Penn Voters

What were you thinking? OUR LIVES ARE AT STAKE!

Road Trip

Just got back from a trip to help my sister-in-law move. My route was Dallas-El Paso-Las Cruces-Tucson-Phoenix-Flagstaff-Gallup-Gunnison-Denver-Boulder-Dallas. Drove through dust storms, flash floods, temperatures ranging from 103 (Phoenix and in the Texas panhandle) to the 40's (Gunnison). Even had 20+ degree temperature changes within 5 minutes near El Paso and going over Lizard Head Pass in SW Colorado. Saw elk, deer, prairie dogs, antelope, a roadrunner. Was verbally accosted by a Navajo at a gas station in the middle of the Navajo reservation in NW New Mexico ("What are you doing in Navajo country? Why are you here?). Listened to "reservation radio" - they had 2 stations. Both spoke in Navajo, but one played songs in English, but the other played native Navajo music.

With the recent interest in illegal immigration, I was pleased to see a BIG increase (based on my last trip through El Paso - New Mexico - Arizona) in the border patrol presence. Lots of agents in vehicles, helicopters. But they were mostly sitting in cars talking to each other. Had to go through a border checkpoint outside Las Cruces, but the agent just waved everyone through. Not sure what he was looking for.

Kinda reminded me of trips many years ago to Big Bend National Park. Ahh...those were the days.

Minimum Wage

Saw an interesting letter to the editor in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on this subject during our trip up north at the beginning of July. This may not be a new idea, but it was new to me and I like it. A lot.

The writer said that the solution to this problem was to tie increases to the minimum wage to increases in pay that Congress votes to themselves. If they get a raise, the minimum wage goes up as well. The same percentage. God, I love that.

Of course, this will never happen because Congress would have to approve it and pass it. But it makes sense to me, which is another reason it won't happen.

Wisc

Only because I can't spell. Tell our friend to call me; we've switched home and cell phones and lost the number; I've spent hours trying to find her in WauwatosaMiiniTosagSag that she owes me a few (hours).

Re: LJ

C and I are heading up north to the land of brauts and beer tomorrow for the holiday - get back on the 4th, then on the 6th I'm driving out to Arizona to help my sister-in-law move from Flagstaff to Gunnison, CO. I should be back on the 11th or 12th.

I've never been to Disney World. Only suggestion I would have is hit the most popular rides early (like you haven't figured that out already). On second thought, I do have another...don't go. WAY too crowded, WAY too commercial, WAY too many kids. But then again, that's me and it's a bit late since you're already there.

Have fun :)

LJ

1) Where you going? 2) It's "couldn't." 3) In addition to the launch we're spending several days at Disney World. Have you been and if so any suggestions*? Looks like a big complex.

*Behold the power of the Blogger Spellchecker: I typed "suggetions." It gave me about ten possible alternatives, none of them "suggestions."

RE: Hey

Wow...I thought my eyes were deceiving me. I check the blog a couple of times a day and for what, 2 months, nothing. And this morning, lo-and-behold, MULTIPLE posts!

As for the subject of flag-burning, let me say this: I never know which is the gramatically correct term..."couldn't care less" or "could care less"? Whichever is, that is how I feel about it.

It's too bad that at least one of my SSJ brothers has deciced that now is the time to get back to blogging. For the next 2 weeks, I will be away from any computers or internet, so I will not be able to voice my opinions or even check the blog. Guess that means I'll have some catching up to do when I get back home.

FLASH BUMP

"Flash" I think is a radio term meaning something important is about to be said. "Bump," as I understand the blogsphere, connotes something you wrote recently that has been pushed down on your blog by later posts but which you now believe should be top and center.

I started to type that this is neither, but then I looked at my definitions.

If this small small part of the bsphere is to continue, there has to be a reason why. Did we run out of things to say? We never have before. Are we tired of the constant onslaught of partisanship? I think we'd all say yes. Do we just not care anymore? I say no.

Can we let this noble enterprise die a whimpering death? I say never:




To that end, and keeping with the Flash and not so much the Bump, let's revisit the birth of SSJ:




I'm getting a lot of email along these lines: "Love your site! You guys are great! Only place on the web where a couple of 'nuts and a 'bat can duke it out in a civilized fashion. But what's the deal with your name?"

Well. A considered question deserves a considered answer. Here it is:

One day last year, out of the the blue, I got this email from my good and close friend Scooter:

Scooter: Let's start a blog.

I was thrilled (in the old sense of "terrified" [look it up]) and terrified. What in the world would I be able to blog about? I had not had an original idea in twenty years.

