Way Cool!

I was using Wikimedia Commons to see what I might see...it's a great place to view old photos, new photos, odd photos - and they're from all over the world! That's probably the best reason to use this site. I go to Latest Files and then view them in Real Time mode which lets me see thumbnail sized images. Yes, there is an occasional NSFW image but it's a thumbnail size and is soon gone. Doesn't happen very often...

But, back to the 'Cool'; this is an image of a recumbent bike racer taken at a race on the island of Jersey. And I really want that bike! (click on the image to see the details)

Amusing

Yes, it was amusing. Very. And so I stole the image and here it is.

From Upper Left:

Put that in your T.E.A. and drink it.

"...notes that in America, state and federal taxes as a share of the gross domestic product amount to 28 percent. He points out that's among the smallest in the 31 first-world nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Mexico, Turkey, Japan and South Korea pay smaller shares."

Of course the Tea Party addicted can't reason, so none of these facts will bother them. They are addicted to rhetoric and can only converse in partisan babble.

Why do I let their ignorance bother me so?

Oil rig disasters

- Offshore Drilling Accidents and Incidents - Rig Disaster Listing

As I was was browsing - I was trying to find the total number of rigs in the Gulf - I found this site and it has some fascinating photos and stories to go along with them. I'm still trying to find that number...

Grim

U.S. toll in Afghan war hits 1,000

The grim milestone was reached when NATO reported that a service member was killed Friday in a roadside bombing in southern Afghanistan.
The statement did not identify the victim or give the nationality, but U.S. spokesman Col. Wayne Shanks said the service member was American -- the 32nd U.S. war death this month by an Associated Press count. 

Next month at this time...1,030, then 1,060, 1,090, ad infinitum or until we see that we're fooling ourselves. The population of Afghanistan is comprised of hundreds of tribes. It's the 'wild west' out there and we don't seem to understand that. Education and aid are the only things that will break down the barriers of tribalism and even that will take decades. And it would cost us 1/10 of what it costs us now.

Bumper Crop

I just shucked my milking boots off and grabbed a cup of tea before sitting down here at the computer. The irrigation session has gone quite well; the water was flowing at a good rate and I finished up about ten minutes earlier than usual. I did have time to check out the trees in the orchard and was happy to see a gazillion apricots, half a gazillion plums, prunes and cherries. Not to mention the pecan blooms and the pomegranate flowers. But, the tomatoes are still looking for a sunny day. Maybe next week.

From Robert Genn

Hopeless?

"...there is still the blessing, the power to create. At times like this, we can think of Vincent van Gogh.

"One may have a blazing hearth in one's soul and yet no one ever comes to sit by it," said Vincent. "Passersby see only a wisp of smoke rising from the chimney and continue on their way.""

I think all artists go through times like this and Vincent describes it so well. I know that every once in awhile I will look at the stack of paintings that is growing taller each week and I wonder if I will ever 'get it right'. And then I go to the Tuesday group meeting of artists, real artists, and there I'm supported and praised for my small efforts. I'm revived! And the stack of paintings is reviewed with a new eye and some are taken from the stack and signed; finished!

Rain

and wind and cold. What kind of weather is this for late May? Farmers around the valley are worried because the crops just aren't developing as they should, plus, the rain damages melon crops by introducing mold as the melons sit on wet soil.

I'm somewhat grateful for the rain, even though my tomatoes may never ripen and I will be eating fried green tomatoes at the end of summer. The reason for my gratitude is the fact that tomorrow is the day I irrigate the orchard and ordinarily I have to mow the orchard beforehand so that the water flows quickly. But, the grass has barely grown at all since last week when I mowed. That's one chore out of the way. But good news/bad news, the cherries that I thought would be fully ripe by this time have arrested development...frozen in time. Looking just as they did last week. This weather seems to have kept the birds away from the cherries and so I may still have a chance to pick some sweet ripe ones once the sun breaks through and warms things up again.

