Weekend Zen

"Its been a long time since I rock and rolled..."

Led Zeppelin. 1973.

Political Squawk: Firing Up Health Care

It's now or never.

President Obama urged grass rooters to take on health care with the same vim and verve used during his campaign for the presidency.

As reported by The Washington Post:

"If we don't get it done this year, we're not going to get it done," he said yesterday in a call to members of Organizing for America, the political group formed to advance his agenda. "And to do that we're going to need all of you to mobilize."

Those who support the President and those who do not have witnessed his extraordinary ability to build a fire beneath everyday citizens. Simply put, he moves people from inaction to action.

Meanwhile, Senator Edward Kennedy isn't waiting around for Americans to find the flint. The ailing lawmaker has drafted his own bill.

The proposed legislation:

"...would require every American to have insurance and would mandate that employers contribute to workers' coverage. Reportedly, the bill also, "...embraces a proposal to create a government-sponsored insurance program to compete directly with existing private insurance plans, according to one senior adviser who was not authorized to talk to reporters. The draft summary also calls for opening Medicaid to those whose incomes are 500 percent of the federal poverty level, or $110,250 a year for a family of four."

The Kennedy proposal is just one option to be laid on the table next week.

How much would such health care cost? What hat will this money be pulled from? The Seattle Times offers quick answers for these and other oft asked questions. Read for yourself here.

Meanwhile, back home at the ranch....

According to a report released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the number of uninsured Americans could climb to 65.7 million by 2019, unless Congress enacts comprehensive health care reform. The report says that even if unemployment, income and health care costs improve -- that number is still estimated to reach 57 million. If the larger figure is reached, employer spending on health insurance premiums would likely increase 72.3%, individual and family expenses on premiums and out-of-pocket costs would increase 46% and uncompensated care would increase 71.7%, according to the report.

Can we afford not to act?

Talk to Me.

School's Out

Only I would oversleep on the last day of school.

As I hurriedly keyboard a few thoughts prior to running out the door, the usual word to describe the end of the year is "bittersweet". Students move on and so do staff. Whether through retirement or transfers, saying good-bye, is well, bittersweet.

But this year, I'd choose the word "worrisome" to close out 08-09.

Financial worries have dogged the school system and only this week, did annual contract teachers keep unemployment at bay through the recent actions of the Brevard County School Board.

For them, I am thankful for a future secure, at least for one more year.

As for what financial difficulties might continue to bark at the heels of local educators, ask me in August.

In a few short hours, School's Out for Summer.

Nancy Drew

Nancy Drew often showed up for my birthdays or around the holidays, hidden among the presents beneath the family Christmas tree.

I spotted her before she could say hello, the crisp creased corners of the festive wrapping paper giving her away. The fictional teen sleuth hid tight inside the pages of the slim novel, her character springing to life once I cast my eyes across the printed words.

Nancy's life proved an adventure and we were invited along to ponder mysteries, look for clues, explore haunted houses, solve crimes or discover secrets of clocks, staircases or phantoms. She was polite and smart, a take charge sort of girl with an insatiable curiosity nurtured by her attorney widower father who raised her to think and make decisions like a man. Nancy was far different than other characters presented young girls, the beautiful and mostly victimized princesses named Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, all who waited for the someday their prince would come.

Whether the cover was antique blue or bright yellow featuring a splashy depiction of the girl detective holding a candle against the darkness or peering into a window of a darkened shack, we devoured the books word by word, stepping through a literary door to identify with the accomplishments of Nancy and imagine ourselves achieving the same.

My grandmother, my mother and myself tried on Nancy's sensible shoes along with many other women with dreams beyond the tome.

First Lady Laura Bush. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Conner and federal Judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Barack Obama's first nominee to the SCOTUS.

Nancy is still around. Her look is a little different, but her inspiration remains the same.

All things are possible.

No dream is beyond reach.

Powell vs Cheney

How many clothespins does it take to hang Republican dirty laundry?

As many Sunday morning news show as can be booked.

As Colin Powell and Dick Cheney have been busy mixing it up in the Sunday spin cycle, the post-spin bounce appears to favor the general of the four star type.

The former VP recently questioned the loyalty of Mr. Powell, selecting to stand tall with a radio talk show host rather than the former Secretary of State, who most Americans view as Mr. Clean. (Read the CNN poll Powell vs. Cheney and Limbaugh here).

