Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Lightning Round

Only have a few minutes. Go!

  • We'll give ol' number 4 credit for having a nice game and a nice moment yesterday. In the long run, I remain confident that the Packers made the right decision, though. I've seen enough of Brett Favre to know that he'll break someone's heart again this year. And it won't be the Green Bay Packers.
  • We had a wonderful time back at Beloit over the weekend. The campus looks good and you get the feeling that there's new confidence at the school. The new president of the college looks like he's going to do an excellent job. And even the football team looks better.
  • "So I jump ship in Hong Kong and make my way over to Tibet, and I get on as a looper at a course over in the Himalayas. A looper, you know, a caddy, a looper, a jock. So, I tell them I'm a pro jock, and who do you think they give me? The Dalai Lama, himself. Twelfth son of the Lama. The flowing robes, the grace, bald... striking. So, I'm on the first tee with him. I give him the driver. He hauls off and whacks one - big hitter, the Lama - long, into a ten-thousand foot crevasse, right at the base of this glacier. Do you know what the Lama says? Gunga galunga... gunga, gunga-galunga. So we finish the 18th and he's gonna stiff me. And I say, "Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know." And he says, "Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness." So I got that goin' for me, which is nice."
  • In case you had any illusions about the role of media, especially the MSM, in today's world, this ought to disabuse you of those notions. CNN is a straight-up Praetorian Guard for the current administration.
  • I live in Minnesota. I know a lot of people who work for medical device manufacturers, especially Medtronic, whose headquarters is about 7 miles from where I live. Think they're interested in this?

9 comments:

Night Writer said...

Perhaps, one day, Pres. Obama will receive total consciousness. Right now, however, he's got the total cluelessness going for him, which is nice. (Not.)

K-Rod said...

Correction to the WSJ article: Guidant (formerly CPI of St. Paul) was bought and absorbed by Boston Scientific of Natick MA. The article also should have included St. Jude Medical of St. Paul.

But that doesn't change the fact that the Senate Finance Committee bill will seriously stifle innovation and possibly push jobs and technology overseas.

The medical device industry calls this the innovation tax, and rightly so.

Even Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken oppose the bill. They know it will kill innovation and kill jobs.
It's not rocket science to figure that out.

Anonymous said...

Mark,
in re the Dalai Lama, I am hard pressed to see what the big deal is. Maybe the Lama should have checked to see if this was an opportune time to visit the US, and expect an audience with the President. Every administration since Nixon has been paying lip service to the Lama, while openly working with the PRC. Throughout that period, not a damn thing has happened in Tibet, with the exception of China's position growing stronger. But something is going on in Iran that has the potential to shift the balance of power in the Middle East and dramatically impact global politics, and the only real options we have with Iran are diplomatic. We've already made some headway with the Russians, but we need the Chinese on board too. So if that means the President has a sit down with the leader of Tibet a few months from now, instead of this week, I am not really bothered by that. Can you tell me what the big deal is?

Rich

Mr. D said...

So if that means the President has a sit down with the leader of Tibet a few months from now, instead of this week, I am not really bothered by that. Can you tell me what the big deal is?

Big deal by itself? Arguably not. Part of a pattern that's troubling? Yes. And the Dalai Lama isn't just about Tibet; he's hugely important to Buddhists worldwide. That matters, too.

Anonymous said...

Mark,
given the current and very real geopolitical concerns with Iran, I think they outweigh the supposed hurt feelings of Buddhists world-wide. I might also point out that if Obama is the global media whore who is only interested in shoring up his street cred with Hollywood and the International press, as many on the right insist, he would be hard-pressed to find a worse way to do that than dissing the Dalai Lama. It wouldn't make much sense, would it?

Rich

K-Rod said...

What kind of arrogant a-hole cowboy would dis the Dalai Lama? It's about taking the moral high ground and supporting those ideals and not succumbing to the pressures of a communist country with a horrible track record on human rights.

Mr. D, I agree that the pattern of poor behavior and decision making by Obama is indeed a bit troubling. Imagine if Dubya would have dissed the Dalai Lama. The media / left would have had a field day. Obama prolly would have dropped everything if it was Hugo in town!
Is Hugo still telling Barack what books to read?

Mr. D said...

If Obama is the global media whore who is only interested in shoring up his street cred with Hollywood and the International press, as many on the right insist

Hoo, there's a strawman. Like I said, as an isolated incident, it wouldn't mean that much, although it does negate 30-40 years of U.S. policy. regarding the Dalai Lama. The issue isn't street cred; the issue is whether or not the decisions make sense and are part of a coherent foreign policy context. Obama seems like he's all over the board right now.

Anonymous said...

Mark,

The stuff about Obama/media whore was an aside. Your point, that this negates 30-40 years of U.S. policy, was my point too. What has that gotten us in 40 years? You know the answer: a lot of feel good photo ops, and nothing more. But right now, a photo op with the Lama might be a little less important than getting China to either get on board or sit on their hands vis-a-vis Iran.

As for Obama being all over the map on Iran, I disagree. I thought he played out the nuke violations pretty well a few weeks ago. Admittedly, only time will tell, but we will know pretty soon if Iran is going to comply on inspections, and if Russia is going to fulfill there role too.

Rich

K-Rod said...

Taking the high road and supporting the Dalai Lama and humanitarian morals or dis the Dalai Lama and throw him under the HopeyChangitude bus!

And the ObamaNation sheeple basically praise Obama for shunning the Dalai Lama. Nothing but a waste of time photo op? Way to go Rich! Your true colors are shining through.