From Citizen K.:

South Carolina Senator Supports Slavery, Opposes Women's Suffrage, and Wants to Make You Quarter Troops in Your Home

Good post here and way down at the bottom is a link to this great story of the poor people of Hawai'i who have lost their freedom. Who will save them?

This story about Hawai'i really needs to go nationwide and be read every day until the nation gets it!

Good Book

I'm reading the book, "The Good Soldiers" by David Finkel and it's a tough one.

Washington Post correspondent Finkel chronicles the 15-month deployment of the 2-16 Infantry Battalion in Baghdad during 2007 and 2008, when the chaos in Iraq subsided to a manageable uproar. For the 2-16, waning violence still meant wild firefights, nerve-wracking patrols through hostile neighborhoods where every trash pile could hide an IED, and dozens of comrades killed and maimed. At the fraught center of the story is Col. Ralph Kauzlarich, whose dogged can-do optimism—his motto is It's all good—pits itself against declining morale and whispers of mutiny.

So well written that you are tempted to cry at the futility of it all as Finkel tells you of what he saw while he lived with the 2-16. And he doesn't do a hatchet job for pro-war or anti-war activists. He simply tells you about every day and every soldier.

Sure, I am very much anti-war. No war has ever been won, not one of them, they just slow down to a simmer only to erupt again, years later. But you read of the bravery of these young men and you have to be moved. But read carefully, they hate the war and their bravery is for one another and not for their nation. They have no respect for anyone who hasn't seen what they have and I cannot blame them. They would and will give their lives for a fellow soldier but they would gladly spit on a Senator or Congressperson.

And then there is the military itself; the Army in this case. If it were a corporation it would have failed year ago. Bankrupt. The top echelon is completely removed from plight of the ordinary soldier. Yes, the Generals say otherwise, but actions are what count and these soldiers have definitely been abandoned by the 'Army'. Being a 'Volunteer' Army, they can only hope that they get enough good men and women to volunteer. Good men and women are hard to find though, so the Army has to lower its standards to get enough bodies. And sometimes the results of that policy are disastrous, putting the lives of the 'Good Soldiers' at terrible risk.

Then the aftermath of war comes alive as the author visits the hospitals where the terribly damaged young men of the 2-16 are being cared for. Some for the rest of their lives. The author points out that the lifetime cost for the care of the wounded will easily surpass the cost of the war itself. A good war? There has never been one, only good soldiers.

Read the book. I think you have an obligation to do it. I got my copy from the library and Amazon has a good preview and reviews to read. Link to Amazon…

And again…

Another thought about the tea party wacko's; They all complain of high taxes and an intrusive government. They complain that the economy turned bad on them and the government that they don't want intruding isn't doing enough to help them. What? Let's start with taxes and the fact the US of A is not a highly taxed nation. When it comes to tax rate by GDP, we are solidly in the middle and nowhere near being an over taxed nation. But no one likes facts. An intrusive government? We have some of the lowest numbers in the world when it comes to those who actually cast a ballot and vote for the government we have. They complain about Obama yet he won the election and quite easily. Why is that? Again, no one likes facts. The poor economy? We are a debtor nation and how did we get that way? By buying beyond our means. Cause and effect. No one made us max out the credit card and buy the new house and the car to go with it. We, the citizens did that and now we want to blame someone else. Blame the banks? Sure, but we walked in the door of those banks and were willing customers. It always come back to us. We elected, in a fair manner, all of our government, the Senators, Congresspersons and the President. We deserve them. Just like we deserve the schools that we won't fix by additional taxes. Instead, we want to cut taxes when we all know that education is our only way out of this mess. And how about those roads? Who should pay for them? The government isn't helping enough? We created the financial disaster over the period of at least twenty years but we want the government to fix it overnight. But no one likes facts…

The pain frontier

New stuff on my Short Laps blog…

I could be wrong, but…

My thoughts about the tea party wacko's…I do believe that most Americans are drawn to some of the rhetoric coming from them. Heck, some of the things that some of them say resonates with me. But I do believe they are going to fail because they have no unity and no leader. They say they don't want a leader and they want to remain a pure grass roots group. Fine, but they will fail because they have no common voice. Everybody gets to have their say and that only creates chaos; and fun for the talking heads when they show the tea partiers on film at 6 and 11. Who wants to have a dialogue with a group that only knows high decibel political tactics? They will fade away once their entertainment value wears off…unless they find a leader who can speak for them. Coherently.

What were they thinking?

Did I get this right? The Wingnuts are furious that we (the CIA and me) captured some very important Taleban leaders the other day and did not torture them. What an oversight!

Taliban leaders captured

From the Wonkette

Black Man Puts His Feet On Desk, Wingnuts Furious

As they should be. Imagine that! Has the man no shame?
Have you ever seen a Wingnuts when he or she isn't furious? They sort of disappear. It's only their anger that makes them visible. And after awhile, they begin to fade even when they are angry...they lose their superpowers in the presence of truth or Kryptonite. I forget which one...

Austin Plane Crash

Office Building Hit In Northwestern Austin, Texas (VIDEO):

"Gibbs said that Homeland Security is investigating all angles but the incident does not appear to be terrorism."

Flying an airplane into the side of an occupied office building is not terrorism? Oh! I see now...the pilot wasn't a Muslim. Maybe he was a Baptist?

When Rules Don't Apply

to Those Who Make the Rules: Speaking Badly of Charlie Wilson | The Smirking Chimp

I read the book so whenever I see the name 'Charlie Wilson' I am appalled all over again. I know that there was movie with the same name; forget about it. Movies made from books are like dinner with a Jello entree. You really need to read this book. It is timely now and will always be as long as we have a Congress.

And yes, I was glad to hear that Charlie was no longer breathing the same air that I do.

It’s late

…not a lot later, just two hours since I climbed out of bed and I've been doing the usual; drinking tea and browsing the internet. I keep telling myself 'do not read the comments' on stories published on MSM websites. And yet there I was, at the bottom of a CNN story, scrolling through the written evidence that our schools have failed us again. I know everyone has an opinion, but some should run that opinion through a spell check at the very least. Then place it immediately in the circular file. Thank you!

I rail at polls and pollsters all of the time and in 90% of the comments, they quote from poll results. What are they thinking? Polls are created by pollsters to obtain the results they want. That's it. Pollsters are not independent. They are paid for their results and they darn well better be the results that the client wanted.

By the way…did you know that 90% of the 'percentages' quoted in comments and blogs are false?

FactCheck

Born in the U.S.A.

I was wandering around and one link led to another...and suddenly I was here. Now I have, from the very beginning of this 'Birther' idiocy, believed that President Obama was born exactly where he said he was born. Those who believe otherwise have a screw loose. Maybe two screws. But I did find this FactCheck to be extremely interesting. And perfectly clear. What was sad though, were the responses of the 'birther's when confronted by facts. They lied and they even lied to themselves in some sort of desperate emotional need to be right for once in their pitiful lives. Sad, indeed.

Who?

Who is Rupert Murdoch?

An old story (6 years), but true. So you won't hear about it on Fox News.

From Time Goes By

REFLECTIONS: On Objectivity

I got up this morning and read the news as I usually do and once again I was irritated by the way the news is reported. I read the headlines and since I already know something about the stories being reported on I am flabbergasted by the various reporters views. But, wait...they aren't supposed to have views are they? News is supposed to be reported on as seen and heard and lies exposed for what they are, simply lies. That's 'Fair' and that's 'Balanced'. Isn't it? Reporters aren't supposed to spread lies, are they? And speaking of Fox news as I was trying not to. Here's a news organization that's run by Sir Rupert Murdoch, the Right wingnut from Australia who is only interested in, guess what? Money! He has no scruples and that's not a lie. And by throwing in sensationalism and blatant lies to the news mix, he gets Americans to believe that what they are seeing and hearing is factual. Any small amount of research will show you that the Fox Network lies, but who wants to do research, right? The other American news sources are not much better and so I have to get my 'Fair and Balanced' news from abroad. And guess what? Those news sources almost always have the news first and it's reported in depth and not just in the headlines.

