Saturday, May 31, 2003
0 commentsTake my life...please!
(Sorry, Henny.)
Deal near to cut workers' comp
—from today's Seattle Times
Stumbled across this while researching something else. Some interesting facts jumped out to me (my emphasis):"While Boeing has been leading the drive to overhaul [Washington] state's costly unemployment system, the company is also heavily involved in changes to a law that would clamp down on workers'-compensation benefits.
Four weeks ago, business and labor negotiators appeared deadlocked over workers' compensation, but that was before Boeing started swinging a new political sledgehammer: giving other states as well as Washington the chance to build its next-generation 7E7 jetliner."
In this new business environment, the entire spectrum of cause-and-effect responsibility laws are to be wiped off the books. Simply because business has always hated them and finally has friends in high places. So, happily, corporate responsibility can finally be tabled as a concept. So, if something bad happens to you from our product or from working for us, too bad. Stop whining and go away; we've got a business to run here.
If it is good for the Corporation; it is good for you. Remember that.
The unemployment system. Workers'-compensation benefits. Environmental regulations. Anti-trust laws. The question arises: If all costs of doing business and all regulations limiting the flaunting of concerns for humanity or nature are eventually to be wiped out, rolled back or curtailed under a Bush administration, why not just go for it and let businesses be fully and completely unfettered? Why not...say..., just totally eliminate wages, salaries and compensation of all types and have done with it? The largest single drag on any company's bottom line, then, would just go, "poof!"
I mean, isn't it enough being grateful for having somewhere to go and having something to do with your day? Isn't the point, if you're not an owner or investor, to feel needed? Isn't expecting payment on top of all of that being, well, rather greedy and self-absorbed? Yes, shame can be healthy in this climate.
And to show the world this is truly America, everyone would pitch in, right? Everyone from the overnight cleaning staff to the corporate officers can help out their favorite corporation by foregoing their needless and wildly expensive paychecks. With no costs incurred, companies can focus fully on soon-to-be soaring stock prices, which in turn would stoke demand for more unpaid help, and provide higher dividends to those lucky (we say, savvy-by-birth) enough to be of the owner class. Who then would no longer have to pay those tacky taxes on dividend income."The hearing-loss change is high stakes for all businesses. The state, which handles insurance for 160,000 businesses in Washington, figures the two-year time limit can save more than $200 million that's stashed in reserves for future hearing-loss claims. The state also figures it would save $14 million a year in the future."
Of course, that's YOUR money they're talking about taking away if you get hurt making their product. Not monopoly money. It's $200 miillion now, and $14 million a year, saved by NOT giving it to YOU. Don't forget to say, "Thank you.""That cut means a worker who goes completely deaf because of a job-related accident would receive a $53,682 settlement instead of $71,576 set by current law, according to the state Department of Labor & Industries (L&I), which runs the workers'-compensation system.
A worker with complete hearing loss in one ear would receive $8,947 by law instead of $11,929. Workers with partial hearing loss would also get 25 percent smaller settlements, but their hearing aids and batteries would still be paid for."
Gee, thank you. You didn't need that $20,000, did you? Besides, you can't hear anything anymore anyway after 20 years in their factory, so what would you spend it on? Music? Now, really...
####
Extortion.
Now, we get to the crux of the issue."...a new political sledgehammer: giving other states as well as Washington the chance to build its next-generation 7E7 jetliner...
...Business and labor lobbyists have not yet cut a deal but say they are working with a sense of urgency to agree by June 20, when the state's bid for Boeing's next-generation plane is due.
'This is our statement to Boeing that we want them here, and we're willing to take this loss as an act of good faith,' said Robby Stern, special assistant to the president of the Washington State Labor Council."
