I watched the Elizabeth Edwards interview on the Larry King show tonight on CNN. And I was impressed with her. I have always been impressed with her, though. Certainly, she is resilient (her book is titled "Resilience") and, based upon her attitudes, perspectives, and outlook on life, I would say she is also a wise person.
She would have made a great presidential candidate because she cares about people and issues, and was probably the best spokesperson for national health care on the 2008 campaign trail. Though her husband John Edwards let his libido get the best of him, Elizabeth Edwards was correct about how her husband's last campaign led the way on important issues, such as health care, poverty, and employment. He pushed the other candidates (Obama and Hillary) on those issues, though Obama and Hillary still seem pretty clueless about them. Obama wouldn't have been elected if it hadn't been for Edwards splitting the vote and, after he withdrew from the race, his supporters going to Obama. That might still irk the Hillary supporters, but Hillary failed because she tried to go right when the better path was going left. I am still hopefully that Obama will find his wings of spirit and fly progressively...I am hoping.
Elizabeth Edwards has gone through her share of hellish moments (the death of her son, her ongoing battle with cancer, and the infidelity of her husband), but I think she has done it admirably and with grace under the circumstances.
Elizabeth Edwards said she was hoping for at least eight more years, when her younger children will grow into adults. I hope she gets those years and more. Nobody knows how many years they have left. As she noted, a person has to live each day with joy and appreciation. From even the bad things that happen, she said, you can learn and find something to appreciate. That's indeed wisdom.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Prospects of a 5-4 Supreme Court for a long, long time...
My first impression of Elena Kagan, the U.S. Supreme Court nominee from President Obama, as she is before the Senate confirmation hearing, is "lightweight." I hope that's a wrong impression, since she's likely to be on the Court for a long time.
Kagan told Senator Feinstein that the two recent 5-4 Supreme Court decisions about guns is now established law. Well, you know, the Supreme Court can reverse decisions that prove to be bad. It can and it has in the past. I have read about the court's first decision that required school children of Jehovah's Witnesses to say the Pledge of Allegiance and salute the flag back in the 1940s despite the group's belief that it was a violation of their right to religion (believing that pledges and flags are like graven images and idols as described in the 10 Commandments). Several years later, after the court saw that its decision had caused all kinds of violent assaults upon Jehovah's Witnesses who continued to refuse the order because they couldn't get a sudden agreeing sign from God, the court completely reversed the ruling in the next case, siding with the Jehovah's Witnesses. After all, the best line in the Pledge of Allegiance is "And liberty and justice for all" and there can't be liberty if some people are forced to do something against their beliefs.
Then some old Republican senators (like John McCain--geez, aren't we lucky that he wasn't elected president) were unhappy about Kagan throwing the military recruiters off the Harvard campus because of the discriminatory "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, though she later caved on that issue in order to keep federal funding for the university. So, Kagan tries to go in a weird orbit around the issue by saying something nonsensical about military recruitment actually going up that year at the university. Wow, I was sitting there, wanting someone with a tad bit of fight within them, to answer those fossil senators, "Yes, we threw the military recruiters off the campus and may have saved some lives of the young people temporarily at least before you learn-nothing-from-Vietnam-War senators were able to send them off to the no-win quagmire of the Afghanistan War." (Oops, I know that isn't very politically correct of me. After all, we have to be very nice to military recruiters so they can send our young people off to endless wars. !!!! Insert your four-letter word of choice here.) Anyway, Kagan wasn't anywhere close to that with her almost-apologetic statements, so she will probably get confirmed with namby-pamby flying colors, though she probably would be confirmed anyway, as I think the Democrats have a majority of votes (though that's always questionable nowadays as well).
The U.S. Supreme Court is going to be a dreary institution for a long time, I have a feeling, with more 5-4 conservative decisions ahead for our country that instead needs progess socially, culturally, and politically.
