Liberal schadenfreude is way out of control here, hee hee

Posted on November 11, 2012 by RegenAxe

O’s Middle Finger Salute

I’ll bet you that Anne wishes she had enough digital dexterity left to give me this one-finger salute too. I prefer to take this reaction as a sure sign of improving health and not as any fallout from my bedside manner. Maybe I was a wee bit too effusive in my praise of the pilobolus dance concert last night. The one that she was supposed to have gone to, but was too injured to attend. Then again, maybe it was my rather lackluster attempt to piece lyrics together to my one-off song, The Wreck of the Annie Fitzgerald. I just think that she is tired and sore and doing the best that she can.

I do believe that this picture of Obama has not been shopped. There is an original looking instance under the Washington Post’s byline and there is another similar one involving his other hand and the opposite side of his head. Apparently, our President has a tick for stroking his temple with his middle finger. I don’t think that anyone should take it personally, but a boat load will and many already have.

It has been a great week, a week to party. Adding Florida to the mix only helped to lengthen the celebration. Now it is time to buckle down and govern. Although, I can’t wait to see how the senseless partisan squabbling marches ever onward. It would be nice if we could just all get along.

Let Toonces Drive

Posted on November 9, 2012 by RegenAxe

Beaded Jaguar

Toonces, the Driving Cat is a fictional sketch character from Saturday Night Live. Created by SNL writer Jack Handey, Toonces was the family pet of Lyle (Dana Carvey) and Brenda Clark (Victoria Jackson), a couple who would allow their cat to drive the family car. At first, they were delighted that their cat had such an ability, but were always horrified to discover (too late) that Toonces was actually not a good driver. Inevitably, Toonces would drive the car over a cliff. This sequence was characterized by someone in the car yelling “Toonces, look out!”, followed by stock footage of the car sailing off a cliff. – per Wiki

Obama wins the election, the stock market pulls a temper tantrum and Republican congressional leadership returns to the mike after remaining silent for months. A lame duck session of Congress is in the offering, with the main agenda item on the table being the fiscal cliff.

The so-called fiscal cliff is really a series of escarpments. Broken down this precipice encompasses several parts. First, there is sequestration, the compromise from last year’s debt ceiling deal. Sequestration would cut the federal budget, but the main complaint about it is that it will cut as with a maul and not with the prefered scalpel. Second, are the payroll tax cut that were implemented to stimulate the economy and an extension to unemployment benefits. Finally, there are the Bush-era tax cuts.

It is generally agreed that allowing all of these tax and spending changes to occur would be a bad thing. It could possibly lead us back into another recession. There is the rub though. As a loyal American only wishing the best for my country I would whole heartedly endorse such a deal. Except that we will be dealing again with the very same tricksters, who for the past two years have done nothing, except to our obstruct government.

Once you have them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow – Chuck Colson, Nixon consul

The Republicans have proved themselves way too adept at spinning these sometimes too arcane financial debates. The Democrats just can’t seem to hold their own water when it comes to debates like this. I have a simple prescription, let Toonces drive. Let’s dive off this fiscal cliff. Come late January, when the new Congress is sworn in, they can address these problems properly.

Except they won’t be the same problems. The Democrats won’t be arguing to raise taxes on the rich that will have already been done. Instead, the Dem’s might even exceed to an upper class tax cut, albeit a small one. Budget cuts will have been already made, we will just leven them with some intelligence. We’ll want to cut middle class taxes too. The markets will gyrate, but in the end rebalance. Is this not a Grover Norquist dystopian future?

To the more milk toast of my Demo brothers and sisters, I offer the following sop, Toonces in a happier younger time. I also want to offer a belated Happy Birthday to Dr. Alice. This blog has totally gone to the ~~dogs~~. I mean cats.

What’s Past Is Prologue

Posted on November 7, 2012 by RegenAxe

American Motor’s Ambassador SST

This election, more than any in recent memory, was won and lost on substantive issues, one in particular. The auto bailout was the lynchpin of this election. President Obama implemented the auto bailout that saved both General Motors and Chrysler. Conversely, Governor Romney wrote a New York Times op-ed, “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt”, stating his opposition to this government bailout.

Throughout this campaign we have heard like a steady drumbeat that this election was all about jobs. We have also been hearing that the battleground state of Ohio would be ground zero. The high number of auto related jobs in Ohio, has me asking what was Romney thinking? You cannot proclaim your opposition to the rescue of an industry that many voters depend on and then claim that you are all about saving and creating jobs. No one will believe you.

Romney doubled-down with a late campaign attack that asserted that the Obama bailed out Chrysler, now Italian owned, planned to ship Ohio Jeep production to China. The Obama campaign, Chrysler management and labor all declared this a lie. Chrysler went on to put their money where their mouth was. It gave all its employees the day off, so they could vote. It turned out not to be true that Ohio was required for Obama’s victory. He would still have won the election even if he had lost the state. Still it is somehow symbolic that last night, when the networks declared Obama the victor in Ohio, they also gave him the election.

