Sheep and Goats

Category: Politicians

  • Eliot Spitzer and the Comptroller

    Like in Network, Eliot Spitzer is mad as hell and he's not going to take it anymore! The odd thing is that he's not taken it very long. It was just 6 weeks ago that Spitzer was sworn in as governor, wearing his new Hickey-Freeman suit. But it's clear he means to make his mark. Cross him at your peril

    The big blowup comes after Spitzer fired the former state comptroller, caught with his hand in the till. He then assembled previous state comptrollers to recommend new candidates. The state assembly said they'd go along, but then they reneged and gave the job to one of their own.

    Spitzer was spitting nails. The Assembly's move showed a ‘‘stunning lack of integrity that is deeply troubling … You have just witnessed the insider game of self-dealing that unfortunately confirms every New Yorker’s worst fear and image of all that goes on in the Legislature of this state,” he fumed. There was some party coming up….some get-to-know-you wing ding with Assembly members. Spitzer cancelled it!

    It's an odd place to pick a fight. Yes, he lost the skirmish, but it's a petty skirmish. The Assembly's constitutionally empowered to do just what they did….choose their own guy. Moreover, the guy they chose gets high marks all around, and seemingly fits in well with Spitzer's reform program, except Spitzer didn't think of him himself.

    No matter! Spitzer is here to kick some butts. And New Yorkers agree that butts need kicking, even if their not really sure….who actually follows state politics?….exactly which butts need it most. This is the Assembly that has presided over an ever more hopeless basket case mess-of-a-State, and the perception, right or wrong, is that these guys care for little else than protecting their own turf. So New York's indebtedness is second only to one other state, it's taxes are second to none, Medicaid expenditures are twice the national average, businesses can't leave fast enough, and the school graduates behind them. Only once in 16 years has the annual state budget passed on time…it's been up to six months late….these guys stake out territory and refuse to budge. Schools and municipalities can't do their own budgets, not knowing what aid they'll get from the state. Witty New Yorkers say things like (trust me, I know) "Last one out of New York, turn out the lights." The former governor tried to address some of these problems and these guys handed him his head. He learned to shut up and smile.

    Rochester's quirky Bob Lonsberry suggests that Spitzer should have been more conciliatory. These guys (the Assembly) aren't going away, he points out, and unlike Eliot's former Wall Street foes, you can't throw them in jail or run them out of business. But it may be that Spitzer thinks nothing will change if he simply plays the game nice. No, Mr. Spitzer was elected in a landslide. He has lots of good will. The assemblymen have none. Many would agree with Ed Rooney …. "I’m all for a tyranical dictator. The beauty of hitting rock bottom is that you have no where to go but up."

    Meanwhile, journalists are stocking up on popcorn. It's gonna be an interesting few years.

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    Tom Irregardless and Me            No Fake News but Plenty of Hogwash

  • Psst! Hey….Buddy! Wanna be President?

    Everybody is running for President next year, because of easy publicity on the internet.

    The current President is decidedly unpopular, and I just read a pertinent article:

    Only 32% of Americans approve of his job performance. Forty three per cent say that his war was a mistake. Critics deride him as too stubborn and inflexible. Others dismiss him as a intellectual lightweight. But the president sticks to his guns. "I wonder how far Moses would have gone if he’d taken a poll in Egypt?" he writes. "It isn’t polls or public opinion of the moment that counts. It’s right and wrong.

    The article is by Kenneth T Walsh. It appears in the 2/5/07 USNWR. And the president he writes of is not you-know-who.

    It’s Harry S Truman, now thought to one of the great American presidents, though trashed in his day!

    George W Bush hopes the same opinion reversal will someday blow his way, but not everyone buys it. Says Robert Dallek: "Everybody who gets into serious trouble in the presidency invokes the Truman history and the Truman experience. But there’s only one Harry Truman."

    Be that as it may, I bring up the subject to talk about Truman, not Bush. He was the most ordinary of men when circumstances made him president.  And today he enjoys history’s highest assessment.

    Now, what other recent president has received universal praise?

    It’s Gerald T. Ford, who died last month at age 93. Gerald T. Ford, who "healed" the nation by pardoning Nixon, though it ended his political future. But it was a wise thing to do…what’s the point of reducing a former president to car wash attendant?….and historians now praise Ford for his action ….throwing himself on a grenade is how Peggy Noonan puts it. I’ve read nothing but "he was precisely what the country needed at the time." High praise, indeed.

