Monday Montage of Musings

Tags

Barack Obama, bible, drugs, Election 2008, environment, fundamentalism, gay rights, GOP, Health care, Individual Rights, Inhofe, Iowa, Iraq, John McCain, Women's issues

Louis Faurer captured this image called “Bowing for the Collection, French Vogue” in 1973. These vaguely art deco images never fail to capture my attention. The elegance so reminiscent of the era is simply lovely, to me at least.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend. It was somewhat chilly here, and overcast. We got some rain, but not enough to be bothered about. I made an apple pie which is being devoured by the Contrarian and myself. The chicken salad was wonderful Saturday and oh, that chipotle-cheese spread was utterly delicious on the burgers Friday. I put about two good tablespoons in the meatloaf mixture today. I slurried it down with a bit of worcheshire sauce and some of the meat juices so it would blend thoroughly. It’s in the fridge firming up for baking later today.

My walks have been lovely. I have a chair at the top of the hill so I can sit and admire the fields for a couple of minutes. I’m now up to 1/2 mile, and may be at the road for the full mile by the end of the week. It amazes me how quickly the body responds. I hardly breathe hard in less than a week climbing the hill. The first day, I had to stop half way to catch my breath. The Contrarian cut a nice sapling today and debarked it and trimmed it nicely. It’s now drying in the sun. It will make a fine walking stick for me. At my age, broken or sprained ankles are not desired. And the ground is quite uneven in places, and certainly any walk through the grasses is torturous, given the mole dens and whatnot.

The Contrarian is making the final weeding of the garden. Soon it will be my responsibility as he turns to wood. He desperately doesn’t want to get caught like we did last winter with snows too deep to get to the wood pile. What started out as a little tree trimming of a branch or two, finally ended in cutting down an entire tree a few yards from the house. The good news was that he quickly discovered that it was dying, so there was no real loss. Given we have hundreds of trees it was not a big deal, although the size of it still made me feel a pang of regret at its loss. It opens an amazing vista to the west that we never had before I will say.

Well, off to the news of the day

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I worked in the drug business for years. I represented drug dealers, users, and all the other alleged criminals whose crimes are connected in one way or another to the drug business. I can honestly say, that the “war” on drugs has been a failure. We merely make a dent in the business at best. It creates and fosters its own criminal enterprises. It is the root cause of many other crimes, especially property crimes, but also a lot of personal assault crimes. Drug rehabs work to the same degree that alcohol rehabs work, not at all until the person is totally motivated to change. Is it time to decriminalize the usage of drugs? Read this story from Alternet and see what you think.

John McCain thinks the surge is a roaring successand justifies everything he continues to claim about his take on war. What has all this 5 years meant to Iraqi citizens? Read Tom Engelhardt’s report today. He calls it an obscenity, and frankly I agree. I doubt many Iraqis feel the price has been worth it.

We saw Bill Moyers Journallast friday night, and this report was very informative. Barbara Boxer leads the fight for the cap and trade billin the senate. This is the Lieberman-Warner Bill that has garnered a great deal of support but of course is objected to by the oil interests. I think with some work, you can get to the full transcript of the show and see the ridiculous behavior of  the self-styled evangelical senator from Oklahoma, Inhofe, who treated Al Gore like some kid, in the senate hearings and had to be publically reminded that he was no longer the chairman. It’s a vitally important issue if our kids and their kids are expected to breathe in upcoming years.

Wes Clark has weighed in on John McCain and his “qualifications” to be president. Clark suggests that McBush never had any command responsibilities and thus his actual service is not really any kind of recommendation at all. This issue would not be one, were it not for the fact that McShame can’t stop telling us in funny or serious asides that he was a POW, every single chance he gets. Yes he was, yes he was brave. Enough already. Blue Girl Red Statebrings a fairly lengthy review of the McLiar’s claims alongside the real truth on this issue.

We reported that the technique of choice for Repubiboobs this years is going to be fear. Scare the beejesus out of everyone, and maybe they will vote for McBu$h. Got it? Well, seems that turncoat Lieberman is the ideal puppy to promote their new agenda. He claims that we are going to face a terrorist attack in 2009. Prescient? Wishful thinking? Joe is crude, rude and way out of line. This is all about Israel first, middle and last for him at least and he’s become the willing stooge for McMac for this reason. 

