Clearing Out The Cobwebs

From my personal closet of journalistic curiosities...

Another George Will column over at the Washington Post makes the cut this week. Mr. Will points out the obvious here: the administration is acting as if it is above the law. He cites arm twisting of states, threats to corporate financing, and breaches of contract law. Besides, Will actually uses the word ukase in a sentence. After reading the general treatment he affords the Chrysler situation, turn to a letter from the American Thinker cited at Babalu in which one unfortunate dealer makes clear just what devils lurk in the details of this deal. This is America? Unconscionable.

Here's another gov't disgrace. In an ironic twist, AFP informs us via BreitBart that the US Attorney and the FBI are investigating insider trading at the SEC. You know, the guys who prosecute everyone else for financial malfeasance in the market. You gotta be kidding me.

According to this report over at Foxnews the happiest people are old, male, and Republican. Of course, I could have told you that the ill-mannered shrillness of the left indicated very unhappy people with unresolved issues from adolescence. But, heck, I'm no expert, being middle-aged, female, and Republican. Actually, I have grossly oversimplified the Pew Research. Read it for yourself.

In another peripherally related CBS report, it seems you really can die of a broken heart, of Broken Heart Syndrome, to be exact. Seems the stress of emotional upheaval, sudden fear and the like really can give you a heart attack. Whoddathunkit?

Finally, I'll share a rather puzzling report from the UK's Times Online, via How Green. Seems there is no global honeybee crisis after all. Still the report lacks a bit of clarity. What is going on in the States? Is it the two syndromes cited or that people don't keep bees? And what about the demand? I'm confoosed.

A Graduation is no Place for Tantrums or Catholics have Manners

The commencement speaker at my daughter's graduation from Boston College a few years ago was Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. For weeks prior to the event, controversy raged across the campus. On the appointed day, much to our relief, there was little evidence of the same. Of course, some of the faculty did stand and give her their backs to her while she spoke. This feeble and ill-mannered demonstration, however, was more than countered by the warm welcome and rousing response of the crowd.

This week at Notre Dame, the other side was afforded a similar treatment. Despite the attendant hoopla, when the President spoke, he was welcomed heartily. This was as it should be. I do not agree with the man on many things, but I do believe that as a guest of the school, he was due the hospitality of the entire place. There is never an excuse for bad manners... almost never anyway.

It stikes me that these people, whether the professors at BC or the odd heckler at Notre Dame, share in the notion that their views trump those of the assembled multitudes. Graduation is not about the speaker, or the administration, or even them. Graduation is a celebration of the hard work of students and parents, a milestone in the development of young minds. Who are they to impose their will?

The beef, if any, is not with the speaker but with those who invited him or her. The speaker also bears the burden of not prosletyzing about his or her own brand of politics. In my experience, most are cognizant of the same and present a pretty catholic message. Anyway, we have reached a pretty sad state of affairs when we cannot listen to each other, when we cannot at least pretend to be gracious. Upshot: save your tantrums for your parents or spouses. You have no right to inflict them on us. There is a time and a place for disagreements of all stripes. Graduation is not it.

Wordless

May 15 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama will keep
the military tribunal system for trying some terrorism suspects held at the U.S.
prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, with expanded legal protections for
defendants.

Here.

and

GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) - U.S. military judges
dropped all war crimes charges on Monday against the only two Guantanamo
captives facing trial, rulings that could preclude trying any of the 380
prisoners held at the U.S. base in Cuba any time soon.

The judges said they lacked jurisdiction under the strict
definition of those eligible for trial by military tribunal under a law the U.S.
Congress enacted last year.
Here.

Boldface mine

Last Week's Follies

Soft Shoe. Kudo's to Michelle Malkin for pointing out the "double standard" when it comes to political couture. Check out Michelle Obama's Lanvin footgear in question. A Sneaker by any other name would still be as odiferous. Glad she devoted herself to public service and not to pursuing filthy lucre. Read it at Townhall.

Burlesque. I'm listening to the TV in the other room, so I figure I missed something. "What is Fiat giving Chrysler for the stock?" I ask the hubster. "I'm not sure," he replies. Doesn't seem to be much as far as I can see. Better question: what's the UAW putting into the kitty? Talk about your misbegotten creatures. Read the Barone column in the Washington Examiner and get the gory details. The very fabric of our economic system, my friends.

Pantomime. The ruling military junta celebrated May Day with a mute Raul, perhaps because even though they are masters of the demonstration on demand, the message that repression and misery will continue was a tad unpopular. Read all about it here in a Miami Herald article co-written by an undercover reporter. You go, Herald.

Stand Up. How about a week in swinging Nazareth? Very interesting article at Fox News about the contemporary city where Jesus grew up and that believers won't recognize.

Can-Can. Although the swine flu has thankfully turned into a bust, Mexican neighbors think it originated at a plant co-owned by Smithfield farms. With all the pig joints South of the Border, it had to be a partially American-owned one. Believe it? Who knows?

Guess What Travel Company I Won't Be Using

Greed Fuels Clamor to Ease Cuba Restrictions

I fantasize that one day, I'll open the paper and read that headline. It is, after all, essentially the case. Aside from idealogues, the greatest chearleaders for ending the embargo and attendant travel restrictions, are almost invariably ranchers, farmers, wouldbe investors. The latest entity- doubtless fueled by the desire to democratize Cuba one tourist at a time- to enter the lists is none other than Orbitz. Yup, of Orbitz.com fame. Seems they wanted to throw their weight behind a social cause and apparently decided that bailing out a totalitarian dictatorship while lining their pockets fit the bill better than, say, ending world hunger.

It would seem that some sort of campaign of our own might be called for. Suggestions? Read the Seattle Times article about their orchestrated campaign here, complete with link to online petition. Sign up and they'll give you a one hundred dollar coupon toward travel in Cuba. Bajate del asiento, Ñiquito. (Allusion to old Alvarez Guedes joke about a father and his son dreaming of the new family car they will someday buy.)

Cross-posted at Babalublog

Canaries in the Political Mine?

If eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, maybe we should be looking at some recent developments. I'm driving along in me vehicle when I hear an ad condemning a proposed radio tax. So I go here. Maybe I don't see things as a free speech sort of thing- it seems to apply to music- but I take note.

Then one day, I open my email and find an empassioned plea from a conservative magazine. I've reproduced the text below:

You may recall that, just over a year ago, the federal government's taxpayer-subsidized mail-delivery monopoly -- aka the United States Postal Service -- hit us with a whopping 20 percent rate increase that drove up our annual delivery costs by more than $120,000.

Well, believe it or not, they've just done it again.

That's right: the USPS is hitting us with yet another postal increase that will jack up our annual delivery costs by an additional $51,568.

Together, this one-two punch of rate hikes amounts to more than $170,000 in increased annual delivery costs -- a staggering sum that we simply can't afford.

Now, it's outrageous enough that the USPS can continually jack up our rates without fearing any loss of our business to more cost-efficient competitors -- something it can do ONLY because federal law effectively protects it from private competition.

But what really burns me up is that these increases are part of a new rate system that was designed in part by lobbyists for liberal media giant Time Warner and other large publishers to benefit themselves at the expense of smaller competitors such as [ ].So instead of Time Warner's mailing costs ratcheting up like ours, the cost of delivering liberal Time magazine and other Big Media publications will increase at about half the rate hike forced on [ ] (and that's after some of those publications actually had a decrease in postage costs last year!).

