Life On the Wicked Stage: Act 2

Christmas Carol Quotes

"There are some upon this earth of yours,'' returned the Spirit, ``who lay claim to know us, and who do their deeds of passion, pride, ill-will, hatred, envy, bigotry, and selfishness in our name, who are as strange to us and all out kith and kin, as if they had never lived. Remember that, and charge their doings on themselves, not us."

From Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol

Quote Note: Giuliani and Domestic Terror

In the rush to jump on President Obama for just about anything, the right wing nutballs are seizing on the recent terror fiasco on Christmas Day like a dog after the last bone on the planet. At least one of them must have had too much egg-nog at during his cross-dressing partying over the holidays. Rudy Giuliani had this to say:

"We had no domestic attacks under Bush. We've had one under Obama"

So, what was 9/11? Urban renewal? Richard Reid? A Nike promotion? Oh, and the mysterious disappearing Anthrax attack? Well, we'll let that go.

Talk about lipstick on a pig.

3 Johns, A Tiger, and Public Affairs

My grandfather used to always say about politicians who got caught doing a little hanky-panky, "why do you want to elect a guy to office if he doesn't have enough moxie to pick up a bimbo now and then?"

I think the answer to that question these days, like it has always been, because they are just plain stupid when they get caught with their pants down. In the wake of Tiger Woods' multiple affairs, I'm guessing some politicians are feeling like the heat is off them for the moment. Well, not on Saturday Night Live.

What a world we live in.

Quote Note: Palin and the Lost Art of Communication

I want to move on from Sarah Palin, I really do. But this quote from Parnee's dissection of how Sarah Palin lost the ability to communicate effectively is just too, too, rich.

Be warned, do not take a gulp of liquid before reading this as it is liquid through the nose material. Here's the quote about her recent resignation speech:

It's like Peggy Noonan, Jack London, and William Faulkner wandered into the woods with three buttons of peyote and one typewriter, and only this speech emerged.

Via The Daily Dish

The Monkeys in Congress

I’m laughing at this picture but I really shouldn’t be.

Because it just strikes me as spot on. In this post on Dvorak Uncensored, it is revealed that Congressman Steny Hoyer (he’s the house Majority Leader) said about the Health Care bill:

“if every member pledged to not vote for it if they hadn’t read it in its entirety, I think we would have very few votes.”

Yeah, that’s leadership for you.

UPDATE: And then there’s this.

Quote Note: Brian Kilmeade is a Species Unto Himself

Yeah, it happened on Fox, so take that as context. My good friend, Sumocat, pointed this out. Brian Kilmeade proved once again that you don't have to think before engaging your mouth as long as you're toeing the line by uttering this doozy about a Scandinavian study on the benefits of marriage:

Leave it to the Finns and the Swedes to come up with something. Because that's a... we are, we're a, we keep marrying other species and other ethnics and other...

And we wonder.

Sunday Morning Reading

It has been awhile, but here is some Sunday morning reading to share.

David Olive of the Star.com takes on the great journalism debate and says the problem with newspapers and newsrooms is that today’s journalism is boring. I couldn’t agree more. As everyone focuses on the Internet’s impact, I think it might have some value to focus a bit on all of the consultants that called in who basically succeeded in making everything the same. What was it Sarah Palin said? Only dead fish go with the flow? Worth a read.

A group of leading clerics in Iran question the ruler’s decisions and the election. This is probably big news in the middle of that still fomenting struggle. We’ll hear more about it after Michael Jackson is finally buried.

Twitter, Facebook, (and other social media) and organized religion. Good thing? Bad thing? Or is it just another facet of the complexity that already exists within the makeup of a religious community.

Sarah Palin decides to step down with a bizarre speech. Is there another shoe to drop? Is she positioning herself for the big run in 2012? Is it family issues out of control? There is a lot of focus on trying to analyze what I think defies analysis. Maybe someone should analyze the throngs that still worship at her feet. Just as hard to do, but in the end scarier than she could ever be.

Trouble on the iPhone 3GS front with battery life? What else is knew except that the article makes huge mistakes like the size is different between the 3G and the 3GS. And what were we saying about dead fish?

Frank Rich: Has a Katrina Moment Arrived?

OK, no Sunday Morning Reading post today as we’re opening a show and I’ve got work to do. So, here is one link to pass on. Frank Rich has been on a tear lately and his latest column Has a ‘Katrina Moment’ Arrived? is telling and powerful, and in my opinion, deadly accurate.

Quoting Southern Crossroads: “Being legal don’t have to make it right.”

Not only are we witnessing the self-evisceration of the financial markets leading to the gutting of people’s lives, we are seeing the life sucked out of the definitions of words, concepts, and social constructs like banking, trust, regulation, investment, journalism, the media, Congress, oversight, transparency, political will, outrage, and dare I say it, legal.

That old saw, “a nation of laws” is about to become history.

Unfortunately, my grandfather was far too correct when he said, “you don’t want someone writing laws if he isn’t smart enough to break them.”

Paradoxically, it is still early in a game that needs to play out, but the players might not be able to decide the outcome.

Take it away, Tom.

Quote Note: Thinking and Speaking

You’ve got to laugh at this one. After first coming down on Rush Limbaugh, new Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele backed off of his earlier statements and did what all good Republicans do when the tick off the world’s most famous junkie with a microphone. He apologized. Here’s the quote:

I went back at that tape and I realized words that I said weren’t what I was thinking.

This is how we know the Republicans are in such good and capable hands these days.

Bush Says He Sacrificed Free Market Principals to Save the Free Market

I’m hearing echoes of burning the village to save the village here.

George Bush says he’s sorry but he’s sacrificed free market principles to save the free market system and avoid a collapse.

So, I’m just asking here, but if the system that is collapsing needs to have the principals it is built upon sacrificed what does that say about the principals in the first place?

Again, I’m just asking.

Oh, and here’s the er…. um… money quote:

"I feel a sense of obligation to my successor to make sure there is not a, you know, a huge economic crisis. Look, we're in a crisis now. I mean, this is -- we're in a huge recession, but I don't want to make it even worse."