...is that she wasn't speaking to me: the gay Arab-American urbanite who used to work in the...ahem..."mainstream media" (the media that is, I suppose, in the mainstream of American thought, hence the name "mainstream media").
She wasn't speaking to me. I'm not interested in colloquial chat; I'm not impressed by winks or smiles. My head isn't turned when a candidate for the top ring of global governmental power gets right the names of world leaders.
I'm not going to make an important decision about someone because he or she can stand at a podium for 90 minutes and NOT make a huge glaring error. Nor, for that matter, am I going to decide against that person if they do make a verbal mistake.
How low can we set the bar? Sarah Palin, after days of briefing, managed to be conversant in the most basic tenets and events of American Foreign Policy. Oh joy! She managed NOT to sound like an idiot. Hooray! She was able to stay focused (though there were a decent number of platitudinous, non-sequiter filled, and sometimes falsehood spouting answers) and be "feisty". She managed to avoid the look of "deer, meet headlights". Congratulations!
But is that enough? Is that really enough?
I hate the televised debates, for all the candidates. They say so little; they are little more than a reality show for politicians. TV news is a lousy thing really for elections. And last night's debate shows why: the pre-game prognistication game; the determination that one candidate "came off" better than the other, hence "victory or loss".
Really, not once did I hear a discussion of the actual issues involved. It was a point-scoring rundown of Biden v Palin. Who managed to play offense and defense with the most effectiveness.
Maybe we oughta just let Howie and Terry and Deion and Madden do our political coverage. The transformation would then be complete.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
OHIO FLORIDA PENNSYLVANIA AND SPIRITUALITY
Well, it looks like it's starting to happen; Americans are starting to turn away from McCain/Palin and toward Obama/Biden, at least in the biggest of the potential swing states. If Obama takes Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida? Well then John McCain can kiss it goodbye.
I really can't say how much I think last week's shenanigans hurt McCain. He was basically saying, "I'm going to stop campaigning and go to Washington to 'be the President' and get this bailout thing knocked out." So he goes, inserts himself into the debate, and gets creamed BY THE GOP MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE. He goes to DC and gets himself all involved in the bailout, while Barack Obama sits quietly letting McCain make the mistake.
Let's face it; John McCain failed in his first attempt to be the President and failed miserably. And failed on the economy: an issue that he is completely unqualified to even discuss, little less actually deal with.
It proves how divided Republicans really are - as opposed to Democrats whose divisions were heightened by the fact that Bill and Hillary Clinton were the dividers.
It also proves how inadequate Senator McCain is when it comes to presidential leadership. Yes, he has crossed the aisle in the Senate but not for bi-partisan gain. No he crossed the aisle because the opposition party ACTUALLY LIKES HIM BETTER THAN HIS OWN PARTY.
It also shows how impulse is not a quality we want in our President.
And then there's Governor Palin, who I'm starting to feel sorry for. She really has no clue what she's saying. By agreeing to this Veep position, she has allowed herself to become an object of ridicule and parody. Yes, she was a bold choice, but not a very smart choice. She really has no idea (or I'd say interest) in what goes on in the rest of the world. She has no sense of history, or how it affects the present. She's another C+ student thinking that her instincts (and her love of God) qualify her to run the country. So all she really does is remind the electorate that she's George W Bush redux.
So here's what the GOP has put up for the American public to see:
A presidential candidate who is, old, impulsive, hated by his party, and is only a good candidate if Iraq is the signal issue of the day, and is a LOUSY candidate to speak on the economy.
A Vice-Presidential candidate who reminds the country of the out-going President [who is so despised that his presence in the bailout debate just made people hate the bailout even more.] And a Veep candidate who is so ignorant of basic facts and figures that her only hope is to elicit feelings of pity.
Let's at least hope that's what people see, because they still might see a "black guy" on election day and pull the trigger for the two above-described folk.
But it would appear that people are finally seeing that the GOP really isn't offering anything except fear.
And Obama? Here's what I think...
I think he's the first politician in my lifetime who really can speak to what I'll call spiritual principles: humility, justice, kindness, courtesy, empathy. I'm not saying he's perfect or anything like that, but in the cesspool that is politics, he's the first one I can look at and say, yes, he does operate under some real spiritual guidance. I don't mean the George W Bush egotistical fashion of mistaking the decisions of his own ego as messages from a Higher Power. No I'm talking about a set of principles in which the other person is more important. Where instilling needless fear and creating enemies to bring people together is a sin.