Corporate thinking goes:
- The economy stinks for all of us;
- We're hurting very badly, but we've been passing the hurt on to you in small chunks;
- You're now acclimated to having it passed on to you, and are used to accepting it;
- Since you're now pliable, we can increase the chunks we're giving you;
- You're still not complaining, although you have gotten very depressed and are feeling powerless;
- Happily, we can implement all the things we never could before, since you're now so desperate that you'll accept anything;
- This is good. Now we can negotiate. You want to make our plane or widget? What's it worth to you? Behave, or we'll move the work to some factory/office in (fill in the blank). We'll let THOSE people pay THEIR bills and send THEIR kids to school. You know you're chattel. Now, act like it and we'll toss you some work. Lost a leg when that cheap saw we gave you broke? Quit your bitchin' and get back to work. You've got a job, so shut up.
As you can see, it's basic Stockholm Syndrome at its finest. The SLA did no better with Patty Hearst. Nor did the North Koreans and Chinese in POW camps during the Korean War.
And the very people you have chosen to represent and protect you: government officials and union leaders (if you're one of the few members left), have panicked and deserted you. As you can see above, they've basically gone so far as to join the other side in the negotiations. It's now, "Here are our demands! And may I hold your coat for you while you have your assistant leaf through them?"
As Sessue Hayakawa states in welcoming new prisoners to his forced work camp in The Bridge On the River Kwai, "You will be happy in your work!"
Get Angry! Have your say. Write your elected officials now!
posted by Gotham 11:56 AM
Thursday, May 29, 2003
0 commentsThe No-Prep-School-Child-Left-Behind Act
Speaking of "The Education President," there's this...
Get Angry! Write your elected officials now!
posted by Gotham 6:09 PM
0 commentsThrough the Looking Glass...
Remember all those times we've heard, and sung along to, The Who's Won't Get Fooled Again? And we meant it, too, damn it! Every word, scream, riff and yowl. 'Cause we're too smart for'em now. We've been schooled.
Well...uh...no, that didn't last too long, did it? Oh well...
I remember President George W. Bush saying his new administration was going to bring "values" and a "moral" core to our government. But, now two and a half years in, when you consider that no one in this administration appears to have the slightest sense of reality, truth or scruples, or appears capable of saying anything that is not a lie, I find it odd when we still get shocked by their ongoing attempts to cover their butts when their plans don't work.
No one in this White House appears remotely capable of taking personal responsibility for ANY of their actions. And, for some reason, we nod and accept the lie. Oh, damn! Fooled again. Man, I hate that!
As the man said, "I'll have what the administration's drinking."
The Plan is all. The Plan does not change. They lie right to your face (or more often, the Fox News camera) without even a smirk. They have no qualms about twisting any information necessary to make it fit the Plan—even if that forces them to fudge what they actually know to be true.
Now, in the religious training many of us received as children, this is called a lie. And a lie is a sin. And, if it's bad enough, a lie might cost you "your very soul."
Yet, members of this administration think lies are just fine. Just normal business practices. They have no problem scheduling classroom photo-ops for the president (and/or first lady) at the very same moment their legislative team is pushing through education cuts that will gut that very school. They can have the president hug NYC firemen on the ashes of the WTC victims, promising all the financial help this greatest and most wounded of American cities needs to rebuild—as a symbol to the world of American resolve, darn it!—all the while, fully planning to renege on those same funds once the cameras pack and leave.
You get absurdities like this:Beginning with Vice President [Dick] Cheney last August, administration officials delivered a series of speeches expressing absolute certainty the Iraqi weapons existed. "Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction," Cheney said in an Aug. 26 address to the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
Or this:In October, [Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D.] Wolfowitz said, "Saddam Hussein is not going to easily give up the horrible weapons that he has worked so hard to obtain and paid such a high price to keep," using a phrase that he and [Defense Secretary Donald H.] Rumsfeld were to repeat often. "This is a man who has shown that he'll give up billions and billions of dollars every year," Rumsfeld said in November, "so that he can be free to develop those weapons and to have those weapons and to use those weapons to terrorize other countries."
