The genius in the classroom answers every question while collective mediocrity smirks to hide its admiration and envy. Islamic murderers are rewarded with seventy virgins, but Christian sinners spend time in hell with dried up prostitutes. It’s easy to denigrate the nation’s treasures like Purple Hearts that do not bleed enough or the Iwo Jima memorial where Marines posed for the heroic imagery. In spite of desecration, the symbols proudly endure. When Marie Antoinette said, “L...
Those who condemn materialism should at least acknowledge that it helped bring along sanitary plumbing. … It’s a cheap shot to fault Bush for continuing to read the goat story; give him credit for being into it since he seldom reads anything. … Hello? … What rich kid doesn’t get preferential treatment? … If the French are so bad why don’t we ship back the Statue of Liberty? … Democracy is in its infancy in Russia, so we should take a wait and see position on Putin’s clamping down, after all,...
A president cannot create jobs, but he can encourage new directions that lead to them. Millions of dissatisfied part-time workers who want to work full time should be deflected to other areas, such as defense against hurricanes by making wind-proof windows and shudders for general construction along our shorelines where demand would be intense, subsequently the prices would become reasonable and replace the mad dash for plywood. Architects and engineers could blueprint roof structure anchorag...
It should be no contest but it appears the latest polls suggest that nearly 50% are going to stay the course regardless of the multi-faceted incompetence of the President: ● Though a majority wishes the war in Iraq never happened, it still, defying all logic, heralds Bush as a strong leader and commander in chief. ● American...
The great “liberal” empire state is cutting 512 jobs in Yonkers’ city schools along with interscholastic sports, music, art, and after-school programs for the reason that there is a limit to raising local taxes when short-funded by the state. … Whoever heard of a nonpartisan congressman? — Goss, the nominee for the supra CIA agent who recently blasted Kerry’s alleged votes in intelligence cutting, promises to be above politics. If Kerry wins the appointment will be academic. … Besides Goss as...
With few exceptions, business companies can no longer be trusted to manage retirement funds and to supply health insurance. The mistake in the first place was owing to the unions’ negotiating for fringe benefits at the expense of higher wages, and thereby influenced non-union companies to follow suit. This process has been reduced to systemic robbing Peter to pay Paul, resulting in the government expenditures of billions of dollars to guarantee pensions in default. Workers’ costs of health in...
Reagan began a revolution in this country wherein the mythology of conservatism and rugged individualism took over the land driven by the manifesto that big government was the enemy and the only cure was big business unregulated. The Reagan honeymoon cannot continue for much longer; indeed, to some degree it suffered a setback during the Clinton years. Although it was resurrected in 2000 and seemingly its illusory system has reached a crescendo today, there are ominous signs that the manifest...
If girlie-men economics means that it is flexible and not musclebound, I’m all for it. Bush’s economic policy on the other hand is on steroids, which is another way of saying it will collapse from its dead weight of debt. … I wonder if Schwarzenegger in front of Marie Shriver has the guts to call the all the male Kennedys girlie-men. … Afghanistan is ostensibly doing well — tell that to the charitable organization Médecins Sans Frontières that withdrew from there because the new government fa...
Hello? … Either I 've been sleeping for thirty years or there is indeed a nasty war going on today and that Vietnam was finally over. Nevertheless, the war in Iraq does tie in with the war that ended thirty years ago. No, it has no connection with Kerry’s war record or anti-war efforts afterwards; nor, has it anything to do with Bush’ s national guard service. Yet it is certainly connected with the political aspect of the war in Vietnam: come hell or high water, President Johnson was going to...
What with journalists of late relying on dour imagination, hearsay and foggy memories, it does not astonish me that CBS would also engage in selective reporting without carefully checking documentation. [I sound like Draginol now.] Dan Rather, who clearly has no love for ‘41 and ‘43, the CBS executives should have been particularly suspicious. I am not saying that Rather deliberately joined in a conspiracy of fraudulent documentation, but because of his leanings, he probably enthusiastically ...
The current median income for a family of four is about $55,000 or approximately three times that of the poverty line at $19,000 for a family of four. The problem with these statistics when trying to arrive at a “living wage” that often is juxtaposed to the horrific rate of $5.15 an hour or $10,500, which if adjusted for inflation should be at $7.50 or $15,000, is in the difficulty of determining how much of the median and the poverty line owe to two salaries. If those at the four-family pove...
“Four More Years of Bush” means unlimited corporate power and the end of a woman’s right to choose. … In light of the Republican Convention's convenient love affair with moderates Giuliani and Schwarzenegger, the campaign managers were spared having to ask Olympia Snowe to speak inasmuch as she’s been dubbed a “Daschle Republican” because of her fight to limit tax cuts. … I omitted John McCain from the “moderate” list because he is deeply conservative — he just doesn’t like to be told to...
The general conservative posture on outsourcing being good for the economy is defended by the balance of insourcing. It is true that many foreign automakers have been compelled to assemble their automobiles in union-free zones of the US. Seldom, however, are they actually manufactured here — essential parts for assembly are imported. There is no question that the automobile industry has improved because of Japan, Korea and Germany stressing quality. Conservatives like to blame the old time ...
Political analysts are in agreement that presidential campaigns are too long and should be shortened to, say, two months; I maintain that campaigning is continuous from one election to the next. … If there is such a thing as illegal immigrants, what’s to prevent the native American from kicking all of us out? … In the ‘60 presidential debate, pundits claimed that Kennedy won because of Nixon’s five o’clock shadow; this time you can bet the Crawford Ranch that Bush wins on shadowy remarks that...
A sleeping conscience or one in denial is the most effective way to hide the truth. The art of a politician is to lie without a shit-eaten grin. The Constitution was never meant to be etched in marble to allow for amendments, but neither was it intended to be inscribed in play-dough for frivolous amendments. If God created humanity to put it through a test, then all of us have graduated from failing schools. When the voice behind the check-out counter says “Have a good day...