Monday, September 01, 2008
Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of
opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly
repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and
creates a country where everyone lives in fear.
Harry S. Truman, 33rd US president (1884-1972)
Cold... 38 degrees last night and it's only going to get up to
66 today... we didn't the snow they predicted last week.
No frost this morning but the cold weather is keeping the
tomatoes from ripening.
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
So long as men worship the Caesars and Napoleons, Caesars and Napoleons will
duly rise and make them miserable.
Aldous Huxley, novelist (1894-1963)
The girls (Monica and Amanda) had Orthodontist appointments in Spokane...we
found out at 0915 that they had appointments at 10:00, Christy got them moved to
11:20 but it was still a race against time. We got all our shopping done and
made it home by 1630.
Calie and Trevor went in to Spokane too, they went to be at
the hospital when Trevor's Grandfather had his Triple Bypass operation. He had
his second or third heart attack last Saturday.
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Like a lawyer, the human brain wants victory, not truth; and, like a lawyer, it
is sometimes more admirable for skill than virtue.
Robert Wright, author and journalist (b. 1957)
First day of school, Autumn was not real cooperative while she
was getting ready but she was excited to get on the bus
I trimmed the branches off the lower part of the trees beside
the driveway. they were so thick that it was impossible to see when people are
trying to male a left turn off Boundary Rd. I did a slapdash job of refinishing
a table for Christy to do her Card Stamping projects on. While I was doing that
Christy tore up her back trimming branches off her tomato plants.
Kids came back from school reasonably happy, Autumn loves
school and I think the other girls are glad to get back in the social swing.
Calie is really playing the role of Sophisticated Senior to the hilt. this
should be an interesting year.
Thursday, September 04, 2008
I believe old people use three periods after a statement
because they forgot what they were saying and just kinda drift off...
Paul
Benoint "The Old Perfesser"
I went huckleberry picking with Jerry today, I got almost a
gallon and I was through though . It is beautiful up there and the berries are
so plentiful you are tempted to think there is no end to them. People are up
there picking every day and they haven't even made a dent.
Interesting and eerily appropriate word of the day today. I
was looking for a word to describe the speeches at the Republican Convention last night.
ressentiment
(ruh-san-tee-MAH)
[the final syllable is nasal]
noun:
A feeling of resentment and hostility accompanied by the lack of means to
express or act upon it.
I saw Lieberman, Giuliani and Palin's negative cynical attacks. They said about
30 seconds worth of John McCain's a war hero / experienced / Maverick. Then they
spent the rest of their allotted time running down Obama and Biden... and anyone
stupid enough to want to vote for them... like me. They called us the party of
'elitists' and themselves the 'real Americans' we are duped by flashy speeches
and they are the party that gets things done, they lied about Barack Obama and
Joe Biden, and they attacked us for believing and for being a part of their
campaign.
But worst of all -- and this deserves to be noted -- they insulted the very idea
that ordinary people have a role to play in our political process. Both Rudy
Giuliani and Sarah Palin specifically mocked Barack's experience as a community
organizer on the South Side of Chicago more than two decades ago, where he
worked with people who had lost jobs and been left behind when the local steel
plants closed.
Community organizing is how ordinary people respond to 'outsourcing'
corporations, out-of-touch politicians and their failed policies!
And it's no surprise that, after eight years of George Bush, millions of people
have found that by coming together in their local communities they can change
the course of history. That ideal is the founding principal behind Barack Obama
and my version of Democracy. Throughout our history, ordinary people have made
good on America's promise by organizing for change from the bottom up. Community
organizing is the foundation of the civil rights movement, the women's suffrage
movement, labor rights, and the 40-hour workweek.
Meanwhile, we still haven't gotten a single idea during the entire Republican
convention about the economy and how to lift a middle class so harmed by the
Bush-McCain policies.
It's now clear that John McCain's campaign has decided that desperate lies and
personal attacks -- on Barack Obama and on us -- are the only way they can earn
a third term for the Bush policies that McCain has supported more than 90
percent of the time. I can talk and write 24 hours a day for the rest of my life
and not affect as many people as those three did in 30 seconds. I hope the
people thinking of voting for McCain heard the caustic bile generated last night
and put two and two together. McCain is a cardboard mock up of Bush who was
himself a cardboard mock up of a president. Rove Cheney and Rumsfeld ran the
government when Bush was in office and the PNAC will run McCain if he is
elected.
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/pressclips/archives/2008/09/global_warnings.php
Friday, September 05, 2008
Each man must for himself alone decide what is right and what
is wrong, which course is patriotic and which isn't. You cannot shirk this and
be a man. To decide against your conviction is to be an unqualified and
excusable traitor, both to yourself and to your country, let men label you as
they may: Mark Twain
Monica and I went to Colville to get her allergy shot, we did
some shopping and gorged ourselves on fast food.
This
is illuminating...
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20704.htm
... And funny.
The Republicans are blaming the media already. Desperate so soon? Check the
story of every bonehead politician who's ever been caught red-handed. At some
point, they start blaming the media.