Kagan told Senator Feinstein that the two recent 5-4 Supreme Court decisions about guns is now established law. Well, you know, the Supreme Court can reverse decisions that prove to be bad. It can and it has in the past. I have read about the court's first decision that required school children of Jehovah's Witnesses to say the Pledge of Allegiance and salute the flag back in the 1940s despite the group's belief that it was a violation of their right to religion (believing that pledges and flags are like graven images and idols as described in the 10 Commandments). Several years later, after the court saw that its decision had caused all kinds of violent assaults upon Jehovah's Witnesses who continued to refuse the order because they couldn't get a sudden agreeing sign from God, the court completely reversed the ruling in the next case, siding with the Jehovah's Witnesses. After all, the best line in the Pledge of Allegiance is "And liberty and justice for all" and there can't be liberty if some people are forced to do something against their beliefs.
Then some old Republican senators (like John McCain--geez, aren't we lucky that he wasn't elected president) were unhappy about Kagan throwing the military recruiters off the Harvard campus because of the discriminatory "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, though she later caved on that issue in order to keep federal funding for the university. So, Kagan tries to go in a weird orbit around the issue by saying something nonsensical about military recruitment actually going up that year at the university. Wow, I was sitting there, wanting someone with a tad bit of fight within them, to answer those fossil senators, "Yes, we threw the military recruiters off the campus and may have saved some lives of the young people temporarily at least before you learn-nothing-from-Vietnam-War senators were able to send them off to the no-win quagmire of the Afghanistan War." (Oops, I know that isn't very politically correct of me. After all, we have to be very nice to military recruiters so they can send our young people off to endless wars. !!!! Insert your four-letter word of choice here.) Anyway, Kagan wasn't anywhere close to that with her almost-apologetic statements, so she will probably get confirmed with namby-pamby flying colors, though she probably would be confirmed anyway, as I think the Democrats have a majority of votes (though that's always questionable nowadays as well).
The U.S. Supreme Court is going to be a dreary institution for a long time, I have a feeling, with more 5-4 conservative decisions ahead for our country that instead needs progess socially, culturally, and politically.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
The paper shredder lasted an hour...
I went to Wal-Mart recently and purchased a paper shredder, made in China, for $12.95. It was just the top part of a shredder, as I didn't need a whole unit that included a bucket for the resulting confetti as I already had one from a previous shredder.
I brought the shredder home and started on the task of shredding some bill stubs and other papers that I didn't want to otherwise throw away into the town dump, fearing worries about identity theft, though frankly I am not sure why anyone would want my identity in the first place since it hardly benefits me.
I shredded about 10 pieces of paper. Then the button on the top to make the shredder shred wouldn't work. It would run the shredder in reverse, allowing the paper to spit back out of the machine. but it wouldn't shred in natural shredding order.
In one day. No, in less than one day. In one hour, the Wal-Mart $12.98 paper shredder, made in China, was broken.
I know there's the saying about "getting what you pay for," but I still do live in a world where $10 is a sizable chunk of cash. It can mean about two and a half cartons of milk, or a gas tank half-full, or about half of a three-month subscription to a community newspaper, or at least 10 cans of the cheaper chicken noodle soup. It can mean whether the last week of the month is buoyant or restrictive. I don't like wasting $10, let alone $12.95.
So, here's my question to the quiet masses of American consumers who end up buying junk from Wal-Mart, made in China, because it is at a reduced price: Have you ever purchased anything made in the modern China that was a long-enduring, quality product, otherwise beyond the realm of junk? I don't mean a jar from the Ming Dynasty. I mean something produced in a factory in modern China?
Anything produced in a factory in modern China. And where the workers are woefully paid and probably forced to work long hours standing on their feet, which is probably why American chain stores find such joy in doing business in the Chinese market? And a person can't help but hope that one day the Chinese workers will get ticked off enough to kick that old-man Commie-Capitalist government and all of the complicit, douche-bag American companies out of there.
When I was a boy, I remember that all of the junky trickets and souvenirs, like a buffalo salt shaker from a tourist shop in Yellowstone Park or a gas station near an Indian reservation, was "made in Japan." Back then, "made in Japan" denoted junk. Though I never did jump on the bandwagon about how Japanese-produced cars became better than American-made cars and don't believe it to this day, Japan was able to raise its product quality identity as it developed technology, mainly media products, and took the lead in the creation of interesting but pointless robots.
