Post Fact

Soooo… I have been laying low since the election.  

What I discovered in the election is that...

MY SILO WALLS ARE VERY THICK AND HIGH AND I THINK MY SILO SITS OUT BY ITSELF IN A FIELD SOMEWHERE.  

To say I was confused by the result is a dramatic understatement.  I pride myself on being well read, well informed and kind of an information junky.  I proudly discussed the fact that I sought out all of the input I could on a day to day basis from what I thought was the “spectrum” of opinion.  This generally included:

1. The Wall Street Journal (Subscribe)

2. The Post Dispatch (Subscribe)

3. NPR (Send them money and listen as default in car)

4. Patriot Radio (Because my brother is Tea Party Conservative and listens to them

I mean that is pretty diverse.  And I listen and read a lot.  I read things on line.  I know the difference between Fake News and a journalistic piece.  I assumed any 6th grader knows that but once again I discovered that I was wrong.

The Drive By Truckers, a southern rock band (being totally unfair to them) came out with a song this year called “What It Means” regarding the current status of the “Black Lives Matter”, “Blue Lives Matter” racial divide that we are all living in post Ferguson.  It is a great song and here is the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mY0qOCUy27Q

But one of the many great lines summarizing our morass is this:

"And we're standing on the precipice
Of prejudice and fear
We trust science just as long
As it tells us what we want to hear
We want our truths all fair and balanced
As long as our notions lie within it
There's no sunlight in our ass'
And our heads are stuck up in it”-DBT

So we are are all just hearing things that confirm our own innate world view and we don't hear anything that disagrees with that. And we all come to the table loaded with opinion. The Internet that was supposed to bring us all together and level the playing field instead is dividing us more than ever in ways we never imagined.

There was nothing in any of my information sources (and I don't want to label them “media” because that has become a prejudicial term) but there was nothing in any of these sources, liberal or conservative that prepared me for the fact that we could elect a man like Donald Trump to be President of the greatest country on earth and perhaps the greatest power in history on that earth. It felt like and it still feels like we gave the car keys to a drunken kid.

I get that the country rejected Hilary (although she won the popular vote she lost the election under the same rules that she thought had gamed the system for her. She was and is, difficult to like, a career politician, weighing every word and evaluating every opportunity to see how it “played”. Nothing got said that was not field tested to make sure it fit one of the demographics needed to cobble together the votes she needed...and she blew it. And she deserved to lose. Don't ever let me be mistaken for a Hilary lover but she was the kind of politician I knew and frankly the kind of politician that our country has historically rewarded. She played the game. I was happy she lost. Just not to this man. What the election said is that there are 48% of voting Americans who reject that and demanded change and it was change at any cost.

I am amazed at how wrong the polls were. Even Five Thirty Eight, my favorite and the other numbers stats guys had it wrong and evidently they had it wrong because no one would admit to a pollster that they were voting for The Donald. How does it feel that we elected a guy that people were embarrassed to acknowledge that they would consider voting for? Not too good.

But ultimately we get the leadership that we deserve. My hope and prayer is that I am wrong and this man who I loathe everything about (and when people ask me what I am basing that on I am basing it on everything he has ever said or done and his entire predatory, self aggrandizing, proud bullying career). I do believe he will bring change. So we pray that God blesses our country and blesses or leaders and for me, I have to expose myself to more and different people. Outside my silo, outside of my work, outside of my church. The fact is that I know more urban African Americans that I do white, rural working poor. Shame on me.

So I am looking for a source for news and for facts. Facts are something we should all be able to agree upon. If you are aware of a source where I might glean these common accepted facts, please advise. If not then I think we all have right to be scared because if there is not place to get facts that we can all agree on then I believe we are all well and truly #$%&*%$$!
Help me out.
Please.

The Charge Of The Lightweight Brigade

Earlier this week I had a slight nervous breakdown and posted this on Facebook:

““OK...R.E.M. disbands ten years too late and now the U.S. Government is threatened with shutdown again. REALLY? REALLY? Again? We seriously cannot do any better than this? This is leadership? From anywhere on either side of the aisle? People pay taxes to support this type of leadership? People die on the battle field to support your current way of governing our great country? Our economy is in decline, people are not working and you squabble like petulant children. Every member of congress, Senator or House Member should be hanging in their head in shame. Real shame.
"It's the end of the world as we know it..." R.E.M.””

