The LuLac Edition #1763, September 20th, 2011
PHOTO INDEX: BLARNEY AND THEN VICE PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH AND THIS BLOG EDITOR IN 1985 AT THE EXECUTIVE OFFICE BUILDING IN WASHINGTON. (THE OCCASION WAS A TRIP BY THE WILKES BARRE KIWANIS CLUB TO MEET THE VEEP. OUR THEN VICE PRESIDENT ROB FRIEDMAN USED THE GOOD GRACES OF MARC HOLTZMAN TO ARRANGE THE MEETING.
BIDEN’S BLARNEY
It appears that more than a few people are concerned about Vice President Joe Biden’s propensity to tell tall tales. Or embellish personal stories and passing them off as accurate. The latest flap (and you knew there would be a flap) was the publication of a story in the Scranton Times about Biden saying Dan Flood ordered him to Wilkes Barre during the ’72 flood. The second was concerning his house in Delaware that was struck by lightning and had a small fire. Biden told people he had just moved into the house and had to rebuild. Okay, as they say on Football Night in America, let’s break this down. As many of my regular readers know, our feature year is 1972. Every Thursday we recap the news of that week along with the number 1 song. In all of my research, combing through old newspaper clippings in the library as well as my own collection of things during that campaign year, (also the year of the flood) I saw nothing to indicate at least to me that Joe Biden was here at the behest of Dan Flood. Biden was on a County Council from 1970, then took the leap to the U.S. Senate in 1972. My guess is that somehow, someway Biden wanted to invoke the name of the sainted Congressman (especially with the age group that he was dealing with in Duryea) to wrap himself in the cloak or cape of Dan Flood. What better way to reassure people of your sincerity than to throw in a reference to Mr. Flood? If he had stopped there, Biden would have been fine. But politicos have egos and Joe had to include himself n the story. Biden was a Senator in 1975 when Hurricane Eloise threatened the Valley. I doubt Flood would have called him. On the house fire, he exaggerated. Again I believe he wanted to empathize with those affected by saying, “me too, it happened to me, but look I’m still standing”. Liberals sometimes have a guilty conscience of doing better than the people they are serving. Maybe there was a little of that. But also this, people who have close calls sometimes have a propensity to make it sound worse than it actually was. After my surgery, I’d tell people I had 26 inches of my colon removed when in fact it was just about 9 inches. People exaggerate, especially in scary situations. Does it make it right? No. Do you trust a politician who might embellish? No. If it involved matter of money or facts and figures. I don’t trust a politician that tells me every illegal immigrant is collecting social security. I don’t trust Michelle Bachmann to tell me how her husband can help cure people of being gay. I know that many people will think this is heresy here, but this is Joe Biden. He is an old time pol elected 39 years ago at the age of 29. He watched the politicians of his day, Hubert Humphrey, Everett Dirksen, Russell Long spin yarns that made them folksy. Biden has not caught up to the gotcha you tube world we live in. While former Congressman Kanjorski said he didn't want a nut putting up something unfair on You Tube, you kind of get the impression that Biden is oblivious to that threat. This is the guy who in the 2008 campaign referred to Barack Obama this way. "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy," Biden said. " Biden did not make these comments on the campaign trail. He made them on the day of his (Biden’s) announcement for President! Who does that? The remark got more attention than the fact that the Delaware Senator was running for President.
Every politician I ever met on the national level said something they think I wanted to hear. Candidate Humphrey said he had trouble with the flash bulb going off as I struggled to take his picture with my late uncle. The man was clearly antsy but what was he going to say, “Hey you dumb ****, it’s an Instamatic, how can you screw that up”? Or George Wallace telling me that “he truly enjoyed Avoca” when all he did was touch down at the airport”. Or Vice President Bush saying that he thought I was a sharp dressed guy in my suit. I got it at Racusins but he was just getting me through the line so he can tell Bernie Mengrinhausen what a strapping tall guy he was! C’mon! A political animal is programmed to stretch the truth. Biden was here as the sitting Vice President. But he was also here as a cheerleader. And I think he met his match in Duryea. These were people devastated. They never expected to be flooded. When the New Year started in January, do you think any of them, especially the 79 year old lady Biden lent his coat to expected the Veep would be standing in front of their house? If Biden had traveled to West Pittston and met Cliff Melberger, I think you wouldn’t see this type of behavior. Biden saw in these people in Duryea the Bidens of Scranton when he was growing up. As a people pleaser he had to give them hope, make them smile, embellish a little bit. Or a lot. He is who he is. The man is 69 years old and is not going to change. Did he lie? Yes. Did he embellish? Surely. Did he hurt anyone in the process? Only those who were expecting something more from him. Political writer Howard Fineman has said that, "Biden is not an academic, he’s not a theoretical thinker, he’s a great street pol. He comes from a long line of working people in Scranton—auto salesmen, car dealers, people who know how to make a sale. He has that great Irish gift." BLARNEY. It’s kind of like what the Supreme Court said about porn, “You know it when you see it”. And when you hear it, as with all politicians, you take it with a grain of salt.
