The only thing we have to fear might not be fear itself

This guy, such a naysayer. If he's right I'll just cry.


Austin, Texas (CNN) -- As a resident of Texas for 36 years, I keep wondering why the rest of the nation pays any attention to our political and cultural absurdities and yet still chooses Texans as presidents. Our most revered historical moment, the Alamo, was arguably a mass suicide. The slaughter in San Antonio was followed by a massacre at Goliad, the fall of the Confederacy to Union forces, and later by the Houston Astros. Texas has a legacy of losing.
None of this apparently matters, though, because America is beginning the process of electing another Texan to be president. Gigantic tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations, a trumped up war and a ruined economy from the last Texan seem incapable of dissuading supporters of Rick Perry.
His Saturday speech in South Carolina will make clear that he is entering the race for the White House and will spawn the ugliest and most expensive presidential race in U.S. history, and he will win. A C and D student, who hates to govern, loves to campaign, and barely has a sixth grader's understanding of economics, will lead our nation into oblivion.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Politics: Rick Perry surges in poll
The big brains gathered east of the Hudson and Potomac Rivers believe that Mitt Romney is the candidate to beat. But they are unable to hear what Rick Perry is saying. The Christian prayer rally in Houston was a very loud proclamation to fundamentalists and Teavangelicals, which said, "I am not a Mormon." The far right and Christian fundamentalists have an inordinate amount of influence in the GOP primary process and, regardless of messages of inclusion, very few of them will vote for a Mormon.

James Moore
"We think a them Mormons as bein' in kind of a cult," one of the Houston rally attendees told me. "I couldn't vote for one a them when we got a real Christian like Governor Perry runnin'."
Perry, of course, can't come right out and print bumper stickers that say, "Rick Perry -- 2012 -- Not a Mormon." But he doesn't have to. He's wearing his faith like a power tie while Romney stays quiet as a tabernacle mouse on the topic of religion. Romney has business experience and intellect that are not on Perry's resume' but he is from "Massatoositts," (Webster's Texas Edition, see also "Massachusetts"), and Texans love to kick their political boots into New Englanders' squishy parts. Perry is about to remind the tea partiers and fundamentalists that Romney created a state health care plan, (the horror, affordable health care for everyone), believes global warming is real, and has a troubling history for conservatives on the matters of abortion and gay marriage.
So much for Mitt.

The audacity of Sarah Palin

A C and D student, who hates to govern, loves to campaign, and barely has a sixth grader's understanding of economics, will lead our nation into oblivion.
--James Moore

Michele Bachmann, who is from Iowa, and is Perry in Prada, has the same appeal among Teavangelicals. Her husband's reparative gay therapy sessions, the Newsweek cover and a few speeches that were not reality based will, eventually, make even the GOP primary voters realize she is bound for the desert and not the Promised Land.
Bachman will run close to Perry in Iowa but will disappear into the snows of New Hampshire where religious fervor isn't exactly considered a positive attribute. In South Carolina, Perry's money, image and support will become overwhelming.
Romney and Bachmann are the only serious impediments to the Perry nomination. Ron Paul, who makes more sense than any crazy person to ever run for public office, has never been able to expand his cult to the mainstream.
Herman Cain is too brutally honest and lacking political experience, and Tim Pawlenty, what's-his-face-from-Minnesota, suffers from the heartbreak of ineffectuality.
Fueled only by speculation that he might announce, Perry became the putative front-runner (heard that word at a fancy Washington restaurant and thought it was cool). Because presidential politics tend to be more visceral than intellectual, Perry's coyote-killer good looks, $2,000 hand-tooled cowboy boots, supernova smile and Armani suits, combined with podium skills to embellish the mythology of Texas, all will create a product Americans will want to believe and buy.
After he wins the nomination, protocol will require Perry to have discussions with Bachmann about the vice presidential slot, but he will, eventually, turn to Sarah Palin. The general election will force the Texan back toward the middle and he will stop talking about faith and abortion and gay marriage; Perry will campaign on jobs and the economy.
Palin, who is loved by the tea party as much as Perry, will keep the Teavangelicals animated while he tries to talk to the adults to win the election on a single issue: the economy, stupiderest!!! (Forget about Rudy Giuliani; the GOP cannot win New York, don't need it to take the election and Giuliani is wrong on gay marriage for this ticket).
The general election will, quite literally, decide the fate of a nation. Every time Team Obama criticizes the Texas economy for its minimum wage job boom, the president will be accused of attacking the working men and women of America. (Texas has created a large share of the new jobs in the United States in the last decade but studies indicate many of them are at places like Wal-Mart and Carl's Jr.)
President Obama will also get beaten up for presiding over the first bond rating downgrade in U.S. history as well as high unemployment. When the cold rains fall in early November next year, unemployed voters in places like Ohio will step into the booth and dream of a minimum wage job in the Texas sun selling fishing rods at big box sporting goods stores or working in call centers; they will vote against Barack Obama.
And in the process, they will write the epitaph to set upon the tombstone of history's greatest democracy: Perry-Palin, 2012.

And so it goes:

the least of us

So here's to privatizing Social Security. Should we all be stupid enough to allow ourselves to be placed at the mercy of the always volatile markets we'll likely see more and more days in which our security dwindles until we're living in huts.

Think I'm being dramatic read this from the AP:

Just when they thought it was safe to go back in the water, many 401(k) investors who were regaining their comfort level with the stock market took another hit.

