The year 1960 was a monumental one during which this country elected John Kennedy as its president.   But the book 1960 – LBJ vs. JFK vs. Nixon: The Epic Campaign That Forged Three Presidencies illustrates once again that more is less.   Instead of writing a book about President Kennedy, Vice President Johnson or the losing presidential candidate Nixon, David Pietrusza attempts to cover them all at once; as a result more is lost than gained.

One basic problem is that the backgrounds and life events of these three separate large characters in U.S. history (and modern politics) are covered rapidly.   For the reader who has already read full biographies of JFK, LBJ and Richard Nixon, far too much is missed or condensed down to Reader’s Digest style summaries.   On the flip side, the reader who has never read in depth about these figures will likely be unable to comprehend some of what he/she is reading due to the very facts and circumstances that are left out.

I’ll provide an example of the latter problem.   One of the events that made Nixon a major, but young, political figure in the late 1050’s was his involvement in investigating Alger Hiss.   That is mentioned on just two pages in 1960 and what’s missing is an explanation of the key evidence found against Hiss that Nixon relied upon in alleging that Hiss was a Communist and/or a spy (notwithstanding that Hiss worked in the U.S. State Department for Franklin D. Roosevelt and was once the Secretary-General of the United Nations).   There’s no explanation here of the microfilm found in a pumpkin or the typewriter that was supposedly found to have been used by Hiss to commit a forgery.   For the person who is not familiar with Nixon, it will seem that he is credited for “breaking” Hiss but it will be unclear as to exactly why.   Nixon’s role as a prosecutor is hazy without a sufficient review of the evidence he presented against Hiss.

There’s another issue.   The book jacket states:  “Like The Making of the President, 1960 by Theodore White – yet far more revealing than Kennedy camp insider White could ever be…  (it) has the narrative energy and suspenseful turns and twists of a headlong thriller.   Yet it’s all true.”   Well, we actually don’t know today what is and is not true about what is reported as fact in 1960.   For example, there’s an entire chapter – a somewhat silly one – about Kennedy’s relationships with women (“They were a dime a dozen”); and statements about his father and brother Robert.   But these events happened so long ago that we do not, in fact, know what happened and what was alleged or was the product of someone’s imagination.

It’s also not clear what the impact of this information is supposed to be…  Enough said.   But, for me, the biggest fault with 1960 is that I never felt I was getting to know any of the three figures as human beings.   By contrast, Pietrusza shows some surprising skills by including some write-ups of peripheral figures that come off as much more real and human – individuals with true strengths and flaws.   Hubert Humphrey and Nelson Rockefeller are two of the figures who come to life in 1960 in a way that the three lead subjects do not.

Finally, this is just not the suspenseful thriller touted on the book jacket.   For an excellent example of a non-fiction political/modern history book that does read like a Capitol thriller, the interested reader can turn to By His Own Rules: The Ambitions, Successes and Ultimate Failures of Donald Rumsfeld by Bradley Graham.   Rules is an 832-page roller coaster ride that is never dull.   By comparison, 1960 is a 417-page survey that tries to cover the lives of three very large figures at one selected point in U.S. history.   It comes off as simultaneously both too big (focusing on three pivotal lives rather than one) and too small (leaving out too many key details while including a bit too much gossip).   As a result, it simply feels flat in the reading…   But maybe Pietrusza will produce a comprehensive biography of Hubert Horatio Humphrey or Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller; either would – no doubt – be quite interesting.

This book was purchased by the reviewer.

Barrack Obama won the 2008 presidential election largely on the strength of a record high black turnout, of which 95%  voted for him.  His advocates often said “It’s about time for a black president”, or “this is the realization of Martin Luther King’s dream”, and “this will help black people believe they can do anything”.  Many black pundits even said that Obama would be able to do something about the one million black males who are in prison.

Yet Obama showed no signs of being a transformative president, instead pursuing same anti-growth economic policy and the same blame America first foreign policy that has become the new progressive DNC platform.  And as we conservatives,  including many of us black conservatives, predicted this platform would  result in a step backward for low-income blacks.And when the Tea Party movement and town hall protesters rose up to challenge this agenda, the  mainstream media, as well as high-ranking office holders, denounced us as “racists”, “fascists”, and “the white power movement incarnate”.  One local black St. Louis station’s host declared “they can’t deal with having a black man in charge”.

The assumption is that Obama is doing things right, and that the only reason why there would be organized resistence to him is because white people are afraid of losing “their power”, and that Obama is automatically going to make things better for blacks.

