Episode 56: Madness!

Quote of the Week

"I'm not holding my breath, but I would like to see the self-proclaimed conservative, small government, anti-regulation, free-market zealots step up and take responsibility for wrecking the American economy and bringing about the worst financial crisis since the Depression."

- Bob Herbert, New York Times, 9/30/08
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Can't We All Just Get Along?

"Senator Obama and his allies in Congress infused unnecessary partisanship into the process."

(Beat)

"Now is not the time to fix blame. It's time to fix the problem."

- John McCain, 9/29/08

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Quote of the Week (2)

"These were the reckless clowns who led us into the foolish multi-trillion-dollar debacle in Iraq and crafted tax policies that enormously benefited millionaires and billionaires while at the same time ran up staggering amounts of government debt."

- Bob Herbert, New York Times, 9/30/08

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"So's your old man."
-G.O.P.

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Temper Tantrums. Check out tales of the angry little old candidate's rages when he doesn't get his way at http://eyesonobama.com/blogcontent/id_20167/title_McCains-History-of-Blow-ups-The-Top-Ten

Something Hopeful? Play this music video set in Obama headquarters - http://youtube.com/watch?v=W3ijYVyhnn0

Or inspirational? Here's the star-studded Yes We Can video - http://youtube.com/watch?v=ibhwXYRBCLM

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Time For a Break From All This Agita.
Go to Your Happy Place.

One of mine is Venice. Geezer envies friends Dan and Barbara who are about to splash down in La Serenissima in a couple of weeks. Dan speaks about 87 languages and has visited at least 150 countries, so he doesn't really need my advice about travel. But he politely asked for my restaurant suggestions, so I could hardly demur:

* Ancora (San Polo 120, tel. 041-520-7066) is, as far as we can tell, the only restaurant directly on the Grand Canal, with no intervening structures to block the views of the busy traffic of gondolas, vaporettos, delivery barges, and racing police and fire launches. The interior is a piano bar, but the broad terrace holds many tables for snacks, meals, coffee, and/or drinks. Our last time there we shared two large crostini, followed by a bowl of pasta e fagioli for me and, for Jo, a filet of branzino accompanied by white beans, a few scattered black olives, and tomato chunks in oil with fresh basil leaves. It was all light, fresh, and simple, and at 53 euros for everything, inexpensive by Venetian standards. Find it near the Rialto Market.

Osteria Ai 4 Feri (Dorsoduro 2754/A, tel. 041-520-6978) is a tiny, highly popular spot at the corner of Campo San Barnaba. Get there early (around 12 or 7) or make a reservation or expect a wait. We shared a primo piatto (first course) of roasted vegetables - eggplant, mushrooms, bell peppers, onions, fennel, spinach, potatoes, and beets - very filling. We followed with spaghetti vongole, pinkie-sized clams tossed in a garlic and oil sauce. Tab was only 39 euros, with two glasses of wine.

Trattoria alla Palazzina (Cannaregio 1509, tel. o41-71) is in the sestiere (quarter) that contains the ancient Jewish "ghetto" of the city. The name itself was born here. This restaurant is next to the east end of the Ponte Guglie, with an ancient dining room in front and a long trellised garden terrace in back. We've been there before, and it wasn't any cheaper the last time, so look for the page in the long menu titled "Traditional Dishes", at lower, if not cheap, tariffs than the more contemporary items. We both had plates of light-as-air gnocchi in tomato sauce and shared a secondi platter of grilled lamb and sausage. With wine,, water, coffee, and limoncello, the tab came to 92 euros. The traffic on the adjoining canal is diverting.

Osteria-Enoteca Ai Artisi (Fondamenta della Toletta, tel. 041-523-8944) used to be a simple ombra e cichetti bar (tumblers of wine with tapas-like snacks). Now we found it had become a little more serious, with an explanded menu and many more wines by the glass. We ordered a seafood antipasti platter, a pasta ragout, and a pasta with anchovies, a Venetian speciality. All good, along with three big glasses of Multipuciano and Brunello, two liqueurs, and two expressos, and not unusually expensive at 70 euros.

