Sunday, July 31, 2011

Funny story from the movies today

So today Eddie and I went and saw Friends With Benefits.  Now the theater was full - like capacity full, and it is a cute movie and all.
.
But at this one point, they decide to have sex with no complications or feelings.  So they are free to say what they thought about each other when they first met.  Justin says she had beautiful eyes, Mila says he had a great smile, and they go on.  So they say things back and forth for a while.
.
Then Justin says, "You have a great smile."
Mila says, "You already said that."
Justin says, "Well.. it's the truth."
.
And in the theater 3 different girls from 3 different area, at the same time audibly went "ahhh..."
.
And the entire theater burst out laughing.

Pilobolus Dance @ The Joyce

Last night we went to see Pilobolus Dance Group.  It is famous and great and all - but also odd.  My friend Clay first told me about them in college.  He saw a fairly new and very very different group.  Back then no one was doing their kind of stuff.  They were 5 years into it and blew people away.
.
Well last night was part of their 40th season.  They are established and still amazing.  They did 6 pieces, 2 brand new, 2 kind of new, and 2 from the 70's.
The once below was just goofy and I am afraid I was a bit alone in liking it.

Friday, July 29, 2011

It is so creepy outside

It got dark, then light at 7:22 and now crazy.  Ed says Tornado weather.
.
Scooters do NOT like weather.

Out of the Blue on the Daily Beast


PETSNo One Will Adopt Hitler CatMatthew Power / SWNS.com


Maybe they'll have better luck if they stopped calling it "Kitler." The staff at a British animal shelter say no one will adopt a six-week-old kitten because of a black mark under its nose resembling Hitler's mustache. They've named the kitten, which was abandoned at the roadside, "Kitler." ''We 'rehome' five-and-a- half thousand animals every year but we cannot find a loving owner for Kitler," said a spokeswoman for the shelter. "We think her unusual markings are putting people off."
Read it at Telegraph
July 29, 2011 7:17 AM

Things that make you go hum....

So, the economy is crap shape with new information out today...
.
And, the debt negotiations are stalled (as of my writing) throwing Wall Street into a tail spin...
.
And, the networks are playing off this hostage situation as if there really are 2 sides to the discussion  - for the first time ever.
.
So how serious is Wall Street Today..
.
Smurfily Serious!

My First Year at USC (and Clay's at UCLA)

The Philosophy Building, with a great courtyard. 
So back in my first year of college I went to USC and my best friend Clay went to UCLA.  Now this was back when the world was young and fresh - and I wasn't the bitter old Trojan Hater I am now.
.
No, back when the world was young, birds sang in the trees (and coughed from smog - but didn't die from Global Climate change), Betty Ford was the first lady and a young USC student Levar Burton had just been cast in Roots - back when I was a Freshman in the fall of 1976- life was just opening up.
.
I think of this as my nephew attends Minnesota this fall and how wonderful and horrible and scary and better in hindsight Freshman year was.
.
Back before the colors Cardinal and Gold meant red & yellow, I journeyed around a beautiful - if not entirely safe - campus and got heady with the freedom of college.  Clay would visit me at USC and I would visit him at UCLA and all seemed right with the world.
.
Sure, change came later.  I gave up my Navy Scholarship to USC, fooled around with a young man (now twice divorced and living as a born again somewhere in the antebellum South - yes, I blame myself).  Anyway, before all that happened in the year of 76/77.  Back when years were still measured September to June and I had a different Social Security Number (I had to change it after my father stole my identity - really, when I request my transcript from USC I haveto remember a completely different SSN!).
School of Urban Planning under the globe, where I learned creative
writing, game theory and shared Valium with a teachers who had a bad day.
Anyway, back then USC was my school and I loved it.  I share some of it now, since you probably won't travel to Coliseum, and pay exorbitant fees to park on campus where it is safe, since the Grand old stadium - home of 2 Olympics, the Dodgers, the Rams, the Raiders, John F Kennedy and Pope John Paul II - the good one!, stands nearly empty.  Except for that damn horse and the song-that-will-not-end.
.
Anyway, it once held my heart.
Okay - I may look back and smile - but I can't stand this guy - even in retrospect.
And does anyone remember back in the Fall of 1976, when you would go into classrooms and on the board would be scrawled, "I found It.".  My creative writing teacher (actually she was my English 101 teacher, but she loved my writing and said I would get an A if I just wrote stories) came into class one day and a student asked what the saying meant.
.
I remember she bummed a cigarette from one student and a Valium from me (on Thursday as I was in my Navy Whites, I used to carry extra Valium for the stress) and addressed this girl, as if she was slow.  "It! Marion.  It!  With a Capital I!  Like God for the pronoun challenged!"
.
I think Marion was a ringer as the board never said "I found It" again.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Let me say this about that

