The Eclectic Mix

This sounds like something Bugs Bunny would say as an aside to the audience: “Ever had the feeling that something just ain’t right?” That’s how I feel right now, after spending too much time reading the news on the web, listening to the radio, or reducing myself to watching the news on TV.

I mean, much of it doesn’t seem real. How many banks, and MAJOR banks, at that, have folded or been bought at fire-sale prices in the last two weeks? And congress, usually capable of easily spending $700 billion before anything it’s planning gets out of committee, decided to pull a surprise out of its hat and NOT pass the emergency propping-up measure, or whatever it’s called. And, to top it off, Republicans and Democrats seem equally against the bill, regardless of who’s worked on it, is supporting it, or asking, nay, begging for it.

Excuse me? Did I just enter the twilight zone one night and just not notice? How is it possible that our state’s Democratic representatives voted IN FAVOR of bailing out corporations, and the Republicans voted no? It’s unfathomable, except for the minor caveats that the government must be paid back, some mortgage reform was included, and executive pay for the failed institutions is being limited, it smacks of a big-business, pay for it without raising taxes kind of Republican plan. Yet they don’t like it?

Okay, deep breath. Let’s take this thing one at a time…

Economy tanking. Check. No huge problem yet. We’ve been struggling on and off for seven years, and this appears to be a low-point. Hey, we’ve crawled out of worse.

Dow Jones Industrials looking like some black-diamond ski slope: Check. I mean, 773 points lost today? That kind of number just boggles the mind. Yet the civil defense sirens weren’t going off when the markets closed. Someone (or most likely MANY ones) lost their shirt today. Just wait for that to hit the front page.

Financial institutions, now saddled with bad debt because they gambled as much as the consumers did in forming the agreements that neither side could really afford, are closing or being bought out at bargain-basement prices: Check. How much will this alter the financial landscape of this country when we come out of this? What will the country do when really, there will be 4 or 5 major banks to get loans from? Choice, competition and fairness will surely go by the wayside. That can’t be good. And what happens if one more goes under? Who’s left to take over whom? Citibank/Chase? Chase/Wells Fargo? There can’t be enough money in one to truly absorb the other.

Locally, a prominent businessman is surely to be indicted for hundreds of counts of fraud: Check. Tom Petters, who’s probably the local equivalent of Warren Buffett in his ability to buy companies when they’re really down, is screwed. No matter how you read the news stories about the investigation into his dealings lately, it doesn’t sound good. And what scares me most of all about this is that with the NWA/Delta merger almost a sure thing and done deal, Sun Country suddenly finds itself on the high wire without a net. Regardless of where the money was coming from, Petters was personally infusing the airline with money every month, and while it looks like they might be starting to turn the corner, they still need that backing. And now, certainly, it’s got to be gone. What happens to MSP when we lose BOTH of our locally-based airlines? Just look up the St. Louis airport sometime in Google. When TWA vanished, business at the airport dried up.

The Twins are fighting for a playoff spot: Check. Even last week, I was SURE it wouldn’t happen. 2 1/2 games back with six to play? No way in hell. But here we are, about to take on the White Sox in a one-game tiebreaker. Guess you know where I’ll be tomorrow. (Butt, meet couch!)

And finally, and perhaps most surreal, what have we heard from Iraq lately? Afghanistan? That’s right, kids. NADA. ZIP. ZILCH. Don’t know about you, but I don’t trust this administration enough to think they’re keeping their eye on the ball when they don’t talk about something. They’re distracted, and sooner or later, the bad guys will notice that. We’ve got a couple hundred thousand of our people in harm’s way, and their ultimate leader’s looking the other way. NOT GOOD.

Oh, and in case you haven’t noticed, there’s an election on. One that is surely to be as bitter, divisive, and close as 2000.

And all of this strange stuff will still be here (okay, except the Twins, unless they make it to the World Series), when the election finally comes. Eek!

So there you go. Your heavy thought for the day. Enjoy it, because tomorrow’s bound to be pretty flimsy.

See you tomorrow.

7 years later, and, well…Here we are. Everyone knows what happened 7 years ago. You would have to either not been born yet, not yet been sentient, or not have been paying attention…At all…For years since. It was THE reason for everything that has come since, according to the right-wingers. It was, apparently, the dawn of a golden new age for the country where we suddenly developed a backbone and took it to the world.

