Movie recommendation

We just got back from seeing Frost/Nixon. VERY enjoyable.

Frank Langella is tremendous as Nixon.

Frank made his name on stage and in a mediocre film as Dracula. I was thinking about his characters, Dracula and Nixon. Of course, one was an evil soulless bloodthirsty monster--while the other was just a vampire.

The End Times

We had 15 inches of snow, then -5 degrees, and today--a tropical storm. Seriously. It is 65 degrees warmer than last weekend, with 60-plus MPH winds.

To the climate change naysayers--"global warming" is often misunderstood, and people confuse climate with weather. A pattern of climate change can and does produce extremes of weather, both warm and cold, wet and dry.

Are we really tightwads?

I read a commentary from the NY Times over the weekend that's been bothering me. Nick Kristof does a pretty good analysis of Arthur Brook's book "Who Really Cares," which says, basically that conservatives in general give more to charity than liberals.

"The upshot is that Democrats, who speak passionately about the hungry and homeless, personally fork over less money to charity than Republicans - the ones who try to cut health insurance for children."

Is that true? Do we only show compassion towards the less fortunate when it is in the form of generous government spending, and not from individual contributions? In essence, are we the cheapskates??

I hate to be one-uped by Republicans, and I know that they give alot of money to churches, and he did find that religious liberals are as generous as religious conservatives, but Brooks apparently also found that "if measuring by the percentage of income given, conservatives are more generous than liberals even to secular causes."

What? Do conservatives, in general have more to give? Do we really just talk the talk, instead of putting our money where our mouth is?

Any thoughts?

On the Beach

What if we could vote for president based on who looks best on the beach ...?

And do these guys even pass the CREEP test ...?

"I AM NOT A CROOK." (See, if the president does it it's not a crime.)

"Hear, hear ..."

"Hehehe...Yuck!"

On Rick Warren...

I've been kicking this one around, and my position on it changes about as often as the amount of snow in my driveway. The take at this precise moment is:

It was a stroke of political genious. Obama looks large, conciliatory and magnanimous. It will also

a) energize civil rights activists and
b) show the Saddlebackers, et al. as the bigoted freakshow that they are

All at no cost to the president-elect.

Brilliant.

I don't know if there'll be snow....

Burl Ives sang the line above in "A Holly Jolly Christmas."




I know. There'll be snow. LOTS of snow.

Holly jolly this.

Alex, may I have conspiracy theories for $1000?

Mike Connell died in a plane crash on Thursday?

Mike Connell? Who?

Well, he was one of the key figures in the 2004 Ohio vote rigging scandal. He was on the verge of testifying and died "mysteriously" in the crash of his small airplane. How convenient.

Tricky Rod?

So, it turns out that the White House isn't the only government institution filled with devotees of one Richard Nixon:

While going to school at Northwestern University, Blagojevich idolized Nixon, according to friends, frequently defending him during the Watergate scandal. According to a long-time Blagojevich friend, the future governor often found inspiration in Nixon's "me against the world" sensibility. Blagojevich particularly loved the fact that Nixon bounced back after the "you won't have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore" speech after losing the race for California governor in 1962.

Blagojevich dismissed Nixon's corruption as par for the political course, asserting (like many Nixon defenders) that the Kennedys did far worse things than anything that happened in Watergate.

Sigh.

A random unpleasant thought

As people become more desperate in George Bush's depression, how many will join the military because they have no other options and be killed or maimed on Bush's bloody altar?

Drew Peterson is ENGAGED

So, another one of our state's embarrassments, wife-killing cop Drew Peterson, is engaged. ENGAGED. Some 23-year old girl actually agreed to marry a man who in all likelihood killed his last two wives.

But I have an idea...

Let's be proactive.

Let's plan ahead and get the happy couple those "traditional" anniversary presents.

Year 1 is paper:



Year 2 is cotton:



For #3, we have leather:

Anniversary #4 is flowers



and

Finally, for the 5th anniversary, we give the gift of wood.

I had some thoughts last night

But given the fact that it took me THREE HOURS to get home last night (a door-to-door distance of eight miles) through the storm, thoughts had to wait.

Worst commute in more than 10 years Yeccch.

If the Shoe Fits: More Tributes and Tokens of Affection

A sign that, perhaps, things have gone astray

The governor ... had no immediate reaction to the impeachment committee, spokesman Lucio Guerrero said after Madigan's announcement.

"Impeachment talk's nothing new for this governor," Guerrero said. "They've been talking about it for a long time."

Indeed, Madigan said Monday his staff has been reviewing the legal possibilities for impeachment for about a year. His office produced a memo earlier this year outlining all the arguments legislative candidates could make in favor of impeachment.

The George Bush Presidential Library

We have obtained an exclusive sneak peek at the library that will forever enshrine the legacy of George W. Bush and celebrate his "accomplishments."

Here is the main building:

and the books and papers collection:


The library has hired an experienced professional director


And includes fascinating exhibits of life in the White House:


Tributes and tokens of affection from around the world are displayed:

Of course, don't miss the lovely grounds:

Many former Bush administration members are expected to contribute to the library from their present positions:

And of course they have a full-service Bush-style snack bar!


