Nobody 774

Sunday June 28, 2009
Nobody 774

Nobody Asked Me But:

“There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why... I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?” RFK

I think that President Obama is, by nature, a visionary – the kind of man that Kennedy was talking about. I only regret that some times his political instincts temper his grand plans.

The vision of Congressional politicians, on the other hand, goes no farther than their next election.

As for most Americans, I am sorry to say that their vision is overshadowed by their antipathy for taxes. Vision requires sacrifice, and as a general rule Americans don’t do sacrifice unless their backs are to the wall.

JFK was a visionary in his breathtaking challenge that took us to the moon, but even in space we have lost our ambition. Forty years later we still look to the moon – when we bother to look at all – while Russia looks to the moons of Mars.<<<

Speaking of space, I wrote this six years ago.

Sunday, February 2, 2003
Nobody # 488

Nobody Asked Me But:

When the good and the young die it is a sad thing, but to die while playing with the stars, as those seven astronauts did yesterday, is to look into the eyes of death and say, “if you take me old man, it will be on my terms.”

And don’t you agree that our space program remains a miracle of safety in any measurement of difficulty to failure?<<<

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we had the same sort of vision and determination today that fueled our journey to the moon in the 1960s, and we used it to guarantee health care for EVERY AMERICAN and make us the healthiest nation in the world?<<<

GEOGRAPHY QUIZ

Which great river forms at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at the junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers?

The region known as the Great Basin is in which half of the United States – western or eastern?

(Answers at end)

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

As you know, I have long been a champion of malts as nature’s perfect food. Now it is time to name the runner-up.

And the winner is ………. The onion.<<<

I have a confession. Last Tuesday on one of my, of late, infrequent visits to Starbucks/Coldstone, I did NOT have sweet cream with raspberries mixed in. Instead I had my cup of black with a Coldstone’s chocolate malt chaser. Did I make a mistake? Yes! I should not have ordered a small malt when medium and large were available. Never again!<<<

Action: Sanford wanderlust trip paid by tax dollars.

Reaction: That’s a Republican for you. You notice that President Clinton never spent tax dollars on a love trip. He got his right in the White House. Saved the taxpayers big bucks. Thank you President Bill.

Reaction # 2: But Governor Mark is no Clinton fan. As he once said about President Bill’s play days with Monica, “If you undermine trust in our system, you undermine everything.”

Reaction # 3: Is it true that Sanford’s favorite song is “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina?”

Reaction # 4: Is it true that one of the hot topics between Governor Mark and his “Evita” was his fear that traditional marriage is being threatened by gays?<<<

Question: What is the most dangerous sport in which Republicans participate?

Answer: Sexual stone-throwing.<<<

EMPATHY AND THE SUPREME COURT

Anyone who condemns empathy as an attribute in SC Justices would, I assume, support replacing humans judges with computers. No empathy there. Just the facts man.

And when are conservatives going to stop pretending that their judges aren’t just as influenced by their background, philosophy and feelings as are the liberals?

The next time any judge is not influenced by who he or she is will be the first.<<<

Action: The Motion Picture Academy announced that they are doubling (from 5 to 10) the number of films that will be nominated for the Best Picture award.

Reaction: Bigger is not always better. More is sometimes less. It is often difficult to find 5 worthy films in a year. But then, perhaps worthy no longer has anything to do with it.

Reaction # 2: Maybe with 10 choices the Academy can actually get it right.<<<

Excuse me for not being worried about Shaq being traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Big Nickname had (barely) one good year left in him after he was traded by the Lakers, and he used that up in 2006. He will play hard for the first 10 games or so. After that it will be one effort about every 7th game and for a couple of games in each play-off series.<<<

Action: A strip search of Savana Redding, a 13-year-old Safford, Arizona girl, to see if she had drugs in her underwear was unjustified, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

Reaction: It is refreshing to see the SC get one right every couple of years.

Reaction # 2: Except for Justice Thomas, that is, who was the only dissenter.

Reaction # 3: For too long school officials have been getting away with most everything short of murder by simply invoking the magic words – drugs or gangs. As the ACLU attorney said - " Schools are not constitutional dead zones."

Action: Two UCLA players, Holiday and Collison, selected in the first round of the NBA draft - For the Bruins, it marked six first-round picks in the last four years, tops for any college program in the nation.