OBAMA’S PLAN
This morning, the President proposed the "Buffett Rule," which would require those earning more than $1 million a year to pay the same share of their income in taxes as middle-class families do. This proposal makes sure millionaires and billionaires share the responsibility for reducing the deficit. It would correct, for example, the fact that Warren Buffett's secretary currently pays taxes at a higher rate than he does. The other side is already saying it's "class warfare" -- that's their rhetorical smokescreen for providing millionaires and billionaires special treatment.
As the President said this morning, "This is not class warfare -- it's math."
The wealthiest Americans don't need further tax cuts and in many cases aren't even asking for them. Requiring that they pay their fair share is the only practical way forward. The Republican alternative is to drastically slash education, gut Medicare, let roads and bridges crumble, and privatize Social Security. That's not the America we are-- but the Republican leadership actually prefer those policies, which explains their refusal to act.
That's why they'll say "tax increase" over and over again, trying to muddy the waters and trick ordinary Americans into thinking the Buffett Rule will hurt them. Just like in 2002 when the GOP kept on saying, “terrorism, terrorism, terrorism”. The plan is only asking for fairness. It’s only asking for a return to the tax structure of 1996. I am getting so sick and tired of the term job creators. People start businesses to earn money for themselves. And good for them. But here’s my question, if the job creators are getting these fantastic tax breaks right now, that the GOP wants to hang on to with dear life, where’s the creating? I don’t buy the fact that businesses are doing nothing because “they are scared of the Obama regulations on health care?” Please, if a business has to choose between staying open and giving their people health care, what do you think they’ll choose? The health care plan will be gone as will the workers. And as far the argument goes that if you take all the money of the millionaires and tax it, it won’t make up the balance, other people will be paying their taxes too. It’s just that everyone will be paying their fair share. The working poor, the middle class, the millionaires, the billionaires and yes even the sainted job creators!
posted by David Yonki @ 12:00 AM
14 comments
14 Comments:
Why are you and VP Bush shaking hands lefthanded? Did the negative get reversed or did you guys have a special handshake going on there?
Students,
It would be not only unpatriotic, but revisionist if I did not applaud the wealthy enteprenuers who built this great country.
In the working out of a great democracy, there is a pecking order.
I understand that it is the desire of every person to be a millionaire. What a wonderful world we would inhabit, yes?
Of course, all you slackers are thinking you will be millionaires but most of you will be lucky to get a job selling insurance.
Back to my point: it is an impossiblity for every man to be a king.
We have class systems established adn this is not an evil thing.
THe young men who collected my garbage the other morning probably had one brain between them, but they do an important service and earn a paycheck.
The waitress who served my wife and I our lobster last night probably is a single mother who had dreams of sunshine lollipops and rainbows when she met her Sir Lancelot at age 15 (he is long gone, alcoholic and uninsured, I am sure); but she is doing a productive job that is needed.
The auto mechanic who services my BMW probably takes and hour after working to clean the oil off of his body; but he provides a necessary service.
The physician I golf with provides a necessary service.
SO wherin lies the difference?
Well, one thing we can all agree on is that they all work for money.
The other point is they all had opportunities and some took those advantages and ran with them while others were lazy (see the paragraphs on garbage men and waitresses).
I worked hard as a young man to get ahead. I could very well have spent my time in a beer garden and running around with painted faced harlets but we all know where that would have lead.
I would have been taking your garbage, or waiting on your table. You get the idea, class?
Life is a result of the choices you make.
And yet, we have those who want to punish them who made the correct choice.
Students, does that seem fair????
I think not.
The wealthy made it possible for the middle class to exist. Not the other way around.
Services provided each day that we take for granted: automobiles, televisions, computers, HEALTH CARE pharmaceuticals, etc. are all the product of wealthy corporate minded visionaries.
Without them, we would be living in caves and in the trees.
SOmething to think about this morning.
Class Dismissed!!!!!!!!!
After seeing and hearing Biden in action these past two and a half years, you have to wonder if Palin can really be all that scary.
IN RESPONSE
Why are you and VP Bush shaking hands lefthanded? Did the negative get reversed or did you guys have a special handshake going on there?
THE PHOTO IS IN ONE OF THOSE AIR TIGHT FRAMES. WHEN I SCANNED IT, THE PHOTO WAS STILL IN THE FRAME. IT WAS EITHER THAT AND REVERSED OR I SCANNED IT WRONG.
Yonk, you look like Newman in that photo with Bush.
Newman? Randy? Paul? Ryan? Cardinal?
Alfred E. Newman!
4:34PM, Newman from Seinfeld you cretin!
