Good morning. I had no intention of Brewing a pot ‘o Morning Coffee today, but as it frequently happens while reading the news, I saw a few things this morning about which I simply had to make you aware. Sometimes there’s a wealth of things to discuss with you; other times there’s a dearth. I suppose we should simply sit back and rejoice about our good fortune…I will eschew pithy titles today, as I simply cannot muster up the creative energy required to amuse you (or myself).
Former First Lady: Bush + Oil + ‘Begging’ = Pathetic:
Okay, I guess that’s pithy enough. Anyway, as you may or may not know, George Bush is touring the Middle East. Yesterday, he visited with Saudi Arabian officials, and the conversation turned from camel racing to oil, as it is wont to do. Bush says (paraphrased) to his Saudi hosts, “Hey, you guys want to go ahead and increase oil output, ‘cause these prices are tough on our economy back in ‘Merica.” The Saudis replied that they’d increase output when justified by the market. Bush then pointed out that if the US economy suffers, then the US will purchase less oil and such. Case closed; fairly diplomatic sounding.
However, Hillary Clinton, potentially our next President, thought Bush’s actions were tantamount to groveling. She said, “President Bush is over in the Gulf now begging the Saudis and others to drop the price of oil. How pathetic…We should have an energy policy right now, putting people to work in green collar jobs as a way to stave off the recession, moving us towards energy independence.”
First, I offer you the obvious. Bush didn’t ask that the Saudis drop the price of oil; he asked that they increase output. Sure, that would drop the price of oil, but it’s disingenuous to suggest that he actually said, “Hey, can you cartel guys drop the price of oil?” Second, this lays bear Mrs. Clinton’s disdain for the Office of the President. Being an elected official (who is also running for President) and calling a sitting President’s actions “pathetic” is contemptible. Hopefully, she will not get a chance to understand what it is like to be President, but if she is elected, I would think that she’d want a little respect from other elected officials, if not the citizenry at large. Which leads me to my next point: if doing one’s job is pathetic, what shall we call getting misty-eyed in front of a crowd of people and reporters because you lost the primary in Iowa? I suggested previously that this was somewhat staged, and hey, it might have won her New Hampshire. But couldn’t we go so far as to say it’s pathetic? Have some dignity Hillary, and lose with some grace. I understand that her tears were designed to show that she’s got a softer side to her steely-eyed demeanor, but if Bush’s actions were pathetic, so too were Hillary’s. Surely, someone who wants to be our President so badly as to cry (and one could argue that we needn’t a person who wants it that badly) could come up with a more eloquent critique of Bush’s energy policies. Apparently not.
All Democratically Elected Leaders are Equal, But Some are More Equal than Others:
Speaking of democracy and elections and Presidents, it’s important to put everything in to context. Sean Penn, who writes on occasion for the San Francisco Chronicle, has called that paper an “increasingly lamebrain paper.” He did this in response to an article that discussed celebrity’s interest in Hugo Chavez, Venezuela’s President. The article, which was “tongue-in-cheek”, “listed a number of potential matchups between celebrities and dictators or other authoritarian figures.” Penn took issue with this, and reminded us that Chavez is a democratically elected leader.
I really find this sentiment to be extremely hilarious. Penn is apparently so naïve that he thinks all “elections” are created equal, which couldn’t be further from the truth, and he utterly ignores the fact that Chavez recently tried to radically alter laws in Venezuela (and who can forget his failed coup in 1992…against a democratically elected President Perez). These alterations would have allowed him to be “elected” President any number of times. He failed in his bid for unlimited terms when the people rejected it in referendum. This is merely the tip of the iceberg. I implore you to read the Wikipedia article on Mr. Chavez for a clearer picture of his transgressions against democracy and liberty.
What’s more, Bush is a democratically elected leader, but that doesn’t prevent Penn and others from heaping scorn upon him, much of it alluding to the fact that Bush is a tyrant. We hear things like, “King George” or the ridiculous “emperor has no clothes” bits spewed forth from their maws constantly. Why then should we not mock the farce that is Hugo Chavez’s Presidency? Chavez has undermined more liberties in Venezuela than Bush has in the US. Who is has the deeper tyrannical aspirations?
It’s remarkable to me that someone who thinks themselves so smart can be so utterly blinded by a charismatic, would-be dictator turned elected President. Sean Penn, and many of his Hollywood friends, should stick to acting. If they cannot, then they should at least recognize that their positions as celebrities gives them a wide, easily influenced audience, and they should temper their remarks with some reason and logic, and should not make uninformed remarks. They have some responsibility for what they say, as do even we “little people.” And if they cannot temper their remarks, they should be prepared to be openly ridiculed and mocked by others.
Political Update:
That’s the new moniker for the Morning Coffee. I kid. What I mean to say is Romney won the Michigan primary-thing yesterday. You might ask why there is no Democratic winner. Well, because Michigan opted to move their primary to earlier in the year than it used to be, the national-level Democratic Party basically didn't allow them to hold a primary. I had forgotten about this; it made the news some time ago. Clinton was the only person on the Dems ballot, so she sort of won. But Obama would have secured 73% of the African-American vote had he been on the ballot. Anyway, apparently independents and Democrats had to register Republican to have a say, and a lot of them did. They were disillusioned by their party's refusal to allow them a say. That's not to say they're going to vote Republican in the general election. I'm not saying that at all. But I wonder how the voting in the Michigan primary skews the projections for winners in that state, since a lot of Democrats voted for Romney.
Word of the Day: Maisma (noun): 1. A vaporous exhalation formerly thought to cause disease; broadly, a thick vaporous atmosphere or emanation. 2. A harmful or corrupting atmosphere or influence; also, an atmosphere that obscures; a fog.
On This Day in History: Speaking of dictators, the Roman Senate bestows the title Augustus upon Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, the adopted son of Gaius Julius Caesar (27 BCE). Thus ends the Republic. The 18th amendment was ratified, authorizing Prohibition in the US (1919). John Holland, the 1st Duke of Exeter, was executed (1400). Edward Gibbon, first modern historian and author of the great work “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” died of peritonitis, as a result of surgeries to correct hydrocele testis (1794). Imagine his discomfort; clothes during this age were very tight-fitting and likely caused his hycrocele testis some significant pain.
“No people ever recognize their dictator in advance. He never stands for election on the platform of dictatorship. He always represents himself as the instrument [of] the Incorporated National Will. ... When our dictator turns up you can depend on it that he will be one of the boys, and he will stand for everything traditionally American. And nobody will ever say "Heil" to him, nor will they call him "Führer" or "Duce." But they will greet him with one great big, universal, democratic, sheeplike bleat of "O.K., Chief! Fix it like you wanna, Chief! Oh Kaaaay!" – Dorothy Thompson.
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