tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post628733179543805135..comments2024-03-28T16:08:29.578-04:00Comments on Sardonicky: Inau-gyration Speech Parsing, Cont.Karen Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612731479365562803noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-81714140284557872852013-01-24T11:10:39.237-05:002013-01-24T11:10:39.237-05:00Well, there it is, the abandonment of hope - not a...Well, there it is, the abandonment of hope - not at all without good and sufficient reason. I've read the articles of Chris Hedges over the past few months as he has become increasingly desperate to the point of raving, coherent raving but raving never the less. <br /><br />Having just finished Nick Turse's dismaying book on Vietnam I returned to E.O. Wilson's The Social Conquest of Earth; I often seek solace in science. No solace there. It's in our genes says Wilson (I won't go into it here - read the book, if you dare) and brings up what Thucydides wrote about Athens and its justification for the horrific treatment of Melos (because we can) as an example of the human condition. It's in the Peloponnesian War. I've always thought Pericles a prick and he was, although adored by politicians. His funeral oration, lauded down through history was a con job of monumental proportions and the son of a bitch got away with it.<br /><br />And the anodyne of applied math is of no use; I can't concentrate. Shit.James F Traynornoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-28080404340523152052013-01-24T07:08:19.815-05:002013-01-24T07:08:19.815-05:00Under Eric Holder and Lanny Breuer, the Justice De...Under Eric Holder and Lanny Breuer, the Justice Department hasn't brought any criminal cases of massive criminal fraud against big banks or other companies involved in mortgage servicing, even though copious evidence has surfaced of apparent criminal violations in foreclosure cases.<br /><br />Ever wonder why? <br /><br />U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Lanny Breuer, head of the Justice Department's criminal division, were partners for years at a Washington law firm - Covington & Burling, that represented a Who's Who of big banks - Bank of America, Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo & Co - and other companies - Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Freddie Mac -at the center of alleged foreclosure fraud. <br /><br />The Department of Justice’s top prosecutor (Holder), his top criminal enforcement deputy (Breuer), and two others, who were key architects of Justice’s approach to Financial Meltdown enforcement - Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force - all worked or now again work for the very people and companies Justice is failing to prosecute. Mere coincidence? It doesn’t pass the smell test!<br /><br />“Attorney General Holder and President Obama have abandoned the cherished American principle – the core democratic principle – of equality before the law. Worst of all, our top law enforcers abandoned equality before the law precisely when our democracy desperately needs it. Our only defense against the growing tyranny of the 1%, the only means we have of policing the bounds of their power, is the vigorous and equal enforcement of the law.” - Abigail Caplovitz Field, http://abigailcfield.com/?p=686<br /><br />The buck stops with Obama! He has aided and abetted the criminal banksters. When the “folks” entrusted to catch and prosecute the crooks, are themselves in league with the crooks, we should not have “faith” in America’s future under Obama.<br /><br />There are those who still have “hope.” It is misplaced hope, just like the “hope” America had for Obama in 2008.Denis Nevillenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-61173363496602317172013-01-23T22:43:33.812-05:002013-01-23T22:43:33.812-05:00"It is faith in Obama, not our future, that h..."It is faith in Obama, not our future, that has lulled too many into silence in the face of an Imperial President." --Denis<br /><br />Blind faith in Obama has to account for a good deal of the placid resignation, which is repeatedly encouraged by editorials in the Times.<br /><br />Like the Yellow Dogs before the election who said their vote hinged on the succor that might come from the Supreme Court, the editorial board of the Times this morning looked to the Supreme Court, especially Chief Justice Roberts, as a major obstacle blocking justice and, thereby, prosperity. <br /><br />President Obama and his mighty deeds are mentioned in glowing terms with respect to justice and prosperity. The editorial board tells us that, concerning the general prosperity, President Obama’s views are a study in contrast with those of Roberts.<br /><br />http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/23/opinion/justice-and-prosperity-defined-by-obama-and-roberts.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130123<br /><br /> “To Mr. Obama, prosperity enables justice and vice versa.”<br /><br />Excuse me?<br /><br />Might the Times be overlooking key duties in Obama’s job description while shifting an inordinate amount of blame upon Roberts for the pain of recent years?