Review/Prediction - Finian's Rainbow will be coming to Broadway

FOLLOW UP ON PREDICTION
NYTIMES FRIDAY APRIL 3, 2009
FINIAN'S RAINBOW going to Broadway
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g6JLMb53o4y2Q_3vHM4WuArTesAQD97AHL6O0

If there's a producer left who can still "spare a dime" - I predict that the revival of Burton Lane and Yip Harburg's Finian's Rainbow, which began its March 26-29 NYC City Center Encores production tonight will be headed back to Broadway where it originally opened in 1947. A big reason it will work is a roster of classic show tunes which each have only one major flaw - they end.


Even if the cast wasn't so gorgeous and talented it might still be hard to go wrong with songs like

"How are things in Glocca Morra?" "Old Devil Moon?" " If this isnt Love" and "When Im Not near the Girl I love."

Its always fun when a hit from another era gets laughs by hitting nerves from the evening news - in this case it's about gold, tax liens, Shears and Roebush pushing easy credit based on rumor inflated property value and a vanishing pot of gold. By the way - that pot of gold was stolen from "the little people" by an old charming guy who initially intended just to borrow it for awhile.

Throw into the stew a magical race change, and a song like "When the Idle Poor Become the Idle Rich" and you've got a show that avoids the revival killing third rail by not feeling dated.

The leads Cheyenne Jackson and Kate Baldwin have show stopping voices and great chemistry with each other. Jeremy Bobb, the perfectly cast leprechaun is fun to watch as he throws it all away for Aina Faye - a statuesque blonde who mesmerizes with a classical ballet solo in a spotlight accompanied by the thumping wailing blues harmonica of Guy Davis (Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee's son)

Philip Bosco brings an eminence grise quality to his central role as the metamorphosing racist southern pol. He doesnt have a lot of stage time but he does get lines like - " No I haven't read the constitution I'm too busy defending it".

Amid all this talent it says a lot that when Terri White belts out her full throated gospel - chandelier shaking - rendition of "Necessity" - it stands out. Jim Norton as the old guy who dragged his daughter and his pot of gold to America does everything with a fun to watch twinkle.

The signature of Encores is its crisp spirited staging and choreography that fits seamlessly into the limited strip of City Center's stage that the performers share with a full orchestra. In this production it makes for a never boring showcasing mush of talent and adds an excitement that I hope doesn't get lost on Broadway.

You heard it here.

A VOICE FROM OVER THE CLIFF - - JOHN BOLTON OPPOSES MIDDLE EAST PEACE

Bush hired John Bolton to be the United States UN Ambassador because Bolton hated the UN and believed that it should not exist.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyTmuCJ95Bk

Remember him - he’s the one that always looks like he's standing on his front porch glaring at you, while holding the baseball you just drilled through his living room window.

I promised my wife I’d stop buying the NY Post but I did find one on the subway yesterday- honest Lori that's how I came across Bolton’s rant against Obama’s attempt to start peace talks in the middle east. (Team Obama's Anti Israel Turn NY Post 3/13/09) Yes that’s right - he’s against middle east peace.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/03132009/postopinion/opedcolumnists/team_obamas_anti_israel_turn_159276.htm


Im always a little afraid of smart conservatives who oppose Obama. I worry that if they start making sense it might be a sign that the opposition is getting it together. For me its my own little "canary in the mine" early warning system. Based on Bolton's babble in the Post this week the canary is still breathing quite well - so far.

Bolton's entire NY Post opinion piece is cut and pasted in bold below mixed in with my comments.


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The Obama administration is increasingly fixed on resolving the "Arab-Israeli dispute," seeing it as the key to peace and stability in the Middle East. This is bad news for Israel - and for America.

Its not a typo - he actually said that middle east peace is bad for Israel. This is a helpful reminder of what violent radical fundamentalist nuts were running the government

In its purest form, this theory holds that, once Israel and its neighbors come to terms, all other regional conflicts can be duly resolved: Iran's nuclear-weapons program, fanatical anti-Western terrorism, Islam's Sunni-Shiite schism, Arab-Persian ethnic tensions.

Some advocates believe substantively that the overwhelming bulk of other Middle Eastern grievances, wholly or partly, stem from Israel's founding and continued existence. Others see it in process terms - how to "sequence" dispute resolutions, so that Arab-Israeli progress facilitates progress elsewhere.Pursuing this talisman has long characterized many European leaders and their soulmates on the American left.

Now, what the heck do I know? Im just some bloviating guy barking into cyperspace from his kitchen table but did he just say that it's anti Israel to suggest that Middle East peace would help in the fight against terrorism?

Here's my insightful reaction - Huh?

With chewing gum and spit logic he concludes that getting engaged in "the Arab Israeli conflict" is an attack on "Israel's founding and existence" and therefore working for Arab Israeli peace is working for the destruction of Israel.

Based on nothing he has now set up his straw man on which he builds the rest of his rant that its not just Barack Obama who is anti Israel but also Hillary Clinton and George Mitchell.

I get it now. These guys believe that diplomacy is for weaklings. Like "many European leaders" [ in other words like all those gibberish speaking foreign weirdos at the UN] and their soulmates on the American left".

When Hillary Clinton walked into the State Department on her first day of work and was cheered liked a rock star - it was because the career State Department employees knew that the store was open for business again.

The Mideast "peace process" is thus the ultimate self-licking ice cream cone - its mere existence being its basic justification.

And now the Obama administration has made it US policy. This is evidenced by two key developments: the appointment of former Sen. George Mitchell as special envoy for the region, and Secretary of State Hillary's Clinton's recent insistence on a "two-state solution" sooner rather than later.

Naming Mitchell as a high-level, single-issue envoy - rather than keeping the portfolio under Secretary Clinton's personal control - separates Israel from the broader conduct of US diplomacy. Mitchell's role underlines both the issue's priority in the president's eyes and the implicit idea it can be solved in the foreseeable future.

Obama and Mitchell have every incentive to strike a Middle East deal - both to vindicate themselves and, in their minds, to create a basis for further "progress." But there are few visible incentives for any particular substantive outcome - which is very troubling for Israel, since Mitchell's mission essentially replicates in high-profile form exactly the approach the State Department has followed for decades.

