Nancy Pelosi wants to be the next Minority Leader of the House of Representatives. There are a lot of reasons why she should be. There are even some why she should not.
The bottom line is this. Congressional Republican members hate and fear her as they have no other Democrat in my memory and she can do or say anything that she wants to them without any fear. She just won re election in her liberal San Francisco district, without campaigning at all, in a race against an attractive, intelligent, popular, well qualified Republican opponent, that I wish was representing me, who had a huge nationally fueled war chest, by 80+ percent of the vote.
If the Dem House doesn't make her the Leader, they're idiots.
Friday, November 05, 2010
Sleek and pretty, like baby seals
Earlier this week, during the first big winter storm surge, they held the Nelscott Reef, Big Wave Surfing Classic, outside Lincoln City Oregon. For the first time ever, it was a paddle out only event and also for the first time, it included a Women's exhibition event, won by Hawaii's Keala Kennelly. The swells were 40+ feet.
Cable Sports Networks are really missing an opportunity here, especially now that there are women. Guys would watch this. It wouldn't have to be live. They could splice together a real slick 60 or 90 minute program of competition, background footage and salacious interview sequences of the wet, shivering, battered girls, just out of the surf, peeling off their wetsuits and rubbing the circulation back into their lithe, youthful limbs and show it later.
This is the kind of stuff that they could play over and over again, late at night, early in the morning. Men channel surfing through the wee hours would tune in. I would. It would be cheap to make. There's no big money in professional big wave surfing, not yet. If I had a production company, I'd be on it. Make a fortune.
Cable Sports Networks are really missing an opportunity here, especially now that there are women. Guys would watch this. It wouldn't have to be live. They could splice together a real slick 60 or 90 minute program of competition, background footage and salacious interview sequences of the wet, shivering, battered girls, just out of the surf, peeling off their wetsuits and rubbing the circulation back into their lithe, youthful limbs and show it later.
This is the kind of stuff that they could play over and over again, late at night, early in the morning. Men channel surfing through the wee hours would tune in. I would. It would be cheap to make. There's no big money in professional big wave surfing, not yet. If I had a production company, I'd be on it. Make a fortune.
Throw them all out
Keith Olberman has been suspended at MSNBC for making political contributions to Democratic Congressional candidates. I don't really care about the contributions. That's his business. I'm kinda glad he's suspended though and hope he doesn't come back.
I'm tired of all the MSNBC evening show hosts. I really feel that I've heard all Olberman, Matthews and Maddow have to say. I don't mind Dylan Rattigan but I can see where he's going to get old real quick. I still like Laurence O'Donnell. He hasn't been a major league player for that long. I hope they don't give Andrea Mitchell her own show. I was tired of her before she even went to work for them.
Their daytime anchor, Contessa Brewer is a total lightweight, kinda their version of a Fox newsgirl, only with a bigger ass. The early morning team of Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski need replacing too, as well as all their resident ass kissing panelists. Barnacle is an idiot. If I never see Buchanan again on TV, it will be too soon.
I'm not picking on MSNBC. Fox News is much worse. O'Reilly and all the others over there are exactly the same every day. Sean Hannity and Greta Van Sustern should only work one day a year on Hiring the Retarded Day. You gotta admit that Glen Beck is kinda fun though.
Limbaugh, on the radio is the ultimate boring political talk show host. They might as well play the same show over and over again every day for all the difference it makes. Even a five minute loop would probably work. Most of his listeners have got to be brain plaque sufferers.
These cable news channels, when they present hosted talk shows, should be bringing in new hosts with different ideas and slants all the time. At least that's what I would like. Maybe most people find it comforting to listen to the same old shit all the time.
I'm tired of all the MSNBC evening show hosts. I really feel that I've heard all Olberman, Matthews and Maddow have to say. I don't mind Dylan Rattigan but I can see where he's going to get old real quick. I still like Laurence O'Donnell. He hasn't been a major league player for that long. I hope they don't give Andrea Mitchell her own show. I was tired of her before she even went to work for them.
Their daytime anchor, Contessa Brewer is a total lightweight, kinda their version of a Fox newsgirl, only with a bigger ass. The early morning team of Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski need replacing too, as well as all their resident ass kissing panelists. Barnacle is an idiot. If I never see Buchanan again on TV, it will be too soon.
I'm not picking on MSNBC. Fox News is much worse. O'Reilly and all the others over there are exactly the same every day. Sean Hannity and Greta Van Sustern should only work one day a year on Hiring the Retarded Day. You gotta admit that Glen Beck is kinda fun though.
Limbaugh, on the radio is the ultimate boring political talk show host. They might as well play the same show over and over again every day for all the difference it makes. Even a five minute loop would probably work. Most of his listeners have got to be brain plaque sufferers.
These cable news channels, when they present hosted talk shows, should be bringing in new hosts with different ideas and slants all the time. At least that's what I would like. Maybe most people find it comforting to listen to the same old shit all the time.
Little Shepherd
Pope Benny and Boy Georg are going to Spain for the weekend. This is the Spain where they have wild urban nightlife, hookup sex, Gay marriage and free, state subsidized abortion on demand.
What makes the Pope upset is not that this is true in Spain, because it's also now true most places in Europe. What makes the Pope sad is that the Spanish still consider themselves good Catholics and him the odd man out. They think he should loosen up, go to Ibiza, drop some X and freak dance in the discos all night with Georg.
Poor Pope. Sad Pope. His flock has gone on without him. Now there are no Ewes to shear, no succulent lambs to roast on the fire at night.
What makes the Pope upset is not that this is true in Spain, because it's also now true most places in Europe. What makes the Pope sad is that the Spanish still consider themselves good Catholics and him the odd man out. They think he should loosen up, go to Ibiza, drop some X and freak dance in the discos all night with Georg.
Poor Pope. Sad Pope. His flock has gone on without him. Now there are no Ewes to shear, no succulent lambs to roast on the fire at night.
Why not Madame Speaker Bachmann?
One of the best things about the ascendancy of the Tea Party within the emerging Republican Congress, is that they are going to start demanding leadership positions.
Michelle Bachmann wants to be Republican Conference Chairman, the fourth highest hierarchical position in the Congressional leadership. If she fights for the position with a more wired in member of the Republican establishment, that's good. If she wins the position, it will be even better.
Michelle is my favorite Wingnut politician. She has the kind of vacant, zombie smile and lush body that combine to radiate seething sexual attraction, way beyond Sarah Palin's league. I would choose her over John Boehner or Mitch McConnell any day. I hope the Republicans think so too.
I know it's not an appropriate Feminist sentiment but she looks like she'd be really fun to screw.
Michelle Bachmann wants to be Republican Conference Chairman, the fourth highest hierarchical position in the Congressional leadership. If she fights for the position with a more wired in member of the Republican establishment, that's good. If she wins the position, it will be even better.
Michelle is my favorite Wingnut politician. She has the kind of vacant, zombie smile and lush body that combine to radiate seething sexual attraction, way beyond Sarah Palin's league. I would choose her over John Boehner or Mitch McConnell any day. I hope the Republicans think so too.
I know it's not an appropriate Feminist sentiment but she looks like she'd be really fun to screw.
Barry O goes on Ryan Seacrest. Meghan McCain doesn't like it.
Maybe he should do a viral porn video with Kim Kardashian. Ryan Seacrest could probably help set that up. Kids would love it, Clarence Thomas would too!
Meghan McCain thinks that it was wrong of Barry O to go on the Ryan Seacrest show and wrong of Ryan Seacrest to invite him.
This seems like a pretty stupid controversy to stir up but maybe it's not. Young people listen to Ryan Seacrest. If you want to get your message out you've got to go where the audience is. If a lot of Ryan's listeners are still too young to vote, that's OK too. You can never start reaching potential voters too young. Look at the Tobacco companies. They knew what they were doing all those years.
Barry O should probably start going on Ryan Seacrest regularly.
Meghan McCain thinks that it was wrong of Barry O to go on the Ryan Seacrest show and wrong of Ryan Seacrest to invite him.
This seems like a pretty stupid controversy to stir up but maybe it's not. Young people listen to Ryan Seacrest. If you want to get your message out you've got to go where the audience is. If a lot of Ryan's listeners are still too young to vote, that's OK too. You can never start reaching potential voters too young. Look at the Tobacco companies. They knew what they were doing all those years.
Barry O should probably start going on Ryan Seacrest regularly.
Republicans need to get busy.
Every post election analysis that I've seen, clearly states that there has been no change in how the American public thinks about Barack Hussein Obama and his policy statements or other Democratic politicians over the last 2 years. The people that liked him then still like him. The people that didn't like him still don't. There are a lot of each. In 2 years there probably still will be.
The difference in the last two national elections is who voted. The Republicans did a much better job of getting their base out this time. The Democrats did a better job of getting their base out last time. Even independent voters are largely unchanged in their opinions, it's simply a matter of who voted and who didn't.
I don't know a single person who's changed their mind about any basic issues in the last two years, do you? I don't know of a single blogger or media editorial writer that has or a single political figure that shares their views with the public. Do you know of any?
The Democrats have numerically more supporters. The Republicans have more supporters that vote consistently. Republican supporters are older, have a greater sense of personal entitlement and feel more strongly about fewer issues that they feel to be of over riding importance. Some of them don't like the homos, niggers or Mexicans, some want to love and protect the little preborn fetuses, some feel very threatened by towelheads, some think the government should give less money to other people besides them.
Republican leaders feign surprise that the Democrats aren't admitting that they have been wrong and laying down before the Republican electoral onslaught. Why should they be? Did the Republicans lay down after a humiliating defeat in 2008 or 2006? After two years of total non cooperation and calling the Democrats every name they could think of, they have bounced right back. Good for them. They're welcome to come back even farther in 2012 and finish the job but they shouldn't expect any more cooperation from the Democrats than they themselves gave in the last two years.
The elections in two years will likely be bigger elections. More people will likely vote. The more people that vote, the more Democrats are usually favored. The Republicans may need to do more than motivate their base to extend their gains into 2013, they will probably have to change some minds. That's a hard thing to do. I don't change my mind very much. I bet you don't either.
My advice to Republicans is to get busy.
The difference in the last two national elections is who voted. The Republicans did a much better job of getting their base out this time. The Democrats did a better job of getting their base out last time. Even independent voters are largely unchanged in their opinions, it's simply a matter of who voted and who didn't.
I don't know a single person who's changed their mind about any basic issues in the last two years, do you? I don't know of a single blogger or media editorial writer that has or a single political figure that shares their views with the public. Do you know of any?
The Democrats have numerically more supporters. The Republicans have more supporters that vote consistently. Republican supporters are older, have a greater sense of personal entitlement and feel more strongly about fewer issues that they feel to be of over riding importance. Some of them don't like the homos, niggers or Mexicans, some want to love and protect the little preborn fetuses, some feel very threatened by towelheads, some think the government should give less money to other people besides them.
Republican leaders feign surprise that the Democrats aren't admitting that they have been wrong and laying down before the Republican electoral onslaught. Why should they be? Did the Republicans lay down after a humiliating defeat in 2008 or 2006? After two years of total non cooperation and calling the Democrats every name they could think of, they have bounced right back. Good for them. They're welcome to come back even farther in 2012 and finish the job but they shouldn't expect any more cooperation from the Democrats than they themselves gave in the last two years.
The elections in two years will likely be bigger elections. More people will likely vote. The more people that vote, the more Democrats are usually favored. The Republicans may need to do more than motivate their base to extend their gains into 2013, they will probably have to change some minds. That's a hard thing to do. I don't change my mind very much. I bet you don't either.
My advice to Republicans is to get busy.
Wednesday, November 03, 2010
Change
Some people think that change is coming to America. I don't see it.
If Rand Paul and his father were roving around the Ozarks and Appalachians, with several hundred thousand armed militia separatists under their command and Barack Obama was holed up in the White House, selling off America, piece by piece to big multi national corporations and socking the money away offshore, then change might be coming.
That's not the way it is.
You want an analogy of the way America is today, look no farther than the iconic, redneck heartland, Cyrus family. The precociously sexualized Miley's parents are breaking up, not because father Billy Ray is out tom catting around with young girls his daughters age but because mother Tish has been dog fucking the diseased and bestially imbecilic Bret Micheals in the pool house. That's America, baby, in a nutshell. It's not change that's coming, it's just more chancre sores and brain rot.
If Rand Paul and his father were roving around the Ozarks and Appalachians, with several hundred thousand armed militia separatists under their command and Barack Obama was holed up in the White House, selling off America, piece by piece to big multi national corporations and socking the money away offshore, then change might be coming.
That's not the way it is.
You want an analogy of the way America is today, look no farther than the iconic, redneck heartland, Cyrus family. The precociously sexualized Miley's parents are breaking up, not because father Billy Ray is out tom catting around with young girls his daughters age but because mother Tish has been dog fucking the diseased and bestially imbecilic Bret Micheals in the pool house. That's America, baby, in a nutshell. It's not change that's coming, it's just more chancre sores and brain rot.
Tuesday, November 02, 2010
Balanced Budget
The new Tea Party House of Representatives, led by Speaker Boner, are going to balance the budget by extending the Bush tax cuts and cutting Federal spending. Only they aren't going to cut military spending. They aren't going to cut Medicare or Social Security. They aren't going to cut any government employees salaries, benefits or retirement. They say they will repeal Obamacare but they aren't going to have the votes for that. Maybe they can replace it with a plan of their own but to do that it will have to offer even better care, at less cost, to those covered, in other words, a more expensive plan.
If they radically cut the rest of the budget, they might get it down 3-4%. Do you think that will be enough to balance the budget?
I watched Rand Paul's victory speech just now. I agree with every thing he says. The problem is, he's one of those little effeminate, cousin Sidney, tattle tale guys, all mince and high whine. He doesn't have the guts or the balls to get it done. I honestly wish he did. In this way he is exactly like his father.
If they radically cut the rest of the budget, they might get it down 3-4%. Do you think that will be enough to balance the budget?
I watched Rand Paul's victory speech just now. I agree with every thing he says. The problem is, he's one of those little effeminate, cousin Sidney, tattle tale guys, all mince and high whine. He doesn't have the guts or the balls to get it done. I honestly wish he did. In this way he is exactly like his father.
The Sky Faery Wants You To Pay For Your Own Abortion
The anti abortion Wingers think they are fighting the good fight. They're idiots. There is no fight going on as to whether Roe vs Wade should be overturned.
There is a controversy as to whether abortion should be funded by the government or not. This is a very different issue and nobody really cares about it but them on one side and abortion providers on the other.
Fight on, Wingnuts! Make those bad girls pay for their own scrape and suck.
There is a controversy as to whether abortion should be funded by the government or not. This is a very different issue and nobody really cares about it but them on one side and abortion providers on the other.
Fight on, Wingnuts! Make those bad girls pay for their own scrape and suck.
Jolly, Jowly Fat Man From The Deep South
Has anybody else noticed? All of sudden, Haley Barbour, the Governor of Mississippi is all over cable news acting the Grand Old Party spokesman. It's no coinkydink.
Do you think that the Republicans are setting him up for a run at the Presidency? It would be a great symbolic contest. Old, fat, White, Southern redneck against the new age, new World, wonderboy of colour. He's real friendly with both the Tea Party insurgents and the entitled, good old boys, under the Republican Big Tent. He gives voice to both traditional religious family values and fiscal austerity. He's smart enough not to use the term "nigra" but nobody thinks his idea of a perfect America is one big multi/culti family either.
It's an interesting strategy. Real polarizing, if that's what they're going for. Might work. Might not. Sarah might fall in behind him. Might not.
Be interesting to see.
Do you think that the Republicans are setting him up for a run at the Presidency? It would be a great symbolic contest. Old, fat, White, Southern redneck against the new age, new World, wonderboy of colour. He's real friendly with both the Tea Party insurgents and the entitled, good old boys, under the Republican Big Tent. He gives voice to both traditional religious family values and fiscal austerity. He's smart enough not to use the term "nigra" but nobody thinks his idea of a perfect America is one big multi/culti family either.
It's an interesting strategy. Real polarizing, if that's what they're going for. Might work. Might not. Sarah might fall in behind him. Might not.
Be interesting to see.
Ginger root used to sell for its weight in gold
I walked up the hill and back to vote this morning. It's warm here. Probably not more than mid 70s but full sun and no breeze, seems warmer trudging up and down the hill.