    Do these two former praiseworthy presidents have anything in common? They do indeed. Neither one ever wanted the job!

    Ford, of course, was never elected president or even vice-president…..he became VP when Spiro Agnew went down in flames, enmeshed in some sort of corruption scandal…I forget the details, and president when Nixon resigned. Nixon was always making comments….they weren’t chums…. about what a lunkhead he was. Mean remarks, though not so mean as those of Lyndon B Johnson, the crude sonuvagun, who opined that Ford couldn’t fart and chew gum at the same time, which observation the press sanitized to he couldn’t walk and chew gum at the same time. (You’ll notice that historians have not been especially kind to Johnson)

    Neither was Truman ever elected president. And almost not vice-president. He never campaigned for the office, but was put there by party brokers who didn’t like him much but saw him as electable, in contrast to several other luminaries who they liked better but knew they were too polarizing to bet on. Like Nixon’s view of Ford, Roosevelt couldn’t stand Truman.

    So two men who never aspired to the office are now judged to be among the greats. In contrast to the turkeys who run, who get elected, and we’re still licking our wounds! The lesson ought to be obvious. For the upcoming election, whenever someone declares his or her candidacy, scratch that person off the list of those you will consider. Instead, look for someone who does not want the job and will not accept it, preferably someone hiding in the coat closet amidst the luggage.

  • Elliot Spitzer and the Garbage Plate

    Hickey Freeman was not enough! Elliot Spitzer has selected another Rochester icon to usher in his inauguration day this Monday…the Garbage Plate. Seems when he was in Rochester his wife sampled this bit of local cuisine just after or before Mr. Spitzer bought his new suit, and decreed it must be on the Big Day Menu.  If she ate the whole thing, she’s 20 pounds heavier now. A “gut-busting” local favorite, it’s a hot dog or hamburger under home fries, macaroni salad, baked beans and meat sauce. It’s a Rochester legend, as is Nick Tahou’s, the restaurant where it was invented.

    When the old man (Nick) was alive there was just one restaurant, open 24 hours, in the rugged part of the city. Sheepandgoats worked in the suburbs during the B shift, and rubbed shoulders with all the suburban wannabe toughs who maintained that they were tough, and as proof, cited that they were not afraid to venture into the city, at night, to grab a Garbage Plate at Tahou’s! Of course, it wasn’t really that big of a deal. Sheepandgoats, who for many years lived in the city and consequently, to a mild degree is "streetwise",  did not consider a nocturnal visit a test of manhood, but such was the reputation.

    When our buddy Derrick ran the 5K race, he finished, more or less, last, but we were all proud of him on account of the effort. We went to celebrate at Nick Tahou’s ordering Garbage Plates all around. They needed cranes to get us out of there.

    Mr. Spitzer’s new Hickey Freeman suit provides Rochesterians with an early warning of his intentions, but not necessarily his ability. Now the Garbage Plate has come to the rescue! If Mr. Spitzer wears his Hickey Freeman suit, which he said he would do, subject to assorted disclaimers of my previous post, and he eats 3 or 4 Garbage Plates, which he must do to make us happy in Rochester, and he does not slop any of it on his new suit, then he can do anything! Everything will indeed change, as he has promised, the only possible exception being his unspotted suit!

    Spitzer watch here.

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    Tom Irregardless and Me           No Fake News but Plenty of Hogwash

  • Elliot Spitzer’s New Suit

    You would think the Messiah was coming. “On Day One, Everything Changes!” pledged the campaign ads. Voters loved it, because it was Elliot Spitzer and he’d made a ruckus on Wall Street, sending some rich people to jail. He trounced what’s-his-name to become New York State governor. They swear him in January 1, amidst high expectations. But can he keep his promises?

    Politicians don’t always keep promises and when they don’t you can’t necessarily conclude you‘ve been lied to, though that always possible. Sometimes, once in office, they learn new things that cause him to reflect how ridiculous their  promise was in the first place, and so they change it. Or their heartfelt promise dies when they go toe to toe with some fathead who has promised just the opposite and there’s no guarantee your guy won’t get outmaneuvered. But with Mr. Spitzer, there is a canary in the coalmine, an easy-to-keep promise that will reassure us as to his future intentions. And it will actually happen “on day one.”