(...)

SCHIEFFER: And you said you would take Rush Limbaugh over Colin Powell.

CHENEY: I would.

SCHIEFFER: All right.

CHENEY: Politically.

Mr. Powell cited Cheney as "misinformed".

(...)

"I think the Republican party has to take a hard look at itself and decide what kind of party are we?" he said.

"I have always felt that the Republican party should be more inclusive than it generally has been over the years.

Powell also addressed criticism from conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, saying his assertion that Powell only voted for President Obama because "he is black" was "unfortunate."

I hope to live long enough to view how history paints the insertion of an entertainer into national politics.

One present certainty.

Limbaugh has got to be laughing all the way to the bank.

A Remembrance

In this detail from a tiny portion of the full photo, the unmistakable profile of Lincoln appears as he rides on horseback through a corridor of troops after arriving at the cemetery.

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth."

Abraham Lincoln, November 19, 1863, The Gettysburg Address

Weekend Zen

Ozzy.

As we knew him then.

Christmas in May: Jeffrey Kottkamp

With the George LeMieux announcement that he will not seek the seat of Attorney General in 2010, that leaves one big political gift beneath the Democratic Christmas tree--Lt. Governor Jeffrey Kottkamp as the leading Republican contender for Florida's Top Cop.

Kottkamp's been busy this year, explaining away his frequent flier miles taken on the fly at the expense of the Florida taxpayer. Although he faced an ethics investigation into his use of the company plane, Kottkamp went ahead and had a state trooper chauffuer he and his family up to Georgia to attend a birthday party...for a Tallahassee lobbyist.

''It was a special day for him,'' Kottkamp said. ``His family specifically asked that I be there.''

Early in his tenure as the second in command of Florida, Jeffrey wikied around with a Florida progressive blog, editing out details of his bio.

“To be honest, I’ve never done editing like that before,” Kottkamp said. “I clearly don’t know what I’m doing.”

Clearly.

With former state Senator Rod Smith and state Senator Dave Aronberg (D-Greenacres) as much mentioned contenders on the Democratic side of the ticket, with the baggage Kottkamp's dragging on board Flight AG, I'd say he's weigh overweight with controversy.

Expect his wings to be politically clipped.

Ho. Ho. Ho.

Political Squawk: Michael Steele Yields

RNC Chair Michael Steele has one bad case of the grumbles.

Per Political Wire, prior to meeting with Party Bigwigs, the RNC Chair publicly aired his grievances with Fox News:

"...part of his job is to "manage the money" and suggested that if committee members strip him of that authority he'll step aside.

Said Steele: "They can contemplate all they want to, but the reality is if they want a figurehead chairman you can have a figurehead chairman, but it won't be Michael Steele."

Just give him one reason and he's outta there.

Tough talk in public, mealy-mouthed in private.. Steele went ahead and signed his powers over to RNC undercutters via "...a secret pact agreeing to controls and restraints on how he spends hundreds of millions of dollars in party funds and contract."

Sure, he mumbled and he grumbled and drew a line in the power grab sand, but behind closed doors, Steele buckled and John Hancocked his agreement with those who oppose him.

Per the Washington Times:

Under nearly constant fire from conservatives since his Jan. 30 election, Mr. Steele last Wednesday accused the resolution's proponents of a power grab "scheme." It looked like an impasse, with a showdown - and a possible no-confidence vote in Mr. Steele - coming at a special meeting called for May 20.

(...)

But closed-door negotiations between Mr. Steele and his representatives and Mr. Pullen and the dissident group reached an accord. It represents the first time in memory that rebel members of the Republican Party's national governing body have successfully taken on the party's historically powerful national chairman and his loyalists.

Next on the RNC agenda?

Party conservatives will meet next month to force a vote officially declaring Democrats "socialists", despite (or in spite) of Steele's efforts to urge his party to rethink the wisdom of such a political move.

With his influence effectively sealed closed, expect Michael Steel to UHAUL himself out of the RNC leadership sometime over the summer.

American Expressed

I was once hit with a costly penalty fee for exceeding my credit limit.

A purchase didn't send me over the top. In fact,the only activity reflected on my statement were monthly payments of $23o toward the balance.

So what did it?

The ever accruing finance charges assessed to my account by said major credit card company.

