Coyote Angry

The Rare and Miraculous Freebie

2009-04-19T18:08:00.000-07:00

Just found out that due to the changes in Canadian citizenship law as of April 17....I am a Canadian citizen!!!

Still in shock. I've been upset over this my entire life, to suddenly have it handed to me...I don't know what to say.

Bittersweet

2008-11-05T11:03:00.000-08:00

Last night was one of those brief shiny moments when we actually get the majority of people to do the right thing but much as I will always treasure the moment of pure joy I was able to experience, today it is once again tempered by reality.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still more pleased than I can adequately express that we've elected Barack Obama. If I were to live another half a century I sincerely doubt that I would have the opportunity to cast a more important vote and if I never did a single other thing in my entire life I would call it all still worth it for no other reason than I was alive to cast that vote. (Yes, it was that important to me).

But...there's always a but isn't there....aside from all of yesterdays problems still being very much with us, a simple glance at other election results is a cold reminder of how far we still have to go.

Anyone mistakenly believing that America has suddenly become a land filled with enlightened human beings should take a deep breath, that has not happened. We did just take a giant step and it is a good start but 60 million of us did not miraculously embrace a vision for a greater future. More likely about 20 million of us did, another 20 million just decided the "other guy" was worse and probably another 20 million looked at their wallets and bank balances and took the plunge. I don't know what the actual numbers for those categories are and there is no way to know for certain but I'm confident they more accurately depict what just happened than the more romantic version that would have us believe 60 million Americans had a dream.

That we have progressed enough to have made last night possible is a beautiful thing and in no way to be discounted but this is no time to rest. Take a few moments to remember the millions who still haven't been invited to the party. Just saying.

6 Days

2008-10-29T14:28:00.000-07:00

I'm exhausted with this. More important, I'm really exhausted with being angry....please, please, please let Obama win so I can be at least a little bit less angry for a few years.

I'm just too tired for another 4 years of kicking everyone in the shins, I just wasn't born with Michelle Malkin's innate gift of hatred which flows naturally from her every oriface. My hatred had to be cultivated over many years and many tears and seriously folks...it takes a huge toll on me.

If you haven't already voted (I have) please do.

The Universe Can Be Fair, Who Knew!

2008-10-28T16:43:00.000-07:00

If you've already seen the "woman chains self to home to avoid foreclosure" bit on the news you may recognise this woman. Sadly I could not locate a picture of her equally retarded cockroach of a spouse or I'd be making custom dartboards out of the pair right now.

What do we learn from this story? Hopefully we learn that when we hit rough financial times ("rough" being relative here since I've never known anyone going through "rough" times who could afford a french manicure much less a house in Mira Mesa, CA) that we probably should NOT run out and take out an ARM on our nearly-paid-off home of 19 years that 90% of Americans could not have afforded in the first place.

You just couldn't deal with the idea of selling and downscaling to a less expensive home in a "less desireable" location, could you? I'll tell you a little secret Mr & Mrs Dumbass: my home is paid for, been paid for a very long time and one of the reasons we decided not to "move up" was because of people like you. See, we just weren't real keen on spending a lot of money to live in a neighborhood filled with twat-brains like you. That would have been "less desireable" to us.

Mr & Mrs Reyno you'd laugh at my little house I'm sure, my 8 year old compact car would not impress you and my unmanicured fingers would certainly be fodder for a lot of jokes but you know what, I'll still have a home and money in the bank and food in my belly when you and your kind are sitting on a street corner waiting for the next soup line to open. The truth is I've been waiting my entire life to see scavenging pond scum like you in this position and was only afraid I wouldn't live long enough to see it. Your tears are like lemon balm to my heart and probably to the hearts of all the people you "helped" out of their homes over the years.

Sadly you'll probably be okay, more than likely end up still better off than the thousands who lost everything in Katrina or the millions who never had anything to lose in the first place. You should be extremely grateful I'm not running the universe or you'd spend the rest of your waste-of-airspace lives trying to decide between buying Top Ramen or toilet paper.

So what did I learn from this? Not that I'm meaner than a junkyard dog, that I already knew. I learned that it is entirely possible to be mad enough to spit nails and laugh till you pee your pants all at the same time.

No Good Words

2008-10-24T15:26:00.001-07:00

Definition of "lying cunt". Oh, and fuck you Fox news.

While We Were Sleeping

2008-10-23T11:29:00.000-07:00

Canada and the EU have begun working on a "free trade" agreement which would include the free movement of workers and reciprocal recognition of professional licenses and India is actively pursuing free trade agreements with both Japan and China.

Just in case anyone was still confused enough to believe that our current financial crisis would be resolved with a return to "business as usual", that is simply not going to happen.

I realize this hasn't gotten much (um, try any) media attention what with oh-so-much-more weighty matters in the headlines like Sarah Palin's clothing budget and what the latest ill thought out remark Joe Biden just made but in real-world terms this is likely to have a whole lot more impact on all of us than either of the above. I'm not going to waste anyone's time writing a thousand word essay on why this is relevant to us, a simple look at who buys our goods and who sells us goods and some basic mathematical calculations ought to make it all crystal clear to everyone except maybe Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich.

The days of the US dominating the world economy are done, we screwed the pooch on that one and frankly there is absolutely nothing we can do to change that. So what's left? Try for a seat at the table. A little humility could go a long way here folks.

There is the big question: are we going to start dealing with reality or are we going to continue pretending we are the lords of the universe in spite of all evidence to the contrary? I hope for all our sakes we choose the first option. Or we could just become a giant tax-haven destination offering fine restaurants and cheap real estate to the rest of the world. You choose.

Just something to think about.

Wading Through Pig Slop

2008-10-10T13:50:00.001-07:00

Well I certainly pushed someone's button with the last post so let's clarify a couple of things.

Numero uno and most importantly: I have no intention or even any desire of shushing every voice of opposition. What I am saying and will continue to say is that in the name of "freedom of speech" and being "fair and balanced" we've actually ended up sponsoring lunatics.

If you cannot tell the difference between Peggy Noonan and Sarah Palin or George Will and Bill O'Reilly then you are part of the problem. Joe Scarborough may annoy the hell out of me but he is neither dangerous nor an idiot, I'd never mistake him for Lou Dobbs. If the differences listed aren't apparent enough for you then consider the fact that I have heard all of the above express the very same concern I am expressing, albeit in politer terms, over the last couple of months. They are, if anything, more horrified than I am at what the "Republican base" has become, a conglomeration of extremists of nearly every type.

The same comparisons can be made on the left, try Dennis Kucinich versus Al Gore for starters. Sorry fellow Lefties, Dennis is King of silly season and would have us all in soup lines left to do his thing. The difference is no one has given crazies on the left their own television shows, much if any media air time and thus far anyway they aren't holding rallies where followers feel free to call for death to their opponents nor is there a chance in hell I'd support it if it happened. I'm sure that will earn me no love from the left but see that's the thing...I don't care. If the only love I can get is from the deranged or the hopelessly naive then I'd call it a job well done to be detested. On the other hand I'm not inclined to declare war on them for the very simple reason that they aren't advocating for or attempting to incite violence upon anyone nor are they in any position of power to do so. If Cindy Sheehan got her own talk show and gathered the faithful to rally for some crazy agenda would I call for her removal? You betcha.

I didn't sign on to live in Crazy Extremist Land and I'm going to do whatever little I can do to stop anyone trying to lead us down any path heading us in that direction. That ought to get me on just about everybody's kill-on-sight list.

This brings us to the Bill Ayers versus the Alaska secessionist movement. A lot has been made of Obama knowing and working on the same board with Ayers and only a few whispers regarding Palin and the secessionists. In a perfect world neither candidate would have these associations but welcome to the real world where it often becomes necessary to work with, to some extent even socialize with, highly imperfect and sometimes even dangerous individuals.

Blowing up people you disagree with regardless of your intentions is never the correct answer, I know that, most Americans know that and for damned sure Sen. Obama knows that. If you believe Sen. Obama would actually sympathize with such action or in any way facilitate such actions then I have no problem at all saying you are as crazy and dangerous as Mr. Ayers was at his worst. Unfortunately for Sen. Obama, he like most of us, did not get to hand pick who he worked with or who he lives near.

Alaska seceding from the US to form it's own independant nation is kind of a no-brainer for anyone with even half a brain though I confess it would be amusing to see them try to go even 6 months minus their federal subsidies. Even Sarah Palin knows this and if you're thinking she is secretly plotting to gain office to free Alaska then you are also insane. The even sadder truth is that these secessionist movements are neither brand new nor isolated to Alaska and as the public discourse has become increasingly vile they have gained momentum. These groups and their sympathizers are scattered all across the country, in nearly every state and are often heavily concentrated in rural and semi-rural communities. Trust me on this one because we have them here in Pahrumpistan. You'd have a tough go of it getting elected to anything without "making nice" with at least some of them.

Kind of makes my original point: our complete lack of discrimination between "free speech" and "crazy speech" led to a situation in which Gov. Palin would never have been elected mayor much less become the Republican VP candidate had she not been somewhat cozy with a pack of insane secessionists. As much as I do not like Palin and consider much of her rhetoric dangerous even I understand this. You were wondering why we struggle to find decent leaders?

The old saying that "cream always rises to the top" is true when you're talking about a pail of milk but doesn't work out so well when you throw it in a trough full of muck.

Blood In The Streets

2008-10-09T14:42:00.000-07:00

Not yet anyway but that would be next if we continue.

I'm not quite certain why I'm writing this at all, certainly it is highly unlikely anyone will listen to me anyway and in all fairness I'm not even certain I care. Maybe it just seems fair that I at least put this out there so I can say I tried to tell you and then laugh at the carnage with a clear conscience.

You need to stop. Now.

It doesn't matter if you're a conservative who blames irresponsible borrowers or a liberal who blames greedy corporations, you need to knock it the fuck off and accept that everyone had a part in this and no one from the riskiest low-income borrower to the most reprehensible corporate CEO did anything that over 90% of the human race would not have done given half a chance and more importantly, it's done and now we get to deal with it.

So what can we do? First off you can stop panic selling. At this late stage of the game you are not only destroying yourself but you are also destroying the only mechanism that has any potential to save your asses from living in a cave with no toilet paper.

I've done my part, I've bought up all I can afford to buy up while most of the public was busy locking in losses from which many will never recover but I'm only one person and I sure as hell am not Warren Buffet. Even he is going to give up on you if you continue on the present course of run-around-in-circles, scream-and-shout.

If you think you are screwed now just continue panicking and find out what really screwed is.

Next up, stop with the "neither candidate has the answers", "they're all crooks" blah, blah, blah, bullshit. Most of our elected officials are no better OR worse than most of us. We're truly fortunate that at least 1/4 of them are actually smarter than most of us. Believe me they have a vested interest in our survival and stand to gain nothing by impoverishing us all and eating our brains. While you're pondering that keep in mind most of you were more than happy to toss at least 25% of our population out with the garbage as long as you didn't think you were in that group.

Most of us only behaved better than the average CEO or pol because most of us have never been in any position to get away with the things they do. Given the opportunity many of us would be eating each others brains, if you doubt that look at Somalia or Iraq or any number of countries where economies and governments have failed.

Which brings us to point #2: understand that your neighbors survival is as critical to your well-being as it is to his. Probably has a lot to do with why I'm bothering to write this because I damned sure do not love most of you. Neither hard core conservatives nor hardcore liberals tend to get this (for very different reasons) but for the moment they had better at least try and fake it.

Point #3 is take a tip from the ancestors. Humans survived and exercised social control in the very distant past by a very simple mechanism: social ostracism. I would suggest that we drop the PC bullshit of "oh, I respect John McCain even though I disagree" and "Palin is being abused because she is a woman". John McCain is an asshole and a bully and that is all he has EVER been and Sarah Palin is being dissed because she is a raving lunatic. Gay people are not destroying America nor are immigrants and no I will not "respect your belief" that the earth was created in 7 days and is only 8,000 years old. I will call you an idiot and I will shun you both socially and financially in every possible way. It's way past time we stopped politely coughing when our friends/family members/etc utter this nonsense. The next time someone says something utterly retarded within your earshot....call them on it.

That pretty much wraps it up, stop tolerating and accepting stupidity and acting as though Lou Dobbs and Glenn Beck have as much credibility and reason to be on the air as Tom Brokaw or the late, great Walter Cronkite. They don't and you know it and they've been allowed to spew their poison in the name of "fairness" and through our own inaction. I believe in free speech and fairness as much as the next person but providing airtime and a public forum for the basest and least intelligent among us is not "free speech", it's public sponsorship of insanity. No one is stopping these lunatics from getting their own blogs, there's no need to give them air time. If we're going to continue with this we might as well give Charles Manson his own talk show and let the insanity run its course.

All of that may seem to some like it isn't even connected but it is, all of the above are directly connected to how we've gotten to where we are today. Naturally you do not have to believe me, can call me an idiot, and we can continue on the current course. Let me know how that works out for you.

The Dangers of Channel Surfing

2008-10-04T14:52:00.000-07:00

Margaret Cho, Craig Ferguson, and Sarah Palin in a 3-way? Skip to the last few minutes of the video and hope your capacity for mental imagery isn't as good as mine.

So You Wanted A Crazy Solution?

2008-10-03T23:43:00.000-07:00

So the "rescue" bill passed, the market farted and all is still completely screwed up in the world. I'm still neither happy or unhappy about it because truthfully I'm much more interested in the dynamics of who voted which way on both the first and second bills and more importantly...why.

Fascinating that we had to add another $100 billion in fixin's to that crap sandwich to get supposedly "conservative" republicans to eat it, isn't it? Of course we had our own Democratic Congresswoman Shelley Berkley who after being staunchly opposed to the first bill, eagerly gobbled up the second as quickly as my beagle eats his own turds. Nice to see irresponsible and capricious voting while the country is going down the poophole is bipartisan anyway.

Meanwhile I came up with my own "rescue plan" for the economy which took all of, I don't know, maybe 15 minutes.

1. Eagerly endorse and embrace same-sex marriage then launch an international ad campaign openly recruiting qualified gay and lesbian immigrants. We'd attract some of the best and brightest from around the world along with their assets both intellectual and worldly. Think of the lovely shops we'd get.

2. Raise the minimum wage to $12 an hour, phased in over the next 8 quarters, thereafter tied to core inflation and adjusted annually. Bet you wouldn't see much inflation.

3. Revamp the tax code. Close nearly all exemptions with the exception of home mortgage interest and dependent and medical deductions but lock in the 15% capital gains tax rate and lock in a 5% rate for anyone below the 15% tax bracket. Same for dividends. Investments would soar.

Sounds pretty crazy I'm sure but it's about as sensible as anything that's been proposed and far less looney than anything the McCain camp will do given a chance.

My Cup of Hate Runneth Over

2008-09-30T13:39:00.000-07:00

As much as I normally detest "reality TV" this week has provided me with the most entertaining reality show I've ever witnessed. In an even stranger turn of events it has also made my perpetually-pissed-off self one of the least angry people in the country, the more hysterical the rest of the country gets, the calmer I feel.

I'm not pissed off at the republicans for axing the bailout. They behaved predictably and the truth is that as stupid as their move was and as stupid and short-sighted as they are they represent even stupider constituencies. When the people you count on to keep your day job are willing to cut off their noses to spite their faces what else are you going to do?

I'm not pissed at the dems for bringing it to a vote. They were going to catch flak any way they played it whether it was for voting prematurely or for "fiddling while Rome burned". I have no idea if it was by design or pure happenstance but as it turns out the move was brilliant because like it or not the Republican party now owns this mess. Yeah buddy, after decades of never owning a m'fcking thing and always pawning off any messes on everyone else they just inherited the biggest mess of the century. That just makes me feel kind of warm and fuzzy all over.

I'm not even pissed at the far left or the whacked out Ron Paul folks who are utterly convinced the bill was to "save the rich" and were willing to oppose it with their dying breaths. Reality is about to teach them so much more than I ever could.

Watching the hysteria emanate from the likes of everyone from Bill O'Reilly to Joe Scarborough to Jane Doe retiree who still thinks John McCain is "a true leader" has been a rare treat I could only have dreamed of. See you all in hell.

What I want to know is where was the panic, the urgency to "do something", to "take action" while our children have been gunning each other down in our streets? I don't recall hearing you when people were arrested for picking through garbage looking for recyclable cans they could sell to buy food. I never heard a peep when 1 out of every 100 of our citizens were imprisoned, many for "crimes" consisting of no more than substance abuse. Not a word did I hear while literally millions went without even the most basic health care.

Meanwhile nearly half of the voting public is still actually contemplating voting for the Mad Munchkin and Pahrump-Barbie-of-the-North. Oh please do, the unmitigated joy of watching you all go down in flames would almost be worth it.

Do you honestly expect me to have so much as an ounce of sympathy for any of you?

Bailout, Shmailout

2008-09-26T06:26:00.000-07:00

Okay, I admit it, I'm just really not all that upset about the financial meltdown. I've been telling anyone bored enough to listen to me for two years that this was coming, I battened down my hatches so to speak and quite honestly losing money seems to be the only thing that gets many peoples attention. Once we have their attention maybe half of them will be capable of learning something.

Oh no, she did not just say that...what about all the poor innocent people who are about to lose their life savings? You know what, most of the people who are truly innocent in this mess already had no "life savings". They already had nothing and now they'll have lots of company. So how the hell does it feel anyway?

Sorry people, I don't blame "Wall Street" or the politicians because it was you, middle class voters, who put those people in the position to do this. It was all good with you as long as you thought you were part of the club but damned if it doesn't suck to find out you are just as disposable as all the people you thought were disposable.

Talk to me when you figure out that you are your brother's keeper and you do have a responsibility to the least among us, I might be willing to listen then.

Still Pissed at Pissed-Off Vaginas

2008-08-29T08:56:00.000-07:00

In spite of my current inclination to only watch news in 5 or 10 minute bites before becoming extremely nauseous the convention sucked me in and I confess to spending the entire time glued to the coverage.....right down to checking the coverage on other channels during commercials.

Yes, yes, I know this was a political show calculated to elicit exactly this reaction, what can I say, it worked. For me anyway it worked at least in part because over and above the hoopla and theatrics and regardless of how much any opponents may hate it, it was a stunning moment in our collective history. If you grew up in this country and you ain't feeling it, you're already dead, stop reading, go get in your coffin and faggedaboutit.

'Nuff said.

Round two. Whoopee, McCain selects a woman to be his running mate. Now every woman who would rather "make a point" than use her brain can vote to take away womens right to choose and make both the NRA and oil companies ecstatic all at one shot. Have fun explaining that one to your granddaughters.

As a woman and the mother of two wonderful daughters and grandmother of two beloved granddaughters I have to congratulate Nevada Mojo for the coming up with the best description I've seen yet of what has kept me too disgusted to even bother to post these past few months: some womens' "sense of vagina entitlement". Clinton wasn't "entitled" to win because she has a vagina any more than Obama was "entitled" to win for being an African-American. Both candidates worked their asses off to win and Obama won...fair and square whether you like it or not. Had it been otherwise and Clinton had won I'd have to suck it up just like I've had to suck it up nearly every election in my life.

If you're running around wondering why you "don't get no respect" maybe you should consider the fact that you can't recognise a good man who both loves and respects women from one who would laughingly offer up his wife for a topless biker "beauty pageant" on national television. I'm going to tell you the same thing Obama tells the African-American community: yes, there is some discrimination but at some point you have to take some responsibility for your own choices.

Fell in a Black Hole

2008-08-13T16:32:00.000-07:00

Or something like that anyway. Kind of began with my frustration with the blogosphere in general, grew considerably over something a fellow blogger did and then we lost a family member in the tornados that hit Missouri back in May. At that point I could not bring myself to care if we managed to blow ourselves to smithereens much less what the talking heads had to say about anything.

Life goes on though, in spite of my continued struggle not to simply see us as a failed species.

Soooo....I'm going to try over the next week to catch up on reading my favorite blogs and um, yeah, try not to say "I told you so" about John Edwards. At least not too much anyway because really aside from some idle interest on how poorly most people read character, I don't especially care. I admit to laughing my ass off at anyone using the name "McCain" and the word "gravitas" in the same sentence after offering up his wife for a topless biker beauty pageant. Do not speak to me of anything Clinton unless you would like me to come unwrapped on your ass.