Blaming the media is classic despotism, something conservative Republicans
understand. In fact, it's their favorite tactic. Blame the messenger. But, the
fact is, this crosses party lines. Democrats are as guilty as Republicans. Nixon
did it. Clinton did it. They all do it when their back is against the wall.
I think deep down in their guts all the Republicans know that Sarah Palin is a
mistake. Her religious beliefs -- and her whack-job pastor making Jeremiah
Wright sound moderate -- put her way outside the mainstream, not that the
Republicans care about the mainstream anymore. They've been ruled by the
religious wrong for eight years; it's the only religion they know.
By the way, whoever decided that using her little newborn baby on the stage --
who should've been home in his crib -- to obscure her daughters pregnancy and to
score political points was abhorrent.
Saturday, September 06, 2008
Strike an average between what a woman thinks of her husband a month before she
marries him and what she thinks of him a year afterward, and you will have the
truth about him.
H.L. Mencken, writer, editor, and critic (1880-1956)
Monica and I went to see "Wanted" tonight. It was good, bloody, profane and
graphic(ish) sex... I had to check any sense of credibility at the door but the
plot
moved so fast that you didn't really have time to wonder how the characters got
from point A to point C or whether or not the trip was necessary..
Interesting thought from a cartoonist Pat Bagley... "With a purse full of
religious dogma and a pretty presence she is cutting a swath without even
trying, shooting from the hip one liners and stinging zingers. Completely making
McCain irrelevant in his own campaign and giving the religious right patriotic
rapture instantaneously. What scares me is they could get elected purely on this
and something could happen to McCain and then our country would be run by the
right wing religious zealots who are cheering and wolf whistling her on. When
intelligent design masquerading as science and sexless-education replaces
education altogether."
Sunday, September 07, 2008
Who will show me any Constitutional injunction which
makes it the duty of the American people to surrender everything valuable in
life, and even life, itself, whenever the purposes of an ambitious and
mischievous government may require it? ... A free government with an
uncontrolled power of military conscription is the most ridiculous and
abominable contradiction and nonsense that ever entered into the heads of men."
Daniel Webster (1782-1852), US Senator Source: Speech
in the House of Representatives, January 14, 1814
The boys are out in the woods cutting firewood, 10 loads at $150 per...
using my chainsaw.
I watched Brett Favre play football for the Jets... he did good, so did the
rest of the team. He has a lot of work to do to justify his latest decisions.
He's got to prove he's not 'washed up' and he's off to a good start. I am
rooting for him to show the world he is still The Man. I think his experience
and ability actually raised the teams overall competence a few percentage
points. I hope he can do for the Jets what Joe Montana did for the KC Chiefs.
"The question is," said Alice, "whether you CAN make words mean so many
different things." "The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master
-- that's all."
Lewis Carroll (1832-1898) [Through the Looking Glass]
Rejoice, but reel in Obama expectations
By Rosa Brooks Special to the Los Angeles Times
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Rejoice, Democrats. After all those months worrying about a train wreck
at the Democratic National Convention, you can relax. Everyone in Denver
acted like a normal human being.
Hillary didn't kick Barack in the groin, she didn't try to claw
Michelle's eyes out and she didn't incite a riot among her followers.
Breathe a deep sigh of relief.
Michelle, meanwhile, gave an earnest tear-jerker of a speech, thwarting
right-wing efforts to paint her as a resentful, dashiki-wearing black
nationalist. Teddy Kennedy rose from his hospital bed to remind us of
Camelot. Even Bill Clinton behaved himself.
So, Democrats, why all the long faces? Oh, right. Where's the messiah?
Barack Obama has yet to utterly transform U.S. politics or perform any
miracles. Wheelchair-bound conventioneers are still in their wheelchairs,
and the only loaves and fishes are those provided by caterers. The economy's
still in the toilet. The war in Iraq is still going on. Beltway insider Joe
Biden is the VP pick, and Obama hasn't even apologized for his vote on the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. So where's the change?
Poor Obama. When Hillary, Michelle, Teddy and Bill act like normal
people, everyone's happy. But Obama's never allowed to just be a regular
guy. He's supposed to be a cross between a new Jack Kennedy and a new Martin
Luther King Jr. -- someone who can transform politics-as-usual, cast aside
the divisions of race, class and partisanship and lead us into a future full
of hope and ... you know, change. He's supposed to be transcendent.
Hillary Clinton's supporters never bought the "Obama as messiah" thing,
and even among Obama fans, there's been a muted but rising chorus of
disillusioned questions in recent months: Inspiring speeches are great, but
exactly how is Obama going to help middle-income Americans cope with the
credit crunch? Would the messiah have voted to give telecom companies
immunity for illegal domestic wiretapping on behalf of U.S. spy agencies?
And couldn't Obama have come up with someone a little more exciting than
Biden -- a Hispanic single mother from Mississippi, say, or a wounded gay
Iraq war vet?
Democrats should give Obama a break. He's not the messiah -- as his wife
has dryly pointed out, he's an ordinary mortal, someone who doesn't always
pick up his socks off the floor.
