Time to Wrap It Up

Peeps, it was almost 3 years ago I started this blog, mostly as a way to get my voice back. To see if I could still talk. Well, I can, and I have, and it's time to wrap up now. I've become bitter, argumentative, and frankly, nothing I think or have to say- nothing any of us thinks or has to say- is that important. We're just a bunch of ants running around on a big patch of ground, and it's not worth it to say any more.

Thanks to all you loyal readers. I'll run into some of you in other venues.

Be well.

Birds

When I was in Dominica, the alarm clock was the time around dawn when the day birds were coming awake and the night birds were going bedding down and the whole rain forest all around was a cacaphony of bird songs.

It's been a lot like that here the past few days, only different birds, temperate birds, summer birds flying through on their way south again, winter birds on their way back here for a few months, sparrows and finches and those birds who stick around all year still here, a huge bunch of birds making noise in the morning and the late afternoon and evening, while they stop to eat and sleep. Jays and chickadees defying the record hot temps for this time of year. Maybe everyone who should be farther south by now sticking around a little longer because of the same, even though the leaves are changing color faster every day, falling off the trees and drying and crackling.

Not funny but something pretty right here right now.

ALIPAC Calls for Arrest of Candidate Meg Whitman & Nicky Diaz!

hahahahahahahahaha...
Life's too short to take seriously...

September 30, 2010

For National Release

Contact: Americans for Legal Immigration PAC (ALIPAC)
(866) 703-0864 WilliamG@alipac.us

"In response to the explosive revelations that California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman employed illegal alien Nicky Diaz for nine years, ALIPAC is asking Immigration and Customs Enforcement to arrest and charge both Whitman and Diaz for numerous immigration and employment law violations.

""We need equal justice for both the illegal alien and the employer," said William Gheen, President of ALIPAC. "Nicky Diaz should be charged and deported and Meg Whitman should face the existing penalties under current US law as well. No Amnesty for Whitman or Diaz, the Rule of Law must be restored in America."

"Nicki Diaz gave a tearful interview to reporters today, accompanied by Gloria Allred, a longtime Democratic supporter. Diaz claims that Whitman, a Republican candidate for Governor of California, knew she was an illegal alien and was abusive to her and failed to pay her all her wages. Diaz cried through most of the interview in what was an obviously contrived display of political theater.

""Best illegal alien actor award of 2010 should go to Nicki Diaz for her role as the tearful victimized invader," said William Gheen. "Meg Whitman's financial gain from the movie rights should be seized by the courts to compensate the American taxpayers who have paid the price for her illegal laborer over the years."

Americans curious about Meg Whitman's support for Comprehensive Immigration Reform Amnesty (CIRA) that would lift current laws and penalties for both illegal aliens and their employers now know why. If CIRA were to pass, exploitative employers like Whitman would escape the existing penalties under US law which have a nine year statute of limitations.

The American public has indicated in numerous scientific polls that well over 80% of Americans want employers like Meg Whitman heavily fined. Over 50% want the employers of illegals, like Whitman, jailed.

"Americans have also shown overwhelming support for the arrest, detention, and deportation of illegal immigrants like Nicki Diaz. Both the US Constitution and the existing laws of Congress mandate that both Whitman and Diaz should be charged and treated equally under those laws.

""We stand with the majority of American citizens who want our existing border and immigration laws enforced!" said William Gheen. "Therefore we call on all appropriate authorities to arrest and charge both Meg Whitman and Nicki Diaz."

"For more information about how America's existing border and immigration laws go woefully unenforced, and for information about the thousands of Americans killed each year at the hands of illegal aliens, while millions of other Americans suffer lost jobs, depreciated wages, and massive multi-billion dollar tax resource theft, please visit www.alipac.us "

p.s. Thanks, Mario, for posting on FB.

Help Protect America’s Great Outdoors!

This is pretty cool, if it works. I mean, look! This is totally going to work, especially because Stephen Colbert is plugging it!

---

Stephen Colbert knows the importance of clean water, places to camp and hike, and the general avoidance of bears. That’s why he’s asking every American to stand up and make their voice heard for America’s Great Outdoors.

Leaders in Washington are making decisions about the conservation of our land and water NOW. There are only a few days left to tell them what is at stake. Bears can be scary, but our real fear is missing this historic opportunity to protect America’s national treasures.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Americas-Great-Outdoors/145359402165574

And Bring Back Jobs from Overseas...

hahahaha...
Remember what I said yesterday about every day saying the little mantra about life being too short to take seriously?
So, rather than get all P.O.-ed that Boehner and his Republican buddies are leaving out at least one crucial element of the America Speaking Out website survey, I am going to laugh.
hahahahahaha...



Dear Friend:

Thanks to you, Republicans have put forth A Pledge to America, a new governing agenda built by listening to you and focused on addressing your top priorities. As a member of the America Speaking Out community, you made this groundbreaking effort a success.

You told us Washington should be focused on creating jobs, cutting spending, repealing Obamacare, providing for a strong national defense, and reforming Congress. You gave us specific ideas - like a requirement that all legislation should list its constitutional authority. You spoke out, and Republicans were listening. Now, with five detailed policy plans, we've produced a new governing agenda that reflects America’s top priorities - and we’ve already begun to fight to implement it.

There is more you can do to make sure your voice is being heard. Join thousands of others in liking the Pledge to America on Facebook, and follow Republicans as they work to implement the reforms that you voted for. While there, you can read recent news on the Pledge, watch the preamble video, and continue to discuss and debate your priorities with others.

Thank you again for contribution, and keep speaking out - Republicans are listening.

Sincerely,
John Boehner
House Republican Leader

I'ma say this every day.

Life is too important to be taken seriously. -Oscar Wilde

I slept in the same bedroom as Oscar Wilde used to sleep in Halifax, NS, at this sweet B&B for a couple nights once. It was cool.

Got my Sunday paper and my Mystic Monk coffee

First of all, peeps, the Sunday paper made me crazy today. People running around yapping about how Obama wants to take us all over like Big Brother and the gubmint just stomps on our liberties and controls our lives in minute detail... Then these same people, I bet you anything, I mean, practically I would bet my own soul if it were worth betting, that the staff, including the principal at Laramie Junior High School, who say a boy can't wear a wristband saying "I heart boobies" to support breast cancer awareness because the word "boobies" could offend someone... I bet these very same freaked out control freaks who are squandering an opportunity to do what the wristband is intended to do: bring up awareness and discussion of a pretty important and grave topic- are those same complainers about how the gubmint steps all over their rights.

And then these ranchers up in the Meeteetse area who want to keep a bunch of monks and their monastery out... ostensibly concerned about water, wildlife and traffic... I bet they bitch about the gubmint wanting to control them, too. Just like they want to control a few guys who keep to themselves for the most part. WTF, people? Come on, these guys roast coffee. And truly, do they look all that bad to you?

Then, to make the reading of the Sunday paper just about as unrelaxing as it can possibly get: The USA Weekend magazine or whatever it's called that arrives inside the local paper features an article about how brave Jon Stewart is for broadcasting the "fake" news. Argh?