No, I haven't been out stumping for Obama or anyone else. It all looks pretty simple to me, Obama will most likely win this and if he does not we are most definitely screwed and I'll send you a postcard from Mexico. We are likely somewhat screwed regardless because we are way too deep in the shit for any one person or administration to dig us all the way out, best we can hope for is we get one that at least has shovels and know how to use them.

Will try to get back soon with something more coherent but you have fair warning, my misanthropic view of the world has only grown in my absence.

Who Watches This Stuff?

2008-04-03T06:07:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to watch anything but the news this week and I've had way too much time on my hands minus the visiting grandchildren but this is not working out very well at all.

Just a few random thoughts:

Lewis Black ought to have stuck with stand-up because The Root of All Evil is about as smart and cutting edge as the writings in the average public bathroom stall.

Do I need to even mention the major networks? Slop operas, reality shows or crime dramas ad infinitum.

Daytime television should probably be outlawed.

When did the slop opera lives of people operating a tattoo parlor become fodder for a channel calling itself "The Learning Channel"? Learning what, how to be a clueless dimwit? Not sure which is worse, that or the one where you follow around a couple of chunkheads with gazillion children.

If there were a Jerry Springer Award I'd give it to VH-1. What I'd really like to see is a documentary on the people who actually watch this stuff, now THAT might be entertaining.

Ladies, if you wonder why "men do not respect us" just flip channels for a bit. We're portrayed either half naked wearing naught but a pound of make-up or put together and successful but eternally whining.

I finally watched The View. For an entire 15 minutes. Never again.

Telemundo is about the only station that regularly features people who look like your friends and neighbors but that's assuming your friends and neighbors also dress like hookers.

Japanese shows are terrific because you can make up your own dialogue. None of mine would make it past the censors.

I'm off to watch stock tickers, see you later.

People With Better Things To Do

2008-04-01T12:12:00.000-07:00

I remember posting last year when many were still cluelessly waiting for Al Gore to announce his candidacy that he is totally over us. Naturally my message did not get out there since now the same folks are cluelessly waiting for Gore to resolve the Democratic nomination. Hear this: ain't gonna happen. You'll be lucky if Gore even tells you who he's going to vote for because my bet is he won't.

People, get a clue, we, the American people, threw this guy out with the garbage and we are about to do same once again to another, possibly even more outstanding, candidate. Gore is sitting back laughing his ass off at us and rightly so. Exactly why in the hell does anyone believe Gore is going to take time and energy away from doing what he wants to do to attempt to save fools from themselves???

Following that train of thought I'm not at all worried for the future of Barack Obama. Worried about the future of the rest of us, yes, Sen. Obama, no. Gore and Obama are both great examples of People With Better Things To Do. Actually I'd include Bill Richardson in that group. All have a great deal to offer and all took the time to offer up their service but when rejected these are not people ala McCan't or Clinton who live only for the day they can be King of the Mountain. They are all people who will move on, do great things and simply shake their heads at the rest of us. They don't need us and they are not going to spend their lives trying to convince us that we need them, it's a one-shot, take it or leave it offer.

Gore can't very well say it but I can: we, the American voters, are too stupid to find our assholes in the dark with a flashlight. So there it is, Gore is not going to jump back on his white horse to solve the current dilemma because frankly Scarlett, he no longer gives a damn what we do.

Edwards will do what Edwards has always done, straddle the fence until he feels one choice or the other is "safe" for his political future. If that choice turns out to be wrong he'll offer up another of his now famous mea culpas. Repeat after me: never had a backbone and never will. The only truly smart thing the man ever did was marry Elizabeth. If you doubt that, watch
what happens when she's gone.

The whole "Clinton needs to stop" thing? Count me out, let her run it right into the ground because I'm having my own "frankly Scarlett" moment. She could not run anything into the ground without the help of her supporters so if we are stupid enough to nominate her then we most certainly deserve to get exactly what we'll get. Let the chips fall where they may. If we had ever really wanted better government and better leaders we'd have them.

Nations always end up with exactly the leaders they deserve and that includes the good old US of A.

Alice Walker Says It Better

2008-03-29T11:46:00.000-07:00

I was debating whether I wanted to post anything or not but this article by Alice Walker is too good not to at least try to share with as many people as are willing to read it.

I have a long personal history with Ms. Walker, one-sided as it is, going back 20 some years when she planted the seed that led me to end my first marriage and I still owe her for that one. Yes, sometimes it does matter if they can't understand what a book (or in the current case a speech or an essay) means to you or why.

When I was born in 1944 my parents lived on a middle Georgia plantation that was owned by a white distant relative, Miss May Montgomery. (During my childhood it was necessary to address all white girls as "Miss" when they reached the age of twelve.) She would never admit to this relationship, of course, except to mock it. Told by my parents that several of their children would not eat chicken skin she responded that of course they would not. No Montgomerys would.

My parents and older siblings did everything imaginable for Miss May. They planted and raised her cotton and corn, fed and killed and processed her cattle and hogs, painted her house, patched her roof, ran her dairy, and, among countless other duties and responsibilities my father was her chauffeur, taking her anywhere she wanted to go at any hour of the day or night. She lived in a large white house with green shutters and a green, luxuriant lawn: not quite as large as Tara of Gone With the Wind fame, but in the same style.

We lived in a shack without electricity or running water, under a rusty tin roof that let in wind and rain. Miss May went to school as a girl. The school my parents and their neighbors built for us was burned to the ground by local racists who wanted to keep ignorant their competitors in tenant farming. During the Depression, desperate to feed his hardworking family, my father asked for a raise from ten dollars a month to twelve. Miss May responded that she would not pay that amount to a white man and she certainly wouldn't pay it to a nigger. That before she'd pay a nigger that much money she'd milk the dairy cows herself.

I am a supporter of Obama because I believe he is the right person to lead the country at this time. He offers a rare opportunity for the country and the world to start over, and to do better. It is a deep sadness to me that many of my feminist white women friends cannot see him. Cannot see what he carries in his being. Cannot hear the fresh choices toward Movement he offers. That they can believe that millions of Americans –black, white, yellow, red and brown - choose Obama over Clinton only because he is a man, and black, feels tragic to me.

When I have supported white people, men and women, it was because I thought them the best possible people to do whatever the job required. Nothing else would have occurred to me. If Obama were in any sense mediocre, he would be forgotten by now. He is, in fact, a remarkable human being, not perfect but humanly stunning, like King was and like Mandela is. We look at him, as we looked at them, and are glad to be of our species. He is the change America has been trying desperately and for centuries to hide, ignore, kill. The change America must have if we are to convince the rest of the world that we care about people other than our (white) selves. By Alice Walker -TheRoot.com

Just a few highlights, she has much more to say and all well worth clicking over to read.

Sometimes I Mistake My Granddaughters for Snipers

2008-03-27T11:23:00.000-07:00

I've been busy operating under sniper fire this week so haven't had much time to post. Err, sorry, I misspoke, actually I've been held hostage by a pair of toddling grandchildren. Small children, snipers, all the same thing right? Maybe I'm just sleep deprived. Sorry but I didn't have quite enough time to pencil in bringing peace to the Middle East or curing cancer.

Meanwhile back at the ranch it looks like She-Who-Saved-the-Free-World has been busy with her good friends at Fox, reassuring asshats across the nation that she will not cease and desist until she has successfully destroyed any chance of a Democrat being elected in November. Excuse me for not getting overly excited about this tidbit, after all, what the hell did anyone suppose she would do? If she can't have it she'll do everything possible to make sure no one else can either. The only question remaining is whether or not voters will fall for it and I'm not going to try and guess that one. Bets anyone?

The Assmonkeys Cometh

2008-03-19T09:42:00.000-07:00

Barely 24 hours after what was the most definitive speech ever given on race and here come the assmonkeys attempting to chip, chip, chip away at what was possibly the finest example of true statesmanship we will see in this century.

They just can't stand it, not five minutes after Sen. Obama's speech there was the Prince of Assmonkeys, Pat Buchanan, parsing every tidbit through his own personal hateful, racist, sexist fucktard filter on MSNBC. Pat, you might think Rev. Jeremiah Wright hates you but he's your biggest fan compared to what I feel for you. Trust me on that one.

Obama spoke truths that I and millions of other American citizens have known almost since birth, if that was "shocking" or surprising to some then all it points to is how fucking blind and insulated some of you are. When were you planning to wake up? When the anger and violence has destroyed all of us? When we have no nation left to salvage?

Sound extreme? You really think a nation as divided as ours can continue to function effectively while continuing to ignore the needs and feelings of at least a third of its citizens? How the hell has that been working out for us? Looking at the big picture any sane person would have to conclude "not very damned well".

Anyone who didn't "get" the speech or doesn't "get" the bigger picture here, you're probably beyond human help and it's time the rest of us moved on without you because the time for holding back to appease you is past. Sure, "we" could lose the election but I can personally guarentee you this: even if you "win" the election, you lose, in fact we'll all lose. Chew on that fer a while Bubba-heads.

Barack Hussein Obama, yes, I used his middle name because it is a perfectly fine name and there is not a motherfucking thing wrong with it, has given me and mine something we have never had to any great extent, pride in one of our leaders and pride in our country for being able to produce such a person. That is also correct, I said I have never had tremendous pride in my country until now and I am a white middle class woman. My name is not Michelle and I am not running for any office so I will not parse that for you nor will I apologize to a country that's done nothing but try to kick me in the teeth every step up from the bottom. I have more than a slight suspicion there are many others like me out there too so if any of ya'll are thinking this is just a "black issue", think again m'fers.

I could not be prouder of Sen. Obama if he were my own son or father or brother. What he said yesterday reached down into the ugly ball of rage I carry with me every day of my life and I didn't cry that cute little cry so many women manage where a few tears escape while they artfully dab them away from their make-up, no, it was more like the nearly-choking-to-death cry that anyone who has ever felt real pain knows. Make-up be damned.

Yeah babies, it's personal at a level I never thought I'd live to see. I'm just one but our names and faces are many. Stick that one in your pipe and smoke it.

Hope She Has Small Feet

2008-03-11T11:06:00.000-07:00

"If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position," she said for an article aptly headlined "Geraldine Ferraro lets her emotions do the talking."

She went on: "And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept." LA Times

Well...yes, and if I had been born a black man odds are good I'd either be dead or in prison and not writing this blog so what is your point? Oh no, for one of the first times in history being a black man is to at least some extent turning out to be an advantage and that is just driving you crazy. Deal with it.

Spin it any way you please, there is no way you can convince anyone even remotely honest that Hillary Clinton being female has not worked to her advantage as well. Those long lines of old ladies never turned out for Dubya or even for Al Gore, if they had we'd probably not be having this conversation now would we?

While we're on it, if Hillary had not been born a wealthy white woman would she be in the position she is in now? If she were not married to a former president would she and more to the point....if she had been born black would Bubba have married her in the first place?

If my ass were a cash register I'd be sipping latte in Rome. People are born who they are and sometimes it works out to be an advantage and sometimes it doesn't and Barack Obama didn't make up them rules, the rest of us did so you're damned straight I'm caught up in "the concept"and I make no apologies for it.

Unfortunately any advantage Clinton's marital ties or type of genitalia may have given her is negated by the fact that she also possesses both the personality and the character of a psychopathic troll. We've already had a slew of those and at least some of us are ready for something different.

Personally I'm damned thankful Obama was not born a white man because it's true, he might not be where he is today and that would have been a tremendous loss for all of us.

Deep Dark Depression, Excessive Misery

2008-03-06T06:08:00.001-08:00

It hasn't seemed worth talking about the results of the Tuesday primary because, well, it was all too easily predictable. Everyone and their brother has been trying to analyze what Clinton and Obama did or did not do but hellooooo....ever occur to anyone it was the HeeHaw vote in Ohio and Texas that determined the outcome? Yeah buddy, same demographic that will likely make for a Clinton win in PA. Doubtful it would matter much what she did short of take a crap on the steps of the capitol.

So on we go to another several months of fighting and republicans are jumping for joy, one more time it looks like indeed we can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Tuesday night was just splendid at my house. Clinton won three states and began to speak, husband turned purple and threw up. Not sure if it was Clinton or a bad taco but you get the picture. Husband you see is in many ways Mr. Joe Average America. The saner variety. He doesn't hate women, in fact thinks in general they are usually better people than most men though they often confuse and confound him. He doesn't care much about race either, he cares what a person does and how they behave. In his book an ass is an ass is an ass whatever flavor it comes in. He's just shy of 50 and has never, ever missed voting (democratic) in an election in his entire adult life despite the fact that the nominee was usually about his 3rd or fourth choice but come November, should Clinton be the nominee, he will not vote.

He's only one person so I suppose that doesn't matter much in the bigger picture but I have to wonder how many others will not vote if it comes to that? I haven't quite gotten there yet, I'm waiting to see what the majority of the African-American community decides to do if this is the outcome but I can tell you this...if they decide to stay home I'll stay home with them.

I have serious doubts about any candidate being able to deliver on even half of their promises even if they truly intend to but I am absolutely positive Clinton can't so I don't really see where a Clinton presidency would be so much better than a McCain presidency. Add in the fact that I truly believe a Clinton win would be the death of the Democratic party....well, I'd just as soon muddle through 4 more years of pig shit.

Why do I believe that? Think about it, does anyone really believe that Black voters will just fall in line and continue to vote democratic after the party that is supposed to be all about equality flings turds in their faces? I'm thinking not and frankly the party cannot survive as a viable entity without them. If Obama wins will we lose voters? Sure...mainly elderly women voting to avenge twenty year old wrongs and a lot of racists. I'm good with that. Really I am, I'm tired of catering to the lowest common denominator and bending over for assmonkeys. If I wanted to do that I'd vote republican.

I've voted lockstep with this party my entire life despite our consistent record of backing the wrong horse but I'm just about at the end of my rope. This one is personal for many reasons and I'm just not certain at all that I can do it. I want change. I want all Americans to just be Americans because we've become much like our dear friends the Sunni and the Shi'a and I'm just not down with that. The Democratic party has always supposedly stood for equality and reaching out to any group of people that has been left out and here we have a golden shiny moment where we have the opportunity to put our money where our mouths are and not with just any old figurehead but an actual, bonafide, qualified, and outstanding candidate so if we can't do it, well, there goes the neighborhood as far as I'm concerned.

I don't really give a goddamn who that pisses off because people, ya'll been pissing on my salad for 45 years.

If I Had A Magic Wand I'd Shove It Right Up Your Smug Ass

2008-02-25T16:09:00.000-08:00

Yup, that's right, Clinton's picture is gone. I've had more than enough sarcastic, condescending, mocking people try to bring me down during the course of my life, I sure as hell do not need another. I did not accept it from Bush, Cheney and all their asshat crowd and I'm not about to break out the shit-eating spoon for any other person who would have me vote for them to lead my party and my country.

Luckily I will not have to struggle with whether or not to vote for you come November because despite whatever may or may not pop up from your followers in the blogosphere as far as the majority of voters are concerned, you committed political suicide today. I don't need a poll to tell me that. Maybe you should reconsider a career with the GOP, insulting voters and trying to humiliate them into following them is more their line.

Newflash for you Ms. Clinton: you don't know me and you sure as hell do not know what I have had to overcome in my life and I definitely did not have a magic wand either. I don't kid myself about anything being "easy" or "perfect" but there is a key difference between the two of us, in spite of my cynicism and in spite of the multitude of mocking assmonkeys like you I've had to step over on my way, I've never given up and I've never wasted my time whining about what could not be done but focused on what could. If that makes me a fool then I'm a fool but oddly enough it's worked quite well for me.

Go ahead and keep insulting us, smirk some more and make your cute little sarcastic sound bites and let us know how that works out for you. Maybe you can land a co-host spot with Bill O'Reilly.

White People Can't Hear?

2008-02-22T14:54:00.000-08:00

I've previously expressed my own feelings of alienation from "my own kind" or anyway whatever that is based on how I look, my age, my gender, my income bracket, blah, blah, blah and last night only confirmed it. Rather todays reading through of the blogs has confirmed it.

Apparently just about every white blogger in the country only had their white-o-centric ears on when they listened to last nights debate. I had my Latino-mom-ears on and I heard Obama loud and clear and he spoke to me and to my children and to my sisters' children. He offered us all a seat at the table, not tablescraps. No, I am not a Latina, I just borrow the ears sometimes, same as I had my Black-mom-eyes on when I looked at Sen. Obama's little girls on the stage in Iowa surrounded by crowds of cheering white people. Both times I saw and heard the future and it was good.

I don't know how to explain this to you my white brethren and some will never get it and we'll just have to wait on them to die off but for those who would call themselves "progressive" let me explain something to you: there is a world of difference between "sympathy" and "empathy". I've never wasted much time feeling "sorry" for anyone, if you want to even begin to try and understand someone try on their shoes.

You Have Attained the Rank Of Harpy Slayer

2008-02-18T14:56:00.000-08:00

Here is my deep, dark confession....my part-time addiction to creating alter egos on my favorite MMORPG where I currently exist as a black, half-elf Templar with a faithful pet duck. For those of you who believe only children and ultra-geeks engage in this sort of activity, my current main playing partner is a 50 something Italian engineer who plays from his office in Rome. Granted we may both be ultra-geeks but children we are definitely not.

The sad thing is that while busily slaying orcs, bugbears and harpies in our little fictional universe we actually manage to have more interesting conversations than I've been able to find for the most part in the blog world. Somehow I can't feature my game friend going on a rant about Bill Clinton's wagging a finger at someone idiotic enough to attend a rally just to heckle the speaker or engaging in the ultra-paranoid anti-Obama rants I've seen on some blogs of late.

Even stranger we differ on which US candidate we support but manage to discuss politics without raising insane arguments. Truth is if I were stupid enough to raise many of the arguments I've seen written on blogs and flogged to death in the media he would assume I'd lost my mind and he'd be correct.

At least two of my favorite bloggers, Mixter and Vigilante have expressed similar feelings of disenchantment with the current, I hesitate to call it "dialogue" but whatever it is. Hang in there both of you, please. Take a break if you must but don't throw in the towel because we've had decades of lunatics running this asylum and it's time saner voices took over.

I don't live in the blog world full time like some nor do I live in my fictional game world full time, most of my time is actually spent in the very ordinary real world and I prefer to keep it that way though both of the others are wonderful alternatives at times and I have no plans to quit any. The thing is that despite my ever present pessimism about the human race in general I've seen enough evidence of at least a sizeable minority of people capable of using logic and reason to make it worthwhile to keep trying.

The alternative would be to just give up and disappear into some fantasy universe full time and that I am not prepared to do.

For Some Of Us Character Matters

2008-02-14T15:49:00.000-08:00

Several people commented on the previous post that much as they would hate to do it they would vote for Hillary Clinton in the general election if she wins the nomination. I have to agree with them, they are right...we can't afford a McCain presidency so I know that I would have to find a way to make myself do it but on a really personal level this would be one of the most difficult things I've ever had to do.

I have the same problem with Clinton as I had with Edwards: she voted to kill my children in George's war.

At first I was willing to cut her some slack on the issue, I had to put myself in her shoes and really look at how I might have looked at it if I had been in her position. Now assuming I was ever gullible enough to believe Iraq presented a clear and present danger to the US or even assuming I could at least be willing to entertain the thought that I might be mistaken, the consequences of being wrong on that would not be something I'd be willing to live with. The possibility of putting thousands of lives at risk by making a wrong decision or, unthinkable as it would be for me, to score a political jab at Herr Bush would make it at least understandable why some may have voted to give him the green light on the invasion. Faced with even a slight possibility of this scenario I can understand why some would have erred on the side of what they may have seen as caution.

The problem is that since then it came to light that Sen. Clinton never even read the intelligence reports.

