Besmirching

"they are worried such carnage is besmirching their religion"
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/11/30/news/ML-Muslims-India-Shootings.php
Um, yep. Muslims, Christians, Jews, Morons, each of their holy texts promote violence and intolerance of some for of another, but slaughtering civilians at train stations, cafes, hotels, and on the streets of a major metropolitian city, is cowardly, misguided, and pure evil. Being saddened that they didn't reach their goal of 5000 civilians killed... well, that surviving boy should be sent to India's version of Gitmo.

I hope the attackers met with thorn-cocked Gulbuth The Rampant as Atta and his boys did.

I don't get it - My Dinner with Andre

Dr. Desert Flower and I tried watching / listening to a DVD of "My Dinner with Andre" last night, as we put up Christmas decorations. We made it about 20 minutes into the film, where there were in-depth discussions of beehives and the 'love of the theater'. "Well, if you could give me forty Jewish women who speak neither English nor French, either women who've been in the theater for a long time and want to leave it but don't know why, or young women who love the theater but have never seen a theater that they could love, and if these women could all play the trumpet or the harp, and if I could work in a forest, I'd come!" ...um... whatever. I guess I'm not sophisticated enough, and definitely don't have a refined taste for eclectic theater. We turned it off. Just not my cup of tea, and I love all sorts of tea, honestly. It goes back to the library Wednesday, unless anyone can tell me why it's truly a classic really worth watching.

I much preferred Wallace Shawn as Vizzini: "You fell victim to one of the classic blunders. The most famous is "Never get involved in a land war in Asia." But only slightly less well known is this: "Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line.""

Morning Rain in the Desert

I woke up last week to the sound of raindrops on my home's tile roof. A pretty unusual event, in the desert. Commonplace, in the Hoosier state where I've awakened more times than any other state in the Union. When I first moved to Phoenix, I believed the BS that the Bureau of Tourism spouted: "The average high in Greater Phoenix is 85 degrees and with more than 325 days of sunshine per year". In January of this year, I began marking my calendar on cloudy and rainy days. 11 months in, and there's already been 51 days of clouds and rain. Yeah, there's no climate change occurring, nah. So in my investigation, I looked up NOAA data, and found their standards are at the other end of the spectrum from the Tourism guys, down at 211 days of sun a year?? US Census data supports the Tourism claim.

Regardless, it is a relaxing, soothing, almost zen-like experience now, in my corner of the world, to wake up to the sound of rain on the roof. Something I never had considered previously, in Indiana, or South Carolina, or elsewhere.

CFL = completely flaccid & lackluster

In an effort to conserve energy, reduce my SRP bill, and be more green, I've changed over most of the incandescent lighting in my home to CFLs. CLFs are supposed to mean "compact fluorescent lights" of course, but there's many practical problems with these lights.

1. First, there's the lag time when turning them on - as in walking into a dark room, and having to wait 2 seconds for them to flicker to life so as not to step on the cat.
2. Then, there's the pallid, sickly. un-natural glow they put off that makes everything look washed out and anemic.
3. On my outdoor garage lights, installed at the same time, the two GE 17W CFLs have shown inconsistent burn lives and significantly variable brightness (twice the lumens from the right side, as the left side).
4. They've got the neurotoxin mercury in them, that my incandescent lights never did.
   

These mala praxis cause me to think of other names more appropriate for CFLs:

• Colluded Fescennine Luminescence
• Custard-like Frequency Laggard
• Complètement Fou Luminaires
• Certainly Frickin Lifeless
• Claudication For Lassitude
• Calumny Falsifies Lucency
• Creating the Façade of Luminiferousness
• Certainly Fraudulent & Listless
• Circumventive Faux Languor
• Corporately Feculent & Lymphatic
• Certifiably Failed & Lukewarm
• Chromatically Flat & Laughable
• Contra- Florid Letdown
• Cyst-like Feckless & Limp
• Conclusively Frail Luminaria
• Cheap & Falsely Lambent ...and
• Chinese Fabricated Lumps-of-crap

If you have a favorite alternative name for CFLs, I'd like to hear it.

Quality Espresso Machine Quandry

Dr. Desert Flower is extremely interested in getting an espresso machine. I've seen nice ones in London (chez Ron) , San Francisco (chez Joe M), Milano, Talamona, Vincenza, & a massive one at Hotel Valley Ho (Scottsdale)... but I do not recall make and models. Can anyone recommend, from their personal experience, a quality espresso machine for less than 4 or 5 hundred dollars? Are there certain brands that should always be avoided for shoddy quality?

Please lemme know. There's lots of sales coming up this weekend!

Dobson calls for Jihad, issues Fatwa against Kathleen Parker and other thinking conservatives

James Dobson calls for Jihad against being centrist, and issues his own fatwa against reasonable and conservative Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker. Dig your hole a little deeper, fundamentalist wing nuts. In a few years, you'll be as irrelevant as Nader, hopefully.

Treasonous Glen Beck

Treasonous Glen Beck today, on his radio show, encouraged his devout radio fan base (since he was booted off CNN) to secede from the Union. This is the "America, Love it, or Leave it!" Glen Beck. If he hates America so much, he should leave it, as Alec Baldwin vowed to do with a Kerry election loss.

