Damn right I’ll miss him.

Where we will get more Teds, I don’t know, unless for instance I myself try to be one. Hell, I might run for Denver City Council in 2012. Why not?

Cheers. We may never see his like again.

RIP Ted, Dominick, and Ellie.

NEW YORK — Ellie Greenwich, who co-wrote some of pop music’s most enduring songs, including “Chapel of Love,” “Be My Baby” and “Leader of the Pack,” died Wednesday, according to her niece. She was 68.

Damn straight why not? give it a go!

No snark? Bring back the real Watertiger!

Unless we can talk Jane into running for the Senate.

Ted Kennedy marks the passing of the New Deal consensus, the recognition that great wealth brought an obligation to help those less advantaged. For some, like Kennedy, this was a moral imperative. For others, like the moderate Republicans, it was a more practical calculation that they had to give up a little to keep most of what they had. Most of the rich and powerful realized just how close they came to losing everything in the 30s (this was a period of widespread communism and socialism among the working classes) through revolutionary action. As those of that generation died off, the younger generation saw no reason to restrain their greed.

meh. i’m too sad to be snarky today.

We May Never Pass This Way Again

Seems appropriate somehow, and you just reminded me of this song.

You got a little jab in at Der Shrubbenfuhrer. It’s enough for a day like today.

Well, actually, gay and an atheist. The 2 most despised groups in politics.

But I’d just as soon try and make a point than whimper and mewl.

I guess I’ll wait awhile before I start trash-talking Dominick Dunne.

thank you for that edification. it’s amazing how quickly greed replaced compassion.

meh. no love lost there.

I don’t recall ever hearing that name before today.

You’d get my vote. Be a couple thousand miles out of my district but if Ann Coulter can get away with it, what the hell.

Any Senator would probably give his or her eyeteeth to be known for spearheading just one of those bills on that list.

Looking at the entire list gives you a sense of awe about Kennedy. An awe that one gets when looking at the works of da Vinci or listening to the symphonies of Beethoven. How can one person generate so much in such a short span of time?

[your check will arrive shortly.]

Heh.

i’ll come out and protect your HQ windows from being smashed.

They undoubtedly got a large portion of their ambition from their dad but the dedication to public service must have come from their mother. I don’t think Joe Sr. was all that big on compassion.

Ted’s death is a great loss to the country. I think maybe the saddest thing is that the young people of today and later may never know a man who cares about America and its people the
way he did. I hope that some future Kennedys will be inspired by his legacy.

Gracias.

Left you a note downstairs, in June plans were announced for a remake of An American Werewolf In London. Remakes tend to suck but maybe this one will buck the trend.

Much used to be made of Rose being the driving force behind the family. Good catch.

There really was a pretty direct line from the point at which those who were adults (or nearly so)during the Depression stepped down from control over the American corporate world and when the unmitigated greed ethos took over. I watched it happen in the late 70s and early 80s.

It seems like Hollywood isn’t even pretending to come up with new ideas anymore.

Not a job qualification for bootleggers and rum runners.

As a small d democrat, I do not have much use for noblesse outside of storybooks. Ted Kennedy’s private life was marked by the same sense of entitlement that many who are rich and famous seem to think belongs to them. He was unusual for someone of his class or those who aspire to it in that he sometimes gave some thought beyond his own narrow class and sectarian interests. Most of those who make up our elites, whether they come from Wall Street, the Village, and the various universities, thinktanks and centers which shelter them, never do and never will.

I may seem to be damning with faint praise but I am trying to make a deeper point. The Bush years and their continuation under Obama demonstrate a political system that is thoroughly corrupt. Ted Kennedy was very much part of that system. He was better than most who belonged to it, but he could not escape its vices and contradictions. If you want to understand him in his context, then you need to understand this.

watertiger – I was half serious before, but now I’m more serious and am thinking more along the lines of this:

If it’s the end of Noblesse Oblige, is it not the beginning of Neo Oblige? We’re not really going to get elites to behave in the fashion of a Kennedy anymore. But we probably could have regular people who would act in an obligesse manner?

