BettyPehme - an art blog

BettyPehme: "-

I ran across some of her work a few months ago and was very impressed. We exchanged emails just a little bit ago and I was directed to her new blog. I'm still impressed, maybe even more so...

Now I have to get busy and clean up my own art blog...

Getting old...

Wally Herger is getting old. He has held his safe seat in Congress for 24 years now and we pay him $174k a year (plus benefits) to do whatever it is that he does. And that is always what the Republican leadership tells him to do. Nothing else. This year he is being challenged by Jim Reed, a centrist Democrat with little funding from the Democratic Party and no hope of unseating Wally. Mr. Reed has challenged Wally to debate and Wally refuses. Then, Mr. Reed intimated that Wally might be showing early signs of Alzheimer's. (Based on stories he had read in a local newspaper) OMG! You would think that a bomb had gone off...how dare he say that! Of course it was actually a kind thing to say and Wally should take the time to see a doctor and make sure of his health. He should do it for us. After all, his idol, Ronnie, spent the last 4 years of his Presidency in the haze of Alzheimer's and perhaps Wally wouldn't want to do the same. We certainly don't want him to...

What I found unsettling was the reaction of everyone to the word 'Alzheimer's'. Mr. Reed didn't say 'Syphilis'. Or Gonorrhea. Alzheimer's can strike anyone, it's very 'democratic' in that way. And avoiding the word won't make it go away. And avoiding a debate on specious grounds makes it seem that this particular disease might have found another victim.  

PolitiFact

Obama says most job losses occurred before his economic policies took hold:

Yes; four million jobs lost by the Republicans. Now that we're regaining some jobs, the 'people' want to go back to that business model. Go figure. I'm baffled...

U.S. Economic Growth

Picks Up Slightly : NPR:

See the graph? Way down at the bottom is the date where Bush left us. Yet here we are (but not me!) ready to elect the same crooks that got us into this mess. Why on earth would you elect Republicans again after what they did to you? And will do to you again. Guaranteed.

Once again

The silliest of seasons is upon us; it's midterm election time and although I may have started out by calling it 'silly' it is far from it this year. Those who wish to harm America are out in force this time around and are doing whatever it takes to get themselves elected. Truly; I don't remember a time quite like this. Lies and liars abound on the far right. It's hard to find the truth spoken from the candidates of the rightwing.

I've been voting for a long time now and I will continue. I cannot concede a thing to these evil forces
idiots misguided citizens. It's truly an all-out assault on our intelligence this year as 'intellect' is something that the conservatives have always hated; as they know that an intelligent voter will never vote for the conservative agenda. Sure, there are intelligent 'conservatives' but this year they are being lumped together with progressives by those of the lunatic far right with a conservative mindset. With these people, there is no middle ground and so any conservative official who fails to buy into the tea party ideology is targeted for dismissal.

It's hard to believe, but it is almost 2011. A full decade into the 21^st century. And those idiots
fools that are fooled by the tea party ideology believe that it's still the 18^th century and we need to live as the Constitution dictates. Which it never did. Never has. But you can't tell these people anything. If they had their way, all the Amendments would be repealed. Especially the one regarding slavery. And women. They don't understand or read history, they simply parrot whatever the Koch brothers tell them via their stooges. Oh, if only they could read!

But they can't and so we're stuck with these idiots tea party types until this election cycle is over.

On the bright side…we will survive this assault on our liberties. Hoover was a tool of the rightwing. McCarthy, the drunken fool tried to ruin us and so did Nixon. Reagan and the two Bush's made devastating runs on our freedom but we're still here. If the Republicans take the reins of power again it will be only a short time before they are revealed as the true idiots
fools misguided leaders that they are. Or were. It's two steps forward and then one step back whenever the Republicans take over from a progressive administration. We're still making progress but it is so darn slow!

I'm hoping that the polls are wrong on some of these races and I have good reason to believe they are. I read an article recently which explained the trouble that pollsters are having; cell phones. Almost 30% of Americans have given up their land lines and pollsters hate to shell out the bucks to call you on a cell phone. So they are calling a large number of older citizens and these also happen to be the few who will even sit still for a poll. Most citizens under the age of 50 are quick to hang up when they are asked to be polled.. It's much older citizens that make up the sampling base so you can see the demographics being skewed in favor of conservatives and unfortunately, this is also the group that votes more often.

There is one poll number that I do like and that's the one that shows Jerry Brown leading over Meg Whitman. She does have more money yet to spend and spend it she will. She's certain that being governor is akin to being Empress and all will do as she says once elected. Not! She was a CEO once and everyone did have to obey her, but the legislators, a Democratic majority, will do as they please because she has no political skills…and she can't fire them.

Back to my painting. Writing about politics has soured me and I need to vent with some bold colors on a big scale!

"Race Tightening

In Final Days Before Midterm Elections" - from Liberal Values: "-

I thought this was well stated...

"Regardless of how the Republicans do, long term they cannot overcome the facts that their reactionary views are opposed by the vast majority of Americans. A party which requires supporters to believe so many things which are contrary to fact, which denies modern science, and acts contrary to human desires for individual liberty, will not thrive in the twenty-first century."

Once again

We fall behind. The US of A has fallen to 49th place in life expectancy. Ten years ago we were in 19th place. And during those ten years (7 under a Republican Administration) we spent more per year on health care than any other nation. Facts don't lie. Yet we seem poised to elect Republicans to high office once again. Are we stupid as well as in poor health?

Makes sense to me...

...the word algebra comes from the Arabic language (al-jabr, الجبر literally, restoration) and much of its methods from Arabic/Islamic mathematics, its roots can be traced to earlier traditions, most notably ancient Indian mathematics, which had a direct influence on Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī (c. 780-850). He learned Indian mathematics and introduced it to the Muslim world through his famous arithmetic text, Book on Addition and Subtraction after the Method of the Indians. He later wrote The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing, which established algebra as a mathematical discipline that is independent of geometry and arithmetic. The roots of algebra can be traced to the ancient Babylonians. (Modern Iraq)


I confess, I got a D in Algebra. But, the next year, I received a B in Geometry. Go figure. It's a Personality Type thing...


Anyway, I have a feeling that my youngest grandchildren won't have to worry about learning Algebra; not once the word is out that it's really a Muslim plot. I knew that...

From Corrupting Conservatives:

I'm Not Discouraged; I Am DISGUSTED

Even though I'm trying not to waste my time writing of things political; others do so much better! I ran across this post (link above) in my Feeds and really think it should be read by many. By all. Of course you have to read the whole thing! It's not that long and you will be a whole lot smarter when you finish...

