A Bird of ill Omen?

Soros has called gloom and doom on the world banking system. Read it here. Scares me. Let's just say he witnessed the trashing of the Bank of England, the Russian Ruble, and now.... Follow the money?

Stimulated in LA

Just got off the phone with the little one who lives in LA at the moment. She's a trifle incensed as she's hearing that in lieu of a state refund, she can expect an IOU. She's contemplating paying her federal tax with California's IOU. Sign of the times.

Politics, Puberty and the Public

It does not take much imagination to look around at the moment and notice that the single biggest problem is not the economy as much as it is the immaturity of a society of superannuated adolescents.

Start with our politics, which exhibit nothing more than the dynamics of high school. Everyone wants to be cool, be a part of the in crowd. There is no room for reasoned debate. Civil discourse has devolved into one part name-calling, one part mockery, and two parts strong arming. And cynical manipulation of truth has become the medium of communication in government, stratagems which go unreported by a co-opted press.

On the public side, we whine and expect someone else to take care of us, pay for our health insurance, rescue us from our errors. There is no thought given to the rights of others who have acted responsibly or even to future generations. We have a pecuniary cold at the moment, so we are perfectly willing to inflict pneumonia on future generations. Gone seems to be the notion of taking responsibility for oneself.

Perhaps it is because for too long, this country has not faced the kind of adversity that makes you grow up. One has to wonder what those earlier generations would think of us today. I can only guess.

Tripping the Light Fantastic: Bollywood in Cuba

The fascination with the foreign film in this household has led to watching four hour Bollywood epics. I can only imagine the product if the Havana regime succeeds in luring Indian filmakers to Cuba as a location. Think about the possibilities.... salsa in a sari.... I'd better stop now. I don't want to offend anyone. I actually enjoy the films, mostly. Read about it here.

I Vote for George

Anne Coulter's column this week reminds me of something that's been nagging me. As I read all these rankings of American Presidents, I'm always surprised that George Washington is almost never front and center, number one. As I watch the machinations of Chavez in Venezuela in the grand tradition of leaders who come in to power and refuse to leave, I am always struck by the nobility of our first leader. What would have happened to our grand democratic tradition if he had availed himself of the power offered to him? He was the one who defined the office. What greater achievement could there be?

A Study in Civility

In between fits of the vapours every time I hear another horrendously large sum to be tossed into the Democrat maw that is the government these days, I rouse myself only to find the tenor of our political discourse sinking ever more rapidly into a morass of juvenile petulance. Rahm Emanuel tells us to find the measure of the man, our President Obama, in his mockery of Republicans. The White House website includes a caption under a "bipartisan meeting" noting GOP requests for autographs, as well as their bad manners in failing to vote for the stimulus. A recent speech shows Obama using the kind of accusatory rhetoric usually reserved for campaigns.

Two observations:
If el Presidente wanted to garner Republican votes perhaps he should have crafted a package that a Republican could sign on to, instead of the nancipolooza they were served. Did he expect them to bend over?

One of the very first lessons on the playground is that one should not be a sore loser but rather a gracious winner. And as he pointed out to the Republicans, "We won."

Sunday on the Soapbox

Financial Follies. In the Wall Street Journal, William McGurn warns of the Nancy Pelosi effect. In a scathing article, he highlights her mismanagement and her looming status as an albatross around the new administration's neck. And from Governor of South Carolina Mark Stanford over on CNN comes this strongly argued position on the porkulus bill. Stanford has distinguished himself as an articulate spokesman against the behemoth, an exercise not in pork barrel spending, but in payback.

Silver Lining? So so says Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor over in England. In an interview at the Times on Line, the Catholic Prelate's view that the economic upheaval may actually turn out to be a good thing as it forces the country to change it's wicked ways is highlighted. Most of interest, however, is a more moderate perspective of a morally bankrupt society.