Michael: What? I haven't had an original idea in twenty years.
Scooter: You're right, me neither. Forget it.
Michael: OK.
Scooter: OK.
Michael: OK then.
Scooter: But...
Michael: But what?
Scooter: What if we had a site devoted to esoteric economic theory with an occasional pop culture reference AND some hardcore conservative political commentary?
Michael: Gosh, when you put it that way, count me in!!
Michael: We're going to need a name. Punditguys?
Scooter: I don't think so. Overdone.
Michael: How about "Jacks of Spades," y'know like "Ace of Spades?"
Scooter: meh.
Michael: Ok fine.
Scooter: How about something with pajamas? [Ed. note: this was when jammies were hot.]
Michael: I dunno, seems like everyone's doing jammies.
Scooter:...
Michael:..
Scooter: I've got it. Not pajamas: smoking jackets. Like Astaire and Cary Grant.
Michael: Yeah I like that. But I dunno. It seems a little . . . gay?
Scooter: Yep.
Michael: Instaguys?
Scooter: Please.
Michael: ...
Scooter: OK. Let's go back to first principles. We've got nothing new to say, right?
Michael: Check.
Scooter: We haven't had an original idea in twenty years.
Michael: Check.
Scooter: Anything we say is going to be derivative of something someone else has already said.
Michael: Check.
Scooter: Dig this: Secondhand Smoking Jackets.
Michael: Ah, "secondhand smoke," secondhand = derivative. Not bad, not bad at all.
Scooter: Grazie.
Michael: AND if we go back to my earlier "Jacks of Spades," we could make it "Secondhand Smoking Jackets of Spades." No, that's just stupid. "Secondhand Smoking Jacks of Spades?" Too long. How about "Secondhand Smoking Jacks?" Which doesn't really make much sense.
Scooter: I kind of like it.
Michael: Eh. I guess we can think about.
Scooter: OK. I've got a site on Blogger for "Secondhand Smoking Jacks."
Michael: What?? I thought we we're going to talk about this some more.
Scooter: I guess not.
Michael: Fine.



My blog brothers: We've had our sabbatical. The times, they are a'changing, and we don't want not to be not on record, or at least I don't. E.g., I've waded in [weighed in?] on the flag thing, have you?

STS-121

For those of you not steeped in NASA doings that's the next Shuttle mission and it is currently scheduled to launch 3:49 pm EDT July 1. We're fortunate to have one of the astronauts as our friend and neighbor and have been invited to view the launch from the family/friends area. I don't know where that is but it has to be better than where I saw the first launch from*. I never saw an Apollo (i.e. Saturn V) launch (I think T did), which was the most powerful vehicle to ever leave the Earth, but I can say the Shuttle launch I saw was pretty damned impressive, even from the peanut gallery.

*The non-dangling, and correct, being "from which I saw . . ." Can't do it. Which begs the question: What's happened to Michael's stand against the degeneration of grammar and syntax? What, indeed.

Hey

How 'bout that flag amendment? I say no.

Eh

Getting back on the bicycle...maybe.

I was out-and-about this morning, running errands and decided that after a 2 to 3 week hiatus from any talk radio, it was time to tune in. I've been so apathic lately, regarding anything even remotely political. But, my thinking was, it's been long enough. Time to jump back on that bicycle and see what happens.

Turn on the radio and the Glenn Beck show is on. He is railing against the do-nothing politicians. Both sides. Talk and talk and talk, but never do or fix anything. Immigration...Iraq....fuel prices...scandals...he rants for 10 minutes or so. Listening to it was giving me a headache. so I swtiched over to Air America.

The Rachel Maddow show is on. Her topics? New CIA director....Iraq war...."The Decider's" fish story. Since I agree, at least to some extent, to her views on these subjects, I last about 15 minutes before I get bored and my head starts hurting again. Next stop, Laura Ingraham.

She seems all worked up over an interview Katie Couric had this morning with Joel Osteen, the pastor of the Lakewood mega-church in Houston. After listening for a few minutes, I wasn't quite sure what she was worked up about. Her focus seemed to be (1) that when Katie was quoting Bible verses to Mr. Osteen, she referred to them as "quotes" rather than "passages" and (2) her questions seemed hypocritical, as Katie was asking Mr. Osteen about he reconciled being a pastor while at the same time his church rakes in huge $$ and he just signed a big book deal (larger than Bill Clinton's, as Katie pointed out). Now, I just happened to see this interview while I was doing my 30 minutes on a treadmill at my gym. I'm not a big Katie fan, but her interview broached many more subjects than just money and she seemed informed and respectful of his position. And given the scandals that seem to follow many of these TV evangelists, I thought the line of questions on this subject was fair. Ms. Ingrahams' point appeared to be that Katie had no right to ask him about this, since she herself is quite wealthy. Well, I can think of one big difference...Katie isn't on TV asking people to send her money. Whether she earns what she is paid by NBC and now CBS could be a matter of debate, but if the networks are willing to pay her millions, then more power to her. Somehow I doubt that Ms. Ingraham is hurting financially herself.

