If Conservatives were less intent upon attending to other people's business and assuring that they legislated effectively, they would not be scrounging around the Beltway for lobbying jobs today. If Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter had been more cognizant of the situation facing the nation; had Lou Dobbs ever bothered to vet a statistic, then Conservative ideas may have earned broader acceptance in the marketplace.
Conservatives got what they asked for.
One does not wish to discredit conservative punditry's knowledge of it's audience. Among them, discussion of alterations to the Tax Code, Abortion, Immigration Reform, or Gay Rights provokes a visceral, immediate and almost uniform reaction. Regrettably (for them), the Far Right Opinion Machine had either no idea or no reverence for the growing chasm between them and the majority.
The Far Right lost on alterations to the Tax Code. Governor Mike Huckabee, and Representative Ron Paul followed behind the "Fair Tax," a consumption tax scheme designed by Atlanta-based radio host Neal Boortz, and Representative John Linder. The basis of its appeal, the decommissioning of the IRS and the sixteenth amendment, is also its downfall.
While one is disinclined to speaking favorably about the IRS, the IRS also has the unenviable task of enforcing the tax codes of the United States. The Internal Revenue Service is overdue for reform in more aspects than can be enumerated here. But doing away with it and moving to a consumption tax lacking regulation or enforcement mechanisms is a vote for the same lack of oversight that put the nation in dutch in the first place.
One also questions a system which allows government to know exactly what and in what quantities an individual purchases. (Hey! Bob just bought fifteen gallons of Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla. Why does he need that?) The current system stinks, but it's better than this alternative.
While questioning President-elect Obama's credentials as a Capitalist, there has been no outcry from Far-Right punditry about the redistribution of wealth from 99% to 1% of the population via current tax policy. One is loath to use a broad term like oligarchist, but what, precisely, is different from the Bolsheviks apart from the transparency of the wealth transfer?
The wealthy have the option of sitting upon their wealth. In the middle classes, a pent up demand exists for liquidity which will purchase cars, homes, durable goods and health care. Call it Trickle Up, a/k/a a rising tide lifts all boats.
The worthy far-right opposition totally lost the abortion debate. The majority is disinclined to reinstating governmental authority over abortion, at times in spite of intense moral opposition to the practice itself. The majority feels that the home is the best place for this discussion, as opposed to public fora. That, and about half of the population is biologically incapable of ever having an abortion in the first place, and would really rather watch football.
In the case of Immigration Reform, four candidates made their opposition a centerpiece of their campaigns. To put it in perspective, in Georgia's Republican primary, the two most vocal opponents to Immigration Reform, Representatives Duncan Hunter and Tom Tancredo, managed to gain 1,076 votes combined.
The author of the Immigration Reform bill despised by Representatives Hunter and Tancredo, Senator John McCain, was a very credible second place with 303,639 votes. Governor Huckabee, who had actually enacted legislation which could be construed as benefitting people who had entered illegally, took first place with 326,069. Call that a 585 to 1 differential against Hunter and Tancredo.
The Far Right Opinion Machine got one small victory in 2008. Proposition 8 failed in California. Judicial resources are going to be tied up for the foreseeable future, and anybody betting on prop 8's survival in the Golden State should be encouraged to send that money via The Wandering Gentile's Commode, P.O. Box Flush-Like-Rush, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
The Gay activist community may soon discover that they are better served by exacting revenge upon the talismen of conservatism. A few well placed ballot initiatives with regard to additional levies upon SUVs, McMansions, guns, and politically active faith communities in California could be much more effective than protesting in West Hollywood.
There is a country which already has many of the things that the Far Right Opinion Machine embraces already. This crucible should be seen as a oracle for the far right. That country has one of the lowest tax burdens in the world. Nativism has been an obstacle to diversity. The country has a strong relationship with a Conservative Christian community of both clergy and laity. Money is not spent on onerous schools or social programs. The wealthy have authority in all matters, and Mexicans are leaving in droves.
