THE CAT CAN BE SKINNED *IN SILENCE*... for Just a Minute Radio on Friday 110805

Time’s a wastin’ … IT’S FRIDAAAAAY!!!! YEAAAAAA!!!

Sorry – got a bit carried away there… we had forgotten the end of the week cheer!

Finally we got what passes for a decision this week… the Dreaded August 2^nd came and went… and the ghosts of several problems still remain. The main one is “are the spending cuts supposedly contained in this piece of legislation for real? Or are they simply propaganda which really amounts to nothing practical because of technicalities in the way Treasury keeps books?”

Frankly, I don’t know. I don’t know exactly whom to believe. Rush seems sufficiently bent out of shape – along with some other radio hosts – to make me wonder. And frankly the shenanigans often pulled when ‘negotiating’ in the floors of the houses of Congress are legion. One cannot be sure that pain in between the shoulder blades is not another stiletto blade slipped in when you weren’t looking… and now the bag or box or voting booth is empty.

It’s rather like trying to out Murtha, Murtha… (May he RIP.) who was so slick and charming and the master of the earmark so indelible one could hardly see it peeping out from between the pages. There was a pretty good (as in skillful) gang of crooks operating in the legislature back when the ‘royal’ family of schemers in Louisiana were in charge of the politics in that state – they felt it was their own dominion and why on earth should anyone who did not belong to the order of the Long Family want to intrude. Well…. No need to disturb old graves just now.

The more potent and present group operating in the upstate of New York would be Spitzer & Schumer Inc. with a few others thrown in around the edges. It’s even spilled over into South Carolina where that former governor of sterling (or at least silver plating) maneuvering sat out a term he should have abandoned after he abandoned his wife and family. Now he’s been out making TV interviews testing the waters to see if he might not come back to political life in the Palmetto State since he’s been out of office long enough for South Carolinians to forget. Goodness… how short does he think memories can get!

Well… sorry – I got off on a rabbit trail there. I guess I just don’t like to have liars and cheats in the government. Unreasonable isn’t it!

Anyway… today’s JUST A MINUTE spotlights an abbreviated snapshot of President Calvin Coolidge – who assumed the Presidency when Warren Harding died suddenly. He was often characterized as “Silent Cal” and Alice Roosevelt Longworth (Teddy Roosevelt’s opinionated queen of Washington Society in the 20’s and following who made a career of dealing in gossip) was critical. She said Silent Cal must have been weaned on a pickle. That was one of the gentler things she said apparently. Thanks be to the Lord I wasn’t around yet. (J).

So… We’ll let it go for now. Be with us today at 11:30 AM and 5:15 PM for the two airings of JUST A MINUTE. Double pleasure. (J)

Cordially, IN HIM

Jack

“JUST A MINUTE”

THE CAT CAN BE SKINNED IN SILENCE…

Just a Minute: Much of what hear after the temporary fix signed by the President, is centered on the question whether budget cuts are really budget cuts – or are we just being bamboozled by Mr. Geithner’s language?

Eighty-eight years ago this week, Vice President Calvin Coolidge took office when President Warren Harding died suddenly. That Administration was facing a tough recession from 1919-1921. And Coolidge was surrounded by critics like Teddy Roosevelt’s daughter -- Alice Roosevelt Longworth, who said Coolidge had been "weaned on a pickle."

“Silent Cal” cut taxes, balanced budgets and slashed government spending, reducing federal debt by over a third in a decade. The economy grew slightly more than 7% between ‘24 and ‘29, -- as did Coolidge’s popularity. His name was used in popular music on that new invention radio.

Ronald Reagan, read “Silent Cal’s” biography while recovering from being shot. Coolidge himself said in a 1921 University of Pennsylvania speech: [There] "is no surer road to destruction than prosperity without character." Possibly President Obama could benefit from an autographed copy -- sent by America’s middle class.