It took a few rereads but I did finally figure out what he was trying to say. To the Bush administration the peace process was something you hold up for the world to see while you do nothing about it- not one lick.

[I must confess that, like a lousy song that I cant get out my head, I have spent too large a part of today trying to picture how a "self licking ice cream cone" works. A"self licking ice cream cone" ? Excuse me? - what youthful hallucinogenic experiment did that reference come from John? - forget about politics - tell us more about that weekend.


The heart of what he’s saying is that Israel has nothing to gain - and everything to lose- from the peace process. That’s the line in the sand between right and left on this issue. Between Labor and Likud as well as Republicans and Democrats.

At least we have some clarity here and that's always helpful.

When appointed, Mitchell said confidently: "Conflicts are created, conducted and sustained by human beings. They can be ended by human beings." This is true,however, only if the conflict's substantive resolution is less important than the process point of "ending" it one way or another. Surrender, for example, is a guaranteed way to end conflict

Here, Clinton's strident insistence on a "two-state solution" during her recent Mideast trip becomes important.

Have neo cons ever referred to Hillary Clinton or any other prominent female democrat, for that matter, without using the word "strident"?

She essentially argued predestination: the "inevitability" of moving toward two states is "inescapable," and "there is no time to waste." The political consequence is clear: Since the outcome is inevitable and time is short, there is no excuse for not making "progress." Delay is evidence of obstructionism and failure - something President Obama can't tolerate, for the sake of his policies and his political reputation.

A person with intellectual integrity would at least admit that he opposes the two state solution. I guess rather than defend the indefensible his criticism is that Hillary is making the peace process too much of a priority. There is a science fiction "Planet of the Upside Down People" quality to the way these folks think . If only they were just fictional characters.

You know a guy is in trouble when the best handful of mud he can sling at the President of the United States, is that after two months in office Obama is against obstructionism and failure" and that he cares about his "political reputation". The canary in the mine is singing its little head off.

In this very European view, failure on the Arab-Israeli front presages failure elsewhere. Accordingly, the Obama adminstration has created a negotiating dynamic that puts increasing pressure on Israel, Palestinians, Syria and others.

To neo cons calling someone a European is the same as cursing at them. Remember when Europeans questioned the fraudulent invasion of Iraq and Rumsfeld sneeringly dismissed them as the "old Europe".

Bolton's point is that the peace process can only hurt Israel because Israelis are so reasonable and care about what the world thinks of them and are therefore easier to bully.

That might be the subject of a good faith argument - but using it to attack Obama as anti Israel is just plain sleazy and knowingly dishonest. The last things these guys want is a good faith debate.

Also -the phrase anti Israel is read by many people as anti-semitic and he knows it. We are seeing an opposition strategy of using every opportunity to yell fire in a crowded theatre and pray for chaos that they can use to regain power. [Keep an eye on Cheney's frequent interviews in which he warns of an imminent terrorist attack because we stopped torturing.] It has also occurred to me that the only reason Bolton wrote this thing was, not because anyone will actually read it, but to get the NY Post demographic exposed to a headline that Obama is anti Israel.

To make such a vitriolic inflammatory statement without taking one word of responsibility for the foreign policy disasters they left for Obama on his desk, tied up with a ribbon, speaks volumes about how incompetent, creepy, dishonest and dangerous these people are.

Almost invariably, Israel is the loser - because Israel is the party most dependent on the United States, most subject to US pressure and most susceptible to the inevitable chorus of received wisdom from Western diplomats, media and the intelligentsia demanding concessions. When pressure must be applied to make compromises, it's always easier to pressure the more reasonable side.

How will diplomatic pressure work to change Hamas or Hezbollah, where even military force has so far failed? If anything, one can predict coming pressure on Israel to acknowledge the legitimacy of these two terrorist groups, and to negotiate with them as equals (albeit perhaps under some artful camouflage). The pattern is so common that its reappearance in the Mitchell-led negotiations is what is really "inevitable" and "inescapable." Why would America subject a close ally to this dynamic, playing with the security of an unvarying supporter in world affairs? For America, Israel's intelligence-sharing, military cooperation and significant bilateral economic ties, among many others, are important national-security assets that should not lightly be put at risk.

The only understandable answer is that the Obama administration believes that Israel is as much or more of a problem as it is an ally, at least until Israel's disagreements with its neighbors are resolved. Instead of seeing Israel as a national-security asset, the administration likely sees a relationship complicating its broader policy of diplomatic "outreach." No one will say so publicly, but this is the root cause of Obama's "Arab-Israeli issues first" approach to the region.

This approach is exactly backward. All the other regional problems would still exist even if Mahmoud Ahmadinejad got his fondest wish and Israel disappeared from the map: Iran's nuclear-weapons program, its role as the world's central banker for terrorism, the Sunni-Shiite conflict within Islam, Sunni terrorist groups like al Qaeda and other regional ethnic, national and political animosities would
continue as threats and risks for decades to come.

Instead, the US focus should be on Iran and the manifold threats it poses to Israel, to Arab states friendly to Washington and to the United States itself - but that is not to be.

President Obama argues that he will deal comprehensively with the entire region. Rhetoric is certainly his specialty, but in the Middle East rhetoric only lasts so long. Performance is the real measure

So now we have the two world views laid out side by side.

The Bush administration ignored Israeli-Arab peace because they viewed it as a platform to pressure and criticize Israel.



Bolton is not just arguing for proposed policies. They had their chance to do it their way and the result was an 8 year train wreck that Obama has to dig us out from under.

Bolton's attack on Obama's foreign policy is like the inventor of the Corvair screaming that you guys are idiots for moving the gas tank away from the trunk.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1658545_1658498_1657833,00.html

and the administration's performance to date points in only one direction: pressuring Israel while wooing Iran. Others in the world - friend and foe alike - will draw their own conclusions.

Bolton doesnt acknowledge it but his Post piece headline should have been "Bring back the Bush Middle East policies - which was put no resources into diplomacy and rely only on actual and threatened unilateral military force to remake the geopolitical map - in exhange for ignoring the Arab/Israeli peace process hope to get good Israeli military intelligence.

