A Little Fresh Air?

Joe is in the process of getting some changes made in the administration of the US Postal Service, which may result in the replacement of Louis DeJoy as Postmaster General. Better late than never. That pig DeJoy represents everything I hate about Dimito Assolini and his so-called precedence (sic). When I see DeJoy's face, I see the personification of evil and corruption.

Speaking of Assolini, his first (probably only) book about his so-called precedence is a fucking picture book, with photographs chosen by Dimito to depict his fantasies of spectacular success in making America great again (which most realists understand was actually the nearly-complete destruction of American greatness). Assolini boasts about writing captions for the photos, some handwritten. That's really impressive shit, dude. A volume of this wasted paper, autographed by Dimito, will retail for around $230, which is $229 more than it's worth. Still, I wonder how many Trumplican dullards will be suckered into buying it. Three would be too many.

Q NOTES, DAY 256: Holiday

From the time I was in third grade until the year I retired, I always looked forward to Thanksgiving. It was a break in the routine of doing things I didn't enjoy, like going to classes or to my job. After I reached college, Thanksgiving offered the additional benefit of being the day of the biggest Texas A&M football game of the season (or at least the most meaningful one to me), plus the annual Dallas Cowboy turkey day game.

After retirement, the Thanksgiving holiday became less of an eagerly anticipated break from the drudgery of school or work, and eventually, even the appeal of all-day football was lost. For several years, Thanksgiving has been a day I tolerate instead of one I enjoy. The best part has been the Black Friday sales.

After having said all that, I'm actually giving thanks today. We're now within 1,400 hours of giving Cheez Doodle the farewell kick in the ass he deserves because the election went almost exactly the way I hoped it would: a significant Electoral College margin and a 6,200,000 popular vote advantage. Thank you to all of those responsible for making my moment of celebration possible.

On a different note, I'm reading that COVID, already out of control, will be an even bigger problem after traditional holiday get-togethers help the virus spread. I wonder how much limited hospital space and medical care is being wasted on people who refuse to wear masks, practice distancing or follow any of the other recommended protocols. I wonder how many people follow every rule and take every precaution, but are still exposed and get sick. It wouldn't bother me to see a national policy along the lines of, "If you refuse to wear a mask, don't even think about being treated in a hospital after COVID makes you sick." In other words, either try or die.

I also feel zero compassion when someone who should know better sends large amounts of money to any Cheez Doodle scam operation. Those fools are just asking for it.

Banning Banners

After the church killings in South Carolina, the Confederate flag is the topic of the day on my Facebook news feeds. Here's what I think:

In the 21st century, anyone who needs to display a Confederate flag anywhere other than in a museum is making a statement. The statement is this: "Fuck yeah, I'm a flamin' asshole. Whatcha gonna do about it?"

Rules 1A and 1B

Two rules to live by:

A) Treat other people the way you want other people to treat you.

B) Never trust anyone who's waving a flag with one hand and clutching a Bible in the other.

No, Joe

Joseph Biden has done a satisfactory job as VP, and I could make an argument that he changed the momentum in the 2012 campaign with his shrewd debate performance against the cheese prince, Paul Ryan (see above). Still, at his age, Joe should not be planning a run for the presidency.

Just my humble opinion.

Free wisdom

As a rule of thumb, never turn your back on ANY religious fundamentalist regardless of which holy book he carries around.

Added 8:34 AM Friday 3 May: Ed Kilgore has some reactions on a similar topic.

Noel

December 27th. We've reached my favorite part of the Christmas season.

Tuesday Trivia

I finished reading the Sunday and Monday newspapers this morning, and here's what I think:

Anyone who votes for Republicans because he believes it will mean an infinite supply of gasoline at two dollars per gallon deserves whatever misfortune comes his way.

Dick Cheney, age 71, got a heart transplant, but there's no truth to the rumor that he jumped to the top of the waiting list ahead of younger patients.

The Supreme Court will hear the so-called Obamacare case. They're allocating three whole days. Side bet says the eventual decision will be a 5-4 vote either way.

