10 October 2008
10 October 2008
A NOTE FROM BARBIE SNODGRASS…
0847 by Jeff Hess[Barbie] Snodgrass, who has always voted Democratic, was paying close attention to the Presidential campaign-she had taped both candidates” Convention speeches, and watched them when she had time-but her faith in politicians was somewhere close to zero.
She wanted a leader who would watch out for people in the “middle class,” people like her who had no one on their side. “I think McCain is going to be just like Bush the next eight years,” she said. “I don”t see how it”s going to change.” To her, Sarah Palin, a working mother close to her own age, felt more like a token choice than like a kindred spirit.
“I think McCain picked her so women can relate to her, not because she”s the best person for the job,” Snodgrass said. “She”s more of a show for the American family.” Hillary Clinton had been better, but even she couldn”t fully apprehend Barbie Snodgrass”s predicament.
She remained uninspired by Barack Obama. His Convention speech had gone into detail about his policy proposals on matters like the economy and health care, which seemed tailored to attract a voter like Snodgrass, but they filled her with suspicion.
His promise to rescind the Bush tax cuts for wealthier Americans struck her as incredible: “How many people do you know who make two hundred and fifty thousand dollars? What is that, five per cent of the United States? That”s a joke! If he starts at a hundred thousand, I might listen. Two hundred fifty-that”s to me like people who hit the lottery.”
In fact, only two per cent of Americans make more than a quarter of a million dollars a year, but that group earns twelve per cent of the national income. Nonetheless, the circumstances of Snodgrass”s life made it impossible for her to imagine that there could possibly be enough taxable money in Obama”s upper-income category-which meant that he was being dishonest, and that she would eventually be the one to pay.
“He”ll keep going down, and when it”s to people who make forty-five or fifty thousand it”s going to hit me,” she said. “I”d have to sell my home and live in a five-hundred-dollar-a-month apartment with gang bangers out in my yard, and I”d be scared to death to leave my house.”
10 October 2008
WHAT THEY SAID…
0842 by Jeff HessUntil recently, many observers, most of them on the left, have puzzled over why rising inequality hasn’t sparked an outright political revolt. Well, here’s why. Real income matters less than quality of life. And for the last two decades, a delicate Consumption Compromise has tamped down economic discontent among working-class voters by driving down the cost of living-we’ve been living in the era of cheap food, cheap gas, cheap credit, and, of course, cheap Chinese-made goods.
9 October 2008
DOTH THE LADY PROTEST TOO MUCH…?
1544 by Jeff HessFrom David Talbot:
“My government is my worst enemy. I”m going to fight them with any means at hand.”
This was former revolutionary terrorist Bill Ayers back in his old Weather Underground days, right? Imagine what Sarah Palin is going to do with this incendiary quote as she tears into Barack Obama this week.
Only one problem. The quote is from Joe Vogler, the raging anti-American who founded the Alaska Independence Party. Inconveniently for Palin, that”s the very same secessionist party that her husband, Todd, belonged to for seven years and that she sent a shout-out to as Alaska governor earlier this year. (“Keep up the good work,” Palin told AIP members. “And God bless you.”)
And…
Vogler”s greatest moment of glory was to be his 1993 appearance before the United Nations to denounce United States “tyranny” before the entire world and to demand Alaska”s freedom. The Alaska secessionist had persuaded the government of Iran to sponsor his anti-American harangue.
That”s right … Iran. The Islamic dictatorship. The taker of American hostages. The rogue nation that McCain and Palin have excoriated Obama for suggesting we diplomatically engage. That Iran.
9 October 2008
9 October 2008
MUCKING OUT THE BLOGPILE…
1430 by Jeff Hess
I’m constantly tossing interesting websites into what I call my blogpile. Some of them find their way here in the form of regular posts, but more often than not they languish and get buried deeper in the pile. The end result is that I have to go back and do a bit of shoveling. Today’s item is Seven Questions Web Warrior Tools.
