Tag Team of Blame

When I was a kid, I often watched professional wrestling with my dad. At that age, I was convinced that everything I saw was reality. So, I  would get really agitated during tag team matches when one wrestler would slap hands with his/her partner indicating it was time to leave the ring and yet remain  in the ring to double team their opponent.

Now, being so much more mature than during those early years, i no longer watch pro wrestling. But I remember the concept of a tag team and in the last couple of days, I have observed exactly that. Only this tag team is of a political persuasion. I am noy quite sure if these two are ” good guys” or not. But I have my suspicions.

The individuals in question are Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi ( Speaker since January, 2007 an important fact to remember) and television personality Joy Behar, formerly of The View. I guess tv personality is the term for Ms Behar. I’m unsure if there is a better term, such as  one who promulgates wacky opinions and theories, but that doesn’t matter.

This week, both individuals have reached the same conclusions about the Gulf oil spill. Both are convinced that the Bush administration or Bush/Cheney in Ms Behar’s words are at fault. Me Pelosi maintains that it is the lax regulatory atmosphere fostered by Bush and still being implemented by Bush appointed who are burrowed deep  within numerous unnamed federal agencies. A request to her office to identify these individuals has received no response at this time. Appointees which a Congress controlled by Democrats would have had to approve, at least to some degree.

As for Ms Behar, she is quite disturbed that Obama is being blamed when he is just trying to clean up a mess caused by the Bush people. She refers, by the way, to Obama’s firing of Minerals Management Service head Elizabeth Birnbaum. At his Gulf coast press conference, when asked about that, the president asserted that he knew nothing of the firing. Again, a minor point, though a bit Clintonesque, I think.

Ms Behar, the Obama people gave this particular oil rig an  award, provided  BP waivers 10 days before the explosion and oh yes received significant campaign money from BP. Got to blame Bush though which  is interesting since the president said that he was tired of the finger-pointing and blaming. Better let your supporters know, or maybe they are just  doing the blaming on your behalf. Good political move, huh?

Step away from the sandwich and no one will get hurt

One of my favorite topics on which to comment are the antics of those who claim to know what’s better for you than you do yourself. This  is quite prevalent in the area  of food choices. I wrote most recently  about this on May 2oth regarding efforts by the city manger of San Antonio, Tx to have all sugary foods and beverages removed from city vending machines.

Thanks to World Magazine , I have read of an instance that may just leap to the top of my list. By the way, many of these types of things seem to occur in Europe, where  nanny state   is much more advanced than here in the United States, at least for now. Seems that  there  is  a government-run day care near the city of Manchester and they have certain standards that purport to say what foods are healthy for their charges.

It appears that a cheese sandwich, one of my favorite foods, especially if cheddar is employed, does not meet those standards. Why? What a silly question that is. Because at the Westfield  Children’s Centre, one must have lettuce or tomato on one’s sandwich for it to qualify as healthy. So, the 2-year-old in our story was given  fruit and vegetables as a substitute. Parents were given a  lecture about appropriate food choices. Now, little Jack’s mom has thankfully  removed him from the  daycare lest his ” food rights” be violated again or she commit  yet another gastronomical faux pas.

Stories like this really do offend  me  and I try to make light of them to a degree lest I  get too frustrated. Couldn’t happen on this side of the pond ? Don’t bet against it. Things like this are happening already  and will continue to happen in the name of good health and get ready, saving money on insurance costs. People who eat healthy are less of a drain on the health care system. As health care in some way, shape or form gets more rationed, the pressure will grow on people to eat right, however eating right is defined. could it be said that “unhealthy” foods are the new cigarettes? Wonder where that secondhand smoke will come from though?

Barack Obama = Jimmy Carter

I never thought I would hear it again but sure enough I  did. Way back in the years of malaise known as the Carter presidency, Carter related a question and answer that he had with daughter Amy, then around 8 or 9 years of age. Prior to  a debate with candidate Ronald Reagan, Carter said he asked Amy what the most important issue was. She said she thought nuclear weapons.

Now, to be forever filed under the category of when will they ever learn is this response between President Obama and daughter Malia, age 11. Obama related the conversation the two had a few days ago when she asked him when are going to plug the hole Daddy. referring of course to the BP oil spill.

Now, Glenn Back chose to make fun of Obama’s daughter for which he rightfully apologized. My take on this is completely different.  I see it a s a perfectly legitimate question for her to ask. My problem is Obama bringing it up at his press conference, particularly when he has requested that his daughters be off-limits from the media spotlight. Can’t be both ways. I fault him for  whatever media furor there is. Somewhere along the line in the press conference preparation, someone probably should have shortstopped this response, unless it was off the cuff.

