a small dose of reality

 

 

A "surge" of overused words and phrases formed a "perfect storm" of "post-9/11" cliches in 2007, according to a U.S. university's annual list of words and phrases that deserve to be banned.

Choosing from among 2,000 submissions, the public relations department at Michigan's Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie targeted 19 affronts to the English language in its well-known jab at the worlds of media, sports, advertising and politics.

The contributors gave first prize to the phrase "a perfect storm," saying it was numbingly applied to virtually any notable coincidence.

"Webinar" made the list as a tiresome non-word combining Web and seminar that a contributor said "belongs in the same school of non-thought that brought us e-anything and i-anything."

Similarly, the list-makers complained about the absurd comparisons commonly phrased "x is the new y," as in "(age) 70 is the new 50" or "chocolate is the new sex." "Fallacy is the new truth," commented one contributor.

Sagging under weight of overuse
Some words and phrases sagged under the weight of overuse, contributors said, citing the application of "organic" to everything from computer software to dog food.

In the same vein, decorators offering to add "pop" with a touch of color need new words, the list-makers said.

Such phrases as "post 9/11" and "surge" have also outlived their usefulness, they said. Surge emerged in reference to adding U.S. troops in Iraq but has come to explain the expansion of anything.

Other contributors took umbrage at the phrase to "give back" as applied to charitable gestures, usually by celebrities.

"The notion has arisen that as one's life progresses, one accumulates a sort of deficit balance with society which must be neutralized by charitable works or financial outlays," one said.

"Back in the day" raised hackles for being applied to recent trends rather than historical events.

Other teenage linguistic indiscretions such as the often meaningless use of "random" and "sweet" raised the ire of list-makers, as did the pointless "it is what it is."

Reporters were chided for skipping out on detail by describing an event or parting as "emotional," and for misapplying "decimate" when they mean annihilate or destroy, not the word's true meaning of to lose a fraction.

Sports announcers were urged to drop "throw under the bus" when assigning blame to a player. "It is a call for the media to start issuing a thesaurus to everyone in front of a camera," a contributor said.

And finally, any self-respecting writer would groan at being labeled a "wordsmith" who engages in "wordsmithing," the list-makers said.

 

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Pakistani electoral officials hold an emergency meeting on Monday to decide whether to go ahead with a January poll in a nation plunged into crisis by the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.  Musharraft wants names to be picked out of his hat.

Bhutto's party chose her son and husband on Sunday to succeed her, but doubts grew about whether the parliamentary election aiming to shift Pakistan from military to civilian rule would take place as planned on Jan.8.

Her 19-year-old son Bilawal, introduced at a news conference in Naudero in the south as Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, said the party's long struggle for democracy would avenge her death. "My mother always said, democracy is the best revenge," he said.

 

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Cowboys fan voices his opinion..............

 

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That time of year is upon us again -- no, not the holiday season.

The period immediately following, where the guilt -- and maybe a couple extra pounds -- from the holidays lead us to make New Year's resolutions.

We're going to eat better, exercise more and quit some of those unhealthy habits we've been living with too long. The most popular healthy resolutions remain the same from year to year, but there are an increasing number of gadgets and Web applications to help us keep them -- or at least make us feel like we've got a fighting chance.

1. Make scientific research work in your favor

A recent study from Brigham Young University found that New Year's resolutions -- or healthy changes made at any time of the year -- don't have to be short-term. Professor Ray Merrill found that participants in a four-week health education course had remained more active and kept up healthy dietary changes 18 months after the course ended.

The participants were taking 800 more steps daily, and eating two-thirds a serving more vegetables, half a serving more fruits, 23 grams less fat and four grams more fiber per day than when they first enrolled in the course. The findings suggest that signing up for a health- or exercise-focused course may help healthy resolutions stick. They also show that it could be worthwhile for businesses and insurance companies to encourage similar wellness programs, Merrill said.

