Al Franken Wins

[BARF ALERT] The activist "judges" of Minnesota have appointed Al Franken to the U.S. Senate!

Just kidding, I'm very giddy with happiness at this thing being finally over, and for it having a happy ending. It's nice once in a while for the good guy to finish first.

Now Minnesota can have some representation AND we can have another Democratic senator. We believe Al will be a great one.

It's hard to believe, though, that we had to wait for Norm Coleman to concede. Good grief. When the numbers are against you, you've lost. Whether you concede or not, get out of the way.

The Ed Show

Ed is great. I'm glad for his show. But why burden us with Tom Tancredo all the time? Good grief, that jerk doesn't add anything.

I'm not even going to watch him anymore. Tom Tancredo comes on again today and I just turn it off.

Get rid of Tom Tancredo. He's not a good guest. He has nothing of any value to say. Nothing whatsoever.

Billy Mays

I saw someone on Facebook earlier today say "RIP Billy Mays," and I thought maybe he was referring to someone like a local sports announcer (or someone), someone I wouldn't know. I thought right away that I could respond, You mean the salesman on TV? But just as a joke. So I didn't give it any more thought, if it's a local sports announcer ... who cares?

Then hours later I checked out a news site and there was Billy Mays ... dead. Oh my gosh, not that guy! I couldn't believe it. He died in his sleep. He got hit on the head by some falling stuff in a plane. He was only 50.

I always hated to see him on TV, but it was a job for him, and apparently he was pretty good at it, since they're not going to have him for the salesman constantly if stuff isn't selling. If I had a remote I would get it muted right away, but I know there were other times when it wasn't possible (or feasible) to go for a mute button, like when I was in another room, and I'd hear that grating delivery. (This isn't an insult to the dearly departed, just the way it is. I wouldn't buy an album of his greatest commercials, even though obviously he was good at it.)

Anyway, it's something to feel grief about, after a busy week of deaths. Think of that, 50. He could've had 20 more productive years, maybe, selling stuff on TV. That's a lot of lost income to his family, which has to be sad. If he was ultimately killed by stuff falling on him, someone should pay.

He looked so vibrant, vital, and strong, with a beard I always figured had to be blacked in. It's too bad that something like this had to happen.

How To Tell Scary Stories

This is an interesting article, at wikihow, on How To Tell Scary Stories.

Not that I will put it into practice that much, since I'm not in circumstances very often that lend themselves to scary stories. But it definitely has some pointers in it that I will remember if it ever comes up.

It looks like having credibility is the key thing. So the storyteller needs to be preparing the way as the opportunity rises, then have local details, then be reluctant to talk, then not smile, then not lunge at the listeners (although this could be done too, except it takes away credibility.)

I like the whole idea of researching a few stories. You could get some off that ghost hunters show on Sci Fi.

$400 Million In Debt

It's being reported as an estimate that Michael Jackson was some $400 million in debt. To which I say, maybe I'm not doing that badly after all.

Thank you, God, for keeping me away from wealth and fame! With wealth like that, I guess I prefer my normal life.

Sanford's Happy

Who's the happiest guy in the world that Michael and Farrah died? Mark Sanford. The news has forgotten him!

In other stupidity, how about Rush's assertion that Sanford's affair is President Obama's fault? Is it just me or does the party of "responsibility" always have someone else to blame for their troubles? That's a contradiction, in case you haven't noticed.

How did Obama manage to trip up Sanford in an affair. By passing the stimulus bill, which drove Sanford to distraction, so much so that he abandoned his wife and children and went to Argentina to have an affair with Maria. This is a great theory, because according to this theory Obama can do anything. Watch out, Rush, or he'll work his mojo on you...

As much as it'd be great if Obama were able to do this to his political enemies, of course Sanford was having an affair with Maria at least as early as July 2008, long before the stimulus. But how great it'd be!

Sanford's Double Life

I'm for people living double lives, secret lives as much as the next guy. Who doesn't like occasionally to dress up like Superman and jump off the chicken house?

But when you're a politician, and perhaps have your sights on higher office, we expect you to be settled down and a little more predictable.

