A Crying Shame

compassion FAIL lizNPR says that 400,000 children could die this year as a result of reduced giving due to the downturn.

Yet the Banksters feel sorry for themselves.  Everybody’s picking on them.

71 Comments

Wait — you mean reduced giving before the high-end tax deduction disappears?

Silly me, thinking that facts are relevant to political debate. Never mind.

I understand why Barry wants to keep in touch with his friends outside of the bubble. Keeps things real.

These folks will never get it.

I’ve seen that attitude before in my own US America relatives. My mom’s brother was a surgeon and lived the great US America life. Loved to tell my dad how he made almost 10 times my dad’s salary and how wonderful his life was while my cousins grew up pampered and privileged for the most part going to the eelight schools. My dad didn’t care about my uncle making money, but he just wanted him to STFU about it because he did not give a shit.

Anyway, for reasons not made clear by my uncle, his fabtrabulous life went to shit. Gone was the 2 acre homestead, the condo in Hawaii, the ski chalet in Lake Placid and the beach house in Myrtle Beach. It got so bad that he actually asked us for money to help him with a lawsuit against his former employer. We pitched in and sent him some Canada City loonies.

We thought he had a case–even the employer’s lawyer did or so we heard. Then for some inexplicable reason, he dropped the lawsuit.

Then not long after in 2006, he calls my mom and tells her how wonderfully rich his sons were doing managing hedge funds. Course, mom tells me and asks why I don’t make that kind of money and set off my temper. I was both pissed at my mom and uncle. My mom because she knows me better than that and my uncle because it’s like his decade long bout with poverty didn’t beat him badly enough to drain the arrogance out of him. As soon as he starts seeing some green, the asshole shows up again.

We haven’t heard from my uncle since mid 2008 when it became obvious that the financial markets were sliding down the shitter. I’d like to ask him how that how hedge fund manager thing is working out for his sons.

TJ: GM to kill off Pontiac. Good-bye, GTO.

@ManchuCandidate:

It’s what comes of looking outward and not inward. I have an uncle like that- started in the 80’s as a Merrell Lynch stockbroker because he thought it would make him king of the world. Always after me to join the entitled class by getting a job as an asshole in a suit.

After Black Monday- remember Black Monday?- he was canned, and went into high-end sound system sales, and has spent nearly two decades trying to keep up with the champagne tastes of his wife, and the consumerist values he taught to his children. It’s sad, really, because he spends so much time trying to make the cash to keep up appearances that there’s no person left there anymore, just a fading, graying, paunchy heart-attack-in-waiting.

Me? I did what I loved my whole life, and while it hasn’t always made me rich it’s always made me happy- a sentiment almost banal it it’s obviousness, which, to my constant awe, people like my uncle never quite picked up on. I had a great youth as an actor- traveled all over the US- and now I spend my days looking at cartoon characters and giving my opinion on which font would look nice with which color. I don’t have the big house or the cool toys- or the massive debt- my uncle has, but why you would trade doing something daily which gives you pleasure and amusement for a pile of shit from the Sharper Image befuddles me. And yet there he is, measuring out his life in coffee spoons.

A shame, really.

@Tommmcatt the Wet Sprocket:
Yes it is.

Material things are nice, but I can live with myself (most of the time.)

@Tommmcatt the Wet Sprocket: I live the self-chosen Forever Grad Student life, often quoting the pre-asshole Penn Jillette: “Freedom is low overhead.” I don’t begrudge folks with more expensive tastes, but years ago I learned to recognize what was truly important to me, and just as important, ignore the rest. It’s not for everyone, but it serves me fine.

@Nabisco:
It’s a reverse Horatio Alger story and the “hero” doesn’t learn a goddamned thing.

It’s almost sad, really.

Post inspired by a radio segment I heard this morning – you can listen here. The comments are pretty aggressive.

@nojo: The highest quality years of my life so far were when I had no electricity, no running water and about 45 minutes of ‘work’ to do each day. Luxury was the fact that I had possession of the key to one of only two latrines in the village of 300, and an ocean 50 feet from my window. If it hadn’t been for the intestinal parasites, encroaching guerilla warfare and the need to get laid, I’d probably still be there.

@Nabisco: I have a very simple quality-of-life measurement: my keychain.

1. Car.

2. Screen door.

3. Front door.

I’ve had more, but only rarely have I had fewer. Life is good.

Ever since my late twenties my only desire has been to run away, to live on a boat, sailing the oceans, around the world, wandering. Yes, it requires a boat, but an adsequate boat costs no more than a mid-level car. You can life on next to nothing, if you eschew luxuries.

