On the last day of 2011, here some notes about 2011 and then the annual Sage awards for the best and worst of the year...
Interesting Travel for 2011: I traveled to Turkey, with my brothers and sister-in-law, in July, with first-time stops also for me in Germany, Canada (in Vancouver), and Seattle, Washington. In Turkey, we visited Istanbul, Izmir, and Yenipazar. And back in Wyoming, I was able to visit my aunts and uncle, all whom are in their 90s. For the college in April, I traveled with other faculty members by train to Chicago for the Higher Learning Commission conference. With the Delta newspaper students at the college, I also traveled in April to Springfield, Mo., for the MCMA convention. During the Springfield trip, we enjoyed a national performance called "The Aluminum Show." All were great trips!
Most Interesting Project at the College: Working in the summer with an amazing student named Amit Jain who designed and created the Delta Online newspaper website, the first for Mass Communication at the college.
Another Digital Book: With my other digital e-books on Amazon.com of "Sage Street" and "The Wolves and Short Stories," I added just this month "News At 10," a compliation of "This Just In" columns from this blog.
Most Interesting Professional Moment: I was pleasantly surprised to receive the John McCallum Excellence in Teaching Award at the college. It is voted upon by administration, deans, and past recipients, with nominations from fellow faculty. With it in May came months of drafting my speech for the Convocation ceremony in September. It went well and people said they liked it.
O.K., now for the Sage citations of best and worst....
Best World Historical Moment: The "Arab Spring" uprising that started with Tunisia and continued to Egypt and Libya, as people cast off dictators and claimed their right to democracy. It is still a work in progress, but it is a hopeful sign for a better world for all.
Best U.S. Historical Moment: The homecoming of the American troops out of Iraq for the end of the Iraq War this month. Finally!
Worst National Problem: Unemployment. It is still too high. People need good jobs. Other nominee: The Afghanistan War, another quagmire. (An awful national event was the Joplin, Missouri, tornado.)
Terrible World Disaster: An awful world event was the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, followed by the nuclear plant leaks. (I don't think I had ever seen such devastation in a string of ongoing horrors.)
Worst Scandal: The Penn State University football program's child sex abuse scandal, said to be the worst in U.S. sports history. Terrible problems were exposed by the so-called "Paterno culture" concerning college sports.
Most Irritating Line: "To take America back," uttered mainly by Tea Party people. Backward would be the correct definition of it.
Best Books read in 2011: "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" by Frederick Douglass, read for yet another time and "American Massacre" by Sally Denton about the Mountain Meadows massacre, the worst civilian massacre in the 19th century. (I enjoyed reading both books as a class book club reading with students in the Basic News Reporting class.) Other nominees: "The Amateur Emigrant" by Robert Louis Stevenson (read on a plane to Turkey), "The Colonel and Little Missie" by Larry McMurtry (read on a train to Chicago), "Quarrels That Have Shaped the Constitution" by John A. Garraty, "Polio, An American Story" by David Oshinsky, and "Moments, the Pulitzer Prize-Winning Photographs" by Hal Buell.
Most Amazing TV moment: When Anderson Cooper of CNN and his camera crew had to run from thugs who were unhappy about coverage of the Egyptian protestors in Tahrir Square in Cairo.
Most Amazing TV Feature moment: The "60 Minutes" segment by Lara Logan about the mountain climber Alex Honnold who doesn't use safety ropes and scales cliffs with just chalk-covered fingers and strength. Amazing!
Most Awkward TV moment: When Texas Gov. Rick Perry forgot his campaign rhetoric and then just made it worse by trying, unsuccessfully, to remember. I was embarrassed for him, but glad to see his campaign sink like a rock because of his poor debate performances.
Most Entertaining TV Reporters to Watch: TV reporters who were drenched by hurricanes. Always entertaining to see wet and wind-shoved TV reporters.
Best TV program: "The Rachel Maddow Show" on MSNBC. I watched it regularly throughout the year and was greatly informed. Other nominees: "Nightline" for interesting news segments on ABC; "Saturday Night Live," though some shows were better than others; "Hell on Wheels" on AMC; "Haven" on the SyFy channel; "Prime Suspect" on NBC because actress Maria Bello is great and provided an interesting character; "Merlin" on the SyFy channel; "Glee" for the musical performances on Fox; "Teen Wolf" on MTV which I stumbled upon while channel-surfing in the summer and was pleasantly surprised by the scary elements with a good ensemble of characters; "60 Minutes" for continued reliability; "CBS Sunday Morning" for interesting feature stories; "The Ed Show" on MSNBC, "the McLaughlin Group" on PBS; "Anderson Cooper 360" on CNN; and "Wipeout" for being so strange as a contest with witty banter; and many programs, such as Frontline and musical performances on PBS.
Best TV Actress and Actor: Maria Bello (Prime Suspect) and Anson Mount (Hell on Wheels).
Best Network: PBS. Other nominees: MSNBC, History channel, Animal Planet channel, SyFy channel.
Worst TV programs: The many reality TV shows. When will that trend end?
Watched with Mixed Emotions: I watched all of the Republican presidential debates, because I thought I should, being in journalism and as they were part of history. But, wow, it was difficult and aggravating at times, leading to believe that this crop of Republican candidates (with a bunch of Tea Party types) is the worst selection I have ever seen.
One Appreciated Moment from Republican Candidate Mitt Romney: When he said in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer just today that he watched and enjoyed Laurel and Hardy and the Three Stooges.
What I Didn't Watch (historical moment or other): Not one minute of the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Not one minute of "American Idol" (in fact, I never have seen it).
Most Under-Reported Subject: The military's drone program, wherein apparently drones are killing more civilians than terrorists.
Most Used Website: The Delta Online. For a national one: Probably Facebook. Other nominees: Highereducationjobs. com, Journalismjobs.com, Mandy.com, Amazon.com.
Best Song discovered in 2011: "Tonight the Streets Are Ours" by Richard Hawley. Other nominee: "Ah Leah" by Donnie Iris.
Best Movie seen in 2011: "My Boy Jack" about Rudyard Kipling's son and WWI. Other nominees (seen through Netflix DVDs): "Howl" about Allen Ginsberg's controversial poem with drama and illustrative art mixed interestingly; "Get Low" with performances by Robert Duvall and Sissy Spacek; "Devil" which was scary; "Monsters" for the way the couple's relationship developed as they traveled space alien-infested territory; "Triage" with Colin Farrell; "Prayers for Bobby" "Skyline," "Clash of the Titans (2010 version); "Vanishing on 7th Street," "A Shine of Rainbows (with might have been an Irish movie)," and "The Disappearance of Alice Creed" for twists and turns.
Best Foreign Movie seen in 2011: "Fateless" with memorable scenes in a story about a Polish Jewish boy during the Holocaust. Other nominees (also seen through Netflix): "Even the Rain" about a film in Bolivia about Christopher Columbus while residents fought for water rights; "The Devil's Backbone," "Kisses," "El Bola," and "Swimming Upstream" about Australian Olympic swimmer Tony Fingleton.
Best Documentary seen in 2011: "A Day in the Life" about clips from videos taken on one day July 24, 2010 around the world. Other nominee: "Exit Through the Gift Shop" about a graffiti artist. (Previous great documentaries in this category have been "The Tank Man" which is probably the best I have seen; "Two Days in October" based upon the book "They Marched Into Sunlight;" "Born into Brothels," "The Conscientious Objector;" "Pete Seeger, the Power of Song;" and "McLibel.")
Best Magazine: History magazine. Other nominees: Mother Jones, Country, Intelligence Report (of the Southern Poverty Law Center), the Amnesty International magazine, and Mules and More.
Other Sage nominees for Person of the Year: Elizabeth Warren, candidate for U.S. senator from Massachusetts who speaks so eloquently for the middle class and poor; Ralph Nader, consumer advocate who continues to be correct on the issues, most recently about the problems of money and college athletics; Gabrielle Giffords, U.S. Congresswoman who survived a terrible assassination attempt; mountain climber Alex Honnold for his amazing skill and fearlessness; and Barack Obama, U.S. president for ending the Iraq War and sounding more like the candidate with the liberal ideas that most of us voted for.
Sage Award Person of the Year: This year, Sage Street agrees with the choice of Time magazine's person of the year, which was the "protestor." The Sage Street blog editor proudly accepts the award, in being a long-time protestor on many issues and levels over the years. But the award actually goes to all of the freedom and rights protestors of 2011, especially those in the "Occupy" movement and the "Arab Spring" democracy protests.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Thursday, December 15, 2011
News at 10...
This just in:
The Republican presidential candidates held yet another debate and not any of them were arrested for "occupying" the stage for too long.
Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum was seen in Iowa throwing a big tantrum--stomping his feet and waving his fists--saying he still hadn't had a turn to lead in the national polls.
The Time magazine cover for "Person of the Year" was the generic protestor, symbolic of the "Arab Spring" protests and "Occupy Wall Street" protests. A scratch-and-sniff spot in the magazine provides a whiff of pepper spray.
Hot-air balloonist Donald Trump withdrew from moderating an upcoming Republican debate after most presidential candidates fled from it faster than you could say "You're fired." Trump said he only regretted that he didn't have more opportunity to say the title of his goofy reality show in every sentence uttered about the debate.
Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich's new "Contract With America" is that he promises not to cheat on his third wife. Gingrich is almost 70 years old, so Americans really don't want to know if he cheats, even if he cheats. New rule for 2012: Teenagers and people older than 70 never talk about sex. Not ever!*
*Caveat: In the world of the Paterno Culture, it is okay and important for kids to talk about sex
-- To the grand juries.
WikiLeaks has revealed the Secret Service name for Republican presidential candidate Michelle Bachman. It is "Scary Eyes."
As a result of the effort by some people to see that Christ is not taken out of Christmas, another effort is under way to see that "ho," as in "ho, ho, ho" is not taken out of Happy Holidays.
The U.S. troops are coming home from the Iraq War after 9 years; more than 4,400 U.S. soldiers killed; more than 32,000 U.S. soldiers wounded; more than 115,000 Iraqi civilians killed; and more than $1 trillion in war costs for America. With the exception of Ron Paul, all of the other Republican presidential candidates think U.S. troops should stay longer there. !!!! Probably all of those candidates sacrificed little, if nothing, in the war effort and even got big tax cuts when the war costs made the federal budget deficit soar.
A new silent movie called "The Artist" is getting rave reviews and Academy Award chatter. It probably won't win sound editing awards.
The U.S. Supreme Court, which had declared that "corporations" are "people," recently provided a 5-4 decision that "people" aren't "people."
This week's episode of the reality show "Celebrities Chasing Squirrel" features the Kardashian family in an "Alvin the Chipmunk" song segment about hula hoops.
The Republican presidential candidates held yet another debate and not any of them were arrested for "occupying" the stage for too long.
Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum was seen in Iowa throwing a big tantrum--stomping his feet and waving his fists--saying he still hadn't had a turn to lead in the national polls.
The Time magazine cover for "Person of the Year" was the generic protestor, symbolic of the "Arab Spring" protests and "Occupy Wall Street" protests. A scratch-and-sniff spot in the magazine provides a whiff of pepper spray.
Hot-air balloonist Donald Trump withdrew from moderating an upcoming Republican debate after most presidential candidates fled from it faster than you could say "You're fired." Trump said he only regretted that he didn't have more opportunity to say the title of his goofy reality show in every sentence uttered about the debate.
Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich's new "Contract With America" is that he promises not to cheat on his third wife. Gingrich is almost 70 years old, so Americans really don't want to know if he cheats, even if he cheats. New rule for 2012: Teenagers and people older than 70 never talk about sex. Not ever!*
*Caveat: In the world of the Paterno Culture, it is okay and important for kids to talk about sex
-- To the grand juries.
WikiLeaks has revealed the Secret Service name for Republican presidential candidate Michelle Bachman. It is "Scary Eyes."
As a result of the effort by some people to see that Christ is not taken out of Christmas, another effort is under way to see that "ho," as in "ho, ho, ho" is not taken out of Happy Holidays.
The U.S. troops are coming home from the Iraq War after 9 years; more than 4,400 U.S. soldiers killed; more than 32,000 U.S. soldiers wounded; more than 115,000 Iraqi civilians killed; and more than $1 trillion in war costs for America. With the exception of Ron Paul, all of the other Republican presidential candidates think U.S. troops should stay longer there. !!!! Probably all of those candidates sacrificed little, if nothing, in the war effort and even got big tax cuts when the war costs made the federal budget deficit soar.
A new silent movie called "The Artist" is getting rave reviews and Academy Award chatter. It probably won't win sound editing awards.
The U.S. Supreme Court, which had declared that "corporations" are "people," recently provided a 5-4 decision that "people" aren't "people."
This week's episode of the reality show "Celebrities Chasing Squirrel" features the Kardashian family in an "Alvin the Chipmunk" song segment about hula hoops.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
News at 10...
This just in...
Someone finally got a job in America. Unfortunately, it was Chelsea Clinton, taking a job as a correspondent for NBC away from an actual, real, qualified journalist.
The Republican TV debate about foreign policy on CNN competed with the commercials for excitement. Newt Gingrich has become the non-Romney candidate this week. A commentator referred to Ron Paul as the "last hippie" for his anti-war and marijuana stances. Herman Cain and Blitz Wolfer were there. Michelle Bachmann had a strange look in her eyes (okay, she always has a strange look in her eyes). Gov. Perry didn't Alamo-massacre a statement, fall asleep, or forget where he was. And no pepper-spray was used. Not even on the audience.
I don't get it?! It took one brief yell in a high-tech microphone (that was supposed to drowned out other sounds) to end the campaign of Howard Dean in 2004, but look at all of the political gaffes that this year's slate of presidential candidates have gone through...and they are still going. It's enough to wear-down the Energizer bunny, but they still keep going. Gov. Perry has enough money to run until he's at least at 8 percent again. Herman Cain can't go much beyond 9-9-9. And Rick Santorum stays on the debate stage because it gets him out of the house and something to do. Wow, times have changed!
After the presidential campaign, the next stop for some of the candidates is likely the "Dancing With the Stars" TV show. Watch for Gov. Perry to square-dance, Michelle Bachmann to waltz around the stage, and, for some real eye-popping ratings, Rick Santorum as the first guy to be paired with a male dancer.
First Jenna Bush and now Chelsea Clinton, NBC has hired presidential daughters as TV personalities. The Obama daughters are also in negotiations at other networks, possibly replacing Brian Ross and Sanjay Gupta.
In the CBS "Sunday Morning" show's "Moment of Nature," presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is seen eating a donut.
You know you are getting old when you have no idea what the claim to fame is for the "Saturday Night Live" guest hosts.
Penn State University will be the setting for a new series of commercials for eye glasses called "Turn a blind eye." The series will not include shower scenes.
Modern definitions...The Paterno culture: A culture where a nation is ranked first in sports, but 17th in the world in science education.
