From the Department of "I don't get it".
I was nearly prepared to write blog today about hypocrisy and duplicity (perhaps the new monikers of government), when this showed up in the NYT:
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/against-stupidity-2/?emc=eta1
John (I picked a bad time to stop drinking)Boehner, Lindsey (nationalize the banks) Graham, Nancy( my family has money) Pelosi, Barbara(send me your tired, huddled masses and all of your money...NOW) Boxer, Sen. (I hang out in men's rooms)Craig, Sen.(I sleep around) Vitter, Rep.(I get all the facts wrong)Cantor and few others, including other assorted Republican grandstanders and state governors, just "don't get it". They rail and rant and stomp their adolescent feet in opposition to the stimulus, then they take credit for any portion of the bill that will put money into the hands of their constituents; or, as a mayor or governor, they say that even though they think the bill is bad idea (generational theft?), they want to be first in line to take the money. One person who may "get it", is Anh Cao, the Vietnamese-American Rep. who recently got elected in Louisiana, because after saying he would vote for the bill, ultimately did not: he buckled under pressure from his Republican obstructionists and now his constituents are now calling for his removal from office. Oops. And right now, some mayors and governors are saying that while they will welcome the cash, they object to being told by the Feds about how and where to spend it. They sound like the bankers who made $350B evaporate into the ether, last fall. Perhaps Hank Paulson is advising them?
Either I am missing something here, or else hypocrisy (I was for it before I was against it) or duplicity (I was against it before I was for it)are the watchwords of the day, and these professional comedians really expect us to believe them, trust them and that they will look out for us. Krugman (above) calls alot of this stupidity: he is more blunt than I like to be (you can laugh, now).
There are some other stupids:
Every study I've seen (and apparently Bill Clinton reads the same ones) from prominent economists says that tax cuts don't help in our current situation. They may not help at all, may actually be bad and that cash infusion for infrastructure, food stamps and extended unemployment benefits give back much more bang for the buck. Continued harping for tax cuts is STUPID.
GM wants umpteen billion more dollars to lay off 47,000 people and close factories. The little car company that could (Saab) has just filed for bankruptcy back home in Sweden, Hummer is on the block ( a special stupid for it even BEING in the first place)and Saturn is on the way out( the dealers are looking for a Chinese or Indian manufacturer to keep it alive?), and , finally, Chrysler is looking for another chunk of money (To give to speculative investors?) for funeral expenses (Chrysler is already dead: they are out shopping for coffins). All of this, as well as our tolerance for this foolishness, is STUPID.
Starbucks is closing many, many store and laying off 7,000 people. At the same time they are introducing instant coffee, or exactly a product they made their fortune campaigning against. STUPID.
J C Penny and Lowe's Home Improvement both say their fourth quarter sales were down 10%. Penny says their profit was down 50% as result. Lowe's says the profit drop was 60%. Who is doing these books? Are we supposed to believe this? STUPID.
Magic tricks: Bernie Madoff makes $50B disappear. Texas "Not a billionaire" Stanford makes $8B disappear. Then he disappears. Scotland's Wedgewood China goes belly up after a hedge fund makes their entire pension fund disappear. United Bank of Scotland admits to helping hide fortunes of taxable money in Swiss accounts, but pulls a George W. Bush and vows not to release details. STUPID.
The stimulus bill was signed just a few dozen hours ago and people are already claiming it doesn't work. NOTE: This document is the product of possibly the largest and slowest moving governmental body in the world. "You want it WHEN?" STUPID.
In February of 2009, in the 21rst century, we still have people trying to make the United States a Christian nation. Try looking around the world and your neighborhood: if you cannot see the ethnic and religious variations, you are just plain STUPID.
A hard-liner secular Jew in Israel is backing Netanyhu for PM and urging, among other absurdities, oaths of loyalties to the Israeli government by any of the several million non-Jews living with rocket range. Hypocritical, duplicitous and STUPID.
