Hi. Is that short enough?
I’ve been doing stuff this week. Real stuff like trying to make some money and attempting to keep under the radar. Why would I want to keep under the radar? Well, I don’t know why. It rather stumps me. I think I will take a break and try to figure that one out. In the meantime …
We will return after this short message
Ah yes, it’s one of those rhetorical days so here are a few questions.
If you are a real baseball nut, do you care about all the internal goings-on of your favorite team? Yes. Most likely. Some. Maybe not but more than likely you do. Let’s say you are just a casual baseball follower. Same questions. End result: Possibly, but more than likely not. ‘Scuse me for being general here, by the way.
What if you are a political junkie, do you care about the machinations behind the choice for House majority leader or Senate minority leadership positions? The answer: See “baseball nut” above. Okay then what if you follow party politics on occasion or don’t give a damn about politics at all? See “casual baseball follower” above and perhaps even add a “Hell no!” as an answer to the question.
It’s hard for one of those tortured souls who loves politics to see the ocean for the water. Yes, I care whether Jack Murtha or Steny Hoyer was elected majority leader by their fellow Democratic House members. For those of you who don’t follow party politics that closely, the Dems elected Hoyer even though presumed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi backed Iraq War critic and Marine Jack Murtha. But in the grander scheme of life in the old U.S. of A., does it really matter who is majority leader or whip? The answer is somewhere between yes and no. “Some maybe I don’t know,” would be an honest reply.
How about who chairs the various House committees, important or not? Political junkie EFD would say: “Duh.” Casual political follower EFD would say: “Ehh.” Don’t give a rat’s ass EFD would say: “Are you out of your freaking mind?”
The point here is (let’s see, five paragraphs later?) to ask the question does Joe Schmoe care about “inside baseball?” And I’m talking about politics here to be perfectly clear. Okay, as clear as I can be. Are we clear? I made my living as a newspaper reporter for almost 20 years and I can’t say for certain that the majority of my readers ever cared about inside baseball/politics stories I wrote. But my editors cared. The readers are customers (actually the car dealers and department stores who advertise paid my salary) but the editors were my bosses and signed the time cards.
I am sure somewhere statistics exist as to the general public’s interest in the internal working of party politics. I would venture a guess (not highly educated, more like a B.A. rather than a Ph.D.) that television networks and maybe even some local TV news outlets have stats gauging viewer interest in the subject of inside party politics. But maybe not. I am also willing to bet that somewhere the same stats are available to big-time print publication poobahs. But your average small or medium-sized daily probably doesn’t have such questions in their yearly or biennial or once-a-millenium reader surveys. That’s because newspapers are generally so tight with a dollar that they will make George Washington scream like a little bitch. Hey, this is EFD talking. If you are a boss at a publication my alter ego writes for, then remember that. It’s not him/me, it’s that EFD guy.
Here I surmise. That’s a rather odd sentence don’t you think? But a lot of media people including newspaper editors and broadcast news directors are political junkies and love those inside baseball stories. When Lois Lane goes to Perry White and asks: “Why do you want me to cover the Metropolis Republican Women’s Club? No one really cares about it unless you are a member of the club.” To which Perry Smith replies, condescendingly, “Lois, I’ve been in this business for many, many years. I think I know what the readers want. And they want this look into the inner workings of the beast we call politics.” Although, Perry would probably deliver his reply in manner much more gruff than I convey here in print.
I think editors and perhaps most publishers and news executives love following what goes on in the belly of the political party beast. But I’m not so sure about Joe Schmoe or the rest of the world. I could say the same for weather stories. Yeah, if a tornado misses hitting a trailer home, then damn right I’d like to know about it. If it comes a thunderstorm on the Texas coast during the summer, no damage, maybe a little minor street flooding, that’s not news. I’m sorry. A story about such an event is a maniacal burp in some editor’s half-lobotimized brain.
So I have written a lot of words here about something that maybe should change but probably won’t — weather and inside baseball party politics stories. If the public doesn’t give a damn about such subjects, then why on Earth would they care about questioning the public’s interest in these matters? Hellifino. But what else would I write about this morning when not a whole lot of shaking is going on inside my brain? (My trembling hands, still lacking a medical diagnosis, is another matter).
