Thursday, December 30, 2010

Hey Brother, Can You Spare a Dime...?

I don't know about you but I think that Governor Rendell of Pennsylvania got it exactly right the other day.

He critcized the NFL for postponing the football game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Minnesota Vikings on December 26th.

Why the postponement you ask? Ostensibly because of the snow.

Why, really, you persist?

Well Rendell thinks, and I agree, that it's because we, as a people, are unwilling to step up to the hard tasks that encumber our lives.

I'm not talking about all of the men and women who work their fantails off doing the country's business. They are much more the heroes of our culture than the overpaid morons on the field.

I'm talking about the deferring of responsibility and the denial of circumstance that plagues our society.

It's always someone else's fault and we are the victims. Nick Kristoff, in today's Times, writes about teaching our kids Chinese and Spanish as a way of preparing them for the realities of business and daily life that will be theirs in the future.

We don't seem to care about that. We don't see the necessity of being well educated and prepared. We postpone a football game because it will be uncomfortable (and between two teams that live in the snow belt, especially the Vikings to whom snow is a way of life...! Jeez!!)

What would it have been like in the past if people had postponed the chores of their lives because it was "uncomfortable?"

What would the settlers have done? Too hard to plant crops? No food. Too hard to chop wood? No heat in winter. Too hard to hew trees? No house. Too hard to travel over dangerous, uncharted territory to get to the West? No California as we know it.

Too hard to play football in the snow (John Madden, where art thou...?) Are you kidding?

Football is meant to be played in the snow and rain and mud. It's better that way!

Ever see the Mark Wahlberg portrayal of the Eagle's Vince Papale in the wonderful movie, "Invincible?"

There's a scene in which he is playing a pick up touch football game in a parking lot at night lit only by car headlights.

They're playing...OMG...in the rain! And, man, were they having fun. Anybody who has ever done that knows exactly what I'm talking about.

Given the mood of the NFL and the population in general...that pick up game would have been cancelled due to inclement weather. I wonder what Vince thinks about the postponement of the Eagles game. I wonder...

But that's who we have become. We sit on our aft section with a beer and chips and let the world catch up and pass us by because it's "too hard."

Too hard to tell the truth about war(s) and the deficit and health care and Wall Street and obesity and education.

We want everything right now with no personal effort. Push a button or, better yet, give a voice command, and voila...there it is...whatever you want. Without doing anything tangible or effortful to get it.

I walked 5 miles uphill... both ways, mind you... barefoot, in the snow to get to a one room school house so I would have enough learnin' to get out of this one-horse town and make something of myself in the big city. And when I arrived I only had ten cents in my pocket. And look at me now...!

In my dreams...!

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Correction

In the post, "Snow Kidding", I erroneously said that the snowstorm Sunday and Monday was not a blizzard.

It was.

I stand corrected.

Unsportsmanlike Conduct

Joe Miller.

Sore loser.

Lisa Murkowski lost to Miller in the Alaska Republican Primary.

Murkowski decided to run anyway.

She apparently has won...by about 10,000 votes.

Miller won't concede. He won't say "Mazel Tov."

Sarah Palin endorsed him. Sarah Palin, you may remember, was, at one time, the Governor of Alaska. She quit to host her own "reality" show and run for President...and make a lot of money...and subject us to the shenanigans of her family.

Miller is acting like a little kid who can't get his way. Murkowski's name has to be spelled correctly in order for the vote to count. Imagine if someone had written "Milla" instead of "Miller." Would he be kvetching then? Doubt it.

It's all about "the integrity of the election."

Bull.

Lisa won and Joe lost. End of story.

Get over it.




NOTE to my Non-Jewish readers:

Mazel Tov = Congratulations
Kvetch = Complain

Monday, December 27, 2010

Snow Kidding!

Ok, folks...let's get one thing straight (and this is meant for those of us who live where it snows)

It snows where we live...!

Yes, I know that it might come as a bit of a surprise to you but...in the winter...above the 39th parallel...occasionally...once in a while...it...wait for it...wait...it...

...SNOWS!