But, but, but. . . .

The actor who played General Jack D. Ripper lived that life, he only acted to get enough money to take off again. Here is the introduction to his autobiography, The Wanderer:

“To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise, you are doomed to a routine traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen who play with their boats at sea… cruising, it is called. Voyaging belongs to seamen, and to the wanderers of the world who cannot, or will not, fit in. If you are contemplating a voyage and you have the means, abandon the venture until your fortunes change. Only then will you know what the sea is all about. “I’ve always wanted to sail to the south seas, but I can’t afford it.” What these men can’t afford is not to go. They are enmeshed in the cancerous discipline of security. And in the worship of security we fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine – and before we know it our lives are gone. What does a man need – really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in – and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That’s all – in the material sense, and we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention for the sheer idiocy of the charade. The years thunder by, the dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed. Where, then, lies the answer? In choice. Which shall it be: bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy of life?”

@Prommie: Guatemala. I remember listening to Walter Mondale’s acceptance speech on short wave radio, stoned to the gillsbored to tears by the sound of America spiraling down the drain. By the time I returned, D. Boon was dead.

@Nabisco: Mondale-Dukakis-Gore-Kerry. If nothing else, Democrats were sincere about recycling cardboard.

@Tommmcatt the Wet Sprocket:

I can only speak for myself, but I guess I never found something that I enjoyed doing where I could actually make money.

I somewhat randomly got hired by a bank after college graduation, and now, a decade later, I guess I would say that my job is solving problems and pushing paper. And e-mail. FSM help me, I deal with an insane amount of e-mail. Stupid e-mail keeps interfering with my Stinque time.

So I like the parts of my job that are intellectually challenging, but it’s not exactly self-actualizing and fulfilling. I work to get paid, and when you work to get paid, you find yourself making all kinds of self-rationalizations in order to make your work “worth it” so that you can do the things that you really enjoy.

@Original Andrew:

You’ll shake it up a bit, and pretty soon, if I remember my thirties right…everybody goes through a change around 34-35, you’ll see…

@nojo:
1. Apartment.

It’s a good feeling, non?

@Tommmcatt the Wet Sprocket: I quit law to build traditional wooden boats. I built something called a SeaBright Skiff, a lapstrake cedar planked boat with bent oak frames, its held together by copper rivets. Midlife crisis number 1. Numbers 2 and 3 followed over the next 5 years. Then I was beaten into submission. but I am chafing at the b it again.

@Prommie: I used to race J24s and J80s. I could see myself living on a J120 quite easily.

@Prommie:

Weird, isn ‘t it? The urge to reinvent oneself is constant, but the will to do so rises and falls…

BREAKING HARD: Dem wins NY-20. It’s a final.

Michael Steele: call your agent.

@ManchuCandidate: I’ve found that people like that rarely have the kind of money they say they do; they’ve got just enough to leverage the shit outta what they do have to make it seem like they’re rich. A house of cards, if you will, that inevitably comes crashing down.

Makes me feel lucky that I had a grandmother who was a cheapskate par excellence. I nearly break out in hives at the thought of spending money. It took me a year to buy a car and three years to buy a house because of it. I’ve been looking at LCD TVs for about 6 months now and still haven’t just picked one yet. Speaking of which, any recommendations? Tips?

@Jamie Sommers: Because of the stage show we do occasionally, I recently ended up with a 32-inch Sharp LCD, and I’m utterly spoiled on it. It cost only $500 through a heavy Dell discount, and while it’s 720p (not full HD 1080), from couch distance you don’t know the difference.

Drawback: You have to watch all your DVDs all over again.

@blogenfreude: My earlier three-key combo was car, duplex and bike, but you don’t bike in Sandy Eggo (naked or otherwise) unless you’re lacking in more creative ways to kill yourself.

@Original Andrew: I’ve only worked full-time for eighteen months in my life, and I learned very quickly that my time is more valuable than that. Best job I ever had was 30-hour weeks at an alumni magazine — in by 10, out by 4, and you still have time to enjoy yourself instead of waiting for the weekend to recover from the week. A civilized country would adopt that as a national standard.

@Prommie: I got my midlife crisis out of the way at 24, but I was always precocious.

TJ: LAT is reporting that Shep Smith of Faux is one of the celebs outed in the new documentary “Outrage.” Others include Charlie Crist (duh!), Ken Mehlman, David Dreier, and Ed Koch. (Yawn). Can’t remember which of you guys mentioned an interest in Shep on an earlier thread, but now could be a good time to make your move.