Ristorante San Trovaso (Dorso Duro 967, tel. 041-523-0835) is down a quiet lane about a block-and-a-half from its better-known sibling, Taverna San Trovaso. We've eaten in both, but find the kitchen as capable and the staff less cranky here. When weather permits, the garden is the venue of choice, but there is a large dining room. Jo had melon with prosciutto, a serving about twice as large as it might be in the States. I had penne in a zesty sauce of olives, tomato, and a sprinkling of hot pepper flakes. Each would constitute a full meal at home, but it was our last day, so we ordered up secondis of fritta mista, grilled branzino, and a plate of four vegetables. After, Jo got the scroppino she's craved, a liquid dessert of lemon gelato and vodka. I had
a glass of vin santo, a digestif not widely available in the U.S. The bill is 89 euros.

Cantinone Gia Schiavi (Fondamenta Maravegie 992) is a wine shop with a bar serving crostini - slices of bread topped with bits of cheese, fish, sauteed leeks, olive paste, and whatever inspires the owners that day. Much of it is forked straight from can to bread, meaning that the two- or three-bite tidbits can't really compare to a good Spanish tapas parlor. But with a spritzy glass of wine from the Veneto and a amiable crowd that drifts out to the sidewalk despite the sign imploring them not to, it makes an atmospheric stop on your way to lunch or dinner. The walls are lined with bottles of wine, some at unusually reasonable prices.
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Kayaking Down the Canal Grande
It sounds entirely logical: Venice is a city on water, with beguilingly romantic mansions and palaces rising from the edges of every canal. What better way to see it all than from a kayak?
One little thing: Although the city authorities endeavor to remove the more obvious detritus floating by - watermelon rinds, orange peels, items of clothing - they have yet to deal with less visible pollutants. That water teems with contaminants causing bacterial infections that keep the emergency room busy with unwary boating enthusiasts. After Katherine Hepburn fell into the San Barnaba canal for her role in Summertime back in the 1950s, she developed an ear infection that stayed with her the rest of her life.
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Bonehead Remark of the Week (Anti-American Division)
The permanent secretary of the award jury selecting the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature next week has divested himself of the opinion that the United States is too insular and ignorant to compete with Europe in great writing. "You can't get away from the fact that Europe is still the center of the literary world, not the United States." Apart from ignoring the awards of that very honor to Faulkner and Hemingway, Horace Engdahl obviously dismisses the work of approximately 250,000 published writers in a country of thirty million. Perhaps he hasn't come across Roth, Updike, and DeLillo, among many prospects. And he might ask himself why the Academy never got around to anointing Nabakov, Joyce, and Proust, Europeans all.
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Episode 55: Truth and Consequences

Mom Always Liked you Best.
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"I would make a proposition to my Republican friends. If they will stop telling lies about the Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them."

- Adlai Stevenson

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Lies, Damned Lies, and John McCain

It's difficult to keep up. The Republican candidate's stormtroopers, the thuggish Steve Schmidt and practicing lobbyist Rick Davis, never allow the simple truth to sully their outrageous daily assaults on Barak Obama and reality. Still, here are recent examples of the unceasing mendacity of the unholy trio.

Lie: Obama passed legislation to teach comprehensive sex education to kindergarteners.

Truth: The Illinois bill would have allowed only "age appropriate" material, it didn't pass, and Obama wasn't even a co-sponsor.

Lie: Alaska supplies 20 percent of U.S. energy.

Truth: Alaska produces 3.5 percent of our domestic energy production.

Lie: McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis, has had no involvement the company he co-founded and owned for several years.

Truth: Davis received a monthly stipend of $15,000 from his firm's client, Freddie Mac, right up until August, when the government took it over.

Lie: Obama will raise taxes on income, electricity, home heating oil, and life savings.

Truth: Obama repeatedly states he will raise taxes on income and capital gains only for couples making more than $250,000. He has voiced no plans to raise taxes on electricity and has proposed energy rebates of up to $1,000 for the purchase of home heating oil.

Lie: Obama's advisors are saying that the financial crisis will benefit him politically.

Truth: McCain's campaign cannot cite a single example of such a claim.

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News Item:

A moose estimated to weigh 1,000 pounds was killed when she crossed Intersate 684 in northern Westchester County, less than 40 miles from Times Square. Eight cars were damaged in the resulting pile-up.