It's a sign of the times that some employers are asking prospective new hires for their Facebook passwords so they can snoop around in their personal activities. Thank God there was no such thing as Facebook when I was looking for work.

George Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin, and everybody but me is taking sides in the ensuing controversy. If the truth ever comes out, half the people in America are gonna look pretty foolish, depending on whether they blamed the shooter or the shootee.

People who make a living printing business cards are taking a hit since the under-30s now use their electronic gadgets to do the things that used to be done by handing someone your card.

Maybe conservatives oppose contraception because as long as the population keeps growing, there will always be a huge pool of cheap labor.

Jury Duty: Update

I left early this morning to ensure that I'd locate a decent parking spot since there's so much construction underway at the courthouse. My last trip into the place was at least a dozen years ago, and things have changed. The entry was a security checkpoint where I had to dump my keys, cellphone and belt in a bin and pass through a scanner. Hassle. Since I arrived at 8:00 am, I had to sit around twiddling my thumbs for an hour. Fortunately, I thought to wear my pedometer, so I passed the time pacing around the second floor of the courthouse, and did the same during every break in the action. All told, I accumulated enough steps today to equal about 2.68 miles.

By 9:00 am, roughly ninety potential jurors had shown up. We were called in and seated based on a predetermined numerical sequence. The district clerk started the show with a presentation on the role of his office in the process. For coming in as ordered, each potential juror who specified they wanted to receive the mandated jury pay was given a business envelope containing a Lincoln and a big George. I'm not sure how I'll spend my six dollars, but I'll waste it on something. Pay for all subsequent days is forty dollars per day.

At about 10:30, the voir dire process began with the prosecutor going first. The judge explained that the defendant in the case was charged with first degree murder, and that the trial was expected to last ten days to two weeks. I did the math and began to wonder if 400 bucks was worth two weeks of my life and passing through that goddamned security checkpoint every fucking day. On the other hand, I'd never been on the jury in a murder case. I began to be ambivalent about the possibility of being chosen.

Lunch break from 12:10 to 1:30 pm. I called Mrs. bee on the cellphone and asked her to pick me up, so I wouldn't lose my good parking space. I knew that gadget would come in handy someday. Mobile phones are pervasive in modern society -- I estimated that at least eight out of every ten people in this jury pool were carrying one, another big difference from jury duty in the 1990s.

1:30 to 3:30, more voir dire. This time the defense attorney runs the show. A lot of questions intended to unearth potential prejudicial thinking that might land his client in the slammer for up to 99 years. All in all, voir dire is a good refresher course in jurisprudence for the layman.

At 3:30, we're sent out into the corridors again while the two sides undertake the strike process, each team striking as many as ten prospective jurors to improve their chances of getting the verdict they want. I spend the time, roughly an hour, pacing and logging mileage. At 4:30 we're called back in. I'm on pins and needles. On the one hand, I want to be dismissed, but somewhere in my mind, there's a flicker of curiosity about what a two week murder trial might be like. One by one, the judge calls the twelve chosen jurors to their seats in the jury box, and my name is not among them. Finally, I breath a sigh of relief and decide this is probably for the best. As we head for the parking lot, a retired highway patrolman who I visited with briefly during that last long break asks me how I'm gonna spend my six dollars. I reply that I plan to piss it away that very afternoon to celebrate not having to come back to the courthouse tomorrow morning.

Flashing Lights, Part One

There are people in positions of authority and influence who identify themselves as devout Christians. Whenever they make a decision to do something, they usually explain that God is working his will through them, or that their decision is part of God's plan, or some similar gibberish. I resent people laying responsibility for their personal decisons off on God, and when I hear a public figure assigning accountability to God, I consider it a warning signal that something I won't like is about to happen.

Personally, I doubt that even an infinite God has time to waste on the people I'm talking about.

