Posts
August 5, 2009
Mrs. Sonia Bonici – Senior Correspondence Officer
Buckingham Palace
London SW1A 1AA
England
Dear Mrs. Bonici,
You were gracious enough to reply to my request to the Queen on what to do with a book – Heroic Record of the British Navy – that I found and purchased last year in a used book store in Texas.
On your advice I sent it to the Admiralty Library on February 23, 2009. Alas, I have had no acknowledgement of it. I enclose a letter I sent to them on August 2, 2009.
As I was reading it this morning it occurred to me that I may have short changed your sovereign. Harry, her grandson and the reason for the first letter to you in January, served with the Royal Marines in combat. At the very least he would have qualified for a Combat Infantryman’s Badge. As is said in this country, “He saw the elephant”. “Having taken the Queen’s shilling” it can be said that he earned it.
In my country the United States Marine Corps is a part of the United States Navy. If a similar structure exists in your country permit me to amend my last paragraph.
“That qualifies her as Navy daughter, a Navy wife, a Navy mother,
and a Navy grandmother.”
I thought she should know.
Kevin Smith
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Gillian Martin, WKCP-FM
July 29, 2009
Gillian Martin
WKCP-FM
330 SW 2nd Street #207
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33312
RE: Further proof that “where ignorance is bliss ‘tis folly to be wise”.
Ms. Martin,
I was pondering the vagaries of peripatetic DNA in an oncologist’s waiting room on Tuesday when I did see - mirabile dictu! – a dog walking on its hind legs.
The Regis show featured a hound named Spencer who – Honest Injun! – walked on his hind legs. He didn’t seem particularly happy but he certainly wasn’t stressed so I shouted “You go dog!”
He did a few other tricks but how well can you gild a lily?
As a media mogul perhaps you could get copies of this amazing feat. It would be an inspiration to wanabee walking dogs and wanabee women preachers everywhere.
Since you seem not to be “a wretched un-idea’d girl” you, of course, are mindful that “a jest breaks no bones”.
I can’t wait to get to Kipling.
Kevin Smith
Gillian Martin
WKCP-FM
330 SW 2nd Street #207
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33312
RE: Further proof that “where ignorance is bliss ‘tis folly to be wise”.
Ms. Martin,
I was pondering the vagaries of peripatetic DNA in an oncologist’s waiting room on Tuesday when I did see - mirabile dictu! – a dog walking on its hind legs.
The Regis show featured a hound named Spencer who – Honest Injun! – walked on his hind legs. He didn’t seem particularly happy but he certainly wasn’t stressed so I shouted “You go dog!”
He did a few other tricks but how well can you gild a lily?
As a media mogul perhaps you could get copies of this amazing feat. It would be an inspiration to wanabee walking dogs and wanabee women preachers everywhere.
Since you seem not to be “a wretched un-idea’d girl” you, of course, are mindful that “a jest breaks no bones”.
I can’t wait to get to Kipling.
Kevin Smith
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney
July 22. 2009
Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney
1651 3rd Avenue #311
New York, New York 10128-3679
RE: “Those words mean exactly what I want them to mean”, I think, sometimes, well almost, you know what I’m saying, don’t you, maybe?
Congresswoman Maloney,
Don’t worry about saying “nigger”.
Senator Byrd [Democrat-WV] used it twice on national TV and is still referred to as the Cicero of the Senate. That’s Cicero from Rome and not Cicero the gangster hideout nest next to Chicago.
Dick Gregory used it for the title of his autobiography.
A Nobel Prize winner, Joseph Conrad, used it in the title of one of his books.
A RAF pilot who won a Victoria Cross in World War 2 used it for his dog’s name.
If you ever go to a Knick game that’s the only word you ever hear in the expensive seats, particularly if Black asses are in those seats.
The dreaded “N” word, the word that non-Liberal White folk dare not use, is no longer anathema, particularly if you qualify as a modern American Liberal. For example, Senator Byrd, a former recruiting agent for the Ku Klux Klan, got away with it. And you will get away it.
Now if you had used the word “macaca”, a word from the Punjab that means either “the coffee is ready” or “don’t kill my cows”, that would have been a different story, a horse of a different color so to speak. You would have had your ass strapped to the next rocket leaving Cape Canaveral. You would have begun your pursuit, a pursuit akin to catching the horizon, of former Senator George Allen who is vainly chasing the original Pioneer space probe.
As a Southern girl you should have remembered to use “Nigrah” or “Colored”. Surely you remember the basic rule of race relations in the South as “I don’t care how close they get as long as they don’t get too big”. Up North it was reversed; “I don’t care how big they get as long as they don’t get too close.”
You may wish to show how much you care about African-Americans. Why don’t you try to get the Post Office to issue a Michael Jackson stamp? Why not blame Bernie Madoff for OJ Simpson’s slice and dice caper? Why don’t you try to recall Clarence Thomas?
A map of your district shows that a part of it includes Hester Street. I had an aunt who lived there. She was famous for saying “Don’t piss on my back and tell me it’s rain”.
I do believe that you are someone for whom the word smarmy was developed.
Kevin Smith
PS – Your web site shows that you have two daughters. If they lived with you all the time you were in Manhattan helping those “unlucky in life’s lottery” and they went to public school I won’t call you a smarmy bastard. Others might; I won’t.
Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney
1651 3rd Avenue #311
New York, New York 10128-3679
RE: “Those words mean exactly what I want them to mean”, I think, sometimes, well almost, you know what I’m saying, don’t you, maybe?
Congresswoman Maloney,
Don’t worry about saying “nigger”.
Senator Byrd [Democrat-WV] used it twice on national TV and is still referred to as the Cicero of the Senate. That’s Cicero from Rome and not Cicero the gangster hideout nest next to Chicago.
Dick Gregory used it for the title of his autobiography.
A Nobel Prize winner, Joseph Conrad, used it in the title of one of his books.
A RAF pilot who won a Victoria Cross in World War 2 used it for his dog’s name.
If you ever go to a Knick game that’s the only word you ever hear in the expensive seats, particularly if Black asses are in those seats.
The dreaded “N” word, the word that non-Liberal White folk dare not use, is no longer anathema, particularly if you qualify as a modern American Liberal. For example, Senator Byrd, a former recruiting agent for the Ku Klux Klan, got away with it. And you will get away it.
Now if you had used the word “macaca”, a word from the Punjab that means either “the coffee is ready” or “don’t kill my cows”, that would have been a different story, a horse of a different color so to speak. You would have had your ass strapped to the next rocket leaving Cape Canaveral. You would have begun your pursuit, a pursuit akin to catching the horizon, of former Senator George Allen who is vainly chasing the original Pioneer space probe.
As a Southern girl you should have remembered to use “Nigrah” or “Colored”. Surely you remember the basic rule of race relations in the South as “I don’t care how close they get as long as they don’t get too big”. Up North it was reversed; “I don’t care how big they get as long as they don’t get too close.”
You may wish to show how much you care about African-Americans. Why don’t you try to get the Post Office to issue a Michael Jackson stamp? Why not blame Bernie Madoff for OJ Simpson’s slice and dice caper? Why don’t you try to recall Clarence Thomas?
A map of your district shows that a part of it includes Hester Street. I had an aunt who lived there. She was famous for saying “Don’t piss on my back and tell me it’s rain”.
I do believe that you are someone for whom the word smarmy was developed.
Kevin Smith
PS – Your web site shows that you have two daughters. If they lived with you all the time you were in Manhattan helping those “unlucky in life’s lottery” and they went to public school I won’t call you a smarmy bastard. Others might; I won’t.
Monday, July 27, 2009
FREE HILLY!
FREE HILLY!
International Orange, while not part of the original spectrum, is a recognized color. I spent two years in the airplane parts business. If you knew what an 8130 was you knew that the “Black Box” was orange, specifically, International Orange. The other part that was the same color was the inflatable slide, the chute that passengers went down should the plane make an unscheduled landing. Purists may remember that the color of choice of the 1960s BMW 2002 was the same.
That’s why I thought the picture that turned out to be Hillary Clinton getting off an airplane in Kafiristan was of an escape chute that had not fully deployed. She must have really pigged out on hospital food.
Would I be out of line if I said she had a pair of International Orange thunder thighs? From the waist down she looks like a Camp Gitmo for terrorist cellulite. Say what you will about Condoleeza Rice but her quads couldn’t have fed Rwanda and Darfur for a fortnight. Hilly is taking lessons from Madeline Albright. She had an ass that was an ax handle and a half wide. If Jesse Helms told her to haul ass it would have taken two trips with a wheel barrel.
She also gave an answer that I pray was intentionally obfuscatory.
It was about nuclear umbrellas, spheres of influence, and the projection of American power. The last time an American Secretary of State gave an answer that was not surrounded by right angles and the sound of war tocsins we wound up with 53,000 dead Americans in the “forgotten war”, the one in Korea.
Say what you will about Dean Acheson and his good friend Alger Hiss, neither of them would have gotten off a plane looking like they were targets for a practice bombardment.
I had a cousin who had his legs shot off in Korea. Secretary of State Dean Acheson left Korea off a list of nations that America would defend. The bad guys believed him. The White House announces that victory is not the aim of American involvement in Afghanistan. Hillary Clinton was in a land filled with bug-eyed apes who don’t respond to polite overtures. They respond to having a boot put in their ass. She misspeaks and people die.
Nolo me tangere cum impecunis
Are there any pictures of Neville Chamberlain wearing an orange suit?
Kevin Smith
International Orange, while not part of the original spectrum, is a recognized color. I spent two years in the airplane parts business. If you knew what an 8130 was you knew that the “Black Box” was orange, specifically, International Orange. The other part that was the same color was the inflatable slide, the chute that passengers went down should the plane make an unscheduled landing. Purists may remember that the color of choice of the 1960s BMW 2002 was the same.
That’s why I thought the picture that turned out to be Hillary Clinton getting off an airplane in Kafiristan was of an escape chute that had not fully deployed. She must have really pigged out on hospital food.
Would I be out of line if I said she had a pair of International Orange thunder thighs? From the waist down she looks like a Camp Gitmo for terrorist cellulite. Say what you will about Condoleeza Rice but her quads couldn’t have fed Rwanda and Darfur for a fortnight. Hilly is taking lessons from Madeline Albright. She had an ass that was an ax handle and a half wide. If Jesse Helms told her to haul ass it would have taken two trips with a wheel barrel.
She also gave an answer that I pray was intentionally obfuscatory.
It was about nuclear umbrellas, spheres of influence, and the projection of American power. The last time an American Secretary of State gave an answer that was not surrounded by right angles and the sound of war tocsins we wound up with 53,000 dead Americans in the “forgotten war”, the one in Korea.
Say what you will about Dean Acheson and his good friend Alger Hiss, neither of them would have gotten off a plane looking like they were targets for a practice bombardment.
I had a cousin who had his legs shot off in Korea. Secretary of State Dean Acheson left Korea off a list of nations that America would defend. The bad guys believed him. The White House announces that victory is not the aim of American involvement in Afghanistan. Hillary Clinton was in a land filled with bug-eyed apes who don’t respond to polite overtures. They respond to having a boot put in their ass. She misspeaks and people die.
Nolo me tangere cum impecunis
Are there any pictures of Neville Chamberlain wearing an orange suit?
Kevin Smith
Gillian Martin, WKCP-FM
July 26, 2009
Gillian Martin
WKCP-FM
330 SW 2nd Street #207
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33312
RE: “Ignorance madam, pure ignorance.”
Ms. Martin,
Try to imagine Beethoven’s 5th without the Da Da Dum opening line. Without it, quien sabe, the Hun might still be in Paris.
On Saturday, July 11th, ca. 10:45 AM, you mentioned the old joke about a dog walking on its hind legs. “It’s not a question of how well it does it but why does it do it all.”
#1 – It wasn’t a joke.
#2 – You left out the opening line.
Samuel Johnson, the original Dr. J., was making a point about what he thought was impossibility. “A woman preaching” is like a dog walking on its hind legs changes the joke into a maxim
You are neither a blockish blowze nor a hoyden, perhaps a bit sciolous and giving to vendidation with an eye to the Holy Grail of being a virago, so I shall refrain from calling you a jobbernowl.
Full disclosure requires that I tell you that Johnson had a tin ear. His friends arranged for a private concert by noted artists. At the end of it he was unmoved. When being told how difficult it was to play the instruments well he replied, “Difficult? I wish it was impossible.”
I sense that you are unfamiliar with Johnson. Imagine someone who loves the cello but has never heard of Bach. Go and find him. Great pleasure and greater wisdom await.
Kevin Smith
Gillian Martin
WKCP-FM
330 SW 2nd Street #207
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33312
RE: “Ignorance madam, pure ignorance.”
Ms. Martin,
Try to imagine Beethoven’s 5th without the Da Da Dum opening line. Without it, quien sabe, the Hun might still be in Paris.
On Saturday, July 11th, ca. 10:45 AM, you mentioned the old joke about a dog walking on its hind legs. “It’s not a question of how well it does it but why does it do it all.”
#1 – It wasn’t a joke.
#2 – You left out the opening line.
Samuel Johnson, the original Dr. J., was making a point about what he thought was impossibility. “A woman preaching” is like a dog walking on its hind legs changes the joke into a maxim
You are neither a blockish blowze nor a hoyden, perhaps a bit sciolous and giving to vendidation with an eye to the Holy Grail of being a virago, so I shall refrain from calling you a jobbernowl.
Full disclosure requires that I tell you that Johnson had a tin ear. His friends arranged for a private concert by noted artists. At the end of it he was unmoved. When being told how difficult it was to play the instruments well he replied, “Difficult? I wish it was impossible.”
I sense that you are unfamiliar with Johnson. Imagine someone who loves the cello but has never heard of Bach. Go and find him. Great pleasure and greater wisdom await.
Kevin Smith
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Michael Putney, The Miami Herald
July 15, 2009
Michael Putney
The Miami Herald
One Herald Plaza
Miami, Florida 33132-1693
RE: GOP Politics – “Rhetorical Flourishes” a la Judge Sotomayor or “Rhetorical Incontinence” a la your comment about Congressman Armey. A different take on your op-ed piece in today’s Miami Herald.
Mr. Putney,
The Crist/Rubio dust up is what politics is all about, isn’t it? Ideas, personalities, past votes, table manners, friends, policies, temperament – they are all part of the process, right? It is in the tradition of the country to have sharp elbows and long knives in political campaigns. The standard was set by Jefferson and Adams, 2 of our giants, in 1800. So far this one seems tame. At least no one has tossed the word “thespian” into the fray.
There is one part of your opinion piece that is a bit vexing. It’s almost like a Seinfeld episode. It was the one where they all say “I don’t have a problem with that”. As I said, it is an opinion piece.
“…and Dick Armey, whom we’d like to forget.”
Why?
He was a power company lineman in North Dakota when his epiphany, his incident on the road to Damascus, occurred. 30 feet in the air, with a 30 MPH wind, and a temperature 30 degrees below zero convinced him of the value of higher education. He went back to school. When he finished he had a Ph.D. in economics.
Compared to other members of Congress – William Livingston, Randall Cunningham, Christopher Dodd, Alcee Hastings, Mark Foley, Barney Frank, inter alia – he seems like Saint Francis of Assisi.
Perhaps your snarky aside is caused by loyalty to a former employer, Alvah Chapman.
When Clark Clifford, the model of DC fixers, the template against which all other pretenders are measured, died Chapman, the former CEO of Knight-Ridder, was beside himself in sorrow. He eulogized him by telling the story of how a judicial decision went against the interests of Knight-Ridder. He spoke of how Clifford “fixed” the problem.
The “problem” was that a Federal Judge had ruled against the merger of 2 newspapers in Detroit. The result was inimical to the interests of Knight-Ridder and to its Chairman, Alvah Chapman.
His solution was to hire his dear friend Clark Clifford to…to…make things right, to make things copasetic.
Since I am from Hudson County, New Jersey I know how these “things” work. Since I am from Hudson County I know that we don’t talk about these “things” except in our lawyer’s office or in confession.
I wrote to Mr. Chapman several times asking why he was talking thus. I am mindful of the fact that “no man is upon oath when speaking of the dead”. I also thought that the rule of “de morituis” still applied. Apparently not.
I mentioned that in Clifford’s autobiography he called Ronald Reagan an “amiable dunce”.
I then mentioned that Congressman Armey questioned Clifford during the BCCI [Bank of Credit and Commerce International] hearings. Clifford was the Chairman of the Board of BCCI. Robert Altman, AKA Mr. Wonder Woman, was the President.
Clifford said that he did not know that the owner of 40% of the common stock of the corporation of which he was Chairman and CEO of was a Sheikh of Araby.
As former officer and director of a public company I found that to be impossibly and incredulously incomprehensible. Jeezus Haitch Keerist will walk down the middle of the Intracoastal this Sunday at noon proclaiming that lions and lambs will play together every evening without having to recruit a new bovine every evening. No wonder Bo Peeps are known for their borborygymy.
Clifford, to his credit, did the job for which he was hired. Like a competent hooker he was looking for repeat business. The best place to get new business is from old customers. Even better if they are old, satisfied customers. Like competent hookers they get to sell it and they get to keep it.
Despite Chapman’s protestations to the contrary the fix was in. My aunt from Hester Street says, “It’s bad enough you’re pissing on my back. Don’t tell me it’s rain.”
Congressman Armey quoted the words “amiable dunce” to Clifford.
He asked him if those words would apply to him.
40 years of DC finessing, 40 years of having the President’s back number, 40 years of being “the man”, 40 years of being the ultimate fixer, 40 years of having markers on everybody in town, said markers begin available to his next paying client, left his face as if Dracula had tapped his jugular.
Is that why you want to “forget” Dick Armey?
Rubio versus Crist could be a good scrap. It’s what the Founders wanted.
Maybe Armey will jump in.
Michael Putney
The Miami Herald
One Herald Plaza
Miami, Florida 33132-1693
RE: GOP Politics – “Rhetorical Flourishes” a la Judge Sotomayor or “Rhetorical Incontinence” a la your comment about Congressman Armey. A different take on your op-ed piece in today’s Miami Herald.
