The White House and Why Things are so Screwed up.

The problem with what is going on is easy enough to diagnose.  Too much bullshit.  Obama made a big mistake when he first decided that he wanted a cabinet and people around him who disagreed.  He wanted to get all points of view, weigh the options, and do everything in an objective and dispassionate way.  The trouble is, that left him prey to those with the most emotional commitments to other causes than what he espoused during the campaign.   Why are we still in Iraq?  Why are we in Afghanistan and also bombing Pakistan for good measure?  I know he said he'd take out Bin Laden if he knew with certainty where he was and if Pakistan didn't want to, but he didn't say he was going to wage war on the place.

What happened to the public option?  Why was it even an option rather than a mandate?  That's what the people who voted for him wanted.  And what's this about needing 60 votes for everything in the Senate?  I know about filibusters, but then make them do it, make it telecast and broadcast 24/7 until the people get aroused.  It's too easy this way.  Or change the rules.  They've done it before.  Nope, we gotta be reasonable.

I first wrote this to explain a few things to someone, but that person is dead now and that explains why it's been on my hard drive so long.  I figured I'd just post it and be done with it.

Some of you know that we have been doing intensive research on the White House and what happens there.  The research phase stopped about 6 weeks ago, and what remains is to collate and discuss the results.  It has been fascinating, but not actually surprising to any of you with a modicum of healthy cynicism and sense of reality.  In short, if you know enough not to believe what you were taught in elementary school about our government, at least to the extent that many high school teachers do (but are afraid to say), this will not be overwhelming information.

One overwhelming thing to realize is that a great deal of work goes on there, far more than needs to.  For example, no matter what your job there may be, if given a specific task to complete and you do complete it within the allotted time, the next day you will find five times the amount of new work awaiting you.  If you are foolish enough to complete and accomplish those tasks successfully, you will find twenty-five awaiting you the following day.  In short, the most plausible and influential persons there are the ones that are the least productive.  You are not promoted, as in the Peter Principle, to your level of incompetency; rather, you are kept below your level of competency as those less competent have far more time to campaign for higher positions for themselves.  However, you must take care not to offend those to whom you report, but instilling respect (fear) in those who are fellow campaigners is quite necessary.

So what happens to all those tasks or projects that you do not attend to?   Anyone with experience in administration knows full well that if something is designated as "Urgent," it means nothing of the sort.  The best policy for such projects is to simply let them sit there for awhile and you will find that most of the issues involved have either resolved themselves, become moot, or been brought to your attention again (at which time, you may wish to evaluate it).  The term "Urgent," is only there because someone has decided that it should be there -- it's existence and reality are very seldom related.

This is what happened recently.  The Secretary of Agriculture reacted to an "urgent" situation when doing nothing would have been far more productive.  How much time and energy has now been wasted because he took action when something was described as "urgent".  When it says "Urgent," screw it.

The ambiance is quite strange for someone used to a modern academic environment as the "macho" attitude remains in effect amongst the preponderance of personages there, be they male or female.  However, anyone of them with that particular stance who attempts to use it against you through intimidation can quite easily be reduced to cowering behind a flood of apologies though the mere offer of an opportunity of a direct physical encounter.  One reason for this is that most of the people there have never engaged in any sort of physical competition except for those with military training, and those are usually very straight-forward in their approach and offer no such intimidation.

I'm just wondering how much apologizing is going on right now. 

Obama: Forget all that crap and go back to what you were elected for.  You should know that you are not going to get help from Republicans.   In fact, they are wondering how far right they should go, including doing away with Social Security, Medicare, anything that smacks of FDR!  And you think they will cooperate with you?  Are you nuts?

Why do you think nobody is going to vote except for Nazi types this next election? 

I thought of putting a photo of the effects of Fallujah or suffering in Gaza.  The trouble is that there are so many of them and you know all about them anyway,  Still, musn't offend Mitch McConnell?  You can not have spent ten years in Chicago and not know better.  Even if it was in Hyde Park.

Spineless Democrats and Racism

Here is a new cartoon from Kieth Tucker (link below and here): http://www.whatnowtoons.com

And he is right.  Democrats run with thier tailsw between thier legs.  

Blago Not Guilty and Other Wisdom

Not Guilty

Other comments below article:

Lonna Saunders

Attorney/Writer/Broadcaster

Posted: July 19, 2010 11:10 AM

Blagojevich Trial: Where's the Beef?

After the government rested its case months ahead of schedule, it became apparent to anyone who was paying attention that what we have here is a perfectly premature prosecution.

The government's wiretaps of ex-governor Rod Blagojevich and his trusted advisors show a lot of trash talking going on. Options being offered and rejected. Cursing, Venting. But no action. In fact, what those secretly taped conversations show is Blago as a man of all talk and no action.