Still wearing Clinton's shoes there is no possible explanation for that other than it was never about erring on the side of caution or fear of risking more innocent lives. It was about political expediency and keeping the vote amongst what was at that time perceived as the "center". There is just no other way to spin it and believe me I've turned this one inside out and looked at it from every conceivable angle and there is simply no way that if ones' concern truly was the safety and security of the American people that anyone would have simply voted without taking advantage of all available information and intelligence. There is just no way I would have done that and hopefully neither would any of the readers here.

I know that's "old" news and supposedly the American voter has a 15 minute attention span. Maybe that's true but not always and not all of us. I don't care what pop psychology says about forgiveness, some things are not forgiveable and more importantly speak to the true character and motivations of a person. There is no way anyone can spin this for me, it is impossible to make a decision affecting the lives of millions without even looking at all the information then try to convince me it was because you believed it was to protect those very people.

I'm a woman and I am a mother and I know better.

So how am I going to make myself vote for Clinton if it comes to that? Only one way I can, McCain has made it clear he will not even attempt to put an end to this. As long as ending our occupation of Iraq remains popular with the general public, Clinton likely will. Don't bank on that though, John Q. Public can change with the wind and we'll have elected a leader who likes to run the way the wind is blowing. If it comes down to it I'll have to settle for that on the chance that I might help save someone else's child or husband or spouse so on that note I'll give her my vote then whatever happens, happens.

Unfortunately it would be just one more time I had no real voice in this country, me and a few million other people for that reason and a dozen others. Yes, that's just one of them, I could write a 2000 page book on some of the other reasons but most people still would not get it and I'm pretty much tired of trying to reason with people that just want to turn this into a high school football team rivalry.

This is about real lives and real people and I have to try and choose the candidate I believe most takes that seriously. At the most basic level it's all about trust and given a choice I always opt for the people who have not betrayed my trust. Sadly I'm usually left with a choice between two people who've betrayed that trust and trying to decide which will continue to do so less than the other.

So you were wondering why so few people vote?

Yes I Am In A Really Bad Mood

2008-02-12T14:37:00.000-08:00

I don't even know where to start to explain where I'm at with this mess we're in. First off there really hasn't been much to say about the latest primaries and caucuses because, doh, like it or not the outcomes have been for the most part quite well known to everyone not living in Oz beforehand.

That kind of led me to my second conclusion which was that sometimes it's better to just shut the fuck up than engage in the sort of shrieking, shrilling, and whining I've been seeing on at least half the blogs (and I'm being generous here) and most definitely in many of the comments including here on my own at times.

Oooooh the media is mean to me and hates women/black people/brown people/liberals/conservatives/really cute puppies. Yeah well, the media doesn't love or hate anyone, they love ratings and as long as there are assmonkeys willing to park in front of the tube and listen to idiotic dribble and wage wars over trivia they'll keep right on keeping on. Ok, I'll admit I do love to watch Pat Buchanan but that is only because I enjoy the way the veins pop out of the side of his head and he starts to turn purple, it relaxes me.

I've made it pretty clear that I am not voting for Clinton, no secret there. If you are or aren't and wish to make an argument for or against that's fine but make it at least semi-rational. I do not give a damn about her ankles or her pantsuit. Above all please refrain from demanding I feel oppressed because I happen to possess a vagina. I've never been oppressed in my life for longer than 5 minutes because I've never tolerated it and this is still America, so far anyway. Every other man in the country is not a foaming-at-the-mouth misogynist, quite a lot of them are clueless. Give them a clue and save the baseball bats for the truly deserving. When you do actually run across a true misogynist I'd suggest breaking his kneecaps but it would be a good idea to learn to recognize the difference.

I've also made it clear that I did and will again, vote for Obama. Again, if you wish to make a point for or against that's also fine but keep it sane. I do not care whether or not he did or did not use drugs/attend a Muslim kindergarten/is or is not "Black enough". As for the heavy doses of sarcasm I've read regarding the man's powerful oratorical skill and overwhelming charisma...bitch please....those have come in handy in winning over some of those 2,999,999 other people I have to share the country with and I'll be the first to admit that but has little to nothing to do with my reasons for supporting him. Remember you're talking to someone who favored Bill Richardson, charisma is not a deal maker or breaker for me. I tend to look at stupid ass trivia like THEIR FUCKING VOTING RECORDS.

Do not even try the "Clinton has more experience" argument with me. Sen. Clinton never held public office until the year 2000 so where this "35 years of experience" tag line is coming from is beyond me. If sleeping with or being married to someone confers some sort of educational and experiential bonus then I'm a fucking diesel engine technician and a jet pilot. If "experience" is truly your criteria then just vote for John McCain and bugger off.

Speaking of voting records, outside of Joe Lieberman I cannot think of a single dem who has voted more in lockstep with the GOP than John Edwards so why on earth half the "progressive" universe seems to believe he is their saviour is beyond me. From nuclear waste to Iraq to the current majorly fucked up bankruptcy laws Sen. Edwards has a long and established history of caving to GOP pressure. Granted, he does a fine mea culpa after the fact but how many times do you want a mea culpa after the fact??? He may have the best of intentions, not going to try and second guess the mans motives but he's pretty much proven he does not have the best judgement in the world, at least not for a self-professed "progressive". I'd not even mention him here except that many of his followers seem to remain in denial that he is out of the race.

Finally there are the ultra snarky, I'm-too-cool-and-embittered-to-get involved people. Everyone is bad, all the choices suck, nothing will change no matter what we do, yada, yada, yada. Fine, to borrow a phrase from the Galloping Beaver, sit on the fucking corner and wish for ponies. Make sure to save a seat next to you for the Perpetual Victim crowd m'kay?

Things I Know That Are Not Worth Wasting My Time Arguing About

This election is not "all about Obama". He's tapped into something that was already waiting to happen. Right person, right place, right time. Sometimes shit happens that way.
He could lose/Clinton could win, all things are still possible.
An Obama loss would set off an even larger tidal wave than the one currently in motion, some things I just know in my bones. My bones have never lied to me.
I would not want to be on the wrong end of that wave.
There is a certain historical inevitability to whatever course it is we are currently on, this too I know in my bones. What I do not know is how it will play out and how many heads will roll in the process but there is no realistic way to deny that there is a process in motion. Unless you are wishing for a pony.
It is entirely possible that Pat Buchanan's head will explode by the time this is all settled, whichever way it settles. I can only see this as a good thing.
Last but not least I am struggling to make sense of the fact that I belong to a party that believes I am so utterly retarded that they must appoint a 21 year old Alvin the Chipmunk look-alike to vote for me. I am too old to need a nanny and after this election I may decide I'm too old to be bothered with this party any more. Jury is still out on that one. If you are Republican don't get all excited, I still would eat nails before voting for a single one of your regressive, retarded, assmonkeys. It simply means that I may no longer register as a Democrat or give another penny to the DNC. Individual candidates may still apply.

Now that I've pissed off everyone and their mother too, have a nice day. Vote for whoever you want to vote for but at least make a choice and stand for something. Try to do it like grown ups. If we want leaders that don't behave like assclowns we need to stop behaving like assclowns.

I've Moved to Canada, For Today Anyway

2008-02-05T14:37:00.000-08:00

Today's post is being guest hosted at Buckdog along with another fine Super Tuesday post from Pissed on Politics. All 3 of ya'll that enjoy my rambling & ranting head over there and the rest of you head there anyway and check out Buckdog for a dose of north of the border politics.

Just a Few Weird Random Thoughts

2008-01-29T12:56:00.000-08:00

I don't know if this has not occurred to anyone or if it's simply too politically incorrect to speculate upon but....has it not crossed anybody elses mind that Bill Clinton may not really want his wife to win? I mean c'mon people, Bill is many things but clueless about how some of his recent remarks would play out would not be on the list. Bill Clinton of all people knew exactly what kind of reaction his words would get so I have to at least entertain the possibility that his motives may have been other than what they might appear at first glance.

I've heard the "he's outta control" explanation from every talking head on the planet but it just doesn't stand up to closer scrutiny. We've all seen Bill "outta control" before and even then he is not that stupid. Unless someone can convince me he's taken up smoking a crack pipe I'm going to have to go with my gut here and assume his motive was "other".

Next weird random thought: um, helloooooo....Ted Kennedy may have been the story in Washington but across much of main street America Caroline is the story. Little insider tip to my party leaders: huge numbers of lifelong Democratic voters, particularly in the west, do not even like Ted Kennedy. Never have. We put up with him because he's still better than a Republican but we do not now nor have we ever liked him. We love Caroline. That said, I give him props for a great speech that managed to inspire me in spite of it coming out of Teddy's mouth. Bonus points for not making me barf. Now send Caroline on the campaign trail and see what happens.

Speaking of a Kennedy-esque moment, it crossed my mind that I would hate to be the grandparent who had to admit in retrospect that I did not vote for him but supported that other guy. Talk about losing face as the wizened elder, you want your grandkids to have to use the old "well, you know gran was from a different time" excuse? I'll take a pass on that, thanks.

I Hate Pissing Up Ropes

2008-01-27T13:12:00.000-08:00

I've been reading through the blogs and honestly people, it's getting beyond shrill and I'm really not in the frame of mind to go there.

Look, my first choice was Bill Richardson but when it became obvious that he was not going to get enough support to become viable, I, living in realityville as I tend to do, looked to the rest of the field for a new choice. Does not mean I don't still like Richardson, it means I accept the reality that I cannot have it all my way, at least not all of the time. I have 299,999,999 other people I have to make nice with whether I like it or not. Happily Gov. Richardson is a grown up too and gracefully exited with dignity intact before becoming a spoiler.

That said, for a multitude of reasons I chose to support Barack Obama, not least of which being I firmly believe he is the only candidate remaining who can win the general election and that my friends is of dire importance to me. I have no intention of going on either a Clinton or Edwards bashing campaign because, doh, here I go inserting reality again, Edwards is not going to win the nomination, not going to happen and Clinton, well, she might win the nomination but looking at the extremely overheated division over her within our own party, on both sides, does anyone truly believe this would not be a major problem in the general election?

Does not make a damn what *I* think or do not think about them, what will matter is what that other 299,999,999 people think and it ain't looking so good out there for either of them. Consider the remote possibility that I just might be less out of touch with *mainstream america* than our hopelessly befuddled media. Just maybe.

Or, ignore the bottom line, insist this is Burger King, and say hello to President McCain. Your call.

I Know It ain't Over But........

2008-01-26T21:53:00.001-08:00

YEEHAW!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know I said I had high hopes for South Carolina but the results exceeded my expectations. I was looking for about an 8-10 point spread not...um.....28 points!

I will now resume my regularly scheduled holding-my-breath till February 5th session.

It's ALWAYS Been the Economy Stupid, and We Still Don't Get It

2008-01-23T10:20:00.000-08:00

I'm going to confess that as someone who regularly plays the market I have been largely uninvolved and ignoring the nosedive. See the thing is, a blind pig should have seen this one coming, oh, about 2 years ago. Aside from this being what I call a golden stock shopping opportunity I'm not really all that interested. Not sure what part of "you can't keep spending money you do not have" or continue expanding the number of people living in absolute poverty without eventually destroying your economy most people still aren't getting but there it is in a nutshell.

As usual our fearless leaders are getting the solution all wrong too. Color me not surprised. Tax bennies for corporations and rebates for everyone who already has money and goddamn well ought to learn to budget...gee that's gonna help. NOT.

For anyone still in doubt let me 'splain it for you in really, really simple terms. You aren't going to like it but this is what has to happen: real income has to rise at the bottom end. That's right Joe Monkey autoworker, it ain't about you....it's about the gazillion or so people cleaning motel rooms, serving you at the drive through window and picking your goddamn lettuce. It's basic math: we have too many people with no discretionary income and when that happens who in the hell do you imagine we are going to sell all our goods and services too? Even Donald Trump can only eat so many Whoppers.

Now we could just blame "corporate greed" and rant and rail at big business, it might feel good but it's only a piece of the story. The real story is the other few million of us in the great middle class who want it all, want it now, and want it on the cheap. "We" were ok with ignoring the fact that a whole lot of people had to be working a lot of hours for less money than it cost to live decently in order to provide the rest of us with all these goodies and as usual we are continuing to ignore this fact.

That right there had a lot to do with my bottom line when I went with Obama because he is the only candidate who gets this. Clinton and Edwards may get it but they are not going to act on it, no way Jose, they will continue to pander to the middle income folks who got us into this mess in the first place. Sadly those are the people who are more likely to vote....just look at our last 8 years if you have any more questions about that. Oh, and by the way Michigan voters: Mitt Romney is going to bring back our auto industry about the same time I learn to pull live rabbits out of my ass. You can't bring back an industry that has no market and poor people don't buy new cars every other year.

In the meantime all is right in my world, I did not lose my ass in the market because back when we had halfway decent schools I learned basic math, the Daily Show is back on the air and there is this young guy called Woozie who gives me hope that the kids coming up now may not turn out to be the same waste of airspace my generation has turned out to be.

Most of all I am still floating on the thing we aren't supposed to talk about but I'm gonna anyway: Senator Obama's young daughters standing up on that podium after the win in Iowa changed the world for an entire generation of young people in this country. Most of us older geezers don't really get that, neither black nor white but the kids get it and that's all that matters.

My Nevada Caucus

2008-01-19T13:10:00.000-08:00

I can only speak for my precinct but here's how it went:

Not one Black voter voted for Clinton.

Not one Clinton voter was under 110. Ok, ok, maybe 50 but it seriously was the geriatric section. More than half were on walkers and/or oxygen.

The Clinton people were for the most part obnoxious asshats and kept sending people to the wrong areas so dear one took it upon himself to begin redirecting Obama voters to the right areas.

Edwards got less than 10 people out of the several hundred who showed up, all of those were members of our local shotgun-toting, conspiracy theory contingent. No one was willing to risk speaking to them, they finally left.

A Hillary voter lost her cool and cursed everyone out. Most entertaining 10 minutes of the entire caucus. Her one tooth only added to the fun.

The fire department showed up and threatened to shut down the caucus. Half of us ended up doing the caucus in the parking lot. The local fire truck may have a flat tire now.

No shots were fired and we managed to just barely miss having a brawl which is pretty good for Nevada I guess. I'd have kind of enjoyed a brawl though.

Disappointing turn out for Obama but then much of my precinct is 110 years old so hoping for better results out of Las Vegas.

And yeah, we voted for Obama, didja think it could be otherwise????

Brief Update

2008-01-04T09:00:00.000-08:00

Ok, ok, been gone quite awhile I know. Mainly I just could not think of a thing I cared enough to say two words about, too many of my own things were going on to care if the rest of the world imploded or not.

The main thing was nearly losing my newest grandbaby who was born needing immediate surgery and spent her first month in the ICU....luckily for us in one of the best hospitals in the country which definitely brings home the point that we have to make certain everyone has access to this level of care. I can't even begin to imagine how differently things might have turned out for a family that did not have good insurance.

Anyhow, all is well now, mother and baby now home and doing just fine and in spite of Pakistan blowing up, Bush still being in office, the Religious Wrong still sucking rotten eggs and our economy looking like a one-legged, blind dog the only thing I can find it in my heart to say today is......HALLEJFUCKINGLIUIAH.....Obama won Iowa. THAT my friends hits me on so many levels I can't even begin to explain but if you happen to be one of the people who is right there with me you already get it.

So for today anyway....peace on earth and goodwill towards every single Iowan who did this miraculous thing. I'm still ganked at humans, I didn't suddenly start believing in god and no, I don't think that all is going to be well now but for this one moment I do have hope and that's more than I've had for nearly a decade.

Stuff to Do When Feeling Down

2007-11-07T18:19:00.000-08:00

Some women go shopping or get their hair done. I'd be more depressed if I spent money then realized I had bought nothing of lasting value and I could give a flip about my hair so I go virtual house shopping.

Here are a few of todays top picks:

Larger than I really want and I need a yard but it's not shabby.

Don't want the house but I need that central courtyard.

I don't need it, probably could not afford it but I'm being unreasonable today so I want it.

And the winner is......

Good News/Bad News

2007-11-06T16:44:00.000-08:00

Gold is trading around $825 and silver around $15.50. Good news if you own some, bad news if the only bling you own is the crap you wear.

USD is now worth $.91 Canadian. Good news if you're Canadian, bad news if you just wanted to be. Caveat: if planning to beg from Canadians it's now good form to ask "Mister, can you spare 90 cents".

Fewer deaths in Iraq. Good news because, well, people not dying is a good thing. Bad news for anyone wanting us out of Iraq....most Americans don't care as long as we're "winning".

Mexico awash in silver & gold. Good news: fewer Mexican immigrants for us to fight over in the near future. Bad news: fewer Mexican immigrants for us to fight over in the near future.

Hollywood writers on strike. Good news: many series will not be returning from this break. Bad news: no Daily Show...turn off your TV and read the Scotsman.

Nevada will probably remain a Red State. Good news: we don't really matter. Bad news: I still live here.

Pictures Worth a Thousand Words

2007-11-05T01:53:00.001-08:00

While I was pushing buttons and listening to the ever-retarded Fox business-for-the-gullible folks deny there was any problem whatsoever with our economy, that it is in fact "the best it has ever been", I thought I'd take a few screenshots for you. Straight off of the currency exchange.

Any more questions?

Questions & Comments

2007-11-03T16:11:00.000-07:00

Just some highlights for the week.

1. Hollywood screenwriters going on strike: Looking at what programming is on the major networks.....I can only view this as a good thing. Call it a garbage reduction program.

2. Speaking of terrible TV programming, the Emperor of White Trash is no more. Dog the Bounty Hunter chokes to death on his own stupidity. My only question is: why was this show ever on in the first place? More to the point, why was it on a network called "Arts & Entertainment"? Maybe it meant "Arts & Entertainment for the Incredibly Socially Retarded". Rumours of grievous mourning in Alabama.

3. Fredericka Whitfield is still a moron. Discussing the flooding in Tabasco, Mexico, "how are emergency response teams able to get into the area....if they have such a thing....." Yes Fredericka, they have such a thing "down there". They've even discovered things like electricity and motorized vehicles. Huaraches are optional.

4. West Virginia: where to go if you're a socially regressive, illiterate asshat. Let's build a fence around it.

5. Food prices increase at unprecedented rates and are expected to increase even more dramatically over the foreseeable future. Meanwhile U.S. farmers are fleeing to Mexico and Oklahoma attempts to deport all available laborers. Don't bother to call me when ya'll get hungry....I'll be sippin' margaritas on my rooftop patio in the altiplano by then.

6. Everybody Hates Hillary. This one rates a huge Whatever award from me. Arguments range between "she's a socialist who'll bankrupt our country" to "she's in bed with corporate America". One or t'other kids, can't be both. On point #1...considering she's made a great deal of money trading commodities I don't think so. On point #2...and the others candidates are not? This one is difficult for me to swallow, 'specially when it comes from people wearing Gap outfits, Bausch & Lomb lenses, Wolverine shoes, and carrying an Apple IPod in their pocket. I still prefer Obama overall but puhleeze, let's get real here.

7. Traders have feelings too, who knew? Todd Harrison nails my sense of overwhelming sadness as I reap profit in the wake of the destruction of my country. Those who saw the storm coming the most clearly are gaining the most....but we aren't terribly happy about it.

8. Retirement planning continues on the home front. Mexico is holding the #1 position and gaining....if this is Hannity's America he can have it back.

The Ultimate Fixer-Upper

2007-10-27T11:48:00.000-07:00

I'm not terribly excited about which democrat wins the nomination because there is one thing I believe all of them get.....that we can't keep ignoring domestic matters. This alone puts all of them ahead of all the republican candidates who are too busy looking for Osama under their beds to care if American children go to bed on full stomachs or if they even have a bed of their own to go to.

Then too I have my doubts about how much even the most dedicated president will be able to accomplish given the fact they'll have the peanut gallery we call congress to deal with. I hope for the best but plan for the worst.

All of this led me to contemplate the faux news conference held by FEMA. Hold yer horses before you scream....they just might be on to something there. Maybe we ought to just go with a faux government altogether. They could issue faux statements, hold faux press conferences, pass faux resolutions that do absolutely nothing and basically just let the rest of us deal with the problems on the ground. Oh wait, that's already happening. The only thing we need to do is eliminate the presidents ability to actually act upon any of his positions and we'll have this mess all sewed up. We'll make him some foreign Head-of-State avatars he can teleconference with on the internets to keep him occupied. Faux news can be in charge of covering all the proceedings.

