Apologies to friends in the UK who recognize the title as coming from older pages of Autocar.
First on the agenda: Presidential politics are in Hiatus until Labor Day. There really won't be anything to watch on World Nightly News with Katie Couric for two months except for policy statements that make Zwieback look juicy.
This is stated barring the appearance of undeniable evidence of either candidate in a compromising position with either a young boy or a goat. However, one suspects that nothing of the sort exists, or Senator Clinton would have used it by now. Senator McCain would be well advised to observe the tactics of the Clinton campaign, and not what did not work.
It may be suggested that Hillary's intransigence on the issue of leaving the campaign trail has benefitted the Obama campaign by serving as not only a sparring partner, but a better surrogate than a General Election campaign against McCain.
Hillary, by force of being another non-traditional candidate, was able to sling some stuff at Obama that McCain would never get away with. She could fight dirtier and harder, and being fundamentally on the same side of nearly every issue, get the crappy deal-killer stuff that the 527s might have thrown as a hole card in October on the table in April. Now it's all old news.
Obama had a bit of luck here. He put his bet on the idea that he could hold the lead from the Potomac primaries, and the Clinton campaign would find anything the Republicans could use and get it out in the Sun to dry up by October. It worked. Call it 65% savvy, and 35% luck.
McCain has no such luck. He has the disadvantage of being an Old White Guy, and any question of Obama's associations, or anything that could be reasonably linked Obama's race, and the next thing that happens is McCain becomes Mr. Old White Bigot. It is not fair to McCain, in light of his admirable record of service and dedication to the United States.
McCain supporters should hold Bush accountable. Had Bush not trashed McCain in 2000, it is entirely likely that we may be seeing the potential for a first Bush term in January 2009, and a defunct Democratic party. The following scenario explains how.
September 12, 2001, President McCain, with approval of Congress, Russia, China, the EU, and a few sundry nations with Islamist issues, parks tactical nuke-tipped Tomahawks in the legislative bodies of several Islamist countries. September 14, 2001, Osama Bin Laden is delivered to Washington. September 18, 2001, Osama's trial begins on fifty television channels. October 9, 2001, Osama is beheaded and buried with a ham hock up his tuchas.
Sadly for McCain, Bush walked around with his head firmly placed in the hole which normally accomodates Dick "Duck!" Cheney's arm. The 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th. and 8th Amendments got run through a Veg-A-Matic; the price of fuel quadrupled; 4000 plus American servicepeople are dead to get rid of someone who apparently was about as much of a threat to the US as the Taco Bell Chihuahua; the price of food doubled; the equity in many homes spiraled up, then crashed; the Stock Market is lower today than it was at its peak during the Clinton Administration; and Bush suggests that things are just fine!
It was one thing to give Bush the benefit of the doubt in 2004. Not now. The sad part is that McCain is not equipped to clean up Bush's mistakes, and he was not of a character which would have made those mistakes in the first place. John McCain deserves a better hand than he has gotten. He is a man of admirable character, grit, and integrity, and faces a fate, as he has in the past, not of his making.
A moment may be taken to reflect on that skidmark from a Corvair, Ralph Nader. Everything he has done in forty-plus years of public life has empowered authoritarians everywhere. Between Nader and his allies in the Dobbs-sycophant organization Public Citizen, his has been a systematic campaign against choice, freedom and individualism. The only difference between Ralph Nader and Reverend Donald Wildmon is that Wildmon would take your rights before he takes your stuff, Nader would make sure he liked your stuff, take it, then take your rights.
The fact was, by the time Unsafe at Any Speed was published in 1966, the design flaw in the Chevrolet Corvair which had been the focal point of Nader's argument, had been two years rectified by General Motors. It was a witch hunt against capitalism, a pursuit which reached it's nadir (sorry) by placing Public Citizen-affiliated wonks in the Carter administration, most notably Joan Claybrook at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
85 mph speedometers! Air Bags! My car weighs 600-1000 pounds too much because of those two socialists, and my fuel economy suffers. If I want a 1400-pound, 660cc, Kei-class car from Japan that gets 60 or 70 miles per gallon, Ralph Nader says neither I nor any other American can have one.
