New Year's Hoglets

By Libby

I'm not quite feeling like it's really a new year yet. I don't think it will feel new to me until after the 20th when our long national nightmare ends. It's also been kind of funny day. I got more phone calls in the last 24 hours than I have in the last 24 months so I'm late in posting, but let's have a look at what's shaking in the world. Capt Fogg checks a year end roundup of various business blunders that led up to the current meltdown and answers the question, who's the dumbest of us all?

Digby looks at the latest in the ongoing Blagojevich debacle through the lens of the newly appointed Roland Burris and sees a Democratic party in need of some leadership. And she's not talking about the worse than useless Harry Reid. She's right that after the non-existent rebuke to the traitorous Lieberman, any arguments against seating Burris ring very hollow.

Matt reviews the ongoing saga in New York and comes to the same conclusion I have about these endless dramas. "But I have to say that in my view both the Illinois situation, the Delaware situation, and the New York situation all basically serve to illustrate the over-arching point that states would be well-advised to adopt a rule whereby Senate vacancies will be filled by special election." It certainly would have avoided the whole selling of the seat fiasco if this was the standard policy.

The Politico watches the tabloid media co-opt the narrative on Obama and wonders if it diminishes the dignity of the office. But mostly they wonder how they can regain their position as gatekeepers of the storyline. Their biggest problem as far as I can see, is their strategy consists of following after the tabloids by lapsing into paparazzi coverage themselves. A mistake if you ask me. The job of the political press is to bring the serious issues to the table. Not as glamorous or fun, and doesn't grab as many eyeballs, but it's their job nonetheless. When they try to out-sensationalize the tabloids, they end up looking silly and irrelevant.

I have nothing to say about the situation in Gaza. I've been confounded by the conflict between Israelis and Arabs practically from the day it started and it appears Americans are just as conflicted by this latest incident as I am. I just wish they would all stop shooting at each other and work out some kind of equitable arrangement that doesn't require the deaths of innocent civilians.

And finally, Pam Spaudling has an interesting post on the changing definition of luxuries and necessities. She asks what can't you live without? For myself, in my present situation, I need a car. But I've gone long stretches in my life when I didn't need one and would love to give up full time ownership again. I can live without my own washer and dryer. I could conceivably live without AC. I only use it for a short time in the worst of the heat down here and I never run it all day.

I've never used my dishwasher. The microwave I use a lot. Not quite a necessity but I really missed it for the short time I didn't have one. I could live without a cell phone. I rarely use the one I have now. Hell, I still haven't figured out how to really make it work in three years. I can live without a TV. I've never owned an iPod. For me, the biggest necessity is the computer and high speed access. Without that, I would have lost my sanity long ago.

So how about you? What can you live without, or not?

Comments

[truth101]

I live in Illinois Libby. The problem is not lack of leadership as all the genius pundits claim. The problem is everyone wants to be the leader and nobody is doing the far more important service to the grassroots cause of FOLLOWING. We have three high power state office holders that will vye for either senator or governor in two years. They need to close ranks around one before the primary or the whole Party will suffer. From the time I was 13 I worked to elect Democrats and it pains me that we have so many talented people that think their personal ambition is more important than the people who make up the Democratic Party.

[anderson]

adopt a rule whereby Senate vacancies will be filled by special election.

Yes, this would -- should -- be how it is handled. And, it would have the salient effect of increasing risk of seat loss when a new administration gouges the House and Senate for "talent." Obama has been digging through the murky trough of House and Senate Dems for his administration, which only guarantees more tired recycled beltway thinking at a time when this country sorely needs new blood.

C'mon Obama. You said, "change," so stop dredging the depths of Washington's Democratic establishment and bring it on.

[Libby]

Truth it seems to me that personal ambition has been the problem with our entrenched political class for a very long time, and not just in Chicago.

Anderson, I haven't been thrilled by the appointments but Obama has proven me wrong many times in the course of the election and I'm still giving him the benefit of the doubt on this. It occurs to me that the beast is very large and he can't just waltz in a impose changes. He does have to build consensus among the Beltway lizards to do it, and there's probably no way to do that without enlisting the people who are the problem. I think about Jimmy Carter, who had equally good intentions but wasn't effective at lest partly because he tried to circumvent the power players. I think we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

[zak822]

We're pretty much down to the bare bones now. I could do without the extended cable package, but that's about it. Cable TV really is our primary entertainment option now; movies fly through so quickly that by the time we can coordinate our schedules any movie we want to see has come and gone.

Don't have an Ipod, don't use the dishwasher much, wife needs the car to get back and forth to work because bus service is not reliable when you get off at 11pm.

[Joe Blow]

I like stuff and see no reason not to live without a

microwave, dishwasher, toaster oven, stove, refrig, washer, dryer, TV, cable, computer, phone, car, kayack, sailboat, ipod, air conditioner, oil burner, chainsaw, leaf mulcher, lawn mower, telescope, camera, fireworks....

did I forget anything?

[Libby]

Hey zak and joeblow. Thanks for playing. I've been bummed that nobody picked up on that meme. I thought it was very interesting.