Just a Few Weird Random Thoughts

I don't know if this has not occurred to anyone or if it's simply too politically incorrect to speculate upon but....has it not crossed anybody elses mind that Bill Clinton may not really want his wife to win? I mean c'mon people, Bill is many things but clueless about how some of his recent remarks would play out would not be on the list. Bill Clinton of all people knew exactly what kind of reaction his words would get so I have to at least entertain the possibility that his motives may have been other than what they might appear at first glance.

I've heard the "he's outta control" explanation from every talking head on the planet but it just doesn't stand up to closer scrutiny. We've all seen Bill "outta control" before and even then he is not that stupid. Unless someone can convince me he's taken up smoking a crack pipe I'm going to have to go with my gut here and assume his motive was "other".

Next weird random thought: um, helloooooo....Ted Kennedy may have been the story in Washington but across much of main street America Caroline is the story. Little insider tip to my party leaders: huge numbers of lifelong Democratic voters, particularly in the west, do not even like Ted Kennedy. Never have. We put up with him because he's still better than a Republican but we do not now nor have we ever liked him. We love Caroline. That said, I give him props for a great speech that managed to inspire me in spite of it coming out of Teddy's mouth. Bonus points for not making me barf. Now send Caroline on the campaign trail and see what happens.

Speaking of a Kennedy-esque moment, it crossed my mind that I would hate to be the grandparent who had to admit in retrospect that I did not vote for him but supported that other guy. Talk about losing face as the wizened elder, you want your grandkids to have to use the old "well, you know gran was from a different time" excuse? I'll take a pass on that, thanks.

I Hate Pissing Up Ropes

I've been reading through the blogs and honestly people, it's getting beyond shrill and I'm really not in the frame of mind to go there.

Look, my first choice was Bill Richardson but when it became obvious that he was not going to get enough support to become viable, I, living in realityville as I tend to do, looked to the rest of the field for a new choice. Does not mean I don't still like Richardson, it means I accept the reality that I cannot have it all my way, at least not all of the time. I have 299,999,999 other people I have to make nice with whether I like it or not. Happily Gov. Richardson is a grown up too and gracefully exited with dignity intact before becoming a spoiler.

That said, for a multitude of reasons I chose to support Barack Obama, not least of which being I firmly believe he is the only candidate remaining who can win the general election and that my friends is of dire importance to me. I have no intention of going on either a Clinton or Edwards bashing campaign because, doh, here I go inserting reality again, Edwards is not going to win the nomination, not going to happen and Clinton, well, she might win the nomination but looking at the extremely overheated division over her within our own party, on both sides, does anyone truly believe this would not be a major problem in the general election?

Does not make a damn what *I* think or do not think about them, what will matter is what that other 299,999,999 people think and it ain't looking so good out there for either of them. Consider the remote possibility that I just might be less out of touch with *mainstream america* than our hopelessly befuddled media. Just maybe.

Or, ignore the bottom line, insist this is Burger King, and say hello to President McCain. Your call.

I Know It ain't Over But........

YEEHAW!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know I said I had high hopes for South Carolina but the results exceeded my expectations. I was looking for about an 8-10 point spread not...um.....28 points!

I will now resume my regularly scheduled holding-my-breath till February 5th session.

It's ALWAYS Been the Economy Stupid, and We Still Don't Get It

I'm going to confess that as someone who regularly plays the market I have been largely uninvolved and ignoring the nosedive. See the thing is, a blind pig should have seen this one coming, oh, about 2 years ago. Aside from this being what I call a golden stock shopping opportunity I'm not really all that interested. Not sure what part of "you can't keep spending money you do not have" or continue expanding the number of people living in absolute poverty without eventually destroying your economy most people still aren't getting but there it is in a nutshell.

As usual our fearless leaders are getting the solution all wrong too. Color me not surprised. Tax bennies for corporations and rebates for everyone who already has money and goddamn well ought to learn to budget...gee that's gonna help. NOT.