So...
.
Don't wear your headset into the bathroom while you are on a conference call.
.
That is just nasty.  If you have to go, excuse yourself for a moment.
.
IF you must wear your headset into the bathroom on the conference call, make sure it is on mute.
.
If you must wear your headset into the bathroom on a conference call, and it doesn't have a mute, don't tap me on the shoulder as I am peeing and ask me to pee quietly and not flush.
.
It's an automatic flusher.
.
Idiot.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Are You KIDDING Me!

So this is Brett Hundley - hot shot Quarterback and UCLA's prime recruit this year.  Now, as a true freshman no one really expected him to start and bring UCLA back to the forefront year 1.
.
No one was expected him to be this year's Cade McNown.  We hoped, sure.  We finally hoped for better than crap in the expanded Pac-Whatever, sure.  But no one really believed it.
.
That we would admit.
.
Well, that dream is escrewed now.  Brett Hundley is having surgery and will be out of practice 3 - 4 weeks (which means 3 - 4 months because for some reasons things SUCK with our team).  And how did the great new hope get injured.
.
Pick
Up
Basketball
Game
.
I blame Ben Howland.

My Niece Faith Dancing at Nationals

My niece Faith danced at a big competition in Virginia Beach.  She is amazing.


This is SO Last month's news

The Daily Beast has a big todo today on "half buzzed" stars.  Like it is breaking news. (passe story)
.
Well, head's up.  I think I blogged about this already.  When we were in Iceland in May it was all the rage with the cool kids.
.
Poor The Daily Beast.  Always a couple steps behind the cool curve.
.
Although better than TMZ - who thought Patterson's do was for a movie and it was wrong as a movie do.

I find It Interesting ...

It is very interesting that when I exceed by 512 MB quota in my file share - I get a warning message delivered to my mailbox in big block letters.
.
However, after I clean up my 512 MB of space so i have gone below 100% of my quota - that message is automatically delivered to my Junk Mail folder via the company's mail filters.
.
I also find this message odd, "You have gone below 100% of your 512MB quota for SCOTT.MITCHELL$." Doesn't that seem like I have a quote of crap that I must store out, and somehow I have disappointed the file share gods.
.
I see twee little file share fairies looking into file drawers at night, shaking their wee heads and sighing, "Ohhh that Scott.  He just can't keep his crap quota full.".
.
Okay maybe drunken file share fairies, moonlighting from their tooth gigs.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Does Anyone Besides Me Freaking LOVE Wilfred

Sometimes, as with Wilfred, I try to share my love of the off-beat and interesting on television and I am greeted with blank stares, if not outright hostility.
.
Is it just me, or is anyone else laughing their ass off to this?

Bohner's Boners and Lie

In his rant on Television yesterday John Bohner Speak of the House of Representatives said that "Obama wants a blank check".
.
This is a lie.
.
The President doesn't allocate funds.  As Bohner's pals in the Tea Party FORCED everyone to read the Constitution at the opening of the session, perhaps they should remember that ONLY the House of Representatives can begin the authorization of funds (Section 7 "All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives;").
.
So the President just wants the United States Treasurer to pay the bills Congress racked up.  And, I hardly need add, the Republicans were in charge of the House of Representatives from 1994 - 2006 and from 2010 on.  They authorized willy-fucking-nilly and to claim that "Obama wants a blank check" is absurd and stupid.  But, since John Bonher spoke about it with Rush Limbaugh before his own caucus, he knows it is a good sound bite.
.
They could pass the debt ceiling, get out of this problem and never authorize 1 more thing.  that is, of course, if they were interested in fixing things not pinning blame - which leads us to....
.
His 2-step "plan".
.
First - his 2 step plan isn't about solving anything.  Look at the fucking title "To Hold President Obama Accountable".  Not solving crap.  Not helping anyone but Republicans get elected.
.
Second.  His 2 Step plan has 5 steps.  They can't even control talking points from double digit inflation - how can they control the debt.
.

