Clever turns of phrase, special splashes of wit, provocative insight — all in a sentence or two.
“If you had the power to pick your next-door neighbors, you would pick Tony and Marie Hillerman. They are smart, funny, compassionate, unpretentious human beings God gave us as something to strive toward.”
Jim Belshaw, Albuquerque Journal
NewMexiKen has read most of Hillerman’s Leaphorn and Chee mysteries, and more, and I’ve been wanting to say something about him since his death at age 83 Sunday here in Albuquerque. I’ll let Belshaw’s line serve.
In convo with Playbook, a top McCain adviser one-ups the priceless “diva” description, calling her “a whack job.”
They’re getting warmer.
— Jay Leno
“What I do know is this, everyone is a genius in a bullmarket. The last 5 years, that wasn’t a stock market. THIS is a stockmarket.”
“That’s how we’ve always grown the American economy – from the bottom-up. John McCain calls this socialism. I call it opportunity, and there is nothing more American than that.”
“It’s really a wonder, when you think about it, that there are still two guys in the race to become U.S. president, pulling out all the stops in these last eight days of campaigning to be chosen as the one to face the nightmare.”
“A friend will help you move. A good friend will help you move a body.”
— From the sidebar at all this is that.
Hypothetical, of course: Do you have a friend who would help you move a body?
[This got four affirmative comments last time it was posted!]
Jackie: “Obama started his career in Bill Ayers’ living room!”
Dunlap: “What kind of terrorist has a living room?”
“The Jerome Levy Forecasting Center at Bard College, … has been among the most worried — and therefore, most accurate — forecasters over the past several years.”
Floyd Norris Blog – NYTimes.com
I recommend you NOT go and read what the Jerome Levy Forecasting Center at Bard College has to say. Save it for next Friday night — you know the night you want something really scary for Halloween.
Originally posted four years ago.
It has long been believed that the source of Boston’s sorrows is the legendary Curse of the Bambino, brought on by selling young Babe Ruth to the Yankees. This is untrue. Boston is actually cursed because the Red Sox took an unconscionably long time to get around to hiring any black players.
The Red Sox were the last baseball team to integrate; they did so in 1959.
NewMexiKen is old enough to remember this — and that the Washington NFL franchise was worse, not integrating until 1962. I’ve pretty much rooted against these teams ever since.
“Sarah Palin had a good thought. She suggested that while Barack Obama is over in Hawaii, it might be a good idea for him to keep an eye on Japan.”
Jimmy Kimmel
“What we have here is an election that won’t be decided on the worst smears, but on substance. And in such an environment, the GOP is ill-equipped to compete.”
“Taxes are always a redistribution of money. ”
Colin Powell, after his appearance on Meet the Press. (He endorsed that Senator from Illinois.)
Powell continued:
“Most of the taxes that are redistributed go back to those who pay them, in roads and airports and hospitals and schools. And taxes are necessary for the common good. And there’s nothing wrong with examining what our tax structure is or who should be paying more or who should be paying less, and for us to say that makes you a socialist is an unfortunate characterization that isn’t accurate.”
Quotes via The Washington Monthly.
President Bush, this morning:
“In the long run, the American people can have confidence that our economy will bounce back.”
John Maynard Keynes:
“But this long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead.”
“The Democrats are terrified. They’re convinced something terrible is going to happen because something terrible always happens. . . .
“It’s like the curse of the Bambino. The Democrats fear they’re under a jinx because they committed some sin, the political equivalent of trading away Babe Ruth. If so, it probably started with nominating Joe Lieberman for vice president.”
Another thing not being hoarded, besides stocks, was blame. The volume on that exchange was at an all-time high. Greenspan, Paulson, the F.D.I.C., the S.E.C., the poor, the rich, the right, the left. Phil Gramm, Barney Frank. Carter, Reagan, Clinton, Bush, Obama, McCain, Steinbrenner, Torre.
From a John Stewart interview with Bill Moyers on NOW July 2003:
The five percent on each side that are so ideological driven that they will dictate the terms of the discussion. The other 90 percent of the country have lawns to mow, and kids to pick up from schools, and money to make, and things to do. Their lives are, they have entrusted… we live in a representative democracy.
And so, we elect representatives to go do our bidding, so that we can get the leaves out of the gutter, and do the things around the house that need to be done. What the representatives have done over 200 years is set up a periphery — I think they call it the Beltway — that is obtuse enough that we can’t penetrate it anymore, unless we spend all of our time. This is the way that it’s been set up purposefully by both sides. In the financial industry, as well. They don’t want average people to easily penetrate the workings because then we call them on it.
“Plumber Takes Center Stage as We Go Down the Drain”
“Ronald Reagan used to say that the most frightening nine words in the English language were ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’ That is no longer true. This year, the most frightening eight words are ‘I’m John McCain and I approved this message.’
Klein’s whole blog post is worth reading.
Sounds suspicious—unless you know that even if one of these fake forms results in a nonexistent person actually being registered, now under the Help America Vote Act of 2002, “any voter who has not previously voted in a federal election” must provide identification in order to actually cast a ballot. This will make it tough for Mickey Mouse, even if registered, to vote, no matter how big, round, or black his ears. Likewise, members of the Duck family (Donald, Daisy, Huey, Dewey, and Louie) who turn up at the polling place will have a hard time getting into the voting booth. (Uncle Scrooge might be able to bribe his way in, but he’s voting Republican anyway.)
Hendrik Hertzberg, who has more, including this:
Sounds suspicious—unless you know that despite all the hysteria, from 2002 to 2005, only twenty people in the entire United States of America were found guilty of voting while ineligible and only five of voting more than once.
“I’m Republican and I’m voting for the scary skinny black elitist Muslim terrorist dude.”
Found on the internets.
“Did you hear what happened at a rally yesterday? Sarah Palin mistook some of her supporters for hecklers. You know, confusion happens in all walks of life. For example, a few weeks ago, John McCain mistook her for a legitimate candidate.”
David Letterman
“And yesterday, at a rally in Virginia, they played the theme to ‘Rocky’ as John McCain walked out on stage. Does John McCain look like Rocky to you? Doesn’t he look more like the Burgess Meredith character?”
Jay Leno
Leno continued:
“Why would McCain want to be like Rocky? Didn’t Rocky get the hell kicked out of him by the black guy? Hello?”
“Money … has often been a cause of the delusion of multitudes. Sober nations have all at once become desperate gamblers, and risked almost their existence upon the turn of a piece of paper. To trace the history of the most prominent of these delusions is the object of the present pages. Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.”
Charles Mackay in Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (1841), quoted today by Tom Friedman.