Palm Springs is all palm trees and xeriscape, this is a scene from last week’s snow fall.
Have a good Bah!Humbug! season, Dear Gentle Reader(s)!
Sphere: Related ContentTuesday, December 23, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
A Tiny Smile for the Season
Over at The New York Times’ email submission today, Dear Gentle Reader(s), there’s a slightly amusing teaser sentence: “Talk radio hosts are back on offense, with some familiar names joining the airwaves as Barack Obama takes office.” (The phrasing in the article itself--After eight years of playing defense for President Bush, the conservatives who dominate talk radio are back on offense--isn’t as much fun.)
Haven’t they always been offensive? Isn’t that their purpose? Why God put them on earth? Rather like houseflies or cockroaches?
Who knew?
Sphere: Related ContentTuesday, December 16, 2008
Andrew’s Obsession
Poor Andrew Sullivan, he just can’t let go the bile his system holds for Senator Clinton.
Here’s Sullivan’s latest silliness as it appears in a discussion about Ms Kennedy’s interest in the New York senate seat which Mrs. Clinton will be vacating upon her move to the State Department: “Clinton got her seat because of nepotism…”
Now, Dear Gentle Reader(s), well you might wonder about that. Sullivan got it wrong. Mrs. Clinton ran in the Democratic primaries; she ran against a Republican who tried mightily to run on resentment of the Clintons. Mr. Lazio’s tactic didn’t work. Mrs. Clinton worked hard on her campaign and won the race in 2000 handily.
That is not called nepotism; it’s called hard work.
Mrs. Clinton had name recognition, but that could well have hurt as much as it helped. Sullivan owes the Senator an apology, but there is serious doubt it will be forthcoming.
As to whether or not Ms Kennedy (Why isn’t anyone using her married name? Did Mary Bono-Mack start something? Or maybe Diane Feinstein?) should be appointed to the seat, it’s probably best to take Mr. Butler’s stance. Remember, DGR(s)? It starts, “Frankly, my dear…”
Sphere: Related Content
Sunday, December 14, 2008
“I love them like everybody else.”
Um, Dear Gentle Reader(s), the above is not quite truthful.
It was spoken by Margie Christofersen about gays to Steve Lopez who wrote “Prop.8 stance upends her life” (print)/”A life thrown into turmoil by $100 donation for Prop. 8” (online).
It isn’t true, you see, because Margie Cristofersen also “…supports her church’s position [LDS] that marriage is between a man and a woman.
That support indicates that Christofersen doesn’t think gays are part of “everybody else.” Committed relationships between two consenting adults are not equal in Christofersen’s view. She merely mouths a platitude and seemingly doesn’t understand why she isn’t believed. She thinks she loves equally, but she doesn’t. Even the copious tears reported by Lopez are unconvincing.
Actions, Dear Margie, speak clearer truth than words.
It’s only logical.
Sphere: Related ContentFriday, December 12, 2008
(Make a Suggestion)
On occasion, Dear Gentle Reader(s), a thought comes to light which virtually defies description in the limited space available in a “title.”
One such thought appeared in The Desert Sun, the local paper in Palm Springs, in a letter to the editor on December 11, 2008:
A man and woman are equal partners, but different and complimentary in so many ways. That is why Adam was pleased with God's gift of Eve. Only the combination of man and woman can produce children and hence the continuation of a society.
Might one extrapolate? “…Adam was pleased with God’s gift of Eve.” Um…What? God “gave” Eve to Adam? Eve was a gift? Did anyone ask Eve if this was OK with her? God gives gifts? Is there a receipt for possible exchange?
The letter writer lives in Indian Wells, a quite wealthy community in the heart of the Coachella Valley. It is the home of the tennis tournament which brings thousands to Southern California. It once tried to foist its low-income housing requirements onto a neighboring city. One might think, then, that the writer is not completely a sheep, blindly following a religious tenet.
So. What to think? How might one write a headline which encompasses a person’s insensitivity, ignorance, audacity, virtual blasphemy, and courage to face his female spouse as well as another’s astonishment that such a thought would be uttered in the first decade of the 21st century?
Suggestions are welcome.