Actually, he's not quite "ordinary." Obama is not the average American --
who would want an "average" president? His multiracial background is
striking, and he's smart, progressive, imaginative and charismatic. He can
give a speech that makes you cry. But he's also a regular politician. He
takes full advantage of lucky breaks and knows how to compromise, bargain
and play hardball. Occasionally, he makes dumb mistakes.
He's not the messiah. Get over it, Democrats.
Get over it for the obvious, pragmatic reason: If you want a Democrat in
the White House, you've got to stop fretting about your nominee's lack of
magical powers and just work to get him elected.
But get over it for another reason too. Democrats, of all people, should
remember that political transformation comes primarily from broad-based
social movements, not from transcendent individuals. Neither King nor Lyndon
Johnson magically brought civil rights to blacks. Moving speeches and
civil-rights legislation were important -- but those speeches wouldn't have
made much difference, and that legislation would never have been possible,
had it not been for the thousands of people, black and white, who spoke out,
organized, signed petitions and joined protest marches (sometimes risking
their livelihoods and their lives to do so).
You want a transformative political leader? In Obama, you might have one,
but don't expect him to do that transforming all by himself. For Obama to
shepherd in real change -- economic, social or in foreign policy, whatever
"change" means to you -- he needs robust, supportive social and political
movements to tap into.
So if Democrats want real "change," they need to get out there and
organize, give Obama solid backing and not go all wishy-washy when he makes
mistakes. And they need to stop griping that his speeches alone don't
transform the political landscape. That's their job.
Late-Night Jokes about Republican Vice
Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin Compiled by Daniel Kurtzman
"John McCain's VP pick is the governor of Alaska, a unknown
hockey mom named Sarah Palin that no one ever heard of. The only other job she
had in politics was the mayor of a small town known as Wasilla, Alaska, and now
she has the opportunity to be on a ticket opposite of Barack Obama, the first
black man she's ever seen." -Bill Maher
"Are you kidding me, the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska? Yeah,
that's who you want in the White House during a time of crisis. When she got a
phone call at 3 in the morning, it was because a moose had gotten in the garbage
can."
-Bill Maher
"I think this is pertinent because McCain has been running
this campaign based on 'we're at war, it's a dangerous world out there. The
democrats don't get that. I John McCain am the only one standing between the
blood- thirsty Al Qaedas and you. But if I die, this stewardess can handle it.'"
-Bill Maher
"When they were vetting her for this job, like three seconds
ago, she said, quote, I'm not making this up, 'What is it exactly that the VP
does every day?' Let me field that
for you, Sarah. They start wars, they enrich their friends,
they subvert the Constitution, and they shoot people in the face. That's
what the vice president does." -Bill
Maher
"She's not bad looking. She looks like one of those women in
the Van Halen videos who takes off her glasses, shakes out her hair, and then
all of a sudden, she's in high heels
and a bikini. All of a sudden, I am FOR drilling in Alaska."
--Jimmy Kimmel
"Not only is she young, they're saying she's the prettiest
candidate for Vice President since
John Edwards." --Jimmy Kimmel
"There was some breaking news out of Dayton, Ohio today,
where Republican presidential candidate John McCain introduced the world to his
third wife." --Jon Stewart
"Now obviously Sen. John McCain has made an enormous amount
over Barack Obama's lack of experience, so it seems curious that the 72
year-old, four-to-five time face cancer guy would choose a running mate whose
resume appears to be more suited for a Northern Exposure reunion show." -Jon
Stewart
"Alaska Gov. Sarah Pallin is John McCain's choice. Here's
what we know about her: her name is Sarah Palin." --Jay Leno
"Actually, it was kind of a smart choice. McCain went with a
woman because he didn't want to have to be in a position to have to get CPR from
Mitt Romney." -Jay Leno
"Palin and McCain are a good pair. She's pro-life and he's
clinging to life." -Jay Leno
"Today President Bush called Gov. Palin and congratulated
her. Bush told Palin the job of vice president is very important because as vice
president, you get to tell the president what to do." -Jay Leno
"The McCain people believe that Americans will disregard her
inexperience because they will fall in love with her story. She was a runner up
in the
1984 Miss Alaska Pageant., which may sound trite, but you try
walking in high-heeled snow shoes." -Bill Maher
"Five kids? Does anyone in that party understand the concept
of pulling out?" -Bill Maher
Columnist Gail Collins analyzes McCain's VP pick
It is conceivable that some people will think John McCain
picked Sarah Palin to be his running mate because she is a woman. I
know you find this shocking, but I swear I have heard it mentioned.
McCain does not believe in pandering to identity politics. He
was looking for someone who was well prepared to fight against international
Islamic extremism, the transcendent issue of our time. And in the end he decided
that in good conscience, he was not going to settle for anyone who had not been
commander of a state national guard for at least a year and a half. He put down
his foot!
The obvious choice was Palin, the governor of Alaska, whose
guard stands as our last best defense against possible attack by the resurgent
Russian menace across the Bering Strait.
--Gail Collins (30-Aug)