Thank you Jimmy Carter! Nader's Raiders symbolized a mindset whose backlash put Ronald Reagan in office in 1980, which really was not that bad, and Nader threw the election to Bush in 2000, which is the proof that Nader is King Midas in Reverse; everything he touches turns to excrement. Bush has been the Republican Jimmy Carter, but one supposes that Bush will not take redemptive steps in the post-presidency.
Libertarian Bob Barr brings some good ideas to the table, but let's face it, he led the impeachment of Bill Clinton. The dude is connected out the wazoo with the same people who elected Bush over McCain in the 2000 primary. Pass.
BIG ENDORSEMENT! The Wandering Gentile is pleased to endorse Senator Barack Obama, Democrat of Illinois, for President of the United States in 2008. After careful consideration, there is no other choice. Senator Obama's youth and optimism are refreshing after the Republican paranoia-fest of the last couple of years.
Basically, Washington needs a massive laxative. The Republicans will have to purge pretty much any leadership connected with the disaster of Bush's second term. There is a drift away from the Fox News and Rush Limbaugh media by moderates. If and when the economy recovers, Conservative may develop the same stigma Liberal developed in the eighties and nineties.
The party of Reagan has lost the middle. Nixon, Ford, Carter, and both Bushes lost the middle on the economy. Clinton is now a figure of justifiable nostalgia. (Oral sex? That was it? Quaint.) Now the Democrats have sidelined most of the figures tied to the excesses of failed integrity associated with the Clintons, and nominated their most charismatic candidate since John F. Kennedy, and possibly Franklin Roosevelt.
For those who loved Reagan, please note that a vote for Obama is not your departure from the Republican party. Reagan was once a Liberal Democrat whose party left him. Many who feel affinity for the values of small government and individual responsibility fail to see the place where massive security infrastructures and enforcement bureaucracies fulfill a vision of an America where everyone is free to achieve his God-given potential.
The Republicans have left Reagan. Mr. Obama is in the building and worth hearing.
Hope. Some of us had forgotten what it felt like.
27 June 2008
16 June 2008
Selling Jesus
There is a commercial that runs on local television stations.
Media Conglomerate presents Jesus Rocks.
This impresses as being particularly cynical and blasphemous. There is a fine line to be tread here, and the idea of a large stockholder-operated marketer vending music with the ostensible purpose of raising the soul and spreading the Gospel goes way past it. We're talking moneychangers in the temple past the line.
The gentle reader will not be compelled to understand, as happens so often in modern discourse, but is asked to consider for discussion what ministry this supports. The gentle reader does not have to understand squat. But the gentle reader is asked to consider the ramifications of the preceding thought.
One should not question the motivations of persons wishing to commit an expression of faith in musical form. That is certainly a worthwhile pursuit, and one hopes that the artists connect to people searching for a greater comprehension of something greater than themselves.
But somehow one doubts that this will come to pass. It would be nice to see faith-centered performers who exceed the talents of their secular counterparts, but that list begins and ends with U2 and Third Day.
Lamentably, what is found in the Contemporary Christian Industry is frequently comparable to post-millennial lite rock where male performers have become eunuchs begging for permission to reclaim their manhood. In place of being eunuchs, the Christian artists appear to be of tenuous salvation, hiding in praise communities in place of focusing their efforts upon the unsaved.
Apologies are offered, but the whole message gets a little lost here. If Christianity is devoid of risk, and followers do not dare to take a position that may be unpopular, then Christ has been abandoned. It does not mean acting stupidly or offensively; it means that the role of the church is to assure that all souls are treated as valuable in the eyes of God.
