New York Congressional Race

I haven't been paying close attention to the congressional race in New York this coming week. But suddenly I've noticed more and more about it, so now I'm tuned in.

I don't know who to root for. Naturally I favor the Democrat. And actually hope he wins.

The Republicans are having quite a time of it, with their official candidate "suspending" her campaign. And not "suspending" it as in a John McCain stunt, "suspending" it in that she quit.

A lot of the big wingnut wheels of the GOP didn't want her anyway. She was a moderate and all they want are people as crazy as themselves. Sarah Palin crazy, Rick Perry crazy, I mean crazy, secessionist crazy.

So they have a third party guy who was actually running as an independent but now he's got the official endorsement of the Republicans. It's weird.

I was reading a column by Frank Rich. And he buoyed my spirits. Because his take on it is even if the Republicans win, they still lose. Because it opens the way for these wingnut/teabaggers to be optimistic enough to nominate their own brand of loony candidates all over the country. Of course the rest of us won't vote for them. And they lose. Or they could lose by having the Democrat win, obviously.

I would like to see the Democrat win. Because I don't want anything to happen to make this wing of the GOP optimistic. Let them sink in quicksand, is my wish for them.

Worthless Lieberman To Stump For GOP

Can we kick this worthless turncoat out of the caucus yet?

"I probably will support some Republican candidates for Congress or Senate in the election in 2010. I'm going to call them as I see them."

The words of Sen. Joe Lieberman. Our VP candidate in 2000. And traitor.

Palin Vs. Johnston

You got to love the craziness that is Sarah Palin's life and family, now with her ex-almost son in law, Levi Johnston. He and the daughter weren't ever married, were they?

I can't believe this guy has the staying power he does. He's becoming a household name. If we only had Hollywood Squares back he'd have a career forever. (That show is off the air, right?)

He's been dishing the dirt on Crazy Sarah and her crazy family of moose killers. He even says he has worse dirt that he's not willing to say, because even he has limits.

That's intriguing. What else have these people been doing and saying that is bound to be a scandal. And to think we could've had her in the White House. Then we could be dysfunctional 24/7. Speaking of dysfunctional, what ever happened to the Balloon Boy? He not only fell out of the air, he seems to have fallen out of the news.

I love the latest one, that Sarah routinely called her baby "my retarded baby." That might not be the exact quote, but it's close. She probably said it in a playful way, like I say to my dog, "I'm gonna get you!" like I'm mad but I'm obviously playing. "How's my little retarded baby today? You little dickens!" So really it's kind of sweet when you look at it that way.

It's like giving it to him in a playful way, letting him know she's OK with the word, getting rid of its stigma. I don't remember the vote where we excluded it from conversation.

Anyway, I've said the word "crazy" a few times in this post. That's also one of those things that probably shouldn't be said. But it comes naturally to the tongue.

Palin, you're crazy. Levi, you're not much better. Now he's posing for Playgirl. I didn't even know there will still such thing as Playgirl magazine. That's three things I don't hear of much: Hollywood Squares, Balloon Boy, and Playgirl magazine.

Blend 54, Where Are You?

I was at the store in the express line, where they have the cigarettes, and I saw they have a new brand of Marlboro. It's called Marlboro Blend No. 54.

54? Did they focus group the number 54 with cowboys and find that's exactly the number that would seduce them into giving up their lungs? Man, I wouldn't smoke 48, 51, none of 'em. Just 54.

I'm picturing a cigarette scientist somewhere, emptying tobacco from one test tube to another until, Eureka! My 54th blend is the best. No reason for another!

Really, so they're still coming out with new brands of cigarettes? Haven't people basically wised up about cigarettes. They're a death trap.

Adam Lambert's Album Cover

There it is.

It's called "For Your Entertainment."

I guess it looks OK.

Harry's Doing The Right Thing

I hope.

I want the public option in the health care bill. And that's what Harry Reid says is going to happen on the Senate side.

Now, just to get it by the obstructionists among the Republicans and even among the Democrats. If they get in the way, kick 'em. And take names.

I read somewhere where it said "only" 16-18 million people would benefit by the public option. ONLY? That's a lot of people!

Terrorists Just Want To Have Fun

Here's a couple of insights from EverdayInsight on Twitter. They seem more interesting by their sequence.

The first is very benign, "People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing." This is why the terrorists rarely succeed. They're not having enough fun. Instead, they "harm their own cause no matter how valid their concerns might be."

A Major Ipod Incident Today

I had a major iPod incident today, and it was all my fault.