    Just after winning, Mr. Spitzer visited Rochester, where Sheepandgoats lives. He met with the mayor, said some nice things, and toured Hickey Freeman. Hickey Freeman manufacturers men’s suits, expensive ones that are sold on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Rochester used to have a lot of such manufacturers, but they’ve all moved or gone belly-up. H-F updated their facility in the city’s depressed sector and stayed. We admire them. The state must do more to accommodate business, Spitzer said, and then he bought a new suit, and promised he’d wear it on inauguration day (Day One). Many heard him say it. It was in the newspaper.

    So we’ll soon know. If he wears it, all is well. If he doesn’t….well then…like the Who…we got fooled again.

    Of course, we must be careful not to quickly jump to conclusions if he doesn‘t wear it. Maybe he will spill taco sauce on it, just like I do on my suits, and so it will have to go to the dry cleaners who won’t get it back on time. Or maybe he will kiss a baby, the way politicians do, and that baby will puke on him. Indeed, at the Kingdom Hall, you can often spot a new Dad by the puke marks on his suit, but would you show up for inauguration like that? You would not. So Mr. Spitzer has some wiggle room.

    Still, early signs are troubling. The Democrat and Chronicle’s staff writer Joseph Spector covered Mr. Spitzer’s Hickey-Freeman visit and reported he said (November 16th D&C issue) he’d wear the suit. But now I see a friendly blog from Andy [Spitzer’s Day One] who reports Spitzer said he will likely wear the suit!  And the original D&C link is now dead.

    Uh oh.

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    Tom Irregardless and Me           No Fake News but Plenty of Hogwash

     

     

  • Senate Balance of Power and Revelation Chapter 12

    Of the two parties, Democrats are the most liberated from religion. But they are praying like the Dalai Lama today…praying for the speedy recovery of South Dakota Senator Tim Johnson, who was hospitalized Wednesday with stroke-like symptoms. If he doesn’t get better, then that state’s governor will select a replacement, and if he selects a Republican, which he may well do since that’s his affiliation, then the Democrats lose their one person majority in the Senate…it becomes a 50/50 body, with Republican Vice President Dick Chaney to break tie votes. Such a development will seriously undermine Democratic plans to kick the President’s butt for the next two years, which they look forward to doing, as the opposition party always does. Tractor trailers loaded with Get Well cards are arriving at the hospital daily.

    As Senators go, Tim Johnson seems kind of a bashful boy. He rarely hogs center stage and confines his efforts to….gasp….representing his state! The greatest impact he's had yet on national politics is to fall ill.

    ……………………………

    Whenever there is a change in party majority, such as this past election in both houses, lots of people lose their jobs. Not just the defeated incumbents, but all their team players and staffers. Some of these folks aren’t happy to be out of work, especially since it’s not their fault. They just hitched their wagon to the wrong horse….their clod proved too inept to beat off the competition, which you ought to be able to do, since incumbents have the advantage of inertia. Indeed, some of those in power arrived years ago at 180 lbs and now weigh almost 300 lbs. So the peripheral team may try to hold on. Republicans (this time) hide in the closet, behind the water cooler, even grab tight hold of the copy machine, just like Joab grabbed hold of the horns of the alter (1 Kings 2:28), but to no avail. Democrats find them no matter where they are and toss them out the Congress front door and down the steps!

    This is not unlike the new broom that sweeps the heavens clean when God’s Kingdom comes to power there in 1914:

    So down the great dragon was hurled, the original serpent, the one called Devil and Satan, who is misleading the entire inhabited earth; he was hurled down to the earth, and his angels were hurled down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come to pass the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ, because the accuser of our brothers has been hurled down, who accuses them day and night before our God!…..On this account be glad, you heavens and you who reside in them! Woe for the earth and for the sea, because the Devil has come down to you, having great anger, knowing he has a short period of time.”                  Rev 12: 9-12

    These verses describe God’s Kingdom setting up shop in the heavens and temporarily triggering wretched conditions on an already troubled earth, which do not end until the new Kingdom extends it’s active rule over that sphere, a move which ultimately restores earth to it’s original paradise state. The Bible terms that latter event the end of this system of things (NWT). (end of the age….NIV;  end of the world….KJV) During this in-between period, the Kingdom is publicized earth wide, and many take a stand so as to be in harmony with it:

    And this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come.     Matt 24:14

    Now, I freely admit it sounds absurd that a heavenly event should be said to occur in a specific year. Yet Watchtower publications present persuasive evidence [search: 1914] from a convergence of both world events and Bible prophesy that such is the case, and to a much lesser extent, some evidence is presented here. The date 1914 was advertised in advance.