A life of blessings in an affluent enclave outside of a major city ministers to very few. The abundant life afforded to Americans of all faiths is a wonderful thing, but when there is no ministry to the least of Christ's brethren, one mocks the life of Jesus Christ. As many Contemporary Christians live more abundantly than most, it is appropriate to challenge their mission.
Piety is no substitute for active faith. Raising one's hands in an arena and proclaiming love for Christ, then returning to a comfortable home in the suburbs of a major city without action for those who have no tangible connection to the love of Christ, articulates a poverty of the spirit.
How are those who are separated from knowledge of the Lord to be brought to the pasture? Please do not tell them that God is awesome...that is part of the job description. Show those who question why God is awesome. That requires bravery.
Mother Teresa, and Dr. King are great examples of faith in action. True ministry requires action, and action demands risk. An individual of faith has no reason to fear death. His reward is with God.
And in some small way, buying songs about Jesus from a secular marketer defies the definition of faith in action. There is no ministry being served, besides profit. It becomes the choir preaching to itself, and Christ deserves better.
Tim Russert 1950-2008.
It is with great sadness that Mr. Russert's death is noted here. His was a life spent much too quickly.
One wishes that there had been more opportunity to see such a journalist in action. A fine interviewer, as well as a truly objective observer, the quality of his presentation never waivered from excellence. It was a view of reporting at its best.
A special message of condolence goes to Mr. Russert's family, particularly his son Luke. The premature loss of a journalist father is a unique pain, familiarity with which should not be visited upon anyone.
Rest in peace, Mr. Russert. Know that there will be room for you at a table with Murrow and Pulitzer, and the many who sacrificed their lives because the truth must be told. Only liars are inconvenienced by the truth, and we are better for your having inconvenienced your share.
Media Conglomerate presents Jesus Rocks.
This impresses as being particularly cynical and blasphemous. There is a fine line to be tread here, and the idea of a large stockholder-operated marketer vending music with the ostensible purpose of raising the soul and spreading the Gospel goes way past it. We're talking moneychangers in the temple past the line.
The gentle reader will not be compelled to understand, as happens so often in modern discourse, but is asked to consider for discussion what ministry this supports. The gentle reader does not have to understand squat. But the gentle reader is asked to consider the ramifications of the preceding thought.
One should not question the motivations of persons wishing to commit an expression of faith in musical form. That is certainly a worthwhile pursuit, and one hopes that the artists connect to people searching for a greater comprehension of something greater than themselves.
But somehow one doubts that this will come to pass. It would be nice to see faith-centered performers who exceed the talents of their secular counterparts, but that list begins and ends with U2 and Third Day.
Lamentably, what is found in the Contemporary Christian Industry is frequently comparable to post-millennial lite rock where male performers have become eunuchs begging for permission to reclaim their manhood. In place of being eunuchs, the Christian artists appear to be of tenuous salvation, hiding in praise communities in place of focusing their efforts upon the unsaved.
Apologies are offered, but the whole message gets a little lost here. If Christianity is devoid of risk, and followers do not dare to take a position that may be unpopular, then Christ has been abandoned. It does not mean acting stupidly or offensively; it means that the role of the church is to assure that all souls are treated as valuable in the eyes of God.
A life of blessings in an affluent enclave outside of a major city ministers to very few. The abundant life afforded to Americans of all faiths is a wonderful thing, but when there is no ministry to the least of Christ's brethren, one mocks the life of Jesus Christ. As many Contemporary Christians live more abundantly than most, it is appropriate to challenge their mission.
Piety is no substitute for active faith. Raising one's hands in an arena and proclaiming love for Christ, then returning to a comfortable home in the suburbs of a major city without action for those who have no tangible connection to the love of Christ, articulates a poverty of the spirit.
How are those who are separated from knowledge of the Lord to be brought to the pasture? Please do not tell them that God is awesome...that is part of the job description. Show those who question why God is awesome. That requires bravery.
Mother Teresa, and Dr. King are great examples of faith in action. True ministry requires action, and action demands risk. An individual of faith has no reason to fear death. His reward is with God.
