Goodnight Irene

Hurricane Irene, which wreaked devastating floods on the Mid-Atlantic and New England brought to mind the classic folk song Goodnight Irene, popularized some 60 years ago by the Weavers. While the unfortunate residents cleaning up are saying Goodnight Irene (and good riddance), TNB would like to add some other goodnights (and good riddances) to certain natural disasters we've had to endure:

• Goodnight Michele Is the end nearing for the pitiful presidential campaign of Michele Bachmann? Her latest gaffe, which blamed the hurricane (and the earlier East Coast earthquake) on God taking vengeance on Washington for "not listening"(????) reminds TNB that she is the only candidate so stupid that Sarah Palin actually looks good. A swift goodnight, please!


• Goodnight Dick Unfortunately Darth Vader Cheney is back-- this time with (of course) a self-serving memoir which he promised "would explode heads around Washington". Was he planning to shoot someone in the face again? TNB's major regret is that allegedly he offered his resignation three times in 2004 and W. did not have the courage to accept. As they used to close the old Laugh-In show "Say goodnight Dick".


• Goodnight Muammar They still can't find the two bit tyrant responsible for hundreds of American deaths among many others? There can't be that many hiding places in the Libyan desert. About time to give Col. Gaddafi a goodnight tuck-in he'll be able to cherish forever.

Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight---Goodnight Irene, Goodnight Irene

I'll See You In My Dreams

Who Can You Believe

A friend of TNB recently posed the rhetorical question "Who Can You Believe?" to which the joking response was TNB, of course. But pondering this dilemma makes one realize that, especially if you tend to be skeptical by nature (or by profession considering that TNB was trained as an auditor) there's really not a lot to put your faith in anymore if indeed there ever was. Consider the following:

• Job Creators--- It's very difficult to believe that slightly increasing taxes on the very wealthy will prevent them from "creating jobs". Huh? Many of these people are in the financial services world, where the amount of their income (before or after tax) has no bearing on their ability or desire to create jobs. When one thinks about it, how is it possible for any politician (even a Republican) to radically change the employment picture when so many jobs have been permanently lost to outsourcing, technology and other factors that we have permitted to occur over the last 20 years or so under both parties.



• College Athletics---It's very difficult to believe that big-time college football (and basketball, to a lesser extent) is practiced by "student-athletes " who are not tainted by payoffs and other forms of cheating. And what about their coaches and some of the university administrators? The dollars involved are so huge and the temptation to skirt the rules is so strong that it's a wonder when a school's program is shown to be totally "clean" (usually it's a loser).



• Government Paralysis---It's very difficult to believe that our governments at all levels will ever operate in the best interest of the people. The extreme polarization, unwillingness to compromise and total self absorption (where the primary concern is with re-election, including raising obscene amounts of cash) sadly make it unlikely that the citizenry will ever again trust in their elected officials. Check out the polls ranking Congress, for example.

Does all this sound utterly cynical? Probably so--but it is tempered by the occasional good news such as the remarkable advancement in the treatment of the dreaded ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease), the overthrow of Muammar Ghaddafi and the Chicago Cubs firing of their general manager. Hope may not be springing eternal but there is still something to believe in.

Rahm Emanuel for President

Way back in 2008, both candidates vying for the Democratic presidential nomination had strong Chicago ties--Hillary Rodham Clinton, born in Chicago, raised in the suburbs and Barack Obama, born in Honolulu (really!) but who had spent his adult life here. Now with things going poorly, TNB is offering up another (lifelong) Chicagoan as a possible nominee (yes in 2012) for President--namely Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Consider his positives:

• Extensive and intensive experience--Three term Congressman (succeeded Rod Blagojevich!) and White House Chief of Staff (under Obama) before becoming mayor.


• Enormous appeal to Jewish voters (and donors)--historically Democratic but many leaning away from Obama because of mistaken impression that he is anti-Israel (Rahm's father born there).


• Most importantly-- has a documented record of being a relentless, tough, sometimes nasty politician who unlike Obama and Clinton has the required cojones needed to deal with the Tea Party and other crazies in this world (Hillary's lack of course is only biological).

Wait a minute--is TNB suggesting a divisive primary fight? Not at all--TNB's master plan is for Obama to voluntarily become Mayor of Chicago (never mind the details). What a great job for him--no mean Republicans to deal with (not in Chicago), lunch every day at Manny's, getting back to his lovely house (no idiotic renter to get rid of) only a stone's throw from the University of Chicago, where maybe he could at least part-time resume his academic career. Speaking of the U. of C., their lab school would do just fine for Malia and Sasha (Rahm's kids are enrolled there now).

Talk about a win-win situation. Odds, anyone?

Our Long National Nightmare

In August 1974 when Gerald Ford became President succeeding Richard Nixon (who resigned in disgrace from the Watergate scandal) he uttered the profound words "Our long national nightmare is over". And it generally was, save for Ford's subsequent pardon of Nixon.

Today when the latest national nightmare, the absurd, unnecessary battle over the simple act of raising the debt ceiling came to at least a pause, TNB recalled Ford's words realizing that this catastrophe is far from over. Consider:

• President Obama has been badly damaged by the revelation to even his most ardent supporters that while a fundamentally decent man (albeit of color) he is unable to stand up to the nasties (read: crazies) in the Republican Party. His 2012 reelection hopes rest squarely on 3 things--the economy, which lamebrain is his opponent (there are several perfect choices) and the economy.


• Republican House Speaker John Boehner (likewise probably a decent person) has been humiliated and gravely wounded by the extremists in his own party, thus making his future effectiveness also doubtful. Don't even mention his #2 (Eric Cantor) to TNB-- he often sounds like he's still giving his bar mitzvah speech.


• These nasty, crazy extremists (read: Tea Party) have managed to hold the U.S. government hostage to their "little or no government" platform. If their goal is to return this country to the actual Tea Party era (circa 1773), why not just go to colonial Williamsburg for a full costume re-enactment of those glory days? They really don't quite cut it in 2011 but they bizarrely have their followers. Scary!

Looks like a lot of bad dreams coming up for all of us. And TNB thought it was depressing being a Cubs fan.