Second definition...The Paterno culture: A culture where the highest paid federal employee is not the President ($450,000), not the Speaker of the House ($223,000), not the Senators ($174,000), certainly not the deployed soldier ($38,000) or the average senior citizen living on Social Security ($12,000), but rather is...pep band drum roll...yes, a football coach. Or three of them--the Army, Navy, and Air Force football coaches (one and probably a second making more than $1 million).
Third definition...The Paterno culture: A culture where the highest paid public employees in most, if not all states, are university football coaches.
Fourth definition...The Paterno culture: A culture where it takes five years for a reporter to request, through the Freedom of Information Act, the amount of money that the Penn State football coach makes annually.
Students engaged in recent peaceful protests at UC-Davis in California were pepper-sprayed by the police. A Fox News anchor said the pepper spray was probably diluted. No, Fox News anchors are diluted.
With all of the attention paid to pepper-spray by police on "Occupy" protestors, the Republicans in Congress are now trying to classify pepper as a vegetable for school lunch menus.
It was reported that tear gas used by the Egyptian military on pro-democracy protestors in Cairo was made in America. That's pretty amazing, because just go to a store on the Black Friday shopping day and try to find anything else made in America. How did the American tear gas industry keep from getting moved to China?
This week's episode of "Celebrities Chasing Squirrels" involves a segment of New York Mayor Bloomberg chasing the squirrels out of a park. The mayor also had his police force chase protestors out of the park. The city parks are designated for homeless people and derelicts.
Someone finally got a job in America. Unfortunately, it was Chelsea Clinton, taking a job as a correspondent for NBC away from an actual, real, qualified journalist.
The Republican TV debate about foreign policy on CNN competed with the commercials for excitement. Newt Gingrich has become the non-Romney candidate this week. A commentator referred to Ron Paul as the "last hippie" for his anti-war and marijuana stances. Herman Cain and Blitz Wolfer were there. Michelle Bachmann had a strange look in her eyes (okay, she always has a strange look in her eyes). Gov. Perry didn't Alamo-massacre a statement, fall asleep, or forget where he was. And no pepper-spray was used. Not even on the audience.
I don't get it?! It took one brief yell in a high-tech microphone (that was supposed to drowned out other sounds) to end the campaign of Howard Dean in 2004, but look at all of the political gaffes that this year's slate of presidential candidates have gone through...and they are still going. It's enough to wear-down the Energizer bunny, but they still keep going. Gov. Perry has enough money to run until he's at least at 8 percent again. Herman Cain can't go much beyond 9-9-9. And Rick Santorum stays on the debate stage because it gets him out of the house and something to do. Wow, times have changed!
After the presidential campaign, the next stop for some of the candidates is likely the "Dancing With the Stars" TV show. Watch for Gov. Perry to square-dance, Michelle Bachmann to waltz around the stage, and, for some real eye-popping ratings, Rick Santorum as the first guy to be paired with a male dancer.
First Jenna Bush and now Chelsea Clinton, NBC has hired presidential daughters as TV personalities. The Obama daughters are also in negotiations at other networks, possibly replacing Brian Ross and Sanjay Gupta.
In the CBS "Sunday Morning" show's "Moment of Nature," presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is seen eating a donut.
You know you are getting old when you have no idea what the claim to fame is for the "Saturday Night Live" guest hosts.
Penn State University will be the setting for a new series of commercials for eye glasses called "Turn a blind eye." The series will not include shower scenes.
Modern definitions...The Paterno culture: A culture where a nation is ranked first in sports, but 17th in the world in science education.
Second definition...The Paterno culture: A culture where the highest paid federal employee is not the President ($450,000), not the Speaker of the House ($223,000), not the Senators ($174,000), certainly not the deployed soldier ($38,000) or the average senior citizen living on Social Security ($12,000), but rather is...pep band drum roll...yes, a football coach. Or three of them--the Army, Navy, and Air Force football coaches (one and probably a second making more than $1 million).
Third definition...The Paterno culture: A culture where the highest paid public employees in most, if not all states, are university football coaches.
Fourth definition...The Paterno culture: A culture where it takes five years for a reporter to request, through the Freedom of Information Act, the amount of money that the Penn State football coach makes annually.
Students engaged in recent peaceful protests at UC-Davis in California were pepper-sprayed by the police. A Fox News anchor said the pepper spray was probably diluted. No, Fox News anchors are diluted.
With all of the attention paid to pepper-spray by police on "Occupy" protestors, the Republicans in Congress are now trying to classify pepper as a vegetable for school lunch menus.
It was reported that tear gas used by the Egyptian military on pro-democracy protestors in Cairo was made in America. That's pretty amazing, because just go to a store on the Black Friday shopping day and try to find anything else made in America. How did the American tear gas industry keep from getting moved to China?
This week's episode of "Celebrities Chasing Squirrels" involves a segment of New York Mayor Bloomberg chasing the squirrels out of a park. The mayor also had his police force chase protestors out of the park. The city parks are designated for homeless people and derelicts.
Friday, November 11, 2011
11/11/11...
As this is 11/11/11, I thought I should write something profound, profane, or prophetic.
- "Don't be picnicking in Yellowstone Park when the volcano goes off."
- "The phrase 'Oh, hack it' will be obscene one day, according to the super-computerized robots."
- "I enjoyed living in a world where there were bees, whales, and helium."
- "Janet Jackson will sing again at a Super Bowl half-time."
- "I predict that, by 11/11/2111, every time your finger presses your nose, your brain will refresh your thoughts."
- "I'm sorry for the plastic bag that I threw away today." (I read that a plastic bag will stay in the environment for 1,000 years.)
- Humor lasts a long time.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
News at 10...
This just in...
President Obama proposed a jobs creation plan. But it may be just a bit too radical for the Republicans, as it proposes the construction of highways and schools. Said one angry Republican congressman, "That smacks of something that President Eisenhower would do." (Historical note here: Eisenhower was a Republican, but that was back when Republicans were sane.)
It was no surprise...Gov. Perry plays poker, former Gov. Romney plays "Hearts," and Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann plays "Slap Jack."
During the recent Tea Party presidential debate, the audience applauded the death penalty and letting a 30-year-old die if that person didn't have health insurance. They also applauded air pollution, global warming, child labor, chastity belts, non-regulation of rancid meat, drowning of witches, and fences with razor-wire.
At the Tea Party presidential debate, CNN's Wolf Blitzer failed to ask the "evolution" question. You know, the question that asks if the candidates reject the theory of evolution and then all the Republican candidates hold up their hands, and the rest of us then wonder if either they are lying to pander to their wacko religious base or they slept through every science class in junior high, high school, and college. Blitzer, with the first name of Wolf, was the perfect one to ask it, since all dogs come from wolves and, Wolf, that's evolution!
Regardless of evolution, wouldn't it be blasphemous to credit (or blame) God for creating poodles? !!!!
To help the ratings and draw a viewing audience, the next gathering of the Republican presidential candidates won't be on CNN, but instead will take place on the TV show "Wipe-Out." Michelle Bachmann will dodge wet sponges when she isn't dodging the truth. Rick Perry will have to sink or swim in a pool of water and uncertainty, and Mitt Romney will have to jump over a big round ball and Newt Gingrich. But there will be no tango dance number by Rick Santorum and Ron Paul, because that's another TV show concept. All of the candidates will have to plunge down a water slide.
Just because Lady Ga-Ga wears a meat dress doesn't mean Justin Timberlake can wear a beef jerky suit.
Because Congress wants to cut deficits rather than save jobs and provide services, there will now be one post office per state. Please drive to your state capital to pick up your mail.
When the United States stands virtually alone in vetoing the United Nations proposal for giving Palestine "observer status," it will be interesting to see how the U.S. suggests that Palestine return to the peace negotiations with Israel, when it hasn't solved much in 20 years. But, hey, somebody has to support Israel in this time of the so-called "Arab Spring" of developing democracies in Middle Eastern countries before Israel becomes completely irrelevant in the region. Struggling against democracies, that promote freedom, tolerance, and peace, is just not the same as struggling against dictatorships.
This season of "Dancing With Pseudo-Stars" includes the guy who was on the "Love Boat" for two episodes; the author of the book about the mystery of Obama's birth certificate; someone who once worked for Enron; and a dancing polar bear.
The popularity of Twitter is now being challenged by Cusser. Every user gets just four characters to express vulgar intent.
The next episode of "Celebrities Chasing Squirrels" involves Dick Cheney plugging his lousy book, not in the branches of government but instead in the branches of a poplar tree.
President Obama proposed a jobs creation plan. But it may be just a bit too radical for the Republicans, as it proposes the construction of highways and schools. Said one angry Republican congressman, "That smacks of something that President Eisenhower would do." (Historical note here: Eisenhower was a Republican, but that was back when Republicans were sane.)
It was no surprise...Gov. Perry plays poker, former Gov. Romney plays "Hearts," and Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann plays "Slap Jack."
During the recent Tea Party presidential debate, the audience applauded the death penalty and letting a 30-year-old die if that person didn't have health insurance. They also applauded air pollution, global warming, child labor, chastity belts, non-regulation of rancid meat, drowning of witches, and fences with razor-wire.
At the Tea Party presidential debate, CNN's Wolf Blitzer failed to ask the "evolution" question. You know, the question that asks if the candidates reject the theory of evolution and then all the Republican candidates hold up their hands, and the rest of us then wonder if either they are lying to pander to their wacko religious base or they slept through every science class in junior high, high school, and college. Blitzer, with the first name of Wolf, was the perfect one to ask it, since all dogs come from wolves and, Wolf, that's evolution!
Regardless of evolution, wouldn't it be blasphemous to credit (or blame) God for creating poodles? !!!!
To help the ratings and draw a viewing audience, the next gathering of the Republican presidential candidates won't be on CNN, but instead will take place on the TV show "Wipe-Out." Michelle Bachmann will dodge wet sponges when she isn't dodging the truth. Rick Perry will have to sink or swim in a pool of water and uncertainty, and Mitt Romney will have to jump over a big round ball and Newt Gingrich. But there will be no tango dance number by Rick Santorum and Ron Paul, because that's another TV show concept. All of the candidates will have to plunge down a water slide.
Just because Lady Ga-Ga wears a meat dress doesn't mean Justin Timberlake can wear a beef jerky suit.
Because Congress wants to cut deficits rather than save jobs and provide services, there will now be one post office per state. Please drive to your state capital to pick up your mail.
When the United States stands virtually alone in vetoing the United Nations proposal for giving Palestine "observer status," it will be interesting to see how the U.S. suggests that Palestine return to the peace negotiations with Israel, when it hasn't solved much in 20 years. But, hey, somebody has to support Israel in this time of the so-called "Arab Spring" of developing democracies in Middle Eastern countries before Israel becomes completely irrelevant in the region. Struggling against democracies, that promote freedom, tolerance, and peace, is just not the same as struggling against dictatorships.
This season of "Dancing With Pseudo-Stars" includes the guy who was on the "Love Boat" for two episodes; the author of the book about the mystery of Obama's birth certificate; someone who once worked for Enron; and a dancing polar bear.
The popularity of Twitter is now being challenged by Cusser. Every user gets just four characters to express vulgar intent.
The next episode of "Celebrities Chasing Squirrels" involves Dick Cheney plugging his lousy book, not in the branches of government but instead in the branches of a poplar tree.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Remembering the dreadful 9/11 decade...
On the 10th anniversary of 9/11, it seems like the past 10 years, which could be called the 9/11 decade, have been rather dreadful for America.
Sept. 11, 2001 was a horrible day. I can't think of any other national moment where, as a TV viewer, I was able to watch the ongoing terrible tragedy. We were glued to the TV sets, listening as news anchors and reporters attempted to fill in the gaps of informaton, watching the smoke from one of the World Trade Center towers, then the appearance of a second large plane hitting the second tower, then the collapse of both buildings. The plane attack on the Pentagon building and the plane crash in a Pennsylvania field meant that a massive terrorism attack had been coordinated against America.
The stories of heroism and sacrifice by people ranging from the fiirefighters and other emergency response people at the sites of the attacks to those on the United flight who stormed the plane cockpit to try to end a hijacking and to thwart a diabolical plan are truly amazing and inspirational.
Of course, America had experienced moments of terrorism before, particularly the home-grown variety, with the terrorism of the KKK in the South all through at least half of the 20th century and the violent attack by a monstrous renegade on a federal building in Oklahoma City. Certainly, the attack on Pearl Harbor by the nation of Japan prior to WWII was a jarring national moment leading to war, as was the case with 9/11.
While a quick U.S. military response to dislodge and punish the Taliban government in Afghanistan for its accommodation of al Qaida bases and the Osama Bin Laden terrorists seemed appropriate, the military reach then went beyond the mission, reaching into Iraq to topple a dictator and then back into Afghanistan, to prop up a weak leader, all with the steady drumbeat of fear. Fear was the biggest winner in the 9/11 decade and was that what the terrorists wanted?
The result has been two seemingly endless wars, thousands of U.S. soldiers as well as Iraqi and Afghan civilians killed, and huge expenditures in defense spending (from the monthly billions in war expensive to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security to the massive increase in war contractors and war profiteers).
There were more problems and troubling issues over the decade, such as the hopefully short governmental embrace of torture, thanks to moronic leaders like Dick Cheney, who turned the higher moral ground of a democracy on its ear and made me, many other Americans, and the rest of the world wonder what had happened to the American conscience. There were secret prisons and the use of rendition. There was political demogaguery to exploit fears at every turn, rampant from politics to the media.
Then there have been the effects on the "homeland," a term that the Bush administration brought into the American lexicon but a term that I have always disliked as it has a "Nazi Germany" ring to it. America is my country. I care about what happens to my country, just as I care about what happens in the world.
Because of one criminal with explosives in his shoe, we all now take off our shoes at airports and go through the "naked" scanners and let the security officers bark at us and feel our bodies through our clothes, as though that's the expectation for air travel. (We have one unemployed person...No, wait...100,000 unemployed people...No, wait...1 million unemployed people...No, wait...14 million unemployed people in our country and what do we do collectively to end that problem? Is it because fear apparently isn't part of how people and politicians view unemployment?)
My fears are somewhat different from those of politicians on a debate stage. When I look out into my college classes and see the honorable ROTC students in their military fatigues, I fear for them. Will they have to go to a pitifully unstable place like Afghanistan or Iraq, and be part of what looks to be as hapless a military adventure as the Vietnam War was but longer? I fear for those students because I am not sure if American political leaders and even true military leaders command those wars or if instead the wars have become a business venture for the benefit and profits of contractors within the military industrial complex. When there are more contractors on the ground than there are soldiers...when the contractors are paid 10 times what the soldiers would get for the same work required...I seriously wonder, and dread that 9/11 has reached beyond now a decade. How long will those wars go?
Bin Laden never believed that his militia was capable of defeating the American military. The numbers and weaponry and budgets would never make it so. But he saw the American reach as similar to the old Soviet reach and hoped it would break us financially as it had done to the Soviet Union. And in 2008, he lived long enough to almost see the collapse of the American economy, probably saved from a great depression by a huge expenditure (and debt). It took nearly 10 years to find bin Laden, who was then killed. So, a person who advocated violence came to a violent end. There's a lesson for the world.
