Notes of Concern…
….Jackson Blair
THE ANNUAL STAGE SHOW
Blame Woodrow Wilson!
He started the practice of going down Pennsylvania Avenue to personally present his view of the state of the union and to discuss his legislative plans for the coming year.
Of course, like many things in our history, this idea came from the British. The Queen opens Parliament in a ceremony elaborate and historical. She does it with lots of pomp and circumstance with crowns, scepters, long robes, plentiful little pages, the Duke of Edinburgh on her arm, ceremonial knocking on the door of the House of Lords by the lowly other House of Parliament, a fellow who studies and practices how to back away from the Queen and go down a set of stairs without falling, and a great deal of other folderol.
Well readers, I am afraid our own annual State of the Union Address is beginning to look as useless and as staged and as silly as the Brit practice.
Two very scared looking guys come down the aisle, their eyes twitching along with their hands, because they have a really big job. They say something along the lines of “Madam Speaker, I have the great honor to present the President of the United States.”
They actually share this line. Either neither of them can memorize it all or there is a power play taking place, or both of them are somehow related by birth to the guy planning the show.
Then the President comes down the aisle, escorted by a couple of people he really likes (Democrats) and a couple he doesn’t particularly like (Republicans). Everyone is all smiles and the President stops to greet individuals he never invites to tea, or for a beer, or even for a State Dinner.
It is all about the staging friends.
As he mounts the podium in the House Chamber he greets his Vice President and the Speaker of the House as if he hasn’t had the pleasure for some time. Of course, he has been chatting them up outside the chamber prior to the big show. And it is probably true that someone has coordinated the color of suit and tie to be worn by the Prez and the Veep and also made sure the Speaker would have a complimentary color for her dress.
It is all staged.
For instance, did you know the Veep and the Speaker are told to always look at the President during the speech because if they look around they will seem bored (not good) or caught watching the interesting action in the chamber rather than being attentive to the President. I actually read this in a newspaper the other day.
The President looks out over his audience and begins to deliver what has already been distributed to all of the news media and discussed in advance of his speaking. Before starting to speak makes a big deal out of handing the Vice President and the Speaker each their own copy which, if you were watching, they do not open and they immediately give to an aide to carry away.
And so the drama unfolds.
The First Lady always has a group of people with her who can add a photo-op to something the President will say somewhere in his speech. They wear name tags because she has no idea who they are. It isn’t like she had them all in for tea that day. They were assembled in an anteroom immediately prior to the speech and then were led out into her box on her arrival at the capitol.
Of course, the television people have been prepped to turn their cameras to the First Lady’s box when these points in the speech are reached so that she can smile at these strangers and make nice.
I should add here that this process occurs whether the president is a Democrat or a Republican. It doesn’t matter which party is in power. They all act in this ridiculous manner.
The members of the loyal opposition, this time the Republicans, have been briefed on when to applaud and when to sit on their hands. They have it pretty easy when a Democrat is in The White House.
The other guys, the Democrats, have been briefed to applaud loudly and often. They have a tough time because their hands get tired.
The military have the best deal, they don’t have to clap for anyone because they are supposed to be neutral and ready to support whoever is Commander in Chief.
Right behind the military in ease of expectation are the Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court. They don’t clap because they wouldn’t want to give anyone a clue as to how they might eventually vote on any legislation that is challenged. Also, recently, they have had to decide some presidential elections and chair some impeachments. So they play the role of Caesar’s wife.
Both the Democrats and Republicans have to be very careful to watch the cameras because the TV people are always trying to catch them picking their noses, grimacing, scratching or as was the case this time, nodding off. They learn how to do this by watching baseball players on the field.
The President typically proposes whatever the pollsters have indicated the people want to hear. It was difficult this time because, if we believe what we read, the speech he had prepared and was practicing couldn’t be given because people in Massachusetts pulled the rug out from under the ideas.
This means he proposes things he cannot do, he might do, or the Congress might do whether he likes it or not. When the President talks about what he plans to do it is easy for those watching television to assume he means it. Even if he does, he cannot do it unless most of the other people in the room agree to do it also.