So, now, it's apparently "made in China" that carries the stigma of junk, brought to us by chain stores like Wal-Mart. Thus, I should have known better when I purchased the paper shredder that shredded paper for less than an hour.
(Please send in your list of high-quality and/or long-lasting products made in modern China to this column, though I would be really surprised if anyone has any such products.)
I brought the shredder home and started on the task of shredding some bill stubs and other papers that I didn't want to otherwise throw away into the town dump, fearing worries about identity theft, though frankly I am not sure why anyone would want my identity in the first place since it hardly benefits me.
I shredded about 10 pieces of paper. Then the button on the top to make the shredder shred wouldn't work. It would run the shredder in reverse, allowing the paper to spit back out of the machine. but it wouldn't shred in natural shredding order.
In one day. No, in less than one day. In one hour, the Wal-Mart $12.98 paper shredder, made in China, was broken.
I know there's the saying about "getting what you pay for," but I still do live in a world where $10 is a sizable chunk of cash. It can mean about two and a half cartons of milk, or a gas tank half-full, or about half of a three-month subscription to a community newspaper, or at least 10 cans of the cheaper chicken noodle soup. It can mean whether the last week of the month is buoyant or restrictive. I don't like wasting $10, let alone $12.95.
So, here's my question to the quiet masses of American consumers who end up buying junk from Wal-Mart, made in China, because it is at a reduced price: Have you ever purchased anything made in the modern China that was a long-enduring, quality product, otherwise beyond the realm of junk? I don't mean a jar from the Ming Dynasty. I mean something produced in a factory in modern China?
Anything produced in a factory in modern China. And where the workers are woefully paid and probably forced to work long hours standing on their feet, which is probably why American chain stores find such joy in doing business in the Chinese market? And a person can't help but hope that one day the Chinese workers will get ticked off enough to kick that old-man Commie-Capitalist government and all of the complicit, douche-bag American companies out of there.
When I was a boy, I remember that all of the junky trickets and souvenirs, like a buffalo salt shaker from a tourist shop in Yellowstone Park or a gas station near an Indian reservation, was "made in Japan." Back then, "made in Japan" denoted junk. Though I never did jump on the bandwagon about how Japanese-produced cars became better than American-made cars and don't believe it to this day, Japan was able to raise its product quality identity as it developed technology, mainly media products, and took the lead in the creation of interesting but pointless robots.
So, now, it's apparently "made in China" that carries the stigma of junk, brought to us by chain stores like Wal-Mart. Thus, I should have known better when I purchased the paper shredder that shredded paper for less than an hour.
(Please send in your list of high-quality and/or long-lasting products made in modern China to this column, though I would be really surprised if anyone has any such products.)
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
War is a quagmire, generals are incompetent, the public never learns from lessons...
My summary of the war in Afghanistan, the longest war in U.S. history it has been said, which is also described the same way in the recent Rolling Stone magazine article, in which comments by General McChrystal and others caused President Obama to replace McChrystal today with General Petraeus, so as to continue the same policy that McChrystal, Patreaus and Obama have followed, with the loss of lives and billions of dollars wasted, having just seen the weekly photos on the PBS News Hour of young soldiers recently killed in Iraq and Afghanistan: "QUAGMIRE."
Friday, June 18, 2010
Information Station...
Here are some interesting pieces of information that I heard or read recently, with some of my commentary...
- The ocean oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico is now America's greatest environmental disaster. As of mid-June, it now equals about 14 Exxon-Valdez oil spill incidents. And it's not over yet.
- Wouldn't you know that some Republican Congressman (Joe Barton from Texas, to be exact) would apologize to BP for the disaster of their continuing oil leak?!!! That guy has to be an incredibly inept and stupid politician. Now, with a ton of bricks falling on him in political heat, he has apologized for his apology to BP.
