Living in a Europe Without Armies

All of this talk about boycotts is interesting.

What will the nations of Europe do to enforce the boycott of Ukraine? What will they do to ensure that the rule of law comes back into vogue? What will they do when revolution breaks out if the current regime ends up killing Tymoshenko?

Better yet, what happens when Russia decides to get involved in establishing a Ukrainian government friendly to its own interests by using force?

And what if it comes to tanks and shooting?

This is what can happen if Europe decides to get involved in Ukraine's internal affairs. It could come to another interruption of natural gas supplies in the winter ahead. It could come to much worse than boycotting a soccer tournament. You have a situation where a corrupt regime sitting on top of a restive population that has known nothing but economic misery since forever could end up killing the prime minister who tried to clean things up (in her own imperfect and somewhat corrupt sort of way). The thing is, this is the biggest country in Europe now. It's a powderkeg.

Europe has no more armies. This is the most de-militarized Europe has been since humans first migrated to the region. Are they going to send the Bavarian Riot Police? Are they going to draft ten thousand Dutchmen to go establish peace in Kiev if everything goes south? What will NATO do if Ukraine ends up in a civil war?

Somehow, I don't think anyone realizes that this fallen gas princess has the fate of Europe resting on her shoulders while she sits, beaten and helpless, in her prison cell.

Shark Made Out of Legos

Does your koi pond have a shark made out of Legos?

A Blast From the Past With Paul Simon

I don't think that I'll find myself on this bandwagon, but it is worth noting that Paul Simon's Graceland had a huge impact on the mid-1980s in terms of popular music and political causes.

This period was one of cause after cause after cause. It started in the late 1970s with the anti-nuke movement, and it continued in one form or another through the Do They Know It's Christmas song, which purported to feed Africa's starving masses. Then, there was We Are the World and Live Aid and Farm Aid and the concerts for Amnesty International and, well, after that, I can't remember much.

Paul Simon's album stands out for several reasons. It was quintessential pop music for the era, better remembered than much of what was popular. If you threw down Madonna, Phil Collins, Rick Springfield, or Richard Marx and then had the Paul Simon album as your alternative, I think most people would choose Graceland. It reminds me a lot of Robbie Robertson's solo album and John Fogerty's comeback album from roughly that same period. It should be noted that Paul Simon's career basically went on the down slope after Graceland. Not entirely, but mostly.

Oh, and it is memorable for the forgettable music video for You Can Call Me Al, which had a useless Chevy Chase not doing anything beyond being Chevy Chase.

The Struggles of Jennifer Love Hewitt

Virtually all of the interviews that Jennifer Love Hewitt gives these days hint at a struggle and a conflict that she is trying to resolve. How do you be normal, and age gracefully, when no one wants to see you do either?

Kristen Stewart Never Looks Like This

The world has a few anti-celebrities, and Kristen Stewart is definitely one of them. She is so anti-celebrity, it's a wonder she even showed up to be photographed for the cover of Elle.

This is a wonderful photo and a wonderful cover; however, Kristen Stewart never looks like this. She prefers a more dressed down look, and that's what people tend to see in her.

Now, both photos could be representative of her style and her choice of presentation. Going to Coachella requires a certain form of dressing down, so this isn't exactly a fair comparison, but I don't think you'll see Stewart in her Baltimore Orioles hat on the cover of Vogue.

Should the Angels Move to Los Angeles?

Should they or shouldn't they?

Well, if the Angels want to destroy their fanbase in Anaheim, then they should make the move into the market currently owned by the Dodgers. And if they choose to jump on the new ballpark bandwagon, that's going to set off a lot of scrambling.

Add the possibility of a Minnesota Vikings franchise operating in the Los Angeles market, and you have the potential for a major realignment in sports.

Castle Lichtenstein in the Swabian Alps

Castle Lichtenstein

Castle Lichtenstein is one of those smaller castles you keep hearing about. Don't let this photo fool you--the actual castle is that part off to the left with the tower on it, and I doubt very much whether you could put more than fifty knights in it at a time. Any more than that and they wouldn't have anywhere to stand and fight if you were to put the castle under siege.

There is a dropoff on the other side. Here's a (slightly brown because of the time of year) view of the other side of the castle, looking down into the valley below.

