Nobody 729

Sunday, January 27, 2008
Nobody # 729

Nobody Asked Me But:

“The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

UP: The UCLA coffee that Barb gave me for Christmas. Now I always know what’s Bruin.<<<

Sign of the apocalypse - The Hale administrators are driving around the campus in a golf cart!<<< (administrator's picture)

No birthday trip for Barb this year, as she feels a bit run down and not up to it. It was a doubly good decision, because the weather would have “dampened” our enthusiasm anyway. We did get out to the Valley Inn for a fried chicken dinner. One of the reasons I love the place so much is that we are usually the youngest people there. Damn, that feels good!<<<

According to the Gallup Poll of January 10-13, here are the four most important problems facing our nation. Because I try to be thoughtful and considerate, I have included solutions for each.

Iraq – Frame an exit plan and set a timetable.

The economy – Short term - prime the pump. Long term – raise taxes, reduce non-essential entitlements such as farm subsidies, etc, and place tougher regulations on banks.

Healthcare – Universal, single-pay, with options to obtain care outside the plan for higher co-pay.

Immigration – Citizenship for current illegals, but only those who can read and write English. Give a reasonable time period for them to learn. Tighten the border but tear down the wall. Deport all who violate national or state felony codes. <<<

He used to be J. R. Henderson when he played for the National champion Bruin basketball team in 1995. Now he is J. R. Sakuragi (means cherry blossom tree), a star in Japanese professional basketball. He took the new name as part of becoming a Japanese citizen, so that he could play on the Japanese national team.

Note: He also had to learn the language, all 1,750 characters in their alphabet, because that was a requirement for citizenship.<<<

UP: This limerick sent to Atlantic Magazine’s Andrew Sullivan’s “The Daily Dish.”

There once was a mayor called Rudy
Who went to Long Island for booty
The taxpayers paid So that he could get laid
Did 9/11 come before Judy?

Here are the answers to last week’s questions.

Just thinking about it will probably make you want to sing it. What is your all-time favorite theme song from a TV show?

Elizabeth: Mine is still “Mary Tyler Moore”, then “M*A*S*H*,” then “Party of Five,” and finally, “Malcolm in the Middle.”

Here’s mine. There are so many from “Have gun will travel is the card of the man,” to “You’re going to make it after all.” But my favorite is:

Through early morning fog I see,
Visions of the things to be,
The pains that are withheld for me,
I realize and I can see...

[REFRAIN]:
That suicide is painless.
It brings on many changes.
And I can take or leave it if I please.

The theme from M*A*S*H*.

In one sentence, what do you believe is the secret of life?

Trust your instincts. They will rarely, if ever, let you down.<<<

FYI:

In our current decade, the most popular girl’s name is Emily, followed by Madison. For boys it is Michael, followed by Christopher.<<<

LIFE ON MINNEHAHA (see cartoon)

DOWN: Dirty in South Carolina

What’s dirty in South Carolina? Hillary’s unnecessary and vicious attacks on Obama. She is not my American Idol right now. <<<

UP: Hillary, who said that the government should take an active role in the economy to address what she said were the excesses of the market. Sounds like the New Deal to me. And despite what New Deal critics say, FDR understood the Constitution, especially the preamble, better than most.

Form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty; the common denominator in all of these is fairness. Surely, life isn’t always fair, but the role of our government is to make it as fair as possible within the bounds of extensive but not absolute personal and economic freedom.

Add safety, directly in “provide for the common defense” and “insure domestic tranquility,” indirectly in the others, and you have the essence of the Framer’s plan for American government. The body of the Constitution is simply filling in the details.

DOWN: Hillary, for wanting to have it both ways. As she told Tim Russert last week: “You have a woman running to break the highest and hardest glass ceiling. I don’t think either of us wants to inject race or gender in this campaign. We’re running as individuals.”

Say what?<<<

DOWN: President Bill, who should have given the strongest endorsement possible to HRC at the start of her campaign and then shut up.

