no comment

D.C. shooting leaves 4 dead, 5 wounded

notes from the home front

1. I went to the shed and dragged out the deck furniture and put it on the deck. I know, She Who Must Be Heard will insist that it has to be cleaned, but I went ahead and sat on the resurrected deck swing and had 2 gin and tonics without first cleaning the cushions.

2. The neighbor man came out into his yard today and I noticed that he's walking more slowly and more decrepitly than last fall. I have to remember to practice not being decrepit or I'll be stumbling around half bent over, too.

3. We have a solitary Junco under our bird feeders right now. Doesn't she know it's still a long,long way to the Arctic? If she doesn't get a move on, she'll miss the mating season up there.

4. We hired someone to come this summer and fertilize our lawn and apply the weed control chemicals. I know this isn't hard work, but I don't want to do it anymore. I was never good at it anyway. I suppose the time will come when it's all outlawed in the name of ecology, and I won't care.

For reasons known only to the Masters of the Universe, the pictures I post on the blog keep disappearing. I will try to reload them later on and see if they can stay put.

For Sale

Lots of people have found pictures on their food: Jesus on French toast, the Madonna on a pancake, George Washington on a tree stump --- things like that. Then they sell them. What do you think I could earn on Ebay for this apple depiction of Eve's anatomy?

little quiz

who is this?

Once upon a time I had a high regard for John McCain. No longer.

opinion?

some questions: (sarcastic and creative answers are welcome, naturally.)

1. The local occasionally published newspaper in this community tells about a grandmother who allegedly swapped sexual favors with her sub-teen granddaughter for cocaine. Could you suggest an appropriate punishment for grannie, if guilty?

2. IRENE our correspondent in Australia, wonders if things are as bad as the press indicates in our country, with threats and hatred seeming to abound in our government over the health care law. What should we tell her?

She said:

What is going on? It all this being sensationalised – or are there really that many scary people (with guns probably) over there? If anything bad happens – will any of the people whipping up this ridiculous frenzy feel any remorse? I’m afraid not.

It's Caturday!

Some cool kitties in Kilronan

(and one of them is Amy)

Thursday Morning Smile-Maker

a glorious tradition

As you all know, both of the past two distinguished Vice Presidents are known to have dropped the "F-word" in a fairly public way. I got to wondering if other Vice Presidents were also known for using such f---ing language, and I found this:

=======

V.P. John Adams (yes, our very first V.P.): "My f---ing country has in its wisdom contrived for me the most insignificant f---ing office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived."

V.P. Thomas Marshall: "What this f---ing country needs is a good f---ing five-cent cigar."

V.P. John Nance Garner: "The Vice Presidency isn't worth a bucket of warm f---ing piss."

V.P. Richard Nixon: " ... the kids, like all kids, love the f---ing dog and I just want to say this right now, that regardless of what they say about it, we're gonna f---ing keep it."

V.P. Al Gore: "I took the f---ing initiative in creating the Internet."

What Brenda says...

... and I believe all my children would agree with her. Makes a father proud!

:)

ramming

The comment I hate most to hear is the Republican refrain that "They rammed this health care bill down the throats of America."

It was in Congress for more than a year. Nothing has been more thoroughly debated. It has been proposed for a hundred years. So, the next time I hear "they rammed it down our throats," I may do just that, if the person is smaller and weaker than I am.

Bag it!

I was having a discussion with friends over coffee this morning, and I expressed this opinion:

If not for the Tea-baggers or the Tea Party people, the Health Care Reform Bill would not have been passed. They were as outrageous, noisy, and dishonest as they could be, they were all over the media, especially on Fox News, and their confusing message reached the majority of Americans just fine! We could all see what they were up to, and most of us hated them for their idiotic radicalism.

Let's see, what was that expression from the valley girl subculture? BAG YOUR FACE!

The Loyal Opposition

How the wacky opposition sees Obama.

Q: Do any of you folks who look at BIRCHES

worry about Socialism?

Australia, duck!

This morning, EST, a cyclone moved into Queensland, Australia, including the city of Brisbane.

This is where our friend and correspondent IRENE and her FAMILY live. Everyone keep them in your thoughts until next we hear from them!

Goodbye Stewart Udall

A great man.

Friend of JFK.

Friend of clean water, national parks, clean air, conservation.

