Christopher Walken at his residence, 1989 by Michael Tighe. I just find Mr. Walken one of the most interesting faces. His career has been nothing short of eclectic, he is amusing in an interview, but somehow is changeless over the decades. I just always find him fascinating. Some of the movies he does are way too scary for me, others are a pure delight. He never seems to seek the limelight, just turns in a journeyman’s performance always. A true actor.
Wow, another week is ending. I am always surprised at how fast they go by. One of the true painful ironies of aging. It should be just the opposite don’t you think? We got about 3/4 of an inch of rain in a fairly lively storm this morning. It sure woke me up with its mighty thunder crashes. A river is running again, which just goes to show that the ground is still fairly saturated not far beneath the surface.
Hamburgers, home fries, and coleslaw on the menu for today. I made that chipotle-cheese spread. It is pretty strong, and it’s refrigerating and hopefully tightening up. I think I won’t put it on the burgers in the pan, but just put it on the table as a condiment. It has a heat that needs to be individually regulated by amount I think. I also pureed it rather than leaving it chunky. The idea of biting into pieces of roasted chipotle peppers didn’t seem quite appetizing to me. I think its pretty hot, and I definitely don’t like things too hot. I love jalepenos and of course chipotles are simply fire roasted jalepenos. Why they change the name I don’t know but it’s common with other hot peppers as well. I think Aneheims become Anchos when dried. In any case, I’ll tell you how it went if I remember next week.
Let’s see how the week is ending. I sure have been ranting to the Contrarian a lot the last day or so. Anger at the SCOTUS gun decision, and a number of other things. Such government waste I see everywhere, and so much of it caused by tying unrelated items to legislation that people want. So we fund crap because a no vote kills a wonderful bill. I think it’s much worse than it used to be. Virtually no bill gets through now without tons of unrelated amendments which line somebody’s pockets at the expense of the taxpayer. The entire government seems to need a overhaul and I haven’t a clue how it will be done unless we as the electorate simply won’t take no for an answer and start voting them out until they do our bidding. But then again, there are so many doltish voters I’m not sure I trust them either. LOL. Where is Plato/Aristotle and the Philosopher King????? That’s what we need, and I’m nominating myself!
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I thought you might like to know about a few books that are just out and recommended good reading. They are: The Real McCain,by Cliff Schecter, The Big Sort, by Bill Bishop, and Bad Samaritans,by Ha-Joon Chang. Read the analysis of each by David Sirota, at Alternet today. I’ll see if I can pick up a copy or two for review for you.
If some one you love suffers fromPTSD, then there seems to be a lot being done lately to alleviate this viscous affliction. Ecstasy, unbelievably seems to work for those severely afflicted. Many long time sufferers, like from Vietnam, have long learned coping mechanisms to deal with it. The Contrarian has, and he does quite well, however, we have the option to live in the most favorable situation for him too. Take a look at this report that originates from the Times of London.
I am definitely not pleased with Senator Abama’s stance on child rapists and the death penalty. He is for it, I am unalterably against the death penalty period. I find it beneath an civilization that proports to call itself civilized. It says to everyone, we give up on solving this problem, we will just do away with such people. I believe that life is God-given, and while I in the case of individuals defer to everyone’s right to act otherwise over their own bodies, I draw a line when I, as a citizen, am forced to be a player in the action of murdering another human being. That said, at least it is clear that Mr. Obama’s position is NOT one that he has adopted as politically expedient, but one he has held for some time. Ezra Kleinbrings us the story about the origination of Obama’s stance.
Inside Iraq reveals to us Americans the names that Baghdad has had over the millennia. I would have to say, that the last two are ones we are responsible for. Still, a little history is good eh? We sometimes forget the incredibly rich history that is the junction of the Tigris-Euphrates, otherwise known as the Fertile Crescent.
Chris at Inside-Out the Beltway, tells a tale I suspect many in the blogging world would agree with. Many of us feel terribly uheard. We don’t seem to matter. (As always folks, I am the smallest of the small “we’s here.). Chris notes that although the blogosphere, the liberal vein at least, has been unalterably apposed to the “compromise” FISA bill, our candidate, Mr. Obama has virtually ignored us. (Good news is, that last I heard, Obama has changed his mind!!) Still the analysis is worth your reading, since it is not directed singly at Mr. Obama.
McCain must be sad to note that only 38% of his own state at this point claims it will vote for him. Obama is only ten points behind. Wouldn’t that be a hoot if Obama beat the old man in his own state? Worse yet for the old battleship, polling in Alaska, long a red state, shows that Obama is only 4 points behindand he is claiming that he intends to campaign hard there. McBu$h it seems has no plans to even open a campaign office there. I bet those plans will change. Deplete his resources! Stories from MyDD.
Somewhere in a cave, deep deep under Arkansas, prevented from seeing or reading any news for low unto 200 years, Patrick Michaels scratches an essay on rock with a stone. His continuous mantra is “There is no such thing as global warming. It’s all a big lie perpetrated by liberals.”The reason why numbnuts like Michael’s apparently dispute global warming is that it makes his friends the oil and gas folks queasy, thinking about cutting emissions, turning away from fossil fuels and the like. But dude, even if this horrible changing that WE ALL CAN SEE is merely cyclical, the consequences are still undeniably bad right? And if natural does that mean we are morally prevented from trying to ameliorate the consequences? Wake up MORON.You have now left the twilight zone (National Review). We return you to regular programming. By the way, Hansen is a highly respected climatologist.