Another weekend

And another 4+ miles. Plus the farmers market. And a trip to Lowe's and Home depot to see if I could get some very large pieces of cardboard. 'Ima Wizer' told me (comments in the last post) to start thinking and painting 'LARGE' and so I was going to try...but to no no avail. No cardboard at all. Now I have to look around town or perhaps I could contact Janet Turner (see the last post) and ask her where she buys it.

Since neither Lowe's nor Home Depot carry un-tempered hardboard, I had to buy some birch panels to make some 'canvas' to work on. But I really like these; much nicer to paint on as they can be scrubbed hard with the brush. Plus, I enjoy making the wooden frames to support them.

Early this morning (4:30) I was cutting up tomatoes and roasting them in preparation for making sauce. By 5:45 I had a pot full of juice, spices and garlic simmering on the stove. This afternoon we went out to the garden and picked another 20 or 30 tomatoes. Those will be sauce in a few days; except for the delicious 'Carbon' tomatoes...those go in the salads.

I did finish another painting and this one is also on birch ply. I really enjoyed painting it; putting heart and mind into the effort. It's titled Christmas 1944.

Back out to the 'studio'...I have another canvas calling me.

Last weekend

It was a good weekend. We started with our usual 4 mile walk in the park and then continued on to the farmers market, only an additional quarter mile. We browsed and enjoyed the sights of all the fall produce. We noted that tomatoes are really decreasing in price as the last of them hit the stands. There were tomatoes everywhere. It would be a good time to make some tomato sauce and I just happen to have three baskets of them from our own garden so there was no need to buy any. Finally, with a cup of freshly brewed coffee in my hand, we made our way back to the truck and drove home…only to return in just a few hours. Saturday also marked the second weekend of the Open Studios art tour and we wanted to see what was being offered to view in the local art world. We started with a visit to the home of Michael Mulcahey. His garage is his studio, much like mine, but he had his work lining the walls of his house and it was great! I asked him about the framing he used and he gave me some tips as to how to frame my own pieces. Cheap. I really liked the size of his paintings although I would probably be intimidated by that size if I tried one of my own. I have to work on that fear. After leaving his home we toured some other not so memorable studios until we got to the home of Janice Porter. She was busy working on projects while standing at a table in her driveway. She showed me how she used 'door skins' for support for her paintings, an idea that I might try for those larger pieces that I hope to work on some time. Janice Porter is married to Anthony Peyton Porter, a writer that I much admire. She was also working on some fantastic cardboard creations. She used a small craft knife to cut away, in a design, just the top portions of the cardboard sheets. Then the remaining top of the cardboard sheet was painted, leaving the brown underside revealed wherever she had cut it away. It's hard to describe and I couldn't find a photo anywhere on the 'net. Anyway, they were spectacular and they were pinned to the outside walls of her house for display. I wonder where she gets such large flat pieces of cardboard? They were at least 5'x3' or larger. After leaving the Porter house we drove over to a very old building that houses one of the few remaining blacksmiths in the state. Here, Dave Richer does his magic with iron and steel. The website doesn't show his latest creations; stainless steel bowls. I won't attempt to describe them as I couldn't do them justice. A few more stops and then it was time to go home…where I am looking at two large and blank surfaces for my imagination to fill. They're only 30"x30" but that's gigantic…for me.

In the past

In the past, I would wake up early and start reading the blogs and the on-line newspapers. That would usually generate enough steam for me to post half a dozen pieces on this blog. But now I paint. I still get up early but now I'm reading the blogs of artists along with my usual dose of news. Then I go to my studio (the garage) and work. I have at least four paintings in the works and hundreds more in my head. And I'm getting better. My skills are increasing and I'm not quite as scared of the white surface of a new canvas. Since I'm a painter of abstract art, some people will never know that my skills have increased...

We have a new order in our lives and it begins each morning (after the paintings are set aside) with a trip to Chico for our 4 mile walk in Bidwell Park. The park has already begun to show signs of the change in seasons and it's beautiful. Good for the soul! Then we go for coffee or do some shopping before heading back home. Then it's back to the art until I have exhausted my ideas for the moment and everything I have painted is wet. Around 2 PM it's time for a nap. Now that I have a CPAP machine, I strap the appliance on and 'oxygenate' for an hour or more. It works and I feel better, more energetic, when I wake.

Today I had to mow the orchard after I woke and I also picked tomatoes (a dozen!) and harvested a good amount of walnuts. The pecans are very close to being ripe enough to be shaken out of the tree. I should also mention that I saw the first tomato hornworm of the season. He was about 2 months too late but he was trying to catch up. His appearance made me angry enough to pick him off the plant with my bare hands (yes, I did!) and threw him as far as I could.

After that it's usually time to read for awhile. We will read for a few hours and then it's time to make dinner. I'm preparing some Red Snapper tonight and will try steaming it for a change.

After dinner it's time for a Netflix show. We watch one episode of 'The Good Wife' each night before going back to our reading. Yes, it's a pretty quiet life now and I'm not really sure why I decided to give you a play by play of today's 'life'? I just kept on typing and the words made their way onto the blog. Oh, well...

Our boy in Congress

Little Wally Buffoon is at it again...doing exactly what Mr. Boehner wants him to do and ignoring the needs of his constituents.
 

Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act - Vote Passed (237-192, 4 Not Voting)

The House passed the final version of the financial regulation reform legislation in June.

Rep. Wally Herger voted NO......

---

Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act - Vote Passed (247-161, 25 Not Voting)

In August, the House passed this bill to provide $16.1 billion to extend increased Medicaid assistance to states and $10 billion in funding for states to create or retain teachers' jobs.

Rep. Wally Herger voted NO......

Once again

Small Business Jobs and Credit Act of 2010 - Vote Passed (237-187, 9 Not Voting)

The House passed a bill that would provide for a variety of small-business tax provisions, including a revival of an expired bonus depreciation provision to allow companies to write off assets more quickly. The legislation was sent to the President, who is expected to sign it.

Rep. Wally Herger voted NO.....

Wally Herger, from the Party of No, shows off his mental acumen once again as he votes AGAINST small business...the same people he claims to champion.

I was reading...