<br /><br />Compared to the imperial executive with its Department of Justice, vast bureaucracy and infinite number of options, the Court is, even at its most aggressive in coddling corporations, like a paraplegic, immobile and limited to reviewing only what is dumped on its doorstep by other agents. The arguments, laws and cases on the books are important, but nothing beats the impact of executive initiatives and the enforcement (or not) of laws unto the furthest corners of the nation (or nowhere). <br /><br />In response to the Timespin of this morning, Karen with yet another top comment was so right to turn the spotlight back on the DOJ’s Lanny Breuer. <br /><br />It was you, Lanny! I know it was you. You broke my heart. When you damn well should have broken the back of the banks and jailed the perps.<br /><br />And, by the way, who is Lanny’s boss, the one who has kept Lanny off the backs of Wall Street fraudsters, each and every one of them? And then who is the boss of Attorney General Eric J. Holder, Jr.? <br /><br />Gee, editorial board, how come the trail keeps veering back to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in a balanced search for the agent who best promotes the continued impoverishment of little people and the nonprosecution of big time fraud?Jay–Ottawahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10360356126450612113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-71042147816888781862013-01-23T21:45:30.760-05:002013-01-23T21:45:30.760-05:00@Zee
And many folks wash down those peas with som...@Zee<br /><br />And many folks wash down those peas with some good hooch, smoke, or just dine at the Y till better times come along.Give me liberty, or give me....noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-34387174271633441652013-01-23T21:35:55.416-05:002013-01-23T21:35:55.416-05:00@Zee
There is no real alternative...so stop grumb...@Zee<br /><br />There is no real alternative...so stop grumblin, stop complainin, stop cryin, and eat your peas.Give me liberty, or give me....noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-58161693202955755422013-01-23T15:52:29.798-05:002013-01-23T15:52:29.798-05:00Obama’s “Faith in America’s Future”
When used by ...Obama’s “Faith in America’s Future”<br /><br />When used by politicians, “faith” is snake oil.<br /><br />Or, “Hope Over Experience.”<br /><br />Jonathan Turley does not share the faith in Obama’s commitment to principle — at least not the principles behind civil liberties, “Obama and The Leap Of Faith.”<br /><br />“Obama was offering hope over experience. Politics rather than principle have long guided this president…To put it simply, Obama is the president Nixon longed to be. It will take more than a lip-synched Beyoncé performance to quiet these concerns. What was once a system of checks and balances has been replaced by a leap of faith that these powers will be used by Obama and his successors wisely.<br /><br />It is faith in Obama, not our future, that has lulled too many into silence in the face of an Imperial President.<br /><br />http://jonathanturley.org/2013/01/23/obama-and-the-leap-of-faith...Denis Nevillenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-80939412919523868642013-01-23T15:20:12.049-05:002013-01-23T15:20:12.049-05:00@Karen-- people really flag comments if they'r...@Karen-- people really flag comments if they're critical of Obama (and not just the Kenyan Socialist sort of comments)?<br />Wow.Katnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-49889824138910313682013-01-23T14:13:31.914-05:002013-01-23T14:13:31.914-05:00Thanks, Pearl. The trick to submitting a NYT comme...Thanks, Pearl. The trick to submitting a NYT comment is to walk the fine line between directly and vehemently attacking Obama, and objectively pointing out his many flaws, failures and let's be honest, crimes. If one is too harsh, and enough readers "flag" one's remarks, the comment can be disappeared after first drawing the knee-jerk ire of the star-struck partisans.This has happened to me on a number of occasions but has tapered off since the election. So I use the stealth attack method more often than not. You also have to be very careful to not offend or attack the other commenters. At least, not very much. I rarely get involved in the chatroom function in that particular venue.<br /><br />I also want to direct everyone to this CounterPunch article written by frequent NYT commenter Norman Pollack, who states that his aim is to "radicalize, if only by a smidgen" the Times readership (I can wholeheartedly concur with that objective!)<br /><br />http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/01/22/obama-round-two/<br /><br /> Karen Garciahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15612731479365562803noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-69732457669404807852013-01-23T14:05:29.215-05:002013-01-23T14:05:29.215-05:00@Karen--