They certainly weren't anticipating another steep market slide so soon after losing as much as a third of their retirement savings in the financial crisis of 2008. To try and bounce back, many workers over 40 kept their money in stocks hoping to repair their losses and get ahead.

Indeed the strategy paid off for many. The more than 110 percent climb of the Standard & Poor's 500 index since the market bottomed in March 2009 restored some vigor to what had been discouraging account statements. Those who continued to contribute to their 401(k) and stayed invested, saw their balances recover and most were ahead of where they were before the market collapsed.
Then the escalating debt ceiling debate stirred the market throughout July and early August, helping to fuel a 13 percent drop in the Dow Jones industrial average, including heart-stopping days like Monday, when it fell more than 600 points.
It was all just too much for many investors, who flocked to their accounts to get out of stocks.

Transfers in the 4.7 million 401(k) accounts monitored by consultant Aon Hewitt exceeded $1.6 billion on Monday, more than three times the normal level of activity. In a typical day investors make around $300 million to $400 million in 401(k) transfers.

All of the assets moved Monday were taken out of stock funds and invested primarily in bond funds. It was the fifth-highest day of transfer activity since the company began tracking the data in 1997.

"Psychologically it goes back to the point that we've had two bear markets in 10 years," said Adam Bold, founder of The Mutual Fund Store, a manager of $6.5 billion based in Overland Park, Kan. "A lot of people say I can't handle that again."

The investors who lost the most in 2008 were the workers who had spent the longest time building up their accounts — those in their 40s and 50s who had remained in a 401(k) plan for more than 20 years. The majority had recovered their losses and had more money in their accounts at the end of June than they had before the 2008 market collapse.

However, this latest downturn hurt the same group again

As of yesterday, about 64 percent of middle-aged long-term workers had more money in their accounts than at the 2007 peak of the stock market, according to data compiled by the Employee Benefits Research Institute for The Associated Press. At the start of July, at least 80 percent of that group had more money than they did in 2007.

It's good to know, however, that because most 401(k) accounts have a mix of stocks, bonds and other investments, they typically fare better than the broader market in a downturn.
Consider that the S&P 500 fell 15 percent from June 30 through Monday's close. However, 401(k) accounts monitored by EBRI were down between 6.6 percent and 9.5 percent.
That highlights the importance of having a diversified portfolio that reflects your years until retirement and your personal risk tolerance.
One of the most damaging behaviors retirement investors can engage in is pulling all their money out when markets drop.
This typically means they're locking in losses at the bottom of the market and they often fail to re-invest before a market rebound.
That was highlighted by that fact that those who pulled money out of stocks Monday already lost the opportunity to claw their way partially back on Tuesday alone. The Dow rose 429 points on Tuesday. The swing from the day's to the low was more than 500 points.
Dramatic moves seem to be more the norm these days and investors can probably expect more volatility.
"Corrections are happening faster now, but it's the same thing with recoveries," Bold said.
One positive that might come out of the past week is that call volumes to help centers of 401(k) providers are up indicating a desire to seek advice about what to do.
"Even if people aren't taking action, they're reaching out. They want to know what they should do," said Pam Hess, Aon Hewitt's director of retirement research.
Aon Hewitt research released a few years ago indicated that investors who sought help improved their annual performance by 1.86 percent. The research will be updated in about a month to include 2009 and 2010 behavior. Hess said the results will show dramatic improvements.

"I hope employees take the opportunity to set up a long-term plan now," she said.

And so it goes:

A Very Good Question

I ran across a story on Towleroad.com that shocked me, and at my age I'm not easily shocked. But this one did. And not only did the story shock me, the debate that then raged in the comment section really surprised me as well.

It seems that white people feel victimized by black on white crime and think some websites, like the one in question focus too much on white on black crime.

Of course we see so much coverage of white on black crime in the MSM (yes this story wasa on CNN but I'd have to ask how much of this type of crime actually ends up on the MSM?) why should we worry?

Here's the story via Towleroad:


I would ask how can this be, but I realize that we live in a world that wants to go back to a time in which white people were allowed to commit these crimes. A world in which white people were allowed to flaunt their entitled status, one in which nothing and no one matters except what the white person in question wants. Spoiled children throwing a cultural tantrum because they're going to have to share.

We still live in a place where it's "I got mine too bad for those of you who didn't get some." A parallel that could easily be drawn when it comes to GLBT rights and equality. It's still a world controlled by a privileged few, and any of us who aren't on board with what they want will do without until we can wrest control of the reins from their grasp.

Watching this video is a reminder that it's more important than ever to walk the talk. To stand up for what is right for all people not just whatever group or groups we belong to.

The question in my mind is, will we learn before it's too late?

And so it goes:

and so it goes

I'd rather see drunk eyes than crazy eyes, but hang on, look at the kin below.

are we seeing a pattern?

striking resemblance

Take a look at the previous photo, does any feature jump out at you?   How about

This is running for President!

Ain't we lucky?

We're looking for the last honest man

KC Mayor Explains Son's Incident At Restaurant

Mayor's Son Accused Of Threatening Officer's Job

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Kansas City Mayor's Office is acknowledging an alleged disturbance involving the mayor's son at a Kansas City restaurant.Mayor Sly James’ 22-year-old son was accused of refusing to pay a bill at a restaurant in Kansas City's Power and Light District over the weekend. Police were called. 

 

Reports say Kyle James allegedly threatened the officer, telling him he would be fired.Mayor James’s office released a statement that said, "My son is a 22-year-old man who made a mistake. He is extremely embarrassed and very sorry for the entire incident."No charges were filed against Kyle James.

