DAILY BBG

Bill Maher On Rachel Maddow

2011-10-11T21:41:00.000-07:00

Bill talks about Mormonism and how it stacks up to the other fantasies called religions.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Matt Damon speaks before SOS March

2011-08-02T20:03:00.000-07:00

Matt Damon gives a brilliant speech in favor of teachers and attempting to peel back the years of false propaganda from the right.

The Ledge

2011-06-21T13:48:00.000-07:00

This is a new movie coming out that actually has an atheist as the good guy. From one of my favorite blogs, Atheist Revolution:

When was the last time you saw an atheist character depicted positively in a feature film? Yeah, it has been awhile for me too.

Atheist characters have been included in many films, but aside from documentaries, we tend to be depicted either as villains or as overcoming our skepticism and embracing some for of superstition. This latter role has become so overused in horror films that I feel like I can spot it a mile away. Wouldn't it be nice to have a feature film with an atheist main character who got to remain an atheist and didn't have to be a villain?

It sounds like we may finally have such a film, coming in the form of The Ledge. This upcoming film from Matthew Chapman stars Liv Tyler, Patrick Wilson, Charlie Hunnam, and Terrence Howard. It has been nominated for Best U.S. Drama at Sundance, and it could help to launch atheism into public awareness if it does well.

Follow the link to the blog because he has a trailer for the movie there. It looks like it might be pretty good.

A Pineapple Under the Sea

2011-06-18T12:54:00.000-07:00

Rachel gets schooled by 6 year olds. I knew she was wrong because I have a granddaughter.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Why do celebs think they can govern?

2011-05-17T19:13:00.000-07:00

Lawrence O'Donnell tells the truth about Donald Trump and Arnold Schwarzenegger, both tricked people into thinking they knew something about politics, Lawrence shows that neither knew anything. It's a cautionary tale to the rest of us if we ever feel like electing a celebrity to public office again.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

It Gets Better

2011-05-04T13:07:00.001-07:00

Ed Schultz

2011-04-11T20:59:00.000-07:00

Ed had a great segment on tonight's show, all about how the stimulus really did work despite the lies the Republicans have been saying. He lays it out nice an clearly about who has done what and who you should trust with the economy. And he's got a chart! I love charts!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Unions in Ohio

2011-04-01T16:24:00.000-07:00

It's about time that the police and firefighters stopped voting Republican.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Rachel Maddow

2011-03-03T15:20:00.000-08:00

Rachel states it very clearly: most Americans are Democrats even if they don't know it. the problem is that the Democrats have no idea how to communicate to anybody what they are all about. They are FOR all of us, the bottom 99% of the US population, while the Republicans are for that very rich 1% of Americans and for corporations. But they have managed to trick large portions of the populations into voting Republican.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

A New Dawn

2011-02-03T15:42:00.000-08:00

Image by Yutaka Tsutano via FlickrWhile everyone else is looking at the dire disaster happening in Egypt these days I am focused on what is really important: I ordered my Verizon iPhone yesterday!

Yes, that's right, yesterday, even though ordering is supposed to only be available today.

Well, the official start time for the pre-orders was 3am EST, Feb 3 - today. 3am is midnight here in California. I signed in about 15 minutes early, suddenly, after only 5 minutes of waiting, the screen came alive and said I could now order. I completed the the whole thing before midnight which means I ordered on Feb 2. People in Hawaii are probably saying "What's the big deal." But I must have been one of the very first to order.

What really annoyed me is the site said it would ship on Feb 10, when it goes on sell for everyone in the retail stores. How annoying that I will get mine the same time as everyone else, a whole week from now. Checked my order today and it said "Already Shipped." I was amazed, what does it mean? No company was named and no tracking number so I'm thinking it hasn't really shipped, but it would be great if it did - it would mean I'd get the phone tomorrow since I got free next day shipping.

I'll just have to wait and see if it shows up tomorrow. Fingers crossed!!

The Verizon iPhone

2011-01-07T15:51:00.001-08:00

Image via CrunchBaseAs a Mac guy I've wanted an iPhone ever since they first came out, but I was also a Verizon man and the iP{hone was only available with AT&T. The reception for Verizon here in Orange County is fantastic, AT&T, not so much. We had AT&T and hated them, ever since switching to Verizon many years ago I've had no thought at all of ever switching from them.

But the iPhone tempted me. I really considered switching to AT&T but I did a mini survey among my iPhone-possessing friends and the consensus was that AT&T really, REALLY sucked. 2 people even said they would suffer the cancellation fees at AT&T just to get a Verizon iPhone.

Now, it seems like it's just about here. Verizon has sent out invitations to selected press people for next Tuesday, which has the fun date of 1/11/11. This is weird because CES, the Consumer Electronics Show, is going on right now. Verizon made many announcements of new products, mostly Android phones, so why have another announcement 2 days after the show closes?

The iPhone is the only answer. There have been rumors over the last few days that Apple has restricted vacations for their Apple Store personnel for the end of January and the beginning of February. This was very recently narrowed down to Feb 3-6.

So something big was coming, some speculated that it could be the newest generation of iPad, but most thought it would be the Verizon iPhone. Now that the announcement is coming from Verizon that pretty much ensures it's the iPhone. If it was an iPad Steve Jobs would never let someone else present it to the world. The only reason he would let Verizon take the lead is with what is essentially a 6 month old product like the iPhone 4. So it can't be the iPhone 5 or one that could use LTE, that's big news that Apple would announce itself.

And the WSJ has definitively said it IS the iPhone, they apparently have a good source.

I'm going to pre-order the very second

What Christmas Is All About

2010-12-22T15:29:00.001-08:00

Out to Sea

2010-12-20T15:32:00.000-08:00

Mom’s funeral was yesterday. I did the same thing I did with Darcy, we went and scattered her ashes at sea. Although it is still raining throughout SoCal, down in Costa Mesa at the coast it was barely raining at all, so it wasn’t a problem.

However, the sea’s were pretty rough so we had to make it quick and hold tight to the railing. Bennet and Summer were the only ones there. I told them they were the only family I had left and Summer hugged me and said I wasn’t going to get rid of her, ever. Bennet agreed, said he wouldn’t even be here today if it wasn’t for me so anything I needed they would do.

All very emotional, especially when you consider that I’m not really related to them, Bennet is Darcy’s son so he is my stepson, and Summer is my step Daughter-in-law. Making Ally my step-granddaughter.

But I’ve always felt that family is the people you choose more than the accidents you were born with. My mom was not the best mom in the world but she wasn’t the worst either. She is the one person who knew me for the entire 57.5 years of my life - or the last one left, anyway. My sister did and so did my dad. But my dad died when I was 13 and my sister around 6 years ago of cancer.

I’m still stuck in a deep depression, hope it lifts soon.

Mom

2010-12-10T12:04:00.001-08:00

My mom died yesterday. Actually she died Nov 16 but they didn't bother to tell me until yesterday. She was in pretty bad shape at 93, dementia had taken her mind away, to the point where she couldn't even speak but could only make animal noises. It was hard to watch. I didn't visit her much because she hadn't recognized me for 4 years now. I would stop by occasionally to make sure the nursing home was taking good care of her.

The picture is Darcy and Mom from about 15 years ago, it's not very good but it's the only one I can find. Darcy is only 5' 4" tall so you can see how short Mom was. The most startling thing over the last 4 years was her face. When no one was home any more her face underwent a dramatic change, very shocking to look at.

At one time all the women in my life were threatening to die on me; our cat Nikko (she was our baby), my sister, Darcy and my mom. My sister died of cancer one day before her 60th birthday, Darcy died one week before her 61st birthday, but my mom outlasted all of them at 93. She was always pretty tough, but I think even she felt it was time to go because she was barely eating. Food used to be her favorite thing, as a tiny, old woman she could put away quantities that would put a truck driver to shame.

Sen Bernie Sanders

2010-12-02T10:48:00.000-08:00

There Is A WAR Being Waged Against The Working Families Of America!

New Logo

2010-11-24T11:42:00.000-08:00

I got this off of Facebook but really like it, not for regular use but to look at once and laugh a bit.

Steve Martin: Atheists Don't Have No Songs

2010-11-10T14:09:00.000-08:00

The title really says it all.

Arnold and Meg

2010-10-20T06:57:00.000-07:00

Here is a great ad against Meg Whitman, who is trying to buy the election - outspending Jerry Brown 10 to 1. I sure hope she doesn't succeed.

Science vs Religion

2010-10-17T09:01:00.000-07:00

Vote Democratic Part 3

2010-10-02T17:01:00.000-07:00

Bill Maher says it best this week:

When it comes to voting, when we only have two choices, you got to grow up and realize there's a big difference between a disappointing friend and a deadly enemy.

I'm as disappointed with Obama as anyone and I had few expectations. Way back at the beginning I said I didn't think he would make a great president because he really isn't a progressive, that I'd be happy if I could get health insurance, which I am just about to sign up for.

But no matter how disappointed we are there is still a HUGE difference between the dems and the pubs. Bill continues:

The Democrats have a D because they barely pass but you know why the Republican symbol is R? Because it's the noise a pirate makes when he robs you and feeds you to a shark.

