Irreconcilable Conflicts

Judd Gregg, Obama's choice for Secretary of Commerce, has withdrawn his nomination.

"I have found that on issues such as the stimulus package and the Census there are irresolvable conflicts for me," Gregg said in the statement.

Gregg was an unusual choice to start with, since he was a sitting Republican senator. But he did accept the job offer. So what is this withdrawal about?

I imagine by now Obama is sick
of making cabinet picks.

Well, we need to be understanding.
Being prez is demanding!

UPDATE:

The withdrawal appeared to take the White House by surprise, with members of the president’s media operation learning of Gregg’s decision from reporters.

Ouchy.
If I was the president's media operation, I'd be feeling grouchy.

Paper or Plastic?

Congressman Paul Kajorski, who sits on the House Banking Committee, boils it down:

This happens because capitalism keeps trying to destroy itself, by getting out of the bag we put it in to control it.

He sees it as a violent idiot child
which must be caged
to control its rage.

Don't let that thing run wild!

Yes, strangely enough, free markets are made
simply by letting people trade.

Let's Get Scientific

Billions and trillions (which is which?)
float through our legislation. 

The good news is we must be rich
to afford such allocations.

But I do believe it's time to switch
to exponential notation.

Humanitarian Samaritan

I love the start of this story:

A Good Samaritan beat a man over the head with a shovel this morning...

So you wonder what a Bad Samaritan would be like, but then you read on:

after witnessing the man stab a woman during a domestic-related attack on a North Side street, police said.

Goodness travels on diverse tracks.
Sometimes it requires delivering whacks.

That's Old North Church, in the North End of Boston, a few blocks from my son's apartment. As Wikipedia dryly sums it up:

On April 18, 1775, probably a little after 10 P.M., the 191 ft (58 m) steeple of the Church served a military purpose. Paul Revere told three Boston Patriots to hang two lanterns in the steeple... The lanterns were displayed to send a warning to Charlestown Patriots across the Charles River about the movements of the British Army... The signal only lasted for a few brief moments to avoid catching the eyes of the British troops occupying Boston, but this was long enough for the message to be received in Charlestown. They had kept someone looking at the steeple all night.

Or, as Longfellow had it:

He said to his friend, "If the British march
By land or sea from the town to-night,
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch
Of the North Church tower as a signal light,--
One if by land, and two if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm,
For the country folk to be up and to arm."

The tower still stands tall,
and I think the need remains,
when liberty's under assault,
to take a horse by the reins,
and ride with a cry far and wide.

Picture Worth 3 Trillion Words

Actual Newsweek cover:

Who is this we?
Don't include me!

My proposed revision:

Another Day, Another Dollar Gone Poof

We have a guy fiddling with the banking system.
He's supposed to be smart, but where is the wisdom?

He makes it clear that we need to act now,
but most people think that he doesn't know how...

what a surprise - down goes the Dow!

UPDATE: must-see chart from W.C. Varones - scroll down just a little.

Analects

I had a great long weekend in Boston. But I was sort of out of touch from news and the net. I hope nothing happened in the last 3 days.

I've been reading The Analects ("sayings") of Confucius.  "Confucius," by the way, is a latinized version of Kǒng Fūzǐ, or Master Kong.

This is my favorite from today's reading:

"If a man takes no thought for what is distant, he will find sorrow near at hand."

Ignore what is afar
and you'll find the things you fear 
are 
near.

Icy Urban Contrast

In Chicago, it's an occasion for panic, but...

In Boston, people are fond
of walking on frozen rivers and ponds. 

Stimulus and Response

The Chi-Trib is reporting that the Senators stayed up late and agreed on a Stimulus bill, which sounds slightly less expensive than the House version.

I can't say this news excites me. At least not in a positive way.

Perhaps being stimulated
is overrated.

While You Were Sleeping

How would you like to have "Dominique" carved into your upper arm?

It happened to Wayne Robinson when his one-night bedmate, Dominique Fisher, performed some impromptu body modification on him. 

And he slept through it, due to a Valium / vodka combo:

When I woke I was covered in blood. Dominique was snoring. I just had to get out of there. I didn't even wake her to ask what she'd done.

If your flame
perversely seeks
to carve her name
in your physique,
it really would be better
if her name had fewer letters
than Dominique.

