Dinner Chez Obama

Posted on November 24, 2009 by 40andover

Does one need to be a huge important nation, like India, to get a dinner at the White House?

No-Where-istan is a tiny country (still in my head) but we would like to be recognized on the international stage. We have a national anthem, a flag, a motto and stamp. I bet Sealandia doesn’t have those.

Here are the pluses:

We wouldn’t require any fuss about the menu. We could bring deli food. We’ll order lean corned beef and pastrami but NO knishes, so it will be heart-healthy (healthy-ish).
We’ll use paper plates instead of the fancy china. Net-net, I believe that it is greener to have paper plates than have people wasting all that water hand-washing that fine china. (Also, less germs.)
Also, I have a great dance shuffle on my iPod, so we don’t need the orchestra. Still, I would like for the musicians to have paying gigs. So, I am a little torn.
We can have a cultural exchange: We can teach the Obamas to talk with food in their mouths. They can teach us how to eat arugula salad without spilling (we love arugula, but not as much as rugelach).
We don’t have a big entourage and we can take Metro-North there and back, so we don’t need to stay in the guest bedrooms at the White House (we are a small country and we can’t afford the donations required to do that).
The ministers and family and friends have no idea about protocol, so we can throw out the rule book and have some fun.
Look at the cost savings, which is important given that the nation is at its credit card limit.

Here is the minus:

We don’t have sovereign territory outside my head so this idea will have to stay on the agenda of the Ministry of Dreams and Aspirations for a little while longer.

Arrogant

Posted on November 23, 2009 by 40andover

That is the buzz word that Republicans are using to describe the Democrats’ attempting to reform health care in this country.

Arrogant is how the Republicans have behaved. “No” is not a reform plan. What is arrogant (and unconscionable) is that Republicans dare to use the word “arrogant” when referring to the Democrats.

The Democrats are struggling to reform a broken system and keep costs down (or at least tax those who can best afford it). The Republicans (save two senators and one representative) have done nothing.

Mitch McConnell, you should be ashamed.

Democrats are imploding

Posted on November 20, 2009 by 40andover

The GOP can just buy popcorn, sit back and reeeeeelax. The Democrats are snatching defeat out of the mouth of victory.

We have Democrats who won’t let the health bill out of committee for a debate. Not a vote. A debate. Joe Lieberman, Mr. GOP in an IND’s clothes is also squelching debate. And to think he was almost a DEMOCRATIC Vice President.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH DEBATE?? Yes, if it goes to debate and most people vote on party lines, it will pass, so those opposed definitely want to kill it in committee where it takes a super-majority to open debate (a little ODD if you ask me) but that is the risk with democratically elected representatives.

Also, will the Democrats PUH-LEEEEEEZE stop spending TARP money. Everyone wants to claim a couple billion here and there to fund projects.

Before we spend more, let’s see if it is necessary. In the meantime, reduce our daily interest costs by paying down the deficit. Do you like paying half a billion a day to service our enormous debt?If my father thought that I ever carried a balance on my credit cards, he would wonder if he raised me right. (For a year or so in law school, I did.)

All this does is make it impossible for our President to succeed. And, if he fails, America fails. We cannot stand still and survive as a prosperous nation and a superpower.

(As much as I disagreed with George Bush, I always hoped he was right because he was (at least once) the democratically elected President of the United States.)

Enough Polling, Please

Posted on November 18, 2009 by 40andover

What I have learned by being sick at home watching news shows in between naps and flu-induced coma like behavior:

There is a “just released” poll for everything nowadays. There are instant polls and twitter polls. There are online polls and telephone polls. While the actual number crunching may be scientific, there is nothing scientific about the responses.

Let’s say my commute took twice as long as normal and my boss was angry that I was late to a meeting and all of a sudden because of the economy I am a little more nervous about job security than I might have been two years ago. Now someone calls me tonight and asks, how am I feeling about the economy. My answer may be “lousy”. The day before I might have said, “stabilizing”. The poll measures how you feel at that moment which isn’t right or wrong — it just isn’t the whole picture.