Talk on radio is mostly conservative; large media publications are almost inveterately liberal. Co-incidence? Who was it that said there are no co-incidences. There is more than one way to shut up the Right. In the meantime, keep an eye on the bouncing ball.

Meanderings: A Death, A Wedding, And An Estate

I've been distracted as of late by the recent death of my mother, the impending wedding of my daughter, and the interminable process of settling an estate. Of the three, the estate has been the worst. My mother was very ill. By the time she died, she had left a five year old Chevy on which she owed money, a modest condo worth less than a luxury car in today's market, and a small amount of money in the bank, co-incidentally just over what she owed in debts. So I was not particularly perturbed about settling it. I knew the estate was not big enough for probate in Florida, so I never anticipated the hoops through which I would need to jump.

Now, if you're rich, you hire an attorney, pay lots of money, and forget about the thing. If you're not so rich, you impose on an attorney friend and do the legwork yourself. If you're poor, I have no idea what you do, as I can't conceive you would have to go through the whole rigmarole. All I know is that when Mom died, I began to pay her bills off with the account that we'd always used. The crematory notified Social Security, so that was done. I paid off her car. Check. When I went to pay off her bank credit card, I found that the same bank she owed the money to had frozen her funds. It was just as well, because just about that time, I discovered that I wasn't allowed to do it. I had to file some probate variant with the court. Filing fees, Ka-ching. Advertising in the paper for three months, Ka-ching. By the way, keep paying the maintenance fees on the condo, the insurance on the car, they're yours. Ka-ching.

Oh, my lawyer informs me a month later, we'll need an inventory of her belongings. What belongings?, I reply. Lets see, an extensive wardrobe I've donated to Goodwill. Some furniture my husband had scrounged for her, also donated to Goodwill. She did have quite a costume jewelry collection I didn't have the heart to donate. And I still have her bottle collection. Don't get excited. They're just ordinary bottles. My mother, the folk artist, collected bottles she liked. Sum total: dismal. I realized that she had been shedding possessions for years. She had very little left. She had, however, traveled extensively, eaten her way across Sarasota, and generally enjoyed herself. That doesn't count.

The bank she owes the money to, which has frozen the funds to pay them, now sics a collection agency on her. I get a phone call. I tell them, "She's dead." I guess a lot of people must use that excuse, because she says, "Oh, I'll tell them not to call you for like three or four days."

"You gotta be kidding me," I reply. "You guys froze the funds. Now you gotta wait three months like everyone else."

Then begins the reign of terror. They call me every day. If I don't answer they call twice a day. Finally, I do what I should have done in the first place but was too peeved to do. I call this TARP bank. After giving them the name of my much put upon lawyer, it subsides.

Now this poor fellow informs me that I need proof that I paid the car. On that hangs another tale. This but the beginning of my adventures in nonprobate land.

RIP: Jack Kemp

It is with great sadness that I mark the passing of a man who inspired me greatly, Jack Kemp. Mr. Kemp was truly a compassionate conservative. He was a man who demonstrated that adhering to principles of small government, low taxes, etc. did not preclude concern for those less fortunate. He will be sorely missed. Read here.

Apoplectic Fit Inducing Quote of the Day...

...comes from this in USA Today:

But the facilities — save for some up-to-date resorts and a few contemporary Havana hotels — pose challenges for demanding Americans, experts say.

Cubans own the hotel real estate, "and (foreign) hoteliers don't have free rein to manage as they wish," Baker [ "author of the Moon travel guide to Cuba, who has visited the country more than 30 times"] says. Bad service and food are common. "Communism and good service don't go together," he says. Cuba does not get a high percentage of repeat visitors, he says.

So many aspects of this quote are so vile that it is difficult to keep from spluttering over the keys. First, there is the overt bigotry. The accommodations are not up to snuff because they are owned by the natives. You know them; they're the little brown "sensual" types. Then there is the ignorance or dishonesty of that very misleading statement. The hotel real estate is not owned by Cuban landowners, as the article, penned by Kitty Bean Yancey, implies. It is owned, as is just about everything else, by the ruling military junta. Forgive me, if I feel no compassion for those foreign hoteliers who want to line up behind the khaki clad caudillos to ravish the Cuban population. Tourism diplomacy in action.

H/T Babalublog

Cosa Mas Grande, Chico!

Thoroughly enjoyed Manny Perez's reminscence over at Cubanology of a surreptitious jaunt into Manhattan when he was a young man during which he met Tres Patines. I was trying to remember those television shows of the late 70's, early 80's, shows that featured celebrities who had fled Cuba. I remember Popa and her ever present pocketbook, and then I remember a Mexican singer whose trademark was uttering "Mucho gusto, mucho gusto, mucho gusto!" My memory fails me. There was no Spanish TV when I was young, and these programs- watched by my grandparents much later- I caught in passing.

In Which One Resigns Himself

freedigitalphotos.net

As Mom used to say, "Eramos pocos y pario la mula," or "There weren't enough of us already and the mule gave birth.

Semi-Literary Interlude

I was so taken with The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency that I've quickly read the next four books in the series. So there I am enjoying my Friday afternoon with the sun shining all around me, feet up, when I come across this musing by Precious Ramotswe:

Most morality, thought Mma Ramotswe, was about doing the right thing
because it had been identified as such by a long process of acceptance and
observance. You simply could not create your own morality because your
experience would never be enough to do do. What gives you the right to say
that you know better than your ancestors? Morality is for everybody and
this means that the views of more than one person are needed to create it.
That was what made the modern morality with its emphasis on individuals and the
working out of an individual position, so weak. If you gave people the
chance to work out their morality, then they would work out the version which
was easiest for them and which allowed them to do what suited them for as much
of the time as possible. That, in Mma Ramotswe's view, was simple
selfishness, whatever grand name one gave to it.

from Morality For Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith

Failed Policy: Successful Semantics

Although the men who run the Cuban dictatorship have essentially destroyed the island economy and turned the nation into the great mendicant of the Caribbean, they have been successful in maintaining power long after most Communist regimes have crumbled. This is their, pardon the pun, crowning achievement. An almost equally notable success has been their triumph in the propaganda wars. Face it, it is their verbiage that has won the day.

Those in this country who have the most at stake in the freedom of their countrymen and who are in the best position to know what is transpiring on the island, since there is no such thing as a free press or freedom of speech in the island gulag, are routinely dismissed or vilified as "hard-liners," "intransigents," "dead enders," and even the "Miami Mafia" in the mainstream media. This last in particular is clearly evidence of the success of the castroite mix of propaganda, bribery, blackmail and infiltration that have won the day.

So as I stumbled across the term blockade to describe the embargo the other day, I had a thought. It is time that we get a bit more deliberate in our passionate opposition to those who wield the jackboot. As a movement we need to develop a terminology of our own and use it until it, too, wends its way to the mainstream media.

I offer my own humble contribution. Since the practical Raul has loaded his government with military types, at every opportunity I use "the ruling military junta" to denote the Havana regime. So what, if it's not completely accurate, Cuba being a more familial fiefdom. It's close enough. Americans, particularly liberals, have a knee jerk dislike of such bodies, associating them with right wing, Latin American dictatorships. Who knows? Use it enough, and it might stick. The possibilities are endless.

Re-education, Please!

Though economically weak, the Castro government has kept the broad support of its people by responding to economic shocks and providing universal access to health care and education. There will be no counter-revolution any time soon.

-from a letter by twelve retired military military officers urging President Obama to lift the travel ban. I'm sure the 11 million or so Cubans on the island will be heartened to know that they do not live in a totalitarian dictatorship. It is only their slavish devotion to free health care that keeps the jack boot on their necks.