Here is his latest New Rules:

Scientific opinion on climate change

2010-09-22T04:09:00.000-07:00

Here is an excellent Wikipedia article on global warming:

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2007
Main article: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
In February 2007, the IPCC released a summary of the forthcoming Fourth Assessment Report. According to this summary, the Fourth Assessment Report finds that human actions are "very likely" the cause of global warming, meaning a 90% or greater probability. Global warming in this case is indicated by an increase of 0.75 degrees in average global temperatures over the last 100 years.[5]
The New York Times reported that “the leading international network of climate scientists has concluded for the first time that global warming is 'unequivocal' and that human activity is the main driver, very likely' causing most of the rise in temperatures since 1950”.[6]
The New York Times retired journalist William K. Stevens wrote: “The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said the likelihood was 90 percent to 99 percent that emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, spewed from tailpipes and smokestacks, were the dominant cause of the observed warming of the last 50 years. In the panel’s parlance, this level of certainty is labeled 'very likely'. Only rarely does scientific odds-making provide a more definite answer than that, at least in this branch of science, and it describes the endpoint, so far, of a progression.”.[7]
The Associated Press summarized the position on sea level rise:
On sea levels, the report projects rises of 7-23 inches by the end of the century. That could be augmented by an additional 4-8 inches if recent polar ice sheet melt continues.[8]

The scary part is that each time the scientist have the chance to measure something it surprises them that it's far more advanced than they thought it was. No one is saying what they all know, it's already too late - and it's the American's fault.

Gandalf and Magneto

2010-09-21T15:56:00.001-07:00

World's best T-shirt. You tell them, Ian!

Elizabeth Warren

2010-09-19T12:54:00.000-07:00

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Bread and circuses

2010-09-17T15:28:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

This phrase come from Roman times, from Wikipedia:

This phrase originates from Rome in Satire X of the Roman poet Juvenal (circa 100 AD ). In context, the Latin phrase panem et circenses (bread and circuses) is given as the only remaining cares of a Roman populace which has given up its birthright of political involvement. Here Juvenal displays his contempt for the declining heroism of his contemporary Romans.[1]: Roman politicians devised a plan in 140 B.C. to win the votes of the poor; By giving out cheap food and entertainment, politicians decided that this policy of "bread and circuses" would be the most effective way to rise to power.

In other words, give the masses food and crazy entertainment and they won’t question what the people in power are doing.

Ever wonder why we see Lindsay Lohan all over all the news channels all the time but NEVER hear about bills trying to pass in congress, or what bills have already passed. They want us fat and happy so they can do what they want without the masses rioting or doing any other unfortunate things.

The problem is they got greedy, they got so carried away with stealing the product of our labor that they have taken away a lot of bread, so the middle-class shrinks and the number of poor go up. And people get restless.

Even in their own economic structure they need people to make enough money to buy things or everyone - even them - gets hurt.

Who are “they” you might ask? Our corporate overlords and the politicians who they get elected so that tax laws can be made in their favor. It’s happened time and again throughout history. It really doesn’t take much to keep the masses feed well enough so they don’t riot, after all, rioting is hard work and you could get hurt.

The best example of this is the French Revolution and Marie Antoinette, who said “Let them eat cake!” That was the problem, no one had any cake, everyone was in financial distress and starving. All the French Royalty had to do was make some minor sacrifices (like eating cake only twice a week instead of every day) and give some of the bread to the poor so they would calm down.

Not quite the same these days because television is the best entertainment in history. But the powers that be forgot to include the bread so the system is collapsing and there might be rioting in the near future. If too many become homeless they won’t have TV to calm them down.

Of course, the Corporate Masters have an escape plan: All they need to do is move to China and let the Chinese become their new market while letting America descend into third world status.

Vote Democratic Part 2

2010-09-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

I found out about that chart in the first post from Rachel Maddow, who got it from Ezra Klein's blog. One of her fans sent her a new chart. This shows the same thing, that when the dems are in charge our incomes rise a lot more than when pubs are in charge. But in this chart he lays it out when the dems are in charge of the House, or the Senate, or the Presidency, or have it all. Ezra's chart dealt only with the Presidency.

You see, the Republicans are lying to you, when they say the Democrats are tax and spend they mean the dems tax rich people and spend it on the other 95% of us. The taxes for us 95% don't change a whole lot, not a lot of room for change, but the top tax rate can change dramatically. All through the 40's and 50's the top tax rate was around 90% for all income over $400,000 - and what happened in the 50's? We had a strong growth that created a strong middle class for the first time, in fact, most of the country moved up from poverty to the middle class.

In 1980 Reagan dropped the rate down to around 25%, which made the rich very, very happy. Of course, the deficit and our debt grew faster than ever before in American history and he had to raise taxes. He's known for lowering taxes but a lot of people are surprised when they hear he then raised taxes 4 times during his 2 terms. His voodoo economics simply didn't work.

The big lie from the Republicans is that they got the middle class to think the raising or lowering of taxes was about them and not the rich. There are 2 ways a modern economy can function, the rich can be taxed at a high rate in order to supply the 95% of us with a variety of services, like roads, schools, police, military, welfare, medical care, etc. Or all the tax breaks can be for the rich which funnels all our money from us 95% upward to the rich, so they can get richer and richer. Since Reagan took office until today the top 1% saw their incomes increase by 250%, while the bottom 95% of us saw our income drop by 6%. Productivity increased quite a bit as well but the workers who are working harder and better don't get to reap the rewards, it all gets funneled up to the rich.

The end results of Republican economic policy is a total collapse. It happened once back in the 1930's and we had the Great Depression as a result, and happened again at the end of Bush's watch but we were saved from another depression by Obama's economic policies. So that instead of the Second Great Depression we got the first Great Recession. Semantics? No, it really does make a difference. When Bush left office and Obama took over we were losing 700,000 jobs per month - yes, PER MONTH!! Now, we have a net gain of jobs being added by about 40,000 per month.

Unfortunately people are still feeling it because we need to be adding 300,000 jobs every month just to keep pace with the population growth. In other words, 300,000 new workers enter the job market every month. Still, moving from a falling economy to one that is gaining is quite a grand feat and worth giving Obama much credit for.

Vote Democratic!!!

2010-09-13T07:34:00.001-07:00

Why, you ask? Look at this chart below, this alone is more than enough reason:

The blue lines show how much more we will all make under Democrat rule. Unless you are in the top 5% - those making over $200,000 a year - you WANT the democrats in and should dread the idea of Republicans gaining power again. Look at how bad it’s been lately, that all came from Republican policies going back 30 years but topped off by 8 years of George Bush

And make no mistake, Obama’s stimulus worked, it kept the economy from going over the cliff. It’s hard to make the argument that it would have been much worse without the stimulus, but I’d like to think most human beings are capable of at least that much abstract thought. We would all be in the second great depression right now if it wasn't for Obama.

What will the Republicans do if back in power? Tax cuts for the wealthy and subpoenas for everyone, shutting the government down. If tax cuts created jobs we wouldn’t be in this mess now because the tax cuts have ALREADY been there for 10 years and fewer jobs were created under George Bush's watch than any other president.

If you look at the chart you will notice that even the top 95% make more under Democrats, so why do the rich support Republicans? Because Republicans will lower tax rates. The majority of the money made by millionaires and billionaires comes from investments, which are taxed at a straight 15% rate. It used to be 20% under Clinton, so they have been making out like bandits over the past ten years. And instead of saying “OK, we’ve done really well for the past ten years, we should turn it around and help the lower 95% get a bigger cut of the pie, that’s only fair, after all.” What they really say is “KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF MY MONEY AAAARRRGGGGHHHH!!!!”

So vote Democratic if you want your income to go up, vote Republican if you want it to do down. And remember that while the tax breaks for everyone are over at the end of this year Obama wants to lock them in place permanently for everyone making under $200,000, but letting the tax breaks end for the top 95%. The Republicans want to continue with the tax breaks for the wealthy and are threatening to not vote for middle-class tax relief by itself. Those tax breaks for the wealthy mean an extra $100,000 per each million of income in the pocket of millionaires.

Michael Moore and the Mosque

2010-09-11T21:08:00.000-07:00

Michael has a new blog where he intends to write every day. The one he wrote for today, 9/11, is:

If the 'Mosque' Isn't Built, This Is No Longer America

I've been talking about this for weeks, that we should be building a mosque right AT ground zero which would stick it in the face of oppressive Muslims world-wide. Mike says the same:

I am opposed to the building of the "mosque" two blocks from Ground Zero.

I want it built on Ground Zero.

Why? Because I believe in an America that protects those who are the victims of hate and prejudice. I believe in an America that says you have the right to worship whatever God you have, wherever you want to worship. And I believe in an America that says to the world that we are a loving and generous people and if a bunch of murderers steal your religion from you and use it as their excuse to kill 3,000 souls, then I want to help you get your religion back. And I want to put it at the spot where it was stolen from you.

You tell 'em, Mike! Much more at the blog and it's worth checking out, like this quote from George Washington:

"The citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy -- a policy worthy of imitation. ...

"It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it were the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights, for, happily, the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens ...

"May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants -- while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid."

Too bad America has seldom lived up to that ideal.

Chrome

2010-09-02T14:02:00.000-07:00

Image via WikipediaGoogle Chrome has been my choice for a web browser for a few months now. Seems to work pretty good, much better than Safari, which I no longer touch. Firefox is good but Chrome is faster. The new Firefox 4 looks to be almost as fast as Chrome, but I haven't tested it much yet.

But - I just downloaded Chrome 6 and damned if this thing isn't even faster than the last version. Pretty soon it's going to be loading stuff while I'm just thinking about it.

Everything I do on the new Chrome seems to be very smooth and nearly instantaneous, I like it.

Edward R. Murrow

2010-08-29T07:36:00.000-07:00

‎"We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven into an age of unreason if we dig deep into our history and remember we are not descended from fearful men."

For those who don't know Murrow was a great reporter and commentator. Keith Olbermann uses his closing remark "Good night, and good luck" as an homage to him, not to claim he is the modern Murrow. That full speech can be seen here as an excerpt from the movie about him, it was his retirement speech.

Best Bush Poster

2010-08-28T20:50:00.000-07:00

It really pisses me off that Obama is now taking the blame for Bush's crap.

