Milestones

Sometime today our blog was visited for the 1000^th time. While most of the visits were made by the six of us, there were over 400 visits made by others. The only land mass not represented is Antarctica (come on you penguins, get with it!). Visitors were from such places as Japan, Chile, Canada, Switzerland. That's about 25 people per day who clicked on to our site and then wondered to themselves, "What the hell is this?"

I Wish I Said That

The silly season of political campaigning upon us. I have just been told by Rumsfield that I am equivilent to a Nazi appeaser and by Cheney that I am a delusional partisan whiner who cares not one wit about our nation's security.

Well, here is my response. It was typed by a poster at Kevin Drum's Political Animal blog:

I'm Supposed To Believe That...?

I’m supposed to believe that the man who sat in a classroom reading a kids’ book for seven minutes AFTER he was told the country was under attack, who was warned repeatedly about imminent threats against the country and chose to ignore them, who has traipsed off on vacation every time there is a domestic or international disaster, is a decisive man-of-action with the fortitude to run a nation.

I am supposed to believe that God himself chooses my nation’s leaders and that, in His infinite wisdom, he chose a lying, thieving, self-absorbed, pro-torture, pro-war, lazy frat-boy jerk like George W. Bush.

I am supposed to believe that the same man who used family money and influence to duck military duty, who has failed at every business venture he ever tried, who never did an honest day’s work or accomplished anything of value in his entire life, is fit to be Commander-in-Chief.

I am supposed to believe that a man who ignores the Constitution he swore to uphold, breaks the law with abandon, repeatedly lied about the reasons for going to war, its cost, its duration, and even its goals, is honest and trustworthy.

I am supposed to believe that the escalating violence, chaos and deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan are a sign of progress.

I am supposed to believe that a man who, by his own admission, does not read newspapers, who only meets with and listens to ‘yes’ men, who refuses to speak before any group that is not hand-picked from his staunchest supporters, is in touch with the realities of the world.

I am supposed to believe that sending US soldiers into combat without proper equipment or a viable military strategy, while decreasing their pensions and their benefits, is a patriotic display of supporting the troops.

I am supposed to believe that gutting the funding of social programs aimed at assisting the poor, the sick, the hungry and the homeless is the outcome of good Christians being in office, and that torturing, maiming and killing innocent civilians is “doing the Lord’s work”.

Oh, don’t go anywhere, because I haven’t even gotten started yet …

I am supposed to believe that a president who acts like an ill-mannered, oafish, mindless buffoon in public, both at home and in international settings, and a vice president who tells a colleague to go f*ck himself in the course of conducting the country’s business, are both deserving of respect.
I am supposed to believe that spying on US citizens, quashing free speech, and suspending laws that govern detention and confinement without just cause is preserving the tenets of democracy.

I am supposed to believe that alienating our allies, isolating ourselves from the world, refusing to use diplomacy instead of aggression, and causing people around the globe to hate us is the best way to protect my country from violent attack.

I am supposed to believe that no-bid contracts awarded to companies owned by members of this Administration, its families and its cronies is pure coincidence, and that secret meetings resulting in policies that enrich their supporters to the detriment of hard-working Americans is good and honest government.

Hold on, because there’s MORE of this crap ...

I am supposed to believe that outsourcing American jobs, under-funding our educational system, and plunging the country deeper into debt with every passing day will lead to a stronger, more competitive nation in the years to come.

I am supposed to believe that the same people who left NOLA to drown, who refuse to secure our borders, who refuse to implement the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, and who initiate policies that incite anger and violence the world over are protecting my country from harm.

I am supposed to believe that an Administration whose policies make basic medical care and life-saving drugs unaffordable for millions of Americans is pro-life.

I am supposed to believe that elected representatives who voted for the Bankruptcy Bill, tax breaks for wealthy individuals, and tax subsidies for multi-billion dollar corporations are looking out for their constituents.

Along with all of the above, I am also supposed to believe that selling authority over our ports to foreign nations, selling our national lands to private interests, and selling our children’s future by burdening them with debt for decades to come is in the best interests of our country.

Drum roll, please -- here's the BIG FINALE ...