Prominent Israelis and defenders/promoters of Israel are decrying the new US mid-east envoy as "too fair", and "too even handed". Heaven forbid we should avoid favoritism and promote any equality of treatment. STUPID.
The new RNC chairman, Mr. Steele, is promoting a re-birth of the GOP through the use of hip-hop. We have a few thousand important issues staring us in the face, and he wants to recruit new blood into his party through the use of a musical venue which sounds as foreign to most Americans as the tone poems of Bela Bartok. STUPID.
Nearly everywhere I look, I see politicians and civic leaders speaking out of both sides of their mouths or reversing themselves over night. The ex-Reverend Ted Haggard (Colorado Springs) and ex-Gov. Spitzer (NY) are poster boys for hypocrisy. Every Republican congress member who voted "no", in lock step against the Recovery Act, then stood up to take credit for its benefits (or the pork they managed put in it, ala "earmarks are bad" John McCain)are guilty of duplicity.
And if we sit back and swallow all of this without criticism, oversight or scrutiny, then we are, sadly very STUPID.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Everybody has their Liebermans
There is this story on MSNBC.com, this morning:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29276575/
You can read the whole article for yourself, but the by-line that got me reads like this (next to a photo of a guy who looks unsettlingly much too much like Paul Krugman):
Israel's Yisrael Beiteinu party leader Avigdor Lieberman, who has called for the country's Arab minority swear loyalty to the state or lose their citizenship, has backed Benjamin Netanyahu for prime minister.
My old Texas Instruments calculator seems to be broken, so I can’t say exactly how many people I will piss off with this comment, but that’s the way the unleavened cookie crumbles. Following in the footsteps of, and in the best traditions of, American politics, the Israelis have been busy playing the election game. This last race was a troublesome threesome, starring the venerable retread (and to some reviled) Netanyahu, the foreign minister, Tzipi Livni (I still think her name sounds like an anorexic Italian sports car) and the third party, the Beitenu. This third party, the Ralph Nader/Ron Paul element, the salt-in-the-wound, itch-where-you –can’t-quite-scratch, annoying-like-a mosquito bite group, is apparently fronted by a man named...you guessed it…Lieberman!. From the photo in the article, he appears to dress much more casually and with a much nicer flair than our Connecticut chameleon, but he is very outspoken about his positions concerning what Israel “ought to do”And he is completely unapologetic about advising President Shimon Peres as to what stance to take and how the “new” government should be structured. It reminds me of the old joke:” Hi! I’m from Beitenu and I’m here to help you!”
I both know and know of many people in the US who are disgruntled, discouraged and annoyed by Joseph Lieberman and his curious impact on the last election. He dresses drably (and speaks with the same lackluster drone), muddies the waters and makes no secret of his desire to be in the limelight and garner public attention for his changing an changeable positions. I think the Democrats have been very kind to him, considering how many times he has thumbed his nose at them. I have yet to sense anything worthwhile that he has contributed to either the process or the outcome.
The (real) Israeli Lieberman frightens me more. There are too many words and phrases in this article that bother me: hard-liner, ultranationalist, government reign, threat to mid-east peace, and that ominous line (up above) about “swearing loyalty”. I am very concerned about how much obstructionist, militaristic and pugnacious thinking has risen so much to the forefront, especially when nearly the entire world is appalled by the recent genocide in Gaza. And history is littered with self-appointed “advisors” to kings, tzars and Presidents, and I don’t recall any of them promoting bright spots in world development.
But the last influence the world community needs right now is a hard-line position on Palestinians, when almost everyone would like this decades-old conflict to be ended as soon as possible. And the term ultranationalist just reminds me of the carnage, not so long ago, in the Balkans. And the simple fact is that no one needs to reign over the mid-east: somebody needs to get to the Israeli leaders and not-so-gently remind them that the days of King David are long over and democracies don’t reign.