Now, not to belittle the tragedy in it all, I mean, 3,000+ lives lost in one event are horrendous, and certainly, in the grand scheme of politics some sort of measured response was warranted, if not expected. But what’s really been accomplished?

So let’s review things. Roughly 80% of the Bush presidency has been waged with this as a “highlight,” if you will–a cornerstone for it’s foreign policy; it’s raison d’etre. Again, according to the right, it clarified all of the evil in the world for us, making it easier to identify, and giving a reason for mass paranoia. But really, the definition of that evil has become: “if you aren’t for us, you’re against us.” (Exhibit A: France).

The “war on terror” has had it’s moments, certainly. The world is most likely a better place without Saddam Hussein than with him, but if you’re looking for excuses to off world leaders, you’d think we’d have made a better case. I mean, we’ve gone after world leaders with less reason. (Exhibit B: The Bay of Pigs). But there are others that need to go more than he did: Kim Jung Il needs to go. Kadhafi needed to go 20 years ago, but somehow now we’re back to talking to him. Putin needs to go if for no other reason than he sees the only path to superpower status for Russia as a return to a military-based multi-national dictatorship. Hugo Chavez is one of the world’s biggest nut cases and should be dispatched forthwith. The leadership of the Sudan is clearly completely inhumane. And Iran’s leadership is reverting to it’s Ayatollah doctrine, but with a scholar at the helm. And in the meantime, the “war on terror” has completely failed to bag it’s true bounty: Osama Bin Laden. We’ve managed to tear up and virtually destroy every last inch of Iraq in the name of this war, yet apparently we lack the ability or desire to do the same in Afghanistan, where nearly all of the world agrees he is hiding out.

30 years ago, the world had the PLO, the IRA, the Sandanistas and a handful of terrorist groups in the world. Some we supported on moral grounds. Others, we didn’t, also on moral grounds, primarily due to their tactics. But we didn’t go after them. We acted like the patient, gentle big-brother, who lets his little sister poke him mercilessly until she loses interest. But this is an age where we’re fed up with the crap, tired of the poking, and we’re gonna haul off and take a swing at her, simply because she “had it coming.”

I understand the frustration, and the desire to make yourself feel better by lashing out in anger to the attacks seven years ago. But, we’re five years on in the war, and all we really have to show for it is a government that still preaches unease with the world situation, an Iraq that we will need to spend billions of dollars and probably decades repairing, an Afghanistan with a puppet government that has decided it’s actually going to listen to it’s own people and stop being ordered around by us, and a domestic economy and energy crisis that is very close to rivaling the last really big downturn in the late 70’s.

And we still haven’t learned. We haven’t learned that as the “leader of the free world,” we need to heed what we tell other countries: Russia, keep your hands off South Osetia, while we continue to maintain a presence in Iraq. Isreal: we don’t like the wall you’ve built to keep Palestinians out of the West Bank, while we build a border wall along the Mexican border to keep illegal aliens out.

We haven’t learned that the old days of massive military strikes, while impressive, won’t find a scattered enemy.

We haven’t learned that we can still be security minded and vigilant without depriving our own citizens of freedoms and without having to resort to domestic spying.

And we haven’t learned that in all of the hysteria surrounding perceived threats, and by making everyone become hyper-vigilant and suspicious, we’ve let the terrorists win already by letting them know we’re afraid of them. That we need to be ever on the alert for their attack now because WE KNOW that they can do it again if we blink. We have shown them our fear, and we have given them more reasons to hate us.

It’s 7 years on, now. We’ve been through hell since then. We’ve lost thousands of fine people, both domestically, and soldiers in the war. These were all innocent people, cast a fate that they did not choose fully on their own. And we’re right to be angry: it’s human nature. But we’ve just lowered ourselves to the level of those who hate us merely by needing to respond. And the end result is that there may not be an end.

But in the miracle that is our democracy. Leadership will change in two months, and we will continue moving down the road, waiting for the next opportunity to change course. Or waiting for the next event that will force us to change course.

I’m saying a prayer tonight for those who have suffered through this through loss of a loved one, loss of a job, financial security, or even peace of mind. I’m saying it because it’s been a tough, tiring seven years. And I, like so many others, want to move on and get back to normal, whatever that is.

Jenni Thursday tomorrow.

See you Friday.

So, Jenni says that we need to post more regularly here so that more of you will read and respond. So here goes…Fodder for the mill.