Slate's Outakes, on the Palin Turkey Pardoning video

This is hilarious. Slate's done an awesome job here! The Cohen brother's wood chipper, Monty Python's Black Knight, Reservoir Dogs, SNL, Kung Fu, Deer hunting, Jaws, Kathy Bates in Misery, The Shining... I can't stop chuckling. Comedy Gold!
http://www.lifeisathrill.com/post/61359548/the-palin-turkey-farm-interview-outtakes-slate

Palin's Greatest Hits

The last 4 months had a massive influx of uninformed, naive, close-minded, 13th century, anti-science, misguided, self-contradicting, fundamentalist, pseudo-folksy quotes from former beauty pageant contestant Sara Palin. Thanks to Crooks & Liars and The Daily Show, for this compilation. Hopefully, by the time 2011 comes around, the far right religious fanatics who love this dim-wit will be such a fringe group, the nation will be able to view them with the same side-show skepticism that is afforded to Nader.
http://crooksandliars.com/silentpatriot/daily-show-sarah-palins-greatest-hit
If we're all lucky, this will be the last Palin-related posting, for a long long time.

Today's Mumbai terrorist attacks now target Westerners

In an earlier posting bemoaning the malaria exposure risk of a trip to India, there's now the added risk of dieing from sudden lead poisoning, or close proximity to C4, in the hands of religious fundamentalist extremists. New attacks today! This is just great. There's a long history of terrorism caused violent death in India, but this new turn of events, targeting Western hotels and cafes, 2 months before my trip to the sub continent, does not comfort me. Luckily, I will not be anywhere near Northern India, as Bangalore in Karnataka State is much much further south.

Pandora's indispensible presence

Dr. Desert Flower encouraged me to start exploring Pandora Radio earlier this year, since we have a good fiber optic line into the router, and this ZT systems desktop can handle an adequate data stream ("welcome to 2002" Tim Beitz told me last February). I now find the presence of Pandora stations playing in the background to be indispensable. In-between conference calls, it is amusing to see Pandora's logic struggle with stations such as "Art of Noise". "Perfect Circle", "Thievery Corporation", "Prefab Sprout", "Yes", "TMBG", "Everything But the Girl", "ELP", "NIN", "Hassell & Eno", "The Apex Theory" - depending on what kind of mood I am in. I am curious what positive and negative impressions other readers may have had with Pandora. As always, feel free to comment, copiously.

Mouth Watering Holiday Cooking Ideas

From my dear friend Ron, to who I owe the original impetus for creating this blog, and who has been, and continues to be, one of my best friends for the last 30 years. I was actually starting to salivate, as I read some of these. Yummy!
http://rufusblooter.blogspot.com/2008/11/holiday-cooking.html
[as JustJoeP is getting over a 100 hits (spread around 6 different countries) each week now, it is my hope that such gastronomical deliciousness can be savoured globally]

You Suck at Photoshop

I'd not seen these videos before... until today, my buddy Jason alerted me to their existence. Hilarious, and sadly pathetic at the same time. Many of the things "Donny" does in the video, I used to want to do when I ran Autocad back in the 80s. All 20 of them, here.

Fossil Fuel Focused Feebleminds

Forward-thinking, modern, caring, responsible, altruistic, technologically advanced, deeply considerate Republicans have called for oil-shale mining / drilling / exploitation in Eastern Utah. Utah, you know, that bastion of blue state liberalism. These extremely intelligent fossil fuel advocates say that there's all sorts of modern, cost-effective, ecologically sensitive, responsible ways to extract oil locked into oil-shale. Maybe they really like their massive SUVs, and abhor the thought of having to drive more practical vehicles. Granted, a high clearance 4WD is awesome for farm work, going off-road to rarely visited natural areas, hauling heavy items, driving in deep snow, and such things. How practical is it to take 1 or 2 children to soccer practice? Or be the most popular Dallas TX commuter vehicle with one driver in it? Or try to park a Hummer behemoth in a large city street side or in a parking garage? It ain't.

But diatribe aside, consider how wonderfully sensitive and Low Impact such oil-shale mining and exploration is at these links: here, here, here (including fires), here (big twucks!), here, here (mmmm waste streams) and here. Then, look at the amazing photo below (more links to Jason's amazing work here and here), and try and imagine how this amazing natural beauty could co-exist, un-besmirched, un-sullied, un-affected, but drilling, strip mining, pipelines, transfer access roads, tailings, run-off, air-borne dust, blasting, high-powered subterranean microwaves, et al. Yeah, that'll work just great.

Call or email your Congressman and Senator today. Let'em know how your SUV is much more important than preserving anything like the photos above for future generations.

Of course, after the Rapture [TM], it won't matter now, will it?

Privatizing Medicare costs more

What a surprise! - to those who DO NOT understand that privatizing Public Health Care for the elderly is a bad idea, since greed rules, and putting the share holder first, BEFORE the patient, is a really stupid idea, doomed to fail. For me, and the thinking members of society with whom I communicate often, we've all known that privatizing Medicare and Medicaid is / would be / continues to be a bad idea. But it's nice when a factual study comes out that shows clearly, that

• costs go up (13%)
• complexity of filling out forms increases
• quality of care goes down
• over-payment to insurance companies went up

...when Medicare is privatized, as it was during Bush's 2003 plan that the Republican congress approved.

