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September 29th 2008 22:39
By Steven Barrett
Halloween came early for the big kids on Capitol Hill, Wall Street and eventually a Main Street near you., Unfortunately the ill-effects of what one woman possessing a strong resembence to the Wicked Witch of the Wizard of Oz may be felt for a long time to come.
But what the hell does she care. She's set for life with a nice fat federal pension, and a health care package she talks about making available to the rest of us but ... well that's all she's capable of providing, a loud screeching piercing baleful of political bile that the rest of us have to stomach.
Does this woman below look familiar? It should because she and her big GD mouth had an enormously sour effect on many Representatives on both sides of the aisle...thus the already difficult to swallow $700B went down the tubes thanks to just a few words she could've easily saved for after the vote.
The damn maddening thing about it all is that I agree with her about the greed and stupidity behind all this finance economy that brought us to this precipice. What kind of "economy" do we have when we call pension programs and home equity loans "products" while our manufacturing jobs are shipped overseas? We're shylocking ourselvels and killing our jobs, but that was besides the point until after the vote was taken.
But no, Granny Nanny Pelosi had to shoot off her big mouth. Dammit lady.
The Boston Herald story does a better job of telling the sordid tale of politics at its worst than I can at this present moment.
By Steven Barrett
Governor Palin, welcome to the capitol city of drive-by innuendoes, slander for sport and what the late Vince Foster called the "politics of personal destruction."
Vince Foster
Bill Clinton's First Chief of Staff
Suicide Victim
While others are too busy snitting at your "lack of gravitas" as one local pontificator wrote in a letter to the editor section of an old New England college town newspaper, you might want to wonder if Washington's good enough for you.
It all kind of reminds me of that great Jimmy Stewart film, "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." He's different, off-beat and a fresh breath of air to the public. But to the cynical politicos played by Edmund Arnold (the moneybagg'd special interest poohbah and the slick corrupt but "grandfatherly" and "godfatherly" senior senator from Smith's state, played by Claude Rains were way ahead of their time, save for the senator's suicide in the senate hallway.
Claude Rains, left; Jimmy Stewart, right.
Still from Mr. Smith Goes To Washington
I think Palin's up to the job having cut her teeth on one of the most corrupt state machines. It's that I don't think Washington and New York, ahem, those cities where gravitas oozes from the cracks of both the Washington Post and New York Times' buildings, are ready for her. So what are they to do?
Do Obama's dirty work for him. Obama promised to fire anybody engaging in any personal attacks on Palin's family or anybody else's. Easy promise to make when you don't have to keep it since the people doing your dirty work for you are loyal supporters of yours in the 4th estate. Can't fire people who aren't on your payroll, right? Take a look at this great column in todays Townhall.com by Ken Connors ... "The Politics of Personal Destruction."
Really Long Link
By Steven Barrett
What a fun time this campaign will be this year. At least kids in school might finally learn their American geography lessons, if not the history behind them. Well, I'll settle for one "victory" at a time.
Do you live in a Red State, Blue State, Dixie, "Urbane" Northeast, "Gritty Midwest," "Caleeeeforneeea," "Political thinking au lait" in the upper NW, or the most "northern Southern Red State" that unashamed to elect women who carry moose rifles and take on the good ol'boys way north of the Mason/Dixon Line? I like this one, although it's more than a bit heavy on the sarcastic side, "Jesusland."
I'll admit to having a reddish neck at times when it comes to social issues and foreign policy matters, but my neck can also get a more than a tad blue when it comes to economic issues, especially when I think the small folks are getting a hosing or two. On the other hand, I don't know if I'm quite willing to go THIS far, even though Hank Williams, Jr.'s song "If the South would've won ... " has a catchy tune and some funny lyrics:
If the South would’ve won we'd a had it made,
I'd prob’ly run for President of the Southern States.
The day Elvis passed away would be our national holiday,
If the South would a won we'd had a it made.
I'd make my Supreme Court down in Texas,
And we wouldn't have no killers gettin’off free.
If they were proven guilty, then they would swing quickly,
Instead of writin’ books and smilin’ on T.V.
We'd all learn Cajun cookin in Louisiana,
And I'd put that capitol back in Alabama.
We'd put Florida on the right track ‘cause,
we'd take Miami back,
And throw all them pushers in the slammer.
If the South would’ve won we'd a had it made,
I'd prolly run for President of the Southern States.
The day young Skynyrd died we’d show our Southern Pride,
If the South would a won we'd had a it made.
I'd have all the whiskey made in Tennessee,
And all the horses raised in those Kentucky hills.
The national treasury would be in Tupelo, Mississippi
And I'd put Hank William’s picture on one hundred dollar bills.
I'd have all the cars made in the Carolina's,
And I'd ban all the ones made in China.
I'd have every girl and child
sent to Georgia to learn to smile,
And talk with that southern accent that drives me wild.
I'd have all the fiddles made in Virginia
Cause they sure can make'em sound so fine.
I'm goin up on Wolverton mountain and see ole Clifton Clowers,
And have a sip of his good ole Arkansas wine.
Hey, if the South woulda won we'd had it made
I'd prolly run for President of the Southern States,
When Patsy Cline passed away
that would be our national holiday,
If the South woulda won we'd a had it made.