The billionaire Koch brothers’ war against Obama : The New Yorker: "-

Another former Koch adviser said, “They’re smart. This right-wing, redneck stuff works for them. They see this as a way to get things done without getting dirty themselves.”--Jane Mayer, The New Yorker, August 30, 2010

As I was saying, I was reading Mature Landscaping and happened to notice the quote above. Of course I had to follow the link and I'm glad I did. I really didn't know that much about the Koch brothers and now I may know too much! Disgusting! We're seeing far too much of this; where the ultra-rich are going into politics to game the system for themselves. They are buying the government they want and unfortunately it's for sale. We see it here in California where there has been and continues to be a sale for the governorship. Only Jerry Brown can save us from ourselves and he's tied in the polls with a know nothing billionaire. I suppose if I looked closer I would see the same thing happening across the country.

Wealth does not make a good representative for the people. Wealth does not confer intelligence upon its owner. Wealth gets in the way of good governance. When will we ever learn that? The wealthy do not deserve admiration (or your vote). You want to admire someone wealthy? Admire Bill Gates and Warren Buffett; they give their wealth away to help others...not to buy them.

Some ◇ ☼ ∻ Liberal Propaganda ∻ ☼ ◇

California: Killing the Environment to Save Jobs:

Yes, this post from liberal Propaganda was written a few months back but the facts are still the same. The oil companies want to destroy the environment legally and Prop 23 will allow that for them. Prop 23, written and funded by the oil companies, is a lie...a piece of subterfuge that will allow the oil industry to continue business as usual. Think about it; why would the oil industry suddenly feel the need to protect your job? They don't care about you! Now here's the scary part...polls show that the public is close to evenly split on this. What!?! Doesn't the public do 'due diligence' when it comes to ballot initiatives? (ROFLMAO) Okay, enough; now it's time to cry.

From PolitiFact

The Truth-O-Meter report card on Michele Bachmann:

"...a Republican from Minnesota who had never earned anything higher than a False."

By the way; she and Sarah Quittypants are pals.

The Party of NO

Rural Energy Savings Program Act - Vote Passed (240-172, 20 Not Voting)

The House passed a bill that would authorize $5 billion over five years to create two energy efficiency loan programs. The bill now goes to the Senate.

Rep. Wally Herger voted NO.....

Wally Buffoon...A man for all of the people. (As long as they are rich and/or Mormon)

From The Rude Pundit

The Rude Pundit: "

I was reading this at the home of the 'Nameless Cynic' and thought it was worth passing on. Really.

Now tell me again why anyone would vote for a republican? Despite all of their lies to the contrary...8 years of republican malfeasance has brought us to this sorry state of affairs.

Once again I wonder why 'conservatives' get any vote at all. Name one thing that a conservative leader has done for America. One thing. Uno. I'm waiting... (I said 'for' America and not 'to' America)

Only liberals, or call them progressives if you must, have created those things that have made for a better life for all. Only liberals care for ALL Americans.

Time flies

Yes, it does. Here it is, the middle of September and my mind is still in August. All we need is a week or two of chilly nights and the leaves will begin to turn those lovely autumn shades of color. We're walking in the park every day, except for Sunday, and we're already seeing the signs that summer is fleeing. I'll soon have to accept it.

We will be out in the park early this morning and getting in our daily 4 miles of fast walking. We're in the 16 minute/mile range now and the goal is 15 minute/miles. Well, it's my goal and not necessarily the goal of my LSW. We'll have to work that out somehow. I definitely want to be walking faster and longer now. We've talked about my LSW bringing a book to read so that I can take another half hour to racewalk a few more miles. The fall racing season is coming up and I am tempted to see how I can do in a 5k race. Besides, my t-shirt collection has remained static for the past two years and it's time to add some fresh color to it.

We went to see my favorite surgeon the other day and he has cut me loose. He doesn't need to see me again. He told me that he didn't know if I could race again but I am free to try so I might as well. I'm thinking, at my age, 70, I have a good chance of picking up a medal for placing first in my age group and that has to be a great psychological lift. On the physical side, he told me that I will have to take some nerve pain meds for the rest of my life. Still, that's better than the alternative. His final words for me were 'Stay away from doctors!'

Today is my favorite day of the week, as after our walk I will spend three hours at the Art Center. Our painting group has taken on the painting of a newspaper vending machine. The local 'Alternative Press' has given 10 of these metal boxes to local artists and we will decorate them as we are moved. They will then be coated with a good sealer and placed around the downtown area. We're a group of nine artists and we have one box to paint. Only two of us do much work with acrylics and the rest are watercolorists. It looks like acrylics are the best option for the boxes so this is going to require some serious give and take on everyone's part if we're going to come up with a finished piece we can all love.

Later; the walk went well and so did the painting. I managed to spray a good coat of primer on the newspaper box and divided the painting surface into 16 separate 'canvases'. Now for some inspiration.

On a different subject altogether; politics. I find it hard to comment on that subject during these waning days before the fall election. The crazies seem to have taken over all discourse and I fear for our country. Their cries of 'taking our country back!' probably disturb me the most, as if I and others didn't have some valid claim for our citizenship. We do and it's our country as well. We're all Americans, for better or worse…unfortunately.

Breaking news?

I just received two 'News Alert' messages about the Florida yahoo that was going to burn the Qur'an in some sort of public ceremony. Now he's not. Me? I'm disgusted that the news media created this story and gave the man exactly what he wanted; attention. This story never should have seen the light of day and now others just like this yahoo have seen how to manipulate the press.


What if you had a book burning and no one came? It could have happened...

Tell me

it isn't true! I just read that Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona has gone traveling to New Hampshire and his political consultant (Sheriffs have political consultants?) is hinting that Sheriff Joe is under a lot of pressure from his fans to run for the presidency.

This is all a bad dream, right? I'm going to wake up in a few minutes and all will be well, right?

Working

Labor Day is here once again and the Sacramento River is a mess. Well, not all of it, just some parts of it. The annual Labor Day float is still in progress and it looks like it will take a lot of effort to clean it up. We drove across the bridge this morning and noted that there were still close to a hundred cars parked around the boat ramp area. And trash. Amazing. It's as if the revelers were determined to leave all evidence of their party right there on the ground. See? This is how much fun we had! And in the river. I wonder how many beer cans litter the river bottom?

But I digress; some of my favorite blogs reminded me of a post I had been thinking about. The post where I tell you about my union background and how my union job as a carpenter gave our young family the ability to be a productive member of society. We bought a house. A car. Our children had a mother that was able to enjoy their young lives and didn't have to drop the kids off at a day care center. That same union ensured that I received a pension and now I can still be a productive member, though older, of society. We're not on welfare and it's because the union made sure that I was paid the contracted wage and that all my contracted benefits were paid. Yes, 'contracted'; the union and the contractors signed a contract. And with that contract, the contractors were assured of high quality labor and we were assured a living wage. Why do low wage 'Red State' voters not see that it would be in their best interest to support unions?

