Romney and Eye

I was watching the ball game on TV, but I managed to grab at some tiny bits of the Republican convention during the ads. I observed Romney reading from his teleprompter, "If you asked Ann and I. . . . "  That, of course, is like saying, "If you asked I." Now I do understand that many of my friends might make this overly elegant error, a common mistake, and I don't usually give a damn, but it ain't Presidential.  Either Romney's writers are incompetent or Romney "corrected" what he saw on the teleprompter. Obama , on the other hand, is a native speaker of English.

Chris Hayes made a sharp comment on Clint Eastwood's feeble improvisations on stage at the convention. Eastwood  pretended that President Obama was seated invisibly beside him and then attributed to him some unheard coarse language. Hayes suggested Eastwood might want to reread INVISIBLE MAN by Ralph Ellison.

James Madison on Romney

I've watched only snippets of the Republican convention. Tonight is the big night, the nomination of Mannequin "Mittly" Romney, but the Mittly fellow is up against a Giants game and a 49ers game, and Mittly is a dud. He won't get much of an audience in this house.

In any case, here is my impression to date. The Republicans have sent before us a lineup of clowns. Take Mrs. Mitt Romney (please). She lectured us on Love. Wow. Take Apeneck Ryan--he delivered a string of lies. Why do the TV dudes keep saying they like and respect this dull-eyed chimp? And John McCain wants war with six different countries? That's cock-brained nuttiness.

Our fourth President, James Madison, put his finger on a basic American problem.  In a discussion of political parties he noted that one party was (and is) composed of those who "are more partial to the opulent than to the other classes of society; and having debauched themselves into a persuasion that mankind are incapable of governing themselves, it follow with them, of course, that government can be carried on only by the pageantry of rank, the influence of money and emoluments and the terror of military force."

 

Apeneck Ryan

The election season is on us, and I want to take a pill and wake up when it is over. My revulsion, I believe, is based mostly on the inhuman sorts of objects who run for office. Take the animatronic Romney-- he jerks about looking almost lifelike. 

Our nominating system puts forward the worst among us. Consider Paul Ryan--his budget cuts SNAP by 18%. SNAP is a program to provide food for hungry children: the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. 

You can understand why I don't want to see Ryan's brutal features on TV for the next 80 days. He looks like a demented chimpanzee whose matted hair has been carefully shaved to give him a forehead and a five o'clock shadow.

I don't want to hear on the radio that this brainless thug is an intellectual leader in congress. I'd rather not know that nearly 50% of us delight in a lad who literally wants to take food from the mouths of babies so he can grant additional tax cuts to billionaires. 

So, to escape from electoral rubbish for ten days, I will be bicycling in Canada until September 1.

Romney's Emotion

Listening to Romney on Israel/Iraq. What I hear is a man saying the usual things but trying to force emotion into an empty voice. He could not care less. He pushes hard. It doesn't come out right. No wonder no one likes the dude.

Ayn Ryan

After devoting 20 years to pushing the vicious ideology of Ayn Rand as hard as possible, Paul Ryan recently discovered that the woman was an atheist. He has begun to edge away from her.

What?

What a shock! If only Paul Ryan had read what she had written. . . .

In any case, many other "religious" Republicans worship Rand's blue stockings, among them Alan Greenspan (the world's worst economist), Ron Paul and Rand Paul, who was named for the old film star Randolph Scott. Or perhaps not. Also many teabaggers.

Here's my point.  We have to learn how to pronounce the words "Ayn Rand." Due to unforeseen circumstances, the name is still used in political conversations. I can supply a short guide that is easy to remember. "Rand" rhymes with "sand."

 I probably don't need to add that "Ayn" rhymes with "Bain." Just think "Bain Sand."

The Four Moderators

The moderators of the Presidential debates have been named. Martha Raddatz will lead the VP debate. Raddatz is a foreign policy expert (for ABC), which makes her an odd choice to question Paul Ryan, a lifelong Beltway insider, who is as ignorant of foreign policy as he is of economics and real life.  Ryan understands nothing. I can't say that I know Raddatz well--I stopped watching ABC when they hired Diane Sawyer, a Republican hack, to front their band--but I suspect that Raddatz, an actual person,  will attempt to do a good job. 