When, oh, when...

will they ever grow up?

"After closed-door talks, GOP senator calls Obama 'thin-skinned'"

You would think that with a 'closed door' meeting, they would behave like adults. After all, there was no media presence and no outside observers. It was a perfect time to act like ladies and gentlemen. It's no wonder that we, the citizens of both parties, despise our elected representatives. It's almost universal.

And another thing...one of my pet peeves; when will we put an age limit on the offices of Representative and Senator? Commercial pilots can't fly after the age of 65 because of the number of lives that might be affected by their decisions while flying. Why do we let 80 year old white guys decide the future for a growing multicultured population? That's crazy!

I know it won't change but I feel better now.

Regarding that $trillion$

that I was talking about in the previous post, here's a representation of that amazing number in $100 dollar bills. You know, if you were on top of that stack and wandered close to the edge...you could die if you fell off. Yes, that's you...the little figure at the bottom left.

According to the goverment figures...

"On May 30, at a little after 10 a.m., we'll pass the trillion dollar mark for the cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Yes, you read that right: $1 trillion wasted so far on two catastrophic mistakes." 

A few years ago, I read the book, The Three Trillion Dollar War and the authors explained in detail how the government fails in their cost analysis. The cost for the continued care of veterans after the war is not included in the first trillion. The cost of replenishing all of the military materiel is not included. The cost of interest on the debt is not included. The cost of lost productivity (veterans who can no longer work) is not included. It goes on and on...all the costs that they have not included in that poor meager number of one $trillion$ dollars. What has your school district cut this year? 

Israe

offered Nukes to Racist South Africa for Use on Black Neighbors | Informed Comment

I do have to wonder how far this story will go. Will it see the light of day in the MSM? I really doubt it and that's a shame. It's time for the US to step away from Israel. We really don't need friends like this...

Social media

Social media starts the patient dialogue with doctors and nurses | KevinMD.com

"Face to face communication remains critical for the doctor/patient relationship."

That becomes problematic when it takes four to six weeks to get an appointment.

Yes, I'm bashing on health care once again. But I only do it because it's so easy. And it shouldn't be.

Of the three doctors and one dentist that I'm involved with at the present time, not one offers electronic communication. Not one offers to make your records available in a digital format. Okay, one will do it for $20 and put it on a CD. A CD? That's twentieth century stuff. And when I get the CD, after a one week wait, it has a PDF file on it. A file that could have been transmitted to me via email in just a few seconds. The doctors complain that the cost of electronic record keeping and sharing is far too high when it's the exact opposite...digital records save time and money.

Gorgeous

Gorgeous irising peephole mechanism

What a wondrous thing this is! And if it could make a slight ratcheting sound as it opened...Wow!

Warning!

REFLECTIONS: On a Republican Return

This is another well written column by Saul Friedman...and if you're a woman, it should be required reading.

Newt Gingrich’s 1995 memo to the Republican political action committee, called GOPAC: “Language: A Key Mechanism of Control,” which taught conservatives to use sharp and negative words and exaggerations to describe Democrats and positive expressions for Republicans.

And Gingrich lectured in training sessions on how to use “shield issues” such as abortion, same sex unions, gay rights and immigration to disguise the Republican agenda while putting Democrats on the defensive.

Are these the people we want ruling over us? Yes, I wrote 'Ruling' because that is exactly what they want to do. You better believe your freedom is at stake here. These right wing zealots have plans to restrict your actions and thoughts. They consider America to be their personal property and so they are part of the 'Take Back America' plot. Yes, it really is a plot, and an evil one at that.