@chicago bureau: Well, it wasn’t a blowout, even if as you say it should have been a safe GOP seat, so I’m not sure whether it’s the intended plebiscite on Steele’s “leadership”.

But since I wasn’t paying attention: Did Tedisco run toward the teabaggers, or did he position himself as a “moderate”? In other words, will Steele be faulted for doing exactly as the rabid wing wanted?

@Jamie Sommers: I love my Sony 37 XBR – Vizio is a well-priced alternative made in US. My Dallas Cowboy-loving buddy has 4 of ’em.

@Jamie Sommers: Get outta my head, woman! Are you my long-lost twin? I too get hivey when I have to spend money.* Mr. SFL has to beg me to go out shopping once a year to get some new clothes. Naturally I go online. The only thing that gives me more hives than spending money is going shopping.

*I do quite well at spending money on wine, however. That doesn’t make me break out in hives.

@nojo: For a long time, I was thrilled that I could pack up my life’s belongings at a moment’s notice into my two-door hatchback. Nowadays, thanks to all the books I own and Mr. SFL’s stove, it would take a cargo van, or creative use of our Subaru Outback. But all the furniture is still “disposable” IKEA stuff, though I’ve owned it all at least ten years and have assembled and disassembled it at least 6 different times.

@SanFranLefty: Yeah, the books and the vinyl literally weigh down the moving, but my emergency grab-and-run consists of a laptop and two external hard drives. Everything else (what little there is of it) is expendable.

Hmmm…

Okay: laptop, hard drives, and Yoda Pez. I guess I’m stuck with him now.

@SanFranLefty: How can you shop for clothes online? I never know what I’m going to get just by looking at those little pictures, especially since ladies’ sizes are completely made up. My closet has four different sizes of clothing because the fashion industry can’t get their shit together.

Also, I’m more of a beer girl than wine, but food is the exception to the tightwad rule.

@nojo: Actually I think it is quite a turn around. That district is just north of us and has been safely Republican for years. Till Gillibrand. The person this most helps is Paterson. Had that seat been lost because he chose G instead of Caroline K there would have been blood on the bathroom stalls in the Albany Capitol.

@Mistress Cynica: Shep Smith gay??!! The shock has made me need to go and lie down. OK I’m back.

I’ve always liked what I do. Apart from the no money or security aspect. My last five years have been the best. In fact I should be at work now instead of wasting my time here.

@Jamie Sommers: Don’t listen to nojo. There is a difference. He’s just too stoned to notice. Goddam hippie. I went the whole hog and bought a Sony Bravia and the picture is superb. Very soft and real-looking color. However, be advised that you will need to upgrade your service to HD which can cost more. But without it I don’t think it’s worth doing. Oh. And there’s the whole stretching out the picture because of the image ratio thing which sucks. I’ve found a weird work-around but I’m not sure why it works. Oh. And the cable you’ll need to connect your flat-screen HD TV to your TV will cost more than $80. So be prepared.

@nojo: Mondale-Dukakis-Gore-Kerry. If nothing else, Democrats were sincere about recycling cardboard. Excellent. Just saw a clip of him at his most bloviastic trying to adopt a high moral tone with some helmet-haired bitch from Tennessee. You’d think he’d know better by now.

@Benedick: Okay, I’ll crack some knuckles…

Unless you also buy a BluRay player (and new BluRay discs), the only true HD you’ll see on that high-end screen is broadcast TV and cable, and that in turn depends on what kind of shows you watch. Your old DVDs are less than half the resolution of the new monitor (but still look hella better because of the widescreen).

If you’re getting inappropriately stretched images, there’s something wrong with the monitor, your cable box, your DVD player — or you’re watching Cartoon Network HD, which really does just stretch the conventional picture. (Even if the conventional picture is itself letterboxed, which gives you a stretch-letterbox Aqua Teen.)

I had to break out manuals to get all that straightened out, but it all works fine now. I would hope all models of TV/box/player offer settings to get the widescreen right (and not wrong), but who knows.

I do hear horror stories about TimeWarner, but Cox cable (at least in Sandy Eggo) charges just a buck more a month for its HD converter box, with no extra charge for HD versions of otherwise free cable channels. There was some initial fee to upgrade, but nothing nasty.

