Another day older...and deeper in debt

Here's an interesting look at what the deficits looked like under Bush (43) and what they look like now - and in the immediate future.

For shame...

(ht: David Sessions/PoliticsDaily)

From the AP: NEW YORK — Red and yellow lights shone from the top of the Empire State Building at dusk Wednesday, a tribute to communist China's 60th anniversary that protesters labeled "blatant approval" of totalitarianism and criticized as inappropriate for an icon in the land of the free.

Other anniversaries and appropriate lighting W&H Properties (which owns the building) might consider:

• Hitler's birthday: red and black.
• The USSR's occupation of Eastern Europe: blood red.
• The Plague: black.
• The founding of the KKK: white.
• Bernie Madoff's birthday: green.

Of course, I'm sure we can all come up with many more horrible anniversaries to commemorate with a ceremonial lighting of one of America's greatest structures.

I'm sure Mao is laughing at us right now. Wherever he is...

If it's October, it must mean we're in the playoffs

This blog doesn't do much in the way of sports, but we're talking religion here.

Once again, as we head into October, the Boston Red Sox are in the playoffs.

Next stop: Anaheim...or is it Los Angeles of Anaheim?

See you at Fenway!

Who has "suffered enough?"

Polanski "On the Lam?" - not any more

Normally, I don't think I'd be venturing into the area(s) of celebrity/crime coverage, but the circus surrounding the arrest and possible extradition of child rapist/sodomizer/drugger & bail jumper Roman Polanski begs for comment...



Well, that and the fact I've done two radio shows (the John Batchelor Show and the Dave Congalton Show - the podcast from the Batchelor show is here) where the hosts, fellow panelists, callers and I discussed Polanski's crimes.



The best piece I've read to date is from American Thinker by Rick Moran. There's just nothing to add to this excellent piece.



The bottom line is Polanski, regardless of his life story or the circumstances surrounding his failed plea deal back in the '70s, needs to be brought back to face a judge.

It wasn't just the rape victim who was "injured" by the assault and his flight from justice, it was all of us.

An army for one...

There's no getting around it, but the "job" of First Lady is important - and necessary. When we elect our presidents, we also - for better or worse - elected their spouses. First Ladies have their own platforms ("soft bully pulpits") from which they can rally the citizenry to any number of causes. Think Jackie Kennedy rehabilitating the White House; Lady Bird Johnson's highway beautification efforts; and Barbara Bush's work on behalf of literacy. Frankly, we owe most First Ladies a debt of gratitude they never ask for - we take their spouses, privacy and lives away for a period of time; they are always open to criticism, fair or unfair; and they don't receive a dime for their troubles.

Still, it is remarkable to see what our newest First Lady has done just since January. "In my own life, in my own small way, I have tried to give back to this country that has given me so much," she's said. "That's why I left a job at a big law firm for a career in public service." Right now, her cause - health care - doesn't seem all that different from her husband's. Fine. No one said it had to be different, but it seems that this cause is more about politics than it is about service.


Furthermore, it's interesting to see - particularly during this time of "belt-tightening" all over the land - that the First Lady seems to be a tad tone deaf when it comes to her operation. According to the Canada Free Press.com, she has hired "an unprecedented number of staffers" to help her carry out her (unassigned) duties as First Lady. Read the list and then decide if it is all necessary or just too much.



(Of course, how much is too much for someone who makes a major production out of a farmers' market shopping trip...?)

Salary Staff Member



1. $172,200 - Sher, Susan (Chief Of Staff)



2. $140,000 - Frye, Jocelyn C. (Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Policy And Projects For The First Lady)



3. $113,000 - Rogers, Desiree G. (Special Assistant to the President and White House Social Secretary)



4. $102,000 - Johnston, Camille Y. (Special Assistant to the President and Director of Communications for the First Lady)



5. $100,000 - Winter, Melissa E. (Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief Of Staff to the First Lady)



6. $90,000 - Medina , David S. (Deputy Chief Of Staff to the First Lady)



7. $84,000 - Lelyveld, Catherine M. (Director and Press Secretary to the First Lady)



8. $75,000 - Starkey, Frances M. (Director of Scheduling and Advance for the First Lady)



9. $70,000 - Sanders, Trooper (Deputy Director of Policy and Projects for the First Lady)



10. $65,000 - Burnough, Erinn J. (Deputy Director and Deputy Social Secretary)



11. $64,000 - Reinstein, Joseph B. (Deputy Director and Deputy Social Secretary)



12. $62,000 - Goodman, Jennifer R. (Deputy Director of Scheduling and Events Coordinator For The First Lady)



13. $60,000 - Fitts, Alan O. (Deputy Director of Advance and Trip Director for the First Lady)



14. $57,500 - Lewis, Dana M. (Special Assistant and Personal Aide to the First Lady)



15. $52,500 - Mustaphi, Semonti M. (Associate Director and Deputy Press Secretary To The First Lady)



16. $50,000 - Jarvis, Kristen E. (Special Assistant for Scheduling and Traveling Aide To The First Lady)



17. $45,000 - Lechtenberg, Tyler A. (Associate Director of Correspondence For The First Lady)



18. $43,000 - Tubman, Samantha (Deputy Associate Director, Social Office)



19. $40,000 - Boswell, Joseph J. (Executive Assistant to the Chief Of Staff to the First Lady)



20. $36,000 - Armbruster, Sally M. (Staff Assistant to the Social Secretary)



21. $35,000 - Bookey, Natalie (Staff Assistant)



22. $35,000 - Jackson, Deilia A. (Deputy Associate Director of Correspondence for the First Lady)

Unclear on the concept...again

NYT won't reveal name of 'social media' editor

"Doesn't this seem just a wee bit of a contradiction? You assign someone to follow a group of people, or movement, whose fundamental plank is transparency, but then you won't be transparent as to who that is? Keller declined to identify the editor, saying he wanted to spare that person 'a bombardment of e-mails and excoriation in the blogosphere.' You mean like say um, oh, the Sports Editor? Or the Opinion Page Editor? Or the author of the above piece, the Public Editor? I've never heard of a newspaper having a Private Editor.It all just makes my head hurt." (hat tip: KnoxNews.Com's "No Silence Here" blog)

Radio, radio...

It's Sunday night, so that means another appearance on the John Batchelor Show. I'll be on the weekly roundtable beginning at 8:15 p.m. (Pacific time).





You can tune in at KFI-AM 640 (Los Angeles), KSFO-AM 560 (Bay Area/San Francisco), WABC-AM 77 (New York), or WMAL-AM 630 (Washington, DC). If you're outside the listening areas, you can listen online (live) thru any of the stations' websites.





Enjoy!