Saturday: Pooty-Poot and the Mama of All Bears

Pretty clever.

She's Baaaack

I don't think she ever left, really.



Right on point and as hot as ever.

In other news... I remained abed until shortly past noon, again.  (sigh)

Social Security (and Innocent Little 12 Year Old Girls!)

A couple o' toons from the Usual Source...

In regards to Mr. Kelley's cartoon... I have mixed emotions about means testing.  I'm generally in favor of the proposed practice on the one hand, especially when I heard Warren Buffett say he draws $30K a year in Social Security.  Mr. Buffett is entitled to recoup what he paid into the system but I feel he should draw a reduced rate while doing so.  On the other hand I know from personal experience that the Feds tax 80% of my Social Security, based on the fact that I make too much money (according to the IRS).  Who's to say my income won't be reduced if Social Security goes to a means-testing scheme?  I damned sure ain't Warren Buffett!  

As to Mr. Allie's toon... here's David Limbaugh, writing about Rick Perry, the other GOP candidates, and the Ponzi scheme angle:

It is very disheartening to see Republican presidential primary candidates racing to out-demagogue one another in denouncing Texas Gov. Rick Perry's accurate description of Social Security as a Ponzi scheme. It used to be that Republicans at least waited until the general election campaign to pander to liberals.

I admire Perry both for telling it like it is and for having the guts to stand by his statement when under fire. That shows character.

Honest people have been warning for years that our entitlement programs, as structured, are imminent train wrecks. Democrats were even saying it for a while, as Bill Clinton and Al Gore made a phony fuss about placing Social Security in a lockbox.

It's nothing short of outrageous that our politicians' instincts are to attack those who are talking realistically about entitlements instead of join them in talking realistically. I understand Democrats not doing so; I don't even expect them to anymore. But it's unacceptable for Republicans to pile on.

More here.  I watched a little of Monday night's debate, but I came in late because of confusion on my part about the start time and left early to take an extended phone call.  That said, I DID catch Romney trying to score points on Perry about Social Security and it turned my stomach.  D. Limbaugh is correct: a GOP candidate attacking another GOP candidate for telling the truth is nothing short of outrageous.

Speaking of outrageous... Michele Bachmann scored her points on Governor Perry Monday night about his executive order mandating Gardasil vaccinations for Texas schoolgirls.  Perry did a mea culpa on that point, admitting his decision was a mistake, and Bachmann really should have left it at that.  But she didn't (from Ace):

So now an anti-vax lunatic buttonholes Michelle Bachmann (or so she claims, at least) and tells her the story of how Gardasil caused her child's autism. At age 12. Late onset autism, I guess. And despite there being absolutely no connection between Gardasil and late onset autism (whatever that is), she broadcasts her new medical findings out to the public.

Well. She did used to style herself "Doctor Bachmann," I guess.

Michelle Bachmann is desperate. She's an ambitious, egotistical woman who started running for President just two short years after she first ran for Congress. In the past two months her support went from 13% and rising to 4% and falling.

So she needs something, doesn't she, and Rush Limbaugh warned her off her planned Social Security demagoguery. 

While we're on the subject, there's this, from Leon H. Wolf, writing at Red State:

I wasn’t informed until yesterday that believing vaccines are a bad idea and cause autism (or, if you’re Michele Bachmann, mental retardation. You know, basically the same thing.) was a prerequisite for supporting the TEA Party. Apparently, judging by the applause Bachmann received from a purportedly TEA Party audience for defending INNOCENT LITTLE TWELVE YEAR OLD GIRLS from the horror of being vaccinated against cancer, I missed a memo somewhere. Sarah Palin piled on the attack as well, and I am repeatedly assured by her followers that whatever Sarah Palin thinks is the Law in TEA Party land. It turns out, Sarah Palin is or at least was an anti-vaccination theorist herself. According to emails from 2008 (via Twitter), Sarah Palin wrote in response to the Department of Education’s announcement of a new vaccination policy (including vaccinations for diptheria, tetanus, polio, pertussis, measles, mumps, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and rubella):

(Palin e-mail quote)

First of all, it deserves to be noted (as is clear from the context of the entire email exchange) that the Most Courageous Politician who Ever Lived™, when confronted with a policy under her Administration’s ambit, bravely passed the buck to her underlings while attempting to assauge anti-vaccine activists by letting them know that she was one of them. Second, the connection between autism and thimerosal was always pretty tenous and given the immensely salutary effect on the public health of mandatory vaccination against the highly contagious diseases listed above, only a reckless person would have based actual public policy on it.

