aka Jetison

Several weeks ago, I recommended a new blog, called "aka jetison." At the time, I was being rather coy about the author, but it is none other than our dear Bobbers. Check it out when you have a chance. You'll thank me later.

A Plea from the President

I urge all of you to listen to the man (for a change):

WASHINGTON, DC—In a nationally televised address Monday, President Bush urged all citizens, regardless of race, creed, color, or political affiliation, "to quiet down for just one minute" so he could have "a chance to think."

In a televised address to the nation, Bush called for "a little peace and quiet."

"Every American has an inalienable right to free speech and self-expression," Bush said. "Nonetheless, I call upon the American people to hold off on it for, say, 60 seconds. Just long enough for me to get this all sorted out in my head."

(snip)

"Bush then closed his speech by exhaling sharply, tightly closing his eyes, and massaging his temples. "I just—Christ, I just need a goddamn minute, you know?" he said."

For the rest of the story go to the Onion.

Today's Word: Hypocrisy

How come when gas prices were very high, many GOoP pundits (and the Chimp himself) said they couldn't be blamed, and now that prices have come down they go around taking credit for it? Just wonderin'.

UPDATE: Here's the story from Bob Woodward's new book about the Saudi agreement to ensure oil prices were low before the election.

Olbermann on the Murder of Habeus Corpus

Good Lord, now that I've figured out You Tube, get ready for a bunch of video links!

(This is way too easy.)

Had Enough of Mean Jean Schmidt? Vote Victoria Wulsin!

This is for my friends and family in Ohio's Second District!

Nuns Everywhere Are Crying

Remember learning to write "cursive?" When I went to Catholic school, we didn't call it that, of course, we called it "penmanship," or "handwriting." All we knew is that learning to write these magic letters on the lined tablets was a huge step forward in parochial education. Maybe this was a girl thing, but I never minded penmanship and got fairly good grades in it.

Well, apparently cursive is dying, thanks to computers and other electronic devices. Perhaps those younger than me don't hate the idea of cursive going the way of the rotary telephone and black and white televisions. But it's another reminder of just how freakin' old I am.

Here's an excerpt of the story:

"The loss of handwriting also may be a cognitive opportunity missed. The neurological process that directs thought, through fingers, into written symbols is a highly sophisticated one. Several academic studies have found that good handwriting skills at a young age can help children express their thoughts better -- a lifelong benefit. Children who don't learn correct technique find it harder to write by hand, so they avoid it. Schools that do teach handwriting often stop after third grade -- right after kids learn cursive. By the time computers are more widely used in classrooms for writing, perhaps in fourth or fifth grade, many children already have decided they don't like to write.

In one of the studies, Vanderbilt University professor Steve Graham, who studies the acquisition of writing, experimented with a group of first-graders in Prince George's County who could write only 10 to 12 letters per minute. The kids were given 15 minutes of handwriting instruction three times a week. After nine weeks, they had doubled their writing speed and their expressed thoughts were more complex. He also found corresponding increases in their sentence construction skills.

But Graham worries that students who remain printers, rather than writing in cursive, need more time to take notes or write essays for the SAT. Teachers may say they don't deduct for bad handwriting in class, but research tells another story, he said."

The other thing that disappears along with penmanship lessons is the individuality that it presents - I remember my Mom's neat, even handwriting, always perfectly spaced. And her sister's rather odd, but equally even, distinctive backhand.

I think about generations that come after us...Will they use emoticons to express themselves, rather than their own hand? Kind of sad to think of the Declaration of Independence typed by a machine, eh?

Time marches on.

Let's Go for the Twenties!

Well, a new record low for Bush...33% approval rating from today's Newsweek:

"Meanwhile, the president’s approval rating has fallen to a new all-time low for the Newsweek poll: 33 percent, down from an already anemic 36 percent in August. Only 25 percent of Americans are satisfied with the direction of the country, while 67 percent say they are not. Foley’s disgrace certainly plays a role in Republican unpopularity: 27 percent of registered voters say the scandal and how the Republican leadership in the House handled it makes them less likely to vote for a Republican Congressional candidate; but 65 percent say it won’t make much difference in determining how they vote. And Americans are equally divided over whether or not Speaker Hastert should resign over mishandling the situation (43 percent say he should, but 36 percent say he shouldn’t)."

Oh, What a Beautiful Day!

At the close of each sunny 70-plus degree day, we say goodbye once again to summer, thinking it certainly must be the last such gorgeous day. During the last month, we've enjoyed several of these days, with today being another beauty. In celebration, we traveled to Newport, Rhode Island, to soak in the sun and fly a few kites.

Here's some great photos of our day...enjoy! (Come February, we'll look back on this day fondly.)

The view at Breton Point State Park:

A beautiful kite (not ours):

Bobbers does his thing:

Two of our many kites:

Newport Harbor:

Again...Newport Harbor:

Bobbers (love this photo):

An early-closing diner:

A beautiful garden along Thames Street:

Susan Better Get Native

I have more than six million Susans in my life, or so it feels. But this post is for one special bird-lovin' Susan, who has a great blog at Susan Gets Native. For those of you who haven't visited my cousin's blog, she is rapidly becomig an expert at caring for and teaching others about birds of prey.

Today, we went to the Topsfield Fair, the oldest fair in the country, which had a display on Susan's favorite birds. I thought I'd make this post a test of her skills (and I think this is an easy one). Susan, tell us about these birds...





My favorite other photo from today's journey into New England agriculture. I like the looks of the nuzzling cows, but something tells me I'll leave the animal husbandry to Susan after this post!

Go, Tigers!

I love the Deeee-troit Tigers! Go get 'em, boys!




From the New York Times:

"Rodriguez realized the fans’ worst fears about him, folding in the very part of the season that mattered most. Since the Yankees took a three-games-to-none lead over Boston in the 2004 A.L.C.S., he has 5 hits in 46 postseason at-bats.

Rodriguez has no runs batted in over his last 12 playoff games. He was due up next when the season ended, and he watched from the on-deck circle as the Tigers celebrated. Rodriguez tapped his cleats with his bat handle and slowly descended the dugout steps."

The First 100 Hours

Oh, a breath of fresh air that very well could blow the stink out of Washington.

Picture these first 100 hours of the new kids:

"Day One: Put new rules in place to "break the link between lobbyists and legislation."

Day Two: Enact all the recommendations made by the commission that investigated the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Time remaining until 100 hours: Raise the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour, maybe in one step. Cut the interest rate on student loans in half. Allow the government to negotiate directly with the pharmaceutical companies for lower drug prices for Medicare patients.

Broaden the types of stem cell research allowed with federal funds _ "I hope with a veto-proof majority," she added in an Associated Press interview Thursday.

All the days after that: "Pay as you go," meaning no increasing the deficit, whether the issue is middle class tax relief, health care or some other priority.

To do that, she said, Bush-era tax cuts would have to be rolled back for those above "a certain level." She mentioned annual incomes of $250,000 or $300,000 a year and higher, and said tax rates for those individuals might revert to those of the Clinton era. Details will have to be worked out, she emphasized.

"We believe in the marketplace," Pelosi said of Democrats, then drew a contrast with Republicans. "They have only rewarded wealth, not work."