I think that, in 1993, the Democrats made a deal with Bill Clinton: you get out there and prove that we're not losers and we'll overlook your ungenerous nature; your self-centered personality; your inner anger; your addictions. I think the GOP made the same deal in 2000: make us winners again Mr Bush and we'll overlook your character flaws. But the problem with the GOP is that, more than any other group in the world, they define "winning" in this equation: money=spirituality. And that is an untenable position. Money is not Holy, and the pursuit of it is the least Holy thing in the world. But when one believes that money is Holy, then one's acquisition of money would indicate that one is on the same side of God.
I really believe Barack Obama is the one person who can ease the worship of money. It has to stop, or at least ease, or the United States will continue to polarize into a country of haves and have nots. Money is not the answer. Human beings are the answer. At least when the question is, "into what should we put our best, our most courageous, our most caring efforts?"
I really can't say how much I think last week's shenanigans hurt McCain. He was basically saying, "I'm going to stop campaigning and go to Washington to 'be the President' and get this bailout thing knocked out." So he goes, inserts himself into the debate, and gets creamed BY THE GOP MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE. He goes to DC and gets himself all involved in the bailout, while Barack Obama sits quietly letting McCain make the mistake.
Let's face it; John McCain failed in his first attempt to be the President and failed miserably. And failed on the economy: an issue that he is completely unqualified to even discuss, little less actually deal with.
It proves how divided Republicans really are - as opposed to Democrats whose divisions were heightened by the fact that Bill and Hillary Clinton were the dividers.
It also proves how inadequate Senator McCain is when it comes to presidential leadership. Yes, he has crossed the aisle in the Senate but not for bi-partisan gain. No he crossed the aisle because the opposition party ACTUALLY LIKES HIM BETTER THAN HIS OWN PARTY.
It also shows how impulse is not a quality we want in our President.
And then there's Governor Palin, who I'm starting to feel sorry for. She really has no clue what she's saying. By agreeing to this Veep position, she has allowed herself to become an object of ridicule and parody. Yes, she was a bold choice, but not a very smart choice. She really has no idea (or I'd say interest) in what goes on in the rest of the world. She has no sense of history, or how it affects the present. She's another C+ student thinking that her instincts (and her love of God) qualify her to run the country. So all she really does is remind the electorate that she's George W Bush redux.
So here's what the GOP has put up for the American public to see:
A presidential candidate who is, old, impulsive, hated by his party, and is only a good candidate if Iraq is the signal issue of the day, and is a LOUSY candidate to speak on the economy.
A Vice-Presidential candidate who reminds the country of the out-going President [who is so despised that his presence in the bailout debate just made people hate the bailout even more.] And a Veep candidate who is so ignorant of basic facts and figures that her only hope is to elicit feelings of pity.
Let's at least hope that's what people see, because they still might see a "black guy" on election day and pull the trigger for the two above-described folk.
But it would appear that people are finally seeing that the GOP really isn't offering anything except fear.
And Obama? Here's what I think...
I think he's the first politician in my lifetime who really can speak to what I'll call spiritual principles: humility, justice, kindness, courtesy, empathy. I'm not saying he's perfect or anything like that, but in the cesspool that is politics, he's the first one I can look at and say, yes, he does operate under some real spiritual guidance. I don't mean the George W Bush egotistical fashion of mistaking the decisions of his own ego as messages from a Higher Power. No I'm talking about a set of principles in which the other person is more important. Where instilling needless fear and creating enemies to bring people together is a sin.
I think that, in 1993, the Democrats made a deal with Bill Clinton: you get out there and prove that we're not losers and we'll overlook your ungenerous nature; your self-centered personality; your inner anger; your addictions. I think the GOP made the same deal in 2000: make us winners again Mr Bush and we'll overlook your character flaws. But the problem with the GOP is that, more than any other group in the world, they define "winning" in this equation: money=spirituality. And that is an untenable position. Money is not Holy, and the pursuit of it is the least Holy thing in the world. But when one believes that money is Holy, then one's acquisition of money would indicate that one is on the same side of God.
