Men in Black, Step Aside

The new hotness has arrived.

Nothing but good news everywhere.

No offense to Lynda Carter. She and Adam West were neck and neck in the competition for that aesthetic sensibility known as camp. Would you believe that word goes back to 1909? Would you believe...

The great thing about looking hot, being tough and leaving a good looking corpse is that one does not have to offer pretenses about intellectual capability, multitasking, equal rights or who be the first bitch to...

Not that I see a lot of television, but I will be interested in how she plays on The View. I'm ready for the movie, maybe something a little less dark than Batman. Forget the TV show. Straight to DVD, dude. Lot's of possibilities here. Gotta find the nearest comic book shop. Check the colors on that bad outFIT, Jim! She looks like the all-American girl reincarnated. Great stuff. Hard cheese, Barbie. Just the kind of modern day popular heroine to take us into new realms of adventure and death for all those megalomaniacs, infidels, powerbrokers and politicians. Notice I did not say corrupt politicians, Boy Wonder!

Now all we need is Father Guido Sarducci on Saturday Night Live to remind us how lucky we are. Let's hear it for Don Novello, ladies and gentlemen. Stand up for America. Fight, fight, fight!

My Day Be Made

It was five to four, but it's wonderful. The writer feels waxing poetically is the order of the day, but his poetry sucks. As witness to his prose how could the reader disagree?

Before I forget, let me add my two cents to the recently dead. When my uncle died years ago and I read his obituary, I did not recognize the person in the story.

"They're just questions, Leon. In answer to your query, they're written down for me. It's a test, designed to provoke an emotional response... Shall we continue?

"Describe in single words only the good things that come into your mind about... your mother."

Leon: "My mother? Let me tell you about my mother." Pulls gun, starts shooting. 

Deckard: Sushi. That's what my ex-wife called me - cold fish.
Gaff: Monsieur, azonnal kövessen engem, bitte!
[Deckard gestures to Sushi Master for translation]
Sushi Master: He say you under arrest, Mister Deckard.
Deckard: Got the wrong guy, pal.
Gaff: Lófaszt! Nehogy már! Te vagy a Blade Runner!
Sushi Master: He say you brade runner.
Deckard: Tell him I'm eating.
Gaff: Captain Bryant toka. Meni-o mae-yo.

Not that I had any love for Robert Byrd in the first place. He was a pompous blowhard when he was alive and should have retired long ago to make room for some new thinking. That the Democratic strategy has become more complex is just too awful to contemplate. My dad once remarked, "Capitol Hill is a hard-on that never goes down." Now the assholes reinvent themselves before our eyes and we forget who they really are. Even what's-her-name changed her tune before the Senate today. Which part was the lie?

Back to dancing in the streets...

It was as if the Constitution of the United States was written and adopted by the States in a vacuum. The Declaration of Independence (notice no spanglish translation here) has been largely ignored in the legal realm. Yet, the Supreme Court often weighs 'legislative intent' when picking nits. Why the founders' intent is ignored is preposterous. The Constitution became the prescription for achieving the values set forth in the Declaration. The two documents are inseparable in American history. Separation of church and state? Checks and balances? Probably a question of what people were drinking as opposed to what they were smoking. Not just then, but now. Yet these ideas are accepted as fact, taken out of context, arcane and detrimental to the health of the American nation.

For a sample of revisionist thinking, check the dissenting opinions regarding history and consensus. The problem has been consensus. Too many loyalists in the assemblies. Too bad they ALL didn't move to Canada.

Justice Stevens wrote, "[T]his is a quintessential area in which federalism ought to be allowed to flourish without this court's meddling." Out of the other side of his brain he wrote that he would have given more leeway to local government. How's does one reconcile those two thoughts? Is it local government, with nothing better to do, poisoning anything that might flourish? Or is it the heavy-handed federals fueling the frustration of the citizenry, subjugating states' rights to special interests? Check the 17th Amendment.

Hopefully, the meddling is over. There's a never-ending messy (at best) debate about what a militia might be and what well-regulated might mean. Necessary to the security of a free state might mean without or within. It can be argued that the right is qualified or justified by the introductory clause. Read the Declaration, it's clear. Finally, the right "shall not be infringed." Where's the ambiguity? Is there some difficulty with the earth's gravitational field? Heavy.

George Mason, champion of the Bill of Rights said in 1787, "I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people except for a few public officials."

Finally, and maybe this is what really scares people, “The Bill of Rights is a born rebel. It reeks with sedition. In every clause it shakes its fist in the face of constituted authority... it is the one guaranty of human freedom to the American people,” wrote Frank Irving Cobb, an American journalist not as well known as Joseph Pulitzer.