Yet this time the organized resistance is coming from the Congressional Black Caucus.  Last week they walked out on a key vote on financial legislation, and the 40 members threaten to boycott TARP banking reform unless they were given more money for “minority financial interests”. 

“For those of us who walked out, it was absolutely essential that we have parts of that legislation directed toward helping people who have been left out of all of these bailouts,” Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., one of 10 black caucus members in the Financial Services Committee, said.

Since last September, we have continuously voted for bailout and reform for the very institutions that created this devastation, without properly protecting the African-American community or small business,” Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., said on the day of the boycott. “That stops today.” (Of Course Waters has already steered $12 million into her and her husbands bank, OneUnited).

ISN’T THAT WHAT YOU ELECTED THIS CLOWN FOR IN THE FIRST PLACE!

What happened Maxine. What happened.

What happened Diana “the first president who looks like me ” Watson.  Looks like your Heinrich Himmler approach to genetic political profiling hasn’t worked out so well for your people.  It wasn’t work out well for any of us.

Hey Diane, maybe Rush Limbaugh understands what’s best for black people, and all Americans, better than you do.

Is it just me, or does it seem like Sarah Palin is on the public relations and publicity prowl right now?  Just last month a major interview on Oprah discussing her new book Going Rogue:  An American Life in which she tries to give an account of her experiences as a rather failed and humiliated politician, who clearly to the interested masses seemed very inadequate and ill-prepared for the job of Vice President she was hoping to land.  Additionally last night she was a guest on The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien where she and William Shatner read excerpts from each other’s book.

Is it just me, or does it seem like she is on the public relations prowl again trying to generate, or regenerate her public and personal Republican-Politico brand image?  Why is she seemingly all places right now, on the television and internet?  She publically hasn’t ruled out a possible Presidential bid for 2012 with Glenn Beck.  If one were in the hopes of developing the processes required for such a political undertaking, the initial practices would have certainly be underway by now. 

I am not a political writer, nor someone extremely well versed in contemporary political scientific thought (I leave that boring stuff to people who get off on that nonsense).  But what I do have knowledge and interest in is the art of p.r. (a different form of social nonsense; equally nonsensical and useful), and this certainly seems like the beginning of a very long-term relationship between Palin and the world media.  This is all about sales people!  Whether it be the launch of a book promotional campaign (I normally use the term literary rather than book, but being that I am yet to actually read her book, I am careful not to assume any literary prowess on her part as of yet).

I don’t know why this seems to bother me.  I am all about book launches, press junkets, publicity tours…oh yeah baby…that is where social constructivism becomes sexy and intensely desirable.  But Sarah Palin?  Crap.  To reiterate what Kathy Griffin said in her latest Bravo comedy special, it is way more fun when the conservatives fall!  I’m for equal opportunity press.  But on the other side of this, why is the world not sick of her already?  It used to be funny to listen to her talk and pretend to engage in discourse with the media.  Tina Fey certainly set the method for that activity quite well.  But now, it’s akin to looking for brightness in a universe of popular culture where Tiger Woods is portrayed as the nemesis of all that is good and wholesome in Am-ar-ica.

Where did class go?  What happened to simple scandals and useless people who didn’t have designs on the world systems and power structures as spoken to them by imaginary white guys in the sky?  What happened to real thinkers, theorists, and visionaries who can devise ideas of growth and social evolution that are rational and communal?  I certainly haven’t seen them on Oprah of late.

Richard Birch

Copyright 2008 Gannett Company, Inc.All Rights Reserved

USA TODAY

December 29, 2008 Monday FINAL EDITION

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 10A

LENGTH: 542 words

HEADLINE: Lawyers’ bills pile high, driving up health care costs

Health care costs are out of control, as we heard constantly during the presidential campaign…
Original Link:Lawyers’ Bills Pile High, Driving Up Health Care Costs – insurancebazaar.net

hmmf!

Baby Boomers.  You knew them as the “me” generation or maybe the “feel good” generation.  As they aged, they have apparently become the “to hell with you” generation.  A demographic that was going to change the world has, well, have you looked around lately?  They have made a colossal mess of things.