As for 9/11, there were many heroic stories that need to remembered.
Following the 9/11 tragedy, there have been some encouraging aspects. Hopefully, the American network of law enforcement is working better together for coordinated security. And I recently saw a report about how the better construction of buildings could at least prevent a towering building from collapsing. The report noted that if a plane had flown into a building like the Empire State Building, with its better foundational and cement structural support from the older days when buildings were made tougher, it would have been unlikely for the building to collapse. So, it might cost more to make stronger buildings, but, especially for skyscrapers that are at risk from planes, internal fires, earthquakes, or other problems, the safety for people is worth the expense.
As I hope nothing happens in a "terrorism" way today on the 10th anniversary of 9/11 to elevate a renewed fear and its consequences, I also hope America can escape the fears and traps of the dreadful 9/11 decade.
Sept. 11, 2001 was a horrible day. I can't think of any other national moment where, as a TV viewer, I was able to watch the ongoing terrible tragedy. We were glued to the TV sets, listening as news anchors and reporters attempted to fill in the gaps of informaton, watching the smoke from one of the World Trade Center towers, then the appearance of a second large plane hitting the second tower, then the collapse of both buildings. The plane attack on the Pentagon building and the plane crash in a Pennsylvania field meant that a massive terrorism attack had been coordinated against America.
The stories of heroism and sacrifice by people ranging from the fiirefighters and other emergency response people at the sites of the attacks to those on the United flight who stormed the plane cockpit to try to end a hijacking and to thwart a diabolical plan are truly amazing and inspirational.
Of course, America had experienced moments of terrorism before, particularly the home-grown variety, with the terrorism of the KKK in the South all through at least half of the 20th century and the violent attack by a monstrous renegade on a federal building in Oklahoma City. Certainly, the attack on Pearl Harbor by the nation of Japan prior to WWII was a jarring national moment leading to war, as was the case with 9/11.
While a quick U.S. military response to dislodge and punish the Taliban government in Afghanistan for its accommodation of al Qaida bases and the Osama Bin Laden terrorists seemed appropriate, the military reach then went beyond the mission, reaching into Iraq to topple a dictator and then back into Afghanistan, to prop up a weak leader, all with the steady drumbeat of fear. Fear was the biggest winner in the 9/11 decade and was that what the terrorists wanted?
The result has been two seemingly endless wars, thousands of U.S. soldiers as well as Iraqi and Afghan civilians killed, and huge expenditures in defense spending (from the monthly billions in war expensive to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security to the massive increase in war contractors and war profiteers).
There were more problems and troubling issues over the decade, such as the hopefully short governmental embrace of torture, thanks to moronic leaders like Dick Cheney, who turned the higher moral ground of a democracy on its ear and made me, many other Americans, and the rest of the world wonder what had happened to the American conscience. There were secret prisons and the use of rendition. There was political demogaguery to exploit fears at every turn, rampant from politics to the media.
Then there have been the effects on the "homeland," a term that the Bush administration brought into the American lexicon but a term that I have always disliked as it has a "Nazi Germany" ring to it. America is my country. I care about what happens to my country, just as I care about what happens in the world.
Because of one criminal with explosives in his shoe, we all now take off our shoes at airports and go through the "naked" scanners and let the security officers bark at us and feel our bodies through our clothes, as though that's the expectation for air travel. (We have one unemployed person...No, wait...100,000 unemployed people...No, wait...1 million unemployed people...No, wait...14 million unemployed people in our country and what do we do collectively to end that problem? Is it because fear apparently isn't part of how people and politicians view unemployment?)
My fears are somewhat different from those of politicians on a debate stage. When I look out into my college classes and see the honorable ROTC students in their military fatigues, I fear for them. Will they have to go to a pitifully unstable place like Afghanistan or Iraq, and be part of what looks to be as hapless a military adventure as the Vietnam War was but longer? I fear for those students because I am not sure if American political leaders and even true military leaders command those wars or if instead the wars have become a business venture for the benefit and profits of contractors within the military industrial complex. When there are more contractors on the ground than there are soldiers...when the contractors are paid 10 times what the soldiers would get for the same work required...I seriously wonder, and dread that 9/11 has reached beyond now a decade. How long will those wars go?
Bin Laden never believed that his militia was capable of defeating the American military. The numbers and weaponry and budgets would never make it so. But he saw the American reach as similar to the old Soviet reach and hoped it would break us financially as it had done to the Soviet Union. And in 2008, he lived long enough to almost see the collapse of the American economy, probably saved from a great depression by a huge expenditure (and debt). It took nearly 10 years to find bin Laden, who was then killed. So, a person who advocated violence came to a violent end. There's a lesson for the world.
As for 9/11, there were many heroic stories that need to remembered.
Following the 9/11 tragedy, there have been some encouraging aspects. Hopefully, the American network of law enforcement is working better together for coordinated security. And I recently saw a report about how the better construction of buildings could at least prevent a towering building from collapsing. The report noted that if a plane had flown into a building like the Empire State Building, with its better foundational and cement structural support from the older days when buildings were made tougher, it would have been unlikely for the building to collapse. So, it might cost more to make stronger buildings, but, especially for skyscrapers that are at risk from planes, internal fires, earthquakes, or other problems, the safety for people is worth the expense.
As I hope nothing happens in a "terrorism" way today on the 10th anniversary of 9/11 to elevate a renewed fear and its consequences, I also hope America can escape the fears and traps of the dreadful 9/11 decade.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
News at 10...
This just in:
TV reporters are getting soaking wet and wind-blown from standing outside as Hurricane Irene arrives along the East Coast. A hurricane is a terrible event, but it really is fun to see the pretty TV people drenched by rain and trying to stand up in a mighty wind.
Rick Perry, governor of Texas who is running for president, was recently accused of doing a bad George Bush impersonation.
Presidential candidate Mitt Romney says that corporations are people. And sometimes churches are corporations. And then catsup is a vegetable. And some leather shoes are cows.
A guy from Wyoming wondered why people in hurricane paths are concerned about 50 mph winds. "It's that windy every day here," he said, walking at an angle.
An American got a job recently and President Obama took his Canadian-produced bus to go shake the guy's hand in hopes of keeping the Stock Market from dropping like a rock.
Obama's advisers said sometimes Obama has been so far to the right that he's angered his liberal base. But his advisers think that's okay and they advise him to anger more of his liberal base so that he can compromise with Republicans and produce more mediocre legislation, even if it means his base will abandon him and he ends up with only 100 votes (the votes of his advisers). But his advisers advise him that that's okay. Nothing like good advice to make a president successful.
TV reporters are getting drenched from standing outside and covering the hurricane news. Newspaper journalists, who get to stay inside because they don't have to rely on dramatic visuals on video, are dry, but still a bit windy.
If Gov. Rick Perry doesn't win the Republican nomination or the U.S. presidency, he will return home to Texas to consider becoming potentate when Texas secedes from the union.
Counseling services, like the one run by presidential candidate Michele Bachmann and her husband, came under fire recently when a straight man complained about counseling services to "cure" people from being gay. Said an angry straight man, "Why do gay people get all of the services? It's discrimination! Where are the counseling services for a person who wants cured of being straight?!"
TV reporters are still out in the hurricane weather, getting soaked by the rain. The TV ratings have been so good that some networks have decided to spray their TV reporters with water from garden hoses while they give the news, whether there's a hurricane in the area or not. The drama of a pretty person in a windy down-pour is just too darned good to limit it to just times of rain and wind.
This week's episode of "Celebrities Chasing Squirrels" includes a remarkable segment about a squirrel saved in a hurricane by a valiant, but well-drenched TV reporter.
A TV reporter during the hurricane was seen hugging a tree with his legs flopping parallel to the ground. He was advising people to stay inside because it was too rainy and windy. He said, "Some people don't have enough sense to come in from out in the rain."
TV reporters are getting soaking wet and wind-blown from standing outside as Hurricane Irene arrives along the East Coast. A hurricane is a terrible event, but it really is fun to see the pretty TV people drenched by rain and trying to stand up in a mighty wind.
Rick Perry, governor of Texas who is running for president, was recently accused of doing a bad George Bush impersonation.
Presidential candidate Mitt Romney says that corporations are people. And sometimes churches are corporations. And then catsup is a vegetable. And some leather shoes are cows.
A guy from Wyoming wondered why people in hurricane paths are concerned about 50 mph winds. "It's that windy every day here," he said, walking at an angle.
An American got a job recently and President Obama took his Canadian-produced bus to go shake the guy's hand in hopes of keeping the Stock Market from dropping like a rock.
Obama's advisers said sometimes Obama has been so far to the right that he's angered his liberal base. But his advisers think that's okay and they advise him to anger more of his liberal base so that he can compromise with Republicans and produce more mediocre legislation, even if it means his base will abandon him and he ends up with only 100 votes (the votes of his advisers). But his advisers advise him that that's okay. Nothing like good advice to make a president successful.
TV reporters are getting drenched from standing outside and covering the hurricane news. Newspaper journalists, who get to stay inside because they don't have to rely on dramatic visuals on video, are dry, but still a bit windy.
If Gov. Rick Perry doesn't win the Republican nomination or the U.S. presidency, he will return home to Texas to consider becoming potentate when Texas secedes from the union.
Counseling services, like the one run by presidential candidate Michele Bachmann and her husband, came under fire recently when a straight man complained about counseling services to "cure" people from being gay. Said an angry straight man, "Why do gay people get all of the services? It's discrimination! Where are the counseling services for a person who wants cured of being straight?!"
TV reporters are still out in the hurricane weather, getting soaked by the rain. The TV ratings have been so good that some networks have decided to spray their TV reporters with water from garden hoses while they give the news, whether there's a hurricane in the area or not. The drama of a pretty person in a windy down-pour is just too darned good to limit it to just times of rain and wind.
This week's episode of "Celebrities Chasing Squirrels" includes a remarkable segment about a squirrel saved in a hurricane by a valiant, but well-drenched TV reporter.
A TV reporter during the hurricane was seen hugging a tree with his legs flopping parallel to the ground. He was advising people to stay inside because it was too rainy and windy. He said, "Some people don't have enough sense to come in from out in the rain."
Thursday, August 11, 2011
My advice about his advisers...
President Obama ought to fire all of his advisers and start over. The Clinton people and his friends from Chicago didn't do him a bit of good. He should start over, as it still might not be too late if he decides to be a real progressive, and he should look for advisers who read about FDR.
Otherwise, we need a new presidential candidate from the left (who really is from the left).
(Update: The same evening that I placed this blog entry, an Obama adviser was on TV, telling the news anchor and the audience of watching Americans that Obama has so tried to compromise with the Republicans on issues that he has even made his base unhappy. Wow, the Obama advisers are actually using the dissatisfaction from Obama's own base to promote the idea of compromise, as though any person from the right is going to vote for Obama. Newsflash: The people on the right don't give a rat's whisker about Obama's move to the middle or even to right. They aren't going to vote for him next time. Period. And if Obama doesn't keep his base and maintain his base since after all they are the ones who elected him, those goofy advisers can take him out of the oven because he's done, his goose is cooked. Wow, brain-dead advisers. Obama, for the love of the country, get rid of them and become the president you said you'd be as candidate.)
Otherwise, we need a new presidential candidate from the left (who really is from the left).
(Update: The same evening that I placed this blog entry, an Obama adviser was on TV, telling the news anchor and the audience of watching Americans that Obama has so tried to compromise with the Republicans on issues that he has even made his base unhappy. Wow, the Obama advisers are actually using the dissatisfaction from Obama's own base to promote the idea of compromise, as though any person from the right is going to vote for Obama. Newsflash: The people on the right don't give a rat's whisker about Obama's move to the middle or even to right. They aren't going to vote for him next time. Period. And if Obama doesn't keep his base and maintain his base since after all they are the ones who elected him, those goofy advisers can take him out of the oven because he's done, his goose is cooked. Wow, brain-dead advisers. Obama, for the love of the country, get rid of them and become the president you said you'd be as candidate.)
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Ralph Nader was correct...again...
Ralph Nader was right, again.
He wanted to forge a third-party alternative to the corporate Democratic Party. He put his reputation on the line, taking considerable criticism, in hopes that something from the left, like the Green Party, would have at least a say at the table of American politics.
Democrats, even the progressive ones, were slow, or completely unable, to grasp the importance of an alternative party.
Their enthusiasm about finally achieving a "liberal" candidate named Obama apparently was based on false hopes. Saddled with a lackluster and corporate two-party system, America has suffered the consequences.
And ironically, it was the outrage and action of people from the right, unhappy with the corporate Republican Party, that actually spawned results in the form of the infamous Tea Party. Though it is only a minority group, it still has power and clout within the Republican Party and thus on the national stage.
Too bad it wasn't the Green Party minority from the left having the influence.
He wanted to forge a third-party alternative to the corporate Democratic Party. He put his reputation on the line, taking considerable criticism, in hopes that something from the left, like the Green Party, would have at least a say at the table of American politics.
Democrats, even the progressive ones, were slow, or completely unable, to grasp the importance of an alternative party.
Their enthusiasm about finally achieving a "liberal" candidate named Obama apparently was based on false hopes. Saddled with a lackluster and corporate two-party system, America has suffered the consequences.
And ironically, it was the outrage and action of people from the right, unhappy with the corporate Republican Party, that actually spawned results in the form of the infamous Tea Party. Though it is only a minority group, it still has power and clout within the Republican Party and thus on the national stage.
Too bad it wasn't the Green Party minority from the left having the influence.
Monday, July 4, 2011
Fourth of July, 2011...
The memorial report on PBS for July 4, 2011 of American soldiers killed in war (all in Afghanistan) noted the following eight men:
Riley S. Spaulding, 21, of Sheridan, Texas (Army)
Nicholas S. O'Brien, 21, of Stanley, North Carolina (Marine Corps)
Jason D. Hill, 20, of Poway, California (Marine Corps)
Michael W. Newton, 30, Newport News, Virginia (Army)
Mark A. Bradley, 25, of Cuba, New York (Marine Corps)
Gustavo A. Rios-Ordonez, 25, Englewood, Ohio (Army)
John F. Farias, 20, of New Braunfels, Texas (Marine Corps)
Donald V. Stacy, 23, of Avondale, Arizona (Army)
Riley S. Spaulding, 21, of Sheridan, Texas (Army)
Nicholas S. O'Brien, 21, of Stanley, North Carolina (Marine Corps)
Jason D. Hill, 20, of Poway, California (Marine Corps)
Michael W. Newton, 30, Newport News, Virginia (Army)
Mark A. Bradley, 25, of Cuba, New York (Marine Corps)
Gustavo A. Rios-Ordonez, 25, Englewood, Ohio (Army)
John F. Farias, 20, of New Braunfels, Texas (Marine Corps)
Donald V. Stacy, 23, of Avondale, Arizona (Army)
Friday, June 24, 2011
News, politics, religion, and pets...
Notes from the news...