It is what it is, what it is, what it is and not much I can do about it (inside baseball politics or weather stories or my befuddlement over why my hands all of a sudden one day started shaking). So you know what? I think I’m going to look over this, publish it and start writing on something that will actually make me a little money. Is that okay with you? Fine. Then that’s what I’ll do. Have a great day and thanks for stopping by the EFD Country Store where ham is still 15 cents a pound and all the bulls*it you can handle is free.
It seems like everyone and their dog is considering a run for president in 2008. I still look for Dr. Jekyll Dubya and Mr. Rove to throw Deadeye Dick Cheney under the train sometime before his term is up and install a GOP heir-apparent. But otherwise it should be a pretty wide-open field.
The surprise of the day is that Tommy Thompson is exploring a presidential bid. Who is Tommy Thompson? Beats the hell out of me. Actually he was a Wisconsin governor, former Health and Human Services secretary and previously headed the Amtrak Board of Governors. That certainly qualifies him to be president right? That, and a (presumably) warm body.
Perhaps so many candidates will be running in 2008 that someone should introduce a line of trading cards picturng and giving the vitals of those vying for president. Collect all 600 and an all-expense paid ticket to the inaugural festivities will be yours! Yeaaaaa!
I have given some thought to running for president myself. I’m not getting any younger. And the statute of limitations have run out on most of the illegal, immoral or just plain stupid things that I did in my youth. However, I feel the most formidable challenge to getting on the ballot would be my name “eight feet deep.” I think I would rather be placed on the ballot with just my initials “EFD.” But, I remember all the hell Carole Keeton Strayhorn Foghorn Leghorn Annie Lennox Lewis Bean Burrito had when she futilely tried to get “Grandma” on the ballot in her failed run for Texas governor.
Right now, I am just exploring my options. I am not forming an exploratory committee as many potential candidates do. Instead, I am thinking about forming a committee to explore a committee that will, in turn, explore the formation of an exploratory committee. Right now the only members of my committee are Jake and Gabby, my friend’s parrots. The only problem with the parrots are they usually just repeat everything someone says or will whistle instead of deliberating.
The campaign, if there is one, is in its infancy right now. I must warn you to NOT send any money for my possible campaign just yet. However, if you want to just give me money as a kind gesture or just for the hell of it, then click the “Donation” button on the sidebar. It will be appreciated because your writer writes for tips and tips only.
Cute little Hispanic girls with grand designs to overthrow the United States and make tacos our national food.
Somehow I will try to refrain from calling government leaders in Farmers Branch, Texas, a bunch of bigoted morons. I do this not because I applaud their passing of strict anti-immigrant ordinances. Rather, at some point in time I might be called upon by some publication to write about the issue.
I know for a fact that white, bigoted morons are not the only people who want such sanctions against illegal immigration. I have homegrown Hispanic friends who feel the same way. A lot of people don’t want their tax dollars spent on social services and education for illegal Hispanics whose families, in return, send their money back home to their families in Mexico or other Hispanic-dominated countries. Some rant and rave that the open border provides ready-made escape hatches to the U.S. and are conduits for would-be terrorists. Sure, it’s something to worry about but if smart Americans could put their heads together, they could come up with at least a palatable solution to that problem.
But sometime I think this animosity against Hispanics by some in the U.S. is nothing more than racism. Let’s face it, some white folks feel Mexicans are okay as long as they keep pounding shingles on the roof or mow their yards. Otherwise … There too has been this condescending attitude by the U.S. toward Latin American states for eons. A good example of this would be the Monroe Doctrine which kept U.S. forces busy for many years in lovely places such as Cuba. I always wondered what happened to the Monroe Doctrine during the Falklands War between the U.K. and Argentina? Hmmmm.
What has taken place in Farmers Branch is just an extension of American history. If the people of the country and their elected leaders had truly wanted to stem the tide of immigration from the south, don’t you think it would have already been done? Remember FDR’s internment camps for the Japanese Americans during World War II?
Many U.S. citizens go for the knee-jerk rather than consider what brought us to where we are and determining where me might go from here. Congress passed a law for a big fence along the U.S.-Mexico border. It doesn’t matter that there are no funds to build it. The masses are asses, that is the thought our elected officials send us. Mexican and other nationals are certainly welcome to fight and die in our wars, blow leaves off our yards and cook us enchiladas in our favorite Mexican restaurant. But dammit to hell, we need to send them ol’ boys and girls back to Mexico because we are Ah-Merh-cuns, by God.
Oh well, just something to think about. Hasta la vista, baby.
