Spreading the Christmas Cheer....Selectively

Well, I'm here in my apartment, comfy-cozy and well-fed, having enjoyed the blessings of middle-class life in America.    I'm one of the fortunate in this country who have, so far, made it - at least as far as our culture is concerned.

What of those that aren't so fortunate, where the economy has thrown them under the proverbial busses, trains, and any other moving techological "thing"?   How do we treat them?

This article answers part of that question.   Many cities are now banning feeding the homeless, with threats of fines and imprisonment for those that dare to follow Jesus' example.   What if He were around today?   If He tried his five-loaves-and-two-fish feat in Las Vegas, He would be jailed.

There are no excuses, morally or otherwise, for our nation's collective selfishness.   I suspect, however, that you'll get the following reasons from those that defend these laws:

>>In the case of Las Vegas, their entire economy is based on tourism, which is heavily influenced on civic image and reputation.   Pictures of homeless people standing next to the MGM Grand Hotel's entrance on the news, and stories of said homelessness being brought back home by the tourists, are probably what the city's forefathers are trying to avoid.   Image is everything to them and the casinos - so sweep out the "trash" with the iron hand.

>>I used to live in Santa Cruz, and stories were abundant of nearby cities and towns that would ship their transients by bus to the compassionate confines of Surf City.   Reasons given for this "transient transfer" included those city's lack of resources (or willingness to find said resources) for contending with the problem.

>>In the case of New York City, one of the reasons given for the ban was that the food given to the homeless didn't meet nutritional standards.   (I'll pause for a minute to wait for the laughs to subside.)
Nutritional standards - such as the ability to sustain life?  The real reason is the same as what I attribute to the fine city of Las Vegas - Bloomberg is trying to improve the city's image by using the Iron Hand to sweep out the "trash". 

Here in America.   In this fine Christian country - where we do such a good job at tuning out His message. 

Now do they get it?

You'd think they would have learned by now.  

Bain Capital.   Offshoring of jobs overseas.   Cash hidden in island hideaways.   

But I guess, as they say, love can be blind.

This article in Forbes describes how the MittWitt stiffed his campaign workers by canceling the campaign credit cards in the middle of the night, leaving them with the hotel bills and the tickets back home. 

Some might say that this was a case of the taste of bitter defeat on the part of the MittWitt and his inner circle.    Even keeping the cards active just long enough to pay for their rooms for the night, and a ticket back home, would have been a minimally gracious move.   But that's not his M.O.  I say that this is classic, textbook MittWitt - ruthless efficiency at the expense of those who busted their asses for you.    No change in stripes here.   

As for the campaign workers,  I guess that the only thing they can do now is chalk it up to Tuition at the School of Hard Knocks. 

As The Dust Settles...

Some impressions regarding the 2012 campaign, if for no other reason than to finally celebrate the fact that it's freaking over...

>> It's actually quite simple why the MittWitt lost.   Remember that rogue's gallery of suits and sayings that passed for the Republican primary field?  Let's face it, the money people were always behind the Mitthead, but when it took as long as it did for him to finally secure the nomination against the likes of Bachmann, Cain (9-9-9), the Gingrich, and Rick Perry, it should be a clue that you have a problem.  As for his grand Gaffapalooza tour of the UK during the London Olympiad, not to mention his liking of trees to be just the right height, well, that proves one thing that should have stood out like a sore thumb signalling for a ride on the side of the road:

The MittWitt Is A Twit.   

>>President Obama may have some additional capital to spend when he is re-inaugurated, but again, that all depends if the House sandbox will be populated by grownups.    I wouldn't bet the house...

>>As much as I dislike Governor Chris Christie, I must give him props for working with President Obama instead of against him, in light of Superstorm Sandy.   This episode, with the accompanying pictures of what the MSM called their "bromance", probably helped Obama secure tonight's win.   They may have also helped Christie in 2016 - let's not kid ourselves, he's going to run.

>>They say that broken clocks are right twice per day.    That can be described about Ann Coulter's prediction that if the aforementioned Chris Christie isn't the Repub's nominee, that Mitt will be, and that Mitt will lose.    Quite the sage, aren't we Ann?

>>There will likely be cuts coming with the expected Grand Bargain.  But, I'm not expecting anything like what Paul Ryan was proposing in his Path To Austerity. ("Prosperity", my ass.)

>>So much for Mitch McConnell's determination to make Obama a one-term President.   So much for thinking of the American people as idiots.   Well, lesson learned, perhaps?   When you talk down to the American people and treat them like idiots...this is what you get. 

More later.  