"We must share the benefits of our wealth" beyond the privileged few, she added.

I'd pay money to watch this.

A New Front of Terror

While we all may be focusing on the Foley problems in the House of Representatives, there's a much more menacing front of "terrorism" at the White House. I opened the Boston Globe's website this morning to read this article (emphasis mine):

WASHINGTON -- President Bush this week asserted that he has the executive authority to disobey a new law in which Congress has set minimum qualifications for future heads of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Congress passed the law last week as a response to FEMA's poor handling of Hurricane Katrina. The agency's slow response to flood victims exposed the fact that Michael Brown, Bush's choice to lead the agency, had been a politically connected hire with no prior experience in emergency management.

To shield FEMA from cronyism, Congress established new job qualifications for the agency's director in last week's homeland security bill. The law says the president must nominate a candidate who has ``a demonstrated ability in and knowledge of emergency management" and ``not less than five years of executive leadership."

Bush signed the homeland-security bill on Wednesday morning. Then, hours later, he issued a signing statement saying he could ignore the new restrictions. Bush maintains that under his interpretation of the Constitution, the FEMA provision interfered with his power to make personnel decisions.

This administration is terrorizing our country and the constitution. It MUST stop.

The 21

In the midst of all the b.s. surrounding the GOP and their sexcapades, it would do all of us good to stop and remember that 21 soldiers were killed in Iraq in the first four days of October.

God bless them and their families.

Clinton Was Right

Apparently Condi Rice is not only a shrill, overly-scripted, tight-ass, lightweight, but perhaps she has major cupability for killing nearly 3,000 people on September 11, 2001. Think I'm over-reacting? Well, the Director of the CIA apparently tried to get her to take action nearly two months before 9/11, but she was probably busy elsewhere...perhaps buying shoes or something.

Here's tomorrow's New York Times article. Read it and weep. Truly.

"WASHINGTON, Oct. 2 — Members of the Sept. 11 commission said today that they were alarmed that they were told nothing about a White House meeting in July 2001 at which George J. Tenet, then the director of central intelligence, is reported to have warned Condoleezza Rice, then the national security adviser, about an imminent Al Qaeda attack and failed to persuade her to take action.

Details of the previously undisclosed meeting on July 10, 2001, two months before the Sept. 11 terror attacks, were first reported last week in a new book by the journalist Bob Woodward.

The final report from the Sept. 11 commission made no mention of the meeting nor did it suggest there had been such an encounter between Mr. Tenet and Ms. Rice, now secretary of state."

and then there's this:

"The book says that Mr. Tenet hurriedly organized the meeting — calling ahead from his car as it traveled to the White House — because he wanted to “shake Rice” into persuading the president to respond to dire intelligence warnings that summer about a terrorist strike. Mr. Woodward writes that Mr. Tenet left the meeting frustrated because “they were not getting through to Rice.”

The disclosures took members of the bipartisan Sept. 11 commission by surprise last week. Some questioned whether information about the July 10 meeting was intentionally withheld from the panel."

In Your Heart, You Know You're Right

You are right.

You've known it for a long time, but it's now becoming crystal clear. Leaders of the Republican Party are not only corrupt (Abramoff scandal), incompetent (Katrina response), war-mongering (Iraq, Iraq, Iraq) racists (George Allen anyone?), torture lovers, but they now are known to shield child predators from the public (Mark Foley, Congressman from Florida).

How'dya like them apples? In just over a month, this country might be free again. But we still have way too many days left till that doofus leaves office.

Saturday Morning

Good morning to one and all. It's a beautiful blue-sky day in our fair state, and one of the best advertisements for living in New England. Nothing much on my radar screen for today, at least in terms of work or errands. However, I am feeling some change in the air, which is probably a good omen for the future.

Of course, there's been change on my job front, which I've documented ad nauseum here. But, like always, that change isn't necessarily all bad because it has opened some unexpected doors. This week I had several interactions with different women in the corporation where I work, and the results have been heart-warming and affirmative.

Part of my job is to train colleagues to build their department websites for the company's intranet. This week, I met with a woman named Pam, to help her build a site. We were working together in her office, which had several photographs on the wall, and I mentioned how much her son had grown. Knowing that 15-year-old Michael is the light of her life, I figured that the discussion would also lead to her daughter, who died suddenly of a still-unknown disease about five years ago. The daughter's picture also was pinned to the wall, but it's starting to age and yellow a little bit. We laughed about how she herself never ages and will always remain 22 years old.

Pam then told me a great story about her daughter and butterflies. Ever since her daughter's death, she has found butterflies in unusual places - flying around her house, sitting on her car, all kinds of unexpected places. She firmly believes this is her daughter's way of comforting her...letting her Mom know she's ok. We both teared up a bit, but we were connecting in such a human way that I took great comfort from it.

Pam's story resonated with me because I have had similar experiences with my deceased parents. A few years ago, my husband faced significant medical issues that, at the time, seemed insurmountable. One day, I simply put his future in the hands of my parents, asking them to please help me. I was sitting in my office at the time and looked out into the blue sky as I made this request. Just as I did so, two large birds flew by, in tandem. Although my parents disagreed on much during their lives on earth, I took solace that the two of them were letting me know they would do what they could.

The result? This week it will be two years since my husband's major surgery. He's probably in better health now than he was before the medical problem occurred. While he's worked hard to get himself healthy, perhaps there are other reasons that cannot be so easily quantified. And that's the secret, and beauty, of being human.

The Cape of Cod

Took a little day trip to Cape Cod with two recently laid off co-workers and another friend who is still stuck on the job with me. See if you can figure out which is which in the picture below:



OK, from left: Susan, Joan, Ethel. Of these, Ethel remains my comrade in arms. Had an enjoyable day exorcising the demons and now it's time to move on.

A Little R&R Today

As part of my rehab from last week's corporateness, I am taking a couple of vacation days this week. Today I started off at the Y, where I swim laps three times a week for an hour. I don't usually have the luxury of starting the day off with exercise, but it seemed like the best way to begin the new week. You let your mind wander and it's a great way to sort through some thoughts...or make some observations of people I don't normally see on a regular basis.

When I first got to the pool, the elder set was doing their hydro-cize, a sort of gentle bobbing and walking through the water, designed for the geriatric set. They look like they're having a great time, with lots of laughter, as they move around in a circle at the shallow end of the pool.

During the hour that I swam, these ladies gave way to the Mommy/Baby set, who also formed their own circle in the water with their ponytails bobbing and their babies clutched in overprotective arms. As I swam back and forth next to them it occurred to me that my generation never had a Mommy and Me swimming lesson time. When it came time for us to learn to swim, we were given a suit, a bath towel and a pair of flip flops (that you wore all summer until they wore out) and pointed in the direction of the town pool. You signed yourself up, as far as I recall, and went there at the appointed hour a couple of times a week. No such thing as holding Mommy's hand and having her do all the work. (Sounds a little curmudgeonly, but I think we were a much more independent generation.)

