dagblog - Comments for "An American Garden"

That is shiver material. Plus

wws — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 19:00:56 +0000

In reply to This gave me the

That is shiver material. Plus the remarks about potential cuts in Medicare and SS.

Thanks for the link to the article; comforting or uncomfortable, it was a revealing interview.

This gave me the

we are stardust — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 18:47:38 +0000

In reply to I just finished reading the

This gave me the shivers:

Rouse and Messina see areas for possible bipartisan agreement, like reauthorizing the nation’s education laws to include reform measures favored by centrists and conservatives, passing long-pending trade pacts and possibly even producing scaled-back energy legislation. “You’ll hear more about exports and less about public spending,” a senior White House official said. “You’ll hear more about initiative and private sector and less about the Department of Energy. You’ll hear more about government as a financier and less about government as a hirer.”

I just finished reading the

wws — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 17:51:27 +0000

In reply to I do, here it

I just finished reading the Times article and was struck by this assertion by the Obama administration:

” Obama’s team takes pride that he has fulfilled three of the five major promises he laid out as pillars of his “new foundation” in an April 2009 speech at Georgetown University — health care, education reform and financial reregulation. And they point to decisions to end the combat mission in Iraq while escalating the war in Afghanistan .... "

Huh? Where, for example, is that financial re-regulation they're bragging about?

The following quote makes more sense to me:

"Norman Solomon, a leading progressive activist and the president of the Institute for Public Accuracy, said Obama has “totally blown this great opportunity” to reinvent America by being more aggressive on issues like a public health care option. Other liberals feel the same way about gays in the military or the prison at Guántanamo Bay. “It’s been so reflexive since he was elected, to just give ground and give ground,” Solomon told me. “If we don’t call him a wimp, which may be the wrong word, he just seems to be backpedaling.” Solomon added: “It makes people feel angry and perhaps used. People just feel like, Gee, we really believed in this guy, and his rhetoric is so different than the way he’s behaved in office.”

Interesting -- one perspective as seen from inside the White House, versus one outside, looking in. Different universes, apparently.

I do, here it

we are stardust — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 15:39:59 +0000

In reply to Stardust:Do you have a quick

I do, here it is:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/magazine/17obama-t.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=all

I clipped some outtakes, though some of the worst stuff for Dems in the midterms aren't direct quotes. The section on Rouse and Messina and the agenda for the next two years disturbe me a lot. But there are things like this:

"During our hour together, Obama told me he had no regrets about the broad direction of his presidency. But he did identify what he called “tactical lessons.” He let himself look too much like “the same old tax-and-spend liberal Democrat.” He realized too late that “there’s no such thing as shovel-ready projects” when it comes to public works. Perhaps he should not have proposed tax breaks as part of his stimulus and instead “let the Republicans insist on the tax cuts” so it could be seen as a bipartisan compromise."

Guess the Dems are lucky it's only in the Times Mag, and not on video...

Stardust:Do you have a quick

wws — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 15:13:35 +0000

In reply to I have a feeling that if the

Stardust:

Do you have a quick link for the NYT article?

I have a feeling that if the

we are stardust — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 02:32:08 +0000

In reply to Well, Stardust, all I can say

I have a feeling that if the Gardener in Chief is aggravating you, he is in deep trouble. Wait until you read his new interview in the NYT. It will likely floor you, and then blow the top of your head off. Hint: he seems to be waving the white flag of surrender, and is engaged in navel-gazing about 2 year too early. I am disturbed at his recent cluelessness. Heres to the Gardener getting of his ass! ;o)

Well, Stardust, all I can say

stillidealistic — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 02:10:31 +0000

In reply to An American Garden

Well, Stardust, all I can say is that the Gardener in Chief had better get off his ass, 'cuz if he's pissin' ME off, he's got problems...and he's pissin' me off.

Well, then; it was a very

we are stardust — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 22:29:29 +0000

In reply to Please, no. Mine was a quip.

Well, then; it was a very fine quip. ;o)

Those are really kind words,

we are stardust — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 22:19:36 +0000

In reply to Well done, Stardust. I tried

Those are really kind words, wws. I appreciate them a lot.

Well done, Stardust. I tried

wws — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 22:08:56 +0000

In reply to An American Garden

Well done, Stardust.

I tried and failed at this kind of metaphor in "Dollarweed Wars"... which fell flat, and rightly so, because: a) I did not make the metaphor connection until the last paragraph (way too late); and, b) I was too lazy to develop it carefully, as you have done successfully, point by point.

The number of voices as well as the number of approaches you take in your writing is really remarkable. Whether you are writing a straightforward essay, a sci fi futuristic diary, a bit of fiction with real life undertones, you invariably make it clear what the legitimate point is you wish to make, and then you make it, which point always bears careful consideration.

Brava.