My posture is always better the days after Yoga

I really like that.

Inane Title MsNBC

I love the title of this post (that is sarcasm - I find this disgusting) "

Calif. 'Dream Act' approved for illegal students

 "
.
See  the problem here is
.
a) The Students are not "ILLEGAL".  As a matter of fact, they legal students ever since the FEDERAL SUPREME COURT stated that states have to provide education to all minors in the district without regards to their immigration status.
.
b) The Students, who had to complete at least 3 years in high school in the state before college, were brought here as minors.  The act of entering and staying here illegally is the act of their parents.  We don't hold them guilty of illegal immigration any more than we held me guilty of selling pot when my dad was thrown in jail.  We have, like real laws, to prevent the guilt of the parent from passing on to the children.
.
So, here you have a major distributor of information condemning children for the acts of their parents.  And doing so to a national audience. And not just children who have chosen to be in the spotlight, but children who have lived most, if not their whole life here and who are getting PRIVATE scholarships to attend school.
.
Dipshits.

.

Monday, July 25, 2011

(from Robert Reich)

We now live in parallel universes.
One universe is the one in which most Americans live. In it, almost 15 million people are unemployed, wages are declining (adjusted for inflation), and home values are still falling. The unsurprising result is consumers aren’t buying — which is causing employers to slow down their hiring and in many cases lay off more of their workers. In this universe, we’re locked in a vicious economic cycle that’s getting worse. 
The other universe is the one in which Washington politicians live. They are now engaged in a bitter partisan battle over how, and by how much, to reduce the federal budget deficit in order to buy enough votes to lift the debt ceiling. 
The two universes have nothing whatever to do with one another — except for one thing. If consumers can’t and won’t buy, and employers won’t hire without customers, the spender of last resort must be government. We’ve understood this since government spending on World War II catapulted America out of the Great Depression — reversing the most vicious of vicious cycles. We’ve understood it in every economic downturn since then. 
Until now. 
(he continues - well thought out.  I shall let him rail against all for a while, as I wonder when we lost our way.)

Hot Week-end

Man oh Manoshevits, it was hot this week-end.  It was like wet blanket out of the microwave hot.
.
In some ways it was like walking out of the movies in Palm Springs, except that your sweat did evaporate.  So you just got hotter and sticker and more disgusting.
.
I don't like it.  Apparently we have 2 days of okay weather, then back to it.
.
Yuck.

8 times Under Bush, 7 times Under Regan - No Games - Now...

What astounds me is that Barack Obama has let the Republicans turn this into a game.  They (INCLUDING BOHNER!!!) voted 8 time without a peep to raise the debt limit under Bush 2.  The Republicans voted to raise it every single time under Bush 1 AND Ronald Reagan.  But now, it's a game.
.
Hell Dick Cheney said "deficits don't matter" - not a fucking word from the Republicans. NOT A WORD.
.
But now... Now it's Obama's fault.
.
(Why not under Clinton? - because Clinton had a surplus, bitches!)
.
But Barak wanted to compromise...  To appear the adult..  Instead he is going to boxed into approving something he said he wouldn't (short term deal -or approval for the faith and credit of the Untied States based only on our ability to deny benefits to those most needing them during a recession).
.
I blame the President for playing with the the assholes in Congress that won't even vote to close loopholes on Private Jets and taxes exceptions for Oil Companies when they make record profits.  You can't expect them to be adults, and I can't expect the President to have a backbone.
.
It's disgusting all the way around.
.
If there was an adult anywhere, I would get behind them, but Reagan is dead and Clinton can't run again.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

New York's Bravest and New York's Cutest

Fireman are New York's Bravest, but Trevor is totally New York's cutest after his new cut.

These gentlemen were saving buildings and lives out in the heat yesterday.