One dollar

Wednesday. Another day and another dollar, or so it used to be said. I wonder what the inflation rate has done to the dollar that was being referred to in the old saying? How old? The best I could come up with was 1897 and that was, originally, more days, more dollars. Anyway, back to today and it started out with an early trip (6:00 AM) to the local lab for a fasting blood draw. I had hoped to be first in line but was disappointed to see half a dozen cars in the parking lot. In I went and was greeted by the sight of five adults with their heads tilted back, two with their mouths gaping open as they watched the television set high on the wall of the waiting room. Did they see me enter the room? No. They only looked disconcerted when I passed in front of them on my way to the receptionist. And on my way back to find a chair. From my vantage point, I noted their unblinking stare as a 'talking head' explained the local news to them. It's no wonder that newspapers are going out of business. How can they compete with a news machine that hypnotizes its viewers?

The blood draw, once I made my way to the top of the list, was quick and painless as always. I made my way through the now empty waiting room, wondering how they made the people leave? Did they have to threaten them? And that made me think about the airports I have been in and how I had seen the same mesmerized stare from passengers seated where they could see that big screen. I used to take a seat under the television whenever I could as that was the best place for people watching…no one ever notices the person sitting under the screen.

Once home, I had just begun to think about what I was going to eat after my forced fast when the phone rang. It was the lab and they wanted me to return. It seems that they hadn't drawn enough blood; forgetting that I had brought two lab requests with me. Oh, well. So back I went and was quickly punctured once more. No waiting this time!

Home again and with a cup of tea in my hand, I decided to vote in the June primaries. I had to vote for Jerry Brown, the only candidate without a hidden agenda. He's the same age as I am and will be retiring after this, win or lose. There were also some offices where I didn't know the candidates, primarily because the offices were less than important; to me. Here I voted the Hispanic ticket. If they had a Hispanic surname, they got my vote. It was less than responsible on my part and I should be ashamed of it, but it seemed fair at the time and now the envelope is sealed and it's a done deal.

I'm planning on doing some more painting today. I got in some good sketching time last night and have two possible paintings to start. I also have a couple of gourds I'm working on and hope to finish the copper work for them today. I've been churning out some paintings these past few days; almost all are in acrylic as I'm finding it to be 'more fun' to paint with.

Speaking of acrylics; I ordered some paints and mediums from Blick a week or so ago and when I realized that I hadn't seen the order and I was also running low on Golden Light Modeling Paste, I decided to check the tracking number. Unfortunately for me, it was USPS and not UPS. The tracking info revealed that the carrier had been to the house on Friday and had not left the package, but left a notice and returned the package to the local post office. Well, there was no notice anywhere around so we went to the post office where they told my wife that they knew nothing about it and a search of the post office came up empty. We returned a little while later with the tracking number and were told that they would take it up with the carrier when he came in. And then they would call us. Right. No, they never called and so we will have to return to the post office where I'm sure they will replay the scenario for us. "We've looked everywhere and can't find it. We'll ask the carrier when he gets in and give you a call."

I don't know what kind of a price break USPS gives out, but I do know that every delivery problem I've ever had came from USPS. So I will write to Blick and tell them I will pay extra to have my orders come via UPS. It will be worth it.

The sky is getting cloudy now. We're supposed to see some more rain this afternoon and that will be great for my young garden. I have tomatoes, radishes, carrots, peppers and eggplant in my edible garden with a wide variety of gourds in my non-edible section.

I'm in a quandary here; I planted the gourds to use for my art projects but the house is for sale. The gourds won't be harvested until February or March of next year. We hope to be long gone by then. I wonder if I can write in a harvesting clause in the sale documents?

Am I getting old?

Or just beaten down?
On my monitor, when I open up my browser, I see a thin panel on the left hand side of the screen; that displays the RSS feeds that I am subscribed to. I used to start at the top and open the feeds one after the other, reading all the current news (including the weather) and then move on to the various blogs that I follow. And they are not all political blogs; I subscribe to and follow art and cooking blogs. That was my morning routine and it's been working fine for the past half a dozen years...but now I can barely make it through the first half of the list. The insanity of the Republican/Tea Party crowd taxes my brain to such an extent that I can barely go on. And if I should make a mistake and read some of the comments on those blogs, I find myself thoroughly demoralized. How stupid can these people be? Don't answer that...I already know. For instance...Newt Gingrich is being interviewed and listened to as if he were important. He's a failure! Even as a Republican, he was failure. Have they forgotten? And Sarah Quittypants is back in the news. Why? Another failure! I'm old enough to remember a time when Republicans were the honorable opposition party. What happened to them? I believe that Eisenhower would be a Democrat today.

