"Union Maids" (1976)

Met the people who made this movie shortly after it came out.  Interesting folks and the group they belonged to was not beloved by the college history professors in the Dayton area because of the previous movie they made about Patterson the guy who founded NCR.

Somebody will indeed do it sooner or later

This post started by my reading alicublog and being disappointed in both the essay and the comments to the essay.  Followed that by reading Greenwald and then going over to Lawyers, Guns and Money where I read a comment on the Greenwald essay and then to read the comments on that (there are over 800 comments on Greenwald's essay, I can't bring myself to even start reading them).

Too much inside baseball?  Maybe, at any rate the commentators at alicublog, people who I consider to be fairly knowledgeable and progressive, were cheering the fact (they said) that Obama was lying about his beliefs concerning gay marriage.  They think that it is a good thing.  I mentioned that I was kind of queasy about that kind of bald faced lie (if that is indeed what it was), and was politely lectured to.  I was told that it was just necessary, don't you know.  It is a good thing.  At least for Obama at least this time.

Well I can certainly believe that Obama is lying since I think that he has lied more than any other president that I have ever known in my lifetime.  I will admit that it is possible that Nixon may have done it more, but since I never believed anything that son of a bitch said, I never paid any attention to it so I can't say how many actual lies he told.

Still to those people do not seem to know or perhaps care just how corrupt they have become.

As far as LG&M that is a different story.   The commentators there are rabid partisans, exhibiting what Greenwald calls tribalism.   For most of them it is simply impossible for Obama to do something wrong.  So the when it is pointed out that under the current law and executive policies Obama (or the president, if you will, whoever it may be) could claim that congress is aiding Al Quida and have them all indefinitely detained, in theory without explaining what the evidence is, the response is outrage.

Oh well perhaps I read a little too much Roman history in college.

Fine Whines, Why Do You Ask

Knowing more than I want to about the inside of a dog's knee right now.

And this is more or less what it looks like inside right now.

I've been very over whelmed recently.  I've kind of taken it out by remaking the visuals on the blog on a daily basis, a slight exaggeration, but not much.

Flying down to Florida to be with my Mother on Monday.  This was going to be a vacation with my wife, but it hasn't turned out that way.  Our chow has had to have ACL surgery.  Actually they don't call it that on a dog, but that is what it is.  She is the third dog I've had that has had to have this surgery, it is the fourth surgery.  One knee on the first chow, both knees on the pit and now hopefully just one knee on this chow.

Took her to Med-Vet in Columbus last Tuesday.  Got her there at 6:00 a.m. Then came back here to an all day custody hearing which didn't happen because one of the parents is deaf, doesn't use a regulation sign language and the interpreter said we would need two interpreters.  So that has all be continued for about two months.

The vet called and said the surgery went well, but our dog was "feisty" and we could certainly take her home that night which we did.  She was nuts from the anesthetic and not very happy for the next thirty-six hours. A mean drunk.   It turned out that the cost to us by bring her home was cut by $500.00.  There were times that Tuesday, that I think I might have paid them twice that to keep her.  However, as she came out of the anesthetic she got to be more and more like her old self. 

Now, according to the vet we will have to limit her activities for six weeks.  Some chance of that.  We have her on a long lead in the house and a short lead when we take her outside.  She is not a happy camper.  She feels fine and doesn't understand why she can't run and jump.  She can run and jump we just are not to let her do it.  The St. Bernard is freaked because she isn't being allowed to play with him.  Good god I should have kids it might be easier.  Thank god also, for pet insurance.

Unfortunately I have to go to Florida to visit with my mother who seems to be deteriorating mentally.  She refuses to bathe and refuses to wash her clothing because neither she nor the clothing are dirty.  She eats chips and sweets and won't eat balanced meals and refuses to leave her condo.  We have a person coming for two hours five days a week, who is cleaning her clothes and getting her healthy food, but at this point it looks like it will be assisted living, sooner rather than later, while she can still do it.  What that means is that we will have to get her up to Ohio some way and it looks like there is a good shot that I will have to be the one to make the final push to make her do it.  Well, as I told my wife it is just practice for me later on.

Oh yeah I see we're screwed on the foreclosure fraud settlement.  Boy is that a surprise.  Well it is kind of since I expected the AGs of California, Massachusetts and New York to hold out for something better.

Everything Old Is New Again

This is an incredible read.

The Mighty Stef - We Want Blood

a

How about a little protest?

