THE TYGRRRR EXPRESS

Once again, real life rears its often ugly head and reminds us about the fragility of everything that exists. I find myself trying to have it both ways, complaining that the news is normally a bunch of nonsense, but that hard news is often too painful to watch.

The people of Minnesota are suffering, they need our support. For up to the minute coverage, one can scower http://michellemalkin.com/2007/08/01/minneapolis-bridge-collapse/ for the latest information.

I have met Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty and Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman. They are both good, decent, kind men, and they will roll up their sleeves to help the people of Minnesota. Whatever we can do to help them, we absolutely should.

For those who wish to play the blame game, terrible human beings will always exist, and rather than feed their egos by mentioning them by name, I would rather think of the good people who actually care about constructive solutions. That is what we need right now.

Michelle Malkin compared the Minnesota bridge collapse to the Northridge Earthquake in Los Angeles back in 1994. I was living in Los Angeles at the time, and yet although I remember it vividly, I did not make the connection. Perhaps it is because I had only been in Los Angeles for four years, and there was not an emotional connection to the city.

I am born and raised in New York, and will always be a New Yorker, no matter how long I live elsewhere. For that reason, when watching the Minnesota coverage of the bridge collapse, I thought of the recent pipeline gas explosion in New York. Also, Earthquakes are acts of God or nature. Pipeline explosions and bridge collapses are infrastructure issues.

The I-word–infrastructure. It might be one of the least politically sexy topics that exists, but it is one of the most important. Our government is supposed to try to protect us from threats. I would say that a bridge collapsing or a pipeline exploding is a threat. This is not to place blame on anybody, but to find out where we go from here so that we can reduce the chances of something like this happening again in the near future.

I remember growing up and admiring former New York Senator Alfonse D’Amato. He was loud, bombastic, theatrical, but still a nice guy…basically your typical New Yorker. The type of guy who may appear brash, but is there when you need him.

Al D’Amato’s nickname was “Senator Pothole.” Some people treated this as a pejorative, but it should be seen as a compliment. People went to him with the most mundane concerns, and he addressed them.

I remember when my parents wanted Senator D’Amato to defeat a gun control bill that they thought was bad policy. My father wrote him a sincere note stating that he “was not some wild eyed gun nut. He was a schoolteacher, a law abiding citizen, and a father of two children who simply believed that this gun control bill was a bad bill.” Senator D’Amato wrote back and thanked my parents for their support, stated that he agreed with them, and promised to try and defeat the bill. He kept his word.

Yes, D’Amato could be theatrical. He once held a press conference to announce he was in love…not engaged, just in love. When he and his girlfriend broke up, he held a press conference to announce that they still loved each other and wished each other the best. However, that same personal touch allowed him to capture 40% of the Jewish vote against a Jewish candidate in a race he won with only 51% of the total vote. Elderly Jewish women in particular, not a normal republican constituency, liked his work on breast cancer issues, as well as on Israel. He focused on the issues that did not get media coverage, but ordinary voters cared about.

We need more politicians that focus on the mundane. We need less potholes. We need more Senator Potholes. We have a presidential election coming up where issues that affect a small slice of the electorate will be discussed ad nauseum.

I am not trying to minimize the passion that people feel about abortion, but how many people are directly…and I stress directly…affected by somebody having an abortion? Gay rights issues do not affect the overwhelming majority of Americans on a daily basis.

Outside of the War on Terror and the economy, very little affects all Americans every day all the time. This is not to render those issues unimportant, but it should highlight the infrastructure issue because it is relevant right now. Global warming could happen one day. A bridge in Minnesota did collapse. A pipeline in New York did explode. Levees in Louisiana did burst.

No politician can prevent the next earthquake, flood, fire or tornado. What all politicians must do is put aside the bickering and blame on the infrastructure issue since every one of them has a responsibility to help reduce the damage caused by various unavoidable tragedies.

Members of the House of Representatives should be under the closest scrutiny. The late Tip O’Neill once said that, “all politics is local.” If the President has to keep an entire nation safe, then surely congresspeople can help keep their districts from being ruined.

I pray for the people of Minnesota, and I pray that, at the risk of boring some Americans to sleep, Senators stop trying to fix every global problem (except the War on Terror, which we must win), roll up their sleeves, and start talking to the American people about fixing potholes. Better yet, they can take a cue from Al D’Amato himself, and simply get them fixed.

eric

Arianna Huffington has decided that General David Petraeus is not up to snuff. More importantly, she feels he is “overrated.”

