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A Way With Words

Posted 29 September 2008 by Richard B. Hoppe

Apropos of practically nothing normally on PT, I really like Dana Hunter's way with words:
There's Divorced from Reality, and Then There's ... ...murdering it, cutting it into pieces, stuffing the remains into suitcases, and dumping them in remote areas while telling concerned inquirers that "Reality and I just felt like we needed a little break from each other. I think she went to Barbados. Don't worry - I'm sure she'll be back soon!"
Something to amuse us as the ship of state sinks into an economic swamp.

26 Comments

Reed A. Cartwright · 29 September 2008

Speaking of which, how are your GA's doing with the market swing?

RBH · 30 September 2008

They cut their positions down to practically nil several weeks ago. The increasing vol made it way too risky to have large positions on.

midwifetoad · 30 September 2008

So are we to trust the judgement of the speaker of the house, who blames McCain for not delivering the 95 Democrats who voted against the bailout (including 5 committee chairmen), any 12 of which could have passed it? Or Barney Frank, who has denied for the past five years that there was a problem, despite hearings in his own committee that demonstrated the need for regulation? Barney in 2003:
"These two entities—Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—are not facing any kind of financial crisis," said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. "The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing."

a matt · 30 September 2008

What a statement - talk about a need for a reality check. However given the current selection for a replacement (Obama/McCain) I worry that the last sentence "The day will come, and not before long, when Americans will wish that George Bush was still president." may be correct.

midwifetoad · 30 September 2008

Congress has lower approval ratings and higher disapproval ratings than Bush, and yet nearly all congressmen will be returned to office in the next election. Go figure.

Gary Hurd · 30 September 2008

A Gallop Poll question regarding the (mis)management of the Wall Street meltdown gave approve/disapprove numbers significantly in favor of Obama and the Democratic leaders in Congress as opposed to McCain and the Republican leaders in Congress. The greatest contrast was 46-43 (Obama) to 28-68 (Bush).

http://images.dailykos.com/images/user/426/gallup_06.jpg

I would also compare the five year old remark by Barney Frank to a week old speech by John McCain, "The fundamentals of our economy are strong." And let us not forget Phil "Let the Markets be Free" Gramm, when he dismissed people worried about the economy as whiners.

iml8 · 30 September 2008

a matt said: I worry that the last sentence "The day will come, and not before long, when Americans will wish that George Bush was still president." may be correct.
The real irony is that, hard as it might seem to believe, the day has long since come that Americans wish Bill Clinton was still president. I will concede the Bush II Administration has learned from mistakes to a degree and in particular hired on some more credible help -- Bob Gates versus Don Rumsfeld for example. But it must come as the cherry on top of all of Mr. Bush's other humiliations that he managed to make Bill Clinton look good in comparison. White Rabbit (Greg Goebel) http://www.vectorsite.net/tadarwin.html

TomS · 30 September 2008

midwifetoad said: Congress has lower approval ratings and higher disapproval ratings than Bush, and yet nearly all congressmen will be returned to office in the next election. Go figure.
My congressman is OK. The problem is with yours. My congressman uses his seniority to direct badly needed projects to my district. Your congressman wastes money on pork barrel projects and earmarks.

midwifetoad · 30 September 2008

I would also compare the five year old remark by Barney Frank to a week old speech by John McCain, “The fundamentals of our economy are strong.” And let us not forget Phil “Let the Markets be Free” Gramm, when he dismissed people worried about the economy as whiners.
The market is up today, so I'd say the fundamentals of our economy are strong. If they weren't, there would be an uninterrupted spiral. What's happening is a bunch of speculators are getting hosed. It will pass. The mortgage crisis is the work of folks who instituted a deliberate policy of promoting, even requiring lenders to make bad loans. They did it under the guise of helping the poor and minorities buy houses, but it was structured so that middle and upper middle class people could buy more house than they could afford. For some reason we continually build safety nets that can be hijacked by those who don't actually need the net. What makes Frank culpable is that he and his allies prevented any investigation or regulation of the mess after the danger was clear. What I provided is not a quote mine. It is typical of what was said. There's even a New York Times article on it today.

RBH · 30 September 2008

I was ambivalent about posting this, because it was likely to generate a purely political thread. I posted it for the reason stated in the title: I admire the paragraph's creativity in invective. I purposely did not include any more from the linked post specifically because I don't want this thread to descend into a simple-minded political war. If it does I'll close it.

I'll add that this comment is not directed at anyone in particular, but is precautionary.

Thanks

Flint · 30 September 2008

Well, politics has a habit of treating reality much like creatonism does. We're talking here about rabid partisanship, devout faith, the utter irrelevance of facts and evidence, the propensity to see opponents as brainless and malicious, and the sheer Morton's Demon blindness to one's own bias.

What's interesting is, just as some of the most vicious and merciless religious wars are between very very nearly the same belief set (see Northern Ireland), in American politics with single-member districts and a 2-party system, both "sides" are fighting for the dead center where the most votes can be attracted. Warfare between Tweeledum and Tweedledee, lacking much in the way of substances, is free to devolve into truly violent intransigent opposition without any annoying reality as an anchor or feedback mechanism.

iml8 · 30 September 2008

Flint said: Warfare between Tweeledum and Tweedledee, lacking much in the way of substances ...
Remember: they were fighting over a rattle. Speaking of much the same, I believe the flame war in progress in another room here has exceeded 700 entries. Makes a certain amount of sense to set aside a thread for flaming -- it keeps the malevolent visitors and those determined to argue with them out of everyone else's hair. Everyone is happy. White Rabbit (Greg Goebel) http://www.vectorsite.net/tadarwin.html

midwifetoad · 30 September 2008

Politics is easier to understand if you just think of "teach the controversy" as a subprime curriculum.