Great reply to the New York Times editor...@Karen--<br /><br />Great reply to the New York Times editorial!<br /><br />It is old news to the participants of this forum but in the aftermath of the Savings and Loan Crisis of the 80s, more than 800 banksters were sent to the Big House:<br /><br />http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/14/business/14prosecute.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0<br /><br />But still NO prosecutions after the 2007-2008 meltdown.<br /><br />It is a constant source of amazement to me that the ever-faithful Obamabots never ask The One why this is so.<br /><br />After the shafting that the 99% received from Wall Street, you might think that at least a few of them would want justice--or maybe just revenge. <br /><br />Though I did not suffer as greatly as many during the meltdown, I know that I would still like to see more than a token few asses shipped off to the slammer.Zeenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-46897942584943133922013-01-23T14:01:32.625-05:002013-01-23T14:01:32.625-05:00Karen, I am so proud of your comment to the N.Y.Ti...Karen, I am so proud of your comment to the N.Y.Times editorial, Justice and Prosperity with a healthy lead in the top number of recommendations. Perhaps this proves that one cannot fool all the people all the time.<br />You continue to clarify the real issues for us and encourage other voices to chime in. It is so easy to be trapped by the popular rhetoric, even by seasoned observers and mainstream media and you highlight the real issues and their purposes for us.<br /><br />I appreciate the worthy comments from our Sardonicky gang and find many<br />interesting articles recommended by them that enlarges my knowledge.<br /><br />I often wonder if President Obama has any real inkling of what is<br />transpiring on his watch or is his ignorance and input from his team dulling his senses to the realities ahead. Does he truly believe what he tells us in his prepared speeches? He is indeed an enigma but not an unusual one in our political history. It is painful to recognize what a loss of opportunity he represents and how this fact does not seem to penetrate the minds of the American people. It is getting later than you think. Pearlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-16125327971424325682013-01-23T11:28:36.022-05:002013-01-23T11:28:36.022-05:00Apropos of Jay and Denis's comments, the Times...<br />Apropos of Jay and Denis's comments, the Times ran an editorial today on how Obama's speech on justice is a real slap in the face to the Roberts Court!....<br /><br /><br />http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/23/opinion/justice-and-prosperity-defined-by-obama-and-roberts.html?hp<br /><br />My published response:<br /><br />Let's not forget that we have a Dept. of Justice that has done little to nothing to redress the massive Wall Street fraud that has robbed Americans of trillions of dollars in household wealth. This failure to protect the economic rights of citizens constitutes a dereliction of duty so severe as to amount to a government co-conspiracy with the felons of the financial class.<br /><br />The president soared to his usual oratorical heights. But to date, his inactions have spoken louder than his words. His current head of the DOJ criminal division, Lanny Breuer, is still insisting (most recently on PBS's "Frontline") that he can't punish the banks for fear that the whole global financial system would collapse. "Too big to fail and too big to jail" is the new rule in what has become a bleak land of two-tiered justice. The rich get richer, and the poor are imprisoned. And the jails are economic as well as physical. Too many people have been unfairly sentenced to chronic unemployment, lost homes, stagnating wages, and shortened lives.<br /><br />And then there's the income inequality, which has only gotten worse in the last four years. We rank near the bottom of the heap in terms of social mobility. All three branches of government share the blame. Rather than heed our call for shared prosperity, they insist that we "share the sacrifice" and pay, through austerity, for the misdeeds of the same gluttons who continue to feed at the public trough.<br /><br />My only quibble with the Frontline doc is that it never once mentioned Obama's own complicity. Otherwise, it was an excellent primer for those of the viewing public who've not been paying attention to what does amount to a criminal conspiracy between Wall Street and the government.<br /><br />The more I think about Obama's speech, meanwhile, the more I am convinced that it represents his own realization of which way the political wind is blowing. He wants to hypnotize the masses for awhile longer. So far, if the laudatory msm like the NYT is any indication, he is succeeding. <br /><br />Karen Garciahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15612731479365562803noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-49802753586466762582013-01-23T11:14:31.818-05:002013-01-23T11:14:31.818-05:00On Monday “Frontline” (PBS: view it here)