2. If you're going to play video games, at least sweat a little

Nintendo's Wii was one of the hottest items of the last holiday season. A year after its release, the console is still tough to find, but options for getting some activity in while you play are increasing. The console already comes with Wii Sports, which includes simulated tennis and boxing games that led several bloggers to develop Wii Fitness plans. The upcoming release Wii Fit ups the ante with a balance board that measures your performance of exercises that include yoga and aerobics. A North American release is expected for early 2008, but it's already a hit in Japan. And Dance Dance Revolution is already on shelves for the holiday season, if you really want to send someone a strong hint. If you don't own a Wii, playing Rock Band or Guitar Hero III might count as exercise -- if you really get into it.

3. Smoking

Many smokers have to try to quit smoking several times before they manage to do it, but more than 45 million Americans have made it stick, according to the American Lung Association. Many smoking cessation gadgets have already entered the marketplace, but a new Chinese product brings another weapon to the battle -- the electronic cigarette. The device is a battery-powered nicotine inhaler that adds the sensation of holding and inhaling a cigarette to the nicotine delivery used with other smoking cessation products like gums and inhalers.

The device even goes so far as to emit "smoke" to keep things realistic. The cigarettes cost about $200 and are sold in China, Israel, Turkey and parts of Europe, and sales are strong so far.

4. Find a like-minded community online

Revolution Health Network was founded in 2005 by American Online co-founder Steve Case, and the site launched in 2007. Case's mission is ambitious: to change health care by giving people tools to actively manage their medical history and information, and to communicate with others with similar concerns for support and knowledge. Later in 2007, Microsoft announced its online consumer health tool, HealthVault, offering personal medical records and tailored health searches.

Partners include the Mayo Clinic, Johnson and Johnson and the American Heart Association. Google is also working on its own consumer health portal, expected to launch in early 2008. These sites give consumers new tools that allow them to be proactive about their health and become part of a community of people with similar conditions, but there are concerns about the ramifications of putting something usually thought of as very private -- medical history -- onto a very public forum.

5. Put it down for posterity

If you really want those resolutions to stick, you could try writing them down. Of course, writing nowadays often means typing, and there are several Web sites that provide applications for keeping track of your progress on all the new habits you plan to start in January. Revolution Health has launched a Resolutions 2.0 campaign aiming to connect people with similar goals, letting them track each others' progress and provide encouragement and reminders.

Experts are running groups for particular goals, to provide professional guidance towards healthy eating, exercising more and improving your sleep. If you want to think long-term, at Life Tango you can create a list of goals you want to accomplish in your lifetime, ticking them off as you get there and seeing what others hope to do. And the ever-popular Facebook offers several applications that will post daily health tips to your profile and lets you share your resolutions list with 200 of your closest "friends". Too bad it will also update them whenever you try to surreptitiously remove a promise to yourself that you've decided you can't keep.

 

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An already perplexing Iowa race became even more impenetrable today as former Sen. John Edwards blasted Sen. Barack Obama for criticizing Sen. Hillary Clinton’s claim that Sen. Obama had criticized Sen. Edwards.

At a campaign rally in Cedar Rapids, the former North Carolina senator said that the Illinois senator’s criticism of the New York senator for claiming that the Illinois senator had criticized the North Carolina senator was “an attempt to confuse the voters.”

Mr. Edwards’ comments set off a new round of charges, countercharges, and counter-countercharges between the three Democratic rivals, with Sen. Obama lashing out at Sen. Clinton for supporting Mr. Edwards’ criticism of Sen. Obama’s criticism of Sen. Clinton.

In a particularly nasty remark, Mr. Obama called Mr. Edwards a son of a mill worker, “but not in so many words.”

Davis Logsdon, chairman of the political science department at the University of Minnesota, says that the Edwards-Obama-Clinton battle royal may be contributing to Iowa voters’ fatigue: “Without a doubt, the Iowa caucuses are turning into the grossest three-way in history.”

New polls taken after the latest volleys and counter-volleys between the three candidates were inconclusive, as a majority of Iowans polled said they were “totally sick of being polled.”