 

That doesn't sound like much of an explanation to me, sounds like Daddy chewed some ass and then gave a quick curt statement so we'd know he had.  Kyle James sounds like a spoiled stupid kid to me.

Is he gonna be  our new Gloria Squitiro?  Perhaps our Billy Carter?  Swell, that's what we need to further our bumpkin image.  

 

 

In other lack-of-honestly...

Is there anything I don't have to sell to have a clear conscience?

You Shouldn’t Trust Your Car to the Men Who Wore the Star

Posted on July 29, 2011 in: Uncategorized|Jump To Comments
If you’re the sort of person who stopped filling up at BP stations after the Gulf Horizon disaster, here’s hoping you’re not shopping for gasoline at Chevron, owner of Texaco, instead. The companies’ behavior in Ecuador over the last 37 years, and in the nearly 20-year lawsuit brought against Texaco (purchased by Chevron in 2001) by victims of its epic despoiling of the area, is right up there with the worst in the oil industry’s oversubscribed Hall of Shame. In fact, it may even make BP look good.
Now you may have missed the latest wrinkles in the Chevron-Texaco case — Donald Trump’s run for the presidency was brewing as they came down — so, perhaps, like the American media, you were distracted. Or maybe you are resigned to expecting appalling behavior from oil companies. But the record reveals that Texaco and Chevron have outdone themselves even by the low standards of their industry.
Because Tom and Ray have a limited attention span, a short summary will have to suffice: Texaco moved into a remote, 2,000-square-mile region of the northern Ecuadoran rainforest to drill for oil in 1964. Not even bothering to employ the industry’s substandard “best practices” for stewardship of the land, the company trashed the place but good, digging nearly 1,000 unlined pits into which it would pour for permanent storage (by 1990) over 18 billion gallons of inadequately treated, carcinogenic, toxic waste, such as benzene.
It flared hundreds of millions of cubic meters of natural gas and spilled over 17 million gallons of raw petroleum from leaking tanks and pipes, cumulatively loosing into the Amazon rainforest over 80 times the amount of raw toxins that BP puked into the poor Gulf of Mexico. With environmental damage whose clean up cost was estimated by an internal Texaco audit in 1992 in excess of $8.4 billion, the company had decimated an unspoiled land, along with five different, indigenous peoples and their livelihoods. Extraordinary cancer, childhood leukemia and mortality figures were inevitably part of the legacy. Even though Texaco quit Ecuador in 1992, the toxic materials continue to leach into soil and drinking water and will for decades to come.
On behalf of 30,000 of its victims, Texaco was sued in New York in 1993 (Âguinda v. Texaco). The company proceeded to spend years fighting to have the case removed from U.S. jurisdiction, and finally succeeded nine years on when the case was transferred to Ecuador, whose famously pliant judiciary’s judgment the oil company agreed at the time to abide by. But nine more years later — 18 years after the original suit was brought — much to Chevron’s disgruntled amazement, in February of this year, the Ecuadoran court found it guilty guilty guilty, not only of causing more than $8 billion of damage to the rainforest, but of serial corrupt practices during the trial, including: fraudulent “remediation” of polluted lands, attempting to set up the judge and bribe international journalists, as well as sundry other dirty tricks and obstructions of justice, all of which led the court to levy additional punitive damages for a total judgment against it of $18 billion, unless Chevron issued an apology. It didn’t. Instead, it appealed the Ecuadoran judgment in Ecuador. (So, too, did the plaintiffs, who said the judgment in their favor left out several categories of damages, which the evidence would tend to support.)
Meanwhile, Chevron — which assumed all of Texaco’s liabilities when it bought the company — had already gone on the offensive in the United States, just in case. With one 2009 supplemental damages report prepared for the court by American experts finding that the pollution was likely to cause 10,000 deaths over time and that the actual remediation cost of the mess Texaco made was more likely $118 billion, Chevron had been motivated to take extreme measures.  Hiring a “transnational” litigation team with experience discrediting and wearing down poor, foreign plaintiffs in egregious environmental suits, it launched a blizzard of aggressive counter-suits in the United States in 2009 and 2010, with more than 30 actions seeking costly discovery filed in 16 federal jurisdictions, each intended to make the prosecution of the case against them time-consuming and unbearably expensive. Among its targets, the filmmaker, Emmy-Award-winner, Joseph Berliner, whose documentary film “Crude” followed the case against Chevron. In a move assailed by the likes of The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press, as well as more traditionally liberal organizations, the oil company persuaded a New York judge to compel the production of 600 outtakes from the film.
Then, using edited and out-of-context outtakes from Berliner’s film as its evidence, two weeks before the judgment against it, Chevron filed a RICO suit against each of the Ecuadoran plaintiffs individually and their American-born, Harvard-educated lawyer of 17 years, Steven Donziger, alleging that the case had been a fraud from the beginning. Refusing to honor the judgment of the forum it had once demanded, Chevron/Texaco asked a federal  judge in New York to issue an order that any judgment the Ecuadoran court might issue would be unrecognizable and unenforceable anywhere in the world and asking that an injunction be issued so that the Ecuadoran plaintiffs would be barred from attempting to have any judgment enforced ANYWHERE in the world.
A New York judge, Lewis A. Kaplan, mysteriously granted almost everything Chevron/Texaco asked for, while denying the Ecuadorans the right to present evidence, and barring Donziger, their lawyer of 18 years, the right to participate in the trial. A U.S. court of appeals has since overruled Kaplan’s novel preliminary injunction. So the case goes on.
Chevron — which didn’t just have its day in court but more than 6,500 days in court, so far — is back to papering plaintiffs to death, with endless discovery requests hurled at Donziger, as well as former interns, associates and lawyers on the case. The Court of Appeals will hear the case the week of September 12.
Mark it on your calendar. But whatever happens, you may want to  stay out of Chevron stations for some time to come.