View From Castle Lichtenstein

Everyone Knows Sarkozy Did the Deed

You would have to be incredibly naive not to understand that it was a sophisticated hit job that caused Dominique Strauss-Kahn to end up being arrested in New York City. And it was a hit job put together by the Sarkozy government. Telling him to shut up doesn't mean you have any kind of moral superiority.

When you're behind in the polls and no one likes you, lashing out is all you have left.

Upside Down Giraffe in a Diving Helmet

Easily one of my favorite pictures of the whole day. This is a giraffe hanging suspended from the ceiling in the Steiff Museum in Giengen, Germany. This is part of the "undersea" display. It's actually very well done.

Screw the Pundits

In order to reach millions of young people, the President of the United States went on a talk show and demonstrated just how connected he is to the culture and to the issues. His slow jam with Jimmy Fallon was absolutely fucking brilliant, to put not too fine a point on it.

This is how you command the issues and win. This is how you take control of the agenda and shape public opinion. This is how the bully pulpit now works because if President Obama had gotten mad and pounded on a lectern in the Rose Garden, they would have called him angry, shrill, and unbalanced.

Instead, he used cool humor, the music of the Roots, and Jimmy Fallon to express a policy desire that will help him win votes and save people a ton of money. Of course they're angry--because it worked. Of course they're calling it "undignified." He took this issue and rammed it down their throats. Of course they're mad. He's talented and capable and they're dribbling overpriced wine into their ample laps while howling like a beaten animal. He absolutely destroys the wingnuts when he does these things, and he shows up the media class every time. He has what they want, and they hate him for it, and he doesn't care about them at all.

The very same people calling President Obama undignified love it when other people's children are sent half way around the world to get blown up in poorly-designed vehicles so that they can have something to talk about at cocktail parties.

Meet Ana Casas Wilson

There is an election happening this year, and one of the things that bothers me about this election is that no one is talking at length about what is happening to Ana Casas Wilson, pictured above.

Wells Fargo is throwing her out of her home because she had a little bit of bad luck a few years back and got behind on her mortgage payments. She is more than willing to make good on those payments, and went to the home of the man who runs Wells Fargo and tried to give him her mortgage payment. For that, she got arrested. Welcome to an America most people are conveniently ignoring.

The fraud and the farce that is America's mortgage industry is a source of embarrassment. Without any regard for the rule of law, fairness, decency, or the interests of the community, banks are throwing people who are trying to do the right thing out on the street. Banks are forging documents, cheating people, lying, stealing, and destroying communities by foreclosing on homes that will sit empty and go to seed and become uninhabitable.

What is going on in the photo you see above is one of the most important things in America right now, and everyone needs to be aware of it, informed about it, and talking about it. What is happening to this woman is happening to far too many Americans. This is an election year issue that should be front and center and not hidden in feature stories published on the weekend.

I want to hold the Obama Administration accountable for the fact that they need to do more to regulate and repair the mortgage industry. I want the Congress to be held accountable for the fact that it can't get anything done unless it involves telling women what to do with their ladyparts and that aspirin between their knees. And I want people to know that if they elect Mitt Romney, a certain kind of "sucks to be you" attitude will take hold and nothing will be done to solve this problem.

Well, they might strive to make it easier for the banks to throw people out of their homes, but that's enough fun and games for one night.

UPDATE:

From the comments, a petition to support Ana Casas Wilson...

Glory or Hell

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Glory or Hell [Kindle Edition]

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Young Norman Rogers travels to India where he meets his brother Peejamod for the first time. Norman and Peej encounter the notorious drug smuggler Habib the Rat. This is the story of how Norman became acquainted with the quaint notion of chasing glory or hell.

Very pleased to now have four titles up on Amazon. Amazingly, people are sampling them and giving them a chance. Really, what more could you ask for?

Whose Name Would You Use?

While this may look like a classic case of diplomacy and geopolitical posturing, it does touch on the craft of technical writing.

Japan and South Korea are involved in a naming dispute that centers around what is called the Sea of Japan. All of the maps in use by the United States Military reference this body of water as the Sea of Japan. But Korea wants it to be known, alternatively, as the East Sea.