I am supposed to believe it is safe to board an airplane with a hold full of uninspected cargo as long as no passengers are in possession of baby formula, that a group of men in Britain were about to take down ten airliners without tickets or passports, that seven men in Miami were going to blow up buildings in cities they didn’t have the money to get to, that one lone guy in New York was going to take down the Brooklyn Bridge with a blow-torch, that if we leave Iraq every terrorist in the world is going to come to the US and fight us in the malls and the supermarkets, that the ‘Liberal media’ simply forgets to cover the lies, cover-ups and corruption of this Administration and its party members, that voting for a Democrat in Connecticut sends shockwaves of unbridled encouragement throughout the Muslim world, that a bunch of PNAC members whose predictions have been proven totally wrong in every instance should be dictating policy to my government, that our military isn’t stretched too thin and they are just recalling those who have already fulfilled their duty because they’ve got too much time on their hands, and that George W. Bush spends his summers reading CAMUS and SHAKESPEARE.

Oh, if only I were GULLIBLE, ILL-INFORMED, EASILY LED and TOTALLY STUPID – what a FINE Bush supporter I would have made!

Posted by: The Conservative Deflator on August 29, 2006 at 8:48 PM

Amazing

Its been three months since I got my new phone and I am slowly becoming familiar with what it can do. Age and affliction have reduced my once vault-like memory to something more akin to a rusty sieve. So I wanted a phone that could compensate by having task list and appointment software.

But, data entry even on this bigger than average keyboard (for this type of device) can be tedious. Well, I have recently discovered that my phone (having a touch screen, which I knew) can recognize handwriting. Whatever I write on the screen, it types out.

Shopping lists, info I come across while out, expence data are now pretty easily dealt with.

It also has taken all the pics and video I have posted here.

A Changed Toe - Pography

A toe story continued:

Returning home on that Monday night, I unwrapped my foot and noticed that the bleeding was less than I had imagined. The gash wasn’t that deep apparently and the make-shift pressure dressing had done its job. I called Rita for a quick consult. After which, I submerged my foot into a hydrogen peroxide bath. Ouch.

A week of regular dressing changes, antibiotic ointment, and careful footwear choices later and the toe is well on its way to being healed. Though, I think I have to give up my dream of being a toe model.

Misstep

It seems to me that one of the troublesome challenges I face is remembering that I am old. I have reached, finally, the era of my life where body, an increasingly, mind, just don’t respond as I want them to. I know, boo-fucking-hoo. I don’t feel bad about it. I have been more than lucky. It’s just aggravating and occasionally dangerous. For the first time in my life, glasses are an absolute necessity and at times my youngish mentality instinctively decides to do something that my body can’t accomplish.

Last week, I was shopping at Foley’s (used to be a sister store of Lazarus and is also being converted to Macy’s, how sad). It was near closing time and I was in a hurry. Wearing sport sandals, I bounded up the escalator to house wares. There used to be a warning about wearing such footwear on escalators and with good reason.

About mid way up, the tip of my left sandal did not clear the step. My big toe, however, did. All the weight of my descending body (I was bounding, after all) was then focused on that one toe fully on the foot pad of the escalator step. Actually, foot pad is a misnomer. Rake is a much more accurate term.

Obviously, the toe could not hold that pose (why didn’t I take ballet) and it submitted to the demands of a gravitational field much stronger than Pluto’s. I slid down a step. Reaching down, I didn’t touch my now numb toe, I instead ran my fingers gently over the metal projections that make up the leading edge of the step. Sharp, amazingly sharp. Though I knew I have done some damage, I decided not to look. I did wiggle my toe, a good sign I thought. Almost as good as the fact that no one saw me in my moment of glory.

I gingerly stepped to the rack that held the Calephon sauce pan ( on markdown) that I had come to purchase. The pain arrived. At the check out counter, I blankly smiled even though the young clerk was having trouble ringing up the purchase. I could feel myself turning white (hmm). I discretely glanced down and saw that blood was beginning to pool in the cup made by the upturned edges of the Nike sandal. Purchase done, I moved to the top of the escalator which was mercifully just a few steps from the counter.

It was then that the high school aged clerk called out to me, “Sir…..that’s the up one”.
And so it was, though, I didn’t seem to have much trouble going down it earlier. I took a deep breath, and walked around. On the way, on a carpeted section, I tipped my sandal to empty out the blood. I then realized I was a walking hazard to the public health. I didn’t like that feeling.

Luckily, I had parked at a store entrance, This was at The Galleria, I could have been a mile away. As I reached the door, I looked back over my last several steps, trailing blood.

Back in the 4-Runner, I wrapped an old shirt around my foot and used a draw string from some warm ups to provide pressure. It hurt. I drove home.