The Reagan/Norquist “government is evil” meme is what needs to die, and it’s potentially possible with the recruitment of more progressives who do not have fortunes backing them, but mere mortals.

Doubt if we’ll ever again witness the levels of altruism combined with political acumen that Ted embodied.

Or Nazi appeasers.

Wrong, rf. Joe Sr. always told his children they had an obligation to give back, that “to those whom much is given, much is expected.” I’ve heard a version of that over and over in bios of the Kennedy brothers and sisters (Eunice was no slouch, either). And don’t forget it’s Rose who was the first scion of a political dynamo in the family – she was the daughter of “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald, mayor of Boston. The lady had compassion and faith, but she was alsos made of steel.

There is a great deal to what you say, but it in now way diminishes what he accomplished and the number of people that he helped immensely, when he did not have to. I would not want to canonize him, but neither will I belittle him or his accomplishments.

Just a tiny nit pick.

The Alternative Minimum Tax was passed to ensure rich folks paid their fair because many very, very, very, very rich Americans had so many tax write-offs that they owed very little (or nothing).

I don’t think it’s accurate to say it “limited the amount of taxation on Middle income Americans.”

But could be wrong, I’m good at that.

I don’t believe anyone has forgotten his human weaknesses. It is his humanity we celebrate.

Not to mention that for many of them most or all of their income is capital gains and only taxed at 15%.

If only there were more communists and socialists to remind the rich they could lose everything if they aren’t willing to share their good fortune.

On reflection I’ve also heard that about Joe. I also knew that Rose was heiress to a political dynasty. The young ambitious Joseph Kennedy needed her more than she needed him. To some extent that was echoed by JFK’s courtship of Jackie.

I do my best. 8-)

Amen, Dr. Dick, Amen.

I have said for years that the GOP should be eternally grateful that Franklin Roosevelt was able to steer a course through Scylla and Charabdis (Fascism and Communism) during the Depression. A very few of them get it, but not nearly enough.

And the lack of more communists and socialists has only lead to a greater debasement in the body politic.

I hear what you are saying, but Ted could have decided back in the ’60’s or 70’s that he didn’t want to have anything to do with politics and go off sailing for the rest of his life. No one would have blamed him after the murders of his brothers. He didn’t do that. He hunkered down and went to work. And yes, he was a flawed human being—yet another reason he could have disappeared from public view.

He was my senator for the better part of 20 years and I was proud of that and found comfort in it. I don’t think there are any like him left in either the House or Senate.

JMO, YMMV.

No surprise here but I wish the MSM would dwell more on this.

Health care industry contributes heavily to Blue Dogs

The favorable treatment of capital relative to earned income in taxation is something that has aggravated me all my adult life. Bushie’s invented death tax and its use to kill off estate taxes has taken a bad problem and made it worse.

If the abolition is left in place, a permanent American aristocracy has been created by enabling the vast transfer of wealth across generations.

Exactly. As much as conservatives rail against Roosevelt, he saved capitalism for them by giving just enough to defuse the working class rage. Most of the New Deal programs and initiatives (Social Security for instance) were watered down versions of old Socialist Party platform elements. It was the combination to Roosevelt’s New Deal and the excesses of Stalin (not to mention his temporary alliance with Hitler) which killed the real left in this country.

Wonderful post

On behalf of us remnants, I thank you.

It is also why we work longer for lower pay and have fewer government benefits than anybody else in the industrialized world. Much of the labor movement in Europe and Japan is overtly socialist or communist.

You expect the corporate media to actually do “journalism.” There not there for journalism but indoctrination. Think Charleeee Gibson, Brian Williams, Katie, George Stephanopolus, Brit Hume et al actually care about the American people? They are only in it for the celebrity and riches. Chuck Todd the other day said as much when he said his reputation was besmirched on Bill Maher’s TV show. Poor Chuck Todd. And he’s the head of NBC News.

There is a book that deserves to be better known. It’s Garry Wills’ A Necessary Good. I prescribe it to people who rant against government as an infringement of their freedoms.

While it’s certainly true that government can infringe on citizen’s freedoms, it’s also very true that government acts as guarantor of those freedoms when it works well.