The Town Hall meetings in the summer of 2009 may have put the final nail in the coffin of America’s “can do” philosophy.  Instead of masses turning up to support and demand equal health care for their fellow citizens, they embarrassed themselves and our country by their crude, selfish and heartless greed.  Why is it that those with insurance want to deny it to others?  The answer: A lack of concern for our brothers, our neighbors and the worry it might cost them something.  Why is it that health insurance is expected to be paid by small businesses, breaking the financial backs of many small entrepreneurs before they have hardly begun?  The answer:  greed, or better yet, “I have mine and to hell with you.”  After all, our employers are not sent a bill to pay the tolls that I have accrued on our national highways.   They don’t pay for my homeowners insurance so why on earth should they have to pay for our health insurance?   Health care in the 21^st century is indeed a well earned right in a country that likes to think of itself as a super power.  For all of the taxes I pay and tens of thousands in property taxes, a grade-A Congressional-level health care plan should be mine, compliments of Uncle Sam for all of the ways we support this country.  Why is it the biggest financial meltdown in decades (we’ve heard ‘since the Great Depression’ so many times that we are numbed to it) is blamed on hard working families trying to fight for a few crumbs of the American pie.  The answer:  Can you say scapegoat?  I am a pro-business man but corporations have raped this country and abused our citizens for so long we often don’t even see it anymore.

There may be few innocents among us but the big picture answer, it seems to me is selfishness.  I have mine and to hell with you.  This is the core belief of the crowd that loves Rush Limbaugh; usually the lower to middle class republicans with a libertarian streak who may struggle to hold it all together financially yet they are taking their cues from a man who makes upward of $90 million a year, pedaling his hatemongering to them.  And these listeners who apparently have nothing better to do during the day when his radio gig is broadcast across America, eat up each and every talking point he utters.  Limbaugh is nothing if not a top notch salesman, and as the PT Barnum of the modern era, he convinces his ditto-heads to march to his beat.  Their collective refrain is often the same old “well, life is full of choices and if health insurance is so important to you, you probably shouldn’t be creating art that no one wants but go to work for corporate America instead.”

There are so many things wrong with this thinking I don’t know where to begin.  Corporate America is flailing about because even they cannot compete internationally due to their stifling legacy costs that no other enlightened country should impose upon their businesses.  And do we really want to smother the creative ingenuity of risk-takers who dare to dream a vision that could enhance all of our lives and someday change the world; even just a little bit?  Just think of the capital that could be unleashed into new research and development if companies big and small did not have to commit enormous resources for health care costs that are not their responsibility?  Think of the explosion of entrepreneurs and the creativity and ingenuity they would unleash.  They are men and women who would be free to live their dream if they didn’t feel somehow ball and chained to their corporate masters for health care in the event they or their loved ones become sick?  Millions of lives with dreams deferred that in other countries would not pose such a detriment.

There is a deep divide in America.  The safety net for the average citizen is fraying away and becoming so thin as to be almost meaningless.  As a Gay man, I have lived my entire adult life as a first class taxpayer and as a second class citizen, so I am used to receiving little in  return for my contribution.   But all Americans, Gay and non-Gay alike deserve so much better from their government.  So, haven’t you ever wondered where does all of the money go?  Why are other, more advanced nations able to provide for their citizens in ways that we can’t.

I love America, if not out of habit from a half of century of supporting it.  But if we can all stop chanting “USA! USA!” long enough, why have we fallen compared to the rest of the world in home ownership?  Why are our kids doing so poorly in international tests?  Why does the average American have such a shorter life expectancy?  Why are our children the sickest in the world and infant mortality the highest of the industrial world?  Why do Americans toil away at their work many more hours than our European compatriots yet we perversely celebrate the hours of our lives passing away that could better be spent with our families and community?  Doesn’t this equate to some sort of corporate or national brainwashing that we should gleefully work more hours to receive less, and yet feel it should be bragged about?   Is that a capital “L” on your forehead or are we being suckered?  Why are we such a violent nation, yet insist on “clinging” to our guns?  What are we the best at, other than the capacity to end all life on planet earth, that we are compelled to shout “USA! USA!”

The world use to admire us.  Many nations respected us.  Now they resent us.  Some still fear us.  Many nations loathe us.  But saddest of all, many countries pity us and it is most difficult to accept their pity.  We were a great country.  We had achieved greatness, and raised the bar to historic proportions.  But the world is watching as we decay from within and our superiority becomes nothing more than shallow slogans.   We will go down defiantly and the process of becoming “one of many” will be ugly and painful to watch, as we will not accept the dethroning of the United States with any grace and dignity.  Howard Dean was right when he cited Paul Kennedy in The Rise and Fall of Great Powers.  He and his presidential campaign took a substantial body blow for speaking the truth.  Great powers do fade away.  I believe the world will come to mourn the day when the USA is not a steadying force.  For better or worse, the USA is in decline and I fear it will ultimately be replaced with a power that will not sit well with Americans. 