Of course Obama is using the perfect stategy against McBush. He is tying the aged behemoth to the idiot boy Prez, Bushie. Easy enough to do, since that is exactly what Mac is, another Bush, and more of a war monger than Georgie ever thought of being. The real puzzler is that the Senile Sensation has chosen to fight back by trying to relate Obama to Jimmy Carter. Read the Britannica Blog‘s analysis of this strange policy and why it gets the old guy nowheresville.

A very interesting book on the GOP is out. Called Grand Old Partyand written by Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam, it suggests that polling of self-identified Republicans say that most are for most domestic programs favored by Democrats. The real problem is that the power Republicans don’t care about this agenda, being totally tied to big money, big business interests. Of course many of us have been scratching our heads at this for some time. How the elitists are able to confuse so many middle and working class people into doing their bidding when they have zero interests in their needs is phenomenally bizarre to say the least. Ezra Klein reports.

Reality hits us dead in the face once again, as we spend a day with Hussein in Baghdad on “vacation” for a week from his duties as a reporter. This is what life has become for Iraqis due to our lust for oil. After you have finished, check the link at the top to “sovereignty” and read how Iraqis feel about our behavior. We are so completely and totally out of tune with the culture of Iraq that we inevitably make more enemies than friends. Inside Iraq is aptly named as the writers there give us a truthful look at Iraq with each post.

Rep Steven King (R. IA) is a wingnut. Although it appears to be a serious article, Iowa Independentlays out the legislative genius we have here in the man. Did I say he’s a Repubicoot wingnut? Read of his brilliant legislative history in Congress and his patently pandering behavior regarding Sioux City and think seriously about whether you want to pay this do-nothing for another two years. Throw the bum out, I say. If you think I’m going a bit overboard read this little gem, wherein the doofus claims that a Democrat has incited a terrorist attack on our very own Dick (the oily man) Cheney’s chief aide. Too funny, and the man is a joke. Did I say wingnut? I must have.

I am quite proud to report that Senator Obama has come out against the gay marriage ban proposal on the California ballotcome this November. I was unsure how he would decide on this issue. I’m just simply one of those people that things everyone should be treated fairly and gay relationships deserve the same protections in the courts as other more “traditional” ones. Further. I leave it to God to decide the rest. I’m not going to presume I know His wishes on this. Governor Schwarzenegger also opposes the ban. The “Straight”talking McCain is of course on the wrong side of the issue, same as he was in his own home state of Arizona. He lost there too. MyDD has the story for you.

Spaceship taking off for the outer regions of your mind. Fair warning, we are entering the spooky world of the National Review, and your brains may be fried if unprotected! It seems, there is good reason why women make less then men.It’s the jobs we choose, and therefore we should not, as Mr. Obama does, support the important fair pay legislation now in Congress. It’s totally unfair to those employers who have discriminated against women employees and paid them less, because dang, if you can hide it longer than 180 days from your employee, you oughta win, and not have to pay them the same as the good old boys. Is it required to write for the NRO that you forget important facts, like the fact that the woman in question had to sue late because the employer purposefully hid it from her that similarly situated men got paid more? Is it required that you have no brain to write for NRO? These important questions will be on a test, so I’d suggest you study.

As Repubelitists tell us that we don’t need it, and it’s half way to communism if we do, 59 MILLION people in America last year avoided medical care because they could not afford it. Yes, 59 MILLION. That is up from 36 million just five years ago. This utterly tragic and senseless situation is unconscionable on its face. No amount of arguing that we need anything other than a total and complete overhaul of our health care system will do. No amount of nasty conservative, “most are too lazy to work and buy their own” diatribe can be tolerated. This is a national disgrace, one the rest of the world looks at in utter amazement and disgust. The NYTimes  has the story. And by the way, folks, this includes people with insurance, who are under insured.

Kevin Drum for the Washington Monthly, reports that “sob,sob” the neo-con machine of slash and burn the opponent seems quiet these days. They just can’t seem to work up the slathering enthusiasm for going after Obama. They can’t find a “swift boat” issue, and don’t want to waste all that money they sleep in every night for nothing. I’m sad too, so sad I may bake a cake. But I don’t count out the masters of sleaze. McPhool, proves again and again, that he likes to hire the very dirtiest of the tricksters as his new bosom buddies.