How do you privatize compassion, or caring? Where is the profit in providing world class health care to the elderly, poor, indigent? THERE IS NONE. That's why it needs to be a public system, like the rest of the industrialized world has figured out, and from which the US keeps running and hiding. [Olbermann had it featured on today's "BUSHED" but that's not posted yet on MSNBC's site]

Big Bang Theory, a Big Hit, chez nous

Dr.Desert Flower and I began watching the Season 1 DVDs of "The Big Bang Theory" last weekend, and we found them to be quite amusing - yes, we are geeks. Though the show is in it's 3rd season on CBS, we'd never watched it. Life is too busy, and that's the beauty of DVDs. The characters are composites of people we've gone to school with, and worked with, and the dialogue and humour are scientifically accurate. "Rocks, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock" - If you've not seen it, it's worth a chuckle. If you have seen it, I'd like to hear your thoughts / perspective.

Lovely mpg top ten comparison

My friend Zim has this excellent posting today. Take a look-see.

Carlin given Mark Twain Prize, Posthumously

Watching this week's Daily Shows on DVR last night, I saw during the Richard Belzer interview that that George Carlin was given the Kennedy Center's Mark Twain prize posthumously November 10th. I've always loved Carlin's work, and never understood people who didn't at least like him. The previous winners are all pretty funny people - Richard Pryor and George being the two funniest, in their own, poignant, insightful, inimitable ways. Carlin did hear about being given the prize, days before he died last June. I'll sure miss him.

Wanna donate blood in the US? DON'T go to India

I have to go to Bangalore at the end of January next year for business. When I was giving blood last Saturday here in Phoenix, I was informed that it will be "one year from your departure date from India" before I can donate blood again. Argh! I was working on my 7th gallon, and now, I'll have to go a full year since I was in a malaria exposure region. I could understand a 2 or 3 months of waiting to see if I picked up something, but a full year? That's BS.

I will get a chance to practice my Tamil and Hindi though. Small consolation.

Java talk, discuss amoungst ourselves

In the Spirit of Linda Richman,
- The Moral Majority is neither moral, nor a majority, discuss
- Christian Conservatives are neither truly Christian (in acts and kindness to others who are outside their specific sect) nor Conservative (in regards to Government spending). Discuss.
- The recent Federal Financial Rescue Plan is neither a rescue nor a plan. Discuss

Other classics from Mike Myers / Linda Richman are:
* "The radical reconstruction of the South after the Civil War was neither radical nor a reconstruction. Discuss."
* "The Holy Roman Empire was neither holy nor Roman nor an empire. Discuss."
* "The peanut is neither a pea nor a nut. Discuss."
* "Ralph Fiennes is spelled neither rafe nor fines. Discuss."
* "Duran Duran is neither a Duran nor a Duran. Discuss."
* "Rhode Island is neither a road nor is it an island. Discuss."
* "The Thighmaster is neither a thigh nor a master. Discuss."
* "The Progressive Era was neither progressive nor an era. Discuss."
* "The Mormon Tabernacle Choir is neither Mormon nor a tabernacle nor a choir. Discuss."
* "The New Deal was neither new nor was it a deal. Discuss."

Indian Navy Supports Global Warming!

Pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden, and the Indian Navy sinks the pirate mother ship! Story here, from "The Hindu, Online". Everyone knows that the decrease in the number of pirates over time has what has lead to the increase in global sea temperatures. So why does the Indian military support global warming? Parkalam (which in Tamil, means "we shall see"). Dekhenge (il faut voir, in Hindi).

Covered in bear grease & wearing flip flops

This Daily Show piece is hilarious, spot on, poignant. Tag lines include:
- Looks like he's getting an invisible massage
- Looks like Obama came by to pick up McCain's daughter for the school dance
- My friend, you'll get her home by 10 or I'll make you the first female president
- I'm the ACORN worker who registered "Haywood Jablowme" in all 50 states
- Climb Everest covered in bear grease and flip flops
- My sherpa? I'm gonna go with Wilford Brimley
- we want a government that pees very far away from the tent

Cheney & Gonzales Indicted in Texas

Texas Grand Juries love to indict politicians. First, Tom Delay, and now, Cheney & Gonzales. We'll see where the state statue leads. Karma can be pretty rough. Thanks to Crooks & Liars for this gem.

Apoptosis of Steven's Senate Career

Election returns last night signaled apoptosis for one Alaskan. Ted Stevens won't be providing humor on the Senate floor anymore for Americans. Pick your flavor of coverage: Faux, MSNBC, Yahoo, CrooksAndLiars. Did he win? No! If the "Bridge to Nowhere" had lead to a larger constituency, maybe he could have. Stevens was, by many estimates, one of the largest industries in the state of Alaska bringing in over $6 billion in pork.

An added bonus of this defeat is that with Stevens losing, his senate seat won't have to be replaced by the brilliant governor of the 49th state, once his colleagues would have ousted the convicted felon from their exclusive group. Hopefully, she'll drop further off everyone's radar screens as well.

In this hilarious compilation video about the internet being "a series of tubes", the FSM even makes a brief appearance. Enjoy.

"My interest is in finding something that works"

"My interest is in finding something that works." Could you ever imagine W saying this? The Decider, who was going to "spend his political capital." Sure, he wanted to "reach across the aisle", in order to grab Democrats, and drag them back over the the Republican side, and push his Gingrich-esque, government-do-nothing, win-at-all-costs, non-executive-oversight, plutocratic agenda. Collaboration, synergy, cooperation, an intelligent and informed approach... yeah, those are the hallmarks of a rabid, elite, liberal ideologue who pals around with terrorists, and is probably still a secret Muslim or Manchurian candidate.

