The Heretik

FORTUNATE SON SLIDES INTO HOME

TALK ABOUT THE FORTUNATE SON GEORGE BUSH means talking baseball.  His magical mystery tour through the NATIONAL GUARD and his COKE USE AND DENIAL can be canned for later.  George Bush made money for nothing. No word about chicks for free.  (Chicks for free is the story of his brother Neil.  Brother Neil made money in China. And brother Marvin too.  Remember Dad had a few jobs.  One of them was as an ambassador . . . to China.)  But George W. doesn’t like to travel.

SO GEORGE W. BUSH GOT HIS MONEY CLOSER TO HOME.  In Texas, in baseball.  George Bush made a mint for relative nothing due to relative connections.  Somewhat reminiscent of his magical mystery Guard tour, where he did relative nothing compared to boys who are dying in Iraq, whose funerals he will not go to.  Somebody else always pays the TAB.

THIS IS AN EIGHTIES STORY. George Bush took $600,000 dollars he got in a hand out from a failed HARKEN energy company and got millions in  return on his hand out as “owner” of the Texas Rangers.  Bush wasn’t actually the owner.  He just played one on TV.  Just like he plays a president on TV. And has this mysterious need to clear brush when the cameras are around.

A CLEAR PICTURE ABOUT THE FORTUNATE SON who his fortune in baseball can be found by anyone wanting to know the story. Swing away for a google grand slam. Or not.  Try as he might, Bush cannot change the facts.  Nor can he change growing opinion that he connects less than he used to down in Texas.  When one more fortunate than most cannot answer a few questions about Iraq or from a mother about how, or why or when, more and more people think the President has struck out

PREVIOUS HERETIK POSTS ON THE FORTUNATE SON [A MISUNDERSTANDING] [FORTUNATE SON]

WRITERS IN THE FORTUNATE SON SALON AUGUST 29, 2005 [AMANDA MARCOTTE] [SHAKESPEARE’S SISTER] [SISTER AT EZRA KLEIN] 
 

RECOMMENDED READING
[COMMON DREAMS]  Kevin Phillips, a long-time Republican strategist turned apostate, describes the deal in his book, American Dynasty.
"In 1988, George W. also began angling for a role in the acquisition of the Texas Rangers baseball team, which was being sold by oil man Eddie Chiles, an old friend of his father's. The deal did not go through easily, despite Bush's love of the sport, but it finally concluded in 1989 on three pivots of cronyism. The first was the help in arranging meetings and financing given to Bush by baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth, a family friend. Number two was the investment participation of Texas billionaire Richard Rainwater, a major Reagan-Bush contributor.
"Last but not least was the arrangement by which the city of Arlington agreed to finance a new $191 million stadium for the Rangers with a bond issue paid for by a small sales tax increase. The stadium was to be deeded over to the baseball consortium in 12 years, after the Rangers group had paid $60 million in annual payments of $5 million.
"What sold investors was the highly rewarding stadium deal, which depended on the city of Arlington pushing the sales tax increase through in a special election and then stretching its power of eminent domain to seize the necessary land for what was mostly a private purpose."
Bush and his cronies bought the team for $63 million. Bush's contribution was a paltry $640,000, which got him 2 percent of the franchise. But the family name was his real contribution. His main function was not unlike that of retired baseball players who hire on as greeters at casinos in Las Vegas and Atlantic City.
In their book, Shrub, columnist Molly Ivins and Lou Dubose note that, "Not satisfied with the taxpayers picking up the tab on the construction of the (new) stadium, the ball team used its quasi-government sports authority to 'take' the 13 acres needed for the stadium complex at a price so low a state court had to step in on behalf of the unwilling 'sellers.' "
In 1998, by then Gov. G.W. Bush, who had campaigned as a strong advocate of private property rights, cashed in his interest in the baseball team for $15.4 million.

[TEXAS OBSERVER] STEALING HOME . . . Yes, baseball has been very good to Bush. Moreover, the biggest deal Bush has ever done, the career-shaping transaction he boasted of on the campaign trail—the planning, funding and construction of the Texas Rangers’ Ballpark at Arlington—has been largely ignored by the national media.
[LEGAL DECISION: KELO v NEW LONDON] [MARK A.R. KLEIMAN] [HAT TIP: MAJIKTHISE]

HOW "FORTUNATE" IS THE SON GEORGE BUSH?
 

FORTUNATE SON

GEORGE BUSH HAS CERTAINLY BEEN WORKED on his vacation.  In the hundred degree heat of Crawford Texas, his image succumbed to the heat stroke of genius.  Cindy Sheehan need ask not question of the President of the United States.  Her presence and his silence are indictment enough. His crime is not caring.
 
THE THEME OF THE BOY WHO HAS It ALL, but who doesn’t care has been around for centuries.  In the past is the story of the Prodigal Son.  Now we have the formerly Wasted Son laying waste to our present and to our future.  Resourceful writers formerly bullied may look at the beast that is Bush in a new light. Some areas worth examination: Fly boy who blew away from Air Force National Guard duty; Son with little energy who makes it big with no money down in energy business; Non player with no money makes mint on baseball team; and that is just a start.
 
