Thank you Dick

Dick Cheney continues to reinforce that America made the right decision in jettisoning the Republicans from the White House and Congress in 2008. Everything this very negative, evil, war mongering chicken hawk, paranoid, hateful, hypocritical, war profiteer spouts of out the hole in the front of his face since his party lost the national elections last year is more and more polarized, more extremist, more decisive, more guano. It helps to remove any doubt or impatience with the current administration and current Congress. His recent Politico interview (link here) is 'case in point'. Chris Matthews called him 'the troll under the bridge who comes out to bite kids in the ankle' - oh Chris! You give old Dick too much credit!

Thank you Dick. Your unpatriotic criticisms of our leaders, while America's enemies listen closely, help bring a smile to my face and remind me just how nuts and marginal your party and ideology really are. Keep speaking, as often as possible, and drag the 21% of the nation who are goaters with you (goaters = people who would continue to support Bush even if they personally walked in on him having sex with a goat).

Silver Carp Attacking Chicago & the Great Lakes

I'd heard about these imported Asian Carp invading the Illinois River several years ago. If the US Army Corp of Engineers had not dug a canal to reverse the flow of the Illinois River, connecting the Mississippi River & Lake Michigan, then this would not be a threat. But... the invasive species, who have already taken over large parts of the Mississippi River, have now made it past an electrified barrier in the Illinois River, and will soon be taking over Lake Michigan.

If these were little fish, the invasion would be another sad testament of clueless men tampering with Nature (intentionally importing the asian carp to "clean" algae from ponds) and having no idea what secondary and tertiary effects that tinkering will have. But these are Big fish - 80 to 100 lbs. and they jump, at boats, traveling 10 to 15 mph out of the water. Ouch! Trout, perch, Coho, smelt... good luck with the new massive Asian competition who will crowd you out, gobble you up, and attack the fishermen who want to catch you.

Video links here, here, and here. (nice bow shot!)
EPA link here.
2005 population graph, here. (nice exponential growth)

Horsey's genius is not appreciated in South Carolina

Two weeks ago I heard a story on NPR about how Boeing is opening an assembly plant in North Charleston, SC to build the 787 "Dreamliner". The anti-union climate in SC, combined with an under-utilized deep water sea port on the Cooper River, combined with many millions in corporate tax break give-aways by the state made South Carolina too tempting for Boeing to pass up.

So Horsey ran this HILARIOUS cartoon in his hometown Seattle newspaper (link here).

And predictably, many South Carolinians got all worked up about it. (link here to their anger) It really hurts when it's true, huh? Yes, South Carolina does make fine Michelin Tires, and Bosch brakes, and BMW Z4s, and many other durable goods that have supplanted the formerly thriving textile industry that unions helped to drive out of the state 40 years ago. But remember, I LIVED THERE for 16 years. I worked with many of the citizens of SC, listened to their rhetoric, sermons, news casts, shop floor conversations, break room slights, bar room boasts, church picnic comments... etc, etc. For a large portion of the state, and it's inhabitants, Horsey nailed every detail beautifully. And besides, it's a cartoon! He apologized for the noose... though there's many in Lauren County would still wish they could use their nooses in storage. His critics and the venom they've tried to unload on him are laughable.

My congratulations to David Horsey, and I hope he continues his poignant, insightful, inspirational work!

Mixed Bag In British Scientific Publications

Dr Desert Flower and I read SCIENCE, and check out medical and scientific journal postings from time to time on things we find interesting or relevant. Some journals are better than others. Canadian studies, we have to LOOK at closely to make sure their methods / funding / populations are sound sometimes... more than others. Many British journals are usually pretty good. Recently, my buddy Ron has provided 2 examples of British science reporting, with a stark contrast:
Misguided cr*p (I know this book. Your conclusions were all wrong Ryan... Halsey acted stupidly.)
and
Factual reporting with sound conclusions
both regarding what one eats in regard to one's wellness.
"In urban south Indians, total dietary carbohydrate and glycaemic load are associated with increased, and dietary fibre with decreased, risk of type 2 diabetes."

... and Dr Desert Flower and I were out shopping for new pants for me yesterday, as my "old man" jeans at a 40 inch waist are massively baggy, and so were the 38s I tried... but the 36s were actually comfortable. The last time I wore a 36 waist was during Bush Sr's administration, 20 years ago, before loading up on carbs and bread and noodles and rice... I will continue to take a low carb stance, and encourage anyone else who struggles with their blood sugar, hunger, or weight to do the same as well.

God's Hands

Dr Desert Flower's mom sent this one. God's Hands, Ultraviolet Light, Push-Buttons... what more does a girl need? Leaving Victoria Secret swimming in their wake, the Chinese forge boldly ahead.