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Wednesday we went to a showing of the American version of Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.  Go with caution from this point forward since I do go into detail concerning the differences between the two movies and the book.

The American version was very good, although some different from the Swedish version.  Mara Rooney, the girl who played Lisbeth was more waif like then Rapace, but in the end I think just as good.  There are some things the American version has in it that the Swedish version doesn't and visa versa.

The rape scene was less violent in the American version and the retribution scene was different.  There is no dildo used by the rapist in the American version, at least that we are aware of and when Lisbeth returns to exact retribution and justice she brings her own dildo and uses it rather than getting the one he used on her out and using it on him.  Which I think makes her retribution look a little less like old testament justice, which if you think about it is meant to contrast, I think, with the very sick minds of the serial killers and their Bible verses justifying their killings.  Lisbeth's actions are obviously justified, particularly when one knows her entire history and relationship with the authorities. 

Towards the end after cutting down Mikael she asks him if she can kill Martin in the American version.  Then as she chases Martin his car blows up before she can do anything, which is different than both the other movie and the book. (Wrong about the book, although she did, I think, cause his death in that he purposely ran headlong into a truck while trying to escape her.)  Lisbeth actively participates in the killing of Martin in both the others, but not in this one.  This changes things, not so much that it ruins the movie, but it does change things.  In both of the others Mikael is the one who has the more conventional morality even with all his sleeping around. He does not approve of her assisting in Martin's death or even just letting Martin burn to death.  Having her ask permission of him and having him give it changes this dynamic and gives him more authority then either the book or other movie gave him.  I wonder if this wasn't an attempt by Hollywood, to make the movie a little more conventional.  You know somehow the girl needs the big strong guy for something even if it is only the moral authority to go out and kill.

In the Swedish version Lisbeth chases Martin on her motor cycle without a weapon and wearing the helmet that that doesn't allow you to see her, it makes her a kind of other worldly avenging angel, even though she exists in an otherwise real world (no matter how horrible). And you know that when she catches him she will exact retribution weapon or no.   In the American version she chases Martin, but doesn't put on her helmet and has the gun all of which makes things more realistic, but once again makes her less of a force of nature.

One of the most important symbols in this version is the bridge which is the only way on or off the Island of the Vangers.  It seems to play an important role in this movie.  I think that one of the themes that was mostly lost in both movies was the contempt Larsson has towards the capitalist class.  Oh well, you can't have everything.

Still after saying all this I did enjoy the American version.  The actors are excellent and in some ways it was closer to the book:  the ending, Mikael's daughter and her religious belief and how she not Lisbeth turned him on to the Bible verses.  Also, Lisbeth's employer and her first guardian are in this movie a little more, which should make them more interesting in the second and third movies.

Fuck Him and The Horse He Rode In On

A letter from the dick who is one of my senators.  The really liberal one.  Fuck Him.

Dear Mr. Couch

Thank you for sharing your thoughts about legislation to combat online infringement and digital theft.

Last Congress, the Senate considered, but did not pass, legislation entitled the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA).  The aim of this legislation was to assist the Department of Justice in tracking and shutting down "rogue websites."  These sites provide unauthorized downloads, streaming, or direct sale of copyrighted material.  Similar legislation, entitled the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property (PROTECT IP) Act, was recently introduced in the Senate.  The PROTECT IP Act narrows the definition of "rogue website" in an effort to target only the most egregious purveyors of digital theft and counterfeit crime.

In an age of advancing technology, it is critical we have laws that protect internet users from unfair, deceptive, or fraudulent marketplace practices.  Too many consumers today purchase goods over the internet that may pose a significant threat to their health and wellbeing.   For example, a consumer may unknowingly purchase counterfeit prescription drugs online that contain incorrect amounts of active ingredients, and thus pose a serious risk to ill individuals.

Additionally, illegal file sharing and unauthorized copying of digital material prevents musicians, producers, filmmakers, software designers, and many others from reaping the fruits of their labor.  Such activity has the potential to stifle artistic creativity and compromise electronic innovation.  Ultimately, intellectual property theft costs our economy billions of dollars and can result in hundreds of thousands of lost jobs.

However, I have also heard from individuals with concerns about the scope of this legislation, as well as its First Amendment implications.  I take these concerns seriously.  Should this legislation come before the full Senate for a vote, I will keep your views in mind.  Thank you again for getting in touch with me. 