The last company I worked for was the nation's largest specialty subcontractor and we employed the largest number of union carpenters in the nation. Why weren't we a non-union firm? We were big enough to do it. The union could never have stopped us. But we didn't because we were highly successful and that was because of our skilled labor force.

But who remembers what Labor Day is all about? Not many. I think that some, no, a lot of Republicans would refuse to take the day off if they only knew of the history leading up to this important holiday.

With brush in hand…

Now that I'm safely ensconced within the seventh decade of my life I guess I can look around and see if anything has changed. Nope. It's all the same. The idiots still outnumber the intellectuals about 4 to 1. How else do you explain Glenn Beck, Jan Brewer, Sharon Angle, Sarah Quittypants, John Boehner, Mitt Romney, John McGrumpy, Rushbo, et al? Yes, I left a lot of names out of that list but you know who they are.

Here's the question; do I need to get all exercised about these dimwits? At the end of the day, they are still idiots and I'm simply furious…if I allow them to do that to me. I need to learn to walk away more often.

Let me talk about the President; our President. Yes, I'm constantly miffed at him. But that's only because of my personality Type; INFP. You see, this Type believes that what you say or infer is very important, otherwise, you wouldn't have said it. An Introvert thinks long and hard before uttering a word because it's understood that words are a reflection of their very soul! But…an Extrovert talks simply to fill the silence. Most politicians are Extroverts. Duh!

I got off track there. Back to the President. Despite my perpetual state of 'miff', I can't think of a better President since F.D.R. As a nation we would be toast if we didn't have President Obama. I wish I could be as positive about the Democratic Congress and Senate. Not one has risen to the occasion. But…on the other hand, with an electorate that demands noise, smoke and mirrors from its representatives, what else can we expect. We elect them because they are low class and so we shouldn't be surprised at how they behave.

Oh, oh. I'm getting exercised. Time to do some painting.

Another Saturday

What a great day! 61 degrees. That's very cool for August in the California Central Valley where August temps are usually over 100. As usual, we drove into Chico for our morning walk. This time we brought our sweatshirts; I had to search for one. And once we had made the 2 mile walk into the park it was time to take the sweatshirts off. On the way back we went past our car and continued down the road to the Saturday morning Farmer's Market. It's really a great market and since we arrive fairly early, 8:45, we have a good selection to choose from and the crowds haven't arrived. Yes, there were a lot of people there but nothing like the crowds we see later in the day when the university students finally wake up and venture out.

We started off buying some locally processed, non-pasteurized garlic herb cheese. A little pricey at $14 a pound so we bought a small portion. Then we had to buy some green beans and red onions from one of the Hmong farmers. The Hmong really do a great presentation with their produce. It's all beautiful! Turning the corner at the end of the first aisle I had to stop for a cup of freshly ground Columbian Dark Roast coffee. It's a habit of course and I enjoy talking to the couple that have the space. As we were on our way up the last aisle I spotted a perfect small eggplant. Is there any color that compares to the rich purple of the eggplant? I bought it. And right across from that vendor was a guy selling eggs, including duck eggs for only $4.50 a dozen. I've seen duck eggs for as high as $12 so I'm going to grab some of them next week. If you've never tasted duck eggs, you're missing a treat.

On to another subject. We, the nine artists that paint every Tuesday morning at the Art Center, hung our offerings on the walls of the Chico Sports Club yesterday. All very stressful for those of us that had never shown any of our work as there were quite a few critics sitting around the café where the art was being shown. On the plus side, one of our groups paintings sold immediately. We had just hung it in place and someone wanted her watercolor of pumpkins for $125. She is a very good painter but always in watercolors where she paints 'realism'. Now, my paintings are all abstract and one canvas managed to offend a couple that were sitting nearby. I didn't hear the comments but one of our group heard the man say, "It must have been painted by some old hippy." They were taken aback a little when my friend told them that I was a retired superintendent from a nationwide construction company. Then they said something about how our President might like it. Not bad! To get a response like that is as rewarding as selling the painting. I'm of the school that believes a painting has to make a statement and I guess it did. Also, I'm not a hippy. Hippies are much younger than I am. I'm from the 'Beat' generation and proud of it!

The paintings will be up for 52 more days so anything can happen. It's a big sports club and they have a lot of traffic in and out of the café area. In the meantime, I'm moving on with my painting and hoping to create a collection I can show at Café Flo, a local coffee shop that shows local artists.

    I'll take pictures of the show when we have the reception…

Our local paper..

The alternative paper - has an editorial "Getting real on taxes"

The editors of the mainstream paper around here? They are of the opinion that all taxes are bad. Yes, they are Republicans. Thank heaven for the alternative press! A voice of sanity...

It'll Cost You

$300 To Blog In Philadelphia - The Consumerist:

Yikes! I hope this idea gets no traction. Possible argument; the blog exists on a server in some other city? And that thought makes me wonder if every city where the blog is viewed would want something? That's how a government mind works, you know.

And speaking of money...we just got a brand new 'Smart Meter' attached to our electrical panel. Unfortunately it's still a dumb meter as PG&E doesn't have the 'Smart' interface ready at the other end. Maybe next year. Or next century. Read here about 'Smart Meters'. The installer told us that the new meters are accurate to within 1/2 of 1%. Percent of what? 100% of my wallet?

Quote of the Day

"The right to hold an opinion carries with it the responsibility to defend it."

Heck, that might even be the quote of the month! And it is found right here.

This is an opinion piece that should be read. By everyone. And if you think the author is wrong...prove it.

(Thanks Nance)

Why is it?

When we say the word 'Christians', do we mean Southern Baptists, Catholics, Quakers or Mormons? There are a hundred more schools of worship and they all all call themselves 'Christian'.

When we say the word 'Muslims', do we mean terrorists? Why don't we think of the hundreds of other schools of worship that are collectively known as Islam? Hundreds that do not preach hatred.

Those opposing the mosque in New York don't know what the word 'Christian' means.

Am I paranoid?

"Julian Assange, the founder of the WikiLeaks Web site who is embroiled in a fight with the Pentagon over the disclosure of secret military documents, was caught up in a new drama on Saturday when Swedish prosecutors sought him for questioning on allegations of rape and molestation — and then announced the rape allegation was unfounded."

You don't think that the CIA had something to do with this do you? Nah! That wouldn't be right...