And in some small way, buying songs about Jesus from a secular marketer defies the definition of faith in action. There is no ministry being served, besides profit. It becomes the choir preaching to itself, and Christ deserves better.
Tim Russert 1950-2008.
It is with great sadness that Mr. Russert's death is noted here. His was a life spent much too quickly.
One wishes that there had been more opportunity to see such a journalist in action. A fine interviewer, as well as a truly objective observer, the quality of his presentation never waivered from excellence. It was a view of reporting at its best.
A special message of condolence goes to Mr. Russert's family, particularly his son Luke. The premature loss of a journalist father is a unique pain, familiarity with which should not be visited upon anyone.
Rest in peace, Mr. Russert. Know that there will be room for you at a table with Murrow and Pulitzer, and the many who sacrificed their lives because the truth must be told. Only liars are inconvenienced by the truth, and we are better for your having inconvenienced your share.
12 June 2008
Lobs Doo Tonight
(Musical fanfare, Cable Network News-not to be confused with the same words in a different order despite identical initials-logo on screen.)
This is Lobs Doo tonight, with news, debate and opinion for tonight...aw who cares? It's the same thing every night. And now your host, Mister Co-Dependent, Lobs Doo!
LD: Tonight we begin with a new threat to our security on our southern border. It appears that millions of criminal illegal aliens are clogging the customs checkpoints at Nuevo Laredo, Tijuana, Juarez, and other crossings into Mexico. For the full story, we go to Kitty Litter, live, on Interstate 35 in Cotulla, Texas.
KL: Lobs, the scene here is absolute pandemonium. At approximately ten last night, undocumented aliens from all over the United States...
LD: Criminal illegal aliens...
KL: Riiiiight... anyway, they all left their homes beginning at ten Eastern time last night.
(Pan to shot of vehicles, most spectacularly overloaded, in a long queue southbound on I35.)
LD: (Face very pale) All of them?
KL: What, are you deaf? All of them. Gone. Vamoosed. Like Napoleon. Out. Of. Here. Mexican authorities are struggling to keep up with the paperwork to repatriate the millions who are showing up at border control on most major routes from Brownsville to San Ysidro...
LD: Well it figures! These criminal illegal aliens have no respect for our laws, but obey the law when returning to their countries!
KL: Yeah. Ah, the Texas Department of Transportation estimates traffic is at a full stop on Interstate 35 from Laredo to mile marker 230 near Austin. Back ups on all major routes into Mexico range from 180 to 260 miles in Texas, and CalTrans reports that Interstate 5 is gridlocked from Sacramento to the border, a distance of approximately 500 miles.
LD: Well how do you like that. Are these fools so unaware to realize that these roads are built with the mission of our national defense?
KL: Lobs, it appears that they don't really give a rat's ass. Cable Network News spoke with one undocumented alien...
LD: Criminal illegal alien!
KL: Whatever. Anyway, this is what he had to say.
UA: Esta bien. No nos quieren, y decidimos ir todos a una vez. !Que disfruten el trafico, cabrones!
LD: What the hell did he just say?
KL: Your wife is of Mexican ancestry. Ask her. But it didn't seem nice, I can tell you that. It appears that the Calderon government has offered passage to any person wanting to return home from Mexico if they are not citizens of Mexico, and fuel for any Mexican citizen wishing to return from the United States, as a goodwill gesture.
LD: (Mugging for camera) At least the money for this won't come from the pockets of our shrinking middle class!
KL: Lobs, you seem to have no idea what kind of a world of hurt the shrinking middle class is in.
LD: (Still mugging) I have always been an advocate for the rights of middle class Americans! I'm a populist!
KL: Oh, cut the crap, Lobs. You went to Harvard, and you're an economist...