The School of No Choice

Having once attended a public middle school in a good neighborhood where walking the hallways was, nonetheless, an occasion for fear, I am passionate in my support for school choice. As such, I am equally contemptuous of those elected officials who prate about weakening the public school system. In an incisive column over at Townhall, Ed Feulner takes on the hypocrisy of these

same officials, many of whom send their own children to private schools.

I suspect the support of the teachers' unions or the noble principle of public education is of more import than the fate of inner city children who have no other means of escape from dangerous, overcrowded, substandard schools. Until these same politicos can make inner city schools safe beacons of learning, the least they can do is continue the voucher system as in Washington DC. It will not save everyone, but it might provide some much needed stimulus for reforming the public school system.

Sunday Cinelarities

It's Alive. Let's start with Austin Hill over at Townhall who sees Obama as "Awakening the Welfare Recipient Within," a metaphor for the growing divide between those who believe in entitlements of all stripes and those who adhere to the traditional values of independence and self-reliance. Read it here.

12 Angry Men. Okay, more than that and women, too, at the GE shareholders meeting. Seems some of the aforementioned are not too happy at what the Immelt/Zucker regime has wrought over at MSNBC/NBC, at the increasingly left wing tenor of the reportage. Heck, I wrote to the parent company the first time Olbermann went off the reservation. You see what a difference that made. Read all about it.

Stone Cold. Here's a bit of interest from the Cold War via Commentary. Seems respected journalist, I.F. Stone was, at least for part of his career, in league with the Soviets. It's of particular interest to me because I look forward to the day when we find out exactly why certain notables are so ready to defend the ruling military junta in Cuba.

The Front Page. Senator Kerry, concerned that the Boston Globe might fail, sent them a letter lamenting what their loss would mean. You know, all that stuff about a "diversity of opinion" and an informed public. Memo: Perhaps if these journalistic behemoths had been presenting a diversity of opinion and truly informing the public, they would not be on the ropes. Washington Times article by Jennifer Harper here.

They Came from Beyond Space. In the science corner, Edgar D. Mitchell, Apollo 14 astronaut, disclosed that they truly are out there, at least, according to this on Fox News. At bit closer to home, there is apparently a tome devoted to soap. Don't laugh. Hygiene has extended human life span more that medical developments, at least according to some documentary or other. Review of the Kathleen Brown book by David Aikman at the Weekly Standard. Final thought, keep an eye on the Mexican Swine Flu, but don't panic...yet.

Taxation Without Representation

Up until now I have been decrying the Democrat Congress for raising cigarette taxes on me to fund healthcare insurance for the children of families making up to $84,000 dollars a year. You can imagine my shock to find that not only Senator Bill Nelson, expected, but also Senator Mel Martinez voted for the bill. This was topped off by Rep. Vern Buchanan voting for it in the House. Essentially then, if you are a smoker who lives in my part of South Florida, there is no one who represents your interests.

And don't give me the bullshit about quitting. If the threat of dying is not enough to get people to quit, your shitty little taxes won't. I also don't want to hear about costs. As a collective we fund healthcare for illegal aliens, whole classes of people who wouldn't know a job if it bit them on the ass, but in society's eyes it is apparently better to copulate with every Tom Dick and Harry, endowing each of them with a child to be supported by the general weal than to be a smoker.
Frankly, it sucks.

If you'd like to know how your senators voted, here. If you'd like to know how your representative voted, here. I would suggest to my fellow smokers that we remember come election time. I intend to do so.

Literary Allusion for Today

Gotta love the title of this Forbes piece about the now infamous Latin American summit: "Obama in Lilliput." The diction in this piece by Tunku Varadarajan is outstanding. Take a gander at the first sentence:

Reading of the manner in which Barack Obama has been harangued by a motley assortment of caciques and panjandrums at the summit meeting of the Organization of American States, I am put in mind of Gulliver in Lilliput.

Oh, harangued, most excellent word for Ortega's diatribe. My favorites for flair and accuracy-
caciques and panjandrums. Surgical strike there, not to mention the whole concept. Bravo!

There's Money to be Made: He's Not My Brother

I guess one should not expect morality from a business publication, but one would expect some business savvy. First off, this piece from Businessweek would seem to be designed to appeal to the angels of our basest nature. It's all there: how Americans' rights are curtailed by the restrictions, how the rest of the world has beaten us to the Caribbean trough, yada, yada, yada. Oh, and the "experts" quoted are expert apologists for the ruling military junta. The answer here: Mr Obama should just short circuit the legislative process and do an end run around the congress, and, one might hazard, the constitution.

The biggest stupidity, however, is the lament that American ability to do business with Cuba is limited by the inability to extend credit. The suggestion: give them ninety days. Considering that Cuba is essentially a scofflaw nation, and the next-to-the-worst debtor at that, the suggestion would be laughable, if the continued repression of 11 million souls were not at stake. Talk about your unfunded bailouts. Stupidity.

Is It the Pandemic?

It looks like the outbreak of swine flu in Mexico is spreading. To read Drudge is enough to raise the hair on the back of your neck. So far there have been no deaths in the US. In Mexico, however, the dead were between 25 and 45 years old, not a good sign. It seems there's a bit of media hysteria already. Still, the situation bears watching. A pretty informative report here.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Shakespeare

Almost forgot for a moment there. Don't know how. In my earlier incarnation as a teacher, I would have the students celebrate with costumes, quotes, and grub. To help you celebrate the occasion, go over to the National Review where they have contributors offering their favorites.
Gotta say, I'm hard pressed to pick one.

How about a question: In what play is there more to a pie than meets the eye?

Clueless or Callous?

In this must read column, Nat Hentoff seizes on a moment which crystallizes the seemingly wilful blindness of the Congressional Black Caucus on their Cuban jaunt. These notables laid a wreath at a memorial to Martin Luther King, even as a follower of King lay imprisoned not so many miles away.

As Hentoff writes,

In a cruel irony, the Caucus visitors laying flowers at the King memorial appear utterly unaware of this inspiration to many silenced Cubans in Castroland, although Biscet has been internationally covered by reporters, including myself. Nor were these visiting admirers of Fidel and Raul seemingly aware that a biography of Martin Luther King Jr. – seized during the 2003 crackdown raids on independent libraries – was, among other subversive books, ordered burned by Castro's judges in one-day trials.

Talk About Insult to Injury

As a child, one of the men at my father’s factory was given to wearing fatigues, was rumored to carry a machete around during the overnight shift, and was something of an eccentric. The other workers, Cubans also, would shrug and whisper, “He was never the same after he was taken prisoner at Bahia de Cochinos.” So I asked Mom what a Bahia de Cochinos was. I didn’t quite see what pigs had to do with somebody’s behavior. So Mom told me about the Bay of Pigs. In her version, John F. Kennedy was not the man the sisters at my school idolized. Instead, he was the president who left the men on the beaches. He had changed his mind about providing air cover on the advice of his brother Robert. Later at school, I was taught that the airplanes didn’t materialize because there was a problem with time zones and watches. I kid you not.

Of course, the truth came out, as it always does. I learned then that maybe Mom knew something the historians didn’t. So you can imagine my reaction when I read this today.
Manda madre. If there’s something we don’t need, it’s advice from a Kennedy.

