Category: Blithe Spirit

The good and the bad, emphasis on Trib and Sun-Times

Labor Day is Empty Chair Day!

Evil Blogger Lady on the empty-chair schtick:

I thought it was funny that night. But I did not realize how much it would upset the left! Even Barack Obama did not ignore it (which suggests it is worrying Obama 2012)… .

And Jennifer Rubin:

I was there and it was darn weird. But at times it was funny and devastating in its dismissal of the president’s excuses. And in clips and sound bites the day after the live performance, the oddness is diminished and the punch lines seem more biting. In simple terms, the movie icon encapsulated the message of the convention: If someone is doing a bad job, you have to fire him.

Yes.

She adds reference to Obama supporters’ “obsessive plea for more details about Romney’s policies.” Which he has given, she adds to that. But no matter: Chi Trib today has its “short on details” story (LA Times story)

And Richard Fernandez:

It was an old man’s delivery, but overstatedly so for effect. It was a cutting delivery and for that reason delivered in low key. But for all of Clint Eastwood’s rhetorical cleverness at the Republican convention it derived its effectiveness precisely because it wasn’t one of those “I take this platform tonight with pen in hand, bearing in mind the immortal words of Clancy M. Duckworth” type orations. It wasn’t the speech of someone who was running for office.

Rather it might have come from Mr. Weller down at the corner office musing on simple things to not very important people. How it wasn’t good form to mess things up continuously. How one might lose faith in a man who made one broken promise too many. How at the end of the day everyone either did the job or quit out of decency. Even Presidents.

Remember. Empty Chair Day tomorrow.

(H/T the irreplaceable Instapundit)

Teachers strike? Against the public, which includes themselves?

Chi Trib vs. striking teachers who might "walk off the job and abandon their children in 10 days":

One big stumbling block in negotiations is teacher recall. The union wants teachers who are laid off to be first in line for new jobs. Principals would not be free to hire the best teachers they can find.

How does that serve students? It does not.

No, but the principal might have in-laws who are dying for work. But again: there are safeguards against that?

Gets complicated.

Best argument is FDR’s in 1937::"A strike of public employees is unthinkable and intolerable," echoing his predecessor Calvin Coolidge in 1919, when as governor of Massachusetts he broke the Boston police strike: "There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, at any time,"

Not arguments, true, but statements of principle.

All Eyes Are on Romney To Mark the Strategy for Growth as Ryan Sticks To Debt

Ryan disappointed Kudlow:

He dwelled on debt to an extreme point. I don’t think discussing debt connects with people who are unemployed or marginally employed. I think they want a good-paying job, and debt is almost an academic abstraction.

When Republicans run on debt and deficits, they almost always lose. When Republicans run on growth, limited government, lower spending, lower tax rates, and deregulation — they win. Mr. Ryan’s speech was confusing on the growth issue, and that was disappointing; I don’t want to be confused and the American people shouldn’t be confused.

It will be left to Mitt Romney on Thursday night to clarify his own growth policies.

I want growth, growth, growth. Wednesday night, I didn’t get growth, growth, growth; I heard debt, debt, debt.

His argument: growth solves all. Good argument. Dems don’t get that.

Challenge to fashionistas on 35th Street

Come one, come all, Wednesday, October 24, 2012 to Bridgeport Art Center, 1200 West 35th Street, Chicago, where:

Chicago’s Designers are inspiring hope.

Five of Chicago’s hottest fashion designers are set to compete in Heshima Kenya’s second annual Fashion Challenge.

The Project Runway-inspired competition will be kicking off with a fabulous signature cocktail, the Maisha Martini, and provisions provided by Food for Thought.. . .

Trust me, the cause is a darn good one — the Maisha Collective, an income-generating project for the unaccompanied refugee artisan women Heshima Kenya serves in Nairobi.

Go Heshima Kenya!