Ah, this wonderful world of conspiracy theories we live in!
I was delighted to see that Colin Powell on ABC came out and blasted the Republican Party, among other things, for their intransigence, inflexilitity and idiocy in supporting (or saying nothing) about Obama and the birther theory. Powell is a dinosaur like I, a disaffected Republican who can't stand what the G.O.P. has become.
This birther theory that the President was not born in the USA has been around almost since his first election in 2008. Such brilliant pundits as Donald Trump have happily espoused it---and you know how sage and reliable The Donald is. I wish he would simply stick to building golf courses.
Now I've seen a list compiled of the major Obama "conspiracy" theories, and they make wonderful reading. Here's the list:
(1) the birther theory of his foreign birth;
(2) the re-education camps for youth, created by the President, espoused by that model of rationality, Michelle Bachmann;
(3) in his younger days, Obama practiced gay sex, drugs and possibly murder, according to Larry Sinclair, a convicted felon;
(4) his thesis was a fake, once propounded on Fox, based on a TV program that was labeled at the beginning as SATIRE;
(5) Bill Ayers, an educator and radical, wrote 'Dreams of My Father". Really credible because we all know how lost for words Obama is;
(6) he is the AntiChrist, 666, and all that jazz;
(7) he is a Muslim, which almost rivals the birther theory for frequency;
(8) his inaugural speech in 2008, if played backward, says "Serve Satan", obviously borrowed from the old Led Zeppelin and "Stairway to Heaven" played backwards claim;
(9) Hugo Chavez has funded his Presidency;
(10) Michelle Obama had his aide/mistress banished to the Caribbean, denied by the woman herself;
(11) he is Malcolm X's son.
They are amazing feats of imagination, theoretical nonsense and so credible to so many nut cases. Maybe these types should write Harry Potter political tales.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Friday, January 18, 2013
DON'T MISS THIS GREAT EVENT
Gun lovers of the world, unite---you have nothing to lose but your magazine clips!
I received an email from alerts.com, that great mouthpiece of the neo-cons, advising me that tomorrow is Gun Appreciation Day and I should join the celebration with Fox, Drudge and Facebook.
Ain't that special? Are they going to center the celebration in Newtown CT? You know how much they appreciate guns there right now. Of course they are excoriating "King Obama", that wicked despot taking over our lives and trying to deprive us of our right to bear arms.
The battle lines are being readied early. The N.R.A. and devotees are making it a sacred crusade to put pressure on their congressional people, and interest groups, especially the gun manufacturers, are stoking the fires of rebellion against those who violate this sacred right to bear and buy arms.
I think much of the civilized world must be reading their papers or looking online and shaking their heads at this American fixation and distortion of the right to bear arms. All they have to do is look at the numbers of dead by intent and/or suicide with guns in this country and compare it with their own country's statistics.
Why am I so naive and stupid to believe that nobody needs an assault weapon? I, in an earlier blog, suggested that if shooters want to get their jollies firing a Bushmaster or AK-47 they should do it at a gun club and shoot at targets, after which the weapons are put away under lock and key.
The militia mentality still exists or, perhaps more accurately, a vigilante mentality, where upright and forthright "patriots" feel it their duty---nay, their right---to take the law into their own hands and administer their style of justice to defend their way of life.
I also find it amazing how the Neanderthals of the Right (the Left has a few, as well) make it scripture that the Republican Party defend the right to have weapons. Their idol, Ronald Reagan, said there shoud not be gun carriers on the street; George H.W. Bush resigned years ago from the N.R.A.in protest of their stand; George W. tried to pass an assault weapons ban. I guess Wayne LaPierre, Executive Vice-President and main man in the N.R.A., is their American Idol.
Hunters of the world and responsible gun owners, use your good sense and powers of persuasion to pass some rational and sensible form of gun control.
I received an email from alerts.com, that great mouthpiece of the neo-cons, advising me that tomorrow is Gun Appreciation Day and I should join the celebration with Fox, Drudge and Facebook.
Ain't that special? Are they going to center the celebration in Newtown CT? You know how much they appreciate guns there right now. Of course they are excoriating "King Obama", that wicked despot taking over our lives and trying to deprive us of our right to bear arms.
The battle lines are being readied early. The N.R.A. and devotees are making it a sacred crusade to put pressure on their congressional people, and interest groups, especially the gun manufacturers, are stoking the fires of rebellion against those who violate this sacred right to bear and buy arms.
I think much of the civilized world must be reading their papers or looking online and shaking their heads at this American fixation and distortion of the right to bear arms. All they have to do is look at the numbers of dead by intent and/or suicide with guns in this country and compare it with their own country's statistics.
Why am I so naive and stupid to believe that nobody needs an assault weapon? I, in an earlier blog, suggested that if shooters want to get their jollies firing a Bushmaster or AK-47 they should do it at a gun club and shoot at targets, after which the weapons are put away under lock and key.