But more disturbing than any other reference is the one about “swearing loyalty” to the government. Great and memorable(?) leaders like Adolf Hitler and kings and of the realm and their ilk have called for such measures over the centuries, and it has always been a story without a good ending. In the case of the Jews, after the Third Reich, I can’t imagine how such a phrase could even begin to roll off anyone Jew’s lips. If the Israelis are going to follow the US democratic model, they should pay attention to the fact that we ask people to “swear allegiance to the flag”, which is quite different from swearing loyalty to the government. An essential component of a vibrant democracy is the ability that we always are able to question the government ( I think Rush Limbaugh just had a heart attack).
Liebermans, Liebermans everywhere, and not a chance to think. I have been thinking a lot lately, during the foreplay and aftermath of the passing of the stimulus bill, about how totally inappropriate, backward looking and oddly askew the language and remarks of the Republicans have been, and wondering how this recent obstructionism and recalcitrance would be resolved. I have also wondered why Joe Lieberman has been relatively quiet. But now I see the world stage is like Wrigley’s chewing gum: with two Liebermans we can double our trouble and double our (not so very much) fun. I wonder if Avigdor wants the Palestinians to wear arm bands?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29276575/
You can read the whole article for yourself, but the by-line that got me reads like this (next to a photo of a guy who looks unsettlingly much too much like Paul Krugman):
Israel's Yisrael Beiteinu party leader Avigdor Lieberman, who has called for the country's Arab minority swear loyalty to the state or lose their citizenship, has backed Benjamin Netanyahu for prime minister.
My old Texas Instruments calculator seems to be broken, so I can’t say exactly how many people I will piss off with this comment, but that’s the way the unleavened cookie crumbles. Following in the footsteps of, and in the best traditions of, American politics, the Israelis have been busy playing the election game. This last race was a troublesome threesome, starring the venerable retread (and to some reviled) Netanyahu, the foreign minister, Tzipi Livni (I still think her name sounds like an anorexic Italian sports car) and the third party, the Beitenu. This third party, the Ralph Nader/Ron Paul element, the salt-in-the-wound, itch-where-you –can’t-quite-scratch, annoying-like-a mosquito bite group, is apparently fronted by a man named...you guessed it…Lieberman!. From the photo in the article, he appears to dress much more casually and with a much nicer flair than our Connecticut chameleon, but he is very outspoken about his positions concerning what Israel “ought to do”And he is completely unapologetic about advising President Shimon Peres as to what stance to take and how the “new” government should be structured. It reminds me of the old joke:” Hi! I’m from Beitenu and I’m here to help you!”
I both know and know of many people in the US who are disgruntled, discouraged and annoyed by Joseph Lieberman and his curious impact on the last election. He dresses drably (and speaks with the same lackluster drone), muddies the waters and makes no secret of his desire to be in the limelight and garner public attention for his changing an changeable positions. I think the Democrats have been very kind to him, considering how many times he has thumbed his nose at them. I have yet to sense anything worthwhile that he has contributed to either the process or the outcome.
The (real) Israeli Lieberman frightens me more. There are too many words and phrases in this article that bother me: hard-liner, ultranationalist, government reign, threat to mid-east peace, and that ominous line (up above) about “swearing loyalty”. I am very concerned about how much obstructionist, militaristic and pugnacious thinking has risen so much to the forefront, especially when nearly the entire world is appalled by the recent genocide in Gaza. And history is littered with self-appointed “advisors” to kings, tzars and Presidents, and I don’t recall any of them promoting bright spots in world development.
But the last influence the world community needs right now is a hard-line position on Palestinians, when almost everyone would like this decades-old conflict to be ended as soon as possible. And the term ultranationalist just reminds me of the carnage, not so long ago, in the Balkans. And the simple fact is that no one needs to reign over the mid-east: somebody needs to get to the Israeli leaders and not-so-gently remind them that the days of King David are long over and democracies don’t reign.
