Never mind...
Wish it were actually a funny situation.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
The Herman Cain Dust-Up: A Couple Of Additional Questions
ABC News asks a cogent question: Who, exactly, are Cain's accusers?
Another good one is: Where are they? After all, if we are to be about the business of tarnishing the reputation of a public person, seems that going public would be the thing to do. A good rule of thumb would be: If'n yew don't wantcher pictcher in the paper or alllllll over the internet, don't deliberately say and do stuff that creates media interest. Sorta' like, don't cover yerrself in hunney and walk into a big anthill.
So, here we are, with the wheels coming off Europe, riots ginning up in California, the professors of Southern Illinois University on strike (Really, ya'll! Why do folks with tenure go on strike?), another trading firm gone tits-up with 700 million of the clients' dollars missing, run by one of Obama's ardent supporters (Jon Corzine, former senator, former governor of New Jersey), large swaths of the Middle East in chaos, Iran working on a nuke--so let's spend our time obsessing about....drumroll please/the envelope please....what Herman Cain did or didn't do in the 1990's (the age of, ummm, Bill Clinton).
Hmmm....
So, OS has another question or two as he scratches hiz ole' grey head in puzzlement: Let's assume, fer the sake of argumint, that all those tarrrible thangs they sayin' 'bout Herman iz true! Does it disqualify him from running or taking office? Really?
Remember the stock phrases about Bill Clinton?
It's not about character, all that matters are his policies.
This does not rise to the level of an impeachable offence.
It's his business what he does with that cigar and that intern, none of ours.
He wasn't lying when he denied 'having sex with that woman, Miss Lewinsky', now was he? All that stuff they were engaging in in that bathroom off the Oval Office, that wasn't really sex, you know.
So, Bill is lionized, with all his actual misbehavior documented in detail. Herman is vilified, based upon anonymous allegations.
Which leads to another question:
Is there one set of rules for white Democrats, and another for black Republicans?
(Remember the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court confirmation hearings? This all feels soooooo familiar to those of us alive to have witnessed that dog-n-pony show.) It was a replay of the Robert Bork debacle, only with the hoods and burning crosses on display for good measure.
Which leads to another question, which OS refers to as the 'Homer Simpson Question':
Is there anyone alive, who has really engaged the world, attempted to get stuff done, worked with all manner of people, who hasn't had a few Homer Simpson moments along the way?
OS can certainly look back to more than a few moments of 'Dooooh!'. He actually owns up to a 'Decade of Doooooh!' He works diligently to not create more of them, to put another day of distance between him and them with every day that passes. But he, like everyone else alive, is not immune. It doesn't mean he doesn't go out and engage the world today.
Herman deserves the same consideration, in the humble of opinion of a life member of the 'Dooooh!' fraternity. Last time OS checked, Herman only smokes his cigars, and didn't illegally take 700 million of his clients' funds and lose them on the roulette wheel of the European sovereign debt casino.
That, ya'll, is an actual 'Dooooooh!' event.
Another good one is: Where are they? After all, if we are to be about the business of tarnishing the reputation of a public person, seems that going public would be the thing to do. A good rule of thumb would be: If'n yew don't wantcher pictcher in the paper or alllllll over the internet, don't deliberately say and do stuff that creates media interest. Sorta' like, don't cover yerrself in hunney and walk into a big anthill.
So, here we are, with the wheels coming off Europe, riots ginning up in California, the professors of Southern Illinois University on strike (Really, ya'll! Why do folks with tenure go on strike?), another trading firm gone tits-up with 700 million of the clients' dollars missing, run by one of Obama's ardent supporters (Jon Corzine, former senator, former governor of New Jersey), large swaths of the Middle East in chaos, Iran working on a nuke--so let's spend our time obsessing about....drumroll please/the envelope please....what Herman Cain did or didn't do in the 1990's (the age of, ummm, Bill Clinton).
Hmmm....
So, OS has another question or two as he scratches hiz ole' grey head in puzzlement: Let's assume, fer the sake of argumint, that all those tarrrible thangs they sayin' 'bout Herman iz true! Does it disqualify him from running or taking office? Really?
Remember the stock phrases about Bill Clinton?
It's not about character, all that matters are his policies.
This does not rise to the level of an impeachable offence.
It's his business what he does with that cigar and that intern, none of ours.
He wasn't lying when he denied 'having sex with that woman, Miss Lewinsky', now was he? All that stuff they were engaging in in that bathroom off the Oval Office, that wasn't really sex, you know.
So, Bill is lionized, with all his actual misbehavior documented in detail. Herman is vilified, based upon anonymous allegations.
Which leads to another question:
Is there one set of rules for white Democrats, and another for black Republicans?
(Remember the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court confirmation hearings? This all feels soooooo familiar to those of us alive to have witnessed that dog-n-pony show.) It was a replay of the Robert Bork debacle, only with the hoods and burning crosses on display for good measure.
Which leads to another question, which OS refers to as the 'Homer Simpson Question':
Is there anyone alive, who has really engaged the world, attempted to get stuff done, worked with all manner of people, who hasn't had a few Homer Simpson moments along the way?
OS can certainly look back to more than a few moments of 'Dooooh!'. He actually owns up to a 'Decade of Doooooh!' He works diligently to not create more of them, to put another day of distance between him and them with every day that passes. But he, like everyone else alive, is not immune. It doesn't mean he doesn't go out and engage the world today.
Herman deserves the same consideration, in the humble of opinion of a life member of the 'Dooooh!' fraternity. Last time OS checked, Herman only smokes his cigars, and didn't illegally take 700 million of his clients' funds and lose them on the roulette wheel of the European sovereign debt casino.
That, ya'll, is an actual 'Dooooooh!' event.
Who Sez President Obama Doesn't Plan For The Future?
