Governor Corbett

is one of Romney's useless allies.  He slashed programs that in many cases forced raises in property taxes, the source of most school funding. Property taxes in Pennsylvania are already outrageous in many areas.  In many areas this is a very economically stressed state. Cutting programs is not the answer when people are already desperate.

“I think that Governor Corbett is amazingly unknown in the state of Pennsylvania for someone who has pretty successfully started to dismantle the public education system,” says Gabe Morgan, president of Pennsylvania SEIU State Council. “I don’t really see him as being able to move votes in either direction. He’s been pretty lucky to be unnoticed."

Bad governor, useless ally.

Wasted

Truth is there will never be an incinerator in my town because it has an unusual density of fools. Supervisors now are good people, but very timid and short sighted. For example, an alcohol and drug rehab is looking to open a branch in a shut down resort, bringing jobs and taxes. Some residents are terrified, however, of recovering drunks which to my mind are less dangerous than active drunks driving cars. Anyway, one even suggested having the patients wear electronic bracelets to keep them from leaving the grounds. These patients (or clients) are to be there voluntarily to recover; in short, they are regular folks with a drinking or drugging problem. Much of the reaction is borderline lynch mob mentality. My town: the gateway to Appalachia. So, suggesting an incinerator would provoke a reaction about the same as would be if we suggested a nuclear waste dump, or plague and smallpox storage facility or sewage transfer station. A small, state of the art incinerator that paid taxes and delivered very cheap energy would energize our corner of despair and may even allow it to prosper. What we have in abundance is trash from NJ and NYC passing through our area. I accept hopelessness and continue.

Waste is not garbage

Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash by Edward Humes.

I just ordered this guy's book from Amazon.  This link goes to an informative slide show that shows the problem and suggests solutions. I am fascinated by the newest incineration technology that transforms waste we can't recycle into useable energy, does so cleanly and is neighborhood friendly. Modern incineration, via small plants, is an important part of  waste management in many European cities.

Is Anderson Cooper going to Fox?

After last night's show it seems to me Anderson was auditioning for a job on FOX.  He never gave moveon's Justin Rubin  a chance to state his case and he followed up with giving Ari Fleischer all the room he wanted to filibuster the other guests.

As for guests, you never see Krugman or Stiglitz, real economists, on Anderson's show.  Instead he parades from the bullpen his usual lineup of hacks and sprinkles in a Congress rep here and there. Boring, insulting and always slanted Right.

What a jerk Anderson has become.

Unemployed? Thank the Republicans and the ultra Rich

1% does causes all the economic damage.

Let's just say it: The Republicans are the problem

We have two Nobel Prize winning economists, Krugman and Stiglitz, and both are vehemently opposed to Republican economic policies. Republicans are to blame for the economic mess from which we are trying to emerge. If you are unemployed and/or lost your house, you can thank the Right and the ultra rich.

Anderson Cooper ambushes Moveon spokesperson

Anderson Cooper's treatment of the moveon spokesperson was obscene, as disgusting as anything  FOX does.  And he followed it up with a disgusting suck up spot for Ari Fleischer.  Is there a more disgusting TV commentator than Ari Fleischer?  Good grief. No wonder CNN has horrible ratings.

No person in the galaxy would willing turn on the TV to see Ari Fleischer.  No person turning on a TV and finding Fleischer on the screen would be happy to see him. Most if not all, when seeing Ari's disgusting self promoting routine begin, change the channel as quickly as their fingers can punch the buttons.

Even Tiger Woods at his lowest, fired Ari Fleischer after a very brief taste of Ari's self promotion.

What in the world is CNN thinking.  Do they think the world loves Bush rejects? Do they think the world is all Right wing wingnuts? Do they think any sane person trusts David Gergen and loves to hear his cleverly disguised Republican talking points buying the whole "he's so reasonable and fair and unbiased" bullshit subterfuge?  Do they think Liberals, Progressives, and various genuine centrists  and assorted lefties exist only to be mugged, outnumbered, spoken over, ridiculed, stabbed in the back, verbally punched and kicked and otherwise bullied by Anderson Cooper?  

Wild horses

Wild horses are still in trouble .  Big ranchers want to slaughter them ( Welfare Ranching ) and it takes a lot of taxpayer money to manage horses and burros, or so they say. It's a complex problem. As an Easterner I don't fully appreciate the complexity.  Seems to me we should just leave them alone. I enjoyed seeing wild horses near Reno and wild horses and burros near Las Vegas and I'd like you and my granddaughter to have the same opportunity.  

Cowboy delusion

If I don't have my gun I can't be a real cowboy or secret agent in cover so deep it is known only to me.

"...they're funny, they're rich, they have great tailors ..."

If people are wealthy it is god's will and is because god loves them best.  That line of thought leads to delusions of superior intelligence as in the "born on third base and thinks he hit a triple" characterization of George Bush.  The poor are in that condition because that is where god wants them to be. These fundamental,founding concepts of American puritanism, a thread continuing today in the denials of  their own stupidity and justifications of social meanness characteristic of the extreme Right. It is one of the core beliefs behind American fascism and works nicely with Randism. The joke is that the stupid poor and middle classes are programed to worship movie star heroes and the business bandits and bizarre conservative politicians who can afford the same postures and suntanned expensive suit trappings.  We are most threatened by voters who chose image over substance and select the  harsh puritanical judgements and divinely administered social stratification over genuine compassion and wisdom. 

See also Paul Krugman to Rachael Maddow

Happy May Day

Here's a couple of May Day links including (the first) in which Stephen King asks for higher taxes on the rich, 50% of income he says is about right. It's a short article, so check it out.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/may/01/stephen-king-tax-the-rich


The Wobblie home page  has some appropriate articles:

http://www.iww.org/  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Workers%27_Day 

Prison repair needed

"Why are prisoners committing suicide in Pennsylvania?"

 torture, sadistic guards, long stretches in solitary confinement.