Anyway, read this short story, it's good...no lie!

Hold Onto Your Underwear

This Is NOT a National Emergency | The Smirking Chimp:

Good article! "In 2008, 14,180 Americans were murdered, according to the FBI. In that year, there were 34,017 fatal vehicle crashes in the U.S. and, so the U.S. Fire Administration tells us, 3,320 deaths by fire. More than 11,000 Americans died of the swine flu between April and mid-December 2009, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; on average, a staggering 443,600 Americans die yearly of illnesses related to tobacco use, reports the American Cancer Society; 5,000 Americans die annually from food-borne diseases; an estimated 1,760 children died from abuse or neglect in 2007; and the next year, 560 Americans died of weather-related conditions, according to the National Weather Service, including 126 from tornadoes, 67 from rip tides, 58 from flash floods, 27 from lightning, 27 from avalanches, and 1 from a dust devil."

When you read the article you will see that there were NO deaths from commercial airplanes falling out of the sky. None. The weather, yes, the weather killed more people than two airplanes would hold. Good article, but there are far too many people in our US of A that will not look at data and prefer to see the sky is falling.
The terrorists are coming! The terrorists are coming!

34,017 fatal vehicle crashes ??? Wow! That adds up to 94 people a day, which means 3 deaths per hour or 1 every 20 minutes. I'm staying home.

POSTMANTERRORISM by Nick Lantz

From The Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor

Since I have a meeting to go to this morning, I'm just depositing some small gems from someone else on my blog...I couldn't possibly match anything this man wrote.

Republican Primary

for Texas Governor Moves Farther to Right With Debra Medina - NYTimes.com:

"“I am not a flake.”"

Some amazing stuff here and something like it is bound to come to neighborhood near you as the mid term elections brings out the weirdo's. This is a lady that thinks it is normal to carry her pistol into the market and is indignant that she is not allowed to. Are there muggers in the vegetable aisles? And believe it or not, she has a good chance of winning this thing. The right wingnuts believe she speaks in a normal manner. They believe that she is sane. The world has turned upside down if she wins.

On the plus side, if she wins, she will probably force a secession and Texas will leave us. That's a good thing if she's the governor.

From the New Yorker

Calling All Eccentric California Zillionaires

Oh, no! Repair California is out of money and won't be able to get the Constitutional Convention on the ballot in November. Sad. But...I never saw a single plea for money on the internet. I didn't see anything remotely like the p[ledge drives for money for disasters. What were they thinking? That we would know about their needs intuitively? Even their website, http://repaircalifornia.org/ doesn't mention money unless you look all of the way down at bottom.

This is the first sane initiative we've seen in years and it's sad to see it fail to get on the ballot. But it falls on whoever was telling them how to run a campaign.

High Speed

Google has a real battle ahead as it tries to move us forward in internet connectivity. And it's not just a speed contest, it's actually a test of how we value education. The higher the download speeds, the more often the computer will be used. Low speeds turn off the intellect and the quest for knowledge.

here's the current top 14 world-wide in internet download speeds...

Top Countries by Download Speed

• 23.35 Mb/s Korea, Republic of
  
• 18.17 Mb/s Aland Islands
  
• 17.38 Mb/s Japan
  
• 16.73 Mb/s Latvia
  
• 15.24 Mb/s Romania
  
• 14.76 Mb/s Lithuania
  
• 14.58 Mb/s Sweden
  
• 14.08 Mb/s Netherlands
  
• 13.99 Mb/s Andorra
  
• 13.77 Mb/s Bulgaria
  
• 12.28 Mb/s Moldova, Republic of
  
• 10.73 Mb/s Hong Kong
  
• 10.64 Mb/s Portugal
  
• 10.24 Mb/s Slovakia
  

and where is the US of A? Half the speed of Romania. 1/3 the speed of Korea. Makes you feel proud doesn't it?

29. 7.57 Mb/s United States (this speed is given to us by the media giants that control all we watch and listen to)

There's a list somewhere on the net with IQ levels by nation and it compares quite well with the list above.

 

Well, we did get to the moon first. So there!

FromThe Smirking Chimp

Our Founders Were NOT Fundamentalists

I wrote or posted something on this matter just the other day and this morning I found this well written and thorough post on the subject of Texas school boards/textbooks. When, oh, when will the Capital C Christians learn that you cannot re-write history? It's like Whack-a-Mole with these idiots.

I Like Ike

The thought struck me the other day that the Republicans seem to have forgotten President Eisenhower. They always refer to themselves as the Party of Lincoln, though Abe would never understand why they chose him. But among somewhat contemporary and heroic Republicans, there is only Eisenhower. But, they don't talk about Ike; are they embarrassed by him? I remember him quite well; I was only a young teenager when he took office and then he was my Commander in Chief for a few years of my time in the Navy. He had high approval ratings and yet the Republicans seem to ignore him. I turned to Wikipedia this morning and found this…

As President, Ike oversaw the cease-fire of the Korean War, maintained pressure on the Soviet Union during the Cold War, made nuclear weapons a higher defense priority, launched the Space Race, enlarged the Social Security program, and began the Interstate Highway System. He was the last World War I veteran to serve as U.S. president, and the last president born in the 19th century. Eisenhower ranks highly among former U.S. presidents in terms of approval rating. He was also the first term-limited president in accordance with the 22nd amendment.

Throughout his presidency, Eisenhower preached a doctrine of dynamic conservatism. He continued all the major New Deal programs still in operation, especially Social Security. He expanded its programs and rolled them into a new cabinet-level agency, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, while extending benefits to an additional ten million workers. His cabinet, consisting of several corporate executives and one labor leader, was dubbed by one journalist, "Eight millionaires and a plumber."

Yes, there it is. Ike was a Socialist! No wonder they won't mention him. It's also no wonder that I thought he was a darn good president. Especially when he tried to cut down the Department of War and warned us of the military industrial complex and their schemes. A warning we didn't heed. Did you know that he appointed Earl Warren to the post of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Republicans of today must froth at the mouth just thinking about that one!

Of course they, the Republicans, never mention Nixon or Joe McCarthy either. By the way, Ike didn't care much for Nixon. I told you he was a good guy! And probably the last decent Republican in the land.

A dilemna

I read this in the LA Times email...

(Mayor) Villaraigosa wants to eliminate between 1,200 and 2,000 more positions. His stance signals a more aggressive approach to the city's budget crisis.

 

And I'm sure this is happening in every city to a greater or lesser degree. You have to ask the question; where are the jobs for these people in the private sector? Answer: There are none. So they use unemployment benefits and pretty soon it will be food stamps. Then general welfare. House is lost. Homeless. Sure, that's a worst case scenario, but I do wonder if budget planners ever factor in those costs? 

Where's your Olympic spirit?

The Canadian police want to know - from the latimes.com

This is scary. I always thought of Canada as being a place of refuge if your political views here in the US of A attracted the same kind of attention you read about in the article. Oh, Canada...indeed. What's happening?

From Outta the Cornfield:

The New Confederacy of Dunces, Baggers, Birthers & Their Klan Leaders

Some good stuff here...though I still wonder why people who seem to be intelligent continue to use profanity when writing. I can understand it when it's verbal and immediate...but when you are writing you have plenty of time to find that perfect word to use. Just my observation.

From Rumproast

General public not as dumb as Broder

"I’m never going to pretend like I know more than the next person. I’m not going to pretend to be an elitist."

Well, she's doing that well. You could never accuse her of being elite. Dumb? Yes, you could say that.

What is it with people like her? For myself, I want the smartest guy/gal possible to be president. I want him or her to 'know more than the next person'. Unfortunately, and to our detriment, this is the most powerful nation on earth. With atom bombs. Thousands of them. (like you need more than one?) For a job like this we need someone with a high IQ. As high as possible. I know...once the IQ reaches a certain level they know enough to avoid being elected. But I think there should be an IQ standard for candidates. 120 or above. People who read. And are proud of it. People who think. Often. And she doesn't qualify.