Reaction: Ben Howland recruits. Ben Howland coaches. Players improve. Bruins win.

Reaction # 2: Had Jrue Holiday returned to Westwood for a second year he would have been a lottery pick – probably top 5.<<<

Answers to geography quiz – 1. Ohio River. 2. Western half.

The picture at the beginning is of Whitehall, first a palace for Henry VIII, and later the place from where the British Empire was administrated. Now it houses, among other things, the UK's Defense Ministry. I took this shot during our 05 trip.

Nobody 773

Sunday, June 21, 2009
Nobody 773

Nobody Asked Me But:

ON WAR

War will be akin to sane
When
Politicians kill one another
and
The young dance in the streets.

(This is from my poem Black Hawk Down)<<<

Since home and teaching are the two greatest factors in the successful education of our children, I have a question: Once the governments legislate to make it easier to fire bad teachers, will they follow with laws making it easier to fire bad parents? Just wondering.<<<

BOOK REVIEW

“The Stain”

A plane lands in New York City but stops dead on the runway, which is appropriate since all but four of the passengers and crew are seemingly dead. But are they? CDC Dr. Eph Goodwater teams up with Abraham Setrakian who has survived more than human monsters at Treblinka and Vasiliy Fet, NYC rat-catcher supreme on a vampire hunt that ultimately leads them to the subway tunnels under the World Trade Center excavation.

Despite a slightly Buffyed-up ending, Pans Labyrinth director, Guilleramo Del Toro and mystery writer Chuck Hogan have teamed up to write an exciting novel and, what’s better, it is the first of a trilogy.<<<

And while on the subject of books: We may present the Edgar (Allen Poe) or the Agatha (Christie) award for best crime novel, but we fall far short of the UK’s charm. It was just announced across the pond that Ian Rankin’s “Exit Music” has been shortlisted for
 Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year.<<<

Is it correct to say that Blue Cross and other private health insurance companies who increase their profits by canceling policies for the very sick have made a killing in the field? Just wondering. And tell me again that we don’t need a private health insurance alternative.<<<

SPORTS PAGE

Seth Davis at sportsillustrated.com: “This is the discomfiting reality of today's college basketball recruiting world, which is driven almost totally by NBA agents. As I've said before, agents are to college basketball what steroids are to baseball: They're cancerous and they're everywhere, and everyone knows what's going on -- yet no one is doing anything about it.”

Reaction: My solution is simple. Governments, national and state, should enact laws making it illegal for sports agents to have ANY professional contact with kids before they are NBA eligible. Anyone who violates these laws should face heavy fines and a permanent loss of license.<<<


He said it, not me. But I agree. - Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News: “I think USC deserves our praise for somehow remaining under the salary cap — and in two sports — for as long as it has.”<<<


Is my memory failing or has American geography really changed? When I went to high school in Memphis it was located in the mid-South. So how did it end up as a AAA Pacific Coast League city?<<<


“With a respectable 4.23 ERA.” - When I was young, respectable and 4.23 ERA were not allowed in the same sentence.<<<

Q: What key weapon was invented in 1955 to help men in their eternal power struggle with women?

A: The wireless remote control.<<<

FOR HISTORY LOVERS ONLY

Did you know: that Paul Revere fought in the Battle of Gettysburg?

That’s Paul Joseph Revere, the grandson of the Midnight Rider.<<<

AND HOW ABOUT THIS?

I knew that we gave a huge amount of aid to the Soviet Union during WW II, but every time I see the actual figures I am again amazed.

15,000 airplanes

7,000 tanks

375,000 army trucks

We were so accommodating that legend has it that when the image-conscious Soviets asked for 18-inch condoms the US shipped them in cartons marked Medium.<<<

MOVIES

My “Don’t Make Her My Momma” award for the worst mother in movie history goes to Eleanor Iselin, (Angela Lansbury) in “The Manchurian Candidate.” Her manipulation and control of her brainwashed son, ((Laurence Harvey) was bad enough, but to have a crush on him too. That’s below and beyond the call of motherhood.