Republican Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina is showing a whole weird side, and doesn't sound like someone we could count on. He gets stressed out (from the stimulus fight in South Carolina) so he runs away? What kind of demeanor would he have, let's say, as a presidential candidate? Now you see him, now you don't.

Couple it with all the conflicting stories. Either no one knew where this guy was or they were all lying. First he was on the Appalachian trail, then he claims he ended up somehow in Argentina, alone, he says -- he insists he was alone. He says he was driving the coast down there, apparently trying to clear his head.

Really, really nice. As flighty as they come.

Paul Simon References

I'm interested in how many Paul Simon references there are today. I checked the Google blogs search thing for the last day and there was almost 1,400. Exactly how many of these were related to the Kodachrome announcement, I don't know, but it looks like a bunch.

Some products I expect to be with us forever. I hadn't ever considered it, but I would never have thought I'd outlive Kodak film, for crying out loud. All because of our love for digital cameras. Which is understandable, because going to all the trouble and expense with film these days, for the average guy, is crazy.

I wonder what Paul Simon thinks about all the attention today!

There was a soap opera ending after 70 or 75 years. Before that Polaroid. Now Kodak.

A Missing Governor

We had a missing governor? That's a new one!

"It's 10 o'clock. Do you know where your governor is?"

In South Carolina they had to say NO there for a while, when Republican Gov. Mark Sanford went missing. Where he went, I don't know. Since I've never seen him, he's always been missing to me. But there are those who are in contact with him on a normal basis, and they were thinking, Hmm, he disappeared.

Someone was accusing him of "erratic behavior," and this sounds like something that would fit the description. But who hasn't felt like getting away from it all for a while? So if he's out catting around somewhere in disguise, that's his business.

Whatever he's doing, it's between him, his wife, and his shrink. And maybe his priest if he has anything to confess afterward. And being a Republican, he probably does.

My Inner Piranha

This is the third in a burst of three "inner piranha" posts today. It suddenly came to me that this would be a good thing to do, after having written the first one. I will supply links after the third one is written. But I need to write while my inner piranha gives me the energy to do so, because as I said in the first two posts, and shall repeat, albeit not word for word...

My inner piranha tonight is a very tired fish.

You inner piranha is that force that allows you to be engaged actively with existence in an energetic, driving way. You see something, you go for it. You see a bargain, you grab it. You have an opportunity, you have seconds to spare, and it's Fish To The Rescue. He tears, chews, munches his way from start to finish. The shortest distance between any two points is not a straight line, it's a piranha who chews his way there, whether he has to make a circle to get there.

Every challenge you have, release your inner piranha and it will be dead meat. The fish has teeth like steel and an appetite to match. His drive is full of force. He arrives. That's what I do. I see an enormous task ahead of me. I have a method then of connecting to the void of every cell of my body simultaneously, which is where the piranha hovers up and down, like a carnival fish trapped in a tiny cup of water. The difference between these two fishes is that the piranha is a super hero and comes forth with unmatchable powers. The carnival fish is just hoping for a bigger cup.

So once I see the challenge and I make that connection, things start happening. I might raise my arms. I might raise my legs. But in any case, my body (mentally) becomes like a Swiss Army knife, able to do anything. Because the inner piranha is streaming forth, biting, chewing, drilling though to make dead meat of my task.

I get the job done. I have the willpower. I prevail.

But it's a give and take relationship, meaning I also have to give. The piranha needs to do more than work like a dog. It needs some downtime, some interesting things to do, some meat that is supplied is some way other than work. It wants to kick up its tail, settle back on its fins, and enjoy a plate of meat at a more leisurely pace. Just for the fun of it.

Lately, though, I haven't been true to my piranha's needs. And that doesn't bode well for the future, like let's say tomorrow. I might see a challenge, lift my leg and nothing will happen. Then I'll lift my arm and nothing's there. Soon the cells in which he lives will start shrinking, meaning he is shrinking, or, worse, has deserted me or has died.

Take care, dear friends. Take care of you inner piranha, and you'll have no better friend in your life.

[UPDATE: What is given above is the third of my three "inner piranha" posts today. The other two can be found, the first at Boy Leg and the second at Dada Boheme. Please note the many differences. This is a lot more work than I needed to do tonight. But my inner piranha wanted to get this accomplish, for his own purposes as much as my own.]