Bush trashed the economy and bailed out the big banks. When Obama came into office he attached the caveat that the banks had to pay us back, Bush just gave them the money, no strings attached. But now everyone blames Obama for the bank bailout. It was already a law passed by Congress when Obama took office.

Obama kept the economy - and likely the entire world's economy - from going off the cliff. We'd be in the Greater Depression if McCain had been elected.

SMBC

2010-08-25T13:07:00.000-07:00

SMBC stand for Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal. It's a site of cartoons (so why doesn't the C stand for Cartoons? I don't know). Hours and hours of fun.

Crazy People

2010-08-24T17:50:00.000-07:00

I found this cartoon at The Godless Liberal Social Society on Facebook and had to repost it here. This probably explains why I'm an atheist better than many pages of writing.

Muslims

2010-08-23T10:38:00.000-07:00

Here is an article that lays out what the whole question is, it's not really about the Mosque at Ground Zero (which is not a mosque and is not at ground zero).

One thing is clear: the feverish discourse about Muslims’ role in American society is not about the proposal to build an Islamic community center a couple of blocks from the World Trade Center site. Park 51, as it’s being called, merely let an ugly genie out of the bottle. The dark stain of Islamophobia had spread far and wide long before the controversy erupted.

The Story of Eggs

2010-08-19T13:46:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

Tuesday morning I got sick as a dog, spent all morning in the bathroom, throwing up and other things. Finally went to bed around 11am and slept straight through until 4 pm. I was just out of it. I figured I must have developed an allergy to eggs suddenly. I might have had a fever but it's hard to tell with me since my internal temp fluctuates between 96 and 101 for no apparent reason and with no symptoms, so I usually don't bother to take my temp any more.

Wednesday night I hear the news blurb "Egg recall, story at 11." I didn't stay up until 11, still feeling pretty bad, so I watched the news in the morning and got the story; 300 million eggs recalled because of salmonella poisoning. That explains it I guess, it was a Ralph's brand. The funny part is that the eggs on Monday were the last three of the dozen.

I had some stomach gurgling after eating the other eggs but nothing too serious. Since I have IBS and get sick all the time anyway some extra gurgling doesn't get much attention. I wonder if the salmonella had time to multiple in those last 3 eggs after being in my fridge for a week?

Still not feeling great today and have no desire for lunch, although yesterday I had some pepperoni pizza. I always want awful foods when I get sick, I don't know why, maybe craving the grease? I donno.

Anyway, I'm off eggs for quite some time now, maybe forever. Even toast, which I ate with the eggs on Monday, sounds bad right now.

Fun times.

Obama vs FDR

2010-08-18T10:48:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

Jeff Shesol writes about the differences between Obama and FDR:

Heading into his first midterm, Roosevelt, too, faced an ailing economy and critics blasting him as a socialist. Jeff Shesol on how he beat the odds—and what Obama needs to tell America now.

FDR was not subject to a mid-term disaster that Obama seems to be heading toward, because he had vision.

One of the main reasons FDR prevailed—then and thereafter—was his ability to paint a clear, consistent picture of the kind of country he wanted America to be, the kind of country we needed to be in the industrial era.
....
In his inaugural address, President Obama spoke of a “new era of responsibility,” but soon dropped the idea in favor of another unifying theme (wrapped in a laundry list, inside a mixed metaphor): a “new foundation… built upon five pillars that will grow our economy.” The pillars—financial reform, education, clean energy, health care, deficit reduction—tell us a lot about his priorities, but little about his basic objectives. Where does this all lead? What defines Obama’s America? Absent a clear answer, Obama has, in effect, asked the country to infer his goals by inductive reasoning—to assume that on the basis of policies A, B and C, Barack Obama seeks X, Y, and Z.

I'm not sure if Obama is lacking in vision or is just unable to communicate it. What he has done is a number of individual acts, each that stands on it's own. It adds up to something very similar to what FDR did, but they don't reflect an overall vision for the country, nor do most people even know what he's done.

I sure hope he can turn this around. If we have fewer Democrats in the House and Senate things will jsut get tougher for him.

Brett is Back!

2010-08-18T09:39:00.000-07:00

Brett is coming back to the Vikings:
Image via Wikipedia

Steve Hutchinson, Jared Allen and Ryan Longwell were dispatched to Favre's home in Hattiesburg to convince the 40-year-old quarterback to return. He was contemplating retirement yet again because of a surgically repaired left ankle that was hurt in the NFC title game.

I was one who didn't want him coming back, he's just too old and it was obvious in the last game of his last season. He was clearly out of steam and struggling. Maybe he plays pretty well, but he just doesn't have the endurance any more.

But he's getting $25 million for a 2 year contract.

There are different Muslim sects

2010-08-18T08:59:00.000-07:00

William Dalrymple writes at the New York Times about the mis-named 'Ground Zero Mosque.'

Feisal Abdul Rauf of the Cordoba Initiative is one of America’s leading thinkers of Sufism, the mystical form of Islam, which in terms of goals and outlook couldn’t be farther from the violent Wahhabism of the jihadists. His videos and sermons preach love, the remembrance of God (or “zikr”) and reconciliation. His slightly New Agey rhetoric makes him sound, for better or worse, like a Muslim Deepak Chopra. But in the eyes of Osama bin Laden and the Taliban, he is an infidel-loving, grave-worshiping apostate; they no doubt regard him as a legitimate target for assassination.

The Mosque at Ground Zero

2010-08-16T19:29:00.000-07:00

There is no mosque and it isn't at ground zero, as Keith more than adequately explains in this special comment. This entire fiasco has left me feeling that Americans are petty, small and cowardly. We seem to be scared of everything these days, and the minute some Republican tells us to be scared people start crying out.

At the end of this special comment Keith explains what REAL Americans should do in this situation. Maybe our fathers or grandfathers would have done that but we didn't. The fact is that putting a Mosque at Ground Zero would have been the most American thing to do, but that was in some past America, not this one.

Follow this link back to MSNBC and watch the video of an American Muslim woman who was one fo the first responders at Ground Zero. Look at the pain in her eyes as she realizes few fellow Americans would see her as being American at all.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

What Voters Want

2010-08-14T02:27:00.000-07:00

Here is a great article on what the American people want.

The good news is that it fits with the Democratic's stance on every issue, the bad news is that few seem to know that those ARE Democratic stances, they think the Republicans will make all those things happen and have completely missed the fact that the Republicans want exactly the opposite of what most Americans want.

This is a complete failure of the Democrats to get their messages out, most of the blame falls on Obama, he seems to have very little interest in telling people what he's done and what he intends to do. He seems to think that if he just does a good job he will get all kinds of accolades for that, not realizing he'll get no credit at all if no one knows he's done any of it.

So the Democrats are going to lose badly this November even though the public wants what they stand for and want to do.

Zemanta

2010-08-13T12:39:00.000-07:00

Image by dragon762w via Flickr

I use Zemanta to add content to my blog posts, such as pictures. I've been having problems with it after switching to Chrome so I uninstalled it.

Now I've reinstalled it, so I know I have the latest version, but I suspect the problem is with Chrome, the Google browser doesn't work well with the Google Blogger.

Why this picture? Why the hell not? I have no idea who that is but it caught my eye ;)

Edit: Well it worked as far as publishing, which is where my problem was. I was getting error messages for illegal HTML code. heck, Blogger adds the code on it's own. I am still having a weird problem, I can't hit Return and move down the page for a new paragraph. I have to start the paragraph, then back space to the start of the paragraph, THEN his return.

Then it works. What a hassle. Much as I like Chrome I might have to use Firefox whenever blogging.

Tax Cuts for the Rich

2010-08-13T12:17:00.000-07:00

Ezra Klein has a great picture to illustrate what the Republican tax cuts are all about.

If you are not rich the Republican party is NOT for you, period. They are the party that ONLY represents rich people and corporations, like their whining that Obama was being too tough on BP in making them pay for the oil spill and it's consequences. Boo Hoo, poor, poor BP people. Tony Hayward had to take his multi-million dollar salary and move to Siberia. How terrible.

An Encounter at Ground Zero

2010-08-05T08:37:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine who lives in New York City sent me this email, which is such a great story and so well written I just had to post it:

Apart from being a moment of true, embarrassing old-fuckitude, I'm not quite sure in what venue where this wonderful story would fit -- apart from the old Playboy Party Jokes page -- except it's true. Maybe the Times NYC Diary, but then again no.

I boarded a downtown R train at Lexington Avenue and 60th Street and sat down in the last car to watch Rachel Maddow on my iPod. I put my huge back pack on the seat next to me, enjoying the illusion that it was somehow cleaner than the floor.

At 57th Street however, the crowd started to build, and this being a new train, and the seats being fewer, I put my bag on the floor. Across from me, a Muslim woman about 22 sat down. Fully wrapped, but for her intoxicatingly beautiful face (I'm a sucker for Persian eyes), she had a brown and white head-thingie, a blouse I can't remember and a flowing, silken, full length blue and black dress.

As we continued downtown I found myself wondering if she was getting off at City Hall Station -- my destination. Park Place where the Cordoba Center is to be and the WTC are just upstairs. With all the publicity about the Cordoba (now Park51) center downtown, the fact that an old Arab Muslim community (and mosque) has been downtown for ages made my speculation make sense. I kind of felt sorry for her. With all the vitriol and rage directed against them this summer, Muslim women in NYC must feel naked despite their conservative dress. Frankly I don't get the cover up, and find it not the least bit modest. In fact, I find it oddly provocative. Especially with a woman as beautiful as the one sitting across from me -- dirty old atheist that I am. And she had that whole Cleopatra eyes thing going on. Woo. Did I mention that?