Mr. Putney,
The Crist/Rubio dust up is what politics is all about, isn’t it? Ideas, personalities, past votes, table manners, friends, policies, temperament – they are all part of the process, right? It is in the tradition of the country to have sharp elbows and long knives in political campaigns. The standard was set by Jefferson and Adams, 2 of our giants, in 1800. So far this one seems tame. At least no one has tossed the word “thespian” into the fray.
There is one part of your opinion piece that is a bit vexing. It’s almost like a Seinfeld episode. It was the one where they all say “I don’t have a problem with that”. As I said, it is an opinion piece.
“…and Dick Armey, whom we’d like to forget.”
Why?
He was a power company lineman in North Dakota when his epiphany, his incident on the road to Damascus, occurred. 30 feet in the air, with a 30 MPH wind, and a temperature 30 degrees below zero convinced him of the value of higher education. He went back to school. When he finished he had a Ph.D. in economics.
Compared to other members of Congress – William Livingston, Randall Cunningham, Christopher Dodd, Alcee Hastings, Mark Foley, Barney Frank, inter alia – he seems like Saint Francis of Assisi.
Perhaps your snarky aside is caused by loyalty to a former employer, Alvah Chapman.
When Clark Clifford, the model of DC fixers, the template against which all other pretenders are measured, died Chapman, the former CEO of Knight-Ridder, was beside himself in sorrow. He eulogized him by telling the story of how a judicial decision went against the interests of Knight-Ridder. He spoke of how Clifford “fixed” the problem.
The “problem” was that a Federal Judge had ruled against the merger of 2 newspapers in Detroit. The result was inimical to the interests of Knight-Ridder and to its Chairman, Alvah Chapman.
His solution was to hire his dear friend Clark Clifford to…to…make things right, to make things copasetic.
Since I am from Hudson County, New Jersey I know how these “things” work. Since I am from Hudson County I know that we don’t talk about these “things” except in our lawyer’s office or in confession.
I wrote to Mr. Chapman several times asking why he was talking thus. I am mindful of the fact that “no man is upon oath when speaking of the dead”. I also thought that the rule of “de morituis” still applied. Apparently not.
I mentioned that in Clifford’s autobiography he called Ronald Reagan an “amiable dunce”.
I then mentioned that Congressman Armey questioned Clifford during the BCCI [Bank of Credit and Commerce International] hearings. Clifford was the Chairman of the Board of BCCI. Robert Altman, AKA Mr. Wonder Woman, was the President.
Clifford said that he did not know that the owner of 40% of the common stock of the corporation of which he was Chairman and CEO of was a Sheikh of Araby.
As former officer and director of a public company I found that to be impossibly and incredulously incomprehensible. Jeezus Haitch Keerist will walk down the middle of the Intracoastal this Sunday at noon proclaiming that lions and lambs will play together every evening without having to recruit a new bovine every evening. No wonder Bo Peeps are known for their borborygymy.
Clifford, to his credit, did the job for which he was hired. Like a competent hooker he was looking for repeat business. The best place to get new business is from old customers. Even better if they are old, satisfied customers. Like competent hookers they get to sell it and they get to keep it.
Despite Chapman’s protestations to the contrary the fix was in. My aunt from Hester Street says, “It’s bad enough you’re pissing on my back. Don’t tell me it’s rain.”
Congressman Armey quoted the words “amiable dunce” to Clifford.
He asked him if those words would apply to him.
40 years of DC finessing, 40 years of having the President’s back number, 40 years of being “the man”, 40 years of being the ultimate fixer, 40 years of having markers on everybody in town, said markers begin available to his next paying client, left his face as if Dracula had tapped his jugular.
Is that why you want to “forget” Dick Armey?
Rubio versus Crist could be a good scrap. It’s what the Founders wanted.
Maybe Armey will jump in.
Letters to the Editor, The Sun-Sentinel
July 17, 2009
Letters to the Editor
The Sun-Sentinel
200 East Las Olas Boulevard
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33316
RE: Maybe it’s time for a forced intervention. Doubtless, the vast Right-Wing conspiracy has caused him to turn to the dark side so beloved of modern American Liberals. Based on today’s column he’ll be singing the Horst Wessel song by Labor Day. A different take on Professor Steven L. Goldstein revealing his Nazi tendencies.
Sirs,
Humor has never been his strong suit. Satire must have been in the Lit section that he missed. That’s why I thought this morning’s column was by Max Goldstein, his evil Republican twin. Somewhere in his gene pool there is a smiling Janus. Then I realized the source of his glee. This week marks the 212th Anniversary of the Alien and Sedition Act.
Let’s focus on the Sedition part.
A good definition of it would be if the big guy doesn’t like what you are saying he knocks you down and puts his boot on your neck.
Goldstein the despot begins this morning’s screed with his call, his repeated call, for “strict control of messages”.
Too bad he wasn’t around when “The Crucible” was being cast. Can’t you picture him joyfully hauling out more stone?
There is a bill in Congress aimed at hate crimes. It is named after Matthew Shepherd. He was a 21 year old homosexual who was picked up in a gay bar by two [presumptively] heterosexuals. He was tortured and murdered. His body was then tied to a barbed wire fence.
Would Professor Goldstein exercise his “strict control of messages” if I were to suggest renaming it the Matthew Shepherd/Jesse Dirkhising bill?
Jesse Dirkhising was 11 years old when he was kidnapped by two homosexuals. He was kept alive for two days during which he was repeatedly raped and sodomized. He was strangled by forcing rags dipped in chemicals down his throat and then having his mouth and nose taped shut.
Which of these two victims is more dead?
Is there any amount of Federal legislation that will prevent the face of evil from presenting it self again? T.S. Eliot speaks of the eternal presence of evil. The Code of Hammurabi, the Ten Commandments, Lex Romanus, English common law, Sharia law, the Constitution, and the do-good intentions of mush brained modern American Liberals have not prevented these heinous crimes from happening over and over.
Why will this latest attempt be different?
It was made a crime to drink whiskey in 1919. Unemployment was outlawed in 1946. We declared war on poverty in 1964.
Modern American Liberals profess their love of precedent – Roe v Wade – when questioning a Judicial nominee.
I just mentioned 4 precedents.
“Eclectic indignation” allows mALs to forget the first 3 and concentrate on the last one. It is part of the cognitive dissonance that allows them to survive. That plus the universal 800 number for chiropractors. Their eternally aching backs are caused by political positions that require the suspension of all the laws governing gravity.
Which brings us back to Cossack Goldstein and his stance on free speech.
It’s free for him but not for me.
My solution for his speech is to criticize him.
His solution for my speech is to stop me from speaking.
The First Amendment, the one that begins with “Congress shall make no law…”, spells out rights that were mine before my birth or that of my country. The Declaration of Independence said that certain rights – “unalienable” – did not come from the King. The Constitution did not give me rights. If that were the case it could take them away just as easily. The Constitution enumerated them. The key to understanding the Bill of Rights is take it as a primer on what government cannot do. The rights are mine; it is a gift “from beyond the stars”. Speech Czar Goldstein, a Fuehrer in sheep’s clothing, has decided that he will stop me from speaking should he find what I say offensive. Further, he will stop me from supporting my candidates with my money.
26 centuries ago Greeks, stumbling in the Agora after fighting off invaders from the Fertile Crescent, decided that “Free men speak with free tongues”.
IL Duce Goldstein, emulating Mussolini, the favorite dictator of the 1930s version of modern American Liberals, puts limits on everybody’s speech but his
With the exception of the 3rd Amendment are there any others of the original 10 that he would permit in his new society?
Orwell was right when he said of Stalin that “all men are equal; some men are more equal than others”. Goldstein’s argument for “strict controls” is straight from Big Brother. “Quis custodiet ipso custodes”, straight from Juvenal, is still apt today. He should have it on his license. If that doesn’t work maybe he could be branded.
Bush was compared to Hitler. Lincoln was called a baboon. This country still has not had an election comparable to 1800 for its vitriol. 1876 was pretty good also.
Saint Thomas More said he “would give the devil the benefit of law for his own safety’s sake”. I can accuse HUAC-loving Goldstein of many things. Sainthood is not one of them. Maybe if he had his head cut off I would have a different view.
Maybe.
PS – Isn’t it time for him to come out of the closet and tell us how much he admires Joe McCarthy?
Letters to the Editor
The Sun-Sentinel
200 East Las Olas Boulevard
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33316
RE: Maybe it’s time for a forced intervention. Doubtless, the vast Right-Wing conspiracy has caused him to turn to the dark side so beloved of modern American Liberals. Based on today’s column he’ll be singing the Horst Wessel song by Labor Day. A different take on Professor Steven L. Goldstein revealing his Nazi tendencies.
Sirs,
Humor has never been his strong suit. Satire must have been in the Lit section that he missed. That’s why I thought this morning’s column was by Max Goldstein, his evil Republican twin. Somewhere in his gene pool there is a smiling Janus. Then I realized the source of his glee. This week marks the 212th Anniversary of the Alien and Sedition Act.
Let’s focus on the Sedition part.
A good definition of it would be if the big guy doesn’t like what you are saying he knocks you down and puts his boot on your neck.
Goldstein the despot begins this morning’s screed with his call, his repeated call, for “strict control of messages”.
Too bad he wasn’t around when “The Crucible” was being cast. Can’t you picture him joyfully hauling out more stone?
There is a bill in Congress aimed at hate crimes. It is named after Matthew Shepherd. He was a 21 year old homosexual who was picked up in a gay bar by two [presumptively] heterosexuals. He was tortured and murdered. His body was then tied to a barbed wire fence.
Would Professor Goldstein exercise his “strict control of messages” if I were to suggest renaming it the Matthew Shepherd/Jesse Dirkhising bill?
Jesse Dirkhising was 11 years old when he was kidnapped by two homosexuals. He was kept alive for two days during which he was repeatedly raped and sodomized. He was strangled by forcing rags dipped in chemicals down his throat and then having his mouth and nose taped shut.
Which of these two victims is more dead?
Is there any amount of Federal legislation that will prevent the face of evil from presenting it self again? T.S. Eliot speaks of the eternal presence of evil. The Code of Hammurabi, the Ten Commandments, Lex Romanus, English common law, Sharia law, the Constitution, and the do-good intentions of mush brained modern American Liberals have not prevented these heinous crimes from happening over and over.
Why will this latest attempt be different?
It was made a crime to drink whiskey in 1919. Unemployment was outlawed in 1946. We declared war on poverty in 1964.
Modern American Liberals profess their love of precedent – Roe v Wade – when questioning a Judicial nominee.
I just mentioned 4 precedents.
“Eclectic indignation” allows mALs to forget the first 3 and concentrate on the last one. It is part of the cognitive dissonance that allows them to survive. That plus the universal 800 number for chiropractors. Their eternally aching backs are caused by political positions that require the suspension of all the laws governing gravity.
Which brings us back to Cossack Goldstein and his stance on free speech.
It’s free for him but not for me.
My solution for his speech is to criticize him.
His solution for my speech is to stop me from speaking.
The First Amendment, the one that begins with “Congress shall make no law…”, spells out rights that were mine before my birth or that of my country. The Declaration of Independence said that certain rights – “unalienable” – did not come from the King. The Constitution did not give me rights. If that were the case it could take them away just as easily. The Constitution enumerated them. The key to understanding the Bill of Rights is take it as a primer on what government cannot do. The rights are mine; it is a gift “from beyond the stars”. Speech Czar Goldstein, a Fuehrer in sheep’s clothing, has decided that he will stop me from speaking should he find what I say offensive. Further, he will stop me from supporting my candidates with my money.
26 centuries ago Greeks, stumbling in the Agora after fighting off invaders from the Fertile Crescent, decided that “Free men speak with free tongues”.
IL Duce Goldstein, emulating Mussolini, the favorite dictator of the 1930s version of modern American Liberals, puts limits on everybody’s speech but his
With the exception of the 3rd Amendment are there any others of the original 10 that he would permit in his new society?
Orwell was right when he said of Stalin that “all men are equal; some men are more equal than others”. Goldstein’s argument for “strict controls” is straight from Big Brother. “Quis custodiet ipso custodes”, straight from Juvenal, is still apt today. He should have it on his license. If that doesn’t work maybe he could be branded.
Bush was compared to Hitler. Lincoln was called a baboon. This country still has not had an election comparable to 1800 for its vitriol. 1876 was pretty good also.
Saint Thomas More said he “would give the devil the benefit of law for his own safety’s sake”. I can accuse HUAC-loving Goldstein of many things. Sainthood is not one of them. Maybe if he had his head cut off I would have a different view.
Maybe.
PS – Isn’t it time for him to come out of the closet and tell us how much he admires Joe McCarthy?
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Michael Mayo, The Sun Sentinel
July 16, 2009
Michael Mayo
The Sun Sentinel
200 East Las Olas Boulevard
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301
RE: The Jets and the Sharks: The saga continues
Mr. Mayo,
I got a tingle up my leg when I read your column about Judge Sotomayor, her mom, her mom’s friends, and their recipes.
Unless it can be proved that she was Barney Frank’s silent partner in the male only cat house that he ran in his basement she will be confirmed.
That leaves me with some unanswered questions.
#1 – She said that all her tests were “culturally biased”. She, you, and I took the New York State Regents exams in high school. [Were they a precursor to the dreaded and hated FCATs? A question for a different time.] How can a geometry test be “culturally biased”? How about biology? Rhomboids and osmosis are there or they are not. Were any of the Spanish tests “culturally biased”? Would it not be “fair” to hold Spanish speaking students to a higher standard than then the children of German Jews or Laotian Hmong?
#2 – One of the highlights of Judge Alito’s hearings was when his wife left the room in tears. One of the Senators [Democratic] called him a racist Nazi bastard. Would it not be a sop to Affirmative Action if someone made Senora Sotomayor cry? Can’t we work the word “spic” in there? If that’s a bit harsh how about asking her if she can give us a few bars of “I Feel Pretty”? How about “Everything’s Free in America”? Who was her daughter’s favorite Tony?
#3 – When the Lord Barack the Beneficent, and blessed be his name, was a Senator he voted against Judge Roberts and Judge Alito because, as he said, he didn’t like their judicial philosophies. What do you think would be the reaction if Republican Senators were to do likewise?
#4 - If Judge Sotomayor’s background makes her politically bulletproof why didn’t Judge Thomas’s background make him a candidate for instant sainthood? 47 Senators voted against Judge Thomas. How many of them were called racist?
#5 – Murray Kempton once wrote that the New York Puerto Rican habit of keeping an open bottle of beer in a paper bag was a sign of their good manners. Can we expect to see Justice Sotomayor leading next year’s Cinco de Mayo fiesta with a 40 ouncer?
This is still one Hell of a country!
Michael Mayo
The Sun Sentinel
200 East Las Olas Boulevard
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301
RE: The Jets and the Sharks: The saga continues
Mr. Mayo,
I got a tingle up my leg when I read your column about Judge Sotomayor, her mom, her mom’s friends, and their recipes.
Unless it can be proved that she was Barney Frank’s silent partner in the male only cat house that he ran in his basement she will be confirmed.
That leaves me with some unanswered questions.
#1 – She said that all her tests were “culturally biased”. She, you, and I took the New York State Regents exams in high school. [Were they a precursor to the dreaded and hated FCATs? A question for a different time.] How can a geometry test be “culturally biased”? How about biology? Rhomboids and osmosis are there or they are not. Were any of the Spanish tests “culturally biased”? Would it not be “fair” to hold Spanish speaking students to a higher standard than then the children of German Jews or Laotian Hmong?
#2 – One of the highlights of Judge Alito’s hearings was when his wife left the room in tears. One of the Senators [Democratic] called him a racist Nazi bastard. Would it not be a sop to Affirmative Action if someone made Senora Sotomayor cry? Can’t we work the word “spic” in there? If that’s a bit harsh how about asking her if she can give us a few bars of “I Feel Pretty”? How about “Everything’s Free in America”? Who was her daughter’s favorite Tony?
#3 – When the Lord Barack the Beneficent, and blessed be his name, was a Senator he voted against Judge Roberts and Judge Alito because, as he said, he didn’t like their judicial philosophies. What do you think would be the reaction if Republican Senators were to do likewise?
#4 - If Judge Sotomayor’s background makes her politically bulletproof why didn’t Judge Thomas’s background make him a candidate for instant sainthood? 47 Senators voted against Judge Thomas. How many of them were called racist?
#5 – Murray Kempton once wrote that the New York Puerto Rican habit of keeping an open bottle of beer in a paper bag was a sign of their good manners. Can we expect to see Justice Sotomayor leading next year’s Cinco de Mayo fiesta with a 40 ouncer?
This is still one Hell of a country!
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
E. J. Dionne, The Washington Post Writers Group
July 13, 2009
E. J. Dionne
The Washington Post Writers Group
1150 15th Street, NW
Washington, D.C 20071
RE: “What about judicial activism from the right?” as asked by you in this morning’s Miami Herald. Once again the cry of “eclectic indignation” is heard in the land.
Mr. Dionne.
Another teaching moment!
In a week replete with boom bass, tinkling brass, and half ass utterances from the elite of modern American Liberalism your judicial comments assaulted me in the predawn hours of South Florida, a place about to be overwatered by melting icebergs and overcome by dying polar bears. Bad enough we have to bear the merdes from Quebec but now we are about to be beset by dying omnivores. I intend to bait my bear traps with baby seals and orphaned manatees
It is now time to include you in the upper levels of the hive. The illuminati are unencumbered by facts and underwhelmed by History. It is a place in which you will thrive.
You cite as an example of the dark clouds of Fascism soon to descend on the United States the fact that the Supreme Court “want[s] to revisit a 19 year old precedent” that was predicated on a Federal law passed in 1947. Further, that law was based on a 1907 Federal law. The horror, the horror, is awful to contemplate. At the end of this process the person who will be most hurt by this is a woman of color, a single mom with children in need of a good Ritalin program who is exploited by the low prices at Wal-Mart. And to show how much these mush brained modern American Liberals care about her she will be unemployed at a higher minimum wage rate come July 23 of this year. Yet another victim of the Bush years who will not be helped by the Stimulus Plan.