These are strange times indeed. And really screwed up.

"Independent thinkers unite!" says Jason R. Clark.

This is not an endorsement, only a point.

Yesterday I heard Jason R. Clark, who is running for Governor of Colorado, on the radio claiming that 45% of Colorado voters are unaffiliated, yet he, who is running I/UAF, is not being allowed to debate other parties' candidates before the people of Colorado. The media has decided to focus on the two "major" parties at the exclusion of him, and I am imagining, the other candidates who are not Michael Bennet or Ken Buck.

This morning on NPR, the story was exactly that, as though Bennet and Buck are Colorado's only choices in November.

Clark contends that the only way you can hear his message is on his website- or in the ads he can purchase. Meanwhile, it's free airplay for Bennet and Buck. And we bitch about Fox "News" being a political fund raising propaganda machine? What's the huge difference if just one party is given the attention, or just the two "major" parties? If 45% of Coloradans are not Rs or Ds, then the other 55% are made up of a combination of Rs and Ds, and my bet is that not one of those comprises 46% of that 55.

So, what's the point? That there may be other choices out there, besides the run-of-the-mill fat walleted smooth talking sold-out Rs and Ds? Other choices that aren't crackpots so insanely ridiculous that they scare up the rest of the media attention?

YES.

Don't ask, don't tell

This is an easy one to fix, peeps:

Take the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell, all by itself, and present it to the House and the Senate. Vote. Bill passes. Those who vote "nay" get fired by the people, with an invitation to go live in another country if they can't abide people of less-than-heterosexual preferences defending them as citizens of this one.

The end of a degrading, disgraceful discriminatory measure.

Vote for me in 2012. I mean, seriously, I make sense, and I'm not a mean-spirited, obstructionist, partisan ass.

Since when have "facts" and "perspectives" been the same thing?

WTH, people? One more example of people thinking they know something, when really they just think it. duh. We are screwed.

Running for Office... or not?

Walking for office. 2012. President. USA. Tony is my campaign manager. I hope. He can sit and not talk for a really long time and suddenly belt out a killer.

Green funerals,,,? Kinda weird

From The Economist, so the FFM may skip this juicy one:

http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displayStory.cfm?story_id=17043348&subjectID=348924&fsrc=nwl

Told Ya

To do great work a man must be very idle as well as very industrious. -Samuel Butler

That is a sweet little mantra, right there. I was thinking, just yesterday afternoon, that sometimes it's just as productive to sit and daydream as it is to try to get something else done.

Just to let you all know, if you don't already, Buchanan defended his decision to can Bill Ayers from speaking on the UWYo campus last spring again yesterday, claiming safety as top priority. (Even though afterward he said the guy could come talk on Prexy's if he wanted to, right out in the open without police backup or anything.) ack.

He also said he will not institute a speaker policy on campus, and he is fully backed by the Board of Trustees. Hellz, that's great; keeps things wide open for him to deny someone again in the future, without a piece of paper for dissenters to point to him having signed saying he won't do that kind of thing.

Whatever. Politicians are politicians. Not that there aren't some cool ones out there, like Anthony Pollina and, right here in Wyoming, Chris Rothfuss. And others, too, but I don't have the time or inclination to go looking them up this morning. I mean, the FFM is right, even though he hates the peoples, in general, politicians get into that business for the power and money, not to serve in some civic capacity. God help us all. Oh, shite, sorry about that. I shouldn't talk about God in the context of American government. badbadbad

UWYo President Tom Buchanan to Eat Crow- NOT likely!

Peeps, I heard him on the radio this morning, recorded at the little panel discussion on freedom of expression in academia at the Hilton Garden yesterday (that's the upscale locale to make events look fancier than if they were just held in the Union Ballroom or something on campus.) Now, if you know me, if you know the fiasco that occurred when Bucky shut down the Geological Museum, if you have read this blog in the past or Keep Laramie Dinos or any of Meg Lanker's stuff about that or the Bill Ayer's fiasco that occurred last spring, you know that:

1) Our University President is just another businessman in a college suit (as are so many any more), who talks crap, and

2) I think he is full of shite and have confronted him personally on his heinous acts and have received nothing but his red face staring down at the table in reply (which, frankly, is almost satisfactory.)

So, he was saying, in this excerpt I heard on the radio this morning, that he will speak to the university community this coming Thursday about "lessons learned" from the Bill Ayers shenanigans. And do I believe he will own up to his irresponsible behavior? HELLZ no!

Then, to put the icing on the cake, Meg just posted on a favored social media site, a "Perspective" Buckster the Huckster (I like it; may keep it) wrote for the Casper Star Tribune just over a year ago, during the firestorm of protest over naming the Cheney International Center the Cheney International Center, called "Tolerance, Diversity Cut Many Ways."

(Aside, I find it more than a little disturbing that when I enter that building to visit a health professional here on campus, I am faced with a giant portrait of Dick and Lynn... Really, "Dick Cheney," and "health," whether his own, or that of say, US soldiers, Iraqi civilians, etc., just do not belong together, people.)

Anyway, in this "perspective," Bucky said the following:

"I have no quarrel with people expressing their views to UW. But good universities operate on principle, and the principle here is that tolerance and diversity cut many ways. Whether you are Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, Catholic or Protestant, gay or straight, white or black, you are welcome at the University of Wyoming. Should we subject potential donors and the purpose of their gift to public referendum? I think not.

"If we do, we lose sight of the fact that our role is to teach, not to indoctrinate. Good universities cannot distance themselves from all that is controversial. To do so would require rejecting mortgage brokers, bankers, pharmaceutical firms, sports figures, fast food chains, political leaders, historical figures, energy companies, uncommon religious groups, and Middle Eastern countries to name just a few."

Hahahahahahaha.

I am sorry, but you did not welcome Mr. Ayers to campus, did you? DID YOU?

As the Cloud Lurker would say, and has more than once when either Tommy Boy or Dick is mentioned, ew.

Obama's "Kenyan, anti-colonial' worldview, or 'Eye-of-Newt Gingrich is Senseless'

Dude, I am sorry, but what does this even mean? Especially coming from someone who has absolutely no notion what it is like to live like a regular old American. For Chrissake, the last time most of us Americans were colonialists, we weren't yet Americans, you dumbshite.

Gingrich: Obama’s ‘Kenyan, anti-colonial’ worldview

September 11, 2010 10:52 P.M.

By Robert Costa

Citing a recent Forbes article by Dinesh D’Souza, former House speaker Newt Gingrich tells National Review Online that President Obama may follow a “Kenyan, anti-colonial” worldview.

Gingrich says that D’Souza has made a “stunning insight” into Obama’s behavior — the “most profound insight I have read in the last six years about Barack Obama.”

“What if [Obama] is so outside our comprehension, that only if you understand Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior, can you begin to piece together [his actions]?” Gingrich asks. “That is the most accurate, predictive model for his behavior.”

“This is a person who is fundamentally out of touch with how the world works, who happened to have played a wonderful con, as a result of which he is now president,” Gingrich tells us.

