A brief but intense rain fell just now, while I was looking up "seam ripper" and "was it hacked" on Google. It pelted against the sides of the lookout for a few minutes, then stopped. Glad it didn't start until I had climbed up here -- it takes forever for my jacket to dry out if I hang it up wet in this tiny space.
Did you ever get the feeling that you were living in a work of fiction? That absurdly unlikely (or just absurd) things have happened that seem out of place anywhere but a cheap novel?
It gets particularly disturbing when the world seems to be acting out a work of fiction based on "real-world" events. For instance, the travails of the Uribe administration in Colombia seem like a roman a clef of Bill Clinton's Presidency, with everything exaggerated: instead of a slightly left of center Democrat, the President is a borderline socialist. Instead of a trumped-up impeachment, he faces a coup attempt.
Another interesting example: the Ukrainian election, where blatant election fraud has resulted in angry charges and counter-charges, ineffectual attempts by elder statesmen to calm things down, the Supreme Court stepping in and sinking to its navel in the muck, threats of secession by the regions most displeased by the whole mess . . . .
But Ukraine is a real country, and so is the USA. And there really were two elections, and there are two controversies. Really and truly.
If you type "was it hacked" (including quotation marks) into Google, you will get links to several interesting items. The first link, to an article published earlier this month in the Orlando Weekly, is particularly good: informative, well-researched and only just as shrill as the occasion demands.
So, was the election hacked? I don't know. Nobody knows, unless it would be the hypothetical traitors themselves. Wouldn't it be good to find out?
Monday, November 29, 2004
Sunday, November 28, 2004
Bikin' to Work
End of November, it's getting to be a chilly trip up here to the lookout tower on the roof. I'm starting to wish I'd set up a circuit that would allow me to turn on the heater up here before I make the long climb up the ladder. Boy, my fingers woulfd probably still be too stiff with cold to type, if the lookout tower weren't imaginary.
At present, much though I might wish it were otherwise, the majority of my income comes from my CNA license, rather than my LMT. Currently, I'm affiliated with a home-health agency, going to people who need a little assistance with this or with that: cooking, dressing changes, emptying catheter bags, whatever their particular needs require.
I prefer night shifts over days, and I prefer long shifts over innumerable short ones (there was a time when I was feeling exhausted, and suddenly realized that, where a normal person goes to work five times a week, I was going sixteen times a week -- itwas the act of going to work that was doing me in). But perhaps even more than these, I prefer bicycling to work.
It feels good to stretch these legs, get some chilly open air into my face and up my nose, get a glimpse of what the world looks like at odd hours. Once I've washed away the sweat and changed into my respectable caregiving clothes, I feel like a king. A king with a full treasury and a clean conscience. I feel great.
The smile alone can't help but be good for the clients.
At present, much though I might wish it were otherwise, the majority of my income comes from my CNA license, rather than my LMT. Currently, I'm affiliated with a home-health agency, going to people who need a little assistance with this or with that: cooking, dressing changes, emptying catheter bags, whatever their particular needs require.
I prefer night shifts over days, and I prefer long shifts over innumerable short ones (there was a time when I was feeling exhausted, and suddenly realized that, where a normal person goes to work five times a week, I was going sixteen times a week -- itwas the act of going to work that was doing me in). But perhaps even more than these, I prefer bicycling to work.
It feels good to stretch these legs, get some chilly open air into my face and up my nose, get a glimpse of what the world looks like at odd hours. Once I've washed away the sweat and changed into my respectable caregiving clothes, I feel like a king. A king with a full treasury and a clean conscience. I feel great.
The smile alone can't help but be good for the clients.
Thursday, November 25, 2004
Thanksgiving Memories
Well, I came up to the lookout to write a Thanksgiving message on my blog before dinner, but by the time I got up here, I'd forgotten what I was going to say. So, I wrote something else.
Kathe and I sat down to eat together, just the two of us. It's the first Thanksgiving in my memory where I sat at a table with just one other person (Tesfaye was in Portland with some Ethiopian relatives, Waldy was up in his room fast asleep). Way better than sitting alone, though.
I finally remembered the story I wanted to tell, and wrote on my palm, "TURKEY PIZZA". And here's why:
Many years ago, before I met her, Kathe made a pizza Thanksgiving feast, with three kinds of pizza including one with turkey meat.
Years later, one of the guests (who had been living with the family at the time) told Kathe that he had thought she had served pizza instead of a traidtional Thanksgiving meal because she didn't like him.
Kathe was astounded. Had he really thought she would base a holiday meal for her family on the hope that it would offend one of her housemates? That she would put her own family through all that for the chance to be rude to one guest? That she would go out of her way to cook ANYTHING for someone she actively disliked? Apparently he had. Wow.
This all comes to mind on account of Midge Decter's speech at Hillsdale College's "Marriage and the Family" seminar, as reprinted in the November issue of Hillsdale's magazine _Imprimis_, in which she asserted that all the (voluntary) sweat, (inevitable) tears and (thanks to certain elements of society) blood which gay men and lesbians had expended for the sake of the right to marry were all the result of a passionate desire to stick it to the straight people and make them squirm.
Wow.
Kathe and I sat down to eat together, just the two of us. It's the first Thanksgiving in my memory where I sat at a table with just one other person (Tesfaye was in Portland with some Ethiopian relatives, Waldy was up in his room fast asleep). Way better than sitting alone, though.
I finally remembered the story I wanted to tell, and wrote on my palm, "TURKEY PIZZA". And here's why:
Many years ago, before I met her, Kathe made a pizza Thanksgiving feast, with three kinds of pizza including one with turkey meat.
Years later, one of the guests (who had been living with the family at the time) told Kathe that he had thought she had served pizza instead of a traidtional Thanksgiving meal because she didn't like him.
Kathe was astounded. Had he really thought she would base a holiday meal for her family on the hope that it would offend one of her housemates? That she would put her own family through all that for the chance to be rude to one guest? That she would go out of her way to cook ANYTHING for someone she actively disliked? Apparently he had. Wow.
This all comes to mind on account of Midge Decter's speech at Hillsdale College's "Marriage and the Family" seminar, as reprinted in the November issue of Hillsdale's magazine _Imprimis_, in which she asserted that all the (voluntary) sweat, (inevitable) tears and (thanks to certain elements of society) blood which gay men and lesbians had expended for the sake of the right to marry were all the result of a passionate desire to stick it to the straight people and make them squirm.
Wow.
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
Ukrainian Reign Has Plainly Gone Insane
Oops. Somebody noticed that teensy little provision in the 1,600-page appropriations bill, the one that would give (Republican) committee chairs authority to read the tax returns of any (Democrat) person, without oversight or limit:
http://chud.com/forums/showthread.php?t=73972
I would have sworn that the Senate Republican caucus stepping on its hubristic dick in this fashion would be the most hilarious news story of the week, but then there was that election in Ukraine.
The second-place candidate is crying electoral fraud (apparently with some reason), and George W. Bush (repeat, George Walker Bush, recently declared the winner of a second "interesting" U.S. Presidential election) is calling for a recount and an investigation.
George W. Bush.
Isn't he even a little afraid that there might be a Hell?
http://chud.com/forums/showthread.php?t=73972
I would have sworn that the Senate Republican caucus stepping on its hubristic dick in this fashion would be the most hilarious news story of the week, but then there was that election in Ukraine.
The second-place candidate is crying electoral fraud (apparently with some reason), and George W. Bush (repeat, George Walker Bush, recently declared the winner of a second "interesting" U.S. Presidential election) is calling for a recount and an investigation.
George W. Bush.
Isn't he even a little afraid that there might be a Hell?
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
Xmas Wreaths
First thing I did today was to go over to the offices of the home health-care service that I work for as a nurse's aide to supplement my massage income. I rubbed the backs of the office staff and schmoozed, and came away with a few more hours.
My anatomy class had a midterm today -- I think I did all right, though I confess that those various electrolytes are still giving me trouble.
Back at home, I went out with Kathe and delivered wreaths. Lots of wreaths. The Willamette Valley Community School (the headline of this post is a link) made a bunch of money off wreath sales, just like last year. A disturbing sign, though, is how many people who'd bought three or four wreaths last year bought just one. I fear the economy is not warming up as promised.
I'm trying to lose weight at present, and hadn't had much to eat all day. By the time we got home after allthat wreathing, my blood sugar must have been in a deplorable state. I know I was in a deplorable mood. But, a little barley and turkey soup and some bread and I was ready to face a massage appointment.
It was my only appointment of the day -- which of course is why I have to do CNA work, also, and why I'm trying to get into nursing school.
So it was that I didn't manage to haul myself up here to the lookout until after 11PM, even though I'd really wanted to do some computer stuff earlier.
A long day, and a little bit trying, but I'll live. I'm tough. :-)
My anatomy class had a midterm today -- I think I did all right, though I confess that those various electrolytes are still giving me trouble.
Back at home, I went out with Kathe and delivered wreaths. Lots of wreaths. The Willamette Valley Community School (the headline of this post is a link) made a bunch of money off wreath sales, just like last year. A disturbing sign, though, is how many people who'd bought three or four wreaths last year bought just one. I fear the economy is not warming up as promised.
I'm trying to lose weight at present, and hadn't had much to eat all day. By the time we got home after allthat wreathing, my blood sugar must have been in a deplorable state. I know I was in a deplorable mood. But, a little barley and turkey soup and some bread and I was ready to face a massage appointment.
It was my only appointment of the day -- which of course is why I have to do CNA work, also, and why I'm trying to get into nursing school.
So it was that I didn't manage to haul myself up here to the lookout until after 11PM, even though I'd really wanted to do some computer stuff earlier.
A long day, and a little bit trying, but I'll live. I'm tough. :-)
Sunday, November 21, 2004
Big Rubber Bands
Yellow ones, pink ones, they seem to be the hot item these days.
I just signed up to wear a blue one:
http://www.neversurrender.org
I'm still tired, mind, but I'm used to working while tired.
I just signed up to wear a blue one:
http://www.neversurrender.org
I'm still tired, mind, but I'm used to working while tired.
Saturday, November 20, 2004
Hanging Clicks in Ohio
When I heard that there was evidence of substantial vote fraud in Ohio, I didn't feel outraged. Or hopeful. Or eager to know more.
I felt tired.
I felt tired.
Friday, November 19, 2004
It's All About the Oil
I sit at my computer in the imaginary lookout tower that rises from the roof of our house, the gray November morning rolling on around and below me, a small ceramic electric heater purring at my feet, and conclude that it's all about the oil.
Number two stove oil, that is.
Our antiquated oil stove has heated the house for many years. It handles the living room, downstairs sleeping area and kitchen where we spend most of our time. The upstairs bedrooms and the massage studio require ruinously expensive electric heaters. We hope to be able to replace all of this with proper central heating eventually, but for now we depend very much on the oil stove.
A few years ago, our oil supplier stopped carrying #2 oil. The closest substitute was diesel fuel (close enough that stove oil is dyed red to discourage people from using it as fuel to evade the road tax), but we soon found that in our stove diesel produced a lot of soot and clinker in our stove. Finally, we found a gas station in Albany which dispensed stove oil from a gas pump, but alas, they don't delivery to Corvallis.
So, every time I'm in Albany now (usually three times a week), I stop by that station and fill up our two five-gallon cans, and dump them in the oil tank when I get home. It's a hassle, and messy, and let's not forget tedious (I begin to understand why hauling water is the bane of a peasant's existence), but it keeps the stove lit.
And the bright red oil does look rather pretty as it pours into the tank in the dim light of an overcast winter afternoon.
Number two stove oil, that is.
Our antiquated oil stove has heated the house for many years. It handles the living room, downstairs sleeping area and kitchen where we spend most of our time. The upstairs bedrooms and the massage studio require ruinously expensive electric heaters. We hope to be able to replace all of this with proper central heating eventually, but for now we depend very much on the oil stove.
A few years ago, our oil supplier stopped carrying #2 oil. The closest substitute was diesel fuel (close enough that stove oil is dyed red to discourage people from using it as fuel to evade the road tax), but we soon found that in our stove diesel produced a lot of soot and clinker in our stove. Finally, we found a gas station in Albany which dispensed stove oil from a gas pump, but alas, they don't delivery to Corvallis.
So, every time I'm in Albany now (usually three times a week), I stop by that station and fill up our two five-gallon cans, and dump them in the oil tank when I get home. It's a hassle, and messy, and let's not forget tedious (I begin to understand why hauling water is the bane of a peasant's existence), but it keeps the stove lit.
And the bright red oil does look rather pretty as it pours into the tank in the dim light of an overcast winter afternoon.
Thursday, November 18, 2004
Welcome to My Upper Sanctum
The computer here at Blackberry House sits at the top of the stairs, with my massage studio to my left and Waldy's bedroom directly behind me as I write, but I've been thinking for awhile about moving my writing location elsewhere.
Dick Geis used to write in a space which was simultaneously his cluttered basement and his own mind (also cluttered, and inhabited by his alter ego, adisembodied extraterrestrial named Alter). Other people write from a cave, or the Inner Sactum, or a secret office hidden in the *real* top floor of the Empire State Building.
I've decided to move my writing operations to a lookout tower like the ones Kathe and her first husband used to live / work in for the Forest Service. So there's now, unseen by the populace and unknown to the city authorities, a five-storey tower rising from the roof of 960 SW Jefferson Avenue, with a commanding view on all four sides of the rooftops and treetops of little old Corvallis. There, surrounded by sunlight or gray overcast or starry skies or wind-lashed rain as the case may be, I will write, sending my words down and outward from there.
I like it up here.
Dick Geis used to write in a space which was simultaneously his cluttered basement and his own mind (also cluttered, and inhabited by his alter ego, adisembodied extraterrestrial named Alter). Other people write from a cave, or the Inner Sactum, or a secret office hidden in the *real* top floor of the Empire State Building.
I've decided to move my writing operations to a lookout tower like the ones Kathe and her first husband used to live / work in for the Forest Service. So there's now, unseen by the populace and unknown to the city authorities, a five-storey tower rising from the roof of 960 SW Jefferson Avenue, with a commanding view on all four sides of the rooftops and treetops of little old Corvallis. There, surrounded by sunlight or gray overcast or starry skies or wind-lashed rain as the case may be, I will write, sending my words down and outward from there.