Well sure enough, as I prepared to get off at City Hall, so did she. I hoisted my backpack over my shoulders and stood at the door. My iPod still going. As I stepped off the train, I felt a light tapping on my shoulder...

It was that woman. I thought she was going to ask me directions. I took out my earbud, and she hers, and she gently put her hand on my shoulder, leaned close enough for me to smell her perfume and feel her breath, and she whispered in my ear, in that exotic Middle Eastern accent the women on "24" use -- "Your zipper is open."

She laughed quietly after patting me on the back, royally I would even say, and went on her way smiling while I sputtered thanks and damn near broke my zipper pulling it up in spasm of sheer terror.

AHA!

Take THAT Tea Party. Open Fly Diplomacy! Bill Clinton would approve!

Obama's Accomplishments

2010-08-01T08:54:00.000-07:00

Ezra Klein talks about Obama's accomplishments on his blog, talking about the cash for clunkers program, which was wildly successful in every possible way:

But the policy wasn't popular. Few liked it. Some thought it socialism. Some thought it cronyism. Which presents, of course, a difficulty for the White House: Saving millions of jobs and the American auto industry at an ultimately very small cost to the taxpayer is the sort of major policy accomplishment you should be able to run for reelection on. But what if people don't really understand that you did it, or that it worked, or that it didn't cost them much?

This isn't the only time this has happened. Obama changed health care in America, the biggest accomplishment of it's kind since Medicare was passed in 1964, he should be riding high off of that, but he didn't get the credit he should have.

Republicans bashed him and what they called "ObamaCare" they called socialism. It seems like those so upset over socialism haven't a clue what it means because there is nothing socialist about the new health care bill, and that upsets those on the left. We all wanted a single payer system but Obama took that off the table right away, then we wanted the public option but he sold that option to the health care companies so they wouldn't oppose him.

And people are still complaining about the government getting in between you and your doctor even though there is no way for that to happen. It will STILL be what it's always been, your insurance company getting in the way of you and your doctor. That's because the government has little to do with any of this except to subsidize some people who are too poor to meet the insurance companies outrageous fees.

Why do so many still think absurdities about ObamaCare? Because the Republicans are excellent at getting their message out and Obama is very feeble at it. The right wingers lie all the time and because there is a huge amount of right wing media out there the lies get told over and over until many people believe it. But Obama's message doesn't get told very often at all.

Obama and every member of his administration should be out there talking themselves up 24/7 but they don't do it. The single sound bite they get out gets lost in the conglomeration of of media out there these days. Obama has accomplished a lot, most nobody knows about and the rest are unpopular because the right wing has lied about it.

Kindness

2010-07-29T14:36:00.000-07:00

A few days ago Lorena asked me where I got the first quote over to the right about kindness. I couldn't remember but got curious, best I could find is that Plato was the first to say a version of that and many version have been said many times since then.

I also came across a website that I like very much called Quotations About Kindness. There were many good quotes, I will only share a few so go to the site to read the rest.

How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these. ~George Washington Carver

I have to say that this comes damn close to the heart of my own personal philosophy.

Remember that everyone you meet is afraid of something, loves something and has lost something. ~H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

If every man's internal care
Were written on his brow,
How many would our pity share
Who raise our envy now?
~Peitro Metastasio

One man cannot hold another man down in the ditch without remaining down in the ditch with him. ~Booker T. Washington

Life is short but there is always time for courtesy. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson,Social Aims

The Stimulus

2010-07-28T15:02:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

Despite what everyone says Obama's stimulus WAS successful, it kept us (and possibly the world) from going over the cliff. The problem was that it was too small, which Paul Krugman tried to warn them about.

The Obama team made 2 major miscalculations; the first was that they underated the severity of the recession, they didn't think they need something huge, that the economy would bounce back like it always does, boy, were they wrong. The second was that they thought they would be able to come back and do a second stimulus, not realizing that there was no rationality left in the Republican party, they were perfectly willing to let the economy collapse in order for them to get elected and win back majorities in both houses.

Ezra Klein goes into more detail, here's an excerpt:

Ten percent unemployment and a terrible recession ended up discrediting the people trying to do more for the economy, as their previous intervention was deemed a failure. That, in turn, empowered the people attempting to do less for the economy. So rather than a modestly sized stimulus leaving the door open for more stimulus if needed, its modest size was used to discredit the idea of more stimulus when it became needed.

23rd Kinda Annual Dead-Dog Party. . .

2010-07-27T14:50:00.000-07:00

. . . at the San Diego Comic Con International. Bob Chapman and I have worked together for almost 20 years but I've never made it to his well-known, end-of-Con party because I've never stayed until the end of it and haven't been there in years.

I've even done separations and films for all Graphitti Designs' official Comic Con T-shirts, and Volunteer tees, over the years. Maybe next year I'll make it.

I've even helped him put together a number of invitations for this party over the years, so it was fun to find these photos. Lots of famous comic people there, only a few have I actually met, although I've worked with many of them. I've worked on their art to turn them into T-shirts and books and things but always through Bob.

The image below is Bob and his wife, Gena.

See more images here..

Antennagate

2010-07-20T14:59:00.001-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

I don't own an iPhone and never have, that's because I'm with Verizon where I have no dropped calls or reception problems at all in the last ten years.

Steve Jobs showed everyone how other smart phones had the same problem, that it's perfectly normal. So I took out my VerizonBlackberry Storm and covered it with BOTH hands in multiple places to see if I got a drop in bars. Nothing. I completely covered the thing with both hands and it never went down from 5 bars at all.

I think it's clear that it's ATT that's the problem, which is why I don't have an iPhone. The rumor is Verizon will have them in January 2011 if that is true then I will get one. Works out perfectly for me since my contract is up in November.

I think I will wait a month, after it comes out, though, to make sure there are no major problems.

Republican Logic

2010-07-15T08:10:00.000-07:00

The Republicans have their new strategy - they are against the deficit as an evil, horrible, awful thing that is causing joblessness, and they want to extend the Bush tax cuts for the rich. If those two ideas seem to be diametrically opposed, well, they are. But the Republicans aren't ones to let the facts get in their way.

Their narrative now is that tax cuts don't add to the deficit and don't have to be paid for. This is complete nonsense and even they know it, but that doesn't matter if they can get people to vote for them.

If you look at the chart you can see this is completely false, the tax cuts are THE reason for our current deficit, adding up to almost as much as both wars, the recovery, TARP and the economic downturn combined.

Yet the Republicans think they can get elected by stopping unemployment insurance for those out of work because it MUST be paid for and can't be added to the deficit. You know how much those unemployment benefits will add to the deficit? .01%. Yes, you are reading that right, one tenth of one percent. The Republicans won't add that to the deficit but are willing - and even anxious - to keep those tax breaks for the very rich when they will be 45% of the entire deficit.

And those tax cuts to NOT increase economic activity, each dollar spent in tax cuts results in $.35 of economic activity. 35 cents on the dollar, while unemployment payments creates $1.64 for every dollar spent. The rich put those tax breaks into savings or off shore banks to avoid taxes so there is little economic stimulus, while unemployment checks go to people who are struggling and all of that check gets spent, causing economic activity.

The sad part is that this ridiculous ploy will probably work because most voters are stupid.

What Obama Has Done

2010-06-28T15:05:00.000-07:00

He's been busy, Rachel Maddow goes over the list and it's impressive. A lot of progressives are upset because of the things he didn't do and seem to forget what he has done. Even something as simple as removing the ban on stem cell research shows why we need a Democratic president over a Republican one. Obama didn't put the public option in the new health care bill, which is serious but no one has been able to do as much since Johnson passed Medicare back in 1964. Yes, there have been disappointments but I'm not sure any other president could have done more under the circumstances.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Fake President

2010-06-16T20:02:00.000-07:00

Tonight Rachel Maddow decided to give the speech she really wanted President Obama to give last night. All I can say is - too bad Rachel isn't our actual president.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Tony Hayward

2010-06-01T13:31:00.000-07:00

The head of BP is upset, the oil spill is disrupting his life. "I want my life back," he says. Poor baby. He should go to the bank and take out the many millions of dollars he made last year in hundreds, then take them home and spread them all over his bedroom and roll around in it. I'm sure that would make him feel better. All the inhabitants of the Gulf have to roll around in is oil.

Spill, Baby, Spill

2010-05-30T10:04:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

Obama's "brand" is competent government, that's one reason so much is expected of him, and this particular disaster is probably the worst possible for him because he has limited choices on what he can do. That's why it's essential he give the appearance of being in charge even if there is little he can do.

A lot of this is the media's fault. I've been watching the TV coverage carefully all along and my constant question has been "Where are all the boats out there sopping the oil up?" An Obama representative was on Meet The Press this morning saying there were 1,400 boats out in the Gulf doing all kinds of things to get rid of the oil. Well, then, WHY THE HELL HAVEN'T I SEEN THAT!! Or even heard it. We see the footage of the oil hitting the marshlands over and over and over, but pictures of boats in the Gulf are few and far between.

It's been my suspicion for a while and this adds to it, that the corporate media is doing it's best to deliberately put Obama in a bad light. They ignore news that would make him look good and focus only on news that makes him look bad.

But Obama is helping them. He believes in substance over appearance so he doesn't spend much time boasting over his accomplishments when he should have everyone in the administration announcing them every second of every day. I thought he had learned that but apparently he hasn't.

Make no mistake, I am not a big Obama fan, it's clear he is just another corporatist, but there have been dozens of things that show why it's better to elect Democrats over Republicans, but few people know about it. Taxes are the lowest they have been since the 1950's because Obama has lowered them (I got an extra 20% off my taxes this year), but when the Tea Party people were polled 80% of them thought he had raised them.