With less than a week to go before the Iowa caucuses, 61% of likely voters agreed with the statement, “If one more stupid pollster asks me one more retarded question I swear I will go postal on his ass, I am not kidding.”

 

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So what.......why would anyone want to strip HER?

Miss France 2008 has kept her crown, contest organizers said Friday, after a row over suggestive photographs that saw members of parliament, a bishop and the minister for overseas territories spring to her defense.

However she will not be able to compete in the Miss World or Miss Universe contests, where she will be replaced by Miss New Caledonia.

Valerie Begue, 22, from Reunion, won the beauty pageant, which is taken more seriously in France than in many other countries, in a televised ceremony on December 8.

But her reign threatened to be short-lived after a magazine published a risque series of photographs in which she was seen lying in a crucifixion-like pose while wearing a bikini or licking condensed milk in a suggestive manner.

The rules of the contest forbid participants from appearing in nude or provocative photographs and the head of the Miss France contest, Genevieve de Fontenay, called for Begue to renounce her title when the pictures emerged.

Begue refused, saying the photographs, taken three years ago, had been published without her consent and in the face of wide public support, the organizers relented.

"We felt that, as she had been elected in front of 9 million television viewers, faced with this public that had never seen the photographs, we couldn't take the title from her," de Fontenay told a news conference in Paris.

   

 

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I like this:

"Working Americans like lower taxes. So do I. Lower taxes benefit all of us, creating jobs and allowing us to make more decisions for ourselves about our lives.

Whether a tax cut reduces a single mother’s payroll taxes by $40 a month or allows a business owner to save thousands in capital gains taxes and hire more employees, that tax cut is a good thing. Lower taxes allow more spending, saving, and investing which helps the economy — that means all of us.

Real conservatives have always supported low taxes and low spending.

But today, too many politicians and lobbyists are spending America into ruin. We are nine trillion dollars in debt as a nation. Our mounting government debt endangers the financial future of our children and grandchildren. If we don’t cut spending now, higher taxes and economic disaster will be in their future — and yours.

In addition, the Federal Reserve, our central bank, fosters runaway debt by increasing the money supply — making each dollar in your pocket worth less. The Fed is a private bank run by unelected officials who are not required to be open or accountable to “we the people.”

Worse, our economy and our very independence as a nation is increasingly in the hands of foreign governments such as China and Saudi Arabia, because their central banks also finance our runaway spending.

We cannot continue to allow private banks, wasteful agencies, lobbyists, corporations on welfare, and governments collecting foreign aid to dictate the size of our ballooning budget. We need a new method to prioritize our spending. It’s called the Constitution of the United States."

I would like to know what RP is going to do about it.

 

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As part of getting ready for the new year, I have erased my IP ban list so that anyone is now allowed to post comments.

 

"That joker is running an evil axis of one over there wherever it is and I won't have it", said Paul who has done an abrupt 180 regarding foreign entanglements.  "I loved Prime Minister Bhutto and this is total bullshit."

"Musharraf's head is going to be hanging on my wall by the end of January 2009"

 

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NAFTA Superhighway is a HOAX

 

 

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NHEREorth America SuperCorridor Coalition, Inc. (NASCO)

MYTH vs. FACT

HHHMYTHS FACTS

MYTH: NASCO is

spearheading the creation

of a NAFTA

Superhighway?

FACT: Founded in 1994, NASCO is a nonprofit organization that is

working to bring together the public and private sectors along a common

corridor. The organization is striving to: 1) solve critical infrastructure

problems in innovative ways; 2) maximize the efficient use of our existing

resources; 3) better utilize critical diminishing funding for transportation

infrastructure; and, 4) employ technology along our existing infrastructure

to improve security.

MYTH: There is a

proposed NAFTA

Superhighway and it will

be four football fields

wide?

FACT: There is no new proposed "NAFTA Superhighway.”