@nojo: All I can tell you is that Little Dorrit looks superb. The image gets stretched by the DVD. And I think it’s the DVD player itself which is crap. Or I wired it wrong. One or the other. We have DirectTV which charges extra for HD but is a superior picture to TimeWarner (what isn’t?). For some reason Comedy Central is stretching Jo(h)n Stewart and Colbert. I don’t know why. All in all, worth the money.

@Jamie Sommers: I buy the same things over and over again from the L.L. Bean catalog, and they actually have real sizes that are consistent across the spectrum of clothes. Otherwise I will quickly grab articles of clothing at Target (without trying on, natch) when I’m there buying bulk items and windshield wipers, or stop briefly at the Gap factory outlet and buy a stack of t-shirts when I’m driving home from trips to Sacramento.

Beer gives me a headache if I drink more than two of them. Except for Shiner Bock, of course. Best consumed ice-cold on draft at a Hill Country bar.

@Benedick: And the cable you’ll need to connect your flat-screen HD TV to your TV will cost more than $80.

You mean the physical cable? The actual cord? That also depends on box and monitor (my Sharp has umpteen inputs — I can even plug my laptop into it), but my HD box connects via a supplied YUV cable (three prongs), and I indulged myself with a sub-$100 Sony DVD player that uses an HDMI cable, one of those newfangled things. (It supposedly “upconverts” the lower-rez DVD image, which is a subtle point in practice. But what the hell, it was cheap.)

And there’s the common ripoff: HDMI is digital, and the bits don’t need the kind of babying you fuss about with audio cables. I’d have to look it up again, but after checking around I bought some cheap-ass HDMI cable through Amazon, which performs exactly as well as something that costs five times more.

And yes, I miss the days when all this shit just worked.

@Mistress Cynica:

I think you mean “added Shep Smith to its list of plastic surgery disasters.”

If he is in fact a Suspect G-A-Y, then I’m sure Roger Ailes is hooking a car battery up to his nuts right now to give him a good juicing, since it’s the only way wingtards know to get answers.

@Benedick: If you’re getting Wide Jon and Wide Stephen, something’s wrong somewhere — aspect ratios are appropriate on Comedy Central HD here via Cox. Only Cartoon Network cheats, that I’ve noticed, which makes me fear for sister network TCM if they ever go HD.

@SanFranLefty:
Beer gives you a headache?

It’s any fruit, corn, or sugar cane type alcohol for me. I liked Rum until I began to get wicked hangovers.

@ManchuCandidate: Oh, rum kills me. I smell it and I feel a headache come on.

Have you ever tried this vodka? It’s made from corn, but it’s so super distilled that it may not affect you.

@SanFranLefty:
No. I think we don’t get that vodka up here.

There is a Canada City Whiskey I like called 40 Creek, but it killed me. I later found out it’s because it’s 1/4 made from corn.

@ManchuCandidate: I just emailed the vodka maker and asked him where it is sold in Canada City. Will let you know what he says.

@nojo: HDMI. That’s the one. Well, if you’re going to be all informed and shit where’s the fun in that? I bought a DVD/VHS combo which uses both kinds of cable. I can see the difference. I don’t mean between the tape and the disc. Plus the sound is better. An important consideration when watching dancey-dancey in DHOOM2. But Stewart and Colbert are stretched. You’re saying they shouldn’t be? Happened about 3 weeks ago. Must admit that I’m not watching them much. I really can’t stomach the funnies about the torture, etc. BTW. I see that Paul Begala was right and that we did in fact execute japanese soldiers who were found guilty of the same crime.

@Benedick: I bought a DVD/VHS combo which uses both kinds of cable. I can see the difference.

Oh, yeah. The conventional cable presumes it’s going to a conventional TV, which is even less resolution than it seems. (We’ll save the Treatise on Interlacing for another day.) But the HDMI cable allows the player and the TV to agree on some better display standards from the same source. (Same reason DVDs often look better on a computer.)

And yes, Jon and Stephen should be showing up 4×3 on a 16×9 screen, even if they’re preceded or followed by a 16×9 cigar-chomping comic. I read that they’ll eventually go HD, but that requires rewiring two studios.

Also noticed the Begala quote. You want to think, Are we really having this discussion? And then you realize, Yes. Yes, we are. Why we should be surprised after three decades of this shit I don’t know.

Christ we’re chatty today/tonight. It’s just bloody TELEVISION! (OTH, any recommendations on good sound/reasonably priced computer speakers? I’m on my way over to StinqueAmazon to spend up to $50 on some…)

Oh, and Keef has his mafia pin stripes and pink tie on – called it!

