Word watch
Ramp up: Tiresome and overused. "Increase" works fine.
Race: The R's started running for Prez before New Year's hangovers were cured. Substitute "grind" for "race."
O.T. and the Koo Koo Klan (from his comments in yesterday's LTE forum)
Quite a story, O. T., definitely worth describing in detail, though I wish you would not describe the head KooKoos as the Three Stooges. That is highly unfair to Larry, Moe, and Curly.
Your reference to the more dangerous years 1963-65 elicits a request for that history as well. You and your conservative debater WW both seem to have lived exciting and perilous younger adult lives. Most interesting to one whose existence has been pretty prosaic.
County commissioners (from yesterday's LTE forum)
The time and money blown on sectarian prayer is one of the several reasons I changed my R membership. It is cliche' to say this, but a cliche' doesn't invalidate a fact: I didn't leave the Republican party; it left me.
Apparently Stab, the R party has left orbit. You have Romney saying: "Corporations are people too." Perry having said: "Adios,mofo." And Bachmann gone totally off the farm, lol, her Lexington minutemen, Elvis' birthday, and, now even her own hometown, Waterloo and John Wayne mis-reference, (I mean, the lights aren't even on).
ReplyDeleteSometime back, I thought Bachmann represented the future of the R party. She appeared bright, assertive, and attractive. Then, DCGigi pointed out some inconsistencies (see, I actually pay attention to what other posters write), so I started looking more closely. And, Michelle made a critical error: she opened her mouth. Now, I fear that she and others like her are future of the R party.
ReplyDeleteOTOH, with the Dem party securely in the hands or organized labor and lesser unproductive groups, the party of the left is as out of orbit as that of the right. It's a shame a center party cannot coalesce.
In reply to O.T.'s response to my post.. I agree the CC's are demonstrating a lack of thinking, but I see it more towards the apparent belief of some that they actually have a case rather than winning theocrat votes. At least Dave Plylor, (one for you Stab, I was in a community band with his eldest daughter...one of the sweetest girls I have ever met..unfortunately she broke my heart and married the son of the late columnist Tom Sieg) has acknowledged it's a losing cause, but he's banking on that group to cover the costs of losing all those cases. Who knows, maybe Plylor has had dealings with them and is hoping this will ruin them financially :)
ReplyDeletedotnet, I believe that the CC suit is motivated by the personal beliefs of its proponents, and a desire to proclaim those belief's, which I have described as grandstanding. And, I think the proponents, Whisenhunt and Conrad especially, think they have the approval of most FC voters for this.
ReplyDeleteI don't know Whisenhunt, am acquainted with Conrad, wish she hadn't diverged from governing the County to get into this display of piety.
You cannot make a general characterization of the board's vote.
ReplyDelete1. Whiteheart is a non-player. He is like a small time Jesse Helms, against everything, for nothing. He doesn't care about this issue and cannot be hurt by his vote.
2. Whisenhunt is the chief player, representing Calvary Baptist Church and all the other fumblementalists. Her main purpose is to force her "christian" BS on everyone else. She probably actually beleives that they can win. "Have faith".
3. Conrad is her chief co-conspirator, same purpose, also may think that they have a chance to win.
4. Linville is an enigma. Always difficult to read because he rarely says anything conclusive. Probably just along for the ride.
5. Plyler knows that the game won't work, and was ready to kill the first appeal until this christian outfit agreed to pay the ACLU's legal costs. Be aware that they only agreed to pay $300,000 and never signed any legal agreement for even that, and that the ultimate cost may reach $2 million. Plyler didn't fight this time...his eye is firmly on November, 2012 and he thinks that the christians will keep him in. He, Whisenhunt and others may be in for a surprise.
6. Marshall voted nay, but there is no cost for him. If he runs in 2012, he returns, barring rapture.
7. Witherspoon is another enigma. He really had nothing to lose either way, so why he voted aye is beyond me.
The whole weight of blame, as far as I am concerned, rests on Whisenhunt and her sidekick Conrad. If they were focusing on what is best for the county rather than on their own personal superstitions, this would have all been over long ago.
O.T., I'm sure Whisenhunt's pastor is very pleased with her. As for Witherspoon, I'd say he's a bit of a cracked pot, but he also may think his constituents largely approve of the board's stance.
ReplyDeleteMarshall could have voted either way, but probably elected to vote as he did because voting against the Republican majority would suit the constituents to whom he panders. I doubt he cares one whit for the arguments either way. If his vote is really the right one, as in this instance, well, so much the better, but no big deal.