Second Obama/Carter comparison comes from none  other than Obama fanatic Chris Matthews who was disappointed in the press conference per se . He then drew an analogy that I had not heard. Some have tried to compare the oil spill to what Bush faced with Katrina, given the same locale, etc. Matthews drew a comparison between the oil spill and the Iranian hostage crisis that stretched out so painfully  and probably was a very significant factor in Carter’s election loss. Time will undoubtedly tell.

Paging General Zachary Taylor

Image via Wikipedia

I will admit to being somewhat confused. Just a  day or so ago, President Obama  dispatched 1,200 of America’s finest to the U S – Mexican border. Just a guesss, but they  are probably not there for vacation. Several members of Congress, both Republican and Democrat have been urging the President to send troops. Do you think it has something to do with  illegal immigration and the increasing violence on the border ? If I am a Border Patrol officer, I am thrilled about this. But we must temper our enthusiasm by wondering what the rules of engagement are. But still, I am glad to see this action.

But just a few days ago, Obama was side by side with his  bff, Mexican President Felipe Calderon and agreeing with his denunciation of the Arizona immigration law. By the way, Calderon’ s remarks were wildly cheered by Democrats. Now this is the President Calderon who presides over what could charitably be called a rather corrupt government, who has trouble taking care of its own internal security. But Calderon seems to have no difficulty taking potshots at one of our states. Just a reminder, do not forget that Mexico has extraordinarily tough laws against illegal immigration. Just sayinglse you forget.

For a bit of historical perspective, President Polk sent troops to the U S Mexican border way back in  1846  under the command of General Zachary Taylor. Of course, the Mexican War ensued shortly thereafter. Not that we are expecting  nor do we have any wish for such a thing today. But make no mistake, there is some heavy duty stuff going on the border and sending the troops , albeit belatedly, was a good move.

Meanwhile, demonstrations occur  outside a  baseball stadium in Chicago trying to get spring training  in Arizona cancelled. Thank goodness, Commissioner Bud Selig has refused to consider moving the 2011 All Star game from Arizona.  Don’t you wish that  the protestors would take a little closer look at the overall picture.

Can’t resist  an NCIS allusion. Last night was the season finale  and in a turn of events that I expected, Abby’s Mexican government friend did turn out to have connections to the drug cartel. Just did not  expect them to be family connections. Once again, art and life intersect.

Where has it gone and what did I do with it?

Several years ago, Billy Crystal starred in the movie, City Slickers. It was a movie that I thoroughly enjoyed for its comedy, Norman the calf, crusty old Jack Palance, as well  the comic genius of Crystal himself. But it was much more than a comedy. Its premise of three friends in various stages of midlife crisis was really well done and thought-provoking as well. I am uncertain if I have had my mid- life crisis although I have definitely passed the mid-life part. Unlike Crystal and friends I have zero desire to go on a cattle drive .

There was a phrase spoken by one of the main characters which has begun to resonate with me of late, or rather its meaning has. For me, it goes something like this. What if you have already done the best you’re going to do, achieved your potential whatever it was, in life and career and relationships. And therefore, everything from here on out is a gradual downhill slide into mediocrity or even worse irrelevance?  Maybe this says it better, you’ve done the best you’re going to ver do and it wasn’t all that good?

Sounds sorta morose does it not, which is exactly how Crystal and friends felt in the movie. But as often happens in the the c inematic world, there is  not closure but rather a chance for redemption, another chance one might say.

Alas, life does not always imitate art and  I am abit apprenhensive that it will not in my particular case. This would be  a good time to be a politician, if there ever is. At the time when the careers of most are winding down, the career of the politician is just getting underway. Think otherwise, then look at the ages of  our senators and representatives. And vying to join them from the Tar Heel State is 64-year-old Elaine Marshall. She is now our Secretary of State but  running for the U S Senate. Seems that Ponce de Leon  was off on the location of the Fountain of Youth by a few hundred miles. It is not in Florida, but  749 miles to the north in Washington, DC.

For the vast majority of us, we never find that fountain at all.

The First President Johnson

And he would be Andrew or Andy as he was often called. He is  a president  that intrigues me quite  a bit, for 2 reasons. One is his North Carolina birth ( one of 2 NC presidents along with Polk) and the generally one-sided view  that we have of him. His name comes to mind as Lincoln’s tragic successor and as being the first president to be  impeached ( we would wait over 100 years for the second guess who?) and  only by  a very narrow margin fail to be removed. But the bio I read of Johnson has provided much more than those salient facts.