Slightly over wrought? Way over wrought? Probably the latter but really guys, this is embarrassing. I had overblown expectations for our President to use his HUGE popular support to be transformative. It retrospect that was very childish but we had come from a Presidency that was so stage managed and tone deaf that I needed change and certainly John Mc Cain was not the change I needed. I can still shudder to think about how his Presidency would look and we would all be beating on an old man. At least with Barrack we are beating on a young man in the prime of his life. But even though he was dealt an unplayable hand, he has played through every attempt to unite our country under a banner of real, PROUD change. Congress failed him totally, first the Democratically run congress and then the democratic minority dealing with a Republican majority in the House of Representatives who was elected with a mandate from the people, God and the Constitution to thwart anything else he tried. But the original fault is with the Democratic congress originally which played the same liberal, entitlement program that has been pretty thoroughly debunked by our countries history. Nancy Pelosi sucked...and she looked really, really scary, especially when she was worked up. The President, upon getting to his office should have asked she and Reed to resign their leadership posts because it was not what this country needed. He didn’t. Now we are here.

My brother, whom I love, is a Tea Party Conservative. God Bless him and them and their cause because they have changed the argument. I don’t believe they have changed it for the better but they have changed it and that is indeed what makes our country the greatest country in the world...still...no matter what the nay sayer’s say. They have successfully thwarted anything being done by government. Seriously, anything. Now I don’t pretend to know what the proper role of government is but I will tell you that it has to have a role and it is our largest employer and that tearing it down quickly, threatening to shut it down every time there is a spending bill, is reckless and stupid. Obama will be a one term President unless they run a crazy man like Perry or a crazy woman like Bachman. You cannot say stupid things frequently in public, and then stand by them and double down. Both of these candidates confuse this for courage and fortitude. What worked on their small stage (and Texas no matter what they tell you is an intellectually small stage) will be a disaster on Broadway (likely because of the pointy headed New York Intellectual Elite). So that is going to take care of itself. Run whomever you want and they should win and they too will likely be a one term President because we are in a deep trough with no easy way out.
But back to my brother. In regard to politics we agree on nothing. Ever. This might almost be a point of pride for both of us. But we have found a common desire and we need another one term President. We need someone who is brave enough to say the following:
1. We are in a deep, bad economy.
2. Government cannot spend or save us out of it
3. The American People are going to have to get us out of it.
4. We are going to have less government services and our churches and not for profits have got to start really stepping up because there will be needs that the government simply cannot meet for the needy and for those without a voice. This is a tragedy but this is reality.
5. We are going to pay more in taxes.
6. Our standard of living as we knew it was the creation of a bubble and is not sustainable. We can argue about this but time and economics have proven it.
7. Our standard of living will still be the highest in the world and we can lead like America should lead, by example.
8. Social security retirement age needs to be rolled back.
9. Means testing for benefits needs to take place. (I don’t know if my brother would agree with that one but my point is that we should not pay out the “safety net” of social security to people like Warren Buffet, or maybe even to people like me who have managed to put some monies away for retirement.)
10. Having troop fight wars overseas (even with radio controlled airplanes) is expensive AND we are going to have to figure out how to employ and equip all these troops we are bringing home for civilian life and it will be VERY expensive for a while but we have to invest in our best.
11. Something has to be done about health care. Here my brother and I would totally disagree so I will stop but that is the third rail of debt. Social security, War and Health care. Something has to be done about health care. Stopping frivelous lawsuits, stopping waste will not even cover next years % growth of the costs. So...something has to be done about health care costs and we will leave it at that for now.

So we need another one term President after Obama or even better we need Obama to embrace for his last year and a half, the role of being a one term President. Lead us to what is next. Dignity. Real Christian values that question our materialistic and militaristic culture and speaking the truth with love, rather than speaking the truth, when convenient, for votes and campaign dollars. But if not Barrack, and not the next Republican President, than it has to be the next guy or we are in some deep shit and the country will be so angry that we will elect a madman. So watch, pray and expect more of these guys. Congress? We cant shoot them. So lets vote them out and see if we can get some people who put America before their party and who can think for themselves without an agenda of talking points to get people to clap and sing God Bless America. What we need as President and in Congress are real people. Smart people. Creative people who are willing to take risks to do what is right and what this country needs. It didn’t have to be this hard. God already has blessed America, and he still is.


*cue the large eagle flying down with American flag in it’s beak...cue the country song about God and Country...fade to black*

Election Update

A Few Thoughts as we approach election day.
1. Restoring Sanity Rally: I am cautiously optimistic that we might see some funny clips on. This is entertainment. If you get political guidance from Comedy Central you are not getting the joke. If their jokes offend you... don't watch.

2. Election is Tuesday and I do care and I will vote. They always throw all those Judicial Names at you to vote for retention. Our Missouri Vourt plan for how we select Judges is a model in the country which big money wants to buy. Lets keep the faith but lets also get rid of bad judges. Not because of their politics, but because they are bad Judges. I will not name names but the Missouri Bar, plaintiff, defendant, criminal and divorce lawyers rate these Judges and their ratings that i am familiar with track with my own thoughts. http://www.mobar.org/data/judges10/stlcounty.htm Go read this stuff. Be informed.