I like it up here.
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
Secretary of State
What does it matter that the title "Secretary of State" will soon be formally conveyed from Colin Powell to Condoleezza Rice?
Powell did what Bush told him to do, even though he knew it was wrong, for the sake of loyalty.
Rice will do whatever Bush tells her to do, and seems to have no concept of right and wrong, only of loyalty.
*shrug* The Americans who will be doing the dying won't care much what the Secretary of State says or doesn't say while carrying it out Bush's next blunder.
Powell did what Bush told him to do, even though he knew it was wrong, for the sake of loyalty.
Rice will do whatever Bush tells her to do, and seems to have no concept of right and wrong, only of loyalty.
*shrug* The Americans who will be doing the dying won't care much what the Secretary of State says or doesn't say while carrying it out Bush's next blunder.
Monday, November 15, 2004
Weight Loss
Call this whining if you will, but I feel justified in making this simple observation:
You can tweak diet and exercise, vitamins and drugs, all you like, but in the final analysis, the only way to lose weight is to eat less food than it takes to sustain life. A controlled form of starvation. And this is painful.
That's just how it is. It's unpleasant, especially if you have dicey blood sugar.
That's life.
You can tweak diet and exercise, vitamins and drugs, all you like, but in the final analysis, the only way to lose weight is to eat less food than it takes to sustain life. A controlled form of starvation. And this is painful.
That's just how it is. It's unpleasant, especially if you have dicey blood sugar.
That's life.
Sunday, November 14, 2004
A Tale of Two Brothers
Kathleen S. Burt, My Only Sunshine, sent me this e-mail today:
80% of all votes in America are counted by only two
companies: Diebold and ES&S.
There is no federal agency with regulatory authority or
oversight of the U.S. voting machine industry.
The vice-president of Diebold and the president of ES&S are brothers.
The chairman and CEO of Diebold is a major Bush campaign organizer
and donor who wrote in 2003 that he was "committed to helping Ohio
deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."
35% of ES&S is owned by Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, who
became Senator based on votes counted by ES&S machines.
Diebold's new touch screen voting machines have no paper
trail of any votes. In other words, there is no way to
verify that the data coming out of the machine is the same
as what was legitimately put in by voters.
Diebold also makes ATMs, checkout scanners, and ticket
machines, all of which log each transaction and can
generate a paper trail.
Diebold is based in Ohio and supplies almost all the voting
machines there.
None of the international election observers were allowed
in the polls in Ohio.
30% of all U.S. votes are carried out on unverifiable
touch screen voting machines.
Bush's Help America Vote Act of 2002 has as its goal to replace
all machines with the new electronic touch screen systems.
Republican Senator Chuck Hagel owns 35% of ES&S and was
caught lying about it.
ES&S is the largest voting machine manufacturer in the U.S.
and counts almost 60% of all U.S. votes.
Exit polls for the 2004 elections were accurate within 1%
or less in areas where ballot machines were used.
Major exit poll data discrepancies were noted in counties where
touch screen machines were used, especially in Ohio and Florida.
Source and details:
http://memes.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=3667&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
"The unexplained Exit Poll Discrepancy"
by Steven F. Freeman, Ph.D.,
University of Pennsylvania
November 10, 2004
http://www.ilcaonline.org/freeman.pdf
--
Two petitions for an investigation of the elections:
http://www.petitiononline.com/uselect/petition.htmlhttp://www.moveon.org/investigatethevote/
----
80% of all votes in America are counted by only two
companies: Diebold and ES&S.
There is no federal agency with regulatory authority or
oversight of the U.S. voting machine industry.
The vice-president of Diebold and the president of ES&S are brothers.
The chairman and CEO of Diebold is a major Bush campaign organizer
and donor who wrote in 2003 that he was "committed to helping Ohio
deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."
35% of ES&S is owned by Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, who
became Senator based on votes counted by ES&S machines.
Diebold's new touch screen voting machines have no paper
trail of any votes. In other words, there is no way to
verify that the data coming out of the machine is the same
as what was legitimately put in by voters.
Diebold also makes ATMs, checkout scanners, and ticket
machines, all of which log each transaction and can
generate a paper trail.
Diebold is based in Ohio and supplies almost all the voting
machines there.
None of the international election observers were allowed
in the polls in Ohio.
30% of all U.S. votes are carried out on unverifiable
touch screen voting machines.
Bush's Help America Vote Act of 2002 has as its goal to replace
all machines with the new electronic touch screen systems.
Republican Senator Chuck Hagel owns 35% of ES&S and was
caught lying about it.
ES&S is the largest voting machine manufacturer in the U.S.
and counts almost 60% of all U.S. votes.
Exit polls for the 2004 elections were accurate within 1%
or less in areas where ballot machines were used.
Major exit poll data discrepancies were noted in counties where
touch screen machines were used, especially in Ohio and Florida.
Source and details:
http://memes.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=3667&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
"The unexplained Exit Poll Discrepancy"
by Steven F. Freeman, Ph.D.,
University of Pennsylvania
November 10, 2004
http://www.ilcaonline.org/freeman.pdf
--
Two petitions for an investigation of the elections:
http://www.petitiononline.com/uselect/petition.htmlhttp://www.moveon.org/investigatethevote/
----
Saturday, November 13, 2004
Alberto the Torturer
If you object to my referring to Alberto Gonzales as a "torturer", since he never applied the electrodes himself, I submit that "I was only giving orders" is not much of a defense.
Friday, November 12, 2004
Taking
In addition to everything else that happened on November 2nd, Oregon passed Measure 37, which requires the state, counties and towns to pay "compensation" to landowners if they can construe a government action as reducing the commercial or sale value of their estates.
Now communities are trying to develop procedures to carry out this law. I have one suggestion:
Let the checks be held by the secretary of the nearest elementary school, to be collected by the landowner in person.
Now communities are trying to develop procedures to carry out this law. I have one suggestion:
Let the checks be held by the secretary of the nearest elementary school, to be collected by the landowner in person.
Thursday, November 11, 2004
What a Rotten Day
Went to donate blood. Had to wait an awfully long time. By the time I got to the table, it was obvious I was going to be late to class, but I lay down anyway.
The phlebotomist sat talking with a donor who was already finished while I waited for her to hook me up. When she did, she fretted over finding a vein, finally picked one, jammed the needle in and couldn't get blood flowing, asked someone else to do it for her.
It still wasn't a very good stick, the blood flowed too slowly. After twenty minutes, she pulled the plug and threw my donation away, 100cc short of a full unit.
So, I got to class late, missing the last lecture before a major quiz, when the instructor tried to cram in all the stuff she hadn't gotten to yet.
Back at home, the big freezer revealed that it had died, and all the food was half-thawed.
We had a refrigerator in the shed that we hadn't gotten around to hooking up, because the space that would hold it had no outlet. Kathe and I got a new outlet installed in under an hour -- the highpoint of the day, and I didn't fail to appreciate it.
We got the food crammed into the little freezer in the new refrigerator, the little frezer in the kitchen refrigerator, and the little freezer in the apartment. Incredibly, it all fit.
Now we're waiting to find out if the freezer in the new fridge actually freezes.
On the other hand, some folks are in Fallujah right now . . . .
The phlebotomist sat talking with a donor who was already finished while I waited for her to hook me up. When she did, she fretted over finding a vein, finally picked one, jammed the needle in and couldn't get blood flowing, asked someone else to do it for her.
It still wasn't a very good stick, the blood flowed too slowly. After twenty minutes, she pulled the plug and threw my donation away, 100cc short of a full unit.
So, I got to class late, missing the last lecture before a major quiz, when the instructor tried to cram in all the stuff she hadn't gotten to yet.
Back at home, the big freezer revealed that it had died, and all the food was half-thawed.
We had a refrigerator in the shed that we hadn't gotten around to hooking up, because the space that would hold it had no outlet. Kathe and I got a new outlet installed in under an hour -- the highpoint of the day, and I didn't fail to appreciate it.
We got the food crammed into the little freezer in the new refrigerator, the little frezer in the kitchen refrigerator, and the little freezer in the apartment. Incredibly, it all fit.
Now we're waiting to find out if the freezer in the new fridge actually freezes.
On the other hand, some folks are in Fallujah right now . . . .
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Israelis and other Palestinians
I saw an article on a blog named Discarded Lies (I could only wish they would dsicard more lies), which compares Israeli occupation of neighboring Palestinian territories with the occupation and reconstruction of Germany after the Second World War.
The biggest problem I see with that analogy is that Israel has no interest in breaking the Palestinians down in order to build them up again as a successful democratic society as the Allies did to Germany. The Israelis want, let's face it, to break the Palestinians and keep them broken.
Not drive them out, not exterminate them. Just keep them nearby for a cheap labor force, while preventing them from ever developing a viable civil society, much less a sovereign nation.
The Second World War and the postwar reconstruction were conducted by leftists who held to liberal ideas of human rights and human dignity. Their goal was to overthrow fascism and build a successful democratic nation in Germany. They succeeded, in the greatest liberal victory since the Civil War.
There are two nation-states, and an incipient third one in the territory of Palestine. These nations will not know peace until they are all living by liberal principles.
The biggest problem I see with that analogy is that Israel has no interest in breaking the Palestinians down in order to build them up again as a successful democratic society as the Allies did to Germany. The Israelis want, let's face it, to break the Palestinians and keep them broken.
Not drive them out, not exterminate them. Just keep them nearby for a cheap labor force, while preventing them from ever developing a viable civil society, much less a sovereign nation.
The Second World War and the postwar reconstruction were conducted by leftists who held to liberal ideas of human rights and human dignity. Their goal was to overthrow fascism and build a successful democratic nation in Germany. They succeeded, in the greatest liberal victory since the Civil War.
There are two nation-states, and an incipient third one in the territory of Palestine. These nations will not know peace until they are all living by liberal principles.
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
Judicial Activism
President Bush came into office with a long list of people he wanted to appoint to Federal judgeships. That's not surprising, seeing as how Bill Clinton left office with so many seats vacant. Clinton had nominated 246 jurists, and 45 of them had been blocked by Congressional Republicans.
Bush is unhappy that ten of his 201 appointees have been rejected, and wants Democrats in Congress to stop what he calls an "unprecedented" level of opposition.
I do want everybody in Washington to learn how to get along, I really do. It seems to me that Democrats could have engaged in a partisan tit for tat, blocking Bush appointments wholesale the way the Republicans did to Clinton. Instead, they showed a dignified and manly restraint, while still following their consciences.
I hope that Democrats remain firm in holding the line against activist judges who have a radical social-engineering scheme they wish to ram down our throats.
Bush is unhappy that ten of his 201 appointees have been rejected, and wants Democrats in Congress to stop what he calls an "unprecedented" level of opposition.
I do want everybody in Washington to learn how to get along, I really do. It seems to me that Democrats could have engaged in a partisan tit for tat, blocking Bush appointments wholesale the way the Republicans did to Clinton. Instead, they showed a dignified and manly restraint, while still following their consciences.
I hope that Democrats remain firm in holding the line against activist judges who have a radical social-engineering scheme they wish to ram down our throats.
Monday, November 08, 2004
God and/or Satan
In a previous post, I mentioned Satan at work in the world. I'd like to clarify that statement.
Satan is an embodiment of the perverse human desire for self-deception and ultimately self-destruction. This remains true regardless of whether such an entity exists or does not.
And after all, there is a sense, at least, in which Uncle Sam and Smokey Bear are real and alive. In a sense.
I prefer not to worry too much about categories, when it comes to such beings.
I once mentioned a ghost we used to have in our house to someone who said sternly, "DO you really believe in ghosts?" I replied, "I don't believe in ghosts, but I also don't go out of my way to ignore them."
Or as a woman said in Meeting yesterday, "I don't know if there is a God, but I like to feel His presence in this room."
Satan is an embodiment of the perverse human desire for self-deception and ultimately self-destruction. This remains true regardless of whether such an entity exists or does not.
And after all, there is a sense, at least, in which Uncle Sam and Smokey Bear are real and alive. In a sense.
I prefer not to worry too much about categories, when it comes to such beings.
I once mentioned a ghost we used to have in our house to someone who said sternly, "DO you really believe in ghosts?" I replied, "I don't believe in ghosts, but I also don't go out of my way to ignore them."
Or as a woman said in Meeting yesterday, "I don't know if there is a God, but I like to feel His presence in this room."
Saturday, November 06, 2004
My Own Conciliatory Gesture
I will no longer refer to Bush as the President*.
After all, he did actually win the election this time.
And I find that it does make a difference to me.
I may think those 51% of my neighbors are masochistic idiots, but they really did vote for him, and he really did win, so that's life. That's democracy.
Now, let's see about this "one nation" business, shall we?
After all, he did actually win the election this time.
And I find that it does make a difference to me.
I may think those 51% of my neighbors are masochistic idiots, but they really did vote for him, and he really did win, so that's life. That's democracy.
Now, let's see about this "one nation" business, shall we?
Wednesday, November 03, 2004
Message to America
To Senator John Kerry: You sounded very Presidential this morning. It was refreshing to hear *somebody* sounding that way.
To George W. Bush: Now is your chance to show that there's some timy shred of sincerity behind all your "United We Stand" talk. I'm willing to give you one more chance to prove it. Go ahead, surprise me.
To U.S. citizens 18-25: This was supposed to be the Scooby Doo election: "I would have gotten away with it, if it hadn't been for you meddling kids!" But you never showed up. I guess you're just a bunch of worthless slackers after all.
To all of you: I really do think that we could start acting like a united country again, even with this President and this Congress. And I think it would be a good idea. Really and truly.
To George W. Bush: Now is your chance to show that there's some timy shred of sincerity behind all your "United We Stand" talk. I'm willing to give you one more chance to prove it. Go ahead, surprise me.
To U.S. citizens 18-25: This was supposed to be the Scooby Doo election: "I would have gotten away with it, if it hadn't been for you meddling kids!" But you never showed up. I guess you're just a bunch of worthless slackers after all.
To all of you: I really do think that we could start acting like a united country again, even with this President and this Congress. And I think it would be a good idea. Really and truly.
