John/BannedAgain’s Post on Paul Ryan

Posted on August 11, 2012 by okiegirl

The Ryan you see today is not the man who for years has appeared as a guest on CNBC. That guy was a “moderate”, nuts and bolts on facts and figures, a charismatic wonk if you will. However not at all, ideologically speaking, on the side of the budget that now bears his name Here’s what I think happened.

The GOP in 2006-08 was an old party, especially in the national leadership, people in their 60s and older. It was full of politicians who had cut their teeth in the Reagan years. The back to back defeats damaged the brand so to speak and paved the way for the sea change that occurred in 2010. Suddenly, much more suddenly than men like Boehner were expecting I’m sure, the GOP was younger, angrier, more ideological and conservative.

As in any civil war, everybody has to choose sides. Ryan being a politician first and a wonk second, chose to run with the upcoming big dogs of his own generation as it were, rather than stay a moderate. He capped this off by putting his name on a budget that was a terrible mistake, because it was another one of those “symbolic” pieces of legislation that had no possibility of passage and which are by their very nature works of faith , not reason.

He’s stuck with the “Ryan budget” now in which the numbers don’t work, but which he’ll have to defend. It’s probably career suicide for him

Incidentally and hopefully the same sea change is about to occur for the Dems in 2014-16. They are an exceptionally old party at the leadership level, notwithstanding the president. Men and women who came to the fore in the Clinton years and who are now in their 60s and 70s. In the next two elections, all the Reids, Bidens, Clintons, Hoyers, Dingells Levins and Rangells will retire or be swept out by a younger generation of Dems, hungrier, more combative, more liberal in a watershed move.

May we all live in interesting times.

Posted on behalf of bannedagain because he doesn’t have the capability of creating a post himself, which is his own damn fault.

Filed under: 2012, Republican Party | Tagged: | 146 Comments »

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Posted on August 11, 2012 by okiegirl

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MARK!

Hahahahaha, somebody older than me! Here are a few tidbits we’ve probably all seen before with a few variations.

How many do you remember?

Candy cigarettes with the “Red” tip.
Wax coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water inside.
Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles.
Coffee shops and diners with tableside jukeboxes.
Blackjack, Clove and Teaberry chewing gum.
Home milk delivery in glass bottles, with cardboard stoppers.
Cream that separated, and rose up out of the milk bottle in the winter.
Telephone numbers with a word prefix, (WEbster 3-5803).
Rotary-dial telephones, and Party lines.
Newsreels before the movie.
Double-features at the neighborhood movie theater.
Walking to your neighborhood school.
Barber Shops with the red/white striped pole outside.
P. F. Flyers.
Butch wax.
Peashooters.
Hi-fi’s, 78, 33, and 45-RPM Records.
S&H Green Stamps.
Metal ice cube trays with levers.
Mimeograph paper.
“Blue” flash bulbs.
Beanie and Cecil.
Spin and Marty.
Howdy Doody.
Roller skate keys.
Cork pop guns.
Gum wrapper chains.
Drive-in movies.
Drive-in restaurants.
Car-hops, bell-hops, and sock-hops.
Outhouses.
Studebaker and Hudson automobiles.
Automobiles with Running-Boards.
Wash tub wringers.
Laundry that was hung outdoors to dry.
The Fuller Brush man.
Brylcreem.
Sitting around the radio, listening to your favorite program, like Sgt. Preston, or The Lone Ranger.
Princess Summer-Fall-Winter-Spring, Dilly-Dally, and Flub-a-Dub.
Paper “cut-out” dolls with paper clothes.
Reel-to-reel tape recorders.
Tinkertoys, and Lincoln Logs.
Fort Apache.
The Erector Set, and the individual who invented it.
The Marx “Super Circus” Playset.
15 cent McDonald’s hamburgers…. and no inside seating.
5 cent packs of baseball cards…with that awful pink slab of bubblegum.
“Push-Ups”, and Dreamsicles.
Penny candy, and penny loafer shoes.
The little wooden spoon that came with cups of ice cream.
29 cent-a-gallon gasoline.
Saddle Shoes, poodle skirts, and crinoline petticoats.
“Nellybelle”
Tom Corbitt – Space Cadet.
The “Cisco Kid” and “Have Gun, Will Travel”

And A Time When…

Decisions were made by going “eeny-meeny-miney-mo.”
Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, “Do over!”
“Race issue” meant arguing about who ran the fastest.
Catching fireflies could happily occupy an entire summer evening.
Summer days were spent playing “Cowboys and Indians”.
It wasn’t odd to have two or three “best” friends.
The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was cooties.
Sex was a gender description, not a subject discussed in public.
Victoria’s secret had something to do with the Queen of England.
Having a weapon in school meant being caught with a slingshot.
A foot of snow was a dream come true.
Saturday morning cartoons weren’t 30-minute ads for action figures.
A Sunday drive in the country meant seeing lots of farms and animals.
“Oly-oly-oxen-free” made perfect sense.
Your friendly neighborhood policeman walked his beat.
It was perfectly safe to walk home alone at night.
Trick-or-Treat was in the evening, without your parents along.
Spinning around, getting dizzy, and falling down was cause for giggles.
The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team.
War was a card game.
Space stations, laser guns and journeys to the moon were found only in comic books.
There were no HMO’s, and Doctors actually made house calls.
Color TV’s and Walkmans were non-existent.
“Pot” was a utensil used for cooking.
Water balloons were the ultimate weapon.
Baseball cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle.
Taking drugs meant orange-flavored chewable aspirin.

And, Mark, I leave this with something for you to look forward to:

WHAT IS SUCCESS?

It Depends…

At age 4, success is not peeing in your pants
At age 16, success is “gettin’ a little”
At age 25, success is graduation and a wedding
At age 35, success is about career and family
At age 55, success is about graduations and weddings
At age 65, success is “gettin’ a little”
At age 90, success is not peeing in your pants

 

Mark, hope you’re having your best birthday yet with many more to come.

Filed under: Birthdays | 10 Comments »