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Thursday, September 11, 2008

Top National Beauty Secrets

“That’s not change. That’s just calling the same thing something different. But you can’t put lipstick on a pig. It’s still a pig. . . .”
Barack Obama, criticizing McCain’s policies

“I think they put some lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.”
John McCain, criticizing Hillary
Clinton’s healthcare plan last year

Ah, but the question of NATIONAL IMPORTANCE in this critical national election is, what KIND of lipstick was it? Revlon’s “Yummy Mummy Red?” Max Factor’s “Bitch Broad Burgundy?” Cover Girl's, "Moose Shooter Melon?" That’s what this country needs to know. We don’t need to discuss energy policy or the economy. Nope. We need to spend one whole news day reporting on the Republican’s faux OUTRAGE about lipstick.

Like Sarah Palin now has a copyright on the word lipstick when it’s used in the context of putting it on an animal, such as a pit bull? Or when John McCain uses the phrase, he’s using a familiar, folksy phrase to describe Hillary’s policy but when Obama uses it, he’s a SEXIST BEAST WHO’S CALLING SARAH A PIG AND WHO MUST APOLOGIZE FORTHWITH! Stamp-feet, pound-table-Puff, Faux Faux Huff, Faux Huff, Faux Huff.Paff-paff-paff- for one full news cycle.

And then have McCain stand up there and whine that this negative campaigning (his own) is all Obama’s fault because he wouldn’t go on a Dog & Pony show town-hall debating tour with him. Boo-hoo, poor me, it’s all his fault.

This my friends is what happens to you when you hire Karl Rove to “help” with your campaign. Rove poisons and corrupts and kills everything he touches. John McCain had already sold his soul when he hopped up on stage to hug President Bush, the man whose Rovian minions had already trashed his family. That’s how desperately he wanted the Presidency. Hiring Rove now for his own campaign can’t really do any more damage to the man’s soul. Rather it’s just like putting lipstick on a zombie.


9/11

It is a day that will, again, hurt the heart.

A Brief For The Defense

Sorrow everywhere. Slaughter everywhere. If babies
are not starving someplace, they are starving
somewhere else. With flies in their nostrils.
But we enjoy our lives because that’s what God wants.
Otherwise the mornings before summer dawn would not
be made so fine. The Bengal tiger would not
be fashioned so miraculously well. The poor women
at the fountain are laughing together between
the suffering they have known and the awfulness
in their future, smiling and laughing while somebody
in the village is very sick. There is laughter
every day in the terrible streets of Calcutta,
and the women laugh in the cages of Bombay.
If we deny our happiness, resist our satisfaction,
we lessen the importance of their deprivation.
We must risk delight. We can do without pleasure,
but not delight. Not enjoyment. We must have
the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless
furnace of this world. To make injustice the only
measure of our attention is to praise the Devil.
If the locomotive of the Lord runs us down,
we should give thanks that the end had magnitude.
We must admit there will be music despite everything.
We stand at the prow again of a small ship
anchored late at night in the tiny port
looking over to the sleeping island; the waterfront
is three shuttered cafes and one naked light burning.
To hear the faint sound of oars in the silence as a rowboat
comes slowly out and then goes back in is truly worth
all the years of sorrow that are to come.

-- Jack Gilbert

14 comments:

Unknown said...

God Bless America and all Americans the world wide....

We will never forget...!!!

Shark Inlet said...

I've gotta agree, Ann.

That Republicans are now hooting with faux outrage over Obama's use of the lipstick phrase is proven by the fact that they were howling with partisan fervor when McCain used the same phrase less than a year ago. If they're accusing Obama of being sexist, they've got the same at the head of their ticket ... or perhaps McCain just forgot that he called Hillary a pig.

The only difference is maybe that Palin used the word lipstick during their convention. Perhaps Republicans now feel that they own the word and all its uses. Maybe they're now going to go back over old Obama speeches and ask for royalties for every time he used the word since the start of 2007.