In the meantime the rest of us can begin going about the business of doing what needs to be done. I think this might just be a do-it-yourself project.

Whatever Didn't Kill You Probably Made You Mean As Hell

2007-10-25T02:51:00.001-07:00

Re: my previous post which upon reflection probably comes across as a bit flip about California's troubles. Ok, I admit it, quite often my posts are somewhat flip about a lot of troubles. I'm not about to apologise for it but I'll go as far as giving the curious a l'il bit of context.

I lived in southern California for 20 years. Not once but twice an arsonist tried to torch my neighborhood, it's a daily fact of life there. Lots of mentally ill folks and lots of angry folks all looking at the herds of happy-happy, joy-joy families with their 500k houses. Shit is bound to happen.

100 years ago, back when I was a young, broke-as-hell, struggling single parent, the jackass who lived three doors down from me caught the building on fire and burned us all out on Christmas Eve. There I sat with a pile of burnt rubble, three small children and no place to go and not one person said "hey, is there anything I can do to help". Not that we had anything to start with.

Not whining, whatever does not kill you will make you stronger or at least meaner, tougher and thicker skinned. I did what I always did, figured a way to work things out on my own. So, while I'm not jumping for joy that a lot of people lost homes in the fires, I figure they'll live. Yes, there is an element of "most of them are people who would have spit in my face back in the day". Can't shake that completely, we are what life makes us.

I have lots of stories, most of them far, far worse, but really they're no more interesting than the stories of a few million other people. The only difference between me and them is most of them don't blog. Many of them didn't survive their stories. I save most of my empathy for them, the people who really are screwed in this world and there seem to be more of them every day. No, I don't feel anything but laughter welling up inside me when I see Mr. 80k per year crying about his student loans or his mortgage payment. I do not feel his pain. I think that's what some call "coming up hard" and that's what it does to you.

If it seems like I'm thumbing my nose at the world most of the time....it's because I am. Nearly half a century down the road and plenty of money in my pockets but the rage never quite goes away. Multiply that by a few million and you've got at least part of your answer as to what the hell is happening to our country. Think about it, millions of angry people who haven't been invited to the picnic and not all of them will content themselves with taking out their vengeance at a trading desk.

Let Them Eat Cake

2007-10-24T19:04:00.000-07:00

Every now and then when I'm not in the middle of separating some republican from their cash or posting something to annoy them I do something useful or at least different.

Not sure if it was the craving for toasted marshmallows the California fires gave me or the fat piles of money I've taken from some stupid trader-boyz over the last couple of months but I was inspired to bake a cake. That's about as out-of-character as it gets for me considering I once tried to buy a house without a kitchen. Don't get me wrong, I can cook, it just isn't something I choose to do very often.

Anyhow, just to piss off the food police crowd here are a few pointers.

Never, ever use store bought frosting.
Add cream cheese to your frosting.
Always use real sweet cream butter. For sweets (or my nappy hair) the only oils worthy of consideration are coconut or peanut. Corn oil and margarine are for pigs, not humans.
Never ruin a chocolate orgasm with cheap ass waxy chocolate. Buy the good stuff.

Feel free to preface your chocolate cake orgy with some nice fried chicken (bread with real grated parmesan). Accessorize with fresh baked bread and wine of your choice (screw the French, the Turks got it goin' on). So far none of the above has given me high blood pressure, high cholesterol or diabetes. If it ever does I will at least die happy.

Common Sense: Not So Common

2007-10-21T13:47:00.000-07:00

I've had at least a gazillion things floating around in my head that I could have posted about but the thing is, they're really all about the same thing: the almost total lack of common sense in this country today. If you stop and think about it that's the key to just about every other problem facing us. What we used to call "horse sense", good, old fashioned, down-to-earth pragmatism, is nearly non-existent in the public dialogue today and frankly it was the one thing that distinguished the US from nearly every other nation on the planet. It was what made us great.

My better half has a knack for nailing an issue without ever trying and often some of his most offhand remarks will sum up an issue in a simple sentence that I, in my infinite wordiness, would have needed at least a 200 page essay to explain. Case in point: some political talking head or other posed the question, "who is your least favorite candidate" and Dear One passing through the kitchen spit out "everyone currently running".

Ding, we have a winner. That's exactly right, I couldn't even begin to improve on that answer.

I watched the pundits scrambling to weigh in on whether or not Gore would run now that he's won the Nobel prize with great amusement. When you win a Gold medal in the Olympics do you set your sights on winning the sack race at the county fair? The US presidency used to be a prized and respected office, today it's a stepping stone to a great book deal and a career as a public speaker. It's one way of obtaining "street cred" to go on and actually accomplish something for those who have any real ability. For those who don't, it's tenure and a fat pension. It is impossible to accomplish anything of real value while holding public office and everyone who is anyone knows this so for the most part, smart, capable people do not run for office.

We the People with a little help from our friends in the media made it so. For the record: while Fox news does come to mind in the forefront I include 90% of the rest of them as well. Lately I find myself filtering my news intake through Mika Brzezinski and Jon Stewart. What does it say about a nation that can only tell the truth on the Comedy channel?

How did we get so stupid? I dunno, maybe we could start by taking a look at our schools. I'm going to piss off a whole lot of teachers here but I have to say it: more than half of our teachers are as useless as tits on a bull. That's right kids, idiots are raising our young. Given the current system what makes anyone think that someone capable of having an independent thought would seek a career in education? Toss in the fact that whoever came up with the idea that tossing 500 or 1000 adolescents together and expecting them to learn anything we'd like them to learn ought to be drawn and quartered. Cost effective maybe but you get exactly what you pay for, children who've been raised by other children.

I loved the ruckus over schools banning children from playing "tag". Mr. Principal of one such elementary school went on air to explain that some children were harassing other children during the course of this game. When asked by the interviewer why the school did not simply discipline the children who misbehaved Mr. Principal explained that the school did not "have the resources to manage the problem". Parents in the district were applauding this move. M'kay, you just had the principle of your childs school go on national television and admit that he and and his cadre of teachers could not manage a group of 10 year olds. What part of "entrusting your child to such a group of idiots makes you an even bigger idiot" are people not understanding? That is what Dear One would refer to as "shit-for-brains".

With that in mind is it so surprising that all we can focus on in an election is what lapel pin or hair style a candidate is sporting? Is it any more surprising that few if any sane, capable people would even consider running for public office? Oh yes, just what I'd love to do, go on national television and debate how to meddle in the people's private affairs by legislating weight control, smoking, and sexual preferences while the dollar is doing a cliff dive and we are spending billions of dollars trying to do something or other, we aren't quite certain what, in Iraq. That's a job interview for an idiot.

Sometimes it isn't just the right wing that's insane. What the hell makes the left think that ending the "War on Drugs" but declaring war on smokers and chunky people makes any kind of sense at all? Move to the back of the class. If you don't like smokers or fat people, don't associate with them and mind your own damned business. Maybe they don't like you either and maybe, just maybe, most of us would rather not reallocate more assets to a "War on Fried Chicken".

Then there's that whole "Global Warming" thing. I did not post about it the other day when all the blogs got together on it because, because, while it is most certainly a worthy issue I think most people are once again a little slow on the uptake. It's here, it isn't going away and no one knows how much or how fast regardless of how we spin it. "Tipping point" my ass, we passed that decades back so it's moot. Stop adding fuel to the fire or don't and gamble on hotter being better, your choice. Frankly I see an upside to Florida disappearing into the ocean, it troubles me not one bit and that is the coldhearted truth.

The not-so-common, common sense thing to do would be to focus on how to adapt to the changes. Tip of the day: don't plan to retire in the Florida Keys. If you already own a home down there, well, you're fucked. Cut your losses and get out while you might still be able to get something out of your investment...there's always a bigger sucker right behind you. Or sit there and whine, it's all the same to me.

You have no idea how it warms my cold little heart to see water wars erupting between Georgia and Mississippi, North and South Carolina, etc. Having spent my entire life in the southwestern deserts I can only laugh hysterically when observing an Alabama farmer complaining on TV about the severe drought whilst in the background he is running giant overhead sprinklers over his crops at high noon. Apparently the news about evaporation has never made it to Alabama.

We're so busy with the Great Immigration Debate that we've failed to realize it's about to become a moot point. Immigrants, in particular the bulk of Mexican immigrants, come here for employment. Now that we're on a collision course with rising unemployment and economic slow down, THEY AREN'T COMING. While we weren't looking, have you taken a gander at Mexico's burgeoning economy? Care to guess how many "US companies" are now owned by Mexican companies? I don't know the exact number but it's quite a few....didja know that Rinker Materials, one of the largest US building material manufacturers is now owned by Mexico's Cemex? Hopefully they'll be smart enough to move headquarters out of West Palm Beach or I'm selling my Cemex stock. Besides all that, Canada is recruiting them, at least till their right wing nutbag "culture warriors" try to dent that action. I'm seeing Moose Tacos in the not-so-distant future. Yo quiero Toronto Bell.

We've been screaming about our idiotic congress and I have to agree, 90% of them are idiots but I don't see much point in replacing them with another group of equally idiotic political shit-for-brains people. Maybe it's time we looked in the mirror when we seek the source of senatorial stupidity. Maybe if we stopped behaving like morons we could entice someone other than morons to run for office, ya think?

Stop and think people. What are our priorities and what exactly do we want government to be responsible for: national energy policy, fiscal responsibility, national infrastructure and foreign policy or controlling our obese, chain-smoking neighbors? Are we more concerned with climate change or monitoring the height of our neighbors grass? Do we want affordable healthcare for everyone or would we rather use our healthcare system like a slot machine and sue every time an outcome doesn't please us? Keep it up people, pretty soon you'll be delivering your own babies at home because no one wants to be an OB-GYN nowadays...too many lawsuits.

It's way past time we went back to using a little common sense and got a grip on reality. Reality is you can't control everyone else and sometimes bad things happen in spite of all best efforts and no, you don't get a million dollars every time an outcome doesn't please you and expect the system to be able to function effectively and there will always be people and behaviors that don't suit you and no, you cannot behead your neighbor because he's an obnoxious drunk who doesn't mow his lawn. Quit behaving like spoiled teenagers and grow up and deal with it.

Never show Them Your Hand

2007-10-08T08:17:00.000-07:00

I watched a whole lot of really bad sci-fi the last week or so. I plead self-defense, in the interest of not hating most humans any more than I already do I could not expose myself to the Clarence Thomas circus or the possibly even more idiotic reactions to it.

Yes, I am still angry enough over this to need a news blackout to deal. I will still be angry about it the day I die even if I live to be a hundred and ten.

It wasn't really ever about Thomas for me, he's a man, he's a pig, a lot of people are, no surprise there. What sent me into a rage that still burns white hot was what some of our elected senators did to Anita Hill. I don't care what you call it, what it was was the equivalent of a public rape. Yes, I'm talking to you Arlen Specter, no, I will never forgive you and I curse your name every time I'm unfortunate enough to recall it. If I prayed I'd pray that all of your offspring be sterile.

It was unfortunate that Ms. Hill was pestered by a pig but not tragic, it happens every day to millions of women. What was tragic was seeing that our own elected leaders saw fit to attempt to humiliate, debase, and degrade Ms. Hill and half of our citizenry saw nothing wrong with this. They still miss this point for the most part. You were wondering why the country is going to hell in a handbasket, do I need to explain?

Thomas was incredibly lucky it was not me he messed with because unlike Anita Hill I would never have just told the tale and gone about my business. Anita is just a nicer, finer, more upstanding person than I am and look what they did to her for it. Forget what your mama told you about being a nice girl, nice will get you eaten, beaten and dragged through the mud.

So ladies, if you should be unlucky enough find yourself in a similar situation consider this: reporting the matter might not be the wisest course of action. Deviously and systematically using all legal means to utterly destroy the life, career and reputation of said perpetrator....more my style. There's nothing like seeing your former tormentor divorced, bankrupt and living like the dog he truly is.

Now if someone close to Specter would just adopt this philosophy I would sleep better at night.

It's the Little Things

2007-09-26T09:36:00.000-07:00

It's not much of a stretch to point to the larger problems facing our country and worry that we may be a nation in irreversible decline but what troubles me at an even deeper and more personal level are the little things. Ordinary, everyday things that we take for granted if we notice them at all, things barely even interesting enough to be mentioned in casual conversation much less in the media, these are the things that I at least believe will be the death of us.

Some of these things aren't all that small and are similar to problems faced by many western nations like the fact that we have no skilled workers. That's right, I said no skilled workers. Try to find a carpenter, a diesel mechanic, a mason or bricklayer or even a plumber. Good luck finding one both competent and born in the US, it's pretty slim pickings. I'm beyond tired of hearing about the plight of the American worker, the typical American worker wouldn't know a job well done from a well done steak and please, don't expect them to know how to produce a steak in the first place.

The problem didn't begin yesterday. Twenty years ago there was a bus factory in a small town in the southwest but today our buses are built mainly in Mexico. Naturally things like this make for great talking points for politicians and labor organizers and Lou Dobbs can squeal about the "exporting of American jobs"and everyone can be angry at the big, bad corporations that moved for cheaper labor. Except it isn't entirely true. See, I was there and I remember what happened and it had very little to do with labor cost and everything to do with shoddy management and stoned employees. It's tough to build a quality product when more than half of your production line is under the influence. So yeah, Mexico was cheaper to operate in but even more importantly, it had an ample supply of competent workers who didn't have the munchies. Fewer Greyhounds falling apart on the highways due to poor manufacture was a bonus. Now if only we could import some people to drive them.

Then there are the really little things one of which is exactly what set me off on this tangent, the United States postal service. One more time I find my mailbox stuffed with.......someone elses' mail. The correct address clearly typed and my address clearly posted and they do not match, not even close. Not the first time, not the second or even the third, I've lost count of how often this has happened because in case you are thinking this is a purely local phenomena, it isn't, it happened even more often in southern California. Never mind that in many places a locked mailbox is now a necessity because our fellow citizens would otherwise steal our mail, I'm inclined to let them steal it as it probably isn't mine anyway.

Okay, it's a small thing, no big deal and one more time I'll see that the mail makes it to its rightful recipient. On the other hand I have to wonder where we're headed when something as simple and basic to our entire infrastructure as physical delivery of mail and packages has become a coin toss. Come to think of it, of all the many, many times that I've personally seen this mail to its rightful owner not one time has my missing mail ever been returned. Not once. I don't think I need to expand upon that point.

There are plenty of larger issues, from Iraq to health care that say a lot about us and where we're headed but I think it all starts with the little things and that my friends has not been looking good for a very long time.

Voodoo Economics Part Deux

2007-09-19T11:34:00.001-07:00

Greenspan on The Daily Show:

"I've been dealing with these big mathematical models of forecasting the economy, and I'm looking at what's going on in the last few weeks. … If I could figure out a way to determine whether or not people are more fearful or changing to more euphoric, and have a third way of figuring out which of the two things are working, I don't need any of this other stuff... Forecasting 50 years ago was as good or as bad as it is today. And the reason is that human nature hasn't changed. "

I nearly choked to death laughing. No truer words just surprising to hear him speak them on national television. S'okay Alan, probably no one except a handful of geeky traders really noticed much less understood what you were saying.

Sometimes life is fun. I'm off to rattle some chicken bones.

Must Be the Lead Paint

2007-09-17T14:07:00.000-07:00

Just in case anyone was wondering, no, I do not care about O. J. What is interesting to me is how the media and other people are reacting. I knew we had become a stupid nation, it's becoming abundantly clear we've taken stupid to all time new heights.

At least a half dozen countries are on the verge of flying apart or falling into complete civil war, we have a mentally unstable man with an IQ probably in the "dull normal" range running ours, and then there's that thing with the economy and scenes of Brits lined up for blocks to pull their money out of banks and our "reporters" are all in Las Vegas giving minute by minute updates on a two-bit criminal who but for his prowess on the sports field would have been incarcerated decades ago.

As if that were not enough I get to read from various & sundry sources that this arrest is "racially motivated" and Las Vegas Metro detectives were "drooling" at this golden opportunity to arrest the O.J.

HELLOOOOOOOOO. Point #1: Las Vegas' economy is based on tourism (not white people only tourism), you don't remain a successful tourist mecca by running a redneck-racist police department. Get a clue. Point #2: high profile cases are nothing but a damned headache for any agency having to deal with them, no one "drools" at these "golden opportunities". Point #3: if you do not wish to be arrested in Las Vegas it's pretty simple, simpler in fact than in almost any other major US city. All you have to do is not attempt to rob or assault anyone at gunpoint. Las Vegas cops have more than enough to do without harassing people without good cause, where else could you wander about the streets in a drunken stupor and if stopped, expect to merely be sent back to your room? Try that one in Atlanta or Los Angeles and see how it goes.

Naturally the "news" will continue to cover this matter non-stop for the foreseeable future because it boosts their ratings. Boosts their ratings.....so...this means that there are millions of Americans who will tune in just to watch this irrelevant sideshow. Does anyone still have any questions as to why our government is as fucked up as it is?

I firmly believe that nations always end up with the governments they deserve so based on the current state of our population my bet would be to expect more idiots. Please feel free to prove me wrong, I'd love to be wrong on this one.

When People Think You're a Loon Do Not Prove Them Right

2007-09-13T13:17:00.000-07:00

The only pundit on the planet who nearly always "gets" my views and uh, a whole slew of the real "average America's" (as opposed to that weird, fanatical, and not-so-bright one the MSM keeps telling us is "middle America").

At the risk of offending any readers who love to dress up in ugly clothing and engage in circus performances for the cameras, I give you.........

Look, I'm sure they mean well but folks like this and yes, the ever-iconic Sheehan too, have done more to deter "the average American" from joining the anti-Iraq-war crowd than Bush & Co. could have paid anyone to do. It just does not play well in Peoria.

It's 9/11, Now Please Shut Up

2007-09-11T07:53:00.001-07:00

Things I'm not going to do today:

1. Wallow in 9/11 remembrances. Living through it once was sufficient, I do not feel a need for continuous rehash, save it for the next generation.

2. Even bother to discuss Osama-bin-Asshat's latest releases. He is as crazy as our preznit, they ought to get married. If that is unclear in some way Vigilante can explain it for you.

3. Spend any more time on the latest over-hyped, non-issue, "the Petraeus Report". Woozie already said just about everything I would have so go read his take on it.

4. Worry about troop withdrawals. We've had the means to end this in our hands from the start, we have not chosen to do so. Nuff said.

5. Worry about a possible war with Iran. See #4 for explanation.

The only news items of much interest to me will get little or no coverage thanks to our already ameri-centric view of world events being further aided and abetted by our news being hijacked by hours of tedious memorials.

Just in case you missed it, leftist guerrilla's blew up several natural gas pipelines in Mexico. I suppose we'll care when people notice a rise in their gas bills.

Ebola virus has resurfaced in the Congo. Sort of rates higher on my "matters in the bigger picture" list than numbers 1 through 5.

An area of Arctic sea ice the size of Florida has melted in the last week. Featheriver has the link.

I'm sure there are many more stories and events out there that would interest me but odds of hearing any of them today are slim to none so I think I'll just go read a muthafuckin' book.

Quote of the Day

2007-09-06T05:16:00.000-07:00

Congressman Zach Wamp (R-Tenn) live on MSNBC's Morning Joe in reference to presidential candidate Fred Thompson:

"I think he'll do very well, he speaks right to the NASCAR base of our party".

I need to start sleeping later, really, I do.

What, Me Worry?

2007-09-05T10:13:00.000-07:00

Nuclear warheads mistakenly flown on B-52

A B-52 bomber mistakenly loaded with at least five nuclear warheads flew from Minot Air Force Base, N.D, to Barksdale Air Force Base, La., on Aug. 30, resulting in an Air Force-wide investigation, according to three officers who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss the incident.

