We Interrupt This Blog

We interrupt our blogging in order to do a little bragging. We have three of the loveliest and intelligent granddaughters we could ever have wished for. As a bonus we have been fortunate enough to live long enough to have a great grandson and a great granddaughter to hug and love.

We are bursting with pride as our granddaughter, Jennifer receives her degree from Oberlin College’s Music Conservatory. In the fall, Jenny will be off to graduate school at the University of Michigan in pursuit of a doctorate.

If that is not enough for a little bragging, our granddaughter, Kelly will be a Junior at Kent State University‘s fashion school. This Fall she is off to Florence, Italy for a semester followed by a semester in New York City.

And then there is Cathy. Cathy earned her engineering degree and was pursuing a successful career in telecommunications but has taken time off to raise a family. Cathy’s The Attached Mama blog tells it all.

As for our great grandchildren. Marcus and Sophia, they are already showing signs that they will someday make their parents burst with pride at their accomplishments. In the meantime, with what time we have left we will enjoy them to the fullest.

Everyone thinks that their grandchildren are something special. We know that ours are!

Stand And Deliver!

Auto dealers are up in arms at the thought of federal regulation. It has been proposed that loans at auto dealers be put under the purview of a new federal consumer protection authority to guard against fraud and abuse. Not surprisingly the financing business or better yet the abuse of the financing system is very lucrative and is bringing auto dealers to Washington to get their moneys worth from those they helped put in Congress.

One of the things I have never looked forward to is buying a car. Not that the prospect of a new car was not appealing. It was the prospect of getting screwed without a kiss that was not appealing. Here's hoping Obama is able to reign in these highway robbers.

(What is really scary is that car dealers are spending their millions to run for Congressional seats as evidenced by the recent Republican primary victory of Tom Ganley in Ohio's 13th Congressional District. The fox wants in to the hen house.)

Random thoughts on the Kagan nomination

• Should Title IX be repealed? The federal law called Title IX, , requires schools that receive money from the federal government to provide equal opportunities for boys and girls. These opportunities can be in sports, math and science programs, computers and technology. For women it has been especially effective in the sports field. Title IX has given females the opportunity to attend college, participate in sports, and receive athletic scholarships. Unfortunately there are those who like to equate a female’s participation in sports with sexual orientation. Will the repeal of Title IX save our women from a lesbian life?

• I look at Elena Kagan swinging a bat and I see a female assertive enough to wield a gavel!

•  Does a man cooking in the kitchen imply anything about his sexual orientation?

•  Perhaps we should keep our women barefoot and pregnant. That may satisfy the Glen Becks of the world but wouldn’t look good at a Senate hearing.

•  If a judge is actually a lazy lawyer, and a hard working lawyer knows the law well, and given that Elena Kagan is a hard working lawyer, knows the law well and has never been a judge, doesn't that make her eminently qualified to be a Supreme Court Justice?

Just a thought about oil drilling

As BP continues its fruitless efforts to plug the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, one thing is obvious. Of the billions of dollars in profits at its disposal, very little has gone into building the technology necessary to contain oil spills in a timely fashion. No drilling baby until you learn how to do it in a responsible manner!

Monkeying Around

Its raining outdoors, so that puts a monkey wrench in the outdoor tasks I had planned. I decided to monkey around with my computer, specifically to come up with a cliche post. I was having writer's block until I thought of the saying, "monkey see, monkey do". It reminded me of all the current controversy over immigration reform. Arizona passes a very restrictive immigration law and immediately there are cries to mimic their action. Reminders that Arizona's law is monkeying with some of our cherished civil liberties seem to be falling on deaf ears. I'll be a monkey's uncle, but it turns out that many of those deaf ears belong to the children and grandchildren of immigrants who were welcomed on our shores and given the opportunity to live the American dream.

The Fickle Electorate

If I were a politician running for reelection this fall, I would be screaming, "Enough already! Why don't you people make up your minds" as I released this announcement.

You my loyal constituents are driving me bananas. First you tell me that fixing the economy is your number one priority. Then you make it more restrictive by telling me its jobs, jobs, jobs. Somewhere in between you were belligerent about health care costs. Now I read that you consider illegal immigration  as our number one problem. Which problem am I supposed to respond to? I've only got a limited amount of funds to spend on my campaign and I can't craft an answer to all these problems. I find myself talking out of both sides of my mouth and that ain't good. You people are too fickle. I've always been creative in finding ways to scam you, but you are making my job impossible. Are you really telling me that we are in one hell of a mess? If so you had better be looking for a more creative a*hole to represent you. This one needs to spend more time with his family. I always thought getting away from them was good for my mental health but I'm convinced that their demands will be easier to deal with than yours. Rehab is also an alternative. I slipped in an amendment to the health care bill which provides for five years of rehab in Florida for thoroughly disgusted politicians. If you ever make up your minds about what the hell you really want, let me know. I'm always available for a comeback. "

Rally 'round the flag!