In light of the current times in which we live when a 5-4 Supreme Court generally follows the mandate of "government of the corporations, by the corporations, and for the corporations," the Obama Administration deserves praise for going to the U.S. oil reserves in order to increase the oil supply and drive down the gasoline prices...and end the institutionalized robbery of the record profit-making oil companies upon the middle class of America. A thumbs-up to Obama on that one.
A thumbs-down to Obama on the war speech that was previously noted in this blog. A few additional statistics for that issue: The Afghanistan War has cost the lives of more than 1,000 soldiers, 10 years, and $443 billion. Some are predicting the United States will spend $1 trillion on the so-called training of Afghani troops to take over before the U.S. involvement is done. That's a terrible waste! And that's not even counting the expense in lives and money for the Iraq War. Wars are dumb morally, economically, and politically. The age of the war, for any competent and successful democratic power, has come to an end.
A thumbs-down to Obama on his "evolving" claim about whether or not he supports gay marriage. Oh, come on. It's marriage equality, as commentator Ron Reagan said recently. If you don't want a gay marriage, then don't get one. But don't discriminate in the meantime. If you are a progressive, Mr. Prez, then you believe in civil rights. Period. If not, you're probably playing dishonest political games for vote purposes. Some people on TV have said that Obama's conflict is a reflection of the conservative nature of the "black" church. That doesn't truly make sense to me, except again in a dishonest political fashion, because Obama comes from the Congregational Church (the church where I was baptised) and it is a liberal church and it came to terms with the issue of gay marriage years ago like the Unitarian Church and other churches. Maybe the first lady Michelle Obama comes out of the conservative black-church setting, but the president doesn't, according to his pre-presidential church history. It is both annoying and amusing when these churches, filled by minority groups who have been discriminated against, decide to discriminate against other groups. But it's about political viewpoint within churches. The liberal churches don't discriminate. The conservative churches discriminate. So, there are previously persecuted minority groups gathered into conservative black churches discriminating against gays, in Mormon churches discriminating against women and gays, in Catholic churches discriminating against women and gays, in Islamic mosques discriminating against women and gays. The fact of the matter is that when people choose their faith, they are often choosing their political attitudes as well. But I would suggest that all church-goers and politicians and evolving presidents read Frederick Douglass' biography to better understand when a church can be "wrong" and on the wrong side of history.
The worst news coming out of Missouri this month had to be the story about the baby who lost seven fingers after a loose pet ferret in the household chewed them off. Some animals are wild creatures generally...and then there are dogs. Most dogs make good pets. Goldfish are gentle enough, but aren't the best pets. Dogs make good pets when they are in the company of good people. Wild, undomesticated animals don't generally make good pets. A recent TV report noted that there is a large number of people who actually have lions and tigers at their homes or ranches in Texas. Wow, again, I just don't think lions and tigers are pet material. Here are some other Sage Street blog recommendations for non-pet status: wolverines, grizzly bears, whales, crocodiles, badgers, ticks, and pythons.
In light of the current times in which we live when a 5-4 Supreme Court generally follows the mandate of "government of the corporations, by the corporations, and for the corporations," the Obama Administration deserves praise for going to the U.S. oil reserves in order to increase the oil supply and drive down the gasoline prices...and end the institutionalized robbery of the record profit-making oil companies upon the middle class of America. A thumbs-up to Obama on that one.
A thumbs-down to Obama on the war speech that was previously noted in this blog. A few additional statistics for that issue: The Afghanistan War has cost the lives of more than 1,000 soldiers, 10 years, and $443 billion. Some are predicting the United States will spend $1 trillion on the so-called training of Afghani troops to take over before the U.S. involvement is done. That's a terrible waste! And that's not even counting the expense in lives and money for the Iraq War. Wars are dumb morally, economically, and politically. The age of the war, for any competent and successful democratic power, has come to an end.
A thumbs-down to Obama on his "evolving" claim about whether or not he supports gay marriage. Oh, come on. It's marriage equality, as commentator Ron Reagan said recently. If you don't want a gay marriage, then don't get one. But don't discriminate in the meantime. If you are a progressive, Mr. Prez, then you believe in civil rights. Period. If not, you're probably playing dishonest political games for vote purposes. Some people on TV have said that Obama's conflict is a reflection of the conservative nature of the "black" church. That doesn't truly make sense to me, except again in a dishonest political fashion, because Obama comes from the Congregational Church (the church where I was baptised) and it is a liberal church and it came to terms with the issue of gay marriage years ago like the Unitarian Church and other churches. Maybe the first lady Michelle Obama comes out of the conservative black-church setting, but the president doesn't, according to his pre-presidential church history. It is both annoying and amusing when these churches, filled by minority groups who have been discriminated against, decide to discriminate against other groups. But it's about political viewpoint within churches. The liberal churches don't discriminate. The conservative churches discriminate. So, there are previously persecuted minority groups gathered into conservative black churches discriminating against gays, in Mormon churches discriminating against women and gays, in Catholic churches discriminating against women and gays, in Islamic mosques discriminating against women and gays. The fact of the matter is that when people choose their faith, they are often choosing their political attitudes as well. But I would suggest that all church-goers and politicians and evolving presidents read Frederick Douglass' biography to better understand when a church can be "wrong" and on the wrong side of history.
The worst news coming out of Missouri this month had to be the story about the baby who lost seven fingers after a loose pet ferret in the household chewed them off. Some animals are wild creatures generally...and then there are dogs. Most dogs make good pets. Goldfish are gentle enough, but aren't the best pets. Dogs make good pets when they are in the company of good people. Wild, undomesticated animals don't generally make good pets. A recent TV report noted that there is a large number of people who actually have lions and tigers at their homes or ranches in Texas. Wow, again, I just don't think lions and tigers are pet material. Here are some other Sage Street blog recommendations for non-pet status: wolverines, grizzly bears, whales, crocodiles, badgers, ticks, and pythons.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
The speech that Obama should give...
Here's what I hope I don't hear from President Obama in his "war" speech tomorrow...
If President Obama announces tomorrow that he is only removing 10,000 U.S. soldiers from Afghanistan for 2011 and 20,000 from Afghanistan in 2012, that just amounts to a fraud.
It was Obama, after all, who "surged" the troop levels in Afghanistan two years ago by 30,000...and, oh, by the way, nothing much is better in terms of conditions in Afghanistan. (Note: At the time of the surge, I predicted that Obama would lose re-election and, with his generally hapless efforts to deal with Main Street unemployment--though I realize he's been hampered all the way by irritating Republicans--I am not going to back down on that prediction. I can't see how Obama re-energizes youth, particularly, as a war president, nor the middle class, as a Herbert Hoover on job creation.) I can't see how Obama wins, with the exceptions of the unemployment rate dropping dramatically or the wars being ended. Then there is the default way of winning re-election...and that is by having a presidential opponent who is so crazy and radical that it puts fear in the hearts and minds of anyone who likes Medicare and Social Security.
So, if Obama just takes out of the war zone the troops he surged in the first place, that still leaves 70,000 U.S. soldiers there (or double the amount that President Bush put there).
That would be a joke. I can't figure out why Obama doesn't see real value and distinction in getting to be the president who actually ends long, wasteful, expensive wars. In many ways, Obama seems like he represents opportunity lost instead of opportunity at hand. Don't wait for the college subcommittee to decide some incremental step. Don't wait for the bumbling generals to determine peace. Make something good and positive and progressive HAPPEN. And if that isn't in the cards for no-drama Obama, then the left needs to find a good presidential candidate. Perhaps Howard Dean would return. If Obama desires to be a Democratic war president, which is contrary to progressive ideas, then perhaps what will be needed is not the return of his youth vote, but instead the return of youth war protests on campuses again. This is certainly a moment and time for Obama to determine where a Democratic president needs to take his country. If he wimps out, I think he loses big time.
And as I am completely annoyed with U.S. generals who have contributed to the longest war in U.S. history, I would not do what some of the Republican presidential candidates suggested in seeking the advice of the generals before changing paths with the wars. About the only thing I would ask generals, if I were president, is what kind of toilet paper should be ordered. Otherwise, I would ask privates and sergeants and people in the real world of the war for an honest evaluation of the war effort.
Then I am also growing weary of the fact that NATO can't get one lousy dictator named Gadhaffi out of the picture. If that dictator can't be eliminated (as dictators should be) by the end of the year, then I will change my position on Libya involvement as well. When it comes to war, length almost always means loss. Speed is victory.
Here's the speech that Obama should give:
The troops will be leaving Afghanistan and Iraq as soon as they can get on the planes. We will leave some expert Navy SEALS units to strategically target actual terrorists who like violence. We will provide any woman who thinks her husband is going to follow the conservative and archaic ideas of the Taliban with a heavy frying pan, as the guy has to go to sleep some time. We will provide foreign aid for education for all genders, for the building of schools and hospitals, and for the training and benefit of honest police officers, lawyers, and politicians.
By saving $120 billion a year or so on the expense of the Afghanistan War, we will put much of that money into infrastructure projects, like FDR's WPA, for jobs for soldiers leaving the service and others who are currently jobless. In further channeling the wisdom of FDR, we will establish a CCC program for young people, providing summer jobs and, instead of money, the student workers, including children of illegal immigrants, will be granted free college tuition, board, and room for a year at colleges or universities (the colleges and universities who want to continue to receive federal funding and Pell grants for incoming students). And that will just be the start of our new jobs creation effort.
And God bless the United States of America.
If President Obama announces tomorrow that he is only removing 10,000 U.S. soldiers from Afghanistan for 2011 and 20,000 from Afghanistan in 2012, that just amounts to a fraud.
It was Obama, after all, who "surged" the troop levels in Afghanistan two years ago by 30,000...and, oh, by the way, nothing much is better in terms of conditions in Afghanistan. (Note: At the time of the surge, I predicted that Obama would lose re-election and, with his generally hapless efforts to deal with Main Street unemployment--though I realize he's been hampered all the way by irritating Republicans--I am not going to back down on that prediction. I can't see how Obama re-energizes youth, particularly, as a war president, nor the middle class, as a Herbert Hoover on job creation.) I can't see how Obama wins, with the exceptions of the unemployment rate dropping dramatically or the wars being ended. Then there is the default way of winning re-election...and that is by having a presidential opponent who is so crazy and radical that it puts fear in the hearts and minds of anyone who likes Medicare and Social Security.
So, if Obama just takes out of the war zone the troops he surged in the first place, that still leaves 70,000 U.S. soldiers there (or double the amount that President Bush put there).
That would be a joke. I can't figure out why Obama doesn't see real value and distinction in getting to be the president who actually ends long, wasteful, expensive wars. In many ways, Obama seems like he represents opportunity lost instead of opportunity at hand. Don't wait for the college subcommittee to decide some incremental step. Don't wait for the bumbling generals to determine peace. Make something good and positive and progressive HAPPEN. And if that isn't in the cards for no-drama Obama, then the left needs to find a good presidential candidate. Perhaps Howard Dean would return. If Obama desires to be a Democratic war president, which is contrary to progressive ideas, then perhaps what will be needed is not the return of his youth vote, but instead the return of youth war protests on campuses again. This is certainly a moment and time for Obama to determine where a Democratic president needs to take his country. If he wimps out, I think he loses big time.
And as I am completely annoyed with U.S. generals who have contributed to the longest war in U.S. history, I would not do what some of the Republican presidential candidates suggested in seeking the advice of the generals before changing paths with the wars. About the only thing I would ask generals, if I were president, is what kind of toilet paper should be ordered. Otherwise, I would ask privates and sergeants and people in the real world of the war for an honest evaluation of the war effort.
Then I am also growing weary of the fact that NATO can't get one lousy dictator named Gadhaffi out of the picture. If that dictator can't be eliminated (as dictators should be) by the end of the year, then I will change my position on Libya involvement as well. When it comes to war, length almost always means loss. Speed is victory.
Here's the speech that Obama should give:
The troops will be leaving Afghanistan and Iraq as soon as they can get on the planes. We will leave some expert Navy SEALS units to strategically target actual terrorists who like violence. We will provide any woman who thinks her husband is going to follow the conservative and archaic ideas of the Taliban with a heavy frying pan, as the guy has to go to sleep some time. We will provide foreign aid for education for all genders, for the building of schools and hospitals, and for the training and benefit of honest police officers, lawyers, and politicians.
By saving $120 billion a year or so on the expense of the Afghanistan War, we will put much of that money into infrastructure projects, like FDR's WPA, for jobs for soldiers leaving the service and others who are currently jobless. In further channeling the wisdom of FDR, we will establish a CCC program for young people, providing summer jobs and, instead of money, the student workers, including children of illegal immigrants, will be granted free college tuition, board, and room for a year at colleges or universities (the colleges and universities who want to continue to receive federal funding and Pell grants for incoming students). And that will just be the start of our new jobs creation effort.
And God bless the United States of America.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Accidental surfing and depressed endurance...
The first four paragraphs are about accidental moments in surfing on the TV. The last two paragraphs are about being subjected to a Republican TV debate...
In switching TV channels, I hit CBS, I think it was, on the evening of the Tony Award show. "The Book of Mormon" won the Tony for best Broadway musical play this past week. It is a play by the guys who created the cartoon series "South Park" on cable TV. At that particular moment, the song "I Believe" from the play was being performed, which noted that, among other proclamations according to Joseph Smith, the Moses with the tablets for the LDS church, Jackson County in Missouri is the site of the Garden of Eden.
One day, I landed on a TV channel where conservative author Ann Coulter was being interviewed. Semi-interviewed actually, as Coulter was avoiding anything personal. But she did repeat her idiotic statement about public school teachers being "tax-paid parasites." I wonder why Republicans never say she should apologize for her off-the-wall rudeness. Do they agree with her?
I landed on MTV one day with the show "16 and Pregnant." It apparently is a reality series about 16-year-old girls dealing with a pregnancy. I watched it for 20 minutes mainly because it was like watching a train wreck. Wow, parents should require their teenagers to watch that show. No teen would want to get pregnant nor hopefully even want to be around a potential loser of a boyfriend if they watched one or two of those shows. It is the best promotion for "abstinence" that I have ever seen!
I saw another bunch of talking heads on TV continuing to fuss over the Congressman Anthony Weiner scandal. I know I made my share of blog fun at his expense. I mean, geez, how many naked chest shots would someone want to take of themselves and then share? If you are a model, go for it. But if you are politician, I don't think a naked chest adds much to understanding the issues. But the more I think about it, the more I wonder why he should resign from his position. It is true that he will probably be rather ineffectual legislatively in being associated with tawdriness, though others have risen beyond their scandals and transgressions, such as Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich. I can see Weiner having to give up his cell phone with a camera and to stop using Twitter. Please do! I hope he's already done that. Beyond that, this "scandal" is sexless. At least as far as we know now. Maybe it is good if any "scandal" can remove a politician from office. But it makes me wonder if the media aren't just playing to tabloid mentality by chasing the congressman down the street. As they used to say about Bill Clinton and his scandal compared to George Bush and his war, "At least when Clinton lied, no one died." The Weiner scandal is a mere Vienna sausage in the realm of meaty matters. Sorry, I couldn't resist!