If the South woulda won we'd a had it made.
We might even be better off.
Hank Williams, Jr.
Okay, I'm sure we all wouldn't have been better off with a permanently divided once "United States" -- especially if you're Black. Let's jes' say Hank, aka "Bocephus" loves to have some good ol' boy fun while making a lot of Yankee dollars along the way.
I'm sure as hell glad to be way up here in New England than biting my fingers down on the Gulf.
Let's face it though, we are a divided country again. We can create the best government on the face of the earth. Build the largest highway system and most technologically advanced nation, but we just can't seem to sit down and have a civic discussion without wishing we hadn't left our guns in our car trunks or the saloon keeper's bar.
We're hurting inside and we're more interested in digging in than reaching out. Okay, that sounds like an Obama-Oprahesque touchy-feel good phrase, but hell's bells, it's hard to deny it! At least insofar as politics is concerned.
Last Friday I watched Bill Moyers interview two excellent twin-scholars, (yep, they're twins separated by two academic universities in life), Merle and Earl Black who wrote Divided America. Just this morning I saw a story posted in today's Boston.com Sunday Globe about the GOP's decision to feature more pachyderms from all the rings under the circus tent, not just those in Dixie or "Jesusland." (Lord, what a name! eh -- oops, wrong country.)
Really Long Link
Really Long Link
That kind of -- regional appeasment -- might not make Hank very happy, but it's "good politics" on the whole. Besides, the Southern elephants have A LOT more important things to be worried about than either how many Southern accents viewsers at home will be listening to or how many red states they've got to keep Obama from taking. At least they won't have Mike Brown or the former Dem gov of Louisiana to worry about jamming the works. But if I were New Orleanians, I would've evacuated Ray Nagin first.
They've got -- Gustav -- the ultimate party crasher packing more windpower than all the political gatherings eve combined -- including Obama's -- ever since man learned how to write. 'Gonna be a lot of dark skies in the Sunbelt tomorrow!
My prayers -- and all our prayers -- should go out to all of those living down in what those states, cities, towns and villages those damn smart alecky Yankees up my way like to sneer at as "Jesusland."
Will y'all sing "If Heaven ain't a lot like Dixie, I don' wanna go..."
By Steven Barrett
Do nations have "mood disorders" like individuals? That's a question brought up by author and Boston Globe guest columnist today in "America's Mood Disorder." Before anybody picks up his or her cell to call Dr. Phil McGraw, perhaps they should look at some of Meyer's observations, read the rest of the column and come to their own conclusions
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By Steven Barrett
NBC has a little "objectivity problem." At least according to Fox's Bill O'Reilly and columnist Peggy Noonan concerning the way the network's news department had been seen as -- shall I put it this way -- sucking up to Obama
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By Steven Barrett
“We should all be proud of Governor Sarah Palin's historic nomination, and I congratulate her and Senator McCain. While their policies would take America in the wrong direction, Governor Palin will add an important new voice to the debate.”
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By Steven Barrett
It's going to be one of those never-ending "round up the usual suspects" days for me. Well, actually I don't want to. Nor do I have to. I'll let them do the job themselves. And the job they're doing is proving all along that traditionalist Democrats like myself have been right all along when it comes to our dismay about the once (with reason) proud "party of the people" has become the party of the snobs
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By Steven Barrett
Earlier this morning while getting up I was resigned to the prospect of my former part-time and mindless "governor," Mitt Romney getting McCain's nod to be his VP running mate. That plus watching Obama's surprisingly more specific and aggressive address, well ... let's say I thought it'd be very long day
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By Steven Barrett
Remember all that fuss about Barak Obama not wearing a flag lapel pin? Well, I guess he’s starting to wear one more often lately. Besides, I’m more interested in knowing what’s under the skin wearing the suits; mostly likely working brain cells and heart tissues. Yet, since abortion’s a big issue this year, I got to thinking about those Precious Feet pins and they got me thinking of a Pro-Lifer's ideal nightmare scenario for Obama
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Comment by Steven P. Barrett
on H.A.C.K. WRITERS ATTACK SNOW IMMEDIATELY UPON HIS PASSING
Politics Ramble
Creating a Crèche: A Prayer in Motion
Even so, every person deserves the dignity of some decent period of mourning, unless of course we're talking about monsters like the Ayatollahs and their little mouthpiece wearing the London Fog golf jacket. (Damn I still have one but don't want to be caught ...), Osama, the goons in Darfur, Burma and the fruitcake running North Korea. (Watch, somebody will see my politically insensitive and incorrect, not to mention "inconsistent" description of N. Korea's dictator. I've never been so out of it that I couldn't recognize a monster when I saw or read about him.
The monsters are one thing, people I have a strong dislike for their views and misguided actions are another thing, so it might shock some folks to know that I wouldn't even dare to think about trashing Gene Robinson, Abp. Williams and Katherine Jefferts-Schori upon their final moments, God forbid that they should be denied a full long life. Regardless of what I think of them, they're human beings. And regardless what some libs, well, sour-mouth'd rads, felt towards Russert and Snow, they deserved a moment of grace.
It's one thing to be tough when a person's alive, but enough's enough when a person's memory and his family's peace of mind can't be left undisturbed!