Oh Bob Dole

Sometimes one wonders, are people seeking the limelight, which is why they do something negatively uncharacteristic of their reputation? Or, is it that they are looking to make waves for those things, and regain some notoriety? Seeing Bob Dole’s outburst following McClellan’s book release sent my mind wandering in both directions. Of course, from there, I thought more on it, and I’ve come to the following conclusion: Dole is just a crotchety old curmudgeon.

I will say this, McClellan doesn’t win points for professionalism, nor is he telling us things we don’t already know about the Bush administration. Surfing between channels last night, Dick Morris was acting a bit of a fool, but he reiterated the same point toward McClellan, which was to say, “We already knew that.” Following that statement that McClellan was spurned by the “Liberal Media,” which I found quite laughable.

Folks, let’s be serious about some things here with our media. They are not “Liberal,” nor are they “Conservative,” they are in a money-making enterprise. When +75% of the country does not like a president, or think he is doing a good job, and he has an administration mired in scandal, there is a market for a book by a former insider reaffirming everyone’s suspicions. It isn’t a Liberal Plot or Conspiracy. In the same way, Bill Clinton getting Oral Sex from an intern was newsworthy, and Hillary was wrong for blaming it on a “vast right-wing conspiracy.” The one component I would grant Hillary for her “conspiracy” charges does go to Ken Starr’s ignoring of exculpatory evidence, but Clinton still was out-of-bounds with Monica.

In short, truth needs to be spoken to power, and the current White House has been exceptionally obtuse about their playing of the media, throwing us into this war. Let them be called on it, but Bob Dole, you should be agreeing with McClellan while you are knocking him for being unprofessional.

More Entertainment from Those Delightful "Conservatives," Whom Think "Rush is Right"

Below was my response to the more obnoxious forward from "conservative" email forward-land. Mine is up top here, below this was what I received.

The other day, I received among the most special emails. It was sweet, in that it reminded me of one of the young kids I work with, when I volunteer at the Boys and Girls Club. The email is below, please have a look.

What I recalled from the discussion with the seven-year-old was her being upset that her mother's new boyfriend got rid of the Corvette that Mom and her old boyfriend had been driving around, taking to nicer dinners. The litttle one claimed that all she hears this new boyfriend talk about was "bankruptcy," "credit," and "thinking about the bigger picture." That made her mad, because he made Mom return the Corvette, and they don't go to nice dinners any more. It sure didn't seem like the right kind of boyfriend for Mom. The other guy was much nicer, and he spoiled her mom, calling her "baby."

Of course, asking more about the old boyfriend, I heard he had to leave town, because of this scary monster "Chapter 11". Mom's new boyfriend is not as much fun, but Mom told this girl that everything was going to be alright. The new boyfriend just wants to fix things, things that can be fixed before they get too bad. Mom said, "he wants to deal with things long-term, not 'tactically'." She then asked me what "tactically" means, and I explained its definition versus "strategic."

I helped by explaining that, yes, things are nice, but if you buy them on credit, you have to pay them back. If someone borrows too much money, they begin to be a bigger risk. Especially, if they don't make enough money, but spend, spend, and spend.

As I am sure you have now picked up, the below email is talking about our country living on Credit Cards, and that finally catching up with us. Of course, the challenge is that it attempts rather daftly to place blame on those that cannot sign bills into law. Rather the challenge is that, someone doesn't always get to look good whilst fixing something. No, they have to work while folks are frustrated, taking their needed medicine.

For instance, were it not for Democrats taking congress from the likes of Tom DeLay, et al, would we have heard of the horrible conditions at Walter Reed?

We now see this GI Bill being debated. Watching components of veterans' congressional testimony is equally disappointing. I don't know that one can take seriously these email forwards that pull tiny facts out of context, without keeping things in perspective. Of course, we see these all too often.




- Hide quoted text -
This email comes in three parts:
Part 1
In just one year . Remember the election in 2006?
Thought you might like to read the following:
A little over one year ago:
1) Consumer confidence stood at a 2 1/2 year high;
2) Regular gasoline sold for $2.19 a gallon;
3) The unemployment rate was 4.5%.

Since voting in a Democratic Congress in 2006 we have seen:
1) Consumer confidence plummet;
2) The cost of regular gasoline soar to over $3.50 a gallon;
3) Unemployment is up to 5% (a 10% increase);
4) American households have seen $2.3 trillion in equity value evaporate (stock and mutual fund losses);
5) Americans have seen their home equity drop by $1.2 trillion dollars;
6) 1% of American homes are in foreclosure.

America voted for change in 2006, and we got it!

Remember it's Congress that makes law not the President. He has to work with what's handed to him.

