Fancy wire rope ends?

But...but,,,if you lived close to the seals and sea lions, you'd be on their side.

Hey, it looks like Palin did a George Bush on the polar bears, speaking of mammals that people love and hate. She suppressed reports from her own state scientists that says the bears are in bad shape, so she could sue the federal government to keep them off the endangered list. They get in the way of drilling for oil, you see...

Warning: You won't like this article.

-- Ed Huntress

On Sat, 13 Sep 2008 20:50:45 -0400, with neither quill nor qualm, "Ed Huntress" quickly quoth:

I doubt 'er, Bill.

No, I don't. Not only because it's a political hit piece (judging by the tone and content, I'd give 1,000,000:1 odds that the writers are staunch Democrats), but because it brings to light more of the down side of Sarah Palin.

A quick writer background check: Goodman - graduate of Berkeley, decadal worker @ Washington Post. Powell - seems to run the political blog and appears to write articles only about Obama. (I didn't read it.) Becker - seems to be the token conservative in this trio.

Warning: You won't like this article.

RE: Regarding your concern for the animals: Ed, why don't you move to Alaska so you can save the polar bears? (and your seals/sea lions)

-- Guard well within yourself that treasure, kindness. Know how to give without hesitation, how to lose without regret, how to acquire without meanness. -- George Sand

Well, what the hell? Would you send a bunch of Republicans to do an investigative story about Palin? C'mon, Larry, think about incentives here. They're the key to everything, including uncovering the muck that McCain's campaign operatives would rather cover up. Whoever you send on that job, you don't want it to be someone who would finish the day in the hotel bar, yukking it up with McCain's campaign handlers.

Jeez, I read that months ago. Would you call that a political hit piece?

They vetted Obama slowly over the course of a year. With Palin, they have a few weeks. Expect them to focus on the part that's missing, the part that the McCain campaign hasn't served up on a platter of press releases: the things that question and examine what Peggy Noonan called "the narrative."

That's what the press is supposed to do. That's why Thomas Jefferson, who was brutalized by a truly vicious and partisan press, beyond anything that could be published today except on the Web, said that, given the choice of government without newspapers or newspapers without government, he'd take the latter.

I got a bad whiff of Palin almost from the start. I don't claim special insight but I'll tell you what that whiff smelled like to me, and from whom I've smelled it before: Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and, in spades, Newt Gingrich and Tom DeLay. It's the smell of ambition run amok, the kind that's so overpowering to the individual who has it that the underlying focus is entirely on that person's success, in which the ostensible object -- the well-being of the American people, for example -- becomes a surrogate and a symbol for the real object they want to aggrandize, which is themselves. To such people, all things are justified if they contribute to achieving self-justification and personal glory. As Maureen Dowd put it today, Palin is a Napolean in bunny boots. Palin might describe herself as being on a mission from God.

The polar bears can take care of themselves, thank you. All they need is a little good press from time to time. If they're pushed back because of Arctic melting, they'll survive in smaller numbers. There's little that will change that in the short run, anyway. But if they're pushed *out*, they could have a much harder time.

-- Ed Huntress

On Sun, 14 Sep 2008 13:50:01 -0400, with neither quill nor qualm, "Ed Huntress" quickly quoth:

Whatever happened to a neutral press?

Nah, but it's the best I could do on short notice. ;)

Yeah, I'm unhappy that the honeymoon with Sarah was so short. Lots of people are already getting the 7 year itch.

Interesting.

I got that from Bill and Hillary, and I sensed the same thing from Barack. Now I'm getting it from Sarah. Ayup, politics stink.

With Bill Clinton, I saw him on TV with the audio muted and immediately distrusted him. Nothing I saw after that relieved it a bit. I heard Obama and got the same feeling of distrust.

Yeah, the religious aspect has me gagging already, too.

Arctic melting would push them in and I don't think anyone will get in their way. No worries, except for deceitful filmmakers faking bears swimming for their lives. Effin' Gore...

-- Guard well within yourself that treasure, kindness. Know how to give without hesitation, how to lose without regret, how to acquire without meanness. -- George Sand

Over in rec.aviation.military the thought is that McCain sensed the mind of a fighter pilot in her.

Are you certain it was the MIND? Gerry :-)} London, Canada

When did such a thing ever exist? The great days of American journalism were the days of the partisan press, where every city had three or four newspapers, all representing a different interest group.

We had a short spell during which the new "professionalism" of the press (which started in the mid-'50s) was associated with neutral objectivity. But that was a thin layer on top that didn't last. By design or accident, though, today's press is vastly less partisan than anything we had in the US before the mid-'50s.

She had a good run. Most people only get 15 minutes.

She will continue to be a lightning rod for the rest of the campaign. The free ride is over, but she could still be the influence that flips the election. A lot of people have invested their hopes and desires in her, like tossing coins into a wishing well. Or maybe a piñata will turn out to be a better analogy.

Out of curiosity, do you have any good leads on that story? I heard it, but I was too busy at the time to investigate it. Don't bother looking for it. I can Google it, I just wondered if you have any particular information.

-- Ed Huntress

On Sun, 14 Sep 2008 21:11:21 -0400, with neither quill nor qualm, Gerald Miller quickly quoth:

Well, he might have been thinking of getting a little head. Is there a difference?

-- Guard well within yourself that treasure, kindness. Know how to give without hesitation, how to lose without regret, how to acquire without meanness. -- George Sand

I think I've consumed enough NG space with these long discussions, but I must react to that. The ancient Greeks knew that politics in a democracy is the most important thing going on. It's still true. There is nothing messier, more frustrating, or more essential. If you turn your back on it, you've turned your back on everything that matters. Nobody said it should be easy, clean, pure, or satisfying. It's just necessary to get into it, up to your elbows, because there's no one else to do the job. And the job will be done, with you or without you.

As Aristotle said, "Man is by nature a political animal." Denying that nature doesn't make one morally righteous or pure; it just makes him irrelevant.

On that note, it's time to move on to something else, I think. (Thanks for the leads on the polar bears. I want to find out about that.)

-- Ed Huntress

"Democracy means that anyone can grow up to be president, and anyone who doesn't grow up can be vice president."

-- Johnny Carson

I missed the Staff meeting, but the Memos showed that Gunner Asch wrote on Sun, 14 Sep 2008 22:11:42 -0700 in rec.crafts.metalworking :

Humble, too? (Humility is being known for what you really are. Pride is wanting to be known for what you're not.)

I've noticed that about Fighter Jocks, that they are very humble. I mean, when you're the best, there really isn't any reason to pretend to be anything less, now is there?

tschus pyotr

-- pyotr filipivich "I had just been through hell and must have looked like death warmed over walking into the saloon, because when I asked the bartender whether they served zombies he said, ?Sure, what'll you have?'" from I Hear America Swinging by Peter DeVries

On Mon, 15 Sep 2008 16:09:42 -0400, with neither quill nor qualm, "Ed Huntress" quickly quoth:

Yeah, that's why I'm still in these discussions...

Hell, I thought we'd established that about me eons ago.

De nada.

-- Guard well within yourself that treasure, kindness. Know how to give without hesitation, how to lose without regret, how to acquire without meanness. -- George Sand