The Wicked Witch of Washington, D.C.

Get a load of this one with the broom....all that's missing are the flying monkeys and the pointy black hat. Look at that face. Totally absent of any joy. It makes me think, "Arbeit macht frei". OK, let's get started... In the December 8, 2008 issue of Time magazine, Washington, D.C. School's Chancellor Michelle Rhee was featured in the cover article. Where do I begin?

Let's start with the cover. Look at the stone cold face on this descendant of starving rock farmers. She means business. She's "one tough lady"! Lazy teachers, look out! And how about that broom she's holding? I guess she's going to "clean up" education, as if it were that simple. I prefer to think of that broom as her magical mode of transportation, whisking her from failing school to failing school, firing incompetent teachers and administrators. She has all the answers to the swamp of social ills drowning our schools. After all, she was an actual teacher for about 3 years. What's even more amazing is that she never ran a school herself, was never the principal of a school. But she has all the answers. Even the caption on the magazine's cover suggests that she can fix America's schools. Funny though, when you read the article, you never do find out how to fix America's schools. Let's go a bit deeper....

When you read a bit about Michelle Rhee's personal life, you begin to get a clearer picture of who this robot really is. According to the article, Michelle Rhee was the head of the New Teacher Project when she was tapped for the D.C. job. She never ran a school herself. She was recommended for the job by a fellow traveller, NYC schools chancellor Joel Klein, who has succeeded in creating a generation of children who hate school and thousands of teachers and administrators who have had the spirit beaten out of them. Rhee was a teacher for around 3 years. During her first year, she had hives all over her face from the stress. The second year, she and another second grade teacher took a class of low performers and turned them into high performers. Of course, there is no data available to support this claim. Additionally, the Time article says she did this with another teacher. So, let me get this straight: there were two teachers for this classroom? Wow. That is a luxury most of the teachers at my school don't have. Ms. Rhee was very lucky to have a second teacher in her classroom full-time to effectively cut the student-teacher ratio in half. Rhee claims that is was this experience that gave her faith in "the power of good teaching". Ah, so it was not a great teacher she had as a child or a veteran teacher she worked with that inspired her, but instead it was her own superior performance that inspired her. Wow. She is amazing!

I also learned that Michelle Rhee got married while she was a teacher, had two children, and promptly got divorced. It's a shame she couldn't stick with it and see it through and make that work. So, just like the teachers she oversees, she fired her husband. Oh, here's a tidbit...just after she finished 6th grade, her parents sent her to South Korea to live with an aunt and attend a Korean school (by the way, she didn't speak Korean at the time). When she returned to America, her parents enrolled her in a private school.

Is a picture of this robot beginning to form in your mind? Can you feel the chill blowing in from the (far) east?

Lets' read some more...how does Michelle Rhee treat others? Well, if she disagrees with your view of education, she will most likely mock you in a whining voice while making a face. She says education is too "touchy-feely". Her response to critics of standardized educational testing is, "I don't give a crap". When she calls her staff on the phone, she does not say hello, she just begins talking when they pick up (so now we know that not only is she wrong on education, but she also seems to be rude as well). While a parent was talking to her, she was cracking her knuckles (again, rude).

What does this cyborg want? What all cyborgs want: the destruction of humans and then the replacement of those humans by more cyborgs. She want to fire educators who aren't up to her "standards" and replace them with "Rheebots". I say to Rhee what I say to all who think this way - let's see you teach! You get up there in front of a class that includes kids who can't speak English, who come to school hungry, who are the children of drug abusers, whose parents work 12 hours plus just to pay the rent, who live in squalor, who are in gangs, who are victims of child abuse, who are pregnant. Let's see YOU do it! After all, you taught second grade for a whole three years with another teacher.

Let's get one thing straight. There are two types of people - creators and destroyers. Teachers are, by nature, creators. Those of us who have devoted our careers to educating children will still be here doing the hard work long after destroyers like Michelle Rhee have moved on to the next rung of their career ladder. Also, the pendulum is beginning to swing back the other way. The Republicans lost the election. No Child Left Behind will soon be a foggy memory. There are whispers that Rhee is being considered for the position of Education Secretary, but I don't think that will happen. The teachers unions helped to put Obama in office and I don't think he will forget that so quickly.

Do yourself a favor and read the article about Rhee in the December 8th issue of Time magazine. It is a real insider's view, kind of like getting an interview with Hitler right after the Beer Hall Putsch in the fall of '23. Imagine how history would have been different if Hitler had found success as an artist, or had found love? Isn't there a successful gentleman nail salon owner somewhere who can step up to the plate and show this glacier some love? Teachers everywhere would be thankful.

Coming Soon: The Inscrutable Michelle Rhee

The Dear Leader of the Washington, D.C. "School System".

More as this story develops....

Meet Mayor Mike

Meet NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who was given control of the NYC Department of Education. This was like burning the village in Vietnam to save it. He put Joel Klein in charge of the schools and together, they have been squeezing the soul and passion out of the profession. Teachers and administrators have been beaten into a pulp like a washed-up boxer. Teaching is both an art and a science; they have extracted the art and left only the science. This has turned teachers and students into robots who go to school each day defeated and spiritless. They are now "accountable". What does that mean? Well, if you are the Principal of a school that has a population of children who live in poverty and can't speak English and whose parents work all day and night just to rise up to the poverty level, your students are expected to perform as well as students who come from affluent homes where both parents are college graduates. That is a noble idea, and of course all students should show progress as they move through each grade, but it is folly to suggest they are all the same. They are not. They come to school with lots of baggage. The people at the top during the past eight years of radical right rule have set the tone - teachers need to work harder; it is their fault students are not succeeding. Leaders like Joel Klein of New York and Michelle Rhee of Washington D. C. contend that pointing out that many students come from disadvantaged backgrounds (poverty, drug abuse, violence, non-English speaking, etc) is merely an excuse uttered by by those who are lazy and do not want to work hard. But they are wrong. All of the research shows that poverty, violence and unstable home lives all do indeed conspire to impede student achievement in school. But what did you expect? None of these people know anything about educating children. Most of them never taught at all, or they taught for 2 or 3 years. Then they went to law school or business school, and then they were put in charge of a school system. Those of us who have devoted our lives to educating children will be here doing the hard work long after these charlatans move on to the next rung in their career ladder.
Back to Mayor Mike. This guy is a riot. The City Council circumvented the will of the people, who had already twice voted for term limits, and voted to give Mayor Mike the right to run for a third term. Many stated that due to the harsh economic climate, we need a business genius like Mayor Mike to guide us through these rough times. So, what will the genius do? He will raise taxes and cut spending. Wow. Hell, I could've done that! Mainly though, he will use a third term to raise his public profile and run for higher office. Then he will go back to being a billionaire. Oh, he will also raise all the tolls and charge congestion pricing to get into the city and tax consumers for things like plastic bags. Now, I am actually in favor of some of those things, but did we need this guy to do these things? I mean, all he's doing is charging citizens more for everything. There isn't one other person in this city who could do this? Enough already with this guy.....