Dred Scott v Sanford was the law of the land. I had a distant uncle who repealed it on July 2, 1863 in the Wheat Field at Gettysburg. He is still there, “wrapped in his faded coat of Blue”, a fallen member of the Irish Brigade. He could be called a military activist.
Plessy v Ferguson was the law of the land for 57 years
Are you saying that once the Supreme Court rules on something that it can never again visit the matter? Would not the Logical conclusion of that indicate that not only are you in favor of segregated schools but that you are in favor slavery?
Speaking of the evils of activism, do you remember Bruce Babbitt, the Secretary of the Interior? In 1998 he turned down an application by a Canadian company for a mining permit. [As an aside, there are two things to be said of and or about Secretary Babbitt. #1 – He was on the short list for the Supreme Court until he developed, as legislative activist Chuckie Schumer says of every Republican judicial nominee with an unpaid parking ticket, a “credibility problem” and #2 – If you closed your eyes when he was speaking he was Nixon.] Two of the reasons he gave for turning it down were simple and straightforward: he didn’t want foreign companies owning American minerals and, best of all, the law that covered it, the Mining Act of 1872, was “too old” to be used today. I wrote to him and asked if the 13th, the 14th, and the 15th Amendments were “too old” since they were older. Alas, he never responded. I never asked him about Gibbons v Ogden, Marbury v Madison, or Fletcher v Peck. I left out any references to the Magna Carta. The rights that are ours by birth, “rights from beyond the stars”, were not brought up either
Senator Allen of Virginia used the term “macaca”, shorthand for “the coffee is ready” or “Don’t kill your cows”. He was sent to the moon Io. Justice Ginzburg says that she thought Roe v Wade was to be used to get rid of people we don’t want. She was being true to the judicial activism so beloved of modern American Liberals. Mussolini was much beloved by the Progressives, nee mALs, of the ‘20s and ‘30s. He was their favorite dictator. Do you suppose we can have a czar to get the trains to run on time?
The “teaching moment” involves a heroine of the Left.
Margaret Sanger was the mother of the reproductive rights movement. Every one knows Chapter 1. That’s the one that tells the story of poor women held in bondage by seemingly eternal pregnancies. Her solutions, birth control and abortion, were hailed as a blessing to the nation. Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 went down the memory hole so common to modern American Liberals. She wanted to cull the herd. Anyone of a lesser breed, anyone with mental or physical defects, anyone not essentially blue eyed and blond haired or, at least, of Northern European extraction, was marginal. Justice Holmes was her hero. His dissenting opinion in Buck v Bell [“Three generations of idiots are enough”] was used as an affirmative defense in the Nuremberg trials. Chapter 3 was the inconvenient truth that the Nazis used her writings as the basis for the Nuremberg Race Laws.
Should Governor Palin put her youngest child on one of the last icebergs left so as not to burden society? At least that way he would help the endangered polar bears. Should Senator Kennedy’s sister Kathleen been similarly disposed of?
There have been 50,000,000 million abortions since Roe v Wade. Black women make up about 6% or the population. Some 35% of the abortions in this country in the last 36 years have been performed on Black women. Is that a prima facie case for genocide?
How do you think a “wise Latina Judge” would rule on a civil service test that had the same disproportionate results?
Justice Ginzburg says that she is in favor of eugenics. She says that that the ones we “don’t like” should be done away with. There is no difference whether it is before they are born or if they wind up at a door marked “showers” at Auschwitz..
It’s been 3 days since her interview appeared. Where is the outrage?
She says her tests from high school on were “culturally biased”.
She took the New York State Regents tests as did I.
Was the Geometry test culturally biased? What about Latin 3? How about Biology? Was the Spanish test culturally biased? If so, how?
Last, the case that you say shows the Republican Right-Wing Star Chamber proclivities involves speech. In particular, it involves political speech. The object of the verbal attack was Hillary Clinton. Bush was regularly compared to Hitler. Lincoln was called a baboon by the New York Times. Nat Hentoff wrote a book called “Free Speech for Me but nor Thee”. If you have some free time you may wish to read Federalist X. Madison speaks of “factions” as if they were predecessors to “special interests”. Speech, particularly political speech, is free or it isn’t.
“Congress shall make no law…” If you are not familiar with those words they begin the First Amendment. I envy you the joy when you first read it.
If you don’t understand that send a SASE.
Class dismissed.
E. J. Dionne
The Washington Post Writers Group
1150 15th Street, NW
Washington, D.C 20071
RE: “What about judicial activism from the right?” as asked by you in this morning’s Miami Herald. Once again the cry of “eclectic indignation” is heard in the land.
Mr. Dionne.
Another teaching moment!
In a week replete with boom bass, tinkling brass, and half ass utterances from the elite of modern American Liberalism your judicial comments assaulted me in the predawn hours of South Florida, a place about to be overwatered by melting icebergs and overcome by dying polar bears. Bad enough we have to bear the merdes from Quebec but now we are about to be beset by dying omnivores. I intend to bait my bear traps with baby seals and orphaned manatees
It is now time to include you in the upper levels of the hive. The illuminati are unencumbered by facts and underwhelmed by History. It is a place in which you will thrive.
You cite as an example of the dark clouds of Fascism soon to descend on the United States the fact that the Supreme Court “want[s] to revisit a 19 year old precedent” that was predicated on a Federal law passed in 1947. Further, that law was based on a 1907 Federal law. The horror, the horror, is awful to contemplate. At the end of this process the person who will be most hurt by this is a woman of color, a single mom with children in need of a good Ritalin program who is exploited by the low prices at Wal-Mart. And to show how much these mush brained modern American Liberals care about her she will be unemployed at a higher minimum wage rate come July 23 of this year. Yet another victim of the Bush years who will not be helped by the Stimulus Plan.
Dred Scott v Sanford was the law of the land. I had a distant uncle who repealed it on July 2, 1863 in the Wheat Field at Gettysburg. He is still there, “wrapped in his faded coat of Blue”, a fallen member of the Irish Brigade. He could be called a military activist.
Plessy v Ferguson was the law of the land for 57 years
Are you saying that once the Supreme Court rules on something that it can never again visit the matter? Would not the Logical conclusion of that indicate that not only are you in favor of segregated schools but that you are in favor slavery?
Speaking of the evils of activism, do you remember Bruce Babbitt, the Secretary of the Interior? In 1998 he turned down an application by a Canadian company for a mining permit. [As an aside, there are two things to be said of and or about Secretary Babbitt. #1 – He was on the short list for the Supreme Court until he developed, as legislative activist Chuckie Schumer says of every Republican judicial nominee with an unpaid parking ticket, a “credibility problem” and #2 – If you closed your eyes when he was speaking he was Nixon.] Two of the reasons he gave for turning it down were simple and straightforward: he didn’t want foreign companies owning American minerals and, best of all, the law that covered it, the Mining Act of 1872, was “too old” to be used today. I wrote to him and asked if the 13th, the 14th, and the 15th Amendments were “too old” since they were older. Alas, he never responded. I never asked him about Gibbons v Ogden, Marbury v Madison, or Fletcher v Peck. I left out any references to the Magna Carta. The rights that are ours by birth, “rights from beyond the stars”, were not brought up either
Senator Allen of Virginia used the term “macaca”, shorthand for “the coffee is ready” or “Don’t kill your cows”. He was sent to the moon Io. Justice Ginzburg says that she thought Roe v Wade was to be used to get rid of people we don’t want. She was being true to the judicial activism so beloved of modern American Liberals. Mussolini was much beloved by the Progressives, nee mALs, of the ‘20s and ‘30s. He was their favorite dictator. Do you suppose we can have a czar to get the trains to run on time?
The “teaching moment” involves a heroine of the Left.
Margaret Sanger was the mother of the reproductive rights movement. Every one knows Chapter 1. That’s the one that tells the story of poor women held in bondage by seemingly eternal pregnancies. Her solutions, birth control and abortion, were hailed as a blessing to the nation. Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 went down the memory hole so common to modern American Liberals. She wanted to cull the herd. Anyone of a lesser breed, anyone with mental or physical defects, anyone not essentially blue eyed and blond haired or, at least, of Northern European extraction, was marginal. Justice Holmes was her hero. His dissenting opinion in Buck v Bell [“Three generations of idiots are enough”] was used as an affirmative defense in the Nuremberg trials. Chapter 3 was the inconvenient truth that the Nazis used her writings as the basis for the Nuremberg Race Laws.
Should Governor Palin put her youngest child on one of the last icebergs left so as not to burden society? At least that way he would help the endangered polar bears. Should Senator Kennedy’s sister Kathleen been similarly disposed of?
There have been 50,000,000 million abortions since Roe v Wade. Black women make up about 6% or the population. Some 35% of the abortions in this country in the last 36 years have been performed on Black women. Is that a prima facie case for genocide?
How do you think a “wise Latina Judge” would rule on a civil service test that had the same disproportionate results?
Justice Ginzburg says that she is in favor of eugenics. She says that that the ones we “don’t like” should be done away with. There is no difference whether it is before they are born or if they wind up at a door marked “showers” at Auschwitz..
It’s been 3 days since her interview appeared. Where is the outrage?
She says her tests from high school on were “culturally biased”.
She took the New York State Regents tests as did I.
Was the Geometry test culturally biased? What about Latin 3? How about Biology? Was the Spanish test culturally biased? If so, how?
Last, the case that you say shows the Republican Right-Wing Star Chamber proclivities involves speech. In particular, it involves political speech. The object of the verbal attack was Hillary Clinton. Bush was regularly compared to Hitler. Lincoln was called a baboon by the New York Times. Nat Hentoff wrote a book called “Free Speech for Me but nor Thee”. If you have some free time you may wish to read Federalist X. Madison speaks of “factions” as if they were predecessors to “special interests”. Speech, particularly political speech, is free or it isn’t.
“Congress shall make no law…” If you are not familiar with those words they begin the First Amendment. I envy you the joy when you first read it.
If you don’t understand that send a SASE.
Class dismissed.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
July 5, 2009
Michael Mayo
The Sun-Sentinel
200 East Las Olas Boulevard
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301
RE: A teaching moment at last! A trip down memory lane, triggered by your column today, to explain how the most recent devil to be discovered by modern American Liberals, has some interesting antecedents.
Mr. Mayo,
Were I tell you that in the late ‘70s and the early ‘80s the 3rd largest unfunded contingent liability in the Federal budget was the reinsurance of waterfront property you would have said it was just another example of the handouts to the rich.
The idea of promising something without paying for it is, alas, engrained in our political system.
{You have written about your baby daughter and her college fund. May I suggest that that is an example of a contingent liability being funded?]
My first concrete memory of unfunded contingent liabilities on the real world was when Robert Wagner ran for re-election for Mayor of New York City. It was a classic example of urban Democratic politics. Thinking he was going to be opposed by Tammany Hall he ran against the Bosses who advanced his candidacy before. IN the practical sense he ran against himself. And he did it successfully. He also promised that the lack of money would not deter him from aiding the poor, the halt, the lame, the aged, and any other group that caught his attention.
He was replaced by John Lindsay. [When Ed Koch ran he would ask how many people in the audience had voted for Lindsay. When they raised their hands he called them shmucks. When Senator D’Amato used the same word about Congressman Schumer he was exiled to one of Jupiter’s lesser moons. Look it up.] Lindsay bought labor peace with the public employee unions – Public employee unions? It still has a funny sound to it, don’t you think? – by promising them pensions equal to a monthly visit from the late Ed McMahon. Howie Carr calls it the “monthly kiss”.
The practice of padding compensation in an employee’s last 3 years is unknown in any entity that has to show a profit or be doomed. The idea of converting unused vacation time or unused sick time into future monthly payments is offensive to Logic except to those who endorse their check every month. The dictum “Any public policy that involves robbing Peter to pay Paul will always have Paul’s support” is guiding light of local politics – modern American Liberal style.
Fast forward to Florida when Bill McBride was running against Governor Jeb Bush. “It’s not a matter of finances; it’s a matter of priorities” was the headline after one of the debates. This from a man who ran his law firm from the closest ATM machine! At least he was true to his principles.
I believe that the masses are ready to revolt.
Broward County has seen the number of students in public schools decline for 4 years. Has its operating budget gone down? Silly me. Last week some teachers were not rehired. Then they were rehired. Compare that to the people who made Pontiacs. Maybe the best policy for county government here is to live up to another old dictum: “If there is going to be a panic be the firs into the life boat.” Hire a bankruptcy attorney, preferably from Chicago, and line up at the lactating mammary known as the Stimulus Act.
As real estate values decline the tax rates – local, county, school, hospital district, water management, anything for the children – must rise. As the appeals increase, all of which will be approved if the Rule of Law is still in force, the rising tax rates will produce the worst of all possible worlds. Ever increasing taxes in a declining economy with a rapidly evaporating equity or income base in real estate will result in the modern American Liberal nightmare. The golden goose is dead. There will be no more eggs.
There is one answer.
Cut spending. Cut it with a vengeance. Let the various factions fight it out, as James Madison said in Federalist X. Cut it as if your family’s life depended on it because it does.
Class dismissed.
And, yes, there will be a test.
PS – About Florida’s pre-paid college plan…
Michael Mayo
The Sun-Sentinel
200 East Las Olas Boulevard
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301
RE: A teaching moment at last! A trip down memory lane, triggered by your column today, to explain how the most recent devil to be discovered by modern American Liberals, has some interesting antecedents.
Mr. Mayo,
Were I tell you that in the late ‘70s and the early ‘80s the 3rd largest unfunded contingent liability in the Federal budget was the reinsurance of waterfront property you would have said it was just another example of the handouts to the rich.
The idea of promising something without paying for it is, alas, engrained in our political system.
{You have written about your baby daughter and her college fund. May I suggest that that is an example of a contingent liability being funded?]
My first concrete memory of unfunded contingent liabilities on the real world was when Robert Wagner ran for re-election for Mayor of New York City. It was a classic example of urban Democratic politics. Thinking he was going to be opposed by Tammany Hall he ran against the Bosses who advanced his candidacy before. IN the practical sense he ran against himself. And he did it successfully. He also promised that the lack of money would not deter him from aiding the poor, the halt, the lame, the aged, and any other group that caught his attention.
He was replaced by John Lindsay. [When Ed Koch ran he would ask how many people in the audience had voted for Lindsay. When they raised their hands he called them shmucks. When Senator D’Amato used the same word about Congressman Schumer he was exiled to one of Jupiter’s lesser moons. Look it up.] Lindsay bought labor peace with the public employee unions – Public employee unions? It still has a funny sound to it, don’t you think? – by promising them pensions equal to a monthly visit from the late Ed McMahon. Howie Carr calls it the “monthly kiss”.
The practice of padding compensation in an employee’s last 3 years is unknown in any entity that has to show a profit or be doomed. The idea of converting unused vacation time or unused sick time into future monthly payments is offensive to Logic except to those who endorse their check every month. The dictum “Any public policy that involves robbing Peter to pay Paul will always have Paul’s support” is guiding light of local politics – modern American Liberal style.
Fast forward to Florida when Bill McBride was running against Governor Jeb Bush. “It’s not a matter of finances; it’s a matter of priorities” was the headline after one of the debates. This from a man who ran his law firm from the closest ATM machine! At least he was true to his principles.
I believe that the masses are ready to revolt.
Broward County has seen the number of students in public schools decline for 4 years. Has its operating budget gone down? Silly me. Last week some teachers were not rehired. Then they were rehired. Compare that to the people who made Pontiacs. Maybe the best policy for county government here is to live up to another old dictum: “If there is going to be a panic be the firs into the life boat.” Hire a bankruptcy attorney, preferably from Chicago, and line up at the lactating mammary known as the Stimulus Act.
As real estate values decline the tax rates – local, county, school, hospital district, water management, anything for the children – must rise. As the appeals increase, all of which will be approved if the Rule of Law is still in force, the rising tax rates will produce the worst of all possible worlds. Ever increasing taxes in a declining economy with a rapidly evaporating equity or income base in real estate will result in the modern American Liberal nightmare. The golden goose is dead. There will be no more eggs.
There is one answer.
Cut spending. Cut it with a vengeance. Let the various factions fight it out, as James Madison said in Federalist X. Cut it as if your family’s life depended on it because it does.
Class dismissed.
And, yes, there will be a test.
PS – About Florida’s pre-paid college plan…
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Stephen l. Goldstein, The Sun-Sentinel
Stephen l. Goldstein
The Sun-Sentinel
200 East Las Olas Boulevard
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301
RE: Two gems in three days! A twin double confession as to why mush brained modern American Liberals are so…so…mush brained. Your column in today’s Sun-Sentinel reveals all.
My dear Professor,
You say, in typical Banshee fashion, that politicians doing the right thing for the wrong reason are worse than politicians doing the wrong thing for the right reason or the wrong thing for the wrong reason or something incomprehensible to a rational adult.
Your examples – seat belt laws, the tax increase on tobacco, and some typical flap doodle gibberish, AKA “rhetorical incontinence”, about why non-violent convicts should not be sent to prison – finger nails on the blackboard excruciatingly shrill for the following reasons:
#1 – Wearing seat belts saved my like. It is in the rational self interest of drivers and passengers to wear them. If they chose not to no law can make them. #2 – To increase the tax on tobacco products with the full knowledge that they are lethal makes and government complicit in its intrinsic fatality. Ban them as a clear and present danger. Use the lessons of Prohibition of what not to do to enforce this ban. #3 – If you fully accept the premise that non-violent convicts should not go to prison can I expect to see you “leading the fight” – a verbalization of a typical modern American Liberal non-thought – to release Bernie Madoff from hard time? Should we apologize and pay reparations to Martha Stewart? How about Ken Jenne?
You believe that all legislators are in the tank to the highest bidder. If that is the case and if you know any specifics like names and amounts you must tell either the state’s attorney or the Federal attorney. Perhaps, since modern American Liberals think that international law should govern the American legal system, you could drop a dime on them either to the World Court or to the Spanish District Attorney who wants to indict every Congressman and Senator who voted to go to war against Iraq. The thought of Hillary Clinton being tried by a country that gave us the strapado is a consolation devoutly to be wished.
Your solution is for the above is simple.
Burn the Constitution. If that is too much in one gulp trash the First Amendment.