Now That's What I Call Christmas

Christmas in June? 'Fraid so. At least on the music front.

In my never ending (foolish) quest to gather up all the decent castoff CDs of other people, I see a lot of Christmas ones. I can't even remember if I've bought any recently. There's nothing real memorable that sticks out.

Except this one ... "Now That's What I Call Christmas," a two CD set from 2001 that has "36 classic songs from Christmas past and present."

I was a little reluctant to get it since I already have lots of these songs on other CDs. Certainly Nat King Cole's "The Christmas Song." And I'm drifted in with copies of Bing's "White Christmas," including a 78 rpm of the first version somewhere, unless it's broken, a few 45s, maybe on an LP, and then CD. Elvis' "Blue Christmas" I think I have three or four different copies. Perry Como's "Home For The Holidays" is probably on the Christmas CD I have by him, and just this last season I made an MP3 of the 45. Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" is a slightly different story. I only had a 45 till this past Christmas, at which point I bought her Christmas CD. Now here it is on this collection too. The Beach Boys' "Little Saint Nick" I have in rich abundance. So for the first CD, I have most of these elsewhere. Maybe not Elmo & Patsy's "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer." And I certainly don't have anything by Kathy Mattea. I'm not too sure who she is, although I've heard of her.

The second CD is more up to date, meaning I don't have too many of them. John & Yoko's "Happy Xmas" is pretty old, so I have that on the 45 and on a CD. But most of the others are probably new to my personal collection. Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmastime," I don't believe I've ever owned that, which is hard to believe. I don't really like it that much. Michael Bolton's on here. I wonder what that'll sound like. Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas," I always avoid stuff like that and didn't get caught up in it at all at the time. Mannheim Steamroller. I see their Christmas albums all the time, dime a dozen. Now that I mention it, I believe I did buy a couple of them in the last year. There's someone on here just called Joe, a track called "This Christmas." I don't know Joe or the song. But if it's a "classic song," I look forward to hearing it.

I hemhawed a little over spending a couple bucks for this one. But here it is.

Unprecedented Access

This video is so hilarious. Hilarious and sad at the same time. Fox News is so transparently corrupt, there's simply no shame.

North Korea Missiles

"North Korea may fire a long-range ballistic missile toward Hawaii in early July," says this news story.

Does North Korea have a death wish? I wouldn't want to live in North Korea if that missile gets anywhere near Hawaii. Bye bye Kim Jong Il. You'll meet another "great leader," in Hell!

What a miserable fool. How about putting some energy into helping your people with food and the other basics of life?

A Forgotten Record

I was playing records out of a box (45 rpm) and came across an oldie that I'd totally forgotten.

It's one my family used to play, called "Greedy Old Dog" by Tex Ritter. It's actually in pretty good condition, which is surprising for all the times I remember playing it. But it sounds very nice still.

The lesson in this song is based on a fable (parable?) about a greedy old dog. He's got a bone in his mouth and is crossing a bridge on his way home. He sees his reflection in the water below but doesn't realize it's him. He wants to grab the other dog's bone and ends up dropping the one he's carrying. Pretty good.

Then Tex relates this fable to partners, men and women, that if you're stealing someone's sweetheart you might lose your own. But I don't think he means that the woman you're stealing is just a reflection of your own, i.e., the same woman. It's the greediness that's at issue.

The record is on Capitol Records, mid '60s.

Republicans Voted Against The Troops

The Republicans in Congress today, except for only five, voted "No" on funding the troops.

John McCain AWOL?

Has the big guy said "Today we're all Iranians" yet? Probably not, since it would conflict with the McCain Doctrine for the region, which was "Bomb, bomb Iran."

Ha ha. Speaking of Georgia and all of us being Georgians, what's happening in our adopted country over there? And why don't we hear much about it anymore? Shouldn't John McCain be leading the way on our continuing solidarity with the people and whoever that leader they had was?

In other Republican scandals, what's his name? -- Sen. John Ensign of Nevada admitted an extramarital affair. Something about blackmail. So it's good to get this out there early, especially with 2012 coming. Maybe he can squeeze in under the McCain Rule, which said an old affair was OK.

At least he didn't pull a John Edwards, wait till the campaign was over with to mention it.