Excuse me for my lack of panic at every announcement of a new "terror threat", I figure my own government's incompetence will kill me long before Osama & Friends make it to my desert hideout.

About a year ago I participated in a survey about Nevadans' attitudes towards the Yucca Mountain Project. One question was how concerned was I about the possibility of terrorism at Yucca Mountain. My answer was not at all because I was confident that due to our own incompetence we'd be certain to have a major accident during transport of all this lovely nuclear waste. Probably smack in the middle of a Denver freeway. During rush hour.

The lady pollster laughed. I wonder if she's laughing now.

Flying in the Face of Both Left and Right

2007-09-05T03:07:00.000-07:00

While the rest of us were looking up Brittany's skirt South Africa has been busy with some projects that it might not hurt us to look at for ideas concerning our own mining industries, maybe the way we do business in general.

Platinum firm's black rights deal

South African mining group Anglo Platinum is to sell mines to two black-led firms in a deal worth about 35 billion rand ($4.85bn; £2.4bn).

The move will see the two companies - Anooraq Resources and Mvela Resources - controlling two of Angloplat's biggest platinum mines in the country.

It is also planning to distribute 1.5% of shares to its mostly black workers.

Anooraq, which will buy a 51% stake in Lebowa Platinum and 1% of the Ga-Phasha Project, was the first black economic empowerment company with a primary listing outside South Africa.

It is almost 65% owned and controlled by a firm that is in turn owned by 15 BEE groups, including women's investment concerns.

Information about BEE (Black Economic Empowerment)

Detailed statement from Anooraq (worth a read)

Employee and community ownership, who would have thought.

For a country renowned for our business acumen and innovation we're remarkably non-innovative and this above all else will cost us dearly in the new economic landscape.

Bush Announces Exit Plan

2007-09-03T15:46:00.000-07:00

"You're doing a heckuva job Brownie, er...Rums...ah...Fredo...oops, I mean troops-in-Eye-Rack. We're going to provide all the resources necessary to get the job done in New Orleans...I mean Baghdad.

I've spoken personally with Mayor Nagin, er, Prime Minister al-Maliki, and he knows he has a lot of work to do. Anbar is a huge province,'' Bush said. "It was once written off as lost. It is now one of the safest places in Iraq, nearly as safe as New Orleans''

"Bottom line is we're going to stay the course and support our troops until, um, we don't. Heh, heh, heh. In other words,'' Bush said, "when we begin to draw down troops from Iraq, it will be from a position of strength and success, not from a position of fear and failure. I'll let you know when we've won which will be sometime before we run out of troops".

That was what I heard anyway. Naturally many people probably heard something quite different and time won't really tell because regardless of what really happens, someone will write it so it's Hillary Clinton's fault.

So there's our answer, declare victory and leave. Who knew. Tough break for the hundreds of people who will lose their lives while we finish this last dance.

It's All About Larry

2007-09-02T02:59:00.000-07:00

I'm going to say it. I don't care that Larry Craig is gay. I don't even care all that much that he likes to cruise for anonymous sex in public restrooms. Humans do plenty of odd things and that is far from the oddest.

Neither of these things would interest me much at all aside from the "eww factor" of even thinking about someone like Craig and sex in the same sentence except for the fact that while he's been busily indulging his passions on the one hand, he's been actively working to deny equal rights to millions of his fellow Americans with the other.

Wanting to put ones penis into the mouths of citizens who you would then deny equal rights and treatment under the law....well, that DOES make you a very naughty boy. Actually, that and the bald-faced lying, refusal to accept personal responsibility for your actions, and barely concealed rage (not shame, not humiliation Larry, it was rage pure & simple) at being caught would make you a sociopath.

So your sociopathic and/or simply retarded friends in congress all abandoned you? Pardon me while I laugh. What the hell did you expect would happen? They're just like you. Speaking of old-fashioned values do you remember the one about "you made your own bed, now lie in it"?

I bet you'd like to ring officer Dave Karsnia's neck, wouldn't you? If it's any consolation to you I don't foresee a very good outcome for him either.

The officer grew audibly frustrated toward the end of the interview, saying, "I guess I'm gonna say I'm just disappointed in you, sir. I'm just really am. I expect this from the guy that we get out of the 'hood. I mean, people vote for you."

Right. People in the 'hood all cruise public toilets for sex and all of them lie. Nice to see an officer of the law openly express what most of them honestly believe for once. Now shut up and go feel heroic in your War on Toilet Sex.

You know officer Karsnia, most of the people who voted for Larry aren't from the 'hood. See, people from the 'hood usually know a lying freak when they see one. Too bad the same can't be said of the fine, upstanding, values voters of Idaho.

Which is why I'm not jumping for joy that Larry is toast, I have every confidence Idaho voters will replace him with someone equally reprehensible.

As I Was Saying

2007-09-01T02:20:00.000-07:00

Flippers fuel foreclosures

Flippers and other speculators investing in single-family homes helped drive up prices in many hot housing markets during the boom. Now they're contributing heavily to mortgage delinquencies in several of those markets.

Defaults in non-owner occupied houses are driving defaults in four of the states with the fastest rising default rates in the nation, according to a report released Thursday by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

"Defaults are on the rise in most parts of the country, but...it is not always the case of a homeowner losing his or her home," Doug Duncan, the MBA's chief economist, said in a statement, "but [it's] often the case of an investor gambling on a continued increase in home values and losing that gamble."

Several sun-belt states were magnets for real estate speculators during the home-price boom. Coastal California led the early charge, but as prices there raced ahead of affordability, many investors abandoned those markets for Central Valley cities as well as Las Vegas, Phoenix and other Arizona towns.

As of June 30, in Nevada, 32 percent of all prime mortgages in default and 24 percent of subprime defaults were on non-owner occupied properties, according to the MBA. The numbers for Arizona were 26 percent prime and 18 percent subprime. In California, they were 21 percent and 15 percent respectively.

The default rates in Florida for non-owner occupied homes were 25 percent for prime loans and 14 percent for subprime ones.

In the rest of the nation, non-owners accounted for just 13 percent of prime loan defaults and 11 percent of subprime.

Now you have someone much more 'portant than moi to 'splain this one. It's good to be validated even when it is 5 or 6 years after the fact.

Granted it's a moot point now that el Jefe Bush has done a complete 360 and decided to bail them out. Apparently even the Shrub came to realize that rich people losing money would be the end of the Republican party.

Countrywide is happy, Beazer Homes is happy, Wall Street is happy and even most of our Democratic leadership is happy. The fact that this bailout likely will not save any actual low-income families (check...only qualified borrowers will receive assistance, I'll leave it to you to figure out who and what will determine who is qualified, it shouldn't be too difficult) will be glossed over and maybe, just maybe, a few people who truly need to help will be allowed to reap some benefit. After all we'll be needing one or two token families to interview on CNN.

I'm not even terribly upset over this one, why should I be when I won't be the one crying because I can't afford a house two years down the road.

Oh, and Georgie....thanks for the chump change today.

Poverty is Bad For Business

2007-08-30T03:56:00.000-07:00

Someone who gets it. From a business writer no less and about the dozenth one I've seen by a business writer in the last month or two.

On Poverty, Maybe We're All Wrong

Most years, what passes for the national debate about poverty is confined to the 24 hours after the government releases its annual report on household incomes, as it did yesterday.

The left expresses moral outrage -- in the richest country the world has ever known, one in every eight residents still lives in poverty -- and calls for government to do something about it.

The right, to the degree that it pays any attention to the issue at all, notes that while the poverty rate goes up and down with the economic cycle, it has remained relatively stable over the past 35 years and, in any case, represents a failure of government meddling, not a mandate for more of it.

That there is a germ of truth to both views does not excuse the fact that the debate has become stale and unproductive, based on misleading data and outdated assumptions.

Much better, conservatives say, to do away with all those patronizing and inefficient social welfare schemes that create perverse incentives and "empower" the poor to act in their own best interest using the same traditional market mechanisms as everyone else.

The best refutation of this argument that I've seen in a long time is contained in a new book, "The Persistence of Poverty," by a friend of mine, Charles "Buddy" Karelis, a professor at George Washington University. Karelis isn't an economist or social welfare expert but a philosopher by profession with wide-ranging curiosity, a dry wit and a weakness for unconventional wisdom. And after doing lots of reading and giving it extensive thought, Karelis concluded that the reason some people are perpetually poor is that they don't have enough money.

Ya think? That would seem obvious if we were at all rational creatures but it's fairly well documented that we are not. Pearlstein goes on to explain why it isn't as obvious as it seems at first glance but not wanting to rip off his entire article, I leave you to go read it. It's a refreshing change from Cowboy Bush who apparently believes the poor all gambled their money away at a Reno casino.

Some Days It Doesn't Suck to Be in Nevada

2007-08-29T06:30:00.000-07:00

I did my time in California and I'd be the last person to say it doesn't have it's good points but there are several reasons I'd never consider moving back. Here is one of the main ones.

RHE man gets jail time for property fixes

He built a fence, a retaining wall, a patio and a few concrete columns to decorate his driveway, and now Francisco Linares is going to jail for it.

The 51-year-old bought the nearly 1-acre property in the 4600 block of Palos Verdes Drive North in 1998. After tearing down an adobe house on the site and building a 3,000-square-foot French-style home, he began landscaping.

When Linares asked the city to repair the white three-railed fence behind his house, he was told it was on his property and his responsibility. So he replaced the termite-infested planks. Then the city reversed itself and said Linares had illegally built the fence on city property.

In October 2004, the city charged Linares with three misdemeanors: for not taking down the fence, having a retaining wall built higher than a 2-foot restriction and for erecting stone columns without a neighborhood compatibility analysis. Later inspections found eight other violations, including a lack of permits for plumbing and grading.

Spin it any way you want to, you can't take a piss in California without a permit and good luck getting one in your lifetime. Don't even think about holding a yard sale without buying a permit either unless you don't mind a free weekend in the pokey. I knew it was time to get out of Dodge when I saw a 68-year old woman dragged out of her home in handcuffs and jailed for.....not having a city tag for her dog.

See in CA it's just too much trouble to go after people committing real crimes, like you know, shooting children in drive-by's. Much more cost effective to jail low-income grandmothers for unpaid doggie fines or those pesky homeless people collecting cans for resale.

After 20 years of watching all semblance of common sense buried under multiple layers of bureaucratic bullshit and more layers being added daily it was time to go. Nowadays I use the odd job recruiting letter the state tries to lure escapees back with to line the cat box.

Nevada definitely has it's troubles but at least I won't be going to jail if I decide to sell my tomatoes or build a fence.

Fox Means Business????

2007-08-28T01:48:00.000-07:00

You thought Fox had no merit whatsoever didn't you. You were wrong, they ought to win a Best Comedy Show award for Bulls & Bears. The entire "Cost of Freedom" line-up deserves a nomination at the very least but Bulls & Bears is the clear stand out.

As if the ever-slutty Brenda Buttner and her snorting laugh weren't enough add in the cast of colorful, yet oddly unattractive and obnoxious middle-aged men still acting like high school boys in the locker room after the first Big Game of the season and it's a recipe for the most hysterical half hour of television you ever lost your lunch over.

You'll find it difficult to choose just one favorite character out of the brilliant cast of aging frat boys but Tobin Smith was my runner up. His loud laughter, extra-large teeth and penchant for sexist jokes make him as endearing as a close encounter with a brain-damaged hyena though somewhat less exciting.

Don't believe me? Read one fan's testimonial:

"I enjoy watching Tobin Smith on Fox's Bulls & Bears every Saturday morning. He's often wrong, but I like his enthusiasm."

In spite of all this overwhelming talent Gary B. Smith stands head and shoulders above the crowd. Tracked at Motley Fool Caps with an amazing accuracy of 42.11% you'd be well advised to flip a coin rather than listen to Gary when making your next investment decision.

Still, nothing can detract from the fun to be had waiting for the next nugget of advice to spew from Gary's mouth. Gary's been trying to push Take Two Interactive, maker of such fine games as Grand Theft Auto and Bully, for months now. Seems like kind of an odd choice for a supposedly conservative pundit on a conservative network but maybe this is just one screaming hot stock? Sadly no. TTWO has lost nearly 50% of it's value since Gary started plugging it, pays no dividend and is earning a whopping $-2.50 per share. Gary must simply enjoy killing prostitutes and being a bully!

Not one to be discouraged Gary has moved on, his current pick for the week: Beazer Homes, down from a high of $48 to it's current....$9.52? Must be a screaming deal, ya'll Fox viewers buy it and let me know how that works out for you, m'kay?

I'm telling you people, comedy just does not get any better than this and if you still can't get enough check out Gary's hedge fund, Exemplar Capital, LLC and you too can invest in Gary. He'll have your back....and your life savings!

Conservatives Just Want to Have Fun

2007-08-27T20:38:00.000-07:00

Turns out Canadian conservatives are just as wild-at-heart as their American cousins. Meet Sharon Smith, a BC mayor and liason to the Harper government. The Galloping Beaver has the details but I could not resist posting such a fetching photo.

It's not so bad really. After all, what's a little nudity in the Mayor's office while wearing your official trappings. It's not like she tried to solicit men for sex in the restroom at a public airport.

Unfortunately Senator Larry Craig, R-Idaho did. I'm not sure that he actually did anything that contradicts his mission statement though. Goal #3 simply states: Defend and strengthen the traditional values of the American family.

Who am I to say that groping men in public restrooms is not a tradition in his family? No sheep were harmed in this incident.

Wanted: Any Nordic Country Willing to Invade Us

2007-08-26T05:33:00.000-07:00

So yeah, I've had an almost irrepressible urge to hurl projectiles all this last week. Heat and believe it or not, humidity are probably not helping any either. Yes, I said humidity. In the middle of the damned desert. Currently 52%. If you've never experienced the desert in August with 52% humidity scratch it off of your to-do list.

It was a bad time to be spying on the Buttnugget Boys on Fox but I did it anyway. Misery loves company I suppose. About 15 minutes of listening to Charles Krauthammer opine upon what sort of government we should set up in Iraq....yes, he did. When exactly did it become ok for us to be this fucking arrogant? Alright, I know we've always been arrogant but we used to at least pretend we weren't. Haven't decided yet if it's better or worse that we're no longer pretending but I'm positive I would not be unhappy if Mr. Craphammer died a slow and painful death. Charles in Charge was better in the Scott Baio version.

Everything that is wrong with America in two words: Willie Geist. Hah, gotcha, you thought I was going to say George Bush. There's only one Shrub....the Geists are his seedlings.

Our proudest moment: we finally managed to deport Eva Arellano. This is what so many have fought and died for, the right to kick poor single mothers out of our country. God bless America. I'm now completely ashamed to be an American, thank you very much. When her little boy grows up and hates our guts don't act surprised.

Someone convince me we are not living in a William Golding novel.

Fuck Definitions

2007-08-25T18:21:00.000-07:00

When did we start scrambling definitions so badly? I remember (just barely, we started scrambling early in my childhood) when "conservatives" were people who believed in being financially responsible. Back then "conservatives" were opposed to starting pre-emptive wars, even to becoming involved in the internal politics of other countries.

Somewhere along the way that all got turned around.

Nowadays espousing equal rights gets you tagged "a wild-eyed liberal". Advocating judicially imposed discrimination makes you "conservative". Unilateral attacks on non-combatant countries makes you a republican. Wanting government to manage money responsibly pretty much just gets you labelled crazy by either party.

One of my pet peeves has been the continuous bleating from the right about "multiculturalism". Supposedly, according to these folks, those evil liberals are ok with people coming to the US and committing "honor killings" and beating their wives because it's a part of their "culture" and we have to respect that. Wrong.

We aren't Belgium. Truly traditional Americans don't care if you want to cover your head, wash your feet in the restroom or wear what looks to us like a bedsheet. It's called personal liberty and we respect that. We care a lot if you think violating our laws is going to be just hunky-dory. I wouldn't move to Saudi Arabia and expect to run around in shorts or drive a car. Well, ok, I wouldn't move to Saudi Arabia at all. Ever. That's the point, if you can't deal with the laws of a country DON'T MOVE THERE. There are thousands of miles of difference between being tolerant of practices different from our own and and allowing people to dictate our laws to us. Most of us are down with the first one.

Right wingers you really ought to stop smoking crack. You'd be hard pressed to find 2% of the US population who would be ok with female circumcision, honor killings or any other nonsense like that. Ain't happening. America has been "multicultural" since before it was called America. If you aren't used to it by now maybe it's you who ought to contemplate moving somewhere more homogeneous. My last two bosses were Muslims, one married to a Mexican. Their boss was a white guy from Appalachia who married a Hasidic Jew. Grow up. Tribalism is a deadend and mix-n-match is as "traditionally American" as it gets.

So some groups choose to separate themselves and maintain a distinctly different culture you say? Yes, some do. Guess what happens to them? They get left behind. They never make it to the playing field much less the winner's circle.

There is nothing "liberal" about equality and caring about those less fortunate is not a "wild-eyed liberal" philosophy. Respecting individuals' right to live in peace in pretty much any way they see fit is not a "radical" concept. It's as traditionally American as apple pie and baseball.

Most if not all of the problems we are facing right now are because we quit following those principles. We decided to run out in the world and force "democracy" and "equality" on the rest of the world while not even practicing it all that well at home. It's one thing to want to help others, it's quite another to ram that help down their throats by force when they don't want it.

Any nation that deliberately and consistently chooses to live in ways that do not benefit all of its citizens, that cannot adapt to change and that stubbornly clings to a "me first & my way or the highway" philosophy deserves to implode and will. Including us. Maybe that sounds coldhearted but it's been kind of a universal law like....forever. We can make up all the labels and definitions we want to but the universe has its own laws and they trump ours.

Next person who calls me a wild-eyed liberal is a turdblossom.

Pahrump Farts: Predator Pahrump

2007-08-25T01:34:00.000-07:00

Our small desert community was rocked (ok, a few people hiccuped) when local 5th grade teacher Michael Gogerty was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers under the initiative, Operation Predator, which began in 2003 to deport foreign national sexual predators. Prior to that job, the 24-year Las Vegas resident taught at a Las Vegas elementary school and worked in three different day-care facilities.

Local anti-immigration activists were outraged. Stated one anonymous source, "hardworking American perverts are doing without jobs and the schools are hiring Canadians....all this outsourcing has to stop". An unnamed source within the school district responded saying, "American child molestors just won't work for these wages".

Speaking of Bailouts...

2007-08-23T11:17:00.000-07:00

Who is going to bail these people out? My guess would be not their insurers and not our federal government either. Wonder how many of them will ever recover from their losses....maybe they could ask the folks down in the gulf who lost their homes to Katrina.

22 deaths and counting, thousands homeless and no bailouts in sight and I sincerely hope they had not paid their mortgages. Guess what is going to happen to a lot of those people. The lucky ones will be able to scrape by in their water damaged homes, if they're really lucky they'll be able to afford repairs before they get sick from mold and mildew born illnesses. The unlucky ones will be homeless, have negative credit for not paying their mortgage (yes, the lenders will still foreclose even if the house no longer exists) and best of luck to them trying to rent with bad credit. That's assuming they still have a job and their employer survived the flood. America will forget all about them.

We'll remember now and then if Anderson Cooper does a special but our tears won't help them, not one little bit.

Wrong Questions

2007-08-23T11:12:00.000-07:00

Maybe I'm crazy, certainly I've been accused of it more than once but it seems to me that we're usually focusing on the wrong aspects of most issues.

I detest Utah mine owner Bob Murray and everything he stands for (add CNN anchor Kyra Phillips to my crap list for making me want to vomit with that piece of drooling sentimentality she called an interview too) but he isn't really the issue. As long as we continue to do the things we do there will be Bob Murrays come along to take advantage of the situation. No way to prevent it.

Shouldn't we be looking at our use of coal and other natural resources and ways to put an end to or at least reduce the profitability of endeavors like his? Less demand for coal = fewer people risking their lives so we can run our hair dryer.

Here in Nevada, the land of over abundant wind and sunshine Harry Reid is fighting the plan to build three brand new coal-fired power plants. We don't need them.