Remembering back to this year’s Super Bowl, one of the most prophetic ads was Chrysler’s “Halftime in America”. It played during the game’s halftime and was widely perceived as a tacit endorsement of a second Obama term. It was narrated by actor Clint Eastwood, who later went on to yell at an empty chair during the Republican National Convention. I guess that Clint just works better with a script. Republicans have complained that Chrysler’s Chairman Sergio Marchionne is in the bag for Obama. I prefer to say that he has Barack’s back, as in if you watch my back, I’ll watch yours. I do have one question for Mr. Romney, how could the son of an auto company president be so clueless about auto politics?

Four More Years!

Posted on November 6, 2012 by RegenAxe

American Flag at a Presidential Rally

Need I say more? Oh yeah, and six more years for Claire! McCaskill has legitimately shut that whole Todd Akin thing down. Thank God, that Missouri has passed that test.

Democrats hold the White House and the Senate. The House is held by the Republicans. Gridlock is preserved. Thank God, though that the big swing states didn’t lie in the Pacific time zone. I’m going to bed now, good night!

I am the Count. I will count the votes.

Posted on November 6, 2012 by RegenAxe

My Polling Place

I voted first thing this morning. I got to my polling place before the polls even opened. There was already a long line there waiting, about a couple hundred people. I got in line right behind my neighbor. I had seen him pulling out of his driveway, when I was just starting my car. It was nice to have someone to speak with, for the 45 minutes it took to make it up to the first table, better than Angry Birds.

My neighbor chose the voting machine, but I elected to use paper instead. Paper ballots being like those multiple guess tests that I use to take in school. There was a line for the machines, but no wait for the paper ballots. When I fed my ballot into the optical scan machine though, my neighbor was long since gone. I guess that the machines are faster.

Anne voted in the afternoon, after school. She only had to wait 15 minutes. The very first voter in line this morning was a young black woman. I gave her a hat tip for being number one as I made my way to the end of the long line. She seemed to appreciate the acknowledgement.

There was a racial incident in our municipality, the night before last. Some dip-stick had tagged some houses and a few cars with KKK. When I saw the multitude of black faces in line before me in our well-integrated city, I had to feel some small measure of satisfaction and revenge.

As I write this post, I’m also waiting for the polls to close. As near as I can tell, both sides are convinced that they are going to win. Me and the Democrats, we have polling, numbers, data and statistics on our side. The Republicans, well they have their opinions, the polls are skewed, the media is biased and their man is going to win, win big.

One way or the other, I hope and pray that it is over tonight. What I want least of all is a tie, like we had in Florida in 2000. What I want most of all is the reelection of both President Obama and Senator McCaskill. Tonight’s election coverage will definitely make for some must see TV.

Election Day!

Posted on November 6, 2012 by RegenAxe

The County Election, 1852, George Caleb Bingham

This is Election Day. It is a day that many of us thought would never come, but finally it is here. Along with all of the excitement and hoopla, there will be both tragedy and angst. I submit that it has always been like that. My only apology is that things have gotten better, as we all strive towards a more perfect union.

George Caleb Bingham’s “The County Election” pictures the American democratic progress. I don’t normally do this, but click on the picture to enlarge it. This painting belongs to the Saint Louis Art Museum, which is “Dedicated to Art and Free to All”. It also permits non-flash photography. The story portrayed in the painting, takes place in a small Missouri town in the nineteenth century, when the rituals of voting were still taking shape. The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), an independent federal agency, has created an excellent description of this painting, here. This is my synopsis of the NEH description:

Known as “the Missouri artist”, Bingham presents this raucous voting party as an enactment of democracy, bringing together residents of a rural community to make decisions for the common good. In his crowded composition, Bingham suggests the inclusiveness of a democracy with representatives of every age and social stratum, except African-Americans, who would not enjoy the right to vote until after the Civil War, and women, whose right to participate would not be recognized for another seventy years.

The painting reveals other irregularities in the electoral system that would not be tolerated today. Because there was no system of voter registration, the man in red at the top of the courthouse steps swears on the Bible that he hasn’t already cast a vote. Because there was no secret (or even paper) ballot, a voter calls out his choice to the election clerks behind the judge, who openly records it in a ledger. Because there were no restrictions on electioneering, the well dressed gentleman behind the voter, one of the candidates, is free to hand his card to citizens just before they cast their vote. Yet none of this appears to dull the spirit of the voting process.

The elections sins portrayed by Bingham were meant as criticisms. The scene portrayed was the artist’s perception of an actual election, an election that Bingham lost and the well dressed gentleman, a Mister Sappington won. Saint Louis residents will recognise this old family name.

According to Winston Churchill, “It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others that have been tried.” Today, Election Day, there will be new cheats, new controversies. We are only puny, fallible humans, so do your best, go vote.