In the end all modern American Liberals become Nazis.
Your premise, that the filthy lucre offered by the agents of Mammon, is what keeps good government from being visited upon us.
Your solution, I think, is to bamboozle legislators into voting for free stuff for geezers, free Mozart, free buses and trains, ending teenage obesity, and lowering bad cholesterol, particularly for single moms who are women of color with some teenagers in need of a good Ritalin program who are abused by the lower prices at WAL*MART, by promising them white envelopes – I am from Hudson County – filled with “rainbow stew”. That is lunacy writ large. That is the mAL way. Once the laws governing gravity are repealed we will proceed into the Neverland of politics.
If you ever want to give up your Sun-Sentinel career Lord Barack the Beneficent, and Blessed be his Name, is looking for a few good men to preach his gospel of “balloon juice”.
The Sun-Sentinel
200 East Las Olas Boulevard
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301
RE: Two gems in three days! A twin double confession as to why mush brained modern American Liberals are so…so…mush brained. Your column in today’s Sun-Sentinel reveals all.
My dear Professor,
You say, in typical Banshee fashion, that politicians doing the right thing for the wrong reason are worse than politicians doing the wrong thing for the right reason or the wrong thing for the wrong reason or something incomprehensible to a rational adult.
Your examples – seat belt laws, the tax increase on tobacco, and some typical flap doodle gibberish, AKA “rhetorical incontinence”, about why non-violent convicts should not be sent to prison – finger nails on the blackboard excruciatingly shrill for the following reasons:
#1 – Wearing seat belts saved my like. It is in the rational self interest of drivers and passengers to wear them. If they chose not to no law can make them. #2 – To increase the tax on tobacco products with the full knowledge that they are lethal makes and government complicit in its intrinsic fatality. Ban them as a clear and present danger. Use the lessons of Prohibition of what not to do to enforce this ban. #3 – If you fully accept the premise that non-violent convicts should not go to prison can I expect to see you “leading the fight” – a verbalization of a typical modern American Liberal non-thought – to release Bernie Madoff from hard time? Should we apologize and pay reparations to Martha Stewart? How about Ken Jenne?
You believe that all legislators are in the tank to the highest bidder. If that is the case and if you know any specifics like names and amounts you must tell either the state’s attorney or the Federal attorney. Perhaps, since modern American Liberals think that international law should govern the American legal system, you could drop a dime on them either to the World Court or to the Spanish District Attorney who wants to indict every Congressman and Senator who voted to go to war against Iraq. The thought of Hillary Clinton being tried by a country that gave us the strapado is a consolation devoutly to be wished.
Your solution is for the above is simple.
Burn the Constitution. If that is too much in one gulp trash the First Amendment.
In the end all modern American Liberals become Nazis.
Your premise, that the filthy lucre offered by the agents of Mammon, is what keeps good government from being visited upon us.
Your solution, I think, is to bamboozle legislators into voting for free stuff for geezers, free Mozart, free buses and trains, ending teenage obesity, and lowering bad cholesterol, particularly for single moms who are women of color with some teenagers in need of a good Ritalin program who are abused by the lower prices at WAL*MART, by promising them white envelopes – I am from Hudson County – filled with “rainbow stew”. That is lunacy writ large. That is the mAL way. Once the laws governing gravity are repealed we will proceed into the Neverland of politics.
If you ever want to give up your Sun-Sentinel career Lord Barack the Beneficent, and Blessed be his Name, is looking for a few good men to preach his gospel of “balloon juice”.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Stephen L. Goldstein, The Sun-Sentinel
Stephen L. Goldstein
The Sun-Sentinel
200 East Las Olas Boulevard
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301
RE: Thank you for your marvelous, simply marvelous, July 4th gift. I am shocked, shocked, at your column this morning in that it reveals the true nature of modern American Liberalism.
My dear Professor,
In the end, at the bottom of the pit, when they think no one is looking modern American Liberals become Nazis. The Gesztapo would welcome them with open arms. Thanks for saying it so openly.
[Please note that I did not say Soviets nor did I mention the KGB or the Lubyanka. That would bring up visions of Trotsky with a pick ax in his head, of the Hitler Stalin Pact, of Alger Hiss’s patrician style of treason, of “Animal Farm”, of Masaryk being defenestrated, of the Rosenbergs selling out their country, of Bukharin and his trial, of Walter Duranty, the New York Times, and the first holocaust deniers, of Cardinal Mindszenty, of “1984”, of Herbert Matthews helping Fidel Castro get his job, of 70 years of bad luck in agriculture, of “The God That Failed”, of Poznan in 1953, of Budapest in 1956, of Prague in 1968, of Poland in 1981, of the assassination attempt on the Pope by the KGB – those are things conveniently forgotten by mALs of all stripes. Together they are called “Eclectic Indignation”, in case you’ve forgotten.]
“Slippery slope” and “chilling effect”, long the property of modern American Liberals, have been tossed aside like Lord Barack the Beneficent’s promises concerning ending the war, closing Gitmo, raising taxes, lobbyists in government, fat cat donors becoming ambassadors, homosexuals in foxholes, and sending his daughters to public schools in Washington. And he’s only been in charge for 6 months. Wait until he gets a full head of steam going!
As usual, when you use literary or historical terms, you are wrong in your explanation and reference. Let me be charitable this time. Your use of the term “utopian” is Homerically imprecise. You lay out a very definite plan of what your inner Brown shirt demands what you do. The problem is that Utopia means “nowhere”. It’s like the horizon. No matter how fast you paddle you never get there. Look it up.
Your utopian vision of a political Neverland has one enemy: the Constitution.
“Free men speak with free tongues.”
That was good advice 26 centuries ago. It’s good advice today.
You call for the end of campaign contributions. So heated is your passion for one people, one state that you probably haven’t thought it through. Your ashen, dulled, no sharp edge society would not permit Emily’s List to function. NARAL would be banned. George Soros would be deported. ACORN would be crushed. Is that what you had in mind?
You say that all media “would be required to allocate prime time and space equally for all candidates…” It pains me to remind you that you work for a company in bankruptcy. It would be irrational of any adult to think that Sam Zell would give up one inch of space for free that had ready and willing buyers for such space. There is a Federal Judge who would forbid it. He would probably order a sanity hearing should it be proposed. There is a delicious irony in having a Federal Judge, the instrument of choice for modern American Liberals when they seek change that they could not bring about otherwise, order a stop to such lunacy.
Your homework assignment for the holiday weekend is to research the campaign of 1800. The candidates were Adams and Jefferson. Can we stipulate that these two men were giants? It was the dirtiest campaign ever.
You may wish to take a peek at the campaign of 1864. The Democratic Party and the New York Times called the President a baboon. By urging a negotiated settlement with the South they supported – Qui tacet consentit, remember? – slavery. When can we expect an apology for such heinous acts?
Having to listen to Ralph Nader might be construed as “cruel and unusual punishment”. Since you have no regard for the Constitution maybe we could condemn the terrorists at Gitmo, the ones that Lord Barack and blessed be his name, now says he will keep in the pokey forever, to having the choice of Ralphie Boy talking about why we need the ICC or bastinado in the morning and strapado in the afternoon. Get some money down on the second choice.
If we take out the part of the First Amendment about the people “peaceably petitioning the legislature for a redress of grievances” can we take out the part that gives Robert Mapplethorpe a platform? How about the Nazis marching through Skokie? Are you opposed to burning all flags or just some flags? Isn’t this where “slippery slopes” and “chilling effects” come in? Although I am sure you would have approved of Ezra Pound being locked up for 13 years without having ever been accused of anything, without ever been arraigned, without ever been tried, without ever having been convicted – talk about George Bush! – in 1945 it is a different time now. You like to wear the retro uniforms of yesteryear.
The Liberty Bell is inscribed thus:
“Proclaim Liberty throughout the Land unto all the inhabitants thereof.”
Leviticus
25 – 10
It starts with “Congress shall make no law…” There are no exceptions for fascists like Goldstein.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Congressman Ron Klein
June 28, 2009
Congressman Ron Klein
800 East Las Olas Boulevard
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301
RE: Energy
Congressman Klein,
I am not asking you why you voted for the President’s energy bill.
All that I am asking is whether or not you read the final bill before you voted for it.
The courtesy of a reply is not anticipated. I remain, unresponded to but still
Your persistent Constituent,
Congressman Ron Klein
800 East Las Olas Boulevard
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301
RE: Energy
Congressman Klein,
I am not asking you why you voted for the President’s energy bill.
All that I am asking is whether or not you read the final bill before you voted for it.
The courtesy of a reply is not anticipated. I remain, unresponded to but still
Your persistent Constituent,
Fred Grimm, The Miami Herald
June 28, 2009
Fred Grimm
The Miami Herald
One Herald Plaza
Miami, Florida 33132-1693
RE: Don’t assume – It makes an ass out of you. A comment on your column in today’s Miami Herald
Mr. Grimm,
“I always assumed that the one positive aspect of a hurricane,
however awful, would be an instant jolt of economic
stimulus from insurance checks.”
Today
You
After Hurricane Cheney levels Florida and most of Georgia do you think you could get Mount Saint Helen to take out most of the Pacific Northwest? What’s the best way to get locusts to “dewheat” Kansas?
I’ve been asking the Miami Herald since 1997 to turn of its air conditioning. Someone must be first in the fight to save the planet. Alas, you never did. As punishment for this manatees will become man eaters. Think how many jobs that will create. We could get Celebrity Death Matches between manatees and alligators. The winner gets to take on a 23 foot anaconda fresh out of the Everglades National Swamp. The Miccosukees could promote it. Think HBO. It could end dog and cock fighting.
As the paradigmatic template for ink stained modern American Liberals you fall, as your station says you must, for the faulty reasoning of the “Broken Window” theory. [The people who believe this also believe that wage and price controls work. They also believe that the surest way to end poverty is to raise the minimum wage. The government’s experience running the Post Office will enable them to take over health care flawlessly. They know that, History notwithstanding, this time raising taxes will raise revenue, create jobs, “level the playing field”, and will make everybody play well with others. Honest Injun.] Listen closely.
Your child breaks your neighbor’s window
You call the glazier to replace it.
He buys a window from his wholesaler.
He hires someone to replace it.
On the way to the job the workman buys lunch.
Your neighbor is so happy that he invites your family to dinner.
You reciprocate buy buying him a case of beer and his wife some flowers.
He tips the delivery boy.
The boy pays for his mother’s life saving operation.
Lord Barack the Beneficent, when he learns of this, orders Kristallnacht.
The economy revives in 6 weeks.
We tell the Chinese that we don’t need their money.
The Chinese, desperate to keep our business, quiet the North Koreans.
Osama bin Laden becomes a peripatetic Jehovah’s Witness.
Ahmadinijad changes his name to Katz and becomes a lawyer.
Jews and Arabs bury the hatchet and not in the other’s head.
Les Merdes from Quebec become civil.
All this from breaking one window. Perhaps we should have a window breaking Czar? I have to go now. I am going to break a lot of windows. I want to “give something back to my country”. Next week’s lesson will be on how rainy streets cause umbrellas to bloom.
It may be time for another great idea from someone else from Bayonne. You may not remember Fred Bastiat. He wanted to pass legislation to ban windows so his friend the candle maker would prosper. Then down side to this is that if you don’t have any windows you can’t break them. If we can’t break the windows we can’t get out of the mess we find ourselves in. What should we do?
“Don’t make me decide”, wails Homer Simpson.
PS – Ice Ages take too long. Do you suppose we could get the NORKs to nuke the San Andreas Fault? Think of the jobs that would “create”. Did Michael Jackson come back from the dead this morning? Think how many jobs that would “create”.
Fred Grimm
The Miami Herald
One Herald Plaza
Miami, Florida 33132-1693
RE: Don’t assume – It makes an ass out of you. A comment on your column in today’s Miami Herald
Mr. Grimm,
“I always assumed that the one positive aspect of a hurricane,
however awful, would be an instant jolt of economic
stimulus from insurance checks.”
Today
You
After Hurricane Cheney levels Florida and most of Georgia do you think you could get Mount Saint Helen to take out most of the Pacific Northwest? What’s the best way to get locusts to “dewheat” Kansas?
I’ve been asking the Miami Herald since 1997 to turn of its air conditioning. Someone must be first in the fight to save the planet. Alas, you never did. As punishment for this manatees will become man eaters. Think how many jobs that will create. We could get Celebrity Death Matches between manatees and alligators. The winner gets to take on a 23 foot anaconda fresh out of the Everglades National Swamp. The Miccosukees could promote it. Think HBO. It could end dog and cock fighting.
As the paradigmatic template for ink stained modern American Liberals you fall, as your station says you must, for the faulty reasoning of the “Broken Window” theory. [The people who believe this also believe that wage and price controls work. They also believe that the surest way to end poverty is to raise the minimum wage. The government’s experience running the Post Office will enable them to take over health care flawlessly. They know that, History notwithstanding, this time raising taxes will raise revenue, create jobs, “level the playing field”, and will make everybody play well with others. Honest Injun.] Listen closely.
Your child breaks your neighbor’s window
You call the glazier to replace it.
He buys a window from his wholesaler.
He hires someone to replace it.
On the way to the job the workman buys lunch.
Your neighbor is so happy that he invites your family to dinner.
You reciprocate buy buying him a case of beer and his wife some flowers.
He tips the delivery boy.
The boy pays for his mother’s life saving operation.
Lord Barack the Beneficent, when he learns of this, orders Kristallnacht.
The economy revives in 6 weeks.
We tell the Chinese that we don’t need their money.
The Chinese, desperate to keep our business, quiet the North Koreans.
Osama bin Laden becomes a peripatetic Jehovah’s Witness.
Ahmadinijad changes his name to Katz and becomes a lawyer.
Jews and Arabs bury the hatchet and not in the other’s head.
Les Merdes from Quebec become civil.
All this from breaking one window. Perhaps we should have a window breaking Czar? I have to go now. I am going to break a lot of windows. I want to “give something back to my country”. Next week’s lesson will be on how rainy streets cause umbrellas to bloom.
It may be time for another great idea from someone else from Bayonne. You may not remember Fred Bastiat. He wanted to pass legislation to ban windows so his friend the candle maker would prosper. Then down side to this is that if you don’t have any windows you can’t break them. If we can’t break the windows we can’t get out of the mess we find ourselves in. What should we do?
“Don’t make me decide”, wails Homer Simpson.
PS – Ice Ages take too long. Do you suppose we could get the NORKs to nuke the San Andreas Fault? Think of the jobs that would “create”. Did Michael Jackson come back from the dead this morning? Think how many jobs that would “create”.
Michael Mayo, The Sun-Sentinel
June 25, 2009
Michael Mayo
The Sun-Sentinel
200 East Las Olas Boulevard
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33316
RE: FPL, customer service, and if a greedy company, a company like Florida Power and Light can’t run its business so that its customers are satisfied why do you think the United States Government - Read Post Office – can run health care? A trip to the wood shed review of your column in today’s Sun-Sentinel.
Mr. Mayo,
Logic, unlike Economics, is neither a “dismal science” nor is it a parabolic curve. As an integral part of the Trivium it is one of the essential building blocks of – Dare I say it? – Western Civilization.
Usually it is best to have some decent potables close at hand and in a congenial environment when discussing Logic. Alas, I have found that modern American Liberals, people who substitute feelings for ideas, people who judge on expectations but never on results, are unsuited for saloon encounters. Maybe they lack the congeniality gene.
I’ll write slowly. Try to follow the bouncing ball.
You write that Steven Carbone, a customer of FPL who had no choice in picking them as a power provider, was without power for 17 hours on Tuesday and Wednesday. You cite this as a reason to deny FPL’s no doubt rapacious request for a rate increase.
You report, apparently correctly, that FPL reported an increase of profits from $107 million to $127 million. You write that Mr. Carbone thinks that FPL is skimping on maintenance. The proof cited is that he “lived in a lot of places and always saw power crews checking lines and doing maintenance”.
You conclude by saying that Standard & Poor has a “strong buy” recommendation of FPL partly because, as you say, “Florida regulators don’t stand in the way of utilities from making big bucks, even in the toughest of times for everyone else”.
It is like getting an off speed chest batting practice pitch. If I am not careful I’ll over swing.
[Speaking of “tough times for everybody else” I am sure you know that 495 employees of Hav-A-Tampa will soon be unemployed because of the increased tax on cigars. Is there any chance of them hooking up with some Stimulus money to help them pay their FPL bills? How about retraining them to make anti-smoking patches or nicotine gum? Although he would not have uses the above as an example Richard Weaver was right when he said “Ideas Have Consequences”]
Would it be safe to infer that if, by your reasoning, FPL’s profits had gone from $127 million to $107 million Mr. Carbone would not have lost power? If he had lost power and profits were down would his electricity been restored quicker? Do we reach a perfect equilibrium when profits and losses are in absolute balance? Does that guarantee no power outages?
Please tell Mr. Carbone, regardless of how many places he has lived, that correlation is not causation. Further, while it may be truthful in one instance, you cannot construct a universal from a particular. To do so is an invalid construct.
The fact that a Governor of Arkansas becomes President and then perjured himself cannot be used to say that all Governors of Arkansas will perjure themselves should they be elected President.
You conclude by saying that S&P has a “strong buy” recommendation of FPL partly because, as you say, “Florida regulators don’t stand in the way of utilities making bug bucks, even in the toughest of times for everybody else”.
Even though you work for a bankrupt company have you followed through on my request to distribute the paper for free in the poorest zip codes that you serve? It would be like a reverse “red line”. Has your company extended any benefits to the gallant matadors who sell your paper in the busy intersections? “Tough times” would be tougher for them.
Forgive me, but you seem to believe that the biggest problem facing American society is that bad things happen when and if a company makes too much money. I am sure there are some people involved with GM and Chrysler who would have a different view of that. I can tell you that, like Mr. Carbone, I have worked in many places. Two things are empirically self evident. #1 – I have never been hired by a poor person. #2 – If the Boss Man loses money he stops paying you.
Cuba, the paragon of customer service, the paradigmatic template of how to run things, has eliminated profit from running their utilities. The result of 50 years of following the hugely successful Bulgarian model is there is no power on Sunday mornings. At least the people there can console themselves with the fact that nobody has any power. As opposed to, as Churchill said, the unequal sharing of plenty there is an equal sharing of misery.
