President Obama makes his first foreign visit as President today, traveling all the way to Canada. It may not seem like a big trip, but it’s a pretty good idea to keep our largest foreign supplier of oil (and natural gas, too; actually, our #1 trading partner, period) happy. Plus he might need to ask them to beef up their troop presence in that quagmire known as Afghanistan, now that Obama is increasing the number of US armed forces there. Personally, I’d look at history, then at Afghanistan, then at history again, and then run like hell. But that’s just me.
Maybe while he’s up north, the President will catch him some Socialist Fever, and become an advocate for single-payer healthcare and the elimination of insurance companies and the profit motive from what should be a right guaranteed by one’s citizenship, and not the ability to pay.
Speaking of Socialism, looks like Republicans are falling over each other, trying to get them a piece of that horrible stimulus money (all while poo-pooing Obama’s $75 billion mortgage relief plan). If I didn’t know better, I’d think they might be hypocrites. But I guess they’re just being ironic.
Speaking of irony, a man shot and killed himself in front of a cross at Robert Schuller’s “Hour of Power” mega-church in Garden Grove CA, as a tour leader was extolling the virtues of the church’s suicide-prevention program. It’s not the first suicide at the church, either. In 2004, the church’s orchestra leader killed himself during a standoff with police. Oh, those wacky Orange County people. Somebody ought to make a teevee show about them.
Irony (and hypocrisy) seem to be rampant out there. For instance, Chase Bank’s CEO Jamie Dimon had some tough words for people who find themselves in tough financial straits. Mainly, that these goddamn deadbeats should keep paying their mortgages. Chase, of course, received $25 billion in taxpayer bailout money.
Well, time to head out there and face the world. Have a good day, y’all.
Hubby and I have a brand new puppy, a little black labradoodle who is 3/4 poodle and 1/4 lab. She’s 8 weeks old, today, and has a name…Lola. She comes from North Carolina, where we got her, yesterday. As always, a trip south is a sure way to produce culture shock in a couple of New Yorkers.
We decided to spend the night in Amelia, Virginia and then drive the remaining 2 hours to North Carolina. It was surprisingly cold, in the 30’s, and we awoke in the morning to a snow storm….real snow, huge flakes and it was accumulating and obviously an unaccustomed event. The Virginia birds, instead of finding shelter, tried flying, making little headway in the wind and snow. And, the Virginia drivers didn’t do too well, either, at least 2 we saw ran right off the road.
I spent the time complaining that a choice between McDonalds and Burger King was not my idea of breakfast out. But, the convenience store was even worse, offering lots of pork rinds and other inedibles.
Rural North Carolina is in obvious need of stimulus…on steroids. Lots of abandoned houses, red clay soil, a few cows and huge black birds, the size of a large hawk, circling overhead in a search for prey? carrion? Does anyone know what they are?
After retrieving Lola, I realized we needed newspaper and we stopped in the first place I thought we had a chance of finding one. I selected the thickest one and when I went to pay for it the man behind the counter, seeing the headline that GM wanted more cash, opined that the problem was unions. I couldn’t help it, so I asked him what the workers were supposed to do and he immediately told me he knew a guy (of course) who was paid $110. an hour whether he worked or not at some union auto plant. Is there a union auto plant anywhere around there? So, I told him my brother-in-law worked for Ford and made no where near that amount. “He probably makes $35 or more and hour,” counterman countered.
I left. No sense becoming a subversive commie unionizer. I guess if he were paid $10 an hour counterman and his thriving community would be much better off.
On the way home, I explained about unions to Lola.
Great news about the dog, Sue. She will probably enjoy that funny pork bbq with the vinegar sauce. I wish I had known about your trip. I might have been able to give some cultural and culinary tips.
Good news is that a repig senator accepted a few concessions and voted for the Cali budget deal so we may be on our way off of the brink of bankruptcy.
One of his demands was open primaries. Be careful what you wish for, repig!
Next time I venture south I’ll let you know Vern.
I guess you can start getting Dems to vote ol’ Repig out in his upcoming primary, although the Repigs might do it themselves.
While they are all congratulating themselves for their unity in stupidity, the public (surprisingly enough) isn’t so thrilled:
I can’t format this any better. (sorry) the first number are favorable, then unfavorable and then net change. The numbers in parentheses are the results of the previous survey.
OBAMA68 (67) 25 (29) +5
PELOSI: 42 (39) 39 (37) +1
REID: 32 (33) 42 (41) -2
McCONNELL: 22 (29) 50 (46) -11
BOEHNER: 18 (21) 55 (47) -11
CONGRESS DEMS: 39 (36) 53 (53) +3
CONGRESS GOPS: 19 (24) 69 (64) -10
DEMOCRATIC PARTY: 56 (53) 37 (39) +5
REPUBLICAN PARTY: 31 (32) 61 (60) -2
I like your music posts, too!
:pup: Welcome to the blog, Lola! Congratulations sp! If I’d known you were headed south, I would have loaned you my “Republican Free Zone” sign to hang in your car’s rear window. It’s an essential travel accessory for southern excursions.
***
PJ, you make me smile each morn. Thank you. Your writings are gems. :santacool:
Great news, Sue. Those Labradoodles are great, no matter what their Doodle to Labra ratio is. Fritz has one named Jax as a friend out at the park, and they have a great time together.
By the way, Shelagh writes to remind us that Lawton Smalls will be popping up on BRL this afternoon. For those who get a chance to listen, you should, um, listen.
As mentioned on today’s BRL, you can stream the September 2000 Fresh Air interview with Maron at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1111451 for free.
No reason to get screwed by iTunes.
pj- thanks for the link.
Congressman Joseph “Anhâ€Cao, a Republican, who defeated William “Bill†Jefferson is facing a recall petition because of his vote on the Barack Obama stimulus package. The recall has been initiated by a group of ministers.
Cao had indicated that he would be voting in favor of the controversial legislation but instead voted against it.
Papers have been filed with the Office of the Louisiana Secretary of State which started the process requiring sufficient signatures to force a recall election for the office held by Representative Cao.
Cao represents a majority African American community many who were outraged by Cao’s vote.
http://www.bayoubuzz.com/News/Louisiana/Politics/Louisiana_Congressman_Cao_Faces_Recall_Petition_Over_Stimulus_Vote__8406.asp
Marc does great as a solo host and Lawton with pictures was even better than Lawton on MS.
Wow. I didn’t know a 1993 Honda Civic could go 137 mph.
Poaching Sue’s beat
Monterey Bay sea otter finds video camera, turns tables on photographer
Wow Lawton in person I will have to check it out.
Stitches removed today and errands out and about.
Feeling almost human today and less monsterey.
The skin around eye is technicolor yellow though :barf:
ok well a photo of the Lawton….Kent should really get dressed up and come on down to the studio. :cat:
re #10, defense by Honda
glad Heron is on the mend and the otter may have some footage of Heron!
two new links to vote for the Sammy via his email (cenk is way ahead)
http://tinyurl.com/c67gs7
http://tinyurl.com/b8myao
I was unable to get the links to work, 49er.
Here are the ones I got via e-mail.
Link 1
Link 2
For any of you Facebookies in the audience…
Hey MSNBC – Bring Sam Seder To 10:00PM ET
Here is some Snooks Eaglin in one of his natural habitats. The bassist is George Porter, Jr., one of the originial and legendary Meters.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2fjwc_snooks-eaglin-dead-at-72-lucky-ol-s_music