Presidential Metrics. Also at the Times is a ranking of the US presidents. Among the top scorers are Abe Lincoln, George Washington, and Dwight Eisenhower. At the bottom, yeah, George Bush and Nixon. Excuse me, but I find it a tad presumptuous.

Scientific Milestones? Let's start with the crash of the satellites, a working American and derelict Soviet one. According to the AP, experts fear the debris could be a menace. I've read elsewhere that even the Hubble could be imperiled. Back on Earth, the mummy of a young Egyptian temple singer has been virtually unwrapped without opening the sarcophagus. Ah, the miracle of modern science. Read it at CNN here.

Last Gasp. Had to include this one. Ohmigosh, the Kansas Department of Education has been caught in an error by a high school student. In a year, no one had noticed that omission had mistakenly been used for emission. Happens to us all. Read all about it. Meantime Fox News has come up with a list of the top ten deadliest stretches of road in America. Two are in South Florida. Given the driving habits I've observed further south, I'm not surprised.

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?

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.

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.

Quote of the Day

Goes to Gusano at La Contrarevolucion.

Castro’s 50 year propaganda campaign has managed to convince the world that even after 50 years Cuba is still undergoing a revolution that was over on Jan 8 1959. The world’s longest going out of business sale.

Read: Storming Las Vegas

The New Man and the same old story. My brother clued me into this one which was published in February and is officially titled Storming Las Vegas: How a Cuban-Born, Soviet-Trained Commando Took Down the Strip to the Tune of Five World-Class Hotels, Three Armored Cars, and Millions of Dollars. I'd like to be able to recommend it as a well-written true crime story, but my experience of the book was fatally tarnished by the bigotry apparent in its pages.

My first clue came in the "Acknowledgments" in which author John Huddy cites Wayne Smith. Of course, he also mentions Brian Latell. Then, he proceeds to pass on, unopposed, the perspective of the villain/hero of the piece, Jose Vigoa, who was born in 1959 that during "Batista time" in Cuba there were 8 million people and 7 million were poor, illiterate, and uncared for....

Just as well, because Huddy characterizes Cuba as a "banana republic through virtually all of its history." Under the guidance of fidel, it becomes a "player on the world stage," and here's the best, "the target of relentless terrorism." See those "Miami militants" were responsible for the constant tension under which the murderer and thief grew up. fidel is lionized and Batista associated with "torture chambers and murder squads." He includes reference to an incident hitherto unknown to me in which Batista had men buried alive.

Later Huddy, who once worked for the Herald, clues us in that he grew up "in preCastro Cuba," that is to say at the Guantanamo Base:

I visited much of the interior of Cuba....I saw firsthand the conditions in Cuba under the U.S.-backed Batista dictatorship. They were harsh and degrading.

What can I say? The 1958 UN? Liars. My parents? Liars. My grandparents? Liars. My friends, relatives, associates? Liars. None of these were Batistianos, but it is obvious that Mr. Huddy on the basis of "visits" to the "interior" knows Cuba better than any of the aforementioned. Maybe he should go visit parts of Philadelphia and write a book. I raised the idea of bigotry earlier. This selective portrayal of Cuban history is emblematic of the perspective of some. Was there poverty? Yes, grinding for some. There was also the largest middle class in Latin America. There is no room for that in their equations. To these people Cubans are some third world species of "native" somehow unentitled to the same prerogatives as Americans. It is our "otherness" they find off-putting, whether in Cuba or Miami.

Oh, the book? Read it if you want. Pick it up at Goodwill or the library. Otherwise, save your militant quarter.

Minimum Monday

Slim Pickin's this week, it would seem.

Line. I quoted this one earlier. Over at NRO, Mark Steyn waxes eloquent on the insanity that seems to have infected the body politic. Don't miss it here.

Medium. At Townhall, Mike S Adams shares a novel grading system he proposes for his students. Those who achieve over ninety will share some of their points with those less fortunate. Sound familiar? That's his point.

Perspective. The New York Times relieves my worried mind by reporting that those who drink substantial amounts of coffee have less risk of dementia. Gee, that's one less worry for my golden years.