Friday, July 22, 2011

A Strange and Separate People

So last night some friends and I went to see "A Strange & Separate People" right down the block.  It was at the smallest of the Theatre Row theaters down the block.  I think that the theaters there, often without amplification, are cool to see a show in.
.
It was about an Orthodox Jewish love triangle - but that is way to simplistic.  It was written a little to literally in places (why interact when you can just tell the audience what to feel) - but it was skillfully done. I had a good time.  I loved the performances, particularly the wife who ran a home, a kosher catering service and dealt with an extremely autistic child (never seen - but heard).  She did a great job in hitting all kinds of emotion notes, often conflicting in the course of a paragraph.
.
Okay, one thing, the lead convert was suppose to be dramatically handsome or at least very handsome.  And he wasn't at all my type.  A little too Side-Show Bob, he could have done with a haircut and it would have all been believable   It isn't fair, but if the show refers to how handsome someone is and it comes from different people, confirm to traditional standards of looks - or cut the lines.  And his handsomeness must be part of his allure, because he is a prat.

Sad

Norway?  You're going to attack Norway?
.
That, my friends, is the definition of senseless.
.
Norway provides more Governmental foreign aid per capita than almost anyone.  It is open to refugees.  It supports public health around the world and has set up the world seed bank out of a sense of public good.  Norway's homogeneous natives have embraced a multi-ethnic society, with opportunities for all.
.
Of course, crazies never make sense.  But it is horrible to see this kind of damage that was from a choice of some sicko.

As Kabuki theater heads towards the last act

When did politics become cheap theater?
.
We have all become too accustomed to movies and TV's exploitation of "darkest before the dawn" to get worked up about the deficit ceiling.
.
- We know that even though Darth has Luke Skywalker in his cross-hairs, Han Solo will blow him out of the rift at the last possible second.
- Even though Sherlock is dangling on the Bridge, held on only by his foot, which the evil torturer steps on S L O W L Y, he will be able to swing the chain up and drop the bad guy.
- We know that, EVEN THOUGH Dr. Evil finally has the damn piranha -with lazers!, Austin will escape.
.
And so, even though Granny's check hangs in the balance, and we might lose our AAA rating - everyone expects James freaking Bond any minute.
.
Especially me.
.
Then our Kabuki government will take their bows and move on to the next piece of horrible theater.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Is it wrong I want to see this?

Train Wreck!  I want to see it.
.

Tea Party Movie:  Courage - New Hampshire!
Despite the heavenly perfection of the free market, Hollywood, mysteriously, refuses to provide family-friendly entertainment that is, shall we say, correct, politically. While it may seem like the entertainment industry is devoted to profit above all else, and is therefore engaged in giving the people what they want, the truth is those show business freaks are shoving their liberal values down America's throat, as evidenced by "Glee" and Lady Gaga's appearance on "American Idol."
Thankfully the Tea Party has decided to produce its own entertainment,just like it produced its own history. If the grand liberal conspiracy theory of Hollywood is correct, underserved Real Americans will flock to Tea Party entertainment options in droves, forcing every film and television studio to produce appropriately conservative fare or go out of business entirely.
The first big offering from "Colony Bay Productions," the Tea Party-affiliated studio, is a TV show called "Courage, New Hampshire." It has not yet been picked up by any network, so the studio just released it on DVD and is selling it on its website.
"Courage, New Hampshire," disappointingly, is not the story of a grizzled Manchester homicide detective named "Danny Courage." It is, instead, a soapy period costume drama about the fictional town of Courage in the days before the American Revolution. The first episode, "The Travail of Sarah Pine," is the story of a colonial "grizzly momma" named Sarah Pine. Pine is a slow-witted, slightly deranged young woman who is convinced that a caddish British soldier who knocked her up a year ago will return to marry her. When the soldier, Sgt. Bob Weedle, returns to Courage for some other reason, a year later, he is arrested by the town's principled, honorable justice of the peace, Silas Rhodes, played by some guy. (Not sure why they couldn't get Jon Voight -- he would've been perfect.) (Oh, wait, this guy is the co-founder of Colony Bay Productions.)
As proof of the producers' commitment to historical accuracy, the British are all evil and speak with British accents, while the colonists are mostly good and speak with (wildly varying) American accents. (Well, one of them sort of has an Irish accent.)
So, Weedle is apparently under arrest for "fornication," though, oddly for colonial days, no one seems to have punished Pine for bearing a bastard child.
Then there is a great scene where Weedle chops the same piece of wood over and over again, seemingly without successfully splitting it, while having an odd conversation with Sarah Pine.
Pine: "You know what the Word says about men in your station."
Weedle: "I confess, I do not know."
Pine: "Protectors of the innocent, bearing the sword against evil. Rewarding those who do good, who love God."
Pine: "I'm a KINGSMAN, Sarah! I eat the king's bread, I do the king's bidding. I always have, and I always will!"
Pine, to her baby: "That's why God made your poppa so strong, little lamb. To put his arms around us."
So, she's not all there, as you can see.
Someone named "Simian Trout" (I think?) shows up to act as Weedle's lawyer, and he is great. Trout is played by longtime minor character actor Basil Hoffman, who is acting all over this show. Trout was sent by the governor, who does not want to upset the king, on account of how many soldiers there are in Boston, but Rhodes insists on trying Weedle, because of justice. ("One law for England, and another for us? Is that what it is, Simian? Not while I'm justice!")
Most of the rest of the episode is a gripping courtroom drama.
(clip in Salon)