For anyone still in doubt let me 'splain it for you in really, really simple terms. You aren't going to like it but this is what has to happen: real income has to rise at the bottom end. That's right Joe Monkey autoworker, it ain't about you....it's about the gazillion or so people cleaning motel rooms, serving you at the drive through window and picking your goddamn lettuce. It's basic math: we have too many people with no discretionary income and when that happens who in the hell do you imagine we are going to sell all our goods and services too? Even Donald Trump can only eat so many Whoppers.

Now we could just blame "corporate greed" and rant and rail at big business, it might feel good but it's only a piece of the story. The real story is the other few million of us in the great middle class who want it all, want it now, and want it on the cheap. "We" were ok with ignoring the fact that a whole lot of people had to be working a lot of hours for less money than it cost to live decently in order to provide the rest of us with all these goodies and as usual we are continuing to ignore this fact.

That right there had a lot to do with my bottom line when I went with Obama because he is the only candidate who gets this. Clinton and Edwards may get it but they are not going to act on it, no way Jose, they will continue to pander to the middle income folks who got us into this mess in the first place. Sadly those are the people who are more likely to vote....just look at our last 8 years if you have any more questions about that. Oh, and by the way Michigan voters: Mitt Romney is going to bring back our auto industry about the same time I learn to pull live rabbits out of my ass. You can't bring back an industry that has no market and poor people don't buy new cars every other year.

In the meantime all is right in my world, I did not lose my ass in the market because back when we had halfway decent schools I learned basic math, the Daily Show is back on the air and there is this young guy called Woozie who gives me hope that the kids coming up now may not turn out to be the same waste of airspace my generation has turned out to be.

Most of all I am still floating on the thing we aren't supposed to talk about but I'm gonna anyway: Senator Obama's young daughters standing up on that podium after the win in Iowa changed the world for an entire generation of young people in this country. Most of us older geezers don't really get that, neither black nor white but the kids get it and that's all that matters.

My Nevada Caucus

I can only speak for my precinct but here's how it went:

Not one Black voter voted for Clinton.

Not one Clinton voter was under 110. Ok, ok, maybe 50 but it seriously was the geriatric section. More than half were on walkers and/or oxygen.

The Clinton people were for the most part obnoxious asshats and kept sending people to the wrong areas so dear one took it upon himself to begin redirecting Obama voters to the right areas.

Edwards got less than 10 people out of the several hundred who showed up, all of those were members of our local shotgun-toting, conspiracy theory contingent. No one was willing to risk speaking to them, they finally left.

A Hillary voter lost her cool and cursed everyone out. Most entertaining 10 minutes of the entire caucus. Her one tooth only added to the fun.

The fire department showed up and threatened to shut down the caucus. Half of us ended up doing the caucus in the parking lot. The local fire truck may have a flat tire now.

No shots were fired and we managed to just barely miss having a brawl which is pretty good for Nevada I guess. I'd have kind of enjoyed a brawl though.

Disappointing turn out for Obama but then much of my precinct is 110 years old so hoping for better results out of Las Vegas.

And yeah, we voted for Obama, didja think it could be otherwise????

Brief Update

Ok, ok, been gone quite awhile I know. Mainly I just could not think of a thing I cared enough to say two words about, too many of my own things were going on to care if the rest of the world imploded or not.

The main thing was nearly losing my newest grandbaby who was born needing immediate surgery and spent her first month in the ICU....luckily for us in one of the best hospitals in the country which definitely brings home the point that we have to make certain everyone has access to this level of care. I can't even begin to imagine how differently things might have turned out for a family that did not have good insurance.

Anyhow, all is well now, mother and baby now home and doing just fine and in spite of Pakistan blowing up, Bush still being in office, the Religious Wrong still sucking rotten eggs and our economy looking like a one-legged, blind dog the only thing I can find it in my heart to say today is......HALLEJFUCKINGLIUIAH.....Obama won Iowa. THAT my friends hits me on so many levels I can't even begin to explain but if you happen to be one of the people who is right there with me you already get it.

So for today anyway....peace on earth and goodwill towards every single Iowan who did this miraculous thing. I'm still ganked at humans, I didn't suddenly start believing in god and no, I don't think that all is going to be well now but for this one moment I do have hope and that's more than I've had for nearly a decade.