Category Archives: Americana

Behind the curve

Americana, Politics

“Conceding that his refusal to release tax returns was “a mistake” and “a distraction” that helped cost him a South Carolina primary win, Romney said he would release his 2010 federal return along with an estimate of his 2011 taxes.” from the Los Angles Times. They – whoever they are – say that timing is everything and I am sure that they are right. I have never understood why somebody like Romney, who seems very intelligent, would not just instinctually realize that he can’t stonewall the release of his taxes. But he did stonewall the release until well after it hurt him in South Carolina.

As a Democrat, I am rooting for Romney to hold back on releasing all his taxes because that will be the best way to keep the issue alive. But, good timing has never been my strong suit; when I see that something is going to happen, I am usually ahead of the curve. And sometimes, the curve never gets there. In 1999, I was convinced that the era of the MacMansion in the boondocks was over and people wanted smaller, closer in homes. I missed the trend by almost ten years.

I comfort myself, however, by remembering that General Douglas MacArthur, an often a brilliant general, was also, often, ahead of the curve. It doesn’t comfort me, however, again, that being ahead of the curve caused MacArthur trouble. Several times, he saw that he was going to win a battle and started drawing troops out before the battle was actually won which actually prolonged the fight and, a couple of times, almost lot it for him.

So maybe Romney is right and stonewalling the release of additional taxes will help him, but I don’t think so.

 

 

I do think Eisenhower was right

Americana, War

I am not sure what to say about this crazy You Tube video except to say that the armored personal carriers do not seem to be bound for Afghanistan (because of the non-USA military paint job). My cynicism wants to say that they are probably headed to some country that needs more material to keep their citizens in check. What ever the destination, I find this pretty dis-heartening.

Racism and unsprung weight

Americana

Just like every car has mass or weight, everybody – to some degree – is a racist . With a car, no matter how much it weighs – but the less weight the better which is why race cars are much lighter than street cars – the trick is to control as much of the weight as possible by putting put it on the control side of the springs or suspension. The weight on the uncontrolled side of the suspension, the unsprung weight, is the weight that causes the most trouble. I think the same is true with our racism, the more we can see it – the more that we can see how the filter of racism colors our perceptions – the better we are able to control the damage done by our racism.

That may be the reason that the people who are the most noticeably racist do not think they are racist and are the most offended by the accusation that they are. They don’t see the filter, they only see the filtered perceptions of their racism. So when Newt Gingrish makes ridiculous, dickish, racist, remarks – like Obama is the food-stamp president because more people are on food-stamps than ever before – I suspect that he doesn’t see them as racist. (He might not even see them as being simplistic to the point of being stupid.)