Marvin, I Love You

This kid did a pretty good job, considering he wasn't around when the song originally came out.


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Guano Loco

Orly Taitz.  Watching her on the The Daily Show made me suspect she didn't have both oars in the water and now I'm pretty sure she's missing the plastic thingy that holds a six pack together.

Jon Gosselin.  I don't watch TLC (or any reality shows) so I haven't been following the trials and tribulations of Kate Plus Eight except what pops up in the entertainment section of GReader.  What I do know is that no matter how difficult Kate may be, Jon is nothing but a whiny crybaby.  He does not have his kid's best interests at heart and seems to think that his wife owes him a living while he cavorts with babysitters and publicity whores.  He has spoken on national television about how he doesn't love (the actual word was despise) his wife and that he loves his newest bed mate more than he ever loved his wife.  Taking $230,000 dollars from the joint bank account and leaving his children without a source of income while he cavorts unencumbered by responsibility shows a narcissistic personality disorder and severely impaired judgment.

McDonald's next to the Louvre.  That should wipe the smile right off of the Mona Lisa.

Overcriminalization.  A six month federal investigation and two years in the federal pen for growing orchids without the proper paperwork.  What's next?  Two years for not putting the proper sticker on a UPS package? Oh wait, that was in the story too.

Anyone who thinks that the insurance companies are in the business to provide affordable health care.

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Sunday Morning Musings

What's the point of going then?  If you eliminate all the extras to save money on a cruise it will be pretty boring after a day or two and on my two cruises the classes were free and the gym wasn't.  The best part was that I lost weight even though I ate like a pig (one night all I had was 6 orders of escargot and a salad) and drank like a fish (by the third night the sommelier would be at my table as soon as I sat down) I never took the elevators and spent quite a few hours walking around the ship. The whole idea of a cruise is to relax and indulge yourself, not look longingly at what everyone else is enjoying.

If you're counting pennies, skip the casino, spa, specialty restaurants that charge extra, the gift shop, art auction, fitness classes, lattes in the cafe and cocktails at the bar.

It only makes sense that more strokes occur in areas of high fast food density.  Supermarkets with fresh fruit and vegetables are becoming harder to find in urban areas but fast food can be just a block away.  Thank you city planners.  When your only options are the joint on the corner or traveling several miles by bus to find a grocery store, most people will opt for closer to home.  An entree salad is not going to be the first choice for most young men since it costs as much as most value meals and will do little to assuage their hunger.  That being said, do people really eat fast food 17 times a month?  I don't do 17 times a year, the food is tasteless, packed with sodium, fat and sugar, and the french fries don't taste like they used to.

And Oklahoma City is of course not alone in its insatiable appetite for fatty burgers, salty fries and sugary soft drinks. Nationwide, on average, fast-food patrons have upped their monthly visits from 14 in 1999 to 17 last year.

And I am not giving one dime of my money to a corporation that denies worker compensation benefits to an employee by claiming that good Samaritan acts are not within the scope of employee responsibilities.  You would think that after having one of their outlets shot to pieces and 21 people killed they would be a little more compassionate towards an employee who was trying to prevent harm to a customer or a repeat of said incident.

Littering is a $1000 fine if you get caught in the state of California.  Too bad space doesn't have the same rules.  We have littered on the moon but the belt around the globe is becoming more hazardous as more satellites become just so much junk.  It should be a rule that for every satellite you send up, two defunct satellites must be destroyed safely.

The new debris adds to the growing amount of junk accumulating in orbit. Thus far the annoying objects have not had a major impact on human or robotic missions into space, but there are grave concerns for the future. At some cluttered altitudes, collisions are producing debris faster than gravity can eliminate it. If the trend is not reversed, one can imagine a time when it could be too risky or too expensive to fly spacecraft through the debris fields.

Uncle Pat is off his rocker again.  It's amazing to me that one can indulge in a racist rant and not suffer consequences in this day and age.  Poor schooling, few role models, trigger happy policing and no opportunities ensure that certain groups will have a difficult time getting ahead and blaming them for society's ills is foolish and shortsighted.  As one commenter pointed out Pat fixates on individual crimes while missing the crimes that impact thousands of people.