The Republicans' Own Fault

I heard a guy today, apparently an arch-conservative, who was really giving President Obama the business. According to him, Obama has "already ruined everything." He was speaking of Social Security, health care, and perhaps the Easter egg hunt, depending on how that went, which I thought was more or less OK.

Later I was thinking it over, that nobody forced the Republicans to spend eight years governing like criminals and bigots (against African Americans and Hispanics). Nobody forced them to give up key demographic groups. Nobody forced them to lie constantly to the American people. Nobody forced them to screw over the country and the world. Nobody forced them to spend us into the deepest hole of debt ever. Nobody forced them to ruin the economy. Nobody forced them into an ignorant war of choice.

If anyone is to blame for Obama being president (and actually I'm quite delighted he is president), the Republicans can look in the mirror.

So to this guy ... and every other person in the world like him ... bellyaching about Obama and the Democrats ... may you suffer everyday in a terrible way for the next eight years. And after that, if the Republicans still haven't got their act together, may you keep right on suffering.

We suffered through the Bush years. Now it's time for a taste of your own medicine.

Leon Russell - Carney

I've always loved this album. It's one of those sentimental favorites from youth.

I still have the original version I bought of this when it first came out, which is the cassette. I don't know if I've ever had the LP on this one, and I know for sure I've never had the CD. Just that cassette.

I went and got it out a couple days ago and I notice the original case isn't with the tape, so that's not a good sign. But the tape is still in good enough condition.

I hooked up my MP3 recorder to the cassette player and recorded it off, then put the track on the computer and separated the tracks and made individual tagged MP3s out of those. So now the album is also on my Ipod.

It doesn't sound too bad, pretty good in fact. I liked it. I listened to the first half, then into the second half while exercising and it sounded fine. Then the short track "Carney," then the next song, then finally into "If The Shoe Fits" before needing to turn it off and drive home. That song used to be a real favorite, but, I don't know, it's not my utmost favorite. It's still fun though.

I almost bought the MP3 download at Amazon, but it was almost $10. I could probably get a used CD for cheaper than that. And anyway, I already have this cassette ... I may as well get my money's worth, if I haven't already after all these years!

I want to see if this works still.

A Flawless Iranian Election

Yeah, right.

It looks like President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did the full George W. Bush/Republican thing, engaging in out and out corruption to stay in power.

And as for the opposition candidate, Mir Hussein Moussavi, who appears to have been cheated badly, we're still hoping things will be straightened out. (Too bad about his middle name being Hussein. That never helps.)

An Old Will Ferrell Album

I snapped a picture of an old record album I saw today, thinking maybe the upper right side guy might be Will Ferrell in a group from years ago, The Links. It looks like something funny enough to be him.

Not Mellowing Out

This James W. von Brunn character was 88! Don't you think he'd be mellowing out a bit? There aren't that many people in their upper 80s who are out actively killing people in shooting sprees. Allegedly in his case.

Whatever happened in his life to make his thinking so twisted and weird, of course I don't know. But whatever it was, it apparently came and never left. Still, 88? He ought to be sitting on a porch somewhere complaining that the paperboy's late.

And as for "Holocaust denial," could there be any stupider idea? The history's right there for the whole world to see, including the blindest among us, those who will not see. Even they can see this.

The weird thing about that is that they actually want another Holocaust, or, I guess to them, a first Holocaust. Here's a line from a story about von Brunn:

The e-mails were getting violent in tone: "It's time to kill all the Jews."

He seriously denies the Holocaust? He seriously denies that others already tried to do what he would like to do now? That's delusional.

The only way Holocaust denial would make any sense at all is if you were truly so pure in heart and spirit that you could never believe that one person could hate someone else. That and you had no interest in history. But the fact that you'd be willing to do it yourself doesn't make you a credible Holocaust denier.

Imprecatory Prayer

There's a diary at Daily Kos about a guy I've never heard of, Rev. Wiley Drake, who uses imprecatory prayer to pray for the death of certain individuals, including President Obama.

If you visit that link, there's a radio broadcast with the guy with Alan Colmes, in which he explains some of this. As far as Drake is concerned, what he's doing is just agreeing with God.

