Left by girlfriend in bar,
drunken German steals tractor,
leads police on low-speed chase.
One might reasonably think that when the two arguably most powerful men on the planet meet for the first time it would be newsworthy. It didn’t seem to be. For hours on end it was once again Michael Jackson. This time his memorial ceremony. With no disrespect, I do find myself wondering if he is really dead or if he will be continually spotted here and there, like Elvis. I also wonder if the second coming will receive quite as much attention. Is there something wrong with me? Michael Jackson was a “Pop Star,” not a Pope or President or Dictator, or conqueror of the world, and certainly not some kind of supernatural being. Anyway, I would like to think that this might be the end of the Michael Jackson marathon, but I know it won’t be. We’ll be hearing about his will, his children, his money, his legacy, his drugs, his death, his brain, and so on probably for years. But maybe, just maybe it will slow down a bit now that he is dead and buried. I don’t know if it was the Michael Jackson obsession that kept us from hearing about Obama/Putin, or if perhaps the meeting did not go well and they don’t want to tell us about it, or what. But I did find the lack of information about it somewhat surprising. It would be nice to have some serious news companies that were interested in news rather than infotainment, but I guess that is something gone forever. It is possible that I just do not watch the right stuff (‘cause I don’t watch very much).
Another thing about the so-called news that can be infuriating is when they tell you something but don’t tell you everything you would like to know. For example, on the Rachel Maddow show tonight there was an anecdote about an artist, enraged at the sight of McNamara lounging in a Ferry bar, who asked him outside for a false message and tried to throw him overboard to his death. I thought this was most interesting, but the guy obviously failed in his attempt, but they didn’t tell you what happened to him. Like, did he go to jail for attempted murder? Did no one press charges? Was it not reported? What? We know the guy lived because he was subsequently interviewed much later, but we were told nothing of what happened to him after his failed attempt. I found this very strange to say nothing of rather disconcerting.
We’re not going to hear the end of the Perils of Palin very soon either. She is not going to let us, and the MSM are going to help her stay in the news. After claiming that the media has been unfair to her, and picked on her unreasonably, and so on, she invited all the major networks to interview her while she was fishing. There she was, dressed in waders, apparently involved in netting fish, but giving interviews at the same time. She had nothing to say except the same nonsense she gave before about doing it all for Alaska, saving the state money, and blah, blah, blah. I must say, for an absolute airhead with absolutely nothing to offer, she does well for herself. I also think that now the media, especially Letterman, will in fact probably butcher her as she seems to be bringing it on herself.
Does anyone remember the Israeli/Palestinian problem, or has it just become lost in the Michael Jackson, Sanford, Palin news? I do not believe the present Israeli government has any interest whatsoever in solving the problem, preferring instead the status quo that allows them to go ahead with their illegal settlements and slow genocide year after year. This raises an interesting question of time. I cannot see that time favors the Israeli position. They simply cannot get away with what they are doing forever. At some point in time their contempt for international law and Arabs is going to catch up with them and they will no longer exist. How long this might take I do not know, but I believe it is inevitable. Thus if they really wish to survive as a Jewish state they had better change their ways now, before it is too late. I wonder if Obama remembers that he told them no more illegal settlements? They certainly are not paying attention and are blissfully going ahead with whatever they want, as they always have, contemptuous of world opinion and apparently safe in their belief that the U.S. will always support them no matter how dishonest, imperialistic, racist, and genocidal they may be. Will Obama actually seriously try to curb them or is it just all talk as always?
Sometimes I believe that Obama really is spreading himself too thin. Granted the problems he has are manifold, can he really juggle Russia, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the economy, health care, gays in the military, immigration, etc., etc.? Obviously it is easier to talk about all of these problems than to take action against all of them at the same time. I fear that because he is trying to deal with too many things at once he is much more likely to agree to compromises that will result in unsatisfactory results everywhere. Compromises rarely result in the best solutions.
LKBIQ:
If you limit your choices only to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all that is left is a compromise.
Robert Fritz
TILT:
The Platypus is one of the very few venomous mammals.
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Monday, July 06, 2009
I feel better
“Bored” young woman makes prank
calls to Grandmother 45 times in one
day, threatening to kill her.
I feel better today. I know most things are still not going very well, but I can’t help it. The Press conference today in Moscow between Obama and Medvedev seemed to me to go very well indeed. I realize much of it was for the camera but even so I think I detected a genuine aura of responsibility and trust that was refreshing after the poisonous eight years of Bush/Cheney. And there were, in fact, some positive accomplishments announced: the significant reductions in our respective nuclear armaments, Russian acquiescence to our use of their air space, agreements to convene and talk again, and so on. I have no idea how all of this will eventually play out but I must say that at the moment I am very pleased and I think Obama has done a truly remarkable job of diplomacy.
And how could I not be pleased that Al Franken, after eight months of nonsensical Republican footdragging, has finally made it to the U.S. Senate. While this does not guarantee 60 votes for every Democratic proposal it certainly will make it easier to get most things done. Those who criticize Franken for being a comedian I think fail to see his more serious and thoughtful side. He is not going there to entertain but to conduct serious business and I believe he will be a genuine asset to the Democratic Party.
I still have no idea why Sara Palin resigned so precipitously. I’m not sure anyone does, but of course there are all kinds of rumors floating around. One good sign, if you are a Palin despiser as I am, is that her attempt to bully Alaskan bloggers with threats of lawsuits is falling on deaf ears. Indeed, they seem to want her to sue them so they can potentially reveal even more about some of her questionable behavior. I confess I cannot stand her, and the very idea that there are people in the U.S. that would consider her Presidential I find terrifying. I do think (or at least hope) she is finished as a potential candidate, but that does not mean that the right-wingers will not pay her exorbitant speaking fees and keep giving her exposure. That’s fine with me, as the more exposure she gets the more she comes across as another Republican ignoramus, or worse. I find it interesting that no one has suggested Boener for a candidate for President. I guess he is too idiotic even for the Republicans. That is quite an accomplishment
There is an unusually fine article on Buzzflash today, by Carmen Yarusso, on why the phony and useless “War on Drugs” needs to be ended. I think he makes the case very clear as to what is wrong with this misguided attempt to too tightly regulate human nature and behavior. Unfortunately, he also spells out why there will be unrelenting and powerful opposition to doing anything so sensible. There are too many people and organizations dependent upon the billions of wasted funds to want to see it abolished. This is the U.S., after all, we don’t do sensible things here. And we have long since abandoned doing anything “in the public interest.” Corporate interests are another thing entirely, as has become indisputably obvious.
If the Democrats cannot pass a Universal Health Care Bill (with a public option), with a supermajority in Congress, a sympathetic President, and a majority of the American people in favor of it, we might as well just throw in the towel and start sending our checks directly to the Insurance Companies. It is now said that the Health Care Lobby has hired 350 lobbyists, most with personal ties to members of Congress, and is spending 1.4 million dollars a day to prevent a public option. Insurance companies are totally unnecessary for a decent and sensible health care policy, indeed, they are absolutely parasitical. As this is true, it is no wonder they are willing to spend so much to maintain their status quo. As I said above, this is the U.S.A., we don’t do sensible things here. Let’s face it, the days when our elected officials acted in the public interest are history, a history that does not seem about to repeat itself. If the corporate elite that now controls the world cannot be overcome we can resign ourselves to serfdom, a history that might well repeat itself. The slogan “Power to the people,” has now become identified as socialism, and you know what that means…or do you?
LKBIQ:
We have among us a class of mammon worshippers, whose one test of conservatism or radicalism is the attitude one takes with respect to accumulated wealth. Whatever tends to preserve the wealth of the wealthy is called conservatism, and whatever favors anything else, no matter what is called socialism.
Richard T. Ely
TILT:
The Black Plague is believed to have originated somewhere in the steppes of Asia.
calls to Grandmother 45 times in one
day, threatening to kill her.
I feel better today. I know most things are still not going very well, but I can’t help it. The Press conference today in Moscow between Obama and Medvedev seemed to me to go very well indeed. I realize much of it was for the camera but even so I think I detected a genuine aura of responsibility and trust that was refreshing after the poisonous eight years of Bush/Cheney. And there were, in fact, some positive accomplishments announced: the significant reductions in our respective nuclear armaments, Russian acquiescence to our use of their air space, agreements to convene and talk again, and so on. I have no idea how all of this will eventually play out but I must say that at the moment I am very pleased and I think Obama has done a truly remarkable job of diplomacy.
And how could I not be pleased that Al Franken, after eight months of nonsensical Republican footdragging, has finally made it to the U.S. Senate. While this does not guarantee 60 votes for every Democratic proposal it certainly will make it easier to get most things done. Those who criticize Franken for being a comedian I think fail to see his more serious and thoughtful side. He is not going there to entertain but to conduct serious business and I believe he will be a genuine asset to the Democratic Party.
I still have no idea why Sara Palin resigned so precipitously. I’m not sure anyone does, but of course there are all kinds of rumors floating around. One good sign, if you are a Palin despiser as I am, is that her attempt to bully Alaskan bloggers with threats of lawsuits is falling on deaf ears. Indeed, they seem to want her to sue them so they can potentially reveal even more about some of her questionable behavior. I confess I cannot stand her, and the very idea that there are people in the U.S. that would consider her Presidential I find terrifying. I do think (or at least hope) she is finished as a potential candidate, but that does not mean that the right-wingers will not pay her exorbitant speaking fees and keep giving her exposure. That’s fine with me, as the more exposure she gets the more she comes across as another Republican ignoramus, or worse. I find it interesting that no one has suggested Boener for a candidate for President. I guess he is too idiotic even for the Republicans. That is quite an accomplishment
There is an unusually fine article on Buzzflash today, by Carmen Yarusso, on why the phony and useless “War on Drugs” needs to be ended. I think he makes the case very clear as to what is wrong with this misguided attempt to too tightly regulate human nature and behavior. Unfortunately, he also spells out why there will be unrelenting and powerful opposition to doing anything so sensible. There are too many people and organizations dependent upon the billions of wasted funds to want to see it abolished. This is the U.S., after all, we don’t do sensible things here. And we have long since abandoned doing anything “in the public interest.” Corporate interests are another thing entirely, as has become indisputably obvious.
If the Democrats cannot pass a Universal Health Care Bill (with a public option), with a supermajority in Congress, a sympathetic President, and a majority of the American people in favor of it, we might as well just throw in the towel and start sending our checks directly to the Insurance Companies. It is now said that the Health Care Lobby has hired 350 lobbyists, most with personal ties to members of Congress, and is spending 1.4 million dollars a day to prevent a public option. Insurance companies are totally unnecessary for a decent and sensible health care policy, indeed, they are absolutely parasitical. As this is true, it is no wonder they are willing to spend so much to maintain their status quo. As I said above, this is the U.S.A., we don’t do sensible things here. Let’s face it, the days when our elected officials acted in the public interest are history, a history that does not seem about to repeat itself. If the corporate elite that now controls the world cannot be overcome we can resign ourselves to serfdom, a history that might well repeat itself. The slogan “Power to the people,” has now become identified as socialism, and you know what that means…or do you?
LKBIQ:
We have among us a class of mammon worshippers, whose one test of conservatism or radicalism is the attitude one takes with respect to accumulated wealth. Whatever tends to preserve the wealth of the wealthy is called conservatism, and whatever favors anything else, no matter what is called socialism.
Richard T. Ely
TILT:
The Black Plague is believed to have originated somewhere in the steppes of Asia.
Sunday, July 05, 2009
Entitled?
New husband deserts wife
in airport for taking too
long In the bathroom.
Joe Biden reportedly said that it is up to Israel to decide if Iran is an existential threat and that Israel is somehow “entitled” to attack Iran. If this is true I suspect Biden’s sanity. This is a remark every bit as stupid and mindless as Albright’s claim that the massive deaths of Iraqi children was “worth it.” Israel has claimed for years that Iran is working on a nuclear bomb even though there is no evidence for such a claim. The Israeli claim is nothing but paranoia writ large on the international scene. Even if Iran did acquire a nuclear bomb, and the missiles necessary to launch it, on what basis would anyone with half a brain conclude they were going to drop it on Israel (or anyone else). Iranians are not crazy, although our media are doing everything they can to make them appear so. And personally, I have never seen any evidence that Iran is backing terrorism around the world. It is true they support Hamas and Hezbollah, but those are not merely terrorist organizations, they are bona fide political parties that just don’t happen to agree with the U.S. and Israel (indeed, Hamas is the legitimately elected government of the Palestinians). As near as I can tell, Israeli terrorism is far more serious than either Hezbollah or Hamas. I suppose one might argue over the definition of terrorist, but what Israel is doing to Gaza is far worse than mere terrorism, and much more like genocide. If Israel is entitled to attack Iran, on the basis of no evidence whatsoever, then it must have been true that the U.S. was entitled to attack Iraq. In fact, any country would be entitled to attack any other country just on their own opinion, if they chose to do so. This is crazy talk, and Biden should know better. The Arab countries are also opposed to Iran. No one seems to ask why. Could it possibly be because the Arab countries are Sunni and Iran is Shiitie? Does religion play into this at all? Why else would the Arab countries be so concerned about Iran, a nation that has attacked no one for over two hundred years and cannot be proven to be planning any attacks at the moment. Obviously they do not want Iraq to become a Shiite controlled nation (preferring to have it controlled by the Sunni minority as it was for so long). But with the Arabs on the side of the Israelis in wanting Iran to be controlled, and with the U.S. apparently sympathetic, what are the Iranians supposed to do? Thus, If they aren’t trying to build a bomb, this kind of pressure will certainly motivate them to do so. Obama must open up a dialogue with Iran no matter who the leaders turn out to be, anything else is going to lead to disaster.
At the golf tournament today, sponsored by and won by Tiger Woods, military personnel and children under 12 were admitted free. At one point there was a soldier in a wheelchair on the sidelines watching. He apparently has lost all four of his limbs and, I believe, also one eye. There was a shot of his being wheeled down the fairway and being cheered by the crowd. One announcer said this terribly wounded soldier still has a sense of humor. I guess one may argue that is a good thing, as he has nothing else left to look forward to. I confess to not having a sense of humor about it. The truth is often a terrible thing, and the truth is, this young man should not have been in Iraq or Afghanistan in the first place. It must be virtually impossible for these returning wounded not to believe they suffered, not in vain, but for their country, but the truth of the matter is, they suffered and killed and maimed for Bush/Cheney and the Oil companies. I wonder how many of the suicides might be related to this sudden realization once they return home. Of course in a sense it is true they died and fought for their country, and in that sense they deserve their nobility, but in this case it should not have been asked of them. As Bush/Cheney and others are apparently going completely unpunished for this war crime, apparently others think it was a worthwhile “war.” It did, it appears, open up the Iraq oilfields for exploitation, the original, if never admitted goal, so perhaps it has been a success, especially if you approve of “blood for oil.”
In no
part of the earth
can I
find my home
to joyously savor one single
instant of initial life.
I seek an innocent
country.
Giuseppe Ungaretti
TILT:
Kokura was the primary target for the second atomic bomb. Nagasaki was the second choice.
in airport for taking too
long In the bathroom.
Joe Biden reportedly said that it is up to Israel to decide if Iran is an existential threat and that Israel is somehow “entitled” to attack Iran. If this is true I suspect Biden’s sanity. This is a remark every bit as stupid and mindless as Albright’s claim that the massive deaths of Iraqi children was “worth it.” Israel has claimed for years that Iran is working on a nuclear bomb even though there is no evidence for such a claim. The Israeli claim is nothing but paranoia writ large on the international scene. Even if Iran did acquire a nuclear bomb, and the missiles necessary to launch it, on what basis would anyone with half a brain conclude they were going to drop it on Israel (or anyone else). Iranians are not crazy, although our media are doing everything they can to make them appear so. And personally, I have never seen any evidence that Iran is backing terrorism around the world. It is true they support Hamas and Hezbollah, but those are not merely terrorist organizations, they are bona fide political parties that just don’t happen to agree with the U.S. and Israel (indeed, Hamas is the legitimately elected government of the Palestinians). As near as I can tell, Israeli terrorism is far more serious than either Hezbollah or Hamas. I suppose one might argue over the definition of terrorist, but what Israel is doing to Gaza is far worse than mere terrorism, and much more like genocide. If Israel is entitled to attack Iran, on the basis of no evidence whatsoever, then it must have been true that the U.S. was entitled to attack Iraq. In fact, any country would be entitled to attack any other country just on their own opinion, if they chose to do so. This is crazy talk, and Biden should know better. The Arab countries are also opposed to Iran. No one seems to ask why. Could it possibly be because the Arab countries are Sunni and Iran is Shiitie? Does religion play into this at all? Why else would the Arab countries be so concerned about Iran, a nation that has attacked no one for over two hundred years and cannot be proven to be planning any attacks at the moment. Obviously they do not want Iraq to become a Shiite controlled nation (preferring to have it controlled by the Sunni minority as it was for so long). But with the Arabs on the side of the Israelis in wanting Iran to be controlled, and with the U.S. apparently sympathetic, what are the Iranians supposed to do? Thus, If they aren’t trying to build a bomb, this kind of pressure will certainly motivate them to do so. Obama must open up a dialogue with Iran no matter who the leaders turn out to be, anything else is going to lead to disaster.
