Blog sprinkles

United States needs to renounce its neocon arrogance and realize that being a superpower doesn't automatically give us leadership rights. The world community has passed us by and we now need to make sure our nation just survives. Distributorcap says it best.

Obama drifting to the right? Mustang Bobby of Bark Bark Woof Woof reassures us with a poem.

Bush's last presser.

The sabotage of Condi Rice.

Dear Mr. Obama. Remember your promises. Especially to Hecate's grandson.

Don't let the door hit you on the way out, George.

Get the latest news satire and funny videos at 236.com.

(found via scoutprime at First Draft)

Steve Bates of the Yellow Doggerel Democrat threatens us with Carbon Neutral Balls.

Blue Girl of They Gave Us a Republic talks about the decimation of the CDC during the Bush era:

Julie Gerberding, the wingnut Bushie who has driven the CDC into the ground is out come January 20. Rumor had it that she wanted to stay on, but so eager to get rid of her they are, that she isn't even being retained until a replacement is selected and confirmed. Instead, CDC chief operating officer Bill Gimson will be acting director in the interim.

A statement from the transition team didn't go into too much detail, stating simply that "As part of the transition process, the administration requested resignation letters from a number of senior-level officials, including Dr. Julie Gerberding. This week, the administration accepted Dr. Gerberding's resignation, effective January 20. As Dr. Gerberding noted in a November e-mail to CDC leadership, she has always expected that she would be leaving after the administration changes."

Gerberding took the helm of the CDC seven years ago, after the anthrax attacks, and immediately set about decimating it, ignoring science and changing the structure to one where she micromanaged everything, even things that were far outside her lane and incapacitating the agencies ability to respond in the event of a public health crisis.

Putting the public at risk because of political ideology? Wait.. that's the entire Bush administration.

Chet Scoville of Vanity Press on Joe the Plumber.

Bryan of Why Now? mentions the pragmatism of FDR:

In a way, the strength of FDR was that he didn’t have a grand strategy that everything was part of, and nothing was ignored because of the side that proposed it. There was a goal, getting out of the Depression, and if you had an idea that might help, it was tried. If it worked, it was kept. If it didn’t work, it was gone.

Hoover was a conservative, so he had already tried the conservative policies, which is why there weren’t many tried by FDR. He did back off the big stimulus packages after about 4 years to get the budget under control, but when the economy faltered, he went back to what he knew worked.

If we are going to get out of this mess, people are going to have to cut loose from their preconceived notions and go with programs that have a track record. FDR found a lot of things that worked and this is no time to reinvent the wheel - wait too long and there may be no wagon to put it on or horse to pull it.

Seems that Obama may have that same pragmatic streak...