While criticism of the General is certainly a legitimate expression of democracy, before I read any column I look at the source. I have already sang the praises of David Petraeus, so in this case I would like to focus on Ms. Huffington, and her qualifications to evaluate this sterling military leader.

First of all, Ms. Huffington, to my knowledge, does not have a record of any significant professional accomplishments. She did become wealthy by being a shameless self promoter. I have no objection to this, due to my desire to do likewise. However, her current lifestyle is quite hypocritical.

For one thing, she blows with the winds. She was a right winger when Newt Gingrich was in power at the heigh of his popularity, and then as the republican revolution fell out of favor she became a rabid left winger. To me this shows somebody who is malleable, and not one with solid convictions. People can evolve, but rapid changes at an adult age show somebody that never formed strong beliefs to begin with.

She decries our culture of celebrity, but she became a celebrity by announcing she was a celebrity. She yelled it enough times and got enough people to listen.

The only reason anybody knows who her name is because her ex-husband had a failed run for the U.S. Senate in 1994 as a republican, in a year where republicans won nearly everywhere else. Her husband then divorced her, and openly declared his homosexuality. I mention this for biographical purposes only. This should never be used to impugn Ms. Huffington in any way. Her husband maintains she is a good mother, and that is the end of that issue.

Where it becomes relevant is whether or not her political beliefs were ever her own. Was she a republican solely out of support for her husband? Did she become a democrat out of anguish over her marriage breaking up to get back at him? For a woman who criticizes the current administration for secrecy, she does not reveal much about herself in terms of what makes her tick. This makes establishing her credibility more difficult.

The real problem is her string of failures. Upset with modern political conventions, she created a “Shadow Convention.” Virtually nobody attended it. It made Al Gore’s Earth concert seem lively and successful.

She ran for Governor, lambasting the very moderate republican Arnold Schwarzenegger as a right wing fanatic. She had less than one percent of the vote when she dropped out of the race.

She criticizes the wealthy and powerful special interests when she lives in a seven million dollar home. Now this may be poverty compared to John Edwards, but it is still lavish compared to most. She saves plenty of money on tax loopholes that she criticizes. She has every right to exploit tax loopholes. She loses credibility when she criticizes others for doing the same.

Simply put, she is an elitist. She was a right wing elitist, and now she is a left wing elitist. She married well, and continues to live well. Marrying a multi-millionaire is not a replacement for being a productive member of society. Some will say that her column is a success story. She writes an opinion column. The blogosphere is filled with people who do that every day. The standards are very low.

Lastly, her integrity can be questioned based on her blog, the Huffington Post. I have maintained that this blog along with Daily Kos and Moveon form the Axis of Antisemitism. Now I know this is a heavy charge to level, but people post on her blog that President Bush equals Adolf Hitler. This is antisemitism, and is indefensible.

She claims that she is not responsible for the hate speech that others post, but it is her site. Her name is on it. I am responsible for everybody who posts on my site. If I caught anybody taking cheap shots about her marriage, or anything else not related to her policy views, I would erase it. I am aware that she has hundreds of posters, but she has enough money to hire several people to constantly monitor the site. Hate speech should be immediately erased. It should not even have to wait overnight. She waits until somebody else such as Bill O’Reilly points it out. Having to be shamed into doing what is right is not the same as doing the right thing simply because one should.

I am not calling Ms. Huffington an antisemite. I am saying she tolerates antisemitism on her website. She is at the very least slow to condemn it.

She is entitled to he opinions, and I am entitled to refer to her as a hack. What else would one call a woman with no significant accomplishments attacking one of the finest military generals the United States has ever had? His record is superb. Hers is mediocre at best.

Yes, she has followers, but so did David Koresh. No, I am not calling her a killer, but just because some people listen to you does not make you a guru or an expert of any kind.

People have to be judged on actual results, and so far Ms. Huffington appears to be the Pied Piper of Pusillanimousness. She is the leader of the irrelevant. General David Petraeus will be taken seriously when he reports in September because he should be, based on his reputation and past deeds. For the exact same reasons, Ms. Huffington should continue to be ignored.

eric