An ongoing comparison is between McCain and Abe Simpson. Then I saw another article where a pro-McCain organization is digging back to the 60s, trying to associate Obama with the Weather Underground. Then, it being early and pre-coffee, I flashed to one of my favorite Grampa Simpson quotes:
We can’t bust heads like we used to, but we have our ways. One trick is to tell them stories that don’t go anywhere. Like the time I took the fairy to Shelbyville. I needed a new heel for my shoe so I decided to go to Morganville, which is what they called Shelbyville in those days. So I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time. Now to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on them. Give me five bees for a quarter you’d say. Now where were we, oh ya. The important thing was that I had an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time. They didn’t have white onions because if the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones.
My mind is a peculiar place.
Also in Obama/McCain news, McCain raised more money from Hoosiers than Obama did in July. Obama had beat McCain the previous six months. Overall, the Hoosier cash flow stands at $1,600,000 for Obama to $900,000 for McCain.
A blog entry suggesting that McCain’s extreme wealth, like Bush the Lesser’s, isolates him from the consequences of risk and, therefore, skews his judgment. The entry bags on him for playing craps, which goes a bit too far for my tastes in that I married into a craps-loving family.
Another blog post reporting that the McCains spend $270,000 per year on household staff which might be more of a political problem than the houses in that Americans get accumulating stuff, but having servants is a little weird.
McCain apparently claimed that American workers wouldn’t pick lettuce for $50 per hour because the work is too menial. $50 * 40 * 50 = $100,000 + a 2 week vacation. I think if wages were offered at that level, there would be no shortage of qualified lettuce pickers applying.
Heck, I would pick lettuce for 25 weeks and then take the rest of the year off.
Paddy… actually the lettuce In Yuma is harvested over a 5 month period (Nov – Mar) so you might have to factor the pay a little lower.
BTW, during the harvest, the warmest weather you would encounter is in March with average high of 80 and low of 53; coolest is in December with average high of 69 and low of 46.
While back-breaking, I would think you could get into a Zen thing where you could take a season and work out the plot to the next great novel – then spend the rest of the year actually writing it.
Now, what he didn’t ask is would you scrub toilets for $50/hr. There is a difference, in my mind, between manual labor out in the fresh outdoors and… well… “shitty” jobs. Let’s just say that wouldn’t be my first choice.
$270,000 for servants. 8 houses. Doesn’t know how much gas costs and isn’t concerned with it.
But he’s not an elitist, damn it! He’s just a regular guy! Probably quaffs a Natural Lite in his Wranglers on his days off too.
If McCain is smart, he’ll say that the money he spends on houses and servants is his way of propping up the U.S. economy at a difficult time.
As bad as the housing market is, Cindy’s house buying may be the only thing propping it up.
I love the “they’re Cindy’s houses” line of reasoning. The guy is 72 years old. Has he ever owned anything himself? If so, what was it?
Favorite Grandpa Simpson quote…
“I’m afraid of the future!”
I have a number of debtors who tend to own nothing and have everything in the name of their significant other. Usually work construction of some sort. I presume a U.S. Senator’s wages would be garnishable.
It’s just a shame that after Bush’s focus on the “ownership society”, McCain still hasn’t been able to attain ownership of any tangible object, as far as anyone can tell.