Should have come back at him with white crime: bankers and CEOs who commit fraud, cause millions of job losses which leaves hundreds of thousands with no health insurance; then some of the laid-off have a cancer diagnosed a year later than it would have been and they die when they would have survived had it been found sooner. Those deaths are a direct result of fraud committed by wealthy white people. Or you lose your job and have to put off brake work your car needs, then you have an accident and someone dies. These deaths all result from crimes committed by wealthy white people. Or your 401k vanishes, and you can't eat as well as you need to and you just die at 80 instead of the 82 you could have lived to had you been able to afford the diet you needed. The problem is, Buchanan and his ilk have a mind-set that "sees" crime in a particular way, they "see" murder as cause by a particular set of actions and NOT by other actions. This allows them to be blind to their own racism; they can't understand that the mind-set they have adopted allows them to "see" the responsibility one group of people have for the results of their actions but not see the responsibility a different group has for the outcomes of their actions. This is what it means to be racist. And I speak as a white man.

So the Governator is willing to accept stimulus money that other states don't want.  Good, let him take Louisiana's portion, California can use it.  One of the unpublished stories is that Arnie cut the In Home Support Services salary to $9.50 an hour from $12.35, a loss to me of over $165 every month.  I now don't earn enough to pay the rent, much less feed us for a month and there isn't a cheaper place to live in San Jose.  Then you add the effect of the sales tax and life has become that much more expensive.  I doubt the increase in state income tax will affect me since I'm obviously below the poverty level.  Way to go Arnie!  I wonder how much rent is in Las Vegas since it is one of America's emptiest cities.  Hmm, I actually found places within the budget. Wow, just about any place outside of California is much, much cheaper than here. Now if I just had the money to move.

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Pictures Worth A 1000 Words

How cute!  Mother Nature strikes again.  Which is why you otter see this picture.  And all this time you thought it was monkey see, monkey do.  Not that using a monkey as an example is the best way to get your point across.  Fortunately the picture isn't a cartoon.

Reader Rick sent me photos from the Australian bush fire, here are three of them from Amy (last name on request only).

Victoria in flames.

Burnt to a crisp.


An innocent life saved.


Heartbroken and homeless.

 

Honestly, what kind of person would do this?  How can anybody live with themselves after knowing that they deliberately caused this type of destruction?

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Religion, Threats, Stupidity And Sadness

I am not disputing that there is a a God or higher authority.  I hope and pray there is, because if we are the top of the food chain we are in a world of trouble.  What gets my knickers in a knot are people that think that the brains we were given (or developed) are to immediately switch off whenever there is a crisis and that God will handle it for us.  Jeepers creepers.  How arrogant do you have to be to believe that a being could create the universe and then spend their time listening for your piddling little problems.  Those problems might seem world changing to you, but not to the big guy, he's off building other universes.  Hopefully filled with beings that use all of the attributes given us to make our lives better.   God didn't mention guns or cars in the Bible but somehow people still manage to justify using them.  Medicine is the same way.  We were given brains to think our way out of problems, not pray that someone really busy would solve them.   Sort of like taste buds, more than for just oatmeal.

The Taliban are wasting no time trying to order the new President around.  I guess you can do than in a country that has never been successfully invaded.  We were so unsuccessful in Afghanistan that now the Taliban is forcing Pakistani bus drivers to remove music and entertainment devices from public buses or be blown up.  When the 1700 year old Buddhist statues were blown up, the world should have gotten a clue then, but no, the Taliban are no less religious fanatics than the Puritans were.  The only difference is that there isn't another world these fanatics can be sent to explore and get them out of our hair.

