As the World Spins

The Republicans are expressing outrage at Obama's deficits. This is like the runner up in a fart contest calling the winner gross. If they're truly outraged at big deficits they ought to finally give up their worship of Reagan and defense of Bush2.

Some Catholics attacked Obama and Notre Dame because they didn't think that one of the nation's leading universities should invite the president to speak (because he's pro-choice). Those Catholics should be reminded that the protestants, deists, closet agnostics, and general collection of anti-papists who founded this country reluctantly let them in because they were worried that once safely here, the Catholics would try to subordinate our laws to the whims of the pope.

Tomorrow Californians will likely vote down provisions to fund their state government. Californians are so angry that even our local public radio station in San Diego has begun to sound like right-wing talk radio. They don't even deny that needy constituents will lose out without more taxes (e.g., the mentally ill), but insist that the only way to get politicians to stop wasting money on (trivial) appointments for each other is to deny the government money. How brilliant. Anyone who looks across the border at Mexico where tax rates are only 18.5% can see that the best way to reduce corruption and abuse in government is to cut taxes, budgets, and the ability of the government to actually govern.

Lest you think that I'm a mindless Obama defender, I'll say that his policy for education suggests a history of paste-eating. He is spending $100 billion to "fix" the 5,000 worst schools in the nation by firing all the adults in those schools and starting over. There is nothing in his (and his Education Secretary Arne Duncan's) policy that suggests that he realizes that the 5,000 worst schools are just as much a product of the educational system as the 5,000 best. To act otherwise is to de-moralize millions of professionals, create chaos, and miss the opportunity to actually make systemic change. If Obama's plan worked, education would have already been "transformed" by the half dozen previous presidents. The only thing unique about his approach is the magnitude of the budget he'll waste.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has been rebuked for calling the swine flu a pandemic. Apparently casual users of the term have something other than three nights in bed with a fever when they think of a pandemic.

Republicans are now claiming that Pelosi knew about torture back in 2003. This would have been remarkable. In 2003, even Bush and Cheney were unaware of torture. Or so they told us. So if Pelosi knew about it, she'd have been unique. This is sort of like the devolution of their protests against climate change.
1. We aren't torturing.
2. I mean, we are torturing but it is not authorized and was just the act of a few mavericks.
3. Okay, we authorized it but it worked.
4. Ha! Nancy Pelosi never once said a word of protest and she knew! We might have done something immoral and ineffectual but Pelosi didn't stop us.

Clues that You May Be in the Midwest

I'm flying home yesterday, connecting through Kansas City, MO. A man and woman about my age are sitting next to me, talking for most of the 2-hour flight. He's found an audience and is sharing whatever stories he thinks might impress her, detailing money he's spent on things like his kids education and Caribbean vacations. Towards the end of the flight, an apparent feeling of intimacy allows him to share his feelings about politics. After talking about his disdain for all things San Francisco, he supports his point by sharing his hatred of Nancy Pelosi. "I was watching her on the TV the other night and I just said, 'This country would be so much better if someone shot her.'" And I'm guessing that he'd advertise himself as a law and order type, in spite of the obvious comfort he seems to take from this alternative to democracy.

Then, as I'm actually in the Kansas City airport, I overhear a man walking by. Once again, a man who seems to think that his views on politics will somehow please the women he's with.
"They said that when an African-American became president, that would be the day that pigs would fly. Well, swine flu."

Reality Again Trumps Your Blogger's Feeble Imagination

In the media's race to be first with the breaking news
Judging from the timing of the reports on it, it would seem that the most remarkable thing about Obama's first 100 days is that it took considerably less than 100 days.

Swine Flu
As if the Wall Street crowd did not have enough grief, what with bankruptcies, bad credit, collapsed portfolios and bad press surrounding tax-payer subsidized bonuses, there is now an influenza virus that seems to be aimed directly at them. Fortunately, what seems to be the most obvious symptom - a blue face mask - also works well to hide shame.

And speaking of Republicans
Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania has become a Democrat, leaving Democrats one former SNL comedy skit writer away from a filibuster proof majority. Obama's approval numbers are running at about 37.5x Bush's approval ratings in spite of his spending billions a day. And consumer confidence rose by more points in a single month than the Detroit Pistons managed to score in their series against Cleveland.
Remember when you wondered how the Republicans could seem to get away with re-electing George W.? They didn't. Time rarely sides with madness.
On a related note, in an attempt to boost sagging revenues, Fox News has begin to take bids from Americans competing to be the first to take up Sean Hannity on his offer to be waterboarded.

An Air Force of None
Air Force One was flown over ground zero in New York as part of a publicity photo shoot. Panicked New Yorkers emptied out into the streets. Obama has promised that this will not happen again. He explained that this distraction from the economy was planned before the threat of a pandemic had already seized headlines. As part of his stimulus package and plans to restructure the military, Obama is nonetheless moving ahead with plans to promote the sale of anti-aircraft guns to neighborhood watch groups.

Sarkozy's Bold Plan
The French, showing themselves more innovative than us in concocting stimulus packages, have announced that X-rated photos and videos of Carla Bruni - their first lady - have been stolen. The media coverage surrounding this material could, alone, be enough to stimulate the economy. Or at least economists.

I Have Something to Tell You With This Tomato
Russ Douthat, who I used to think of as an interesting writer, suggests that Cheney should have run for the presidency so that Americans could have judged his record. It might have made more sense for him to have sat in stocks for week so that the country could have expressed its appreciation.

Psychic Finds Airborne Chihuahua
And in what must surely be a metaphor for the times, fierce winds in Detroit actually blew a six-pound Chihuahua about a mile away from its owners. (Who had taken the dog to a flea market. Isn't that just asking for trouble?) As if that was not enough oddness for one story, the dog's owner's contracted the services of a dog psychic who led them into the woods to their dog.
And then the psychic made blowing sounds, began to flap her arms and seemed to "glide away" from the stunned couple.