I made a nice cold drink when I got back. Let me give you a tip for when you're making your favorite thirst quencher. Grate a little fresh ginger root into the bottom of the glass before you make it. No more than half a teaspoon, probably less will do. Adds a nice zing. If you are the kind of person that squeezes a lime wedge into a beer, a little ginger works with that. Bloody Mary in the morning? That too. Next time you have people over to watch the Kentucky Derby, add some to the Mint Juleps.
Trust me.
By the way. The poll at my precinct was surprisingly busy. I'm expecting this will be a big turnout for a midterm election. Maybe the results will be as expected, maybe not. The pollsters are usually uncannily accurate but not always.
I made a nice cold drink when I got back. Let me give you a tip for when you're making your favorite thirst quencher. Grate a little fresh ginger root into the bottom of the glass before you make it. No more than half a teaspoon, probably less will do. Adds a nice zing. If you are the kind of person that squeezes a lime wedge into a beer, a little ginger works with that. Bloody Mary in the morning? That too. Next time you have people over to watch the Kentucky Derby, add some to the Mint Juleps.
Trust me.
By the way. The poll at my precinct was surprisingly busy. I'm expecting this will be a big turnout for a midterm election. Maybe the results will be as expected, maybe not. The pollsters are usually uncannily accurate but not always.
Which Saw, See or Crosscut?
Some people see the constant swings back and forth by the American electorate that currently characterize our democratic form of government as a counterproductive seesaw and the constant shifting of the balance of power as never giving any one faction the time to get anything done.
I don't see it that way. I see it as a big toothed crosscut saw, that is slowly but surely chewing through the corrupt, wasteful entrenched government that has accumulated and threatens to smother us all. Eventually, maybe even soon, it will be cut loose and fall away. At that point we will essentially have no government and it will be up to all of us to build a new one. It will be painful. There will be suffering and unhappiness. Tough shit. It has to be done. Everybody will have to participate. There will be no entitlements. Nobody, young or old, rich or poor, will be allowed to coast. Most of what everybody once had or thought they had coming to them will be gone. America's position as the World's patriarchal superpower will be gone.
Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose.
I predict we'll do all right. In the mean time, have another drink. Smoke'em if you got'em. You'll be busy soon enough. We all will.
I don't see it that way. I see it as a big toothed crosscut saw, that is slowly but surely chewing through the corrupt, wasteful entrenched government that has accumulated and threatens to smother us all. Eventually, maybe even soon, it will be cut loose and fall away. At that point we will essentially have no government and it will be up to all of us to build a new one. It will be painful. There will be suffering and unhappiness. Tough shit. It has to be done. Everybody will have to participate. There will be no entitlements. Nobody, young or old, rich or poor, will be allowed to coast. Most of what everybody once had or thought they had coming to them will be gone. America's position as the World's patriarchal superpower will be gone.
Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose.
I predict we'll do all right. In the mean time, have another drink. Smoke'em if you got'em. You'll be busy soon enough. We all will.
Monday, November 01, 2010
Punching out another belt notch.
In condo homeowners associations, especially small ones like I live in, there aren't too many secrets. One of the houses across the street from me has been foreclosed on and owned by the bank now for several months. They haven't been able to turn it over for the kind of money they've been holding out for. The word is now that they are coming down on their price and would accept any offer down to and including $350,000.
If that is what these places are worth now and that's not established, it could well be lower, then most owners are deep underwater on their mortgages. They could walk away and be way better off than if they stayed, whether they can afford to keep paying or not. This opens the door to a lot of new and interesting possibilities. The homeowners associations in complexes like this could easily end up owning most of the houses through liens against unpaid association fees. With relatively few homeowners left to float the association, the associations themselves would quickly become insolvent. It's easy to see how whole condominium complexes could become derelict.
Even if somebody showed up one day and gifted me with all these places, I'm not sure that with the amount of deferred maintenance needed and the kind of rents I could get, that a positive cash flow wold be possible, at least for a few years and there is no reason to expect that values of properties like this will not go even lower.
I should have sold this place 4-5 years ago and moved into a rental in Anaheim. I thought about it. I didn't think things would get this bad. Nobody has ever really accused me of being a visionary.
If that is what these places are worth now and that's not established, it could well be lower, then most owners are deep underwater on their mortgages. They could walk away and be way better off than if they stayed, whether they can afford to keep paying or not. This opens the door to a lot of new and interesting possibilities. The homeowners associations in complexes like this could easily end up owning most of the houses through liens against unpaid association fees. With relatively few homeowners left to float the association, the associations themselves would quickly become insolvent. It's easy to see how whole condominium complexes could become derelict.
Even if somebody showed up one day and gifted me with all these places, I'm not sure that with the amount of deferred maintenance needed and the kind of rents I could get, that a positive cash flow wold be possible, at least for a few years and there is no reason to expect that values of properties like this will not go even lower.
I should have sold this place 4-5 years ago and moved into a rental in Anaheim. I thought about it. I didn't think things would get this bad. Nobody has ever really accused me of being a visionary.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Palin in '12
I have always maintained that Sarah Palin would never run for President. I am often wrong and in this opinion I may be wrong. Given the demographics of the likely turnout on Tuesday, if we were electing a President and Sarah was running, she might well win. She undoubtedly realizes this and I am starting to think she might like to be President.
The 2012 Presidential campaign starts next Wednesday. It should be clear soon whether or not she's going to run and if she's not, there's not much else for her to do. I don't think she's ready to hang it up. She's having a good time and performing at the top of her game.
I think she'll go for it and I think there's nobody to stop her taking the Republican nomination. What do you think?
The 2012 Presidential campaign starts next Wednesday. It should be clear soon whether or not she's going to run and if she's not, there's not much else for her to do. I don't think she's ready to hang it up. She's having a good time and performing at the top of her game.
I think she'll go for it and I think there's nobody to stop her taking the Republican nomination. What do you think?
Friday, October 29, 2010
Maybe She's OK
There's this expose type article in The Gawker that's getting a lot of links, about Christine O'Donnell, by a guy that claims to know her.
The thrust of it is that she's actively heterosexual, friendly, will take a few drinks in a social situation and doesn't shave her pussy. Doesn't sound so bad to me. May be the best article I've ever read about her. I'm not sure it would get me to vote for her if I lived in Delaware but it does make me feel better about the possibility that she might be elected. To tell you the truth, I never thought she was all that strait laced anyway.
There are some cute pictures of her in a Lady Bug Halloween costume. Her tits aren't hanging out of it or anything like that.
What's the big deal?
The thrust of it is that she's actively heterosexual, friendly, will take a few drinks in a social situation and doesn't shave her pussy. Doesn't sound so bad to me. May be the best article I've ever read about her. I'm not sure it would get me to vote for her if I lived in Delaware but it does make me feel better about the possibility that she might be elected. To tell you the truth, I never thought she was all that strait laced anyway.
There are some cute pictures of her in a Lady Bug Halloween costume. Her tits aren't hanging out of it or anything like that.
What's the big deal?
New Senate Majority Leader?
It has always been my belief that the American people, while they might knowingly elect crooks, liars, drunks and perverts to high public office, usually will draw the line at complete morons. Sharon Angle, running for Senate in Nevada, may be the exception that proves that rule next week. I could never understand why the Republicans hate Harry Reid so much. He's a pretty reasonable guy, conservative even, for a Democrat.
If the Democrats don't lose control of the Senate, they may be in search of a new Senate Majority Leader. The two guys at the top of the list are Illinois' Dick Durbin and New Yorker Chucky Schumer. It's hard to believe that the Republicans would like either one of them any better. Dick Durbin is a little guy, with the smooth, mellifluous voice and verbal skills of a night shift, jazz station DJ but underneath it all he's a Chicago boy, with all the sensitivity and respect for consensus and reasoned debate as Al Capone. Chuck Schumer is probably the smartest guy in Congress today. He's not afraid to fight but understands that the best strategy for a guy like him is to keep smiling, get in close and never let the other guy see your first and best punch coming, then grab something blunt and heavy to finish off the other guy with. I like them both a lot but I think Chuck is more effective circulating on the floor. Durbin would make a better Leader. He and Joe Biden are spiritual brothers and he's been a mentor to Barry O since the beginning.
If the Democrats don't lose control of the Senate, they may be in search of a new Senate Majority Leader. The two guys at the top of the list are Illinois' Dick Durbin and New Yorker Chucky Schumer. It's hard to believe that the Republicans would like either one of them any better. Dick Durbin is a little guy, with the smooth, mellifluous voice and verbal skills of a night shift, jazz station DJ but underneath it all he's a Chicago boy, with all the sensitivity and respect for consensus and reasoned debate as Al Capone. Chuck Schumer is probably the smartest guy in Congress today. He's not afraid to fight but understands that the best strategy for a guy like him is to keep smiling, get in close and never let the other guy see your first and best punch coming, then grab something blunt and heavy to finish off the other guy with. I like them both a lot but I think Chuck is more effective circulating on the floor. Durbin would make a better Leader. He and Joe Biden are spiritual brothers and he's been a mentor to Barry O since the beginning.
Elementary
I'm not really fond of the BBC dramatic productions that American Public Television re brand and gift us with here. They are usually glacially paced, often miscast, poorly produced. Even with good material to rewrite into television, they can fuck up badly. For example, I've been following the Richard Sharpe novels for 20 years and looked forward to the broadcast of the BBC television versions. They started out horrible and got much worse. The two that came out this year were execrable. They could have been great TV.
My wife wanted to watch the new Masterpiece series, Sherlock, so I watched the first episode with her. It's a rehash of the venerable detective's adventures, set in modern day London. I was surprised. It's not bad at all. It's, well plotted, very fast paced, action packed, with lots of quick cuts but still manages to be comprehensible and easy to follow. Usually these 90 minute dramatic packages are punishing to get through. The contemporary Holmes and Watson are appealing and their interactions are well written. There is some good character development going on, at least so far. It's more fantasy than realistic but that's all to the good. You need to completely suspend belief to enjoy it.
It may become terrible later on but I'm going to watch at least a few more episodes. You might consider it too.
My wife wanted to watch the new Masterpiece series, Sherlock, so I watched the first episode with her. It's a rehash of the venerable detective's adventures, set in modern day London. I was surprised. It's not bad at all. It's, well plotted, very fast paced, action packed, with lots of quick cuts but still manages to be comprehensible and easy to follow. Usually these 90 minute dramatic packages are punishing to get through. The contemporary Holmes and Watson are appealing and their interactions are well written. There is some good character development going on, at least so far. It's more fantasy than realistic but that's all to the good. You need to completely suspend belief to enjoy it.
It may become terrible later on but I'm going to watch at least a few more episodes. You might consider it too.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
'Cuz there ain't no doubt I love this land, God bless the USA
Next Tuesday is election day. Me and all my liberal friends have a busy day scheduled. We all gotta get up early, spread out to the local precincts and rig the votin' machines.
Later. we're all getting together to do recreational late term abortions on completely healthy women who could easily afford to raise a child and would suffer no social stigma at all for doing so. We'll take those dead babies to the precinct and make sure they all vote the straight Democratic ticket.
Then it's down to the Unitarian church, we'll match those bloody, head crushed fetuses up, same sex wise and Gay marry them to each other, before callously tossing their mangled little preborn bodies in the nearest dumpster.
Then we do what we do every afternoon. Liquor. Drugs. Pornography. And little tea sandwiches with the crusts cut off.
God, I love the smell of Communism in the morning. It smells like victory.
Later. we're all getting together to do recreational late term abortions on completely healthy women who could easily afford to raise a child and would suffer no social stigma at all for doing so. We'll take those dead babies to the precinct and make sure they all vote the straight Democratic ticket.
Then it's down to the Unitarian church, we'll match those bloody, head crushed fetuses up, same sex wise and Gay marry them to each other, before callously tossing their mangled little preborn bodies in the nearest dumpster.
Then we do what we do every afternoon. Liquor. Drugs. Pornography. And little tea sandwiches with the crusts cut off.
God, I love the smell of Communism in the morning. It smells like victory.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
As This Town Deflates, You Can Kinda Hear A Farting Sound
My town is emptying out. If you look, you can see it. All the apartments have vacancy signs. Probably 12-13% of the houses are vacant. Storefronts in the strip malls and space in the office complexes are more, maybe 15-18% vacant. Industrial complexes even more and would be worse still but a lot of retail and restaurants have moved into them because of the lower rents.
There is noticeably less traffic on the streets during rush hours in the morning and evenings. At the big malls the parking lots are never full and there is never any real bustle, even on weekends.
The beaches still get a lot of traffic on holiday weekends but that's influx from the valleys and high desert, escaping the heat. They don't come into the neighborhoods. They don't eat at the restaurants. They don't buy anything. Maybe a tank of gas on the way out of town.
People are leaving. It's expensive here, that's why. You can go someplace else, not that far away and get an apartment or buy a little house for 30-40% less. If you're willing to go a little farther, it's even cheaper than that. Find a big house that they're renting out by the room and utilities are paid, you can get by with even a marginal income, out in a place like Rialto or Fontana, hard up against the base of the Cajon Pass. If the traffic is light, it's only an hours drive.
Beach towns are all about ambiance. When people start watching expenses, ambiance is the first thing a lot are willing to do without. If enough people leave, the ambiance may not be so damn good anyway.
We'll see, by and by.
There is noticeably less traffic on the streets during rush hours in the morning and evenings. At the big malls the parking lots are never full and there is never any real bustle, even on weekends.
The beaches still get a lot of traffic on holiday weekends but that's influx from the valleys and high desert, escaping the heat. They don't come into the neighborhoods. They don't eat at the restaurants. They don't buy anything. Maybe a tank of gas on the way out of town.
People are leaving. It's expensive here, that's why. You can go someplace else, not that far away and get an apartment or buy a little house for 30-40% less. If you're willing to go a little farther, it's even cheaper than that. Find a big house that they're renting out by the room and utilities are paid, you can get by with even a marginal income, out in a place like Rialto or Fontana, hard up against the base of the Cajon Pass. If the traffic is light, it's only an hours drive.
Beach towns are all about ambiance. When people start watching expenses, ambiance is the first thing a lot are willing to do without. If enough people leave, the ambiance may not be so damn good anyway.
We'll see, by and by.
Fun With Your New Head
When I was a child and growing up into a young adult, California was a crucible of emerging American culture and in those days, being in that crucible was kind of fun. It's true that it was a crucible for economic change, political change, and religious change and that wasn't always fun but there was a lot of other stuff going on. There was philosophy, lifestyle, literature, music, every kind of media all changing and spreading out around us and to ease whatever discomfort anyone was feeling, there were always lots of various narcotic substances to ease the anxiety and pain.
A lot of things that started in California ended up spreading all across the country. It never was exactly the same because everything kept changing as it spread from place to place but there was no question that a lot of the changes in American culture over the last 50-60 years started here.
A lot of people think that's changed. They're wrong. California is still the major crucible of changing American culture and that culture is spreading out to the rest of the country. The difference is that the changes of today aren't exciting or fun. The changes taking place in California today involve the assimilation into American society of huge new waves of immigrants. Immigrants from places that America has never had before. They have much different cultures, religions and racial origins than previous large waves of immigrants. Not all of them have come here covertly and illegally but a lot of them have. We're all here together, basking in the same Sunshine. Drinking the same water piped in from the Owens Valley and the Colorado River. Breathing the same air trapped under the inversion layer and shitting into the same sewers that flush into the Great South Bay. Hammering out a new society together. Always together.
Couple of things you should know before you scoff at us, call us bad names or blame us for the scourges we bring among you. Nobody here had any choice. No choice from the end of World War II to the 60s, when the fun stuff was happening and no choice now. This is just the place where all the stuff happens first and the basic rules get written. You do whatever you want with it. We're busy. We're starting on new stuff now that you're not even going to believe when it shows up in your town in a few years.
All the stuff is coming to you. Look around. A lot of it is already wherever you are and plenty more to come. You're welcome.
A lot of things that started in California ended up spreading all across the country. It never was exactly the same because everything kept changing as it spread from place to place but there was no question that a lot of the changes in American culture over the last 50-60 years started here.
