Happy Hannukkah and Merry Christmas while I'm at it

I spent the last hour listening to the music of Hanukkah. Beautiful! I couldn't help doing my imitation of a  Cantor until the High Primal questioned whether I was doing the music justice. Running through my mind throughout the musical program were the current events in the Middle East which are hardly compatible with the joyous Hanukkah music. Will Jews, Christians and Muslims ever share " Peace On Earth"? I'm pessimistic but as long as we can find time during the year to play and sing joyous songs of faith there is hope. Music and love can be strong weapons. Add a little humor and we have an arsenal. As an aside the commentator put it all in perspective when he said, "When Jews celebrate, they eat. When they suffer, they eat". I always thought this was typical only of Italians - just goes to show that food may be another weapon toward achieving "Peace On Earth".

Happy Hanukkah to all  and to all a Merry Christmas, as incongruous as it may sound.

Coronation of POTUS

It seems that the inauguration of a President is an expensive affair. Obama is seeking about 100 million to be coronated as President of the United States (POTUS) on January 20, 2013. I haven't received an e-mail yet inviting me to contribute. Perhaps it is in my Spam box.

POTUS' Inaguration Ball Outfit

 Before I'm tarred and feathered for taking Obama to task for turning an inauguration into a coronation, let me be clear that he is only following protocol. Lavish inaugurations know no party affiliation. What he is planning to spend is less than what was spent for recent inaugurations. The poor man really has no choice but to put on a show for all his fat cat financial supporters who will be paying for the spectacle. Oh yes, donations from fat cats and corporations are now welcomed. Now that he has flip flopped on where the money for the coronation is to come from, his choice of wardrobe will be much easier than Michelle's. A jump suit Ala NASCAR with all the sponsor patches would be a hit.

For those of us who do not own a tuxedo or NASCAR suit and do not plan to attend any of the inauguration balls, we have a message for the President. A visit by the Chief Justice of SCOTUS to the Oval Office to administer the oath of office to POTUS would suffice.  Dare you do this Mr. President? All of us 99 percenters would be much more optimistic about the economic growth of this country if you did.  Oh well, when we go off the "fiscal cliff" in the next few days, I'm sure you will reconsider your inaguration plans.

A Broken Senate

One wonders what the United States Senate has in store for us next. With its failure to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities, it once again has proven that the Republicans are being held hostage by the far right element of their party. In his OP-Ed column in the New York Times, Lawrence Downes quotes Senator John Kerry as follows:

“This is one of the saddest days I’ve seen in almost 28 years in the Senate, and it needs to be a wake-up call about a broken institution that’s letting down the American people.”
He added: “Today the dysfunction hurt veterans and the disabled, and that’s unacceptable. This treaty was supported by every veterans group in America and Bob Dole made an inspiring and courageous personal journey back to the Senate to fight for it. It had bipartisan support, and it had the facts on its side, and yet for one ugly vote, none of that seemed to matter. We won’t give up on this and the Disabilities Treaty will pass because it’s the right thing to do, but today I understand better than ever before why Americans have such disdain for Congress and just how much must happen to fix the Senate so we can act on the real interests of our country.”

How can a dysfunctional legislative body deal with critical issues affecting the future of this nation? They cannot. Kerry's statement calls for fixing the Senate but he did not offer a solution. Perhaps some surgery on our two party system is in order. As I suggested in a post titled "A Touch of the Creature" on 1/12/10, "Until the parties start pruning their various branches even if it means a third or even a fourth party, there will be no timely or effective legislation coming out of Washington".

Soylent Green Revisited

As the country  approaches the "fiscal cliff", it is becoming clear that both parties are ready to let the old codgers take the fall. I keep hearing that entitlements must be whittled down. Evidently, old farts like me are not entitled. I'm not entitled to a Medicare plan that adequately takes care of the needs of the elderly. If I had known years ago that this great nation planned to reneg on heath care promises, I 'd like to think that I would have handled my retirement planning a bit differently. Then there is Social Security. For years the budget gurus have been raiding Social Security funds. Now it is an entitlement that I'm not really entitled to even though I faithfully paid my FICA taxes while employed. Politicians would have me believe that it's some kind of a  gift of  that can be wrapped differently depending on who is doing the wrapping.