I had to turn this off as well, not because I was at my destination, but because I just couldn't take it anymore. So off went the radio and on went the CD player....Roxy Music. My headache went away. And it was obvious that my talk radio hiatus wasn't long enough.

Old rivarly rekindled

This from today's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette:

"Arkansas and Texas have agreed to a two-year, home-and-home football series
beginning in 2008. The Razorbacks visit their former Southwest Conference
rival on Sept. 13, 2008. In 2009, Texas plays in Fayetteville on Sept. 12."

I can't speak for the "tea-sippers", but I can say that ALL Razorback fans will be very excited about this. From another article in the ADG, it appears the game in 2008 will be the first in the expanded, renovated Royal-Memorial Stadium. Hopefully, the UT athletic department will give more tickets to the UA than they did when we played there in 2003. C and I will be there of course (as we were in 2003), and I can only hope the result is the same.

Shoes?

"Keen" (brand name, not adjective) hiking sandals on sale at REI from the 5th to the 14th. $69.00 as opposed to the usual $90.00.

I abhor the look of sandals but love the comfort. I acknowledge the bad feelings are at least in part due to the fact that I have the planet's ugliest toes. These give me the comfort without exposing the ugly toes.

Best story: some months after I bought my first pair a couple of years ago, I was walking thru the shoe department at a fru-fru department store here in Austin. The department manager came over to me and asked me about my shoes. I told him about them and where I got them. 60 days later this store was carrying them.

LJ, you once gave me a pair of shoes that I wore foe almost 10 years and still have...you'd love these.

True reality TV

So yesterday afternoon I turn on the TV to watch the local news a few minutes before 5 pm (just for the record, the local ABC affiliate). They have broken into the scheduled program for "breaking news" - a Continental Express plane has blown it's 2 tires on the left side on take-off and is circling Bush Intercontinental Airport burning off fuel before it attempts to land. I flipped over to NBC and they are covering it too. CBS as well. So I'm thinking, "wow, this must be a big deal if all three stations are covering it." So if it's a big deal, CNN must be all over this. I turn over and....nope, not CNN. OK, Fox....nope, not them either. So I go back to ABC and they cover this thing for at least 1 hour and 45 minutes (with a break for the national news at 5:30, even though they break in during the commercials to give updates). And of course, no mention of it on the national news. While watching this "drama" unfold, I have several thoughts:

1) Why are the local stations even covering this? It's not a flight that was coming to or leaving Dallas, nor is it American Airlines. So why do they think it's such a big news story for DFW?

2) If all 3 local stations are covering it, why isn't CNN, Fox, etc? I'd be willing to bet if this were happening in NYC, LA, Chicago, they would be all over it. But since it's Houston, it's not worth the air time.

3) News anchors are very good when reading their script - get them in a situation like this, and you see how pathetic they are. Asking stupid questions. Asking the same ones over and over and over again. Saying things that make no sense. At one point, the anchor from the ABC affiliate was introducing a local Houston reporter on scene from "our sister affiliate station in Houston, KHOU". Now, I know I've been gone for a few years, but isn't KHOU the CBS station? KTRK is the ABC one. Nice...

4) So the 2 anchors and the 2 "airline experts" are discussing how the plane will land, what should happen, what they don't want to happen, all the while showing all the emergency vehicles getting ready. And just before the plane begins to land, I think to myself..."I wonder if the news people are thinking what I am....I hope 'something' happens. Something dramatic. Because if it all works out OK, we just invested 2+ plus hours into this and for what"? And lo and behold, the plane lands perfectly, hardly any sparks or anything. And I swear you could hear the disappointment in the anchors voices. After a couple of minutes, they went back to regular programming - Wheel of Fortune.

I was trying to decide if I should feel bad or not because I felt a small level of disappointment that it worked out OK. No sparks. No fire. No passengers sliding down out of the plane. Basically a waste of 2 hours. Then again, it was better than most anything on network TV these days. A "true" reality show, without the edited "most dramatic and emontional"....whatever. And that is the true lesson here - that if "true" reality show were on TV, no one would watch them because they would be as boring as hell. At least most of the time. Directors, editors, producers have to create reality to get anyone interested. I'm barely interested these days in true reality - that is why I pass on the TV versions of it.

Re: Apathy

Dude, kind of a bummer. Sounds like Savage in one of his moods. Having said that, I'm kind of feeling the same, but for different reasons. I know the Dims are out to lunch, so I'm not troubled by that. It's disappointing to see the Rethugs misfire on the gas prices and spending. I am hopeful we have turned the corner in Iraq, but I wish there were more positive indicators that is the case.