“I think he worked very hard at being a person who is normal, reasonable, moderate, bipartisan, transparent, accommodating — none of which was true,” Gingrich continues. “In the Alinksy tradition, he was being the person he needed to be in order to achieve the position he needed to achieve . . . He was authentically dishonest.”

“[Obama] is in the great tradition of Edison, Ford, the Wright Brothers, Bill Gates — he saw his opportunity and he took it,” Gingrich says. Will Gingrich take it back in 2012? “The American people may take it back, in which case I may or may not be the recipient of that, but I have zero doubt that the American people will take it back. Unlike Ford, the Wright Brothers, et cetera, this guy’s invention did not work.”

“I think Obama gets up every morning with a worldview that is fundamentally wrong about reality,” Gingrich says. “If you look at the continuous denial of reality, there has got to be a point where someone stands up and says that this is just factually insane.”

Gingrich spoke with NRO after the premiere of his new film, America at Risk.

I think it's time to LEAVE.

I think I've used that precious line from Tammy's (Friend for Live) and my undergrad latenight party-going days before on here, but dag, it's appropriate.

I mean, seriously, some people in Afghanistan complained that the authoritays in the US did not arrest the jackass pastor who invented that despicable plan to burn Qur'ans tomorrow? All the while burning American flags? Really? I don't remember when burning a book became a criminal act in this democratic republic. (Go to town with the Terry Jones effigy, though, without danger of arrest. Burning stuff and protesting aren't against the law here as long as no one gets hurt; it's probably that way in Afghanistan, too, right?)

And calling for President Obama's death? Really? Those people would fit right in here with our culture of "blame some other guy." Seriously.

And finally, we are not all the jackass pastor (who still should be ashamed, even though he bagged his plan), other people in the world. What the hellz? So, if we Americans are all jackass pastor-types who want to engage in acts of hatred, does that make you all terrorists?

Come on, people. yeesh

Only rich people vote.

Serious. I can't just sit around and not yap about the ridiculous political crap people say. I mean, I could, but I might have a coronary just as quickly as if I keep howling. Somebody yesterday on the radio, or maybe the day before and I held onto it that long, said that representatives in some rich districts that voted for Obama would like to remind him that if he repeals the Bush tax cuts on schedule, their seats will be at stake.

Really. Tough shite. What? Do you think the rest of us don't vote, too?

But that's my only comment for today, except look at this sweet Ukrainian street art from Kiev, by Aec, from Fatcap's Worldwide Graffiti Blog.
http://www.fatcap.com/graffiti/59845-aec-waone-kiev.html

You know you know one of these dancers.

Today's blip courtesy Dennis, who lives Scientific American.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39049000/ns/health-behavior/

How will we be burned alive?

http://www.theonion.com/video/christian-groups-biblical-armageddon-must-be-taugh,17491/

Man, those are some pretty sweet dioramas, and the fact the kids get to act out killer scenarios right in the classroom? Yes, exciting!

Thanks, Birgit

Birthday Girl

So, last night we were sitting around while Tom opened his birthday presents, and Patty asked what day I was born, like which day of the week. She knew her day. I did not. I thought maybe it was Sunday, that I'd heard that once, so I checked online, and sho 'nuff. I found this site that told me not only what day of the week I was born, but all sorts of other interesting stuff about my birthday.

Like my number path, which is 6 and which notes that generally there are no negative aspects to that path, but that there could be a tendency to expect too much from others and be really hard on myself.

Having been reminded, once again, of this tendency, and having engaged in a political discussion this morning that became borderline less-than-cordial, with an old friend, I realized I have to just stop: stop expecting people to be rational, forgiving and most of all, responsible.

So I might have to turn this blog into a venue for other thoughts, like maybe my daydreams of colored fishes, instead of the political fodder that generally appears here. Because, peeps, things just ain't gonna change out there, and I need to remember that my social libertarian philosophy is not a feasible one in the real world. People want want want to get get get, but give the same to someone else? Fuggidaboudit.

Anthony Pollina shows it can be done!

OK, peeps, I have a lot I would like to write about, but I am definitely cramped for time right now, so here is some good news, and more later.

Hi Folks-
Primary results last week were great! Which means lots of work ahead!
We came in a very strong second out of 5 candidates, close behind the incumbent and well ahead of the other challengers.
I want to thank all of you who contributed, voted, called, signed, honked and waved, and otherwise supported our campaign. But, I also need to tell you about the work ahead and how important this race is.
We are in an increasingly important position. Our race is now the best opportunity Progressives and Democrats have to replace a Republican in the State Senate!
Sounds great. But it is also the only seat Republicans are likely to lose. They don’t want it to happen. With many saying we are the front-runner, Republicans will fight hard and throw lots of money at the race to defeat us.
Let’s face it, those who want to re-license Entergy Nuclear, turn back our progress on civil rights, and continue the failed Dubie-Douglas economic policies simply do not want Anthony Pollina in the State Senate.
With your help we succeeded in the primary. We need your help again. If you live nearby, let us know how you can help: put up a sign, write a letter, join us for a honk and wave, and more.
No matter where you live, please make a contribution now to be sure we have the resources we need to win.
Thanks very much.
Anthony

Colorado Sport International Air Show

People, this was awesome! Thanks, FFM. You can see some video clips if you click on this link.

http://www.cosportaviation.org/

Also, while I don't fancy myself a myopic jingoistic type patriot, I love this country and am blessed to live here and not somewhere more restrictive (so those of you who fancy yourselves patriots yet would like to make it more restrictive, you're not real patriots and maybe shouldn't even be Americans), I got home and found this from my Dad, via Aunt Jane. One this, I agree:

At a time when our president and other politicians tend to apologize
for our country's prior actions, here's a refresher on how some of our
former patriots handled negative comments about our country.

These
are good.

