Outfits

So the Palin family spent $150k on clothes, so what? I really mean that. They had to buy things on the fly, they didn't feel they had the time to wait for a sale, or even comparison shop. Alaskan fashion has got to be a little different, and of course the campaign wanted them to make a good impression. As clothes do make the man, by extension, they should also make the woman. Plus, let's face it, Sarah Palin has had to be on stage with Cindy McCain. I imagine that it was easier to dress up Sarah Palin and her family, than it would have been to dress down Cindy McCain.

Lighten up folks. I don't mind her keeping the clothes. Think it through, $150k worth of clothes isn't much compensation for being publicly outed as a gimmick. In the grand scheme of things, this really is a small matter.

Colin Powell

Colin Powell has made a career out of being in the military; he’s a retired General. A National Security Advisor, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Secretary of State. He knows that wars are won and lost, based not primarily on the hearts or minds of the combatants, who’s right, or who’s wrong, or on whose side God is on, but mostly on technology. The side with the better weapons, the better supplies, better transportation, communication, organization, enthusiasm, wins. I think he wants wins for this country, and I think he sees the best likelihood for those wins in Barrack Obama.

Obama’s use of the Internet is a true sea change. It is the new technology that is helping him win the election, yes, but it is so much more than that.

What is the Internet to you? To me, it’s my TV. My recipe box. A self-updating Rolodex. It’s a telephone, (I’ll go days and days without making a call, nearly never does a day go by, when I’m not online.) It’s my personal research library. My dictionary. A classroom. A community center, where the community is the whole wide world and nobody minds what I’m wearing. If I’m wearing. It’s my weather bug, my first aid consultant, my travel agent, my shopping mall, flea market. But of course, that’s just me, I’m sure you have your own uses.

It’s Obama’s use of this medium that has so Powell impressed. He sees the corner being turned, it’s a specialty among leaders, seeing around the corners. Powell and Obama seem to see that in each other. Leadership.

I wasn’t surprised by Powell endorsement of Obama. I’m not surprised that he’s taking heat for it, but Powell probably isn’t about that surprised either.

I do wonder if Colin Powell is surprised to learn that Jamaica is related to Kenya, or is even a part of Africa. Hello Rush Limbaugh. He thinks this endorsement is all about race, and although he’s totally wrong, he’s also right, in a twisted sort of way. Colin Powell has been respected (among white folks) for decades. Most didn’t know the difference between Jamaica and Africa, so the assumption holds. But it isn’t race loyalty. Powell, who has been long trusted universally, by his endorsement, is helping to ease the transition. Most of these (white) people have never cheated anybody in business, worn a white hood, or even used the dreaded N-word, but they’re still a bit nervous. They think, or like to think, if what has happened to others had happened to them, they’d jump at the chance to get some of their own back. Sure, it seems racial, but it’s really not.

Colin Powell is doing this for American Unity. He’s helping to put people at ease, just as Barrack Obama made that same statement in choosing Joe Biden as a running mate. The message being, you don’t have to be impeccable, to be on the right side of things.

This is going to work out. Remember to vote. Remember that you are alone in that voting booth, whether or not your hand shakes as you vote, is nobody’s business, but your own. Be gentle with yourself, you'll know what to do.

Bubba in VA

So Bill Clinton is  going to stump for Obama in Virginia... I guess that means that Virginia is in the tank for Obama, and Bill Clinton wants people to think that he helped.  The Clintons are in an interesting position, because of their relationship with Terry McAuliffe, they have a network of people who could and should want to elect a democrat as president, but the Clintons have made it known that these people are more like the Clintons' personal pets, which totally busted them.  The Clintons have no other option than to stump for Obama, lest they bust themselves further.

My theory is that Terry McAuliffe arranged for Bill Clinton to come to Virginia, and try to trick the public into thinking that he will have something to do with the state going to Obama.  The state has been turning blue for a number of years, particularly in Northern Virginia, where people actually live.  Terry McAuliffe is now he eyeing the Virginia governor's mansion,  and finding it attractive.  I guess he's just a little bored and he sees that the future is with Obama.  He probably figures, that arranging for Bill and Hillary Clinton to behave themselves is likely a good way to endear himself... 

The Palin/Couric Conspiracy?