3. The ballot otherwise has two propositions and 3 Constitutional amendments. It is amazing about special interests and the things that rise to the level of Constituionally needed. Really?
Amendment 1 to make County Assessor an elected position. Really? We need another election in each County? the Counties cannot manage themselves? We need to put big money is a position to hire our assessor as well as our alderman, our supervisor, our mayor, our court clerk, our dog catcher...lets do a CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT to elect the Mayors Secretary. That bitch has a lot of power (if it is a woman... in any case I guess I am sexist).
Amendment 2. Prisoners of war should not have to pay property taxes on their houses. I have no problem with this, who would? Still, a Constitutional Amendment? I do not mean to discount their suffering. I have never met a POW and I cannot imagine what they went through but if your going to do this then what about the surviving spouses of those who died? Once again, this is an inappropriate thing to amend the Constitution for.
Amendment 3 Attempts to make a law which will not allow theState, County or local governments to tax sales of real estate. There is no current sales tax on real estate in our State but we need to pass a CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT TO MAKE SURE THEY DONT! DON'T TREAD ON YOUR REAL ESTATE AGENTS LOBBY! Once again, totally inappropriate to put this kind of special interest bullshit in the State Constitution. Voting against all three.

4. On that same note how come the ORIGINAL INTENT people are never concerned about the original intent of the geniuses who wrote the Missouri Constitution?

5.. Propositions A&B. Lets all vote on how Kansas City and St. Louis fund themselves because they cannot take care of themselves. lets help them and make them change how they fund themselves. I am voting against this one. I do not live there or work there but I have. I paid my 1%. I enjoyed very little benefit but a dead, confused City does nothing for me downtown. It is NONE of my business how another jurisdiction taxes people. B is on puppy mill regulation. I love animals, especially dogs and have 2 rescue dogs. This is more regulation and more costs. If you do not want puppy mills, buy a mutt. Make animal abuse a serious crime. Oh...opur legislature could do that. Bottom line is that I am voting against both. Hey! I could jopin the party of no.

6. Glenn Becks brother Jerry, a true ditto head (oops wrong demagogue) is running for Senator against Blunt and Carnahan. Blunt of course is a family man and a Christian man who formerly carried water for Tom(The Hammer) delay who will go on trial next week and hopefully become Tom (The Felon) Delay. He is on his second wife and family and his wife is a high powered Lobbyist because Senators do not have enough money and power so why not double dip. Robin Carnahan? Really? this is the best we can do? My only comfort is that Blunt will be replacing the do nothing drunk Kit Bond.

7. Congressman for 3rd District... I cannot cheer or vote for Ed Nelson. He seems at best unstable and at worst dangerous. He was former strong man, bag man and enforcer from Matt (I don't want to be governor if people want my private emails) Blunt. He got the guy who blew the whistle on Blunt fired and cost the state several hundred thousand in legal fees. Russ carnahan is not as tough as Robin but I like his Liberal voting record so I will vote for him. He will lose.

8. County Supervisor: Dooley is going to lose. Bank on it. I am voting for Corrigan. I do not like his adds or his tactics but he is inevitable. I also think he might to a really good job. I do not think Dooley has done a bad job, I just think it is a bad year to be an incumbent and he has not established much of a legacy. I did like him giving my daughter a leadership award but...Corrigan is inevitable.

9. Republicans will win more then anyone expects. I am praying that they take control of the house and the Senate so they can shut up. I know they will start to whine regarding the President Veto but evidently the all powerful Democrats totally undermine the country in the two hears they had the majority with Bush having the Veto.

10. I am pleading with Liberals, Democrats and Progressives and everyone else, get out and vote, even if you vote for Republicans. But after you vote do not whine! You must not whine! If you do that you will start sounding like all those angry, white middle classed men who have been so oppressed by the government. No one wants that.

11. I am pleading with Republicans, conservatives, tea party people everywhere to GO VOTE! Then you can gloat but try and only do it for a month. Remember the Pelosi gloating about the new coalitions and the death of the Republican Party. The winds will blow the other way and it might happen sooner then you think. Enjoy your victory, in the case of the Tea Party I can actually say you have earned it. In the case of the Republican Party I can only say you bought it, but still, those are the rules.

Election Irritability: What Program Will You Cut and How Much?