Then he cruelly cross-examines her by accusing her of lying to her aunt and fornicating with a guy, and everyone gets so mad, even though this is basically the exact tale she told before, when the prosecutor questioned her. (As you can see in the clip above, Rhodes is not happy with this line of questioning.)
Trout calls some drunk person, for comic relief. Is he the best part of the movie? You be the judge!
(Another Clip in Salon)
But Pine's attorney has a surprise witness! Some redcoat from Weedle's regiment! The redcoat confirms that Weedle not only impregnated Pine, but he also -- unlikely as it may seem -- said he totally loved her and wanted to marry her.
Why did he decide to give this testimony? "Because I know what it is ... to be called a bastard." Shocking twist!
(Also I thought his regiment was days away in Boston or something, because Weedle kept claiming that they would show up and burn the whole town down and shoot everyone if the didn't let him go? Unfortunately, this never happened. No one fires a single musket.)
But then they declare Weedle innocent, because there was no such thing as DNA testing back then. But Weedle shocks everyone by abandoning the king's army and deciding to raise his child with Sarah Pine. He moves out west, to steal land from the Indians.
Then the Boston Massacre happens (off-screen, in Boston). And Rhodes and his redcoat friend decide not to send the militia after Weedle and his wife until after breakfast. The end. A tour de force! All I could think at the end was, that was amazing, but why was none of it about taxes?
I can't wait for the next episode! What's in the hatch? Liberty? Is Liberty in the hatch?
"If you thought the portrayal of John Adams as a chubby, bald, Italian indie actor was proof that the liberals who run Hollywood hate our Founders, you'll love the guy who wrote and stars in 'Courage, New Hampshire.'" -- Me.

And now, from the files of "Duh: Investigations of Obvious Man!" - scene 27

Really. This is a headline.
.
Ummm.  I never would have though.  Let's think....
.

- Global Climate change drowns Bangladesh and pushes seawater into the water table of a vastly overpopulated country (population 162,000,000 - size, a little smaller than Iowa).
.
- So far 5 + island nations are threatened and only 1 has immigrant status (New Zealand has opened up to Tuvalu).
.
- Droughts have ruined crops in Russia, China and the American Southwest, pushing up th eprice of food causes riots in Africa, the Caribbean and Asia.
.
- Food costs were a primary driver in the "Arab Spring" revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt
.
- Both Mid-East Countries (oil rich) and China (export rich) are buying acreage in Africa and South East Asia to grow food for their populations, while denying it to the farmers working the fields
.
- Freshwater access is pulling NAFTA apart over access
.
And this is off the top of my pointy little head.  So I gotta say, little fucking late for this "warning".

They are SO cute here...

