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.

New Lexicon of Hope and Change Revisited

Here's the ongoing list of the new terminology of "hope and change."

Shared Sacrifice- the concept that only the wealthy-with the exception of prominent Democrats- and corporations should be required to sacrifice by shelling out ever increasing taxes. The other half the population will then share in their appropriated wealth. Also applies to cigarette and cigar smokers who have assumed the duty of providing health insurance to the children of people making up to 84 thousand a year.

Omnibus- A catchall denoting a vehicle for transporting pork to political constituencies. No need to worry about the stench. There's a provision to study that too.

Political Prisoner- the de facto replacement in the leftist view of things- in the absence of any forthcoming terminology- for "enemy combatant," the term coined by the verbally challenged and much maligned Bush administration to describe those who conspired against and/or killed Americans. Not to be confused with the "mercenaries" who also languish in Cuban jails for wielding not weapons but opinions.

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 means of 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.

Who's Allowed?

In something of an Abbot and Costello routine, quite a bit of the stealth Cuba provisions in the latest behemoth to pass through the congress is unclear. They were passed, but they're not going to be enacted. No, wait, the travel provisions will, but not the commercial stuff. I don't know. You can try to figure it out. Start at USA Today here.

What is clear is who can go. Under the old rules, only mother/father/ brother/sister could go or send money. This became problematic as the older generation of exiles died and the misery of the benighted island did not. Under the new rules, at least for travel to Cuba-

(b) For the purpose of this general license, the term close relative used with respect to any person means any individual related to that person by blood, marriage, or adoption who is no more than three generations removed from that person or from a common ancestor with that person.

Can't find guidance on cash remittances, yet.

How About a Joke?

Found this one in my email-

Bilingual Soda Machine

A Cuban in Miami goes to a Pepsi vending machine. It costs 60 cents. He puts 2 quarters and waits. The machine signals DIME. The Cuban whispers: "quiero una pepsi"!

Meanderings: Not This Week, Honey

One of those little things they leave out of Florida travel brochures is a little known phenomenon known as red tide. Most of the time, it doesn't look red. In fact, it's usually the coughing and the dead fish strewn about the beach that give it away. Fortunately, it's been a long time, maybe a few years, since it hit our shores. So why am I bringing it up?

Well, I'm a bit obsessed with the subject, having been traumatized by the year the red tide would not go away. My family thinks me somewhat crazed, but I'm convinced that the prolonged exposure did something to my head, literally. Ever since then when the season changes- whether it's the temperature, humidity, or pressure- I get the mother of all sinus headaches. And as migraine sufferers know, once the head goes, so does the stomach. Thus, I have literally been under the weather this week.

And so, as I sit and write this with a queasy stomach and and iron will, I must apologize for my absence this week and vow to be undeterred, hopefully.

Quote at Dawn

I think of a point a major foreign-policy official made to me, in December. He made it forcefully, and it left an impression on me: A lot of people failed to realize that, in going after President Bush and damaging him, they were damaging America more broadly, throughout the world. They may not have intended to do the latter; they may have intended only to hurt Bush. But they did more than that.
-Jay Nordlinger

Literary Interlude: from "The Rocking Horse Winner"

Something about what's been going on reminded me of this from DH Lawrence's "The Rocking Horse Winner." Read it in its entirety here.

And so the house came to be haunted by the unspoken phrase: There must be more money! There must be more money! The children could hear it all the time though nobody said it aloud. They heard it at Christmas, when the expensive and splendid toys filled the nursery. Behind the shining modern rocking-horse, behind the smart doll's house, a voice would start whispering: "There must be more money! There must be more money!" And the children would stop playing, to listen for a moment. They would look into each other's eyes, to see if they had all heard. And each one saw in the eyes of the other two that they too had heard. "There must be more money! There must be more money!"

It came whispering from the springs of the still-swaying rocking-horse, and even the horse, bending his wooden, champing head, heard it. The big doll, sitting so pink and smirking in her new pram, could hear it quite plainly, and seemed to be smirking all the more self-consciously because of it. The foolish puppy, too, that took the place of the teddy-bear, he was looking so extraordinarily foolish for no other reason but that he heard the secret whisper all over the house: "There must be more money!"

The Slippery Slope of our Present Policies

Recently, some New Yorkers took to the streets to protest what they see as Draconian budget cuts. A look at some of the comments in this article is instructive.

"Governor Paterson, I wish you could have an open heart that we are going to suffer if this budget cut goes through," said China Lankford of Jamaica. [ One has to imagine that's Jamaica, Queens, otherwise it would seem pretty nervy.]

"You can't cut the budget the way it is and still have the quality we're aiming for," Altomare [a retired teacher] said.

"For those of you who prosper during boom time, we ask them pay a little bit more. Pay a little more so New York can avoid cutting the services that our most vulnerable need," United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said.

Ah, there it is. The last comment contains their demands:

They're asking for what they call "fair tax reform" -- raising state taxes for New Yorkers making $250,000 or more on top of the president's proposed hikes.

They want the state to follow the federal government's lead. Any New Yorker who makes above minimum wage is already contributing heftily to city coffers. New Yorkers are among the most heavily taxed and hardest hit in the nation. What is fair about asking people who already pay more than half of their income in federal, state and local taxes, not to mention the taxes built into their Con Ed and other utility bills, not to mention the 8 dollars the unfortunately addicted shell out for a pack of cigarettes to pay more. And here are these people who suck on the municipal teat in whatever form, since vulnerability has been turned into an industry in New York, demanding that yet more be taken. This way, the envy, covetousness, and mean-spiritedness of communism lies.

Meanderings: Today's Graffiti

I'm pretty much the political one around here. The hubster doesn't say much, but then he doesn't say much, period. I suppose I should have been clued in by his attitude toward voting, which he considers a civic duty. Picture Jimmy Buffet on line at the local synagogue.

His other endearing civic quirk is his love of the flag. Last year, he indulged himself and picked up a huge, and I mean huge, flagpole. In deference to my rather stridently expressed wishes, he sunk the pole, not in the ground, but in an over sized bucket of concrete. Nobody can see this expedient because of the lime green stockade fence he put up to avert the stares of the local Committee for the Defense of the Code, but that's another story.

Since inauguration day when he quietly went out in the middle of the day and retrieved his flag never to be raised again, he's addicted to Foxnews, both channels, punctuating whatever program with his obscenities. Now, I've given up documentaries. By now I could make a golf club or guitar or muck out a horse stall handily. I do like to watch CSI, Cold Case, etc.... I've also discovered these great little Canadian series like Davinci's Inquest and their Cold Case. To make a long story shorter, he refuses, insisting on watching the latest aberration with all the fascination of a gawker at a train wreck.

I'm the more philosophical one these days. It comes down to this. I believe that this administration has already overreached, shown their hand. I know, I know, about the popularity polls, but it's already demonstrated a level of incompetence that will surely sink in. I believe that many of these prescriptions are horribly wrong. Along the way, however, there are some good things that will be done. At the risk of sacrilege, I would venture that although some principles cannot be compromised, the actual process of governing should reflect the center, simply because that is the perch of the majority of citizens.

The beauty of this country is that nothing, not any administration, lasts forever. There will be another day. One could make a case that part of the reason that this administration is even possible is because we have forgotten what it was like when initiative was sapped and taxed, when entitlement destroyed the fabric of whole communities and spawned generations relegated to the underclass. I like to look at this as a reminder. The pendulum always swings both ways.