Sphere: Related ContentSaturday, December 06, 2008
So much for redemption
The Vietnam War, Dear Gentle Reader(s), has left an indelible mark, hasn’t it?
Remember the brouhaha over William Ayers, the erstwhile Underground Weatherman which the Republican campaign tried mightily to associate with Mr. Obama?
Well, today in The New York Times he offers a sort of mea culpa. If you have the time and inclination, the column is accessible here.
Expect to see the Republican bloviators to respond with found and fury along these lines of one Hilzoy, in his blog Obsidian Wings. After going back in history (one year prior to Ayers’ start in his column) and fairly well rebutting some of Ayers’ points, Hilzoy ends with this:
Ayers may think that there's still a debate about the Weather Underground's effectiveness. And he might also think that he "acted appropriately in the context of those times." To me, though, he's just a shallow rich kid who took himself and his revolutionary rhetoric much too seriously, helped inspire people to do things that got them killed, and helped to discredit the anti-war movement and the left as a whole.
He has done enough harm already. Now he should do the decent thing and leave us in peace.
That’s good advice. One problem with the advice is that Ayers has been trying to leave everyone in peace, especially himself since those days of stupidity. It was the opposition to Mr. Obama which resurrected Ayers and his wife, Bernadette Dohrn.
And from the tone if Hilzoy’s retort, it’s obvious that there’s no such thing as leaving someone in peace. Ayers’ subsequent laudable behavior does not seem to have counted for anything among the right wing. They could take a lesson from G.B. Shaw who wrote:
The only man I know who behaves sensibly is my tailor; he takes my measurements anew each time he sees me. The rest go on with their old measurements and expect me to fit them.
Redemption?
Piffle! Not for those who took to the streets against the Vietnam War.
Do you ever suppose, DGR(s), that we’ll learn to take “measurements anew” anytime soon?
Sphere: Related ContentThursday, December 04, 2008
Class Warfare!!! (snort!)
A most recent teapot tempest, Dear Gentle Reader(s), has arisen over the different (?) treatment given by Congress to the Wall Street financiers and to the automobile CEOs and union bosses.
When it is pointed out that the financiers were treated with respect and the CEOs are being treated with some derision (You had the audacity to fly!?!), Republican types are immediately crying “Class warfare!”
Um…in case no one has noticed, the class war is over, and the rich folk have won. President Bush has presided over the largest transfer of wealth from the middle class to the upper class in the history of the world.
Don’t believe me? Look around. How many rich folk are in default on their mortgages?
Thought so.
Sphere: Related ContentWednesday, November 26, 2008
Ann Richards” “Poor George” was never more appropriate!
Hie thee, Dear Gentle Reader(s), to the Telnaes animated cartoon over at washingtonpost.com.
Although Gov. Richards made the statement about Bush I, it is very appropriate to Bush II.
Animated cartoon eyes are quite telling; notice, especially Telnaes’ ability with W’s eyes.
Sphere: Related ContentTuesday, November 25, 2008
S&L Guilt?
Technorati Tags: Bush Pardons,S&L Scandal
Andrew Sullivan has a snippet about President Bush’s pardons. It seems Bush is being generous to “S&L executives and others who swindled thrifts in the mid-1980’s...”
Hmmm. Wasn’t there a Bush brother, or two and a father, involved with an S&L in Colorado? Didn’t he come out without doing time? Something like Silverado? (Gotta love Google!)
Just askin’.
Sphere: Related ContentFriday, November 21, 2008
Oh, Please!
It isn’t often, Dear Gentle Reader(s), that a liberal comes to the virtual assistance of Governor Palin, but it’s time.
This brouhaha about the press statement backdropped by a couple of turkeys being slaughtered is a lot of ado about not much.
One remembers, for instance, watching one’s mother grabbing a chicken by the head and then twirling it around until the neck was broken. (Then one remembers pouring scalding water over the chicken to prepare the feathers for plucking—not to mention the subsequent gutting!)
One also remembers one’s mother being given the knife when one’s father and neighbors were preparing to slaughter a young pig. One gains a certain respect for one’s mother who is capable of slicing open the neck of a pig, and placing a pan in the appropriate spot to catch the blood—to be used later in sausage.