IT MAY NOT BE A CRIME that George Bush is a more fortunate son than others, but it might be a sin when he just doesn’t care.

TODAY’S WRITERS IN THE FORTUNATE SON SALON AUGUST 29, 2005
[AMANDA MARCOTTE]  [SHAKESPEARE’S SISTER] [SISTER AT EZRA KLEIN]  [THE HERETIK]
 

 
Some folks are born made to wave the flag,
Ooh, they’re red, white and blue.
And when the band plays hail to the chief,
Ooh, they point the cannon at you, lord,
 
It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no senator’s son, son.
It ain’t me, it ain’t me; I ain’t no fortunate one, no,
 
Yeah!
Some folks are born silver spoon in hand,
Lord, don’t they help themselves, oh.
But when the taxman comes to the door,
Lord, the house looks like a rummage sale, yes,
 
It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no millionaire’s son, no.
It ain’t me, it ain’t me; I ain’t no fortunate one, no.
 
Some folks inherit star spangled eyes,
Ooh, they send you down to war, lord,
And when you ask them, how much should we give?
Ooh, they only answer more! more! more! yoh,
 
It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no military son, son.
It ain’t me, it ain’t me; I ain’t no fortunate one, one.
 
It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no fortunate one, no no no,
It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no fortunate son, no no no,
 
“Fortunate Son”
John Fogerty
 

A MISUNDERSTANDING

WHAT DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND, MORAN?  Godd bliss MURKA, the public which it stands, one nation underground, with little trees and just us for all.

AMANDA MARCOTTE MUSES on SONS FORTUNATE and otherwise.  Governor MITT ROMNEY of Massachussetts, was miffed somebody asked him a question about whether his kids had enlisted to serve in Iraq.  MITT of Massachusetts , so obviously miffed, is the son of former governor of Michigan GEORGE ROMNEY, who was “BRAINWASHED”  in the Sixties on Vietnam.  Miffed Mitt of Mass, a millionaire, made his name in Utah working for free as the head of the 2002 OLYMPICS where somebody else footed all the bills.   

THE CITED TITLE SONG FORTUNATE SON was written by JOHN FOGERTY, formerly of Creedence Clearwater Revival.  When Fogerty released a solo album CENTERFIELD, he caught more than pop flies. What he caught from a major record company was what flies land on.  Fogerty was actually sued for sounding too much like himself, in violation of copyright and trademark of the band he founded which made all its money on the distinctive voice of John Fogerty sounding just like himself.  The record company thought Fogerty who sang Fortunate Son was a son of a bitch sounding like himself.

FOGERTY FOUGHT THE LAW and the law lost.  The court ruled you can sound like yourself so long as you live. You can protest what your government does in songs old and new.

THE MAN CANNOT TAKE THAT AWAY from you. Some boys will not have a chance to sing anymore songs.  These boys are not so fortunate as the sons of Miffed Mitt of  Massachusetts or JENNA AND BARBARA BUSH. 

MIFFED MITT OF MASS HAS MISSED out on why the masses themselves might be miffed about those who miss the chance to serve their country while some who served will miss out on the rest of their lives. Because they died.  Their parents and their brothers and sisters, their sons and daughters, their wives and husbands all miss the dead.

MAYBE MIFFED MITT OF MASS MISUNDERSTANDS why people protest the war and something about America.

QUESTION: Answer to question not asked.  A man calls himself Mitt only when his first name is Willard.  What do you misunderstand about America today?

CELEBRATE TRUE SECURITY

DO NOT BE FOOLED BY A PRESIDENT WHO SAYS HE WANTS TO "REFORM" A PROGRAM HE WANTS TO DESTROY  The only problem with Social Security is that it has worked too well to ensure the security of hardworking Americans late in life and families of workers who have left this life too soon.

SOCIAL SECURITY CAME TO LIFE TO BENEFIT all the people of this country on August 14, 1935. The people who would destroy it by lies and deception must think we were born yesterday.

CELEBRATE OUR TRUE SECURITY TODAY And may Social Security have many more happy anniversaries in the future.

DOWNLOAD THE GRAPHIC and use it on your side bar or wherever you like.

ON A GLORIOUS FOURTH OF JULY

ON THIS GLORIOUS FOURTH OF JULY 2005
The Heretik Has Only Best Wishes for Americans of Every Color and Stripe, But Also a Reminder of What We Have Faced Before and Inevitably Will Face Again.

In our America the march of freedom has opened doors of opportunity with pride. In our America we rally to the defense of the wronged in prisons dark in distant lands.   In our strength we find compassion for the poor at home and find our commonwealth.  We stand for the weak who would be crushed by the strong.  In our America we are always wary of those who claim to be always right, who so attack others, and admit no wrong.  We understand freedom has many facets and can be seen by many a varied light.  We will not have our liberty taken away, nor do we give in without a fight.

In our America we remember who has fallen in our defense.  We ask always that the greatest sacrifice be made only with the most sense. We know our greatest gifts and treasures cannot be valued in dollars and cents.