Only it was a lie.
It was ALL a lie.
YOUR GOVERNMENT LIED TO YOU.
There (were/are) NO WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION!
And just what IS "a weapon of mass destruction," anyway, other than a really cool buzz-word phrase which lets you say nothing and still sound scary at the same time? If you mean nukes, say "nukes." But, then, everyone knew there were no nukes. If you mean, biological or chemical weapons, then state that. Then, let your citizens know how horribly difficult it is to deliver any more than a couple of square feet of that stuff—which we're well aware of because we have more of the stuff than anybody—instead of terrorizing the majority of your own population.
And when we discover there ARE NO WMDs, then. at the very least, come up with a governmental version of "Oops, my bad!"
For if there are not—and were not—any WMDs, then there was no threat to U.S. interests, citizens or landscape after all, was there? The first Iraqi divisions to surrender did so, their commanders were quoted as saying, because they were armed with World War II rifles and scared; hardly a match for the technological blitzkrieg we unleashed in the desert. A couple of campground's worth of our best separatist militia/NRA-types could have handled any real provocation or invasion of Malibu, Asbury Park or Hermosa Beach by the Iraqi army. We may not even have needed to get taxpayer money involved.
An untruth. A prevarication. A fib on a massive scale.
Both the trained professionals at YOUR United States CentraI Intelligece Agency and the knowledgeable, experienced United Nation's weapons inspectors on-site told the White House (and you and me) repeatedly for months that the administration was barking up the wrong tree, and, in essence, that there was "no there, there."
But we chose not to believe them.
We chose to believe the White House.
We chose to believe the lies.
We Got Fooled Again.
YOUR GOVERNMENT LIED TO YOU.
And, because of that, American soldiers are dead.
Understand now?
This shouldn't make you feel very good at all. In fact, it should probably make you nauseous.
And angry. Very, very angry.
The disgusting height of folly now is the White House's pressing the CIA to "investigate" what "happened"—but not what really happened. This Bush administration of "values" and "morals" won't allow that. It would entail tripping over the truth. It was bad enough the intelligence community was consistently sent back to their offices to come up with a "better" report that included "evidence" that backed up the administration's party line; "evidence" that would match that made up by Wolfowitz's new, outlaw Dept. of Defense intelligence unit. Now, the CIA is being forced to make up drivel that will clearly state, for Fox News Channel consumption, that this fiasco wasn't the DOD and White House's fault. That there is no blood from thousands of dead Iraqis—and more to the point—168 dead Americans on this administration's hands.
Of course, now that the world knows they were either a) lying or b) totally wrong, administration types are scurrying to alter the standard lie to fit the new landscape, in order to avoid saying they were anything other than bold, decisive, strong, powerful and morally justified. It's easier to focus everyone on the rolled up socks in Bush's crotch as he preened and strode about the USS Lincoln, rather than having the media talk about his desertion during a war he was not in charge of. Or ask about the administration's manufacturing of the one he was in charge of.
In their world, a lie is the truth. As long as it's their lie.
I just wonder how this all fits with "values" and "morals," and how this will all work itself out when these guys (and Candy!) meet the Creator we were once taught about?
"...Yeeeeaaaaaahhhhhh!...Won't Get Fooled Again...!"
Get Angry! Write your elected officials now!
posted by Gotham 3:37 PM
Sunday, May 25, 2003
0 commentsCousin Clarence, Come Home...
An interesting history day (with lessons for today): It is the 78th anniversary of the indictment of John T. Scopes in Dayton, TN for the crime of being a science teacher—and, from most accounts I've seen over the years, a reasonably good one. While we may smile and shake our heads at its absurdity in this day and age, this marks a High Holy Day for the Neo-con movement of our own era.
Particularly in light of the efforts of the Neo-cons to take over every aspect of what we, as a people and as a society, can think and do.