Rand Paul

2010-05-21T14:41:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

Watching the news the last few days has been hilarious. It seems that everyone is shocked and surprised at the idea that Rand Paul is against the civil rights act from 1964. I don’t know why they are surprised, there were articles on this in a Kentucky newspaper earlier, besides, this is basic Libertarianism. They want the government out of everything.

Imagine if people could do whatever they wanted on their property, which is one of the main Libertarian principles. Anyone could keep any kind of person they wanted out of their shop which operates in the public domain. In one place that is owned by a Muslim there would be no Jews or Christians allowed, or if he wanted to charge black people twice as much he could do it. Nor would he need to follow even the most basic safety needs.

Libertarians say that the free market will work these things out for themselves, someone restricting certain people from their establishment would not be able to stay in business long, or if people started dying in there people would stop shopping there. The problem with that is - people have to die first! You would think that maybe we could do something that keeps people alive - well we have, it’s called regulation.

And businesses in the South stayed open during 100 years of Jim Crow laws, so the market doesn’t always correct itself and sometimes there is a huge price to pay when there is a correction. The Libertarian view is that freedom doesn’t come cheaply, besides, they think only stupid people would get hurt and who cares about them, anyway?

The free market is a fraud, it doesn’t exist. It would be like a football game with no rules, brutal and no fun to watch. On top of that without government interference it’s the rich who are in control. Over time all the small businesses get swallowed up by the big corporations and when there are only a few places someone can work the corporations effectively have slaves who have to accept whatever ridiculous wages and working conditions they want. So in a very real sense it’s like a football game where all the rules were written by one team and only for their benefit. Any doubts who would win?

So libertarianism and smaller government is not about freedom, at least not about the freedom of you or me. It’s all about the big corps being able to do whatever they want at any cost. This is what we have seen happening because of the 8 years rule of the Bushies. The idea is that business can “self-govern” - what a joke. The banksters were self-governing when they crashed the world’s economy. British Petroleum was self-governing with that oil rig, where the spill is in the process of destroying the Gulf. They couldn’t even be bothered to have an emergency plan in place just in case anything did go wrong.

Frank Frazetta, Master Comic Book and Fantasy Illustrator, Dies

2010-05-12T08:37:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

Frank Frazetta, the master illustrator whose brooding, epic painting style shifted the tone of comics and fantasy paperback covers forever, has died. He was 82.

He was the Grand master of comic and fantasy art, I'm sorry to see him go. I think all art in the field today was influenced by him. I rarely cry when famous people die but I'm feeling misty right now. I spent a lot of time from my teenage years on studying - and copying - his art.

Immigration

2010-04-22T07:53:00.000-07:00

Ed Schultz has really been raking Arizona over the coals lately for the new, racist law that is just waiting for the governor's signature. It ended up being longer than I intended so I thought I'd post it here:

ED:

This is the most complicated issue we have today and I really don't think there is a good solution. And both sides are split on it, each having reasons for and against.

For the Right, the business owners want cheap wages first, and to drive down wages in general. But the rest of them want all the brown people out of their country.

On the Left, first there is just plain old compassion for people in trouble, people who left everything and risked everything to find a better life. And we are a country of immigrants, it's just a matter of when our ancestors came here. On the other hand, they are driving down wages for all workers, and in some cases, such as construction here in SoCal, have pretty much destroyed the industry for American citizens. And if you happen to be an American born Hispanic good luck getting a decent job with a decent wage.

There is a price for Mexico, too. All the best and brightest, the strong and brave, are leaving to come up here. These are just the people Mexico needs to bring their country out of poverty. The only real solution is for Mexico to improve enough that it isn't worth it to come up here, but how does that happen when all the entrepreneurs, the risk takers, are up here?

Amnesty is a bad idea, when Reagan did it there were 2 million illegals here, 25 years later and there are 12 million of them because amnesty was great advertising.

I've worked in a business for 30 years where the entire warehouse crew is always Hispanic, most not speaking English. These are very nice people, when my wife died they all chipped in and bought a big bouquet of flowers to throw on her ashes when we spread them out at sea. There is no way for any employer to tell who is legal and who isn't. Every place I've been at was very strict about every employee having the correct ID, and all the illegals had them, it's a big business down here.

The Republicans always come up with draconian solutions that are always unworkable, and frankly, evil. That's what this law in Arizona is. Not only is it racial profiling so that any dark skinned citizen will get stopped and maybe go to jail because what citizen has "papers"? But it makes the police the enemies of immigrants, illegal and legal. None of them will call a cop if they are robbed. None of them will come forward to be a witness or even talk to a cop if they can avoid it. This means evil people will prey on them and the cops will not be able to do real police work.

Here in California a few years ago there was a big stink about illegals at ER's, getting expensive medical care the state had to pay for. The stink was so bad that illegals stopped going to the ER when they needed to and we started to get a TB epidemic. One idiot even put it on the ballot that all ER workers, doctor's, nurses and everyone else who worked there was supposed to keep an eye on everyone and call the cops if anyone looked suspicious. That's all we need, doctors and nurses moonlighting as immigration workers.

Jon Stewart vs Fox News

2010-04-21T21:03:00.000-07:00

He's at his best in this one, maybe the folks at Fox will learn to leave him alone.

Bernie Goldberg Fires Back

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

www.thedailyshow.com

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Political Humor

Tea Party

Too Funny

2010-04-14T07:12:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

On a blog called Living Better Skeptically – The Blog of the Jackson Skeptical Society I found this great posting. He envisions Hitchens and Dawkins as cops similar to the guys in the Bad Boys movies, going after the Pope:

A busy intersection was ahead, the traffic no longer halted by the terrified police who now had no idea what was occurring.

“We’ve got half of four horsemen here, a full one-fucking third of the unholy trinity!” Richard Dawkins shouted from the passenger seat. “I told you to get a car with a sunroof! My plan required a sunroof! I’ll never hit him at this range.” Dawkins drew his sidearm, a long-barreled Colt Anaconda with the phrase “Malthusian Solution” engraved across the grip, which was inlaid with the actual shell of a Galapagos tortoise.

“Make a new plan!” Hitchens snapped. He wheeled around an old woman with a baby carriage. Dawkins leaned out the window with his .44 and fired, but the bullets hit God’s Protection – 40 mm of armoured glass and plating.

The whole story is well worth a look.

Zinnia Jones

2010-04-08T13:36:00.000-07:00

I love this guy! Outspoken with a real attitude and a unique style. Don't let his name and look fool you, this is a guy because you can see his Adam's apple. I hope people have heard about that small town in Mississippi that canceled their prom because one girl wanted to wear a tuxedo and bring her girl friend, what assholes! ZJ explains the whole situation, what they ended up doing, and tears them a new one.

The Good Side of George Bush

2010-04-07T03:57:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

Of course I hated Bush and just about everything he did, but last Sunday on 60 Minutes they did a story that surprised me. It was about probably Bush’s one great success and something that was a great humanitarian deed that I don’t think won Bush many points at home. I never heard about and I pay attention to these things, so very few Americans would know it happened.

It has to do with AIDS in Africa. The Bush administration set up a program to get generic anti-retrovirals to Africans with AIDS. This has saved many lives, prevented much suffering, and has changed many minds about America for the better. A great success all around. Republicans, spending money to save the lives of poor, dark people in another country, and they sought no political points for it, amazing.

I practically cried when I heard it, because I was so glad something good came out of the Bush regime. All their actions weren’t pure evil, damaging America and the world around us. They did one thing that was simply a good, caring thing to do.

Unlike that America-hating Rush Limbaugh I NEVER want to see my president fail, because that means my country has failed as well and will usually be damaged by it. But Rush doesn’t care about America, he cares about himself, his money and conservative values and couldn’t care less if he brought America down as long as those 3 things - in that order - were preserved.

As for me, I’ll salute Bush and give him the respect he is due for this one, very great thing.

Health Care Tax

2010-04-06T13:55:00.000-07:00

Over on the right they are wailing over the mandate to buy insurance and how the penalty for not having it goes through the IRS and there will be thousands of new agents hired and swarming over the population to take people to jail for not paying this tax.

Total bullshit, outright and blatant lying. Here it what is ACTUALLY written in the bill:

1: “In general, the penalty provided by this section shall be paid upon notice and demand by the secretary. And except as provided in paragraph two, shall be assessed and collected in the same manner as an assessable penalty under Subchapter B of Chapter 68.”

2: “Special rules—notwithstanding any other provision of law—a waiver of criminal penalties in the case of any failure by a taxpayer to timely pay. Any penalty imposed by this section, such taxpayer shall not be subject to any criminal prosecution or penalty with respect to such failure.”

B: “Limitations on liens and levies. The secretary shall not file notice of lien with respect to any property of a taxpayer by reason of any failure to pay the penalty imposed by this section or levy on any such property with respect to such failure.”

What does all that mean? Quite simply that there is NO penalty for not paying the tax for failure to get health insurance.

This means that even though there is a mandate to buy insurance the failure to do so will not be punished in any way, which means there really is no mandate at all.

So rest easy and don't believe Republican lies.

Queer the Census!

2010-03-31T15:40:00.000-07:00

Here's a video commercial for the census from George Takai and his partner, I won't bother to explain since it will be evident when you watch it:

Beer Monster

2010-03-30T13:51:00.000-07:00

The weirdest thing happened today, Bennet was sent an email from a movie studio with a picture of one of my old T-shirts done for STS Graphics in 1986. It’s for a TV pilot that takes place in the 80’s and they wanted to get some authentic clothes for that era. I don’t know how they found this one, doesn’t look like it’s ever been worn or washed.

To make it clear, I was working for STS back then as art director, that company went out of business in the early 90’s. One of the owners decided to re-open a screen printing shop about 5 years ago with the same name. Bennet is my step-son and also the production manager for this new STS Graphics. I work for them on a freelance basis.