FROM CARTALK.COM

Jamie Lincoln Kitman

A Car Talk Blog

sigh

And so it goes:

A crowd came in and sat down
And then a man began to yell
About savin' souls to heaven
And for the sinner there was hell
Well later on that night
In a motel room down the road
He kept his meeting for a cat-o-nine beating
>From a leather-clad man named Moe
CHORUS
An honest man
We're looking for the last honest man
An honest man
Keep searching for the last honest man
There's a man that moves the masses
On a big city radio dial
He shouts and screams at all he's seen
Runs a talk show like a trial
And there's a bartender keeping secrets
About a boxer that took a dive
And in an office way uptown a deal is going down
That could get somebody four to five
CHORUS
Now we'll keep looking high and low
And we'll keep searching 'round
Is everybody, everyone, dishonest in this town?
Well they'll stab you in the back
You get a handshake and a smile
But if one don't get ya, the other one will
And ya gotta walk that mile
CHORUS
-Stan Ridgway

Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me!

Lately I've contemplated taking a job I do not want. The reasons were purely security...and money...it was obscene.

But today, for reasons I can't explain mostly because I don't understand them, the light bulb finally came on over my head.

I haven't taken it because that's not what I want. Sure I want insurance I don't have to pay 100% of, and vacation pay and sick leave and to know that there'll be a paycheck every two weeks or whatever.

But that's not what I want.

I want to teach and direct and make pots and work with horses. THAT'S what I want, and if I have to drive a 15 y/o honda (ok maybe honda is going a bit far) to get that then that's what I have to do. I have spent my entire working life compromising my ideals for the security of a paycheck. Fuck it.

What if i decide to cash in and spend my twilight years making pots and riding my bicycle through the south of France? Then that will be By God what I will do.

Enough of this sacrificing for someone else who never seems to sacrifice for me! Enough of this hand wringing over, "Will I starve to death in my old age."

I'm starving NOW. I'm living in my brothers poolhouse, I'm barely hanging onto my car, and the credit cards...well let's just say the ppl at Capital One are saints. So what the fuck am I afraid of?

I HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE!!!

George Bush already took it all. He took it and what did he do with it? Did he try to take over the world? no. Did he take over Wall Street? no. Did he take off and go live on a tropical Island? No! That dumbass moved to Dallas!

So if George W Bush gets to do whatever he wants, why should I think I cannot?

The mantra that got me through undergrad and grad school was "Nothing is going to stop me from going to college." Well now it's time to adapt that mantra for the situation.

"Nothing is going to stop me from living my life my way on my terms."

p.s, Erik Pappas is a P.O.S.

And so it goes:

Seig Heil!

Well it's happening, we're becoming Nazi Germany.

The uninformed, illiterate, likely inbred and certainly easily influenced denizens of Republic Missouri have sided with some narrow minded asshole college professor who has decided that Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five should be banned because it teaches ideas contrary to the bible.


We're ripe for the picking.  Mostly because we're so damn stupid.  America isn't going out with a bang like nuclear war as they want us to imagine our fantastic demise...we're going out with a DUH!  Cause we're not smart enough to get smart.  Maybe I should chuck buying a house here and get out while I can.  Soon we'll be so disdained we'll be lucky if ANY country would accept one of us.

Take a look at the story via joemygod.com

Yielding To Censorship: Mo. School Board Bans Books That Are ‘Contrary To The Bible’

August 2nd, 2011

By Rob Boston

Other Issues regarding Religion in Schools and Universities, Religion in Public Schools and Universities

A fundamentalist in Republic, Mo., complained that two books offended his interpretation of the Bible – so out went the books.

Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Slaughterhouse-Five is considered a modern classic. That doesn’t mean it’s a particularly easy read. Indeed, it deals with some fairly heady topics. When I first encountered it in high school, I wasn’t sure what to make of it. But it sure made me think, which, in my view, is what a good novel should do.
Funny thing about that thinking – some people see it as dangerous. And a few of those people sit on the school board in Republic, Mo.
The board voted 4-0 recently to ban Slaughterhouse-Five and another book, Sarah Ockler’s Twenty Boy Summer, after a local resident complained that the books teach ideas contrary to the Bible.
Wesley Scroggins had originally targeted three books, but the board voted to keep one, Laurie Halse Anderson’s award-winning Speak, on the shelves. According to the Springfield News-Leader, Scroggins “challenged the use of the books and lesson plans in Republic schools, arguing they teach principles contrary to the Bible.”
After the vote, which removes the books from the curriculum and the school library, Scroggins said, “I congratulate them for doing what’s right and removing the two books. It’s unfortunate they chose to keep the other book.”
Actually, what’s unfortunate it that the school board didn’t stand up for church-state separation and the freedom to learn. And it’s unfortunate that the education of students at Republic High School is being held hostage by such narrow-minded people.
It might also be unconstitutional. In 1982, the Supreme Court struck down a book censorship plan at a New York school district. Members of the school board in Island Trees had banned eight books, including Slaughterhouse-Five, after a statewide right-wing pressure group started a campaign against them. Board members agreed, calling the books “anti-American, anti-Christian, anti-Semitic, and just plain filthy.”
Justice William Brennan led a court plurality in striking down the censorship scheme.
Brennan wrote, “In brief, we hold that local school boards may not remove books from school library shelves simply because they dislike the ideas contained in those books and seek by their removal to ‘prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion.’ Such purposes stand inescapably condemned by our precedents.”
In 1993, a school board in Olathe, Kan., ordered the removal of the book Annie on My Mind from a school library because it deals with homosexuality. Parents who supported the novel sued and won. A federal court ruled that public schools may not ban books “based on their personal social, political and moral views.”
It sounds like the school board in Republic did exactly that. One fundamentalist complained that the books offended his interpretation of the Bible – so out went the books.
If there’s any silver lining in this sorry incident, it’s this: Telling young people that they can’t or shouldn’t read a certain book or listen to a certain CD almost always causes a run on that book or CD. After all, it’s imperative to find out what it is that the adults don’t want you to see or hear.
So I say to the students of Republic High: Get your hands on a copy of Slaughterhouse-Five. It’s worth your time. And if you’re having trouble finding a copy around town, drop me a line. I know a source at a used-book store who can round up as many as you need.

One person complained and they banned books.  Where do we start to educate a populace this simple-minded?  I'm at a loss.

Incedentally, I will pay for as many copies of Slaughterhouse Five as the citizens of Republic Missouri want. 


And so it goes:

Why so serious?

I have become convinced as I've grown older that there are some people who  know nothing more than to inflict pain.  That seems their purpose in life.

Why that is and how we became that culture I'm not sure I'll ever know or understand. 

But I know they exist, they keep rearing their ugly heads in my own life so I can attest to their existence.  No one is nor should they be prefect.  But to exert much energy to create turmoil in the life of another for no gain, nor any discernible reason, is unconscionable.

True, we all have fantasies of revenge of destruction of venting our anger at someone or something, but we seldom if ever act on it.  Because we know the reward will be short lived, if it exists at all. 

But those who live to hurt others don't care about that and turning their own hatred inward is the inevitable step.  It's also the best revenge...just to know it will happen.

If we can't have harmony at least we should have justice.

And so it goes:

Barack Obama is a huge disappointment

A sentiment echoed by everyone of my friends.  Just exactly what has he done that hasn't been halved by his innate ability to compromise the goods out of any and every legislation. Now he's done it with the debt ceiling/budget debacle.  Instead of going on television and telling the American public, "Look, these idiots are confusing apples with oranges!  The debt ceiling and the budget are not the same thing and I will not be held hostage by one to get the other.  If these morons don't/won't understand this then i'll invoke the 14th amendment and take care of this myself. May your God bless America."

But no, he stands there and plays at theatre, which wasn't even good btw, and postures with the best of them and at the last minute "strikes a deal" 

Worthless!  Worthless I tells ya!

Next November I'll be flipping a lever, punching a chad, or touching a screen, depending on where I live, and it'll be the box next to this guys name, but it won't be out of an overwhelming desire to do so.  It'll simply be because the choices are non-starters.  Pity we aren't smart enough anymore to elect real leaders.

So in the absence of real leadership let's recap my weekend.

Thursday I went to a cocktail party with the ex and had some fun.  It amazes me that there are people who, at our advanced age don't know there's a certain decorum at a cocktail party, but apparently they don't.  Got lot's of news right at the end of the night that I didn't know how to respond to, still don't really.  It didn't exactly frighten me, and it didn't exactly put me off, likely since I sort of expected some of it.  But it proves to me that chances do come round again.  Maybe this time...

Friday went for martini's for a bit, then off to dinner with my dear friend C, and then back to martini's.  Had great stories to tell and of course horror stories about real estate.

Saturday spent the afternoon looking at said houses, almost all of which were non-starters (using that phrase a lot today) then took myself out to dinner.  While I was sitting there some friends came in and we started debating about driving to the least desirable city in the metro to see Brody Buster was worth it.  It apparently was.

Sunday rode around with some poor schmuck who was doing every single thing wrong with his horse he could imagine and blaming the horse the whole time.  No wonder that poor horse hops around trying to get rid of this guy, he was pissing me off and he wasn't sitting on my back. This guy may never learn.  He wants to debate every thing I tell him.  This is not a debate it's instruction, how hard is that to understand.

And tonight I will be leaving work for a bit so I can go to the visitation for the father of a friend.  Hate to go to these things anymore, but I'm not emotionally invested in this one so I think it'll be ok. If not, too bad I'm a big boy.

I seem to be doing something that causes acquaintances and complete strangers alike to feel like they can/should tell me their life story. I must  identify this behavior... so I can stop it.

And so it goes:

and another thing

I have to remark on Matt Treanors little collision with LaPorta during last nights game.  I was at dinner and I'd run into some friends and we were talking about whether it was worth driving to Olathe to see Brody Buster so I only had one eye on the TV, but I still very nearly stood up and yelled "And he's down!". Thank god I didn't.

And so it goes:

The phoenix may arise yet again

Editor's note: CNN contributor Bob Greene is a best-selling author whose books include "Late Edition: A Love Story" and "When We Get to Surf City: A Journey Through America in Pursuit of Rock and Roll, Friendship, and Dreams."

(CNN) -- There went July, for those of you keeping score at home.