JFK'S
Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, was in France in the early 60's when
De Gaulle decided to pull out of NATO. De Gaulle said he wanted all US
military out of France as soon as possible.
Rusk responded,
"Does that include those who are buried here?"
De Gaulle
did not respond.
You
could have heard a pin drop..
~~~~~~~~~~~~
When in England
at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the
Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of
'empire building' by George Bush.
He answered by saying,
"Over the years, the United States has sent many of
its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom
beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for
in return is enough to bury those that did not
return."
You
could have heard a pin drop..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There was a conference in France
where a number of international engineers
were taking part, including French and American. During a break,
one of the French engineers came back into the room saying, "Have you
heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft
carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he
intend to do, bomb them?"
A Boeing engineer
stood up and replied quietly: "Our carriers have three
hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are
nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to
shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to
feed 3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand
gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry half a
dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and
from their flight deck. We have eleven such ships;
how many does France have?"
You
could have heard a pin drop..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A U.S. Navy Admiral
was attending a naval conference that included
Admirals from the U.S. , English, Canadian, Australian and French
Navies. At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a
large
group of officers that included personnel from most of those countries.
Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but a
French admiral suddenly complained that, whereas Europeans learn many
languages, Americans learn only English. He then asked, "Why is it that
we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than
speaking French?"
Without hesitating,
the American Admiral replied, "Maybe it's because the
Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Americans arranged it so you wouldn't
have to speak German."
You
could have heard a pin drop..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AND
THIS STORY FITS RIGHT IN WITH THE ABOVE...
Robert Whiting,
an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane.
At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport
in his carry on.
"You
have been to France before, monsieur?" the customs officer asked
sarcastically.
Mr. Whiting
admitted that he had been to France
previously.
"Then
you should know enough to have your passport ready."
The American said,
"The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it."
"Impossible.
Americans always have to show their passports on arrival in France !"
The American senior
gave the Frenchman a long hard look.. Then he
quietly explained, ''Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day
in
1944 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find a single Frenchmen
to show a passport to."
You
could have heard a pin drop..

Dogs

Whoa...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfkS6bMryHM

Unicorn

a single corn

hahaha

snorg tees

Al Simpson, please put duct tape on your mouth.

Ya know, I used to think you were pretty funny- and smart. In fact, I used to say my favorite quote was your comment that political correctness is like putting duct tape on your mouth.

But you know what? Politically correct or incorrect, what you are up to these days is just mean-spirited and not very bright. You don't know what it's like to be a regular American.

Why don't you wrap your entire body in duct tape? When I get there, we can have a reasoned talk, at which point I will decide whether or not to take it off.

While Wall Street "struggles," Fed and other bankers prepare to struggle at Jackson Hole

Peeps, really. I mean, really. I used to go to these NAEHCY (National Association for Education of Homeless Children and Youth) conferences every year with Jane, my immediate supervisor, when I worked as an Education Specialist with homeless and at-rick youth in Burlington, VT. One year I remember being in a huge room in a conference hotel in Detroit, at the keynote lunch; this guy walked in, clearly not "one of us," and started railing at us for being in a fancy hotel eating a fancy lunch, purportedly caring about the homeless people of the country, while he and others were right there practically in our faces, homeless, and would we let them into our fancy luncheon to eat? Or would we eat a less expensive meal at a less expensive place and maybe understand a little bit better what it was like to be him or countless others in his shoes?

He was escorted out. The situation caused quite a stir, as might be expected, and as I am sure he hoped. Embarrassment, hushed exclamations, shifting in seats. I thought, "Hell, let this guy stay. Sit him down, feed him lunch and ask him some questions. Get him to talk instead of yell. Have a conversation. You know, maybe not all his buddies would get a decent meal, but he showed the nerve to come out; give him some respect for that." Nah. How could that happen? Get him out and get back to "normal" as quickly as possible.

Seriously, though. I wasn't at that point, hadn't been before, and likely never will be, in a position to sit in a fancy room like that and have a fancy lunch on a regular basis. This was a kind of special occasion, but I surely would not have been disappointed if my place of employment had paid less money to send us to a less chi chi oua joint for our conference and we had dined on PBJs, or preferably baloney sandwiches, and those little bags of chips- as long as they were Lay's and not Doritos. Whatever. The ostentatious nature of the conference did feel to me a little out of whack, considering our cause.

I just thought of that when I read this article that just came in via the NYT, about how Wall Street... stocks are down, people worried about the huger drop in housing purchases last month, lowered Asian markets and so on. And then that a "gathering of Federal Reserve officials at the end of the week was also generating some apprehension, especially after the central bank’s decision to buy government debt. “There is almost a fear of what they are going to try,” Mr. Colas said.

"The Fed chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, will address the annual symposium at Jackson Hole, Wyo., on Friday."

Come on, people: Jackson Hole! Every year the Kansas City Fed-sponsored event takes place here, no longer in Kansas City or even Denver. And this year the guys are going to be rafting, hanging out with a horse whisperer and other fun stuff in between their debates about economic research and crisis. At least they pay their own fees. But hellz, really, how many of these attendees know anything about what it's like to be a regular person who works for a living and maybe has to worry about losing his or her job or being able to pay rent or go to the doctor, say nothing about buying stocks? In 2007, 1% of the American population owned essentially half (49.7%) of the total investment assets in this country. (http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html)

Jackson Hole... Better them than me.

Wall Street Hit Again, This Time by Housing Data

By CHRISTINE HAUSER

Published: August 24, 2010

The Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index ended lower Tuesday for a fourth consecutive day, unable to rebound from a disappointing report on existing-home sales.

The Nasdaq closed lower for a second day, missing a four-day losing streak by rising less than a point on Friday.

“There is basically a bubble of negativity right now,” William Smith, the president of Smith Asset Management, said. “The market has got a very short memory. It is day to day. Today it is terrible housing numbers, which were anticipated.”

The National Association of Realtors said in its latest report that existing home sales in July were at their lowest level in more than a decade. The purchases of existing homes declined 27.2 percent last month to a 3.83 million annual rate. Analysts had expected a 13.4 percent decline.

The rest at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/25/business/25markets.html?nl=&emc=aua21

Road Ragin'

Give to every other human being every right you claim for yourself. -Robert G. Ingersoll

That was the quote of the day to which I woke this morning. Sweet.