And do young people today also use immediate technology in various regretful ways...and will it come back to haunt them later on? The immediacy of technology in the hands of some college students in bars at midnight might mean the future of electronic messaging devices will include the feature of a breathalizer in order to prevent their use at ill-advised times.
Going to CNN for the recent debate by the Republican presidential candidates was not accidental. I always feel like it is my duty as a citizen to keep up with national politics...and consequently I have watched a lot of bad TV in process. I thought the TV debate on CNN was badly orchestrated for the most simplistic and boring sound bites yet to bite viewers. There wasn't much that the short-answer format provided, but it is understandable that if there'd been a longer answer period the candidates probably would have just droned on with canned rhetoric. So, it was lose or lose for the viewers. For the longer questions, often the wrong candidate addressed them. I already knew how Ron Paul, the only anti-war candidate probably up there, would respond to the Afghanistan War. The quick questions to supposedly give us more of the personal side of the candidates were stupid. "Conan or Leno?" Geez, who cares?! It reminded me of the famous "Boxers or briefs" question to Bill Clinton. Like that made a big difference, either. Better quick questions could have been "their favorite book, or most recent book they have read, or, like with some of those questions from Katie Couric to Sarah Palin, what Supreme Court case they believe in or their favorite Supreme Court justice. For more personal questions, I would like to know if all of Mitt Romney's sons are still Mormons and if they all married Mormon women. Just curious, as to see if the Romney immediate household is the least bit religiously diverse. The quick questions at the debate were just bubble-gum. I hate being bubble-gummed by the media.
In a word, I would define the Republican TV debate as "depressing." About the only issue that the candidates were for was cutting taxes for corporations. Otherwise, they were against almost everything. Against NASA, against the EPA, against the auto industry bail-out, against unions for workers, against separation of church and state, against the government spending any money on social programs, against abortion rights, against gay marriage, against...against...and against. If those candidates are the future, why did they sound like the past? And not just recent past, either but decades-ago past, if not longer. Wow! Depressing!
In switching TV channels, I hit CBS, I think it was, on the evening of the Tony Award show. "The Book of Mormon" won the Tony for best Broadway musical play this past week. It is a play by the guys who created the cartoon series "South Park" on cable TV. At that particular moment, the song "I Believe" from the play was being performed, which noted that, among other proclamations according to Joseph Smith, the Moses with the tablets for the LDS church, Jackson County in Missouri is the site of the Garden of Eden.
One day, I landed on a TV channel where conservative author Ann Coulter was being interviewed. Semi-interviewed actually, as Coulter was avoiding anything personal. But she did repeat her idiotic statement about public school teachers being "tax-paid parasites." I wonder why Republicans never say she should apologize for her off-the-wall rudeness. Do they agree with her?
I landed on MTV one day with the show "16 and Pregnant." It apparently is a reality series about 16-year-old girls dealing with a pregnancy. I watched it for 20 minutes mainly because it was like watching a train wreck. Wow, parents should require their teenagers to watch that show. No teen would want to get pregnant nor hopefully even want to be around a potential loser of a boyfriend if they watched one or two of those shows. It is the best promotion for "abstinence" that I have ever seen!
I saw another bunch of talking heads on TV continuing to fuss over the Congressman Anthony Weiner scandal. I know I made my share of blog fun at his expense. I mean, geez, how many naked chest shots would someone want to take of themselves and then share? If you are a model, go for it. But if you are politician, I don't think a naked chest adds much to understanding the issues. But the more I think about it, the more I wonder why he should resign from his position. It is true that he will probably be rather ineffectual legislatively in being associated with tawdriness, though others have risen beyond their scandals and transgressions, such as Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich. I can see Weiner having to give up his cell phone with a camera and to stop using Twitter. Please do! I hope he's already done that. Beyond that, this "scandal" is sexless. At least as far as we know now. Maybe it is good if any "scandal" can remove a politician from office. But it makes me wonder if the media aren't just playing to tabloid mentality by chasing the congressman down the street. As they used to say about Bill Clinton and his scandal compared to George Bush and his war, "At least when Clinton lied, no one died." The Weiner scandal is a mere Vienna sausage in the realm of meaty matters. Sorry, I couldn't resist!
And do young people today also use immediate technology in various regretful ways...and will it come back to haunt them later on? The immediacy of technology in the hands of some college students in bars at midnight might mean the future of electronic messaging devices will include the feature of a breathalizer in order to prevent their use at ill-advised times.
Going to CNN for the recent debate by the Republican presidential candidates was not accidental. I always feel like it is my duty as a citizen to keep up with national politics...and consequently I have watched a lot of bad TV in process. I thought the TV debate on CNN was badly orchestrated for the most simplistic and boring sound bites yet to bite viewers. There wasn't much that the short-answer format provided, but it is understandable that if there'd been a longer answer period the candidates probably would have just droned on with canned rhetoric. So, it was lose or lose for the viewers. For the longer questions, often the wrong candidate addressed them. I already knew how Ron Paul, the only anti-war candidate probably up there, would respond to the Afghanistan War. The quick questions to supposedly give us more of the personal side of the candidates were stupid. "Conan or Leno?" Geez, who cares?! It reminded me of the famous "Boxers or briefs" question to Bill Clinton. Like that made a big difference, either. Better quick questions could have been "their favorite book, or most recent book they have read, or, like with some of those questions from Katie Couric to Sarah Palin, what Supreme Court case they believe in or their favorite Supreme Court justice. For more personal questions, I would like to know if all of Mitt Romney's sons are still Mormons and if they all married Mormon women. Just curious, as to see if the Romney immediate household is the least bit religiously diverse. The quick questions at the debate were just bubble-gum. I hate being bubble-gummed by the media.
In a word, I would define the Republican TV debate as "depressing." About the only issue that the candidates were for was cutting taxes for corporations. Otherwise, they were against almost everything. Against NASA, against the EPA, against the auto industry bail-out, against unions for workers, against separation of church and state, against the government spending any money on social programs, against abortion rights, against gay marriage, against...against...and against. If those candidates are the future, why did they sound like the past? And not just recent past, either but decades-ago past, if not longer. Wow! Depressing!
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Poetry in commotion...
A Sarah Palin poem:
Listen, my children, and you shall hear
of Sarah Palin's version of
the midnight ride of Paul Reverse,
who put his pickup into "R" (for Republican) gear
and sped away backward, with shots so clear,
from guns a-blazing, always first.
He warned the Danish that Americans had guns,
lots of guns, and they would lose.
One, if by land; two, if my sea;
three, if by Fox News.
And he shot a partridge in a pear tree.
Nevermore. Nevermore.
An Anthony Weiner poem:
Everyone's a twitter
for Tony to consider
that sending pictures "obscenie"
makes him quite a wienie.
A poem for politics:
I would rather vote for a lizard than for Newt.
I would rather vote for Abel than for Cain.
I would rather vote for a baseball glove than for Mitt.
I would never vote for Sarah plain.*
* Note: Well, "Palin" didn't rhyme, but both words have the same letters.
Listen, my children, and you shall hear
of Sarah Palin's version of
the midnight ride of Paul Reverse,
who put his pickup into "R" (for Republican) gear
and sped away backward, with shots so clear,
from guns a-blazing, always first.
He warned the Danish that Americans had guns,
lots of guns, and they would lose.
One, if by land; two, if my sea;
three, if by Fox News.
And he shot a partridge in a pear tree.
Nevermore. Nevermore.
An Anthony Weiner poem:
Everyone's a twitter
for Tony to consider
that sending pictures "obscenie"
makes him quite a wienie.
A poem for politics:
I would rather vote for a lizard than for Newt.
I would rather vote for Abel than for Cain.
I would rather vote for a baseball glove than for Mitt.
I would never vote for Sarah plain.*
* Note: Well, "Palin" didn't rhyme, but both words have the same letters.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
News at 10...
This just in...
A new study finds that if your friends look like Cirque du Soleil characters, you have really unique friends.
Congressman Paul Ryan's budget plan to finish off Medicare looks like it is going to finish off Republican candidates nationwide. And what's really strange is that the Republicans are running like lemmings off a cliff to embrace the Ryan budget plan.
National Geographic channel plans to do a special report on lemmings and Republicans.
Right-wing social engineering has hurt Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign. He shrugs off the problem with occasional shopping trips to Tiffany's jewelry store. He was pleased about the bargain deal he got for a tie tack. A mere $20,000.
A couple were criticized by some people for raising their new baby "gender-less," meaning they weren't going to tell others the gender of the baby. Well, heck, it's not like there are hundreds of possibilities to speculate about. The baby is probably either a girl or a boy.
Singer Pink recently had a baby girl. People are guessing that she will dress the baby in "pink."
Have you ever felt like you could star on a TV show "The Biggest Loser" but the show is not about weight loss?
News media people have been chasing after TV reality show star Sarah Palin while she is on her recent bus tour, despite the fact that she hasn't announced a campaign for running for anything. So, tell us again, why is she in the news?
An unfortunate incident occurred when Sarah Palin's bus ran over candidate Mitt Romney while he was announcing his candidacy for president in New Hampshire. But Romney is okay. His Mormon underwear protected him.
Sarah Palin's version of the historical ride of Paul Revere was so "entertaining" that birther Donald Trump has decided to produce a new TV reality show called "Sarah's History Lessons." It will appear on that other SyFy (Science Fiction) channel, Fox News network.
This blog was recently spanked for breaking the rule that children of politicians are off limits, even when those children are paraded around, put on TV shows, and used as media blockades. This blog promises to not make fun of Bristol, Piper, Moose, Twitter, Tinsel, and all the rest and whatever their names are, when and if they ever fade from public spectacle.
Just think when presidential candidate Michelle Bachman's 28 children start getting on TV reality shows?!!
China, please don't hack this site. Please! There are many better sites far more worthy of your hacking, censoring, infiltration, and denial.
Congressman Anthony Weiner said his Twitter account was hacked and a photo of overwhelming briefs was sent to prank him. Weiner isn't sure if that photo is of him or not. Meanwhile, 20 million American men have already claimed that the photo is of them. One Twittererererer said, "Hot dog!"
Current U.S. generals were ranked as the worst in history as wars in Afghanistan and Iraq continue endlessly with weekly soldier fatalities. With $113 billion estimated for another year in Afghanistan, the generals are at least hoping to turn a corner, as they eye Pakistan.
The World Health Organization has cautioned about the potential of brain tumors from using cell phones next to people's ears. People also shouldn't wear hats that microwave buttered popcorn.
A new study warns that people who always bite the heads off of animal crackers with their first bite are more likely to make dogs eat dried dog biscuits.
It is hoped that "Arab Spring" will land right on top of the Syrian dictator, the Libyan dictator, the Bahrain dictator, the Iranian dictator, the Yemeni dictator, the Saudi Arabian dictators, and all other Middle Eastern dictators with a big ka-thump.
Women are secretly practicing their driving of cars in Saudi Arabia, using highway cones as designated ruling dictators.
In this week's episode of "Celebrities Chasing Squirrels," Arnold Schwarzenegger admits to furnishing the nuts and John Edwards warns against hunter mentality. There is a special song from Lady Gaga, dressed as a pecan.
A new study finds that if your friends look like Cirque du Soleil characters, you have really unique friends.
Congressman Paul Ryan's budget plan to finish off Medicare looks like it is going to finish off Republican candidates nationwide. And what's really strange is that the Republicans are running like lemmings off a cliff to embrace the Ryan budget plan.
National Geographic channel plans to do a special report on lemmings and Republicans.
Right-wing social engineering has hurt Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign. He shrugs off the problem with occasional shopping trips to Tiffany's jewelry store. He was pleased about the bargain deal he got for a tie tack. A mere $20,000.
A couple were criticized by some people for raising their new baby "gender-less," meaning they weren't going to tell others the gender of the baby. Well, heck, it's not like there are hundreds of possibilities to speculate about. The baby is probably either a girl or a boy.
Singer Pink recently had a baby girl. People are guessing that she will dress the baby in "pink."
Have you ever felt like you could star on a TV show "The Biggest Loser" but the show is not about weight loss?
News media people have been chasing after TV reality show star Sarah Palin while she is on her recent bus tour, despite the fact that she hasn't announced a campaign for running for anything. So, tell us again, why is she in the news?
An unfortunate incident occurred when Sarah Palin's bus ran over candidate Mitt Romney while he was announcing his candidacy for president in New Hampshire. But Romney is okay. His Mormon underwear protected him.
Sarah Palin's version of the historical ride of Paul Revere was so "entertaining" that birther Donald Trump has decided to produce a new TV reality show called "Sarah's History Lessons." It will appear on that other SyFy (Science Fiction) channel, Fox News network.
This blog was recently spanked for breaking the rule that children of politicians are off limits, even when those children are paraded around, put on TV shows, and used as media blockades. This blog promises to not make fun of Bristol, Piper, Moose, Twitter, Tinsel, and all the rest and whatever their names are, when and if they ever fade from public spectacle.
Just think when presidential candidate Michelle Bachman's 28 children start getting on TV reality shows?!!
China, please don't hack this site. Please! There are many better sites far more worthy of your hacking, censoring, infiltration, and denial.
Congressman Anthony Weiner said his Twitter account was hacked and a photo of overwhelming briefs was sent to prank him. Weiner isn't sure if that photo is of him or not. Meanwhile, 20 million American men have already claimed that the photo is of them. One Twittererererer said, "Hot dog!"
Current U.S. generals were ranked as the worst in history as wars in Afghanistan and Iraq continue endlessly with weekly soldier fatalities. With $113 billion estimated for another year in Afghanistan, the generals are at least hoping to turn a corner, as they eye Pakistan.
The World Health Organization has cautioned about the potential of brain tumors from using cell phones next to people's ears. People also shouldn't wear hats that microwave buttered popcorn.
A new study warns that people who always bite the heads off of animal crackers with their first bite are more likely to make dogs eat dried dog biscuits.
It is hoped that "Arab Spring" will land right on top of the Syrian dictator, the Libyan dictator, the Bahrain dictator, the Iranian dictator, the Yemeni dictator, the Saudi Arabian dictators, and all other Middle Eastern dictators with a big ka-thump.
Women are secretly practicing their driving of cars in Saudi Arabia, using highway cones as designated ruling dictators.
In this week's episode of "Celebrities Chasing Squirrels," Arnold Schwarzenegger admits to furnishing the nuts and John Edwards warns against hunter mentality. There is a special song from Lady Gaga, dressed as a pecan.
Friday, May 27, 2011
The issues to win the presidency in 2012...
It was too bad that Congress passed and President Obama signed the reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act without eliminating some of civil rights intrusion and violation aspects, particularly the part involving public libraries.
Concerning the library aspect, I have faith that librarians will continue to be hard-nosed about privacy of book reading and refuse to cooperation or cooperate in lukewarm, half-heartedly approaches. Frankly, I would put my money on librarians more than U.S. intellegence agencies any day in the battle of wills and the defense of freedom and rights.
While the field of potential Republican presidential candidates certainly makes Obama look good, the nation may need a candidate from the left to keep Obama's feet to the fire concerning the promises he has already made. The promise to end the wars. The promise to close down Guantanamo Bay prison.
