Just When We'd Stopped Thinking Blago. 
Caroline Kennedy dropped out of the contest for the appointed NY US Senate seat at the very last moment and guaranteed that the wags and snitches would explode with the details of her warm friendship with NYT publisher Pinch Sulzberger. When FDR was looking for a
Secretary of Labor in 1933, he considered William Jennings Bryan's daughter, Ruth Bryan Owen, and then settled on his New York aide Frances Perkins, who knew all about FDR's warm friendship with his secretary and pal Missy LeHand. This is as close an FDR analogy as I can find to this leering folly. President Obama clearly wanted Caroline Kennedy in HRC's NY Senate seat, since her endorsement of Mr. Obama in January 2008 launched him from the surprise Iowa caucus victory past the defeat to HRC in New Hampshire and onto the string of victories in January and February, and was the transformative moment for his campaign. But now Caroline is gone from the Senate -- and all because of gossip that Caroline Kennedy and Pinch Sulzberger have purposefully and cunningly invited for weeks with their needy conduct (right). Leaving hanging the puzzled NY Governor David Paterson, who was clearly of the mind that appointing Caroline to HRC's seat would bring Kennedy glamour and money to his election campaign in 2010 and likely the president's attention as well. None of this has anything to do with the fact that the NYT is out of cash and hope and had recently sold its soul to a Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, who practices capitalism with the same focus as once did the bully Andrew Carnegie. Odd and loopy. Add this to the cluttered Federal investigation around Rod Blagojevich auctioning off President Obama's seat to the cockiest bluffer, and then handing it to a man who out bluffed the whole Democratic Senate and White House -- and what is left is a kind of slow motion, plotless, Kennedy-flavored farce. Now we can look to the carnival coming to town of Norm Coleman vs. Al Franken and the forever Senate race in Minnesota. It's all fun in a grinding, predictable fashion. If it wasn't for the pomposity of the Senate, there would be no laughter at all in the bleakness of a Washington out of ideas, time and Republicans. We need Academy nominations for all this melodrama. Caroline scratched. Pinch punked. Blago blotto. Franken undead. And $1 trillion of pork running like a herd down Pennsylvania Avenue. The Age of Obama, week 1. No harm, no foul, but icky.
The publisher of a dying newspaper getting together with the daughter of an assassinated President? We'll call it "Necrophilia Manhattan Style!" It'll be the first horror movie/chickflick crossover! Boffo BO! We'll get Nora Ephron to direct! No, no, make that George Romero! And somebody call Sarah Jessica Parker--she already looks so scary she won't even need any zombie makeup!
A troubling theme is already beginning to emerge. The new Obama administration and Democrats in general appear to be ‘painting by numbers’ with regard to their political appointments. After all was said and done, the Senate seat vacated by Barrack Obama was always slated to go to a black; the New York Senate seat vacated by Hillary Clinton was always slated to go to a woman, as was the position of Secretary of State. These are high profile examples of significant government jobs that appear to be doled out according to a formula purporting to achieve some sort of race and gender equality. (Note, no attempt is made to factor in experience or suitability for any given job. Even criminality does not seem to raise eyebrows anymore.) The policy, though never stated this bluntly was nevertheless articulated by Obama economic advisor Robert Reich who said at a Ways and Means committee hearing yesterday, "I am concerned, as I'm sure many of you are, that these jobs not simply go to high skilled people who are already professionals or to white male construction workers."
Had any Republican said this in reverse, he or she would rightly be excoriated by the press. Nothing else would be talked about for weeks on end on the cable shows. Every Republican of standing would be hunted down and made to denounce the man or woman who had uttered such despicable words. Flash polls would be taken… In short, a full-blown, three-ring circus would ensue.
Nothing like that with Democrats in charge. It’s always been suspected that Democrats have a tendency toward racism and sexism. They have been known to ‘protest too much’. Now here is proof. The MSM won’t touch this as it doesn’t fit their template of Democrat always right/Republicans always wrong. Does anyone still wonder about the ‘fairness’ of press reporting in this country? Does anyone still believe that the ‘fairness doctrine’ would help?