 We have silently allowed our Chinese bankers to become our financial masters, who enable all of our vices, not the least of which is our addiction to oil which we attain from powers that turn around and use our dollars to kill fellow Americans.  Yes, it is a complicated world, but it has also become devoid of any morality.  Our politicians pander to the masses, having no backbone of their own.  They all make a grand fuss to deny me the right to marry in my own country on the grounds of some twisted moral grounds, but go about being an accessory to the murder of our men and women in uniform in a distant land that does not directly endanger our nation.

Martin Luther King was right when he said “We all may have come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.”  It is time for Americans to start acting like it, all rowing in the same direction.  We can all see what selfishness has brought us.  Why don’t we all aspire to serve our communities first and foremost.  We have in the end, nothing left to lose.  Oh, and great job, Boomers!  I can only imagine how proud you feel of the world you created.

ISSUES AND HOW TO PICK THEM

EDITOR’S NOTE. We here reproduce the expurgated version of Miss Allen’s famous keyhole speech, in which she laid down the gauntlet to the major parties and defied them to pick it up without stooping. The complete version, including the juicy parts and printed on the best issue-paper, appears in the Congressional Record-Express, on sale by your local Congressman.

The speech follows.

Ladies and Gentlemen, and no corny cracks:

The splendid introduction of your Toastmaster, which was too glowing, I fear, for poor little me, reminds me of a story which I wish I could remember. But I couldn’t tell it in the dialect anyway, so I will just say that as I look out upon this sea of shiny faces I am uplifted, and also pinched in at the waist.

This is the greatest night of my life. How glorious it is to be here among my friends, for you are my friends, at least until election, in this fair city of _______, the garden spot of the great _______. (APPLAUSE.) I can say in all truthfulness that when last I tire of the mad whirl of modern life and want to find a place to die in, this is it.

I stand before you tonight a simple, plain woman–(GROANS.) which is not my fault, but the Westmores can’t take me till tomorrow. And anyway, is this an election or a popularity contest? I’ve often wondered.

You are probably just as anxious as I am to find out what I stand for, but it isn’t so easy.

If I knew what the Republicans and Democrats are going to promise, everything they offer could go for me too. But a certain well-known bookie, whose name must remain confidential until I find it out, has written my that the other parties are holding off just so they can pattern their keyhold speeches after mine.

So I am awake to the danger of holding my convention first. I fully realize that every promise I make, the Republicans will double and the Democrats will redouble. They think this will make me vulnerable, but they don’t know I have some tricks up my sleeve, along with a box of raisins to munch on while I’m waiting for the returns to come in.

A keyhole speech is very simple, especially mine. First it states the issues. An issue is just a difference of opinion, which is why we put erasers on horse races. And as I always say, as long as we have issues, we can’t have everything. Second, the speech goes on to attack the present administration and show how it has ruined the country. Then it goes on to attack the other candidates and show how they’ll keep it ruined, and generally builds up a warm and friendly atmosphere.

Unfortunately, I don’t know exactally how the present administration has ruined the country or how the other candidates are going to keep it ruined–I hardly know how I’m going to handle it myself.

But we all realize that what this country needs is plenty (GIGGLES) and even though it’s impossible I’ll be glad to do it. Today we are facing many crises that are creasing our faces with worry. Today millions of people are living who will never do it again. Millions are being born for the first time–and millions are doing nothing because it’s the best offer they’ve had this week. (LAUGHTER. Miss Allen knocked over the water pitcher.)

It is for these people and many others that the Surprise Party is conceived and desecrated, founded upon the principle that everybody is just as good as anybody else, even though they aren’t quite so smart. My platform is a definite answer to the Republicans and Democrats, as well as the New dealers, before they say anything–and if they say it anyway, that will be time enough to think of a better answer.

My opponents (BOOS) ask for a sound government. What do they think they’ve got now, or don’t they listen to their radios? They ask me what I am doing about the two-dollar dollar, what am I doing about providing old age for people with pensions, and what am I doing next Friday night. They must think they’re Clifton Fadiman! (DEEP SILENCE. Drop the gag from the next speech.)

But I accept the challenge. I say without fear of contradiction that I not only stand four-square for free speech, but my brother is busy right now inventing a telephone that works with soap slugs. I stand for the conservation of wild life: when I am elected night clubs will close at ten o’clock. I stand for a cleaner administration: no Senator who can’t hit his spittoon on his first try truly represents the aims of my party, even if he does claim that he tried to bank his shot off the cracker barrel. I stand for a lot of other things, too, but what working girl doesn’t. (OVATION. Jack Benny just came in.)