@Nabisco: It’s not just TV, it’s my ability to watch 2001 without squinting.

And Keef is in classic High Umbrage tonight. I must say, I’m actually starting to think we might see some kind of justice emerge from this. I’ve been saying that I didn’t think Barry would move unless there was wind in his sails, and the storm’s a-brewin’.

@nojo:

It was my very important call to the White House comment line that pushed Black Eagle into prosecute mode, right?

@Original Andrew: Next time Gallup calls, answer the phone.

Barry clearly doesn’t want to initiate this, but if a consensus emerges, he’ll act on it. What a “consensus” amounts to, I can’t say — certainly he’s not waiting for Hannity to sign off on it.

But with this afternoon’s WaPo story about yet another memo, we’re entering the classic drip-drip-drip of Watergate stories: what did the Bushies know and when did they know it. Amazingly, this is a bigger story today than it was a week ago when the ACLU memos dropped, and wingnut claims that torture “works” are being overtaken by professional military and FBI judgment otherwise.

The news itself may provide its own consensus. I’ll guess right now that everything comes to a head next Wednesday night — when Barry holds his next primetime news conference. Then he can dramatically announce that, sadly, the facts on the record require him to take action against his predecessors.

Or not.

Either way, all hell breaks loose Thursday. There’s no center to hold on this one.

@Original Andrew: I’m sure it was. I feel that I myself made some very important contributions because of calls made to the right person. Only today I was chatting to Harry Reid’s super-personal gal-Friday about health care reform and the need for the senator to man it up and not roll over like he usually does. She was very struck by my well-reasoned arguments. Particularly when I suggested that the congress might want to give up their own health-care benefits until the rest of us got something similar. Which pretty much sealed the deal.

@Nabisco: Yeah, I agree, it’s just teevee and we have a super old one that takes up so much space. Mr. SFL keeps trying to convince me we could free up one square meter of space if we got a wall-mounted flat screen. Whatevs.

Oh, and speaking of Keiff Oh and the pinstripes – paging Cynica, Flippin, Jamie and the gheyz – what should a girl wear on teevee so as to not look bad? I’m going to be interviewed next week by a TV station and I can’t figure out my ensemble….No busy patterns, I know that. No weird flouncy shit (not that I own that) or turtlenecks. I guess no fleece. I’m thinking I’ll fall back on my old favorite black suit and a blue or pink oxford shirt? And don’t even get me started on my hair, I’m verklempt about what to do with the Jewfro.

@nojo: ACLU has a new batch of torture photos that they got yesterday in their lawsuit. Wait until those come out, hopefully on Monday morning.

@nojo: I do own a flat screen, but it was the most super duper cheapest one I could get in 06, a Polaroid. If I had my druthers we’d have an entire wall of a monitor just so Jim Lehrer looked like that guy in the 1984 Apple ad, but I’m also mostly practical and sometimes cheap (see flatscreen, Polaroid).

@SanFranLefty: I hope this is a gathering storm. If we can try some of the bastards that will only strengthen democracy, despite what we will be told by the weak-kneed (see Lieberman, Shmo). I missed most of the content that Keef was dishing tonight because my mom called just as he came on (which means something on FOX just ended), and I had to talk her through setting up a gmail account.

Bon wikend!

@SanFranLefty: I don’t know why I haven’t been thinking about those — after all, it was the Abu Ghraib photos that put torture on the table, even though it was already known. For better or worse, we’re a visual culture.

@Nabisco: I need a better pair of cheapish compy speakers myself, and embarrassingly have no advice. Apple used to have great internal speakers for both towers and laptops, but that was a decade ago.

@Jamie Sommers: I am not an expert on what is the highest quality of electronics out there, I think the difference at the high end is something my poor vision might not even be able to appreciate.

But I have this one bit of advice to offer. I have decided that its more important who you buy from, than what you buy.

Most electronic retailers these days have a nazi-like attitude toward customer satisfaction, you buy it, you are on your own, if it fails, they tell you to call the manufacturer.

Even if it costs a bit more, I look to buy from a retailer that will stand by what they sell.

I like to buy from Costco. They used to have an insane return policy, lifetime satisfaction, they had to end that, but, if you get it home and don’t like it, they will still take it back, no questions asked, for 30 days or so. And from all accounts a socially responsible company, treats employees well, I like them.

@SanFranLefty: The greatest thing about the flat screens is they free up so much space.

@Promnight: Funny you say that, as I type Mr. SFL is showing me where on the wall his desired flatscreen TeeVee will go and how much space it will free up.