At the golf tournament today, sponsored by and won by Tiger Woods, military personnel and children under 12 were admitted free. At one point there was a soldier in a wheelchair on the sidelines watching. He apparently has lost all four of his limbs and, I believe, also one eye. There was a shot of his being wheeled down the fairway and being cheered by the crowd. One announcer said this terribly wounded soldier still has a sense of humor. I guess one may argue that is a good thing, as he has nothing else left to look forward to. I confess to not having a sense of humor about it. The truth is often a terrible thing, and the truth is, this young man should not have been in Iraq or Afghanistan in the first place. It must be virtually impossible for these returning wounded not to believe they suffered, not in vain, but for their country, but the truth of the matter is, they suffered and killed and maimed for Bush/Cheney and the Oil companies. I wonder how many of the suicides might be related to this sudden realization once they return home. Of course in a sense it is true they died and fought for their country, and in that sense they deserve their nobility, but in this case it should not have been asked of them. As Bush/Cheney and others are apparently going completely unpunished for this war crime, apparently others think it was a worthwhile “war.” It did, it appears, open up the Iraq oilfields for exploitation, the original, if never admitted goal, so perhaps it has been a success, especially if you approve of “blood for oil.”
In no
part of the earth
can I
find my home
to joyously savor one single
instant of initial life.
I seek an innocent
country.
Giuseppe Ungaretti
TILT:
Kokura was the primary target for the second atomic bomb. Nagasaki was the second choice.
Friday, July 03, 2009
Babbling Sara
DVD for Elementary School memories
accidentally contains six seconds
of teacher having sex on a couch.
I saw Sara Palin’s resignation speech. She was babbling. You know how it is when a child is caught red-handed doing something wrong, refuses to confess the truth, and just starts babbling. That’s the way it was with Palin. Her non-stop rapid delivery, her rather incoherent claims, and the Friday afternoon timing, suggest to me there is much more here than meets the eye. I do not believe she is resigning to save the state of Alaska money, nor do I believe she is doing it in any way for the state of Alaska. I also do not believe she is doing it to prepare to run for the Presidency in 2012. All of what she said sounds like reasons made up to explain a decision made for some completely different reason. Will we ever know the truth? I don’t know, but I wouldn’t be surprised if someone finds out before long. I’m pretty sure there must be some kind of scandal involved and she wants to try to clear the air (or muddy the waters, as the case may be). Anyway, it’s pretty certain she will not be running for President, too bad as it would have been such fun watching her stumble, fumble and fall (oh, no I meant running down the court and passing the ball off for victory). I suppose it is possible that she really believes that resigning after only two and a half years as Governor of Alaska will give her time to cram for the Presidency. If so, she is even dumber than I thought (that is hardly possible).
In any case another Republican hopeful goes down the tube. They are not doing well. Sanford has proven himself to be an idiot, Ensign also “sinned,” Palin is probably finished in politics, Jindall’s pathetic performance has rendered him inoperative, Gingrich makes Ensign and Sanford look like angels, Giuliani already proved himself to be a disaster, Cantor is too much of a lightweight, Santorum is gone, as is Allen of Macaca fame, Huckabee is a kind of clown, and McCain will surely be too old this time. I guess that leaves Hayley Barbour with all the charm of a giant toad. Maybe they can get that other famous black conservative to run again, you know, Alan Keyes, he’s a real winner. Watch out for Colin Powell. If he wants to run I bet the Republicans will forgive him for backing Obama, especially if it looks like he might be able to win. And with Obama flunking out right and left, and the Democratic party unable to agree even on what kind of donuts to order, Powell might actually win and redeem himself from his uncommonly dishonest promotion of the Iraqi “war.” He has just surfaced again with some (fatherly?) economic advice for Obama. Oh, I almost forgot, there’s Mitt Romney. He’s got oodles of money and lots of houses, in addition to all the charm of a pathological liar. He’s also a Mormon. I thought they didn’t lie. Oh well, what do I care? Maybe if he got to be President he could reinstate polygamy. I think that would be fine with me, as long as I didn’t have to participate. Any man who would want more than one wife at a time, in my opinion, has to be a bit “tetched.” Live and let live, that’s what I say. I say it first thing every morning. No one seems to listen.
Of course none of this will even make a ripple in the ongoing Michael Jackson sunami. Even if Palin’s resignation turns out to be because of some scandal it will only get lost in the Michael Jackson hysteria (that may be what she is counting on), the Sanford story has pretty much already run its course, and it is hard to see what could possibly happen that would interrupt the non-stop Michael Jackson saga. The Iraqi, Iran, Afghanistan, and Israel/Palestinian situations certainly haven’t, and it looks like Obama’s trip to Russia will also fall by the wayside (who cares about nuclear bombs anyway). And so, dear readers, you might as well settle in for months of Michael Jackson. Aaaaaaaagh!
Meanwhile, back in Realityland, the coal companies continue to rip off the tops of mountains and pollute the streams, unemployment is still rising, banks and insurance companies are making money, Gays are still getting kicked out of the military, California and some other states are going bankrupt, the Bush/Cheney obsession with secrecy is alive and well in the Obama administration, our blatant war criminals go about getting rich and boasting of how well their torture worked, everyone is trying to ignore North Korea as simply a spoiled child, along with global warming, the Gaza genocide continues unabated, as do the illegal settlements, and the hasty execution of Saddam Hussein allows Bush Sr. and Rumsfeld, among others, to escape all kinds of embarrassing questions. But think on the bright side. The earth is still in orbit (I think), the sun still rises in the morning (or has been), all of the songbirds have not yet disappeared, surgically enhanced vaginas are “in,” gangster movies are making a comeback, the totally failed “war on drugs” rages on pointlessly, and it’s the Fourth of July holiday weekend (whoopee, for anyone who still has a job or any money). Life is…well life is.
LKBIQ:
What to do if you find yourself stuck with no hope of rescue: Consider yourself lucky that life has been good to you so far. Alternatively, if life hasn't been good to you so far, which given your present circumstances seems more likely, consider yourself lucky that it won't be troubling you much longer.
Douglas Adams
TILT:
A watched pot will eventually boil.
accidentally contains six seconds
of teacher having sex on a couch.
I saw Sara Palin’s resignation speech. She was babbling. You know how it is when a child is caught red-handed doing something wrong, refuses to confess the truth, and just starts babbling. That’s the way it was with Palin. Her non-stop rapid delivery, her rather incoherent claims, and the Friday afternoon timing, suggest to me there is much more here than meets the eye. I do not believe she is resigning to save the state of Alaska money, nor do I believe she is doing it in any way for the state of Alaska. I also do not believe she is doing it to prepare to run for the Presidency in 2012. All of what she said sounds like reasons made up to explain a decision made for some completely different reason. Will we ever know the truth? I don’t know, but I wouldn’t be surprised if someone finds out before long. I’m pretty sure there must be some kind of scandal involved and she wants to try to clear the air (or muddy the waters, as the case may be). Anyway, it’s pretty certain she will not be running for President, too bad as it would have been such fun watching her stumble, fumble and fall (oh, no I meant running down the court and passing the ball off for victory). I suppose it is possible that she really believes that resigning after only two and a half years as Governor of Alaska will give her time to cram for the Presidency. If so, she is even dumber than I thought (that is hardly possible).
In any case another Republican hopeful goes down the tube. They are not doing well. Sanford has proven himself to be an idiot, Ensign also “sinned,” Palin is probably finished in politics, Jindall’s pathetic performance has rendered him inoperative, Gingrich makes Ensign and Sanford look like angels, Giuliani already proved himself to be a disaster, Cantor is too much of a lightweight, Santorum is gone, as is Allen of Macaca fame, Huckabee is a kind of clown, and McCain will surely be too old this time. I guess that leaves Hayley Barbour with all the charm of a giant toad. Maybe they can get that other famous black conservative to run again, you know, Alan Keyes, he’s a real winner. Watch out for Colin Powell. If he wants to run I bet the Republicans will forgive him for backing Obama, especially if it looks like he might be able to win. And with Obama flunking out right and left, and the Democratic party unable to agree even on what kind of donuts to order, Powell might actually win and redeem himself from his uncommonly dishonest promotion of the Iraqi “war.” He has just surfaced again with some (fatherly?) economic advice for Obama. Oh, I almost forgot, there’s Mitt Romney. He’s got oodles of money and lots of houses, in addition to all the charm of a pathological liar. He’s also a Mormon. I thought they didn’t lie. Oh well, what do I care? Maybe if he got to be President he could reinstate polygamy. I think that would be fine with me, as long as I didn’t have to participate. Any man who would want more than one wife at a time, in my opinion, has to be a bit “tetched.” Live and let live, that’s what I say. I say it first thing every morning. No one seems to listen.
Of course none of this will even make a ripple in the ongoing Michael Jackson sunami. Even if Palin’s resignation turns out to be because of some scandal it will only get lost in the Michael Jackson hysteria (that may be what she is counting on), the Sanford story has pretty much already run its course, and it is hard to see what could possibly happen that would interrupt the non-stop Michael Jackson saga. The Iraqi, Iran, Afghanistan, and Israel/Palestinian situations certainly haven’t, and it looks like Obama’s trip to Russia will also fall by the wayside (who cares about nuclear bombs anyway). And so, dear readers, you might as well settle in for months of Michael Jackson. Aaaaaaaagh!
Meanwhile, back in Realityland, the coal companies continue to rip off the tops of mountains and pollute the streams, unemployment is still rising, banks and insurance companies are making money, Gays are still getting kicked out of the military, California and some other states are going bankrupt, the Bush/Cheney obsession with secrecy is alive and well in the Obama administration, our blatant war criminals go about getting rich and boasting of how well their torture worked, everyone is trying to ignore North Korea as simply a spoiled child, along with global warming, the Gaza genocide continues unabated, as do the illegal settlements, and the hasty execution of Saddam Hussein allows Bush Sr. and Rumsfeld, among others, to escape all kinds of embarrassing questions. But think on the bright side. The earth is still in orbit (I think), the sun still rises in the morning (or has been), all of the songbirds have not yet disappeared, surgically enhanced vaginas are “in,” gangster movies are making a comeback, the totally failed “war on drugs” rages on pointlessly, and it’s the Fourth of July holiday weekend (whoopee, for anyone who still has a job or any money). Life is…well life is.
LKBIQ:
What to do if you find yourself stuck with no hope of rescue: Consider yourself lucky that life has been good to you so far. Alternatively, if life hasn't been good to you so far, which given your present circumstances seems more likely, consider yourself lucky that it won't be troubling you much longer.
Douglas Adams
TILT:
A watched pot will eventually boil.
Thursday, July 02, 2009
Vietghanistan
Mistaking screams of
pleasure for sexual attack,
four teens assault her lover.
Well, it’s nice to know that things are going so well in Vietghanistan. The additional 21,000 troops Obama so thoughtfully provided are now engaged in a massive operation to clear an area of Taliban. I find this most interesting in that I thought our enemy in Afghanistan was Al Quaida, but over the years it has morphed into the Taliban. You might recall that it was the Taliban that rousted Al Quaida before, and would quite likely do so again if they were given a chance. This is not to defend the Taliban, they are far too conservative and nasty for my taste, but they are not Al Qaida. It does make me wonder what we are still doing in Afghanistan anyway, we don’t seem to be looking for Osama bin Laden anymore. I guess maybe we’re still trying to eventually install that pipeline (we probably won’t even be using gasoline by the time we get that baby going). Our campaign, or whatever it is, in Afghanistan has always been, and continues to be doomed to fail. Everyone seems to know this but we just go on anyway. It’s clearly Obama’s “war” now, and it will be his graveyard as well, just as it was for the Russians.
I guess everything is going to be okay on the Governor Sanford front. He has announced that he’s going to try to fall in love with his wife all over again, and she has announced that she will forgive him. What more could anyone want? I think she might have figured out that he doesn’t seem to know what the hell he’s even talking about, what with all these crossing of the lines, true love, and whatever. He’s just a confused little boy who needs more attention, or so it appears to me.
Of course things are still very active on the Michael Jackson front. Neverland is not going to become Graceland West (or is it). Michael’s mother will get custody of the children (or will she), Michael’s will may be honored (but it may not), there are videos of his preparation for his last big show that demonstrate he was in good shape and it was going to be a blockbuster hit (or was he, and will it). He is also now said to have had a secret girlfriend (or did he), some say he was addicted to drugs (or was he), he is not the father of his children (or is he), the mother is not the mother (or is she). Believe me, we’re not going to hear the end of Michael Jackson probably until the end of this century, so be prepared. The Rachel Maddow show, about the only one worth watching on TV anymore, was canceled in favor of a special on you-know-who. I like to believe that Rachel is too intelligent to want to participate in the Michael Jackson madness, but it probably isn’t true. I like Allison okay, but she’s not Rachel.
Sometimes I think the NRA is just pulling our leg, trying to see just how outrageously far they can get. I don’t know how else to explain their insistence that we should have guns in church, in the National Parks, and even in bars. These demands seem to me so basically irrational, to say nothing of unnecessary, that I cannot believe anyone takes them seriously, other than trying to see if they can get away with it. The same goes for their insistence that everyone should be entitled to their own machine gun. There’s no telling how far they might go if completely unchecked. I think we should go back to the happy days of the Wild West when men had to check their guns at the door. Naw, I guess that was too civilized.
I guess Bush/Cheney, and no doubt others in their failed administration are going to get lucrative contracts for their memoirs. I thought there was a law against criminals being able to capitalize on their crimes. Of course under the Obama administration laws don’t seem to be any more important than they were under Bush/Cheney. We certainly aren’t seeing much of the much-vaunted transparency we were promised. In some ways Obama seems more secretive than Bush/Cheney. I know, we should know better than to put any faith in campaign promises, but we don’t, every time we fall for them and every time they are broken. It’s just like Charlie Brown trying to kick the stupid football.
LKBIQ:
Religion is about turning untested belief into unshakeable truth through the power of institutions and the passage of time.
Richard Dawkins
TILT:
The population of Uruguay is 94.7 % of European descent.
pleasure for sexual attack,
four teens assault her lover.
Well, it’s nice to know that things are going so well in Vietghanistan. The additional 21,000 troops Obama so thoughtfully provided are now engaged in a massive operation to clear an area of Taliban. I find this most interesting in that I thought our enemy in Afghanistan was Al Quaida, but over the years it has morphed into the Taliban. You might recall that it was the Taliban that rousted Al Quaida before, and would quite likely do so again if they were given a chance. This is not to defend the Taliban, they are far too conservative and nasty for my taste, but they are not Al Qaida. It does make me wonder what we are still doing in Afghanistan anyway, we don’t seem to be looking for Osama bin Laden anymore. I guess maybe we’re still trying to eventually install that pipeline (we probably won’t even be using gasoline by the time we get that baby going). Our campaign, or whatever it is, in Afghanistan has always been, and continues to be doomed to fail. Everyone seems to know this but we just go on anyway. It’s clearly Obama’s “war” now, and it will be his graveyard as well, just as it was for the Russians.
I guess everything is going to be okay on the Governor Sanford front. He has announced that he’s going to try to fall in love with his wife all over again, and she has announced that she will forgive him. What more could anyone want? I think she might have figured out that he doesn’t seem to know what the hell he’s even talking about, what with all these crossing of the lines, true love, and whatever. He’s just a confused little boy who needs more attention, or so it appears to me.
Of course things are still very active on the Michael Jackson front. Neverland is not going to become Graceland West (or is it). Michael’s mother will get custody of the children (or will she), Michael’s will may be honored (but it may not), there are videos of his preparation for his last big show that demonstrate he was in good shape and it was going to be a blockbuster hit (or was he, and will it). He is also now said to have had a secret girlfriend (or did he), some say he was addicted to drugs (or was he), he is not the father of his children (or is he), the mother is not the mother (or is she). Believe me, we’re not going to hear the end of Michael Jackson probably until the end of this century, so be prepared. The Rachel Maddow show, about the only one worth watching on TV anymore, was canceled in favor of a special on you-know-who. I like to believe that Rachel is too intelligent to want to participate in the Michael Jackson madness, but it probably isn’t true. I like Allison okay, but she’s not Rachel.
Sometimes I think the NRA is just pulling our leg, trying to see just how outrageously far they can get. I don’t know how else to explain their insistence that we should have guns in church, in the National Parks, and even in bars. These demands seem to me so basically irrational, to say nothing of unnecessary, that I cannot believe anyone takes them seriously, other than trying to see if they can get away with it. The same goes for their insistence that everyone should be entitled to their own machine gun. There’s no telling how far they might go if completely unchecked. I think we should go back to the happy days of the Wild West when men had to check their guns at the door. Naw, I guess that was too civilized.
I guess Bush/Cheney, and no doubt others in their failed administration are going to get lucrative contracts for their memoirs. I thought there was a law against criminals being able to capitalize on their crimes. Of course under the Obama administration laws don’t seem to be any more important than they were under Bush/Cheney. We certainly aren’t seeing much of the much-vaunted transparency we were promised. In some ways Obama seems more secretive than Bush/Cheney. I know, we should know better than to put any faith in campaign promises, but we don’t, every time we fall for them and every time they are broken. It’s just like Charlie Brown trying to kick the stupid football.
LKBIQ:
Religion is about turning untested belief into unshakeable truth through the power of institutions and the passage of time.
Richard Dawkins
TILT:
The population of Uruguay is 94.7 % of European descent.
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Thank god for celebrities
Young woman hit by train
while lying on railroad tracks
to “clear her mind.”
