Tag Archives: Politics

Read This Post, My Little Pretties!

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Read This Post, My Little Pretties!

First, let’s dispense with some particulars. I bought these gloves at Mardi Gras. I know that this is no excuse, but that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Anne is the hand model. I am in her debt for playing along on this photo shoot. The postcard is from Heifer, one of our charities. And yes, this is the grodiest, still functioning keyboard, known to man. Do you really think that you can write a scary post with a clean computer? Queue the evil laughter now …

Here are a few scary thoughts, in no particular order:

On the first day of his administration, President Rick Santorum announced that he would …

Vice President Newt Gingrich called for the unilateral bombing of North Korea, Iran and Cuba. When President Santorum informed Gingrich that he wasn’t in charge, the Vice President then threw a really big hissy fit, filed for his third divorce, fourth marriage and then announced another book tour, “Newt Gingrich – President of Vice”.

Ron Paul escaped from the asylum for the politically insane and announced his 2016 presidential campaign.

Mitt Romney continued his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, this time in the state of denial.

Tea Party elected officials, called for new laws to aid the prosecution of witchcraft. In response, Nancy Pelosi turned all these Tea Party officials into newts. All of their spouses then divorced them and got the better of them.

Now here is a scary thought for the other half of America:

Announcing that he had received his opponent’s concession phone call, President Obama was met with thunderous cheers from the gathered supporters, who began to chant, “Four more years! Four more years!”

A scary thought that strikes closer to home, involves the word, osculable. I used it a couple of posts ago and in case you didn’t know, it means kissable. I used it in the context that Anne is oscuable, which she is, at least by me. This morning, I asked Anne if she knew what the word meant, she did. Oscuable is the adverb form of the verb, osculate, which most commonly means to kiss.

Anne also knew the less popular mathematical definition of this verb. Here is the Google definition: (of a curve or surface) Touch (another curve or surface) so as to have a common tangent at the point of contact. She then proceeded to demonstrate her point, using different shaped kitchen strainers. I was left with the thought, “Honey, one too many Algebra classes this week”, but I then did get a kiss on my way out the door.

Petroglyphs Sunset

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Petroglyphs Sunset

This photo is a reprise of the same sunset previously featured in the “Desert Sunset” post. It is also the same locale, Three Rivers, just from a different point of view. It was a beautiful sunset, and bears repeating. The following bulleted items will have to pass for today’s news and views.

  • There was another opportunity to hit the beach again, but it went to someone else. Beach you ask? I’m talking about New Mexico, sand, white sand at that, sun, plenty of sun. Water, you ask? Yes, we have water in the desert, both kinds, bottled and tap. You can drink the bottled water, but not the tap, because the tap water is laced with arsenic.
  • Likewise Anne missed out on a night in the museum, next month. This year’s sixth grade field trip is to Chicago and features a night in the Field Museum. I wonder if Ben Stiller will be there? Anyway, at least she doesn’t have to worry about trying to sleep on the museum’s hard marble floors.
  • Anne has gotten all flexuous since I have returned. She joined a student-teacher yoga class at school. Last week was her first session. All of the adults hang out towards the back of the room, with the students in the front. I on the other hand am working on burled oak, for the embodiment of my physicality.
  • Finally, Anne got switched today, from elementary school art class to third grade to cover for a teacher with stomach flu. Then one kid went home after throwing up. I’m so glad that Valentine’s Day is over now, blown kisses and virtual hugs are no where as romantic as the real thing. After the sick kid left, there was still some bellyaching about school work.
  • “I’m going to say this to the world”, was a snippet of a phone conversation that I overheard this morning. I was in Starbucks, waiting for my frothy beverage to be served. It was uttered by a Clayton businessman, frothy beverage already in one hand and cell phone pressed against his ear in the other. He made this statement as he walked by me, on his way out the door. What he was going to say to the world, I have not a clue, but I was struck by his unusual phrase. Usually, I would say something like, “I’m going to tell everyone.” Everyone, being my small circle of acquaintances. His phrase smacked of pretentiousness, but isn’t this what I try to do every day on this blog, say something to the world?
  • I was walking by a large flat screen TV that was tuned to Fox News, when I overheard one of the talking heads telling the other talking heads, “The despised President Obama, …” Since when does fair and balanced news reporting include the use of epithets? On any other blog writing night, this would be enough of a spark for a major political crank off, but tonight it comes too late to mind, to be more than a winter night’s farcicle.