    If you can get past that quirk with a specific year, there are some parallels a person can use in explaining where we are in the stream of time. After election day, the victors toss out the schnooks and empower their own people, as they gear up for inauguration day. It’s a similar situation with Revelation 12 and the end of this system of things. The baddies are tossed out of the heavens and those who rule with Christ are cultivated.

    And they sing a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll and open its seals, because you were slaughtered and with your blood you bought persons for God out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and you made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God, and they are to rule as kings over the earth.”     Rev 5:9,10

    Of course, Revelation 12 contrasts the forces of God with those of the Devil. Don’t imagine that feature finds any parallel in today's politics. No. Don’t even think it. Neither political party is worse than the other. They’re just different.

    Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.    Matt 6:10  KJV

     

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    Tom Irregardless and Me               No Fake News but Plenty of Hogwash

  • Mr. Hevasi Sorry About the Chauffer

    It was the filthiest, the slimiest, the most slanderous election campaign in memory. How many times can one guy accuse the other of whoremongering before you just donate your TV to the VOA? Outraged voters are demanding laws so they won’t be subjected to it ever again.

    A law won’t be needed, however. This past election saw a new campaign technique which was so unexpected and so successful that it will, for sure, replace negative campaign ads. Trouble is, it’s even worse.

    New York State Comptroller Alan Hevasi, up for re-election, was the catalyst. They said he redirected an underling to be family chauffer, all at taxpayer’s expense! Mr. Hevasi wasted no time to tell us that he merely “forgot” and that he was “sorry.”

    But this explanation wasn’t reassuring from someone who’s job is to monitor spending. What if the New York Yankees “forgot” the rules of baseball? What if the Los Angeles Lakers “forgot” how to play basketball? What if even our own beloved Buffalo Bills "forgot" how to…..um….well…..the Yankees and the Lakers, anyway.

    So Mr. Hevasi switched explanations. His family had received death threats! That’s why they needed a State chauffer. But the comptroller isn’t really the James Bond type. People didn’t empathize, so he moved on.

    His next move was absolutely breathtaking! He said, in his ads, he’d made a dumb move! Yes, he’d been dumb, and he was sorry! No attempt to cover his rear end! No attempt to swipe at the other guy! I’ve never seen anything like it.

    Voters loved it! They forgave all, and restored him to his post.

    How this successful new tactic will affect the next campaign is too scary to contemplate:

    “I made a dumb move!”
    “I, too, made a dumb move!”
    “Yes, but I made a dumber move!”
    “Well, I made two dumb moves, and I am dumb!”
    “I’m dumber than you and made so many dumb moves I need a scorecard!!”

    In the future, we may look back to 2006 as the good old days.

  • A Bad End for Badfinger

    A favorite second-tier music group of mine is Badfinger, who cut some records in the 60’s and 70’s. First time I heard their music, I mistook them for the Beatles. In fact, Paul McCartney wrote their first hit song, and the group appeared on the Apple music label.

    I heard them on the radio again and became curious. Where are they today? I googled them.

    Wow, don’t ever do that! What a sordid tale! Fights with promoters, fights with critics, fights with each other. For a time, two estranged members both headed bands named Badfinger. Beaten down by legal and artistic hassles, one member hanged himself. A dozen years later, another member did exactly the same thing. You’d never guess these things from the music, which is catchy.

    Musicians don’t lead easy lives, and were it not too morbid, I would make my fortune marketing the Dead Musician Trivia Game. How did they die? I’ve yet to worry out all the rules, but I imagine the more dead musicians you could account for, the more points you would score.

    Once, in a while, musicians die honorable deaths…..George Harrison of cancer, for example…..and two or three of them have actually died from natural causes! All others, though, fall into one of the following categories: Plane crashes, drug overdose, suicide, with a handful of  sub-genres such as car crashes and murder.

    If it didn’t seem so morbid, I’d list them all. But it does seem morbid. So you have to do it yourself. Get out your old records albums and go through the groups. Use google if you have to. What a productive way to spend a rainy afternoon! Your Goth friends will be ecstatic.

    The solution, likely not too far away, is for Congress to require warning labels on all musical instruments, just as they do on cigarettes. Warning: regular playing of this instrument may lead to plane crash, drug overdose, or suicide. They love stuff like that up on Capital Hill. It gives the impression they are doing something.