Thursday, May 16, 2013

Old adages

My father told me that early to bed and early to rise makes you healthy, wealthy and wise.  I've developed my own version of this adage.  Late to bed and early to rise make it so you can't open your eyes.  That's how I felt this morning when I was laying in bed, watching TV and thinking I had nowhere to be...and suddenly remembered I had an early morning appointment with a doctor.

I managed to get there on time, but still waited 20 minutes in the waiting room.  Once again I encountered a rude person who started asking me very personal questions.  I tried to be patient but finally I asked "how old are you?"  He stuck out his chest with pride and said "78 years old" to which I replied "have you not learned in 78 years that it is at least moderately rude to ask personal questions to strangers in public?"  He started to bluster a reply and I said "do us both a favor and leave me alone."  He did.

The legacy of Bill Clinton lives on.  A man who was unfaithful to his girlfriend with one of her close friends, and the friend herself are trying to say it was "only oral sex" and that's "not real sex".  I dunno anymore.  Is oral sex cheating when it is with someone other than your 'partner'??  I think it is.  The marriage vows don't say "forsake all others except for oral".  It is worth noting that in her awesome book "And So It Goes", Linda Ellerbee noted that when a friend of hers married a guy also in the news biz, that when the officiant got to the forsake all others part, the bride leaned over to the groom and whispered "Bangkok doesn't count".  I guess it is between the partners to decide what is and isn't infidelity and they should set the ground rules at the beginning.   And if it helps, the Reverend Pat Robertson told a woman viewer who was trying to find a way to forgive her cheating husband that she should be "grateful that she has him", that "men tend to wander" and she should "make a home so nice he won't be tempted to wander".  I didn't think that he could get me to lower my opinion of him any further, but he just did.

Yesterday I promised more on this IRS mess, not so much what the service did or didn't do in processing applications from Tea Party groups, but in the process itself.  Nominally, the code section that allows these "Super-PACS" to get nonprofit status and to be allowed to maintain the anonymity of their donors, Section 501(c)(4) requires such groups to be social welfare organizations that do not have politics as their primary activity.  This is as true of MoveOn.org as it is of Karl Rove's Crossroads groups.  The answer is simple.  Congress can keep in step with the Citizens United v FEC decision by the Supreme Court and still rein in the 501(c)(4)s by changing the law.  Bar them from partisan political activity.  Charitable organizations, under code section 501(c)(3) are so barred.  Do the same with these social welfare organizations.  And remove the anonymity status for donors.  If you're a Koch brother and you want to give millions to a political campaign, you need to sign your name to your intent.

This Date in History:

On this date in 1568, Mary Queen of Scots flees to England
On this date in 1770, Marie Antoinette (14 yrs old at the time) marries 15 year old Louis-Auguste, who would later become King of France.
On this date in 1866, Congress votes to eliminate the half-dime and replace it with a five cent piece made of nickel.
On this date in 1868, President Johnson is acquitted in his impeachment trial.
On this date in 1920, Pope Benedict XV canonizes Joan of Arc.
On this date in 1929, the first Academy Awards are handed out.
On this date in 1943, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ends.
On this date in 1951, the first regularly scheduled transatlantic flights from London to New York City begin, flown by El Al Airlines.
On this date in 1961, Park Chung-Hee leads a coup d'etat to take control of the government of South Korea.
On this date in 1974, Josip Broz Tito is re-elected President of Yugoslavia.  He is voted in as president for life.
On this date in 1991, Queen Elizabeth II addresses a joint session of Congress, first British monarch to do so.

Famous Folk Born on this Date:

William H. Seward
Levi P. Morton
Henry Fonda
Margaret Sullivan
Liberace
Harry Carey Jr.
Billy Martin
Lowell P. Weicker Jr.
Yvonne Craig (Batgirl, it was Alicia Silverstone who became Fatgirl in the movie version later)
Danny Trejo
Christian Lacroix
Pierce Brosnan
Olga Korbut
Debra Winger
Mare Winningham
Janet Jackson
David Boreanaz
Tucker Carlson
Tracey Gold
Tori Spelling
Adam Richman
Melanie Lynskey
Jim Sturgess
Megan Fox

Movie Quote of the Day today comes from 1980's "Stripes":

Sergeant Hulka: Okay, Mr. Push-ups, let's hear your story.
John Winger: Chicks dig me, because I rarely wear underwear and when I do it's usually something unusual. But now I know why I have always lost women to guys like you. I mean, it's not just the uniform. It's the stories that you tell. So much fun and imagination.
[points to the soldier next to him]
John Winger: Lee Harvey, you are a madman. When you stole that cow, and your friend tried to make it with the cow. I want to party with you, cowboy. If the two of us together, forget it. I'm gonna go out on a limb here. I'm gonna volunteer my leadership to this platoon. An army without leaders is like a foot without a big toe. And Sergeant Hulka isn't always gonna be here to be that big toe for us. I think that we owe a big round of applause to our newest, bestest buddy, and big toe... Sergeant Hulka.
[the soldiers start clapping]
Sergeant Hulka: Well, okay, hotshot. We're gonna see what kind of soldier you are.