@nojo: I LOVE the keychain metric of freedom. I make it a point to always have as few keys as possible–and just a simple ring please, no crap hanging off of it.

Current count is five, though there are probably two on there that I’ve never used, so they really should be in a cupboard somewhere.

And then there’s my car key, which is separate and unequal as it’s more like a remote control. Why the hell hasn’t it become standard for all new-ish cars in the last 10 years to just require a code to get in and/or start up?

@SanFranLefty: Go simple. Avoid big contrasts. Avoid white and anything shiny. Pink or blue is good. Black is good. Try to look like yourself on a good day. Not yourself at a prom. I would say no jewelry or almost none. No matchy earrings, you’ll look like you’re in a soap and you want to look professional. If they have make-up (most studios do) they’ll apply base and powder and help with hair if you want. Get your hair back off your face and don’t fiddle with it. You will want to be wearing base but let them do it. Ditto mics and such as. Let them do their job and you relax. To repeat: look like yourself. The trick is to make sure that everything is as it should be then forget about it.

@SanFranLefty: Black suit, blue shirt. Your hair has always looked good when I’ve seen you.
Are they doing your makeup? If not, a little powder (to prevent shine), a touch of blush and mascara, and a not-too-bold lipstick or gloss.

Base is good in TV. The lights are so hot it washes out skin tones and any shine bounces like crazy. But let them do it. They know their own set up. If they don’t then follow Missy’s advice.

@Mistress Cynica: @Benedick: Thank you darlings, of course the black suit and blue oxford that is my usual courtroom uniform is my outfit of choice. I never normally wear makeup, so I will only allow them to powder/ de-shine me and maybe some mascara or blistex. They said nothing to me about make-up, so I assume that means they’ll do it to me. The woman interviewing me is over the top made up, so I will be the strikingly weird looking nonprofit professional in comparison. The hair is the big question – either clipped back yet down, or pulled back in a ponytail. I’m thinking a loose bun/ponytail. Otherwise it’s a mass of curls all over the place getting in my face and I’ll start futzing with it. Then again, I remind myself that 99% of the nonprofit employees who show up on SF teevee stations don’t bother to pick the lettuce out of their teeth or wear a clean t-shirt, so I’m kind of fretting – more for the sake of my ghey friends who will critique my ensemble and appearance (and needless to say have been pressed into service to make their numero uno faghag not be embarrassing).

The only other issue is that I have a scar or two on my chest that comes up to my collarbone, and they show if I wear my blue oxford unbuttoned, and due to spring farmer’s tan, the scars are bright red and quite visible. So I may need to start accessorizing with a necklace, because I don’t want to oxford buttoned up to my chin. Either that or smear a shitload of base on my chest. Or wear one of my Target/Gap t-shirts under the black suit. Since I’ll be schvetzing under the lights, I probably should wear a thin t-shirt under the suit.

@SanFranLefty: How about a loose-ish scarf under your collar. Kind of like an ascot? I’m only thinking that you should find a solution that will not make you self-conscious. Something neat and unobtrusive.

The trick is to find a neat way to tame your hair while it still looks like you. Personally, I would avoid lip gloss as it will bounce.

@SanFranLefty, @Benedick: I was just thinking scarf as well. Or maybe a tasteful US American flag! Or do you have that covered with a lapel pin?

@SanFranLefty: Do you have a scarf you can wear under the shirt, sort of (but not exactly) like an ascot? Wish I were closer, I have one in blues and grays that would be perfect. Be careful about thin tees–the other the things the lights do is make things transparent. A sleeveless or short-sleeved jewel-neck cotton sweater in a soft blue or pink would be perfect–here’s one from Lands End.

@Pedonator: Maybe I should wear an American flag pin on my suit. I hadn’t planned on that, but you’re totally right! Or a giant eagle, just like Madeleine Albright!

@Mistress Cynica: @Benedick: I would futz with a scarf even more than the hair. All my scarves are ginormous pieces of silk from India and not subtle. But I kind of have something like Cynica’s suggested sweater, so that’s a good idea. thx darlins…

@Pedonator: Why, so I can whip out a Bic lighter and burn it on teevee and say “This is what Shrub did to the Constitution!!!”

@SanFranLefty: Exactly. But please take it off before igniting. Safety first!

Will your teevee appearance be available on YouTube?

@Pedonator: I certainly hope not. But I’ll post it on FB if it is publicly available.

@SanFranLefty: @Benedick: We didn’t even consult before coming up with the scarf idea. Great minds…

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