Cleaning up the kitchen with Prairie Home Companion on the radio. Garrison "Karaoke" Keillor and Prudence Johnson show that the Brill Building pop catalog cannot withstand nuzzling by two square crooners — one with a trained voice and one merely enthusiastic.
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You'd think a guy with William McGuire's coin and medical connections would know they have surgery to treat aviator glasses.
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Life is short, so I don't spend much time with conservative blogs. Why should I show up places where I know I'll get just want to get in a fight? But I'm okay with David Strom, who is principled and thoughtful despite being a conservative media hound. He has this to say about Gov. Tim Pawlenty:
If conservative principles are the right principles upon which to base policies, they don't become less so due to this electoral setback. Pawlenty's message is that we should, "hey, go with the flow." Democrats win? Well, make nice with the Democrats, give them what they want, and the consequences? Let the future deal with them. This works for me and my political career. After all, Pawlenty is only 46, so he has to have a future, right?
The consequences that matter seem to be measured in short-term political terms, not long-term "common good" terms.
This is disappointing at best, dangerous at worst. This is how we will backslide our way into socialized medicine, fantasy-driven policies on energy (which is the blood of our economy), and protectionism (which will make us all poorer, and doom the 3rd world to another couple generations of poverty and environmental disaster).
Obviously, politicians can't get too far out ahead of the public, and certainly shouldn't engage in elitist dismissing of public opinion. But it is their obligation to have and stick to core principles based upon an understanding of how the world really works, and base their compromises on how best the move the ball toward the right outcomes--not on what will provided the best short-term political boost for their career.
Energy may indeed be the "blood of our economy," but that HIV in the energy bloodstream is still a bit of a problem, eh, David?
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A friend's new car with front wheel drive but no snow tires didn't like the combo of ice, snow and inclines on our street. Coming back from the Gopher Women's entertaining BBall game with Indiana, it insisted on going straight where turns were required. We decided to punt on the evening's party plans — to stay home with the fire, where the difference between 0.075 and 0.08 matters naught.
Cheers!