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
In Praise of My Neighbors
I saw something that did my heart good: a joint Bush - Kerry rally, with campaign signs, American flags and a big signs that said, "United We Stand -- Stop the Hate".
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Monday, November 01, 2004
In Defense of Marriage -- Everybody's Marriage
I hear tell that there are anti-gay (usually anti-marriage) initiatives and referenda on the ballot in eleven states.
I also hear that every one of them is currently expected to pass.
That makes me very, very sad.
I also hear that every one of them is currently expected to pass.
That makes me very, very sad.
Friday, October 29, 2004
In Praise of Osama bin Laden
Credit where credit is due, the murdering SOB did get off one good line in his new video:
"If I hate freedom, why didn't I attack Sweden?"
"If I hate freedom, why didn't I attack Sweden?"
Thursday, October 28, 2004
Your Vote Will Be Counted Here, At Least
At US-election.org, they have taken on the thankless task of listing all the candidates for President, not just those two guys (and not just those two guys and the other one).
The Green Party! The Constitution Party! The Libertarian Party! The Peace & Freedom Party! The Personal Choice Party (hey, Marilyn Chambers is their VP candidate -- how cool is that?)!
If only some sort of clerical error were to erase the Republicrats from the ballot, and we could choose between candidates who actually have something to say, and whose guiding principles include something besides "Power!"
The Green Party! The Constitution Party! The Libertarian Party! The Peace & Freedom Party! The Personal Choice Party (hey, Marilyn Chambers is their VP candidate -- how cool is that?)!
If only some sort of clerical error were to erase the Republicrats from the ballot, and we could choose between candidates who actually have something to say, and whose guiding principles include something besides "Power!"
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
In Praise of Dick Cheney
No, seriously.
The other day on the radio, I heard some people chewing over Dick and George, bitch-slapping them for everything from lying about John McCain's war record to lying about Bush's debate wire.
Well, that's all true, but I had to differ with them when one of them mentioned Cheney's calling up the Air Force on September 11th, 2001, ordering them to scramble fighter planes to shoot down the fourth hijacked plane (not yet aware that it had already crashed). This, the indignant person declared, was somethinghe had no authority to do.
Well, yes, I expect that's correct, but given the circumstances it was surely the right thing to do. And (again, given the circumstances) the Air Force officers and pilots who carried out that illegal order also did the right thing. I think it's very cheap and shabby to call Cheney a megalomaniac or a usurper for having taken such a decision upon himself in those confused hours.
Of course, the question of why those hours were so damned confused, and why nobody, civilian or military, seemed to have a clue what to do, is another matter.
Seems to me that the biggest lesson of September 11th is that the people at the top should be holding what the nuclear industry calls "unexpected event" drills.
I'm picturing a Secret Service detail driving onto an airbase, accompanied by a WHite House typist with a sticker scrawled "President" on his lapel. The bodyguards commandeer a plane and convey the pretend President to the Secure Undisclosed Location, while the NSA proves that they can stay in touch with the plane, transmitting updates on the simulated crisis, without giving away the President's location.
The other day on the radio, I heard some people chewing over Dick and George, bitch-slapping them for everything from lying about John McCain's war record to lying about Bush's debate wire.
Well, that's all true, but I had to differ with them when one of them mentioned Cheney's calling up the Air Force on September 11th, 2001, ordering them to scramble fighter planes to shoot down the fourth hijacked plane (not yet aware that it had already crashed). This, the indignant person declared, was somethinghe had no authority to do.
Well, yes, I expect that's correct, but given the circumstances it was surely the right thing to do. And (again, given the circumstances) the Air Force officers and pilots who carried out that illegal order also did the right thing. I think it's very cheap and shabby to call Cheney a megalomaniac or a usurper for having taken such a decision upon himself in those confused hours.
Of course, the question of why those hours were so damned confused, and why nobody, civilian or military, seemed to have a clue what to do, is another matter.
Seems to me that the biggest lesson of September 11th is that the people at the top should be holding what the nuclear industry calls "unexpected event" drills.
I'm picturing a Secret Service detail driving onto an airbase, accompanied by a WHite House typist with a sticker scrawled "President" on his lapel. The bodyguards commandeer a plane and convey the pretend President to the Secure Undisclosed Location, while the NSA proves that they can stay in touch with the plane, transmitting updates on the simulated crisis, without giving away the President's location.
Sunday, October 24, 2004
Matt Love's "Instant Karma"
To Matt Love, lovematt100@yahoo.com
Mr. Love:
In Sunday's _Oregonian_, you talk movingly of the pleasure you take in Oregon's public beaches, and your loathing for people who drive recklessly on them. In these sentiments, I completely concur.
But you don't seem to know your Oregon history when you praise the wise progressives of a previous generation and then say "Now it's legal to drive on the beach".
The beaches of the Oregon coast are publicly owned because some decades ago the state legislature declared the beaches to be a state highway. This was done partly to preserve the beaches as public land, but also because the packed sand of low tide really was the longest stretch of drivable surface in the state.
Seems to me that you can't have one (public beaches) without the other (the tradition of driving on the beach).
As for your (tempered) relish at the fate of the witless driver who buzzed you and then promptly got his brand-new Tahoe stuck in the sand with the tide coming in, again I concur.
-- John M. Burt
Mr. Love:
In Sunday's _Oregonian_, you talk movingly of the pleasure you take in Oregon's public beaches, and your loathing for people who drive recklessly on them. In these sentiments, I completely concur.
But you don't seem to know your Oregon history when you praise the wise progressives of a previous generation and then say "Now it's legal to drive on the beach".
The beaches of the Oregon coast are publicly owned because some decades ago the state legislature declared the beaches to be a state highway. This was done partly to preserve the beaches as public land, but also because the packed sand of low tide really was the longest stretch of drivable surface in the state.
Seems to me that you can't have one (public beaches) without the other (the tradition of driving on the beach).
As for your (tempered) relish at the fate of the witless driver who buzzed you and then promptly got his brand-new Tahoe stuck in the sand with the tide coming in, again I concur.
-- John M. Burt
Saturday, October 23, 2004
I Have Gone Over to the Dark Side
I have used a leaf blower.
All right, it wasn't a real leaf blower, just the vacuum cleaner with the hose connected to the exhaust, and I didn't try to clear the whole yard, just blow the leaves off my rock garden (a space no bigger than a queen-size bed), but even so, it made me feel . . . creepy.
All right, it wasn't a real leaf blower, just the vacuum cleaner with the hose connected to the exhaust, and I didn't try to clear the whole yard, just blow the leaves off my rock garden (a space no bigger than a queen-size bed), but even so, it made me feel . . . creepy.
Friday, October 22, 2004
Sunday, the 31st
The newspapers have dutifully reported the fact that some folks are alarmed at the idea of Halloween falling on a Sunday.
More than one person is quoted to the effect that this is "giving the Lord's Day to the Devil".
I'm disappointed that nobody was quoted as pointing out that All Saints' Eve is the night before the day when Christians honor their brethren who have preceded them into Heaven.
More than one person is quoted to the effect that this is "giving the Lord's Day to the Devil".
I'm disappointed that nobody was quoted as pointing out that All Saints' Eve is the night before the day when Christians honor their brethren who have preceded them into Heaven.
Thursday, October 21, 2004
". . . and, declaring an emergency . . ."
Kathe-my-sweetie (that's how I usually refer to her when I'm in a situation where there might be some confusion about which Kathe I mean) used to attend Portland City Council meetings, and she was amused by one of their little rituals:
A member of the council would read the text of a proposed resolution:
"Blah blah blah . . . and, declaring an emergency, move that this go into effect immediately."
Over and over, an emergency was declared. Portland was a flash point of crisis, with all the emergencies being declared.
For all I know, they're still at it.
This comes to mind in the context of the current Oregon elections, in which various ballot measures propose not just state laws, but amendments to the state constitution. In one case, an amendment is proposed to declare that double-wide manunfactured houses don't have to have license plates. This is a constitutional amendment because the constitution already dictates various rules about vehicle licensing.
I have never read the Oregon constitution. I kind of think I don't want to.
A member of the council would read the text of a proposed resolution:
"Blah blah blah . . . and, declaring an emergency, move that this go into effect immediately."
Over and over, an emergency was declared. Portland was a flash point of crisis, with all the emergencies being declared.
For all I know, they're still at it.
This comes to mind in the context of the current Oregon elections, in which various ballot measures propose not just state laws, but amendments to the state constitution. In one case, an amendment is proposed to declare that double-wide manunfactured houses don't have to have license plates. This is a constitutional amendment because the constitution already dictates various rules about vehicle licensing.
I have never read the Oregon constitution. I kind of think I don't want to.
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
This is Unworthy
but I'm going to post it anyway.
Today I drove past the Corvallis Republican headquarters and saw a sign asking for volunteers to distribute "liturature".
I told Kathe's friend Eli about it. He expressed surprise that Bush didn't delegate the job of signmaking.
They took the sign down later that afternoon, but by then I'd already photographed it and delivered prints to Democratic headquarters.
Today I drove past the Corvallis Republican headquarters and saw a sign asking for volunteers to distribute "liturature".
I told Kathe's friend Eli about it. He expressed surprise that Bush didn't delegate the job of signmaking.
They took the sign down later that afternoon, but by then I'd already photographed it and delivered prints to Democratic headquarters.
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
I Knew They Were Up to Something
The other day, walking across the central courtyard of Linn-Benton Community College, I was approached by a smiling young man with a clipboard, inviting me to "sign a petition to help crack down on child molestors".
I relied, "With a come-on as wholesome and all-American as that, you're obviously working a scam, but I don't have time to figure out what."
He answered with an embarrassed smile and I walked on.
Now I learn that their scam was worse than I'd supposed: they weren't just after money, they were trying to trick people into changing their voter registration to Republican.
I'm not exactly sure who they thought this would benefit. If they were trying to prevent people from voting in the primaries, that would make a certain amount of sense. Or if (as other Republicans have done) they pretended to be registering people to vote but shredding all the non-Republican ones, that would be logical (though loathsome). But I don't see the advantage they gain by this particular scam.
I relied, "With a come-on as wholesome and all-American as that, you're obviously working a scam, but I don't have time to figure out what."
He answered with an embarrassed smile and I walked on.
Now I learn that their scam was worse than I'd supposed: they weren't just after money, they were trying to trick people into changing their voter registration to Republican.
I'm not exactly sure who they thought this would benefit. If they were trying to prevent people from voting in the primaries, that would make a certain amount of sense. Or if (as other Republicans have done) they pretended to be registering people to vote but shredding all the non-Republican ones, that would be logical (though loathsome). But I don't see the advantage they gain by this particular scam.
Monday, October 18, 2004
News From Crawford (Sorry)
Randall Hugh Crawford had this to say in an e-mail to me today:
http://tampatrib.com/News/MGBU3UEHF0E.html
The traditionally conservative newspaper the Tampa Tribune, which has
endorsed the Republican presidential candiate in every election in the
post WWII era (except for 1964, when they endorsed neither Goldwater or
Johnson), has arrived at and announced the decision to endorse neither
candidate in the 2004 race.
They devote a great amount of column space to Bush's mishandling of the
Iraq war, his deficit and the other major issues of the race. They wrap
up in the matter of a paragraph or two the fact that they have certain
reservations about Kerry as well.
First Bush's Crawford county hometown paper choses not to back him, now
a major conservative paper in Brother Jeb's state (which help shoehorn
Dubya into office in '00 ) has nothing good to say abut the President*.
Somehow pollsters keep finding groups of people in which nearly equal
numbers of voters support the Shrub and his opponent. I don't know where
they keep finding these people, who seem to still be wrapped up in the
post 9/11 patriotic fervor that allows them to support anything our
former President's son says or does. But clearly the people who think
for a living, and now including the ones that do not support Kerry,
clearly do not support Bush Junior.
-- Randall Hugh Crawford
To which I add that this is indeed a strange election. Millions hate Bush, millions more strongly distrust him, nobody cares about Kerry. This ought to be a perfect opportunity for Badnarik, Peroutka or Cobb, but alas, you probably can't even assign those three guys to the correct political parties (I could only name all three because I Googled them).
With ballot access difficult for alternative parties and our ballots themselves imperilled, our electoral system is broken, and it needs a major fix. That was obvious in 2000 and we did nothing. I fear it's going to become PAINFULLY obvious next month. Will we do anything about it?
http://tampatrib.com/News/MGBU3UEHF0E.html
The traditionally conservative newspaper the Tampa Tribune, which has
endorsed the Republican presidential candiate in every election in the
post WWII era (except for 1964, when they endorsed neither Goldwater or
Johnson), has arrived at and announced the decision to endorse neither
candidate in the 2004 race.
They devote a great amount of column space to Bush's mishandling of the
Iraq war, his deficit and the other major issues of the race. They wrap
up in the matter of a paragraph or two the fact that they have certain
reservations about Kerry as well.
First Bush's Crawford county hometown paper choses not to back him, now
a major conservative paper in Brother Jeb's state (which help shoehorn
Dubya into office in '00 ) has nothing good to say abut the President*.
Somehow pollsters keep finding groups of people in which nearly equal
numbers of voters support the Shrub and his opponent. I don't know where
they keep finding these people, who seem to still be wrapped up in the
post 9/11 patriotic fervor that allows them to support anything our
former President's son says or does. But clearly the people who think
for a living, and now including the ones that do not support Kerry,
clearly do not support Bush Junior.
-- Randall Hugh Crawford
To which I add that this is indeed a strange election. Millions hate Bush, millions more strongly distrust him, nobody cares about Kerry. This ought to be a perfect opportunity for Badnarik, Peroutka or Cobb, but alas, you probably can't even assign those three guys to the correct political parties (I could only name all three because I Googled them).
With ballot access difficult for alternative parties and our ballots themselves imperilled, our electoral system is broken, and it needs a major fix. That was obvious in 2000 and we did nothing. I fear it's going to become PAINFULLY obvious next month. Will we do anything about it?
Sunday, October 17, 2004
Has Blogger Messed With Your Comments?
Several people have complained to me that they tried to post comments here and were unable to -- the "post anonymously" option was not offered, or the "Publish" button didn't appear, things like that.