Here, in California, the majority of the citizens have been fooled by Republican 'actors'. Not just once by Reagan, but electing Arnold makes it twice now that the Party of Lincoln has become the Party of Clowns.

My head hurts. I think I'll go read some comic strips.

It keeps on coming...
"The laws are intended to make people fearful," Pearce said. The Arizona Senate passed SB 1097 (PDF) on Monday which, if signed by the governor, will require school districts to collect information on how many of its students are in the country illegally and report this information to the governor. This bill is seen by some as a first step in challenging Plyer v. Doe. 
 Okay, Pearce is simply a very sick man and should seek help, but he won't. He is surrounded by sycophants who are constantly stroking him and whispering in his ear, 'This is the right thing to do. We're all behind you on this...' So of course he will never stop.

But on the same subject, though on a different side of it; I started thinking about all of the CEO's of the companies that do their best to lure cheap labor across the border, where they then abuse them. I'm sure they are all in jail now and I was hoping someone could give me the names of a few of these CEO prisoners and tell me where they are locked up. I could send them cookies or something. I'm sure it's difficult for someone who once had so much power to be tried, convicted and put behind bars. A cookie or two might ease the pain.

What? No one has been convicted? But, but it's the law! 

Says it all...from

Saul Friedman: Government-Run Health Care

"...In a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary, Katherine Sebelius, Rockefeller noted that the law provides that insurance companies are supposed to spend 85 percent of premiums on health care. Rockefeller charged the companies are redefining administrative costs as medical costs and thus not spending more on patient care, as the law intended."

I wish Saul could write every day...

US drug war

has met none of its goals -

But it has cost us over $1 Trillion Dollars and they aren't interested in stopping and re-assessing the situation. All this money gives the cops great new toys to play with and that's all it does. This trillion dollars didn't build schools or help the sick or balance the budget or help small business or reduce your taxes or...

"In the grand scheme, it has not been successful," Kerlikowske told The Associated Press. "Forty years later, the concern about drugs and drug problems is, if anything, magnified, intensified."

Maybe, just maybe, we're doing it wrong! But...if we're not doing it wrong then we must build more prisons and lock up more people until we're divided up into a society of those who are in prison and those guarding them.

Dril

rig owner seeks to limit liability; Gulf spill reportedly 70,000 barrels a day -

If confirmed by the Coast Guard it would mean the spill long ago eclipsed the 11 million gallons the Exxon Valdez tanker spilled in Prince William Sound in Alaska in 1989.

Today is the 24th day since the blowout, so that would work out to more than 70 million gallons of crude oil that have poured into the Gulf — 70,560,000 to be exact.

As the headline noted, that's one Exxon Valdez disaster every four days.

Speaking of Oil

From Human Voices: Drill until we drop

A recent poll shows that despite the total lack of evidence and the extreme unlikeliness of the scenario, nine or ten percent of Americans do believe Limbaugh's idiotic proposition that it was the "enviros" behind the drilling platform explosion, but the scary part is that 22% are "unsure." Amongst self-identified Conservatives, the number jumps to 44% who believe it was sabotage by liberals. The evidence to the contrary is out there, the evidence for it isn't out there, so either 31% are unable to assimilate it by reason of dementia or have no interest in the survival of the USA as we think we know it -- or Like many aged people, they've given up and are simply wandering in a senile, paranoid daze of denialism looking for their lost youth and vigor.