There goes that idiot phony professor with his lobster dinner, BMW, gold with a doctor ...... what a joke, a bad joke! Of course as an educated man, the phony professor knows that not everyone can be a doctor nor can everyone even finish high school with the ability to go further but then again, the professor knows all so maybe those garbage men are just too lazy to be successful. Sad, sad, sad professor.
Mr. Yonki,
The Obama “Plan” and Buffett Rule are based on a fallacy. AP demonstrated as much. If you missed it:
http://blogs.dailymail.com/donsurber/archives/42659
Also, the only folks that have actually cut Medicare, are the folks that voted for Obamacare.
And, if there is a bill out there that has more than a handful of sponsors that privatizes social security, please post it up or give us the bill number. I would like to read it.
PROFESSOR ...
You pompus ass you. Who in the hell do you think you are? You judgmental sonofabitch. How dare you make the accusations you made in your drivel that you wrote. I did the best I could with what I had. I don't make a lot of money so I can't take my wife out for Lobster dinners like you, but I have pride in what I do. I work an honest day's work for a somewhat honest day's pay. And by the way, I'm 60 years old, I'm not some young kid who happen to think are the only people who dislike your venomous rants. Life is not always a result of the choices we make. Talking to the likes of you are fruitless, in the fact that you're so damn smug and full of yourself, you can't ever think anyone else might have an opinion other than yours. No one gives a rats ass about what you have to say any more. You've gotten way out of control. Yoni, I give you credit for letting this rambling nit wit go on like he does, but nice thing is, you let ALL of us rant. What a country!
You guys forget what some of the prevailing high school attitudes were when you were there. The professor taps into them and then you get mad. Think about them because the only thing that changes after high school are the faces. Unfortunately it doesn't bode well for most of us.
Hey 4:26
Right on, on the Pompous Ass! The thing is he makes it all up. The Doctor friends, the lobster, the wife, the education. Dont you all get it? This fool lives alone and is at best a high school grad. He is probably on welfare of some sort and has been for a long time.
Right now he is taking up too much space. I dont read his remarks, but I cant miss some of the feedback. He reminds me of the expert who used to call Jim Ward all the time. Turned out he lived with his mother and worked at a Convenience Store! Nothing wrong with that as long as your working. The Prof is a figment of his own imagination and probably a draft dodger of another era!
Dave, you disappoint me. I thought you were more honest than to parrot Obama’s soak the rich “it’s math not class warfare” lines. You know the facts but won’t admit to them.
The top 1 percent already pay 40 percent of federal income tax. The bottom 40 percent pay zero. Five to 10 percent of those not only pay nothing, they get tax returns of other taxpayers’ money. That’s a direct wealth transference which socialists like you and Obama love.
Didn’t you see Obama’s nose grow as he told lie after lie, starting with the one about Buffet’s secretary in his the-rich-are-bastards speech?
2008 IRS data shows that the top 1 percent of taxpayers paid an average 23 percent of their income; the top 5 percent, 20 percent; top 10, percent; top 25, 15.68 percent, and top 50 percent, 13.65 percent.
The bottom 50 percent paid an average 2.59 percent.
Then there’s the lie that we either tax the rich or “gut education.” What is it a dead fish? Well, yes, especially in places run for generations by Democrats like Detroit and D.C.
What bull, that it’s an either or, close schools and push granny of a cliff or tax the rich. It’s disgusting.
The 2009 data shows about 250,000 households made more than $1 million for a total of $727 billion. A 10 percent surtax would generate at most about $73 billion, which amounts to 2 percent of federal spending.
That’s assuming they won’t find legal ways to avoid paying it, which they will.
Only a dyed- in-the-wool liberal like you could believe that the government could make better use of that $73 billion that the people Obama wants to confiscate it from.
You can’t possibly believe the money would go to deficit reduction. The Obama government would use it to pay off the union cronies that got him elected, on inefficient job killing “green energy” or on layers of three-figure-salary, make-work government bureaucracy employees.
And oh, those 250,000 households you hate so much, who aren’t paying their “fair share,” they amount to about 1.5 percent of all filers, but according to you and Obama it is their responsibility to pay everybody else’s bills, build bridges and schools, etc., which by the way they are already doing.
The $1 trillion stimulus was an abject failure and now he is going to save the economy with another stimulus half that size? The government can not create jobs, except make-work government jobs. While the rest of the country is hemorrhaging inside the Beltway has the highest income and lowest unemployment in the country. HMMM? How could that be?
Maybe if we weren’t buying food for 40 million Americans and paying the health insurance of 43 million and paying for the heat and housing of millions more, we wouldn’t be in this fix.
Those are your and Obama’s constituents. The dependent people you created. The people you have convinced have no shot without big government holding their hands and giving them other people’s money. And of course it’s all the fault of the big evil corporations.
Post a Comment
<< Home