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Obama Sell-Out FAQ 1.1
I'd thought I'd put together a FAQ -- to be updated from here to Election Day -- listing the continuing betrayals by Senator Barack Obama of progressive principles he mouthed as a candidate for the Democratic Presidential Nomination, in 2007 and the first five months of 2008.
Of course, the MSM has already taken great notice of this Obama turning, referring to this process as the Senator "moving to the center".
However, (forgive the language) let's call a spade a spade. The positions he has now taken on a variety of issues have nothing to do with "the center". (Even in the degraded US definition of "the center", which would be considered right-wing in any other politicial culture across the globe.) Obama's new positions are REACTIONARY positions, not in any significant way different from the positions of
the Bush/Cheney Adminstration.
(Please feel free to add to this.)
==================================
Turned against and publicly humiliated Reverend Jeremiah Wright, the pastor who married Obama and wife Michelle, baptised their children, gave Obama the title of his book "Audacity of Hope", and was previously embraced by the candidate as his "spiritual guide".
Left Trinity Baptist Church, Obama's place of worship for almost 20 years.
Went down to Florida attacking Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, the Cuban Revolution and basically sounding like Ronald Reagan.
Backed off on his "negotiate with Iran" position.
The day after he officially clinched the Democratic nomination, went on bended knee to AIPAC, reversing several important positions regarding Israel.
Wagged his stern finger at all those dead-beat darkie dads.
Filled his Foreign Policy "Advising" Team with a bunch of the Undead, the same people who gave us the Iraq Sanctions, the Sudan bombing, the destruction of Yugoslavia, and similar happy events.
Appointed Jason Furman -- a pro-Wal Mart worshipper of Milton Friedman -- to head his team of economic advisors. (Joining the already close-to-the-candidate Friedmanite Austin Goolsby.)
Announced that NAFTA is A-OK with him.
Supported Israeli war maneuvers against Iran.
Pushed his great wife to convince people that she's basically just another Condi Rice.
Release a Reaganoid “I Love America” ad.
Recorded a radio ad in support of John Barrow, the most right-wing Democratic member of Congress, despite the primary challenge to Barrow from a progressive, very attractive female candidate.
Voted to support the congressional cave-in to Bush on FISA and telecom immunity.
Started wearing a flag pin in his suit lapel.
Withdrew from Public Financing.
Supported the Supreme Court decision eviserating all anti-gun laws.
Attacked the Supreme Court banning certain forms of the death penalty.
Went on a "partiotism tour" worthy of Barry Goldwater.
Attacked MoveOn.org -- an organization which did much to help get his campaign off the ground back in 2007.
Embraced the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
As war clouds gather, backed covert US attacks on Iran.
Pledged to expand Bush's program to funnel federal money to religious groups.
Bowed to right-wing pressure by attacking General Wesley Clark, after the General made the very obvious point that being an incompetent at dropping bombs on innocent civilians in no way was a "qualification to be President of the United States".
Comments (18)
Let's NOT.
July 2, 2008 1:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Scientific,
Thanks for pointing that out with the link.
Mitchum,
Hope that wasn't intentional, dude. Just sayin'.
July 2, 2008 1:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
I doubt it was intentional. I was definitely unfamiliar with it until Scientific pointed it out in a previous thread, which is why it's important that he do so, of course.
July 2, 2008 1:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Everybody knows it was intentional.
If you're from Texas or in NC you especially know it is.
Bullshit.
July 2, 2008 1:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Everybody like who? I'm from New Jersey and I've never heard anybody call another person a spade. The only spade I know of is a digging tool and the pip on the card.
July 2, 2008 5:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Actually, there's a difference between using the phrase "let's call a spade a spade," and using the word "spade," by itself, as a derogatory term.
And I'm pretty sure that all of the people getting in step behind you have either used that phrase before or have heard other people use the phrase and have understood its meaning based on the context in which it was used. So, given the fact that you probably understood what Mitchum was saying and still tried to use the Urban Diction, as if that is somehow the ultimate encyclopedia of slang, makes your transparent allusion to racism even more malicious.
So, thanks for being an ass. Nice try at being the PC Police, though.
July 2, 2008 5:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
He's not being an ass, nor is he deliberately misinterpreting the phrase. The exact phrase "to call a spade a spade" has been, in fact, associated with racism.
