Part of the human condition is a constant search for patterns, parallels, and metaphors. Our brains are constantly seeking to relate a present observation to a known, past situation in an effort to better understand the present observation. Often times this works, but frequently the metaphors we choose don’t really shed much light on the new thing. (Remember the “information superhighway”? Highways didn’t turn out to be a very good metaphor for the Internet.)

So, with the understanding that past history doesn’t guarantee future performance, it occurs to me that the Obama/McCain race looks a lot like Nixon versus JFK back in 1960. Young, attractive candidate of vision faces off against old, curmudgeonly candidate of the status quo. In particular, the issue of race this year struck me as having parallels to the issue of religion back in 1960. I wonder if Obama can do for blacks in politics this year what JFK did for Catholics in politics half a century ago.

One of the panelists at the story linked above said that, ideally, race should be irrelevant. And, I agree. But, it will be relevant until it isn’t; which is to say that, there is no chance of race being irrelevant to Presidential politics until someone who isn’t white wins the Presidency if only to demonstrate that it can be done. JFK’s victory seemed to result in a political landscape where the particular flavor of the candidate’s Christianity wasn’t relevant. If Obama wins, we can keep working on the woman President and the non-Christian President and all of those other personal traits which ought to be irrelevant to our choice in a candidate, but aren’t. Maybe in another 232 years all of this will seem quaint, as we debate whether a candidate’s status as a cybernetic life form ought to be relevant to its candidacy.

With financial times being what they are, can a resurgence of the Hobo Lifestyle be far behind? Get ahead of the curve, learn Hobo Signs (h/t Pete). These signs include such useful information as “kind woman,” “man with gun,” “worth robbing,” and perhaps most importantly given the circumstances, “town allows alcohol.”

I always appreciate a good reference to William Butler Yeats “The Second Coming.” Last night on Heroes Mohinder quoted the entire thing. Some days it seems more appropriate than others:

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

The Lafayette Journal & Courier has an article on the format change coming to AM-1410, WSHY. The line up will apparently include Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, The Dennis Miller Show, and “Bill Bennett’s Morning in America.”

I for one am happy that there is finally a platform available for angry white men in America.

(Via Bloosier Hysteria). Evan Bayh referring to the current economic turmoil:

There’s a consensus that we have to do what it takes to avoid a catastrophe. This is economic triage; we need to stabilize the patient. Then we can come up with a long-term prognosis and steps that need to be taken for a cure. When you’re trying to keep a patient’s heart beating and they are on the table, you deal with that first. But we must also maintain the sense of urgency to address the long-term changes that need to be made. The way Congress too often works is that there will be tremendous urgency to act in the short run, then all of the different interests who have a stake in not changing their ways will start circling to prevent systemic reform. The taxpayers and homeowners who are paying their mortgages have a right to be outraged if that happens. This crisis shows that what goes around comes around. Times were good, greed triumphed over fear, people leveraged up trying to make all that they could, and now we’re paying for it.

Except in this case, the cardiac patient is demanding that we pay for his heart surgery while also demanding that we not come around later asking questions if he’s not exercising and spends the money on Cheetos and ribeyes.

Making the rounds is a purported draft of the bailout proposal wherein We The People cough up $700 billion to keep the markets stable after The Wizards of Wall Street worked their magic.

The Secretary is authorized to purchase, and to make and fund commitments to purchase, on such terms and conditions as determined by the Secretary, mortgage-related assets from any financial institution having its headquarters in the United States.
. . .
The Secretary may, at any time, exercise any rights received in connection with mortgage-related assets purchased under this Act.
. . .
The Secretary shall have authority to manage mortgage-related assets purchased under this Act, including revenues and portfolio risks therefrom.
. . .
The Secretary may, at any time, upon terms and conditions and at prices determined by the Secretary, sell, or enter into securities loans, repurchase transactions or other financial transactions in regard to, any mortgage-related asset purchased under this Act.
. . .
The Secretary’s authority to purchase mortgage-related assets under this Act shall be limited to $700,000,000,000 outstanding at any one time
. . .
Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.
. . .
[The debt ceiling is increased to] $11,315,000,000,000.