However, if I wanted a “killer” mom (literally) I would I would gladly sign on as the son of runner-up Beverly Sutphin (Kathleen Turner) in “Serial Mom.”<<<

Did you know: that Gene Kelly was “singing in the milk” as well as in the rain? The dairy stuff mixed in to make it show up better on the screen. Whole or 2%? Who knows? What am I supposed to be, some kind of expert?<<<

I am not saying that the new conservative columnist for the NY Times, Ross Douthat is a bad guy, but I am suspicious of anyone who was born in New Haven and then went to Harvard.

And he certainly has it wrong in calling author Dan Brown anti Catholic, when what he really is anti-talent.<<<

Action: Arizona lawmakers move to end domestic partner benefits.

Reaction: As the nation moves towards the light, the state where I grew up once more chooses the darkness. As Lincoln said, “I have to laugh or I will cry.”<<<

The ethics question taken is from Randy Cohen’s excellent weekly column in the NY Times. The solution, right or wrong, is all mine. How would you answer?

My friend Natalie had a small party, to which another friend brought a movie on his portable hard drive for all to watch. When Natalie got up to get a sweater, she tripped over the cord, killing the hard drive. She offered our friend $300 to replace it, but he demanded $1,800 to cover data retrieval too: the drive contained his digital artwork, not backed up. Who owes what?

jt: Friend two is the debtor. He owes Natalie an apology. Hers was an accident for which she offered to pay a reasonable sum. His was no accident. He was irresponsible in not backing up data that he valued highly.<<<

Nobody 772

Picture - My favorite breakfast (in Quebec)

Sunday, June 14, 2009
Nobody # 772

Nobody Asked Me But:

As he begins his program of draconian cuts, Governor Terminator should keep this quote in front of him at all times:

“Eliminating healthcare for some of its most vulnerable residents would make California a contemptible society -- and a society that history will not judge kindly." Unknown

And did you know that: $1.32 in economic activity is generated for every dollar spent on human services.

Monday, June 8

Let’s start this week with a joke. This is one told by NY Times columnist Thomas Friedman to President Obama. Friedman reports that it got a good laugh.

There is this very pious Jew named Goldberg who always dreamed of winning the lottery. Every Sabbath, he’d go to synagogue and pray: “God, I have been such a pious Jew all my life. What would be so bad if I won the lottery?” But the lottery would come and Goldberg wouldn’t win. Week after week, Goldberg would pray to win the lottery, but the lottery would come and Goldberg wouldn’t win. Finally, one Sabbath, Goldberg wails to the heavens and says: “God, I have been so pious for so long, what do I have to do to win the lottery?”

And the heavens parted and the voice of God came down: “Goldberg, give me a chance! Buy a ticket!”

What isn’t a joke is the fact that religious fanatics on both sides, Israelis and Palestinians, make peace almost an impossibility. They gain and keep their edge by using scare tactics and pressure politics that the moderate majorities, with their reason-based approach, can’t or won’t emulate. Until these moderates get tough, it will remain a forever war.

Tuesday, June 9

Action: Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said that there will be no bipartisan support for any health care bill that contains a government-based option.

Reaction: Is that a threat or a promise? In other words, who needs them?

Reaction II: The government-based option is crucial.

Wednesday, June 10

Truism: Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Truth: In the entertainment world imitation is more like a hiding place for the lazy and the talentless.

Thursday, June 11

I didn’t know that – facts about Harper Lee and “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

1. The character of Dill, the young boy who is a friend of Scout and Jim is patterned after Lee’s childhood friend Truman Capote. (However, since 10-year-old Dill proposes to 9-year-old Scout, we must assume that Capote had not yet discovered his real sexual identity.)

2. Lee, in turn, is the model for a character in Capote's first novel, “Other Voices, Other Rooms.”

3. Capote later said that Boo Radley was a real person who lived down the street from Lee and he (should be him but Lee and he sounds so neat) and that he also had a character in “Other Voices” based on Boo who didn’t make the final cut.

4. Having written several long stories Harper Lee, moved to New York City and located an agent in November 1956. The following month at the East 50th townhouse of her friends Michael Brown and Joy Williams Brown, she received a gift of a year's wages with a note: "You have one year off from your job to write whatever you please. Merry Christmas.”

Nice Christmas present. (Within that year she finished her first draft or “TKAM.”)