9 October 2008
9 October 2008
9 October 2008
WHAT THEY SAID…
0858 by Jeff Hess[N]o one seems to believe that 700 billion dollars will make much difference. And today”s interest-rate cut, coordinated with the European Central Bank and Bank of England, may not, either. This isn”t a liquidity crisis. It”s a crisis of trust. Lenders don”t trust that borrowers will be able to repay, because they don”t think borrowers will be able to collect on what”s owed to them. Every major player is moving to safer ground – holding money, hoarding it, putting it under a giant global mattress.
8 October 2008
8 October 2008
8 October 2008
MUCKING OUT THE BLOGPILE…
1430 by Jeff HessI’m constantly tossing interesting websites into what I call my blogpile. Some of them find their way here in the form of regular posts, but more often than not they languish and get buried deeper in the pile. The end result is that I have to go back and do a bit of shoveling. Today’s item is A Beginner”s Guide to E-Books.
8 October 2008
8 October 2008
SARAH… PALIN… READ… THE… CONSTITUTION…
0737 by Jeff HessI know this is a few days old, but I can’t just let it go. Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin doesn’t understand the most important human document every written: the Constitution Of The United States of America. Why?
Because Sarah Palin said this:
As we send our young men and women overseas in a war zone to fight for democracy and freedoms, including freedom of the press, we’ve really got to have a mutually beneficial relationship here with those fighting the freedom of the press, and then the press, though not taking advantage and exploiting a situation, perhaps they would want to capture and abuse the privilege. We just want truth, we want fairness, we want balance.
This is what the First Amendment to our Constitution, the first amendment included in the Bill Of Rights, says:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
The Freedom of the Press is a right, guaranteed by our Constitution, not a privilege.
And oh, Faux News marketing and commercials notwithstanding, truth is not a matter of fairness or balance.
Truth is simply truth.
You can’t spin truth.
8 October 2008
YITZHAK RABIN AND BARACK OBAMA…
0652 by Jeff HessA Daily Dish reader in Israel make an obvious connection between Israel in 1994-95 and John McCain’s America in 2007-08.
Your post on “The Danger of Obama” immediately brought to mind what happened here in Israel in the period leading up to Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination. Even allowing for the differences in political culture between the two countries, some of the sounds we’re hearing in the public debate around the election have a haunting echo. Here no one would have thought it possible that an Israeli Jew would take the life of a high official. There’s little doubt that the crescendo of demonization toward Rabin – including accusations of treason, flyers picturing Rabin as an SS officer – and the difficulty, in a society guaranteeing free speech, of ‘civilizing’ the public debate before it creates a fertile bed for actual violence, all helped create the context in which Rabin’s murderer decided to take matters into his own hands.
8 October 2008
WHAT THEY SAID…
0635 by Jeff HessThis was, I think, a mauling: a devastating and possibly electorally fatal debate for McCain. Even on Russia, he sounded a little out of it. I’ve watched a lot of debates and participated in many. I love debate and was trained as a boy in the British system to be a debater. I debated dozens of times at Oxofrd. All I can say is that, simply on terms of substance, clarity, empathy, style and authority, this has not just been an Obama victory. It has been a wipe-out.It has been about as big a wipe-out as I can remember in a presidential debate. It reminds me of the 1992 Clinton-Perot-Bush debate. I don’t really see how the McCain campaign survives this.
7 October 2008
7 October 2008
MUCKING OUT THE BLOGPILE…
1430 by Jeff HessI’m constantly tossing interesting websites into what I call my blogpile. Some of them find their way here in the form of regular posts, but more often than not they languish and get buried deeper in the pile. The end result is that I have to go back and do a bit of shoveling. Today’s item is How to Get the Most From the Wi-Fi Cafe.
7 October 2008
6 October 2008
MUCKING OUT THE BLOGPILE…
1430 by Jeff HessI’m constantly tossing interesting websites into what I call my blogpile. Some of them find their way here in the form of regular posts, but more often than not they languish and get buried deeper in the pile. The end result is that I have to go back and do a bit of shoveling. Today’s item is Top 10 Office Supply Hacks.