Yeah, the people in those countries don’t have a weewee moment when the word “socialist” is spoken in polite society or when a socialist actually walks into the room. I would call that maturity. What we have here is a perpetual state of adolescence and infantilism.

FDR gained a loT of compassion,when struck down by polio like an ordinary person…I scream it everyday…………bugs and microbes dont know if your rich or poor
UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE FOR ALL NOW

Personally, I would invert the relationship and tax unearned income at a much higher rate and I would tax inheritances (with certain exemptions) just like any other income. That is in fact what they are, since the beneficiaries in no sense “earned” that money. It is a gift and income.

I am not sure we have advanced to adolescence just yet.

Thank you!

Agreed, especially considering even if the two are taxed at identical rates, the earned income pays a net higher rate due to FICA, which is never placed on unearned income.

You get my vote.

If I were writing the tax code, I would tax estates heavily. A good GOoPer would call it confiscatory. I’d also write a loophole that allowed those subject to the estate to avoid it by forming an irrevocable charitable trust. It either goes to the common good, or if the owner wants to direct how the estate is spent they can.

You’re welcome!

You hit a very important point — that Kennedy achieved so much, just in his first 10 years in the Senate.

The MSM is furthering the right-wing’s talking points. First thing this morning, they were all saying “He CAME TO BE a hard worker in the Senate, explaining that his first 20 years were nothing — drunkeness, Chappaquiddick, etc.

I thought they would at least wait until he was buried to start their lies. No, I knew the right-wingers would act like this, but the so-called neutral MSM freaks, like Norah O’Donnell? No. I had to turn off my teevee set this morning after only 15 minutes.

I will try again tonight. Maybe saner heads will prevail. But I saw what I saw this morning, and it was NOT pretty. LIES LIES LIES (And WAY too many children who weren’t even born during his first 10 years, telling us all what he was like.)

I would also lift the cap on FICA and extend it to all income (Social Security and Medicare financing issues solved forever).

I’m pretty sure we haven’t reached adolescence. Or we passed through it and adulthood in some decade before I was born and now we’ve senescence.

In addition to that, I would cap benefits at an implicit income of $100,000 or something like that and index it to inflation.

When working at a summer job while in college I remember talking to an “old timer” who had once been a lumberjack living in a lumber camp. One of the workers was a member of the IWW and was organizing in the camp. When the “bosses” got wind of it they they had their stooges chase him down in the mess hall, clamoring and jumping over tables trying to catch the Wobbly who dared challenge their authority. When they finally did catch him they took him out and lynched him off a railroad bridge. A true story told by an “old timer” who was there.

MSNBC seems to have gotten in mostly right.

I would definitely favor confiscatory rates on large estates, excepting only family farms and small businesses (sorry Paris and Pritzkers, family owned megabusinesses don’t count).

Wobblies were very big here in Montana. Joe hill and Mother Jones were both here. Funny how that never shows up in the history texts that celebrate the Copper Barons.

I think Warren Buffett got it right. He said he intends to leave his kids enough that they can do anything they want to, but not so much that they can do nothing.

American history as taught is so sanitized and homogenized. The struggles of the working classes are never a subject worthy of reflection or study. Only how the rich are successful because of hard work and industry. Usually someone else’s hard work and industry.

You expect the corporate media to actually do “journalism.”

Uh… no.

Dr. Dick, are you familiar with the Italian Hall massacre in Calumet, Michigan? Woody Guthrie immortalized it with a song in the 40’s.

I do not think we should allow cash or financial asset inheritances over $1 million (I would allow transfer of farms and small businesses) period. With that much money you could live for the rest of your life without working if you so desired, though not lavishly. The founding fathers feared just this kind of establishment of a permanent aristocracy above all else (which is pretty odd since most of them belonged to the colonial aristocracy).

Thank goodness we have Hollywood to fill the gaps. Because of Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman I know that people living in the Old West had abundant cosmetics and superb dentistry.

Not familiar with that one. There were so many atrocities of that sort during the early 20th century.

LOL!

With actual breathing people, up to say $5M night be ok.

