Got done early – yay! Hit the airport at 1400 to see if maybe I could catch an earlier flight – denied!
The OR guys are doing some pretty good work these days for the majors. I can’t recall a time in the last six months where I’ve seen an empty seat on a prime time sewer pipe airliner. I did get a stand-by ticket, but when the time came to pass out the only no show left, the weasel behind the counter gave it to a fetching young lass of maybe 20 summers in a halter-top sun dress, as opposed to a grizzled veteran of many years service at the uttermost end of the rim – dressed in khaki’s, too!
Not that I blame him, you know. Would have done the same thing in his shoes.
But I will be after his lunch money.
So, just bored and trying to catch up with the news. And they don’t even serve beer in this terminal. If you can believe that.
The Chief Justice displayed some compelling logic today as the Supreme Court struck down Seattle’s race-based school districting plan as being, well: Impermissibly racial in character.
“The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race,” Roberts wrote.
Which seems so blindingly obvious to those of us raised on a pablum of race-based remedies for racial discrimination that it almost seemed an uncomfortable shocka. I mean, now what will we do?
This is what conservatives wanted, this kind of jurisprudence – some left-leaning blogs are quoting the doctrine of stare decisis to label it “activism,” which proves, if nothing else, that the wheel never stops turning. About the only bloom left on the right side of Bush presidency rose is his selection of constructionists and textualists for the Supremes.
Funny how that pendulum swings: Back when the lumpen masses were too mulishly stubborn to support radical revision of the status quo, an activist and unaccountable Supreme Court stepped in to legislate from the bench, since what could not be accomplished in the legislature could be punted out to lawyers for a “see you in court.”
Now that an activist Congress is chomping at the bit to restructure fundamental parts of the economy and redistribute the national fisc, a conservative (and unaccountable) Supreme Court steps in to moderate their ambitions.
Beastly clever, those Founders.
And speaking of fundamental economic nodes and the restructuring thereof, a certain Dr. David Gratzer – licensed in Canada and the US – tips us the cautious:
It’s not simply that Mr. Moore is wrong. His grand tour of public health care systems misses the big story: While he prescribes socialism, market-oriented reforms are percolating in cities from Stockholm to Saskatoon.
Mr. Moore goes to London, Ontario, where he notes that not a single patient has waited in the hospital emergency room more than 45 minutes. “It’s a fabulous system,” a woman explains. In Britain, he tours a hospital where patients marvel at their free care. A patient’s husband explains: “It’s not America.” Humorously, Mr. Moore finds a cashier dispensing money to patients (for transportation). In France, a doctor explains the success of the health-care system with the old Marxist axiom: “You pay according to your means, and you receive according to your needs.”
It’s compelling material–I know because, born and raised in Canada, I used to believe in government-run health care. Then I was mugged by reality.
Read it all, Max and Michelle (and that ought to be enough to throw another log on the fire).
Having raised themselves to a high dudgeon when agents of the executive branch rifled through the desk drawers of a corrupt congressman, the President declined to extend the same favor in reverse:
The White House said today it would not comply with congressional subpoenas for documents and testimony relating to the firings of federal prosecutors last year, setting up a potential constitutional confrontation over its claim of executive privilege.
In a letter to the chairmen of the House and Senate judiciary committees, President Bush’s counsel, Fred F. Fielding, said the White House refuses to turn over documents that were subpoenaed by the two committees on June 13. The deadline for handing over most of them was today.
Of course, in the first case the FBI had probable cause and a judicial warrant when they broke the congressional seal, while Congress – as of now – has only fevered suppositions and devout desires. But how are you going to get one of those indictment thingies, if the White House won’t let you rummage around in the trash bins, anyway?
S0, see you in court I guess. And, hey: Good luck with that.
The Senate got a second chance to punch W in the nose on immigration, and if Ted Kennedy had to cop one too, well, it was all in good fun – while the president isn’t allowed to run for another term, the senator doesn’t really have to try. Former Louisiana governor Edwin Edwards it was that said that the only way he could lose an election was to be found in bed with a live boy or a dead girl. With the senior senator’s last name in the state he represents, I’m not sure that even “all of the above” would be enough give him the shove.
So: No harm, no foul.