Also the way the question is asked often leads to a more optimistic or pessimistic answer. “Do you feel the country is on the wrong course?” “Do you think that President Obama is indecisive on Afghanistan?”

Or if you use a measure of 100 days or 1000 days or 5 minutes, it gives immediate legitimacy to the notion that these are relevant time measures for progress on incredibly complicated and pervasive issues. Go figure.

Maybe a better poll would ask, “over the past 6 months, has your outlook changed on [insert crisis du jour]? And how has your outlook changed?” And even that can be corrupted if you use a benchmark date. “Since Labor Day, how have you been feeling about [insert crisis du jour]?” Chances are that that question will elicit a negative response because end of summer is bittersweet. Ask people on Thanksgiving Day and the answers may be more philosophical.

I am of course exaggerating, and I must confess that I am unencumbered by fact, information and background in poll taking. But I can’t imagine that these things don’t have an effect.

The biggest danger is that instant polling, first 100-day polling and second 100-day polling cement these arbitrary time frames and in a time where instant gratification and diminishing attention spans are prevailing social disorders, this is frightening indeed.

Funny how soon they forget . . .

Posted on November 2, 2009 by 40andover

Dick Cheney is laser sharp in his criticism of the current Administration and in his trumpeting of his initiatives during his 8-year Reign of Terror. His memory for his accomplishments is uncanny.

Oh, wait, there is that inconvenient incident in which he outed an intelligence officer because her husband was critical of Cheney’s intelligence gathering and evidence supporting the Iraq War. What was her name again? He couldn’t remember anything when pressed by federal prosecutors. He couldn’t “recall” 72 times.

Dick, let me help you.

Her name is Valerie Plame. She worked for the CIA defending and protecting this country.

But, her husband doubted on your fabricated evidence for war, so you exposed a patriotic American, a defender of our safety and way of life and, by extension, you put in harm’s way ALL OF THOSE AGENTS WITH WHOM SHE WORKED.

And, you can’t remember. Is it because you did it so often?

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By PETE YOST, Associated Press Writer Pete Yost, Associated Press Writer – Mon Nov 2, 6:34 am ET

WASHINGTON – Federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald famously declared in the Valerie Plame affair that “there is a cloud over the vice president.” Last week’s release of an FBI interview summary of Dick Cheney’s answers in the criminal investigation underscores why Fitzgerald felt that way.

On 72 occasions, according to the 28-page FBI summary, Cheney equivocated to the FBI during his lengthy May 2004 interview, saying he could not be certain in his answers to questions about matters large and small in the Plame controversy.

The Cheney interview reflects a team of prosecutors and FBI agents trying to find out whether the leaks of Plame’s CIA identity were orchestrated at the highest level of the White House and carried out by, among others, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Cheney’s chief of staff.

Among the most basic questions for Cheney in the Plame probe: How did Libby find out that the wife of Bush administration war critic Joseph Wilson worked at the CIA?

Libby’s own handwritten notes suggest Libby found out from Cheney. When Libby discovered Cheney’s reference to Plame and the CIA in his notes — notes that Libby knew he would soon have to turn over to the FBI — the chief of staff went to the vice president, probably in late September or early October 2003.

Sharing the information with Cheney was in itself an unusual step at the outset of a criminal investigation in which potential White House witnesses were being ordered by their superiors not to talk to each other about the Plame matter.

[rest of article omitted]

Punditry

Posted on November 2, 2009 by 40andover

On the urging of my college friends, I entered the Washington Post contest for a new pundit/columnist position. Ok, they were looking for a fresh face and mine is 45 years old, but, hey, I am younger than some people.

I submitted a short piece about the mixed legacy of Ted Kennedy (whether our nation’s ideals would have been better served if he didn’t get a free pass on his transgressions) and referred them to this blog.

I had dreams of having a by-line on a column next to those of Pulitzer Prize winners. My mother would have beamed from Heaven as if I had received a Nobel Peace Prize.