Well... a two-fer!  Mrs. Bachmann overplayed her hand and Mrs. Palin piled on, for unknown reasons.  I understand the need to score political points against your rivals in the primaries but I also understand bad politics and bad judgment when I see it.  Bachmann and Palin are guilty of the latter... in addition to being hypocritical about the issue (Palin as noted above and Bachmann here).  I don't wanna hear the phrase "innocent little 12 year old girls" ever again; I've heard it way too damned often in the last couple o' days.

The field narrows. 

Food Fight!

Yeah, Baby!

“I get he’s upset and/or jealous of RedState and thinks, I suppose, that we should be in the tank for Palin or should not have let Perry announce at the RedState Gathering or whatever the reason du jour is,” Erickson wrote of Riehl in an update to his post.

Less than 20 minutes after the original Politico story was published, Erickson also posted an item in which he pointed to recent polling to suggest that Palin’s potential entry into the GOP field “would not shake up the race terribly at this point.”

“All of the above suggests, if Palin got in, it would not be hers for the taking as many of her supporters might think,” Erickson wrote. “Instead, she’d struggle for third place and not be guaranteed, even in Iowa, of a strong finish.”

Eighteen minutes after Erickson’s post went up, Riehl published his own blog item, which he titled “Perry Versus Palin,” and observed “how various voices and forces seem to be aligning themselves as relates to their support for Rick Perry or Sarah Palin.”

Oooh, Bay-bee... bring it ON.  I can't wait to hear the Palinistas explain how their darling's incomplete one-term performance as governor of a smallish state... speaking in terms of population and gross domestic product... compares to Perry's 11 years as governor of Texas.  I will admit that La Palin has much higher teevee ratings, better legs, and the hair is a wash.  Other than that?  No contest.  It seems like most Tea Partiers prefer Perry over Palin, but that might change if Palin formally enters the race.

Good times are comin'...

Heh

Wait.  What's that fool's cap doin' in there?  Palin ain't in yet.

From the Usual Source.

In Which We Wade Hip-Deep Into the Palinista Fever Swamps

Want a laugh or two?  Then go here and read the post and its 28 or so comments.  I'm thinkin' the Palinistas give Firedoglake and Kos a run for their money when it comes to unswerving and largely unthinking dedication/worship to/of their heroine.  YMMV, of course, but I simply don't get the fascination with Mrs. Palin.

Don't misunderstand me: I like the woman and I like what she's doin' at the moment; absolutely NO ONE is better at getting under the skin of the right people.  She pisses off lefties like no one else I've seen since Reagan left office, including Dubya.  And good on her for doin' that... it's an admirable thing.  But President Palin?  Mebbe someday... after considerable study and immersion in foreign policy issues, just to name ONE area... but not NOW.

Personal note to Morgan:  You owe me, Blog-Bud.  Your comments come alive when we take issue with your heroine.  I think I just might own the record as the genesis of your longest-running comment stream.  Am I wrong?

Posted Without Comment

I won't say anything.  I won't say ANYthing.  I won't say NUTHIN'!

Apropos o' Nuthin' IX

Quite some time ago I saw a meme on one of the blogs I read... or maybe it was just a question.  Anyhoo, the question was "if you could have a song played every time you entered a room, what would that song be?"  I think my original answer was the first few bars of "Sympathy For The Devil," i.e., "Please allow me to introduce myself..." yadda, yadda.  But I've reconsidered.