Some of the comments at Daily Kos take the viewpoint that God would never want that, and also assume that Drake means God is speaking to him personally.

Whether you like the idea or not, the way I take Drake is this, not that God is speaking to him personally, but that he (Drake) reads various passages out of the Bible, probably the Psalms mostly, and since that is taken as God's word, God is saying what He's saying there. Look through the Psalms, several are labeled by commentators as imprecatory Psalms.

In the Psalms the speaker lambastes his enemies and wishes bad things to happen to them. If this is God's word, and the person praying prays the old prayers as God's will, the hope, on that person's part, is that God will answer the prayer for the death or injury of the person.

Maybe it doesn't sound exactly like Christian love is supposed to sound like, but that's probably the standpoint he's taking. He probably should also listen to the verse that says, "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" (Galatians 6:7).

Not A Citizen Of The World

Newt Gingrich is headed for outer space. He just announced that he's not "a citizen of the world." You read that right, he is not (that's a big negatory) a citizen of the world.

This means we have our first politician astronaut since John Glenn. And the faster Newt ships out, back to Mars or Rigel 7, the happier the rest of us will be.

Newt has caused nothing but trouble on planet Earth, and now we know why. He's an alien from some other planet and was sent here to cause grief.

Maybe we need a super special Gitmo for space aliens like him.

Did Palin Plagiarize Gingrich?

It appears not, but she appears to have credited her source, an article that Newt wrote.

I heard part of the speech. What a dud. Great minds must think alike. If I'm looking for a source it's not going to be something Newt wrote.

C'mon, Palin, you want to be president, show you have an independent, non-cliched thought up there. And drop the "Golly gee, my audience is so much on my side I can just say trite things with an everpresent note of sarcasm and exasperation in my voice" attitude. When it comes to presidents we're looking for statesmen and stateswomen more or less in the mainstream, not extremist mockers.

By the way, that leaves Gingrich out. He dresses his extremism up like it's something academic, thereby meant to be acceptable. That's hardheaded, which we also don't want. It's basically Bush with the sheen of faux intelligence.

Obama On TV

I didn't see the special by Brian Williams about President Obama when it was brand new, last week sometime, but caught part of it on the MSNBC reruns/documentary stuff they have on weekends.

The parts I saw were great. It was great to see behind the scenes even for those few minutes, and to think of how things are going at the highest echelons of our government. It all looked quite friendly and a thing of integrity.

It would've been interesting to see the same thing with the Bush White House, which must have been a place of absolute corruption and connivery. You've got the president authorizing one scam after another on the American people back then. In Bush's years the White House was a crime scene. I'd be afraid to touch anything lest I mess up fingerprints or something.

But with Obama, we have a person of integrity in there, and it really showed on this documentary. He's treating people right, has the nation's best interests at heart, cares about his family, etc. Plus he has Mrs. Obama and a great dog, Bo. So he looks like he's being a great president.

Even though the White House staff has to work major hours, they look like they're enjoying themselves quite a lot. I was thinking about them in their off hours, feverishly writing down notes about their day, so that they'll be able to write major books in the years ahead. And I was most amazed about the official White House photographer, following the president around all the time, snapping pictures. They said he takes between 700-1000 photos of the president everyday!

I would like to be one of the visitors to the Oval Office. I saw some other regular folks in there, like the little kid who was feeling Obama's hair. Hey, what am I, chopped liver? I could be a visitor too, couldn't I? I could pass any security test. I'm a nice person, an Obama voter, etc.

I think it'd be cool to reenact Nixon's meeting with Elvis. But you'd have me, a regular guy in an Elvis suit, and the exact same pose that Nixon had with Elvis. If the one guy takes over 700 pictures a day, he'd surely be able to get it right after a couple hundred tries.

D-Day

So it's D-Day, the 65th anniversary. Wow.

(I was a veteran of D-Day, but a different one. That's what we called it in my family the day they handed out report cards.)

I was just trying to read a little about the World War II D-Day in a book when it was told to me that we needed to go to the store and get something for lunch. That's not good. I'm trying to learn about D-Day and I need to quit just to go to the store. What if Ike had said, We're not going for it because we need to make pork burgers instead?