That country is Mexico.
01 December 2008
25 November 2008
Gentoon Update!
To friends of The Wandering Gentile, and newbies alike. Please let us know what you like. Email is available in my profile. If you have stumbled upon us in the middle of the internet and like what you see, please please please say hello! Your Wandering Gentile promises that he does not in any way, shape or form intend to maim or maul either your psyche or person. (Promise does not necessarily apply to Governor Sarah Palin or Sean Hannity.)16 November 2008
Whither General Motors
It looks like GM may take a dirt nap, whether or not the US Government steps in. It may actually be in GM's better interest to auction off the trademarks of Chevrolet and Cadillac, and use that money to restructure under the GM banner.
There is tragedy, beyond the obvious ones of thousands upon thousands of displaced US manufacturing workers. GM is building some of the best cars they have ever made, some of which are more desirable than their competition.
This was not always the case with GM products, hence GM's dilemma.
Opels were marketed as being backed by the worldwide resources of General Motors. Most of those who owned Opels will recall them as being economical, fun-to-drive, and well made. Unfortunately, things wore out, parts and service were as nonexistent as if Opel were a defunct British manufacturer, and Opels became home automotive mechanics courses, regardless of the owner's aptitude or liking for grease.
Buick was the dealer body accountable for Opel in North America. In a fit of pique which may have been caused by a Buick manager urinating in John DeLorean's Froot Loops, German Opels were whisked out of the country like Bin Laden's relatives. Small car resources were diverted to the execrable Monza, and Buick dealers found themselves selling the substandard Opel/Isuzu.
Not that anything is good at Buick now, nor has there been for the last twenty years. If a line of doddering J. B. Hunt and Swift semi-trucks is doddering down a flat Interstate at a speed under their marginal governed maxima, led by a GM product, it is invariably a Buick. Buicks are capable of top speed, but their owners are convinced that it is 48 miles per hour.
The Saturn Ion is a car that works well on paper, but on the road it sucks. Larger, heavier and more softly suspended than the SL it replaced, it appears to have been engineered by ex-Trabant people heavily dosed with Ambien. Fit and finish, questionable styling, and the plastic body all come from the Trabant tradition. Mercifully, the Ion has been discharged.
GM has had issues with plastic cars in the past. The Pontiac Fiero was plastic. In its favor, the Fiero was handsomely styled and would get out of its own way on the three days per quarter when the V6 models ran. The only major issue was that most major United States insurance carriers had to add the term "spontaneous combustion" to their claims forms. Fiero Flambe ws a big part of the American motoring diet in the late eighties and early nineties.
The General thought so highly of the Fiero experience that they saw fit to recreate it in a Minivan, the Pontiac Trans Sport/Chevrolet Lumina APV. This van, like nothing else, screams of an individual who hangs out in front of a middle school wearing nothing but a raincoat and filling his digital camera with images of 14-year-old boys. That is, of course, providing that a dusty bit of headliner has not dislodged and wrapped itself about the driver's ears.
The headliner bonding process came about concurrently with the Cadillac Cimarron. The recipe was simple: Take one Chevy Cavalier, add Cadillac badges. Advertise as "driver's car," comparing Cimarron to something like a BMW or a Saab that an enthusiast might buy on purpose. Legions of American aficionados laughed themselves incontinent.
This was in an era when the General built all kinds of interesting-life cars designed for fuel economy.
Diesel Chevettes were so slow that the states of Ohio and Pennsylvania required an orange triangle on the back to avert them being rear-ended by the Amish. Larger cars powered by the Olds Diesel 35o were known for having engine failure while leaving the assembly line. And yes, there were Cadillacs with diesel engines. Talk about your "Standard of the World."
At least the Diesel 350 was better that the Cadillac 4100 V8-6-4, which attempted variable displacement before Katy Perry was even born. The only one that passed through my hands worked seamlessly. I was sixteen years old at the time, with a lead prosthetic where my right foot should have been. It never moved off "8" on the cheddary yellow display that told me how many cylinders were operating.