When will she go away?

Don't ask me! Anything!

Another one of those irritating headlines...

New Poll Shows Support for Repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'
By DALIA SUSSMAN
But the wording of the question in a new New York Times/CBS News survey demonstrates the way people respond to polls.

I know I shouldn't let these stories bother me enough to post them here...but what else would I do with my grumpiness? I can vent here and then my wife sees a contented husband. It's free and it's easy, so I do it. Now, back to the story itself...when are we going to stop depending on polls for everything? It is the least accurate form of data gathering and yet we see it as some sort of Oracle. Presidents rise and fall on a poll? National policy is decided by a poll? Get real!

As a side note, I was in the Navy in the early sixties and there were homosexuals in our unit. No one had a problem with it. This policy should never have been in place and a persons sexuality is none of our business. Homosexuals should serve openly and proudly. The only ones that have a problem with this are politicians from the poorer states, where the Capital C Christians rule. That's also why they are poor. And uneducated. 

Boiling Mad!

Another headline that really irritates me!

 

How Christian Were the Founders?
By RUSSELL SHORTO
Conservative activists on the Texas Board of Education say that the authors of the Constitution intended the United States to be a Christian nation. And they want America's history textbooks to say so.

 

I'm a christian and I'm offended by these yahoos that want to change history. It wouldn't be a problem if Texas were the size of Delaware, but it isn't, so the national textbook publishers are quite willing to subvert history to make a sale and that sale will be for the whole nation; they won't publish a 'Texas Only' textbook. And those idiots on the Texas Board of Education know that. Creeps!

Just say No to No

I just had a revelation after reading the Google/high-speed internet story. It's no wonder that I'm such a curmudgeon. Those of us who were born in the late 30's and the 40's saw America grow into the world's greatest place to live. Now we are seeing the decline. And that makes us irritated. Health care was not an issue in the 1960's and we flew to the moon. We could do anything or so it seemed. Something happened in the 70's and you can make your own case here…but somehow greed became stronger than ever. This was time for the growth of the multinational corporation that have allegiance to no nation. (These are the same corporations that SCOTUS thinks are citizens) I am a curmudgeon because so many people refuse to see that we're slipping, have slipped. And we can't change until we realize that. This country needs that 'we can go to the moon' spirit again and as long as we have the Party of No dragging us back, we'll never get there. And the Democrats' have to change as well. They have to define what is petty and rise above it. Leave the No sayers behind.

Headlines

I was looking at the stories in the NYT email and hoping that the Times hadn't moved into their upcoming 'fee to read' mode. I have a feeling that won't last long. Although it may take awhile before the NYT says 'uncle'. It took them about a year before they realized that hiding the columnists behind a fee wall was not such a good idea. And on that same note, I see from the headline that eBook readers are showing reluctance to pay beyond the $9.99 price that was first established with the Amazon Kindle. Duh! Even $9.99 is far too much to pay when you think about the fact that there are no printing presses, paper and ink, and no transportation costs when you buy an eBook. They're making a bloody fortune at $9.99!

Then I read the story about Google deciding to pressure the ISP's with their high speed internet model that they will bless some city with. Imagine really high speed service…just like they have in other countries.

But there is this from the critics… "They say that by spending relatively small sums, Google would be, in essence, pressuring the telecommunications companies that provide broadband access to millions of American homes to abide by Google's rules."

Google's rules? Sounds like sour grapes and it hints at the fact that the telecom's want to choke the pipelines and charge us extra for anything that resembles high speed. And they want to control every 'pipe'. Google is working for us, the ordinary citizens, in this endeavor. Telecom's bad. Google good.

From Media Matters Action Network

My Tea-Stained Weekend

This is a fascinating article and well written. But...it starts with this,

The Tea Party movement, with its loud crowds and explicit signage, has been an intriguing force for months. Their rallies, protests, and townhall appearances have created a storm seldom seen in American history.

An intriguing force? A storm seldom seen? What if they had been ignored as they should have been, considering their numbers? Would we have seen any storm at all?

Stealing?

During the last few days of web wandering, I ran across some images and I probably stole them...so here I am giving them back.

From Rumproast

Heart-healthy snax edition

We don't need to worry about terrorists anymore...the enemy is already within the city gates.
Hmmm? Did I see a couple of Republican Senators in line for the Fried Butter?

An image...

aaa+aaa+aaa+lang..jpg (image)

Yes, I'm stealing pictures this morning. I'm feeling kind of lazy...click link above

From Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!

The Wingnut Defense of Monsanto

You really need to watch the movie, Food Inc. Then any reference to Monsanto takes on a whole new dimension. You can get it on Netflix and it's worth watching as it's not like so many documentaries; boring. This will engage you from the beginning and keep you engaged all of the way to the end. We're talking food here! Important stuff and Monsanto knew that awhile ago and made their play while we were doing something else. Something important I'm sure. Anyway, watch the movie and think about the SOTUS decision allowing corporations unlimited power to attract your vote and your Senator/Congressperson's vote. As if Monsanto needed more power...

Found

recoverystats1.jpg (image)

So much better than rhetoric....and provided by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
(Click on link above)

Shameful

Browsing as usual when I ran across this nasty piece of work from one of the Supremes.

"Questioning the Supreme Court and other government branches needs to stay within the range of fair criticism or "run the risk in our society of undermining institutions that we need to preserve our liberties," Justice Clarence Thomas said Thursday."

How dare he! For shame! And who decides what 'fair criticism' is? The court? And that bit about 'running the risk of undermining institutions et al' comes right from the playbooks of those who would take away our liberties, not preserve them!

Soap

Thoughts I had while taking a shower; Sarah Palin. For the past year she has taken a comedic role in my thoughts. She was funny! And she constantly said and did funny things. I mean, two or three times a week. Recently we got to read her email from when she was a part-time governor, about 3,000 messages, and they were also funny. Except for the parts where it was obvious that the 'First Dude' was taking on the role of governor without the benefit of an election. But now she is evil. No longer funny. If she stands on a stage this weekend with the fascists of the tea baggers, she has become evil simply by association. You would think that she would know better…wait, what was I thinking?

And I thought about the fact that the latest and most bought and paid for Supreme Court has once more decided that corporations are people. It was a huge stretch of the imagination to decide that many years ago and the stretch has not become any easier, but they did it! I mean, you really have to turn your brain off if you want to think that a corporation is a person and with the rights of a person when the correct view, the intelligent view, is that corporations don't have rights all…they have obligations. Duh! Think about it; is there one corporation, one only, that you can call a friend? Would you ask a corporation for advice? Never mind, I quit…it's all too obvious where those five justices get their pay.

Let us pray…for Tom

I've been hearing about Tom Tancredo once again; something I was hoping would never happen. But he's back and his recent speech at the tea baggers convention had everything in it that a fascist would love. I simply don't understand people like Tancredo; how can you wake up every morning just filled with hatred? And as he makes his way through the day he is constantly reminded that we live in a wonderfully diverse society, a society that he hates and with pure venom in every word he speaks. Everywhere he looks, he finds himself surrounded by people who do not look just like him nor do they speak or think, heaven forbid, like him. Doesn't he get it? This country was founded with diversity written right into our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution. Yet, he wants to drag us back to a time in the 17^th and 18^th centuries when religious zealots would control our every thought and action. He may not realize it, but our Declaration of Independence was also written to declare us free from our fellow citizens who would enslave us in a theocracy. People just like him. And sad but true…his hate speech is protected by our Constitution. But it doesn't mean that we have to listen.

Game On? From TPM

Talking Points Memo:

"House Republicans are poised to run in 2010 on slashing or abolishing the two most popular federal government programs -- Social Security and Medicare."

Sounds like a winner to me.

Abolish 12th grade

Utah senator says - The Denver Post

Think about it...he was elected and he is supposedly going to be easily re-elected. What does that tell us about the voters? He is scary but the voters terrify me.

From Helloooo...... Mr. President, are you listening??