Worried that the numbers were adding up faster than the piper could be paid, I contacted customer service a couple of months prior to discuss how best to get a handle on the inevitable. Could my interest rate be lowered or my credit line adjusted to prevent what eventually occurred?

The response? No and uh, no.

Absolutely no mercy.

Until the day I received the statement that not only put me in the red, but made me see red. By the time the customer service front liner connected me to a supervisor, I was furious. I'm not certain my children had ever witnessed their mother so angry, but then, both had never witnessed a drive-by purse snatching either.

To this day, I remain uncertain as to what I said or did to have the penalty fee credited and the terms of my debt modified. Perhaps the fact I had the foresight to paper trail the names of those employees who had offered no help had something to do with the sudden assistance I received.

What I do remember is the horrible feeling of being weighed down by seemingly inescapable debt.

Credit card companies have knowingly taken monetary advantage of consumers. If it wasn't all about corporate profit, we'd all continue to pay off major purchases such as televisions and appliances via the monthly payment coupon book.

When I sold my house, I paid off this particular creditor. IN FULL. I cut up the card and mailed the pieces along with the final payment.

The company had the nerve to call me and suggest I rethink my decision to close the account.

I slammed down the phone.

No mercy.

Tuesday, the Senate passed a major reform targeting the credit card industry. Read more about the slap down here.

Bill McCollum's News

Bill breakfasting with Rudy.

What could be better than Florida CFO Alex Sink running for Governor?

Alex Sink running against Bill McCollum. One's a bank president and the other sets precedents involving banks.

You see, McCollum's one of those politicians who makes the news for money issues. And not in a good way. Most recently, the Attorney General starred in his own cybercrime public service announcement that--according to Bill--absolutely, positively was not a campaign ad.

Per the Miami Herald, "...Bill McCollum appears in nearly every frame of a 30-second, widely run commercial..." produced by his 2006 campaign media consultant Chis Mottola, hired without the benefit of the competitive bidding process. Citing that process as ''very slow, very complicated '', McCollum utilized a loophole in state law allowing use of a no-bid contract for ``artistic services.'' The Florida Democratic Party cried political ad by any other name, while needling McCollum to come clean about the $550 in make-up costs allotted to take off his shiny face sheen.

``I didn't know how much the makeup artist costs," McCollum offered the Herald as way of explanation. "It's a package . . . the makeup comes with it.''

Then there's Bill Clinton. The Palm Beach Post's Frank Cerabino takes a trip down memory lane, reminding us that the Republican contender for Florida's next governor has a history of using tax dollars to focus the cameras his way.

"His political career peaked during his days as a Bill Clinton predator, wasting America's time and money by being one of the Republican congressmen prosecuting a what-now-seems-quaint presidential misadventure.

...McCollum's star turn in the Clinton show failed to get him the U.S. Senate seat he thought he had earned..."

More bad news. After 20 years in Congress, Floridians didn't think enough of Bill McCollum to seat him as a U.S. Senator, instead giving the nod to Bill Nelson (2000) and ironically, Mel Martinez (2004 primary), whose resignation has initiated the current session of Political Musical Chairs. If that's not enough of an ego decimater, the Orlando Sentinel's Mike Thomas brings McCollum to a heel with this consumer alert:

Public Campaign hung a "Golden Leash" award around McCollum's neck for "...accepting $373,857 in campaign cash from the banking and financial service industries while using his position on the Banking and Financial Services Committee and the Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Subcommittee to promote anti-consumer credit card legislation."

With McCollum in the Governor's race, old money news in these poor economic times is bound to become news once again.

Bank on it.

Economic Animonics

As kids, most of us long time Central Floridians remember our parents ducking the family into Disney World's Carousel of Progress to learn a thing or two about our ever evolving technology.

Although I often suspected the real motive was escape of the heat to actively interact with the modern day marvel known as air-conditioning, it was fun catching up with the Animatrons, having met John and his four generations of family previously at the '64-'65 World's Fair.

My family and I visited the Magic Kingdom this past weekend and mostly for old time's sake, we sat front and center to view the attraction long rumored to be Walt Disney's favorite. As the theater darkened and the rotating stage revolved with a familiar hum, I discovered the real reason my parents enjoyed the attraction so.

It's a good place to catch forty winks. One second, I'm counting the number electrical cords dangling across John's 1940's kitchen and the next, I'm waking up in the modern day computer world.

