Quote of the Day
He who finds diamonds must grapple in mud and mire because diamonds are not found in polished stones. They are made.
Henry B. Wilson
Palin Propaganda Film Released
I would be much amused if the Palin apologists (who really should be apologizing...) were to paint me as part of the GOP establishment. I've been carefully watching as the media conservatives like Mark Levine, Andrew Breitbart, and Tammy Bruce are being easily manipulated by the handlers of The Vacuous One into attacking GOP leaders for allegedly lacking the intestinal fortitude to defend Sarah Palin. This is exactly the same kind of drivel we heard when Bill O'Reilly and others tried to go after McCain for not condemning anonymous leaks that Governor Palin had been uncoachable, abusive to campaign staffers, and a loose cannon. Why were the leaks anonymous? thundered windbag Bill O'Reilly. Surely staffers had nothing to fear professionally from a sitting governor, whom, according to an independent investigator, had gone after the job of her former brother-in-law, an Alaskan state trooper! Surely it was all SOUR GRAPES; why, the only reason John McCain was in the game to begin with was due to Sarah Palin! (In fact, McCain led some polls before he picked Sarah Palin. I think Sarah Palin helped out in some red states which McCain would have won anyway, but the presence of Sarah Palin was a real problem with swing voters in the battleground states: Sarah Palin had the highest negatives of any VP candidate in the history of measuring VP favorable ratings.)
The problem with the shallow analysis and pathetic, disingenuous rhetoric of Levine and others (why is Breitbart even in this Bannon production after the Shirley Sherrod incident?) is that we have the public record--we know the McCain campaign had delayed making Ms. Palin available after the convention; we soon saw why with the Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric interviews. And during the VP debate, Palin let Biden lob one unanswered charge after another while she continued to push her "drill, baby, drill" pitch. I've cited this point before, but while Biden was painting McCain as a cowboy deregulator and while government regulations grew by a healthy percentage under the Bush Administration and with McCain as the proud campaign reform regulator, Palin should have been better prepared after an earlier interview "I'll have to get back to you on that". I would have been satisfied with at least some pushback from Palin noticing the anti-growth/anti-jobs effect of excessive regulation. Now, just 2 years later, Palin has "suddenly" discovered that deregulation is a good thing?
What I particularly object to is this idea that Palin should be held to a different standard. Politicians are often attacked in very personal terms. Just take her running mate John McCain: in 2000, his adopted daughter from Asia was alleged to be his love child with a black mistress, and then in early 2008 the New York Times published thinly-documented allegations of an affair with a female lobbyist. There is no doubt that Sarah Palin has been a target of the radical left--but then again, it wasn't Sarah Palin caricatured in a recent ad tossing granny off a cliff... I do not see the logic of demanding that Speaker Boehner or Minority Leader McConnell defend the honor of someone whom has not served a day in Congress. Don't they have more important things to do than worry about what left-wing bloggers are saying?
How about having Sarah Palin standing on her own two feet? The problem isn't the left-wing bloggers; it's with Palin herself. The fact is that Palin initially come across very well; the early attacks actually backfired on the Democratic partisans. Obama made himself out to be an idiot by saying he had more administrative experience than a sitting governor because he was in charge of his own Presidential campaign; are you kidding me? He seemed to forget that he was running against McCain...
This propaganda film seems intended to set up a potential Palin bid: the film is due to open soon in Iowa, South Carolina, and New Hampshire. Any bid is doomed for failure. She will never win over me or most moderates and independents. To beat Obama, we have to take the purple states from Obama; Palin has almost no chance of converting those states. GOP voters don't want Obama at any price. That fact alone dooms Palin's chance at the nomination.
The Global Commission on Drug Policy: Some Initial Comments
I've been coming around towards a position of legalizing drugs, within a suitably regulated environment. This has nothing to do with approving the personal consumption of controlled substances. To me, it's like a question of whether to allow burning of the American flag. I find the concept intrinsically repulsive. In the case of the flag, I realize people have a right to express dissent from their government, and burning a flag is a well-known expression of dissent. I rarely drink and have never smoked, but I don't believe in prohibition. (In terms of smoking, for instance, both my maternal (late) grandfather and uncle smoked cigars on Sunday afternoons; I actually liked the smell of their lit cigars. I believe my uncle stopped smoking years ago.)
The Global Commission on Drug Policy is headed by several political heavyweights, including former Fed Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, former or current Presidents/Prime Ministers of Mexico, Brazil, Switzerland, Greece, and Colombia, and former GOP US Secretary of State George Shultz. They have issued a report.
A key finding is that the prohibition of controlled substances has NOT worked. For example, over the decade ending in 2008, the global consumption of heroin and cocaine is up by over 25% each and marijuana is up almost 10%. How can that be? Haven't we sentenced more and more people, toughened penalties and interdicted more shipments? In short, yes.