After my swimming time was finished, I dressed in the locker room surrounded by the old ladies, many of whom were walking around stark nekkid. As far as I know, they're the only age group that does this at the Y (at least that I've seen) and I was kinda proud of them. I overheard one woman say to her companion, "I remember being with my mother-in-law and having to hold her up once in a while to keep her from falling over. Now I'm her!" As she was saying this, she was grabbing on to the locker as she was dressing. The ladies all chuckled and I wanted to join in and say, "Me too!" But I wasn't sure that a 50-something has earned the right to their story...at least not yet.

Perfect way to start the day, wish I could join the old ladies more often. They seem to be having a blast.

What's New?

The past week took a lot out of me emotionally...I don't know why losing my colleague by a layoff would have such an impact. Was it unexpected? Not totally. Was it the right thing to happen? Most definitely not. But there's nothing to be done, short of quitting my own job. Right now, it's not really a possibility.

I'll get over it. But, after 10 years together, fighting the corporate wars against the senior management and, most especially, the MEN, it will be hard to face the days alone.

OK, enough wallowing. Enough whining. At least about me. Here's a few more recent events:

• Did anybody else catch Clinton on...FOX NEWS this morning? Oh, dear God, was it worth watching that ridiculous network to catch Bill ripping Chris Wallace a new one. Here's the transcript of the first twenty minutes. It simply rocks. At long last, a Democrat finally puts the media in their places in terms of the questions asked of both parties. It is fabulous.
  
  
• So, whaddaya think? War with Iran before the election in November? Hard though it might be to believe, the Administration could just do that. Here's Gary Hart's post from The Huffington Post:
  
  

  "Were these more normal times, this would be a stunning possibility, quickly dismissed by thoughtful people as dangerous, unprovoked, and out of keeping with our national character. But we do not live in normal times.
  
  And we do not have a government much concerned with our national character. If anything, our current Administration is out to remake our national character into something it has never been.
  
  The steps will be these: Air Force tankers will be deployed to fuel B-2 bombers, Navy cruise missile ships will be positioned at strategic points in the northern Indian Ocean and perhaps the Persian Gulf, unmanned drones will collect target data, and commando teams will refine those data. The latter two steps are already being taken."

  
  
• My guy, Deval Patrick, won the Democratic primary for Governor of Massachusetts. Polls apparently show him ahead 64% to 25% over his Republican challenger. Hmmm, looks like we might take the State House back this year, which would be a very pleasant prospect.

Speaking of pleasant...there will be more pleasant postings in the future. I promise.

Corporate America Sucks

Well, my best friend and most esteemed colleague at the office was laid off today. I'm pissed off, so no blogging tonight. Only a glass of wine and some de-stressing allowed.

My friend is going to do well because she is a smart professional, blessed with lots of talent and many years of experience. But after working side-by-side with her for more than 10 years, it will be difficult for me to move on. Like always, the actual process today was handled very poorly, and IMHO the company chose the wrong person to let go. But, as I learned a long time ago, life is just not fair.

*sigh*

Truth be told, I'm sort of jealous that she will have some time off and a chance to begin anew in her professional life.

Well, bon voyage, SMG! Keep an eye out for a job for me, ok?

Colin Powell Awakes From a Long Slumber

Finally.

Many people have always harbored a notion that Colin Powell was actually one of us...a thoughtful, intelligent, non-conservative. However, he did his best to dispel this wishful thinking during the first Chimp Administration, especially during the run-up to the war. But today he finally snapped. Check it out here.

RIP, Governor

Here's a woman I've always admired, for her honesty, her openness and her natural sense of irreverance. I would have loved to have met Governor Richards, and now I guess I've missed my chance.

'Nuff Said, eh?

This cartoon stopped me cold this morning. I loved it.

Olbermann Beats the Chimp Over the Head

Read this...shades of Edward R. Murrow and Thomas Paine, rolled into one. This was Olbermann's September 11 rant.

"They [the Republicans] promised bi-partisanship, and then showed that to them, "bi-partisanship" meant that their party would rule and the rest would have to follow, or be branded, with ever-escalating hysteria, as morally or intellectually confused, as appeasers, as those who, in the Vice President's words yesterday, "validate the strategy of the terrorists."

They promised protection, and then showed that to them "protection" meant going to war against a despot whose hand they had once shaken, a despot who we now learn from our own Senate Intelligence Committee, hated al-Qaida as much as we did.

The polite phrase for how so many of us were duped into supporting a war, on the false premise that it had 'something to do' with 9/11 is "lying by implication."

The impolite phrase is "impeachable offense."

Fear and the Cuckoo's Nest

"So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days.

In such a spirit on my part and on yours we face our common difficulties."

At this very moment, the Chimp is giving us his very best scare tactics in his September 11 commemorative speech, but I decided to provide my own dream speech from one of our greatest Presidents, above.

On our TV, we'd rather watch our own version of the Bush administration..."One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." Somehow it seems only too fitting. I'm feeling a lot like R.P. McMurphy right about now because I refuse to sit and be fearful of everything that happens, every "potential" problem, real or imagined. In FDR's case, he convinced Americans to believe in capitalism (for good or for ill) and bolstered our whole way of life with the mere force of his personality. And he did it without benefit of massmedia and spin doctors. So, while I like vegetables, I refuse to sit here and let the Chimp and his minions berate us all into behaving just as they want us to. Here's the line I just heard from the movie, when McMurphy is being interviewed by the administrator in the hospital to which he has been sent:

"They tell me I'm crazy because I don't sit there like a goddamn vegetable. Don't make a bit of sense to me. If that's what being crazy is, then I'm senseless, out of it, gone down the road wackoo. But no more, no less."

Let's hope we're all McMurphy now, and just a wee bit crazy.

Stealing September 11

Isn't it a shame that we can't all just grieve for the loss of life (or even loss of innocence) on 9/11 without it turning into a political statement? That just flat out pisses me off.

As we look back five years, I remember what I was wearing that day. I remember the weather that beautiful, sunny day. And I very much remember when a younger colleague came into my office and told me that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center in New York. Immediately, I thought about the small plane that hit the Empire State Building in the 1940s and figured this was one of those terrible, but minor, accidents. We all trooped to the TV in our office and were shocked beyond belief to see the black smoke coming out of one of the buildings. To the best of my memory I did not actually witness the second plane crash, but my recollection is that only one was burning when we first turned on the TV.

It didn't take long for a crowd to gather around the TV in our office, and it didn't take long to hear that at least one of the hijacked planes had come from the very same airport that was right outside our window. For what seemed like a long time (but actually turned out to be less than 45 minutes at max), we all wandered from the TV to our offices, making phone calls to loved ones, receiving emails and IMs from our colleagues from around the world. I distinctly remember a message from a friend in Belgium wishing us well and asking if it was as bad as he was hearing on the news in Brussels. ("It's worse," I remember telling him.) I also remember calling my husband to let him know we were leaving the office and I'd be home "when I get there." In my imagination, I expected some kind of nightmare scenario in which I'd have to fight my way down the Mass. Pike.

As it turned out, the traffic wasn't bad, but it was a heartbreaking ride in which I heard about the collapse of the World Trade Center, and the many rumors that were flying about...like car bombs at the State Department, evacuations of the major political buildings in Washington, DC, and the actual plane crash at the Pentagon.