Some odds and ends

According to what I read, Americans take an average of 13 vacation days a year and leave behind an astounding number of unspent vacation hours. The British take an average of 26 days a year while the French take 38 days! Are we doing something wrong? Well, we certainly pamper our children as they spend the least amount of time in the classroom, both in days and hours when compared to the majority of other nations.

Then there was this...
In a new study, scientists found that the brains of introverts don't pay much attention to human faces, a reason why they prefer to remain alone while their socially outgoing counterparts love the company of others.

In fact, introverts' brains didn't seem to distinguish between inanimate objects and human faces, said researcher from the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences in La Jolla, California.

So there, I'm not really ignoring you...I just can't tell if you're a lamp or a human.

A walk in the park

We started off in the usual way with a stroll through the subway and up the hill as we entered the south side of the park at One Mile. The weather was perfect and the distractions were few…oops! Hold that thought… we did see a very close call as the riders of three bikes came within inches of crashing. The lone rider never even looked back at the two startled bikers. She had entered the park, at speed, crossing the bike path without looking. We continued on. We kept up a fairly fast pace; 3.5 mph and it wasn't long before we were at the two mile marker where we stopped for a drink. Here we had time to look around at the beautiful park, amazed that developers had always been foiled in their attempts to ruin it. Okay, it was time to go for another ¼ mile before turning around.

I should mention my shoes; Sketcher Shape Ups. I don't know well they work to develop core strength but I do know that they have to weigh 5 pounds apiece and the awkward shape of the sole keeps tripping me up. Every few weeks I will put on a pair of my old racewalking shoes just to feel the ground beneath my feet again. Back in the old days…I had purchased a beautiful pair of racing flats from a new company, Nike. Those were the best! Light as air and so flexible. The sole was minimal and so I know that I will never see another shoe like that again.

On the way back we slowed it down to 3.4 mph and took more time with our heads up. And we need it here…the bike riders in the park play a game of 'slalom on wheels' and pedestrians are the course markers. I find it so odd that a guy can spend $5,000 for his bicycle and another $1,000 for the flashy compression shorts and jersey, not to mention the latest headgear…but there seems to be no money left over for a damn darn $5 bell to warn pedestrians that they are being overtaken. I know…it's priorities.

We arrived back at the car safely and with energy left over. A good walk. 4.5 miles. And each day will be better as the summer temps decline and then the leaves will begin to fall in the park. It's absolutely fantastic to look down the trail and see leaves falling, behind and in front of you in a gold and red shower, highlighted by the shafts of sunlight.

The things I read...

"A national Harris poll this spring found that 57 percent of Republicans believe that Obama is in fact a Muslim (and, for good measure, 38 percent believe he is “doing many of the things that Hitler did,” and 24 percent believe that Obama actually “may be the anti-Christ”)." 

Why would they believe that? Don't they read anything at all? A book? A magazine? A newspaper? How did these people get out of high school...if, in fact, they went to high school? This stuff just staggers my imagination. That many people and they are all that stupid. We're talking millions of people that simply don't have a clue...


You know what's really scary? These people have driver's licenses and are on the same roads with you. Buckle up!

Of wombats and wallabies -

from the Chico News & Review: "

“What is wrong with Americans that you don’t want to give each other health care? It’s a basic human necessity.”

Weird isn't it? The rest of the world gets the message that we're all human, but we don't...

Good little story here from a very Distinguished Fulbright Scholar.

Way to go!

My congressperson...hard at work.

On Tuesday, the House passed this bill to provide $16.1 billion to extend increased Medicaid assistance to states and $10 billion in funding for states to create or retain teachers' jobs. The bill was then sent to the president, who signed it into law on the same day.

Rep. Wally Herger voted NO......

(Herger is all for education. Just ask him)

Found

A bit of wisdom...

"All the problems we face in the United States today can be traced to an unenlightened immigration policy on the part of the American Indian." ~ Pat Paulsen

Darn! Where's Pat when we really need him? He is sorely missed...

More odds and ends

Life is changing. My life. I'm still writing in my Journal but now the entries are short and forced; when I remember to write at all. It's the same with my blogs. I do have an increased interest in my art work and I'm painting more often. Also we're walking on a daily basis and getting in 4+ miles 6 days a week and that's before 9 AM. Of course that will change as the seasons change and we will be in the park at a later hour. I'm enjoying the walking as I can see my legs regaining the muscle mass I lost during the past two years of surgeries. We're walking pretty fast, right around 16 minutes miles. That's not as fast as I used to walk when I was racewalking and actually racing. I was able to do 11 minute miles back then and now it seems like a dream. Can I ever get back to that kind of performance? Some of this change can be blamed on the drugs I'm taking and until I no longer need them I'm sure that I will remain 'changed'. I sometimes feel as if I should carry a sign with me that states 'On drugs. Please forgive if I'm inappropriate in any way'.

Perhaps some of the change can be attributed to the 'House For Sale Syndrome'. We have to make the house presentable every morning with everything picked up and put away in case some prospective buyer should arrive while we are away in the park. I'm a person who is comfortable with clutter so you can see how that might affect me. Grrr!

Speaking of art, as I was…one of the members of the group I paint with has arranged with a local fitness center for some wall space. We're going to have a showing with our work up on the walls for almost two months. It's a very busy fitness center so we will have lots of exposure; probably more than we could ever get in a gallery. I have enough work to show and I'm working on one more right now that I hope to include before we hang on the 28^th of this month.

And I was just reading about John McCain; he now seems to be in the lead once more in his race to hold his Senate seat. What a shame…I didn't care much for his opponent, but Mr. McGrumpy is far too old to be a Senator. Okay, I'm far too old to be a Senator. There should be an age limit of 65 for holding elective office. True, there are some exceptional elders, but the fact is, we, the majority, are living in the twenty first century and most (not all) older citizens are quite content to live in the past.

This same article spoke to the weird requirements of the conservative camp; apparently Mr. McGrumpy is now campaigning on the promise of securing the borders first before any talk of immigration reform. That, alone, should tell you that he is delusional. How would anyone propose to 'secure the borders'? The fence? The estimated cost for this 700 mile boondoggle is up to $49 billion dollars. That's a government estimate. Wanna guess how much it will cost in the long run? And how effective will it be? Think "War on Drugs'…that's how effective it will be and just as costly.

There are close to an estimated 14 million undocumented immigrants in this country…think a population the size of Illinois. Now let's see how we could remove them? Got any ideas? I guess we could ask them to leave and then if that didn't work, we could round them all up and put them into 800,000 buses and drive them to the border. Piece of cake!

From life on peach eater creek:

sociocapitalism: "-

Wally has a great post here and well worth reading. He distills many of my own thoughts into coherent sentences.