Last night, though, I was driving home from playing softball, the first game we've one and in which I finally got not only a run but an RBI as well, and ahead of me was this old Volvo station wagon with a bumper sticker saying, "Have you tugged your kite today?" and going really slow, like 20 in a 30 zone. I wasn't feeling terribly hassled, in no particular hurry and thinking it was a pretty beautiful evening to be enjoying the sights while I was on my way. We approached a red light, the Volvo crept to a stop, I stopped behind it, another older car behind mine, and then a shiny big pickup truck behind that car. At first I couldn't see what the vehicle was because the sun was behind us, lowering in the west, so when I looked out my rearview mirror to see who was out there yelling, all I could see was some thin guy's form, backlit, at the driver side of the car behind me, spewing obscenities. I thought the guy was going to reach in the car window for the driver or open the door and yank the driver out, but that didn't happen. He just finally decided, I guess, the light was going to change so he better get back in his own vehicle. Then I could see it was a truck.

Now, I don't know what offense the driver behind me caused, beyond stopping at a red light, but it clearly had ticked off the truck driver, and as traffic moved again, he rode that car's butt in that big pickup truck, for the next 4 blocks, where the Volvo stopped at the 4-way stop near the library on campus, then I stopped before turning right, allowing the car to my left to pass through the intersection, and then the car behind me slowed but rolled through the stop sign, clearly intimidated by the prospect of stopping with the big truck behind him, and that truck remained about as close to the rearend of the vehicle in front of it as could be without climbing up onto the trunk.

And I just thought, "Why is the driver of that old car behind me the asshole? The worse that could have happened back at that light was that when the guy stopped, the truck driver stopped short of hitting him because he wasn't paying attention- or tapped the back of the car and decided that rather than apologize, he'd act like it was the other guy's fault- which we know is not the case in an accident of that sort. No one ever blames the guy in front. The guy who does the rear ending is always at fault." So, wtf? And I was also tempted to call the cops. Turn left at the next intersection, see if I could find the two vehicles and get a license plate number and call the cops.

Because you know traffic stupidity will be the death of me, and that I just can't stand when people are mean all like that. Maybe I missed something, but I can't imagine what it would have been.

And then this morning when I read that quote, it made me think of that situation last night, and how we were all it seemed following traffic laws and allowing others their right to safety. Well, except this guy in the truck who decided he had to have some reason to spout off at someone, someone I am pretty sure he didn't even know.

And then I thought about mean people in general and how people who are mean just won't allow others the same basic rights they enjoy. Like the story I read a couple days ago about this woman who is big, and she always has been, but she takes care of herself, and she was getting a coffee one morning at a coffee shop, and some guy came in all in a hurry and rushed past her, hitting her coffee so it spilled on her (and she was probably heading to work and couldn't just go home and change), and she said, "hey, take it easy," in a tone she described as "lightly," and the guy turned on her and said something like why didn't she get out of the way, "fat bitch?"

And I'm thinking we are all just too stressed. Either too stressed trying to stay ahead to give a crap about anyone else, or so stressed trying to get by that we just explode at the drop of a hat. I mean, crap, both the FFM and I have been stressed lately, and we had a fight the other day, and I still feel bad about it. Never should have happened. Stupid. I guess, how many of us walk around feeling so cheated every day of our existence in some way or another that we take it out on someone else? Or so preoccupied we screw up and then get all defensive?

Eh, whatever. I have to get in the shower and head out before I really get started.

Have a lovely day.

Ah, my quaint old New England!

What I Did On Summer Vacation

By James Howard Kunstler
on August 23, 2010 5:32 AM

Oh what a mighty spewage of vinyl weighs heavy on this land!

A dark mood spread through the body politic like a septic infection last week in response to bad numbers in employment, housing, and commerce, not to mention unease about the now complete takeover of the stock market by robot traders. But I left it all behind to trip across New England from the Vermont border to Maine and back, and many a strange thing did I see....

New Hampshire's got their state motto on the license plate wrong: Live Free or Die. It ought to read Live Free and Die. Just north of Concord on I-89 there's a highway rest stop. The primary retail outlet there is... the state liquor store! Yes, for some reason the New Hampshire government controls the sale of liquor. Puritan guilt? Creeping socialism? Who knows. Apparently some brilliant state wonk got the idea that they could maximize revenue by selling liquor to motorists. Now, granted, not everybody motoring up I-89 is an alcoholic, but surely some of them are. Maybe it's a scheme to kill off the Boston Irish -- but at some risk to the citizens of The Granite State. Note: there was no coffee shop on the premises. I kid you not.

http://kunstler.com/blog/2010/08/what-i-did-on-summer-vacation.html#more

Thanks, Shaun, for today's little gem. I'll wander through my work with the images of behemoth sloths plying the surf dancing in my head.

There is only one thing that can be said about this: American are growing more and more stupid.

And really, what the hellz does it matter anyway what is his religion? We didn't elect the guy to be our pastor or imam or any other religious leader.

Poll: Growing Number Believe Obama Is Muslim
by The Associated Press

August 19, 2010

Americans increasingly are convinced - incorrectly - that President Barack Obama is a Muslim, and a growing number are thoroughly confused about his religion.

Nearly one in five people, or 18 percent, said they think Obama is Muslim, up from the 11 percent who said so in March 2009, according to a poll released Thursday. The proportion who correctly say he is a Christian is down to just 34 percent.

The largest share of people, 43 percent, said they don't know his religion, an increase from the 34 percent who said that in early 2009.

The survey, conducted by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center and its affiliated Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, is based on interviews conducted before the controversy over whether Muslims should be permitted to construct a mosque near the World Trade Center site. Obama has said he believes Muslims have the right to build an Islamic center there, though he's also said he won't take a position on whether they should actually build it.

In a separate poll by Time magazine/ABT SRBI conducted Monday and Tuesday - after Obama's comments about the mosque - 24 percent said they think he is Muslim, 47 percent said they think he is Christian and 24 percent didn't know or didn't respond.

In addition, 61 percent opposed building the Muslim center near the Trade Center site and 26 percent said they favor it.

The Pew poll found that about three in 10 of Obama's fiercest political rivals, Republicans and conservatives, say he is a Muslim. That is up significantly from last year and far higher than the share of Democrats and liberals who say so. But even among his supporters, the number saying he is a Christian has fallen since 2009, with just 43 percent of blacks and 46 percent of Democrats saying he is Christian.

Among independents, 18 percent say Obama is Muslim - up from 10 percent last year.

Pew analysts attribute the findings to attacks by his opponents and Obama's limited attendance at religious services, particularly in contrast with Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, whose worship was more public.

Andrew Kohut, the Pew Research Center's director, said the confusion partly reflects "the intensification of negative views about Obama among his critics." Alan Cooperman, the Pew Forum's associate director for research, said that with the public hearing little about Obama's religion, "maybe there's more possibility for other people to make suggestions that the president is this or he's really that or he's really a Muslim."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129291805&sc=fb&cc=fp

Presidential Vacations

Peeps, yesterday I spent 14 hours a the polls, and while there had a chance to look at this week's TIME magazine, including a short article about how our President is going to take a little vacay to Martha's Vineyard and how presidents in recent times have taken more "working vacations" than actual straight-up, turn-off-the-phone-leave-the-computer-at-home-and-go-relax vacations.

So, assuming that all the presidents we are going to consider have taken or are taking, these working vacations, and just calling that good, like if you are POTUS, you take working vacays, sorry, let's take a look at some of these presidents' vacation times in terms of vacation like We the People for the most part know vacation: you get a couple weeks off a year (those weeks being 5-day work weeks.) Maybe you get more if you have been on the job longer, or if you are a teacher, or whatever, but you get what I am saying.

