Thursday, March 31, 2005

Well...

I guess the thing to do is copy my latest and paste it into an email to myself. Just did write a post and up came a notice that said, in big red letters, ERRORS. Clicked on the Details link and there was a short line of code that was nothing I could understand. Nothing suggested for what I could do. Flaw in Blogger's getalong, I guess. Pity. Gonna try to post this.
Wrap.

Whitewash...

Finally Bush's handpicked members of the committee charged with investigating why the intel on Iraq--before--was so dead wrong has come back with their report. Everything was the intel agencies' fault. Bush and Cheney and the rest of the neocons' responsibility came out clean as the driven snow. Not a word about how they'd planned to go to war with Iraq long before 9/11, nor about their PNAC schemes, nor about Rumfeld's, Wolfowitz's, et al Office of Special Plans, nothing about Chalabi's giving them bullshit intel from lying agents. One hell of a fine whitewash and Bush has pronounced himself very pleased. Problem is, the report is a blatant whitewash and it's just laughable because people who have paid attention know that once again, they lie by omission. Something they're expert at doing and continue to do.

It's always what they don't say and aren't about to say that allows them to keep right on snowing people. If it works--and trust me, it works big time for them--why change? Think my dad was right when he said that there are some people who need to be hit across the head with a board before they'll pay any attention. Like a bit over 50% of our fellow citizens. Certainly the 29% who are religious fanatics--and want the nation run according to their beliefs--could use at the very least a kick in the ass that will make their noses bleed, cause they're completely oblivious to the harm they're doing as they work their tails off to turn our Republic into a Theocracy...with all kinds of encouragement from the Bushies...who don't give two hoots in hell about them except at voting time. That 50+% seem blind to the fact that good ole boy Bush and his cronies simply talk the talk while stripping them bare, running a scams of major proportions, sending them off to die in about every way one can think of. They cannot seem to understand they're dealing with hypocrites of major proportions. Just infuriates me.

Well, it's said that one gets what one pays for...and they're gonna pay for voting that arrogant liar into office, and so are the rest of us, dearly. We already are, but it just doesn't seem to register with Bush supporters, or else they're in a state of denial the likes of which is seldom seen. It's downright pathetic...pitiful. Reminds me of people playing charades at the foot of a mountain, completely unconscious of the avalanche up top that's picking up speed, but slowly, so those at the bottom won't notice until it's far too late that there's nothing they can do now to help themselves.
Wrap...

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

"Downfall"

B and I wandered up to La Jolla Village Square this afternoon to catch the 1:30PM showing of "Downfall"...Hitler's last days. Being a German film, it was all spoken in German with subtitles. Didn't matter. The man who played Hitler was magnificent. Another thing...if you've ever wondered just what being in the center of full out war looks, feels and sounds like, this is the film to see, I kid you not. "Saving Private Ryan" was a tough film, but nothing compared to "Downfall" when it comes to portraying war. At one point, I said to B, "There's Fallujah", and he said, "Yes". Incredible examination of the people who stayed to the death with Hitler in that bunker....and their reasons for doing so. And Hitler became mad. Totally out of touch with reality sometimes and sometimes lucid. Sometimes gentle and soft spoken and caring, and other times merciless. He was very very big on loyalty. Oh yeah. Loyalty was the number one thing. Truly a film to behold. B and I will have one hell of a lot to talk about when next we meet. I wouldn't have missed seeing this film for anything and am glad he was there to share it.

So a Santa Ana moved in today, and we're having one hell of a sunstorm. A total blue and gold day with not a cloud anywhere. All have been blown out to sea, since the wind is blowing out of the desert and toward the Pacific.

W joined J and I for breakfast on the hotel patio this morn. B dropped in just long enough to double check that we'd meet in front of the theater...and when I got there, he was already pacing back and forth outside.

Anyway, T, the head maintenance guy at the hotel stopped to talk to W, J and I. Had him tell W about the haunted places downtown in the Gaslamp, and W talked about one up in Normal Hts that he'd encountered. Fascinating.
Wrap...

Tuesday, March 29, 2005

YAAYYYY!

It's amazing! All those duplicate posts have gone away. Blogger did it, somehow. This is good.
Wrap.

Down All Over...

Talking about a feeding tube for the Pope, since his breathing tube make it difficult for him to eat. Funny thing is, just read on Billmon that some time ago, the Pope told his people that he did not want any extraordinary measures taken....

And there's the Rev Fallwell in serious condition in hospital...2nd pneumonia attack...

Johnny C, OJ's lawyer, died today...

And somebody else is down too, but I forget who.

Suppose somebody is trying to tell somebody something? Sheesh!

Worse, Terri Schiavo's parents have sold the list of the names and email addresses of all those folks who donated money to help them and now those same folks are gonna be spammed like crazy by the right to lifers and heaven only knows who all else. And they talk about Michael Schiavo being after money? Gawd.

So, it being Tues, the writers gathered down in Old Town. Was great fun, as always.
Wrap.

Monday, March 28, 2005

Just a bowl of cherries...

Damn! Seven of the same post! What cracks me up is the title I gave that post before it duplicated. Finally found the instructions for deleting a post. Followed them. Not sure whether Blogger added another copy, but I know none were deleted. Seems Atrios lost another post too...or many posts. Like me, he's gonna hang in there because the tech guys at Blogger will fix whatever's wrong. Sooner or later. Bet they're up all night, poor devils.
Wrap...

Just Observing

Just Observing

Sorry about that! Seems Blogger decided to publish the "No end to this" blog twice! Well, better than not publishing the post at all!
Wrap.

No end to this...

THEOCRACY RULES:
...absolute foolishness and idiocy. So the guy raped and killed the waitress. Off to trial at the Colorado Supreme Court. And what does the jury do? They get a Bible and try to ascertain whether the guy gets life or death. See NY Times today:
(March 28, 2005Death Sentence Thrown Out Because of Jury's Bible ReadingBy THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Then, from R in Florida, comes an audio: Seems this female up in Northern Calif is at a drive-through fast food place and she phones the police, gets the dispatcher. Wants the police to come immediately. Fast food place is mopping the kitchen floor. Gal wants her Western Cheeseburger. They give her some other cheeseburger...twice. She won't drive away from the window, they won't give her that Western so she wants the police. Takes the dispatcher awhile to tell her she's not dispatching a squad car to deal with a cheeseburger. Period. Tells the gal to get her money back and go elsewhere. That gal thinks "protect and serve" means just that...even for a sandwich.

A, J, and I all at breakfast this morn on the hotel patio...along with several small families. Best behaving kids we've seen in a long time. Only two Fruit Loops escaped to the floor where one little guy sat...and soon as they left, the chickadees got 'em both. So A is off to NYC tomorrow at 0-dark-hundred. Doing a powerpoint presentation to some gov. group there. J finished some long court tape and so has a short break. I stopped in at the cleaners, then walked next door to check out another shop's CD sale. So gal--big blond hair, all curly, much makeup--is proprietor. She's listening to Dr Laura on radio. Ask her if she's a regular listener. Yep. I ask what she likes about Dr Laura. Well, she says, Dr Laura is sensible and plain talking, and she doesn't approve of stuff like unmarried mothers either. Uh-huh. And I'm thinking, wonder if the good doc approves of unmarried fathers too? Gawd.

Got back here, have chocolate cookies. Soothing my temper.
Wrap.

Sunday, March 27, 2005

Blogger Down...

Notice from Blogger. We'll be shut down this afternoon for a couple of hours starting at 3PM (Pacific time) for tech stuff. Has to do with "a whole new design" that will be released May 8th...for Mother's Day! Yep. That's what they said. Of course my curiosity level has racheted right up there...but will have to wait till May to actually see what they've done.