Despite our sophisticated mindset that "it can't happen here; not these days," school censorship remains just as large a problem today as it was in 1925.
Those who would turn back the clock to return us to a safe, uncomplicated, ignorant and very white male world order have reached for and gained immense power in our country. And they are now looking to our young and impressionable as a means of fortifying and continuing their entrenched hold on local and national policy positions.
I take great pride in being related to the famous defense attorney Clarence Darrow (my grandmother's first cousin). His fierce pride in the potential of humanity serves as a stirring example to those of us who feel that, of course, we have evolved past hate by now, certainly. Only to find, too late, that we were wrong.
Unfortunately, hate and small-mindedness are with us always, in many shifting guises. They must be fought every day with all of the courage and intelligence that were the hallmarks of Darrow's fight%#8212;for what little sanity is left in all of us.
Oh, to have a leader like cousin Clarence around today...
Get Angry! Write your elected officials, today!
posted by Gotham 7:26 PM
0 commentsPrudent Juris Prudence
While we're walking the nostalgia trail, here's a primer for dealing with the Bush judicial appointees. And what to watch for.
Get Angry! Write your elected officials, today!
posted by Gotham 6:20 PM
0 commentsNostalgia (Remember 2002...?)
On a day where the Bush approval ratings bounce back up to 63% in The Harris Poll just released, it's important to note some of what we've lost.
Follow the link to "We Are All Americans." Seems to be the same url for both pages, so go to the first page and click the proper link there. (Warning: it's been translated into English by the friendly machines at Google. Much of it is disjointed due to this awkward translation. But, the core and the spirit of the discussion comes through very clearly.)
Get Angry! Write your elected officials, today!
posted by Gotham 5:02 PM
Saturday, May 24, 2003
0 commentsSupport for Senator Man-on-Dog
It still shocks many to know that Senator Rick Santorum would lump most of the types of sex that Americans have in with "man-on-dog" sex. Isn't that a bit much for most red-blooded American men and women to stomach? Isn't it just soooo Rick for him to even come up with the thought to include "man-on-dog" sex? Is this his Freudian slip? Is he outing himself?
And, besides, isn't that between a man and his schnauzer?
Seems there's support on the homefront for Sen. Rick Man-on-Dog's advocacy of bestiality. Guess it comes under the commandment to "Bless the Beasts and the Children." The latter of course would get the Senator into serious trouble that even the good folks of Pennsylvania would have trouble swallowing—which of course, would get them into trouble, as well.
Remember! Write your elected officials,today!
posted by Gotham 2:05 AM
Friday, May 23, 2003
0 commentsOn Acts of Hope...
Weekly, millions of readers around the world read Rob Brezsny's Free Will Astrology column in newspapers around the country and on the web. I count myself in that happily entertained number. But, over time, his web site has expanded far past its origins as an edgy horoscope column, becoming an interesting, engaging literary magazine. Well worth your time.
Today, I thank Brezsny for passing on an article from a magazine I was unaware of previously—Orion magazine. While the full magazine is definitely worth your time, I do want to pass along that one article in particular, since it addresses the very issues I've discussed with friends this past week: What has the dissent movement accomplished over the last five months, after taking to the streets in record numbers and discovering the power of the Internet? Furthermore, where has everyone gone—since the streets and most of our e-mail inboxes have grown very quiet and empty of agitprop mail recently, even as the administration rolls along its merry way? What is the mood and status of this movement today, and where does it go now? This article by Rebecca Solnit may be lengthy, but addresses these questions well.
While you're at Orion, I recommend you try the Wendell Berry and the David James Duncan articles as well. Thoughtful, unique angles on already oft-told tales.
Remember! Write your elected officials, today!
posted by Gotham 11:39 AM
Wednesday, May 21, 2003
0 comments
The Night of the Living Neo-Cons
Disturbing news in both The Washington Post and in Maureen Dowd's column in The New York Times confirms what we've always assumed. Neo-cons are not living people. You can't kill them. Not beings such as John Ashcroft with his "Patriot" Acts or, now again, John Poindexter and his frightening "Total Information Awareness" lab experiments, which many of us thought were stopped in February by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and others.