                        
 Sincerely,

              

                         Sherrod Brown

                         United States Senator

UPDATE: So I sent another email to my liberal senator and I told him the above was pompous, condescending and insulting among other things. Then I punched send on his web page and the next thing I knew .............. well lets just say I'm not sure it actually went through and I suspect that a second message of the same sort if they actually got the first one, would be a little less than convincing.

Internet

I posted yesterday and I didn't think about the little brag I have at the top of the page:  Banned in China.

Its true, I found out that this blog is banned in China.  I found out when I posted a remembrance of my friend Larry and tried to get a friend of ours who was in China to read it.  She told me it was blocked. 

So anyway given what PIPA and SOPA would do to the Internet and what would happen given how much I link to, this blog would definitely be banned in the U.S.A.

Whatever

Am I wrong in posting today, blackout day? I meant to post yesterday in honor of the late not particularly lamented Gary Gilmore, but I did not.  I would assume that I would be in trouble if either SOPA or PIPA were currently in force. 

I am having a problem getting myself into posting for much of anything involving politics right now. Although it looks like Ohio will have a "Heartbeat" Constitutional Amendment on the ballot so there will indeed be something to at least work against.  Or perhaps work with the Electronic Freedom Foundation.  I have actually been wondering just how long it would take the politicians to realize that the Internet can be real irritating and to do something to try to gut it.  I figure this will continue to happen yearly.  Eternal vigilance, etc.

I do slide over and read various blogs about the presidential race sometimes, but mostly I am looking for snark and humor, not information. I have a hard time getting excited about what horrible things Romney, or Gingrich or even Paul might do if elected since they are not going to do a lot that Obama didn't do already and won't do in the future if elected\. With the exception of course on his current position on LGTB issues, which costs no banker any money. 

This is combined with my belief that the people who are ruling us all, all over the world are not very bright sociopaths. Austerity and more austerity and when that doesn't work then more austerity. This is happening in Europe in what are described as democracies. Although technically they are something else, since none of the political parties seem willing to do what the people want them to do. Also, none of the political parties will do what works, just to show, I guess that they can't be accused of scrounging for votes. Iceland as always excepted.

In American the democrats are shocked, just shocked that republicans won't vote for a jobs bill and extended benefits for those who are in the bottom half of society. Ideas the democrats didn't really come up with until they had lost the ability to control things. Mean while we all agree that the military must not be cut at all because if we do we might be invaded by Costa Rica, I guess. Or China, who really doesn't want to invade us they just want to sell us more shit.

Everything Old Is New Again

From Lawyers, Guns and Money.

  Although you can get it from the I.W.W. here

A Little Follow UP

This is just too good to pass up.

A sort of follow up to yesterdays post.  The piling on on Greenwald is still going on.  Now as I (very) briefly peruse the comments I see that we are very angry with Paul, not because of his (quite correct) positions on endless war, drug war, indefinite detention, or total surveillance state.  We are angry because of his method of getting to those positions.  We will of course not discuss the positions themselves, nor will we discuss how "liberals/progressives/leftists" are able to support a president who takes the wrong side on all those issues.

One of the more interesting attacks on Paul is on his position on the drug war.  Apparently his position is not to be considered because he wants to let the states determine the drug laws.  As opposed to the current guy who wants to continue the drug war nationwide.  Some how this makes Paul's position not serious I guess.

Otherwise, the complete ability to refuse to deal with the issues themselves, but rather allow the discussion to deteriorate into discussions of whether or not Paul could really be elected or whether or not he could accomplish his major positions if he were elected is more important then a discussion of the issues and why it is that the "progressive" community is able to support a guy who is nothing but a Wall Street Whore, or as I have began to think of him as a kinder gentler softer fascist.

I guess I should say that I find most of Paul's positions horrible in the extreme, but the idea of placing a flaming reactionary who believes in certain things that most "liberals" claim to believe in opposite a guy who played a liberal on TV and then demanding that "liberals" justify their support of the TV liberal is entertaining.  Of course they managed to refuse to engage in the merits or lack thereof of the positions and charge off in several other directions ignoring the issues. 

Why Glenn Greenwald is Not Serious

Generally I don't write these kind of posts, or maybe I do but I forgot, however I got a little pissed off today.  Read Greenwald's thing about Ron Paul and how he is the only person taking certain positions that go against the entire establishment both "left" and right.  (One really must put "left" and "liberal" in quotation marks when referring to our political/pundit class, not so much with right or conservative.)  Its a brutal take down of Obama and what Greenwald calls tribalism from a real liberal perspective (no need for quotes here).   There is more (much more Greenwald is not known for his brevity) I suggest reading the whole thing.