So, by entering a contest, I was three degrees away from a Nobel Peace Prize. Three degrees.

So, I didn’t get a bronze, silver or gold. But I was a contender.

And that, I think, is close enough for my mother, who believed that EVERYONE is entitled MY opinions.

GMAC is different than CIT

Posted on October 28, 2009 by 40andover

CIT is a huge lender to small and middle-market businesses.

If we want to keep the main engine of our economy from falling off a cliff, we ought to be more worried about the survival of lenders to small and middle-market companies than whether someone at Goldman gets $10million or whether seniors get a $250 check.

Were all lenders taking outrageously stupid risk? Yes. Should they all have a time out? Yes. Should they make a lot of money? No. But, first we need to shore up cash and credit availability to the backbone of our economy. Then we can point fingers.

Remember, the ambulances come to a scene of a shooting and take all the injured away and treat them. After the dust settles, one of them may be in prison (or getting a lethal injection if he is in Texas).

Finally, a Hate Crime Bill Goes to the White House

Posted on October 22, 2009 by 40andover

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/capitol-briefing/2009/10/senate_approves_hate_crimes_me.html?referrer=email

It is great that there is a federal hate crimes bill that will protect gays and lesbians. Unfortunately, it had to appended to a bill authorizing pay increases for our troops in order to pass. And, there is some pork barrel spending that Obama opposes in the bill and he will get tagged with perpetuating wasteful spending.

It is sad that there couldn’t be three separate bills: “clean” appropriations bill for our troops, a clean hate crimes bill, and a clean bill on the controversial spending item. They have nothing in common.

It is uncomfortable sometimes to look too closely into how we are governed. But look, we must.

Hey, Blue Dog Democrats, it is time to decide

Posted on October 22, 2009 by 40andover

http://www.whorunsgov.com/Projects/Reform_Tracker/Bluedogs

Some Blue Dog Democrats are undecided about any or all of the following options: public option, cooperatives, free market, individual mandatory coverage.

It is no longer ok for you all to stay undecided. You need to take a stand, one way or another, on each of these options. If you take a principled stand, you will be respected even if people disagree.

But if you wait to see which way the winds of public opinion blow, you might experience a blow-out in the next election cycle.

Times a’wastin’.

FOOTBALL — Orrin Hatch’s Legislative Priority

Posted on October 21, 2009 by 40andover

You can’t make this stuff up.

We are fighting for economic recovery, we are fighting two wars, we are fighting multiple insurgents in the health care industry, we are trying to save the planet from our carbon emissions, we are trying to prevent nuclear proliferation and SENATOR ORRIN HATCH WANTS THE PRESIDENT TO INTERVENE ON COLLEGE FOOTBALL BOWL CHAMPIONSHIPS?

Sen. Hatch says there is some antitrust violation involved in the way the championships are decided. Senator, there may be another antitrust violation, too. It involves health care. Maybe you read about it.

Orrin, Orrin, Orrin. Do we live on the same planet? Don’t you have pressing matters of state in the Senate that require your UNDIVIDED focus? Are our national problems a joke to you? If you were a senator from New York, I would start a campaign to recall you.

By the way, in No-Where-istan, we have no organized sports leagues. Since No-Where-istan lives in my head, cleats would be painful.

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By FREDERIC J. FROMMER, Associated Press Writer Frederic J. Frommer, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 9 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Shortly after winning last year’s presidential election, Barack Obama said he was going to “to throw my weight around a little bit” to nudge college football’s Bowl Championship Series to move to a playoff system.

On Wednesday, Sen. Orrin Hatch took him up on that.

Hatch asked the president to launch a Justice Department investigation into the way the BCS — a complex system of computer rankings and polls that often draws criticism — crowns its national champion.

“Mr. President, as you have publicly stated on multiple occasions, the BCS system is in dire need of reform,” Hatch, R-Utah, wrote in a 10-page letter, obtained by The Associated Press.

Hatch, who held a hearing on the BCS in July, told Obama that a “strong case” can be made that the BCS violates antitrust laws.