Here's a breakdown of two presidents mentioned in the article: George W Bush and Jimmy Carter.

I took the number of vacation days Bush took over his 8 year tenure as President (533) and cut them up into 5-day vacation weeks. Then I divided those weeks by the years in office. What I came up with for Mr. Bush was a total of 13 1/3 weeks of vacation a year, which is a little more than a week a month, which when one figures there are 4 weeks in a month, or 52 in a year, means that W spent one quarter of his time as Prez on vacay. Yup.

Doing the same for Mr. Carter, I figured that his 79 days in 4 years equated to just shy of 4 weeks a year, or about a week every quarter.

Now, there has been some grousing by some Republican friends of mine about Mr. Obama's preference for golf and how much time he has taken off during his tenure as President thus far. As of July 10, after a CNN story in which it was noted that Obama had taken 65 vacation days during his time in office thus far, we can figure now that over 18 months, that is 13 weeks, or 8 2/3 weeks per year, more than twice as many as Mr. Carter and about two-thirds those of Mr. Bush. Of course, we have to take into account that this particular presidency is still in its infancy, relative to the other two, and that the number of weeks may increase or decrease over the length of the term.

But why stop here? All that said, here is a comparison of a bunch of recent presidents' vacation days taken during their first year in office, a letter to the editor of the Tennessee Opinion. (Thanks, Sarah Webster, for doing this little bit of research so I don't have to; I am out straight with other things I should be doing, but this little topic is reeling me in.)

Math ends debate over President Obama vacations

Aug. 11, 2010, Letter to the Editor

Published on August 10, 2010 in Letter to the editor and Politics. 39 Comments Tags: Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, Presidential Vacations, Ronald Reagan.

A few facts and a basic under­stand­ing of “more” and “less” will clear up the sub­ject of pres­i­dents’ vaca­tion days.

Dur­ing his first year in office, Barack Obama took 26 vaca­tion days. Dur­ing their first years in office, George W. Bush took 69, Bill Clin­ton 21, George H.W. Bush 40, Ronald Rea­gan 42 and Jimmy Carter 21.

Trips to Camp David, which were not included as vaca­tion days, were: Obama 27 days, George W. Bush, 78 days.

I leave the reader to deter­mine more and less.

Sarah Web­ster, Franklin 37064

I guess the next question would be whether those first years set precedents? Yesterday the Democrat and Republican sitting at the table with me were very interested in this subject and thought it would be good to go back as far as JFK to determine how much time recent presidents have spent on vacation. Please, if you have information to add to this little investigation, regale us with it. Your participation is welcome.

Thanks. Back to the grind.

The Kids Are Back

First, it's too early to go back to school. All this talk of not having a summer vacation... whatever. It's a good thing. Summer vacation is.

Second, they fill the town, the streets, the parking spaces, campus... There they are, with there mamas and their daddies, mostly their mamas, rolling big suitcase rollers down the sidewalks toward the dorms, piled with crap.

It's like playing house. I just can't help but wonder if kids are just too sheltered any more. Do they have any idea? For instance, do they know that in this country, the good old US of A, there are 73 million people who go hungry every day, who go to a soup kitchen line, straight from work even, because their jobs don't pay enough? And that's only the hungry people we can count.

That's just crazy. But, that's another story. And speaking of money, I should have been fine tuning this research budget at least an hour and a half ago. So, that's all for today, folks.

I think it's enough, eh?

Today's picture courtesy of the Anonymous Monetarist at Blogspot. Thanks, Anon. "If your mother doesn't understand what you are saying than neither do you." That's what his blog says. I am not sure I understand what he is saying, but check it out if you want.

Oh, this is a timeless gem.

Warning: appropriately foul language.

Thanks, Russ.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1572724002090

Direct to you, from a social media site about which I will not talk:

Peeps, I gotta ask (even though it's Friday, about happy hour time, when I should be relaxing): is this country getting better for all when those with the money hoard it? And even moreso, expect those with less to be the ones to haul up? And even more disturbing, call those with less "lazy," just because they're not rich?

That's my thought, after meeting with the head of SER, who has agreed in principle to fund half my research, given industry keeps their commitment on the other half. Not because of what he said, but because of the letter I subsequently found in my mailbox from the head of the Wyoming Mining Association saying the WMA thinks that given the importance of the nature of my research, that SER should pay the full cost from the funds appropriated by the State of Wyoming legislature for uranium research.

Don't get me wrong: The nature of my research is vitally important, and I would not complain if those funds paid for it all. But I built this proposal in a way that I believe strongly will benefit not only the public but industry public relations. And industry agreed to the importance and to the fact that what I am requesting from them in dollar terms is a drop in the bucket that they could handle.

Then, suddenly, it's like that changed. It's not like the companies have less money with which to work. And while the funds appropriated by the legislature are there to be used for just this sort of thing, and should, it's just not like the operators can't afford to help out, too. After all, this research will save them far more than I have budgeted for the project.

And I guess, frankly, I feel affronted, having handled my research proposal in a way that could benefit industry public relations, yet here it is: the letter from the WMA, if not ignored, will make the uranium industry in this state look as though it lacks integrity. And folks, that's not something mining needs.

I am supremely disappointed. I trust that the operators who understand the value of this project and its being funded in part by them, will come through, but in the meantime, I play politics honestly, and if it doesn't work out that way, I'll make sure that people know they were right and I was wrong and that industry can't be expected to act with integrity after all.

And selfishly, shite, people, I have worked for months to build a research project that is inexpensive yet useful. What the hellz? Throw me out? Over an amount of money that is so little to you all that it doesn't make a dent in your change purse, but it pays my bills?

Nothing is free.

Duh, guys.

The price of staying in the game

Oil companies are now developing a system that could cap deepwater wells in the Gulf of Mexico in a hurry

Aug 12th 2010 | From The Economist print edition

WITH 500 barrels of hard-set cement now gumming up the Macondo well, a number of inquiries are looking back at the loss of the Deepwater Horizon rig and the subsequent spilling of 5m barrels of oil. How much of the fault is found to lie with the well’s design, how much with the way the design was implemented and how much with the way the rig was run will determine how such ventures will be regulated from now on. It will also settle whether BP, the well’s operator, was grossly negligent—a finding that could be worth well over $10 billion in fines and liabilities.

Meanwhile, the oil industry is already getting to grips with the question of what to do if such a thing should happen again. This is in part prudent politics: credible assurances that a future blowout could be better dealt with will be vital to restoring the industry’s fortunes in the Gulf of Mexico. It is also a matter of economic self-interest. The costs facing BP would have been far smaller if it had been possible to shut the well down a lot quicker.

The position taken by ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Shell, which are clubbing together to put $1 billion into creating and equipping a new not-for-profit firm, the Marine Well Containment Company, is that the capability to do much better than at Macondo depends on having hardware designed for the job and available from day one. The companies outlined their plans at a public meeting held in New Orleans on August 4th by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

The rest at:

http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displayStory.cfm?story_id=16789834&subjectID=381586&fsrc=nwl

I heart Mario. "Professional Left."

http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/politics/2010/08/11/jk.walltowall.virtual.briefing.room.cnn.html