I certainly hope that Obama doesn't screw things up further than they are already. Seems impossible as bad as W and his ilk have made things. Il faut voir, we shall see.

Obama Baby Boom

Barack Obama was born almost 9 months to the day (Aug 4th, 1961) of JFK's Presidential Election victory in 1960. Seems there was an "irrational exuberance" then, that is expected to recycle / re-emerge in August 2009. It'll be interesting to see what population bump occurs. Gun sales go up, unprotected sex goes up, things are shooting all over the place it seems.

Facebook Conundrum

In the last week, I've gotten about a dozen "Facebook" add emails, from people I've known for many years. Thing is, I have no Facebook page. Dr.Desert Flower does. Our son does. His lost cat Dylan even has a Catbook page. So I am faced with the conundrum: do I ignore all those invites or embrace the whole FB concept, and try to adapt to the whole "throw a sheep", "wall posting", online networking stuff? I am sure those who have already enthusiastically embraced FB would encourage, counsel, and cajole me into the latter. Many others who have not signed up would likely, inertially, apathetically remain mute. I dunna know.

Dull knives

Life is too short to cook with, or eat with a dull knife. Make a good purchase of stainless steel or inconel cutlery, and everytime you use them in the kitchen or dining room, you'll be happier than before, struggling with the old, dull & weak.

Focus on others' families

Focus on the Family spends 1/2 a million to pass a gay marriage ban, and then lays off more than 10% of it's work force. Looks like Dobson is less concerned about supporting the families he signs a paycheck for, and would rather impose his fundamentalist agenda into people's lives who disagree with him. How very sad, and very hypocritical.

This hypocritical group also spent large sums of money in a failed attempt to defeat Obama. Yeah, Obama, that guy who has been married once, and who has no evidence dug up of him cheating on his only wife... was supported over an admitted philanderer. Par for the course.

Cats & Toothbrushes

What is it with cats and toothbrushes? Why are they hypnotically, inexorably, irresistibly drawn to them? It's not just mine, Youtube shows many many people have seen the same phenomenon. The soft grippy-handled Oral-B I used to have seems to work the best. When done with an old used tooth brush, if you've already got one or two in the tool box (for cleaning off battery terminals) then use it on your cat - or donate it to someone locally with feline allergies who wants to pet a cat but doesn't want to get cat dander and drool on their hands.

Sarkozy's perspective on a failed presidency

I heard this last Friday, and laughed my butt off! Sarkozy using Bush as a benchmark of unpopular stupidity with a bellicose Putin. Classic!
MSNC has a full story here.
Huffington Post runs it here.
Faux has a rather hilarious / menacing picture of Putin accompanying the story.

A moronic, oedipal, obsessed, myopic, internationally un-curious, frat-boy, cheerleader, "folksy", spoiled New-Englander playing a failed-Texas-Oilman, now being used as an example of What Not to Become, for other world leaders,

Cowardly, Backward-assed Fundamentalists

if you're a girl in Afghanistan, and you want to go to school to learn things, be prepared to have fundamentalist religious extremists throw acid in your face.
Fox News coverage. UK (Daily Mail) coverage. Aljazeera English coverage (complete with morons making comments like "I blame the US" - give me a f*ckin break!) MSNBC had no direct story on it, but had links to this happening at least 6 times in the last 3 years. Despicable. Attacking school girls with battery acid, what cowardly little pieces of merde the Taliban are!

NPR & BBC reported today (heard on my radio in my office) that the Taliban are now targetting bakers, butchers, and other businessmen, to get the populace to listen and obey them. Killing these business people, the 13th century loving fundamentalists have found is more effective than executing school principals, mayors, and policemen. Great.

Defeatist! Unpatriotic! Iraqis agree to a withdrawal TIMELINE

Listening to Terry Gross on NPR's Fresh Air this afternoon, I heard that the Iraqi cabinet has approved a timeline to withdraw all American troops out of their country:
""The total withdrawal will be completed by Dec. 31, 2011. This is not governed by circumstances on the ground. This date is specific and final," cabinet spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said."
I was struck with the gravity of this... I've heard for more than a year now, how ANYONE who wanted a timeline for troop withdrawal was defeatist, a loser, unpatriotic, Un-American, NOT someone that any respectable American would ever vote for. And yet here I was, hearing mouthpiece Dana Perino, explain how now is the right time for Iraq and the US to agree on a timeline for troop withdrawal. I Could Not Believe My Ears!

So I googled it. The French Version. The MSM (ABC) version. The yahoo internet version. They confirmed Perino's sound clip from NPR's Ivan Watson. BUT could I find anything about it on Fox? LOL! Heck No! As of 5pm Arizona time... the only story Faux "News" had on their website is "Top US officer comfortable with Iraq security deal" in which they mention NOTHING about a time line - they did BASH Obama, re-iterating a relic "16 month" mantra. Yeah, really fair. Completely balanced. LMAO!

So now, revisionist history shows that Obama & the Dems were right about getting us out of Iraq, even according to the White House spokesperson. Orwell & Goebbles would both be proud.