I want this piece o' music to announce my entrance:

Without the voice-over, of course.  The "Nova" theme just might be a little over the top, but I love the music.  How about you, Gentle Reader?  What would be your personal "Hail to the Chief?"

―:☺:―

Apropos o' not much...  Mrs. Palin's new poll numbers were released yesterday and they are NOT good.  Here's John Hinderaker on the subject of Mrs. Palin:

The time has come to put any thoughts of Sarah Palin running for President to rest. I say that not because I dislike her; on the contrary, I'm a fan. I think she did an excellent job as a vice-presidential candidate in 2008 and has been an effective spokeswoman for conservative causes in the years since. But there is no way she is ever going to be elected President, and the sooner Republicans get over that idea, the better.

[...]

No one with a 59 percent unfavorability rating among independents has the chance of a snowball in Hell of being elected President. 2012 will be a vitally important election year; it is no time for a kamikaze Presidential campaign or for a cult of personality.

Republicans (and conservatives) need a candidate who has a chance to win against an incumbent who, despite everything, is not particularly unpopular and who won't be able to do much visible damage between now and then.

One hopes that Governor Palin will see the writing on the wall and devote her energies to helping the conservative movement and other, better-positioned candidates rather than to pursuing a Presidential ambition that can only prove destructive.

Agreed, yet again.  Mr. Hinderaker and YrHmblScrb are of the same mind and I like his kamikaze metaphor.  One can only hope Mrs. Palin recognizes the futility of a presidential campaign on her part and does the right thing.  One would also hope her smitten base would wake up and smell the coffee, as well.  But there's little or no hope for the Dead Enders; they'll be there long after Mrs. Palin's gone... still bowing, still curtsying.  God Save the Queen!

―:☺:―

Oops.  I read this lil blurb after I drafted this post:

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has tasked her aides with quietly gauging her level of support for a potential presidential campaign by making inquiries to a select pool of likely allies and grassroots activists in Iowa, RealClearPolitics has learned.

Key Republican officials and operatives in the nation's first voting state had begun to assume that Palin would not run for president in 2012 since most of them have not heard a word from her or from her small circle of aides, even as other likely candidates have begun jockeying more forcefully behind the scenes. But a Palin adviser confirmed that although the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee's footprint has not been as heavy as that of other possible candidates, her political action committee has indeed been taking discreet steps in Iowa that would help her build a credible campaign here if she decided to launch one.

Well, I suppose the jury's still out... but this isn't good news.  As Blake Hounshell (the managing editor of Foreign Policy Magazine) puts it:

Words of doom RT @marcambinder: Sarah Palin establishing a small beachhead in Iowa.

Update, 1300 hrs:  We have to add our favorite former Naval Radiator to this thread.  Let me quote, yet again:

Like Taranto, I don’t believe that Mrs. Palin’s resume qualifies her to be president. But then again, neither do I believe that the current president’s resume prior to his election qualified him for the task.

But I don’t hate him. Hate is such a waste of energy.

What he said.  The adults in the room all seem to have a common POV in this space.  Why is that, I wonder?

In My BEST Late-Nite Syrupy Baritone Deejay Voice...

"And this one goes out to Morgan, who calls and calls and calls, begging me to spin this one special tune for the lovely, leggy Huntress Of His Heart.  Well, OK, Morgan, just light a big ol' fire, shake out the bearskin rug, uncap a Moosehead Ale, and pretend you're up there in Wasilla... just you and the love of your life... and perhaps the rest of the Republican party, if it all goes according to plan.  She WILL be yours, someday.  Don't give up hope.  This one's for YOU!"

Baby hair with a woman's eyes
I can feel you're watching in the night
All alone with me and we're waiting for the sunlight
When I feel cold, you warm me
And when I feel I can't go on, you come and hold me
It's you... And me forever

Sara(h) Smile
Won't you smile a while for me
Sara(h)

Thank You, Mr. Krauthammer

Our parting shot for the Old Year... Charles Krauthammer on Mrs. Palin:

The occasion was Mr. Krauthammer's usual appearance on the political panel discussion show “Inside Washington” today (12/31/2010).  Charles speaks for me and... according to him... two out of every three Republicans.  The Palin fanbois will weep.  Or gnash their teeth.  Or both.  That's fun to watch, actually.