Meanderings: Cigarette Complaints and Automotive Reveries

So I'm standing outside in the beautiful weather enoying my rationed cigarette.... What? There is no rationing here, you might say. Ah, but there is. There is de jure and de facto rationing. It is to the latter I refer, the price of indulging having ballooned to the point where an expensive addiction has become prohibitive.

Now, there is no one past the age of reason who doesn't realize how bad smoking is for the health, so smokers tend to have feelings of inferiority, inadequacy, guilt over their inability to quit. This guilt coupled with the open contempt of the politically correct.... reminds me of the time I was on line at the post office when the woman two people behind me demanded to know if I smoked, whereupon she launched into a spiel about how allergic she was, sped directly to the front of the line which snaked around the room twice, all the time full-throatedly declaiming what a source of pollution I was. While I did not begrudge her her health, she really could have been a tad more discreet, particularly since there was no open hole in the ground where I could crawl.

Harsh experiences like this.... Oh, that reminds me of little Miss Microwave, one of the local flakes at my last job, who also had an aversion to the smell of smoke so strong that she launched herself into the middle of the street in front of an oncoming car. Note: I was around the corner of the building on the smoking side where no one need venture. For a while I fantasized about coming up with a rejoinder for just such occasions. But then I read Miss Manners who points out that there is never an excuse for rudeness. I guess I can't mention John Travolta's bubble. So I have learned. I now smoke in plein air at quite a distance from any building, where I will, doubtless, one day be accosted.

Leaning on the railing gives me access to the sun, the breeze, and an excellent view of the parking lot where today I spotted a Gordini. Yes, a Renault Gordini. I think the actual number was the 17. When I was young and foolish, my then boyfriend, now husband of thirty years, and I tooled around town in the purple sports car. I remember it had a funny kind of roof, not a convertible top, not a T, not your typical sun roof. You would push a button and most of the roof overhead would disappear. I think it may have been a moon roof. Of course, the association could be because I remember riding at night and looking up at the stars and the aforementioned moon. We once saw a UFO, at least that's what hubby swears. The Renault went the way of the Fiat, and the Peugeot (We had one of those, too).

Beautiful as it was, it was a pretty ill-fated automobile. I remember once following him on the BQE (Brooklyn-Queens Expressway) when he swerved off the road. I pulled off and looked only to see him open the hood and throw handfuls of that kind of gray urban snow that lingers along the side of the road onto the smoking engine, stifling the flames. We had it repaired, but not long after I woke one morning, having borrowed the car the day before, and looked out upon a small river where the street once was. Of the Gordini, there was no trace, probably because it was completely immersed. The introduction of muddy water into its fuel injectors sealed its fate.

Now my father-in-law who has that old world inventiveness inherited the hulk. He devised the strategem of adding a carbuerator- remember those- and bypassing the injectors. Since there wasn't enough room for such under the hood, he cut an approximate square in the same. Alas, the newly tricked out Gordini had a penchant for popping off the carburetor, sending it flying, which it once did on the Verrazano Narrows Bridge at rush hour. But enough. The Gordini sparked its last in a parking lot, where he returned one night to find the inside of the car noticeably dark and the visibility out of front windshield considerably diminished. Sometime in the week he was working, the dashboard- in a burst of seemingly spontaneous combustion- had ignited. The Gordini had defeated even him.

Sunday Specials

Bittersweet Meats. Marking this year's anniversary of the attempt to liberate Cuba at the Bay of Pigs, I was doing a bit of research and came across this site. I have no information about the organization, but there is an interesting duo of interactive maps in addition to some other information here. Just scroll down.

Jellied Tripe. Although I can't quite remember why, I know I've been miffed at the Financial Times, or is that The Economist, or both? Still this discussion of an idea raised by an MITite in The Atlantic Monthly is pretty intriguing. The central question, seemingly, is whether the US at the moment parallels the state of post Communist collapse Russia? I leave it to the reader to decide the relative ideological grounds of each. Start here.

Roti de Boeuf. Leaks from the Sarkozy administration intimate that the intrepid French prez saved the day, and the glib American one is full of hot air. Not too far from my own estimation. Still, the article in the Brit Times Online goes on to cast it as a case of sour grapes originating from the wine capital, more of a fit of pique on Sarkozy's part.

Canned Fruit. In this, USA Today labels them "economic survivalists," and the more extreme might well be. The report is of interest because it notes a beneficial aspect of the current downturn, namely, the examination of our values.

Cooked Goose. In ongoing stories, the latest threat of a pre emerging pandemic is an outbreak of Bird Flu in Egypt chronicled over at the Independent. And we round off the week with some wacky product warnings courtesy of Foxnews.

An Apology Too Far

In reference to Cuba, I have been hitherto surprised and somewhat relieved by the Presidential palaver that has talked nicely while Presidential action, it could be argued, has wielded the same big stick, mayhap clad in a bit of fleece. Until this moment, this same President has plucked the low-hanging fruit of familial remittances- throwing a bone to his constituents on the left, as well as pleasing elements of the Cuban American Miami voting bloc. Talk about your political win-win situations.

Still the pressure to rip off the suit, don love beads, and start strumming kum-ba-ya on the man are enormous. Yet, Mr. Obama has not only kept in place the embargo and travel restrictions on the masses, he has also raised the issue of human rights in Cuba. Sad that our country has reached the point at which one should have to be elated that an American administration raises the specter of half a century of Stalinist repression on the island.

Although he was true to form in his opening remarks to the Summit of the Americas- Every one of our nations has a right to follow its own path. But we all have a responsibility to see that the people of the Americans [sic] have the ability to pursue their own dreams in democratic societies- speaking out of both sides of his gob, the overall tenor of the speech really left a metallic taste in mine.

Perhaps as result of the mea culpas throughout the European progress, I confess that for the first time in my life I have felt shame for my country to see my President (whether I agree with him or not, he is such) groveling before such as Hugo Chavez, and Daniel Ortega and the like. Perhaps if he had not just sat through a 50 minute diatribe by this last before this address, it would not have been quite as bad. I doubt it.

While the United States has done much to promote peace and prosperity in the hemisphere, we have at times been disengaged, and at times we sought to dictate our terms.
-We have been naughty

There is no senior partner and junior partner in our relations; there is simply engagement based on mutual respect and common interests and shared values.
-The three hundred pound gorilla in the room is the same as the howler monkey.

And we've heard all these arguments before, these debates that would have us make a false choice between rigid, state-run economies or unbridled and unregulated capitalism; between blame for right-wing paramilitaries or left-wing insurgents; between sticking to inflexible policies with regard to Cuba or denying the full human rights that are owed to the Cuban people.
-We've been naughty, again.

We will now allow Cuban Americans to visit the islands whenever they choose and provide resources to their families -- the same way that so many people in my country send money back to their families in your countries to pay for everyday needs.
-Cubans are just Mexicans by another name.

I think it's important to recognize, given historic suspicions, that the United States' policy should not be interference in other countries, but that also means that we can't blame the United States for every problem that arises in the hemisphere. That's part of the bargain.
-We've been naughty, revisited.

The United States will be willing to acknowledge past errors where those errors have been made. We will be partners in helping to alleviate poverty.
-We've been naughty, a fourth time. And we haven't tried to alleviate poverty before the advent of the Obama?

Every nation has been on its own journey.
- The same could have been said of Nazi Germany, Stalinist Russia, Cambodia, etc., but are they equivalent?

To be fair, he did remind these countries of their own responsibilities. And, yes, our behavior toward the lower part of our hemisphere has been less than stellar. Yet nothing we have done equals what these countries have done to themselves, to what the very men in that room, as well as the elephant in the living room, are presently engaged in doing to their countries. To see the President of the United States, equating the United States, Costa Rica, and others to such as Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia is not only specious but shameful.