A turkey being prepared for a Thanksgiving table? Bring it on. It’s the way of a carbon based world.
Go Sarah!
Sphere: Related ContentThursday, November 20, 2008
A not-so-funny thing happened…
…on my way to buy a new food processor, Dear Gentle Reader(s). The stock market fell to new lows.
Hmmm. Perhaps one ought to wait on new purchases…just in case one needs the money later on for macaroni and cheese boxes.
Nice going, deregulators, whoever you were/are.
Sphere: Related ContentWednesday, November 19, 2008
Justice, Alas
Dear Gentle Reader(s), there’s a teensy bit of evidence that the Bush II legacy has done more damage to the Justice Department than originally thought.
It’s a crisis of diminished confidence.
In today’s Los Angeles Times the lead editorial carries this title and subtitle:
Seeking Justice
Eric Holder has the credentials to be U.S. attorney general, but he may be seen as too close to President-elect Barack Obama.
Holder has the credentials, but is possibly too close to Mr. Obama? How close is too close? What was the relationship between John F and Robert Kennedy? Was AG Kennedy deemed a failure in the job as is the case with Alberto Gonzales?
The Times editorial board worries that Holden’s association with the Obama campaign might make him someone who could “be caricatured as a presidential insider.”
If the Obama administration is to be careful of caricature, then we are in for a very long 4 years.
The Gonzales Justice Department, and, to a lesser extent, the John Ashcroft Justice Department, were anomalies. The whole Bush presidency was, one is hopeful, an anomaly. That said, there shouldn’t be an undue amount of caution in supporting a President’s choice for a cabinet member just because of fear of caricature.
Let’s all get a grip, DGR(s). Our long winter of discontent is about to become a summer.
Sphere: Related ContentTuesday, November 18, 2008
Fair is Foul and Foul is Fair
Andrew Sullivan, Dear Gentle Reader(s), occasionally mystifies. His obsession with Senator Clinton is well documented, but little other than his “gut” can account for it. He is rapidly amassing the same amount of virtual ink with his relentless focus on Governor Palin. Those are, however, gut mysteries which actually have no rationale beyond a sort of irrational rationale; and that’s Sullivan’s personal problem. Who cares? It’s his occasional logical mystery which is most bothersome.
Here is a quote about the current debate on the fate of Proposition 8 from “The Daily Dish,” Sullivan’s blog, which is offered for your consideration:
Both supporters and opponents have asked for a judicial ruling on whether the initiative can stand. My own view is that it should stand, and the court should decline to reverse it. We lost. They won in a fair fight.
“They won in a fair fight.” Really? One wonders. If the proponents of Prop 8 had not focused on children the final weeks of the campaign, would they have “won?” Had the focus of the campaign been totally about whether or not civil rights, found to be guaranteed under the California state constitution, should be stripped from neighbors, colleagues, and family members, would “they” have won?
Everyone talks about dirty campaigns; all’s fair in love and war—all bromides which paper over the immoral tactics some who debate an issue pursue. It’s one thing when “rogue” partisans run the Willie Horton ads, or the 527s demean Senator Kerry, or when Sarah Palin implies Barack Obama hangs with terrorists, but it’s quite another when a religious-based political group, with religious financial support and pulpit support resorts to lying and using children in the lie.
The proponents of Prop 8 were/are odious liars. Their campaign was not honorable.
The three witches never else spoke so much truth.
How, Andrew, is it that “They won in a fair fight?”
Sphere: Related ContentSaturday, November 15, 2008
Ya Gotta Love ‘Em!
One has a deep and abiding admiration, Dear Gentle Reader(s), for persons who have the ability to “play” with words and to see possibilities in the written language.
Today, for example, at the Palm Springs City Hall demonstration against Prop 8, there was a sign which originally read
ONLY
MORONS
HATE
and which had been changed, but a carat and a tilted M to read
ONLY
MOR^M ONS
HATE
Well, you get the picture.
God bless America!