Full disclosure:  I backdated this post so as not to harsh the New Year's mellow.

More Hockey

Sarah Palin FINALLY does something worthwhile...

Heh.  "I can KILL Rooshians from my house!"  (h/t:  Wyshynski and Tina Fey, of course.)

Ya Think?

Oh, Noes! Not ANOTHER Post About Sarah Freakin' Palin!

We have 1 year, 11 months, and 15 days until the 2012 election and already this crap is getting to me, especially where La Palin is concerned.  You can't get away from her, no matter how hard you try.  There's Palin's teevee show (which I haven't watched, thank you).  Her daughter Bristol dancing with stars or something like it.  Barbara Bush making headlines with an innocuous one-liner about Palin "staying there."  Conservative columnist Jedediah Bila doin' that "Jane, You Ignorant Slut!" thing to the equally conservative  Mona Charen's piece about why Palin shouldn't run.  And the moonbats! ... the latest of which is the supremely insufferable Frank Rich's column in yesterday's NYT.  I hate to deal in clichés but it's true: All Palin, All the Time.  I don't see how I'm gonna be able to take another 1,029,600 minutes of this.

I did read a good piece on the subject of Palin In 2012!, though.  David Boaz, writing at the libertarian Cato@Liberty blog, did a brief but excellent piece on the subject.  His main premise is this:

Liberals, on the other hand, are jumping up and down at the prospect of a Palin candidacy. She could win! they urgently insist to skeptical Republicans; you should get behind her. Don’t throw us Democrats in that Palin briar patch! The latest example is the star columnist of the New York Times, Frank Rich. His Sunday column is titled “Could She Reach the Top in 2012? You Betcha.” Palin’s got a huge television presence, Rich says — 5 million viewers for her new TLC series. Which is slightly less than the 65 million it would take to win a presidential election.

Boaz has a good point but I'm thinkin' he's missing the forest for the trees.  Yeah, the Lefties would love to see Palin run.  Like Mr. Boaz, I think the Lefties are praying for a Palin In 2012! candidacy.  But it ain't just Lefties.  Palin has a large number of followers and that camp is gettin' larger by the day.  Palin is anything BUT dumb and she's milking the populist anger at "professional pols" for all it's worth.  As Ms. Charen said: "She'd so much rather be out dog sledding than in some 'dull political office,' she tells the audience. File that."  Yup... there's a quote that will come back to haunt should Palin In 2012! become reality.

It seems like the only folks that don't like La Palin are the establishment Republicans, for better or worse.  But there's one thing about the establishment... they know how to win elections.  One could counter that Palin knows a lil sumthin' about the subject, too... just look how well the candidates she endorsed in the mid-terms did.  Well, sorta.  Except for that Delaware witch, the nutcase in Nevada, and the Alaskan Tea Partier.  They didn't do so well.  And there are more.  The endorsement thing was a mixed bag, at best.  But Palin does energize the base... that's what she's best at doing.

So.  This is gettin' long and I should stop.  Don't get the wrong idea: I'm not a Palin-hater.  I've written my share of paeans to the woman, the first of which is here.  If you peruse my September 2008 archives you'll see a LOT of that sort of stuff.  Do I like her?  Yes.  Do I want her to run for president?  Not only no but Hell, No!  Just continue doing what you're doing, Mrs. Palin... give your speeches, do the Fox News thing, write your books, smile for the camera, and stump for conservatives... coz you're good at that.

One more thing from Mr. Boaz and then we'll really go.  It has to do with the Reagan/Palin comparisons some folks are making, including La Palin herownself.