Finally got to see the Stewart piece on Perry...great. Also caught Perry's mofo moment.
ReplyDeleteStab can add a few more cliches from the press:
"Perry is off to a flying start."
"Perry hit the ground running."
Wouldn't you love to see video clips of both those moments?
I note that even though Perry has not been "Friended" by the Bushites, he has adopted a number of W's speech mannerisms, including the patented Bush neck bob and the sly smirk that tells us that HE thinks he just pulled off something clever, even if we don't. I smell more low comedy coming here.
Rather than reinvent the wheel with Perry, why don't we just repeal the 22nd Amendment and bring Bush back for an encore...see how much bigger a mess he can make with 8 more years.
Amazingly, we actually heard suggestions that the 22nd Amendment be repealed so that Willard would have 4 more years in which to get girls. Might have been for the best. The public possibly might have finally taken the full measure of the Clintons, and Billyboy would have had to ride out his own recession.
ReplyDeleteNow, would Clinton have started wars to boost his polls, as I think the Bush Administration did? You never know. He launched airstrikes to drive scandals below the front-page fold as easily as he put Monica under his desk.
I gave up on presidential politics for good about 20 years ago, during the Bush I administration.
ReplyDeleteThe US had been not-so-secretly supporting Iraq in their long war against Iran. So when the war ended, our boy Saddam saw an opportunity to settle a score with his neighbors in Kuwait.
What happened next has been the source of hot debate ever since, but one thing is clear, that through inept diplomacy we seemed to say to Saddam that his problem with Kuwait was between him and them and that we had no real interest in it.
Saddam took that as permission to invade Kuwait, and at first, Bush I had no intention of doing much of anything about it. Then Maggie Thatcher took him into the garden at #10 Downing and scolded him like a naughty school boy and the next thing you know we were yet again at war.
While OUR GIs were fighting to free Kuwait, the sons and daughters of the Kuwaiti leadership were discoing the nights away in London clubs. At that point I threw up my hands and said to myself that if the British, who were and are incapable of "projecting" their foreign policy anywhere, were going to be allowed to control OUR foreign policy, that was it. I had had enough and wanted no more to do with it.
Since then, I have tried to ignore whatever goes on in Washington, because there is nothing that I or anyone else in Winston-Salem can do to control it.
So I have focused on local politics, where I can leverage my vote by talking to people one on one and recruiting supporters, the latest example being the library bond issue, which, against all odds, passed with a resounding majority.
Next on the agenda is the makeup of the County Commissioners. There we must rid the board of ideologs and elect people who will consider the good of the county above their own selfish agendas. At the moment, that is in a fragile, fledgling stage, but there are already some encouraging developments.
It would be good if we could also attack the problem of the school board, which has also become hostage to the ideologs, to the detriment of our entire local educational system, from pre-K through high school.
In all of this, the main shortcoming is the lack of wo/manpower committed to such change. I must admit that I am a bit lazy and certainly selfish about my time, so will probably settle for just the County Commission in 2012.
Meanwhile, my naughty self will certainly enjoy the multifarious acts of low comedy enacted on the national stage by an unmatched in American history group of fools...Jay Leno and the entire comedic profession must be licking their chops over what is to come in the next 15 months.
One if by land, two if by sea, and something happened in Lexington, but which one? The invention of barbecue? Was that eastern or western, or as Bibs Downtown says, bestern?
Oops, I am informed by reliable sources that Ms Bachmann was NOT talking about barbecue at all. That is her problem...she doesn't know that the debate between western and eastern North Carolina barbecue will be the deciding issue in November, 2012.
ReplyDeleteApparently, she was talking about some meaningless battles, fought long ago and soon forgotten, in Lexington and Concord, New Hampshire, which followers of our current president know was the 57th state in the union.
In the wake of her comments, the state of Massachusetts has accused the state of New Hampshire of attempting to annex their property. War between the states is imminent.
Since both state's National Guard units are off fighting phantoms in southwest Asia, the plan is that a bunch of cranky old men and women from Mass will invade New Hampshire and attempt to take back Lexington and Concord. The really scary part is that an even crankier bunch of old men and women from New Hampshire have announced that they are having none of that.
Cassandra Cunningham, chief Colonel-General of the New Hampshire Cranky Old People's People's Army said: "Tell those Massachusetts turkeys that we said 'Bring it on'. Before they even get here, we say 'Mission accomplished".