Sounds like a great time to be buddies with the Secretary of the Treasury who has unfettered discretion to buy high up to $700 billion and sell as low as he wants with no review. But, if you’re not close to Mr. Paulsen, I’d say torches and pitchforks are hot investment sectors.

Update From Jim Henley (breat post title — Liberaltarianism’s New Groove): “This loathsome bailout plan is a slap in the face to anyone who believes in either free-market principles or social justice.” Scott Lemieux adds: “$700 billion of taxpayer money for your own piece of Big Shitpile should bring out the libertarian in anyone…”

This thing could well be expected to bring the blogosphere into a full-throated frothing rage. Seems like the blogosphere is dominated by lefties and libertarians. Plenty for either to be grumpy about with the current proposal.

Hoosier Access on the change we can expect if Obama is elected (h/t RedHawk Hoosier):

And the bit about getting into people’s faces – that’s right in line with the mindset of the baggy pants wearing crowd. Get into their face, maybe wave a shank or shiv, flash some signs.

You’ll see change in January if the Presidential limo starts sporting spinner wheels, fuzzy dice, and a BOOMING subwoofer mounted in the trunk blasting Ludacris. That change, is what will be left in your pocket after the Government gets done shaking you down for every last dollar you have.

Thuggz, baggy pants, shanks, shivs, spinner wheels, fuzzy dice, booming subwoofer, gang signs. Oh I get it! Barack Obama is half black. Of course he’s going to act like a gangsta if he gets in the (ahem) “White” House. Ah, but what can we expect in terms of watermelon and fried chicken? Big lips? Nappy hair? Cadillac driving welfare queens? Gold grills & pimp suits? Sleeping with white women!

What a racist piece of shit.

Update The offending passages, quoted above, have been removed from the original post.

My memory fades pretty fast. Fortunately, I have archives. In the run up to the election, I’m hoping to look back to the early days of the Daniels administration to see what kinds of stuff we can expect if he gets re-elected. He is almost certainly following the strategy that Bush successfully pursued in Texas – go big the first year or two of your term, then pull back the throttle in the run up to the election. Rinse, repeat.

Here is a post from March 8, 2005 reviewing a Brian Howey analysis.

Howey goes on to characterize the House of Reps as the Animal House. Bauer is apparently cast in Belushi’s role. So, I suppose that makes Bosma Greg Marmalard and Daniels would then be Dean Vernon Wormer. Howey expects this kind of stunt out of Bauer, apparently, but expects better out of solid citizens like Dave Crooks and Peggy Welch (Pinto and Flounder?). Then the Governor is doing fine until he goes all “Car-Bomb” Daniels on them. Presumably the House Democrats are now on double-secret probation.

Remember, during that session, Gov. Daniels and the Republicans pushing an Inspector General with prosecutorial powers that he appointed; Daylight Saving Time; and a vote suppression scheme under the pretext of preventing in-person voter impersonation — something we’re not sure ever happens.

From Sadly, No:

In other words: the stock market is rallying because stupid rich people won’t have to suffer any consequences for the shitty investments they’ve made over the past decade.

It’s times like these where I start getting pitchfork-and-torches angry. Make no mistake, this bailout plan will have a massive opportunity cost. National health care just became that much more difficult because we’re going to be spending $1 trillion to bail out a bunch of irresponsible Wall Street assholes. The sheer amount of shit that the American taxpayer is about to devour cannot be calculated. Our choice boil down to:

* Borrowing a crapload more money from the Chinese and adding God knows how much to our national debt.

* Paying significantly higher taxes and getting precisely nothing in return except for the knowledge that rich people won’t feel bad about themselves.

September 19 is annual Talk Like a Pirate Day. And, while you don’t have to worship the Flying Spaghetti Monster, Talk Like a Pirate Day is sacred to the Pastafarians.

According to the Pastafarian belief system, pirates are “absolute divine beings” and the original Pastafarians. Their image as “thieves and outcasts” is misinformation spread by Christian theologians in the Middle Ages and by Hare Krishnas. Pastafarianism says that they were in fact “peace-loving explorers and spreaders of good will” who distributed candy to small children, and adds that modern pirates are in no way similar to “the fun-loving buccaneers from history.” Pastafarians celebrate International Talk Like a Pirate Day on September 19.

Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum, me hearties.