What a blast from the past this was. You can see the copyright in the bottom right, which is how we know the date of the art. You can also see my signature just to the right of the beer keg running up the side. This was even done BC - Before Computers, which means all the art was done by hand.

Robert Culp

2010-03-25T07:08:00.000-07:00

Image by Nevada Tumbleweed via Flickr

He died yesterday at the age of 79, collapsed on the street in front of his Hollywood home.

Most people probably don’t know who he is but he lives large in my memory because he starred in my favorite TV show when I was a kid, I Spy.

When the show first came on I wanted to see it because I was already a big fan of Bill Cosby, I’d been listening to his comedy albums for years and had them all memorized perfectly, even to the point of having all of Cosby’s voice inflection down perfectly. I was really curious to see how he did as an actor since my 12 year old self thought it strange for a comic to get work as an actor.

The big buzz at the time was the idea of a black man cast as an equal to a white man, but I was so naive about racism in those days I was completely unaware of this at the time and for many years afterwards. It never even occurred to me that something was strange about a black man in a starring role.

Culp played Kelly Robinson, tennis bum, while Cosby played Alexander Scott (Scotty). From the beginning it was Culp who drew my attention even though I watched it because of Cosby. Culp was the better actor and created a character with lots of depth who I found very interesting. No other TV show or movie has done the “buddy” theme as well. The show ran 3 seasons, 1965 to 1968. I managed to find reruns on cable a couple of years ago and found I loved them almost as much now as I did then. The chemistry between the two was still obvious and the stories were still good, for the most part. Parts of it were just pure camp because of the time when it was filmed, but that just added some comedy.

I always felt sorry for Culp because after the show he fell into obscurity while Cosby went on to make TV and comedy history, I thought that was very unfair. Cosby always spoke highly of Culp, saying that he took him under his wing and taught him the acting business and made him feel at home. In 1972 the two teamed up for a movie called Hickey and Boggs where they played 2 old and washed up private eyes, especially Culp who was the older of the two. Word was that Cosby put it together to help Culp out but I don’t know if that was true or not. Don’t know if they ever appeared together again or not.

Robert Culp will always have a special place in my memory and I Spy will always remain one of my favorite shows.

Hell No You Can't!!

2010-03-24T20:08:00.000-07:00

I love this video, it shows who the Republicans really are, evil, strident and negative.

Waterloo

2010-03-23T10:42:00.000-07:00

Jim DeMint was right, the health care reform bill has been Obama’s Waterloo, Good Ole Boy Jim just didn’t realize that Obama was playing the part of Wellington and the GOP were Napoleon.

Heh, heh.

Grammar

2010-03-20T11:16:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine posted this on Facebook and I thought it was funny enough to put here. I feel his frustration, in these days of email I communicate with most of my clients that way and am amazed at the mistakes. I'm no expert on grammar but at least I know which "there" to use when and the difference between lose and loose.

OK, folks. THEY'RE in THEIR yard over THERE. YOU'RE in YOUR yard. I'm going to go LIE down after I LAY my wallet on the table. If you have a LOOSE tooth, you may LOSE it. *** There, I'm finally got that off my chest.

Of course, it's pretty funny that he should have said "I've" in that last sentence.

When people correct my grammar and spelling I always appreciate it, we all (or most) have things we either missed or our brains twist around and can't remember. I've seen loose used wrongly so many times after 17 years on the web that there are times when I have to think about which one to use.

And I have Dan to thank for knowing when to use it's and its.

Krugman on Health Care

2010-03-13T12:22:00.000-08:00

Image by Taekwonweirdo via Flickr

On his own blog Krugman has a post called Health Reform Myths. He addresses the myths and knocks them down - easily. It's easy to do because all of the complaints the right has raised are non-existant. In other words, they are lying.

All they want to do is have Obama fail and they don't want any kind of health care reform anyway, so they lie in order to get their ignorant base all riled up over things that doesn't exist. They think they have succeeded because the polls show a majority of Americans disapproving of the bill, but the fact is when parts of the bill are broken down and polled people like all the individual parts of it.

And a lot of those that don't like it are liberals who think it's a government give-away to health care insurance companies and is lacking a public option. But Krugman says this:

For a real piece of passable legislation, however, it looks very good. It wouldn’t transform our health care system; in fact, Americans whose jobs come with health coverage would see little effect. But it would make a huge difference to the less fortunate among us, even as it would do more to control costs than anything we’ve done before.

This is a reasonable, responsible plan. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

A Great Caption

2010-03-13T10:40:00.000-08:00

One of my regular blogs that I follow is Atheist Revolution. Yesterday he had a picture on his site that was great, the best part being the caption. Go here to read it. Made me laugh out loud.

The Chilean Earthquake

2010-03-02T15:50:00.000-08:00

Image via Wikipedia

Of course we have all heard of the Earthquake in Chile. It was 8.8 in magnitude and was actually off shore of Chile, which means they also got a tsunami that did quite a lot of damage. It was the 7th strongest earthquake ever recorded.

The part that blows my mind is that it tilted the earth's axis by 3 more inches. It also increased the speed of the Earth's rotation so now our days are 1.26 milliseconds shorter. Set your alarm clock accordingly.

Health Care Summit

2010-02-25T21:00:00.000-08:00

Image by ~C4Chaos via Flickr

I thought this summit thing with the Republicans, Democrats and the President was going to be a farce and it pretty much was, but I was also pleasantly surprised. The one good thing about it was Obama’s performance. He was strong, decisive and in charge, it was clear he had - finally - taken over health care and was going to get it done, no more nonsense. We’ve only been waiting for a year for him to do that, with a lot of people saying he needed to grow a pair.

Well, today he did. He dominated the debate, clearly pushing the Republicans around. He called them all only by their first names, that was absolutely brilliant, McCain really didn't care for that at all. He let them know they were in the White House and he was the president and he trumps all of them. I’ve never seen him be so forceful and commanding before, good show.

And he would not let the Republicans get away with their usual talking points (lies). Every time they told their lies he corrected them, strongly. He was so strong he was barely being polite and made sure he got his point across that the Republican talking point was completely wrong. And he did it over and over again. I’ve been wanting the Democrats in general to do that for years, instead they always just let the Republicans win the propaganda war.

One part that really stood out was when one idiot Republican kept saying how Congress should have high deductible insurance plans along with Health Savings Accounts, that way they would have skin in the game and be more responsible in their health care choices, implying that it would work well for America, too. Obama said that’s easy for him to say because he makes $160,000 a year, but that idea just isn’t viable to the farmer making $40,000 a year. The IR (Idiot Republican) came back and tried to make the point again and Obama slapped him down again and did it several times. The IR came across as this rich guy completely out of touch with 95% of the American public (because he was) while, for the first time since his Inauguration, I saw Obama acting as a true, and impassioned, advocate for the working man, for the struggling middle class. Instead of a supporter of the corporations.

At the end Obama gave a little speech to the press, the gist of which was he appeared to realize that the Republicans were never going to support the health bill, that it wasn’t in their political self-interest to do so. It’s about time he gave up on his idea of bi-partisanship. I’m feeling more hopeful in regards to both Obama and health care reform than I have at any point up until now. It finally looked like he understood the situation and knew what he had to do to get things done.

Hope I’m right this time.

DICK!

2010-02-25T13:19:00.000-08:00

Image by futureatlas.com via Flickr

Cheney had his 5th heart attack a couple of days ago and survived it. I get the feeling that if he died no one would be able to tell the difference, he would look and sound the same.

Dick first got his government insurance back in 1967, before his first heart attack. Isn’t it funny how Republicans LOVE their own government-run insurance plans but it’s evil to give that to the rest of us? Hahaha! Fucking funny as hell.

If Dick was an average guy like you and me he would have died by his 3rd heart attack because by then his insurance company would have refused coverage because it’s a pre-existing condition. Or else Dick would have lost everything paying for the things insurance won’t cover to the point where he could no longer pay his insurance premiums so they would have dropped him.

I bet Dick never loses a single night’s sleep thinking about those of us out here in America for whom a heart attack is fatal because we can’t pay for it.

If only we had that evil, socialist, government-run health insurance that Dick has.

That is the god-damned death panel, Sarah Palin!

2010-02-25T08:28:00.000-08:00

Keith Olbermann said that on his Special Comment last night. He did a brilliant one on health care once again about his dad. He speaks about it the way only one who has gone through it could and I was in tears by the end of it. It was all familiar to me, hell, I even understood most of the medical terminology and procedures he talked about. Anyone who thinks this is hyperbole simply hasn’t been through it, especially with a loved one that you know is going to die, you just don’t know when.

Keith’s theme this time was the death panels the Right has been going on and on about. He had long talks with his dad about what he wanted and with his dad’s doctors, so everyone knew Keith had final say and what his dad’s wishes were. This is what those so-called death panels are, a chance to pay the doctor for having these very necessary discussions. He called these Life Panels. Keith said having all this squared away was the only feeling of comfort he had in the whole thing and that the real death panels were already happening when the insurance companies deny coverage that will save someone’s life.

I know Darcy and I - and her doctor - had these discussions, and I had fully expected for the last 16 years that someday I’d have to step in and tell them to disconnect the breathing machine and pull the intubation tube. I saw my roll as coming in to rescue her from a medical profession that is unable to let someone die when that is the better choice. Darcy’s greatest fear was being on intubation in a nursing home indefinitely.

Keith said that his out of pocket expenses were higher for HIM than they were for his dad because Dad had Medicare. The same was true of Darcy, no treatment was ever denied to her because she was on Medicare, in fact, according to her email lung-buddies it was all the people with private insurance who had nothing but problems and had to fight with those companies constantly. Let me assure you that fighting with your insurance company when you’ve just been diagnosed with a fatal disease is horrible. This idea of “socialized medicine” being a big boogie man is pure bullshit and designed to push people’s buttons, to get irrational, emotional reactions from them. Most of the people crying about socialism don’t even know what it is.