Let's celebrate! Something wonderful has happened here and we should all be grateful. The upcoming Fourth of July should find us dancing on the mall. Only wish there was time to get there. Party on! Light out of darkness. Have a wonderful day.

Lest they be forgotten, let's bring our men and women home from their service overseas so we can celebrate together.

Celebrating the ready availability of fireworks in Lincoln County, Wyoming, I asked a local retailer while he stocked his shelves, "I guess it's illegal to shoot fireworks in the city limits?" He said, "Yeah, the only time fireworks are allowed in the city limits is from July 1 to July 11. You can shoot 'em off outside the city limits anytime." Sign me up.

This Fat Lady Don't Sing

Why is this woman smiling?

The nomination hearings in the Senate will be a joke. Ever since the Robert Bork experience, anybody who has been summoned to appear before the U.S. Senate is certain to study and practice the Artful Dodge. To which senators respond with artful posturing and self-aggrandizement. Should be an extraordinary snoozer on C-SPAN. How can anyone take this kind of charade seriously anymore? The Republicans will try to look tough, the Democrats will try to look self-righteous. The woman will be confirmed and the pundits will have a field day with meaningless minutiae.

She is simply not qualified. She has no experience on the bench and, therefore, lacks the acumen to separate her personal bias from what should be the common good.

Her biases are quite clear and dangerous. Plenty has been written elsewhere.

Again, why is she smiling?

Could it be she knows she's being handed the opportunity of at least a hundred lifetimes and can cruise easy street for the duration? Or is she simply clueless? The taxpayers get to endure it. She gets to skate.

America’s General, Afghanistan’s Friend

Letter to The New York Times by Khoshal Sadat published June 27, 2010

Kabul, Afghanistan

I serve my country, Afghanistan, in uniform, as did my father and his father before him. I have known many military officers, but not one who better represents what soldiers stand for — honor, sacrifice and courage — than General Stanley McChrystal, who until last week was the commander of American and NATO forces here.

During my time as the general’s aide-de-camp, what struck me was how much he cared about what others thought and what they felt, even the most junior person in the room — which was, more often than not, me. We were frequently visited by some of the most important American and international leaders, and whenever they questioned the general about Afghanistan, he would always turn to me and say, “Let’s ask an Afghan.”

I was so proud, as an Afghan, to serve under this General McChrystal. Let me tell you why:

I was 13 when I came to hate the Taliban and knew that someday I would have to fight them. A woman who lived on our street was walking home, with her baby in one arm and her shopping in the other. Her little daughter was close behind, holding on to her mother’s covering. My neighbor was having difficulty walking because of the mud and lifted her burqa for just a moment so she could see better how to cross the road. Taliban members ran up from behind and began to beat her head and back with a long length of thick, metal cable. I watched as she dropped her own baby in the ditch and screamed from the pain.

It was many years until American forces came here and when they did, I remember my teacher telling our class this was a good thing, that now there was hope for Afghanistan.

After nine long years of war, General McChrystal once again revived that feeling of hope in Afghans. He made the war about protecting the people and gave us the strength to fight. The general has always been a man of his word and quickly earned our absolute respect. He became a hero to us. In a country with a long history of great men, he became one of them. He became one of us.

General McChrystal represents, to me, what is best about Americans. He is strong and determined but also gracious, courteous and compassionate in every circumstance and situation. When he would walk in the markets or visit our villages he would listen to Afghans and respect their traditions and customs. When speaking with young soldiers he would make them so proud of their duty.

Those of us who had the highest privilege to work on his staff were given great responsibility, and great trust. He was especially generous with his trust.

I never had the opportunity to say goodbye to General McChrystal. I hope he will return when there is peace in Afghanistan, because he will be the father of that peace.

Khoshal Sadat, an officer in the Afghan Special Forces, was an aide-de-camp to General Stanley McChrystal from February until last week.

Fat Lady Sings for O'Bummer

President Shoots Self in Foot

VP Douses Ashes with Leak

Opium Futures Up Sharply

Hilary Decries Chauvinism

Eikenberry says 'Told You So'


Sun Tzu’s basic military premise turns on the perception of moral superiority. If an enemy’s sense of its own moral supremacy is unshakable, war with that enemy is too costly to consider. An alliance is a preferred solution to a relentless siege and likely bankruptcy for the attacker. On the enemy’s home turf? Remember Tora Bora?

Mr. President, are those your lips moving? You say it’s raining?