http:/...On Monday “Frontline” (PBS: view it here) <br /><br />http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/untouchables/<br /><br />retold the, by now, twice-told tale most readers here know by heart about Wall Street fraud that was not investigated by President Obama’s Department of Justice. The issue is not so much that the DOJ is deaf, dumb and blind by design. Glenn Greenwald, along with the rest of us, puzzles over how American society, nominally a democracy, can be so dependably unconscious and indifferent. <br /><br />“The real mystery from all of this is that it has not led to greater social unrest. To some extent, both the early version of the Tea Party and the Occupy movements were spurred by the government's protection of Wall Street at the expense of everyone else. Still, Americans continue to be plagued by massive unemployment, foreclosures, the threat of austerity and economic insecurity while those who caused those problems have more power and profit than ever. And they watch millions of their fellow citizens be put in cages for relatively minor offenses while the most powerful are free to commit far more serious crimes with complete impunity. Far less injustice than this has spurred serious unrest in other societies.”<br /><br />http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/23/untouchables-wall-street-prosecutions-obama<br /><br />Meanwhile, the so-called center-left mainstream media continues to laud the Administration. Here’s another example from an august publication considered one of the most brainy in the US. Are such highly-educated writers driven by elitist contempt or egghead idiocy? “Obama’s big and quiet transformation,” indeed.<br /><br />http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/feb/07/obamas-big-and-quiet-transformation/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=January+22+2013&utm_content=January+22+2013+CID_1fc70b179b2a9400a56a1e57697b780f&utm_source=Email%20marketing%20software&utm_term=Obamas%20Big%20and%20Quiet%20Transformation<br /><br />In light of the self-delusion of the liberal elites, the raw propaganda spread like manure ever more freely across the pages of the MSM and the incontestable fact that most citizens are incapable of thinking for themselves, democracy in the USA is going down the same chute as the climate: progressively extreme and widely destructive, with nobody in charge tapping the brakes.Jay–Ottawahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10360356126450612113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-25079920882602144192013-01-23T11:05:46.632-05:002013-01-23T11:05:46.632-05:00I am sure that many followers of Sardonicky saw PB...I am sure that many followers of Sardonicky saw PBS Frontline’s “The Untouchables” last night: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/untouchables/<br /><br />Glenn Greenwald writes about it today: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/23/untouchables-wall-street-prosecutions-obama<br /><br />Bill Black has said that if they looked for fraud they would find it everywhere. So they didn’t look for it. Nouriel Roubini, when asked why there have been no investigations, replied, "Because then you'd find the culprits."<br /><br />Yves Smith @ Naked Capitalism is posting a Bank of America foreclosure review whistleblower series this week: http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/01/bank-of-america-foreclosure-reviews-whistleblowers-provide-extensive-evidence-of-borrower-harm-and-orchestrated-coverup.html<br /><br />The banksters are actively and successfully suppressing efforts by reviewers to identify foreclosure errors and abuses and to identify and compensate victims. The very same people who have been responsible for so much economic misery are at it once again. Greed trumps accountability. In Leona Helmsley's infamous words, "Laws are for little people."<br /><br />The Obama administration has produced the worst of all worlds, where we have neither justice nor economic recovery.<br /><br />Just more Potemkin villages.<br /><br />Glenn Greenwald on the rule of law:<br /><br />"Most of the events that we consider to be progress in American history were driven by the reverence for this concept that we are all equal under the law, that equality under the law is how we determine if we are perfecting the union...What I think is radically different about today is not that the rule of law suddenly is not always being applied faithfully, because that has always been true. What is different about today, radically, is that we no longer bother to affirm that principle.”<br /><br />“You can often, and I would say more often than not, in leading opinion-making elite circles, find an expressed renouncement or repudiation of that principle...All of these acts entail very aggressive and explicit arguments that the most powerful political and financial elites in our society should not be, and are not, subject to the rule of law because it is too disruptive, it is too divisive, it is more important that we should look forward, that we find ways to avoid repeating the problem...The rule of law is not that important of a value any longer.”<br /><br />“The law is no respecter of persons, but the law is also a respecter of reality, meaning if it is too disruptive or divisive that it is actually in our common good, not the elite criminals, but in our common good, to exempt the most powerful from the consequences of their criminal acts, and that has become the template used in each of these instances." - Glenn Greenwald, With Liberty and Justice For Some: How the Law Is Used to Destroy Equality and Protect the PowerfulDenis Nevillenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-15017483985419249632013-01-23T09:30:50.544-05:002013-01-23T09:30:50.544-05:00Smarmy wins.Smarmy wins.James F Traynornoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-43651451157033628032013-01-22T22:01:40.843-05:002013-01-22T22:01:40.843-05:00@Give me liberty or give me...
