Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Presidential quotes for the Bush Library

Bush: "I think the Iraqi people owe the American people a huge debt of gratitude."
The far left and the far right contain the same number of morons.

double click on me for larger view

New York Observations


After the time spent in New York I've come to appreciate New York more. I've come to appreciate these flat plains more.
Here we will be irritated at what we call "rush hour" traffic. Or that we can't park with 50 yards of the front door of a business. In NY space is the most sought after commodity and you think nothing of walking 12 blocks to get a bite to eat.

I feel sorry for those that never experience the vast open spaces and the instant ability to be the only person for as far as the eye can see in any direction. Yet the "viet-nam cafe" in China Town has the finest hot and sour soup I have ever tasted.

A 350 foot apartment on the island is considered satisfactory even at $1200 a month.
You certainly do not need a vehicle. In fact without significant income a vehicle would be a burden.

New Yorkers are different. I have found 99.9% of them to be incredibly helpful as I stumble and fumble with my metro pass, or as I look for the correct train to catch. Yet they have a somewhat weary existence. Everything seems to be a struggle. Everything is a "to-do"....or maybe they are so good at it that they merely are able to "switch on" and enter the stream of chaos?

Ground zero remains a very quiet and hallowed place. Now a significantly building site, it has the appearance of a major contstruction project, but there is a quiet calm within that huge expanse of open nothing.

I look forward to the next trip and I am happy to be exactly where I am.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

New York City

I am spending the week in NYC. (manhattan)
An amazing city. Amazing people. Amazing opportunities.
Most live in a spaces considerably smaller than my garage.
The population in Time Square at any given second is larger than the population of the entire state of ND.

I love this city and hate it at the same time. Every time I come here I discover new things to love and new things to hate. 1800 starbucks on the island alone!! (not sure you need a frickin starbucks on every corner....however I'll be buying their stock when I get home)

The New Apple Store off Central Park is incredible!
The Apple Store in SoHo is incredible

more later....Today I'm going to hang out in Chinatown, Little Italy and the Village....quick sidetrip to ground zero to see the progress since my last visit.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Which would you rather have?

Taxpayers in Grand Forks, North Dakota will pay $14.2 million for proposed Iraq War Spending for FY2008. For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided:

4,300 People with Health Care
OR
12,283 Homes with Renewable Electricity
OR
363 Public Safety Officers
OR
313 Music and Arts Teachers
OR
2,682 Scholarships for University Students
OR
2 New Elementary Schools
OR
200 Affordable Housing Units
OR
5,943 Children with Health Care
OR
1,946 Head Start Places for Children
OR
313 Elementary School Teachers
OR
221 Port Container Inspectors

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Forwarded to me by a colleague (Mary)

This is from a friend of mine who teaches voice at the Northern
Illinois University, where the most recent school shootings occurred.
I was just there last spring to give a master class...


On Feb 17, 2008, at 6:17 AM, Myron Myers wrote:

> Dear Mary,
>
> The university will reopen on the 25th and the administration is
> tacking on a
> week of classes at the end of the semester. My students are completely
> freaked out, and don't want to come back to school at all. Fiona,
> my daughter,
> refused to go to school on Friday because she was afraid of copy-
> cat killings
> at the high school.
>
> Three current music students were enrolled in the Oceanography
> class, but two
> of them were absent on the day of the event. The other one will
> undoubtedly be in
> counseling for the foreseeable future. One of those absent is a
> voice major.
> Two of those dead were young women who at one time or another had
> participated
> in choral activities.
>
> I have been thinking a great deal about this school and the reason
> it happened here.
> I have to say that the students who come to Northern are usually
> from middle and
> lower middle income families. I was thinking in particular about
> the things they deal
> with in daily life. In recent memory, one of my students had to go
> to court to get a restraining
> order against a former boyfriend who was stalking her. One of my
> young tenors was discovered
> by his parents to be gay. His mother came at him in the shower (a
> la Psycho) with a kitchen
> knife, saying that no son of hers would ever be gay. She didn't
> hurt him, but the threat was
> enough. He went to the counselors at the school for a time. Luckily
> there is a very sympathetic
> woman who runs the gay coalition.
>
> These two examples (and there are many more) give me a clue about
> the level of angst and hatred that surround the daily lives
> of our students. A lot of them come from broken homes. There is not
> enough money. The
> level of heath and mental heath care is poor to nonexistant. These
> people blame the government
> (which is at fault, surely), but also various ethnic groups, for
> their misery. The trickle down theory
> of a robust economy is bunk, and everyone knows it. The rich have
> become megarich,
> the middle class is being squeezed out of existence, and the poor
> get even poorer.
>
> A lot of these people are caught between a rock and hard place, and
> depression develops.
> They lack the education or the wherewithal to tweak the system.
> They are medicated by doctors because these
> people lack the funds for proper psychiatric care. They are
> sometimes given three and four
> medications for depression, to go to sleep, to wake up, some of
> them not compatible. Then
> there is a cut in the pharmacy allowance in the paltry health care
> plan they may get from
> the government or the school, and they quit taking the meds (as is
> the case with the young
> man who killed seven people).
>
> It was telling that President Bush called university President
> Peters to tell him not to release
> the name of the medication the shooter failed to take. This just
> proves how deeply indentured
> the politicos are to the pharmacy companies. Bush's friend over at
> Schering-Plough is having
> a tough enough time, and this news would cause shares to plummet.
> The bad news is that
> Peters complied. (The information will come out eventually anyway.
> I think everyone should know
> that failing to take certain medications can have THIS result.)
>
> On some level, this is beginning to remind me of the circumstances
> of the French revolution.
> It can't go on very much longer without chaos. The budget for our
> unpopular war would alone
> suffice to help build a health care system for every American. The
> emotional environment
> is toxic. But strangely, a lot of people are united about the
> direction of the country, or LACK of
> it, and I think that if enough people act there will be changes.
> This terrible shooting is the tip of
> the iceberg. Below it is a whole system of terribleness.
>
> It's a good thing school is closed. No one wants to go near the
> place. On one level, it's good for
> me because I have to learn the Commendatore for performances next
> month, so this will give
> me a window. But at what a cost!
>
> Love
> M
>
>
>