This used to be a government of checks and balances. Now it’s all checks and no balances. But I have a cure for that. I’ll sign all checks with invisible ink, or better still, sign them “A Friend,” so nobody will be embarrassed. And if the deficit still seems too high, I’ll sign it again, starting a half-tone lower.

Do you know of anyone better qualified than me for this high office? If so, don’t delay. Write or print his name clearly on your cuff and send it, together with the tops of two ballot boxes, to the nearest laundry. I may make mistakes, for I am only human (PAUSE, while ten delegates scribbled notes and handed them to the ushers) but whenever one of my policies fails I will be the first to admit it, though perhaps not by much.

So wake up, America! Your country needs me and I can be had. Let’s all pull together and make these United States the grandest place in this whole country. I see a vision. A glorious vision. A united people, marching forward shoulder to shoulder, giving their all for the common good, working while I whistle. (WHISTLES.)

And in conclusion, let me say only that if I have overlooked anything that will make this country of ours a better place to live in–I thank you.

BACK TO TABLE OF CONTENTS

There are guys who are into other guys.  They would even go so far as to get pregnant and have their their love monkey’s child if only that were possible.

Man Crush Gone Awry

*~@

Sex Rules!!!

Sexile:  Sexual Exile

Roomie does not make three

Video report

Three is a crowd

Slingshot Bikini

Photos of Cute Women with Tongue Piercings

Most expensive places to have sex

Nude Hiking

Pamela Anderson

Bikini and Lingerie Models

Sexy ssBBWs

It is Better to be Drunk than Wasted

How to Travel Naked

Beer Alert

A Constellation of Idiots

It is Better to be Drunk than Wasted

Texas Toast

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

• ***************************

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

• ***************************************************************
• ***************************************************************

• ************************************************************

Runes and Moons

Zazzle!

Angelic Verses

DeviantArt

Rumors of Angels

LuLu

CafePress

Luck

Digital Art

Angel Sightings

Cyber Rainbows

Selling Rainbows

• ************************************************************

It’s unnerving how the drama is unfolding! Madam Cory, Carie’s pet peeve along with Mr. Wyatt Erap, dies and suddenly, her son is being propped up as the next president. Wow!

Carie does not agree, as she says there is no sense to all this mad goings on:

Noynoy, Mar and Quislings at the height of Opportunism
Citizens Against Rebellion, Destabilization and Terrorism
www.caredt.blogspot.com

When Juan Ponce Enrile and the late Pres. Ferdinand Edralin Marcos decided that the ascent of the Communists and Socialists together with the avowed Centrists to government during the 1985-1986 highly volatile political environment was imminent, due to the defiance of some Marcos Loyalists, opportunists in Malacañang like Gen. Fabian C. Ver and his minions, the subterfuge of a strong faction in the United States Government, they decided to launch a plan to take over the insipient revolution in the country.  More about this article here…

It’s good enough that they commemorate the 40th day of the death of the late Madam Cory and gain some sort of redemption from their pain. But then, they had to go through the brouhaha of declaring they’re running Noynoy for president in 2010. I wonder when they will stop?

I wonder if the republican party realizes that, just because the democrats got voted into office, it doesn’t mean that everyone who voted for them think that they are perfect. It’s not like we are all happy with everything they have done, or have not done… But, when your only other real option are the republicans… why in the world would any sane, rational individual vote for them?

I hear people talking about voting the democrats out of office in 2010 because they didn’t “do what they promised” and it’s clear that they aren’t really thinking things through. That they are just in the heat of the moment… But, when it comes down to actually voting…  Why would the public, as a whole, trust the party that was at the helm when our economy tanked? Why would we trust a party that has fallen back on their previous tactics of scaring people into voting for them? Why would we trust a party that doesn’t actually put forth any solutions, but simultaneously say NO to anything that is proposed by the opposing party?

These are questions that the republicans should be asking themselves. Why should people who are truly open to voting for either party WANT to vote republican? They aren’t gaining NEW supporters with their fear mongering. They are just pandering to a very loud, minority base. Just because more people may be unhappy with the president than before, it doesn’t mean that those unhappy people are daft enough to support the republican party come election time. Best case scenario, for the republicans, is that they simply don’t vote at all. Worst case scenario, they scare even more people into going out to vote AGAINST them.