The Muslim now sees America divided, unable to stand. Hamid Karzai saw the handwriting on the wall and said so. Americans say he and his warlords are corrupt, never mind. Wake up. The suits had General McChrystal so hamstrung with rules of engagement no wonder the ridicule common among his staff. Given the intracacies of feminine logic, no doubt the skirts want a shot at it. Come on, Peggy Noonan. What’s good for the Vatican must be good for the US Army, right?

The US ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl W. Eikenberry was so busy whacking at McChrystal's cojones he forgot about his own. The former general should know better. His place in history assured, right up there with Pyrrhus. Remember Pyrrhus? Anyone? Anyone? Miss Hilary, muzzle your dog. What motivated him to begin bad-mouthing the military strategy as soon as Karzai was elected? Where was he before the elections in Afghanistan?

Once again, the enemy is emboldened by the obvious weakness of the opponent - the politicians, the bureaucrats, the rear echelon military cowards, the demoagogues masquerading as ‘the media’, all incapable of anything but criticizing each other.

So, it’s over. We all saw it on television. The morale of the American soldier, already at a nadir, has been squashed by that ignorant, arrogant fool called commander in-chief. No doubt Michelle and mama-in-law have the inside scoop on his command.

The people of Afghanistan, the country, the civilization has never been conquered. Never. It’s clear to everybody we do not have the belly for it. The locals no longer trust us and hedge their allegiances, withholding the key human intelligence required to engage an enemy trained by Americans in the latest American guerilla tactics.

It’s over. There is nothing to be won. The ‘terrorists’ fade into the Hindu Kush like Brer Rabbit in the Briar Patch. The territory cannot be conquered by a modern army. Regular warfare is out of the question. The kingpins hide in friendly, politically unassailable territory.

The only available tactic is to reach out and touch the renegades in an unequivocal manner. Mossad knows how to do it. One can only imagine the kind of ‘persuasion’ used by those ragheads to find out about the assassination in Dubai. Notice how the hit squad is long gone, the target elminated. The posturing on C-SPAN will be revolting. Like Mexican scrambled eggs. Revueltos. Execrable.

No winners, no losers, no heroes, no villains, only casualties.

Unfortunately, there is always a half-soldier, half-politician who will take any job the commander has in mind, knowing the commander can always find some other half-wit to take the job. This one is unwinnable. So, Petraeus will further his own interests, able to blame his ultimate failure on some one, or some thing, else.  What choices has he?

There is no definable enemy in the traditional sense. Petraeus can preside over some phantom strategic plan that looks good in Power Point, but will amount to little more than people running around in the desert shooting at anything that moves. Then he can retire and write a book saying he didn’t understand the enemy until now. By then, maybe the public will tire of the same old song.

McChrystal is the only one with a shot at a best-seller

Is that a new rug you’re wearing, General Petraeus?

HNIC Struts Stuff

Eddie Murphy has declared the word obsolete. For the right stuff, review Lean on Me with Morgan Freeman. You won't find a picture of the HNIC here, nor his buffoon of a sidekick. The movie was made Before Political Correctness. Please adjust your calendars accordingly.

Will Petraeus Betray Us? Please keep those cards and letters coming.

The following is being circulated as the 2007 winning entry from an annual contest at Texas A&M University calling for the most appropriate definition of a contemporary term - political correctness. The winner  is said to have written:    

Political correctness  is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical 

minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which 

holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by 

the clean end.

Bring our men and women in uniform home!

Doing the Impossible for the Ungrateful

The war on terror has become even more insane than the war on drugs. Pretty soon we shall have a war on math scores. We already have a war on American history. Not to mention the war on the American people being conducted in the White House.

General Stanley McChrystal looks like one of the smarter guys around. He probably took the job in Afghanistan because he knew somebody would, regardless how mad the plan might be. A truly likable guy. Probably thought Rolling Stone would at least give him a fair shake. After all, look at the publicity machines behind guys like Theodore Roosevelt and Douglas MacArthur. Roosevelt weren't no Big Kahuna and MacArthur's arrogance nearly got everybody killed at Leyte Gulf. He should've stayed in the Philippines with his men. Alexander or Attila would never have abandoned their men. And Attila was called a barbarian. Turns out he spoke Greek and Latin, as well as, his native tongue. Alexander let Darius escape rather than lose his general, Paremenio, at Issus.

American fighting men have survived, to their horror, fiasco after fiasco orchestrated by power-hungry, lily-livered REMF (that's rear echelon) incompetents like Robert McNamara and William Westmoreland, and now, Barack Hussein Obama, Joseph Biden and their cronies.