Liebig & his evil legacy. Melamine et al

The recent arrests in the environmental and sociological disaster known as China over Melamine doping of food stuffs are just the latest example of Justus von Liebig's evil legacy manifesting themselves in this century. Until I started reading Michael Pollan's "An Eater's Manifesto" (downloadable copy, here) I had no clue who Liebig was. Great, in the early 19th century he discovered nitrogen, and invented bouillon cubes in Germany, but he also pushed the theory that food is not at all food, it is just a sum of constituent parts. Never mind that baby formula made by Liebig's company caused infants to NOT THRIVE, he was a pioneer! He knew better than the rest of us. Oh yea, he also was the first one to synthesize Melamine.

Sure, Melamine has helped crops grow and fatten up farm animals, but too much of it, and the animals die of kidney failure. So do humans. Now, some industrial bio-chemists out there might take umbrage at my negative view of Melamine, but I doubt any of them read this blog. But put Melamine, who's nitrogen content passes for "protein" in a Dumas or Kjeldahl test, and mix it into a diluted food composition, and viola, you've successfully up'ed the "protein" to meet minimum standards while lacing the FOOD with a toxic fertilizer. Genius. Evil. But not "evil genius", just genuinely evil.

Now, I've been to China 13 times over 3 years, spending over 6 months of my life there. Cities and areas I've visited, in order of frequency and total time spent (from highest to lowest) include: Chengdu, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Wuxi, Beijing, Shenzen, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Xian, Dalian & Guiyang. I am not the least bit surprised that "motivated" Chinese "entrepreneurs" have laced Melamine into milk, chicken feed, pet food, baby food, medicine, just about anything that can be diluted. And now the the US has stopped all shipments of food stuffs from China - Finally! (thanks inept & lethargic FDA under Republicans!) Everyone in China wants to make a buck. Corruption is rampant, as it environmental disasters there. VERY LITTLE VALUE is placed on human life. 2 of the 3 corpses I have seen in my life, not inclusive of ritual funeral home burials, were on China streets and sidewalks, and no one cared that they were there.

Now... I just really really hope that the 2000 mg of Vitamin C I take every day are not laced with Melamine too, since China is the world's largest supplier of citric acid, accounting for 80% of the world's production. =(

The US's bitterly divided electorate

Zaius Nation had an interesting link to this Washington Times story, complete with maps.
"What the electoral map would look like if the election were decided by [fill in the blank]."

I am not surprised, but I am disappointed. Note: I never want to live in Idaho.

Habanera de la Henson

This is a very funny, very short, very catchy little video. Heard/saw it 2 weeks ago, courtesy of Dr.Desert Flower's lab-mates, and it runs through my head repeatedly since then. (warning)

Watching it again this morning at posting, it occurred to me:

• Beaker could be a typical conservative making upwards of a $1/4 million or more a year
• Swedish Chef could be the average moderate American, hoping for some pork, or "bork" (kids now-a-days are too young to remember Judge Bork)
  
• Animal... well... when I was in 8th grade, and used to play the drums everyday, my Aunt Chris got me a green jersey with the word "ANIMAL" across the front, and I've had an affinity for the guy ever since. Ironically, my son who also plays drums has adopted Animal's haircut!

Regardless of possible characterizations, have a look-see. The chorus grows on you.

Baracknophobia! part II

Part 2 in the continuing coverage of the extreme right wing's hysteria over Obama. This Daily Show segment... is hilarious.



Fear makes stupid people do and say ridiculous things. =)

Near cranial explosions, caused by NPR's ATC

Yesterday, on NPR's All Things Considered evening radio show, many reasonable, thinking listeners' heads nearly exploded (mine, Dr. Desert Flower's, our friend Jill's, that I know of). Extremist right wing religious zealots spoke about how they are salivating for a fight with the new Obama administration.
"We face a president and Congress more hostile to unborn children, to marriage, to religious freedom, to free speech, to protecting our country than has ever existed in our history,"

To unborn children? Obama wants to reduce the number of abortions in the US.
To religious freedom? WTF? Still believing he's a "secret Muslim"?
To free speech? You're kidding me, right? A democrat who doesn't want to wire tap you, or censor you, or prosecute / monitor / watch-list you because of what you say, is against free speech? LMAO!!!!!
To marriage? Huh!?!?! He's married, to the SAME WOMAN. McCain was divorced and cheated on his first wife (documented and admitted). What, Obama's gonna make you go out and get gay married?? ROTFLMAO!!

Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America = should be renamed "Delusional Extremist Women for a Narrowly Defined Psuedo-Christian Agenda"

No Soup For You!

St.Mary's in Greenville SC, where I used to attend Roman Catholic mass when I lived there, now has a priest who is telling his parishioners that they'll be damned to hell if they don't go to confession and ask for God's forgiveness [TM] for the sin of voting for Obama, before taking communion. This is asinine, and it's 'case in point' as to why I stopped going to Catholic masses after my son entered 3rd grade - Not To Mention, that this risks the parish losing its tax exempt status for endorsing a political candidate.

What a bunch of fearful, narrow-minded, hate mongers! Drive more members of your flock away with a huge whip. Morons.

As there's lots of Red and Blue Staters who read this, chose your link to the AP story:
FOX (spelled Faux)
MSNBC (more serious nutjobs bloviating commercially)

thanks to my buddy Matt for bringing up this one.

