Monday Mishegas - 6Feb2012


1)      As noted by James Graff, Executive Editor of The Week, if you think political attacks have become nastier lately, not so fast.  John Adams was called “a hideous hermaphroditical character” by Thomas Jefferson supporters.   In response Team Adams called Jefferson “the son of a half-breed Indian squaw sired by a Virginia mulatto father.”  Imagine those barbs in today’s 24-hour news cycle.
2)      The recent expose in the New York Times depicting the cheap labor and poor working conditions of 200,000 employees at the Foxconn contract manufacturing plant in China has raised some ire at Apple as this is where the iPhone is manufactured.  Calls for Apple boycotts are starting to spring up.  But hold on, if you want to boycott working conditions in Chinese factories, you will need to boycott appliances, computers, cameras, furniture, toys, etc.    Oh, never mind.
3)      There is a movement in Kansas to make the cairn terrier, the breed of Dorothy’s dog from the Wizard of Oz, the official dog of the state of Kansas.  In related news the GOP is considering making the scarecrow the official symbol of the party.
4)      Texas Governor Rick Perry’s approval rating at home is down to 40%.  In contrast, President Obama’s approval rating in Texas is 43%. 
5)      All due respect, not much, to the Catholic Church you have no moral or other high ground to take in this argument with the White house on contraception.  You forfeited those rights when you turned a blind eye on sexual abuse.  Nonetheless, I support the White House’s position in this matter on the grounds that allowing a religious organization to deny ANY legal services opens the door to bigotry and a public health crisis.
6)      Speaking of which, did you know which country has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy?  That would be the U.S.  Why?  Simply ignorance and lack of birth control.  Teenagers have no idea what it takes to become or prevent pregnancy.  There’s your American exceptionalism.
7)      Before we hang the Mission Accomplished banner and declare victory for Detroit, let’s not forget that there is still $133Billion in outstanding TARP payments , of which GM and Ally (the old GMAC) remain significant contributors to that hit to the taxpayer.
8)      So Obama and the Democrats are big tax guys?  In 1983 tax revenues were 17.5% of GDP while in 2010 they were only 14.9% of GDP.  So I agree we need to get tax reform in place and start collecting more revenue.
9)      Forget the SI curse. We have the Gisele Curse. Patriots and Brady were 3-0 in Super Bowls BG (Before Gisele) and 0-2 AG.   Didn’t help that she called out her hubbies teammates. 
10)   My favorite Super Bowl ad was the one with the bigoted Oxycontin drug addict picking his nose in the luxury box.  What, that wasn’t an ad?  That was Rush Limbaugh?  Nice. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Secular American Jew and a Love for Israel

As many of you know, I have dedicated many postings to the State of Israel on a range of topics including: it’s history, the present day government, the Jewish-Palestinian question, and the region in general.   Growing up in a liberal conservative Jewish household (the oxymoron is quite common as American Jews were almost exclusively political liberals and the conservative branch of Judaism the most common) and attending Hebrew school as a kid you obviously build an affinity for the State of Israel.   I do not remember the Six-Day War of 1967, but I have vivid memories of celebrating Israel’s 25 th anniversary in 1973 and the Yom Kippur War later that year.   As a ten year old attending Yom Kippur services I saw the worried looks on my parents and the other adults at the shul as members of the congregation would periodically step outside to get news reports from car radios and transistor radios (We still drove and used electrical appliances during the high holidays, though several fam
Read more

September 10, 2001 was a Monday

Where were you on September 10, 2001?   What were you worried about?   What occupied your thoughts, worries, hopes, and dreams?   What were you excited about?   What were you interested in? September 10, 2001 was a Monday. Cindy and I were still laughing about the recent visit from the Three Amigas: Leah, Roseanne, and Valerie, and the adventures of Sedona, a certain screen door, a forgotten carrot cake, and breakfast for champions.   We were also dealing with a 1995 Chevy Blazer that seemed to be on its last legs, surviving our first Arizona summer, thinking about what to remodel in the house, dealing with the concept of a Home Owners Association, thinking that my best shot at a World Series game maybe with the fledgling Arizona Diamondbacks, and looking forward to a visit from Scott, Lori, and the boys. But what about America?   We knew nothing about a tiny town in Pennsylvania called Shanksville; Guantanamo Bay was the setting for A Few Good Men, and we still taped shows and listene
Read more

Sunni and Shia: So who are the bad guys again?

Baby faces vs. heals?   Cowboys vs Indians?   Good guy always where the white hat.   “Dig is he a good guy or bad guy?”   Bad guys always, looked, well, bad. You’re either with us or you’re against us.   Iraq, Iran, and North Korea are the axis of evil. Americans, for the most part, have a pretty simple outlook on conflict: just tell us who the bad guys are and we’ll know who to root against.   We tend to lump similar races and peoples into larger buckets, mostly due to the media’s inclination to treat us like potential Jeff Foxworthy competitors.   But the world is anything but simple and as I have written previously, the Middle East is as confusing and confounding place as you can find.   During the Iran and Iraq war of the 1980’s most Americans took the position that “…as long as they kill each other, I’m good.”   When civil war ravaged Afghanistan, we joined the side of the Mujahedeen because they were fighting the Soviets and the Soviets were our archenemy, a position they occupie
Read more