Dropped C off at the movies after breakfast on Marie's patio this morn. Wants to see "Ice Princess".

V, the former Green Beret was at Marie's for breakfast this morn too. Said he goes shooting only one morning on weekends. It's 100 mile drive out there, and with the price of gas....

Hazy, but warm day. S grabbed his camera gear and headed downtown to do some shooting first thing this morn. Don't expect a return for hours.

Me, I'm gonna finish the Sunday papers, then jump back into Hunter's most excellent novel. Didn't put it down until 2 this morn when I realized I was falling asleep in place.

Had an email from B this morn, wondering why, with all the churchs' political activity they weren't losing their tax exempt status. Damned good question. Somebody should file a lawsuit and see just how fast BushCo can legislate to get rid of present law, since BushCo depends on churches to spread the word among his grassroots...get Fundies voted into all kinds of local positions...school boards, city councils, mayors, etc, so the Repubs can hold onto power. Can't have the Moral Majority on the seats of power without those churches preaching to their folds.
Wrap...

Saturday, March 26, 2005

You know?

I ended up with 7 out of 11 right. And had fun trying to answer these most unusual questions.

http://fekids.com/img/kln/flash/DontGrossOutTheWorld.swf

Neat afternoon. C and I went off to Bookstar. Few things I like better than bookstores. Got about four hardcovers...one of my favorite writers, Stephen Hunter. He writes about snipers like nobody else, and have already gotten right into it. Just excellent, as always.

Stopped at Marie's patio on the way back for coffee and bean soup and pie. Guy was there that usually is there for breakfast. Built solid, that man, and after spending a few months just exchanging helloes, but watching him, I had an idea he was Special Forces or had been. So for the first time, we somehow started a conversation and sure enough, former Green Beret. Hadn't made breakfast because he goes out shooting in the desert on weekends and that's where he'd been this morn. So we talked weapons awhile--he likes long rifles--and eventually he told me he'd commanded an A -Team, and that he was the only one of the team left. The rest were dead. Killed in various ops. Hell of a thing, and really sad. As he said, they were like family. In any case, he's a good guy. Talked about the 50 cal sniper rifle. He knew a guy who hit a target that was two miles away. Only time he'd ever seen that, didn't think it could be done, thinks it was accidental. Laughed when he said that. Doesn't like the idea that people can just walk in and buy 50 cals. Said that unless they were in combat, they didn't need a weapon so powerful. I damned sure agree.
Wrap.

So far, so good...

Now here's a plain talking guy from down in the south. Take 5 and consider.

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Mar05/Bageant0322.htm

C and I breakfasted on Marie's patio this morn, it being FINALLY a warm, sunny day, and not pouring rain or with icy winds sweeping in off the Pacific. It's warm enough that everybody and their brother is gonna be down at one beach or the other. Make a dip in that sand, throw your towel or blanket in it, and stretch out and bask and listen to the sound of the surf. Don't know how many times I've done just that. Did it once on a cloudy day and ended up with the worst damned sunburn I've ever had. But that was when I first hit San Diego and didn't know any better. Tanning rays of that sun hit the ground and all on it, clouds or no.

Just silently digressed...wonder what's happening in other parts of town about now? Like Normal Heights neighborhood. On Adams Ave in particular. There's an older guy there who, for 30 years has owned and run Lou's Records. Just a small storefront...and he lives there too. That man has about every record ever produced, I swear. Great community man...got the big Adams Ave Street Fair off to a start and has kept it running since. And now he's been given 30 days notice to vacate the premises. It's ended up with him going nuts until he finally found he'd have to rent two places...one for the store and another to live in. Have no idea where the new place is. Neighborhood people are not happy with the building owner, lemme tell you.

Same thing has happened to B's hair salon. 30 days and out...to where? The salon has been there, like Lou's Records, for years and years. Most clientel are older and they just don't drive in downtown San Diego. Have to find a place with parking and in a quiet part of town like the salon is now. What's gonna happen to the wonderful old house the salon is in? Well of course the landlord is gonna demolish it and build condos or apartments or some damned thing there. It's all about $$$$ and always is. Them as got it, rules.

That damned BushCo...it's not enough that he rule the United States. He and his neocon buddies intend to rule the world. Period. Like he said, it's my way or the highway. And force awaits if it doesn't go his way. He's a bully and so are the rest of his gang. It's all he knows, all he's ever operated by. Does it occur to him that Hitler and Stalin have already tried this bullshit? And failed? My dad used to say, "No matter how big you are, there's always somebody bigger". So who's bigger? Asia. We have millions of citizens. China, for instance, has billions of same...and they've got their military-industrial-electronic complex up and running. What do we have? Oceans on each side. In our wisdom, we've outsourced most of the rest.

Even McDonald's is testing the idea of people driving up to their order window and somebody in India taking that order and transmitting it to the kitchen here. So, people lose jobs, lose the skills, the knowledge, the abilities. Is that smart or what?
Wrap.

cie la vie....

Last night's post bit the dust. I know this because of its not appearing on this blog. Guess I might as well assume that either I've screwed up or Blogger has screwed up or, as S often says, "Anything mechanical can fail at any time", and apply that to electronics as well. In any case, it torques me every damned time.

I guess, too, that Terri Schiavo still lives, else my "front page" on this machine, the NY Times, would have opened with a huge blaring banner headline: "Schiavo dead" or something to that effect.

And with that, I'm off to check on the email....and see if this post posts.
Wrap....

Friday, March 25, 2005

Man oh man...

Just finished reading Murray Smith's espionage novel, "Devil's Juggler". Was his first book, published in 1993. Absolutely horrifying, the story he wrote. Left me feeling as though I'd been hit with a mental baseball bat. Stunned to a full stop. A rare experience.

So finally come over here and there in my email is a piece J sent, written by Joe Bageant, entitled "Finding Jesus At the Cracker Barrel". As I read it, I realize that here is the explanation for just how fundamentalist religion seeped into the nation and began to take over and stain everything in sight with its bloody dark beliefs. Don't know where J found it. Could probably Google and find out.

That does it for me tonight. I'm hitting the sack.
Wrap.

Thursday, March 24, 2005

In addition...

Former Lt Commander, Keith Taylor, writes for www.voiceofsandiego.com a new online newspaper for San Diego. He has an article in V of SD's "People" section on a sailor here who refused to board his ship...which was carrying Marines to Iraq. Worth reading...the question is, what will the Navy do to this young sailor?
Wrap...

"Mooning Amtrak"

The San Diego Union-Tribune has a column by a former legislator, Lionel Van Deerlin. Now Van, as friends call him, is not one bit happy that BushCo has cut off funding for Amtrak in his budget--which nobody is paying attention to, distracted as they are by Schiavo, Jackson, et al--and he devoted his column to saying so.

Additionally, it seems that some years ago, a bunch of guys once decided to leave the bar they were in and moon Amtrak as it passed. It is now a yearly ritual...and Amtrak slows down so the passengers can enjoy those bared behinds as they pass. Mr Van Deerlin thinks it's only right that since BushCo et al has, by cutting off funding, mooned Amtrak in his budget, they should also come out, line up with the guys, and moon Amtrak and passengers in person on July 9th.

Sounds like a plan to me. If that wouldn't show Amtrak riders what BushCo et al thinks of them, nothing would. The rest of his column can be found at www.signonsandiego.com It's a good read, as always.

And so is Bob Herbert's column for tomorrow in the NY Times. Don't miss it.