Thank god for celebrities! Why, I bet that if it weren’t for celebrities we’d all but up to our ass in real news. You know, what’s going on in Iraq, Iran, Israel, Gaza, Russia, Darfur, Europe, places like that. Or similarly, we might be inundated with information about Health Care, Global warming, Energy, Immigration, Education, Inflation, Deflation, the Economy, and whatever. It is obvious that these bits of news are of little consequence alongside the death of “Pop Star” Michael Jackson, at least as far as the MSM are concerned. It’s just Michael Jackson this and Michael Jackson that, and Michael Jackson all day long. The MSM hasn’t had a feeding frenzy like this since Anna Nicole what’s-her-face, and Michael Jackson dwarfs that by a hundredfold. I fear this is just the beginning, we are going to hear about Michael Jackson probably for the next several years. What I would like to know is if the American Public in general is as obsessed with Michael Jackson as the media is. Does anyone know? Has anyone taken a poll and asked people on the street if they are so overwhelmingly interested in every detail of Michael Jackson life? I’m sure there are many people who are interested in this news marathon, and would stand in line just for a chance to see Michael Jackson’s chauffeur or bodyguard or even his gloves. But is this true of most ordinary Americans? I confess (being of another generation entirely) that I have never seen Michael Jackson or even one of his albums. From the little bits I glimpse on TV I would never have attended one of his performances. I am, to put it bluntly, not interested in Michael Jackson, his life, death, will, mother, father, children, home life, or celebrity. Nor am I interested in how much he weighed, what drugs he ingested, what he ate for breakfast, or what kind of toothpaste he used. I am a TV watcher (albeit a somewhat limited one) and I do not want to see stuff about Michael Jackson 24/7 (or at all, for that matter). Of course if the media want to announce that he died and he will have a funeral, fine. Leave it at that. I am so disgusted with this coverage I refused to watch any news at all today. And if the first thing I see in the morning is more Michael Jackson I won’t watch it tomorrow either. This is sick. Our so-called news media is sick. America is sick. It’s no wonder we are going down the tube, so to speak. There. I’ve said it. I feel better. But I probably won’t feel better tomorrow.
I think another measure of our sickness can be seen in the Sara Palin case. Here we have a woman who was totally unqualified to be Vice-President (which is now being admitted even by some of those who chose her) who now is being touted as the next Republican candidate for President. The thought that Sara Palin could be President of the U.S. is just plain sick. Governor Sanford of South Carolina has now taken himself out of the possible running for President. Not because of his affair with his Argentinian friend, but because he hasn’t been able to keep his mouth shut and comes across as some kind of nut. He admits to having “crossed the line” with any number of women, but not including sex with them (except for the Argentinian), whatever that is supposed to mean. And he has announced he will try to fall back in love with his wife (I don’t know what she thinks about this but she has announced that his career is not a vital matter with her). Now how would we know if he has fallen back in love with her? It must be easier to fall in love with strangers than to stay in love with your wife. Related to that, I saw a bumper sticker this morning that read: “Married men don’t really live longer, it just seems that way.” My guess is that Mitt Romney will be the Republican candidate, if only by default, as far as we know he has never committed adultery. Some Mormons don’t commit adultery anyway, they just have “celestial marriages.” Of course if you don’t fancy Romney you can have that paragon of virtue, Newt Gingrich, or perhaps Giuliani again. I must say that at the moment the future looks pretty bleak for the Republicans, but, then, the Democrats may blow it once again, what with Obama’s hypocrisy approaching that of Bush/Cheney and his accelerating Vietnam experience in Afghanistan. Obama seems to throw down the gauntlet but then try to retrieve it before the Republicans can pick it up. His ridiculous quest for bipartisanship will probably sink his ship of state before he realizes that it’s a completely lost cause, given the current crop of Republican thugs.
LKBIQ:
The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter.
Sir Winston Churchill
TILT:
There is archaeological evidence that the Date Palm may have been cultivated as long as 6,000 years ago.
while lying on railroad tracks
to “clear her mind.”
Thank god for celebrities! Why, I bet that if it weren’t for celebrities we’d all but up to our ass in real news. You know, what’s going on in Iraq, Iran, Israel, Gaza, Russia, Darfur, Europe, places like that. Or similarly, we might be inundated with information about Health Care, Global warming, Energy, Immigration, Education, Inflation, Deflation, the Economy, and whatever. It is obvious that these bits of news are of little consequence alongside the death of “Pop Star” Michael Jackson, at least as far as the MSM are concerned. It’s just Michael Jackson this and Michael Jackson that, and Michael Jackson all day long. The MSM hasn’t had a feeding frenzy like this since Anna Nicole what’s-her-face, and Michael Jackson dwarfs that by a hundredfold. I fear this is just the beginning, we are going to hear about Michael Jackson probably for the next several years. What I would like to know is if the American Public in general is as obsessed with Michael Jackson as the media is. Does anyone know? Has anyone taken a poll and asked people on the street if they are so overwhelmingly interested in every detail of Michael Jackson life? I’m sure there are many people who are interested in this news marathon, and would stand in line just for a chance to see Michael Jackson’s chauffeur or bodyguard or even his gloves. But is this true of most ordinary Americans? I confess (being of another generation entirely) that I have never seen Michael Jackson or even one of his albums. From the little bits I glimpse on TV I would never have attended one of his performances. I am, to put it bluntly, not interested in Michael Jackson, his life, death, will, mother, father, children, home life, or celebrity. Nor am I interested in how much he weighed, what drugs he ingested, what he ate for breakfast, or what kind of toothpaste he used. I am a TV watcher (albeit a somewhat limited one) and I do not want to see stuff about Michael Jackson 24/7 (or at all, for that matter). Of course if the media want to announce that he died and he will have a funeral, fine. Leave it at that. I am so disgusted with this coverage I refused to watch any news at all today. And if the first thing I see in the morning is more Michael Jackson I won’t watch it tomorrow either. This is sick. Our so-called news media is sick. America is sick. It’s no wonder we are going down the tube, so to speak. There. I’ve said it. I feel better. But I probably won’t feel better tomorrow.
I think another measure of our sickness can be seen in the Sara Palin case. Here we have a woman who was totally unqualified to be Vice-President (which is now being admitted even by some of those who chose her) who now is being touted as the next Republican candidate for President. The thought that Sara Palin could be President of the U.S. is just plain sick. Governor Sanford of South Carolina has now taken himself out of the possible running for President. Not because of his affair with his Argentinian friend, but because he hasn’t been able to keep his mouth shut and comes across as some kind of nut. He admits to having “crossed the line” with any number of women, but not including sex with them (except for the Argentinian), whatever that is supposed to mean. And he has announced he will try to fall back in love with his wife (I don’t know what she thinks about this but she has announced that his career is not a vital matter with her). Now how would we know if he has fallen back in love with her? It must be easier to fall in love with strangers than to stay in love with your wife. Related to that, I saw a bumper sticker this morning that read: “Married men don’t really live longer, it just seems that way.” My guess is that Mitt Romney will be the Republican candidate, if only by default, as far as we know he has never committed adultery. Some Mormons don’t commit adultery anyway, they just have “celestial marriages.” Of course if you don’t fancy Romney you can have that paragon of virtue, Newt Gingrich, or perhaps Giuliani again. I must say that at the moment the future looks pretty bleak for the Republicans, but, then, the Democrats may blow it once again, what with Obama’s hypocrisy approaching that of Bush/Cheney and his accelerating Vietnam experience in Afghanistan. Obama seems to throw down the gauntlet but then try to retrieve it before the Republicans can pick it up. His ridiculous quest for bipartisanship will probably sink his ship of state before he realizes that it’s a completely lost cause, given the current crop of Republican thugs.
LKBIQ:
The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter.
Sir Winston Churchill
TILT:
There is archaeological evidence that the Date Palm may have been cultivated as long as 6,000 years ago.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Obama's unbelievable hypocrisy
Welsh artist gets grant
to make plaster casts
of women’s bottoms.
The unbelievable hypocrisy of President Barack Obama is more than I can bear. He has come out with a statement that says the U.S. is committed to punishing torturers and helping the victims. And he has listed some countries believed to be offenders. He has vowed to uphold the International rules about torture and said that the U.S. will accept no excuses for torture, no exceptions. Except, of course, when it comes to the U.S. itself and the obvious case of Bush/Cheney torture policy. He continues to oppose a Truth Commission or an Independent Investigator and insist we must look only forward. Apparently his main reason for this is that he does not want to appear vindictive. Got that? He will not prosecute known war criminals because he does not want to appear vindictive. He apparently believes this is in the same universe as someone stealing his basketball or cheating at bridge. THESE ARE WAR CRIMES OF THE FIRST MAGNITUDE! Thousands of people have been killed, both Americans and Iraqis, millions displaced from their homes, who knows how many tortured and even murdered, human misery too immense to be grasped by the human mind, and he’s worried about being seen as vindictive? What kind of person is he? Actually, to claim he doesn’t want to be seen as vindictive is really just a cover story for what is the real reason, politics. To act against Bush/Cheney and their torture machine would be used by some to paint Obama as vindictive, conveniently ignoring the underlying reality of the torture. Torture is illegal and is supposed to be punished under the law. In some sense, in the very nature of law, prosecutions are always vindictive. Obama wants to jettison morality and justice in favor of politics, as he knows that to do what is right in this case will threaten to split the country. The neocons and Republicans will accuse him of being vindictive, of course, as they have abandoned morality and justice long ago in favor of power. Thus from a purely political view Obama is doing what he feels he needs to do, but he must know that what he is doing is just plain wrong in a moral and legal sense. Perhaps he can get away with letting this terrible moment in our history just fade away, and let the obviously guilty go unpunished, but if he does he certainly won’t ever get another vote from me. Of course I would never vote for a Republican, I just won’t vote, and I know there are others who feel much the same way.
I knew it would just be a matter of time before there would be a problem with knives. There is apparently some attempt to change the definition of switchblade knives that would potentially outlaw quite a large number of knives. There have been rules about switchblades which cover only knives that open with a button so they can be operated with one hand. The NRA (who else, of course) is arguing that changing the definition might even apply to Swiss Army Knives (although I don’t see how) and many other knives as well, which would, in their logic, seriously affect hunters. To me this is just another tempest in a (hot) teapot. If you have ever been in stores that specialize in hunting equipment, guns, and knives, you will know that there are usually dozens, sometimes even hundreds of knives of all kinds. Some of these knives are, in fact, hunting knives, useful for skinning and dressing game, and some are various versions of useful pocket knives. But there are also many, many knives that obviously have no purpose whatsoever other than as potential weapons, knives so huge as to be useless for any other purpose, and knives designed obviously for stabbing, ripping, frightening, and whatever. Occasionally you see knives with a handle of brass knuckles. Many of these knives, indeed, probably most of them, are not particularly sharp, are not of very good quality, and are mostly for show. Some of them are engraved and sometimes dedicated to someone like Kit Carson or Daniel Boone or whomever. I understand there are large numbers of people who collect these knives, just as there are people who collect swords. I am certain there is a large element of fantasy involved in the interest and ownership of knives, probably often a carryover from the wooden swords and knives that fascinate children. You do read about occasional stabbings but never with the same emotion as deaths from handguns. Knives do not seem to me to have been (or are) much of a problem. To single out switchblades from this mass of potentially lethal hardware strikes me as absurd. And banning knives in general would obviously be absurd. If banning switchblades makes anyone feel safer, fine, but in the overall context of the universe of knives and knife lovers it is simply rather fruitless, even petty. What would come next, forks?
LKBIQ:
Mishaps are like knives, that either serve us or cut us, as we grasp them by the blade or the handle.
James Russell Lowell
TILT:
The Appaloosa is the official horse of the state of Idaho.
to make plaster casts
of women’s bottoms.
The unbelievable hypocrisy of President Barack Obama is more than I can bear. He has come out with a statement that says the U.S. is committed to punishing torturers and helping the victims. And he has listed some countries believed to be offenders. He has vowed to uphold the International rules about torture and said that the U.S. will accept no excuses for torture, no exceptions. Except, of course, when it comes to the U.S. itself and the obvious case of Bush/Cheney torture policy. He continues to oppose a Truth Commission or an Independent Investigator and insist we must look only forward. Apparently his main reason for this is that he does not want to appear vindictive. Got that? He will not prosecute known war criminals because he does not want to appear vindictive. He apparently believes this is in the same universe as someone stealing his basketball or cheating at bridge. THESE ARE WAR CRIMES OF THE FIRST MAGNITUDE! Thousands of people have been killed, both Americans and Iraqis, millions displaced from their homes, who knows how many tortured and even murdered, human misery too immense to be grasped by the human mind, and he’s worried about being seen as vindictive? What kind of person is he? Actually, to claim he doesn’t want to be seen as vindictive is really just a cover story for what is the real reason, politics. To act against Bush/Cheney and their torture machine would be used by some to paint Obama as vindictive, conveniently ignoring the underlying reality of the torture. Torture is illegal and is supposed to be punished under the law. In some sense, in the very nature of law, prosecutions are always vindictive. Obama wants to jettison morality and justice in favor of politics, as he knows that to do what is right in this case will threaten to split the country. The neocons and Republicans will accuse him of being vindictive, of course, as they have abandoned morality and justice long ago in favor of power. Thus from a purely political view Obama is doing what he feels he needs to do, but he must know that what he is doing is just plain wrong in a moral and legal sense. Perhaps he can get away with letting this terrible moment in our history just fade away, and let the obviously guilty go unpunished, but if he does he certainly won’t ever get another vote from me. Of course I would never vote for a Republican, I just won’t vote, and I know there are others who feel much the same way.
I knew it would just be a matter of time before there would be a problem with knives. There is apparently some attempt to change the definition of switchblade knives that would potentially outlaw quite a large number of knives. There have been rules about switchblades which cover only knives that open with a button so they can be operated with one hand. The NRA (who else, of course) is arguing that changing the definition might even apply to Swiss Army Knives (although I don’t see how) and many other knives as well, which would, in their logic, seriously affect hunters. To me this is just another tempest in a (hot) teapot. If you have ever been in stores that specialize in hunting equipment, guns, and knives, you will know that there are usually dozens, sometimes even hundreds of knives of all kinds. Some of these knives are, in fact, hunting knives, useful for skinning and dressing game, and some are various versions of useful pocket knives. But there are also many, many knives that obviously have no purpose whatsoever other than as potential weapons, knives so huge as to be useless for any other purpose, and knives designed obviously for stabbing, ripping, frightening, and whatever. Occasionally you see knives with a handle of brass knuckles. Many of these knives, indeed, probably most of them, are not particularly sharp, are not of very good quality, and are mostly for show. Some of them are engraved and sometimes dedicated to someone like Kit Carson or Daniel Boone or whomever. I understand there are large numbers of people who collect these knives, just as there are people who collect swords. I am certain there is a large element of fantasy involved in the interest and ownership of knives, probably often a carryover from the wooden swords and knives that fascinate children. You do read about occasional stabbings but never with the same emotion as deaths from handguns. Knives do not seem to me to have been (or are) much of a problem. To single out switchblades from this mass of potentially lethal hardware strikes me as absurd. And banning knives in general would obviously be absurd. If banning switchblades makes anyone feel safer, fine, but in the overall context of the universe of knives and knife lovers it is simply rather fruitless, even petty. What would come next, forks?
LKBIQ:
Mishaps are like knives, that either serve us or cut us, as we grasp them by the blade or the handle.
James Russell Lowell
TILT:
The Appaloosa is the official horse of the state of Idaho.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Corelli's Mandolin - book
Corelli’s Mandolin, by Louis de Bernieres (Vintage International, 1994).
I rarely read novels anymore, but having time while trying to recover from a terrible bout of Strep Throat, I read this one. Having read it, I decided to comment on it, although it is now some fifteen years old and has been widely reviewed and praised. It has also been translated into more than fifteen languages and was also made into a motion picture.
If you read the comments from various sources, you will find the book has virtually everything: “Brims with all the grand topics of literature – love and death, heroism and skullduggery, humor and pathos, not to mention art and religion…” Then more: “de Bernieres dances nimbly from bawdy humor through parody, satire, chronicle, idyll, romantic comedy and epic chant.” Still more: “His work encompasses cruelty, humor, love and friendship, hope and horror…”
It seems virtually nothing is left out of this tour de force of a novel and it has received high praise indeed. It has within it everything mentioned above and more. It offers a most interesting look at the Italian occupation of Greece as well as some observations on Italian, Greek, and German military prowess and interaction. There is a humorous and rather insulting portrait of Mussolini as well as a not very flattering picture of the Italian army. It features some marvelous characters. On the one hand it is a novel of considerable complexity, but the basic story is simple, revolving around four main characters: An intelligent and philosophical “doctor,” his beautiful and somewhat willful daughter, her Greek fisherman fiancé, and Captain Corelli, the mandolin playing Italian army officer who falls in love with her (the eternal triangle). There are other well-created but somewhat less important characters as well: A huge homosexual man who has to hide his sexuality and love, a physically unattractive older woman, the mother of the fiancé, a small girl who challenges the doctor to do things he would not otherwise do.
I confess that I truly enjoyed this book and it lived up to the descriptions of it above. I must also confess that I found it rather “weird,” for want of a better word. I think the reason for this may lie in the fact that the book does contain so many different themes and so many different styles or forms. For example, in the first chapter, and in other places also, I began to wonder if it was a serious novel being written in the style of Max Schulman. On a couple of occasions I wondered if the author was sitting there with his worn Thesaurus by his side. There were moments when I thought the humor was perhaps out of place or inappropriate. Sometimes I thought the author was trying to do too much in a single novel. At times it appeared to me the author was employing humor to compensate for the more horrific and realistic scenes that were to follow. I found it truly strange that the two leading men both disappeared from the text for a long time. The fiancé fights for the Greeks although we hear very little of him for long periods of time. His rival, Captain Corelli, also disappeared for quite a long time. One rather expected there would ultimately be a confrontation between the two, but conveniently, a contrived ending manages to solve this problem. I guess you might say the book has a happy ending, but it depends upon your particular interpretation. I thought it was a strange ending, having the two men appear as they did, having been gone so long, and I actually began to wonder if the author had actually planned it that way or just remembered to retrieve the two men at the last minute.
None of this kept me from enjoying the story and I believe I actually learned something from it, especially about a theatre of operations I knew little about. I also thought that many of the doctor’s observations on life and love and death were quite profound. As de Bernieres was both young and English when he produced this complex tale, he could have had little actual experience with either the characters or the situations. I am fascinated with how he managed to write such a remarkable tale and cannot help but wonder how it came about. I have not seen the movie but I believe this might be a case where the movie is better than the book, mostly because the movie would not be able to cope with the complexity of the book and thus would be a more straightforward and purer tale. My son, a true movie aficionado, assures me this is the case.