"Perhaps most surprisingly 21% of voters said the spill made them more likely to support offshore drilling,"

I didn't care for the 'aged people' slam, but I'll forgive it for now since the rest of the message was just fine. But...as a self identified aged person (as we will all become...if we're lucky) I think the author needs a lesson on Ageism.

Where’s our leader?

I have been reading the oil rig news and have read where everyone involved is pointing the finger at the other guy; that's the 'blame' finger, not that other one. And I couldn't help but think that we really should be blaming the real culprit in this mess…John D. Rockefeller. Not that it does us any good to blame him as he's been dead for 73 years.

 

John Davison Rockefeller (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American oil magnate. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry

 

Rockefeller, referred to as JD from now on, created the industry we see today. Nothing has changed except for where we look for oil. JD's heirs still turn it into cheap gasoline as they always have. But not so cheap that they don't make a fortune from selling it. JD wanted to control everything related to oil and he succeeded far beyond anyone's expectations, becoming the richest man in the world. Even now he is regarded as the richest person in history.

We are addicted to oil and JD is the cause. He drove the competing electric vehicle industry out of business early in the 20^th century and they have never recovered from that onslaught of cheap competition. Gas was kept artificially cheap for decades and no politician was brave enough to tax it as they should have. Other nations did tax it properly and their auto industry provided them with more energy efficient vehicles.

Sadly, we all went along with it. We believed the hype and lies that the oil supply was unlimited and that America had more than all the rest of the world. We actually believed that at one time. Now we are reaping what JD sowed for us…and we still don't have a leader that will get us off the well trod path to oil and more oil.

From ginandtacos.com

Generation Negotiation

"...the Special Snowflake phenomenon" I had no idea that there was a name for this but it does express my (our) thoughts so well.

Public Knowledge

of Current Affairs Little Changed by News and Information Revolutions: Summary of Findings - Pew Research Center for the People & the Press

"Among those in the third of the sample who know the most, the overwhelming majority (90%) are registered to vote compared with about half (53%) of the least knowledgeable Americans. The knowledgeable public also is more likely to see issues debated in Washington as having a direct impact on their lives (73% vs. 59%).

Rather than being a burden, the survey suggests these informed Americans like keeping up with what's going on in the news. About seven-in-ten (69%) in the high-knowledge group say they enjoy keeping up with the news "a lot," compared with only 16% of the least informed."

Thank heaven for small favors. These statistics tell me that the Tea Bag people won't be voting. Okay, maybe half will.

The rejected ads...

From Citizen K... see his blog here.
"An ad salesman for the network whose viewers' knowledge level ranked next to last in a recent survey said that Fox rejected the ad because it was "too confusing." For some reason, Fox did not reject this ad, perhaps because it features an Iraq War veteran who was awarded a Purple Heart:"



"If you think more people should see these ads, help them go viral. Publish them on your blog and on your Facebook wall by pressing the "Facebook Share" button on the sidebar to your right."

Why indeed!

Why Do So Many People Think Elena Kagan Is Gay? | Mother Jones

I thought I had heard just about everything possible from the Conservatives but this is the most disgusting thing they have done recently. But, give them time and they will top it...it's guaranteed.

"Is Obama actually going to use a Supreme Court nominee to advance the cause of the closet (as well as kill any court imposition of marriage equality)? And can we have a clear, factual statement as to the truth? In a free society in the 21st Century, it is not illegitimate to ask. And it is cowardly not to tell."

Of course you can't ask that question! It's none of your business! Who else would you ask that question of? Any of your friends? The policeman who stops you for a speeding ticket? The waiter or waitress in the restaurant? How about the barrista that makes your latte? How about the TSA agent at the airport? I could go on forever with this. How hard is that to understand? None of your business!

You can't believe

how much this irritates me! Who cares what an 'immediate reaction' poll comes up with? We, or whomever is being polled, are not choosing the next Justice. Polls are a distraction. How did we, as a nation, get into this bad habit of relying on polls to make our day? Speaking of that, 72% of those polled expect the sun to rise tomorrow.