And as another summer in the only life you'll ever lead makes its turn into the backstretch, perhaps we might pause for just a moment to reflect upon a glorious part of the American summer landscape that is no longer with us:
Thunderbirds.
Ford Thunderbirds.
It's not just that they don't make 'em like that anymore.
They don't make 'em. Period.
Born in 1955, the Thunderbird was instantly such a sensation that it seemed as if it would roll down America's highways forever. The first generation of Thunderbirds -- the ones manufactured in 1955, 1956 and 1957, and referred to as "Little Birds" by those who are devoted to T-Bird legend and history -- was a sharp, low-slung two-seater that was freedom and wanderlust incarnate. It was no wonder that in the movie "American Graffiti," the elusive blonde who represented summer dreams that always seem somehow just beyond reach drove one of the earliest Thunderbirds. Any other car would have seemed wrong.
The next generation of Thunderbirds -- the ones built in 1958, 1959 and 1960, and known as "Square Birds" -- are, to many of us, not just the most beautiful T-Birds ever, but the most beautiful cars. The very name -- Thunderbird -- felt ideal for the nation's post-World War II self-image: confident and powerful and a little cocky, unworried about what was around the next bend, strong enough to roll over any obstacles that might arise. There were songs written about the allure of T-Birds -- the Beach Boys' "Fun, Fun, Fun" is the most famous -- but the T-Bird song that is most evocative in its poignancy was an album track by Bob Seger.
Called "Makin' Thunderbirds," the song celebrates the feeling of working on an industrial assembly line that is producing something special. In his lyrics, Seger paints a portrait of an America clear-eyed and optimistic and trusting in its ability to find its own way; he was singing about working on the line, but he was singing about the country, too: "We were young and proud, we were makin' Thunderbirds."
Somehow, it got away. Ford decided to try to improve on the Square Bird; the cars got longer and heavier and more luxurious, and for a while they were still recognizably T-Birds. But then, by the early 1980s, Ford did the seemingly impossible: It made the Thunderbird ordinary. The car that looked like no other became the car that looked like every other.
"That was awful," Elizabeth Werth told me the other morning. She and her husband Bill live in northern Illinois, and are members of Thunderbird clubs both locally and nationally. (Elizabeth is a past regional director of the Classic Thunderbird Club International.)
When the Thunderbirds became little more than family sedans, she said, "You couldn't even tell, when you were driving down the road, if that car that was coming toward you was a Thunderbird. Our neighbor across the street had one. I looked at it and thought, 'What? That's a Thunderbird? Why?' "
Bill Werth owns a restored '55 Little Bird, painted in the original Thunderbird Blue. "When I drive it, people pull up next to it and start taking pictures with their cell phones," he said. Elizabeth confirmed this: "People see it, and it's thumbs up, smiles, waves, cameras being pulled out, people hanging out the window of their cars to get a better look."
Ford fooled around with the design of Thunderbird for a while, then, in 1997, shut down the brand. It came back early in this century for a few years, but then was dropped again in 2005. There are currently no Thunderbirds being made.
Which seems a shame in a cookie-cutter universe of mundane cars that look like so many rounded-off shoeboxes. Car designers are always looking for the next great style concept, but Ford had it a long time ago -- that gorgeous Square Bird from 1958, 1959 and 1960 -- and threw it away in the name of progress.
I've had a theory that I have been trying out on people for years. What if Ford were to take the chassis underpinnings and engine used in today's autos, complete with all the now-necessary fuel-efficiency and safety standards, and drop the old Square Bird body on top of it? A Square Bird body constructed of modern materials, brand-new and ready to hit the highway? Why couldn't that be done? In a world of bland and dull transportation options, people might snap it up. It would make them happy just to look at it as they climbed behind the wheel every morning.
The idea is nuts, I have often been told. Couldn't be done. Unrealistic.
But then, last week, I spoke with someone who said that it could, in fact, be accomplished -- and might be a fine idea.
And he was speaking from inside the headquarters of the Ford Motor Co. in Dearborn, Michigan.
"It's not nuts at all," said Bob Kreipke, Ford's official corporate historian. "The engineers and designers could come up with a way to make it work. I'd probably buy one myself, because it would be different from everything else that is out there on the road."
Kreipke said that in his opinion, the Thunderbird may be dormant, but not buried: "That is such a great brand. As far as I'm concerned, that brand is far from meeting its death. That's a real powerful nameplate."
In "Fun, Fun, Fun," of course, the Beach Boys sang that "Daddy took the T-Bird away." In real life, it was Ford that took the T-Bird away.
But what Ford taketh away, Ford can giveth.
Just the way it was: perfect.
Summer and Thunderbirds.
Sounds like a song.




-The only thing I would have to add to this article would be a request.  Please don't make a new Thunderbird the boring ass cruisers they were in the early 2000's. They were cool looking, they were a great idea, but that sluggish sloppy riding boat they made out of it was no fun to drive at all.  Take a good car platform and put it on that.  A nice re-design wouldn't hurt either. -coyote ed.    

And so it goes:

hgf

i didn't forget i was busy looking at horrible houses. 

but now let's look at this...

if you need more hgf than that there's something wrong with you!

hither thither and yon

Today will be a day of extremes I can tell.

It starts with another visit to the chiropractor. He got me well on the way to recovery with the last adjustment, but we're not quite there, so another attempt in an hour.

