Sadism

"Why? Because, at bottom, there is a deep streak of sadism running through people. It runs through me, too! I can tell you, I have imagined torturing people who are egregious criminals--such as Hitler, or Saddam Hussien, or Charles Manson, or some smart aleck who pulls in front of me on the freeway--but in a country living under rule of law, we must not give into those urges ever." Eric Bergeson

Saturday Spillage

I like this. Lots going on in it, visually. Click it for large view. That is my one-and-only son at his sister's place in December. It's a fun apartment. With fun people living inside.

Posting is sparse here. Like so many bloggity blogs out there lately. Who knows why. Futility? I'll still do it when I can because it is an outlet. For what I do not know, but it gets spilled here and other places.Narcissism? I removed the 'Followers" widget. It was acting all buggy and goofy and seems redundant when one already has a blog roll. No offense to anyone intended.

Communication Breakdown - Lez Zeppelin

What He Says

Blogger Eric Bergeson conveys perfectly the frustration I feel about the stimulus package and the transparently hypocritical republicans... hence the cut and paste that follows! Thanks to Eric for expressing it as he does so well.

Fiscal responsibility

You know, I have had it with the sudden panic amongst Republicans that we suddenly should be fiscally restrained and that Obama is going to bankrupt us with the stimulus package, which, although I don't understand macro-economics, is favored by the bulk of economists as the best chance we have to get the economy going again.

Where were these people when George Bush pushed through the prescription drug benefit by lying to Congress about its estimated cost? He said it would cost $400 billion over ten years; the most recent estimate is that it will cost $1.2 trillion over that time span. The Comptroller General called it "the most fiscally irresponsible piece of legislation passed since the 1960s."

The whole drug benefit idea was cooked up by Karl Rove. It was pushed through, not because it was prudent or necessary--it was neither--but because it was a neat way of buying the votes of voters over 65. And it worked.

Why was there no uproar then amongst these same people? It is obvious. Welfare for white elderly people is okay, even if it busts the bank. I hear no comment on this from the same people who are whining now about spending on infrastructure.

The war in Iraq has cost upwards of one half trillion dollars. At the beginning, Rumsfeld and Cheney sold the war by saying that it would be quick, we would be welcomed as liberators and that the war would pay for itself with Iraqi oil revenues. Those were either absolutely spectacular lies, or misjudgments worthy of a complete loss of reputation.

And what if Bush's plan to privatize Social Security had passed? That cockamamie scheme--one of the most idiotic and transparently corrupt proposals he made--would have enriched the same craven morons on Wall Street who got us into this banking mess. And then? It would have caused tremendous suffering when the market went down 40%.

Did Bush ever use his bully pulpit to criticize the wild excesses and stupid behavior on Wall Street? Of course not. Wall Street helped finance his campaigns. And did he heed warnings three years ago from a very few politicians, including Barack Obama, that subprime lending was a problem? Of course not.

Do we hear about these atrocious failures now from these people? No. They're digging back to the Carter years to blame Jimmy for the mess by saying he's the one who wanted everybody to own a house. Carter had his role, but Bush was asleep at the wheel.

Why is there such panic now among people who said they were conservative in the past eight years, but acceded to an increase of the deficit to one trillion dollars in a time of prosperity? Where were they? What were they thinking?

Turns out, it is all personal with them. George Bush spoke their code. He is a "good man." That's code for "he shares our religious values," which also means that once he's recognized as a member of the club, he can do no wrong and we should support whatever he wants to do, however lunatic it may be.

(Unless he were to have an affair. That would end it, of course. But a sex scandal is what it would take to disillusion the followers of a Dear Leader. Incompetence, lying, corruption...that simply is forgiven as what Big Daddy has to do to take care of business for us poor ignorant followers.)

Meanwhile, Obama's attempts to reach out to the Republicans have been rebuffed completely by a party which isn't interested in spending, however much it might now finally be needed, unless they can take full credit for the spoils.

I am agnostic on the stimulus package. But I hold the new converts to fiscal restraint in contempt. They failed their country in the past eight years by abandoning their principles in several huge, costly ways.

The Democrats failed too, by the way, who 1) ran awful candidates for president and 2) didn't oppose the unwise spending.

Despite my misgivings on the big new spending package, it is good to see a president digging into the detail. He is sincere. And I hope it works as intended. (As does anybody who loves their country.)

Help On The Way !!!

'Paradise waits on the crest of a wave...'

Robert Hunter

Mavericks 2008~Pacifica, California ('Mavericks' is purely coincidental.)

Where to start... my heart is full. A little over three years ago, I took up blogging. It coincided with the 'loss' of the election in 2004. My rage was real, and this was solid therapy. I love you all!
(You know who you are!)

'Without love in a dream it will never come true.'

Zo Blogs For Obama

Some time back, I found Zo's blog. This was due to the happy coincidence that we both read John Perry Barlow's blog. (Now closed-up tight.) I bow to her. Recently, she wrote the loveliest post about Barack Obama. It really got me, and I wanted to share it here.

Note: Her post feels even more poignant today, given Hillary's latest episode of "misspeaking".

Y'all Come Back Now, Y'hear?

My son doing some light reading today. He came up for a visit with his girlfriend. Older daughter drove them all here for some too-rare time together. Now they're gone again, but it was mighty nice having them around. Today we took a great walk, out of the (40 m.p.h.) wind along Big River. Did I bring the camera? Nope. I clicked a couple in the living room later on, though. I like the early evening light on the redwood. We are getting settled. Still unpacking box-after-box after-box. More yard sale fodder.