 I do not pretend to have a solution for what ails this country. Making life difficult for the elderly should not be one of them. I've never felt so unwanted as I do these days and it reminds me of the movie "Soylent Green".

The movie depicted a country in 2022 suffering from overpopulation, global warming, widespread unemployment, poverty, a shortage of fruit, vegetables and meat. Pick up any paper today and you will find reports about the danger of global warming, rising unemployment, rising food prices, soaring health care costs, and the graying of the population. Not quite the country portrayed in "Soylent Green" but similar.

The "Soylent Green solution" is not on Washington's agenda, In its place, perhaps they will come up with something like the "cash for clunkers" program which was designed to get old, inefficient vehicles off the road. I wonder how much cash my heirs would get?
 
( I'm actually not feeling as sorry for myself as this post sounds, but I am pissed about how easily politicians dismiss the needs of an aging population.)

Shame on our UN Palestinian vote

Count me in the minority. I don't feel that the United States fulfilled its role as a world leader when it opposed the bid of the Palestinians for an observer role at the United Nations. We should have at least taken a page out of the German foreign policy playbook and abstained from voting on the issue.

It was one more example of our foreign policy being held hostage by the Jewish-American vote. In turn we get a slap in the face from the Israeli who immediately announced a plan to expand settlements in East Jerusalem. Just in time for Christmas.

Arguments that the recognition of Palestine  as an observer state is unnecessary for the Palestinians to achieve their goal of statehood fail to convince me. I can't help but think how our forefathers would have reacted if urged to be patient rather than take to the battlefield to achieve freedom from the English yoke.

Diversity is a strength of this country. Playing to diversity for political gain is a weakness and is wrong.

Giving Tuesday Gets A Bye

Today is Giving Tuesday? Who the hell came up with that? I understand that today I'm to open up my heart along with my checkbook and donate to my favorite charity. Simple enough, except a chain of events has complicated things.

 Giving Tuesday comes after Monday aka Cyber Monday. Cyber Monday came after Sunday which no one has renamed yet which means it must have been Generic Sunday. Generic Sunday came after Small Business Saturday. Small Business Saturday came after Black Friday which came after Thanksgiving Thursday aka as Macy's Parade Thursday. Macy's Parade Thursday came after Thanksgiving Day Shopping Wednesday. Whew! It's been a busy week leading up to Giving Tuesday.

 Now for the checkbook. Holy cow, after trying to keep up with all of Madison Avenue's exhortations the checkbook is begging for mercy. It looks like Giving Tuesday will have to take a bye.

If I'm going to get screwed, I'd like to be kissed

Thirty-five days to go before we go over the fiscal cliff. From everything I hear and read, there is no doubt that we are going over the cliff. The only question is what kind of a landing will it be. One thing for sure, whatever those assholes in Congress come up with, I'm going to get screwed. I guess I'd rather be screwed by the United States of America than Time Warner (yep, they raised my cable bill again). The bottom line is that at least in a democracy you get a kiss while being screwed. In a totalitarian form of government, you just get fucked.

Arab Spring Revisited

The harvest season is over and still nowhere in the bounty is there a sign of any meaningful yield from the seeds sowed during the Arab Spring. Tunisia's Prime Minister has warned the West that the transition to democracy has run into political and economic obstacles and the West must provide more financial backing "before it's too late".  President Morsi of Egypt has assumed dictatorial powers. Apparently Egypt has replaced a  dictator with strong military ties with a dictator with strong religious ties. Libya has become a haven for terrorists as shown by the deadly attack on the U.S. embassy last month in Benghazi.

 The road to democracy is full of bumps and wrong turns but I doubt that democracy as we know it will ever be a fruit of the Arab Spring. To achieve any workable degree of a democratic society, Arabs must break the stranglehold that religion holds over their destiny.

Whoever said that democracy as we know it is the answer for meaningful human rights reform in the Arab world? Taxpayer dollars and American lives do not build democracies. At best they help instill stability.  That is the Gospel according to Tony this Sunday morning. Go in peace.

'Tis that time of year

Don't look now but the holiday season is about to swallow up our sanity. What tipped me off? The Christmas decorations are out already. The excuse is that with the mild weather we are having, it makes sense to start the celebration. My decorations are still safe and sound in the boxes I packed them away in last December 26 - I'll unpack them when the snow starts flying and the temperature dips into the 30's. There's a method to my madness. Inclement weather is an excuse not to make a garrish Christmas display out of my house.