Sphere: Related ContentThursday, November 06, 2008
Governor Palin v neo-cons v RINOs
It's hard to believe, Dear Gentle Reader(s), that there is so much vitriol being hurled towards Governor Palin lately.
Frankly, it must be said loudly and often that Senator McCain and Senator McCain alone is responsible for Palin's disastrous debut on the national political stage. He hadn't met her, she wasn't properly vetted, she was not ready for the job, and she's been treated shabbily lately. He should be ashamed.
For the senator to choose an unprepared political tyro for the vice presidential nomination solely (sometimes the conventional wisdom is incorrect, but there's virtually no other rationale for her choice) to stir up the Republican base of evangelical Christianists was beneath contempt.
Presidential politics isn't, true, beanbag; but it doesn't have to be shooting a fish in a barrel, either.
Palin has energy which served her well on the stump. If she were more seasoned in policies outside of Alaska and if she were a Democrat, it would be easy to see her in federal politics in the future.
Until then, people should back off. While she bears some responsibility for accepting McCain's offer, it is McCain himself who bears the most responsibility.
Put him in the metaphorical barrel.
It's just logical.
Sphere: Related ContentThursday, October 30, 2008
Words, Words, Words..."Faux" is the mot du jour
Technorati Tags: George Will,Republican Party
George Will, Dear Gentle Reader(s), is not one of the most pleasant rightwing pundits for a progressive to read. It's easy to think of him as supercilious.
Today, however, in the pages of Townhall.com, Will presents an interesting article about the state of the Republican Party, circa 2008, which affords progressives an insight and perhaps some understanding of what they've seen coming out of the RP-2008.
"Ah Hah! So that's it. It's a faux Republican Party!"
One agrees. Hie thee thither, DGR(s). You'll be educated and will enjoy "The Downfall of Faux Conservatism."
(Reading the screeching in the comments section is fun, too)
Sphere: Related ContentWednesday, October 22, 2008
Atrial fibrillation
Technorati Tags: Heart disease,Atrial febrillation
Atrial fibrillation is a condition which concerns over 2 million Americans directly, and another several million indirectly.
It came to visit last Friday.
There's a fluttering of the heart. It's enough to make one pause; generally it lasts for a few seconds, then the regular heartbeat returns. If it lasts longer, one might seek advice. If nothing else, one gets a couple of nights in a hospital, where there are supportive people taking every effort to make one comfortable.
A-Fib is not to be taken lightly. It could result in severe consequences, such as stroke, if not controlled.
No pain.
With proper medication, no problem.
Obviously.
(whew!)
Sphere: Related ContentThursday, October 16, 2008
Hubris? One hopes not.
Technorati Tags: Waste
Dear Gentle Reader(s), occasionally, in order to help keep myself on an even keel, to remind myself of exactly where I stand in the greater picture, whenever a friend or acquaintance complains about this, that, or the other (movie tickets are up to $6.75!), often I will say something like, "At least I don't live in Baghdad and I'm not an Afghani woman," or "Yes. And those whiners in Baghdad! What do they know of suffering?"
Salondotcom offers a new reality slap in the face for all of us: In Mumbai, slum dwellers "live in areas with 100 public toilets for 45,000 residents."
Ponder that, my Dears.
Sphere: Related ContentFriday, October 10, 2008
Small World Part II
This, Dear Gentle Reader(s), from Paul Krugman's column in today's New York Times in which he discusses the financial crisis in which we find ourselves:
Why do we need international cooperation? Because we have a globalized financial system in which a crisis that began with a bubble in Florida condos and California McMansions has caused monetary catastrophe in Iceland. We’re all in
this together, and need a shared solution.
Remember the line from "Gone With the Wind"--"Miz Scarlett, you ain't nevah gonna have a 17 inch waist no mo'"?
Well, we are never going to have an isolated, Fortress America again. Sphere: Related Content
Thursday, October 09, 2008
It's a small world after all
Technorati Tags: Finances,Global unification
Depending on where one lives, Dear Gentle Reader(s), yesterday/today might one day be considered the day when the world became "one world" after all.
What else could be indicated by a coordinated effort of the major banks in the world to lower interest rates in an effort to solve the current world wide economic problems?
Sphere: Related Content
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