Bolton couldnt acknowledge that he is urging a return to the Bush policies because critical self examination and honestly taking responsibility for failure is not part of the neo con DNA.

Thank god we got our country back from these awful human beings.

And thank you John Bolton for this reminder of how important it is that we keep it that way


PS Bolton was on Jon Stewart in 2007- check out the great interview
http://crooksandliars.com/media/play/wmv/695/12953

DOING THE D.C TOURIST THING FOR A 3 DAY WEEKEND - A FEW LORI RESTAURANT/TRAVEL NOTES

We were able to get one of our daughters on Spring Break to join us to do the DC tourist thing for three days. Bolt Bus is Greyhound's answer to the Chinatown Bus competition and boy is it great to be car free in a town with a subway system. It was $23 for the trip down on Friday and $18 going home Monday night- the bus back had leather seats, wifi and a plug outlet. https://www.boltbus.com/default.aspx
http://www.nychinatown.org/directory/m_bus.html
My little "you're not in Kansas anymore" moment was a Washington Post Metro section headline reminding Washingtonians that the choppers that frequently buzz overhead will soon be Lakotas and not the aging Vietnam era Hueys. The kind of story you're not going to read in the NYTimes Metro section.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/06/AR2009030603207.html

With a $139 per night weekend rate River Inn is a terrific friendly hotel -centrally located - near the Foggy Bottom subway stop and within view of the Watergatehttp://theriverinn.com/


http://www.visitingdc.com/boat-bus-metro/washington-dc-metro-subway.htm
http://map.mapnetwork.com/destination/dc/

http://www.washington.org/

http://www.travelpost.com/NA/USA/District_of_Columbia/Washington/logs/7844670

As hungry early risers we could not find a place to have breakfast before 8 AM on Saturday. The room had a cute little equipped kitchenette - with coffee beans and a grinder - we picked up eggs at 7-11 and it was breakfast in the room.

DC is a company town and you see lots of plastic covered government id's hanging from necks during subway rush hour. Another striking difference between Washington and New York - the restaurants were busy. You have to wonder if its those relatively secure goverment paychecks.

Friday night dinner
Cafe Atlantico -
They have good pre-theatre menu until 6:30 - $35 three courses- the most delicious salad that had a kind of puffed wild rice and walnut dressing with gorgonzola - delicious short ribs came with spinach and mushrooms. For desert molten chocolate cake with banana cream like whip - chocolate pudding and great mojitos with lots of mint - grilled octopus off the prix fixe was fabulous



Saturday Lunch
We went back to Atlantico the next day for lunch. The Crab cake salad - with two tiny crab cakes - shredded not lumps - and boring greens was not the only disappointing part of the meal.
My daughter ordered her omelette whites only, no potatoes and no bacon. When we questioned the sad little naked $16 omlette that arrived, a snippy manager took it off the check but not without scolding us with "thats why we dont do special orders" followed by they will never do special orders again because of us. To future customers of Atlantico who may want an undersized egg whites only omlette with no bacon or potatoes -for 16 bucks - we offer our heartfelt apologies. We ruined it for everybody.

Sunday night dinner in Georgetown
Hook -upscale seafood -http://www.hookdc.com/ very attractive place ($27 entrees) friendly, knowledgeable waiters and staff. The place takes pride in its sustainable fish only policy. Our waiter pointed out that the fish from Australia was the kind that gets caught up in a bigger catch and we might not see it again. So Im thinking - aren't you creating a market for this diminishing species and discouraging fishermen from throwing it back?

Excellent tuna tartare appetizer with small little tasty if hard to identify cubes of something on the side. We also had Artic char from Iceland - the waiter reminded us that Iceland could use the cash - good point - brussel sprouts, sweet potatoes and celeriac puree - delicious
A Japanese broth with mushrooms and a dark green with a fish called suzuki - was tasty. Memo to self - if its called broth you'll be hungry afterwards

It did leave room for a chocoholics dessert built with layers of intense chocolate and nutella ice cream on the side.

The free museums of the Smithsonian are perfect for my short attention span because you can bop in and out of these world class places without guilt.
http://www.si.edu/

The Smithsonian National Museum of American History is great. http://americanhistory.si.edu/The exhibits are supplemented with some very cool performances by actors playing historical characters - like one of the college students from the Civil Rights era lunch counter sit down. The actor walked through the lobby, picket sign over his shoulder, with his beautiful voice miked and booming out a civil rights protest song, as he made his way to a replica of the famous lunch counter for an interactive presentation.









Betsy Ross was also at work rounding up little ones in the crowd to help her place stars on a lobby size flag.

Its not part of the Smithsonian and therefore not free but The Newseum is an entire new building devoted to the media - lots of historical front pages, videos about and by media biggies and a funny montage of comic send ups of the news, a tribute to fallen journalists with Daniel Pearl's lap top, a special exhibit about the coverage of the Lincoln assasination. They even have the actual broken into door from the Watergate. Its worth a few hours. http://www.newseum.org/

You dont get to see much on the Capital tour, but it is fun just to be in the building plus you get passing glimpses of stuff - as we walked by Speaker Pelosi was holding a press conference on the Capital steps surrounded by a coterie of well coifed folks. http://www.visitthecapitol.gov/

Dont forget the Library of Congress http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2008/08-199.html
That's where Jefferson's bible is, the one that Obama used for his swearing in. Jefferson's actual library is on display in a glass enclosed semi- circular bookshelf. The current Lincoln exhibit " With Malice Towards None" is an opportunity to see Lincoln letters and documents - a few every day writings and legal documents, from his law practise and lots of presidency artifacts and photos including his draft of the Gettysburg Address.


To get a White House tour you need to give them a week for a Secret Service clearance check.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/history/
So we just walked by to marvel at the sight of the Obama families new home - makes one pretty goose bumpy.

The sight of an Afro American couple just sitting on the stone ledge in front of the White House fence, quietly taking in the historic tsunami said it all.

