Here is my post for this week. Since it’s my only post it’s going to be one of those lists.
1. I just returned from Palm Beach, a.k.a. Parking Lot Nation. Strip malls, parking lots, almost every street wider than any single street in Manhattan or Brooklyn, condo development after condo development with names like Spring Lakes and Whispering Pines and Normandy Beach (um, you might want to rethink that one guys), golf courses and more golf courses, concrete block churches that look like cheap motels despite the white steeple stuck on one end…I’ve seen it all before, of course, but down there it’s practically all there is. (There’s one or two streets in the city of Palm Beach itself that are different.) Forget what I’ve said about the rest of the country looking like Long Island–Long Island is quaint and picturesque compared to that mess. I felt like I was trapped in the Eyesore of the Month archives.
You can call this snobbery, if you like, but some aesthetics are universal, and they matter. I understand that there will be no Paris, London, Florence or Venice on this continent; no more New Yorks or Bostons; probably no more Yosemites or Yellowstones or Banffs. But for God’s sake, we can do better than we’re doing.
(To say nothing of the disastrous environmental effects, and the very real increase in deaths and injuries that will come from driving everywhere.)
2. Palm Beach, of course, is also the home of the Jews for Buchanan who were necessary (though not sufficient) for Bush’s victory in 2000. This area had the most thoroughly idiot-proof street signage I’ve ever seen. Put that guy in charge of ballot design next time, please.
3. The water is nice, though. The ocean is warmer there today than it ever gets in Maine. And the Cuban food is excellent.
4. There was no doubt in my mind that Adam Vinatieri would make that last field goal. Not because he’s so clutch or because the Patriots are the Team Of Destiny, but because I was rooting for Carolina.
5. I can’t believe my party is about to choose Principal Vernon from the Breakfast Club over Ducky from Pretty in Pink. (via Wonkette.) But which John Hughes character does President Bush resemble? I leave that to our intrepid readers.
UPDATE This is certainly stretching the spirit if not the letter of my “one post a week” rule, but a few more items.
6. Campaign Desk continues to rule. For example:
A little research — remember research, guys ? — reveals that the term “weapons of mass destruction-related program activities” wasn’t coined by the White House speechwriters. It was first used in an interim report last October by David Kay, lead weapons inspector for the Iraq Survey Group. Kay recently resigned, with the observation that U.S. intelligence about Iraq’s capacity for mass destruction of any sort was suspect and that he frankly doubted that those weapons had existed….
At the same hearing [before the Senate Armed Services Committee], Sen. Mark Dayton (D., MN) asked Kay “how many countries … would you say in the world today would qualify under the category of developing weapons of mass destruction and related program activities, or having such activities?”
Probably about 50, replied Kay.
(emphasis added.)
7. Things that inspire prompt federal investigations, widespread press coverage, and pleas on behalf of The Children: boobies at the halftime show. Things that do not: well-supporterd allegations that our government sends people to be tortured by some of the worst regimes on the planet, on flimsy evidence and in violation of U.S. and international law.
There was do doubt in my mind that Adam Vinatieri would make that last field goal. Not because he’s so clutch or because the Patriots are the Team Of Destiny, but because I was rooting for Carolina.
Priceless.
I had a related feeling when I watched the Patriots march out on the field, in anticipation of (what would be) a sound drumming of my Colts. “The Patriots are the better team,” I thought at the time, feeling my gut clench.
On that which-John-Hughes character thing, this link may be helpful (it’s a list of his movies): http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000455/
I guess you could sum up Dean’s problem like this: a significant % of the press and his own party’s leadership act like he’s Mutant Biker from Weird Science, even though supporters know he’s really Ducky from Pretty Pink.
well, Vernon polled 51-42 against Shrub in a poll released just this morning. Hey. Everybody loved Ducky. But Andie chose Blane in the end, yes? In fact, to torture this one step further, Ducky was the necessary intermediate step that allowed Andie to eventually make the electable choice. Which would be Blane. But then…oh never mind.
Different movie but same era and feel: Bush is Ferris Buehler. He’s got an angle or an escuse for everything and for some reason people still don’t think he’s a complete jerk.
Thanks for the link to Kunstler. Great author. I didn’t know he had a website. Rather ironic that his website is so ugly.
Bush is Steff in Pretty in Pink, presumably. I don’t know whether this means Edwards is the only one who can beat him or not; this Brat Pack stuff is too much higher math for me…
Oh dear…Howard Dean clearly does not care about The Children:
http://www.reuters.com/printerFriendlyPopup.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=4266802
What a dreadful, dreadful man.
Actually since he’s no longer the frontrunner we will probably be spared the faux indignation over this. There’s always a silver lining.