Soooo....one week to go. As regular readers (and I do thank all 7 of you) know I have been rather silent lately. Part of the reason has to do with starting a new law practice and traveling a lot like I do not even need to make a living. Trips to Austin, Cancun, Michigan etc... leave little contemplative time and when coupled with trying to work enough to keep body and soul together there is very little time to watch and observe food, travel, music, life and of course politics. Which brings us to the real reason I have not written...politics.

We are just coming off the long dark tea time of the NPR pledge drive where I listen to Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Jamie Allman... the angry cynical chick on talk radio around lunch... and the whole sick experiment has left me even more tired then ususal and more hopeless then I have felt since the start of W's second term. Never has the discourse been so vile, low, stupid and without hope and all of this in the greatest country in the world.

Roy Blount and June Carnahan... What programs are you going to cut and how much? And don't tell me healthcare... it has not brought us here.

I feel for the arguments that are supposed to be at the core of the tea party. Smaller government. Living within our means and self reliance are all great traditional American values. Not religious values but really, REALLY good things. But seriously, where were you fucking people when Ronald Reagan, Bush the Elder and the born again moderate Bill Clinton and then Dubya were ramping up spending at a monstrous level and even Saint Reagan increasing governments size and budget deficit (with the exception of a few Clinton years every year? And every year we elect the same people who say "I am going to cut waste and fraud". That is bullshit. The political class makes it's bones every day on waste and fraud. THEY NEVER CUT WASTE AND FRAUD! But we are going to elect Christine O'Donnell and re-elect Michelle Bachman and elect that crazy chick running in Arizona because these people are serious? These are the ones who will do it?

Ed Martin and Russ Carnahan, what programs are you going to cut and how much? Ed, I don't care that you were a politcal fixer for a governor who was smart enough to quit before his secrets made him a target and Russ... well Russ, i do not care about you at all.

I want to believe it. I am a bleeding heart liberal. My religion causes me to think that Jesus would want all people to have health care (even illegal aliens) but I know the government cannot afford it, anymore then it can afford wars of choice in the middle east. I like health care more then war with a couple of trillion but it is not affordable and sustainable BUT if we can send a few thousand American boys off to be killed and in the process destabelize a region so hundreds of thousands of their people can be killed and they can legitimately blame us for it while paying trillions to do it... I will take health care (even for illegal aliens).

And now we have this silly, silly election. In my life they have always said the same thing about election cycles. In every non presidential election 40% of the country dictates their displeasure and in the next election cycle 60% decide they did not like what the 40%. Well we are in a 40% year. I will vote but many of the crazies who voted for Obama will not come out and cheer for their local congressman and Senators. I do not blame them. they are an uninspiring bunch. the only thing less inspiring is their Republican dopplegangers who are there to rescind, remand, undo, unfund and stop Obama Care. Reinstitute tax breaks for everyone and shut down government. That will work well. The minute someone's mom misses a social security check... heads will roll.

And therein lies the lie of the tea party. They want to cut government but not the government that serves them. they decry socialism but take social security, unemployment, medicare and every tax break they are entitled to and they ARE entitled to their breaks. But the others...the LAZY ones who "take advantage" of the system.... their support needs to be cut. If smaller government is the goal (and it is an honorable goal) there is only only question EVERY candidate should be asked. Which programs will you cut and by how much? The follow up being if you are going to cut taxes what dollar for dollar cuts will you make in programs to justify those cuts. But forget the follow up. Ask you candidate, which programs will you cut and how much? Which programs will you cut and how much? Which programs will you cut and how much? (Repetition is a rhetorical device). If they cannot answer and if they answer with bullshit platitudes like they are going to stop earmarks and cut waste and fraud... then they are the frauds. Call them out. Republicans, Democrats, a pox on both their houses. I will vote Democrat again and hold my nose because their politics seem slightly less stupid, slightly less selfish in concept and frankly slightly less mean.

20 years of Republicans enlarging of government (the last 20) but it takes a black President to unite the anger over big government and the self righteous bullshit about selling out our kids futures. Now the Tea Party wants us to believe that their politicians have gotten religion. Being co-opted by the Republican party illegitimizes their goals. I get the anger, I am angry too, but until our culture changes, the institutions cannot change. Changes at the top are pure laziness. If you cannot pull our country together by it's core values of inclusion, hard work, charity, self reliance and compassion then we will keep electing leaders who reflect our broken sense of values.

Change youself and become a better person. train your kids to be better persons, discuss being a better person with your friends and what you (and they) can do to make a better Country. Then our leadership can make a meaningful change. In the interim...ask these hypocritical son's of bitches...which program would you cut and how much? Then wait for a real answer.