It’s the undyingcorporatenonperson that amasses billions and trillions and nevereverdies that is the problem imo.

The Founders belonged to the colonial aristocracy, but they were aware of the corrosive effects of inherited wealth on the body politic.

And $1 M or thereabouts sounds about right to me.

And lots and lots of whores and saloons.

Oh, ratfood,
You really make me laugh! Thanks for helping me through a difficult day.

‘Evening, all-

The struggles of the working classes are never a subject worthy of reflection or study

Almost never…let me take a moment to sing the praises of Dr. Frasier Otanelli, the chair of the History Department at the University of South Florida in Tampa. Labor history is his specialty, and you do not come through his department without studying it plenty.

Don’t forget all the firearms that weren’t around.

Gun nuts would shit themselves if they knew Wyatt Earp was a gun control advocate.

You know, Odetta passed away last December, and I was thinking of her at the Inauguration.

I thought of her again today, and I bet she’d be singing this song:

Paths of Victory

Oh, absolutely! To tax earned income less than unearned makes no sense at all, absolutely backwards.

And ratfood, if you’re still here – on reflection I realize that compassion and belief in a duty to serve the public are not really the same thing, though they may, and often do, go together, so you weren’t wrong, really. Sorry, I went off a little fast.

You’re quite welcome.:-)

Copper miners where having a Christmas party with their wives and children in the upstairs of the Italian Hall in Calumet. Mostly Italians, Slavs, Swedes, Finns, the immigrants that were drawn to the copper and iron mines in the Upper Peninsula. At the time they were on strike the night of the celebration. Know one knows for sure who, but someone yelled “Fire” from the street below. It caused a panic with people running down the stairs to escape from the only exit. Unfortunately the exit had been locked from the outside. The stampede resulted in 73 deaths, many of them women and children. Try and find that in the history books, but then America doesn’t particularly care about the people that built the country, just the one’s that own the country.

And, of course, here in Texas our crazy state dept of “education” is working mightily to remove any mention of Cesar Chavez from the history books. A couple of others, too – too sleepy to look it up. Only the non-white, non-rich, non-elite folks, of course.
Next thing they’ll be taking out Abe Lincoln on the same basis.

There was an incident out west (saw it on the History Channel) here where the miners were gunned down by US troops for trying to organize a union.

And any and all mention of anyone to the left of Scaiffe.

Hi Ron,

That’s the trouble with generalizations, it only takes seconds for exceptions to start cropping up.

Odetta… lordy, what a singer. Her cover of Masters of War is definitive for me.

I think that may have been here in New Mexico, Dr. Dick.

You funny, again.
In the last few years (maybe it’s all the fuss about “whitening” one’s teeth), I’ve been noticing the perfect, white teeth on all the street folks and cowhands and streetwalkers, etc. in tv and movies. Kind of stands out.

I think it may have happened more than once (US troops also put down the Pullman strike in Chicago).

“What, there’s a NEW Mexico now?”
-Monty Burns

I agree with his larger point, but felt that one struggling to do right should be noted.

All NEW! and IMPROVED! with green chilies!

Actually, I suspect there were more than a couple of those. Lots of violence against union members and organizers in the first several decades of the last century. Most of which I learned about in books, that is, not textbooks or classes.
(Of course, I went to school before the socialists and “politically correct” professors took over all the universities./s)

Nice that with all that cow poking and such they were able to practice good hygiene.

And red, too.

Do you know that our official State Question is “Red or Green?”

Leader of the Pack

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FxSM88H-G4

When those cows “poke” back, you find you need to practice a little hygiene. Just sayin…

Yeah, even the old ’50’s westerns showed the marshal (of whatever town) making everybody take off their six-guns and leave ‘em at the marshal’s office til they left town.
so much for the belief that having everybody walking around armed makes us all safer. Even those wild folks knew better.

Personally, I try to be both Red and a bit green.