That said, it seems the association is false.
July 2, 2008 6:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Look at what you said: "has been associated with". So what? Is that the only meaning that the phrase takes on? Does the meaning of the phrase change depending upon the context in which it is used? If the answer to the aforementioned questions is no and yes, respectively, then Scientific et al were clearly out of line by bringing racism into a conversation in which race clearly did not belong.
Now, if Scientific had said that that particular phrase was somehow offensive, then I could understand. But that's not what he did. He went to the Urban Dictionary and tried to use it as the sole source on who can use words and in what phrases or contexts they can be used.
Again, Scientific was an ass for trying to be the pc police.
July 4, 2008 11:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yawn.....what? Yes I'll have some coffee cake, thanks.
July 2, 2008 1:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Give me a break, do. This is what, the 300th list of the "truth" about Obama that I have read now. Seriously, whom do you expect to persuade with this tripe? If a fellow was not impressed by the last 299, what makes you think that this one will finally do the trick?
July 2, 2008 1:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
He doesn't expect to convince anyone. He's only out here trying to annoy Obama supporters.
July 2, 2008 2:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Chapter I. In which a house is built
at Pooh Corner for Eeyore
ONE day when Pooh Bear had nothing else to do, he thought
he would do something, so he went round to Piglet's house to
see what Piglet was doing. It was still snowing as he stumped
over the white forest track, and he expected to find Piglet
warming his toes in front of his fire, but to his surprise he
saw that the door was open, and the more he looked inside the
more Piglet wasn't there.
"He's out," said Pooh sadly. "That's what it is. He's
not in. I shall have to go a fast Thinking Walk by myself.
Bother!"
But first he thought that he would knock very loudly
just to make quite sure . . . and while he waited for Piglet
not to answer, he jumped up and down to keep warm, and a hum
came suddenly into his head, which seemed to him a Good Hum,
such as is Hummed Hopefully to Others.
The more it snows
(Tiddely pom),
The more it goes
(Tiddely pom),
The more it goes
(Tiddely pom)
On snowing.
And nobody knows
(Tiddely pom),
How cold my toes
(Tiddely pom),
How cold my toes
(Tiddely pom),
Are growing.
"So what I'll do," said Pooh, "is I'll do this. I'll
just go home first and see what the time is, and perhaps I'll
put a muffler round my neck, and then I'll go and see Eeyore
and sing it to him."
He hurried back to his own house; and his mind was so
busy on the way with the hum that he was getting ready for
Eeyore that, when he suddenly saw Piglet sitting in his best
arm-chair, he could only stand there rubbing his head and
wondering whose house he was in.
"Hallo, Piglet," he said. "I thought you were out."
"No," said Piglet, "it's you who were out, Pooh."
"So it was," said Pooh. "I knew one of us was."
He looked up at his clock, which had stopped at five
minutes to eleven some weeks ago.
"Nearly eleven o'clock," said Pooh happily. "You're
just in time for a little smackerel of something," and he put
his head into the cupboard. "And then we'll go out, Piglet, and
sing my song to Eeyore."
"Which song, Pooh?"
"The one we're going to sing to Eeyore," explained
Pooh.
The clock was still saying five minutes to eleven when
Pooh and Piglet set out on their way half an hour later. The
wind had dropped, and the snow, tired of rushing round in
circles trying to catch itself up, now fluttered gently down
until it found a place on which to rest, and sometimes the
place was Pooh's nose and sometimes it wasn't, and in a little
while Piglet was wearing a white muffler round his neck and
feeling more snowy behind the ears than he had ever felt
before.
"Pooh," he said at last, and a little timidly, because
he didn't want Pooh to think he was Giving In, "I was just
wondering. How would it be if we went home now and practised
your song, and then sang it to Eeyore to-morrow--or--or the
next day, when we happen to see him?"
"That's a very good idea, Piglet," said Pooh. "We'll
practise it now as we go along. But it's no good going home to
practise it, because it's a special Outdoor Song which Has To
Be Sung In The Snow."
"Are you sure?" asked Piglet anxiously.
"Well, you'll see, Piglet, when you listen. Because
this is how it begins. The more it snows, tiddely pom----"
"Tiddely what?" said Piglet.
"Pom," said Pooh. "I put that in to make it more hummy.