Absolute Must Read Today: Bay of Pigs

Too often the MSM discusses the Bay of Pigs landing in terms of its failure. It may have been a failure in geopolitical terms, but it was as grand and noble as the charge of the light brigade. The extraordinary courage and efficacy of that small landing force, one thousand some odd, as it faced Cuba's Russian tanks, alone and abandoned by the US President, is truly awe inspiring. My hope is that one day, a Cuban American filmmaker will bring it to the big screen.

Perhaps no one succeeds in bringing the moment to life like Humberto Fontova. He has not disappointed this year. His depiction of the battle brought tears to my eyes. See, Cuban Americans don't see the Bay of Pigs quite the way their fellow citizens do. I'll leave you with a snippet that encapsulates how we feel, but do read the whole thing.

These things went on for three days.

The Brigada's spent ammo inevitably forced a retreat. Castro's jets and Sea Furies were roaming overhead at will and tens of thousands of his Soviet-lavished troops were closing in. The Castro planes now concentrated on strafing the helpless, ammo-less freedom-fighters men.

"Can't continue, " Lynch's radio crackled - it was San Roman [The Commander] again. "Have nothing left to fight with ...out of ammo...Russian tanks in view....destroying my equipment ...How can you people do this to us?" The radio went dead.

"Tears flooded my eyes," writes Grayston Lynch. "For the first time in my 37 years I was ashamed of my country."

A Floridian's Quip

If the state is going to raise- the third increase in as many months- my cigarette taxes in the guise of user fees, they can increase revenues exponentially by doing the same for Twinkies, Big Macs, and Bud.

In Which I Reconsider an Opinion

Before Mr. Obama was elected, I was quite apprehensive that he would smile and smile at Cuban Americans, all the while giving away the store to the ruling military junta of Cuba. I now begin to suspect that he is actually glad handing the left by lifting minor restrictions and talking nicely while maintaining the embargo et al . Could be I was wrong.

Dear Mr. O'Reilly

The following was sent in response to a discussion on the recent easing of restrictions on remittances and travel to Cuba on The Factor:

Monica Crowley, Alan Colmes, and you, Mr. O'Reilly, all missed the most
salient point here. The entire rest of the world travels to Cuba and suns
on its beaches. To date, not a mojito-swilling sun bather has succeeded in
bringing about an iota of democratic change. Does it not seem a bit
arrogant to think that Americans are going to cause Raul Castro to rend his
khakis, break out his guitar, and start singing "kum-ba-ya"?

Updated: Just How Puerile They Are

For the record: I am proud of the thousands of my countrymen who registered their displeasure with the direction in which the country is going today. It is their right, and one might argue their duty. Apparently the CNN reporter in this video did not share my sentiments. A less professional display I have never witnessed.

That was until I glommed the Coulter column this week. It would seem that some MSNBC commentators have had great fun with the similarity between tea parties and a homosexual sexual practice. Not numbering proficiency in the terminology commonly used to describe male homosexual practices, aside from the obvious, amongst my many accomplishments, I did a cursory survey on the internet. (Warning: graphic content ahead) "Tea bagging" is the "dipping of one partners testicles into the mouth of the other." And this bears on the manifestations how? This is the best they could muster? This is professional television on a supposed news channel? What's next? Ca-Ca jokes? It only goes to reinforce the view that the people in charge of much of our society, i.e. the media, are stuck in permanent adolescence. Incredible.

H/T Alberto

Update: Not to be outdone, check out this clip from CNN's Anderson Cooper. Unbelievable

The Professor Speaks...or...Writes of Cuba

Seems Cubans have more than one friend at Yale. I knew about Professor Carlos Eire, author of the most moving memoir- Waiting for Snow in Havana- and staunch friend of Cuban freedom. But here is a commentary from another, Roberto González Echevarría, in which he indicates that Obama should ask for a bit of reciprocity from the regime. Most surprising of all is the venue here: CNN. My, is that a pig I see above me?

For me, the money quote:

My apprehension about enacting policies that will improve economic conditions on the island is that they will only serve to strengthen the white, male gerontocracy's grip on power. In totalitarian regimes with no transparency or input by the people on the allotment of funds, history shows that the ruling class keeps the lion's share. Cuba is no exception.

Read it for yourself here.

Cross-posted at Babalublog

Easing Restrictions on Cuba: A Bonanza for the Buzzards

Take that you intransigent hardliners! Chalk up another one for the ruling military junta. Not because as the media would have you believe, it is a sign of the eroding support for holding said misgoverning body accountable, but rather because it is a win-win situation for the Havana strongmen. They have gained untold millions without losing a single cog in the machinery of repression. Because of today’s announcement, tomorrow, no independent librarian is going to be able to enter a bookstore and buy a copy of Animal Farm. No newspaper is going to print an op-ed piece by Maria Beatriz Roque or Hector Palacios. Not a single prisoner of conscience is going to see the dawn a free man. Nothing has essentially changed. Well, almost nothing.

700 million dollars. That is the total of remittances sent to Cuba under the much maligned Bush rules which allowed Cuban Americans to send 1200 dollars a year-300 hundred a quarter- to relatives on the blighted island. Some calculate the figure at a billion dollars. Of that money, about 25% goes directly into the pockets of the regime in the form of a punishing exchange tariff. Ka-ching. The rest, as it makes its way to the street vendor, the black market, whatever, supplies desperately needed- since the country suffers from a chronic case of Marxist induced anemia- lifeblood to the economy. Ka-ching. Finally, by easing the pressure created by perpetual want on the regime…. Priceless.

Essentially, by lifting the restrictions on remittances, the American government has moved to provide a subsidy to the moribund Communist dictatorship. Yes, there are humanitarian considerations. No one is more aware of these. To us Cubans are not an abstraction. They have names: Nito and Berta and Fefa and Blanca and Juan. They have titles: Mami, Abuela, Tio, Prima. But there is a difference between sending over enough to keep the wolf from the door and feeding the beast.

As always seems the case, common sense never seems to inform our policies. The previous rules denied the importance of uncles, aunts, cousins, an important consideration now that the older generations are dying off. The new ones make dorming with a Cuban roommate a qualification for sending money. The limit on remittances under the old policy was generous for a population with an average income of 20 dollars a month. Under the new rules, I fear our tendency to get carried away and turn a seemingly beneficent gesture into financial bovine the likes of which fidel never even envisioned for his mini cow.

Tonight's Quip

"In America, they gave Obama the White House. In Cuba, they gave Oscar Elias Biscet 25 years in prison.''

Danbury attorney Rafael Pina in this NewsTimes article comparing the fates of two black men who sought change- Barack Obama and Elias Biscet.

A Virtual Tea Party Put Out of Business

The Republicans are offering virtual tea bags. Interested?

Mail is undeliverable at the moment. Guess they don't want to hear from you over at the White House and the Capitol.

In Which I Lament an Omission

Those of you who visit regularly will know that I am extraordinarily fond of Cold Case. Yup, that's the one with the cute Cuban. Surprisingly, however, I never know when the sucker is on, usually on a Saturday night, I thought. So last night, as I was watching Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman in his seemingly new buff body and wondering whether what Perez Hilton says is true. The guy's married, for Lord's sake! Oh, dear, let me finish that sentence: I not only missed a new episode, but I missed one based on a would be Cuban defector baseball player. It is not the first time the show has made an allusion to the situation, but they have always been pretty spot on before. Babalu has clips.