But the president’s support for something that smelled vaguely of the detested word “amnesty” split his party right down the middle, while simultaneously alienating the fastest growing minority group in the country. Twelve million illegal immigrants went to work this morning, just like they did yesterday and will tomorrow, with God knows how many more to join them by the end of the week, but having failed during their recent majority to fix the problem on their own terms the minority party’s most recent failure at compromise will at least leave their rigid ideological purity intact pride in their convictions in place, and I hope that keeps them warm at night. I hear it gets pretty damned cold out there in the political wilderness.
The majority leadership has recently been condemned as something of a “do nothing” set, but sometimes when your opponent is laboring to give himself a wound the best thing you can do is just get out of his way. At least some of the members of Congress have earned that pay raise that they’re apparently willing to “grudgingly accept” – God, that’s rich – at least if linking pay to performance means “enlarging your majority” and most probably winning the presidency.
In which case, you know: See you in court.
Oh, it’s dyspeptic, I know – three hour delay, no beer. How’d you feel?
Kennedy obviously escaped the ‘dead girl’ part a long long time ago.
I’ve often wondered how he was able to escape that…and even now he’s getting a pass on it.
A couple of years ago (must have been his senate race), it was being dragged out (again) and my daughter asked me about it. At 23 or so, she’d never heard of it. When I told her what had happened, she was appalled and couldn’t believe he was still able to run a campaign without it being a big deal.
He’s scum, as far as I’m concerned. Him and his whole clan.
So is “Airport Blogging” sort of like “Thursday Musings”?
You must think that its getting a mite too quiet, peaceful even around here.
“Read it all, Max and Michelle (and that ought to be enough to throw another log on the fire).”
Won’t bite. Not tonight. Must work. To survive in capitalist economy.
But for the first time, I caught a piece of MM on Jay Leno the other night. How exciting! *That was sarcasm*
I think this much-maligned, quasi-socialist {that’s me, not him!) has been hanging around here too much. I got quite a chuckle out of it when MM talked about the fabulous healthcare the detainees at Guantanamo Bay receive… universal healthcare, free vision, complete dental, yadda yadda…
After all, I thought these were the guys being tortured?
Lex,
I feel your pain. In the old days, one used to be able to bring a pint flask of medicinal spirits along in your carry-on, sort of a way to pass the time without deflating substantially your wallet. Bar prices in airports are wicked high, they are.
Nowadays, thanks to a deranged mussleman, one cannot even bring THAT small amount of liquid. No. Not ever. One must now place your liquid/gel/whattevah into 3oz containers and place THOSE into a 1qt ziploc bag for security’s sake. What a crock.
I find it cheaper to just buy personal hygeine items at my destination, or get them from the hotel staff rather than go through that headache.
Worst of all, airlines are cutting back on alcohol on flights! My r/t to DC had only wine available! What a bunch of posseur leftist anti-American BS that was! Imagine not being able to relax at altitude with a double Maker’s Mark and enjoy the view.
Bunch of morons running the show, I tell you!
Respects,
Now I KNOW for a FACT you can get beer at the Norfolk airport…done it many times myself…and got to watch NASCAR.
I’m one of the uninsured poor that socialized healthcare is supposed to help. It comes of being a college student at 27. In the last year I’ve been to the emergency room three times. Two of those visits resulted in hospital stays, both due to potentially life-threatening illnesses. One of those visits involved surgery, and as soon as I’m sufficiently recovered from the last illness, I’ll be back for another surgery to fix the root cause.
And yes, I’ve got a pile of medical bills, but the hospitals will work with people like me on reducing the charges and spreading out the payments. Even so, it’s going to be a financial burden for a few years.
But I can live with that, mostly because I’m alive to tell the story. I’m not at all confident that socialized medicine would have kept me alive, especially with the most recent illness, and I’m even less confident that socialized medicine would have provided me the option to have the surgery that will prevent a recurrence of that illness.
Capitalist healthcare works. It counts on the people who can afford insurance getting it and it counts on the people who can pay their bills to pay their bills so that everyone can get the same level of care – and the level of care in this country is very, very good – but it works. I am alive because of it.
Socialist healthcare demonstrably does not work. Like everything else socialism touches, socializing healthcare removes the incentives for improvement throughout the system. Socialized workers do the absolute least they can do because there’s no reason to do any more than that. Everyone still gets the same level of care – but now it’s the same low level of care.
