I greatly appreciate the folks who added their thoughts and wit to this blog over the past 12 months. We’ve had a hoot of a time, despite the political BS flooding this nation.
Laughter might not be the best medicine, but it is a good antidote to the servility that pervades the media and contemporary political life. And I’ve learned a lot from many of the folks who took the time to add their observations here.
The political highlight of 2007: At least Bush did not formally declare martial law.
2008 is going to be damned entertaining, maybe even more fun than a circus combined with a trainwreck.
What do others see as the political highlight of 2007? (I’m hoping Ron Paul will be the political highlight of 2008…..)
Jim,
I’ll put my two cents in. I think the rise of Paul’s campaign in the context of the Internet and the impending collapse of the MSM are pretty strong candidates for 2007 highlights. (Evidence would be the huge funds “raised” online by Paul and, just last week, the NYT hiring Kristol!)
These events may be a little ambiguous at the moment, but signs abound that the political order as we have known it is teetering. I’m not aware of any political movement in the history of this country which has focussed so acutely on so many broad issues and has simultaneously been able to draw people from all across the political spectrum whilst funding itself rather well. And all of this has been done despite the intentional obscurity of the MSM and power elites.
If we read about this sort of movement in any other country, I think our talking heads would call this a revolution…!
Hope you had a great New Year! I’m trying to clear the fog of mine and sort out the few remembered details!!
Wes
Yes Jim, we do live in interesting times and it looks like they’re going to become even more interesting in 2008. Lets briefly glance at the books. On the liability side of the ledger we have a crashing dollar, skyrocketing energy costs, credit crunch, the Middle East in a shambles, thousands losing their homes in foreclosures, sheep-like acceptance of outrageous constitutional abuses, and government spending in hyperdrive. On the asset side we have, well…Ron Paul.
Wes, I hope you are right about the Ron Paul movement spurring fundamental political change in this country. That is about the only bright sunshine ray on the horizon.
As far as any New Year’s Eve related fog – I thought wood alcohol was illegal in drinks in Alabama. Or ?
Marc, ya, the liabilities do seem to outweigh the assets, at least prior to the voting in New Hampshire.
Then again, at least there is comic relief from Giuliani’s latest attack on Perverts. http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/062467.php
My favorite 2007 moment was Larry Craig calling a press conference to announce “I am not gay.”
Craig needs to work on his fancy footwork.
Jim: The political highlight of 2007: At least Bush did not formally declare martial law.
The Infamous Oregon Lawhobbit: That’s because it’s coming this year. 😀
Hobbit – maybe 2008 will be the year when you recover your faith in The System!
How can a sentient person pick just one “highlight” from a year so jam-packed to the rafters with dark comic events. For me, it is Candidate Paul’s recall of the Gold Standard coinciding with one of the more hilarious relapses of the Dutch Tulip Craze in Wall Street’s modern history. Listening to the pundits scorn any mention of the Gold Standard while the Fractional Reserve Banking of our Fiscal Reserve System suffers delerium tremons……..while a so called Randian former Fed Chairman asserts he had no role in it and the current Treasury Secretary actually shorted the offending securities to achieve their record breaking year and all….further capped by the current Fed Chairman extolling the virtues of the printing press to stabilize the economy….while oil leaps up to $100 bucks a gallon and everyone maintains serenely that we might not have a recession….well, this kind of folly is generally only in fictional humor. Sober People are not normally this flat-out dumb.
Seeing Kristol hired by the Times to augment their other trained chimp Brooks is a close second.
El Chumpiosa de la Crawford asserting “Childrens Can Learn is a close third although his malapropisms aint quite as funny as they used to be.
However, as a sign of truly how desperate and reduced the Republic is …The Lakota telling the Great White Father to kiss their red ass is a true thigh slapper……..assuming we want to call the laughstockization of the lapsed Republic “humorous”.
Happy New Year Herr Bovard and all the rest of the cranks aboard.
Happy New Year
Nah, Jim, we drink as much wood alcohol down here as grain! Lately, however, the meth. heads have made a run on it! So, I’ve switched over to the hoity-toity gin and tonic!
A book binder drinking gin and tonics?
Is this what the world has come to?
Times have changed since I worked in high school unloading trucks for the Heckman (book) Bindery hub. That was definitely a beer crowd.
Dirk – at the rate things are going, Bush may need to triple the number of Presidential Medals of Freedom he passes out.
Jim, I have excellent faith in The System – said faith expressed nicely by Lord Acton’s saying about, “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
2007 was a pretty good year. I was not thrown in prison and I wasn’t waterboarded. America didn’t nuke Iran and Cheney didn’t detonate a nuke in America. The dollar didn’t collapse and my utilities haven’t been cut off.
Assuming things continue along the current path, we’ll all look back in a few years and talk about 2007 being the good old days.
Jim, personally, my highlight for the year was the FFF conference in June. Hearing your glorious speech of not having enough government in our lives, and your response to my question on FIOA request was priceless. I here they are doing it again in 2008. Well, guess I’ll have to reserve a few dollars and buy you a few Sam Adams, or whatever your taste buds prefer. 2008 indeed should be as Artie Johnson used to say on Laugh-In, “very interesting”.