Eventually, of course, we all made it home from wherever we were that day, and none of us will never forget any of these details. It's a cliche of the highest order to liken the events of September 11 to remembering where we were when Kennedy was shot (I was taking a spelling test in 4th grade) and where our parents were when Pearl Harbor was hit. But another memory I have is of the unity we all felt, the real sense of "all being in it together."

Last night, we re-watched a 9/11 film done by a couple of French brothers who were embedded with a New York City firehouse. They were filming the fire fighters for a documentary, and ended up being swept up in the events of the day...including being at the World Trade Center when it collapsed. This show brought back the horror of the day, which I (for one) had begun to be too sanguine about. With the repetition of "9/11," "9/11," "9/11," by politicians of every stripe...with color-coded terror alerts...with taking off our shoes before going through security at the airports, we've all sort of assimiliated September 11, 2001 into some sort of acceptability. But watching the film last night and hearing the bodies drop onto the pavement brought the old feeling back...the one that had me weeping while I drove to work in the days after September 11th.

It also reminded me of the reasons why I bought a small flag on the streets of New York when we visited in October 2001, and why I was waving it madly when firefighters paraded past us on Fifth Avenue during New York's Columbus Day parade. Those of you who know me know I'm not the flag-waving type.

And it's why I'm pissed today.

9/11 Widow Responds to Ann Coulter

I've always admired Kristen Breitweiser. She's smart, capable and probably never expected in her wildest dreams to be a victime of the venom of Ann Coulter. I won't dignify that witch with repeating her comments, but I thought it would be good to feature Ms. Breitweiser's response here.

Have You Contacted ABC Yet?

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Both Bobbers and I have sent our emails to both ABC and Disney asking them NOT to air the dispicable "docudrama" about September 11, 2001, called "The Path to 9/11." In case you've been living under a rock, you know that this mini-series blames (among other people) Bill Clinton, Madeleine Albright and Sandy Berger for 9/11.

Here's a link to a bunch of action items if you're interested in your children learning the truth about American history, and not some made-up version courtesy of the right wing.

Too Much "Big Brother"

Having a digital video recorder (aka "TiVo") system mostly allows us to keep up with "The Daily Show," "The Colbert Report," the Letterman show and Oprah! But, this summer, it also has allowed me to record my guiltiest of guilty pleasures: "Big Brother." I typically do not watch reality shows, but there is something about this show that interests me. Perhaps its because it is quite similar to office politics...when people get "evicted" from the house it's sort of the equivalent of a downsizing on the job. And I guess I also enjoy watching people lie to each other and just get away with it!

But anyway...I've been watching the show this summer and it's great to have it recorded because I can zip through all the crappy parts (the gratuitous bikinis and show-mance stuff). I get to stop when the houseguests are at their conniving and back-stabbing best. Why do I enjoy this? God only knows. But I do.

Last night, however, I realized I must be watching too much because I had a dream I was in a "reality show" situation with people being evicted...by gunshot! When I complained to the HoH about someone else being killed, he turned the gun on me, which caused me to wake right up with a pounding heart! So I guess it's a good thing the show is only on one more night, eh?

(I was sorry to see Dr. Will and Janelle recently evicted...they played the game the best. I had predicted that Mike would win a few weeks ago, so I guess I'll keep with that choice, especially over the skanky Erika.)

Weekend Wrap-Up

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Had a remarkably dry weekend in the Berkshires, considering we were supposed to be feeling the remnants of Hurrican Ernesto. Yes, it was chilly. Yes, it was overcast. Yes, it was windy. But we never once had to open our umbrellas, so we figured we did pretty well.

Even though the Berkshires are certainly located in the state of Massachusetts, they are a world away from greater Boston. While people in eastern Massachusetts summer at Cape Cod or Maine, western Massachusetts is rife with New Yorkers. And with those New Yorkers comes the dreaded MFY fan. Saw any number of NY hats and shirts and you'll be proud to know I didn't hurt any of them, and none of them harassed me with my own Red Sox cap on. Peace reigned in the valley.

On the other hand, I did hear a LOT of anti-Bush rhetoric. Walking through a number of shops I overheard people complaining about the state of things in the US of A. One memorable conversation had a shop owner saying to a patron: We need a miracle! (Personally I think we'll get it in November, but that's a topic for another post.)

On Saturday, we attended one of Massachusetts' finest arts resources, Tanglewood. This large complex out in the rolling, green Berkshire hills is the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra plays concerts of all sorts throughout the summer, sometimes mixed with the Boston Pops Orchestra and other classical artists. Neither Bob or I are classical music fans, so we reserve our visit for Labor Day Weekend when Tanglewood features the three-day Jazz Festival.

The Saturday afternoon concert featured Marian McPartland, a grande dame of jazz piano, who I believe is in her 80s. She's still a feisty old gal, with plenty of fire and still plays a smooth jazz piano. She was having a live version of her NPR show "Piano Jazz" featuring as her special guest Elvis Costello - one of our favorite artists. For two 45-minute sets the two of them held court, playing lesser known jazz standards. At the end, Elvis's wife, Diana Krall (who at 41 is very pregnant), joined in and sang two songs with Marion. Biggest cheer of the day? When the sun poked through the clouds for about 30 seconds during intermission.

After a quick burger and pasta break between concerts, we returned to Tanglewood for the evening event, with a distinctive New Orleans flavor. First up? Wynton Marsalis's 5-piece band. They were a cool bunch, playing about an hour's worth of great traditional jazz. Loved seeing them, but the second half of the show was really why we paid the money for the seats we had. It featured Dr. John, Irma Thomas, John Pizzarelli, and many others.

Just as these great artists were really starting to cook, we noticed a very peculiar thing...people were leaving. It is an "outdoor" venue...a pie shaped "shed" with the stage at the pointed end and open air on most of the rest of the structure. But after each song, people were getting up to leave...more and more at each break. It was the oddest thing. And I have to say that the applause was quite tepid - not anything like I expected. We went to the concert looking forward to a solid and heartwarming New England welcome to some of the displaced artists of New Orleans.

We couldn't figure it out...was it because the typical BSO attendee is a rich, older white person? Was it because of what is sometimes known as the New England "cold" personality? I don't think so. I thinnk we had a bunch of people who attend these concerts religously regardless of who is on the bill. And clearly, people didn't understand Dr. John or have an appreciation of who Irma Thomas is and her place in the New Orleans jazz and blues constellation. We were embarassed for these people and certainly hoped the New Orleans contingent didn't hold it against us. I suspect neither the BSO or the artists will want to bring them together at Tanglewood again. However, WE will look forward to catching these artists at another less-upscale locale.

Here's my candid shot of Dr. John and Irma leaving the stage. They look reasonably happy, so I guess all's well that ends well.

New Life Goal

Just watched the pre-game tonight (yes, for the Red Sox game...I still love my boys!) and just witnessed the greatest thing I've seen in a while. They interviewed (briefly) a woman attending the Sox game on her 100th birthday. She even had a Sox jersey on with the name "Grammy" across the back, with a number 100 on it.

New goal: Sox game on my 100th birthday! Who wants to join me? I'll buy the beer.

Update: Sox win 6-4. I say Grammy replaces Wally the Green Monster as Team Mascot!

