GONZO

Upcoming documentary on the life and work of the premier hyperactive observer and hyperbolic truth-teller of politics of the last 40 years...


...Hunter S. Thompson.

Imagine what he would have done with the recent Democratic primary and Old Man McCain.

An epitaph from the time of his death in 2005...

"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." - HST

Stupidity of the Week

Rachael Ray, Terrorist?

Although RR could be considered another food crisis, couldn't she?

[Update: Proposed Alternative Wardrobe.]

Pennsylvania

The Worst Of All Worlds For The Dems

13 Days in October - 5 Years in Iraq

Watched Thirteen Days (Costner film about the Cuban missile crisis) yesterday. Very well done. Apparently a lot of the dialog was taken from tapes and note from the time. I was only 11 years old at the time, and only have vague memories of unease from the time.

What struck me about the situation was the dynamic between the politicians/leaders and the military. Now since the film was from the point of view of the Kenneth o'Donnell (Kennedy's chief of staff) and secondarily, the Kennedy brothers, the Army (Maxwell Taylor) and Air Force Curtis "bomb 'em to the stone age" Lemay come off as wanting a full scale invasion as a face-saving for the Bay of Pigs, while the administration was able to see the potential for escalation between the USA and USSR.

That's one thing that struck me as differing from today's environment - an administration that was capable of foresight. Admittedly today's global situation is probably as more complex than the Cold War as the Cold War was than the WWII era. But it helps to have leaders that recognize that complexity and plan and act accordingly.

Don't mean to pile on Oklahoma, but...

...in addition to the yesterday's post on Oklahoma's attack on education, here comes an Oklahoma state rep spewing hate with the proposition that, more than terrorism, Gays Are Biggest Threat to U.S."

Okie "Science"

From Bad Astronomy Blog || Oklahoma: One Step from Doom:

"The Oklahoma House of Representatives has passed a bill that says that a student can receive a passing grade in an Earth Science class if they say that the Flying Spaghetti Monster created the Earth an hour ago, and then planted false memories into every single living creature on Earth to make it seem like they’ve been around longer.

Of course, that’s not the intent of the bill. The intent is that a student can say the Earth is 6000 years old and still get a passing grade. The bill itself says that a student cannot be graded down if they say that what they are being taught interferes with their religious beliefs."

If it existed, I'd say American science education is going to hell in a handbasket.

Experience by Association?

"Saying that Hillary has Executive Branch experience is like saying Yoko Ono was a Beatle," - Kos commenter, via Andrew Sullivan

Content and Style

David Armano blogs that he has learned a few things from politics, one of which is that...

3. Words do matter. The delivery of them matters even more.

This brings to mind one of my all-time favorite quotes about communication...

"It is content, or rather the consciousness of content, that fills the void. But the mere presence of content is not enough. It is style that gives content the capacity to absorb us, to move us; it is style that makes us care." - Tom Robbins (from Another Roadside Attraction)

Why Obama Matters

While McCain's always been pretty much the only interesting Republican to me, he's a half-generation older and IMHO past his prime time (2000).

Clinton is an extension of my older boomer cohort that resulted in disappointment under Bill and disaster under Bush. She's also deeply embedded in the divisions of the last decade or so; divisions we need to get past. (This is the first time my wife and I are divided politically - she sees Clinton's experience and connections as a benefit - I see them as problems, or at least the source of more divisive obstacles to success.)

Obama's a half a generation younger, and not tied to the old boomer paradigms and prejudices, as Andrew Sullivan points out in Goodbye to All That: Why Obama Matters

....if you sense, as I do, that greater danger lies ahead, and that our divisions and recent history have combined to make the American polity and constitutional order increasingly vulnerable, then the calculus of risk changes. Sometimes, when the world is changing rapidly, the greater risk is caution. Close-up in this election campaign, Obama is unlikely. From a distance, he is necessary. At a time when America’s estrangement from the world risks tipping into dangerous imbalance, when a country at war with lethal enemies is also increasingly at war with itself, when humankind’s spiritual yearnings veer between an excess of certainty and an inability to believe anything at all, and when sectarian and racial divides seem as intractable as ever, a man who is a bridge between these worlds may be indispensable.

