Nobody # 785

Sunday, September 20, 2009
Nobody # 785

Nobody Asked Me But:

As we face the hatred always remember that silence gives consent.

Action: The Bruins and Dodgers win yesterday, and the Trojans lose.

Reaction: “This must be love, because it feels so good.”<<<

Good morning “all.” Today’s Nobody contains more quotes than usual, because I found them very interesting. Perhaps you will too.

HEROES OF THE WEEK

Lisa De Pasquale, event director of next year’s Conservative Political Action Conference who said in rejecting a request for a panel on whether Obama is a native-born U.S. citizen: “It would fill a room. "But so would a two-headed monkey.”

David Frum, a conservative author and speechwriter for President George W. Bush on Far Right fever: “They are wild accusations and the paranoid delusions coming from the fever swamps."

Washington GOP strategist Jon Henke: "Death panels' is not a substantive contribution to the discussion. It's a cartoon."<<<

VILLAINS OF THE WEEK

It’s another high school sports season opening, which means that many parents of Southern California athletes are scrambling in search of temporary homes or phony addresses. It’s transfer time! Illegal recruiting season is over and now it is time for the payoff. Top athletes are enrolled in their new schools, transferred by cheating parents to the athletic factories of cheating coaches. AND NOTHING IS DONE ABOUT IT!


The problem gets worse by the year and is one more example of our messed up society. Withdrawing tempts me more by the day.<<<

LOOKING BACK

It was Margaret Chase Smith, our country’s first woman Senator, who, early in the McCarthy years, warned her fellow Republicans with words that they would do well to read again today – that they were not going to achieve election victories by riding on "the Four Horsemen of Calumny -- Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry, and Smear."

A SMALL THRILL – BUT IT WAS ALL MINE

Last Monday night we were watching the British mystery on PBS. It took place in Oxford, where, at one point, a character was sitting at a table, one of a group that spilled over the sidewalk and into part of the street. When we were in Oxford I sat at one of those the same outdoor tables and enjoyed what was arguably my best ice cream ever.

JACK KRAMER

Jack Kramer died last week at the age of 88. He was my first tennis hero and his legendary matches with “Pancho” Gonzales, another early favorite of mine, were some of the best ever.<<<

HEARD WHILE CRUISING ON THE FAR RIGHT

Our current financial crisis was planned at the time by the people who fled with the baby Barack out of Kenya and into Oahu.

STEVE BREEN Steve Breen is the cartoonist for the San Diego Union Tribune. I thought that his cartoon from last week was priceless.<<<

WHAT I’M READING

Non-fiction – Ted Kennedy’s memoir. I started it Tuesday and, although it has been a busy week and I am not far in, what I have read so far is fascinating.

Fiction - I recently finished the final book of Robert Ferrigno’s Assassination trilogy, “Heart of the Assassin.” In the series Ferrigno writes of a post-conflagration America divided into two nations – an Islamic one centered in the Pacific Northwest and a Christian Bible-belt one in the Southeast. Both are threatened by the militarily powerful Mexico bent on reclaiming the land stolen (they got that right) in 1848. “Heart” is a satisfying conclusion to this series and, like the others, gets a grade of double-F (for fun and fascinating.<<<

ACTION/REACTION

Action: Man-up. Man-crush. Man machine, etc.

Reaction: Shall we call this the “time of masculine insecurity?”

Reaction # 2: To paraphrase the Bard – I think (HE) duth protest too much.

Action: “Arizona Governor Brewer cites God-given aid in governing.”

Reaction: No wonder California is in such a mess. God is spending all Her time in Phoenix.

Reaction # 2: Is it finally time for me to admit that God is a Republican?

Action: "There is not a racist bone in my dad's body." Alan Wilson (Joe’s son).

Reaction: Some muscles and connective tissue, sure, but no bones.

Action: Busloads of anti-Obama protesters rode from Mississippi to Washington D.C. wearing white T-shirts identifying themselves as “Freedom Riders.”

Reaction: They should be ashamed. But if they were capable of that emotion, they would never have borrowed such a noble name for such a common cause.

Action: In a letter to LA Times Business columnist, someone wrote – A citizen who accepts personal responsibility for his welfare has no real problem getting health insurance.

Reaction: What???