As a technical writer, working on a project that might involve this dispute, I think it would be imperative to acknowledge the facts of this dispute and act accordingly. A client might prefer to use the East Sea--or a client might want that avoided altogether. Staying up on cultural and political topics is essential to being prepared for disputes and controversies.

Yet Another Reason to Love Charles Pierce

No one can express the right amount of rage towards our so-called ruling class better than Charles Pierce. He always seems to be spot-on when it comes to looking at things like this and establishing the right perspective on what these sorts of things really mean.

We have a self-congratulatory, self-flaggellating, self-centered elite that rules us, and these people are no different than the elites that ruled us a hundred years ago. They don't care about anyone or anything other than the perpetuation of their own indignant glory.

It is no wonder that the American people are so badly misinformed.

Elizabeth Banks Said Something Interesting

Whenever a celebrity has to conjure up some anecdote or opinion that will "sell" whatever piece accompanies the massive press junket and promotional material for their latest project, hurt feelings can multiply fairly quickly. You see, the well runs dry pretty quickly when you can't tell stories about your cat or your friend who got hit on by one of the oilier dudes from Entourage. You have to keep making things up or, barring that, you have to keep baring your soul.

In this case, Elizabeth Banks has dumped on the first film she appeared in. This is what a lot of people do; they react to their past in a negative way because they are still smarting from having done something that they don't think was any good.

It's called being an artist. If she didn't care about doing good work--and if she wasn't embarrassed by something she did early on--people would assume that she's just in it for the money.

And so, poor Miss Banks is simply guilty of saying something interesting. What else is new?

The Same Old Song and Dance

Our elites are scared.

What more can you say about a blaring headline and a story like this on MSNBC as we head towards the weekend? One authored by "senior producer" John W. Schoen? One that posits that our economy will be crushed if the Bush tax cuts expire?

Well, this is where you have to scream bullshit.

It's a very neat trick to link spending cuts with the expiration of the Bush tax cuts. They are not the "Bush-era" tax cuts; they are the tax cuts that gutless Democrats helped pass in the early 2000s and we are still paying a steep price for this neat little piece of fiscal insanity and monetary redistribution. They are what's killing this country. They are what is allowing the One Percenters to continue their scam. And their scam is obvious. In exchange for "creating jobs" they are going to continue to demand their tax cuts.

The problem with this scenario is that they're not creating jobs. They're hoarding their wealth.

I'm all for a rollback on these tax cuts. If they want to replace them with targeted incentives--like actually hiring people or investing in green technology--fine and dandy. But don't link these tax cuts to a "crushing" of America's economy. That's absurd.

Our elites--Bernanke especially--have failed to accomplish much of anything with regards to restarting America's economy. It's time to end the cozy relationship between failed Wall Street bankers and failed ex-Wall Street politicians and go back to a tax rate of 39% for everyone who makes more than $250,000 per year and a 45% tax rate for everyone who makes more than a million dollars a year. And if you have more than a billion dollars in assets, we'll be taking half, please.

It's the least you could pay for living in the one country on Earth where such wealth actually allows you to live without fear of paying a 90% rate or being thrown in prison with the other oligarchs because the Prime Minister thinks you may be too popular for your own good.

No More DRM For Me

I look at this story as a wakeup call. Of the four titles that I now have available on my Amazon author's page, three of them do have DRM protection, and I regret doing that. It is too late to change that. Once you choose to protect it with DRM, it cannot be undone on Amazon's system. When, and if, I migrate these titles to other services, I will remove the DRM.

The newest title, Glory or Hell, does not have DRM protection.

The NFL Might Do Away With the Pro Bowl

The article goes on to say that last year's Pro Bowl was a "joke."

All of them have been a joke; the game itself is a joke. It's not real. It does present the opportunity for a player to go into the off season injured or worse.

No sport should have "fake" games like the Pro Bowl or the All Star game. They are meaningless and serve only to raise cash from a phony spectacle. The All Star Game in baseball actually damages the World Series prospects of certain National League Teams because it has allowed for American League teams to have home field advantage.

If you did away with the Pro Bowl, few would notice.

A Double Dose of Wingnut Logic

J0hn Hinderaker and Jim Treacher have given us a double dose of insanity today, simply because they are assuming facts not in evidence. They're not waiting for the facts because they want to blog their way to wingnut glory. They want to take a cheap shot at the President because he has the moral authority they desperately crave.

