STRESS relief

Sometmies, atfer werking al day tpying thigs for udder peepul, I secretely come hmoe and mispel werds un porpoise. (It makes me feel better.)

Every time I see the word “porpoise,” it reminds me of this joke (warning, no one said it’s a good joke):

A man had a friend who owned two very intelligent porpoises. They could do amazing tricks and were able to communicate with humans very well. After much urging, the owner agreed to sell the porpoises to his friend. “But remember this,” said the seller: “The porpoises will never die as long as you feed them each one live seagull every day. As soon as you miss a day, they will die.”

The new owner took the porpoises home and put them in his outdoor swimming pool, where he kept them alive and well for some time. Each day he would go down to the beach, capture a couple live seagulls, and bring them home to feed to the porpoises.

One day as he was returning home with a gull in each hand, he found a lion lying across his doorstep, basking in the sun. He panicked, because he knew that if he didn’t get through to feed the porpoises, they would die, so he jumped over the lion and ran quickly into the house.

Inside, much to his surprise, were two FBI agents who promptly placed him under arrest. “What’s the charge?” asked the stunned porpoise owner. “What have I done wrong?”

“You, sir,” replied one of the FBI agents, “are being charged for illegally transporting captive gulls across a sedate lion for immortal porpoises!”

ITMFA

While I don’t use foul language in my blog (if that’s the only way you can express yourself, you need help), I do enjoy people who use profanity creatively. (Thanks to Bacon for pointing that one out.) Other fun blogs are chet not stupid, which deals with Iowa gubernatorial candidate Chet Culver and his, well, questionable intelligence. I always like Talk Like a Pirate, too. And this gem about another guy running for governor of our fair state.

Responsibility

This is simple. Take responsibility for your actions. I’ve seen a lot of this not happening lately, in all aspects of life. Unfortunately, it seems that the nation at large is taking it’s moral cue from the top – United States President George W. Bush and his administration. This is an administration that ran it’s campaign elections claiming the high moral ground, only to get into power in 2000 via what are widely considered “strongarm tactics,” thus setting the stage for the rest of the administration’s term — win at all costs, even if it means abandoning morality and ethics.

I could list myriad examples of Mr. Bush and his administration fleeing responsibility, but I’ll settle for one or two recent examples.

Mr. Bush is seen on film listening to an expert tell him that the levees in New Orleans will not hold should a hurricane hit. A few days later, New Orleans is under water because the levees broke during hurricane Katrina. Guess what Mr. Bush said? “No one could have known the levees were going to break.” Ducking responsibility.

Another cop-out was when Mr. Bush assured the nation that if anyone in his administration was cheating or lying, they’d be fired on the spot. When Mr. Scooter Libby was caught doing bad things, Mr. Bush poo-poo’d the incident. You see, the rules simply don’t apply to them.

A bit later, lobbyist Jack Abramoff admitted to buying off half of congress. Did any of our tainted members of congress resign? No. You see, they learned from our leaders. The rules don’t apply to them.

A bit later, native Sioux City embarrassment Chris Rants, a republican state representative here in Iowa, took tens of thousands of dollars from the tobacco lobbyists and in return blocked legislation to raise cigarette taxes. Did Mr. Rants resign? Or even apologize? No. He went golfing with another lobbyist. He’s taking his cue from the Bush administration, you see. The rules don’t apply.

Just a few days ago I read that a small town in Texas had to replace their entire police department. It seems they were taking bribes. I wonder where they got the silly idea that the rules don’t apply to them? Could they have been learning from the Bush administration?

You see, the Trickle-Down theory DOES work!

Liar Liar Pants on Fire

This one’s great… I heard Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld on C-SPAN last night (yes, I watch C-SPAN once in a while in the middle of the night) and couldn’t believe my ears. I had to look this up to make sure he really said it. He did. It’s a long quote, so I’ll trim it down a bit. You can see the entire version HERE on the Department of Defense’s web site.

SEC. RUMSFELD: “When something happens, the people we’re up against are vicious, and they lie. And they are — obviously, they have media committees, they plan what they’re going to do, they plan how they’re going to manipulate the press, and they get out there fast and do it. And there’s no penalty for that. Indeed, there’s only rewards, because the misinformation race is around the world while, as they say, truth is still putting its boots on. Our task is to figure out what actually happened. And that means that they’ve got to go in there and talk to people, and it takes time, and it takes 24 hours, 48 hours, whatever it takes. And they end up — some cases, it takes weeks to figure out what actually took place.