Action: Dinner with Palin goes for $63,500

Reaction: And she supplies the nuts.

KUDOS FOR CARTER

Jimmy, that is, for calling out bigotry last week.<<<

HISTORY

History Question: What was Dick Nixon’s greatest accomplishment?

History answer: He created a nostalgia for LBJ.

CNN

Below is the CNN question of the day for last Wednesday and the responses:

What is the greatest source of anxiety you have experienced with e-mail?
Technical issues 18%
Spam 45%
Number of e-mails 14%
Sent an e-mail I should not have 22%

I don’t know about you but I chose number 4. I tend toward the impulsive and have sent a few Es that I wanted back as soon as I clicked Send.<<<

THE TRUTH HURTS - OR AT LEAST IT SHOULD

"All other industrialized societies guarantee health care for everybody – young or old, rich or poor, native or immigrant.”

“The U.S. is the only developed nation where medical bankruptcies occur.”

(The above was taken from the Sept. 21st, 2009 issue of Newsweek.)

While we are in New York City this week and next I am going to make a Wednesday night stop in SoHo at the Housing Works Bookstore and take advantage of their “speed shrinking.” Every Wednesday a panel of eight psychiatrists and psychologists give free three-minute advice
I am hoping they can tell me why I am addicted to writing all these Nobodies.<<<

Speaking of NYC, here is a picture of the hotel in which we will be staying.

Later days!




















jt sessions.

Nobody # 784

Sunday, September 13, 2009
Nobody # 784

Nobody Asked Me But:

“Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible. Man’s capacity for injustice makes democracy necessary.” Reinhold Niebuhr

Only an educated, informed electorate allows democracy to work. jt

The Fish Market, where I had my birthday dinner, sits at water’s edge in San Diego. Permanently docked close to it is the decommissioned aircraft carrier USS Midway. Between the two, there is a group sculpture of Eisenhower addressing several service people. Now, as you can see from the pictures above, something new has been added. This 18’ artwork depicts the famous Life Magazine photo of a sailor kissing a nurse on VJ Day. Very cool!<<<

MY GUY. I’M TALKING ABOUT MY GUY

That’s my guy! The one who spoke to Congress last Wednesday. He’s the man I voted for in November - the candidate who excited me with the possibilities for a better America. I don’t know where he has been, but I am glad he is back.<<<

WATCHING AND READING

What are all of you currently watching and reading? What’s that? Some of you have to work. Sorry. Along with the Food Channel, which I mentioned last week, I am watching a little Dodger baseball, (most of the time lately, a little is all I can take) Bruin football and “Mad Men.” If you haven’t tried the latter, you are missing some prime television. Its rendition of life on Madison Avenue in the early 1960s is priceless.

Speaking of Madison Ave, our New York City trip is less than 2-weeks away. I can hardly wait.

But I digress. The returning fall shows that I eagerly await are “Bones” and Larry David’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” Barbara adds “Ugly Betty,” staring our wonderful ex-student America Ferrera, and subtracts Larry David whose pomposity she cannot stand. Both of us enjoy watching foreign language shows, which is why we tune into British mysteries on PBS.<<<

Late add – I watched the première of the new show “Glee” Wednesday and, despite what I thought was an overly sexy routine for a high school performance, (color me slightly purple for out of touch and prudish) I liked the cast and the funny dialogue – as in nothing sacred – very much.

Books next week.<<<

THE AMERICAN "IDEA"

It seems to me that the American “idea” has two parts. The first is the git/got part. “I’ll get mine” or “I’ve got mine” and everybody else be damned. I will share as little as possible with them. The second is what Lincoln called “our better nature.” That’s the part that looks out for others – those outside of our family, friends and certain peers.

Git/got is one of the reasons that America prospers. But it is also one of the reasons that America falls behind other civilized nations in being a humane society.

The “better nature” part allows us to live for something more than self-interest. We have, in our best national and individual moments, been guided by those ideals to which we give everyday lip service – The Declaration of Independence and The Golden Rule in all its forms.

I believe that Barack Obama calls to our “better nature” more than any president since JFK. This is why he has not lost his appeal to the young who cling to the dream that the good in people can win out. But to most of the over 35/40 crowd, that dream is a passing fancy to be grabbed at during times of crisis and, when the crisis is over, put back on the shelf we reserve for ideals, morality and other impracticalities.<<<

WHAT’S WRONG WITH CALIFORNIA?