Time Off

I'm looking at a six days off from the daily grind as we celebrate the last long weekend of the summer. Yippee!

In addition to a few days off, we're taking a little trip to the Berkshires to attend part of the annual Jazz Festival at Tanglewood, one of our very favorite things to do.

I still have plenty of things to write about, and I look forward to having a few spare hours to think a little more clearly and write these posts. Here's hoping the rest of you are also looking forward to some R&R as summer comes to a close, albeit too soon.

Stay tuned!

EPA Lied; People Died

As I've posted before, when we visited New York City and Ground Zero three weeks after the attacks on September 11, 2001, we noticed a remarkable odor and noticeable particulates floating in the air around lower Manhattan. No surprise to read again today that the EPA lied about the health effects to those rescue teams and others working in the vicinity in the aftermath of the attacks.

Here's today's evidence.

The letter, written by Dr. Cate Jenkins and obtained by RAW STORY, claims that EPA-funded research on the toxicity of breathable alkaline dust at the site “falsified pH results” to make the substance appear benign, when it was, in reality, corrosive enough to cause first responders and other workers in lower Manhattan to later lose pulmonary functions and, in some cases, to die.

Our government at work yet again.

A Download for You

If you like Rickie Lee Jones, or just like the idea of a good ole fashioned anti-Republican sing-along, here's a download for you.

Have You Had Enough?

Have you had enough of hypocrisy?
Have you had enough of the spending spree?
Have you had enough?
Does it make you want to scream and shout?

Have you had enough of the rubber stamps?
Have you had enough of the wire taps?
If you’ve had enough, then it’s time to throw the rascals out!

We’ve let them take the test too long
They’ve gotten all the answers wrong
No plan, no shame, no oversight
Now’s the time to put it right!

Have you had enough, cause they’re all corrupt?
Have you had enough of being divvied up?
If you’ve had enough, then it’s time to throw the rascals out!

Well, do what’s right and spread the word
It’s time to make our voices heard
You cast your vote it don’t cost a dime
Sittin’ it out will be a crime

I’ve had enough, and it’s time to throw the rascals out

The First To Go

According to most polls, there is a decent chance the Democrats could take over the Congress in November. While this has me rubbing my hands together in glee, I don't want to get too ahead of myself. After the questionable elections of 2000 and 2004, I wouldn't put it past anyone to snatch this victory from the American people.

But, if the Democrats do win, there will be hearings about the skullduggery that's been going on for the past six years. First in line for me would be Mr. Cheney, and here's why:

Cheney has planted aides in major Cabinet departments, often over the objection of a Cabinet secretary, to make sure his policies are carried out. He sits in on the Senate Republican caucus, to stamp out any rebellions. Cheney loyalists from the Office of the Vice President dominate interagency planning meetings.

The Iraq war is the work of Cheney and Rumsfeld. The capture of the career civil service is pure Cheney. The disciplining of Congress is the work of Cheney and Rove. The turning over of energy policy to the oil companies is Cheney. The extreme secrecy is Cheney and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

If Cheney were the president, more of this would be smoked out because the press would be paying attention. The New York Times' acerbic columnist Maureen Dowd regularly makes sport of Cheney's dominance, and there are plenty of jokes (Bush is a heartbeat away from the presidency). But you can count serious newspaper or magazine articles on Cheney's operation on the fingers of one hand. One exceptional example is Jane Mayer's piece in the July 3 New Yorker on Cheney operative David Addington .

Cheney's power is matched only by his penchant for secrecy. When my colleague at the American Prospect, Robert Dreyfuss, requested the names of people who serve on the vice president's staff, he was told this was classified information. Former staffers for other departments provided Dreyfuss with names.

So secretive is Cheney (and so incurious the media) that when his chief of staff, Irving Lewis Libby, was implicated in the leaked identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson, reporters who rushed to look Libby up on Nexis and Google found that Libby had barely rated previous press attention.

Why does this matter? Because if the man actually running the government is out of the spotlight, the administration and its policies are far less accountable.

I am looking forward to November.

Update: Came across this post from Raw Story saying that it's increasingly likely that Democrats will take at least the House of Representatives in November. Woot! Here's an excerpt:

Our latest race-by-race review of Congressional districts around the country convinces us that a Democratic wave is building and that the party is poised to take control of the House of Representatives in the fall. The only question now is the size of the November wave.

The national mood remains bleak for Republicans. President George W. Bush’s job performance ratings are terrible, and the public still gives Congress low marks. A majority of Americans continue to tell pollsters that the country is headed in the wrong direction.

That’s a recipe for a GOP disaster, and there is no reason to believe that things will change dramatically between now and Election Day to improve Republican prospects.

$2.84 Gas Today

WTF? Never thought we'd ever be cheering $2.84/gallon, but there ya go.

Gratuitous MFY Bashing...Good for the Nation's Soul

A Red Sox fan liked to amuse himself by scaring every Yankees fan he saw strutting down the street in an obnoxious NY pinstripe shirt. He would swerve his van as if to hit them, then swerve back just missing them.

One day, while driving along, he saw a priest. He thought he would do a good deed, so he pulled over and asked the priest, "Where are you going, Father?" "I'm going to give Mass at St. Francis church, about two miles down the road," replied the priest. "Climb in, Father. I'll give you a lift!" The priest climbed into the passenger seat, and they continued down the road.

Suddenly, the driver saw a Yankees fan walking down the road, and he instinctively swerved as if to hit him. But, as usual, he swerved back onto the road just in time. Even though he was certain that he had missed the guy, he still heard a loud THUD. Not knowing where the noise came from, he glanced in his mirrors but still didn't see anything.

He then remembered the priest, and he turned to the priest and said, "Sorry, Father, I almost hit that Yankees fan."

"That's OK," replied the priest, "I got him with the door."

A New Heroine

If my husband had been killed in a war that I totally disagreed with and I found myself face-to-face with the President who started the war, I am not sure I could be coherent, much less as clear thinking as this woman from Maine named Hildi Halley. Here's her description of the meeting:

"I talked to him about how important this person was to me," Halley recounted, speaking of her husband. "It's not just a soldier who died. Lives are changed forever...I said, `This doesn't make sense to me.'"

"He said, `Terrorists killed three thousand people, we had to go to war.'" Halley continued to me. "I said, `Well, who put the Taliban into power? The United States did.' He said, `I'm not going to have a philosphical debate over politics.' The whole conversation was very gentle."

Halley says that while Bush was personable and receptive to her, she was very direct and critical of Bush's policies and insisted that the right thing to do was to end the war.

"We literally sat knee to knee...I looked deep into his eyes and talked to him about love and losing people and that he was responsible for this. I said, `I didn't vote for you, but you are my President. And you're not serving me.'"

"I said I believed it was time to put an end to this. His job is to find solutions. I said, `You yourself have said you had erroneous information going into this.'"

She continued: "I said, `As a Christian man, you realize that when you've made a mistake it's your responsiblity to end this. And it's time to end the bleeding and it's time to end the war.'"

Geography Quiz 2

OK, next test for you smartypants people. Where am I?