Well, "they're baaaaaaaaaaaaack!"
Yesterday, Poindexter's wing of the Dept. of Defense released a report to Congress that basically reasserted that 12 is really 1, and that white really is black and that they can do basically whatever they damn well want.
And now they will use any wile, any guile to reach their ends. As Dowd states, "Showing typical bureaucratic flair, the crowd at Total Information Awareness tried to calm fears by changing its name to Terrorist Information Awareness."
I like that: calming fears by raising fears. Classic ghoul mindset.
You can't kill them. Not with guns, not with knives, not with flamethrowers. And certainly not with legislation or rational thought or pleas to reason. You can't indict them all; you certainly can't convict them all. They're impervious to being discredited. They merely write a book, then reappear in some governmental capacity. And you can't hide from them either, whether you're holed up in your house, the Congress, the Shopping Mall or in a cemetary by the Tomb of the Bill of Rights. They keep coming. Calling for "More brains..." and "More money...," and "More power...," destroying all in their path as did the ghouls in the movies.
It is important to note that we are not talking about actual Republicans here. Or actual Conservatives. But Neo-cons. They are neither Republican nor Conservative. But rather, an alien force which has infiltrated these traditions and taken full control of the apparatus of each. These are very dangerous beings.
The target of scores of scary, cautionary tales from the Sixties, such as Seven Days in May, The Manchurian Candidate and Dr. Strangelove, Neo-cons hold more in common with Ira Levin's The Boys from Brasil than they do The Federalist Papers.
These definitely are not descendants of the Republican Party of Taft, Eisenhower, Dirksen or even Nixon, but rather the children and grandchildren of the fanatics that brought us the John Birch Society and Barry Goldwater in 1964. Remember "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice"? Yeah, those people.
These ghouls were nurtured and groomed during the Reagan years. Then, they sat and plotted during eight torturous years in the Clinton desert, until they saw their chance to grab power once again.
In 1964, the GOP truly was a Grand Old Party, but the Goldwater forces tore it apart at the spine. As I was growing up in the Fifties and Sixties, conservative thought forced us to remember that balance was needed amid worldwide change. That budgets need to be balanced and taxes raised before you erect structures and mandates to help those in trouble. That the individual was equally important as the group. That we need to balance our Liberal impulse to help our fellow man and woman with our Conservative ability to reason how to accomplish those ends most efficiently and effectively—for the good of each and for all.
All of these fine distinctions are lost on the ravenous Neo-con. The Neo-con has one mind-set, and one mind-set only:
"I am right. I am always right. I must be fed."
We find ourselves at the point in the movie where the good guys are still trying to figure out the antidote, or the right ray-gun, or how to jerry-rig the electrical grid to keep the monsters from wiping out all life on earth. We're still looking for it; we just haven't found it yet.
Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Remember! Write your elected officials, today!
posted by Gotham 10:58 AM
Monday, May 19, 2003
0 comments
The Bush Hiring Hall
Bratton, Kelly, Brown—any number of former New York City Police Commissioners have gone on to perform notable national service.
It's fitting and proper then that the scandal-plagued Bush White House would add on a former Commish with the proper skeletons-in-the-closet bona fides. Is there a question on the application which reads, "Are you experienced with cover-ups? (Please explain)"?
I guess it's all about whom you're comfortable working with.
(BTW, I have not forgotten the Roger Cedeno & Me story, I alluded to in an earlier post. I will be getting to it shortly.)
Remember! Write your elected officials, today!
posted by Gotham 8:29 AM
Sunday, May 18, 2003
0 comments
Unborn Victims
Scum.