GOP, thy name means HYPOCRISY:

"The war in Iraq that will eventually cost between 2 and 3 trillion, NOT paid for; Hundreds of Billions in tax cuts for the top 1%, NOT paid for; prescription drug bill written by the drug and insurance companies costing 400 billion over 10 years, NOT paid for; over 700 Billion TARP bailout by the Bush administration with NO strings attached, NEVER to see any of that money returned..... ALL under GW Bush. This my friends is the reality."

Why, oh why aren't Democrats pushing this message. It's all true, so there is no good reason for them not beat the Party of No over the head with it. The Republicans wouldn't hesitate to do it to them if the shoe were on the other foot...but it isn't and never has been.
So why can't President Obama fix a devastated economy in his first year in office? Because the Party of No took eight years to create the devastation. That's why. And they refuse to help now when it's needed.

New

I decided to open another blog. I know, I know…I have far too many already and plenty that are underused. Some, I setup for others that don't know how to create and manage blogs but they soon died. Not the people, but their interest. I suppose I could close those and who would know? If they ever noticed that their blog was gone I could blame it on Blogger. Something technical. It would be nice if Blogger had a closet to put these things then I wouldn't be having this conversation with myself.

Anyway, back to the new blog. It can be found at http://stevespeppers.blogspot.com/

Don't

Don't Call It a "Defense" Budget | World | AlterNet

Just wondering...is there any chance we could get couple of text books for the local school out of that money before it's spent? Our text books were printed in 1996 and it would be great if you could find us a little something in that budget for us. You can't? It's all 'vital' for our defense and every dollar counts? Okay, sorry I asked.

Why?

Why I Am Not a Republican from Capital Gains and Games

Oh, why not...this poll has been all over the net and I just looked for the blog that had one that was easiest to read. I guess this ties in in some way with a study I read the other day where the the US of A has an average IQ of 98, placing us at #18 among the nations of the world. Sad. Yes, it is our education system that provides us with poll results like this and the IQ levels of a lesser nation. And we are cutting our budgets for education once again. Go figure...I guess it's another plot by that foreign socialist President of ours who was only elected with the help of the commie ACORN organization. By the way, did you know he was going to steal our guns as well?

Let’s Eat!

The world is getting to me. Overwhelming me. I saw the movie Food Inc. last night and was revolted by what I saw. Because I'm retired and have a computer, some time and a natural curiosity, I've been aware of this stuff for years but I've always kept it in the back of my mind and tried to avoid thinking about it too much. And now, after watching the movie, I have to wonder why this story has never made the front pages. Where are the responsible journalists? Or is that an oxymoron? The scope of power that these corporations have is overwhelming. Multinational corporations; the kind of corporations that the Supreme Court now allows complete freedom to say whatever they want, as if they were 'people'. What irony; as I saw in the movie, the Food libel laws, also known as food disparagement laws and informally as veggie libel laws, are laws passed in 13 U.S. states that make it easier for food producers to sue their critics for libel. So now you can't even criticize the food you eat.

I live in an agricultural county and I have seen the power of the Ag community. Nothing happens in this county without their approval. And now I see that one of the Ag giants has taken over the rice dryers a few miles from here; they have their name painted up high on the face of the dryers. And I have to imagine that they now control all the rice production in the county. Could I be wrong? Sure, they just came to town to buy one little part of the food chain. Yes, indeed!

Is there any good news in this…yes, Polyface Farms and they don't care what you call them. They aren't afraid of the public's opinion of them. If only their farm was close by and not 3,000 miles away…if only.

 

See this from Wikipedia…

See this from Polyface Farms…

Something I read

In our small town, population 10,000, there are 27 churches at last count. Why? Shouldn't there be just one? And why do they not like one another?

I don't know if God exists, but it would be better for His reputation if He didn't.
- Jules Renard

I know that God exists, but sometimes I agree with Jules.

California's independent streak

From the - latimes.com

Good article points out that every independent voter takes power away from the political parties. A good thing. Without 'puppets' to manipulate, the parties will have to listen to real people, people who think for themselves. Go independent!

One more rant

As long as I'm in a ranting mood, I should continue and I found one little article in the Economist all about cuts to education budgets everywhere…and I mean everywhere and not just in Glenn County, California and the US of A. Every government is looking at making cuts to their education budgets. Once again, governments, both good and bad are in the hands of incompetents. If you were a surgeon, would you cut off one hand when times were tough and you needed to save money? If you were a carpenter, would you sell your hammer to make it through the hard times? Of course you wouldn't. In every case, education is already seriously underfunded and how can anyone, in our case, Schwarzenegger, sell the hammer and cut off the hand? Education is the fuel for our economic engine. Without it we retreat to darker times and that's where we will stay unless we change that decision. Facts are facts and the US of A is nowhere near the top in the list of tax rates for countries. We are quite comfortably somewhere near the middle. We are not over taxed at all. But we are in the hands of incompetents and fools. Fools who hide their idiocy by declaiming that we are, instead, over taxed because that's something that the public loves to hear! Ear candy! But it is another lie. And sadly, education is the current victim of the liars.

Liar, Liar…pants on fire

Last week's Economist had a great article on Big Government and why we should not hate it. Sure, it's fashionable to ridicule the government, any government, yet we cannot do without them. Government is the glue for our society and without it, chaos would ensue. Duh! In our society, we are aided by the many actions of government from the moment we take our first breath till the moment of the last one. And, except for a few of the uneducated crazies, we love it that way. So government isn't the problem at all, it's whoever is running the darn thing. The leader and his crew are the ones we need to hold accountable. Then the article goes on to point out that Republicans have been responsible for the largest government growth since Ronald Reagan started it with an almost 190% increase in the size of government! Incredible! And this was from the man who constantly ridiculed 'government' while building his own empire of deceit. George the First, his predecessor, continued this pattern until Clinton took it down into the range of less than 40% growth. Dubya, of course, turned it around and ran the increase numbers into the stratosphere while using the Reagan model of deceit. The numbers are there, there is no way for the Republican lawmakers to deny them…but they do. Every day, they turn to the memory of Ronny and pray before heading off to do 'His' work. I guess I am just tired of the lies and deceit…I should get used to it.

Random words from my journal…

Boo the Magic Cat has been doing a great job in the area of pain relief and mood altering. She's almost the equivalent of a dose of any anti-depressant. Unfortunately, she has become a one person, one family kind of cat. At the sound of the doorbell or a knock on the door , she makes a dash for a hiding place, usually under our bed. I've dragged her out and tried forcing face to face interviews with other humans but it is very apparent that I'm in danger of being shredded by her claws as she desperately tries to leave my arms.

The weekend is over and I'm getting ready, in my mind, for a 'new me'. I need to start a walking program and do it soon. I'm almost a week post-op now and the pain is easily manageable. There are no reasons for me not to walk and a million reasons why I should. Okay, rain might be a reason to avoid the stroll, but only if it is pouring.

I'm really doing well on my art projects now and can hardly wait to start another. I need to have a dozen going at once or I'm frustrated. Although I have not been able to (physically) do any gourd art lately, it has not been gone from my mind. And we harvested a new crop of gourds and they are drying out on the patio. Plus, I've found seeds for all sorts of gourds and I think we'll have a great harvest next year. Varied. The grandchildren are going to help in this by taking care of the seedlings for me in their parent's greenhouse. It's an old greenhouse that came with the house, but what a luxury! It's probably 30' long and 10' wide. More than enough room for the few seedlings we'll put in there.

Since I'm feeling so much better now it is time for me to move my acrylics and sundry other items out to my 'studio' in the garage. The table in the family room was cramped and completely inadequate for the projects I had in mind and was working on…but it was pure heaven during all the days that I could not go far at all because of the pain. I could work on something for ten minutes and then head back to my chair to recuperate. Half an hour later I was up and back in my 'indoor studio' for another ten minutes. It was slow but it worked. And now it is time to move to a space that will allow me to work on the 20"x30" illustration board that I bought recently. I'm all about bigger canvas! I'm using the word 'canvas' here to denote anything at all where you place your art. Once I'm well enough to handle the saw and large pieces of wood, my canvases will be much larger.