New Blog Recommendation

Came across this blog today and thought you all might be interested. Turns out this guy also has had a recet bout with poison ivy, too. Amazingly coincidental, no?

Axis of Evil

I've had it with the Muthaf...ing Wankees in the muthaf'ing baseball diamond!

I still love my boys, but they are on my last nerve.

Go Sox!

Happy Birthday, Bill

Remember when we had a real president? Well, he's turning 60 today. I wish him well--still miss the dude.

Let's Have a Smackdown!

Memories…Light the corners of my mind

What in God’s name did we ever do without search engines?

It feels like nearly every day, I scan my middle-aged brain for a random word or half-thought that doesn’t quickly rise to the surface. Although part of the normal aging process, it’s increasingly frustrating since I have always had a decent memory. In fact, I’ve never been a list-maker. I find that on those rare occasions when I do make a list, I end up leaving it at home (when I’m at the grocery) or at work on my desk (when I’m trying to pack for a vacation). So I find them to be fairly useless. (Hey, maybe I need a list to remind me where I left my list? This is a breakthrough!)

Nowadays, however, there is an alternative for our poor age-addled memories: the search engine. Yesterday, for example, I was commuting to work, blasting my satellite radio as is my typical start to every morning. (As many of you know, we’re addicted to XM Satellite radio and have receivers in both cars and the house – more on that in other posts). Since the Red Sox lost the evening before, I was avoiding sports, and decided instead to channel surf the radio’s 150+ stations to try something new. Ended up on “Beyond Jazz,” a progressive version of the station I usually listen to, “Real Jazz.” In these days of the “long tail” marketing solution, it won’t surprise you to learn there’s actually a difference between the two. “Real Jazz” is more traditional jazz, lots of Thelonius Monk, Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, etc. Since I only recently began my jazz education, this is typically where I stop and learn.

Anyway…I moved to ”Beyond Jazz,” where they were playing a great song by someone or something called “Buckshot LeFonque” that I really loved. Instantly I made a mental note to remember the name so I could ask my musical guru (Bobbers) about it when I got home. This unique name had to be easy to remember, right? Well, the day wore on and by noontime, I could only remember half the name – and I wasn’t sure totally if I had it right. Certainly I couldn’t remember how to spell “LeFonque”. So, what did I do? Promptly launched Google and did a search and quickly found what I was looking for and sent an email to Bobbers to let him know I found some new music.

The point of this story? So long as we can recall the vague outlines of what we think about early in the day, we can Google it later for instant recall. For Baby Boomers and those young’uns behind us, this is a very good thing.

Cheney Hires Impeachment Lawyer

How's this for irony? Today we find that Cheney has hired the lawyer who handled Clinton's impeachment case to protect him from sweet little ole Valerie Plame.

Bwahahahahahahahahaha!

Beckperson's Recipe Box

Looking for a light, healthy and easy-to-fix summer dinner? Try this sandwich.


Here's the ingredients:

Whole Wheat Toast
A dash of light mayo
Sliced avocado
Slice of red onion
Slice of sharp cheddar cheese
Lettuce
Snippets of thyme (from the garden)
Slice of fresh tomato

Serve with salt-free sweet potato chips.

Yummmmmy!

Guess Where This Is

It's time to play a game, here in Bloggerland. Do you know where this picture was taken? Give us your best guess below!

Suspicious Timing

Well, well, well...it appears that the US and British disagreed on when to close the dragnet on the Shampoo Bombers. Apparently, the British wanted to let it go a little longer and the US pressured them into breaking up the alleged plot quickly. So do you think they might have wanted to distract us here in the US from the low approval ratings, Joe Lieberman's loss in the recent primary, and all the other problems they are causing?

Be ready, everyone, because the Republicans are literally trying to scare us into re-electing them. Remember when we had "nothing to fear, but fear itself?" Now all we have to fear are people who are willing to exploit our emotions for political gain. This cannot stand. Don't let it.

Duct Tape, Part 2

Remember when we were all told by Homeland Security to have mass quantities of duct tape on hand for the next big terrorist attack? Well, I do believe they are at it again.

You've all by now heard about the foiled terrorist plot in England that is causing havoc at American airports, right? Apparently, due to some of the plot points including liquid explosives, we now can no longer take anything liquid onto any plane - whether it's a bottle of water, liquid makeup, shaving cream, you get the picture. Although I did hear we could bring baby formula or liquid medicine. So I have a question. Don't you think terrorists could figure out how to put liquid explosives into these two items? Hellooooo?

::rolling eyeballs::

Now I read this morning that TSA is dumping all the liquids they've collected. Or, in the case of Phoenix, they're giving the unopened bottles of shampoo to charity.

"Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport planned to give 11 boxes of surrendered items to the city's human services department, which will give the unopened bottles of shampoo, toothpaste and other items to homeless shelters, airport spokeswoman Lexie Van Haren said."

So my question is...if it's safe enough to give to homeless people, why isn't it safe enough to take on a plane?

Could we get any more STUPID? That's why Homeland Security is "On Notice." See below post.

This is our government, folks.

One Last Thing for Today

The following people are "On Notice" by me, Beckperson:

A Question for You

Are you better off now than you were 6 years ago?

Here's a Happy Headline

Poll: Bush May Be Hurting Republicans

By DONNA CASSATA
Associated Press Writer

"WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republicans determined to win in November are up against a troublesome trend - growing opposition to President Bush. (BWA HA HAHAHAHAHAH!)

An Associated Press-Ipsos poll conducted this week found the president's approval rating has dropped to 33 percent, matching his low in May. His handling of nearly every issue, from the Iraq war to foreign policy, contributed to the president's decline around the nation, even in the Republican-friendly South.

More sobering for the GOP are the number of voters who backed Bush in 2004 who are ready to vote Democratic in the fall's congressional elections - 19 percent. These one-time Bush voters are more likely to be female, self-described moderates, low- to middle-income and from the Northeast and Midwest."

Some of the women in the Midwest who are thinking of changing their votes could be reading this blog. Welcome to the reality based community! We missed you.

Come Again, Congressman McGovern!

Last night I was delayed coming home from work and, believe it or not, missed a visit to our house by our Congressman. He was making the rounds of registered Democrats in the area on behalf of Deval Patrick, who's running for Governor of our fair state.

The Democratic primary election is in September, and I hadn't made a decision on who I was going to vote for...it was going to be Patrick or Chris Gabrielli. But I think I'll most definitely take a good, long look at Deval Patrick based on our Congressman's endorsement. I just wish the hell I'd been home to shake this man's hand. I'm very impressed with our Congressman - most especially when he took on Mean Jean Schmidt when she called Murtha a chicken during her infamous first speech in the House of Representatives.

Come back, Congressman. We can sit on the porch, have a beer, and talk about how life is going to improve when the Dems take the majority back in the House and Senate this fall. And you can convince me to vote for Deval.

Clueless Joe Lieberman

Well, Clueless Joe strikes again:

"I'm worried that too many people, both in politics and out, don't appreciate the seriousness of the threat to American security and the evil of the enemy that faces us -- more evil, or as evil, as Nazism and probably more dangerous than the Soviet Communists we fought during the long Cold War," Mr. Lieberman said.