Peggy Noonan spoke for a lot of Reaganites when she responded to Palin’s suggestion that being a Fox-TLC celebrity was a reasonable platform for seeking the presidency, since after all “Ronald Reagan was an actor”:

Excuse me, but this was ignorant even for Mrs. Palin. Reagan people quietly flipped their lids, but I’ll voice their consternation to make a larger point. Ronald Reagan was an artist who willed himself into leadership as president of a major American labor union (Screen Actors Guild, seven terms, 1947-59.) He led that union successfully through major upheavals (the Hollywood communist wars, labor-management struggles); discovered and honed his ability to speak persuasively by talking to workers on the line at General Electric for eight years; was elected to and completed two full terms as governor of California; challenged and almost unseated an incumbent president of his own party; and went on to popularize modern conservative political philosophy without the help of a conservative infrastructure. Then he was elected president.
The point is not “He was a great man and you are a nincompoop,” though that is true. The point is that Reagan’s career is a guide, not only for the tea party but for all in politics. He brought his fully mature, fully seasoned self into politics with him.

I made a similar point back in February when David Broder was pushing Palin’s prospects. And two months before that I noted that the Washington Post had run two op-eds “by” Sarah Palin in the space of five months, so that one ”might almost think the Post wanted Palin to be seen as a leader of Republicans.” In the coming months, watch for it: Democrats, liberal journalists, and red-state bloggers will talk up Palin’s chances. Republicans and conservatives who want to defeat President Obama in 2012 will try to change the subject.

Yeah, what they said. Read Mr. Boaz's piece.

She's Everywhere! She's Everywhere!

Greg Wyshynski speculates on an alternate career path for Miss Alaska (at Puck Daddy, of course):

Our choice for new NHL czar of discipline, by the way: Sarah Palin. Divisive, destructive, inconsistent ... and yet so entrenched in her convictions and extreme in her sense of justice that headshots would be out of the game in about 25 seconds.

Sigh.  I just can't get away from politics, even when I'm only tryin' to get my hockey fix.  But Mr. Wyshynski has it right about La Palin, if nuthin' else.

Added, 1435 hrs:

NEW YORK, N.Y. (March 24, 2010)- VERSUS, the fastest growing sports cable network in the country, earned a .7 National HH rating and averaged 622,000 viewers for the March 22 Detroit Red Wings/Pittsburgh Penguins game making it VERSUS’ highest-rated and most-watched NHL regular season game in network history and the most-watched NHL regular season telecast on cable since 2004.  The game peaked at a .9 National HH rating and 760,000 viewers during the live telecast.

Monday night’s game surpassed VERSUS’ previous highs set by the Washington Capitals/Philadelphia Flyers game on October 27, 2009 in terms of HH rating (.6) and the Toronto Maple Leafs/Detroit Red Wings 2008/09 season-opening game on October 9, 2008 in average viewership (577,000).

Locally, Pittsburgh delivered a 6.7 HH rating and Detroit earned a 4.7 HH rating making VERSUS the top-rated cable network and also one of the top networks (among both cable and broadcast) in both cities.  

And from the comments at the Kukla's Korner post from whence this came...

And they all got to see the Wings win and Sidney turn into a temper tantrum throwing baby.

That puts a smile on my face. 

Heh.  Me too... me too!

Big News

At the moment, anyway.  Miss Alaska signs on with Fox News as a pundit/contributor.  And... predictably... memeorandum goes wild:

Me?  I'm thinking she'd be eminently suited for many appearances in The Leg Chair.  Other than that?  Not so much.   I'm just wonderin' when La Palin's "15 minutes" is gonna be up.  But it doesn't appear to be anytime soon, more's the pity. 

Enough, already.

So... Things Still LOOK the Same

You can take the post title literally or figuratively... either way works... although it probably is too soon to tell in the figurative sense.  A quick scan of memeorandum this morning reveals the situation is still dire in all respects, fingers are still being pointed in all directions, and we're still politically correct to a fault.  Speaking of being PC... there was this lil goodie:

DENVER - It's a reminder that the emails you send at work, can sometimes come back to haunt you.

