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.