J and I left the hotel patio about 10 minutes early today. I had to make a fast run, first to Chrome to pick up 35mm slides, then downtown to the SD Conv Ctr to drop them off before S left the place for Poway to meet with another photographer. So, okay, dropped them. Wanted to continue down Harbor Dr and hang a left on 5th Ave, so pulled into the left turn lane just in time to see the bars come down and hear the bells ringing cause here came the Santa Fe freight train. Hell with that. When the lights went green, I swung outta the turn lane and continued down Harbor Dr till I could hang a U-Turn and head parallel to the train tracks and turn right on Pacific Hwy and just cruise on back here.

In pouring rain. That started the second I'd done the U-turn...and continued all the way home. Supposed to be raining still in the morning, then 74 degrees and sunny on Sat and Sun. Hah. I'll believe it when I see it. Snow in the mountains today and tonight too. But down here on the coast, there are the most gorgeous flowers everywhere you look. Grass is green, trees are green, it's a sight to behold. And way out on the horizon over the Pacific lies one huge ship. Been there for three days now. Not sure if it's a cargo ship or an aircraft carrier. It's so far out its silhouette is faint, so can't tell. I check on it every morning on the way to breakfast.
Wrap.

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Eatin' Chocolate...

Now that all the 451 emails are gone except for two, things are looking up. Well, they were until Musicmatch popped up to say they had an upgrade that provided better security. So I clicked on "okay" and the shit hit the fan. Ended up uninstalling Musicmatch twice and trying to get it installed three times...with not once being able to get a clean install. Then realized that Windows had blocked it. So, one more uninstall, then reinstall but first telling Windows to leave it the hell alone. Sheesh! Once I saw that, I had a chunk of chocolate.

Lingered over breakfast on the hotel patio this morn. Started out with just J and I, then came W, then M, then B! Much discussion about conference workshop leaders, 3-day tracks, conferees and so forth. Then, because W is SD police, some hilarious tales of policing our infamous border...the one between the US and Tijuana Mexico...concerning the antics of our citizens who stagger back about 4AM. From there to B and a conversation about our Catholic Bishop who sent out orders to all churches forbidding them from holding funeral mass for a gay niteclub owner because the Bishop didn't approve of his business!!! So funeral services were held in an Episcopalian church and almost immediately the Bishop apologized and said he'd personally say a mass for the dead man. We have one large and active gay community here and they promised they'd all stop donating to the church...among other things. Tony Perry reported on that situation in the LA Times this morn. From there it was Teri Shiavo and her feeding tube. We liked to never got finished drinking toxic amounts of coffee, smoking and talking. Was great.

Drove over to pick up a receipt from Peter for his computer work, stopped for eggs, headed home, and immediately had chocolate.

Got on the computer, read a blast of news. Iraq, Shaivo, Afghanistan, Soc Sec, budget, taxes, and went for chocolate.

On to the blogs...cracked a new pack of smokes, and very shortly more chocolate...and coffee.

Thus it has gone, all the day and into this evening. The world is not lookin' good.
Wrap.

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

You won't believe it....

Everything happened! Here's the sequence: Thurs nite, went to shut down this machine. It wouldn't. Finally gave up and turned it off manually. Friday, after getting home from breakfast on the hotel patio, turned it on. It refused to load Windows XP Home. Just cycled and cycled round and round to the "safe" page.

That did it. I hauled it off to Peter, the genius computer guy at Micro-Mechanics. Half hour later, Peter calls and tells me to bring the disk. He may have to reinstall Windows. YIKES!!! I bring the disk.

Sat afternoon, late, I phone Peter. He believes the hard disk is contaminated. So far, he's tried five different de-contaminiation programs with no success and is carrying on. Told him to save whatever he could.

Sunday. Peter's not working.

Monday: He's working on it...

Tuesday (today): Peter calls and says, "Come and get it." I'm out the door in a split second. Peter has saved everything. It's working beautifully. I ask what was wrong. And he says, "orphaned files". "Say what? What are those?" To which Peter asks, "When did you last defrag this computer?"

Now that's an "oh, shit" question for sure. I wince and admit that I never had. And that was the problem. So much stuff saved, files flung all over, got so bad that Windows couldn't locate the file it needed to open Windows. Peter had defragged. Now I'm on cable, but defragging increased the speed! Promised Peter I'd defrag every month without fail. And he charged me only $70!!! Don't know when I've ever felt so damned stupid.

Talk about being cut off from the world! I read everything in sight. I tied up all the cords into neat little bundles. I looked at photo albums. And when I got this computer home this afternoon, it had 451 emails waiting.

But it's Tues, and so at 4:50 this aft, I headed for the writers' gathering in Old Town. Got back at 7:45 this eve or thereabouts and have been dealing with email since. Still have 48 to go. Will do those tomorrow. Enough already!

Was just tickled to have an email from CB (Colby Buzzell)--the guy in the Stryker Brigade in Mosul, Iraq, whose blog, "My War", drew so much attention, the brass shut him down. And now that he's back, he's just had the 2nd in his series of articles published in Esquire! He said he'd never in his life dreamed he'd be writing for Esquire! Or writing, for that matter. And like always, he's telling it like it is and mincing no words.

Was damned neat to have your comments waiting too! And now I'll go see what Workaholic and Cate have been up to....
Wrap...

Thursday, March 17, 2005

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Well, the Ides of March passed yesterday and St Patrick's Day hits tomorrow, and Sat the 19th--this coming Saturday marks the start of 2003's "Operation Iraqi Freedom". Sunday is both the start of Spring and Palm Sunday, so things are moving right along. And then there's Purim--the day Jewish folks feed everybody they can lay their hands on. Always did love Jewish food. Have two great Jewish restaurants in San Diego--D.Z. Akins and--Damn! Forgot the other one's name. No matter. It will come to me. When it does, I'll just put it down here in capital letters. I may have to email one of the other writers to tell me. Okay. I just did that. One of them will surely know. I'm thinking it's Samson's but am in no way sure. I hate it when this happens. Gawd!

So now the Repubs can start drilling for oil in Alaska's beautiful and pristine wildlife preserve. Heard on Air America this morn that the equipment is already up there, ready to go. They must be so proud of themselves...especially after pulling off their horrible bankruptcy bill. If they manage to get Bush's nominated people for the Supreme Court, we are well and truly screwed. Can Justice Rehnquist make it for another three years? We'd damned well better hope so. Sandra O'Conner? Fingers crossed. Same for the others. So far as I can tell, none sitting now are fanatics, though a couple of them skate the edge now and then--Thomas and Scalia.

Couple of big court cases wrapped up today: off goes Scott Peterson to San Quentin and the death penalty. He'll spend many, many years there, going through one appeal after another, but I doubt it will do him much good in the end...unless we abolish the death penalty. Highly unlikely. And Robert Blake has been pronounced innocent. So he falls right into the hands of Barbara Walters this very night. Am I gonna watch it? Hell no. Sheesh!

And Congress takes up the matter of steroid use. If the "national pastime", baseball, weren't involved and the records of the players, I doubt they would have...kids using steroids or no. Congress is full of sports fans and they want those record-setting players to have won those records without cheating with steroids. You don't mess with the National Pastime!!!

Next up is Tom DeLay, Repub Minority Leader in the House of Reps. That crooked individual has ethics problems up to his eyebrows...so many that his fellow Repubs are getting upset with him for maybe making them all look bad. Couldn't be partially due to their own behavior, could it? Like getting rid of the Repubs on the Ethics Committee who had censored him and putting Repubs who owe him in their places could it? So now there are 3 Dems and 3 Repubs on that committee. And will they call him up for questioning/investigation? Not likely...not yet. Hell, they've even said that if DeLay is indicted, he can keep his position as Majority Leader. Damned fools.

What really torques me is that the person in the White House who tipped Robert Novak the name of Joseph Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, CIA, is still running free. That was a Federal Crime, dammit! And a crime for Novak as well.