Am I overreaching with comparison to Cuba? No, not at all. Modern American liberals constantly hector us with tales of “slippery slopes” and “chilling effects”. Samuel Gompers was one of the great defenders of profits. He knew that the more the employer made the more the employee would be paid. Why is that so deuced difficult to understand?
You are “leading the fight” – a favorite term of modern American Liberals – against profits be they obscene, salacious, or ribald. The problem is that you don’t define it. You rail against them being too much without telling us what “too much” is. Are you suggesting that the common weal would be better served if there were no profits, particularly in “tough times”?
I just know that you would be in favor of raising the minimum wage in “tough times”. That way those at the bottom of the economic ladder would be unemployed at a higher rate. That is offensive to Logic. A wage can’t be “living” if it isn’t paid. Further, if profits drop precipitously the last one out the door gets to turn the lights out.
“Hoist on one’s own petard”, a decidedly non-Logical term, would be apt.
All this on one of the anniversaries that modern American Liberals so admire. The noble Red Man did in the Round Eyed Pale Face. Today is the day that Custer died for our sins.
The next lesson will be on Rhetoric.
PS – Is there any truth to the rumor that you will be leading a Clifford Odets symposium? If so, count me in. “All them corn fields and ballet at night”, to quote that legendary British labor leader Fred Kite.
Michael Mayo
The Sun-Sentinel
200 East Las Olas Boulevard
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33316
RE: FPL, customer service, and if a greedy company, a company like Florida Power and Light can’t run its business so that its customers are satisfied why do you think the United States Government - Read Post Office – can run health care? A trip to the wood shed review of your column in today’s Sun-Sentinel.
Mr. Mayo,
Logic, unlike Economics, is neither a “dismal science” nor is it a parabolic curve. As an integral part of the Trivium it is one of the essential building blocks of – Dare I say it? – Western Civilization.
Usually it is best to have some decent potables close at hand and in a congenial environment when discussing Logic. Alas, I have found that modern American Liberals, people who substitute feelings for ideas, people who judge on expectations but never on results, are unsuited for saloon encounters. Maybe they lack the congeniality gene.
I’ll write slowly. Try to follow the bouncing ball.
You write that Steven Carbone, a customer of FPL who had no choice in picking them as a power provider, was without power for 17 hours on Tuesday and Wednesday. You cite this as a reason to deny FPL’s no doubt rapacious request for a rate increase.
You report, apparently correctly, that FPL reported an increase of profits from $107 million to $127 million. You write that Mr. Carbone thinks that FPL is skimping on maintenance. The proof cited is that he “lived in a lot of places and always saw power crews checking lines and doing maintenance”.
You conclude by saying that Standard & Poor has a “strong buy” recommendation of FPL partly because, as you say, “Florida regulators don’t stand in the way of utilities from making big bucks, even in the toughest of times for everyone else”.
It is like getting an off speed chest batting practice pitch. If I am not careful I’ll over swing.
[Speaking of “tough times for everybody else” I am sure you know that 495 employees of Hav-A-Tampa will soon be unemployed because of the increased tax on cigars. Is there any chance of them hooking up with some Stimulus money to help them pay their FPL bills? How about retraining them to make anti-smoking patches or nicotine gum? Although he would not have uses the above as an example Richard Weaver was right when he said “Ideas Have Consequences”]
Would it be safe to infer that if, by your reasoning, FPL’s profits had gone from $127 million to $107 million Mr. Carbone would not have lost power? If he had lost power and profits were down would his electricity been restored quicker? Do we reach a perfect equilibrium when profits and losses are in absolute balance? Does that guarantee no power outages?
Please tell Mr. Carbone, regardless of how many places he has lived, that correlation is not causation. Further, while it may be truthful in one instance, you cannot construct a universal from a particular. To do so is an invalid construct.
The fact that a Governor of Arkansas becomes President and then perjured himself cannot be used to say that all Governors of Arkansas will perjure themselves should they be elected President.
You conclude by saying that S&P has a “strong buy” recommendation of FPL partly because, as you say, “Florida regulators don’t stand in the way of utilities making bug bucks, even in the toughest of times for everybody else”.
Even though you work for a bankrupt company have you followed through on my request to distribute the paper for free in the poorest zip codes that you serve? It would be like a reverse “red line”. Has your company extended any benefits to the gallant matadors who sell your paper in the busy intersections? “Tough times” would be tougher for them.
Forgive me, but you seem to believe that the biggest problem facing American society is that bad things happen when and if a company makes too much money. I am sure there are some people involved with GM and Chrysler who would have a different view of that. I can tell you that, like Mr. Carbone, I have worked in many places. Two things are empirically self evident. #1 – I have never been hired by a poor person. #2 – If the Boss Man loses money he stops paying you.
Cuba, the paragon of customer service, the paradigmatic template of how to run things, has eliminated profit from running their utilities. The result of 50 years of following the hugely successful Bulgarian model is there is no power on Sunday mornings. At least the people there can console themselves with the fact that nobody has any power. As opposed to, as Churchill said, the unequal sharing of plenty there is an equal sharing of misery.
Am I overreaching with comparison to Cuba? No, not at all. Modern American liberals constantly hector us with tales of “slippery slopes” and “chilling effects”. Samuel Gompers was one of the great defenders of profits. He knew that the more the employer made the more the employee would be paid. Why is that so deuced difficult to understand?
You are “leading the fight” – a favorite term of modern American Liberals – against profits be they obscene, salacious, or ribald. The problem is that you don’t define it. You rail against them being too much without telling us what “too much” is. Are you suggesting that the common weal would be better served if there were no profits, particularly in “tough times”?
I just know that you would be in favor of raising the minimum wage in “tough times”. That way those at the bottom of the economic ladder would be unemployed at a higher rate. That is offensive to Logic. A wage can’t be “living” if it isn’t paid. Further, if profits drop precipitously the last one out the door gets to turn the lights out.
“Hoist on one’s own petard”, a decidedly non-Logical term, would be apt.
All this on one of the anniversaries that modern American Liberals so admire. The noble Red Man did in the Round Eyed Pale Face. Today is the day that Custer died for our sins.
The next lesson will be on Rhetoric.
PS – Is there any truth to the rumor that you will be leading a Clifford Odets symposium? If so, count me in. “All them corn fields and ballet at night”, to quote that legendary British labor leader Fred Kite.
Dave Hyde, The Sun-Sentinel
June 28, 2009
Dave Hyde
The Sun-Sentinel
200 East Las Olas Boulevard
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33316
RE: What did they do?
Mr. Hyde,
In your article about the former Dolphin, Edwin Newman, who is now a Florida Judge you made 3 references that need some fleshing out. They cannot pass unchallenged. Some things are owed to the ledger.
“There were bigger fights in that time:
Muhammed Ali passing on the Vietnam War;
Arthur Ashe taking on apartheid;
Billie Jean King fighting for equal pay for women.”
Today
You
#1 – While Ali “passed on the Vietnam War” the country didn’t. After Johnson doubled down but didn’t go all in on Vietnam the country elected him in a landslide in 1964. The country didn’t like the way the war was being fought in 1968 so they elected Nixon who said he would fight it better. He won 49 states in 1972. The only Logical inference that can be drawn from that in a Democracy is that the country approved of the way he was fighting the war. As to student protests it is an inconvenient truth that when the draft was called off the protest stopped. Look it up.
#2 – I had breakfast with an author of a book about apartheid. The book cost $35. I told him that since I knew he was against it I would save myself $35. Other than not playing there – Did they have tournaments there? – what exactly did Arthur Ashe do to “take on apartheid”? If memory serves he was criticized by more vocal activists for not being vocal enough.
Speaking of “taking on” things were there any other Second Lieutenants in the United States Army from 1966 to 1968 who never advanced one rank? Were there any other Second Lieutenants in the United States Army from 1966 to 1968 who never served in Vietnam?
Just asking.
#3 – Billie Jean King’s biggest payday came when she played a man almost 30 years older than she was. Why didn’t she play Arthur Ashe or Stan Smith? Why doesn’t she lace up her Nikes and take on Federer, the age difference being roughly the same as when she played Bobby Riggs? If that’s not good how about getting Sampras out of retirement? If that doesn’t fly how about Connors or McEnroe?
Why not have the Wimbledon Champions – Men & Women - play for all or nothing?
You said that Billie Jean King fought for equal pay for women.
What the Hell could be more equal than that?
Dave Hyde
The Sun-Sentinel
200 East Las Olas Boulevard
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33316
RE: What did they do?
Mr. Hyde,
In your article about the former Dolphin, Edwin Newman, who is now a Florida Judge you made 3 references that need some fleshing out. They cannot pass unchallenged. Some things are owed to the ledger.
“There were bigger fights in that time:
Muhammed Ali passing on the Vietnam War;
Arthur Ashe taking on apartheid;
Billie Jean King fighting for equal pay for women.”
Today
You
#1 – While Ali “passed on the Vietnam War” the country didn’t. After Johnson doubled down but didn’t go all in on Vietnam the country elected him in a landslide in 1964. The country didn’t like the way the war was being fought in 1968 so they elected Nixon who said he would fight it better. He won 49 states in 1972. The only Logical inference that can be drawn from that in a Democracy is that the country approved of the way he was fighting the war. As to student protests it is an inconvenient truth that when the draft was called off the protest stopped. Look it up.
#2 – I had breakfast with an author of a book about apartheid. The book cost $35. I told him that since I knew he was against it I would save myself $35. Other than not playing there – Did they have tournaments there? – what exactly did Arthur Ashe do to “take on apartheid”? If memory serves he was criticized by more vocal activists for not being vocal enough.
Speaking of “taking on” things were there any other Second Lieutenants in the United States Army from 1966 to 1968 who never advanced one rank? Were there any other Second Lieutenants in the United States Army from 1966 to 1968 who never served in Vietnam?
Just asking.
#3 – Billie Jean King’s biggest payday came when she played a man almost 30 years older than she was. Why didn’t she play Arthur Ashe or Stan Smith? Why doesn’t she lace up her Nikes and take on Federer, the age difference being roughly the same as when she played Bobby Riggs? If that’s not good how about getting Sampras out of retirement? If that doesn’t fly how about Connors or McEnroe?
Why not have the Wimbledon Champions – Men & Women - play for all or nothing?
You said that Billie Jean King fought for equal pay for women.
What the Hell could be more equal than that?
State Senator Dan Gelber
June 21, 2009
State Senator Dan Gelber
1920 Meridian Avenue
Miami Beach, Florida 33139-1818
RE: The accursed FCATs, dollars spent on education, you can’t choose your relatives, and why hypocrisy smells so bad particularly when it comes from people suffering from terminal “non-malodorous fecal matter syndrome”. Questions about that? SASE. A different take on your Op-Ed piece in this morning’s Miami Herald.
Senator Gelber,
What a marvelous column!
You begin by saying that you are “a parent with 3 kids in public school”. You should have included that you are an elected official. Further, you are a modern American Liberal. Elected Democrats have an additional burden – cognitive dissonance may be apropos – of cheerleading for public schools, for teachers’ unions, for multicultural education, for diversity training, and always, always for more, more, and yet more money, for all the claptrap about self esteem, while the majority of them send their kids to private schools. I’ll get back to that later.
You mention your “friend, Janet Reno”. Your citing of her quote about under nourished dogs is typical in that it requires neither thought nor reflection. Speaking of things canine I prefer Samuel Johnson’s quote about women preaching and dogs walking on their hind legs. “It’s not a matter of how well they do it but, rather, why do they do it all.”
Janet Reno was at the state and Federal level a terrible prosecutor. Beyond terrible she was fatally incompetent in that some good guys, guys with badges and guns, died because of it. Her incompetence at the local level was legendary. Ask the thin blue line; ask the men who regularly saw the elephant how she was then. The only reason she got to the Federal level – Recall that she was choice #3 – was that she had, on close examination, the only thing that Czarina Hillary demanded of any candidate. She had a uterus.
She began her illustrious Federal career by charbroiling some 7 dozen of her fellow citizens. That was the high point of her time in Washington. It fell to former Vice President Alpha Gump to put an exclamation point on her career when he yammered on and on and on and on about “There is no controlling legal authority”. That after she decided that fine line between law and justice would not be breached on her watch. The world wonders when she will comment on the pardons for sale at the White House as the new President was sworn in.
But enough about her.
My favorite memory of the New York States Regents Exam is 11th grade Latin. The only time Caesar’s 10th Legion ever lost was at the end of my junior year. Damn that Aeneas!
You end by saying that we must “stop drinking the Kool-Aid”. Your definition of Kool-Aid is that Florida doesn’t spend enough per pupil on education. If that is the case why isn’t Washington, D.C. graduating Nobel Prize winners? At the very least there should be a dozen Pulitzers each year at Eastern High School and at Anacostia High School. No place in the universe spends more per pupil than Washington, D.C. The amount of Federal dollars that they extort from the Congress is on par with the amount, per capita, that the farmers get for not growing food. The public school system in Washington, D.C. gets money for not teaching students. And we thought Bernie Madoff ruined a lot of lives.
Is that why Lord Barack the Ben chose not to send his daughters to the very richly endowed public school system in Washington, D.C.? If you send your 3 kids to public schools in Miami Beach why can’t he send his kids to public school in Washington?
If we scrap the FCATs how about scrapping the Florida Bar Exam? If empathy is to be a deciding factor in confirming candidates for the Supreme Court why should it count for less on the state level? Certainly life experiences should, particularly those gained in less than ideal circumstances, should at least as much as knowledge of torts, of property, of contracts, of bills of attainder, of letters of marque and reprisal, of material misrepresentation by omission or commission --- things like that. Would not the criminal Bar and a sense of Rawlsian justice be better served if a number of slots be reserved for criminals representing alleged criminals?
I think I may have found a job for “your friend, Janet Reno”. Put her in charge of disemboweling the FCATs and making the Florida Bar exam fairer, nicer, and more empathetic.
State Senator Dan Gelber
1920 Meridian Avenue
Miami Beach, Florida 33139-1818
RE: The accursed FCATs, dollars spent on education, you can’t choose your relatives, and why hypocrisy smells so bad particularly when it comes from people suffering from terminal “non-malodorous fecal matter syndrome”. Questions about that? SASE. A different take on your Op-Ed piece in this morning’s Miami Herald.
Senator Gelber,
What a marvelous column!
You begin by saying that you are “a parent with 3 kids in public school”. You should have included that you are an elected official. Further, you are a modern American Liberal. Elected Democrats have an additional burden – cognitive dissonance may be apropos – of cheerleading for public schools, for teachers’ unions, for multicultural education, for diversity training, and always, always for more, more, and yet more money, for all the claptrap about self esteem, while the majority of them send their kids to private schools. I’ll get back to that later.
You mention your “friend, Janet Reno”. Your citing of her quote about under nourished dogs is typical in that it requires neither thought nor reflection. Speaking of things canine I prefer Samuel Johnson’s quote about women preaching and dogs walking on their hind legs. “It’s not a matter of how well they do it but, rather, why do they do it all.”
Janet Reno was at the state and Federal level a terrible prosecutor. Beyond terrible she was fatally incompetent in that some good guys, guys with badges and guns, died because of it. Her incompetence at the local level was legendary. Ask the thin blue line; ask the men who regularly saw the elephant how she was then. The only reason she got to the Federal level – Recall that she was choice #3 – was that she had, on close examination, the only thing that Czarina Hillary demanded of any candidate. She had a uterus.
She began her illustrious Federal career by charbroiling some 7 dozen of her fellow citizens. That was the high point of her time in Washington. It fell to former Vice President Alpha Gump to put an exclamation point on her career when he yammered on and on and on and on about “There is no controlling legal authority”. That after she decided that fine line between law and justice would not be breached on her watch. The world wonders when she will comment on the pardons for sale at the White House as the new President was sworn in.
But enough about her.
My favorite memory of the New York States Regents Exam is 11th grade Latin. The only time Caesar’s 10th Legion ever lost was at the end of my junior year. Damn that Aeneas!
You end by saying that we must “stop drinking the Kool-Aid”. Your definition of Kool-Aid is that Florida doesn’t spend enough per pupil on education. If that is the case why isn’t Washington, D.C. graduating Nobel Prize winners? At the very least there should be a dozen Pulitzers each year at Eastern High School and at Anacostia High School. No place in the universe spends more per pupil than Washington, D.C. The amount of Federal dollars that they extort from the Congress is on par with the amount, per capita, that the farmers get for not growing food. The public school system in Washington, D.C. gets money for not teaching students. And we thought Bernie Madoff ruined a lot of lives.
Is that why Lord Barack the Ben chose not to send his daughters to the very richly endowed public school system in Washington, D.C.? If you send your 3 kids to public schools in Miami Beach why can’t he send his kids to public school in Washington?
If we scrap the FCATs how about scrapping the Florida Bar Exam? If empathy is to be a deciding factor in confirming candidates for the Supreme Court why should it count for less on the state level? Certainly life experiences should, particularly those gained in less than ideal circumstances, should at least as much as knowledge of torts, of property, of contracts, of bills of attainder, of letters of marque and reprisal, of material misrepresentation by omission or commission --- things like that. Would not the criminal Bar and a sense of Rawlsian justice be better served if a number of slots be reserved for criminals representing alleged criminals?
I think I may have found a job for “your friend, Janet Reno”. Put her in charge of disemboweling the FCATs and making the Florida Bar exam fairer, nicer, and more empathetic.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Florida update
Amy, AKA “Grammy” to our Texas ladies, took her wedding ring off for the first time since 1965. She is soon to be operated on for endometrial cancer and, possibly, breast cancer. Stay tuned.
Monday, June 22, 2009
June 19, 1953 -- June 19, 2009
June 19, 1953 -- June 19, 2009
Let us pause to mark the anniversary of the executions of the Rosenbergs for treason.
Will someone please check to make sure that those two bastards are still in their graves?
Let us pause to mark the anniversary of the executions of the Rosenbergs for treason.
Will someone please check to make sure that those two bastards are still in their graves?