“And it’s just very difficult. And here we are, in the 21st century, with all these means of communication and information racing around the globe, and it just makes it a very tough thing to do.

“And clearly the United states government has not gotten to the point where we are as deft and clever and facile and quick as the enemy that is perfectly capable of lying, having it printed all over the world, and there’s no penalty for having lied. Indeed, there was a reward, because great many people read the lie and believed it. And it takes weeks and weeks afterwards to figure what actually took place…

…”And I don’t know any solution to that, except that, you know, if you live in a small town, and one guy walks around the corner and lies to you one day, and he walks around the corner and lies to you the next day, and he walks around the corner and lies to you the third day, pretty soon you say to yourself, ‘That’s a liar. … That’s lying Joe.’ Don’t believe what he says! Don’t put it in the newspaper! Don’t print it! Don’t repeat it! Because it’s probably not true, because he’s a liar.”

It should be noted that Mr. Rumsfeld said all this with a straight face. Apparently the irony of the situation is lost on him… Has Mr. Rumsfeld forgotten the spin he helped orchestrate to confuse the foreign-sounding words “al-Qaeda,” “Osama bin Laden,” “Iraq,” and “Saddam Hussein”enough that a majority of Americans believed Hussein was responsible for the terror attacks on September 11th, when in reality that’s an out-and-out falsehood. A lie. A lie very similar to the ones leading up to the attack of Iraq and the bombing of Baghdad, where Mr. Rumsfeld and company convinced us that Iraq was hiding weapons of mass destruction, when in reality there were no WMD’s to be found.

Speaking of Mr. Rumsfeld…

The United States Supreme Court heard both sides argue in the Hamdan v. Rumsfeld case. The case is about the government’s handling of the detainees at Guantanamo Bay, and how the detainees should be tried in court. The government wants to set up special tribunals to deal with the matter, but everyone else seems to think that this skirts beyond the boundaries of presidential powers and is in violation of the Geneva Conventions.

“The president seeks not merely to detain temporarily but to dispense life imprisonment and death through a judicial system of his own design. Anyone, anytime, may be swept into this system and forced to endure years of waiting before their cases are even heard.” – Neil Katyal, the defense’s counsel of record in a brief to the Supreme Court source

I saw part of this on C-SPAN. Chief Justice (and Bush appointee) John Roberts was not presiding, as he’d already ruled in the government’s favor in a lower court. Justice Antonin Scalia (more on him later) pretty much said that the United States President should have the power to do anything he wants to do. Other justices, though, seemed to be of the opinion that the government’s case was nutty.

They won’t issue a ruling on this until sometime in June.

Personally, I think the whole affair stinks. The detainees at Guantanamo Bay have been there WAY too long. From the beginning they should have either been brought to America (not Cuba) and put on trial, or sent to the international war crimes court at the Hague. Keeping them penned up in a third nation for four years without trial is, in my opinion, an un-American thing to do. We’re supposed to be the good guys, here. The attitude that we can do whatever we want to do (because, remember, the rules don’t apply to us – we learned that from Mr. Bush) led to the Abu Ghraib torture as well as questionable treatment of detainees in Guantanamo. It’s shameful.

Freedom of Speech at it’s Finest

Judge Antonin Scalia is following in Vice President Richard Bruce “Dick” Cheney’s footsteps in regard to the freedom of personal expression. Evidently the Supreme Court Justice gave a reporter a hand gesture in church the other day – a gesture the reporter found obscene. The Justice denies it, of course. Because, you see, the rules don’t apply to him. (Mr. Cheney, if you remember, brought a new low to congress when he told a congressman to go reproduce with himself. He didn’t use that phrase, though. The phrase he chose was a bit pithier.) Justice Scalia said that the gesture was an Italian gesture meaning “I don’t care.” I doubt the reporter got the meaning of the gesture wrong, though. source

Here to Stay? Maybe?

Normally I’m a really nice guy. But doesn’t the phrase “illegal immigrant” mean that, well, the immigrant is here illegally? I may be breaking with official party line here (there are those out there that think I lean a bit to the left), but I’m not sure that giving illegal immigrants amnesty is a good idea. They came here illegally, they are breaking the law, they should pay the consequences. Simple enough? This issue is pretty murky, and, to be honest, I’ve not spent much (any) time researching the topic. Can anyone tell me how this is supposed to work? Do we all get one “get out of jail free” card?

