Apr 25
Peggy Noonan
This.
America is in line at the airport. America has its shoes off, is carrying a rubberized bin, is going through a magnetometer. America is worried there is fungus on the floor after a million stockinged feet have walked on it. But America knows not to ask. America is guilty until proved innocent, and no one wants to draw undue attention. America left its ticket and passport in the jacket in the bin in the X-ray machine, and is admonished. America is embarrassed to have put one one-ounce moisturizer too many in the see-through bag. America is irritated that the TSA agent removed its mascara, opened it, put it to her nose, and smelled it. Why don’t you put it up your nose and see if it explodes? America thinks.
And, as always: Why do we do this when you know I am not a terrorist, and you know I know you know I am not a terrorist? Why this costly and harassing kabuki when we both know the facts, and would agree that all this harassment is the government’s way of showing “fairness,” of showing that it will equally humiliate anyone in order to show its high-mindedness and sense of justice? Our politicians congratulate themselves on this as we stand in line.
All the frisking, beeping and patting down is demoralizing to our society. It breeds resentment, encourages a sense that the normal are not in control, that common sense is yesterday.
Go read the rest.
No commentsApr 24
Classy Leftists
If there’s one thing you can say about leftist protesters, it’s that they have a lot of class.
A man heckling First Lady Laura Bush and daughter Jenna outside the 92nd Street Y was arrested after he punched a wheelchair-bound girl whose parents has told him to shut up, authorities said yesterday.
Notice how he punched the girl in the wheelchair, and not the girls father who told him to shut up?
Leftists call that “courage.”
No commentsApr 22
Hillary Scores A Comeback
It looks like the Democrats are headed for a convention rife with backroom deals and political dealings, because the close race between Cankles and Obama just got closer.
Hillary Clinton declared the “tide is turning” Tuesday after scoring a critical victory in the Pennsylvania Democratic primary, pushing the race ever forward to the nine remaining contests.
With 93 percent of precincts reporting, Clinton had 55 percent and Barack Obama had 45 percent, a comfortable enough margin to deny critics their demand that she quit the race.
“Some counted me out and said to drop out,” Clinton told cheering supporters at a rally in Philadelphia. “But the American people don’t quit. And they deserve a president who doesn’t quit either.”
Clinton beat Obama in the Keystone State primary with a big boost from her core constituencies, including lower income and union households, but she also ended up overperforming among some groups that are Obama strongholds, including college-educated voters and last-minute decision makers.
I’d be thrilled at the idea of the Democratic Party tearing itself apart over which socialist douchebag they’re going to run if it wasn’t for the fact that the Republicans are going to nominate a big-government douchebag themselves.
Seriously. What are they going to debate over? Other than McCain’s support for the troops in the field, what exactly is the difference between him and either of the two fools sparring for the Donk nomination?
No commentsApr 18
Goodbye
Today I had one of those moments when I realized my youth was gone forever. Danny Federici died yesterday.
Danny Federici, the longtime keyboard player for Bruce Springsteen whose stylish work helped define the E Street Band’s sound on hits from “Hungry Heart” through “The Rising,” died Thursday. He was 58.
Federici, who had battled melanoma for three years, died at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. News of his death was posted late Thursday on Springsteen’s official Web site.
He last performed with Springsteen and the band last month, appearing during portions of a March 20 show in Indianapolis.
“Danny and I worked together for 40 years — he was the most wonderfully fluid keyboard player and a pure natural musician. I loved him very much … we grew up together,” Springsteen said in a statement posted on his Web site.
I’ve since come to view Springsteen as an elitist prick, but I still love his music from my youth, and his concerts were more like spiritual events than shows.
Here’s a YouTube clip which opens with Federici on the piano. The video isn’t the best, but it’s well worth watching.
Godspeed Danny Federici. I’m going top spend all day tomorrow listening to those songs you helped make so memorable.
No comments