Post Election Erata....blah, blah, blah

Down in the mouth and not half right
but I can feel the changes comin on
bloom like flowers in bluest night
bloom like the sunlight in my song*


Sooooo... I started writing a little on election night and other then responding to some Facebook posts... I didn’t have anything I thought was meaningful to say. I mean everyone said everything and in a 24 hour news cycle they said it about180,000 times already. So I waited... I watched.... I listened. I learned nothing.
****
Lutheran kids are by a large part angry and somewhat hate filled about the election. That propbably is not fair, I am sure it is just a vocal minority to full of hate but wow. What have these kids got to be so angry about? And why hate Obama? Do their parents hate him that bad? Even if they do shouldn’t the kids be rebelling against that? And what does it say about how we are raising them up as Christians that they have so much angry bile that they are willing to lay out on the web for everyone to see.
****
Mc Cain’s speech was an excellent piece of work. Grace filled. Generous. Funny and serious. It was everything that made me and a lot of other Americans like and admire him for years. It is too bad that such a quality person had to lose. I was worried that they would allow Sarah Palin to break tradition and give her own concession speech. I would not have cared for that.
****
The post election attacks on Palin are embarrassing and unforgivable. And not on her part. I do not think she was ready to be VP much less President but there is no reason to think that she is not spenty intelligent. I have no idea what the agenda is of the poeple who are stabbing at her anonymously but they should be outed, fired and banned from election politics. really unforgivable.
****
all of the words you can't say right
burn my ass with anger to no end
I love my country so much man
like an exasperating friend *


I do not know what Obama is going to do or what he realistically can get done. Picking Rahm Emmanuel is not exactly a reaching acroiss the aisles type move. He sounds like a meticulous, dangerous guy but perhaps he is the guy who can get a job done. We are counting on Obama to surround himself with quality people. Lets hope he is one and that he turns out to be the first of many. I put a number of things on Facebook as a dream for this administration:
I have a dream that Obama gets elected and immediately does the following:
1. Offers Secretary of Defense job to John Mc Cain
2. Makes Petraus head of joint Chiefs of Staff
3. Offers Secretary of Treasury or Fed job to Warren Buffet and urges him to take it as a matter of public service.
4. Announces Hillary will fill next Supreme Court opening.
5. Shuts down our stock market for a week to retool the rules regarding program trading, hedge funds and over night trading and perhaps selling “futures” of things that are not actual commodities.
6. Consider closing the banks for a brief period to review them and open them again so that people have confidence in them.
7. Set aside 700 billion plan and start over. Do not allow the banks to have any money for mergers unless they are mergers directed by the FDIC. Use the money in a way that actually gets banks to lend.
8. Give the first great speech of this Millenium. remind the country that we are the greatest country in the world but help the country to redefine that greatness.
9. Ask Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reed to step down from their leadership positions in order to elect new leadership for our new challenges.
That is a lot.

***
I liked Obama’s speech but it was not transcendant. perhaps it did not mean to be. I was moved and not put off by Jesse Jackson’s tears.

yeah, i believe the war is wrong
don't believe that nations can be steered
lead the world by smarts and compassion
by example, not coercion, force and fear*

****
How great is it that Proposition 1 to provide mental health services to youth passed? A tax increase in a time of tremendous economic upset. That is a nice sign about people in St. Louis County and I did not expect it at all.

****
So.... where was i when Barack Obama made history? I was in my shower I believe when they called the elction for him. Granted it was a foregone conclusion before then. We sat at home all night and watched returns come in. I was looking for Indiana, Ohio or Florida to tip for Obama and that would seel it. the fact that they called Pennsylvania so quickly was a sign and the close races in Virginia, North Carolina, Indiana and Missouri which all were supposed to be Red states also boded well. When they called Florida and ohio it was over. The west coast was just gravy.
Looking at the map was a little depressing. It looked almost like a civil war map. Creepy.

****
There is of course the inevitable talk of a new alignment of politics in our country and it just seems so absurd to me. Obama won for among other reasons that the republicans have had the White House for the last eight years. He also was a tremendous campaigner, an unbelievable speaker and someone who catalyzed something in the American populace. The idea that in four years or eight years that this Democratic mandate will continue is delusional. This was a case of people being sick of the administration and having a bright young star to chose to put their hopes in. This honeymoon will likely be over even faster then prior ones, especially if the Democrats in the House have their own agenda.

****
One of the problems with the expectations and hopes people have for Obama is the obvious thing that he cannot change anything. Only we can change things by changing what we do every day. We do not want to change. We do not want to conserve. We do not want to pay more taxes. We want to elect someone to do all the hard things for us but this is America. It comes down to us. That is really annoying.

***
In any case... this is still the greatest country in the world to live and we are all blest. Pray for our leaders. They are going to need it.

