The US Senate held their question and answer period this past week to decide whether or not to confirm New York judge Sonia Sotomayor as this nation's 111th Supreme Court Justice.
Many years ago when judges were nominated to the Supreme Court they could look forward to a short vetting out period where Senators would look into their views and decide if they were qualified and impartial enough to fit the bill.
But these days the proceedings are used to gain face time on television and possible sound-bites on the 24 hour cable news services. Generally the opposition, the party not in power at the time of the nomination will find fault in the candidate even if they have to manufacture it. And manufacturing truths has become the Republicans middle name ever since Karl Rove showed them how easy it is to do so.
This year was no exception as the Republicans chose to go back into history and take a phrase out of context used by then Judge Sotomayor at a dinner event. The phrase gave the impression that she felt she could make a better decision than a White male because of her background as a Latina. Of course since the Supreme Court has had 110 justices to date and 107 of them have been white males this offended the "Party of No" tremendously.
Their fake outrage was evident on every Fox News owned station and paper.The Republicans jumped all over this as the single reason to throw out her nomination even though her years on the bench proved her to be more than qualified and in fact among the most qualified to ever hold the post. She is arguably more qualified than a few of the terribly biased Republican appointed judges currently serving on the court.
The entire function was fairly dull because the questions posed to Ms. Sotomayor were repetitious and showed that the Republican Party is lost and has no definitive direction. And when some of the Senators brought up the question of her temperament any sane individual would have to have asked if any of the 108 male justices previously interviewed had ever been questioned in that area. Don't bother to go to the videotape, they had not. I was waiting to hear one of the chauvinistic morons suggest that her time of the month might affect her rulings.
In fact the grilling of Justice Sotomayor could have been written by Sesame Street: "Today's proceedings are being brought to you by the letters EM and the number 3. Sonia Sotomayor is attempting to become merely female justice #3 on the Supreme Court out of 111 total in its history. And she appears to have an EMpathetic nature."
The Republicans who are dead set against anything the Democrats are trying to do have pulled out those two letters in their defense. E & M and are the first letters in the word EMpathetic! They claim that Ms. Sotomayor is too EMpathetic to be a fair minded judge.
Of course empathy is what someone has too much of when they rule against you or your friends in favor of the other guy. In this case they are implying that other guy is the common man or woman and very likely a minority and the machine, AK the lobbyists will lose out.
The real reason they are against her is that they do not like the letters EM nor do they like the word EMpathetic. That is because they themselves don't use those letters and are in fact just plain PATHETIC.
At around 11:30 am July 14th I will officially have been breathing on my own for 60 years.
Much has changed since that hot July day in 1949 but I celebrate the anniversary of that day quietly, at least internally.
There are some similarities between then and now:
I was not working when I was born and I am not working now.
I did not have that much hair then and, well I don't have that much left now.
Most of my food back then was in the form of a liquid and I do make it a point now to have at least one in that form every day as well, although my current libations are a bit more potent.
I couldn't really use my hands all that well at birth and until I finish physical therapy in a few weeks (depending on my HMO) I have limitations in that department now also. (I could suck on my toes back then. Now I'd be in traction if I tried.)
I lived at home then and I live in my home now. (Do you live at home? - Always a pet bugaboo with me. Ask if you dare and I'll explain.)
The country was just coming out of a war back then and peace, if we don't consider the cold war was about to reign for a while. Well I guess it's the opposite now as we seem to be entering into a never ending period of war. But we would only know that by turning on the TV or searching the innards of the papers as a celebrity death or Politician's affair can preempt the war in a moment's notice.
We are arguably heading into a warming trend in the world with Global Climate Change a real threat to our existence on this planet. And yet this July and the June that just ended were rather cool and wet. This is a stark contrast to 1949 which, as my mother loved to remind me was an extremely hot record breaking summer during which she carried me to term. The guilt starts early in a nice Jewish home.
The Dow Jones was at 170 which was actually not bad since it started in 1896 at 28.66 (Why they didn't start at like at 10 or 100 is beyond me but I guess they needed to be inscrutable.) However that 170 Dow was 55% lower than its all time high to that point. Now we are around 8,330 on the Dow which is 41% lower than our current all time high. That's quite an improvement and it happened in my lifetime. No applause please.
Naturally there are many differences between the worlds of 1949 and now not the least of which is the fact that I am typing this on a personal computer. But we still have our old typewriter somewhere in the attic and even an electric one in the basement. It's under a layer of dust and behind some broken TV table I have to fix one of these days. Back then everyone knew what an Eberhard Faber #2 was, now only old accountants remember them.
