Quotables-On Katrina, the UAE Port Deal, On Laughter; A Guest Writer Doesn't "Do" Kids.

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Pop Cult Mind Wax - Brokeback Mountain, The Proposition, Same-Sex Obsession

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World Baseball Classic: Clutch Hit or Wild Pitch?

Matthew T. Sussman I admit it — I'm geeked for the World Baseball Classic. I snuck-watched a few Pool A games from Tokyo, which aired live on TV at the wee hours of the morning. But I've also noticed that a lot of people have been critical of this inaugural tournament, probably for good reason. So I decided to strike a dialogue with one of these critics with a Blogcritic, sportswriter and Indians fan Zach Baker.

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Hill and Bill

So there's former President Clinton over in the UAE, recommending Joe Lockhart to help them with the PR required to overcome the negative reaction of the American public to the Dubai ports deal. Then there's his wife, Hillary, over here in American waxing on about how dangerous the deal is and it should not even be considered. Hillary's reaction to her husband's actions in UAE was that she didn't know what he was doing.

Goodness knows these two would never talk out of both sides of their mouth or anything.

Let's take a trip around the Blogosphere and find out what others have discovered or have to say.

From the Muth Archives:

DO THESE TWO EVER TALK?

"U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton didn't know her husband was giving Dubai advice on the port deal she's fighting and Bill Clinton says he didn't even get paid for it."
- New York Daily News, 3/3/306

From MSNBC.com:
Mrs Clinton's own senatorial financial disclosure forms reveal that her husband earned $450,000 giving speeches in Dubai in 2002.

From Americanprowler.com:

"If his status is less clear, here is what we do know: If Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton did not know about her husband's standing with the United Arab Emirates and with Dubai World Ports, members of her Senate staff most assuredly did.

"There were enough people in the Clintons' orbit who were potentially going to be part of the deal," says an employee of a firm that does work for both Clintons. "We were pursuing work on the ports deal, and we cleared our participation with Clinton's office. We didn't want there to be a conflict."

If anybody thinks that two lifelong politicians would not discuss this sort of thing please raise your hand. I've got some waterfront desert property for sale.

Yale, Now Taliban University

The Taliban used to execute women publicly for showing an ankle. They allowed Al-Queda to flourish. They were (are) horrible examples of man's inhumanity to man, or women in the Taliban's case.

Now I don't know how involved this new Yale student Hashemi was with the Taliban (although the Fund quote below indicates he was a high official), but from the little I've heard he is neither ashamed of his former association with the Taliban or does he regret it. Yet the vaunted Yale welcomes him with eager diverse eyes.

From the Muth Archives:

TALIBAN U

"Never has an article made me blink with astonishment as much as when I read in yesterday's New York Times magazine that Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi, former ambassador-at-large for the Taliban, is now studying at Yale on a U.S. student visa. This is taking the obsession that U.S. universities have with promoting diversity a bit too far. Something is very wrong at our elite universities. . . . Yale is giving a first-class education to an erstwhile high official in one of the most evil regimes of the latter half of the 20th century--the government that harbored the terrorists who attacked America on Sept. 11, 2001."

- John Fund on the Trail, 2/27/06

A Few More Abe Lincoln Quotes

In a recent Notable/Quotables I presented a compilation of quotes by Abe Lincoln. A few commenters offered up two more by Abe and I thought them so wise that we'll include them here.

Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital.

Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed.

Thanks guys.
India Reports on the President’s Visit

There’s nothing earth-shattering or mind-boggling in the quotes below from two Indian newspapers on Bush’s recent visit. As Powerline reports, the prose is positive and without snide inferences or nasty adjectives.

Once upon a time journalists were taught the “five w’s” of reporting: Who, Why, Where, When and How. Nowhere in that mantra does it say “insert your own opinion”. Unless, heh, it’s an editorial. Once upon a time major newspapers had an editorial page. Now they have editorial newspapers.

Quotes are included because yon savvy reader should be able to detect the difference in tone between many of our American newspapers and those in a land where reporters have not yet become part and parcel of the elite and political class on which they are supposed to report.

The Tribune writes:

Mr George W. Bush today wooed India like no other US President had ever done before and admitted that he had been “dazzled” by India.

Like a seasoned Indophile, he reeled out facts after facts, with a liberal sprinkling of quotable quotes from two great makers of India — Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru — to convey to his countrymen back home that India had arrived. “The United States and India, separated by half the globe, are closer than ever before, and the partnership between our free nations has the power to transform the world.”

The Hindu writes that "Bush gets a glimpse of rural India":

A brief visit to Hyderabad on Friday gave US President George W. Bush a glimpse of how India's rural economy sustains itself and, contrastingly, how young and modern-looking entrepreneurs plan to compete with the world's best in industry.
Mr. Bush saw the use of simple and cost-effective technologies by farmers to improve yield and innovative methods to market their produce when he visited the Agricultural University named after an eminent son of the Andhra soil Prof. N. G. Ranga. Harking back to the days he spent at his ranch in Texas, the US President tried his hand at a tiller, a rake and a moisture-testing meter.