I hear people today warning each other, "Oh today the air quality is suppose to be horrible."  "OH, don't go outside between Noon and 3:00!."  "Suppose to be horrible air quality today."
.
.
First, if you call it "air quality", it's not a problem.  When it has a name like smog, it's a problem.
.
Second, if you can see the sun, you're fine.
.
Take it from someone who lived through 100+ days of stage 1 alerts year in the 1970's - and happy to have them.
.
Never trust air you can't see.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Google +


It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye

SCARYGreat White Shark Leaps into BoatRyan Pierse / Getty Images

10. Great White Shark Leaps into Boat

Researchers trying to attract great white sharks in South Africa got more than they bargained for when a three-meter shark leaped onto their boat. The shark then thrashed its way further onto the deck, cutting the fuel lines and damaging equipment until it became trapped between containers and the stern. A crewmember kept the shark alive by pouring water on its gills; they attempted to remove the shark by tying a rope from a second boat to its tail, but they were unable to dislodge it. So they towed the boat back to port, removed the shark with a crane, and returned it to the water. Just a little while later, however, the shark beached. Ropes were tied to it again and it was towed back out to sea, before being released.
Read it at The Guardian
July 20, 2011 6:54 AM

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Fire Island

So we had a blast on Fire Island.  It was a lot of fun -but definitely tiring for poor OLD Trevor.  Everyone played with him around the pool.  He walked to and from the little village a lot.  The is built for speed not endurance.  But the end of the 3 days we had to carry him a lot of places.
.
Including today, I had to carry him half way to Pets At Play.
.
But we had a lot of fun.  Here are 3 pics.  One is of Ed bar-b-queing.  My Eddie LOVES to bar-b-que.  That is the one thing he really misses from LA.
.



Sunday, July 17, 2011

Sunset at the pier

 So, this was taken from inside the "Tea" on the Fire Island Pier.  For those of you not familiar with the terminology - or only the British terminology, "Tea" is usually paired with "Dance" as in "Tea Dance", meaning one that begins at a reasonable hour for grown-ups - in the afternoon.  As opposed to other "Dances", which seem to start sometime after 1 AM so as to provide proof you are now old enough to stay up late.  Whoop dee doh.
.
Anyways, with the modifier "Dance", "Tea" refers to drinks in the afternoon - best done where boy ogling is possible and outside.  Fire Island, with it's procession of men coming back from the beach is perfect.
.
In Rio, by the by, this is done every day without the need for the notation "Tea" :-).
.
PS - The young man in this picture was / is not the focus.  It was hard to get a picture of the sunset without someone strolling through it.  I mean my mother reads this for goodness sake!

Friday, July 15, 2011

Sunset. Nice

House in Fire Island

I fall for it every time

I know in my mind that Google does a search on words in my mail.
.
I know this, so why..
.
Why or why do I click on "the Scooter Store" every time it shows up.  I am clearly looking for "Scooter" T-shirts with my pic on them, but no, every single time it is this old man...
.

Random Thoughts

So last night I went an saw Sleep No More again.  It was better the first time.  The excitement, the thrill, and newnesss of it is missing upon repeat viewing - and you are left with the a mainly silent display of angst and agony. It played more as a show the second time and a silent Macbeth in a 1930s set of mansions and hotels is.. well not a complete story cycle.
.
However Simon brought a friend, Rowan, and he was fun.  He is from Modesto and a very young, very smart, extremely quick witted and rather pleased with himself.  I enjoyed our banter before the show; it is rare I get to play verbal gymnastics with someone from back home - figuratively (and, Modesto or not, his background and outlook were similar enough to mine to make the wordplay tremendously fun and reminded me of my misspent youth).
.
Today Eddie, Simon, Graham and Graham's friend all head out to Fire Island before me.  They shall set up house, get snacks and soda (maybe some liquor) and I shall head out after work with Trevor.  Trev will hate the journey - but love the destination, so that will be good fun.
.
See and not a word about our politics which has evolved from Kabuki to Chekhov with only the most passing nod at farcical tragedy along its way.  Where it all shall end is anyone's guess - but the audience is walking out in droves (perhaps they have seen The Seagull).

Thursday, July 14, 2011

But I Don't Want to Do It....