In the coming days our America will face the continuing slide into the deeper hell that is Iraq.  Honest citizens must ask how we got there and how we will leave it, for better or worse.

In the coming weeks America will face a decision on who will make decisions our laws in the Supreme Court.  Honest citizens will ask whether we want a return to an imaginary vision of the past or whether the future is a land of hope.

In the coming months we will face leaders who will not want to face us.  We must face the truth in the light of the mirror now or live in darkness for years.

In the coming years we must not forget our worst nights, but must be guided by our best lights. In our America we know we will never fear a monstrous nightmare if we remember the dream within. Our greatest enemy lies not on some distant shore, but in ourselves.  We who hold on to liberty and all that is best will only lose if we give in to our worst.  In the worst of times, more than any other, we must not let go of the best vision of all America has been and all that it yet might be.

  SEE ALSO [ROB'S BLOG]

FLAG DAY 2005

OUR FLAG IS EVERYWHERE TODAY 
We take pride in our flag and it colors, in all the men and women who hold it high, in all the liberty in the land where that flag flies.  Our flag, red, white, and blue, ripples in breezes gentle and snaps straight in the storm. Our flag belongs not to one group to wave over our heads, nor to one person to hide behind.  Our flag flies over all of us to love in times of gentle zephyrs and to defend in hell’s hurricane.  May we never forget the sacrifice of those who fell in it defense nor the liberty it represents.
Flag Day June 14, 2005

 

 

ON LIBERTY AND LAUGHTER

 

They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security.
Benjamin Franklin

People don’t give up easily what matters to them most. Liberty matters to all Americans.  The liberty to do as each would wish, the pursuit of happiness, is an American ideal found nowhere else in the world.  Some would prefer we found our happiness in ways like theirs, to be not so happy so openly in ways not like theirs.

But we Americans enjoy another freedom.  We have a freedom from others, whether it is a snooping government or merely a nosy neighbor.  At least we do for now.  This weekend remember: never let someone else take the smile from your face or the laughter in your heart.  If we each hold liberty lightly in our hands and dearly in our hearts, no heavy chain will ever bind us.

The Heretik Joe Ivory Mattingly would like to know: What has got you laughing today?

 

A SENSE OF PLACE

Corn Hill

EDWARD HOPPER REMINDS ME
My Favorite Part of America Is the Beach as Depicted in Corn Hill.
Corn Hill is in Truro on Cape Cod on the way to Provincetown.  Cape Cod is Red Sox territory to this Yankee fan.  Cape Cod is much more than that.  I thank Hopper for reminding me to salute Cape Cod and to salute Red Sox fans. This weekend Red Sox fans and Yankee fans are more alike than we both realize.  We share the designated hitter and a common history, a rivalry of brothers and of sisters.  The National League, all of it, sucks.  Thank you, Edward Hopper.

Thanks for reminding me that Cape Cod and Provincetown stick out in the ocean like an Italian fisherman in Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea.  Provincetown sticks out in the ocean like an Italian fisherman's arm flipping off the world with a simple gesture.  Provincetown is the gayest place on earth in the summer.  Or maybe that is Fire Island. 

The beach of Cape Cod looks like the beach of Long Island and the beach of New Jersey and of Delaware and Maryland.  The East Coast beach looks like itself in Nags Head on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  That East Coast beach is like America.  We are more similar than we realize. 

And that will always be so for a people who love freedom and the freedom to be different from each other and still have respect for each and for all.  We can live in city or country, love beach or moutain or fruited plain. God, if you believe in him or her or it or the trees, God shed his light on thee, America.  Or the light shines from within us all, godloving or godless both.

This weekend may God or whatever is in us bless America. Save us from people who would manipulate our minds and our emotions for their own ends, ends other than freedom.  Save us from having to hear God Bless America in the seventh inning of every ball game.  Save us from the fat Irish tenor Ronan Tynan that they have to air freight and drop into Yankee Stadium.  Save New York and America from Rudolf Giuliani.  Save us from those who would make us less than our best, here at home and abroad.  Let's just play some ball this weekend.  Or talk about how we love each other.

Where will you be this weekend?
 

An Unchained Thing

No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck.
Frederick Douglass

As we enter this weekend that so often seems more a celebration of hot dogs and apple pie, let's remember how we got to enjoy our overeating and every opportunity to laugh our ways to bed.  Some rest in more noble beds of earth.  Much is made of warriors.  Whatever the cause of conflict, the dead deserve much more than our respect.  Each of our dead had a face and a family.  A patriot's duty to the dead is to ask that future lives only be risked where freedom is at risk.  We must remember that those who would march us to war not march over our freedom first.

Liberty is an unchained thing, the wonder that ties us all together.  What will make you feel most free this weekend?  How will you share your freedom with others?

Four Freedoms

 
Four freedoms:  The first is freedom of speech and expression - everywhere in the world.  The second is freedom of everyone to worship God in his own  way, everywhere in the world. The third is freedom from want . . . everywhere in the world.  The     fourth is freedom from fear . . . anywhere in the world.                                           
Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Freedom is assaulted everywhere at home and abroad.  What can we do to change that today to create a more free tomorrow?