I rarely read novels anymore, but having time while trying to recover from a terrible bout of Strep Throat, I read this one. Having read it, I decided to comment on it, although it is now some fifteen years old and has been widely reviewed and praised. It has also been translated into more than fifteen languages and was also made into a motion picture.
If you read the comments from various sources, you will find the book has virtually everything: “Brims with all the grand topics of literature – love and death, heroism and skullduggery, humor and pathos, not to mention art and religion…” Then more: “de Bernieres dances nimbly from bawdy humor through parody, satire, chronicle, idyll, romantic comedy and epic chant.” Still more: “His work encompasses cruelty, humor, love and friendship, hope and horror…”
It seems virtually nothing is left out of this tour de force of a novel and it has received high praise indeed. It has within it everything mentioned above and more. It offers a most interesting look at the Italian occupation of Greece as well as some observations on Italian, Greek, and German military prowess and interaction. There is a humorous and rather insulting portrait of Mussolini as well as a not very flattering picture of the Italian army. It features some marvelous characters. On the one hand it is a novel of considerable complexity, but the basic story is simple, revolving around four main characters: An intelligent and philosophical “doctor,” his beautiful and somewhat willful daughter, her Greek fisherman fiancé, and Captain Corelli, the mandolin playing Italian army officer who falls in love with her (the eternal triangle). There are other well-created but somewhat less important characters as well: A huge homosexual man who has to hide his sexuality and love, a physically unattractive older woman, the mother of the fiancé, a small girl who challenges the doctor to do things he would not otherwise do.
I confess that I truly enjoyed this book and it lived up to the descriptions of it above. I must also confess that I found it rather “weird,” for want of a better word. I think the reason for this may lie in the fact that the book does contain so many different themes and so many different styles or forms. For example, in the first chapter, and in other places also, I began to wonder if it was a serious novel being written in the style of Max Schulman. On a couple of occasions I wondered if the author was sitting there with his worn Thesaurus by his side. There were moments when I thought the humor was perhaps out of place or inappropriate. Sometimes I thought the author was trying to do too much in a single novel. At times it appeared to me the author was employing humor to compensate for the more horrific and realistic scenes that were to follow. I found it truly strange that the two leading men both disappeared from the text for a long time. The fiancé fights for the Greeks although we hear very little of him for long periods of time. His rival, Captain Corelli, also disappeared for quite a long time. One rather expected there would ultimately be a confrontation between the two, but conveniently, a contrived ending manages to solve this problem. I guess you might say the book has a happy ending, but it depends upon your particular interpretation. I thought it was a strange ending, having the two men appear as they did, having been gone so long, and I actually began to wonder if the author had actually planned it that way or just remembered to retrieve the two men at the last minute.
None of this kept me from enjoying the story and I believe I actually learned something from it, especially about a theatre of operations I knew little about. I also thought that many of the doctor’s observations on life and love and death were quite profound. As de Bernieres was both young and English when he produced this complex tale, he could have had little actual experience with either the characters or the situations. I am fascinated with how he managed to write such a remarkable tale and cannot help but wonder how it came about. I have not seen the movie but I believe this might be a case where the movie is better than the book, mostly because the movie would not be able to cope with the complexity of the book and thus would be a more straightforward and purer tale. My son, a true movie aficionado, assures me this is the case.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
What's in a name?
Running red light, improper
lane change, no seat belt, 100
pounds of marijuana in casket.
What’s in a name? This can be a problem. For example, my name is Lewis. I have never liked it. My entire name is even worse but that is not for here. No one else in my Elementary School or High School was named Lewis. They all had real names like Jim, Bob, Tom, Dick, Joe, Pete, and such. I always thought Lewis was a sissy name. But I’m not certain I just had a sissy name or if I was really a sissy. And, as I recall, the villain in the book Little Women, I believe was named Lewis. That bothered me for years. Now that Lewis Black is doing so well I feel a little better about things. But anyway, this is not just my problem. I know lots of people who do not like their names for one reason or another. I know a young man named Julian. He wants to be called Jack. He thinks that is more masculine. I also had a friend once named Harold. Harold, for reasons I do not understand, is actually funny. Elmer, too, is funny, as are Louie and Archibald. Anyway, Harold wanted desperately to have a nickname. He was a small Jewish lad from somewhere in the Midwest, St. Louis or Kansas City or someplace like that, and could probably be fairly described as a kind of milquetoast. He wanted to be nicknamed “Spike.” He was serious. Everyone he tried this out on became hysterical.
There are, of course, some names that have problems just built in to them. Dick, comes to mind. Dick, like Harold is just funny to begin with, but as a slang term for penis it becomes even funnier. John, too has come to have its own problem, like “I have to go to the John.” And guys like me, who want to go by Lew, run into the same problem, especially in England. Sometimes it is the context that renders someone’s name problematical. When I was in High School, for example, during WWII, we had a classmate named Adolf. Adolf was an unusual name in the U.S. even then, but in the context of the war, poor Adolf was absolutely miserable, and through no fault of his own. Similarly, we had a girl named Goldie Glasscock. Now having such a name in our rough little town was bad enough, but Goldie also had the misfortune of being blond, nice looking, really stacked, and looking older than her years. I doubt that a day went by that poor Goldie didn’t suffer from her name. Having struggled with Lewis all my life I have developed empathy for people with strange names and never make fun of them. Indeed, I often truly admire them, especially if they are names of longstanding, like Featherstone, Sidebottom, or Snodgrass, or even Hogg, Snipes, Marx, Pratt or Butts. I admire them even more if they have family names that are unusual or embarrassing but refuse to change them.
There are lots of foreign names that Americans regard as terribly funny. But to deal with them I believe is cheating. And it is possible, of course, to change your name if you wish. Many people do, especially people in show business. W. C. Fields I believe was born William Claude Dukinfield. Jack Benny was born Benjamin Kubelsky, John Wayne as Marion Robert Morrison, Cary Grant as Archibald Alec Leach, and Marilyn Monroe as Norma Jean Mortenson. Sometimes, especially in the early days of the 20th century, people sometimes changed their names so as to be not easily identified as Jewish. Sometimes people changed their names to make them fit better on a marquee. Sometimes the studios changed their names for them. I don’t know if it makes much sense, but it does seem to me that Norma Jean Mortenson or Benjamin Kubelsky would not have helped. Some people change their names for the simple reason they are too common, or because they don’t like the diminutives. Patricia might not like to be Pat. Joseph John might not like to become J.J., and Theodore might not like being called Teddy. Short of changing your name legally there is not much you can do about your name or nickname. And you don’t always get to pick your nickname, sometimes people just do it for you and you are stuck with it. “Kid Slick,” for example, or “Charlie the Hook,” or “Fat Albert,” or “Red Grange.”
There do seem to be names that are so ideally suited for their purposes as to be virtually magical. Could there possibly be a better name for a football quarterback than Joe Montana? How about Sugar Ray Robinson for a great boxing champion? These names just seem to fit somehow. Billie Jean King for a woman tennis champion? To me it just seems right. And there are nicknames that seem to fit also, think of Satchmo, Satchel, Tiger, Dizzy, Two-Ton Tony, Radar, Cher, Babe, The Little Tramp, Chico, Harpo, and Groucho, and many more.
Often someone changes their name to something so strange, obvious, or common you immediately recognize it as a change. If someone wants to change their name to “Uncle Sam,” for example, or even “Jesus Christ” you would recognize it for what it was. I recently came across the name “Crescent Dragonwagon” that I thought was unusually creative. There really is such a woman, a writer with many books to her credit. I think she is a musician as well. I have no idea what the background of this name change was but she has been successful with it. It wouldn’t do for me, it has too many letters, in general, I like shorter names. Even so, you have to admit it’s a pretty great name.
In rare cases someone has a name that fits them perfectly. Joe Montana I already mentioned, but others as well. I may be entirely wrong about this, but I believe I could pick out of a crowd someone with a name like Polly Pudlak, Bennie Groseclose, Uno Johnson, or Ivan Sebastian, even if they were not wearing their name tags. These strike me as the kinds of names that just have to fit.
I cannot tell you why, but I have envied the name Otis Birdsong since the day I first heard it. He was born Otis Birdsong, actually Otis Lee Birdsong, and as you may know was a great professional basketball player. There is a purity or something about the name that has always attracted me to it. I wish my name could have been Otis Birdsong instead of Lewis Langness, but, then, it probably wouldn’t have mattered much. Otis Birdsong has that ring to it, such a lovely name. I don’t believe a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
“He had a conservative mind but a liberal penis.”
Jon Stewart
TILT:
The octopus is the most highly intelligent invertebrate.
lane change, no seat belt, 100
pounds of marijuana in casket.
What’s in a name? This can be a problem. For example, my name is Lewis. I have never liked it. My entire name is even worse but that is not for here. No one else in my Elementary School or High School was named Lewis. They all had real names like Jim, Bob, Tom, Dick, Joe, Pete, and such. I always thought Lewis was a sissy name. But I’m not certain I just had a sissy name or if I was really a sissy. And, as I recall, the villain in the book Little Women, I believe was named Lewis. That bothered me for years. Now that Lewis Black is doing so well I feel a little better about things. But anyway, this is not just my problem. I know lots of people who do not like their names for one reason or another. I know a young man named Julian. He wants to be called Jack. He thinks that is more masculine. I also had a friend once named Harold. Harold, for reasons I do not understand, is actually funny. Elmer, too, is funny, as are Louie and Archibald. Anyway, Harold wanted desperately to have a nickname. He was a small Jewish lad from somewhere in the Midwest, St. Louis or Kansas City or someplace like that, and could probably be fairly described as a kind of milquetoast. He wanted to be nicknamed “Spike.” He was serious. Everyone he tried this out on became hysterical.
There are, of course, some names that have problems just built in to them. Dick, comes to mind. Dick, like Harold is just funny to begin with, but as a slang term for penis it becomes even funnier. John, too has come to have its own problem, like “I have to go to the John.” And guys like me, who want to go by Lew, run into the same problem, especially in England. Sometimes it is the context that renders someone’s name problematical. When I was in High School, for example, during WWII, we had a classmate named Adolf. Adolf was an unusual name in the U.S. even then, but in the context of the war, poor Adolf was absolutely miserable, and through no fault of his own. Similarly, we had a girl named Goldie Glasscock. Now having such a name in our rough little town was bad enough, but Goldie also had the misfortune of being blond, nice looking, really stacked, and looking older than her years. I doubt that a day went by that poor Goldie didn’t suffer from her name. Having struggled with Lewis all my life I have developed empathy for people with strange names and never make fun of them. Indeed, I often truly admire them, especially if they are names of longstanding, like Featherstone, Sidebottom, or Snodgrass, or even Hogg, Snipes, Marx, Pratt or Butts. I admire them even more if they have family names that are unusual or embarrassing but refuse to change them.
There are lots of foreign names that Americans regard as terribly funny. But to deal with them I believe is cheating. And it is possible, of course, to change your name if you wish. Many people do, especially people in show business. W. C. Fields I believe was born William Claude Dukinfield. Jack Benny was born Benjamin Kubelsky, John Wayne as Marion Robert Morrison, Cary Grant as Archibald Alec Leach, and Marilyn Monroe as Norma Jean Mortenson. Sometimes, especially in the early days of the 20th century, people sometimes changed their names so as to be not easily identified as Jewish. Sometimes people changed their names to make them fit better on a marquee. Sometimes the studios changed their names for them. I don’t know if it makes much sense, but it does seem to me that Norma Jean Mortenson or Benjamin Kubelsky would not have helped. Some people change their names for the simple reason they are too common, or because they don’t like the diminutives. Patricia might not like to be Pat. Joseph John might not like to become J.J., and Theodore might not like being called Teddy. Short of changing your name legally there is not much you can do about your name or nickname. And you don’t always get to pick your nickname, sometimes people just do it for you and you are stuck with it. “Kid Slick,” for example, or “Charlie the Hook,” or “Fat Albert,” or “Red Grange.”
There do seem to be names that are so ideally suited for their purposes as to be virtually magical. Could there possibly be a better name for a football quarterback than Joe Montana? How about Sugar Ray Robinson for a great boxing champion? These names just seem to fit somehow. Billie Jean King for a woman tennis champion? To me it just seems right. And there are nicknames that seem to fit also, think of Satchmo, Satchel, Tiger, Dizzy, Two-Ton Tony, Radar, Cher, Babe, The Little Tramp, Chico, Harpo, and Groucho, and many more.
Often someone changes their name to something so strange, obvious, or common you immediately recognize it as a change. If someone wants to change their name to “Uncle Sam,” for example, or even “Jesus Christ” you would recognize it for what it was. I recently came across the name “Crescent Dragonwagon” that I thought was unusually creative. There really is such a woman, a writer with many books to her credit. I think she is a musician as well. I have no idea what the background of this name change was but she has been successful with it. It wouldn’t do for me, it has too many letters, in general, I like shorter names. Even so, you have to admit it’s a pretty great name.
In rare cases someone has a name that fits them perfectly. Joe Montana I already mentioned, but others as well. I may be entirely wrong about this, but I believe I could pick out of a crowd someone with a name like Polly Pudlak, Bennie Groseclose, Uno Johnson, or Ivan Sebastian, even if they were not wearing their name tags. These strike me as the kinds of names that just have to fit.
I cannot tell you why, but I have envied the name Otis Birdsong since the day I first heard it. He was born Otis Birdsong, actually Otis Lee Birdsong, and as you may know was a great professional basketball player. There is a purity or something about the name that has always attracted me to it. I wish my name could have been Otis Birdsong instead of Lewis Langness, but, then, it probably wouldn’t have mattered much. Otis Birdsong has that ring to it, such a lovely name. I don’t believe a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
“He had a conservative mind but a liberal penis.”
Jon Stewart
TILT:
The octopus is the most highly intelligent invertebrate.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Obama and torture
Jealous rage and simple
misunderstanding result in
death of innocent woman.
Since 1997, June 26th has been set aside as a day to reflect on and help victims of torture. Leaders from around the globe usually make statements condemning torture. This certainly put Obama in an awkward situation. He had to make a statement condemning torture while at the same time doing absolutely nothing to hold our already confessed torturers accountable. I absolutely cannot understand Obama’s refusal to go along with a Truth Commission or Independent Investigator or whatever. Bush/Cheney have admitted to torture and even go around boasting about it and how effective it was. Both Obama and Holder have said waterboarding is torture. They know it happened. They know who authorized it. They know other forms of torture were also involved. And yet they do nothing about it. I find this not only impossible to understand but also infuriating. More importantly, as I understand it, their failure to take action on this is both illegal and unconstitutional, and in effect makes them also guilty. I might be able to understand Obama’s failure to end don’t ask, don’t tell, I might also forgive him for his opposition to gay marriage, his failure to act on gun control, and perhaps even his inaction towards ending the ridiculous war on drugs. But I will never forgive him if he fails to deal with the war criminals flaunting their crimes right in front of him, never. Furthermore, if he doesn’t take action against Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Rice/et al, I will never vote for him again even if he solves the economic crisis, gets universal health care, ends all the wars, and walks on water. What he is doing (or failing to do) is not only illegal and unconstitutional, it is immoral. Politics may trump morality for our current administration and Congress, but it doesn’t for me.
Of course we don’t have to concern ourselves with this, or much of anything else, because we’ll always have Michael Jackson (for no doubt a very long time), and also (at least for a while) Governor Sanford, who is now comparing himself to King David of biblical fame. Appealing to the bible seems to be one of the standard practices for these hypocrites when they get caught. I guess they think they deserve to be forgiven because they read (or have read) the bible at some time or other. This actually seems to work in some cases. I’ll be surprised if it works for Sanford.
Are there still fools who listen to that fat bucket of slop, Rush Limbaugh? I mean, really, he has become so far out and divorced from reality that I would think anyone would see it by now. His latest blathering pig pucky is that Obama caused Sanford to cheat on his wife in Argentina. How pathetic does someone have to become before being abandoned? And why does the media keep giving time to hopeless creeps like Coulter, Hannity, Beck, and Gingrich?
I suspect that Rachel Maddow’s absence from her show last night and tonight was purely serendipitous, but I would like to think that she simply refused to go along with the Michael Jackson marathon. My TV viewing for some time now has been Olberman/Maddow and Stewart/Colbert, but I think it is about to become just Maddow and Colbert. Maybe I can eventually give it up entirely. Oh, happy day!
LKBIQ:
I seek an
innocent country.
Giuseppe Ungaretti
TILT:
The adults of cutworms are night flying moths that do no damage.
misunderstanding result in
death of innocent woman.
Since 1997, June 26th has been set aside as a day to reflect on and help victims of torture. Leaders from around the globe usually make statements condemning torture. This certainly put Obama in an awkward situation. He had to make a statement condemning torture while at the same time doing absolutely nothing to hold our already confessed torturers accountable. I absolutely cannot understand Obama’s refusal to go along with a Truth Commission or Independent Investigator or whatever. Bush/Cheney have admitted to torture and even go around boasting about it and how effective it was. Both Obama and Holder have said waterboarding is torture. They know it happened. They know who authorized it. They know other forms of torture were also involved. And yet they do nothing about it. I find this not only impossible to understand but also infuriating. More importantly, as I understand it, their failure to take action on this is both illegal and unconstitutional, and in effect makes them also guilty. I might be able to understand Obama’s failure to end don’t ask, don’t tell, I might also forgive him for his opposition to gay marriage, his failure to act on gun control, and perhaps even his inaction towards ending the ridiculous war on drugs. But I will never forgive him if he fails to deal with the war criminals flaunting their crimes right in front of him, never. Furthermore, if he doesn’t take action against Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Rice/et al, I will never vote for him again even if he solves the economic crisis, gets universal health care, ends all the wars, and walks on water. What he is doing (or failing to do) is not only illegal and unconstitutional, it is immoral. Politics may trump morality for our current administration and Congress, but it doesn’t for me.