Here is what I don't get:
Why can idealism and practicality not coexist?
Obama has been at his post for how long? (not very) Some incremental steps have actually brought some amount of decent change to this country, but there is still plenty more to do. What's been done isn't enough, so why think it should just stop here and complain? Hellz, there is a lot more time left on the clock for this administration to get some real stuff done. Why is it "idealistic" and "impractical" to call for further action- and to expect it?

James McMurtry in Garden & Gun

I like gardens. Guns? Well, I don't shoot them, but hellz, there are some pretty nice ones out there. And James McMurtry? Yup. By Rick Bass? Absolutely.

http://gardenandgun.com/article/james-mcmurty

I'll take a white milk with my lunch?

I'm not a big fan of the tanning tax either, but really...

p.s. Don't neglect to click on the links. Some of them are just priceless.

Black Power's Gonna Get You Sucka: Right-Wing Paranoia and the Rhetoric of Modern Racism

by Tim Wise

July 11, 2010, 7:00 pm

Prominent white conservatives are angry about racism.

Forget all that talk about a post-racial society. They know better than to believe in such a thing, and they're hopping mad.

What is it that woke them up finally, after all these years of denial, during which they insisted that racism was a thing of the past?

Was it the research indicating that job applicants with white sounding names have a 50 percent better chance of being called back for an interview than their counterparts with black-sounding names, even when all qualifications are the same?

De rest at:

http://www.redroom.com/blog/tim-wise/black-powers-gonna-get-you-sucka-right-wing-paranoia-and-rhetoric-modern-racism

It is soooooo ordered

Stephen Colbert on gay marriage:

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/343140/august-05-2010/how-to-ruin-same-sex-marriages

Time for bike riders to fight back

Here's another one. Really, bike lanes are like swimming with sharks? Shouldn't be.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nySs1cEq5rs

Holy crap! The UN is coming! The UN is coming!

One if by land, two if by sea.

I just heard this guy just pulled ahead in the polls, too. Not only are we a mean country; man, are we stupid.

Bike agenda spins cities toward U.N. control, Maes warns

By Christopher N. Osher
The Denver Post

Posted: 08/04/2010 01:00:00 AM MDT

Updated: 08/04/2010 10:59:15 AM MDT

Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes is warning voters that Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper's policies, particularly his efforts to boost bike riding, are "converting Denver into a United Nations community."

"This is all very well-disguised, but it will be exposed," Maes told about 50 supporters who showed up at a campaign rally last week in Centennial.

Maes said in a later interview that he once thought the mayor's efforts to promote cycling and other environmental initiatives were harmless and well-meaning. Now he realizes "that's exactly the attitude they want you to have."

"This is bigger than it looks like on the surface, and it could threaten our personal freedoms," Maes said.

He added: "These aren't just warm, fuzzy ideas from the mayor. These are very specific strategies that are dictated to us by this United Nations program that mayors have signed on to."

Read the rest at:

http://www.denverpost.com/election2010/ci_15673894

Please do.

Republicans ARE Kids These Days

Peeps, I have a long day ahead; uranium forum 7:30 until...? Maybe a softball game at 6 if there's no one to sub so I can sit this one out and stay at the glow show.

So, I only have time to spit this out quickly: Republicans have nothing, NOTHING worthwhile to say- or do. Please, do NOT vote Republican this fall. Please. The Republican agenda is a non-agenda, a no-agenda. I've had it up to... beyond my neck. I am drowning in bitterness toward a bunch of people who have stooped to the piss poor tactics of attacking everyone else as "bad" because they have nothing good to add to this country's agenda.

The end. Seriously, folks, when I turned 18, I registered to vote as a Republican. I thrilled in the early 90s when the young moderate Republicans, many with Teddy Roosevelt-style conservative republican values, began to run for office. What the hell happened?

Don't do it. At risk of sounding like an icky Republican, do NOT. It's a misguided and misguiding lost cause. We're Americans. We deserve better, but we have to stand up and get it, not wait for it to happen.

Off to talk U. Have a day.

Republicans and Kids These Days

This is for the FFM, who suggested I might blog about both these issues today:

First, we've all heard that Lindsay Lohan was released from jail after 13 days of her 90 day sentence. We know because this is very important news. At least as important as, say, the flooding in Pakistan and Afghanistan that has resulted in the deaths of hundreds and tens of people, respectively. Well, it is more important because those countries harbor people with anti-American sentiments. To hell with them, right? Lindsay, on the other hand, is the pure embodiment of American youth, right down to the loud complaining about the inhumanity of the punishment meted out for her infraction, and the subsequent smug look on her face when she was freed early.

Second, the Republicans... The FFM suggested I talk about how the Republicans are trying to block the "energy bill" which plenty of people already think is watered down so much it "leaks" according to one opinionaire (I'm sorry, I lost the name). Well, it's not even just the Republicans. There are Democrats who are against passage as well.

An NPR story this morning: "Republicans — as well as some Democrats — say it's a bad idea to have unlimited liability for oil disasters. They say only the biggest oil companies have the assets to take on such risk, while small and medium-sized firms would be shut out."
(http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128921726)

Well, this is all-American, too. Whereas some people might say, "Good! Impetus to do things safely and properly in the first place!" true Americans would say, "We don't want anyone to have to take responsibility for anything they do wrong. My God, we don't want anyone to lose a chance at making the largest profit they can possibly make, regardless. Money is the aim, after all, not people's safety, or the ecological stability of the surrounding environment, our children's lives down the road... Hell, that's how the native Americans or the commies, those kind of people think, and look at what happened to them, Who's number one in the world, after all?"

Cheers, opponents of taking responsibility! You are true Americans! Cheers, Lindsay Lohan! You are our future! Let's drink to that!

Wabi Sabi

OK, peeps, there are plenty of things to get all up in arms about, but today I won't.

First of all, I am working on relaxing. I relaxed hard core (not an oxymoron) while on vacation in Great Basin NP, a place I recommend highly. Check it out: http://www.nps.gov/grba/

Second, the FFM rides me hard like Mexico every time I exhibit a modicum of stress, which just stresses me out more, which is setting me up for a heart attack, if bad drivers don't get me first.

Third, I have been thinking about wabi sabi and want to pay that sweet Japanese world view homage today right here.

In essence, wabi sabi is the art of accepting transience and finding beauty in the so-called imperfections presented in nature through the cycle of birth, growth, decay and death.

I started thinking about this concept while lying in bed this morning, sometime before I fell back to sleep and woke again almost an hour after the alarm goes off, thinking, so what? Big deal. I needed that sleep, and I enjoyed the freaky weird dreams that came with it, and the world did not end while I had my eyes closed. (Now, that's relaxing, eh? And even if the world had ended while I was sleeping, I'd be pleased to die amid a dream.)

Anyway, so there I lay, thinking about how my mom said that my sister's house is like a museum, and "mine" isn't. I like my used furniture, not only because I am cheap and would prefer to spend the money I do have on food, drink, books and travel; and not only because it pleases me to know that things are being reused rather than tossed out, saving natural resources; but because that stuff's got character.

My orange easy chair, for instance. That chair was free. It's this burnt orange kind of color, in a that sort of boucle fabric that feels really good when you run your fingers across it. I love that thing. And the faded areas and pulls in the upholstery just make it more beautiful. You know? The cat made those pulls. So, that makes you think of the damn cat. And the worn parts remind you how comfortable it feels to just sink down into that seat and find a niche.

That's how I started thinking about wabi sabi this morning, and hellz if it didn't relax me for the day. I mean really, what else is there but the cycle of life, seasons, change, right? I just get in this weird little funk sometimes where I forget.