I believe that the person who wins the presidency for the future will do it with these stances on these issues:
Concerning the library aspect, I have faith that librarians will continue to be hard-nosed about privacy of book reading and refuse to cooperation or cooperate in lukewarm, half-heartedly approaches. Frankly, I would put my money on librarians more than U.S. intellegence agencies any day in the battle of wills and the defense of freedom and rights.
While the field of potential Republican presidential candidates certainly makes Obama look good, the nation may need a candidate from the left to keep Obama's feet to the fire concerning the promises he has already made. The promise to end the wars. The promise to close down Guantanamo Bay prison.
I believe that the person who wins the presidency for the future will do it with these stances on these issues:
- Supports Medicare and Social Security. (That means really supporting them and wanting them to exist and to be worthy for the citizens. It doesn't mean playing games with them, in hopes that a good social program vanishes. It doesn't mean shifting to privatization which just puts a lot of money into the pockets of a few and the social programs at great risk, depending up markets and bottom-line.)
- Has plans for job creation and employment expansion. That probably means spending money upfront in order to attain benefits in the long-term. (Chrysler recently paid back with interest a $7.6 billion bail-out loan from the U.S. and Canadian governments. And GM, also a bail-out recipient, announced recently that thousands of jobs would return for plants near Detroit and throughout the nation. That means that President Obama was wise in saving the auto industry--and thousands of good jobs for Americans--while Republican candidate Mitt Romney lacked vision in opposing the bail-out. Romney's op-ed piece was headlined something to the respects that the government should let Detroit and the car industry go bankrupt. Romney was horribly wrong and America would have been worse off right now under his early judgment.) There is a difference, I believe, between a bail-out for a high good-jobs industry or business which makes tangible products that Americans can use and a bail-out for Wall Street financiers who speculate over fears and fantasy and provide no real products of use. I remember a TV commercial many years ago where a company was joyful about producing reports by way of their copy center. I thought at the time, if American companies only produce paperwork and reports and not steel, shirts, toys, and cars, I can't imagine the companies flourishing or the nation prospering.
- Concretely plans for the end of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. That means getting ground troops out of backward Third World countries with religiously conservative cultures. Let the social media networks play the role of freedom fighters, as citizens of those kind of countries will be able to see for themselves what the rest of the world has and what they don't. The Navy SEALs' action in finding Osama bin Laden shows how a small-scale mission can be surgically successful without putting platoons of the young people on foot or vehicle patrol--the so-called kid next door--into ridiculous and costly daily danger. Also, ending the wars is the best first real step in cutting a budget deficit. Less tanks and wars where soldiers are killed. Instead, more soldiers and advocates in peacekeeping, humanitarian, and educational missions that also make our soldiers more respected and safer around the world.
Those are the three campaign stands that I think will lead to victory for a presidential candidate in 2012. President Obama certainly has the edge for the victory, as he has stated his feelings before about everything from Medicare to the wars. Making it happen even before it is a campaign promise would assure victory.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
More questions than answers...
Does it ever seem like sometimes the TV news provokes more questions than answers? I guess I am just too curious.
For instance, about that Bin Laden computer with the porn on it. What kind of porn? I'm just curious about him being curious, considering that he had multiple wives and 20-some children. When did he have time to surf the web and plot for terrorism? Who's taking care of those children now? Did he have life insurance? Did he need to recruit terrorists or just father them? Questions, lot of questions.
Speaking of fathering, there is the latest scandal involving former California governor and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger. It very well could turn out that the so-called "love child" may be less spoiled than usual next-generation Kennedy clan. And what kind of a term is "love child"? Aren't most children, within marriages as well, results of love and/or sex, too?
Here's what bothers me about the timing of the Schwarzenegger scandal...Prior to Schwarzenegger's election as governor, the Los Angeles Times wrote about 12 women who accused him of sexual harassment over the years. His wife Maria Shriver came to his political rescue by declaring that he had "changed." He wins. He becomes a pretty awful governor, but he lasts through his term. And his secret never emerges (not even with all the California tabloids) until after he's done with gubernatorial politics. And then the news of his affair with another woman 14 years ago surfaces. Then Maria and Arnold split up, and it is all over the news. Hmmmm. Messy and curious. I imagine there are less people now wanting to change the U.S. Constitution to allow foreign-born politicians, like Schwarzenegger, to run for president.
One other scandal came up again in the news--The Catholic Church released its report about priest sex abuse. The church hierarchy basically couldn't find an answer for it--though "enabling" and "covering up" might have been good choices. Or maybe outdated 16th century male hierarchy and policy (like celibacy) and discrimination against women in leadership could have played roles, do you think? But the report apparently blamed the 1960s and the sexual revolution. Hmmmm. Curious. I kind of think a lot of people would like to blame the 1960s about a lot of problems.
And how about those Republicans? They didn't want to eliminate the tax credits for the big oil companies, though the companies make record profits almost every quarter and gasoline prices have doubled to $4 or more because of good, old Wall Street spectators. Remember Wall Street--the greedy place that the nation bailed out. Wow, what a group--Republicans, oil companies, and Wall Street. What a group!
For instance, about that Bin Laden computer with the porn on it. What kind of porn? I'm just curious about him being curious, considering that he had multiple wives and 20-some children. When did he have time to surf the web and plot for terrorism? Who's taking care of those children now? Did he have life insurance? Did he need to recruit terrorists or just father them? Questions, lot of questions.
Speaking of fathering, there is the latest scandal involving former California governor and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger. It very well could turn out that the so-called "love child" may be less spoiled than usual next-generation Kennedy clan. And what kind of a term is "love child"? Aren't most children, within marriages as well, results of love and/or sex, too?
Here's what bothers me about the timing of the Schwarzenegger scandal...Prior to Schwarzenegger's election as governor, the Los Angeles Times wrote about 12 women who accused him of sexual harassment over the years. His wife Maria Shriver came to his political rescue by declaring that he had "changed." He wins. He becomes a pretty awful governor, but he lasts through his term. And his secret never emerges (not even with all the California tabloids) until after he's done with gubernatorial politics. And then the news of his affair with another woman 14 years ago surfaces. Then Maria and Arnold split up, and it is all over the news. Hmmmm. Messy and curious. I imagine there are less people now wanting to change the U.S. Constitution to allow foreign-born politicians, like Schwarzenegger, to run for president.
One other scandal came up again in the news--The Catholic Church released its report about priest sex abuse. The church hierarchy basically couldn't find an answer for it--though "enabling" and "covering up" might have been good choices. Or maybe outdated 16th century male hierarchy and policy (like celibacy) and discrimination against women in leadership could have played roles, do you think? But the report apparently blamed the 1960s and the sexual revolution. Hmmmm. Curious. I kind of think a lot of people would like to blame the 1960s about a lot of problems.
And how about those Republicans? They didn't want to eliminate the tax credits for the big oil companies, though the companies make record profits almost every quarter and gasoline prices have doubled to $4 or more because of good, old Wall Street spectators. Remember Wall Street--the greedy place that the nation bailed out. Wow, what a group--Republicans, oil companies, and Wall Street. What a group!
Sunday, May 1, 2011
News at 10...
This just in...
The headline could have read, "Trump trumped." Birther and big-mouthed bully of a candidate for president Donald Trump got trumped by President Obama who produced the long form of his birth certificate after Trump exploited the falsehoods about it for his own political gains.
Donald Trump wins the Sage Street "Keep Blabbering and Spin" award for saying he was proud to do something so important as to get Obama to release the long form of his birth certificate. Ah, Mr. Trump, Obama didn't need to release it as the short form, which is the legal document used by Hawaii, was already available and then there were also those birth announcements in old newspapers. Of course, those facts probably wouldn't matter for crazy people who just don't want to believe the facts. Congratulations, Mr. Trump, on your award. It comes with a huge wad of bubblegum (to keep your mouth busy).
Pope John Paul (the some Roman numeral) took one step closer to sainthood, while most everyone else on Earth, as is likely in life, took steps farther away from sainthood.
Catherine "Kate" Middleton married Prince William Arthur Philip Louis Mortimer (what the heck is his last name?) in a royal wedding this past week in Great Britain. (Note: I just made up the "Mortimer" part, and I'm not so sure about the other names either.) I know their last name isn't Mr. and Mrs. Queen Elizabeth's Grandchildren. Hmmm??!
The U.S. news media wasted all kinds of time leading up to, during, and following the royal wedding of the future king of England. It got to the point where the TV reporters were talking about the royal wedding biscuits (cookies in America), the royal dresses and uniforms, the royal hats, the royal number of times that Will vacuums in their home, the royal squirrels that live in the trees near their home, and the royal pains that royalty produces.
Oh, and by the way, more American soldiers were killed in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, but that news was overlooked while the TV media counted flowers at the royal wedding.
"Dangelavidize" is one of the newest words in the English language and placed here for the very first time. It means "to search the dictionaries and Google for something and not be able to find it." Used in a sentence: Have you ever dangelavidized successfully? (Note: The word was recently created on Facebook by the editor of Sage Street just to see if a new word would spread and find its way to popularity and a dictionary.)
There are many blockbuster movies for the summer that will feature comic book superheroes. Thirteen-year-old boys are ecstatic.
The latest episode of "Celebrities Chasing Squirrels" features Donald Trump telling a squirrel to turn in his nuts because he's fired.
The headline could have read, "Trump trumped." Birther and big-mouthed bully of a candidate for president Donald Trump got trumped by President Obama who produced the long form of his birth certificate after Trump exploited the falsehoods about it for his own political gains.
Donald Trump wins the Sage Street "Keep Blabbering and Spin" award for saying he was proud to do something so important as to get Obama to release the long form of his birth certificate. Ah, Mr. Trump, Obama didn't need to release it as the short form, which is the legal document used by Hawaii, was already available and then there were also those birth announcements in old newspapers. Of course, those facts probably wouldn't matter for crazy people who just don't want to believe the facts. Congratulations, Mr. Trump, on your award. It comes with a huge wad of bubblegum (to keep your mouth busy).
Pope John Paul (the some Roman numeral) took one step closer to sainthood, while most everyone else on Earth, as is likely in life, took steps farther away from sainthood.
Catherine "Kate" Middleton married Prince William Arthur Philip Louis Mortimer (what the heck is his last name?) in a royal wedding this past week in Great Britain. (Note: I just made up the "Mortimer" part, and I'm not so sure about the other names either.) I know their last name isn't Mr. and Mrs. Queen Elizabeth's Grandchildren. Hmmm??!
The U.S. news media wasted all kinds of time leading up to, during, and following the royal wedding of the future king of England. It got to the point where the TV reporters were talking about the royal wedding biscuits (cookies in America), the royal dresses and uniforms, the royal hats, the royal number of times that Will vacuums in their home, the royal squirrels that live in the trees near their home, and the royal pains that royalty produces.
Oh, and by the way, more American soldiers were killed in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, but that news was overlooked while the TV media counted flowers at the royal wedding.
"Dangelavidize" is one of the newest words in the English language and placed here for the very first time. It means "to search the dictionaries and Google for something and not be able to find it." Used in a sentence: Have you ever dangelavidized successfully? (Note: The word was recently created on Facebook by the editor of Sage Street just to see if a new word would spread and find its way to popularity and a dictionary.)
There are many blockbuster movies for the summer that will feature comic book superheroes. Thirteen-year-old boys are ecstatic.
The latest episode of "Celebrities Chasing Squirrels" features Donald Trump telling a squirrel to turn in his nuts because he's fired.
Friday, April 22, 2011
An April entry for a busy month...
I've been so busy that I thought I should post at least one entry in the blog for April. So, here are some random thoughts...
- I can tell everyone in advance that there is one TV event that I don't plan on watching. It is the so-called "Royal Wedding" of the Queen of England's grandson and his girlfriend. No thanks! If expenses for royals were in the American national budget, that would certainly be the easiest item to cut. I give great thanks to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and all others who helped in breaking America's ties with royalty.
- I enjoyed recent trips to Springfield, Mo. (with nine college students for the MCMA convention) and to Chicago (with faculty members for the Higher Learning Commission conference).
- The current TV show that has the most references to Wyoming is probably "Supernatural" on the CW channel. One of the co-stars, Jim Beaver, was born in Laramie.
- A "bodhran" is an Irish framed drum. (The Ridge River String Band recently played one at the college. A dulcimer was also played.)
- The longest word in the Old Testament is 18 characters long. It is "Mahershalalhashbaz." In the New Testament, the longest word is 16 characters long and there are three of them (covenantbreakers, fellow-prisoners, and unprofitableness). That is according to a website about the King James Bible.
- I like Richard Hawley's song "Tonight the Streets Are Ours." I heard it first when watching the documentary about graffiti artists called "Exit Through the Gift Shop."
- Some recent movies that I liked: "My Boy Jack" about Rudyard Kipling's son who goes off to war; "Howl" about the life, poetry, and poem censorship trial of poet Allen Ginsberg; "Get Low" starring Robert Duvall and Sissy Spacek; "Devil," a scary movie about people stuck in an elevator; and "Triage" starring Colin Farrell as a photojournalist.
- I predict that the awful pencil-headed dictator of Syria will be forced out by his people by the end of the year. Or hopefully sooner.
- I would like to attend one theater event where rude, inconsiderate young people, who hear the theater announcement to turn off cell phones but refuse to do so, don't sit near me. Is it possible?! How do they develop such obsessions that they can't disconnect from a piece of equipment for at least an hour or two?
- My quote: "Sometimes going through the motions gives me motion-sickness."
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Buy products made in the country if you want to help your community and neighbors...
Interesting information from ABC News shows and its recent series about "Made in America"...
- In the 1960s, nine out of 10 products in America were made here. Now 50 percent of products sold in America come from foreign countries.
- If every American spent $64 more per year for U.S. products specifically, 200,000 jobs could be created.
- The number of Americans working in manufacturing is at a 70-year low.
- There were 55,000 U.S. factories that closed during the Bush years. Jobs gone, tax-base also gone.
- In some Chinese factories, workers make $14 per day.
- Leo Gerard, president of the U.S. Steelworkers Union, noted that low-priced goods meant poison in children's toys, lead in steel, and other conditions that actually lead to high costs in other ways.
- There is only one lightbulb brand now made in America and its major obstacle is getting on the shelves of places like Wal-Mart.
- There is no American factory that makes wind turbines from start to finish. (My comment: That could be a great opening for a factory in a place like Medicine Bow, Wyo., which should also seek out an inventor of the prototype of a portable wind turbine/solar energy unit for rooftops, back-door steps and in "energy" gardens that hooks to portable heating and air conditioning units for individual homes, and manufacture those, too.)
- After 25 years of record trade deficits, America went from the top producer to the top creditor nation.
- The ABC News segment, with Diane Sawyer and David Muir, went to an average American family's home to find out how much within their home was actually American-made. After checking the entire livingroom, all that was left that was made in America was one flower vase (and the kitchen sink in the kitchen). Then the news show went about redecorating the house with American-made products only, finding just as many good bargains nationally. The new bedroom set cost was $1,699 as compared to the previous bedroom set cost of foreign-made products at $1,758.