Made in China (home of tainted baby formula, tooth paste, dog food, dry wall, low quality steel, lead painted toys, etc) I am sure this product is safe, effective, and just what every woman needs. Just in time for the holiday gift giving season too!

"A B-cup for work, a C-cup for shopping, and a D-cup for partying.” Link here.

The Road

As the father of a single son, a fan of Cormac McCarthy's work, and considering the fact I've always had a bizarre fascination with post apocalyptic landscapes... I think I am going to try and see this film by director John Hillcoat this weekend. (link to IMDB here. link to trailer here.)

The map they show in the trailer looks almost like the coast of New Hampshire, but the roads are all different.

Charlize Theron is in it... and I've always liked her work.

'You oughta know not to stand by the window
somebody might see you up there
I got some groceries, some peanut butter
to last a couple of days'

I've got more than Viggo's three bullets. Lots more.

Dr Desert Flower probably wont want to see it - it's not a really "light toned" or "uplifting" cinema, and she let's me go alone (Hurt Locker, Schindler's List, Children of Men, etc). Anyone in Phoenix wanna see it with me? It is at AMC Deer valley in the North and on Shea in the East... nuthin on my side of town.

"Effective Vice President" ??

Talk of the Nation on NPR this afternoon, has Ken Rudin saying "Vice President Cheney was the most effective Vice President of all time". ??? WTF?

Yes, if by "effective", you mean
- effective in isolating American Internationally and squandering the good will universally extended to us on September 12th 2001.

- effective in getting no bid contracts for his cronies at Haliburton / KBR, including the building of defective showers that have killed dozens of US service men in Iraq.

- effective in revealing the names of covert CIA agents

- effective in lowering the tone of discourse in American Politics by telling Senator Leahy to go f*ck himself" on the Senate floor

- effective in being a massive hypocrite by participating in a party that denies equal rights to gay couples when his own daughter is in a committed lesbian relationship in which she just had a daughter with her "partner". I guess when you're really really rich and politically connected, it's fine to not have any rights in a relationship and tell others what they can do in their bed rooms and with their uteruses (uterii?).

Yes Ken, Cheney was very effective. Katrina was an effective Hurricane. Bush was an effective idiot & decider. The Black Plague was an effective population limiter for Europe. Small Pox was an effective gift to the indigenous peoples of the Americas from their new European friends. John Rutsey was an effective first album drummer for Rush.

A Tennessee Christmas

The 'gutted' red lights are my favorite touch in this precious bit of Americana. =)

Crazy Australian Air Force Personnel

I got this video last night from a retired veteran friend of mine. After looking at a great number of photos (here, here, and here), he and I determined this is a F-111C Australian Air Force jet. It shows
- proper use of ear protection
- an unflinching standing crew member (brave, drunk, stupid, unshakable trust, death wish, all the above?)
- wanton mis-use of tax payer funded fuel and hardware

... but I found it quite fun to watch, never-the-less.

New Skeet Shooting Rig on Order

I got this from my Uncle Joe this evening. Quite silly, and amusing, and it goes right along with my rebuttal to Joe M's comments on previous post =P

Looks like British hardware in a British landscape.

Muslim Terrorists make better car bombs than Christian Terrorists do

Now the Christian [TM] terrorists from one sect in Northern Ireland are trying to blow up other Christians again... but their car bombs are fizzling. Link here. The Muslim and narco-trafficking terrorist cowards in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan don't seem to be having the same 'lack of effective detonation' problems as the Northern Ireland cowards.

Yeah, takes a 'real man' to build a bomb, and try to kill unsuspecting victims with it. All that secret planning, gathering of explosives, soldering, training from poor quality DVDs and extremist websites, and then sneaking around to plant & deliver it. Real manly. Real upstanding. Real noble. Really justified to kill unsuspecting by-standers, or government workers, or sleeping / off-duty soldiers, or children... and probably kill yourself as well. Too bad we can't have the Christian [TM] and Muslim bomb fixated cowards blow each other up, out in the middle of no where, and let the vultures clean up afterward.

Them Crooked Vultures

Thanks to my buddy Ryan for pointing these guys out. Them Crooked Vultures is a combination of Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters) on drums, Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age) on guitar, and John Paul Jones (yes, from Zeppelin) playing bass. TCV have a very cool sound - the myspace link has a few videos on it for a taste. Their group's website (link here) has more sounds and videos as well.

Once these guys finish touring the UK and down under, I look forward to seeing them in Phoenix.

Palin's angry mob of Hoosiers turns on her

Tip of the hat to my buddy Matt and to Andrew Sullivan on this link to former Palin enthusiasts turned angry mob when she shuns them. Max Cat may enjoy this, as it is in his neck of the woods up there in Nobelsville IN. Direct link here. The contrasts to fundamentalist loon Huckabee are pretty humourous in the comments section.