The state of Nevada has been cited as a "highly favorable" state to develop renewable energy. It is blessed with natural energy resources. The numerous mountain ranges, bordered by underground faults, are sources for geothermal energy. The Department of Interior has listed 10 sites in Nevada that could produce geothermal energy in the next two years. Each of these sites is located near transportation lines, which could transmit energy to other markets. Geothermal power provides the nation with about 17 percent of the renewable energy, but is less than 0.75 percent of the nation's total energy supply.

Solar energy generated from the sunlight of Southern Nevada, on a 100-square-mile grid alone, could supply enough electricity to power the rest of the United States. Wind power has the potential to produce twice as much electricity as nuclear energy. Currently, not even counting solar power, Nevada could produce 27 percent more from renewable resources. This energy could be exported to other states, creating more jobs and economic benefit to Nevada. Floor Statement of Congresswoman Shelley Berkley

So worst case scenario: coal miners might have to move and work in the clean energy industry. Upside: can't recall many people being killed at windfarms. Bob Murray might have to get a job.

If we don't want people to die in coal mines, stop using so much coal. It's a nasty, dangerous job under the best of conditions and all the safety measures in the world will not change that. We need to stop kidding ourselves that we can make it safe.

I can think of a few dozen more recent events that fit the "wrong question" category:

Michael Vick: why do we deify people who are good at sports then act surprised when they act an ass? Dogfighting has been going on in this country since we've been a country, law enforcement never cared before because, doh, many of them were involved in it. It's our culture stupid. We still think men beating each other half to death is an acceptable sport.

The mortgage crises: we can blame predatory lenders, we can also blame people who made stupid financial choices but isn't the real problem that we turned homes into commodities and ran the costs up so far 50% of Americans may never be able to own their own?

Drop in retail earnings: if 80% of our population is employed for wages that don't allow them any purchasing power....who did we think we were going to sell all of our trinkets to? No problem, we'll just import cheaper trinkets then cry when China sends us defective ones.

We hate poor people, don't want to live around them and don't want them in our neighborhoods, we already know there is a definite correlation between poverty and crime, substance abuse and every other thing we claim to want to put an end to so why do we keep making more people poor?

Maybe I AM crazy but a whole lot of our troubles seem like no-brainers to me.

2007-08-23T10:22:00.000-07:00

Was overdue for a picture change on the sidebar. Since my name is not GW Bush I have to acknowledge changing conditions on the ground, no?

Voodoo Economics 101

2007-08-22T13:33:00.000-07:00

Four Major Banks Borrow From Fed

NEW YORK (AP) -- Four major banks said Wednesday they each borrowed $500 million from the Federal Reserve's discount window, lending weight to the central bank's efforts to restore liquidity to tight markets.

In a joint statement, the latter three banks said they decided to borrow the money to demonstrate "the potential value of the Fed's primary credit facility" and encourage its use by other banks.

"Simultaneous action by these four institutions -- at the same time, on the same day, for the same amount of money -- suggests that the move is intended to have some symbolic value," said Aaron Gurwitz, co-head of portfolio strategy at Lehman Brothers Investment Management Division. "But it may also be a way for them to make money."

Gurwitz followed up his statement by hopping three times on each foot and rattling a chicken bone.

Head shaman Bernanke remained in seclusion today and is expected to announce his latest tea leaf reading later this week

Irrelevant Thing that Caught My Attention

2007-08-21T17:18:00.000-07:00

Here is where I have to confess to being so inherently dull I sometimes watch The Weather Channel. Go ahead and laugh, it beats being one of the herd watching WWE.

Anyhoo, I kept finding myself staring at anchor Betty Davis and could not figure out why something about her seemed so familiar. Finally nailed it. She's a ringer for actress Sandra Bernhardt. Check it out.

We're #1

2007-08-21T04:25:00.000-07:00

U.S. Foreclosures Rise Sharply in July

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Foreclosure filings rose 9 percent from June to July and surged 93 percent over the same period last year, with Nevada, Georgia and Michigan accounting for the highest foreclosure rates nationwide, a research firm said Tuesday.

"While 43 states experienced year-over-year increases in foreclosure activity, just five states -- California, Florida, Michigan, Ohio and Georgia -- accounted for more than half of the nation's total foreclosure filings," said RealtyTrac Chief Executive James J. Saccacio.

Nevada posted the highest foreclosure rate: one filing for every 199 households, or more than three times the national average. It reported 5,116 filings during the month, an increase of 8 percent from June.

Huge surprise. Not. Exactly how long did we think we could continue selling increasingly expensive real estate to buyers increasingly less able to afford it? You didn't need to be an economics major to see this one coming.....the minute lenders began lowering the bar it ought to have been a signal: a last gasp measure to prop up a saturated market and keep their cash cow going. Nevada was a class A example: house flippers were selling houses to house flippers lower in the food chain and it sucks to be plankton.

Prices skyrocketed, families that actually wanted a house just to live in were priced out. Buying a house simply to live in was so 80's. We finally ran out of plankton.

Sorry but Dem candidates pushing for bailouts are not going to impress me, for the most part these loans did not go to low-income families struggling to get their foot in the door. Most of these loans went to middle and higher income people looking to make a profit and/or live above their means. Most of them were really bad at basic math. That's unfortunate but now we're all going to pay as the fallout runs through the rest of the economy. Throw away more money to bail out the people who created this mess? I'm just not feeling it.

Just Blame Canada

2007-08-19T14:15:00.000-07:00

I was checking up on Marathon Oil and ran across an interesting tidbit. Seems MRO is buying Canada's Western Oil Sands Athabaskan Oil Sands Project. That wasn't all that fascinating except for the clause about one of the conditions being the AOSP divest itself of all interests and assets in the federal region of Kurdistan.

Not a problem. Western Oil Sands will simply reorganize as Western Zagros Resources and issue new shares to investors. Everybody wins except maybe the troops who have to stay overseas and protect this investment. Go on and read it, I especially love the notation at the top of the page "/NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES/".

So we can just blame Canada, right? Not quite. If you take a look at the numbers the majority of our imported oil is coming not from Saudi Arabia but from Canada. How convenient.

Hatin' On Edwards

2007-08-17T17:59:00.000-07:00

If we're going to hate on him at least be real about why. The fuss over his investment in Fortress is pure bullshit.

Some basic realities:

1. People with millions of dollars need places to keep those dollars, hedge funds are one of those places. You don't become wealthy or stay that way by storing your money in a passbook savings account or in your mattress.

2. No one who invests is 100% in the clear. There is absolutely no way to be certain that not only is every fund or company one is invested in is not involved in any illegal, unethical or simply offensive behavior, for certain it is impossible to know everything about everything they themselves are invested in. Trying to barbecue Edwards because a fund he invested in in turn invested in other companies at least one of which is foreclosing on homes in New Orleans...please, give me a break. It's highly unlikely Edwards had more than the barest awareness he even owned this fund, I'm sure he pays people to manage his investments unlike someone like me who has to do her own legwork.

3. Most of the people doing the most squealing about this would be delighted if they owned those shares and would not think twice about foreclosing on their own grandmother if it meant they'd pocket a nice profit.

4. Every single person running for president is a wealthy person compared to the majority of Americans, we don't vote for broke-ass m'fers. They didn't become wealthy by giving away free homes to the homeless, I don't care how much some of them try to pretend they're Cesar Chavez (yes, I said Cesar not Hugo because he's a phony m'fer too)

5. Nothing is all good or all bad. You might feel positively saintly by investing all of your money in something like Whole Foods but the truth is you'd be invested in a company that while it may be fabulous, sells groceries that the average American family can not afford to buy. Exxon may be run by greedy little trolls but without them you'd be walking to work in 100 degree heat, not driving or riding in an air conditioned bus. Investing is essentially nothing much more than making a buck off of the cupidity of others.

I'm far from being a John Edwards fan (talk to me about Elizabeth maybe) but attacking him for being another wealthy investor is just flat hypocritical. If we're going to do that then we have to toss out all of them and start over down at the trailer park. Never mind, that wouldn't work either because as soon as the guy from the trailer park got his foot in the door....he'd be the same as the ones we have in there now. Probably worse.

If He's Good enough For Buffett....

2007-08-16T19:14:00.000-07:00

There are not many people I actually listen to at all. Face it, I'm mean and cynical and think 90% of humans are not very nice and not overly bright. Self included.

Warren Buffett is one of those rare exceptions, someone I can never discount entirely. Call it a gift for recognizing people who are more gifted than I am.

With that in mind I'm going to have to pull back on my fears about Obama versus our economy and at least reserve judgement. If Buffett thinks either Obama or Clinton is an excellent choice I have to at least consider it because, well, Buffett is neither an asshat nor a fool and while he certainly is not infallible...he's closer to it than the other 90% of us. I like those odds.

I still love Bill Richardson but, and it's a huge but, we need someone who can actually be elected and while I do think there is a good chance Richardson could win a general election, between his lack of skill in debates and public speeches and the fact that he's highly unlikely to get past the further left regions of the party to ever win the nomination......let's be honest here, Democrats tend to be nicer people but as a group have never voted very strategically. Which is why we've gotten our asses handed to us so often.

Yeah, he had a decent chance when Nevada actually mattered in the primaries, even our Republicans are not for the most part "social conservatives" (just short-sighted greedy fucks who don't want to pay taxes) but now that the primaries will be decided in Iowa, South Carolina and every other place but the west, not so good.

Ah well, guess that just puts me back in the "undecided" camp.

Just Spit It Out Already

2007-08-16T00:31:00.000-07:00

Still thinking about the Richardson meltdown and overall non-stellar performance of all the participants in the HRC sponsored debate and I have to say WTF???

This is 2007, the beginning of the 21st century and we still can barely choke out the words "gay" or "homosexuality"? The few who can spit it out without nearly swallowing their own tongue still don't dare cross the line into saying sure, I think it's fine & dandy if you get married. An election loser fer sure, fer sure. WHY?

I'm not gay, to the best of my knowledge I fall in that 55% of the population who doesn't even have a gay relative so I have no deep personal stake in the matter.....aside from the fact that as a human being it's the right thing to do for other human beings. It just is. Period.

I don't know or care if people are born with a preference, develop one early on or even if it's the same for everyone....I don't need to know because it does not matter. No one owes it to anyone else to give reasons why they love whoever they love. Maybe it was just me but I found the question itself at least stupid if not downright offensive. Lookee here gay people: don't try to justify anything, you don't owe anyone anything.

Who in the hell are these 57% who are so vested in making certain same-sex couples can't get married and why in the hell are they so damned interested? Frankly I can't think of many things I'd care to obsess about less than other peoples' sex lives, gay or straight and I have to tell you if you are really upset about this issue....you really are not normal, seek therapy, m'kay?

Naturally this started me off on a tangent about a multitude of other retarded things we say and hear everyday.

Is Obama Black enough? Are we ready for a female president? If you're voting on race or gender you have issues I can't help you with. Christ on a bicycle, are we EVER going to get to the point that race, gender, sexual preference or the size of a persons waistband don't define every other thing about them? Thousands of years of known history and this is the best we can do? Look, I can't stand Mitt Romney but it's because of his views on policy, I don't care if he's Mormon or worships the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

And yappity-yap-yap about candidates' "likeability factor". Doh. I'm not planning to hook up with any of them and I doubt any of them would give me the time of day if I tried. Nor would I expect them to, they have their things to do and I've got mine. If I voted for the person I "liked" I'd vote for fucking ELIZABETH Edwards. That might not be the best choice for leading the country though. Who the hell cares if a candidate is "likeable" or not, unless you're thinking you really have a shot at getting them to your candlight supper and your last name is happens to be something like Rockefeller or Geffen you're pissing up a rope. Barack ain't going to strip for you and Hillary ain't showin' up fer yer house party and not even Dennis Kucinich is going to be your private dancer (and for THAT I'm eternally grateful). I don't care if the person that will do the job I want done is cross-eyed, fat, smelly and bald-headed (even if female). I do care that they aren't stupid and they know what they're doing and that when they don't....they're smart enough to surround themselves with people who do know and actually listen to their advice. That would just be fucking refreshing after the last 8 years.

But here we are in the 21st century and still, STILL we can't get past trivia and bullshit. Last week Chris Matthews had some woman on, who I regard so little I'm not even going to look up her name, who was intent on making a major issue out of Clinton saying "I'm your girl". Whatever. It would have seemed a bit odd if she'd said "I'm, your boy". Supposedly, according to Miss Heffalump, this was going to enrage all the "radical feminists".

What the hell is a "radical feminist"? Someone who threatens to blow up your sewer system if you don't pay her an additional 6 weeks of maternity leave? A group of women intent on the destruction of NASCAR? Look lady, there is nothing "radical" about demanding equitable treatment, not since about 1950 anyway. When I show up on the set of Hardball, drag you around the set by your perfectly coiffed hair and proceed to kick in about $5,000 worth of fancy dental work and your new nose job...THEN you can call me radical. Until then, if you think "feminism", whatever in the hell that means anyway, is so damned radical and disagreeable to you then you should shut your big, fat piehole and get your stanky arse back in the kitchen because it was "feminism" that gave you the opportunity to have a career and go on national television and show everyone what a fucking retarded assclown you truly are.

In the year 2007 one would have hoped we'd have been laughing people like this off of the stage. No, instead we have to question candidates about their views on Jesus, the sexual preferences of other adults, and their racial identity and allow anyone, no matter how stupid, to be recognized as a credible pundit. No wonder we wind up in the sort of messes we do.

You know the rightwing may be correct about one thing (even a blind pig occasionally finds an acorn, no?). They like to flap their yaps about how "political correctness has ruined our country". I agree. We've become incapable of calling an idiot and idiot.

Progress and More Good News

2007-08-15T18:27:00.000-07:00

500 or so people killed in a single day is certainly more efficient than the measly 80 or 100 we were averaging so yes, one could call that progress. With any luck at all when the arms we're selling to the Saudis (and the ones we're just flat giving away to Sunni Baathists) start funnelling into the various organisations and militias everyone can kill everyone else with enhanced efficiency. I don't know why I didn't see the beauty of this plan sooner. Have the Iraqis all kill each other thus freeing us up to start on Iran. Brilliant.

Ok, ok, so the markets are a little rough right now but that will all change once the Iraqis are all dead and we get the new and improved Halliburtonland up and running. I'm seeing golf courses and Del Webb Desert Oasis planned communities on the horizon. As an added bonus we can ship all of our Mexican workers over there to build it putting an end to the national have-you-kicked-a-Mexican-today sport and appeasing big, hairy, white guys all over this great nation.

Proof positive that Jesus is on our side: there is no drought, in fact Texas in particular is about to have an even greater abundance of water. Granted many people will lose homes if this flooding continues but think of the money they'll save on property taxes.

Now I know some people are probably saying but, but, but, bridges are collapsing and people are dying! Well, environmentalists and the anti-immigration people have been complaining about overpopulation so losing a few dozen here and there shouldn't bother either of those groups. Besides, if more bridges collapse it would become increasingly difficult to get in and out of some cities which would put a dent in illegal immigration. You've got to look at the upside here, right? True, if things got bad enough some people might have to do without some little amenities like, you know, electricity and stuff but the good news is they wouldn't have to pay any taxes!

Speaking of overpopulation, we need to get moving on reinstating the draft. We have millions of young teens waiting in the wings who will commence to breeding if we don't give them something more productive to do. Like go kill more people. Then again if we go ahead and let them start taking guns to school and arm the teachers....might take care of the problem.

In keeping with my new attitude I'll close with a plug for a brand new planned community right here in beautiful Pahrump, Nevada. For only $250,000 you too can buy a brand new, semi-custom home at Ishani Ridge just down the road a piece from moi. Granted there is no "ridge" for at least 100 miles or so but the homes do have a magnificent frontal view of several acres filled with invasive Salt Cedars and a chain link fence. Be sure to see Fely Quitevas for all your real estate needs so a portion of your commission fees will be donated to the Republican National Committee.

See, if you're a Republican there's always an upside!

It's Been a Fabulous Week

2007-08-13T04:41:00.000-07:00

Previous rumour appears to not have been true but Karl Rove's resignation does make up for it a bit. Hopefully he'll enjoy the Texas heat and humidity. Say "there is no climate change".
Repeat ad infinitum while clicking your heels, maybe the Good Fairy will hear you.

I've given up on the presidential race more or less, Richardson's pretty much blown his chances and we're down to a Clinton -vs- Obama match. Yawn. We'll be in Iraq until Bush is out of office or we flat run out of troops and the majority of Americans essentially do not care. Another yawn. A bridge collapses but that will look like a fender-bender when a dam gives way, in the meantime we'll ignore it and fight about abortion, school prayer, and flag burning. Oh yeah, and gay marriage, the greatest threat to national security. Well, aside from Osama & friends scuba diving in our sewer systems. I checked my septic tank and he isn't there. Very disappointing, I was going to stuff some of his essential parts down his throat and post the video on YouTube. It would have been at least #3.

EXPLAIN TO ME WHY THE FUCK I SHOULD CARE?????

See I realized I've been looking at this all wrong. I should be supporting the war and encouraging all young rightwingers to enlist. Preferably by age 12. Between that and random dialing people in Georgia to ask how they're enjoying the weather I should be able to entertain myself until I'm at least 99.

So there you go Dems, if you want to have some fun go adopt yourself a pet conservative and start encouraging them along their path. Make some popcorn, sit back and watch their head explode.

Hot Hot Rumor of the Day

2007-08-07T16:59:00.000-07:00

Rumor flying that infamous Maricopa county Sheriff Joe Arpaio has been arrested for...DUI??? I am sooo going to laugh my butt off if this one turns out to be true.

What Can I Say?

2007-07-09T07:59:00.000-07:00

I simply ran out of words, at least words that were not of the four-letter variety and it was beginning to feel like I was not so much commenting on anything as regurgitating whatever made the latest blip on the public radar and all of it feels like parts of the same larger story.

Four years after the initial invasion of Iraq we still have the same sort of men who used to run about wearing white sheets terrorizing darker skinned men running about motivated by their absolute terror of darker skinned men wearing white sheets. Both sides remain unable to grasp the concept that human stupidity is oblivious to race, religion, nationality or any other artificial designations we've chosen to place upon ourselves. The universe apparently has a sense of humor.

Six and a half years into an administration led by lunatics we still have not done anything about it. I can't muster up much outrage or anger over whatever Dubya or Darth Cheney's latest antics are when We The People are still sitting about with our thumbs up our bums. Six years is a pretty steep learning curve, even the developmentally disabled are expected to master new skills in a 3 to 6 month treatment program. Granted, the developmentally disabled are seldom distracted by the release of the newest I-Whatever or the trials and tribulations of the Bimbetter-of-the-moment so they have an advantage over the rest of us.

Half a century past building possibly the greatest national infrastructure in recorded history it's now collapsing from disrepair and general neglect. Now if we were truly as smart as we seem to believe we are at the very least you would think the New Orleans levee would have given us a clue. Most of the small and medium-sized dams in this country were built to last just 50 years. According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, about 30 percent of the more than 76,000 dams in the United States are older than 50 years--and by 2020, that number will increase to more than 80 percent. I can only assume we're waiting for Sacramento's levees to collapse and a few dams to break and engulf a few cities to pay attention.

James Inhofe may not believe in climate change or it's potential to wreak havoc but his state now has a shot at creating an entirely new tourism industry: boating tours of Oklahoma. Granted, the 42,000 gallons of crude oil spilled in Kansas that is now headed straight into Oklahoma may slow things up a bit but that is one way to get rid of all that pesky wildlife.

Meanwhile we've been basking in 115+ degree heat here in the southwest but I feel lucky. Not only did I not even break a sweat while not even having refrigerated air, I can also revel in the glory of Heidi Fleiss' new laundry. See, there's always a way to distract ourselves.

What Justice System?

2007-06-08T12:13:00.000-07:00

Obviously there is not a single thing happening in the world today than the game of judicial ping-pong being played with Paris Hilton so I'm going to go with it. I don't care much about Paris one way or the other but her case does bring attention to a few points I think are relevant.

If the purpose of our judicial system is, as we usually claim, to protect the safety of the public, protect the rights of individuals, and last but not least...change the behaviour of the offender then I have to ask: WHAT THE HELL ARE WE DOING????

