White House Dullards not Thinking Green

Recently the Obama White House ordered a 747 and fighter plane to fly by the Statue of Liberty in order to get a photo for the White House web page. It was wrong on at least two counts. The first is that it caused a panic in New York City and lost productivity as workers fled their places of business. Not exactly what we need: lost economic activity during a severe recession. Secondly flying a 747 and fighter jet takes a lot of jet fuel. This is expensive not exactly fiscally responsible. Also think of the CO2 emissions and the potential for global warming if you believe in that. The Obama White House is not thinking very green. I would bet a picture of the Air Force One and the Statue of Liberty could have been produced digitally in a photo shop program with a lot less cost. Obama's staff can't vet cabinet appointees relative to taxes nor do they act economically, fiscally or environmentally responsible. What are the dullards thinking?

Of Dullards and Buffoons

During my undergraduate college carreer at the SUNY College of Forestry at Syracuse University I was exposed to a philosophy developed by Vaughn Bode' in a running cartoon strip in the Daily Orange: "Cheech Wizard." In the world of the Cheech Wizard there were only two kinds of beings Dullards and Buffoons. It wasn't until I discovered Ambrose Bierce's Devils Dictionary definition of a Dullard that I began to realize that the Cheech Wizard's world provided a useful model of our own. Bierce's definition of Dullard follows:

"DULLARD, n. A member of the reigning dynasty in letters and life. The Dullards came in with Adam, and being both numerous and sturdy have overrun the habitable world. The secret of their power is their insensibility to blows; tickle them with a bludgeon and they laugh with a platitude. The Dullards came originally from Boeotia, whence they were driven by stress of starvation, their dullness having blighted the crops. For some centuries they infested Philistia, and many of them are called Philistines to this day. In the turbulent times of the Crusades they withdrew thence and gradually overspread all Europe, occupying most of the high places in politics, art, literature, science and theology. Since a detachment of Dullards came over with the Pilgrims in the Mayflower and made a favorable report of the country, their increase by birth, immigration, and conversion has been rapid and steady. According to the most trustworthy statistics the number of adult Dullards in the United States is but little short of thirty millions, including the statisticians. The intellectual centre of the race is somewhere about Peoria, Illinois, but the New England Dullard is the most shockingly moral."

Bierce did not define Buffoon. But in the Cheech Wizard's world if you weren't Dullard then you were a Buffoon. So how do we apply the Cheech Wizard's world to our own? Its all about power and out of power. I was a middle manager so to those I bossed I was a dullard while to those who bossed me I was a buffoon. So it is easy to see why it is so hard for a person to accept that they are either a Dullard or a Buffoon since they are likely both but not simultaneously.

Applying this to politics and our two party government. The democrats who currently control congress and the presidency would be dullards while the republicans would be buffoons. Indeed president Obama would be the dullard in chief. Right before an election all candidates are buffoons while the voters are dullards. Right after an election the successful candidate becomes a dullard while his opponent stays a buffoon and the voters status changes to buffoons. Now being dullard does not preclude one from engaging in buffoonery. Indeed the chief buffoonery of a dullard is to indicate that he is looking out for us buffoons.

In this world you are either a dullard or a buffoon. The only exception I can think of is David Letterman who is a dull buffoon.

Buffoonery from Washington

Got a notice I would recieve one-time payment of $250 in my next Social Security check courtesy of economic recovery bill (congress) and President Obama (signature). Thank you, all of you working people who will contribute. It feels great to be entitled. Maybe if I write my congressmen and promise to vote for them next time they will send me more of other peoples' money. Enough buffoonery. I still pay enough to the IRS on my pensions and social security that this is a one time tax refund. Watch out Obama has promised tax increases so you will pay for anything you get. (Hmmm--maybe I should call "you will pay for anything you get," the no free lunch theorem.) In any case my buffoonery pales when compared to that of our congressional clowns and the Buffoon in Chief, Obama.

Clown in Chief, Obama

Oh boy!! The clown in chief, Obama, met with his cabinet today, April 20, 2009, and set out a goal to save $100 million in government spending. If he does this every week during his presidency (roughly 200 weeks if we are fortunate enough he only has one term) he will save $20 billion, 2.5% of the $800 billion stimulus package. Of course he thinks he can fool us as we don't know the difference between million, billion, and trillion, they are all big numbers. This was his first cabinet meeting in three months so maybe I'm fooling too, about the $20 billion. Seems like a Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme: spending billions and trillions while saving millions. This was Obama's response to the taxpayer outrage vented at the tea parties. Clearly he is clowning for the boob tube cameras.