Just between you and me, I think the weather this year sucks, and it has to be U.S. President G. Walker Bush’s fault somehow.

The Etymology of the Situation

A while ago I briefly pondered the phrase “under way.” The thought flitted across what I refer to as “my mind” that it could be “under weigh,” and may have nautical references.

I was wrong.

A ship has way on it when it is in motion, and thus the idiom to get under way [or underway] means “to begin to move,” just as the idiom to be under way [or underway] is “to be moving,” regardless of whether what’s moving or beginning to move is a ship, a car, or a fund-raising campaign. The idea of weigh, as with an anchor, is an error in either use, although in the past many reputable authors have chosen that form. Under way and underway are both now Standard spellings of both adverbial and adjectival uses. – source

So now I know.

A rather cruddy day indeed

I forgot to take my sleepy-pill last night because I was so tired I fell asleep on the couch WAY too early. I woke up at midnight with a book on my face, a bowl of popcorn on my tummy and a smallish orange cat named Fruitloop on my chest, the TV mumbling away to itself in the corner. Oddly enough I had a Tootsie-Roll in my hand.

I set the Tootsie-Roll down, got the book off my face and nibbled on some popcorn in a speculative sort of way. It’s midnight, I’m dead tired and wide awake, the cat and the wife are both snoring gently away (one of them still on my chest)… Do I force myself to get up and do something productive until I’m sleepy again? It’s too late to take a sleepy-pill. Shall I continue to loll about on the couch, munching popcorn? That sounds good… I don’t have to move that way.

Three-thirty a.m. rolls around. I’m still on the couch, bloodshot peepers staring glazed at the TV. The cat got up once, stretched, turned around three times, and fell back asleep on my legs. I’m out of popcorn, and the Tootsie-Roll has rolled about three inches out of reach. Gaaahhh. Might as well get up.

I extricate myself as gently as possible from the indignant cat, who favors me with a slightly reproachful and groggy-sounding “Merow.” Up I stand, stray bits of popcorn falling out of my beard. I totter off to the facilities, where I’m facilitated. That bit of business over, I decide to sneak into the bedroom and snuggle with my beloved for a bit. Maybe if I get away from the TV and the reading light in the living room I’ll be able to fall asleep.

Three-forty finds me in bed, staring at the fuzzy numbers of the alarm clock. “Alarm,” I think. “Why isn’t it called an ‘awakening clock’? Why does it have to be alarming? Alarm. Alarum…” I then had the sudden realization that for the past 28 years I’ve been putting my glasses on the nightstand every night – right in front of the alarum clock. If I’d simply take a second to slip my spectacles sideways I may avoid the inevitable whacking of the eyeglasses that happens every morning. Odd what you think of at night.

At 3:50, the cat joins us. He curls up on my feet, yawns once, and is out like a light. My Viennese bride is happily snoozing away. I’m staring at the ceiling, wondering if those cracks have always been there. Then I realize that my eyes are closed, and if I’m seeing cracks, there’s probably something wrong. Oh well…

Needless to say, when the klaxon blared at 6:25 a.m., I was finally asleep. With all due groggidity, I aimed a healthy whack at the alarm clock, missing by three inches, hitting my glasses…

“Well, we’re off to a good start,” thought I.

An hour and a quarter later I’d had my shower (though I was too tired to sing), coffee, and was settling down at work. By the time I’d chewed my way through the night’s collection of e-mails, I had the beginnings of a headache and my left eyelid was starting to twitch. You know, this job would be a lot easier if it weren’t for the pesky customers… Always wanting something! The nerve.

Shortly before lunch my e-mail in-box beeped at me. I stirred from my torpid stupor to aim my beady little eyeballs at the new message. It was from my boss. Not good… Turns out my department made a mistake last week. I accidentally left four words off a customer’s newsletter, and the customer was (rightly) steamed about it. Being as proactive as possible, I made a beeline to the boss’ office. “I’ve got documentation showing that we’re okay,” I said, “but push comes to shove, I made the mistake.” After about an hour of being chewed out by both bosses (they questioned pretty much every aspect of my department’s policies and procedures, finally concluding that we’re doing everything right, but we’re in the wrong anyway) I glued my left buttock back into place and resumed my torpid gawking at my computer screen.