Bob Schieffer will moderate one of the Obama/Romney debates, and that is likely to be the one worth watching. Schieffer is a somewhat crusty old feller who might follow up on a question when he gets a stupid outright lie as an answer. And he will get many such opportunities.

The other moderators, Candy Crowley and Jim Lehrer, let any crap slide. In a way they are fun to watch as they struggle not to become human.  They are pure Wall Street lapdogs, although their styles differ. Crowley is aggressively wimpy, where Lehrer (rhymes with terror) is wimpy masked by extreme fear. They both operate from that fabled position in which if Obama sneaks a cigarette and Romney strangles a baby girl, they are equally flawed candidates. Like the Vicar of Bray, Crowley and Lehrer will contort their thick faces in support of any political view that keeps them in their lucrative chairs as Wall Street TV news distorters. That can be enjoyable.

A Close Analysis of Voters

Some people have a hard time distinguishing between a Republican and Obama. “To put them in perspective,” the author David Sedaris wrote in Shouts and Murmurs shortly before the election of 2008, “I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. ‘Can I interest you in the chicken?’ she asks. ‘Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it?’ ” 

Seal Rock Sucks

Yesterday three men in their seventies (me, my brother and our cousin) spent a fine morning bicycling in San Francisco and then, exhausted, stopped to have lunch at the Seal Rock Inn, up the hill from the Cliff House. Our plan was to meet there with my daughter and her husband, but we had arrived early. We decided to get a table and buy something to drink.  The hostess of this rather shabby cafe told us that we could not sit down until the rest of our party joined us. There were many tables open, but we were left standing, saving money, tired, for about 20 minutes. Then my daughter and her husband walked in (they live up the block), and we re-entered the Seal Rock (plenty of open tables).  No one appeared to seat us. We stood in the doorway for about five minutes, and finally an old Asian man noticed us and came over and told us to take table six, pointing to it. We started forward and suddenly an even ruder hostess jumped in front of us and told us to stop. I tried to explain that an old man had authorized us to sit at table six, but she told us sharply that we could not sit down. She wasn't ready for us. At that point I realized we were in a cafe that hired mental cases as servers, and I turned and led our people out. Sarah suggested we go to Mel's Diner (once featured in AMERICAN GRAFFITI). Everyone at Mel's was relaxed, friendly and helpful. Much much better.

Olympic Winners

I'll confess that I have always liked sports. It's entertainment. I watch the Olympics and root for my team, and I have been gratified immensely by one aspect of the coverage I have read in the Press Democrat. Each day the newspaper publishes an unofficial list of how many medals have been won by each nation. (The Olympics themselves refuse to make up such a list.) The country that has won the most medals is listed first, then the country with the second most medals, etc. For example, when China had won 12 medals with 9 of them gold and the USA had won 12 medals with 5 of them gold, the USA was listed first. China came in second, according to the newspaper. Now that is my sort of reporting. The USA always wins in the Press Democrat.

The Healdsburg Bridge

From: sherry adams

To: me

Sent: Wednesday, August 01, 2012 5:34 PM

Subject: Healdsburg Memorial Bridge- bike detour

According to Sherry Adams, "The Healdsburg Memorial Bridge will be closed for 18-24 months starting in mid-2013. The detour for cars will be on the freeway, but what about bikes and pedestrians? In a PD article a month ago, Mayor Plass is quoted saying it will be Westside Road. This would turn the 6 mile bike ride from Healdsburg to Windsor into a (hilly) 16 mile bike ride! However, there are at least two better options: either allowing bikes to use the freeway shoulders on 101, or allowing bikes on the railroad bridge, after needed upgrades for safety and ridability. Both of these options have significant challenges and involve other jurisdictions, but the alternative is grounding bicycle traffic between Healdsburg and points south."

The closing of bicycle traffic between Healdsburg and points south for up to two years will shock locals (who often bike south to Windsor and Santa Rosa) and turn away the many Santa Rosa bike tourists, who visit Healdsburg restaurants and shops in large numbers. I don't know how much money they spend--riders tend to be cheap--but it has to hurt a little. The lack of mental ability involved in this totally lame non-plan challenges the vocabulary of someone with his or her own brain stem. God save us from the thoughtless blank-eyed city leaders we elect.