And I have my mother's old Singer as well. You have to be really young to not know what that is. (Hint to the younger readers, it's not one of the Jonas Brothers.)
Back then we ate out occasionally and brought in food for dinner once or twice a month. Our favorite take out then as now was Chinese food but then Chow Mein was the staple. I can still remember when we branched out nervously to Moo Goo Gai Pan which was really just Chow Mein on steroids. It's was like all Mexican fast food is now - they use the same basic ingredients but in different proportions so it has a different name. (I'll have a tacquito, or is it a burriquito, no wait make it a Quesapizza.)
Nowadays we have Asian Fusion restaurants that serve any combination of every Far Eastern country including sushi which back when I was born was a huge no-no. In fact even when I was growing up eating it raw had a different connotation that was not all that pleasant.
But one thing I guess I enjoy about being old other than the fact that not getting old means I didn't make it is my family, my wife and kids. Everyone loves their own and I am no exception. Sure they piss me off from time to time but I probably return the favor just as much, at least I try to. The difference is that I am entering my so-called golden years and I am expected to become more irascible and annoying. (Funny how we color old age - Golden years - Gray brigade - just as our eyesight is failing.)
I especially love the image of the family sitting around the dinner table with the patriarch chomping away obliviously on some piece of chicken while the conversation moves to the inevitable, "What do you want to do with Pop?" "Well we have company coming this weekend you know." "Right, I forgot. Okay, I'll put him in the garage."
I am getting close to that point although my dad is 91 plus and still doing well thank you very much. Unfortunately he recently lost his girlfriend and that is naturally weighing on him but, at least to this point he is a survivor and an all around good man. And with the help of his 2 kids and their wonderful wives; his 4 grand children and 2 grand children in law; and his 4 (so far) great grand children as well as surviving friends and neighbors he will continue to do well.
But that's another story and this is my birthday. If he wants to talk about himself let him write his own blog.
As a joke I have always stated that my one ambition in life is to become a burden to my children. And while I cannot know exactly how many years I will have been breathing at that point in time I must say that I hope they have a nicely furnished garage.
7-4-09 Joey Chestnut breaks record by cramming 68 hot dogs down his throat to regain the coveted VD award (Vomitus Disgustus) from Japanese champion Takeru Kobayashi.
7-6-09 Oscar Mayer dies. Coincidence?
7-6-09 Long Island politician and all around idiot Peter King (he's only a Republican so we should cut him some slack) declares that the coverage of the Michael Jackson festivities is out of hand since the deceased was a "Pervert, pedophile and child molester."
7-7-09 NAACP (which should probably be renamed the N quadruple A CP-I'll let you figure it out) comes out with harsh language against the insensitive King calling him and his remarks racist.
7-7-09 to 7-9-09 Twitter world and fans of M. Jackson jump on board with criticism of King (Peter that is.)
7-10-09 Rational thought prevails as it is noted that King never even mentioned the words Black or African American in his statement about the deceased 'King of Pop' leading one to wonder if the NAACP therefore associates the traits of pervert, pedophile and child molester to be solely in the Black community. Foot in mouth?
7-8-09 In order to break the stalemate in New York's state senate in Albany Governor Paterson appoints former MTA chairman Richard Ravitch as Lieutenant Governor. The move which is the right and duty of the Governor comes months later than it should have but better late than never. It will also help to break that stalemate that has stymied NYS for months since the Lt. Governor presides over the State Senate and has the deciding vote in the event of a tie.
7-9-09 Showing their constant disregard for the population of the state and the reason the Republicans are in such disfavor these days the SOBs, I mean GOP members go to court to block the appointment of Mr. Ravitch. This latest move by the local 'Party of NO' assures state Senators the freedom to do whatever they want for the summer while the rest of us drown in debt with no services and no end in sight.
Finally 7-9-09 According to a headline in Newsday "Scientists tout sperm creation." (This is something I have been personally touting for many years but that's another story.) However the article goes on to inform us that the London based scientists have found a way to produce sperm in a laboratory. Before conjuring up visions of X-Rated magazines strewn all over the floor and empty beer bottles in petri dishes we are told that the sperm was produced by turning embryonic male stem cells into the desired product. Naturally more testing and more time is needed to perfect the process that precludes the need for 49% of the world's population.
7-10-09 Shouting "Free at last, Free at last, etc. Women the world over are lining up in front of divorce attorney offices awaiting final clinical tests.
I hate to burst anyone's bubble unless they really deserve it. Of course the list of those who deserve it has increased exponentially in the last year but...