“NAFTA Superhighway” is a slogan for EXISTING corridors that carry

international trade with Canada and/or Mexico. NASCO and the cities,

counties, states and provinces along our existing Interstate Highways

35/29/94 (the NASCO Corridor) have been referring to I-35 as the

“NAFTA Superhighway” for many years as it carries a substantial amount

of international trade with Mexico, the United States and Canada. There

are no plans to build a new NAFTA Superhighway - it exists today as I-

35.

NASCO uses the term "SuperCorridor" to demonstrate the fact that our

organization is more than just a highway coalition. NASCO works to

develop key relationships along the EXISTING corridors we represent to

maximize economic development opportunities along the NASCO

Corridor, as well as coordinate the development of technology integration

projects, inland ports, environmental initiatives, university research, and

the sharing of "best practices." NASCO is going beyond the traditional

highway coalition in promoting improvements, maintenance and the

integration of technologies along existing highway and rail infrastructure

to maximize economic opportunities for the corridor due to increased

trade and transportation.

MYTH: The Trans Texas

Corridor is the first

section of the proposed,

new NAFTA

Superhighway?

FACT: The Trans Texas Corridor is an initiative launched by Texas

Governor Rick Perry and developed by the Texas Department of

Transportation to attempt to solve the critical, long-range transportation

problems projected for the State of Texas over the next 20 to 30 years.

NASCO supports the TTC-35 section (parallel to Interstate 35) of the

proposed TTC System because it is directly related to, and will benefit,

the existing I-35, NASCO Corridor. We have no authority over this

initiative and know of no plans to extend it to other states. Any decision to

2

expand the TTC beyond the State of Texas would be made by that

state’s Department of Transportation.

MYTH: The map on the

website was a secretly

approved plan for the

proposed NAFTA

Superhighway.

FACT: The map has been removed from our homepage because it was

causing confusion due to false and misleading information put up across

the Internet. The map initially served as a visual image (not drawn to

scale) of the NASCO focus area. The map was a marketing tool and not

a plan for new infrastructure or a secretly approved plan by a government

agency or the Administration.

MYTH: The changes in

NASCO’s web site show

signs/proof of conspiracy.

FACT: The normal growth and development of our organization has

mandated regular changes, adjustments and upgrades to our NASCO

website at www.nascocorridor.com. NASCO has made changes to clarify

and improve its communication and reflect the growth in numbers and

initiatives. NASCO strives to improve our message and educate the

public on the importance of maintaining and supporting existing

transportation infrastructure and the efficiency by which the various

modes of transportation along the corridor interact with each other.

MYTH: NASCO promotes

a North American Union.

FACT: NASCO does not promote a NAU, nor do we know of any single

serious advocate of such. NASCO certainly does not desire nor supports

any NAU. There have been a few university professors and “think tank”

groups who may have discussed the idea of a NAU similar to the 27-

nation European Union; but the mere suggestion, much less the serious

intent to incorporate the sovereign nations of Canada and Mexico into a

political union with the United States would provoke extraordinary,

insurmountable resistance, and is certainly not a concept NASCO

supports.

MYTH: NASCO promotes

the adoption of the

“Amero”

FACT: NASCO does not promote the adoption of a NAU single currency

called the “Amero,” a discussion primarily among university professors.

NASCO does not support the creation of any new currency. Again, this is

an idea that has been floated by a few professors and “think tanks” and

does not exist beyond the minor discussions within those groups.

MYTH: NASCO does not

support national

sovereignty.

FACT: NASCO completely respects and recognizes the national

sovereignty of the peoples of the United States, Mexico and Canada. Our

long-time advocacy regarding increased security at our major national

border crossings with Mexico and Canada form part of our commitment

to improvement in the transportation infrastructure. Increased security

efforts at the border crossing points with Mexico and Canada in recent

years, including mandatory advance notifications of bills of lading and

cargo manifests, has meant a dramatic increase in U.S. law enforcement

knowledge at the border. This has directly served to strengthen the

control of the borders while speeding cargo transit and strengthening the

control, and thus, the sovereignty of each individual nation.