No shit!  This is a pet peeve of mine and one of the reasons I don't practice anymore.   Acupuncture is sort of like real estate.  Location, location, location.  But most important of all is an accurate diagnosis.  If migraines are caused by blood deficiency (pale lips, skin, conjunctiva, dull hair and nails, scanty or irregular periods) they are best treated by a combination of nutrition, herbs and acupuncture.  If they are caused by too much yang (always angry or frustrated, road rage, very heavy periods with clotting), you can stick the needle anywhere and there is going to be some type of relief because you have essentially let some of the steam out of the system.  If the migraines are aggravated before the period begins then it really helps if you regulate the menstrual cycle and work on the person's unhappiness factors.  If they hate their lives and won't admit it, then you can expect a recurrence at the first missed treatment.  It also helps if you know whether the migraine is liver, gallbladder or heart related but that is too technical and time consuming to sort people correctly for the studies.  Therefore, for most migraines and headaches acupuncture will work no matter where you stick the needle.  If you want to improve the quality of the person's life, you have to do a little more work.  Acupuncture is the least (Nutrition, herbs, exercise, environment, moxa, cupping, etc) of what is known as Chinese Medicine. Very few western experiments are ever going to prove its efficacy so quit treating it like it is the be all and end all of Chinese Medicine because the studies aren't designed correctly which makes the whole system suspect. Like arthroscopic surgery for arthritis of the knee.

Hanging by a thread, and a frozen one at that.


I would like to think that it wasn't going to let go in my lifetime, but something tells me it's history as of the summer.

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After, After

Did the Wall Street Journal just call Gore smart?  It's amazing how when you don't like someone new you can wax poetical about someone you disliked many years ago.

Mr. Obama's troops palpitate with excitement at the prospect of $1 trillion in "stimulus," though any net benefit to the economy likely will be incidental. Al Gore has thrown out the window any unpopular carbon taxes in favor of direct subsidies to his green energy investments. He sees the moment for what it is -- alarm about global warming has degenerated into a pretext. Billions will be diverted from useful purposes to create "green jobs" that deliver no meaningful impact on climate or the accumulation of atmospheric carbon.

And Malkin said that Bush allowed the subprime crisis to fester on national Fox TV?  The world is definitely changing if these two examples are any example.  See what happens when you stop drinking the Kool-Aid?  If only it had been sooner.   Like eight years ago.  Unfortunately,  it's more likely they changed the flavor for the new guy.

Coincidence?  I think not.  Sales are up to 75% off and 75% of the American populace are glad to see Bush go.  And not a moment too soon.   Too bad it isn't off to jail for crimes against humanity, but there's always some sort of hope.  Even the futile

I have always loved Eartha Kitt.  From the first time I saw her playing Catwoman on Batman to hearing her sing "Santa Baby", she was always a favorite of mine.  I even used to have part of "Santa Baby" as my outgoing answering machine message durin the holidays, at least until Madonna screwed it up.  Eartha you had a long life, if not a particularly happy one, but I will miss you and your talent.  If I could sing I would say you were my inspiration.  Rest in peace and thank you for all the happy memories.

Pull a prank, get sent to jail.  That's where kids now get to learn the really good stuff like how to steal cars, break into homes and how to set up a successful street drug operation.   Just as every crime is not the same, neither is every criminal.  And now states that didn't want the rich to suffer by paying a few taxes that they wouldn't even notice, we will all suffer the results of kids learning to be hard core criminals instead of learning how to compete in the global market.  As if there was nothing wrong with the economy that a little jail time couldn't fix.  But those criminals are too busy spending their bailouts on things that will do nothing to improve the economy of the have nots and much more to insulate themselves as the have mores.

Gee, I hope it isn't the same group that determined the air was safe in New York after 9/11.  Just because all the fish are dead is no reason to worry.

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Excuse Me For Asking

But shouldn't the citizens be the ones getting the "loans" instead of the automakers, bankers and mortgage companies?  Isn't the crisis because people can't pay their bills and therefore they can't buy the cars or make the house payments?  Or could it be that the automakers didn't make products that consumers needed?