Stan the Man is now going to get his early retirement. Beer in the Rose Garden, anyone? No doubt David, with one hand tied behind his back, would have had difficulty with Goliath. God help us all.

Bring those men and women home from Afghanistan NOW, dammit!

Point, Blame, Punish, Absolve Self

I could work this one to death. The popular press is feeding the frenzy of outrage at the Federal Reserve, BP, the private sector, you name it. Instead of the government, the government, the government. Did I mention the government? People were criticizing what they didn't understand fifty years ago.

Talked to Mom today. She said the local BP station had closed down. 'Course I had to  say, 'Mom! How they gonna' pay for the cleanup if they go outta bidness?' It's like that old saying, 'We found out most accidents occur within 25 miles of home, so we moved.'

Peggy Noonan says O'Bummer is 'snakebit.' Which means the dumbass cain't do shit. Ooahh can mean different things depending upon how it's pronounced. It can be a polite form of 'Duh! What were you thinking, numbnuts?' I'm beginning to like Peggy more and more. Snakebit. Think about it. There's no way to get 'unsnakebit.' Once bit, it don't go away. High desert logic. Take it however you wish. There it is.

If I shoot the neighbor's dog cause they trained it to shit on my lawn, it's 'Animal Cruelty.' Ten thousand-dollar fine, one year in jail. Almost worth tossing that Bichon Frisé into traffic.  Where's the cruelty? The mutt died instantly!

Now what about Ronnie Lee?

OK, he's guilty as hell, no question. He says he did it. Buncha people saw it. I believe I would choose a bullet over lethal injection, had I the choice. We know what it's like to get shot. What we don't know is what it's like to get shot up. Besides, it makes killers out of all involved. The unconcerned can distance and absolve themselves, relieved that it's over. Well it ain't over, dammit! Not for those that carry out the execution. Those men and women coming back from Iraq won't talk about the killing except among themselves. What does that tell you? And what about the next time? What if we shoot the wrong guy?

At his commutation hearing, Mr. Gardner wept after telling the board that his attempts to apologize to the  families of his victims had been unsuccessful. He said he hoped for forgiveness. "If someone hates me for 20 years, it's going to affect them," he said. "I know killing me is going to hurt them just as bad. It's something you have to live with every day. You can't get away from it. I've been on the other side of the gun. I know."

Is forgiveness still not part of the paradigm?

I have been considering asking my friend, the esteemed Colonel Quatafi, to write an advice column for this blogspot. I like him because he didn't promote himself to general, and he brings his own translator. Plus, he wears cool outfits. Reminds me of Jimi Hendrix and the taste of wild hickory nuts. Whaddya think?

Bring our people home! Please.

There is No Pain, You Are Receding

What makes reality fluid is that one will see whatever one wishes to see. What one wishes to see or what one thinks one is seeing will color, alter and shape the current perception. Later, one has the option of changing one's mind and the view changes again. One can attach whatever emotion one desires and change the experience. Serious, dramatic or traumatic experiences are much more difficult to alter, of course. Combatants returning from Iraq and Afghanistan bear witness.

Home of the Brave, Hurt Locker, The Valley of Elah are motion pictures depicting the changing realities of people christened by battle in gratuitous American wars beset with mind-numbing ambiguity.

The posts here are snapshots of realities different from those in the popular press, attempting to illustrate how complex are those realities. After all, what do any of us know? What we think we see is bound up in belief structure. The reality becomes fluid and changes as we gaze about the landscape and focus on one snapshot or another. Most of us remain focused on that one snapshot and experience, that one reality, believing it to be the only relevant or commanding point of view, unable to see the picture from another perspective.

I tried to explain to people that, as I went about my information gathering chores, I ran across all kinds of fixed realities that are difficult to reconcile. The work here represents a safety valve for excess angst shouldered in the process of looking about. It's an effort to channel the rage into reasonably polite language when the overwhelming desire is to shout obscenity and put a bullet into the offensive character. I realize I have no currency in the public realm, no cachet, so my words have little credibility for most people. Some disingenuous influences in my circle of acquaintances have revealed themselves. That's always beneficial, regardless how painful the letting go or difficult the release of any lingering resentment.

I have covered the gamut of the failure of reason in the post-modern era as it has presented itself in the last week or so, if to the point of obsession. I could keep it up, but it would become a never-ending lament in the wilderness. The lack of fluidity is that I have started to become this weblog reality, much as I would like to think it might make some difference in the world. Never mind that America appears to be retreating into a Dark Age, substituting rationality for reason, democracy becoming the latest version of despotism, naturally enough.