Oh, and today's the three-year anniversary of this odd little blog! (yawn)

In My Life...

Speedway Meadow, Golden Gate Park~ September 2nd, 2007
We prefer the nosebleed seats these days. Less mayhem occurs back here. The backdrop on stage was done by Peter Max... my brother has some nice close-ups. (hint hint)



My brother and my man, sipping their chilled Veuve Clicquot. We were stylin'! I'll be writing more about the experience later this week, as time allows.


Aiko: The next generation. My older daughter and my Aiko bro's only son, enjoying dim sum in the not-so-dim-sun. That is either a Chinese long bean or a pea pod between her chopsticks.


These nutty freaks were selling flowers out of a shopping cart, and here you see them dragging that cart through the crowd, to the other side of the meadow. Notice their porta-potty hanging off the front of the cart. Ready for anything!


Later, that same week... I took an afternoon off and went on a long walk up Big River with my love. It was the last of a series of very warm days on the coast.



Remains of a tree along Big River.



The deadly beauty of "ripe" poison oak.


Here is the place I was this weekend, kid-sitting.


Outside the kitchen door, in the early morning dampness.


Another view of their lovely place from the yard.


The kid I looked after and his pal, ping-ponging in the foggy dew.



Weekend Bonus! I got to meet Joe Spado for a cup of coffee. We talked for about an hour, and it felt like we were old friends. Aaarghhh... Peace, matey!


When I returned to my duties at the house, my daughter was playing the piano. It sounded terrific.

The sun was shining out in the yard, so I stretched-out in the hammock and her sweet piano music filled the air.






... More to share-later.

Where Do The Children Play?

Children's Playground, Golden Gate Park

Check out that slide! I remember it well. You know, you'd never see a wild slide like that in any playground these days. Childhood in the sixties was different. Much less risk management.


Still here. My new job has robbed me of precious blog time. I now work for an I.S.P.
The coolest thing is the calm atmosphere. Necessary. My last job was like dysfunction junction. Now I: live closer to work-walking distance, work 25 hours a week, and I like it there.


Meanwhile, wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Hospital were instructed to never speak to the press. Cheney dodged death. And the president can't even bounce a ball.

Party on, Wayne.

synchronicity

i feel like a proud american tonight, for several reasons.

first, the preznit's approval rating is dropping by the day. unreal. the downing street memo has gone from a slow-burning internet scoop a couple of months back to a mainstream news story, complete with televised hearings on c-span. could it be that the ship of fools has sprung a leak at last? oh, hell yes!

sometimes one can feel like the lone dissenter. i often do. and i have definitely found that there are many who sidestep discussing political topics on their blogs.
that's cool. no problem, but i want to talk about it. it's a lonely job sometimes, but it feels right for me. and rosie is a near-daily inspiration, in that regard. she kicks ass! and plenty of her blog readers give her a bad time for continually bringing up the war and the president's lies. she never caves in to the pressure. she keeps telling us to do something, be informed, and to speak out against the madness. she does not have to be doing this. many advise her not to. she is doing what she must. i can relate to that.

coincidentally, my post here at the cozy shack last evening was related to my growing disdain for apathetic attitudes about politics, as well as the importance of aqquainting oneself with the downing street memo. when i read rosie's post today, i was proud that i stuck with my personal ideals, and that i sometimes speak of the shit that it would appear some shy away from. rosie does it too, and she brought up the dsm today! WE ARE HERE indeed, and we want the real truth about this war. the families of the 1700 dead soldiers deserve truth, at the very least.

oh, i will write about less politically-charged things here, sometimes. but right now, this is where my heart is. maybe it's because way-back-when, in 2000, i had a scary vision of a future with bush 2 in charge, and he has far exceeded my worst -case-scenario. the day he "won" the first time was such a low point. then there was 9/11, then his bullshit war, then his "re-election" i have lived almost a half-century. things have never felt this out-of-control. i hate to say i told you so, but...

so, although it's a little like the kiss of death in terms of blog popularity, i will continue to speak of the things that are not necessarily popular with people.
it makes me feel proud to be an american, when i speak my mind.

don't need a weather man to know which way the wind blows

if i were mj i would go all howard hughes and live out my days on a private atoll somewhere in the south pacific. away from everything and everyone, forever. far away from all that created and destroyed him in one short lifetime. to me, it is all fucking sad. every aspect of it.

in other news: arnold will be toast soon, in my opinion. maybe then he will go away and leave "cullifornia" alone. i can dream, right? howard dean crazy? you bet your ass he is---crazy like a fox. watch and learn. i have a glimmer of hope, i swear i do.

what is the actual deal with "blog cliques?" not sure i can grasp the concept. are these people who were maybe NOT popular or whatever in (real-time) life? i am quite curious about this phenomenon. me? i was born a misfit, been one all my life. fitting into anything too terribly mainstream makes me nervous. needless to say, i don't think i fit into the mainstream blogosphere very well. oh well. i tried to be social, post a comment here-and-there and introduce myself. maybe i'm still not cool. and that, dear friends is why i'm a deadhead!

i write here because i like to put my thoughts down somewhere. the thoughts vary. sometimes weird, or incredibly boring. other days they're rebellious and angry.
or just plain sad. i want to be honest in my writing. true-to-me, you know? so much cheaper than therapy.

time to listen to diana krall and let my college girl brush my hair. a rare delight.

(good night moon!)