A couple days ago I was deleting files on my computer, trying to free up space and also do various things to make it work faster. I deleted the various iTunes files in the My Music folder, and it never occurred to me that would be a mistake. Since I keep my tracks on an external hard drive, my assumption was everything was kept track of there.

When I say it never occurred to me it would be a mistake, that's true. I never gave it a second thought till today when I opened iTunes and it didn't have a library of tracks. At first I thought there must be something wrong with iTunes, so I closed it and reopened it to the same thing. Then it suddenly came to my mind ... do you suppose those files I deleted were important?

Yes, they were.

At this point I didn't know what to do except start over. So I did just that. Erased everything. Fortunately I have the original tracks in a separate folder, so I reimported what I felt like having on the iPod now. It takes some time.

It looks like there would've been better ways to do it. Now that I've looked around at the other options. But I didn't notice those, so I stumbled around the best I could. In short, I lost everything except my original tracks. But now I'm back in the game. I have over 1,000 tracks restored on it.

The GOP's Dying Elephant

This stinking rotten elephant is down. Would someone please put it out of its misery? It'd make us all happier.

Frank Gaffney Is Endlessly Worthless

I haven't seen Frank Gaffney for quite a while. He of the endlessly hawkish, neocon views. He won't be happy till we're at war with everyone.

I see he was on Hardball tonight, with Ron Reagan also as a guest.

And here's what he had to say:

"Your father would be ashamed of you," Gaffney said.

"Oh Frank," Reagan replied, "you better watch your mouth about that, Frank."

Gaffney's not decent enough to leave Reagan's father out of it. Big deal. Who knows what the Gipper would think? It's disgusting to throw that in Ron's face. Just pretend for a while that Ron is a separate person from his father and has a right to think whatever it is he thinks.

Debate him on the merits of the thing, not trying to "shame" him by saying he would be some kind of disappointment to his dad. Sheesh.

I never had any use for Frank Gaffney ... all through those terrible Bush years.

Dare We Hope?

The word on the public option, aka Medicare Part E, sounded promising today, listening to Keith Olbermann and his guests. He and the congressman he had one were optimistic.

It's hard to follow all the excruciating details on this thing. Personally I don't see what the hold up is. But hey, of course we know some of our beloved Congressmen (and women) are in the pockets of the big interests.

Still, maybe enough public support, anywhere from 56% to 71%, ought to hold some sway. I'd love to hold these guys' feet to the fire somehow. But what can we do?

We're hoping things work out for the best. It's a drag having a government that is so tone deaf. But this is what we have to work with now. Hopefully someday we can throw some of the scoundrels out and get someone more responsive to the people.

Harry, Vaporize The Republicans NOW

There's an interesting story that Harry Reid plans to pull out all the stops, even to "vaporize" his Republican opponent in the Nevada Senate race.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is prepared to run a sharply negative campaign if that’s what it takes to win reelection next year, with a top adviser predicting that the Nevada Democrat will “vaporize” his Republican challengers with attack ads.

I like that kind of fighting spirit! Go for it!

But here's an idea. You're already in the Senate, leading the majority Democrats against the Republicans. How about vaporizing the Republicans now? Right where you are. It seems from the outside looking in like there's an awful lot of congeniality and playing footsie going on. Don't do it. If we have them against the ropes, knock them out. Don't wait for the election to do what you ought to be doing now!

Secret Service Overwhelmed By Threats Against Obama

The Secret Service is getting so many threats against President Obama's life that they need to cut back in their other duties.

Does anyone see a problem here? I think the solution is to put some of these nutcases on trial, get long prison terms for them, publicize it, and maybe it will make the other scoundrels think before they threaten the president's life.

What's the current penalty? An interview and forget it? Well, don't forget it. Prosecute diligently to the fullest extent of the law.

This is ridiculous and should be addressed with a strong arm.

Industrial Strength Men (And Women)

I was looking at one of the magazines at the fitness club.

(I'm a fitness freak. I show up about once every four days when I'm not being good. Heh, I'm not a fitness freak exactly. Just someone trying not to die too early, but it's a challenging thing to keep up.)

The mag: "Men's Fitness." It had two covers, if I was looking at it right, because the cover in the picture is actually an ad. Then the real cover is after it.

The saying "Release Your Inner Superman" could be the slogan for the whole magazine, the parts I looked at. Because the guys and gals pictured in it are definitely industrial strength. Lots of rippling muscles and manly stuff.

The women are very tough looking too. Not muscle builder tough but looking good -- in the industrial sense of the word. You might be afraid to touch one of them.

My fitness routine isn't going to get me there. But I guess I can live with that.

A Kindle

There's now a Kindle in the family, not mine.

