Taking a Stand

In his new book A Nation of Wusses, former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell decries the lack of courage and conviction among American politicians today.  This weekend three leaders deserve recognition for standing up for what's right:

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg for challenging both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney to explain their plans to address gun violence in America.  "What do they stand for and why aren't they standing up?" he asked on Face the Nation.  "It's time for both of them to be held accountable."

Penn State President Rodney Erickson for ordering the removal of the Joe Paterno statue from the university campus.  Leaving it up, he said, would be a "recurring wound to the multitude of individuals across the nation and beyond who have been the victims of child abuse."

Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren for speaking out in the Washington Post about the Libor scandal and the rigging of interest rates.  "With a rotten financial system once again laid bare to the world," she writes, "the only question remaining is whether Wall Street has so many friends in Washington that meaningful reform is impossible."

All three of these people stand to lose for taking a stand--whether they lose stature or alumni support or votes.  How refreshing to hear their voices rise above the timidity we've come to expect.

What's French for Michele Bachmann?

Michele Bachmann returned to the stage this week with her usual incendiary gusto.  With apologies to Paul McCartney for his lovely song and lyrics and with thanks to Daniel Hood for his excellent translation, we sing to the tune of "Michelle."

Michele, it's hell
hearing you spew out your hateful views,
Oh, Michele.
Michele, c'est enfer
écoutant à tú vomissant tien
vues odieux.
We've heard you, we've heard you, we've heard you
On gays and climate change
We wish that you would speak less
Until you do we're telling you so you'll understand

Michele, c'est enfer
écoutant à tú vomissant tien
vues odieux.
We need to, we need to, we need to,
We need to make you see
You sound like Joe McCarthy
When you accuse Hill's assistant of base treachery.

Please stop this. . .

We hope you, we hope you, we hope you
Will stop this bigotry
We want you gone from D.C.
Until it's true we're telling you so you'll understand
Michele, c'est enfer
écoutant à tú vomissant tien
vues odieux.
And we have said the only words we know that you'll understand
Oh, Michele.

Muzzle Michele

Can the voters in Minnesota's 6th Congressional District please do all of us a favor and vote Michele Bachmann out of office this November?  The Congresswoman's recent attack on Huma Abedin, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's long-time assistant, is as ignorant and ill-informed as Bachmann repeatedly shows herself to be.  It's depressing that we have such mindless legislators in Washington.

At least John McCain has the sense to call out Mrs. Bachmann for her bigotry.  Going forward, she deserves to be ignored.

Patriotism Lite

On Saturday at the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC, we watched short, motivational film clips from the 1940s.  One encouraged Americans to mail their income tax payments early to support the war effort.  Imagine that!  The idea that paying taxes might be patriotic, something we do for the larger good of our country.

What an old-fashioned idea.  I guess we've moved on since World War II.  Patriotism now means wearing a flag pin and cutting taxes.

What kind of motivational film clips could we possibly produce today?

Offshore Opportunities

With a new Vanity Fair article about Mitt Romney's offshore tax shelters and more questions about his employment at Bain Capital, the governor has lots of explaining to do.  No doubt he'll dodge the questions, but in the meantime here's a song for Mitt.  Sing to the tune of "I've Been Working on the Railroad."

I've been working on tax shelters
All the live-long day,
I've been working on tax shelters
Just to pass the time away.
Don't you know those Cayman Islands
Shelter all my cash?
Don't you know those Cayman Islands
Hide away my cash?

Taxes I don't pay
Taxes I don't pay
Taxes I don't pay like all of you.
Taxes I don't pay
Taxes I don't pay
Taxes I don't pay like you.

Someone's in the Caymans with Bain funds
Someone's in the Caymans I know - o - o - o
Someone's in the Caymans with Bain funds
Stashing everywhere that dough, and singing

Me my money I owe
Me my money I owe - o - o - o
Me my money I owe
Me and all my Caymans dough.

A Dog's Life: Sundance

"No animal I know of can consistently be more of a friend and companion than a dog."
- Stanley Leinwoll

Wimbledon Wistfulness

There's something reassuring about Serena Williams and Roger Federer having won at Wimbledon this weekend.  Familiar people, masters of a sport they love and winning at the game on their own.

Rarely in public life do we watch individuals succeed through their own talents and hard work.  Think, in contrast, of the presidential election: so much of the outcome depends on fundraising and not on the merits of the candidates.  In fact, our entire political system--including the Supreme Court--is driven by moneyed interests and the influence they wield.  An individual's talents and hard work get lost in the quest for gold.

Other aspects of public life, too--from health care to the food and water supply to the economy itself--often depend less on the integrity of the individuals involved than on the corporate interests that drive decisions.  We can't reliably trust the medications we take, the procedures we undergo, the food we eat, and the water we drink.  Sounds like a third world country.

Maybe that's why we yearn for Wimbledon, a reminder of a more ordered world where personal accomplishment and individual skill actually matter.  Were it so in the rest of our lives.

Tennis, anyone?