Slipping on psychic bananna peels - Mike Birbiglia's one man show -"SLEEPWALK WITH ME"- A REVIEW

Mike Birbiglia's one man show "Sleepwalk With Me" at the Bleecker Street Theatre, in Greenwich Village, is a stand up act that grew up into a well crafted, hour and 1/2 soul exposing look at a troubled father son relationship, a life threatening illness, a crippling sleepwalking disorder and a broken engagement - all built on the foundation of tried and true material. It worked.

This appealing 30 year old comic welcomes us to join him in a look back at his long hard years of lonely thankless life on the road - comedy clubs, chaotic college gigs and crummy hotels and the combination mental jujitsu/self deception required to get over gigs that bomb - and he loved every minute.

Guys who are good- like Birbiglia - make it by perfecting a funny persona and solid "A laugh" material. Cracking up stoned college kids is one thing but moving on by sculpting his stand up act into a one man show that puts grown up asses in seats off Broadway and rocks the house night after night - now thats something!

OK here comes some critique - I'm being very generous about the house rocking - the laughs were steady - but stronger at different times from alternating parts of the crowd. There were also slow parts that could use tweaking. Nonetheless, the final applause from a smiling audience was long, strong and genuine.

The show feels like you're having a drink with a your vulnerable, unflinchingly honest, schlumpy, old college friend and repeatedly struggling not to spit out beer laughing as he brings you up to date on his years of repeatedly slipping on psychic bananna peels.

http://www.sleepwalkwithmike.com/

A FRONT PAGE SNAP SHOT TO MY KIDS

Sometimes I send my 21 year old kids a snapshot of the NYTimes front page - its like when my generation used to get clippings in an envelope from our parents that we would ignore -

Hey girls - todays NY Times (2/27/09) ran a front page margin to margin two line banner headline - all capital letters

OBAMA BREAKING FROM A TROUBLED PAST SEEKS A BUDGET TO RESHAPE U.S. PRIORITIES
Tax Rise for Wealthy - Push on Health and Energy

When the Times runs a banner headline you know its a big deal

sub articles on 1st pg
Political Skills Put to the Test
and
A Bold Plan Sweeps Away Reagan ideas

So here is my snapshot - The Reagan and after Reagan years were a conservative bulldozer and wrecking ball attack on the social and economic legacy of Roosevelt's New Deal and the Johnson Great Society. Their radical ideology is that government should do very little except transfer wealth to the rich and let everyone else - except rich people and big corporations - get by on scraps that fall off societies economic table - they called it "trickle down economics".

When you scratch the surface of the Republican world view and of American politics generally you find race lurking not far below the surface. Conswervatives use race to lure white working people into supporting Republican policies that screw them. The psychic bottom line is these guys were and are horrified at paying taxes if some of it ends up being spent to benefit "those people". Remember when McCain called Obama "that one" during a debate. That slip up crawled out of the same racial swamp.

It is possible that Obama's election changed the landscape or maybe I should say the playing field, overnight. We will know more as time passes and ultimately so much hinges on whether he succeeds or fails.

But right now we are living through a seismic shift in the tectonic plates of America's political and economic topography. Its the kind of thing that could only happen when there is a "perfect storm" of historical events - the disastrous Bush years, two disastrous wars, the disastrous economy and a brilliant, disciplined, honest, charismatic, transformative political figure like Barack Obama and his megawatt smile - who may very well be redefining everything - including all the old models of political leadership. He has even changed the way I deal with adversaries in my practice - I regularly ask myself when another lawyer is driving me nuts - WWBD - what would Barak do- the answer is he'd probably take the guy out for coffee - they'd talk about basketball, their kids and then make a deal.

While Republicans cant get over their failed one trick pony theory of more tax cuts - this budget focuses on permanently strengthening infrastructure along with bedrock institutions like health care and education. As the engines of the US and world economy sputter and stall everyone is praying, including us atheists, that Obama will be our Captain Sullenberger - everyone, that is, except Rush Limbaugh who repeatedly says he hopes Obama fails. He decided to drop that old "stand by our President in time of war and crisis" stuff that he'd been peddling because now there are fundamental, truly American, priorities at stake such as keeping his ratings up and not losing advertisers.

This is really a living example of that old line that newspapers are a first draft of history - generations will be writing and studying these events the way prior generations look back at the great depression followed by Roosevelt and his legacy.

By the way girls if this was too much bloviating let me know
Love
Dad

THE RECOVERY BILL IS SIGNED BUT IT FEELS TOO MUCH LIKE ONE OF THOSE OLD HORROR FLICKS WHERE THE CREATURES WERE BEATEN BACK BUT THE MOVIE JUST STARTED

Obama defeated the Republicans and got his recovery bill. Hopefully - history will see it as the turning point, but its hard not to be scared silly that it won't work.

I have this "calm before the storm" feeling about Obama's first major legislative victory - there is a real possibility that the Obama plan is not going to get banks lending again and we are really screwed.

I just wish I didn't feel like we're the young couple whose car broke down at midnight during a storm near the old creepy farmhouse, slowly climbing the cellar stairs to assess the damage after the opening skirmish with the monsters. Its suddenly quiet out there - too quiet.

At this moment the Republicans are in retreat and praying - as Limbaugh admitted- that the recovery effort fails. I guess he dropped that whole patriotism in time of crisis thing.

As we slowly open the cellar door and poke our heads out we can see the retreating creatures off in the distance - limping away over the horizon - having lost round one - shuffling and crawling back to the graveyard or swamp. We can hear them howling back at us over their shoulders -

"We will be back!" "It will never work"

"Its a Christmas tree full of Democratic pork"

"You have doomed future generations with trillions of debt for nothing"


The Republicans know that whats at stake here is nothing less their entire identity built on decades of post Reagan philosophy about reducing government and cutting taxes and redistributing wealth to rich people - as the answer to everything.

In one piece of legislation Obama and Congress have essentially committed the United States treasury to a 21st century emergency triage version of Roosevelt's New Deal and Johnsons Great Society - forgive me for this metaphor but if the Republicans are Dracula this legislation is like holding a crucifix in front of their noses.

The problem is that spending all this money might not work, not because Republicans are right - [Remember these one trick ponies wanted to put Social Security funds in the stock market] but because this massive cash infusion is not solving the problem of banks not lending.