I'm going to be testing it out with a book, though, in case I want to get one. Right now I'm not a big fan, for various reasons. One, it seems a little tough to navigate to various places in a book. But I haven't really had much of a chance to mess with it.

And looking at the books at Amazon that are available, it doesn't seem like an endless selection yet. It still looked pretty limited even at thousands.

But who knows? If I get some face- and hand-time with it, maybe I'll be captivated.

Also I want to see if there's some way of brightening it up. It seems a little too dull looking for my eyes. We shall see how it works out. So far ... not much experience.

Who's Karzai's Favorite Monkee?

Look at the first picture. Karzai with the almost-omnipresent hat. How does he keep it on? Look, it's a mile above his ears. It ought to slip off all the time.

You can see the after picture, that his head is as slick as Antarctica. What's keeping that hat on?

Beyond that, who is Karzai's favorite Monkee? It'd have to be Mike with the hat of course. I wonder what Mike thinks when he sees all those old pictures of him in a green hat. Why was I wearing a stocking hat?

The Boy In The Balloon

The boy in the balloon somehow beamed himself down, back to his house. They're investigating how he did it.

They saw him very clearly in the cockpit of the craft. They were watching, and next thing they knew he'd vanished.

Boehner Wants It Both Ways On The Stock Market

Back when the stock market was low, John Boehner said, "Certainly the stock market hasn't acted very well" since Obama's inauguration.

But now that it's finally closed over 10,000, he says, "At the end of the day, the American people aren't looking at the stock market in terms of putting food on the table. They want jobs, and they want them now."

Boehner might want to think back. President Obama's cleaning up the Republican party's mess. And doing a pretty good job of it. This old crap about not giving Obama credit for anything but giving him the blame for everything is so obviously false.

Why would anyone vote for these Republican liars?

They're With The Taliban Against America

Eugene Robinson has a great column about President Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize and the lunatic fringe Republican response.

We will recall that Rush Limbaugh pointblank said he was with the Taliban on this one, in renouncing the award. In a bygone era, say a year ago, that would have been a "Hanoi Jane" moment. Robinson's use of that phrase points out what everyone seems to have forgotten: You're with US or the terrorists.

Now there were some Republicans who publicly did the right thing. Like John McCain, who for all his lack of sense a year ago, seems to know now it's better to be gracious than not.

I wanted to get in this great paragraph from Eugene Robinson:

Let the rejectionists fulminate and sputter until they wear their vocal cords out. Politically, they're only bashing themselves. As Republican leaders -- except RNC Chairman Michael Steele -- are beginning to realize, "I'm With the Taliban Against America" is not likely to be a winning slogan.

That's funny. You would think these idiots -- Michael Steele, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck -- would think before they open their yaps.

Health Insurers Promise To Gouge Us More

This is seriously an industry in need of some vast, sweeping reform. This is an industry that needs to be put on trial, actually, and some folks ought to be doing some serious time. The health insurance racket is criminal.

People are dying for the crass decisions they make on a daily basis. And the rest of us are simply going broke. Getting less, paying more.

Now they say they'll have no choice but to gouge us even more(!) -- their own claim -- if we do have health care reform. LOL. If anyone's crying out for a serious spanking, this is an industry that is!

I want our government to somehow extract themselves from the pockets of these worms, then to serve the people who voted for them. We need aid. We are beset upon by dangerous enemies, domestic enemies, who are every bit as dangerous as terrorists. That's true.

More people are dying at the hands of the health insurance industry than terrorists kill.

Too bad we couldn't stop them THERE before they came HERE. They're FROM here. And we need to stop them now.

Nancy & Lee

I got this as a download at Amazon the other day. It's one of the 50 albums at $5 for the month.

I've listened to it several times. It's cool.

I'm old enough to remember hearing the big songs on the radio, so I'm not coming to it fresh. But this is the first time I've ever heard the album with everything in context.

For the most part, the big songs, "Jackson" and I believe "Summer Wine," are very much like the other songs. Which is good.

The first song, "You've Lost That Loving Feeling," if you don't know what's coming on, Lee sounds like a frog. But once you get over that, his craggy old voice is very pretty (to me anyway).

Nancy has always been represented in my album collection by her "Boots" album, which I've always liked, except we laugh at a song like "Run For Your Life."

But back to this album. Nancy and Lee's vocals are effortless -- no one's being especially stretched. Still, that's OK. I like the laid back vibe of it. The little bits of banter are cute, like Bing and Rosie.

The silliest song is "Greenwich Village Folk Song Salesman." The first time through didn't appeal to me but I like it OK now. I do remember something about an "Economic Opportunity Program" in the Johnson years... Can't think what they called it exactly. Nancy says she can't even pronounce that!