Is this a big deal? Yes, it certainly is. I hope that whoever assaulted Matthew Owens is arrested and tried fairly for assaulting him and I hope that Mr. Owens makes a speedy recovery. I hope that whoever did this to him goes to prison for a very long time. I hope that this sort of attack, if it was, in fact, racially motivated, is prosecuted as a hate crime under Federal statutes and I hope we can all agree that this horrific crime should be a wakeup call to everyone who cares about race relations in this country.

Hinderaker and Treacher (that's not his name; he's some sort of anonymous buffoon who writes for Tucker Carlson's Failed Web Site) are hopping up and down because they want to have their own pet cause here with which to fan the flames and deflect attention from the fact that Trayvon Martin was murdered by a man who wasn't charged with the crime of stalking and killing him after being told not to stalk and kill him by a police dispatcher. You see, the wingnuts and the right and whoever else have lost the debate on the George Zimmerman case almost from the outset because justice was not done and Zimmerman's daddy, being some sort of judge, may have pulled some strings.

And, I'm sorry, but there's no debate here. What happened in the Martin case with Zimmerman getting preferential treatment was an injustice. But justice has not been served yet in the Owens case. If the attackers are found, and given preferential treatment, then there should be universal condemnation for what they did to this poor man.

The problem is, Hinderaker and Treacher aren't competent enough to wait for the injustice to happen. They have no moral authority. They don't have a leg to stand on. They are assuming a great deal, precisely because they are racists. They are racists because they want to find an example of black people beating up a white person so that they can deflect attention from the fact that Zimmerman (he is part Hispanic, part white) killed a black teenager.

Yes, it's crazy. But we live in crazy times where fools have far influence than they probably should.

Petty Theft Gets You a Felony in Florida

I'm sure that they'll throw the book at this man over a dollar's worth of soda, and there will be many who say that he has it coming and what part of illegal don't you understand and that we should jail the bastard for the rest of his miserable life. So long as someone else is getting the business end of the broomstick, right?

Come on. He was drunk, down on his luck, and he went into a fast food joint and got out of hand. Did he hurt anyone? No. Sober him up, jail him for a few days for the drunk and disorderly, and then let's move on. Charge him for with a felony? Over this? That's the definition of cruel and unusual punishment, and of the excess of the law with regard to piling on charges. Does this case even remotely appear to be the even and fair application of the rule of law? No. What a nightmare.

Why not throw him on the rack and whip him without regard for this quaint notion of mercy and compassion?

At some point, it will dawn on the rest of the country that Florida's laws were written by the priests on loan from the Spanish Inquisition.

The Hysteria Will Continue

This is one of those stories that, in our anti-intellectual times, will be seen but not believed. Already there are probably a dozen or more wingnut bloggers, ready to slap this down.

America has a lot of problems, but far down on the list are problems directly related to so-called illegal immigration. The real problem, as far as I can see, centers around the fact that there are no jobs, there is no money, and no one is doing anything about it. So, why wouldn't people go back to where they came from?

Immigrants are not here to steal American jobs; there aren't any jobs anymore. And what few are available, nobody wants. Does anybody want to go pick cucumbers or tomatoes in Alabama this summer? Because there might have been jobs for that (this year, I don't think too many farmers in Alabama are going to plant food that no one will ever pick). Does anybody want to live in a large American city and make menial wages cleaning buildings and preparing food? Jobs a-plenty for that. Does anyone want to work construction when there's nothing worth building right now? Nope.

There are going to be a lot of jobs available when President Romney caves in to the base and builds a massive fence from California to the Gulf of Mexico. This fence will be designed so that the waves of immigrants who aren't coming anymore can watch how it keeps Americans from leaving.

Another Kind of Brain Drain

There is a parallel here in the American experience with foreign students. After 9/11, American policy towards students from abroad and student visas became harsher and more restrictive. This resulted in a redirection of students to places like Canada and Germany. Now, we're seeing the flip side of this.

Students that would have maybe studied in America are finding themselves leaving Germany as soon as their education is completed, due in large part to the complexity and difficulty of complying with restrictive, anti-immigrant laws that discourage keeping intellectual capital in the country. Germany needs foreign workers, desperately, in order to maintain its status as a net exporter of goods. It is not uncommon for one German worker to support as many as five other individuals (extended family, etc.) and it is entirely possible to do that here.