Of course we don’t have to concern ourselves with this, or much of anything else, because we’ll always have Michael Jackson (for no doubt a very long time), and also (at least for a while) Governor Sanford, who is now comparing himself to King David of biblical fame. Appealing to the bible seems to be one of the standard practices for these hypocrites when they get caught. I guess they think they deserve to be forgiven because they read (or have read) the bible at some time or other. This actually seems to work in some cases. I’ll be surprised if it works for Sanford.
Are there still fools who listen to that fat bucket of slop, Rush Limbaugh? I mean, really, he has become so far out and divorced from reality that I would think anyone would see it by now. His latest blathering pig pucky is that Obama caused Sanford to cheat on his wife in Argentina. How pathetic does someone have to become before being abandoned? And why does the media keep giving time to hopeless creeps like Coulter, Hannity, Beck, and Gingrich?
I suspect that Rachel Maddow’s absence from her show last night and tonight was purely serendipitous, but I would like to think that she simply refused to go along with the Michael Jackson marathon. My TV viewing for some time now has been Olberman/Maddow and Stewart/Colbert, but I think it is about to become just Maddow and Colbert. Maybe I can eventually give it up entirely. Oh, happy day!
LKBIQ:
I seek an
innocent country.
Giuseppe Ungaretti
TILT:
The adults of cutworms are night flying moths that do no damage.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
News?
Man in miniskirt, fishnet stockings
and heels, arrested for hiding and
watching porn in weight room.
We have a real problem with “news.” First of all, definitions of news are not helpful. You find definitions like “material that is newsworthy,” or “announcements of recent events,” or “what appears in a newspaper,” and so on. Thus it appears that anything and everything can be news, and is. It is not clear to me who decides on what is news. Do reporters decide on their own what is news? Probably in some cases, but in others, like on TV, there is probably an editor who oversees things and decides what is news. It appears to me there are no ground rules for news, or for how important any particular piece of news is, or for how long it stays news, or whether something is considered news at all. More often than not it seems to me news is determined by whatever someone thinks the public will want to hear about, and for how long. I find this whole business about news to be completely unsatisfactory. Today is a great case in point. If you are deaf, dumb, and blind, and live somewhere in the remote wilds of British Columbia under a rock, a hundred or more miles from the nearest burg, have no radio, TV, or telephone, you might not have heard that Michael Jackson died. Michael Jackson, you know, the used-to-be and recently wanna-be-again “pop star.”
I mean no disrespect to the now deceased, but I must question why his unexpected death is of such overwhelming importance that it displaced all other news for hours on end. Even Keith Olberman, who I like to think is a more conscientious newscaster than most, spent his entire hour on this topic, and then went on into Rachel Maddow’s hour as well. He repeated I don’t know how many times that Michael Jackson died at precisely 2:26 p.m. We also heard over and over again that he was not quite 51 years of age. Then there was a kind of review of his life, pictures of him as a boy, and on and on. Now here is where I think there should be some ground rules for the News. Olberman (and others) should simply have reported that Michael Jackson died unexpectedly of a massive heart failure at 2:26 p.m. If you are interested in any further details there will no doubt be retrospectives from now until doomsday. In the meanwhile in Iran today…Benjamin Netanhayu said…Things are not going well in Afghanistan…and so on. I simply do not believe that the death of Michael Jackson (God bless him) is so important it should dwarf all other news. And if people are really that interested in the details they should be able to find them later (and believe me, they will be able to). They should have said the same thing about the death of Farrah Fawcett – she died today of cancer. She was 62. All the details will be forthcoming shortly. In the meanwhile…
The MSM seems to be determined to force news on us that we don’t require and in many cases probably don’t even want. Why for example, should they start covering a car chase when they say they don’t know who is driving, why they are chasing him or her, what it is all about, and so on. Why can’t they say (if they must), there is a car chase. When we find out something about it we’ll tell you about it. In the meanwhile…Ditto for train wrecks, hostage situations, and what have you. Just say there is one, we don’t know anything about it yet, when we do we’ll let you know. In the meanwhile…They simply refuse to do this, they just begin speculating about everything which then later turns out to have been completely false. The Columbine case is a classic in this respect. It is not that there is no news of importance elsewhere, it’s because the Newspapers and Networks don’t want to spend the money to actually cover the news when it’s so much cheaper to just focus on nonsense that will keep the public entertained. The net effect of this is, we just don’t really have any news anymore. What becomes news is what is in the paper or on the TV, not what is actually happening around the world. We are not better off for this, and it is almost surely the case that the average American knows far less about current events than most Europeans and Iranians. The motto for American newspeople seems to be “keep ‘em empty-headed and fat.”
LKBIQ:
Editor: a person employed by a newspaper, whose business it is to separate the wheat from the chaff, and to see that the chaff is printed.
Elbert Hubbard
TILT:
Goldfish were kept as ornamental fish in China for hundreds of years prior to the 15th century.
and heels, arrested for hiding and
watching porn in weight room.
We have a real problem with “news.” First of all, definitions of news are not helpful. You find definitions like “material that is newsworthy,” or “announcements of recent events,” or “what appears in a newspaper,” and so on. Thus it appears that anything and everything can be news, and is. It is not clear to me who decides on what is news. Do reporters decide on their own what is news? Probably in some cases, but in others, like on TV, there is probably an editor who oversees things and decides what is news. It appears to me there are no ground rules for news, or for how important any particular piece of news is, or for how long it stays news, or whether something is considered news at all. More often than not it seems to me news is determined by whatever someone thinks the public will want to hear about, and for how long. I find this whole business about news to be completely unsatisfactory. Today is a great case in point. If you are deaf, dumb, and blind, and live somewhere in the remote wilds of British Columbia under a rock, a hundred or more miles from the nearest burg, have no radio, TV, or telephone, you might not have heard that Michael Jackson died. Michael Jackson, you know, the used-to-be and recently wanna-be-again “pop star.”
I mean no disrespect to the now deceased, but I must question why his unexpected death is of such overwhelming importance that it displaced all other news for hours on end. Even Keith Olberman, who I like to think is a more conscientious newscaster than most, spent his entire hour on this topic, and then went on into Rachel Maddow’s hour as well. He repeated I don’t know how many times that Michael Jackson died at precisely 2:26 p.m. We also heard over and over again that he was not quite 51 years of age. Then there was a kind of review of his life, pictures of him as a boy, and on and on. Now here is where I think there should be some ground rules for the News. Olberman (and others) should simply have reported that Michael Jackson died unexpectedly of a massive heart failure at 2:26 p.m. If you are interested in any further details there will no doubt be retrospectives from now until doomsday. In the meanwhile in Iran today…Benjamin Netanhayu said…Things are not going well in Afghanistan…and so on. I simply do not believe that the death of Michael Jackson (God bless him) is so important it should dwarf all other news. And if people are really that interested in the details they should be able to find them later (and believe me, they will be able to). They should have said the same thing about the death of Farrah Fawcett – she died today of cancer. She was 62. All the details will be forthcoming shortly. In the meanwhile…
The MSM seems to be determined to force news on us that we don’t require and in many cases probably don’t even want. Why for example, should they start covering a car chase when they say they don’t know who is driving, why they are chasing him or her, what it is all about, and so on. Why can’t they say (if they must), there is a car chase. When we find out something about it we’ll tell you about it. In the meanwhile…Ditto for train wrecks, hostage situations, and what have you. Just say there is one, we don’t know anything about it yet, when we do we’ll let you know. In the meanwhile…They simply refuse to do this, they just begin speculating about everything which then later turns out to have been completely false. The Columbine case is a classic in this respect. It is not that there is no news of importance elsewhere, it’s because the Newspapers and Networks don’t want to spend the money to actually cover the news when it’s so much cheaper to just focus on nonsense that will keep the public entertained. The net effect of this is, we just don’t really have any news anymore. What becomes news is what is in the paper or on the TV, not what is actually happening around the world. We are not better off for this, and it is almost surely the case that the average American knows far less about current events than most Europeans and Iranians. The motto for American newspeople seems to be “keep ‘em empty-headed and fat.”
LKBIQ:
Editor: a person employed by a newspaper, whose business it is to separate the wheat from the chaff, and to see that the chaff is printed.
Elbert Hubbard
TILT:
Goldfish were kept as ornamental fish in China for hundreds of years prior to the 15th century.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Family values
French policeman cuts off
wife’s lover’s penis with box
cutter, then hangs himself.
Another holier-than-thou family values Republican hypocrite confesses to an affair. Mark Sanford, Governor of South Carolina, mysteriously missing for six days, reportedly hiking on the Appalachian Trail, finally surfaced and, to what seemed like a surprise to everyone, confessed to infidelity in Argentina. He resigned as the leader of the Republican Governors’Association but has not yet resigned as Governor (and most probably won’t). Republicans, of course, ignoring the hypocrisy involved in their family values shtick, began praising him for “standing up like a man and admitting it,” and so on. Personally, I don’t care if our Congresspersons have affairs, or even mistresses, as so many European politicians do. Indeed, I would be surprised if most of them (on both sides of the aisle) aren’t either closet homosexuals or are presently having affairs. What does truly irritate me is the Republicans constant claim to be the party of “family values,” (think Larry Craig, Bob Allen, Ted Haggard and Mark Foley), and their treatment of others like Bill Clinton for the same behavior they themselves indulge in (think Gingrich, Livingston, Edwards, Ensign, Vitter, now Sanford, and many, many more). I doubt that Sanford will resign as Governor. Actually, I don’t think he should. He’s probably a lousy Governor but the fact that he had an affair doesn’t necessarily mean he can’t continue to govern. Of course when the whole truth comes out, it could be the case that he inappropriately used taxpayer or Republican Party money for his dalliances, as apparently did Ensign, but that is a somewhat different matter. It’s the hypocrisy, stupid!
I absolutely disapprove of making Sanford’s love emails public. I think it is entirely unfair that his private communications are being read to a national TV audience. His or her expressions of love should not be the subject of ridicule anymore than anyone else’s. Apparently at least one newspaper had them for months but chose not to release them until just now. It seems to me it’s like kicking someone when they are already down. What is the point of releasing them other than to just deliberately and sadistically humiliate someone. It’s enough that Sanford admitted to an adulterous affair, no doubt being warned that the emails might be released, we don’t need all the gratuitous and intimate details. On the other hand, I guess it could be argued that the Republicans brought it on themselves with their unprecedented attack on Bill Clinton and the unbelievably shabby Starr report with its unnecessary and sleazy detail. What goes around, comes around? Clinton may have been a womanizer but he wasn’t a hypocrite, which is much more than one can say of Republicans. I must say I have lost some respect for Olberman and Maddow who both seemed to delight in revealing the gratuitous details of a private affair of the heart. Just because they committed adultery doesn’t mean they did not have genuine feelings for each other, as was obviously not the case for Vitter or others simply employing prostitutes for their pleasure.
Dick the Slimy finally landed a book deal, two million dollars worth. It’s going to be a real hum-dinger because the editor-in-chief is none other than Mary Matalan who used to be Cheney’s aide. Between the two of them they will be able to create the largest web of lies ever assembled in a single book, with apparently no one else with editorial authority over them. I am not ordinarily in favor of book banning (or burning) but I think this one should be boycotted by everyone, unless, of course, you cannot resist fiction that goes even beyond even ordinary fiction.
LKBIQ:
Hypocrisy can afford to be magnificent in its promises; for never intending to go beyond promises; it costs nothing.
Edmund Burke
TILT:
Field mice are intelligent and, given time, will develop a strategy before doing something.
wife’s lover’s penis with box
cutter, then hangs himself.
Another holier-than-thou family values Republican hypocrite confesses to an affair. Mark Sanford, Governor of South Carolina, mysteriously missing for six days, reportedly hiking on the Appalachian Trail, finally surfaced and, to what seemed like a surprise to everyone, confessed to infidelity in Argentina. He resigned as the leader of the Republican Governors’Association but has not yet resigned as Governor (and most probably won’t). Republicans, of course, ignoring the hypocrisy involved in their family values shtick, began praising him for “standing up like a man and admitting it,” and so on. Personally, I don’t care if our Congresspersons have affairs, or even mistresses, as so many European politicians do. Indeed, I would be surprised if most of them (on both sides of the aisle) aren’t either closet homosexuals or are presently having affairs. What does truly irritate me is the Republicans constant claim to be the party of “family values,” (think Larry Craig, Bob Allen, Ted Haggard and Mark Foley), and their treatment of others like Bill Clinton for the same behavior they themselves indulge in (think Gingrich, Livingston, Edwards, Ensign, Vitter, now Sanford, and many, many more). I doubt that Sanford will resign as Governor. Actually, I don’t think he should. He’s probably a lousy Governor but the fact that he had an affair doesn’t necessarily mean he can’t continue to govern. Of course when the whole truth comes out, it could be the case that he inappropriately used taxpayer or Republican Party money for his dalliances, as apparently did Ensign, but that is a somewhat different matter. It’s the hypocrisy, stupid!
I absolutely disapprove of making Sanford’s love emails public. I think it is entirely unfair that his private communications are being read to a national TV audience. His or her expressions of love should not be the subject of ridicule anymore than anyone else’s. Apparently at least one newspaper had them for months but chose not to release them until just now. It seems to me it’s like kicking someone when they are already down. What is the point of releasing them other than to just deliberately and sadistically humiliate someone. It’s enough that Sanford admitted to an adulterous affair, no doubt being warned that the emails might be released, we don’t need all the gratuitous and intimate details. On the other hand, I guess it could be argued that the Republicans brought it on themselves with their unprecedented attack on Bill Clinton and the unbelievably shabby Starr report with its unnecessary and sleazy detail. What goes around, comes around? Clinton may have been a womanizer but he wasn’t a hypocrite, which is much more than one can say of Republicans. I must say I have lost some respect for Olberman and Maddow who both seemed to delight in revealing the gratuitous details of a private affair of the heart. Just because they committed adultery doesn’t mean they did not have genuine feelings for each other, as was obviously not the case for Vitter or others simply employing prostitutes for their pleasure.
Dick the Slimy finally landed a book deal, two million dollars worth. It’s going to be a real hum-dinger because the editor-in-chief is none other than Mary Matalan who used to be Cheney’s aide. Between the two of them they will be able to create the largest web of lies ever assembled in a single book, with apparently no one else with editorial authority over them. I am not ordinarily in favor of book banning (or burning) but I think this one should be boycotted by everyone, unless, of course, you cannot resist fiction that goes even beyond even ordinary fiction.
LKBIQ:
Hypocrisy can afford to be magnificent in its promises; for never intending to go beyond promises; it costs nothing.
Edmund Burke
TILT:
Field mice are intelligent and, given time, will develop a strategy before doing something.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
How hard is it...
Police search for naked man
who ran between server and
car to steal fast-food order.
How hard can things be? I don’t know enough about our government and laws to know offhand just what a President can do and what he can’t do, or how easy some things can be done. What I do know is there are lots of people who want President Obama to do certain things, preferably now. For example, there is this Air Force pilot with eighteen years in the service, nine awards, including one for bravery in combat, and who has flown 88 combat missions. He is being kicked out of the service because he announced that he was gay. None of his squadron members want him out, nor, it seems, do most other servicepersons. His fate at the moment is up in the air. Now it seems to me that Obama ought to be able to at least suspend “don’t ask, don’t tell,” until Congress can do away with it, thus sparing this hero from being discharged (two years before he could retire, among other things). Although Obama previously claimed he would actively support gays and lesbians, so far he has done very little along those lines. I believe that a majority of Americans would be in favor of doing away with this gay bashing in the military, and while some might be angry if Obama took action, most probably would not. And you know you can’t please everyone. This would probably even apply if Obama were to actively seek to legalize gay marriages. Of course in this case Obama is not himself in favor of gay marriage, but everyone knows it is just a question of time. He could certainly move it along without damaging himself too much.
Similarly, what about the glaring and ridiculous loophole that allows people to buy guns with no background check at gun shows? Obama could probably eliminate this, perhaps even with a stroke of the pen, or could at least insist that Congress fix this obvious problem now. Granted this would irritate the NRA no end, but their position on this is so glaringly absurd I cannot see how it could cost Obama much in the way of popularity, the NRA can’t stand him anyway. He could probably reinstate the ban on fully automatic guns as well, as the NRA position here is as absurd as their insistence that people should have loaded guns in the National Parks and even in church.
How about legalizing marijuana? There is more and more talk of this now, especially in California where they can no longer afford to fill their prisons with pot smokers. And Barney Frank is working on the legalization of the weed as well. I suspect that here again the American public is way ahead of our Congress on this issue and Obama could probably get away with legalizing it. In fact, he might even gain in popularity by doing so. I don’t know precisely what he can do, but I know that he could do something to bring this about more quickly than it will otherwise happen.
I realize that Obama has an overfull plate already, but the above three things I should think would be so easy to do he could probably accomplish them with a minimum of effort. Obviously Universal Health Care, an Energy Bill, the Economy, two “wars,” Immigration reform, and war criminals are not things he could personally affect as easily, or quickly, and there would be more profound repercussions. I am content to know that he is working on these more important issues (except the war crimes), and in general I support these efforts, but I hate to see much more simpler things have to wait, especially as people continue to be hurt by them in the meantime.