Pity Party - Republican Victimization part II

Colbert's "The W0RD - Pity Party", was poignant, succinct, 'spot on' last night. Fast Forward to 5:50, where the W0RD starts, if you don't have time for the funny intro (it runs to 10:20).

http://www.comedycentral.com/colbertreport/full-episodes/index.jhtml?episodeId=210365

Can you fear me now?
Lost Fiddle Contest With Cheney?
The Way Ike Worked With Tina
Clockwise Hula is the Hula of Shame

Colbert's writers are heading towards another Emmy next year at this rate. Great Stuff!

"I'm Afraid of Americans" D.Bowie

I saw this video once, when I lived in South Carolina, at 6am on VH1 on a work day while I was getting ready to head out the door. I've never seen it since. It came out in 1997. Having always enjoyed both Reznor and Bowie, I really like this one. Prescient, 4 years prior to 11Sept01, and 5 years before the 'smokem outta their holes, dead or alive' mentality that has pervaded the last 5 years, serving America so poorly.

Poor Republican Victims, part 1

Perhaps there's a shortage of boot straps? Aren't Republicans supposed to pick themselves up by their boot straps, abhorring the supposed democratic 'culture of victimization'?

This Daily Show segment on Palin, Beautifully Illustrates - in a compare and contrast sorta way - fast-forward to the 4 minute mark. "I'm not complaining about it" she says - LMAO! "Since she would never have cast unsubstantiated dispersions..." - ROTFLMAO! (5 minute mark) Digital recording is such a awesome thing! Maybe she's just be 'pallin-around' with idiots. The Greta-van-creepy ending is not the best part, but it does help to illustrate the idol worshiping in which right wing nuts are currently engaged.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=210174&title=the-biggest-losers

"just months from being men"

Repugnant, disgraced, ousted Congressman Mark Foley said yesterday:
""There was never anywhere in those conversations where someone said, 'Stop,' or 'I'm not enjoying this,' or 'This is inappropriate'" ????? Huh????

"These were 17-year-olds, just months from being men, he insists." Huh????

At 54 years old, you were old enough to be those boys' father. Instead of voting on the House floor, you were too busy messaging high school boys asking them if they were horny and what clothes they were wearing. Why should an adult, elected as a public servant, ever have considered talking to 17 year olds in such a way? on a government issued phone? when they should have been working? Above the age of consent or not.. this is disgusting, hypocritical, and par for the course for "do as I say, but not as I do" politicians.

"Foley chaired the House caucus on missing and exploited children and was credited with writing the sexual-predator provisions of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006" - supreme irony!

Foley should join the list of public figures who need to sink into obscurity, never to be heard from again. This list includes:

• Sarah Palin
• Phill Gramm (genius economist, and laughable presidential hopeful)
• John Hostettler (former RHIT grad & US Congressman from Indiana)
• Rep. Mike Pence (A walk in a Baghdad market is like like a normal outdoor market in Indiana in the summertime)
  
• Elliot Spitzer
• Duke Cunningham
• Tom Delay
• John Kerry (as anything, other than a Senator from Massachusetts)

Nurse me back to sickness

The The's "Infected" has been running through my head today... repeatedly. Maybe it's what was uncovered at work last night, on a new unit being installed at one of my favorite vacation spots... I dunna know.

As I watched the 'Matt Johnson head in a vice' video for the first time in more than a few years, it reminded me of Reznor's "Head Like a Hole" lyrical content, in the 'got money's not looking for the cure' sense - not the 'howler monkey' sampling sense. Whatever the case may be, I really enjoy both of these. I'm old, and nostalgic, I guess.

I wanted to put in embeds... but Youtube has a "Embedding disabled by request" note this morning.

Re-targeting disgust & hatred

"Bush Derangement Syndrome" on the left has been replaced with "Obama Derangement Syndrome" on the right (see definition 2). Evidence from the vast majority of my engineering co-workers, Faux News, AM Talk Radio, and affluent distant relatives indicate to me (and I am not an epidemiologist, just a social observer) that ODS is becoming a pandemic in the US. I am not sure whether it is hilarious & delusional, or very sad.

Our boy made us proud

My son Christopher tried to vote last Tuesday, but the stupidity and bureaucracy of South Carolina conspired against him. Knowing there would be long lines, he went early, and waited for hours in the rain to get to the front of the line. Once at the front in Charleston, they told him "sorry, you're registered in Greenville" (note that, in 2004, he Was Only 17 and Not Old Enough to Vote). So they sent him to the board of elections. Undaunted, my son drives straight to the Charleston government office and says he'd like a provisional ballot (since Greenville was a 4 hour drive away, and he would not have made it before polls close, plus he had class on Wednesday). The election board official tells him that the DMV has him registered in Greenville incorrectly, and that he can have a provisional ballot, but they only count the provisional ballots in case of a tie, or a recount.

So, he spent his entire day after class trying to vote. I am not sure where he learned tenacity and determination from ;) ... but he made Dr.Desert Flower and I very proud.