Control for the sake of control

I am filling out forms and writing checks for address signs with new numbers for each of the little houses we own.  I do not want the new addresses and I do not want to dig holes for  sign posts that will allow me to comply with my town's readdressing project. We each get a new number and instructions on how and where to display it.  They say that these numbers will allow emergency personnel to come to our aid more quickly. I say that is good motive and likely, at conception, a sincere one. However, new rules and more efficient data management often morph into more effective control of the public.  I think our new numbers will help bill collectors and the police more than it will help the local fire and ambulance volunteers. 

On a larger scale, here's a link to an old but still pertinent discussion of the Patriot Act:
http://www.npr.org/news/specials/patriotact/patriotactprovisions.html

It is stressful being a socialist and an anarchist at the same time.

Detach

Trying hard to detach from politics and cultivate a serenity based on appreciation of how ridiculous and unfair the process is. Trying to do this without going the extra step to pathos.  So, I'm reading David Foster Wallace and Colin Thubron, Shadow of the Silk Road.  (The latter has been stored, half read, on my Kindle for quite awhile.) 

I predict

Obama is going to win by a landslide, Democrats will easily win control of the House and keep control of the Senate. Because Voters know the buy-now-pay-later economic mess is the lingering result of Bush's wars, deregulation of banks and Wall Street, and deep corruption at the highest levels. Middle and lower class Americans are done with being patsies, manipulated by abortion and gun rights hysteria, to ensure the corrupt, degenerate 1% keep their strangle hold on wealth. Because we're done paying for their private jets, endless vacations, whores, obscenely huge estates, polo ponies, mega yachts, sky boxes, face lifts, breast enlargements, hair transplants, nannies, butlers, butt wipers, body guards and the whole tumbling clown parade of entourages and retainers. (I predict.)

Neanderthal

Mainly, he feels different from others because he is certain he carries an unusual amount of Neanderthal DNA. This accounts, he says, for his unusually large chest, shorter, slightly bowed legs, big head and a habit of leaning forward, bent over like a man older than he actually is. He keeps all of this secret, of course. Though he does believe that his Neanderthal DNA has given him a larger brain than  the more models and a greater capacity for compassion and sensitivity which accounts for how vulnerable he is to hurt feelings.

Old hat

Because of the age difference between them she rarely knows what he is talking about. It doesn't concern her however, and hasn't since she realized what he took as breaking news or up and coming phenoms she knew to be old hat.

Drones 2

Even more buzz bombs to fill the air above our heads doing unspecified robotic services for the powers that be. They're just too good to be true and no agency or institution can bear the thought of being without them.  After so much nifty murdering by remote the rush is on. 

And, you can have your own little buzzer to check out what's going on upstairs at the neighbor's. 

Miraculous Wikipedia

Here's a short appreciation of Wikipedia on Gizmodo: http://gizmodo.com/wikipedia/

Hours of work by dedicated, unpaid mostly anonymous heroes honor the spirit of altruism.

Infested

Too many people and more on the way.

Here's the evidence.

Bull market for drones

Drones are out front today, probably energized by an in-depth article “The Drone Wars” by Michael Hastings, in the current Rolling Stone (subscribers only , for now) and a Washington Post article  “CIA seeks new authority to expand Yemen drone campaign. (link)

In the Rolling Stone article, Pakistani teenager, clearly not a terrorist, describes living in fear as the drones are a constant, buzzing presence in the night.  Nobody’s perfect, not even the CIA, and sometimes these drones kill innocents. While these mistakes may fall within our government’s margins of acceptable error, for those terrified in the night, listening to the drones above, those margins are obscene.  

Our future (and everyone’s) could look a lot like the present lives of teenaged Pakistanis. Soon, we may all live with the constant buzz of drones and  the anxious fear of operator errors. 

Drone wars will be the ultimate video game, with enemy drones being hijacked and turned against their owners and innocents being regularly targeted. (We still don’t know what brought down the drone in Iran.)  It could also be hard to resist and keep in check the lure of sanitary, digitized, remote murder of real and imagined enemies. 

No idea who's running the show

If you're into conspiracies here's some great fuel to fire things up. Little peepers like us will never know what really goes on behind the curtains and all we can do is speculate and grope around in the twilight keeping our little lives stable in the murk.

Secret Service and whores

Two agents brought one prostitute to the hotel and had her to do both.  They wanted to split the fee for one. She wanted to be paid for two services and when they refused she went to the police. The agents attempt to cheat the whore made the shit hit the fan.

So much for the Secret Service being a class act.  Hard to get much lower than trying to cheat a whore.

Bush and National Guard

A good summary and some new details in an article covering George Bush and the National Guard (and the downfall of Dan Rather) in Texas Monthly linked this morning on The Huffington Post. 

The short of it is (no surprise) Bush skated and covered it up. 

Surviving Prostate Cancer

In 2006 I was diagnosed with stage, locally advanced prostate cancer. My Gleason Scores were 8's and 9's.  I had a little more than 2 years of hormone suppression via Zoladex shots every 3 months and daily Casodex tabs.  I completed 43 (I think) radiation treatments around Christmas of 2006. Since then in every exam the cancer as been undetectable.  I attribute these good results, so far, to the skills of my doctors and technicians and to a positive attitude, thanks mostly to what I learn in AA. Also, I developed what may have been an effective imaging practice based on a dream.  I am considering giving the details of all of the above in future posts on this blog.

My cancer experience is on my mind now because my annual blood work, exam and visit to the Radiation Oncologist who treated me comes up next month

The short of it

I don't know if what I hear is generated inside my head or picked up from outside. 

I could say the same thing about what I see.

Noise

On the 10 hour drive back from the Outer Banks I discovered an annoying squeak somewhere on the driver's side of the car.  I couldn't find the source. Finally at home, in a few hours I realized the noise came inside with me and was in my head.

I've lost much of my hearing, I think mainly from loud jobs especially on older tugboats.  What hearing has been lost is replaced with a constant blend of peepers, cicadas, and rushing water, all punctuated with intermittent beeps and squeaks.

