Friday, January 02, 2009
Blago, star gazers, and other New Year tidbits
Some random thoughts on subjects that I couldn't promptly post on due to a hectic holiday schedule, which mostly entailed a lot of eating and napping:
-- BMG's David has a good post (with equally good comments) on Blago's appointment of Burris. The reluctant bottom-line: Just seat Burris. The Sun-Times says the same thing. What else can be done? Deny Illinois a U.S. senator? Order shameless Illinois Democrats to hold a special election? Blago played this one well. ... BTW: Here's a short piece on Roland 'I am a visionary' Burris, who, it should be noted, already has his tombstone carved with 'Trail Blazer' on it. Having covered the guy, all I can add is that chasing titles was his sole profession. He admits it. He wanted to be famous. He really doesn't care if people say there's no there there. He has no central message. He has no passionate base of support -- either in the black or white communities. He's the only member of his own cult. He's now going to be a U.S. Senator. He won't do anything memorable with the title. But divine providence and the ghost of Abe Lincoln have given him another title -- and who are we, as mere mortals, to question Blago's role in his trail-blazing destiny? ...
-- Harvard's Niall Ferguson looks into the future and sees a 'Great Repression.' ... Some distinctly non-Harvard types also look into the future. ...
-- Another excellent journalistic piece on the financial crisis: AIG's 'beautiful machine.' ... John Ellis has been all over the financial mess. He has lots of other Wall Street-meltdown links. Check him out. ...
Some random thoughts on subjects that I couldn't promptly post on due to a hectic holiday schedule, which mostly entailed a lot of eating and napping:
-- BMG's David has a good post (with equally good comments) on Blago's appointment of Burris. The reluctant bottom-line: Just seat Burris. The Sun-Times says the same thing. What else can be done? Deny Illinois a U.S. senator? Order shameless Illinois Democrats to hold a special election? Blago played this one well. ... BTW: Here's a short piece on Roland 'I am a visionary' Burris, who, it should be noted, already has his tombstone carved with 'Trail Blazer' on it. Having covered the guy, all I can add is that chasing titles was his sole profession. He admits it. He wanted to be famous. He really doesn't care if people say there's no there there. He has no central message. He has no passionate base of support -- either in the black or white communities. He's the only member of his own cult. He's now going to be a U.S. Senator. He won't do anything memorable with the title. But divine providence and the ghost of Abe Lincoln have given him another title -- and who are we, as mere mortals, to question Blago's role in his trail-blazing destiny? ...
-- Harvard's Niall Ferguson looks into the future and sees a 'Great Repression.' ... Some distinctly non-Harvard types also look into the future. ...
-- Another excellent journalistic piece on the financial crisis: AIG's 'beautiful machine.' ... John Ellis has been all over the financial mess. He has lots of other Wall Street-meltdown links. Check him out. ...