Another tip off that we are about to wrestle with Christmas joy are the ads in the newspaper. Something about a Black Friday. From what I gather, Black Friday is the opposite of Good Friday. Whereas the latter is an occasion to be solemn and reflect on the beginnings of Christianity ( I'm sure this interpretation would not pass muster but it is mine and mine alone), Black Friday marks the beginning of the the commercial Xmas. It has some connection with the holy Christmas in that it is an occasion to get into the spirit of giving - to yourself. From what I read, Black Friday is sort of a stimulus package for retailers. In my case it only stimulates me to keep miles away from the mall.

I should mention that in the spirit of ignoring tradition, we will be celebrating Thanksgiving Day with a prime rib roast. Haven’t come up with a Christmas Day menu yet but I understand that amazon.com has some Black Friday deals on cook books which might help.

One more thing (yes, an end is in sight), it is well to remember that the season we are about to experience will be full of cliches. In honor of the cliche season (and with apologies to Rudyard Kipling), I give you:

If You Can

If you can keep from running around like a chicken with its head cut off
If you can keep your head screwed on right
And hang in there tough
If you can stand tall
And keep from banging your head against the wall
If you can quit when you're ahead
You are head and shoulders above the rest
And - which is more- from head to heels
You are one of the best

Happy Holidays!
 

Caution - this post might be evanescent

Picked up a new word this morning- evanescent.
[ev-uh-nes-uhnt] Show IPA , adjective - 1.vanishing;fading away;fleeting, 2. tending to become imperceptible

More importantly, I found it in an article by Frank Bruni in The New York Times, Our Hard Drives, Ourselves. The article is must reading for anyone who has ever written an e-mail, a blog or commented on the Internet. More so for anyone who tweets or indulges himself with a Facebook page. Here’s a sampling of the article:

Major scandals, minor news stories and the plots of police procedurals remind us, time and again, that the seemingly evanescent communications through our smartphones, tablets, laptops (how presciently named!) and personal computers aren’t evanescent at all. They live on, float around and can be reeled in by a lawyer with a subpoena, a hacker with an agenda or a run-of-the-mill technician just letting his curiosity get the better of him.

Other than heeding Mr. Bruni’s warnings, my current challenge is to find a good use of “evanescent”. Hitting the delete button would do it, but this post is rather tame. Come to think of it  my blogging may be evanescent. My local newspaper borders on becoming evanescent. I wish the far right would become evanescent. I'd be ecstatic if war became evanescent. This post is not evanescent but it is definitely finished.

 
 

The best band in the land

Pick up an edition of The Plain Dealer these days and you will learn more than you want to learn about the Cleveland Browns ( an NFL team which struggles to become "maimer #1"). More often than not, there is a spot reserved on the front page for the Browns along with Sandy stories and something called a Mideast War. Cleveland is a sports town. More accurately it is a football town. It tolerates the Cleveland Indians baseball team and the Cleveland Cavaliers basketball team but it adores The Cleveland Browns.

The problem is that none of the sports teams are #1 in terms of national recognition. They have been #1 or close to it in the past but not lately. Still, the local paper does its best to remind its readers that national recognition is just around the corner.

Cleveland does get national recognition via The Cleveland Clinic which is #1 in heart care. The Cleveland Clinic does make the front page in The Plain Dealer now and then (lately about billing practices rather than heart by-pass surgery), but Cleveland desperately needs to be #1 in something besides cardiology. At least that's the message that seems to be coming from the press and sports fans. The preference is playing in the Super Bowl. Playing in the World Series is a distant second followed closely by a NBA Championship.

Speaking of playing, Cleveland does have another #1. Cleveland has the best band in the land, The Cleveland Orchestra. The orchestra has a worldwide reputation for musical excellence. I don't recall seeing any front page headlines about The Cleveland Orchestra lately, but then again the front page gets so cluttered with the Browns that I may have missed them. So what am I getting at? I'm satisfied with having one of the big five orchestras at my doorstep to brag about.  As Cleveland pursues its quest for sports supremacy, it should be careful not to let the gem that shines in Severance Hall slip away.