To keep what peace I have I cannot fight these sounds or try consciously to ignore them. What works best is to welcome them, occasionally be amazed they are there and always be aware that sounds I hear may or may not be actually out there or only in my head.

Is this it?

The stream behind my house is a now fragile trickle, the lowest it has been in any Spring. The little trout are struggling to find food and places to hide from the herons.   There is no news of future rain.  Maybe it will never again rain enough to bring the stream back.  This could be it and we are ignoring the evidence.

Guns at AA meeting?

Should not be, but it happens here. Usually the pistol is partially concealed, flashed just enough so everyone knows it's there, accidentally, of course, or so the gun carrier hopes they believe.  For the carrier it is another subterfuge,  an attention grabbing device aimed at feeding an ego desperate for attention. The result of this artfully but carefully exposed gun is supposed to make others think they have discovered he is a genuine tough guy; a formidable man who lives on an edge more exciting and interesting than the actual ordinariness of his life.

This urge for recognition and differentiation is typical of many alcoholics.  Most of those in recovery, however are well enough with sound enough egos to keep these urges in check. We also know that the ultimate aim in recovery is to happily become one among many, resting firmly on anonymity, the spiritual foundation, and all it's spiritually sound implications.

Trigger Happy

If you can't be sure you won't be too quick to shoot then it is best to leave your gun home.

Working Mothers are not Romneys

Being a mother is work; being a working mother is really hard work.

The issue over whether Ann Romney ever "worked a day in her life" is not resolved, however, by her motherhood.  The question is how many servants did she have helping her? 

For such a wealthy woman to aim for solidarity with the Nation's less fortunate, hard working mothers is bullshit. Real work is having to work outside the home while raising children, in many cases with no help at all. 

The super rich Romneys seem to want appear to be middle and working class. They are not; their attempt to appear so is aiming to be inauthentic and you would think they would abandon such a foolish effort. What they are counting on, of course, is the proven delusions of many in the middle class who are regularly hoodwinked by rich Republicans into voting against their own interests.

The authentic strength of America's workers comes from being tempered by the day to day challenges of surviving in, and guiding their children through, the economic minefield left us by Bush/Cheney and reinforced by the Republican loonies in Congress.

Mr. and Mrs. Romney, you did not earn that unique strength and those timeless values and you should not claim you did.  Attempting to appear  is not being.

If you don't know, don't do anything

With regards to Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin, the self appointed volunteer stogie chomper who patrols my neighborhood on a quad sometimes makes me nervous. He is legally armed with a 9mm 15 shot automatic.  He has a concealed carry permit (so do I). He is a prescription painkiller pill popper. He keeps an eye on things.  Maybe this is a good thing. In my wood stove heated neighborhood he notices chimney fires, for example, and is quick to call the fire department which can be helpful unless the volunteer fire fighters too eagerly chop holes in your roof prematurely.  Often chimney fires remain contained in the chimney and burn out by themselves. In my case the department Chief himself was on site and the crew were careful and competent and drama minimized.  Having experienced other chimney fires that were harmless and essentially gave the chimney a good cleaning, I likely would not have called the fire department,  but the neighborhood Patrol did not give me that option.  Quick reaction is sometimes good, sometimes not so I give the Patrol the benefit of the doubt and overcame my initial anger.  Usually, I am more afraid of officials at my house than I am of natural disasters.

On trawlers, I learned about the ambiguity that goes with quick responses.  Sometimes they work, even heroically. Sometimes they don't and actually make things worse. Nothing is less productive than the excitement and panic that spreads in an emergency where everyone feels the need to do something.

Once, when I was on a particular trawler for the first time, the Captain said to me: "Don't be first to anything until you get the hang of things. Hang back, don't rush."

What's new in the hood

• Phoebe's nesting above the back deck
• Wood Duck pair hanging around the creek, maybe nesting near by

• My dog Rowdy (above)  is on a diet of one cup kibble twice daily.  He's old, fat, and a glutton. (I am too)

Allen West is nuts

Looney tunes . It doesn't take much to switch from seeing the Republican Right as sinister and frightening to just plain silly, hilarious even.

Does Allen West know anything about Joseph McCarthy? His wild accusations about imaginary Communists (and too much booze) ultimately ruined him.  It is amazing that today anyone would even think of Communists as anything but an almost forgotten enemy. 

Well, there is no telling what nonsense these nutcases will come up with.  Next we'll hearing about the threat from the Kaiser to take over Congress, instead of the neo fascists (that don't recognize themselves in history) that really are a threat.

Memory lane: the dark side

I love seeing gannets.  When I was working on scallop trawlers, far off shore, I would frequently see gannets and was always delighted by their throw caution to the winds dives, wings folded, from high above hitting the water like a javelin.  Suicidal, I learned when I heard from others on the boat about how much fun it was to lash a fish to a board, send it out into the water and watch the gannets fold, dive and hit the board from 30 or 40 feet in the air.  Same guys, I figured, that I sailed with once, who, when the boat broke down passed the time adrift grinding shackles into crude hooks, tied to buoy rope, baited with fish, skates, whatever and hauled in shark after shark for no other reason than to slash open the shark abdomens and watch them swim, guts trailing, and continue for awhile to attempt to feed.

Frisco

Here's what I liked about Frisco, North Carolina in the first week of April:

No bugs
Dolphins just beyond the surf
Gannets diving among the dolphins
No traffic
Very few people on the (free) beach
No waits at restaurants and short lines for the (free) ferry to Ocracoke
60 degree weather
Quiet
No fast food joints, no chain stores
Ghost crabs
Wind just right for kite flying

O

Keep your eye on the ball

Though the wording is frequently different this is a key piece of advice given to nearly every American.  I heard it over and over again, in baseball, tennis, football, rugby, and, later, in business strategy sessions where it often appeared as: stay focused and close the deal, and so on.

