Trust me, I am going to post on the head-exploding reaction of House Democrats to the necessary and just censure of Al Green two days ago. That post is coming: I’ve just been in a quandary over which movie or TV clip from the Ethics Alarms Hollywood Clip Archive to use. It’s amazing how many apply to the behavior of the once honorable party of Jackson, FDR and Carter (but not Clinton or Biden) as their behavior becomes less professional and more loony seemingly by the hour. The options are daunting. I could justify using, in addition to Dana’s scream of confusion above from “Poltergeist,”
- The clip from “A Man for All Seasons” (“….but for Al Green?”)
- The “Animal House” “futile and stupid gesture” speech.
- “You know: Morons.”
- Sidney Wang on the “stupid theory.”
- “Madness! Madness!” (Bridge Over the River Kwai”)
- “He chose…poorly.”
- “The Naked Gun’s” “Nothing to see here!”
- “Snap out of it!” and Cher’s classic slap.
- George’s “Was that wrong?” (This is a strong contender…)
- The “Plan 9 From Outer Space” clip (“Your stupid minds!”)
- “This business will get out of control!”
- Marty McFly’s “He’s an asshole!”
- The “one big pile of shit” from “Jurassic Park”
That’s more than a third of the total, and I omitted a few that were on the cusp. Well, you’ll see which clip wins the prize very soon.
Meanwhile, please write about something else relating to our mission here, and save your comments for the Democratic Party’s latest disgrace for that post.
Ethics Alarms 
Carter made the honorable list…that seems unethical!
Jimmy was incompetent and weak, but he was always honorable.
The Julie principle starts being applicable to the Democrat party as a whole.
I have to admit that I am far from distraught about the antics of the Democrats. Instead I look at this in a bemused way as it quite entertaining, and I also look at this with a grim sense of satisfaction as it aptly demonstrates the bankruptcy of their ideas. The best response to the Democrats at this point may not be thoughtful analysis or anguished pearl clutching but howling derisive laughter. Hopefully the Dems keep it up until the next election … and get their asses handed back to them.
Right on. While watching the SOTU, my wife got increasingly agitated with, and embarrassed for, the Democratic contingent in the chamber, particularly when they refused to even recognize – much less honor – the special guests as they were introduced.
I laughed and told her the current Democrats in Congress were just empty now. Since Donald Trump won in November, they’ve been empty. They have nothing. They have no plans except to hate everything associated with Trump, no ideas except to hate everything associated with Trump, and no ambition except to hate everything associated with Trump. Maybe the mid-terms will see a shift…MAYBE. But until then, it’s going to be a wasteland of bitterness, resentment, and hapless shrieking.
What a pathetic existence for people (supposedly) in leadership positions. Even stupid Republicans, when faced with total control by the opposition and the highly unlikeable President Obama, NEVER acted in such a rotten, decrepit manner. They have single-handedly demeaned themselves and pushed the reputation of Congress – which is already disliked more than car salesmen and dogs that suck eggs – even further into the toilet.
They should be mocked, embarrassed, and shamed at every opportunity.
Use none of the above. Use Jack Nicholson’s “You Can’t Handle the Truth!”
At this point, though, I would not call it a freak out. Sure, the rank and file Democrats and, certainly, hard-core Progressives may be freaking out, but the leadership of the Democratic Party and its allies in the news media and the entertainment industry, et al, are engaging in another orchestrated propaganda campaign just as they did the last time.
This is part and parcel of what is considered news:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/bet-life-savings-paper-straws-161301480.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall
Administrations make choices all the time that affect the average American’s finances, whether it’s through taxes, something that affects the stock market or how businesses can operate. Do an article about how the lockdown affected a small business owner. You can find a bunch of them, I’ll warrant.
This fellow invested in a business making more durable paper straws. Good for him. Innovation has long been an American trait. President Trump’s recent action on paper straws is hurting the guy’s business, even though it is just the federal government’s use of them. The article does admit that Trump’s order affects a very small part of the paper straw industry, but the purpose is, of course, to emphasize how Presidential decisions can affect the little people (As an aside, I’m sure WaPo wrote similar articles about how small business owners were affected by decisions made by the Biden or Obama administrations, right?). Instead of focusing on the opportunity of advertising a better paper straw and demonstrating why his straw can compete with plastic straws, he’s now blaming President Trump – the man he voted for (oh, how they love finding disillusioned Trump voters!).