Why did the moose cross the road?

She spotted Sarah Palin in the woods.

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If Palin Was a Contestant on Jeopardy!

Katie Couric's interview of Sarah Palin was lluminating, in its way.

Sarah's answer: "We have trade missions back and forth. We - we do - it's very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia as Putin raises his head and comes into the airspace of the United States of America, where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border."

Katie's Question: "Have you ever been involved in negotiations with your Russian neighbors?"

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"We need more than a brave soldier. We need a wise leader."

- Joe Biden

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A doctor was treating an elderly Texas rancher whose hand was caught in a gate while working cattle. Their conversation got around to the election and Sarah Palin.

The old rancher said, "Well, y'know, Palin is a post turtle."

The doctor asked him what a post turtle was.

The rancher said, "When you're driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that's a post turtle."

The doctor was puzzled.

The rancher continued, "You know she didn't get up there by herself, she doesn't belong up there, she doesn't know what to do while she's up there, and you just wonder what kind of dumb ass put her up there to begin with."

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The first debate is over. The next one is supposed to return to the subject of the economy. When you watch it, consider:

During the last Democratic administration, the federal budget was balanced and the federal deficit was erased.

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Episode 54: Fascist In Stilettos

"When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross."

- attributed to Sinclair Lewis (1935)

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What We Know (So Far) About Her
Understanding that what was new and startling this morning is old hat by tonight, consider the following as a reminder of the convictions (many) and accomplishments (few) of Sara Palin.

* She likes to kill large animals for fun. In 2007, under the guise of predator control, she put a bounty on wild wolves - $150 each upon presentation of the left foreleg of each kill. The shootings were approved if made from low-flying planes. Even avid hunters reject this technique as unfair. See what this is all about at http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1287024576/bctid1290867853

* She obtained her first passport in 2007. It was used to take her to Kuwait to visit Alaskan reservists and wounded soldiers in Germany. Her campaign said she stopped in Iraq, but she didn't. They said she set down in Ireland, but it was only to re-fuel, and she never got out of the airport. Her other foreign travel was to Canada to boost a proposed pipeline. It's claimed that she went to Mexico, but when and why are questions her campaign mysteriously refuses to answer.

* As for meaningful experiences abroad, she has said she didn't think previous vice presidents had met any foreign leaders, either. In fact, every Veep in the last sixty years (except Spiro Agnew) had met with foreign leaders before taking office.

* No snobby elitist higher education for Sarah. She attended five academic backwaters in six years: University of Hawaii at Hilo, Hawaii Pacific University, North Idaho College, and Matanuska-Susitna College, graduating at length from the University of Idaho. None of them imposed entrance requirements. She graduated with no honors, no achievements. Oddly, considering how isolated she has been from the press, her major was journalism. Husband "First Dude" Todd graduated from high school.

* Palin is touted as a tax cutter, but Alaska has neither a state income tax nor a state sales tax. Local property and sales taxes pay the bills, along with considerable lavings of federal largesse. In her six years as mayor of Wasilla, she increased government expenditures by over a third. While she reduced property taxes, she increased the local sales tax. Wasilla had no debt at all when she took office, but was $22 million in the hole when she left.

*During Palin's mayoral terms, she signed off on budget cuts of funds that paid for medical exams for victims of crime. From that point on, rape victims or their insurers had to pay for their rape kits. The tab: $500 to $1200.

* In a town without a sewer system, she borrowed money to build a $15 million sports arena. Years later, it still operates in the red.

* She talks about her executive experience in Wasilla, but she hired an administrator to do most of the work shortly after becoming mayor.

* She has issues with police chiefs. She fired the one in Wasilla because he "intimidated" her, then tossed the state's public safety commissioner because he wouldn't fire her ex-brother-in-law.

* When the Wasilla librarian refused to remove books that Palin found offensive, the Mayor tried to fire her. The titles in question reportedly were those on the hit lists of fundamentalist religionists across the country, such dangerous works as Lord of the Flies, Lysistrata, One Hundred Years of Solitude, Twelfth Night, Catch-22, To Kill a Mockingbird, Of Mice and Men, and Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary.

