We can't live with him and we can't live without him. THE DEVIL, that is. Let's face it. As Americans, we have this vague sense of unease unless there's a DEVIL to kick around.
Get thee behind me, Hitler! Stalin! Mao! Manson! Nixon! Khomeini! Saddam! Osama! Madoff! And now, Hayward! (taking the pressure off Obama).
Doesn't it feel good to find someone we can all get mad at simultaneously? Republicans, Democrats, everybody? It's THE DEVIL!
Did you watch the coverage of Tony Hayward, CEO of BP, appearing before the congressional committee Thursday? On the top right of your screen, an angry member of Congress. On the lower right, Tony Hayward. On the lower center, the BP well spewing oil at 18,000 feet below the surface of the Gulf. And on the left panel, a pelican covered with oil, dissolving into the slow crawl of the mug shots of the 11 oil rig workers killed in the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Hate doesn't get any better than this.
What do these congressional hearings accomplish? Do we learn anything new? Of course not. But we all need to vent, and our representatives vent for us. At least this time, they're representing us.
Thank you, Tony. You don't realize what a service you are performing for the national psyche. You are THE DEVIL, and we need you.
Only do me a favor. Stop referring to the disaster as "the accident." It wasn't. From the reporting I've seen and heard, there were plenty of warnings about the potential of a disaster that BP deliberately chose to ignore. It was no accident.
Beyond all this, we may have to ask ourselves, what are we going to do without you?
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Too Many Ringy-Dingys
Those of you who consider campaign signs to be blight on the landscape at least have a choice. If you really hate them, you can alter your drive-to-work route to avoid them. But there's no escape from robo-calls.
We're California Republicans in our house, and there were some hot contests, of course, in the primary. Meg started her calls first -- seemed like it was at the end of April. And it seemed like once a day. Steve was late with his barrage, but once they started, it was daily. Just in case we got tired of hearing their voices, then all their endorsers chimed in with their recorded messages.
It didn't stop there. All the local officeholders did it, too. The coroner is not one you usually want to get a phone call from, but there he was, and of course, his opponent. The retiring treasurer/tax collector told us to vote for his assistant.
My favorites were the ones from candidates inviting us to join in on a teleconference in progress. It would have been nice if they had called before the thing started. What's up with that?
For those who know our phone number, we almost never answer the phone live anymore, so during campaign season it just means half a dozen or more extra messages per day piling up on the answering machine. So I was busy with the Delete button -- except one time.
Sarah Palin called, urging me to vote for Carly Fiorina. I kept that one for a while so other members of the family could hear it. Sarah generally has kind of an annoying voice, but we were struck by her giddy enthusiasm in boosting Carly. It reminded us of someone, and it finally came to us who.
A few years ago, we stayed at the Disneyland Hotel, and had left a wake-up call. It was the recorded voice of none other than Mickey himself. "It's gonna be a great day," Mickey bubbled, "So let's…get…started!"
Anyway, thanks for the call, Sarah, bye-bye now! (DELETE).
We're California Republicans in our house, and there were some hot contests, of course, in the primary. Meg started her calls first -- seemed like it was at the end of April. And it seemed like once a day. Steve was late with his barrage, but once they started, it was daily. Just in case we got tired of hearing their voices, then all their endorsers chimed in with their recorded messages.
It didn't stop there. All the local officeholders did it, too. The coroner is not one you usually want to get a phone call from, but there he was, and of course, his opponent. The retiring treasurer/tax collector told us to vote for his assistant.
My favorites were the ones from candidates inviting us to join in on a teleconference in progress. It would have been nice if they had called before the thing started. What's up with that?
For those who know our phone number, we almost never answer the phone live anymore, so during campaign season it just means half a dozen or more extra messages per day piling up on the answering machine. So I was busy with the Delete button -- except one time.
Sarah Palin called, urging me to vote for Carly Fiorina. I kept that one for a while so other members of the family could hear it. Sarah generally has kind of an annoying voice, but we were struck by her giddy enthusiasm in boosting Carly. It reminded us of someone, and it finally came to us who.
A few years ago, we stayed at the Disneyland Hotel, and had left a wake-up call. It was the recorded voice of none other than Mickey himself. "It's gonna be a great day," Mickey bubbled, "So let's…get…started!"
Anyway, thanks for the call, Sarah, bye-bye now! (DELETE).
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