Sometimes even his own party doesn’t agree, for example the infamous health care legislation. Sometimes he can get some things passed with Republican votes, usually from Republicans who are about to lose elections back home to Democrats and think such a vote will help them.
Everything is very pragmatic here in Congress.
The best thing about the annual State of the Union Address is that you really don’t need to watch, or even listen, because television news people will gather afterwards and tell you what you heard, what you were thinking about what you heard, and what a nut case you are if you think differently than they are suggesting.
As I mentioned in my opening line, we need to put this farce at the feet of old Woodrow Wilson.
Have you ever wondered (or cared) why he went down the street to talk to these folks? People who have studied Wilson know that he was an accomplished orator. He was considered an inspired speaker. So he probably just decided to play his long suit. How was he to know every Jimmy, Bubba, Harry and Ike that came after him would do it, too. Even though some of them were not nearly as persuasive.
All the Constitution has to say on the subject of the State of the Union and the President delivering the report is found in Article II, Section III:
“ He shall from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient. ”
Nothing here about giving it every year.
Nothing here about speaking it.
The framers, I would argue, assumed the President would send a note down to Congress letting them know how things were going and what he hoped they could accomplish at a later date. That is exactly what the early presidents did.
How did we get from that to where we are today?
Unless the Speaker, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, is going to walk down the stairs backwards and make the Republican Minority Leader stand outside and bang on the door demanding admission next January (like they do in Britain), I think we ought to just call the whole thing off.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
OSAMA bin FORGOTTEN
Notes of Concern…
…Jackson Blair
“OSAMA bin FORGOTTEN”
Enough already.
Ever since “9-11” this guy can send the world into a tizzy by just showing up outside some cave and making a statement.
On Monday I read the following in a major publication:
– Osama bin Laden's word choice in the latest audio message attributed to him is seen as a "possible indicator" of an upcoming attack by his Al-Qaeda network, a US monitoring group warned Sunday.
Shortly thereafter our erstwhile friends in Britain raised their terror alert to the second highest category.
When you raise the terror alert my friends, millions of dollars are involved in the stepped up security that is required. If it occurs in multiple countries, you could be talking about a lot of cash!
Now we try to read into the words he uses whether he means to hurt us again. Note the “possible indicator” phrase in the above statement.
Would anyone go out and say something like this: “automobiles can now reach 100 miles per hour and a serious group of experts believe that this is a possible indicator that being hit by an automobile could be fatal.”
Of course not.
Osama bin Laden is a human being of significant height and great wealth that has chosen to live in a cave, undisclosed location of course, and periodically appear to make pronouncements that get coverage in the world press.
You would think he was Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog who shows up once a year to let us know whether winter will be long or short.
At least with Phil it is humorous, playful, and a conversation starter at the local coffee shop.
With Phil, you don’t need a disclaimer. Imagine: Phil’s appearance is a “possible indicator” of absolutely nothing of importance.
I suggest that Osama bin Laden is yesterday’s news.
And we should treat him as such.
This is not in any way to suggest we should forget the victims of his hatred or the ongoing agony associated with remembrance.
Can you imagine if he came out of the cave and nobody was there.
Maybe he comes out of the cave and nobody reports on it. Perhaps his associates film him and send the tape to news outlets and they drop the tape in the trash can.
Would it be possible he would grow old and frail and very unhappy on learning that no one cares what he has to say? Would we in some way lessen his impact on the world by simply ignoring him.
Osama bin Laden does not lead a country. He is not Robin Hood leading a band of Merry Men from his cave out into Sherwood Forest to rob the rich and feed the poor. He is “the rich”.
Osama bin Laden is not a religious leader.
He is not a political leader.
He is not a statesman.
Osama bin Laden is a rabble-rouser. He is a common murderer. He is a despicable human being.
Osama bin Laden is a false shepherd who is leading his followers down horrendous paths, paths that have little resemblance to the real teachings of his religion.
He loves publicity.