Stanton · 30 September 2008

midwifetoad said: Politics is easier to understand if you just think of "teach the controversy" as a subprime curriculum.
When you "teach the controversy," always remember that your own ideas are as controversial as vanilla icecream on a slice of apple pie, and always remember to point out that to even listen to your opponent's ideas will lead to people spontaneously fricasseeing live dolphins stuffed with kittens in the streets.

Dale Husband · 30 September 2008

Uh, where is this comment, and who made it?

http://www.politico.com/arena/archive/27.html

Name, please?!

Dale Husband · 30 September 2008

Never mind, I found the idiot. His name is Steven G. Calabresi.

http://www.politico.com/arena/perm/Steven_G__Calabresi_8A92C199-06D0-4CB4-AE3D-8122E40622D9.html

And he is a Professor of Law?! He should have been denied tenure once his mental illness was discovered!

Daoud · 1 October 2008

Dale Husband said: Never mind, I found the idiot. His name is Steven G. Calabresi. http://www.politico.com/arena/perm/Steven_G__Calabresi_8A92C199-06D0-4CB4-AE3D-8122E40622D9.html And he is a Professor of Law?! He should have been denied tenure once his mental illness was discovered!
That HAS to be sarcasm (the quote in the link).

Stanton · 1 October 2008

Daoud said:
Dale Husband said: Never mind, I found the idiot. His name is Steven G. Calabresi. http://www.politico.com/arena/perm/Steven_G__Calabresi_8A92C199-06D0-4CB4-AE3D-8122E40622D9.html And he is a Professor of Law?! He should have been denied tenure once his mental illness was discovered!
That HAS to be sarcasm (the quote in the link).
I agree: part of me wants to think that he's being extremely sarcastic, but, there are plenty of loyal Bushites who sincerely believe/say such nonsense. The only possible scenarios that would make me long for Bush to be back in office is if some lunatic like Ann Coulter or Rush Limbaugh became president.

Gvlgeologist, FCD · 1 October 2008

Daoud said: That HAS to be sarcasm (the quote in the link).
I thought at first that it might be sarcasm (and I left a comment to that effect on the linked OP, but if you browse around, you can find additional comments by the same guy which supports the hypothesis that he's sincere. Pretty scary.

Gary Hurd · 1 October 2008

I had a homicide investigation were the murderer actually did tell the neighbors that the victim was "visiting family back east."

The neighbors called the cops within about two weeks.

iml8 · 1 October 2008

Well, it looks like the rumble in the other room is almost
up to a thousand entries and showing no signs of tiring.
Is that something of a PT record?
It seems like an exercise in aversion therapy -- keeping
a malicious visitor yanking the chain for so long that
he finally can't stand to do it any more. Maybe they're
working him over in relays. Me, I have quickly
acquired my own aversion to any communications with the
lunatic-fringers -- it's all bad karma, never comes to
any good to have anything to do with them. PT people can
be cranky sometimes but as a rule they're not just ...
NUTS.

White Rabbit (Greg Goebel) http://www.vectorsite.net/tadarwin.html

ndt · 1 October 2008

TomS said: My congressman is OK. The problem is with yours. My congressman uses his seniority to direct badly needed projects to my district. Your congressman wastes money on pork barrel projects and earmarks.
That pretty much sums it up.

Kevin B · 2 October 2008

iml8 said: Well, it looks like the rumble in the other room is almost up to a thousand entries and showing no signs of tiring. Is that something of a PT record? It seems like an exercise in aversion therapy -- keeping a malicious visitor yanking the chain for so long that he finally can't stand to do it any more. Maybe they're working him over in relays.
No, the troll's locked himself in the rest room. A team of trained negotiators is trying to convince him not to do anything silly. Meanwhile, the rest of the University of Ediacara bar continues to run without interference.

Cheryl Shepherd-Adams · 2 October 2008

OT - From today's Columbus Dispatch, on the John Freshwater firing:

"He has put his religious views above his duty to the students," said Dick Hoppe, a visiting biology professor at Kenyon College near Mount Vernon. "It looks to me like he was running what amounts to a private Christian school embedded in the public school."

W00t!

(Freshwater taught creationism instead of 8th-grade science, and burned crosses into students' arms.)

iml8 · 2 October 2008

Kevin B said: Meanwhile, the rest of the University of Ediacara bar continues to run without interference.
It's been more interesting to follow the price of oil on Bloomberg.com over the last week -- down to $95, back up to $110, down to $95, back up to $105, back down to $95 this morning and it seems, still falling. At least so much for the "$200 a barrel" forecasts early this year. But the knowledgeable knew that was just wild guesswork. White Rabbit (Greg Goebel) http://www.vectorsite.net/tadarwin.html

ilahiler · 10 October 2008

Meanwhile, the rest of the University of Ediacara bar continues to run without interference.