From my 78 year old mother

Drinking with a Redneck Girl

A Mexican, an Arab, and a redneck girl are in the same bar.

When the Mexican finishes his beer, he throws his glass in the air, pulls out his pistol, and shoots the glass to pieces. He says, 'In Mexico, our glasses are so cheap we don't need to drink with the same one twice.'

The Arab, obviously impressed by this, drinks his beer, throws it into the air, pulls out his AK-47, and shoots the glass to pieces. He says, 'In the Arab World, we have so much sand to make glasses that we don't need to drink with the same one twice either. '

The redneck girl, cool as a cucumber, picks up her beer, downs it in one gulp, throws the glass into the air, whips out her 45, and

shoots the Mexican and the Arab. Catching her glass, setting it on the bar, and calling for a refill, she says,

'In America we have so many illegal Mexicans and Arabs that we don't have to drink with the same ones twice.'

'God Bless America '

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Why not name your team?

Why don't candidates name their V.P.'s?
Why can't we know who would be in their cabinet?, who they would appoint to the multitude of positions that will be filled. If this is the most important position in the land, why do we let them keep us in the dark until they have the parties nomination....or worse yet until they are sworn in.

This is our Government. It belongs to the people. How in the hell did we allow it to be taken away?

Saturday, February 9, 2008

guess who lives at my house now?

Gene always wanted me to be "concealed" and to own a handgun.
Your wish has come true my friend. I am the proud owner of one small hand canon and one very large hand canon.....come spring I will shoot them. I seriously hope no one tries to break into my home...rumor has it that these things make very loud noises when they go off.
the Desert Eagle (Israeli Military) is a 44 magnum and the Kimber ultra carry is a 45 .

To be "concealed" in ND you have to take a 10 question open book test and pay 25 bucks for a three year permit. (you have to be fingerprinted and have a FBI background check). Then you can carry almost anywhere....

Friday, February 8, 2008

Fox news?- the propaganda machine of the Right

Check YouTube at how much face time Fox gives the hagwitch. Listen if you dare to the seething vicious spew that comes out of that hole under her nose. I keep expecting her head to split open and cockroaches to come pouring out.

"I'd vote for the Devil before I'd vote for McCain".
and did she say she would also vote for Stalin?



Is Coulter really satan or just a minion?

Combs is truly a complete and utter wimp.
Hannity is a complete nutbag
Coulter- might actually be the devil in human form....wake the children, have em take a look.

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Mitt out.

Mitt gave a wonderful and in-sincere concession speech and has now "left the building". The GOP just can't find a candidate that satisfies. They don't like McCain, but it looks like he will be the nominee. I like McCain. I don't agree with about 80% of his policies but he seems to be "real" person.

I think the only chance the Republicans have would be running McCain against Hillary. I think the Dems. should push for a Clinton/Obama ticket. Obama might have enough influence as the VP to push the easy win and we could feasibly have 16 years of a democratic White House.

However I also believe in a balanced government as the republicans proved that the adage "absolute power corrupts absolutely" as they controlled the WH, the Sen. and the House for so many years and did nothing but put us all in one gigantic cesspool. They had six years to make the right wing dream a reality. I am afraid that where we are "is" the right wing dream. Ass-deep in debt, in a win-less war, while we enjoy a nice recession. ......but I digress...

I would be willing to dump this Democratic controlled senate also. They have been a complete spineless lot.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Rush, Junkie, back on the ox.


He will vote for Hillary before he votes for McCain.

The voice of the right speaks.

Sunday, February 3, 2008

No Country for Old Men


Wonderful film. I am still trying to decide if I liked the ending or not.

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Ronald Reagan

The current "romanticizing" of Ronald Reagan is making me want to puke.
let's discuss for a moment a few of the wonderful things he brought to this country.

Disclaimer: The man took a bullet and took it in a manner beyond reproach. No one, no one deserves to be shot for their public service.

*Revolving credit interest used to be a deduction. He made it not. This was a huge, huge, huge tax increase in the middle class and the poor. No new taxes, except on the middle class and the poor.

*Reaganomics never really worked. He spent huge in the military and the whole "trickle down economics" was a joke.

* We bought into personality over substance. Persona over results. "He won the cold war"????
awesome...he outspent the soviets and forced them into bankruptcy.....

*if he were running today, he couldn't get the nomination.

* He was a horse shit actor and about the same as president.