First Up: NYC Schools Chancellor Joel Klein

NYC Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, pictured here both in his 1922 starring role in "Nosferatu" and in his role as NYC Schools Chancellor. In both roles, he sucked the life out of those around him. In the 1922 film, he nourished himself on the lifeblood of others. In his role as NYC Schools Chancellor, Herr Klein sustains himself by crushing the creative spirits of children and teachers alike. He lives through the crushing of spirits and souls. And if you are a parent attempting to question him at a "Town Hall" meeting, he tries to hypnotize you by going silent, staring at you, and then slinking out the back door without answering the charges of the angry mob. In coming blogs, we will give you his resume and career accomplishments, talk about the destruction he hath wrought, and introduce you to some of his underworld colleagues, such as Mayor Mike Bloomberg ("Little Fidel") and NYC Schools Chief Accountability Czar/Destroyer of Public Education/Hater of Teachers, James Liebman. The ironic thing is, although none of these guys were ever near a public school classroom in their professional lives, they feel qualified to tell parents, teachers and students how to run their collective business. Coming soon...an introduction to NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg ("Little Fidel"). In future blogs, the only pictures of these two you will see will be Bloomberg in his Cuban General's uniform and Klein as Nosferatu. This is a kindly as I can reasonably represent them.

A Shift in Focus

Now that the election is over and the radical right has gone down in flames, I turn my attention to some new assholes. Get a load of these two. Guess what we're gonna talk about?

President Barack Obama

Obama wins in a landslide! 365 to 173 Electoral Votes! 52.7% to 46 % (of the popular vote) ! 66,760,924 popular votes to 58,279,894 ! Largest margin of victory in 20 years !

The nation rejects Neocon/Republican/Bush/McCain/Palin/Religious zealots and returns to the issues. Obama ran a methodical campaign and one would hope that he runs his administration in the same way over the next four years. Now, he's got to do the job. If he doesn't, he'll be out on his butt 4 years from now. He could get off to a good start by including some Republicans in his administration.

Like many Americans, I've never been prouder to cast a vote in an election. This election demonstrates how great this country is. It is living up to it's promises. It has restored my faith in the electorate and the nation. Older people I know, even if they didn't vote for Obama, tell me they are very happy he won and are proud of their country. They also tell me they haven't felt this positive about their country since Kennedy was President.
For my Conservative friends, especially the ones who seem to be very angry right now, judge President Obama on his actions, not your feelings. (President Obama!!! I can't believe I just wrote that!)

Election Prediction

Who will win the election, McCain or Obama ?

Here's what my brain tells me:

(Here are my totally unscientific predicions) -

Obama over McCain by 53% to 45%

Between 1% and 2% to the various 3rd party candidates

Electoral Vote: A (kind of) landslide for Obama - 333 to 205

Obama wins Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio, McCain wins Florida and Indiana.

Democrats fall short of 60 seats in the Senate, wind up with 59.

Over 125 million people will vote.

The win is decisive - no lawsuits or dragged out results.

But my emotions are quite diferent. I'm not counting my chickens just yet...I'm nervous as hell that McCain and Bible Spice could win.

I don't give a SHIT......

I can't resist..doesn't this picture just say, "Yeah, I know it's wrong to change term limits after the voters voted for it twice, but hey, I'm rich! So what if you have no voice in your own government. Fuck you....if you were rich like me, you too could do whatever you wanted..... idiots...."

Viva Miguel !

Today the New York City Council, by a 29-22 vote, agreed to extend the current term limits from 2 terms to 3. This opens the door for Mayor Mike Bloomberg to run for a third term. Since he is a billionaire and has unlimited financial resources to run his campaign, it will be very difficult for anyone to defeat him in 2009. The members of the City Council who voted for this are nothing more than political hacks, no one more so than Speaker Christine Quinn. What were these whores promised by Bloomberg? One can only imagine. This vote was an end-run around the voters, who have voted not once but twice in the past for term limits. This time, it was not brought before the people. So what does this say to voters? We are always told, "You must vote. Every vote counts. People died to preserve your right to vote". Well, not in New York City. In New York City, billionaires call the tune and the City Council dances like some old 1920's tap dancing stage hoofers. And the people? Why not listen to the people? 'Cause Screw 'em, that's why... Hey, let's vote this billionaire dictator out of office as soon as we can.

Christopher Buckley bounced out of National Review after he endorses Obama

Christopher Buckley, son of National Review founder William F. Buckley, was excommunicated today from the staff of the National Review after he endorsed Barack Obama for President.

"While I regret this development, I am not in mourning, for I no longer have any clear idea what, exactly, the modern conservative movement stands for. Eight years of “conservative” government has brought us a doubled national debt, ruinous expansion of entitlement programs, bridges to nowhere, poster boy Jack Abramoff and an ill-premised, ill-waged war conducted by politicians of breathtaking arrogance. As a sideshow, it brought us a truly obscene attempt at federal intervention in the Terry Schiavo case.
So, to paraphrase a real conservative, Ronald Reagan: I haven’t left the Republican Party. It left me."

Buckley endorsed Obama in a piece this week on http://www.dailybeast.com/ ("Sorry, Dad, I'm voting for Obama", found here: http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2008-10-10/the-conservative-case-for-obama/). He cites several reasons for doing so, not least of which is his disenchantment with the "kooks" who have taken over the Republican party. He also reveals why he is not only anti-McCain, but pro-Obama:

"As for Senator Obama: He has exhibited throughout a “first-class temperament,” pace Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.’s famous comment about FDR. As for his intellect, well, he’s a Harvard man, though that’s sure as heck no guarantee of anything, these days. Vietnam was brought to you by Harvard and (one or two) Yale men. As for our current adventure in Mesopotamia, consider this lustrous alumni roster. Bush 43: Yale. Rumsfeld: Princeton. Paul Bremer: Yale and Harvard. What do they all have in common? Andover! The best and the brightest.
I’ve read Obama’s books, and they are first-rate. He is that rara avis, the politician who writes his own books. Imagine. He is also a lefty. I am not. I am a small-government conservative who clings tenaciously and old-fashionedly to the idea that one ought to have balanced budgets. On abortion, gay marriage, et al, I’m libertarian. I believe with my sage and epigrammatic friend P.J. O’Rourke that a government big enough to give you everything you want is also big enough to take it all away.
But having a first-class temperament and a first-class intellect, President Obama will (I pray, secularly) surely understand that traditional left-politics aren’t going to get us out of this pit we’ve dug for ourselves. If he raises taxes and throws up tariff walls and opens the coffers of the DNC to bribe-money from the special interest groups against whom he has (somewhat disingenuously) railed during the campaign trail, then he will almost certainly reap a whirlwind that will make Katrina look like a balmy summer zephyr.
Obama has in him—I think, despite his sometimes airy-fairy “We are the people we have been waiting for” silly rhetoric—the potential to be a good, perhaps even great leader. He is, it seems clear enough, what the historical moment seems to be calling for."

Yet another Conservative intellectual lamenting the mutation of the Republican party.

