Weekend Tids and Bits

CONSERVATIVE PARENTS HOWLED at the plans announced by the White House for President Obama to address schoolkids on the day after Labor Day, the traditional first day of a new school year. The president planned to tell the kids their country needed them to work and study hard, which conservatives branded as “indoctrination.” They may have a point – kids who work and study hard tend to grow up to get good jobs, families and an active intellectual and civic life. Not exactly Red State/Neck-friendly outcomes.

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THE ASSOCIATED PRESS decided that its right to publish a photo of a mortally wounded Marine in spite of pleas from the dead man’s father and the Secretary of Defense trumped any “decent respect to the opinions of mankind.” Some news outlets published the photo. Others didn’t need the money that badly.

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BUT IT COULD BE IMPORTANT! was the anguished cry from users as Google’s Gmail went nutso for slightly more than 90 minutes on Tuesday, highlighting the ability of the world to keep turning even if millions aren’t available on almost instant notice. It was just another illustration of the WOGR-EWID, theorem, which posits that an improvement in daily lives works great – except when it doesn’t. The event will no doubt inspire entrepreneurs who will propose messages written on an actual sheet of paper enclosed in a folded sheet of paper and delivered in return for the purchase of a one-time license to be called a “stamp.”

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NATIONAL HEALTH CARE REFORM neglected to file a Living Will, so it’s unclear whether or not President Obama’s address to the nation scheduled for Wednesday will outline “heroic measures” to bring the reform back to life, or a DNR (Damned Noisy Republicans) order posted over a gasping corpse-in-progress. Proponents of the “American Way” of paying more for less care with worse outcomes than other nations sense victory, but bruised and battered advocates of common sense may rally.

LAST WEEK’S LESSONS:

· Push Comes To Shove in a two-parter about the meeting of populist A. Big Push at the Washington lobbyist offices of Cornelius Shove. Read about it here http://larryblaskosaid.blogspot.com/2009/08/health-care-chronicles-part-i-push.html and here http://larryblaskosaid.blogspot.com/2009/09/health-care-chronicles-part-ii-pushing.html

· We found that the Republic needed N.O.T.A.BLES to run for public office on the None Of The Above ticket at http://larryblaskosaid.blogspot.com/2009/09/wanted-political-party-of-n.html

· Satan’s Happy As Hell over the progress of our involvement in Afghanistan, seeing it as Vietnam revisited in http://larryblaskosaid.blogspot.com/2009/09/yes-we-can-hells-bells-for-afghanistan.html

· Classified Ads You’ll Never See rounded out the last full week of Summer, in which nothing much happens but is written anyway at http://larryblaskosaid.blogspot.com/2009/09/online-classless-classifieds-online-ads.html

Have a great Labor Day Weekend!

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