For your viewing pleasure…Did you know that each state sends a decorated Easter egg to the White House? Did you know that some of them are just craptacular? And who is this goofball who did the Minnesota egg? It’s hideous! Patrick could do better.

So, speaking of craptastic stuff. More of the demotivator type of motivational posters. Check some of these out. My faves include the Mensa poster, Linux, Blogging, Internet and Dating posters.

Forgot about this one. A little late for Easter, but all you need to know from the Bible in an easy-to-handle Lego format.

Who doesn’t want to find 101 ways to be annoying?

What to see what time it is on a new kind of clock? Click here.

Beware the flaming Japanese bidet. (Sounds like a movie title). The best line is when a spokesperson says, matter-of-factly, that the “fire would have been just below your buttocks.”

Every female’s dream of living without men is soon to be complete…I’ll be packing my things later today, darling.

And finally, stick figure comics with a science/geeky/funny bent.

There you go for now. Enjoy and comment!

So, Tuesday night’s State of the Union speech by the president left a bit to be desired. After all, he’s a lame-duck, and now’s the usual time for legacy posturing. Problem is, he’s stuck in a war that has no easy end, we’ve ignored domestic issues for 6 years now, and suddenly, he sees the need to shore some things up at home.

In researching this, I’ve read the text of this year’s speech, and went back to last year’s Bush2 addresses and have found some interesting contrasts. I’ll try to highlight some of those here in the course of reviewing the speech. But on to this year’s presentation.

First off, can someone please explain to me this sentence?

Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid are commitments of conscience…

Huh? Just what the hell is a “commitment of conscience?” Has conscience gone mad and needs to be put in an institution? Are we committed to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid because we have a conscience? (I suspect it’s the latter, but my gawd, people, please talk normal!) But apparently, we have to have a “[something] of conscience” in his speeches…Ahem. From last year, referring to a downturn in abortion and teenage pregnancy rates:

These gains are evidence of a quiet transformation — a revolution of conscience…

So last year, it revolted, and this year it’s in need of counseling.

I understand the desire to eliminate pork-barrel spending, and I even understand some people’s desire to eliminate entitlements, though I believe that it is government’s role to serve its citizens, and providing vital services and support like, oh, I don’t know, maybe healthcare and retirement income to those who don’t have it is kinda important. So, the whole discussion of fixing Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid gets a sum total of one paragraph in the speech. 115 words. Vagueries saying we have to fix it so it isn’t a problem for our children…blah, blah, blah.

Last year? Three paragraphs, 205 words, including this staggering proposition:

So tonight, I ask you to join me in creating a commission to examine the full impact of baby boom retirements on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. This commission should include members of Congress of both parties, and offer bipartisan solutions. We need to put aside partisan politics and work together and get this problem solved.

So wait, did the commission ever get formed? Did they ever do anything, like make any recommendations? Heck, did they ever meet? Hmm, well I Googled “Social Security Reform,” and came up with a page from the White House, that, shockingly, hasn’t even been updated since 2005! Oddly, I found another commission that was formed by Bush2 in 2001 and issued its report in December 2001. Oh, yeah, wait…We were, uh, busy then. Um…Ooh, yeah! It’s a priority! Commission? Meh, we don’ need no stinkin’ commission! Actually, all I think the prez wants is a whole series of commissions to keep researching and pushing off any action until Social Security dries up, then we really won’t have to worry anymore.

Okay, let’s cut the guy some slack, okay? He’s running a war here…So, moving on:

Immigration! Oddly, the White House is up to date on this page. Are we starting to see trends and relative importance here?

Keeping America competitive requires an immigration system that upholds our laws, reflects our values, and serves the interests of our economy. Our nation needs orderly and secure borders. To meet this goal, we must have stronger immigration enforcement and border protection. And we must have a rational, humane guest worker program that rejects amnesty, allows temporary jobs for people who seek them legally, and reduces smuggling and crime at the border.