- Senator John McCain was on ABC This Week on Sunday, still touting the unfair and unequal idea of "free trade." There is no such thing as equal free trade, because wages, product safety and standards, work conditions, economy are all different depending upon where a person lives and works. It comes down to where a consumer wants to invest or send their money. Some might want to help workers in foreign countries as a response of generosity and humanitarianism in hopes of lifting up the workers there. But if a person wants their own local and national economy to be good and sound, with fair wages to workers, the best way is to buy locally.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Cut this, cut that...How about keep this, if it works, and add this, as an improvement...
A quick post for a busy month...
I just watched ABC's This Week news program and, for what I think is the second week in a row, there was no "In Memoriam" segment. That segment usually provides a quick review of the famous people who died during the previous week. It is a way of memorializing a historical or cultural figure and informing the rest of us about their passing as well as their achievements.
As much as I appreciate the show's attempt to cover the democracy revolutions now occurring in the Middle East countries--certainly an important subject--I still liked the short "In Memoriam" segments that no other TV news had.
Instead, I had to endure an extra minute or two of Republican governors blabbering at a round-table about budget cuts. Budget cuts are a ridiculous subject ever since the Congress failed to cut the tax breaks for the very wealthy. Now politicians and news media want us to believe that there is serious intent for cutting budgets? Give me a break!
For the minute that I had to listen to Arizona Governor Jan Brewer say that government is "a necessary evil," I could have been learning something factual about the nation and world.
I would add that just as it is not likely that it is a wise idea for a football team to be headed by a coach who hates football or a farm to be run by a farmer who hates farming or a school to be managed by a principal who hates education, why in the hell do we have to put up with politicians who hate government but then want to run it? They will run it all right. And likely right into the ground.
Budget-cutting won't bring about good jobs. Good jobs--not Wal-Mart or McDonalds jobs, by the way--are the key to driving a healthy economy. When Gov. Walker of Wisconsin wants to eliminate collective bargaining and make unions in this nation weaker, that is not going to help the nation in the long-run.
The politicians can cut till the cows come home and probably will, but that won't create jobs, make for a better society, or improve the economy, any more than buying a car made in Japan will. Creating jobs and buying products made in the country and town where you live will impact and improve the nation's economy. Everything else is meringue and baloney. If they aren't careful, the budget-cutting will just lead to a recession or even a depression.
But if someone would be so wise as to put some regulations and limits on runaway corporations who have "socialized their losses" but "privatized their profits" as author Michael Lewis noted in his book "The Big Short," then that would also certainly be a step in the right direction.
I know I covered a lot of territory here. From the small to the large. But it's all about framing and ideas. Keep it, if it works or if it has been a promise to people, such as with pensions, and add it if it's an improvement. If "cutting" is the only part of the mentality, then spiraling down in quality, content, accomplishment, progress, and the future will be the outcome.
I just watched ABC's This Week news program and, for what I think is the second week in a row, there was no "In Memoriam" segment. That segment usually provides a quick review of the famous people who died during the previous week. It is a way of memorializing a historical or cultural figure and informing the rest of us about their passing as well as their achievements.
As much as I appreciate the show's attempt to cover the democracy revolutions now occurring in the Middle East countries--certainly an important subject--I still liked the short "In Memoriam" segments that no other TV news had.
Instead, I had to endure an extra minute or two of Republican governors blabbering at a round-table about budget cuts. Budget cuts are a ridiculous subject ever since the Congress failed to cut the tax breaks for the very wealthy. Now politicians and news media want us to believe that there is serious intent for cutting budgets? Give me a break!
For the minute that I had to listen to Arizona Governor Jan Brewer say that government is "a necessary evil," I could have been learning something factual about the nation and world.
I would add that just as it is not likely that it is a wise idea for a football team to be headed by a coach who hates football or a farm to be run by a farmer who hates farming or a school to be managed by a principal who hates education, why in the hell do we have to put up with politicians who hate government but then want to run it? They will run it all right. And likely right into the ground.
Budget-cutting won't bring about good jobs. Good jobs--not Wal-Mart or McDonalds jobs, by the way--are the key to driving a healthy economy. When Gov. Walker of Wisconsin wants to eliminate collective bargaining and make unions in this nation weaker, that is not going to help the nation in the long-run.
The politicians can cut till the cows come home and probably will, but that won't create jobs, make for a better society, or improve the economy, any more than buying a car made in Japan will. Creating jobs and buying products made in the country and town where you live will impact and improve the nation's economy. Everything else is meringue and baloney. If they aren't careful, the budget-cutting will just lead to a recession or even a depression.
But if someone would be so wise as to put some regulations and limits on runaway corporations who have "socialized their losses" but "privatized their profits" as author Michael Lewis noted in his book "The Big Short," then that would also certainly be a step in the right direction.
I know I covered a lot of territory here. From the small to the large. But it's all about framing and ideas. Keep it, if it works or if it has been a promise to people, such as with pensions, and add it if it's an improvement. If "cutting" is the only part of the mentality, then spiraling down in quality, content, accomplishment, progress, and the future will be the outcome.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Time for Mubarak to leave...
Hosni Mubarak, the dictator of Egypt, is also a thug. He needs to be removed from office and quickly if the democratic movement in Egypt is going to avoid further violence.
Anderson Cooper of CNN noted that with the anti-Mubarak protestors, the demonstrations were peaceful. When the pro-Mubarak people (or thugs and goon squads) showed up today, the violence began. It also included pro-Mubarak groups harassing and threatening western mediapeople, including Cooper and his crew which were attacked and hit.
It has always been hoped that a country in the Middle East would become the model for democracy. Before it's too late, before protestors are radicalized by the violence, this is the opportunity for democracy. But Mubarak has to go. If President Obama can't move the dictator to leave, then he should at least stop the foreign aid funding and say that it will start again only when a democratic government is in place. We should use whatever leverage we have to be on the side of freedom and rights.
In the meantime, the protestors for democracy and human rights need to avoid being slaughtered, like the scenes from Tiananmen Square in China. I can't imagine that Mubarak will ever be able to safely show his face in public again after playing the violence card in order to hold on as a tyrant. As all dictators, he's quite delusional that he has "served" his country in preventing freedom and rights, in censoring the media, in ruling with an iron fist. After this, if he continues to control the country when he really should be going to trial, he will be known as a thug. He was known as that before, by many of the Egyptian people. But now the world will know. That's a sorry legacy, but probably typical for autocrats.
Anderson Cooper of CNN noted that with the anti-Mubarak protestors, the demonstrations were peaceful. When the pro-Mubarak people (or thugs and goon squads) showed up today, the violence began. It also included pro-Mubarak groups harassing and threatening western mediapeople, including Cooper and his crew which were attacked and hit.
It has always been hoped that a country in the Middle East would become the model for democracy. Before it's too late, before protestors are radicalized by the violence, this is the opportunity for democracy. But Mubarak has to go. If President Obama can't move the dictator to leave, then he should at least stop the foreign aid funding and say that it will start again only when a democratic government is in place. We should use whatever leverage we have to be on the side of freedom and rights.
In the meantime, the protestors for democracy and human rights need to avoid being slaughtered, like the scenes from Tiananmen Square in China. I can't imagine that Mubarak will ever be able to safely show his face in public again after playing the violence card in order to hold on as a tyrant. As all dictators, he's quite delusional that he has "served" his country in preventing freedom and rights, in censoring the media, in ruling with an iron fist. After this, if he continues to control the country when he really should be going to trial, he will be known as a thug. He was known as that before, by many of the Egyptian people. But now the world will know. That's a sorry legacy, but probably typical for autocrats.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Let the dominoes continue to fall...
It has been interesting and exciting to see the spread of protests for democracy and human rights in Middle East countries. First with the revolt in Tunisia that sent the dictator fleeing to Saudi Arabia, the scatter of incidents of protest throughout the dictator-controlled countries of North Africa and the Middle East, and now with the mass demonstrations in Egypt.
My thoughts pretty much can be summed up in the sentence, "Good riddance to all dictators."
It also could be said that it is never wise for American leaders to hold hands with world dictators.
It is also interesting for dictators to realize that they can't control people or media technology forever. Technology can give an edge or at least even the playing field, as Martin Luther must have realized when he used the fairly-new technology from the mid-1400s called the printing press to get his message out and to rally support for what would become the Reformation of the early 1500s. In Tunisia, WikiLeaks provided information about governmental corruption and brutality and then cell phones and the Internet including Facebook and Twitter allowed people to communicate, network, and organize a resistance. The same technology and process can be used time and time again against the choke-hold of dictators and to free the masses.
Beyond that, it has been interesting to see many of the places in Cairo where I visited in 2002. Even then, I wondered why the millions of poor people there as well as the educated and intellectuals who were afraid to speak freely didn't throw Mubarak out. Mubarak lasted longer than I thought. He lasted way too long, as being iron-fistedly in control for 30 years.
Some Americans may look at leaders like Mubarak and others as being moderate and ones we can work with, so that apparently means it is okay for them to abuse their people. I don't think that way. I see nothing good about the rule of dictators. They are still dictators. They still use the authority and power of the state against others, often unfairly, often unjustly.
The pyschology of being a dictator must be an interesting study. Mubarak and others must actually think that they are doing the good of the people in holding their nations together, keeping them from slipping into chaos, keeping them out of the hands of religious zealots. Certainly, chaos and anarchy would be bad. Somalia is an example of that. Certainly, theocracies are bad where religious law rules over political law. Iran is an example of that. But why would an autocrat, a dictator who has jailed people for conducting sociology surveys or for speaking their minds, think that the people would love them? The people, who have to live under them, hate dictators. Mubarak and maybe even U.S. President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton, seemingly slow to embrace a people's movement when it also means dislodging a leader ally, don't seem to get it that the people, after 30 years of torment, don't want Mubarak's conciliations now or any part of his ideas for suddenly moving into more democratic governing. They want him out of there. The right side of history is with the demonstrators and those who support democracy. Mubarak will be fortunate if he leaves before they put him on trial. But for now, Mubarak must be living in some great delusional myth that he, as a dictator, was the best thing for his nation.
As the flood tactics in Tiananmen Square in China worked only until the Communist leaders brutally ordered military force and civilian murder, the flood tactics in Tunisia and Egypt, so far not becoming the target of violence from the military, are working.
Let the dominoes continue to fall.
My thoughts pretty much can be summed up in the sentence, "Good riddance to all dictators."
It also could be said that it is never wise for American leaders to hold hands with world dictators.
It is also interesting for dictators to realize that they can't control people or media technology forever. Technology can give an edge or at least even the playing field, as Martin Luther must have realized when he used the fairly-new technology from the mid-1400s called the printing press to get his message out and to rally support for what would become the Reformation of the early 1500s. In Tunisia, WikiLeaks provided information about governmental corruption and brutality and then cell phones and the Internet including Facebook and Twitter allowed people to communicate, network, and organize a resistance. The same technology and process can be used time and time again against the choke-hold of dictators and to free the masses.
Beyond that, it has been interesting to see many of the places in Cairo where I visited in 2002. Even then, I wondered why the millions of poor people there as well as the educated and intellectuals who were afraid to speak freely didn't throw Mubarak out. Mubarak lasted longer than I thought. He lasted way too long, as being iron-fistedly in control for 30 years.
Some Americans may look at leaders like Mubarak and others as being moderate and ones we can work with, so that apparently means it is okay for them to abuse their people. I don't think that way. I see nothing good about the rule of dictators. They are still dictators. They still use the authority and power of the state against others, often unfairly, often unjustly.
The pyschology of being a dictator must be an interesting study. Mubarak and others must actually think that they are doing the good of the people in holding their nations together, keeping them from slipping into chaos, keeping them out of the hands of religious zealots. Certainly, chaos and anarchy would be bad. Somalia is an example of that. Certainly, theocracies are bad where religious law rules over political law. Iran is an example of that. But why would an autocrat, a dictator who has jailed people for conducting sociology surveys or for speaking their minds, think that the people would love them? The people, who have to live under them, hate dictators. Mubarak and maybe even U.S. President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton, seemingly slow to embrace a people's movement when it also means dislodging a leader ally, don't seem to get it that the people, after 30 years of torment, don't want Mubarak's conciliations now or any part of his ideas for suddenly moving into more democratic governing. They want him out of there. The right side of history is with the demonstrators and those who support democracy. Mubarak will be fortunate if he leaves before they put him on trial. But for now, Mubarak must be living in some great delusional myth that he, as a dictator, was the best thing for his nation.
As the flood tactics in Tiananmen Square in China worked only until the Communist leaders brutally ordered military force and civilian murder, the flood tactics in Tunisia and Egypt, so far not becoming the target of violence from the military, are working.
Let the dominoes continue to fall.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
News at 10...
This just in...
There's an old theatrical saying about "break a leg," which is supposed to be a statement of good luck. But if you see any actors who actually have real broken legs, then they were probably in the Broadway play "Spiderman."
The art and conspiracy theory world was abuzz recently over the possible mystery of tiny letters painted in the eyes of "Mona Lisa." That's nothing. There is also a profane word in her nostril. Michelangelo was mad that day, after having gotten a bill for paint spilled on the Sistine Chapel's floor.
In a related Michelangelo story, scholars and nudists have determined that the guy who modeled for the "Statue of David" obviously had to pose in a very, very cold art studio.
The monthly weep index indicates that Speaker of the House John Boehner has only cried in public five times so far this month.
Facebook apparently doesn't have enough personal data about its millions of users. New profiles will include the question: Has anyone ever called you a "mammal"?
Chinese leader Hu visited the White House this week. Who? Hu. That's what I'm asking...Who? Hu. It is Hu. That's what I'm asking. Who is it? Hu. Who is what I and Abbott and Costello are asking?!!!!
Speaking of oppressive governments, dictators everywhere are complaining about WikiLeaks, Twitter, and YouTube. Said the former iron-fisted dictator of Tunisia who fled to Saudi Arabia, "Information sucks!"
Sarah Palin was back in the media spotlight, with homemade videos, making badly conceived and ignorant historical and word references. This time, it was for "Jim Crow," "dogma," and "fairy floss." Said a Palin spokesperson, "Sarah was referring to an Alaskan neighbor named Jim. She knows that there are papa dogs, too. And, of course, she knows that fairy floss refers to cotton candy. She has eaten cotton candy. She likes cotton candy."
Some guys love their guns so much that the NRA is now proposing guns with wider barrels. Well, at least a little bit wider. For the guys who not only love their guns but also want to have sex with them. !!!!
A woman who was texting and not looking where she was going fell into a water fountain at a mall. While under the water, she quickly wrote to a friend, "I M wet. 2 much H2O!"
One day last week, no students had to be told to put away their cell phones and text messaging devices. One more miracle and a Mass Communication professor may qualify for sainthood.
Joe Lieberman, Independent senator from Connecticut, announced he wouldn't run for re-election. But he would be willing to accept the vice presidential position if Senator John McCain or former Vice President Al Gore ever run for president again.