Let’s start with this: Californians have voted to “tax themselves like libertarians and subsidize themselves like socialists.” Ouch! The truth hurts.

The quote is Troy Senik’s and is taken from his article “Who Killed California” in the premier issue of the new quarterly magazine National Affairs. (http//www.nationalaffairs.com)<<<

WE DON’T NEED NO STINK’N HEALTH CARE

Let’s hear it for John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods Market. He says we don’t need any health care reform. Heck, according to him we don’t even need any health care. All we need to do is become vegetarians (Whole Food vegetarians, I presume) and we will all live to be 90 or 100.<<<

ACTION/REACTION

Action: Sarah Palin, writing in the Wall street Journal, is once again talking about Obama’s “death panels.”

Reaction: What’s that old saying – If you repeat a lie often enough you become Sarah Palin.<<<

Action: Israel OKs construction of 455 more settlements.

Reaction: Someone try to convince me that the Israeli government wants peace. I dare you.<<<

TIME OUT FOR MUSIC

Despite being an absolute and unrepentant atheist, I still have a soft spot for some of the religious music I learned as a boy. That’s why I couldn’t resist singing when I ran across the title of a long-forgotten song in the novel I finished Thursday – even though all who heard me shouted resist! resist!

Anyway, how many of you remember:

“I’ve got a home in glory land that outshines the sun
Outshines the sun, oh lordy, outshines the sun?”<<<

OH THOSE NAUGHTY ELEPHANTS

This past week we had a rare occurrence when Orange County (CA) Republican Assemblyman Michael Duvall (("So, I am getting into spanking her. Yeah, I like it,") won two awards – Family Values Man and Unfaithful Republican of the Week. He was a double winner (in more ways than one) for being caught on an open mike commenting about the sexual prowess of two mistresses.

And isn’t it about time for a party name change? I think that Randy Republican has a nice ring to it.

And since I am giving out awards. Here is my Scumbag of the year: Can it be anyone other than Joe Wilson?

Was Wilson’s outburst planned? I can’t be sure, but he did tweet the following two days before the President’s speech - "Happy Labor Day! Wonderful parade at Chapin, many people called out to oppose Obamacare which I assured them would be relayed tomorrow to DC."<<<

AS IF:

So some charter schools are calling their principals Executive Directors?? - As if – a name change spells real change. Garlic by any other name and all that jazz.<<<

HEADLINE OF THE WEEK – from the Palm Beach Post

“Obama’s Controversial Speech Urges Students To Wash Their Hands”<<<

That’s it until next week. In the meantime try to remember - DON'T SWEAT THE PETTY THINGS AND DON'T PET THE SWEATY THINGS.

Nobody 783

Sunday, Sept. 6, 2009
Nobody # 783

Nobody Asked Me But:

“But my words like silent raindrops fell,
And echoed
In the wells of silence.” Paul Simon (From “The Sound of Silence)

As the Washington Post’s Kathleen Parker pointed out last Monday, the Wrong was busy after Ted Kennedy’s funeral. Even before the motorcade arrived at Arlington, they were reminding all who would listen about the Senator’s flaws.

And I’m with Parker when she wonders whether the Wrong would have been equally critical had Kennedy converted and become a champion of their causes. Had he become pro-life and anti-gay.

Actually I am beyond her because I do not wonder. I am positive that they would have made the hypocritical switch.<<<

And for the record, what happened to the Wrong’s belief in Christian redemption and forgiveness? From everything I have read, after his second marriage Senator Ted turned his personal life, admittedly a mess before, around.

WHILE ON THE SUBJECT OF RELIGION

Isn’t the Trinity really a kind of monotheistic concession to the polytheists?<<<

We had two minor crises Thursday evening. Both involved our family-room television. The first happened when I was using picture in picture to watch the Dodgers and a football game simultaneously. I pushed a wrong button or three and lost the big picture – in more ways than one. Only the PIP was visible. I pushed more buttons to fix it and lost the sound and then the PIP as well. With Bruin football starting Saturday, this was very bad. There was only one thing left to do. Panic. That over with we tried the eternal fix – reboot by unplugging. The chance of that working turned out to be -----100%.

