I'm Leavin' on a Jet Plane

… don't know when I'll be back again:

[Leaving the Jet]

  • President Obama held a news conference today. I can't find a complete transcript, but this CBS news story has:
    "… I think it would be hard for the Republicans to stand there and say that, 'The tax break for corporate jets is sufficiently important…"

    "And you can afford it. You'll still be able to ride on your corporate jet; you're just going to pay a little more."

    And the Fox story has:
    "Ask Republican constituents if they're willing to compromise their kids' safety so some corporate jet owner continues to get a tax break," he said.
    Clearly the "corporate jet" is the scapegoat du jour. [Update: Jim Geraghty counted a total of six mentions.] I don't know if anyone asked if repealing the alleged "tax break" for corporate jets was so important, why the Democrats failed to do it while they were in solid control of both House and Senate.

    Obama's obvious game is: get the GOP to agree to tax hikes now, in return for vague promises on future spending cuts, which will turn out to be illusory.

  • Blast from the past: Obama Inauguration Sets Record for Private Jets.

  • And, if you still subject yourself to network news shows, I wonder if you'll see this mentioned tonight?
    Just a few months after lawmakers scolded auto executives for flying to Washington in private jets [in 2009], Congress approved a tax break in the stimulus package to help businesses buy their own planes.
    (Via Instapundit.)

  • Swell news from the University Near Here:
    A University of New Hampshire professor who exposed himself to a mother and her 17-year-old daughter in Milford nearly two years ago will keep his job, according to an arbitrator's ruling provided to the New Hampshire Union Leader.
    The president of UNH's AAUP chapter, Deanna Wood, deemed the ruling "just".

    The state recently decreased funding to the University System of New Hampshire by $48 million; I bet some are now wondering whether they shouldn't "just" drop it out of the budget altogether.


Last Modified 2011-07-12 6:19 AM EDT

Bossypants

[Amazon Link]
(paid link)

I confess: I love Tina Fey. And when I say "love", I mean in a way that's completely inappropriate, given our age difference, our respective marital statuses, our incompatible social circles, geographical separation, and a host of additional irreconcilable differences.

It's OK, though. I think Mrs. Salad is in a similar relationship with Mr. Johnny Depp.

In any case, I've been a Tina fan for awhile. (Yes, I call her Tina. If she doesn't like that, all she has to do is give me a call and ask me to stop.) So I borrowed this book when my daughter finished reading it. It's an overview of her life so far, narrated with smart-ass wit and self-deprecating humor. I never got into the audiobook thing, but I bet the audiobook version would be the medium of choice; the prose reads as if it were meant to be performed aloud. No surprise, given her background.

If I had to gripe about something, it would be the uneven focus. There's almost nothing in here about Tina's movie career. There are numerous stories about non-famous people, nearly zip about her more famous co-workers. (Other than just noting how talented they all are—I knew that already, though.) Her recurring Sarah Palin role on Saturday Night Live (which, along with about 10,000 other bloggers, I encouraged) takes up way too many pages, even including a marked-up sketch script written by—not Tina, but Seth Meyers. Just a quibble, though.

I especially liked the chapter about Don Fey, Tina's father, which is both funny and moving. Probably because I'm a dad myself. And, like Mr. Fey, a Goldwater Republican. Tina's pretty liberal, but she wrote this about her dad:

If you're Don Fey, you can't look at Joe Biden and be like, yes, I want to be led by this gentleman with the capped teeth. You're not going to listen to John Kerry pretending to empathize with you about the rising cost of your medications. You certainly aren't interested in the "unresolved father issues" that rendered Bill Clinton unable to keep his fly closed. Don Fey is a grown-ass man! Black people find him stylish!
The book closes with Tina's inner anguished debate about whether to have another child; if you watched her recent appearance on SNL, you know how that turned out.

Last Modified 2024-01-28 2:35 PM EDT