Then off to work for a little bit and then I go pick up my ex and we're off to a cocktail party to honor his involvement in a local AIDS charity event.  Then dinner I think, if he's not too adamant about going home after.  In any case I will eat.

But during all this it will be 100 degrees.  Doesn't THAT sound like fun.

Still no movement in the real estate market for me, but it's apparently a waiting game.  Hate it.

Still no movement in the debt ceiling negotiations, but apparently someone needs to get spanked.  Hate it.

Still no movement on the final details of the estate.  Hate it.

Oh! There's a young man at the grocery who comes in all the time and keeps staring at me in the most seductive way, and yesterday made a rather cute but clumsy attempt to engage me in conversation.  He's very handsome.

Do NOT hate that. 

And so it goes:

Quelle Fromage

We're broke!  George Bush took all our money and gave it to his "friends," which is, of course, the only way he can get any... buy them.

But in the process he ruined a country.  So we get, as usual, to live with the results.

I can't imagine what the third great depression will look like, but I think we'll soon find out, and the ostriches who continue to support the GOP will stick their heads in the sand and blame Obama and the Dems.  Quelle suprise!

So here I am running headlong into the twilight years and I can count on nothing.  No security social or otherwise.  No health care, no safety net other than what I myself can provide. I'm one of the lucky ones, I can keep working, I can buy stuff with my money, I can escape to another country if necessary.  Most are trapped.

Make no mistake we the people didn't do this.  We were duped, we played by the rules, and we got screwed.  Maybe it's time to change the rules.  We can do that you know.  It is after all our game in the end.

Donna Brazile on her CNN blog muses about what we've done and where were headed.

It ain't good.

in 2000 and wrote "Cooking With Grease." (CNN) -- My fellow Americans: In a matter of weeks you have become studied on the issues of budgets and deficits. You've also formed opinions on these issues, and these opinions are reflected in poll after poll. Isn't it strange that Congress has yet to listen?
Recently, I reviewed a poll completed in late May for the Pew Charitable Trust. They found that a majority of Americans believes the government is "generally helping the wrong people." This discontent stems in part from the perception that the government helps those who need it least -- the rich rather than the middle class or the working poor.
A majority of citizens, 54%, think their government helps the rich economically "a great deal." Much smaller percentages of the public say the same about "the poor, 16%; "the middle class," 7%; or "people like you." Anyone.
Because of a loophole, hedge fund managers are likely to pay a lower rate of taxes than their secretaries. Warren Buffett, one of the world's richest men, has spoken out about the injustice of the fact that his tax rate was less than the cleaning lady's. Both parties agree that reform of the tax code is necessary, but one thing should be clear: As it stands, the tax system disproportionately benefits the wealthiest Americans. Passing a debt deal that exclusively cuts programs that benefit middle- and lower-income Americans will only exacerbate this difference.

Because of a loophole, hedge fund managers are likely to pay a lower rate of taxes than their secretaries.
--Donna Brazile

Another fact that has been largely ignored in this debate is the origin of all this debt. We are, after all, raising the debt limit to pay for things we've already bought or purchased.
Let's take an earnest look at who broke the bank. This week, Ezra Klein, in The Washington Post, reported that the cost of policies that began under George W. Bush top out at more than $5 trillion -- this includes long-term and recurring spending from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, decreases in revenue like the Bush tax cuts, as well as additions to the structural deficit like the Medicare prescription drug plan. The cost of policies beginning under President Obama top out at $1.44 trillion, and these policies are largely one-off, short term, or non-recurring spending -- like the stimulus package.
Americans are worried about whether their shot at the American dream is slipping away. We are at the point where we worry most about achieving economic stability rather than getting rich. We are in agreement the government gives the rich better breaks than anyone else in our country.
Let's take a moment to think of the working poor, those among us who live not just from paycheck to paycheck, but who go hungry at the end of every month before their Social Security, veterans or unemployment benefits checks arrive. By the way: My dad is a retired janitor who relies on his Social Security and veteran benefits each month.
That's exactly what more than 60 leaders of Christian denominations and religious organizations did this last week, when they joined in an open letter called a "Circle of Protection," which urged President Obama to protect the poor.
Their statement read, "As Christian leaders, we are committed to fiscal responsibility and shared sacrifice. ... Budgets are moral documents, and how we reduce future deficits are historic and defining moral choices.
They told the president: "As Christians, we believe the moral measure of the debate is how the most poor and vulnerable people fare. We look at every budget proposal from the bottom up -- how it treats those Jesus called 'the least of these.' (Matthew 25:45).
"They do not have powerful lobbies, but they have the most compelling claim on our consciences and common resources. The Christian community has an obligation to help them be heard."
It wasn't only the Christian community that signed the "Circle of Protection" letter. In addition to the 60 leaders of Christian faiths, several heads of development agencies plus leaders of other faiths signed on. Over 5,000 clergy signed the original document and 30,000 average citizens have signed it online since its publication.
It is the working poor who will be hurt first, and hardest, if we default on our debt. Millions of Americans live on less than $1,000 a month. They depend on their Social Security or veterans checks to pay their rent. Come August 2, they may find themselves in danger of eviction if they don't pay up -- because the U.S. Congress refused to pay our own bills.
Republican leaders must understand that we can't make the least among us, who have the least, bear all of the burden. Not while the top 1% continue to benefit disproportionately, allowing them to capture 20% of the nation's earned income.
We know tough days are ahead. Americans have demanded, after the crash of 2008, that government live within its means. But, we never meant that our grandmothers and grandfathers, our war veterans, each of whom sacrificed all their lives to enable you and me to come down through the years, should pay the debt.
Are we to ask them to sacrifice what little they have, while some in Congress vehemently defend tax benefits for the wealthiest Americans?
For over two years now, most of the Republicans in Congress have listened to their party's donors and not to their constituents who live on Main Street. It's important that Americans make their voices heard before it's too late.
May Congress vote on and pass a balanced approach to reducing our nation's debt and obligations.