Quibbles and Bits, Big Yuks and Mashups Edition

Two morsels - easy on the gravy:

>> I've been getting my internet kicks lately on musical mashups - videos of which are aplenty on Youtube.    In my view, probably the best on the scene today is the Australian gentleman behind Wax Audio.  He has three albums worth of musical combinations which at first, seem destined to collide into the crash-boom-bang of parody.   But Mr. Wax Audio gets his creations to work to a T:  imagine James Hetfield singing Enter Sandman to the background of Bryan Adams' Run To You?   Or Billy Idol's band playing Rebel Yell while George Michael laments about the Careless Whispers of a good friend?  Or The Bee Gees advocating to those who Pink Floyd deems not to "need no education" to keep Staying Alive?   They're all there, and for free, no less.   They have to be free of charge, otherwise he would obviously running afoul of every copyright law on the globe, and Lars Ulrich would be mightily pissed off (if he isn't already, considering what Mr. Wax Audio did in mashing "Master of Puppets" to the Herbie Hancock classic, "Doin' It").   BTW, "Master of Doin' It" transcends the mashup into the area of honest-to-goodness funk JAM.    Get Funky With Herbie, James, Lars, Robert, and Kirk?   Works for me - and the one-hundred-thousand people who have viewed the Youtube video.    Check it out - you'll be glad you did.  

>>Yours Truly checked out the Stephanie Miller Sexy Liberal Show at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood last weekend.    In short, it's worth the price of admission, and I highly recommend it.   But a few observations:
     > While all three comedians were funny in their own ways, John Fugelsang, the first up, absolutely owned both the theatre and its patrons that night.   He was lights out;
     >Hal Sparks seemed to start off rather sedate, but came on toward the end of his routine with his imitations of his former neighbors in Kentucky.   He also scored with a bit about what might happen if a scientist succeeds in bringing back dinosaurs with chicken DNA - if a DVD is made, these two bits alone are worth the purchase price;
     >Stephanie Miller was, surprisingly, perhaps the most low-key of the group.    She was funny, but to be perfectly honest, not the belly-laugh-shirt-button-popping type of comedy displayed by the other two.  She did get out into the crowd on a couple of occasions, however;
     >The Mooks were in tow!   Chris Lavoie and Jim Ward, with Current TV's Jackie Schechner, supplied the opening act entertainment, and did not disappoint.   Jim Ward was, as usual, spot-on with his voice imitations of Sen. Mitch McConnell and Rep. Eric Cantor, making me wish he would go back to doing just a little bit more of this on the morning radio show.  
   >Kudos to the vocal group do-woping outside the Pantages before the show.   Note-perfect harmonies and pitch - all without the aid of Auto-tune.    What a concept.
    >The panel guests this evening were Rob Reiner and Lily Tomlin.    Rob Reiner had some good commentary, and Lily provided a couple of belly-laugh-inducing moments.    My only wish was that Lily be allowed to speak more often, she was often stepped over by the others.  

Two more shows are upcoming - August in Columbus, OH, and late September in Seattle, WA.    I'm debating about whether to go to the Seattle show, I'll play that decision by ear.      

Southern Discomfort

That the Civil War ended in 1865 is a "factoid" taught in virtually every grade/high school history class since not long after that dark period.   The end of the Confederacy, the Emancipation Proclamation, the Mason-Dixon line, and on and on, are accessories to that central piece of information.  

But how "factual" is it really? 

EVOLVE! (It's not just for fish on car bumpers.)

For those of you following things at Collapsenet.com and related web sites, you already know that Mike Ruppert has left his post as chief of the Collapsenet.com organization.   My first instinct was to say, "Say it Ain't So!".    I subscribed to the site in large part because of his feedback on current events - often pointed, sometimes quite funny, always fact-based.    But there's a lesson in that urge to say "Say It Ain't So!".    Keep reading….

Quibbles and Bits, Money is the Root of All (?) Edition

I return with this appetizer...

>> The Wisconsin Recall - I'm not surprised in the slightest.   Even when I heard about the 1 million signatures submitted, I knew that the more time that passed between those submissions and the election date, the more time Scott Walker had to spin his web of lies, made golden now with the millions in Koch Brothers, and like minded denizens, scratch to ensure he stays put.    It worked - Wisconsin is stuck with him now until at least 2014.    Moral of this story - ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES.

You better believe that the model Mr. Walker established will be exported elsewhere.    Labor unions of any kind are seen as distortions of the labor marketplace, and thus, must be removed - if you think like those who believe that Milton Friedman was the second coming of Jesus.   Fundamentalists of the Friedman and Hayek type are running things in the US now, and now that this is behind us, look out for more austerity packages developed by the successor to ALEC (see my comment below on this lovely bunch of fascists), and sold by political snake-oil peddlers like Scott Walker, Rick Snyder, Mitch Daniels, and the rest of 'em.    

