Good for him…that was a pretty level of crazeee to sustain.

It might be the choice of the privileged or it might be the result of a lot of other choices (to do without a lot of “necessities”). Sure, it’s not for everyone but a lot of families have two incomes, but spend most of the second one on the trappings of having it — commuting expenses, meals at work, take-out/delivery meals, household services (maids), day care for kids, all expenses they wouldn’t otherwise have.

It would nice to have an honest discussion that presents this as a choice more people could make. Ann Romney knows no more about how American working households are run than her robotic master does.

If she had done the work herself, sans help of any kind, I and a lot of other at-home parents might join in her defense. But the work of being the combined forces of management and labor at home can range from the usual cleaning and cooking to fixing appliances rather than calling some at $100/hr, bailing out flooded rooms rather than calling a plumber (emergency rates may vary), dealing with contractors, car repairs, appointments (both making and showing up for), etc. Long hours, non-monetary rewards, and all people think is that you’re the target audience for Jerry Springer and Oprah, et al.

Thing of it is, I think the Good Olde Days that people remember, in the 50s and 60s (prosperity-wise: there were lots of other problems, I realize), were what they were because we had an army of versatile, resourceful, dedicated people doing a lot of good work. Moms, they were called, though even then there may have been a few dads. They were in schools and various volunteer organizations, or at home being visible. Somewhere along the way, we traded that for a boat or a second car or new living room suite.

Ann Romney never had that experience, never had to make those choices.

As for only saying things that Obama would say and no more, is that really how it’s done? Would any democratic president say the things that Ann Coulter or Rusty Limbaugh say? Why is the dems who practice unilateral disarmament?

So a guy who runs a tax-exempt megachurch thinks he knows something about the dignity of labor, of honest toil and the plight of the poor? He looks at the fact that half of America falls off the tax rolls and calls them freeloaders: I look at that and wonder why so many make so little?

I’m sure the founders had megachurches and their affiliated publishing and TV empires in mind when they came up with tax-free status for houses of worship.

The rich, if a little oily, smell of entitlement…

But the fact that we have an economy that provides for the likes of “Alan Dlugash, a partner at accounting firm Marks Paneth & Shron LLP in New York who specializes in financial planning for the wealthy” should give us pause. This is my measure of whether or not you have made it in 21st century America. If it makes sense for you to use a service like he provides, where the tax savings more than cover his fees, you’re in good shape. For the rest of us, there’s TurboTax.

There is a kernel of sense to BoBo’s idea of a National Service Corps but digging it out is like following a civet in hopes of finding one of those intestinally-enhanced coffee beans.

I’d be in favor of an organization like the old CCCs that gets kids out of their element and exposes them to how the other fractions live. If there was anything to the Greatest Generation meme, it was rooted in the idea of 18 year olds who had nothing in common but their uniform but learned to live together and fight for each other.

BoBo sees it as an indoctrination program where the Poors will learn their place but if we catch these kids young enough, maybe they can learn from each other, not from the BoBo school of premature fogyism. But it smells too much like the New Deal or those DFHs to get any traction these days. And it would be nice to have these benefits without a world war as the price tag.

Um, best I can make out, I got an 8.

Did he model this on the quizzes in some teen mag (“Which adorable purse dog should you get?”)? I’ve never seen a “quiz” that was easier to game. As a scholarly exercise, it’s on par with the rest of the think-tank-dominated RWNJ academy…

I was struck by this:

But in time, the red ink grew. Although Holson Burnes’ sales nearly doubled from 1987 to 1991 — to more than $110 million— it posted consecutive operating losses, reports stated. Executives blamed the recession and a shift in consumer habits.

Makes me wonder about management or consulting fees that may have come due…

And the classic “fleece the rubes” ploy of getting the locals to pay you to come to the party: why not? It works.

I think Willard is going to have some hard questions to answer in the months ahead.

At 1:05, did she really say “financhual?”

How is that they don’t realize they’re being played?

I keep thinking of Seth Meyers at the Press Corps dinner and his riff: “Obama in 2008? Mr President, you would have loved him.”

I guess what I have been hearing — that he’s really not a liberal — is at the root of it. He’s to the left of a bunch of fascists and authoritarians and Dominionists but what sentient creature isn’t? He’s not going to use the Bully Pulpit on behalf of ideas he doesn’t believe in. Even if he doesn’t believe in single-payer healthcare or an end to DADT an DOMA, there is still a lot of heat he could put on the opposition.

But if he runs against a Perry/Bachmann ticket (like they’ll last that long) or even Romney/[your name here], he may well win. Then what? With nothing to lose as a lame duck, will he roll the dice?

Maybe the 22nd Amendment was a bad idea: FDR couldn’t run again, and he was the reason for it. It might have allowed Reagan to be a three-termer, though: yuck. Shame the people who devised didn’t realize elections *are* term limits.

He was born a multi-millionaire, I won’t criticize him for it, but I would have just been grateful. But luther olsen decided to use all that wealth and accompanying power to go into “public service” steal from the rest of us and destroy public education (long story here).

Someone’s mama didn’t raise him right, as they say in some parts of these indifferently united states. You don’t want a kid to grow up feeling guilty about being a well-to-do white kid, none of which he had any say in, but you don’t want him taking credit for it, either.

Sad how many wing nuts beat up the Kennedys for doing just what onitgoes says @ 30: “if you’re born so stinking rich, go work in the private sector and create more jobs for citizens, rather than *stealing* from citizens.” I hold no brief for them but to lose three sons in one generation while in public service is a pretty heavy load.

Word. I have no idea why he even cares to run as a Republican. Maybe Al Gore should call him up as an intervention, tell him to find something else to do. Not that what he does means anything to me but I’d like the Tea Tantrumers to get all the spotlight.

I am reminded of the story that starts on pg 305 in “I Thought My Father was God” where a very similar story — young, beautiful, popular girl from good family dies of complications from a simple surgical procedure — and wonder how many similar stories there are.

Take a look. It breaks my heart each time I re-read it.

http://www.amazon.com/Thought-My-Father-Was-God/dp/0805067140

So I wasn’t the only one who noticed the re-mapping of Florida’s interstates. I guess this means it’s safe to assume the other words, sentences, ideas, and notions in any “All About Sayrah” reviews are similarly misunderstood? Kind of like how movie theaters are in the business of making money, hence the thing with the tickets, and are unlikely to say a theater was full when it wasn’t. In fact, they might boot a movie that isn’t doing well. I’m sure the rubes will say it’s all part of a conspiracy, that Soros is paying the theaters to evict the undefeatable…

Echoing the praise for Pratchett and Discworld: many ways in, as the L-space guide shows.

Also more a fantasy reader than SF fan, so I’d be recommending Gaiman as well. I just discovered Tom Holt if anyone is looking for stuff similar to those guys. I think I read too much bad SF as a kid and never got the taste out of my mouth.

Riddley Walker gets a big bump as well: but how this is classed as SF eludes me. Likewise Dune which seems more prescient every day. I read it in my mid teens and have re-read it a few times since and it stands far above any of the sequels.

If the rule is that any dystopia or alternate future or story predicated on a scientific discovery is SF, that seems a tad broad. I always get the feeling that SF fans keep moving the fence posts each night to encompass more books and authors and each morning, the authors or their fans keep moving them back. At the end of the day, it’s either fiction or non-fiction and within that, good or bad. Any other attempts at reclassification are all about the insecurity of the person making them.