Saturday, February 14, 2009

Top Three Most Overlooked Romantic Songs

So they aren't that well known, but they are sweet.

1. "Every Woman" Dave Mason
2. "Please be with me" Eric Clapton and Yvonne Elliman
3. "You're my Home" Billy Joel

One for Presidents Day

Opened my email on Lincoln's birthday, the real one, to find a release from the NBRA, the National Black Republican Association. I look forward to these as they are always interesting. Anyway in the middle of a discussion of Abe Lincoln, I found this most timely of quotes from the great man himself.


You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.

You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.

You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.

You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.

You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.

You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.

You cannot establish security on borrowed money.

You cannot build character and courage by taking away

A man's incentive and independence.

You cannot help men permanently by doing for them

What they could and should do themselves.


Need I write more?

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

A Bit o' This and That

Getting ready for my St. Paddy's Day transmogrification (I become Irish for the day....) early. Anyway, Jose has published the Cubanology Bi-Weekly 19. Some interesting stuff- Babe Ruth and baseball in Cuba, a pretty thorough timeline, as well as a reminder of the ethics to which journalists are supposed to adhere amongst others.

A mention, too, of an important court case in which the exile perspective was vindicated by an appeals court. As a fervent devotee of the written word the concept of censorship is anathema to me. However, the presentation of propaganda as fact in the context of a school library is just plain wrong. Educators have a responsibility to demand accuracy of the materials they use with impressionable children. Get the details here.

While on the subject of letters, here's a bit of fluff about spelling mavens who are mad as hell about the current state of affairs. Although not a card-carrying member of the grammar police- I have been known to unwittingly commit a solecism or two or more- I feel their pain. My advice: give it up. It's a lost cause. Just take a look at the monikers, spelt by the unlettered muse, that parents are foisting on children today.

Monday, February 9, 2009

A Stimulating Thought

As the President holds his news conference, I am struck with his characterization of all of the jobs that are going to be created or saved by the "stimulus" bill. Of course, he omits mention of the bulk of the expenditures which in no way belong in this legislation. I was excited when I heard that the Senate had tinkered with it, only to have my hopes deflated when they cut what seemed some of the likelier looking projects like school building repairs and left that darn TV switchover literature in there, as well as a host of questionable earmarks.

I've been watching the apologists the past few days arguing that whole new green industries will be launched. Is it the jobs of researchers we are worried about? Is this the kind of undertaking you embark upon by mortgaging the future of your children and grandchildren, or is this a project better undertaken once the situation has stabilized, and we are more solvent?

It raises a question, one heightened by the Obamiam argument tonight. Even if you stipulate that this bill is in reality a stimulus bill and not a liberal pols wish list, you have to answer the question: do we have the right? I've been reading projections that Americans will be risking 9 trillion or so on all of the various bailouts cum stimuli. I have to ask, are things that bad that we will expend the last quivers in our civil bow? What happens if there is another terrorist attack? A true depression? How with any credibility will the government be able to react? Or is this just another example of the baby-boomer-center-of-the-universe-entitlement-neurosis?

As for me, the buffoons running our congress have had a healthy effect. I will quit smoking before I pay another penny so that they can offer free health insurance to people who damn well can afford to pay for it on their own. I have on a lot less than 84 thousand a year. Got my tranquilizers and antidepressant all lined up.