At least one CDOT employee is being investigated for sending an inappropriate email featuring President Barack Obama and Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. 

When we got our hands on the email Tuesday, we immediately contacted CDOT. 

They tell us at least one employee could be fired for this. 

"We're taking this very seriously," said Mindy Crane, Spokesperson for CDOT. 

The title of the email is "Picture of the year" and the photo of Obama and Palin inside may be considered as racially charged and offensive.

OK... the photo is in questionable taste and I'm not denying that some people could interpret the photo as "racist."  But OTOH, is forwarding the above picture a firing offense?  And on the other, other hand are we all just too damned sensitive?  I'm thinking the answers are "no" and "yes."  YMMV.

In news of the personal... We took advantage of the weather yesterday... which was gorgeous for this time o' year... to sit outside with a beer and a cigar after the Winter Classic and before the Rose and Sugar Bowls.  I thoroughly enjoyed the Winter Classic... especially all the hoopla surrounding the game.  There were quite a few good "atmosphere" pieces, including interviews with hockey-heroes-past from both the Bruins and the Flyers, along with a good piece featuring three members of the 1980 "Miracle" Olympic team.  And Fenway looked spectacular all decked out for hockey.  As for the game itself?  Not so much, until the last three minutes of regulation and the subsequent overtime.  There was no scoring in the first period, Philly scored early in the second, and Boston tied it up with about two and a half minutes left in the third.  Prior to the last minute home-team heroics there was precious little excitement... just a defensive duel and a few expertly killed power plays on the part of the Bees' defensive unit.  And one short fight.  But... I suppose it all ended as it should: the home team comes from behind and wins it in OT.  Easy for me to say, what with not having a dog in this particular fight and a decidedly different take on my part where last year's Winter Classic is concerned.  The Beloved Wings were last year's visiting team... and they won.  Which is as it should be when the Wings play.

As for the Bowl games?  Snoozers, both of 'em.  The Fetid Buckeyes* dominated the aquatic fowl from the rainy end of the Pacific Northwest and Cincinnati had no business being in the same state, let alone the same stadium as the Gators.  There wasn't much doubt as to the outcome of either game when the teams went into the locker room at the half and I went to sleep.  Repeatedly.  I did manage to stay half-awake for both games, which I consider a major accomplishment given the snooze factor involved.  Let's hope the remaining bowl games are better.

* "It derives its unflattering common name from the disagreeable odor generated from the flowers, crushed leaves, broken twigs, or bruised bark.  A similar disagreeable odor emanates from the college football team carrying the same informal appellation." -- The Wiki (with some added minor... albeit truthful... editorial license)

Yet More Petty Thievery

Stolen from Blog-Bud Morgan, who got it from Rick... Miss Alaska and the Trekkie-In-Chief (I struggled for a suitable title/honorific here) read excerpts from one another's autobiographies on The Tonight Show... which is funnier than it sounds.  Really.  Palin's appearance is a staged "surprise."

Hmmm.  This might be La Palin's best teevee appearance to date; I was impressed.  But I've seen Shatner do better in any number of different settings.  Just sayin'.

Comment of the Day...

... over at Lex's place, on the subject of Miss Alaska, her recent editorial in the WaPo, and Leftie reax to same:

OldT6Flyer

December 9th, 2009 at 3:19 pm · Reply

The best thing about Sarah Palin is the every time she speaks the reaction from the left is so over the top that any rational person has to say: “What could possibly be that interesting?” and proceeds to tune into the Sarah Palin channel which, even if she’s not totally your cup of tea, comes across as a reasonable sort, especially in comparison to her tormentors, who are found writhing in the corner, foaming at the mouth, and generally making asses of themselves. As a bonus the so called “women’s movement” groups get exposed as, not all that interested in promoting women at all seeing how their silence at the obvious attacks on a leading WOMAN go strangely unanswered.


So no matter what you might think of Sarah Palin you’ve just got to love the apoplexy she causes on the left. If she didn’t exist somebody would need to invent her for the cause.