 Oh yes, I'm also grateful for that other #1, The Cleveland Clinic, in spite of their creative billing system.

About adultery in the military

They say that the military can consider adultery a crime. The High Primal made these observations:

•  Condoms were handed out to our troops during WW2. Were they meant only for unmarried warriors?
• The term "hookers" had its origins during The Civil War. It was applied to the  the women following General Hooker's troops. Does that tell us something? 

ed note: If the military insists on classifying adultery as a crime, it should issue scarlet "A" patches to the guilty to be worn on their uniforms. That should satisfy the Puritans.

God Save The Plain Dealer

Sunday morning - oh what a beautiful morning! The temperature outside is soaring. The leaves have the lawn to themselves; the election lawn signs are gone . Best of all, The Plain Dealer is sitting out on the lawn challenging me to pick it up. Alongside, bursting at the seams is the Sunday New York Times.

The Newspaper Guild is using today's Plain Dealer to launch its campaign to keep the paper a 7-day-a-week  publication . I can just see the headline - CLEVELANDERS ASKED TO PICK UP PLAIN DEALER.

Being civic minded I picked up the The Plain Dealer. The headline screamed, What's ahead for the Buckeye state? Was this a subtle way to alert readers to the possible 3-day a- week delivery schedule. No, it was referring to some political gobbledygook.  The Newspaper Guild's campaign didn't  make the front page. I finally found a half-page ad on page 10  telling readers that they will be missed if The Plain Dealer continues to cut back on news coverage. It was a crummy, anemic ad - hardly eye catching. Still it was probably appropriate for the staff of a shrinking newspaper ( I wonder what the Newhouse heirs charged for the ad). The Guild also referred readers to a Facebook page where they can get information on how to express their feelings and contact the paper's owners. That seemed strange - it's the likes of Facebook, and Twitter that are causing newspapers to rethink their role as an information vehicle. I know one thing: I'm not friending anyone else on Facebook, I can hardly handle the few friends I have now.

I suppose the Guild feels like someone who is up shit creek without a paddle.They desperately need a life jacket. That life jacket is spelled M-O-N-E-Y as in S-U-B-S-C-R-I-P-T-I-O-N-S. Letters to the owners will not cut it. More income might do the trick but I would not hold my breath.

The hell with this, it's too depressing. I'm going back out and pick up The New York Times. I need to know more about the General and his biographer. Guess he never heard about the old saying, "don't shit where you work".

It's Saturday- got a paper

I got up earlier than usual this morning. I tossed and turned all night, wondering if The Plain Dealer  ran off the presses during the night. Even before I made the coffee, I stumbled to the garage, hit the door opener, drew a deep breath and prayed that a paper would greet me by the door. Crap! No paper! Just a bunch of wet leaves. The SOB's must have gone to their 3-day a week schedule. I was about to retreat to the warmth of the house when I decided to venture further down the driveway. What was that white object peaking through the leaves, 20 yards into the wet lawn?  I slogged over and sure enough, The Plain Dealer had made it to the vicinity of my home. If this was to be my carrier's new delivery mode, a 3-day a week delivery might not be too bad.

ed note: Finished reading the shrinking wet, hard copy of the newspaper before I finished my first cup of coffee. Got to my computer and spent the next half hour reading all the news that's fit to print. That story about the horny spy was great.

No paper this morning, it's only Friday

Now and then I like to write about things which have a special place in my memory. It looks like I may be doing some reminiscing about 7-day-a-week local newspapers. WKYC- Cleveland reports that rumors are circulating that The Plain Dealer is contemplating a possible change to a 3-day-a-week print edition and continuous website similar to what has already taken place in papers in Alabama, Michigan, New Orleans, Harrisburg and Syracuse. WKYC reports that if The Plain Dealer goes to that type of business model that would make Cleveland the largest U.S. city with no daily paper.

In response to these rumors, there will be the usual billboards, bus placards, petitions and community pleas to convince the decision makers that Cleveland deserves a 7-day-a-week local newspaper. I can just see the CEO of Advance Publications, The Plain Dealer’s parent company, smugly saying that he agrees but the bottom line doesn’t.