Mr. Golden and I are watching “The West Wing” – catching up on shows we had little time and far too much energy for when they aired (now that we have far too much time and much less energy) – in our spare time. We just watched an episode last night in which President Bartlet and his team negotiate a deal with India that is causing eeevil corporations to send jobs there instead of keeping them in the U.S. These jobs are union jobs so you can imagine how the union feels about it. Average Joes and their wives are upset because they were promised their jobs would be safe by Candidate Bartlet. Bartlet’s negotiator – knee-jerk liberal Josh Lyman – feels horribly about it as he sided with the Free Traders on this and the cognitive dissonance scale goes haywire after the sleazy Republican Speaker of the House and his entourage pat him on the back and congratulate him on it. Bartlet admits to Josh that they had to break their promise. Yes, it will cost some jobs now. There will be an increase in other jobs over time, though. That’s just a TV show, though, and, as much as it loved disseminating Democratic Talking Points (I frequently yell at the show from my comfy seat and also laugh when the Talking Points are 25 years old and reflect what Republican are saying now!), it’s not real.
Such truths are hard to accept in the face of personal financial hardship and President Trump has admitted that there will probably be short term pain. But, of course, with a Democratic thumb on the scale, you cannot have a balanced article.
In reference to my honored guest column about the Affordable Care Act aka Obamacare, CBS News has this to report about the cost of medical care.
https://www.cbsnews.com/detroit/news/health-care-costs-medical-debt-americans-borrowing/?intcid=CNM-00-10abd1h
I have to reiterate that the cost of anything is going to go up when you have taxpayer dollars involved or when another entity with “deep pockets” is paying the bills. The ACA did nothing to address the cost of medical care. It’s easy to blame insurance companies (I know that I am not unbiased here), but they try to keep down fraud, waste and abuse as much as possible to save themselves and the patient money. When Anthem tried to negotiate a set price for anesthesia for patients to keep costs down, it didn’t go well for them.
What’s the ethical solution here? Is the ethical solution compatible with American capitalism?
I believe the best solution would be to increase supplies of medical personnel by establishing opportunities for very low cost(to the student) medical training. By increasing supplies of trained personnel, competition will depress what is considered “reasonable and customary” prices charged and reduce wait times for appointments.
I have to wonder how much the cost of medical care is influenced by the high cost of tuition resulting in huge student loan payments.
I have no idea but pricing is a function of supply and demand. The more doctors, nurses, anesthesiologists, radiologists we have the less ability they have to charge higher prices. When you have to wait for months to get an appointment there is no reason for a price reduction.
There should also be a cap on “malpractice” claims. Doctors are not gods so we cannot expect a perfect outcome every time. But if we have a cap then anyone with a history of complaints should lose his or her license to practice or at least be uninsurable.
I must admit I thought the left would settle down shortly after the 2016 election. Boy, was I ever wrong. I’m going to guess the AUC will continue non-stop for at least the next four years. And if J.D. Vance is elected president in 2028, the inanity will continue for perhaps another eight years after that. Truly remarkable. Maybe the Baby Boom dying off will help.
It’s historically unlikely that Vance will follow Trump into the Oval Office; however, nothing is impossible. If that’s where he’s headed, he will need to distinguish himself mightily from Trump and utilize his ability to communicate effectively.
But, yeah, no way will the Left allow the Hillbilly any peace.
Well, there’s an exception to that rule. Transformational POTUSes have had good luck picking their successors. We haven’t had many of those since George: Jackson (who did send his VP to the White House; Teddy, who handpicked Taft; and Reagan, who got his VP, Bush I, elected too. Lincoln and FDR can’t count either way, because they both died in office.
Trump will be a transformational President if everything doesn’t blow up in his fave, which is certainly a possibility. If it doesn’t, AND he maintains a good relationship with Vance, JD will be in an ideal position to take a hand-off.