Speaking of progress...having successfully survived the wonders of Walt, we cast our Wagons Ho! to engage in a bit of adult entertainment. Outlet shopping.

Judging by the number of shoppers trading cash for goods, recession proved out of sight and out of mind. I'm fairly certain I spotted the Blue Fairy flying out of COACH with a leather bag purchased at 50% off, leaving Pinocchio to examine the marked down leather goods over at Cole Haan.

If some contemporary economic genius could figure out how best to harness the purchasing power exhibited by patrons pumping dollars into the economy via the discount retail maelstrom known as the Outlet Mall, well, to quote Walt himself, this economic "defeat is only temporary."

But Macy's isn't waiting around. The Cincinnati-based department store chain has taken notice of the lucrative returns of outlet shopping and is considering joining Neiman-Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue along the Mall of Never Pay Retail Again. Read more about how Macy's plans to get busy selling here.

Weekend Zen

Happy Birthday, David Byrne. 57 years young.

Talking Heads. Psycho Killer. 1978.

Where's Sheree?

I'm out of town today.

Enjoy this hint as to where in the world I might be.

Political Squawk: How Very Dick Cheney

Former VP Dick Cheney's gone and found political religion.

These days--instead of pulling strings from behind the pulpit--he's dropped the cloak to don the robe.

The man just won't go away.

(The good news? Dick's back in the media and conservatives can no longer accuse anyone of reaching back to revisit the past as we move forward from the Dark Days of Bush).

I've heard the reasoning, the conjecture and the spin on both sides of the spectrum. As Cheney barnstorms the media like an angry priest attempting to gather his flock of faith-shaken sheep, the most ludicrous (and oh, how very neocon) take on the whole reemergence is should the USA be attacked, it's because Barack Obama is dismantling all protections Dick and the Bush administration worked so hard to put in place to protect (while stripping away our constitutional rights) this country.

I think it's much more personal than that.

To paraphrase the Wicked Witch of the West, Obama has come along and destroyed all Cheney's beautiful wickedness.

And through his bestowment of the thou must nots, DC manages to make the GOP look like a bunch of snake worshipers.

It's time RNC Chair Michael Steele administered last rites to the neoconservative faction of the Republican Party.

Introducing the Lt. General

Meet the new guy.

Lt. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal.

McChrystal "...has been named as the next top commander of American forces in Afghanistan..." replacing Gen. David McKiernan.

And he hits the scene with good buzz.

Per the New York Times:

--Graduated West Point, Class of 1976, "...is a Green Beret and a Ranger, as well as a veteran Special Operations commander. He served in Afghanistan as chief of staff of the military operations in 2001 and 2002. He also commanded the 75th Ranger Regiment and served tours in Saudi Arabia during the Persian Gulf war in 1991."

--"Forces under General McChrystal's command were credited with finding and capturing Saddam Hussein and with tracking and killing Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia."

--"General McChrystal was born Aug. 14, 1954, into a military family. His father, Maj. Gen. Herbert J. McChrystal Jr., served in Germany during the American occupation after World War II and later at the Pentagon. General Stanley McChrystal was the fourth child in a family of five boys and one girl; all of them grew up to serve in the military or marry into it."

--Has one blemish on his record. During his Senate confirmation hearings, expect to hear much about "...the accidental shooting death in 2004 of Cpl. Pat Tillman by fellow Army Rangers in Afghanistan." McChrystal was held responsible by the Pentagon in "inaccurate information" provided by Tillman's unit, who suggested the former professional football player had been killed by enemy fire.

--He's a "stealth" soldier, a workaholic, a family man and a runner, who eats one meal a day.

--Oh, and apparently--according to sources close to the General--McChrystal has no body fat.

Talk to Me.

Charlie Tuna

No need for bait. The fish are leaping into the boat.

To no one's surprise, Florida governor Charlie Crist has tossed his line into the water for the U.S. Senate. He officially announces his intent today.

Former Florida House Speaker and fellow Republican Marco Rubio also has his eye cast on the seat soon to be vacated by the retiring Mel Martinez.

But are Followers of Crist already looking past the Senate?

"He is the big fish that national Republicans have been looking for," Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report, said of Crist. "I think the big question is -- does Rubio get out of the race and how quickly would he do so?"

Rothenberg added, "You can bet that national party strategists would love to clear the field for Crist. In that case, the governor would immediately become the favorite for the fall."

