{"id":29364,"date":"2011-01-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-01-26T02:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/WP-IMPORT\/2011\/01\/26\/state-of-the-onion\/"},"modified":"2011-01-26T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-01-26T02:00:00","slug":"state-of-the-onion-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/state-of-the-onion-2\/","title":{"rendered":"State of the Onion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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You have to peel back the onion carefully on this mess we are in. I was hoping to get some insight into it last night, and got only a glimmer.<\/p>\n

There are great currents running in the public life, on broadcast and simmering on the web. <\/p>\n

One of my professional groups in cyberland is melting down in civility over the perceived slight of pianist Lang Lang\u2019s curious performance of a lovely song at the White House. The professional credentials of an apologist for the choice of song- \u201cHey, listened to the Star Spangled Banner lately?\u201d were questioned by those who saw a dark plot in the lyrics- unsung- which called our soldiers \u201cjackals.\u201d<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know what it means. I heard Lang Lang on the radio protesting that it was just an old song that he loved from his childhood. He seemed quite irate about it, while I think maybe a softer tone might have played better.<\/p>\n

I think it was a subtle pay-back from the Chinese side, and they made a significant miscalculation by those who thought playing to the gallery back home would go un-noticed on a world that runs on the web. <\/p>\n

I had made a concerted effort to get to the State of the Onion and gauge how our leaders intend to peel it this time. I looked out at the snow that began to fall as the President pressed the flesh on his way down to the Speaker\u2019s Rostrum. Snow began to fall outside. <\/p>\n

I understand Mr. Obama talked about \u201cinvestment\u201d in the future, but I have to rely on those who spin the message this morning since I fell asleep I the warm embrace of the brown chair with a belly full of Ludmilla\u2019s stew and warm bread slathered with creamery butter. <\/p>\n

Carbs are my enemy, but that was an investment I could believe it. Sometimes the comfort is worth it. <\/p>\n

From what I can tell in the after action reporting, I am generally in favor of everything the President said. I also agree with the new insurgents in the House that deep cuts in spending are necessary but also believe can’t be done now without crippling the economic recovery. <\/p>\n

Crap. <\/p>\n

I see the snow has turned to gray rain. Work beckons and damn the bad luck I have a nine o’clock at the Pentagon. As I don a raincoat and select a hat and stout boots, I am filled with a dreamy uncertainty. <\/p>\n

The Hubrismobile is clean, and the second I pull it out of the garage it will become coated in salt spray and road dirt. If I walk to the Metro, I save the cost of a carwash and a little petroleum based energy.<\/p>\n

Is it warming or cooling, Ice Age coming or a sweat bath? <\/p>\n

Is it a truculent China, or a simple misunderstanding?
Why do those heartless Marines make PFC Bradley Manning sleep in his underwear in the Brig at Quantico? Oh, wait, I sleep the same way. <\/p>\n

The hell with it. If we can all pull together perhaps there may be a slow and gradual way out of this predicament. Forward we go. <\/p>\n

There appears to be no alternative but to peel the onion back, layer by layer, and get cooking. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Copyright 2011 Vic Socotra
vicsocotra.com<\/a> | Subscribe to the RSS feed!<\/a><\/em> <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You have to peel back the onion carefully on this mess we are in. I was hoping to get some insight into it last night, and got only a glimmer. There are great currents running in the public life, on broadcast and simmering on the web. One of my professional groups in cyberland is melting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-socotra"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29364\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}