It brings us to the final nail in GM's coffin, the straw that breaks GM's back, the absolute worst car ever sold in North America, the Chevrolet Vega. There was nothing which could fail, fall off, rust, break, or generally act ornery that didn't.
The engines would overheat. Being a linerless, all-aluminum engine, after a catastrophic cooling failure, the head and the block mated like a pair of asymetrical Eggo waffles. If the engine was among the half which did not go Chernobyl in the first two years, it smoked. And it smoked. And it smoked some more.
A comparison with the Marlboro Man is inappropriate. The Marlboro Man had at least one horse.
There was a benefit to the smoke. The oil particles slowed rust on the rear third of the car long enough to get home and hit it with some more Bondo. To express this cars propensity for rusting would be incomplete without stating that it rusted on the showroom floor in Atlanta. Fiats had the good grace to get home before they started rusting.
Should the owner be among those fortunate enough to have his Vega survive long enough to require a clutch replacement, there was another little problem. The bellhousing was made of such soft metal that when the transmission was reinstalled, the bolts would strip the bellhousing.
A hundred miles later, the happy Vega owner would be retrieving his transmission from the middle of the road, where it fell out.
The vinyl in Vega interiors has been rumored to cause birth defects three generations later. The cardboard it was stapled to came from a cereal box. The outside door handles would break at will. Gearshifts and trim came adrift in the driver's hand.
Heck, the glove box latch broke the second time someone ever used it. And that describes a good Vega.
So with cars like this, how did GM manage to survive this long? The answer is easy.
Their domestic competition was worse.
There is tragedy, beyond the obvious ones of thousands upon thousands of displaced US manufacturing workers. GM is building some of the best cars they have ever made, some of which are more desirable than their competition.
This was not always the case with GM products, hence GM's dilemma.
Opels were marketed as being backed by the worldwide resources of General Motors. Most of those who owned Opels will recall them as being economical, fun-to-drive, and well made. Unfortunately, things wore out, parts and service were as nonexistent as if Opel were a defunct British manufacturer, and Opels became home automotive mechanics courses, regardless of the owner's aptitude or liking for grease.
Buick was the dealer body accountable for Opel in North America. In a fit of pique which may have been caused by a Buick manager urinating in John DeLorean's Froot Loops, German Opels were whisked out of the country like Bin Laden's relatives. Small car resources were diverted to the execrable Monza, and Buick dealers found themselves selling the substandard Opel/Isuzu.
Not that anything is good at Buick now, nor has there been for the last twenty years. If a line of doddering J. B. Hunt and Swift semi-trucks is doddering down a flat Interstate at a speed under their marginal governed maxima, led by a GM product, it is invariably a Buick. Buicks are capable of top speed, but their owners are convinced that it is 48 miles per hour.
The Saturn Ion is a car that works well on paper, but on the road it sucks. Larger, heavier and more softly suspended than the SL it replaced, it appears to have been engineered by ex-Trabant people heavily dosed with Ambien. Fit and finish, questionable styling, and the plastic body all come from the Trabant tradition. Mercifully, the Ion has been discharged.
GM has had issues with plastic cars in the past. The Pontiac Fiero was plastic. In its favor, the Fiero was handsomely styled and would get out of its own way on the three days per quarter when the V6 models ran. The only major issue was that most major United States insurance carriers had to add the term "spontaneous combustion" to their claims forms. Fiero Flambe ws a big part of the American motoring diet in the late eighties and early nineties.
The General thought so highly of the Fiero experience that they saw fit to recreate it in a Minivan, the Pontiac Trans Sport/Chevrolet Lumina APV. This van, like nothing else, screams of an individual who hangs out in front of a middle school wearing nothing but a raincoat and filling his digital camera with images of 14-year-old boys. That is, of course, providing that a dusty bit of headliner has not dislodged and wrapped itself about the driver's ears.