If there is anything I hate, it's hypocrisy. (I am sure that OsosChange will be spitting out coffee at the computer screen when he or she reads this, but I would like to point out that he or she has never asked me for specific evidence behind any claims I have made ... he or she has just claimed that I don't provide evidence and logical arguments.)

Did any of you hear the piece on NPR yesterday where they talked with a farmer who actually did try to put lipstick on a pig? Good stuff.

TCG said...

Clearly, Senator Obama was not referring to Governor Palin with the "lipstick" remark.

Clearly, however, he should have recognized the connection that listeners to his talk would make to the Governor after her now famous joke at the Republican convention. (Just check the laughing crowd in the background).

He needs to quit making these mental slips and get back on his game. I'm sure that he is very tired, but he will also be tired when/if he is President.

*PG-13 said...

> Perhaps Republicans now feel that they own the word and all its uses. Maybe they're now going to go back over old Obama speeches and ask for royalties for every time he used the word since the start of 2007.

This is gonna get messier and messier all the way through November if we don't do something to straighten it out and make it workable. Here's my humble proposal. Let the Republicans claim the words & phrases they want to use. And the Democrats claim the words & phrases they want to use. Granted, these are, uh, slightly slanted examples ;-P But you get the idea. I'm sure other's can add to this list.

Republican Words: .......... Democrat Words:

Lipstick .......................... Bridge to nowhere
Pig ................................ Faces on dollar bills
Bulldog .......................... PTA
I stopped the Bridge ....... She kept the money
Selling stuff on eBay ........ Swift Boat
Sex Ed. ........................... Education
Tax Credits ...................... Health Insurance
Taxes ............................. National Deficit
Trickle Down .................... Trickle Up
Drill ............................... Alternative Energy
Drill ............................... Solar
Drill ............................... Wind
Red & Blue ..................... Unity
National Defense .............. International Cooperation
Independent Voters .......... Newly Registered Voters
Maverick ......................... Not Your Typical President


One word seems still very much up for grabs: Change.

(sigh)
If only they could share it. And really mean it.

Osos Change said...

I think it's a little silly that my name was brought up to epitomize hypocrisy that the poster has (to a magnitude that I can never possibly top), but that's as far as I go when it comes addressing those with a fetish for the ad infinitum and pathological lying.

Anyway...

September 11th has taught us that Americans have enough tolerance of one another to unite as a nation for the purpose of rebuilding strength within ourselves and for others -- regardless of varying religious and political backgrounds. September 11th reminded us all that we are all Americans.

Seven years later, we seemed to have slipped in terms of compassion and understanding. We seem to be wrapped up in personality-based gaffes over issues that affect everyone and this bickering has divided our nation to a point where there is such deep-seeded loathing and views are so polarized, that nothing gets done. Everything is a stalemate. Life becomes a quagmire. Sound familiar? Los Osos is right in the thick of these predicaments.

I do believe that Barack Obama defines "change" with more specifics than McCain. Change does not happen when you vote 90% of the time in an alliance with a president who has had lower approval ratings than Nixon. Barack Obama defines change as finding a common ground with all Americans -- fellow democrats, republicans and independents -- and seeking common sense solutions that we can all believe in sans concrete, narrow-minded views.

Shark Inlet said...

Okay ... in full honestly, I believe that Obama did use the lipstick phrase intentionally. He is showing (among other things) that he won't go down without a fight and if the Republicans intend to play dirty. (For example, Palin conveniently forgetting that Jesus was a "community organizer" but that it was Pilate who was a governor when she attempted to belittle Obama's past experience ... imagine that, a hocky mom trying to belittle someone with a constitutional law background.)

I would not be in favor of either side fighting dirty ... but when one side does, it behooves the other side to at least point out all the inconsistencies in language.

If Palin really told Congress "thanks but no thanks" I've gotta ask ... where is the money? Did she return it? A person of integrity who is given money to ... um ... say ... build a bridge ... would not use the money for another purpose just because they don't really want a bridge. As a Christian, I would expect better from her. Even if the federal bridge dollars came with a note that said something like "and if you don't want a bridge to nowhere, go ahead and use the money for other purposes", the money was earmarked for a bridge and so any other use would appear to be a violation of the logic behind earmarks.