It’s amazing how difficult over many years it has been for me to apply this advice.  Yesterday while writing checks for monthly household bills I came to a bill I especially hate.  When writing the first check I made a couple of mistakes, on the second try I made some more.  Also, my handwriting in both efforts had become in nearly unreadable slash and scribble.  I paused for a moment, realizing how much my anger had thrown me off my checking writing game.  It reminded me of trying to hit a golf on a day was one thing or another had me anxious or pissed off. Inevitably the result was a day of infuriating chunks, slices, hooks and topping that had bright red with rage, sullen, short with old friend playing partners and just plain miserable and miserable to be around.

I don’t know if I’m unusually sensitive or if most of us are so easily distracted and that the main difference between the ordinary and the star performer has a lot to do with ability to concentrate; focus; and the ability to keep an on the ball.

It seems simple enough and we all should be able to do it                                                            
 When playing little league baseball one season, on opening day, I hit back to back over the fence home runs. I was startled realizing how easy it was. I was hardly trying, it seemed to me.  Next game I tried, harder and harder to do the same and was afraid I would not be able to live up to teammates expectations.  I doubled my efforts and kept trying to do what was expected of me.  I didn’t hit another homer the entire year.  I had similar, self conscious related year long melt downs in wrestling and football.  My success in rugby was likely related to being usually drunk and ripped on one or other drugs during the matches.

It gets complicated when I recognize not keeping my eye on the ball is the problem.  Then I try hard to keep my eye on the ball and judge as I’m doing it whether or not I am actually focused.  That of course wrecks the process.

It gets simpler when you accept how hard it is. Read Zen in the Art of Archery, for example. Or try to apply (without thinking about it) the advice I read from Suzuki:  “Do what you’re doing while you’re doing it.”

Fact is, I can write accurate, readable checks if I get calm as I can and plan for a tranquil moment and detach myself from the results, the impact on my bank account, how much money is going out the door, and realize how much easier it is if I use a favorite pen and enjoy the process as calligraphy. 

Fact is, also, that rarely happens and I have accepted the truth that for us ordinaries learning to keep our eye on the ball is a lifelong practice offering momentary  rewards, passing awareness that in the last moment we actually did it and it was easy.

Lariam

Mefloquine malaria drug used by the military that may induce psychotic behavior.

Whores and gangsters

Here's a good story about whores and gangsters posted today.  Many are more interesting than politicians and no worse. 

Crazy days and nights. Really.

I'm worn out by politics for the moment anyway. Can't stand the Anderson Cooper political panels. Gergen is worse than a glass of warm milk. It is only interesting to watch is his creative sliding in his conservative talking points under cover of being the wise old voice of reason. Erick Erickson is a robot, held erect by a steel rod going through his skull and out his  ass. Worst of all is Ari Fleischer. Unbearable to watch. Relentless at getting his talking points across. Can't stand, also, Cooper's beating to death the tabloid story of the day. Just awful.

I like Chris Hayes on MSNBC but it's mostly a confirmation of what I already know. Like watching reruns it is not very exciting.

So, instead, I'm reading gossip websites.  It's a step up from politics. If you have been following Entertainment Lawyer's Crazy Days and Nights for even a short while, especially the "blind" items you can find enough craziness to make your head spin. Some of  CD&N filters  (laterally I think) over to Gawker , especially the blind items.

So, why is gossip better than politics?  1.More entertaining.  2. Better writing. 3. More interesting. 4.Less threatening. 5. Does not foster delusions that there is something you should and can do. 6. Easier to detach. 7. Refreshed daily, often hourly.

Happy days. Next comes reading and writing about dogs.

The issue is not the issue

 The Repubican agenda is not to reduce spending through reasonable (or any other) compromise with Democrats; their agenda is to destroy Obama.  Likely this single mindedness fueled by a catalog of resentments, including but not limited to, racism. Their destructive goal is simple, easily understood, easily followed--in short, an effective rallying point.  So, when we think the old approach to government through reasonable compromise is still operative, we are delusional.  No amount of give, on the part of Democrats will ever be enough and will always be rejected. Republicans will sacrifice the well being of middle and lower class Americans because they believe a failed government, at any cost, will rid the country of Obama.

The issue is not ever about what is best for us, best for the country, and to think it is is delusional.  All the noise about deficit reduction, small government and protection of individual liberties is a false sales pitch aimed at energizing the dissatisfied middle Americans. It is the same stuff: abortion, gun owner rights, and welfare abuse that has always been used to trick average and poorer Americans into voting against their own interests.

That is the great achievement of modern Republicans:  Manipulating working people into voting against their own interests.  

Picture this (global warming)

Is it going to be so hot in Chicago this Summer that there will blackouts and people will crowd into the lake and stand there shoulder to shoulder, chest deep, holding umbrellas to block the sun?

Hats

Every street scene photo from the 1940's and 50's shows men wearing fedoras and other brimmed hats. Why did they stop?

Men in the northeast don't wear brimmed hats because they are always in automobiles and with headrests and high backed seats  there's no room for brims.  Baseball hats, however, do work. Those that do wear brimmed hats are often cowboys, or cowboy imitators, or outdoors people from Maine or wish to appear to be any of the former.

Truth is, as a dedicated dog walker, rain or shine, I've come to admire how well my fedoras keep off the sun and guide the rain and snow safely beyond my collar. The fedoras make sense. From time to time I've heard the fedoras referred to as "old man hats".  When it comes to being an old man, I'm the genuine article. There's no sense trying to look like something I'm not.

When I was in a boatman's local of the Longshoreman's union I was already a Socialist sympathizer, if not actually a member.  I sometimes wore a white cap, something like a canvas version of the Irish style wool tweed caps with small front peak and panel sewed top, that (mostly in my imagination) identified me as a Harry Bridges man, a lefty union radical. Though of course, by then (70's and 80's) almost no one in the east coast ILA knew who the hell Harry Bridges was.  Some out west did and still do.

