Framing the Dialogue

Archive for March, 2009

Update 2 – Harbingers of Spring

I woke up this morning to a snow-covered lawn and car windows that need scraped.  So much for harbingers of spring.  I should have known that winter had not quite let go as a frequent guest at our feeder, the dark-eyed junco, is still here.  The junco actually winters here and they were at the feeder yesterday.  It is truly spring when I no longer see them.  I did observe a pair of chickadees checking out a nest box that I built in our yard.  A pair raised two broods last year.

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True American Hero – Jake DeSantis

“The truth that makes men free is for the most part the truth which men prefer not to hear.”

                                                                                                    Herbert Agar

My next True American Hero is, of all things, a corporate officer of American International Group, better known as AIG.  Jake DeSantis was an executive vice president of AIG’s financial products unit for the past 12 months.  It seems like a stretch to suggest that anyone from AIG is a hero, but there are many left in the company who are trying to fix the problems and many former AIG employees are speaking.

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A Chilling Development

I was planning on taking the day off from posting.  I played the Subway 3-Point Play game, checked my e-mails took a look at my Amazon account all while watching the NCAA basketball games.  All in all it was a pretty good evening.

As I was getting ready to shut down my system, a headline caught my eye:

GM CEO Wagoner to step down at White House request

President Barack Obama has requested that the Chief Executive Officer of a private, American  resign!  The President of the United States has inserted himself into the workings of a publicly traded company!  Will Obama also “hire” the new CEO?  What are the Administration’s qualifications to run an auto manufacturing company? 

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It’s All Relative

We are family
I got all my sisters with me
We are family
Get up ev’rybody and sing

There has a roiling controversy in Pennsylvania’s control liquor sales system.  State government not only taxes the heck out of liquor and wines, it is the exclusive agent (Liquor Control Board or LCB) for the sale of said products.  Other than a limited number of outlets that can sell wine, if you want more than beer you have to visit a “State Store.”  They have since come up with a nicer name, but will always be State Stores to my generation.

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Update – Harbingers of Spring

Update March 27, 2009:  Today my favorite spring wildflower started blooming in my garden.  Bloodroot is a little unusual since the flower actually opens before the leaves appear.  You can see the leaves wrapped around the stem of the bloom.   I have been waiting for them for the past week and noticed the sprouts this afternoon, but there were not any blooms.  By the time I grabbed my camera, five had opened.

You may read my original post here.

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Update – True American Heroes – Rick Santelli

Update March 27, 2009:  Rich Santelli started a firestorm (in a great way) across the United States with his comments a month ago.  Tea parties have been been held across the country attracting up to 15,000 at an event in California.  Glenn Beck has championed the tea party movement and has provided a link to planned events.  April 15 seems to be THE big day for tea parties with an estimated 150 planned.

In a recent posting on the Investor’s Business Daily Editorials page, they questioned the lack of coverage by the mainstream media.  I think that many of us who no longer get their news from traditional sources know why. 

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True American Hero – Daniel Hannan

“I never did give them hell. I just told the truth, and they thought it was hell.”

                                                                           Harry S. Truman

This is my second True American Hero who is not an American.  I had planned on another individual for this posting today, but Daniel Hannan’s inspirational words to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown resonated today.  I had to travel three hours to attend a meeting today (and three hours back) so I was fortunate to hear his words numerous times.

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The Law of Unintended Consequences

The events surrounding the AIG bailouts, fallouts and now hearings made me think of an episode of the animated series The Simpsons.  You will have to give me a little leeway to develop this concept.

The episode (Bart the Mother – 1998) featured a storyline where Bart accidentally killed a robin only to find the abandoned nest full of eggs.  He becomes obsessed with hatching and raising the birds.  When the eggs hatch, he is surprised that the young are not robins, but an invasive lizard species that replaces bird eggs with its own eggs.

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What About Barack?

Recent events triggered the memory of a quaint movie starring Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss titled What About Bob.  In this 1991 comedy, a dependent, neurotic, and manipulative patient, played by Bill Murray, shows up at his doctor’s vacation and ingratiates himself with the family.  The Dr. Leo Marvin, played by Richard Dreyfuss, is frustrated by the incessant intrusions.  At one point in the movie Dreyfuss screams as Bob again intrudes into his family life:

“You think he’s gone.  He’s not gone.  That’s the whole point.  He’s never gone!”

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Opinion (o – pin – yen)

Opinion is defined as:

“A belief or conclusion held with confidence but not substantiated by positive knowledge or proof”

Synonyms:  view, sentiment, feeling, belief, conviction, persuasion

What does Einstein think?

“Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions.”

Can you use it in a sentence?

Reporters can express their opinions either by what they print or do not include in thier articles.

Can you give me an example?

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