McCain defends Obama

This is the most bizarre thing I've ever seen during a Presidential campaign. McCain is forced to defend his opponent when some of his more frightened supporters announce that Mr. Obama is an Arab. Listen to the crowd's reaction when McCain defends Obama and tell the woman that she is incorrect and Obama is NOT an Arab. People like this are the reason why the Republican party has lost touch with real issues. The party has appealed almost exclusively to this type of low-information voter for decades. Why don't they cut it out so we can actually have a sane, rational choice when we go to the polls?

Nothing to say right now, I just like the wink...

The Demise of the Rabid Right

Two things happened today that lead me to believe that the rabid right-wing reign of error that we have suffered through for the past eight years is coming to an end (yes, I said 'error', not terror). The first is this piece from the Huffington Post on October 10, 2008:

"John McCain was booed by his own supporters during a rally on Friday after he described Barack Obama as a "decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared of as president of the United States." McCain was responding to a town hall attendee who claimed he was concerned about raising a child under a president who "cohorts with domestic terrorists such as [Bill] Ayers." Despite the fact that McCain and his campaign have repeatedly used Ayers to hammer Obama in recent days, the Arizona Senator tried to calm the man.
"[Senator Obama] is a decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared about as President of the United States," he said, before adding: "If I didn't think I would be one heck of a better president I wouldn't be running."

The crowd groaned with disapproval.

Later, McCain was again pressed about Obama's "other-ness" and again he refused to play ball. "I don't trust Obama," a woman said. "I have read about him. He's an Arab."
"No, ma'am," McCain said several times, shaking his head in disagreement. "He's a decent, family man, [a] citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues and that's what this campaign is all about."

The second is David Brooks' column from yesterday's New York Times. Remember, David Brooks is a Conservative (in fact, he is an "old-school" conservative who is quite different from the right-wing nuts who are running the country today).

The Class War Before Palin
By DAVID BROOKS
Published: October 9, 2008
Modern conservatism began as a movement of dissident intellectuals. Richard Weaver wrote a book called, “Ideas Have Consequences.” Russell Kirk placed Edmund Burke in an American context. William F. Buckley famously said he’d rather be governed by the first 2,000 names in the Boston phone book than by the faculty of Harvard. But he didn’t believe those were the only two options. His entire life was a celebration of urbane values, sophistication and the rigorous and constant application of intellect.
Driven by a need to engage elite opinion, conservatives tried to build an intellectual counterestablishment with think tanks and magazines. They disdained the ideas of the liberal professoriate, but they did not disdain the idea of a cultivated mind.
Ronald Reagan was no intellectual, but he had an earnest faith in ideas and he spent decades working through them. He was rooted in the Midwest, but he also loved Hollywood. And for a time, it seemed the Republican Party would be a broad coalition — small-town values with coastal reach. In 1976, in a close election, Gerald Ford won the entire West Coast along with northeastern states like New Jersey, Connecticut, Vermont and Maine. In 1984, Reagan won every state but Minnesota. But over the past few decades, the Republican Party has driven away people who live in cities, in highly educated regions and on the coasts. This expulsion has had many causes. But the big one is this: Republican political tacticians decided to mobilize their coalition with a form of social class warfare. Democrats kept nominating coastal pointy-heads like Michael Dukakis so Republicans attacked coastal pointy-heads.
Over the past 15 years, the same argument has been heard from a thousand politicians and a hundred television and talk-radio jocks. The nation is divided between the wholesome Joe Sixpacks in the heartland and the oversophisticated, overeducated, oversecularized denizens of the coasts. What had been a disdain for liberal intellectuals slipped into a disdain for the educated class as a whole. The liberals had coastal condescension, so the conservatives developed their own anti-elitism, with mirror-image categories and mirror-image resentments, but with the same corrosive effect. Republicans developed their own leadership style. If Democratic leaders prized deliberation and self-examination, then Republicans would govern from the gut.George W. Bush restrained some of the populist excesses of his party — the anti-immigration fervor, the isolationism — but stylistically he fit right in. As Fred Barnes wrote in his book, “Rebel-in-Chief,” Bush “reflects the political views and cultural tastes of the vast majority of Americans who don’t live along the East or West Coast. He’s not a sophisticate and doesn’t spend his discretionary time with sophisticates. As First Lady Laura Bush once said, she and the president didn’t come to Washington to make new friends. And they haven’t.”

The political effects of this trend have been obvious. Republicans have alienated the highly educated regions — Silicon Valley, northern Virginia, the suburbs outside of New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and Raleigh-Durham. The West Coast and the Northeast are mostly gone.
The Republicans have alienated whole professions. Lawyers now donate to the Democratic Party over the Republican Party at 4-to-1 rates. With doctors, it’s 2-to-1. With tech executives, it’s 5-to-1. With investment bankers, it’s 2-to-1. It took talent for Republicans to lose the banking community. Conservatives are as rare in elite universities and the mainstream media as they were 30 years ago. The smartest young Americans are now educated in an overwhelmingly liberal environment.
This year could have changed things. The G.O.P. had three urbane presidential candidates. But the class-warfare clichés took control. Rudy Giuliani disdained cosmopolitans at the Republican convention. Mitt Romney gave a speech attacking “eastern elites.” (Mitt Romney!) John McCain picked Sarah Palin. Palin is smart, politically skilled, courageous and likable. Her convention and debate performances were impressive. But no American politician plays the class-warfare card as constantly as Palin. Nobody so relentlessly divides the world between the “normal Joe Sixpack American” and the coastal elite. She is another step in the Republican change of personality. Once conservatives admired Churchill and Lincoln above all — men from wildly different backgrounds who prepared for leadership through constant reading, historical understanding and sophisticated thinking. Now those attributes bow down before the common touch.
And so, politically, the G.O.P. is squeezed at both ends. The party is losing the working class by sins of omission — because it has not developed policies to address economic anxiety. It has lost the educated class by sins of commission — by telling members of that class to go away.

So, what is happening here? Why does John McCain defend the honor of his opponent? This is unheard of. Why does David Brooks lament the fact that the modern Republican party has driven away intellectuals in droves? These two things are not unrelated. So we Liberals are not crazy. The latest incarnation of the right has indeed been engaging in 'social class warfare', as David Brooks puts it (This is just a finer way of pointing out what Hillary Clinton said years ago: there is a vast right-wing conspiracy). For years now, as Brooks rightly points out, the Republican party has been winning elections by demeaning smart people (especially if they lean left) and hammering the social issues to frighten the base and low-information fence-sitters into voting Republican. Bush gets elected because people feel they could "have a beer" with him. John Kerry loses because he is an effete Liberal who would allow our country to be taken over my Muslim terrorists. Barack Obama cannot be trusted because he has an Arab/Muslim sounding name.

