Did y'all catch the state of the onion? Kudos to W for pushing volunteerism (and good news for my dad and my aunt, both employed by the Nat'l Corp for Community Service) -- lets hope this goes farther than his dad's 1000 points. Beyond the whole axis-of-evil thing (er, how exactly are we going to go to war against Iran, Iraq, and N Korea? Wm. Safire's got a plan, but sadly it does not involve destabilizing their regimes with our superior use of grammar), beyond the tax-cut-while-raising-spending-on-just-about-everything- but-God-help-the-Congress -if-they-think-of-spending-on-anything-not-in-his-budget -- where was New York? Not even a nod to Rudy. What about the promises to help us rebuild? Where's our fucking money? We have a 16-acre mass graveyard that's now a tourist attraction ("Get the camera, Irv! They found a body!"). Let's see -- the feds will start deficit spending (the only option is to put it on plastic). New York is facing its own budget problems -- after you finish paying off 1199, there's not much left, and we're looking at cutbacks here at Project Renewal -- so the net effect will be to screw us over. New York is always a net exporter of taxes -- we give more to the feds than we take in. Unless we receive the promised aid, we'll probably still export taxes (any economists out there want to back me up?). Meaning we foot the bill. Have a nice day.
Oh, and did you catch the moments when he dropped character? That smirk. Like he's in a school play and mugging for mom, or a frat boy who's delivering the valedictorian speech -- "Look at me! I'm the Prez! I'm delivering the State of the Union! Whoo-hoo!"
While I'm ranting on W, did you miss this one? Here's what he had to say about Ken Lay: "He was a supporter of Ann Richards in my run in 1994. And she did name him the head of the Governor's Business Council, and I decided to leave him in place just for the sake of continuity. And that's when I first got to know Ken and worked with Ken, and he supported my candidacy."
This is such a lie that even the National Review and George Will called him on it (although both managed to make it seem like it's somehow Clinton's fault.) Sure, Ken Lay gave money to Ann Richards' campaign in '94: $12,500. But he gave $37,500 to Bush in the same campaign, while Enron kicked in $146,000. This is the same tactic the GOP has taken on Enron from the beginning of the stink -- trying to remind everyone that they gave to the Dems, too. Of course they gave to both sides. Every company gives to both sides. It's called hedging your bets. But for every dollar Lay and Enron gave to the Dems, they gave three to the GOP. Hell, before this whole thing blew up in their face, everyone knew that Lay and Bush were tight. To say that he first "got to know" Ken Lay in 1994 -- what a whopper. The equivalent of "I did not have sexual relations with that woman" -- it's only true if you change what the meaning of "is" is. Here are some more articles on this one, from Bushwatch, the Houston Chronicle and Progressive.org.
The latest in the Ashcroftian Moral Government? Well, there are the $8,000 togas we bought so he wouldn't have to be photographed in front of a nekkid lady statue. One of the Three Toms (Tomorrow, Toles, and Dancing Bug) hit that one on the head with this cartoon. Now we have to worry about calico cats, which are, of course, demonic:
Shortly after becoming Attorney General, John Ashcroft was headed abroad. An advance team showed up at the American embassy in the Hague to check out the digs, saw cats in residence, and got nervous. They were worried there might be a calico cat. No, they were told, no calicos. Visible relief. Their boss, they explained, believes calico cats are signs of the devil. (The advance team also spied a statue of a naked woman in the courtyard and discussed the possibility of its being covered for the visit, though that request was not ultimately made.)
This from Democratic Party treasurer Andrew Tobias, as recently reported by Maureen Dowd.
I'll bet the merry marketers are simply salivating that the Olympics are coming, because now they can use patriotism to sell products without seeming crass. Speaking of which, two "now more than ever" ads I could do without -- the "Subways: Now More Than Ever" posters the MTA has put up, and Randi Weingarten's "Teachers: Now More Than Ever" TV spot for the UFT. Probably no worse than Chevy's "Keep America Rolling" campaign. (Forget about the death of thousands with zero percent financing!)
By the way, why is Elton John going to the WEF? And has Trip seen him yet?
| State of the Union | Kenneth Lay | New York City | 9/11 | Cats | John Ashcroft | Patriotic Marketing | Your Blank Of The Day |