In a New York City strike in 1988 I was fired along with the other tug boat captains that would not cross the picket lines. In that sense, in my scheme of things, I legitimized my little white hat and stood comfortably with a couple of others who treasured their knowledge of labor history, Harry Bridges, and the clear eyed  ideals of solidarity with other workers  in the face of the inevitable greed, corruption and  exploitation.

Near Earth Asteroid to take another shot

This little gem could blow all our cares away. There's so many of them we can't expect them to always miss.

Damage estimates based on asteroid sizes.  

Property taxes

Schools here are funded mostly by property taxes.  Here, is East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania.  Main problem is that for a few years this was a boom area. People came because cheaper houses allowed New Jersey and New York residents to upgrade.  Property taxes here were lower than in New York and New Jersey. It was a gold rush. At first the long commute to higher jobs seemed worth it because of woods, big yards, deer, and bears that could be fed doughnuts. Then gas prices went up. Expanding schools required higher property taxes.  Many moved back to where they lived before because it was now cheaper and the long commute proved more taxing than first believed. There are now many empty houses here. There are three on my short road.  Empty houses do not deliver taxes but big school buildings with swimming pools, have long, large mortgages and extra teachers are protected by tenure and unions.  Property taxes go up, catastrophically for many, leading to more empty houses and yet higher taxes.  No one wants to buy a house in a heavily taxed area so there is almost no construction, for many years the main industry here, and unemployed builders and their unemployed workers are losing homes to foreclosure.  No one wants to close schools in their neighborhood and no one wants to fire their children's teachers but many believe it is ok to fire administrators. 

A good solution might be to change the tax support structure. The fairest, of course, would be to increase graduated income taxes but no one wants higher income taxes.  Lots want a sales tax because they think visitors and other outsiders could be made to pay for a good part of our schools. Those that believe this do not realize that this would be a tax less fair to lower and middle income people than an income tax.  They think it would be less painful.  Maybe so. 

It is easy to blame the administrators who stupidly believed that the boom would continue forever.  But, most people are delusional in the same way.  Many of us believe we will live forever, or at least act as if we believe that.  The hindsight approach would be to build flexible schools, schools that expanded and contracted painlessly in sync with  population fluctuations.  But we're not that smart. Yet.  Flexibility in architecture, and likely in all ways of being, would be a good way to go.

For now, there is no way to avoid the pain of past stupidity and greed and a desire to construct monumental schools named after local luminaries.  When there is not enough to go around people get very nasty and concentrate more on fixing blame than on fixing situations. So, school board meetings are packed and people are very vulnerable to solutions that readily translate into slogans. The extreme Right thrives.  This is the kind of environment that breeds racism and other more inclusive forms of fascism. That's where we are today. Here, nationally and perhaps worldwide.

Volatile.

Abdulelah Haider Shaye

Obama keeps Yemeni journalist locked up according to The Nation.

Here's Gawker's take on the same story: "...beaten, tortured and imprisoned for two years..."

And the Huffington Post with videos

Different president, same shit.

Senior confusion

I'm  beginning to wonder if it is not everyone else that is turning into Professor Irwin Corey, but it is me who is losing the ability to make sense of things.  The world seems garbled. Santorum, Rush, Fox, Haley's pardons, David Gergen's endless drone, earnest Anderson--a world of wackadoodles.

Road Kill

Yesterday's count from here to post office (5 miles) : one opossum, two racoons (one blonde), several squirrels and a deer.

Another wonderful day brought to us by global warming.  Thanks Detroit and makers of oil burning engines, coal and oil power plants, clear cutting lumber companies, and thanks also to me and my wood burning stove.

Bring it on.  June in January and toasted in July.

There is no honor...

http://gawker.com/5893188/goldman-exec-ping-pong-star-quits-with-brutal-rant-in-the-new-york-times

CNN's John King confuses me

While on the topic of frightening funny things, I come to John King who everyday now reminds me more and more of Professor Irwin Corey. King's mouthful of marbles garbled nonsense is quickly moving from the incoherent to the hilarious.

More Professor Corey: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxtN0xxzfsw

Men wearing wigs

I have a problem with men who wear wigs; not so much with entertainers who do so, but very much so with politicians and businessmen and others who want to be taken seriously.  I sometimes think half the men in congress wear wigs.  It bothers me because choosing to wear a wig indicates a fundamental dishonesty. It also suggests that the wig wearer is uncomfortable with the truth of who he is.  A person who would lie about his hair would lie about anything.  And, most men's wigs are so bad and so obviously fake hair that they make the wearer look like a clown.  Don't wig wearing politicians have mirrors? Or, are the completely dependent on others' willingness to suspend disbelief? Or, do they actually believe that perception is reality?

Anyway, I think the current clown prince of politics, Rick Santorum, is a wig wearing fool who, if elected will satisfy the most cynical, darkest, most perverse side of my sense of humor.  In that sense, electing George Bush II was hilarious but Santorum will be an absolute wig wearing gut buster.  (I would give anything for a reporter who went around asking politicians if their hair was real or a wig.  Makes me yearn for the genius of Stuttering  John .)

The few remaining honest bald guys among us will have little option but to hold our sides and roar ourselves into oblivion as America becomes a clown festival featuring delusional, wrinkled old guys wearing young hair while spitting out a slush of hate tinged racism, sexism, homophobia, anti sex, fear mongering fundamental christian inspired slogans.

One more threat to keep your gut in a knot

Oceans going sour

Washington culture? This about covers it.

Below is a quote from Chris Hayes that I found on The Huffington Post

HAYES: It means that the culture of Washington is totally and completely corrupt. And that the country is ruled -- and I know this sounds radical, but true -- by a very intense financial oligarchy, that basically has purchase on both parties. I mean, what you see here -- and I don't want to downplay the import of the derivatives bill that passed out of the Ag Committee and the financial regulations, some of the measures of which are quite strong and built because of this public anger -- but the fact of the matter is, drawing these lines between who's on the side of Wall Street and who isn't, every single one of these members is talking to Wall Street every day, and raising money from them, and having them whisper in their ear. And over the years, we have seen finance metastasize so that it's 40 or 50 percent of corporate profits, and funneling that money back into purchasing the assent of elected representatives in a way that brought us to this crisis point. So we can make technical fixes to regulation, but what we have to do is break the political/economic power of the banks, and that I don't see on the horizon.

