The Stimulus, and You. February 15, 2009
Posted by chuckwh in News and politics.Tags: Obama, Obama stimulus, Obama your money, Stimulus
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Now that the war is finally over, now that the good guys finally won, I need to do one more, hopefully, last post.
This post is about the Stimulus. What a great word.
To me, it’s all very simple.
If you can’t find a way to make money off this stimulus, you are either stupid, lazy, or determined to just stay in your job and hope for the best.
I am not going to do your work for you, and help you how to find ways to make bucks off this bill. Because any dummy can see that when a huge bill like this gets passed experts will gather round it, and strike. Agricultural experts, broadband experts (maybe, hopefully, even laid off Cisco employees). The world, in fact, will gather round, and muster all its resources to rally round this new American flag. Highways will be built, doctors will speak over their blackberries (and hopefully get some help on their outtahand loans and stop writing prescriptions to people who should not have them).
My prediction, and this will be codified by google, wordpress, and the rest of cyberspace: This bill will transform the world. It will generate a massive number of businesses eager to take advantage of it.
I have been following Paul Krugman’s columns because, well, he is much smarter than I am, but I am suprised he didn’t catch this simple fact. The little cottage industries that this bill will create will save us.
And we don’t have to do anything about it to make it happen, because we are an entrepreneurial nation.
It will just, simply, happen.
My Next Act July 7, 2008
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My next “blog” will be a community effort called, “The McCain Wars”. You’ll find it here: http://www.themccainwars.com/. Note that it is not ready yet. 🙂
This will be a Future Blog with stories about what life is like in 2009. Gas prices are $11.00/gallon, half of India is buried under nuclear ash because the U.S. attacked Iran and Pakistan picked a fight with Afghanistan, etc., etc. In other words, another president who didn’t understand the true consequences of war is elected.
If you have imagination and can imagine living in this horrific world, feel free to send me an email at chuckwh at hot mail, that’s hot, dot com, and maybe we’ll both decide you can help write this future blog.
Here’s an advance look at the very unfinished banner:
The McCain Wars
Obama to Explain His Support for Fisa June 21, 2008
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Right, Barack?
Or maybe he really thinks we do drink his Koolaid.
My optimist self says he’s doing the trojan horse thing. My pessimist self says he’s discovered Power.
I’ve Never Had a Hero June 6, 2008
Posted by chuckwh in News and politics.Tags: Hero, heroism, Obama, Obama heroism, Politics
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I won’t say I had a terrible childhood, but it was pretty funky. My parents, like a lot of parents, I guess, were not real good role models. Luckily for me, instead of staying angry about it, I sort of moved on and figured it all out, and I’m doing okay these days, even under this economy.
But still, when I was a teenager, I didn’t have posters of anyone. Not even Farrah Fawcett. No sports stars, nobody. No posters. Period.
There are good reasons for this.
I was raised by racists.
I rejected them early. My own parents. I rejected them, and all their heroes. Ike, General Macarthur. Patton.
It was not easy. It still makes my stomach sick with acid when I think about it, but it’s all true. I mean, I knew my dad suffered madly when he saw “those nips” jump off the cliffs at Iwo Jima. It was hard for me to argue that maybe there was no correlation between his heroism and his prejudice.
I remember when I was about 12, I stood up during dinner and screamed at my mother about her racism. Her wooden spoon, which she had used previously to control me, no longer worked, and she was shocked at my disregard for her feelings.
“But the blackies beat me up when I went to school,” she would say.
To this day, I don’t know why I never bought into that story. I just knew, somehow, that there was another side to her tale.
When I was about 14 or 15, my best friend was a black kid named Walt who was about the size of a house, and my mother, when she first saw him, grabbed the kitchen counter to hold herself steady. It was obvious she was praying I didn’t know him in any way.
Me and Walt went to see the Exorcist:
I am pretty sure that Walt held me closer than I held him, but the bottom line is that it was my first foray into that terrible world of Black America, and it wasn’t the difference in our colors that scared the shit out of us. We became best friends for awhile.