I, in cruising the web later went to Lawyers, Guns and Money and they had a take on the whole thing that essentially, and I do think I am being fair here (read them), accused Greenwald of supporting Paul, ignoring Paul's horrible positions of women's rights among other horrible positions that Paul takes on other things like civil rights.  alcicublog also had something about it.

The comments at all the sites seemed more than willing to ignore the original argument: mainly that Paul forces discussion of the various issues he raises into the main stream and deteriorated into, but Paul wouldn't do what he said if he was elected and/or he is just a bad person concerning civil rights and women's rights and/or he couldn't do what he said and/or ........... In other words a horse race or this is my hero and I'm sticking by him (Obama) because he is just dreamy (OK that last is a little snarky, but why not its my blog?)

Given that I figure that most of the people who read these blogs are better educated and more informed then the average citizen (showing my prejudice here) this kind of response is kind of depressing. OK major depressing.

Oh well.

Crosby, Stills and Nash - Almost Cut My Hair - Madison Square Garden, NY...

So this has the line in it "musta been cause I got the flu for Xmas." Kind of appropriate for Xmas this year.

A Christmas Carol For The Rest Of Us

Ken Russell - The Devils

Women in Love - 1969.

Well in keeping with the current stuff on this site and to see if it is the computer or me that is the problem. Plus of course in honor of Ken Russell.

Its Time

McCabe & Mrs. Miller

I've been thinking about this movie for some time or at least the end.  Well I guess that is the point.  So who are you?  The blind townsfolk, Warren Beatty defending his little capitalist empire, or the thugs?

What is Perfect After All

I started to write at another location that if Obama was re-elected the things would not be getting quite as bad quite as quickly, but they would be getting as bad eventually.  Perhaps the republicans would eviscerate us, but the democrats would merely slit a vein and hang us up to let us bleed out.  I'm not sure about that any more they are both out to bleed us dry.    Why wait? 

Now with the more or less simultaneous raids on the various OWS encampments. None of which were assisted or coordinated by any federal government agency at all. Add that the medical marijuana busts along with our militaristic foreign policy and what just is the major difference again?  Oh yes, forced private insurance, with no provisions for abortions.

And yet still people are defending the bastard in the Oval Office.  I've been wondering around a few of the more "main line?" blogs.  Balloon Juice and Lawyers, Guns and Money.  The pure hatred of most of the commentators at Balloon Juice concerning OWS and when that is not right out there then their not particularly well hidden contempt for the demonstrators is breath taking.   Their disdain for the people who are out there doing something is depressing. A great deal of the anger at the OWS crowd seemed to be because of the way they dress.  Same sort of stuff that they say about the hippies and anti-war people from the 60s and 70s.  God I guess that war will never end.  "If people would just dress nice and act like ladies and gentlemen then the powerful will listen to you and you will be able to sit down and reason together."   That is the reason the anti-war crowd didn't end the war sooner back in the day and that is why the powerful won't listen to the OWS people today. Well I guess it is a way to deny their actual powerlessness and to avoid blaming their betters.

I can understand how people who have put all their belief into a party and system that have completely let them down now feel the need to cling to those people and that system even more as that system  basically kicks them in the teeth (or nuts as the case may be).  Clinging to their god and party I guess.  Where their god is Obama.

New Toy

Still on the front edge of the learning curve.  Had to download this through my other computer.  This is the Caravaggio[?] in Columbus.

A new toy.  As a veteran I decided to spend the holiday in a way that truly is a celebration of the reason We Fight.  Essentially I bought some crap from China that full fills my serious need for More Shit That I Don't Really Need.

In short I got a tablet with a pull out key board.  (If I mention the makers ASUS will I get a kick back do you think?)

Well we also went into Columbus to the Art Museum to see an exhibition about Caravaggio.  I say about because there was only one Caravaggio (which some but not most art experts do not think is a Caravaggio).  The rest of the paintings were by people who were heavily influenced by Caravaggio.  It was interesting, but a little surprising. I guess I should have read the on line description a little more closely.  Still since I do not know that much about Caravaggio or the other painters I was not disappointed and I learned quite a lot.

So election results in Ohio, not shabby. 

My wife and I worked the phone banks on the anti-2 campaign.  Kind of interesting.  Since I wasn't the one who organized the thing, I thought it best not to point out to the people running it that they were using Verizon.  I wonder who decided that and why?  An example of how Americans seem to be simply unable to see beyond the immediate.

