LK Show Prep-9/1/10
editor’s note: as LK readies himself for a wider audience in both podkast and broadcast settings, we thought that sharing his prep notes would be a good way to get preliminary feedback (like a comedian trying out new material in a small club) while letting you in on concentrated versions of themes he’s been ruminating on. Enjoy. Or perhaps that’s not the right word….
1. We can’t nation build halfway around the world if the ties that bind at home are fraying, any more than I can contribute to charity if I can’t pay the rent. We need to regroup. Economically, militarily, and spiritually, we need to regroup. For the time being, we need to endure sorrowful images, like the one on the front page of last Friday’s NY Times where a Pakistani woman and child are drinking from a primitive faucet, while we gather the strength to once again ride to the rescue without leaving our own citizens as vulnerable as they now find themselves. We’ve got to let the world know that they need to put a temporary hold on giving us their tired and poor, because we ourselves are plenty fatigued, and if not poor, struggling in ways we’ve never known in our lifetimes.
2. The shell game being played with troops coming home from Iraq, staying behind in Iraq, and being deployed to Afghanistan is so transparent that it’s astounding anyone’s falling for it. The speech from the Oval Office rang hollow and shallow. When an authority figure’s dictum makes it so, or pacifies us to the degree that we act as if it’s so, we’re wearing vintage Orwellian blinders while deluding ourselves into believing that our peripheral vision’s intact. And certainly we’re going to have no trouble at all taming a country when girls are gassed for having the audacity to desire an education and the nation’s central bank is so inept that even its attempt to hide massive corruption fail miserably.
3. The proposed Mosque/community center within shouting (spitting?) distance of Ground Zero should not be built. Constitutional rights and visceral emotions both take a backseat to an ounce of prevention, because there may be no cure. God (or Allah) forbid that violence befalls the building or it’s members, and WWIII could follow post haste. If an Austrian Duke being assassinated could lead to millions of deaths as the dominoes fell and violently rearranged themselves into WWI, the tinderbox planet we live on now could be just as easily ignited.
4. When a 2000+ page financial regulation bill is not only toothless but has dentures that have fallen out, and no one’s read it anyway, is there any doubt that the ultra-bright Machiavellian financiers who gave us the housing bubble can’t find a couple hundred loopholes to render it impotent? Put another way, if a few rules of chess were altered, is there any doubt that Garry Kasparov or the ghost of Bobby Fischer couldn’t spend a few days thinking the changes through and then continue to beat the pants off the rest of us?
5. The quality of the health care my family and I receive for the insurance premium I pay is terrific. Small detail: that premium has increased 50% in the last 2 years. We’re in NYC. Between the premium and the deductible I’m out 20K before I see any reimbursement. For me, that ain’t chump change. So what I’ve really got is disaster insurance, and I’m paying out of pocket for terrific health care. The most recent premium hike, which nearly shocked me into needing disaster insurance, came after passage of another 2000+ page bill that nobody’s read; a bill, by the way, that Nancy Pelosi (who years ago I predicted would lubricate the fall of Obama) gleefully announced could not be read until AFTER it was passed. The will of the people wasn’t done, the representatives the people elected would have been fired were they employed by the private sector, as they voted on paradigm changing legislation they weren’t sufficiently familiar with, and no one, but no one knows what’s around the bend health care wise. That we’re in the dark is shameful, and reflects poorly on us and those who, by running for office, asked for our trust. New Who song: We WILL Get Fooled Again.
6. Roger Clemens and the Emmys warrant less space than this sentence took up.
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LK… You are absolutely right that all of these are hot button issues. Controversial. But dude, you seriously need to cut back on the coffee. And watch less Fox news.
1. Of course we can. It is what we do. Aside from employing a vast army (pun intended) of otherwise jobless 18-24 year olds, nation building has a long cherished US tradition. The sorrowful images only end by spreading – pardon the cheesy cliche – freedom around the world. Hey, it works. Yes, we should help our own. But even if my kids are hungry, I can help my neighbor.
2. What would you have done, being dealt the hand Obama had? Pull everyone with a US flag on his shoulder out? Stay in forever? Isn’t this the best alternative? Helicopters pulling the last troops off of the roofs amid flames and violence…
3. Of course it should be built. No question. Period. You can not pick and choose the parts of the constitution you like. Stop feeding the hate. Come over to the good side. Don’t let the narrow minded bigots win. Or the terrorists. You are better than that.
4. Again, what is the alternative? Why is it that everyone likes our government process in theory, but is somehow surprised that change takes time.
5. Please. Blaming the new legislation, or fear thereof, with your recent 50% increase is just plain silly. Check out the Milliman Medical Index, or any of a dozen research groups. You are confusing cause and effect.
Daddy out.
hey Big Daddy. always terrific to get your wise and well thought out take on things, even if they run hard counter to mine.
around a year ago i wrote a piece about German Jews in the late 20’s and 30’s who either didn’t feel the winds of change or chose to ignore them, believing that laws and human decency would prevail.
i think we’re in a similar period now, and the choice, put simply, is to acknowledge that times are bad and bad times bring on mass psychoses (again, see Germany circa pre WWII) which i sense in more ways than a post response can handle, or stand fast in the belief that ideals and notions held by a virtuous and laudable few will prevail in the face of irrationally expressed public discontent.
history says bet on the former.
to be continued….
Unfortunately, speaking one’s mind in a thoughtful, albeit angry and frustrated way, lends itself to labeling. Big Daddy is suggesting your “Rush roots” are showing and a trip to the Pelosi Hair and Nails Shop is in order. And there, my dear LK, is the rub. SIDES!!!! We have no time for fucking sides!!!!! While we split as a country, the country splits beneath us. Look down. See? Almost gone! The 2 party system has run its course. It is as outdated as PONG, and not nearly as entertaining. Waring a tribal “nation” is ridiculous. You cannot win in a contest where your opponent does not care if he lives or dies. Democracy in Afghanistan!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA!
I have an idea. If we are so intent on creating a mimic govt. over there, why don’t we send Nancy and Newt and a slew of the other worthless, wormhole politicians over and let them show ‘em how it’s done? Then, I will go over to Atlantic City and play the odds board on how many days before they are stood in front of a firing squad.
Here’s what is going to happen. Al Qaeda is already slithering back into Iraq as they wave bye bye to our troops. (see Al Qaeda parties with Twisted Tea). The Taliban are settling in and using the notes Al Qaeda were kind enough to send them on how to beat a huge military without breaking a sweat. The US congress are bracing themselves for what is really important to them – reelection. And the people here, there, and everywhere continue to be played like – well, PONG. Sadly, nothing short of a revolution is going to change the status quo, and we are not feeling enough devastation to revolt. Yet. We are a country founded on govt. for and by the people. Anyone who is delusional enough to think that is what is happening here should go buy a new car, cause golly gee, according to all the advertising, (propaganda) they are “giving them away!”
Falcon – way to go. A Pong reference. Cool. Really. Well played sir! (Wish I had thought of it….)
My main point is: the only sure way to lose a war is to make it into a religious one. Sadly, that is what Al Qaeda wanted, and it is what we gave them. Can’t agree more that we have no business being in the tar baby that is Afghanistan.
Sides? I watched Fox this morning. They were making fun of a place of worship with a pool. “Are they going to pray from the diving board? How dare they claim tax exempt status….”
As a guy who has proudly served on the “board” of my local YMCA for years, I am happy that a faith based community center can receive tax exempt status.
It’s that darn pesky Constitution that gets in the way of saying that only the Christians get to play.
Was guided to this site by a friend. Seems like alot of material. Nice radio tho!