A quote I really like

I saw this in the NY Times and said to myself...this guy needs to be in charge of his party. Get rid of the 'No' guy and put this man in charge. The country needs responsible politics.

"We can’t be just about saying no. But we have not completed the transition yet from defeated incumbent party. We have to position ourselves as an alternative and create enthusiasm for our positions."
CHRISTOPHER C. HEALY, the chairman of the Connecticut Republican Party.

Tom said what?

Getting better. I know it's weird, but I only had two Norco yesterday and the same with Dilaudid and Zanaflex. That's worth a celebration and I may do that! I'm not counting the Neurontin and Ibuprofen I take because those are prescribed and mandatory, the others, the narcotics, are only to be taken when needed. And I didn't need!

I received the second seed catalog of the season yesterday and I was impressed. I mean really impressed! It came from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds of Bakersville Missour-uh. The photography was exceptional and the variety of seeds is overwhelming. My son-in-law and daughter have an old greenhouse and it would be a great place to do 'starts'. Hmmm? I wonder if the grandkids would be my helpers? Anyway, back to the catalog; throughout the catalog, quotes that are relevant to the food supply and the pressures of our present day are sprinkled here and there. I found one that I really liked beneath a photo of a Moon and Stars Melon; Thomas Jefferson said "The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government." Did you catch that? 'The care of human life and happiness…the first and only…'. Why that sounds like 'socialism' to me, or 'socialism' as Republicans like to define it. Apparently, Thomas Jefferson was a closet socialist and even then, over 200 years ago, was certainly scheming to ruin the good life that we know today. As the Tea Baggers say, 'the only good socialist is a dead one…' and Thomas is certainly that; dead. Yes, even among the fruits and flowers, there are bits of wisdom.

I'm not a paid representative of Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds – honest, I'm not! But they are certainly worth looking at on the web. And for the two of us to enjoy, they have just opened their second store in Petaluma and that's a day trip for us. (Maybe two days if we feel like it.) They bought an old bank in downtown Petaluma and barely remodeled it. All of the marble and stone of an old bank are still there and look great now that all the grime has been cleaned away. Of course I'm only seeing photos of it and really need to see it up close. In the meantime, I'm enjoying the catalog and taking notes.

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

News from me

An update on my surgery…

 And many thanks to all for your concerns!

Surgery!

Up to date info on my other life…

A Quest

to End Spending Rules for Campaigns - NYTimes.com

I'm absolutely shocked...this man is insane. Really...

This is the man that just sold the United States to corporations.

From Liberal Values

» South Carolina Lt. Governor Says Needy Children Are Like Stray Animals And Should Not Be Fed

Is it the water in South Carolina or the schools?

I just wish his grandmother had been a little more careful about that 'breeding' thing he spouts about.

Tom Tomorrow

and This Modern World »

Blog Archive » TMW2010-01-06colorlowres

More comics and this one is a classic Tom Tomorrow

Tom Tomorrow

and This Modern World » Comics!

Parallel Earth & Pat Robertson

Red State?

Socialism?

Funny how those 'Red Stater's' who complain about Obama's so-called socialism are the the first to take the Federal aid. Have they no pride? Of course not.

Funny thing about socialism and how the Wingnuts define it. They completely ignore the fact that all nations are socialistic at their core. Without socialism we would have no armies and no postmen. No policemen and no firemen. No one to pave the streets. No parks and no libraries. I could go on but why bother? The Wingnuts are simply silly...but sadly dangerous because of their ignorance. Yet 'socialism' gave them schools to attend; perhaps they played hooky a lot?

Another from the CN&R

From the Edge

Mr. Porter, as always, does a great job with a very small space.

From the Chico News and Review

Guest Comment: The U.S. and Haiti

The Chico News and Review, though quite small, is the best newspaper in the North state. It comes out once a week and on Fridays I go to Cal Java to enjoy a small latte while reading. I'm rarely disappointed in the content and this guest commentary got my attention this week as I knew a little something of the sad history of Haiti.

I think I was 12 when I read about the rebellion that was led by Toussaint L'Ouverture and Henri Christophe. It was a tale of carnage and just what a 12 year old would enjoy. I hadn't made the connection in my mind that these were real people and they were spilling real blood; not yet.

And it was 5 years later, during the time of 'Papa Doc', that I read some more and learned the history of our invasion and occupation of the island...20 years! can you believe it? Terribly true. As was 'Papa Doc' himself. His son, 'Baby Doc' carried on the family tradition of theft and terror while we continued to support them.

And after all those years of our repressing the citizens of Haiti and aiding the dictators, for someone like Pat Robertson or Rush Limbaugh to criticize that nation...well, it should be criminal for people that stupid to express an opinion of any kind.

Winners and Whiners

Everyone is upset about the SCOTUS decision to hand over the keys to the nation to corporations. Okay, not everyone is unhappy. The US Chamber of Commerce, traitors all…they welcomed the decision. Also your Senator and mine are quite happy with the deal as all they have to do now is please the right corporation and the campaign for election/reelection will be handled for them. The same will apply to our Congresspersons. In fact all law making will become a slam dunk. Who's going to complain to the guy operating the steamroller? And it won't just be a national issue, bad enough that that is, but corporations will take on the state and local governments as well. Why not? The money is unlimited as over 70% of all corporations pay no taxes at all. And with corporations owning the lawmakers, that will soon be 100%. You might also want to remember that majority of the largest corporations are multinationals with their interests and stockholders from nations other than ours and with different agendas. Think about it.

But there is a way out of this…if every American will give $10 to a fund to fight this, we can do battle against the corporations. What do you mean you don't have $10 to spare? Sigh…

Wondering

Money can extinguish intrinsic motivation, diminish performance, crush creativity, encourage unethical behavior, foster short-term thinking, and become addictive. (Daniel H. Pink)

 

How much $$$ was given to the majority of the black robed crooks? Given the unreal decision by SCOTUS, shouldn't someone be looking at their bank accounts or real estate holdings? The FBI? Just wondering.

From MadMikesAmerica:

Politics - America: No Longer the Greatest Nation in the World

Well written and sadly true...

And now with the Supreme Court decision to allow corporations unlimited campaign spending, the nation will belong to them. To milk dry. Doesn't the court understand that corporations do not have any interest in the well being of the citizens? They only love our wallets. Plus, most of the larger corporations are multinational which means they have no interest whatsoever in our nation. With Americans being the sheep that they are, the corporate political ads will lead them right where the corporations want them. Voting for their interests, their candidates and their legislation. No, I haven't offended any 'sheep'...they rarely read.

From Citizen K.

What They Think It Means

You have to read this and then take the link over to William Greider's piece from the The Nation.

What?

Headline this morning…G.O.P. Senate Victory Stuns Democrats

 

It didn't take me more than a few seconds to process that and then say to myself. 'You have to be kidding! Stunned? If the Democrats didn't see this coming when they allowed Martha to be the candidate they are dumber than a sack full of hammers. They are dumber than…than…Sarah Palin!" Further processing, maybe a full ten seconds worth, and I came up with the realization that we are really in trouble if Martha is a sample of how smart the Democrats are and if John McCain and Gidget von Braun Quittypants represent the best the Republicans can come up with. Intelligence, folks! We want intelligence. We need intelligence and not cunning. I still believe we have an intelligent President, which is really a relief, but I do believe he needs to have some intelligent aides. He really isn't supposed to do it all, that's a myth. But he is responsible for it all and that why he needs intelligent people on his side. He obviously doesn't.

Here’s to your Health

Is the health care bill dead? Will the Republicans come up with one of their own? Who knows and at this point I frankly don't give a damn. Our law makers have made fools of us once more. The Democrats never did care if it passed. I just want to hear the lame excuses from both sides in a few years when medical bankruptcies and deaths from lack of care make it into the headlines. "Sorry ma'am, your baby died."

But, in the meantime, being a concerned citizen, I found a way to have health care for all citizens and money enough to give us schools we can be proud of. It didn't take me long. I found the following statistics in the latest edition of Dissent, a very interesting news magazine.