And you’re still going to pay for it – you’ll just substitute higher taxes for your insurance premiums. One guess as to which will end up costing you more…
Government is really good at assisting the private sector. For example, Virginia helps the hospitals and their patients by providing financial assistance to the uninsured poor. But government is really bad at actually doing things. I barely trust them to deliver the mail on time – and I’m supposed to trust them with my life? Je ne pense pas.B
Okay, I give.
What’s all your(s) problem with the Kennedy clan?
I know I must be missing something. Just the highlights, please.
And remmeber, I have an excuse, I’m just a foreigner.
Yeah, you’re probably right, Theodore.
That would explain why my whole family and I are dead, what with our (way more) extensive (than I would wish) contact with a socialist healthcare system.
But you know, bottom line is that y’all have your system and we all have ours. And I really should just learn to sit back and chuckle as this issue winds its way to ‘08. After all, I’m sure you would do the same for me.
Now if I could just learn to be quiet!
Just for the record, Theodore and I have never met, talked, or otherwise associated with each other that I know of.
See? It’s not *just* me!
– Max
Being Canadian is no excuse, so if you think the Kennedy clan is okay then well and fine. Yet, may I suggest one of any number of biographies to remove the blinkers.
I have no wish to offend any visitors to this site who may think otherwise, but the list of their deeds makes for sober reflection.
Veritas et Fidelis Semper
I didn’t say I whether I thought they were okay or not.
I asked a serious question, preferably for the short(er) version, which no one has yet chosen to answer.
The foreigner comment was a joke. The question was legit. Care to enligten me?
And don’t worry, I don’t easily offend; I have learned (sometimes the hard way) to develop a fairly tough skin around here
Michelle,
The Kennedy clan has a long history of involvement in both politics and sordid affairs of various types. The three older brothers, Joe Jr, Jack, and Bobby all died. Joe in WWII, the other two assasinated. Younger brother Teddy is still alive, more or less.
The common threads of the entire extended family revolve around money, women, alcohol (in legendary amounts) and run-ins with the law. A quick wikipedia search under Kennedy will fill in all the sordid details.
They often play the victim card, but a better word is hypocrite.
Respects,
Where does one begin? If you want to know Teddy, then read Teddy Bare &/or Senatorial Privilege, where you’ll learn the ins and outs of how to dodge the consequences of the ultimate drunk driving offense. One of the interesting footnotes of his fratboy life is that he didn’t have a valid drivers license at the time of his midnight swim. Eh, small potatos, but they locked up Paris.
One should really begin with the family scion, Joe. Made money as a pump & dump artist back in the day when it was legal, then made another fortune hauling illegal whiskey during prohibition. I know what you’re thinking, perfect qualifications for the presidency, right? That’s what he thought too. FDR made him ambassador to the Court of St James to get him out of the country. Sadly, the hues of his views were not the wear. Yes, as Britain braved their finest hour, old Joe was telling FDR that we needed to dump the Brits, and sign on with the Axis. That Hitler fellow really had his stuff in one bag. One could go on all night. Suffice to say that Joe’s aspirations were scuttled by his views, so he passed them off on his sons. His greatest accomplishment? The theft of the 1960 presidential election, and the myth of Camelot.
Finally, the Canadian healthcare system works because the US system is the safety valve next door. Whenever pressure builds, relief is available South of the border, and I’m not talking down Mexico way.
I guess I should thank you, Deborah, for getting me some responses. (And AW1 Tim and Casca). Other than the JFK story, I know the names of the rest but not a lot of details. I will have to do a wikipedia search sometime… in my abundant free time. See, I would rather spend what I have of it here rather than there or elsewhere!
Casca, feh, the US system also works (such as it does) cuz relief is always available north of the border for cheaper prescription drugs. I
think Ihave blogged this topic to death elsewhere and no one’s gonna change anyone else’s minds so … I say let’s move on to plan pron or a good sea story. Or even Iraq. Whatever. Lex is just trying to be a troublemaker LOLThe Kennedy thing is complex – his family’s prominence is a sad reminder to us that, for all our republican pretentions, that the easiest path to power in this country remains inherited wealth, that power itself is inextricably bound to money and both of them to politics in a reinforcing, non-virtuous cycle.
The man himself is a grotesquerie, a reminder not only that justice is not blind, can be bought and has very poor taste.