Oh, wait, that’s last year’s speech. Let’s find this year’s…

Extending hope and opportunity in our country requires an immigration system worthy of America — with laws that are fair and borders that are secure. When laws and borders are routinely violated, this harms the interests of our country. To secure our border, we are doubling the size of the Border Patrol — and funding new infrastructure and technology. Yet even with all these steps, we cannot fully secure the border unless we take pressure off the border — and that requires a temporary worker program. We should establish a legal and orderly path for foreign workers to enter our country to work on a temporary basis. As a result, they won’t have to try to sneak in — and that will leave border agents free to chase down drug smugglers, and criminals, and terrorists. We will enforce our immigration laws at the worksite, and give employers the tools to verify the legal status of their workers — so there is no excuse left for violating the law. We need to uphold the great tradition of the melting pot that welcomes and assimilates new arrivals. And we need to resolve the status of the illegal immigrants who are already in our country — without animosity and without amnesty.

See what happens when you play with the cut and paste features in Word and then use the thesaurus feature? Automatic speechwriting! Just add Microsoft! Actually, in going through last year’s and this year’s speeches, they’re almost identical — the order of content, the basic themes and message. I think Bush’s secretary just pulls the previous year’s speech and they tweak it a little to sound “fresh and hip!”

Oddly, this year’s statement about immigration, borders, fair, secure, blah, blah, blah, comes on the same day that our customs service starts requiring US citizens RETURNING to the country to have passports TO GET BACK IN. That’s one way to get rid of the wrong element: give them round trip tickets abroad, then lock them out once they get back.

Next was energy (last year there was a brief blurb on affordable health care, then energy. This year, apparently, health care is slightly more important than immigration, so it was inserted right before we locked down our borders).

This administration’s energy policy is one that I don’t get. They talk a good line about renewable energy, less foreign oil consumption, stuff like that, yet our own hawkish right-wing governor ends up flying in the face of the national leadership by pushing Minnesota’s desire to be a leader in biofuels (biodiesel and e-85).

And this dependence leaves us more vulnerable to hostile regimes, and to terrorists — who could cause huge disruptions of oil shipments … raise the price of oil … and do great harm to our economy.

The lesson here, kids, is this: it all comes down to terrorists. They’re out to get us — disrupt our oil shipments, illegally immigrate into the country and take our jobs and kill us, and, oh yes, attack our military which is hunting them down in their country. I’m surprised it wasn’t in the paragraph on reauthorizing No Child Left Behind.

So okay, just what are we doing in the middle east? Trying to get the terrorists, or…

So we advance our own security interests by helping moderates, reformers, and brave voices for democracy. The great question of our day is whether America will help men and women in the Middle East to build free societies and share in the rights of all humanity. And I say, for the sake of our own security … we must. In the last two years, we have seen the desire for liberty in the broader Middle East — and we have been sobered by the enemy’s fierce reaction. In 2005, the world watched as the citizens of Lebanon raised the banner of the Cedar Revolution … drove out the Syrian occupiers … and chose new leaders in free elections. In 2005, the people of Afghanistan defied the terrorists and elected a democratic legislature. And in 2005, the Iraqi people held three national elections — choosing a transitional government … adopting the most progressive, democratic constitution in the Arab world and then electing a government under that constitution.

First, we only help moderates? What about liberals? Don’t they get help to advance our own security interests? And Lebanon. Wow. Did they forget something? Like the fact that after the elections in 2005, Israel and Hezbollah have spent months blowing the hell out of each other in and around Beirut? Nice democracy — it’s free, but — oh, wait! Hezbollah — yup, terrorists, again. I’m sorry, but can’t we see that we haven’t got a clue when it comes to interfering in the Middle East?

So what about Iraq? Are we winning or losing?

We’re on the offensive in Iraq, with a clear plan for victory.

Wait, wrong year. From this year:

Ladies and gentlemen: On this day, at this hour, it is still within our power to shape the outcome of this battle. So let us find our resolve, and turn events toward victory.

In short, we got lost. Does anyone know the way to victory? And apparently, we won’t ask for directions…But Bush2 knows something that he only hinted at last year:

Our own generation is in a long war against a determined enemy — a war that will be fought by Presidents of both parties…

Presidents of both parties? That must mean that a Democrat will win in 2008! He knows! Wow. Is he the fortune teller, or is it Cheney? Or Condoleezza?

Unless the war is continuing in 2012, and that’s when the Democrat comes in. Or worse, 2016…Or…

Otherwise, it’s been the same pablum spouted forth for years — every president promises to balance the budget and eliminate the national debt. It never happens. And can’t happen under this president with a war on, 92,000 more troops called for in 5 years, and no new taxes raised. What are we going to cut?

Oh yeah, Social Security is dying, and we’re just getting commissions to study it.