One side screaming "free Paris" and the other side screaming for her blood. Both sides are idiots. Paris is a vacuous, narcissistic little bitch who has been raised by a vacuous, narcissistic bitch. We have a few million of those running around the country, this one just happens to be filthy rich and famous...courtesy of a vacuous and narcissistic public.

Making her stay off of our streets for 45 days certainly increases public safety so I don't have an issue with that regardless of where she spends that time. That covers the public safety aspect.

Protecting her rights doesn't seem to be an issue, there are dozens of people vying to protect every strand of well-bleached hair on her head.

Changing behavior is a bit more problematic though isn't it? Does anyone know a single person who became a better person via an extended incarceration? I don't and I worked in the system. Some got meaner, many got sneakier, a few who were lucky enough to get some help via rehabilitation services did improve their lives and their behavior. I had to conclude that "punishment" does not work, all it does is satisfy our need for retribution. Often it leads to even more tragedy for some innocent person down the road. I can't really lobby for harsher punishment for this idiot than I would for a penniless idiot when I don't believe it would be very productive in either case.

If we're serious about wanting this young woman to change her behaviour I'd suggest we stop screaming for either her release or her blood and sit down and write to the networks requesting no further coverage of her antics. While you're at it please consider adding Donald Trump, Rosie O'Donnell, and a few dozen others to your "do not cover" request. Quit feeding trolls.

If we're serious about improving our so called "justice system" then now is a great time to put our money where our mouths are and start looking at ways we can honestly bring some reason and justice to the system instead of just howling for revenge based upon how much we dislike a particular person.

9/11: The Ultimate Excuse for Whining

2007-06-07T06:41:00.000-07:00

I should know better than to flip on the news at 4 in the morning before I've even had a cup of coffee.

First thing I see is one Mr. Ed Root, president of the Families of Flight 93 whining because a landowner doesn't want to give away 273 acres of his land to the National Park Service to build a memorial.

I'm truly sorry that innocent people died on that flight and I'm sorry for the pain that has caused their friends and families but I have to tell you: innocent people die every single day and we do not confiscate private property from people in order to build them shrines. Mr. Root you can count yourself darned lucky it's Mr. Svonavec's land you're after and not mine because if someone died on mine I'd probably allow the families to visit if they wished but I'd be highly unlikely to sell my land for a public memorial because I consider enshrining a piece of ground an idiotic and wasteful use of land. Mr. Svonavec is willing to sell at a reasonable price, for a purpose as silly as that I'd only sell at a ridiculous price if I were willing to sell at all.

Offer to build 273 homes for families who don't have a prayer of ever owning a square foot of their own as a tribute to your fallen and I'd sell it to you, dirt cheap. Don't ask me to kiss your butts for a shiny monument to feed our national obsession for maudlin sentimentality.

Root claims the families offered Svonavec more than $2,000 an acre for his 273 acres. The group argues that $1,000 to $2,000 an acre is fair market value for the properties in the area.

So far, 60 acres of the 1,300 planned for the memorial have been purchased.

Root said Svonavec rejected the offer, which would amount to more than $546,000, and said he wanted to deal directly with the National Park Service, which is in charge of building the permanent memorial.

"He's holding this project and the American people hostage," said Root, whose cousin, Lorraine Bay, was a flight attendant on Flight 93.

Svonavec said he has maintained from the beginning that he would only negotiate a sale with the park service. He said he is awaiting that offer.

No he is not "holding the American people hostage". You are trying to hold him hostage. It's his land, he can jolly well tell you to jump off a cliff if it suits him. Why on earth would he want to try and negotiate any sort of deal with a whiny windbag like you. You'd probably turn right around and look for some reason to sue him as soon as the deal was closed.

A donation box placed at the Flight 93 Temporary Memorial in Somerset County has revealed a major battle brewing over land that one victim's family member calls the "soul" of the permanent memorial planned to honor those aboard the flight.

Family members said the metal donation box, installed by property owner Mike Svonavec, degrades the memory of their 40 loved ones, who died when hijackers took over the plane on Sept. 11, 2001.

Before Sept. 11, 2001, Svonavec leased the land for surface mining. Since that time, mining operations ceased, and Svonavec claims he's had financial losses amounting to $200,000.

He said he decided to place the donation box at the site on Saturday because his company has been paying $10,000 a month for security since February, when $1 million in federal funding that paid for sheriff's deputies to monitor the crash site ended.

There you go, he's been paying $10,000 a month for security out of his own pocket. I'd just have everyone arrested for trespassing and have done with it. Count yourselves lucky it's him you're dealing with.

If building a billion dollar white elephant on 10,000 acres of land is the only way you can think of to honor your dead then I pity you. I wouldn't pay 1 cent to build anything in remembrance of an act committed by a handful of psychopaths. For certain I do not think you have the right to foist your wishes on a property owner unlucky enough to find himself in the center of all of this.

Grow up Mr. Root. Your relative dying in a terrible act did not suddenly entitle you to trample over the rights of other citizens and building a shrine will not bring them back nor will it do anything to improve the lives of those still living on this earth. For my money I'm more interested in improving life for those still among us than in building temples for the dead.

NY Times

Blah, Blah, Blah

2007-06-05T02:21:00.000-07:00

Politics Plus and Blue Lyon both have decent breakdowns of the Democratic debate. I only have an unreasonable one because I found it neither particularly illuminating or inspiring.

There were some entertaining moments.

Just like CLS at Blue Lyon I did nearly bust a gut laughing when Clinton essentially told Blitzer to stop being an asstard. I had just been fantasizing about breaking a chair over his head.

Gravel is clearly headed for a career as a protest sign waver on a Pahrump streetcorner.

I knew Kucinich wanted to destroy the US economy but he was kind enough to explain how he planned to do it in more detail.

Richardson sucks at public speaking and it's killing him. He is not pretty and that is also killing him.

Edwards is pretty. He and the party "base" both still give me the willies.

Obama and Biden did a good job of looking less stupid than anyone else. Both of them were articulate, probably clean too.

Dodd said something or other. I forget.

Conclusions:

1. Looking more and more like I may have to pick a 2nd choice in the not-too-distant future and that is going to be a problem. Or maybe not, it would be either Obama or Clinton so I suppose I could just flip a coin. Economic ruin -vs- permanent bases in Iraq, decisions, decisions.

2. I don't like my party all that much, I just hate Republicans more.

3.The one thing the media did right: picked reasonably normal human beings without a
hardcore party agenda on either side to ask reasonably intelligent questions.

4. If Gravel and Kucinich had a child together it would be a species ending event.

5. Saying that we have the best political system in the world is about like saying we scored 5 points higher on the SAT than a guy with Down's syndrome. Don't get cocky.

God, Country and the War on Furriners

2007-05-31T10:42:00.000-07:00

This would be funny if it was satire and not true.

From the Las Vegas Review Journal:

If Sen. Hillary Clinton had unveiled a plan to deport the millions of illegal immigrants living in the United States, Susan Woodall would have been even happier about having driven 90 minutes from Pahrump to Las Vegas to attend an appearance Wednesday by the Democratic presidential candidate.

Susan Jones-Davis, who drove her cousin Woodall to Las Vegas from Pahrump, appreciated Clinton's desire to end the war in Iraq.

One of her sons has already served in Iraq. Another is slated to go Monday.

They'd like to end the war but only if we can get rid of Mexicans at the same time. Our kids are dying but we mustn't lose focus of our mission which is to rid our world of little foreign born brown people.

Is it any wonder that the US has only granted refuge to 69 Iraqis in the last 7 months while thousands have been admitted to Syria, Jordan, Iran, the UK, Switzerland, Sweden and a host of other countries?

Good to know where Americans priorities are.

Hat tip: Las Vegas Gleaner

2007-05-31T10:09:00.000-07:00

Is anyone else seeing the the irony here? The first person our brilliant government decides to lock up in quarantine is a personal injury attorney.

I'm still laughing my ass off.

So Anyway.....

2007-05-30T00:20:00.000-07:00

You have this friend who you love very much. You'd do just about anything for this friend because, well shoot, you believe this friend has the potential to do great things because they are great and you just know they could be even greater.

Problem is, this friend is incredibly self-destructive. Forever making terrible choices for even worse reasons and then even lies about it. You're not even sure if your friend knows she's lying or if she's been doing it so long she actually believes her own lies.

After years of doing this your friend has jumped into a completely destructive relationship with a man she got some crazy notion she could "save" from himself. Naturally this hasn't worked out very well. After a brief honeymoon period he resumed his old ways and even added a few new tricks. He tells her how much he hates her every day, in word and in deed. Your friend is black and blue from the beatings and she's thrown away untold amounts of her money trying to save this man but he only grows angrier with her and more violent. She abuses him as well and uses her money and her promises trying to control and manipulate him and back and forth they go.

You still love your friend but finally you've come to realize that much as she cannot save the man she is involved with, you can't save her from her own bad choices. You'll always love her and you'll be there to help if she ever comes to her senses and puts an end to her situation but in the meantime you just can't agonize over her troubles anymore and you can't cry every time she is beaten again and for certain you are not going to continue driving yourself or her insane trying to force her to see reality because you understand that people have to be willing to save themselves or no amount of talking, arguing or trying to help will be of any use. Most of all you know that you have to take care of yourself or you won't be able to help anybody with anything at all. You hope your friend figures this out before it's too late for her.

It isn't apathy America, it's just that I can't stay excited about your situation when you won't do anything about it. Please call when you're ready to get your life together.

2007-05-27T21:53:00.000-07:00

Opinion Polls & Market Research

Just Because I Feel Like It

2007-05-25T23:50:00.000-07:00

I had an e-mail from someone and they said something that really struck me as funny, "It seems like if you don't rant about Iraq or the latest screw-up by Kos, the numbers drop." That isn't terribly important to me. If it was, I could write "hit pieces" all day and probably do at least a fair job of it, trust me on that.

I'm pretty much tired of ranting about Iraq, like I said, if America was serious about getting out we'd be out. Most of America isn't quite there yet and that doesn't surprise me much either, most of the country is usually running a mile or two behind me. We're going to get out but not before we muck around for another 6 months to a year. There isn't anything I can do to change that. Kos, well, if I visit there once a month that would be a lot for me. I don't care all that much if they do screw up but if someone wants a daily dose of outrage and titillation on demand I'd recommend them because even though I may have stored up a lifetime of outrage I'm not always inclined to produce it on cue. I'm not getting paid to do this and I wouldn't want to be, I do this because it's the first time in my life I have not been in a position where I have to "mind what I say" or worry about the consequences. I'll write it when I'm feeling it. Or I'll post a giant picture of my ass. Depends how I'm feeling.

Today I was feeling sick of the news so I turned it off and went outside. I spent most of the day doing absolutely nothing except make random half-hearted stabs at pulling weeds, watching the half billion birds we have living here and taking pictures of any random thing that caught my eye. Sorry if that's boring but I wasn't up to dealing with the body count tally for today.

This one is for RJ Adams. It's my baby chitalpa in bloom. Those are mountains behind it. Nevada is not flat.

Lamb's ears that have colonized in odd places. Random, careless gardening is my style.

My dearest companion. Yes, she probably does outweigh Paris Hilton.

A small toad I found hiding under my huechera.

Tonight's sunset as seen from my back yard.

That's it for me for tonight. No outrage, no bodycounts and I'll still be around tomorrow and the day after whether I have a "hitcount" or not. People can ignore me, they can never make me go away.

Osama is Bush's Mama

2007-05-24T21:21:00.000-07:00

In case anyone was in doubt about who has been running the show here.

There are over 300 million of us. We have the most destructive war toys on the planet, just ask the Japanese. We have a huge chunk of the money in the world too. What are we so afraid of?

Where I Was in January: You Didn't Listen Then, You Probably Won't Listen Now

2007-05-24T15:31:00.000-07:00

Rather than continue trying to explain myself in comments sections I'm just going to re-run an old post from January of this year. It holds just as true of my stance now as it did then.

Monday, January 08, 2007

Take a Lesson From Rosa

The last few days I've been reading a lot of complaints about the new democratic congress coming from some of the same people who have helped to elect them. For the record: I was one of the people who voted a straight democratic ticket, for all the good that did here in Nevada.

The complaints center around the perception that congress is not doing or going to do anything to bring our troops home. Never mind they've only been in office since last week, we want what we want and we want it NOW. Well alrighty then, my grandbaby likes things that way too. She'd like her mother home ASAP. She'd be especially thrilled to know her mother would have no chance of being redeployed either. Now that you mention it, so would I.

One particular post by Profmarcus at Yes, I Do Take it Personally has particularly gotten under my skin. Not because it makes me angry or I disagree but because I believe he's sincere, frustrated and as frightened about what has happened to our country as I am. We only differ on the point of who we hold accountable for our failure to act. I left this comment to his post:

Pushing some much needed and highly populist social issues is not a terrible idea. They need to build "political capital" with the center. You can't spend what you do not yet have. Reality: congress does not have the power to bring the troops home. They have the pulpit. Even if they were foolish enough to attempt to cut off funding and commit political suicide, the truth is there are 50 million ways Bush & Co. can get around them. In the meantime I'm keeping my ears tuned to any news that starts to come out re: findings from oversight committees. There is most likely where your ammo for impeachment will come from. And they will need a great deal of ammo AND the overwhelming goodwill of the voters to do it without handing the game back to the republicans.

I caught a bit of flak for that and that was fine. Better than fine, I fully expected to because they had no way of knowing where I was going with this.

To summarize a couple of points made by Brother Tim:

I differ with your opinion that it would be political suicide. Also, they HAVE the political capital, it was given to them on November 7. Doing nothing, and allowing this to go on, creating ever-increasing casualties, is political suicide.What is it gonna take to spur Congress into action?

I can accept that, he may indeed be correct. Being as pessimistic as I have become about the "will" of a people who have voted in the Emperor-Who-Has-No-Clothes not just once but twice, I may be underestimating the hearts and minds of my countrymen.

That leaves the question of what is it going to take. I have an answer for that. Us, we the people, our will, our actions. That's it in a nutshell.

Sorry but blocking the Emperor's driveway or getting ourselves kicked out of political venues will not do it, picketing is not going to do it and deliberately getting ourselves arrested for misdemeanors is not going to do it. It might get us publicity and give us our 15 minutes of fame, it will not end the war.

Rosa Parks understood this when she sat down on that bus. She also understood that the issue was not about her. She was one person and she was tired. She started a revolution because a whole lot of folks were tired too. Ms. Parks never tried to make it about her, she knew she would have gone nowhere with her stance if the people were not behind her. The people were behind her though.

So there's your answer people. If we really want to stop this thing, if we really want to bring our troops home and if we honestly and truly believe that it is the will of the American people to do this, then lets all sit down on this bus.

Call a nationwide strike, don't buy, sell, work or contribute to this economy in any non-essential way. For one day. Just one day. Give our new congress their mandate, tell them that no, we aren't going to slap you down come next election for stopping this bus, we give you our permission to stop this thing by any means necessary. In fact, we DEMAND that you do it.
If we cannot or will not do that then it's all talk and we have no will. We're just talking to the hand.

Rant du Jour: Why People Might Hate Us

2007-05-24T14:26:00.000-07:00

I was optimistic about the new immigration bill. For about 5 minutes. After looking at it more closely it looks like a calculated move towards creating a permanent servant class in the US. Politics Plus has a good breakdown of it if you haven't already looked it over.

Sorry, several countries in the middle east have tried versions of that...the Saudi's with their guestworkers, the Lebanese with their never-to-be-assimilated refugees, etc.

This is not the fucking middle east and I do not need to keep underpaid workers with few if any rights, to clean my toilets. I know how to clean my own damned toilet. When I decide I'm too fancy to do that I'll pay $15 an hour to a willing worker with health insurance to do it, m'kay? And no, I am not willing to pay farm workers less than a living wage just so I can get cheaper salad greens. That's because I'm an American and this is America and REAL Americans don't play that way. If you're willing to consign any group of people to an artificially manufactured underclass please move to Saudi Arabia right now because even though we seldom manage to live up to our ideals we still have them and we're still trying to live up to them and what we do not need are asshats trying to take us backwards on this path.

Bill Richardson had much the same take on it (gee, big surprise there) which will likely make him quite unpopular in some quarters but hey, both of us are accustomed to being unpopular for some of our stances and it has not slowed either of us down one whit.

Mr. Richardson initially said he would support the immigration compromise announced earlier this week. But on Wednesday, he said that after reading it in detail, he had decided to oppose it, saying the measure placed too great a burden on immigrants — tearing apart families that wanted to settle in the United States, creating a permanent tier of second-class immigrant workers and financing a border fence that Mr. Richardson had long opposed.

“This is fundamentally flawed in its current form, and I would oppose it,” he said. “We need bipartisanship, but we also need legislation that is compassionate. I’m not sure that this is.”

He is the first major Democrat to call explicitly for defeat of the bill in its current form, a decision that he said would no doubt echo across the presidential playing field and in Washington. And his is a voice that carries particular weight: he grew up in Mexico, but went on to became a state governor who once declared a state of emergency in response to turmoil and violence on the border caused by illegal immigrants.

“I’m going to be speaking out on this issue, given that I’m a border governor and my heritage,” he said. “Maybe it won’t help me nationally — but I believe it is my responsibility to do that and not take a mushy position. I notice everyone else is taking murky positions.”

Naturally the pundits don't get it:

But Brian Sanderoff, the head of a New Mexico polling firm, said Mr. Richardson had handled the issue adroitly in New Mexico, presenting himself as both tough and compassionate. Mr. Sanderoff said that might serve Mr. Richardson well as he tried to navigate this more complicated national terrain.

“This is typical Bill Richardson,” he said. “Bill Richardson tends to take a middle of the road empathetic position with an act of toughness with it. That’s Bill. He’s hard to pigeonhole as being definitely anti-immigration or pro-immigration. He’s going to take a middle stance where he’ll seem to have positions on both sides of the fence.”

Well no Mr. Retardo. It isn't a fence-straddling issue. It's a case of both entrenched sides doing what they usually do, trying to define a broad issue into two simple, narrow camps. Richardson is smart enough to know there is a goddamn difference between drug runners and economic refugees. Aside from humanitarian considerations he's also smart enough to know that it's bad policy to start alienating any population living within ones borders...especially when their cousins live right next door. There's also a world of difference between rampant, unchecked immigration and our current immigration policies which effectively lock out nearly everyone trying to come here legally, especially people from Mexico and other Latin American countries. Oh, except Cuba because we hate Castro so much we're willing to give carte blanche to anyone just to spite him.

There's an idea, hey Mexico, overthrow your government and put a socialist in charge and we'll break out the welcome wagon.

I heard Michael Chertoff the other day talking about our approaches to terrorism and he said in the future we face a growing threat from "individual, independant terrorist cells" and stated the "we are studying the matter to try and figure out what radicalizes people". Doh, this one is not rocket science Mikey. How about doing shit like call their mother a "cockroach"? Would do it for me.

Figure that one out or shut up when some little boys grow up hating you and get together to kill a bunch of you because when they were 5 years old some assmonkey in Pennsylvania decided to deport their parents.

NY Times

Progressives Please Calm Down

2007-05-23T17:44:00.000-07:00

Please. I mean it. We're about to cut our own throats here and that's exactly what the Cracker-Barrel party wants us to do. Stop playing right into their hands, calm down, take a deep breath and think this through logically.

The Iraq war bill as it was written was never going to pass. Not if we sent it back 50 thousand times. In the meantime funding was going to run out and whether or not it actually ended up affecting the "troops on the ground", the Republicans were going to play that to the hilt. And lo and behold, a huge percentage of America was going to buy it.

Democrats are in a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" position here and it is our fault. Both the sign and don't sign camps need to get a little reality here. "WE" can't agree or even get a majority on one side or the other....how in the HELL do you expect the elected leadership to???

If Americans had been serious about getting us out of Iraq, guess what? We'd already be out of there. We'd have stood up and stood our ground and it would be a done deal. We did not do that. No, we didn't do it for a lot of reasons but one I believe is the most significant: we don't want to accept responsibility for our choices. We want someone else to make the decision so if and when there are negative outcomes we will have someone else to blame and boot out of office.