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The Old Lady and the Thief

2010-02-18T07:21:00.000-08:00

I love this video, it speaks for itself no need for me to say anything about it accept YOU GO, GIRL!!

Global Warming

2010-02-11T14:04:00.000-08:00

I am so sick of all the Right Wingnuts ranting about how the storm in Washington DC disproves global warming. Most of the time I think those people know they are lying but do it anyway because all their fortunes and power are based on a specific set of lies, the truth is their enemy. But this time I think they really are ignorant of the facts and willfully maintain that ignorance.

If anything the worst storm in Washington in living memory is clear evidence in support of global warming. The warming refers to the ENTIRE globe, not little sections of it. Whatever “weather” is happening in any one section of the globe does not speak to global “climate.”

Note the phrases Local Weather and Global Climate, two very different things.

But a really bad storm would be caused by global warming. The extra warmth puts more energy into the weather systems and also causes more evaporation of water which makes the air more humid. So what do you get with increased energy to drive the weather and greater moisture? Record snow storms in places that get snow, exactly like what is happening now.

At some future date it’s entirely possible that all snow across the globe is gone but there will be a lot fewer people around to complain about it.

The wingnuts have doomed their own children and grandchildren to live in a world where things keep getting progressively worse, where droughts and blazing heat, vicious snow storms and massive hurricanes are all the norm, making life difficult for a lot of people. And why are they doing it? For money. They don’t give a damn about their own decedents or are incapable of projecting their imaginations that far ahead.

The United Corporations of America

2010-01-22T08:07:00.000-08:00

The UCA is here, the Supreme Court has removed all limits on corporate spending in politics, with the exception of actually giving money directly to a candidate. But other than that, no restrictions, as many organizations and commercials that billions of dollars can buy. In small districts it would be possible for one corporation to buy up ALL available time and block all opposing views. Half our government is already bought by the big corporations, now it will become complete. Obama cab raise millions from individuals? Doesn't matter, his Republican opponent could muster up billions because we all know the Republicans only represent the corps' and not the people.

Keith Olbermann gives a pretty strong Special Comment about it. Keith is known for going over the top, but this time I think he is right on, even though it sounds like he's over the top.

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Howard Fineman

2010-01-21T09:55:00.001-08:00

This video is from the Rachel Maddow Show. It's notable because of the emotion from Fineman when discussing Obama. He clearly is angry and disappointed at Obama's shortcomings as a politician.

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Obama Gets Tough

2010-01-14T13:39:00.001-08:00

I have been a major critic of Obama from before he was even elected, he's far too conservative for me. This video shows him trying to get tough with the banks we have bailed out. It's relatively minor action but at least it's something and at least it something where Obama isn't in the back pocket of Big Money. Let's hope he does more.

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Hooray for New Hampshire

2010-01-02T15:02:00.000-08:00

Eugene Robinson

2010-01-01T16:00:00.000-08:00

Is my favorite commentator who often appears on Countdown and Rachel Maddow and he says Jim DeMint, GOP senator from South Carolina, is 'Delusional, Crazy, Nuts, Insane' I couldn't agree more and thought so long before current events. Remember that it was DeMint who said if they can stop health care it will be Obama's Waterloo.

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Top Ten Creationist Arguments

2010-01-01T15:50:00.000-08:00

Found this great video on YouTube thanks to Rick on Atheist Nexus. I thought it was an especially good one:

Simple Pleasures

2009-12-31T16:10:00.001-08:00

Sometimes in life it's those simple things that mean a lot, for me, today, this meant a BISSELL - Little Green Compact Multipurpose Handheld Deep Cleaner - Green that I picked up at Best Buy for around $75. Best Buy is great, order something online and you can pick it up at one of their stores in a few hours, and I have one near work and another near my house.

This is a little spot cleaner, a good thing to have when you have pets. It started with a big brown spot under my computer table. Looked just like a leaf, which Aki had been bringing in the house just about every day lately. It's like she thinks they are prey that she has hunted down, she's not the sharpest cat in the kitty box. So because I thought it was a leaf I just left it for several days.

Turns out is was kitty yak (the grass in it is the dead giveaway), but because I thought it was a leaf I let it sit long enough to harden and become hard to clean. Then they did another one upstairs in the hall. Now, my place is half tile, the living room, kitchen and dining room are all tile, which I like a lot. The bedrooms and the hall are the only places with carpet. So where to the cats decide to yak? The carpet of course.

So now I'm feeling really annoyed and in no mood to clean this stuff up, so I started researching carpet cleaners, finally I settled on this little green machine for a number of reasons, being cheap was the main one. And as a cat owner I figure I'm going to need this thing for years.

So I pick it up this morning at Best Buy, bring it home and what happens? Sucker worked perfectly. How often does that happen??!! Now these annoying spots are gone and it makes me feel better about life in general, and I'm armed with a great weapon for the next time we get some kitty yak.

Yemen

2009-12-30T10:27:00.000-08:00

Rachel Maddow and Richard Engel give a clear view of Yemen:

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Me and Darcy

2009-12-27T10:26:00.000-08:00

This is from 1985 when we were first dating. We are walking up the stairs where we both worked at STS Graphics, I don't remember who took the photo. This has to be the earliest photo of us together.

A Hard Headed Woman

2009-12-24T15:54:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting here listening to Cat Stevens and thinking about Darcy. Yesterday was the one year anniversary of her death. The songs make me cry.

I'm looking for a hard headed woman
One who will take me for myself,
And if I find my hard headed woman,
I will need nobody else, no, no.

I'm looking for a hard headed woman,
One who will make me do my best,
And if I find my hard headed woman
I know the rest of my life will be blessed -- yes, yes, yes.

Here are the lyrics to I Think I See The Light :

I used to trust nobody, trusting even less their words,
until I found somebody, there was no one I preferred,
my heart was made of stone, my eyes saw only misty grey,
Until you came into my life girl, I saw everyone that way.
Until I found the one I needed at my side,
I think I would have been a sad man all my life.

I used to walk alone, every step seemed the same.
This world was not my home, so there was nothing much to gain.
Look up and see the clouds, look down and see the cold floor.
Until you came into my life girl, I saw nothing, nothing more.
Until I found the one I needed at my side,
I think I would have been a sad man all my life.

What happens when you've already found your hard headed woman and she died?

The New Car

2009-12-19T16:56:00.000-08:00

Ever notice that when you buy a new car you suddenly start seeing all other cars like yours? I really saw this happen when I bought my 1996 Camry, it was the top selling car in America at the time and when I bought mine suddenly they were everywhere!

But with this new Elantra I didn’t see another one for 3 weeks. Actually kind of worried me a little, but I figure that’s why I got such a good deal on it. But now after 5 weeks of ownership I’ve seen 5 Elantras! There is even one on the same street where I work so I pass it every day.

Haven’t seen one in my color, though. I really like the color, a medium metallic gray, darker than the silver color that is so popular on cars that I REALLY can’t stand because it’s so boring. But it’s lighter than most dark gray cars you would see, and has a little hint of blue in the gray. I find it the perfect color, it’s light enough that my car doesn’t get that hot - WAY better than my black Camry. And it’s very hard to see any dirt on my car too. I’ve only had it washed once in the past 5 weeks and I couldn’t tell the difference before or after. On my Camry it would look dirty by the next day - black cars look cool but I don’t ever want one again.

I enjoy my Elantra every day, fun to drive and very comfortable. the gas mileage isn’t as good as I would like, around 21.5 mpg with about 85% street and 15% freeway driving. Still a lot better than my Camry which got just a little over 16 mpg with the same driving. With the Camry I filled up it’s 18 gallon tank every 2 weeks, with the Elantra I’ve only filled up once so far but I’m getting close to a second fill-up. So we are talking 2.5 to 3 weeks to fill up what is only a 13 gallon tank, substantial savings.

And then there is is’t most important feature - a cup holder that takes a really big cup! Back when I bought the Camry the drinks hadn’t even gotten that large yet and it wasn’t a problem for a couple of years, but it’s drink cup was just the right size for an average 12 oz can, way too small. Even medium drinks would not fit in it, so I’d have to put the drink on the seat next to me and hold it with my right hand while driving, very annoying. Good thing I had an automatic, although it was a little tricky sometimes when I was smoking. Now I have a cup holder that can handle the largest drink with no problem at all.

Life is good, almost. We are approaching the first anniversary of Darcy’s death but we won’t talk about that now.

Copenhagen

2009-12-18T22:50:00.000-08:00

Obama got totally dissed by the Chinese today in Copenhagen, to a degree that would never have happened in the pre-Bushian world. But good ole George lowered the bar so far world leaders think they can fuck with us now. It really makes my blood boil to see an American president treated that way, how far we have fallen. On the plus side Obama seemed to have rallied a bit and got a conversation going, but afterwards he looked visibly shaken. Rachel and Andrea Mitchell report:

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And then there is Senator Inhofe. He wanted to go there and talk about global warming being a hoax. No one wanted to listen to him and one reporter called him ridiculous. Man, that's all we need, more embarrassing Americans abroad:

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A Better World

2009-12-18T15:32:00.000-08:00

Just found the perfect cartoon that sums up global warming deniers perfectly, found it here:

Tis the Season

2009-12-18T13:48:00.001-08:00

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

And let's all remember the reason for the season - The Winter's Solstice! This year the solstice happens at 9:47 a.m. on Monday, December 21, 2009. That will be the local time here in California. That means it's the shortest day of the year also called the Yule and the Saturnalia. So remember your pagan rituals, burn a Yule log and drink mead, set up a tree and decorate it, etc.