Meanwhile the babbling Bush keeps making promises to help out the guys who didn't plan for anything except themselves making a profit off of the average consumer.  Bush says he's working hard on economic turmoil.  Well, he's succeeded.  It almost cracks me up how short-sighted people have been for the last twenty eight years.  Nobody is propping me up except for a few people with big hearts.   If you offshore jobs to countries outside of the United States, eventually there won't be enough people with jobs inside the United States to be able to pay their bills.  So, they relaxed the credit rules and the economy was humming along nicely for a little while.  Now, just like falling off a building, the sudden stop at the end is a real killer.

If there is no such thing as a safe tan, how come people didn't have skin cancers throughout the ages?  If they weren't hunting for food, they were planting it.  People used to be outside from sun up to sundown.  Yes they died of cancer, but rarely was it a skin cancer.  Usually it was something that people couldn't see that killed them, like TB, stomach, colon or liver cancer.  You don't suppose that we've done something to the environment that caused the explosion of cancer in our lifetimes, do you?

Good grief!  I thought our representatives in Congress were lapdogs, but they have nothing on California's legislature.  This idea that taxes aren't needed for the public good is foolish.  For those of us who grew up here in the sixties and seventies and had one of the best school systems in the country to now not want to pay taxes so that today's children have the same opportunities as their parents, isn't foolish, it's stupid.  We have had wildfires burning out of control because there was neither the manpower, money or equipment to fight them quickly and at the same time reduced services to those who need it just so millionaires don't have to pay their fair share for enjoying all the benefits this state had to offer.  No wonder the cities are dividing into the rich and poor sides of town.  And this time it is without the railroad tracks showing the demarcation line.

On a personal note, thank you to those who donated to help my mom and myself.  Every dime is greatly appreciated.  Mom is aware that we are in trouble and it seems to have accelerated some aspects of her dementia along with making her even more stubborn.  If we become homeless we lose all of the programs that are helping to keep her out of a convalescent home where they send you to die and she loses any illusion of autonomy.  I would like to keep her away from that option as long as possible.  In other words, until she no longer recognizes me or the dogs, or dies at home as peacefully as possible.

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Sisyphus And I Are Related

My landlord could care less that the state hasn't paid me for taking care of my mother.  He wants me out so he can rent to someone who has a steady paycheck.   That used to be me.  And thanks to the state budget impasse, there is no where to take my mom while I search for another job.  Did I mention that the other day I came home and the house was full of gas because she didn't turn the stove off completely?  Caught her just before she lit a cigarette.  Or that she fell down a few weeks ago and can still barely walk? 

I hope the the California Governor and Republican representatives spend whatever afterlife there is in hell.  Pushing a rock uphill until it rolls back down and flattens them.  Time and time again.  I'm so glad I was in such a hurry to grow up and be responsible.  I'd run for office but as Kevin Costner put it so eloquently, I've lived a colorful life.  I believe that makes me ineligible since I'm not squeaky clean enough for the hypocritical voters.  To say nothing of the press.

Has anybody else noticed that the FDA lies?  Like the proverbial rug.  They don't care how many people die and they certainly don't care if it's induced by pharmaceutical companies or bad food.  Accountability, it's only for the people who weren't born with a silver spoon in their mouth.

Nothing else matters.

Oh well, gotta run.  I just might be able to get food stamps.  For myself.  Isn't that special?  I've been boxed into a corner and there is no guarantee that I'll even have a place to cook the food if I qualify.  I'm really tired of fighting the same battles over and over again.  Getting my Masters was supposed to prevent that.  Instead all it did was saddle me with debt I'm never going to be able to repay.  Life is so wonderful.   I should have quit when I was sixteen.  At least the fridge was always full and the rent was always paid.

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Education, Energy, Healthcare And Honoring The Troops

I admit it, I'm confused.  What exactly did she do wrong?  This isn't the Bible belt and mentioning a German study that finds a link between maternal stress and homosexuality falls into the category of proper discussion in a Biology class.  Doesn't it?

The controversy centers on an incident in June 2007, when Sheldon was asked by a student in a human heredity class about heredity's impact on "homosexual behavior in males and females." Among other references, Sheldon noted a German study demonstrating some link between maternal stress and homosexual behavior in males, according to the lawsuit.