It reminds me when I set out to buy my first music system. I decided I had a budget of $750. The sales guy noted that and my desire for a certain advanced turntable. Sure enough, he came in with a configuration that hit $750 on the nose. I remember asking about the quality of the speakers, and he was evasive, saying, "Here...listen to it..." He wasn't about to tell me he would never buy these speakers for himself.
The commission is basically saying a similar thing. If you asked me, what would I see as success in the war on drugs, I would specify a number of criteria: e.g., decreased crime (correlated with drug purchases), improved health (e.g., diseases resulting from shared contaminated needles), etc.
Policymakers are telling us to listen to the music, i.e., we have arrested and convicted record numbers of people, we have seized so many tons, etc. But note all that is relative; for example, if shipments have increased 30% but our seizures are up by 20%, we are actually losing ground....
Future segments will explore some of the recommended policy changes.
Summer TV and a Great Television Host
In a television wasteland, we see 101 reality shows based off variations of the childhood game of musical chairs, the rehashed law/crime dramas, and sexually suggestive dramas and situation comedies (many, if not most, with the requisite gay couple). Of course, I'm probably not part of the audience advertisers are going for, but I've always wondered why Disney never went back to the basics with classic cartoon shorts, we haven't seen brilliant anthology series like 'The Twilight Zone' or an updated twist on the old-fashioned Western, 'My Three Sons' or 'The Wonder Years'. One thing I've missed was the decent variety show (e.g., Ed Sullivan or Carol Burnett).
We are now into the summer television season and prime-time reruns, with the occasional first-run seasonal series--like America's Got Talent. America's Got Talent is rather interesting because it draws an eclectic group of talents; it's not clear how some talents move on based on a few gimmicks (e.g., juggling, knife throwing, magician, etc.): been there, done that. My favorite winner was Terry Fator, whom innovatively combines a number of skills (ventriloquist, impressionist, singer, and comedian). The competition seems to be dominated by solo singers; I've felt bad for some of the group contestants because they often have to perform highly complex acts.
Nick Cannon, a versatile entertainer (hip hop singer, comedian, and actor), took over the hosting duties in season 4, and his charm, humor and personality fit the show like a glove.
Pop megastar (18 #1 hits) Mariah Carey gave birth to twins on April 30 (the third anniversary of her marriage to Nick Cannon): Moroccan 'Roc' Scott Cannon and big sister Monroe Cannon. (Mariah and her daughter have no middle names; Monroe is named in honor of the actress Marilyn Monroe. Nick proposed to Mariah in a Moroccan-style room, Scott is Nick's middle name and his grandmother's maiden name.) The justifiably proud new parents later on the babies' birthday listened together to Mariah's 2005 #1 hit "We Belong Together".
I first became aware of Nick Cannon with his 2005 release of a pro-life single "Can I Live?", in which he reveals that his teenage mother came close to choosing to abort her pregnancy. This may the only time you see a hip hop song embedded in this blog...
Political Humor
"The New York Times reported that General Electric didn't pay any taxes last year. That's because General Electric reported its sale of NBC as a 'charitable donation'." - Conan O'Brien
[MSNBC did manage to get one toxic asset off its books (Keith Olbermann), but was still stuck with major liabilities on its balance sheets: Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O'Donnell, Chris Matthews and Ed Schultz. Comcast tried to book this acquisition with goodwill, but accountants rejected the move.]
"Somebody asked John McCain if Sarah Palin could win the Presidency. He said yes ... especially if a meteor hits all the other Republican and Democratic candidates." - Jimmy Kimmel
[Well, in the political horse race, the filly Sarah Palin has certainly finished in the money in some polls (and PACs) but no wins. She pulled up lame (excuses) about two-thirds of the way through the Governor's Cup, while others have finished the course on one or more occasions (including Mitt Romney, Gary Johnson, Mike Huckabee, Jon Huntsman, Rick Perry, Tim Pawlenty, and others). In next year's handicap race for the Rose Garden, Romney and Pawlenty are weighed down by gravitas, Obama will need Michael Moore on board to supplement his accomplishments in office, and Sarah Palin is committed to (a) Head Start.]
Killebrew Memory: Product Branding
Even before this segment, if someone had asked me about my favorite soda flavors growing up, I would have said cream and root beer (although, when I lived in the Chicagoland area over the past 2 decades, Canfield's diet fudge was also unbelievable). I currently drink soda on an infrequent basis, mostly based on dental risks.
RJM, a Minnesota-based beverage distributor, last year negotiated an exclusive license for the distribution of Killebrew-branded root beer and cream soda, developed and marketed from the mid-1990's from old-fashioned family recipes, and negotiated Harmon Killebrew's official endorsement for the products, sold at the team's home stadium, at major restaurants, supermarkets and liquor stores throughout the Minnesota area and also available online.
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups
Chicago, "You're the Inspiration"