We may in fact have finally found that bridge to the 21st century that Bill Clinton told us about. Its name is Obama.

Read the whole thing. Sometimes symbolism is important. This is one of those times.

Experience

Lot of talk these days about the relative merit of experience versus the symbolism of change. I think I've come down on the side of change.

Experience is simply the name we give to our mistakes. - Oscar Wilde

One of my mistakes - back in 2000, as Bush took office, I was clearly unimpressed with his lack of eloquent leadership, but took solace in the "experience" of his advisers - Cheney, Rumquist, and Powell. Little did I know that they were to prove to be an anti-constitutionalist, a self-impressed managerial prima donna, and a wishy-washy follower. So much for the value of experience.

Another problem with experience is that when it is gained in times of strident, non-productive partisanship, the result is experience in strident, non-productive partisanship, and along the way, enough enemies are made to prett much guarantee that most of what you try to accomplish will either result in more division or succumb to insurmountable roadblocks.

As a "child of the 60's" boomer, I've got enough experience not to expect miracles from the promise(s) of newcomers and relative outsiders (that's for sure), but I still have some hope that things can change, and maybe we can get away from at least some of the divisiveness of the past 15 years.

We just need someone who wasn't at the center of it.

Un-Foxing-Believable

This evening, the Fox Going-out-of-Business Channel's Cavuto show got obsessed with the idea that a big factor in today's 256 point drop in the Dow should be blamed on the success of Obama and Huckabee, who according to the show's regulars are the biggest anti-capitalists since Marx and Lenin.

Could it have something to do with fallout from the credit-market meltdown? Nuh-uh.

Maybe today's leap in unemployment in the jobs report? Nah.

How about profit taking in sectors that have held up through the year end, in anticipation of further economic deterioration fomented by the failure to regulate the credit markets? No way.

It was Obamabee's hatred of the wall street wealthy and fear of taxes that spooked the market. OMG - both Democrats and Republicans are out for our money.

At least according to Neal, Charles, and Jonathan.

Makes "Mad Money" Jim Cramer seem down right sane and rational.

I wonder if that theme's going to carry over to Saturday morning's "Cost of Freedom" shows on their parent Faux News Channel. At least I'll be able to fast forward through the silliness if it does.

Foxy News

From Andrew Sullivan, on last night's Iowa caucus coverage from Fox...

"I did watch Fox. The one thing that kept striking me was that almost every single woman on the channel has been made to look like a Barbie doll (just not as articulate); and almost every man is old and white."

...and from the American Heritage Dictionary...foxy - 3. Discolored, as by age or decay, 4. Slang - Sensually attractive; sexy.

I missed the fun, watching only white guys on MSNBC.

Bush's Record of Mercy

"There is none", according to Andrew Sullivan, this liberaltarian's favorite rational conservative. The former executioner/governor of Texas changes his tune when a crony's involved. He and Gonzales (his legal counsel back then) found it within them to send 150 men and 2 women to their death (Note: I'm in favor of careful use of the death penalty.), but for a perjuring crony, a few years of time out is commuted.

More of the same - cronyism, corruption, and incompetence.

Like Sullivan suggests, "Get angrier."

Parody -- Not Parity

I can't believe the punditry surrounding the Hillary Soprano video, claiming it will hurt her because people will make the link between her/politicians and Soprano sociopathy. I have more faith in the American public to appreciate the parody.

Good Advice in Wartime

From Andrew Sullivan

Rudy Makes His Choice - Bails on Iraq Study Group

From Newsday: Rudy missing in action for Iraq panel. Apparently fund raising and high-dollar speech-making was more important than serving his country. Could have been an opportunity for someone that has absolutely no experience with foreign affairs, but wants to be president.

Greed, ambition, and poor judgment all in one.

Hillary's Campaign Song Announcement

A human face, and a classic-to-be, based on a classic-that-was...

Gotta love the carrot sticks. (Bill's a better actor.)

Big letdown in the end - the song's by (North) American singer Celine Dion.

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