The Daily Whim
A Photo Gallery With An Attitude
Sun. Mar 16, 2003
Donkeys and Dis-Ease
Donkeys and Dis-Ease – Lots of anxious rumblings around the world today. Waiting. Wondering. In fact, I was talking to a donkey about this just the other day: “Until not too long ago, I had some perverse faith in the fact Bush would like to be re-elected. Surely he would do what it took domestically over the next 18 months to set himself up for a big win.”
“Then I got a look at VooDoo Economics, v 2.0, in the form of the tax cut and rush to huge deficits, and I begin to wonder if he won’t be a One Termer like his Daddy.”
“But there’s a lot of temporal aspects to all of this. We forget about the public turmoil before Gulf War I, when only 54% of Americans polled supported us fighting in Iraq, the Palestinians backed Saddam, and we were warned we’d set the ’Arab street’ aflame, and thousands of US troops would come home in body bags. None of it happened. Similiar warnings and concerns came out before we went into Afghanistan, and the weeks beforehand were filled with much hand wringing.”
“We also forget that with about 18 months before his re-election bid, Pres. George Bush Sr. was riding a wave of 80% poll approval ratings, and world wide acclaim as the leader who forged a coalition to evict Iraq from Kuwait. 18 months later, he was thoroughly whipped by a Governor of a small southern state, a guy who was largely unknown at the time of the Gulf War.”
“We face equal variables here [...] We are now in some Valley of Purgatory, where worry is all there is to be found. Time. News of more delays and roadblocks. Worry.”
“I think everyone is ready for some form of resolution, so that we can all get on with more productive enterprises (locally and globally). I try to remain optimistic, but I’m aware of the ugly potentialities (locally and globally), so I ’stay vigilant.’”
“I’m just happy I have a donkey to talk these things over with.”
The donkey had some interesting things to say as well. In the end, I think we came to agreement. We need a beer.
I believe much of this “high anxiety” will pass. Perhaps in 24 to 72 hours. Irregardless of beer.
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The waiting is like being constipated. We need to go forward or back, just sitting here can't be doing any good.
Hmmm. Speaking of constipation, Mexican jumping beans can do wonders. I just drove back through yet another I-75 all-lane-locked traffic jam (it's an Atlanta thing) and missed the pronouncements from our ClintEastwood-in-Chief. Elaine says Saddam now has 48 hours to git outta Dodge. I really wanted to see it. Does anyone know if he said, "If I'm Saddam Hussein right now...I've gotta be thinkin'.....am I feelin' lucky..." Seriously, that would've made my day. On the other hand, seriously, as a pretty much non-partisan fence-sitter throughout this whole thing (making my mind up only recently when this crap started invading my personal nightmares)....I'm happy to see that reasonable people can still discuss hard and difficult issues with some good humor and plenty of respect. If you've ever been to Wally World (it's a Mindspring thing), and I'm sure there are many other similar venues, you know how quickly the mudslinging sets in. Kudos to our Photodude-in-Chief for running a tight ship. (& thanks for the plug)
Mudslinging? You're soaking in it! (89 comments so far, or try this 45 comment thread). I make no claims of running a tight ship. I have no time to engage every commenter, or rebutt every opinion I oppose. At times, the debate gets far more heated than I would like. I have my limits, in time and patience. For example, if I had the time to upgrade to MT 2.63, I'd have the capability to close old threads to new comments (both of the examples cited are many months old, with the spectrum of opinion well covered). It's sometimes a fine line. I offer comments so people have a chance to air differing views, yet at some level this is also my home, where I am, of course, King. And it is good to be the King. I try to be a benevolent ruler of this ever so tiny domain... ....but there are times the King feels wrathful. Bring me Wally the Jester before I delete someone!
Ah, I see you have your own little corner of Wally's World inhabiting some of that expensive hard drive space. My apologies. But don't worry, it can get worse. The last time I was on a certain spot of usenet, there was a left wing version of Wally screaming at him all the way from Gt. Britain. When I unsubbed and left, you pretty much needed hipboots. They'd probably enjoy a change of scenery over here....then again, maybe not.