I tried to comment on his blog but the 'comment' wouldn't work for some reason...

Odds and ends

Did you know that Barnes and Noble is for sale? If the new owner (if there is one) can't come up with a gimmick to lure people away from Amazon, it's all over. And speaking of Amazon...a big time agent for a stable of writers has begun negotiating directly with Amazon as a way to market their books electronically (via the Amazon Kindle) and cutting out the publisher altogether. The story is...publishers are scared! For ourselves, we are not going to be using the Amazon Kindle anytime soon; at $9.99 per book we would have a $300 a month book bill. We'll stick with the library as long as they exist.

Did you know that almost a million Chinese citizens have emigrated to Africa? They are bringing their culture and their expertise to a continent that needs it.

Have you read about the 'pink slime' that is still being used in most American hamburgers? The story itself is almost a year old but I just heard about it. Slaughterhouse floor scraps that have the fat removed and then are treated with ammonia to kill the pathogens...except the full strength ammonia was created a terrible odor so they went to a lesser strength. Yes, Burger King, McDonald's and most other big chains use it. Also most large chain markets and the federal government are using it.

Did you know that Volvo was sold to Geely, the most ambitious of the Chinese automakers. Li Shufu is the owner and CEO of Geely and his bio is quite interesting. Look it up on Wikipedia...

Did you know that the sugar and fat laden diet of Western children may be making them subsceptible to Asthma and other allergies as well as inflammatory diseases. A study compared the gut bacteria between Western (Italy) and African (Burkina Faso) children and the difference was amazing. The African children had a much more diverse population of bacteria which leads to more healthy lives.

I was reading

yet another story about the flight attendant that said 'No!' Plus a few other choice words. And some of the stories I read were from other flight attendants who agreed wholeheartedly with his actions and some that wished that they had the same kind of courage...

I agree, sort of, with what he did. I can certainly understand why he did it. As a former frequent flier, I came to dread the weekly trips to the airport. Once upon a time, flying was an event to celebrate and I would look forward to it. The airlines destroyed that. And TSA shares the blame as well.

But it's not just the passengers that are a source of great irritation, it's also the all too frequent 'Flight Attendant from Hell'. In their defense, the attendants state that the Post 9/11 stress is the cause for their lapse in civility. Baloney. Statistically they have no argument for that. They have a better chance of being hit by a meteorite. The stress is caused by the Dept. of Homeland Security and it's that stress that causes so much bad behavior among the passengers.

Back in the good old days of flight, the passengers were given the illusion that they were still in control of their lives. Now, as soon as you enter the terminal you give up all control or you turn around and go home. And I was tempted many times!

Aha!

It just came to me...we can solve our problem with the national debt by simply putting 'Red Light Runner' cameras at every signal in the nation. One day later, the national debt is history!

Hair, beards and power:

Taking it on the chin | The Economist: "-

This story has some amusing parts to it but at its heart, it's a story about evil. You will notice that all of the governments mentioned here are nationalistic and very 'Conservative'. And the Conservatives in this country would love to do the same sorts of things you read about here. They are already trying to dismantle the Constitution, so it isn't a stretch to imagine them trying to enforce their views on a man's appearance.

From Doctor Grumpy in the House:

Doctor Grumpy in the House:
Things that make me grumpy: "-

You need to read this as it will give you a clear picture of how medical insurance works today. It also shows you why we should have had 'Medicare for all' instead of this useless bill that only perpetuates the hold that the insurance companies have on us.

Hold your nose

Since our house remains unsold, we make the thirty minute trip into Chico every morning for our hour+ walk in the park. And on those trips we have noticed chemical spraying at all of the orchards we pass through. The car windows are up and we're using recirculating air for cooling and yet the sharp odor of these chemicals makes its way in. Some mornings are worse than others. The road is a state highway that connects two major valley arteries, I-5 and US 99, and quite often the ranchers will use helicopters to spray and it's when they are spraying that the odors are the strongest. When we see the workers directly involved with the spraying, they are wearing full protective gear. Those workers not directly involved are not protected. Nor are we.

From Robert Genn - My state of confusion

My state of confusion: "-

I receive this Robert Genn newsletter twice a week and I always look forward to reading it. This letter focuses on Banksy, an artist I've enjoyed for some number of years. Okay...some will say his work isn't art but you should read the letter and then click on the link to the Banksy exhibit and make up your own mind.

Robert Genn writes - "Esoterica: So much of the art that many of us like to make is "skilled" (for lack of a better word) art. For most, it's difficult to do. Sure it can be done, but it's difficult to do well. Skilled art may take a few years of private effort, studentship, technique development and maybe even apprenticeship. Shock and awe art takes imagination and courage."

From Who Hijacked Our Country:

The “Independent” “Self-Reliant” American:

This most excellent piece tells the story as it should be told. (Be sure to click on the link to the column by Danny Westneat) I've been telling others this story for years and have been largely ignored...must be how I tell it.

Back in the park

Another 4.1 miles on a very humid day...for California. It was up to 52% and that made for a less than comfortable walk. But...we definitely enjoyed it because of the scenery. A little known factoid is that this park was the location for the original movie of Robin Hood and the park played the part of Sherwood Forest. Yes, Errol Flynn was once seen cavorting here among the trees in his green underwear.

We did the walk in 1hour and 14 minutes, which is a little slower than usual. The humidity might have been responsible for that or perhaps it was the fact that I was looking for that perfect piece of sycamore bark. I have almost finished the painting where I used the bark and now I want to start another. I was going to include a photo of it but my lighting scheme didn't work very well and the photo was unsatisfactory.

Heck, I might as well include it here anyway and I will tell you what's wrong with the photo...first, there are no gold colored flecks on the green pieces of bark. I guess that's reflections from the light above. And that same light seems to have washed out the gloss on the green. And I think I need to connect the shapes with a horizontal band of color.

I did find a few more interesting pieces of sycamore bark and with some heavy high-gloss acrylic medium on them, that might transform them into something quite nice...we will see. In the meantime, the park has an inexhaustible supply of bark and I have the time.

Attention -

From the Edge -

Once again Mr. Porter has done a wonderful job with a minimum of words. His column is on the last page of the paper and I often turn there first...

Saturday

It's been a good morning. We arrived at the park about 7:30 and took our usual route on the south side of the creek. Saturdays are different in the park as we have found that more people are willing to reply to our 'Good Morning'. We give everyone that simple little greeting; on foot, on bicycle, walking or running, and during the weekdays we have a success rate of 25% to 30%. On Saturdays it may increase to 50%.