After that, I had quite a few more encounters with African Americans. As time went on, and I got older, and drifted away from what little I knew of the African American experience, my little white mind came to a conclusion about black people that may not be PC. I discovered, along my piddling road shared with blacks, that a black man (and maybe woman but I don’t know that personally) is the best friend you can ever have.
It may not be PC to say this, but a black dude, once he trusts you, loves you unconditionally. When you betray him in some way, the hurt on his face ripples across the universe. You can see, in his eyes, the betrayal skip across the stars as if you have insulted the universe itself.
I learned that early, and black people have taught me much. They’ve taught me not to get scared when stupid things in my stupid white collar job go wrong. They’ve taught me to dance, and sing, and to think, mostly, mostly, to think.
I have never had a hero. I am almost 50 years old.
I finally have a hero.
I’m just a stupid white man, who has fallen in love with a black man. It’s not about guilt. It’s about something that black men can give me that I can’t give to myself.
McCain Aims to Become First Zombie President June 6, 2008
Posted by chuckwh in News and politics.Tags: McCain, McCain Altzheimer's, McCain zombie
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You think Obama is cool for being the first African American presidential nominee representing a major American party? He ain’t got nothing on John McCain, who, if elected, would be the first zombie to be elected President of the United States.
There is growing evidence that McCain, who claims to be 71 years old, actually is deceased, and was brought back to life by genetic researchers based in South San Francisco. This is no internet rumor, the evidence is right here:
It also helps explain McCain’s perplexing inability to remember the facts from one day to the next, a trait that seems to go far beyond what Altzheimer’s can do.
A Walk in the Sand May 16, 2008
Posted by chuckwh in News and politics, Oil, Oil Prices.Tags: Bush and Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah and Bush, Oil, Oil Prices, Saudi Arabia, Saudis, Saudis and oil
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King Abdullah: Welcome my friend. Have you
seen the wondrous cities your policies have created?
Bush: I don’t get out much these days.
King Abdullah: What a shame. Dubai, which is in one of our sister nations
here on the peninsula, is a work of modern art unequalled in Western Civilization.
Have you seen its many wonders?
Bush (looking alarmed): We’re on the Peninsula? I hate the San Francisco
Bay Area!
King Abdullah: You are on the Arabian Peninsula, my little friend.”
Bush: Oh yeah, the land of the Pharoahs. Cool.
King Abdullah (looking pained): We have many incredible structures on
the peninsula, and many great cities are arising from the ashes of your
empire. We are very grateful. There
is Tabouk, and many others. The original Tabouk, as you know, was the
scene of a historical battle during the great times of Mohammed. We employ
many people from impoverished lands, and treat them accordingly.
Bush (thinking he was goosed, smiles): Thank you for that, your highness.
King Abdullah: You are welcome my silly little friend.
Bush: So, oh and thank you for the kiss, too. It was nice. So, as you
know, the American people are mad at me.
King Abdullah (nudges Bush with his elbow with a smile): And they don’t
even know you’re drinking again.
Bush (looking a little embarrassed): I think they’re catching on.
King Abdullah: Well my simple little friend, your family and mine, we
go back a very far way. I remember fondly the bin Ladens telling me how
they were watching TV with your dad when that plane hit one of your buildings. Your dad is said to have been quite impressed with our amateur pilots.
Bush (giggling stupidly): Yeah, eh, so impressed we sold you guys a bunch
more F-15Es.
King Abdullah: Of course, of course. And we are duly pleased. We would
never of course, use them against Israel.
Bush: Oh, I know that. You guys have been my bestest friends since I came
to Washington. Can we kiss again?
King Abdullah: I’m afraid not. You see, I have some bad news.
Bush: Oh. Okay. Well, that’s fine. I’m used to it. Let ‘er rip.
King Abdullah: I’m afraid we have reached the limit of our capacity.
Bush: Hmm. But you seem like such a smart fellow.
King Abdullah: Our oil fields are pumping out as much oil as they can.
Bush: You mean they decide?
King Abdullah: Yes, of course. We have used your magnificent computers
and outsourced several hundred thousand Indian software engineers to create
an AI for our oil fields.
Bush: Wow, that’s neat.