The more it goes, tiddely pom, the more----"
"Didn't you say snows?"
"Yes, but that was before."
"Before the tiddely pom?"
"It was a different tiddely pom," said Pooh, feeling
rather muddled now. "I'll sing it to you properly and then
you'll see."
So he sang it again.
The more it
SNOWS-tiddely-pom,
The more it
GOES-tiddely-pom
The more it
GOES-tiddely-pom
On
Snowing
And nobody
KNOWS-tiddely-pom,
How cold my
TOES-tiddely-pom
How cold my
TOES-tiddely-pom
Are
Growing.
He sang it like that, which is much the best way of
singing it, and when he had finished, he waited for Piglet to
say that, of all the Outdoor Hums for Snowy Weather he had ever
heard, this was the best. And, after thinking the matter out
carefully, Piglet said:
"Pooh," he said solemnly, "it isn't the toes so much as
the ears."
By this time they were getting near Eeyore's Gloomy
Place, which was where he lived, and as it was still very snowy
behind Piglet's ears, and he was getting tired of it, they
turned into a little pine wood, and sat down on the gate which
led into it. They were out of the snow now, but it was very
cold, and to keep themselves warm they sang Pooh's song right
through six times, Piglet doing the tiddely-poms and Pooh doing
the rest of it, and both of them thumping on the top of the
gate with pieces of stick at the proper places. And in a little
while they felt much warmer, and were able to talk again.
"I've been thinking," said Pooh, "and what I've been
thinking is this. I've been thinking about Eeyore."
"What about Eeyore?"
"Well, poor Eeyore has nowhere to live."
"Nor he has," said Piglet.
"You have a house, Piglet, and I have a house, and they
are very good houses. And Christopher Robin has a house, and
Owl and Kanga and Rabbit have houses, and even Rabbit's friends
and relations have houses or somethings, but poor Eeyore has
nothing. So what I've been thinking is: Let's build him a
house."
"That," said Piglet, "is a Grand Idea. Where shall we
build it?"
"We will build it here," said Pooh, "just by this wood,
out of the wind, because this is where I thought of it. And we
will call this Pooh Corner. And we will build an Eeyore House
with sticks at Pooh Corner for Eeyore."
"There was a heap of sticks on the other side of the
wood," said Piglet. "I saw them. Lots and lots. All piled up."
"Thank you, Piglet," said Pooh. "What you have just
said will be a Great Help to us, and because of it I could call
this place Poohanpiglet Corner if Pooh Corner didn't sound
better, which it does, being smaller and more like a corner.
Come along."
So they got down off the gate and went round to the
other side of the wood to fetch the sticks.
Christopher Robin had spent the morning indoors going
to Africa and back, and he had just got off the boat and was
wondering what it was like outside, when who should come
knocking at the door but Eeyore.
"Hallo, Eeyore," said Christopher Robin, as he opened
the door and came out. "How are you?"
"It's snowing still," said Eeyore gloomily.
"So it is."
"And freezing."
"Is it?"
"Yes," said Eeyore. "However," he said, brightening up
a little, "we haven't had an earthquake lately."
"What's the matter, Eeyore?"
"Nothing, Christopher Robin. Nothing important. I
suppose you haven't seen a house or what-not anywhere about?"
"What sort of a house?"
"Just a house."
"Who lives there?"
"I do. At least I thought I did. But I suppose I don't.
After all, we can't all have houses."
"But, Eeyore, I didn't know--I always thought----"
"I don't know how it is, Christopher Robin, but what
with all this snow and one thing and another, not to mention
icicles and such-like, it isn't so Hot in my field about three
o'clock in the morning as some people think it is. It isn't
Close, if you know what I mean--not so as to be uncomfortable.
It isn't Stuffy. In fact, Christopher Robin," he went on in a
loud whisper, "quite-between-ourselves-and- don't-tell-anybody,
it's Cold."
"Oh, Eeyore!"
"And I said to myself: The others will be sorry if I'm
getting myself all cold. They haven't got Brains, any of them,
only grey fluff that's blown into their heads by mistake, and
they don't Think, but if it goes on snowing for another six
weeks or so, one of them will begin to say to himself: 'Eeyore
can't be so very much too Hot about three o'clock in the
morning.' And then it will Get About. And they'll be Sorry."