We had a couple of interesting calls.  The best being the teacher my wife got who immediately told her:  "I'm a teacher.  I don't live under a rock.  I know the issues and I don't need you to tell me."  My wife's response was to say:  "Sister Marie?  Is that you?  I thought you were dead."

The results of the election (I only voted on the issues, I knew nothing about the people running for local office.  My wife's god father has retired as mayor, so I don't have him to vote for and the only other person running locally whose name I know runs a great restaurant down town that is just great so I did vote for him.   Does this make me a bad American?) would be something that I think might cause the president and his minions to question just about everything they've done since he's been in office.  That is to say that Ohio defeated the anti-union bill with about the same percentage as they passed the anti Obama Lets Us Give a Shit Load of Money to the Pharmacy, Insurance, and Various Other Health Care Industries With No Oversight bill.

But I am sure that the villagers who run the democratic party will not be able to figure out this simplest of conclusions.  I mean after all they were unable to figure out what happened in 2010.  Hell they were convinced they were brilliant both before and after they got their asses handed to them on a platter.

Oh To Be in Prague Now That Winter Is Near

I think I need to use as my mantra the saying at the top of this blog: "I used to be disgusted now I try to be amused."  Thanks Elvis.

In reading about the Greek crisis I have a difficult time believing that the Greek people will permit the government to call for a referendum and then call it off to go with what the vast majority of the people do not want.  But there you have it.  I completely expect this to happen now and to go through with only "some" violence by the hot heads (do I need more quotation marks?).

This is the kind of thing that makes me feel that our own little Occupy movements will peter out and amount to nothing.  No violence no real bad manners because if either of those things happened then the Occupy movement would be discredited in the eyes of ............. just who exactly?  Those who matter I guess.

If there is violence it will be crushed with massive amounts of paramilitary police power.  Boys and their guns as we recently saw here in beautiful Muskingum County Ohio, give them a chance and they love to use them.

At any rate we have seen this same scenario play out in multiple third world nations over the last thirty or forty years as the IMF comes in to rescue the economy, starves the people and makes sure that some of the oligarchs and none of the foreign investors have to take any kind of a loss.   Wellllll, I guess we are all third world peasants now.

I was in discussion on a post on Lawyers, Guns and Money about the referendum a few days ago (its two or three or more pages back not worth going to any more really).   The original post was basically simply suggesting that the powers that be thought that a referendum was a little too much democracy.  The original poster kind of disagreed with them.  The comments were interesting:  too much democracy many said, things would be really bad for the Greeks if they defaulted on the loans others said.  Essentially:  TOO SCARY.  And of course, it is the Greeks' fault they essentially deserve this out come.  At least I think that was the implied conclusion.  It was suggested that the Greek government was able to hide its finances from the poor deluded bankers. 

Well now the finance minister jumps from his hospital bed and rushes to assure (I originally wrote insure, calling Dr. Freud) the German and French money men.  And the world is made safe for a few more days for our rulers. 

Time to defenestrate.    

Beautiful Ohio

The new homes I suspect.

A second post about my "home town or really county."  Muskingum county has determined to close the county home.  This is so even though the citizens passed a level last year to maintain the county home for five years.  A new county commissioner has taken office and his position is:  "The county should not be in active competition with private nursing homes"  this is of course a conclusion, not an argument.  This is assisted by a nursing home owner who has fought for a couple of years in court to decertify the county home.  I suspect that there has been more going on here for longer then I have been aware, since several years ago the county moved all of the clients out of the country home that was owned by the country and into a building only leased by the country.

My wife volunteers at the county home and she has been told that last time the patients were moved several died (merely because of their age and they couldn't deal, well I guess that is the way the cookie crumbles, and sorry for your.....death). 

There is an argument that there are enough beds in the country to take all of the old people, so no big deal.  Fungible elders, widgets if you were.  It matters not what will happen to those who will occupy the beds, nor what will happen to those who have made friends.  After all they are money to the private owners so if they made friends at the county home (which incidentally is an incredibly well kept place and staffed with very dedicated workers) and their friends can't come with them.  Fuck 'em they'll be dead soon enough anyway.

(An aside the old country home had animals living in the home, they were not allowed in the new one.)

The second interesting thing that is going on here (rumor has it) is that the very same county commissioner has determined that it is time that a creche be placed on the court house lawn again, after several years of not having one there.   An interesting position, and one as an atheist I really don't give much of a shit about, except putting only a nativity scene without other symbols of the holidays is something that the Supreme Court has frowned on in the past.