The terroists next door

Turns out the gunman shot down at the Pentagon was a Right Wing terrorist in the Timothy McVeigh,Joseph Stack tradition. Lots of these nutcases are out there.

link

Killer Whales: Let them go

Keeping large wild animals in small enclosures for no reason but entertainment is a disgusting practice. Turning them into dancing clowns even more perverse. Better to either let them go or, if they can't survive in the wild, keep them cared for in areas open to the sea in a way that allows them to come and go.

Link to Deep Ecology

Ford Fusion 2010 transmission problems

Our 2010 Ford Fusion had serious transmission problems at 10,000 miles. The transmission slipped and also would not shift to a higher gear. The problem was intermittent, seemed most likely to occur when it and the engine were warm. Our most serious incidents happened after we had traveled 20 miles on the interstate and were going up hill. A brief cruise through Google revealed that many others are experiencing the same or similar problems with the same model Ford. Ours is at the dealer's for the second time. The first time they said they were unable to reproduce the problem.

Obama can't be trusted on Social Security

Here is a link to a longish article on Obama's Social Security position. Hint: He may not be as committed to protecting benefits as he led us to believe in his campaign.

Daily Kos

Is Cheney a fugitive?

As I've said before I knew Obama would be more of the same the day it was announced that he would not investigate or prosecute the Bush/Cheney war criminals. Here's an informative summary of the law and crimes at Naked Capitalism

Canada

I think I should have moved to Canada when I was young enough to make it work. It's the Senate that makes me long for Canada; the Senate, the Republicans and Obama and his crew. This bunch also makes me long for LBJ, of all people. LBJ was a lion. He knew a paper tiger when he saw one and his presence alone would have sent the prissy Mitch McConnell scurrying for a hideout under the rug. Lieberman would be at the door holding the toilet paper while LBJ sat on the can dumping.

It's not going to happen though. Because if the Republicans are mean spirited but prissy, the Democrats are far worse. Either, like Obama they are too smug and self satisfied to act or they are stupid cowards, or they are cut and run closet Republicans like Bayh.

Maybe my daughter will move to Canada.

Real Compromise? Not likely.

No matter what the Democrats offer it will not be enough. The Republicans are only interested in obstruction as its own end. That's the simple truth of today's political landscape.

Poor Obama

Obama's Presidency is in trouble because he is an honest broker. He came to office believing that if he is reasonable and willing to compromise he would be met in kind by the Republicans and Right wing Democrats and be able to get good things done for America and Americans. Too bad. That approach to government is no longer viable. In fact it is almost charming in its old fashion quaintness and would be a good goof if so much were not at stake. Obama needs to face the simple fact that the Right does not want to compromise one inch. It wants to wipe out, grind out of existence any ideas and those that hold them that differ from Right wing Republican orthodoxy. They do not want a country that values diversity, debate, free expresion and compromise. They want a singularity and they will get it if Obama does not wake up and if the Left does not step up to the challenge.

You don't need a compass to see where we're heading

Get off the cloud Obama

I knew we were in trouble when Obama decided to give the Bush criminals a pass. It got worse with his sad efforts to reach out to Republicans. He should know they have the single agenda of obstructing his programs and destroying whatever they label as Liberal. Now it's time for Obama to stop being above it all and come down from the cloud and get his hands dirty. Republican extremists only respond to a kick in the teeth followed by an indictment. Hopefully Obama is not too enamored of his bipartisan self and the enchantment of being president to do that.

It's time to go after the big banks, close Guantanamo, prosecute the torturers, and force congress to bring to votes what's good for us and not what seems most likely to pass. By aggressively pursuing a liberal agenda the agents of failure will be clearly identified and the blame placed where it belongs.

Obama, you need to be more altruistic and less political.

Right Wing Extremists Must be Confronted.

If the Right feels about me as I do about them we are moving toward civil war.

The health care insurance town hall disruptions are a tactical continuation of the phony Right wing riot that ended the 2000 vote recount in Miami. Liberals, Progressives and organized labor must confront these neo fascists whenever they use these anti democratic tactics. American fascism always lurks close by and is an ever present threat to our way of life and we must be ready to fight it at every turn.

Mark Sanford and Maria

My God Mark, stop dithering and make the bold move. Keep the mistress, dump the wife and bag being governor. Catch the next plane to Argentina and figure it out later what the next move is. The world does not need another repressed, cowardly, image driven political hack. Face it you are never going to be president but at least you can become a legend.

U.S. torturers said to have killed dozens

The closer you look the worse it gets.

US interrogators may have killed dozens, human rights researcher and rights group say

via 3 Quarks Daily

Let the banks and brokers go down

I'm getting nervous about Obama's economic team and their plan.

What most concerns me is that they seem focused on repair and restoration rather than on replacement and invention. I'm looking for generation, not regeneration and most of Obama's team seem to come with minds shaped by long submersion in the troubled waters of our recent bank and investment cultures. His guys apparently are not capable of blowing the doors off what is and coming up with something entirely new. Or maybe they know what they are doing but are so deeply vested in the dead and dieing financial institutions that they are compelled by self interest to try to resuscitate them.

I don't own stock and I don't give a damn if the failed banks go down.

Oops

Wasn't somebody supposed to take care of that?

WASHINGTON - The federal agency that insures bank deposits, which is asking for emergency powers to borrow up to $500 billion to take over failed banks, is facing a potential major shortfall in part because it collected no insurance premiums from most banks from 1996 to 2006.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which insures deposits up to $250,000, tried for years to get congressional authority to collect the premiums in case of a looming crisis. But Congress believed that the fund was so well-capitalized - and that bank failures were so infrequent - that there was no need to collect the premiums for a decade, according to banking officials and analysts.