Yup.  What Ol' T-6 Flyer said.  It's well-known in certain circles that I'm a Palin skeptic even though I haven't posted a whole helluva lot on the subject here in the home space. Which is by way of saying I've engaged a lot on the subject of La Palin in comments on other folks' blogs.  I've yet to drink the Arctic Princess' Kool-Aid and I truly believe it's way too damned early to be talking about 2012 presidential candidates.  But... two things: (a) I simply LOVE the way she makes the Lefties go completely bonkers and (b) I totally enjoy crossing swords with zealots of any persuasion.  And who knows?  I might jump on the Palin bandwagon if she keeps on making sense and causing coronaries on the Left.  Especially the latter.

Eatcher Heart Out, Morgan

Heh.  We could claim Morgan's heroette dropped by, couldn't we?  But we have no definitive proof and besides... last we heard Miss Alaska is on her book tour in the Lower 48.  OTOH, maybe she's back home for Thanksgiving and decided to look in to see if I'd come to Jesus yet.  Ya never know, do ya?

Update, jes a lil bit later:  Turns out La Palin IS off for Thanksgiving... so we're gonna pretend she was here and who's to say she wasn't?  Which makes the post title TRUE.  Heh.

The Usual Saturday Re-Run and A Few Other Thoughts

Well, seeing as how it IS Saturday and it IS Fall and there WILL be football later on, we'll do our usual, customary, and reasonable Saturday re-run... this time taking a page out of the "one year ago today on this date" book. 

But before I do... The lead item in the post below supports Blog-Bud Jim's annual "Thanksgiving Comes First" campaign. Jim usually waits until around this time of year to kick off the campaign but he got started a lil early this year. Why? Because he saw Christmas displays in a local store in frickin' SEPTEMBER. That just has to be a new low for money-grubbing retailers in these United States and I'm pleased to report there is no such activity (to the best of my knowledge) here on The High Plains of New Mexico. All that said... I'm behind what Jim is on about here in EVERY way. Thanksgiving DOES come first, quite literally, so keep Christmas where it belongs. And go read Jim.

There are also a few random musings below the re-run.

Friday, October 03, 2008

A Campaign, Some Pain, and Palin

Blog-Bud Jim, aka Suldog, has launched his second annual “Thanksgiving Comes First!” campaign… and has asked those of us who agree with him… and who are the proprietors of blogs… to join the campaign. Well, I can’t think of anyone who actually approves of seeing Christmas sales, Christmas advertising, Christmas-this, or Christmas-that, before Thanksgiving has come and gone. NO ONE… period, end of report, full-stop. I’m quite sure even the employees and management of those businesses who launch Christmas before Thanksgiving is even here have a distaste for the project at hand. I mean… how could you NOT?

So. I’m on board with this. I hope you are, too. Jim has great narrative reasons and not a few rants on the subject at the link above and here, as well. Do go read.

―:☺:―

Light blogging today. I spent one and a half hours in the dental chair yesterday getting a root canal, and I’m still a bit sore today and jes a lil bit short on what I’ll euphemistically call “good attitude.” The procedure itself is relatively painless thanks to really good anesthetics, liberally dispensed. But the length of time the procedure takes tends to take a bit out of ya… if’n ya know what I mean. An hour and a half is a long time to be flat on your back with various and sundry implements coming and going in your mouth, not to mention the interesting and unusual sounds associated with this event. It’s a little trying.

I’ve often said I’m blessed with relatively good health… in that I don’t have a weight problem, my “numbers” are all excellent, there’s no arthritis, no rheumatism, and I have none other of the minor ailments (or major ones, either) that seem to afflict us all as we grow older. Except for this “bad teeth” gene. I really should count my blessings in this space, but it’s real hard to keep one’s perspective intact… occasionally.