This is exactly the way we've been playing the game for, well, forever and this is exactly why we have elected leaders waffling all over the House floor. We did not stand up to Dubya when he decided to invade Iraq because we were scared. If we stood up and said no and omg, Saddam DID do something to us...it would be our fault too! Can't have that now can we? So we swallowed the bullshit and kept our mouths shut so if things went south we'd have someone to blame. That worked out really nicely too. We can all scream at der Chimper for the mess he's made but nearly everyone seems to have forgotten that OVER 70% of Americans WENT RIGHT ALONG WITH IT.

So now I hear the Democratic base threatening to bash in the brains of any Democrat who dares to sign the amended bill. Do you think they aren't calculating the odds of you turning on them the first time something goes awry? The Republicans must be jumping for joy.

The saddest part of it all is it doesn't really matter. We're leaving anyway, most likely right after the next election...assuming Bushie can find enough troops to keep the current action going until then. If we are serious about ending it now we should stop working at cross purposes by attacking each other and get serious about removing Bush from office.

Race, Politics and Hip-Hop With Bill Moyers

2007-05-23T16:49:00.000-07:00

Moyers interviews Melissa Harris-Lacewell. The sanest and truest discussion of race and politics in America I've heard yet. Bonus clip of Rush Limbaugh acting like the assmonkey he really is.

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/05182007/watch2.html

I Am Not Moving to Florida

2007-05-23T12:19:00.000-07:00

Nothing too surprising there, naturally I'm sitting in the middle of one of the hot zones but we're pretty much prepared for extreme heat here and we don't get hurricanes so it still beats living in Florida.

While predicting an extremely active hurricane season with one hand, NOAA officials are cutting back on funding for "hurricane hunter" flights with the other. According to Philip Kenul of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration this is for the sake of "efficiency" and will not impact upon the mission. I guess it has nothing at all to do with NOAA's plans to spend somewhere between 1.5 and 4 million dollars to put on a "200th anniversary" celebration.

It isn't all bad news for Florida though...a few good hurricanes could do much to relieve the drought. No worries though, Florida Baptists have discovered a surefire method for controlling the weather, pray for rain. Let us know how that works out for you.

2007-05-21T22:26:00.000-07:00

I have no idea what kind of shenanigans the military is up to out here but there have been helicopters flying all over the top of us for over an over an hour and our house just nearly got a buzz cut from a helicopter. Literally. Missed the power lines by no more than a few feet. So much for going to sleep early. Not a thing on the news so no idea what is going on.

Update: Apparently they were just using me for target practice, no worries. Air Force to fly training missions over Pahrump.

"Most training is conducted in rural locations with targets out in the open on the Nevada Test and Training Range, but in the current combat situation in both Iraq and Afghanistan, our troops on the ground need support in both urban and rural environments, said Maj. Sean Lowe, 17th Weapons School instructor. "Pahrump provides an ideal setting for urban close air support training."

Yeah, we're ideal...just a bunch of expendable rural folks.

I also have a few more days of this to look forward to. Maybe I'll give them a call because they were nowhere close to 500 feet off the ground.

May 22: We did not get swooped upon tonight. Either they got too many complaints, checked the readouts and chewed ass on some hotshot flyboys, or found another neighborhood to swoop down on. Everything around us stayed up in the air where it belonged.

Naked City

2007-05-18T22:35:00.000-07:00

The real reason Lou Dobbs and Tom Tancredo are scared. I totally support what photographer Isaac Esquivel was trying to do here but I do hope he never tries this in Pahrump. Just would not be a photo perfect moment in history.

Best Wishes for Riverbend and a Note to Iraqis

2007-05-18T14:00:00.000-07:00

"I always hear the Iraqi pro-war crowd interviewed on television from foreign capitals (they can only appear on television from the safety of foreign capitals because I defy anyone to be publicly pro-war in Iraq). They refuse to believe that their religiously inclined, sectarian political parties fueled this whole Sunni/Shia conflict. They refuse to acknowledge that this situation is a direct result of the war and occupation. They go on and on about Iraq's history and how Sunnis and Shia were always in conflict and I hate that. I hate that a handful of expats who haven't been to the country in decades pretend to know more about it than people actually living there."

I had missed the news that Riverbend and her family were leaving Iraq. I may have been the only one in the known universe that missed it but anyway, there it is. I wish them all the best of luck in the world and yes, I'm glad they have decided to go.

I don't know what political spin if any people in the middle east are hearing but the fact is we are leaving so unless one believes everything will be hearts and daisies as soon as the US troops are gone....LEAVE NOW. Do whatever you can and need to do to save yourselves and your families and do it quickly.

Quit worrying about who our next elected president is going to be, in this matter it will not matter. We'll be leaving regardless of who ends up running the show. Ok, worry if it's Giuliani because he'd enjoy pulling out our troops then sending some bombs over as a parting gift. Believe it or don't at your own risk. It just seems like it's only fair to tell you the truth so you can get a head start if you believe a run for the border is your best option.

Ok, I'm no one important, I have no inside information and I certainly have no power to affect any of the actions or outcomes of this situation but I do have eyes in my head and my hearing hasn't gone south yet. America has decided and hi-ho, hi-ho, it's home from Iraq we'll go and all the king's neo-cons and all the kings gen's cannot and will not put Iraq together again.

Spoken Like a True American Conservative

2007-05-17T22:39:00.000-07:00

Speaking of our right wing and wormlike creatures, Reenee at Hasta Los Gatos Quieren Zapatos got this comment from one anonymous poster.

Seems you only like people of your own race, religion or political view. Shameful that Most of YOU are illegal and living in my country on phony social security numbers. Get a life you lesbian liberal loser.

Keep it up anonymous guy. You and your friends are the best recruiting tools the Democratic party has ever had. Emphasis on tools. In the meantime if you're short on cash, why not do your part to support the troops, I hear the army is offering extra large enlistment bonuses.

Race, Politics and Oops, Fox does It Again

2007-05-17T17:06:00.001-07:00

All modern men are descended from wormlike creatures, but it shows more on some people.
-- Will Cuppy

Someone (actually several someones), somewhere far, far away on another blog commented on not seeing the connection between racial/ethnic identity and political affiliation.

Now had these someones been American I'd have probably not paid much attention because they'd have obviously been from our ultra-right wing and I do get tired of wasting my breath trying to teach pigs to sing. As it happened they were not Americans and were primarily from that population of folks in the middle east who have bought the right-wing spin that the Republican party cares about the people of Iraq and Democrats only want to cut and run.

I saw a bit on Fox's "1/2 Hour Comedy Show" a few days back that would have illustrated the point here beautifully. Sadly after endless time wasted searching the net, there is no clip of it available. They were poking fun at pregnant women in the workplace. I had no idea that was such a big issue in the country recently but apparently it is to at least some Fox viewers, enough for them to do a parody skit about it in any case.

In the skit the 2 news anchors interview a guest spokesperson for the "pregnant working mothers" movement (for the record and non-US readers, to the best of my knowledge there is no such organized or even dis-organized movement in the US). This "spokesperson" was, ta-da, a pregnant (read full-term, going to give birth any time) woman and the kicker: HISPANIC woman. Now if one does not live in this country you might not be familiar with the all too commonly heard "Mexican women are always pregnant and breeding like cockroaches" and sorry but you are not going to convince me this was not a deliberate choice to play to that particular attitude. They played it up to the hilt right up to having the lady's "water break" in the middle of the interview. There is the rightwing idea of humor. Pardon me for not laughing.

Yes, real live American people say things like that on a daily basis right here in good old US of A. They say a lot of similar and even worse things about just about every other racial or ethnic group on the planet too. You don't even have to try very hard to locate people who say these things. The bad news for Republicans is that almost always these people are members of the Republican party, Republican voters, and quite often define themselves as "Christians" and "conservatives".

Of course it does not mean all Republicans are racists any more than it means all Democrats are not racists but the preponderance of the evidence is in and racism is much more an accepted ideology on the right. A racist Democrat is an anomaly, something most of us find freakish and revolting. A racist Republican is so common it rarely draws comment.

Granted, the "official" Republican party line is that all are welcome and racism is unacceptable. then they trot out the handful of minority members they have for the media and say "see, we are diverse" but you can't really sell that line to the masses when you don't really walk the walk in real life. Especially not when most of your hardcore "base" are the same people still waxing nostalgic for segregation.

There was also a comment (on the far away blog, not on Fox) about how people "should not choose their political affiliation because of their race or choose to identify with a specific race". Nice ideal, I'd like to see everyone self-identify as members of the human race but see...it isn't really a choice when the society you live in identifies it for you and treats you accordingly. I could "choose" to call myself Chinese-American all day long or any other thing that suited my fancy but it would not change the way people around me identified me or the way they interracted with me based on that perception.

So there's my response to the connection. Believe it, don't believe it, get mad or get glad, it won't change a thing about what really exists and why yes, there is a connection.

Having a Profanity Filled Moment, If It Bothers You, LEAVE NOW

2007-05-16T22:44:00.001-07:00

Bill O' just keeps getting loonier every day. Either that or he's just senile. Not too surprising he's having a hissy over the blogosphere reactions to the death of Jerry Falwell. According to Bill people ought to treat the subject with more "decency and respect". Says Mr. Bill: we should at least wait two weeks before commenting. Um, sure. Just like you did with the deaths of the woman and 9 children in the New York fire.

I guess well-known public figures are off limits but it's ok to say anything you want about innocent children. Bitch please, Falwell was a big boy and knew what he was doing. When you put yourself in the public eye to the degree Falwell did, you know you are going to take some heat. I think we all know you are pretty handy with dishing it out yourself to anyone who doesn't happen to agree with you so kindly shut the fuck up. You want to talk smack but oh how you whine when it touches one of your sacred monkeys. Suck it up. Besides, you know when someone that you detest dies you'll be dancing an Irish jig and singing hallelujah and praise Jesus. Oh wait...you've already done that before.

And while you're busy whining about how mean and spiteful the left-wing blogs are take a look at some of your kinfolk on the right. Moonbattery pissing and moaning about how utterly tasteless the San Francisco gay community was in marking the passing of Falwell. Guess they forgot about writing this: Death of a Moonbat. So much for your famed conservative respect for the deceased.

Note to wingnuts: you have to give a little respect to expect to get any. Now fuck off and die.

Hit Them Where it Hurts: Right in the Wallet

2007-05-16T16:23:00.001-07:00

From AlterNet:

Why an Ultra-Conservative Texas Grandmother Hates the GOP

What could make Jordan Fogal, a 61-year-old ultra-conservative Republican grandmother from Texas, refuse to vote for a single Republican in the last election? Two innocent sounding words: mandatory arbitration.

I'll skip posting the entire story since if you are interested it is available at the above link but this paragraph should whet your interest:

Right now you may be thinking, "that is a sad story, but it could never happen to me because I would never sign a mandatory arbitration agreement." Unfortunately, if you have a new home, new car, car lease, credit card, bank account, cell phone, storage room, utilities, or an exterminator chances are you already have.

Do not just take my word for it, look at your contract.

More information on mandatory arbitration here and here.

Ok, I won't even try to claim this one is a strictly partisan issue, it isn't but (there's always a "but" isn't there?) let's say it leans heavily to the right.

While I'm on this train of thought, have you tried to purchase homeowner's insurance lately? Best of luck to you if you live in one of the Gulf States and in many cases, various counties all over the country that have been deemed "disaster prone". The number of major insurer's no longer writing policies in certain parts of the country has been increasing for several years....along with the number of places no longer considered 'insurable". Allstate pulling out of California is only the latest and largest case in point.

Now I'll grant that it is probably reasonable to not want to insure some homes in some areas. Hey, if you build your 5 million dollar mansion on an unstable, coastal hillside you're on your own as far as I'm concerned (these are referred to in CA as mobile homes (ie: Hey, look! Those people you just did the landscaping job for just got a mobile home!) On the other hand it is pushing entire populations of some towns and cities out of their present locations as businesses opt to relocate due to the high cost or unavailability of insurance coverage. Most of them opt out to another state....far, far away.

Face it southerners, many of your towns and cities are not going to rebuild after even moderate storm or flooding damage. When the jobs leave so does the population. In some cases that may be the best or only solution but do we really intend to de-populate the entire states of Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana? We're certainly headed in that direction without some serious attention to disaster mitigation and looking at ways to deal with the growing insurance crises.

We could of course just go ahead and de-populate the entire hurricane, flooding and tornado prone zones and increase the population in areas deemed safer but then there is the water issue.

When the MSM bothered to cover the issue at all, and it was only minimally as far as I could see, I heard mainly criticism for this proposed bill which would tie climate change issues to national security. Both sides of the aisle had some detractors, one side saying we could not trust government to deal with this issue and the other jumping on their wingnut-mobiles to proclaim this was a "left-wing alarmist" agenda.

Government usually is only as competant as it has to be to keep us from rioting, unfortunately it is the best and only agency we have at least at this time. Who else to begin addressing the issue? Talk show hosts?

For the wingnut crowd, take a deep breath, the bill is sponsored by Senator Chuck Hagel , a Nebraska Republican, and Senator Richard J. Durbin , an Illinois Democrat. Not even your daddy O' Reilly could call Hagel a "liberal".

You might consider this from the CIA World Factbook too, last check they weren't exactly a bastion of left-wing propaganda and thought.

government water control projects have drained most of the inhabited marsh areas east of An Nasiriyah by drying up or diverting the feeder streams and rivers; a once sizable population of Marsh Arabs, who inhabited these areas for thousands of years, has been displaced; furthermore, the destruction of the natural habitat poses serious threats to the area's wildlife populations; inadequate supplies of potable water; development of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers system contingent upon agreements with upstream riparian Turkey; air and water pollution; soil degradation (salination) and erosion; desertification

Getting blown to bits is but one of the obstacles to survival they are facing. The truth is they do not have a supply of potable water great enough to sustain the current population much less any future increased population. For certain they are not the only nation facing the same situation and situations like this tend to make people....testy. Maybe a look at how climate may impact security isn't such a bad idea after all?

I'm not going to worry about any of this too much because as with most things, probably not many people will pay attention until their water bill is in the hundreds of dollars. Funny how thousands of people dying of disease, hunger, thirst or warfare barely makes a blip on our radar but boy howdy, get one $300 dollar utility bill or a 20 cent a gallon increase in gas prices and we're all ears. Maybe we should start charging taxpayers for every preventable death, I'm thinking that might get our attention.

Thanks for Not Shooting

2007-05-16T08:55:00.001-07:00

When I posted yesterday morning I thought it was likely I was going to be placed on the "shoot on sight" list for breaking the "thou shalt not speak ill of the dead" rule. Apparently not here in West Blogistan. Sometimes people surprise me in a good way.

Kudos to all the bloggers who are making certain Jerry Falwell's legacy is seen for what it truly is, a legacy of manipulation, hate, and intolerance.

Christopher Hitchens on Anderson Cooper:

The empty life of this ugly little charlatan proves only one thing, that you can get away with the most extraordinary offenses to morality and to truth in this country if you will just get yourself called reverend.

Who would, even at your network, have invited on such a little toad to tell us that the attacks of September the 11th were the result of our sinfulness and were God's punishment if they hadn't got some kind of clerical qualification? People like that should be out in the street, shouting and hollering with a cardboard sign and selling pencils from a cup. The whole consideration of this -- of this horrible little person is offensive to very, very many of us who have some regard for truth and for morality, and who think that ethics do not require that lies be told to children by evil old men, that we're -- we're not told that people who believe like Falwell will be snatched up into heaven, where I'm glad to see he skipped the rapture, just found on the floor of his office, while the rest of us go to hell.

How dare they talk to children like this? How dare they raise money from credulous people on their huckster-like radio stations, and fly around in private jets, as he did, giggling and sniggering all the time at what he was getting away with? Do you get an idea now of what I mean to say?

How dare he say, for example, that the Antichrist is already present among us and is an adult male Jew, while, all the time, fawning on the worst elements in Israel, with his other hand pumping anti-Semitic innuendoes into American politics, along with his friends Robertson and Graham?

Yes, we can thank Falwell and his fellow evangelicals for helping to further muddy the waters in the middle east.

From the Jerusalem Post:

The State of Israel is not doing enough to utilize the growing Evangelical support for Israel at a time when a Christian-Jewish alliance is vital in the battle against Islamic extremism, according to Likud MK Gilad Erdan.

"The strengthening and development of our relations with the Evangelical world is a national interest which must be furthered," said Erdan, the deputy head of the Knesset's Christian Allies Caucus, in an interview with The Jerusalem Post.

All I can say is if Erdan is looking to Christian Evangelicals to save Israel then Israel is doomed. See Mr. Erdan, yes, they do share your hatred of the Muslim population but they only love you as tools to be used to bring about their beloved Armageddon. They will agitate in every way possible to escalate tensions in the middle east in order to bring this about and guess what, they have no intentions of seeing you survive it either. If you were planning on your grandchildren living long lives you had best find some saner allies. Tell you what...if you think they're so fabulous we'll send tham all over and they can fight in the trenches with you. Let us know how that works out.

Don't the religious texts advise against something like nourishing serpents at ones bosom?

Here's a clip of Hitchens' comments on Jerry Falwell. I could not say it any better.

I'm a Terrible Person and I'm Really OK With That

2007-05-15T11:09:00.001-07:00

We'd probably all be a lot better off if we faced up to the fact that deep down we really are kind of a vicious, predatory species. It's easier to excercise a bit of control over something if you at least acknowledge a problem exists.

That said, I'm having a difficult time controlling my dark side today. I'll refrain from dancing joyfully in the street and confine myself to refurbishing my Tinky-Winky doll.

I honestly do wish I could say I'm sorry but I can't. Jerry Falwell singlehandedly did more to destroy intelligent debate and discourse in this country than nearly any other individual. He was among the most powerful leaders in modern times to elevate the idea of demonizing groups of people as a matter of public policy to an actual talking point. He spent his entire life advocating to take away the rights of women, minorities, gays, and insert any other people who are not white, evangelical Christians.

Most of the media and public figures decided to treat him as though he simply had a different but valid point of view. He didn't and I don't care how many coats of whitewash you try to put on it, his words and actions were destructive, damaging to our country and in many cases....downright evil. Advocating for state sponsored discrimination and fewer civil rights for any group of people is not an "alternative viewpoint", it's unacceptable to any civilized person.

Adios Jerry, you will not be missed.

A Little Bit of Good News and Hope

2007-05-13T19:58:00.001-07:00

While the rest of the world is worrying over the decline of the bee population, tiny, remote, little Pitcairn Island may have become more important than it's roughly 50 inhabitants ever thought likely.

Notice from their website:

We have been asked by the Pitcairn Police & Customs Officer to make this announcement. Friends of Pitcairn and visitors to the island are asked NOT to send or bring honey, other bee products, or used hive equipment or clothing to Pitcairn. As many of you know, the Pitcairners have begun to expand their beekeeping efforts, and the island hives have recently been declared 100% free of disease. In order to keep the hives pristine, it is very important that the island not be accidentally exposed to products of bees from other areas that could contaminate the Pitcairn bee population. The Pitcairners and the bees thank you very much!

Pitcairns satellite internet connection is provided by Albuquerque Seismological Laboratory. Small world sometimes, no?

You can even order some of the honey here.

Speaking of "Presence"

2007-05-11T17:33:00.001-07:00

Not trying to be difficult but I'm not sure how anyone in Nevada could say any presidential candidate does not look "presidential" enough or lacks "presence". This is our freaking elected governor. Makes Kucinich look positively debonair. Yes, he is a Mormon, no, he did not marry all of those women. Rumor has it he only even slept with a few of them.

And here he is wearing a do-rag and some bling-bling. Smokin'.

Photos from MSNBC News and big tip of the hat to Vote Gibbons Out where you see even more about our ever so dignified Gov. Gibbons.

A Few Minutes Minus Stupidity

2007-05-11T15:09:00.001-07:00

Jon Stewart interviews Reza Aslan. Now that's hot.