So, in order to maintain my own fluidity, I am done. Oh, one last tidbit. Henri Paul, security chief at the Ritz Hotel in Paris, used his passkey to gather information on hotel guests and sell it to the paparazzi. Particularly valuable was the intinerary of Lady Diana and Dodi al-Fayed. And Henri was drunk most of the time.

There is no pain you are receding,

A distant ship's smoke on the horizon.

You are only coming through in waves.

When I was a child I had a fever.

Now I've got that feeling once again

I can't explain, you would not understand.

The child is grown, the dream is gone.

I could have become comfortably numb.

Nobody sings it like Van Morrison. Copyright, I'm sure, Pink Fred. Don't know if I can read much more Cormac McCarthy right now.

Bring our men and women home, dammit!

Democrats Demand New Bubble for Investment

The credit for that headline belongs to The Onion. Regardless, with financial reform in the hands of characters comme ces dex oiseaux, pictured above, Americans can rest assured the forthcoming regulations will have little impact on the current state of affairs while punishing the innocent. Surprise, surprise, surprise...

Paul Volcker admits he "might be old-fashioned." Now, that's a breath of fresh air. Nevertheless, by the time the his ideas get a chance to work, we shall all be dead. No disrepect.

Ben Bernanke's the man now and we should be grateful for this Princeton man. The 'Chicago School' has caused enough trouble already. Likely, Bernanke has done about all he can do except continue to hold the line. Most of the stimulus money goes in the wrong direction, remains unspent and represents a pittance in terms of what's needed. Meantime, the profligate waste of tax dollars goes forward. Even Volcker admits a VAT won't be enough. The sitting Federal chairman should be quiet and inscrutable. Even the venerable Volcker has been co-opted by our fearless leader while Brother Ben waits for someone to ask the right question.

Is now the time to raise taxes while pursuing meaningless 'unsustainable' deficits?

Bring the men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan home, dammit! Buy some more airplanes. Offer a tax credit on ammunition. Do something. And get them yellowbellies outta here.

'Turn-Around' an Illusion for British Petroleum

 AP Photo

Tony Hayward's angst is no illusion. Guy's stand-up, especially to the likes of Henry Waxman.

Sooner or later the pundits will start their 'turn-around' stories and advice on how to go about it.

The experience of a chief executive will include proof that there is no such thing. By the time one turns around, the moment has passed and the opportunity is gone. It's not possible to go back in time. One's actions have changed the landscape and the old plan must be forged again in the furnace of opportunity and resistance. The path to this knowledge is narrow and precipitous. There is no blame to be laid on the inexperienced. Jimi Hendrix had a taste for beautiful and Tony Hayward has it on the tip of his tongue.

The lesson begins with the leadership of John Browne, Baron of Madingley, Hayward's predecessor at British Petroleum. The turning point came in 2006 after difficulties in Alaska and the deadly explosion in Texas City. Hayward was quoted by The Daily Telegraph (London) at a Houston town-hall in 2007 meeting as saying, "We have a leadership style that is too directive and doesn't listen sufficiently well. The top of the organisation doesn't listen sufficiently to what the bottom is saying."

"Boom," John Madden would say. The baron was pushed out early, even though his mandatory retirement was imminent, and his protegé, Hayward, took over. Doubtful Baron Brown's sexual preferences had anything to do with matters. That was three years ago.

British Petroleum employs eighty thousand (80,000) people in one hundred (that's right, 100) countries. Let those figures rattle around a bit. Imagine! How many languages do they speak?

The writer does not remember the early shoddy work on the Alaska pipeline, only now aware thanks to the Discovery Channel. Even more astounding is the antiquated thinking of the day, "Oh, hell, we can just lay the damn thing on top of the permafrost." Hard to believe, but it wasn't that long ago. "Let's just dump that nuclear waste crap in the ocean. Won't hurt anybody."

So Baron Browne's business practices are held in the closet and BP reaps the rewards. Enter Tony Hayward.

Tony's smart enough to know he's not going to be turning around anything. His job will be persuading those eighty thousand people that there is a simpler, softer way that is better for everybody. That's the opportunity.

The resistance is the 'old-guard' in the trenches (hold on, ladies, you're just as guilty) that have sandbagged every management initiative since they could crawl. "We can just wait this guy out. There'll be a new CEO in here before you know it." Witness the federal bureaucracy. Did you see the Fed's inspector general on CSPAN? Never mind.