LD: Don't forget best-selling author and radio host as well as television pundit. (Grins widely)
KL: I didn't. You talked all over me. The point of this being that you have about as much in common with the American middle class as the Queen of England does. The fact of the matter is that the agricultural industry in California is ruined, as is meat-packing in the midwest and south, construction everywhere...
LD: These are well-paying jobs that will go to hard-working white Americans...
KL: Not to mention the services which were supported by these communities in nearly every major city in the United States. The jobs which were filled had no line of people waiting to bust their ass at eight or nine dollars an hour. This line of cars on I35 has the potential to harm the United States economy in a way that makes Osama look like somebody robbing a 7-Eleven. For a Harvard economist, you're pretty dumb, Lobs.
LD: Well, I hardly think you're qual...
KL: Oh, come off it, Lobs! The governments of 18 Latin American countries have agreed to citizenship and property rights for the families of returning citizens, and now we have the governments of several European and Asian powers offering low-interest credit guarantees to persons returning to poorer countries with at least a secondary education.
LD: Well, that's great. Our friends around the world have done us a huge favor in solving the illegal immigration crisis in the United States.
KL: God almighty, are you really that thick, or are you merely using narcotics? This is not a favor. This is a problem of the first magnitude. When the EU, the Middle East, China, India, Japan, and the rest of these countries decided to lower their trade barriers...
LD: Open borders and so-called free trade...
KL: ...worked in the nineties.
LD: ...are among the greatest killers of good-paying jobs for our endangered middle class.
KL: Yeah, well, I don't know about you, but GM and Ford just opened factories in Latin America, and they're closing them up here.
LD: Another example of outsourcing and another attack on the middle class!
KL: Those cars are being exported, built to the standards of most overseas markets, and keeping Detroit profitable.
LD: So big business outsources and fat cats get rich while the American worker suffers.
KL: Actually, the American worker has suffered from the opinion in Detroit that all Americans want wasteful machines, despite the fact that the only manufacturers who have grown offered economical, modestly sized choices, built in the United States. But you drive one of those gas hogs, don't you, Lobs?
LD: (Proudly) A '95 Silverado!
KL: Good Lord, even Hannity bought a hybrid... Lobs, is that Silverado paid off?
LD: Of course.
KL: You may wish to hold on to it. It occurs to me that these cars going over the border are taking your career with them. If you don't have any undocumented aliens, you don't have much of a show.
LD: (Silence)
KL: Lobs? Lobs? LOBS?
LD: What are these idiots in Washington thinking?? We need to give amnesty to all undocumented immigrants!! Our nation cannot survive without the contribution that these brave individuals, who risked life and limb, make to this great land...
This is Lobs Doo tonight, with news, debate and opinion for tonight...aw who cares? It's the same thing every night. And now your host, Mister Co-Dependent, Lobs Doo!
LD: Tonight we begin with a new threat to our security on our southern border. It appears that millions of criminal illegal aliens are clogging the customs checkpoints at Nuevo Laredo, Tijuana, Juarez, and other crossings into Mexico. For the full story, we go to Kitty Litter, live, on Interstate 35 in Cotulla, Texas.
KL: Lobs, the scene here is absolute pandemonium. At approximately ten last night, undocumented aliens from all over the United States...
LD: Criminal illegal aliens...
KL: Riiiiight... anyway, they all left their homes beginning at ten Eastern time last night.
(Pan to shot of vehicles, most spectacularly overloaded, in a long queue southbound on I35.)
LD: (Face very pale) All of them?
KL: What, are you deaf? All of them. Gone. Vamoosed. Like Napoleon. Out. Of. Here. Mexican authorities are struggling to keep up with the paperwork to repatriate the millions who are showing up at border control on most major routes from Brownsville to San Ysidro...
LD: Well it figures! These criminal illegal aliens have no respect for our laws, but obey the law when returning to their countries!
KL: Yeah. Ah, the Texas Department of Transportation estimates traffic is at a full stop on Interstate 35 from Laredo to mile marker 230 near Austin. Back ups on all major routes into Mexico range from 180 to 260 miles in Texas, and CalTrans reports that Interstate 5 is gridlocked from Sacramento to the border, a distance of approximately 500 miles.