H/T Henry Gomez

Momentous Quote for the Evening

Targeting specific, identifiable persons or entities for unfavorable treatment, and transferring their assets to equally identifiable persons or entities, surely also raises equal protection [constitutional] issues.

-George Will from the aforecited column.

Monday Recap

Peter and Paul. It's been a long time since a George Will column has spoken to me. This one about taxing one group to specifically fund another group of citizens and its dubious constitutionality hits close to home. Is he writing about taxing smokers to provide health insurance for the children of others? No. The case he writes about is in Illinois. The principle holds.

One and Two. Another entry from Townhall is a feature about new media sensation Glenn Beck. Beck who's gone slightly off the reservation lately, and I write this as a longtime fan, is in actuality performing a great service for many of us. Beck vocalizes what we fear and should make it clear to the big government one world types that we will not go gently into that good night. Besides, the guy's funny.

Glitter and Gold. Just as the wires are burning up with this news, I'd like to offer a timely reminder with this. Amado Veloso Vega whose quest for freedom included a number of attempts to flee Cuba and resulted in the loss of both legs has graduated as a radiologist, walking on prosthetics donated by a Cuban American doctor. The doctor's only request was that he "stand as a role model of success." Talk about your insight into the Cuban American psyche.

Victory and Defeat. Here's one near and dear to my heart: a warm thanks to Patrick Nagle and all those who made the Sarasota "Fringe Festival" possible. Through a clerical error, over three hundred aspiring filmakers being rejected by the Sarasota Film Festival received a mass emailing. Story here. One thing led to another, and a new festival was born. I attended the last day and was thrilled to see real art in all its rawness. Bought my t shirt. Kudos, and I'm there next year.

Adam and Eve. From the Today Show comes the a listing of the 19 worst fast food meals. They probably taste the best, too. Nothing like your fat for your flavor. Take it with a grain of salt, I say. Two, that's two puns, or is it?

Reads: Some Light Fare for an Easter Sunday

I was comparing notes with a coworker the other day and happened to mention that I really enjoyed those fluffy, quirky whodunits set in the South, like those by Carolyn Haines and- to a lesser extent- Mary Kay Andrews. She clued me in to Mary Kay Andrews' alter identity of Kathy Hogan Trochek. The central stratagem in her earlier novels, the cleaning service with the unfortunate tendency of encountering corpses was to good to pass up. So I had to pick up To Live and Die in Dixie, apparently the second in the series. Couldn't resist. It was well worth the read. What more delightful way to pass the afternoon than to spend it with ex-cop Callahan Garrity, her mother, the assorted employees of "House Mouse' and the victim du jour? Truly enjoyable.

On a whole different level, but with the same feel, if a bit more grounded in African culture and human nature, was the Number 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith. I felt I had to read it now that they were making a movie. I have to confess to being something of a snob. Ever the individualist, I refuse to climb on the bandwagon for a book. If I don't catch it early on, I may never read it. If they make a movie, I never will. Alas, it took me a year to read the first Harry Potter, fortunately before the movie. I really do have to work on it.

Because of this character flaw, when it became a smash hit with the book club set, I resisted reading the adventures of Precious Ramotswe in her newly minted detective agency in Gaborone. I was the poorer for it. This one is sweet and entertaining. The innocence and basic decency of Precious does not keep her from carrying out her duty, African style. Unlike our literary gumshoes, the fledgling detective uses her knowledge of the way things operate to solve her cases. At times, there is a kind of irony as the reader is left to wonder just how effective she has been. The copious amounts of bush tea ladled out by her secretary, bearer of the distinction of having scored a 97 on the typing test as we are advised frequently, are just part of the affectionate local color here.

Bon Mot of the Evening

“'In my household I told Castro he is known as the ultimate survivor,' says Rep. Rush." One can only conclude that Mr. Rush also deeply admires cockroaches.

-Comment by Asombra on a Babalublog post by Anatasio Blanco about the recent remarks made by returning Congressional Black Caucus junketeers.

April 15th: Tea Time

If you want to join in the festivities by sending a tea bag to Washington on April 15th, just read this. I know nothing about the organization, but it sound nifty to me. It might be interesting to know where they intend to dump a million tea bags. Gotta love that American spirit!

Did He or Didn't He?

I'm here to tell you that it doesn't matter. Talk about your tempest in a teapot. As far as I am concerned, Obama's quasi bow to the Saudi King is probably the result of the social awkwardness that has plagued his dealings with British royalty, the metaphorical equivalent of drinking from the finger bowl, a solecism I don't think he would commit.

In any case, of more concern is the concept of negotiations with Iran. Iranian leaders in the past have acknowledged that talks were just a means to buy time. Of more concern also are the apologies he's spouting, the policies he's enacting. Enough already with the bow.

Family Travel and Remittances Loosened

Here's a statistic for all of the embargo lifters. Under the repressive Bush policies, family remittances to Cuba total 700 million dollars a year. Talk about stimulative.

America: Where the Fat Lady Meets the Peanut Man

Woke up this am to find Jose's delightful post on "El Manisero." The Cuban peanut vendor, unlike his American ballpark counterpart, does not sling his wares about chanting, "Peanuts! Get your peanuts heaar!" No, he sings his refrain in an evening serenade.

Brings back memories of my father wrapping paper into a cone shape demonstrating to my American daughter how the little packets of peanuts were sold. I suspect she knows more than I as they used to sing it to her.

In English we say that something is not over "until the fat lady sings." My mother with her typically Cuban sharp wit used to say that something or someone was not done until he or she sang, or canto "El Manisero." If I remember correctly, particularly in reference to mortality. I'm sure some of you reading know the ins and outs a bit better than I. So much is lost.

H/T Cubanology

Sunday Interrogatives

Where's the beef? The news this week was all Barack Goes to Europe all the time, so let's start there. Despite the PR success, the truth is that it was something a policy failure. Forced by the recalcitrant French and German leaders to abandon his quest to have a global stimulus , Mr. Obama seems to have settled on gaining more help in Afghanistan. As this report from the Times indicates, results were not too good on this front either.

Who's your Daddy? Back on the home front, Stanford economist Michael Boskin points out at the Wall Street Journal that Barackian economics will result in a tax increase as "big as their mortgage" for those making 100 thousand a year.

What's the catch? Seemingly unnoticed is the chilling information that the government which initially strong armed some banks into taking TARP funds in order to provide cover for their weaker brethren is essentially refusing to take it back, at least according to the WSJ in this. As Stuart Varney points out, it's all about control this go 'round.

Who stole the cookie...? In somewhat the same vein, over at Townhall Kathryn Lopez highlights a new book which has become something of a sensation: Liberty and Tyranny; A Conservative Manifesto by Mark Levin. I haven't read it, but plenty of others have. Then again I haven't read Liberal Fascism either.

Where in the world? Also in Cuba related news, the Congressional Black Caucus is on a junket to the benighted and blighted island. Guess they haven't read the report on the side bar about the plight of Afro-Cubans. The media is touting the lifting of family travel restrictions as prologue to greater easing; but as Andres Oppenheimer quotes Jason Cason in a Miami Herald piece, tourism has never "brought down a totalitarian regime."

Which witch? Some potentially disturbing news. Foul rumors are abroad that Broadway could face trouble in this economy, that a movie version of Atlas Shrugged is again in the works, and that the English language is always evolving. Theater is one of the New York things I miss most, as theater in my hometown either involves social climbing or a field trip from the assisted living facility. I've never read Rand, as the size of the tomes dwarf my desire to read them. And evolution or no evolution, I cannot get used to impact as a verb.