The point is how powerfully 'corporate culture' unfolds in the work place. The early reports from the disaster in the gulf reveal a tug-of-war between reason and the 'way we've always done it'. It's difficult for leadership to listen if no one's speaking up. We may never know what happened until all the litigation, and all the lying and all the 'cover-yo'-behind' has died down.

This case needs 'fast-tracking' to the business schools. Royal Dutch Shell has broken ground in training executives to use their powers of perception in the field, to take advantage of the decision-support systems available to them, to collaborate and to seek consensus. It's doubtful that Americans are listening.

The BP guys and the Transocean guys must have been close to a fist fight. The regulators must have been shaking their heads. The only thing that's clear is that the White House has a lot to learn from Tony Hayward. Listen up, gentlemen, ...ladies. Mr. Waxman? What about you?

Bring our boys and girls home, dammit!

AMR Leadership Top Drawer

Stand up and give Gerard Arpey, AMR's CEO, some credit. Show some appreciation as he demonstrates how it's done at the highest level.

Here's a guy who has quietly and conscientiously strengthened American Airlines over the years in the face of disgruntled pilots, disgruntled stewies, disgruntled passengers, disgruntled investors and, now, disgruntled analysts.

The WSJ has allowed a grave disservice to an admirable company by not naming the 'Is this all you got?' analyst. But then he's just an analyst, anonymous, never mind. Call him Farley. "We ask them if they're the enemy and if they say 'Yes', we shoot them."

So everybody's excited about UAL and Continental and the Journal suggests this merger means a demotion of American. Horse exhaust!

Mr. Arpey has chosen a delicate but sound policy of cementing his company's stengths through collaboration with other carriers. Mergers are fraught with pitfalls, as any analyst ought to know. A network may well provide a much more solid way of conducting business without the dysfunction of a far-flung empire. Think the Continental people and the UAL are going to get along? Wait 'til the layoffs. Look what happened when BP and Transocean faced off.

So, the pilots want to cash out their pensions or don't care, the flight attendants want more dough (who doesn't), the passengers don't know what they want, the investors want a home run and the analysts don't know anything.

When the sea is stormy, a steady hand on the helm is the only thing.

Pilots fly airplanes - what do they know about finance? Better to leave money management to the professionals. The flight attendants put up with an ill-mannered public who probably should take the bus. It's nice to hit a home run every now and then, but ain't it grand when the bases are loaded? The analysts need to get stuffed and watch the great man do his thing.

So the investors, Norte Americanos estupidos, are again pressing for a spinoff. That's going to strengthen   the company while the competition conducts a campaign of self-destruction? The word cretin comes to mind with respect to institutional investors, but its pronunciation and meaning don't have quite the same impact as dumbass.


When one looks at how many people it takes to get one airplane off the ground it is simply amazing anyone would try or could. Day in, day out it has got to be a grinder and at least moderately boring. Is that not the nature of life and business? Breathing is really pretty boring, but it can be awfully sweet.

So let Mr. Arpey do his thing while offering him the encouragement he so roundly deserves. Patience, friend; let him finish the game.

American President a Wuss

He's acting like a bully to look more forceful, trying to beat up on BP. Why does he think he needs to hold their feet to the fire? He can't regulate his way out of this one. Does he really believe stupidity can be regulated? What did we expect? He's just another idiot lawyer, or is that statement redundant? How about a Slick Willie redux? Health insurance reform sure brought the wimp parasites out of the woodwork.

The Afghanis think the Americans can't beat the Taliban. Sounds like the World Cup, doesn't it? The Americans say the Afghanis are corrupt. The NYT reports "a widespread perversion of authority by Afghan power brokers." One could substitute American for Afghan and be closer to the truth. Would it come as any surprise that Afghani culture is different from ours, to the degree our brand of civilization has any claim on 'culture'. Would that be Hip-Hop?

Do we expect others to shun political expediency while we demonstrate mastery and perversion of the art? Keep alienating the few, if any, friends we have in the world and we shall see a mushroom cloud 'over there'. Saudi Arabia anyone? Anyone? Bring our boys home, dammit!

On a lighter note, check out Lisa Lampanelli. She may be a bit brassy but at least she has the chutzpah to admit her caboose is bigger than it wants to be. Tastefully dressed, she is.

http://www.iviewtube.com/v/37646/lisa-lampanelli-and-simon-cowell-on-jay-leno

J. Walker passed this one along. Have a great day. Have fun out there.

Speaking of chutzpah:

A little old lady sells pretzels on a street corner in New York City for 25 cents each.

Every day, a young man would leave his office building at lunch time, and as

he passed the pretzel stand, he would leave her a quarter, but never take a

pretzel.