Christian Billboard

2009-12-18T13:35:00.000-08:00

One blog I frequent is The Gaytheist Agenda. the most recent post has me laughing and laughing. Go look at it first them come back here:

“Poor Joseph. God was a hard act to follow”.

What a weird billboard to put up. It makes me start fantasizing about God's sex life. Hey, he ought to be able to do all kinds of amazing stuff, I wonder if he has an infinite penis?

Keith and Health care

2009-12-17T09:01:00.001-08:00

Keith Olbermann did another Special Comment, really laying it on the line about the anemic health care bill as it currently stands.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Atheist Revolution

2009-12-11T12:53:00.000-08:00

This is a blog I read regularly but haven't linked to it in a long time but I had to share this post. It's very short and very funny, the name kind of sets the mood:
Religion Should Be Like Your Genitals

New Car

2009-11-21T17:52:00.000-08:00

After months of research and debating whether or not I could afford itI finally went out and bought one.

I seriously considered keeping my old car but even though it was a Toyota I hadn’t taken good car of it, too much on my mind for the last few years. And I didn’t think I’d ever be able to buy a new car again after this. Which was my reasoning on the Toyota, I got the most reliable car in America at the time because I thought I’d have to keep it 10 years or more and I was right, kept it 13 years, which made it a wise choice and I got my money’s worth.

So I bought this car with the same idea. By a fluke of luck (not all good) I’m able to afford to buy a car right now. I was aiming for a Honda Civic because it’s the most reliable car in America right now. I was also looking at a Honda Fit as the best gas mileage of any “normal” car, I was feeling a bit leery of hybrids or the Smart Car, the technology was too new and I needed something that might need to last me the rest of my life with little maintenance.

So I ended up with a Hyundai Elentra, yeah, surprised me too. But I found it listed as Consumer Report’s number one rated small sedan - above a Civic. And found it rated between one to three on everyone’s list, so I went and test drove one, as well as a Fit and Civic. The Fit I didn’t like at all too small so the ride was rough and it had terrible pickup. Now I know I’m not going to get a car with an automatic and getting good fuel mileage that’s going to be too fast, but there are limits. The Civic wasn’t bad but it had a dashboard that was so long I couldn’t see the front of the car, at all. More than a little disconcerting.

Bottom line, the Hyundai was more comfortable and was far faster and more agile than the Civic. Compare Hyundai’s 10 year power train warranty and a price tag $3,000 less than the Civic and it was no contest.

The longer I have the car the more I like it. I have to try hard to not accelerate from a stop light too quickly while I’m still in the break in phase, but it’s so tight and fast it’s hard to avoid it. And it takes corners better than any car I’ve ever had except my Nissan 280ZX.

I tried to take some photos of it but nothing makes it look good in a picture. It looks really good in real life but that can’t be captured in a photo for some reason, so I’ll leave it with just one.

The Next Hot Model

2009-10-28T14:32:00.000-07:00

Here I am being a proud grandfather again, I just can't help it.

Ally went to some Disney concert, I have no idea who or what since I'm not an 8 year old girl. It turns out they won a contest and Ally and her friends got their pictures in the Disney magazine, Bop. She is certainly tall and thin enough to be a model.

The Public Option

2009-10-26T22:14:00.000-07:00

This commercial, starring Heather Graham and narrated by Peter Coyote, is the best one I've seen. Very funny and entertaining, yet the imagery truly captures what it is all about. It makes you feel it, which is something often lacking on the left. We get the intellectual bits but not the emotional ones.

Countdown and Health Care

2009-10-08T06:44:00.001-07:00

Keith did a full one hour special comment on health care that was very powerful, had me in tears by the end of it. So beware of the video below, it's an hour long (minus commercial time).

You can find them in smaller chunks on the website as well as a transcript to download: Countdown.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Nation Building Begins At Home

2009-10-07T16:34:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

Obama is now thinking about whether or not to send another 40,000 troops to Afghanistan. I say forget that, we need health care here at home.

We are losing 45,000 people every year due to lack of insurance, that’s 15 times the number of people that were killed in the one, single event that was 9/11. Yet everyone went batshit crazy over 9/11 and is STILL crazy about it, but no one gives a damn about 15 times that many dying every year - not in a single event but every, single year; year after year. That means 405,000 dead Americans since those 3,000 people died in 9/11.

We have spent at least 1 trillion dollars on Iraq and Afghanistan in the last 9 years at the most conservative estimate, it was likely quite a bit more than that. And it doesn’t count the aftercosts - like the medical bills for all the wounded vets and replacing all the equipment that got used up by the bombs and desert sands.

Enough to provide health care - WITH a public option - for the next ten years. Yet every one is going crazy on the second trillion but don’t seem the least bit upset about the first trillion. In fact, they want to spend still more and I don’t hear anyone complaining about our debt when it comes to wars overseas.

We have spent one trillion dollars to avenge 3,000 people, but we can’t spend that same amount to save 405,000 of our own citizens.

No enemy can ever inflict as much damage on us as we do to ourselves. America is one sick country.

FALL

2009-10-05T12:17:00.000-07:00

Image by Sabby3000 via Flickr

Today I was cold when I got up this morning. Ahhh that felt so good. We’ve had heat waves here in So Cal all through August and September to the point where everyone was more than ready for Fall to arrive.

And it did that today. The cats started making use of the kitty heat pad. Really a nice little device, a heating pad that is well cushioned and doesn’t come on until there is pressure on it and then it only gets warm where the pressure is. So it can be plugged in all the time and the cats can use it when they want.

They will need it with just me in the house. I don’t turn on a heater until ice is starting to form and then only because that level of cold can be depressing, not because I feel cold.

My nickname of the Bear is apt.

And today I also wore pants and shoes with socks for the first time in 3 months. Feels weird. That is one of the few things I like about Summer - being able to wear shorts and sandals all the time, but for the most part I hate the heat. I really don’t need the pants and shoes and socks because I don’t get cold but it’s cold enough today that people would look at me funny if I wore the shorts and sandals.

It's too bad Fall doesn't look like that picture above but the only change here is that the temp goes from a high of 90 to a high of 75. In the winter it will go down to 65. There have been some really cold winters where the highs were in the 50's. You should hear people whine when that happens.

Southern Californians have no idea of what a real winter feels like.

Mac Pro

2009-09-30T09:38:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

My new Mac Pro is a real beauty, big sucker though. Almost too big to have on the desktop, I might have to do some rearranging.

It’s a 2.66 MHz Quad core Nehalem with 8 GB of ram. 640 GB hard drive and I added a 1 TB in a second slot. This thing is incredibly fast, apps open up instantly, everything is pretty much instantly.

But as it turns out it isn’t solving all my problems, apparently Adobe just can’t write software worth a damn. I still have their apps freeze up at times, but fortunately it is usually only for a few seconds. And instead of being down to almost no free ram as soon as I open Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop - as I was on the iMac - I still have 3.6 GB of free ram, what a joy.

But that isn’t the whole story. Even with this after about a day of use the free ram disappears and the entire mac starts screwing up and I have to restart because I’m getting the spinning beach ball on everything. Adobe still gobbles up 8 GB of ram, which is absurd. I think if I keep an eye on it and quit one of the apps before free ram is almost gone that will solve the problem for another day.

I thought this might be the case but everything is so fast up until that point it’s still a major time saver and I’m very happy with it.

My biggest problem right now is getting a second monitor. I’m only using one which I haven’t done in years and it has me climbing the wall. I’m off for Best Buy right this post to get me a cheap monitor to put my tools on.

The Cats

2009-09-29T16:44:00.000-07:00

Aki is healing nicely and her fur is growing back, but very slowly. What’s funny is her normal fur feels cool but the shaved area is hot. Cats must have a pretty high body heat and the fur traps it. Both cats haven’t been the least bit afraid to go outside but they keep a better watch for the evil cats now. Whenever I see them coming inside quickly I go outside and find one of the evil ones sitting in the yard. I chase them out every time and I think they are coming by less often.

The other night 2 of them showed up together in the yard and had a major cat fight with each other. Loud enough to wake me up at 1am. I actually ran downstairs and outside in my underwear to chase them off, I want them always afraid when they come here. The yard is pretty isolated so it wasn’t a big deal.

Since my yard is pretty enclosed with fences 7’ high I thought that might keep the cats in for a while, but no such luck. One time I’m calling Aki to come in and she comes flying over the 7’ tall fence like it was nothing.

Did I mention that the fence is 7 feet tall! And they are very small female kitties, which didn't slow them down at all.

They both love going outside but I still don’t let them out unless I’m here and never at night. And when I let them out I go out first to make sure the coast is clear. Caed will actually stop and look back at me, like waiting for me to chase off evil kitties, then follow me out. And if I’m outside with them each cat will make a point of walking over to me and rubbing my legs at least once to let me know they appreciate me letting them out.

Dancin' Tom Delay

2009-09-23T14:42:00.000-07:00

This was on Countdown last night with Lawrence O‘Donnell as guest host. This is something that is so funny, yet so horrible at the same time I didn't know if I should laugh or throw up.

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Jon Stewart vs Fox News

Too Funny

Zinnia Jones

The Good Side of George Bush

Health Care Tax

Queer the Census!

Beer Monster

Robert Culp

Hell No You Can't!!

Waterloo

Grammar

OK, folks. THEY'RE in THEIR yard over THERE. YOU'RE in YOUR yard. I'm going to go LIE down after I LAY my wallet on the table. If you have a LOOSE tooth, you may LOSE it. *** There, I'm finally got that off my chest.

Krugman on Health Care

A Great Caption

The Chilean Earthquake

Health Care Summit