*Lyrics of "Move On" by Mike Doughty

DINER REVIEW ELECTION PREVIEW 2008

Sooooo... it is election eves, eve. The talking heads say Obama is lock but Mc Cain has momentum so it is not over. I do not know how those things gibe. The say Mc Cain has to run the table but figuring they have called some of the races wrong I will say if Mc Cain loses Ohio, Pennsylvania or Florida.... he is toast.

He was hilarious on SNL last night. He can make fun of himself and he does have timing. Somehow he let the campaign run him as a grumpy old man (and that is perhaps who he is) but that seems unfair. I like John Mc Cain. I like that he fights for what he believes in. I like that he got his reputation of speaking truth to power but i am voting for Obama because:

1. Mc Cain sold out his “crossing the aisle” I am a consensus maker and builder reputation when he chose a V.P. to pander towards a base which had no where else to go and he adopted the extension of the Bush tax cuts which he had made a career of opposing.

2. The choice of Palin also was just a poor choice for this election and the way she was handled is embarrassing. I am confident that she is smart, ambitious and has the best interests of the government at heart but... the way she was rolled out and pandered to the base was a mistake for a candidate who clearly has a lot going foe her.... even if I think i hate her.

3. He did not surround himself with people who could help him make good decisions in difficult time. Surrounding yourself with people who do not have good instincts is...Bushlike. Obama clearly ran a better, smarter campaign. Perhaps running a campaign is whole lot easier then running a government but if you cannot do one...

So I will show up at 6 in Webster and cast my vote. I have predictions.

1. Voter turnout will be huge but even with a massive increase in young voters (18-25) they will not show up and make the effort to vote.
2. Obama wins in landslide with 58% of popular vote, without the youth vote.
3. He has huge electoral college win leading idiot Democrats to do the same thing Karl Rove did and predict a fundamental turn in the electorate and a permanent democratic majority. This is...idiotic. Our country is deeply polarized and politics is cyclical. It is the Dems year and it is only because Obama is a charismatic leader. With anyone else at the top of the ticket (even Hillary) this is a nail biter and they do not win all those states.
4. The Dems have 59 in the Senate.
5. Obama is one term President.
6. Obama is so wrapped up in recession/depression problems that there is no timing or funding for health care reform or almost anything else.

The Republicans could still win this election. They need to promo Sarah Palin at a 50,000 person rally in Branson to get the whole crowd chanting “Obama, Pelosi and Reed...OH MY!” to the tune of “Lions and Tigers and Bears”. That is a scary thought. That could turn the whole thing around with a few prime time TV buys and huge You Tube press. Seriously, that could do it. Instead they will try and scare people in stupid and unscary ways like Bill Ayers and “socialism”...yawn. they deserve to lose. They have no imagination and that is the unkindest thing I can say.

****

MY DREAM
I have a dream that Obama gets elected and immediately does the following:
1. Offers Secretary of Defense job to John Mc Cain
2. Makes Petraus head of joint Chiefs of Staff
3. Offers Secretary of Treasury or Fed job to Warren Buffet and urges him to take it as a matter of public service.
4. Announces Hillary will fill next Supreme Court opening.
5. Shuts down our stock market for a week to retool the rules regarding program trading, hedge funds and over night trading and perhaps selling “futures” of things that are not actual commodities.
6. Consider closing the banks for a brief period to review them and open them again so that people have confidence in them.
7. Set aside 700 billion plan and start over. Do not allow the banks to have any money for mergers unless they are mergers directed by the FDIC. Use the money in a way that actually gets banks to lend.
8. Give the first great speech of this Millenium. remind the country that we are the greatest country in the world but help the country to redefine that greatness.

****

I don’t ask for much.
God’s Blessings. Go vote.