Okay... I'm gonna go with Samson's Deli. No telling what the writers are up to since none has emailed yet. Soon as I sign off here, no question but what they will.
Wrap...

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Definition: Tyranny

Following quote is courtesy of www.independentclearinghouse.com Thank you ICH!

"The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny." James Madison. Federalist 47."

Thus, BushCo. And so what does a republic such as the United States do about tyranny? Isn't this something that BushCo would say requires "regime change"? And just what country is going to declare unilateral war to free us? We have a problem here. BushCo is determined to make sure the judiciary is in his hands, since he already controls majority of the legislative and all of the executive branches of our government.

"Our" government? Need to think about that a bit.

Lincoln stated a government Of the people, By the people, For the people. And what do we come up with? A tyranny. The people have done an incredibly stupid and self-defeating thing. We put a tyranny in power.

People like this: A TV show, "Street Smart" I believe, goes around asking people to fill in the blank with the correct word. So they ask this person A something like this: When people see another person acting as though he/she has no sense at all, they say, "He has......... in his belfry." And the word, person A gives is "bells". Or, What is the name of the famous intern in the White House Linda Tripp is famous for secretly taping? And person B says, "Bill Clinton".
Thus we end up a nation ruled by tyranny....voted in.

This is disgusting.
Wrap...

Monday, March 14, 2005

Military Videos

The LA Times has an article on the military in Iraq. Many of the troops carry video cameras with them and film during combat, then return to their base, edit, and add hard metal music. Seems some of them are extremely gory. When their families see those videos, some don't react well, which leaves some of the soldiers puzzled because "that's their life" in Iraq. Other soldiers know their folks won't want to see them.

But many of the videos are now on the internet, and the brass knows that once they're out there there's no way to get them back.

This is one documented war, thanks to technology and the troops' desire to have people at home know what they're going through. Maybe they hope seeing their videos will help to discourage future wars. I don't think so...now that we're madly developing robot soldiers. Consider the Predator robot planes already flying. The future, if technology succeeds in one side having robots and the other side not having them...well, can you imagine being attacked by an army of robots? Not unlikely. We have a couple of them that were supposed to "die" quite a long while ago, roving Mars even now.

The future...who knows?
Wrap.

Just Observing

Just Observing

This from International Herald Tribune tonight--will be published in the NYTimes tomorrow.

Liberal bloggers unite to get media attention
By Jonathan D. Glater The New York Times
Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Read the article here: http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/03/14/business/bloggers.html

Wrap...

Just Observing

Just Observing

Go immediately to http://smokymtgirl.blogspot.com and read that short short story, titled: "Conjurations". Gave me a shiver!
Wrap....

Just Observing

Just Observing

Hell...don't even need hackers to get that personal info! J, one of the writers, emailed this to me yesterday:

"'Twas trapped in the carwith radio yesterday and came across Kevin Mitnik
(yep, ye olde reformed hacker), talking about hacking into cell phones.

He gave a great example of people's stupidity, relating it to big business
and 'these are the people--the mentality--working for you...'

Seems there was a big trade show in London and some cellular provider did an
experiment with giveaways. They gave away a box of pens to anyone who would
tell them their (the individual's) voice mail password. Nine out of ten
people gave it up for a box of pens.

The company found it fascinating. So the trade show, they experimented
again. This time the prize was a chocolate easter egg. Seven out of ten
took the egg and revealed their password.

Any wonder why there's so much hacking going on? And according to Mitnik:
the provider easiest to hack and most often hacked: T Mobile.

'Twas a painless drive. Wish I'd heard the whole show...
************************
And then, today, J adds:

"The thrust of what he (Mitnik) was talking about (and what his new book is about) is
how important it is for companies to stress to their employees the necessity
for keeping private information private and for company employees to
understand how vulnerable they make the company when they shoot their mouth
off at the wrong time/wrong place.

The interview aired on KFI-AM Radio in Los Angeles on Sat. 3/12 on The Tech
Guy's show."
*************************

Tell you what...people who'd swap that info for those items...What the hell were they thinking? Guess they weren't. Hoo-boy!
Wrap...

Sunday, March 13, 2005

Just Observing

Just Observing

Nope. Both blogs appeared this morn, but still can't post a comment on other blogs. However, Blogger is working away on it. They sure have their hands full. Have confidence they'll find a way to fix things.

The New York Times ran a long article yesterday on these "news" video releases BushCo's people are putting out on the wire services. Apparently these started during Clinton's admin, but the Bushies have taken that propaganda tool to the extreme. When the TV people run one during their newscasts and don't bother to tell viewers that they're government produced, that the "reporters" aren't reporters but actors...as are the rest of the people in that "news" clip, then, as far as I'm concerned, major frauds are being committed on the nation. The PR people hired by BushCo are very damned good at their jobs. Do they care that the news isn't news but propaganda? One of their actor-reporters flat says she doesn't see anything wrong with what she's done. I say she's stupid.

There are gullible citizens, there are suspicious citizens, there are citizens who are downright enraged about this...and citizens who have no interest in the matter whatsoever. I give the NYTimes credit for getting their real reporters on this story, and then running it. Such deceit is major news and they've treated it at such. Good. Problem is, not everybody reads that paper. They read their hometown papers, watch hometown TV, listen to hometown radio, and haven't a clue to who's feeding them fake news..or even that it is fake. And of course, the newspapers, TV stations, radio stations...they're all innocent. They pulled the fake broadcasts off the wire services. This in spite of the fact that there's a rule that the sources of the news be told the citizens. And that's not happening. Some ethical behavior, huh? They serve themselves. Save money by using those fake news clips...don't have to hire more reporters. Seems they don't have to hire factcheckers either.

Video Monitoring Services of America (VMS) found out just who has been running the fake news clips. Monitoring services don't advertise. What they do is scan all the news services in a certain area.

Here's how it works. Say you call in to some radio talk show, some TV show. No matter where you are in the nation, VMS has an office taping talk and TV news shows. Okay. You call in and complain about the service you're getting from say, your local Ford dealer. That's taped by VMS. Within an hour or two, one of the people monitoring at VMS has the facts of that--station, time, all, put on paper. Paper goes to the sales dept. Sales dept phones the PR department at Ford headquarters. Tells them what you said. Asks if they want that clip. If they do, they'll have it within 24 hours.

Burrells monitors newspapers. All newspapers.

So the NY Times phoned VMS to find out who ran those fake news clips. VMS enters a "keyword" into their computers, and every single radio or TV station in the areas they cover (and remember they cover the entire United States), having been monitored, is identified. Info then delivered to the NY Times reporters. And thus the article is produced.

And if you think BushCo doesn't have the same info, think again. The WH communications department would absolutely want to know if their propaganda is being used to "inform" the public.

And now, Bush has nominated Karen Hughes to take over communications at the State Department. Doesn't that reassure you that the nation's news from the State Dept will be accurate, honest and unbiased? Karen Hughes from Texas who is closer to Bush than anybody but Rove...and maybe even closer. Karen Hughes, spokesman for his first run for Pres. Karen Hughes, even more loyal than Condi Rice if such is possible.

This nation is getting rolled by BushCo day and night.
Wrap...

Saturday, March 12, 2005

Just Observing

Just Observing

Lost a blog. Have no idea where it went. Comments are screwed up again. I may work up to a case of serious frustration. But no. All may be well in the morning. There's no way of knowing. Now that's "faith".

Am sad that William Murray has died. He and Dick Francis wrote mystery novels about horse-racing and the characters at the tracks. Don't know about Francis, but Murray dearly loved horse-racing. Moved to Del Mar to live practically atop the Del Mar Racetrack and when the season came, he attended every race, every day. Just a very nice guy, too. Hard to lose him.