- British Petroleum (BP) spent $50 million on a recent TV ad campaign. That tells me, considering all the money that BP is going to have to dish out for its oil disaster, is that we all are certainly paying too much for our gas prices at the local pumps. All those oil companies have reaped huge profits. Talk about a shakedown of consumers.
- BP has $9 billion in contracts with the U.S. Defense Department and billions for contracts with other governmental departments. So far this year, BP has garnered $837 billion in federal contracts.
- BP has enough oil in reserves to furnish the U.S. gas needs for more than two years.
- Okay, some non-BP oil leak news...Since 1910, the color border of National Geographic magazine has been yellow.
- My father, who liked to use his hands to fix his own cars, would be annoyed at the modern cars of today which are dependent upon electronics under the hood. It often takes a diagnostics test at the car repair shop to see what's wrong with the electronics of a car. Well, here's something distressing...A recent AOL report noted that criminals now can use laptop computers to disable the brakes of a car or even turn off a car engine.
- With a 9.7 unemployment rate nationally, there are 7 million Americans who have been out of work for more than six months.
- Mother Jones magazine for July-August has a story about Julian Assange, the creator of WikiLeaks. His website has been referred to as the world's most famous source of secret information and, to quote the magazine, "the uncensorable Wikipedia for untraceable mass document leaking and analysis."
- I remember that my mother (and I) thought country singer Jimmy Dean was very entertaining and talented. He could play the banjo and other instruments and had a likable personality. I remember being impressed by his talents when he was a guest host on the old Mike Douglas Show, among others. Later, he became known as a brand name for breakfast sausage. He died this month.
Monday, June 7, 2010
News at 10...
This just in:
An American got a job today but it was another person from the Clinton administration appointed by President Obama. Said Obama, "I don't know anyone in Washington but former Clinton administration cronies. And neither does Rahm Emmanuel. Back then, they got two terms out it and what's more important than that?"
President Obama set-up an 800-member bipartisan task force to study ways to create jobs. It is so bipartisan, it screams of no accomplishment. Leading the task force from the Democratic side is former President Bill Clinton, who supported NAFTA and GATT free trade deals which exported a ton of American jobs overseas and across the borders. On the Republican side, Liz Cheney will co-chair the task force and provide input about how nepotism can really open doors.
British Petroleum continues to try to stop the gushing oil from the drilled hole at the bottom of the Gulf Coast ocean. About 39 million gallons of oil have mixed with ocean water, drifting into wetlands and beaches. They have tried everything from a hat device to the idea of golf balls. Fortunately, they haven't attempted the nuclear blast yet. Here are some other items that they might want to try to clog the hole: Irons and ironing boards, hair from every shower in New York city, baseballs and marbles, dead walruses, and the cushion of Rush Limbaugh's chair.
Please get out your irons because here's some irony: The BP oil spill is affecting the Gulf Coast states of the Southeast. All of those states are "red" states, meaning they vote for conservative Republicans. The conservative philosophy is for deregulation and that the government should be small and stay out of the lives of people and businesses. So, those "red" states were likely pleased that oil companies could drill, baby, drill off-shore without tough regulation and oversight. But now that there is gushing oil and all kinds of fishing and tourism dollars that will be lost by the damage, they want the government to do something about it and may even want bail-outs for industries that have lost income. Huh, that's ironic! Hey, red Gulf Coast states, how's that "conservative deregulation" stuff working out for you?
Rush Limbaugh, a serial groom, recently got married for the fourth time. For the bride, instead of a wedding card, it probably would be more fitting to send a sympathy card.
Giving up his representation of Connecticut because it was just taking too much of his time, Senator Joe Lieberman said he will continue to serve as the U.S. senator for Israel.
The Israeli blockade of aid ships into the Gaza strip of Palestine is not just about weapons. The policy (and this is totally true) also blocks the delivery of jam, chocolate, notebooks, and other items. Said an Israeli politician (and this is back to total fabrication), "A thrown Hershey kiss can put out someone's eye."
The Catholic Church has apologized for the sex scandals of priests in North America and Europe. That leaves only five more continents and they are pretty confident that there are no major problems in Antarctica.