Governor Moore of Maryland proclaimed Feb 28 through March 20 as the Holy month of Ramadan. The purpose is to combat Islamophobia among other things in the proclamation. CAIR of Md promoted this.
This seems to be a governmentally established preferred religion. Any thoughts?
Do they do the same thing for Yom Kipper and Easter?
The next election is for the GOP to lose. If the GOP acts wisely, the economy does not crash like in 2008, and no major calamities affect the USA (wars, pandemics), my prediction is that the GOP will have a small win in the mid-term elections (bigger in the House than in the Senate).
The Democrats have lost relevance. Parties that have lost relevance have left the political stage before. Between 1830 and 1852 the Whigs were a major political party with four presidents (William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, John Tyler, Millard Fillmore) and many prominent politicians such as Henry Clay and Daniel Webster. Before the Civil War started the party was gone. If the Democrats suffer more electoral defeats, and JD Vance becomes POTUS, then it may be game over for the Democrat party.
The Republicans have been successful in chipping off traditional Democrat constituencies, such as Catholics and blue collar workers. Donald J Trump, Tulsi Gabbard, Elon Musk, and RFK Jr were all Democrats in the past. The last election showed increased support for Trump from Hispanics, and younger black men, indicating that playing the race card isn’t as successful as in the past. The Democrats have become a party for the academic and bureaucratic elites, and the activists. People earning > 100K tend to vote Democrat, while people earning < 100K tend to vote Republican, meaning the Republicans have become the party for the common people.
The media landscape is changing too. Newspapers are still read by older generations, with naturally a declining number of subscribers. It is now widely known how slanted the reporting is. Mainstream TV is struggling too, with declining viewership and layoffs. Many networks (MSNBC, ABC, CBS, CNN) displayed the same craziness as the Democrats (Nicole Wallace and Rachel Maddow) this week. In ascendence are social media (X), podcasts (Joe Rogan, Megyn Kelly etc.), and other written media at the Internet. Net based technology has liberated the people from big corporate media (TV, newspapers) in favor of sources of news that are often free, and more amenable to their views. The danger is that this creates entrenched echo chambers.
The Baby Boom dying off will certainly have an impact. There are still a lot of Catholics and (former) union members who vote Democrat out of loyalty for the party their parents voted for. The older black generation still votes for the party of MLK with Selma in mind, even though they often have conservative views. The younger black generation is going to be different, as they ask the Democrat party for the receipts as they see that Democrat policies harm them (e.g. immigration policy). Younger white people are sick and tired of woke as they see that they are being discriminated against.
This means the GOP will change too. Due to the influx of people who used to vote Democrat social conservatism will decline. I expect that the GOP will have big internal debates on economic policy, tariffs, and taxes. The GOP that is developing will be very different than the GOP of G.W. Bush, with very different views on foreign policy and economy.
In other words, the political landscape may look very different ten or twenty years from now.
Nothing to do with ethics, but the CAUSES OF DEATH of Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa have been determined.
Hackman, of cardiovascular and Alzheimer’s disease ~February 18. Arakawa, hantavirus pulmonary syndrome….~February 11th.
Hackman was in the house for ~ one (1) week after his wife passed.
PWS
Ugh. What an ugly scenario.
So, I was driving in to work this morning and passed a dogwalker. It looked like she was walking eight dogs or about that many. Several thoughts occurred to me.
The first was that since this presumably was a professional dogwalker and had that many dogs in tow, she would certainly have to pick up all the poop. But it strikes me as kind of problematic to stop and pick up the poop while trying to keep all the dogs in check (and she probably needs a big garbage bag, too).
But even more so, I got to thinking about the whole idea of walking dogs en masse.
How enjoyable is it to the dogs to be run around in a herd like this? I know that dogs are pack animals, but it isn’t the same as running in a pack.
Aside from just the bathroom needs, how much benefit do the dogs really get from being walked in such a group?
I.e. is this type of dog walking en masse really ethical? Shouldn’t dog owners want their pets to have a little more personal attention?