February Week 1, 2005

Tuesday  February 1 , 2005

The moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life - the sick, the needy and the handicapped.

Hubert Horatio Humphrey, US Vice President (1911-1978)1

My Taurus is repaired, new brakes and lube... $385...

The girls are playing basketball tonight so I will be picking them up and taking them to the game. They played last night and won, 14 - 6 The other team was much bigger but our girls stole the ball and moved quick, plus, the other team couldn't sink a basket if it was two feet off the floor.

This cracked me up this morning, I giggle every time I think about it.

Merit pay for teachers is the big thing in California, the Der Grabbenfuhrer wants it. I guess it's better than tenure but I am concerned about two things;

I got to thinking about how the schools used to grade using a bell curve, perhaps they still do... I have always hated that. It's some compassionate Republicans guarantee that no matter how hard the children work or how well they do on the test a specific percentage of children will fail. It also guarantees that neither the teacher or the Administration or the School Board can fail. The Military used to do the same thing, I think they still do, the difference being that you are tested against every other soldier in the Army, not just a local group.

Wednesday  February 2 , 2005

The great enemy of clear language is insincerity.

George Orwell, writer 1903-1950

I heard Larry Mantel, who I think is a little full of himself sometimes, after someone said they thought that it was strange that the channel that professes to pander to the New Moral Right with Sean Hanity, Ann Coulter, Brit Hume, Bill O'Riley ,is also the Smut channel with the phony "Reality Shows", Bored Housewives, and on and on, Larry said "Well it;s obvious, they are catering to two separate audiences"... Just how delusional is he anyway. It is just as obvious to me that they are catering to the same audience.

"What Democracy Means to Me"

by Johnny Carson

To me, democracy means placing trust in the little guy, giving the fruits of nationhood to those who built the nation. Democracy means anyone can grow up to be president, and anyone who doesn't grow up can be vice president.

Democracy is people of all races, colors, and creeds united by a single dream: to get rich and move to the suburbs away from people of all races, colors, and creeds. Democracy is having time set aside to worship — 18 years if you're Jim Bakker.

Democracy is buying a big house you can't afford with money you don't have to impress people you wish were dead. And, unlike communism, democracy does not mean having just one ineffective political party; it means having two ineffective political parties.

Democracy means freedom of sexual choice between any two consenting adults; Utopia means freedom of choice between three or more consenting adults. But I digress.

Democracy is welcoming people from other lands, and giving them something to hold onto — usually a mop or a leaf blower. It means that with proper timing and scrupulous bookkeeping, anyone can die owing the government a huge amount of money.

Democracy means a thriving heartland with rolling fields of Alfalfa, Buckwheat, Spanky, and Wheezer. Democracy means our elected officials bow to the will of the people, but more often they bow to the big butts of campaign contributors.

Yes, democracy means fighting every day for what you deserve, and fighting even harder to keep other weaker people from getting what they deserve.

Democracy means never having the Secret Police show up at your door. Of course, it also means never having the cable guy show up at your door. It's a tradeoff. Democracy means free television. Not good television, but free.

Democracy is being able to pick up the phone and, within a minute, be talking to anyone in the country, and, within two minutes, be interrupted by call waiting.

Democracy means no taxation without representation, and god knows, we've just about had the hell represented out of us. It means the freedom to bear arms so you can blow the "o" out of any rural stop sign you want.

And finally, democracy is the eagle on the back of a dollar bill, with 13 arrows in one claw, 13 leaves on a branch, 13 tail feathers, and 13 stars over its head. This signifies that when the white man came to this country, it was bad luck for the Indians, bad luck for the trees, bad luck for the wildlife, and lights out for the American eagle.

I thank you.

Thursday  February 3 , 2005

I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires.

Susan B Anthony, reformer and suffragist (1820-1906)

I took the kids to school, Christy taught at COC I took off at 1300 to get to run errands and be at the girls school in time to take them to to their basketball game Mike wanted to burn some music CD' and shut down this program without saving... lost an hours work and a pretty good rant about Absolutists vs. the rest of us. I will try to recreate it.

There are such people [Absolutists], they are adherents of Leo Straus who developed a philosophy called Straussianism], mentioned in the article below. I looked him up in Wikipedia... He taught (preached) and believed that "universal principles of right" exist and are knowable through careful study of those philosophers who believed in such principles, especially Plato and Aristotle. What frightens me about this is that practitioners of this belief system are currently running our country.

My contention is still that there are people who need to believe in absolutes and there are people that believe that there are no absolutes or more precisely, the only absolute is that there are always extenuating circumstances. There is another huge contingent that is totally oblivious to the world beyond what they can see hear and touch... they believe in nothing, care about nothing, think about nothing.