―:☺:―

One final thought… or thoughts… before I go back to couch. I watched the debate last evening and I thought Sarah Palin won. Biden was a little better here and there, but Sarah scored the most points and was the more convincing of the two. Gwen Ifill did a passable… but only just… job of moderating. I would have preferred Jim Lehrer over Ifill, but who am I to say? I DO have an issue with the McCain campaign and the way they’ve “run the show” during the time since the GOP convention's been over. And rather than reinvent the wheel, I’ll just give ya what I left over at Phlegmmy’s place on the subject:

I had mixed emotions about Sarah's performance last evening. She did as well, or better, than could be expected... given her constraints. And by that I mean she was obviously instructed by the campaign to "stay on message." Her BEST moments were when she cut free from "the message" and talked about her direct experiences as governor and mayor. The woman connects with people... easily and sincerely... and the frickin' "campaign" isn't using her strengths to their advantage.


I'm beginning to think the McCain campaign is one of the most inept I've EVER seen. Missed opportunities abound... like a failure to hammer home the point HE (McCain) went after Fanny/Freddie with a vengeance while the usual suspects were at the trough... and so on.


McCain's finger-in-the-wind, focus group driven, faux populism just irritates the livin' HELL out of me, too. If I hear this "greed and corruption on Wall Street" generality without specific examples... including what he's gonna DO about it, assuming it exists... one more time I'm gonna... oh, well. I'm sure you get my drift. Very disappointing. I expected better from McCain than this. And we deserve better, too.

I have more to say on this subject, but I’ll save it for another time when I’m better able to convert thought into text. I’m at something of a nadir in this regard at the moment. Methinks more… and better… drugs are called for.

Committed to The Inter-tubes by Buck on 10/03/2008 02:19:00 PM 21 Astute Observations

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So.  That was the way the world was one year ago on this date.  It's kinda funny how things change yet they remain the same.  I've been under the weather of late, what with trying to kick the world's most persistent cold and fighting off yet another in my seemingly on-going series of oral/dental infections.  It's not to whine, Gentle Reader, but as I noted above: it's real hard to keep one's perspective... occasionally.  That goes for my normally bright and cheery good mood (heh), too.

So here we are, pecking away at the keyboard at oh-dark-thirty, having just poured our second cup of coffee.  I hit the rack early last evening... around 2200 hrs... and managed to get five hours of uninterrupted sleep before my eyes popped open.  And they would NOT close again, no matter what I did.  So I gave up the futile attempts at sleep and fired off the coffee pot around 0400 hrs.  And here we are.

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Speaking of bright and cheery... Our mini-orgy of hockey is done for the time being.  We watched both available games Thursday evening and yesterday's Wings game.  Thursday's games were better, Gentle Reader, and it might surprise you to see me say something like that.  Well, on the other hand, maybe not.  It's never fun to watch your team blow a 3-1 lead and lose 4-3, even if it IS the first game of the season and there are 81 more to be played before we get into the post-season.  Yet, still... yesterday was an inauspicious beginning, to say the very least.  Thursday, OTOH, was just excellent hockey.  It's always a pleasure to watch that Ovechkin kid (he got two goals Thursday against the B's), and it was MOST certainly good to watch Super Joe's retirement ceremony later on that same evening in Denver.  And what was even better was watching the Avs rise to the occasion and do their former captain proud by soundly thrashing the Sharks.  THAT was unexpected, to say the least, yet very gratifying.

One more hockey thing and then we'll go.  SN2 and I had an extended phone conversation last night and towards the end of the call he asked if I was watching the game... "the game" being Pittsburgh - NY Rangers.  "Nope," sez I... "must be a local thing."  (SN2, you may or may not recall, lives in Pittsburgh now... he being the XO of Navy Recruiting District Pittsburgh)  And local it was, being broadcast on FSN-Pittsburgh.  "Well, that's too bad," sez he.  "No," sez I... "it's a great good thing it's not on here and I wouldn't frickin' watch it even if it were."  About which I got a "Hunh?"  That triggered a two-minute rant about just how VERY sick I am of seeing/hearing/reading about God's Gift To Hockey in the form of one Sidney Crosby.  ENOUGH, already.  MORE than enough.

Nope, I'm still not over it.  And the prognosis isn't good, either.