Rep. John Peterson (R-PA) speaks some common sense on energy policy, how very few people are thrilled with the current candidates and Phil Gramm's disconnect with the average American.

Peterson: Well, Phil Gramm is a very smart guy and he knows the economy well, but Phil Gramm doesn’t know the people I know. Phil Gramm must be insulated from the working poor. If he was around the working poor, he would have never said it. The working poor are struggling. This is not a recession in their mind. This is a difficult time where they are struggling to pay their bills. ... He thinks that’s not going on out in America; he just hasn’t been out there. He must come from a pretty affluent neighborhood and a pretty affluent family. ...

Sometimes the people who whine have more and are just angry they have to spend more. The whiners I know aren’t poor. 

And I thought the ABC commenters were lacking in intellectual ability. They have nothing on the Politico commenters. Heaven forbid that they should actually discuss the points of the article on energy, they're too busy getting lost on the nuances of whether the press is too liberal and giving Obama a pass and some guy defending Cheney by saying he was only in the oil business for five years. Absolutely fascinating how the 28%s are determined to stay in fantasyland.  At the expense of the country.

For years Cuba has been made out to be a backward country, but if I get breast or bum cancer that's where I'm going to wish I was.  Did you know that the food is pretty tasty there too?

Pat Tillman wasn't a friendly fire death, it was deliberate murder and the government is doing its best to cover it up.    And being shot by the people on your side isn't friendly, it's gross negligence.

Unlike the crew without a clue and their military advisers,  the troops knew they were probably going to die on Hamburger Hill  their mission in Wanat, Afghanistan.  If only our leaders had the courage that our overworked, overburdened and underprotected troops have.  If they aren't being shot or blown up, they're being electrocuted back at the base.  Meanwhile, the brass thinks the powers that be deserve to travel in style.  Why is it that Reserves, National Guard and regular troops are considered so expendable?


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Thursday Morning Ramblings

George Bush doesn't care about wet people. Sad and funny, but still true.

It's all about the Benjamins, which is about what it takes to fill my car. At the moment. I would rather see more public transportation options and smaller cars that get better gas mileage than see a string of oil derricks surrounding the coasts. But then I live in California, not Florida. Heaven forbid that we learn to conserve, that we walk a mile or two to get groceries or other items (which would make us skinnier and healthier as an extra benefit), or that we recycle instead of using things once and throwing them away. Nope, its much better to spend money on destroying the environment in a useless effort to stave off the inevitable so the oil companies can have more profits. As if they weren't already obscene as it is. How about they lower the price of gas themselves and take a little less profit? Now that's California Dreamin.

Good tips for eating healthy on a budget.

The election is like watching a slow motion train wreck. You know it's going to end badly, but you just can't stop watching.

America is rapidly becoming irrelevant.

Flip-flopping is becoming a Democratic condition. Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it. And it might not be in the form you had envisioned.

Okay to discriminate against women in the workplace, not okay to discriminate against people over forty. Sometimes the Supreme Court almost baffles me. I wonder who didn't vote.

The Demowienies cave. Again.

Health, Wealth And Stealth

The title of the article (Doctors offer to treat dying Winnipeg man after colleagues refuse) implies that some doctors aren't doing their job, then you read the story and one has to wonder which doctors were being the most compassionate. And whether or not the family can deal with reality and let their father go with dignity.

When I was in high school our gym teacher said that the most effective way to lose weight was to eat breakfast like a king, lunch like prince and dinner like a pauper. Looks like she was right.

Of course there's a floor in the never ending effort of corporations to make as much money for themselves as possible. It's called slavery.

The willful incompetency displayed in our dealings with Pakistan just never stops. I wonder where those helicopter engines went to?

