The truth, nothing but the truth...

In all my years of working in the Washington DC environment, I have never read a more accurate statement than the one made today by Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND) in the Washington Post:

"Unfortunately, I think some, and I hate to say this, but some want Obama to fail, period.  And unfortunately, Obama's failure would be the country's failure.  In a way, some of them are rooting against the country.  They want political power."  -- Sen Conrad (D-ND)

Americans who live beyond the Potomac and enjoy watching Fox News all day should read that quote every morning and ask this question: Where is the real threat to this nation's future?

GOP Tagged by President Wilson

While searching for a quote today, I stumbled across the following by President Woodrow Wilson that perfectly describes the GOP difficulty in persuading voters they should be trusted to handle the complex problems of the 21st century:

"Conservatism is the policy of make no change and consult your grandmother when in doubt."
Well said by our 28th President in 1914. In the ensuing 96 years, GOP policy has never been explained more eloquently.

Palin invents word 'refudiate,' compares herself to Shakespeare

Sarah Palin apparently does not know that "refudiate" is not in the English language.


44-Palin invents word 'refudiate,' compares herself to Shakespeare

What did you expect?

Barack Obama promised change if he was elected. So, when he got to Washington, he passed a health care reform bill (which people said they wanted), he passed a financial reform bill (which people said was needed to keep Wall Street from repeating its manipulation of the financial markets), he passed a stimulus bill to keep the country from falling into an economic abyss (which it would have). Obama said the real battle against terrorism started in Afghanistan and America needed to finish the job there to protect its national security interest. And so he stayed (as most Repubs wanted him to) but he has made clear it is not an open ended commitment. Nor can it be. Some President must display the leadership necessary to extract us at the right time. Is there anyone better prepared to do that than this President? It certainly would not be John McCain or Sarah Palin or Mitt Romney or Mike Huckabee.

So why don’t the polls show his approval ratings at a sky high level?

Because the pundits are yelling and screaming that nothing he has done has made a positive difference, and as if to make all their points with one reference, they conclude by reminding the electorate that the “unemployment rate is still 9.5% and Obama is doing nothing about it.” People like Charles Krauthammer (in today’s Wash Post) point regularly to the Reagan years as the joyful pages of our history. He forgets to tell his readers that Reagan gave us 10 consecutive months of unemployment rates exceeding 10% in the period of 1982-83. He forgets to tell his readers that Reagan tripled the national debt. He forgets to tell his readers that Reagan’s tax cuts did not save the country from TWO recessions in Reagan’s eight years.

Let me be the one to break some sad news to these pundits: The capitalist system on which America runs has cycles. Really? Yes. We are in one now. The economy is retrenching, reshaping, recharging – (capital is chasing goods and services in the same efficient manner it always has), and the economy will come back stronger than before. I would rather have the slow but steady growth that is in the offing than the artificially high growth the Repubs gave us when they encouraged a “hands off” approach to regulation by government agencies in the period of 2001 to 2008.

Obama’s major mistake is this: When Obama came to Washington, he actually thought the Repubs would find some common ground on which to cooperate with him on some issues. He did not realize that the Gingrich acolytes had been schooled well: they were not ever, EVER, going to cooperate with Obama. How else did they expect to regain the power they so desperately seek? If they cooperate, they make him look reasonable (AND he is, of course), and they could not abide that. Obama did not realize that it is power they seek – and only power – and not effective government for the Nation.

Voters, listen carefully to the loudest voices criticizing President Obama right now if you must, but ask yourself these questions: Do you want to re-install the “do nothing party” that brought the Nation to its knees by the end of the Bush years in 2008? Do we want the Gingrich students, who learned “we will NOT compromise” at their master’s knee, put in charge of the Congress again? Or do we want to continue to productively address the major issues that have confounded Americans for decades. That would be asking for leadership. And what’s wrong with that?

Misinformed like it that way...thank you.

The Boston Globe reports that, in a series of studies in 2005 and 2006, researchers at the University of Michigan found when misinformed people, particularly political partisans, were exposed to corrected facts in news stories, they rarely changed their minds. In fact, they often became even more strongly set in their beliefs. Facts, they found, were not curing misinformation. Like an underpowered antibiotic, facts could actually make misinformation even stronger."