Part 2:
Taxes... Whether Democrat or a Republican you will find these statistics enlightening and amazing.
www.taxfoundation.org/publications/show/151.html
Taxes under Clinton 1999 Taxes under Bush 2008
Single making 30K - tax $8,400 Single making 30K - tax $4,500
Single making 50K - tax $14,000 Single making 50K - tax $12,500
Single making 75K - tax $23,250 Single making 75K - tax $18,750
Married making 60K - tax $16,800 Married making 60K- tax $9,000
Married making 75K - tax $21,000 Married making 75K - tax $18,750
Married making 125K - tax $38,750 Married making 125K - tax $31,250
Both democratic candidates will return to the higher tax rates
It is amazing how many people that fall into the categories above think Bush is screwing them and Bill Clinton was the greatest President ever. If Obama or Hillary are elected, they both say they will repeal the Bush tax cuts and a good portion of the people that fall into the categories above can't wait for it to happen. This is like the movie The Sting with Paul Newman; you scam somebody out of some money and they don't even know what happened.

PART 3:
You think the war in Iraq is costing us too much? Re

Dear Sweet Irony

Yesterday I saw a pickup truck, being driven by two younger men. If I had to wager, I would say between twenty-two and twenty-six. Their truck was adorned with writings and stickers. Yesterday was indeed an election day here in Idaho.

What their truck has plastered all over it, well, it was glorious. "I'm Pro-Life!" and "I Love my Guns!" Clearly, the latter phrase was an ode to Obama's comments from six-weeks ago. The former was separately advocating a popular conservative view. Either way, their statements fell in line with the GOP's platforms: anti-gun control; anti-reproductive choice rights.

Of course, being "pro-life" and "loving one's guns," well, one can call me an elitist, but that is too funny for words. As Idaho is clearly in the Red State category, I cannot hope that it was two college-aged progressives playing dress-up for Halloween, but wouldn't that be funny if it were? Oh - dear sweet irony.

Clinton Chastises Press for ___________________

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/

My goodness, now that Clinton is clearly beaten, as of tonight anyway, we will have to suffer through her fits of umbrage, justifying her loss. It’s a sore loser rap that is semi-consistent across the political spectrum; however, hers is predicated on the idea that the media were sexist towards her.

I take exception to that, I have to admit. One would have to sit me down, and cite all of the ways she has fought sexism through the established mainstream media. Cite the examples, and then show the footage or print reinforcing it. Romney, Huckabee, Edwards, Biden or any one of the other candidates could highlight a specific bent or approach the media took with them, to justify why they are not in McCain or Obama’s shoes.

The point is quite simple, Clinton, while her campaign has been in two or three months of death throes has been onward trudging. Simply because she receives points for longevity, does not mean that this nomination was hers, as she has always thought. For me, seeing this now simply shows that her expectations have always far and away exceeded those of the populous for what she deserves. That along with her graceless approach to tough talk and discourse pushed me away from her since the beginning.

Flights to and from Phoenix

It never ceases to amaze me the disparities between cultures here in the United States. Flying to and from Phoenix this last weekend, Sky Harbor, Phoenix’s airport contains folks as diverse in style and attitudes as one might find in JFK or ORD. There are foreigners, East Coasties, Midwesterners, folks from the West and of course those tattooed and pierced from the “New West.” While traveling always offers great opportunities to see differences in cultures, those truly interesting components are reserved for what one can learn about her or himself at the destination.

This last Friday was my Grandma Phyllis’s birthday, the specific birthday that it was shall remain ageless, but let’s say that it was a milestone—one that required a special trip. What always amazes me, growing up in my family, are the things I learn growing further into my family. I say that, in that, growing up we continuously have an evolving perception of who our relatives are, and how they act as adults. Of course, as anyone that has grown up through these lives of ours can say, perceptions continuously evolve, and those things we learn about one another carry with them further dimension as we grow older through this life.

While I am quite sure that seems to be a rather odd, yet intuitive, stanza, methinks it’s the sort of component to life one can never truly comprehend until they have lived in this adult world for several years. What has me thinking in that direction, was seeing my Grandma this weekend, amongst my maternal family, all of the same folks whom went to Nicaragua for Christmas. The difference between this trip and Nicaragua was that it was in Phoenix, where my maternal aunts and grandparents live; therefore, it was more vacuous.1

Seeing my Grandmother there in Phoenix this weekend, I saw an incredibly vivacious woman, whom is joyful, intelligent, funny and well spirited. Grandma Phyllis looks years younger than whatever age she may be; her smile was bright and her eyes were lit up all weekend. What amazes me, among so many other things, is her involvement in the community in which she and my Grandfather live.

Not to brag on my Grandmother, or anything, but she is the chairperson of their board. No, this is not some Del Boca Vista-type organization, nothing of the sort. In short, what I am trying to say is that it is not a caddy club for ladies of the club, but a genuine Operational Organization, one which works to ensure the dining facilities are in good order, the security and the grounds are keeping the residents safe.

It’s noteworthy in that it dearly impresses me. Not that my Grandmother happens to be heading this board, no. Rather, the style and grace with which she speaks professionally about her involvement, particularly in casual conversations.

