There's a simple phrase liberal activists like to use when rallying their troops: "no justice, no peace." Can we amend it to include "no God, no politicians?"
I'd like to say I find amusing the current flap over plans by President Obama to follow in the footsteps of...wait for it...George H.W. Bush. On Tuesday, President O is supposed to address students across the nation just like President 41 did nearly two decades ago.
This White House even had lesson plans ready to go; at first, students were asked to write an essay on how they could help the president. Now the geniuses in Washington realize how creepy that sounds, so they're asking our little skulls-full-of-mush to just write how they can realize their own dreams and goals.
Why should this creep all of us out? Because, deep down, we all have good reason to fear what happens when hero worship turns to just plain worship. Check out this video aired in a Utah school district where Hollywood stars giving their "pledge" go a bit over-the top:
Hey, just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get me. I've always wondered just how so many people march in lockstep (or goosestep) in the cults of personality that inevitably lead us astray.
Back when H.W. did it folks on the left weren't happy; using the system for politics, they said. Now the folks on the right are squealing with the shoe on the other foot. They're both political pigs.
The irony here is school across the nation won't let God -- anybody's God, even talk of it -- in schools.
Why then do we even entertain the thought of exposing kids to politics?
Showing posts with label Bush. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bush. Show all posts
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Thoughts On An Icy Day
God love Matt Drudge for his wonderful use of the web to highlight political irony. Example: this afternoon's flashback to a piece in 2005 over the high cost of a Presidential Inauguration during a time of war and economic uncertainty. Back then the Bush Bashers were apoplectic over the thought of $50 million being spent on a party celebrating the first 50+ percentage point win by any presidential candidate in nearly a generation; after all, it was W. Now that it's O, what's the guessing on who contrasts live in Baghdad on January 20th with live in DC for the party?
- - -
Outgoing U.S. Senator George Voinovich's office sends out word that Treasury Secretary-in-waiting Tim Geithner faces big problems with Ohio's senior senator thanks to his tax problems.
“It's a very bad thing for the guy that's running Treasury to be out there saying, 'I made a mistake. I forgot about it,'" Sen. George V. Voinovich, R-Ohio, tells the Associated Press. "The American public thinks that there's some people ... especially a lot of these guys on Wall Street, that have had it made in the shade."
I'm sure Geithner is very scared.
What is amazing is that none of this came up when Geithner was selected to run the New York Federal Reserve, perhaps the second most powerful gig in the Fed beyond only chairman Ben Bernanke. He owed more than $42 grand for almost eight years and nobody picked up this might be a problem? This also from a guy getting grand marks from the goofs in Congress for his handling of the bailout -- the same bailout they voted for that they now rail over because they have absolutely no idea of how the money's been spent, shy of funding big banks buying other banks. More of a taxpayer-funded venture capital fund rather than for recovery, and now Frank and Dodd and Obama want banks to fork over more money for loans to people who can't prove they can pay it back. No wonder we live in an age of Pax Americana, where even the best and brightest can't seem to figure out how to pay their own bills much less manage other people's money responsibly. Where else does a guy who fesses up to missing tax payments big enough for entire families to live on for a year get a job overseeing the IRS?
- - -
The GOP games are underway with former Congressman and Washington insider Rob Portman (OMB Director, Trade Ambassador) barely leaving a split-second undisturbed from the plaudits heading George Voinovich's way to say he's running for Senator; now State Senator Kevin Coughlin is tossing his hat into the 2010 Governor's race despite the bruising battle last year over control of the Summit County Republican Party. Coughlin may have his work cut out for him; John Kasich, former Columbus area Congressman and darling of the conservative Reagan wing, is also staking out similar territory and likely to have a much better chance of squeezing big dollars out of weary Republicans for a race against incumbent Ted Strickland. That said, it's a good political move for Coughlin to come out early for statewide office. The strategy is tried and true and right out of former GOP Chair Bob Bennett's playbook; remember when Blackwell, Montgomery and Petro were all running for the same office but then backed down over a period? With just one statewide executive office in GOP hands (Auditor Mary Taylor) there will be plenty of room to play musical political chairs and see if there's a seat for Coughlin when the music stops before filing time for the spring 2010 primary. In the meantime, he draws interest from around the state, uses the soapbox to raise money, and sees just how much political blood flows from the deep cut left over from his battle with Alex.