It’s early, yet. Not even a full year into Obama’s first term. While the republicans may feel like they are winning a couple of tiny battles here and there,  I predict that these underhanded tactics are going to come back to haunt their party. Americans are fickle and irrational at times, but once time passes and things DO improve, we will have forgotten about the fright-wing and their desperate tactics. And… in the end, they will be even worse off than they are now.

While I’m not a democrat, and more libertarian than anything, at this point in time I could never support the republicans. So, republicans… Please tell me, why do you deserve my vote? What are YOU going to do to better our country?

Newt Gingrich…

The man who led the 1994 Republican takeover of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Newt Gingrich… who also got tossed (fairly unceremoniously) out of his Speaker’s position and sent packing after he attempted and nearly succeeded in consolidating more power in that office than over at the Oval Office.

Newt Gingrich… once “Mr. Conservative Republican”… now… well, let’s just say that Newt can’t call himself a Conservative with a straight face. And DEFINITELY not if he doesn’t want to be greeted by derisive jeers at THAT contention.

Lest we forget: it was little Newtie (we learned that was what his dear mother called him in an interview with Connie Chung (1995)) who worked with Hilary Clinton on one iteration of her failed health care plans. He also snuggled up real close to her on a a military readiness panel project she was working on…

And let’s not forget how he was almost a de-facto member of her 2008 Presidential bid team; giving her advice and nearly going on the stump for her…

Then, earlier this summer, Newt pitched in with ACORN (which endorsed Dede Scozzafava twice for the U.S. House seat from the 23rd district in NY). Planned Parenthood and NARAL were also active supporters of the EXTREMELY liberal Dede Scozzafava. And Newtie was right there trying to shove HER down the throats of true Conservative voters…

He then tried to reprimand TRUE Conservatives with his blatant and ridiculous hypocrisy by scolding them: “I think we are going to get into a very difficult environment around the country if suddenly conservative leaders decide they are going to anoint people without regard to local primaries and local choices.”

JUST WHAT THE **** had he, Micheal Steele, and the RNC just tried to do? They took the National machine in to a local contest and tried to shove a liberal, pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage, pro-bailout, pro-porkulus, pro-Big Labor radical down the voters throats. How much more hypocritical can this self-absorbed little man be? It’s ok for him to do it but not for anyone else? Newtie, it seems you snuggled up just a lit-tle TOO close to Hilary and took on some of her ‘Do as I say, not as I do’ rationale for how things are done.

Oh! Remember how back in 2007, Newtie said, “We should replace bilingual education with immersion in English so people learn the common language of the country and they learn the language of prosperity, not the language of living in a ghetto.”? Now though, despite his having supported English-only measures Newtie recently launched his own bilingual Web site: The Americano. And no, i did not link to it, i’m not going to promote it by doing even that little bit.

And now, Newt Gingrich is praising Big Barry for the the outright ridiculous way he is addressing the war in Afghanistan!!! Newtie says Big Barry is showing political courage after waiting over ONE HUNDRED days to give the same speech he gave back in March on the war effort in Afghanistan.

What a courageous stance Newtie: send 30,000 thousand of our finest and bravest to be nothing but the ‘last to be killed’ in an outright waste of time (for what it will accomplish) as they are not there to win but only be killed and brought back in body-bags.

Conservative principles, ideas, ideals, and integrity are only things of the past for Newtie as he once again proves that he wants nothing to do with them. Now… Newt seems to be interested in only one thing: the raw acquisition of power for the sake of power.

Although… let me “walk that back” as they commonly say now: he also seems to be giving Rev. Al Sharpton and a few of his ilk a REAL run for their money as to who is the bigger media & attention whore is.

Do any of these actions sound like what you would expect a true Conservative to take part in?

At least little Newtie didn’t go running to give Big Barry a figurative hug and kiss and come out endorsing him just a couple of weeks before the election.

Many people ask: “What happening to the man who led the Republicans to victory in 1994?” My opinion: he fell into the same trap that he scolds some of the Republicans that went to Washington with him: He became a Beltway Insider and sold whatever soul he had to always be the one the media runs to for a sound-bite.

Kinda makes ya wonder how Colin, Mike, John, and a few of the other attention whores feel…

Hey Newt, would you, Colin, John, Lindsey, Mike, Micheal, and a few others (Olympia, Susan, Christopher to start…) just be honest and go be Democrats? Please…? We know by your strips that you are NOT Conservatives.

BUYING A GOOD USED PLATFORM

A PLATFORM is something a candidate stands for and the voters fall for.