I hate guns, just so you know. I spent nearly twenty years defending those accused of crime, most with guns. I can’t tell you the times some kid, 18, 19 years old, sobbed in a jail cell, “It just went off.” Whether it did or not, is not the point, the gun gives you that immediacy of reaction to any perceived slight that cannot be retracted though you have already changed your mind a split second later. All this in the hands of a kid, who brain has not yet grown to a degree where he can rightly assess the consequences of his actions nor temper his impulses. It isn’t even so much that I object to the right of a person to defend their home, although handguns are by far the worse choice. A 410 shotgun for the uninitiated user is more likely to stop the intruder than a handgun which more often than not won’t hit the target. It ‘s the idea that that the gun lobby continues to fight every dang restriction on checking backgrounds and such, using the stupid slippery slope argument. Now that that is put to rest by the decision by SCOTUS yesterday, well you might think they would back off. They have not. So the slippery slope was just a ruse. It’s all about acquiring more money by selling more guns, no matter whose hands they get into. Always has been always will be.
Did we err miss something? Didn’t we make it clear enough? Do we have to spell it out again? We voted you suckers into office (Dem majority in Congress) to help put a stop to this filthy war of choice. When are you going to do it? Reuter’s reports that Congress has passed new funding for the Iraqi/Afghanistan wars, with no attempt to tie the funds to any timetable. Did you think we wouldn’t hear? Oh yeah I forgot, it was tied to other issues like the GI bill and other good stuff. Okay, so if you have the majority, why do you keep allowing bad crap to be attached to good stuff? We have now poured some 800 BILLION dollars down that cesspool of a war.
The McDummy is campaigning real hard in Iowa claiming he has “broke with the President” on climate change. Has he really? Naw, that much was quite evident when he nearly tripped himself backtracking on his “no drilling in off shore to, let’s drill off shore.” It all sounds strangely suspicious to the type of stuff that (shudder) Cheney and his band of elfin energy exciters have always wanted. Soooooo, it seems the MacEnergyman is just more of the same old, “GIVE THEM OILMEN WHAT THEY WANT,” group. Nuf said?
Oh let the lying begin. Those proponents of torture, you know, they guys who formulated the policy for the Bush brigades at the White House are busily trying to obfuscate, duck and dive as they play with words in attempts to tell the Congress nothing. Addington and Yoo can get Oscars for their performances in non-speak. The Washington Independent has the story.
Proving once again that it is dangerous to pretend to have a brain, Sean Hannity the finger-waving ditz at Foxy,had normal people rolling in the aisles once again. First he touts the new Bush rapprochement with North Korea as a “clear foreign policy victory.” OOOPPPPSSSSSS. John Bolton, equally without brain matter quickly said the victory was North Korea’s. In less than 30 seconds, dear Sean (If I only had a brain) was exclaiming that he was perplexed by Bush’s naivete’. “What happened to trust but verify?” he ponders. What happened to checking to see a person doesn’t have marbles rattling around in his head before you hire him to be a political commentator FOX? Too too funny folks. Oh thanks Think Progress for the belly laugh. I needed that!
Are we flipping or flopping Mr. McBu$h? It seems that Mac don’t even wanna discuss the possibility of impeaching Bushie, saying it just is not a good thing in general. But, but Johnny my boy, you sure did vote to impeach Bill Clinton? Remember or having an Alzheimer’s moment again?
A couple of good posts by Urantian Sojourn today. One is deeply thoughtful and says it better than I could. James Dobson has said some very unkind things about Obama, all from his own personal interpretation of the Bible. It would be helpful if Mr. Dobson remembered that. Saitia reminds us all. And in a humorous aside, Propagandee reports that Bush is about to have a new building in San Francisco named after him. Flushed with successheh? Good one.
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“When I was born I was so surprised I didn’t talk for a year and a half.” Gracie Allen
“Conscience is the inner voice that warns us somebody may be looking.” H.L. Mencken
“If the human mind was simple enough to understand, we’d be too simple to understand it.” Emerson Pugh
“All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.” Galileo Galilei
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Big ruling coming out of the Supreme Court now: they have ruled individuals have the right to carry guns. Oh my God, yeah, but now listen, seriously, don’t think you can just go into a gun store and buy a gun. No, no, no, no, no, there is still a strict 15-minute waiting period. David Letterman
The Supreme Court struck down the District of Columbia’s 32-year-old ban on handguns and ruled that Americans have a right to own guns for self-defense and hunting. When he heard the news, George Carlin was given a warning for using the seven words you can’t say in heaven. Paul Seaburn
In San Francisco, they may rename one of the city’s largest sewage works the George W. Bush Sewage Plant. What an insult. Sewage plants are in the business of cleaning up messes. – Janice Hough, Palo Alto, Calif.
How about John McCain? Who would vote for John McCain? I don’t know if you know this, but John McCain now, he’s got a bandage on his head. Did you see that, John McCain? The poor guy, got a bandage on his head. Here’s what happened: apparently, he tried to answer the iron. David Letterman
Hey, there was an interesting study released today which says that people who live here in the state of California are less convinced that there is a God than the people of any other state in the country. On an unrelated note, more than 800 wildfires here in California are currently burning out of control. Jimmy Kimmel
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Okay, so yesterday’s post was a bit of fluffery. I admit that. But I do have an excuse.
Existential Ennui 