"Plans to protect air and water, wilderness and wildlife are in fact plans to protect man."

corrections from JERRY

JERRY -

wishes to remind the gentlemen out there that you do not have a "beer gut" you have a LIQUID GRAIN STORAGE FACILITY.

---and that is not a "butt crack" it is a TROUSER CLEAVAGE.

Let's be careful, there, about our use of politically incorrect verbiology

Friends

some snapshots

fair punishment

Comment: no true Irishman would be robbing anyone on St. Pat's day. Anyone masquerading as a leprechaun or an irishman trying to rob a bank on Mar. 17, deserves harsh treatment, wouldn't you agree?

=======

Leprechaun-Garbed Holdup Suspect Among 2 Shot Dead

Updated: Wednesday, 17 Mar 2010, 5:33 PM PDT
Published : Wednesday, 17 Mar 2010, 5:33 PM PDT

GALLATIN, Tenn. (AP) - Police say two bank robbery suspects, including one dressed in a green leprechaun costume, have been shot dead after a St. Patrick's Day chase and shootout with police in Tennessee.

democracy in the balance

I believe that the health care bill will pass. Maybe I'll be eating my words in few days, but that's OK, I'm wrong a lot and am happy in the role of simpleton.

But, assuming I'm accidentally guessing correctly, how will this new expensive program be paid for?

There is plenty of money in this country to pay for social programs which are fair, democratic, and christian. But, many of those in government in the past couple of decades have assumed that because Reagan with his charming personality won two presidencies, therefore, his policies were popular. In hindsight, we should know better than this, but most people in the country are not versed in politics and policy anymore and are willing to settle for societal programs that are simple and designed to the specifications of money interests.

Thus, following Reagan, we find all the money we need to keep afloat large businesses who avoid taking the risks that capitalism requires, and instead dip into the public treasury whenever they've screwed up. (They dip in during good times as well.) We have any amount of money to encourage our businesses to right-size by moving their production facilities to other countries. Society provides all the money needed to pay CEO's, and their staffs and boards of directors, hellaciously exorbitant incomes.

But, when it comes to things like Medicare, we like to wring our hands and cry: "It's gonna go broke!" Blah-bah-blah. There is no need for these programs to go broke, it's a question of allocating society's resources to help care for "the least among us."

Such a large step in the adjustment of our thought processes would require a greater degree of christianity than most "Christians" can tolerate, and a greater level of democratic consciousness than most people with any money are willing to abide.

So, health care reform may pass the Congress and then fail for lack of funding just as Medicare is apparently going to be allowed to die, and Social Security as well. The future of social benefits will require a level of tolerance and sharing that "high society" has not lately been willing to face. As the middle class shrinks and the poorer class grows, and the upper class rakes it in, maybe we will reach a point where voters will decide to make a revolution.

Maybe.

Thursday Smile-Maker

mail from Dashmann

Interesting poll from Chris Matthews on “Hardball” on MSNBC. They asked people whether they would vote for their Democratic representative in the next election two ways –

1. If the rep voted for the Obama health care or if, 2. If the rep voted against the Obama health care.

Result was no matter which way they voted on the health care, the people were going to vote them out of office

Apx 39 % to 34 % with about 27 % uncommitted.

I wonder what that really says ?? I think it says the Democrats are going to have a rough November election.

We at GM learned our lesson about doing things right the first time. I don’t think the Democrats get that and they may pay big for it in the elections unless something drastic happens.

The first of the Woods family came from County Tyrone in 1790.

Intelligent design

It's Caturday!

from IRISH MIKE: That hypocrite Palin

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP)— Sarah Palin has criticized Canada's health care program, saying the socialized system should be dismantled in favor of free enterprise.
But during a speech Saturday in Calgary, Palin acknowledged the irony of her family using medical care in Canada decades ago.
Palin was a child in the mid-1960s when her family lived in Skagway, a southeast Alaska town near the Canadian border.
When bad weather kept planes grounded, the train to Whitehorse, Yukon, often was the only option for travel.
Palin told the Calgary audience her family would then take the train across the border for health care.
Jason Recher, an aide to Palin, didn't immediately return an e-mail seeking comment.

forwarded by Jurgie: The Loyal Opposition again

click to enlarge

from WNNCO

Forwarded to us by our friend Bill from WNNCO

irrational hatred

I hate them. I detest them. I HATE them!

They come in spring time clouds of ugliness.

I HATE THEM.