Penthouse Legend

That's a picture of Ivar Kreugar's penthouse on Park Avenue - up on top there somewhere. (From this book.)

Penthouse Legend, a play by Ayn Rand, borrowed from the circumstances of Kreugar's rise and fall.  He was a financial wizard who seemed to be on top of the world - until his fraudulent house of cards collapsed. The play is better known as Night of January 16th.

The lead role in the play is Karen Andre, personal secretary to the financial wizard.

In real life, Karen Bokman was Kruegar's personal secretary. She was reportedly the last person to see him alive.

For those who have seen the play, here's an interesting quote from this book:

There was so much talk about the case, including some really wild rumors that the corpse had been a fake and that Kreuger had escaped and was living in faraway seclusion...

He had been so fiendishly clever
in his fraudulent endeavors -

No wonder people suspected
he had skipped away undetected.

Hope and Copyright Infringement

Exhibit A is an AP photo. Exhibit B is a poster. 

The artist admits he based the poster on the photo.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury, does this represent copyright infringement? 

AP says it does, and they want some money from the poster sales!

Be wary of a legal scrimmage
when you borrow an AP image.

Usually they won't notice, but -
if you make money they want a cut!

Daily Doll Data

Officially the Malia and Sasha dolls have been retired. Talk about retiring young!

However, the company is now marketing Mariah and Sydney dolls that look just like the OLD Malia and Sasha dolls.

After all, the toys weren't really the problem. It was what they were called!

Unhitched from the names
that brought them fame,
they may not sell
so well.

Even though... they're still the same.

Admirable Active Voice Admission

Fairly forthright:

“I screwed up.” 

“Today was an embarrassment for us,” Obama said.

It's good to admit that your judgment strayed, 
rather than saying "mistakes were made."

Hard to Figure

We've got a credit crunch, and we need the banks to make more loans, but we ALSO need the banks to increase their capital... right? Anyone see a problem there? Well, the banks do:

Banks say they are caught in a frustrating Catch-22: How can they make more loans when creditworthy borrowers are scarce, their balance sheets are saddled with bad debt and regulators are hounding them to horde cash?

But the regulators shout:
You'll figure something out!

Fevered

Marsha reflects on an epistemological component of the emotionalism that many have noted in politics lately:

Philosophers from Kant to Marcuse and later spent years gutting reason of its power to arrive at objective judgments, and promulgating this view through the Academy. Without this ability, what individual can stand, with certainty, against the crowd? What's left but emotionally based alliances?

Without solid land
on which to stand
windswept feelings
can leave you reeling.

Doll Controversy

Lawmakers and lawyers are upset that images of the Obama family are being sold commercially.

So get your Malia and Sasha dolls now, before the company gets harassed into not making them anymore! Mrs. Obama does not like these dolls.

But attempts at suppression will probably fail legally, and the controversy will probably gather attention for the product. As one commentary declares:

The bigger the brew ha-ha the more the dolls will be worth in the long run.

I agree with the opinion but I like the new spelling of "brew ha-ha". This spelling has a pleasant suggestion of laughing about something over a few beers. 

Where does "brouhaha" come from anyway? Once scholar suggested:

that the word was based on the Hebrew greeting barukh habba, an equivalent of 'welcome' meaning “blessed be the one who comes”.

And here's a funny coincidence: the Hebrew "barukh" is the same word as "Barack" - they're from the same semitic root, meaning "blessed." Which Obama explains on a youtube video here.

May all of you be blessed
and unsuppressed.

Even If The Bears Didn't Make It

It's great to have a Chicago team in the Superbowl.

They left for St. Louis when I was 7. Then they bolted to Arizona in '88.

Come on Cards,
take some yards!

UPDATE:

They showed good stuff.
Just not quite enough.

At The Alfalfa Dinner

President Obama spoke at an exclusive party the other night:

I am seriously glad to be here tonight at the annual Alfalfa dinner. I know that many you are aware that this dinner began almost one hundred years ago as a way to celebrate the birthday of General Robert E. Lee. If he were here with us tonight, the General would be 202 years old. And very confused.

I don't think he would be confused, exactly, at having a President with acknowledged African ancestry. Unhappy, perhaps. 

But he knew he lost that war,
and had to know the future held in store
things never seen before.