I would say that the trip has not been the international showcase that the handlers had hoped for, first the Olympic gaffe and the pissing match with the conservative leader of England, than the tug of war with the reporters regarding his meetings with the Israelis being private or not and today's theological instruction.
I think that the original script was well written, next stop Poland and a chance to highlight how the Obama administration caved in to Russia regarding the proposed eastern european missile shield. It is just that the messenger is so inept. This guy was governor of Massachusetts for god sakes, he should have better political chops and instincts than this.
The polls are in and Mitt has a serious problem. People don't like him. That's a tough one to overcome.
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Arizona Republican Senator John Kyl had a good one the other day. He said President Barack Obama should stop talking about the middle class because it turns people against rich Americans, who should be embraced as the Michael Jordans of the U.S. economy.
"The use of the phrase "middle class" is "misguided and wrong and even dangerous," Kyl said. He argued in a Senate floor speech monday that Obama is "spreading economic resentment [that] weakens American values" and ignoring "the uniquely meritocratic basis of our society."
"When Michael Jordan came, after he established how great he would be, he was given an enormous, almost unheard of salary. Did the other players say, 'That's not fair?' No, actually all the other players got big salary increases, too," Kyl said. "The whole franchise did well, the people selling popcorn, the people parking the cars ... made more money than they ever would have had Michael Jordan never came to the team."
Now, let's disregard for the sake of argument the fact that the game has been pretty well rigged the last thirty years and that there has been this enormous transfer of wealth to the top 1% thanks to a reworking of the tax laws that started with Reagan. People were alright when the poor took the fall but when the crosshairs are set on villainous teachers, firemen and other public employees, the possibly of mass insurrection is surely at hand. It is not Obama's fault for stirring up class envy, it is the population's fault for not figuring out that the game didn't work without pigeons years ago.
Lets focus on the Michael Jordan metaphor. Because it gave me a brainstorm for a new idea. American plutocrat baseball cards. I'll trade you a Koch Brother for your Rich DeVose and an old Pedro Borbon. Warren Buffet - Berkshire Hathaway, throws right, bats left, lives with his mistress.
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I haven't caught much of the Olympics, except for one night at the bar, but the newspaper and online commentary has been so dreadful. We are the much xenophobic bunch, we Americans and so, so stupid. When Lochte beat Phelps they couldn't give the guy his due, Phelps miscue being so much more interesting than the other athlete's win. It's the guys third Olympics, he's getting old, back off.
Today they pile on, he was beat by a frenchman, the tragedy! Like we suck if we don't win every medal. Because like Israel, god is shining his light on our country and if the truth be told, he just doesn't like the rest of the world very much.
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Interesting story at TPM over Alabama Public Televsion firings of two employees who refused to toe the biblical line.
The nogoodniks refused to program David Barton’s “American Heritage Series,” which infuses Christian themes and motivations in tales of American history. Barton, a man without a history degree, is considered “a key bridge between the mainstream political right and radical-right religious ideology,” according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
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A federal judge has just sided with the Governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer and upheld an abortion bill that will not grant abortions after 20 weeks, even in cases of rape or incest. Love you guys.
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Interesting that the International Olympic Committee didn't see fit to honor the 40th anniversary of the Munich tragedy. One can only imagine the reasons for the omissions. Must be waiting for that golden 52nd anniversary in 2024.
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Republicans voted for a bill that instituted automatic spending cuts, including monies for defense, if a deal on the budget wasn't agreed to. Now they are up in arms over the cuts, wanting to gut entitlement programs instead in a last minute sleight of hand, leverage move. Defense has a ton of fat. Last week they gnashed their teeth over cuts to the $388 million dallar military band budget. A real necessity.
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Ehud Barak, Israeli Defense Minister heartily endorses Obama administration today. Might be honest or is he seeing the inevitable writing on the wall? Guess I have to take him at his word.
“I think that from my point of view as defense minister they are extremely good, extremely deep and profound. I can see long years, um, administrations of both sides of political aisle deeply supporting the state of Israeli and I believe that reflects a profound feeling among the American people,” said Barak. “But I should tell you honestly that this administration under President Obama is doing in regard to our security more than anything that I can remember in the past.”
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The Catholic Church is really going after the womenfolk. Read this scathing indictment of the sisters by Fr. Robert A. Sirico on National Review Online.
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Anaheim is a powder keg after the recent police shootings. The last victim was shot in the back, of course reaching in his waistband for the weapon that was never there. They shot him in the leg for good measure. Interesting perspective on the place by the editor of the Orange County Weekly, Gustavo Arellano, Anaheim's Tragic Kingdom. I hear that latinos are regularly frisked near the magic kingdom, not being really simpatico with the image the city is trying to project. I'm so old I remember when it was hippies.
I know that there is a gang problem there, there also seems to be a serious disconnect with a large segment of the population. A largely hispanic community that has only ever had three latino city council members in the city. Have to square it with Walt.
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I was looking for an Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe quote from the other day that just floored me but can't seem to find it. So I will leave you one from an interview that he did in March on Voice of Christian Youth America Radio Network. Global warming is divinely inspired:
"Well actually the Genesis 8:22 that I use in there is that “as long as the earth remains there will be springtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night.” My point is, God’s still up there. The arrogance of people to think that we, human beings, would be able to change what He is doing in the climate is to me outrageous."
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1 comment:
Me thinks Jon Kyl is really mis-guided ( as well as ilk)... I strongly believe that what has separated us from the other country's of the world is our strong middle class. Not only has this separated from the rest of the world, having the large and strong middle class has made the US a far better place to live. So much of the world has two classes, rich and poor.
What has made our strong middle class has been, to a large extent, our large blue collar labor force which has been diminished by off- shoring of jobs. That is driven, to a large extent by our consumer driven economy wanting goods at the lowest possible price. It's a tread mill I am not sure we can get off.
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