He is the MOUSE THAT ROARED.
It is long past time to give this fellow some benign neglect.
Lets stop putting him in newspapers and on television. Lets us not be used to communicate his messages to his followers who can’t get to the cave to hear them straight from his white robed self.
He can buy his own postage, or send his messages out with a herd of camels.
Let us be done with this guy.
I don’t want to hear about him again until the CIA or her sister groups around the world put an end to his bothersome tirades.
The next headline that relates to him should simply read:
OSAMA DEAD.
In the meantime, I suggest the headline:
Osama bin Forgotten
…Jackson Blair
“OSAMA bin FORGOTTEN”
Enough already.
Ever since “9-11” this guy can send the world into a tizzy by just showing up outside some cave and making a statement.
On Monday I read the following in a major publication:
– Osama bin Laden's word choice in the latest audio message attributed to him is seen as a "possible indicator" of an upcoming attack by his Al-Qaeda network, a US monitoring group warned Sunday.
Shortly thereafter our erstwhile friends in Britain raised their terror alert to the second highest category.
When you raise the terror alert my friends, millions of dollars are involved in the stepped up security that is required. If it occurs in multiple countries, you could be talking about a lot of cash!
Now we try to read into the words he uses whether he means to hurt us again. Note the “possible indicator” phrase in the above statement.
Would anyone go out and say something like this: “automobiles can now reach 100 miles per hour and a serious group of experts believe that this is a possible indicator that being hit by an automobile could be fatal.”
Of course not.
Osama bin Laden is a human being of significant height and great wealth that has chosen to live in a cave, undisclosed location of course, and periodically appear to make pronouncements that get coverage in the world press.
You would think he was Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog who shows up once a year to let us know whether winter will be long or short.
At least with Phil it is humorous, playful, and a conversation starter at the local coffee shop.
With Phil, you don’t need a disclaimer. Imagine: Phil’s appearance is a “possible indicator” of absolutely nothing of importance.
I suggest that Osama bin Laden is yesterday’s news.
And we should treat him as such.
This is not in any way to suggest we should forget the victims of his hatred or the ongoing agony associated with remembrance.
Can you imagine if he came out of the cave and nobody was there.
Maybe he comes out of the cave and nobody reports on it. Perhaps his associates film him and send the tape to news outlets and they drop the tape in the trash can.
Would it be possible he would grow old and frail and very unhappy on learning that no one cares what he has to say? Would we in some way lessen his impact on the world by simply ignoring him.
Osama bin Laden does not lead a country. He is not Robin Hood leading a band of Merry Men from his cave out into Sherwood Forest to rob the rich and feed the poor. He is “the rich”.
Osama bin Laden is not a religious leader.
He is not a political leader.
He is not a statesman.
Osama bin Laden is a rabble-rouser. He is a common murderer. He is a despicable human being.
Osama bin Laden is a false shepherd who is leading his followers down horrendous paths, paths that have little resemblance to the real teachings of his religion.
He loves publicity.
He is the MOUSE THAT ROARED.
It is long past time to give this fellow some benign neglect.
Lets stop putting him in newspapers and on television. Lets us not be used to communicate his messages to his followers who can’t get to the cave to hear them straight from his white robed self.
He can buy his own postage, or send his messages out with a herd of camels.
Let us be done with this guy.
I don’t want to hear about him again until the CIA or her sister groups around the world put an end to his bothersome tirades.
The next headline that relates to him should simply read:
OSAMA DEAD.
In the meantime, I suggest the headline:
Osama bin Forgotten
Sunday, January 17, 2010
The President is on the Line
Notes of Concern…
…Jackson Blair
The President is on the Line
It is the Sunday before our special election in Massachusetts. You know, the one to fill “Ted Kennedy’s seat” in the United States Senate. And here all this time I thought it was simply the seat of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Normally, this election would be somewhat a non-event. Only those who always vote, along with immediate members of the families of both candidates, would bother to go to the polls. In this really Blue state, that means whichever person had the nomination of the Democratic Party would be the winner.