Compare & Contrast

in 2000, the presidential election results looked like this:
Gore: 50,996,116 48%
Bush: 50,456,169 48%
Other: 3,874,040 4%

2004
Bush: 62,040,606 51%
Kerry: 59,028,109 48%
Nader: 411,304 1%

2008
Obama: 65,445,394 52.6%
McCain: 57,446,223 46.1%
Nader: 679,149 0.5%
Barr: 499,912 0.4%

1 p.m. Eastern Time on November 9, with 99.6% of the precincts reporting, the total number of votes stands at only 124.47 million, just 2.2 million more than in the 2004 election.
[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_2008 ]

So 2.2M more people voted this November than 4 years ago. Obama still got more votes than any other candidate in the history of the US presidency. He won by TWICE the margin that Bush did in 2004. Remember the "Political capital" speech W gave, gloating, over his win? If you don't here it is:
"Let me put it to you this way: I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it. It is my style. That's what happened in the -- after the 2000 election, I earned some capital. I've earned capital in this election -- and I'm going to spend it for what I told the people I'd spend it on, which is -- you've heard the agenda: Social Security and tax reform, moving this economy forward, education, fighting and winning the war on terror."

• Social Security? Yep... all reformed now. Check. Too bad we couldn't have privatized it before September 15th 2008!
  
• Tax "reform"? Yep, reduce it for the rich people; redistribute that wealth upwards so it'll trickle down.
  
• Moving the economy forward? Yep, off a cliff and into the abyss.
• Winning the war on terror? Ohh yeah. That's all wrapped up now.

So... 2.2M more people voted, and Obama got 3.4 million more votes than Bush ever did, on his luckiest day. This new President Elect should be gloating, no? He should be out on the links playing golf like Clinton was the day after, no?

No, instead, in his humble acceptance speech, he credited THE PEOPLE who elected him. He refused to gloat and rub it in to the Republicans he just resoundingly defeated. His campaign ordered up a giant fireworks show for Grant Park, and he told them "No, it would not look right." This supposed secret Muslim, this pal of terrorists, this untrustworthy man of poor judgment and inexperience, this socialist (as he's been called by wing nuts) was humble in his victory.

When W said he wanted to reach across the aisle, what he meant was "reach across to pull the Democrats over to our side and push forward the Republican agenda". Obama means quite the opposite. His poise, demeanor, composure, diction, vernacular, JUDGMENT, PERSPECTIVE, grace, NEIGHBORLY-NESS, all came through in his acceptance speech, and his press conference Friday.

How Damn Refreshing! How incredibly refreshing! Bob Schieffer's got a beautiful commentary on it here.

Dr. Desert Flower and I watch the hand wringers at Faux News now, to hear them rant about the demise of America and the impending "end of days", and how now suddenly, they're gonna "keep an eye on Washington" and report "the facts" to 'the Nation'. It really is comedy gold, as they grasp for straws and predict such dark days ahead. Certainly, the Democrats will make some serious errors in the next 2 and 4 years, but we're starting off at a Much Better level than having a spoiled, failed businessman / frat boy / cheerleader / all-hat-no-cattle-pseudo-cowboy at the helm.

Africa is not a country?

I guess that's what incurious, quick creationist, close minded former beauty pageant queens believe. She, and Joe the Plumber, and Tito the builder, all need to sink into obscurity. The quicker the better. This woman just keeps lying out of both sides of her mouth. She says no one is going through her closets... but the RNC IS sorting through her luggage and taking back the clothes. Maybe it's a pre-requisite to be a lying, stealing, cheating asshole to succeed in Alaskan politics?

And the "Impeach Obama" movement has already begun, before he's taken office. Delusional!

Man, it sure feels good to be on the winning side for the first time in my life. I sure hope the Democrats don't f*ck this up quickly.

Palin Loves Beaver!

Sara Palin loves Beaver! Thanks to Matt for this one. Hilarious!

Have to hurry! So little time remains!

Since all the right wing predictions, predilections, and threats will be coming true soon, everyone needs to make preparations now, while they still can. Here's what I'm getting ready to do:

• Buy guns, lots of them. Democrats have always hated the free sale of guns, and they'll limiting the sales of everything more lethal than a squirt gun, come January!
• Install a gun safe UNDER the house: the democrats will be coming into our homes to take away our firearms.
• Begin hoarding gasoline, and buy up the V8 power vehicle I've always wanted. Democrats will mandate everyone drives a weenie solar powered car before the summer arrives!
• Begin learning Arabic - since Obama pals around with terrorists, those of us who can speak Arabic will have a leg up with our future rulers.
• Begin memorizing NWA lyrics - Obama's daughters will be blasting NWA and other such groups from their rooms in the Whitehouse during official state dinners, and cabinet meetings. Soon, F*ck da Police will replace our National Anthem.
• Learn how to make pipe bombs, since according to William Bennett and many other "respected" Republicans, Bill Ayres will be named Secretary of Education.
• Move all my money to over-seas bank accounts - since Obama wants to spread my money around to everyone who makes less than I do in the US.
• Begin studying the Qaran, since Obama is a secret Muslim, and will make everyone in the US convert to that religion.
• Begin preparing to impregnate lots of women, who can all go out and have abortions right up through their 9th month, since Obama has no respect for human life and wants everyone to have abortions.
• Watch Only Faux News, since it remains the only "Fair and Balanced" source of information.. but they need to fire that damn Shepard Smith... he's starting to talk crazy talk!

There's just so much to... and so little time to get it done! Please, let me know what you're doing in your homes, to prepare for this dark, terrible, liberal, lawless time ahead that our once great nation now faces!