A lot of people think that's changed. They're wrong. California is still the major crucible of changing American culture and that culture is spreading out to the rest of the country. The difference is that the changes of today aren't exciting or fun. The changes taking place in California today involve the assimilation into American society of huge new waves of immigrants. Immigrants from places that America has never had before. They have much different cultures, religions and racial origins than previous large waves of immigrants. Not all of them have come here covertly and illegally but a lot of them have. We're all here together, basking in the same Sunshine. Drinking the same water piped in from the Owens Valley and the Colorado River. Breathing the same air trapped under the inversion layer and shitting into the same sewers that flush into the Great South Bay. Hammering out a new society together. Always together.
Couple of things you should know before you scoff at us, call us bad names or blame us for the scourges we bring among you. Nobody here had any choice. No choice from the end of World War II to the 60s, when the fun stuff was happening and no choice now. This is just the place where all the stuff happens first and the basic rules get written. You do whatever you want with it. We're busy. We're starting on new stuff now that you're not even going to believe when it shows up in your town in a few years.
All the stuff is coming to you. Look around. A lot of it is already wherever you are and plenty more to come. You're welcome.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Mac World
We're booked for Mac World in San Francisco, Jan. 25-29. Flights were $60 R/T on Southwest from SNA to SFO, free baggage check, which is getting to be a big issue. Linda is not a light traveler. Hotel Carlton, on Nob Hill was $52 a night for 4 nights. With taxes and ancillary fees the whole thing for the two of us comes to $400.
For about $10 a night cheaper, I could have gotten a rooming house type of hotel. It wouldn't be as convenient to get to Moscone Center and would have shared bathrooms down the hall. What the Hell. You only live once and it really isn't worth the extra trouble, for the money saved. From the Carlton, you can take the trolley up and down the hill right to Market Street, close to Moscone Center. Never been there but it gets top reviews and three stars on Trip Adviser. I always find their ratings reliable.
It'll be fun to spend a few Winter days in San Francisco, don't you think?
For about $10 a night cheaper, I could have gotten a rooming house type of hotel. It wouldn't be as convenient to get to Moscone Center and would have shared bathrooms down the hall. What the Hell. You only live once and it really isn't worth the extra trouble, for the money saved. From the Carlton, you can take the trolley up and down the hill right to Market Street, close to Moscone Center. Never been there but it gets top reviews and three stars on Trip Adviser. I always find their ratings reliable.
It'll be fun to spend a few Winter days in San Francisco, don't you think?
Monday, October 25, 2010
What Does America Mean To You?
I'm not opening up any new ground here. How often does any one do that? It seems like a good thing to write about with elections just a week away. So here goes.
The Republicans are now in a place. They are desperately trying to redefine themselves in terms that will give a greater number of people the opportunity to side with them against what they see as the forces of liberalism currently controlling the Democratic Party, whatever those forces might be.
The Republicans already have a base of support and it's important, no matter what they do or say otherwise, to keep that base of support firmly on their side and motivated to vote in large percentages. If they can't do that, they can't accomplish anything.
This Republican base sees itself as Conservative but what do they really mean by that? It means to them that they primarily value what they see as traditional American values and morals. The first and foremost way that they define these values is as Christian. They believe that America is a Christian nation. They believe that there should be a separation of Church and State but that in many ways it is unnecessary because they believe that most Americans are also Christian, like them and so bound to believe as they do. They see the most important protection within society as the right to life. The most important step toward a right to life is the abolition of any legal abortion. It goes beyond this though. They believe that White American society must be encouraged to the greatest extent possible to reproduce, multiply and aculturate their numbers or else it will be buried under what they see as alien intruders in the land. The next thing that they revere is the preservation of traditional marriage between one man and one woman. They believe that any factions that seek to break down traditional marriage do so with the express purpose of breaking down Christian American society and damaging its ability to thrive and multiply its numbers. These Conservatives believe that anybody that practices a mode of life that is not Christian, is a threat and internal enemy of the State. This includes people of any other religion, especially Islam, those who do not profess a willingness to practice heterosexuality and people that have no qualms about admitting in public that they have no religion. This then, is the Republicans Conservative base, that they must satisfy at all costs, if they want to win any elections now or in the foreseeable future. They have no choice but to give up the support of some other groups, if alliance with them damages their support by the base.
By all accounts, Democrats are not enthusiastic about voting next week. Turnout among them will be low. Enthusiasm is even lower among independents. Possibly as few as the 20-30% range of registered voters will turn out. With their small but energized Conservative base, the Republicans are likely to do quite well. They deserve to. That's the way the system is designed.
I hope you can see that I can never support the Republicans as long as their primary support comes from their traditionalist, Christian, Conservative, base.
Society rolls along. It bends, flexes and changes. A week from Tuesday it will do some more of that. It's OK with me. Nothing much will change in my neighborhood and it's a pretty nice place. I'm a lucky guy. I always was and it seems to be holding. Good for me.
Roll on, Big River.
The Republicans are now in a place. They are desperately trying to redefine themselves in terms that will give a greater number of people the opportunity to side with them against what they see as the forces of liberalism currently controlling the Democratic Party, whatever those forces might be.
The Republicans already have a base of support and it's important, no matter what they do or say otherwise, to keep that base of support firmly on their side and motivated to vote in large percentages. If they can't do that, they can't accomplish anything.
This Republican base sees itself as Conservative but what do they really mean by that? It means to them that they primarily value what they see as traditional American values and morals. The first and foremost way that they define these values is as Christian. They believe that America is a Christian nation. They believe that there should be a separation of Church and State but that in many ways it is unnecessary because they believe that most Americans are also Christian, like them and so bound to believe as they do. They see the most important protection within society as the right to life. The most important step toward a right to life is the abolition of any legal abortion. It goes beyond this though. They believe that White American society must be encouraged to the greatest extent possible to reproduce, multiply and aculturate their numbers or else it will be buried under what they see as alien intruders in the land. The next thing that they revere is the preservation of traditional marriage between one man and one woman. They believe that any factions that seek to break down traditional marriage do so with the express purpose of breaking down Christian American society and damaging its ability to thrive and multiply its numbers. These Conservatives believe that anybody that practices a mode of life that is not Christian, is a threat and internal enemy of the State. This includes people of any other religion, especially Islam, those who do not profess a willingness to practice heterosexuality and people that have no qualms about admitting in public that they have no religion. This then, is the Republicans Conservative base, that they must satisfy at all costs, if they want to win any elections now or in the foreseeable future. They have no choice but to give up the support of some other groups, if alliance with them damages their support by the base.
By all accounts, Democrats are not enthusiastic about voting next week. Turnout among them will be low. Enthusiasm is even lower among independents. Possibly as few as the 20-30% range of registered voters will turn out. With their small but energized Conservative base, the Republicans are likely to do quite well. They deserve to. That's the way the system is designed.
I hope you can see that I can never support the Republicans as long as their primary support comes from their traditionalist, Christian, Conservative, base.
Society rolls along. It bends, flexes and changes. A week from Tuesday it will do some more of that. It's OK with me. Nothing much will change in my neighborhood and it's a pretty nice place. I'm a lucky guy. I always was and it seems to be holding. Good for me.
Roll on, Big River.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
I'm So Sorry, Uncle Clarence
So, what do you think about that emailed request for an apology from Ginni Thomas, for her husband Clarence, to professor Anita Hill?
At the time of Thomas' confirmation hearings in 1991, I thought that Anita was telling the truth, as far as she went and that Clarence was lying but he seemed to be genuinely hurt and offended by her claims. It seemed to me that there was some sort of back story that we weren't getting. While some of the interactions between Clarence and Anita certainly seemed inappropriate, according to her, Clarence never actually groped her or pushed hard for a sexual relationship between them, which seems strange, given the intimacy implied by the verbal exchanges that went on between them.
I don't want to go into a whole conspiracy theory about this but it seemed to me that maybe Clarence thought Anita was a lesbian and maybe was trying in his own clumsy way to establish a collegial, "just one of the boys" relationship with her. I still think maybe she's gay and whether she ever stated such to Clarence, it was clear to her that he was aware of the fact and also she ws aware that however boorish his behavior towards her, it was no attempt at sexual molestation or discrimination, just a guy who didn't know quite how to act around her but was giving it his best, not very good, try.
Now, on the other hand, have you ever seen Ginni Thomas on TV? The way she looks, talks and dresses? Total, unmistakable dyke. At least as obvious as the Janet's Reno and Napolitano. So what does that make Clarence? Is he Gay too? You have to admit, he has shown a definite obsession for huge, black penis. The other explanation, is that he is the male version of a Fag hag, heterosexual but uncomfortable with sexually accessible women and more animated around lesbians, who support rather than directly engage his fragile masculinity.
Whatever. I don't think this episode is going to cause Clarence to turn in his choir robe in shame. Even with the Gay wife, I think life is pretty damn sweet for him. It's an interesting postscript to a controversial American political episode after twenty years. I hope there are more developments. It's fun and we could all use a little fun.
At the time of Thomas' confirmation hearings in 1991, I thought that Anita was telling the truth, as far as she went and that Clarence was lying but he seemed to be genuinely hurt and offended by her claims. It seemed to me that there was some sort of back story that we weren't getting. While some of the interactions between Clarence and Anita certainly seemed inappropriate, according to her, Clarence never actually groped her or pushed hard for a sexual relationship between them, which seems strange, given the intimacy implied by the verbal exchanges that went on between them.
I don't want to go into a whole conspiracy theory about this but it seemed to me that maybe Clarence thought Anita was a lesbian and maybe was trying in his own clumsy way to establish a collegial, "just one of the boys" relationship with her. I still think maybe she's gay and whether she ever stated such to Clarence, it was clear to her that he was aware of the fact and also she ws aware that however boorish his behavior towards her, it was no attempt at sexual molestation or discrimination, just a guy who didn't know quite how to act around her but was giving it his best, not very good, try.
Now, on the other hand, have you ever seen Ginni Thomas on TV? The way she looks, talks and dresses? Total, unmistakable dyke. At least as obvious as the Janet's Reno and Napolitano. So what does that make Clarence? Is he Gay too? You have to admit, he has shown a definite obsession for huge, black penis. The other explanation, is that he is the male version of a Fag hag, heterosexual but uncomfortable with sexually accessible women and more animated around lesbians, who support rather than directly engage his fragile masculinity.
Whatever. I don't think this episode is going to cause Clarence to turn in his choir robe in shame. Even with the Gay wife, I think life is pretty damn sweet for him. It's an interesting postscript to a controversial American political episode after twenty years. I hope there are more developments. It's fun and we could all use a little fun.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Old Wine In The Closet
Back in the 80s, I used to buy cheap wine, usually at Trader Joe's. It was a buck or two a bottle. The difference between that wine and Two Buck Chuck, of today, was that it was small batch wine, made by serious wineries, that they couldn't sell, versus wine produced in huge volumes, using San Joaquin Valley grapes, specifically for sale at a low price.
Honestly, the Two Buck Chuck is a much better deal. The commercial wine making process has come a long way in the last 20-30 years. Winemakers used to crush the grapes and leave the juice on the grape skins, stems and what few leaves might still be in the mix for way too long, hoping to produce a wine with complex flavors and give the natural yeasts on the skins plenty of time to activate. What they often got was wine that had way too much acidic tannins and vegetal components and if they were nearly undrinkable, would be pronounced "big" and worthy of further aging in the bottle. Two Buck Chuck is strained off the must right away. There's plenty of yeasts in the mix already and if they need to get the fermentation process going quickly, they can add some commercially produced yeast strains that they know won't produce any nasty flavors as a bi product of fermentation. They're fresh, have lots of fruit and you can quaff them down 'til you slide under the table
A lot of "big", California, boutique wines in the 80s got sold off cheap through outlets like Trader Joe's for a buck or two a bottle because they were pretty hard to drink. I used to buy a bottle of any wine I thought might be interesting, take it home, crack it open and if it wasn't too chunky and didn't dissolve the gums away from my teeth immediately, go right back and buy a few more bottles for my closet wine cellar. At one point I probably had 120 bottles or so. That's twelve cases. Probably cost me closer to $100 than $200. Were talking economical drunk here, if you don't factor in future costs for dental prostheses and treatment for mouth and throat cancer.
I have a bunch of this stuff, still from the 80s, even a few from the late 70s. It's had plenty of time to age and my hall closet isn't that bad of a place to age wine, all things considered. When I decant one of these there is a thick crust of sediment and purple/black crystalline particulate stuck on the side of the bottle that was facing down. Some of it is a lot better than it was. Mostly they're still pretty "big" though. At this point, these wines are like a woman who was never really pretty when she was young but has taken good care of herself and whatever flaws kept her from attractiveness when she was young, now give her aging features character. She's still not pretty but you suspect she'd be a lot more fun to fuck than your best friend's cheerleader daughter and a hell of a lot more accessible and appropriate. Then, you move in for a little hug and peck on the cheek, get a quick whiff and bingo, it's boner time. The joys of maturity.
If we're going to somebody's house for dinner, sometimes I take along a bottle or two of my wine stash as a hostess gift. Most people don't like real red wine unless it's light, sweet and frothy, so I never get too many raves about it. They like that it's 25 years old though, so my investment of a dollar or two a bottle paid off.
Honestly, the Two Buck Chuck is a much better deal. The commercial wine making process has come a long way in the last 20-30 years. Winemakers used to crush the grapes and leave the juice on the grape skins, stems and what few leaves might still be in the mix for way too long, hoping to produce a wine with complex flavors and give the natural yeasts on the skins plenty of time to activate. What they often got was wine that had way too much acidic tannins and vegetal components and if they were nearly undrinkable, would be pronounced "big" and worthy of further aging in the bottle. Two Buck Chuck is strained off the must right away. There's plenty of yeasts in the mix already and if they need to get the fermentation process going quickly, they can add some commercially produced yeast strains that they know won't produce any nasty flavors as a bi product of fermentation. They're fresh, have lots of fruit and you can quaff them down 'til you slide under the table
A lot of "big", California, boutique wines in the 80s got sold off cheap through outlets like Trader Joe's for a buck or two a bottle because they were pretty hard to drink. I used to buy a bottle of any wine I thought might be interesting, take it home, crack it open and if it wasn't too chunky and didn't dissolve the gums away from my teeth immediately, go right back and buy a few more bottles for my closet wine cellar. At one point I probably had 120 bottles or so. That's twelve cases. Probably cost me closer to $100 than $200. Were talking economical drunk here, if you don't factor in future costs for dental prostheses and treatment for mouth and throat cancer.
I have a bunch of this stuff, still from the 80s, even a few from the late 70s. It's had plenty of time to age and my hall closet isn't that bad of a place to age wine, all things considered. When I decant one of these there is a thick crust of sediment and purple/black crystalline particulate stuck on the side of the bottle that was facing down. Some of it is a lot better than it was. Mostly they're still pretty "big" though. At this point, these wines are like a woman who was never really pretty when she was young but has taken good care of herself and whatever flaws kept her from attractiveness when she was young, now give her aging features character. She's still not pretty but you suspect she'd be a lot more fun to fuck than your best friend's cheerleader daughter and a hell of a lot more accessible and appropriate. Then, you move in for a little hug and peck on the cheek, get a quick whiff and bingo, it's boner time. The joys of maturity.
If we're going to somebody's house for dinner, sometimes I take along a bottle or two of my wine stash as a hostess gift. Most people don't like real red wine unless it's light, sweet and frothy, so I never get too many raves about it. They like that it's 25 years old though, so my investment of a dollar or two a bottle paid off.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Elections Coming Up
The mid term election campaign season is coming to a close. For me, it's kind of anti climactic. No big surprises. The last election cycle was a big emotional high for the Left. There was a lot of criticism against the Right and a big turnout on the Left, resulting in big representative gains for them and the election of a relatively inexperienced and previously unknown, dark horse to the Presidency. It's no big surprise, at least to me, that the Republicans have turned the tables. They have energized their base with a lot criticism and emotion of their own and will no doubt make a big recovery.
It doesn't really rile me up. Nothing changes too fast in America. It's like watching a glacier melt. It's happening but you need time lapse photography to notice it. I'm not conflicted about how I will vote and won't be too surprised or upset when the vote goes against me. It's not like it hasn't been happening regularly for the last four decades. Things have changed and I'm not all that unhappy with the way things are likely going.