There is no other word for the scum within the anti-abortion movement who would glom onto poor Laci Peterson's fetus. The poor thing never even had the chance to be born and it's still getting exploited by these vermin.
"This bill is aimed at establishing that a fetus in utero is a human being and has human rights." —Dr. Joe Cook, vice president of the American Association of Pro Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists
These people know no human decency. And it is certain they will never know the glories of the kingdom of heaven, if, in fact, there is such a place.
This is strictly a matter of individual conscience. When life begins has stumped the greatest minds in both theology and science since the dawn of time. I seriously doubt that a few crackpots with political clout and a press agent will be able to define it for us either. If Dr. Joe, here, wants to believe life begins at the first kiss, all power to him. Just leave the rest of us alone.
Especially if their idea of discourse is the stomach-turning exploitation of this most unfortunate woman and her fetus.
Like I said: Scum.
Remember! Write your elected officials, today!
posted by Gotham 5:25 PM
0 comments
About time...
It's good to see the Democrats take off the gloves for once, and stop trying to be Shrub Lite.
Remember! Write your elected officials, today!
posted by Gotham 10:11 AM
Saturday, May 17, 2003
0 comments
Man-On-God
Here's an interesting piece from Bill Keller in the The New York Times today.
I'm always made uncomfortable when someone makes me think past my personal knee-jerk commandments—especially since that is what I am often guilty of insisting that others do. Hence, my core humanity. But, indeed, Keller accomplishes that feat here. And for that, I thank him.
But two of Keller's passages give me pause. The first:[Bush's] advocacy of faith-based social programs, for example, clearly grows from his conviction, based on personal experience, that religion can bring an extra charisma to problems like drug abuse. If that also happens to win him religious votes and to coincide with the Republican aversion to government social programs, so much the better for Mr. Bush.
Here, I feel Keller misses the point just a tad. Most of Bush's critics might well turn down the heat a few degrees were the president satisfied with simple bully-pulpit advocacy. This is a centuries-old tradition in this country. We want and need the Oval Office to frame discussion on the era's main issues. What we cannot tolerate, however, is that framing veering into a faux debate, while a resolute legislative/executive body apparatus works behind the scenes turning that advocacy into law: an ironclad fait accompli. All done while folks are trying to follow the phoney discussion. This is where the comparisons to 1930s' Germany arise.
The second issue which gives me pause:On many of the most morally charged issues, Mr. Bush has so far avoided quixotic battles. He endorsed a law against certain late-term abortions, but shows no inclination to go after Roe v. Wade, a move that would be enormously unpopular. He has not declared—because no situation has forced him to—whether he thinks private sexual behavior falls under a constitutional right to privacy.
Perhaps, this is the strategy the Democrats would be wise to follow. Force the issue—on all the issues. This may well be where Bush is most vulnerable. Force him to take all of those loud, messy and clear stands that the administration works 24/7 to avoid. Help the American people to see the man behind the curtain.
Push Bush out of hiding on the messy Santorum sex scandal. Just how would the populace react if the administration was forced to openly back Sen. Man-on-Dog? Or how much damage would occur to Bush's right flank if Rick Santorum were to be Trent Lott-ed?
How would the country react to the president, say, if he were forced to respond to the actual impact of his policies? In human terms, rather than in meaningless sound bites.
How would people respond if Bush had his warm and fuzzy "Education President" image dashed, and was finally forced to deal in facts?
Facts such as:
Administration policies merely passing federal education costs on to destitute state and local governments. This means thousands of already underpaid teachers in your state are then thrown out of work, doubling and tripling the class sizes for the lucky ones remaining. Or what of the administration's quiet fight to abolish Title IX and take away your daughter's sports program? Or setting up an environment where segregation is allowed to return to school functions?
How would you react upon hearing just how badly this Education President has screwed up your child's education?