3

MYTH: The Security and

Prosperity Partnership

(SPP) is a conspiracy by

the leaders of the United

States, Canada and

Mexico to merge the three

nations into a North

American Union, to

establish a common

currency and build a

NAFTA Superhighway

four football fields wide.

FACT: The SPP is a White House-driven initiative. The cooperative

efforts of the three nations under the SPP process seek to make the

United States, Canada and Mexico open to legitimate trade and closed to

terrorism and crime. The SPP respects and leaves the unique cultural

and legal frameworks of each of the three countries intact. The SPP’s

intent is to sustain the opportunity for the governments of the United

States, Canada, and Mexico to continuously review common goals and

possible measures to enhance each nation’s security and prosperity. The

U.S. Departments of Commerce and Homeland Security coordinate the

efforts of the agencies responsible for the various initiatives under the

prosperity and security pillars of the SPP. If any regulatory change is

viewed as desirable through the SPP process, any U.S. government

agency reviewing the change is required to conform to all existing U.S.

laws and administrative procedures.

MYTH: NASCO is

competing with the West

Coast ports in California

and trying to bypass them

by using Mexican ports.

FACT: NASCO has no control over the flow of trade from Asia to the

United States or Mexico. NASCO is preparing the Corridor to handle

increased trade and transportation whether it is moving to or from the

east, west, north or south. NASCO is not competing with west coast

ports, nor are we trying to “take work” from them. If NASCO succeeds at

improving the safety, security and efficiency of the NASCO Corridor, it

will benefit the west coast ports, as our corridor and inland ports already

serve as inland destinations for storage and distribution of cargo flows

that transit through the West Coast to the heartland of America; thereby,

enabling those ports to handle more cargo.

MYTH: NASCO has

authority to set or lift

security and

environmental

regulations, and to make

decisions about our

nation’s transportation

system unilaterally.

FACT: NASCO is not and does not act as a government agency, nor is

that our intent or objective. We have no authority to make decisions on

behalf of governments. We have no authority to build or develop anything

unilaterally, or to set or lift government restrictions. We work to build a

common voice as an organization with both public and private sector

members united to advocate for necessary infrastructure maintenance

and improvements. We work with State Departments of Transportation

and federal and local agencies charged with overseeing transportation,

trade and security help accomplish our mission and enhance NASCO

initiatives already underway.

For more information please visit www.nascocorridor.com

or call Tiffany Melvin, NASCO Executive Director at 214-744-1042.

 

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A guest column by Davis Logsdon, Chairman of the University of Minnesota's Dept. of Psychology:

As a prominent child psychologist and the father of two tween girls, I have grappled with the same problem that many parents are facing today: how to talk to your child about Jamie Lynn Spears. While this is an issue that every parent must navigate for him or herself, here are some questions that your child is likely to ask, followed by the correct answers.

How did Jamie Lynn Spears get pregnant?
According to her mom, Jamie Lynn was a good girl who always respected her curfew and girls like that usually don’t get pregnant. So the answer is, no one knows.

Could Kevin Federline have made Jamie Lynn Spears pregnant?
No. This is one of those rare instances when someone got pregnant and Kevin Federline was not involved.

Now that Jamie Lynn is pregnant, will Zoey, the character she plays on Nickelodeon, get pregnant, too?
No. Remember, Jamie Lynn is a real person and Zoey is just a made-up character. Plus, Nickelodeon is owned by an angry old man named Sumner Redstone who doesn’t let people get pregnant. So there is absolutely no way Zoey will get pregnant. Instead, Zoey will get cancelled.

Could Hannah Montana get pregnant?
I thought we already went through this. Hannah Montana isn’t a real person. She’s a character played by Miley Cyrus.

Okay, then could Miley Cyrus get pregnant?
No, because her dad’s always around and he creeps boys out.

Are the girls on Disney’s “High School Musical” pregnant?
No, the girls on Disney’s “High School Musical” are not pregnant. They have been too busy posing for naked pictures on the Internet to get pregnant.