In other words, don't confuse us with the facts, don't bother us with the truth, we vote GOP.

Crossroads of Life

I love coffee. Some say I am an addict, but that’s not true. I could stop cold turkey anytime I wanted to.

I just don’t want to.

I do spend a lot of time in coffee shops – one in particular. I was there this morning. In addition to great coffee, the little coffee house offers every customer an open ear on the world. We customers have only to tune it in.

This morning, a lady in line behind me was on her cell phone: “I just want one reason to wake up in the morning and not feel like a loser,” she told someone. I didn’t turn around. “But I had 11 interviews this week,” she explained to her phone mate, trying to sound optimistic, but failing.

Two college age girls chatted in front of me: “You didn’t? No! Does your mother know?”

I recognized three elderly men in the back corner. Friends for a very long time, they drive to this little coffee house each Saturday – one from as far as 30 miles away – to share memories of good times enjoyed together long ago. Sometimes they work on world problems. This morning, they are engaged in a conversation about how to solve the mile deep oil gusher in the Gulf of Mexico.

“Oil and water don’t mix, do they?”

“No, of course not.”

“Well, if that well keeps gushing, what are they going to do with all that water displaced; when the Gulf fills up, won’t the water flood New Orleans?” (I wonder where they heard that one.)

And just about every day, I observe two women deep in conversation off to one side. Not the same two women, mind you – just two women. (Never two men.) One is usually unloading her soul to the other. The second just nods understandingly and pats the first on the hand, arm or shoulder -- often all three during their time together. And each time, it is clear to me from the scraps of conversation picked up that the first is getting a divorce, or a separation – or maybe the husband “just doesn’t understand me anymore.”

Speaking of marital discord, a not very happy couple came in yesterday afternoon. As the man slumped in a chair, the woman got out a notebook and started taking notes. My first thought: “Uh-oh. I’ve seen this before – and it is not good.” It became clear they were already separated and the purpose of this meeting in a “neutral spot” was to make decisions with respect to the children. How was it possible to learn all that? Easy. As they talked, the decibel level of their voices increased progressively and soon everyone within earshot learned the details of their lives. Thankfully, they are not regulars.

The regulars are easy to spot. Every morning, a lady sits against the wall near the electric outlet writing a novel. She’s been there every day for several years. I still don’t know the plot. Also among the regulars is a small group who meet weekly to participate in Bible study. At least, I think it is Bible study; their conversation is entirely in Korean.

The counter is now in sight. “Have you tried their homemade breakfast muffins,” a customer asked me. “They are glorious.”

“No,” I said, “I just come for the coffee.”

She looked at me as if to say: “Black coffee? Whoever heard such.” About that time, her cell phone rang and she was soon engrossed in new conversation. The last thing I heard her say: “I have this life coach who talks to me every day. He has the answers to all my problems. I’ll give you his number.”

What is a life coach anyway?

As I approached the counter, one of the baristas came out of the back with a 9 pound bucket filled with something that looked like wallpaper paste, and these words were written on its side: “Frozen Gourmet Muffin Batter.”

I love homemade breakfast muffins, don’t you?

Forget Facebook and Linked In, my coffee shop is the best social networking site I have found. The crossroads of life are there as well as the best coffee in town.

Protecting all the little shrimp

Many very good brains are working on plugging BP’s oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, so I am not focusing energy on solving that problem. Instead, I have moved on to another and potentially far more catastrophic result of this environmental disaster – and it must be addressed soon: A Gulf filled to overflowing with oil instead of water.

If the well is not plugged until August (and some say it may not be plugged until December), could the water in the Gulf be in danger of being displaced someday soon by all the oil that continues to spew forth in every increasing quantities? This is NOT a spill or a leak; it is a well that could be pumping via nature’s own pressure at full volume for an unknown number of years.

If it is true that oil and water do not mix, Gulf water has to go someplace, and so might it cause water levels to rise in the Gulf? I mean – and let’s get to the bottom line quickly – might the water level be pushed up to the front door of the governor’s mansions in Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida? And while we’re at it, is the ranch in Crawford, Texas in any danger? These are the big questions, at least, the serious questions. After all, who cares about the shrimp that live underwater, we have other shrimp to protect!