Jean – thanks for the kind word on the speech. And the thought of a Sam Adams beer will inspire me for a repeat talk, hopefully not at some ungawdly hour of the morning.
Artie Johnson is an appropriate inspiration for this year…
Tom Blanton – your positive thinking continues to lift my spirits.
I hope you get through 2008 without even a whiff of waterboarding.
I suspect you may be right about looking back on ’07 as the Good Old Days. Shizam, that is how the Clinton administration’s record on civil liberties now looks… despite all of their horrendous abuses.
Jim and Jean – however, don’t forget how the Johnson/Laugh-In line ended…”but stupid.” 🙂
Jim,
“As far as any New Year’s Eve related fog – I thought wood alcohol was illegal in drinks in Alabama. Or ?”
No! Don’t drink that, you’ll go blind! Everyone down here knows the good stuff uses battery acid for body.
I have a neighbor from TN that gives me a shot from a mason jar from time to time.
I’ve enjoyed your comments and the black humor shown by the others on this blog.
100 bucks a gallon, my bad attitude was getting a little ahad of itself…..maybe a few months or so.
Jim, for this crowd of Austrapalithicus governmentosa, sub species wankerensis, Medals of Freedom will be replaced by something a tad more contextual ….along the lines of that scene at the strt of Kubricks 2001, a Space oddity…or whatever it was…..these neo-proto-humans will be dispensing bones to one another and screaming about a large totem that on close inspection will be ahem, excuse me now, a Huge Black Butt Plug.
Is the Blanton herein the same fellow I spied on CSPAN not long ago? If so, will Cheney’s archives consist of perhaps simply a “suggestion box” and a copy of Bartletts Favorite Saucy Invective”?
Ryan, ever since my experience in the witness protection program, I have shied away from mason jars.
…Now that the hoopla of the Iowa Caucus has subsided, and The New Hampshire primary likely to further dismantle Hillary’s efforts. An increasingly arrogant, vain and deluded Barak Obama may well receive the Democratic nod: Accordingly, I’ll go so far as to say that, given the tractability of this particular machination: It will be McCain who’ll go in this November…As Ol’ Abe Lincoln said to Grant and Sherman per their willingness to feed Regiment after Union Regiment into the line and thus overwhelm the South “…I begin to see it.” —The abiding purpose of Obama’s enablers in installing him was to diminish Hillary, and thereby ensure a McCain win. Or so I think…Past that? Happy New Year Jimmy!
Agree: Ron Paul was the highlight of 2007.
We will get the gov’t we don’t want. We will get the wrong gov’t. We will because of the news media.
ABC/NBC and CBS incessantly ‘informs’ us about Hillary, Obama and Huckabee. The local networks (doing their civic duty to keep us informed) have repeatedly informed us that Huckabee can play guitar. They never say how important this is, they just keep highlighting it, so then it must be important.
[Huckabee was once rejected for a televangelist position – I think.]
And, I saw and heard several of these democrat (‘hopefuls’), after discussing the need for national healthcare for all, remind the audience (which included me) of the need for (of all things) “limited government” !! I nearly fell off my chair (because I am so naive about these types).
No need to despair though, it’s all just another repeat of the past; that’s how the King (George II) got coronated.
Wow; Huck-a-bee sure can play that guitar. He should be the next president of the United States !
So, libertarians, semi-libertarians and other mixed-breeds, if you believe “it’s time for change” then this is what you need to do:
Sit down and write a letter to your local ‘news media’ (not your local politicians) and demand your rights and tell them “no more guitar playing highlights,” because it’s not fair, because not every candidate has the time or enough time to learn to play the guitar as good as Huck-a-bee can !!
Gad-damm it fair is fair.
Be polite.
Jim,
We certainly think your commentary has helped make 2007 survivable.
I agree with you and others that the emergence of the Ron Paul campaign is a ray of sunshine. Still we need to be realistic. Ron is not going to be the next President of the US. Neither the massive array of vested interests or the state dependent mindset of the vast majority of American voters is going to let that happen. Revolutions don’t come about easily.
The great achievement of the Ron Paul campaign, even if it closed up shop tomorrow, is that we have now finally seen the ‘end of the Cold War era’. The old “odd couple” alliance between libertarian and quasi-libertarian (libertarian lite) on one hand and conservatives (of the big government / national greatness kind) on the other, an alliance that (rightly or wrongly) was cemented by anti-communism and cold war concerns, has now truly been buried. The libertarians are now free to pursue new and perhaps shifting alliances.
…Well, time will tell.
ABC gave Paul his fair share. He got gang-banged by a gang of mouthy, hand-raising kindergardeners. He has to assert they shut-up and let him finish.
Thompson wants us to adhere to the constitution (except on foreign policy.)
The rest still believes religious fanatics hate us (and want to kill everyone of us) for our freedom and libido. They say we did nothing to them prior to 9/11 ! “And to think otherwise is preposterous.”
The gang says the war on terror has nothing to do with high prices.
