Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Outside The Beltway!
First, something political:
A few years earlier, President Bartlet pardoned a turkey:
And, of course, the best Thanksgiving television comedy moment ever:
Enjoy the turkey, stuffing, and fixings. Hopefully the booze will help you survive the relatives.
What a weird show. So it turns out The West Wing was just Gilmore Girls, with Presidents.
There’s a Facebook page for Joe Bethersonten…
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Joe-Bethersonton/111382868880575?ref=ts&fref=ts
And this question to the NY Times:
http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/26/could-i-be-killing-my-guests-and-other-thanksgiving-queries/
@john personna: Yeah, but damn I miss it….
The first West Wing clip reveals so much
First, suddenly a politician has a small question and must form a 1-800 number staffed by experts. I’d love to say Democrat here but you can’t tell which party Barlett is at that moment, he’s just an overbearing politician.
Secondly, with all his power and, much highlighted education, said politician is to ignorant to know the private sector has already provided the service to the public,. But on the hopes of selling turkeys and avoiding bad PR, so there is that. Their intentions aren’t pure.
Thirdly, I’m surprised his testing of the experts didn’t result in an Executive Order requiring only those with peckerhead degrees in Turkey science can man the phone lines.
It was sad that to get good advice on cooking turkey, he had to give away his personal identity details. Thank god for the poor smuck working Thanksgiving just in case the President needed the zip code of Fargo, ND in an emergency. To avoid embarrassment of the administration for the president’s foolishness, of course.
To bad, Bartlett didn’t pontificate on Thanksgiving being brought to us by the failure of socialism. Not to mention the exploitation and subsequent usurpation of those who mistakenly shared some of their wealth with the dying socialists that enabled them to gain a foothold. But then, that’s redistribution of wealth for ya.
@JKB:
You can tear a ligament when you stretch that hard. I hope you warmed up first.
…and an OTB Public safety announcement.
Mayor Bloomberg has imposed some Thanksgiving restrictions: no buffets, each plate must be shared by two people, and no seconds. No desserts! Also, soft drinks can only be served in teacups.
@Whitfield:
Not sure about that but Bloomberg has sent his health inspectors to impose government brilliance upon the disaster area. The best part, issuing a violation for not having HVAC
@JKB:
Several (to many) of the Sandy deaths were the result of poorly thought out emergency measures. Most notably, carbon monoxide poisoning from a portable generator.
I suppose if a makeshift stove, without ventilation catches fire (no extinguisher) or just snuffs someone out with carbon monoxide, your market oriented solution is that people should “just sue?”
(Really, I am amazed that you can quote “no extinguisher” at me as an example of government overreach.)
Well, if you read the article, you’d see the violation was issued to a tent set up and being manned by NY firefighters. I was surprise about the fire extinguisher but here this point where you feed people even though you don’t meet the number and placement of fire extinguishers or have hair nets. Those are good things to have but aren’t necessary to provide food to people in need.
Perhaps you’ve not been in a disaster but the city hall BS is the first thing that is thrown out. Yes, some stupid people kill themselves but common sense prevails, bureaucrats need not apply.
On the upside, all those NY liberals are getting a good view of the foolishness of big government, up close, personal and deep in their hungry cold bellies.
BTW, if you read the article, the official line is the inspectors were suppose to advise but as expected they showed up with their f’you government jackboot attitude. They just could control themselves.
@JKB:
These girls did not set up the generator. Even if you were heartless enough to write off people who didn’t read directions, they are not always the victims.
Sandy’s silent killer: Carbon monoxide deaths spring up after storm
Damn government, out there trying to stop that.
Happy Thanksgiving, OTB family!
@john personna:
And if someone came by to advise them or the sort out a conflict if the generator owner had refused to move the generator that would be fine. But coming by with the jackboot attitude against people who are just trying to survive is idiotic. Notice, the inspectors are out in force while the public service types are scarce. It would be better to let these inspectors offer advice while they actually provide some hands on help.
Would you rather people suffer until the government types get around to making a decision? How can you be free if you must ask permission to survive?
In any case, the worst of city hall hasn’t hit yet. People are working hard to get rebuilt before the deep winter but by Christmas the story will be people who proceeded and made expenses to rebuild only their work is invalidated by late code changes. I saw it happen with Katrina in an area with less oppressive government. The bureaucrats are good at kicking people when they are down. Not out of meanness but rather out of heartless, technocratic action that comes late in the game because they had to have the correct number of meetings. In the mean time, people end up spending money that is wasted and must prolong their suffering while the government men slowly grind them under with their officiousness.
@JKB:
BTW, if you look at the source for that story you would realize that statements like “he and his fellow firefighters from Ladder 27 in the Bronx were issued a notice of violation” should be taken with a grain of salt.