And so it goes:

Fomenting a revolution

In true modern day GOP style Kevin Yoder had a town hall meting last weekend.  And then cancelled it at the last minute because "Democrats had invaded"

Is this what we've come to?  Have we allowed our government to be hijacked by extremists?

If that's the case they've won.  The terrorists who attacked us on September 11 have accomplished their goal, they've divided and conquered.

Those of us who are old enough to remember the twilight zone episode entitled "The monsters are due on Maple Street" should readily see that all they had to do was take away a few of our modern conveniences, like civil liberty and the ability to pursue happiness, and we turn on each other.

That's what Yoder represents.  The worst of us.

I don't pray, but I ask the universe every day to look favorably on us once again.  To forgive us our multitudinous sins against our fellow man and show us that we should be a nation that stands together, not as separate economic entities, but as a strong and united nation that knows that the only way to survive is to stand strong and look out for each other.

That isn't what we're doing and I hope we can reverse course and save ourselves.  because if we don't we're doomed.




Kevin Yoder (R-KS) refuses to admit DEMOCRATS to his town hall



Congressman Kevin Yoder Hides from Constituents
Yoder Cancels Secret Town Hall Meeting

Overland Park, KS -- This morning, at the Mills Farm Clubhouse in Overland Park Kansas, Congressman Kevin Yoder cancelled a hastily arranged town-hall meeting to discuss his recent vote for the “Cut, Cap & Balance” bill. Over 40 constituents of Yoder’s were denied entry into the meeting with staff citing a lack of ‘pre-registration.’ After constituents, elected officials and members of the media waited for over an hour in the heat, members of Yoder’s Congressional staff turned people away and said the meeting was cancelled.

In response to Congressman Yoder’s actions this morning, Kansas Democratic Party Executive Director Kenny Johnston released the following statement:

“Mr. Yoder can run but he can’t hide. His vote this week was political grandstanding at its worst. If I’d voted to pay for handouts to the rich by eliminating Medicare, stood up for the Tea Party instead of common-sense Kansans and put our economy at risk while slashing Social Security, I’d probably run away, too.

“Kevin Yoder needs to act like a Congressman. He needs to stand before his constituents and explain his extreme voting record. His votes for big oil and the wealthy few and against Medicare and Social Security have left everyday Kansans wondering, ‘When is this guy gonna stand up for us?’

“There was a 90 year old woman in the crowd today who came to hear from her Congressional Representative about his votes on important issues. She braved the heat to be there. Unfortunately, Congressman Yoder wasn’t brave enough to listen.”-democraticunderground.com

And so it goes:

Bankers are Whores!

A new friend recently said that to me when we were discussing the purchase of a house.However, I have to take exception to that remark.  On behalf of whores everywhere I have to say that i have known more than a couple of whores who had more integrity than bankers of my recent acquaintance.

Last week I found a house.  Actually I'd found it a few weeks ago I was just waiting for my father's estate to settle so I could pay for it on the spot.  Well, banker's had other ideas.  They kept lowering the price!  They lowered it 5k, and then another 5k and then 10k, and finally when it got really low I sort of panicked.

I emailed my broker and told him we had to get busy and make an offer.  There was a reasonable time frame since the estate is scheduled to settle in about three weeks, so i thought "What the hell, make an offer get the terms worked out and set a closing date for the end of august. That way I can get the inspections done and paint before I move in."

Wrong!

I told my broker, " Agree to the terms they've set forth on the listing sheet, and give them the earnest money deposit they require."

Now i think that's pretty reasonable to approach a seller with the intent to agree to what they ask without asking much in return.  I agreed to buy their house for the price they were asking ( I know, but it was a really good price) and I agreed to take it on their terms.  That apparently wasn't enough.

They countered with an offer to sell me the house if I'd pay them an earnest deposit twice what they'd originally asked.  They countered with a closing date seven days from last Friday.  They also said that for every day i delayed the closing after July 29, I had to pay them $100.  They also refused to give me more than  7 days to do the inspections.

Now, man and boy I've seen injustice, hatred, guile, hail, plague, and pestilence.  But this was a new one on me.

I realize they're hiding something and they think I'm so stupid that I don't know that an 80 year old house would probably need a new septic tank.  And knowing this I had intended to have the tank inspected, and also planned to replace it.(Not an inexpensive proposition I  might add)

But these fools are trying to ram this house down my throat and want me to ask them to give me a little spankin' while they're at it. I doubt they're cute enough.

After stewing over their completely unreasonable demands all weekend I called my broker this morning and told him to withdraw the offer.

Let's let that bastard sit on that tomorrow morning when he comes in to discover that the house he thought he was unloading on Friday is back on his books.


I've also discovered during this process that there is another house every fifty feet.

Fuck him.

And so it goes:

I don't know why fortune smiles on some and let's the rest go free

 
LONDON (AP) - Amy Winehouse, the beehived soul-jazz diva whose self-destructive habits overshadowed a distinctive musical talent, was found dead Saturday in her London home, police said. She was 27.