Someone inform Romney and Giuliani to shut-up and let us hear Paul speak – we’re not interested in what they have to say about anything – only Paul.
The democrats are worried about a nuclear pipe bomb being smuggled into the country. Someone should inform them it cost $ millions of dollars, a B29 Fortress, and hundreds of scientists to deliver one to Hiroshima. The U.S. was the only country to ever use nuclear weapons on an unarmed populace.
“The worst rise to the top.”
Dirk, because of my positive attitude about the growth of this great fascist empire, C-SPAN has never invited me to appear on their network. However, I think I can answer your question regarding Cheney’s archive. It consists of a small cylinder filled with ashes buried at an undisclosed location.
I’m not so optimistic that Ron Paul will get the GOP nomination and I have a hunch he will not run as an independent or third party candidate. I do think he will leave behind a large group of supporters that are mad as hell. They may even not be willing to take it anymore. These are the people to watch in 2008.
I’m hoping the metaphorical pitchforks and torches come out for some hellraising the likes of which haven’t been seen in America for generations. It is time that the elitist scumbags that lord over us all to experience real fear.
Tom, it’s a durn shame that C-SPAN hasn’t had you on. You would be the perfect tonic after they televised a John McCain town hall meeting in NH.
I reckon we’ll have a better sense of how much traction Ron Paul has gotten 72 hours from now… Paul has done a great job of waking folks up – but it remains how many people prefer their comas.
I don’t know if anyone saw the debate tonight, but when they went to Frank Luntz–like Dick Morris, but with a dying ember for a heart and even less of a soul, afterwards, I noticed something interesting. Behind them in the windows, were an unending loop of signs for Ron Paul, including one that read FOX News Unfair.
What would be amazing to me would be if Ron Paul actually got the nomination. I don’t think it has dawned the MSM and Fox News and talk radio that they are going to be winners at a losing game. The Socialists (Liberals) are getting ready to leave the Democratic Party. The Paleo-Cons are getting ready to bolt from the Neo-Cons(Fascists) and the Republican Party. Finally, the Mainstream Media has lost all credibility forever with the American public. Ron Paul may not win but he has single-handedly turned the tide away from aggressive Statism. Give it a decade or so, but the Reps and Dems are about to become footnotes with the NY Times, WaPo, and the Chicago Los Angeles Times.
I should have posted here more often. I forgot what fun it is. Now hand me some of your moonshine. A Toast to the Political Establishment: a winner at a losing game.
Adam – thanks for the Fox News hit. What a travesty.
Speaking of losing credibility – I have been amused at all the top shelf pundits trumpeting McCain’s Great Iowa Victory. This is beyond bizarre…. I guess the habit of bootlicking dies hard.
Don’t have any moonshine here… but I will also try to post more often in the coming months….
It should be interesting to se what Paul generates in New Hamptucky tomorrow . Watching all these cussed candidates break into leers and mugwumping chortles at Pauls answers during debates only serves to increase my disgust with the Gouty Old Party.
I doubt Paul will get anywhere beyond 15 -20%…if that much but I’ll happily eat my words if he does.
No doubt the Greater Washington DC Board of Realtors will make sure this guy is kept out of power.
At the very least, watching the Clintons and their DLC Centrist Cant nose dive is a rare treat worth all the chits in florida.
Can someone explain to me what Drunken Shriners Bus was hijacked to produce the GOP slate?
Given the death dive of the lapsed Republic’s Electoral Process, i offer for everyones consideration, Dirty Dicks Recipe for a Better Government. …:
1. Round up all the drunks and panhandlers within a 3 square block radius of Union Square in San Francisco (drunks and junkies providing a two party system). Assemble some retired Bolsheviki Comintern members who will then judge a series of speeches by each drunk about the glorious nature of Hooch. The winner will get the keys to the White House , properly stocked with 100 cases of Thunderbird and Tokay for more formal State Affairs.
2. For Congress, Assemble a group of Meth Heads and Pot Hounds within a 3 square block of Pioneer Square in Portland and let them be judged by a select group of Glue Huffers from Helena…winners going to Congress.
3. the Judiciary, it goes without saying, is appointed by the drunk in the white House and confirmed by the Meth and Pot Heads in Congress. Debates between the Meth Heads and Pot heads in the Congress will be broadcast on CSPAN, thus making that the most popular show on the telly.
e pluribus unum to be replaced by “In Free Volatiles We Trust”.
just a thought, always trying to come up with a more workable solution to the hari kari routine we got now.
Dirk, is it OK if I give the Washington Post editorial page your contact info? Your proposals are better than anything they have offered recently.
Except for the detail on the Washington Board of Realtors –
Last I heard, those guys were busy trying to pawn their fancy office furniture as housing values ’round here sink below the surface…
Dirk is on to something with this new model democracy. But, I’m checking in to pass along this link to a little video about pollsters punking Paul with a bit by Penn and Teller on idiot Frank Luntz – they don’t like Frank.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=e97_1196926151
…Jimmy, ifin’ ye ain’t gotchee got no White Dawg; I could shore’s hail come back ‘er ‘n run ye off a batch! Granpap done’n taught me good!