Lighten Up

In the old days, when Cheney and Rove were running things, I spent time at a website called Democratic Underground, where I could usually find anything I needed to know about the latest outrage in a matter of minutes. Tonight, I dropped in again just to see what's being discussed on their message board, and found a thread ridiculing some fucking teabagger who was spotted carrying a poster reading "Leave my lightbulbs alone."

I assume this worthless shitpoke was protesting the regulations in home lighting technology that are currently being implemented. I started using a combination of incandescent bulbs and CFLs a few years ago, after seeing a CFL display and demonstration at an Earth Day event in my community. I'll be the first to admit that CFLs require some getting accustomed to, they're still fairly expensive in the short run, and properly disposing of them can be a hassle. On the other hand, they use less energy and last a lot longer than conventional bulbs. Okay -- there are positives and negatives, so is this an issue I need to paint a sign and join a rally over ? I think not. Fucking teabag people need to be locked up somewhere to keep their perpetual idiocy from spreading like a contagious disease and infecting decent people.

No country for this old man

Based on the short time I've been online today, it looks like the political world has been ravaged by a staggering epidemic of HFS !-level insanity. Ace's selection of Sweet Pea was the event that demolished the last barriers of immunity, allowing the epidemic to accelerate its sweep across the country. I can't take any more. When confronted with widescale political insanity, I've always believed the wisest course is to seek refuge in a really good movie. Therefore, I spent the last two hours watching No Country For Old Men, without a doubt one of the finest pictures I've ever seen. Tommy Lee Jones is at his best in this one. If you can handle the violence, a highly recommended viewing experience, especially if you live in Texas. Grade: 10

Fun, less fun

There are a pair of local events my wife and I enjoy every year, and this time they both fell on Saturday. Friends of The Library held their annual book sale, and the Planet Earth Celebration was held in connection with Earth Day.

I really enjoy the FOL book sale. For me, it's comforting to spend an hour or two browsing through tables full of old or gently-used books. Since I donate most of the books I've read or lost interest in, I like to see how many of them turn up on the display tables. Saturday, I spotted at least five. I can buy individual books for 2 dollars or a grocery sack full for 15 bucks, and my wife and I were able to select ten books which nearly filled a bag. I wound up with a like-new copy of Norman Mailer's last novel The Castle In The Forest, a detective story anthology, a book about the Bush-Cheney foreign policy by Mark Crispin Miller, and The Winds of War by Herman Wouk.

We arrived at the Earth Day festival about noon. It makes me feel good seeing so many people volunteering their time and effort to a cause like that. I first learned about compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) at the Planet Earth celebration two years ago, and started using them on a limited basis. Apparently, CFLs are going to be federally mandated, just like digital television signals. I have doubts about the federal mandates in both instances, but nobody asked me. As usual, each booth at the festival had assorted freebies; my wife picked up a couple of frisbees and a yo-yo for the grandsons, and I got a totebag and a 6-inch ruler. Hooray for free stuff !

Now for the not-so-much-fun:

In 1994, the Repubs took over the House of Representatives on the strength of their so-called Contract On America. This was a plateful of dogshit being sold as steak and eggs, but I did generally agree with the COA provision on term limits. Of course, once the conservatives actually got control of Congress, the term limits idea went out the window.

Over the weekend, Rick (Hairgod) Perry made it known he'll definitely be running for still another term as governor, and given the mentality of a majority of Texans, he'll probably be elected again. Time for that pos to get a real job. The same goes for Tom Craddick. Of course, this being Texas, even if Perry wasn't allowed to run again, the pos who replaced him would probably be just as bad, maybe even worse.

On the national scene, there's a video circulating on the internet showing Barack Obama pandering to voters by trying to bowl. After he rolled a few gutterballs, the "Obama Under No Circumstances" crowd went crazy. He's such an elitist he can't even bowl, and he wants to be president ?

I haven't seen the bowling video, but have you seen this dude play basketball ? There are a lot of lardasses at the bowling alley, not so many on the basketball court. I've tried bowling and I've played a little basketball, and for my money, b-ball is by far the more demanding athletic activity.