With Rubio, those in the GOP shadow government envision a fish fry of the brethren opposition. As voiced by Mike Thomas over at the Orlando Sentinel:

Rubio is a huge underdog, but I wouldn’t quite write him off as a dead dog. His fate depends in large part on whether his mentor, Jeb Bush, intervenes in the race on his behalf. That would make this the political story of the year with a former Republican governor turning against a sitting Republican governor. And Bush never has injected himself in Republican primaries.

But it’s not impossible. Bush has no love for Crist, and has preached against the evils of Republicans turning to a ‘Democrat Lite’’ strategy to get elected. Crist is the poster child for Democratic Lite. In fact, I’m hard pressed to find much positive Bush has said about Crist since Crist was elected.

Looks like Rubio has "gone fishing" with a lit cigar.

But then, as comedian Steven Wright once said, There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot.

(Any inference drawn to the Jeb! Bush decision not to seek the Martinez seat for himself is entirely and most definitely intentional.)

Jaws{main Theme} - John Williams

Famous Last Words

Enjoy a few of my favorite exit lines by famous (or infamous) persons.

Am I dying or is this my birthday?
When she woke briefly during her last illness and found all her family around her bedside.
~~ Lady Nancy Astor, d. 1964

Codeine . . . bourbon.
~~ Tallulah Bankhead, actress, d. December 12, 1968

How were the receipts today at Madison Square Garden?
~~ P. T. Barnum, entrepreneur, d. 1891

I can't sleep.
~~ James M. Barrie, author, d. 1937

I am about to -- or I am going to -- die: either expression is correct.
~~ Dominique Bouhours, French grammarian, d. 1702

I'm bored with it all.
Before slipping into a coma. He died 9 days later.
~~ Winston Churchill, statesman, d. January 24, 1965

That was a great game of golf, fellers.
~~ Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby, singer / actor, d. October 14, 1977

Is it the Fourth?
~~ Thomas Jefferson, US President, d. July 4, 1826

Get my swan costume ready.
~~ Anna Pavlova, ballerina, d. 1931

Either that wallpaper goes, or I do.
~~ Oscar Wilde, writer, d. November 30, 1900

Friends applaud, the comedy is finished.
A comment quite applicable to the recent adjournment of the Florida Legislature's recession-driven session.
~~ Ludwig van Beethoven, composer, d. March 26, 1827

Staving off certain political death through the tap tap tap of Obama's $907 million in federal stimulus money--although the $800 million in new fees to limit cuts (a tax by any other name?) may get the Brevard GOP-dominated delegation in the end-- our local lawmakers offered their own final words regarding the state funding of education.

As reported by Florida Today, 5/10/2009:

There was nobody here before session who would have believed where we ended up.
--Thad Altman,state Senator

One of my top priorities was holding education harmless without raising taxes, and we did that.
--Mike Haridopolos, state Senator

I think to have some cuts should be a reality check.
--Ralph Poppell, state Representative

Schools dodged a bullet because they could have faced major cuts.
--Ritch Workman, state Representative

We took the expected $100 million cut and whittled it down to a tenth of that. I'm really proud.
--John Tobia, state Representative

If you told me we would be where we are now at the beginning of the session, I wouldn't have believed you.
--Steve Crisafulli, state Representative

DUM DUM DUM dummmmm...

Weekend Zen

There's a bad moon on the rise....

Creedence.

Political Squawk: Is Speech Free?

The same old, same old has been all the squawk this week.

Perhaps he should've fought than switched. Arlen Specter's new life as a Democrat quickly switched off the committee seniority status he enjoyed as a Republican. The senator gathered about what was left of his dignity and after a few days of moping about his new turf, he accepted the chairmanship of the crime and drugs subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee. That kicked current chair Dick Durbin to the curb and back to his previous chair overseeing the newly formed Human Rights and Law Committee.

So new, I can't seem to find the committee listed on the U.S. Senate website.....?

Speaking of rights....
Is speech really free in this country?

Talk to Me squawkers have grumbled this week in response to an apparent alien grab of recently posted commentary. There one day, gone the next.

The devil may less in the rights of free speech and more in the terms of online service, specifically responsibility for user-provided content.

Or perhaps the paper is protecting commenters from those who most suffer the wrath of the public oratory--the politicians. If Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Los Angeles, had her way, prison would await hostile bloggers.

