Quote of the day -- on statesmanship

Great article

The best kind of writing there is--both true AND funny:

7 Basic Tips for Horny Politicians

by Michelle Cottle @ The Daily Beast

1. Stick with your own kind. Not to promote class warfare here, but, whenever possible, you should try to cat around with someone who has as much to lose—professionally, socially, or economically—as you do. This will dramatically reduce your chances of being blackmailed or otherwise exposed by your carnal co-conspirator.

2. In the event you do get hit up for cash, do not ask your parents to pay off your lover’s family. This not only makes you look like a louse, it makes you look like a helpless, bed-wetting man-child.

3. For those who cannot resist the lure of prostitutes, avoid frequenting such expensive working girls that you leave a financial trail to rival Newt and Callista’s tab at Tiffany’s. Someone will eventually notice the cash outflow, and you will wind up out of office, disgraced, and hosting a poorly rated chat show on CNN.

4. Never, ever, ever send a woman cellphone pics of yourself in any state of undress.  (MR:  You wouldn't think you'd have to say that, would you?)

5. OK. If you absolutely must, at least don’t photograph yourself while flexing feebly in front of your bathroom mirror. Have your personal trainer help with the shoot. Or your chiropractor. Or the gal who waxes your back on Thursdays. Better yet, call Rep. Aaron Schock for tips on how to get your abs featured on the cover of Men’s Health. Abs not cover-worthy? Refer again to No. 4.

6. Stay away from interns and pages of any gender. Please.

Finally—and perhaps most vitally:

7. Avoid knocking up your on-the-side honey. This sounds like a no-brainer, especially for wealthy, high-profile men with so much to lose. Yet just a few years after the John Edwards circus, Americans are now agog over Arnold’s secret love child. Who knows how many other illicit bundles of joy are out there just waiting for daddy to come clean? Clearly, the abstinence message needs massaging.

So there you go, ladies and gentlemen your "word to the wise" and laugh for the day, all in one, for anyone either in political office or running for one.

You might want to keep this taped on the refrigerator door.

Have a great weekend, y'all.

Plato on elections and politicians

“In politics we presume that everyone who knows how to get votes knows how to administer a city or a state. When we are ill... we do not ask for the handsomest physician, or the most eloquent one.”

So don't think our situation, ugly as it might be, is new to us.


And in the meantime, enjoy your Sunday.  It's another beautiful one out there.

A Lesson

The George W. Bush Administration should go down in history as a lesson for the United States and the world--for Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Independents, the Right, the Left, in short, everyone, everywhere--to show what the world is like when greedy corporations run that same world. It shows its graft, corruption, greed, incompetence, lack of care for the weak, ill, poor, etc., and sheer irresponsibility. It is exactly what President Eisenhower and Ralph Nader, both, among many, many others, warned us about, long before now and it's ignored at our larger, greater peril.

All this said, I should mention, as I said earlier on this blog, it wasn't my intention to have so much of this be about the Bush Administration and corporate America and international conglomerates running roughshod over the planet and its citizens. But with all this administration has blatantly done and with such contempt for the man on the street, it galls me that more people aren't paying attention. It has seemed it needed pointing out. That and the fact that it's cathartic to and for me, to put ideas, thoughts and facts down, so people can either know more of what's going on or, yes, hear my thoughts. It isn't meant to be about me.

Once "W" is gone, next January, I hope to broaden this blog, to more things of the world. It isn't that all the ugliness and selfishness and greed are going to leave the world with his exit, far from it. I just hope the blatant power-grabbing and sheer evil of Darth Cheney and the whole cabal will be gone and we can get back to doing more, better work for everyone's sake.

I'm not naive. We'll still need to change thigs, sure. And corporations aren't going away, along with grubby politicians. But I do hope we improve somewhat, if not a lot. The circumstances are going to require it, I think and believe.