Continued later.

Everything Nice

The Daily Kos blogging site is regularly attacked by conservatives as hating America. As I read the post I am linking to below, I can understand why.

Grab a box of Kleenex and click the link.

The post is entitled Beautiful Dead Girls.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/8/21/201719/923

Then and Now

An account from a foreign correspondent:

[the American officials] place a very high value on the purity of their intentions and a very low estimate on the motivations of the Iraqis.
....Our capacity for overlooking the obvious is enormous. Even one of the best and most independent reporters here was shocked by the anti-Americanism of recent demonstrations in Baghdad and in Tikrit and Basra. He shares the naive view that we are there to help the Iraqi and regards the demonstrations as sheer ingratitude. The simple fact that occupying armies, whether allied or enemy, always become unpopular hardly ever figures in official calculation.

Sounds about right. Except, here is the above quote as it was originally penned by I.F Stone after a visit to Saigon in 1966:

They [the American officials] place a very high value on the purity of their intentions and a very low estimate on the motivations of the Vietnamese.
....Our capacity for overlooking the obvious is enormous. Even one of the best and most independent reporters here was shocked by the anti-Americanism of recent demonstrations in Saigon and in Hué and Danang. He shares the naive view that we are there to help the Vietnamese and regards the demonstrations as sheer ingratitude. The simple fact that occupying armies, whether allied or enemy, always become unpopular hardly ever figures in official calculation.

Go figure.

Tuesday Humor (Non PC)

Two Arabs boarded a flight out of London, one took a window seat and the other sat next to him in the middle seat. Just before takeoff, an American sat down in the aisle seat. After takeoff, the American kicked his shoes off, wiggled his toes and was settling in when the Arab in the window seat said, I need to get up and get a coke.

Don't get up said the American, I'm in the aisle seat. I'll get it for you. As soon as he left, one of the Arabs picked up the American's shoe and spat in it. When he returned with the coke, the other Arab said, That looks good, I'd really like one, too.

Again, the American obligingly went to fetch it. While he was gone the other Arab picked up his other shoe and spat in it. When the American returned, they all sat back and enjoyed the flight.

As the plane was landing, the American slipped his feet into his shoes and knew immediately what had happened.

"Why does it have to be this way"; he asked them. "How long must this go on?"

This fighting between our nations?

This hatred? This animosity?

This spitting in shoes and peeing in cokes?

Money Lost?

Interesting Sunday morning! Dan got slush fund jar to add to it and discovered that some one had pilfered $$$$$$$$. Cop was called to make out report about theft. Have ideas on who but of course no proof. Please keep you money well hidden or in bank--It could have been a good friend or mine/ours. Oh well, I am crossing it off as a charitable donation.

Microeconomics

While surveying what new was being written by economists, I came across this written by blogger Steven Teles. I found it interesting and thought I'ld share.

A number of folks commented...essentially asking why African-Americans don't run corner stores and coffee shops. I don't know much about coffee shops, but let's take three categories of small businesses that immigrants tend to concentrate on: corner shops, dry cleaners, and doughnut shops. What do all these have in common? First, they are very low margin enterprises. They are only profitable if you can drive hourly wages down very low. This is possible if you engage in what I call..."self-exploitation." These are enterprises that work mainly if you can make yourself and your family the labor pool, and make up for low average hourly wages with extremely long hours, both on the part of the owner and their family (whose labor is not directly compensated and not taxed). These type of enterprises don't work for African-Americans for two reasons. First, their reserve wage is above the (very low) effective hourly wage that these enterprises provide. Second, given their family structure, most African-Americans don't have recourse to uncompensated family labor. There's also a third factor, which is access to capital--many of these enterprises are originally capitalized through rotating capital arrangements, which depend on the high level of social trust that comes from fairly tight-knit immigrant communities. A more speculative fourth factor is that these enterprises often work because consumption among the relevant immigrant groups is often highly suppressed--closer to the level of their countries of origin than the US norm.

One way of summing up the reason that African-Americans aren't found in substantial numbers in these sorts of niches is that they are so thoroughly assimilated, in their expectations of return on labor, family structure, individualism, consumption patterns, etc. One doesn't need to explain the phenomenon under examination by recourse to the peculiar character of African-Americans--in fact, it is the phenomenon of low-margin immigrant businesses that has more of a cultural grounding. This can be seen in the fact that very few second-generation immigrants are found in such jobs. They "work" in providing an economic bridge into the American market economy, but they are almost always transitional--the second generation moves into the mainstream economy, typically through education. This is true both in Britain and the United States.