Sympathetic my ass. Can we say patronizing? A period of adjustment? Maybe she's tired, maybe she's getting surgery to remove the knives from her back, maybe she doesn't want to be any more of a hypocrite and be involved in providing telecom immunity. Maybe she's so disgusted that people fell for the promise of change that she knew wasn't coming, that she decided to let everyone see exactly what they are going to get. It's been less than two weeks since she dropped out and already he's pandering to the center by cutting corporate taxes, something that was never mentioned before. I am so not surprised. Maybe she just needed a vacation.

Will this man ever shut up? Very few Americans care what he thinks. Nobody wants to look at oil derricks at the beach. Except for the oil companies, which is probably why he wants it.

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The Ostrich Mentality

If it costs too much now, it's going to cost even more later. It will also require more effort and more suffering by those who will be affected the most. The Republican response to solving global warming is too put it off as long as possible. With every vote, filibuster, and action, the Republicans show they don't care about the future of man. Or women. Or children. All are expendable since they don't seem to plan on being here and could care less if their descendants have a decent place to live. Bootstraps aren't going to help if you're six feet under water, the fish have died, the crops won't grow and each new storm or tornado is worse than the last.

The powers that be thought it wouldn't happen to them, layoffs are only for little people.

The US jobs data showed that there were substantial job losses last month in construction industries, where 34,000 cuts were made, in manufacturing, where 26,000 jobs were lost, and among providers of professional services, where 39,000 jobs went.

Foreclosures? Not in our neighborhood. Oops, it's happening there too. I wonder if someone will bring him a check from Publisher's Clearing House. Probably not.

Of course, there's always jail. Wasn't that where they put debtors before sending them to colonize the New World? I wonder what they have in store for the 2.3 million people currently occupying jail cells in America. Maybe they can grow crops on Mars.

Racism Runs Rampant

No matter how many times people protest, institutionalized racism still exists in this country. Thank goodness my brothers and I were military brats and exposed to people and opportunities that today's young blacks will never have. I have a Master's degree as does one of my brothers, but it hasn't really helped us to get ahead. If you talk to any member of my family on the phone it is impossible to tell that we are black until you meet us and that still doesn't stop people from treating us as if we are mentally impaired. The best part is that those same people think we don't notice. We do. We just don't feel like fighting certain battles day in and day out because we may win the battle but we won't win the war and we get to start all over again the very next day or with the very next person. Such is life.

It's hard to pull yourself up by your bootstraps when you are barefoot, but that doesn't stop racists from blaming people who haven't had a chance to improve their lives since the moment they were born. I expect stupid comments from people who are entrenched in their beliefs that it is always the person's fault no matter what the circumstances, what I didn't expect was to find it running rampant through the SF Bay area.

Yes, the majority of people on welfare are white but that is because there (at the moment) are more of them. Period. But it isn't a large percentage of the melanin impaired population whereas for blacks and Latinos it is. If one is crammed into a ghetto all their life it is hard to imagine or conceive of a different lifestyle. One that includes good schools with competent teachers, decent food, water, clean air, and the chance to have as good a life as a person who was born into a better neighborhood.

California is in the process of destroying its public school system with numerous cutbacks and quotas. People think that teachers are overpaid and then wonder why the quality of education is so bad. Good teachers can make money doing something else, so unless it is a calling they aren't going to go into a bad neighborhood where the schools are decrepit, the textbooks are so old that the last President mentioned is Reagan, science is nonexistent and the kids are already stressed from having no food and little to look forward to. If life tells you that you aren't as good as someone with privilege, unless you have authority issues and the knowledge to know when to use it to your advantage instead of being killed, you won't know not to believe the propaganda that blacks are still only worth three fifths of those outside the ghetto.

In a month I will be 52 and of one thing I am quite sure, racism has been increasing in this country under the guise of personal responsibility since the eighties. While Paris Hilton and Britney Spears can have problems that would put most blacks in jail for life, they have money and privilege that enables them to avoid most of the serious consequences for their actions. People may disapprove but they are still welcome in polite company. Let the average black person try some of those stunts and see what happens.