I really believe Barack Obama is the one person who can ease the worship of money. It has to stop, or at least ease, or the United States will continue to polarize into a country of haves and have nots. Money is not the answer. Human beings are the answer. At least when the question is, "into what should we put our best, our most courageous, our most caring efforts?"
Monday, September 29, 2008
UNITED WE...UMM...STAND
I'm not big on airline pilots as union; they tend to be in favor of unionization but not the progressive politics that go with them.
But I'm right there with them when it comes to United's pilots calling for CEO Glenn Tilton to give up some of his 10-million dollar compensation package.
This guy is a poster child for the problem with corporate compensation packages. Can anyone name one thing this guy has gotten right? His attempts to merge United with other carriers? His hamfisted attempt to hedge fuel prices...a the top of the oil market? You name it...United is everything that's wrong with the "market."
The pilots say that Tilton should earn his money like everyone else, but that's the thing. In corporate America, we have gotten to a point where the big wigs do NOT have to earn their money. Anymore, it's a scam in which pay is a matter of filling a chair, and even doing a truly lousy job (Hello Carly Fiorina) means nothing when it comes to compensation. You get paid huge bucks no matter what you do. Screw up the commpany? Don't worry, you get millions when you leave.
...unless you're a worker down the food chain. Those poor schlubs are the ones who have to face the facts about the marketplace: "I'm sorry, we have to cut your job; the 'market' demands it."
But that's the thing...the bigwigs (what President Dunderhead Bush called the "haves and have mores") say, "This is all a matter of the market, and the market is never wrong. If I'm getting paid while you're getting the shaft, well that's the market, and the market is never wrong...except when it is, and then we'll be asking for a fucking bailout." Pardon my French, but this is total bullshit.
And it will destroy this country if left unchecked.
So I say, Yes! Mr Tilton is a failure and he shouldn't be rewarded as such.
But I'm right there with them when it comes to United's pilots calling for CEO Glenn Tilton to give up some of his 10-million dollar compensation package.
This guy is a poster child for the problem with corporate compensation packages. Can anyone name one thing this guy has gotten right? His attempts to merge United with other carriers? His hamfisted attempt to hedge fuel prices...a the top of the oil market? You name it...United is everything that's wrong with the "market."
The pilots say that Tilton should earn his money like everyone else, but that's the thing. In corporate America, we have gotten to a point where the big wigs do NOT have to earn their money. Anymore, it's a scam in which pay is a matter of filling a chair, and even doing a truly lousy job (Hello Carly Fiorina) means nothing when it comes to compensation. You get paid huge bucks no matter what you do. Screw up the commpany? Don't worry, you get millions when you leave.
...unless you're a worker down the food chain. Those poor schlubs are the ones who have to face the facts about the marketplace: "I'm sorry, we have to cut your job; the 'market' demands it."
But that's the thing...the bigwigs (what President Dunderhead Bush called the "haves and have mores") say, "This is all a matter of the market, and the market is never wrong. If I'm getting paid while you're getting the shaft, well that's the market, and the market is never wrong...except when it is, and then we'll be asking for a fucking bailout." Pardon my French, but this is total bullshit.
And it will destroy this country if left unchecked.
So I say, Yes! Mr Tilton is a failure and he shouldn't be rewarded as such.
BUSH RELYING ON HIS BUDDIES, AND GETTING SCREWED...AGAIN!
Who doesn't remember this bit from Fahrenheit 9/11?
As Bush sat in that Florida classroom, was he wondering if maybe he should have shown up to work more often? Should he have held at least one meeting since taking office to discuss the threat of terrorism with his head of counter terrorism? Or maybe Mr. Bush was wondering why he had cut terrorism funding from the FBI. Or perhaps he just should have read the security briefing that was given to him on August 6, 2001 that said that Osama bin Laden was planning to attack America by hijacking airplanes. Or maybe he wasn't worried about the terrorist threat because the title of the report was too vague.
[cut to 9/11 Commission hearing, where Condoleeza Rice is testifying]
Condoleezza Rice: I believe the title of the report was 'Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States.'