Erata: February

Here is something I would like a comment upon... or two because it is an important issue for an epicurean focused blog such as this one. Now I know some of you are not residents of the Lou and that most of you are familiar with only the tradional Surf and Turn which consists of a filet mignon and a lobster tale. Not to disparage the traditional surf and turf but for me I have a St. louis variation (not that it is not available in other cities but it seems to me to speak volumes about my town) I call (cleverly) “St. Louis Surf and Turf” which consists of White Castle Cheeseburgers (not just for drunks anymore) and two pieces of Long John Silvers fried fish. Obviously this calls for some side dishes and generally I would reccomend the cumblies (by-product of deep fryar which are thrown away by a lot of less perceptive purveyors of fast food) and some onion rings (also fried) from White Castle.
So that... according the definitive source, the St. Louis Diner Review is St. Louis Surf and Turf. But... I am not an island and I am always open to the possibility (however slim) that I might be incorrect, and that being the case I would like to solicit your opinions on the best modern surf and turf... from St. Louis... or wherever. I await your comments ALL of which will be published. Do NOT disappoint me.
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Even in the midst of election fatigue where I am not watching Meet The Press and was grateful for public radio’s Valentine’s Pledge Drive giving me a reason to turn NPR off... I am still having ideations of election nightmares at 2:00 A.M. The most recent one is (forgetting about super delegates and the seating of Michigan and Florida) what happens if barack does not knock Hillary off by Texas? The State that gave us George W. Bush could play a decisive role in shoving Hillary to the nomination. Might be an even better “firewall” for her the California was since it has a large hispanic population and historically no great love for african americans. Frightening. I am hoping after his sweep of Kansas, Washington and Louisiana that he can follow up with the Chesapeake Primaries of Maryland, D.C. and Virginia and she will do the right thing and quit like a Becker.
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What happened to Mike Gravel?
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Does Ron Paul really believe that the Trialateral Commission in conjunction with the evil cabal of international financiers and of course the liberal Jewish media are planning Canmexamerica uniting North America... like that awful European Union? Would that be a bad thing?
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Now it is Valentines Day! A lot has happened. Barack has swept 8 in a row and although we are still concerned about Texas that looks to be the only race Hillary can win. So what about Valentines Day? Is there any holiday that is more insipid... more prone to misunderstanding, mis calculation, out of whack expectations and general unhappiness? (The answer is no.) The Hallmark people and their lobby must have been working over time on this one. I have nothing against love, infatuation or sex and the persuit thereof no matter how misguided but... jeez... Valentines Day with it’s forced ackowledgment of your special “relationships” tends to be painful, awkward and well, stupid. If you love someone... you need to find a way to show it every day...duh?
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So, we soldier through February trying not to kill ourselves. We watch the fabulous yet unheralded Duke Bulldogs... shambling out of Des Moines. Althoug beaten last night by this years unheralded SIU Carbondale the champs out of Iowa look like they will give us all someone to root for in the NCAA’s. You have to love the underdog, even if they have only lost two, they are still from Iowa and still have an ugly mascot..
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The election moves on to Iowa. Hillary’s huliation will continue albeit slowly.
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The writers strike is over. rarely have I felt less inconvenienced by a “major” strike.
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More and more Mark Mc Guires pathetic appearance before the Senate several years ago looks... brilliant. Making the best out of a disasterous situation Mc Guire feigned memory loss and refused to answer questions about his steroid and or HGH use. Roger Clemmens on the other hand is insisting upon extending the nations, and his own pain with what appear to be a series of arrogant lies and deninciations. I watched him the other day in front of Congress. Perhaps he does not go down for perjury but he NEVER gets into the Hall of Fame and is generally remembered as a putz. A little sad but for the fact thtta he seems like such an asshole (the type of guy who would have enjoyed beating me up in high school) that I cannot muster much sympathy for him. Not that there is anything particularly sad or pathetic about having your wife shoot up HGH before a photo shoot. Jeez.

Election Fatigue

It could happen to you, it could happen to me, it could happen to everyone eventually... But seriously. I never thought it would happen to me. I was really, really excited about this election. It was close, it was engaging... everything I could want our of an election. I loved it. It had a good guy (Obama), a bad girl (Hillary), a grumpy old man (Mc Cain), a high priest (Huckabee) and a born again Nazi (John Mc Cain). It was fun. I love our system and even with these absurdly early primaries making the season more absuder (legal term) it seemed like it would all be good.

I think I started to tire when I found out that John Mc Cain was a left leaning, pinko, gay marriage espousing, pro abortion, anti-life, probably gay himself, killer of small children, puppy maiming BASTARD! I had no idea. I thought he was just a smart but grumpy old man who had served his country well, been a prisoner of war, devoted himself to public service, refused the pork barrel earmarks and (in earlier elections) stood up to hate and intolerance. So it was distracting when my favorite comfort woman to the Nazi’s... Anne Coulter set me straight on John Mc Cain. I think that started to make me tired.
And then there was Super Tuesday. I was really thinking I would get some closure on the Obama/Clinton thing at Super Tuesday but... instead I get uncertainty and fear that we will go to the convention without being united. That there will be legal battles over the seating of the Florida and Michigan delegates where Hillary won and Barack didn’t campaign. That there will be a convention decided by “Super Delegates” that no one voted for.

Now Romney has quit. That is a good thing because I really hated him (and I know that is irrational) and his rich guy (I put 35 million into my own campaign) pretty haired, I turned around the Olympics and a consulting company so I can run the country, attitude. Now everyone says Mc Cain will pick Huckabee as his VP but I do not see it. I hope he does not grab Johnny Depp before Obama thinks of it. God it is hard on me coming up with all the ideas for these guys.