Peter said: "A troubling theme is already beginning to emerge. The new Obama administration and Democrats in general appear to be ‘painting by numbers’ with regard to their political appointments. After all was said and done, the Senate seat vacated by Barrack Obama was always slated to go to a black; the New York Senate seat vacated by Hillary Clinton was always slated to go to a woman, as was the position of Secretary of State. These are high profile examples of significant government jobs that appear to be doled out according to a formula purporting to achieve some sort of race and gender equality."
Peter, it's too late now to raise that issue. Why do you think black and Latino redistricting has been winked at by both the political bulls and SCOTUS for 40 years? Givem a token and they'll leave you alone. It works.
Re telemonopolist Carlos Slim: I'm told that some time ago Forbes calculated that Warren Buffet would need a cool $780 billion in order to control the same percentage of American GDP that the purchaser of the New York Times' withered soul commands in Mexico's brazenly corrupt economy.
An honest cop is one that stays bought. Ditto for journalists, I reckon. Viva open borders!
Why the gratuitous "bully" adjective tossed at Andrew Carnegie? He may have had some bully in him but overall he was one of the good guys ... I say we should leave it to the left to criticize the men who made this country great (at one time, anyway).
Come on, and you'll come over my carcass"
-union steel worker William Foy
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carnegie/sfeature/mh_horror.html
When 300 Pinkerton Detectives came ashore at Andrew Carnegie's Homestead mill on July 6, 1892, they had no idea of the extreme violence with which locked-out steelworkers would greet them. A hail of stones, then bullets, ripped the air. Steelworker William Foy and the captain of the Pinkertons fell wounded.
What had begun as a simple disagreement over wages between the nations largest steelmaker and its largest craft union, the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers, had taken a decidedly savage turn. Before the struggle ended, Amalgamated would be humbled, Carnegie's control of his labor force complete.
The union fought not just for better wages, but for a say in America's new industrial order. Despite Carnegie's public pro-labor stance, he refused to share control of his company. He and his partner, Henry Clay Frick, had brought unions to heel at their other mills, but Homestead remained untamed. In May, 1892, Carnegie traveled to Scotland, leaving Homestead in Frick's hands. Although Carnegie would later try to distance himself from the events at Homestead, his cables to Frick were clear: Do whatever it takes. Frick dug in for war...........
"Behind every great fortune lies a great crime."
Smart man, Balzac.
Corlyss D - I trust you know what that means. It means that the politicians whose faces we all see are puppets and that we cannot know the puppeteer who stands behind them. It means that the American people have been utterly and completely disenfranchised by the political process. I may be naïve, but I’m not yet quite willing to accept that.
I just watched "WAR, Inc.", an Iraq spoof which depicts America as "killers, whores and jackals behind the smiling face of brand U.S.A.". This movie had a limited run here but was subsequently distributed worldwide including Russia (where it is said to have done rather well.)
I recall one of the three-day Indian holidays, during which HBO ran the "Dumb and Dumber" series of movies ad nauseum. I felt so disgusted, I lodged a complaint with the American Consulate (in Chennai). They wrote back saying that they had no authority over what HBO was doing. (Can you imagine the Russians being that disinterested?) Meanwhile, TV5, the French channel, shows nightly movies that consistently are a joy to watch; DW presents informative programs on German life; etc. The point is that other countries seem to care how they present themselves to the outside world. I’ve heard there is now considerable push back throughout India in regard to “Slumdog Millionaire”, a film directed and produced by non-Indians. Only America doesn’t seem to give a **** about how the world sees it.
Maybe it would be simpler to go to Hollywood and bust some heads there rather than invade other countries just to prove that we’re not complete morons.