If you are going to bring people to your country and educate them and provide them skills, keeping them should be easy. Instead, these people, who have great value and potential, move on, looking for something palatable. Who can blame them?

Allen West Wants Ignorance to Prevail

Allen West is the face of the Republican Party in the House of Representatives. He is always on television, always being quoted, and he has the distinction of being the craziest Republican in all of Congress. That is no mean feat, what with Jim DeMint and about thirty Teahadists out there. West is a fraud and an incompetent.

Of all of the Teahadists, West stands head and shoulders above all of them. He is the go-to guy for insane perspectives and nutty commentary. Whatever he says is wrong. Bank on it.

Our "cultural suicide" is something he is probably obsessed with, up until the point that some staffer will come back to him with a blank sheet of paper that demonstrates that no one is giving him money to keep saying such things. Once the donations dry up, it is time to move on to another line of bullshit. West knows this in his heart.

So, what he is trying to do is fairly obvious. He is trying to create a phony issue that will deflect attention from the fact that this administration is killing terrorists all over the world. Bin Laden is dead, his lackeys are dying all the time, and his followers are dying every time they pick up a phone or look out of a window. Terrorists who attack our troops or our allies are dying at an unprecedented rate. We're killing pirates on the high seas and we're negotiating deals with our allies and our adversaries.

What West actually fears is the notion that a Democrat has done a better job fighting terrorism than any Republican, ever. What these agencies are doing is pretty cut and dried. They are removing the Bush-era stupidity from their training programs. It's that simple.

Newt Gingrich Will Not Leave the Room

Newt Gingrich knows that the nominating process in the Republican Party is a sham right now. It is a carefully constructed farce that bears no resemblance to democracy or democratic ideals. He knows that he and Rick Santorum and Ron Paul could continue well into the summer and that they would easily deny Mitt Romney the delegates that he needs to seal the deal.

But, of all of the nominees, past and present, none have the gall of Gingrich. None operate on pure bile on hatred like he operates. There isn't anyone in politics today who has that special combination of delusion, incompetence, and luck that Gingrich possesses. And he will never leave the room. He will stop running, but he will never stop plotting the demise of his enemies.

Another Career Destroyed

In an attempt to deflect criticism, there are some who would say that the U.S. Congress has no right to pass judgement over the conduct of the personnel who went to Colombia and allowed their personal conduct to destroy their careers. This is nonsense. Granted, the current Congress doesn't do legislation or oversight, preferring obstructionism and grandstanding above all else. But the idea that Congress cannot investigate because the Secret Service has much higher ethical standards is an idea that isn't going to go anywhere.

Really, who is charged with protecting the President? Does Congress have that job now or does the Secret Service have that job? And this notion that the Secret Service is beyond reproach is what started the whole thing in the first place. In order to legitimately claim ownership of such an important role, our system requires oversight and compliance. Period. End of story on that front.

Part of the problem here is that the Secret Service has been a strongarm agency of the United States government, accountable to no one, convinced of an inherent superiority that it clearly does not possess, and plagued with personnel who have low standards of personal conduct. This has tarnished the work of people who want to do the right thing. Right now, there are probably a lot of Secret Service agents who are glad to see the dead wood get flushed out.

Let's not forget that the air marshal system was screwed up by former Secret Service agents who threw their weight around.

Statue in Paris

This is near the Tuileries. It could be the Joan of Arc statue but I'm not quite sure.

Dragging Lights

Who Will Save Us From Chelsea Handler?

Chelsea Handler has decided to set herself up as the person who is going to save everyone from Angelina Jolie, even if the world does not require saving.

I don't know how many more husbands or boyfriends Jolie will steal before she is done. Handler has initiated a campaign that will end up drawing a lot of attention to her and to whoever she thinks she is protecting. At the end of the day, Jolie will decide whether or not to take Handler's boyfriend or husband from her as well. And it will end in tears.

Phil Humber Throws Perfect Game Number 21

Phil Humber now owns a part of history, and he owns perfect game number 21. What an amazing accomplishment.

This is the era of the pitcher, and I like it just fine. Keep your damned long ball.