As reported by Wired, cloaking herself in protecting the children from online cyberbullying mantra,

"...Sanchez’s bill goes way beyond cyberbullying and comes close to making it a federal offense to log onto the internet or use the telephone. The methods of communication where hostile speech is banned include e-mail, instant messaging, blogs, websites, telephones and text messages."

The bill is not expected to pass constitutional muster, although--as witnessed with so many "bad" laws--constitutionality is not always the top priority of this country's lawmakers.

To answer my own question, Americans can say exactly what's on their mind in this country. But regarding the freedom and ultimate reality of such communicated thought...

,,,sadly, that's often left for courts to decide.

Shannon Burke

I caught a bit of on-air Shannon Burke previous to the presidential election. For whatever reason, during my snippet of listening time driving from Point A to Point B, the radio personality flew solo behind the mike.

The subject was Obama and Burke was no supporter. But rather than hit scan or pop in a CD, I did what any respectable self-professed audio voyeur and commentator regarding everything wrong with right radio would do.

I turned up the volume.

I'd listened to Burke before, but not this Burke. This guy's delivery seethed at a quicker pace than his radio brethren. The intensity expressed toward the Democratic candidate was so noticeable--so palatable--it distracted the listener away from what the guy was actually verbalizing.

This was an angry guy.

Later in the day, I mentioned my impressions to my son, an avid WTKS 104.1 Real Radio listener. Apparently, when Soul Brother Kevin--his left-leaning funny man counterpart--isn't around to keep him politically checked, Burke rants way out of control.

Which appears to be a personality trait.

The arrest of Orlando radio personality Shannon Burke for--shall we say--impulsive decision-making regarding use of a firearm--has likely ended his broadcasting days, around these parts anyway.

As far as what I heard of Burke that afternoon, I'd say the ear is often a pretty good judge of character.

Read more about the story over at Scott Maxwell's blog, Taking Names.

Dom

When I learned of the passing of Dom Deluise, I thought back on the films the funny man made, many with his pal, Burt Reynolds.

Then I thought of Blazing Saddles. And how I never really got that movie.

(I've tried. Several times. I got the premise, Mel Brooks' satire of ethnic stereotypes, but the whole punch a horse, pass the beans (you know what I mean) campfire fun, well, I figured it was just a guy thing.)

As with Reynolds, Deluise was a favorite of Brooks and also of puppeteer Jim Henson, who cast him as a talent agent who discovered an anthropomorphic green frog, singing a sweet tune about a rainbow connection.

That I got.

Farewell.

Why are there so many
Songs about rainbows
And what's on the other side
Rainbow's are visions
They're only illusions
And rainbows have nothing to hide
So we've been told and some chose to
Believe it
But I know they're wrong wait and see ...

Reagan Who?

Stating, "the GOP these days is only marginally more popular than the flu", the St. Petersburg Times ponders what many might predict as the straw that finally broke the elephant's back.

After Arlen Specter's switch to the Democratic party, is Florida governor Charlie Crist the next Republican to defect?

And will the Democrats welcome another blue dog into the pack?

(...)

Democrats are already worried about the prospect of Senate candidate Crist. The national party launched a TV ad last week in Tallahassee casting the governor as a do-nothing opportunist ready to skip to a new job now that his current job is getting difficult.

Crist says he will make a decision on the Senate after the Legislature finishes the session on Friday, but said the likelihood of Democrats soon having a filibuster-proof Senate majority won't have any bearing.

If he embraced bipartisanship in Washington as he has in Tallahassee, Crist would emerge as a national leader of a breed of Republican that is teetering on extinction.

Meanwhile, former Florida governor Jeb! Bush is skulking about in the background, in attempt to pull his party together while casting off the shadow of his business ties with Lehman Brothers.

As reported by The Washington Times:

...Jeb Bush said Saturday that it's time for the Republican Party to give up its "nostalgia" for the heyday of the Reagan era and look forward, even if it means stealing the winning strategy deployed by Democrats in the 2008 election.

"You can't beat something with nothing, and the other side has something. I don't like it, but they have it, and we have to be respectful and mindful of that," Mr. Bush said.

The former president's brother, often mentioned as a potential candidate in 2012, said President Obama's message of hope and change during the 2008 campaign clearly resonated with Americans.

"So our ideas need to be forward looking and relevant. I felt like there was a lot of nostalgia and the good old days in the [Republican] messaging. I mean, it's great, but it doesn't draw people toward your cause," Mr. Bush said.