* Palin advocates abstinence-only sex education, with no mention of birth control, never mind that she was pregnant when she eloped with the First Dude or that her daughter was knocked up by a home-schooled, self-described "redneck" who declared on MySpace that he didn't want kids. Las Vegas is probably giving odds on how long that shotgun marriage will last.

* Palin got around to applying for her first passport last year. This was so she could visit Alaska reservists in Kuwait and Germany. Her campaign had to back off claims that she also went to Iraq and Ireland - turns out she took a peek at a border crossing and landed at Shannon Airport long enough to re-fuel.

* She crossed into Canada once, to pitch a pipeline. And it has been revealed that she visited Mexico once, although her staff has mysteriously walled off questions about why and when she went. The balance of her experience with foreigners involves those famous views of Siberia across the Bering Sea. Clearly, she's ready to deal with Putin.

* Palin says she sold the state plane on Ebay at a profit. She did list it on that site, but no one bit. The plane was eventually sold to a private buyer...at a loss.

* She was for the Bridge to Nowhere until she wasn't. As vice-presidential nominee, she claims to be against earmarks. As governor, she hired a Washington lobbyist to advocate for earmarks.

* As governor, Palin charged the state $17,00 in travel per diems for 312 nights she spent at her home in Wasilla during her first 550 days in office. (Possibly she was unaware that per diems are intended to compensate for time spent away from home.)

*In April, she told a church congregation that the war in Iraq was "A task that is from God." In a ceremony in September that sent her son and his comrades off to that misbegotten conflict, she said they were going there to destroy the people responsible for 9/11. Don't confuse her with the facts.

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On The Trail

* On a press trip some years ago, one of the other participants, pretending to be a travel journalist, leaned over to me seeking information. We were in a 747 midway across the Atlantic, on our way to Madrid. She asked, in words I won't forget, "So, Spain. That's sort of next to Mexico, right?"

One of our presidential aspirants has a similar form of geographical dyslexia. Understanding that we old folks are prone to confusion and forgetfulness, shouldn't a candidate for our highest office at least know which hemisphere is home to one of our most important allies? Check out http://salon.com/ent/video_dog/comedy/2008/09/20/bateman_mccainspain/index.html

* You'll remember that former cheerleader/current heiress Cindy McCain introduced her husband at the Republican convention. Did you know, as reported by Vanity Fair, that the outfit she chose to wear for the occasion cost $300,000? Palin was a piker - the Valentino jacket the hockey mom bought for her acceptance speech set her back only $2,500.

* Here's an idea purloined from the 'Net: Send a donation to Planned Parenthood in Sarah Palin's name. They will then send her a thank-you card. Everyone should do this.

* Nineteen American cities have larger populations than the entire state of Alaska. A total of 47 states, including both Dakotas and Rhode island have larger populations than Palin's frontier territory.

*Favorite Obama quote so far: "The Old Boys Network. In the McCain campaign, that's known as a staff meeting."

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Episode 53: Them

"I know how to win wars
-John McCain, July 15, 2008

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The Odd(est) Couple

There they were, on a stage in Pennsylvania after their convention, looking like a really bad date the day after the computers crashed at eHarmony.com.

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YouTube Alert

Some measure of hypocrisy creeps into the words and actions of nearly all politicians, but Republicans have made it an art form. Check out www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=184086, sent along by friend Kellie as evidence of conservative versions of truth-telling.

Hookers & Blow: When asked to tone down their celebrations in light of the hurricanes approaching the Gulf Coast, the compassionate conservatives at their convention certainly tried. Not.

Check out www.youtube.com/watchv=nWerT-e08I&feature=related.

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What We Know About Him

(Note: Unlike the vicious daily rondelay of lies and distortions emanating from the McCain camp, the statements of fact recounted below have been triple-checked for accuracy and context.)

* He's rich. But not due to his own entrepreneurship or business acumen. He married an heiress.

* He's had cancer four times and he's old. He could drop dead giving his inaugural address, making reality of a nightmare, given his V.P. choice.

* He graduated fifth from the bottom of his class of 899 cadets at the Naval Academy. He got in because he was a legacy, the son and grandson of two admirals. He has no advanced degrees.