If you have had any trobule of that kind, please p/o/s/t/a/c/o/m/m/e/n/t/ e-mail me:
john_m_burt@hotmail.com
If you have had any trobule of that kind, please p/o/s/t/a/c/o/m/m/e/n/t/ e-mail me:
john_m_burt@hotmail.com
Friday, October 15, 2004
The Stolen Honor of Sinclair Broadcasting
This morning, I visited
http://www.freepress.net/sinclair/dn.php?zip=&h=t
in order to confront Sinclair Broadcasting about their decision to pre-empt normal programming in order to show the film "Stolen Honor", a product of the group called "Swift Boat Veterans For Truth".
This is the same outfit that blocked a special episode of _Nightline_ this spring, on the grounds that honoring the war dead was "too political". Apparently giving 45 minutes of air time to the Swiftettes, commercial-free and at no charge, is just good journalism, no politics involved.
http://www.freepress.net/sinclair/dn.php?zip=&h=t
in order to confront Sinclair Broadcasting about their decision to pre-empt normal programming in order to show the film "Stolen Honor", a product of the group called "Swift Boat Veterans For Truth".
This is the same outfit that blocked a special episode of _Nightline_ this spring, on the grounds that honoring the war dead was "too political". Apparently giving 45 minutes of air time to the Swiftettes, commercial-free and at no charge, is just good journalism, no politics involved.
Thursday, October 14, 2004
Porn Filters
The Corvallis - Benton County Public Library is trying out filtering software, inspired by a Federal blunt instrument. Results so far:
sites blocked: 113
actual porn sites blocked: 16
Library users who tried to access porn online: 0.004% (I'd like to know what that is in absolute numbers: Two? Four?)
Library users in the children's section who tried to access porn: none
The Library Board have decided to try a different software package. Hmph.
Something tells me that my brother David, who works for a filtering software company, isn't going to like this news item. But, he's had plenty of time to get used to results like these.
sites blocked: 113
actual porn sites blocked: 16
Library users who tried to access porn online: 0.004% (I'd like to know what that is in absolute numbers: Two? Four?)
Library users in the children's section who tried to access porn: none
The Library Board have decided to try a different software package. Hmph.
Something tells me that my brother David, who works for a filtering software company, isn't going to like this news item. But, he's had plenty of time to get used to results like these.
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
Are You Sure You're Registered?
I knew this was going to happen.
All those people with their clipboards and their voter registration forms, eagerly signing people up.
Only some of them were taking those filled-out forms and throwing them away.
Apparently, somebody thought it was in their interest to prevent people from registering to vote.
I wonder who that could be . . . .
All those people with their clipboards and their voter registration forms, eagerly signing people up.
Only some of them were taking those filled-out forms and throwing them away.
Apparently, somebody thought it was in their interest to prevent people from registering to vote.
I wonder who that could be . . . .
In my e-mail inbox
> > Subject: Bush Camp Conclusions ---
> > Dan Rather, CBS News Anchor
> > 1) given documents he thought were true
> > 2) failed to thoroughly investigate the facts
> > 3) reported documents to the American people as true to make his case
> > 4) when challenged, launched an investigation, quickly apologized
> > 5) substance of the bogus documents appears to have been true anyway
> > 6) cost to the world in lives and money: zero
> > 7) Bush camp conclusion: should be fired as CBS News Anchor
> > George W. Bush, President of the United States
> > 1) given documents he thought were true
> > 2) failed to thoroughly investigate the facts
> > 3) reported documents to the American people as true to make his case
> > 4) when challenged, stonewalled an investigation, never apologized
> > 5) substance of the bogus documents appears to have been . . . bogus
> > 6) cost to the world in lives and money: incalculable
> > 7) Bush camp conclusion: four more years!
> > Dan Rather, CBS News Anchor
> > 1) given documents he thought were true
> > 2) failed to thoroughly investigate the facts
> > 3) reported documents to the American people as true to make his case
> > 4) when challenged, launched an investigation, quickly apologized
> > 5) substance of the bogus documents appears to have been true anyway
> > 6) cost to the world in lives and money: zero
> > 7) Bush camp conclusion: should be fired as CBS News Anchor
> > George W. Bush, President of the United States
> > 1) given documents he thought were true
> > 2) failed to thoroughly investigate the facts
> > 3) reported documents to the American people as true to make his case
> > 4) when challenged, stonewalled an investigation, never apologized
> > 5) substance of the bogus documents appears to have been . . . bogus
> > 6) cost to the world in lives and money: incalculable
> > 7) Bush camp conclusion: four more years!
Monday, October 11, 2004
Christopher Reeve
I was surprised. I really did think he was going to walk again. He was so insistent.
Then I found out he died of heart failure, due to an infection, caused by a pressure sore, and I was really surprised.
A BEDSORE!?
He had a loving wife. He had a close family. He had money, which ought to have ensured that he received nursing care from competent people. How could he possibly have gotten a bedsore?
I have worked in nursing homes. I have provided home health care. I have worked on the crowded, understaffed wards of military hospitals. NO PERSON UNDER MY CARE EVER DEVELOPED A BEDSORE.
But Christopher Reeve got a bedsore. And it killed him.
Then I found out he died of heart failure, due to an infection, caused by a pressure sore, and I was really surprised.
A BEDSORE!?
He had a loving wife. He had a close family. He had money, which ought to have ensured that he received nursing care from competent people. How could he possibly have gotten a bedsore?
I have worked in nursing homes. I have provided home health care. I have worked on the crowded, understaffed wards of military hospitals. NO PERSON UNDER MY CARE EVER DEVELOPED A BEDSORE.
But Christopher Reeve got a bedsore. And it killed him.
Friday, October 08, 2004
Biftu Is Legal
Kathe and I have adopted four children together. Three of them were the surviving members of an Ethiopian family who came to us together, ten years ago. Tesfaye (also called Abdi), now 18, is now a U.S. citizen. Mestowet (also called Michu), now 24, renewed her green card awhile back. Asnakech (also called Biftu), now 22, didn't renew until just yesterday, leading to a certain amount of nail-biting on our part.
The matter was complicated by the fact that Ash now lives in Portland, which is good because the nearest office for La Migra is in Portland, but bad because we still live some 83 miles away in Corvallis. Having come to the U.S. at a fairly advanced age, Ash's English is imperfect, especially her writing, so she was having trouble navigating the bureaucracy.
Kathe's daughter Sarah (from her first crop of kids) also lives in Portland, however, and when the situation grew dire she threw herself into the breach, spending a day in the Federal offices straightening things out.
Thank you, Sarah. That's another one we owe you.
The matter was complicated by the fact that Ash now lives in Portland, which is good because the nearest office for La Migra is in Portland, but bad because we still live some 83 miles away in Corvallis. Having come to the U.S. at a fairly advanced age, Ash's English is imperfect, especially her writing, so she was having trouble navigating the bureaucracy.
Kathe's daughter Sarah (from her first crop of kids) also lives in Portland, however, and when the situation grew dire she threw herself into the breach, spending a day in the Federal offices straightening things out.
Thank you, Sarah. That's another one we owe you.
Thursday, October 07, 2004
President* Bush Says
that the real, honest, no kidding this time, reason for invading Iraq was . . . Saddm Hussein was abusing the U.N. Oil for Food program.
This must be Bush's biggest flipflop ever.
This must be Bush's biggest flipflop ever.
Wednesday, October 06, 2004
Sloganator
I'm sorry, I'm sure everybody else has already seen this, but I only just found out about it:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bushcheneysloganator
Tee hee.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bushcheneysloganator
Tee hee.
First Rain
Unnaturally enough for the Willamette Valley, we have only tonight had our first rain of the season.
Usually, there are plenty of clear days in September and October, but not a total absense of rain. It was getting downright eerie.
The new section of roof is working just fine, no leaks showing so far. And I like the new skylights. There was something charming about having two sheets of plastic layered in with the shingles, serving as windows in the attic, but the charm wore off after they began to leak. The storebought blister-skylights Jake installed don't have as much character, but they look all right, and boy do they just sit there and not leak.
Usually, there are plenty of clear days in September and October, but not a total absense of rain. It was getting downright eerie.
The new section of roof is working just fine, no leaks showing so far. And I like the new skylights. There was something charming about having two sheets of plastic layered in with the shingles, serving as windows in the attic, but the charm wore off after they began to leak. The storebought blister-skylights Jake installed don't have as much character, but they look all right, and boy do they just sit there and not leak.
Monday, October 04, 2004
SpaceShip Which?
All appropriate congratulations to the builders and pilot of "SpaceShip One", and I sincerely hope this is the start of big things, but really, folks, the first spaceship orbited on April 12th, 1961.
And again I say, this could be the start of something big. In spite of many years of disappointments, I still cling to be belief that one day we will look around, startled, and say, "Hey, when did the sky crack open like that? People are spilling out in all directions!"
And again I say, this could be the start of something big. In spite of many years of disappointments, I still cling to be belief that one day we will look around, startled, and say, "Hey, when did the sky crack open like that? People are spilling out in all directions!"
Lawn Signs
We're only hosting one lawn sign this year, opposing Oregon Ballot Measure 36 (see several posts below).
So far our sign has been:
stolen -- once (replaced with a home-made one)
kicked down -- twice
pissed on -- once
I'd be writing to our local paper with this story, but I suspect it might encourage more energetic political action upon our house and grounds.
So far our sign has been:
stolen -- once (replaced with a home-made one)
kicked down -- twice
pissed on -- once
I'd be writing to our local paper with this story, but I suspect it might encourage more energetic political action upon our house and grounds.
Sunday, October 03, 2004
It Makes Me Wanna . . . .
The Olsen twins are doing Happy Meal commercials on French TV.
Mary-Kate Olsen, in recovery for an eating disorder, is selling over-salted, over-sugared, fat-drenched food.
Question: Who is being more shameless and irresponsible, the girls or McDonald's?
Mary-Kate Olsen, in recovery for an eating disorder, is selling over-salted, over-sugared, fat-drenched food.
Question: Who is being more shameless and irresponsible, the girls or McDonald's?
Traditional Marriage
"To the Editor, Portland Oregonian:
"The definition of marriage changes with each generation.
"In 1857, when Oregon adopted its Constitution, a married woman could not own property, could not enter into a contract without her husband's permission, and could lawfully be beaten by her husband. Divorce was illegal in most states, and was only granted on grounds of adultery in others. A hot topic of debate at the time was whether a widow could lawfully marry her late husband's brother -- quite a change from Biblical times, when such a marriage was required.
"In 1857, not all marriages in Oregon were between one man and one woman. There were already quite a few Mormon settlers in the southeastern counties."
"The definition of marriage changes with each generation.
"In 1857, when Oregon adopted its Constitution, a married woman could not own property, could not enter into a contract without her husband's permission, and could lawfully be beaten by her husband. Divorce was illegal in most states, and was only granted on grounds of adultery in others. A hot topic of debate at the time was whether a widow could lawfully marry her late husband's brother -- quite a change from Biblical times, when such a marriage was required.
"In 1857, not all marriages in Oregon were between one man and one woman. There were already quite a few Mormon settlers in the southeastern counties."
Saturday, October 02, 2004
U.N. Takeover Plot!
Good Heavens, I hear tell that John Kerry wants the U.S. government to abide by the United Nations charter, as though it were some sort of solemn treaty obligation!
That would mean having to go to the U.N. for permission to defend our nation against foreign attackers!
Oh, it wouldn't? Article 51 of the Charter specifically enshrines the right of self-defense? Well, never mind.
That would mean having to go to the U.N. for permission to defend our nation against foreign attackers!
Oh, it wouldn't? Article 51 of the Charter specifically enshrines the right of self-defense? Well, never mind.
Friday, October 01, 2004
Diversion
Was the invasion of Iraq a diversion away from the campaign to shut down al-Qaeda?
The thousands of intelligence operatives, Special Forces and other people who were urgently needed in Afghanistan (obvious at the time, and all the more obvious given the current state of the country), and who were pulled out and set to work on the invasion, certainly think so.
But what do they know?
The thousands of intelligence operatives, Special Forces and other people who were urgently needed in Afghanistan (obvious at the time, and all the more obvious given the current state of the country), and who were pulled out and set to work on the invasion, certainly think so.
But what do they know?
Thursday, September 30, 2004
Debatable
There is a well-known and carefully-refined format for debate. Presidential candidates never use it.
The world would be a better place if they did, though.
Just as Congress would do a better job if they passed bills according to Robert's Rules of Order.
The world would be a better place if they did, though.
Just as Congress would do a better job if they passed bills according to Robert's Rules of Order.
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
Osama in Iraq!
In the _Wall Street Journal_ for 29 September, 9/11 widow Debra Burlingame defends President* Bush's invasion of Iraq, declaring that Saddam Hussein did so have ties to Osama bin Laden. She offers as evidence:
"Saddam . . . was not responsive to a 1996 request by bin Laden for safe haven in Iraq".
"[I]n 1998 . . . Richard Clarke worried that bin Laden would 'boogie to Baghdad'" if driven from Sudan by Clinton's campaign against him there.
Well. Osama asked for help and Saddam ignored him. And somebody speculated that Osama might ask again. Yeah, pretty devastating evidence.
People have a hard time sorting things out because they think of Saddam and Osama as being "on the same side", apparently because they come from sort of the same culture, or race, or something (they don't really have religion in common -- Saddam is about as much a Muslim as Ronald Reagan was a Christian).
Much in the way that people often puzzle over why neo-Nazis and the Klan rarely have anything to say to one another. They fail to see that a secular racist group that wants an all-powerful national government busy conquering the world has little in common with a Christian racist group that wants a feeble national confederacy that shuts the world out.
"Saddam . . . was not responsive to a 1996 request by bin Laden for safe haven in Iraq".
"[I]n 1998 . . . Richard Clarke worried that bin Laden would 'boogie to Baghdad'" if driven from Sudan by Clinton's campaign against him there.
Well. Osama asked for help and Saddam ignored him. And somebody speculated that Osama might ask again. Yeah, pretty devastating evidence.