If banks dont start lending the private economy and the world economy will remain stalled - public works spending will go along way to ease the pain but is it enough to generate a lasting jump start?

The US banking system is on life support. This perfect storm crash of the stock and real estate markets exposed a house of cards - ledger sheets kept in balance with bullshit inflated real estate appraisals and a mortgage backed securities ponzi scheme built on the same smoke and mirrors foundation.

Thats why the markets tanked minutes after Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's anxiously anticipated speech in which he offerred no details of how they were going to deal with the dead assets -It didnt help that Obama's gladiator smarty pants turned out to have the charisma of an apprentice undertaker.

A piece in last Sunday's Business Section warned - "There is no sense throwing funds at zombie banks"

"Before Stress Testing Banks, Find a Pulse"
Gretchen Morgenson, NYT Sunday Business Section page one 2/15/09

The papers are full of mounting job losses. Noone knows what will happen next-

- and we are low on popcorn.

LIMBAUGH, COULTER AND THE WING NUTS ARE IDEOLOGICAL SUICIDE BOMBERS TESTING REPUBLICAN ATTACK THEMES WITH PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY

The right is struggling to climb back up from the cliff they drove over. Attack dog wing nuts like Anne Coulter, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity are the Republicans ideological suicide bombers. They can repeatedly blow themselves up in the market place of political discourse, without hurting their core neanderthal demographic while far enough away to give Washington republicans plausible deniability.

When Obama told congressional leaders this week they have to do better than follow Rush. He knew he was shining a flashlight on the usually hidden wires between Limbaugh and Republican leaders to make it harder for them to run for cover whenever he says things that even Republicans can't say in public.

In Obama's interview on Al-Arabiya TV last week he spoke to millions of Arabs about "a new way forward" in peace and with mutual respect. Mutual respect between the Arab world and the US is the mirror image of the Bush foreign policy built on cold war style "axis of evil" fear mongering to grease the skids for unilateral military action.

The NY Post responded by wheeling out Amir Taheri, their in house fringe right bloviator. On January 29, 2009 they gave him an enire "opinion page" with the large print startling headline;


PATHETIC MESSAGE - Obama's odd Islamic outreach



If you don't read the Post, Taheri is not a household name. According to a Wikipedia article Taheri has a documented track record of simply making up incendiary smears. In 5/06 he made a false claim- disavowed by the journal that published it- that the Iranian parliament passed a law requiring color schemed clothing to make Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians identifiable). He made a claim that Iran’s UN Ambassador was one of the 1979 hostage takers when he was in fact a graduate student in San Francisco at the time and in 10/08 he wrote that Jesse Jackson told a World Policy Forum that Obama would change US policy towards Israel. Even though Jesse Jackson was not a speaker at that event. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amir_Taheri


In his Post column Taheri uses the time honored simple technique known as setting up and knocking down a straw man. Taheri shows us how its done;

First you distort the opponent's position into an easily attackable caricature that bears no relationship to reality.

Step two - knock down the straw man and do a victory dance while claiming to have easily won the argument.

Its simple but WARNING - be careful before you use this technique at home - it can be harmful if used in marital and parent/child arguments.


The truth. Here is the terrific thing that Obama actually said;

And my job is to communicate to the American people that the Muslim world is filled with extraordinary people who simply want to live their lives and see their children live better lives. My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not your enemy. We sometimes make mistakes. We have not been perfect. But if you look at the track record, as you say, America was not born as a colonial power, and that the same respect and partnership that America had with the Muslim world as recently as 20 or 30 years ago, there's no reason why we can't restore that. And that I think is going to be an important task.


Here is Taheri’s straw man distortion

Obama looked to the past rather than the future to give such platitudes a tinge of political vision. He said he wanted a return “to the same respect and partnership that America had with the Muslim world as recently as 20 or 30 years ago”
The problem is that few people in the Muslim world will welcome his back to the future approach. Thirty years ago Obama was a teenager in Indonesia, Vice President Biden, however was already a junior senator and a champion of President Carter’s strategic retreat”

Taheri spends his remaining two columns giving us his list of US- Arab foreign policy failures of the last 30 years, including murder of Americans and hostage taking, which he then scotch tapes to the President using Obama's hopeful reference to better times in US/Arab relations. Somewhat weak if reality is your cup of tea but as arts and crafts - nice job Amir.

Then Taheri wraps it up;

Casting himself in the role of "bridge" and dreaming of a return to an illusionary past, Obama appeared unsure of his own identity and confused about the role that America should play in global politics.

Who said there is no more large scale manufacturing in New York City?

There is no greater threat to world peace and the personal safety of Americans than the anti US hatred on the Arab street. The neo con philosophy of Arab relations has been Defense Department first and State Department maybe later - the UN? - fuggetaboutit. From within this world view you can see why these guys would be horrified that a President would want to build international bridges across today's dangerous divides. That kind of talk undermines everything they stand for. They also get it, that if such "odd" and "pathetic" behavior catches on they could be spending a lot more time over that cliff.

A Knee Jerk Bleeding Heart in the Third World

We did the gawking tourist tip toe through the soul crushing poverty of Peru this December. A tourist visit to the third world is a little like walking on the moon. As you wander around in the world of undrinkable water, and a virtually non existent health and education infrastructure it may look like you're in the same time and place as the locals around you but you're not. Why? Because you're actually in a bubble tethered to the mother ship by a lifeline -also known as your passport, and a reserved seat on the deep vein thrombosis express back to Newark.





In addition to luggage we all bring our psychic baggage with us when we travel. Mine is particularly annoying for my fellow travelers - Im an overtipping chump. If I was standing on the wing of that Airbus floating in the freezing Hudson while Captain Sully was checking the empty cabin twice I'd be thinking - "Gee I wonder what the usual gratuity is for this kind of thing?"

This need to tip everyone in sight stems from the same reasons that my knee jerks and my heart bleeds every time my feet hit the New York City sidewalk. For example, as a New York City cab ride from hell is ending and we are hurtling back to within range of the earth’s gravitational pull a normal person might be writing down the complaint number. Not me. I'm busy doing the tip math to stay in good graces with my new friend from another land - Mr Knievel.

