A Message to You, Rudy
mikethemadbiologist | March 30, 2011In a very interesting post about political power and economic equality, William Hogeland recounts some uncivil exchanges between Thomas Paine and John Adams:
Here's John Adams on Thomas Paine's famous 1776 pamphlet "Common Sense": "What a poor, ignorant, malicious, short-sighted, crapulous mass." Then comes Paine on Adams: "John was not born for immortality."
Paine and Adams may have been alone among the founders for having literary styles adequate to their mutual disregard. "The spissitude [sic!] of the black liquor which is spread in such quantities by this writer," Adams wrote of Paine, "…
mikethemadbiologist | November 3, 2007In a NY Times article about Bernard Kerik, I came across this passage (italics mine):
Mr. Giuliani said he planned to appoint Mr. Kerik as first deputy correction commissioner.
Mr. Kerik, who wrote of this in his autobiography, "The Lost Son," was taken aback; he was a year removed from being a police detective.
"Mayor, I appreciate your confidence in me, I really do," he said. "But I ran a jail. One jail. Rikers is like 10 jails."
Just do it, the mayor replied.
Mr. Kerik followed Mr. Giuliani downstairs to a dimly lighted room. There waited Mr. Giuliani's boyhood chum Peter J. Powers, who…
mikethemadbiologist | October 3, 2007When Senator George "Macacawitz" Allen of Virginia was still considered a viable presidential candidate, I asked this question:
Can we please have presidential candidates who are not psychological basketcases? ... Is it possible for the Republicans to nominate someone who is not cracked in the head? Please? Just in case.
If the support for Giuliani is any indication, the answer is definite "no":
First way: Rudy genuinely doesn't realize that taking a phone call in the middle of a speech is rude. But this suggests a lack of emotional intelligence so stunning that even I don't think Rudy is…
mikethemadbiologist | August 1, 2007The blogosphere is in a wee bit of a tizzy over a Vanity Fair article that hints Giuliani might be having an(other) affair, this time with advisor and motivational speaker, Starr Shephard. Personally, as long as he's not doing it in public, I don't care who Giuliani is or is not screwing, although the whole subject does generate some unappealing mental images. But the motivational guru part is disturbing.
A quick use of the Google found an advertisement placed in the Village Voice by Shephard:
Did You See or read "The Secret"? STARR is here to serve you in order for you to light the flame…
mikethemadbiologist | July 10, 2007
(from here)
"He hit me."
Having lived in the NYC area for a few years, I kept reasonably close tabs on the doings of NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani. But over at the Group News Blog, there's a brilliant roundup of all the awful crap Giuliani has done. My favorite part:
The ex-wife, and former local news anchor Donna Hanover. Now, ain't nobody a saint in this miserable world. And you can best believe that if as rumored, Giuliani's hired some of Rove's people to work for him, they've spoken to every store clerk Hanover's ever cut an eye at or loudly "harrumph"-ed. But Hanover's ability to sink Rudy…