But more disturbing than any other reference is the one about “swearing loyalty” to the government. Great and memorable(?) leaders like Adolf Hitler and kings and of the realm and their ilk have called for such measures over the centuries, and it has always been a story without a good ending. In the case of the Jews, after the Third Reich, I can’t imagine how such a phrase could even begin to roll off anyone Jew’s lips. If the Israelis are going to follow the US democratic model, they should pay attention to the fact that we ask people to “swear allegiance to the flag”, which is quite different from swearing loyalty to the government. An essential component of a vibrant democracy is the ability that we always are able to question the government ( I think Rush Limbaugh just had a heart attack).
Liebermans, Liebermans everywhere, and not a chance to think. I have been thinking a lot lately, during the foreplay and aftermath of the passing of the stimulus bill, about how totally inappropriate, backward looking and oddly askew the language and remarks of the Republicans have been, and wondering how this recent obstructionism and recalcitrance would be resolved. I have also wondered why Joe Lieberman has been relatively quiet. But now I see the world stage is like Wrigley’s chewing gum: with two Liebermans we can double our trouble and double our (not so very much) fun. I wonder if Avigdor wants the Palestinians to wear arm bands?
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
The Great Divide Just Gets"Divider"
“There's nothing wrong with Republicans deciding to play the role of the obstructionist opposition, and in the unlikely event that this stimulus bill does not get the economy going and additional economic recovery legislation is not passed through Congress, they may stand to benefit politically.”
I lifted this from this article:
Letting Republicans Bury Themselves
by Jed Lewison
Tue Feb 17, 2009 at 09:15:03 AM PST
Posted on
http://www.dailykos.com/
I replied to my fellow e-mailers, like this:
The writer may be correct about Obama's "covert" strategy, but I think the truth is that the less Obama fought back, the deeper the Republicans dug themselves in, trying to attract attention to themselves: they have an ad on TV already, claiming credit for portions of the very bill they voted against. They have become increasingly delusionary in recent days. When Lindsey Graham recommends nationalizing the banks, Newt vows to stop "the administration in its tracks" and Cantor leads the fight to disavow the very housing aid portion of the stimulus that he and his colleagues called for as pre-eminently necessary just days ago, they have clearly lost their way and look more ridiculous every day.
The excerpt I pulled out (above) is just plain wrong thinking. In these times, it is VERY WRONG for the Republicans to be obstructionist "just because". That they "may stand to benefit politically",whether the plan succeeds or fails is a lousy way to lead and protect the people who elected them. I am sick to death of making excuses for politicians who are more concerned about re-election than earning the checks and benefits they draw. You are supposed to enter politics to display and exercise maturity and wisdom, not become a professional grand-stander and master of double-speak.
On the whole, I found the article a bit Polyanna-like.
I may have been over-reacting to the fact that I expect pieces in KOS to have more meat on their bones, but I have been noticing for days now, as the hot-air balloon-like debate over the stimulus became increasingly hysterical, that Republicans are acting more and more disconnected and without any real sense of immediacy. As our needs become more dire, the less they seem willing to put their shoulder to wheel and help get something done.
Only recently did we manage to get the “uniter” out of office (of course we all know that that the only thing he united was a movement of people who worked hard, together, to remove him). Bush was, of course, a divider, creating anxiety, and angst and sorrow and regret, along with injustice, constitutional abuse and internal terror across the land. The United States became a land divided and one which ultimately placed great hope in the vision and energy of Barack Obama. It appeared to many that the halting and stumbling pattern of our socio-economic situation might become changed for the better.
But many in the government, Republicans by name, mostly, decided to be, almost overnight, obstructionist, both just because they could and because their self-righteous indignation over having been “hammered” in the last election seemed to give them the self-appointed right to smear, handicap and hobble the new administration. They seemed to adopt a uniform blanket of a complete lack of self-awareness about the new reality. It has been an amazing fait accompli.