Not going to write more. Don't know if this will post or not!
Wrap...

Just Observing

Just Observing

In the interest of fairness here is a Letter to the Editor published in the LA Times today, from Sen Joe Biden, in which he explains why he voted "Yes" on the Bankruptcy bill:

March 12, 2005


LETTERS TO THE TIMES

In his zeal to attack the bankruptcy reform bill, Jonathan Chait's March 4 commentary, "When Democrats Join the Dark Side," mischaracterizes the legislation. In 2001, a similar bill passed the Senate 82 to 16. The provisions affecting consumer bankruptcy were identical to those Chait criticizes.

At the outset, I refused to support bankruptcy reform until fundamental changes were made. I fought to establish a "safe harbor" for those below their state's median income. I also insisted on a provision requiring lenders to post a clear warning about the dangers of making minimum monthly payments, one of the worst debt traps for consumers.

This bill establishes unprecedented protections for child support and alimony, making bankruptcy part of the enforcement system for women and children, who now will be at the head of the line, in front of every other creditor. Is this bill perfect? No. But over several congresses it has earned the kind of bipartisan consensus only balanced legislation can achieve.

Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr.

Delaware
***********************
At least he making an attempt to explain that vote, so I'll give the man credit for that. I wonder what readers thought of that explanation.
Wrap....

Friday, March 11, 2005

Just Observing

Just Observing

Marvelous story written by a Spec Forces guy in Afghanistan, involving cows. http://sfalphageek.blogspot.com/ Won't talk about it cause don't want to ruin anybody's pleasure in reading it. That's not nice.

Blogger has the comments problem fixed. Really glad about that. Sure didn't take them long. Asked J to make some comment here and see if she could or would get that screen. At the time she did it, it worked, said there was one comment, but she checked and couldn't find it. Then, after a bit, I checked and there it was. So that's settled. Now I can forget about that business.

Realized this morn at breakfast on the hotel patio that I'd been calling Robert Crais' terrific new novel, The Invisible Man, when its title is The Forgotten Man.

Thinking about it, invisible would be forgotten in a way. I read once that when someone dies, they live until there is no one left who mentions their name and they are forgotten entirely. Then they truly cease to exist. Not before.

Which causes me to remember, when I was a teen, a girl named Marilyn. Marilyn struggled with a bad complexion and wore very thick glasses but had one hell of a body. So she met an Army guy home on leave....and he seduced her. Her first time. Away he went again, but they wrote constantly. She was madly in love, they were gonna be married, she was sure. He gets discharged, comes back, admits he was already married and it was over for them. About two weeks later, I learn that Marilyn had walked, one night, down the railroad tracks straight into an on-coming freight train. The engineer was incredibly upset. He said he'd tried to stop, blew his whistle, surely she saw his light, but she just kept coming....

She lives still, in my memory.
Wrap.

Just Observing

Just Observing

This is an FYI....There are several bloggers I enjoy reading and I often make comments on their blogs about whatever they're writing about. So...yesterday I tried to comment in another person's blog. Strange thing happened. Screen pops up. Says that site can't be found! So I click the rectangle centered in that same screen that says, "Back to dashboard". Instantly, I'm back on my own blog!!!

Emailed Blogger about that. Rec'd an email back. They're working on Comments. I sure hope so! Anybody else have this problem?
Wrap...

Thursday, March 10, 2005

Just Observing

Just Observing

Need to find out who these "New Democratic Coalition" individuals are and blow 'em outta Congress at the first opportunity. Found this info in "The Hill" paper in DC. Just look at this!

Coalition backing
The New Democrat Coalition endorsed bankruptcy reform in a letter to House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) on Monday, urging that he bring the bill swiftly to the House floor. “We believe that responsible bankruptcy reform embodies the New Democrat principles of personal responsibility, while at the same time adding important new consumer protections such as requiring enhanced credit card disclosure information and encouraging participation in consumer credit counseling,” wrote coalition Chairwoman Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.) and others. The New Democrat Coalition endorsed a bankruptcy reform when it reached the House floor in the 108th Congress.
Wrap...

Just Observing

Just Observing

Sen Hillary Clinton did not cast a vote on the bankruptcy bill. She was not there. She was at the hospital with Bill while he underwent surgery, so don't yell at her or accuse her of "triangulating". There are priorities in life and the ones you love take precedence over the most of the others. I think folks forgot she was at the hospital when they saw she hadn't cast a vote.
Wrap.

Just Observing

Just Observing

Just had an email bulletin from ABC that the Senate has passed the bankruptcy bill. So now it goes to the House, which says it will run the bill right through, no problem, so long as it remained unchanged...no amendments. And from there to Bush's pen. May his fingers all break and shatter into little pieces before he can sign it. No more than he deserves. Where's the mob when you need them? Sheesh!

Sat down to read Robert Crais's "Invisible Man" last night, got captured by it, and didn't get to bed until 2AM. Damned near finished that novel. And I will tonight. You betcha! Monster writer, that man is. He sucks you in so fast that time disappears and you notice not at all.

Perfect on the hotel patio this morn. J arrived before I did. Had finished all her breakfast but for a few bites of biscuit with grape jelly on it, and was reading away. I forget the name of the novel, but it was one I'd loaned her a few days ago. We pass 'em back and forth. She loaned me "Invisible Man" Tuesday at the writers' gathering in Old Town.

Little cloudy this morn, but blue and gold the rest of the day. Getting toward sundown now and I still have the mail and both morning papers to read.

Indy-weblog blogs gets more and more interesting every day. One of the members put together a list of all 437 bloggers' URLs and each one has the last three posts the blogger has written. If you'd like to take a look, go to: http://www.drlaniac.com/feeds/
She updates the whole batch, I don't know how many times a day. Talk about a varied group of people! I see that The Left Coaster's last post is headed: "18 Democratic Senators Sell Out Consumers To Pass Bankruptcy Bill Today".

My dad always used to say, "What goes around, comes around." Tell you what...I'd like to see some "coming around" descend on BushCo, Congress, Justice Dept, Cabinet Seats, regulatory agencies, Courts, and the whole damned mess of them who have followed along in whatever BushCo wanted or wants...and pay no attention to what the nation needs or wants...to say nothing of our troops and vets.
Wrap.

Just Observing

Just Observing

http://atrios.blogspot.com/ Go there, scroll down to the post headed, "Addicted to Porn" and read all about our moralistic congresspeople who raise hell about indecency, then turn around and get donations from the porn industry. Atrios just lays it out, but click the link he has to read the actual report...scroll down on that until you find the handy-dandy little chart that names every one of those virtuous people and how much $$$ the porn industry has given them. People like Joe Liebermann and John McCain and....other hypocrites.
Wrap....

Wednesday, March 09, 2005

Just Observing

Just Observing

Here's a great post on the GOP's "Compassionless Conservatisim" . He really tells it like it is:
http://kerryforpresident2008.blogspot.com/2005/03/republican-bankruptcy-laws.html

In spite of the "Kerry for Pres 2008" title, this is an individual's blog and not connected with the Kerry people.
Wrap.

Just Observing

Just Observing

Aha! Not only did the lost post appear, but it appeared just where it was supposed to be. In this case, marvelous technology.

In this case, not so marvelous. Lexis-Nexis, the monster search engine has been hacked. Not good. L-N has an incredible amount of information on everybody, including Soc Sec numbers.

Taking Social Security in another way...we don't have any anymore. Not when it comes to privacy. Nor freedoms. The things our flag stands for...well, that flag is getting pretty tattered under this administration. It's not enough that citizens are being assaulted from outside the nation, they're being assaulted within the nation too. BushCo has pulled off a two-for. We're not only fighting other nations, we're fighting each other. What the hell does he want? Civil war? He's sure done enough to divide us, and I'm getting damned tired of him and his neocon buddies.