Get the Hell off My Lawn

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I missed it, but 111 million Americans didn’t, Chrysler’s 2012 Super Bowl commercial, “Halftime in America”. Staring Clint Eastwood, with enough vocal fry in his voice to outfit the entire McDonald’s hamburger chain, he growl’s out this two-minute ad’s narration. He gives America a pep talk, like the two other pep talks that were occurring simultaneously in opposing locker-rooms. He recounts how our country was first knocked down, and then it picked itself up and dusted itself off again.

This country can’t be knocked down with one punch. We get right back up again and when we do, the world’s going to hear the roar of our engines. Yeah. It’s halftime, America. And our second half is about to begin.

This year’s ad comes on the heels of last year’s Super Bowl ad, starring Detroit’s own Eminem and introducing the tag line “Imported from Detroit.” That ad was content to wrap itself in the Michigan flag, this ad has national aspirations. The ad was not overtly political, nor partisan. No politician or party is explicitly mentioned, but it wasn’t just a car commercial. Both David Axelrod and Karl Rove quickly acknowledged this fact. Axelrod tweeted, “Powerful spot”. While, Rove said, “I was frankly offended by it,” and that Chrysler executives “feel they need to do something to repay their political patrons.”

In Las Vegas, on Super Bowl Sunday morning, Chrysler’s CEO, Sergio Marchionne, was addressing the Chrysler dealers at the annual meeting of the National Automobile Dealers Association. He unveiled the ad there, for the first time. At its conclusion there was a pregnant pause, followed by a thunderous standing ovation. “Nothing more needs to be said”, concluded Marchionne, who then overcome by emotion left the stage. By happenstance, former President George W. Bush was also at this meeting. “I’d do it again,” Mr. Bush said, “I didn’t want there to be 21 percent unemployment.” The $80 billion dollars lent to the auto industry came from both Bush and President Obama. A fact that Rove has somehow forgotten.

What about Mr. Eastwood though? He is a self-professed libertarian, who has only voted Republican and can’t recall ever voting for a Democrat. He has publicly spoken against the auto industry bailout in the past. Was this ad just a paycheck for him or did he, as he and his pressman have stated, not view this advertisement as anything political? Eastwood is a fine actor. He has demonstrated this many times. This statement, coming from a spokesman, from the opposite side of the aisle, only serve to give his words more gravitas. While political troupes run through and through this commercial, their origin here gives them a freshness that won’t be surpassed before Election Day.

In People Magazine, Obama recently quoted Mario Cuomo, “campaigning is poetry, and governing is prose”. The lofty rhetoric of the candidate can’t match the day-to-day communications of the official. Has President Obama matched every promise of candidate Obama? No. Could things have been worse, if Obama didn’t do the things that he did? Yes. I guess it all comes down to whether you feel that things are getting better, or that things still suck. Is the cup half empty or half full? “Yeah. It’s halftime, America. And our second half is about to begin.”

On a more personal note, my mother, God rest her soul, once had a close encounter of the automobile kind with Clint. It was in Carmel, she in her Benz and he in his Rolls. There was no metal contact, so no harm, no foul.

Presidential Bicycle Dreams

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We went to the STL Bike Federation’s swap sale today, bought a few things (gloves and leg warmers) and connected with some of our Team Kaldi’s friends. We had great plans to go biking in the Park afterwards, but inertia, the couch, and the warm sun shining through the window, all combined to scuttle those plans. At least on this sunny January day, we could still dream about bicycling.

The two main topics at the swap meet, at least among our friends, seemed be knees and summer bicycling plans. Our ages, as that of our bike friends, is such that many of our friends are either contemplating knee surgery or recovering from it. I am fortunate to be in neither camp, so the subject of summer vacations was much more interesting.