You would think that all of the hubbub about the weather was because we were experiencing some sort of a phenomenon...a once in a millenium, never to be repeated event...a cataclysm of epic, biblical, Noahesque proportions.

Holy Moly! It snowed! We had a bizzard (not.) Travel was disrupted (no...really?) Stores were out of shovels and rock salt (are you kidding me...?) School would have been cancelled (missed that one...darn!)

Roger Cohen had a wonderful piece in the December 23rd New York Times about the unacceptable response in Europe to the snow that has fallen on and off of the Continent. He was right on it.

What is the big deal? Is there no other news? Did nothing else happen? Is nothing else, a bit less Earth-shattering, going on...?

It's winter...it snows.

1) Leave a little early to allow for slower driving.
2) Get a winter coat and wear it oustide.
3) Get big, warm boots.
4) Get warm gloves.
5) Buy a good snow shovel.
6) Pump the brakes...don't crush them to the floor in an attempt to stop. You'll only skid.
7) If you skid, turn in the direction of the skid until you straighten out.

I certainly feel sorry for the thousands stranded wherever and the aggravation at not being able to get your car out of the snow...or the fact that the plows didn't come (and the tax money to pay for the plows/sand/salt/drivers, etc. is coming from where...exactly?)

So...to repeat...

It's winter...it snows.

Get used it.

Or move.

Which makes the most sense. Why do we live here in the first place? Did the Pilgrims, after experiencing their first winter say to one another, "Gee, that was fun...can't wait to do it again!"??

Why not Boca or Cabo...why Bridgeport and New Bedford?

Ahhhhhh...beach, warmth, iced tea.

But if you are an optimist just remember that it's only 190 days until the beginning of summer and 362 days until Christmas.

Happy New Year!!

Monday, December 20, 2010

Shades of Gray

My daughter has a wonderful voice. She's been singing like a pro since she was a very little girl. This is not a case of PPS...Proud Papa Syndrome. I'm not waving her flag here. I do that enough. No, this is what I have heard, consistently, all throughout her young, beautiful life, from friends, family, teachers and total strangers alike. "Wow, she's great. Boy, can she sing!"

This was highlighted again this past weekend when she was invited to be the featured soloist at a concert of Christmas music held at a local church. What made this event even more noteworthy was fact that she had been invited by a congregation of Black Christians.

Here was this beautiful, young, white Jewish girl singing her heart and lungs out with a Black Gospel Choir...at their request!

As I sat in the balcony and kvelled over my daughter I thought of the insane way in which President Obama has been treated by his opposition. It would be more tolerable if he were being criticized for his policies alone. But the fact that so many people on the conservative side of the American political spectrum have pilloried Obama not only for his political philosophy and legislative proposals but they have attempted to delegitimize his presidency because he is Black. And only half Black at that.

They should be ashamed. They represent what is so wrong with our culture, a culture of "us and them", of competition at every level.

It is also understandable why the right has taken this point of view. It is to marginalize Obama in an attempt to make him unacceptable to the American people. If they succeed then their candidate in '12 will prevail whether it is Romney, Huckabee or Palin.

Again, I say, they, and we should be ashamed. Obama is Black. My daughter is White. Jackie Chan is Asian. Alex Rodriguez is Hispanic. Beckham is a Brit. Kidman is an Aussie. Depardieu is French. Barishnikov is a Russian.

And so on as it has always been and will always be. And we persist in judging people by irrelevant characteristics...height, weight, hair, the color of their skin.

In this time of Christmas we should be reminded that Jesus was a Jew who was murdered because he was different.

As was Ghandi, both Kennedys, King and Lennon.

The new political party No Labels wants to be seen as a party of anonymous description.

"Can't we all just get along?"

We can start by being like the Black church that invited my White daughter to sing. They didn't invite her because, or in spite of the fact, that she is white. They invited her because...she can sing.

Hallelujah!

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Anchors Away...

John McCain.

Two words that used to inspire admiration and respect. He graduated from the Naval Academy. He was a fighter pilot and then a POW in Vietnam. He has served in the Senate.