The Katrina Aftermath Continues Based on a Bad Premise

We are not stupid out here in la-la land. Most of us have had to deal with the government on some level, either the local motor vehicle unit onto the many other details of life that require government approval/license/permission.

The bad premise as the hackles are raised over Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, is that our suddenly slow and bulky federal government is supposed to, with the appearance of one hurricane, suddenly become efficient responders with supplies and personnel at the ready. They are expected to show up on the scene within minutes of the storm’s passing to pass out supplies, rescue those on rooftops and move the weak and lame to safer shores.

Well that’s not going to happen. Although such action is expected from the local government and there’s the second bad premise. For the local governments of our experience aren’t all that efficient either but at the very least they don’t have to travel from Washington D.C. to save our sorry behinds who refused to save ourselves.

Here’s a prediction. No matter how much the finger-pointing continues or the accusations resound, come another major hurricane, we who carry this country on our backs will be packing cars and crating pets. We’ll get out of the way of the hurricane our own fine selves.

The rest can sit and wait for the government to save them.

Heh.

From the Muth Archives:

GOVERNMENT'S EXPERTISE

"Anyone who's ever filed a tax return or visited the Department of Motor Vehicles understands that government does two things well: spend our money and waste our time. Unfortunately, both traits were on display during the response to Hurricane Katrina."

- Ed Fuelner of the Heritage Foundation

The Best Question About the Dubai Port Deal

The answer to the question quoted below by Rep. Ron Paul could tell us all we need to know about this questionable endeavor. Heck, the question itself is revealing.

From the Muth Archives:

The Port Security Controversy
By Rep. Ron Paul

The Dubai company is owned by the government of the United Arab Emirates. It is in essence an agent of a foreign government, which raises questions: Does DP World truly operate like any corporation, answering to a board of directors, serving shareholders, and working to boost profitability? Or does it serve the foreign policy and economic goals of the United Arab Emirates?

Leaving With Some Smiles

Or quotes about smiles.

You cannot be mad at somebody who makes you laugh - it's as simple as that.
-- Jay Leno

Laughter is an instant vacation.
-- Milton Berle

When you’ve killed the sense of humor of a nation, you’ve killed the nation.
-- Red Skelton

In times like these, it helps to recall that there have always been times like these.
-- Paul Harvey

More Notable/Quotables HERE

 


Daycare


Friends can ask for the most unusual favors. Sometimes you don't realize they're unusual until you set out to do them, and sometimes you have warning. Even with warning, I wasn't sure I was prepared for this one.

Theresa told me she'd be in Folsom on Thursday and asked if I'd pick up Brad at daycare. Unspoken was the request to stay with the kids until she arrived home.

Ack!

Brad's not quite three. Anyone who knows me *knows* I don't "do" kids. I don't even think kids are interesting until they're right around 9 years old. Yet... how could I say no? I'd have Michael, who's almost 12, to help and he knows more about taking care of his brother than I'll likely ever know.

I only had three questions... Would the daycare person allow me to pick Brad up? Would Brad allow me to pick him up? And could we trade cars? I don't have a car seat, and don't know how to move one; I'd hate to do it wrong and have Brad sliding around on the back seat at every turn.

Thursday at work I was mostly nerves. I tried to get sympathy from some friends, but all they would do was snicker. Could I do this? I switched keys with Theresa and she gave me an encouraging smile as she left for Folsom. Sure, I could do this.

Absolutely.

Positively.

Maybe...

When I got off work, I went hunting for Michael. I knew he'd be home from school around 3:40, but I wanted him *now*, so I went to Theresa's house and then drove the route Michael takes home. I found him walking home and pulled to the curb. He came running to the car, and it was then that I realized that picking him up could have been a major mistake. So when he got in I asked him if it was embarrassing to be picked up or did I do okay? He said I'd done fine. Seemed pleased, actually.

We dropped off his school stuff at the house and went to daycare.

What a horrid place! Oh, not the care, or the look... just :shudder: all those kids. Ick. I was surrounded by little people, not one of which was taller than my hips. (Except Michael, but I brought him in so that doesn't count.)



Brad recognized me but wanted to know where his mother was. He did not want to come with me, even though the daycare person didn't have a problem. (Theresa had okay'd it earlier and said I'd have Michael with me *and* Theresa's car. Kinda hard to mistake me.) I had to carry him to the car, and Michael wrestled him into the car seat. If anyone had been watching, it would have looked like Grand Theft Child.

Brad's first words upon reaching home were, "Mom's not here." Yeah, kid, I know. Believe me, I know! Michael kept his brother busy and got him some milk to drink, along with showing me some of the latest moves on a Playstation game.

Overall, I think it went smoothly... and you know, for just the briefest instant, as I carried Brad to my car and watched Michael buckle him in... I thought, "This is what I could have had, were I normal."

Ever had emotional warm fuzzies at the exact same time you have emotional "ick, why am I doing this"?

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Michelle
The Desk Drawer writer's exercise list
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More Guest Writer HERE