On the other hand dealing with these rural politicians who seem to think they are god can be interesting to say the least.  Back when I worked for legal aid we were continually running into towns and cities that would turn off the city water or gas service to a residence without notifying the actual person living there that was going to happen.  Now the interesting thing about that is that there was a Supreme Court case which said that notice had to be given.  That case came through the 6th Circuit (it covers Ohio) and was pretty clear.  There were several District Court cases from the Southern District of Ohio that said they same thing, including a couple that had been filed and won by my legal aid. 

So I would go to meet with the law director and some of the city councilmen and perhaps the mayor and I would bring my cases and say see:  All you have to do is give people notice and give them a couple of days to see if they can come up with some money (normally the slumlord would have stopped paying at that point and that is why the water was being shut off).  In addition, if we actually filed a case in federal court then the client would not only be entitled damages but legal aid would be entitled to attorney fees.  In every single case they refused to enter into the agreement and we were forced to sue and we always won.  The law be damned.

Beautiful Zanesville, Ohio

Too painful to put up photos of the dead.

Anybody there?  Is this thing still working?   1,2,3,1,2,3.

Having several briefs due in the last month and the stuff going on around here that I feel that I should write about, but it is too painful so I haven't written.

I had met Terry Thompson, but I didn't know him.  However, I did know several people who did know him.  Many years ago (well over the statute of limitations, thank you) friends of mine and I were into the consumption of various pharmaceuticals.  They seriously considered going into distribution.  So they went to talk.  They came back and made what was perhaps the most intelligent decision of their lives and decided not to go into distribution.  Mostly because the female friend told me that she realized that her boyfriend of the time would have gotten them either killed on in prison for a very long time within six months.  However, she remained friends.  Whenever there were busts around town, busts that made the front pages and busts that allowed the cops to puff out their chests, flying squads from the state.  They never reached him for serious stuff.

Many other friends knew Terry in other ways and knew that he and his wife cared for and loved all the animals out there.  She was heard screaming: "They're killing my babies" when the killing went down.  Yes I know that he was charged with animal cruelty, but he did not (from what I saw of the court records) and speaking with people involved in the case, ever think he did anything wrong and he certainly did not harm the big cats.  There was both less and more there then most people cared to find out after the holocaust.   I was told that he raised his own cattle to feed the cats.

I need to add something right here.  The allegations concerned whether or not there was enough water let out for horses and dogs.  His defense was that he put food and water out in the morning and it was gone by the time the animal control people came by in the afternoon.  Whatever the truth was the judge allowed him to serve his time on house arrest so he could take care of his animals.

I am told that the police had No Other Choice last month.  It Had To Be Done.  Perhaps, but what I've seen of cops over my life time and here, I will withhold my approval on that.  I will go further, I sincerely doubt that the slaughter was really necessary, but that cops with their assualt rifles need to use them every once in a while.

They said that he let the animals out and killed himself.  Perhaps.  I've also seen people with serious anger and depression issues do things that I cannot understand.  My first thought was that it was a murder and then the animals were let out to cover things up.  

Some how one thinks that things could have been done differently, reached back only a little bit and changed things.  Crap.

My Weekend So Far

A three day weekend here in Ohio.  Columbus Day.  Well at least it is three days for bankers and lawyers.  I'm not sure about schools, nor the post office.

Went to a writers conference yesterday here in town.  It is put on once a year by the writing group my wife founded.  She withdrew from the group after the last conference because she didn't want to keep running it, and wanted to spend more time with her family.  That and the fact that there were internal political struggles going on.  The same kind there eventually are in any small group and she didn't want to do that kind of fighting with people she liked.  Unfortunately, since she is friends with most of the people who are "running" the group now and they talk to her regularly she can't completely avoid the stresses.

At any rate the conference was moderately interesting.  One of the main stresses was that the person who was in charge of getting people to speak refused to deal with anyone else and got only people she wanted, which meant that the entire conference was directed to character development and sales until one of the other people move in and added some different speakers.  Which as one can imagine led to some very cool relations between members of the ruling junta.  Unfortunately, the one who screwed up the original invites to speak resigned and then unresigned and now insists that she will absolutely control who speaks next (if there is a next) year.  The other members "don't want to make her mad."  I wonder if the other members of the Politburo had the same feelings about Stalin?