No real point on my part. Just an interesting observation of social phenonema.

They Needle, You Decide

Needlenose is an informative political blog that I regularly visit. Several years ago after a certain election, they put together this piece on the stages of grief.

http://www.needlenose.com/6stages/action.htm

It still has legs.

Another weekend behind us

Wow, Lois, I am sure glad I am not you! Our biggest decision this weekend was looking at refrigerators and measurements! The 32 C.F. size would (maybe!) just fit in the space. Dan wants a side by side so he can have ice and cold water at his disposal at all times. Me? It is just another feature that will sooner or later need fixed and the time difference between getting ice from the freezer and walking to the sink to get water is small---AND, one gets more exercise. The weather is warm and dry. Our grass is turning brown on back. I had pulled out dead grass d/t dog pee and put down seed, now with those areas starting to grow, the spots look like little areas of oasises in a desert. Today I am finishing the laundry---We have more with just the two of us then when the boys were little. Speaking of the boys----Jason should be returning from his golf outing today and Zane has moved to his new home in Boyne. Also, Zane is a year older (35) and Jason will soon be 37---Which means I am older, too : ( And so it goes.

Words Are Not Enough

As I write this, I am sitting in a waiting area. My state auto inspection in due and its time for an oil change.

I took a few weeks away from blogging mostly because others were sorta silent and I wanted others to be inspired to speak up. Also my body tapped me on the shoulder and reminded me that I needed rest. Nothing medical, just a case of being too active for a while, forgetting that I don’t have the reserves I used to have.

On the Cooking Front:

Houston’s Central Market where I do any shopping for fresh foods has been amazing. Last week I noticed they had fresh caught Coho salmon. It is filleted right in front of you and is the most amazing coral red color. I love all sea food, especially salmon.

At times, I have settled for previously frozen, and worst yet, farmed raised. The taste of the Coho was awesome and even at $17.00 per lb. a real treat. I baked it in foil with fresh herbs and served it with whipped sweet potatoes and corn, directly off a farm truck, that I de-cobbed.

Today, fresh swordfish steak and angel hair pasta. Yesterday, a special on Maine lobster tail caused me to try a highly recommended a recipe for lobster rolls. I need a little work on that one, but it promises a good potential.

Wine:

I have never been a huge fan of Chablis. I have found there is a rather narrow selection of that wine that I find pleasing and it is easy to get lost in the weeds.

I have run across much better luck with Pino Grigio. The head of the wine dept. at the Market suggested that I try Italo Cescon’s Grave Pinot Grigio 2005.

http://www.heritagewinecompany.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=7566

That was three bottles ago and at $13.00 per, I just may lay in a stock. It is one of the best wines, especially at the price, I have tasted.

One Bit of History.

One reason why I might carry on about the Central Market is because of something that happened three and a half years ago. I was well into the third week of my hospitalization and feeling a bit isolated and useless. The nursing staff of Twelve Oaks Hosp. was amazing. Words are not enough.

I wanted to do something for them, hell I just wanted to do anything that demonstrated some control over my existence. I called Central Market as they have a scratch bakery that produces the most amazing baked goods.

I was too early. It was a little past 7 and they did not open til 8. My call was kicked over to their administrative office and the asst director told me of my premature call. We had a short conversation and 30 min later he hand delivered a basket of fresh from the oven pastries to my room. Then, as now, tears had to be dabbed away. A few minutes of time, a life time of loyalty.

Allen, Where are you?

Hey, where are you, Allen? What have you been up to? What are the results of the accident with car? Everyone OK?

Home again

We are home. Must say that Dan and I had a great time. Saw the boys and daughters-in-law and the grandkids and had a great time with them. The picture is of Boyne Mt. ski slope taken from our patio where we stayed when we were up at Zane's. I hope they all recovered from our visit! No trauma for a change. Dan stayed healthy the hole time!! Last couple of days we have been playing catch-up with yard and house cleaning. As every place, it is hot and humid. Just a while ago tornado warning sounded, but went north of us. Did have some rain, though we have been having rain, with all the hot weather the grass looks like hell, and we have a lot of Chance spots dotting the lawn. That is what I did today, dig up burnt grass and put down seed, also have a mole or 2 (the area looks as if there is an army of them) and they dug up the area in back of the shed and did a good job of it. And so it goes.