Mountebanks:
theyÕre everywhere
— Bumper
sticker of the week: Fear breeds homeland insecurity.
— Quotes of
the week: ÒWe cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.Ó
ÒNo one can
terrorize a whole nation, unless we are all his accomplices.Ó Edward R. Murrow
— Positive
peeverism of the week: In spite of a terrible economic environment, in the U.S.
as a whole and Galesburg specifically, businesses continue to open. I am
amazed, but glad to see people willing to give it a go. Try to patronize them
as much as you can. And thank them for taking the risk.
— The
PresidentÕs approval rating is down to 39 percent. Just how low will this
number go? IÕm betting 27 percent by June 1, 2006.
— How to
spot a right-winger across the room:
¥ Look for
glowing eyes.
¥ ItÕs the damn
smirk.
¥ TheyÕll be
talking about family values while theyÕre hitting on your wife.
¥ They may have
on a white sheet disguised as a white shirt.
¥ Their phone
plays ÒOnward, Christian Soldier.Ó
¥ They wonÕt be
getting along very well with others. Remember, they didnÕt evolve.
— Harriet Miers is said to have
written a birthday note to George W. Bush stating, ÒYou are the best governor
ever.Ó That alone should disqualify her from holding any position requiring an
IQ over 35.
— The Chief Justice
of the Texas Supreme Court was recently seen on TV giving a testimonial for
Harriet Miers: Another reason to disqualify her.
— Rove, Libby, Cheney, Delay,
Frist, all set to go down: Damn the luck.
— You can bet that if our
government was involved with the election in Iraq, it wasnÕt fair. Hell, we
ainÕt had a fair election in this country the last two times. Either that, or
we got an awful lot of dumb people.
— Rumsfeld is back to questioning
the military intent of China. ItÕs about time he started questioning the
military intent of America.
— The U.S. auto industry goes
bottom up: GMC, once the darling of American industry, struggles to stay out of
bankruptcy court. Their solution: fire 25,000 workers and cut health-care
benefits. Welcome to the wonderful world of capitalism, where labor is always
to blame.
— Another Rocky movie is on the
drawing board: I can hardly wait.
— Inflation is headed up. Interest
rates are headed up: It seems the government has been growing money on trees as
of late. A couple hundred billion here, a couple hundred billion there. Pretty
soon, you got to grow more of those money trees. In reality, the money tree is
thee. And thee has just about had it.
— Speaking of movies: ÒGood Night,
and Good Luck,Ó directed by George Clooney, is about to be released. (A
pre-release screening was held in Galesburg not long ago.) It is sort of a
docudrama on the lives of Edward R. Murrow and Joe McCarthy, a newsman and a
fear mongering Senator. A timely movie. Demonstrates not much has changed in
the world of politics over the last 65 years. The boys at the top want to
continue to scare and intimidate us into submission, while the underdogs try to
expose them for the mountebanks they really are.