I hate making mistakes. I’ve been pondering all afternoon the feasibility of changing departmental procedure to a double-proof method, (a fancy way of saying “Should me and the other guy proofread each other’s stuff”) even though we’re not supposed to be in the business of proofreading…? Nah… After an entire afternoon of headachy contemplation, I’ve come to the conclusion that I do indeed have recommendations to put forth to the bosses.

1. Chocolate pudding at 10 a.m.
2. A basketball hoop on the loading dock
3. Nap from 2:30 to 3
4. Snacks at 3:30
5. Beer in the pop machine

Wish me luck.

We Pay Them HOW Much?

There’s an interesting post on The Daily Curmudgeon today. Mr. Curmudgeon points out that our current House of Representatives has been in session for a mere 19 days ALL YEAR. In the first month of 2006 House members were in session for 47 hours. That’s about one work week for the rest of us. It’s projected that they’ll spend 97 days in Washington in 2006.

For that we pay them $165,200 a year.

For shame! If you take a week off for St. Patrick’s day, you should forfeit a week’s pay. I’ve been at my job for 13 years, and I have to fight to get two week’s vacation a year. Why should congressmen get better treatment? After their first year on the job, they get one week vacation. If they take more time off than that, it should be unpaid.

I’m disappointed in our government.

So THAT’S How They Did It

It comes as no surprise, but it’s so pervasive these days that it’s hard to see. The Republicans are in the minority, but it doesn’t seem that way because they quite simply yell louder. I flipped past that Bill Maher show the other day. He likes to get a conservative, a liberal, and a comedian together and see what happens. During the two minutes I watched the show I had the pleasure of seeing Florida republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen holler, bellow, finger-shake, yell, and generally do everything she could to intimidate the other two guests on the show – all without ever once really saying anything.

This is how the Bush administration has functioned since about 1999. They simply out shout the opposition. It doesn’t matter that what they’re yelling is utter nonsense – simply by saying it loudly and often, they get their way.

I’m not saying that Democrats are angels, but the trend seems to be… Well, you know where I’m going with this.

I’m disappointed in our government.

Chillin’

First for the trivial stuff. I’ll write well-crafted, important prose later.

Things are calm in the Radloff household at the moment. I’m sitting here quietly listening to MP3’s randomly play. (Credence Clearwater Revival at the moment, their version of “Midnight Special,” which was originally recorded by Leadbelly, I believe, in the early 20th century. I guess Mr. Leadbelly was incarcerated for some reason, and heard the other inmates singing a song about the Midnight Special – a train that would come along the tracks next to the prison. Rumor had it that if the light from the Midnight Special reflected into your cell you’d have good luck, or you’d escape, or something. It’s a good story and I’m sure I’ve mangled it beyond all recognition. It’s early and my brain is fuzzy.) I’ve been going through the hundreds of digital pictures I’ve taken in the past week. I’ve been too busy to tweak the color and file them away properly, so I’m doing that this morning whilst the songs sing gently.

My beloved bride of five years is snoozing in the other room. Judging by the way she’s snuggled into the blankets, just her little nose poking out, it looks like she’s got her morning plans well under way. (Or is that phrase supposed to be “under weigh?” It could be a nautical term, I suppose. Oh well. I digress.)

Ooh – Jethro Tull’s “Bungle in the Jungle” just came on. Good song.

The cat, Fruitloop, is curled into a fuzzy little ball at my feet. He occasionally pokes his pink nose up and squints at me, making sure I’m still here, and to verify that there still isn’t any nice tuna fish nearby.

“Catfish Blues” just came on. Not the Hendrix version – a live Chris Duarte recording, nineteen minutes and forty-nine seconds long. If you like Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan, you’ll like Duarte.