"The United States accounts for nearly half of all the military expenditures of all countries in the world—41.5 percent as of 2008, according to the Stockholm International Peace Institute. China and Russia follow, with 5.8 percent and 4 percent, respectively. By some estimates, the United States spends more on its military than the next twelve nations combined. America devotes some 4 percent of its GDP to military expenditures, proportionally a bit more than Russia and a bit less than China—but far more than France or the United Kingdom, both of which devote around 2.5 percent. We are, in short, at the head of the pack in our contribution to worldwide military activity.

At the same time the United States stands virtually alone among wealthy democracies in not ensuring universal health care for its people. Its health outcomes, in matters like infant mortality and life expectancy, are mediocre to poor for any industrialized country—inferior in some respects to much poorer countries like Cuba, Greece, and Jordan. Its rate of high school completion is a lackluster nineteenth among countries of the world, with similarly undistinguished levels of academic achievement among schoolchildren. But when it comes to domestic mayhem and incarceration, America excels. It has astonishingly high rates of violent crime and the world's largest prison population—2.3 million. In the words of British criminologist Vivien Stern, the United States has become "a rogue state, a country that has made a decision not to follow what is a normal Western approach" to crime control. It sounds like a reverberation of this country's military stance."

The author of this article, James Rule, then proposes that we cut the military spending in half, leaving us far and away the largest armed force in the world. That would give us $300 billion to spend on something other than bombs and bullets. "…make vast resources available for more constructive purposes, ranging from universal medical coverage for Americans to investment in renewable energy to support of global initiatives to control of curable diseases in the world's poorest countries." And the list could go on and on and on. $300 billion is a lot of money. Just ask a defense contractor how much it is.

I know what I'm going to do and that is to write to my two Senators, Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee, and to the incomparable Wally Buffoon, my representative in Congress. And I'm going to ask them how it happened that this much pork could be allowed into our defense budgets and I'm going to ask them, what are they going to do about it? I know I will receive a form letter in response…"blah, blah, blah…thank you very much for writing to me. Blah, blah, blah." But I will feel better. At least I did something positive.

From Time Goes By

Saul Friedman: Press Conferences

An excellent article by Mr. Friedman who explains exactly why the press is not to be trusted, especially television news. He ought to know, as he is a respected journalist. And while it is a revealing article it is also a sad commentary. Why does our nation allow this pablum to be fed to us? How can a reporter be called a reporter if he or she won't ask the questions?

Reboot

The storm is raging and I have a feeling that more than a few trees will be down before it's over. The previous two days had plenty of rain to soak the ground and now with 40 to 50 mph gusts the trees will be popping out of the ground. Luckily, we have a snug and tight home and the fire is blazing, keeping us warm as the wind batters us. Speaking of the wind, the power went out earlier but only for a few seconds, just enough to get the clocks flashing and to shut down the computers – except for the fact that we finally have a UPS for each computer. And they worked perfectly; no blank screens and then rebooting and hoping that the computer wasn't damaged. I had a bad UPS experience many years ago with an expensive and faulty one; I wasn't eager to do that again so for years I have simply plugged the power cords into the wall sockets and prayed, but the price for a UPS is finally down to a level where ordinary people can afford them. I paid $39 each at Amazon and that was for one in the middle of the price ranges; I could have had a cheaper one.

Our weather: http://www.wunderground.com/US/CA/Orland.html

From the Redneck Liberal:

Wealth Distribution for the Rich and Famous: Part II.:

"It is sobering to realize that over 14 million American households live on $15,000 or less per year."

Very sobering indeed. But, I'm certain that a Conservative Wingnut can explain to me how it's all the fault of those 14 million. They just weren't trying hard enough.

(How times have changed. To show you how old I am, when I was 14 I was helping my aunt and uncle landscape their new house in the upscale part of the San Fernando Valley; Tarzana. And during the time I was there, I found out that my uncle, who was head of advertising for US Steel, was making $12,000 a year. From that date on, that $12,000 number became my goal; I was going to make that amount, maybe even more once I grew up and had a career.)

Dissent

The Magazine:

"...in important ways most people in other wealthy, industrialized countries have a better chance of flourishing than Americans do. I’m thinking of universal health care; good schools; access to social services; much lower rates of violence, especially murder; much less poverty, child poverty, and homelessness; safe jobs at decent wages; dignified support for single mothers; more leisure time; less unwanted pregnancy and childbearing; and less religious folderol."

Great article on how "Patriotism' blinds us to the facts.

From Fox Home:

Why No Aid Distribution in Haiti

More on Haiti.

"Remember people, so called primary media reporting by U.S. A. sorts for U.S.A. outlets must be regarded as extremely unreliable sources for providing your information needs -- until proven otherwise."

Of course they are. If you want to know what's really going on in the world you must look to something other than 'talking head' news - film at eleven' types. Main stream media is the propaganda arm of the government and must always be viewed with suspicion.

Table for Two

I was reading the headlines and the thought struck me – once again, that it's Party politics that are to blame for all of our woes. If Brown wins in Massachusetts and goes on to be the Senate vote that kills the health bill, he will also be ignoring the somewhat less than the majority of the voters in that state. Yet he will claim to be representing all of the voters when he casts that vote. As do all Senators and Congresspersons. None, on either side, have a 99.9% majority. And none represent all of the voters in their state or district. But they all claim that to be true. Their only loyalty is to the 'Party'. I guess that's why I'm an independent voter. Nobody represents me. Now isn't that great? Not. But…if we were all independent voters, they would have to listen to us. Try it; unburden yourself from Party membership and set yourself free!

But first, before we destroy the Party system and liberate our votes, we have to destroy the lobbying industry. I read that lobbyists are now refusing to register as lobbyists because of the rules that restrict them and they are going underground. This means that the FBI will have to hire an army of new agents just to police the lawmakers and their new 'friends'. All the restaurants in DC will have to remodel so that they have private 'dining booths' to surround the lawmakers and their 'friends'. Is this a great country or what?

Haitians Pray

Cry for Help | theledger.com | The Ledger | Lakeland, FL:

"The Geneva-based aid group Doctors Without Borders put it bluntly: "There is little sign of significant aid distribution."The 'major difficulty,' it said, was the bottleneck at the airport, under U.S. military control. It said a flight carrying its own inflatable hospital was denied landing clearance and was being trucked overland from Santo Domingo, almost 200 miles away in the Dominican Republic, delaying its arrival by 24 hours.

French, Brazilian and other officials had earlier complained about the U.S.-run airport's refusal to allow their supply planes to land. A World Food Program official told The New York Times that the Americans' priorities were out of sync, allowing too many U.S. military flights and too few aid deliveries."

Why?

Polls

Why don't we spread these numbers around more often? Or, maybe we should hide them and not let anyone ever see them.

 

Job Approval Approve Disapprove Spread

Obama 47.6% 45.8% +1.8%

Congress 27.3% 66.8% -39.5%

 

Does anyone else think we spend way too much time on polls? Why are we governing by polls? It's really dangerous and I don't think enough research has been done on it. But it seems simple enough; if you have enough sheep, they will see the numbers above for the first time and then a day or so later, they are quizzed. Will they buck the trend? Of course not! Sheep don't like to be alone and so the numbers will drop for that poll. And then again and again.

Not to mention that polls are notorious for leading the sheep to the answer that the pollster wants. This makes all polls suspicious. And dangerous.

We've got weather...

It looks like we have a whole week of wet weather...which means nothing at all in some parts of the US. 'So what?' they say. But we're still looking at another year of drought so this is very nice.

And then this from a Special Weather Statement...

Significant snow is likely in the mountains with several feet of snow around the 5000 foot
elevation... and 10 feet or more over the higher Sierra Nevada by next Saturday. The combination of heavy snow and very windy conditions will impact travel into the high country.