The people in the media who are constantly badmouthing Obama were never going to vote for him in the first place. All they're doing now is trying to persuade everyone else not to.

There are many things about organized religion that leave me scratching my head. Pope Benedict is wrapping up his US visit, and from what I'm reading, large numbers of American Catholics spent time analyzing the symbolic significance of the garments he was wearing. What is the meaning of the ermine ? The lace ? To me, this has the same level of importance as Obama's flag pin. Whatever floats your boat, I guess.

Finally we have the FLDS story, which I haven't been keeping up with too carefully. When it comes to religion, I try to be tolerant of everybody's beliefs, or lack of them as the case may be. Just don't get in my face with them. The FLDS folks look like your classic example of too much of a good thing: religious devotion carried to ridiculous extremes. I've been surprised by the number of people defending them, but it probably ties in with the fear The Extremely Religious People have that they're constantly being attacked. From where I sit, it's The Not-So-Religious Folks that are under attack, and The Wrong Religion Folks even moreso.

It's funny how things work out sometime

I was looking through copies of old letters that I exchanged with my bro in Houston during the 2000 presidential election campaign (back in the old days before I had access to such things as e-mail). One letter was written during a period when Gore had fallen behind Willie Wanker in the opinion polls, and I was reflecting on how the future might look after Wanker was elected. You might say I was becoming resigned to reality.

At the time, the nation was in a state of relative peace and economic prosperity. Gasoline was about a buck-fifty per gallon, which seemed high at the time since it had been 99 cents a gallon the previous year. The Repubs were always pissing and moaning about how Clinton had destroyed the country, so I decided to give them (and W) the benefit of the doubt. Surely they could maintain the status quo as far as peace and prosperity were concerned, maybe even improve things. I decided that the real risks involved in a Wanker presidency were in the realm of social issues, the reversal of Roe vs Wade for example. Since I was long past the point of bringing new babies into the world, that wouldn't be likely to challenge me personally, only philosophically. I figured separation of church and state would be diminished, too. Again, something that would piss me off as a matter of principle but not likely to actually have a radical effect on me personally.

Anyway, that was the rationalization I wrote about in the letter. In the hierarchy of things, W would do his damage in areas where I was philosophically invested in matters of principle. As far as day-to-day life was concerned, nothing was likely to change. Given control of both the executive and legislative branches, the Repubs would have an opportunity to bring all their grand promises to fruition and my life might even get better.

Now it's 2008, another election campaign is underway, we're actively involved in at least one war more than we really need, and the newspaper today is full of articles about the economic collapse that's just around the corner. Considering the whole mess, my optimistic outlook in 2000 makes me look pretty damned dumb.

Texas moving in wrong direction (again)

I saw a news article Friday about the ongoing Attorney General review of our so-called Bible course law. During their last session the state legislature, lacking anything better to do, passed HB-1287 which seems to require public high schools to offer an elective course in Bible study. To anyone who's thinking clearly, this seems to be a lawsuit just waiting to happen, although supporters of the law insist the course will be nonsectarian and the bible will be studied as a literary or historical document, rather than as the divine word of God. Right.

Since Texas evangelunicals haven't fared too well with their school voucher schemes, they're doing the next best thing and trying to gradually transform public schools into appendages of the Southern Baptist church. This effort has been going on for years and offends people like me, who think government should stay out of the religion business and vice versa. All I need to know about the current law is that Warren Chisum was one of its House sponsors, Chisum being among the lowest of the scuzzy conservative lowlifes in Austin.

You can bet that if the Bible course is taught with any degree of neutrality, the evangelunicals will be raising hell. That's all you need to know to realize this deal is totally bogus.

Here's what I'd like to see: a mandatory public high school course for seniors that teaches religion on a comparative basis. In general terms, the curriculum would include an overview of the world's major religions: Christianity (both protestant and Catholic versions), Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and the Asian religions such as Shinto and Taoism. The course would focus on how the religions are similar, and how they differ. What, if anything, do they all have in common ?