The headliner bonding process came about concurrently with the Cadillac Cimarron. The recipe was simple: Take one Chevy Cavalier, add Cadillac badges. Advertise as "driver's car," comparing Cimarron to something like a BMW or a Saab that an enthusiast might buy on purpose. Legions of American aficionados laughed themselves incontinent.
This was in an era when the General built all kinds of interesting-life cars designed for fuel economy.
Diesel Chevettes were so slow that the states of Ohio and Pennsylvania required an orange triangle on the back to avert them being rear-ended by the Amish. Larger cars powered by the Olds Diesel 35o were known for having engine failure while leaving the assembly line. And yes, there were Cadillacs with diesel engines. Talk about your "Standard of the World."
At least the Diesel 350 was better that the Cadillac 4100 V8-6-4, which attempted variable displacement before Katy Perry was even born. The only one that passed through my hands worked seamlessly. I was sixteen years old at the time, with a lead prosthetic where my right foot should have been. It never moved off "8" on the cheddary yellow display that told me how many cylinders were operating.
It brings us to the final nail in GM's coffin, the straw that breaks GM's back, the absolute worst car ever sold in North America, the Chevrolet Vega. There was nothing which could fail, fall off, rust, break, or generally act ornery that didn't.
The engines would overheat. Being a linerless, all-aluminum engine, after a catastrophic cooling failure, the head and the block mated like a pair of asymetrical Eggo waffles. If the engine was among the half which did not go Chernobyl in the first two years, it smoked. And it smoked. And it smoked some more.
A comparison with the Marlboro Man is inappropriate. The Marlboro Man had at least one horse.
There was a benefit to the smoke. The oil particles slowed rust on the rear third of the car long enough to get home and hit it with some more Bondo. To express this cars propensity for rusting would be incomplete without stating that it rusted on the showroom floor in Atlanta. Fiats had the good grace to get home before they started rusting.
Should the owner be among those fortunate enough to have his Vega survive long enough to require a clutch replacement, there was another little problem. The bellhousing was made of such soft metal that when the transmission was reinstalled, the bolts would strip the bellhousing.
A hundred miles later, the happy Vega owner would be retrieving his transmission from the middle of the road, where it fell out.
The vinyl in Vega interiors has been rumored to cause birth defects three generations later. The cardboard it was stapled to came from a cereal box. The outside door handles would break at will. Gearshifts and trim came adrift in the driver's hand.
Heck, the glove box latch broke the second time someone ever used it. And that describes a good Vega.
So with cars like this, how did GM manage to survive this long? The answer is easy.
Their domestic competition was worse.
Madam President
The question lingers about the nation's readiness for a female President.
As the United States has answered the question about the role of religion and race bearing upon qualification as commander-in-chief, the largest remaining barrier remains gender.
This is a question which verges upon the asinine. When the candidate offers an appropriate combination of confidence, competence and ideas which appeal to the majority of American voters, a woman will be elected president.
People who break barriers for elective office do not win without having a surfeit of talent. This was the downfall for Senator Clinton and Governor Palin in 2008. Failure had less to do with factors out of their control than it did with a pervasive image of neediness from Senator Clinton, and an overwhelming sense of Governor Palin's lack of preparedness.
Mrs Clinton had every advantage going into the 2008 presidential campaign. She had fifteen years on the national stage, a reputation as an effective lawmaker, and she was married to the last living President whose administration was considered successful. Clinton was holding the standard for a party resurgent owing to the opposition's bad decisionmaking.
The Republican party's bad decisions paled in comparison to Senator Clinton's. It took the Republicans five years to burn through the capital they brought to the table after 9/11. Senator Clinton had the Republican experience on the table and managed to burn through her political capital in five weeks, with people of her own party.
While issues were raised about President-elect Obama leveraging his race, some of it from former President Clinton, the correct assessment gets little play. Mr. Obama was the better candidate. His campaign was better organized. Obama's supporters brought more enthusiasm and generated better results.