Now with 25 banks having failed last year, 17 so far this year, and many more expected in the coming months, the FDIC has proposed large new premiums for banks at the very time when many can least afford to pay. The agency collected $3 billion in the fees last year and has proposed collecting up to $27 billion this year, prompting an outcry from some banks that say it will force them to raise consumer fees and curtail lending.

Link via Eschaton

Bushville? or Cheneyville? you pick

If you are a member of the working class without rich relatives you might check up on your camping gear. Shakeout the tent, check the Coleman stove, air out the sleeping bags because it could be you are in for a stretch at a Bushville campground for the homeless.

No doubt Cheney and his Wall Street cronies thinks all this is a healthy weed out of the dead wood (that would be you and me).

Here's a link to an NY Times article on tent cities.

Billmon

I miss a lot. Didn't know, for example, that Billmon had resumed posting, now in a diary at Kos. Found it this morning by way of naked capitalism. So, this afternoon I'm going sit back and read all Billmon's posts. After a quick survey it looks like they began last July.

Billmon's posts are here: link. If a post catches your interest make sure you click through on the "there's more" link.

Shoe thrower

Muntadher al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist on trial for throwing his shoes last year at then-President George W. Bush, said the former American leader's "bloodless and soulless smile" and his joking banter provoked him.

Rescue Via a Blue Swan

Whatis the blue swan you ask? It is immediate rescue via an unforeseen agent. In our present situation it could be:

New technology that delivers free energy.

Arrival of friendly flying saucer people who teach us how to fly unaided, heat our homes and light our cities with hydrogen, live forever, and instantly transport ourselves and goods to markets in other galaxies.

No Lieberman. No Robert Gates.

Change please.

No fool like an old fool

Delusional and/or demented McCain may be obsessed with fantasies of romancing Sarah.

Could be this old womanizer got carried away and his vp selection process was driven by dreams of romancing Sarah on Air Force One.

"mistake prone Biden"

For many journalists, including those at the New York Times, "mistake prone" has become part of Biden's name.

So, to be fair, why not "frequent liar" McCain? Or "truth" challenged" McCain?

Biden vs Palin

or an episode of Reba?

The Big Picture

From the Big Picture:

Want to get a sense of exactly how expensive the Paulson Plan is?

1 million seconds is 11 days

1 billion seconds is 32 years

1 trillion seconds is 3 centuries

The Big Picture

"Terrorist" Attack on Financials?

Not necessarily a wingnut attack of paranoia. One very smart guy thinks enough of the possibility to write about it. Link

Sarah Palin's greatest hits

Here's the list: LINK

McCain? Simply confused by all of it

Lumpy goes senile over Spain. link

How swift boating works

Exactly right explanation of how swift boating works from Josh Marshall

Free apes

Compassion.

Spain's parliament voiced its support on Wednesday for the rights of great apes to life and freedom in what will apparently be the first time any national legislature has called for such rights for non-humans. Link

Dukakis moments

We need more images of McCain in those studly, very dark glasses, "Navy" baseball cap, and golf shirt, especially those where average height people tower over him.

Hearing aids can be repaired.

I'm not telling my wife, or anyone else for that matter, but today I broke my $2000(plus) hearing aid. I was getting into the car, leaving the gym, and not wearing my eyeglasses. I noticed a large cashew in the cup holder that must have fallen out of the bag of mixed nuts I had for lunch. I forgot that before going into the gym I had carefully put the hearing aid safely into the cup holder, a little fortress. (Is this a senior moment?) I popped the nut into my mouth and bit down hard. It crunched and I knew. A little wad of tiny electronics spilled out, between the two hearing aid pieces in my hand. They must be damaged. Who could possibly fix these little wires and teeny lumps of important appearing items?

I will have to spring (secretly) for another hearing aid and cover my loss with, maybe, canceling a few years of gym membership. Or sell a dog.

I was sick. Thanks to Bush and company I have some serious income reductions and have money worries. The hearing aid helps keep the peace between my wife and me. I don't need max volume on the TV. I don't automatically say "what?" in response to anything she says. The hearing aid is an important item in our house.

After picking up my boy Rowdy from the vet where he was recovering from $300 (plus. I can't bear to reveal the actual amount.) surgery to remove what likely will turn out to be a wart and not the melanoma I feared, I went to the hearing aid supplier.

"I didn't have my glasses on and I stepped on it in locker room," I lied.

"This is a good break" the receptionist said. "There's an odd little dent here though. No problem. I'll take it upstairs and glue it," she said cheerfully.

....and glue it?

That's it? Glue it like a broken cup. That's it?

It is. Right now the glued hearing aid is safely enclosed in a little plastic bag, in the car in the cup holder so I can't get my hands on it until the glue dries completely, no matter how urgent the need for me to test it and make sure it still works.

The only bad thing that could happen now would be for me to spill the beans to my wife, or one of her siblings. The hearing aid story would become a defining moment. A tale told again and again and again, and summoned forever with subtle references.

Would you like another nut dear?

Please let me keep my mouth shut.

our tax dollars at work.

The Bush regime has pulled us all into the sewer. Is it too much to hope that someday they will called to account for these atrocities?

The Reprieve study includes the account of a prisoner released from Guantánamo Bay, who described a fellow inmate's story of detention on an amphibious assault ship. "One of my fellow prisoners in Guantánamo was at sea on an American ship with about 50 others before coming to Guantánamo ... he was in the cage next to me. He told me that there were about 50 other people on the ship. They were all closed off in the bottom of the ship. The prisoner commented to me that it was like something you see on TV. The people held on the ship were beaten even more severely than in Guantánamo."

Clive Stafford Smith, Reprieve's legal director, said: "They choose ships to try to keep their misconduct as far as possible from the prying eyes of the media and lawyers. We will eventually reunite these ghost prisoners with their legal rights.

"By its own admission, the US government is currently detaining at least 26,000 people without trial in secret prisons, and information suggests up to 80,000 have been 'through the system' since 2001. The US government must show a commitment to rights and basic humanity by immediately revealing who these people are, where they are, and what has been done to them."