I wonder who they think provides the work that has made them rich? They're so arrogant, I suspect they think they did it all alone. No help from anybody. The products they sell were produced by magic, maybe? Purchased by ragged poor people? I surely miss having faith and trust in a decent government.

Tom DeLay is in it up to his ears. Shit, that is. Now there's the perfect example of corruption, that individual. What's worse, there are a whole lot more just like him.

Gov Arnold's people produced a newscast. A fake newscast. And parts of it were shown on various real TV newscasts and written up in newspapers. Is that anywhere near honest? This ain't the movies, buddy. Didn't take long to get fed up with him, lemme tell you. And no. I didn't vote for him. May be dumb, but I ain't stupid.

Amazing how short-sighted government can be. Don't know how many of you have ever visited San Diego and travelled to Old Town State Park where San Diego began, and while there visited the Mexican themed Bazaar del Mundo. Absolutely marvelous place. Little shops and two restaurants inside the Bazaar. One is Italian--Lino's, and one is the much larger and more festive Casa de Pico. Most of it is outside. Umbrella tables. Strolling mariachis playing and singing.
There's a grassy square in the center of the shops and restaurants with a fountain and a gazebo, and often, an Andean music group--flutes made of bamboo. Beautiful music. It sort of floats through the air. Never seems loud, but everybody in the Bazaar can hear it. Diane Powers put the whole thing together where once there was a broken down motel. But now flowers and music and laughter. More income for the State than any other State park in California, and that's saying something.

So what does the State do up there in Sacramento when lease renewal time came up? Law says there must be bids. Here comes this east coast company--Delaware something. Known for it's touristy kitschey stuff people pay a high price for. They bid. They offer more money for that lease. They say they're gonna make their place more historically accurate. And Sacramento gives it to them.

Historically accurate! Know what was there in the 1800's? Dirt and cactus and a few old buildings. Know visitors and residents both are gonna get all excited about visiting a place like that.

The Bazaar del Mundo will move out by May 1st. Damned fools these mortals be....
Wrap.



Just Observing

Just Observing

Think I just lost a post...but it may come up later. It's happened before. In any case, a writer friend of mine just emailed me his comment on the bankruptcy bill and with his permission, I'll post it here. Far as I'm concerned he said it beautifully and he's dead right.
Here it is:

"I can't believe the Senate passed that bankruptcy bill. I've assisted with 55 bankruptcies in the past 14 months and 9 out of 10 had credit cards maxed out to pay bills, buy food and pay rent. The fat cats get bigger and the rest of us are put on a Government diet to make us money thin without taking a pill. One day very soon the have-nots and haves will no longer have a middle class to cushion the shock between the two - and then - all hell is going to break loose in this country."

******
There just isn't any way to put it better. Thanks, Ray.

Wrap...


Just Observing

Just Observing

Started to write something, changed my mind, began deleting, and damned near deleted half the blog address where this post will go before I realized what I was doing. The mind does wander once I look out the window.

Don't admire what I see either. The marine layer has moved back in and it's all gray sky. Sheesh!

One of the writers sent an email which perfectly gave his opinion of the bankruptcy bill. Have asked if I can post it. If he says yes, I will. That bill stinks to high heaven...as does Bush's Soc Sec plan, to say nothing of his insistence that his tax cut be continued. What an ass he is.

A marine says the capture of Saddam in that hole in the ground was faked. You can read about it on UPI or www.rawstory.org

And today, Dan Rather wrapped up his anchorship on CBS Evening News. Sad. I really hate that. They really did a job on him.

Gonna read the morning papers...
Wrap...

Tuesday, March 08, 2005

Just Observing

Just Observing

That's weird. Post repeated itself. No doubt I did something to help that along. Gawd!

The rate Liebermann is going, he might as well declare himself a Republican and be done with it. This bankruptcy bill is a huge gift to the credit card companies in Delaware, and since Sen Joe Biden is their senator, he's going along with it. $$$ you know. And since they're Republicans, and it's their bill, the GOP members of the Senate and House will vote on the side of the corporations every time.

Same with Social Security. When it comes to citizens who are not wealthy, the Repubs have no interest in doing anything helpful for them...or even anything that doesn't hurt them. Unless you have money, you're on your own regardless of circumstances. One exception...they'll give you bonuses if you'll join the military to fight the neocons' wars. And that's it. What a pathetic, miserable mess of individuals they are.

Slowly, but with increasing speed, they work their way toward turning the United States into their version of a fascist state. Not a doubt in my mind but what they're planning madly even at this moment to put another neocon like Bush into the White House in 2008, and increase even more their majorities in the Congress and to get their hand-selected judges onto the Supreme Court and in power there. They're long term planners. With enough money, they'll have most churches and congregations conned into supporting them.

Citizens do not pay enough attention. Not even to local politics. Just listening to an LA radio news station on the way home from Old Town. Reporter out on the streets asking people if they know there's an election there tomorrow for Mayor. Nothing else has gotten so much LA air time, newspaper time. And yet there were people who had no idea the election for Mayor of LA is tomorrow. So it's easy to see why citizens voted for this administration. They just pay no attention. They'll wish they had.

Writers got into telling jokes tonight, so much laughter. Talked some about the military bloggers and about how easily the entire nation could be sent into blackness with electromagnetic bombs...which we have but so far others don't have. Just more generalized talk tonight. Workshop leaders of the past and such. But as always, we had a great time...just relaxed and social. Nice.
Wrap.

Just Observing

Just Observing

Another 45 minutes and I'll be heading for Old Town and the usual Tues gathering of writers. Heavy overcast this morn, but blue, sunny and beautiful right now. At breakfast on the hotel patio, C said that it had rained in the night, but I never heard it. B was there before C and I arrived, eating biscuits and reading USA Today. B being former NSA, we got into a discussion about electronic surveillance capabilities today....and from there, straight into politics.

And since I expect that will be one of the subjects of conversation this evening, I'll save that till later.

Home and on my email. Had one from a writer in Colorado who is setting up a series of workshops if anyone is interested. Since he's one of the most noted workshop leaders ever, I expect people will be flying off to Colorado for the chance to work with him.

Interesting thing about that Italian reporter who was a hostage and whose car was shot at by Americans at a checkpoint in Iraq on that 7-mile stretch of road leading to the airport. She now says she thinks that they may have been wanting to kill her. I'm thinking she's full of shit for this simple reason. If they'd have wanted her dead, under those circumstances, she'd damned well be dead. Just that simple. Gawd. And I'm still waiting to find out who the hell was driving the car she was in. Not one word so far about that person. Why?

Later.
Wrap....

Just Observing

Just Observing

Another 45 minutes and I'll be heading for Old Town and the usual Tues gathering of writers. Heavy overcast this morn, but blue, sunny and beautiful right now. At breakfast on the hotel patio, C said that it had rained in the night, but I never heard it. B was there before C and I arrived, eating biscuits and reading USA Today. B being former NSA, we got into a discussion about electronic surveillance capabilities today....and from there, straight into politics.

And since I expect that will be one of the subjects of conversation this evening, I'll save that till later.

Home and on my email. Had one from a writer in Colorado who is setting up a series of workshops if anyone is interested. Since he's one of the most noted workshop leaders ever, I expect people will be flying off to Colorado for the chance to work with him.

Interesting thing about that Italian reporter who was a hostage and whose car was shot at by Americans at a checkpoint in Iraq on that 7-mile stretch of road leading to the airport. She now says she thinks that they may have been wanting to kill her. I'm thinking she's full of shit for this simple reason. If they'd have wanted her dead, under those circumstances, she'd damned well be dead. Just that simple. Gawd. And I'm still waiting to find out who the hell was driving the car she was in. Not one word so far about that person. Why?