This went on for more than three years. The two of them never spoke. 

One day, as the young man passed the old lady's stand and left his quarter

as usual, but the pretzel lady spoke to him. She said: "They're 35 cents now."

Alien in the White House, Part II

Working for a metropolitan daily newspaper (not the Planet) in the early 1970's was heady stuff. It didn't take the experienced long to see that it was an illusion. What we were writing was filler. All that mattered was the perception that it was accurate.

The newspeople and the politicians have been in bed together since Guttenberg at least. Dangerous liaisons, but somehow Samuel Clemens and Will Rogers were able to rise above the drivel and keep us straight, if not laughing.

Janice Williams, rest her soul, once said to me, 'Bud, all these reporters around here are just second-class celebrities. By the time they figure it out, it will be too late for a career change.'

She became a successful real-estate agent. The good ones got into a related field or became publishers. Z. Joe delivered flowers because people were always glad to see him.

This truth holds, however. What does a journalist know about anything? Walter Cronkite got out in the bush so he knew what was real. But what about these people that write for the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, The Economist? What do they think qualifies them to pass judgement for the rest of us?

If a reporter for the Journal or Economist were really that good, why would they be writing about it? They'd be rolling in dough from the market or from their consulting work, right? What about the academics who have never done anything? Sure, they read a lot and write a lot and command a wealth of fact perhaps, but have they ever achieved anything? Can they even draw a picture, much less make something happen in the world?

It's the blurry line between fact and a good story that is at issue. It's one thing to write a great story, it is something else to hold it out as unassailable truth. Some poor sod might just believe it! The real question may be, 'Are they sods because they're poor or are they poor because they're sods?' The measure of a society is how it treats its weakest members.

Look how much Bader-Ginsburg has amassed. How long will it take Kagan or Sotomayor to figure it out? Clarence Thomas, he lay low. What have these people done for society?

So how DID Obama get to the White House? Some people blame Horace Greeley. Some people think Greeley was a great guy. Some people think Greeley was a lying bastard because he advocated giving people money from the treasury to cure their alcoholism. Some people think Obama is a great guy.

The point is Barry made it without the rigorous vetting that Robert Bork got for the Supreme Court. At least, Robert had the courage to say what he thought rather than hide behind meaningless mendacity.

Never have Americans seen the kind of regulation spewing from Washington since King George and the Declaration of Independence. Those idiots treat the Constitution like it was created in a vacuum.

Apple computer is suddenly monopolistic, restraining trade? The White House is restraining trade. Justice is looking at CRIMINAL charges against BP? The states are lining up with their hands out, enabled by a soft touch in the Oval Office. The Palestinians are gonna get more money without any promise of ratcheting down the violence? Didn't Arafat at least get Hamas to quiet down before giving them any money? Didn't all his officials drive Mercedes and build new houses? Hasn't the White House Press Secretary promised that BP will be crushed? Of course, the President has been most vigilant over press leaks. Is that not how 'they' manipulate the public agenda? Who leaked that story?

Hamid Karzai seems to know more about American foreign policy than anybody in the White House. Bring the boys home, dammit!

John D. Rockefeller Made It Happen

Rockefeller was roundly criticized and villified in the newspapers for monopolizing oil production. The stupid and greedy were overproducing, ruining the markets and the oilfields, as well. He realized Congress wasn't going to do anything about it (have they ever?) so he bought up the railroad cars. The rest, they say, is history.

What did Hoover, Truman, and Eisenhower have in common?

Back during The Great Depression, President Herbert Hoover ordered the 

deportation of ALL illegal aliens in order to make jobs available to American 

citizens that desperately needed work..

Harry Truman deported over two million Illegal's after WWII to create jobs 

for returning veterans.

And then again in 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower deported 13 million

Mexican Nationals! The program was called 'Operation Wetback'. It was 

done so WWII and Korean Veterans would have a better chance at jobs.

It took 2 Years, but the INS ran 'em out!

Aliens in Our Schools

This came from Geoff today. He grows avocados in California.

Maybe we should turn to our history books and point out to people like Mr. Lujan why today's American is not willing to accept this new kind of immigrant any longer. Back in 1900 when there was a rush from all areas of Europe to come to the United States, people had to get off a ship and stand in a long line in New York and be documented.

Some would even get down on their hands and knees and kiss the ground. They made a pledge to uphold the laws and support their new country in good and bad times. They made learning English a primary rule in their new American households and some even changed their names to blend in with their new home.