While I’ve managed to delve rather far into her work with her community’s Board, I should note the other component that did so much to impress me with her this weekend. My aunts, mom, grandma and I played a round of golf. Indeed I was playing with the ladies. As I arrived a day later than my folks, and it was surprise, my Granddad didn’t have the opportunity to book me with the “Bandits,” his golf team.

In that, I went joyously with the ladies, and we played a great round of golf. Again, playing golf, I couldn’t help but marvel at the terrific genes my Grandmother is bestowing on me, as her Grandson. Grandma looked terrific on the course, playing as youthfully as those of my mom’s generation or me.

Obviously, I could continue to go on about my Grandmother, but you’ve endured enough of my gushing on that. If you’ve made it this far, please humor me by reading about my complaints towards those here in the American West. Call me old fashioned, but I loathe ink and these odd spacers folks throw in their ears. Come on folks, hoop earrings are relatively obnoxious, even if one relegates them to something comical. I am lost on one throwing something like that in their ears. Certainly, if they are a Maori Tribeswoman or man, I could see it, but for middle class kids marching through the airport?

I think Phoenix Sky Harbor has to run right up there with John Wayne, PDX, SEATAC, or PDX for inordinate amounts of “sleeve” tattoos and/or spacer-ear hoops. No, I don’t have ink. I am not absolute against it. To a point, I get the “Tramp Stamp.”2 Those are not visible during the wearing of short-sleeves or during a job-interview. Sincerely, though, I have hard time understanding “sleeves.” One now sees them in places like Davenport, Iowa or Boise, Idaho, but there they are not so common, as what one sees in Phoenix.

Phoenix, outside of Scottsdale and Sun City, may be the USA’s capitol of “New West” absurdity. I use the word “absurd,” in that absurd body art applications, particularly the aesthetics for which folks are going seem as transient as the “Bad Boy Club” tattoos one saw in the mid-Nineties in my high school. The challenges for these faddish or transient designs are that they are permanent.

Sincerely, these tattoos so many out here, in what I’ve aptly referred to, in my own way, as the “New West,” don’t seem to have any overarching themes or points. I somewhat understand an eighteen-year-old enlisted in the Marines, tattooing him or herself with a “Semper Fi,” but come on a jelly fish or stingray? Can anyone envisage old men with their wives on the Lawn Bowling courts of Sun City in the year 2050?

I don’t get Phoenix. Is it elitism to find aesthetics disdainful? For me, it’s not a shriek or back-away, because I am afraid of ink or body art, no. Rather, it is a problem

1: As always, I have a tendency to use “bigger words.” By stating vacuous, I mean that Phoenix is a vacuum, in that it is in the States, and is the home to my Mom’s family. Therefore, it does not offer the instability of all of us traveling in Nicaragua. As such, it provided opportunity for more clinical observations.

2: “Tramp Stamp” - This is the tattoo on the small of a woman’s back, one which was probably obtained during a Spring Break to somewhere in Florida, California, or Mexico. That or it floated north from said “Spring Break Destinations,” into the near-the-mall-tattoo-parlors throughout the US.

Vanity

I once dated a woman, and she wrote professionally. That point is not an important one, except that she was not especially good at writing. The reason I even bring it up, is that she once used the definition of “Perfection,” to start out an article about something. Yeah, agreed, it was something along the lines of eight-grade lit class, or something. I only bring it up, in that I wanted to define "vanity." With Hillary’s continued pursuit of the Democratic Nomination, one cannot help but note that her continuation of this, thinking she is the “best candidate,” is predicated largely on amour propre.

As that was the case, the vanity required to continue fighting what in one’s mind is a battle they must fight, requires a great deal of self-diluting vanity. I assume it’s the same sort of vanity that Presidents Bush and Cheney enwrap themselves about the war in Iraq. One makes a decision, and executes on that decision, with all their might. In so doing, they are fraught with self-belief so much so, they are now past a mental point-of-no-return.

For Hillary, one cannot think anything beyond that she is, right now, telling herself that, “I am the best person for this country. Things will change, and all of a sudden there will be a demand for me to be the nominee.” It doesn’t help that someone as self-indulgent, Bill Clinton, is her partner in this. The two of them feed off one another, both in the past, to the present, which is why neither of them have the wherewithal to resign from the campaign.

Certainly, it is their right to continue on this Bataan Death March, and if they do, that will be fine; however, they must know, the Clinton legacy is suffering terribly. It is quite transparent the self-indulgence and calculation, the more they are present (note: Hillary’s interview yesterday with USA Today—referencing her strength with “white” “hard-working people”). Undoubtedly, this is the way the Clinton’s speak amongst themselves, but the more fatigued and longer they are in the public face, the more transparent that will be to others. It’s not becoming, nor does it help the DNC, which is, in turn, why the Clinton Legacy will suffer in our recent memories following this election. It’s unfortunate, but it is what it is. Alas, we will have quite the President out of this race in 2008.