Think that might have been the Leadville Massacre where National Guard troops called out by the Governor of Colorado opened fire on a tent city of miners and their families. Here’s a link if anyone wants more info on the Italian Hall Massacre.

http://www.angelfire.com/mi2/1913/1913T.html

Lol – our main grocery chain is having its annual “Hatch Chile Festival” right now – Hatch chile cornbread, roasted Hatch chiles, all kinds of stuff with Hatch chiles baked/cooked in.
I admit, I’m not sure what the big deal is….they don’t look that different from other green chiles.

Be My Baby.

Heading out, splendid evening to all.

Even those wild folks knew better.

Especially those wild folks knew better. Most towns in the Old West had ordinances limiting or prohibiting carrying firearms. The Earps earned much of their reputation as bad asses taking guns away from cowboys in town from the trail drives.

That’s the one.

Ohmygawd. Tweety is bringing Nancy Reagan on to talk about Sen. Kennedy.
That’s the signal it’s time to go to bed. Nite, all. Thanks for the laughs/snark.

I was telling my younger son about this list of great legislation, and pointing to the ones that affected our family or people we know personally. WIC, thank God for WIC. It gave this boy of mine a very expensive formula that we otherwise couldn’t have afforded.
He was astonished to find out that girls didn’t have the same right to sports teams until Title IX, but I was out of high school by then.

Good night RF!

They have achieved a certain culinary mystique, though personally I prefer serranos.

Night, rf.

You’re right. Time for bed. Nite all and keep fighting the good fight!

That’s called Christmas by the cognoscenti. I don’t care for it, myself. Good green sauce should have a bright, fresh flavor while good red is earthier. The two just don’t mix for me.

Tejana,

Hatch is a little burg north of us about 30 miles. They grow quite a bit of chile up there, and they’ve been pushing hard for something like varietal recognition. Varietal chile isn’t an idea that is going to work with current varieties, because getting depth requires blending.

Night.

Night Bluetoe2.

Hmmm. That was a bad pun on being an ecologically sensitive socialist.

WIC has affected so many lives for the better. It’s a pity that the protofascists think that welfare is a horrid thing that destroys people.

Doh! I missed that one completely.

I take exception to that.

For those on the right, anything which benefits common people is obviously a bad thing. Society exists solely to benefit the rich and powerful. Amazing since most of the asshats that believe this shit are not and never will be anything remotely approaching rich or powerful.

On the red/green thing, it’s completely inauthentic, but grilled portobellos and feta makes a wonderful filling for red enchiladas.

Well done! It actually took several minutes but now my evening is complete.:-P

The only thing I can figure as that they want it that way when their ship comes in.

Nancy Reagan just told Tweety that she hopes we get a health bill. She doesn’t know enough to discuss it, but she hopes we get one.

Twit.

Oh, I know that New Mexican cuisine uses lots of both red and green chilies and never (or seldom) blends them. Just playing on the media hyped reputation of New Mexico as the green chili capital. This is as opposed to old Mexico, which is represented as all red chilies (though puerco con salsa verde is one of my favorite Mexican dishes).

They all believe in magic fairy dust that is going to make them suddenly rich and transport them out of their miserable lives. The author of Horatio Alger needs to be flogged in the public plaza daily.

Well, I just showed up, honey baby doll.

I had a true believer explain it to me recently. Life needs to be difficult for poor people so they will struggle, and thus excel, and by doing do improve the nation. If one eases their burden, one is encouraging them to be comfortable in their deprived state, and thus denying them their true potential.
He really seemed to believe it.

I call that pretzel logic and teh stupid to boot.

I’ve lived here so long that I don’t notice media perceptions about our cuisine anymore. There are real regional distinctions, but they aren’t in the use of chiles. And New Mexico cuisine is related to but distinct from Mexican cuisine.

A friend of mine was in D.C. ages ago when a Cocina Nueva Mexicana opened in Arlington. He says that he and a friend went there for a fix, and asked that their sopapillas be served with their meal. In Northern NM, sopapillas are served with the meal (to help soak up sauces), in Southern NM they are served as a dessert, with honey.

The owner/chef came bursting out of the kitchen as soon as the order came in, wanting to find out where the exiles were. She insisted on comping their meal… things like that are another reason we call this The Land of Enchantment.