Why I Skipped the Halftime Show Yesterday

I spent the evening last night at a Superbowl party. As the Boss came on the stage, all the Boomers shrieked and oohed and aahed and waxed nostalgic, while I headed to the lanai with the cigar smokers. So there I was observing that quite of few of these last hadn't clipped the ends of their cigars, when the hostess came out and sat by my side, inquiring whether I had caught Bruce. Thinking quickly- I was after all in enemy territory, so to speak- I replied that I had never been a particular fan.

What I omitted in my reply is that I will never again be able to listen to "Born to Run" without feeling offended, not because Mr. Springsteen has his own political views but because he insists on using his celebrity and position to foist those rather strident views on me. It is his right to try, but it is my right to forgo buying his music. Ditto, with the assortment of celebrities and media types who insist on trashing Bush, Republicans, Conservatives, and any other of the people and ideals I hold dear.

I have decided that I will not support the artistic efforts of any of these if I can help it. I won't go to their movies, rent their DVD's, listen to their music, or subscribe to their magazines. It seems others have arrived at the same conclusion. George, today, over at Babalu, linked to a wonderful piece at the American Spectator. It is right on so many levels.

When artists, reporters, and their ilk take a particular political position, they risk repudiating those who do not agree with them. In this instance, 46 percent of the population did not vote for Mr. Obama, and not because they are stupid, immoral, or unenlightened. There should be room in our politics and entertainment for the notion that there is more than one valid political position. Until there is, my choices will be limited, as I suspect will be their sales.

A Nod is as Good as a Wink….

Well, President “Hope and Change” has begun his tenure with a series of fiats designed to differentiate himself from the former president. Of course, there’s enough wiggle room left in his brand spanking new executive orders to rival that in a rapper’s pants, but let’s not split hairs.

On the international front, his inauguration was met with kind words from compañero fidel, who described him as a “noble and intelligent” man. Not long after, though, as noted here, the consequences of thawing relations must have made their way through sclerotic byways in the long, lonely hours of the night, because the President became a noble man who contributes to the “genocide” of the Palestinian people. Also thrown in was a demand for Guantanamo, one echoed by mini-me Chavez. How’s that for an olive branch?

Not to be outdone, the Iranians, yet to receive the new covenant that the President has reputedly been framing, chimed in characterizing the offer to talk with Iran as a sign of US failure. Considering that they have helped kill our servicemen in Iraq, how could they see our proferred hand as anything but? Ahmadinejad, in fact, is demanding an “apology” for our “crimes.” Read it here.

Memo to the left: these people dislike us not because we don’t play nice, but because it is not in their interest to do so. Whether they use the US as a bogeyman to distract their people from the failed state of their internal policies like Iran, or use their enmity as a rationale to cling to power, or both as in Cuba, they are not going to join hands with us and sing “Kum-ba-ya” because the Messiah is come. Rather, they have amply demonstrated that they see any overtures as a sign of weakness. They need to hate us. Guess the “hope” was that they would “change.”

Doublespeak: A New Lexicon (Ongoing)

The cartoon Ziva posted on Babalu, i.e. the proverbial "lipstick on the pig," inspires me to create a list of the new terminology of "hope and change." I have two already.

Stimulus- “Stimulus” comes from the verb stimulare, which is Latin for “transfer massive sums of money from what remains of the dynamic sector of the economy to the special interests of the Democratic party.” No, hang on, my mistake. Stimulare means “to goad.” And, on that front, the Democrats are doing an excellent job. They’ve managed to goad 58 percent of the American people into opposing the “stimulus” package. They’ve managed to goad all 177 Republicans in the House into unpacking their mothballed cojones and voting against the bill. And they’ve managed to goad the rest of the world into ending the Obama honeymoon in nothing flat. Headline from the London Daily Telegraph: “US-EU Trade War Looms As Barack Obama Bill Urges ‘Buy American.’
from Mark Steyn at NRO-

Stimulus Bill- a vehicle for foisting the forty year wish list Democrats were unable to pass on the American public-increased medical care for the children of the moderately well to do, increased cigarette and cigar taxes, increased funding for birth control, funding for a host of global warming initiatives, funding to computerize medical records, more funds for changing over television, etc...