McCain defends the honor of Obama because he senses the the fear and anger coming from the crowds at these rallies. He also knows that the more negative he gets, the more Obama pulls ahead in the polls. The old tricks are not working so well anymore. With the economy tanking, people are more willing to give a black candidate with a Muslim sounding name a chance. How about that reaction from the McCain crowd when Senator McCain defended Obama? They booed. As I have written here before, the rabid right (not all of the right, just the radical wing of the party) cannot stop at simply criticizing and disagreeing with Liberals. They feel compelled to call them names, call them un-American, and call a candidate like Obama a terrorist. This is most certainly borne of fear. What they're afraid of, I'm not so sure. After the past eight years of living in a country with no real leadership, how much worse could the next four be? In fact, I'll go even further - not only have we not had any leadership, we have had an administration that has had an adverse effect on our country. Many provisions of the Constitution have been torn asunder, we spend ten billion a month on a meaningless war, creationism now competes with science, our standing in the world has been diminished, and our financial institutions lie in near ruin. Why couldn't Bush and the neocons just follow the Doctor's creed and "do no harm"?

On the positive side, the tide is turning. The pendulum is swinging back the other way. People have had enough. Even some of the more serious thinkers on the right such as David Brooks, George Will and Kathleen Parker see what the past few decades of "red-meat politics" has done to this country. They want their party to return to focusing on serious issues that voters are affected by. I , for one, sincerely hope that happens. I would love to argue politics with people on the right who don't defend everything George Bush does and who believe in evolution and who don't call people un-American if they happen to disagree with them. This type of discourse makes all of us smarter.

David Brooks comes around

In an interview with The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg at New York's Le Cirque restaurant to unveil that magazine's redesign, Brooks decried Palin's anti-intellectualism and compared her to President Bush in that regard:
"[Sarah Palin] represents a fatal cancer to the Republican party. When I first started in journalism, I worked at the National Review for Bill Buckley. And Buckley famously said he'd rather be ruled by the first 2,000 names in the Boston phone book than by the Harvard faculty. But he didn't think those were the only two options. He thought it was important to have people on the conservative side who celebrated ideas, who celebrated learning. And his whole life was based on that, and that was also true for a lot of the other conservatives in the Reagan era. Reagan had an immense faith in the power of ideas. But there has been a counter, more populist tradition, which is not only to scorn liberal ideas but to scorn ideas entirely. And I'm afraid that Sarah Palin has those prejudices. I think President Bush has those prejudices."

So Angry: Part Two

Yikes !!!

The McCain-Palin Mob: So Angry

Watch this video. Why are these Ohio McCain supporters so angry? How come it's not enough to disagree with Barack Obama's views and vote against him? Why do some McCain supporters feel compelled to call Obama a "terrorist" and a "Muslim"? Why do they scream at Obama supporters to "get a job"? I'll tell you why. They are afraid. They are afraid and they are angry. They are afraid that a black man will be President. This is not a traditional role for a black man. He is not supposed to be President. Also, his name sounds foreign. These people think they are struggling economically because their tax dollars are going to support minorities and immigrants. They continually vote for a Republican party that throws them the red meat of social issues and then leaves them out in the cold economically.

These people are clinging to something that is already gone. The world has spun past them. They are watching it whiz by and they don't understand what just happened. In the larger sense, because of globalization, rising Asian powers and disappearing borders, what we know as America will no longer exist in a few decades. We will still be a nation, but we will become part of a larger global entity that cannot act only in it's own self-interest if it wants to thrive. This is happening right now. Take immigration, for example. Do you really think the current Republican administration wants to stop immigration? It is a source of cheap labor, just as it has been since immigrants started coming here. As a result, the traditional idea of borders is fading away. People may differ on whether this is good or bad, but it is indeed happening. And this scares people.

Anyway, nothing I could say could be more telling than watching this video.

Watch the Debate !

Watch tonight's debate!!!

Bush vs. Clinton on jobs

Click on the chart to make it bigger.

Look at these employment numbers from the website of the U.S. Department of Labor (http://www.bls.gov/). Compare the numbers of the Clinton administration to the George W. Bush administration. The numbers speak for themselves: President Clinton's record on this matter is far superior.

'Cause I'm a...Job Killa !"

U.S. loses over 150,000 more jobs in September 2008 according to U.S. Department of Labor

"I got my black suit on, I got my black shoes on, I got my daddy's job. This recession's been too long.
I got my tax policy sawed off. I got my economic engine off. I'm 'bout to bust some jobs off. I'm 'bout to dust some jobs off.
Job killer, better you than me! Job killer, f**k job creation! Job killer, I know your family's grievin'(f**k 'em)!
Job killer, but tonight we get even."

Pailn: Even dumber and more annoying than I had originally thought

Joe Biden revealed Sarah Palin for the complete novice she is. Her strategy was to avoid answering any questions and just give a prepared statement which usually had nothing to do with the question. This did give the appearance that she had some knowledge of the topics, and this did probably fool many of the low-information independent voters. Don't forget, America loves stupid (just look who is sitting in the White House). Conversely, Joe Biden had a command of all the topics and spoke directly to each question.
Palin is the kind of populist simpleton that the founding fathers knew would rise to power if citizens were not diligent. This is why we are a republic and not a direct democracy. And make no mistake, if she loses this year, this dim bulb will be back in 2012 to run for president. Also, I can't get past the fact that she looks a bit like a girl who used to blow me regularly in the late 80's.

Dictator for Life Mike Bloomberg

New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg has announced that he wants to run for a third term. There's one little problem though - New York City has term limits and Mike's two terms are up. Mike say, "No problem! I'll just get the City Council to extend the number of terms to three
instead of two so I can run one more time!" Of course, the frightened sheep who support this say, "Well, Mike's good with finance, and we're in deep financial trouble, so he's just GOTTA do one more term".
Well what about the will of the people? The voters TWICE voted in favor of term limits. Now the City Council will just disregard that voice and stomp all over it. Furthermore, once Mike announces his intention to run, you will see all other serious candidates drop out of the race, because they don't have the billions of dollars of personal wealth that Bloomberg will be able to spend on this campaign. And let's face it, what will be his solution to the economic crisis that will be different than anyone else's? He will cut services and raise taxes, just like anyone else would when times are tight.
Allowing elected officials to run again after their proscribed term is up is how dictatorships start. Now, this being the United States of America, I don't think a dictatorship will literally start. But, no one is irreplaceable. I'm sure in this city full of many intelligent public servants, we can find ONE person besides Mike Bloomberg to do this job.


More to come...all hail The Dear Leader Mike.

Tonight's Vice-Presidential Debate

Biden will take Palin to school in tonight's debate. She might even cry. But it won't matter for those who have already decided who to vote for. Even among independent voters, Palin's non-functional cerebral cortex won't matter much. The economy will be the decider here.

But watch the debate anyway. It will be like a professor debating a cheerleader.

September 29, 2008: Black Monday - Dow drops 777 points

The Republicans today refused to vote for the government bailout that would restore faith in credit and stabilize the markets. To be fair, there were also Democrats who refused to vote for it. This is, after all, an election year, and elected representatives don't want to go home with a new tax bill for their constituents. But we all know that it is the prevailing philosophy that began with Reagan and reached its crescendo with the Bush administration that has landed us in this mess. The idea that government is always bad and that the "free market" needs to be left unfettered to allow the "invisible hand" to take care of the financial markets has been the hallmark of the extreme brand of Republicanism that has ruled this country from 1994 in Congress and from 2000 in the White House.