Meanderings: Ghosts of Meals Past

I'm standing outside; the sun is shining; and I'm thinking. For some reason I'm reminiscing about the Brooklyn in which I grew up. Then somehow the train of thought leaves the station and winds up at The House on Mango Street, a book I thoroughly enjoyed. I've recommended it loads of times. It's easy to read, composed of near poetic almost stories. Surprisingly, no one has been as taken with it as I was. But you see, I know all about growing up Hispanic in an urban American environment in the dim mists of the past.

Take the rice sandwich. To the horror of the Nun in charge, young Esperanza takes a rice sandwich to school. Poor Esperanza wants desperately to be like the other children and take a sandwich for lunch. All she's got at home is rice, so that's what she puts between two slices of bread. What did she know about tuna, or cold cuts? A sandwich? Nah, she just wants to stop being the outsider.

I can relate. Somewhere along the line I realized that everyone else didn't eat rice every night or spaghetti with greasy brown sauce. So I announced to my mother that I wanted lasagna. I even had a recipe on the back of a matchbook. Nobody really makes matchbooks anymore, at least the kind with recipes in them, which is probably a good thing because I never got a good recipe from that source. Now the backs of boxes are another thing altogether, bearing a veritable treasure trove of great recipes with the exception of those that read "to the pasta add one jar of XYZ spaghetti sauce," which kinda defeats the purpose of adding a recipe to the box.

Anyway, we went through the ingredients. Canned tomatoes? No problem, we had tomato sauce. Mozzarella cheese? Well, we had American. Needless to say, the result was near unpalatable and soured us on Italian cooking for years. I guess it was just as well, because nothing was ever going to make me anything over than the little Spanish girl in 3 downstairs. I suspect that some may have substituted spic for the same, but it was not until I left the confines of the working class and moved to suburbia that I was ever called the latter to my face.

The Unnatural

Missed the Sunday edition last week due to paucity of good material, although these two entries did stand out:

An interesting article on Reuters about the last eunuch in China who died in 1996. The poor guy's life reads like a novel, although it was all too real. A slice of the past.

Over at Breitbart is an AFP article that the US Navy has "significant evidence" of "cold fusion." You might remember the two researchers who announced they had achieved same years ago. When other scientists failed to replicate their results, they were generally discredited. Seems they might have been on to something after all.

You Go, John!

Representative John Conyers, Jr, perhaps best known for his desire to try, metaphorically speaking, Bush in absentia, took time to hear testimony of alleged improprieties on the part of ACORN, the apparent new NGO arm of the government. The laundry list of allegations was so impressive, he is considering launching an investigation. Read about it here at the Washington Times.

Finally, Some Common Sense

Despite the naked greed, Euro-envy, and Pollyanna politics reaching new heights in the latest outbreak of the "We Want to Go to Cuba, Too" syndrome, there are still lone voices out there standing up for what is right.

Kudos to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review for this.

from the beginning-

New calls to loosen U.S. travel restrictions to Cuba extend the hand of good faith and friendship to a regime that, 47 years later, still prefers to govern with an iron fist.

to the end-

The case for lifting U.S. bans begins with Cuba enacting meaningful reforms, not by Washington politicians espousing political expediency.

A Moment in Brief

Following the logic behind the unconscionable raising of tobacco taxes- almost two dollars a pack on cigarettes- as it's being reported, we can cure heroin addiction by raising the price of a fix.

Heard in Passing

It's like this whole country's turned into high school.... Everything's a popularity contest.
-caller to Michael Medved's show this afternoon.

Updated: It Was a Very Good Year...

... for George Soros apparently who made 1.1 billion last year, in part by betting against the dollar. Well, since Soros was instrumental in the rise of the liberal left, inquiring minds want to know how much of that he's paying in taxes. Something tells me it's not 32%. These bleeding heart moneyed liberals are very good at spending OPT (Other People's Taxes).

Update: Rumor has it that he pays 15% just like say someone who has a taxable income of say 60 thousand or so.

Quote for Today

I believe he is going to eventually be called a great President, even as he has inherited the worst economy since FDR and a much more dangerous world.
-Mike Lupica from this in which he counsels the President to cool it on the campaigning.

Can I ask a question? On what basis? It is theoretically possible, if not particularly likely, that Mr. Lupica will be proven correct. But I would like to know what in his past, what in the seemingly bumbling start to the administration provides the slightest inkling that Mr. Obama will be an able, let alone great, president? This is just another example of how our political views have become enmeshed in our love or hate for a particular politician with little or no grounding in reality. I guess believe is the operative word here.

H/T Ms. Calabaza

The State of Our News

Years ago, I was watching CNN when I nearly fell out of my chair as it covered the opening of a new museum, presided over by then Iraqi strongman Sadam Hussein, devoted to those fallen at the hands of the evil Americans. I kid you not, that was the perspective of the report. Angered, I emailed CNN and asked when they became the Baghdad news network. During the Iraq war, it became embarrassingly apparent that CNN had been playing footsie with the dictator in order to keep their Iraqi operation.

This week Humberto Fontova over at Babalu outed another dirty secret when he noted that the Miami Herald Tribune was copying news releases put out by a Cuban propaganda arm, ACN. There is no free press in Cuba. Any "news" issued by the same is by definition propaganda issued by the regime, as the press is an organ of same. There is no disclaimer that this is a press release. There is obviously no context in these so-called reports. To give you an idea of just how serious this is, can you imagine gleaning news about Nazi Germany from the propaganda put out by Goebbels? You decide.

Leave 'er Alone!

You would think that I would be cheered by the way the media is going after Biden's daughter. After all, we may recall how they trashed Palin and her family. However, it is wrong. It was wrong then, and it is wrong now. Whether the vice president's daughter did or did not do cocaine has no bearing on the quality of his governance. The public would be better served if they devoted the same enthusiasm to uncovering the cronyism and unsavory dealings of many of our elected officials. Now that would serve the public interest. But that would require some true investigative reporting.

How About Some Standards Here?

As a child I was fascinated by the sweepstakes offers that came in the mail. Not knowing any better, I once read the fine print which stated that employees and family members of employees were not eligible to enter. As I grew up I found it to be the standard for sweepstakes.

I'm reminded of that because in the midst of the economic and political upheaval, I am most aghast at the rampant cronyism and corruption that has surfaced in one context or another. There's the Republican member of congress who conveniently invested in property that became part of a government-backed development. Bankers with special relationships; sweetheart mortgages; sons, daughters, husbands, wives associated with firms bailed out; forget campaign contributors. The situation is rank and smells to heaven.

So it strikes me that the least we can do is apply Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes Standards to our elected officials.

Thanks, but No Thanks!

A Democratic senator has proposed a bill to help ailing newspapers. In a separate news account, I read where they would be non profit and would not be able to make endorsements. Not that I'm a skeptic or anything but doesn't that ostensibly describe PBS? We all know how apolitical they are. There is more than one way to endorse a political position.

They Say It's Paved With Good Intentions

That's the road to you-know-where. It's the road that the Czech head of the European Union sees the US taking. Perhaps it's because they've been down that road before, the Czech Prime Minister, who has his own difficulties, had some harsh words for the US plan to spend its way out of recession.

It says something that Russia, China, Mexico, and the Czech Republic have lately felt the need to instruct us on free market capitalism.