A few years ago I read the book "The Longest Day," I think by Cornelius Ryan. That was exciting. And I remember touring Eisenhower's museum and seeing the small little figures they were going to parachute somewhere else, Calais maybe. And over the years I've seen things about D-Day on the History Channel. That's probably what they have on today. But, again, I have domestic chores to take care of and will miss it.

Hitler was a very bad cat, I think we can all agree on that. He wasn't like Saddam Hussein, regardless of the malarkey the Republicans were spewing a few years ago, although they said it the other way around. Hitler had an army, navy, and air force that could actually do things. We didn't go in there and have him fall flat to the ground in three seconds like happened with Hussein. To win the war against Hitler, like the free world did, was an amazing thing.

It's sad that the WWII vets are getting old and dying off at a terrible rate everyday. But that's in the nature of flesh and time. It's going to happen to all of us. The thing to do on these anniversaries, and anytime we have the opportunity through the year, is to honor what they did.

Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin is just so incredibly dumb. It's staggering.

Obama In Egypt

I haven't seen any of President Obama's speech in Cairo. I don't need to, since I can read a report or two and see how it went.

If the world as a whole liked it, Muslims, whoever, then it's good enough for me.

Nor have I read what the Republicans have to say about it, since I know it can only be one thing, how they hate him, etc. Hey, Republicans, can it.

As for going to visit the Muslims, maybe the Republicans will make some stink about that. But it's better to have some of these folks (Muslims, not Republicans) like us rather than hate us. Speaking of stink, George W. Bush made us a stench in the nostrils of the world. I would rather try Obama's way!

I did see the pictures of Obama near the pyramids and the Sphinx. Those were cool. Obama definitely looks like the King of the World. He has a great look for it. Here's hoping he can make things better!

My Thoughts On The News

What? I'm not even watching the news.

I'm catching some headlines at the usual places on the information superhighway of course.

I see Gingrich is backtracking on calling Sotomayor "a racist." It turns out the general run of the mill Republicans, those who hope their party has an actual future, are getting sick of the flamethrowers. Gingrich and Limbaugh and, who's that other bozo -- I can't think of who he is -- oh, yeah, Cheney -- are out there puking up a storm, the bile out of their belly is rancid. And it's offensive to these mealy-mouthed Republicans who want their party to be a "big tent" and for them to "reach out" to voters.

Well I say, the voters didn't like the Republicans in the last election. Why should the Republicans like them back? I say "Dump on the voters." You know? Vent your spleen on them, against them. If they think Sotomayor is so bad, they need to rage against the machine and say so. And if it does them bad in the long run, suicide is painless, or something like that.

What's Cheney up to? I can't remember. Something about his daughter Liz maybe seeking office. God forbid. We need a constitutional amendment against any more Bushes or Cheneys. And just to make it easier to pass, throw in Gingrich, Limbaugh, Michael Steele, etc. The more names you add to the amendment the easier it'll be to pass. Norm Coleman, put him in there, that'll get a few more votes. Every cretin we can think of. Lindsay Graham. He's no good either.

The Blame For 9/11

OK, we now know who wasn't to blame for 9/11, Richard Clarke.

How do we know this? Because Dick Cheney says Richard Clarke was to blame for it. Since nothing true comes out of Cheney's lying mouth, that means Clarke is a saint.

Seriously, c'mon. Clarke spoke repeatedly against Bush and Cheney and their neglect of terrorism leading up to 9/11. If Cheney's going to throw anyone under the bus, who else is it going to be?

Can you believe how often Cheney is out there front and center these days? It's like a curse. The guy won't go away.

The Last Survivor

Millvina Dean, the last survivor of the Titanic sinking [famous ship that sank back in 1912 in a large body of water somewhere], died Sunday in London at the age of 97.

She was only nine weeks old when the famous ship, well-known from both legend and lore, went down. That's of course not old enough to remember much about the well-publicized incident.

With Millvina's death also goes the last hope of a personal joke I had in the '70s, which would involve me meeting a Titanic survivor, then speaking through an interpreter to say, slowly, "Tell her I have heard of the Titanic."

Since then there's been a raft of references to it (no pun intended) in encyclopedias, online sites, and movies.

My own prediction is a simple one, and I'm thinking prescient, that the Titanic's legend will only multiply as time lingers on.