A few minutes later Barbara was cleaning everything connected to the TV and unwired the DVR. Again panic – or close to it. Where does this wire go - and this one? After a few false starts we made the connections and watched the Dodgers finish off the Diamondbacks. (Sorry Elizabeth.)

The morals of these stories:

Jim, don’t mess with buttons you know nothing about! Barbara, never ever again clean anything wired to the television set!<<<

WHICH KIND OF NATION?

Traditional view – We are a nation of laws, not men.

Revisionist (Cheney) view - We are a nation of law-breaking undercover guys, and if you don’t like it, f#@* off!<<<

I need some help here. Can someone please tell me exactly when truth in America became the property of the loudest?<<<

I AM SAD THIS WEEK BECAUSE:

My fellow seniors are so gullible, so willing to believe the liars – Sarah Palin, Chuck Grassy, Rush Limbaugh, etc. - and their lies.

So many seniors refuse to accept small sacrifices for the greater good. America will be a better place for us all when everyone is guaranteed quality health care.

My President has forgotten that hope comes in two parts. – dreams and execution. So far his dreams have far outpaced his execution.<<<

Memo:
To: The President
Subject: Health Care Legislation

You are the leader. Lead! Forget waiting for Congress to flesh out your plan. A specific proposal should come out of the White House within a week. It should contain the essentials and the specifics on cost cutting and that’s it. Slim it! Trim it! Send it!<<<

And did you hear that:

Some Blue Dogs who were wavering are recommitted to passing a comprehensive health care because of all the Republican lies about it they heard during the August break?<<<

I know I’m getting older when:

The Food Channel ties with the sports channels for my number 1 (except on days when it wins straight out) and news is a distant third.<<<

Black Irish, I understand. Black Republicans will never compute.<<<

ACTION-REACTION

Action: Republicans are hammering Obama on the ballooning deficit.

Reaction: Between Vietnam and today, weren’t the two largest deficits incurred by Reagan and Bush II?

Reaction # 2: Doesn’t that mean that the Republicans are hypocrites weeping crocodile tears?

Reaction # 3: Yes and Yes!

Action: Manson follower Susan Atkins is denied parole.

Reaction: Good!

Action: Some parents oppose Obama speech to students.

Reaction – Color them way past stupid. In fact, color the stupidity gauge broken.

Reaction # 2 – Yes, some Democrats did the same thing, but without the hatred, in 1991 when Bush I was President. And they were stupid too.

Action: Brett Curtiss, an engineer from Pearland, Texas, said he would keep his three children home. “I don’t want our schools turned over to some socialist movement.”

Reaction : Ah, Brett, public education is government owned and operated. That is socialism.

Action: At a Thousand Oaks rally, an anti-health-care reform guy punched a pro-reformer and knocked him down. The pro-reformer got up and bit off the anti-guy’s little finger.

Reaction: Ah, no way am I touching this one.

POSTCRIPT

And by the way, here is the champion of the Far Wrong speaking to schoolchildren in 1988:

Ronald Reagan – “That's a big argument that's going on in government. And I definitely believe it is because one of the principal reasons that we were able to get the economy back on track and create those new jobs and all was because we cut the taxes. We reduced them because, you see, the taxes can be such a penalty on people that there's no incentive for them to prosper and earn more and so forth because they have to give so much to the Government. And what we have found is that at the lower rates the Government gets more revenue. There are more people paying taxes because there are more people with jobs. And there are more people willing to earn more money because they get to keep a bigger share of it.”

Reaction: I guess propagandizing in favor of supply-side economics is OK – but then Reagan was not black.<<<

READY FOR THE LOONY BIN

The woman at the Blanche Lincoln town hall meeting in Russellville, Arkansas who said that there are four known communists in the Obama administration. How did she come by this amazing revelation? She claimed that she had researched it on the Internet. However, if the truth be known, I think that Joe McCarthy whispered it to her in a vision.<<<

Time Magazine’s Joe Klein asks, on Swampland, if the term responsible Republican has become an oxymoron. No, Joe, not as long as Hugh is around – but almost.<<<

Yes, it’s true - when I looked up Webster’s definition of slime, all that was written there was Glenn Beck.<<<

(The lead picture is of your blogger on his 75th birthday.)