No one likes to be preached at. Fewer still like to be preached from a limousine. The number of those who enjoy a good sermon from a limousine delivered by a deeply flawed man whose very flesh bears witness to the depraved nature of his character should have fewer admirers still.
And yet the senior senator never faces a significant challenge in his home state.
As I said, complex.
relief is always available north of the border for cheaper prescription drugs.
Which causes the US to carry the full load of R&D costs for new drugs (although our own FDA also adds significant burden to that process). ‘Tis a fairly complex issue in itself.
I’m from MA and grew up hearing that the Kennedy clan were “our royalty, our Camelot”. Oh puh-lease! They were rich, period. Nothing more. Their money bought JFK the Presidency after Joe Jr. was killed; and the money also was used to keep Jackie married to JFK so he could be elected (divorced politicians weren’t so popular back then). The thought always was that Joe Jr. might have made a fine politician and actually done some good for the country… Teddy is an embarrassment to his family, his home state and his country. But again – the money keeps him there. It bought off the law during the Chappaquidick nightmare and the Kopeckni family as well.
Oh, and did somebody mention Plane Pr0n? 4 photo albums for your viewing pleasure; at least 2 more to come this weekend.
Lex,
With all due respect, this whole immigration thing (for the Republican base) is about illegal immigration and national sovereignty. All we want is for the feds to secure the border. If they’d prove that they were serious about that… or I should say once they prove they’re serious about that we’d be willing to talk about a path to citizenship.
Some of the other things that bothered me about the immigration bill was that it was written in secret, it bypassed the commitee process, the Senate did everything it could to ram it through… IE: they wanted to pass it in 48 hours until Reid was shoved into putting it off until after memorial day by all of the angry phone calls from those pesky constituants… you know, the ones they’re supposed to represent, there was no financial impact study, studies that were done showed that it would only reduce illegal immigration by 25%, and Reid and the grand bargainers (McCain, Lott et al) did everything he could to limit the amendment and debate process. Oh, and did I mention that it was written in secret and bypassed the comittee process? The “most deliberative body in the world” tried to ram a bill they knew would be unpopular down the throats of the American people. And, I say unpopular with proof to back it up… the latest rasmussen poll showed that something like only 22% of Americans supported the thing (sorry can’t find a link to the poll).
It’s obvious that something needs to be done about the 12 to 20 million illegals here in the country. But, unless and until we stop the flow coming across the border anything we do will be meaningless.
Once again, I’m not against immigration. That’s part of what has made this country so great. I’m against illegal immigration. And, it’s not just me that feels that way. Most everyone I’ve heard feels the same way, so this isn’t a race thing. Like I said above, it’s about national sovereignty, national security, and the rule of law. If you want to immigrate to the US, then that’s great. But, stand in line and do it legally.
Respectfully,
Jim C
Michelle,
In case you’re wondering about the reference to Chappaquidick and the midnight swim… long story short, Ted Kennedy didn’t have a drivers license, had been hitting the sauce pretty hard, and wrecked into some sort of body of water (I want to say a river… but I’m not completely sure). He made it out alive, his young female passenger didn’t. He didn’t make an effort to save her either. He then failed to report it to the police until several hours later. IMO, the senior baffoon from MA is truly a piece of work… or piece of something anyway.
Jim C
Jim C: It was a marshy area of Martha’s Vineyard; he drove off a bridge and left Mary Jo Kopechne in the car to drown. Teddy “claimed” he tried to save her, but his account to the police was largely filled with words like exhausted, state of shock and the ever-popular – I don’t remember…
He left that poor woman in the car and walked back to the beach he had just left to be with his friends. Yet there were several houses right near the accident site that he could have gone into for help.
Hmmm, leave the blog alone for a day and it’s hard to say where it might go. This working for a living kinds of bites sometimes
Jim, Kris, thanks.
So was this when he was a senator or some other public figure or “just” a Kennedy?
And Kris, thanks for the plane pron. I left it up on my desktop for a while today but never really got a chance to look at it. Will check it out tonight at home. Now, if only a hard-working girl could find a good sea story…
Airport blogging – I could have written a book last week – we were leaving San Diego after a week in SoCal when my 8 year old daughter was pulled out of line for an extra search because she had a sun block bottle that was 4 ounces, which is exactly .05 ounces over the 3.5 limit in her bag. Yes, I my wife or I should have gotten it out of her DVD player/GameBoy carry on before we went to the airport, but come on a advanced search of an 8 year old? My wife was smart enough to get between me and the TSA personal before I started arguing and getting my lawyerly butt thrown in jail.