When did talking without action become a crime? With all the focus in recent weeks on whether Chicago's 28-year-old handgun ban would survive a Second Amendment Supreme Court challenge, did the First Amendment in Illinois, get lost in the shuffle? Don't U.S. citizens have the right to speak with friends and trusted advisors without fear of governmental eavesdropping? Because it is not clear from what the government played in court that the wiretapping was warranted.
Instead of being a criminal plotting crimes, Blagojevich came across on those secretly recorded government tapes as frankly an inept, insecure and indecisive chief executive. A waffler. Changing his mind from day to day. From hour to hour even. Heavily dependent on his advisors to tell him what to do. What was legally permissible. Or not.
Many of these same trusted advisors are now testifying against him in attempts to save their own necks. One after another on the stand, admitting they have law degrees and even law licenses, then claiming not to be lawyers. Not to be giving Blago legal advice. But on the wiretaps, Blago asks them for advice as to what is legal and what is not, and they give him that advice. So when is a lawyer not really a lawyer? Let's stop parsing around.

As to choosing who would replace Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate, it became a game of musical chairs. Who'd be left standing when the music stopped? Lisa Madigan, Tammy Duckworth, Dan Hynes, Jesse Jackson, Jr., Valerie Jarrett, Oprah Winfrey, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jan Schakowsky, Rahm Emanuel, Danny Davis, even Blago himself.
Everybody had a list. President Obama. Senate leader Harry Reid. Heck, Reid's list was splashed on the front page of the Chicago Sun-Times' January 4, 2009 edition. Blago had his own list and then added everyone else's picks to it.

Blagojevich's ultimate appointment of Roland Burris would not have come about if Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan had rallied his troops to hold a special election for the seat as had been expected that he would do in the aftermath of Blago's arrest. Both then Lt. Governor Pat Quinn and still Gov. Blagojevich, were pushing for Madigan to pull the trigger. Madigan never did.
So Blagojevich, in order to comply with state law because he would have been derelict in his duties as governor if he hadn't, was legally forced to make an appointment. After all, the people of Illinos were entitled to be fully represented by two Senators at the start of the new session of Congress in January, 2009. Not half-representation, especially with a new president from the Land of Lincoln, pushing for change we can believe in.

On the secretly recorded tapes, Blagojevich appeared to be leaning towards Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan before his arrest. Was he being offered any money to do this? Was he being offered any goods or services or a higher governmental position? No, he was doing it in the hope of currying brownie points with her father, House Speaker Michael Madigan, according to the tapes played in court. Nothing illegal about that. No exchange of nuttin' here. No quid pro quo.
Blago did end up appointing another attorney general to the seat, Roland Burris, the first African-American to win a statewide election in Illinois. No quid pro quo evidence presented in federal court about that appointment either.

Blagojevich did not in fact sell Obama's senate seat. He did not quid pro quo it. He replaced an African-American male with another African-American male, and if he hadn't there would be zero African-Americans in the US Senate. Something to think about.

In contrast to the uproar about the possiblity that Blago might appoint himself to President Obama's senate seat, there was not a lot of yelling and screaming going on recently, when West Virigina Governor Joe Manchin floated the notion of appointing himself to fill the seat of the longest serving member of Congress, the late US Senator Robert Byrd. Manchin ended up tapping his chief lawyer, Carte Goodwin. How cozy is that? It is reported that Manchin still plans to run for the seat.

It's true that as of January 1, 2009, the new state ethics law went into effect, prohibiting seeking campaign contributions from those doing a certain dollar amount of state business. But that wasn't illegal in 2008 when Blagojevich did it.

The prosecution has rested its case but the public has the right to ask, "Where's the beef?"
P.S. The Patti Melt sandwich being sold for lunch at the courthouse cafeteria, doesn't count.

****************************************************

That, obviously, came from the Huffington Post.  I thought I'd share it.

Some other observations:

An H-Bomb is a terrible thing to waste.

We could get rid of these bombs simply by using them. 

There were days, long ago, when kids in the public schools were sent to the floor below, forced to cross their legs and bends their heads down, all to practice for a nuclear attack.  Many people say this gave the kids complexes.

Nonsense!  For many, it was the only sign of hope.  One day all this could be over.

We could clear up the whole gulf oil mess with 3 or 4 H-Bombs.  We have them.  Why not use them?

It would stop all complaints about global climate change.  Let's just get it over with instead of dragging it out.

The Wisdom of Steven Wright

If you're not  familiar with the work of Steven Wright, he's the famous erudite scientist  who once said: "I woke up one morning, and all of my stuff had been stolen  and replaced by exact duplicates."  His mind sees things differently  than most of us do. . .