If I pose for naked pictures on the Internet, will that keep me from getting pregnant?
It couldn’t hurt.

 

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Thank you Barry G. #2.  It's very helpful on your part and extremely flattering that you would take the time and go to the trouble to copy my award winning blog even down to the template.  You too Mos.  Good for you.  Excellent choice.  Who better to emulate than me. 

Dugg, you and I have always had civilized discourse.  If you are under some misapprehension that I am involved in any way in whatever appears to be troubling you, I recommend you look elsewhere.

I understand that you are piqued and will not take your misapplied barbs personally.  If you are trying to "get even" with someone, you are making no progress.

 

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Registered Democrats' choice for nominee for 2008* Clinton 40% Obama 30% Edwards 14% Richardson 4% Biden 4% Dodd 2% Kucinich 2% Gravel <1%

Registered Republicans' choice for nominee for 2008* Giuliani 24% Huckabee 22% Romney 16% McCain 13% Thompson 10% Paul 6% Hunter 2% Tancredo 1%

 

 

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The Pope and Hillary Rodham Clinton are on the same stage in front of a huge crowd. 
The senator and His Holiness, however, have seen it all  before.  To make it a little more interesting, the senator says to the  Pope,  "Did You know that with just one little wave of my hand I can make every  Democrat in the crowd go wild?" 

He doubts it, so she shows him. Sure  enough, the wave elicits rapture and  cheering from every democrat in the crowd. Gradually, the  cheering subsides. 

The Pope, not wanting to be out done by such a level  of arrogance, considers what he could do.

"That was impressive, the Pope says, "But did you know  that with just one little wave of MY hand I can make EVERY person in the  crowd go crazy with joy? This joy will  not be a momentary display like that of  your subjects, but will go deep into their hearts, and  they will forever speak of this day and rejoice."

 

The senator seriously doubts this, and says so. "One  little wave of your hand and all people will rejoice forever? Show me."  

 

So the Pope slapped her.

 

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It's amazing how instruction regular checkups can be

 

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Attempting to Destroy CIA Tapes, Cheney Burns Down White House
Veep Apologizes for Accidental Inferno

The White House, one of the most historic structures in the nation’s capital, burnt to the ground today after Vice President Dick Cheney attempted to incinerate a cache of CIA interrogation tapes in his office.

According to White House aides, the blaze started shortly after twelve noon, minutes after Mr. Cheney slipped out of a cabinet meeting, saying that he had to “hit the head.”

But rather than using the bathroom as he had stated, the vice president instead went to his office and put a blowtorch to a pile of CIA interrogation tapes which the White House had feared might be subpoenaed in the near future.

“I started burning those things and boom, they went up like a rocket,” an apologetic Mr. Cheney later told reporters.

The accidental blaze quickly spread from the videotapes to a nearby stack of transcripts of phone conversations involving Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and singer Barbra Streisand that Mr. Cheney had obtained via a warantless wiretap.

“Once those transcripts caught on fire, I knew the building was a goner,” Mr. Cheney said. “There were literally thousands and thousands of pages of that stuff.”

 

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Merry Christmas ....Fondly, Barry G.

 

 

Addressing questions about his objectivity as a campaigner for his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), former President Bill Clinton said today that being married to Sen. Clinton “has never influenced my behavior in the least little bit.”

During an interview on PBS’ “The Charlie Rose Show,” the former president said that those who accuse him of favoritism towards his wife “have got it all wrong, because, you know, Charlie, I’ve pretty much lived my entire life as if I wasn’t married to her at all.”

Mr. Clinton added that in order to demonstrate his objectivity about Sen. Clinton’s qualifications, he would remove his wedding ring and keep it off for the duration of the campaign.

“As far as I’m concerned, from this day on I’m single,” the former president said.

During the free-wheeling one-hour chat, aides to Mr. Clinton gathered in the studio control room and frantically attempted to induce the engineers to cut short the interview, with one aide trying to pull a cable out of its socket in the hopes that it would plunge the studio into darkness.