They had waved goodbye to their birth place to give their children a new life and did everything in their power to help their children assimilate into one culture. Nothing was handed to them. No free lunches, no welfare, no labor laws to protect them. All they had were the skills and craftsmanship they had brought with them to trade for a future of prosperity.

Most of their children came of age when World War II broke out. My father fought along side men whose parents had come straight over from Germany , Italy , France and Japan . None of these 1st generation Americans ever gave any thought about what country their parents had come from. They were Americans fighting Hitler, Mussolini and the Emperor of Japan. They were defending the United States of America as one people.

When we liberated France, no one in those villages were looking for the French American, the German American or the Irish American. The people of France saw only Americans. And we carried one flag that represented one country. Not one of those immigrant sons would have thought about picking up another country's flag and waving it to represent who they were. It would have been a disgrace to their parents who had sacrificed so much to be here. These immigrants truly knew what it meant to be an American. They stirred the melting pot into one red, white and blue bowl.

And here we are with a new kind of immigrant who wants the same rights and privileges. Only they want to achieve it by playing with a different set of rules, one that includes the entitlement card and a guarantee of being faithful to their mother country. I'm sorry, that's not what being an American is all about. I believe that the immigrants who landed on Ellis Island in the early 1900's deserve better than that for all the toil, hard work and sacrifice in raising future generations to create a land that has become a beacon for those legally searching for a better life. I think they would be appalled that they are being used as an example by those waving foreign country flags.

And for that suggestion about taking down the Statue of Liberty, it happens to mean a lot to the citizens who are voting on the immigration bill. I wouldn't start talking about dismantling the United States just yet.

What we got here is failure to communicate. The Muslims and Mexicans are not assimilating. The Mexicans have been showing us their colors for over 200 years, the Muslims for over 2,000.

Aliens in the Press

It is not OK to say it, but it is OK to talk about it. Where is Lenny Bruce when we need him? How did we get to this place where free speach is punishable by city ordinance?

So, Carly Fiorina like many freshman politicians is caught by an open microphone. UH-OH!

I'm still not sure what she said about Barbara Boxer's hair, but the NYT has already suggested it's a gaffe that will haunt her the rest of her campaign. If it was a guy, it would be sexist, but since it's a gal it's catty. PUHLEASE.

Now let me get this straight. It doesn't matter what Carly has to say about her opponent as long as no one hears her?

It looks like Carly's already creating the big lie, saying she was just repeating what a friend had said.

Somewhere along the line, the newspaper has sold out. The TV reporters never had any integrity anyway, but I always expected more from the newspaper people. I remember when Dad would come home from his day at the paper and the phone would be ringing from advertisers and subscribers in an uproar. Eventually, the advertisers came back and the subscribers came back and, in the meantime the Truth was served.

OK, there are hard truths and soft truths. That's why we have fluid reality. The Truth is in the mind's eye of the beholder. One can be ignorant of that fact if one desires.

Hard truth is that if one jumps off a 50-foot balcony, one is going to die. A soft truth is a question of Carly's veracity. 'Let's give her the benefit of the doubt.'

OK. But you and I both know she's lying and that she will never admit it in public.

I'm back to Atlas Shrugged today, but I'm not done.

Ain't it grand that a 16-year-old girl gets dismasted in the Indian Ocean and rescued by technology before she had an opportunity to die for her arrogance. Who's paying for THIS rescue?

Speaking of rescues, the Wall Street Journal today suggests that now is a good time to margin up, crazy as it may sound. Isn't that what led to the bailouts? Does it sound crazy? Is it crazy? Go ahead, make my day. My seven-hundred-dollar gold coins need a boost. Not to mention the four-hundred-dollar ones.

Alien in the White House

If you read the papers (I don't have a clue what's on the television) you might think everything is just peachy. Remember, best beloved, those people are creating a reality for you so that their advertisements appeal to you. Just because the New York Times has a couple of people dressed in black and white graphical fabric, is it a trend? Should I consider updating my wardrobe? Who was the idiot thought a nuclear device might take care of the spill in the Gulf?

Notice how the writers say that the stock market went up or down 'on' the unemployment news, the Fed, retail sales figures or the level of despair in the backstreets of America. How do they know why the market went up or down. Did they run the correlations? Standard deviation anyone, anyone?

Too bad about that White House reporter. She, of all people, should be entitled. She's been around forever and I should know her name.

What about Carly Fiorina being overheard criticizing someone's hair? She's entitled, too. Anybody take a look at HER hair? Of course, having been tossed from HP, she's now perfectly qualified for the US Senate. And the aforementioned NYT thinks it's wonderful!

More to come...