by admin | Sep 26, 2007 |
I normally react negatively to a group name with a number appended. Except in the case of the Little Cyclone five (my high school basketball team), this naming convention normally connotes a number of individuals who have done something illegal or socially unacceptable but are being treated as a group so as to avoid individual accountability, often at the behest of third parties with a separate agenda. Not so the Little Rock Nine. This group of nine young black Americans, who played such an important role in changing the face of public education in America had dropped from my consciousness due to the passage of time, events and, I guess, apathy. Jim Lehrer...
by admin | Sep 11, 2007 |
I was drawn to the telly to take in the testimony of Gen. David Paetraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker like a moth to a flame. The result was undesirable, but unavoidable. I sat transfixed listening to politicos of both stripes produce rhetorical statements of huge pomposity which may have contained the hint of a question, while The General (TG) and The Ambassador (TA) tried to figure how to react to a non-question question and staying on the pre-agreed talking points. Seeing TG handle his own charts recalled a more virtuous and tender time when I was a chart holder for another general giving a presentation of great moment. I was a 1st LT in the service of...
by admin | Mar 21, 2007 |
We all know the old saw that goes, “how do you know if a politician is lying?” Answer, “if his lips are moving”. I am glad to see that the Bushies continue to run true to this form. As a matter of fact the latest episode with”Scooter” Libby is a perfect case in point. First of all, let me say that anyone who answers to a nickname other than Bill for William or Jim for James is automatically suspect. The only knicknames that ever made sense to me were “Pee Wee” as in Pee Wee Reese the legendary shortstop for the old Brooklyn Dodgers and “Moose” Skowron, first basemen for Yankees. You may ask why then, would I like these particular nicknames while eschewing...
by admin | Feb 21, 2007 |
I thought I had seen or heard it all, or almost all. The guys who can make chicken s**t and sell it as chicken salad. The ones that called the Edsel an “advanced piece of American engineering”. The Swift Boaters turning Kerry’s military record into a liability in the face of Bushies stalwart record of avoiding the draft. The miscreants who can make an apology via a non-apology for stepping on their tongue and offending millions. The bios that make Chaney sound like a warm and fuzzy fellow…..well, that might be taking it a bit too far. But to spin Tony Blairs announcement of their “staged withdrawal” as a sign of our success in Iraq strains the...
by admin | Feb 18, 2007 |
Much has been made lately of the parliamentary wrangling in the Senate (many would say that all they do is wrangle) over whether the Repubscan introduce and debate a resolution on cutting off funding for our military activities in Iraq as a pari pas sou for a vote on the non-binding censure of Bush’s surge plan. Very clever, what. The repubs strategy is designed to put the demos in the box of being seen as “not supporting our troops” by voting to limit funding or being seen as giving tacit approval for Bush to proceed with more of the same on steroids. Now, the demos are not entirely dumb. They understand a trap when they see one and have, therefore, chosen...
