Big Hair, Big Ego, Big Problems

It really makes one appreciate the significance of Barack Obama. Here is a fairly exotic guy, uber-educated and ambitious, who early on decides to make his mark through politics. In Chicago. Takes a minimum wage-ish job as a community organizer, helping the tough southeast-side neighborhoods affected by the steel mill closings.

He gets some attention from the "powers that be" as a potential player on the make. But he doesn't go that route. He goes back to get his law degree at Harvard, heads up the Law Review there, and comes back to Chicago. Gets a gig as a professor teaching Constitutional Law at U. of Chicago.

And then he tosses this out the window and runs for State Representative. He wins. He runs for Congress. He loses. He spends time in Springfield, working with career politicians. Learns the ropes. Runs for U.S. Senate. Wins. Runs for President. Wins.

Meanwhile, there is Rod Blagojevich. We have another highly educated, uber-ambitious, politically motivated person of the Chicago streets. His father was a steel worker, layed off. Young Rod worked hard, blue-collar style. He returned to Chicago with a prestigious law degree.

But unlike Obama, Blagojevich thrived in the city political scene. He dated and later married the daughter of a highly influential alderman. He became immersed in the intricacies and intrigues of the Chicago Machine. Like Obama, he made his first big mark by becoming a State Representative.

And, like BO, he ran for Congress. But he won. And was re-elected twice. Then he ran for Governor. And won. And was re-elected (somehow).

Two Chicago politicians with certain similarities, but huge differences in attitude, point-of-view, motivation and, now, career trajectories. Both benefited from rapid ascents into politically rarified altitudes. One tried to fly too close toward the great, bright, yellow coin-shaped object in the sky and is experiencing "rapid disassembly". What a moron.

To truly appreciate how stupid the Boy Governor is, check out the Criminal Complaint filed against him when he was arrested. It's 78 pages of stunning, mind-bending revelations. How could a person who knew he was being stalked by Patrick Fitzgerald and the Feds be so feckless? Anyway, here it is. Check out page 63 and what he really thinks of our President-Elect:

http://media.suntimes.com/images/cds/MP3/blagojevich_criminal_complaint2.pdf

So he became more than a someone, and he even became a contender. But he wanted more: more money, more security, more prestige -- he didn't want to be Governor anymore. He wanted to be an Ambassador. He wanted to be a Cabinet Secretary. He wanted to be Senator. He wanted to President.

Instead, he will become an inmate, perhaps joining his predecessor, George Ryan, at the Federal Correctional Institute in Terre Haute, Indiana.

And the other guy, Barack Obama, becomes President next month. And he will try to turn this country around, picking up the pieces from what people like Blagojevich have left behind.

In honor of convicted Chicago pols everywhere, here is the original "I Fought The Law And The Law Won." by the Bobby Fuller Four:


YouTube - Bobby Fuller I fought the law


Quote of the Day:

"They have vilified me, they have crucified me; yes, they have even criticized me." -- Richard J. Daley (Da Mare I)

Novelty Act -- Or Next Big Thing??

The story of Hayseed Dixie is rich with American ingenuity and adaptable imagination. Raised in the deep backwoods of eastern Tennessee, two brothers and their friends had been living their lives isolated from the rest of our nation and pop culture. All they knew was what they could see and hear in their own back 40.

And then one day, something came along to change all that. Here is their story:

YouTube - Hayseed Dixie Story

And so off these rambling rednecks went, seeking their fortune in the world they never imagined. As they traveled and played, they became acquainted with more and more of the music which inspired their fevered interpretations. At first, there was plenty of AC/DC:

YouTube - Hayseed Dixie - Highway to Hell

And Led Zeppelin:

YouTube - Hayseed Dixie-Live at the Electric Picnic '08-Black Dog

And even Green Day:

YouTube - Hayseed Dixie - Holiday

But they remain the best when they go back to their roots:

YouTube - Hayseed Dixie - Shook Me All Night Long

So now they are out and touring, shaking off the Appalachian dirt from their clogs. There's no telling where they may end, but the genie is out of the bottle. They even have their own radio station!!

Jango - Free Music - Internet Radio that Plays What You Want! Listen to Music Online Radio Stations

Only from America!!!

How Big is Big?

Been away for a bit, but happy to be back.

It's difficult to conceptualize the enormity of the financial abyss that has engulfed us all. This monstrous maelstrom is nearly incomprehensible in its scope. And we are all being sucked into its ravenous maw, helpless as it churns inexorably toward complete economic annihilation.

Well, maybe not so bad, at least not this week. And helpless? Not with the Bush Administration around (and a compliant Congress)!! More and more freshly minted ga-Billions continue to be air-dropped from B-52 payloads into hemorrhaging financial firms, banks, insurance companies and the like and now, probably, automakers.

It's truly another case of Supply-Side Economics: pour the money on top and hope it trickles down. Too bad about the suckers who are foreclosing, and the small business owners who can't get loans. The problem, of course, is that the Demand-Side is where the money/credit is needed most!!

So whaddaya do? Print up some more ducats and spread it around. By now, the price tag is getting to be substantial. Here is a nice illustration of how our Bailout measures up to previous Big Ticket Government Projects, like World War 2, New Deal, etc. It's most revealing:

More Bailout Comparisons The Big Picture

That's a lot of coin. I think it was P.J. O'Rourke who once described the difference between the Democrats and Republicans. He said that the Republican Party is like Old Testament God and the Democratic Party is like Santa Claus. And everyone knows there is no such thing as Santa. Today, he may need to reconsider this imagery.

So what to do? Recalling an analogy to another Bush debacle, the Iraq war, here is what one commenter suggested:

"It’s a classic zugzwang; there are no good moves, only less bad ones. It seems to me that if we can not succeed in getting out of this liquidity trap then depression becomes something close to inevitable and defaulting on our debts more likely regardless, for citizens and the country as a whole alike; i.e, the dollar will either be worth more in which case debt burden becomes too great or economic growth will be so stagnant that debt can not be supported and even inflation won’t buy our way out, it will just result in a growing number of countries refusing our currency and refusing our assets and debt along with it."

Hoo-Boy, happy Wednesday, Sunshine!!

So how Big is Big? Too big to fail, Too big to care, Too big for our own good... Cars and trucks and homes and clothes and food and schools and payrolls. They're all too big to fail. Can't let 'em, or we sled down that gaping hole even faster than before. Of course, that doesn't mean that much of what we know and take for granted today should remain the same. Huge changes are starting and we probably won't recognize our own society in a couple of decades...


And speaking of Big, how about this inventive clip from perhaps the biggest band in all of Rock-dom: the 23-member Polyphonic Spree:

YouTube - The Polyphonic Spree "Running Away"

And now for the Quote of the Day:
"Civilization is the progress toward a society of privacy. The savage's whole existence is public, ruled by the laws of his tribe. Civilization is the process of setting man free from men."
-- discredited nutcase and Objectivitst Ayn Rand