Hey, looks like we’re getting ourselves into a new war, as President Obama is dispatching troops to Central Africa. I hope there’s oil or something there. Diamonds, maybe? Everybody loves diamonds. Not to worry, you lily-livered, bleeding heart (I think the hepatic disorder is what leads to cardiac hemorrhaging, but you should, of course, consult your physician) liberals. Obama is only sending 100 troops in an advisory position, and sending “advisors” into a war could never lead to anything unpleasant. Right?
The warm weather has finally broken (though, all things considered, it’s not exactly “cold” – yet), and today is supposed to be chilly and rainy, and very, very windy. We’re all kind of hoping for a bit of a break this year, what with last year being kind of a pain in the ass (particularly if you’re an aging baby-boomer who is beginning to discover all the nifty little places your body can feel pain – often for no apparent reason, and especially when the weather is cold and damp).
According to the woolly bear caterpillars (which were out in force last weekend; y’all know what woolly bears are, right? I mean, they aren’t a local or regional phenomenon are they? I’m really not very worldly – shocking, I know), it looks like we’re gonna have a short, harsh start, followed by a long, fairly mild stretch, and a short crappy spurt at the end. I guess I can live with that. And the woolly bear caterpillars are way more accurate than the National Weather Service or the Farmer’s Almanac (the Farmer’s Almanac weather predictions are kinda like a horoscope – vague enough so there’s something in there for everybody).
So, anyhow, I figure I have one more grass-cutting to do (assuming it’ll stop raining long enough), and then I can take the mower off the tractor and get ready for winter. Next Friday (barring the Rapture, of course) will be the one-year anniversary of when we closed on this house. So of course, we’re all moved in by now.
HA!
Private joke there.
Oh well, time to get going on whatever it is I’ll be doing today. Like watching last night’s Bill Maher – assuming I can stomach looking at and listening to that smarmy little piggish bag of douche, John Fund.
Or, I could regale you all with tales of the SU Alumni hoops scrimmage from last night, featuring players from 4 decades of SU and NBA history. And I’m sure nobody wants that.
Vern, that was a really interesting video you posted yesterday. Usually we get to see protesters who have their own “unique” take on events and are not prepared for a debate any more than the interviewer is. Thanks.
Today we are going to make the rounds of Best Buy stores. There are 10 within a reasonable driving distance. It’s my daughter’s birthday soon and she wants a Jabra blue tooth thingy for her car. Best Buy sells them, but the 2 we visited yesterday are sold out. So….never disappoint your kids if you can help it.
Sue, you can look at the item on the Best Buy website and find a store that has it before you embark.
Here’s the Herminator
By GAIL COLLINS
Published: October 14, 2011
You may have heard that Herman Cain, the former chief of Godfather’s Pizza, has become the latest in a list of peculiar front-runners for the Republican presidential nomination. Perhaps the Tea Party wing is just expressing its hostility toward Mitt Romney. Perhaps there’s just something peculiar about the Tea Party.
Either way, my mission is clear. In keeping with our ongoing project of reviewing the literary output of the Republican candidates for president, today we’re going to take a look at “This Is Herman Cain! My Journey to the White House.â€
Cain, who has published a bunch of other books, appears to have gone to the Newt Gingrich School of Perpetual Authorship. He’s padded his 240 pages with a couple of speeches, a list of awards and honors that include the Rotary Club’s 1994 Omahan of the Year Award, and a convoluted Leadership History going back to the student government of Archer High School.
However, the core of the Cain story is how he rose in the world of business to become C.E.O. of a pizza chain whose name sounds kind of like an ethnic slur.
This part of the book has one honestly remarkable moment. When he was a vice president at the Pillsbury corporate headquarters, Cain decided that he had hit a dead end, so he gave up the title, took a pay cut and started again from the bottom at the company’s restaurant division. At 36, he was sitting at Burger King University, learning how to put buns and patties through a broiler with a roomful of recent college graduates and assistant store managers. I am not prepared to say that it’s enough to make me want to give him control of the nation’s military arsenal, but it does sound like a seriously gutsy move.
Then it was back up the corporate ladder, and, eventually, Cain became C.E.O. of the troubled Godfather’s Pizza chain. He and another Godfather’s executive worked out a leveraged buyout, improved the business, and the next thing you know, it’s 1996 and Cain is sailing off to other projects, including talk radio, politics and serving on the boards of seven different corporations at the same time.
You expect an autobiography to be somewhat self-obsessed, but the centrality of Cain in Cain’s worldview is still pretty remarkable. Relating an anecdote about his years at Pillsbury, he says: “I was sitting in my new office on the 31st floor of the World Headquarters one day when I looked out the window and saw that the inflatable dome of the new Minneapolis stadium had collapsed.â€
Next sentence: “I realized, as I sat there, staring out the window, that what had kept me happy and motivated was the excitement, challenge, and risk of the past few years.â€
The most important revelation in “This is Herman Cain!†besides the candidate’s really strong attachment to exclamation points, is that for all the talk about Cain as businessman, his career for the last 16 years has been mainly as a motivational speaker. He’s chief executive of T.H.E. Inc., which stands for The Herminator Experience, and the author of books about leadership that teach you how to be the C.E.O. of Self.
There are a few hints that the entire Herman Cain presidential experience is more about promoting The Herminator than in actually getting elected to anything. They would include the fact that he does not seem to have developed any actual organization and that instead of attempting to rectify this problem, he’s spending most of his time on book-promotion tours of states that are not planning on having primaries any time in the near future.
But show some respect. None of us are ahead in the presidential primary polls with a best-selling book about our journey to be the C.E.O. of Self. Stop sniffing at the fact that Cain’s chief economic adviser works at the Wells Fargo office in Pepper Pike, Ohio. Take the guy seriously.
Which I am trying to do, in matters beyond the ever-fascinating 9-9-9 tax plan.
For instance, on the matter of immigration, Cain says that he thinks it would be a great idea to build an alligator-filled moat between the United States and Mexico. (“And make it a real big moat.â€) So, in the spirit of political fact-checking, I called an expert, Frank Mazzotti of the University of Florida, who said that the cost of keeping the alligators alive in that climate “would be astronomical.†If there turned out to be a spot along the border where the alligators were comfortable, Mazzotti said, they could escape, multiply and create “all sorts of economic problems.†Not to mention the danger to household pets.
On this one policy matter alone, we are talking about a mammoth drain on the national budget, plus a lot of endangered Arizona Chihuahuas. The Herminator’s got a lot of explaining to do.
Vern, Unfortunately we had left before I read your post and we did find it in New Jersey. But, thank you and I am sure it will prove useful during the craziness of Christmas shopping.
The Jersey Best Buy was right near a Toys R Us where I found one of Nina’s Christmas requests: a stuffed animal called Animagic. They had a whole bunch of the things so I was able to find one that jumps and barks and avoid the one that drinks and pees.
That, I think, sums up the Republican quest for a Presidential candidate.