The Republicans have never had as power power as they have had during George W. Bush's tenure as President (nor will they ever have that much power again). And what did they do with that power? They steamrolled over everything, smashing everything in their path that ran contrary to their deeply flawed ideology. They buried stem cell research, health care, and veterans care. They fucked up education reform. But where they really failed was during those big leadership moments, when it was the bottom of the ninth with two outs and bases loaded and the whole world was watching: 9-11, Katrina, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the demise of our financial markets. And in the on deck circle, we have Iran, Russia and our missing energy policy ready to hit a few more into the seats in right-centerfield!

If you were unsure before, how could you not see now? The conservative-extremist Republicans who have had control over our government need to go. Sorry to be so partisan, but the facts do not permit me to conlcude otherwise.

More to come...

The End of Conservatism

For the past few decades, the Right has proclaimed, "We don't need no stinkin' regulation!" We've been told that the free, unfettered market will always correct itself and prevent disaster while shedding those competitors who are not up to the job. Reagan told us that government doesn't solve problems, it is the problem. However, as the past few weeks have shown, that is a bankrupt philosophy (no pun intended). The very same people who saw government as the problem now have their hands out and are asking for our tax dollars to the tune of $700 billion. The markets do indeed need regulation to prevent the darkest urges of human nature from ruling the day. For years, we have watched while the cost of everything has risen and asked, "How can the economy be doing so well? It sure doesn't feel like it." It has seemed like a shell game for a while now. Alas, the bubble has burst. And it will only cost us $700 billion to fix it.

Maybe the taxpayers do have to pay for this bailout. But it does raise many questions. What about responsibility? Where are the Conservatives who have preached to us about "personal responsibility"? Shouldn't the taxpayers get something for the billions we are being asked to pony up? And why should Henry Paulson get dictatorial control over this money with no oversight at all? Why can't the federal government take partial ownership of these companies and then sell them off at a profit at some time in the future? Why aren't we being told the truth, which is that this is just the beginning? We are in for a long recession and higher taxes no matter who is in White House in January of 2009.

We are being asked to give this the Bush administration another blank check. Why should we trust them now? On Bush's watch we have had 9-11, The Iraq War, Katrina, and now the collapse of our financial system. Even before this latest debacle, this incompetent child has been the worst President in our nation's history. Right up to the end of his tenure as President, Bush is mired the muck of disaster.

Who the fuck voted for this guy? I mean, all you had to do was hear that dopey Texas accent and hear him mispronounce "nuclear" and you knew he wasn't the guy for the job. But you wanted to have a beer with him. You thought, "He's like me". No, he's not like you. He grew up rich and privileged and never worked a day in his life. He avoided military service but acted like he stormed San Juan Hill with T.R. He raised religion up over science (the mark of a backward society - see Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, etc.) and divided the nation over the bullshit social issues while big business robbed us blind. He fucked us again and again and we put him back in power for a second term because we are a scared nation. The only silver lining in all this is that maybe people will start coming back toward the middle so that this nation can begin accomplishing things again.

Let's not get too serious.

During this highly charged political season, we must remember to take time out to have some fun. So, let's revisit our top story: Soledad O'Brien Falls Down a Manhole Cover.

Oh, would that it were true...

Watch the Debates !!!

Watch the first Presidential debate of the '08 campaign Friday, Septmebr 26th at 9:00 p.m. Easteren Standard Time.
Here are the dates for all debates:

First Predsidential Debate: Friday, September 26, 2008
Vice President Debate: Thursday, October 2, 2008
Second Presidential Debate:Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Third Presidential Debate: Wednesday, October 15, 2008
*All Debates start at 9:00 P.M. EST

Why doesn't anyone listen to Paul Krugman?

Economist (Princeton University) and New York Times Op-Ed columnist Paul Krugman has been writing about the coming market collapse for years. He warned of the perils of the housing bubble and predicted what would happen when (not if) it burst. So it begs the question, why wouldn't anyone take the advice of this really bright guy who was able to look ahead and see what was coming right down Wall Street? I have a theory. It is because he is a Liberal. When a Liberal like Professor Krugman warns of coming economic doom, the Right quickly pounces and says, "Oh, Krugman is a pessimistic Liberal ! He believes America's best days are behind us! But we Republicans are optimistic. Everything's fine! We believe America's best days are ahead of us. Don't listen to this commie Liberal !"

Well. Not only did Krugman lead the clarion call on the housing bubble, but he is now the leading critic of Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson's plan to bail out Wall Street (see Krugman's piece "Cash for Trash" from the New York Times 9/22/08 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/22/opinion/22krugman.html?_r=1&oref=slogin).

Krugman asks, if the federal government is spending $700 billion in taxpayer money to bail out failing companies, what does it get in return? Why is the government not getting a stake in ownership of these companies in return for the huge amount of cash being plunked down? Furthermore, the proposal asks that there be no review of any of Paulson's decisions. That's right: no oversight at all. Well isn't that how we got into this mess in the first place? Eight years of "What me worry" Bush looking the other way will the fox guarded the henhouse?
Haven't we learned anything from the mistake of our Congress surrendering power to the President on the issue of the Iraq War? This will be the largest government intervention in our country's history. We can't afford to screw it up.

Is Oceania at war against Eastasia or Eurasia? or, How the Conservatives have mastered Doublethink

When it come to policy, whatever Conservatives say, they really mean the opposite. This is Orwell's vision realized. The current Republicans/Conservatives are masters at it. This is why they're great at getting elected, but can't govern worth a damn. Think about it. What do Conservatives claim to stand for and what do they really do? Let's see...

"Conservatives are for smaller government." Bullshit. After 8 years of a Republican President and 12 years of a Republican Congress, our government is bigger than ever.

"Conservatives are for fiscal responsibility". Bullshit. After 8 years of a Republican President and 12 years of a Republican Congress, our economy is falling apart due to the rigging of the game by conservative true believers. They want to "let the free market" decide. However, we know that the market isn't "free" at all; the rules are made so that those who take reckless risks know that they will be bailed out if they fail. CEO's who destroy their corporations walk away with millions while the workers lose everything.

"Conservatives don't want activist judges sitting on the Supreme Court." Bullshit. After 8 years of a Republican President and 12 years of a Republican Congress, the Supreme Court is quite activist, albeit for the Right. The very definition of activism would include reversing precedent, and this Court is committed to rolling back hard-fought gains made in the areas of women's rights, the rights of the accused and the right to privacy. Also, the Bush v. Gore decision from 2000 is the most glaring example of radical judicial activism. So much so that the Court's decision stated that the ruling was not to be used as a precedent for future cases. This was the first and only time that the Court has included such a directive in a decision.