Later.
Wrap....

Monday, March 07, 2005

Just Observing

Just Observing

YAAYYYY!!! I suddenly have Sitemeter!!! There it is, at the bottom of these blogs, all up and running. I don't know how it came to be there. Has to be their techs were able to finish what I couldn't. No matter. I'm damned pleased. This is good. Just thought I'd say so.
Wrap..

Just Observing

Just Observing

Hah! Tomorrow morn, the Chef at the hotel patio is going to make my special breakfast sandwich, even though he'll be working in the main kitchen instead of out front where the breakfast buffet and the omelet pan is. That's really special because that sandwich is not on their menu in any way, shape or form. You become a regular at a Marriott Hotel dining room and it is just a matter of time before they spoil you rotten. That's a fact.

I'm about halfway through reading former FBI Gene Riehl's novel, "Sleeper". It deals with a female North Korean assasin...she was born an American, but doesn't know it. Riehl writes a complex book, but that's what counterterrorism is: complex. As is terrorism itself.

As is the Mideast. At this point, it's very hard to tell just what Bush has set off in those countries with his attack on Iraq over the non-existant WMDs. Very hard. Meanwhile, a minimum of two of our troops are killed every day, to say nothing of the number of Iraqis who also die.

And now we learn about Bush and Ashcroft's quiet Unit that deals with religion. Which really torques me. Everything about this administration torques me.

Additionally, San Diego's mayoral problems go on and on. The new City Atty is raising all kinds of hell. The newly appointed pension board may or may not release the info necessary for the audit to be completed so the city can begin to get out of the finanacial mess it's in...and the freight train engineers are about to be attacked by the wealthy downtown residents they wake in the dead of night by blowing those whistles long and loud at intersections. One resident calls one of the engineers a s.o.b. sadist.

Ah, the joy of city living!
Wrap.

Just Observing

Just Observing

Oh what fun. Still wrestling with Sitemeter. Now it says I have to "republish blogger pages". Republish? What the hell are they talking about? Swear to God, these people have their own language. Why can't they just say, Go here--and say where the hell here is? Say how to find it? That's so I could "do this". And they ask where the urge to kill comes from. Sheesh! As a writer, I can tell you that one of the major capital sins in writing is to "assume knowledge on the part of the reader." Tech people too often assume people trying to do what they're telling them to do, have knowledge in their field. Trust me, I for one, do not.

I owe "Special Forces Alpha Geek" a bundle because without his assistance, I wouldn't have got this far. So thanks again, SF!!!

Another great and most applicable quote from "Independent Clearing House" for which I thank them:

"As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the midst of war. God grant that my suspicions may prove groundless." : U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, Nov. 21, 1864 - (letter to Col. William F. Elkins) - Ref: The Lincoln Encyclopedia, Archer H. Shaw (Macmillan, 1950, NY)

* * * * *
http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlDC/west_wing_reportage/
Go here to read a blogger's first visit to the White House Gaggle and Briefing. First time a blogger has been allowed.
Wrap....

Sunday, March 06, 2005

Just Observing

Just Observing

Gawd!!! Tried to install sitemeter--1st thing they do is have you log out--and trying to log in again, realized I'd forgotten my password. Had a hell of a time getting a new one, but finally have. Have given up on sitemeter until tomorrow.

Don't know how to install links to other blogs I read. Don't know how to install headers on a blog. Don't know how to how to make it possible for readers to just click on a URL I mention in a blog and go there without having to type the whole thing out. I can tell you in detail how to take apart and put back together an M-60, but these blog details come in another language...pure code far as I'm concerned.

Ain't life grand?
Wrap.

Just Observing

Just Observing

Ahoy, Jodi!!! You find me yet? Got into a knock down, drag out brawl with that rabbit critter that Cate sent in her comment. Try that one for size.
Wrap...

Just Observing

Just Observing

Guess we're a minority group with disproportionate influence!

"Currently, some 27 percent of online U.S. adults read blogs, and 7 percent pen them, according to The Pew Internet and American Life Project."

Another thought...Wouldn't it be great if the nation could have Eliot Spitzer as our Atty Gen rather than torturer Gonzales? Bush has this nasty habit of appointing dishonorable people to office.

Now here is a perfect example of wrong antecedent--the writers have been chewing antecedents over for a couple of weeks now. Finally asked Barb, who will nail any of us anytime when we use one. She says: "While pushing the 5th floor button, the elevator door closed on Joe's box." NOTE: Elevator doors do not push buttons! Got it?

Headline writers are notorious for writing wrong antecedent headlines and some are so hilarious that people publish examples of them. I thought of one: "As the boat drifted away, she looked at the moon." Hah! "She" being the boat. Boats do not look at the moon. Need a lady's name there. See what I mean? So don't do that!

Okay, you workers of the world, Sen Rick Santorum (Rep, PA) is doing his damndest to pave your way to poverty. Don't believe it? Just take a look at these paragraphs:

"Killing Overtime: It gets worse-- the 40-hour work week would be abolished and companies would not have to pay overtime if they cut hours the next week. The proposal is called "flex time", but workers would have no say in the matter. Their hours could be rearranged, upsetting child care and other weekly routines, and companies would no longer have the deterrent of having to pay overtime as a way to encourage giving workers a regular weekly schedule.

Banning State Minimum Wage Laws: But here's a kicker from a GOP supposedly dedicated to states rights. Santorum's bill would ban states from requiring employers to pay tipped workers with a guaranteed wage. Employers could pay tipped workers nothing and force them to live off tips, while states would be preempted from creating a higher wage standard for tipped workers."

Want to see the sickening rest of this scumbag's plans for you? Take a look at: http://www.nathannewman.org/laborblog/archive/002263.shtml

I'm for putting Santorum on the nearest Georgia chain gang...with no rights whatsoever, no pay, no mercy. That individual needs a strong taste of his own medicine.


Saturday, March 05, 2005

Just Observing

Just Observing

And another thing: It's dawned on me that one of the champions for the poor, and the women of the world, is an Op-Ed Contributor for the NY Times, Nicholas D. Kristoff. You'll recall the young Pakistan woman whom the tribal council ordered to be raped by four men to punish her family? That's his topic today at http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/05/opinion/05kristof.html?hpt

And it's well worth reading. Those guys have now been freed from prison, some from death row.

It's time, I think, to stop yelling at the Major Media as a whole and take notice of the really fine reporters who consistantly report the news accurately and with care. They do not deserve to be tarred with the same brush as someone like Bob Novak has earned.

Decent and honorable reporters should be acknowledged. The nation is damned lucky to have them.
Wrap.

Just Observing

Just Observing

Another of the good quotes from the Independent Clearing House blog:

"It is part of the general pattern of misguided policy that our country is now geared to an arms economy which was bred in an artificially induced psychosis of war hysteria and nurtured upon an incessant propaganda of fear."
-General Douglas MacArthur, Speech, May 15, 1951

Now I ask you...anything familiar there?

Little things....writers were talking about grammatical errors and such last Tues nite and also down on the hotel patio at breakfast last week sometime. So what do I read in the very first paragraph of "Column One: A Death in the Family" on the front page of the LA Times this morning? This sentence: "If one of them was attacked..." Grammatical rule: When "if" is used, then it is never "was", but always "were". Thus that sentence should read, "If one of them were attacked..."

That being said, David Zucchino, the reporter, wrote one hell of a fine article from Muqdadiya, Iraq, about Lt. Col. Roger Cloutier's battalion and the way the shit hit the fan when one of his men was killed on his very first day on patrol. Take a look at Column One at www.latimes.com It's worth a fascinated read.
Wrap...