He was a co-sponsor of the visionary legislation referred to as McCain-Feingold that attempted to clean up campaign financing.

He represents Arizona which used to be a wonderful place both to visit and to live.

He has overstayed his welcome.

His opposition to Gays in the military is only rivalled by his ultimate gift to the country in the form of the irrepressible Sarah Palin.

First he led by example. He was a so-called "Maverick" willing to go up against his party on behalf of what was good for the country.

Now he panders and takes positions that are both unconstitutional and unconcionable.

What is wrong with Gays in the military, anyway? Are soldiers so insecure that the mere presence of a homosexual will cause them to lose their man or womanhood? If that's true then they are not what we really want on the front lines defending our country and our freedom.

We need real heroes with real bravery. Like the countless Gay men and Lesbians who tolerate discrimination and abuse everyday of their lives from their peers, their families and their bosses. They exhibit real courage by standing up to the endless taunts and bullying that comes from an uneducated and myopic society of narrowminded individuals.

Led by the likes of John McCain. And, for that matter, Sarah Palin.

And he says that we should not put the country through a huge cultural upheaval while we are fighting two wars. What about the cultural upheaval of the wars themsleves? What about the cultural upheaval caused by the Republicans over the past 10 years, in and out of office? Why is it okay to put the country through that Senator?

Don't Ask Don't Tell.

Change it to Don't Bask, Don't Yell.

Don't bask in the glow of this past election. It was a referendum on nothing. It was an exercise in anger and frustration. Voters don't like either major party. They don't even like the Tea Party. In fact they don't like anything or anybody.

And stop yelling about something that most of the country either endorses, is reconciled to or doesn't give a damn about.

Leave the issue of sexual orientation alone. No one cares anymore.

R & R. It was good for you when you were in Vietnam.

It would be good for you now. For a very long time...

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Hats Off To Harry

Ok...I admit it.

I love hats. I have a lot of them. Baseball hats. Winter hats. A straw cowboy hat I got in Tulsa. A beret and a straw boater that my mother brought me from Paris.
An L.L. Bean crusher from my friend Mike. My father's old Coast Guard cap.

But, since it's winter, I've taken to wearing a favorite. It's a greenish beanie with a white pom-pom that I got in Amsterdam.

It was given to me by a client when I was doing a production job there a few years ago. Everybody who participated got one. They came in all colors (the hats, not the people, although, come to think of it, there were a few people "of color" there too...) It was a team building conference sponsored by my client who is an international consultancy. They gave out the hats because it is cold in Amsterdam in the winter and they were being climate and location appropriate.

I was glad because I had only brought one of my favorite baseball hats (It says "Padanaram" on it. Khaki with a green bill. A seaside community in southeastern Massachusetts) and the beanie was warmer when I went out for walks to the pot bars and red light district. I looked ridiculous but I was warm. None of the hookers in the red light district looked at me twice and I got some strange looks in the pot bars too. I don't smoke pot but I'm sure the patrons in the bars thought I did because of the hat. And the hookers probably couldn't get past the hat, thinking that a guy who would wear a hat like that wouldn't have much money.

There is something about the winter that allows people to wear really stupid hats. Hats with pom poms. Russian fur hats. Stocking caps with very long tails. Hunting hats with ear flaps. Hats with animal ears or antlers. Or lights.

Very silly hats. And the person wearing them looks equally as silly. But somehow, we don't care. It's winter. I'm cold. The hat keeps me warm. Period.

Now, I would never wear this green beanie with the white pom pom in the summer. I would wear a baseball hat to protect myself from the sun. The only thing worse than a sunburn itself is the accompanying feeling of nausea and fatigue. Better to wear a hat or sit under an umbrella. Any hat will do, really, but a baseball hat is best because it has a bill which is sort of like an awning. You can look out from underneath it and if you've forgotten your sunglasses or lent them to your friend the bill will provide just enough shade so you can see, even if you have to squint which might give you a slight headache which would be exacerbated if you had heat stroke at the same time...from not having worn a hat.

I would never wear it to the Opera. I would go uncovered to the Opera.

