Friday, September 19, 2008

And the McBush Mistakes Just Keep On Coming....

It is jaw-dropping the number of gaffes (outright blunders or as I like to refer to them, idiotic mistakes) that have been uttered by the mouth of John McCain over the course of the last week. If these are not signs of the judgment that McSame would exercise should he be fortunate enough to steal another election for the GOP (Giddy Over Palin), then on what are we to base our decision in November?

Here's a brief run-down of the colossal poor judgments/incorrect statements/general idiocy that McCain has demonstrated since his first huge example of poor judgment - the selection of Mrs. Todd Palin to be his vice presidential candidate:

1) "Our economy, I think still—the fundamentals of our economy are strong."
John McCain, speaking on the morning of September 15

2) "Mismanagement and greed became the operating standard while regulators were asleep at the switch. The primary regulator of Wall Street, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) kept in place trading rules that let speculators and hedge funds turn our markets into a casino. They allowed naked short selling -- which simply means that you can sell stock without ever owning it. They eliminated last year the uptick rule that has protected investors for 70 years. Speculators pounded the shares of even good companies into the ground. The chairman of the SEC serves at the appointment of the President and has betrayed the public's trust. If I were President today, I would fire him."

Wow. "Betrayed the public's trust." Was Mr. Cox dishonest? No. He merely changed some minor rules, and didn't change others, on short-selling. String him up! Mr. McCain clearly wants to distance himself from the Bush Administration. But this assault on Mr. Cox is both false and deeply unfair. It's also un-Presidential.
From McCain's Scapegoat, WSJ, September 19, 2008

Not only is McCain's rash rush to a populist position insincere and hardly credible, given his long history of surrounding himself with "Foreclosure Phil" Gramm and championing every opportunity to deregulate any industry that he sees a government hand lending oversight to risky business, but he also doesn't seem to understand that it is not the president's perogative to fire the duly appointed Head of the Security and Exchange Commission without cause (which includes only acts of malfeasance or negligent oversight - neither charge applies to Mr. Christopher Cox).

3) McCain on Spain Tries Lamely to Explain (copyright by mfayehadley, 09/18/08) - a bizarro scenario in which McIdiot appeared to not only know the name of the President of Spain (Zapatero), or that Spain is an ally of the United States, is a fellow member of NATO, but he also apparently is geographically-challenged, not understanding that Spain is a country in Europe not Latin America. !Que loco!

4) McSame commenting on Septembet 17, 2008, his recent visit to and oil rig out in the Gulf of Mexico: "An oil rig off of the Louisiana coast. It survived hurricanes. It is safe, it is sound, and to somehow — And by the way, on that oil rig — and I’m sure you’ve probably heard this story — you look down, and there’s fish everywhere! There’s fish everywhere! Yeah, the fish love to be around those rigs. So not only can it be helpful for energy, it can be helpful for some pretty good meals as well."

Well, I guess that McInsane hasn't heard about the three oil rigs missing in the wake of Hurrican Ike, and I guess he's bought hook, line and sinker the following myths:
"Hurricanes won’t damage oil rigs. The U.S. Minerals Management Service estimates that Hurricanes Katrina and Rita destroyed 113 offshore oil platforms and caused 124 offshore spills for a total of 743,700 gallons. In fact, damage to offshore producers accounted for 77 percent of the oil industry’s storm costs. In the wake of Hurricane Ike, there are at least three offshore oil rigs missing and 'presumed to be total losses.'"

If anyone in this country still plans to cast his/her vote for the McBush/McPalin ticket I must assume that you are one of the fortunate 400 wealthiest Americans whose net income has grown by over 600% in the past seven years. If you are not one of this tiny and, dare I say it, elite group, then I gotta ask you WTF are you thinking or have you abandoned that faculty at your neighborhood Wal-Mart? Please think about this choice that you will make in just over six short weeks and cast your vote for real change. Obama/Biden '08!

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Mind Over Matter...(on turning 50)

Yesterday, I had my 50th birthday and like many people facing this milestone, I had mixed feelings about celebrating the occasion. There are several cliches that I will run through just because they seem apropos - golden oldies like, "If I thought I was gonna live this long, I would have taken better care of myself," or "Turning 50 isn't great, but it beats the alternative." On a more serious note, I never really thought I'd reach this age. I have battled severe clinical depression most of my adult life, and have attempted suicide on more than one occasion. But here I am, thanks in no small part to a wonderful therapist and a fabulous psychiatrist that helped me through my most recent battle with the demon depression. Thanks also to my wonderful family who has always been there for me, no matter how badly I tried to hide from them and the world at large. And thanks also to the amazing friends that I have had the great good fortune to know, some for many, many years.

I am still in touch with my best friend from high school, although I just spent the last hour or so trying to find the obituary of my first best friend, Michele Dermond, who was not as fortunate as I, she died of a drug addiction and/or homelessness (depending on who is telling the story of her demise) in Fort Wayne, Indiana, sometime in the early 1980s. I remember my parents telling me about her death -they were friends with Michele's parents - Jackie and Ed Dermond. Ed worked with my Dad at Detroit Diesel Allison. I remember playing in the backyard of the Dermond's house off of Girls School Road. We started the fairy club. I remember walking to a Reed's Drug Store and buying a small bag of miniature Reese's peanut butter cups and sitting on a retaining wall over an almost dry creek and eating the candy while it melted on our fingers. I also remember that my Mom said to me when I told her about how we spent our afternoon, that "that is a memory you will have all of your life." And because she said that, it is so. I do remember that afternoon, the heat of a Hoosier summer, the walking and stopping to sit on the concrete wall, licking the chocolate off our fingers, hanging out with Michele, talking and laughing. We both planned to be writers, she actually wrote a diary - I just dreamed of fame and fortune. I have often tried to think about what happened in her life - we lost touch when we went off to different universities (I headed to Indiana University in Bloomington, Michele went to Ball State in Muncie, IN). I was poised to head up to visit her after we had both finished our undergraduate degrees, but a snow storm got in the way. That was the last time I talked with her - I could tell by the sound of her voice that something significant in her life had changed, but I didn't guess what it was. Not that I hadn't done my share of illegal substances by that time in my life, but I wasn't living on the streets, surviving hand to mouth, trying to score my next fix.

In any case, I just said "Hasta luego," to my parents who drove out (620 miles - I come by my love of road trips honestly) to help me celebrate my birthday. While they were here, I asked them again about what they knew about Michele's death, and they repeated the story that I remembered and have already recounted here. I picked up another piece of information that may help me as I search the vital records of Indiana, that is Michele's mother's maiden name, so I will go back online with this new piece of the puzzle and see if I can find a record of her death.

I have devoted a lot of this post to a friend now long gone, but there are certainly many friends who have been an important part of my life and I hope will always continue to be a part of my life. Not just my best friend from high school, but my two dear friends in Albuquerque, along with a group of friends that I am fortunate to work with at the University of Tulsa, and I cannot neglect to mention a new group of friends that I have met thanks to the Stephanie Miller Show and the blog, FourFreedoms. They are a great bunch of folks whose politics and good-humor have gotten me through some of the toughest times I have experienced over the past year.

Kalyn, mfaye, & Vicki at my 50th b-day party

I, like all honest people, have no idea how much more time I have to live in this world, but I am forever grateful for the people who have touched my life, those I mentioned here and those who will be forever in my past. It has been a wild ride and a good life so far, and I will continue on as long as I can - trying desperately to make a positive difference on this planet.