A couple of local papers would run stories on the results, but only for one day. And life would move on.
Not this year!
Massachusetts residents were inundated with calls from their close friends who are United States Senators, daughters of candidates, interested movie stars, worried celebrities of various ilks, political parties registered in other states…the list is unending.
I received a call the other day, purportedly from my United States Senator, John Kerry. I say “purportedly” because he did all the talking, I did all the listening, and I had no way to check the veracity of the call. I didn’t hang up on him until about the fourth sentence. I was holding out hope he might actually pick up and speak with me.
That said, he is a United States Senator from my state and has every right to communicate with me on issues of concern to him and those he think should be of concern to me.
But what of the calls from the Georgia State Democratic committee offices? In the news I found this:
“In an email Saturday, the state Democratic Party (of Georgia) urged its supporters to participate in a phone bank for Martha Coakley.”
Frankly, I am going to assume this means that other party headquarters in other states, both Republican and Democrat, are probably offering up their Watts lines and other communications devices so they can share with us their very real concern that we might actually not know we are doing.
There is a nice ring to the idea of Georgians helping me pick a Massachusetts Senator because, after all, they gave us Lester Maddox and James Earl Carter. Both those guys acted a lot like they shared our Massachusetts values.
As I am writing today I received a call from a delightful young woman. The voice was pleasant and the talk deferential (how did she know my age?). I would have loved to have engaged her in conversation but, alas, the talk was one sided. The call was made by one of Senator Scott Brown’s daughters. But she really didn’t want to talk with me; she wanted to talk at me. I didn’t hang up on her until she got to about sentence ten. I am a sucker for female voices.
Sadly, I was not one of the people who got a telephone call from a man who should be way too busy to call, the President of the United States. Fortunately for the republic, he only had to tape his message once and could spend his time more profitably on the business of saving the country and providing guidance to the world.
I am told the President’s message hails Coakley as a champion for the people “who has taken on Wall Street, insurance companies and big polluters.”
Whoa, I didn’t know the Attorney General of Massachusetts could go after those rogues on Wall Street, in the State of New York, but now that I do I can only admire the breadth and depth of her reach. I guess all the crime in our Commonwealth was wrapped up early and she was able to help out old Andrew Cuomo down there in that state that is wrapped around the Big Apple. It is so nice to help out and be needed. I thought she would be hard at work trying to find Whitey Bulger.
I am glad I didn’t get the President’s call because I am a stickler for proper behavior and I would not have been able to hang up the phone on him. Heck, I would probably have been holding the phone with one hand and putting the other over my heart. And when I learned it was taped I could have also hummed a few bars of Hail to the Chief. That is a really catchy tune.
As my Sunday progressed my old pal, Pat Boone called. Pat Boone! They must have had to dig really deep down into that pot of Hollywood stars of the past to get to Pat Boone.
Of course, Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando aren’t available any more. And not one of the Li’l Rascals could be found for this assignment.
The mistake they made was using Pat for a telephone call. Pat has always looked 30 years of age so he should be saved for television ads and photo ops. Well, there is the matter of those white bucks.
I hung up right after Pat introduced himself because I was afraid it might really be him and what in the world would I have to say about Beach Blanket Bingo and the string of B movie hits he enjoyed when flared pants were all the rage? Well, if Debbie was there I could have launched into a few verses of You Light Up My Life. Fathers always appreciate it when people think well of their daughters.
I share this all in the spirit of good fun. That said, there is part of me that is insulted. I don’t like the “talking heads” on the televised news telling me what I just heard. But they do it all the time.
Now I am asked to pick between the Attorney General of my state and a State Senator as to which I might want to represent my views in Washington, DC for the next six year
And President Obama, Brown’s daughter, John Kerry, Pat Boone and countless others want to tell me how to do it.
Right!
I am hanging up now.
…Jackson Blair
The President is on the Line
It is the Sunday before our special election in Massachusetts. You know, the one to fill “Ted Kennedy’s seat” in the United States Senate. And here all this time I thought it was simply the seat of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Normally, this election would be somewhat a non-event. Only those who always vote, along with immediate members of the families of both candidates, would bother to go to the polls. In this really Blue state, that means whichever person had the nomination of the Democratic Party would be the winner.
