exhpfan

There was a bumper stick that was big in the oil field area of Midland -Odessa back in the 80's which said "Please God. One more boom.  I promise I won't blow it this time."  There was and they did.

With Franklin's certification, the Democratic caucus now controls both houses of Congress and the White house free from the threat of fillibusters..  All they have to do is create an economy based on reality instead of a chain letter form of prosperity.  This economy needs to be void of special interest. They can tackle all the tough issues and end up with a strong economy without inflation.  Can the Democrats avoid the massive money from Insurance companies, banks,lawyers,and large corporations and actually create the "Green Job" economy that Obama talked about in his campaign or will the special interest groups drag them down?  If they continue their current path of special interest pork barrel spending reflected in the stimulus bill then THEY WILL BLOW THIS OPPORTUNITY. 

That's what the Republicans are counting on and if the Jimmy Carter years is any indicator then they are right. 

 This is just a short post by a REGAN DEMOCRAT.
 

The recent press about the GOP's opposition to Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme court has caused this old man to consider the recent columns pointing out that we are all the sum total of our experiences.  There are a lot of reasons I support many different viewpoints whether they are Democrat or Republican positions.  I favor the large exemption to Estate taxes because of having to sale a portion of my wife's ranch that had been in the family for generations because we didn't have the money to pay the estate taxes at the time.  (I had just graduated from law school and the exemption was only $60,000 at that time.)  In my opinion the GOP is right and the Democrats are wrong on this issue.

The first thing that always comes to my mind, however, when the abortion issue is discussed is the loss of Jill.  Jill was my best friend my entire childhood.  My family moved next door to Jill when I was 3 yrs old.  She and I became best friends.  We rode our bikes to elementary and junior high school together everyday.  We played together every summer.  I played tea party and dolls with her and she played cowboy and Indians with me. We danced together to records and exchanged our books.  I would check out a book from the library and she would return it after she had read it and visa versa.  We would lay in the back yard for hours talking, but we never kissed or even thought about kissing.  We were like brother and sister, but only closer.   When we hit high school and I got my car and Driver's license she would be waiting for me in the front seat of my car when I walked out of the house to go to school and after school or football practice to go home.  Boys would ask my permission to ask her for a date.  We both thought this was funny.

Then my Senior year. one boy didn't ask my permission and started dating Jill.  I didn't especially like this boy, but I kept my mouth shut and simply told her how happy I was for her. Then one night there was a knock on our door.  I will never forget the look on Jill's mother's face when my father called me to the door.  She was screaming and yelling and blaming me for "Killing Jill."  I had no idea what she was talking about and just kept asking over and over again if Jill was dead.  This went on for what seemed to me an eternity, but probably it only lasted a few minutes before my dad got everyone calmed down and found out what had happened.  Jill had gotten pregnant and her boyfriend had taken her to Mexico to get an abortion where she had died in the back room of a Mexican whorehouse from a blotched abortion.  Since Jill's mother knew we were best friends she assumed Jill had told me what she was planning.   God, I wish she had.

There is no doubt that this life experience has affected my life in many ways including being pro-choice despite my strong religious upbringing.
 
 

“We have a joke around the White House,” the president said. “We’re just going to keep on telling the truth until it stops working — and nowhere is truth-telling more important than the Middle East."

Read more of Thomas L Friedman's interview here.
 

The Hatter opened his eyes very wide on hearing this; but all he said was, `Why is a raven like a writing-desk?'

`Come, we shall have some fun now!' thought Alice. `I'm glad they've begun asking riddles.--I believe I can guess that,' she added aloud.

`Do you mean that you think you can find out the answer to it?' said the March Hare.

`Exactly so,' said Alice.

`Then you should say what you mean,' the March Hare went on.

`I do,' Alice hastily replied; `at least--at least I mean what I say--that's the same thing, you know.'

`Not the same thing a bit!' said the Hatter. `You might just as well say that "I see what I eat" is the same thing as "I eat what I see"!'
You might just as well say,' added the March Hare, `that "I like what I get" is the same thing as "I get what I like"!'

`You might just as well say,' added the Dormouse, who seemed to be talking in his sleep, `that "I breathe when I sleep" is the same thing as "I sleep when I breathe"!'

`It is the same thing with you,' said the Hatter, and here the conversation dropped, and the party sat silent for a minute, while Alice thought over all she could remember about ravens and writing-desks, which wasn't much.
. . . . .

 

The Dormouse had closed its eyes by this time, and was going off into a doze; but, on being pinched by the Hatter, it woke up again with a little shriek, and went on: `--that begins with an M, such as mouse-traps, and the moon, and memory, and muchness-- you know you say things are "much of a muchness"--did you ever see such a thing as a drawing of a muchness?'

`Really, now you ask me,' said Alice, very much confused, `I don't think--'

`Then you shouldn't talk,' said the Hatter.

This piece of rudeness was more than Alice could bear: she got up in great disgust, and walked off; the Dormouse fell asleep instantly, and neither of the others took the least notice of her going, though she looked back once or twice, half hoping that they would call after her: the last time she saw them, they were trying to put the Dormouse into the teapot.

At any rate I'll never go there again!' said Alice as she picked her way through the wood. `It's the stupidest tea-party I ever was at in all my life!'


Now compare this tea party to this one:

 

This tea party is the stupidist tea party I've ever seen.  It would be different if Obama had raised taxes, but in reality 90% of the taxpayers will be paying less in taxes this year then last year BECAUSE OF OBAMA.

 

Jon Stewart has one of the best comedy shows on T.V. right now.  I don't know if he writes his own stuff, but it is brillant satire.   Just the other day I was trying to decide how I could relate to my Republican friends the craziness of their far right news outlets and the harm that I think they are doing to the Republican party.  Then Jon Stewart aired this show.  I'm just going to send them the link to this video with a short note:

For some unknown reason to me, the 5oth anniversary of the death of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper has compelled me to think over and over again about this time in my life. (1955-1973).   This time period of my life affected me more then I even realized until this month. It has caused me to go back and replay over and over again the song written by Don McLean, American Pie. and now compels me to write down my thoughts on what this song means to me and why.  I am so glad Don McLean has refused to give his own interpretations of this song and has allowed me to define this song to my life and times of this period instead of his. I am putting the rest of this entry under a cut because it is so long. Please bear with me while I post this soul searching blog entry and understand I have written and posted this entry more for self understanding of who I am then for you the reader, but feel free to read. I hope it helps the younger generation to understand their grandparents or maybe even their parents.

The sad part about this prior theory, even though correct is that the way JKR wrote Deathly Hallows, Draco was right even though Snape was trustworthy.  Dumbledore was nothing but  "just an old fool."