"Oh, Eeyore!" said Christopher Robin, feeling very
sorry already.
"I don't mean you, Christopher Robin. You're different.
So what it all comes to is that I built myself a house down by
my little wood."
"Did you really? How exciting!"
"The really exciting part," said Eeyore in his most
melancholy voice, "is that when I left it this morning it was
there, and when I came back it wasn't. Not at all, very
natural, and it was only Eeyore's house. But still I just
wondered."
Christopher Robin didn't stop to wonder. He was already
back in his house, putting on his waterproof hat, his
waterproof boots and his waterproof macintosh as fast as he
could.
"We'll go and look for it at once," he called out to
Eeyore.
"Sometimes," said Eeyore, "when people have quite
finished taking a person's house, there are one or two bits
which they don't want and are rather glad for the person to
take back, if you know what I mean. So I thought if we just
went "
"Come on," said Christopher Robin, and off they
hurried, and in a very little time they got to the corner of
the field by the side of the pine-wood, where Eeyore's house
wasn't any longer.
"There!" said Eeyore. "Not a stick of it left! Of
course, I've still got all this snow to do what I like with.
One mustn't complain."
But Christopher Robin wasn't listening to Eeyore, he
was listening to something else.
"Can't you hear it?" he asked.
"What is it? Somebody laughing?"
"Listen."
They both listened . . . and they heard a deep gruff
voice saying in a singing voice that the more it snowed the
more it went on snowing, and a small high voice tiddely-pomming
in between.
"It's Pooh," said Christopher Robin excitedly....
"Possibly," said Eeyore.
"And Piglet!" said Christopher Robin excitedly.
"Probably," said Eeyore. "What we want is a Trained
Bloodhound."
The words of the song changed suddenly.
"We've finished our HOUSE!" sang the gruff voice.
"Tiddely pom!" sang the squeaky one.
"It's a beautiful HOUSE . . ."
"Tiddely pom . . ."
"I wish it were MINE . . ,"
"Tiddely pom . . ."
"Pooh!" shouted Christopher Robin. . . .
The singers on the gate stopped suddenly.
"It's Christopher Robin!" said Pooh eagerly.
"He's round by the place where we got all those sticks
from," said Piglet.
"Come on," said Pooh.
They climbed down their gate and hurried round the
corner of the wood, Pooh making welcoming noises all the way.
"Why, here is Eeyore," said Pooh, when he had finished
hugging Christopher Robin, and he nudged Piglet, and Piglet
nudged him, and they thought to themselves what a lovely
surprise they had got ready.
"Hallo, Eeyore."
"Same to you, Pooh Bear, and twice on Thursdays," said
Eeyore gloomily.
Before Pooh could say: "Why Thursdays?" Christopher
Robin began to explain the sad story of Eeyore's Lost House.
And Pooh and Piglet listened, and their eyes seemed to get
bigger and bigger.
"Where did you say it was?" asked Pooh.
"Just here," said Eeyore.
"Made of sticks?"
"Yes."
"Oh!" said Piglet.
"What?" said Eeyore.
"I just said 'Oh!'" said Piglet nervously. And so as to
seem quite at ease he hummed Tiddely-pom once or twice in a
what-shall-we-do-now kind of way.
"You're sure it was a house?" said Pooh. "I mean,
you're sure the house was just here?"
"Of course I am," said Eeyore. And he murmured to
himself, "No brain at all, some of them."
"Why, what's the matter, Pooh?" asked Christopher
Robin.
"Well," said Pooh . . . "The fact is," said Pooh . . .
"Well, the fact is," said Pooh . . . "You see," said Pooh . . .
"It's like this," said Pooh, and something seemed to tell him
that he wasn't explaining very well, and he nudged Piglet
again.
"It's like this," said Piglet quickly.... "Only
warmer," he added after deep thought.
"What's warmer?"
"The other side of the wood, where Eeyore's house is."
"My house?" said Eeyore. "My house was here."
"No," said Piglet firmly. "The other side of the wood."
"Because of being warmer," said Pooh.
"But I ought to know?"
"Come and look," said Piglet simply, and he led the
way.
"There wouldn't be two houses," said Pooh. "Not so
close together."
They came round the corner, and there was Eeyore's
house, looking as comfy as anything.