Most of the songs have a serious tone to them. These are very nice, including "Summer Wine," "Sundown Sundown," and my favorite, "Storybook Children." I could listen to these over and over.

"Jackson" was a big hit and ought to be familiar to everyone who was alive at the time.

"Some Velvet Morning" is also familiar, so it must have been on the radio. It's more of a free ranging, strange poetry, psychedelic song. I'm not sure what Phaedra means. Something to do with goddesses and flowers, I guess. It's Lee's experience in the song, how she gave him life and how she made it end. It's easily the most far out song (and very nice).

"Sand" reminds me of a western song with a Mideastern twist. Maybe his name is Sand because he blows in from somewhere on the western plains or Arabian desert. I said "Some Velvet Morning" was psychedelic, but it's "Sand" that has the strange backwards played instrumental break. Nancy uses "thee" and "thy" language in regards to Sand.

With the song "Lady Bird" I'm expecting something about Mrs. Johnson, but there aren't any references that have to do with her. So that's a relief. It's just a guy who has a "Lady Bird" in his woman, who's always flying high. Maybe Twittering.

The last song is "I've Been Down So Long (It Looks Like Up To Me)." Just a down on my luck song, applied to Lee. Another song on the funny side.

I didn't mention "Elusive Dreams." That's a serious song about a couple who roam from place to place in pursuit of their elusive dreams. Their child died in Alaska (that's the way I take it), so that's sad.

Nothing Happened Today

President Obama didn't win any major awards. I believe he thoroughly deserved the Nobel Peace Prize, but it's OK to go a day without anything big.

We're again at peace with the moon. Although I thought it was suspicious that I didn't see it in the sky last night. I didn't freak out, because I assume if we blew it apart it would've been on the headlines.

And Marge Simpson limited herself to Playboy, although she is said to be in talks with Larry Flynt for more.

John Lennon's Birthday

I think today is John Lennon's birthday. I'm not looking it up to be sure. But I'm pretty sure it is.

So happy birthday, John Lennon! I also believe he was born in 1940. Going out on a limb on that one.

The Taliban, Hamas, And Republicans

Who's against President Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize?

The Republican party, the Taliban, and Hamas.

Birds of a feather.

Who's against America? The same bunch.

So Is It Going To Happen?

Yesterday I saw somewhere, someone said that health care reform was essentially "fait accompli," which looks like "fat accomplice" misspelled.

So I take it it's a done deal. And now we're all excited that there could be an opt-out option for the states who don't want better health care for their residents. I can see some of the benefits of this option, because those states might see their residents fleeing for other states and decide that health care is important.

Would I want to live in a state that would just as soon I died? Not really. I like that whole concept of society appreciating my existence enough to let me live. But if the Republicans had their way, of course we'd all be worked to death to enrich them, then hustled off to some death farm ... our bodies used to feed hogs or something. LOL. The Republicans are probably so evil they're going, How'd that guy find out about the farms?

In other news, I saw a weird story that Justice officials refused to take an oath before testifying before Congress ... so whatever hearing it was didn't happen. It said something about the Obama administration not wanting them to swear to tell the truth. I don't know. It just struck me as very weird. Is there some black handbook they give you when you're president, of secrets that must not be divulged? A box with cloaks and daggers that you have to guard?

It strikes me as very weird that as soon as Obama became president that we couldn't investigate Bush, couldn't get rid of some of the terrible practices of Bush, etc.

So there must be something they show you when you become president, and you step back and say, Oh, my God, and decide you can't govern in an open and transparent way.

I still like Obama quite a lot. I just wonder what happens between Election Day and the day after the Inauguration!

Record Club Ads -- The Monkees

I always loved looking at record club ads in magazines when I was a kid. I never had any money to join them, but it was great to dream.

Now, thanks to the wonderful world of Google, we can see the ads again ... some of them anyway. They have full copies of old Life magazines there, which is quite a deal. The picture is from a two page ad for the RCA Victor Record Club, Dec. 22, 1967. Since I loved the Monkees (still do), I see they had three albums. I don't know why they didn't have the Pisces album on there, but it looks like the ad is clipped at the right hand side a little much. Maybe it was at the margin.

Of course I put the little Monkees covers at the top for this illustration, since they were scattered across the ad.

It's cute on Headquarters they highlight "Band 6," as though that's a great track to promo! And I wonder why, for the little cover they put a blue background.

Helping Or Hurting Obama

I was with some guys today. They must get all their news from Fox. They're very anti-Obama.