"JUST IN - FIRST KAGAN POLL: "A Gallup immediate-reaction poll to President Barack Obama's nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court finds 40% of Americans rating the choice as 'excellent' or 'good,' and 14% rating it as 'poor.' Overall, Kagan's ratings are similar to those for Samuel Alito and Harriet Miers, but not as positive as those for Sonia Sotomayor and John Roberts."

Once again

Wally Herger. He's up for reelection this year and he will win easily. Why? Because the opposition party won't support a candidate to unseat him. If there is a candidate, I don't even know the poor saps name. Wally's district is considered 'safe' and the Dems don't want to waste their money on a useless campaign and so he continues to represent the wealthy and only the wealthy in his huge district. That's democracy? Safe districts should be an embarrassment to those who serve us, but they welcome them. And the retired and middle income citizens that support him are deluded and fooled by his false rhetoric. Don't they ever read? I'm hoping that the new districts created by the 2010 census will help to unseat Wally, but I doubt it.

As usual

The Honorable Mr. Buffoon voted as he usually does…against the needs of his constituents.

 
Home Star Energy Retrofit Act - Vote Passed (246-161, 23 Not Voting)

The House passed this measure that would authorize a $6.6 billion rebate program for energy-efficient home renovations for households with incomes up to $250,000. The bill now goes to the Senate.

Rep. Wally Herger voted
NO.....

 
Incomes up to $250k? That would be you and I. So forget the rebate to help you save energy and money. But wait…it passed! Despite the NO vote of the Honorable Mr. Buffoon.

But lies are so much more convenient

"If you think the overcrowding in Emergency Rooms across the country is because of uninsured, think again. A new study in the Annals of Emergency Medicine

They also found that most patients who frequently use the ED have health insurance and the majority of users (60%) were white. These findings contradict the widely held assumption that frequent users are minorities or illegal immigrants without insurance.

It is no surprise that frequent ED users tended to be sicker than occasional users and were more likely to be transported by ambulance. Chronic conditions like renal failure, COPD, asthma and sickle cell disease where common along with "pain". In urban areas like Boston and San Francisco, alcohol related visits and psychiatric conditions led to more frequent visits.

The principle reasons given by patients for using the ED included quick service and ability to receive free care. Most patients had Medicare or Medicaid as their primary insurer. reports that of patients who are frequent users (over 4 times a year) of Emergency Departments, the uninsured represent only 15% of those frequent users. Also the frequent ED users were more likely than occasional users to have visited a primary care physician in the previous year."

Found on the Everything Health blog...written by a Doctor.

This didn't make any headlines

"Today's rhetoric does not seem to jibe with reality," said Clarence Dupnik, the sheriff of Pima County. "This is a media-created event. I hear politicians on TV saying the border has gotten worse. Well, the fact of the matter is that the border has never been more secure."

It didn't make headlines because this kind of news doesn't sell...

From No More Mister Nice Blog

What could possibly go wrong?

Ya gotta love the NRA! Gosh, I really can't think of anything that might be wrong about law. It's the 'good guys' with guns. What's wrong with that? Sure, some innocent bystanders might get hurt or killed...but you have to expect that. Just call it 'collateral damage' and it doesn't sound so bad.

Men, women and politics

I was having a good time at the newly discovered coffee house, Café Ricci, when the conversation slowed to a crawl. We were there with my middle daughter and somehow the conversation went from King Corn, the movie, to farm subsidies and then the fact that a local rice grower (Republican) is running for State Senator. Of course he takes subsidies. All rice growers around here take subsidies. Also, this particular candidate doesn't care much for government intrusion into his or anyone else's business. (Oh, the irony!) Then my daughter mentioned that she was a conservative. I already knew that but stupidly I forged ahead; 'Tell me one thing that a Conservative has ever done for this country?'. That was it. Silence. No more talk about politics. We went back to safer subjects, but later, I did wonder, why aren't Conservatives able to answer that question? Because when it comes to social legislation, the Conservatives believe that we don't need any. That somehow we are all given the same opportunities and talents at birth and if we don't use them properly, that's our fault. Social Security? They hate it! Medicare? They hate it! Civil Rights? They hate it! Equal Rights for Women? They hate it!...obviously, as that Constitutional Amendment has languished for 38 years! Actually a little bit longer if you consider the fact that it was first proposed in 1923. Conservatives have always opposed this legislation since 1972, yet some women call themselves Conservative. I don't get it? And then look at the wage disparity between men and women; it's Conservative men that own the majority of those businesses that pay less. This is still a Patriarchal society and Conservatives love it that way.