People have a hard time sorting things out because they think of Saddam and Osama as being "on the same side", apparently because they come from sort of the same culture, or race, or something (they don't really have religion in common -- Saddam is about as much a Muslim as Ronald Reagan was a Christian).
Much in the way that people often puzzle over why neo-Nazis and the Klan rarely have anything to say to one another. They fail to see that a secular racist group that wants an all-powerful national government busy conquering the world has little in common with a Christian racist group that wants a feeble national confederacy that shuts the world out.
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Playing SAIF
A hot election topic in Oregon is a ballot measure calling for the dissolution of the State Accident Insurance Fund. There are all sorts of reasons given why this would be ever-so-good an idea, but the actual motivation is pretty straightforward: Liberty Northwest (an insurance company actually based in Boston) wants to eliminate its chief competitor.
There's a delightful campaign ad, showing the Liberty board talking about the best way to gain control over the market in "Ore-a-gone". They say "Ore-a-gone" a couple of times, to make sure the point gets across.
It says "A Dramatization" across the bottom of the screen in big letters, but the funniest part is that, like Dan Rather's memos, the video is a false record of a real thing.
Another amusing campaign ad ends with a candidate preparing to bungee jump, saying, "I'm David WU, and I approve this message, and I do my own stunts!"
There's a delightful campaign ad, showing the Liberty board talking about the best way to gain control over the market in "Ore-a-gone". They say "Ore-a-gone" a couple of times, to make sure the point gets across.
It says "A Dramatization" across the bottom of the screen in big letters, but the funniest part is that, like Dan Rather's memos, the video is a false record of a real thing.
Another amusing campaign ad ends with a candidate preparing to bungee jump, saying, "I'm David WU, and I approve this message, and I do my own stunts!"
Monday, September 27, 2004
Back to School
Class begins today in Biology 233, Anatomy & Physiology III.
This is the last prerequisite I have left for getting into the nursing program, which of course is no guarantee that I will get in. Not sure what I'll do if I don't.
But in any event, I must get back into student-ly mode now, and make ready for school.
This is the last prerequisite I have left for getting into the nursing program, which of course is no guarantee that I will get in. Not sure what I'll do if I don't.
But in any event, I must get back into student-ly mode now, and make ready for school.
Sunday, September 26, 2004
Fall Festival
The Corvallis Fall Festival is always a pleasure: craft booths, food booths, music, political booths -- all the usual furniture of a small-town fair.
It's nothing special, but it's definitely something to look forward to.
Especially the elephant ears.
It's nothing special, but it's definitely something to look forward to.
Especially the elephant ears.
Friday, September 24, 2004
New Roof, Coming Right Up
So far my own contributions have consisted largely of housework and hauling bundles of shingles up through the house, but Kathe's son Jake and a friend of one of the younger kids have been burning through the roof at an impressive clip.
Old shingles come off, new tarpaper and shingles go on, soon it will be time for that tricky section that requires all that custom-made flashing.
I made the mistake of reading the label on one of those bundles of shingles -- they weigh *eighty pounds* each? I don't know if I can carry any more, now that I know how much they weigh.
Carrying isn't so bad, but that vertical lifting is a killer.
Old shingles come off, new tarpaper and shingles go on, soon it will be time for that tricky section that requires all that custom-made flashing.
I made the mistake of reading the label on one of those bundles of shingles -- they weigh *eighty pounds* each? I don't know if I can carry any more, now that I know how much they weigh.
Carrying isn't so bad, but that vertical lifting is a killer.
Thursday, September 23, 2004
He Should Have Kept the Passport that said "Cat Stevens"
When the defenders of the F/a/t/h/e/r/Homeland learned that someone named "Yusuf Islam" was aboard Flight 919, they diverted the plane to Maine, one of the expendable states.
Wednesday, September 22, 2004
Republican Catsup
There are two different brands of catsup offering a Republican alternative to Heinz. Wow.
I'm sitting here trying to imagine "Conservative" or "Republican" catsup. Let's see . . . .
Conservative catsup uses organically-grown, pesticide-free tomatoes (just to err on the side of caution), grown on an American family farm, lightly cooked and seasoned with just two or three other ingredients.
Republican catsup is burnt to death and loaded with high-fructose corn syrup, artificial colors and flavors.
I'm sitting here trying to imagine "Conservative" or "Republican" catsup. Let's see . . . .
Conservative catsup uses organically-grown, pesticide-free tomatoes (just to err on the side of caution), grown on an American family farm, lightly cooked and seasoned with just two or three other ingredients.
Republican catsup is burnt to death and loaded with high-fructose corn syrup, artificial colors and flavors.
Monday, September 20, 2004
Happy Anniversary, Kathe
Twenty years, as of today.
I love you, sweetie.
Stainless steel hip joints and all.
I love you, sweetie.
Stainless steel hip joints and all.
Geek Girly Speaks
Geek Girly, also known as AmberCrystal (http://www.ambercrystal.blogspot.com ), had this to say today:
Geek Girly has a serious bone to pick with the world at large, and although she will try to be articulate and eloquent about this matter, please note - she is good and thoroughly pissed.
Some background: GG has a friend who has a 20something daughter who lives with her and her second husband. The Daughter is married, pregnant, and does not work. (GG points this out because all three descriptions and situations were the Daughter's choice.) GG's friend, a rather passionate, somewhat dramatically emotional redhead, feels guilty that she was a teenaged, unwed mother from one of the states where inbreeding is considered a legitimate lifestyle choice, so allows the Daughter too much freedom for her situation. The Daughter, who only moved in with GG's friend on the stipulation that her then-boyfriend/occasional lover be allowed to move in with her, recently became pregnant. At her wedding, oblivious to the financial difficulties of her mother and stepfather, the Daughter actually had the nerve to whine, because her belly showed through the A-line gown she had been purchased and, because... Mommmm!!! I wanted tulips, not lilieeeessss.... (To say that the Daughter is a disappointing reminder to GG that life is NOT as lovely as it is in her head, and that people are NOT always the kind, wondrous creatures she tends to view them as is... well, a given.)
On to the soapbox moment....
This past weekend, GG and a group of her (very cool, amazingly generous) co-workers traveled not so great distances into Downtown, to help serve at a local soup kitchen. It was an amazing experience! The people were kind, the service warmly received, and GG and two or three new friends have already made plans to return on Thanksgiving and Christmas.
According to a volunteer at the shelter, they will serve over 1500 people on Thanksgiving Day alone... Seeing the impressive, tangible need, GG was deeply, passionately touched... Knowing that there was only enough food for the day to feed roughly 70 people and 100 showed up seems fundamentally wrong. The fact that it's avoidable and could be changed if those with more would give more, or learn to live with less, infuriates this Geek past the point of articulation. So... there is GG and intrepid team, getting so much more back than they had given, and grateful for the opportunity to do so.
Meanwhile.... across Town....there is a baby shower going on, welcoming this new life growing inside the Daughter. Gifts upon gifts upon gifts are being opened... food is splayed, drinks flowing like lies from a politician's tongue.... there is much joy and merriment, and it was, GG is sure, a lovely little get-together... except that there are so many gifts.... and they keep coming.... for 15 minutes... then 30... an hour... then 2.... and more... All have to be opened and adored..... proper homage to be paid before the next is received, cooed over... presented....
What lessens the merriment of this experience for GG is.... this joy is not for the child - it is for things made of dust and earth, not lasting as long as a thought. They will used, yes, of course, but will they be truly appreciated? What will the child gain from this overabundance? Will she understand that things are just... things, but that souls, people are divine? Will she get that there is more to life than the newest, latest, greatest? Or will this materialistic existance jade her eyes, numb her soul, so that she thinks happiness is ownership, and those who have not... are worth naught?
This... this is why GG prays.
GG would humbly request that you donate food, time, clothing, anything you can spare as often as possible to the most worthy causes listed below. It doesn't matter who you are or where you live, you can be of benefit to someone, somewhere... and perhaps someday... we can all live free.
www.salvationarmy.org
www.habitat.org
www.worldvision.org
www.shoesfororphansouls.com
www.redcross.org
www.amnesty.org
To which I replied:
This is always a difficult thing for me: How do you criticize someone who receives your charity? But how can you not?
It's not really charity if it comes with strings attached, is it? You're not really asking the person you're giving to to simper and grovel, are you?
But if you set no conditions, and no limits, those who benefit from your generosity will abuse it, or become obnoxious on account of feeling guilty for "owing" you so much.
I saw a little of that this summer, when my teenaged son's friends were hanging out at our place for days on end. They were delighted to have a place they could sit around and talk, make out and get silly, and not have to fear being rousted by the management or the police. But when it got so we never had the place to ourselves, and so few of our guests made any effort to clean up the mess they created, the novelty of all that company faded.
And then came the night one of them asked me to cook him something to eat. Oy.
It's made more difficult for me, because I don't take the conventional Christian approach, that charity is entirely an "extra", which you may feel free to withhold for no reason and incur no penalty. I incline more to the Jewish doctrine that charity is an obligation that cannot lightly be shirked.
So yes, GG's friend's daughter is a boor and a parasite, but I really don't know what, if anything, GG can honorably do, or even say, about the subject.
Geek Girly has a serious bone to pick with the world at large, and although she will try to be articulate and eloquent about this matter, please note - she is good and thoroughly pissed.
Some background: GG has a friend who has a 20something daughter who lives with her and her second husband. The Daughter is married, pregnant, and does not work. (GG points this out because all three descriptions and situations were the Daughter's choice.) GG's friend, a rather passionate, somewhat dramatically emotional redhead, feels guilty that she was a teenaged, unwed mother from one of the states where inbreeding is considered a legitimate lifestyle choice, so allows the Daughter too much freedom for her situation. The Daughter, who only moved in with GG's friend on the stipulation that her then-boyfriend/occasional lover be allowed to move in with her, recently became pregnant. At her wedding, oblivious to the financial difficulties of her mother and stepfather, the Daughter actually had the nerve to whine, because her belly showed through the A-line gown she had been purchased and, because... Mommmm!!! I wanted tulips, not lilieeeessss.... (To say that the Daughter is a disappointing reminder to GG that life is NOT as lovely as it is in her head, and that people are NOT always the kind, wondrous creatures she tends to view them as is... well, a given.)
On to the soapbox moment....
This past weekend, GG and a group of her (very cool, amazingly generous) co-workers traveled not so great distances into Downtown, to help serve at a local soup kitchen. It was an amazing experience! The people were kind, the service warmly received, and GG and two or three new friends have already made plans to return on Thanksgiving and Christmas.
According to a volunteer at the shelter, they will serve over 1500 people on Thanksgiving Day alone... Seeing the impressive, tangible need, GG was deeply, passionately touched... Knowing that there was only enough food for the day to feed roughly 70 people and 100 showed up seems fundamentally wrong. The fact that it's avoidable and could be changed if those with more would give more, or learn to live with less, infuriates this Geek past the point of articulation. So... there is GG and intrepid team, getting so much more back than they had given, and grateful for the opportunity to do so.
Meanwhile.... across Town....there is a baby shower going on, welcoming this new life growing inside the Daughter. Gifts upon gifts upon gifts are being opened... food is splayed, drinks flowing like lies from a politician's tongue.... there is much joy and merriment, and it was, GG is sure, a lovely little get-together... except that there are so many gifts.... and they keep coming.... for 15 minutes... then 30... an hour... then 2.... and more... All have to be opened and adored..... proper homage to be paid before the next is received, cooed over... presented....
What lessens the merriment of this experience for GG is.... this joy is not for the child - it is for things made of dust and earth, not lasting as long as a thought. They will used, yes, of course, but will they be truly appreciated? What will the child gain from this overabundance? Will she understand that things are just... things, but that souls, people are divine? Will she get that there is more to life than the newest, latest, greatest? Or will this materialistic existance jade her eyes, numb her soul, so that she thinks happiness is ownership, and those who have not... are worth naught?
This... this is why GG prays.
GG would humbly request that you donate food, time, clothing, anything you can spare as often as possible to the most worthy causes listed below. It doesn't matter who you are or where you live, you can be of benefit to someone, somewhere... and perhaps someday... we can all live free.
www.salvationarmy.org
www.habitat.org
www.worldvision.org
www.shoesfororphansouls.com
www.redcross.org
www.amnesty.org
To which I replied:
This is always a difficult thing for me: How do you criticize someone who receives your charity? But how can you not?
It's not really charity if it comes with strings attached, is it? You're not really asking the person you're giving to to simper and grovel, are you?
But if you set no conditions, and no limits, those who benefit from your generosity will abuse it, or become obnoxious on account of feeling guilty for "owing" you so much.
I saw a little of that this summer, when my teenaged son's friends were hanging out at our place for days on end. They were delighted to have a place they could sit around and talk, make out and get silly, and not have to fear being rousted by the management or the police. But when it got so we never had the place to ourselves, and so few of our guests made any effort to clean up the mess they created, the novelty of all that company faded.
And then came the night one of them asked me to cook him something to eat. Oy.
It's made more difficult for me, because I don't take the conventional Christian approach, that charity is entirely an "extra", which you may feel free to withhold for no reason and incur no penalty. I incline more to the Jewish doctrine that charity is an obligation that cannot lightly be shirked.
So yes, GG's friend's daughter is a boor and a parasite, but I really don't know what, if anything, GG can honorably do, or even say, about the subject.
Sunday, September 19, 2004
Jake's Here
Kathe's son Jake, one of what I tend to call "the first crop" (the four biological children she had with her first husband, later followed by four adopted and one "informally adopted"), has come to stay with us. It's good to have him here.
Originally, he was coming to help with reshingling the roof (a daunting task with a roof as steep as ours). With Kathe still settling in with her new hip, it's even better to have him here.
Originally, he was coming to help with reshingling the roof (a daunting task with a roof as steep as ours). With Kathe still settling in with her new hip, it's even better to have him here.
It's Simple Economics
If you don't supply people with something they are demanding (say, records of what you did or didn't do during most of 1972-3), then someone else will.
Saturday, September 18, 2004
Kathe has a New Hip (Again)
She fell and fractured her remaining natural hip, and had to have emergency surgery. It seems to have gone well, with her new joint functioning adequately. If all goes well, she'll be coming home today.
Friday, September 17, 2004
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
Memos: Fake Contents: ?