A couple of local papers would run stories on the results, but only for one day. And life would move on.
Not this year!
Massachusetts residents were inundated with calls from their close friends who are United States Senators, daughters of candidates, interested movie stars, worried celebrities of various ilks, political parties registered in other states…the list is unending.
I received a call the other day, purportedly from my United States Senator, John Kerry. I say “purportedly” because he did all the talking, I did all the listening, and I had no way to check the veracity of the call. I didn’t hang up on him until about the fourth sentence. I was holding out hope he might actually pick up and speak with me.
That said, he is a United States Senator from my state and has every right to communicate with me on issues of concern to him and those he think should be of concern to me.
But what of the calls from the Georgia State Democratic committee offices? In the news I found this:
“In an email Saturday, the state Democratic Party (of Georgia) urged its supporters to participate in a phone bank for Martha Coakley.”
Frankly, I am going to assume this means that other party headquarters in other states, both Republican and Democrat, are probably offering up their Watts lines and other communications devices so they can share with us their very real concern that we might actually not know we are doing.
There is a nice ring to the idea of Georgians helping me pick a Massachusetts Senator because, after all, they gave us Lester Maddox and James Earl Carter. Both those guys acted a lot like they shared our Massachusetts values.
As I am writing today I received a call from a delightful young woman. The voice was pleasant and the talk deferential (how did she know my age?). I would have loved to have engaged her in conversation but, alas, the talk was one sided. The call was made by one of Senator Scott Brown’s daughters. But she really didn’t want to talk with me; she wanted to talk at me. I didn’t hang up on her until she got to about sentence ten. I am a sucker for female voices.
Sadly, I was not one of the people who got a telephone call from a man who should be way too busy to call, the President of the United States. Fortunately for the republic, he only had to tape his message once and could spend his time more profitably on the business of saving the country and providing guidance to the world.
I am told the President’s message hails Coakley as a champion for the people “who has taken on Wall Street, insurance companies and big polluters.”
Whoa, I didn’t know the Attorney General of Massachusetts could go after those rogues on Wall Street, in the State of New York, but now that I do I can only admire the breadth and depth of her reach. I guess all the crime in our Commonwealth was wrapped up early and she was able to help out old Andrew Cuomo down there in that state that is wrapped around the Big Apple. It is so nice to help out and be needed. I thought she would be hard at work trying to find Whitey Bulger.
I am glad I didn’t get the President’s call because I am a stickler for proper behavior and I would not have been able to hang up the phone on him. Heck, I would probably have been holding the phone with one hand and putting the other over my heart. And when I learned it was taped I could have also hummed a few bars of Hail to the Chief. That is a really catchy tune.
As my Sunday progressed my old pal, Pat Boone called. Pat Boone! They must have had to dig really deep down into that pot of Hollywood stars of the past to get to Pat Boone.
Of course, Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando aren’t available any more. And not one of the Li’l Rascals could be found for this assignment.
The mistake they made was using Pat for a telephone call. Pat has always looked 30 years of age so he should be saved for television ads and photo ops. Well, there is the matter of those white bucks.
I hung up right after Pat introduced himself because I was afraid it might really be him and what in the world would I have to say about Beach Blanket Bingo and the string of B movie hits he enjoyed when flared pants were all the rage? Well, if Debbie was there I could have launched into a few verses of You Light Up My Life. Fathers always appreciate it when people think well of their daughters.
I share this all in the spirit of good fun. That said, there is part of me that is insulted. I don’t like the “talking heads” on the televised news telling me what I just heard. But they do it all the time.
Now I am asked to pick between the Attorney General of my state and a State Senator as to which I might want to represent my views in Washington, DC for the next six year
And President Obama, Brown’s daughter, John Kerry, Pat Boone and countless others want to tell me how to do it.
Right!
I am hanging up now.
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