This is another indication of the utter cluelessness of what I'm starting to call the "stuck on 9/11" mindset of the Administration and its hangers-on. The sooner they figure out that our security is NOT a military problem, but rather a political and/or law enforcement issue, the better off, and more secure, we'll all be.

The continual politicization of terrorism is on my last nerve. We need to move beyond treating it in the "old" way and figure out a smarter, more original and creative way to solve this. I don't have the answers, but I suggest we start electing people who are willing to work for change, not just continually run "campaign" slogans at us.

Questioning 9/11?

A friend sent me this link earlier today, and I thought I'd share it with you. If you are the least bit concerned that we don't know everything there is to know about the US government's handling of the attack, this may suit you. I'm always suspicious of these things and haven't downloaded anything as yet, but I wanted to share it with you.

There's been a lot more of this sort of questioning, and it's probably a good thing, for all of us.

I've Got the Poison, Who's Got the Cure?

'Tis the further adventures of Beckperson's battle with the poison ivy, in which the ivy takes the lead.

Last night I mentioned my trip to the doctor for my annual dose of steroids to relieve me of the heebiejeebies. This rash I have is so ridiculous that perhaps the Chimp could introduce poison ivy as a newfangled torture format at Guantanamo. I don't know about you all, but I would admit to just about anything in order to score some steroids (see previous post).

Right now, the rash is mostly on my forearms - there are large deep red, angry splotches. I also have smaller patches on my ankles, across my chest and even a dot or two on my left cheek (my face, people, my face) and neck.

But the most intriguing one of all is a large blister on the top of my right forearm. It's the size of a marble, and has the texture of a rubber balloon. I imagine it's going to blow at some point soon, but I'm kind of enjoying it...any guesses on when it will go? My best bet is that it will be a couple of days, but it could surprise me sometime, right when I don't expect it or when I don't have a roll of paper towels to soak up the run-off.

The good news is for the most part I'm not suffering, and if you see me in person, don't worry. I'll be wearing long sleeves so you won't have to witness this atrocity. There's no need to be a'feared - just stand back and out of shooting range.

*click*

Many thousands of years ago, when Ms. Magazine was first launched, I was an avid subscriber. They had a column on the very last page called *click* in which women told stories about those small, everyday occurances that vividly demonstrated that they were being treated differently than men, on the job or in the home. Some *click* examples were when they realized the man next to them doing the same job was paid more, or when they were denied credit unless they had the signature of their husbands.

These life-changing moments, known as *clicks* in the magazine. I experienced a *click* of a kind yesterday. It wasn't about gender inequality, it was about age inequality - and seemingly, I was on the power end of it.

Yesterday, for probably the fourth summer in a row, I had to go to the doctor for treatment for poison ivy (yes, my hedge-trimming finally got me). My regular doctor (a woman) was not available, so my appointment was with a... VERY.... YOUNG.... MALE.... DOCTOR. (I'm not sure the ink on his diploma was still dry.) The *click* moment came when he suggested I should use a cortisteroid cream to spread on the rash. In my vast experiences with poison ivy, I have been treated very successfully by steroid pills and had no intention of leaving the office without a prescription. When I mentioned my preference, Dr. McYoungy mumbled a few things like "I always advises patients to use the cream." But, there was something in his body language that told me he was intimidated! He backed up a step, tried again to justify the cream remedy, but eventually turned tail and skeeedadled out of the 2x2 exam room to fetch his prescription pad (which, of course, he had forgotten to bring in). I swear to God, I wasn't rude or mean, I merely suggested that I had good luck with the steroid pills. But Doogie just crumpled. It was an odd moment to find out I am a middle aged woman with such POWAH! *Click!*

This experience was a reverse *click,* I guess, but it makes me think that I just might be Wonder Woman after all.

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

Joe Trippi wrote a book about it. And if you have any interest at all in undersanding how the internet affects our democracy, you should read it.

Today, another article surfaced on Truthout.com, with a slightly different name: The Revolution Is Not Being Televised. The article is mostly based on the Lamont campaign for Senate in Connecticut, but it has bigger, more exciting implications:

"If Lexington-Concord was "the shot heard round the world" - the moment where a festering series of local rebellions became a Rebellion - then the Lamont campaigners on the ground and on the Internet are among the minutemen and Committees of Correspondence of this next American Revolution. But a message needs a messenger, and in the vast number of words written on the subject of Internet politics, this fundamental point is neglected. Partly it is because large traditional media outlets, protecting their economic interests, and right-wing-backed media outlets, pursuing their partisan advantage with typical disregard of the truth, have a desire to paint the entire enterprise as "far left protest politics." They want everyone to see hippies burning college offices and papier mâché puppets.

The reality is rather much the reverse: the people who have made best use of the Internet as a tool for political change are not exclusively on the left. In fact, the right wing has its Internet arm, which is tightly vertically integrated - anonymous right-wing operatives create fake news, such as the recent selectively edited clip that tried to imply that Congressman Dingell supported Hezbollah, then low level right-wing bloggers scream about it, then the well financed Michelle Malkins of this world pick it up, and finally it is funneled into the flagship of right-wing media, the Washington Times. If it is a pro-war stink, the Washington Post can be relied to take it up as well.

This, however, merely integrates the Internet into the old media stream, and the old tightly controlled message politics of broadcast. A campaign is a few people in a room coming up with slogans, and a large number of shills repeating them, hoping they will catch fire. The Lamont campaign is not driven by this same dynamic. It is tightly controlled within itself, but it does not tightly control the messages that surround the candidate. A fact which the flailing Lieberman campaign attempted to use to create a fake controversy.

In short, too few people have understood that the reason the message of a different kind of citizenship that creates a new politics has awaited messengers is because there are too many entrenched interests busy smearing any messenger who manages to rise to the forefront. This does not change the basic reality - the new politics has consistently selected politicians of a particular type, with a particular personality. The type is not the true outsider who comes in with completely radical notions about the system but, instead, the intellectual maverick who has risen within the system and who has succeeded by "thinking outside the box."

The article ends with this kicker:

"While there have been occasional articles about this new class of political player, as with the nature of the new kind of candidate, there has been a vast void of understanding as to what makes them successful in this new political environment. As with the candidates they support, the crucial quality is the ability to understand where the present political environment has reached a point of gridlock, and then the ability to leverage the very pressure that has brought about stalemate to burst out in a lateral direction with great, and unexpected, force. It is a pressure that journalists like Christopher Lydon, with decades in and covering politics, could feel and smell, but which the major outlets at first denied, and now decry, being dragged kicking and screaming into a world where politics is a conversation, and not an ad campaign.

That, then, is the real lesson of the Revolution of '06: namely, that it was there all along, and it is merely being unleashed this year to create its first wave of victories in electoral politics in the US. It has awaited messengers to carry its message, and with each passing battle, it grows more immune to the deceptive smear-driven attacks from the mass media world. These messengers are not starry-eyed dreamers, but instead people who began in the system as it is, and have crossed the aisle based on an intimate understanding of the failures of the old system. They have gathered around them a new breed of political operative on the Internet, and have made more effective an old breed that had been pushed aside by the old politics of the airwaves. This politics has faith in a different world, it values different kinds of politicians, and it is developing an increasingly cohesive political philosophy,

And while in 2004 this politics merely made a splash, in 2006, it has already won elections. But don't tell anyone, because the old politics still believes that if it isn't on television, it doesn't exist."