"Conservatives want to preserve the sanctity of marriage." Bullshit. After 8 years of a Republican President and 12 years of a Republican Congress, we don't even hear about this issue anymore. What they really want to do is get a divisive issue like gay marriage on the ballot at election time to bring out the fear-gripped religious wing-nuts. Remember how important the gay marriage issue was in the 2004 election? It was on the ballot in many states at election time, especially in swing states. The Right pushed this because they knew that this would bring out the type of voter who would vote for Bush. It's funny how once the election was over, this issue that was so important during the election season practically vanished into thin air. It is evident that the Republicans used this wedge issue to scare swing voters and the hardcore base into going to the polls and voting for Bush. In reality, they probably couldn't care less who marries who. If they really believed in the sanctity of marriage, they would try to outlaw divorce.

"Conservatives want to drill for oil in Alaska to become energy independent." Bullshit. After 8 years of a Republican President and 12 years of a Republican Congress, we still don't have an energy policy that addresses the nation's 21st century energy needs. They say "drill, baby, drill" because it sounds macho and appeals to the low-information voters. In reality, drilling would probably cause the price of oil to rise. Experts say it would take years to get the oil out of the ground and would reduce the price of gasoline by only about 1 or 2 cents per gallon. However, this assumes that the oil companies that drill this oil out of the ground or off the shores of our country will even sell this oil to us. Since they are multi-national companies, they might sell the oil to some other country, like China or India. After all, they are free to sell their product to the highest bidder, and with demand so high in developing nations, that oil might very well wind up being sold to some other nation.

More to come...

Things some Jews are telling me

Notice I said some Jews. I haven't spoken to all of them yet....

Some Jews I know are telling me that they will not vote for Barack Obama because he is "a Muslim". When I explained to my Semitic friends that Obama is not a Muslim but a Christian, one of them replied, "Well, his father was a Muslim, so he is a Muslim". She also said that she "just can't trust him". I replied, "Oh, you mean he's black." She protested but couldn't explain to me why she didn't trust him. Another Jewish friend then went on to tell me that she could not vote for Obama because he would "go against Israel". I responded that going against Israel isn 't part of the Democratic platform, and that it would be political suicide if any US President went against Israel. The first woman then said,"I've got to see who they tell me to vote for when I go to temple." Wow. This just confirms my theory that most people do not want the responsibility that comes along with being free. There are some who want to be told what to do because it relieves them of the responsibility of having to think and make a decision. (Thinking and deciding is scary!) This friend also told me that she "really likes this Sarah Palin." When I asked which of her positions she agreed with, she replied, " I don't know, she's got kids, she takes them to work, I like that." My fellow-traveler Liberal friend then began peppering her with issues-based questions like: "Do you know Sara Palin wants to ban abortion in all forms? Do you know that she is against gay rights? Do you know that as Governor of Alaska, she made rape victims pay for their own rape kits?" Of course the response was "No" to all of these questions. And then, dead silence. It happens like that every time. I am losing friends all over the place.

This all points to the fact that the McCain/Palin ticket has a very good chance of winning this election. People in this country know very little about the issues that affect their lives. They vote for candidates because they think their children are cute, or because they say macho things about our enemies, or because they think they will protect us from some invisible enemy, or because they scream slogans like"drill, baby, drill". Mostly, though, people cast their votes out of fear. Remember, George Bush was (s)elected in 2000 mostly because people felt he was a guy they could have a beer with. Hey, he probably was. He just can't run the fucking country. In 2004, we elected Bush again out of fear that if we did not, the limp-wristed Democratic candidate John Kerry would allow the terrorists to set off nuclear weapons in the middle of New York City. By the way, remember how they bashed Kerry for windsurfing? Have you ever tried to windsurf? Most of us wouldn't last two minutes on one of those things. You need to be quite athletic to use one of those things. And yet, the Right portrayed Kerry as a gay, wine-swilling Francophile who sold secrets to the North Vietnamese during the Vietnam war. So, out of fear, we elected the boy king again. Now we find through Bob Woodward that the macho Bush has become despondent over the way the Iraq war has gone and has given over control to underlings because he can't hack it. What a wimp...

My Jewish friends need to find their strength and vote for Obama. Stop letting fear rule the day. After all, your people survived the diaspora, the Roman Empire, the Holocaust and all those shitty Adam Sandler movies. I guess what I'm trying to say is, "Hey, Jews, put a brother in the White House" (and not just to clean it).

A Modest Proposal

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin shoots 17 year old daughter with "Anti-Insemination" Ray Gun at annual Christian Conservative Convention only to later learn that it was defective

Well,well,well.....so the Governor's 17 year old daughter is pregnant. Oh, happy day! Forgive me, but the schadenfreude delights me. I am giddy. It is always funny to me when people who proselytize to others how to live their lives (Bill Bennett, Ted Haggart, Jimmy Swaggart, etc) wind up having the very same problems as the rest of us. They are no better and no worse than everyone, yet they want to tell us that they know how Jesus want us to live. Hey, drop dead jackass. The thing that pisses me off is not their human frailty, which we all share, but their insistence on claiming the high moral ground when, in fact, they are flawed just like the rest of us. It's like the priest who preaches the Word of the Lord to his parishioners, but has one hand in the collection plate and the other down the pants of a nine year old boy. I mean, it just leaves a bad taste in your mouth (no pun intended). Anyway, I think this could have all been avoided. Remember what Palin claims she said that when Congress offered her state federal funding for the infamous pork-barrel boondoggle "Bridge to Nowhere"? She proudly claims that her response was, "Thanks, but no thanks." (When you read that, imagine it being spoken with that horrible Wisconsin/Minnesota/Midwestern nasal flat 'A' sound). Maybe Palin should have taught her daughter that phrase. The kid could have used it as birth control (when the guy offered up his rigid venison in the back seat of his sled, she could have politely said, "Thaaaanks, but no thaaaaaanks." )

So as long as Palin is the Republican candidate for Vice-President, I make a modest proposal (with apologies to Swift): I propose that if elected, McCain nominate Palin's daughter Bristol to be Secretary of State for these United States. We all know that Palin is known to bring her children to work, so it would be nice to find the something for the kid to do. She could bring the new baby to meet Putin and Ahmadinejad. Imagine her breast-feeding while negotiating the new Iraqi border with Ahmadinejad or discussing the rights of dispossessed Georgians with Putin while changing the diaper of little baby Anchorage. She could tour the globe as an ambassador for Conservative Christian values. Picture her and her husband Levi, their boots coated with elk shit and propped up on a conference table at Camp David, chewing on a Slim Jim, baby screaming for more moose milk, arguing over whose turn it is to clean out then crap bucket in their trailer while the Arabs and Israelis fidget nervously, staring at their shoes and commenting on the weather ("Hey, it's a hot one today, yes, Muhammad?" "Yes my friend, thank god"). And when she is called before Congress to testify on alleged corruption in the McCain-Palin administration, she would pause between breast pumps and shriek to her accusers, "Can't you see I'm a MOTHER!!! I'm PUMPING!" All good people and simple folk in America will comment on the callousness of those horrible elected officials in Washington, questioning a mother of all people. How dare they! It's a sin against god.