After, he'll need a hobby to keep him occupied after January 20, 2013...
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
The Wheels On The Greek Bus Are Coming Off...
As always, there's the bad news at the lead of the article, and the really grim stuff is saved for the final few paragraphs.
Merkel, Sarkozy and company chased David Cameron off, and struck a deal to 'solve' the GreeceProblem. Problem is, they didn't check in with the Greeks...
When a country that's lived on credit cards for decades gets news that the bank wants at least part of its money back, well, folks gits all upset, and they may decide to tell the bankers and the rest of Europe to go hang. Bankers and Northern European politicians just hate dealing with uppity Southern Europeans, 'cuz no matter how you try, they just won't sit still and play nice. Why they ever decided to issue national credit cards to Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and let's not forget the Irish, OS will never know. The Euro is a Fig Newton of the central bankers' imaginations, the proverbial round peg in the square hole of each nation's culture.
This droll read of the situation from BBC's Paul Mason is worth a read.
He is cynic enough to suggest that the entire exercise of late has been designed to encourage the Greeks to leave, and hopefully not have the door hit them in the keister on the way out. Of course, since any true effort to do more than paper over the mess has been a kick-the-can-down-the-road exercise, Greece's departure will be exceedingly ugly. Actually the ugly has already begun:
Anecdotal evidence suggests that the Greek elite are buying up property in London just as fast as they can find berths in Poole for their yachts. They are voting with their spinnakers, on the basis that the game is up. In any future Greece on offer, they will have to start paying taxes and they do not want to.
One banker told me the Greek super-rich have mostly left.
The one thing governments have that investment banks do not is intelligence services with the power to wiretap people. If you ever wonder why serving politicians go grey so quickly, it is in part because they see the intelligence. So Mr Papandreou may have looked at the file and said, I can't sell this to my party, nor to my voters, and the business elite are emigrating en masse, so throw the dice.
Last week's market euphoria (nice Greek word, that) has stalled. As the world runs back to the dollar, the US markets will sink again, because the entire rally since 2009 has been fueled by devaluation of the dollar.
Oops.
Merkel, Sarkozy and company chased David Cameron off, and struck a deal to 'solve' the GreeceProblem. Problem is, they didn't check in with the Greeks...
When a country that's lived on credit cards for decades gets news that the bank wants at least part of its money back, well, folks gits all upset, and they may decide to tell the bankers and the rest of Europe to go hang. Bankers and Northern European politicians just hate dealing with uppity Southern Europeans, 'cuz no matter how you try, they just won't sit still and play nice. Why they ever decided to issue national credit cards to Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and let's not forget the Irish, OS will never know. The Euro is a Fig Newton of the central bankers' imaginations, the proverbial round peg in the square hole of each nation's culture.
This droll read of the situation from BBC's Paul Mason is worth a read.
He is cynic enough to suggest that the entire exercise of late has been designed to encourage the Greeks to leave, and hopefully not have the door hit them in the keister on the way out. Of course, since any true effort to do more than paper over the mess has been a kick-the-can-down-the-road exercise, Greece's departure will be exceedingly ugly. Actually the ugly has already begun:
Anecdotal evidence suggests that the Greek elite are buying up property in London just as fast as they can find berths in Poole for their yachts. They are voting with their spinnakers, on the basis that the game is up. In any future Greece on offer, they will have to start paying taxes and they do not want to.
One banker told me the Greek super-rich have mostly left.
The one thing governments have that investment banks do not is intelligence services with the power to wiretap people. If you ever wonder why serving politicians go grey so quickly, it is in part because they see the intelligence. So Mr Papandreou may have looked at the file and said, I can't sell this to my party, nor to my voters, and the business elite are emigrating en masse, so throw the dice.
Last week's market euphoria (nice Greek word, that) has stalled. As the world runs back to the dollar, the US markets will sink again, because the entire rally since 2009 has been fueled by devaluation of the dollar.
Oops.
Monday, October 31, 2011
At October's End, 2011
The hardwood forests that cover most of Tennessee beam with color, especially as the sun's light slants in at dawn and dusk. Contrasted against the bright blue of the skies, they are a glory unto themselves. The walk on the golf course is more about the visual than the sporting during these days,and it is hard to focus on the little white ball with such beauty pressing in from all sides.
This week, OS hopes he remembers to enjoy these days. The work load and schedule, the responsibilities (for which he is grateful, in the main) will ramp up shortly.
The silliness, craziness and venom of the 2012 elections is upon us already. It arrives now sooner with each cycle. Remember when things really didn't get underway in earnest until Labor Day before Election Day? What has happened to us? The free-floating anger is palpable, and shows up in the strangest places--at a jazz concert OS attended this weekend, in pulpits (not too surprising there), everywhere. At least the golf course is exempt in the main. Hard to hit the little white ball whilst obsessing on the latest news.
This week, OS hopes he can set that aside, and recover another day wasted in his mis-spent youth, instead of wasting another of the depleting inventory of days he has left.
Have a good week, ya'll.
This week, OS hopes he remembers to enjoy these days. The work load and schedule, the responsibilities (for which he is grateful, in the main) will ramp up shortly.
The silliness, craziness and venom of the 2012 elections is upon us already. It arrives now sooner with each cycle. Remember when things really didn't get underway in earnest until Labor Day before Election Day? What has happened to us? The free-floating anger is palpable, and shows up in the strangest places--at a jazz concert OS attended this weekend, in pulpits (not too surprising there), everywhere. At least the golf course is exempt in the main. Hard to hit the little white ball whilst obsessing on the latest news.
This week, OS hopes he can set that aside, and recover another day wasted in his mis-spent youth, instead of wasting another of the depleting inventory of days he has left.
Have a good week, ya'll.
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