If the memos are fraudulent, then why was the Bush campaign silent on the matter for so long? Can it be because Bush wasn't sure if they were fake or not?
The secretary of the alleged author of the memos says that they reflect what he was saying around the office (probably with language a good deal more colorful) about the spoiled rich boys in the Champagne Squadron generally and young George specifically.
The idea of fake documents with geniune contents is a bit head-spinning, but hey.
Meanwhile, the more important question of whether the little weasel deserves your vote remains open. At least, for some people it's still open.
The secretary of the alleged author of the memos says that they reflect what he was saying around the office (probably with language a good deal more colorful) about the spoiled rich boys in the Champagne Squadron generally and young George specifically.
The idea of fake documents with geniune contents is a bit head-spinning, but hey.
Meanwhile, the more important question of whether the little weasel deserves your vote remains open. At least, for some people it's still open.
Monday, September 13, 2004
In It For the Long Haul
The Sunday Corvallis Gazette-Times says that the daily 5:00 PM peace vigil in front of hte Benton County Courthouse is the longest-running in the country, dating back to October 7th, 2001 (the dfay the U.S. invaded Afghanistan).
I have only been present for the event a few times. Usually, I rub people's shoulders as they stand there, rather than hold up a sign myself.
But in any event, I wouldn't have been there back in 2001, because I didn't agree with them about Afghanistan.
Remember, please, it was a whole different war from Iraq. That was a government that really was collaborating closely with al Qaeda. And it didn't help matters that it was a government that made Saddam Hussein's regime look like a bastion of human rights.
Invading Afghanistan was the closest thing we'd had to a just cause for war since Pearl Harbor. I didn't go running around in a "Nuke Kabul" T-shirt, but I also didn't protest the invasion. I stood silent and prayed it would be over quickly.
The first part was blessedly quick. And the rest of the story (ending the small-scale fighting around the country, rebuilding what had been destroyed and building what they had never gotten around to) should have been quick and successful.
Unfortunately, the Administration had other priorities.
Afghanistan was unfinished business, and I might well have supported the overthrow of the Taliban some time in the 1990s (Bill Clinton might have done it, if he hadn't been busy with attacks on him from another corner).
Saddam Hussein, supported and sustained in power for many years by Ronald Reagan and Bush the Elected, was also unfinished business, and I might even have supported some well-constructed scheme to overthrow him and assist the people of Iraq in quickly rebuilding their country. But by 2002, we had other matters that should have been attended to first: rebuilding Afghanistan (you broke it, you bought it), capturing Osama bin Laden, shutting down al Qaeda cells around the world. Instead, Bush sent the military and the CIA haring off into Iraq, and we all know how well that worked out.
I was among those who opposed Mr. Bush's adventure in Iraq, and history has proven us correct. I continue to hope that the consequences of this immense blunder can be dealt with, that a Kerry Administration can clean up the mess Bush is leaving behind, and that some good can be salvaged from it.
I have only been present for the event a few times. Usually, I rub people's shoulders as they stand there, rather than hold up a sign myself.
But in any event, I wouldn't have been there back in 2001, because I didn't agree with them about Afghanistan.
Remember, please, it was a whole different war from Iraq. That was a government that really was collaborating closely with al Qaeda. And it didn't help matters that it was a government that made Saddam Hussein's regime look like a bastion of human rights.
Invading Afghanistan was the closest thing we'd had to a just cause for war since Pearl Harbor. I didn't go running around in a "Nuke Kabul" T-shirt, but I also didn't protest the invasion. I stood silent and prayed it would be over quickly.
The first part was blessedly quick. And the rest of the story (ending the small-scale fighting around the country, rebuilding what had been destroyed and building what they had never gotten around to) should have been quick and successful.
Unfortunately, the Administration had other priorities.
Afghanistan was unfinished business, and I might well have supported the overthrow of the Taliban some time in the 1990s (Bill Clinton might have done it, if he hadn't been busy with attacks on him from another corner).
Saddam Hussein, supported and sustained in power for many years by Ronald Reagan and Bush the Elected, was also unfinished business, and I might even have supported some well-constructed scheme to overthrow him and assist the people of Iraq in quickly rebuilding their country. But by 2002, we had other matters that should have been attended to first: rebuilding Afghanistan (you broke it, you bought it), capturing Osama bin Laden, shutting down al Qaeda cells around the world. Instead, Bush sent the military and the CIA haring off into Iraq, and we all know how well that worked out.
I was among those who opposed Mr. Bush's adventure in Iraq, and history has proven us correct. I continue to hope that the consequences of this immense blunder can be dealt with, that a Kerry Administration can clean up the mess Bush is leaving behind, and that some good can be salvaged from it.
Sunday, September 12, 2004
Andrea Came By
My friend Andrea was in town the other day. I'm so glad.
She was a massage client for years, and became a good friend. It was a bummer when she moved to New Jersey. And then she moved to Germany, and got married . . . !
But recently, her husband came into a small inheritance, and they made a trip to the U.S. She got to see family and friends in various places around the country, she got to show off her husband and baby to everybody, and her husband got to see places he hadn't been before.
We met for lunch, Andrea and Bjorn and little Dominick and John and Kathe. Nearly Normal's is a swell organix restaurant, loaded with hippie charm. Definitely one of the best restaurants in Corvallis.
Afterward, Andrea got a massage. She told me that in Germany she couldn't find the kind of massage common over here, a full hour from head to toe. A physicla therapist will give you fifteen minutes on your legs while working on a particular problem, but that wasn't what she wanted. Well, at least she got one more treatment from me.
And maybe we can set up another one in another three or four years. Who knows . . . .
She was a massage client for years, and became a good friend. It was a bummer when she moved to New Jersey. And then she moved to Germany, and got married . . . !
But recently, her husband came into a small inheritance, and they made a trip to the U.S. She got to see family and friends in various places around the country, she got to show off her husband and baby to everybody, and her husband got to see places he hadn't been before.
We met for lunch, Andrea and Bjorn and little Dominick and John and Kathe. Nearly Normal's is a swell organix restaurant, loaded with hippie charm. Definitely one of the best restaurants in Corvallis.
Afterward, Andrea got a massage. She told me that in Germany she couldn't find the kind of massage common over here, a full hour from head to toe. A physicla therapist will give you fifteen minutes on your legs while working on a particular problem, but that wasn't what she wanted. Well, at least she got one more treatment from me.
And maybe we can set up another one in another three or four years. Who knows . . . .
Saturday, September 11, 2004
A Day to Remember
The day I want to remember is September 11th, 1994, the day that Tesfaye, Asnakech and Mestowet Desta got off that plane at Portland International Airport, to join their new family. By a happy coincidence, September 11th was also the Ethiopian New Year.
Less happy coincidence eventually followed, of course.
Three years ago, I called the girls, Asnakech and Mestowet, at their apartment in Portland and told them that they should not let anybody take away *their* day.
And I still say, we should of course observe the anniversary in appropriate fashion, but we should keep it in perspective in both directions:
1) Don't let the bastards take even one day of the year away from us, to be used solely to remember what they did -- they'd like that too much.
2) Don't leave remembrance and thoughtful action for just one day -- continue to be vigilant against all the wreckers (the terrorists, and the people who would use the fear of terror as an excuse to implement the terrorists' own agenda).
//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "Love is stronger than hate."\\
Less happy coincidence eventually followed, of course.
Three years ago, I called the girls, Asnakech and Mestowet, at their apartment in Portland and told them that they should not let anybody take away *their* day.
And I still say, we should of course observe the anniversary in appropriate fashion, but we should keep it in perspective in both directions:
1) Don't let the bastards take even one day of the year away from us, to be used solely to remember what they did -- they'd like that too much.
2) Don't leave remembrance and thoughtful action for just one day -- continue to be vigilant against all the wreckers (the terrorists, and the people who would use the fear of terror as an excuse to implement the terrorists' own agenda).
//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "Love is stronger than hate."\\
Wednesday, September 08, 2004
Fair and Balanced
The terribly liberal media have given five times as much coverage (4199 stories vs. 808) to the Swift Boat Republicans as they have to the controversy over Bush's military records.
This in spite of the fact that the boat boys were debunked almost immediately, while serious questions about Bush's activities are still going unanswered.
Yep, that liberal media bias is just terrible.
This in spite of the fact that the boat boys were debunked almost immediately, while serious questions about Bush's activities are still going unanswered.
Yep, that liberal media bias is just terrible.
Tuesday, September 07, 2004
I Heard Al Franken on the Radio This Morning
He wasn't being funny.
He said bluntly, "This administration has blood on its hands."
Basically, what I've been saying all along: that no matter how richly Saddam Hussein deserved to be deposed, invading Iraq while Afghanistan was still in chaos was criminally negligent.
Criminally negligent homicide.
If you are a U.S. citizen, please register to vote and vote for John Kerry.
BECAUSE HE ISN'T BUSH.
He said bluntly, "This administration has blood on its hands."
Basically, what I've been saying all along: that no matter how richly Saddam Hussein deserved to be deposed, invading Iraq while Afghanistan was still in chaos was criminally negligent.
Criminally negligent homicide.
If you are a U.S. citizen, please register to vote and vote for John Kerry.
BECAUSE HE ISN'T BUSH.
Sunday, September 05, 2004
Infertility Bites
I have just discovered a blog, In the Barren Season ( http://www.inthebarrenseason.blogspot.com ), in which a Jewish woman using the name Persephone records her thoughts about her ongoing treatment for infertility. I find its content very interesting.
I have always found the operations of the human reproductive system fascinating, both at the biological end and also the human end. At the end of this month, I embark on the third of three anatomy and physiology courses which are prerequisites to an application to nursing school, and it will be part 3 which will include the reproductive system. I'm looking forward to it.
My wife and I did ourselves endure infertility, which has now responded to treatment, once by PA and three times by TN/TRA (private adoption and transnational/transracial adoption).
Adoption is not 100% effective, and the failures can be every bit as painful as miscarriage or abortion, but it has a better success rate than any other treatment I know of, fewer side effects and (usually) lower costs.
I have always found the operations of the human reproductive system fascinating, both at the biological end and also the human end. At the end of this month, I embark on the third of three anatomy and physiology courses which are prerequisites to an application to nursing school, and it will be part 3 which will include the reproductive system. I'm looking forward to it.
My wife and I did ourselves endure infertility, which has now responded to treatment, once by PA and three times by TN/TRA (private adoption and transnational/transracial adoption).
Adoption is not 100% effective, and the failures can be every bit as painful as miscarriage or abortion, but it has a better success rate than any other treatment I know of, fewer side effects and (usually) lower costs.
Saturday, September 04, 2004
www.us-election.org
I had a swell time voting at www.us-election.org, probably more than I'm going to have in the real election.
us-election.org allows people who are not US citizens to vote in the next American Presidential election and is filled with information about all of the candidates -- and they really do mean ALL the candidates, not just those two Republicrats.
I was going to vote for the one woman running for President, but her platform was just too creepy, a right-wing nightmare. Same for the black guy, who's an orthodox Stalinist. I thought about voting for the Hispanic guy (Socialist Workers Party), but in the end voted for one of the Anglo dudes (Personal Choice Party) out of a nostalgic fondness for his running mate, Marilyn Chambers Taylor.
I know that you may wonder why you should vote in the US election, since your vote will not affect the results. That is true, but it may nevertheless be useful for Americans to understand how we feel about their choices. The choices Americans make affect us all, so even if we have no legal right to participate in their election, they should know how we feel.
The results can be viewed immediately on the site and right up to the election day of November 2. They can be viewed country-by-country as well as region-by-region. All you have to do is go to
http://www.us-election.org
and register your vote. It's easy.
Then, once you have voted, pass the word on to as many of your friends as might be interested. Really, voting with a full slate of candidates is fun, and will make you wish that all of these goofballs were on your ballot, even if that would make the ballot look like a voter's pamphlet, and the voters' pamphlet look like a phone book.
us-election.org allows people who are not US citizens to vote in the next American Presidential election and is filled with information about all of the candidates -- and they really do mean ALL the candidates, not just those two Republicrats.
I was going to vote for the one woman running for President, but her platform was just too creepy, a right-wing nightmare. Same for the black guy, who's an orthodox Stalinist. I thought about voting for the Hispanic guy (Socialist Workers Party), but in the end voted for one of the Anglo dudes (Personal Choice Party) out of a nostalgic fondness for his running mate, Marilyn Chambers Taylor.
I know that you may wonder why you should vote in the US election, since your vote will not affect the results. That is true, but it may nevertheless be useful for Americans to understand how we feel about their choices. The choices Americans make affect us all, so even if we have no legal right to participate in their election, they should know how we feel.
The results can be viewed immediately on the site and right up to the election day of November 2. They can be viewed country-by-country as well as region-by-region. All you have to do is go to
http://www.us-election.org
and register your vote. It's easy.
Then, once you have voted, pass the word on to as many of your friends as might be interested. Really, voting with a full slate of candidates is fun, and will make you wish that all of these goofballs were on your ballot, even if that would make the ballot look like a voter's pamphlet, and the voters' pamphlet look like a phone book.
Wednesday, September 01, 2004
Dear Governor Bush
Governor Jeb Bush
PL 05 The Capitol
400 South Monroe Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001
Governor:
Even here in Oregon, we have heard about how your Department of Law Enforcement is trying to intimidate elderly black voters.
See? The whole world really is watching.
John M. Burt
960 SW Jefferson Avenue
Corvallis, Oregon 97333
PL 05 The Capitol
400 South Monroe Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001
Governor:
Even here in Oregon, we have heard about how your Department of Law Enforcement is trying to intimidate elderly black voters.
See? The whole world really is watching.
John M. Burt
960 SW Jefferson Avenue
Corvallis, Oregon 97333
Tuesday, August 31, 2004
Firepit Lessons
Things I learned, or was due to be reminded of, by the firepit that my son Waldy dug in the back yard so his friends could hang out around it:
** If you just dig a hole in the dirt, the fire will eventually burn away the dirt and sink deeper and deeper into the ground. That's why you should go to the sand and gravel store and buy a bucket of sand.
