Sarah "Drill Baby, Drill" finally speaks

She parlayed it into a signature slogan: "Drill, Baby, drill !!!"

So we've been wondering what Sarah thinks now, after the historic disaster taking place in the Gulf. Still think drilling in the coastal waters is a good idea? Dead silence for a week.

Now, somebody finally gave her her lines. The problem, and the lesson to be learned from this, according to a Twitter message just going out from Sarah:

Don't Trust Foreign Oil Companies

See, BP is based in England. The problem is that BP is only one of three companies involved in the Deepwater Horizon facility that is leaking. One of the others? The very American Halliburton. The third is a multnational corporation now based in Switzerland but originated as an American company.

But then Sarah doesn't like to let facts get in the way of a good sound bite.

Drill on, Baby. Drill on.

Ralph

Not a "chip off the old block"

Franklin Graham may have inherited his father's name and his role as famous preacher; but, to paraphrase Lloyd Benson's most famous line:

"Sir, I knew Billy Graham. I served with Billy Graham. Billy Graham was a friend of mine. And frankly, Franklin, you're no Billy Graham.

No, I do not personally know Billy Graham and never particularly liked him; and certainly did not agree with his theology.

But the whole nation knew Billy Graham, probably the most respected religious leader of his generation. Friend and adviser to many presidents, frequent guest in the White House, and beloved evangelical crusader to millions.

What Billy Graham never was, from my outsider perspective, was an aggressive denouncer of other religions. Which his son Franklin has become.

Dis-invited to participate in the National Day of Prayer service at the Pentagon because of his prior derogatory comments about Islam as "an evil and wicked religion," he has now gone on the offensive in defending himself.

He is now accusing the White House, if not Obama himself, of "giving Islam a pass." Apparently what he means is that Islam is being included along with other religions in ecumenical observations of non-sectarian faith. It seems that the Rev. Franklin Graham believes that, instead, our government should put Christianity above all other religions -- or perhaps even exclude those that he finds offensive.

How is that different from violating the non-establishment clause in the U.S. Constitution?

Franklin Graham is entitled to his beliefs. He is not entitled to have a government that privileges those same beliefs.

Ralph

The incredible shrinking man

Alan Greenspan keeps shrinking. He now seems like a very small man.

How could we have ever thought this man's every word was so wise, so steeped in vast knowledge and experience, so oracular, that Congress and Wall Street tycoons waited with bated breath for his latest, often cryptic utterance?

Or-a-cle: noun. 1 a : a person (as a priestess of ancient Greece) through whom a deity is believed to speak.

Huffington Post's Ryan Grim writes about the secret minutes of a 2004 Federal Reserve meeting that have just been released:

As top Federal Reserve officials debated whether there was a housing bubble and what to do about it, then-Chairman Alan Greenspan argued that the dissent should be kept secret so that the Fed wouldn't lose control of the debate to people less well-informed than themselves.

"We run the risk, by laying out the pros and cons of a particular argument, of inducing people to join in on the debate, and in this regard it is possible to lose control of a process that only we fully understand," Greenspan said, according to the transcripts of a March 2004 meeting.

At the same meeting, several Fed officials did raise concern about rising housing prices, but Greenspan said it was "nothing to worry about."

Now, here in 2009 and 2010, after it did all go bust, Greenspan says he didn't see it coming -- nobody could have seen it coming he keeps repeating, even after he looks ridiculous saying it.

Of course !!! How could he see it coming if he only listened to his own echo chamber? And kept any hint of dissent secret so they wouldn't lose control of the debate to people less well-informed than themselves.

No more oracles, please. They turn into tiny little, old men.

Ralph