Friday, March 04, 2005

Just Observing

Just Observing

Rain just will not stop. Having steady showers and it just pours down with each one. Whole weekend is gonna be like this, which means I'll be heading straight for Old Town and the hotel patio for breakfast until next Sat. morn at least. Which is just fine with me.

So four of us at breakfast down there this morn. J, C, B and me. And the hotel mgr, who has just returned from an Hawaii vacation with his wife stops by and gives us each a candy...coconut candy. Little white chunk. Sort of a hard candy. J, C, B all liked it. I about gagged and spit it out. Weird, cause I like fresh coconut, coconut pie, flaked coconut, etc. But that candy is godawful.

C and I headed outta there and went to the movies. Saw "The Pacifier" with Vin Diesel. Was a fun movie. Enjoyable and lived up to expectations in almost all ways, in spite of the opening scene on the beach. I'm there in my seat, straight up like a board, going, Oh no. No, no, no. Not in this life would the SEALs do that. Once they're in the water, okay. But no way that bit on the beach. Know why the writers/director did it, but man, the SEALs are gonna about perish when they see it. Ouch! No matter. It's a fun film and worth seeing.

I have yet to see a film that gets the SEALs or their ops right. I'll never forget sitting in a theaters among a mess of them to see "GI Jane". Talk about some grim looks walking out afterward. Right off the top, I can tell you there is never gonna be an operating SEAL female. Demi Moore did a great job, even went to SEAL Team over on Coronado, but there or no, that's not gonna cut it.
Ain't gonna happen.

Was damned pleased and totally surprised to find an email from DC in my inbox this afternoon. Thought of him a lot reading a book that had to do with Khe Sanh in Vietnam. He was among the Marines there during that battle. Hell of a fine writer. Hilarious guy. Just disappeared. So now he's up in northern Calif and happy as hell and married. Very cool. We all missed him...and he's been a topic of conversation among us for the last two weeks...and bam! Here he is! Excellent.

Raining like hell again. Sheesh!
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Just Observing

Just Observing

Sometimes a quote will hit me just right...and this is one of them. From Information Clearing House:

It is part of the moral tragedy with which we are dealing that words like "democracy," "freedom," "rights," "justice," which have so often inspired heroism and have led men to give their lives for things which make life worthwhile, can also become a trap, the means of destroying the very things men desire to uphold. Sir Norman Angell (1874 - 1967), 1956.
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Thursday, March 03, 2005

Just Observing

Just Observing

Just had a feeling I should pick up the latest copy of Esquire this afternoon, so I did. I pay attention to those kinds of off-the-wall instincts.

Damned good thing I did. Remember Colby Buzzell's blog from the Stryker Brigade's base outside of Mousul (I know damned well I'm not spelling that right), Iraq? cb's blog? And suddenly they made him quit...shut him down?

Hah! He who laughs last.... There he is with an article in Esquire! The first in a series, that starts off with how he came to be in the Army in the first place.

And, he's working on a book! The editor's letter talks about him, there's a pic of him in the Contents list, and finally the article himself. Only Colby writes like Colby, is all I have to say. Damned fine to have him back!
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Just Observing

Just Observing

Okay...drive yourself nuts with this one!

Click on red square, move it without touching black shapes or walls, and see how long you can last.

http://www.mtbireland.com/dodge.html

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Just Observing

Just Observing

It is very very important to read exactly what Sen Byrd said about retaining the right to filibuster in the Senate...and why it's important and crucial to our freedom. Go to:

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/030305B.shtml

for the full speech. It isn't that long. More, he's accused of saying the Repubs are Hitler-like, which in fact is not the truth. So read what he said for yourself.
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Wednesday, March 02, 2005

Just Observing

Just Observing

THIS IS A CHRISTIAN?!!!!!

Westboro Baptist Church Documents:
Flyer against John Edwards | Letter to Howard Dean

http://rawprint.com/spaulding/westboro.php

I don't shock easily, but THAT is just about one of the sickest things I've ever seen. This guy is both evil and demented. No question about it.
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Just Observing

Just Observing

Plain truth: I'd love to see most of BushCo down the drain. Don't like their attitude, their arrogance, their anything. Not one bit. He's never been and never will be "my" president. In my thoughts, this admin is a completely different matter from the Repubs I know and love and admire and think the world of. They are many and varied and I wouldn't part with a single one of them, and I don't care who they voted for. They have that right every bit as much as I do. So that's that.

And then there's this business about Repub Rep Jim Gibbons of Nevada...who sits on all kinds of intel committees and chairs some of them. Ed Schultz, on Air America, was having a fit this morn about that guy and well he should have. Seems Gibbons went off to a fund raiser or whatever in Elko, Nevada, and flat said some very unseeming things about Dems. Especially Hollywood Dems. Absolutely uncalled for things. Which he's had to apologize for. Think I accept his apology? Not a chance. The man is a hate-monger, as Ed said. So what'd he say?

Well, he's said that people who protest the Iraq war are Communists. But, on March 1st, he elaborated a bit when talking about the "liberal" Hollywood people who have spoken out against this war. Said they ought to be shipped over to Iraq to serve as human shields for the insurgents. Which means, of course that they should be killed....by our troops. Now the reporter for the Elko free press is concerned for his own well-being and thinking maybe he shouldn't have reported what Gibbons said. Or at least not all of it. Not the above part. I disagree. That reporter did good. That reporter is a journalist. He wrote the truth. He heard it, he wrote it. Good for him.

A Reno station reported Gibbon's apology, but did not include the bit about human shields. And I do wonder why. Lack of courage? Pressure from their station's owners? Far as I'm concerned, old Gibbons should catch billy-hell for those viscious remarks. Just check his website--google it--and see the chairs he occupies in intel committees in Congress.

Ed Schultz is offering $500 for an audio tape of Gibbon's speech. Wonder if somebody taped that sucker.
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Tuesday, March 01, 2005

Just Observing

Just Observing

So. Group is suing Rumsfeld on behalf of people who were tortured. But Atty Gen Gonzales can't/won't take it up because he's liable too. Should have an Independent Counsel take the case, but Gonzales is not about to appoint one. Not sure I've got that straight, but glad people are pursuing those wretched, low-down individuals. Sick is what they are.

It being Tuesday, the writers gathered tonight. No, nobody wanted to adopt a "10 year old, sweet and gentle pit bull". Sheesh! Then came a conversation about all kinds of dogs. Consider that Afhgan Hounds were used to chase lions down. Which they did, and caught them too. They are FAST and can about leap tall buildings. But one of the writers asked if the rest of us knew they were terrible thieves as well...

Seems she had a plumber over. Plumber was lying on his face under the kitchen sink. Had his tools next to his thigh. He'd reach down to get one, and it would be gone. This went on awhile until he got nervous enough to mention it to the Hound's owner. Whereupon she walked him out to the back yard and there, in a pile, lay all his missing tools.

Next thing...people talking about encounters with snakes...then rats, then Bush cutting veterans benefits, then Gibson's movie, "The Passion of the Christ"...which led to much discussion about what was historically accurate and what wasn't.

And talk about the virtues of a Carne Asada Burrito with sour cream and guacamole as opposed to the Sour Cream Enchiladas, who could eat those hot carrot slices and who couldn't. And how to reset the computer to a past date so that mistakinly deleted address could be retrieved, and iPod broadcasts taking the place of radio, the time that the writers who are going to a grade school in the morning to read aloud to the kids should arrive.

Then requests for the URL of the hilarious guy who blogs about the 10 things he's done that day--http://10thingsididtoday.blogspot.com/ --and I don't know what all else. The waitress who takes care of us each Tuesday has decided we're all nuts.
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