** Although sand and gravel stores are mainly in business to sell truckloads, they don't mind selling you one measly little bucket, since they can get a dollar for a teensy little scoop of sand.
** People like to sit around a fire, even if it is a warm night and there are bright artificial lights nearby.
** The temptation is great to build up a fire to a really ridiculous size, especially if you aren't paying for the firewood.
** When you hose down the fire for the night, the sand will be hot enough to keep the water boiling merrily for a surprisingly long time.
** Small scraps of firewood can be obtained by just keeping an eye out while you walk around town.
** Sooner or later, somebody will arrive carrying a wooden pallet, fencepost or something else that's obviously not "from a dumpster" like they say.
** A young person who has finally broken free of parental authority has a hard time with the concept that anybody ever has the authority to tell them not to do something -- even the owner of a place where they are a guest, even if the something is actually illegal.
** Sooner or later, you have to tell everybody that the party's over -- for the night, or for the summer.
** If you just dig a hole in the dirt, the fire will eventually burn away the dirt and sink deeper and deeper into the ground. That's why you should go to the sand and gravel store and buy a bucket of sand.
** Although sand and gravel stores are mainly in business to sell truckloads, they don't mind selling you one measly little bucket, since they can get a dollar for a teensy little scoop of sand.
** People like to sit around a fire, even if it is a warm night and there are bright artificial lights nearby.
** The temptation is great to build up a fire to a really ridiculous size, especially if you aren't paying for the firewood.
** When you hose down the fire for the night, the sand will be hot enough to keep the water boiling merrily for a surprisingly long time.
** Small scraps of firewood can be obtained by just keeping an eye out while you walk around town.
** Sooner or later, somebody will arrive carrying a wooden pallet, fencepost or something else that's obviously not "from a dumpster" like they say.
** A young person who has finally broken free of parental authority has a hard time with the concept that anybody ever has the authority to tell them not to do something -- even the owner of a place where they are a guest, even if the something is actually illegal.
** Sooner or later, you have to tell everybody that the party's over -- for the night, or for the summer.
Monday, August 30, 2004
The Party's Over
The other day, Kathe-my-sweetie put up signs on the front door and by the entrance to the back yard, warning that only those of us who actually live here are allowed to walk in unannounced.
It makes me sad, but I knew it was inevitable. Besides, it hasn't been all that uncommon for the kids to do any number of stupid and inconvenient things while we weren't watching.
So, we'll have the house back. That should make for a pleasant change.
It makes me sad, but I knew it was inevitable. Besides, it hasn't been all that uncommon for the kids to do any number of stupid and inconvenient things while we weren't watching.
So, we'll have the house back. That should make for a pleasant change.
Friday, August 27, 2004
Republicans for Not-Bush
I don't think John Kerry appeals to Republicans the way Jimmy Carter did in 1976, but I do think that there are a substantial number of Republicans who loathe George W. Bush the way they did Nixon.
All the ones who take seriously all that talk about limited government and fiscal responsibility, a humbler foreign policy and a distrust of Big Projects like nation-building.
In other words, the ones who actually believed Bush's campaign platform of 2000.
All the ones who take seriously all that talk about limited government and fiscal responsibility, a humbler foreign policy and a distrust of Big Projects like nation-building.
In other words, the ones who actually believed Bush's campaign platform of 2000.
Thursday, August 26, 2004
One More Yahoo Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aortic_stenosis
I created it, like similar groups devoted to the pineal gland and hemochromatosis, just as a convenient format for a presentation in my Anatomy & Physiology class, but now I have a new member who has joined the group looking for information about aortic stenosis, so maybe I should keep the group around for awhile.
In anout ten hours comes the final. Really, I should be doing last-minute studying. I guess that makes this blog a work-avoidance tactic. Yeah, maybe so.
I created it, like similar groups devoted to the pineal gland and hemochromatosis, just as a convenient format for a presentation in my Anatomy & Physiology class, but now I have a new member who has joined the group looking for information about aortic stenosis, so maybe I should keep the group around for awhile.
In anout ten hours comes the final. Really, I should be doing last-minute studying. I guess that makes this blog a work-avoidance tactic. Yeah, maybe so.
Wednesday, August 25, 2004
Accusations of Atrocity
Just what kind of black hole is Abu Ghraib?
Every report is worse than the last.
"Almost like torture."
"Meets the legal definition of torture."
"Tortured so badly they died."
"Children tortured."
Children tortured.
And still, the Bushists insist it wasn't all that bad. Not real bad. Not serious bad. Not somebody gets fired bad. Not criminal charges bad. Not vote for Kerry bad.
Jesus W. Christ, Jr.
What does it take?
Every report is worse than the last.
"Almost like torture."
"Meets the legal definition of torture."
"Tortured so badly they died."
"Children tortured."
Children tortured.
And still, the Bushists insist it wasn't all that bad. Not real bad. Not serious bad. Not somebody gets fired bad. Not criminal charges bad. Not vote for Kerry bad.
Jesus W. Christ, Jr.
What does it take?
Tuesday, August 24, 2004
Term Ending
Just two more meetings of my Anatomy & Physiology class, and then it will be over.
Just like that, over. All done with.
And then a month off until the third A&P course.
Still no indication of whether any of this work will get me into nurse school.
And why do they make it so hard to get into the nursing program, if there's such a terrible shortage of nurses?
Also in the news: I've been working on my rock garden / mosaic alongside the porch, trying to make the potsherds and marbles look more like a work of art and less like a smallish spill.
I bought a bucket of river rock from a sand and gravel place, or as it's commonly known in this family, a dirt store. I appreciate the dirt seller taking the time to assist me with my measly little one-bucket purchase, when they're really in business to sell truckloads.
I'm sorting the rocks by color, making big patches of red, blue, yellow, &c. Of course, they all look sort of gray when they're dry. Maybe I shoudl oil them, or varnish them, something like that.
Just like that, over. All done with.
And then a month off until the third A&P course.
Still no indication of whether any of this work will get me into nurse school.
And why do they make it so hard to get into the nursing program, if there's such a terrible shortage of nurses?
Also in the news: I've been working on my rock garden / mosaic alongside the porch, trying to make the potsherds and marbles look more like a work of art and less like a smallish spill.
I bought a bucket of river rock from a sand and gravel place, or as it's commonly known in this family, a dirt store. I appreciate the dirt seller taking the time to assist me with my measly little one-bucket purchase, when they're really in business to sell truckloads.
I'm sorting the rocks by color, making big patches of red, blue, yellow, &c. Of course, they all look sort of gray when they're dry. Maybe I shoudl oil them, or varnish them, something like that.
Sunday, August 22, 2004
Dangerous Minds
Does anybody out there know anything about a group called Dangerous Minds?
They came to Corvallis the other night and gave an "educational presentation" in which they essentially told an audience of teenagers that everything bad they'd ever heard about anarchism (violence, thieving, self-indulgence) was true -- yee ha.
It would be good if some real anarchists could try to give the kids a little perspective on this, to explain some of the ethical and moral principles behind anarchism, and show them some of the good that anartchists have done in the world.
At the very least, they need to be told that if all they want out of life is to abuse innocent people and live parasitically off what others produce, corporations and bureaucracies will welcome them with open arms.
They came to Corvallis the other night and gave an "educational presentation" in which they essentially told an audience of teenagers that everything bad they'd ever heard about anarchism (violence, thieving, self-indulgence) was true -- yee ha.
It would be good if some real anarchists could try to give the kids a little perspective on this, to explain some of the ethical and moral principles behind anarchism, and show them some of the good that anartchists have done in the world.
At the very least, they need to be told that if all they want out of life is to abuse innocent people and live parasitically off what others produce, corporations and bureaucracies will welcome them with open arms.
Friday, August 20, 2004
Boob Job
A woman opined to me today that she could never imagine getting breast implants under any circumstances.
I pointed out that some women have profoundly lopsided breasts due to abnormal development, or weird-looking constricted or "tubular" breasts, or have abnormal breasts due to disease or the treatment of disease.
Her reply surpised me at first: "I'd just have them removed. I think I'd look good without breasts."
But you know, I think she would. Better than she'd look with Pamelas, certainly.
I pointed out that some women have profoundly lopsided breasts due to abnormal development, or weird-looking constricted or "tubular" breasts, or have abnormal breasts due to disease or the treatment of disease.
Her reply surpised me at first: "I'd just have them removed. I think I'd look good without breasts."
But you know, I think she would. Better than she'd look with Pamelas, certainly.
An Over-The-Top Thriller
I'm getting the crteepy feeling that the career of Hugo Chavez is a work of fiction, specifically a cheesy, overblown thriller based on the events of Bill Clinton's Presidency.
The author set the story of a leftist head of state beseiged by right-wing elements who will do anything to bring him down in a foreign country in order to make the attacks more direct and destructive (a coup d'etat, a national recall plebiscite).
Not the first time I felt like I was living in a work of fiction.
The author set the story of a leftist head of state beseiged by right-wing elements who will do anything to bring him down in a foreign country in order to make the attacks more direct and destructive (a coup d'etat, a national recall plebiscite).
Not the first time I felt like I was living in a work of fiction.
Wednesday, August 18, 2004
Silence = Endorsement
"This message was paid for by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth."
"I'm George W. Bush, and I approve this message."
"This message was paid for by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth."
"I'm George W. Bush, and I respectfully decline to approve this message."
He won't do either one, of course.
He lacks the character, integrity and moral courage to do either one.
"I'm George W. Bush, and I approve this message."
"This message was paid for by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth."
"I'm George W. Bush, and I respectfully decline to approve this message."
He won't do either one, of course.
He lacks the character, integrity and moral courage to do either one.
Monday, August 16, 2004
Rock Garden
Some years ago, my daughters Michu and Biftu created garden beds alongside the front porch, bordered with bricks and planted with various ornamentals. In recent years, they've been pretty much ignored, even before the girls moved away.
Meanwhile, a couple of houses in our neighborhood have acquired gorgeous gardens consisting primarily of inanimate objects, running heavily to potsherds, burnt-out headlights and other objects that can be made to lie more or less flat.
Now I have converted one of the girls' old beds, giving it a layer of sand over the dirt, and spreading various materials over it: a spill of red clay flowerpot fragments, a handful of shards from a painted pot, fragments of a broken cinderblock, the bed of marbles that had once formed the base for a floral arrangement.
Today, Kathe and I were walking downtown when we happened upon a place where ther facade of a building had been removed, preparatory to putting on a new facade, and saw remnants of the facade before last, which had included big slabs of black glass. We salvaged some small chunks of the glass, and now there's another little shoal, amongst the other fragments.
I thought about putting down a spill of pennies, but I thought that might activate people's wishing-well circuits, and they'd be throwing in coins of their own.
Meanwhile, a couple of houses in our neighborhood have acquired gorgeous gardens consisting primarily of inanimate objects, running heavily to potsherds, burnt-out headlights and other objects that can be made to lie more or less flat.
Now I have converted one of the girls' old beds, giving it a layer of sand over the dirt, and spreading various materials over it: a spill of red clay flowerpot fragments, a handful of shards from a painted pot, fragments of a broken cinderblock, the bed of marbles that had once formed the base for a floral arrangement.
Today, Kathe and I were walking downtown when we happened upon a place where ther facade of a building had been removed, preparatory to putting on a new facade, and saw remnants of the facade before last, which had included big slabs of black glass. We salvaged some small chunks of the glass, and now there's another little shoal, amongst the other fragments.
I thought about putting down a spill of pennies, but I thought that might activate people's wishing-well circuits, and they'd be throwing in coins of their own.
Sunday, August 15, 2004
Summertime Idyll
With the street torn up out in front, we're a good deal more isolated than we used to be. With no traffic going by out in front, it feels as though we were living in a cul-de-sac.
My 15-year-old son Waldy dug a firepit in the back yard, and his friends have been coming over and hanging out around the fire for much of the summer.
Tonight, it's actually cool enough for the fire to be something more than a frivolous prop.
Fall is coming. The Oregon State students will be back, bringing with them noise and traffic and money. The busy but enjoyable nights when it seemed all the punky kids in Corvallis were in our back yard and our kitchen will end. I'm going to remember this summer fondly.
My 15-year-old son Waldy dug a firepit in the back yard, and his friends have been coming over and hanging out around the fire for much of the summer.
Tonight, it's actually cool enough for the fire to be something more than a frivolous prop.
Fall is coming. The Oregon State students will be back, bringing with them noise and traffic and money. The busy but enjoyable nights when it seemed all the punky kids in Corvallis were in our back yard and our kitchen will end. I'm going to remember this summer fondly.
Thursday, August 12, 2004
No on 9 . . . 13 . . . 36 . . . .
The anti-marriage amendment to the Oregon constitution is nothing too surprising. Certainly nothing new. There's an organization in Oregon, it used to be in the news all the time: the Oregon Citizens' Alliance.
Every year or so, they'd have a new ballot measure, trying to find some way to stick it to the faggots. None of them passed, but they did have one lasting effect: anti-gay crime always rose during an OCA campaign.
I am not looking forward to the Measyre 36 capaign. People are going to die because of it.
Every year or so, they'd have a new ballot measure, trying to find some way to stick it to the faggots. None of them passed, but they did have one lasting effect: anti-gay crime always rose during an OCA campaign.
I am not looking forward to the Measyre 36 capaign. People are going to die because of it.
Wednesday, August 11, 2004
Going to School
I'm taking courses at Linn-Benton Community College ( http://www.linnbenton.edu ), hoping to get into their nursing program. Right now, I'm in BI232, Anatomy & Physiology II.
Yesterday, I gave a presentation on the pineal gland, which was fun because of all the silly nonsense people have posted online about the "third eye" (fnord). I set up my presentation in the form of a Yahoo! group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pinealgland . That was fun.
Today I do another presentation, this time on hemochromatosis, in the same format: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/newhemochromatosisgroup . HC is a subject rather closer to my heart, since my dear Kathe suffers from it herself.
Setting up Yahoo! groups is fun, and easy enough that even one as inept as myself can manage it.
Yesterday, I gave a presentation on the pineal gland, which was fun because of all the silly nonsense people have posted online about the "third eye" (fnord). I set up my presentation in the form of a Yahoo! group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pinealgland . That was fun.