Wee doggies, some folks can get positively apoplectic on the subject of Johnny McCain and the mislabel of maverick. I mean, goodness, a whole post citing all his reprehensible flipping and flopping. I especially liked the one about the only congressman in history to actively campaign against two of his own pieces of legislation. Now that is down home flopping! It’s called Full Metal McCain, and to all of you out there who detest him as I do, a grand read, and plenty of ammo for your next political discussion with family and friends. Give ’em hell.  As Drum says, whoa, sure glad I am not likely to get in the cross hairs of Matt Taibbi. And in the final analysis, it’s a damned fine read.

These stories just defy common sense. I know that oil and gas interests are against any concept of global warming. That would be self-evident. They care about profits, and the future, well hell, we all have to die. But how any human being can buy into that is beyond me. We are no longer in an if global warming is true, IT IS DAMN IT.  Now my life is going to be aggravated no doubt, but I’m  not going to outlive the real problems. Our kids are going to have to, and their kids may not survive at all. Seriously there was a time in my life when I wondered whether it was ethical to bring children into the world. And that was about Vietnam. That was nothing compared to this. This is planet killing. The stooge Inhofe from Oklahoma, is simply a shameful excuse for a human being hawking for the oil companies. If hell exists, God has a wonderful corner for him no doubt. The Salon has this very important story of how Congressional fronts for Oil and Gas are giving your children’s lives away.

I know I keep harping on Iraq and not being the security delight that Bush/McBush urge us to believe. And I think I am right. More evidence is produced at the Washington Independent. It seems that private security contractors (NOT Blackwater) don’t see any real change at all. Indicators are that violence measured in trajectory rather than in mere numbers suggest it is steadily on the rise. Read the report, look and the charts and decide for yourself. One can but hope that Obama who will be traveling there soon, will get the correct picture. McStupid by pushing Obama to Iraq may wish he hadn’t after all. The big lie is being exposed.

I just threw this one in for the joke factor. It has no chance of moving through Congress at all, and is the kind of thing that politicians do to look good on the homefront. But pulleeeeezzzzzz. There is a bill lately introduced that would (you know the drill) make marriage illegal but for a man and a woman. Okay. Big deal you say. Well, you gotta look at whose names are on the dang thing to get the joke. None other than (drum roll please) Larry (I have a wide stance) Craig, and David (oooh how much do you charge for an around the world?) Vitters! Two of our stalwart Republinuts who are hardly poster boys for Christian virtue. Read on when you stop laughing.

Okay, so you see there is this Baptist scholar. And well, he says, well, that women, get what they deserve. Yeah, violence against women is because dumb women don’t get it that men are the boss, and men get mad when women don’t get that men are the boss, and they sometimes hit things, and those things could be women, and that’s how women get hurt. They ask for it. Scholar of what may I ask? Much thanks for Think Progressfor this one. Oh by the by, this all started with Eve and her sin, which is now all women’s sin, that we can’t give in to our husband’s control. Wingnut biblical analysis like this is beyond absurd, it’s perverted. Follow the links within the article to get the full views of Bruce Ware brain dead though he is.

And on that squirrelly note, let’s call it a day!

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“The people I distrust most are those who want to improve our lives but have only one course of action.” Frank Herbert

“The cloning of humans is on most of the lists of things to worry about from Science, along with behaviour control, genetic engineering, transplanted heads, computer poetry and the unrestrained growth of plastic flowers.” Lewis Thomas

“Efficiency is intelligent laziness.” Anonymous

“Thomas Jefferson once said, ‘We should never judge a president by his age, only by his works.’ And ever since he told me that, I stopped worrying.” Ronald Reagan

“About the time we think we can make ends meet, somebody moves the ends.”  Herbert Hoover

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A Chinese investment fund manager paid $2.1 million to have lunch with billionaire Warren Buffett in the most expensive charity auction ever held on eBay. If he’s hoping for an investment tip, Buffett will probably tell him not to waste money bidding on stuff on eBay. Paul Seaburn

The Texas supreme court has ruled church exorcisms are constitutional. Such a religious ritural is a very complicated procedure. The devil is in the details. – Alan Ray, Stockton, Calif.

So President Bush has removed North Korea from the list of countries that support terrorism and has moved it to the list of countries we are gonna invade just for the fun of it.

When Bill Gates left Microsoft the other day, his staff gave him a gold watch from Switzerland in appreciation. And Gates was apparently so moved by the gesture he reciprocated by giving them Switzerland.
– Marc Ragovin, New York

According to a recent European study, rising temperatures due to climate change are forcing many plants to move to higher elevations to survive. Unfortunately for men, this doesn’t mean your chest and back hair will seek higher ground on your head. Paul Seaburn