"From the conservative side, it's time for us to listen first, to learn a little bit, to upgrade our message a little bit, to not be nostalgic about the past because, you know, things do ebb and flow."

Sure sounds like Jeb's stripped off his WWRD bracelet.

Betrayal last week, blasphemy the next. And it's only Tuesday.

Reverse Bank Robbery

Beware the so-called credit line.

I recently encountered a bit of unexpected hang time while waiting a transfer of funds from my meager investments. Apparently, everyone and their grandmother is attempting to loan themselves, roll-over or withdraw money from their investment accounts all at the same time during these economic hard times.

And they all want their money yesterday.

During a moment of brief panic (as I needed the money within days), I considered fronting myself the amount needed from my Bank of America credit line. I'd simply pay the borrow dollars back immediately upon receipt my expected transfer.

(Flashback. Years ago, I consolidated a major amount of credit card debt and have over time managed to beat MBNA (now Bank of America) at their own game. After years of paying nothing but interest, I'm finally achieving more bang for the buck as more and more of my payment is applied towards the principal.)

I give B of A a call because I've been down the old cash advance road before as well. It's sort of like taking an apple from a snake. What you see isn't what you get. Every payment made after taking the first bite, is halved between the card balance and the cash advance balance. When split two ways, the debt never gets paid off, unless one wins the Lotto or one consolidates the debt with a major money lender, in my case...Bank of America. (Debt always comes full circle).

I explain my circumstances to Bank's customer service representative and ask how my payment will be applied. If I had say, $3000 transferred to my checking and within a week, paid the $3000 right back to B of A, would I be back at paying halvsies payments again or would the payment come right off the top of my balance?

You don't want to do that.

Imagine. An honest recommendation by a bank.

I've been paying down my account for close to four years. As stated by the customer service rep, a $3000 cash advance results in a change of terms, meaning money approved by the bank adds more years (four in my case) to the life of the payback terms. No matter if $3000 is paid back immediately.

Four more years of interest.

Becoming disinterested quickly, I picked up the phone, contacted my investment company, discussed my situation with a few supervisors and my own money was en route 48 hours later.

Read more about congressional efforts to curtail reverse bank robbery during these tough times here.

Weekend Zen

Dedicated to my conservative friends, who could definitely use a shot of zen.

Roy Orbison.

Crying.

The Reversal Begins

Remember the old 1950's movie, The Blob?

The gelatinous being from outer space moved through a town, engorging and dissolving everything in it's path until any semblance of what once was, well...wasn't. Sort of like the federal court system under the George W. Bush presidency that gripped this country in disciplinary mode for eight Jailhouse Rock years.

The creature was ultimately frozen with carbon dioxide and dropped via military helicopter to Crawford, Texas, oops sorry, the Arctic, where the pretense was permanent containment. (Keep in mind, this solution was pre-global warming. Expect a remake, Return of the Blob 200?).

With the rumored retirement of Justice David Souter from the bench, the thaw of the conservative Supreme Court begins with a much anticipated nominee by President Obama.

A couple of months back, former independent counsel Kenneth Starr offered his words of wisdom regarding the future face of the bench.

During a speech yesterday in Boston, Starr told a group of attorneys that President Obama could face an uphill battle over his Supreme Court nominees because as a senator he opposed two of President George W. Bush's Supreme Court picks, Samuel Alito and John Roberts.

Starr's message: Elephants (Blobs) don't forget.

(...)

Starr pointed out that Obama enters office with healthy Democratic majorities in the House and Senate; however, he said "the salience of this very enviable position, politically, for our president is brought home by the president's own approach to the high court during his years of service as a United States senator."

He continued: "There is one historical factoid of note: He is the first president of the United States ever in our history to have participated in a Senate filibuster of a judicial nominee. Never before has that happened." Starr quoted from a November article in The Washington Times by my colleague S.A. Miller about the problems Obama faces.

"'Senate Republicans say the president-elect's voting record and long simmering resentments over Democrats' treatment of President Bush's nominees will leave Mr. Obama hard-pressed to call for bipartisan help confirming judges or even an up-or-down vote,'" he quoted.

Mr. Starr, with Al Franken (D-MN) soon to be seated, the filibuster is one less action you and Senate Republicans need not worry over.

Your Blob Days are over.