Congressman William Lacy Clay
June 19, 2009
Congressman William Lacy Clay
625 North Euclid Street #286
St. Louis, MO 63108
RE: Apologizing for slavery and tossing in some reparations also.
Congressman Clay,
“I am a reparations man.”
I’m with you on that.
My forebears were the first people in History to end slavery in their country. Not just free some slaves but, rather, free all the slaves.
On July 2, 1863 my grandfather’s uncle, a member of the Irish Brigade, AKA “The Fighting 69th”, marched into the Wheat Field at Gettysburg. Doubtless, the band was playing “Garryowen”. I hope the bullet that got him was a head shot. That way he would have been dead before he hit the ground. He is still there “wrapped in faded coat of blue”.
While the pump is still flowing get as much dough as you can. What’s a few more trillion dollars? While you have a chance to fart through silk do it. And do it before the Chinese cancel our credit card.
While you are sending a bill to the American people you may wish to see if you can get some dough from others involved in slavery. Arabs living in East Africa provided the finance, the protection, and the transport allowing the market to flourish. Perhaps their centuries old template – It is still working in at least 5 countries in Africa – was the model that the Mafia adopted. Certainly their Islamic descendants should pay their fair share, don’t you think?
Do you think that I, as a descendant of someone who fought and died to end slavery, could get a carry forward tax credit? Just a small one as I am perpetually in “disfavor with fortune and men’s eyes”.
Two other things:
#1 – Your website says that you “led the fight” against the KuKluxKlan trying to prevent the naming of part of Interstate 55 after Rosa Parks. Were there any casualties on the scale of Antietam or The Wilderness in that fight? Speaking of casualties, the Union Army had 50,000 casualties in June of 1864. It had 50,000 casualties in July of 1864. It had 50,000 in August of 1864. Then it got tough. I think a proclamation honoring General Sherman, the architect of the first successful “surge”, the man who shortened the war by
18 months thereby freeing the slaves that much quicker, is in order. Also, would you “lead the fight” against the Nazis marching through Skokie, Illinois or would you “lead the fight” in favor of them marching?
#2 – Illinois triggered a reaction to your website. It shows you with the St. Louis Arch in a western background. The only way that picture could have been taken would be if you were in Illinois. Whatever else ACORN has done it has – so far – been unable to have one Congressman represent 2 districts in 2 different states. Could it be a hint of things to come?
Congressman William Lacy Clay
625 North Euclid Street #286
St. Louis, MO 63108
RE: Apologizing for slavery and tossing in some reparations also.
Congressman Clay,
“I am a reparations man.”
I’m with you on that.
My forebears were the first people in History to end slavery in their country. Not just free some slaves but, rather, free all the slaves.
On July 2, 1863 my grandfather’s uncle, a member of the Irish Brigade, AKA “The Fighting 69th”, marched into the Wheat Field at Gettysburg. Doubtless, the band was playing “Garryowen”. I hope the bullet that got him was a head shot. That way he would have been dead before he hit the ground. He is still there “wrapped in faded coat of blue”.
While the pump is still flowing get as much dough as you can. What’s a few more trillion dollars? While you have a chance to fart through silk do it. And do it before the Chinese cancel our credit card.
While you are sending a bill to the American people you may wish to see if you can get some dough from others involved in slavery. Arabs living in East Africa provided the finance, the protection, and the transport allowing the market to flourish. Perhaps their centuries old template – It is still working in at least 5 countries in Africa – was the model that the Mafia adopted. Certainly their Islamic descendants should pay their fair share, don’t you think?
Do you think that I, as a descendant of someone who fought and died to end slavery, could get a carry forward tax credit? Just a small one as I am perpetually in “disfavor with fortune and men’s eyes”.
Two other things:
#1 – Your website says that you “led the fight” against the KuKluxKlan trying to prevent the naming of part of Interstate 55 after Rosa Parks. Were there any casualties on the scale of Antietam or The Wilderness in that fight? Speaking of casualties, the Union Army had 50,000 casualties in June of 1864. It had 50,000 casualties in July of 1864. It had 50,000 in August of 1864. Then it got tough. I think a proclamation honoring General Sherman, the architect of the first successful “surge”, the man who shortened the war by
18 months thereby freeing the slaves that much quicker, is in order. Also, would you “lead the fight” against the Nazis marching through Skokie, Illinois or would you “lead the fight” in favor of them marching?
#2 – Illinois triggered a reaction to your website. It shows you with the St. Louis Arch in a western background. The only way that picture could have been taken would be if you were in Illinois. Whatever else ACORN has done it has – so far – been unable to have one Congressman represent 2 districts in 2 different states. Could it be a hint of things to come?
Beth Reinhard, The Miami Herald
June 20, 2009
Beth Reinhard
The Miami Herald
One Herald Plaza
Miami, Florida 33316-1693
RE: Unknown Senators, Big name endorsements, Making English the official language, and when will Carrie “Big Mama” Meek endorse Kendrick “Sonny Boy” Meek for Senator? A different view, perhaps a bit more snarky of your column in this morning’s Miami Herald.
Ms. Reinhard,
Of course I heard of Senator DeMint. I know a lot about Senators. I did volunteer work for Senator Harrison Williams in1964. He was a big supporter of mass transit. He got, as they still say in Hudson County, “jammed up with the Feds and went inside” Hey! Nobody’s perfect, right?
Do you suppose that Senator Burris or Senator Dodd will be making any appearances for candidates in Florida? Senator Burris is a product of Cook County politics. So is Lord Barack the Beneficent. Senator Dodd has the distinction of being the first candidate for the United States Senate to lie directly to my face.
You criticize Mario Rubio because Senator DeMint favors making English the official language. [Funny, but I thought that “secondary boycotts” were illegal.] It is empirically self evident that that English must be the official language, that is to say the language of contracts and laws. Yugoslavia is the obvious example of what happens when multicultural lunacies are indulged. When fuzzy thinking wing nut moonbats, AKA modern American Liberals – South Florida coven - advocate the opposite it is the wish fulfillment of a desire for chaos. Please, gentle lady, don’t think ill of me as Senator Barbara “Boom Boom” Boxer did with the General.
To wit, a Spanish speaker buys a house from a French-Canadian. The mortgage is held by a Haitian lender whose attorney was born in Surinam. The title agent thinks he sees a defect and the closing is delayed. It goes before a Judge who speaks only Chinese. Who says vaudeville is dead?
I don’t whether Farsi or Fartsy is the official language of Iran. I know that a lot of brave ladies held up their purple stained fingers and signs that said “Where’s my vote”? And, yes, the sign was in English.
Speaking of endorsements…Do you think Alex Sink wants one from her former boss? You remember Hootie Johnson, don’t you? He is the misogynistic red necked snake handling gun toting bible clinging peckerhead who vowed to burn down the Augusta National Golf Club before he let any chickies play in the Masters. Do we know
if he ever played grab ass with her? Did she have to fetch coffee for him? Did she book his flights when he went to the male only “Gotta Pee? Use the tree” Bohemian Grove club? His endorsement would carry a lot of weight with me and some of my Apeneck friends.
Finally, is there a scheduled date for former Congresswoman Carrie Meek to make her choice in the Democratic primary for Senate? Just kidding, just kidding. As the grand dame of the first Black Florida Kennedy wanabee political factory she’s going to come out swinging for Junior. Now that he has learned what to do with his thumbs there’s no stopping him.
PS – There is a rumor that the Feds are looking at Mayor Stacy Ritter for tax evasion. She was an early supporter of Lord Barack, Blessed be his name. Do you think he’ll put a call in for her? Apparently Michelle, the Lord Obama’s main line lady, got the Feds to back off on the case against the Mayor of Sacramento. I mean he gave back $400,000. I hate to see good guys get jammed up with the Feds.
Beth Reinhard
The Miami Herald
One Herald Plaza
Miami, Florida 33316-1693
RE: Unknown Senators, Big name endorsements, Making English the official language, and when will Carrie “Big Mama” Meek endorse Kendrick “Sonny Boy” Meek for Senator? A different view, perhaps a bit more snarky of your column in this morning’s Miami Herald.
Ms. Reinhard,
Of course I heard of Senator DeMint. I know a lot about Senators. I did volunteer work for Senator Harrison Williams in1964. He was a big supporter of mass transit. He got, as they still say in Hudson County, “jammed up with the Feds and went inside” Hey! Nobody’s perfect, right?
Do you suppose that Senator Burris or Senator Dodd will be making any appearances for candidates in Florida? Senator Burris is a product of Cook County politics. So is Lord Barack the Beneficent. Senator Dodd has the distinction of being the first candidate for the United States Senate to lie directly to my face.
You criticize Mario Rubio because Senator DeMint favors making English the official language. [Funny, but I thought that “secondary boycotts” were illegal.] It is empirically self evident that that English must be the official language, that is to say the language of contracts and laws. Yugoslavia is the obvious example of what happens when multicultural lunacies are indulged. When fuzzy thinking wing nut moonbats, AKA modern American Liberals – South Florida coven - advocate the opposite it is the wish fulfillment of a desire for chaos. Please, gentle lady, don’t think ill of me as Senator Barbara “Boom Boom” Boxer did with the General.
To wit, a Spanish speaker buys a house from a French-Canadian. The mortgage is held by a Haitian lender whose attorney was born in Surinam. The title agent thinks he sees a defect and the closing is delayed. It goes before a Judge who speaks only Chinese. Who says vaudeville is dead?
I don’t whether Farsi or Fartsy is the official language of Iran. I know that a lot of brave ladies held up their purple stained fingers and signs that said “Where’s my vote”? And, yes, the sign was in English.
Speaking of endorsements…Do you think Alex Sink wants one from her former boss? You remember Hootie Johnson, don’t you? He is the misogynistic red necked snake handling gun toting bible clinging peckerhead who vowed to burn down the Augusta National Golf Club before he let any chickies play in the Masters. Do we know
if he ever played grab ass with her? Did she have to fetch coffee for him? Did she book his flights when he went to the male only “Gotta Pee? Use the tree” Bohemian Grove club? His endorsement would carry a lot of weight with me and some of my Apeneck friends.
Finally, is there a scheduled date for former Congresswoman Carrie Meek to make her choice in the Democratic primary for Senate? Just kidding, just kidding. As the grand dame of the first Black Florida Kennedy wanabee political factory she’s going to come out swinging for Junior. Now that he has learned what to do with his thumbs there’s no stopping him.
PS – There is a rumor that the Feds are looking at Mayor Stacy Ritter for tax evasion. She was an early supporter of Lord Barack, Blessed be his name. Do you think he’ll put a call in for her? Apparently Michelle, the Lord Obama’s main line lady, got the Feds to back off on the case against the Mayor of Sacramento. I mean he gave back $400,000. I hate to see good guys get jammed up with the Feds.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Beth Reinhard, The Miami Herald
June 15, 2009
Beth Reinhard
The Miami Herald
One Herald Plaza
Miami, Florida 33132-1763
RE: Redistricting – Your Page 1 editorial-lite this morning about the horror, the horror of the people choosing particularly if they choose the wrong thing.
Ms. Reinhard,
If, as you say, “the amendments represent the Democratic party’s best hope for loosening the GOP stranglehold” why should voters who favor the GOP support it?
If, as you say, “an unlikely alliance between African-American Democrats and Republicans forced the 1992 redistricting map that helped elect Florida’s first black members since Reconstruction and paved the way for the GOP takeover of the legislature…” why should African Americans re-route the very successful bus route they now control? How else would Florida’s favorite felon, Alcee Hastings, ever gotten to Congress? In the name of civil wrongs and civil rights a district was carved f out that would have elected OJ Simpson. Congresswoman Carrie Meek, and who says we can’t learn from the North Koreans, willed her seat to her son without dying.
The shrieking of altruists notwithstanding it would seem to that both parties have benefited from the arrangement. Both recognized that each other’s rational self interest did note interfere with theirs. Exactly what is the problem?
The language of the amendment – “Congressional and legislative districts may not be drawn to favor or disfavor an incumbent or political party. Districts shall not be drawn to deny racial or language minorities the equal opportunity to participate in the political process and elect representatives of their choice, - contradicts itself. Districts were drawn to give African Americans seats in the legislature and Congress. Which ones do we place in jeopardy? Should Judge Sotomayor’s belief that being a Latina should be a thumb on the scale when creating new districts?
You say that “while FairDistrictsFlorida is officially nonpartisan, its leadership and donors are mostly Democrats”. Further, you say “most of the money has gone to a California-based firm that deploys petition gatherers statewide”. There is a Russian proverb that tells us that just because the wolf shows you his teeth it doesn’t mean he’s smiling.
What’s wrong with a Florida firm? What’s wrong with a Florida firm that it is a testament to Affirmative Action? I am sure it would take the modern American Liberals in Broward County about an hour and a half to present – out of whole cloth, as if it appeared fully grown right out of Athena’s forehead – a minority owned firm. “Round up the usual suspects.” Women, minorities, women who are minorities, cross gendered, the usual “victims of life’s circumstances” would be first in line to work at such a firm. Doubtless, they would qualify for Federal Stimulus dinero.
When you hear someone say that it is non-political it’s time to count the silverware.
I was born and raised in Hudson County. My wife has family members in Cook County. The big decennial fight was who got which cemetery.
Baker v Carr, that’s the one that said cows shouldn’t vote, is still the law of the land, isn’t it?
Enforce that one.
Beth Reinhard
The Miami Herald
One Herald Plaza
Miami, Florida 33132-1763
RE: Redistricting – Your Page 1 editorial-lite this morning about the horror, the horror of the people choosing particularly if they choose the wrong thing.
Ms. Reinhard,
If, as you say, “the amendments represent the Democratic party’s best hope for loosening the GOP stranglehold” why should voters who favor the GOP support it?
If, as you say, “an unlikely alliance between African-American Democrats and Republicans forced the 1992 redistricting map that helped elect Florida’s first black members since Reconstruction and paved the way for the GOP takeover of the legislature…” why should African Americans re-route the very successful bus route they now control? How else would Florida’s favorite felon, Alcee Hastings, ever gotten to Congress? In the name of civil wrongs and civil rights a district was carved f out that would have elected OJ Simpson. Congresswoman Carrie Meek, and who says we can’t learn from the North Koreans, willed her seat to her son without dying.
The shrieking of altruists notwithstanding it would seem to that both parties have benefited from the arrangement. Both recognized that each other’s rational self interest did note interfere with theirs. Exactly what is the problem?
The language of the amendment – “Congressional and legislative districts may not be drawn to favor or disfavor an incumbent or political party. Districts shall not be drawn to deny racial or language minorities the equal opportunity to participate in the political process and elect representatives of their choice, - contradicts itself. Districts were drawn to give African Americans seats in the legislature and Congress. Which ones do we place in jeopardy? Should Judge Sotomayor’s belief that being a Latina should be a thumb on the scale when creating new districts?
You say that “while FairDistrictsFlorida is officially nonpartisan, its leadership and donors are mostly Democrats”. Further, you say “most of the money has gone to a California-based firm that deploys petition gatherers statewide”. There is a Russian proverb that tells us that just because the wolf shows you his teeth it doesn’t mean he’s smiling.
What’s wrong with a Florida firm? What’s wrong with a Florida firm that it is a testament to Affirmative Action? I am sure it would take the modern American Liberals in Broward County about an hour and a half to present – out of whole cloth, as if it appeared fully grown right out of Athena’s forehead – a minority owned firm. “Round up the usual suspects.” Women, minorities, women who are minorities, cross gendered, the usual “victims of life’s circumstances” would be first in line to work at such a firm. Doubtless, they would qualify for Federal Stimulus dinero.
When you hear someone say that it is non-political it’s time to count the silverware.
I was born and raised in Hudson County. My wife has family members in Cook County. The big decennial fight was who got which cemetery.
Baker v Carr, that’s the one that said cows shouldn’t vote, is still the law of the land, isn’t it?
Enforce that one.
Senator Bill Nelson
June 16, 2009
Senator Bill Nelson
3416 South University Drive
Davie, Florida 32207
RE: Check your credit card bills!
Senator Nelson,
Someone, probably from your office, has stolen your identity.
The letter in this morning’s Miami Herald, complete with the classic Alfred E. Newman “What, me worry” photo, about the terrorist oil companies could not have been written by a United States Senator.
The scam artist writes that the royalties from Big Oil can only be used to clean up any spills that they are responsible for. He says it can’t be used for “sagging budgets and schools”. Only a horse’s ass of biblical proportions could say that.
I could mention the special tax on telephones that was passed in 1898 to fund the Spanish American War – that’s the one that had Teddy Roosevelt charging up San Juan Hill, remember? – and stayed on the books for 106 years. I could mention the Indian Trust Fund that has been looted for 135 years by various Round Eyes and Paleskins. I could mention the Highway Trust Fund that has been a favorite lactating mammary for politicians since the Hula Hoop and The Honeymooners were in vogue. I could mention them but I won’t. I will only mention one. That one is the mother of all royalty raids. The Social Security Rust Fund.
Beginning in 1964 the Congress has approved the following transaction at budget time. All the money paid into Social Security goes directly into the Treasury general account. That’s the account that paid for “Midnight Basketball”, for President Obama’s date night in New York, for the war against terrorists [I can still say that, can’t I?] for crop supports, for the Department of Education – the list is endless. The government then issues an IOU, a chit, to cover its tracks. So much for trust funds.
Since I can find no record of you ever voting against any budget reconciliation bill I can only assume that you know that once the money is in it can go anywhere Congress wants it to. That’s how I know someone has accessed your confidential files. Letter such as the one this morning are probably being sent to papers all over Florida.
The other possibility, that you are the author of such lunacy fills me with despair. If that is the case then that would make you a horse’s ass of Homeric, of Brobdanaglian proportions.
The only consolation, a Pyrrhic victory of sorts, would be the election of Congressman Kendrick Meek to the soon to be open Senate seat. Since he has retired the title of “Smartest Bear in the Zoo”, perhaps “World Tallest Midget” would be kinder, but we live in age where Trousered Apes can use the 14 year old daughter of a politician as the target of their jibes. That would make you not necessarily smarter than him but merely less dumb.
I would have the FBI sweep your offices. You can’t be that dumb. I hope.