I wouldn't wear it to church, either. I would wear it in the car on the way to church but I would take it off before I went in. After all Jesus didn't wear a hat. He would have worn a beret if he had. He was that cool. And he would have had a goatee rather than a full beard. He was the original hipster.

So I wear this ridiculous hat out of necessity. Heat rises and so it does out of the top of my head. Granted I have a nice head of hair, or so I am told, so that provides some insulation but the hat keeps it all in. And I can get away with it because it's winter and I live in a cold climate and everybody else is wearing stupid hats too. This is one case where my mother's nagging maxim, "If everybody jumped off of The Brooklyn Bridge (I grew up in New York), would you?", holds no water.

In this case, it is because everybody is wearing hats like mine that I feel comfortable in putting the damned thing on in the first place.

Cold hands, warm heart? Warm head...cool persona.

So there!

Monday, December 13, 2010

Love Thy Neighbor...except...

"God Hates Fags."

Not your garden variety Christmas greeting. Not your average loving thought. Not your run-of-the-mill perspective. Brought to us by the lovely folks over at The Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, ministered by the Right Reverend Fred Phelps...Man of God.

Correct me if I'm wrong here but wasn't Jesus, whose birthday we're purportedly about to celebrate...wasn't he all about love and forgiveness and inclusion?

Wasn't Jesus the guy who said, "Turn the other cheek" and "Love thy neighbor as thyself" and other things in the same vein?

At this time of year we are brought to near nausea by the incessant preaching about Peace on Earth and Good Will Toward Men. But the men part only refers to real men...not quiche eating, dress wearing, men kissing...men. No they are not God's children. They are the children of the devil, of Satan himself.

Why, you ask? Because they dare to love one of their own gender (this is true of women too...Lesbians...but they don't get as much press. Probably because men still run everything and women with women is supposed to be erotic...)

Now...what's really wrong with that? It's supposed to be about love. We don't persecute people because they love their dogs or cats. We don't exile people because they love chocolate or Chardonnay. We don't murder people because they love cotton rather than polyester.

So why do we discriminate against people simply because they love another of their own sex?

It is none of our damn business what people do within the confines of their hearts...or bedrooms for that matter.

Imagine the shoe on the other foot. Imagine all of the self-righteous people who go around preaching "family values" being the minority, being the ones who are shunned.

Wouldn't that be a spectacle. All of the lily-white, self-appointed custodians of society's rules being the ones who are ridiculed and denied respect and value. All because they love one of the opposite gender.

It would be ridiculous. And so it is with the Gay population. It is ridiculous to cast judgement on a person simply because they feel love for one of their own gender.

Love, mind you. The thing we make this whole holiday season about. Jesus and love and peace and harmony...and the hypocritical position of Gay exclusion and "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

We should be ashamed. What would Jesus do? First he would be ashamed of us and then he would extend his hand of love to everyone...Gay, Straight, Bi, Republican, Democrat, Tea Party...even Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck who so ruthlessly take his name in vain every single day when they marginalize and hate.

Which brings us back to The Westboro Gang. Who in the hell do they think they are anyway? God's Army? Not even close. If God gets wind of what they're up to he'll strike the church with bolts of lightning and the whole thing will burn to the ground and every one of the congregation, led by the cartoonish Rev. Phelps, will be led right to the Gates of Hell where a chariot will be waiting to take them to the fires of eternal damnation.

"Love Thy Neighbor."

All of thy neighbors. There is no asterisk. It's not "Love Thy Neighbor*"
Love everybody...even the Westboro Gang...

So there!

Merry Christmas.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

I Love Sarah Palin

I've decided to love Sarah Palin. Hating her hasn't worked. She hasn't evaporated into history like so many other also-rans. Where are Ross Perot or Dan Quayle or Geraldine Ferraro these days? Haven't heard much about 'em, have ya? And thank God for that. They had a lot to say when they had the microphone and now that they don't they've decided that the better part of wisdom is to just shut the hell up and drift, innocuously, into retirement. Thank you.

