No end to earmark era

In spite of what dissemblers (whose job it is to muddy political waters)  may say, in the 2008 campaign, Barack Obama promised to reform the earmark process, not end it entirely.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200903050003

Did you hear that Rush Limbaugh is challenging Pres. Obama to a debate on Rush’s radio show? As if.

Why would any president waste his breath on a self-named “lovable little fuzzball”?

Limbaugh lands self in news

La Toilette by Toulouse-Lautrec

Having successfully inserted himself into *Scene One, conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh had to diss Republican Colin Powell’s endorsement of Democratic candidate Barack Obama to manage it, but the roly poly one has landed his exalted guru-esque self into the middle of Monday’s news cycle:

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/20/limbaugh-defends-comment-about-powell/

Rush’s talents are “on loan from God” you know – as if everyone else’s aren’t.

~:~

* a near quote from one of my favorite (if imperfect) films, Moulin Rouge, whispered by John Leguzamo’s character, Toulouse-Lautrec, the brilliant painter whose childhood accident resulted in short, twisted legs giving him a dwarfish stature.

Above is an image of his lovely ‘La Toilette’ (oil on cardboard, painted in 1896) and may be seen in The Louvre Museum, Paris and was obviously created with talents on loan from God, as you see.

I have a 30+ year old copy of the book, ‘Masterpieces of the Louvres’ (text by Marcel Brion), which states that the master painter’s ’olfactory realism’ was taken from Edgar Degas (whose natal chart is discussed on this blog), and that his pointed style of drawing was learned from Japanese prints which were quite popular in France at that time.

Aristocratic by birth, Toulouse-Lautrec turned his back on upper crust society and frequented the popular dance halls, music halls, brothels, and circuses where his appearance would shock the least.

“Libertines and vagabonds” were his companions as he wandered at night through “disreputable streets” -  which is more than a little like hanging out on Capitol Hill 2008, isn’t it?

Y’all leave Pastor Wright alone

Well, I’m just a southern lady here speaking out about an AP story I just found concerning Senator Obama’s ex-pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who has cancelled speeches in Dallas, Houston, and Tampa due to security concerns for the locations, his family’s safety, and his own.

Now THIS is the shadow side of America that shames me yet unfortunately it doesn’t seem to shame the perpetrators. I commented during the political kerfluffle that Wright was expressing his own opinions and yet everyone knows that some church congregations all over this country have heard these sorts of views before. It’s no surprise that such views may be found given our nation’s history of racism and oppression of anyone not of the Caucasion persuasion.

I know that those in charge like to stay in charge, but really, people!

Must this threat be allowed to stand against a man of the cloth? Will black churches always be allowed to burn to the ground as young, drunken bigots party together and rile each other up just to show the world their lack of humanity and disrespect for religion?

Persona non grata–perhaps. But leave the man and his family alone, my fellow Americans.

And if you disagree so completely with Rev. Wright’s opinions and feelings, why not start a blog? Your violent, lynch-mob tendencies do America no honor, you know, but perhaps your brilliant writing skills will.

Who knows? A year or so from now you might even win the Drunken Bloggers Award for your articles full of scintillating racist views and incisive mysoginist wit that turn stomachs everywhere, for you are truly the cream of the crop in the Lowered Expectations Department of mankind.

And that goes double if you’re actually a student of the Karl Rove School of Operation Chaos, with Rush Limbaugh the Director of Counseling.