Sentence of the Day Winner

A $14 trillion economy hangs by a thread composed of (a) a comically cynical, pitchfork-wielding Congress, (b) a hopelessly understaffed, stumbling Obama administration, and (c) $165 million.

-from the aforecited Krauthammer column.

Sunday Evening and Some Questionable Duos

Strum und Drang? Over at Townhall, Charles Krauthammer takes on the topic du jour of the AIG bonuses, putting into perspective the over-the-top political response. Something in the situation evokes the figurative. Krauthammer envisions a pitchfork wielding congressional mob wielding confiscatory taxes. NRO's Mark Steyn characterizes it as "Outrage Kabuki." In any case, it is obfuscating the real and vital issues

Sawdust and Greasepaint? Also over at Townhall, Kevin McCullough presents a notion that has occurred to me, namely that Mr. Obama seems to be in over his head. Of all of the things I worried he would do, bumbling was not one. Most interesting stat here is that 83% of those polled don't have much confidence that Mr. Obama's policies are going to work.

Baked or Fried? Try this one over at Fox as to the effects of the recession on buying habits. Up are shoemakers and barbers; down, not surprisingly, is Vegas. In a separate Reuters article over at MSNBC, the discussion is about a recession-fueled bump in fishing.

Animal or Vegetable? The big drama this week was the discovery of "The World's Deadliest Spider" at a Tulsa Whole Foods, only maybe it wasn't the world's deadliest spider after all. In other food-related news, the NY Times advises sugar is coming back into vogue, replacing corn syrup. A welcome development as far as I am concerned.

Just the Thing!

This should come in handy when the current policies send us into a collective tailspin. Personally, a few of my neighbors and I are ready to launch our own victory garden in the substantial open space that abuts my house. It pays to be prepared. And we're ready to defend it, too. No, no, we're not completely crazy, just cautious.

A Slice of Life And a Wisp of Smoke

Needless to say, despite supporting the health insurance of two middle class children with the proceeds from my addiction, I am still smoking. I have recovered sufficiently to forgo thundering "I hate the Democrat congress" every time I purchase a pack, probably due to the nice but also put upon convenience store clerk, who despite making minimum wage is also supporting the health insurance of aforesaid middle class children. Anyhow, she suggested the expedient of buying really cheap cigarettes, the kind that come in a little brown box, the kind I picture Camus' Meursault smoking in Algeria before they took them away when they put him in prison, the ones he missed so much.

I hear that quite a few of my fellow nicotine addicts have availed themselves of similar options. So there I am today on line at the convenience store when the woman in front of me inquires how much a pack of Doral is, only to be told 642 dollars. Her quip: "Oh, they've gone down." Ah ha, a like-minded individual, I think. Then as I leave, she is unlocking her car. I call out to her. She raises her head inquisitively. I holler, "Don't forget to vote," raising my stubby pack of cigarettes.

"Oh, I'll be there," she replies. I'd hazard that so will a goodly percentage of those who secretly and not so secretly resent the cavalier way this Democrat congress spends other people's money. It's never a good idea to annoy a quarter of the voting population from the get go. So if you happen to be on line at the convenience store when some unfortunate grumbles, be sure he or she knows who to thank.

Read: Angel's Tip

I confess that when I first stumbled upon an Alafair Burke novel, I took it as proof of the tenet anyone whose ever written a novel and attempted to get an agent, let alone get it published, quickly learns. You really need to know someone. Alas book publishing, like everything in our society other than the cyberworld, is ossified. Take Hollywood. How many are the children, nephews of famous faces? See, with the name Alafair, it was a fair bet she was related to one of my favorite all time authors, James Lee Burke. Eventually, I relented and picked up a copy of one of her novels. It was okay.

So you can imagine the pleasant surprise when, because of library budget cuts, I was reduced to picking up the second installment in the Ellie Hatcher series Angel's Tip- in large print, no less- and loved it. With the character of Ellie, Burke really hits her stride. Her sensitivity and feel for the night life in lower Manhattan and the nicely wrought plot make this one a joy to read on a Friday after work. As the blurb on the cover from Faye Kellerman describes it, "riveting." Enjoyed it.

Finally: Some Common Sense

Coming from Sheila Bair, the FDIC chair who states that "too big to fail" won't cut it. I'm not that sure about the mechanism she is suggesting, but it was your erstwhile correspondent who pointed out a while ago that "too big to fail" was too big to exist. Personally, I think I'd like some variation of an anti-trust act but with the commedia del politico we've got going on in congress, she may be right. Read about it here.

The Progressive Way

I fail to see the surprise at AG Eric Holder's admission that some interned at Guantanamo will wind up walking our streets. That was a foregone conclusion from the moment they announced closing Guantanamo and availing themselves of the American court system.

If you want a hint as to what happens when our system goes to work on terrorists, try reading
Two Seconds Under the World:Terror Comes to America-The Conspiracy Behind the World Trade Center Bombing . I found it at the library after the World Trade Center Bombing and the before the attack on 9/11. A well-written, enlightening book, its central premise is that the first terrorist attack on US soil was really the assassination of Meir Kahane in Manhattan. As the single reviewer on Amazon maintains, in order to understand 9/11, you need to understand the bombing.

Particularly instructive in light of today's admission is what happened to the assassin when he was tried. Ably defended by William Kunstler, he beat most of the rap for Kahane and a bystander he shot to death as he made his escape. The machinations of his co-conspirators to get him released led to the World Trade Center bombing. No lie. It's really worth a read. Then decide if you want these guys tried here.

Some Morning Irony for Your Coffee

In support of my dear, departed mother's adage that no monkey sees his own tail, get this:

Rep. Barney Frank charged Monday that a decision by financially-strapped insurance giant AIG to pay millions in executive bonuses amounts to "rewarding incompetence."

Given the starting line-up of chairmen in the House, the backstopping of financial enterprises whose greed overcame prudence, and the rewarding of individuals with poor business and or life judgement that is part of the Democrat juggernaut, it would be très amusing, if it were not so sad.

Late Sunday Perspective

Poe-tay-toe. Townhall brings us Doug Giles' amusing report on the rise of gun sales. Others have ascribed it to fear of gun regulation, Giles sees it as the result of Obamian stimulus. Over at NRO, Peter Geraghty would seem to agree listing gun sales as one of the 5 ways Obama's economic stimulus is already working. Perhaps it is an evolutionary thing, witness Santino the Chimp over in Stockholm who armed himself with a pile of stones in anticipation of gawkers. Here.

Poe-tah-toe. In keeping with the previous post, here is a column by Robert Samuelson in the Washington Post in which he takes Obama to task for the verbal sleight of hand which is not only dishonest but obscures the more weighty considerations that we, as a nation, face. Worth a read.

Toe-may-toe. As noted earlier, the administration is abandoning the term enemy combatant. As the article here makes clear, there is great care being taken to explain that the change in terminology does not reflect a gentler, kinder approach. Question is: can anyone tell me what the new descriptor will be? Whatchamacallit isn't going to work. It is a legal definition after all.

Toe-mah-toe. Let's go highbrow. Here's a thought provoking review of Elaine Showalter's A Jury of Her Peers; American Women Writers by Katha Pollitt over at Slate, particularly notable for what it conveys about the lot of women writers and their absence in the boys club that divines the canon, as much as its evaluation of the Showalter book. Some of the best feminist literary criticism still belongs to the first chapters of Gilbert and Gubar's The Madwoman in The Attic.

Let's just call the whole thing off.