In time of war it is expected that political parties will put aside their differences, rally around the flag and present a united front with the President in order to defeat the enemy. Unfortunately, in this format war has a very limited definition; namely, one country pitting its armed forces against another country's armed forces in order to right an alleged grievance.

War has many faces such as the war on poverty, the war on Wall Street corruption, the war on terrorism, the war on rising health care costs, the war on illegal immigration, the war on gun abuse. Rather than providing a rallying around the flag mentality,wars such as these divide the country and pit one political party against the other. Bipartisanship falls into a pit of snakes and legislative reform is reduced to campaign bullshit. In the meantime the country's foundations begin to rust away.

 Have no fear - midterm elections are around the corner and we will have all kinds of solutions for our ills. Hopefully one of them will not be to engage in still another war where people are slaughtered in order to bring a sense of pride to the nation and increase flag sales!

You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear

Any attempt to turn something ugly into something beautiful is met with the words, "you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear". This is hardly fair to a sow who might claim that "beauty is in the eyes of the beholder". I have another bone to pick with " you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear", its discriminatory. Why not , "you can't make a silk purse out of a boar's ear"? Is it too boring? No matter, this cliche should be front and center as Congress tries to sell the merits of some of its pork barrel legislation.

Follow up on Lunch And 3 Innings

Some random thoughts while watching the Indians blow another one yesterday:

•  He couldn’t find his way to first base if you gave him a seeing eye dog
• He couldn't catch the ball if you handed it to him
• He couldn't get the ball over the plate even with a GPS device
• He runs like he has a corn cob up his ass
• He swings the bat like he was chasing flies
• Baseball players don't cry, but fans do

 With this post, bad mouthing the Indians will cease ! Only constructive and supportive commentaries will find their way here. GO TRIBE!
It pays to read the fine print. What I really meant is that bad mouthing will cease if we win at least one game per week.

Lunch And Three Innings

AD in 5/5/10 Plain Dealer

What a deal! Fifteen bucks for lunch and a ball game. What's with the lunch and three innings? Is the ticket only good for a three inning game? Still, the fans are asked not to leave after 3 innings but to remain and enjoy the whole game. Has it come down to bribery to get  Indian fans to sit through a whole game? The ad is about as confusing as the brand of baseball being played. Those who didn't leave after 3 innings were able to watch the Indians take a 4-2 lead over Toronto going into the 9th inning, only to lose the game 4-5. They should have left after the 8th inning. Actually it wasn't so bad financially for the owners, the number of fans at the game couldn't have filled a minor league ball park ( which is where most of the players belong) so there weren't many ten dollar food credits. Forget the free lunches, build a winning team and the fans will come and stay for the whole game. There is no such thing as a free lunch in the sports world. 

Aging Well

Main Avenue Bridge: The 71-year old Main Avenue Bridge may have loose concrete, rusted steel,and serious problems with its drainage system, but it is aging well, says the Ohio Department of Transportation. ( The Plain Dealer, May 5, 2010)

Translation: The 71-year old Main Avenue Bridge may have gingivitis, arthritis, and an enlarged prostate, but it is aging well.

F for Economics 101

Tony knows crap about economics. He gets a F for his Economics 101 post! He declared The Great Recession was over because of all the ads in this morning's paper. That was low primal thinking at its lowest. The fool didn't realize that next Sunday is Mother's Day! The recession is over for one day only. Hope he didn't fire off that e-mail to Barack. Does he plan to get me something for Mother's Day? Probably not, since I'm not his mother.

Economics 101

The recession is over! How do I know? My Sunday Plain Dealer told me so. No, there was nothing on the front page proclaiming the end of The Great Recession. The paper told me so as I bent over to pick it up outside the garage door. It was the heaviest that it has been in the past year. Once I got it inside, I realized why. The usual amount of news but twice as many glossy sections begging me to spend my money indiscriminately. I shoved the advertisements aside, grabbed a cup of coffee and read all the news The Plain Dealer felt I should have in twenty minutes. Now it was time to tackle the merchandising news. I reached for one glossy and the whole damn paper spilled out onto the floor. If I was going to find out what was going on in the retail world , I was going to need something stronger than coffee. Not worth it! I picked up volumes of newspaper ads, threw them on the table and turned on the radio to get some soothing music. The high primal thinker could browse the ads and let me know where our money was best spent. In the meantime, I'll send an e-mail to Barack congratulating him on a job well done.

DavidMixner.com: The Right: Constantly On The Wrong Side Of History

DavidMixner.com: The Right: Constantly On The Wrong Side Of History

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