Excerpt from:

Drink It Up

by Peter Kurth www.dissidentvoice.org

February 2, 2005

“Of all insults, the temporary condescension of a master to a slave is the most outrageous and galling. That potentate who most condescends, mark him well; for that potentate, if occasion come, will prove your uttermost tyrant.”
-- Herman Melville Melville!

Who reads Melville anymore outside of school? And, even there, I suspect, Moby Dick is too long to hold the average student’s attention, never mind the teachers’, who are too busy testing kids to see if they can count to ten in order to teach them anything.

Call me Ishmael. Call me a cab.

My ongoing -- and, I confess, ever more desperate -- efforts to avoid thinking about the nightmares of a second Bush regime have left me unsure this week of what to write about. I say this with all modesty, since readers of this column will know that I’m never at a loss for words when it comes to “Bush-bashing.” Right now, however, after the “resounding success” of Sunday’s elections in Iraq, and with that foul squirt preening and yapping more cynically then ever about “democracy on the march,” I just haven’t got the heart for it. Many more Iraqis -- not to mention American soldiers -- will die before this monster’s “mission” is through, and, besides, so many people have been writing about it already better than I could. A short sampler:

Matthew Rothschild in The Progressive: “I guess when you believe you're driving God's car, and when you believe He's giving you global positioning, and when you believe He's right there in the back seat blurting out directions, you don't care so much if you run people over in the process, lots of people, even your own people.”

Paul Craig Roberts on Antiwar.com: “The Bush administration is not establishing any democracies. It is starting a war that will last a generation. That is the neocon plan.”

Sidney Blumenthal in The Guardian: “For [the neocons], Bush's [inaugural] rhetoric about ‘eternal hope that is meant to be fulfilled’ was a sign of their triumph.

The speech, crowed neocon William Kristol, who consulted on it, was indeed `informed by Strauss’ -- a reference to Leo Strauss, philosopher of obscurantist strands of absolutist thought, mentor and inspiration to some neocons who believe they fulfill his teaching by acting as tutors to politicians in need of their superior guidance.” ............

Friday  February 4 , 2005

So much for the Tree of Knowledge. Mr. Bush gives us the Ficus of Faith.

Maureen Dowd

Max Schmelling died today... another man who was misjudged by the world. Ozzie Davis too, a couple of pretty classy guys...

Baldo had an appointment with Dr. D...

Calie's finger was swollen last night and this morning I taped it up, it's a little crooked but the swelling is only on one side. It was still sore and hurting her this morning so Christy took her to Kaiser... it's broken...poor baby.

Saturday  February 5 , 2005

"Tonight in his speech, President Bush introduced his plan for Social Security. His plan: take the security part out of it."

Jay Leno

Not much happening today, I took Calie to Palmdale on my motorcycle. It's the first time I have taken the bike out in what seems like two weeks.

It is beautiful out side, about 70 degrees the hills are green. The flowers are popping up everywhere, I think the weather has got the plants all screwed up, it's still the first week of February, the bad weather won't be here till March...

I just enjoyed writing this... it is for my High School Homecoming group on Yahoo

Yahoo loathes idle 'groups', so if nobody posts a message in 90 days I get a message from them and I have to rouse myself from my normal stupor and type some idle chatter or the group will be arbitrarily terminated.

A note at the bottom of the screen I am using says:

"Some members have chosen to receive e-mail messages only when there are important updates from the group moderator [Me]. If you select this box, those members will receive this message. Use this feature responsibly."

I deem myself to be a "Responsible Person" and this is about as unimportant a message as I can imagine so I'll be damned if I'm going to check the box. Those members, whoever they are, won't see this.

I can only marvel at the fact that there are still people our age out there who are so busy that they don't want to be bothered with this sort of triviality... not only that, when they signed up they had the presence of mind to check the little box that says "Don't annoy me unless there's blood". Amazing.

 If you are inclined to respond, remember, don't check the little box... there are folks out there doing important perhaps even vital, stuff and we don't want to be responsible for disrupting their day. Do we?

Disclaimer: If, when you signed up, you neglected to check the box please pay no attention to:

Pete (The sarcastic, bored old smart-ass) Daggett
(padagge@potc.net)

PS
Just out of idle curiosity, is anyone actually reading this?

******** Joke********

Q: How many Bush Administration officials does it take to screw in a light bulb?

A: None. There is nothing wrong with the light bulb; its conditions are improving every day. All reports on its lack of incandescence is delusional spin from the liberal media. That light bulb has served this administration honorably, and anything you say undermines it's effectiveness. Why do you hate freedom?

Sunday  February 6 , 2005

There are people who instead of listening to what is being said to them are already listening to what they are going to say themselves.

Albert Guinon
 

The Superbowl was a very good game, somehow from about 5 minutes into the first quarter the outcome seemed to be inevitable but the Eagles put up a good fight and even managed to give themselves a remote shot at taking the game into overtime but they were physically whipped, you could see the defense gasping for breath with their hands on their hips... they left every ounce of energy they had on the field... good game...

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