I think I've said it before, but just offer middle level writers lunch and a place to hussle their books and they will role over and do just about anything.  No need to pay them in money.  Just food and a table to put their books on.

The number of writers there who are proudly announced christians and the number who are or were preachers of one real denomination or another, is amazing to me. Perhaps it is just where I live.  One of the former ministers, Robert W. Birch even has a series of erotic novels.

From there we went to a concert of Blood Sweat and Tears that is part of a concert series my mother-in-law gets us tickets to every year.   Generally, the concerts are very good particularly the classical ones.  In this case however the band (the name of which is apparently owned by some business entity completely unconnected with say any real creative artists, since none of the original members are in the current group or for that matter even mentioned) was not how you say?  Good.  It was its own tribute band.  I was a little surprised at how weak they were.  But not all that disappointed since in my opinion they were not that cool when they were "cool."

Place Holders

Wow, its been fifteen days since my last post.  And to be honest the only reason I'm probably posting right now is that I've got to start working on a brief. 

I got a new sweeper: A Shark.  I have a difficult time sweeping the carpets as my father would sweep the house whenever he came home from work, no matter how late.  Every day that I lived at home.  Every day.  However, with eight cats and two dogs a guy has gotta do what he's gotta do, particularly since my wife can't because of her handicap.

So anyway the sweeper is one of those bag less kind and does a hell of a job.  Unfortunately, I wasn't thinking and I kept emptying the full container into the waste about six or so times.  Well, with my allergies and the cat dander floating upward...... I now have an allergy attack to match any I've ever had.  Which makes it that much harder to work.  On the plus side the carpets are cleaner than I've seen them for some time.  In fact I now see stains that I didn't know were there and I will have to be shampooing it here shortly.

My wife and I went into Columbus yesterday and went to a religious book store.  Since it is not something I'm particularly interested in I was just kind of wondering around.  One of the employees asked me if I needed any help and I said:  "No thanks, I'm with the cripple."  The store employee did not seem to see the humor in it.

Finally, went to see Jackson Browne on Tuesday (thanks Sue and Keith).   Just Jackson Browne a keyboard and his seventeen guitars as my wife said.  He was great.  The concert was wonderful, except for the fat chick in front of us with the Iphone who had to have taken about fifty pics.  Now since all he did was either sit at the keyboard or sit in a different chair playing one of his guitars I'm not sure what she thought she was preserving, but preserve she did. 

Well OK, back to work to see if I can win one for a change.

Racist?

I finally  figured out linking to Hulu which turns out not to be hard at all.  I will say that after watching Moore, his statement seems more dumb than racist to me, but then I'm white.

I'm home this morning and I think I'll see how blogger works today.  The last post had a number of problems that I just couldn't figure out, including a back color on the writing that I finally had to completely do over from scratch, different size and font writing that I also couldn't figure out how it happened.  But at any rate there is:  a poor thing, but mine own.  (It appears that if I copy from google docs. and paste here that has an effect on the formatting, so that is one thing.)


OK this has been going on with both computers for some time I will hit the Enter key and just delete the previous paragraph, very irritating   Try again.  Then some sort of interference and I had to emergency shut down the computer.  Yesterday, it just shut down itself.

It appears that Michael Moore has said a terribly racist thing, quoting Bill Maher who is also a bad person and not worthy of out respect.  That is Moore said :  "I went into the polls voting for the black guy and what I got was the white guy."

Is that racist?  It is an interesting question and I must ask my black friend what he thinks.(Is this comment racist enough for you?)

Balloon Juice with Angry Black Lady led the way followed up by Ta-Nehisi Coates at TNR.

After thinking about Moore's statement, I can certainly see it as racist. It assumes that all black people because of generations of being screwed over by the white ruling classes would not in fact identify with that class, but rather identify with the abused and under classes of whatever race.  But what the statement presumes is that all African Americans should react in the same way to oppression. It denies the individual the opportunity to be an individual and a prick and screw over those who haven’t made it to the top once they do.

The commentators are interesting, particularly at TNR since there are a number of those there who are more than happy to bash Moore and call into question everything he has done.  He isn't, what?  One of us?  I don't know.  None of them managed to hop into the Way Back Machine and go all the way to 2008 to remember how hard Moore worked for Obama and how much energy he put into that campaign.  