[well, give me .....@Give me liberty or give me...<br /><br />[well, <i> give me </i>..."what?" Wait, I think that I can fill in the blank all by myself: <i> "Death!" </i> That's it!]--<br /><br /><i> “.....what’cha gonna do about it, sucker? <br /><br />Blog, bitch and moan? That is what they (TPTB) count on...”</i> --@Give me liberty or give me...<br /><br />You, of course, have a more “proactive” solution? Just curious as to what it might be.Zeenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-21130761678963679982013-01-22T21:30:50.754-05:002013-01-22T21:30:50.754-05:00@ Stephen Smith said...Hi, I'm interested in h...@ Stephen Smith said...Hi, I'm interested in hearing Karen's and anyone else's thoughts about why Social Security and Medicare are now called entitlements, without question.<br /><br />Why? After you consider the more sophisticated reasons given Denis and others, it comes down to this: Because they can.....what’cha gonna do about it, sucker? <br /><br />Blog, bitch and moan? That is what they (TPTB) count on...Give me liberty, or give me...noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-28901697100549328792013-01-22T20:29:13.327-05:002013-01-22T20:29:13.327-05:00Haven't posted any anagrams recently, so here&...Haven't posted any anagrams recently, so here's the latest from wordsmith.org:<br /><br />INAUGURATION DAY = A GAUDY RUINATION, or if you prefer, A GAUDY URINATION<br /><br />ENTITLEMENTS = TENEMENT LIST<br /><br />SOCIAL SECURITY = I SOURLY ASCETIC4Runnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02582762546159637023noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-47962390855014564192013-01-22T19:17:18.939-05:002013-01-22T19:17:18.939-05:00@ Stephen – “why Social Security and Medicare are ...@ Stephen – “why Social Security and Medicare are now called entitlements”<br /><br />Critics created “entitlements” as a “catchall term” to serve a conservative agenda and give the program “a hint of illegitimacy” in their ideological warfare - the army waging what Eric Laursen calls “the war against the geezers” - against Social Security and Medicare.<br /><br />“I discuss the origins of the "entitlement" epithet in The People's Pension. I don't think it's a bad or inaccurate word in and of itself - as working people, we're "entitled" to Social Security because we've earned it. Nothing wrong with that. However, the word has been thoroughly distorted, turned into virtually a form of hate speech (one Tea Party member recently referred to people who receive any form of federal benefits - and presumably are not of her social-ethnic background - as "the entitlement people"). "Earned benefits" is probably a better way to speak of Social Security at this point.” - Eric Laursen, The People’s Pension – The Struggle to Defend Social Security Since Reagan<br /><br />More Orwellian double-speak offered by conservatives:<br /><br />“Do not say: ‘entitlement reform,’ ‘privatization,’ ‘every option is on the table,’ … Do say: ‘strengthen,’ ‘secure,’ ‘save,’ ‘preserve, ‘protect.’” NRCC Medicare Memo<br /><br />“Instead of entitlement reform or controlling the growth of Medicare and Social Security, talk about how to save and strengthen these programs so they are there when voters need them. After all, they paid for them.” Frank Luntz, GOP PollsterDenis Nevillenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-86815571216878959642013-01-22T18:28:17.560-05:002013-01-22T18:28:17.560-05:00Such rhetorical gifts! Better than four years of r...Such rhetorical gifts! Better than four years of right wing corporatism in the garb of Mittens! <br /><br />The Reagan template! Rhetoric to cover substance. Rhetoric to frame the issues of the day. Rearranging deck chairs will fool anyone. “Speak moderately and carry no stick.” Spin is good enough, nothing else matters.<br /><br />"Obama on Fiyuh," cloaking the banal in liquid golden verbal raiment, as he dances and pirouettes for the Peterson No Labels, Fix The Debt, etc., so the plutocrats sleep well.<br /><br />Our Potemkin [an impressive facade designed to hide undesirable facts or conditions] President, replacing his first Potemkin term with his second “new, improved” Potemkin term? Classic marketing - more pap for the rubes, playing people for suckers.<br /><br />Obama was hired by elites with cash registers for brains to gut Social Security and Medicare and slash the safety net of the “takers.”<br /><br />How can anyone think that Obama will govern differently? He is subservient to Wall Street. It is the same triangulating corporatism of the Clinton era, only re-packaged with sleeker marketing. Government to benefit and merge with corporate interests for political power and for policy ends, letting them always get what they want.<br /><br />The faithful lapdogs of both the Democratic and Republican parties serve the corporate elites much like the members of the local Soviets served Stalin in the Soviet Union. The same oligarchic system that helped finance Hitler - a distinction without much of a difference - is still firmly in place. <br /><br />What is amazing is that the American electorate seems to cling even tighter to these corporatist political parties that got us into this mess.Denis Nevillenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-6497746474560111922013-01-22T18:23:38.517-05:002013-01-22T18:23:38.517-05:00Thanks for the parsing. I'm glad you went beyo...Thanks for the parsing. I'm glad you went beyond critiquing the disconnect between reality and rhetoric, because what really stood out for me was the bleakness of his vision-- it was a neoliberal wet dream.