We live in a world where fundamentalist elements in the world's two largest religions each want to exterminate the other's infidels. When wars are fought over religious differences, I can see an argument for making sure our younger generation gets a proper education in what all the fighting's about. Of course, the last thing people like Warren Chisum want is to have high school seniors taking an objective look at all the major religions. Little bastards might convert to Buddhism if they start thinking about it. Can't have that; need warm bodies for the religious wars.

I saw this on the internet, so it must be true: About 33 percent of the world population is Christian. That leaves nearly 70 percent of the world to be divided up among the non-Christian religions and the atheists. Kids in places like Forney, Texas need some perspective-- in the rest of the world, they're just another minority group.

Texas blows it again

Texas struggles to retain caseworkers

On one of the other blogs, I wrote about my experiences coming to terms with our society's racial issues, and mentioned my career in the public welfare bureaucracy as an influence. At the time I retired in 1998, I'd spent one half of my life (to that point) in the business. It was always a tough line of work, but it got tougher still when Willy Wanker was elected governor in 1994. Knowing even then he'd someday be running for president, W started trying to reform the state's welfare system by privatizing it. One problem I have with Repub philosophy is their misguided conviction that everything can be improved by letting the profit motive operate as THE controlling force. Anyone who had been in the business as long as I was could've predicted that turning a massive public service over to a private, profit-oriented corporation was a bad idea destined to fail.

The privatization plan introduced by W was eventually derailed, but not before I was able to bail out. A few years later, when W was president and the Repubs had gained the majority in the state legislature, Texas decided to take another stab at privatization, resulting in the virtual destruction of its welfare system. Widespread destruction is the only thing that conservatives are good at.

Anyway, the Austin American Statesman has done a fair job staying on top of the story, which is mainly of interest to people (like me) who believe the government can play an important role in maintaining a decent society. The link is to an article describing the current state of affairs

Spitzer's downfall

I got an e-mail from my bro with the link to a Chronicle article on Eliot Spitzer, asking WTF ? At one time, Spitzer was highly regarded as a promising player in Democratic Party politics. My bro said Spitzer was one of the few politicians he respected. The only reply I could come up with was this: Poontang been the undoing of many a good man.

This morning, the Chronicle says Spitzer resigned his office. Too bad. Had he been a Republican, he could've kept the job. These sex scandals always shove all the other news to the back of the bus because, unlike agricultural subsidies or international trade agreements, everyone thinks they understand stories about poontang. People who shrug and ignore the ethanol controversy will sit in front of the TV for two hours waiting for another sordid detail in a story involving a powerful politician and whores.

I didn't know much about Spitzer, other than that he was a conservative Dem with a bright future. From what I'm reading now, he was an ambitious sumbitch with the kind of personality that didn't lend itself to winning friends and influencing people. When you make a career out of pissing folks off, you'd better be sure you're walking a straight and narrow path. Otherwise, one slip and all those people who've been simmering in silence will be after you with knives out and revenge on their minds. We've seen it happen many times before.

Screw daylight saving time

Since W became president, the government has done many things which irritate and disgust me, but long before anyone ever heard of that bastard, the federal government was doing things that pissed me off. One was the establishment of daylight saving time, which now starts in early March and lasts until November. It was bad enough when it started in April and ended in October.

When I was employed as a public servant, I used to live for my weekends. My life began Friday night and ended at about midnight on Sunday. The stuff I did from 8:00 am Monday through 5:00 pm Friday was just activity that was necessary to pay for my weekends. Weekends were the hours that were precious, and every year, I got cheated out of one of them when we changed from CST to CDT. Even now, I get mad thinking about it. To make matters worse, I'm one of those people who can't adapt to sunshine when it's nearly 9:00 at night, the situation I'm forced into during the summer months.

Yesterday as I was skimming the news, I noticed a headline indicating that daylight saving time results in increased energy consumption. I'll go back and read the whole story, but if it says what I think it might, I'm going to really be chapped the next time I fill my tank with $3.30 per gallon gasoline. An EMF to the people who thought this up.