The young husband could become our newest celebutard. His mullet would become the fulcrum of a whole new retro-trash trend in fashion. But we all know that the true star would be the 17 year old bride. She will give birth right around Christmas (maybe even ON Christmas - holy shit!!!), giving rise to a myriad of new interpretations of the Christ story. Rove, Bush and Cheney will bring the baby frankincense and myrrh in the manger that was set up under the White House Christmas tree. The Christian Right will be wetting their pants! However, in a horrible twist of evangelical fate, soon after Bristol Palin is appointed Secretary of State, separate terrorist attacks will kill McCain, Palin, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and President pro tempore of the Senate Robert Byrd, making young Bristol Palin President of the United States. Her first act will be to appoint little baby Anchorage as Vice-President. Baby Anchorage's first act as Vice-President will be to soil her diaper. In doing so, she will have raised the bar for Vice-Presidential selection criteria for decades to come. People will criticize potential nominees for Vice-President by saying, "What experience does he have? What's he done? He doesn't even crap his pants!"

No Baracks Allowed

August 29, 2008

"In a surprise move, Senator John McCain announced here Friday that he had chosen Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate, shaking up the political world at a time when his campaign has been trying to attract women, especially disaffected supporters of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. "

A while back, I predicted that Obama would win in a near landslide. Now, I'm not so sure. It has nothing to do with McCain's choice for Vice-President. She is a lightweight who will hurt McCain as much as she helps him. However, as I talk to people I know, I discover that most of them won't vote for Obama. I guess they are happy with the direction that the Republicans have taken us during the past eight years. They seem to be satisfied with Katrina, The Iraq War, the Bush Recession, $4.00 a gallon gas, the unfunded

education mandate that is No Child Left Behind, the lack of a serious energy policy, the chipping away at the rights of the individual, the refusal to answer questions while under oath, the lack of a health care plan, the disdain for those living on the margins of society, the filling of all government posts with ideologues and retreads from the Ford administration (Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc), the empty bravado that has diminished our once great standing in the world, the inability to read the intentions of world leaders, the inability of our President to speak proper English, the disdain for Science, the merging of religion and government, tax breaks for oil companies who are making record profits, the total neglect of our nation's infrastructure, the failure to take care of the physical and mental well-being of the members of our military, using fear and pandering to win elections, radical appointments to the Supreme Court, the misuse of our military and the inability to get anything meaningful done.

There are people in this country who will never vote for a black man. A friend told me that when he looks at Obama, he "looks distrustful". I'm not even sure what that means. My response to him was, "What you really mean is that you won't vote for him because he's black. But you can't say that out loud, so you say that he 'looks distrustful.'

Let me tell you what will probably happen in November. Many people who should vote for Obama because it is in their economic interest to do so will vote for McCain because they simply cannot pull the lever for a black guy. So, McCain will win. What people forget is that when you vote, you're not only voting for a candidate, you are also voting for that candidate's political party. Therefore, some hard-working union members who should vote for the pro-union Obama will vote for the anti-union Republican candidate. People who spend more and more of their income on energy will not vote for Obama, whose energy policy may lead us to energy independence and reduce the percentage of our hard-earned income that we must spend on energy, but will vote for McCain and the Republican party, who favor drilling, drilling, drilling, for oil that will not help us very much becasue we only possess 3% of the world's oil but consume 25% of the world's oil ! The Republicans are offering us a 19th century solution to a 21st century problem. Women who are pro-choice will vote for anti-choice McCain because they are pissed at Obama for "stealing" Hillary's chance. So, McCain will pack the Supreme Court with more radical justices who will eventually turn back Roe vs. Wade. And don't forget, whoever is President gets to appoint members to his cabinet. If Obama wins, we will get smart, reasonable, sober-thinking "big brains" like Bill Richardson, Robert Rubin, Chuck Hagel, Wesley Clark, etc.

If McCain wins, he will have to answer to the conservative Christian radical right-wing of the party. So, we will get more people who share the wanton blood lust we saw in Cheney, Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Rumsfeld, etc.

What really gets me is, after 8 years of this failed presidency, after 8 years of no leadership, after 8 years of watching the right wing attempt to destroy government (I will paraphrase noted Conservative asshole Grover Norquist: 'We want to make government so small that we can drown it in a shallow bath like an infant'), after 8 years of watching this incompetent fuck in the White House take over 900 vacation days while our country slips into the mud, after 8 years of watching our government send our military back to Iraq again and again until they get parts of them blown off or get killed for no reason at all, after 8 years of watching Cheney tell all of us "Go Fuck Yourself", after 8 years of listening to radical right wingers tell us how liberals are "ruining this country" even though the right has been in charge for much of the past 8 years, I can only wonder, how the hell can anyone who is middle class and works for a living vote Republican? In his book What's the Matter with Kansas? Thomas Frank explains that the right has done a great job of making elections about social issues and not economics, because on economics, they lose (unless you earn over $300,00 per year). Frank makes a great argument and I accept his premise, but Jesus! Even after 8 years of failure after failure, people are still going with the Republicans.

So let's stretch this out over the next few elections: After 8 years of neglect of our government and our citizens by the Republicans currently in power, America will reward the Republicans by electing John McCain. During his tenure as President, there will be no meaningful energy policy, so maybe the cost of gas for our automobiles will go from $4.00 per gallon to $6.00 per gallon. It will cost a fortune to heat our homes. Since McCain needs to satisfy the base by talking tough and not negotiating with anyone who might disagree with us, we will go to war with Iran. More brave Americans will come home missing parts (or won't come home at all) for a questionable cause. Because McCain thinks we are "whiners" and there is no recession, more people will foreclose on their homes. McCain will appoint justices to the Supreme Court who will chip away at abortion rights. In addition, the rights of the individual will shrink a little bit more. And in 2012, when he is up for re-election, Hillary Clinton will run against the 76 year old McCain. The voters will look back at the devastation and inaction caused by another four years of the government-hating Republican administration, and they will get angry. They will say that America deserves better. Yes, they will be angry and they will........

they will vote for the Republican candidate again, because they can't pull the lever for a Liberal.

After all, what would happen to our country if we elected a Liberal?

Two Geniuses

Visit Richard Dawkins' website: http://richarddawkins.net/

Visit Ray Kurzweil's website:
http://www.kurzweilai.net/index.html?flash=1

How did I miss this?

Miles And Soledad O'Brien Booted From Anchoring CNN's American Morning; Duo Will Reportedly Stay On As Correspondents Until 'Something Better' Comes Along
— Wed, Apr 4, 2007 —

How the hell did I miss that story? Apparently, Soledad O'Brien cannot do the show because she is recovering from injuries suffered when she was shoved down a manhole. Finally.

So the rumors are all true...now check Lieberman's head for horns

Check out the cover of the New Yorker! They are so witty and urbane over there at the New Yorker. Yeah, we get it...satire. The only trouble is, the rubes who already believe Obama is Bin Laden's stepson are saying, "See, I told you you it was true! He's a flag-burnin' Muslim!" Of course, it is ridiculous to be outraged over this cartoon. I heard that some subscribers to the magazine even cancelled their subscriptions. Hey, calm down jokers. That reaction just reinfoirces the right-wing charge that the left is full of pompus asses who are elitists and can't take a joke. It's a cartoon. Cartoon or no cartoon, Obama will win in a near-lanslide in November.