Breakfast ain't the most important meal of the day...

Last week, when I was in Ohio for the funeral, I slept to 9 or 10am eastern, woke up and did an hour of yoga, and took breakfast/lunch at 11 or 12. Strangely, I did not get RAVENOUSLY hungry as I typically do at home, mid morning.

This week, I've skipped breakfast each week day, beginning work with a simple glass of water. Strangely, the esophagus gripping, stomach knotting, head-ache pounding symptoms I'd typically get have not arrived.

I've gone 40 years believing that if I don't eat breakfast, I'll be hungry, screwed, deprived of essential nutrients, handicapped in my ability to handle the day's challenges, weakened, at-a-loss. Maybe I'm just getting really really old? Maybe the fact I've cut caffeine nearly entirely out of my diet has toned down my appetite? Maybe my tape worm finally died? Maybe the damn bowls of cereal I've had (upwards of 10,000 bowls) in my lifetime have always been priming my insulin pump and revving up my hunger pre-maturely, un-necessarily, caloric-ly.

Whatever the case may be, for adults like myself, who spend our mornings at a computer, talking on the phone, and who are not emaciated - having a healthy percentage of body fat - I no longer see the need to have breakfast in the wee hours of the AM before starting work. We'll see how this works out, going forward into 2009. Getting off caffeine took me 3 months (down from 4 to 8 cans a day). We'll see how long it takes to kick the breakfast habit.

If anyone else has had a similar 'retraction of breakfast' in your morning routine... I would be very interested to hear how it worked for you.

Republicans as a regional party, going forward

this detailed map is fascinating. Hats off to my buddy Rick for the tip.

"making his bed with porcupines"

I was listening to Bill Moyers today on NPR's Fresh Air, when he said "McCain appeared to be pinched as he courted the fundamentalist religious right, the same group who successfully destroyed his 2000 campaign. ...He was making his bed with porcupines." I laughed so hard.. it's so true. Had McCain not courted the religious right, and allied himself with W early on, and not picked Palin, and been more 2000ish and less 2008ish in his bizarre inconsistencies... he probably would have won. Hell, I voted for him in the failed SC primary in 2000.

Fantastic Day

Back when I was in Terre Haute at Rose Hulman 20+ years ago, on an early March day when the weather would get warm and the endless gray pall of winter would start to lift, driving in a borrowed car into the city, this song would find it's way into the tape deck. The video sucks... but the song makes me smile each time I hear it.

Turning out to be a good day...

I worked 1/2 a day... and had good meetings with my Bangalore mentees / counter parts.
I went to traffic court this afternoon, and the judge ruled in my favor, saving me a $158 fine for "running a red light" when I didn't run one. Pays to be prepared, and have an unprepared rookie cop against you in court.
Got cheered up by my buddy JoeM.
Heard McCain's lost PA by a wide margin.
Heard Dole lost her NC senate seat... guess it doesn't pay to accuse people of being "godless"
Heard Sununu lost his Senate seat... one of the few Rose Hulman graduate members of the Legislative branch of who I've always been so ashamed.
Got a free cup of Starbucks iced coffee.
I got calls from Guliani, Palin, McCain, some generic robo Republican female, some generic Republican male, desperately imploring me to go to the polls today.. LOL!
Took my funnel out of the empty wine bottles that I was getting ready to fill with gasoline to make molotovs, and put it back in the garage.

If things keep going this well... I will post a happy youtube video from my youth... that my buddy Craig Seiglin introduced me to more than 20 years ago.

il faut voir... we shall see...

Dr. Desert Flower and I are going to go out to dinner with the cash saved from traffic court. I'm still in my tie and Claibourne shirt... so it'll be fancy =)

Me of little faith

ladies & gentlemen,
I want to say, 100% of my American co-workers and many of my relatives (paternal and maternal, though thankfully my parents and my maternal uncles and aunts have seen the light) have all expressed firm confidence that McCain will win nationally. It's somewhat disturbing. Perhaps it's delusional... perhaps it's denial... but it's very consistent. If you're a McCain supporter this morning, you're very confident of a win.

I just had an evangelical, reformed tea totaller re-born baptist in Greenville ask me on the phone on a conf call "so how is the great state of Arizona? The home of our future president doing today?" (on a call with a dozen other participants, who all thought the same way as the tea totaller) ... and I responded "I don't know, I do not live in Illinois" ... it was like I had just crapped in the punch bowl, or farted really loudly in an elevator, on the conf call.

I am just wondering, if those of us who have voted for Obama are just in denial, and that the Rovian "get out the vote" machine, combined with caging and inflated voter challenges by the right wing, combined with Diebold corrupting / flipping / skewing results, combined with a looming SCOTUS Obama vs McCain decision later this month, will all add up to 4 more years of unilateral stupidity.

I have this sinking feeling in my gut... that I hope is wrong. It's a feeling Nexium can't resolve.

The people who read this blog (now over 100 or so persons) are intelligent, and informed... perhaps hyper informed... so it seems obvious to most of us that there will be a huge celebration in Grant Park this evening... If the democrats can't pull this off this time, there's very little hope for the future of the American electorate or it's appointed / annointed / elected(?) leaders.

We'll see... il faut voir... parkalam... ya veremos.

McCain vs McCain

digital recordings, crucify people with their own words