Anne is planning on doing the UP tour, run by the same group that organized last summer’s Michigan Shoreline tour. Some of our friends are planing on riding RAGBRAI, the Alleghany Trail and one is even going to Alaska. Anne and I are going to California, but not really to bicycle. After I scope out how many vacation days I will spend on that trip, I can figure out what to do for the rest of the summer.

Dave Bikes Mackinac Island

The following is the gist of the phone convo between me, her wyrd brother-in-law, and Jane. Convo is a synonym of conversation, but also conveys a certain hipness. Yeah, right. I tried being funny (ha-ha not looking), when the first thing I said was, “Did he feel like a Muslim?” Silence. Anne then exclaimed, “Tell her who you are!” I did and we were off and rolling, so much for me being funny. Jane’s answer was, “He felt like a Hawaiian.” Naturally, we were speaking of President Obama.

Jane attended Mr. Obama’s speech in Ann Arbor last week and got to shake his hand. News reports showed U of M students standing out in the cold all night to snag a ticket. Jane has friends and got special Whitehouse tickets to the event and spent most of her wait inside in the warmth.

The photo is from a few year’s back. Dave is obviously having a great time. Mackinac Island is a great place for family bicycling. I hear the fudge is pretty good too.

Bananagrams

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BananaGrams

Is the ovary part of the endocrine system? Don’t just sit there slack-jawed, clutching your pearls girls. I’m playing blogging Bananagrams! How many of the words in the above picture can I weave into this post?

President Obama delivers the State of the Union address tonight. This speech officially kicks off the Democratic response to this year’s election cycle. Mr. Obama’s heroic 2008 election set such high expectations, in a time of deep despair that nothing less than an economic miracle could have lived up to the promise. Mario Cuomo once said that a politician campaigns with poetry, but governs with prose. No one can deny the poetry of Obama’s 2008 campaign. Partisans on both sides of the aisle complain at him, but he has made progress on almost everything that he had promised. Liberals fault him for promises that he never made and conservatives fault him for promises that they themselves have thwarted. If you listen closely to the prose of his 2008 campaign, then you’ll find what you voted for.

Republican candidates had had their campaigns on the run, to the max, for some months now. (Here I make a run at the Bananagrams words.) About their presidential field, you have got to be joking. Half of them are fussy nit-wits and none of them have the stones to be president. I’d sooner elect a vole than any of them. And that is the nub of this election, are any of these nag Republicans seed for the presidency? Maybe if you dyed their hair put a mask across their face and tanned their hides, all Boehner style, they could obtain some cuter sort of diva status, but I am un-impressed. I feel ashamed that our country would even consider any of this glop. Give them the ax!

French toast tomorrow? Bread, eggs and milk are its main ingredients. These three ingredients are also swept off the shelves at the mere mention of the word snow. There was not the usual crush at the grocery store tonight. Maybe, people are taking lightly tomorrow’s forecast for a wintery mix? Anyway, I’ll be well stocked, plus I have bacon too.

Anne feels that she must have done something wrong today, because she spent the whole day in goals. Being in goals is not a good thing, it is one step up from the buddy room and we all remember how that was. She must have been on a real jag. First, she said something unkind and out loud about another student in class. [Quizzes] Second, she couldn’t keep her hands to herself. Third, she missed lunch and recess, but is still not sure why. Today she was both of the elementary school’s two counselors, “Wonderful, Counselor, Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God …” 

Bananagrams is a word game, wherein lettered tiles are used to spell words. The name is derived from the founder’s claim that it is the “anagram game that will drive you bananas!” Anne enjoys playing this game and frequently plays it solitaire. Pictured above is one of her games.

This writing exercise, was a fun little bit. I just wish that I could have worked in the words, kiva or orzo. La ti da … Remaining words: fax, joiner, pager, pi, later, élan.  Fin!

Feathers, Petals and Fur

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This post is both reprise and counterpoint to yesterday’s post. This post shows you all of the pictures that I got all high and mighty about not showing you yesterday. Returning to the scene of the crime, I offer up feathers, in the form of the Silver-Beaked Tanager, the petals of an African Daisy and a mouse in the Climatron’s house. The Clerodendrum photo segues to the City Diner’s chandelier.