Anyway, I’m gonna make a cup of coffee and get back to tweaking and filing my photos. I shall be back in naught but a nonce. Meanwhile, here’s what my computer’s choosing for me to listen to (thought it’s not a truly random selection, I’ve got the hard-core punk and funk and country filtered out):

1. JRZ System – R.R. #1 (JRZ used to play in Sioux City a lot, they’re from Omaha)
2. Link Wray and the Wraymen – Jack the Ripper (good old surfesque music)
3. The Radio Flyers – Let’s Go Out and Play (my buddy Steve played bass for the Radio Flyers)
4. Offspring – Original Prankster (kind of a shock after all the nice blues)
5. Blue Habit – S.O.S. (I was in a band with Blue Habit’s sax player/singer for a while)
6. Steppenwolf – Twisted (live)
7. The Odd Squadd – Skinny Girls (I was in a folk band with the drummer, oddly enough)
8. Buffalo Springfield – I Am a Child
9. Led Zeppelin – Black Dog (so THAT’S how it’s supposed to go…)
10. The Yardbirds – Rack My Mind
11. Jimi Hendrix & the Experience – Stone Free
12. The Beatles – I’m So Tired (I’ve never been in a band with anyone from the Beatles)
13. The Radio Flyers – I Wanna Talk to You (I wonder how my buddy Steve is doing…?)
14. Cream – Sunshine of Your Love
15. Led Zeppelin – Since I’ve Been Loving You
16. Chuck Berry – Johnny B. Goode
17. The Kinks – All Day and All of the Night
18. Pearl Jam – Running with the Devil, live (wow – they sucked at this song)
19. Michael Hedges – Rock & Roll Part II (done with an acoustic guitar)
20. Blues Traveler – You Reach Me

Odd how I have 2,897 songs in that particular playlist and it repeated several artists in that short time period.

Interesting photos (I had a lot more, but Blogger is having trouble with their photo upload thing again. It’s frustrating.):

Ice on my fence

Mr. Billy Bacon’s bass guitar.
If you look behind it, you can see Mr. Bacon himself.
(This is not PhotoShopped – it’s actually a real picture.)

The Puffy Man

My beloved wife has stirred. “Ve need to talk,” she said to me in that nifty accent of hers. I turned the computer down (“I’m Tired” by Savoy Brown was playing). Coffee in hand, I wandered to the living room, where she was perched on the couch. It should be noted, by the way, that the trip from the computer/dining room/library to the living room took two steps. Big house. “What’s up, Buttercup?” I said.

“Do you vant to get dental insurance this year?” she asked. Since Record Printing Company, where I’m currently enslaved, changed insurance companies last year I’ve been on Dagmar’s insurance. Record Printing’s plan is poopy – they charge a hundred bucks a month, but the insurance isn’t really worth it… One of my co-workers can barely walk due to his aching back, but he can’t afford to go to the doctor to get it fixed. Insurance won’t cover it, you see, so he’s stuck being in pain. “You’ve been having dat visdom tooth,” my wife continued. “Maybe if we have insurance you can have dem pulled.”

“How much will it cost?” I asked. “It would be nice to get some work done on my pearly yellows.” My teeth are a bit brighter now that I’ve quit smoking, but the stains are probably going to last a lifetime, unfortunately. “And that pesky wisdom tooth does hurt.” I’ve been teething for eight or ten months now. Sucks. “It’s coming in sideways. It’s pushed all my other teeth over.”

“For to put you on the dental plan will fifty-eight dollars a month cost.”

I spit my coffee out. “Fifty-eight bucks A MONTH?” I asked. “Just for dental?”

“Well,” she said, “I get all my insurance free. We pay thirty-five dollars a month for your health insurance. So all we’d pay for everything vood be less than ninety dollars a month. Dat’s not bad. Some people pay four or five hundred dollars a month for insurance out of their own pocket.”

By now my mental arithmetic was crunching numbers. “Say sixty dollars a month, times ten is six hundred, plus another hundred and twenty… That’s about seven hundred and twenty dollars a year for insurance. What happens if I only get six hundred dollars worth of tooth-pulling done? Then we lose money!”

“Do you know how much they charge at the dentist?” my Viennese Honeybee asked. “You’re not gonna get your teeth cleaned for six hundred dollars. If they pull that wisdom tooth, that’s a couple thousand. Get the insurance. Go to the dentist.”

I have issues with insurance. I personally think that insurance companies are to blame for a lot of what’s wrong with society today. “Oh, don’t worry about it. Insurance will cover it.” There’s the obvious problem with insurance – namely that it’s mandatory. I don’t like being told I have to buy something by law. Why isn’t it a law that everyone must, by law, get business cards printed at the print shop I work for every year? I’d still have insurance, even if it weren’t mandatory, but I hate being told what to do.