The late seventies were a time of hope and promise in this country, but those dreams have been squashed under the weight of reality. The reality that no matter how hard you try, people will still discriminate against those of lesser means and opportunity. It's easy to look down on people from the top of the mountain and say that if they would just try harder they can reach the mountain top, but it isn't so easy to climb up it if you don't have the tools.

Serena, Venus, Tiger, Kareem and Michael Jordan had talent and opportunity, a rare combination in anyone, which gave them a chance to make a better life for themselves and their families. If I lived in the ghetto I would want to play sports instead of pay attention in school because it looks like that would be my only way out of poverty. Thanks to an illegal and immoral war, joining the military is not an option since all the positions that would enable you to have job skills after you get out have been given to private contractors. There isn't much use for repairing the guidance control systems on missiles (which is what I did) or driving a tank through a neighborhood looking for IEDs.

Hope is in short supply when you don't know where your next meal is coming from and you can' play outside because you might catch a stray bullet. As the federal and state governments cut back on services to the poor, these problems will only get worse. Schools will become more segregated as more parents with privilege send their kids to private schools and the quality of education will continue to diminish. If everybody else is using a computer to learn but your school district can't afford them, the world will continue to move away from you and despair will be your constant companion. Catching up won't be an option since libraries are closing, health care is being eliminated and food costs continue to spiral upward.

It isn't the fault of the children that they were born into lesser circumstances and punishing them even more will not help the situation. There are two Americas and one of them isn't very pretty. Blaming those who haven't had a chance since they drew their first breath won't help the situation but education will. Perhaps if we invested in their education instead of killing people half a world away it might make a difference.

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Wednesday Wanderings.

Some people are really out of touch. While an increasing majority of Americans are struggling to pay their mortgages, put food on the table and pay for the gas to get to their increasingly unstable jobs, other people are worried about not being able to get their next meal from a restaurant.

“It’s anybody’s guess how long the downturn will last,” Mr. Breyer said.

If it lasts through this year, he said, “it will be far more than an inconvenience for all companies.” The dried-up market for public offerings and acquisitions is affecting not just the atmosphere of innovation but also the lifestyle of its participants.

“Less cash coming into the Valley means less cash to purchase homes, and go out to nice dinners, spend on consumer products and go on vacations,” said Hans Swildens, founder and principal of Industry Ventures, an investment firm that buys stakes in start-up companies that need infusions of cash.

I almost feel for you, it must be hard to have to cut back. While I don't feel sorry for them not being able to enjoy some of the niceties, I do feel sorry for the people who provide those niceties. This is going to get ugly.

Hotpads.com has a dynamic color map that shows you the foreclosures (pictures, prices and description of the homes) in your area. Silicon Valley and surrounding areas are in the red zone at 1 in 500. Palo Alto, where the rich live, is in blue at 1 in 60000. The rest of the map is pretty much shades of pink on their way to red.

Have you ever felt like the world was picking on you? This guy thinks he's being picked on by aliens because his house has been hit by meteorites five times since November.

Does anybody think that this will end well? Considering the amount of road rage and workplace disgruntlement, allowing people to bring their guns to work doesn't sound like a good idea.

It seems that global warming is a threat to beer production. Severe shrinkage in malted barley production will be the result. As if the price of Guinness wasn't high enough.

Who knew that Verizon could be that sweet?

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YouTube Sunday

For today's entertainment Reader Rick sent me two links a few weeks ago and now that I'm feeling slightly better (headache is only a 6 instead of the 9.8 that it has been for the past three weeks), it's time for some humor.

First up: Speed Bump


Second up: The Front Fell Off

Five For Friday

Let's start with something really good. Practice really does make perfect. A 92 year old blind golfer hits a hole in one. Way to go.

Um, unemployment? It would only be fair, then they could understand what the rest of the country is going through. Unexpected? Who the heck are they trying to kid? Slow housing starts, increases in foreclosures, etc. What's so unexpected about jobs disappearing? Unless you're one of the clueless. Must be nice when everyone you know can pay their bills and afford a decent place to live. Maybe October 29th will paint a vastly different picture this year. Not like that's an important day or anything.