I saw somewhere that the Uyghars were questioning the decision to send them to Palau. This makes me wonder if anyone even asked them if they wanted to go there, probably not. I wonder about the three that were sent to Bermuda. Were they asked? Somewhere I heard it said that they were each given $100,000. I wonder if that is true. And if it is, is there some rule that says they have to stay in Bermuda? With that much money (even less than that) they could easily leave Bermuda and go elsewhere (except, do they have passports?). I’d like to know a lot more about how these relocations work. What do we say to these people whom we have so seriously damaged? "Well, we finally found someplace that has agreed to take you. It’s in the heart of the Belgian Congo but you’ll love it there, especially in the summer." Remember, these are only a few people, think of the millions that were displaced from their homes in Iraq (I suppose you could argue they are lucky to be alive). When I think of the horrible things brought on by Bush/Cheney, all of the killings, tortures, displacements, and so on, I confess I cannot understand why they are not being tried for war crimes. The thought they will not be held accountable troubles me far more than being conned by the banks or losing my IRA. If I were a praying man I would pray every night for justice. Bush/Cheney et al, belong in jail, not blathering on TV.
LKBIQ:
"I don't know why we are here, but I'm pretty sure that it is not in order to enjoy ourselves."
- Ludwig Wittgenstein
TILT:
A group of badgers is called a cete.
who ran between server and
car to steal fast-food order.
How hard can things be? I don’t know enough about our government and laws to know offhand just what a President can do and what he can’t do, or how easy some things can be done. What I do know is there are lots of people who want President Obama to do certain things, preferably now. For example, there is this Air Force pilot with eighteen years in the service, nine awards, including one for bravery in combat, and who has flown 88 combat missions. He is being kicked out of the service because he announced that he was gay. None of his squadron members want him out, nor, it seems, do most other servicepersons. His fate at the moment is up in the air. Now it seems to me that Obama ought to be able to at least suspend “don’t ask, don’t tell,” until Congress can do away with it, thus sparing this hero from being discharged (two years before he could retire, among other things). Although Obama previously claimed he would actively support gays and lesbians, so far he has done very little along those lines. I believe that a majority of Americans would be in favor of doing away with this gay bashing in the military, and while some might be angry if Obama took action, most probably would not. And you know you can’t please everyone. This would probably even apply if Obama were to actively seek to legalize gay marriages. Of course in this case Obama is not himself in favor of gay marriage, but everyone knows it is just a question of time. He could certainly move it along without damaging himself too much.
Similarly, what about the glaring and ridiculous loophole that allows people to buy guns with no background check at gun shows? Obama could probably eliminate this, perhaps even with a stroke of the pen, or could at least insist that Congress fix this obvious problem now. Granted this would irritate the NRA no end, but their position on this is so glaringly absurd I cannot see how it could cost Obama much in the way of popularity, the NRA can’t stand him anyway. He could probably reinstate the ban on fully automatic guns as well, as the NRA position here is as absurd as their insistence that people should have loaded guns in the National Parks and even in church.
How about legalizing marijuana? There is more and more talk of this now, especially in California where they can no longer afford to fill their prisons with pot smokers. And Barney Frank is working on the legalization of the weed as well. I suspect that here again the American public is way ahead of our Congress on this issue and Obama could probably get away with legalizing it. In fact, he might even gain in popularity by doing so. I don’t know precisely what he can do, but I know that he could do something to bring this about more quickly than it will otherwise happen.
I realize that Obama has an overfull plate already, but the above three things I should think would be so easy to do he could probably accomplish them with a minimum of effort. Obviously Universal Health Care, an Energy Bill, the Economy, two “wars,” Immigration reform, and war criminals are not things he could personally affect as easily, or quickly, and there would be more profound repercussions. I am content to know that he is working on these more important issues (except the war crimes), and in general I support these efforts, but I hate to see much more simpler things have to wait, especially as people continue to be hurt by them in the meantime.
I saw somewhere that the Uyghars were questioning the decision to send them to Palau. This makes me wonder if anyone even asked them if they wanted to go there, probably not. I wonder about the three that were sent to Bermuda. Were they asked? Somewhere I heard it said that they were each given $100,000. I wonder if that is true. And if it is, is there some rule that says they have to stay in Bermuda? With that much money (even less than that) they could easily leave Bermuda and go elsewhere (except, do they have passports?). I’d like to know a lot more about how these relocations work. What do we say to these people whom we have so seriously damaged? "Well, we finally found someplace that has agreed to take you. It’s in the heart of the Belgian Congo but you’ll love it there, especially in the summer." Remember, these are only a few people, think of the millions that were displaced from their homes in Iraq (I suppose you could argue they are lucky to be alive). When I think of the horrible things brought on by Bush/Cheney, all of the killings, tortures, displacements, and so on, I confess I cannot understand why they are not being tried for war crimes. The thought they will not be held accountable troubles me far more than being conned by the banks or losing my IRA. If I were a praying man I would pray every night for justice. Bush/Cheney et al, belong in jail, not blathering on TV.
LKBIQ:
"I don't know why we are here, but I'm pretty sure that it is not in order to enjoy ourselves."
- Ludwig Wittgenstein
TILT:
A group of badgers is called a cete.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Sic 'em, Barack
Man breaks into restaurant,
feasts on lobster and wine,
is arrested asleep on bench.
Could there ever be a concerted attack on a President more blatantly political and utterly useless than the current criticism of Obama by right-wing Republicans? Lindsey Graham, John McCain and others keep insisting that Obama is not doing enough about the Iranian situation. Graham says he’s “weak,” and his close buddy, McCain, says he needs to be stronger, and so on. It is not at all clear what it is that Obama could do that he has not already done, short of sending in the American military, or perhaps personally strangling the Ayatolla or something even more drastic. Virtually everyone of sound mind, including many important Republicans, have come out in support of Obama and believe he has handled the situation in the best way possible. It is perfectly obvious there is nothing he can do other than what he has done. But that doesn’t keep McCain and the neocons from constantly carping at him to do more. They seem to be saying “sic ‘em, Barack,” hoping to provoke as much trouble as possible. Obama, much to his credit, has so far just ignored these mindless loonies. As there is apparently considerable evidence that in spite of some irregularies, Ahmadenijad did, in fact, win the election, this is all the more reason for Obama to proceed cautiously. It appears the Republican noise is just another manifestation of the Republican strategy to never cooperate and to consistently try to destroy the Obama administration. So, so much for the national or public good, it’s all about the Republicans and what’s good for them. The neocons and some of the others simply cannot come to grips with the fact that they lost.
Speaking of such things, whatever happened to the idea of the public good or public well-being? It seems this is a concept totally foreign to today’s Congresspersons. It appears that the Senate, for example, is going to try to destroy any attempt to create a public program for health care that would in any way compete with private health insurance. They are doing this in spite of the fact that fully three quarters of the American public want the public plan, and some 57% even say they would be willing to pay more in taxes to have it. Our Senators, however, bought and paid for by the Insurance and Pharmaceutical corporations, could care less what the American public wants, they’ve got theirs, so screw everyone else. It’s the American way.
Republican compassionate conservatism just breaks out all over the place. Cynthia Davis, some kind of office holder in Missouri, has now suggested that no free meals should be provided during the summer for poor children. This, among other things, she says interferes with family integration (I guess because the kids eat while the parents go hungry), and besides, hunger acts as a motivator (so they can all go out and get jobs at McDonald’s where they will be fed). I guess she aspires to be the Michelle Bachman of Missouri. I bet hunger motivates a whole lot more than just getting a job at McDonald’s.
I have just witnessed what I believe may be the ultimate in capitalistic bad taste. There is an ad on TV now for Chia Obama, you know those little clay figures that get advertised every Christmas that you put the seeds on and they grow hair or fur or whatever. The Chia Obama is a sort of likeness of Obama (not a very good one), and when you put on the seeds it will grow an Afro of sorts. If I remember right, even WalMart has refused to sell this revolting example of profit at any cost. It is not only revolting, it is also insulting, but again, it’s the American way, anything to make a buck.
LKBIQ:
“Anyone, and especially a daughter, who could appear so virginal and sweet was quite obviously involved in mischiefs and misdemeanors.”
Louis De Bernieres
TILT:
Certain species of weasel are said to perform a mesmerizing “weasel war dance” after fighting or stealing food.
feasts on lobster and wine,
is arrested asleep on bench.
Could there ever be a concerted attack on a President more blatantly political and utterly useless than the current criticism of Obama by right-wing Republicans? Lindsey Graham, John McCain and others keep insisting that Obama is not doing enough about the Iranian situation. Graham says he’s “weak,” and his close buddy, McCain, says he needs to be stronger, and so on. It is not at all clear what it is that Obama could do that he has not already done, short of sending in the American military, or perhaps personally strangling the Ayatolla or something even more drastic. Virtually everyone of sound mind, including many important Republicans, have come out in support of Obama and believe he has handled the situation in the best way possible. It is perfectly obvious there is nothing he can do other than what he has done. But that doesn’t keep McCain and the neocons from constantly carping at him to do more. They seem to be saying “sic ‘em, Barack,” hoping to provoke as much trouble as possible. Obama, much to his credit, has so far just ignored these mindless loonies. As there is apparently considerable evidence that in spite of some irregularies, Ahmadenijad did, in fact, win the election, this is all the more reason for Obama to proceed cautiously. It appears the Republican noise is just another manifestation of the Republican strategy to never cooperate and to consistently try to destroy the Obama administration. So, so much for the national or public good, it’s all about the Republicans and what’s good for them. The neocons and some of the others simply cannot come to grips with the fact that they lost.
Speaking of such things, whatever happened to the idea of the public good or public well-being? It seems this is a concept totally foreign to today’s Congresspersons. It appears that the Senate, for example, is going to try to destroy any attempt to create a public program for health care that would in any way compete with private health insurance. They are doing this in spite of the fact that fully three quarters of the American public want the public plan, and some 57% even say they would be willing to pay more in taxes to have it. Our Senators, however, bought and paid for by the Insurance and Pharmaceutical corporations, could care less what the American public wants, they’ve got theirs, so screw everyone else. It’s the American way.
Republican compassionate conservatism just breaks out all over the place. Cynthia Davis, some kind of office holder in Missouri, has now suggested that no free meals should be provided during the summer for poor children. This, among other things, she says interferes with family integration (I guess because the kids eat while the parents go hungry), and besides, hunger acts as a motivator (so they can all go out and get jobs at McDonald’s where they will be fed). I guess she aspires to be the Michelle Bachman of Missouri. I bet hunger motivates a whole lot more than just getting a job at McDonald’s.
I have just witnessed what I believe may be the ultimate in capitalistic bad taste. There is an ad on TV now for Chia Obama, you know those little clay figures that get advertised every Christmas that you put the seeds on and they grow hair or fur or whatever. The Chia Obama is a sort of likeness of Obama (not a very good one), and when you put on the seeds it will grow an Afro of sorts. If I remember right, even WalMart has refused to sell this revolting example of profit at any cost. It is not only revolting, it is also insulting, but again, it’s the American way, anything to make a buck.
LKBIQ:
“Anyone, and especially a daughter, who could appear so virginal and sweet was quite obviously involved in mischiefs and misdemeanors.”
Louis De Bernieres
TILT:
Certain species of weasel are said to perform a mesmerizing “weasel war dance” after fighting or stealing food.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Obama's next move?
Oklahoma man gets five years
for videotaping woman having
sex with dogs. She goes free.
Apparently our major media, along with our congress, and I assume probably the majority of Americans, simply cannot understand what it means to mind your own business. For example, a news program opened yesterday with the question, “What will Obama’s next move be?” I found this fascinating as it was my understanding that Obama was doing what he could to not make any moves at all. Indeed, he was receiving unrelenting criticism from Republicans (and others) for not making any moves. Perhaps he was making moves behind the scenes that I don’t know about, but I have to believe he was honestly trying to mind his own business. Congress voted something like 405 to 1 to support the Iranian opposition, even though we had very little information about what was actually going on there. Ron Paul, the only dissenting vote, pointed this out but, of course, no one pays any attention to common sense or Ron Paul. Obama seems to realize the importance of at least pretending to butt out of an internal Iranian problem, and has said that it should be left to Iranians to decide on their leaders. Remember, our CIA removed a democratically elected leader in Iran and installed the Shah, a move that proved to be disastrous and still has serious repercussions for our relations with Iran. But I guess McCain and others never learn and keep insisting it is somehow up to us to decide what other governments should do. This is just another example of “American Exceptionalism,” “White Man’s Burden,” “The Lone Superpower,” “We have to spread democracy around the world,” and the belief that we should be the world’s police force. As long as we continue to believe this we are not likely to be very successful at Foreign Policy. This is really just a more recent version of imposing Christianity through force as all Western-European nations routinely did, or attempted to do, for so many years. I believe that Obama has handled this Iranian crisis in the best way possible, but it is apparently inconceivable to most others that he should have done so. This is America after all, the best and greatest country on earth (with the 37th best Health Care, after Morocco, a lousy educational system, a terrible economic system based upon naked greed and runaway capitalism, and etc.).
There is talk now in certain places about privatizing water. What will the loonies think of next, privatizing air? What will it take to make people realize that there are certain things that are far too important to be privatized. Water is certainly one of them. Those that promote this use the standard arguments that government is too inefficient, the private sector would do it better, competition would result in a cheaper product, and blah, blah, blah. Any people stupid enough to allow their water to be privatized probably deserve to die of thirst. Look what the privatization of energy and medical care have done for us (if you can stand it).
Speaking of Universal Health Care, it doesn’t look too promising at the moment. The people who make their obscene profits from it have enough money to buy and sell our Congresspersons, and do. And as we no longer have anyone serving in public office motivated by anything as corny as the “public good,” the attempt to fix health care will probably go the way of the Dodo (as it always has). I believe that Bill Maher said it best last night, we no longer have a Democratic Party, what used to be the Democratic Party is now the Republican Party, and what used to be the Republican Party is now the Party of the Insane. Our current Democrats are every bit as deep in the pockets of big business as Republicans ever were, and significant change is not even on the horizon.
LKBIQ:
Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under.
H. L. Mencken
TILT:
Spitting Cobras do not actually spit their venom but propel it with gusts of blown air as it leaves their fangs.
for videotaping woman having
sex with dogs. She goes free.
Apparently our major media, along with our congress, and I assume probably the majority of Americans, simply cannot understand what it means to mind your own business. For example, a news program opened yesterday with the question, “What will Obama’s next move be?” I found this fascinating as it was my understanding that Obama was doing what he could to not make any moves at all. Indeed, he was receiving unrelenting criticism from Republicans (and others) for not making any moves. Perhaps he was making moves behind the scenes that I don’t know about, but I have to believe he was honestly trying to mind his own business. Congress voted something like 405 to 1 to support the Iranian opposition, even though we had very little information about what was actually going on there. Ron Paul, the only dissenting vote, pointed this out but, of course, no one pays any attention to common sense or Ron Paul. Obama seems to realize the importance of at least pretending to butt out of an internal Iranian problem, and has said that it should be left to Iranians to decide on their leaders. Remember, our CIA removed a democratically elected leader in Iran and installed the Shah, a move that proved to be disastrous and still has serious repercussions for our relations with Iran. But I guess McCain and others never learn and keep insisting it is somehow up to us to decide what other governments should do. This is just another example of “American Exceptionalism,” “White Man’s Burden,” “The Lone Superpower,” “We have to spread democracy around the world,” and the belief that we should be the world’s police force. As long as we continue to believe this we are not likely to be very successful at Foreign Policy. This is really just a more recent version of imposing Christianity through force as all Western-European nations routinely did, or attempted to do, for so many years. I believe that Obama has handled this Iranian crisis in the best way possible, but it is apparently inconceivable to most others that he should have done so. This is America after all, the best and greatest country on earth (with the 37th best Health Care, after Morocco, a lousy educational system, a terrible economic system based upon naked greed and runaway capitalism, and etc.).
There is talk now in certain places about privatizing water. What will the loonies think of next, privatizing air? What will it take to make people realize that there are certain things that are far too important to be privatized. Water is certainly one of them. Those that promote this use the standard arguments that government is too inefficient, the private sector would do it better, competition would result in a cheaper product, and blah, blah, blah. Any people stupid enough to allow their water to be privatized probably deserve to die of thirst. Look what the privatization of energy and medical care have done for us (if you can stand it).
Speaking of Universal Health Care, it doesn’t look too promising at the moment. The people who make their obscene profits from it have enough money to buy and sell our Congresspersons, and do. And as we no longer have anyone serving in public office motivated by anything as corny as the “public good,” the attempt to fix health care will probably go the way of the Dodo (as it always has). I believe that Bill Maher said it best last night, we no longer have a Democratic Party, what used to be the Democratic Party is now the Republican Party, and what used to be the Republican Party is now the Party of the Insane. Our current Democrats are every bit as deep in the pockets of big business as Republicans ever were, and significant change is not even on the horizon.
LKBIQ:
Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under.
H. L. Mencken
TILT:
Spitting Cobras do not actually spit their venom but propel it with gusts of blown air as it leaves their fangs.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Republicans are so funny!
Unbeknownst to parents
British teenager paints sixty
foot phallus on rooftop.
Republicans are sooo funny! I hope they never regain any political power, not merely because their incompetence at governing is legendary, but because as a minority they are so absolutely hilarious. As comedy like this is not easily come by, sometimes I think they must be doing it on purpose, but apparently not. Consider their recently announced plan for Health Coverage, four pages, no numbers. None. I guess their four page stimulus package sans numbers was so successful they decided to try it again with Health Care. I know they are pretty dumb, but are they dumb enough to think that anyone else is dumb enough to take them seriously? Then I saw part of an interview with Republican Lamar Alexander who presented his view of what it would take to achieve universal health care. It’s really simple, according to him, you just find the people who can’t afford health care and give them four or five thousand dollars so they can buy health insurance. In case he might be misunderstood he repeated this solution several times. Poor Contessa Whats-her-face on MSNBC was so dumbfounded she was having trouble even trying to pose the next question. One might have thought that Alexander was just putting her on, but he seemed perfectly serious. Republicans are seemingly unaware there even is a problem with health care. Of course they are getting big bucks from Insurance and Pharmacy to be oblivious. It’s the American way.