Do I get an AMEN on this?

9/11 Commission Fails Its Job

Remember when the country actually had government officials who actually stopped at nothing to get the truth. Nowadays, to quote "A Few Good Men" we can't seem to handle the truth.

Specifically, the 9/11 Commission Co-chairs say they got the runaround from the Pentagon, the FAA and most especially, were not hard enough on Rudy Giuliani. They feared that they would be perceived as too hard on the already suffering fire and police officers. Here's the post from Americablog:

We now learn that the 9/11 Commission couldn't get the information it needed from Rudy Giuliani because newspaper editorials criticized the commission for asking tough questions of NYC's firefighters and police. You see, the firemen and the police were heroes, so we don't get to ask them tough questions that might help us avoid a future terrorist attack, or at least respond to it better - you see, that just wouldn't be "nice." Oh no. In Soviet America, we just tell the cops and firemen how great they are, rather than get the information we need to save another, oh, 3,000 lives.

Amen.

The Gathering Storm

Came across this link from The Political Wire:

From Charlie Cook's forthcoming National Journal column:

"Time is running out for Republicans. Unless something dramatic happens before Election Day, Democrats will take control of the House. And the chances that they’ll seize the Senate are rising toward 50-50.

"The electoral hurricane bearing down on the GOP looks likely to be a Category 4 or 5, strong enough to destroy at least one of the party’s majorities. The political climate feels much as it did before previous elections that produced sizable upheavals, such as in 1994, when Democrats lost 52 House seats, eight Senate seats, and control of both chambers."

I suppose the hurricane imagery is not intended to be ironic.
So, let's have the first woman to be Speaker of the House, shall we? Hmmmm....Speaker Pelosi. I like the sound of that.

Tagged and Bagged

Well, here's a first. I've been tagged to write a blogpost with the following rules:

The player of this game starts with "5 weird things/habits about yourself".
In the end you need to choose 5 people to be tagged and list their names. The people who get tagged need to write a blog about their 5 weird things/habits, as well as state this rule clearly, then tag 5 more victims. Don't forget to leave your victim a comment that says "you're tagged!" in their comments and tell them to read your blog.

My cousin Susan did this dirty trick. Gee,thanks. :-)

1. I am out of the house every workday in a half hour or less from the time my feet hit the floor. This includes a shower, washed hair and dressing myself (and no, I don't plan the wardrobe in advance). My mother used to tell me I should have been a fireman.

2. This one goes along with the first one. I am chronically early for everything. There's nothing I hate worse than thinking anyone is waiting for me - drives me insane.

3. I am addicted to presidential elections and election coverage. Gee, now there's a surprise. There's nothing I like better than watching convention coverage (I was orgasmic when the Democrats held their convention in Boston in 2004 - I was able to attend an event that featured the women senators: Clinton, Mikulski, Murray, Boxer, Stabenow, Lincoln. Totally fun.) I particularly enjoyed the 1992 and 1996 outcomes, when I printed out a copy of the US map and colored in the states as they were won by Clinton/Bush and Clinton/Dole. Hey, maybe I need to revisit this in 2008 - it worked then, didn't it?

4. Not a particularly weird habit, but I bite my finger cuticles too much. I'd give anything to have my sister Nancy's nice nails.

5. I like doing things in season. For instance, I can't do Christmas shopping until at least Thanksgiving. And, I like to buy clothes when I can actually wear them. Yesterday, I went shopping for summer clothes. During a week when the temperature rose to 102 degrees (in New England for God's sake!) I had the audacity to walk into a store looking for shorts. At Coldwater Creek a nice saleswoman asked if she could help me find anything. I said, "Where are your summer clothes?" (this after I had only taken about 5 steps into the store). She says, "They're all gone." I said, "So am I," and walked out the door. I guess I should have shopped for shorts in May when it was 40 degrees and raining all the time, eh? I'm convinced that one of these days the stores will "lap" themselves and be putting out seasonal clothes right when we need to have them.

OK, who can I tag? I don't know 5 people with blogs. So, the following people (who are my total readership, I think) will have to add their 5 strange habits as comments I guess: Rita M., Dianna H., Beth P., Mary Lou and Nanner. (I was going to add my great-niece Melanie because she actually does have a blog, but at around 3 months old, she doesn't have too many strange habits yet.) Have fun, ladies!

Happy Thoughts

With all the misery I've been recording lately, I thought it might be good to share something (anything!) that has nothing to do with death and destruction.

Let me think:

• I made a deeeeelicious dinner tonight. It was a salmon salad recipe that I found online by googling "salmon" and "asparagus". I didn't put the eggs in, but added some great tomatoes fresh from the farmstand and some leftover croutons (from our trip to a favorite restaurant yesterday). And, we topped the salad off from corn on the cob from the same farmstand. Yum-o!
  
• When we joined the local Y back in April, I rediscovered my love of swimming. This morning, I did 45 minutes of laps before 9 AM. I try to swim at least 3 times a week and I can definitely tell that I'm getting better all the time. It's really amazing what a little invention called 'swimming goggles' does for a person. Can't say I'm a beauty queen in the water, but I guess that's not really the point, now is it?
  
• If you're looking for happy news, go here. It's amazingly boring and bland, but if sure beats the current news, now doesn't it?
  
• The Red Sox are still in first place by a game over the MFYs. That, in itself, is worth a little happy dance all on its own. ;-) Now I am just keeping my fingers crossed that there are no big trades coming down before the deadline tomorrow. (OOPS, sorry, that was a lapse into potential negativity, wasn't it?)

Well, on to the work week and other happy things, eh?

Dear Israel,

Please stop the bombing now. You've made your freakin' point. How many more innocent children will you kill?

Talk about encouraging terrorism...all Arabs will now be joining forces against the Israel and and the USA. It's hard to believe that anyone could feel sympathetic to Hezbollah, but I have a feeling that moderate Arabs are going to be joining them now.

Israel is being deliberately provocative and it's not helping anybody - especially themselves. And the US diplomacy would be a joke if it weren't so incompetent.

More Carnage

Did you know that 100 people are killed EVERY DAY in Iraq?

WTF?

The world is a bizarre place, isn't it?

On the TV, we see that the US has sold bombs to Israel. They are using them to bomb Lebanon Then, we send humanitarian relief for the victims.

*Insert rolling eyeballs here*

The US is supposed to be the "honest broker" in the Middle East negotiations. Yet, we refuse to ask Israel for an immediate ceasefire, but rather an urgent ceasefire. WTF? How the hell do we get anywhere in this world when people use war to solve disagreements? I know I'm naive, but hasn't civilization evolved any further than this?

Condi (aka "The Wicked Witch of the West") goes to Rome to participate in a supposed diplomatic mission. Nothing, of course, was accomplished. Yet, here's the headline on MSNBC: "Rice plans serious piano recital at summit." Kinda strikes a person as a bit too Nero-like, eh? Just insert a fiddle and some fire and you'd be all set. God, I hate that woman.

This is one fucked-up world.