Nobody 778

Sunday, August 2, 2009
Nobody # 778

Nobody Asked Me But:

The picture post card above shows the Martha Washington Hotel in New York City where my mother and grandmother stayed during World War II when they bussed from Michigan to see my two uncles who were in the Navy.

Here is the caption, which delights me:

For Women. 29 East 29th Street. Modern. Fireproof. Ideal for women and girls traveling alone. Hostess and chaperone in attendance. Rooms with running water $1.50 a day up. With private bath $2.00 a day up. Splendid restaurant for men and women.<<<

REPORT FROM RENO

My son had a roller coaster week. The first half was mostly a down but he ended up, feeling better physically and with an excellent progress report from his doctor. Greg goes back into the hospital tomorrow for his second chemo week. Hopefully it will go as well or even better than the first session.<<<

DOW ENDS BEST JULY IN 20 YEARS

Now there’s a headline I like. Gain’s 9%, so do we credit the President or the business cycle? Mostly the President, since the turn-around is much too quick for the cycle. So Go Obama and Keynes!<<<

HISTORY WILL NOT BE KIND

To a party who turns its back on the poor and the sick – who deliberately tear huge holes in the safety net that names our humanity. To a people who view taxes and responsibilities as something to be avoided at all costs. Or to the enabler governor who spouts homilies and allows this to happen.<<<

LOOKING AT VICK

Now that Michael Vick has served his sentence for blatant animal abuse, does he have a right to a second chance in the NFL?

Looking at it from a different perspective, if Vick had been a teacher would his teaching certificate be returned and he welcomed back into the classroom? The answer to the second question is NO. I believe that same answer applies to the first.

Yes, he served his time and deserves a second chance in society, but he has no vested right to a particular profession, especially one in which he has role model responsibilities.<<<

GOODBYE AND HELLO

I love a morning drink while I write and surf (the web). Some come and go as my tastes change. Others just come and go – like Cinnabun. Last week I drank my last can of Starbuck’s iced coffee. Alas, they stopped making it. Thank goodness I have a replacement. (See picture.) For you that are sheltered, Caribou Coffee Shops are widespread throughout the East and Mid-west. But their iced coffee in cans invaded the West over a year ago. It is at least as good as Starbuck’s was – and the cans are BIGGER!<<<

THE RESURRECTION - PARTLY

At the risk of shocking my liberal world, George Bush keeps climbing in my estimation. First term Bush is still one of the worst presidents ever. Bad advice and a big ego led him to make some unconscionable and disastrous decisions.

But second term Bush, out from under the spell of the evil twins – Cheney and Rummy - was much improved.

And Post-President Bush has been the picture of grace. So even though GB deserves plenty of blame, let’s give him some credit where credit is due.<<<

HERE’S MY FOLLOW-UP ON THE HEALTH PLAN

I think the odds on having one signed by the President this year are about 60% to 40%. If there was no August recess, I would raise it to 70% - 30% but since the Republicans have been allowed to control the message with negative propaganda, I am afraid that too many in Congress will go home to voters who have been frightened into opposition.

I think it would have been better had Obama sent a simple, specific, incremental plan to Congress and, at the same time, sold it to the people. With this approach he could have countered Republican propaganda point by point.<<<

THE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH

Police Sgt. James Crowley was dumb in arresting and handcuffing Harvard Professor Louis Gates Jr.

That said, it is also true that Gates Jr. was overreacting in the lead-up to his arrest.

As for the President, it was not a good time for him to pull a Joe Biden.

Was there racism in the whole thing? Probably – at least a little. <<<

SPEAKING OF RACISM

I try to see the best in everyone, so when Boston cop Justin Barrett says that the E he sent out in which he refers to Louis Gates Jr. as a "banana-eating jungle monkey” doesn’t make him a racist, I tend to agree. It doesn’t make him one. It simply verifies that he is.<<<

BILL MAHER SAYS 'BIRTHERS' MUST BE

Maher – “Which raises the question (of Obama’s birth certificate): Why, in this country, is it always the religious right that won't take anything on faith?”<<<

(I borrowed a Mike Luckovich cartoon to illustrate the point. I think he is the best political cartoonist in America.)

CONNIE MACK

Do you want to know how old I really am? When I was a boy, Connie Mack was still managing the Philadelphia Athletics. And Mack was born DURING THE CIVIL WAR!

And yes, I remember that he always wore a suit in the dugout – never a baseball uniform.<<<

BEST PICTURES

Had the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences always nominated ten movies, rather than five, for their Best Picture Award, here are eight that would, or at least should, have been nominated:

“The General” – Buster Keaton’s greatest work
“Animal Crackers” – The Marx brothers
“Meet me In St. Louis”
“East of Eden”
“Rebel Without A Cause”
“Night of the Hunter”
“Psycho”
“The Candidate”

And this list doesn’t even include Woody Allen films. I will name them next week.<<<