I don’t know what is going on in Iran, except there is a lot of chaos and confusion. I (perversely, I guess) have a lot of respect for Iranians and Iranian intelligence. Thus I cannot figure out why things could have happened the way they are being reported. For example, I have seen several times that the results of the election were announced before the ballots could even have been counted. Now, if one seriously wanted to steal an election, would you do that? Of course not, that’s so stupid no one would believe they could get away with it, unless, of course, they felt they were so powerful they could repress any dissent. Then I saw where in some 30 towns the votes counted exceeded 100%. Again, that is so stupid no one would believe it could have been honest. All I know is that there are apparently some very high-level talks taking place and it is at least possible that the reigning powers may change. If they were as dumb as the above examples indicate, they certainly ought to be replaced.
George W. Bush, our only ex mildly retarded President, who has previously said he would not speak out about Obama, has now done so. In a speech last night to some business people he criticized Obama’s policies, although not Obama personally. Most of the comments I have seen about this seem to suggest that Bush, like Cheney, is trying to upgrade his legacy. While criticizing Obama’s policies, he attempts to put his own failed policies in a much better light, as if his policies have not already been revealed as dismal failures. Being of a most suspicious mind I don’t believe this is just about embellishing his legacy. I think he is taking a cue from Cheney and trying to make their criticisms all about politics. That is, if Obama were to act against them, they could make it appear to be entirely political, he’s going after them for political reasons rather than for the obvious war crimes they committed. And no doubt some segment of the public would buy this nonsense. They can’t very well go after Obama personally (although that too might conceivably work for them it would be seen as petty), and they can’t make much of a non-political fuss as that would leave them more vulnerable to investigation, so they make it all political, all about Obama’s policies. They could become political prisoners rather than major war criminals.
LKBIQ:
Digressions, objections, delight in mockery, carefree mistrust are signs of health; everything unconditional belongs in pathology.
Friedrich Nietzsche
TILT:
Domestic pigs are known as sociable and intelligence and can be trained to do simple tricks and tasks.
British teenager paints sixty
foot phallus on rooftop.
Republicans are sooo funny! I hope they never regain any political power, not merely because their incompetence at governing is legendary, but because as a minority they are so absolutely hilarious. As comedy like this is not easily come by, sometimes I think they must be doing it on purpose, but apparently not. Consider their recently announced plan for Health Coverage, four pages, no numbers. None. I guess their four page stimulus package sans numbers was so successful they decided to try it again with Health Care. I know they are pretty dumb, but are they dumb enough to think that anyone else is dumb enough to take them seriously? Then I saw part of an interview with Republican Lamar Alexander who presented his view of what it would take to achieve universal health care. It’s really simple, according to him, you just find the people who can’t afford health care and give them four or five thousand dollars so they can buy health insurance. In case he might be misunderstood he repeated this solution several times. Poor Contessa Whats-her-face on MSNBC was so dumbfounded she was having trouble even trying to pose the next question. One might have thought that Alexander was just putting her on, but he seemed perfectly serious. Republicans are seemingly unaware there even is a problem with health care. Of course they are getting big bucks from Insurance and Pharmacy to be oblivious. It’s the American way.
I don’t know what is going on in Iran, except there is a lot of chaos and confusion. I (perversely, I guess) have a lot of respect for Iranians and Iranian intelligence. Thus I cannot figure out why things could have happened the way they are being reported. For example, I have seen several times that the results of the election were announced before the ballots could even have been counted. Now, if one seriously wanted to steal an election, would you do that? Of course not, that’s so stupid no one would believe they could get away with it, unless, of course, they felt they were so powerful they could repress any dissent. Then I saw where in some 30 towns the votes counted exceeded 100%. Again, that is so stupid no one would believe it could have been honest. All I know is that there are apparently some very high-level talks taking place and it is at least possible that the reigning powers may change. If they were as dumb as the above examples indicate, they certainly ought to be replaced.
George W. Bush, our only ex mildly retarded President, who has previously said he would not speak out about Obama, has now done so. In a speech last night to some business people he criticized Obama’s policies, although not Obama personally. Most of the comments I have seen about this seem to suggest that Bush, like Cheney, is trying to upgrade his legacy. While criticizing Obama’s policies, he attempts to put his own failed policies in a much better light, as if his policies have not already been revealed as dismal failures. Being of a most suspicious mind I don’t believe this is just about embellishing his legacy. I think he is taking a cue from Cheney and trying to make their criticisms all about politics. That is, if Obama were to act against them, they could make it appear to be entirely political, he’s going after them for political reasons rather than for the obvious war crimes they committed. And no doubt some segment of the public would buy this nonsense. They can’t very well go after Obama personally (although that too might conceivably work for them it would be seen as petty), and they can’t make much of a non-political fuss as that would leave them more vulnerable to investigation, so they make it all political, all about Obama’s policies. They could become political prisoners rather than major war criminals.
LKBIQ:
Digressions, objections, delight in mockery, carefree mistrust are signs of health; everything unconditional belongs in pathology.
Friedrich Nietzsche
TILT:
Domestic pigs are known as sociable and intelligence and can be trained to do simple tricks and tasks.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
How Refreshing
Believing Wong Way was
sending wrong message, it has
been renamed Wong Street.
How refreshing to have a President who knows when to keep quiet and mind his own business. This controversy in Iran really is none of our business and Obama is wise indeed to stay out of it and let the Iranians work it out for themselves. What makes it all the better is the frustration it seems to be causing Republicans who somehow cannot conceive of letting sleeping dogs or other countries alone. They are all coming out strong about how we should be taking sides and denouncing the current Iranian regime thus, of course, compounding the problem. McCain in particular has come out with particularly strong denunciations of the Iranian government, making accusations that cannot but reinforce Iranian beliefs that we are determined on regime change for them. “Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran” is not a message we need to send at the moment. I’m somewhat surprised that McCain has not suggested an immediate attack. But will the Republicans let Obama conduct his foreign policy before they insist we take military action against a regime that is no threat to us? Mindless, predictable, Republican twits, every one of them.
So what’s with Obama anyway? It has just been announced that tomorrow he will send a memo allowing the same sex partners of Federal employees the same rights as heterosexual couples already have. This is a fine thing but very confusing, at least to me. Remember that just last Friday there was a big stink about his administration defending the asinine Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), and especially about the disgusting language that was used in defending it. This new plan certainly does not seem to be very consistent with DOMA. Was it just a mistake? Will Obama actually keep his word and eventually do away with it? For the most part Obama does great things, but then he seems to do something that seems completely out of character. For example, the White House is resisting making the list of visitors available. This seems very strange to me and I see no reason for it. Some say Obama, like all Presidents, just wants to preserve as much power as possible, but in this case that would seem to me to be so petty as to be unworthy of such motivation.
The one thing, above all others, that has me questioning Obama, is his apparent disinterest in investigating the war crimes of Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Rice et al. These crimes were so blatant, and there is so much evidence, and they were so horrible, I simply cannot believe that Obama is not going to hold these ghouls accountable. But so far there is no indication that he will, he just keeps wiggling out of his constitutional responsibility by “looking to the future.” If he persists in ignoring his duty to investigate and prosecute these criminals, nothing else he can do, no matter how wonderful, can make up for it. You cannot just let bygones be bygones when it comes to crimes so heinous, so deliberate, so completely wrong. This is more than just a matter of law, it strikes at the very basis of morality and justice.
Every ten days or so I speak on the phone with my friend in Tempe. He lives, as I do, surrounded mostly by right-wingers, and we commiserate with each other on that score. But as he is about my age we also discuss problems of growing old. It is said that 20% of the population has 80% of the illnesses. Unhappily, my friend falls into that 20%, whereas I, for whatever reason do not. He is thinking of getting a button made that says “I’m a 20 per-center and proud of it,” as he has fought the good fight for a long time. I feel guilty that I seem to be so much better off (I’m knocking on wood as I speak). In any case we have been thinking of bumper stickers for the elderly. While the possibilities are endless: “Driver Falling Apart,” “Driver Protected by Medicare,” “Beware, Octogenarian,” “Forgot Where I was Going,” and so on, we have more or less agreed that “Deteriorating Graciously” would be the most suitable.
LKBIQ:
“Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident.”
Louis De Bernieres
TILT:
Merkeets have no body fat and must forage daily.
sending wrong message, it has
been renamed Wong Street.
How refreshing to have a President who knows when to keep quiet and mind his own business. This controversy in Iran really is none of our business and Obama is wise indeed to stay out of it and let the Iranians work it out for themselves. What makes it all the better is the frustration it seems to be causing Republicans who somehow cannot conceive of letting sleeping dogs or other countries alone. They are all coming out strong about how we should be taking sides and denouncing the current Iranian regime thus, of course, compounding the problem. McCain in particular has come out with particularly strong denunciations of the Iranian government, making accusations that cannot but reinforce Iranian beliefs that we are determined on regime change for them. “Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran” is not a message we need to send at the moment. I’m somewhat surprised that McCain has not suggested an immediate attack. But will the Republicans let Obama conduct his foreign policy before they insist we take military action against a regime that is no threat to us? Mindless, predictable, Republican twits, every one of them.
So what’s with Obama anyway? It has just been announced that tomorrow he will send a memo allowing the same sex partners of Federal employees the same rights as heterosexual couples already have. This is a fine thing but very confusing, at least to me. Remember that just last Friday there was a big stink about his administration defending the asinine Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), and especially about the disgusting language that was used in defending it. This new plan certainly does not seem to be very consistent with DOMA. Was it just a mistake? Will Obama actually keep his word and eventually do away with it? For the most part Obama does great things, but then he seems to do something that seems completely out of character. For example, the White House is resisting making the list of visitors available. This seems very strange to me and I see no reason for it. Some say Obama, like all Presidents, just wants to preserve as much power as possible, but in this case that would seem to me to be so petty as to be unworthy of such motivation.
The one thing, above all others, that has me questioning Obama, is his apparent disinterest in investigating the war crimes of Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Rice et al. These crimes were so blatant, and there is so much evidence, and they were so horrible, I simply cannot believe that Obama is not going to hold these ghouls accountable. But so far there is no indication that he will, he just keeps wiggling out of his constitutional responsibility by “looking to the future.” If he persists in ignoring his duty to investigate and prosecute these criminals, nothing else he can do, no matter how wonderful, can make up for it. You cannot just let bygones be bygones when it comes to crimes so heinous, so deliberate, so completely wrong. This is more than just a matter of law, it strikes at the very basis of morality and justice.
Every ten days or so I speak on the phone with my friend in Tempe. He lives, as I do, surrounded mostly by right-wingers, and we commiserate with each other on that score. But as he is about my age we also discuss problems of growing old. It is said that 20% of the population has 80% of the illnesses. Unhappily, my friend falls into that 20%, whereas I, for whatever reason do not. He is thinking of getting a button made that says “I’m a 20 per-center and proud of it,” as he has fought the good fight for a long time. I feel guilty that I seem to be so much better off (I’m knocking on wood as I speak). In any case we have been thinking of bumper stickers for the elderly. While the possibilities are endless: “Driver Falling Apart,” “Driver Protected by Medicare,” “Beware, Octogenarian,” “Forgot Where I was Going,” and so on, we have more or less agreed that “Deteriorating Graciously” would be the most suitable.
LKBIQ:
“Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident.”
Louis De Bernieres
TILT:
Merkeets have no body fat and must forage daily.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Go Down Together - book
Go Down Together the True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde, by Jeff Guinn (Simon and Schuster, 2009). Like the Columbine book I recently reviewed, this book about the short and unhappy lives of Bonnie and Clyde, and their roughly two year crime spree, will almost certainly become the definitive account of that unhappy and murderous time. Guinn has done a fine and thorough job of researching the lives of Bonnie and Clyde and presents a remarkably detailed account of their movements during their heyday. The book is most interesting and important in several different ways.
First, people can dispense with any ideas they may have that Bonnie and Clyde lived a life of romance and glamour, eating and dressing well and living lives of relative luxury. Aside from very brief moments when they had money to buy decent clothes and occasionally have a sit-down dinner in a restaurant, they spent most of their time sleeping in the cars they had stolen and eating canned beans and Vienna sausages, or, at best, ordering takeout sandwiches from roadside cafes. Often forced to flee at short notice, they had to leave all their possessions behind and could not replace them until they could steal more money. At one point they were actually reduced to temporarily wearing sheets.
Second, they are not well described as bank robbers. They only occasionally tried to hold up banks and sometimes failed. Even when successful they never netted what would be considered a truly big haul. In fact, they preyed mostly on gas stations and grocery stores, getting barely enough money to keep going to the next one. John Dillinger, when asked, dismissed them rather contemptuously as “a couple of kids stealing grocery money.” Baby-face Nelson refused to have anything to do with them.
They were, basically, just “a couple of kids…,” but very complicated ones whose story is, on the one hand, somewhat easy to understand, but on the other hand, not at all easy to understand. The many murders they were involved in gives what I believe is a somewhat distorted view of what they were like. You must understand that with two exceptions Clyde was never involved in premeditated murder. And the two exceptions can easily be seen as entirely justified homicide, if not self-defense. While Clyde was in prison he was brutally and repeatedly beaten and raped by a sadistic inmate. He finally killed the man by hitting him with a lead pipe. It was this early experience that made him vow to never go back to prison. On a later occasion he assisted a friend to murder a similarly sadistic person for revenge. All the other murders he was involved in (supposedly or not) occurred when trying to resist arrest and were sometimes not even done by him but, rather, by other gang members. In fact, on more than one occasion Clyde preferred to take police or sheriffs into custody, treating them well, and quickly releasing them. He also, even at great risk, kept in touch with his family, visiting them periodically in secret, bringing them gifts, and maintaining close family ties that were of great importance to him. He adored his mother who stuck by him to the end. He was loyal to his friends and often helped them in important ways, such as breaking them out of jail, among other things.
This book is a classic, textbook case, for those who believe that criminals are made rather than born. After reading it there is no doubt in my mind that Clyde was forced by poverty and circumstances into a criminal career, especially after his initial brush with law enforcement. Dirt poor, living in squalor in West Dallas, where he could see into Dallas and the much better life possible there, he began by stealing cars. Caught and sent to one of the worst Texas prisons, where he was terribly abused and thought he might die from the unending and grueling work (he was really quite small), he cut off two of his toes to escape the worst of the work. Upon his release he was constantly picked up and questioned by the police, harassed almost daily, and literally driven to his brief life of crime.
Then, of course, there was Bonnie, a small, pretty, delicate child born into poverty who aspired to a better life. She married early to a man who soon deserted her. She fantasized about becoming a star and seeing her name in lights. She wanted desperately to be famous and have a better life. When she met Clyde it was apparently love at first sight. She fastened herself to him and stuck with him no matter what the hardships and dangers. She had many opportunities to leave him and the life of crime, along with the unremitting fear of capture and prison, but she never did. Even when towards the end her leg was seriously damaged in a car wreck and she was in constant pain she stuck it out. Before it was over she could only hop on one leg and Clyde would have to carry her, but he, too, stuck with her to the end. It was Bonnie who said they would “go down together,” as they did, finally betrayed by one of their gang members. She was 23, Clyde was 24, just “a couple of kids.”
This is really a fine book, readable, exciting, informative, and well worth your time (if that is, you have any interest in such things).
First, people can dispense with any ideas they may have that Bonnie and Clyde lived a life of romance and glamour, eating and dressing well and living lives of relative luxury. Aside from very brief moments when they had money to buy decent clothes and occasionally have a sit-down dinner in a restaurant, they spent most of their time sleeping in the cars they had stolen and eating canned beans and Vienna sausages, or, at best, ordering takeout sandwiches from roadside cafes. Often forced to flee at short notice, they had to leave all their possessions behind and could not replace them until they could steal more money. At one point they were actually reduced to temporarily wearing sheets.
Second, they are not well described as bank robbers. They only occasionally tried to hold up banks and sometimes failed. Even when successful they never netted what would be considered a truly big haul. In fact, they preyed mostly on gas stations and grocery stores, getting barely enough money to keep going to the next one. John Dillinger, when asked, dismissed them rather contemptuously as “a couple of kids stealing grocery money.” Baby-face Nelson refused to have anything to do with them.
They were, basically, just “a couple of kids…,” but very complicated ones whose story is, on the one hand, somewhat easy to understand, but on the other hand, not at all easy to understand. The many murders they were involved in gives what I believe is a somewhat distorted view of what they were like. You must understand that with two exceptions Clyde was never involved in premeditated murder. And the two exceptions can easily be seen as entirely justified homicide, if not self-defense. While Clyde was in prison he was brutally and repeatedly beaten and raped by a sadistic inmate. He finally killed the man by hitting him with a lead pipe. It was this early experience that made him vow to never go back to prison. On a later occasion he assisted a friend to murder a similarly sadistic person for revenge. All the other murders he was involved in (supposedly or not) occurred when trying to resist arrest and were sometimes not even done by him but, rather, by other gang members. In fact, on more than one occasion Clyde preferred to take police or sheriffs into custody, treating them well, and quickly releasing them. He also, even at great risk, kept in touch with his family, visiting them periodically in secret, bringing them gifts, and maintaining close family ties that were of great importance to him. He adored his mother who stuck by him to the end. He was loyal to his friends and often helped them in important ways, such as breaking them out of jail, among other things.
This book is a classic, textbook case, for those who believe that criminals are made rather than born. After reading it there is no doubt in my mind that Clyde was forced by poverty and circumstances into a criminal career, especially after his initial brush with law enforcement. Dirt poor, living in squalor in West Dallas, where he could see into Dallas and the much better life possible there, he began by stealing cars. Caught and sent to one of the worst Texas prisons, where he was terribly abused and thought he might die from the unending and grueling work (he was really quite small), he cut off two of his toes to escape the worst of the work. Upon his release he was constantly picked up and questioned by the police, harassed almost daily, and literally driven to his brief life of crime.