I'm ready for the next election cycle to begin. I think there will be some big changes in the political climate. There always are and I'm eager to see.
The only result I really want to see is whether or not Marijuana gets legalized in California. I think it has a good chance and even though the Federal authorities state it will make no difference, I think it could really shake things up. How would you vote on the legalization of Marijuana? I'm thinking about growing a few plants in the backyard. Have a few baggies on hand. Housewarming and hostess gifts. Tips for the paperboy. That kind of thing.
It doesn't really rile me up. Nothing changes too fast in America. It's like watching a glacier melt. It's happening but you need time lapse photography to notice it. I'm not conflicted about how I will vote and won't be too surprised or upset when the vote goes against me. It's not like it hasn't been happening regularly for the last four decades. Things have changed and I'm not all that unhappy with the way things are likely going.
I'm ready for the next election cycle to begin. I think there will be some big changes in the political climate. There always are and I'm eager to see.
The only result I really want to see is whether or not Marijuana gets legalized in California. I think it has a good chance and even though the Federal authorities state it will make no difference, I think it could really shake things up. How would you vote on the legalization of Marijuana? I'm thinking about growing a few plants in the backyard. Have a few baggies on hand. Housewarming and hostess gifts. Tips for the paperboy. That kind of thing.
Branson in the Fall
Branson was OK. Beautiful weather. The locals say that business is way down from what it usually is but it was pretty busy. The main drag down the strip was bumper to bumper when the morning afternoon and evening shows let out.
I was not sorry I went. Something to do, right? I bottom fished for everything on Priceline, so it didn't cost me much.
Probably less than 20 guys showed up. That's not many. No matter, there were three or four of us who sat over in a corner of the hospitality room, chipping away at the liquor, having a pretty good time. Some of the other guys would join us from time to time between the shows and other scheduled family activities on offer. It's funny. Talking to old sailors, because of shared experiences, you can often be more honest and express things that you have difficulty expressing to others. Surprisingly, it doesn't seem to matter whether or not they knew you then or were on the same boat at the same time.
One of the most interesting experiences was on the last day. An 89 year old guy who had been on the 197, before it sunk, showed up. I talked with him for maybe 2 1/2 hours before he got tired and his wife took him home. In spite of different times and across all those years, we were just two sailors, learning a few things from each other. There were some guys from the 575, time frame commissioning crew, early 50s, to just after they replaced the sodium reactor, early 60s. They were pretty fun too. Even older and gimpier than us. Gives me something to look forward to.
The Captain showed up. Only officer. Tells you something about a guy, that he will travel across the country just to spend a little time with a few broken down old sailors that he was too preoccupied to get to know very well 35 years ago. We didn't share many points of view then and probably even fewer now but I always liked and admired the guy and still do.
Even with the small turnout, the only real disappointment I had was with one of my old shipmates. He was one of my heroes at the time. We stood watch in the same area. I knew him pretty good. He's a changed man. Total Christian, tea total, prays over a sack of burgers and fries before digging in. Still, I don't blame him. He always did what he wanted to and I'm sure he still is. It's just that we didn't get to spend too much time together in the corner, chipping away at the liquor and swapping stories. He was happy and healthy. Good for him.
As you can imagine I was odd man out politically. Not that many of these guys are hard core Christians but most of them are pretty far Right Wing. I didn't try to hide my views but wasn't there to argue politics either. Nobody else was either. It was no problem. There was some speculation about women coming on board submarines. I kind of would like to be able to be aboard a sub to watch that. It should be real interesting.
I'm not real interested in ever going to another submarine reunion, at least any time soon. Maybe if they ever have one close to where I live, California. I doubt that. Las Vegas would be more likely. I'd probably go for that. Only time will tell.
I was not sorry I went. Something to do, right? I bottom fished for everything on Priceline, so it didn't cost me much.
Probably less than 20 guys showed up. That's not many. No matter, there were three or four of us who sat over in a corner of the hospitality room, chipping away at the liquor, having a pretty good time. Some of the other guys would join us from time to time between the shows and other scheduled family activities on offer. It's funny. Talking to old sailors, because of shared experiences, you can often be more honest and express things that you have difficulty expressing to others. Surprisingly, it doesn't seem to matter whether or not they knew you then or were on the same boat at the same time.
One of the most interesting experiences was on the last day. An 89 year old guy who had been on the 197, before it sunk, showed up. I talked with him for maybe 2 1/2 hours before he got tired and his wife took him home. In spite of different times and across all those years, we were just two sailors, learning a few things from each other. There were some guys from the 575, time frame commissioning crew, early 50s, to just after they replaced the sodium reactor, early 60s. They were pretty fun too. Even older and gimpier than us. Gives me something to look forward to.
The Captain showed up. Only officer. Tells you something about a guy, that he will travel across the country just to spend a little time with a few broken down old sailors that he was too preoccupied to get to know very well 35 years ago. We didn't share many points of view then and probably even fewer now but I always liked and admired the guy and still do.
Even with the small turnout, the only real disappointment I had was with one of my old shipmates. He was one of my heroes at the time. We stood watch in the same area. I knew him pretty good. He's a changed man. Total Christian, tea total, prays over a sack of burgers and fries before digging in. Still, I don't blame him. He always did what he wanted to and I'm sure he still is. It's just that we didn't get to spend too much time together in the corner, chipping away at the liquor and swapping stories. He was happy and healthy. Good for him.
As you can imagine I was odd man out politically. Not that many of these guys are hard core Christians but most of them are pretty far Right Wing. I didn't try to hide my views but wasn't there to argue politics either. Nobody else was either. It was no problem. There was some speculation about women coming on board submarines. I kind of would like to be able to be aboard a sub to watch that. It should be real interesting.
I'm not real interested in ever going to another submarine reunion, at least any time soon. Maybe if they ever have one close to where I live, California. I doubt that. Las Vegas would be more likely. I'd probably go for that. Only time will tell.
Saturday, October 02, 2010
No Likely Republican Sweep in California
In California, we have two very high profile political races to be decided next month, the junior Senate seat and Governorship. Republicans have two women running, both wealthy former private sector CEOs. Meg Whitman for Governor and Carly Fiorina for Senate. Both have far outspent their Democratic opponents and both are behind in the polls. Does this signify anything about anything? Maybe not.
Neither of these ladies has any history of interest or participation in the political process, not even as voters. Neither of these ladies have any kind of grass roots support, with supporters of budgetary austerity or the fundamentalist Christians who champion family values issues in the pro life and anti homosexuality categories that are energizing the Republicans nationwide. They've given no persuasive reasons to anybody likely to vote for them why they should.
The Republicans might have been better off going with people like Christine O'Donnell, or Rand Paul, who have some legitimate differences from the political status quo to hang their campaigning hats on. Even if they didn't win, they would be defining their message, building their base and setting the stage for future gains.
If Republicans lose the Governorship in California, it will be a big step back for them. Jerry Brown, running once again for the office, is the only Democrat to have successfully served a full term in the office, since the election of Ronald Reagan in the early 60s and he was able to do so only by hanging onto the coat tails of his father, arguably the last of the powerful, Depression era, American regional, political kingpins.
Neither of these ladies has any history of interest or participation in the political process, not even as voters. Neither of these ladies have any kind of grass roots support, with supporters of budgetary austerity or the fundamentalist Christians who champion family values issues in the pro life and anti homosexuality categories that are energizing the Republicans nationwide. They've given no persuasive reasons to anybody likely to vote for them why they should.
The Republicans might have been better off going with people like Christine O'Donnell, or Rand Paul, who have some legitimate differences from the political status quo to hang their campaigning hats on. Even if they didn't win, they would be defining their message, building their base and setting the stage for future gains.
If Republicans lose the Governorship in California, it will be a big step back for them. Jerry Brown, running once again for the office, is the only Democrat to have successfully served a full term in the office, since the election of Ronald Reagan in the early 60s and he was able to do so only by hanging onto the coat tails of his father, arguably the last of the powerful, Depression era, American regional, political kingpins.
Friday, October 01, 2010
Cheap, Legal Dope Smokin' ? Maybe
I'm past the point where the idea of legalized Marijuana excites me very much. There is an initiative on the California ballot that would do just that this year, as well as give the State the right to regulate where it's sold, who it's sold to and tax the revenues from its sale.
It is looking a great deal like it's going to pass.
There is already a Federal law which, while it does not outlaw the sale of Marijuana outright, effectively blocks it's sale, at least for now. On the other hand, as long as interstate commerce is not involved, the Feds might have a difficult time blocking a legal, domestic Pot culture in California and as everybody knows, Pot grows real good here and the potential customer base is almost everyone.
I guess I'd like to see his initiative pass, even though it would put Marijuana culture firmly into the hands of big business. Any old hippies still making a living growing organic Pot could take a few college extension chemistry courses and produce some good quality LSD. I'd buy some of that from them.
It is looking a great deal like it's going to pass.
There is already a Federal law which, while it does not outlaw the sale of Marijuana outright, effectively blocks it's sale, at least for now. On the other hand, as long as interstate commerce is not involved, the Feds might have a difficult time blocking a legal, domestic Pot culture in California and as everybody knows, Pot grows real good here and the potential customer base is almost everyone.
I guess I'd like to see his initiative pass, even though it would put Marijuana culture firmly into the hands of big business. Any old hippies still making a living growing organic Pot could take a few college extension chemistry courses and produce some good quality LSD. I'd buy some of that from them.
Is Our Nation Unpatriotic?
America prides itself on being the land of the free and the home of the brave. When America becomes embroiled in war, national consensus usually manifests itself in patriotic support for these wars. Ironically, this was true even during the Civil War, when we were fighting amongst ourselves. This has certainly been representative in my family. Even though there is a strong strain of religious pacifism within it, there have been members of my family that served during every conflict from the Revolution through Vietnam.
Has something changed? Nobody in my family has served in the Armed forces since I got out and that was more than thirty years ago. Since that time we have been involved in Reagan's glorious liberation of a beleaguered Grenadan democracy and various Bush inspired wars of foreign aggression in Panama and the Middle East. While the Right Wing has tried to fan the flames of patriotic unity during these armed conflicts and they have been the longest and most expensive wars in our history, there has been little general support for any of them.
Nobody in my family has served during any of these wars or as far as I know, even considered it. None of my friends or coworkers have or any of their children. From the conversations I have been involved in at work, school or at social events, these wars might as well involve some other country than our own. One friend of mine, a member of a long oppressed minority community, joined the Army as a reserve officer, thinking to make the experience part of his own bootstrapping process of upward mobility. He quickly gave them all the money he had received back, asked for and was given a hasty discharge. I guess you can do that kind of stuff when you're an officer.
What do you think? Will Americans ever unite again in patriotic support for purposes of waging war?
Has something changed? Nobody in my family has served in the Armed forces since I got out and that was more than thirty years ago. Since that time we have been involved in Reagan's glorious liberation of a beleaguered Grenadan democracy and various Bush inspired wars of foreign aggression in Panama and the Middle East. While the Right Wing has tried to fan the flames of patriotic unity during these armed conflicts and they have been the longest and most expensive wars in our history, there has been little general support for any of them.
Nobody in my family has served during any of these wars or as far as I know, even considered it. None of my friends or coworkers have or any of their children. From the conversations I have been involved in at work, school or at social events, these wars might as well involve some other country than our own. One friend of mine, a member of a long oppressed minority community, joined the Army as a reserve officer, thinking to make the experience part of his own bootstrapping process of upward mobility. He quickly gave them all the money he had received back, asked for and was given a hasty discharge. I guess you can do that kind of stuff when you're an officer.
What do you think? Will Americans ever unite again in patriotic support for purposes of waging war?
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Brings a Flush to the Young Girl's Cheeks
Whew!
That was a scorcher, yesterday. Maybe you read about it. 113 F at City Hall in downtown LA and then the thermometer broke, no shit, so nobody really knows how hot it got. Hottest day on record, ever.
The Japanese current runs Southerly down the California coast and swirls around in the Great South Bay like a giant flushing toilet. This generally has a moderating effect on the coastal weather here and there's nothing between the bay and downtown but eight or ten miles of flood plain.
113 degrees is a lot closer to what you expect in the Valley of the Sun or Tucson, AZ, even Death Valley, for that matter, than in this blessed City of Angels.
Pretty nice today though.
That was a scorcher, yesterday. Maybe you read about it. 113 F at City Hall in downtown LA and then the thermometer broke, no shit, so nobody really knows how hot it got. Hottest day on record, ever.
The Japanese current runs Southerly down the California coast and swirls around in the Great South Bay like a giant flushing toilet. This generally has a moderating effect on the coastal weather here and there's nothing between the bay and downtown but eight or ten miles of flood plain.
113 degrees is a lot closer to what you expect in the Valley of the Sun or Tucson, AZ, even Death Valley, for that matter, than in this blessed City of Angels.
Pretty nice today though.
Miracle Tattoos
I read some time ago that the tattoo industry was soon to be revolutionized. That micro encapsulated, water soluble dyes had been developed for use in tattooing. These dyes would have the advantage of never fading, so that a tattoo would remain as sharp and colorful forever as it was when it was new but additionally, the microscopic dye capsules could be ruptured by use of ultrasonics applied directly over the tattooed area and the then unprotected and highly soluble dyes carried away within a couple of weeks by the circulatory system as if the tattoo had never been there.
I thought, "Hey, that would be cool, maybe I'll get some tattoos!"
I never heard any more about it.
Do you think the story was incorrect or that the concept of easily removable tattoos has been universally rejected by the tattooed community because the whole point of tattoos is that they are forever, better or worse?
I thought, "Hey, that would be cool, maybe I'll get some tattoos!"
I never heard any more about it.
Do you think the story was incorrect or that the concept of easily removable tattoos has been universally rejected by the tattooed community because the whole point of tattoos is that they are forever, better or worse?
Monday, September 27, 2010
Little Long Legged Friends
There are these spiders in my house. I've never had spiders like these anywhere else I've ever lived. They have light brown bodies, not very hairy, fairly small in size but with impossibly log legs.
They like to spin webs in corners and at the junctures between wall and ceiling and then hang upside down in them. My house is full of them. There are at least hundreds at any given time, maybe thousands.
I used to kill them and wipe away the webs, not any more. I kind of like them. When things get slow, you can always watch the spiders.
They like to spin webs in corners and at the junctures between wall and ceiling and then hang upside down in them. My house is full of them. There are at least hundreds at any given time, maybe thousands.
I used to kill them and wipe away the webs, not any more. I kind of like them. When things get slow, you can always watch the spiders.
Shake
I'm not much of a hand shaker. I'll do it if it's expected but try to avoid it if possible, especially on introduction.
I don't like to touch people at all unless I know them pretty well. I'm not germ phobic. I think it's just a personal space issue. It's probably one reason why I used to like to drink so much. Drinking heavy pretty much obliterates personal space issues.
I have always been a terrible salesman. That probably has something to do with it.
I remember going to church every Sunday when I was a boy. Everybody there shook hands a lot and a lot of the people that you were expected to shake hands with were creepy. I hated that.
I like working with women. They hardly ever shake hands or want you to touch them at all, until you're fairly friendly.
I don't like to touch people at all unless I know them pretty well. I'm not germ phobic. I think it's just a personal space issue. It's probably one reason why I used to like to drink so much. Drinking heavy pretty much obliterates personal space issues.
I have always been a terrible salesman. That probably has something to do with it.
I remember going to church every Sunday when I was a boy. Everybody there shook hands a lot and a lot of the people that you were expected to shake hands with were creepy. I hated that.
I like working with women. They hardly ever shake hands or want you to touch them at all, until you're fairly friendly.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Slaid Cleaves. He'll be a Big Star Someday
A friend of my wife's had a birthday yesterday. She had been looking for something nice to take her to for a celebration. I suggested Slaid Cleaves, who was playing at the Folk Center in Claremont last night. I had been listening to his music for a few years and liked him. I suggested that, so about eight of us went up there to see him.
The guy was great. I have no idea why he's still playing little venues like that. They had maybe sixty chairs set up in the back of a music store, in the old downtown, next to the Claremont Colleges. He had one really good side man with him. Mostly sang his own songs.
He'll be at McCabe's in Santa Monica tonight. He tours constantly, all around the country, mostly in small clubs and dive bars. If you get a chance to see him, you shouldn't pass it up. Now's the time. This guy will be a big star someday. Then it will be big halls and big money tickets, not as good. We were in the front row, face to face, three feet away.