But not Ms. Palin. Oh, no. Not her. We are treated, daily, to her shenanigans or those of her family. It is amzing how mediocracy has been elevated to high art. Out with PhD and in with PhUD...as in Elmer. And complete with the shotgun and earflap hat, no less! (Note to the costume department: No one looks good in those hats. Not even Marilyn Monroe would have looked good in that hat. I don't, you don't...NO BODY DOES!)

So I've decided to take a new tack. My new behaviors will be modeled on the time tested notion that too much of a good thing is too much of a good thing.

You know how when someone loves you too much, at first you are flattered. Then the love turns to annoyance and then you feel smothered and you recoil and look for the door?

Well that's what I'm going to do. I figure that we can just love the woman into seclusion.

Let's shower her with adulation and praise and be there for her at every turn and in every instance.

Let's camp outside her door and follow her everywhere. Let's write her fan letters and let's have Facebook pages devoted to her every utterance and whim.

Let's buy her presents and write songs about her. Let's start a nationwide poetry contest and give the winner a free trip to Wasilla and dinner with Sarah. Menu? You can pick either moose, caribou or halibut. No quiche on this menu, Bud!

Let's all be like the irritating kid in school who just won't go away on the playground. Let's offer to push the swing or let's clamor to be picked for dodgeball. Let's jump up and down and yell, "Pick me! Pick me!"

Let's be everywhere and always with placards that say stuff like, "I love you Sarah" and "Sarah Rocks" and "Sarah is the new Mary" and "Sarah for President."

Maybe then, she'll be so overwhelmed by the suffocating love that she'll retreat, just like most normal people do when bombarded by an unwanted suitor...or an Auntie with a handmade sweater.

Oh...that's what we're doing already? We're already showering her with affection and pleading with her to run for the Presidency?

Oh. I didn't know that. How's it going? Is it working?

Oh well. Back to the drawing board. Back to carrying an "I Hate Sarah Palin" sign.

And I had such hope. I was so uplifted.

But, as they say in Washington:

“This isn’t the politics of the moment. This has to do with what can we get done right now.”

What...?

“This isn’t the politics of the moment. This has to do with what can we get done right now.”

President Obama at his press conference justifying his deal with Republicans extending (temporarily...HAH!) the Bush Tax cuts.

Where I come from..."the moment" is equivalent to "right now."

What the hell is he talking about?!

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Wood That it Were...

It was cold here today. I lit a fire in the fireplace and sat back with my morning coffee contemplating the day to come. What would I do? Check the computer and write to some people with whom I hope to do business? Straighten up my shop? Run errands? Make lunch and tea for my ailing Missus? Probably some combination of things yet to be determined.

But before too long I would have to get more firewood. I have a pile in the yard, near the porch and some of the pieces are too long for the fireplace. I'd have to cut them up.

Easy enough to do. Get the sawhorses, plug in the saw (I don't have a chain saw. I used to...a good one...a Stihl... but it went the way of many things...broken and not worth repairing and not enough extra cash to get another...same old story)and away we go.

So I set about cutting the longer pieces into shorter ones, easier to haul and use.

And I have plenty of kindling. It's almost all from the trees in the yard. Little branches that fell off when the wind blew. Good and dry and perfect to start a fire. And I have a ton of old local newspapers. They come in the mail, unsolicited and unsubscribed. I never read them. I'm a New York Times kind of guy. International stuff is what interests me. And of course the crossword. Can't live without the crossword. Especially Sunday and always in pen. And never with a dictionary.

So I'm set. Newspaper, kindling and some good logs. And a comfortable rocking chair in front of a roaring fire.

On a cold winter morning. The same chair my father would sit in every evening after work with his pipe and brandy and book. I remember him reading "The Last of the Plantagenets." He loved history and I loved him.

And his rocking chair and fireplace. He used a Cape Cod lighter though. It was much easier than the rigamarole of kindling, etc.

I have reached that part of my life now. Here I am. Older and in my slippers in front of the fire.

Life is grand.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

And By The Way...

President George H.W. Bush lost his re-election bid in '92, in part because he reneged on his campaign slogan, "Read my lips. No new taxes."