Interesting, but if you read it all the way down, sounds like the unions were the bullies more than Carnegie. Even public opinion swayed against the unions after a while. JD Rockefeller Jr. had a similar incident against some mine workers in Colorado if I remember correctly. Well, those labor-union struggles were wars of sorts. At one time in this country strikes were considered an illegal seizure of the property that rightly belonged to the owners. Carnegie obviously believed he was in the right, and protecting the American Way. And I tend to agree with him.
What have unions accomplished in the long run, other than to further hobble our ability to compete with the rest of the world? They've put money in their own pockets, corrupted politicians left and right, and helped to make governments at all levels little more than puppets in return for a guaranteed X number of votes that the unions promise to deliver. If opposing that is what made Carnegie a bully, then I say we need more bullies. And to Kenneth Stevens' quote of Balzac, I more read it as pertaining to the acts of the unions rather than those of Carnegie. It was Carnegie's property - he was merely defending it. Or perhaps Mr. Stevens doesn't believe in private property rights? Any relation to Justice Stevens of the eminent domain decision?
Bottom line: It is the unions that have helped to put Obama, Pelosi, Frank, et al in office. Where's Andrew Carnegie when we need him? Are you people all having your POE sapped by socialism as well? Am I the last man standing to believe in the right of an employer to contract freely with his employees, without government interference?
Peter said: I trust you know what that means. It means that the politicians whose faces we all see are puppets and that we cannot know the puppeteer who stands behind them. It means that the American people have been utterly and completely disenfranchised by the political process.
Not really. Americans have more important things to do with their lives than spend too much time and attention on government. That's as it should be. As long as the broad strokes are tolerable, they don't get restive, relying on the old theory that it all works out in the end. The solutions don't have to be pure or elegant, and seldom are; they don't even have to work particularly well. They just have to not kill too many people or cost too much. Either one of those results is looking for trouble. The racial districting is a nit. The black and Jewish SCOTUS justices is a nit. A woman SecState (which has been the case in 3 out of the last 4) is a nit.
Lou said: Carnegie obviously believed he was in the right, and protecting the American Way. And I tend to agree with him.
Somehow I don't think the American Way was what Carnegie was protecting.
Lou said: What have unions accomplished in the long run, other than to further hobble our ability to compete with the rest of the world?
Unions should never have allowed the establishment of the Department of Labor. They've been nothing but criminal, greedy, and obsolete since.
Lou said: Am I the last man standing to believe in the right of an employer to contract freely with his employees, without government interference?
Well, that hasn't been the case for many decades now. That issue too is too late to raise now. We live in the modern administrative state. Nothing is outside the reach of Congress since it discovered the Commerce clause.
"Wise men tell us, it's too late, for prayin'..."
-Gordon Lightfoot
Corlyss, it's obviously not "too late" to raise them - you just saw me raise them, right? Yeah, if you want to just give up on the state of affairs, it may be too late. As for me, I'm not into giving up.
Carnegie did believe that his way was the American Way. If it hasn't been looked at that way for decades, it just means that we as a country have been on the wrong path for decades. So, why prolong the wrongheadedness? Let's start remembering what we once stood for, and should once again stand for.
I am baffled. JB keeps on asking when John Galt is going to come save us, and we all believe so much in the principles of Atlas Shrugged. Yet, the men who came the closest to being embodiments of John Galt (Carnegie, for example) - we call them bullies and doubt that they stood for the American Way? Either (i) the summoning of John Galt is entirely tongue-in-cheek, which is possible (I'm a bit less baroque in my reasoning than you all, and I might be missing the whole point), or, (ii) you simply haven't thought this whole thing through.
Once and for all, what utopia do we have a vision for? Speaking for myself, I think the days when JDR Senior, Pierpont Morgan, and Andrew Carnegie ran the show, were our salad days. Gone forever? Perhaps. But since we're on our way to a new promised land, why not choose a destination worthy of the journey?