>>Why do we need unions?   Because of people like Scott Walker.    Because of people like Mitch Daniels, Rick Snyder, and their ilk.   Because of people like Michelle Rhee (Waiting for Superman, eh?  Keep looking, Mrs. Johnson).   Because of the Don Blankenships, the Chainsaw Dunlops, and the Republican Party as a whole.     The fact that there were a substantial number of Wisconsin voters who voted for Walker puzzles me to no end - do they honestly think that he'll leave them alone?    To those people, and to all union members who get tempted to vote for a Republican:

The. Republican. Party. Does. Not. Give. A. DAMN. About. You.   

Repeat the above phrase as long as necessary, so that it become an automatic response the next time you walk into a ballot box.   

>>As for ALEC - at this writing, 19 businesses have left this sordid bunch.    I'm not jumping for joy - these companies have too much at stake, and in order to "protect their investment" in government, they will either turn to another, more secretive legislative clearing-house, or they will simply create a new one.  

More later - but remember my stolen-from-Ronniebaby mantra:

CORPORATE AMERICA DOES NOT HAVE THE SOLUTIONS TO OUR PROBLEMS. 

CORPORATE AMERICA IS THE PROBLEM.
  

Before I was so rudely interrupted...

...Four months since my last post.    I know, I know, neglect is a form of abuse.  

But I had some good reasons:

>>Starting school in my pursuit of my long-delayed Bachelor's (and this time, I don't intend to blow it);
>>My job spreading into the hours of my week like the Blob;
>>The gentleman I'm about to tell you about now.

He was born in Minnesota, July 21, 1939, the youngest of four siblings.   He grew up with that famous Mid-Western work ethic - you want something, you work for it.   Period.  End of Sentence.    Before he moved to California in the late 1950s, he worked with his father's water well-drilling business - any lessons about hard work were well-learned by this age.    He served in the Navy, was married in 1960 at Santa Monica, CA, was stationed at Moffett Field in the South Bay Area, and eventually settled with his wife and newly-adopted son in San Jose.   The house he and his wife purchased in 1969 is still in the family, 43 years later.    He worked for the Post Office for over thirty years, often working six-day weeks at 10+ hours per day.    (Ask any letter carrier what that kind of work entails - your moving, sorting, walking with heavy loads, driving, you name it.)    Even after his retirement in the late 1990s, he still kept moving,  doing handyman projects around the house (and the house his wife inherited from her family in Arizona), periodically visiting their Arizona house and his family in Minnesota.    He was always physically active, lifting weights and taking walks regularly.    

Quibbles and Bits, Goats Head's SOPA edition

Back again, with a recipe profound or putrid, depending on your slant:

>>First, a brief departure from the substantiative world of current events, and a brief foray into the world of football.    I watched a good part of the AFC Title game, including the now-infamous Cundiff Shank (not to be confused with lamb shank, this beef is of a different species.  Looked like goat, smelled like goat, tasted like...).    I didn't see my hometown Niners, and their otherwise Renaissance season come to an end in the Candlestick Swamp.  I didn't see Kyle Williams' two fumbles, and it was for the best that I didn't .   I have a few of observations:

>>>>There is absolutely no reason to be sending death threats to these players, and I hope those that are sending them are prosecuted.   

>>>>The very fact that these people are so villified right now, speaks to how our society has its priorities screwed up.  Or, perhaps it's our perception:   maybe things aren't going so badly if we're projecting our vitriol at two football players and not toward Wall Street and Washington.  

>>>>What happened to Cundiff and Williams on Sunday, is the risk that football's skill position players take, and are fully aware of, when they ply their trade on the gridiron.     Some of our greatest players have had moments like these two recent examples:  for the Niners, look at Roger Craig in the '90 NFC title game (ironically, against the Giants), and Jerry Rice (in the 1986 playoffs, again against the Giants at the Meadowlands).    Some are tarred forever for their miscues:  Preston Riley in 1972, Scott Norwood in 1990, etc.   It's a risk you take, and as I said above, these men do not need death threats and vitriol spewed in their direction, especially if you lost money because of what is perceived to be their mistake.

>>>>TEAMS win and lose games.   In the case of Norwood in 1990, the Giants set a record for time of possession in that game, and early on, the Bills receivers had trouble holding on to the ball.    The better team won that Super Bowl.    In the case of Williams - the Niners had trouble converting on third down all game, and Alex Smith didn't complete 50% of his passes.   Eli Manning threw for over 300 yards.   The better team won, pure and simple.   

>>Enough of football - and on to the issue of the Government's attempts to control the Internet.   

I'm happy that SOPA and PIPA have been beaten back - but they need to be defeated once and for all.    I find it rather depressing that it's the Democrats that are supporting these turds wrapped in legal jargon, and that those who are leading the fight against it, are the Repubs.    Even Darrell Issa is looking good on this issue - good on him, I say.    But if you think those bills are bad, check this out.

>>Last point, re: Indiana's Mitch Daniels and his reponse to the State of The Union, and his attempts to ram through Right To Work legislation in his home state prior to the Super Bowl in two weeks:

Sir, you are an idiot.