Nothing Special Anymore

There isn't much here that is shocking, and that's probably why the story is resonating throughout the web and throughout official Washington.

Given what is already known, it is hard to come up with something definitive that explains why this has blown sky high and left many scratching their heads. I think there is a definite possibility that much of the Secret Service's ability to intimidate Americans and strike fear into the hearts of many has been reduced by this incident. Certainly, the revelation that it is staffed with assholes like this is a blow to the credibility of the agency.

If the general public does not fear and respect the Secret Service, then it is that much harder for the agency to do its job. It couldn't be more simple than that. The protective detail of the government officials is one thing; the rank and file or the uniformed division is another. But both are fairly tarnished at this point. And the elite members of the military who have joined in with this agency to provide support have sullied their chances of doing anything further with their own military careers.

Perhaps it all comes back the decline of our so-called elites. Those who have risen to great heights aren't all that special after all. The line of professionalism that is supposed to separate them from the unwashed masses doesn't really exist and you don't really have to be the best of the best.

The War Against the Rhino

When human beings attempt to eradicate or annihilate something, they usually fail. We cannot eradicate disease, poverty, drug abuse, child abuse, or famine. We cannot stop wars and we cannot stop the diseases that are destroying much of the underdeveloped world.

But we do seem to be doing a fabulous job of destroying the rhino in the wild. Makes you proud to be human, does it not?

And all so someone can pretend that their limp penis is not their fault.

Withering on the Vine

A 30% drop may not seem like much, but this is catastrophically bad news for an organization like Susan G. Komen, which needs every penny it takes in. The overhead for this charity is fairly high--it costs money to pay severance packages for those disgraced and incompetent leaders, you know. Their whole plan was to increase participation by severing ties with Planned Parenthood; that has blown up in their faces. These numbers are devastating. You cannot sustain a charity with dwindling enthusiasm and declining participation. Corporate sponsors will take note of this and vote with their feet. No one wants to back a loser, and no one wants to put their name on something where the turnout drops like this.

This organization has begun to see the effects of what it accomplished by angering the people who have dedicated themselves to supporting it. Aside from a name change, a restructuring, and a dedicated commitment to supporting Planned Parenthood, I don't know what could reverse this trend.

And yes. This is a trend; as dedicated volunteers fall away, the links to the communities where these events are held fall away as well. A drop in participation means that it is possible that those who did turn up will look at the fact that their neighbors didn't show up and will turn their backs on Susan G. Komen as well.

Ted Nugent Backs Down

Of course it has been resolved. Did anyone really think Ted Nugent was going to take responsibility for his actions and back up his threats of violence? Of course not. He's a blowhard and a fool.

There was no mistaking his comments; that is why the Secret Service got involved. And we're supposed to believe Nugent's statement? He was probably very apologetic and groveled just long enough to convince them to move on and deal with someone or something else.

In short, when called to the carpet, Nugent went to his knees and hid behind his supposed "pacifism." What a clown.

What Is Olivia Munn Wearing Around Her Neck?

I cannot figure out why Olivia Munn would wear that "thing" around her neck. At first glance, I thought it was made out of Red Vines licorice.

Asma Doesn't Have a Conscience

This is an interesting attempt at shaming the Assad regime in Syria. I don't think it will work, of course, but it is worth noting that Asma al-Assad is now the international "face" of a regime that operates the way her late father-in-law intended--as a repressive and totalitarian kleptocracy.

If Assad were an old frump or a heavy-lidded monster, this wouldn't even appear in the media. She's fashionably photogenic and Western-educated. She is an imagemaker's dream in terms of her ability to present a modern pretty face to the image-conscious media.

Those facts do not change the reality. She is very much an enthusiastic supporter of killing the Syrians who oppose her husband. She does not care how many of them die. In the dying moments of the Assad regime, her million dollar smile will go down in a hail of bullets, and I have no doubt that she will take a few of her killers with her.

That is how the Assads will go out. They will die in their bunker or their palace, surrounded by bullet casings and burned furniture. Their window of opportunity has long since passed. Right now, they could be dining in a restaurant overlooking Lake Constance, secure with millions of dollars in stolen money and feted by obsequious waiters. Instead, they are trying to kill their way into the future.

And, no. The United States should not bomb Syria or get involved. The rebels are every bit as bad as the Assad people, perhaps even worse. What a sickening mess.