<br />Katnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-51170897056305120922013-01-22T18:09:09.364-05:002013-01-22T18:09:09.364-05:00Hi, I'm interested in hearing Karen's and ...Hi, I'm interested in hearing Karen's and anyone else's thoughts about why Social Security and Medicare are now called entitlements, without question. What is the case for this? The public perception of all this "entitlement reform" talk is eroding the original truth about those programs and like the name Obamacare that was foisted on us til it stuck, these too will be transformed in meaning.<br /><br />As Gore Vidal said time and again, SS should be separated from the budget and placed in its own category, and of course, never touched up for loans by Congress or the Executive.Stephen Smithnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-10190280039027482282013-01-22T17:52:34.468-05:002013-01-22T17:52:34.468-05:00For Jay who inspired me:
Some very private though...For Jay who inspired me:<br /><br />Some very private thoughts of Barack Hussein Obama after the inauguration.<br /><br /><br />My god I am tired! My face is numb from all that smiling and some of the singers gave me a headache. Thank the Lord Chief Justice Roberts didn't louse up the oath again - what a numbskull.<br />And being polite to all the past presidents on the viewing stand is really a stretch, especially Jimmy Carter who always seems to show up everywhere he isn't wanted.<br /><br />At least I think my speech went well even though I am afraid that I may have said things I don't understand (that speech writer is very insistent) but he assured me that what I would say was so ambiguous that people will interpret it any way they want. Anyhow, it's water over the dam now.<br />I am glad I had such a huge welcome from we the people. At least I am free finally to relax once in awhile (maybe go to Hawaii more often) and not have to display my inept dance step moves with Michelle. Gee! What did she do with her hair? She looks like a character in a horror movie but everyone thought she looked great.<br /><br />I seem to have had to show up at church several times but for once, I didn't have much to say to the Lord. Mostly I asked him, what do I do now Your Holiness? I think I heard him grunt but maybe it was from that heavy indigestible church breakfast I had to swallow.<br />I must say I am begin to get a feeling for what 'we the people' means after repeating it so many times. It's true that I respected Martin Luther King, but people seem to forget that he was hardly a saint. He was really a left winger who denounced war, poverty, injustice. Easy for him to say, he didn't have to try and sell it to 'we the people' like I do.<br /><br />Oh well, Michelle is snoring already and I better pack it in. A busy day tomorrow, trying to run the country with aplomb. (Gee she looks so funny with all that cream on her face, hair undone, no make up!) But she does work hard and I have forgiven her for forcing me to run again. At least it worked out for now. I am looking forward to all those extra times on the golf course as soon as things die down and maybe sneak a smoke or two and get a decent hamburger from the White House cooks. And then I can start my memoirs for that million dollar library they forced me to accept.<br /><br />Happy Dreams<br /><br /><br /><br />Pearlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-7157804209053302422013-01-22T16:06:15.937-05:002013-01-22T16:06:15.937-05:00Very good, Jay. You had me goin' there for a w...Very good, Jay. You had me goin' there for a while: How can this be the Jay, the Sardonicky regular, we know? You deserve a place on the staff of Saturday Night Live.<br /><br />What I fear, and understand too well, is that you have portrayed exactly the shenanigans [read, bullshit and treason] that go on in DC in the name of faux-democracy. <br /><br />These days I'm just waiting for the opportunity to jump all over those supercilious Obama supporters in the NYT and elsewhere, when they finally realize that their guy is totally screwing them on every issue they hold dear. "I told you so a long time ago!" I'll write. On the other hand, I'm losing confidence that many (or any) of them, as astute as they may be, will ever wake up to the reality that they've been massively swindled by our entire government and that the America they love is going down the drain morally and economically. <br /><br />Now unfortunately, the Republicans have just extended the (next "final") day of reckoning to May; they sure know how to try my patience.<br /><br />If we enjoyed the past four years, we're gonna love the next four. spreadoptionnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-63773137224075824352013-01-22T14:39:50.511-05:002013-01-22T14:39:50.511-05:00Brrrrinnnnng: Hello?
