Posted on

Romney, cable media making hay while the sun shines

Enough already!

The killings of the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three aides is tragic and now seems to compound what madness Sept. 11 evokes. That is why it is sickening that some of those in cable news and Mitt Romney were lightning fast in making political hay out of the senseless violence. It is not surprising that Romney and his lackeys at Fox would condemn the president before knowing all the facts. They would run over their own grandmothers for political advantage. Most irritating is that they did it so quickly and it got so old by the morning news on cable that I wanted to throw something at the TV. (It isn’t my TV so I restrained myself, fortunately.)

Since I don’t watch Fox News I cannot say who the blond-haired twit was on one of its morning broadcasts who asked conservative-leaning political talking head Larry Sabato of University of Virginia: (Paraphrasing) Do you think this will have an effect on the presidential election? I have called on Sabato in a pinch back in the day, apparently I was not by myself. He told the Foxette, without being condescending as I would have been, that it was too early to tell. Of course, that was an understatement since the details at the time were still very preliminary. I suppose that is just Fox being Fox.

Funny I can recognize Dr. Sabato but I can’t recognize the blonde. I think it might have been Megan Kelley but I’m not sure. All the CNN blondies look the same to me.

Romney clearly jumped the gun, putting his first comments out last night which lashed out at the administration for a statement released from the U.S. embassy in Egypt. The message condemned a film supposedly offensive to Muslims which allegedly sparked protests in Egypt and Libya. This is all very questionable right now. What is not questionable is that it also broke what was a gentleman’s agreement that the campaigns would back off politics on 9/11.

If Romney quit while he was ahead — forget saying he was wrong because he is never wrong — it would have been okay. But he keeps getting himself deeper and deeper by affirming his earlier stupidity.

Notably absent from the criticism of the president were the rest of the Republican politburo. At least those who made criticisms made them barely perceptible. Wonder why that is? If I were to guess, Mittens is freaking out.

The cable folks didn’t come off any better in my eyes. So many just wildly speculating, trying to create a controversy where there is none. That is why I say it is just too much. Watching the evening news now on CBS, the latest is that it seems the offensive film may be perhaps the most incidental. It might have been Al-Quida even behind the fatal attack.

And Mitt? To paraphrase news people talking about the spirited speech of former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm at the Democratic National Committee, perhaps this is Mitt Romney’s “Howard Dean moment.”

 

 

Posted on

Help is on its way

Well, unless a freak wind accident causes an upset in my world overnight this hopefully will be my last Isaac post. I am sick of this storm mainly because it makes me ache. As I’ve said in this space many times before, low barometric pressure has a habit of doing that. Right now a very narrow outer rain band from what is once again Tropical Storm Isaac showed up on radar about 25 miles to the east of where I am. Right along the Texas-Louisiana border.

It is funny how geographic borders have a propensity for stopping weather. One of the local TV weather guys said we would get no rain out of this storm. But it seems to be crossing the border. Go back, you damn tropical rain! Your kind isn’t allowed in our partially-drought-ridden state! Egos.

I stepped outside and was hit by one little drop of rain. I don’t know if that will be it for our experience with Isaac, other than some pretty good breezes. But we may get some rain tonight. Or we may not.

But more importantly, at least for the folks who actually got hit by the storm, I counted more than two dozen of those big Asplundh bucket trucks parked outside the MCM Elegante’ Hotel here on the outskirts of Beaumont. Asplundh — pronounced “AH-splund, the ‘h’ is silent” — is the big tree trimming company. The trucks and its crews are waiting for conditions to allow them into areas hit by Isaac so they can cut trees blown into all types of precarious conditions by the storm. Believe me when I say, if you got hit by a hurricane, or ice storm or large tornado, you want as many of those tree-trimming trucks as well utility repair trucks, there and you want them there yesterday. That is because the sooner they get there, the sooner your electricity is restored.

So, help is on its way. Good news. From Texas.

 

Posted on

No Eddie Munster today. We are still pre-empted by Isaac.

What? Is he talking about that damned storm again?

Why yes. What else is there to talk about except the weather? I mean, I sure as hell don’t see a future in talking about the Republican National Convention. The giant infomercial. And just to be totally fair, the Democratic convention will be the same only with people wearing less expensive clothes. That is except for the movie stars and entertainers.

So yes, Big Boy, the weather is making my joints hurt. A hurricane as nearby as Isaac certainly does cause my arthritis to -itis. Or is it to arth? See the doctored GOES satellite picture below which showed now Hurricane Isaac about 30 minutes ago. Obviously, one can see the hurricane. At the left, bottom is a little triangle I made to, sort of, represent “The Golden Triangle.” Why didn’t I make it golden? I didn’t think about it. Beside, golden might be difficult to spot with the surrounding color. It’s called The Golden Triangle because the location of the cities Beaumont, Port Arthur and Orange, Texas, all make a triangle when viewed geographically. The golden part had to do with the prosperity from the “oil bidness,” much of which started in this area upon the gushing of Spindletop in January 1901. Either that or it was from what color the skies were from smog until it was eventually cleaned up somewhat.