Don't forget some refreshing coke!

The Perfect Storm: Corruption, Bailout, and Civil War

Well, whaddya know. Despite the Blago stain of corruption, statistically Illinois is not number 1, or 2, or 3, or 4.

In USA Today’s ranking, based on public corruption convictions per 100,000 residents, Illinois came in at number 18. But critics argued the study was flawed for including sparsely populated states such as North Dakota, Alaska, and Montana, which skewed the results.

USA Today’s ranking:

(1) North Dakota, (2) Louisiana, (3) Alaska, (4) Mississippi, (5) Montana, (6) Kentucky, (7) Alabama, (8) Delaware and South Dakota (tie), (9) New Jersey and Ohio (tie), and (10) Pennsylvania and Florida (tie), with (11) Hawaii, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, and Illinois (virtual tie). Note: By virtual tie, I mean Illinois and Virginia scored 3.9 convictions per 100,000 residents while West Virginia scored 4.1, and the others came in with 4.

A more solid ranking published in 2007 by Corporate Crime Reporter using Department of Justice statistics, including only the 35 most populous states that compiled all federal corruption convictions by state over a decade (from 1997 to 2006), the TOP TEN most corrupt states are (drum roll):

(1) Louisiana, (2) Mississippi, (3) Kentucky, (4) Alabama, (5) Ohio, (6) Illinois, (7) Pennsylvania, (8) Florida, (9) New Jersey, and (10) New York. Tennessee, Bob Corker’s state, gets dishonorable mention as number 11.

Corporate Crime Reporter’s metrics, by way of the Justice Department, are considered to be accurate rankings of state corruption, given the source and statistics compiled over a 10-year period. The only caveat is that the latest data is from 2006 (2007 numbers should be out shortly); it’s likely that Illinois will move up, though still doubtful the state will top out as number one based on a single year’s data.

If one looks at the really corrupt states in both rankings, some interesting patterns begin to emerge. For comparison purposes, I have bolded the most corrupt states recently in the news, and Illinois in italics. What do the highly ranked most corrupt bolded states have in common?

1. They’re Deep South red states
2. They’re “right-to-work” (a euphemism for legalized union-busting) states
3. They’re home to a burgeoning foreign auto industry
4. They’re represented by a Republican Senate clique that killed the Big 3 bailout

Blame the worker.

Bob Corker, multimillionaire senator from Tennessee, home to carpetbaggers Nissan, Kia, and Volkswagen, played the cynical role of imposing unacceptable conditions on the UAW, after an agreement was reached in which the union made multiple concessions and givebacks. The sniveling Corker did the dirty work for perpetually sneering Richard Shelby, senator from Alabama, home to carpetbaggers Mercedes, Toyota, Honda, Hyundai – Shelby sneeringly called the U.S. auto industry a “dinosaur” – and slimy Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, home to carpetbagger Toyota.

Blame the worker.

Unless he or she is white collar and works for AIG et al, in which case the sacred financial money speculators get a bailout of more than $300 billion, no questions asked. But heaven forbid they should be blue collar union members from Detroit, Michigan: throw them out like so much industrial waste or use them as bargaining chips in a high stakes game of strip your life away poker. Remove any vestige of a decent retirement income and benefits – oh, those horrendous “Legacy” costs. So what if you’ve worked your entire life in a Big 3 plant. Does that entitle you to a decent retirement with earned benefits? Not in this economy; not in this country. Not on your life. So says Corker, the multimillionaire.

Blame the worker.

Michael Moore said, folks in the Midwest industrial states are well aware of this hateful prejudice. As he put it, those who shower before going to work get a bailout, but those who have to shower after work get shafted. Michigan governor Jennifer Granholme reacted to the repulsive conduct of the Southern senators by saying it was “un-American.” When your neighbor’s house is on fire, you don’t hesitate to help. And by the way, Michigan, a union state home to the Big 3 and heart of America’s industrial base, is one of those good governance states that is nowhere near the top echelon of the most corrupt.

Starting to see a pattern here?

Blame the worker. And kill the union.

UAW President Ron Gettelfinger noted in his press conference that the "incentives" foreign auto makers received from Southern “right-to-work” states totaled more than $3 billion taxpayer dollars. It’s closer to $3.6 billion, and that’s a conservative estimate.

Gettelfinger had the quote of the week:

“They thought they could have a twofer: pierce the heart of organized labor while representing the foreign brands.”

And he zeroed in on Shelby’s state of Alabama:

"We have Hyundai Motor Company that got $252 million in incentives. Toyota there got $29 million in incentives. Honda, $158 million and Mercedes $253 million in incentives … but the state offered to train the workers, clear and improve the sites, upgrade the utilities, buy 2,500 vehicles and it is estimated that that incentive package totaled somewhere around $175,000 per employee to create those jobs there. And on top of this, that state gave this automaker a large parcel of land-around $250-$300 million dollars. That was the same price or cost to them of building a facility. So we can support our competition but we can’t support an industry that is in need? And this need was not brought about because of what the industry has done."