Trojan Horse- see "stimulus bill."

Middle Class Task Force- a committee led by the Vice-President in charge of making the federal government as union friendly and employer antagonistic as possible.

I suspect this is only the beginning. If you run into any out there, let me know.

My Sentiments Exactly

There is a role for government in our current predicament. I even favor a stimulus, albeit via the tax code so as to stimulate the economy, not the government. But the prospect of borrowing money we don’t have to buy what we don’t need, in order to make America more like what I don’t want, makes me grateful that at least America’s conservative party has finally remembered how to say “no.”

-Jonah Goldberg at NRO online here.

What Have They Done: Part Two

Okay, so the intellectual giants with the sensibilities of a pachyderm running Wall Street have used Tarp money to redecorate offices, buy luxury planes, hand out bonuses.... Am I missing something?

On the political front, it's even worse. Over at Pumpkin Seeds, Mrs. Calabaza put it all together for us. To paraphrase, the guy running the IRS didn't pay his taxes; Barney Frank on whose watch Fannie and Freddie imploded all the while he was reassuring the public is still in charge; Dodd who was the recipient of a sweetheart deal himself overseeing mortgages. And let's not forget Charlie Rangel. Despite the peccadillo of the week, the man remains ensconced as Chair of the Ways and Means committee. What happened to accountability? Who votes for these people? Further, what does it bode when this cast of unseemly characters is in charge of crafting the bailout?

I'll tell you what happens. Amongst the choice morsels of the stimulus that I've heard:

6 billion for the arts. How many jobs are they going to create? Is is ethical to saddle my grandchildren with the cost of attending La Traviata in the park?

4.6 billion for housing organizations, read Acorn, perhaps?

Hundreds of millions for birth control, if Pelosi gets her way. It's cheaper, she says.

On the local level, one of the beneficiaries mentioned is a local science research center which employs about two people and is staffed by a host of volunteers. How many are they going to hire, I ask?

I've read that each one of the jobs created will cost about 235 thousand dollars. Heck, just mail 20 thousand dollars to ten people and multiply the effect by 10 and save administrative costs. Well, as Mr. Obama pointed out in all graciousness, "I won." He and this addle pated congress would do well to remember that almost half of the electorate did not vote for him. Two years is not that long. Ask Bill Clinton.

Slap Dash Sunday

Let's start with the inauguration/coronation. The inaugural poem by Elizabeth Alexander has come in for a drubbing. Not so at the Weekly Standard where Eli Lehrer praises it as a celebration of everyday life in this. He may have half a point. You can read the text here. As for me, the last time I paid attention was when I was sorely disappointed by the Maya Angelou opus. Question of the day: has poetry lost relevance to our lives, or have our lives lost their poetry?

Billed as holding lessons for the Obama administration, here are some easily accessible documents, part of the choreography of US/Cuba relationships over time. Not so coincidentally they are cited in an article in the February Cigar Aficionado, which fueled by altruism, nicotine, and the American way has a special report on Cuba. Macanudos, mulatas, and misery, anyone?

In a reverse Cinderella story, this former nurse, widow of a physician, finds herself destitute, having lost 7.3 million to financier/apparent con artist Bernie Madoff. Consequently, she finds herself selling off possessions and working as a companion. It's a sad story, but it boggles my mind that anyone would entrust all their resources to a single person/outfit.

In the science department, the earlier mentioned outbreak of the Reston variant of Ebola in Philippine pigs may have jumped species. According to this article, one worker tested positive for the virus. And earthquakes have hit Los Angeles, a small one, and Alaska, a larger one. Stay tuned.