However, one suspects that an opinion that no home is large enough for two presidents dwelled quietly in Bill Clinton's subconscious.
Until Republican Partisan Rush Limbaugh intervened and reinvigorated Hillary Clinton's campaign with his own fans and supporters, hoping to face Mrs. Clinton as a General Election candidate, her campaign was moribund. Mr. Limbaugh soon discovered that which did not destroy Obama just made him stronger.
Mrs. Clinton took advantage of arguments raised by Conservative talk to challenge Obama's character, while struggling to reclaim her front-runner status. This was a disaster for Republicans seeking a narrative change in October. This last desperate act of political gamespersonship, mated with a late-primary reference to the Robert Kennedy assassination likely cost Mrs. Clinton the Vice-presidential nomination as well.
Limbaugh's role in the 2008 campaign did not end by attempting to alter the Democratic race. He was also an early advocate of enlisting Sarah Palin as the Republican Vice-presidential nominee.
Note to Republican party: The next time Rush Limbaugh jumps, find out what from before following.
The Palin nomination briefly had the appearance of a good decision. She is a young, telegenic woman with experience as a State Chief Executive. The conservative base of her party was not enchanted with the moderate senior statesman nominated in spite of their best efforts to reclaim the party.
Mrs. Palin appears to have been ordered from ACME by one Mr. Wile E. Coyote, and mistakenly delivered to Senator McCain.
The Palin nomination seems a cynical attempt to reach out to disaffected Clinton supporters. Mrs. Palin, a former beauty pageant contestant and athlete, politically opposite to Senator Clinton, begins as an adversary. One could go as far as saying tormentor. It became a slap in the face, telling women that their looks and youth are more important than their intelligence and competence.
Mrs. Palin exuded poor preparation, arrogance, and defensiveness. There was a streak which voters regarded as blatant self-interest combined with an utter disregard for anyone not willing or able to advance her ambitions. Governor Palin may run again, but she is unlikely to advance in the primaries past Valentine's day.
The woman who wins the Presidency will be very dissimilar to either Senator Clinton or Governor Palin. She will be seen as a sister, a friend, someone who related well to the challenges of everyday americans. Her integrity, intellect, and preparation will be all but impossible to impugn for all but the most commited partisan. Those who dislike her will be forced to challenge her mainly on ideas, or declare that their feelings are personal. Her organizational skills will be stellar.
That person can be described in one word.
Oprah.
As the United States has answered the question about the role of religion and race bearing upon qualification as commander-in-chief, the largest remaining barrier remains gender.
This is a question which verges upon the asinine. When the candidate offers an appropriate combination of confidence, competence and ideas which appeal to the majority of American voters, a woman will be elected president.
People who break barriers for elective office do not win without having a surfeit of talent. This was the downfall for Senator Clinton and Governor Palin in 2008. Failure had less to do with factors out of their control than it did with a pervasive image of neediness from Senator Clinton, and an overwhelming sense of Governor Palin's lack of preparedness.
Mrs Clinton had every advantage going into the 2008 presidential campaign. She had fifteen years on the national stage, a reputation as an effective lawmaker, and she was married to the last living President whose administration was considered successful. Clinton was holding the standard for a party resurgent owing to the opposition's bad decisionmaking.
The Republican party's bad decisions paled in comparison to Senator Clinton's. It took the Republicans five years to burn through the capital they brought to the table after 9/11. Senator Clinton had the Republican experience on the table and managed to burn through her political capital in five weeks, with people of her own party.
While issues were raised about President-elect Obama leveraging his race, some of it from former President Clinton, the correct assessment gets little play. Mr. Obama was the better candidate. His campaign was better organized. Obama's supporters brought more enthusiasm and generated better results.
However, one suspects that an opinion that no home is large enough for two presidents dwelled quietly in Bill Clinton's subconscious.
