"Me" time

Already the presidential R&R champion, GW is going out on a high note by opting to stay on vacation during the recent Israel/Gaza fighting.

A GOP shortcoming distilled to its essence

I usually don't agree with Mr. Gingrich, but he was quoted in a NYT article saying:


“I think the country is so tired right now of a style of Republican attack politics that has become a caricature of itself, they instinctively go, ‘I’m tired of that,’ ” said Newt Gingrich, a Republican and former speaker of the House. “It’s ineffective against Barack Obama right now. The country is faced with serious problems and is about to have a brand new president. You’d have to be irrational not to want the new president to succeed.”

Indeed the Republican style attack politics of late have become a caricature of itself. No longer is the party fighting for any principles, and less and less even for an ideology, but simply fighting 'The Democrats'. After regaining power in the 90's riding anti-PC, anti-sexuality sentiment, they used their power to 1) flog Bill Clinton , 2) save Terry Schiavo, 3) enrich their friends, and 4)do what they could to build and keep their so called permanent Republican majority.

One thing they did well was articulating basic and popular, albeit vague, principles: limited government, fiscal conservatism, upholding the rule of law, and fighting for traditional values. How well they adhered to these while in power leaves a lot to be desired.

One thing that has always bothered me is a false (in my view) correlation with conservative politics and fiscal conservatism. By accident of nomenclature Republicans were able to use a value almost universally shared, though not as universally practiced, and proclaim for themselves the mantle of sound fiscal policy and label political liberals as irresponsible money wasters. Then, mounting an anti-tax crusade they managed to drastically cut the tax burden on their wealthy power base while simultaneously throwing around federal money as if it grew on dandelions.

In the name of reducing government they cut domestic programs and spending, ignored infrastructure maintenance and improvement, removed significant amounts of internal federal checks, balances, and oversight, and significantly weakened the government regulatory structures over private business, while simultaneously drastically expanding the federal bureaucracy with the DHS and creating a secondary shadow federal government entity through subcontracting of basic services and national security operations that proved to be both less efficient, less effective, and less accountable than the government entities they replaced.

On a moral crusade to appease their fundamental religious wing, they pushed for criminalization of personal vices, and continued the increasingly unreasonable and expensive mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses and foul language on TV. At the same time they openly and brazenly disregarded longstanding statutory and constitutional prohibitions on things like torture and detainee treatment, massive warrantless eavesdropping, and lied the country into a war of aggression.

The adherance to their core principles has been selectively applied the the opposing party while behind the scenes, and- as they grew complacent and emboldened by their apparent lock on power- increasingly out in the open they adhered to the actual and eternal core political principles of gluttony, greed and avarice, wrath, and pride. (And in one or two cases sodomy)

Happy Yuletide Greetings!

Random hottie spotting

This picture ran with an article about cold weather today.

Metal Atari Style

My morning dilemma

Pheasant hunting

This is pretty disturbing.

An Update: Here is one writers reaction to this story.

Fun for the whole family

Sock and Awe

Anything goes

There was an interesting quote toward the end of this NYT editorial about the Interior Dept. today talking about the Minerals Management Service of this article fame. The quote was from the department's Inspector General where he said

“Short of a crime,” Mr. Devaney said, “anything goes at the Department of the Interior.”

Right before that, it said:

According to Mr. Devaney, officials accepted gifts, steered contracts to favored clients and engaged in drugs and sex with oil company employees.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that about everything in that list is in fact a crime. If Mr. Devaney doesn't think so, I know of some NBPD officers who would disagree.

Out-Bushing Bush

One of the hallmarks of Bush's reign was the singular focus on partisan politics above actual governing. His administration and their underlings in Congress would transparently act and vote in ways designed to above all beat the Democrats. The actual details were secondary to beating those lousy dems. Perhaps it is his lame duck status, or a rare change of heart, but Bush has been working to keep the auto companies out of bankruptcy, while the only roadblock to that has been Senate Republicans. Everybody knows and understands that the companies became fat happy bloated and lazy. Nonetheless to let them go bankrupt in the middle of a recession amid some serious instability in the financial sector and the economy as a whole seems pretty foolish. No one wants to see the money go to waste, so while it would be good to make sure there is a good plan in place unlike the last bailout, to let them fail at this time would probably be harmful. What is incredibly juvenile is the single-minded obsessing on the UAW. The UAW has already agreed to restructure their compensation structure, probably more so than any other employees excluding the $1 a year CEO's. It seems fairly transparent that the underlying motivation is to weaken a union that mainly gives money to Democrats. It seems a strange time to draw the line when the much much larger financial bailout is still in process with no effective conditions for the recipients to clean up their act, to pick this loan for a fractin of the amount to put your foot down doesn't make sense, at least for the reason given. To hold up the entire process, making lower wages for the workers the single objectionable issue it hinges upon, could maybe be called silly at best.

Self explanatory

"The $50 billion allegedly lost to investors would make Madoff's fund one of the biggest frauds in history....and a fine of up to $5 million"

Cabinets

Lots of people have been complaining about Obama's picks for his cabinet. That he is letting down his supporters on the left with Clinton and Gates. So far it seems to me he is putting together a pretty promising entourage.
The team of rivals hype is pretty annoying for me another example of how the urge to be a part of greatness by comparison to an historic figure is everywhere. Bush thought he was Churchill and now Obama is being heralded as Lincoln and FDR in one.

For secdef it was smart to have Gates stay on as someone intimately familiar with the current wars, plus he will mollify the Republicans, you might hope, from trying to pin gwot's problems on the new pres. He has also walked the line quite well of disagreeing with Bush's more morally dubious ideas while still professing the inability to change them quite yet.