Anybody else smell a set up here? Palin does an interview with Couric, Couric comes off as tough, mostly because she wants to know what kind of newspapers and magazines Palin reads, but Palin, sounding like a child who gotten caught not doing her homework, doesn't answer. This lowers expectations for the debate for Palin, while at the same time, it brandishes Couric's reputation. She comes off as tough, smart and much less perky... everybody's happy.

What of the debate... men are starting to resent Palin. They don't see her as respectful, to the office, or to them. She didn't answer the questions posed.  She used nonsensical sentences and the winking is beginning to pass as a tic. Nobody wants a vice president who wiggles to any phrase, not even,  drill, baby, drill. 

It's using the main stream media, to complain about the main stream media. If she's annoyed that the main stream media exists, then she can go around them. She can set up a web-cam in her house, and while she's looking at Russia, she can say anything she wants, dog-whistle anybody she wants, all in the comfort of her own home.  While still enjoying her per diem, she can bypass all those pesky reporters, doing their jobs.  

Honestly, I don't know if they staged all of this or not, but if it isn't staged, Rove's losing his touch.

Talky talky talky...

So Congress is still talking about a plan to bail out, or rescue the economy. That's nice. But talking about a solution, isn't the same this as having the solution. Jerking everybody around, is the same as adding to the problem. Come on, folks, pick something. A controlled stream of money, with full transparency, is a perfectly viable way to go. But a decision has to be made.

No Bailout?

I am a little perturbed that the House failed to pass the bailout bill. I'll be fine, although, I will have to get my symphony and opera tickets one show at a time, like a heathen. I've played poor before, and enjoyed it. A long time ago, I had a studio apartment, in Phoenix, where a lot of students and laborers lived. It was horribly unfashionable, but completely safe, near a number of car dealerships. My neighbors and I had a pot luck supper, a good three or four times a week, and they were wonderful! In this context, a pot luck is really whatever. That is to say, a part of a meal, a bag of chips, some dip, or even two or three dollars that we could pool into a case of really bad beer. If you were too broke for that, it was cool. Just come, you'll make it up next time. Pretty much, everybody did. When I got promoted, I moved into a nicer place. It was nicer, but much less fun. Although in hindsight, I'm sure I would've gotten bored with our little dinners, I certainly didn't think so, nor would I have said so, at the time.

What surprised me more then the House failing to protect the American economy, was a reason why... Barney Frank is saying that republicans had been offended by Nancy Pelosi's remarks. I didn't see her remarks, and I have no difficulty in believing that she used some hyperbole, but for republicans to vote against a measure, that is this important, because a democrat said something snotty, is a little ridiculous. It sounds like something a Hillary-Head would say, to justify the switch from a liberal position to a conservative one. A very high toned pretense of spite. What is that about? So what if one of your co-workers happened to tick you off, what does that have to do with your job? Nobody cares that this bill was put fourth by an unpopular president, whether or not he's liked, we expect him to do his job, and he did do it. It was the House that didn't.

To Bail, or Not To Bail...

So, last week, Congress had a deal to fix the economy, but then John McCain felt a little left out of the picture, so he came swooping into Washington, and stopped the deal. Well why not? He's not a guy who has to worry about his rent... It's not that I mind bipartisanship on such an important matter, but this crisis has been brewing for a long while, and we shouldn't have to make accommodations for those who show up tardy to the party. Congress had no business being taken by surprise. Now it's stalled again. The House may vote on it today, but the Senate won't until Wednesday, there's a religious holiday.

It just seems to me that somebody's deliberately stalling, allowing somebody's conception of perfection get in the way of good. The truth is, the fix doesn't need to be perfect, it just needs to make sense. The market's going crazy not so much because conditions, as much as it knows new rules are on the way, and it doesn't know what those new rules are. Once the decision is made, the market will adjust. The market has an inherent gyroscope, that will provide direction, to those who know how to read its signs. At the moment, you've got billionaires bargain shopping, that's a good sign, but it often comes with a scary result. Too few people, owning too great a proportion of everything...

Congress, make a deal. Make it good, solid, quick, and make it make sense. We understand that somebody's going to lose. But the sooner that's decided, the sooner those folks get to start again. We are paying attention, and we know who is saying what, so don't let us down.