Hello darkness, my old friend... (with addendum)

I've been half-heartedly following the buildup to today's Texas primary in the newspapers, and soon I'll shrug off my cold symptoms long enough to vote. The polling place is only a little over a mile from where I live, so for me, voting is easy enough that I can't rationalize skipping it.

Texans like to think of themselves as manly men, ruggedly individualistic and larger than life. Unlike most civilized people, they really enjoy trying to live up to their stereotypes. In fact, I've observed this state is filled with narcissists. For the first time in recent memory, Texas is holding a primary that might have a little significance in the overall scheme of things politically, and you'd think from the breathless coverage in the state's major newspapers that we were the center of the universe.

In 2000, I voted for John McCain in the Republican primary. At the time, I admired him and wanted him to be president. It wasn't a crossover "mischief" vote; I understood the reality that W was headed for a decisive win. But I voted for McCain as a matter of principle, because I thought he'd be a good president.

In 2004, I voted in the Democratic primary. The pro forma vote would've been for Kerry, but again I voted on principle, this time for Wesley Clark. I was convinced Clark had the potential to be the best president in my lifetime, and had the credentials to give W the kind of ass-whippin' he'd earned.

Now, it's 2008 and John McCain is set to become the next president. Times have changed, and McCain's behavior over the last seven years has opened my eyes. I'm seeing him as he is, not as I want him to be, and I know he'll never be the president I hoped for in 2000. Right now, I'm just hoping he'll be better than Rudi, Willard, Ferd, or Hucklebuck would've been.

Unless I change my mind in the next few hours, I'll vote for Obama in the Dem primary today. The Dems are headed for a trainwreck of massive proportions in November, one that will probably spell the end for Democrats as an important force in American politics. I expect the popular vote will be reasonably close, maybe along the lines of 51-49, but the Electoral College will be a wipeout. My best guess is that a lot of states that were barely blue for Kerry last time will go red in 2008. The longer Hillbillary slugs it out with Obama, the more likely it seems that differences between the camps become irreconcilable and large numbers of independents say to hell with both of 'em. The Clinton Death Wish will finally be realized on a national scale.

Addendum-same day, much later: My wife and I arrived at our polling place today at about noon, and headed for the Democratic primary tables. One of the ladies there turned out to be a neighbor that my wife recognized from seeing her walk her dog near our house. She got us signed in and invited us to attend the precinct caucus scheduled to begin at 7:15 pm tonight.

I like to pontificate about politics, obviously, but my active involvement over the years has pretty much been confined to voting and watching election returns on television. I was totally unfamiliar with the caucus procedures, so wife and I talked it over and decided we'd check it out.

We arrived back at the polling place around 7:20 pm, and I was surprised to find the parking lot full of cars. Inside, there were long lines of people waiting to sign declarations for either Hillary or Obama. In the mix were people of all shapes and sizes, races, and genders. I was amazed... I didn't know there were that many Democrats in the whole f--ing county, much less a single precinct.

At any rate, the process of collecting signatures took roughly an hour. We were standing behind a handsome young man named Eric, a doctoral candidate in computer science at The Big School. Eric was as bright as you'd expect, and had enough knowledge about the party caucus process that he could explain what was happening to the wife and me. After about an hour, the precinct officer in charge announced more than 100 people had attended, with the declarations split approximately 60-40 in Obama's favor. At that point, since I wasn't interested in choosing delegates to the county convention or serving as one, we headed for the parking lot. One more new experience to write about here. It's nice to know a man my age can still find new things to do.

Another of my pet peeves

The internet has made reading newspapers an interactive experience. Some online newspapers, particularly Houston Chronicle and USA Today, offer a format in which readers can comment on news articles, editorials, etc. Certain people comment repeatedly; often their comments are full of misspelled words, awkward grammar, and incorrect punctuation. This tells me the contributors are either uneducated or too goddamned lazy to write a proper sentence. Either way, it's something I consider when evaluating the merits of their arguments.