February, Week 1 2007

Thursday  February 1 , 2007

Calie got in about 0015 this morning, she went all the way to Republic and sat on the bench for the whole game. Poor kid, she worked as hard or harder than everyone else and from my perspective, was not rewarded for her hard work. I think that winning means entirely too much to these people but, that's easy for me to say I guess, I don't know the whole story.  I do know that the parents, sorry, some parents take the games too seriously and put way too much pressure on the coaches and kids... there is no way to change their attitudes toward winning, I have had enough conversations with them to know that it's another topic like religion, politics and the Saintliness of their Mothers... best to let rabid dogs lie.

I will let her sleep in tomorrow.

Friday  February 2 , 2007

Believe nothing just because a so-called wise person said it. Believe nothing just because a belief is generally held. Believe nothing just because it is said in ancient books. Believe nothing just because it is said to be of divine origin. Believe nothing just because someone else believes it. Believe only what you yourself test and judge to be true.

Buddha - Hindu Prince Gautama Siddhartha

Groundhog Day

"For as the sun shines on Candlemas Day, so far will the snow swirl in May..."

On February 2, Phil comes out of his burrow on Gobbler's Knob - in front of thousands of followers from all over the world - to predict the weather for the rest of winter. According to legend, if Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter weather. If he does not see his shadow, there will be an early spring. After Phil emerges from his burrow on February 2, he speaks to the Groundhog Club president in "Groundhogese" (a language only understood by the current president of the Inner Circle). His proclamation is then translated for the world.

The celebration of Groundhog Day began with Pennsylvania's earliest settlers. They brought with them the legend of Candlemas Day, which states, "For as the sun shines on Candlemas Day, so far will the snow swirl in May..." Punxsutawney held its first Groundhog Day in the 1800s. The first official trek to Gobbler's Knob was made on February 2, 1887.

So the story goes, Punxsutawney Phil was named after King Phillip. Prior to being called Phil, he was called Br'er Groundhog. Canada relies on the predictions of an albino groundhog named Wiarton Willie

According to NPR Phil did not see his shadow so, at least in Punxsutawney, there will be an early spring... no shadows here today so we are into Winter for the long haul... if your believe that sort of thing.

I got the van and truck lubed, ran to Ione for Pull-ups paid Autumn's lunch bill had breakfast with Mike and Christy and Got the mail after I dropped Calie off at school at about 1015. I picked Cindy up at noon and took her to her job at the Cutter Theater... then I took a nap.

I watched a video called 'Idiocracy'. A movie that takes the dumbing down of America to the absurd extreme... it was really funny and a little scary. When you consider who we elected to the Oval Office, what the 10 most popular shows on TV are, and the fact we pay Professional Football/Basketball/Baseball/ Wrestlers/Actors more than we pay teachers... I think it might be a Futuristic Documentary.

Saturday  February 3 , 2007

Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it.

André Gide French author (1869-1951)

The girls are snowboarding in Canada, Cindy is in Colville at a swimming party, The Boy, I fear is out on his quest to see just how much trouble he can get into before he turns 18.

I am just wasting the day on the PC and really not accomplishing a damn thing... lots to do... no get up and go.

The girls got back about 1745 and we had a Baked Spaghetti dinner that Christy worked hard on... it wasn't as good at the one she gets at The Tomato Factory but it was pretty good, I think she was a little disappointed in it...

I discovered a fella named Tommy Emmanuel on Youtube.com, A guitarist from Australia... amazing.

I finished my taxes yesterday except for one W2 for $142.56 that I get from Pacific Bell for money I never see, it has something to do with 'medical' but I don't know what... It came in today's mail.

I will E-file on Monday.

Sunday  February 4 , 2007

Well, almost as a punctuation mark for my dislike of the Colts, Tony Dunge got up and thanked God for the win over the Bears... Sanctimonious self-serving arrogance... Apparently the Bears are unworthy in God's mind and Tony Dunge's mind and If I were a Colt I would resent the credit for the win going to God... I wonder if he really believes that God gives a damn who wins the Super Bowl...

Well, it was a good game up until the beginning of the second quarter when the Bears forgot how to play football. Boy they were awful, it got to be hard to watch...

Christy cooked a steak dinner with all the trimmings, I am still bloated... This is the first Superbowl I can remember when I didn't have even one beer... not sure if I am proud of myself or if I feel deprived.

Mission Accomplished!