Did you know that the fast food industry is lying to us? I know, I know it was hard for me to believe it also. I mean we are their customers and they need us to survive so why would they want to lie?
Well facts are facts and a recent scientific study showed that many places are posting wrong figures for the caloric content of their crap. And not surprisingly the numbers always seem to be on the low side of reality.
The study can be found in the Wall St. Journal, that bastion of industry and safe haven for the machine vs. the little man so you know it must be true. Here is the link to the actual story.
I especially enjoyed the opening line about Joey Chestnut (whose last name holds the key to the man's psyche) and the fact that he consumed over TWENTY THOUSAND CALORIES eating those hot dogs on Coney Island during his quest to regain the title of stupidest idiot on the Earth from his arch rival and equally idiotic Japanese competitor.
But the rest of us are a bit more modest in our choice of food, at least in quantity. However with the economy in the toilet many people are forced to eat cheaper food and we all know that fast food restaurants offer the cheapest food around, that is if you do not add the cost of doctor visits and shortened life spans.
So why would these bastions of bogus nutrition need to poison their patrons? PROFIT!
Come on America, you can figure this one out. You can make more money serving shit than actually making sure the food is healthy!
Enough of me saying so - Visit the government's page for yourself and start living better. We pay enormous amounts of taxes in this country the least we can do is afford ourselves some of the benefits.
So visit the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and learn how to live longer and healthier. And think of how many more of my posts you'll be treated to along the way - Or not.
Here is my take on the woman of Wasilla. Palin is a Pain. But wait a while!
(Have some fun with her name-How many words can you make using those letters? - Pan - Lip - Nap - Nip - etc.)
But no matter what you think about her she is a force. Granted that does not make her good or even newsworthy. I would love for the cable services and newspapers to just stop reporting her every bowel movement but...
A month before the Vice Presidential debate between lovable foot-in-the-mouth Biden and the former ESPN sports caster and beauty queen with a flute from Alaska the GOP hired a coach to train their candidate in the fine art of debating. The coach declared to a few insiders at the time that this woman seemed afraid not of the confrontation but of the fact that she basically knew nothing. She feared that her stupidity on the issues (My words, her sentiment) would be exposed and unless Playboy was willing to fork over some cash exposing herself was not on the menu.
However the coach later admitted that she actually handled the debate quite well and although expectations were low she nevertheless exceeded them.
This brings me to my point. Ms. Palin is or can be a fast learner and she is definitely a fighter. Given time and the tools needed she will be able to fool enough of the people to get back her political clout. In order to do this she would have to go away and study; learn the issues and figure out how to couch her statements and answers to questions on those issues in an intelligent manner.
I am not saying she will become good or even smart but I am saying that she could become adept enough at the game of politics so as to keep her foot out of her mouth long enough to succeed. And if she succeeds she will be back and soon, say in time for the 2012 run.
Let's not forget that 4 years before he was elected President not too many people knew Barack Obama. He studied and made all the right moves, joined and quit all the right Churches and came up with an internet plan to rake in the cash second to none. He then wiped the floor with all opponnets. Okay Jiminy Cricket would have looked better than any Republican after 8 years of Bush-Cheney but he did come off as impressive.
Remember this post in 2 years and when Palin resurfaces, assuming she goes away (please God) I will expect more than a few "Wow, you were right's."
As usual reading or listening to the news gets my blood boiling. I can never figure out how so many people get away with so much crap without anyone doing anything to stop them. But since there is always two sides to every argument or debate I am certain to piss some people off by stating my side of the issues. That is what a blog is for and that is why I write this one. If my friendly opponents wish to air differing views they may pen their own. I will even help them get started.
Today's bit of WTF news is on the front page of Newsday. In fact there are three items on that cover and I would like to say something about each.
First there is a teaser about the Pope and business ethics. The article which details the call from the Pope to business leaders asks for people to be placed ahead of profits. This is an admirable thought and one that I share. However in a slightly kettle-pot moment the Pope fails to note that he is the leader of arguably the richest organized religion in the world. The Church has an obscene amount of cash and property that is not taxed and it can do with it as it pleases without any seeming accountability. Perhaps Bernie Madoff chose the wrong scam to make his billions.
If the Pope would agree to sell off some of his rings and pare down the pomp and ceremony of his showy extravaganzas he might have a few billion dollars to funnel back into society. Using the same logic as he is transferring to the business community, which is undoubtedly only interested in themselves he should direct some of the Church's profits back to the people. If he were to order just half of what the fair taxes would be on Church property we could get our debt down to a manageable amount. And then his words would carry far more weight!
