Dear Readers: There has been a ton of brilliant opinion-making today in the sites I normally review. So, today, I am going to point where you should click.
1) Kevin DuJan/HillBuzz Letter to Sarah Palin. This is the origin of my title, as Kevin deems here “American Artemis”. As a myth-loving blogger, I had to share. In this letter, Kevin details why Sarah Palin needs to run, as she is being called to serve during a revolution as was George Washington. MUT Money Quote: You are our American Artemis, when we need an epic hero more than ever.
Hat-tip: All Things Magik
Dialog, tailored a bit from a quote in Richard Riordan’s “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” series:
“That politico in Alaska,” Zoe said. “You turned him into a jackalope.”
“Ah, yes.” Artemis nodded, satisfied. “I enjoy making jackalopes…”
And she just completed 3 new jackalopes today: Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham and Erick Erickson.
2) Palinista Bashing. Speaking of those 3 jackalopes, I have a few comments to make about the above-named pundits ramblings about Palin’s “electability”. A few thoughts I share with Tammy Bruce (flaming capitalist promotion — Tammy is doing a Mystery Science 3000 review of Obama’s speech tomorrow. Keeping with my Greek-theme today, I liken it to Odysseus tying himself down to safely hear the Siren’s Song: If you are forced to listen, it is a way to keep yourself from dashing against the nearest rocks).
In terms of conservative-divas Coulter and Ingraham waxing negatively about Palin’s electability, I find it utterly fascinating long-time Republican/conservative pundits are now bashing Palin supporters. Coulter likens us to O-bots! After seeing the enthusiasm of the Palin crowds this weekend in Iowa and New Hampshire, shouting “RUN, SARAH, RUN”, they deride our passionate support for our candidate. I sense they now attack us, as Palin has not disappeared as the elites have long desired. They hope WE will go away.
If Palin isn’t “electable”, then what worry about her running or not? If she goes down to defeat, then one of Coulter’s or Ingraham’s approved choices will be the candidate — no big deal. However, until such time I find a person better than Palin to back, I will remain a Palinista. I am not planning to go.
I also understand Coulter will NOT watch “The Undefeated”. Why not, as it is a political documentary covering one of the post important figures in recent events? Coulter prides herself on being fully informed, so it makes me wonder from whom she is now getting her direction.
3) Thoughts from an American Sophocles. B-daddy has a piece on Social Security fixes that are excellent, and I must admit I had not considered the drawbacks of “forced accounts”. It is entitled, Why I Now Oppose Social Security Privatization, and is a must-read. A snippet:
* Current participation is constitutional only under the general power to tax granted Congress. A private account would not fit that definition.
* If private accounts were added, the only constitutional provision under which to compel participation is under the taxing authority. But that would give the government the authority to seize the proceeds for whatever purpose it saw fit.
* Is it a stretch of the imagination for the government, as a “shareholder” to require firms who receive investment dollars to promote social welfare and environmentally friendly policies. The scope for abuse is so great that I am surprised the left hasn’t embraced this idea as their own.
* How can we argue that Obamacare is unconstitutional, while turning around and advocating participation in another social welfare scheme, just because an individual is employed?
* What will compel the government to pay up, when the bill comes due. See Fleming v. Nestor above.
These are aspects I had not considered before. B-Daddy also offers sensible solutions.
4) My thanks to the American Dionysus! Beers with Demo gave one of my hand-crafted images the honor of being selected — Your mid-week, martini-worthy photo image! You need to go over and check which one made the grade!
5) The Oracle of Fiscal Delphi: W.C. Varones gave the SLOBs a heads-up on Obama’s Solyndra crony-capitalist deal. It seems a company primarily owned by a big Obama donor got a super-sweet interest rate and the taxpayers are going to the BACK OF THE BUS when creditors get paid. Fellow SLOB Dueling Barstools has more thoughts HERE.
6) Gov. Brown is Like Sisyphus: CA Jobs ‘Solutions’ Push Boulder Up Hill There is no way for California to get to quasi-normal employment levels with the regulatory burdens imposed by AB32.
7) Into the pits of Hades: Horemheb has just flipped on the GOP debate. So, I am signing off until tomorrow.
Leslie, thanks so much for the link. I thought the image of Draper, err…. Boehner was perfect for the occasion.
You could make FDR, LBJ, and Obama into Pericles who has raided the treasury at Delos for infrastructure and beautifucation projects. Now the treasury is empty, defenses are weak, and the statue of Athena inside the Parthenon is only half clad. Does not bode well now just as it did not bode well for Athens then.
The Queen of Plunder had her most perfect worshippers in the generation of Athenians who squandered the efforts of Miltiades and Themistocles in order to use a convenient foreign threat – Persia – to build an alliance-turned-empire that could finance their massive public works programs. While the world may wonder at the brilliance of Myron and Phideas, those who survived the times doubtless regretted the transformation of their polis from a vibrant democracy into a defeated, disarmed dictatorship.
We parallel them here, as our Fed funny-money machine allows us to maintain a standard of living we no longer justify through wealth creation. Like Athens, we have engaged in wars against enemies we knew little about, in the proess squandering the good-will all Hellenes had for the Athenian ‘Greatest Generation’ that stood nearly alone at Marathon and let their city burn a decade later, trusting that the ‘wooden walls’ of their ships would be their salvation. Alone, hated, with a coalition of powers more than their equal against them, they at least knew what a desperate situation required: For the fleet they sent to Ageospotani for one final attempt to stave off disaster, the women of Athens made rope of their own hair to help outfit the ships’ rigging, volunteering to be shorn of it after the defeat at syracuse left their city nearly bankrupt.
Would we do the same? One hopes that we’ll not have to find out if the lingering memory of what our Greatest Generation did against fascism is enough to obtain the relatively mild terms the other Hellenes imposed on Athena’s namesake city after they failed at Ageospotami.