Captive of the News Cycle
Bird Dog is back (Do I hear that distant applause? Or am I hallucinating again?). I am not going to fire The News Junkie, but I would fire Brown, Nagrin and Blanco if I had the power. Baby Landrieu too, for good measure. But the NJ - who I rely on - has a tendency to get caught up in the headlines of the moment and to lose perspective. It must be his youth. He likes the adrenaline rush, the battle of the moment, getting indignant at stupidity and lying, etc. etc., but in two weeks, the hurricane story will be over and the story of life will resume, until the next Big Story. He gets obsessed, and wants to make a difference - but he doesn't. Biggest flood in American history - Big Story. Biblical. Apocalyptic and Dylanesque. But the politics of it are cheap and a shame and a pity and a bore. The only blog I've seen - and no newspapers either (The always- predictable NYT is trying to make a race war out of it) - that deals with it all rationally (eg non-politically) is Env. Economics. Also, a blog I like, Ex-Donkey, who has ignored it thus far, probably modestly and wisely figuring everyone else is doing enough with it.
Let's step back. The American Left, noisy as it is, is small but desperately angry and hateful. They have become opportunistic berserkers and annoying mosquitoes because, having been deprived of power, they have only the power to destroy and snipe and bite. The country has taken back the White House, the Senate, the House, and now the Supreme Court away from them, and they feel like they are down in the flood, not only in the US but everywhere. Being down in the flood can make people crazy. This "Left" includes the MSM and the NYT, for sure, and some fraction - not all - of the Democratic Party. They do go beyond the legacy of "loyal opposition" to the point of "disloyal" and the point of dishonest propaganda, and I do not excuse this. The issue could be anything. They seek to destroy when they cannot win in elections, but, as I recall, there were some who tried the same with Clinton.
It's a very dirty game, and far worse when not played by rules of honor and integrity and respect. Now, it's war. They will lose some and win some, but they will lose in the long run, because their ideas don't make sense in the real world, and because their hatred of time-honored traditions and morals give folks the creeps - most people are not ready to have reality reinvented by self-selected, self-important moralizers. Rather have these things maintained by elected, self-important moralizers! But right now, they are emotion-intoxicated and therefore irrational and dangerous. (And, may I add, Bush is no conservative. Maybe he was once, but now he's just a regular politician, and a below-average one too, without the manipulative instincts and with, let's say, only average ability to think when he talks.)
More importantly, Michelle has lists of places to donate clothing, supplies, etc. by mail. What a great motivation to clean those closets. There is a need for $, but for stuff too - so send both, or just send stuff. We're doing it here today - all the kids, too.
