Rush Judgment

Rush Hudson Limbaugh III recently signed a contract paying him $400 M over the next 8 years. Pretty impressive! I don't doubt the market so I am sure his paymasters anticipate making even more off his labors. But that led me to think... who listens to this guy? For myself, sure, I suppose I could listen, sometimes, but I couldn't do my job if I were paying any attention. I certainly couldn't listen regularly, really listen, to some guy on the radio. Nobody with a thoughtful job could waste time listening to “talk radio” during the workday. Are his advertisers pitching stuff for dummies?

No wonder the liberal alternative “Air America" failed; the liberals are all too busy doing real work. You know, the kind of work that requires thought and attention.

Incidentally, apparently the guy's a prescription drug addict, been divorced 3 times, has no kids, and is currently unmarried. Thus, he is a perfect propagandist for the “pro-family” Repugnican agenda. [Note: he's the 'scion' of a family that named 3 generations of boys “Rush”.]

Georgia on my Mind

The errorist Bush administration boasts 2 'experts' on Russia: Rice and Gates. Oh-oh. Not surprisingly, Russia has gone from a friendly democracy in 2000 to a hostile, belligerent, surely dictatorship in 2008.

Now we have a crisis close to Crimea. We have a Coast Guard ship on the Black Sea? This is the logic that sends the National Guard to Iraq. It all depends on whose coast and whose nation you really care about. There's oil in them there hills in the Caucasus and Iraq.... hmmm.

I predict that John McCant and the desperate Repugnicans, together with their propaganda organ Faux Snooze, will use the Georgia crisis to trigger racial divides. When Reagan said “state's rights”, he meant to old Southerners “I won't meddle on your plantation (real or imagined)”, but that dog won't hunt no more. Watch for Georgians to become 'Caucasians', which is technically correct. Watch for the Russians to become 'Slavs', which is technically correct. Watch for the short 'a' of Slav to be slightly elongated.

As John McCant might say, bottled rage threatening to spill out, “look, pal, are you for the Caucasians or the Slavs?” He won't even notice.

Faster, Higher, Stronger... Oftener

The motto of the modern Olympics is "Citius, Altius, Fortius". Michael Phelps won 8 Gold medals in the Beijing Olympics, with 7 of them world records and the other an Olympic record, surpassing the record 7 Gold medals and 7 world records won by Mark Spitz in the Munich Olympics of 1972.

8 G (7 WR + 1 OR) > 7 G (7 WR)

Two of Phelps' victories – one relay and one individual – were literally almost unbelievable, when he or his teammate out-touched the 'sure' winner by 1/100th of a second. Interesting coincidence that whereas 7 is a lucky number in the west, the number 8 is auspicious in China (which is why the games started on the 8th day of the 8th month of 2008). Spitz won in Germany, where his last name means 'peak' or 'top'. Maybe there's a Chinese homophone for Phelps meaning 'gilding the lily'.

Rice Whine

The US State Department 'news' release template:

Secretary Condoleeza Rice demanded that “[Hamas/Fatah/Iran/Pakistan/Russia/Sudan] must [withdraw/retreat/reverse] their [occupation/invasion/meddling/terrorism/whatever they already did] immediately. This [move/act/whatever it was] will not stand.”

Maybe she should stamp her foot when she makes her demands. [No, it would be sexist only if I said 'stamp her little foot'.] Apparently she does not realize how ridiculous is her insisting, repeatedly, on things that just don't ever happen. Why add humiliation to futility? Sure, a rare rhetorical flourish that sounds like a demand might actually come to pass (e.g., "tear down this wall"), but prepare to wait a decade. For quicker results, try anticipation and diplomacy.

In the Georgia-Russia crisis, this administration boasts not one but two 'experts', Rice and SecDef Gates. Gates replaces demands and finger wagging with 'regret' and a slight shake of his head, which is about as effective. They constitute a real spectrum of approaches if you think diplomacy is only a good cop-bad cop routine. They are excellent representatives of the "errorist" tendencies of the failed Bush regime.

China 'Opening': Olympic Precision on a Huge Scale

The opening ceremonies of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing were amazing and beautiful on a stunning scale with breathtaking precision. If you missed it on TV, as did I, you can watch at the NBC website [too bad they make you download Microsoft's 'innovative' (bad) copy of Adobe Flash].

The ceremony reveled in China's technical prowess and philosophical history. Movable type, a Chinese invention, was celebrated using Chinese writing characters – literally movable – on an enormous LED stage. The edge around the top of the stadium contributed to show with coordinated images. The precision of so many people and movement on a huge scale – thousands of people performing beautifully was simply astonishing. The only weak moment was the silly bird reincarnated (at 33 minutes). Chi (life) and Harmony were the key messages and images. The earth at 40 min that turns into a dynamic Faberge egg is astonishing. Bob Costas says what I was thinking about the 2008 drummers acting in perfect precision: a little intimidating that such a large country can put on such a show. It is astonishing how artistry can be realized with no obvious technical constraints.

My State

Our arteries are congested and hypertense,
Our wind is feeble with gas nearly visible.
We sit, squat, spread, and sprawl, our growth undisciplined.
We admit, but won't curb, our oily appetites.