After yesterday’s MoBot sojourn, Anne and I hightailed it over to the City Diner on South Grand. We snagged a primo table, in the back, a booth, with side-by-side seating. This gave us the equivalent to stadium seating to the Sunday morning brunch bowl. There were three tables of note. Tables one and two featured two gentlemen each. Each table had one talker and one listener. The third table featured a young couple. Here the man seemed the most animated, the woman looked tired. Leaping to conclusions I assumed that her fatigue was due to too much fun in bed. You know what they say when you assume something? This was silly of me. When the man got up to go to the bathroom, he revealed the newborn-carrier that had been hidden on his side of the booth. Her fatigue was explained. He came back with a baby bottle. Our meal arrived. Afterwards, my attention returned to the two tables of two men. What if I were to mix them up? What would happen if I put the two listeners together and the two talkers together? Would it cause an explosion? Fortunately, the check came before I had time to find out.

Politics is the conjunction of two words. The first syllable Poli- comes from the Greek word Poly, which means many and the second syllable -tics comes from the blood-sucking parasite. So, logically the business of politics must also be the business of many blood-sucking parasites. This is how I view this year’s political landscape from my lofty eyrie, perched in front of my keyboard. I stare out over the blogosphere and study the nuances of the political winds, until I become so bleary eyed that I cannot see the screen for the pixels. I feel like ancient Diogenes, perpetually searching for just one honest politician.

This week I found one and then lost this honest politician all in one short speech. I’m speaking of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ). Gabby in a short video, announced her resignation from Congress. She announced it now, to give other candidates time to campaign. She waited a year to announce it, to give herself time to heal. After a year, she decided that she would need more time and that the demands of the job ran counter to her needs. She may return to politics someday. She certainly hasn’t ruled it out and the remarkable level of recovery that she has already obtained, trumpets this belief. I’ll relight Diogenes’ lantern, as portent of her eventual return.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Night

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Alamo Live Oak, Remember

Yesterday’s balmy sixty degree weather flipped like a light switch back to today’s return of winter, or maybe I should say, like a lightning switch? Rain, hail, thunder and lightning blew into town, around two, and didn’t leave until it was time to get up. The tornado sirens blew in town too. We suffered no damage, this time, unlike a similar storm last winter, which caused our large fir-tree to come down upon both our house and our neighbor’s house. After this restless night, I went to work, somewhat sleep deprived, just like the rest of Saint Louis.

My workday went well, right up until near its end. I attended a meeting on a project that I use to work on, but have not worked for a few years. The stated purpose of the meeting was to review my past work, with the goal of improving the result. When I worked this activity before, I enjoyed the job immensely and I thought that I had done a good job too. Hey, I got a promotion out of it. Today, I learned that this opinion was not universally shared. The stated goal, “improvement”, became an excuse to dismantle all of the good work that I had done. They had their reasons; some of them valid, but the glee with which they prosecuted this task made it clear that there was a personal agenda too. I tried pushing back, to which one of them exclaimed, “I remember what you a-holes did.” I take exception to his perversion of the truth. We followed the rules to the letter; we sought and received management’s approval, in open forum. No one protested then. Months later, when they finally realized what had been agreed upon, they felt cheated. It is not my fault that they did not pay attention to what they were agreeing too. I realize that this post comes dangerously close to touching the third-rail of blogging, telling tales out of school, but I have been circumspect and have not mentioned any names.

On Wednesday Jan. 18th thousands of sites will go dark to protest SOPA & PIPA, two US bills racing through Congress that threaten prosperity, online security, and freedom of expression.

Notable sites include Google, Wikipedia and a personal favorite, I Can Has Cheezburger? I elected not to go dark, but instead chose to show support with the ribbon, “Stop Censorship”, in the upper righthand corner. Click on it. I feel threatened by these bills, not because I pirate movies, I don’t, but because I excerpt lyrics and quotes. I feel that this falls under fair use. I fear that these bills will threaten this.