"There you are," said Piglet.
"Inside as well as outside," said Pooh proudly.
Eeyore went inside . . . and came out again.
"It's a remarkable thing," he said. "It is my house,
and I built it where I said I did, so the wind must have blown
it here. And the wind blew it right over the wood, and blew it
down here, and here it is as good as ever. In fact, better in
places."
"Much better," said Pooh and Piglet together.
"It just shows what can be done by taking a little
trouble," said Eeyore. "Do you see, Pooh ? Do you see, Piglet?
Brains first and then Hard Work. Look at it! That's the way to
build a house," said Eeyore proudly.
So they left him in it; and Christopher Robin went back
to lunch with his friends Pooh and Piglet, and on the way they
told him of the Awful Mistake they had made. And when he had
finished laughing, they all sang the Outdoor Song for Snowy
Weather the rest of the way home, Piglet, who was still not
quite sure of his voice, putting in the tiddely-poms again.
"And I know it seems easy," said Piglet to himself,
"but it isn't every one who could do it."
July 2, 2008 1:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
More:
Repudiated the genuine progressive past by denouncing "the so-called counter-culture of the Sixties,” identifying it with “burning flags”
and “failing to honor those veterans coming home from Vietnam, something that remains a national shame to this day.”
Obama's top National Security adviser Richard Danzig announced that there is "little chance that a Democratic administration would cut the
gargantuan Pentagon budget after taking control of the White House".
Will continue to build the “Star Wars” missile defense system.
July 2, 2008 1:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
POOH was sitting in his house one day, counting his pots
of honey, when there came a knock on the door.
"Fourteen," said Pooh. "Come in. Fourteen. Or was it
fifteen? Bother. That's muddled me."
"Hallo, Pooh," said Rabbit.
"Hallo, Rabbit. Fourteen, wasn't it?"
"What was?"
"My pots of honey what I was counting."
"Fourteen, that's right."
"Are you sure?"
"No," said Rabbit. "Does it matter?"
"I just like to know," said Pooh humbly, "So as I can
say to myself: 'I've got fourteen pots of honey left.' Or
fifteen, as the case may be. It's sort of comforting."
"Well, let's call it sixteen," said Rabbit. "What I
came to say was: Have you seen Small anywhere about?"
"I don't think so," said Pooh. And then, after thinking
a little more, he said? Who is Small?"
"One of my friends-and-relations," said Rabbit
carelessly.
This didn't help Pooh much, because Rabbit had so many
friends-and-relations, and of such different sorts and sizes,
that he didn't know whether he ought to be looking for Small at
the top of an oaktree or in the petal of a buttercup.
"I haven't seen anybody to-day," said Pooh, "not so as
to say 'Hallo, Small!' to. Did you want him for anything?"
"I don't want him," said Rabbit. "But it's always
useful to know where a friend-and-relation is, whether you want
him or whether you
don't."
"Oh, I see," said Pooh. "Is he lost?"
"Well," said Rabbit, "nobody has seen him for a long
time, so I suppose he is. Anyhow," he went on importantly, "I
promised Christopher
Robin I'd Organize a Search for him, so come on."
Pooh said good-bye affectionately to his fourteen pots
of honey, and hoped they were fifteen; and he and Rabbit went
out into the Forest.
"Now," said Rabbit, "this is a Search, and I've
Organized it----"
"Done what to it?" said Pooh.
"Organized it. Which means--well, it's what you do to a
Search, when you don't all look in the same place at once. So I
want you, Pooh, to search by the Six Pine Trees first, and then
work your way towards Owl's House, and look out for me there.
Do you see?"
"No," said Pooh. "What "
"Then I'll see you at Owl's House in about an hour's
time."
"Is Piglet organdized too?"
"We all are," said Rabbit, and off he went.
As soon as Rabbit was out of sight, Pooh remembered
that he had forgotten to ask who Small was, and whether he was
the sort of friend-and-relation who settled on one's nose, or
the sort who got trodden on by mistake, and as it was Too Late
Now, he thought he would begin the Hunt by looking for Piglet,
and asking him what they were looking for before he looked for
it.
"And it's no good looking at the Six Pine Trees for
Piglet," said Pooh to himself, "because he's been organdized in
a special place of his own. So I shall have to look for the
Special Place first. I wonder where it is." And he wrote it
down in his head like this:
ORDER OF LOOKING FOR THINGS.