A concerned Catholic suggested that the church would benefit from the concept of gender equality, moving some nuns up and some priests down the hierarchy ladder. Said a Vatican spokesman, "No, no, no. A woman would never look right in wearing the flowing gown of a pope."
Do you have dry ears? Then you should talk to a quack about Dryearyoxitin. It will make your ears sweat naturally and keep your ear lobes moist. Possible side effects include loss of hearing, decibel increase of the voice of a mother-in-law, sneezing, hiccups, erectile dysfunction, stomach aches, unnatural gas, burping, tooth decay, flat feet, purple toenails, green fingernails, itchy armpits, diarrhea, constipation, mold, rabies, hallucinations, thoughts of running naked through a cornfield, intolerance, pregnancy, computer viruses, and vivid dreams of Republican politicians in clown suits.
An American got a job today but it was another person from the Clinton administration appointed by President Obama. Said Obama, "I don't know anyone in Washington but former Clinton administration cronies. And neither does Rahm Emmanuel. Back then, they got two terms out it and what's more important than that?"
President Obama set-up an 800-member bipartisan task force to study ways to create jobs. It is so bipartisan, it screams of no accomplishment. Leading the task force from the Democratic side is former President Bill Clinton, who supported NAFTA and GATT free trade deals which exported a ton of American jobs overseas and across the borders. On the Republican side, Liz Cheney will co-chair the task force and provide input about how nepotism can really open doors.
British Petroleum continues to try to stop the gushing oil from the drilled hole at the bottom of the Gulf Coast ocean. About 39 million gallons of oil have mixed with ocean water, drifting into wetlands and beaches. They have tried everything from a hat device to the idea of golf balls. Fortunately, they haven't attempted the nuclear blast yet. Here are some other items that they might want to try to clog the hole: Irons and ironing boards, hair from every shower in New York city, baseballs and marbles, dead walruses, and the cushion of Rush Limbaugh's chair.
Please get out your irons because here's some irony: The BP oil spill is affecting the Gulf Coast states of the Southeast. All of those states are "red" states, meaning they vote for conservative Republicans. The conservative philosophy is for deregulation and that the government should be small and stay out of the lives of people and businesses. So, those "red" states were likely pleased that oil companies could drill, baby, drill off-shore without tough regulation and oversight. But now that there is gushing oil and all kinds of fishing and tourism dollars that will be lost by the damage, they want the government to do something about it and may even want bail-outs for industries that have lost income. Huh, that's ironic! Hey, red Gulf Coast states, how's that "conservative deregulation" stuff working out for you?
Rush Limbaugh, a serial groom, recently got married for the fourth time. For the bride, instead of a wedding card, it probably would be more fitting to send a sympathy card.
Giving up his representation of Connecticut because it was just taking too much of his time, Senator Joe Lieberman said he will continue to serve as the U.S. senator for Israel.
The Israeli blockade of aid ships into the Gaza strip of Palestine is not just about weapons. The policy (and this is totally true) also blocks the delivery of jam, chocolate, notebooks, and other items. Said an Israeli politician (and this is back to total fabrication), "A thrown Hershey kiss can put out someone's eye."
The Catholic Church has apologized for the sex scandals of priests in North America and Europe. That leaves only five more continents and they are pretty confident that there are no major problems in Antarctica.
A concerned Catholic suggested that the church would benefit from the concept of gender equality, moving some nuns up and some priests down the hierarchy ladder. Said a Vatican spokesman, "No, no, no. A woman would never look right in wearing the flowing gown of a pope."
Do you have dry ears? Then you should talk to a quack about Dryearyoxitin. It will make your ears sweat naturally and keep your ear lobes moist. Possible side effects include loss of hearing, decibel increase of the voice of a mother-in-law, sneezing, hiccups, erectile dysfunction, stomach aches, unnatural gas, burping, tooth decay, flat feet, purple toenails, green fingernails, itchy armpits, diarrhea, constipation, mold, rabies, hallucinations, thoughts of running naked through a cornfield, intolerance, pregnancy, computer viruses, and vivid dreams of Republican politicians in clown suits.
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