Author Hans Trefousse did a very good job with the life and career of our 17th Chief Executive. He devotes only  a chapter or two about the impeachment  which is appropriate since Johnson’s career was much more than that. I remember reading in Profiles in Courage, I think, about the critically ill senator who was brought into the chamber and cast the deciding vote, for the vote to convict only failed by that one vote.

One gets a much broader picture in this than that near tragic event. Even though the author calls Johnson’s presidency a disaster, he gives it fair treatment and points to  Johnson’s overall political skills, great but at times reckless oratory and steadfast devotion to preserving the Constitution as he saw fit. His lifelong heroes Jefferson and Jackson were always  close  in spirit.

The stories of his early years as an orphaned tailor’s apprentice are illustrative in explaining his defense of the poor, although he later became quite successful as a tailor and landowner, albeit with never a day of formal education. He still championed  education for his children and others.

A couple of rather unrelated things stand out for me. As with a number of presidents his family life left much to be desired. His wife Eliza was often sickly  and they were usually apart. His sons, in spite  of his best efforts did not fare well and two preceded him in death.

After reading of the twists and turns, I still am a bit confused as to the reason for his selection as Lincoln’ s running mate in 1864. He was a slaveholder and had defended it consistently. That does not square up with a President who signed the Emancipation Proclamation. It appears that Johnson’s impassioned defense of the “Union” and his service as military  governor in Tennessee overrode the slavery issue. Plus, in what later proved to be rather disingenuous he spoke of the rights of the freedmen. Later events proved that to be mere window dressing for his prejudices.

It can be safely said that the failure of the impeachment, led by Ben Butler and Thaddeus Stevens was good for the country for their case was weak and overly political. But he in a sense forced the hand of Congress by his stubborn fight against the 14th amendment and determination to restore the Southern states with as little inconvenience as possible. Had he pushed them harder when it was  opportune, right after the war ended, many of the issues of Reconstruction and racial division could well have been avoided or greatly mitigated.

If you have the money, here is the house

I took a few economics course way back in my college years  and  I read economic news  somewhat regularly. From most of what one reads and hears these days the American economy is still struggling. Unemployment remains stubbornly high, 10.8% here  in North Carolina, and even higher elsewhere. The President continues to say that things are improving from month to month. although the improvement is difficult to see.

But, every now an again, a bright spot appears on the horizon and gives us hope that better days are coming. This harbinger of good times is actually east of the Currituck County town of the same name, being located in the town of Corolla. Its name is Wild Horse, although other names might be more appropriate, like Biltmore or Versailles, well maybe not that grandiose. You see, Wild Horse is  a house but not just any house. Calling it  a vacation rental is  sort of like calling a Rolls just  a means of transportation.

Wild Horse is  a recently completed rental in the Swan Island Lakes subdivision and holds the title of the largest hom eon the Outer Banks, clocking in at a mere 13,461 square feet. It has 23 bedrooms and about as many baths with all of the amenities one coud imagine and probably more than this  union worker coud imagine.

Now all of that is only mildly interesting, I suppose. What  intrigues me was the fact that the house has just become for rental and is booked for 21 of a possible 31 weeks beginning May 23 and extending through the end of the year. Weekly prices range from $24,500 during peak season to  a piddling  $4650 during the offseason. Perhaps we should only whisper but maybe there are signs of economic life yet.

Ready for a vacation anyone?

My List is Growing too Long

There are a number of rather newsworthy items out there that are really irritating me  or as I sometimes tell Mrs THT. ” They are getting on my last nerve.” I hardly know which one to choose. My blogging associate at goodtimepolitics  made me aware of a Colorado school district that has a plan in the works to charge children for riding the school bus. If that isn’t a good freakin’ grief  idiotic idea, I would hate to see one.

A community group in Fresno,Ca ( we all know who got his start as a community organizer, do we not?) is demanding  that radio station KMJ remove all conservative programming from the station because  their programs ” incite violence.” Let’s see, Times Square bombing attempt, the so-called underwear bomber and the Army major at Ft Hood. They were all conservatives, right? No,wait a minute, there is something else they had in common. Let  me think, oh yes, their Muslim faith. Can’t say that though.

But the 3rd item on my list takes the cake or the soft drink, as it were. This  comes from San Antonio, Tx where the health conscious city manager, Sheryl Sculley, a self-proclaimed “fitness person,” whatever that means, has directed that all sugary soft drinks in  the city’s beverage machines be removed with unhealthy snack foods next. It does not prohibit employees from bringing the evil items from home and consuming them at work. Wanna bet that there will be pressure applied at some future time in some way to ban the offending items from the premises, just like cigarettes.

