Beyond Compromise

The other day, I heard a woman tell Rush Limbaugh that if Romney gets the Republican nomination she will not vote.  Her complaint:  Romney does not adhere strictly to conservative principles; he is too prone to compromise.
      This woman was echoing a theme Limbaugh had been sounding all week--that there is no room for compromise with the "Democrat Party" and what Limbaugh sees as their socialist agenda.
      I wonder if these people understand that there is a fine line between upholding conservative principles and being an ideologue.   How many people have to be ruined so that the Tea Party types can put their conservative principles to the test?  --EFP

Deficit Be Damned--for Now at Least!

Today's "This Week, with Christiane Amanpour" featured an interview with Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google, one of the few large American companies still hiring.  We keep hearing that businesses are sitting on large surpluses because they are afraid to hire.  The right wing, of course, attributed that fear to strangling government regulation and the socialistic designs of the Obama administration.  Schmidt doesn't see it that way.  The problem is simply a matter of supply and demand. People are not buying.  Hence, demand is down.
       Businesses are not going to hire people to meet a non-existent demand for more goods and services.  Schmidt recommends that the government put people back to work on infrastructure programs.  That would stimulate the demand that businesses need to see before they will hire more people.
      It makes sense to me.  I don't see how the Republican/Tea Party solution of "getting government off the backs of businesses" could get our economy growing again.  That alone will not create the additional demand for goods and services that would require businesses to hire more people.
      The irony is that Schmidt is not the first business mogul I've heard advancing this solution.  It would seem that conservative ideologues are quick to speak for the business community but not to listen to it. --EFP

The State of the Union--As I See It!

I know not how President Obama may gauge the state of the union tonight, but I got two indications of my own this week.
     First, I tried to send a birthday card to my longtime friend Gary Racz using the Brooklyn address I have always used in the past.  It came back marked "not deliverable as addressed."  My only mistake was to spell out "Seventh Ave." instead of writing "7th Ave."
     Second, Congresswoman and Tea Party activist Michell Bachman has credited our founding fathers with ending slavery.
     I just hope that whatever gods there be--the ones of Mount Olympus, the Judeo-Christian variety, or the Tea Party's imagined Founding Fathers--will see fit to bless America. --EFP

Palm the Patriot

[Monument to Non-Violence, Malmo, Sweden, July, 2004]

So Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann is urging Tea Party members to "take back our country from this gangster government."
      Let me get this straight:  We have now have a "gangster government"?  I take it that the Obama Gang is getting ready to fit conservatives with cement overshoes.
      I have to wonder if Bachman isn't confusing "gangster" with "gangsta"--as in "gangsta rap."  This, of course, is the type of hip-hop music reflecting the violent behavior and attitudes of urban African-American gangs.  Does Bachmann actually see Obama as this type of "gangsta," or worse yet, is she encouraging her listeners to view Obama in this light?  
      Personally, I still think that underneath all the vitriol is an unacknowledged racist refusal to accept an African-American as our president.
      Kudos to Bill Clinton for speaking up against irresponsible, inflammatory rhetoric and on behalf of civility and common sense.  --EFP

Palm the Patriot

{Patriotic Cadillac, Smyrna, DE, December, 2001]
On CNN today, I caught a little snippet of Sarah Palin giving her "Keep the Change" speech.  I have to give her speech writer credit for a cute turn of phrase.  It is an ironic allusion to President Obama's promise to transform America.  Palin was telling the crowd that Obama can "keep the change" because the "transformation" that he envisions is "un-American."   Tell Obama "no thanks," Palin urged, adding, "We'll keep our guns, our religion, and our Constitution."  
       I suppose that, according to Palin's criteria, I'm un-American.  Never mind that I'm a former enlisted Marine, a Vietnam veteran, and a retired Marine officer.  The problem is that I don't own a gun, I'm a secular humanist, and I believe that the Constitution is a living document that can and should be modified from time to time.
       I wonder if Palin can even spell, much less define, "demagogue"?  --EFP
P.S.  Palm's Progress:  I weighed in today at 185.2, and I ran 3.1 miles out of 4.22.  Yesterday, I took it a bit easy, running only 1.2 out of 3.5.  By this time next week, I should be running one day and bicycling the next.  That would be a welcome change of pace.  Pardon the pun.  --EFP

Sarcastic Sarah Strikes Again!

[Douglas Squirrel, July 18, 2008, Silverdale, WA]

Sarah Palin's back in the news again--this time for giving the keynote speech at a "Tea Party" convention.  As one wag recently put it, Palin has indeed emerged as the self-appointed leader of the national "Know Nothing Party."  Yeats put it best, in his poem "The Second Coming":
      The best lack all conviction, while the worst
      Are full of passionate intensity.
It's called the "force of ignorance."  It's easy to be full of "passionate intensity" when you don't know what you're talking about.
--EFP