Shark Inlet said...

OsosChange,

I did not bring you up as an example of hypocrisy. Go ahead ... have a reread. I mentioned you because I thought that you would find it funny that I hate hypocrisy. It was a reference to your earlier comments that I don't practice what I preach. Even if I disagree with you, I recognize that this is what you've been saying.

However, you do have an opportunity here to demonstrate your claims. You claim that I don't provide evidence to back up my position. I would ask you to provide one (only one) example of where this is the case. I suspect that if you can find an example, it will be within a context where the references were available.

Do you want to help Los Osos escape from the quagmire? If so, put some time and thought into a discussion here. Past discussions with PublicWorks, Ann, PG, Mike Green and others have been very beneficial. I believe that many of the participants have walked away with a better understanding ... both of their own point of view and that of others. I suspect that readers have as well.

Do you want to promote healing ... or are your more into the whole mud-n-silos thing?

Osos Change said...

John McCain used "lipstick on a pig" at least four times so that expression is a neutral expression. Obama did not mean that. McCain's camp believed it was a sexist remark aimed at Palin. By that logic, explain what John McCain meant when he referred to Clinton's economic policies as "lipstick on a pig."

And Shark, I read what you had to say. I stand by what I said and I'm not going to repeat myself. Read my latest comments from the previous blog entry.

In my view, I would very much like healing. The only way to heal, though, is to hold people accountable. The first step to any sort of recovery is self-analysis and troubleshooting the problems that we have invoked in the community. Nobody is completely innocent and nobody is completely guilty. The problem is that we tend to assume the best of people who have lead the community astray whether they had malicious intent or not.

We can't do that anymore.

For as long as I'm around, I'll be holding you accountable, I will be holding Maria Kelly accountable and I will hold all parties accountable for their misdeeds, incompetence and criminal conduct.

Shark Inlet said...

OsosChange,

Are you willing to let others hold you accountable for your words?

If true healing means accountability and a willingness to work with others, I would think that if you really want healing you would, for one, go to Maria and apologize for any possible misunderstanding and to ask for clarification of her comments which you believe show her ill intent.

Anything less would be more of the same ... more of the same poorly founded assumptions that have driven our community apart.

Not all situations boil down to SG versus CCLO and TW versus PZLDF. We should not be so quick to try to put people into one camp or the other. Are you willing to reconsider your biases about Maria or are you gonna use your ream of documents to prove she is evil by using a fine tooth comb and connecting dots where none were intended?

Osos Change said...

To answer your first question, yes.

But no, I will not apologize to Maria. I will continue to politically attack Maria Kelly into submission -- until she admits her wrongdoings in the public.

And on that note, ciao.

Shark Inlet said...

OsosChange,

Your last note suggest that you are less interested in the truth than in winning. Now, maybe you view the two as not mutually exclusive in this situation, but that is probably because you've already made up your mind.

In short, you're asking Maria to apologize for some sort of wrongdoings but you seem unwilling to even consider the idea that you have done wrong yourself.

Sad.

*PG-13 said...

osos change said > I will continue to politically attack Maria Kelly into submission -- until she admits her wrongdoings in the public.

What exactly are her wrongdoings? Other than chewing gum, chatting with Marshall and being a legal assistant? Or are her transgressions something else you have proof of but choose not share with us because this blog doesn't give you a stage worthy of your proof?

franc4 said...

WOW!

As usual, y'all ( and the media....must be a slow news day)are much a-do about a simple case of BAD TIMING on Obamas part.....nothing more. "lipstick on a pig" (can be traced back 300 years)is as common as "put a sock in it!" (should be used here....alot)and many more sayings.
What would many of you do if you couldn't criticize everyone and everything, every day. A better prcatice would be to say something nice about at least one person each day.

franc4 said...

*pg 13'

You are one cool person with un-matchable insight....and humor, too.