Here are some of his gems:

 1 - I'd  kill for a Nobel Peace Prize.

 2 - Borrow money from pessimists --  they don't expect it back.

 3 - Half the people you know are below average.

 4 - 99% of lawyers give the rest a bad name.

 5 -  82.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot.

 6 - A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good.

 7 - A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

 8 - If you want the rainbow, you got to put up with the rain.

 9 - All those who believe in psychokinesis, raise my hand.

 10 - The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

 11 - I almost had a psychic girlfriend, ..... but she left me before we met.

 12 - OK,  so what's the speed of dark?

 13 - How do you tell when you're out of invisible ink?

 14 - If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.

 15 - Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.

 16 - When everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.

 17 - Ambition is a poor excuse for not having enough sense to be lazy.

 18 - Hard work pays off in the  future; laziness pays off now.

 19 - I intend to live forever.... so  far, so good.

 20 - If Barbie is so popular, why do you have to buy her friends?

 21 - Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

 22 - What happens if you get scared half to death  twice?

 23 - My mechanic told me, "I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder."

 24 - Why do psychics have to ask you for your name?

 25 - If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.

 26 - A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking.

 27 - Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.

 28 - The hardness of the butter is proportional to the softness of the bread

 29 - To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research.

 30 - The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifeguard.

 31 - The sooner you fall behind, the more time you'll  have to catch up.

 32 - The colder the x-ray table, the more of your body is required to be on it.

 33 - Everyone has a photographic memory; some just don't have film.
 
 34 - If at first you don't succeed skydiving is not for you.

And the all time favorite   -

 35 - If your car could travel at the speed of light, would your headlights work?

Child Abuse -- Gaza

I guess this is relevant today:


http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1458042484456

Culture Today

Illustration:  Beats me.

CNN now equals Fox-Lite.  They fired Octavia Nasr for saying something positive about a Moslem cleric.  The cleric had been relatively liberal on the subject of women.  Yes, he is now dead, but that was only the occasion for her remarks -- in a tweet!

CNN used to have a reporter named Peter Arnett.  He was sacked years ago.

What ever happened to that Australian journalist that gave such good reports from the Mideast?  He was on CNN.

Not on CNN was Helen Thomas.  Well, she had a long career.

What ever happened to David Schuster?  He was fired for doing an audition for CNN.

I heard a report about one survey that found that 56% of Americans think Obama is a Socialist!  Obama!  Good grief.

Some 80% reportedly thought he was a Moslem.

These are your neighbors, folks, be careful.

Someone named Glen Beck of Glenbeckistan has started what he calls a "University".  I imagine people graduate by Cesarean section by section.

I shudder to think how many Americans thing the planet is only 6,000 years old.  I know several Arizona legislators think so and have said so.  "We should mine uranium because it has been here 6,000 years and nothing has happened."

I'm going to listen to some Bach.  Bye.

To the Gordian Knot

Barry Wright
July 8, 2010 at 9:58 pm
I think the major problem right now is the US’ unconditional support of Israel’s apartheid and arrogant policies. We fund Israel with more money than any other foreign country and appear at least to give
Israel carte blanche in its dealings with Palestinians. This marks this conflict apart from other world
injustice sites like Tibet, Darfur and Chechnya.

The US is the only major player that can act affirmatively and quickly for the two state solution and must
put pressure immediately on Israel. The recent Obama-Netanyahu meeting was a disaster for human rights and we all know it, why be shy about confronting Israel directly? Because the government is defensive, paranoid and arrogant? That’s nonsense and everyone knows it. Reduce funding, employ
boycott, divestment and sanctions to end the occupation.

Israel must be treated fairly, with respect and friendship, but you don’t let your friends abuse you or others if you care about them, the definition of ‘friend’.

The two state solution is independent of the byzantine maze of Zionism, right, left or anti. It’s about human rights and modern statesmanship, behaving like a good country, and not an international pariah.

Israel will be even more secure with a firm border, why not have UN blue helmets on the ground of the new border of the state of Palestine, as we did in the Kosovo settlement? That seems to be working, no? Israel has
nuclear weapons, the 5th largest military in the world, how much more strength and power will make it
secure?

Why don’t we use our considerable influence to make this two state result happen, right now? Of course Israel doesn’t want this now, it never has and never will. So make it the lesser of two evils,
the Green Line is a perfectly good border, use it. Hamas has said often that it cannot recognize Israel
until it knows its boundaries, so let’s show them to the world and settle this. The Gordian Knot of Zionism cannot be united, even by Hercules, so let the US cut it, as Alexander did.