The editor of the Sage Street blog has come to the conclusion that gun laws should be stricter and that no crazy person should be able to get a gun. And for those people who think crazy people should have the right to guns or who believe in the ridiculousness of lenient gun laws, then those people are crazy, too, and they shouldn't have guns either.
Researchers say they will be able to clone a wooly mammoth in six years. In six years and one month, a wooly mammoth will be displayed in a Las Vegas casino. Tickets are now on sale.
Don't miss this week's episode of the TV show "Stars Chasing Squirrels." There is an amazing moment when radio commentator Rush Limbaugh climbs up three branches.
Three items, when mixed, that cause heartburn, irritation, and stupidity: Tea, baloney, and Rush Limburger cheese.
There's an old theatrical saying about "break a leg," which is supposed to be a statement of good luck. But if you see any actors who actually have real broken legs, then they were probably in the Broadway play "Spiderman."
The art and conspiracy theory world was abuzz recently over the possible mystery of tiny letters painted in the eyes of "Mona Lisa." That's nothing. There is also a profane word in her nostril. Michelangelo was mad that day, after having gotten a bill for paint spilled on the Sistine Chapel's floor.
In a related Michelangelo story, scholars and nudists have determined that the guy who modeled for the "Statue of David" obviously had to pose in a very, very cold art studio.
The monthly weep index indicates that Speaker of the House John Boehner has only cried in public five times so far this month.
Facebook apparently doesn't have enough personal data about its millions of users. New profiles will include the question: Has anyone ever called you a "mammal"?
Chinese leader Hu visited the White House this week. Who? Hu. That's what I'm asking...Who? Hu. It is Hu. That's what I'm asking. Who is it? Hu. Who is what I and Abbott and Costello are asking?!!!!
Speaking of oppressive governments, dictators everywhere are complaining about WikiLeaks, Twitter, and YouTube. Said the former iron-fisted dictator of Tunisia who fled to Saudi Arabia, "Information sucks!"
Sarah Palin was back in the media spotlight, with homemade videos, making badly conceived and ignorant historical and word references. This time, it was for "Jim Crow," "dogma," and "fairy floss." Said a Palin spokesperson, "Sarah was referring to an Alaskan neighbor named Jim. She knows that there are papa dogs, too. And, of course, she knows that fairy floss refers to cotton candy. She has eaten cotton candy. She likes cotton candy."
Some guys love their guns so much that the NRA is now proposing guns with wider barrels. Well, at least a little bit wider. For the guys who not only love their guns but also want to have sex with them. !!!!
A woman who was texting and not looking where she was going fell into a water fountain at a mall. While under the water, she quickly wrote to a friend, "I M wet. 2 much H2O!"
One day last week, no students had to be told to put away their cell phones and text messaging devices. One more miracle and a Mass Communication professor may qualify for sainthood.
Joe Lieberman, Independent senator from Connecticut, announced he wouldn't run for re-election. But he would be willing to accept the vice presidential position if Senator John McCain or former Vice President Al Gore ever run for president again.
The editor of the Sage Street blog has come to the conclusion that gun laws should be stricter and that no crazy person should be able to get a gun. And for those people who think crazy people should have the right to guns or who believe in the ridiculousness of lenient gun laws, then those people are crazy, too, and they shouldn't have guns either.
Researchers say they will be able to clone a wooly mammoth in six years. In six years and one month, a wooly mammoth will be displayed in a Las Vegas casino. Tickets are now on sale.
Don't miss this week's episode of the TV show "Stars Chasing Squirrels." There is an amazing moment when radio commentator Rush Limbaugh climbs up three branches.
Three items, when mixed, that cause heartburn, irritation, and stupidity: Tea, baloney, and Rush Limburger cheese.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Thoughts about the Tucson tragedy...
It has been a week now since the terrible shootings in Tucson, Arizona, when a single shooter killed six people, including a 9-year-old girl, and wounded 14 others, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Here are a few observations...
One of the quotes about the young girl named Christina Taylor Green, who was starting to show an interest in politics and public service, from President Barack Obama's speech on Jan. 12 at a memorial service in Tucson following the tragedy: "We should do everything we can to make sure that this country lives up to the expectations of our children."
Sarah Palin provided a defensive and idiotic (again) moment when she talked about "blood libel" after being chastised for having a "crosshairs" map on her website, which included a "targeting" of Gabrielle Giffords' district in the past election. When Giffords had earlier criticized the "crosshairs" map, Palin flippantly shrugged it off and continued to speak in gun language as though she thought it was cute. After the tragedy, Palin's website removed the map. While Palin isn't to blame for the actual shooting, her map could have influenced crazy people with guns and it does point to Palin's lack of good sense, wisdom, and intelligence. She didn't have the vision to see that the vitriol of her map and rhetoric could be detrimental to American society and might come back to haunt her. I think that says a lot about the unworthiness of her leadership qualities.
The thinking of some gun owners is quite ridiculous. Some gun owners say that if other people, also with concealed guns, had been there, they could have shot the shooter before he fired 30 bullets in just seconds. Well, there was a man with a concealed gun who came out of the Safeway Store near the time of the shooting and he ran to the scene, but thought that one of the heroes who taken the shooter down was the culprit. He said that if he'd used his gun immediately, he might have shot the wrong person. !!!!
Americans shouldn't have to carry around a gun in order to be safe in this country. That would turn a good country into a chaotic one like Somalia or other Third World countries where every person is armed. Who wants to live like that or in a place like that?!
There is definitely a need for stricter gun laws. The Assault Weapons Ban should never have been allowed to expire by Congress. Yes, I know. Outlawing guns won't work as there are too many around and it is a right for good citizens to possess a gun. But if stricter laws and more procedural steps keep even one more tragedy from happening, then it is worth it and Americans should get reasonable and be glad that guns and violence are better controlled and reduced.
It has been interesting to see the Tucson locations in the recent news coverage. I went to the University of Arizona as a college student. I worked in the late evenings, sometimes from about 9 p.m. to midnight, in the library and copy center at the University of Arizona Medical Center, where Congresswoman Giffords was taken and has been receiving care. One time, for about 30 minutes, I got stranded in the library's elevator when it misfunctioned and stopped. I think I finally had to use an emergency phone in the elevator box to call for help. The only other student at the library's front desk wondered where I'd been after the elevator finally came back into service. Another time, in walking to my apartment several blocks away late one colder desert night from the Medical Center, I experienced a somewhat unnerving incident that people don't think about happening in a city. I was walking home--everyone else in homes along the streets were, of course, sleeping, for the most part--when this pack of loose dogs started following me. One of dogs even started to nip at my gloves. Eventually, the dogs went running away. But it was a bit unnerving. No, I didn't need a gun. But the presence of a loud whistle or a can of pepper spray might have made me feel a little better. Another time I was walking down a street and a little old lady called out to me for assistance. She was near her front door. She was very elderly and frail and she had stepped into a flowerbed and couldn't, without some support, lift her feet only about an inch to get back onto the sidewalk and back into her house. I helped her mainly by just holding onto her hand to steady her as she managed to gain her footing onto the sidewalk. It took a while, but neither of us were in a hurry. I will always remember the squeeze of her hand. Despite her obvious declining health, I could feel her spirit and life in that grasp. For the most part, I enjoyed being a college student in Tucson. I traveled all over town, feeling perfectly safe, in the bus system. It was a nice city and university. The people were nice as well.
I also remember visiting the McKale Center, where the recent memorial was held, when it first opened and on occasions. It was a big arena, mainly for sports though sometimes the class registration process, going from academic discipline table to table for classes, would also take place there, at the University of Arizona.
One of the quotes about the young girl named Christina Taylor Green, who was starting to show an interest in politics and public service, from President Barack Obama's speech on Jan. 12 at a memorial service in Tucson following the tragedy: "We should do everything we can to make sure that this country lives up to the expectations of our children."
Sarah Palin provided a defensive and idiotic (again) moment when she talked about "blood libel" after being chastised for having a "crosshairs" map on her website, which included a "targeting" of Gabrielle Giffords' district in the past election. When Giffords had earlier criticized the "crosshairs" map, Palin flippantly shrugged it off and continued to speak in gun language as though she thought it was cute. After the tragedy, Palin's website removed the map. While Palin isn't to blame for the actual shooting, her map could have influenced crazy people with guns and it does point to Palin's lack of good sense, wisdom, and intelligence. She didn't have the vision to see that the vitriol of her map and rhetoric could be detrimental to American society and might come back to haunt her. I think that says a lot about the unworthiness of her leadership qualities.
The thinking of some gun owners is quite ridiculous. Some gun owners say that if other people, also with concealed guns, had been there, they could have shot the shooter before he fired 30 bullets in just seconds. Well, there was a man with a concealed gun who came out of the Safeway Store near the time of the shooting and he ran to the scene, but thought that one of the heroes who taken the shooter down was the culprit. He said that if he'd used his gun immediately, he might have shot the wrong person. !!!!
Americans shouldn't have to carry around a gun in order to be safe in this country. That would turn a good country into a chaotic one like Somalia or other Third World countries where every person is armed. Who wants to live like that or in a place like that?!
There is definitely a need for stricter gun laws. The Assault Weapons Ban should never have been allowed to expire by Congress. Yes, I know. Outlawing guns won't work as there are too many around and it is a right for good citizens to possess a gun. But if stricter laws and more procedural steps keep even one more tragedy from happening, then it is worth it and Americans should get reasonable and be glad that guns and violence are better controlled and reduced.
It has been interesting to see the Tucson locations in the recent news coverage. I went to the University of Arizona as a college student. I worked in the late evenings, sometimes from about 9 p.m. to midnight, in the library and copy center at the University of Arizona Medical Center, where Congresswoman Giffords was taken and has been receiving care. One time, for about 30 minutes, I got stranded in the library's elevator when it misfunctioned and stopped. I think I finally had to use an emergency phone in the elevator box to call for help. The only other student at the library's front desk wondered where I'd been after the elevator finally came back into service. Another time, in walking to my apartment several blocks away late one colder desert night from the Medical Center, I experienced a somewhat unnerving incident that people don't think about happening in a city. I was walking home--everyone else in homes along the streets were, of course, sleeping, for the most part--when this pack of loose dogs started following me. One of dogs even started to nip at my gloves. Eventually, the dogs went running away. But it was a bit unnerving. No, I didn't need a gun. But the presence of a loud whistle or a can of pepper spray might have made me feel a little better. Another time I was walking down a street and a little old lady called out to me for assistance. She was near her front door. She was very elderly and frail and she had stepped into a flowerbed and couldn't, without some support, lift her feet only about an inch to get back onto the sidewalk and back into her house. I helped her mainly by just holding onto her hand to steady her as she managed to gain her footing onto the sidewalk. It took a while, but neither of us were in a hurry. I will always remember the squeeze of her hand. Despite her obvious declining health, I could feel her spirit and life in that grasp. For the most part, I enjoyed being a college student in Tucson. I traveled all over town, feeling perfectly safe, in the bus system. It was a nice city and university. The people were nice as well.
I also remember visiting the McKale Center, where the recent memorial was held, when it first opened and on occasions. It was a big arena, mainly for sports though sometimes the class registration process, going from academic discipline table to table for classes, would also take place there, at the University of Arizona.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Observations, as 2011 begins...
Here are some observations for the new year, also based on the previous year...
The "R" in Republican stands for "rich."
I would have to be insane to vote for a Republican or a Tea Party candidate. Definitely, voting for them is out of the question. If I ever indicate I will, please grab a net and a taser and then get me some mental health assistance quickly.
My biggest problem this year may be trying to find some progressive candidate to support and ultimately vote for. I am not interested in voting for a centrist Democrat just to avoid the alternative of a more conservative candidate. I have done that before, and then never liked the results.
It is not surprising to me that the American economy is down. I went to Wal-Mart recently to purchase a baby gift and could find only one item in all of the large section of the baby items that was made in America. If the country doesn't make anything, then how will it be anything but an importing consumer? It's like Facebook is the new American model of business. Maybe even better as a model is Farmville. For both, people send time and time and more time creating a scrapbook profile or purchasing a fake cow and never produce anything real and substantial that anyone else would want.
If social networking ever becomes financially rewarding, some people will make millions....Well, I guess Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg already has. But not so much for Facebook users yet. Maybe the way to make it work involves advertising. If some company that sells cheese pays a Facebook user to, for example, use the word "cheeseball" in order to entice readers into going out and buying cheeseballs, then you could start seeing notes that read: "Hey cheeseball, I cheeseball am cheeseball so cheeseball ready cheeseball for a cheeseball weekend." Hmmm. I think I have hit upon a new viral, guerrilla advertising approach.
Moment of supreme disappointment: Learning that someone has died and left you their farm. Only to find out that it is their farm on Farmville.
I have already been exercising this new year with two marathons. The Three Stooges marathon was on AMC and the "Twilight Zone" marathon was on the Syfy channel.
The bumps, falls, and mishaps of life would be a lot easier to take if they were accompanied by those Three Stooges-type sound effects.
It is a blessing if your sense of humor is greater than your sense of smell.
The unofficial person of the year 2010 could be Pat Down, the ubiquitous airport security person.
The "R" in Republican stands for "rich."
I would have to be insane to vote for a Republican or a Tea Party candidate. Definitely, voting for them is out of the question. If I ever indicate I will, please grab a net and a taser and then get me some mental health assistance quickly.
My biggest problem this year may be trying to find some progressive candidate to support and ultimately vote for. I am not interested in voting for a centrist Democrat just to avoid the alternative of a more conservative candidate. I have done that before, and then never liked the results.
It is not surprising to me that the American economy is down. I went to Wal-Mart recently to purchase a baby gift and could find only one item in all of the large section of the baby items that was made in America. If the country doesn't make anything, then how will it be anything but an importing consumer? It's like Facebook is the new American model of business. Maybe even better as a model is Farmville. For both, people send time and time and more time creating a scrapbook profile or purchasing a fake cow and never produce anything real and substantial that anyone else would want.
If social networking ever becomes financially rewarding, some people will make millions....Well, I guess Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg already has. But not so much for Facebook users yet. Maybe the way to make it work involves advertising. If some company that sells cheese pays a Facebook user to, for example, use the word "cheeseball" in order to entice readers into going out and buying cheeseballs, then you could start seeing notes that read: "Hey cheeseball, I cheeseball am cheeseball so cheeseball ready cheeseball for a cheeseball weekend." Hmmm. I think I have hit upon a new viral, guerrilla advertising approach.
Moment of supreme disappointment: Learning that someone has died and left you their farm. Only to find out that it is their farm on Farmville.
I have already been exercising this new year with two marathons. The Three Stooges marathon was on AMC and the "Twilight Zone" marathon was on the Syfy channel.
The bumps, falls, and mishaps of life would be a lot easier to take if they were accompanied by those Three Stooges-type sound effects.
It is a blessing if your sense of humor is greater than your sense of smell.
The unofficial person of the year 2010 could be Pat Down, the ubiquitous airport security person.
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