Alas, the harder they seem to work at this, the more ridiculous and obscure and (nearly) obscene their claims and objections become, the more completely out of synch with the national mood they become, as well. Instead of working to close the great divide of the last years, they have made it worse…or at least tried to. They speak less and less to the subjects at hands, avoid confronting the real priorities and make every attempt to perfect histrionics, drama and sensational language. Meanwhile, Americans lose their homes and their jobs and drown in debt, bankers and hedge fund managers worry over losing their third home on the seashore, take home enormous bonuses and spend weekends on yachts in the Caymans where they have hidden bank accounts. We are also in the midst of giving out more “bail-out” money to beleaguered and inept auto manufacturers (and their suppliers) and are waiting for the next wave of organizations to mobilize for hand-outs and rescue plans, because they have over-extended, over- indebted themselves and engaged in sloppy business practices. I am waiting for us all to learn how to spell the word g-r-e-e-d.
It is impossible for me to know what the hell John Boehner is thinking when he throws an 111 hundred+ page document on the floor of the Senate chamber, feigning disgust. It may be a great display of theatre, but it does not tell me that he understands anything about its import. I don’t know what Lindsey Graham( as I said above) is thinking (a professed fiscal conservative, anti-facist, anti-socialist), when he announces it is time to nationalize the banks. It may be dramatic but it doesn’t tell me he knows anything about which he pontificates. I don’t know, when Rep. Cantor vows to be obstructionist about the housing provisions he supposedly fought for earlier, what has happened to his brain. And the obscene language being used in Republican TV commercials against AFSCME, or the Republican ads, somehow claiming credit for portions of the very bill they fought to defeat (or just would not vote for) are supposed to move the country forward, when they blatantly and stubbornly shout “No!” in the face of everything.
The divide can only become wider if the American people are supposed to ignore the complete lack of energy being put forth by the RNC to rectify our deficiencies, while touting useless tax cut programs and wasted time and energy for “abstinence only” sex education programs (even Bristol Palin says they don’t work) and simultaneously railing against family planning funding…do I need to go on? I don’t think so.
The behavioral displays of the Republicans are erratic, essentially dysfunctional and downright disturbing. There may some order in chaos theory, but there is no theory in the Republican chaos of being completely illogical and maintaining a determination to repeat the same old procedures that never work. I am astounded that they simply cannot discern the difference between forward and backwards.
I heard a commentary the other day that said that the financial crisis will not end until the bankers are happy, and the bankers will not be happy until we back large trucks, full of money, up to the doors of the banks and unload it with “NSA” , as it often says in the personals. It looks to me like the Republicans are all trying to join the Teamsters Union and get licenses to drive 18-heelers. They seem to think they don’t need to make any sense, listen to anyone or do anything else in order to get re-elected. It may have worked that way in the past, but if they persist in that attitude, the great divide will only get “divider”.
I would like to believe that this Republican act is just that: an act. But somehow I think they may really be that stupid.
I lifted this from this article:
Letting Republicans Bury Themselves
by Jed Lewison
Tue Feb 17, 2009 at 09:15:03 AM PST
Posted on
http://www.dailykos.com/
I replied to my fellow e-mailers, like this:
The writer may be correct about Obama's "covert" strategy, but I think the truth is that the less Obama fought back, the deeper the Republicans dug themselves in, trying to attract attention to themselves: they have an ad on TV already, claiming credit for portions of the very bill they voted against. They have become increasingly delusionary in recent days. When Lindsey Graham recommends nationalizing the banks, Newt vows to stop "the administration in its tracks" and Cantor leads the fight to disavow the very housing aid portion of the stimulus that he and his colleagues called for as pre-eminently necessary just days ago, they have clearly lost their way and look more ridiculous every day.
The excerpt I pulled out (above) is just plain wrong thinking. In these times, it is VERY WRONG for the Republicans to be obstructionist "just because". That they "may stand to benefit politically",whether the plan succeeds or fails is a lousy way to lead and protect the people who elected them. I am sick to death of making excuses for politicians who are more concerned about re-election than earning the checks and benefits they draw. You are supposed to enter politics to display and exercise maturity and wisdom, not become a professional grand-stander and master of double-speak.
On the whole, I found the article a bit Polyanna-like.