 

One of the cloud bands, whatever it might be called, from the storm passed over earlier when I was at work. The wind whipped up and whistled like a 50-foot tea kettle. Guessing from what the local wind readings were, I’d say maybe the sustained winds were maybe 20 mph, whipping up to almost 30 mph. Perhaps the winds weren’t that strong.

Even with those winds blowing by it is hot ‘n humid. Perhaps I need a trademark “Hot ‘N Humid ™ :” It will make you sweat, and how!”

I have been watching The Weather Channel, at least when the sound is off, and when the sound is off and a torso shot is visible of meteorologist Stephanie Abrams. Seriously, I have come to respect Stephanie as a broadcaster. She yaps a lot but she is multi-talented and seems to pretty much know here stuff. The Weather Channel has pulled out all the stops for Isaac. That is, unless it hits somewhere other than Florida, Alabama or Louisiana, and as I have mentioned before, especially New Orleans. If it hits far western Louisiana or far southeastern Texas, no biggie. Nobody lives there. I mean, I do, as does several hundred thousand people.

The storm coming on almost the anniversary of Katrina in 2005 has made-for-TV-drama written all over it. Plus, isn’t it always about New Orleans? Oh well, I’ve gone down that road before. My neighbors, thankfully, didn’t experience the many deaths of Katrina. In some way, though, people often feel a little of themselves die when they suffer losses as they did with their lives uprooted by first Hurricane Rita and later Ike.

Issac will probably bring more suffering to the north when the storm makes its way inland, however far it goes. And such systems can travel a long ways. I hope the wind we have seen today here in Southeast Texas is about the gist of Hurricane Isaac. I wouldn’t be surprised if that was not the case. I wouldn’t mind if it clouded up or even rained a bit. But a bit is something that one only sees a bit of when it comes to tropical cyclones.

So maybe tomorrow I can talk about Mitt Romney’s stretch blue jeans or his cloned-looking kids, or how Veep candidate Paul Ryan bears an eerie resemblance to Eddie Munster. But once again today, this space has been hijacked by Isaac.

Posted on

Breaking News and more or less.

It’s lunch time! I have been in training all morning and when I stood up to leave the room I felt as if something had stolen a great portion of my butt. That hasn’t happened, yet, at least. Back in my room, CNN has breaking news about a tour bus explosion in Bulgaria. Apparently, Israeli tourists were killed. The Israeli defense leader Ehud Barak is blaming Iran. It’s still too early to tell.

Meanwhile, the Republican Veepstakes go on. Willard is in Ohio. Bobby Jindal is campaigning for Romney in the Buckeye State as is Jeb Bush. Could it be? Can we breathe? What’s your favorite color? It’s all one and the same. The media has their short lists. They could all be wrong. Buzz. Buzz. For Joseph Smith’s sake Mittens J. Willard, pick someone. Pick anyone. Get all this silliness over with to make room for more silliness.

Posted on

Andy Griffith dead at 86

Hearing of Andy Griffith’s death today at 86 is kind of like learning a family friend died. I use the characterization of a “family friend” as opposed to ” … like hearing a friend died” as it seems more accurate. I grew up with Andy Griffith as a constant presence. I remember someone in my household bought his comedy album “What It Was Was Football” and I listened to this seemingly before “The Andy Griffith Show” aired for the first time in October 1960.

Andy Griffith in a publicity photo for “No Time for Sergeants.” Photo courtesy of Creative Commons and Wikipedia

It is complicated writing about someone who lived so many years and practiced his craft as an actor and comedian over the vast majority of my life. And, I’m 56. I will let the newspaper folks of today write their news obituaries, many of which are prepared years in advance. I wonder how many of those who write today about Griffith came from small towns and the times he did and, thus, can walk “a mile in his shoes?” This woman who went to school with Andy is excepted.

And it is more than a TV show that defines the body of work left by this man. I never saw his film debut in the now classic, “A Face in the Crowd” but have many times watched the hilarious “No Time for Sergeants” that he brought to film from Broadway to Hollywood. There aren’t many scenes funnier than the one in which Griffith as Will Stockdale gets a latrine ready for inspection by rigging the toilet seats to rise at attention while a nervous Pvt. Ben Whitledge, played fabulously by Nick Adams announces in the inspecting officers.

Generational figures like Andy Griffith are difficult to explain, so I won’t. All I can do is add a RIP and remember the laughs, the songs and the shows this towering figure left us. Thanks for truly entertaining us.