The militia mentality still exists or, perhaps more accurately, a vigilante mentality, where upright and forthright "patriots" feel it their duty---nay, their right---to take the law into their own hands and administer their style of justice to defend their way of life.
I also find it amazing how the Neanderthals of the Right (the Left has a few, as well) make it scripture that the Republican Party defend the right to have weapons. Their idol, Ronald Reagan, said there shoud not be gun carriers on the street; George H.W. Bush resigned years ago from the N.R.A.in protest of their stand; George W. tried to pass an assault weapons ban. I guess Wayne LaPierre, Executive Vice-President and main man in the N.R.A., is their American Idol.
Hunters of the world and responsible gun owners, use your good sense and powers of persuasion to pass some rational and sensible form of gun control.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
GRIDIRON GRUMBLES AND MUMBLES
Now that football season is over, let me voice a few
opinions:
(1)
Alabama,
if this were baseball, would almost make the majors; certainly, at least
AAA with lots of talent ready for “the
big show”.
(2)
After watching some of the bowl games, I do
believe Ohio State would deserve a #3 or #4 rating (AP has them #3). It
couldn’t handle Oregon and maybe Texas A & M or Georgia.
(3)
Speaking of A & M, I don’t know when I’ve
seen a more versatile college quarterback than Johnny Football---a frosh! (Maybe RG III as a senior.) What will he achieve in the next three
years—unless it goes to his head and he has a letdown?
(4)
If we had a playoff system (hurry, 2015), it
would have been Alabama vs. Oregon. That would have been one helluva battle!
(5)
I hope Peyton can stay hot, but the Ravens are
peaking at the right time.
(6)
I think Green Bay will be ready for the Niners
but should be oh so close.
(7)
I look for Seattle to knock off Atlanta. They
stay hot and Wilson is really coming on.
(8)
I think the Patriots will squeak by the Texans;
the rematch won’t be a rout like the last game.
(9)
I think the Redskins management team were guilty
of short-sighted expedient thinking re RG !!!.
(10) Rex Ryan must feel like
the guy in “The Pit and the Pendulum”. The blade is getting very close.
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
THAT FRAGILE THREAD REDUX
Life, as we all learn, is full of twists and turns. 2012 was a rough year for our health, particularly my wife undergoing shunt surgery in early July to alleviate balance problems. My skin cancers were not fun, but I got through them successfully. I was hoping 2013 would be a better year. Then, bang!
My wife, eldest daughter and I went to a cocktail party last Thursday, with "heavy" hors d'oeuvres, including filet mignon, and returned home at 8:30 p.m. About 9:00, my wife came out from her desk in our master bedroom and said she suddenly could not see out of her right eye. By the next morning---she slept well---she still could not see out of that eye. As it happened I was due that day to see my opthamologist who checks my glaucome every three months. We called him and, of course, he worked her in. It turns out she had a retinal occlusion---a mini-stroke in the eye---which cut off the blood supply to the eye and caused her blindness.
He called a specialist at a North Naples, Florida hospital, who is expert in this field and a friend of his, and we immediately rushed thirty miles south to this hospital. My wife was kep there for a day and a half where they ran every test known to man. Her blood pressure, at one point was 211/71,probably due to stress and trauma, which is scary, and they at once added medicine to her I.V. to control it and gor it down to more manageable limits.
They gave her every test for strokes known to man, checking her heart, brain, carotid arteries: echograms,, MRIs, MRAs---and found her sound with no apparent major damage. Over the years she has had mini-strokes, as most old people do, including me, but nothing life-threatening. so, they can only conclude this was an isolated incident. She is being given special drops for a few weeks in order to try to regain some sight. Realistically, she will never have full vision out of that eye; she can see light on the right side peripherally, and we hope for some improvement.
In 1964, living in the Ohio Valley, I contracted histoplasmosis which is a virus caused by bird droppings, common to the Ohio Vally, which attacks the cornea of the eye and the lining of the lungs. I lost the central vision in my left eye, If I look directly at you, I can't see you except peripherally---and I was left-handed and left-eye dominant. The right eye took over, and I get along fine. i'm sure my wife's left eye will take over.
So, another life change, another example of the fragile thread that holds us in this world.. She will survive and adapt, I know, with her British spunkiness. What's the old expression: life is a process of gradual change and accommodation. Here we go again!
My wife, eldest daughter and I went to a cocktail party last Thursday, with "heavy" hors d'oeuvres, including filet mignon, and returned home at 8:30 p.m. About 9:00, my wife came out from her desk in our master bedroom and said she suddenly could not see out of her right eye. By the next morning---she slept well---she still could not see out of that eye. As it happened I was due that day to see my opthamologist who checks my glaucome every three months. We called him and, of course, he worked her in. It turns out she had a retinal occlusion---a mini-stroke in the eye---which cut off the blood supply to the eye and caused her blindness.
