Sunday Morning Bobblehead Thread
By Nicole Belle Sunday Jun 21, 2009 4:00amThe Evolution of Dad trailer, a film by Dana H Glazer
My book chat this week with Andrea Batista Schlesinger really had me thinking about how to raise my kids to honor their curiosity and love to learn and try new things. And I have to admit that most of those characteristics in me were learned from my dad. My mom was my source of comfort and my role model in nurturing, but my dad was the one who told me to crack heads and take names and never be afraid to ask questions and more importantly, to keep asking them until I was satisfied. I learned from a child development book that your relationship with your mother affects how you feel about yourself; your relationship with your father affects how you relate to others. And now I see it with my own kids, and how they look to cues from their daddy and how their eyes light up when they make him laugh or he praises some little bit of something they've worked out. So I want to wish my dad and my hubby a very happy Father's Day and thank them for their roles in raising inquisitive kids. And happy Father's Day to all you daddies out there as well. It is frequently a thankless job, but possibly the best and most important role a man can have.
This Sunday's shows are simply more of the same. I almost suspect the bookers of these shows to be reading C&L and choosing guests that guarantee a good number of snarky posts. How else can you explain Presidential runner-up John McCain on Face the Nation, Fred Thompson on Meet the Press, Lindsay Graham on This Week and Pete Hoekstra on Fox News Sunday? Seriously, with all the problems we're facing in the world, these guys are the best ones to opine? Maybe it's because all the adults who can actually have real ideas to deal with these problems are too busy working.
ABC's "This Week" - Sens. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; former Labor Secretary Robert Reich.
CBS' "Face the Nation" - Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
NBC's "Meet the Press" - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; former Sens. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., and Fred Thompson, R-Tenn.
NBC's "The Chris Matthews Show" - Panel: Gloria Borger, Bob Woodward, Joe Klein, Tina Brown. Topics: How will this year's health care reform debate be different from 1993? What will be the lasting impact of this past week's protests in Iran? Meter Questions: Will Republicans unite as a bloc to oppose any health care reform bill? YES: 9 NO: 3; Will President Obama's policies be a riper target than his personality for Republican critics? YES: 12 No: 0.
CNN's "State of the Union" - Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, Bob Casey, D-Penn, and Richard Lugar, R-Ind; Zbigniew Brzezinski.
CNN's "Reliable Sources" - Diane Sawyer, Bill Keller.
CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" - An in-depth look at the crisis in Iran. What do we know about the man with the REAL power in Iran - the Ayatollah Khamenei? Plus, how technology has altered the power of the people.
"Fox News Sunday" - Sens. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., and McCain; Reps. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., and Paul Ryan, R-Wis.; Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
So what's catching your eye this morning?
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That list has 20 (count them) Corporatists and War Mongers to 1 with any credibility vis-à-vis the commonweal.
Guess who is the one.
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My dad was a union member but he voted for Reagan. In fact he was a card carrying Rrrrrrrepubllliiiii…Barf. I wouldn't talk to him. He is long gone now as is the company he worked for which was absorbed by the Borg and the union busted.
the living contradiction? A mole?
You will have to explain that to me in more direct terms.
and a union member at the same time. Since you have some experience with a close family member who did, what can you share about his ability to do so. It sounds like you rejected some of his philosphy of life.
The mole thing is just sarcasm. Sorry!
I didn't mention my mother who was a socialist as was my grandmother. As am I. We got along just fine.
My dad had something terribly wrong with him from early on, that why he was a R-R -r -r -r - e … blah…
I will never know how they thought that could work out. I think it was the uniform in 1943 that did it. That even works for socialists sometimes.
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He was an electrical specialist in radio and radar. He worked for the airlines. They had a union which was very effective. Michigan is not a right to work cheap state but one can still skate and exercise one's 'Beck rights'. He probably didn't even know about that.
For some unknowable reason he bought into the Republican propaganda about 'personal responsibility'. Some people buy into it without thinking it through.
In fact, there was lots of them. Reagan Democrats, they should look at the country now and where it is headed.
The Fat Cats forget all about personal responsibility when they are stealing billions behind the mantle and shield of their corporate countenance.
That is the name of their game.
that seems to be a good word for people who tend to be hypocritcal, the "Uniforms!"