$175,000 per employee! Now that’s a savings we can believe in, eh Shelby?

So here’s my nightmare scenario (hoping it won’t come to pass):

This is one of those rare times of reckoning in our history.

In a political and economic perfect storm, three points on the map – Chicago, Detroit and Washington, DC – form the Bermuda Triangle of destruction, the metaphysical black hole into which entire political careers are consumed in a maelstrom of corruption, while the industrial base of this country is literally sucked into the void, dragging with it 3 million jobs. As Rome burns, Southern court jesters seize the moment to destroy the labor unions, turning their backs on the country, like the Five Horsemen of the Apocalypse, to reenact a civil war lost to the industrial might of the North, when Lincoln was president. It’s payback time. It’s about “piercing the heart of organized labor,” to vicariously reverse the history of 143 years of humiliation and defeat on the backs of union workers, and reclaim for hardened Southern souls the bitter fruits of victory, as another president from Illinois prepares to take office.

If, in a matter of days – not weeks or months – we become a third rate power, if our economy is destroyed and our standard of living dips below Kentucky’s and Alabama’s and Mississippi’s and Louisiana’s, remember these names: Richard Shelby, Bob Corker, Jim DeMint, Mitch McConnell, and Jon Kyl. For their praises will be sung in hobo campfires throughout the deepest of the Deep South, alongside the revered names of Lee, Jefferson Davis, Stonewall Jackson, and Jeb Stewart. They will be memorialized as the great Southern patriots of the Second War Between the States, who invaded the councils of Yankee government and achieved by dint of legislative obstruction what the mythical heroes of a checkered but glorious past could not accomplish by force of arms: to bring the North to its knees and destroy its industrial base.

I can almost hear echoes of their Rebel yells; if not in the courtly confines of the Senate cloak room, then perhaps in their Christmas parties where, softened up by liquor, they’ll be whooping and hollering: “The South will rise again! Damn the labor unions!”

While Rome burns.

Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry

So, the Senate Republicans, led by the repulsive Mitch McConnell, who every night snuggles up to his equally repulsive spouse, the most anti-labor Secretary of Labor in U.S. history, are hell-bent on torpedoing the American automobile industry.

They are trying to practice disaster capitalism at its worst, by destroying the economy and the nation to rebuild it in their perverted image. How any decent person can support these "Republicans," I have no idea. And I am not talking about being "conservative" or adhering to a small government fiscal restraint approach to governing. Make no mistake, these idealogues you see in action are RADICALS, bent on a profound, permanent and tragic restructuring of American society. The object is the consolidation of wealth and the elimination of the middle class.

Do they care if jobs that allow people to live in a decent house, send their kids to college and spend a week at the beach disappear into either thin air or some East Asian sweatshop? Of course not. THAT IS THEIR OBJECTIVE. The right-wing bloviators on talk radio whine about "class warfare," but they are the ones that are practicing it. Damn right we're at war, and right now we're getting destroyed.

I'm toying around with something in my delusional mind. The rich of Chicago PAID to have Fort Sheridan built here on the north shore to have a military garrison around them after the Haymarket incident (the only military installation EVER paid for with private funds.) Just wondering, how much of our bloated defense budget, besides making the staggeringly rich staggeringly richer, goes to protecting the government not from enemies but from us? To eliminate forever Jefferson's right of the people to alter or abolish the form of government instituted among them?

I really really really hope there is a Hell

Because here's a quick way to get there.

We're ****ed and a long way from home...

RR, Doc you've seen this but...we are screwed royally by this mess.

A "special election," while desirable, is also problematic. First you have to get the state legislature to pass something (and have it survive constitutional challenges, changing the rules during the game). Then of course THE GOVERNOR has to sign it. He can sit on it for sixty days before vetoing it, and then it goes back to the legislature for an override vote. From there the mechanisms have to gear up, nominating petitions, primaries, etc. We're going to the beach in Michigan before any voting happens.

And the Illinois attorney general is talking up a challenge via the state supreme court. The state supremes would be a real stretch. The court under Rule 382 can consider a motion on "the ability of the Governor to serve or resume office" but that seems pretty clearly aimed at physical/mental incapacitation, not mere soullessness.

More Blag-ing

None of us were shocked or surprised by the indictment of the governor. We've known he was dirty for a LONG time. We knew this day would come, but at least I anticipated it would be for something much more pedestrian. The usual "contribution" for a pension board appointment, an envelope for a highway contract, a job for someone's nephew, etc.

Even this jaded observer, though, was surprised that the governor was this stupid and greedy with such a high-profile matter, WHILE UNDER INVESTIGATION by the modern Elliott Ness. Stupid is as stupid does, I guess.

BUT--we could be screwed by this nonsense. Gov. Hair won't resign, and he cannot make a credible Senate appointment. Any legislative change in the process has a long startup time to clear. At a time when every vote counts, that seat could sit empty for months.

Where in the world is...

Mrs. Pete? (Katie, it's just a geography quiz!)


Guesses?