"…we have in fact accomplished our objectives..."
~ Dick Cheney, January 24, 2007

There’s lots of crazy talk these days about why we went to Iraq, and why – thousands of dead and wounded bodies, billions of dollars of destruction, and over four years later – we are still there, stupid Americans behaving badly. The people mutter and murmur of how Iraq might be winnable, unwinnable, partially winnable, or quagmirish.

The people were once confused, troubled, even angry. But that was before we started listening, really listening, to our very own architect of Armageddon, a proud halcyon-kingfisher of Halliburton, that pied piper of neo-conservatism.

Cheney’s outlandish and otherworldly interview with Wolf Blitzer has been studied humorously, seriously, with great concern (and not only for his mental state). We have joked, analyzed, divined and meditated on the esoteric meaning of Cheney’s words, and perhaps, his very existence. Yet, as with so many merely human pursuits, we needn’t have bothered.

Cheney has given us the answer, in his own words. He and his pals have indeed accomplished their objectives in Iraq.

The social reformers and democracy lovers might point out that Iraq is crippled and torn, without a legitimate central state or any functioning democracy. They might point out that the country is enmeshed in a civil war.

The bleeding hearts might bemoan the death and injury to millions of innocent Iraqi men, women and children, and of a level of violence and economic deprivation that should make those responsible for it in this country fall down in shame and beg to be waterboarded.

The patriotic fighters of terror-around-the-world-wherever-it-might-be could point out that the dangerous game of "Kill an American" has never been more wildly popular in Iraq, nor more successful.

The establishmentarians who purchase American Congressmen and women by the boatload might suggest that this escapade has globally devalued that reliable American currency of good will. They might suggest that Iraq has become a two trillion dollar money pit for the American government.

Federal Reserve bankers could quietly worry that the money we have wasted in Iraq (and funneled into friendly pockets) was printed on paper, devaluing today’s dollar at home, and paupering the average working class American family in coming decades.

The neocons brazenly lied, cheered, and goaded the rest of the country to get their well-loved decapitation of Iraq, to gain US military positioning between purported enemies, to make enemies of Iraqi and Iraqi, to fully invest and entangle the American military, and the American back home, in the political struggles of others. Yet even these greasy spots on the highway of American political history have noticed that in fact, the "war" in Iraq has been badly handled.

Dick Cheney rejects all that. It’s all good. OK, he actually said "hogwash" but he meant, "it’s all good." Trust me on this.

They have indeed achieved their objectives. A troubled violent oil-rich region has become America’s own troubled, violent and oil-rich region. Our military provocation has birthed a multifaceted insurgency that can be manipulated directly, or used indirectly, to support any number of new government programs and policies, foreign and domestic.

Want a war with Iran? It’s easy to justify, with "Iranians" working with Iraqi insurgents.

Need to pump up the dollar, or to ensure we can still print and borrow at will? The situation in Iraq allows the President to be seen by the average Joe and Millie as "doing the right thing" in buying up oil to "double" the "Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Just being prudent, you know.

Got an urge to whack a Somalian, or perhaps a Sudanese? These guys show up in Iraq as insurgents or as friends of Iranians, and having the U.S. fleet in place makes a little righteous target practice quick and easy.

Worried about Congress? Don’t be – this is militarized foreign policy, not the old-fashioned kind in which republics once engaged. Don Rumsfeld – unlike FEMA Director Mike Brown, really did do a "heck of a job." Everything the President and his trusty VP want to do they CAN do because military operations (specifically, ongoing military operations) cannot be micromanaged by that finicky old Congress. Everyone knows that, silly!

Freedom lovers? Well, freedom is messy, as Rummy used to say, and sometimes, old-fashioned Constitutional amendments and other clutter that rumbles around in the American psyche may need to be set aside, shelved, and I don’t know, detained indefinitely?

Cheney is right. He became Vice President in an age where American industry and agriculture can no longer compete hands down, where financial centers are decentralizing faster than a New York minute, where service industries are increasingly virtual, mobile, lean and globally owned, and where a nuclear neo-Roman army is as welcome to the party as a flatulent amnesiac. He and his pals, dinosaurs all, could not to adapt to the new world, and instead sought to alter it to their well-established tastes.

Their efforts to alter reality to make their worldviews and personal profit centers appear relevant has worked so far. The good news is the mammals are at the gate, and they smell dinosaur blood.