One "heard" that there's some definitive proof about to be given that President Obama wasn't born in the United States and therefore can't be president. Another thought, Oh yes, he'll be president ... because there's so nefarious power out there that will make it happen.

Then the first guy said he thinks it's looking more and more like Obama is the Antichrist. Something about his eyes!

And of course he's subverting religion, Obama did something different than other presidents in regards to the National Day of Prayer. Religion is going to be eliminated or outlawed, etc.

This is all very disgusting to me, and it's sad to hear it.

But then on the other hand, I have to think this isn't hurting President Obama all that much. The more marginal these crazy criticisms become, the more it appears that his opposition is unhinged from reality. And who are all the "normal" people out there who are going to be that influenced by this insanity?

Anyone who believes this garbage about the president isn't going to vote for him anyway. The good news is those folks, the conspiracy theory crowd, seem to be marginalizing themselves by all the nonsense. And they couldn't win in 2008 with these tactics.

So how would that be for irony? Those who think they're hurting Obama might be the very ones helping him the most.

They're Rushing Obama

The line today (Hardball, Saturday Night Live) is that President Obama isn't accomplishing anything, because we're still in Iraq, Afghanistan, Gitmo; health care reform isn't done; etc.

Just a few weeks ago he was being accused of doing too much, now too little. I don't think these people have his interests at heart. Since no one can be pleased.

As to Iraq, he promised to get out in something like 19 months or 20-some months, not overnight. Afghanistan, that's obviously going to go on for a while. Gitmo, they said it couldn't be closed in under a year, and it hasn't been ... who knows, it might take a little while.

As for the health care reform, I agree. Get the $%#@#$ done! I am furious that the president isn't in Congress knocking some heads, twisting some arms, and making some threats. Like you get this done or else! I don't remember any first year rebellion (or any other time) by the Republicans against George W. Bush. He's surely got the power to cut some of these Democratic cretins off at the knees. Break their kneecaps or something.

On some of this big stuff, the various morasses that Bush got us into, give the guy some time.

Gov. Rick Perry Executed Innocent Man

Here's a story! Corrupt Texas Governor Rick Perry (Republican) is covering up the facts in a case where he had an innocent man executed.

It seems his actions are all politically motivated.

This guy is corrupt. He's up for reelection.

A Helpful Fill In The Blank

I was looking up a record by Slim Willet and eBay asked me if I meant "Slim Wallet."

That's cute. Do I want a Willet or a Wallet? I would will a Wallet if you'd fill it and it wasn't so slim. But as it stands, I'll take a Willet.

When America Loses, Republicans Are Happy

Here's a good article on this subject.

In short, the Republicans hate President Obama so much, that when America was passed over for hosting the 2016 Olympics, they cheered. Because in some way it's his fault (or whatever), like there were no other factors.

So, if America loses at something, they're happy. Except they then (weirdly) pretend like they're rubbing it in with Obama for not succeeding. Which is weird because that's exactly what they wanted. LOL.

Oh, for the old days, when the Republicans tried to convince us they were the true patriots. Of course we all knew better ... but they insisted on it. Now we see how patriotic they are ... not.

An Economy Devastated By Birthdays

I love the news of new planets being discovered all the time. Maybe it's time for me to get a real estate license, with all the new territory about to be opened up.

Most of the ones being discovered are Jupiter sized and probably lifeless. But they're expecting to find some Earth-sized ones out there as well.

There actually is one that's about the same size, but it's too close to its sun (meaning it's extremely, hellishly hot). Up there the number one industry is sunscreen -- and the average SPF is 40,000. You layer it on six inches thick before you take the dog out.

One interesting detail is it rotates its sun all the time -- whoosh, there it went again! -- meaning lots more years are passing.

Here's a laugh line from a very good article about the new planets:

The expolanet's "year" is thus shorter than our day - meaning that even if there is an asbestos-based civilization their economy is utterly devastated by birthdays.

That's the way to say it! Imagine having a birthday every few hours. You're just born and you're older than Methuselah (well-known old guy, look it up).

Reid: Support Public Option or You're Out

This is a good headline at TPM: "Progressives To Reid: Support Public Option Or You're Out."

It's quoting some unspecified progressive group, whose thought is, If we can't depend on Harry Reid to work for Democratic goals, what's the use of having him in office? And that's a great question.

Of course having Democrats in office is good over the long run ... for such things as the Supreme Court, etc.

But when it's time to play ball, you need to play ball. And if we can have a 60 member majority in the Senate, a Democratic House, and a Democratic president, and still not get anything done, then you're time has come.

Harry Reid has been a huge disappointment.