PS – Is there any truth to the rumor that President Obama’s oldest daughter will attend pole dancing camp this summer?
Senator Bill Nelson
3416 South University Drive
Davie, Florida 32207
RE: Check your credit card bills!
Senator Nelson,
Someone, probably from your office, has stolen your identity.
The letter in this morning’s Miami Herald, complete with the classic Alfred E. Newman “What, me worry” photo, about the terrorist oil companies could not have been written by a United States Senator.
The scam artist writes that the royalties from Big Oil can only be used to clean up any spills that they are responsible for. He says it can’t be used for “sagging budgets and schools”. Only a horse’s ass of biblical proportions could say that.
I could mention the special tax on telephones that was passed in 1898 to fund the Spanish American War – that’s the one that had Teddy Roosevelt charging up San Juan Hill, remember? – and stayed on the books for 106 years. I could mention the Indian Trust Fund that has been looted for 135 years by various Round Eyes and Paleskins. I could mention the Highway Trust Fund that has been a favorite lactating mammary for politicians since the Hula Hoop and The Honeymooners were in vogue. I could mention them but I won’t. I will only mention one. That one is the mother of all royalty raids. The Social Security Rust Fund.
Beginning in 1964 the Congress has approved the following transaction at budget time. All the money paid into Social Security goes directly into the Treasury general account. That’s the account that paid for “Midnight Basketball”, for President Obama’s date night in New York, for the war against terrorists [I can still say that, can’t I?] for crop supports, for the Department of Education – the list is endless. The government then issues an IOU, a chit, to cover its tracks. So much for trust funds.
Since I can find no record of you ever voting against any budget reconciliation bill I can only assume that you know that once the money is in it can go anywhere Congress wants it to. That’s how I know someone has accessed your confidential files. Letter such as the one this morning are probably being sent to papers all over Florida.
The other possibility, that you are the author of such lunacy fills me with despair. If that is the case then that would make you a horse’s ass of Homeric, of Brobdanaglian proportions.
The only consolation, a Pyrrhic victory of sorts, would be the election of Congressman Kendrick Meek to the soon to be open Senate seat. Since he has retired the title of “Smartest Bear in the Zoo”, perhaps “World Tallest Midget” would be kinder, but we live in age where Trousered Apes can use the 14 year old daughter of a politician as the target of their jibes. That would make you not necessarily smarter than him but merely less dumb.
I would have the FBI sweep your offices. You can’t be that dumb. I hope.
PS – Is there any truth to the rumor that President Obama’s oldest daughter will attend pole dancing camp this summer?
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Senator Bill Nelson
June 9, 2009
Senator Bill Nelson
3416 South University Drive
Davie, Florida 32207
RE: A constituent’s plea for civility
Senator Nelson,
The Congressman who represents me, Ron Klein, either can’t answer or, worse, won’t answer my questions. Perhaps you can. If for whatever reason you don’t want to all you need do is say so.
#1 – Can you identify 2 “shovel ready” projects in Broward County that have begun, for lack of a better term, “shoveling” since the President’s stimulus package became law?
#2 – 255 was the largest number of employees on a payroll for which I had responsibility. Every time I met it could I claim to have “saved” 255 jobs? How do you measure, other than keeping an employee on your payroll, a job “saved”? Does the National Football League have a category for “running backs - balls not fumbled”? Does the American Medical Association have a category for “surgeons – arteries not nicked”? Can I get a tax credit from the Internal Revenue Service for “jobs saved”?
Would I be naïve if I were to anticipate the courtesy of a prompt reply?
Senator Bill Nelson
3416 South University Drive
Davie, Florida 32207
RE: A constituent’s plea for civility
Senator Nelson,
The Congressman who represents me, Ron Klein, either can’t answer or, worse, won’t answer my questions. Perhaps you can. If for whatever reason you don’t want to all you need do is say so.
#1 – Can you identify 2 “shovel ready” projects in Broward County that have begun, for lack of a better term, “shoveling” since the President’s stimulus package became law?
#2 – 255 was the largest number of employees on a payroll for which I had responsibility. Every time I met it could I claim to have “saved” 255 jobs? How do you measure, other than keeping an employee on your payroll, a job “saved”? Does the National Football League have a category for “running backs - balls not fumbled”? Does the American Medical Association have a category for “surgeons – arteries not nicked”? Can I get a tax credit from the Internal Revenue Service for “jobs saved”?
Would I be naïve if I were to anticipate the courtesy of a prompt reply?
Mayor Stacy Ritter
June 8, 2009
Mayor Stacy Ritter
Broward County Commission
115 South Andrews Avenue
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301
RE: “A modest proposal” – several birds with one stone and a chance to be both right and good.
Madame Mayor,
Broward County, as modern American Liberal as a county can be and a county whose profile is increased by your pursuit of Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans as the paradigmatic template for efficiency and good government, is in trouble.
Today’s civics lesson is also a lesson in empirical evidence; i.e. the evidence of your own eyes.
Property taxes pay for the necessities of government plus the goodies that the enlightened Broward County Commission likes to dole out. Any attempt to cut taxes by tweaking the tax code is doomed to failure for two reasons. #1 – The Constitution guarantees equal protection of the law to all citizens. Thus the favoring of one group of citizens over another group is inimical to good citizenship. #2 – Any attempt to cut taxes without reducing spending is offensive to Logic. It is akin to pushing in one side of a balloon filled with pancake batter. The batter moves to another side but the volume doesn’t decrease. The way to cut taxes is to cut spending. It is what Orwell called “obvious and true”.
Broward County schools, an entity over which you have no direct control, have had decreasing enrollment for 4 years. In the real world, that would suggest a similar decrease in operating expenses. Silly me! The key to understanding government in Broward County is to disregard all History, precedent, and laws concerning gravity.
Now we have had successive trip hammer blows of unusual ferocity to our economy.
The real estate market is suffering from a biblical case of the dry heaves. Foreclosures mount. Meanwhile, the needs of the undeserving poor, the underemployed, the old, the halt, the lame, and the object of everyone’s affection and attention, the woman of color who is a single mom with children in need of a good Ritalin program, a constant victim of the pernicious campaign of WAL*MART, to crucify the least of us with low prices, are still with us. Alas, the drive for manatee suffrage will have to be shelved temporarily.
Broward Sheriff Lamberti, and what else could you expect from a Republican, has said that he will close some prisons and release prisoners as his contribution to cost cutting.
Camp Gitmo, America’s first adult sleep away camp for misguided bomb throwers and beheaders, is scheduled to be closed. It seems that nobody wants the Uighurs.
Foreclosures, released prisoners, peripatetic terrorists…can you see where I am going here?
Herewith my modest proposal.
Release the prisoners, both foreign and domestic, into Broward’s foreclosed properties forthwith.
This may require some Federal stimulus assistance
Here’s where you being a modern American Liberal bastion can come in handy.
You did some heavy lifting for Lord Barack the Beneficent, blessed be his name and may his number increase, before his divine origins were apparent to all. Two weeks ago, he took his wife, a dish as snappy as you are, to NYC for dinner and a show. Last week he took her to Paris. If the trend line holds steady he’ll have her on the space shuttle next week. [I’ll say this for him. Price is no object when someone else is paying.] Get to him soon. Tell him you have a plethora of “shovel ready” projects in Broward County. It may be time to give Midnight Basketball the shot it deserves.
Here’s where the free market comes in.
Hire you husband, AKA “Slick Ron”, to lobby him.
You like to get furniture and tshatckes from your husband’s clients. Since he’ll be working for me I’ll send you a used futon, a lava lamp, some randy sheets, and a lavender bean bag, OK? I’ll send it to you care of the Broward County Commission. That way we cut out the middle man. Who needs the pain in the asses from the IRS with all their questions about income taking up your valuable time?
I know what the Broward prisoners position on same sex marriage is. I don’t know what the Uighurs stand on it is. Broward County, being the capital of diversity for which it is justifiably proud, will be able to accommodate it though. Their morning wake up chant of “Kill the Jews” may be disconcerting to some residents of Margate but if speech is free speech is free, right? You’ll probably want to make them ban beheading also. That’s the Uighurs, not the Margatians.
A win/win all around.
Help the real estate market. Help those “unlucky in life’s lottery”. Put your husband in the way of a few dollars. Get to re-do the guest room.
Don’t you love it when a plan comes together?
Mayor Stacy Ritter
Broward County Commission
115 South Andrews Avenue
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301
RE: “A modest proposal” – several birds with one stone and a chance to be both right and good.
Madame Mayor,
Broward County, as modern American Liberal as a county can be and a county whose profile is increased by your pursuit of Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans as the paradigmatic template for efficiency and good government, is in trouble.
Today’s civics lesson is also a lesson in empirical evidence; i.e. the evidence of your own eyes.
Property taxes pay for the necessities of government plus the goodies that the enlightened Broward County Commission likes to dole out. Any attempt to cut taxes by tweaking the tax code is doomed to failure for two reasons. #1 – The Constitution guarantees equal protection of the law to all citizens. Thus the favoring of one group of citizens over another group is inimical to good citizenship. #2 – Any attempt to cut taxes without reducing spending is offensive to Logic. It is akin to pushing in one side of a balloon filled with pancake batter. The batter moves to another side but the volume doesn’t decrease. The way to cut taxes is to cut spending. It is what Orwell called “obvious and true”.
Broward County schools, an entity over which you have no direct control, have had decreasing enrollment for 4 years. In the real world, that would suggest a similar decrease in operating expenses. Silly me! The key to understanding government in Broward County is to disregard all History, precedent, and laws concerning gravity.
Now we have had successive trip hammer blows of unusual ferocity to our economy.
The real estate market is suffering from a biblical case of the dry heaves. Foreclosures mount. Meanwhile, the needs of the undeserving poor, the underemployed, the old, the halt, the lame, and the object of everyone’s affection and attention, the woman of color who is a single mom with children in need of a good Ritalin program, a constant victim of the pernicious campaign of WAL*MART, to crucify the least of us with low prices, are still with us. Alas, the drive for manatee suffrage will have to be shelved temporarily.
Broward Sheriff Lamberti, and what else could you expect from a Republican, has said that he will close some prisons and release prisoners as his contribution to cost cutting.
Camp Gitmo, America’s first adult sleep away camp for misguided bomb throwers and beheaders, is scheduled to be closed. It seems that nobody wants the Uighurs.
Foreclosures, released prisoners, peripatetic terrorists…can you see where I am going here?
Herewith my modest proposal.
Release the prisoners, both foreign and domestic, into Broward’s foreclosed properties forthwith.
This may require some Federal stimulus assistance
Here’s where you being a modern American Liberal bastion can come in handy.
You did some heavy lifting for Lord Barack the Beneficent, blessed be his name and may his number increase, before his divine origins were apparent to all. Two weeks ago, he took his wife, a dish as snappy as you are, to NYC for dinner and a show. Last week he took her to Paris. If the trend line holds steady he’ll have her on the space shuttle next week. [I’ll say this for him. Price is no object when someone else is paying.] Get to him soon. Tell him you have a plethora of “shovel ready” projects in Broward County. It may be time to give Midnight Basketball the shot it deserves.
Here’s where the free market comes in.
Hire you husband, AKA “Slick Ron”, to lobby him.
You like to get furniture and tshatckes from your husband’s clients. Since he’ll be working for me I’ll send you a used futon, a lava lamp, some randy sheets, and a lavender bean bag, OK? I’ll send it to you care of the Broward County Commission. That way we cut out the middle man. Who needs the pain in the asses from the IRS with all their questions about income taking up your valuable time?
I know what the Broward prisoners position on same sex marriage is. I don’t know what the Uighurs stand on it is. Broward County, being the capital of diversity for which it is justifiably proud, will be able to accommodate it though. Their morning wake up chant of “Kill the Jews” may be disconcerting to some residents of Margate but if speech is free speech is free, right? You’ll probably want to make them ban beheading also. That’s the Uighurs, not the Margatians.
A win/win all around.
Help the real estate market. Help those “unlucky in life’s lottery”. Put your husband in the way of a few dollars. Get to re-do the guest room.
Don’t you love it when a plan comes together?
Saturday, June 6, 2009
The Rule of Law
“THE RULE OF LAW MEANS, IN THE FIRST PLACE, THE ABSOLUTE
SUPREMACY OF REGULAR LAW AS OPPOSED TO THE INFLUENCE
OF ARBITRARY POWER, AND EXCLUDES THE EXISTENCE OF
ARBITRARINESS, OF PREROGATIVE, OR EVEN OF WIDE
DISCRETIONARY AUTHORITY ON THE PART OF GOVERNMENT.”
A.V. DICEY
THE LAW OF THE CONSTITUTION
SUPREMACY OF REGULAR LAW AS OPPOSED TO THE INFLUENCE
OF ARBITRARY POWER, AND EXCLUDES THE EXISTENCE OF
ARBITRARINESS, OF PREROGATIVE, OR EVEN OF WIDE
DISCRETIONARY AUTHORITY ON THE PART OF GOVERNMENT.”
A.V. DICEY
THE LAW OF THE CONSTITUTION
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Steve Bosquet, Beth Reinhard, The Miami Herald
June 3, 2009
Steve Bosquet
Beth Reinhard
The Miami Herald
One Herald Plaza
Miami, Florida 33132-1693
RE: Flights of Fancy – A different take on Governor Crist’s jaunts around Florida
Mr. Bosquet & Ms. Reinhard,
First, let me congratulate you on crackerjack investigative reporting. I smell Pulitzer.
It’s a dark and dirty job but someone has to do it. The Republic may have tumbled absent your Herculean efforts in breaking through the cover up concerning the Governor’s various flights. You didn’t mention if his wife accompanied him. If any laws have been broken I assume you have turned your report over to an interested Attorney General, either state of Federal.
Second, and let me say that I don’t care about tu quoque or, in our dumbed down culture, tit for tat.
The Lord Barack the Beneficent, and blessed be his Name, took his wife out for dinner and a play in Manhattan. That’s the Manhattan in New York City, not thank God the one in Kansas. Let me add, strictly for the record, that he lives in public housing in Washington, D.C. On this trip he decreased his carbon footprint by taking the 35 million dollar jet rather than the 800 million dollar 747. If he proclaimed the signing of any legislation, perhaps between courses, perhaps between acts, I am not aware of it.
Don’t you think it would have been better for him to take AMTRAK? Vice President Curley Biden knows the schedule. Isn’t promoting mass transit high on the list? Did his plane use ethanol? Do you think he joined the Mile High Club?
Get working on that story.
Steve Bosquet
Beth Reinhard
The Miami Herald
One Herald Plaza
Miami, Florida 33132-1693
RE: Flights of Fancy – A different take on Governor Crist’s jaunts around Florida
Mr. Bosquet & Ms. Reinhard,
First, let me congratulate you on crackerjack investigative reporting. I smell Pulitzer.
It’s a dark and dirty job but someone has to do it. The Republic may have tumbled absent your Herculean efforts in breaking through the cover up concerning the Governor’s various flights. You didn’t mention if his wife accompanied him. If any laws have been broken I assume you have turned your report over to an interested Attorney General, either state of Federal.
Second, and let me say that I don’t care about tu quoque or, in our dumbed down culture, tit for tat.
The Lord Barack the Beneficent, and blessed be his Name, took his wife out for dinner and a play in Manhattan. That’s the Manhattan in New York City, not thank God the one in Kansas. Let me add, strictly for the record, that he lives in public housing in Washington, D.C. On this trip he decreased his carbon footprint by taking the 35 million dollar jet rather than the 800 million dollar 747. If he proclaimed the signing of any legislation, perhaps between courses, perhaps between acts, I am not aware of it.
Don’t you think it would have been better for him to take AMTRAK? Vice President Curley Biden knows the schedule. Isn’t promoting mass transit high on the list? Did his plane use ethanol? Do you think he joined the Mile High Club?
Get working on that story.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
HE ARADO EN EL MAR
June 1, 2009
“HE ARADO EN EL MAR”
Remembering that the sight gag – a red button given to the Russian Ambassador that was supposed to have said “recharge” but actually said “overcharge” – went over as well as a fart in church I’ll translate the above. Simon Bolivar said it.
“I HAVE PLOWED IN THE SEA”
I read your article, “Critical Moment for the Hemisphere”, in this morning’s Miami Herald. If there is a shibboleth that was left out I can’t think of it.
“In our region, the income gap continues to widen; too few girls
and boys finish their educations; women, rural farmers, Afro
descendants and indigenous people and indigenous people
remain trapped on the bottom rung of economic and social
ladders with too few opportunities to move up.”
[If you mean the drop out rate in the public school system in Washington, D.C. I would say that the time to have raised that issue would have been when you enrolled your daughter in it. You didn’t and you so advised the Obamas to do likewise. There is no sense in being a modern American Liberal unless buy the whole package. You would sooner spend the night in a sleeping bag with a pair of rutting wolverines rather than send your daughter to a public school in Washington. You mention “rural farmers” so as to distinguish them from “suburban farmers” or “urban farmers”. Could you tell me where I can find the last two groups?]
How about a high school dropout Apache woman with an African grandfather who wants to raise endive and arugula? If we could retroactively abort her wouldn’t we all be better off? Certainly she would be.
“The nations of our region are connected by geography, history,
culture, politics and economics. And while that interconnectedness
has produced prosperity for some of us – including the United States –
we are keenly aware that our hemisphere’s economic progress will
stall if the poor get poorer and the middle class shrinks, or if
historically disenfranchised groups remain isolated from national,
regional, and hemispheric markets.”
How has the “culture and history” of the Altiplano contributed to the prosperity of the United States? [I recall a lunch with some people from Lima. They were telling me of the glories of the Incan engineering. I agreed and mentioned how much more it could have been if they were able to use wheels.] When was the last time a major scientific breakthrough or a minor scientific breakthrough or any breakthrough has been announced from Asuncion? If, as you say, uneducated female mulatto farmers have fallen below the radar screen, how has that made this country prosperous? Argentina, a land truly blessed by God, has been a failure for almost 2 centuries. It canonizes hookers – Evita – and thumbs its nose at international agreements. The only permanent contribution it has made to the Western Canon is the tango. It must be noted that they stole that from the Italians. Venezuela wants to adopt the hugely successful Cuban model of government: thugs running a country for their own benefit. 50 years into the enlightened rule of ladrones Castro Cuba still has 3 overwhelming problems. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It must seem as difficult as going to the moon, and returning, was to us.