Too many candidates neglect their platforms, and what happens? Why, just about the time Kate Smith stands up to sing, the whole thing collapses.

But on the other hand, you don’t want to spend too much time on it. I’m having my platform run up by a movie set designer, so it will be very impressive from the front, but not too premanent. After all, there’s no sense putting a lot of time and thought into something you’ll have no use for after you’re elected.

And now without further ado I will give you a confidential peek at the Surprise Party platform, a document fo such insignificance that furture historians may well call it the Magna Carta of the Misdeal. The ideas came to me in a dream.

BE IT DISSOLVED:

That we, the undersigned, being duly registered members of the Surprise Party and relatives of Gracie Allen, do hereby, hereunto and here and there being of sound mind, severally and collectively swear to serve our country on the best terms possible, and solemnly subscribe to the following principles, to wit:

CONGRESS MUST GO:

The Senate is the only show in the world where the cash customers have to sit in the balcony. This is entrenched privilege, but if it can’t be changed, let’s at least have a better floor show and get a few more Senators who looke like Jimmy Stewart.

Congressmen are well paid. Why should they be allowed to make those playing cards on the side? We favor putting Congress on a commission basis. Pay them for results. If they do a good job and the country prospers, they get 10% of the extra take.

END SECRECY IN FOREIGN AFFAIRS,

DEMANDS GRACIE:

If Charles Boyer is going around with Greta Garbo, the people are entitled to know about it. But I’m not really worried about this. Our Foreign Relations will be all right so long as they bring their own bedding and don’t stay too long.

This country needs room to grow and expand. In all my own newspapers I read frightful tales of the shameful atrocities being perpetrated on our Democratic minorities in Maine and Vermont. My patience is almost at an end, and if provoked much further I will place both countries under American protection, even if I have to send in my tourists to start trouble so I’ll have to send in a force to restore order.

THINK UP THINGS TO REORGANIZE:

I propose to extend the Civil Service to all branches of the government, because I think a little politeness goes a long ways, don’t you? For instance, Army officers will have to leave off those medals at dances. Hundreds of women now can’t wear their new formals without getting “For Valor” printed all over their collarbones.

The G-Men will be given useful work. The kidnapers are perfectly well able to take care of themselves, and we women want to know where our husbands go after the poolrooms are closed. And I’ll also see that the G-Men get an extra supply of policemen’s hats for lost children to be photographed in.

I furthermore demand free calendars for Cabinet Members. They have as much right as anybody else to know what day it is. About the WPA, SERA, CIO, AFL and SEC–I’m going to change all those letters to numbers, so we can play Bingo and the taxpayers can have more fun. And to set a better example to our youth, I will hereafter have it spelled Boulder D–m.

TAKE THE FIZZ OUR OF FISCAL:

The Federal Reserve System is all right as far as it goes, but personally I like Culbertson. And Free Silver to go with the Free China, Mr. Zanuck, or I’ll think up something that will make the Neely bill look like a Valentine!

My opponents worry about the national debt being almost up to $45,000,000,000. (This morning’s paper.) What’s the matter with that? We should be proud of it; after all, it’s the biggest in the world! But that’s a lot of money, so my plan is to put it in a safe bank. Even at 2% it’s a good investment, and putting it in three banks would make 6%. But learning to balance the budget would be a waste of time, on account of where would a juggling act get booking today, after what George Burns did to vaudeville?

For that matter, I think people are making altogether too much fuss about money and the budget. Why don’t we just buy what we need on the installment plan? A few dollars down, a few dollars a month, and before you know it the battleship is ours. And anyway, I’ll save a lot of money just by tightening up on government lending restrictions–I’m going to insist that all borrowers under five years of age be accompanied by parents.

UNEMPLOYMENT FOR EVERYBODY:

To take care of Emergency Relief, I plan to build thousands of new gas stations. But that’s a temporary expedient. What this country need is a permanent program, one that doesn’t yank a good picture in the middle of the week. The Wagner Act is all right as far as it goes, but it will never replace Olsen and Johnson.

My administration will nationalize the Gracie Allen Self-Delusion Institute, and give free correspondence courses. This will open up hundreds of new fields of endeavor, so that people who can’t find jobs in their own line will soon be without jobs in three or four different kinds of work. One of my first official acts will be to change the present 8-hour day and 5-day week to a 5-hour day and an 8-day week. This is supplemented by my “Incomes for Idleness” plan, which will soon be on sale at all toilet goods counters.

But Social Progress, no. Social Progress is not one of my goals. This country is not a social climber, and besides, the Treasury knows too many people already, if you know what I mean.