But their efforts were in vain as the former president continued his unbridled monologue, at one point touching on the similarities between a president and a prostitute.

“Being a president is a lot like being a thousand-dollar-a-night call girl, Charlie,” he said. “Experience matters.”

 

Copywrite 2007  -  Barry G.

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Ron Paul reacts to Hillary:  "If you drop out I'll give you a blow job"

 

 

Copywrite 2007  -  Barry G.

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Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul's supporters raised over $6 million Sunday to boost the 10-term Texas congressman's campaign for the White House.

Called a "Money Bomb," the goal was to raise as much money as possible on the Internet in one day. The campaign's previous fundraiser brought in $4.2 million.

At midnight EST, donations were over $6 million, according to the campaign Web site. Those donations are processed credit card receipts, said Paul campaign spokesman Jesse Benton. Benton said the median donation is about $50 in the fundraiser, which was the idea of Paul supporters who are not officially connected to the campaign.

Trevor Lyman, a Paul supporter who is traveling the country following the Ron Paul blimp, said the date of the fundraiser coincides with the 234th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party.

The Ron Paul blimp is an aerial billboard emblazoned on one side with "Who is Ron Paul? Google Ron Paul." The other side reads "Ron Paul Revolution." The blimp, another grass-roots effort, was in Chester, S.C., on Sunday, and organizers hope to get it to New Hampshire before the Jan. 8 primary there.

 

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This thought occurs that Hillary Clinton's entire campaign is, and always was, a 

Potemkin village, a giant head fake, a haughty facade hollow at the core. That 

she is disorganized on the ground in Iowa, taken aback by a challenge to her 

invincibility, that she doesn't actually have an A team, that her advisers have 

always been chosen more for proven loyalty than talent, that her supporters don't 

feel deep affection for her. That she's scrambling chaotically to catch up, with 

surrogates saying scuzzy things about Barack Obama and drug use, and her following 

up with apologies that will, as always, keep the story alive. That her 

guru-pollster, the almost universally disliked Mark Penn, has, according to 

Newsday, become the focus of charges that he has "mistakenly run Clinton as a de 

facto incumbent" and that the top officials on the campaign have never had a real 

understanding of Iowa.  This is true of Mrs. Clinton and her Iowa campaign: They 

thought it was a queenly 

procession, not a brawl. Now they're reduced to spinning the idea that expectations 

are on Mr. Obama, that he'd better win big or it's a loss. They've been reduced too 

to worrying about the weather. If there's a blizzard on caucus day, her supporters, 

who skew old, may not turn out. The defining picture of the caucuses may be a 

78-year-old woman being dragged from her home by young volunteers in a tinted-window 

SUV.  This is, still, an amazing thing to see. It is a delight of democracy that now and 

then assumptions are confounded, that all the conventional wisdom of the past year 

is compressed and about to blow. It takes a Potemkin village.  A thought on the 

presence of Bill Clinton. He is showing up all over in Iowa and 

New Hampshire, speaking, shaking hands, drawing crowds. But when he speaks, he has 

a tendency to speak about himself. It's all, always, me-me-me in his gigantic 

bullying neediness. Still, he's there, and he's a draw, and the plan was that 

his presence would boost his wife's fortunes. The way it was supposed to work, 

the logic, was this: People miss Bill. They miss the '90s. They miss the pre-9/11 

world. So they'll love seeing him back in the White House. So they'll vote for 

Hillary. Because she'll bring him. "Two for the price of one."  It appears not to 

be working. Might it be that they don't miss Bill as much 

as everyone thought? That they don't actually want Bill back in the White House?  

Maybe. But maybe it's this. Maybe they'd love to have him back in the White 

House. Maybe they just don't want him to bring her. Maybe they miss the Cuckoo's 

Nest and they'd love having Jack Nicholson's McMurphy running through the halls. 

Maybe they just don't miss Nurse Ratched. Does she have to come?

 

 

 

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Copywrite 2007  -  Barry G.

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Subject: Christmas Party