My brother is getting out of a 50 plus marriage with someone he just described as being a "uniform!" He went through two knee replacements at the same time. He turned to marijuana to get him through. She called him a cripple after his surgery. He smoked, got on his bike, and recovered almost completely within a year. She will never forgive his pot smoking! End of marriage!
and such shit on Fathers' Day, the most macho family day of the year!
C'mon, Alice! Man up!
Wussies unite for peace!
Though he was pretty much a rightwinger, he mellowed some in the last few years before he passed. If he had lived to see what bushco had wrought on this country, he'd have (probably) killed himself or taken someone out. He was already facing reductions in his retirement and health care benefits and was ooncerned that he hadn't put enough away for retirement. If he could have lived to see the utter collapse of the (bush) economy, I just don't think he could have kept it together mentally; perhaps he was lucky in getting to exit before the shit hit the fan...
From how to prune rose bushes correctly, to how to thin young peaches so one gets maximum size on the remaining fruit, to helping synchronize Weber DCOE sidedraft carbs on my old BMW 2002, teaching me how to whelp Irish Wolfhound pups or how to compete against professional handlers with the same dogs in the show ring--my dad indeed taught me lots. And as I have no kids (that I know of...) nor plan on having any, my family name dies with me. Not enough of a reason to go bring one into this f*cked-up world. And as flawed as my childhood may have been, it was certainly better than prospects for kids I might have someday had--hope my dad understands...
Miss ya and your wisdom, old man...
Wow that's a bad Sunday lineup.
The Nunn/Thompson debate looks interesting. Beyond that, it's all Conservatives debating a few weak Dems & DINO's. :(
*Two* McCain appearances (I don't remember McGovern or Dukakis being on these shows after their loses). What are the chances there'll be questions about the manufactured Palin/Letterman dustup?
Glad I've got other stuff to do this morning.
are catching my eye this morning. Almost every expert they interviewed on Fox and Friends this morning (even conservatives)and especially Iranians and experts on the internal workings of Iran, have stated that Obama has handled this just about right. There's little he can do publicly right now, and who knows what he and the CIA are doing behind the scenes.
The Fox commentators just can't seem to take the truth. It showed on their faces. I'm sure McCain will throw out some red meat to cheer them up though.
about this entire Iran "democracy" ordeal. Something in the back of the brain says, yippie for democratic rights for Iranians. Something else says, how much is this CIA. How many decades do you think it would take for Americans and their government to admit their hands are back in Iran stirring the hornets in the nest? Knowing the media spin and outright bullsh*t that they spew and have covered up for decades upon decades, how much truth is really coming out of Iran?
his/her foot the farthest up the ass with some inane comment about Obama's stance on Iran?
Gotta work today, plus maybe go toss a Tanqueray down for my dad--sorry, can't stomach that Beefeater's he downed...
I think I would rather clean out my closet than watch what they're showing today.
Happy Father's Day to you guys! Kisses and Hugs for you all.
The only lesson I remember my dad hammering in my head was "never do anything half assed".
who was killed in a work-related truck accident when I was 18 (August 22, 1968) was an alcoholic most of my life. But he was a quiet drunk. A lonely drunk.
Living in a small town (5000....Peyton Place), it was tough as a teenager to be driving down the main street with my friends and see my dad weaving down the sidewalk, headed to the couch to "sleep it off" while my mother worked as a nurse at the local hospital to keep us afloat.
But, in spite of that, when I'd have Saturday night high school parties in a huge basement, all the girls would wonder where all the boys were when we'd suddenly hear a roar of laughter from up in the breezeway. There was my Dad and maybe ten guys who were listening to every bit of bullshit coming out of his mouth about the days he went to Alaska to hunt Kodiak bears. (He never owned a gun, nor went to Alaska).
Every opportunity he had he'd "goose" anyone in the house who happened to be bending over to look for something in the frig. One of his favorites was goosing me and my sister as we headed up the stairs. He'd make a loud "Bzzzz!!!" sound and we'd go flying and he'd laugh hard.
Once he was looking out for me at about age 8, and took me to the local bar. He sat me right at the bar with him. I remember him ordering a "Boiler Maker"....two shots of whiskey and a beer. I wondered why he drank the two shots quickly then downed the beer so fast? Now I realize he was medicating himself against the pains of losing his father at 57, a prior failed marriage, three other girls he left behind and rarely saw, a domineering mother, being a failure as a provider and on and on.