Number One For Several Days

Amazon tells me that Mayor Skillet is now dropping a bit on the Political Humor list. Given that it's being given away for free, I couldn't be happier. Really, all I want is for people to give this stuff a chance. Spending a few days at number one is fantastic.

For the rest of this week, it's free. Please help yourself.

Pixar Has Some Tough Marketing Choices Ahead

The similarity here is noticeable. Pixar needs Brave to be a hit and, to be fair, they marketed the fact that the lead character uses a bow and arrow last year when the original trailer came out. Still, there is no escaping the fact that The Hunger Games is the biggest thing on the planet right now. That is, until we see how The Dark Knight Rises and the Avengers perform.

It is worth noting that I believe we will see more of this "heroine with a bow and arrow" thing crop up.

No Government Conferences Should Be Held in Las Vegas

The incompetence of our elites continues unabated. Martha Johnson no doubt believed herself so far above mere mortals that it must be a shocking thing to have to deal with the rabble.

As a Democrat, I am doubly sorry for this ludicrous display of conspicuous consumption and elitism. The Obama Administration is all that stands between the Randian/Galtian hordes who want to turn modern America into the second coming of a Dickensian nightmare and the people who have suffered mightily over the last five years.

There are people choosing between medicine and food, bankruptcy (which, thanks to the likes of Joe Biden, et al, really doesn't do what it is supposed to do anymore, especially since he threw a mighty big bone to his friends who run credit card/legalized usury outfits out of his home state of Delaware) and oblivion.

There are people out of work, scratching around for whatever they can get. People are struggling to feed their kids and the social safety net has come under the greatest scrutiny that it has ever been under. We have elected officials who want to take this country back to the 19th Century and force the poor into enclaves, camps, and forced labor, literally, and our "working media" fail to understand this and report it as such. Forcing people to get jobs (rather than training, encouraging them, and helping them) is a sad and sorry way to treat the unfortunate among us, especially when, ahem, living on welfare is NOT a free ride and never has been and never will be.

People are not poor because of their morals. This is the canard that never dies. People are poor for a myriad of reasons, but not because God wants them to be poor so that they will learn to stop sinning. If you can't show compassion and sympathy for someone in need, just remember--the chances that you might need a helping hand are going to improve exponentially if a Republican decides that anyone who wasn't born with a silver spoon in their mouth should be herded into union-free camps to work for pea-fucking-nuts.

Once again--people are not poor because of God's will. God loved the poor--he made so many of them, but they're not poor because they are Intended to Be So while living under the cruel thumb of those whom God intended to be the Wealthy and the Elite.

Uh, like Martha Johnson, apparently.

When brought into office, Miss Johnson should have been smart enough and intelligent enough to know that CONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION on the TAX PAYER'S DIME was a NO GO, given the lavishness and ridiculousness of the Bush Administration. She should have been savvy enough to know what passes for being frugal and wise. She should have known that each and every dime she spent and decision she made would fall under the oversight and compliance requirement of Congress. As in, she should have known they were going to find out about her wine and her delightful dip in the spa on the TAX PAYER'S DIME. She should have functioned like an actual member of a working, functional elite and said, "we're holding our conference in Omaha this year, and I don't want anyone griping about the Three Star hotel we're going to meet in."

Had she chosen that destination over Las Vegas, she'd still have a job right now. And, really. If you are a government bigwig, and if you think choosing Las Vegas for your next getaway on the TAX PAYER'S DIME is a smart thing to do right now, just save us the trouble and resign and go back to shilling for daddy's old business partners.

Dustin Pedroia Slams Bobby Valentine

This is buried at the bottom of the story running on ESPN about how Bobby Valentine called out Kevin Youklis the other day. I think this should have been the lede of the whole story.

"Maybe that works in Japan."

Wow.

Dustin Pedroia rips the band-aid off the scab. And the sore underneath it is this--no way in hell Bobby Valentine should be the manager of the Red Sox.

Golden Rain Tree in Fall

A golden rain tree with all of the leaves off, leaving just the seed bags. I used to call this "the nut bag tree" because these things were fairly ugly and difficult to clean up. When the tree is in full bloom and flowering, look out. As in, look out, and don't park under it.