Why is that, saying 'Good Morning', so hard to do? We learned to do it when we were children. It was considered to be the simplest of polite gestures. But here in the park, I can be looking right into their eyes and I'm sure that they see my mouth opening. Can't they hear what I'm saying? I'm sure they can, but apparently they aren't interested in communicating. And here is the odd part…my wife and I are hard core introverts. Why do we even bother?

Anyway, back to the walk…we made a 4.1 mile walk out of it and at a 3.3 mph pace. Once we were back near the car, I checked the GPS one more time and then we continued on to the Farmers Market. And what a great morning it was for shopping! We were there at 8:45 and the place was packed. We strolled around the two aisles once just to find out what was looking the best…except for the beautiful tomatoes that we spotted. Those we bagged right away. And I had to have a cup of Columbian Dark roast as we made our final trip around the market. A beautiful white and yellow kernel corn tempted us as well as a deep purple eggplant. How do people resist eggplant? Even if you didn't eat it, you could enjoy the color for at least a week. Finally, we bought a small, ripe right now, cantaloupe to go with our corn, eggplant and tomatoes. Then it was back to the car which gave us 4.5 mile overall for the morning.

The month of August has to be the best month for the Farmers Market and I'm already looking forward to next Saturday. Everything is ripe and the sights and smells in the market are like heaven. Everybody is happy…smiles everywhere. And Chico has three (3) Farmers Markets every week during the summer with one on Wednesday morning at a different location and then the Thursday Night Market when traffic in the heart of Chico is blocked off and vendors fill the street. We avoid this market time as this is the one that allows all sorts of vendors and not just produce. There's also music…lots of music! It's really geared for a younger crowd and that wouldn't be us.

I should mention that we are hoping that today's tomato purchase will be the last one of the summer. Our own tomatoes are soooo close to being ripe. Just another day or two. Or three.

GOP

Taking Body Count Home For Recess « Alan Colmes' Liberaland: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Here are the most important statistics from this blog...

• House Republicans blocked passage of the 9/11 Health and Compensation Act
• Senate Republicans filibustered a plan to aid small business lending, the delayed vote of which they complained about while they were busy killing the…
• DISCLOSE act to bring transparency to campaign finance in the wake of the wildly unpopular Citizens’ United ruling
• A robust jobs bill was repeatedly filibustered by the Senate GOP until a barely adequate extension of unemployment benefits squeaked through
• Even a watered down and toothless energy reform bill, full of items originally proposed by the GOP, couldn’t be brought up for a vote in the Senate
• In lieu of any support for real immigration reform this year, the Democrats would like to pass the DREAM act. “Too Bad”, says John Cornyn
• Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) is blocking another 20 judges this week - Obama’s judges are being approved at a rate of 43%, versus Bush’s 87%
• While it still passed the House, it is worth noting that 92 Republican representatives opposed the Tribal Law and Order Act, making it easier from Native American tribes to prosecute non-natives for crimes like rape
• Another 79 Republicans, nearly half – including Minority Leader Boehner and Minority Whip Cantor – opposed the Senior Financial Empowerment Act – a measure to help protect seniors from financial fraud and abuse

Why would you ever vote for a Republican? I'm curious.

From Tomgram:

Andrew Bacevich, Giving Up On Victory, Not War | TomDispatch:

This was too good to pass up. I had to post this link...

Musings

It's been awhile since I last posted some thoughts here. I've been busy…sort of. I wake up early enough to do some writing but I don't because I feel somewhat rushed; we now have some serious walking on our schedule. We're on the road by 7 each morning and making our way into Chico so that we can walk in Bidwell Park; a gem among parks nationwide. We park over by Annie's Glen, a section of the park named for Annie Bidwell, the benefactress that gave us this wonderful park. From here we can take the new subway under Mangrove Blvd.

and make our way to One Mile, where the loop trail begins. Until 8:30, the park allows dogs to be off leash and so we have to keep an eye out for those dogs that are less than well behaved while we make our way up the road to Cedar Grove where we will turn around with two miles of good walking behind us and then make our way back. We don't have to return on the same path and sometimes we will cross over the creek and come back on the north side trail which will allow us to walk by the municipal pool created by damming the creek. Sometimes, if we are lucky, we will see a trout among the few swimmers that brave the cold temperatures of the pool. Then we cut across at the dam and we're back at our car about an hour and ten minutes after we left. Four miles walked in that amount of time is sufficient to give us a good workout and we've been doing it religiously.

Along our way, I've been noticing the scraps of sycamore bark that litter the sides of the trail. Sycamore trees are constantly shedding this thin bark as they grow and during the summer months they will shed even more as they swell with the large amounts of water they have taken in. And I noticed that the bark scraps have interesting shapes and textures, so I have begun collecting the ones that catch my eye. Once I have them home, I have been painting them with an acrylic wash in various 'never seen in nature' colors. I'm not sure of what I'm going to do with them but I have some ideas floating around.

The addition of bags filled with colored bark to my 'studio' space has created even more clutter. More than I'm comfortable with but what can I do? The house is still for sale (no lookers yet) and there's no sense in remodeling my garage studio. Though I do have thoughts about our new and not seen house; we really want to have a space where we can consolidate our computer space with our art space. Yes, they go together. And the space will be inside and not in a cold/hot garage.

Here at home and in the here and now, I have a garden to deal with. It's starting to mature and I picked out first tomato the other day. I know most gardeners have seen their first tomatoes some weeks ago; I got a late start…what can I say? There's also some zucchini, cucumbers, carrots, bell peppers in various hues, wax peppers and Ancho chilies for Rellenos.

Out in the orchard we have prunes that are just about ready to pick. The tree is groaning under the weight of them. And I should mention the olive trees as they have a great crop coming as well. The rest of the various fruit trees are empty now. But the walnut trees are also bending with the weight of their crop. We have 5 walnut trees which is about 4-1/2 trees too many. Those are harvested in late September and what a mess that is! We don't spray our walnuts and so a great number of the nuts are infested with the offspring of some sort of walnut loving moth. You can usually spot the infested nuts and throw them away before they make it to the cracking table…but not always! I really hate cracking a likely looking walnut, one that I'm planning on eating, only to find a fat worm sitting inside.

I also have a fine crop of gourds out in the garden, but I am hoping that we will be gone, our house sold, when they are ready to be harvested next April. But nothing much is being sold these days. Our realtor came over last week with a young lady that has a business that films a house and then puts it up on the internet as a 'Virtual Home Tour'. She filmed it all in about thirty minutes. We saw a preview the next morning and now our house is being seen by thousands…maybe millions of would be customers! Have we had any responses so far? Not!