King Abdullah: The oil fields have come to the conclusion that they are
maxed out. But not only that. The earth is dying, and you and China and
the other huge oil consumers will need to figure out how to divvy up what
we are giving you. We could pump more oil till our hair was blonde, but
it wouldn’t stop the inexcorable slide into massive pollution, global warming,
and extinction.
Bush: You’ve always been like a father figure to me, Your Hindness.
King Abdullah (looking down behind him, and at his butt): Don’t do that,
George.
Bush: Sorry. I really learn a lot of things when I talk to you. And the
American people are grateful for your efforts.
King Abdullah (patting Bush on the head): Of course, of course. You’re
a good little man, George. We are very happy for America, too. We are very
happy that you deflected the American public from the truth of how many
of our families here were involved in that terrible accident in New York.
Bush: Whew. It wasn’t easy. I had to invade Iraq.
King Abdullah: You are a very brave little man.
Bush: I like to think so. My dad doesn’t think so. He thinks I’m a dope.
King Abdullah: Your dad is very wise. Here, we have a saying. Follow your
father’s wisdom, and you will understand your heart.
Bush: Wow, that’s pretty cool. What’s it mean?
King Abdullah: In time, my puny little friend, you will learn.
Bush: Thank you master Abdullah.
Who Lost Iran? May 16, 2008
Posted by chuckwh in News and politics.Tags: appeasement, Iran, Iran appeasement, Obama appeasement
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There is a lot of talk these days of appeasement. But what is lost in the discussion is how Iran was “lost” in the first place. Iran was governed by an extremely unpopular dictator, the Shah (remember the old joke, “‘Iran, Iran’, said the Shah). Iran’s population was upended by the extreme nature of the Shah’s modernization efforts, and it was in full revolution mode when the Shah was forced into exile. In 1953 the United States played a significant role in orchestrating the overthrow of Iran’s popular Prime Minister, Mohammed Massadegh. This effort was led, as you might suspect, by a Republican administration.
It is possible, in fact, probable, that if Republican administrations had kept their noses out of Iran’s internal issues Iran would be a governed by a much more aggreeable regime than it is today.
Reverand Wright: Black People Must Fight Each Other May 1, 2008
Posted by chuckwh in News and politics.Tags: elections, Jeremiah Wright, news media obsession, Obama, primaries, Rev Right, Rev Wright, Reverend Right, Reverend Wright, Wright, Wright and Obama, Wright Obama
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I guess Obama will end up losing this battle for the nomination.
I really think Hillary is gonna pull this out.
For me, and milliions of Americans, it will destroy what was left of what we call hope.
That town in Arkansas, the town that gave birth to Bill Clinton and Mike Huckleberry, is gonna be the only “hope” that ends up mattering in this election. It’s ironic in a sick, twisted way. Hope, Arkansas, is all the hope we will all ever know, after this election.
It’s tempting to blame Hillary for this, but, just as I blamed the American people for choosing Dubya not once, but, twice, I blame the American people for this obsession over Reverend Rite®.
Americans have always had a weird, twisted relationship with African Americans. Most of the immigrants who helped built America on their backs never got to know the people who really built America. On their backs. It’s a weird thing, that the people who are killing Obama in the polling are the same people who would have loved him 60 years ago, who would have loved his people sweating, building their country.
You would think they would love, and understand, the stuff Reverend Wright was talking about. But instead, they’ve turned against him. The working class said, to the real working, slave class: we have no appreciation what you did for our country, and we hate you for your efforts.
So, they are saying, your punishment is just. You have finally found an idol who is not a sports star. And we will make sure you fight each other forever. And we will destroy him.
That’s the karma going right now. I know *I* can’t make it right. Can you?
Hillary escapes deadly Taliban attack April 27, 2008
Posted by chuckwh in News and politics.add a comment
KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) — Taliban militants opened fire at a military ceremony in the capital Sunday morning. A lawmaker, tribal leader and 10-year-old child were killed, but President Hamid Karzai escaped unhurt, according to an official and a statement from Karzai’s office. Hillary Clinton’s claim that she was there has been unconfirmed, although campaign aides were said to be scrambling to find a way to say she was. 
The Gore Years 