The Equal Pay Act was signed in 1963, making it illegal for employers to pay unequal wages to men and women who hold the same job and do the same work. At the time of the EPA's passage, women earned just 58 cents for every dollar earned by men. By 2006, that rate had only increased to 77 cents, an improvement of less than half a penny a year. Minority women fare the worst. African-American women earn just 64 cents to every dollar earned by white men, and for Hispanic women that figure drops to merely 52 cents per dollar.

I've learned my lesson…for now. Next Friday we will discuss those same safer subjects while enjoying our time together.

Reasoning

Of course everyone is upset by the disaster in the Gulf and nobody more than the families of those who were killed in this terrible accident. And they seem to have been ignored, haven't they? In the national news they are simply referred to as the 11 dead. I'm sure they had names.

Of course the environmentalist groups are demanding a halt to all off-shore drilling and there is a smaller but just as vocal a group that demands that we continue. What to do?

It seems to me that within this country there are those with the technical skills and great minds to minimize the risks of this kind of drilling. Yes, it would take money to develop the procedures and manufacture the machinery needed, but the technology could then be sold to other nations that are now drilling without even a clue as to how dangerous it is. C'mon, we went to the moon once, we should certainly be able to develop a very safe method of off-shore drilling. And we should stop drilling until we can prove to ourselves that it is truly safe to do so. (BP made a quarterly profit of $6.1 Billion. Surely they can contribute to these developments.)

Retire. Now!

Because of this most irritating wind; a wind that seems to have no end...I have fallen behind in my reading of the news. That's not a bad thing. The news doesn't get any better or worse if you delay reading it.

Anyway, there was an article in the NYT about these three bozo's...
Lawmakers like Senators John McCain of Arizona and Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut and Representative Peter King of New York were immediately outraged that Mr. Shahzad — a United States citizen accused of an attempted attack on civilians in an American city — was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and eventually read his Miranda rights.
They are demanding that Mr. Shahzad be declared an illegal enemy combatant, stripped of any rights and brought before a military tribunal. They have opened another round of sneering at “the law enforcement approach” to terrorism. 
It gets worse; apparently Mr. Lieberman wants to strip the citizenship from anyone suspected of being a terrorist. No due process of law at all. Don't they understand that if you deprive one citizen of his rights, the other 300 million of us are at risk. Whether or not we believe these people to be guilty, we cannot throw away OUR rights by depriving them of their rights. It is quite simple and that is apparently why McCain and Lieberman don't understand it. I think they are traitors and/or senile. They need to go away. Retire. Go golfing. Leave us alone.

Socialism

I was wandering around the internet this morning, angry and bothered by the constant wind...it's been weeks of constant 10 to 20 mph wind. It never stops! And it is making me cranky! but enough of that...