I. Special Place. (To find Piglet.)
2. Piglet. (To find who Small is.)
3. Small. (To find Small.)
4. Rabbit. (To tell him I've found Small.)
5. Small Again. (To tell him I've found Rabbit.)
"Which makes it look like a bothering sort of day,"
thought Pooh, as he stumped along.
The next moment the day became very bothering indeed,
because Pooh was so busy not looking where he was going that he
stepped on a piece
of the Forest which had been left out by mistake; and he
only just had time to think to himself: "I'm flying. What Owl
does. I wonder how you stop--" when he stopped.
Bump!
"Ow!" squeaked something.
"That's funny," thought Pooh. "I said 'Ow! without
really oo'ing."
"Help!" said a small, high voice.
"That's me again," thought Pooh. "I've had an Accident,
and fallen down a well, and my voice has gone all squeaky and
works before I'm ready for it, because I've done something to
myself inside. Bother!"
"Help--help!"
"There you are! I say things when I'm not trying. So it
must be a very bad Accident." And then he thought that perhaps
when he did try to say things he wouldn't be able to; so, to
make sure, he said loudly:
"A Very Bad Accident to Pooh Bear."
"Pooh!" squeaked the voice.
"It's Piglet!" cried Pooh eagerly. "Where are you?"
"Underneath," said Piglet in an underneath sort of way.
"Underneath what?"
"You," squeaked Piglet. "Get up!"
"Oh!" said Pooh, and scrambled up as quickly as he
could. "Did I fall on you, Piglet?"
"You fell on me," said Piglet, feeling himself all
over.
"I didn't mean to," said Pooh sorrowfully.
"I didn't mean to be underneath," said Piglet sadly.
"But I'm all right now, Pooh, and I am so glad it was you."
"What's happened?" said Pooh. "Where are we?"
"I think we're in a sort of Pit. I was walking along,
looking for somebody, and then suddenly I wasn't any more, and
just when I got up to see where I was, something fell on me.
And it was you."
"So it was," said Pooh. "Yes," said Piglet. "Pooh," he
went on nervously, and came a little closer, "do you think
we're in a Trap?"
Pooh hadn't thought about it at all, but now he nodded.
For suddenly he remembered how he and Piglet had once made a
Pooh Trap for Heffalumps, and he guessed what had happened. He
and Piglet had fallen into a Heffalump Trap for Poohs! That was
what it was.
"What happens when the Heffalump comes?" asked Piglet
tremblingly, when he had heard the news.
"Perhaps he won't notice you, Piglet," said Pooh
encouragingly, "because you're a Very Small Animal."
"But he'll notice you, Pooh."
"He'll notice me, and I shall notice him," said Pooh,
thinking it out. "We'll notice each other for a long time, and
then he'll say: 'Ho-ho!'"
Piglet shivered a little at the thought of that
"Ho-ho!" and his ears began to twitch.
"W-what will you say?" he asked.
Pooh tried to think of something he would say, but the
more he thought, the more he felt that there is no real answer
to "Ho-ho!" said by a Heffalump in the sort of voice this
Heffalump was going to say it in.
"I shan't say anything," said Pooh at last. "I shall
just hum to myself, as if I was waiting for something."
"Then perhaps he'll say 'Ho-ho!' again?" suggested
Piglet anxiously.
"He will," said Pooh.
Piglet's ears twitched so quickly that he had to lean
them against the side of the Trap to keep them quiet.
"He will say it again," said Pooh, "and I shall go on
humming. And that will Upset him. Because when you say 'Ho-ho!'
twice, in a gloating sort of way, and the other person only
hums, you suddenly find, just as you begin to say it the third
time that --that--well, you find----"
"What?"
"That it isn't," said Pooh.
"Isn't what?"
Pooh knew what he meant, but, being a Bear of Very
Little Brain, couldn't think of the words.
"Well, it just isn't," he said again.
"You mean it isn't ho-ho-ish any more?" said Piglet
hopefully.
Pooh looked at him admiringly and said that that was
what he meant--if you went on humming all the time, because you
couldn't go on saying "Ho-ho!" for ever.
"But he'll say something else," said Piglet.