Now that you mention it, I believe in all sorts of things. Freedom of religion, for instance, but not so much so that I think that we should let Muslims or fundamentalist Mormons practice polygamy on American soil. And in freedom of speech, of course, but not so devoutly that I would let Nazis march through Skokie unmolested. I also believe in property rights, too, but... Well, you get the idea. A sense of proportion is vital to our basic humanness.
That sense of proportion—which is another way of saying my Southern upbringing--also leads me to hold with Chesterton's notion of subsidiarity, hence my lack of enthusiasm for Bigness for Bigness’ Sake, be it Big Government, Big Business, Big Science, or Big Ideas. Whatever the Next Big Thing that some Harvard jackass in a three-piece suit that costs more than I make in a month happens to be peddling, Ah’m agin it. Of that you can be sure.
For that ncessary and sufficient reason I buy my produce at the local Co-op across the street and my reading material down the road at the mom-and-pop bookstore. It is also why the Joadmobile rusting in my driveway is Detroit-made.
And no, Mr. Filliger, I’m no kin to Justice Stevens. Nor, alas, to a certain Vice President of the Harford Accident and Indemnity Company, though I did once place a jar in Tennessee.
As a Libertarian, all I ask of the government is to leave me the heck alone. It's so simple that it sounds radical. I also realize at some level that it will never happen ....
I live within an hour's drive of the Mojave Desert. When I start to get physically ill from the pervasive socialist spew I hear coming from practically every mouth these days, I just go for a nice long walk out in the desert.... to where there are no people, and to where the rocks, sand, hills, and sky all look pretty much the same as they did back when we were a free country.
Mr. Filliger,
You sound like Dagny Taggert (and me) saying "we can't just give in to the lunacy of socialism, the destruction of free market principles and the culture of victim worship". But, that's exactly what John Galt and Dagny did... they shrugged... they gave up and walked (well, flew) away. I can't afford mountain property in Galt's Gulch so I will stay in the game and live by Teddy Roosevelt's words. "Aggressive fighting for the right is the noblest sport the world affords". I trust you will join me?
Cathy, consider it done. We seem to have a dearth of leaders at the moment - maybe you are that person.
I really like what Kenneth Stevens said a few threads ago: (I have to paraphrase it now): It's the average Americans who keep on slugging it out through good times and bad times that are ultimately what will make it work.
Re "It's the average Americans who keep on slugging it out through good times and bad times that are ultimately what will make it work."
Odd, how these things sometimes tie together. For instance, the rather generic pizza box made by a company on the verge of bankruptcy, the one that served as a prop in Mr. Batchelor’s and Mr. Constable’s earlier video, happens to be the same make used by a legendary local pizzeria run by a family of bickering Sicilians who took a left turn at that ugly statue that the French fobbed off on us and now find themselves here in the mid-South.
The fourth Sunday of every month several friends and I go there to pick up two of their excellent pizzas. We are greeted warmly, the more so since business there has been off lately. Then we hurry back to my place for a beery, carbohydrate-fuelled critique of one another’s manuscripts, as well as to otherwise provide each other with encouragement and mutual aid.
What, you ask, does this have to do with the economic crisis? Well, the times being what they are, not one of us gets by with only one gig. I have my day job plus whatever freelance work I can scrape together. This one teaches French for slave wages at the local university and publicizes local music acts. That one waits tables and performs in a successful belly dance troupe. Another works construction and on weekends pit fights in illegal backroom matches--speaking of "slugging it out"--that the local fuzz is paid to ignore. And so on. Not that any of us are complaining. It’s a good life, as the saying goes, if you don’t weaken.
One of our number, whom I’ll call J., told me the other day that he’d just placed a humor piece with a major magazine. The sale was very, very good news, of course. The bad news: Now J. will really be needing that check that the magazine sent him, since during the same week he also got got himself canned from his managerial job for refusing to lay off 25% of those who worked under him. His sole comment? "Screw 'em all. I'll live in my car if I have to."
Just a snapshot of life in post-Bubble America. Somehow we'll get through this.