Another evil of insurance is that the costs are hidden. Ever go to a doctor and have see the prices posted somewhere? No. Why? Because no one cares how much it costs – if you have insurance, it’s covered. If you don’t have insurance, you die. Why is insurance so expensive? Because the doctors and hospitals charge the insurance companies a gazillion dollars for the slightest thing (we almost got stuck with a six-hundred dollar bill for a simple blood test because the insurance company didn’t want to pay it).

But the worst thing of all is that I must, by law, have flood insurance and car insurance. But yet I have absolutely NO doubt that if I ever needed to use my car insurance, they’d find a way not to pay. They’ve gladly been taking my money for the last 20+ years, raising their rates every now and then even though I’ve never had an accident, but if I’d ever need them to replace my car they’d weasel out of it. Heck, my buddy (college educated professional) has been paying into insurance for years and can’t afford to go to the doctor, because the insurance found a loophole and won’t cover it.

Grrrr….

My mother once got into a fender-bender in the church parking lot. She backed into the Sunday School teacher. He jumped out of his car, red in the face, and DEMANDED to know who my mother’s insurance agent was, and said that they damned well better pay. My mother calmly looked at him and said, “Why, you’re my insurance agent, remember?”

But I digress. Again. I was talking about the conversation Dagmar and I were having.

“So, I’ll put you on my insurance,” my beloved said. “Now, what are ve going to do about our health?”

“What’s wrong with my health?” I asked, sipping on my coffee, reaching for a tootsie-roll, eating popcorn.

“You get out of breath if you think too hard,” my wife replied. “You said you’re gaining weight, too. The doctor says you have high cholesterol.” She took my hand, held it for a moment, then looked at it critically. “You’re puffy,” she said, holding a swollen digit. “You’re a puffy man.”

I had to laugh. I love my wife. I truly do. But why does she have to tell me the truth ALL the time? “Puffy? I’m puffy? I’m a puffy man? I’m not puffy! I’m just retaining water…”

“Yes. That’s it. You’re retaining water…”

“I don’t want to exercise.” I said. “I won’t. And you can’t take my popcorn away from me.” I hugged the bowl to my chest. I eased my way over to the M&M’s and Tootsie-Pops and crackers…

“Ve need to exercise,” she replied. “You can keep your popcorn, but maybe not the M&M’s.”

“I don’t want to exercise.” I said. “I won’t.” I started to get out of breath.

“Vhy won’t you exercise?”

“Because I’m puffy. I don’t want people to see me. I’m a puffy man.”

“You can exercise with me,” she said. “We can prance in front of der TV along mit der exercise videos. I won’t look at you.”

“No.” I said. “Maybe I can ride a bicycle. I want a shiny new bicycle. I’d ride it and exercise ever day if I had a shiny new bicycle. And an iPod.”

“Where vood we keep a shiny new bicycle? Ve have no garage door, und the neighbors stole our weed-whacker last year.”

“In the living room, next to the lawn mower?”

“No.”

At about that point I pretended to fall asleep to avoid further conversation. That’s my answer to confrontation – sleep. Unfortunately, I have problems sleeping, and my vunderful vife knows it. “Vake up, you,” she said. “Stinker.”

We did eventually get some exercise earlier this afternoon. Unfortunately it didn’t last as long as it used to, and I was indeed left panting and wheezing for quite a while afterwards. I miss smoking…

Netiquette

Why am I one of the very few bloggers to use my real name? I often wonder why people, given the chance to be anonymous, often do so – even if there’s no reason. Some of the best blogs around are written under pseudonyms, which is okay – most of them do have e-mail addresses that you can find if you want to get in touch with the author.

But what really gets to me are the people who comment anonymously. I’m not talking about the person who quickly dashes off a note saying, “Good post,” or “thought-provoking.” I’m talking about the anonymous (and hence cowardly) people who read a blog and leave anonymous comments slamming the author or the author’s opinions, often using obscenities, incendiary language and faulty logic. I see this most often from right-wingers leaving obscene posts on liberal blogs. (That is an admittedly skewed statistic, since I spend more time reading liberal blogs myself. If liberals are being rude on conservative blogs I simply don’t see it, since I don’t read conservative blogs very often).

If you have an opinion, have the stones to admit to it. If you don’t feel strongly enough to sign your name to your opinion, then your opinion is worthless.

End rant.