And it is all being done under the guise of  improving the health of city employees. A  Texas A & M professor, Lisako McKyer, even draws  analogies to seat belt laws. This one quote by the city manager was oddly disturbing and I am not really sure why. ” We know that statistically that people  who are overweight or obese have greater health problems than those who do not.” The actual quote  doesn’t  really make sense but the thought I see lurking in the background is, you better lose weight or there may be consequences. An alarmist attitude, don’t  think so. There are a growing number of locales that will not hire smokers. What would be the next logical prohibition?

And I haven’t even dealt with Gwinnett County, Georgia which wants to collect  some $39,000 it overpaid  employees in 1994. The report uses the word ask, but don’t kid yourself. If any of the offenders are still county employees the government will get their money, even though the error was theirs.

The Apologetic Administration

Guess I could have said apologetic regime  but maybe  I’ll save that one for another day. The latest  apology should really not be a surprise. Obama himself has done a ” masterful” job at apologizing  all over the world to all sorts of folks for all sorts of things.

For the most recent administration example we can thank  Assistant  Secretary of State for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and  Labor ( what a mouthful of a job title that is)  Michael Posner. For what did he apologize and to whom?  The what is of course, the evil Arizona law which no one  in the Obama Administration has apparently read, even Homeland Secretary Napolitano. But she still would not have signed the law. Try and figure that one out. For the who of the apology, why that noted paragon of human rights, China.

Bill O’Reilly had a couple of great comment about Posner’s apology on his show last night. I really enjoyed his comment that China would probably like to have Posner replace Hilary as Secretary of State. The other comment was  much more troubling and more reality based. He posed the  question as to how China handles  its illegal immigrants. Hint, it isn’t  with a law like Arizona’s nor is it necessarily via deportation.

Arizona Senators McCain and Kyl  took issue with posner’s mea culpa for the United States and  demanded an apology. Isn’t that great, demanding an apology for an apology. Shucks, they may get one. That is one thing the Obama Admnistration is quite good at doing.

While we are on the  subject, wonder what other countries are due an apology? Let us see. Maybe  to Great Britain for winning the Revolutionary War, Germany for WWI & WWII, Russia for buying Alaska ( Obama might like that one) France for the Louisiana Purchase- not paying enough the list goes on and on and on and on.

Trashing Arizona

And so it continues. The pros and the cons, the demonstrations ( including uncomprehending children) the boycotts, the threats, the cancelled contracts ( an illegal act in itself) and on it goes.

There has been so much written and said about Arizona’s new law that it is nearly impossible to get a decent perspective on all of it. For now, just a few observations and comments will have to do. But, for  a  change, I’ll offer what I hope will be  the outcome of all the sound and fury. And that is meaningful immigration reform, which is  a purview of the federal government, not Arizona or the growing number of states that are considering similar legislation. The President promised immigration reform his first year in office. It did not happen. I hope for the country as a whole and for border states such as Arizona, Texas, New Mexico and California in particular that it occurs. Reform does not mean amnesty or wholesale deportation of 10-12 million people. It means a path to citizenship; tax-paying  American citizenship or some in between legal status. The poem by Emma Lazarus on the Statue of Liberty ” give me your tired, your poor,” etc was not aimed at people who come illegally with no intentions of changing that status.

Just a few observations about things I have read. Governor Jan Brewer of Arizona, no matter what one  thinks of her or the law, is not a Nazi. Accusation and signs proclaiming such are stupid, uninformed, or incendiary. Take your pick. The cities of  Los Angeles and Austin, Tx have voted to cancel legal contracts  with the state of  Arizona. Are these actions  not illegal in and of themselves? Lawsuit anyone?  The city of Los Angeles obtains much of its electricity from Arizona. What if Arizona wanted to cancel those contracts? Why, of course not. That  would be petulant  and childish and worse. Just like the Los Angeles city councilman, Ed Reyes, who said a few days ago, “As an American, I cannot go to Arizona without a passport.” The only thing I can is I sincerely hope he doesn’t believe that or he would never make on Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?

Finally, for a piece de resistance. we have Attorney General Eric Holder being questioned by Texas Congressman Ted Poe. The AG was asked if he had read the Arizona law which he has publicly criticized. After attempting to evade the question and being reminded by Poe that it’s only 10 pages long, Mr Holder had to attempt that he had not read the law. Not to worry though. He will get around to it soon.