LD: Well how do you like that. Are these fools so unaware to realize that these roads are built with the mission of our national defense?
KL: Lobs, it appears that they don't really give a rat's ass. Cable Network News spoke with one undocumented alien...
LD: Criminal illegal alien!
KL: Whatever. Anyway, this is what he had to say.
UA: Esta bien. No nos quieren, y decidimos ir todos a una vez. !Que disfruten el trafico, cabrones!
LD: What the hell did he just say?
KL: Your wife is of Mexican ancestry. Ask her. But it didn't seem nice, I can tell you that. It appears that the Calderon government has offered passage to any person wanting to return home from Mexico if they are not citizens of Mexico, and fuel for any Mexican citizen wishing to return from the United States, as a goodwill gesture.
LD: (Mugging for camera) At least the money for this won't come from the pockets of our shrinking middle class!
KL: Lobs, you seem to have no idea what kind of a world of hurt the shrinking middle class is in.
LD: (Still mugging) I have always been an advocate for the rights of middle class Americans! I'm a populist!
KL: Oh, cut the crap, Lobs. You went to Harvard, and you're an economist...
LD: Don't forget best-selling author and radio host as well as television pundit. (Grins widely)
KL: I didn't. You talked all over me. The point of this being that you have about as much in common with the American middle class as the Queen of England does. The fact of the matter is that the agricultural industry in California is ruined, as is meat-packing in the midwest and south, construction everywhere...
LD: These are well-paying jobs that will go to hard-working white Americans...
KL: Not to mention the services which were supported by these communities in nearly every major city in the United States. The jobs which were filled had no line of people waiting to bust their ass at eight or nine dollars an hour. This line of cars on I35 has the potential to harm the United States economy in a way that makes Osama look like somebody robbing a 7-Eleven. For a Harvard economist, you're pretty dumb, Lobs.
LD: Well, I hardly think you're qual...
KL: Oh, come off it, Lobs! The governments of 18 Latin American countries have agreed to citizenship and property rights for the families of returning citizens, and now we have the governments of several European and Asian powers offering low-interest credit guarantees to persons returning to poorer countries with at least a secondary education.
LD: Well, that's great. Our friends around the world have done us a huge favor in solving the illegal immigration crisis in the United States.
KL: God almighty, are you really that thick, or are you merely using narcotics? This is not a favor. This is a problem of the first magnitude. When the EU, the Middle East, China, India, Japan, and the rest of these countries decided to lower their trade barriers...
LD: Open borders and so-called free trade...
KL: ...worked in the nineties.
LD: ...are among the greatest killers of good-paying jobs for our endangered middle class.
KL: Yeah, well, I don't know about you, but GM and Ford just opened factories in Latin America, and they're closing them up here.
LD: Another example of outsourcing and another attack on the middle class!
KL: Those cars are being exported, built to the standards of most overseas markets, and keeping Detroit profitable.
LD: So big business outsources and fat cats get rich while the American worker suffers.
KL: Actually, the American worker has suffered from the opinion in Detroit that all Americans want wasteful machines, despite the fact that the only manufacturers who have grown offered economical, modestly sized choices, built in the United States. But you drive one of those gas hogs, don't you, Lobs?
LD: (Proudly) A '95 Silverado!
KL: Good Lord, even Hannity bought a hybrid... Lobs, is that Silverado paid off?
LD: Of course.
KL: You may wish to hold on to it. It occurs to me that these cars going over the border are taking your career with them. If you don't have any undocumented aliens, you don't have much of a show.
LD: (Silence)
KL: Lobs? Lobs? LOBS?
LD: What are these idiots in Washington thinking?? We need to give amnesty to all undocumented immigrants!! Our nation cannot survive without the contribution that these brave individuals, who risked life and limb, make to this great land...
03 June 2008
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