Politics

Iowa Senator Tom Harkin signed on to Senator Russ Feingold’s proposal to censure United States President George Walker Bush for breaking the law regarding wiretaps. Way to go! Mr. Harkin just made me proud. Whether Mr. Feingold’s proposal is “timed right” or not, I’m proud that Mr. Harkin is willing to force the president to obey this nation’s laws.

On the other hand, Sioux City has been embarrassed again by Mr. Chris Rants, a republican in the Iowa legislature who blocked gambling legislation in the state for a few days “so we can go back and talk to our constituents,” (I paraphrase). Fine and dandy, but he didn’t come back to Sioux City to talk about gambling. Instead he and a lobbyist from the gambling industry flew south and spent a weekend golfing. That’s improper. So is Mr. Rants openly taking money from the tobacco industry and blocking legislation limiting the use of tobacco. It’s also improper for Mr. Rants to stand alone in opposing legislation to limit interest rates (there’s a company in Sioux City that charges something like 560% interest on short term loans) to 36%. Mr. Rants is the only one in the statehouse that openly wants to keep the poor people poor via high interest rates such as this. Mr. Rants is an embarrassment and should be removed from office.

I just heard an interview on National Public Radio with Liberian president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. President Johnson-Sirleaf is very eloquent, intelligent, gracious and open. From that brief interview, I’d gladly vote for her in any election.

Jon Stewart of the Daily Show made me laugh again. Talking about how exhausted Mr. Bush is, Mr. Stewart said, “You don’t know what it’s like, working 24 hours a week, seven months a year…”

Quotes

Seeing as how I’m particularly pooped today and am feeling too lazy to write my own stuff, here are some of the better quotes I’ve run across today…

You know, there comes a day when you quit your job. And then there comes the day you actually leave. – Birdy, in a comment on Steakbellie’s blog

Here’s a double I found on Stalin the Shark…

Mr. Raskin, my Bible says marriage is only between a man and a woman. What do you have to say about that? – Senator Nancy Jacobs

Senator, when you took your oath of office, you placed your hand on the Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution. You didn’t place your hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible. – Law professor Jamie Raskin, to Senator Jacobs.

From an Iowa blogger…

Spent the day at the statehouse on Monday, listening to a debate of great importance to the future of Iowa. In the end, the senate decide to stop worrying about the wrath of well-financed special interest groups and do the right thing: The senate passed a resolution making that Channel Catfish the state’’s official fish. – Mr. Bacon on Who’s Makin’ Bacon

Regarding freedom…

The one thing that the American people and the Pakistani people do both share in common, unfortunately, is the current demand that we sacrifice our liberties in the name of fighting terrorism. – Historian on the Woodbury County Democrat

“Resolved that the United States Senate does hereby censure George W. Bush, president of the United States, and does condemn his unlawful authorization of wiretaps of Americans within the United States without obtaining the court orders required.” – part of a resolution put in front of congress by Senator Russell Feingold source

In response to Isaac Hayes quitting “South Park,” an animated series…

“This has nothing to do with intolerance and bigotry and everything to do with the fact that Isaac Hayes is a Scientologist and that we recently featured Scientology in an episode of ‘‘South Park,’’ In 10 years and over 150 episodes, Isaac never had a problem with the show making fun of Christians, Muslims, Mormons and Jews. He got a sudden case of religious sensitivity when it was his religion featured on the show,” – ” South Park co-creator Matt Stone source

Videos…

Herdin’ Cats

Odd Japanese Things

They just keep coming…

I just got yet another letter in the mail from Iowa Senator Charles “Chuck” Grassley. So far every letter I’ve received from his office says about the same thing – “thanks for the input, but I’m going to ignore you.” They’re all two pages long, they all explain the issues from the Republican perspective. I’ve met Mr. Grassley. He’s a nice guy. I can’t help but like him. According to the commercials, he mows his own lawn. But he’s been voting the wrong way lately. That makes me sad.

Spinoffs

Someone recently asked why we’re spending so much money for NASA when we have all sorts of woes here on Earth to deal with. To put it simply, the answer is: It’s Good Business. The United States puts about 0.8% of it’s budget into the space program. It’s been estimated that for every dollar the government puts into the space program gets a return of seven dollars in the form of increased growth and taxes. source

Sure, but what does sending a robot to Mars have to do with me? Why do I care? What do I get out of the deal, realistically? Well… It it’s small, lightweight, miniature, or cool, it probably has roots in the space program.