- - -
Mayor Plusquellic's State of the City is set for next month and it will be interesting to see what's rolling around in the halls of South High as TNBT (the next big thing) to be proposed during this annual speech. One year it was Don Robart being a liar (that didn't play out very well) and last year it was selling (later leasing) the sewer system to fund a scholarship program. This may very well be a great platform for the Mayor to revisit 2008 and challenge his Save Our Sewer opponents, back home by now from the special place in hell Plusquellic sent them when Issue 8 lost. This would be a great time to task them and others to come up with other ways to fund what most thought was a flawed but worth-further-work idea; even the most critical 8 haters admitted they liked the idea of coming up with a way to provide scholarships. Does the UA, and KSU, and College of Wooster, and Malone, and Walsh, and Mount Union, and Case-CSU-Tri-C-YSU finally get a role in this as well as part of a regional solution? Maybe something for the well-meaning regionalists to get behind?
- - -
Outgoing U.S. Senator George Voinovich's office sends out word that Treasury Secretary-in-waiting Tim Geithner faces big problems with Ohio's senior senator thanks to his tax problems.
“It's a very bad thing for the guy that's running Treasury to be out there saying, 'I made a mistake. I forgot about it,'" Sen. George V. Voinovich, R-Ohio, tells the Associated Press. "The American public thinks that there's some people ... especially a lot of these guys on Wall Street, that have had it made in the shade."
I'm sure Geithner is very scared.
What is amazing is that none of this came up when Geithner was selected to run the New York Federal Reserve, perhaps the second most powerful gig in the Fed beyond only chairman Ben Bernanke. He owed more than $42 grand for almost eight years and nobody picked up this might be a problem? This also from a guy getting grand marks from the goofs in Congress for his handling of the bailout -- the same bailout they voted for that they now rail over because they have absolutely no idea of how the money's been spent, shy of funding big banks buying other banks. More of a taxpayer-funded venture capital fund rather than for recovery, and now Frank and Dodd and Obama want banks to fork over more money for loans to people who can't prove they can pay it back. No wonder we live in an age of Pax Americana, where even the best and brightest can't seem to figure out how to pay their own bills much less manage other people's money responsibly. Where else does a guy who fesses up to missing tax payments big enough for entire families to live on for a year get a job overseeing the IRS?
- - -
The GOP games are underway with former Congressman and Washington insider Rob Portman (OMB Director, Trade Ambassador) barely leaving a split-second undisturbed from the plaudits heading George Voinovich's way to say he's running for Senator; now State Senator Kevin Coughlin is tossing his hat into the 2010 Governor's race despite the bruising battle last year over control of the Summit County Republican Party. Coughlin may have his work cut out for him; John Kasich, former Columbus area Congressman and darling of the conservative Reagan wing, is also staking out similar territory and likely to have a much better chance of squeezing big dollars out of weary Republicans for a race against incumbent Ted Strickland. That said, it's a good political move for Coughlin to come out early for statewide office. The strategy is tried and true and right out of former GOP Chair Bob Bennett's playbook; remember when Blackwell, Montgomery and Petro were all running for the same office but then backed down over a period? With just one statewide executive office in GOP hands (Auditor Mary Taylor) there will be plenty of room to play musical political chairs and see if there's a seat for Coughlin when the music stops before filing time for the spring 2010 primary. In the meantime, he draws interest from around the state, uses the soapbox to raise money, and sees just how much political blood flows from the deep cut left over from his battle with Alex.
- - -
Mayor Plusquellic's State of the City is set for next month and it will be interesting to see what's rolling around in the halls of South High as TNBT (the next big thing) to be proposed during this annual speech. One year it was Don Robart being a liar (that didn't play out very well) and last year it was selling (later leasing) the sewer system to fund a scholarship program. This may very well be a great platform for the Mayor to revisit 2008 and challenge his Save Our Sewer opponents, back home by now from the special place in hell Plusquellic sent them when Issue 8 lost. This would be a great time to task them and others to come up with other ways to fund what most thought was a flawed but worth-further-work idea; even the most critical 8 haters admitted they liked the idea of coming up with a way to provide scholarships. Does the UA, and KSU, and College of Wooster, and Malone, and Walsh, and Mount Union, and Case-CSU-Tri-C-YSU finally get a role in this as well as part of a regional solution? Maybe something for the well-meaning regionalists to get behind?
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