I may have been over-reacting to the fact that I expect pieces in KOS to have more meat on their bones, but I have been noticing for days now, as the hot-air balloon-like debate over the stimulus became increasingly hysterical, that Republicans are acting more and more disconnected and without any real sense of immediacy. As our needs become more dire, the less they seem willing to put their shoulder to wheel and help get something done.
Only recently did we manage to get the “uniter” out of office (of course we all know that that the only thing he united was a movement of people who worked hard, together, to remove him). Bush was, of course, a divider, creating anxiety, and angst and sorrow and regret, along with injustice, constitutional abuse and internal terror across the land. The United States became a land divided and one which ultimately placed great hope in the vision and energy of Barack Obama. It appeared to many that the halting and stumbling pattern of our socio-economic situation might become changed for the better.
But many in the government, Republicans by name, mostly, decided to be, almost overnight, obstructionist, both just because they could and because their self-righteous indignation over having been “hammered” in the last election seemed to give them the self-appointed right to smear, handicap and hobble the new administration. They seemed to adopt a uniform blanket of a complete lack of self-awareness about the new reality. It has been an amazing fait accompli.
Alas, the harder they seem to work at this, the more ridiculous and obscure and (nearly) obscene their claims and objections become, the more completely out of synch with the national mood they become, as well. Instead of working to close the great divide of the last years, they have made it worse…or at least tried to. They speak less and less to the subjects at hands, avoid confronting the real priorities and make every attempt to perfect histrionics, drama and sensational language. Meanwhile, Americans lose their homes and their jobs and drown in debt, bankers and hedge fund managers worry over losing their third home on the seashore, take home enormous bonuses and spend weekends on yachts in the Caymans where they have hidden bank accounts. We are also in the midst of giving out more “bail-out” money to beleaguered and inept auto manufacturers (and their suppliers) and are waiting for the next wave of organizations to mobilize for hand-outs and rescue plans, because they have over-extended, over- indebted themselves and engaged in sloppy business practices. I am waiting for us all to learn how to spell the word g-r-e-e-d.
It is impossible for me to know what the hell John Boehner is thinking when he throws an 111 hundred+ page document on the floor of the Senate chamber, feigning disgust. It may be a great display of theatre, but it does not tell me that he understands anything about its import. I don’t know what Lindsey Graham( as I said above) is thinking (a professed fiscal conservative, anti-facist, anti-socialist), when he announces it is time to nationalize the banks. It may be dramatic but it doesn’t tell me he knows anything about which he pontificates. I don’t know, when Rep. Cantor vows to be obstructionist about the housing provisions he supposedly fought for earlier, what has happened to his brain. And the obscene language being used in Republican TV commercials against AFSCME, or the Republican ads, somehow claiming credit for portions of the very bill they fought to defeat (or just would not vote for) are supposed to move the country forward, when they blatantly and stubbornly shout “No!” in the face of everything.
The divide can only become wider if the American people are supposed to ignore the complete lack of energy being put forth by the RNC to rectify our deficiencies, while touting useless tax cut programs and wasted time and energy for “abstinence only” sex education programs (even Bristol Palin says they don’t work) and simultaneously railing against family planning funding…do I need to go on? I don’t think so.
The behavioral displays of the Republicans are erratic, essentially dysfunctional and downright disturbing. There may some order in chaos theory, but there is no theory in the Republican chaos of being completely illogical and maintaining a determination to repeat the same old procedures that never work. I am astounded that they simply cannot discern the difference between forward and backwards.
I heard a commentary the other day that said that the financial crisis will not end until the bankers are happy, and the bankers will not be happy until we back large trucks, full of money, up to the doors of the banks and unload it with “NSA” , as it often says in the personals. It looks to me like the Republicans are all trying to join the Teamsters Union and get licenses to drive 18-heelers. They seem to think they don’t need to make any sense, listen to anyone or do anything else in order to get re-elected. It may have worked that way in the past, but if they persist in that attitude, the great divide will only get “divider”.
I would like to believe that this Republican act is just that: an act. But somehow I think they may really be that stupid.
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