Lemastre's Comments (238)

“DallasDon may find someone with initials GWB in Highland Park, but it probably won't be George Bush, since he lives nowhere near there.”

“The difference is that the richer you are, the more numerous and exotic are the problems you can enjoy.”

“It's inconceivable that killing any nation's civilian population by bombing or other means will go far toward winning that nation's respect and aid in converting its form of government to that of its attacker. Were that the case, then the population of lower Manhattan should by now have set about establishing a hierarchy of Sheiks and have adopted the Salafi form of Islam. Has anyone checked on this?”

“You mean cable TV?”

“Great Scott! Why is anyone getting all teary-eyed? Oprah is not vanishing. The woman will be on five days a week right where she is, ABC I believe, for nearly the next two years. That's about 460 shows. The entire lifespan of many TV shows is no more than that. And then she'll migrate to her own network or station or whatever she's just bought and be around another 10 years or so.”

“Ms Palin seems only tenuously connected with whatever it is she's doing. She wades in, but if the reality of it becomes inconvenient for her, she will abandon it, as she did the governorship, or fail to prepare, as she did for the debates and interviews during her VP campaign. She wants some sort of fame, but having no particular genius or vocational drive to inform her path, she's left casting about, trying to create the right track. And apparently she's found that the rigors of a book tour don't suit her, either. The missteps and bad PR resulting from her search for public attention may in themselves bring all the fame she can hope for. And it may be all she wants.

And we seem to be cooperating in this. I've been tuning out radio talks shows whose guests preface their remarks by asserting that Ms Palin is not worthy of anyone's attention and who then spend many minutes bringing everyone up to date on her current activities and prognosticating her political intentions.”

“I'm musing over why the media refer to the shooter as a "suspect." What else has he been up to?”

“This instance is symptomatic of what can be expected when troops are deployed and placed in harm's way overseas in apparently endless, ill-advised and futile invasions and occupations. Military discipline goes only so far in countering the reality that what's asked of the military has little or nothing to do with "defending my country," but is instead fostering international enmity and increasing the likelihood of attacks within the U.S.”

“One characteristic of the superior countries appears to be that their fear of or distaste for other nations has not frightened them into squandering their money and their soldiers' lives in apparently endless invasions and occupations in distant locales.”

“And you're still dispensing fertilizer, although you are correct in believing "somebody" is always hiring. It's the U.S. Army, which seems able to use up whatever supply of bodies it can get. But if a kid can't get a job there, how many young Ph.Ds are you ready to hire, and what will you pay them? Will you provide health insurance? Do you need women as well as men? And many other questions of a financial nature.”

“Folks, the Nobel prizes for peace and to an extent literature are political statements from the committee(s) who select the winners. We err in thinking they are like the sciences prizes in being awarded solely for proven accomplishment. They should be, but they aren't. Once you understand that, it's easier to accept Obama's selection.”

“I appreciate your take on the Nobel prize situation. The peace prize and the literature prizes have come to be the Nobel organization's political soapbox and unlike their other awards aren't based on the recipient having done work proved good by the passage of time. I tend to think that Obama's prize is mostly the committee expressing its relief that Obama seems quite unlike his predecessor.”

“I don't need to "read up" or "watch the vid" to gig the Nobel committee for hanging the prize medal on a person who has, understandably, accomplished little toward world peace in the few months he has been in a position to attempt it. Let's hope Mr Obama can actually get out of the Bush messes and do some peace-making.

In the meantime, I've notified the Nobel people that I've a new word-processor and expect their literature prize next year for the great novel I may write.”

“Mr Obama's been in office less than a year, and so far his record on peace-making consists in his presiding over the military occupation of two countries and the continuing loss of lives on all sides. Is this what peacemaking is nowadays? If so, George Bush should probably get the prize.

Obama may well become a force for peace, maybe an outstanding one -- but so far, no cigar from me. It seems to me that Nobel prizes are usually, and rightly, awarded for actual accomplishments.”

“It's not the oil, it's what's done with it. It appears to me that U.S. oil enriches big oil and fouls our air, while Scandinavian oil pumps up the public coffers and is mostly shipped to the U.S. and other countries to further foul their air.”

“I haven't been on a Tarmac runway in 30 or 40 years. Runways are made of concrete nowadays. During WWII, Tarmac -- a trademarked process combining asphalt and gravel -- was used because of wartime shortages. And it's been a long time since I endured a long delay on a runway of any material. But I've spent a good deal of time getting through customs and security.”

“I'm not sure that Congressional claims, implied or otherwise, of acting in the public interest are believable to many of us anymore. Every day, the lack of progress toward health-care reform and other public priorities makes it increasingly obvious that the commercial interests who profit by the status quo are writing our legislation or stymying any constructive revisions of it. Congress' job nowadays is to try to make the lobbyists' wishes sound like responsible legislating, but I for one don't buy it.”

“People who subscribe to insurance need to know where insurance companies are coming from. They gotta know that the companies only want to maximize their profits and will propagandize against anything that even hints at threatening that scheme. So I’m not scared by their BS -- I’m just disgusted. I buy insurance for the specific service it offers. Any communication from the company that’s not addressed to me personally or doesn’t affect me or the service I’m buying goes in the recycle bin unread.”

“This Congressman bids fair for the week’s you-gotta-be-kidding award. His clumsy attempt to suggest that the lobbyists have not in fact written the bill in question only verifies that he and his colleagues have relinquished to the lobbyists Congress’ responsiblity for writing legislation. Else, why would he care whether any lobbyist understands what's going on or not?”

“I assume that "something we all enjoy" refers to movies, and although not all of us enjoy movies, it's safe to assume that anyone tuning into the Oscars telecast does. But they must also be ready to tolerate stretches of barely relevant padding. That the myriad of self-serving awards shows that now clutter our TV schedules are allowed to go on for more than an hour or 90 minutes is certainly annoying. That's why anyone who says anything of substance is a welcome relief. The fact that the "deed" is reported rather than its content is a testament to the shallowness of the reporter and/or his assessment of his audience's taste.”

“Why not at the Oscars? Some actors have more on their minds than thanking their agents. And do any of us remember who any Oscar-winner's agent is, anyway?”

“Perhaps wars of self-defense are defensible. Invading other nations for specious reaons certainly is not.”

“Letterman, O'Brien, et al have become our way to prepare for sleep late in the evening -- something predictable and comfortable -- a little warm milk. When one of them invades prime time, a period when most of us are awake and ready to be engaged with what's onscreen, then a late-night show might not cut it. Here in the central time zone, 9 p.m. seems a bit early to start the late part of the night. It occurs to me that if Leno's new show is being taped in late afternoon, as I believe the previous show was, it's understandable that the show's staff will view it as more of the same and will construct it of the same familiar bits and pieces.”

“I don't know Brian Urlacher nor do I follow da Bears, but observing Mr. Urlacher on the sidelines after his injury, it appeared to me that he is tall and slender, with rather modestly proportioned bone structure who has developed his musculature in the gymn. This is great for his general conditioning, but it doesn't give him the substantial bones and joints he really needs to survive the blows he wants to inflict on opposing ball-carriers. A person's skeleton is first and foremost a product of genetics, and no amount of muscle-building can change that.”

“Nose job, maybe to correct a crooked septum and straighten the nose.”