I made an abbreviated version of my comment above at a comment thread at Lawyers Guns and Money and was accused of being a racist (or at least harboring racist thoughts myself) because I cannot imagine a black person being part of the ruling class.  I guess the problem is that there are a lot of racists out there who hate Obama because he is black.  (And let's face it he is black under the strange rules that apply in this country as to the pigeon holing of people into racial categories.  The fact that his mother was white and he was raised by white grandparents for a large part of his youth doesn't count.)  That those of us who hate Obama because he is incompetent and and owned by Wall Street, can be tarred with that same racist brush.

Well, it may be racist. And since I voted for him assuming that he was someone who would be different, I guess that makes me racist. I kind of thought he would be more like Martin Luther King rather than Barry Goldwater.  Perhaps I didn’t look far enough beyond his skin color to see a paid up member of the plutocracy.

More frustration

So I went to Lawyers Guns and Money to get my fair share of abuse.  Once again Lemieus is arguing that the presidency is in fact very limited in its powers domestically and that what Obama did with his health care legislation was all he could have done.  Lemeius’s posting is in response to Atkins at Hullabaloo.

This defense of Obama by Lemieus and other is always that Obama didn’t have the votes for something that he never tried.  Why didn’t he try it?  Because if he had tried it he would have lost and then it woud have been a disaster for the democrats and progressive politics in general.  This argument works for everything apparently:  the stimulus for instance could not have been bigger because then it would not have been passed and things would be really badright now.  It goes on and on.

These arguments are nuts. Among the very first people Obama appointed were Summers, Geither, and Emmanuel. What does that tell one? That he had progressive goals?  None of Obama's policies in my mind were ever developed as anything other then massive wealth redistribution upwards to the rich.

Well that is what he did and he did it such a ham handed fashion that he gave the country back to the republicans just two years after his “land slide.”

I like to think of Obama as the 1919 Chicago Black Sox or if one wants to be more generous as someone who rides to work every day on the short bus


Of course the other response to this entire argument is that it really doesn't matter if Michelle Bachmann is president, if what they argue is true.

UPDATE:  I went back and commented on Obama's choices of Emmanuel, Summers and Geither as his top advisers as far as economics and domestic matters went.  Pointing out that these should have showed us all just what Obama was about and that his real goal was to transfer money into the hands of the wealthiest.  One person pointed out that was OT, which is more or less correct, although I would now think that in fact it really isn't since LG&M argument is that Obama was trapped by circumstances into do what he has done with most of his domestic stuff.  This would indicate that is just what he really wanted to do.  


However, what was more interesting was at three (I haven't bothered to go back since last night, so it might be more now) people said that really those were the people that he needed to choose since he needed people who had the expertise in Wall Street and had the Street's confidence.  I did ask if they were sure that Krugman wasn't available, but that was really just snark.  The more I think about it the more I think that it is impossible to have a rational discussion with people who think that way.  


Obama appoints two people (more but let's talk about only Geither and Summers) one of whom let the crash happen on his watch the other of which was working for those industries that caused the crash, not to mention that Summers has his own issues with equality of the sexes.  In other words Obama dug deep into the effluvium of the ruling class to get his most trusted advisers and these posters are cool with that.


ONE LAST DAMNED UPDATE AND THEN TO WORK:  I did make the mistake of going back and reading more comments.  The arguments seem to be that he couldn't have done anything else and these were the best people he could have really gotten. That's it.   And if I believe anything else, even for a second then I just do not understand what goes on in the real world.


If the argument is that a president (black or white) other than Obama couldn't have done more and gotten better people than it is bullshit.  If the argument is that Obama couldn't have done more or gotten better people then I'll buy it.

All Righty Then

Obligatory 9/11 Post Because I would Be A Traitor If I Didn't

This isn't the guy?  Are you sure?

Happy 9/11 Day.  Does that sound just weird?

We could have gone in an taken out the people responsible for the whole thing within a year, but we choose to invade another country and began (accelerated?)  the destruction of our own country and what was left of our own ideals instead.  Although to be honest I'm thinking we were so far gone by 2001 that there was no going back and people just started to notice after a while.

Let us not forget that the president we had in 2001 actually lost that election and there were no real protests when he was appointed by his dad's buds.  Not that the other guy was any prize winner.

So we continue in Afghanistan because we can't leave (yet), we try to continue in Iraq because we can't leave, we will probably be putting money into Libya because NATO can't leave and they have their own economic problems and since they are marginally more intelligent than us they are going to insist that we help them out financially.  I guess it is possible that the Libyan oil will pay for it, hahahaha.

So although he is now dead Bin Laden has pretty much accomplished everything he hoped to accomplish after all, so I guess somebody should be celebrating.