Semantics

Bristol Palin and Levi Johnson quit school so that they could shoulder the responsibilities of teen parents. He's someplace "up north" doing an apprenticeship as an electrician and she's just given birth to their first child. They are not high school drop outs and she is not an unwed mother. According to her mom, Sarah Palin, they are working their butts off to become self sufficient, high school educated parents. Unwed teen parents who drop out of high school are the children of somebody else. Yep, they are working, or will be, working to obtain a correspondence GED, just like the many thousands of kids who drop out of high school every year. But in Sarah Palin speak they did not drop out of school, although they no longer attend, she Bristol is not an unwed mother just an engaged girl with a baby. It's a matter of semantics.

According to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, he is a "casualty of the war on terror." Mr. Gonzales is writing a book about his experiences as Attorney General even though he remains under investigation for alleged political meddling at the Justice Department.  Unlike other members of the Bush Administration, Gonzales has been unable to land either a job or lucrative speaking engagements. Could be that most people know the difference between mild physical discomfort and physical torture that causes excruciating pain and death. Maybe people don't put much store in the musing of a man whose final act as Attorney General was to lie about his intention to resign after he had already informed President Book of his intention to resign. Is he a lying weasel looking for an opportunity to explain away some of his less stellar moments or is he a victim of the wild out-of-control liberal press? It's a matter of semantics.

Meanwhile, Rush Limbaugh is advising his listeners that the current economic crisis was not the end result of Reaganomics, but a conspiracy masterminded by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY). It's not that George Bush was a bad president, but that he was a victim of bad luck. It's not that appointments were made to repay party operatives for their loyalty, as opposed to finding the right person with the appropriate qualifications to full the job, but that unexpected events derailed what should have been a terrific eight years.

It's all in how you look at things. 

We've been told that it is a very dangerous thing to have one party in charge of all three branches of government--and now we have the past eight years to stand of an example of just how bad it can get. I have no idea what the next four years will bring, but can it be any worse than the reign of Kid Bush and the GOP gang? His response to the crisis on the Gaza Strip? Let Obama handle it.

I read in the Washington Times that some RNC officials what to pass a resolution accusing Bush of embracing socialism.  I'm not sure when the bail out became what it was, socialism for the wealthy, but I am sure  they are simply preparing their response to any all all of Obama's proposed, imagined, or feared public initiatives. The RNC has never come to terms with Social Security. Again, its a matter of semantics.

And finally, just to be on the safe side, Bush has written a memo specifically suggesting how those who toiled in the White House lo these past eight years should remember him. Some would say he is attempting to revise history, others claim he is just being helpful.

It's simply a matter of semantics.

...and a happy new year

Christmas week was wildly insane, finding me in the car every day and exhausted at the end. It was fine, I could have been a better person, but I wasn't. Anyway, it has been a hellish year, who knows what fresh hell 2009 has in store?

Perfect movie moment

The Bishop's Wife is one of my favorite movies. It's a romantic comedy that was released in 1947 with David Niven as the harassed bishop, Loretta Young as his unhappy wife, and Cary Grant as a very suave angel. Originally, Niven was the angel, but after some casting problems, Cary Grant agreed to appear in the movie on condition that he could be the angel--which leads to the perfect movie moment. All three are in the back of a taxi, Niven seething with jealous rage as Grant seems to be wooing (and winning) Young. There's this great moment when the two men indulge in some low key, subtle, verbal fisticuffs which is perfect, for what is not said, and what is said with only a look.

Movie making at its best.

Dana Young was originally cast as the bishop, which would have made for a less enjoyable film.

The movie has since been remade (what isn't these days) as The Preacher's Wife with Denzel Washington as the angel, Whitney Houston as the wife, and Courtney B. vance as the preacher. It's not as good, although the soundtrack (song by Houston) was  nominated for an Academy Award. They kept the skating scene, but, well, it's pallid. There are no perfect moments in The Preacher's Wife.

Which makes me wonder why perfectly good movies are remade and perfectly awful ones are not. I guess turning a pigs ear into a silk purse is more difficult than putting lipstick on a pig.

A box of rocks

That beleaguered Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich is in trouble is no surprise, that he is dumb as a box of rocks might be. He was swept into office in the back draft of Republican George Ryan's spectacular flame out. Ryan, you may recall, won re-election even though he was being investigated for the illegal sale of government licenses, contracts, and leased--and for which he is now doing time. Blagojevich, the first Democratic governor in 30 years, promised he was different, honest, and ethical, which really annoyed his father-in-law, Chicago Alderman Dick Mell, who incorrectly assumed that with a relative in the Governor's office, Mell's own questionable dealings would remain untouched. And when they were touched, Mell took the "moral high ground," claiming that his son-in-law was engaged in that great Chicago tradition of "pay-to-play." The family argument died down, but the Feds were listening. Reminds me of those long ago Nixon days, when the president believed that he could do what he wanted because he was president.

Fast forward to 2008, when Blagojevich KNEW he was being scrutinized by the Feds, knew that someone on his staff had turned on him, and went ahead and tried to sell President-Elect Obama's senatorial seat. He may be little, but Blagojevich has enough nerve to light the city of Chicago for eons. Meanwhile, although he is estranged from his wife's family, Dick Mell is considering entering the fray to defend his daughter who is apparently as unethical as her husband--and, if the truth be told, as unethical as dear old dad.

It's difficult to predict what will happen now. Blago, as he is known here in the city of the big shoulders and bigger hubris, is as combative as he is short. The man has made enemies everywhere and can only count on Emil Jones, the kingmaker who is behind Obama. And why is Jones so loyal? Does he admire Blago's political acumen? Are they buds from the hood? Do they share the same political vision? Hell no, Jones wants to be senator, and would follow Blago into hell if it meant Jones would become the next senator representing  the great state of Illinois.

Meanwhile, Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., who learned political blackmail at his father's knee, is shocked--shocked, I tell you, AND appalled, because he would never, ever offer to pay Blago for the right to be called Senator Jackson. Jackson has PR problems of his own, with foes in the House and at home. Clearly, Jackson believes that he deserves the vacant Obama seat and now we will see if he made financial promises to see that he gets bumped from House to Senate.

Ahh, Chicago politics--the days when Dick Daley would shut off the mic of any alderman with whom he disagreed--nice to know it's alive and well in Springfield. The problem with a cheap Chicago pol is that sometimes they don't know when to shut up--even when the feds are listening in.