Maybe I should carry a picture of that chair around with me. heheh. I will definitely take all that stuff with me to Aubergine House. The President's got a stressful job!

Here are a couple pics from Great Basin. I am serious; go. Our national parks are gems. Enjoy.

Sen. Franken Questions BP About Worker Safety In HELP Committee

BP BP BP BP

BP did not go away while I was gone, nor will anyone likely be fooled by these antics of Hayward stepping down and "an American" stepping in. No, no, no.

But, that is all for today, except for this fine video provided by MadDog, for which I am grateful because I know I should be checking in, having returned a few days ago, but dag, other things keep getting into my schedule.

Remember, even, how hard it was to get this guy, Senator Al Franken, into the damn seat to which he was elected? Yeesh.

Great Basin

Peeps, am going to Great Basin NP for a few days, leaving mean people politics behind. If you don't know where it is, don't feel alone. In fact, I love that hardly anyone to whom I mention my destination knows; all the more room, and a campsire ensured.

Hiatin'- catch up on return

Ship buried in 18th century unearthed at WTC site

This is a way cooler story to check out than yet another rant on people just being messed up, like the dude in New Mexico who shot up his GF and then a whole bunch of other people at her workplace? I mean, really, for someone who does not advocate capital punishment, I am getting dangerously close to saying we ought to just start stringing up people who screw up like that. What IS the excuse? It's like everyone has one any more.

But, back to the story... Thanks, Togus:

NEW YORK (AP) -- Workers excavating at the World Trade Center site have unearthed the 32-foot-long hull of a ship likely buried in the 18th century.

Archeologists say the vessel probably was used along with other debris to fill in land to extend lower Manhattan into the Hudson River.

Archeologists Molly McDonald and A. Michael Pappalardo were at the site of the Sept. 11 attacks on Tuesday morning when workers uncovered the artifacts. They call the find significant but say more study is needed to determine the age of the ship.

The two archeologists work for AKRF, a firm hired to document artifacts discovered at the site. They found a 100-pound boat anchor in the same area on Wednesday, but they're not sure if it belongs to the ship.

http://www.wcsh6.com/news/watercooler/story.aspx?storyid=120586&catid=108

Ubaldo! Ubaldo!

This just makes me happy:

JIMENEZ NAMED NL ALL-STAR STARTING PITCHER

July 12, 2010 – National League All-Star manager Charlie Manuel of the Philadelphia Phillies has named Colorado Rockies ace Ubaldo Jimenez as the National League's starting pitcher in the 2010 Midsummer Classic. The first-time All-Star is 15-1 with a 2.20 ERA (127.0 IP, 87 H, 46 BB, 113 SO) in his 18 starts. Follow the All-Star Game live on coloradorockies.com on Tuesday, July 13 at 6 p.m. MT.

Or, are we just a bunch of spoiled brats who cry when we don't get our own way?

July 11, 2010

Look Ahead in Anger

Hyperbolic rhetoric threatens to swamp our politics

By Sasha Abramsky

Five months ago, Andrew Joseph Stack III, a middle-aged man who had a long-running dispute over taxes with the federal government, flew a kamikaze mission into the IRS building in Austin, Tex. On the Internet, numerous bloggers immediately declared Stack a hero, a martyr in the war against Big Government.

At about the same time, with health-care reform seemingly stalled, left-leaning activists grew increasingly shrill in their denunciations of President Obama. He was, many opined, a false messiah, a cheat, a Manchurian candidate for the right who had promised change and instead delivered more of the same old cronyism and corruption. Unemployment was nearing double digits; partisanship was as omnipresent as ever; government had bailed out the banks and allowed their executives to pocket obscene bonuses. When Obama announced that he would send more troops to Afghanistan—a priority he had reiterated time and again during the election campaign—the filmmaker Michael Moore wrote a public letter to the president accusing him of undermining the hopes and dreams of millions of young Americans. When Obama made compromises with Congressional figures to forge a viable coalition around health-care reform, his left flank immediately declared that he had been bought off by corporate America.

After Congress finally passed health-care reform, the rage axis tilted again. Their expectations scaled back by the upset victory of a Republican for a U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts, progressives were a bit quieter, and it was a scarred conservative movement that was again, literally, up in arms. Scores of Democratic politicians started receiving death threats; many were so worried that they asked the FBI for extra protection. Around the country, Tea Party candidates, frequently representing little more than an inchoate rage against the zeitgeist, mounted strong primary challenges to entrenched, long-serving Republican politicians, and some sober GOP'ers, hoping to stave off defeat by the insurgents, remade themselves as rage-filled harbingers of imminent doom. House Minority Leader John A. Boehner, of Ohio, repeatedly declared that passing the health-care bill was not just politically wrong but apocalyptic. As the primary season progressed, incumbent Democrats, too, began to feel the sting. Alan B. Mollohan, of West Virginia, became the first House Democrat to lose his seat. The confrontations continued, with a biker and his son, angered at government, in a shootout with the police in Arkansas.

In many ways, whether our political leanings are left, right, or middle of the road, rage is our shared experience these days. One way of looking at what is happening is that it is an expression of our anxiety over what increasingly looks to be Pax Americana's departing hegemony.

During the Bush presidency, furious books by liberal commentators—Al Franken's Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, for example, topped best-seller lists. Today, with a liberal president, one is more likely to see conservative jeremiads dominating the list: Glenn Beck's Arguing With Idiots; Sarah Palin's Going Rogue; Michelle Malkin's The Culture of Corruption. Liberal or conservative, they tend to be books long on hyperbolic rhetoric and short on facts.

Over the past year, that rhetoric has threatened to swamp our political culture. Increasingly, a language of bitterness, frustration, and fury has become our default response to the unraveling of illusion. It is no accident that the most rageful moment in modern American history has emerged barely a year after one of the most utopian moments—the movement that swept Obama into the White House and brought millions onto the streets of America's cities to celebrate his victory. "In addition to resignation and a cynical turning away from yesterday's illusions," the German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk writes, in his book Rage and Time: A Psychopolitical Investigation (originally published in Der Zeit, recently brought out in English translation by Columbia University Press), "these waves often lead to momentous formations of rage."

More at:

http://chronicle.com/article/Look-Ahead-in-Anger/66152/?sid=cr&utm_source=cr&utm_medium=en

And now for the good news

This reminds me of a recent conversation I had with... I don't recall whom, but I do remember the gist being that we only get the "bad" news, not the good, which can make for a pretty skewed view of the world if a person forgets the other side:

Truth in journalism is usually found on the comic pages. -Frank DeGennaro

A radio commentator noted that the news we generally receive through the media is "a proctological view of life." What is presented as the news is a carefully distilled entree of mayhem, culled for commercial saleability, playing on base fears and sensationalism. Much of the news we receive is not honest, for it is not an accurate reflection of the truth. While the media lets us know that a rape occurs every five minutes, it does not tell us how many acts of kindness occurred in that time. We rarely receive statistics on how many children were brought into the world with delight and appreciation; how many teachers told their students, "You are destined for greatness"; how many athletes dug into themselves for the stamina to complete their jogging; how many creditors extended extra grace to their overdue accounts; how many drivers slowed down to allow cars from a side street into the lineup on a main thoroughfare; or how many times anyone said, "I love you." When the news reflects the whole of life, not just its sordid aspects, it will be honest, serviceful, and worthy of our attention.

If we wish to get more accurate news, we must withdraw our fascination from evil and reinvest it in peace. A San Francisco newspaper published two different versions of a day's news, one with a sensational headline about a murder, and the other with a more modest banner about progress in peace talks. The sensational headline outsold the more mellow edition by four to one.

(Today's meditation from In the Rooms)