Yo, Senator Reid?
Yes, Mr....Brrrrinnnnng: Hello?<br /><br />Yo, Senator Reid?<br /><br />Yes, Mr. President. Good morning.<br /><br />Hey, d’ja have a good time yesterday?<br /><br />Goodness me, yes, but ahhh … how shall I put this … that was … um … quite a speech you gave yesterday about ... well ... everything we don't want to talk about. How can you continue to not deliver if you keep upping the ante on your promises?<br /><br />I meant it this time, Harry. Had to rope-a-dope in the first four years to get a second four years. Now that I’m safely back in the White House, I can do in 2013 what I had to put off for reasons of deep political chess in 2009. Going forward, things are gonna change.<br /><br />They are?<br /><br />That’s why I’m calling, Harry. Harry…?<br /><br />Wiping my brow, Mr. President.<br /><br />Stay cool, Harry. I’m simply pulling another 180, that’s all. Part of my new direction means the Senate filibuster rules have to go. If I am to get anything done, that is, along the lines I promised yesterday. <br /><br />Along the lines you promised yesterday? Yes, that could be a 180.<br /><br />Harry, everybody knows you have a chance now at the start of a new session to change the Senate rules. But no faking it this time ––<br /><br />Mr. President! What’s come over you? The filibuster is my fig leaf. And yours, if I may be so bold. With the filibuster we can always blame Mitch and his phants for what we DO! NOT! WANT! to happen in the first place. It’s been so easy this way: we propose a piece of ridiculous populist legislation, they filibuster, and we can still say “Well, we tried.” Still wink and suck in the no-quid-pro-quos from Jamie et al. You know.<br /><br />Harry, my legacy. My legacy. If I turn the tables and trash Jamie et al now and surpass Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, I’ll get more adulation than FDR ever did from the New Deal, which is so yesterday. Anyway, I would really appreciate it if you got rid of the filibuster so we can pass the bills I’m about to send you. Here’s where we crush Mitch. Hey, listen to this: “Go ahead, Mitch, make my day.” Heh, heh.<br /><br />But Mitch is my bro. And you mustn’t send me any bills that seriously follow up on yesterday’s speech. Give amnesia a chance to kick in. What a revolting development! What will the bankers say, the lobbyists, the oil industry, the generals, all those laid off eavesdroppers, the climate deniers, the supremacists, the NRA?<br /><br />Aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Got you, got you, got you.<br /><br />You were only joshing? Joshing? O thank God! Hoho haha. Yes, sir, you sure had me for a minute.<br /><br />Gotchu, gotchu. Hahaha. OK, Harry, listen up. First jokes, then business. We did just fine for ourselves doin’ what we did for the past four years, right?<br /><br />We did so fine, Mr. President.<br /><br />So why change anything, eh? Climate change is already bugging me. Why should we pile political change on top of that? Why? Reform is drama; no reform is no drama. Let’s calm the waters. Like they say in the navy, steady as she goes. Keep the filibuster, by all means. And – here’s my priority – get together with Mitch ASAP to jointly publish the Grand Bargain we quietly agreed upon in that safe room pre-election. Only now, in keeping with my eloquence of yesterday, let’s call it the Grand Update. If we get all this Grand Update behind us in the first 100 days, you’ll be able to put the Senate on a three-day workweek and I can get an early start on my memoirs. So, Harry, a plan?<br /><br />Mr. President, a plan!<br /><br />A deal?<br /><br />A deal!Jay–Ottawahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10360356126450612113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-39129864588623407032013-01-22T13:26:18.390-05:002013-01-22T13:26:18.390-05:00As usual Karen,you have hit the nail on the head w...As usual Karen,you have hit the nail on the head with your newest column and echo the many questions and doubts I have about his plans for the future.<br /><br />Now that President Obama is being viewed as a "Liberal' President (for good or evil depending on your viewpoint) there are other concerns. Should he go forward with dealing with issues he mentioned in his speech, we may all have<br />to pay a price to get them on his agenda. He will have to get the Repugs on board by selling part of the nation to them in a way that no one will notice as he deals with his new 'liberal' ideology. And as usual, people will be blinded by the brilliance of what seems to be moving forward. Time will tell. Correct me if I am wrong.<br /><br />And now, what is the definition of a Liberal in 2013? <br />Pearlnoreply@blogger.com