He called a specialist at a North Naples, Florida hospital, who is expert in this field and a friend of his, and we immediately rushed thirty miles south to this hospital. My wife was kep there for a day and a half where they ran every test known to man. Her blood pressure, at one point was 211/71,probably due to stress and trauma, which is scary, and they at once added medicine to her I.V. to control it and gor it down to more manageable limits.
They gave her every test for strokes known to man, checking her heart, brain, carotid arteries: echograms,, MRIs, MRAs---and found her sound with no apparent major damage. Over the years she has had mini-strokes, as most old people do, including me, but nothing life-threatening. so, they can only conclude this was an isolated incident. She is being given special drops for a few weeks in order to try to regain some sight. Realistically, she will never have full vision out of that eye; she can see light on the right side peripherally, and we hope for some improvement.
In 1964, living in the Ohio Valley, I contracted histoplasmosis which is a virus caused by bird droppings, common to the Ohio Vally, which attacks the cornea of the eye and the lining of the lungs. I lost the central vision in my left eye, If I look directly at you, I can't see you except peripherally---and I was left-handed and left-eye dominant. The right eye took over, and I get along fine. i'm sure my wife's left eye will take over.
So, another life change, another example of the fragile thread that holds us in this world.. She will survive and adapt, I know, with her British spunkiness. What's the old expression: life is a process of gradual change and accommodation. Here we go again!
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
WORDS TO LIVE BY
I once had an ashtray that summed up my feelings about the Fiscal Cliff Debacle. It read:
WORK FAST----
LATELY YOUR WORK
HAS BEEN HALF FAST.
Say that three times quickly. Doesn't than sum up the recent "Perils of Pauline" saga going on in D.C.?
Bandaids, quick fix, short-term thinking, choose your phrase. Any way you cut it, it's "half-fast"!
WORK FAST----
LATELY YOUR WORK
HAS BEEN HALF FAST.
Say that three times quickly. Doesn't than sum up the recent "Perils of Pauline" saga going on in D.C.?
Bandaids, quick fix, short-term thinking, choose your phrase. Any way you cut it, it's "half-fast"!
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
NEW YEAR NOODLING
My wife and I, plus my eldest daughter and husband as well as my wife's sister and husband, celebrated New Year's Eve with venison chili. The deer was shot by my son-in-law, an avid hunter and fisherman. It was delicious. Earlier in the week he cooked filets of venison which were superb, served rare and sauteed with wine and spices.
We all made it home safely shortly after eleven, and my wife and I stayed awake just long enough to see the ball descend in Times Square.I'm sure I was asleep within five minutes after that.
The weather here, relatively speaking, has been cool, down in the forties at night and in the sixties in the day. You have to remember, we are real wusses after your blood thins out living in a semi-tropical climate! Now today, New Year's Day, it's warming up in the mid seventies.
Speaking of warming up, that's what the Senate finally did last night in creating, as the NY Times described it, a "tepid" compromise bill to avert the so-called fiscal cliff. When and if they ever seriously try to deal with the deficit, ever-mounting entitlement expenses, they will face by 2043 public debt, I read, amounting to 247% of GDP---a lovely prospect for our grandchildren. One day they are going to have to bite the bullet and accept that, in addition to curtailing entitlements and other deficits, they are going to have raise taxes on all of us. Nobody likes more taxes, but give me a better solution than getting expenses in line and raising more money through taxation.
Ah well, forget it for a day. Enjoy your families and the football games forthcoming. Like Scarlett O'Hara, think about that tomorrow.
We all made it home safely shortly after eleven, and my wife and I stayed awake just long enough to see the ball descend in Times Square.I'm sure I was asleep within five minutes after that.
The weather here, relatively speaking, has been cool, down in the forties at night and in the sixties in the day. You have to remember, we are real wusses after your blood thins out living in a semi-tropical climate! Now today, New Year's Day, it's warming up in the mid seventies.
Speaking of warming up, that's what the Senate finally did last night in creating, as the NY Times described it, a "tepid" compromise bill to avert the so-called fiscal cliff. When and if they ever seriously try to deal with the deficit, ever-mounting entitlement expenses, they will face by 2043 public debt, I read, amounting to 247% of GDP---a lovely prospect for our grandchildren. One day they are going to have to bite the bullet and accept that, in addition to curtailing entitlements and other deficits, they are going to have raise taxes on all of us. Nobody likes more taxes, but give me a better solution than getting expenses in line and raising more money through taxation.
Ah well, forget it for a day. Enjoy your families and the football games forthcoming. Like Scarlett O'Hara, think about that tomorrow.
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