Check him out on Youtube, his website or maybe Pandora. Download a few of his songs, maybe buy a CD from Amazon. You won't be sorry.
The guy was great. I have no idea why he's still playing little venues like that. They had maybe sixty chairs set up in the back of a music store, in the old downtown, next to the Claremont Colleges. He had one really good side man with him. Mostly sang his own songs.
He'll be at McCabe's in Santa Monica tonight. He tours constantly, all around the country, mostly in small clubs and dive bars. If you get a chance to see him, you shouldn't pass it up. Now's the time. This guy will be a big star someday. Then it will be big halls and big money tickets, not as good. We were in the front row, face to face, three feet away.
Check him out on Youtube, his website or maybe Pandora. Download a few of his songs, maybe buy a CD from Amazon. You won't be sorry.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Boardwalk Empire, The Coast Of Nod
Did anybody watch Boardwalk Empire? The American Gangster story has been done and overdone about as much as possible, so I don't think they're going to do anything ground breaking.
It's not bad though. I'll probably watch it.
I kind of like the idea that some of the characters are recently returned, disaffected Dough boys, possibly displaying PTSD symptoms. That's a nice twist.
I also like the idea that the main Steve Buscemi character is no criminal genius or violent psychopath, just a sad, venial dork, adrift on the sea of fate. Kind of like Candide, through a looking glass.
Is anybody else going to watch this?
It's not bad though. I'll probably watch it.
I kind of like the idea that some of the characters are recently returned, disaffected Dough boys, possibly displaying PTSD symptoms. That's a nice twist.
I also like the idea that the main Steve Buscemi character is no criminal genius or violent psychopath, just a sad, venial dork, adrift on the sea of fate. Kind of like Candide, through a looking glass.
Is anybody else going to watch this?
Monday, September 20, 2010
Stage Right
Ronald Reagan was an aging, Hollywood movie queen, desperate for recognition and approval. His recruitment, in the early 1960s, by old friend George Murphy into Republican politics was a stroke of genius and by itself, eventually rehabilitated the Republican brand, nationwide.
He ran for President on family values, law and order and national pride and governed like a Depression era, Democratic Party, machine politician. His presidency gave us a decisive military victory over a Grenada, huge federal budget deficits and the largest illegal immigrant amnesty in history.
The Republicans need another Ronald Reagan. They need to get him or her up and running soon if they want to win in 2012.
He ran for President on family values, law and order and national pride and governed like a Depression era, Democratic Party, machine politician. His presidency gave us a decisive military victory over a Grenada, huge federal budget deficits and the largest illegal immigrant amnesty in history.
The Republicans need another Ronald Reagan. They need to get him or her up and running soon if they want to win in 2012.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Don't Blow It, Christine
With Christine O'Donnell's ascension to the Republican nomination for US Senate in Delaware, the Tea Party once again has the opportunity to widen its base of support, I hope they don't blow it.
Christine is a 41 year old, unmarried woman, who has lived her life on the fringes of society. She has had the opportunity to use the freedom offered by America to explore her political, religious, and sexual identity and make choices about what she believes and how she will live and that is what she did.
She should talk about her life journey, the experiences she has had and the decisions she has made. She should also discuss whether or not she believes that young people coming after her should continue to enjoy the same freedom and equality to explore life that she did. She should talk about why she chose sexual promiscuity and abortion earlier in life and what she believes the choices should be for young people in the future.
Many people who admire the fiscally responsible Tea Party agenda, including myself, are leery of Tea Party candidates, not because they choose to follow traditional mores themselves but believing they wish to usher in a new era of legally enforced, societal repression. This may or may not be true, we still don't really know.
Sarah Palin is another strong female figure to emerge from the Tea Party movement, whose strong personal values have been forged by an adventurous youth featuring rootless college hopping, indifferent scholarship, transient sexual liaisons and casual drug use. I had high hopes that she would more clearly articulate, in the public forum, how freedom of American society allowed her to develop into the woman that she is. I have been disappointed by her failure to do so.
In Christine O'Donnell, the forces that believe in the transcendence of traditional values in America have another chance to show how the freedoms we enjoy here are paramount in maintaining a healthy religious and moral grounding in society.
Christine is a 41 year old, unmarried woman, who has lived her life on the fringes of society. She has had the opportunity to use the freedom offered by America to explore her political, religious, and sexual identity and make choices about what she believes and how she will live and that is what she did.
She should talk about her life journey, the experiences she has had and the decisions she has made. She should also discuss whether or not she believes that young people coming after her should continue to enjoy the same freedom and equality to explore life that she did. She should talk about why she chose sexual promiscuity and abortion earlier in life and what she believes the choices should be for young people in the future.
Many people who admire the fiscally responsible Tea Party agenda, including myself, are leery of Tea Party candidates, not because they choose to follow traditional mores themselves but believing they wish to usher in a new era of legally enforced, societal repression. This may or may not be true, we still don't really know.
Sarah Palin is another strong female figure to emerge from the Tea Party movement, whose strong personal values have been forged by an adventurous youth featuring rootless college hopping, indifferent scholarship, transient sexual liaisons and casual drug use. I had high hopes that she would more clearly articulate, in the public forum, how freedom of American society allowed her to develop into the woman that she is. I have been disappointed by her failure to do so.
In Christine O'Donnell, the forces that believe in the transcendence of traditional values in America have another chance to show how the freedoms we enjoy here are paramount in maintaining a healthy religious and moral grounding in society.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Tourette's Elvis
This guy has a million Youtubes up. This one is uncannily like me singing in the shower on a real bad morning after.
New Balance 355---Best Ever
Maybe a decade ago, I bought a couple of pairs of these bottom of the line, New Balance walking shoes off the clearance table at The Sports Authority for under $10 a pair. I didn't need them right away and they sat in my closet for a few years. At first, I didn't like them because they required a break in period and I got sore spots on the back of my feet above the heel. After that, they were real good. These are the same shoes that I'm wearing in my picture on the right sidebar.
They have been virtually the only shoes I have worn now for six or seven years. They are starting to show some serious wear but they are still good. Some people believe that shoes like this should only be worn for a limited period of time and then discarded. Not me. As long as they are comfortable and hold together, I keep wearing them. I don't treat them special. Every six months or so, when they start to get scuffed up or the insides start to smell a little, I throw them into the washing machine with some detergent and bleach, then tumble them around in the dryer and they're good to go. Eventually, the soles delaminate from the rest of the shoe. Super glue won't fix that, I've tried with other shoes. I expect these shoes are about to go that route but so far, so good. These shoes have been the best and longest lasting, by far, that I have ever owned in my life.
I still have another identical pair, in new condition, sitting in my closet. If they are as good, my daily shoe needs will probably be met until I'm nearly seventy. After that, one more good pair of shoes will probably see me out.
They have been virtually the only shoes I have worn now for six or seven years. They are starting to show some serious wear but they are still good. Some people believe that shoes like this should only be worn for a limited period of time and then discarded. Not me. As long as they are comfortable and hold together, I keep wearing them. I don't treat them special. Every six months or so, when they start to get scuffed up or the insides start to smell a little, I throw them into the washing machine with some detergent and bleach, then tumble them around in the dryer and they're good to go. Eventually, the soles delaminate from the rest of the shoe. Super glue won't fix that, I've tried with other shoes. I expect these shoes are about to go that route but so far, so good. These shoes have been the best and longest lasting, by far, that I have ever owned in my life.
I still have another identical pair, in new condition, sitting in my closet. If they are as good, my daily shoe needs will probably be met until I'm nearly seventy. After that, one more good pair of shoes will probably see me out.
Someone Far From Harbor You May Guide Across The Bar; Brighten The Corner Where You Are
I had no idea who Christine O'Donnell was until tonight when she gained the Republican Party nomination for the open United States Senate seat in Delaware.
From what I have learned so far, she is unlikely to win in the General election. She may be the woman who will save the U S Senate from Republican majority next year.
The Tea Party Express has big Ju-Ju within the Republican Party. Does this mean they can reconfigure voter demographics in formerly Blue North Eastern and West Coast States? We'll see.
Fidel Castro, now in his 80s, shut down big box people's socialism in Cuba this week, pretty much putting an end to the World wide threat of Godless communism. The Republicans have to make a hard choice now. Do they go after strict fiscal responsibility in government or lead a crackdown on adolescent masturbation? The future of the American nation hangs in the balance.
From what I have learned so far, she is unlikely to win in the General election. She may be the woman who will save the U S Senate from Republican majority next year.
The Tea Party Express has big Ju-Ju within the Republican Party. Does this mean they can reconfigure voter demographics in formerly Blue North Eastern and West Coast States? We'll see.
Fidel Castro, now in his 80s, shut down big box people's socialism in Cuba this week, pretty much putting an end to the World wide threat of Godless communism. The Republicans have to make a hard choice now. Do they go after strict fiscal responsibility in government or lead a crackdown on adolescent masturbation? The future of the American nation hangs in the balance.
Friday, September 10, 2010
My Pants Are Old Friends
The weather is pretty mild here all the time. Usually I just wear shorts. If it's too cool for shorts, a lot of the time I wear sweatpants. I like the kind of shorts and sweatpants that have drawstrings. I buy them cheap at thrift stores. A lot of times the reason people throw these kind of pants away is because the drawstring is badly frayed or broken. You can buy those ones really cheap.
I haven't bought any pants for at least ten years. I have plenty. Probably a lifetime supply. They get a little ragged looking as the years pass. I don't mind. That's the look I'm going for.
I do have to put in new drawstrings occasionally in some of them though. I use small gauge polyester clothes line. That never breaks. I just run a safety pin through the cord, fasten it shut, then use the closed pin with the cord attached like a needle and thread and work it through the drawstring lumen in the waistband.
I did six pairs tonight. Took about an hour. Now they're good as new.
I haven't bought any pants for at least ten years. I have plenty. Probably a lifetime supply. They get a little ragged looking as the years pass. I don't mind. That's the look I'm going for.
I do have to put in new drawstrings occasionally in some of them though. I use small gauge polyester clothes line. That never breaks. I just run a safety pin through the cord, fasten it shut, then use the closed pin with the cord attached like a needle and thread and work it through the drawstring lumen in the waistband.
I did six pairs tonight. Took about an hour. Now they're good as new.
A Good Book Tells Us Something About Ourselves
I was speaking to a friend on the phone the other day. She was excited about a book she had just read. The title is "Cloud Atlas", written by an English author, David Mitchell. I decided I would read the book, so that I might discuss it with her when she comes for a visit, next week.
I started by reading some literary reviews of the book, which were universally positive, then started to read the book itself. It's an interweaving of several short stories and the short stories themselves are interwoven with references to the other stories. The stories are written in different voices, from different points of view, in different genres and in different times ranging from the historic past, present and speculative future. They are not, at least on the surface, related. The underlying theme seems to be that human society is neither in advance or decline but has always been fucked up and that virtue is not rewarded, enterprise is not gainful and any kind of attempt at personal fulfillment is vainglory. It's not particularly difficult reading but it's not real interesting, at least not to me and required from me a fair amount of application to the task.
I gave it a couple of hours and made it about a third of the way through, then went to bed.
This has caused me to realize something about myself. I'm lazy and undisciplined. Even though I'm capable of reading this book, have the time and I'd like to please my friend by being able to discuss it with her, I'm unwilling to do so. This has always been the case with me. It's no doubt the reason why I am not really an intellectual or considered by most to be a serious person. Dilettante would probably be the kindest description for me.
I should have worked on this condition when I was younger. I'm sure I would have reaped great benefits from it. I could probably still do it today.
Maybe some other time. I don't feel like it.
I like to read. I have even been known, sometimes, to read things that are considered literary. I am not averse to exploring profound themes or universal truth but I think these things can be expressed just as easily by authors willing to explore them using characters who are cowboys, detectives, space pirates or sexually precocious young women with glistening, lust swollen vulvas, in 325 pages or less, using vocabulary and construction a 4th grader would be comfortable with.
I started by reading some literary reviews of the book, which were universally positive, then started to read the book itself. It's an interweaving of several short stories and the short stories themselves are interwoven with references to the other stories. The stories are written in different voices, from different points of view, in different genres and in different times ranging from the historic past, present and speculative future. They are not, at least on the surface, related. The underlying theme seems to be that human society is neither in advance or decline but has always been fucked up and that virtue is not rewarded, enterprise is not gainful and any kind of attempt at personal fulfillment is vainglory. It's not particularly difficult reading but it's not real interesting, at least not to me and required from me a fair amount of application to the task.
I gave it a couple of hours and made it about a third of the way through, then went to bed.
This has caused me to realize something about myself. I'm lazy and undisciplined. Even though I'm capable of reading this book, have the time and I'd like to please my friend by being able to discuss it with her, I'm unwilling to do so. This has always been the case with me. It's no doubt the reason why I am not really an intellectual or considered by most to be a serious person. Dilettante would probably be the kindest description for me.
I should have worked on this condition when I was younger. I'm sure I would have reaped great benefits from it. I could probably still do it today.
Maybe some other time. I don't feel like it.
I like to read. I have even been known, sometimes, to read things that are considered literary. I am not averse to exploring profound themes or universal truth but I think these things can be expressed just as easily by authors willing to explore them using characters who are cowboys, detectives, space pirates or sexually precocious young women with glistening, lust swollen vulvas, in 325 pages or less, using vocabulary and construction a 4th grader would be comfortable with.
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
A Kinder, Gentler, Lunatic Fringe
I don't think polls, if done by agencies that know what they're doing, lie. Most polls right now indicate that people are unhappy with Barry O and the Democrats. Polls also say that they don't like Republicans much better and Republican Party membership is at an all time low. The Tea Party Express may seem like it's chugging along but they don't have big favorables in the polls and their most visible leaders, while popular with certain segments of the demographic, are held in lower esteem than anyone else. I doubt Sarah Palin could get herself elected to anything, anywhere in the country, although she seems to be a damn fine endorser, go figger.
One of the positive developments that I'm seeing, is how far back the Wingnuts are having to back off on social issues to maintain even a weak minority base of support. The abortion debate is now no longer whether abortion should be recriminalized but whether it should be subsidized by tax dollars. Gay rights are not in question but whether or not religious organizations can continue to call homosexuality a sin. There is no mainstream or organizational support anywhere, for the idea that discrimination against anybody, for any reason, is acceptable. Wingnuts simply seek to remind us that they are also a minority and deserve some consideration and protection as well. Sounds fair to me. There is still strong support for the military as an institution and those who serve in it and virtually no organized anti war movement but nobody is saying that the current unilateral wars of American aggression in the Middle East were a good idea in the first place or should be continued any longer than it takes to get out, while leaving these countries with at least a minimum level of political and social stability. These are all pretty profound changes from a few years ago.
Like I say, polls don't lie. If trends continue through to next November, the Democrats will at the very least lose their super majorities in the Federal and many State legislatures around the country and maybe that's a good thing but one other thing is for certain, it's not your father's Wingnut fringe out there anymore and will never be again.
Thank you, Sarah Palin. Thank you, Glen Beck. Thank you, Tea Party Express.
One of the positive developments that I'm seeing, is how far back the Wingnuts are having to back off on social issues to maintain even a weak minority base of support. The abortion debate is now no longer whether abortion should be recriminalized but whether it should be subsidized by tax dollars. Gay rights are not in question but whether or not religious organizations can continue to call homosexuality a sin. There is no mainstream or organizational support anywhere, for the idea that discrimination against anybody, for any reason, is acceptable. Wingnuts simply seek to remind us that they are also a minority and deserve some consideration and protection as well. Sounds fair to me. There is still strong support for the military as an institution and those who serve in it and virtually no organized anti war movement but nobody is saying that the current unilateral wars of American aggression in the Middle East were a good idea in the first place or should be continued any longer than it takes to get out, while leaving these countries with at least a minimum level of political and social stability. These are all pretty profound changes from a few years ago.
Like I say, polls don't lie. If trends continue through to next November, the Democrats will at the very least lose their super majorities in the Federal and many State legislatures around the country and maybe that's a good thing but one other thing is for certain, it's not your father's Wingnut fringe out there anymore and will never be again.