Then, of course, there was Bonnie, a small, pretty, delicate child born into poverty who aspired to a better life. She married early to a man who soon deserted her. She fantasized about becoming a star and seeing her name in lights. She wanted desperately to be famous and have a better life. When she met Clyde it was apparently love at first sight. She fastened herself to him and stuck with him no matter what the hardships and dangers. She had many opportunities to leave him and the life of crime, along with the unremitting fear of capture and prison, but she never did. Even when towards the end her leg was seriously damaged in a car wreck and she was in constant pain she stuck it out. Before it was over she could only hop on one leg and Clyde would have to carry her, but he, too, stuck with her to the end. It was Bonnie who said they would “go down together,” as they did, finally betrayed by one of their gang members. She was 23, Clyde was 24, just “a couple of kids.”
This is really a fine book, readable, exciting, informative, and well worth your time (if that is, you have any interest in such things).
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Enough already!
Ohio man gets nine years
for repeatedly stealing
women’s underwear.
So enough already! Is everyone crazy? What’s with this nonstop MSM coverage of the ridiculous exchange between Sara Palin and David Letterman? This is just another example of our so-called news media ignoring the real news of the world in favor of utter drivel. Yes, David Letterman said some things that were inappropriate. Actually, they were not only inappropriate, they were downright stupid. But, hey, David Letterman is paid millions of dollars annually for saying stupid and inappropriate things. He’s been doing it for years. While he has acknowledged that what he said was offensive he hasn’t really apologized. He says he was commenting on Palin’s eighteen year-old daughter who has already been “knocked up,” but Sara, not one to let any opportunity slip by for publicity and the public eye, insists he must have been talking about her fourteen year-old. This has given her an opportunity to portray herself as a great champion of the rights of young women. Not satisfied with a good thing, Palin has now raised the level of idiocy by suggesting outrageously that her daughters might not even be safe around Letterman.
Letterman said something stupid and offensive, just like he does night after night. His writers must have trouble finding lines night after night. Apparently they have no one with the good sense to say, hey, that’s stupid, when they should. I’m not a fan of Letterman, never watch him (and only very rarely watch Leno), largely because I believe his humor is basically stupid. But Palin should have left it alone after the initial complaints. But think of all the free publicity she would have missed, and she has never been adverse to exploiting her children for political purposes. I find quite terrifying the fact that there are people who actually see her as Presidential material. This is just another symptom of a truly sick society.
At least the MSM did manage to inform us that people in Iran were rioting in the streets to protest what they believe was a stolen election. And there does seem reason to believe that it was indeed stolen. This controversy will no doubt continue for several days but we are unlikely to get an unbiased view of it all. It would seem to me, however, that no matter how it finally comes out, the young people of Iran have made it very clear they are unsatisfied with the status quo and crave a better relationship with the West.
Curiously, none of the Doctors I have encountered in the past couple of years belong to the American Medical Association. And they all claim (at least) to be in favor of a single-payer health care system. My friends tell me the same thing about their doctors. So, although the AMA is supposed to be the single largest Medical Organization in existence, it pretty clearly does not represent all Doctors. From the days of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (if not even before) until now, the AMA has opposed all attempts to create a viable universal health care plan. They claim mostly, I think, that they don’t want any interference with the patient/doctor relationship, but what they really want, of course, is to protect their profits. As one of their principles is supposed to be the promotion of public health, one wonders how their resistance to any change in the system for the better does that. Anyway, between the AMA, the Insurance companies, and the Pharmaceutical industry, you can bet they will do anything and everything to torpedo public expectations for a decent health care system.
Extremism is the pursuit of nonsense is no vice. Now the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals want the fishmongers at the Pike Place Market in Seattle to stop throwing dead salmon to each other. They say it is disrespectful to the fish. I suspect they would rather we not catch and eat the salmon in the first place but, as we do, we are not treating them with enough respect (they are, of course, dead). I agree that we should treat all animals (even fish) with respect, but, really, I think this idea is going too far. I guess they would have the fisherman transport the fish to each other in special cases built for the utmost in comfort. While this would slow down sales and packaging, especially if they had to stop for religious rites on the way, I guess it would show more respect. What I wonder about is People for the Ethical Treatment of Plants. It seems to me that plants are often truly brutalized. Think of carrots, for example, ripped out of mother earth, aborted, that is, before maturity, at the whims of humans. These are not fetal carrots but full-grown adults with deep roots and a history of belonging. We can’t hear them but I’m certain they must be screaming in agony. The same thing is true of rutabegas and turnips. Parsnips must have a stronger union as we are told they must be dug rather than jerked. Some would say that carrots and turnips are not truly sentient and have no feelings, but how does anyone know that? Has anyone ever been a carrot or a turnip? How about a parsnip?
I am sorry that plants and animals have to give up their lives for mine. But unless we learn how to exist purely on inanimate objects that’s the way it is. Remember, when people still lived close to nature, and knew where their food came from, there were rituals of thanks to the animals and crops. Giving thanks to cans of beans, cartons of milk and tins of sardines and corned beef is not the same thing.
LKBIQ:
Thought: Why does man kill? He kills for food. And not only food: frequently there must be a beverage.
Woody Allen
TILT:
Carrots were first cultivated in Afghanistan. They were every color except orange, and very often purple. The Dutch created the orange carrot during the Middle Ages.
for repeatedly stealing
women’s underwear.
So enough already! Is everyone crazy? What’s with this nonstop MSM coverage of the ridiculous exchange between Sara Palin and David Letterman? This is just another example of our so-called news media ignoring the real news of the world in favor of utter drivel. Yes, David Letterman said some things that were inappropriate. Actually, they were not only inappropriate, they were downright stupid. But, hey, David Letterman is paid millions of dollars annually for saying stupid and inappropriate things. He’s been doing it for years. While he has acknowledged that what he said was offensive he hasn’t really apologized. He says he was commenting on Palin’s eighteen year-old daughter who has already been “knocked up,” but Sara, not one to let any opportunity slip by for publicity and the public eye, insists he must have been talking about her fourteen year-old. This has given her an opportunity to portray herself as a great champion of the rights of young women. Not satisfied with a good thing, Palin has now raised the level of idiocy by suggesting outrageously that her daughters might not even be safe around Letterman.
Letterman said something stupid and offensive, just like he does night after night. His writers must have trouble finding lines night after night. Apparently they have no one with the good sense to say, hey, that’s stupid, when they should. I’m not a fan of Letterman, never watch him (and only very rarely watch Leno), largely because I believe his humor is basically stupid. But Palin should have left it alone after the initial complaints. But think of all the free publicity she would have missed, and she has never been adverse to exploiting her children for political purposes. I find quite terrifying the fact that there are people who actually see her as Presidential material. This is just another symptom of a truly sick society.
At least the MSM did manage to inform us that people in Iran were rioting in the streets to protest what they believe was a stolen election. And there does seem reason to believe that it was indeed stolen. This controversy will no doubt continue for several days but we are unlikely to get an unbiased view of it all. It would seem to me, however, that no matter how it finally comes out, the young people of Iran have made it very clear they are unsatisfied with the status quo and crave a better relationship with the West.
Curiously, none of the Doctors I have encountered in the past couple of years belong to the American Medical Association. And they all claim (at least) to be in favor of a single-payer health care system. My friends tell me the same thing about their doctors. So, although the AMA is supposed to be the single largest Medical Organization in existence, it pretty clearly does not represent all Doctors. From the days of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (if not even before) until now, the AMA has opposed all attempts to create a viable universal health care plan. They claim mostly, I think, that they don’t want any interference with the patient/doctor relationship, but what they really want, of course, is to protect their profits. As one of their principles is supposed to be the promotion of public health, one wonders how their resistance to any change in the system for the better does that. Anyway, between the AMA, the Insurance companies, and the Pharmaceutical industry, you can bet they will do anything and everything to torpedo public expectations for a decent health care system.
Extremism is the pursuit of nonsense is no vice. Now the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals want the fishmongers at the Pike Place Market in Seattle to stop throwing dead salmon to each other. They say it is disrespectful to the fish. I suspect they would rather we not catch and eat the salmon in the first place but, as we do, we are not treating them with enough respect (they are, of course, dead). I agree that we should treat all animals (even fish) with respect, but, really, I think this idea is going too far. I guess they would have the fisherman transport the fish to each other in special cases built for the utmost in comfort. While this would slow down sales and packaging, especially if they had to stop for religious rites on the way, I guess it would show more respect. What I wonder about is People for the Ethical Treatment of Plants. It seems to me that plants are often truly brutalized. Think of carrots, for example, ripped out of mother earth, aborted, that is, before maturity, at the whims of humans. These are not fetal carrots but full-grown adults with deep roots and a history of belonging. We can’t hear them but I’m certain they must be screaming in agony. The same thing is true of rutabegas and turnips. Parsnips must have a stronger union as we are told they must be dug rather than jerked. Some would say that carrots and turnips are not truly sentient and have no feelings, but how does anyone know that? Has anyone ever been a carrot or a turnip? How about a parsnip?
I am sorry that plants and animals have to give up their lives for mine. But unless we learn how to exist purely on inanimate objects that’s the way it is. Remember, when people still lived close to nature, and knew where their food came from, there were rituals of thanks to the animals and crops. Giving thanks to cans of beans, cartons of milk and tins of sardines and corned beef is not the same thing.
LKBIQ:
Thought: Why does man kill? He kills for food. And not only food: frequently there must be a beverage.
Woody Allen
TILT:
Carrots were first cultivated in Afghanistan. They were every color except orange, and very often purple. The Dutch created the orange carrot during the Middle Ages.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Paradigm shift
Argentine man tried for
passing counterfeit bills
acquitted for incompetence.
Change, for human societies, is always difficult. But the most difficult changes of all involves major paradigmatic shifts. Think how difficult it was for humans to deal with what was once termed the four great blows to man’s ego. The Copernican revolution was truly a massive shift from an earth centered universe to a heliocentric one and, as you will recall, did not occur easily or overnight. Darwin’s theory of evolution was a similar blow when we had to confront the fact that we were just as much part of the animal kingdom as other animals. Freud, of course, demonstrated that far from being the rational beings we believed we were, we were subject to all kinds of unconscious and emotional constraints we had not previously thought about. Then, as the great age of (European) exploration began, and as more and more information was gathered about other peoples and their behavior, it became clear that values were not fixed and unchanging as we tended to believe, but were, in fact, relative to their cultural context. All four of these developments were resisted, sometimes violently, and in some circles may still be resisted. These kinds of massive changes do not occur easily or quickly.
I suggested previously (Morialekafa 8-29-08) there was a fifth great blow in store for Western-Europeans if Barack Obama was somehow to be elected President of the U.S. This was so because it would challenge the basic paradigm that had informed Western-European thought for hundreds of years. The notion of a Great Chain of Being in which all creatures were ranked from the lowest to the highest on a scale of value with white Western-European males at the very top of all creation. Remember, everything was so ranked, cultures (from savage to civilized) and even races (with blacks at the very bottom), and so on. Thus if a black man (even a part black man) was elected President it, would not only represent a precedent in race relations in the U.S., but would also violate this most important cultural belief system. And, of course, it happened. When Obama was elected our most basic paradigm was finally shattered (Morialekafa 11-5-08). Thus it is not at all surprising that Obama has been subject to far more threats than previous Presidents, that the sales of firearms has increased dramatically, and that white males have come out shooting. Most Americans (whether they have thought much about it or not) seem willing to accept a black President (or at least give him a chance), or they do not actively oppose him, but those who are much more true believers in white superiority (and the Great Chain of Being) are obviously having a great deal of trouble. To these believers it was unimaginable that we would ever have a black President, and to many it still is. They don’t want to (cannot) accept a Latino on the Supreme Court (Latinos not being at the top of the scale), and they cannot bear the thought of a black President, a development that threatens their most basic beliefs. Indeed, some are so threatened by an American black man as President they are denying he is who he claims to be, and insist he is some kind of plant from Kenya or who knows where. Jews, too, are not considered to be high on the scale, and anti-Semitism fits easily into their lost world. This is for some a very serious, personal, and frightening business because it tears at their most fundamental beliefs. Some people fear we may be seeing the beginning of a revolution. A large-scale, serious revolution is not going to occur, but it is not at all surprising that there is a real upturn in violence against minorities, authorities, and cultural symbols of various kinds (Wall Street, Banks, Museums, Abortion Clinics, Synagogues, Mosques, etc.).
Surely there is a correlation between level of education and beliefs about racial inferiority. And there must also be a correlation between social class and the desire for revolution. The much touted White Southern Republican “base” can easily be seen as a hotbed of such beliefs and desires.Think of how different things might be if we had a better educated populace and everyone had a decent job and health care, a condition incompatible with a capitalistic free-market economy. We must continue to have uninformed voters and cheap labor. It’s the American way.
You have to give credit to the American Medical Association for being consistent. They have now come out once again against changes to our Health Care System, just as they did against Truman, Carter, Reagan, Clinton, and now Obama. I guess the Doctor’s credo, “Do no harm,” doesn’t apply to society-wide medical care. Perhaps if we are lucky, people by now realize that Doctors are not as god-like as they perceive themselves to be. I bet we could import well-trained Doctors from Cuba who would be happy to be part of our new Universal Health Care System, especially those American Medical Students who went there where they could afford to be trained. With Cuban/U.S. relations beginning to thaw perhaps we could start an exchange program – wheat for doctors. Anyway, don’t bet that Insurance, AMA, and big Pharma won’t kill Universal Health Care again.
LKBIQ:
Capital is reckless of the health or length of life of the laborer, unless under compulsion from society. Karl Marx
TILT:
Both male and female Mountain Goats have beards, short tails, and black horns.
passing counterfeit bills
acquitted for incompetence.
Change, for human societies, is always difficult. But the most difficult changes of all involves major paradigmatic shifts. Think how difficult it was for humans to deal with what was once termed the four great blows to man’s ego. The Copernican revolution was truly a massive shift from an earth centered universe to a heliocentric one and, as you will recall, did not occur easily or overnight. Darwin’s theory of evolution was a similar blow when we had to confront the fact that we were just as much part of the animal kingdom as other animals. Freud, of course, demonstrated that far from being the rational beings we believed we were, we were subject to all kinds of unconscious and emotional constraints we had not previously thought about. Then, as the great age of (European) exploration began, and as more and more information was gathered about other peoples and their behavior, it became clear that values were not fixed and unchanging as we tended to believe, but were, in fact, relative to their cultural context. All four of these developments were resisted, sometimes violently, and in some circles may still be resisted. These kinds of massive changes do not occur easily or quickly.
I suggested previously (Morialekafa 8-29-08) there was a fifth great blow in store for Western-Europeans if Barack Obama was somehow to be elected President of the U.S. This was so because it would challenge the basic paradigm that had informed Western-European thought for hundreds of years. The notion of a Great Chain of Being in which all creatures were ranked from the lowest to the highest on a scale of value with white Western-European males at the very top of all creation. Remember, everything was so ranked, cultures (from savage to civilized) and even races (with blacks at the very bottom), and so on. Thus if a black man (even a part black man) was elected President it, would not only represent a precedent in race relations in the U.S., but would also violate this most important cultural belief system. And, of course, it happened. When Obama was elected our most basic paradigm was finally shattered (Morialekafa 11-5-08). Thus it is not at all surprising that Obama has been subject to far more threats than previous Presidents, that the sales of firearms has increased dramatically, and that white males have come out shooting. Most Americans (whether they have thought much about it or not) seem willing to accept a black President (or at least give him a chance), or they do not actively oppose him, but those who are much more true believers in white superiority (and the Great Chain of Being) are obviously having a great deal of trouble. To these believers it was unimaginable that we would ever have a black President, and to many it still is. They don’t want to (cannot) accept a Latino on the Supreme Court (Latinos not being at the top of the scale), and they cannot bear the thought of a black President, a development that threatens their most basic beliefs. Indeed, some are so threatened by an American black man as President they are denying he is who he claims to be, and insist he is some kind of plant from Kenya or who knows where. Jews, too, are not considered to be high on the scale, and anti-Semitism fits easily into their lost world. This is for some a very serious, personal, and frightening business because it tears at their most fundamental beliefs. Some people fear we may be seeing the beginning of a revolution. A large-scale, serious revolution is not going to occur, but it is not at all surprising that there is a real upturn in violence against minorities, authorities, and cultural symbols of various kinds (Wall Street, Banks, Museums, Abortion Clinics, Synagogues, Mosques, etc.).
Surely there is a correlation between level of education and beliefs about racial inferiority. And there must also be a correlation between social class and the desire for revolution. The much touted White Southern Republican “base” can easily be seen as a hotbed of such beliefs and desires.Think of how different things might be if we had a better educated populace and everyone had a decent job and health care, a condition incompatible with a capitalistic free-market economy. We must continue to have uninformed voters and cheap labor. It’s the American way.
You have to give credit to the American Medical Association for being consistent. They have now come out once again against changes to our Health Care System, just as they did against Truman, Carter, Reagan, Clinton, and now Obama. I guess the Doctor’s credo, “Do no harm,” doesn’t apply to society-wide medical care. Perhaps if we are lucky, people by now realize that Doctors are not as god-like as they perceive themselves to be. I bet we could import well-trained Doctors from Cuba who would be happy to be part of our new Universal Health Care System, especially those American Medical Students who went there where they could afford to be trained. With Cuban/U.S. relations beginning to thaw perhaps we could start an exchange program – wheat for doctors. Anyway, don’t bet that Insurance, AMA, and big Pharma won’t kill Universal Health Care again.
LKBIQ:
Capital is reckless of the health or length of life of the laborer, unless under compulsion from society. Karl Marx
TILT:
Both male and female Mountain Goats have beards, short tails, and black horns.
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