I’ve been to the Texas State Fair and three Sunday School Picnics, and that is the stupidest f***ing thing I’ve ever heard.

We all have a complicated, painful, beautiful life. and it isn’t based on money.

You know, on reflection, that argument would apply as well to the children of privilege.

Especially to the children of privilege.

In other words, put that there stumbling block in them people’s way, it’ll build good character. Yessir.

He went on in this vein for about five minutes, while I stood there nodding, just to see how far he would go. About five minutes, then he switched to bitching about being unable to get an appointment to fix the AC in his Mercedes. Since it was 93 F. with 90% humidity at the time, I thought that was pretty funny.

Hi, Watertiger.
Good evening, Pups.
Just catching up with KO and Rachel.

Finally feeling teary.

And disgusted with an evidently uninformed NY-er who’s 10 years older than I.
“Oh, I bet Chapaquiddick slides right under the table…I’m sure they’ll make him out to be an elder statesman that he never was…oh, he’s been cold/dead for a looooong time.”
Which is really tough to reconcile whith the amply hyper-link referenced facts I’ve been seeing here today. Sigh.

See y’all at LLN. Looks like I’ve been EPU’d…

FunnyWheelieDiva

Time for me to toddle off. Take care all.

Jeebus Gawd, where do you live? a swamp?

‘night, Dr. Dick. You da man.

not to mention heartless and callous.
Nobody worries about the hereditarily wealthy and privileged having it easy!
Feh.

FWDiva

Why yes! The Great Swamp-central FL.

Well, tomorrow’s my long, longer, longest teaching day. I’m going to say good night, folks.

Senator Kennedy, requiescat in pace.

FWD! Have a look; Pink Floyd has an antidote to heartless and callous:

On The Turning Away

Nite BCT!

But, of course, it never is.
FWDiva

I grew up in N.O. I understand that kind of humidity. Now I live in Sacrafuckingmento and that is HOT. I like my heat where I can see it. Like steam rising up off of the sidewalk.

Goodnight, sleepy leaving pups!
FWDiva

LLN Upstairs!

Yes. It weighs on you like a hot, heavy, wet coat. I’ve lived here my entire life, and you never really get used to it. It is really nice between October and March, though.

Way off topic…
but where the hell has Rachel Maddow been? She didn’t put in for a vacation.

“officially under the weather” as of Monday. She didn’t make it tonight, either? She must be quite ill. This is a news day that no journo would willingly miss…
FWDiva

Sigh,
Well I hope she is back to calling out the lying liars soon… I’m sure when she is back, she won’t wax poetic about Teddy like all the other MSNBC hacks; but rather takes up his cause of the good fight as a tribute.

He pissed off so many, he musta been doing something right.

I will say this tho’, and flame me if you want, but for all the complaining about the wingers who are acting less-than-classy today in their post mortems, do any of us honestly think that the left wingers will not shred W. to pieces? I’m not saying I agress with either *kind*, but lets be honest.

I also will miss Senator Ted Kennedy. I will miss his smiles as well as the feeling of compassion which he generated towards the public. I hope that his soul will rest in peace as a reward for all the good he contributed to humanity. My condolence to all his family members. No one can replace a person such as Senator Ted Kennedy but I do hope that somewhere in Washington,D.C. more public servants with such dignity, compassion for humanity will unite and continue the work/dreams that the senator started for the people of this great country.

Thank you, Watertiger, you said it exactly right.

That’s what I’ve been feeling all day: “Where are the others like him, when will there ever be another like him?” And the answer, clearly, from every one of his Senate colleagues, is, “Who, us?”

I like the thought that Ted Kennedy didn’t have to pretend to be normal. I like that. It’s true. Republicans and Democrats pretend to be something other than a politician- something other than rich. And they act just like what they pretend they’re not, screwing over everyone else.

Ted Kennedy never pretended to not be a politician, to not be a rich man, but he acted exactly opposite to this, protecting and defending and guarding the little man, the small people.

Perhaps Ted Kennedy’s life was this story: that you cannot judge a book by its cover, and that some rich men do, in fact, get to heaven.