And when I started to think about all that I really just became tired of the whole thing. I listened to all the analysts on Wednesday puffing and talking and... I just got tired. The local NPR station started it’s Valentine’s pledge drive this morning and I was grateful for the break in commentating. I think that I am afraid for the future and that makes me feel weak and sad. I do not have a lot of faith that anyone can save us from a long cold winter in our economy and I have fears of fascism and nationalism and a lot of other ism’s as we start through our Limbaugh and Coulter demagogues to find people to blame. I really am afraid of that so... I am taking a break from political blogging for a while and doing a strategic withdrawal until March or so. Certainly know one can object to that?

DINER REVIEW ANNOUNCES PRIMARY WINNERS

Diner Review Picks Nominees!








I know that everyone is in a race to have the first primary or caucus or whatever and I know that they are going to try and spring all this on us in January but your friends at the Diner Review have decided to forego all of that and save your New Years by telling you now who the nominees are going to be. Absent a major stroke by the populations of Iowa, New Hampshire and Michigan the nominees will be:

Democrats: Barack Obama
Republicans: Mike Huckabee

You heard it here first. But why you might ask the great Diner Reviewer do you think they will be the nominees? I will instruct you as if i were the great and all powerful LIBERAL MEDIA. Well, the schedule is as follows for January for the Democrats:

January 2008
3 - Iowa caucus (per Iowa caucus, website of the Iowa Caucus Project)
8 - New Hampshire Primary (changed on 11/21/07 so it could move back up to first primary status; they waited to make sure Michigan wouldn't schedule their primary even earlier than Jan 15th)
15 - Michigan (on 11/20/07, a judge ruled the primary can be held on Jan 15th; DNC will probably penalize them by taking away delegates)
19 - Nevada caucus (approved by DNC)
26 - South Carolina Primary (approved by DNC)
29 - Florida Primary (may be penalized by DNC for breaking party rules, which may result in losing delegates)

The Republicans throw in a party in Wyoming:
January 2008
3 - Iowa
5 - Wyoming Republican Convention
8 - New Hampshire Primary
15 - Michigan
19 - Nevada, South Carolina
29 - Florida

So here are the problems and opportunities according to the Diner Review. Hillary Clinton is the only Democrat who can lose the presidential election. She is a galvanizing force for the Republicans and has no real governing experience and although advised by the BEST political machine in recent history she cannot fix herself. She has flipped on every important issue to make herself more palatable to what she perceives as the the main stream of the party and is nothing anymore to anyone other then Bill’s really smart, aggressive wife. She is too much of the same system that has brought us here. All Obama will do is the week before the caucus is to remind the Iowans that if she is elected we will have had 20 years of Bush and Clinton dynasties and are they going to tack on another 8 years... a whole generation of two family families having the the Presidency divvied up between them? Iowan’s will not tolerate it.

John Edwards is lost before he starts. he does have a great populist stump speech and I think he has a great heart but he got played out as Gore’s number 2 and people think that they have his number. He is a populist of the multi millionaire variety. he might make a nice VP candidate this time around but Obama will need someone from New York, California or Texas to round out his ticket. Bottom line is that Edwards would be tough to elect as well.
Obama is asking the hard questions and doing his best to tell the truth. He is telling the folks that there are no easy answers and that it is time for a change. Thats is what people want to hear, that is what they need to hear. I only hope the guy can deliver. he appears to be the only one of the bunch who can make any claim to be an outsider. Perhaps it is an illusion and maybe even a lie but... maybe night and that is all we really need. Once he wins Iowa Hillary’s bubble bursts, Edwards goes away when his funding dries up. New Hampshire even if Hillary can limp through and win that one starts to get killed in Michigan (which might lose it’s delegates anyway) but when they hit Nevada and South Carolina it will be over. Obama will kill her by then

The Republicans will be a lot easier. Huckabee beats Romneys well financed machine by 5 percentage points... or more. Guliani get killed in Iowa... killed. He and Romney limp into New Hampshire where they narrowly beat the rising tide of the Huckabee machine which then rolls on into Michigan, where he kills and the they fight a little battle in Nevada and then HE KILLS THEM in South carolina... and if Florida has to vote...they will and he will win there too.
Romney is a Mormon and the conservative christians will not line up behind him. Like it or not Christians view Mormons as nuts. I know that sounds bigoted or wrong but it is what it is and no amount of repositioning or pandering can get him there. Guliani is just simply unlikable outside of New York and he cannot say 9-11 enough to change that. Huckabee is pleasant, likable former minister who talks pretty well and has a nice story. he is also from Hope Arkansas and the republicans as much as they hate Clinton, admire the way he bitch slapped them. it is Huckabee and it is over before Super Tuesday.