Doctor

With all of the medical problems and the surgeries I've had the fun of attending, it's only logical that I would spend a lot of time researching these things. And in my search, I've run across a few forums dedicated to the medical problems that interest me. Wow! The problems that people have are simply staggering at times and make for difficult reading. Even when I discount the stories by 10% for exaggeration, the medical problems are immense. And what's worse, so many of the problems tell stories of doctors refusing to treat and of hospitals letting patients wait for 10 hours or more in the emergency rooms. The forums are the only place where most can tell their stories; where they vent. The medical establishment doesn't want to hear it.

Of course I had to wonder how many of those complainers voted for republicans? Republicans who can't even suggest a health plan because they like it the way it is.

Cuppa Tea

On my third cup of tea now and struggling a little with the pain as I sit here. I’m not sure, but I think a few minutes in the recliner will help. Isn’t that a shame? 69 years old and I’m using a recliner more often than ever. I’m disgusting. But…did I mention that I recently sold an art piece? That makes me an artist – officially! One of the gourds that I had displayed at the Plant Barn finally sold. And Denise says that there is a ‘looker’ at another one of my pieces. If I sold two, there would be no doubt as to my second career; I’m an artist! I can’t make a living from it, but it is fun. And rewarding.Alas, I can’t do any gourd art right now because of the ‘standing and sitting’ issue in a cold garage studio and so I have moved inside with my acrylics and watercolors. I now have a cramped little studio in our family room, close to the woodstove, and that’s a bonus, plus I can get up and move around every five or ten minutes and that works out fine as I need to let things dry. Acrylic dries fast and after a brief time away for pain relief I can get right back to my work. Right now I’m painting on everything; I’m using 140# CP watercolor paper, Masonite, canvas, Yupo and 300# CP illustration board. Since the ‘studio’ consists of a round dining room table with no leaves in it, I’m forced into the smaller sizes for my work. But that’s good. I’m always tempted to do art on a grand scale and these tiny surfaces make you think a lot about the details. There was a sale the other day on 8”x10” canvas frames, 10 of them for $15 and I grabbed them. There’s a project waiting to happen! And then I received some art materials from Cheap Joe’s and ended up with a problem; I had ordered 5 pieces of illustration board and they had sent me 25 and they all have a ‘ding’ and a wrinkle on one corner where the box was dropped. Anyway, Cheap Joe’s was notified and now I wait for an answer. I’m not in a hurry as the illustration board is 22”x30” and overwhelms my workspace. I’ll be glad when the surgery and recuperation are over with and I can get back to my real studio.
The pain I’m dealing with was aggravated the other day when I went out to the garden to harvest this year’s gourd crop which will become art projects this summer. After ten minutes of harvesting I was done! But it was almost worth it as it was a sunny day and I hadn’t been outside in the garden for such a long time! I can hardly wait for summer.

Quotes

I keep a list of quotes I like and for some reason these three showed up at the top of the list…random.

 

"The two symbols of the Republican Party: an elephant, and a big fat white guy who is threatened by change.  - Seth MacFarlane

 

"I'll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office." --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., May 12, 2008

"Stop throwing the Constitution in my face. It's just a god-damned piece of paper!" — President George W. Bush

10 Convicts

Presumed Innocent After Execution

Notice how Texas leads the nation in this category.

Execution is vengeance and is never punishment. It never deters crime and only dehumanizes those who practice it. Civilized nations never use it.

Why ?

Israel humiliated Turkey in response to a TV show

I can see why there won't be peace in the Middle East...they've run out of adults to manage things.

A lower chair? Oh my! And they don't like criticism either? So, despite their rhetoric, Israel must not be a free country where people are allowed to have opinions. I'm surprised that the Turkish ambassador didn't turn around and walk out.

Darn Facts!

Once again I was browsing and found this little gem. It's from the CIA World Fact Book

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2004rank.html

Top countries in per person income:

1 Liechtenstein $ 118,000

2 Qatar $ 111,000

3 Luxembourg $ 81,200

4 Bermuda $ 69,900

5 Norway $ 59,500

6 Kuwait $ 57,500

7 Jersey $ 57,000

8 Singapore $ 51,600

9 Brunei $ 51,300

10 United States $ 47,500

11 Ireland $ 45,500

From Beat the Press Archive

The American Prospect

I am always a fan of NPR and so I was very upset to read this. The Peterson Foundation is pure evil and to give them any air time to talk about the economy is like giving the Hell's Angels air time to comment on law enforcement.

Why?

The health care fight goes on and once again I'm simply baffled by the Republicans. Didn't they go to the same schools as the rest of us? Didn't they have to study the Constitution as the rest of us did? Were they asleep during that part of class? Or, perhaps it's a genetic thing; they're missing a vital gene, the one that would allow them to care for their fellow Americans. Here we are, down to the wire on the health care and there is still no alternate health care bill from the Republican side. They simply want to defeat this bill and then go back to sleeping or whatever they do instead of working for you and me. So, that tells me that they think the status quo is just fine. Why would they think that being in last place in health care among the wealthy nations is OK? Why would they think that it's OK for hundreds of thousands of American citizens to go bankrupt because of medical bills? Why is it OK for this nation to pay the very most for health care (and drugs) and still be in last place among the wealthy nations? Why Why? Why?

Funny; they have never answered those questions. Never. Ever. It's really simple…ANSWER THE QUESTIONS!

Breezy?

I keep an eye on the Lake Tahoe weather. Not because we live there or are planning to visit soon. The lake is just an icon in this part of California and we have lots of great memories from times past at the lake. So when I heard that we were going to get some rain tomorrow I decided to check the Tahoe weather.

 

Tonight

Breezy. Cloudy with a slight chance of rain and snow. Snow level 7000 feet. Lows 21 to 31. Southwest winds 10 to 15 mph with gusts up to 30 mph. Ridge gusts up to 75 mph increasing to 95 mph after midnight.

Tuesday

Very windy. Snow and rain likely in the morning...then snow and rain in the afternoon. Snow level 6500 feet lowering to lake level. Snow accumulation 1 to 3 inches at lake level. Highs 34 to 44. Southwest winds 20 to 35 mph with gusts up to 45 mph. Ridge gusts up to 115 mph.

Tuesday Night

Windy with snow. Lows 18 to 28. Southwest winds 20 to 30 mph decreasing to 10 to 20 mph after midnight. Gusts up to 45 mph. Ridge gusts up to 100 mph decreasing to 55 mph after midnight.

Yikes!

Spring, anyone?

It's time. I've put it off and I shouldn't have. I need to order this year's tomato seeds. Just doing that will erase the winter fog from my brain and make spring a reality and not just a distant hope. I'm using the Tomato Growers Supply catalog this year and although I've been warned, I may try to grow just a couple more tomato types than last year. Maybe some bush tomatoes as they don't take up the space that the big caged tomatoes do. Not that space is really a problem, the garden is potentially 100'x30' and I'm only growing gourds on the majority of that space. They don't mind a little company. The problem is the harvest. We love tomatoes, but last year we were overwhelmed at times. There were tomatoes on the sink, on the counter, in baskets and more on the vine. The freezer still has a good number of sauces and whole tomatoes in it. We don't want to repeat that experience and since this is tomato growing country, it's hard to find someone to give them to.

So space isn't a problem and I've identified the harvest as one problem; it's also ambition, and these darn catalogs feed the fire of that ambition. But I may have a solution; my son-in-law had a large garden last year and I heard that he wanted to increase the size of it this year. Plus, he has a greenhouse. I may be able to talk him into growing a few of the more spectacular tomatoes from the catalog. Good idea! I can even get the grandkids to help me…

Back to the gourds…I have a pile of gourd seed packets here on the table and I'm already anxious to get them into the ground. The catalog made me do it. Crazy. I haven't even harvested last year's crop. They have to stay out in the garden to dry and to acquire the fantastic patina that only weather and mould will give them.

I'm an artist and gourds are a part of that. No, I don't do painted gourd birdhouses or other gourd craft. They're fine for some people and I'm not that good of an artist to say that my work is any better than that; my art is simply different. As are my watercolors and acrylics. Different.