Thank you, Sarah Palin. Thank you, Glen Beck. Thank you, Tea Party Express.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Musicians
They offered instrumental music at the schools I attended from the 4th grade on. I was going to do it in the 4th grade but I ran my right middle finger through the band saw in our garage shop at home, so I started in the 5th grade instead. I chose the tenor saxophone. It was a good choice, I still love the sounds the tenor sax can make.
I was never a real musician, no more than a person that learns to type is a writer. If you are really a musician, you learn to identify musical notes with the sounds that they represent and with the fingering and omishure on the mouthpiece of your instrument that is required to produce the sound. If you're a real musician, if you hear a song in your head, you can either play it on your instrument or write it down in musical notation. I could never do that. I wish I could have. I played the saxophone like a typist copies a manuscript page.
I would have been better off learning to type.
I did learn to whistle pretty good. If I heard something or made a song up in my head I could whistle it. I didn't know what the notes were and couldn't write it down but it's better than a lot of people can do. It's true, there aren't that many competent whistlers. It's the same with singing. Everybody thinks they can sing but just listen to them sometime. It's not really happening for them.
Teaching music must be a profoundly frustrating experience. Every music teacher I've ever met was a drunk, if they were lucky, otherwise they were crazy, had anger management problems or sexual perversions. It's because they were people who had musical talent and spent their entire lives trying to communicate it to people who mostly don't. I'm sure it's Hellish.
I was never a real musician, no more than a person that learns to type is a writer. If you are really a musician, you learn to identify musical notes with the sounds that they represent and with the fingering and omishure on the mouthpiece of your instrument that is required to produce the sound. If you're a real musician, if you hear a song in your head, you can either play it on your instrument or write it down in musical notation. I could never do that. I wish I could have. I played the saxophone like a typist copies a manuscript page.
I would have been better off learning to type.
I did learn to whistle pretty good. If I heard something or made a song up in my head I could whistle it. I didn't know what the notes were and couldn't write it down but it's better than a lot of people can do. It's true, there aren't that many competent whistlers. It's the same with singing. Everybody thinks they can sing but just listen to them sometime. It's not really happening for them.
Teaching music must be a profoundly frustrating experience. Every music teacher I've ever met was a drunk, if they were lucky, otherwise they were crazy, had anger management problems or sexual perversions. It's because they were people who had musical talent and spent their entire lives trying to communicate it to people who mostly don't. I'm sure it's Hellish.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Thank You Glen Beck.
There are some Americans who have become universal, societal icons. Fill in the blanks yourself. It doesn't always matter what it is they actually did or if what they did was important. What matters is that these people are admired by everybody. That acceptance helps to define who we are and give us cohesiveness.
There are other Americans who are loved by a large portion of society but ignored or even despised by another large portion. Fill in the blanks yourself. These figures of controversy illustrate to ourselves and the rest of the World, continuing discord among the American people.
Glen Beck has singlehandedly, over the last 18 months made Martin Luther King Jr., accepted as an American icon by Right Wing America. It doesn't matter how he did it or for what reason. He did it. It's a great thing. It will make a difference in who we are.
There are other Americans who are loved by a large portion of society but ignored or even despised by another large portion. Fill in the blanks yourself. These figures of controversy illustrate to ourselves and the rest of the World, continuing discord among the American people.
Glen Beck has singlehandedly, over the last 18 months made Martin Luther King Jr., accepted as an American icon by Right Wing America. It doesn't matter how he did it or for what reason. He did it. It's a great thing. It will make a difference in who we are.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Is This New?
I was watching John McCain's live, primary election victory speech tonight. He beat JD Hayworth, who is an ignorant blowhard and hard core bigot. That's getting to be no mean feat in Arizona, which used to be a fiscally conservative but secular humanist, Western stronghold. This virtually ensures him another 6 years in the Senate.
He let go with a bit of rhetoric that I have not heard before but maybe I haven't been paying close enough attention. He said that the first order of business for the Republican Congress in 2011 will be to repeal and REPLACE ObamaCare.
What this tells us is that the Republicans have given up the struggle against universal, comprehensive health care coverage in America. Their goal now will be to bury the memory that the Republicans voted unanimously against health care reform and they are willing to provide Americans with an even better and probably more expensive package to do it. Hoo-Ray!
I'm all for that. It might be a real good thing for the Republicans to regain control of Congress.
He let go with a bit of rhetoric that I have not heard before but maybe I haven't been paying close enough attention. He said that the first order of business for the Republican Congress in 2011 will be to repeal and REPLACE ObamaCare.
What this tells us is that the Republicans have given up the struggle against universal, comprehensive health care coverage in America. Their goal now will be to bury the memory that the Republicans voted unanimously against health care reform and they are willing to provide Americans with an even better and probably more expensive package to do it. Hoo-Ray!
I'm all for that. It might be a real good thing for the Republicans to regain control of Congress.
The Best Thing For America
I'm starting to wonder about the likely shakeout after the mid term elections in November.
If the Republicans realize their fondest hopes, they will take back both the House and Senate. I'm not sure that will be enough. The Republicans have now split into two factions, Moderates and Tea Party Express. The real danger for the Republicans lies not in the potential strength of the Lefty vote but the Right.
If enough of the Tea Party candidates win legislative office in November, will the Republicans be able to hold their voting block together? Those moderate Republicans who win their seats, will be the ones able to do so not by resisting the onslaught of Democratic challengers but against Tea Party candidates from their own party. It may be the Right Wing that they feel more threatened by in future elections than the Left. Those Tea Party candidates who win will have taken their seats not from serious Democratic Party opponents but from more moderate Republicans.
If Barry O continues to support populist legislation and policies, the monolithic Republican block may be broken and that may be the best thing for America.
If the Republicans realize their fondest hopes, they will take back both the House and Senate. I'm not sure that will be enough. The Republicans have now split into two factions, Moderates and Tea Party Express. The real danger for the Republicans lies not in the potential strength of the Lefty vote but the Right.
If enough of the Tea Party candidates win legislative office in November, will the Republicans be able to hold their voting block together? Those moderate Republicans who win their seats, will be the ones able to do so not by resisting the onslaught of Democratic challengers but against Tea Party candidates from their own party. It may be the Right Wing that they feel more threatened by in future elections than the Left. Those Tea Party candidates who win will have taken their seats not from serious Democratic Party opponents but from more moderate Republicans.
If Barry O continues to support populist legislation and policies, the monolithic Republican block may be broken and that may be the best thing for America.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Thanks for the call, Lee
25% of my regular readership have contacted me regarding the paucity and shoddy quality of postings here recently. I am abashed.
I don't know what to say. It's not the World's fault. There's as much going on out there as ever. So it must be me.
As a sop, I have reworked a previously discarded draft in which I kick myself around a little. I had decided it was too whiny. It's still too whiny. I put it up anyway. Enjoy, who knows when there will be more. When my muse returns, so will the writing.
I'm still looking around for cheap tickets to the Seawolf crew reunion in Branson, Oct 7-11. I kind of want to go but only if I can do it really cheap. I found one R/T flight for $166 total on cheapo carrier, Alliegent, if I only take a carry on but it gets in to BKG late Friday night instead of early Thursday, so I would, in effect miss the first 2 days and then I have to stay over an extra night after it's over. My experience with these things tells me the big drinking night will be Friday and what's the point of even going if I miss that and the next cheapest flight is $325, so I'll keep looking for awhile. I still have some time.
I've been trolling fundamentalist Christian sites and leaving inflammatory comments, since I've already poured gasoline down all the ant hills in back of my house and lit them up. My favorite is a Righty Canadian Newspaper, The National Post. They have a real nice religion section. Their motto is, "Get Down On Your Knees And Blog". If you want to see, go here. I'm posting over there under one of my many online alias', JOHNNY VO. If you want to read my best comments, you have to check often because especially lately, they've been deleting them almost as fast as I can think them up. They haven't blocked my IP yet, like the rest of them though, God Bless'em.
That's it for now.
Seeya on down the pike, shipmates.
I don't know what to say. It's not the World's fault. There's as much going on out there as ever. So it must be me.
As a sop, I have reworked a previously discarded draft in which I kick myself around a little. I had decided it was too whiny. It's still too whiny. I put it up anyway. Enjoy, who knows when there will be more. When my muse returns, so will the writing.
I'm still looking around for cheap tickets to the Seawolf crew reunion in Branson, Oct 7-11. I kind of want to go but only if I can do it really cheap. I found one R/T flight for $166 total on cheapo carrier, Alliegent, if I only take a carry on but it gets in to BKG late Friday night instead of early Thursday, so I would, in effect miss the first 2 days and then I have to stay over an extra night after it's over. My experience with these things tells me the big drinking night will be Friday and what's the point of even going if I miss that and the next cheapest flight is $325, so I'll keep looking for awhile. I still have some time.
I've been trolling fundamentalist Christian sites and leaving inflammatory comments, since I've already poured gasoline down all the ant hills in back of my house and lit them up. My favorite is a Righty Canadian Newspaper, The National Post. They have a real nice religion section. Their motto is, "Get Down On Your Knees And Blog". If you want to see, go here. I'm posting over there under one of my many online alias', JOHNNY VO. If you want to read my best comments, you have to check often because especially lately, they've been deleting them almost as fast as I can think them up. They haven't blocked my IP yet, like the rest of them though, God Bless'em.
That's it for now.
Seeya on down the pike, shipmates.
Jesus Says We're All Sinners. Who Am I to Argue?
I like to believe that I'm not a total scumbag, a liar, a thief or that I would fuck somebody else's wife, for example or even more bad stuff than that. I like to believe this because I'm judgemental and often look down upon others that do that kind of stuff. Unfortunately, a close look at my life, sober and in the clear light of day, quickly reveals that I've done just about every bad thing a person can do. What's even worse, like most other people, I did almost all the really bad things to friends. Well, at least they were friends until I did the bad things to them. A lot of times they were still my friend after. They usually had their own shortcomings to bear. No body's perfect, right?
Did you ever deal drugs? Most people will say no but think about it for a minute. Maybe somebody needed a little grass or a pill or two and you let them have what they needed out of your own stash and of course they covered your costs. Maybe even a little more.
I knew a guy in high school that could deal more than the usual kiddie weight if he liked you well enough. Every once in a while a friend and I would buy a key of weed from him, if it was OK stuff and split it. It cost $80, $40 apiece. After a little cleaning, bagging and sampling, my share would come out to maybe 15 lids that I could sell for $10 each. Being who I was, I knew a lot of geeks and nerds who didn't always have a good source for marijuana, they were glad to get it, even if it was sometimes a little light. It was better than the even worse skank weed they usually had access to. I ended up with a hundred bucks for the college fund, forty toward the next kilo and an ounce for myself in the interim. I was still working pretty much full time at my crappy high schooler job, so I wasn't a real pusher, right? That's what I kept telling myself.
One of the worst sins you could commit in the old days didn't involve breaking the law or the ten commandments, it was being a narc. I had a friend that ever since he was a little kid, wanted to be an FBI agent. Somehow, somewhere along the way, he convinced himself that turning in a drug dealer would help him in the pursuit of this goal. He set up and turned in another guy I knew who, in truth, was not much more of a dealer than I was. My friend would have been smarter to set me up. I didn't have that much status in the local kid community. The guy he turned in did. He had been a varsity football player, was very popular with at least some of the ladies and a very sharp dresser. After the act, the narc ended up being considered a small time punk snitch by local law enforcement and a dead man walking by the kid culture. Total outcast. I'm pretty sure it ruined his life. Who the fuck can really say. Maybe he was just a pussy to start with. He never went to college, married into the Jehovah's Witnesses and ended up selling Amway products for a living. The guy he turned in ended up having a pretty bad life but not as bad as that.
A decade later, I was working at a large wholesale lumber yard, trying to learn the business and work my way up. I had been through a lot of slots there in a short time, out in the yard, dispatch, shipping and receiving, buying, inside sales and when housing starts and sales slumped, back to the yard. It was a lot of hours, 50 to 60 of them most weeks. Some days I thought I was doing OK, some not. I was paying the bills and putting quite a bit away. It was 1980, a lot of guys weren't working at all.
About that time, a guy from my high school class shows up working there. He had some kind of connection to get the job, everybody did to get on there. He must have had a good one though 'cuz things were slow and they weren't doing much hiring, plus lots of guys who had been laid off would have been happy to get back on. Guy was pretty messed up. Came in late, loads he built were crappy, it involved me since I was the yard checker at that time and responsible to see that the customers got what they paid for.
You got to remember that this was one of the boom times in modern American history for substance abuse among the general population. There may have been segments of the working economy that maintained some working hours decorum about it but the lumber industry was not one of them. A lot of guys there, especially the younger ones drank alcoholically and used other substances as well, including me. Weed smokers, coke heads and speed freaks abounded. As long as anybody showed up and did the work, they weren't going to get any grief.
So, at some point, the yard superintendent asked me what this guy's problem was. I said I didn't know. I hadn't seen him since high school but he had a reputation for hitting it pretty hard then and it seemed to me, given the quality of his work, he still might be. I never thought anything about saying that. The poor guy didn't work there much longer and there were witnesses to what I had said to the sup. That's how I got a rep for being a narc. I really couldn't say it wasn't true, could I? That's pretty hard to live with at a rough and tumble lumberyard.
Turns out I didn't work there very much longer either. There have only been two jobs I was ever fired from and that was one of them. Nobody likes a narc, it turns out.
Way of the World, I guess.
I can't say I'm not one to judge another person's faults. It's one of my many faults. So, if you ever hear me running somebody else down, just disregard it, chances are I'm only seeing a reflection of myself in another.
Did you ever deal drugs? Most people will say no but think about it for a minute. Maybe somebody needed a little grass or a pill or two and you let them have what they needed out of your own stash and of course they covered your costs. Maybe even a little more.
I knew a guy in high school that could deal more than the usual kiddie weight if he liked you well enough. Every once in a while a friend and I would buy a key of weed from him, if it was OK stuff and split it. It cost $80, $40 apiece. After a little cleaning, bagging and sampling, my share would come out to maybe 15 lids that I could sell for $10 each. Being who I was, I knew a lot of geeks and nerds who didn't always have a good source for marijuana, they were glad to get it, even if it was sometimes a little light. It was better than the even worse skank weed they usually had access to. I ended up with a hundred bucks for the college fund, forty toward the next kilo and an ounce for myself in the interim. I was still working pretty much full time at my crappy high schooler job, so I wasn't a real pusher, right? That's what I kept telling myself.
One of the worst sins you could commit in the old days didn't involve breaking the law or the ten commandments, it was being a narc. I had a friend that ever since he was a little kid, wanted to be an FBI agent. Somehow, somewhere along the way, he convinced himself that turning in a drug dealer would help him in the pursuit of this goal. He set up and turned in another guy I knew who, in truth, was not much more of a dealer than I was. My friend would have been smarter to set me up. I didn't have that much status in the local kid community. The guy he turned in did. He had been a varsity football player, was very popular with at least some of the ladies and a very sharp dresser. After the act, the narc ended up being considered a small time punk snitch by local law enforcement and a dead man walking by the kid culture. Total outcast. I'm pretty sure it ruined his life. Who the fuck can really say. Maybe he was just a pussy to start with. He never went to college, married into the Jehovah's Witnesses and ended up selling Amway products for a living. The guy he turned in ended up having a pretty bad life but not as bad as that.
A decade later, I was working at a large wholesale lumber yard, trying to learn the business and work my way up. I had been through a lot of slots there in a short time, out in the yard, dispatch, shipping and receiving, buying, inside sales and when housing starts and sales slumped, back to the yard. It was a lot of hours, 50 to 60 of them most weeks. Some days I thought I was doing OK, some not. I was paying the bills and putting quite a bit away. It was 1980, a lot of guys weren't working at all.
About that time, a guy from my high school class shows up working there. He had some kind of connection to get the job, everybody did to get on there. He must have had a good one though 'cuz things were slow and they weren't doing much hiring, plus lots of guys who had been laid off would have been happy to get back on. Guy was pretty messed up. Came in late, loads he built were crappy, it involved me since I was the yard checker at that time and responsible to see that the customers got what they paid for.
You got to remember that this was one of the boom times in modern American history for substance abuse among the general population. There may have been segments of the working economy that maintained some working hours decorum about it but the lumber industry was not one of them. A lot of guys there, especially the younger ones drank alcoholically and used other substances as well, including me. Weed smokers, coke heads and speed freaks abounded. As long as anybody showed up and did the work, they weren't going to get any grief.