Those poor pets. I know it's awful about the people being killed, but here in America we only care about pet abuse. Because they are innocent victims. So are the people, but the cold hearted among us believe they should have moved to a different country if they didn't like the war.

Parenting lessons don't prevent toddler tantrums. No surprise there. For forty years someone has been espousing a kindler, gentler way to raise kids and look at what we have. Temper tantrums in the store, shootings in the school, children killing their parents. Maybe the old ways, you know the ones that were used for thousands of years before there were child psychologists, actually were effective. Spare the rod, spoil the child. Fear of my dad kept me out of trouble and fifty years later I still can hear his voice when I think of doing something stupid. And no, I didn't always get spanked. Sometimes the look of disappointment in his eyes was worse than a thousand swats.

Exxon made more obscene profits this year. And they actually had the gall to say it was due to higher oil prices. Gee, what are they going to do when they run out of places to drill? Oh yeah, there's those cold, but not for long, places that they can still ruin.

3Bs

Myth America

Let's start with the fiction that Americans are pro-life. They aren't. Pro-birth, certainly. But once you're born all bets are off. From a third world infant mortality rate to trying to use the death penalty against juveniles and the mentally impaired, to showing up last on the list for preventable deaths among nations that have health care, quality of life issues are reserved for the haves and the have mores. The have nots can work until they die and they should be grateful that their betters let them contribute.

Our economy is robust and healthy. That's a good one.

That Fox News is fair and balanced. As long as you stick with the party line of neoconservatism, otherwise you will be disappeared.

That the crew without a clue care for the world and its denizens more than they care for money and profit.

That Bush and Israel aren't trying to start World War III. Again. The only thing that Bush has read carefully was My Pet Goat and we all know how well that turned out.

That global warming doesn't exist and that all our weather patterns are normal.

That freedom of speech still exists in this country and that business owners can determine appropriate behavior on their own property.

That drugs are designed to help you prevent the natural consequences of aging and that the side effects are worth it since walking, weight training and a good diet aren't enough. Or even more helpful, eliminating the drinking of sodas in childhood. For all kinds of reasons.

The usual place.

Avoidance Activities

While I wait for the sneak preview of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles on Yahoo!, I'm wasting time playing the Find 815 game. I haven't watched Lost for the last two seasons but I found all the clues so far and have to wait another two hours for the story to continue.

Anything besides listen to people pontificate about the latest from the Idiots Out Wandering Aimlessly and their stupid caucus that determines who the rest of the country gets a chance to vote for. Honestly, could they have picked any two worse candidates? Huckabee is a political bible thumper who doesn't believe in evolution and Obama believes in anything that is attached to the almighty dollar. Change. Riiight. And my check is in the mail, the police are here to help me and this will only hurt a little bit.

I was sitting at a stop light in downtown San Jose and a huge tree fell over. It missed my car by inches, it was so close I could smell the tree sap. Trees and branches are everywhere. Mother Nature is magnificent, isn't she?

3Bs

Presidential Omelette

Bush is like a kid who was left home alone. He's spent seven years destroying everything he touches, overflowing the bathtub, ignoring the rules of the house, spending all the cash on the premises after running up the credit card bill and now that the parents are on their way he's trying to clean up the house and repair the garden so they will think he didn't damage anything. The sad part is that a lot of people will fall for it, but just like Humpty Dumpty, the country can't be put back together.

3Bs

Two For Thrusday

No wonder this country is falling apart. 1500 students at NYU are willing to give up their vote for life, if they are paid a million dollars. 90% of those students also feel that voting is important and 70.5% of those feel that one vote can make a difference. What happened to logic? Oh yeah, most of those students came from high and upper middle class homes. They should have their right to vote taken away permanently. They also shouldn't be allowed to breed.

It's electronic recycle day here in Silicon Valley. Microsoft is collecting tvs, monitors, cellphones, etc. as gesture of good will. If you aren't here, remember that Costco will also do the same. They also give you a nominal amount of money.