[With my thanks to whomever coined the title phrase . . . and my apologies for not remembering who that was . . .--Ed.]
Some Democrats want to put up a billboard in Rush Limbaugh's Florida home town to demonstrate how limited his popularity really is. My first thought upon hearing this was the simple, stylish, even poetic "Flush Rush!" Thinking better of it, I have settled upon this: "Eliminate Global Warming! Shut The Rush Up!"
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A dear friend and I recently discussed why the ideas of the right wing are in general so very, very wrong. For one thing, the right wing's "ideas" have been on the wrong side of history every time, from not wanting to end slavery to giving non-landowners the vote, to ending child labor, to giving women the vote, to instituting a minimum wage, to allowing labor unions, to enforcing equal civil rights for all . . . you name it.
As one particular instance, I cite Calvin Coolidge's oft-quoted observation that "the business of America is business." He was wrong--what's good for business is not necessarily good for the people, and America is both (1) a government of laws and not of men, and (2) a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. Coolidge did not see the distinction, of course, because in his day the laws and the courts claimed that corporations were people too, and that John Q. Public, lone individual, had equal bargaining power to all the resources any corporation could marshal against him.
That was a legal fiction of which we did well to rid ourselves. But those who stand to gain from it (at the expense of those of us with more modest means) keep proclaiming it. Will the right wing ever figure out that no matter how loudly and for how long they shout it, it isn't true?
I doubt it. For the other major reason the right wing is and has been on the wrong side of history is that most of its adherents are shockingly indifferent to matters of FACT. Rush Limbaugh has already tried to call the present economic meltdown "the Obama recession," even though it started long before he won the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, let alone was elected President.
More than one right-winger has claimed that FDR started the Great Depression, even though a cursory examination of the calendar proves it was in full swing for nearly 4 years before he was inaugurated President. Many right-wingers have claimed the New Deal didn't work, because it was World War II that got us out of the Great Depression and not anything FDR did . . . but federal spending is federal spending, whether it's on roads and rural electrification projects or on military armament. So even it we didn't get out of the Great Depression till we entered WWII, it was still federal SPENDING [read that "economic stimulus"--Ed.] that saved us. If the New Deal informs us of anything, it informs us that the federal government's spending was not big enough until after Pearl Harbor. Hence the arguments of eminent economists like Paul Krugman and Robert Reich that Obama's plan isn't big enough.
It's impossible to respect anyone who defends his views by lying or distorting documented historical facts. It's impossible to give such views credibility when all that supports them is quicksand. Until the GOP learns how to argue for its positions based on truth, its positions are more bankrupt than Lehman Brothers.
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In case you're thinking I just exhibited left-leaning bias, let me note that I have no use for Michael Moore, either. Of late, he's been called the Democratic equivalent of Rush Limbaugh, and in some respects, that's true. Moore lies. Several incidents from many of his films, including those from Bowling for Columbine to Sicko, have been misreconstructed or otherwise misrepresented. He also states "facts" incorrectly. In that regard, he's no better than Limbaugh. He should not be calling his films "documentaries" and he should not be excused for his excesses . . . even if he is largely correct as far as goes the substance of his arguments on the issues. As he is, however, I have no use for him, and no other "liberals" should, either.
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I hope Frank DeFord was kidding on Wednesday when he said on NPR that he could not understand why the clock was stopped in a football game after an incomplete pass but not after a run or a completed pass. After a run (whether it loses or gains yardage) or a completed pass, there's no reason to stop the clock: the ball is already at the spot whence the next play will be run. After an incomplete pass, however, the ball could be 99 yards away from the line of scrimmage. Not to stop the clock while the ball is returned to the next play's starting point would waste too much time. We want game time to be filled by playing the game (as much as possible), not by "administrative" tasks like returning the ball to the line of scrimmage. C'mon, Frank! You know better! I hope . . .
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Why Reaganomics is dead, though those few who benefited from it will keep trying to resurrect it: in 1980, the richest 1% of the population held 9% of the total wealth of this country. After a quarter century of generally right-wing economics in action unfettered by the federal government, however, the richest 1% of the population held 22% of the total wealth of this country. That's obscene, and it gives the ultimate lie to "trickle down" economics. The richest do not use their increased wealth to help the rest of us become wealthier; they hoard it and want more and more and more for themselves alone. Under trickle down economics, the only thing that ever trickled down was the rich peeing on the rest of us.
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I used to say that if most of the people on Wall Street had been alive 350-400 years ago, they'd have been pirates. After repeated viewings of Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End, however, I find I must modify that observation. Three-hundred-fifty to four hundred years ago, most people now on Wall Street would have been working for the East India Company: all's fair in war and business. The ones who wouldn't have been working for the East India Company would have been the pirates who cast their lot WITH the East India Company. The pirates fighting the East India Company and its allies and minions today would be union organizers.
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I laugh every time I see a commercial telling women that this miracle makeup or that miracle medical procedure will eliminate lines and wrinkles. For one thing, I feel as though those of us with lines and wrinkles have earned them. For another, most women who are so concerned about lines and wrinkles also buy into the ideas that a woman cannot be attractive until she (1) is tanned to the color of bronze, and (2) is underweight to the point of anorexia.
You want to lose the lines and wrinkles? Stay out of the sun and gain 10 pounds already!
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I saw my first two robins of the spring this morning. There are still a few isolated patches of snow on the ground, but after we get the thunderstorms predicted to start late tonight, they should melt away. People are already playing golf and running around in t-shirts and shorts. Ah, spring in Nebraska. Nothing else like it! Let's just hope it lasts a while this year and that we don't go from breezy, cool but sunny 65° highs to oppressively humid sun-beating-down mercilessly 100°+ in the shade the way we did last year. I like spring a lot more when it hangs around a while than I do when it comes and goes in 24 hours.
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Cats know how to push people's buttons. I had to take my two heathens to the vet for their annual checkups and distemper booster shots yesterday. When we all got home, they made it perfectly plain that I was in their bad graces. They both sat in plain sight with their backs to me for the entire evening. Things are back to normal [as normal as they ever are around here, that is--Ed.] today, but I guess I was taught my lesson.
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Daylight Savings Time starts again at 2 a.m. Sunday morning. BLEAH! All I can say is this: the ONLY good thing about DST is going off it in the fall.
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