Later today…we did the walk as expected and it was fine. Grand, to tell the truth! The temperature was just right and so we went an extra quarter mile. And that was where we saw an interesting event unfold. A couple was walking with their dogs (no leash) when a cyclist approached. One of the dogs wandered out in front of the cyclist who braked in time and then said…'Why don't you leash that blank dog?' or something to that effect. The dog owner quickly replied that he didn't have leash the dogs till 8:30…so there! Of course no thought was given to the safety of the dog. A leash would have prevented this incident altogether. And the cyclist was also in the wrong for not giving warning of her approach; A bell or even a verbal warning. Unfortunately, Chico has some of the worst bicycle riders in the…state? Nation? World? Take your pick, Chico riders qualify.

On the way back to the car we passed by the pool and it was being cleaned for the weekend crowd. We also saw one trout left behind in the shallows near the dam. He'll be fine once they release the creek to flow back into the pool.

After coming home it was time to mow the orchard and then to get in some pool time of my own. Aah!

With all of that said…why aren't I commenting on the world scene more often. I used to post something every few hours. I seem to have lost my appetite for it. It might have something to do with all of the drugs I'm taking and that wouldn't surprise me. Now that I'm within a month or so of attaining the ripe old age of 70, I find myself taking more pills for more conditions; conditions that I didn't have a year ago. I remarked to my wife the other day that you really need to be as fit as possible when entering 'old age'. Aging isn't for wimps!

Anyway…I guess I will post here when I feel like it from now on and not a moment sooner. In the meantime I'm going to keep myself busy with my art because it's far more pleasant than the political scene.

 

 

Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2010

On Thursday, the House passed this bill to extend unemployment benefits through November 30, making the extension retroactive to June 2 when the last extension expired. It was then sent to the president, who signed it the same day.

Rep. Wally Herger voted NO......

Counting

I was reading some interesting facts about the census; in fact, about census taking everywhere. It seems that census taking is fast disappearing everywhere but here in the US of A. It's a Constitutional mandate, so I doubt it will be changing soon. Most countries have found that they already have the data they need within the myriad data bases that are kept by all governments. It simply requires some number crunching software that will explore all the available data and then come up with the needed information.

I was very disappointed with the last census as they had a great opportunity to gather much information and they simply blew it with that terribly abbreviated form. And now that I know how much it cost, ($13 billion) I am even more disappointed. That works out to be $36 per citizen while Finland does the same thing by data crunching for a little over a $1 million. An equivalent cost of 20 cents per head.

Great idea!

Okay...so my eyesight isn't all that good anymore and maybe it was the way the sun and the shadows were making things difficult for me to see, but it all turned out for the good. We were driving through Chico on the way to drop me off at the Art Center where I spend three happy hours every Tuesday when I spotted the sign for a popular fast food restaurant. Suddenly...flash! There it was, the idea for a great new fast food chain, Mac in the Box!!!
Alright, you may laugh, but I have grandchildren that swear by Mac & Cheese; think it's the only food worth eating. They would eat it for breakfast if they could, so imagine a Mac in the Box that served twenty different kinds of M&C. Breakfast M&C with sausage and served with an English Muffin. Mexican M&C covered with salsa. Chinese M&C with Chinese noodles. On and on and on. Unleash your imagination.
I know...M&C isn't all that good for you, but what fast food is? If this idea takes off I'll feel guilty after I make the bank deposit.

From Critter's Crap:

How To Save $45 Billion Dollars Per Year:

I was telling my middle daughter about this same thing (the tax rip off!) the other day but without any substantiation...so this helps me to appear as if I know what I'm talking about. And I like that. It's good for my ego.

And then, to cap the article, there is this...

"We can't eliminate the oil corporation welfare. They will stop producing oil. They will stop drilling. They will stop exploring."

Well, you know what? It will affect domestic oil production. It will affect it by less than one-half of one percent."

But... lies are so much more effective with the electorate, so the Republicans will continue to scream that the world is coming to an end if we stop drilling. Facts are no fun at all...

One last editorial from the Chico News & Review

Strong-arm Chico

Chico got a new police chief a few months ago and from his early remarks I understood him to be smart enough to not be just another mindless zealot in the War on Drugs. His words were obviously a smoke screen and his actions the other day proved that he is just another cop who has sold his department and his integrity to the War on Drugs. He spent a lot money and ruined some lives (and trust) and what does he get for it? What do we get for it? Are we in any way, safer? Of course not. It's just more to go into the 'Black Hole' of the War on Drugs.

Another from the Chico News & Review

From This Corner -

I know that not everyone cares about the California Governor's race but the editor of the CN&R has written a good piece on the early tactics of Meg Whitman, who is well on her way to buying a governorship. Hey! It could happen in any state...probably has.

Yes, I support Jerry Brown. I really enjoyed his first run as Governor and would love to see his encore. And, as it has been pointed out by his campaign, at his age (70) he has no future aspirations. What you see is what you get. 4 years and he's through.

A short story...when we moved to Janesville Ca in the 70's, we were pretty sure that only a handful of people outside of Lassen County even knew where Janesville was located. Then, one summer, when the Mountain Maidu Indians were celebrating the Bear Dance up on the Janesville Grade, who shows up, (via helicopter) but Governor Brown. He didn't come for the votes; he came because he cared. Young voters in California need to know more about his first role as Governor...he was pretty darned good.

From the Chico News and Review

Driving through to nowhere -

Chico is blessed with an 'alternative press'. Without the News & Review, there would be no newspapers at all in this area. Oh sure, there is the Chico Enterprise Record if you're only interested in who died last week. But if you want real journalism, this is the place to go. And here is a guest column that proves my point...

There is no 'free' lemonade

CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Terry Savage

You want to know what's wrong with the right wing, the conservatives, in this country? Ms. Savage is. Or anyone who embraces the weird thoughts that spring from her mind...

These were children. It was lemonade. Get over it!

(I'm sorry. I shouldn't have bothered you with this pathetic bit of nonsense...)

From Citizen K...

Came this link: The Deep Water Moratorium Threatens Two of the State's Republican Oligarchs

This makes for fascinating reading because of the research done. And I love the word 'Oligarch'.

"...business oligarchs represent informal power over a certain region or country because of their increased wealth. The choice of the word oligarch, which theoretically means "one of the few rulers", denotes the significant influence such wealthy individuals may have on the life of a nation."

Governor Jindal is not an Oligarch. He is a servant of the Oligarchs. Lightweight. Shallow.