Kennedy's rant

Congressman Patrick Kennedy ranted in Congress yesterday about the failure of the press to cover the debate then going on about whether to continue the Afghan War or cut off funding and force the troops out. This was an effort in invoke the War Powers Act which was enacted after Vietnam.

While this was going unreported, the press were very very busy reporting on Rep. Eric Massa and his alleged harassment of male staff members. That was the source of Kennedy's irritation and the reason for the rant.

The rant itself was reported on the various news channels, but of course, it was done as a personality thing, and not as part of the debate on war and peace. Thus, the press has proven what Kennedy was complaining about. As fas as I know, none of the broadcast media covered anything about the debate, but they sure enjoyed showing Kennedy "foaming at the mouth" as CNN put it.

BTW: The effort to cut off funding for the Afghan War was defeated.

Thursday Smile-Maker

Friendship in the time of Swine Flu

more Triggernometry

Another American university has now gone to gun play.

COLUMBUS, Ohio, March 9 (UPI) -- One Ohio State University employee died and two others were injured Tuesday when a person opened fire on them at a campus facility, university police said.

Ohio State University Police Chief Paul Denton said the alleged gunman was in custody, CNN reported.

how many can you find?

The president of the Detroit school board, Otis Mathis wrote this:

"If you saw Sunday's Free Press that shown Robert Bobb the emergency financial manager for Detroit Public Schools, move Mark Twain to Boynton which have three times the number seats then students and was one of the reason's he gave for closing school to many empty seats."

CLICK FOR STORY

To see this written by an administrator in a public school would be no surprise to most teachers. This is because people do not become board members or administrators because they are well educated, or because they are good teachers, or even because they are very bright. One principal we knew well couldn't write intelligible English, nor speak it either for that matter, and eventually had to have his writings edited by English teachers before they could be sent out.

Sparty recommends

Sparty recommends this article from THE NATION,

HOW TO GET OUR DEMOCRACY BACK

which discusses the failure of the Obama government to deliver on its call for "change" and which recommends that the only way to approach reform of our failing government is to reform Congress first.

Why liberals are discouraged by Obama.

In Oz

A thought, forwarded by Bugsy (Jerry):

If Dorothy were to encounter men with no brain, no heart, and no courage today, she wouldn't be in Oz, she'd be in Congress.

It's Caturday

Sock-cat Toomey

"So, it all worked out very well..."

The words spoken by the CNN newsman standing in front of the Pentagon were: "So, it all has worked out very well ..."

Two guards are lying in the hospital with bullet wounds, the family of the shooter is wondering what the hell went on, and the shooter himself lies dead in the morgue with a bullet in the brain. But, in our society, the pain of three people suffering with serious injuries is "very well."

discrimination

I was reading on the breaking news line that several employees of THE Ohio State University are charging religious discrimination against the place.

Religious discrimination?

That does seem but a small mote of inconvenience when measured against these things: You have to work for OSU, ye-gods! --- and just look at that idiotic "mascot" you have to tolerate.

freak of nature

Here, in the geographical domain known as the Saginaw Valley, we are not used to much sunshine, actually. When you have several days of it in a row, you grow suspicious. So, here we are with another sunny day, perhaps the fourth in a row, but we're all ducking and covering, expecting a tornado or earthquake or something. Kind of takes the thrill out of the special phenomenon.

Nevertheless, there is SUNSHINE and I for one am really happy about it! Pass me another Rolling Rock!

Thursday Morning Smile Maker

fatigue

I saw this headline today, and now I want to make a confession.

Hamas leaning toward signing Shalit deal

It used to be that I paid close attention to what was going on between Israel and the Palestinians. I guess I'm weakening, because I don't take anything over there as relevant to me anymore. Maybe it's fatigue?

Sent by a friend,

this appealed to my cynical side.

From the Loyal Opposition

(Thanks to Bill J. for this):

PSALM 2010

Obama is the shepherd I did not want.

He leadeth me beside the still factories.

He restoreth my faith in the Republican party.

He guideth me in the path of unemployment for his party's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the bread line,

I shall fear no hunger, for his bailouts are with me.

He has anointed my income with taxes,

My expenses runneth over.

Surely, poverty and hard living will follow me all the days of my life,

And I will live in a mortgaged home forever.

I am glad I am American,

I am glad that I am free.

But I wish I was a dog .....

And Obama was a tree.