President Barack H. Obama seems to have reneged upon his campaign slogan to "Roll back the Bush Tax cuts on the wealthiest Americans."

Will history repeat itself in '12? And will Jeb be Bush III?

Stay tuned...

Bad To The Bone...

In the movie "Crazy Heart", the protagonist, Bad Blake, played by the Oscar deserving Jeff Bridges, bottoms out, loses his girlfriend and, in an alcoholic stupor asks his friend, played by, the always terrific, Robert Duvall, to help him get to rehab and recovery.

He is successful in sobering up and, while he doesn't get the girl back, he gets his life back and, in so doing, gets on the track to a fulfilling and satisfying comeback and the creative well that was the foundation of his nearly bankrupt career.

President Obama, in a bid to save the unemployed and maybe his presidency has done us no favors.

I sympathize with the millions who are out of work and in jeopardy of losing their homes, health insurance and way of life. I really do. It is frightening and debilitating, to say the least.

But we are addicted, in this country and culture, to denial. We refuse to accept the fact that the choices we are making are ruining this country.

We pay little, or no attention to education and, as a result, we are being overtaken by the Indians, the Chinese and the Brazilians.

We pay little, or no attention to pollution and we are being sickened by bad air, bad water and bad food.

We pay little, or no, attention to the rampant greed that has come to define Wall Street and we are being overrun by the new billionaires in their diamond studded Rolls Royces.

As with most addicts, we apparently haven't quite hit bottom yet. We still think we can have that "social" drink, that "one for the road." We see the bartender as our friend, the jovial guy quick with a joke and a free beer every fifth one. What a pal...thanks Joe!

So what could President Obama have done instead of making a deal with the Republicans?

He could have shown true leadership and selflessness and he could have stood tall and tough on the Bush tax cuts and said "hell no" to giving the wealthy even more money. (The Republicans, cowards all, would have, more than likely, caved in the face of Obama's challenge because they would have seen the negatives involved with being associated with a stance that would have put millions of Americans further into the toilet...)

Sure, plenty of people would have suffered. They would have blamed him for their misery. But he could have turned around and said that it was, in fact, the Republicans who were in the way of their futures. It was the Republicans who were advocating on behalf of the despicable "One Percenters" who are only out for themselves, apparently, and don't seem to give a damn about the country and the hardworking, ever-shrinking, so-called Middle Class.

He would have, more than likely, forfeited his, probably doomed, second term, but he would have done the right thing and, as a consequence, helped put the country on the road to its' own recovery and renewal. He would have secured a place in history not only as the first Black President but also as the one who refused to play politics and, as a result, saved The Republic from the Barbarians inside the gates.

Maybe the intense collective pain would have awakened the near-dormant American consciousness and yanked us into reality.

We can no longer sustain the idiocy that has become our legislative process allowing demogogues to hold hostage anything and everything that could right this sinking ship.

Maybe if we, as a population, actually bottomed out, maybe then we would take the painful steps needed to get back on track. Maybe then our children and theirs would get the country back that our parents and grandparents fought wars to protect.

But maybe that's as much of a pipe dream as hoping that President Obama will actually become the man we thought he was, full of intelligence, compassion and vision.

So, while we're waiting, how about another drink? But this time, make it a double and leave the bottle. It's gonna be a long night.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Fuhgedduhbowditt...

"I'm so dissapointed in you Donnie."

That was the line that Al Pacino's "Lefty" delivered to Johnny Depp in the wonderful
Donnie Brasco.

It happened when Brasco is co-opted by Sonny Black in Miami after Lefty had set up a party for the local mob boss. Donnie had no choice but to go with Sonny but Lefty was hurt and felt betrayed by Donnie.

"I'm so dissapointed in you Barry."

That's the line the country delivers to President Obama in "My Country 'Tis of Thee, Sweet Land of Poverty and Lost Opportunity fed by Greed and Malfeasance at the Highest Levels of Government", the new movie playing at a theatre near you (if you can find one with tickets for less than your monthly mortgage...and that's before the popcorn and soda and candy...)