I have an inkling, only, of your frustration re employment and know it's tough. Doors close and open, but sometimes not as fast as we would wish. And with that sappy and completely unhelpful aphorism, I'm done.

The disease that is apathy

The unemployed, when not looking for a job, have plenty of time to think and reflect. On life. On current events. On anything and everything. Perhaps that is why I have caught a disease - the disease of apathy. Day after day I enter the world of the internet and see what is going on in the world and what "people" are saying about said events. That is how one contracts the disease.

Politics - one party says ying, the other says yang. They agree to disagree. Unless the polls show that the public is overwhelmingly for or against something. Then they all say they will fix it. But first, they have to have hearings. Actually, pre-hearings before the hearings. Then they take one of their numerous "breaks" to go home to "hear from their constituents" (i.e. big donors). Then they go back to D.C., posture for the cameras and what happens - nothing. Never. Ever. I've often wondered why polls and stories always say that the voters have HUGE negative feelings about Congress, yet the voters always re-elect the same ones over and over again. I used to think that it was because the incumbents have fixed the election rules so much to their advantage that unless they are caught with an animal and/or a child in some seedy motel (and in some districts, that wouldn't even matter it seems), re-election is almost a given. Now I am convinced that when push comes to shove, by the time election day rolls around, the voters are like me - they don't care. Apathy has taken hold of them. It doesn't matter who gets elected, nothing will change because of it. Politics - right now I don't care anymore.

Bush - he is such a disaster, I'm rapidly getting bored reading and listening to all the haters, spinners, apologists, worshipers, etc. When he speaks, I turn it off. Doesn't make any diference what he says - nothing changes because of it. I see today that he has named a new Spin Master - er, Press Secretary. Yawn....do I care, not really.

Reviewing the headlines on Drudge....Brittany Spears pregnant again. Who cares about that? Did anyone care the first time? Tom Cruise / Katie Holmes...again, who cares about this? Why is this even news. Teri Hatcher suffers eye injury. Ohh, the stock market might crash because of this.
Geesh, I can't read anymore of this. I'm going to check out CNN...

Rumey and Condi make a surprise visit to Iraq. Of course it is a surprise, it's so damn dangerous (even though we are making real progress) that they can't announce it in advance or they might get killed. And of course they will stay in the "green zone". Won't venture out. But it's great over there...uh huh. Secrest not talking to Paula Abdul. So what. Who cares? I even read that now there is going to be a reality show about a realty show (American Idol). Is the best that TV execs can come up with? No wonder I only watch sports on the tube. Drivers running out of gas to save money. What? Gas prices...like anyone can do anything about them. It's the same every year. High around Easter, go down a little, high around Memorial Day, go down a little, high around July 4th, go down a little, high around Labor Day (is there a trend here?), then down a little. All it takes is some yahoo oil shiek in some god-forsaken desert country to say "oil", "terrorist", "nukes", "refining capacity" and the oils prices shoot up. Here is the problem in a nutshell - we like big cars. Big SUV's. Big hummers. And nobody is going to tell us what kind of car to drive. Today, as I was driving to the gym, I saw the American gas/oil problem in full view. Sitting at an intersection, there were 10 vehicles waiting for the light to change. All 10 were SUV's (mine included). Of the 10, 8 had only 1 person in them (mine included). There it is. That is the problem. I don't need CNN or Bush or some ExxonMobil executive or some Saudi oil shiek to rail on and on - just go to an intersection and look at the vehicles and how many people are in them.

So I guess the point of this rant is this. I don't care about too much right now. I don't want to watch TV, I don't want to listen to talk radio, I don't want to read papers or surf the web. I have no desire. I'm apathetic. These days, I spend my time 1) sorta looking for a job 2) playing free cell on the computer and 3) watching the NHL play-offs.

I need a life...and something, anything to care about. And quickly.

The Thin White Duke....in Portuguese

I saw this and thought of you Scooter. HERE is a link to a zip file of songs from the movie "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou", which I admit I liked. I love the Bill Murray understated style of comedy. Anyway...throughout the movie, one of the characters sang Portuguse versions of David Bowie songs. The zip file contains the 11 full version songs he sang snippets of in the film.
Pretty cool stuff.

William Shatner

I wanted to be on record somewhere that I love this guy whatever he does. Just saw a piece of a lawyer show: he was fabulous.

Begging the fargin question

This week's hall of shame: (1) "Author and conservative comedian Brad Stine;" (2) Mike McDaniel of the Chronic;

and (3), well I don't have one (or do I?). This travesty is so widespread I thought I could get a weekly feature out of it, you know, three (surely not more) violations I saw THIS WEEK. Either I've not been paying attention or ... something. Anyway, I only had two, so I thought I'd cheat and google some news stories for "begs the question."

The result was shocking. Aussies, at least at 9 CDT, 4/24/06, seem to be the worst offenders.