Fast forward to a street vendor on the shores of Lake Titicaca. My daughter, with her upgraded Spanish from a semester in Argentina negotiates with a lady selling bracelets. She’s getting close to closing the deal - I take a good look at the 6 year old helping his mom and suddenly Im the bracelet ladies agent urging my daughter to bump up our last offer.





Negotiating with taxis is such a part of life in Lima, that when you hail a cab another cab always pulls up right behind to be there when the haggling with the first guy fall apart.

Im pretty sure Im on an international tipping chumps list. Cab drivers seem to spot me instantly as I cram myself into the shotgun seat next to the driver with my family in back. After some polite mumbling in my pathetic Spanish one driver suddenly pulled out a picture of himself, taken many years ago with a woman and a young girl - Before I could make an approriate noise - he tells me its him and his wife with their schizophrenic daughter. Like a fish in a barrel I’ve been hooked and then he reels me in - from the glove compartment out comes a handwritten list on a prescription pad which he tells me are the medications that he cant afford. The back seat watches helplessly knowing that I been harpooned right before their eyes - and the prenegotiated cost of the trip just got bumped up.













The cab driver passenger relationship can sometimes take an interesting hop. Our taxi from the hotel to dinner in Puno was stopped for a paperwork check by a traffic cop on foot. As the cop walks away with the driver’s documents our guy suddenly takes off. Our cabbie/customer relationship has been upgraded and now we're Bonnie and Clyde on the lam zooming thru Puno rush hour. Eventually we blend into traffic, calmly pull up to the restaurant and of course I give him a nice tip. We got away didnt we?








Gaping out from the tourist bubble the cavernous gap between rich and poor hits you right between the eyes. Private guards in bullet proof vests mill around on the street corners and in front of hotels. In the Lima neighborhood of Miraflores wealthy homes with nice cars in the driveway are completely wrapped in metal security gates with barbed wire at the corners.

Crime in Lima is a problem. The cops in Lima and all over Peru seem pretty good at standing around in heavily armed clusters looking tough, clueless and corrupt. The armored vehicles and machine guns are reminders that Peru's 20 year bloody civil war ended only 8 years ago.

AL QUAIDA AND FOX NEWS ARE FLOUNDERING - - THE FUNDAMENTALIST'S HAVE LOST THEIR COMPASS POINTS -but not Rush

The fundamentalists woke up November 5 only to discover that their compasses had stopped working.

The world economy is hanging on a brilliant, unflappable ray of sunshine named Obama waiting to break through the dark clouds. In this limbo period the wing nuts are divided, defeated and gasping for oxygen.

Al Quaida responds to the election by spitting out a racist smear.

Sean Hannity interviews, newly minted Fox "consultant" Karl Rove and makes Rove look like a moderate reminding Hannity, in essence, that he might want to wait until the theatre opens before shouting fire.

You can't say they arent trying. Hannity's web page came up with a reminder that AG nominee Eric Holder defended the seizure of Elian Gonzalez. There's a pressing current issue!

Confirming the breath taking sea change the NY Post and the Wall Street Journal ran editorials praising Obama.

From the WSJ editorial 11/28/08 "Obama's War Cabinet"

With these personnel picks, Mr Obama reveals a bias for competence, experience and continuity. Hence the caterwauls from his left flank"

They can’t figure out how to justify praising Obama’s intial appointments and they certainly can't suggest that they might have bet on the wrong horse so they have concocted an “angry” left wing and an alienated “anti war faction” to preserve an illusion of daylight between themselves and Obama's supporters. The "caterwauls from his left flank"? Turns out to be one posting on the Nation's web site from someone who disagrees with Obama. Its the Murdoch theory of journalism - if the facts you need to make a point don't match the reality - be creative.

From the NY Post editorial 11/28/08

Opposition to the Iraq War may have helped Obama make it to the White House, but now that time to govern is nearing, he's choosing people who bring a
reality-based worldview to the security challenges facing the nation.

In other words that silly opposition to the most disastrous costly dishonest foreign policy fiasco in American history vs post election realpolitik. They do have a point - "keep Gates at defense" would not have worked as a campaign platform This is about Obama's extraordinary reservoir of trust and good will at a time of financial collapse and two hopeless wars.

On the Fox News web site we see this headline

“Liberals Angry Over Obama Keeping Gates as Pentagon Chief”.

Who is this crowd of angry liberal's - two former congressional staffers. One used the word “disappointed” because of Gates prior support for torture and another guy would have preferred Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska or Sen. Sam Nunn of Georgia. Thats it - no kidding

Liberals are angry? - oh no - man the barricades - take to the streets - where's Jean Val Jean?

What the heck are these guys talking about? This is the happiest time in the history of American liberalism. They will have to do better and they probably will but boy are they having an identity crisis - or what?

Then there's Rush Limbaugh the guy who has never troubled himself with facts before smearing sends a not so coded shout out on his web sight to his neanderthal bigot demographic observing with dismay that the press "dutifully stood up" as Obama walked to the podium for his press conference. A demonstration of respect for the President Elect of the United States and he's pissed off. So much for patriotism and supporting the Commander in Chief in war time. Like the troubled overweight adolescent bully yelling sarcastic insults from the corner of the playground, Limbaugh contemptuously called Obama "the Messiah" in the same posting.

The right wing locomotive has stalled but its not derailed. Limbaugh - todays Father Couglin - the hate spewing, radio demagogue of the 1930's - not missing a beat is preaching his own coded hate filled message to today's lunatic, angry, fringe - the nut jobs we all worry about.

Even the image of a marginalized Limbaugh is part of a reshuffled political landscape unimaginable before the election. Whatever the right needs to do to realign itself behind Obama is OK by me - Murdoch gets it. Obama is and promises to be unlike any leader America has seen since Roosevelt.

We got our country back!!!!

From the rally in Cleveland Ohio Sunday November 2, 2008


















Door to door getting out the vote Loraine County Ohio








Poll watching and voter protection in Oberlin Ohio





and our stock appears to have gone up in the marketplace of nations . . .