Currently, there is a massive disconnect between what we perceive to be Bush's charm and his carefully crafted image, and what his administration has actually done to this point. They've blended his "God-fearing" persona into his policies, until that endearing, goofy grin obscures every policy point folks have said they disagree with—in every poll taken over the last three years. Break up the disconnect and attach the policy, and its impact, to the man, and see how we react.
There was the initial thought when the Republicans wrested control of government that it was sufficient and wise to merely give them enough rope, and they would happily lynch themselves. Which they have done. But, the GOP's wisdom in wrapping themselves and their agenda in red, white and blue bunting has screened them from the country's view—on the very blunders and excesses that were expected of them. Unfortunately, it's given them cover, and plenty of time to hang themselves, realize what they've done, pull themselves down, put make-up over the rope burns, deny they were ever dangling, then write a pithy press release saying how wonderful life is, and, gee, let's have more.
On and on this administration goes, into the land of total moral certainty. With no real opposition to contend with, because we are terribly lucky to have a president who thinks God speaks to him.
However, in a country which has increasingly had to face a "my way or the highway" government, it seems critical that Democrats begin to show people just how many of them are already being forced onto "the highway."
Remember! Write your elected officials, today!
posted by Gotham 2:09 PM
Friday, May 16, 2003
0 comments
Curious George, Part II
It will be interesting watching New York's Governor George Pataki over the next few months. He has taken a singular stance among the nation's governors in approaching the crushing weight of disappearing revenues while the Bush administration slides ever-increasing tonnage of its financial burden onto the already weak knees of state and local governments.
As opposed to his peers across the country, Pataki has taken the curious route of insisting that the citizens of New York State would really rather have a couple extra bucks in their pockets than have firehouses within an expedient distance from their homes, or police on their streets, or teachers in their schools or access to a local college for their teens.
Why would George present his Draconian budget which has no new taxes included--and go loudly on record that he would veto ANY new tax proposal when his state is about to go belly up?
Perhaps it's because he, in fact, has been desperately seeking the opportunity to replace Vice President Dick Cheney on the ticket for the 2004 race for some time now. He saw himself as being just the right "moderate" force to balance the neo-con bent of George W. Bush on the Republican ticket.
His budget stance has had nothing to do with what was best for the citizens of New York, but rather everything to do with presenting his best bona fides to the administration that he could be a really tough guy on taxes, too, boy!
Plus, he would prove to be the ultimate photo op as the Favorite Son at the Republican convention in New York City, which has been timed ruthlessly to coincide with the deaths of the innocents in the World Trade Tower (with lots of available photos of Pataki standing on the rubble of the WTC site--but usually holding Rudy's coat. Note: Careful cropping will be needed).
But something catastrophic happened to Caesar on his way to Rome, NY. Cheney announced the other day that his heart was fine, and he was very happy remaining the shadow president, thank you much.
Where does this leave Pataki? Holding a tray of chips, as the gracious, smiling host of the convention in September.
So, what does he do now? He's too far off on a limb to cut any deals on the state budget, since even his usually tightly run state Republican party has turned on him. All he can do is pray the legislature is smart enough to override his pre-announced veto, and pass a sensible budget. Then, he can wax tough on "No Taxes!" and still not be responsible for the utter fiscal destruction of his state on his watch.
And, lo and behold, here comes the legislature to George's rescue!
Remember! Write your elected officials, today!
posted by Gotham 1:39 PM
0 commentsA Real Reason to Boo
Now, be honest.
How many sites offer you connections between George W. Bush, the Congress and Roger Cedeno of the New York Mets? Enough to still leave you with four or five fingers on one hand to play with?
There'll be more on this later today as well. But, here's a head start.
posted by Gotham 12:35 AM
0 commentsCurious George
It's been a rough patch for New York Governor George Pataki.
Might there conceivably be anyone in this country who, at this juncture, hates Vice President Dick Cheney any more than our hero George?
Not likely.
I'll have more on this later in the day.
posted by Gotham 12:21 AM