By the way, after visiting your site for over a year now, it was great to see some of the locations you have posted about.
Michelle,
Just a quick check at wikipedia, and Teddy Kennedy was a Senator in 1969 when Mary Jo Koepechne died in Chappaquiddik. As I recall, he was drunk (of course) and when they went into the water, he got himself out and left her there. He walked to someone’s house (relative, campaign manager, or similar) and discussed until morning what to do and then called the police. She was dead by then.
His story changed as he was questioned, it seems, too. I know there have been books written about this, and I’m sure wiki has more information that I didn’t look up.
The Kennedys seem to be the biggest bunch of foul-ups there are but they always manage to come out smelling, if not like a rose, not like manure. One murdered a neighbor girl when in his teens; there’s the drunk driving incident in the last couple of years (honest ossifer, I was on my way to vote at 1 am); another in Florida is a rapist; etc.
Like I said above, the whole clan is scum.
Jim C, I understand the base’s frustrations, really I do. This wouldn’t have been the bill that I crafted. But my sense is – politics being first of all the ‘art of the possible’ – that this was the best we’d be able to get with this Congress.
Now the whole thing’s off the table until after the 2008 election, meaning that – given the current political environment – nothing gets done on enforcement, and 12 million illegals get a “stealth” amnesty.
I’ve got more than a sneaking feeling that the next Congress will be even less amenable to a conservative-friendly immigration plan than the current one is. To rule, you must first win and all that has happened here is that the right has handed it’s future away in favor of one big idea.
If that’s all they had, then sure – maybe it was worth dying over. Me? I’m just not sure that there weren’t other important things to be able to fight over, for the next decade or so. Guess we’ll see.
Thanks P-3W. Interesting and enligtening.
Just one more question, if I may. There appears to be a similar consensus around JFK? as well? Other than the family connection, that would be because…?
Anyway I can see for the most part where you are all coming from now. Pretty slimy.
But I was thinking, I have the sense that at least some most likeky took my question (back up in #7) not as a legit enquiry but more as a smart-ass throw-away. Meaning I really do owe Deborah one. Ah, the joys of online communication… NOT!
Michelle – It’s the Kennedy’s in general, especially if you grew up around their legacy (which I did). For reasons that pass understanding, as Lex indicated earlier, Teddy is never challenged for each election. There is always an opposing candidate, but they never see the light of day. Again – the Kennedy family money I’m sure has bought Teddy his entire Senatorial tenure.
JFK was lionized largely because he was a war hero, he was killed so young and so early in his Presidency. But the truth will out and it turns out he was just as slimy as Teddy. When I said that his father paid Jackie to stay married to him – that’s not just an urban legend. She was getting ready to leave him when the candidacy started to gain momentum.
If you do a google search on Chappaquidick and Kopechne, you’ll find a bunch of information that will shed light on that horrible tragedy.
There is no doubt that the family is surrounded by tragedy – much of it caused by their own greed and narcissism. And their belief, I’m sure, that no matter what happens the family name and money will take care of everything to their satisfaction.
Michelle – hope you enjoyed the Plane Pr0n!
Lex,
It was more than the base that was ticked about this bill. Rasmussen showed that only 22% of the American public approved of the bill. Something like 78% of the public disapproved of the bill. Like I said, this isn’t about legal immigration. it’s about illegal immigration, national soveriegnty, and national security. Besides, if they weren’t going to enforce the border with this bill, what exactly were the Republicans getting out of it anyway? I read the bill. There were loopholes in there big enough to drive a truck through on the enforcement side of things. For example, did you know that they weren’t making any differentiation at all between Mexicans who are coming here to work, and people from “special interest” countries like Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan who might be coming here for reasons that are far less than honorable? They all get probationary Z visas just the same. And, they get them automatically if the background check isn’t returned after 24 hours. Do you really think that they’re going to be able to complete a background check on someone in 24 hours when we don’t even know if they gave us their real name?
Lex, you know I respect you greatly. But, I’ve just got to disagree with you on this one. This bill was suicide all the way around.
V/R,
Jim C
Great pictures, Kris
Thanks