Mirlisa's Bits and Pieces

I was listening to the Diane Rehm show this evening and the subject was the new book “The Invisible Constitution” written by Laurence Tribe. It was a fascinating discussion – Tribe offers his opinion as to what kinds of justices Obama and McCain would appoint to the Supreme Court. Tribe taught Justice Roberts and Barack Obama at Harvard. For those of you who like to say that there’s really no difference between the candidates – this discussion will change your mind. I urge you to listen to the show and read the book.

These are the two ads both campaigns put out regarding the financial crisis. Which is more substantive? You decide.

The following is from D Magazine (D for Dallas). The writer is a former publisher of National Review.

My party has slipped its moorings. It’s time for a true pragmatist to lead the country.
By Wick Allison, Editor In Chief

THE MORE I LISTEN TO AND READ ABOUT “the most liberal member of the U.S. Senate,” the more I like him. Barack Obama strikes a chord with me like no political figure since Ronald Reagan. To explain why, I need to explain why I am a conservative and what it means to me.

In 1964, at the age of 16, I organized the Dallas County Youth for Goldwater. My senior thesis at the University of Texas was on the conservative intellectual revival in America. Twenty years later, I was invited by William F. Buckley Jr. to join the board of National Review. I later became its publisher.

Conservatism to me is less a political philosophy than a stance, a recognition of the fallibility of man and of man’s institutions. Conservatives respect the past not for its antiquity but because it represents, as G.K. Chesterton said, the democracy of the dead; it gives the benefit of the doubt to customs and laws tried and tested in the crucible of time. Conservatives are skeptical of abstract theories and utopian schemes, doubtful that government is wiser than its citizens, and always ready to test any political program against actual results.

Liberalism always seemed to me to be a system of “oughts.” We ought to do this or that because it’s the right thing to do, regardless of whether it works or not. It is a doctrine based on intentions, not results, on feeling good rather than doing good.

But today it is so-called conservatives who are cemented to political programs when they clearly don’t work. The Bush tax cuts—a solution for which there was no real problem and which he refused to end even when the nation went to war—led to huge deficit spending and a $3 trillion growth in the federal debt. Facing this, John McCain pumps his “conservative” credentials by proposing even bigger tax cuts. Meanwhile, a movement that once fought for limited government has presided over the greatest growth of government in our history. That is not conservatism; it is profligacy using conservatism as a mask.

Today it is conservatives, not liberals, who talk with alarming bellicosity about making the world “safe for democracy.” It is John McCain who says America’s job is to “defeat evil,” a theological expansion of the nation’s mission that would make George Washington cough out his wooden teeth.

This kind of conservatism, which is not conservative at all, has produced financial mismanagement, the waste of human lives, the loss of moral authority, and the wreckage of our economy that McCain now threatens to make worse.

Barack Obama is not my ideal candidate for president. (In fact, I made the maximum donation to John McCain during the primaries, when there was still hope he might come to his senses.) But I now see that Obama is almost the ideal candidate for this moment in American history. I disagree with him on many issues. But those don’t matter as much as what Obama offers, which is a deeply conservative view of the world. Nobody can read Obama’s books (which, it is worth noting, he wrote himself) or listen to him speak without realizing that this is a thoughtful, pragmatic, and prudent man. It gives me comfort just to think that after eight years of George W. Bush we will have a president who has actually read the Federalist Papers.

Most important, Obama will be a realist. I doubt he will taunt Russia, as McCain has, at the very moment when our national interest requires it as an ally. The crucial distinction in my mind is that, unlike John McCain, I am convinced he will not impulsively take us into another war unless American national interests are directly threatened.

“Every great cause,” Eric Hoffer wrote, “begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.” As a cause, conservatism may be dead. But as a stance, as a way of making judgments in a complex and difficult world, I believe it is very much alive in the instincts and predispositions of a liberal named Barack Obama.

Over the weekend there was an Obama rally at the Hipp. Rep Maloney and Deidre Hall from the soap “Days of our Lives” was there to speak. The Hipp filled up so some of us had to sit outside – but both guests gave their speeches inside and outside. The first pic is Deidre Hall giving her talk. FYI – the pics were taken with my camera phone, so the quality is diminished a bit.

In the other picture both Deidre and Rep Maloney were posing for pictures. They were both very nice and approachable. Now, we just need Barack to come – although the crowd said it would settle for Michele Obama. Yes We Can!

My sister lives in Kemah, Texas.

If you look at the above pic you can see her privacy fence going under water – the chain link fence at the end of the yard is completely submerged. They were fortunate – the water never got up to the house – but she was worried there for a while.

This next pic shows the water receding. The chain link fence begins to appear.

Hilary and Sarah together….

Katha Pollitt from The Nation magazine has some questions she’d like to ask Sarah Palin. What do you think?

§ Suppose your 14-year-old daughter Willow is brutally raped in her bedroom by an intruder. She becomes pregnant and wants an abortion. Could you tell the parents of America why you think your child and their children should be forced by law to have their rapists’ babies?

§ You say you don’t believe global warming is man-made. Could you tell us what scientists you’ve spoken with or read who have led you to that conclusion? What do you think the 2,500 scientists of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are getting wrong?

§ If you didn’t try to fire Wasilla librarian Mary Ellen Baker over her refusal to consider censoring books, why did you try to fire her?

§ What is the European Union, and how does it function?

§ Forty-seven million Americans lack health insurance. John Goodman, who has advised McCain on healthcare, has proposed redefining them as covered because, he says, anyone can get care at an ER. Do you agree with him?

§ What is the function of the Federal Reserve?

§ Cindy and John McCain say you have experience in foreign affairs because Alaska is next to Russia. When did you last speak with Prime Minister Putin, and what did you talk about?

§ Approximately how old is the earth? Five thousand years? 10,000? 5 billion?

§ You are a big fan of President Bush, so why didn’t you mention him even once in your convention speech?

§ McCain says cutting earmarks and waste will make up for revenues lost by making the tax cuts permanent. Experts say that won’t wash. Balancing the Bush tax cuts plus new ones proposed by McCain would most likely mean cutting Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security. Which would you cut?

§ You’re suing the federal government to have polar bears removed from the endangered species list, even as Alaska’s northern coastal ice is melting and falling into the sea. Can you explain the science behind your decision?

§ You’ve suggested that God approves of the Iraq War and the Alaska pipeline. How do you know?

Meet Dead Donna!

She’s our new Halloween addition this year. All the dogs were very wary of her – Boxer was nosing her and almost knocked her over, but Miriam was lightening quick and able to catch her before she hit the floor. The dogs were a lot of fun to watch. We took a short video of them barking at her.

I’m working on a small project to lighten things up a bit – I’m creating a little video – I’ll post it when it’s ready.

It’s Thursday and since I’ve gone back to 5/8 work days, I will have to work tomorrow. At least I get off at 3:30 – so, it ain’t too bad.

Tonight I had my first guitar lesson since summer break. I fessed up and told Mark that I hadn’t practiced much. He said sometimes the break is good for students to take it easy. So, I’m energized again to play – still working on my first CD.

Mir represented us at our neighborhood meeting tonight. It went well. The fall season is off to a good start. Now, to start working on Halloween. It’s never too early to start planning.

It’s late and I should be in bed.

Goodnight.