Today I do another presentation, this time on hemochromatosis, in the same format: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/newhemochromatosisgroup . HC is a subject rather closer to my heart, since my dear Kathe suffers from it herself.
Setting up Yahoo! groups is fun, and easy enough that even one as inept as myself can manage it.
Tuesday, August 10, 2004
Happy Birthday
It's my birthday. I'm 44. I'm coming up fast on my 20th wedding anniversary, too.
Looking back on it, I wish I could go back to there, to the summer of 1984, when I sat at Kathe's kitchen table with all five of her kids (including two now deceased), and played Anomaly with several incomplete decks of cards mixed together. And five kings of spades.
Since going back to then is not actually an option, I guess I can settle for being very, very glad that I have spent the last 20 years here at Blackberry House, with Kathe, and that if they have produced nothing else worthy of note, there are those four swell kids (all still living) we raised together,
Looking back on it, I wish I could go back to there, to the summer of 1984, when I sat at Kathe's kitchen table with all five of her kids (including two now deceased), and played Anomaly with several incomplete decks of cards mixed together. And five kings of spades.
Since going back to then is not actually an option, I guess I can settle for being very, very glad that I have spent the last 20 years here at Blackberry House, with Kathe, and that if they have produced nothing else worthy of note, there are those four swell kids (all still living) we raised together,
Monday, August 09, 2004
August Ninth
9 August 1945 -- Nagasaki bombed
9 August 1974 -- Nixon resigns
What will 9 August 2004 for be remembered for? Well, probably nothing, but you never know.
9 August 1974 -- Nixon resigns
What will 9 August 2004 for be remembered for? Well, probably nothing, but you never know.
Sunday, August 08, 2004
They're Going to be Sorry
In 1859, the constitution of the new state of Oregon provided that no person of Afrcian descent could reside in Oregon, on pain of flogging. The provision was never enforced (neithe ron black people living here already, nor those entering the state), but it reamined in the text of the Constitution, an embarrassment, until it was removed in the 1920s.
The people of Missouri now find themselves in a similiar situation, with same-sex marriage prohibited.
It may happen in thirty years, or ten, or five, but one day the people of Missouri will have to shoulder the embarrassing chore of repealing that amendment. They're not going to enjoy the task.
This November, Oregon will be invited to jump off the same bridge. I can hardly wait.
The people of Missouri now find themselves in a similiar situation, with same-sex marriage prohibited.
It may happen in thirty years, or ten, or five, but one day the people of Missouri will have to shoulder the embarrassing chore of repealing that amendment. They're not going to enjoy the task.
This November, Oregon will be invited to jump off the same bridge. I can hardly wait.
Wednesday, August 04, 2004
"Friends of Saddam"?
There's a blog called "Friends of Saddam", devoted to denouncing people the author believes deserve that title:
http://www.acepilots.com/unscam
Oddly enough, it doesn't make any mention of Saddam's friends Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, or Donald Rumsfeld. If you don't think Rummy was ever Saddam's friend, look here:
http://www.nyu.edu/globalbeat/index012003.html
http://www.acepilots.com/unscam
Oddly enough, it doesn't make any mention of Saddam's friends Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, or Donald Rumsfeld. If you don't think Rummy was ever Saddam's friend, look here:
http://www.nyu.edu/globalbeat/index012003.html
Tuesday, August 03, 2004
Don't Ask, Won't Tell
Let me see if I have this straight:
1) George W. Bush is running for President based on his glorious, miraculous record as our "war President".
2) Anyone who questions Bush's policies or criticizes his record of performance is unpatriotic and endangering the troops.
Of course, the second part only applies to other people, since Bush himself has never yet admitted to ever making any mistakes at all.
I think it has something to do with his being in a state of grace, within which it is impossible to do or think incorrect things. Certainly, it's been clear for a long time that Bush lives in a space, a universe, very different from ours.
Yep, he's our Warp Resident, all right.
1) George W. Bush is running for President based on his glorious, miraculous record as our "war President".
2) Anyone who questions Bush's policies or criticizes his record of performance is unpatriotic and endangering the troops.
Of course, the second part only applies to other people, since Bush himself has never yet admitted to ever making any mistakes at all.
I think it has something to do with his being in a state of grace, within which it is impossible to do or think incorrect things. Certainly, it's been clear for a long time that Bush lives in a space, a universe, very different from ours.
Yep, he's our Warp Resident, all right.
Saturday, July 31, 2004
Colin Powell
Colin Powell flew to Iraq to let the people know that the foreign occupying power that controls the natural resources of their sovereign and independent nation is spending all that money with only the Iraqi people's best interests at heart.
Really, Mr. Secretary? Do we have your word of honor on that?
*Sigh* That's a very clever comment. It makes me very sad to make it.
Really, Mr. Secretary? Do we have your word of honor on that?
*Sigh* That's a very clever comment. It makes me very sad to make it.
Friday, July 30, 2004
Out in the Yard
My son Walden dug a firepit in the back yard, his friends scavenged abandoned couches, and they made it quite a pleasant place for them to hang out on summer evenings.
Now, with the street in front of the house torn up, there are no cars going by, and almost no foot traffic. So the kids are using it as an extension of the house. It's really quite cozy.
I feel as though I could get used to living on a cul de sac. No wonder the things are so popular.
And I could definitely get used to having the kids hang out here. I like them.
Now, with the street in front of the house torn up, there are no cars going by, and almost no foot traffic. So the kids are using it as an extension of the house. It's really quite cozy.
I feel as though I could get used to living on a cul de sac. No wonder the things are so popular.
And I could definitely get used to having the kids hang out here. I like them.
Tuesday, July 27, 2004
A Serious Concern
Oregon used to have an organization called the Oregon Citizens' Alliance, which ran anti-gay ballot initiatives year after year.
Well, the OCA is still out there, but it's a spent force, hasn't had a measure on the ballot in a good long while.
Now, though, there's a Coalition to Defend Marriage or something like that which has managed to get an anti-gay measure on the ballot.
It won't matter much whether it passes. As with the OCA's measures, it would be thrown out of court at the first challenge.
What causes me serious concern is the grim statistical fact that whenever the OCA was running one of its campaigns, incidence of violent crimes against people perceived to be gay increased dramatically.
You could pretty much count on at least one murder.
How many lives is it worth to "send a message" about the proper place of homosexuals in our society?
Well, the OCA is still out there, but it's a spent force, hasn't had a measure on the ballot in a good long while.
Now, though, there's a Coalition to Defend Marriage or something like that which has managed to get an anti-gay measure on the ballot.
It won't matter much whether it passes. As with the OCA's measures, it would be thrown out of court at the first challenge.
What causes me serious concern is the grim statistical fact that whenever the OCA was running one of its campaigns, incidence of violent crimes against people perceived to be gay increased dramatically.
You could pretty much count on at least one murder.
How many lives is it worth to "send a message" about the proper place of homosexuals in our society?
Monday, July 26, 2004
Kids Need Parents
Studies have shown that children are happier, healthier, get better grades, are less likely to get in trouble with the police, have fewer cavities, &c., if they have a mother and a father.
This piece of news has been widely reported.
Very widely.
Less often mentioned is the fact that children also do better if both of their parents are white.
Apparently, nobody feels a pressing need to make that fact the basis for public policy.
This piece of news has been widely reported.
Very widely.
Less often mentioned is the fact that children also do better if both of their parents are white.
Apparently, nobody feels a pressing need to make that fact the basis for public policy.
Saturday, July 24, 2004
WMD Found in Iraq!
The Iraqi newspaper al Sabah reported on Wednesday that nuclear-tipped missiles had been found in a hidden bunker.
Matt Drudge, of course, repeated the story in his usual breathless fashion.
The report was false, and was quickly discounted.
Matt Drudge has nothing further to say on the matter. Of course.
I finally figured Drudge out: he's the new Jeanne Dixon. He passes on every wild tale he hears (or rather, every wild tale that reflects badly on people who are on Drudge's enemies list), and when, once in a decade, he actually relays somethign that's actually true and newsworthy, he gets credit as a great investigative journalist.
He has standards, of course. Like the National Enquirer, he never actually makes stuff up himself. Someone else has to make the assertion first.
Which does at least put him on a higher level of journalistic integrity than, say, the Bush Views Channel.
Actually, I just checked: not only has Drudge not posted a retraction of his report that Elvis has found WMD, he's even deleted references to it from his web site. Tom Lehrer fans will appreciate *that* gesture.
Matt Drudge, of course, repeated the story in his usual breathless fashion.
The report was false, and was quickly discounted.
Matt Drudge has nothing further to say on the matter. Of course.
I finally figured Drudge out: he's the new Jeanne Dixon. He passes on every wild tale he hears (or rather, every wild tale that reflects badly on people who are on Drudge's enemies list), and when, once in a decade, he actually relays somethign that's actually true and newsworthy, he gets credit as a great investigative journalist.
He has standards, of course. Like the National Enquirer, he never actually makes stuff up himself. Someone else has to make the assertion first.
Which does at least put him on a higher level of journalistic integrity than, say, the Bush Views Channel.
Actually, I just checked: not only has Drudge not posted a retraction of his report that Elvis has found WMD, he's even deleted references to it from his web site. Tom Lehrer fans will appreciate *that* gesture.
Thursday, July 22, 2004
Fair and Balanced
I feel about TV news the way I do about unproven herbal remedies: rather than having the government try to control content, we should empower the government to require clear, honest and complete labelling, and let people decide for themselves what they want to swallow.
MoveOn.org is petitioning the FCC to force Fox "News" Channel to drop the slogan "Fair and Balanced". This is merely a political prank, of course, but it does have a serious point.
http://www.moveon.org
MoveOn.org is petitioning the FCC to force Fox "News" Channel to drop the slogan "Fair and Balanced". This is merely a political prank, of course, but it does have a serious point.
http://www.moveon.org
Tuesday, July 20, 2004
da Vinci Days in Corvallis
The annual da Vinci Days celebration of art and science gets a little smaller and crumbier every year. It makes me sad, and I wonder what the problem is.
This year, they had a row of OSB panels set up, with simple designs painted on them, and the public was invited to add to them with brightly colored paints. A municipal coloring book, in other words.
But, one of the panels wasn't bad -- it showed Nut, the Egyptian goddess of the night sky, arching over the Earth, looked kind of nice, so when I saw the sheet where you could sign up to take a panel home with you, I signed up for it.
And I won, and now I'm working out how to set it up in my massage studio.
Only thing is, somebody apparently didn't recognize the figure as representing the night sky, so her body is yellow-orange, and her stars are red, blue and yellow, which leaves her looking like a second-string superhero flying through the blue-black night. Weird.
But I kind of like it.
This year, they had a row of OSB panels set up, with simple designs painted on them, and the public was invited to add to them with brightly colored paints. A municipal coloring book, in other words.
But, one of the panels wasn't bad -- it showed Nut, the Egyptian goddess of the night sky, arching over the Earth, looked kind of nice, so when I saw the sheet where you could sign up to take a panel home with you, I signed up for it.
And I won, and now I'm working out how to set it up in my massage studio.
Only thing is, somebody apparently didn't recognize the figure as representing the night sky, so her body is yellow-orange, and her stars are red, blue and yellow, which leaves her looking like a second-string superhero flying through the blue-black night. Weird.
But I kind of like it.
Thursday, July 15, 2004
My New T-Shirt
Actually, it's not new -- I bought a package of white T-shirts months ago.
What's new is, it has bnow been decorated with red, blue and black Sharpies, and now bears the proud political statement:
Kerry '04 -- He's not Bush!
*Shrug* That about sums it up.
What's new is, it has bnow been decorated with red, blue and black Sharpies, and now bears the proud political statement:
Kerry '04 -- He's not Bush!
*Shrug* That about sums it up.
Wednesday, July 14, 2004
It's Easy to Get Discouraged
This is not a happy time. This war stinks.
But it's the only war we've got.
It was years before I understood what that phrase means, that it wasn't just cynical nonsense.
Everybody wishes they were fighting World War II -- preferably as the Allies.
You could make a case that the current idiocy is the result of W wanting to re-enact Daddy's war (or Daddy's war as seen in Uncle Ron's movies), cramming the real 21st Century world into his fantasy template, ignoring how bad the fit was.
I feel sorry for W. I really do. It must be hell, going through life never actually accomplishing anything, wishing you could be a real aviator like Daddy, or a real businessman like Daddy, or a real politician like Daddy, or get elected President like Daddy, only to have it always go wrong somehow -- getting into flight school with Daddy's help and going through the motions until you wash out, having to be bailed out by Daddy's friends, letting Daddy's friends buy you a ceremonial seat, letting Bro's political machine steal the Presidency for you.
Honestly, it must hurt a lot. Evne those of us who have stood up on our own and lived our own lives know the feeling: the nagging suspicion that we're just playing grown-up, that the real grown-ups will notice at any moment what we're doing and step in.
I do feel sorry for W, and I shudder to think of how he may fall to pieces at any moment under the burden he carries.
Just one more reason to get him away from that big desk.
But it's the only war we've got.
It was years before I understood what that phrase means, that it wasn't just cynical nonsense.
Everybody wishes they were fighting World War II -- preferably as the Allies.
You could make a case that the current idiocy is the result of W wanting to re-enact Daddy's war (or Daddy's war as seen in Uncle Ron's movies), cramming the real 21st Century world into his fantasy template, ignoring how bad the fit was.
I feel sorry for W. I really do. It must be hell, going through life never actually accomplishing anything, wishing you could be a real aviator like Daddy, or a real businessman like Daddy, or a real politician like Daddy, or get elected President like Daddy, only to have it always go wrong somehow -- getting into flight school with Daddy's help and going through the motions until you wash out, having to be bailed out by Daddy's friends, letting Daddy's friends buy you a ceremonial seat, letting Bro's political machine steal the Presidency for you.
Honestly, it must hurt a lot. Evne those of us who have stood up on our own and lived our own lives know the feeling: the nagging suspicion that we're just playing grown-up, that the real grown-ups will notice at any moment what we're doing and step in.
I do feel sorry for W, and I shudder to think of how he may fall to pieces at any moment under the burden he carries.
Just one more reason to get him away from that big desk.
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