Tactic vs Strategy

From Merriam Webster's online dictionary:

Method
One entry found.

Function: noun

Text: the means or procedure for doing something

Synonyms: approach, fashion, form, manner, strategy, style, system, tack, tactics, technique, way

Related Words: mode; blueprint, design, game, ground plan, intrigue, layout, line, plan, plot, program, route, scheme; expedient, move, shift, step; practice (also practise), process, routine; project, proposal, proposition; policy

And remember kids, it wasn't a plan, it was a series of actionable items.

My Father

was 50 when I was born, and I was born in 1962. And since that's math even I can do--that means he was born in 1912. Which means he lived through the Depression. As did my maternal grandparents (and paternal grandparents-but I never knew them, they died when I was a baby).

I do recall a story my dad told a long time ago about his father being run out of business as a barber in upstate Florida because he put a sign for a presidential candidate in his store window. The sign only had the last name of the candidate, and I think it was Wilson.

My maternal grandparents were from the Bristol TN/VA area-very much the heart of Appalachia. I think it's a safe bet they knew from the Depression. I can remember my Grandmother saying they actually didn't notice the Depression that much. I reckon because when things have always been hardscrabble, a Depression is a distinction without a difference.

My granddaddy died in the early seventies, and never came back around to trusting banks, although he and Granny had accounts. When my Grandmother died in 2001, she had a bank account with a little bit of money in it. Don't be fooled, though, because a couple of my uncles knew exactly where to go to find the cash she had hidden, a lifelong habit, learned from hard experience.

I see today where everyone is on the bandwagon of raising the FDIC limit from $100,000.00 to $250,000.00 per account. Which, nice but, it's been widely reported the FDIC is so underfunded now that it couldn't handle paying out its current obligations, so how could it pay...more?

And there's a lot of talk that the Community Reinvestment Act is at fault for today's mortgage and financial crisis. This analysis from Businessweek explains why that's just not true. But hey, never pass up a chance to blame the poor.

A pickle jar stuffed with cash in a hole in the backyard is looking better and better.

Still Timely

Red Barber discussing Branch Rickey* and Jackie Robinson



*Man he was a crafty bastard, no? He knew that without Red Barber on board, the whole thing would likely blow up.

Because I Can't Resist

Re: Sarah Palin & 'experience':

I toured Cape Canaveral a couple of times, so I'm qualified for...Director of NASA, right?

Autumn

In the South, it means the humidity abates, the nights are cool, the mornings crisp as you head for your car.

Where there is no such thing as 'transitional clothing'. In other words, I Have Nothing To Wear. Because it won't stay cool enough through the day to wear a sweater, even a short-sleeved one. It's a week away from October 1st, so linen capris look, well, silly. And it's really time to put the sandals away. But it's still too warm for most pants and I just can't wear khakis every day.

Aargh!

The Last of My Little Family

My kittie, the dear, odd, pretty little calico Allie, slipped away last night. She was on the bed with me, she sighed and shivered a bit, then she was gone.

She's gone to be with her bubba and her sissy, all born from the same litter, and my Huckleberry friend Donnie, of that I'm sure. Those three cats loved nothing more than to spend hours jostling on his lap for the best spot. Of course, Donnie loved it most of all.

Now it's just me. The last piece of my life with him is gone.

I'm sad this morning.

Lipstick on a Pig

Had a conversation yesterday with some friends who are all smart, capable folks, and they were on the 'outraged' bandwagon concerning this remark that Obama made about Sarah Palin. But that he really didn't. It wasn't directed at her, and anyone who's seen the clip in context knows that.

And I gently explained and corrected them, that he was not talking about her. I could tell they were not convinced. So I went on to say: "And so what if he was? Bitch is playing with the big boys now, and national politics is mean and nasty. What is she, a special snowflake that has to be protected and petted? If that's enough to hurt her little feelings, she either needs to grow a thicker skin or get out of the game.

Got a few open-jawed stares, but no responses.

Rudderless

It's how John McCain appears these days.

And he's come by it honestly. Because he has to know, deep in his heart, that bringing Tucker Eskew, who was the guy on the ground here in South Carolina for the infamous smear campaign the Bush camp orchestrated on McCain during the 2000 primary, means the last vestige of any moral high ground, or soul, or even those pesky little ethics thingies, have dissipated from his core.

McCain came into South Carolina in 2000 off a 19-point drubbing of Bush in New Hampshire, a completely unexpected win. McCain was flying high here, and with good reason. He was well-liked here, and had strong support from the active duty and retired military in this state.

Then the whispers* started. That voters in South Carolina allowed these whispers that were the essence of the lowest level of racism and misogyny and old fashioned fear of crazy people to sway them to Bush says so much more about the voters than about McCain.

But it's eight years later. And McCain wants to be President. And apparently he believes that to achieve that, he must cut loose all the things that made him 'Not Bush'.


*Those whispers included talk of McCain's instability, due to his legendary temper. It was wrong for the Bush campaign to do that in 2000, and it's just as wrong for the Democrats to do it in this election.

9-11

And Shanksville, PA. And the Pentagon.

Never forget.

Bullet Dodged

in regards to Hanna. But Ike is roaring along there, and making Miami sweat right now.

Storm season in these parts tends to keep our nerves on edge-I'm not close enough to the coast to have to be terribly concerned with a direct hit-but Tinytown is along the evacuation route from the coast and the middle and high school serve as shelters.

So my boss and I have to monitor the situation, stay in touch with emergency preparedness folks, and weigh the pros and cons of closing school, putting buses on the road, etc.

Makes us tired.

Anyone Else

find themselves wishing a piece of roofing tile would make a direct hit upside Jim Cantore's head? No? Just me? Alrighty then.

Sarah Palin and The Media

My first impression of Republican VP Nominee Sarah Palin was: Silly. She opened her mouth, spoke for about thirty seconds and I thought, silly.

I'm not impressed, but who cares, I'm not who the Republicans are trying to impress. Or maybe I am, which means they really don't have a fuckin' clue. But frankly, she strikes me as George Bush lite, and who thought you could get more lightweight than GB?

Having said that, it took the Media no time at all to develop their narrative about the chick, did it: "She'll pull in the Hillary Voters who feel wronged by Obama"--meaning, I think, that those of us who are vaginally gifted will automatically vote for her in solidarity. "She hunts, and has been to Iraq", which I guess we're supposed to believe gives her foreign policy credentials. "She was profiled in Vogue", maybe to appeal to the Paris/Nicole/Olsen twins demographic?

Of course, right off the bat we had the obligatory review of her 'fitness routine' that also discusses her diet. Because the most important thing about a woman is what she puts in her mouth and how she in turn doesn't allow that to turn into dun.dun.dun, fat.

And I'm already tired of the 'Naughty Librarian' tag. It was funny and cute and kind of sexy when Craig Ferguson did it, but begins to look a little mean-spirited when Jon Stewart & Stephen Colbert both go there on the same night.

And note to John McCain-surrounding yourself with all these young chicks doesn't make you look younger, it makes you look Hefneresque. And that stopped being cool about twenty years ago.