What would Abe think?

Today's Tids Issue 2,109
Opening Stuff:

Is there anything better than smelling super clean sheets hung out to dry on a crisp, sunny, breezy April day! That’s the way I felt yesterday and long into the night after spending a few hours walking upon rolling, greening hills above a white capped churning sea. Like a clean sheet. Like my body was cleansed of 4 months of winter’s indoor air.

If I lived in one of those neighborhoods that banned outdoor clothes lines, I’d move!

Abraham Lincoln died 145 years ago today. It got me thinking…what is a Republican supposed to be anyhow? Or a Democrat for that matter. After all, the spinners and media experts have muddled the meaning and Raison d'être for both parties. The reason it seems confusing today is because it has always been confusing. Today the Dems say they are the party of Jefferson. Yet, it was the Jefferson Democratic-Republican party that served as the basis for the Republican party. It was the originally the Jeff D-R’s against the Hamilton Federalists. Around the time of Monroe many federalists broke away to join Republicans (Called Whigs) in a unified party that coalesced against a formalized Andrew Jackson Democrat party. Today, the parties are more defined by their extreme Liberal and Conservative sides. The official GOP was founded in 1854 and focused against slavery. They became a combination of Northeast evangelicals and northwest agriculturalists. The three influences on the party were: 1.The change from the Calvinist view of predestination to individualism -- people finding there own salvation. 2. The Whigs brought a view of industry protectionism. 3. The third most important influence was “Nativism” – the concern about an influx of paupers with ties to the Vatican and out of control immigration to work in the more industrialized urban areas.

John McPhereson informs us that the one thing a woman doesn’t want to hear from her blind date while walking hand in hand down Main Street. “Hey, I made that license plate.”

TheQuestion:
Now we know that Abe died 145 years ago today. What famous atheist existentialist died 30 years ago today? What is paradoxical about him?

The Headlines:
--Volcanic Ash From Iceland Shuts Down London’s Heathrow; US Flights Put On Hold.
--Unemployment Claims Rise Unexpectedly For Second Straight Week; Market Drifting.
--Battles Waging In Congress Over New Wall Street Regs.
--Russia Suspends All Adoptions To US Families.
--6,000* Tea Partiers Join Sarah On Boston Common Footsteps Away From Original Tea Dumping.
--Tea Party Marks Taxation Without Representation Day With Big Rally In The Town they Love To Hate.
--New AP-GfK Poll** Have Obama Favorability Lower And Higher resistance TO New Health care.
*Boston Globe Estimate.
**The AP Poll Above At 49% is also the average for 8 polls. Fox News Poll, the earliest in the latest average segment 4/5 to Present, has “0’s” lowest numbers at 43. Note: The Fox number is similar to CBS-NYT in previous poll segment at 44% taken just prior to the Fox poll. CBS is now at 50%.

Back to More Stuff:

Speaking of Poll numbers, if I were the GOP, I would not get overly excited about touting the bad economy as their main message for a hopeful November takeover. There are signs that it could backfire in the 6 months remaining. Better issues are the mounting debt, one sided Government, declining American value system and the end of the Bush tax cuts.

Talk about gold rushes…you ain’t seen nothing like what you are going to see in the coming months on Wall Street. The banks are starting to hire again, and the word is a out that bonus promises will be near astronomical as the big players try to woo back “Masters of the Universe”

Bumper Sticker: “Except for ending slavery, Facism, Nazism and Communism, war has never solved anything.”

Poor Katie. I could see it coming, because it appears that the voters like the so called cute guys. (Or as one reader replied yesterday to my “Too cute to go” comment with – “As in Too big to fail?”) You just have to hope that Siobhan and BoSox are in the top 2 or 3. Just for some variety over the increasingly annoying drone of all the men. While have I always liked Katie for her bright and upbeat aura, and certainly for the voice, I had this sense that she wasn’t as natural while performing. At times her emotions exhibited a staged appearance.

Through the Same Eyes: Chapter 66 continues. –Kent didn’t look as friendly as he tried to sound. But I was answering his questions. Why shouldn’t, I thought. Then I realized what I had just said to myself. Before I would never have thought anything even remotely negative about what Kent said or did. But, at this moment I was wondering. I even noticed a flicker of out of character concern when I mentioned Henry and my thoughts about Laura, the niece.
Out of the nowhere he burst out, “I met Laura once at a restaurant while she was there with her uncle. I even thought of having her over to interview as my cleaning person. I guess it was a good idea that I didn’t. What do you think?”
Why did he tell me that? “It appears that you used your brilliant mind well and made your usual sound judgment,” I answered in a joshing manner. His foot crept further up my thigh and I shuddered. Strangely though, it didn’t stop me thinking about new reservations.
I continued to question, now spurned on with this new information. “What kind of person is she when she isn’t acting the churlish teen?”
“Oh, she is almost pleasant at times.” He said very quickly. And then again abruptly, “Almost finished with that sandwich?” He looked deeply into my eyes. And I felt that incredible yearning, even as he removed his foot.”

Why is it easy for me to believe that the union dominated Admin is behind all of this negative Publicity about Japanese cars. Like how much PR did you see about the recently proclaimed “Worst built car in America” – The Cadillac Escalade.

In reviewing Tea Party affairs newspapers invariably used the expression the “Conservative Tea Party Movement”, hoping obviously to lump them in the extreme or radical categories. It would be more accurate ( Accuracy is probably too much to ask from today’s’ highly agenda-ized “journalist”) if they said citizens for a return to common sense in America.

Every Census commercial I see just makes me madder and madder. They represent to me much of what is wrong with America. In your face assaults on American values and principles. For instance the most recent TV travesty showed what first to be a segment of our people in a city happily going about their chores and a daily activities. But, as the Camera pulled back the glimpse of a white grandmother type was soon overwhelmed by a total black populous with the announcer saying, “be sure to fill out your census or your Government won’t give you money.”

The Answer:
The famous French philosopher Jean Paul Sartre died April 15, 1980. He became a Marxist, but rejected much of communism especially with regard to its restrictions on the individuality of people. He was an avowed atheist yet he “Claimed that religion remained with him as an emotional commitment. He used religious writings and tended to regard religion in a positive light.” Three of his more famous quotes are; --“Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.” –“Hell is other people.” –“Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you.”

The End:
I wonder what Sartre would have thought about the Census commercials?