Link

Via majikthise

Too easy for us to overlook and forget. Let bygones be bygones.

authorities don't know the motive....

The U.S. military confirmed Wednesday that a former Guantanamo detainee from Kuwait carried out a recent suicide attack in northern Iraq.

A spokesman for U.S. military's Central Command told The Associated Press that Abdallah Salih al-Ajmi took part in an attack in Mosul.

U.S. Navy Cmdr. Scott Rye said authorities don't know the motive for the attack, which was reported last week by Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television. Iraqi security forces were apparently targeted.

a little more here.

gas

We think they should buy it for us.

It's the gas prices

If Obama wants to connect to the working class he needs to talk seriously about gas prices. It is their central concern.

Hillary's base

No matter how hard you try you will find it impossible to under estimate the intelligence and knowledge of the average Pennsylvania voter.

More here.

Experience, Clinton style

I used to be a tugboat captain. With that experience my wife is now entitled to be a tugboat captain.

Poll (2 parts)

Pick one:

Extraterrestrial beings visit Earth because

1. They think us interesting and want to be our friends.

2. They want to eat us.

3. Watching us destroy ourselves amuses them.

Pick one:

1. There are more than one type of extraterrestrial beings, from more than one place. Some want to be our friends. Some want to eat us. Some want to eat some of us.

2. There are extraterrestrial beings but they do not visit us and do not care about us.

3. There are no extraterrestrial beings.

Tell your friends.

Obama

I liked his speech a lot, though I think it went whistling right by the wad of chuckleheads that make up this country's core. The more I see of Obama the more I like him. Yesterday, in the speech, he seemed to put it right out there as he saw it, not contrived to meet what experts advised would reach the wad.

The more I see of Hillary's campaign the more I'm reminded of Karl Rove. The Clintons are beginning to feel like a virus.

Clinton and Obama

When one seems to surge ahead I begin to like the other one.

Mortgage problems? You're not alone

Feb. 5 (Bloomberg) -- GMAC LLC, the lending company that General Motors Corp. sold to a hedge fund manager, lost $724 million in the fourth quarter because home buyers didn't keep up with their mortgage payments.

Link

Behind on your mortgage payments? Maybe you can just walk away.

Lessers

Edwards is out. That leaves us with a choice between lessers.

Tips for the rich

Save yourself and your upper class friends and shoot everyone else.

Biggs's Tips for Rich: Expect War, Study Blitz, Mind Markets

Jan. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Barton Biggs has some offbeat advice for the rich: Insure yourself against war and disaster by buying a remote farm or ranch and stocking it with ``seed, fertilizer, canned food, wine, medicine, clothes, etc.''

The ``etc.'' must mean guns.

``A few rounds over the approaching brigands' heads would probably be a compelling persuader that there are easier farms to pillage,'' he writes in his new book, ``Wealth, War and Wisdom.''

Biggs is no paranoid survivalist. He was chief global strategist at Morgan Stanley before leaving in 2003 to form hedge fund Traxis Partners. He doesn't lock and load until the last page of this smart look at how World War II warped share prices, gutted wealth and remains a warning to investors. His message: Listen to markets, learn from history and prepare for the worst.....

The rich get complacent, assuming they will have time ``to extricate themselves and their wealth'' when trouble comes, Biggs says. The rich are mistaken, as the Holocaust proves.

...``Events move much faster than anyone expects,'' he says, ``and the barbarians are on top of you before you can escape.''...

From Bloomberg.com


I guess the barbarians he refers to are you and me.

Jim Culleny now Poetry Editor of 3QD

Sometimes you can have your day made by a whisper of good news about a good friend getting recognition for living generously and not compromising good sense and sound values

Jim Culleny is now poetry editor of 3 Quarks Daily, a site that deserves a visit. For a great picture of Jim, hit the “About” and scroll down being impressed, of course, by the rest of the fine 3QD team.

Maybe

flying saucers will save us.

Tighten your belt

Plenty if you can afford it, less for the rest.

The price of copper has tripled in five years. Zinc has doubled. Wheat and soybeans rose 70 percent in 2007. Futures prices of crude oil, gold, silver, lead, uranium, cattle, cocoa and corn are all at or near records.

A global boom in the cost of commodities, the staple ingredients of a modern economy, is entering its sixth year with no end in sight. Commodities have always been subject to boom-and-bust cycles, but many economists see a fundamental shift driving the markets these days.

As development rolls across once-destitute countries at a breakneck pace, lifting billions out of poverty, demand for food, metals and fuel is red-hot, and suppliers are struggling to meet it. Prices are spiraling, and Americans find themselves in what amounts to a bidding war with overseas buyers for products as diverse as milk and gasoline.

“It is absolutely a fundamental change in the global economic structure,” said Bart Melek, global commodities strategist for BMO Capital Markets, an investment firm based in Toronto. “Global commodities ranging from oil to base metals to grains are moving higher as billions of people in China and around the world get wealthier and are consuming more as they produce products for us, and increasingly for themselves.”...

Link to more at NYT

Might as well face it, things are going to get worse even if we continue to ignore the facts.

Obama tilted to the right

From today's Krugman column in the NYT:

...The Obama campaign’s initial response to the latest wave of bad economic news was, I’m sorry to say, disreputable: Mr. Obama’s top economic adviser claimed that the long-term tax-cut plan the candidate announced months ago is just what we need to keep the slump from “morphing into a drastic decline in consumer spending.” Hmm: claiming that the candidate is all-seeing, and that a tax cut originally proposed for other reasons is also a recession-fighting measure — doesn’t that sound familiar?

Anyway, on Sunday Mr. Obama came out with a real stimulus plan. As was the case with his health care plan, which fell short of universal coverage, his stimulus proposal is similar to those of the other Democratic candidates, but tilted to the right. ...

Link

Which brings us to Edwards who remains my first and best choice and is treated quite nicely in the same column cited above.