From a friend in France

Dear friends.
America we love is back…
I have already forgotten the former President’s name … who was it???
Obviously, a Bushless White House is the one we prefer.

All the best to you and you and your family, I hope we’ll meet again next year, we would like to come and see what America looks like with Obama..
Congratulations.
Regards
Jacques

From a friend in Belgium
Congratulations America!

A great day for your country and the world!

Peter

more from other French friends


Congratulations ! you can be very proud again to be Americans, you did the right thing, I was amazed by his speech in Chicago, Let"s hope he will be able to carry all the necessary changes.

BRAVO !

Pia and Jean-Pïerre

a friend in Ohio received this from France

I cried when I heard Obama's speech and saw all these faces listening to him. In fact I even cried hearing McCain's speech which was almost eloquent. The capacity of Americans to be... Americans is great. In France and Europe in general people tend to be or pretend to be cynical and that is disturbing.

Love

Hubert

. . . and finally from a relative in Canada

All sorts of people here saying they are proud to be American now, and I had no idea they were. But I feel the same way. What a distance has been travelled! Congratulations to all of you there, and much love, Alice

HEADING TO OHIO FOR ELECTION DAY POLL WATCHING

My wife and I have downloaded the “Ohio Voter Protection Laws in a Nutshell” and Sections of Title 35 of the Ohio Revised Code and we're headed to Ohio to combine a visit with our kid in college with some "get out the vote" work and "voter protection" poll watching. Based on the training sessions, the on line trainings, the emails from organizers and the word from our network of friends is that there is an army of volunteer lawyers headed to polling places in battleground states to stop republicans from suppressing votes and/or stealing another election. The bottom line is that we are up against people who don’t really believe in universal suffrage and playing by the rules.

Hard to forget the documentary film about Florida 2000 that showed screaming, wall pounding young republican congressional staffers trying to prevent the Board of Election vote recounting (remember the hanging dimpled chads) while the Supreme Court was waiting in the wings to put the final fix in like old time bought and sold street corner pols.

Hard to forget the election day police road blocks to intimidate Afro American voters or in Ohio 2004 when Republicans, led by the then Republican secretary of state, litigated until early morning on election day to allow partisan vote challengers (one from each side) to be inside polling places challenging voter credentials.

Hard not to be terrified about the transparent republican goal of purging voters from registered voter lists because they moved, or because a data entry clerk at social security or the dept of motor vehicles put in a wrong digit.

The republican voter suppression campaign uses the myth of voter fraud as a cover. In the last debate McCain hinted that we can probably expect a post election day fraud spin. A key component of the fraud myth is ignoring the obvious distinction between registration fraud and voting fraud. Lets assume someone is able to register Mickey Mouse [ala the Acorn fake registrations]. The fake person still has to show up at the polls, get past poll workers and into a polling booth. The bogus fear is that a poll worker will say - “Right this way Mr Mouse. Oh and by the way sir - I’ve always loved your work.”

[The other important fact is that although fake registration forms (obviously a bad thing that should never have been allowed to happen) will not generate any fraudulent votes, a machine that flips your vote from who you chose to someone else could, without anyone being able to figure it out, change thousands of votes... ]

They also know that in poor Afro American districts forcing people to come up with photo id is a good way of stopping people from voting. As recently as April the 6–3 decision in April written by John Paul Stevens, Crawford v. Marion County Election Board ,upheld a 2005 Indiana law requiring voters in that state to produce a government document with a photograph at the polls.

The following is from Obama: The Price of Being Black By Andrew Hacker The New York Review of Books Volume 55, Number 14 September 25, 2008

Requiring a driver's license to vote has a disparate racial impact, a finding that once commanded judicial notice. To apply for the state ID card that Indiana offers as an alternative, moreover, nondrivers must travel to a motor vehicles office, which for many would be a lengthy trip. While licenses do not record race, Justice David Souter cited relevant studies of the race of license-holders in his dissent, which was joined by Justices Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. In one survey, made by the Department of Justice in 1994, black residents of Louisiana were found to be four to five times more likely not to have the official photograph needed for an identifying document. (Not to mention access to a car; recall how many couldn't leave as Katrina approached.) A Wisconsin survey published in 2005 was more precise. No fewer than 53 percent of black adults in Milwaukee County were not licensed to drive, compared with 15 percent of white adults in the remainder of the state. According to its author,
similar disparities will be found across the nation.

In contrast Ohio allows voter identification at the polls to include proof of who you are based on knowing the last four digits of your social security number, or producing a current utility bill or pay check or other government document with your name and address.

It would be very interesting to compare the Republican and Democratic budgets for voter registration campaigns.

To be continued tomorrow from Ohio . . . .

McCain/Palin mobs are going gaga about this no last name thing - isnt that what they did in the middle ages, before last names were invented?

Its a new low in the history of dumbing down. The entire Republican campaign platform has been reduced to three words - "Joe the plumber"

McCain and Palin are now jazzing up their dwindling crowds of mean spirited diehards with this weird no last name fetish. McCain cracks himself up with how clever it was to come up with a campaign theme inspired by the middle ages - when all a guy needed on his ox cart license was Nigil the weaver's boy or Cecil the Sundial setter.

Is McCain running for President or Sheriff of Nottingham? I guess its just more nose crinkling small town harkening back to a simpler time when goverment wasn't squandering our hard earned tax money on those gosh darn wasteful earmarks - like sewers and running water.

THERE IS ONE QUESTION IN THIS ELECTION -ARE AMERICANS AS STUPID AS REPUBLICANS ARE HOPING WE ARE?

Sarah Palin told supporters at a rally in Nevada, " we're going to Washington D.C. to shake things up", she said to approving screams from the crowd" NY Times Sun 9/14/08

So crowds are cheering madly as McCain and Pailin promise to shake things up by rescuing Washington from the Republicans. Hello - is anyone home?

I feel like we are living in that scene in Blazing Saddles when the Sheriff (Cleavon Little), about to be attacked by a threatening mob, takes himself hostage and threatens to shoot himself if they come any closer. The idiot towns folk are frozen in their tracks - someone says "I think he means it" - and they all start slowly backing away".