5. Lee loved the film version of “Mockingbird,” and became close friends with Gregory Peck. Peck’s grandson, Harper Peck Voll, is named after her.

6. Always the recluse, when Lee was asked to speak at the 2007 induction ceremony into the Alabama Academy of Honor she responded with "Well, it's better to be silent than to be a fool."

Thursday, June 11

Palin vs. Gingrich – The fight begins.

And for this week’s feature bout:

In this corner we have the bright hypocrite with a semi-hard Right, Newt, “the Newter” Gringrich.

And in this corner we have “I may be dumb but there is no semi about my Hard Right,” Sarah, “who needs to read” Palin.

Friday, June 12

“Don’t ask, don’t tell,” but if you ask me, I will tell you that the President shouldn’t be dragging his feet on this issue. Just as Truman acted courageously in desegregating the military in 1947, Obama should de-anti-gay it right now.

Saturday, June 13

Action: Obama administration has virtually abandoned plans to resettle in the United States some detainees from the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a recognition that the task had become politically impossible because of congressional opposition.

Reaction: The gutless wonders on Capital Hill strike again.

Sunday, June 14

I am no fan of the Long political dynasty in Louisiana, but former Senator Earl Long knew the American people well when he described their attitude about taxes as – “Don’t tax you, don’t tax me, tax that fellow behind the tree.”

Color me dumb!!! Both Barb and I thought today was Father's Day, so I have deleted all references in the above to that special day. But Barb is still going to cook tacos for me anyway.

Nobody 771

Sunday, June 7, 2009
Nobody # 771

Nobody Asked Me But:

Classless remark of the week:

“Let's hope that the key conferences aren't when she's (Sotomayor’s) menstruating or something, or just before she's going to menstruate.” - G. Gordon Liddy

But then classless and Liddy have always been inseparable.

Monday, June 1

Today is the day when Los Angeles turns into Havana West, the day when neighbors become water police and are encouraged (or is it commanded) to inform on their neighbors. Are the new water laws necessary? I don’t think so. From all that I read that is not DWP propaganda, the situation is borderline serious while these laws speak of desperate. I think “encourage to save” fits the present situation more than “order to save.”

Perhaps I would have more confidence in the law’s importance if they did not originate behind the walls of one of the most corrupt government agencies in existence, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (and I believe you can probably strike the “one of”) and be rubberstamped by another suspect entity, the LA City Council.

Tuesday, June 2

Memo to General Motors: (with a tip of my hat to Ray Kinsella): Build a better car and they will buy.

No rocket science here. Just common sense.

Memo to UAW leaders: Samuel Gompers wasn’t the whole truth – “MORE” is not always the correct answer.

Wednesday, June 3

Action: Abortion doctor George Tiller is killed.

Reaction: What do you call a nation that claims to eschew violence while selling guns to anyone and everyone?

I can think of several – dishonest, hypocritical, tragic.

And why not label anti-abortionist leader Randal Terry ("I'm more concerned about Obama's reaction than Tiller's murder.") as the terrorist that he surely is?

Thursday, June 4

ON ABORTION

I remain convinced that abortion is a necessary evil. Necessary because there are times when it is the preferable alternative. Evil because in instances that lack strong necessity it is a savage practice that brutalizes our nation and makes other savage practices more legitimate.

Friday, June 5

News Item: VASSALBORO, Maine -- A three-alarm fire on Wednesday morning destroyed Vassalboro's Grand View Coffee Shop, a business well known for its waiters and waitresses who work topless.

As you may have noticed, I have been keeping abreast of the situation at the Grand View ever since it opened in January.

Arson perhaps? A little tat for tit?

Saturday, June 6

I thought that President Obama gave a great speech yesterday in Cairo. It would have been even greater had he included one or more specific plans, goals or timetables around which both our worlds could rally.

And now that the speech is behind him, I hope he remembers what my grandmother always said: “Actions speak louder than words.”

Sunday, June 7

Action: Some in Congress uneasy with Obama's Mideast policy.

Reaction: Once again, the pro-Israeli hard line lobby is more important than integrity. Remind me not to put these congressional bozos in my “Profiles In Courage” sequel.

Are the settlements as immoral as the Arab position that Israel must be destroyed? Of course not, BUT THEY ARE IMMORAL!