So, at some point, the yard superintendent asked me what this guy's problem was. I said I didn't know. I hadn't seen him since high school but he had a reputation for hitting it pretty hard then and it seemed to me, given the quality of his work, he still might be. I never thought anything about saying that. The poor guy didn't work there much longer and there were witnesses to what I had said to the sup. That's how I got a rep for being a narc. I really couldn't say it wasn't true, could I? That's pretty hard to live with at a rough and tumble lumberyard.
Turns out I didn't work there very much longer either. There have only been two jobs I was ever fired from and that was one of them. Nobody likes a narc, it turns out.
Way of the World, I guess.
I can't say I'm not one to judge another person's faults. It's one of my many faults. So, if you ever hear me running somebody else down, just disregard it, chances are I'm only seeing a reflection of myself in another.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
The Deuce
The hot sauce I made a few days ago was so good that I decided to make more. I've been more or less exclusively subsisting on salsa and chips for the last few days. They had some nice small Jalapenos they were almost giving away so I bought more than I probably should have. They looked like they would be hot. Yaou-sah! I won't be eating this batch so fast.
I want to talk about one of my long time kitchen buddies, the Moulinex La Machine II. When I was young, if you wanted something chopped, you chopped it with a knife. If you wanted it minced, you chopped some more, a lot more.
Sometime around 1980, the French started shipping over food mills, which they apparently had been using for some time. The most popular was the Moulinex La Machine. They sold a bunch of them. I guess after awhile, they figured if they could offer a cheaper product, they would sell even more, so they introduced a smaller, but otherwise virtually identical model, La Machine II. It was a miscalculation. The American housewife loved the food mill so much that they were willing to pay a premium for bigger, more powerful machines with many bells and whistles. These were introduced soon after and they sold and still sell, like crazy. You can easily spend a couple hundred dollars on one of these behemoths and they come with every conceivable sort of attachment and control lever.
I was not that interested in buying a food processor but sometime in the early 80's I saw one of the lowly La Machine II's on a clearance table at a department store for just a few bucks. I figured what the fuck, I can throw it away if I don't like it and it will probably break pretty soon anyway. Little did I know.
I loved the Deuce. It worked like a charm. The problem immediately switched from not having things chopped fine enough to turning your ingredients into paste. No problem. Light touch. I can do that. It was super easy to clean, so if you are doing any serious chopping, it really saves a lot of time. Sauces, meat loafs, casseroles and lots of other stuff, just took minutes of preparation. I still chop and grate things the old fashioned way, if it's just a small amount but if it's a lot, I always set up the Deuce.
This thing is like the mouse in the Green Mile. It still works as good as the day I bought it. Got to be at least 25 years, maybe closer to 30. I used to kind of hope it would break, so that I could buy a fancier one. Not anymore. Maybe it will last forever. They can bury it with me like a tribal chieftain, with his favorite war club clasped to his breast.
I want to talk about one of my long time kitchen buddies, the Moulinex La Machine II. When I was young, if you wanted something chopped, you chopped it with a knife. If you wanted it minced, you chopped some more, a lot more.
Sometime around 1980, the French started shipping over food mills, which they apparently had been using for some time. The most popular was the Moulinex La Machine. They sold a bunch of them. I guess after awhile, they figured if they could offer a cheaper product, they would sell even more, so they introduced a smaller, but otherwise virtually identical model, La Machine II. It was a miscalculation. The American housewife loved the food mill so much that they were willing to pay a premium for bigger, more powerful machines with many bells and whistles. These were introduced soon after and they sold and still sell, like crazy. You can easily spend a couple hundred dollars on one of these behemoths and they come with every conceivable sort of attachment and control lever.
I was not that interested in buying a food processor but sometime in the early 80's I saw one of the lowly La Machine II's on a clearance table at a department store for just a few bucks. I figured what the fuck, I can throw it away if I don't like it and it will probably break pretty soon anyway. Little did I know.
I loved the Deuce. It worked like a charm. The problem immediately switched from not having things chopped fine enough to turning your ingredients into paste. No problem. Light touch. I can do that. It was super easy to clean, so if you are doing any serious chopping, it really saves a lot of time. Sauces, meat loafs, casseroles and lots of other stuff, just took minutes of preparation. I still chop and grate things the old fashioned way, if it's just a small amount but if it's a lot, I always set up the Deuce.
This thing is like the mouse in the Green Mile. It still works as good as the day I bought it. Got to be at least 25 years, maybe closer to 30. I used to kind of hope it would break, so that I could buy a fancier one. Not anymore. Maybe it will last forever. They can bury it with me like a tribal chieftain, with his favorite war club clasped to his breast.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Salsa and Chips
I took about twenty of my tomatoes, mostly culls, split, small, soft, worm holed or otherwise flawed, peeled them and made about a gallon of salsa. I added a handful of small, very hot Serranos, finely chopped, a couple onions and red bell peppers, vinegar and salt, a little lime juice.
It's a good way to get rid of these tomatoes. Very sweet, tasty, strong tomato flavor. Plenty hot enough but OK for people besides me to eat.
It's hot weather here. Fresh fried tortilla strips and salsa makes a good warm weather repast. Too bad I don't drink a lot of beer anymore.
It's a good way to get rid of these tomatoes. Very sweet, tasty, strong tomato flavor. Plenty hot enough but OK for people besides me to eat.
It's hot weather here. Fresh fried tortilla strips and salsa makes a good warm weather repast. Too bad I don't drink a lot of beer anymore.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Repeal 14
I have often wondered why the Right has not targeted the provision of the 14th amendment that gives citizenship to any child born on American soil for for deletion. Now it seems as if they might be coming around to that.
Two things to consider. It will take a major expenditure of time, money, political capital and manpower to accomplish, that could be spent on other things. The other, citizenship for American born children of illegals provides a demographic safety valve. Membership in the underclass of illegal immigrants, no matter how much it may continue to grow, can currently only last one generation. That may turn out to have been a very healthy thing and if it goes away a very unhealthy one.
Anyway. It will be fun to watch what the Wingnuts do with it.
Two things to consider. It will take a major expenditure of time, money, political capital and manpower to accomplish, that could be spent on other things. The other, citizenship for American born children of illegals provides a demographic safety valve. Membership in the underclass of illegal immigrants, no matter how much it may continue to grow, can currently only last one generation. That may turn out to have been a very healthy thing and if it goes away a very unhealthy one.
Anyway. It will be fun to watch what the Wingnuts do with it.
Opening the Barn Door
The judge that invalidated Prop 8 in California last week, today declined to stay his decision until it can be appealed to a higher court, an action that could take years.
It seems to me that by the time this case reaches the Supreme Court for a final appeal, many more States may allow same sex marriage. By that time, there may be millions of same sex marriages in effect. It is very unlikely that in such a situation, the high court will uphold the Prop 8 ban on homosexual marriage. By that time, homosexual marriage will be an established practice.
Not saying this is right, wrong, good or bad, just what is.
It seems to me that by the time this case reaches the Supreme Court for a final appeal, many more States may allow same sex marriage. By that time, there may be millions of same sex marriages in effect. It is very unlikely that in such a situation, the high court will uphold the Prop 8 ban on homosexual marriage. By that time, homosexual marriage will be an established practice.
Not saying this is right, wrong, good or bad, just what is.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Gay Marriage Is OK As Long As Only Gays Do It
A lot of people are all riled up about homo marriage here in California. I gotta say, I never thought it would be legal but if it becomes so, it doesn't bother me at all. More power to 'em, I say.
What always bothered me was how some people drum up a lot of fear about coercive homo rape in the military, prisons or other institutional communities. I am not unfamiliar with these types of environments and have observed some of this kind of activity and while it's not uncommon for homos to be targeted for abuse, I have never seen them instigate it. It's always guys that strongly proclaim their heterosexuality that end up with their wienie stuck up somebody else's asshole or down their throat. It's not uncommon for the corn holers to be sky pilots either.
I guess boys will be boys but they should quit blaming the homos for their own bad behavior. Most homos, if they seek someplace quiet to gather on a ship or cell block, read poetry, discuss literature and practice soulful looks.
What always bothered me was how some people drum up a lot of fear about coercive homo rape in the military, prisons or other institutional communities. I am not unfamiliar with these types of environments and have observed some of this kind of activity and while it's not uncommon for homos to be targeted for abuse, I have never seen them instigate it. It's always guys that strongly proclaim their heterosexuality that end up with their wienie stuck up somebody else's asshole or down their throat. It's not uncommon for the corn holers to be sky pilots either.
I guess boys will be boys but they should quit blaming the homos for their own bad behavior. Most homos, if they seek someplace quiet to gather on a ship or cell block, read poetry, discuss literature and practice soulful looks.
Isn't a Nanny Some Kind of Goat?
A lot of people believe we live in a nanny state. I have a hard time with that.
Most people cheat on their taxes if they can, not a few live completely in the underground economy. Huge numbers of illegal aliens live and work here and the government is powerless to do anything about it. Most drugs that are any fun are either illegal or supposedly strictly controlled by prescription, yet any drugs a person can yearn for are available to anyone with money, 24-7. The only authority law enforcement have, they get through fear and intimidation. Can you really say you respect officers of the law or believe the courts are fair? The government is no longer able to enforce a military draft. They know if they tried, few would show up and if forced to serve, would do so grudgingly and ineffectually. Most people hate politicians and government that are reduced to pandering and bribery to get any support at all and government itself is only responsive to the pandering and bribery of moneyed special interests.
Maybe that whole nanny state thing has to do with unlimited free pornography on the web. I kind of get that.
Most people cheat on their taxes if they can, not a few live completely in the underground economy. Huge numbers of illegal aliens live and work here and the government is powerless to do anything about it. Most drugs that are any fun are either illegal or supposedly strictly controlled by prescription, yet any drugs a person can yearn for are available to anyone with money, 24-7. The only authority law enforcement have, they get through fear and intimidation. Can you really say you respect officers of the law or believe the courts are fair? The government is no longer able to enforce a military draft. They know if they tried, few would show up and if forced to serve, would do so grudgingly and ineffectually. Most people hate politicians and government that are reduced to pandering and bribery to get any support at all and government itself is only responsive to the pandering and bribery of moneyed special interests.
Maybe that whole nanny state thing has to do with unlimited free pornography on the web. I kind of get that.
Sunday, August 08, 2010
Boiling
I like saunas. Once the dry heat gets hot enough to start you sweating copiously, the pores of your skin really get cleaned out. After a long sauna, you really feel relaxed and ready for a short nap. I've often thought if I was rich, I'd have a sauna at my house.
I read where the Finns were having some kind of World Championship of Sauna, the object being to see who could tolerate the hottest temperature for the longest time.
They were up to 100C which is 212F. That's a couple degrees above boiling. Crazy. A Russian contestant died from it.
I don't like saunas that much.
I read where the Finns were having some kind of World Championship of Sauna, the object being to see who could tolerate the hottest temperature for the longest time.
They were up to 100C which is 212F. That's a couple degrees above boiling. Crazy. A Russian contestant died from it.
I don't like saunas that much.
Friday, August 06, 2010
Won't Get Fooled Again Cuz Now I'm Too Dumb To Realize The Joke's On Me
The Republican Revolution of 1994 brought them more power than they had since the early 1950s. What did that power buy them? Deregulation of big business. Tax breaks for the rich. George Bush as President for two terms. The longest, most expensive war in American history and nobody knows what it's about.
Are the Republicans, with their Tea Party Express and Barrel O' Palins on the road to a new Revolution? Who the fuck knows? It's America. Anything is possible.
You gotta ask yourself, if they do come back, what do they really want? They say that fiscally responsible government is the goal. I may not know much but I know enough not to believe that will ever happen short of a complete breakdown of government, not merely reform. Many seem to yearn for some kind of "Painter of Light", country cottage filled fantasy America that inhabits their dreams as they lounge, under employed and proudly ignorant, in their dingy trailer homes, cramped yards littered with dog shit and empty aluminum cans that once contained the thin, sour, over carbonated beer that is their staff of life.
They don't know what they want. I'm no better. I don't either. Just happy to see another beautiful SoCal Sunrise.
Are the Republicans, with their Tea Party Express and Barrel O' Palins on the road to a new Revolution? Who the fuck knows? It's America. Anything is possible.
You gotta ask yourself, if they do come back, what do they really want? They say that fiscally responsible government is the goal. I may not know much but I know enough not to believe that will ever happen short of a complete breakdown of government, not merely reform. Many seem to yearn for some kind of "Painter of Light", country cottage filled fantasy America that inhabits their dreams as they lounge, under employed and proudly ignorant, in their dingy trailer homes, cramped yards littered with dog shit and empty aluminum cans that once contained the thin, sour, over carbonated beer that is their staff of life.
They don't know what they want. I'm no better. I don't either. Just happy to see another beautiful SoCal Sunrise.
Thursday, August 05, 2010
Moving Day
The guy next door to me moved out yesterday. He bought the place a little less than 5 years ago. He ended up taking a quarter of a million dollar bath on it. That doesn't count the extensive renovations he made before he moved in, the brokerage fees he paid to buy the place, the property taxes he paid or the association dues. When you add up these costs and subtract what it would have cost him to rent something similar or even a good bit nicer, he's probably closer to $350,000 down the crapper.
So, what's he doing now? He bought a vacant lot at a trailer park down the street. That's right, this stupid fucker paid for the privilege of parking a new trailer on a postage stamp size space and paying rent on it. By the time he's through putting in all the customized features into his new "luxury" doublewide, he'll probably have spent more than he got out of the place next door to me and in 5 more years, I guarantee it will be worth no more than half of what he paid, if he can sell it at all.
What a fuckin' maroon. I'm only sorry that since this guy is so dead set on throwing his money away, there wasn't some way I could have gotten him to throw some of it at me.
So, what's he doing now? He bought a vacant lot at a trailer park down the street. That's right, this stupid fucker paid for the privilege of parking a new trailer on a postage stamp size space and paying rent on it. By the time he's through putting in all the customized features into his new "luxury" doublewide, he'll probably have spent more than he got out of the place next door to me and in 5 more years, I guarantee it will be worth no more than half of what he paid, if he can sell it at all.
What a fuckin' maroon. I'm only sorry that since this guy is so dead set on throwing his money away, there wasn't some way I could have gotten him to throw some of it at me.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Free Pay TV, Not On TV
I've never had the pay TV channels. Not because I can't afford them or don't think they're worth it. I'm just not willing to commit to spending the money.
One of my theories, recently, is that everything is on the Internet, if you just look. So I looked for the pay channel drama series. Sure enough, most of them are there. I've been watching them.
Some of them are good, some not so much. They're different from commercial TV or the movies. The production values aren't as slick as they could be with a little more money. I don't think they spend a lot on the actors. That's not a problem.
I liked Rome and Deadwood, they're epic. Weeds is a comic family soap opera that manages to go one step further than any before it. Dexter and Nurse Jackie take very dark main characters, examine their lives and make you care about them. The worst are those that mimic in most ways, things you can already see on the networks, Arliss, Sex in the City, True Blood, Hung and the Sopranos, for example and they should be ranked with the very best that is available there.
My favorite, so far, is Californication. Very artsy and hip. They use a lot of Warren Zevon music. You can hardly go wrong doing that. It makes me laugh sometimes and sometimes makes me sad. It never makes me cringe and that's good. I do enough cringing when I think about my own life. I don't need to go elsewhere for more. It's supposed to be about a guy who's a sex addict but it's not. It's about trying to make real, lasting emotional connections with other people and failing. I'm not very sure that we can make real emotional contact with others that is much more than transitory and the attempts we make often have seriously negative repercussions. It's important that we keep trying though, because that's what makes us human and being human is all we can hope for. That's what this show is about. You should watch it if you get the chance. It's on the Internet for free. Manywhere.
One of my theories, recently, is that everything is on the Internet, if you just look. So I looked for the pay channel drama series. Sure enough, most of them are there. I've been watching them.
Some of them are good, some not so much. They're different from commercial TV or the movies. The production values aren't as slick as they could be with a little more money. I don't think they spend a lot on the actors. That's not a problem.