Droopy Daug has decided that being a Senator is too damn hard!  So he is working to fix the deficit this way.  They are going to vote to let Obama do it, BUT then every time he does, Congress has to approve it.  But Obama can veto that.
.
And it can only do it a little at a time - so there  must be 3 times when he raises the deficit and Republicans get to vote against it in a meaningless pageant of idiocy.
.
So, Obama is the big bad guy that raises the deficit.  And Republicans get to vote against it each time, but it is Obama's fault.   See. SEE. HE is a bad guy.  We tried to stop him... whaaa
.
This allows the adults to act like adults, while the Republicans get to act like spoiled brats and yell names from across the room.  And run for election as the party of sanity.  REALLY!!!!
.
 I am sure that is how FOX will play it.  But then again FOX's parent corporation hacks into cell phones of murdered children, deletes messages so that they can get more stories.  It kind of all makes sense.  FOX will see each debt ceiling raise as an attack of OBAMA THE EVIL.
.
This whole screw with our credit now is fun for the dopes....
.
Even though we raised the stupid debt ceiling 10 times under George Bush without the Republican histrionics.  Wail.. Nash.. Unfunded.. Socialist... Kenya.... Muslim Name.... On my Aunt Nancy...


How Long Do Catholics Put Up With This?

Seriously.  How is this okay?  Forget about the Vatican and Cardinal Dolan's outrageous statements that my committed monogamous relationship is the problem.  How long does a tax-exempt institution get to cover up raping small children with no consequences.  You know what, if I knew of a gay man who was raping a child, I would report him and beat him up.
.
You know why it ended in 2009 - IT DIDN'T.  But it was happening when they did the findings - that is as long as they have data.  It is a 2010 report!  There is no indication that they have stopped.
...
DUBLIN — The Roman Catholic Church in Ireland was covering up the sexual abuse of children by priests as recently as 2009, long after it issued guidelines meant to protect children, and the Vatican tacitly encouraged the cover-up by ignoring the guidelines, according to a scathing report issued Wednesday by the Irish government.
.
Alan Shatter, the Irish justice minister, called the findings “truly scandalous,” adding that the church’s earlier promises to report all abuse cases since 1995 to civil authorities were “built on sand.” Abuse victims called the report more evidence that the church sought to protect priests rather than children.
.
(the Report itself)

Wow Macbeth is confusing

So I am going to see Sleep No More Again.  Why?  Well, I liked it and I think there is more to see.  PS - the picture is how you see it.  You wear these masks and watch like ghostly stalkers.
.
So this time, I wanted to understand more of Macbeth.  So I went to Wikipedia and read the overview (and yes Miss Hunt, teacher, I know I can't use Wikipedia as a quoted source).  Anywho....
.
Macbeth is very confusing.  His wife's a nag that convinces him to kill people, then whines about it and then is killed / kills herself offstage?  The witches speak in  riddles that he ignores?  Although I did finally get why there is a forest upstairs in the "hotel".
.
Banquo is an accomplice and an enemy?  Macduff has no relation to the loverly quote "lead on.."  And Macguffin isn't even in this shows (that is a little Hitchcock joke for those of you keeping track at home).  A Prince is named "Fleance" (which I hope is NOT pronounced flea-ants) and a "Thane" is a real title and not just something from the Lord of the Rings.
.
Perhaps it wasn't jusy the drink that was confusing last time.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

If Republicans have the Senate, House and Presidency, Newt, how will it get better?

Newt (the person, not the amphibian) said today (paraphrasing) that if the Republicans shut down the government, it will prove they are serious about the deficit and lead to a Republican Senate, House and Presidency and then they can really fix things.
.
One has to wonder where one can get the same drugs Newt has - because I would like some.
.
Last time the Republicans had the Senate, the House and the Presidency they turned a budget surplus (SUR-FUCKING-PLUS) into the largest deficits ever - and still ran the economy into a ditch.  Is this fixing things?  A new Medicare Drug program, 2 unfunded wars and tax cuts to make positive the pooch was good and screwed?
.
Dimwit's comments... "The Washington media will tell you we made a huge mistake closing the federal government in 1995 and 1996," he said. "I will tell you as one of the people who did it – baloney."
He said Republicans in Congress during his time showed the American people they were serious enough about balancing the budget they were willing to let the government close.
"I would say to the Republicans in Washington today that you have to have the courage to stand for what you believe in. You have to trust that the American people are smarter than the elite media thinks they are and the political consultants think they are. You have to be able to go nose-to-nose with the president to win the argument."
"When you do, the country will award you with a dozen more seats in the Senate and 30 or 40 more House seats and a Republican president and we will have this country back on the road to prosperity," Gingrich said.