So vote early and often. Don’t wait until Election Day. I may have found other work by then. Do it now! Pop out of bed. Mom out of bed, too! Everybody up–and call me when breakfast is ready.

BACK TO TABLE OF CONTENTS

I am so interested in the American tour that Sarah Palin will be promoting this week for her book Going Rogue: An American Life. I think there is something we all can learn from this. If anything, it is a media spectacle unlike anything ever seen before: Sarah Palin, the former Governor of Alaska, who makes history as the first female Vice Presidential candidate for the Republican Party, dishes her perspective on the inside story behind the McCain campaign. While I haven’t read the book myself, (I plan on buying a copy soon,) it will be interesting to see how this all plays out in the end and how it will bode for the future of national and global politics, if at all.

Sarah Palin’s new book reprises familiar claims from the 2008 presidential campaign that haven’t become any truer over time.

Source:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/11/13/us/politics/AP-US-Palin-Book-Fact-Check.html

HOW NOT TO OFFEND ANYBODY

AS a well-known great man would have said if he had thought of it, “Don’t go around offending people just because it can be done sitting down.”

People like to be remembered. This is especially true on birthdays and anniversaries, so if you’re running for office you should try to remember faces, even if you don’t want to call them names.

I used to have a terrible memory. It bothered me for quite a while, and then I met a famous man on a train. He wrote books telling people how to make other people like them. I told him how I was always forgetting to remember faces and figures, not having been brought up to know anything about pots and pans, and he gave me a long lesson.

Two years later I met him again and he came up to me smiling.

“Remember me, Miss Livingston?” he said.

“I’ll never forget you, Dr. Stanley,” I assured him.

You can do the same. And if that doesn’t work, let me testify from my personal knowledge that many a droopy candidate has been brought back to perfect health by simply taking a few bottles of Dr. Farley’s Green Ink for Pale Presidents.

So cultivate friendships. If you don’t have time to cultivate all of them, plow under every fifth one and collect your bonus.

Little thoughtless remarks can easily do lasting damage. Like the time my brother handed a man a crisp new five-dollar bill and the man said, “It looks like you made it yourself.” My brother let him keep it for his honesty, but he hasn’t been the same since.

God is said to love the poor people because he made so many of them, and we politicians should love them for much the same reason. Where do you find twelve votes per family, in Larchmont or the Bronx? You can have your Rockefellers. I’ll take Frank Parker.

But even rich people have feelings which should be respected. For instance, I know what caused the Depression. It was caused by brokers who washed their sales and found too late that they couldn’t do a thing with them. But do I go around saying so? No. Even brokers vote, especially if it doesn’t rain on Election Day and the Yanks are playing out of town.

When you learn to make everybody happy, you will possess the golden secret of how to milk the contented voters. But do it in such a way that they won’t think you want them to vote for you just because you need the money.

They need the money, and besides, they can think up other reasons if they try.

Look at all the people Mrs. Roosevelt makes happy. People may criticize her now for doing so many outside things, but that will all be forgotten, just like the way the same people who used to talk about Martha Washington now take her candy shops for granted. Now that I think of it, have you ever considered what a great President Mrs. Roosevelt would make? It’s not just her charm and personality. She has intellect, tact, humor, and a keen sense of her responsibilities to–but wait a minute! Who am I campaigning for, Mrs. Roosevelt or me?

However, as a certain great radio comedian always says just before he goes on the air, “You can’t please everybody, so what does the sponsor go for?” The masses demand a fighting President, and that means you’ve got to offend somebody, because the way I see it, a strong offense is the best attack.

So what can you offend?

That’s an easy one. Offend the other candidates, because they’ll be too busy talking to hear you, and besides, they might not vote for you anyway.

There are many things you can say. I would suggest starting with such names as “Tool of Wall St.,” “Old Wheel Horse,” and “Party Hack.” If your opponent is young, call him a student of politics, because everybody knows the way things are what we need is a graduate. If he looks too honest, call him a visionary or a reformer: and if he’s smarter than you, you can work wonders with such things as “crafty” and “clever.” Say he rented his children from the pound, and that if elected he’ll close all the banks just because his brother-in-law is overdrawn $3.85. Just do others as you would hate to have them do you, and it’s in the bag.

So this gives you an idea, and I will close with one final tip: In writing letters, don’t start out, “Dear Sir Madam.” Be definite. People like to be one or the other. That’s why they put up those signs in restaurants and places.

BACK TO TABLE OF CONTENTS