I liked Rome and Deadwood, they're epic. Weeds is a comic family soap opera that manages to go one step further than any before it. Dexter and Nurse Jackie take very dark main characters, examine their lives and make you care about them. The worst are those that mimic in most ways, things you can already see on the networks, Arliss, Sex in the City, True Blood, Hung and the Sopranos, for example and they should be ranked with the very best that is available there.
My favorite, so far, is Californication. Very artsy and hip. They use a lot of Warren Zevon music. You can hardly go wrong doing that. It makes me laugh sometimes and sometimes makes me sad. It never makes me cringe and that's good. I do enough cringing when I think about my own life. I don't need to go elsewhere for more. It's supposed to be about a guy who's a sex addict but it's not. It's about trying to make real, lasting emotional connections with other people and failing. I'm not very sure that we can make real emotional contact with others that is much more than transitory and the attempts we make often have seriously negative repercussions. It's important that we keep trying though, because that's what makes us human and being human is all we can hope for. That's what this show is about. You should watch it if you get the chance. It's on the Internet for free. Manywhere.
Monday, July 19, 2010
A Great American
Did you ever hear of Smedley Darlington Butler? Me either. He was a Quaker boy who dropped out of high school, falsified his records and joined the Marines at the outbreak of the Spanish American War in 1898. He never fought in that war (or any declared war) but managed to get commissioned an officer and even promoted before it was over. He was soon promoted again, a Captain before his nineteenth birthday. He served in the Marines, off and on, for 33 years, promoted as the youngest Major General ever at the age of 48. Soon after, he was arrested and held for Court Martial but the charges were dropped, proven to be a fabrication of his enemies, among them, Herbert Hoover.
He drank heavily, was probably a homosexual and had a large Marine Globe and Anchor tattooed on his torso that extended from his neck to his pubis. He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, twice and claimed he never deserved it at all. He tried to refuse it and had to be ordered to wear it. He went undercover as a spy in Mexico during the Revolution for Admiral Fletcher and his intelligence was instrumental in the decision not to mount a major amphibious invasion with the capture of Mexico City as its target. He excelled at small group, counter insurgency actions employing irregular tactics, against much larger forces on their own home ground, that routinely resulted in the annihilation of his foes and few if any casualties to his own men.
After his retirement, working for the State of Oregon, he organized and virtually invented the concept of the modern State Police Force. He helped organize and lead the Bonus Army that was gassed and cut down by the cavalry of the coward Douglas McArthur during the so called Hay Market riots. Later, he exposed a plot by big business and the military to overthrow Franklin Roosevelt and establish a fascist military dictatorship in America. In retirement, the only time he ever wore his uniform was at his daughter's wedding, at her request.
Here's a statement he made before he died.
I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class thug for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902–1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.[12]
I wonder why we don't read about this guy in the history books? Seems to me like the biggest American military hero since Stephen Fucking Decatur.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Tuli Dead. Fugg That.
Tuli Kupferberg died last week. One of the heros of my youth.
He was eighty six. I had no idea he was that old. I guess you can't say he died before his time.
I always admired how he combined rock and roll music with the themes of practical reproductive health and hygiene for the young people. Saran Wrap and Coca Cola Douche were two of my favorite Fuggs songs. He covered a lot of ground though and I liked all of it.
He was eighty six. I had no idea he was that old. I guess you can't say he died before his time.
I always admired how he combined rock and roll music with the themes of practical reproductive health and hygiene for the young people. Saran Wrap and Coca Cola Douche were two of my favorite Fuggs songs. He covered a lot of ground though and I liked all of it.
Picking Tomatoes
I've been picking tomatoes for a couple of weeks now. They're good but not great. If I go to a good produce store, pick carefully and pay a little extra, I can get just as good. If I go to the weekly farmer's market downtown, I can get way better.
I don't think I'll grow tomatoes again.
I don't think I'll grow tomatoes again.
Next Republican Presidential Candidate
The 2012 nominee will be a Governor or ex Governor. Republicans cannot afford to run anyone legislative after bashing all of them so hard for the last few years. It won't be Romney or Huckybuck, who are seen as has been also rans. Jindal's too ethnic. Pawlenty is too Right Wing whacko. Halley Barbour would be a great choice but he's too blatantly deep South.
My guess, Mitch Daniels of Indiana. Bland. Successful Governor. Not a sex fiend as far as anyone knows. Not much of a paper trail.
What do I know? They'll probably go with the Salmon Slut.
My guess, Mitch Daniels of Indiana. Bland. Successful Governor. Not a sex fiend as far as anyone knows. Not much of a paper trail.
What do I know? They'll probably go with the Salmon Slut.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Jerry Springer Special
Bristol and Levi, young, dumb and illiterate, already have a two year old child together. While she was pregnant, they planned on being married. Bristol's mama Sarah went along with this but after the baby was born, everybody got cold feet.
Now, two years later, Bristol and Levi have, against their families wishes reconciled and once again, plan to tie the knot.
It's kinda romantic, like Romeo and Juliet. I hope things turn out better for them, for the baby's sake.
Now, two years later, Bristol and Levi have, against their families wishes reconciled and once again, plan to tie the knot.
It's kinda romantic, like Romeo and Juliet. I hope things turn out better for them, for the baby's sake.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Read Free
I always go to the library for books to read at home. I buy used paperbacks to take along when I travel or am otherwise out and about and think there might be down time because I don't want to lose library books scattered about in hotel rooms and public places.
I have had many friends who have little electronic readers. They can download most books in the public domain for free. I always took for granted that copyrighted books were unavailable. Then I got to thinking the other day, as I was watching streaming video of a popular movie that only got into theaters the day before, that everything is on the Internet.
Sure enough, every book that a substantial number of people are interested in, is available for download somewhere, usually manywhere.
I may never have to go to the library again. Local public libraries may be already obsolete.
I have had many friends who have little electronic readers. They can download most books in the public domain for free. I always took for granted that copyrighted books were unavailable. Then I got to thinking the other day, as I was watching streaming video of a popular movie that only got into theaters the day before, that everything is on the Internet.
Sure enough, every book that a substantial number of people are interested in, is available for download somewhere, usually manywhere.
I may never have to go to the library again. Local public libraries may be already obsolete.
Whup, Whup, Whup
While I was drowsing.
My wife and the big orange cat were asleep in bed last night snoring in a very synchronized manner, just like Larry and Moe.
It occurred to me that I should make Curly's Whup, Whup, Whup noises.
I woke up laughing and they stopped.
My wife and the big orange cat were asleep in bed last night snoring in a very synchronized manner, just like Larry and Moe.
It occurred to me that I should make Curly's Whup, Whup, Whup noises.
I woke up laughing and they stopped.
Friday, July 09, 2010
Forced Bloom?
I'll tell you one of the things that bothers me about society, politics and religion today. There are plenty of people selling hatred and paranoia. There are also enough "let cooler heads prevail types" around.
What we're missing is Utopians. Nobody is out there preaching that we're on the road to paradise, with a song in their heart and lyrical poetry on theirs lips. I've never been one of those people and have never believed the kinds of things that they say but I think they make up an important, even necessary component of a healthy, vital society, at both ends of the spectrum. They are like flowers in the Spring, signaling after a rough Winter that everything is as it should be.
About the only place you find Utopian sentiments these days is in the scientific and technology communities. I think this is because in these areas, at least, there is still advancement and progress being made and it's inspirational, inspiring among its denizens the feeling that progress in the right direction is being made and better days are ahead.
What we're missing is Utopians. Nobody is out there preaching that we're on the road to paradise, with a song in their heart and lyrical poetry on theirs lips. I've never been one of those people and have never believed the kinds of things that they say but I think they make up an important, even necessary component of a healthy, vital society, at both ends of the spectrum. They are like flowers in the Spring, signaling after a rough Winter that everything is as it should be.
About the only place you find Utopian sentiments these days is in the scientific and technology communities. I think this is because in these areas, at least, there is still advancement and progress being made and it's inspirational, inspiring among its denizens the feeling that progress in the right direction is being made and better days are ahead.
Monday, July 05, 2010
Fun With Your New Head
I was reading an article about how it's possible that clinical depression can lead to dementia.
Several doctors over the last couple decades have advised me that I exhibit most of the symptoms of a chronic depressive. Most of them have tried to push meds for it on me. I always refuse. That's one of the great things about being a depressive, you just don't give a shit.
So, back to the idea that depression might be a precursor to or even a causal factor for dementia. Hey, that might make for a nice change.
Other dementia news. They're working on a blood test that could diagnose Alzheimer's a full decade before symptoms start to appear. Man, I'm looking forward to that one!
Several doctors over the last couple decades have advised me that I exhibit most of the symptoms of a chronic depressive. Most of them have tried to push meds for it on me. I always refuse. That's one of the great things about being a depressive, you just don't give a shit.
So, back to the idea that depression might be a precursor to or even a causal factor for dementia. Hey, that might make for a nice change.
Other dementia news. They're working on a blood test that could diagnose Alzheimer's a full decade before symptoms start to appear. Man, I'm looking forward to that one!
Sunday, July 04, 2010
Biggest Fireworks Show Ever
A lot of towns didn't have fireworks this 4th of July because they're out of money. That's not an option in my town. 4th of July has become the biggest weekend of the year for beach goers. the local merchants clean up and demand fireworks on the 4th. I'm sure even the City makes a profit off it. They were charging $25 a car today for parking at the City beach lots and those lots have capacities measured in the thousands. Then they charged people another $10 or $15 that wanted the convenience and exclusivity of bleacher seats.
They closed Pacific Coast Highway to motor traffic for a few miles along the beach and on Main Street for a few miles inland. We walked down there and it was wall to wall people, might have been a million people there for all I know. There were huge numbers of people on bikes and everybody living downtown was having a beer party. The police have tried to crack down on alcohol in the streets in the past, with riotous and violent results. They were just going with the flow this year and there were no problems. People just want to enjoy the day and for a lot of them, that includes getting snot slinging drunk. Some things never change.
Anyway, the fireworks were great. The view was equally good from anywhere downtown or along the beach for at least a couple miles either side of the pier, where they launched them from. Probably the most extensive display I've ever seen, hot and heavy for maybe 45 minutes. They probably got a volume discount because not a lot of cities had big fireworks shows this year and there was a surplus of supply
I really couldn't care less about fireworks but my wife loves them. I'm happy to indulge her, it's free and only once a year. What kind of an asshole would I be if I didn't?
The surf was huge, eight feet at least.
They closed Pacific Coast Highway to motor traffic for a few miles along the beach and on Main Street for a few miles inland. We walked down there and it was wall to wall people, might have been a million people there for all I know. There were huge numbers of people on bikes and everybody living downtown was having a beer party. The police have tried to crack down on alcohol in the streets in the past, with riotous and violent results. They were just going with the flow this year and there were no problems. People just want to enjoy the day and for a lot of them, that includes getting snot slinging drunk. Some things never change.
Anyway, the fireworks were great. The view was equally good from anywhere downtown or along the beach for at least a couple miles either side of the pier, where they launched them from. Probably the most extensive display I've ever seen, hot and heavy for maybe 45 minutes. They probably got a volume discount because not a lot of cities had big fireworks shows this year and there was a surplus of supply
I really couldn't care less about fireworks but my wife loves them. I'm happy to indulge her, it's free and only once a year. What kind of an asshole would I be if I didn't?
The surf was huge, eight feet at least.
Push Over
My Celebrity Tomato plant became unbalanced with all the ripening and rapidly enlarging fruit and just tipped over. Maybe 15 of the smaller green fruit dislodged.
I propped it back up and made a jar of green refrigerator pickles. No harm done.
I propped it back up and made a jar of green refrigerator pickles. No harm done.
Leadership
One of the Republican goals in November is to turn Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid out out of their seats, depriving the Democrats of established top leadership.
I don't know who they have running against Nancy. I don't think it's anyone that can beat her. A Tea Party candidate named Sharon Angle is running against Reid for the Senate seat in Nevada. She doesn't seem to me like she has legs. In fact, she seems kind of like a joke candidate. Does anybody out there know anything about her that might indicate she can beat Harry?
The Republicans are sure that they are going to make significant Congressional gains in the upcoming mid term elections. I think they will make some gains. The balance is pretty lopsided right now. I wonder how extensive those gains are doing to be though? There are some seats they could lose as well as some they can win. I don't think they have a very good shot at taking control of either Congressional body. If they can't do that, there's not much else they can do either.
I don't know who they have running against Nancy. I don't think it's anyone that can beat her. A Tea Party candidate named Sharon Angle is running against Reid for the Senate seat in Nevada. She doesn't seem to me like she has legs. In fact, she seems kind of like a joke candidate. Does anybody out there know anything about her that might indicate she can beat Harry?
The Republicans are sure that they are going to make significant Congressional gains in the upcoming mid term elections. I think they will make some gains. The balance is pretty lopsided right now. I wonder how extensive those gains are doing to be though? There are some seats they could lose as well as some they can win. I don't think they have a very good shot at taking control of either Congressional body. If they can't do that, there's not much else they can do either.
Thursday, July 01, 2010
Cinema Display
I got a new Computer monitor today. Previously, I was using an Apple Sony Trinitron 20" CRT. I believe it was the biggest dedicated color CRT monitor Apple ever sold. The resolution and image quality on it are really good and the brightness of the CRT allows for a good picture even in a Sun drenched room. The only real draw back to this monitor is that it weighs probably 60 or 70 pounds and takes up several cubic feet of space. I can manhandle it around by myself but you really need two people to safely schlep it around. I once placed it on a perch nearly shoulder high. I would never attempt that feat alone again.
I have now come into possession of the original model, Apple 22" flat panel Cinema Display. I believe this model first came out as many as 7 or 8 years ago but I don't think this one is that old, maybe 5 or 6 at the most. While it was sold, it was Apple's top of the line professional video monitor. The brightness is probably a little faded but there are no dead pixels and once you adjust expectations away from the superior brightness of the CRT, it is an excellent monitor. The biggest change is that the Cinema Display is shorter vertically and longer laterally, so you get a real wide screen effect, even though the actual area of the display probably is about the same as the older CRT.
My blog site looks very spacious on it, comparatively.
Somebody just didn't think it was worthwhile trying to resell this monitor. It has a funny input that feeds in the power, audio and video through one plug. It might have required some fancy adapting to make it work with a newer computer. Luckily, my computer is about as old as this model display and has a native connection. Lucky boy. I'm sure they could have got a hundred for it. My gain. I love free stuff.
I have now come into possession of the original model, Apple 22" flat panel Cinema Display. I believe this model first came out as many as 7 or 8 years ago but I don't think this one is that old, maybe 5 or 6 at the most. While it was sold, it was Apple's top of the line professional video monitor. The brightness is probably a little faded but there are no dead pixels and once you adjust expectations away from the superior brightness of the CRT, it is an excellent monitor. The biggest change is that the Cinema Display is shorter vertically and longer laterally, so you get a real wide screen effect, even though the actual area of the display probably is about the same as the older CRT.
My blog site looks very spacious on it, comparatively.
Somebody just didn't think it was worthwhile trying to resell this monitor. It has a funny input that feeds in the power, audio and video through one plug. It might have required some fancy adapting to make it work with a newer computer. Luckily, my computer is about as old as this model display and has a native connection. Lucky boy. I'm sure they could have got a hundred for it. My gain. I love free stuff.
Soppin' John
Yesterday, on National TV, Joe Scarborough called House Republican leader John Boehner, a drunk.
He's always looked like a drunk to me. Whenever he's on TV he either looks like he's three sheets or hung over.
I got nothing against drunks but why would the Republicans choose and keep a bad drunk as their House leader? It can't be helping their cause.
He's always looked like a drunk to me. Whenever he's on TV he either looks like he's three sheets or hung over.
I got nothing against drunks but why would the Republicans choose and keep a bad drunk as their House leader? It can't be helping their cause.
Kagan Walks
I haven't really been following her Senate confirmation hearings to the Supreme Court, have you?
Nobody's put a dent in her yet. No talk of a filibuster. They're not going to need Robert Byrd's vote to put her in.
You gotta wonder what's wrong with the Republicans. Are they all sick in bed?
Nobody's put a dent in her yet. No talk of a filibuster. They're not going to need Robert Byrd's vote to put her in.
You gotta wonder what's wrong with the Republicans. Are they all sick in bed?
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