Wednesday, September 01, 2004

Nixon in China For me, the most interesting part of the Schwarzenegger speech at the Republican Convention was the following explanation of why he became a Republican: "I remember watching the Nixon and Humphrey [1968] presidential race on TV.  A friend who spoke German and English translated for me.  I heard Humphrey saying things that sounded like socialism, which is what I had just left. "But then I heard Nixon speak.  He was talking about free enterprise, getting government off your back, lowering taxes, and strengthening the military.  Listening to Nixon sounded more like a breath of fresh air." Actually, Nixon was such an advocate of free enterprise and getting government off our backs that he instituted wage and price controls, which drove many small businesses into bankruptcy.  He also established the EPA, which Tom DeLay habitually refers to as the Gestapo. By Schwarzenegger's criteria, it was Nixon, not Humphrey, who was the socialist.  That's why he got along so well with Mao Tse-Tung. 4:55:04 PM

The Shroud of Turin The next summer Olympics will be in Beijing in 2008, but before that comes the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. Thus, we leave behind the bad gymnastics judging of Athens and look forward to bad figure skating judging in Turin. 3:58:02 PM