For me though, at 18, you know what the saddest part of losing him was? I returned home for the funeral from a stint in a summer stock theater in North Carolina. Several days after the funeral my grandmother brought me in a stack of sympathy cards addressed to me. There were at least a hundred of them. From people in my town who had noticed me, but I had never noticed them. The cafeteria line-lady, city council members, various doctors etc.
I cried and cried.
One is NEVER too old to be an orphan.
My folks have been gone for a decade, almost. I still want to call 'em up when I tumble onto some particularly bright detail in life, or read a good book. I don't miss them, exactly; it's been a while. But there's nobody anymore with whom to share the wonder.
I remember my pop's last words to me, just before he lapsed into what was his terminal coma. I had been reading him Hawking's book, A Short History..., and he was sorta paying attention, but I could tell he was drifting off, too. He looked up from the pillow, gaunt, and said "Hey professor"---that's what he called me when he was being affectionate yet gruff--"He professor," he grumbles, "you think I'm gonna find out the answers?" I gently squeezed his hand, and said, "Pop, if you do, find a phone and call me..." He laughed, coughed, winced, and went to sleep. Two days later he was dead.
Wow.
Fortunately, I still have my folks. But I can't imagine my father even knowing who Hawking is. :)
Opening of FnS says it will investigate if "the Media is pushing the Obama agenda."
They'd know (about a media company pushing a President's agenda).
so that he can rehearse a sententious blast at healthcare reform. Newt Gingrich is on ABC, too. I simply don't watch this crap anymore.
Here's the latest clip from The Real News Network on the healthcare debacle:
http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com...
Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
Life: You need good health to live.
Liberty, You need good health to live freely.
The Pursuit of Happiness. You need to be healthy to be happy.
So, yes. I would say it is a civil right.
Iran expert Sadjadpour keeps punching holes in Wallace's attempts to attack Obama.
Sadjadpour points out that when Bush-41 told the Iraqi's to revolt against Saddam and Saddam slaughtered them, the world didn't blame Saddam, they blamed the U.S. for encouraging the revolt.
Paul Ryan on FnS expresses his fear that Obama is "pushing the U.S. towards a full-blown European welfare state" where the government is involved in everything.
His defense: Health care, the takeover of the banks and the auto companies.
Full blown Welfare for the Oligarchs!
However their mouthpieces in the Corporate media will not mention that.
Ryan rebuffs Wallace who points out that the GOP is not being taken seriously because they "put out a budget with no numbers".
Ryan says, "Not true. That was a marketing document. We put out a separate very detailed budget with all the numbers in it".
First I've heard of it.
(Full interview contained too much paranoia and hyperbole to detail in full here.)
During the Roundtable discussion on Iran, the FnS chyron showed:
"Ahmadinejad on foreign policy: Israel should be wiped off the map."
"Mousavi: Why should we lie to the people and tell them everything is alright?"
Now think for a second which U.S. President fits both of those descriptions? (belligerent foreign policy. Lied to his own people.)
Weekly Standard's Stephen Hayes complains the Media is pro-Obama because they call it "the torture debate" and not "the enhanced-interrogation debate."
Byron York, in the FnS roundtable, says, "polls show the American public does not approve of what President Obama did to the car companies."
"Did to"? Uh, Byron, the car companies went to Washington and BEGGED to be bailed out.
(I believe the poll he's referring to shows many people disapprove of the bailout or the handling of the bailout. Not that they think Obama "took the car companies over".)
In an otherwise usual performance from David Gregory on MtP, I do have to give him some props for pointing out to both Netayahu and Fred Thompson that, "the Bush policy of beligerence towards Iran, labeling them as part of the Axis of Evil and accusing them of meddling in Iraq" gave us Ahmadinejad and them pursuing nuclear weapons, where Obama's policy of reaching out to Iran has resulted in "pro-Democracy protests and a rejection of Ahmadinejad."
(Then Gregory goes back to his usual accusations that Obama's healthcare policy threatens to explode the deficit.)
Jimmy Carter on Palestine.
War on Gaza. Who will save Israel from it's self?
US hands over Sadr City.
> Mexico.
Drugs continue to flow north, and money and guns return, as recent seizures of huge shipments make clear. In recent weeks, the haul at the bridges connecting Laredo and Nuevo Laredo, for example, has included nearly three tons of marijuana and cocaine heading north, and two caches of weapons and ammunition, as well as $1 million in cash going south.
Arbitration and KBR. Female employees getting drugged and raped.
And a few other situations concerning Arbitration.
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