An opera of lust, suicide & beheadings? Oh boy...

Dr Desert Flower and I have tickets for the Richard Strauss opera Salome Saturday night here in Phoenix. I don't know what I was thinking when we bought tickets for this one... OK, all operas are sort of messed up as a baseline, granted, yes that's a fact. There's death and sex and mayhem / intrigue in just about every opera - it's what sells I guess. But Strauss's version of the story of the beheading of John The Baptist (Jochanaan) sounds really messed up.

Slutty Salome as Herod's step daughter is bored, and fascinated with imprisoned Jochanaan. She seduces the head of the guards to get access to Jochanaan, then creeps out the guard in her desire for the prisoner, so the head guard kills himself. Herod shows up and "slips on the blood", hallucinates, is scorned by his wife, so he lusts after his step daughter instead. Twisted psycho Salome devises a plan to seduce her step dad and convince him to behead Jochanaan, so that she can finally HAVE him, speak with him, kiss the lips of his severed head - ew! Incest, filicide, suicide, seduction, execution, unrequited desire - maybe I better take the LARGE flask instead of the small one.

I am looking forward to the Saturday after Thanksgiving when the Phoenix Symphony will be playing Mozart and Strauss. Hopefully, 'no "flask-ette" required'!

Palin 2012, I sure hope so

Whether it is Palin, or Beck, or some other combination of clueless demagogues who cling to their fears, tax-cuts, mis-information, quick-creationism, fundamentalism, or other "quaint" beliefs and biases whose diminishing influence in a modern, informed and fact-based America continues to make them More and More irrelevant, I am looking forward to the most vacuous ticket possible. Hockey moms who desert their elected offices, victimized Mormons who 'just ask questions', former MA governors whose investment capital firms gut American business and send jobs over seas... the more vocal and charismatic and "lovable" by their hard-core primary voter Republican voter base, the better!

These popularly hyped-up dim-wits futile attempts to win over the VAST MAJORITY of the uncommitted middle of America, the independents, will fail miserably. Sure, thousands of tea-baggers will gather, and blog, and comment on Pox news, and gnash their teeth, and try to rally others, but it will not get the vast majority of Americans interested in voting for ideological nut-jobs. This MIGHT result in Splintering of the Republicans into the "Conservative Party" and the remaining moderates, but that would be out of character for voting base who is well versed at marching lock-step with what their idolized leaders tell them to do.

Breaking the plurality of the American corporate 2 party system would be the Best Thing to happen to the democratic process since the 4 way split of 1824! Let the fringe 20% further become a separatist and regional party, and more strongly embody the side-show in which they continue to increasingly perform. All other major Democracies in the world do not engage in a 2 party system, just the corporately driven Americans embrace it.

Palin or other equally fringe personalities have no more chance of winning national office in the US as Le Pen did in France, even if they run 5 times (like JM Le Pen has). I'm looking forward to participating in a multi-party democracy in the future.

1 Year of Growth

Progression from Q4 2008 to Q4 2009. Abundant Sunshine, organic gardening, growth is appreciable.

Lantana, Hibiscus, Salvias, Spanish Lavender, and Lemons... oh my.

Dr Desert Flower wants to see MORE GREEN in the 'god-forsaken-desert' environ here, so we are working towards that end.

Lower BP, via resting feline

Approaching 17 years old, our cat loves to nap on the sectional sofa she believes she owns. I often net surf on the couch, with her at my feet. Maybe that's one contributing factor as to why my BP was 112/70 at my last doctor's visit. =)

If anyone wants to come over and brush out her under-coat, I'll make you dinner and we'll break out a good bottle of wine. Being allergic to feline dander, I have to put on a level II bio hazard garb before I attempt to do so.

Aloes surging

The original aloe and the 2 transplanted aloe children in my backyard are beginning to sprout up flowering stems. Should be a bountiful year for the hummingbirds chez nous.

For what they used to look like last year, see the '08 photo of the parent below.

Acorn did it! The whole country is Republican afterall!

52% of Republicans firmly believe that ACORN stole the election and Obama is not legally elected? (link here) A solid majority, really? There's that many delusional, disenfranchised, denial practicing conservative loons out there? (detailed results of the n=1066 poll of registered voters, link here [warning, PDF]).

This would be funny, if it wasn't so ludicrous... and dangerous. All those angry libertarian / conservative / often militia-sympathizing / Palin admiring / frequently fundamentalist belief embracing Umerikuns, living in their own alternate reality, planning violent revolution, spewing baseless venom, inspiring other fanatics further into delusion. Yikes.

Reservoir Turtles

TMNT meet Tarantino; Beautiful Trailer.



Courtesy of Andrew Sullivan.
I can't stop snickering.