"That's just it. He'll say? What's all this?" And then
I shall say--and this is a very good idea, Piglet, which I've
just thought of--I shall say: `It's a trap for a Heffalump
which I've made, and I'm waiting for the Heffalump to fall in.'
And I shall go on humming. That will Unsettle him."
"Pooh!" cried Piglet, and now it was his turn to be the
admiring one. "You've saved us!"
"Have I?" said Pooh, not feeling quite sure.
But Piglet was quite sure; and his mind ran on, and he
saw Pooh and the Heffalump talking to each other, and he
thought suddenly, and a little sadly, that it would have been
rather nice if it had been Piglet and the Heffalump talking so
grandly to each other, and not Pooh, much as he loved Pooh;
because he really had more brain than Pooh, and the
conversation would go better if he and not Pooh were doing one
side of it, and it would be comforting afterwards in the
evenings to look back on the day when he answered a Heffalump
back as bravely as if the Heffalump wasn't there. It seemed so
easy now. He knew just what he would say:
HEFFALUMP (gloatingly): "Ho-ho!"
PIGLET (carelessly): "Tra-la-la, tra-la-la."
HEFFALUMP (surprised, and not quite so sure of
himself): "Ho-ho!"
PIGLET (more carelessly still): "Tiddle-um-tum,
tiddle-um-tum."
HEFFALUMP (beginning to say Ho-ho and turning it
awkwardly into a cough): "H'r'm! What's all this?"
PIGLET (surprised): "Hullo! This is a trap I've made,
and I'm waiting for a Heffalump to fall into it."
HEFFALUMP (greatly disappointed): "Oh!" (After a long
silence): "Are you sure?"
PIGLET: "Yes."
HEFFALUMP: "Oh!" (nervously): "I--I thought it was a
trap I'd made to catch Piglets."
PIGLET (surprised): "Oh, no!"
HEFFALUMP: "Oh!" (Apologetically): "I--I must have got
it wrong then."
PIGLET: "I'm afraid so." (Politely): "I'm sorry." (He
goes on humming.)
HEFFALUMP: "Well-well-I-well. I suppose I'd better be
getting back?"
PIGLET (looking up carelessly): "Must you? Well, if you
see Christopher Robin anywhere, you might tell him I want him."
HEFFALUMP (eager to please): "Certainly! Certainly!"
(He hurries off.)
POOH (who wasn't going to be there, but we find we
can't do without him."): "Oh, Piglet, how brave and clever you
are!"
PIGLET (modestly): "Not at all, Pooh." (And then, when
Christopher Robin comes, Pooh can tell him about it.)
While Piglet was dreaming this happy dream, and Pooh
was wondering again whether it was fourteen or fifteen, the
Search for Small was still going on all over the Forest.
Small's real name was Very Small Beetle, but he was called
Small for short, when he was spoken to at all, which hardly
ever happened except when somebody said: "Really, Small!" He
had been staying with Christopher Robin for a few seconds, and
he had started round a gorse-bush for exercise, but instead of
coming back the other way, as expected, he hadn't, so nobody
knew where he was.
"I expect he's just gone home," said Christopher Robin
to Rabbit.
"Did he say Good-bye-and-thank-you-for-a-nice-time?"
said Rabbit.
"He'd only just said how-do-you-do," said Christopher
Robin.
"Ha!" said Rabbit. After thinking a little, he went on:
"Has he written a letter saying how much he enjoyed himself,
and how sorry he was he had to go so suddenly?"
Christopher Robin didn't think he had.
"Ha!" said Rabbit again, and looked very important.
"This is Serious. He is Lost. We must begin the Search at
once."
Christopher Robin, who was thinking of something else,
said: "Where's Pooh?"--but Rabbit had gone. So he went into his
house and drew a picture of Pooh going a long walk at about
seven o'clock in the morning, and then he climbed to the top of
his tree and climbed down again, and then he wondered what Pooh
was doing, and went across the Forest to see.
It was not long before he came to the Gravel Pit, and
he looked down, and there were Pooh and Piglet, with their
backs to him, dreaming happily.
"Ho-ho!" said Christopher Robin loudly and suddenly.
Piglet jumped six inches in the air with Surprise and
Anxiety, but Pooh went on dreaming.