Until Republican Partisan Rush Limbaugh intervened and reinvigorated Hillary Clinton's campaign with his own fans and supporters, hoping to face Mrs. Clinton as a General Election candidate, her campaign was moribund. Mr. Limbaugh soon discovered that which did not destroy Obama just made him stronger.
Mrs. Clinton took advantage of arguments raised by Conservative talk to challenge Obama's character, while struggling to reclaim her front-runner status. This was a disaster for Republicans seeking a narrative change in October. This last desperate act of political gamespersonship, mated with a late-primary reference to the Robert Kennedy assassination likely cost Mrs. Clinton the Vice-presidential nomination as well.
Limbaugh's role in the 2008 campaign did not end by attempting to alter the Democratic race. He was also an early advocate of enlisting Sarah Palin as the Republican Vice-presidential nominee.
Note to Republican party: The next time Rush Limbaugh jumps, find out what from before following.
The Palin nomination briefly had the appearance of a good decision. She is a young, telegenic woman with experience as a State Chief Executive. The conservative base of her party was not enchanted with the moderate senior statesman nominated in spite of their best efforts to reclaim the party.
Mrs. Palin appears to have been ordered from ACME by one Mr. Wile E. Coyote, and mistakenly delivered to Senator McCain.
The Palin nomination seems a cynical attempt to reach out to disaffected Clinton supporters. Mrs. Palin, a former beauty pageant contestant and athlete, politically opposite to Senator Clinton, begins as an adversary. One could go as far as saying tormentor. It became a slap in the face, telling women that their looks and youth are more important than their intelligence and competence.
Mrs. Palin exuded poor preparation, arrogance, and defensiveness. There was a streak which voters regarded as blatant self-interest combined with an utter disregard for anyone not willing or able to advance her ambitions. Governor Palin may run again, but she is unlikely to advance in the primaries past Valentine's day.
The woman who wins the Presidency will be very dissimilar to either Senator Clinton or Governor Palin. She will be seen as a sister, a friend, someone who related well to the challenges of everyday americans. Her integrity, intellect, and preparation will be all but impossible to impugn for all but the most commited partisan. Those who dislike her will be forced to challenge her mainly on ideas, or declare that their feelings are personal. Her organizational skills will be stellar.
That person can be described in one word.
Oprah.
Gentoon Classics!
"They sold her brothers as meat. They raped her with a machine for her milk. She won't take it any more. MAD COW BLOODY VENGEANCE OF THE LIVESTOCK. Rated R-beef is very tasty. (Joke works in Spanish, crashes and burns in English.) MAD COW...BLOODY VENGEANCE OF THE LIVESTOCK is a collaborative production of the English Chicken Development Association, The British Fishing Council, and the United Kingdom Pork Products Congress, Ltd."
"Mr. Figueroa, the problem is that we're not looking for a corrupt ex-politician." Note: your Wandering Gentile served as inspiration for the bureaucrat behind the desk.
On dam: "Intervention and certification." On waterfall: "DRUGS" On raft: "Certified" Clinton: "With this dam we can stop the tide of drug traffic flooding the Americas." This is one of my two favorites from this little short thread. It looks the best, and works almost as well.
Fidel Castro: "I don't care how small it is! It must fall! Shoot it!" The kite is made of newspapers reporting about the Cuban military's decision to shoot down two small civil planes searching for rafters departing Cuba. Artistically, not as good as the above Clinton cartoon, emotionally light years ahead.
Pat Buchanan: "We dont want undocumented people taking our jobs nor receiving our benefits."Unidentified Cholo: "And what about the land that you took from our people?"
Drawing Pat Buchanan as a fat Nazi with a bad comb-over strikes me as bad form now, mainly because it requires absolutely no imagination. The Cholo bothers me because he looks like a Mexican John Redcorn, which was absolutely not what I wanted to do.
All of these cartoons were originally published in a Spanish-language weekly in Atlanta in Spring, 1996.
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