The second article on the cover of Newsday is a farewell to another business on the Island. OSI Pharmaceuticals is preparing to jump ship for greener pastures upstate. This Suffolk mainstay of 26 years has tried to make a go of it in Melville as it churns out anti-cancer drugs and works on other cures for disease. They had wished to expand so as to make it possible to find more cures for our diseases and have them come from Long Island.
But luckily we have caring elected officials such as Republican State Senator Charles Fuschillo who has repeatedly blocked attempts by OSI to expand here in New York. His claim that OSI would be leasing and building on state property without any public bidding has finally put an end to the pipedream of a pipeline of Long Island drugs. So the Merrick Republican can claim a victory over big business and Long Island can kiss 200 jobs and taxes from OSI goodbye. You may read the entire article which will show the scope of this loss due to one absolutely moronic a-hole in the paper or right here.
Another tiny article of note is hidden on page 8 of the paper today. A fan who was ejected from the old fan friendly Yankee Stadium won a lawsuit against the team and the city to the relatively small tune of $35,000. His crime was a heinous one and obviously premeditated but the courts decided to award him the verdict nevertheless. I will report, you decide.
Bradford Campeau-Laurion is a Red Sox fan and he was at the game in the Bronx on August 26th last year. Presumably after paying the exorbitant amount of money for the shitty beer they serve he felt the need to relieve himself. Being a law-abiding citizen of America he decided upon the men's restroom as his recepticle of choice. But he tried to do this during the seventh inning playing of the song "God Bless America." The police tried to stop him but he complained and when he refused to zip it they forcibly arrested him and tossed him out of the stadium. The officer even went as far as to suggest that since he did not wish to stand erect during the song he should leave the country.
Finally, although there were many more stories of note today as always I would like to say thank you to Newsday for their thoughfulness on the coverage of the never-ending saga of the Michael Jackson death. As the SNL skit once declared Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead - And so is Michael Jackson.
So after non-stop coverage on CNN and various other television news stations who seem to have lost sight of the real world Newsday chose to place a 16 page pullout section on the event. This allowed me to immediately remove it from the paper and place it untouched and unread into the recycleable bin without damaging the real newspaper. Bravo Newsday.
In order to get our points across we all use certain words or phrases or even mannerisms. For example if someone calls you a genius it certainly could be taken as a compliment unless of course that person rolled his eyes while saying so. Also nothing is cut and dried so even if someone says something that you might find offensive it would help to know how they meant it and from whom it is coming.
A perfect example is the use of the offensive "N" word. While it has long been a taboo for White people Blacks continue to use the term freely among themselves.
Many years ago I worked in a small company and had the great pleasure of meeting David, a young boy with a working knowledge of "street language." I asked him one day how come he called another kid who worked there, "money." He told me, "It's because he don't have any. You know, you say the opposite of what it is." David would teach me "street talk" and I would try to get him to use more accepted business language.
One day I needed David to do something for me and as he passed my office I called out to him. "Yo brains can I see for a second?" David almost fell on the floor laughing at the obvious intent of my words.
We both benefited although when last I saw him he would still say bof (bow-f) instead of both.
Unfortunately not everyone is as intuitively smart as David and most other people know this. They intentionally say things to provoke and incite and then cleverly hide behind some vail of innocence as though to say, "If you took my words the wrong way then it's your problem, not mine."
It is no secret that our economy is in the dumps and we need help to get back on track. Right or wrong the current administration is trying many ways to start things moving again. Naturally until and unless it works there will be nay-sayers but the fact that they are allowed to do so is what makes America great.
However the words that are being used and used and used are starting to show a theme. It is a coincidence when two people choose the same words to describe a complex situation but when an entire wing of the Government, as in the Republican Party uses the same words on every show and every in every paper and every chance they get it is a concerted effort bordering on conspiracy.
The stimulus package that was started back in the Bush administration was implemented because it seemed that it was needed. The country had wasted billions of dollars and thousands of lives and lost millions of jobs due to the misguided path they had taken. The Obama administration is continuing the stimulus and believing that it has a chance to avert total disaster has actually expanded it in some ways.
The Republican Party to a man (and woman) is calling it a "Spending Binge" and they are doing it constantly and squeezing it into sentences where ever possible. They are hoping for the same effect that advertisers get when they repeat the 800 number at least three times in every commercial that needs you to call them.
The term Binge has a detrimental conotation and is being used on purpose.