"It's the Heffalump!" thought Piglet nervously. "Now,
then!" He hummed in his throat a little, so that none of the
words should stick, and then, in one most delightfully easy
way, he said: "Tra-la-la, tra-la-la," as if he had just thought
of it. But he didn't look round, because if you look round and
see a Very Fierce Heffalump looking down at you, sometimes you
forget what you were going to say.
"Rum-tum-tum-tiddle-um," said Christopher Robin in a
voice like Pooh's. Because Pooh had once invented a song which
went:
Tra-la-la, tra-la-la,
Tra-la-la, tra-la-la,
Rum-tum-tum-tiddle-um.
So whenever Christopher Robin sings it, he always sings
it in a Pooh-voice, which seems to suit it better.
"He's said the wrong thing," thought Piglet anxiously.
"He ought to have said, 'Ho-ho!' again. Perhaps I had better
say it for him." And, as fiercely as he could, Piglet said:
"Ho-ho!"
"How did you get there, Piglet?" said Christopher Robin
in his ordinary voice.
"This is Terrible," thought Piglet. "First he talks in
Pooh's voice, and then he talks in Christopher Robin's voice,
and he's doing it so as to Unsettle me. "And being now
Completely Unsettled, he said very quickly and squeakily: "This
is a trap for Poohs, and I'm waiting to fall in it, ho-ho,
what's all this, and then I say ho-ho again."
"What?" said Christopher Robin.
"A trap for ho-ho's," said Piglet huskily. "I've just
made it, and I'm waiting for the ho-ho to come-come."
How long Piglet would have gone on like this I don't
know, but at that moment Pooh woke up suddenly and decided that
it was sixteen. So he got up; and as he turned his head so as
to soothe himself in that awkward place in the middle of the
back where something was tickling him, he saw Christopher
Robin.
"Hallo!" he shouted joyfully.
"Hallo, Pooh."
Piglet looked up, and looked away again. And he felt so
Foolish and Uncomfortable that he had almost decided to run
away to Sea and be a Sailor, when suddenly he saw something.
"Pooh!" he cried. "There's something climbing up your
back."
"I thought there was," said Pooh.
"It's Small!" cried Piglet.
"Oh, that's who it is, is it?" said Pooh.
"Christopher Robin, I've found Small!" cried Piglet.
"Well done, Piglet," said Christopher Robin.
And at these encouraging words Piglet felt quite happy
again, and decided not to be a Sailor after all. So when
Christopher Robin had helped them out of the Gravel Pit, they
all went off together hand-in-hand.
And two days later Rabbit happened to meet Eeyore in
the Forest.
"Hallo, Eeyore," he said, "what are you looking for?"
"Small, of course," said Eeyore. "Haven't you any
brain?"
"Oh, but didn't I tell you?" said Rabbit. "Small was
found two days ago."
There was a moment's silence.
"Ha-ha," said Eeyore bitterly. "Merriment and what-not.
Don't apologize. It's just what would happen.
July 2, 2008 1:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Even conceding the accuracy of those statements - which is questionable on more than a few. Even conceding that I am troubled by his position on the death penalty, Iran, FISA and faith-based funding.
Even with that, please point to one issue on that list where McCain is better.
You cannot.
Hey, I am not "in love with" Obama as the nominee. But he is. My duty, then, is to compare him to his opponent, McCain, not to some perfect unfulfilled dream candidate who is not on the ballot. Obama may fall short of what I want, but he is leagues better than McCain.
And that's just looking at the issues you list - and those are not the only issues that matter. There's the environment, energy policy, Iraq and I could go on ... issues where McCain is not even in the same universe as Obama.
July 2, 2008 3:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
It is progressive to be a parishoner of Jeremiah Wright, to attend Trinity Baptist Church, to endorse deadbeat fathers, to disavow patriotism, and to believe child rapists should be put to death? Progressivism must mean something else these days!
July 2, 2008 5:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Mitchum22 FAQ 1.0:
Q. Is Mitchum22 a boring little pud suffering from diarrhea of the keyboard?
A. Yes.
(I put in the form a FAQ is supposed to take, in the interest of educating you. You're welcome.)
July 18, 2008 5:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
"to be updated from here to Election Day"
Thank you for taking mercy on the rest of us by not fulfilling this vow.
September 3, 2008 1:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
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