DOWN: Hypocrisy, as in Name This Candidate. “The Memphis Commercial Appeal praised (guess who) a few days later for daring to ‘set himself apart from the pack of contenders for the Democratic nomination by saying something nice about Ronald Reagan.’"(1992)

Who was (guess who)? Bill Clinton.<<<

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE? The quotes, which break down the basic difference between the two Democrats, are from the New Yorker. The comments are mine. “

Obama offers himself as a catalyst by which disenchanted Americans can overcome two decades of vicious partisanship, energize our democracy, and restore faith in government. Clinton presents politics as the art of the possible, with change coming incrementally through good governance, a skill that she has honed in her career as advocate, views of the presidency.”

“Obama, who confessed to being disorganized, said that the Presidency has little to do with running an efficient office: “It involves having a vision for where the country needs to go . . . and then being able to mobilize and inspire the American people to get behind that agenda for change.” In reply, Clinton likened the job of President to that of a “chief executive officer” who has “to be able to manage and run the bureaucracy.”

The idealist verses the realist, vision verses immediacy, inspiration verses competence. Overly simplified? Of course! But there is often clarity in simplification. Despite my misgivings about Hillary’s tactics, both candidates are excellent choices. As for me, I think it is time for America to elect a philosopher-king.<<<

And here’s Obama on Bill Clinton being the first “black” president: " I would have to, you know, investigate more, you know, Bill's dancing abilities and . . . some of this other stuff before I accurately judged whether he was, in fact, a brother."<<<

UP: LA Times columnist George Skelton on Roosevelt and the New Deal – “I knew FDR. He was a frequent guest in our home over the radio. FDR got my dad back to work during the Depression and was a reassuring voice in the war. In our family, FDR was God.”

DOWN: Mitt Romney. Would Will Rogers have liked him? Probably not! The other Republican candidates sure don’t.<<<

UP: Candidates who obey this basic political law - if you're going to tell people something they don't want to hear, you've got to make a convincing counteroffer.

DOWN: The great myth. The Republican Party doesn’t really believe that "government is part of the problem." Hell, Ronald Reagan who first said it, didn’t really believe it. What they really believe is that a government that does things they don’t like, things like tax and regulate, is the problem.

UP: Caroline Kennedy, for endorsing Obama in today’s NY Times.

UP: BRUINS! Great win Thursday. Two of our top seven players out, behind by 7 and we pull it out. Talent + toughness prevails.

"This was the best win I've ever been part of in my 27 years in this business," UCLA Coach Ben Howland.

UP: Kevin Love for his GREAT game (26 and 18) and for having his priorities straight: After the game, Love and Leunen hugged and chatted. "Get those Trojans!" said Love.

UP Darren Collison, who followed up his career high 22 points on Thursday by scoring 33 last night and Love again, who also set career and Bruin freshman records in rebounds by getting 21.

UP: Fairness in basketball recruiting. If a recruit can break a verbal commitment without penalty, a coach should also be able to rescind a scholarship offer. Until papers are signed what’s “sauce for the goose,” as my grandmother used to say….

UP: Nevada business manager Vickie Joyner, 63, who said last week: "I voted for George W. Bush, I don't deny that. There wasn't a Democrat I could support – and there was the whole national security thing. Now he's like an embarrassing relative you're stuck with."

UP: UCLA’s multi-colored football coaching staff. The head-man and his two top assistants are, respectively, white, black and Asian.

UP: Good-bye - in this case to Fred Thompson. I would like to say that you didn’t waste yours and the voter’s time, but I can’t. What’s that? Your wife is calling on your cell?

WAY, WAY, WAY, WAY, WAY DOWN: Two Arizona legislators who are proposing a law that would allow teachers AND students to carry guns on public-school campuses.

UP: This quote from the famous Unknown: "He has an overriding sense of misery, which sustains him in times of happiness."

Here are your questions for next week.

If you could have a cookie-jar sized container filled with anything you wanted – anything but cookies and money - with what would you want the jar to be filled?

You have been asked to create a brand-new road sign that would be put up, where appropriate, on streets throughout your town. People in your town will be expected to obey it just as they do any other road sign. What will your sign command them to do?