Since you speak of “shared prosperity” I must tell you that you of a 3122 mile trip I just completed. My big SUV did it without one drop of CITGO gasoline. Didn’t boycotts play a big role in getting the Dutchies out of South Africa? Chavez can beat up his own people without my help.
“Foreign language training is an especially powerful
tool that opens doors and ties people together
across borders and markets.”
At last! Some common sense has snuck in. When can I expect your public endorsement of English as the official language of the United States? When an international flight asks for landing instructions from Valparaiso flight control guess what language the pilot uses? Guess what language the controller uses?
“And we can make investments in clean energy that
offer the prospect of new jobs and new opportunities
throughout the region, just as they do at home.”
Why should Ecuador think about windmills when it sits on oceans and oceans of natural gas? Why should Brazil have onerous CAFÉ standards when they just discovered the equivalent of 2 Prudhoe Bays? Why should Venezuela do anything except prosper form this country’s stupidity in not exploiting our natural resources?
Pray tell, dear lady, exactly where and how many new jobs have been “created” from this balderdash about “clean energy”? The tie breaker question is simple. Take all the scams about “clean energy”, including borborygymous bovines and cutting back on Carbon Dioxide emissions by holding our collective breaths for an hour each day, and tell me how many fewer barrels of oil are we importing each day because of them.
You mention “shared prosperity and progress”. Then you enjoin us [to] “join together and get to work”.
I have a name for that.
Cuando yo estaba un Voluntario en el Cuerpo de Paz
it was called the
ALIANZA PARA PROGRESSO.
The first one worked so well, like the New Deal, that we should do it again.
Meanwhile, I’m going to Key West. My friend, the legendary Big Mike from Bayonne, restaurateur and sportsman and now a noted political sage, used to proclaim “What a country! That’s why you never see anybody swimming to Cuba!”
If I see anybody swimming south for some “shared prosperity and progress” I’ll let you know.
PS – Did you ever wonder why people from disasters posing as countries are successful when they get here? Do you think it may have something to do with liberty?
“HE ARADO EN EL MAR”
Remembering that the sight gag – a red button given to the Russian Ambassador that was supposed to have said “recharge” but actually said “overcharge” – went over as well as a fart in church I’ll translate the above. Simon Bolivar said it.
“I HAVE PLOWED IN THE SEA”
I read your article, “Critical Moment for the Hemisphere”, in this morning’s Miami Herald. If there is a shibboleth that was left out I can’t think of it.
“In our region, the income gap continues to widen; too few girls
and boys finish their educations; women, rural farmers, Afro
descendants and indigenous people and indigenous people
remain trapped on the bottom rung of economic and social
ladders with too few opportunities to move up.”
[If you mean the drop out rate in the public school system in Washington, D.C. I would say that the time to have raised that issue would have been when you enrolled your daughter in it. You didn’t and you so advised the Obamas to do likewise. There is no sense in being a modern American Liberal unless buy the whole package. You would sooner spend the night in a sleeping bag with a pair of rutting wolverines rather than send your daughter to a public school in Washington. You mention “rural farmers” so as to distinguish them from “suburban farmers” or “urban farmers”. Could you tell me where I can find the last two groups?]
How about a high school dropout Apache woman with an African grandfather who wants to raise endive and arugula? If we could retroactively abort her wouldn’t we all be better off? Certainly she would be.
“The nations of our region are connected by geography, history,
culture, politics and economics. And while that interconnectedness
has produced prosperity for some of us – including the United States –
we are keenly aware that our hemisphere’s economic progress will
stall if the poor get poorer and the middle class shrinks, or if
historically disenfranchised groups remain isolated from national,
regional, and hemispheric markets.”
How has the “culture and history” of the Altiplano contributed to the prosperity of the United States? [I recall a lunch with some people from Lima. They were telling me of the glories of the Incan engineering. I agreed and mentioned how much more it could have been if they were able to use wheels.] When was the last time a major scientific breakthrough or a minor scientific breakthrough or any breakthrough has been announced from Asuncion? If, as you say, uneducated female mulatto farmers have fallen below the radar screen, how has that made this country prosperous? Argentina, a land truly blessed by God, has been a failure for almost 2 centuries. It canonizes hookers – Evita – and thumbs its nose at international agreements. The only permanent contribution it has made to the Western Canon is the tango. It must be noted that they stole that from the Italians. Venezuela wants to adopt the hugely successful Cuban model of government: thugs running a country for their own benefit. 50 years into the enlightened rule of ladrones Castro Cuba still has 3 overwhelming problems. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It must seem as difficult as going to the moon, and returning, was to us.
Since you speak of “shared prosperity” I must tell you that you of a 3122 mile trip I just completed. My big SUV did it without one drop of CITGO gasoline. Didn’t boycotts play a big role in getting the Dutchies out of South Africa? Chavez can beat up his own people without my help.
“Foreign language training is an especially powerful
tool that opens doors and ties people together
across borders and markets.”
At last! Some common sense has snuck in. When can I expect your public endorsement of English as the official language of the United States? When an international flight asks for landing instructions from Valparaiso flight control guess what language the pilot uses? Guess what language the controller uses?
“And we can make investments in clean energy that
offer the prospect of new jobs and new opportunities
throughout the region, just as they do at home.”
Why should Ecuador think about windmills when it sits on oceans and oceans of natural gas? Why should Brazil have onerous CAFÉ standards when they just discovered the equivalent of 2 Prudhoe Bays? Why should Venezuela do anything except prosper form this country’s stupidity in not exploiting our natural resources?
Pray tell, dear lady, exactly where and how many new jobs have been “created” from this balderdash about “clean energy”? The tie breaker question is simple. Take all the scams about “clean energy”, including borborygymous bovines and cutting back on Carbon Dioxide emissions by holding our collective breaths for an hour each day, and tell me how many fewer barrels of oil are we importing each day because of them.
You mention “shared prosperity and progress”. Then you enjoin us [to] “join together and get to work”.
I have a name for that.
Cuando yo estaba un Voluntario en el Cuerpo de Paz
it was called the
ALIANZA PARA PROGRESSO.
The first one worked so well, like the New Deal, that we should do it again.
Meanwhile, I’m going to Key West. My friend, the legendary Big Mike from Bayonne, restaurateur and sportsman and now a noted political sage, used to proclaim “What a country! That’s why you never see anybody swimming to Cuba!”
If I see anybody swimming south for some “shared prosperity and progress” I’ll let you know.
PS – Did you ever wonder why people from disasters posing as countries are successful when they get here? Do you think it may have something to do with liberty?
Letter to the Editor, The Miami Herald
June 2, 2009
Letter to the Editor
The Miami Herald
One Herald Plaza
Miami, Florida 33132-1693
RE; A bit of humor from an unlikely source
Sirs,
A jet plane is lost. A mad man with nuclear weapons now has long range missiles. The dreaded hurricane season is upon us. General Motors enters the world of the corporate undead.
Thank you for providing a bit humor. And on Page 1, to boot!
Your headline
“Today Marks a Defining Moment in the
History of General Motors”
GM CEO Fritz Henderson
June 2, 2009
is a laugh out loud screamer. Here’s my suggestion for tomorrow.
“Today Marks a Defining Moment in the
History of the 7th Cavalry”
Colonel George Custer
June 25, 1876
If you liked that one you’ll love this one.
“Today Marks a Defining Moment in the
History of the R.M.S. Titanic”
Captain John Smith
April 15, 1912
Save this one for a special occasion.
“Today marks a Defining Moment in the
History of Hiroshima”
The Mayor
August 6, 1945
Thanks for accentuating the positive.
Letter to the Editor
The Miami Herald
One Herald Plaza
Miami, Florida 33132-1693
RE; A bit of humor from an unlikely source
Sirs,
A jet plane is lost. A mad man with nuclear weapons now has long range missiles. The dreaded hurricane season is upon us. General Motors enters the world of the corporate undead.
Thank you for providing a bit humor. And on Page 1, to boot!
Your headline
“Today Marks a Defining Moment in the
History of General Motors”
GM CEO Fritz Henderson
June 2, 2009
is a laugh out loud screamer. Here’s my suggestion for tomorrow.
“Today Marks a Defining Moment in the
History of the 7th Cavalry”
Colonel George Custer
June 25, 1876
If you liked that one you’ll love this one.
“Today Marks a Defining Moment in the
History of the R.M.S. Titanic”
Captain John Smith
April 15, 1912
Save this one for a special occasion.
“Today marks a Defining Moment in the
History of Hiroshima”
The Mayor
August 6, 1945
Thanks for accentuating the positive.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Alex Sink – Chief Financial Officer
May 31, 2009
Alex Sink – Chief Financial Officer
299 East Gaines Street
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0300
RE: Public schools, public officials, and modern American Liberals
Ms. Sink,
“For the first time in 12 years, we can have a
governor whose own children graduated
from public schools.”
I have forwarded your quote to President Obama. You may not know it but his daughters attend private schools in Washington, D.C.
A bit of research reveals that the children of President Clinton and Vice President Gump also attended private schools. It shouldn’t surprise you but so did the children of Vice President Biden.
You know of course that President Bush’s daughters attended a public high school. Westlake Austin to be precise.
Would not empathy demand that since the Obama girls live in public housing they should attend public schools? Washington has the highest per pupil spending in the world. Isn’t that the mantra of modern American Liberals? More money means better schools, right?
I’ll tell you should I get a response before you do.
PS – When did you find out that Hootie Johnson, the man for whom you worked, was such a misogynist? Why didn’t you quit when he kept women out of the Masters Tournament?
Alex Sink – Chief Financial Officer
299 East Gaines Street
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0300
RE: Public schools, public officials, and modern American Liberals
Ms. Sink,
“For the first time in 12 years, we can have a
governor whose own children graduated
from public schools.”
I have forwarded your quote to President Obama. You may not know it but his daughters attend private schools in Washington, D.C.
A bit of research reveals that the children of President Clinton and Vice President Gump also attended private schools. It shouldn’t surprise you but so did the children of Vice President Biden.
You know of course that President Bush’s daughters attended a public high school. Westlake Austin to be precise.
Would not empathy demand that since the Obama girls live in public housing they should attend public schools? Washington has the highest per pupil spending in the world. Isn’t that the mantra of modern American Liberals? More money means better schools, right?
I’ll tell you should I get a response before you do.
PS – When did you find out that Hootie Johnson, the man for whom you worked, was such a misogynist? Why didn’t you quit when he kept women out of the Masters Tournament?
Broward County Commissioner Kristin Jacobs
May 31, 2009
Broward County Commissioner Kristin Jacobs
115 South Andrews Avenue
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301
RE: “Better to keep your mouth shut and thought to be a fool.”
Commissioner Jacobs,
If there is a Baker Act to keep public officials from hurting themselves you are the poster girl for it. Meanwhile, don’t drive, don’t operate heavy machinery, and please, please don’t handle sharp instruments. And to keep your rhetorical incontinence, AKA verbal diarrhea, from infecting the body politic I suggest 9 yards of duct tape reinforced with industrial strength Gorilla Glue around your mouth. Specific instructions later.
“As glaciers melt and warming waters expand, sea levels will rise…
The Sun-Sentinel
Today
Page F5
You
Dear lady, think me not a cad but sea levels have been rising for 35,000 years. [Did you know that the snows of Mount Kilimanjaro have been receding since 1888? Did you know that 1888 was the first year that the snow was measured there? Do you know what it proves?] It is a tribute to our ancestors that they were increasing their carbon footprint before they got around to making shoes.
If glaciers are melting can I ask where the water is going? Could you tell me how much the water has risen in the harbor? Are the piers obsolete? I live on the water. Should I move to the second floor? Should I move to Iowa?
Here’s an experiment for you.
Fill a large glass with ice.
Then fill it with water.
Keep an eye on it.
According to your Luddite/Lysenko scientific method when the ice melts the water in the glass should overflow.
It doesn’t.
Try to find out why, you boob.
Your statements about carbon dioxide emissions lead me back to the specious argument of “think global; act local”.
Even a blind hog can find a truffle.
Take a very deep breath. Secure you lips with 2 quarts of industrial strength Gorilla Glue. Then wrap 9 yards of duct tape around your head. Count to 8,000. Sorry. It would be ad hominem if I were to say that you can’t count past 20 unless you’re in the shower so I won’t. Instead listen to former Vice President Alpha Gump reading “Earth in the Balance”. That will make you want to hold your breath forever.
Polar bears will live because of you.
Broward County Commissioner Kristin Jacobs
115 South Andrews Avenue
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301
RE: “Better to keep your mouth shut and thought to be a fool.”
Commissioner Jacobs,
If there is a Baker Act to keep public officials from hurting themselves you are the poster girl for it. Meanwhile, don’t drive, don’t operate heavy machinery, and please, please don’t handle sharp instruments. And to keep your rhetorical incontinence, AKA verbal diarrhea, from infecting the body politic I suggest 9 yards of duct tape reinforced with industrial strength Gorilla Glue around your mouth. Specific instructions later.
“As glaciers melt and warming waters expand, sea levels will rise…
The Sun-Sentinel
Today
Page F5
You
Dear lady, think me not a cad but sea levels have been rising for 35,000 years. [Did you know that the snows of Mount Kilimanjaro have been receding since 1888? Did you know that 1888 was the first year that the snow was measured there? Do you know what it proves?] It is a tribute to our ancestors that they were increasing their carbon footprint before they got around to making shoes.
If glaciers are melting can I ask where the water is going? Could you tell me how much the water has risen in the harbor? Are the piers obsolete? I live on the water. Should I move to the second floor? Should I move to Iowa?
Here’s an experiment for you.
Fill a large glass with ice.
Then fill it with water.
Keep an eye on it.
According to your Luddite/Lysenko scientific method when the ice melts the water in the glass should overflow.
It doesn’t.
Try to find out why, you boob.
Your statements about carbon dioxide emissions lead me back to the specious argument of “think global; act local”.
Even a blind hog can find a truffle.
Take a very deep breath. Secure you lips with 2 quarts of industrial strength Gorilla Glue. Then wrap 9 yards of duct tape around your head. Count to 8,000. Sorry. It would be ad hominem if I were to say that you can’t count past 20 unless you’re in the shower so I won’t. Instead listen to former Vice President Alpha Gump reading “Earth in the Balance”. That will make you want to hold your breath forever.
Polar bears will live because of you.
Judge Sotomayor and the Miami Herald
May 27, 2009
The Readers’ Forum
The Miami Herald
One Herald Plaza
Miami, Florida 33132-1693
RE: “A Superb Choice for the Supreme Court” and other things Hispanic – Some comments on today’s editorial.
Sirs,
The reality is that Judge Sotomayor, absent photos of her doing the paso doble with Osama bin Laden, will be confirmed with at least 90 votes.
You say that the Senators “shouldn’t raise phony issues”.
Since she is not married her mother will be sitting behind her during the confirmation process. Do you think some Republican Senators should see if they can make her cry like the Democrats did to Mrs. Alito?
Will it be OK to check her Blockbuster purchases to see if she rents any dirty movies? The Democrats did that with Judge Bork, remember?
Will it be OK to ask is she ever used marijuana? The Democrats asked Judge Ginzburg, remember?
Would it be OK to have an Anita Hill sequel? Who cares what the accuser’s sex is. Just talk about pubic hairs and King Dong. Queen Dong if that’s more appropriate. The Democrats did that with Judge Thomas, remember?
You say her “empathy” is an asset.
The last time you had a tissue sample biopsied did “empathy” enter into the pathologist’s diagnosis?
When picking pilots to fly their jets how high up on the employment criteria list is “empathy”?
I used to be able to play basketball as hard as Dwayne Wade. I just can’t play as well. Should I get the “empathy” spot on the team?
Speaking of Hispanic overachievers is it not ironic that 50 years after the brothers Castro took over in Cuba they have decided to reduce their carbon footprint by eliminating electricity on Sunday mornings?
As the son of a Judge I wish her well not because of her biography – my father was 26 years old before he went to high school – in many ways similar to Justice Thomas’s but rather because the Rule of Law must be defended. Judging by the economic fiats issued by President Obama since January the Executive Branch has no regard for it.
Let us pray that Justice Sotomayor will.
The Readers’ Forum
The Miami Herald
One Herald Plaza
Miami, Florida 33132-1693
RE: “A Superb Choice for the Supreme Court” and other things Hispanic – Some comments on today’s editorial.
Sirs,
The reality is that Judge Sotomayor, absent photos of her doing the paso doble with Osama bin Laden, will be confirmed with at least 90 votes.
You say that the Senators “shouldn’t raise phony issues”.
Since she is not married her mother will be sitting behind her during the confirmation process. Do you think some Republican Senators should see if they can make her cry like the Democrats did to Mrs. Alito?
Will it be OK to check her Blockbuster purchases to see if she rents any dirty movies? The Democrats did that with Judge Bork, remember?
Will it be OK to ask is she ever used marijuana? The Democrats asked Judge Ginzburg, remember?
Would it be OK to have an Anita Hill sequel? Who cares what the accuser’s sex is. Just talk about pubic hairs and King Dong. Queen Dong if that’s more appropriate. The Democrats did that with Judge Thomas, remember?
You say her “empathy” is an asset.
The last time you had a tissue sample biopsied did “empathy” enter into the pathologist’s diagnosis?
When picking pilots to fly their jets how high up on the employment criteria list is “empathy”?
I used to be able to play basketball as hard as Dwayne Wade. I just can’t play as well. Should I get the “empathy” spot on the team?
Speaking of Hispanic overachievers is it not ironic that 50 years after the brothers Castro took over in Cuba they have decided to reduce their carbon footprint by eliminating electricity on Sunday mornings?
As the son of a Judge I wish her well not because of her biography – my father was 26 years old before he went to high school – in many ways similar to Justice Thomas’s but rather because the Rule of Law must be defended. Judging by the economic fiats issued by President Obama since January the Executive Branch has no regard for it.
Let us pray that Justice Sotomayor will.
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