Narrator: A report like that might make some men jump, but as in days passed, George W. just went fishing. As the minutes went by, George Bush continued to sit in the classroom. Was he thinking, "I've been hanging out with the wrong crowd. Which one of them screwed me? Was it the man my daddy's friends delivered a lot of weapons to? Was it that group of religious fundamentalists who visited my state when I was governor? Or was it the Saudis? Damn, it was them."
Couldn't you imagine President Bush having similar thoughts over the past couple of weeks? Thoughts about all those big wigs in finance who said, "Trust us. It's going to be great! We've got computers! You hear that computers! And they tell us we'll never lose money. We just gotta get rid of those damned pussy regulations and let our computers do all the work. It's a no brainer!"
Ooops...
As Bush sat in that Florida classroom, was he wondering if maybe he should have shown up to work more often? Should he have held at least one meeting since taking office to discuss the threat of terrorism with his head of counter terrorism? Or maybe Mr. Bush was wondering why he had cut terrorism funding from the FBI. Or perhaps he just should have read the security briefing that was given to him on August 6, 2001 that said that Osama bin Laden was planning to attack America by hijacking airplanes. Or maybe he wasn't worried about the terrorist threat because the title of the report was too vague.
[cut to 9/11 Commission hearing, where Condoleeza Rice is testifying]
Condoleezza Rice: I believe the title of the report was 'Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States.'
Narrator: A report like that might make some men jump, but as in days passed, George W. just went fishing. As the minutes went by, George Bush continued to sit in the classroom. Was he thinking, "I've been hanging out with the wrong crowd. Which one of them screwed me? Was it the man my daddy's friends delivered a lot of weapons to? Was it that group of religious fundamentalists who visited my state when I was governor? Or was it the Saudis? Damn, it was them."
Couldn't you imagine President Bush having similar thoughts over the past couple of weeks? Thoughts about all those big wigs in finance who said, "Trust us. It's going to be great! We've got computers! You hear that computers! And they tell us we'll never lose money. We just gotta get rid of those damned pussy regulations and let our computers do all the work. It's a no brainer!"
Ooops...
THEY WERE BEGGING FOR THIS RESULT
So the House doesn't pass the bailout. Big surprise... this isn't the Senate. It's the House and it's full of nutcases like Darrell Issa who apparently said of the bailout it would betray party principles and amount to “a coffin on top of Ronald Reagan’s coffin.”
Huh?
And you better believe that Ronald Reagan would have been first to bailout his buddies to save the market system. Not that this will save it, but you know what I mean.
I mean, I'm not big on the bill. It seems like a hail-mary more than a well-planned- pass. But what else is there right now? Let it go and let the market decide even if it decides to freeze up sending us into a new era of dance marathons, Oakies and apple carts?
Jeez, what a mess.
Still, let's hope that this forces Congress do some work and come up with something better than "turn over the government to Hank Paulson."
Huh?
And you better believe that Ronald Reagan would have been first to bailout his buddies to save the market system. Not that this will save it, but you know what I mean.
I mean, I'm not big on the bill. It seems like a hail-mary more than a well-planned- pass. But what else is there right now? Let it go and let the market decide even if it decides to freeze up sending us into a new era of dance marathons, Oakies and apple carts?
Jeez, what a mess.
Still, let's hope that this forces Congress do some work and come up with something better than "turn over the government to Hank Paulson."
Sunday, September 28, 2008
BACK AND FORTH
Every day, I go back and forth as to whether Barack Obama will be elected President.
And I'm not talking about a debate over issues.
Some days I have faith that he will be looked at as a "candidate"
Others I fear he'll be seen as a "black candidate."
The GOP has done its best to change their tack on him and say he's "uppity". I'm in Chicago where that crap is less likely to fly. I worry about rural Ohio...
Still, if he can win all the states that Kerry won and take Iowa, Colorado and New Mexico, he wins.
So I go back and forth.
And I'm not talking about a debate over issues.
Some days I have faith that he will be looked at as a "candidate"
Others I fear he'll be seen as a "black candidate."
The GOP has done its best to change their tack on him and say he's "uppity". I'm in Chicago where that crap is less likely to fly. I worry about rural Ohio...
Still, if he can win all the states that Kerry won and take Iowa, Colorado and New Mexico, he wins.
So I go back and forth.
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