What I found while wandering was this,
In the third week of December 1923 a Typhoid Fever epidemic began in Santa Ana.* The city Board of Health was unable to control the outbreak of disease. Doctors and medical facilities were quickly overwhelmed in what became the most widespread epidemic of Typhoid Fever in California history.
Many of the infected had no ability to pay for medical care. They lay in the street clutching their stomachs, moaning, from the painful intestinal cramps, defecating uncontrollably, going blind from the 104 degree fever, becoming human reservoirs of bacteria that spread disease from one person to the next.
An OCHD investigation traced the outbreak to contaminated milk. A private water well had become contaminated with fecal matter from a private sewer line. This water well had a cross connection to the municipal water supply and had contaminated a municipal water pipeline. A diary in Santa Ana used the municipal pipeline for water to clean the udders of its cows and contaminated the milk with Salmonella Typhi bacteria. 632 people became infected, 48 people died from this epidemic.
This crisis demonstrated the legitimate need for governmental regulatory management of water quality, street sanitation, sanitary sewers, food production and handling facilities as well as preventative and emergency medical care as elements of comprehensive health care management in an urban environment, in which citizens physically separated from each other produced environmental hazards that effected the health of other citizens via the urban infrastructure.
(most of those that were infected were migrant workers...yes, Hispanics)

Now does this make it clear as to why we need government 'interference' in our lives? We are no longer the 'yeoman farmer' citizen model that Thomas Jefferson envisioned when writing the Declaration of Independence and the Virginia Constitution and we have not been for hundreds of years. We are socialists. As long as we use any governmental service, we are socialists. That's lower case 's' socialists; upper case 'S' Socialists belong to the Socialist Party, an entirely different animal than the Jackass and Dumbo the elephant.

* This is the same Orange County in California that is a Republican stronghold and absolutely hates any government interference in their lives...except for the fire dept., the police dept., street and sanitation dept, the Army, the Navy, etc, etc.

Reflections

On Fascism by Saul Friedman

Saul tells it as it is. Today's crop of idiots throw out words like Fascist, Socialist and Communist and they have no idea as to what they mean. Saul explains...

Today is

Cinco De Mayo. No, it's not the celebration of Mexico's independence from Spain. That happens on the night of September 15^th. Like most holidays, the world over, it's been modified beyond belief in an attempt to fit it into the popular culture. Cinco De Mayo is really an American holiday. Just as what we call Mexican food would never be served in Mexico (unless an American ordered it) the Cinco De Mayo celebration is for American consumption. If you were traveling, you might find the day being celebrated in the state of Puebla but nowhere else. Maybe Baja would celebrate it to keep the many American tourists happy as they sit around the in-pool bars and drink Corona's with tequila chasers during a Cinco De Mayo Happy Hour.

But, since all holidays in all countries are in a constant state of evolution, there may come a time when the United States will make this holiday so important that the country of México may begin to celebrate it, if for no other reason than the fact that tequila exports rise dramatically during this time. $$$$$$

Virginia

Attorney General opts for more modest state seal

Amazing things happen in Virginia. Absolutely amazing!
And while I was browsing through the comments about this little fiasco,I found a new interpretation for the Civil War...it's known in some parts of the South as The War to Prevent Southern Independence.

Get over it! You lost and it was 145 years ago...the world has moved on.

The List

The World’s Worst Healthcare Reforms : From FP

True...the list is almost a year old and I'm sure things have gotten better. You betcha!

Poizner and Whitman

Or dumb and dumber. Or vice versa.

It was the 'hot button' debate as each tried their best to address each of those things that keep Republicans from appearing to have any brains.
Science doesn't know anything about Global Warming. Check. Arizona is and isn't on the right track regarding immigration. Check. Yes, we love the Tea Party! Check. Yes, we hate Arnold. Check.
The only thing worth mentioning was the fact that Meg supports higher pay for teachers. But she thinks schools should be graded A to F. Doesn't say what she will do to help those in an F school. Kick them out and close the doors? It was all pretty much as expected. There's nothing less interesting than watching a couple of Republicans try to show you how they are different while telling you that they will toe the Republican line. What happened to candidates that promised to 'think' once they were in office and not be Party robots? They're gone...like dinosaurs.

FAIR- Dan Stein Lied! Video

From Hillbilly Report:: Rachel Maddow - FAIR- Dan Stein Lied! Video

Well worth watching if you want to know something about the history of AZ's immigration bill.