Eight Feet Deep

Adios ’06, don’t let the door hit you in the butt on the way out!

A new year is upon us (finally) so it seems like a good time to throw out the old saying and ring in the new saying. I thought of Douglas Adams because I watched the movie “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” yesterday. It was the first time that I had watched the movie even though the book has long been a favorite. It wasn’t a great movie but it had its moments. I thought Marvin the Paranoid Android was probably the best character of the bunch. But then again, I suppose that I identify with depressed people (or robots).

I have no intention of blogging in the new year, so I shall bid adieu to 2006 and to what shreds of enjoyment that it brought me. 2007 has to be better or I am in a lot of trouble.

Oh, I almost forgot. I looked back at the previous series of retired sayings and realized that I had skipped No. 11 so that would muck up the entire series insofar as numbering goes. Well, no worry. I’m not going to change things just because of a little omission. It doesn’t bother me if it doesn’t bother you. Actually, even if it bothers you I don’t really care because it doesn’t bother me. That’s the way this blog works. I am master of my domain!

“Out of the way, wretched tootsie. Make way for a REAL beauty.

Someone once asked: Why conceited mannequins? Well, no one actually asked me about the vain mannequins. But I am sure someone at some time somewhere somehow asked such a question — in some way. Isn’t it possible?

Mannequins, while sometime appearing whimsical, most times bleed narcissistic blood. It is their job for the world to be about them. They have no other purpose in life other than saying: “Hey look at me!” Or perhaps, “Hey look at me and the great duds I am wearing!”

In their plastic world, superbia is not one of the Seven Deadly Sins, for their world has no right and no wrong. Neither does their world have any logic, reasoning or compassion.

Why conceited mannequins? Why not? Give me a reason or give me your money. You may even give me both although you cannot give me a reason through PayPal. You can, ahem, give me money through PayPal.

“We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately. — Benjamin Franklin at the signing of the “Declaration of Independence”

It would be very cynical to think that the looming execution of Saddam Hussein would be prior to an announcement by President Gee Dubya on a new Iraq strategy. Perhaps it wouldn’t be the execution itself that would be useful to Bush selling a surge of tens of thousands more troops or whatever it is he might pull out of his ass. But if a swinging Saddam touches off even more violence in Iraq, then the administration could say: “Hey, what’d we tell you. We need more troops and we are always right!”

Maybe it would all come down that way and maybe it wouldn’t. To be a bit Rumsfeldian:
Should Saddam hang? It’s up to others to make that decision. Is Saddam a very bad man? The evidence kind of points in that direction. Did Saddam get a fair trial? Define fair.

Also cynical is the thinking that the Pentagon and commanders in the field will now accept a surge in troops with Bush using the increase of the overall Army and Marine Corps strength as a dangling carrot. After all, the generals were against it before they were for it.

It is indeed a cynical thought but one that apparently is being mulled over.

Cynicism is rarely pleasant. But if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, well it might not be that funny little Aflac duck, but one can damn sure bet it will be a duck of some sort.

Gerald R. Ford

38th president

1913 — 2006

Gerald Ford was an accidental president who nonetheless was probably one of the best suited for the position to ever hold that office. He was known for his sense of decency and being a voice of reason during the many years he served in Congress prior to his vice presidential appointment and presidential ascendancy.

Although his pardon of Nixon was highly unpopular with the public, history has shown that Ford made the right decision which helped prevent plunging the national psyche even more into the depths of funk.

Ford’s presidency was short and his WIN (Whip Inflation Now) buttons were a bit silly but he was the right man office serving at the right time. Above all, Ford was by all accounts a very decent man. Our current and future presidents could certainly use Gerald Ford as a role model.

Christmas dinner, grilled steaks for me, has settled so it is time to ridicule someone. Today’s object of scorn is actually yesterday’s news but for whatever reason I didn’t get to it yesterday (or the day before) so here we are.

Rep. Virgil Goode, R-Va., made news recently by saying the nation’s immigration policy needs to be fixed lest we have a horde of Muslims flocking into the U.S. over the borders. Goode apparently arrived at this revelation after hearing that Congressman-elect Keith Ellison, D-Minn., planned to have his hand on the Koran when being sworn into office during a private ceremony. Not that it really makes a difference but Ellison would be sworn in officially earlier in the day with the other MCs, all of whom are only required to raise their hands while taking their oath.

It is kind of hard to believe that a member of Congress would make a statement such as Goode’s during this day and age. Of course, really hard line right-wingers have the belief that the nation was founded exclusively on Judeo-Christian beliefs. Thus that means we have to have symbols reflecting those worshippers and only those faiths in our government buildings. And if one will look a little closer they may see that really the right wants the Christian symbols used and not so much those of Judaism.

Nonetheless, as someone pointed out the other day on a talk show, it seems like a politician who takes a stand promoting any type of religious intolerance is betting on a losing proposition. So it all comes down to Goode either being a) an idiot b) believing in his own rhetoric or c) both. Unfortunately, too many in Congress seem to fall in category “c.” Isn’t representative democracy a wonderful institution?