The Republicans have also taken another term out of moth balls that was last used when Hillary Clinton tried to help the middle and lower classes of America get affordable health care. That term is "Socialized Medicine." They are calling any change to the status quo where big insurance companies are able to reap huge fortunes while raping our citizens "Socialism."
The word conjures up bad times and tends to make people worry and yet even though there is no such proposal on the table and they know full well it is not socialism they continue to spout the word every chance they get.
But why do it? Why use key words and phrases to hurt the very same people who elected you to do the job that you say you wish to do? It's simple really, you have to keep the status quo because your job is part of it!
Republicans have become so adept at not going too far with their "hate speak" that they have started to actually go nowhere! When they use the hateful words they offer nothing in return.
But they continue to use them since we have become a sound-bite society. We generally listen to one or two words before turning the channel or the page to see what else is going on. With so much information out there and so many ways to get it can we really be blamed for not reading to the end of an article or watching an entire political show? And if we do then isn't it certain that we will not have enough time to hear a different view? The beauty of the Republican method of obfuscation that they have used since before many of our children were born is that you don't have to listen to the end of their speech or read their entire article. What you get from one is the same as what the other will tell you so in the long run you will get their message no matter what.
The Republicans are known as the "Party of Family Values." By whom? Certainly not by themselves or their families! So how did this come about? They called themselves that and continue to do so to this day although the families of Mr. Vitter, Mr. Sanford, Mr. Gingrich, Mr Foley (I could go on and on but will stop here) would beg to differ. And while Republican and Conservative pundits visit every talk show and spout that the Democrats have also had their share of famous discretions the answer must surely be that, "Unlike you guys, we never said we were perfect."
What America needs now is quite simply for the politicians on both sides of the aisle to shut the Hell up and get to work. Our need for the sound-bite will still be there when they fix the economy. We will still believe the ads trashing their opponents in the upcoming election even after we get affordable health care. We will still fall for the use of certain key words and phrases after our 401Ks are back on track and our retirement is a bit more secure. We will all take sides and vote for the politician with the catchiest catch phrase even after we have lowered unemployment down to a manageable number.
Republicans and most politicians see Americans as sheep because we have acted with brainless herd mentality for too long. We must see through the use of hate speech and sound-bite phrases and demand the governance we deserve.
Let's stop binging on key words and become a bit more social in our attitude. We all want health, wealth and happiness because a rose by any other name would still smell as sweet.
A good friend of mine sent me an e-mail filled with photographs of people demonstrating against Obama and the things he is trying to do to get the economy back on track. He said that he bet we did not see it on the news implying that it really happened and was not covered by the so-called Liberal press.
As I said he is a good friend of mine and I do not wish to lose a friend over differing political views so I replied to him with the following statement. I did so with love and understanding of the fact America allows all sides to air their views, even if they are wrong and mis-guided.
"Sure we saw it on the news – Fox News which is synonymous with No News!
You will always find a group of people ready to carry banners for pay no matter where you go. Hell I was laid off by a so-called businessman 10 months ago and I still feel to this day that I can do and did a better job than half the people at the company, including the ones who laid me off. So if some organizer of a silly ridiculous group of morons such as the ones who staged the rally in these photos or the organizers who run the “Tea Bag” rebellions asked me to join their rally and paid me I would do it as well. In fact I would jump at the idea of getting paid and taking some cash away from them.
The bottom line is this – we have a President and Congress and a recession not of their doing. If we wish to let the recession continue until the next election and even further then the opposition party should continue to obstruct and complain and hire people to say things about everything the current administration tries to do. But if we wish to get out of the bad times and back into prosperity then both sides should start to work together QUIETLY and without statements to the press aimed at gaining political points with their constituents. Afterwards they can do as all politicians have done since time began, take credit for the prosperity and good times as a result of their hard work.
Cheney continues to blame everything bad that happens or might happen but has not on Obama even though most of the things he complains about were started by him and his puppet. He complained this week that our pulling out of Iraq is causing the increase in violence and blamed it on the current administration. But last year while he was still running the country Cheney and W set June as the date to pull out! We need people like Cheney to realize that their 15 minutes is up and they must depart to greener pastures. In Cheney’s case I’ll admit that I would rather he depart UNDER the greener pastures but…
The bottom line is this - Let’s cut the crap and try to work together. I need to get back into the win column and I cannot do so when the people in control have to fight the other side of the aisle at every turn. You do not have to use a slogan such as “Yes We Can” or “Change is Good.” How about “United We Stand.” Because divided we are surely not doing so well."
Anyway I hope he still considers me a friend - I know I do.