A friend e-mailed with this observation -

this is really the most amazing political phenomenon of our age: I can't quite get the right analogy for this successful leading of working people to believe that the GOP are on their side, while enacting policies which badly screw them: the distraction faked by the pickpocket just before they hit you; the magician's distraction of the eye before he pulls the card from his sleeve; people buying again and again from the same snake-oil salesman who came by last yr even though they got sick from the stuff. Lincoln never addressed this formulation directly, but maybe you can fool most of the people most of the time

BARKING BACK

A FRIEND'S RESPONSE TO -

“THE MCCAIN EXPERIENCE MYTH- WEDNESDAY AUGUST 27, 2008”
AND TO
"MEMO TO HILLARY HOLDOUTS WHEN RUDY AGREES WITH YOU ITS TIME TO GET OVER IT" -MONDAY AUGUST 25, 2008

MY FRIEND WRITES

Thanks for the heads-up. Good job. I was curious and glanced at McCain's Senate website. I imagine he might say that simply being in the senate for as long as he's been, he picks up foreign policy experience. You can see lots of trips abroad he's made, speeches he's given that might suggest he has studied up on foreign affairs. But I think ultimately you're right in that his main claim to foreign policy expertise is that he fought in a war, was imprisoned and tortured. Good credentials in anyone's book. Re: Your Hillary/Rudy entry. I have to admit I had a little consciousness raising by my sister in law, who absolutely will vote for Obama with no hesitation, was one of those Hillary supporters who loved the idea of a major-party candidate who was a woman, that their time had come, that whether or not Obama did anything wrong, the fact remains that this upstart with no experience and just a lot of charisma, pushed her out of the way without paying any dues whatsoever, and anyway, it was their turn. Not to mention an absolutely unshakeable belief that Hillary got a raw deal from the media while Barak had a free ride. She was furious that anyone would question the appropriateness, for example, of Hillary supporters insisting on a roll call vote to demonstrate the wide support she had garnered. I say all of this just to say it brought home the depth of feeling that Clinton supporters brought to the convention and to this moment. Which only leads me to say that (a) my personal reaction to the H.C. supporters was the same as yours ("get over it!"), but (b) I have come to believe that the moment requires more sensitivity to their feelings. So if you send any more messages to your wide and ever-growing audience, I might suggest gentler tools of persuasion. It drives me crazy that somewhere close to 20% of H.C. supporters say they'll either vote for McCain or at least not vote for Obama (I forget which). To tell the truth, I think Hillary herself really came through at the convention, and said best what we all want to say to her supporters: Did you vote for me, or do you care about that woman without health insurance, that returned Iraq veteran needing services? O.k., that's my two cents. D

MY RESPONSE

Constructive criticism appreciated and duly noted - but I think I disagree. Although I accept the criticism that I might be too aggressive and strident and should probably calm down.
My feeling is that this election is a war to get the country back from violent fundamentalists who lost the election and responded by seizing power in a bloodless coup and have set the US on a disastrous downward spiral.

Hillary had one thing she needed to do - make sure that there is unity and no voting block of pissed off supporters for the Republicans to go after and she just did not do that. It was an obviously great speech but she talked mostly about her own achievements and was not as enthusiastic about Obama as Bill was. For Hillary to go into the convention talking about people voting their conscience instead of urging her supporters to unite around Obama to get these bastards out was unacceptable.
Instead her self centered speech convinced me more than ever that there is too much day light between the trajectory of her own career and doing the right thing - i.e. her cynical vote for the war. I even have my doubts about the strength of her support for Roe if her career plans conflicted. After her speech it was very clear that letting the Clintons near the White House would make them media magnets and a side show of implied second guessing. It would have been a disaster. Would I feel this way if the Obama and Hillary roles had been reversed - probably not.

Did you happen to catch Geraldine Ferarro on NPR today praising McCain's VP choice and refusing to say who she is voting for. Ferraro, who was forced out of the Hillary campaign leadership when she refused to back down from her comment that Obama is where he is because he is black has now morphed into a living metaphor for the politics of self centered snits. In her case it's a purely racist, self centered snit.

The fact that people who supported Hillary could now vote for McCain reveals that they were not in it because of values shared with the rest of the Democratic party.

Sorry to be so unrepentant
Love Bob

D RESPONDS

This could go on forever, but just a few responses. STOP - I started writing a whole long response and then stopped. You think she was self-centered and didn't do what she needed to do. I think we could not have hoped for much better, and I listened carefully to that speech expecting the worst and really being surprised at the effectiveness of the unity message. You're turning me into a Hillary defender - you say there's no position she wouldn't change if it would help her career, but told me I was off base when I complained that Obama was modifying virtually every decent view he had earlier espoused (in order to help his career). Last point, I actually think that her career interest was best served by making the strongest possible plea for unity. To the extent she failed to do that, and could be perceived of as a divisive force within the party, I think it would not help her career at all.
Vive la difference. D

Unlike McCain - Obama never bought the Bush WMD/Iraq - Al Queda war hoax

John McCain not only bought it without question but quickly became one of the leading neo con men pushing the big lie with no weighing of the human, geopolitical or economic consequences

"The Right War for the Right Reasons"

by John McCain, New York Times, Op-Ed, 3/12/03 [excerpts]
. . .
. . .

After 12 years of economic sanctions, two different arms-inspection forces, several Security Council resolutions and, now, with more than 200,000 American and British troops at his doorstep, Saddam Hussein still refuses to give up his weapons of mass destruction.
. . .
The critics also have it wrong when they say that the strategy of the United States for the opening hours of the conflict -- likely to involve more than 3,000 precision-guided bombs and missiles in the first two days -- is intended to damage and demoralize the Iraqi people. It is intended to damage and demoralize the Iraqi military and to dissuade Iraqi leaders from using weapons of mass destruction against our forces or against neighboring countries, and from committing further atrocities against the Iraqi people.
. . .
The force our military uses will be less than proportional to the threat of injury we can expect to face should Saddam Hussein continue to build an arsenal of the world's most destructive weapons

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AMERICA NEEDS A LEADER NOT A WARRIOR WHO DOESN'T ASK QUESTIONS