Mr. Tapscott

Back in the days of old, when I was thirteen, all of the children in Jr. High School had to pass what was known as the Constitution Test. I don't know about the other states, but in California, you did NOT pass on to high school until you had successfully completed this exam. We all feared this exam as we couldn't imagine not going to High School and the subject was difficult enough to make that a distinct possibility. One part, in fact it was Part One, was the memorization of the Preamble. (Yes, I had passed. But barely…I don't do 'memorization'.) That all said, you would think that fifty plus years later I would still have some memory of that traumatic event in my life. But no, I had forgotten all about the Preamble, which really is the backbone, the foundation for all that follows. Without the Preamble, the rest of the words are just words.

Then I read the editorial in our local alternative press. It was good. Very good. And all of the Preamble memories came back to me – minus the sweating of course. In this editorial he uses the great essay of a Mr. Bangs Tapscott for the foundation of his writing. Of course I wanted to know more about Mr. Tapscott and so I did a Google search, hoping that he might have time for blogging in his retirement. No luck, but I did find a letter that I think he wrote back in 2003. Even if it wasn't the same Tapscott, it's a great letter and applicable today, seven years later.

 

Here's the links…

 

http://www.newsreview.com/chico/content?oid=1349722

 

http://brendancalling.com/2003/04/14/92581427/

Quoted

School days, I believe, are the unhappiest in the whole span of human existence. They are full of dull, unintelligible tasks, new and unpleasant ordinances, brutal violations of common sense
and common decency. (H. L. Mencken)

Amazing

Every once in awhile I allow myself some wonder…so I was browsing the internet as usual and going from one good link to the next, adding RSS feeds to my already overburdened Sage Reader when I suddenly realized…Wow! This is fantastic! There is so much information available here that it's enough to stagger you. Me. Sure, a lot of it is useless and plenty of it is deceitful, but it's all so very darn entertaining! For hours, I can enjoy my quest for entertainment while at the same time I am being educated. Don't laugh, there's plenty of education here and if you can't see it, you need to rethink your focus on life. Not a day should go by where you don't learn something and the internet delivers more than enough. What a wonderful time to be alive...it really is.

From Brain Rage

Brain Rage

A most enjoyable blog...

From The Washington Monthly

The Washington Monthly:

"She noted, for example, that Republicans are 'lying in a way that can be obviously, demonstrably, embarrassingly proven by anyone who has a spare 45 seconds and the Google.'"

This is what I don't understand. These Senators, these Congresspersons...from both parties embarrassingly enough, continue to lie at every opportunity and in an era where facts can be checked in a matter of seconds. How stupid are they? Or better yet, how stupid do they think we are? I'm insulted!

I could see it happening thirty years ago when it took a trip to the library and hours of research to discover that Congressman Jones was blowing smoke, but now it takes just a few seconds to discover his lies. And yet we continue to elect them. How stupid are we? Now I'm embarrassed as well as insulted.

All that aside, this is a good read.

News

With the New Year comes some boredom. Yes, I'm tired of the same old news and then the same old manipulation of the facts to suit whichever interest is paying for the news. Sir Rupert Murdoch pays for an awful lot of the news these days and he's never been shy about what his plans are when it comes to sharing his vision of how his adopted country should be run. Fair and unbiased? Not!

 

I found this little of bit of news about the meeting that Sir Rupert held with President Obama and Roger Ailes, the head of Fox News.

"…Obama resented Fox News's portrayal of him "as suspicious, foreign, fearsome – just short of a terrorist," while Ailes said "it might not have been this way if Obama had more willingly come on the air instead of so often giving Fox the back of his hand."

 

So, if the President behaved as they wanted him to, then they would stop portraying him in a bad light. Amazing! Sure sounds like blackmail to me, but if I were a Fox viewer I suppose I would think of it as ferreting out the truth. That's what they would tell me to think.

 

In 1999, The Economist reported that Newscorp Investments had made £11.4 billion ($20.1 billion) in profits over the previous 11 years but had not paid net corporation tax. It also reported that after an examination of the available accounts, Newscorp could normally have been expected to pay corporate tax of approximately $350 million. The article explained that in practice the corporation's complex structure, international scope and use of offshore tax havens allowed News Corporation to pay minimal taxes.

 

Well, if he didn't pay the $350 million, I wonder who did?

 

http://mediamatters.org/research/200912220030

From - Just my little piece of the world

10 Lessons for Tea Baggers, Hey Wing Nuts.. That Means YOU!:

"Conservative Republicans failed America over the past 30 years and did so without shame or apology using hypocrisy and false equivalency as tools of deciet and revisionist history."

A good article and filled with truth as opposed to the usual from the WingNuts. How do I know it's the truth? Because it comes with verifiable facts instead of loud and cheap rhetoric.

Embarrassing

I hope everyone gets to read the NY Times article about the rapid growth of food stamp use. Some headlines from that article…

 

About one in 50 Americans now lives in a household with a reported income that consists of nothing but a food-stamp card.

 

One in eight Americans now receives food stamps, including one in four children.

 

Such sad statistics, yet I'm really glad to see them in the news. World's greatest nation? No, simply an embarrassment. Superpower? I don't think so. How can you legitimize your power when more than 10% of your adult citizens are using food stamps and 25% of your children?

I wish the report had given us the number of service families that are on food stamps. Yes, those service men and women we claim to support have money problems just like the rest of us. Wearing a uniform and going to places like Afghanistan or Iraq does not mean that bills don't need to be paid. And yes, theses soldiers receive food stamps when needed and some need it right now. Shameful.

 

The article? I could have linked to it but didn't get around to it…you know how to find it.

From MadMikesAmerica

Dumb and Dumber

As I was wandering I came upon this cartoon and I enjoyed it...

Maybe I should keep a copy in my wallet for my republican friends to read anytime they spout off...

From Bob Cesca

McInerney Wants to Strip Search Muslims (Blacks)

Amazing! If this guy was able to fool the Air Force for as many years as it takes to become a general and then retire..how many others are just like him and are not retired? Now that is what would scare me! In fact it does...

(Strip search Muslims? The only religion you could identify with a strip search would be Mormons - you bozo!)

Evil

I was doing the usual thing I do at this hour, looking though the flotsam and jetsam that makes up the internet. And I ran across an AlterNet article, The Most Outrageous Media Comments of 2009 -- Glenn Beck Takes the Cake. I'm not going to link it here because I was nauseated by the content; if you want to read it, you know how to find it. I'm sure you already know what kinds of statements were made. Anyway, what I don't understand is this compulsion by those of the rightwing persuasion, the Republicans and other conservatives, to lash out in the most vile and ugly way. If I were a Republican, which I could have been back in the days of Eisenhower, I would be thoroughly ashamed of these people. Why aren't they being repudiated at the highest levels of the Republican Party? By Mr. Steele and others? Don't they have a responsibility to do that? Or is their silence a sign that they actually believe these ugly words? I know that the Left is not comprised of choirboys, but I don't remember any prominent Democrats making these kinds of statements. And I'm right. This is solely a problem of the Republicans and one that they should be ashamed of.

Just an idea

I was reading the headlines and noted that Elbo (as in 'doesn't know his...from his elbow') was in the hospital in Hawai'i and then I though some more...what if President Obama ordered up some flowers and then showed up at his bedside? Cool? I'm sure others have thought of it already, but it needs to happen...can you imagine the turmoil that would cause in that bloated windbags mind? He'd have to accept the flowers and the visit of course. But then, how would he explain it to his dittoheads? I guess he could tell them anything...they aren't bothered by facts or lack thereof.

New

A new post on my Short Laps blog

Resolutions?

I've wandered around the internet for a little while this morning and I noticed one thing missing; New Year's Resolutions. Oh, I'm sure they are out there, it's just that I didn't spot any in my first ten minutes of surfing. I think it's a good sign. The Resolutions just filled up space that could have been put to better use. But…I must offer one up, a sincere one. I resolve to be less of a curmudgeon this coming year. Despite the fact that I displayed some of that trait just a few sentences back. There's nothing wrong with being a grouch…it has its place. I just have to curb myself and enjoy others doing the griping. If I can.