Rat Race Choir

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMsaUE7Esi0&feature=related

The greatest NYC bar band from the 80's - Rat Race Choir. Monster players. These guys would do it all - Zeppelin, Who, Police, Jethro Tull, etc. Click the link above for a live video (1980) of one of their many excellent original pieces. Wish I had some footage of their mammoth versions of "Kashmir" or "The Rover".

Larry Kudlow Update

A while back, I wrote that I kind of liked CNBC's Larry Kudlow. However, he is, in fact, an asshole. A few nights ago he and that dweeb Stephen Moore from the right-wing "Club for Growth" and the Wall Street Journal debated a guy who was expounding on the economic costs of the war in Iraq. When the guy pointed out that the war was unnecessary and costly, Moore retorted," But the cost of terrorist attacks would be far greater." The guy responded, " Iraq and 9/11 are not related." Moore then says - and I can't believe he said this -

"Well if they aren't related, how come we haven't had a terrorist attack since then?" Now, how does Kudlow sit and watch this without correcting this faulty logic? C'mon Larry! I mean, I guess I know why Larry keeps quiet - because he agrees with the bullshit. But deep down, he must know it is bullshit, because he's a smart guy. But he is also a right-wing nut who will never go against "das party". Saying we haven't had a terrorist attack because of our war in Iraq is like saying the sun rises every morning because I wear my Power Ranger pajamas to bed every night.

Just for laughs, let's look at the idea that Bush has been successful against terrorism because we have not had another attack since 9/11. By that logic, Clinton was even more successful. Hear me out; Clinton was President in 1993 the first time the towers were attacked (he was President for only about six weeks at that time, so one could argue that it was the fault of Poppy Bush). After that attack in '93, we were not attacked again until September 2001. So, I guess Clinton's efforts to stem terrorist attacks were even more successful than Bush's. After all, there was no terrorist attacks for over EIGHT years. Under Bush II, we have only been terror-free for (almost) seven years.

Of course, I'm being completely unfair here. We all know that it makes no difference who is President when it comes to terrorist attacks. Terrorists don't ask which party is in office before they plot their attacks. And if you really want to blame someone, remember: Reagan did the original "cut and run" in Beirut in '83 (anyone with half a brain knows that this was the right decision. However, I will continue to bust the balls of my right-wing friends with this tidbit).

Soledad OBrien update

I know I promised you a piece on why Soldad OBrien should fall down a manhole. I am still working on it. I am culling information from thousands of disparate sources. Apparantly, there are alot of reasons why Soledad OBrien should fall down a manhole....

Spitzer's Angry Apology

Hey look everybody, it's Client 9.... what's he doing with his hands?

New York's Governor, Eliot Spitzer, resigned today under the cloud of a prostitution scandal (in other words, he got caught nailing whores...). Watch the video of Spitzer's apology at
http://youtube.com/watch?v=GPvA80ZUOZ8&feature=related
My wife wants to know why this story makes me so happy. Yes, there is a bit of schadenfreude at work here, but I also believe that the guy who is moralizing and pointing the finger at others is always the guy who has major skeletons in his closet (see: catholic priests, Bill Bennett, Larry Craig, Ted Haggard, Jimmy Swaggart, etc.) My wife accusses me of "loving a scandal", but simply put, it is not a scandal that I love, but the truth. Yes, I do enjoy seeing false prophets and paper tigers fall from grace. It makes me feel as if there is at least a little bit of natural justice in the universe. Now let's talk about the video of Governor Spitzer's apology...

Is it me, or does this guy really not even give a shit? There was absolutely no remorse in his voice or physical mannerisms. His only regret seems to be that he got caught. Remember, this is a very smart person who was probably always at or near the top of his class at excellent schools, acheived success early on in life, and ultimately wielded great political power. He ain't used to losing! In fact, he probably can't believe he got caught. Notice that he apologizes for not living up to what was expected of him. This makes it sound as if he tried really hard to reform education or reduce homelessness or end poverty in New York State but, darn it, he missed by this much (I'm squeezing my thumb and forefinger really close together)! He thinks he did his best but fell a bit short. But wait a minute - this is a guy who was nailing expensive whores. He makes it sound, however, as if he was trying really hard to serve the public and just missing the mark. No, sir - you got caught nailing whores. Expensive whores. Also, at the prices he was paying (thousands of dollars a pop), who knows what he was having these women do. Very freaky-deaky. He also apologizes to "all those who believed in what I (he) tried to stand for". Is this guy kidding me? We don't "try" to stand for something; either we stand for something or we don't ! He wants us to believe that he really tried to stand for what is right and fair, but it just didn't work out. No, sir - you got caught banging whores. Whores who talked...
So why did the Governor do it? Women will say that it was because he is a man and all men are dogs and cant be trusted and ...blahblahblahblahblah. Men will say it was because his wife was not keeping him happy and women need to keep their men happy or their men will go out and....blahblahblahblahblah. Here is the answer: some people are never happy, no matter what they already have. Some people are lucky enough to have lots of money. Others might have power. Still others might have brains or fame or good looks. This guy had a lot of those: money, a family, poltical power, possibly greater political power in his future, prestige, fame, etc. But still, he needed to bang whores. It speaks to a basic character deficiency in him. And after viewing his passive-aggressive, arrogant apology, one thing is clear. My man is cold. He don't give a fuck.
Here is the transcript of the apology (There is so much more here to analyze). Notice the use of the word "atone". Hey, Eliot - this ain't Yom Kippur. You ain't "atoning". And your failings aren't "private". They're quite public. What you should be doing is kissing your wife's ass and hoping she doesn't put the final nail in your coffin. Because, remember - you got caught nailing whores:

In the past few days, I have begun to atone for my private failings with my wife Silda, my children, and my entire family. The remorse I feel will always be with me. Words cannot describe how grateful I am for the love and compassion they have shown me.
From those to whom much is given, much is expected. I have been given much -- the love of my family, the faith and trust of the people of New York, and the chance to lead this state. I am deeply sorry that I did not live up to what was expected of me. To every New Yorker — and to all those who believed in what I tried to stand for — I sincerely apologize.
I look at my time as governor with a sense of what might have been. But I also know that as a public servant, I and the remarkable people with whom I worked have accomplished a great deal. There is much more to be done, and I cannot allow my private failings to disrupt the people's work.
Over the course of my public life, I have insisted — I believe correctly — that people, regardless of their position or power, take responsibility for their conduct. I can and will ask no less of myself.
For this reason, I am resigning from the office of governor. At Lt. Gov. Paterson's request, the resignation will be effective Monday, March 17, a date that he believes will permit an orderly transition.
I go forward with the belief, as others have said, that as human beings, our greatest glory consists not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
As I leave public life, I will first do what I need to do to help and heal myself and my family. Then I will try once again, outside of politics, to serve the common good and move toward the ideals and solutions which I believe can build a future of hope and opportunity for us and for our children.
I hope all New York will join my prayers for my friend David Paterson, as he embarks on his new mission. And I thank the public once again for the privilege of service.