Pain in my Ass Food Police!

So, I have been pretty damn healthy every day at work.  I go to the salad bar and only the salad bar.  I have been having so much fucking salad, I might as well be eating dirt.  You know what I have for "desert" - granola!
.
Well the food police have now invaded TR's Salad bar.
.
NOW we have colored tongs, green for feel free to use, yellow for use carefully and red for use sparingly (or DANGER DANGER!!!)
.
I like raw broccoli, a couple cherry tomatoes and 3 half artichoke hearts on my salad.  All 3 got "yellow" tongs.  What. The. Hell.  Raw Broccoli is a "use carefully".  Way to just screw up my lunch.  And they replaced the spoon in the Kideny beans with green tongs.  Use all you want.  But now the damn beans are smushed because you can't pick up kidney beans (or black or garbanzo) with freaking TONGS you dumb shits.
.
I still have a spoon for my tuna so they haven't giving me the DANGER DANGER tongs yet like they have on the grilled chicken (GRILLED CHICKEN is "use sparingly!").
.
I blame Michelle Bachman for this.

Unknown crashing...

I am emotionally crashing today and I don't know why.
.
That's never good.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Salon provides a handy Kabuki Translation Guide

Salon provides a handy translation guide for the Kabuki Theater going on in Washington.
.

Call me crazy, but if we set aside the question of whether or not we agreewith the massive concessions offered by President Obama to get a debt ceiling deal, it seems clear to me that he has made a real proposal: Big cuts in return for smaller tax increases. The Republican response, however, has been a little more difficult to interpret, because, on the surface, it just seems utterly disconnected from reality.
So here's a little translation guide to help readers get some clarity.
What they say:
"They'd have to cut an enormous amount, including they would have to defund Obamacare," she said on Fox News in response to a question about the circumstances under which she'd vote to raise the debt ceiling. "Because that's the largest entitlement in the history of the country."
What she means:
My solution to bringing down the budget deficit is to get rid of the only part of the social safety net that is (a) paid for and (b) projected by the Congressional Budget Office to actually reduce the deficit.
What they say:
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, explaining why there will beno "real solution" to the debt problem.
"After years of discussions and months of negotiations, I have little question that as long as this president is in the Oval Office a real solution is probably unattainable," Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor.
What he means:
As long as the president of the United States -- a Democratic politician who has already agreed in principle to bigger cuts in Medicare and Social Security than any previous Democratic occupant of the White House -- as long as he continues to refuse to unilaterally give in to every single one of our demands, we will continue our policy, established on the very first day of his presidency, of opposing with all our force everything he does.
What they say:
"Where's the President's plan?" asked House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) at a press stakeout after a GOP caucus meeting. "When's he going to lay his cards on the table? This debt limit increase is his problem."
OK -- this one is kind of hard. The president offered a plan last week and, at least as far as outraged members of his own party are concerned, laid his cards on the table. And since it is House Republicans who are refusing to raise the debt ceiling, thus putting at risk the credit of the United States, you would think that maybe, just maybe, Boehner bears some responsibility for the current mess.
But here's my best shot.
What he means:
I would love to cut a "grand bargain" deal that would make a real stab at deficit reduction and prove that I am a real statesman. However, (a) such a deal would also be good for the president, which is bad for Republicans; (b) I have no actual power to make any deals because my caucus refuses to compromise on anything; and (c) House Majority Leader Eric Cantor is standing behind me with a knife ready to stab into my back. Therefore, my only option is to blame the president for my failures.
Hmm. Guess what -- rhetoric that looks insane on the surface, turns out to be equally insane when you dig down. This does not bode well for the future. We've got three weeks to go before the debt ceiling deadline, and if the last 24 hours are any indication, we'll all be gibbering madmen long before time runs out.