A short list of spinoffs:

• Portable Computers
• Satellite TV
• Bar Coding
• Joystick Controllers
• Smoke Detectors
• Invisible Braces
• Cordless Tools
• Medical Imaging
• Vision Screening
• Ear Thermometers
• Fire Resistant Clothing
• Thermal Gloves & Boots
• Failsafe Flashlights
• Quartz Timing Crystals

Digital cameras? Well, how do you think they get all those neat photos back from Saturn? CAT scans and MRI’s are both space spinoffs, too. Some people put the number of spinoffs at over 30,000. That’s a fairly impressive number…

And something else to think about – governments historically fund exploration which is later taken over by private enterprise. Columbus had to get funding from the queen to get his ships across the Atlantic. (One of the spinoffs of that venture was the United States of America, incidentally.) But private enterprise soon followed, making what was once a perilous voyage not only safe, but commonplace.

Do you realize that the Soviet Union tossed Sputnik up in 1957. That’s less than 50 years ago. In less than fifty years we’ve gone from a beeping orb in LEO to planning missions to Pluto and discovering planets orbiting distant stars. This is way cool stuff! How much have we learned since then? How much more is out there yet to be discovered?

Sources: The Christian Science Monitor, SpacePlace, Space Benefits, NASA Solutions.

How’s That Again?

My lovely bride is in the other room dictating some notes to be transcribed later. All I can hear is a low mumble-mumble-rumble. Until…

“Honey,” she called out.

“Yes, Snookums?” sez I.

“What’s the English word for ‘kaputt?'”

“Broken. Busticated. Not working,” I hollered back.

I felt smug. I always feel smug when I know the answer. The smugness lasted about five minutes. “Honey-Bee,” I called to my wife.

“Yes, dear?” she replied.

“Where did you put that thing?”

“What thing?” she asked, understandably.

“You know, that thing. That round plastic thing I put popcorn in…”

“The bowl?” she asked.

“That’s it! The bowl…”

I am smug no longer. (In my defense, though, I’m not all that familiar with English. I know American and a smattering of Canadian…)

Work Ethic? Who, me?

It’s been a busy week! Gonna be busy next week, too… Apologies to all the friends and family that have tried to get in touch with me for the past six or eight days – I’ve been at work. I’m so tired of looking at PhotoShop and InDesign I could just poop. Oh well, I guess it’s what I get paid to do, so I shouldn’t complain. (I’ll whine instead.)

Blogs in General

I’ve added a few nifty-neat blogs to the list over there on the left. They’re all good reading – some philosophical (notably Intellectual Insurgent and her corral of deep thinkers), some political (like Who’s Makin’ Bacon), all good. I shall add more later, but not now. I have other things to do now. I have things on my mind. I’m not sure what, but I’m sure it’s important.

The Show

In a few short hours I’m gonna head down to the Chesterfield to see Billy Bacon and the Forbidden Pigs play. I’ve seen this band play four or five times over the past fifteen years. Good stuff! The music isn’t quite my cuppa tea (they play a lot of Tex-Mex and country as well as blues and rockabilly – I like the latter, not so keen on the former) but the band is so fun to watch it more than makes up for the occasional country song. They wear funny hats. It’s a hoot.

Odd Things

My beloved wife, Dagmar, just finished cleaning. The house smells like Pine-Sol now. For some reason it reminds me of basic training, and I really want to smoke a cigarette. Odd.

I walk to work fairly often. The friendly local church around the corner put up a new sign. Nice to see they’re welcoming. (I can’t blame the church, really, it’s a strange neighborhood, and they did just build the new church, and they want to keep the new parking lot from getting overused by loiterers.)

When I finished taking a picture of the sign, I turned around and took a picture of the houses across the street from the new church. I live just half a block down that alley… As I said, it’s kind of a rough neighborhood. It’s nice that they tore down the old church and all the other houses on that block and built a new church. Not that the money could have been used to help the parishoners in the neighborhood…

My poor fingers…

I have been typing my poor fingers to the proverbial bone this week. Last week was the slowest week I can remember ever having at work. This week is the exact opposite. I’ve been going in at 7 in the stinky morning and coming home at 8 at night. I don’t mind working hard, and I don’t mind working long hours, but it’s a shock to my delicate system to have it foisted upon me so sudden-like.

I missed the jam session last night. I was really hoping to go… Maybe next week.