet gave you a | |
| Rapturous love’s greeting of realer, of rounder replies? | |
| And the azurous hung hills are his world-wielding shoulder | |
| Majestic—as a stallion stalwart, very-violet-sweet!— | 10 |
| These things, these things were here and but the beholder | |
| Wanting; which two when they once meet, | |
| The heart rears wings bold and bolder | |
| And hurls for him, O half hurls earth for him off under his feet. Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–89) |
The Other Barry Speaks
Barry Diller had this to say about congress giving large sums of money to the auto makers: "On that count alone I wouldn’t give them any money. And not because of any reason other than why would I give money to someone so dumb to go to Washington to ask for money and fly in a Gulfstream. You’d say, ‘You’re not qualified. Unless you leave, I’m not giving you money.’”
Someone needs to tell Barry that congress long ago quit worrying about whether they were spending money wisely. If the auto unions' and corporations' bribes to congress are up to date they will get the money if congress thinks they can get away with it.
Someone needs to tell Barry that congress long ago quit worrying about whether they were spending money wisely. If the auto unions' and corporations' bribes to congress are up to date they will get the money if congress thinks they can get away with it.
"I'm Taking Control of the Room . . . "
Remember that video link about Obama voters' lack of knowledge of the candidates and the issues? Well here are some of Obama's more knowledgeable supporters. The lesson: even when they're smart they're stupid.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