It happens when Obama is co-opted by Wall and K Streets and Corporate America. Regular America is left holding the bag as the wealth of this, once great, nation goes to the highly "connected" and insatiably selfish "One Percenters."

President Obama has let us down big time. And please spare me the rap about all of the good that he's done and the frustrations of dealing with the Republicans. Obama is no better then they are...actually he's worse...because he let us believe he was different and did nothing to disabuse us of the misunderstanding. At least we know where we stand with the Minority Party.

We would have been much better off with Hillary. We knew where we stood with her as well. We knew, up front, that she is a shrewd, calculating and ambitious woman who wants what she wants, regardless of who gets stomped along the way...and, no, I don't think she had Vince Foster murdered. It served no good purpose. It only made her look even more suspect. I think he committed suicide or was killed by either a Republican Hit Squad or the CIA.

And she's as tough as nails...without the polish. Rip your throat out...she'd know what to do with the G.O.P. She knows how Washington really works. She'd be getting the job done...not just talking about it...endlessly!

The President is just another thinly clad politician out for himself and the people who funded his campaign. It is apparent that he couldn't care less about the American people or in fulfilling the many promises that he made during the campaign.

And he has no guts whatsoever. He stands up to no one and for nobody. And if he thinks the Republicans will ever "play nice" and aquiesce to compromise he is completely delusional.

How do you think you can negotiate with people who have stated publicly that their primary goal is to relegate you to the status of a one term president? Are you out of your over-analytic mind?

The only answer is that Obama doesn't care. He's out to satisfy the needs of his puppetmasters and the country be damned.

The United States of America is going down the drain and Obama is waiting for the Republicans to meet him half way.

Let's review:

1) John Boehner
2) Mitch McConnell
3) John Kyl
4) John McCain
5) Karl Rove
6) Glenn Beck
7) Rush Limbaugh
8) Sean Hannity
9) Dick Cheney
10) Michele Bachmann
11) Roger Ailes
12) Sarah Palin

The Twelve Daze of Christmas.

Happy New Year...!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Remember When...

When I was a little boy the only tennis shoe, which was referred to as a "sneaker", was a U.S. Ked.

You always got a new pair for school.

A new pair of Keds was like getting a new laptop or iPod or iPhone now.

One color...really two if white is a color. Black. With a white rubber circle at the ankle bone.

Then came red and then white. On my first day of second grade I went to school in my brand new, white Keds and some asshole kid...who probably grew up to be an asshole adult...stepped on my sneakers. On purpose.

I cried. When I went home for lunch I told my mother. She was angry but didn't do anything. What could she do? Call the school? Call the other kid's mother? Demand satisfaction on my behalf?

Yes. But she didn't do any of those things. Which is ultimately ok. It was just a pair of sneakers. Not the end of the world. Nor life or death.

Now...retrospectively.

But then...Holy Cow! It was the end of life as I had known it.

My sparkling clean, new out of the box, wonderful, coveted Keds.

Asshole!

So...you really only had three pair of shoes if you were a boy...two if you don't count the boots, known as galoshes...or rubbers to protect your shoes.

The shoes were brown or Cordovan, whatever that is. You had a little tin of shoe polish and you had to shine your shoes or you looked like a schlump. And your father shined his shoes so you wanted to be like Daddy. With the same haircut too. A crewcut. On Saturday morning. With the combs in the bluegreen jar with the mystery liquid that made the combs do magic.

But the shoes were from Buster Brown. Period. Not from some other place. Buster Brown.

Not Thom McCan. And what was up with that spelling anyway? Thom?
It's Tom. And McCan? No, it's McCann, thank you very much. No "H" and two "Ns". Tom McCann.

And then there were those galoshes. Galoshes. What a great word. Galoshes. Big black affairs with silvery metal buckles that you never buckled and then paid the price for that negligence by having snow fall into your galoshes making your thin socks all wet. And then cold and very uncomfortable.

Keds. Buster Browns (with accompanying rubbers for rainy days.) And Galoshes.

That was it. That was the extent of my shoe inventory.

Simple and to the point.

Ahhh...the good old days.

Before color TV. All in Black and White. And not half bad at that...

Remember When...