your daily dose of Palin

Pining for Palin’s next poetic performance?   Anxiously awaiting her next open-ended mic experience?  Wondering when she’ll mash those wonderful words in another exclusive interview?

heads must roll

Easy Steps Toward a Better Economy

Obama’s top economic advisors are Bob Rubin and his understudy Jason Furman.  This is very bad.  If you haven’t heard of them, Bob Rubin is

“the NAFTA architect who gutted market regulations as Bill Clinton’s treasury secretary and who then tried to rustle up government favors for Enron as a $17-million-a-year executive at Citigroup, a bank embroiled in today’s implosion.”

The following is a quick guide to easy actions you can take to support sane economics and a bailout plan that reregulates Wall Street and protects ordinary people.

what a wonderful world

Sarah Palin is a poetic genius on the magnitude of Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsburg.  The McCain camp is clairvoyent.  Barack and Michelle are in love.

what a bunch of moral elitists

UPDATE:  A friend just informed me that Jonathan Haidt speaks at TED talks

I was going to write a different post about how Sarah Palin is all about secrecy and doublespeak. Just generally above the law.  In other words, how her governing style is exactly like the Bush Administration’s “unprecedented assault on the principle of open government.” I even had a clever title: “Palin the face.”  Haha.  Except, as Judith Warner writes, Sarah Palin is no laughing matter. Damn. Whatever.

Through the blog of an acquaintance (who might someday become a friend), I’ve found something more interesting — and self-critical:  A moral psychologist’s research on “What makes people vote Republican?” As far as moral reasoning goes, liberals just don’t get it, although we like to think we do.  And that makes us condescending and elitist.  Fair enough.

don’t let facts get in the way of your opinions

Campaign Finance:  Obama vs McCain

Compare and Contrast

A bit ago, I stumbled across the blog of a young Republican McCain supporter.  Excuse me — make that Young Republican.  As in, College Republican.  Not sure about the deeply-seeded personal hypocrisy yet.  But this guy definitely has trouble connecting with reality to justify his support for McCain.

I took issue with the first paragraph [emphasis mine]:

cognitive dissonance

Every election year reminds me of the phrase cognitive dissonance. By cognitive dissonance, I mean

glimpses of a reality that contrasts sharply or even conflicts with what we already believe and/or want to be true

Travelers checks and overseas financial security

Don’t use ‘em.

That’s right.  Use cash instead.  Just take care with your money.  Keep it on you at all times.  The extra insurance of lost or stolen cash is *not* worth the hassle.

“But just what is the hassle?” You might ask.  An excellent question…

fear tactics

It’s damned near impossible to have an honest policy disagreement in the political mainstream these days.  Fear spreads like a disease.  People who are afraid will try to make others afraid.  Often, this is unintentional.  Sometimes, though, it is deliberate.

Ungodly Hours

…sometime so early that it still feels late…

I soon learned that I could get a nice, strong cross-draft going in my room by opening up both sets of windows during the night.  The downside was, this made all those outside noises louder.  Traffic blairs at all hours.  But even that fades into background noise, unlike my first up-close experience with the Calls to Prayer.

Working Class Arabs

06/22/08

I arrived in Jordan late — at around midnight.  I stepped off the plane, saying goodbye to my plush accommodations of comfortable, roomy seating, gourmet meals, and attentive and plentiful flight attendants.  There was also no recognizable air conditioning in the airport, but it didn’t need it.  The air, although a bit more humid, is much cooler here.  Trees actually dot the countryside.  But the highlight?  Working class Arabs.  Everywhere.  That’s right, folks, the people who work in Jordanian airports are, for the most part, actually Jordanian.  Take that, Kuwait!