* Before he ever got to Southeast Asia, he crashed three planes - at Pensacola, on duty over Spain, and near Philadelphia while flying to an Army-Navy game. His shipboard nickname of "Ace" was not a compliment.

* He intends to appoint Supreme Court Justices in the mold of Scalia, Alioto, and Thomas.

* Although avowedly opposed to torture, he voted against a bill to ban waterboarding.

* Has supported the war of choice in Iraq from the beginning.

* Doesn't know the difference between Shites and Sunnis.

* Favors making permanent the Bush tax cuts, which overwhelmingly profit the rich. Lies that Obama proposals would tax middle-income families.

* Voted against the children's healthcare bill.

* Admits he doesn't know much about economics at a time when the economy is the leading issue of concern to voters.

*Was one of the Keating Five. Received $112,000 in political contributions from Charles Keating, later a convicted felon, in addition to accepting three free stays at the crook's Bahamas spa and nine free flights on Keating's private jet. Censured by the Senate.

* Puts himself forward as the man to lead the nation on into the 21st Century but doesn't know how to get on the Internet or send an e-mail.

* With somewhere between four to eleven houses, he has suggested that people facing foreclosure get second jobs and skip their vacations.

* After his return from Vietnam in 1973, he embarked on a series of affairs that lasted until he met Cindy Hensley, a former cheerleader 17 years his junior. Given his brutal treatment at the hands of the Vietnamese, his desire to make up for lost time is understandable, at least for most honest men. But the rest of us aren't running for president from the family values party.

* After Obama criticized McCain for not supporting a bill to increase college tuition benefits for veterans, McCain angrily countered, "I will not accept from Senator Obama, who did not feel it was his responsibility to serve our country in uniform, any lecture on my regard for those who did." An obvious response is that most people would prefer to pursue other options in life, including those named Bush, Cheney, Rove, and, come to think of it, his gun-toting running mate.

*Given his family history, McCain was all but pre-destined for a naval career. But there is nothing inherently noble about military service. It has been fairly said that there are four major reasons to enlist: Because it's the family trade. Out of deeply felt patriotism. Simply needing a job. And, for the opportunity to kill people.

* McCain was a bomber pilot. He voluntarily entered an arm of the service that carries with it the moral burden of knowing that one's actions will result almost certainly in the deaths of innocents.

* War hero? Americans of all ideological persuasions have accepted that claim as if it had been injected into a vein, and few dare challenge it. McCain was shot down, possibly in part due to his own incompetence as a pilot. He was taken prisoner and subjected to mistreatment that was all but intolerable, by his own accounts and those of others. He admits he sought relief and medical care by offering to provide the military information his captors sought. Whom among us would not, nor contemplate suicide, as he did.

Heroism is a choice - the soldier covering a grenade with his body to spare his friends, a firefighter entering a burning building when everyone else is fleeing.

McCain was a prisoner. He lived. There was no choice. There was only hope. McCain was a survivor. Heroism had nothing to do with it.

* Suffering is not a qualification for the highest office in the country. For McCain to demand compensation for his, as he implicitly did in his near-lachrymose recounting of his P.O.W. years in his nomination acceptance speech, is reprehensible. He has been hardly reluctant to play the poor-me card throughout his campaign:

*In response to criticisms about the McCains' seven houses, his spokesperson angrily replied: "This is a guy who lived in one house for five and a half years - in prison." Asked about high milk prices: "This is a guy who didn't have the luxury of milk for five and a half years." Queried about the need for alternative energy sources: "This is a guy who lived in the dark for five and a half years - in prison, with no light bulbs."

* His prison experience ended 35 years ago, but McCain continues to live in the past. When old soldiers and older politicians start talking about "honor", the rational response is to check your wallet and your kids and slowly back away. McCain bellows about "victory with honor" in Iraq. He fails to define what exactly he means by "victory", but can we escape the feeling that he envisions a full-dress ceremony on a battleship in the Persian Gulf with Osama bin Laden handing over his grenade launcher and signing twelve copies of an unconditional surrender?

He wants to re-do Vietnam. It's too late.

McCain is so far over the hill he can't see tomorrow.

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Next Up: What We Know (So Far) About Her

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