HRC et al could be quite good at sweet talking the foreigners and doing some token or possibly even meaningful humanitarian things.

Gen. Shinseki for the VA is encouraging, so is Steven Chu for Energy Sec is too- and he has won a nobel for research. Sounds a bit elitist to me though. I bet he eats Arugula too. Who will the next nobel laureate appointed? Al Gore for internets and powerpoint affairs? Paul Krugman for treasury?

Holder for the AG has potential he seems sincere and it will remain to be seen if he has the balls to do anything on the torture issue. Another plus for him is that his Marc Rich pardon involvement will cancel out with Gates' Iran-Contra involvement making for a scandal neutral cabinet.

Wisconsin's Russ Feingold talked about cabinet picks and other things in an interview here.

Auto bailout and some other things

-Is the $70 an hour union wage real? This is one of the better writings about the auto bailout I have read. The house has passed an auto bailout bill but it may not get through the senate.

The earlier hearings were a little funny to see, the big 3 CEO's coming to Washington to ask for money, and getting rejected. It may have verged on political theater but a part of me did want to yell "Burn!!" when they were asked if they flew in on private jets, and if they would give them up in order to get the money but none agreed to at the time. It did underscore a mentality not only of them but also in the financial firms getting bailout money where executives there had no intention to change the way they do business even though their businesses failed and are being propped up by tax money. They seem to think they can keep living high on the hog like it is still the glory days of the bubble, when once one attained the lucrative title of 'executive', you now had it made in the shade. Even if you were a dumbass and did a shitty job, driving your company into the ground, you were given a good golden parachute on the way out since that is what executives deserve. Just because your company is losing money doesn't mean you shouldn't get that new gulfstream 12 with the pool of sharks with laser beams on their heads.

Where they are at now seems a bit better, apparently they all decided to sell the corporate jets (to Scotty Pippen I presume) and even agreed to work the next year for $1.00 in compensation. I am sure that they are sincere in that and wouldn't sneak a few extra bonuses the year after that to make up for it. They even came back to Congress a week later with detailed plans for how they were going to restructure and become a profitable company if only they could borrow a few billion. Imagine the prodigies that could come up with a detailed corporate restructuring plan in a week for a multi-billion dollar company! It boggles the mind! Not only that, but they even included in the plan how they are going to re-tool to make more efficient cars!

I must assume that these plans willl not be put in place unless and until they get their money. Otherwise it might confuse you that they strongly objected (allong with the Bush White House) to a provision of the bailout that would have made them drop their lawsuits against California's emissions regulations.


In other news, has Obama now become tainted by the IL gov. who was trying to raffle his vacated senate seat? Read this to find out.

Dumbshit Awards

3rd Place:
This teacher doesn't believe in free software and will make sure her students are not exposed to the subversive carnival show that is Linux. Everyone should use MS Windows, and she is going to do some investigating to see if it is a criminal act to use a computer without Windows on it. (from /.)

Runner Up:
This letter writer (3rd from the top) is upset that he was forced to vote for George W Bush twice and John McCain, even though he thought they were both nincompoops and would wreak havoc on the country. He would rather subject the US to their rule than vote for someone who is not pro-life. Oh, the predicaments one finds oneself in as a values voter. Cannot there ever be a competent pro-life candidate so the values voters can stop voting for incompetent buffoons simply because they are pro-life?

The Winner:
Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich of Chicago. While already under investigation for other matters, he made innumerable incriminating statements, some shown here, on a phone call the feds were recording. Unless you have been living under a rock, not much explanation here is needed.


What do they win? Trucknuts!

This song sucks

This song is great

Bank of America, how ungrateful

Bank of America, how could you be so ungrateful for the federal financial bailout that the same week as Bush weakens the federal rules on mountaintop removal mining, you go and decide not to finance it anymore? Don't you know that we are in a credit crisis and Financial institutions must continue lending out money? How could you go behind the president's back like that and undermine his plan to remove more mountaintops by declining to finance said removal? I am noticing a disturbing trend from you and your Bush hating "green policies". Bank of America? More like Bank of Hippieland. Where are your manners?

Partisan responses to the economic crisis

Right: Tax Cuts!!
Left: The New Deal lives again!!
Center: I love Sanjaya!

Going Retro with Greatness Envy

Phase I:
Baby Boomer-in-chief G.W. and the Republicans try to become the Greatest Generation II in the transcendent generational struggle of our time against terrorists. People on the home front can do the part in the war effort against these new fascist communists. Just like Eleanor Roosevelt convinced Americans to plant victory gardens after the tragedy of Pearl Harbor, George Bush convinced Americans to go victory shopping after the tragedy of 9/11. Just like Rosie the Riveter gave women the inspiration to replace the men at war in the workforce, Joe the Plumber gave women the inspiration to become entrepreneurs in building trades.

Phase II:
The second black man everyone at work can agree on and the Democrats channel FDR and embark upon The New Deal Part Deux. Home prices are down, your 401K lost 30%, hobos are crowding Main Street, and Ford Motor Co. is using fire hoses to keep away the throngs of job seekers. How will we hold up in such dire circumstances? More details as they emerge.

Lent for Liberals

Would a trend be a trend without an equally trendy anti-trend? With the ascendance of the shop-a-holic's dream that is black Friday comes the anti-establishmentt answer in buy-nothing-day. Cyber Monday has order-nothing-Monday. (I made that second one up)

How best for those whose life is dedicated to scorning mainstream to make a statement against all things shopping and holiday cheer? How best to assuage the anti-consumerist angst coming from your inevitable participation in christmas shopping at the MALL? How best to compensate for 364 days of living the consumer lifestyle like the rest of the chumps, and do it in a conspicuous way that you can brag about to your hipster friends? Never fear, buy-nothing-day is here!