Local 1 of the Newspaper Guild wants the community to get involved to save the newspaper. In the face of adversity a community should get involved. In this case all they have to do is subscribe to the paper. They don’t have to read it. They can still get all the news they want from their I-phone, I-pad or any other electronic device they have. Subscribing however, costs money. Most people will opt for signing petitions  while continuing to get their news from the internet or some comedy show.

I predict that in lieu of national recognition for a sports team, Cleveland will opt to become the largest U.S. city with no daily paper. Heck, everyone will be talking about Cleveland.

What about that business model of a 3-day a week newspaper and a continuous website? First the website. Just go to www.cleveland.com and you will never go there again. A paper only 3 days a week? If I can’t have it 7 days a week , they can wipe their ass with it. What do you hear about The New York Times?

I remember when a newspaper was delivered to my doorstep 7 days a week and……… I’m being premature. I shouldn’t reminisce based on rumors. I probably should look around for a smart phone. Let’s see, Apple, Motorola or Samsung? Can you have a leisurely breakfast and use a smart phone at the same time? The classifieds should be able to help. Damn it - where’s The Plain Dealer when I need it.

What comes after trillion?

The election is over. Much of the election rhetoric will go into the trash can. Not so with our debt. The last I checked the United States debt clock, we were at $16,243,765,800,000 and counting. That's a pretty hefty sum. Lets leave the pretty out - its a very hefty sum. I believe that my share is over $187,000. Exactly how I handle my share is not very clear to me. Some prominent economists say that we should not worry about the debt. That's fine with me. Besides Washington knows that you can't get blood out of a stone. I hope China knows that also.

 The pundits are predicting that reducing the debt will be high on Obama's to-do list. I keep hearing that he would like to squeeze some rich folks for a few more bucks in taxes. The Republicans ,however, are planning to pull a Charlton Heston "I'll give you my gun when you pry it from my cold, dead hands". That can get a little messy but it's worth a try. The only other viable alternative is to conduct a garage sale featuring some of our states. I'm sure Cuba could borrow enough money from Russia to make a decent offer for Florida ( providing it finishes counting Election 2012 votes). Mexico's drug lords would be sure to go after Texas. Alaska would command a few trillion from Canada.

There must be better solutions to this debt problem than those I have offered.  Raising taxes on the wealthy deserves a serious look. Putting people to work at decent wages would go a long way for some significant debt reduction. Then there is the challenge of learning how to defend ourselves without destroying our economy. One thing for sure, there is no solution which will please everyone. We are all going to have to learn how to spell sacrefise ( S-A-C-R-I-F-I-C-E, you fool!).

What happens if the debt clock hits $999,999,999,999,999? Will we be talking a quadtrillion? No way, we'll be talking Chinese.

Hail To The Chief!!!

Hail Obama! May you have the wind at your back as you try to move us forward. Get the job done ,  as we prepare  for our first woman president in 2016, Hillary Clinton.

Two More Days To Campaign 2016

We're getting close. Two more days and we can get Campaign 2016 started. I've already started to clean  those stale Campaign 2012 e-mails out of my in-box. No matter the outcome on Tuesday, November 6, 2012, we can be assured that our political forces will put aside any thoughts of changing how government works and will start oilng the Camapaign 2016 machinery.On November 7, 2012, both parties will be committed to destroying one another, rather than governing. Heck, it's a lot more fun than trying to solve the problems which are eroding the foundations of our country. Cynical? No, pragmatic. Campaign 2016 starts on November7, 2012. Get your checkbook ready and make sure that your spam box is large enough to hold the crap that will be coming your way the next four years. Hope I'm wrong. Bipartisanship would be a welcome change but I'm afraid we said bye to that a long time ago.

The Unmentionables

I'm not going to mention what is really going on with superstorm Sandy. I'm taking my cue from Campaign 2012. There are least two unmentionables during this epic (as in costly) campaign. I can't mention them ( if they pop up it is merely a slip on the keyboard) but they do have something to do with weather and massacres.

As for the weather, it is changing.That's not unusual. Weather is supposed to change but why is it getting to be so catastrophic? Could it be climate change, a.k.a. global warming? Evidently, in the spirit of bipartisanship, it has been decided that what we are seeing throughout this country of ours is weather change and nothing more. Global warming is an unmentionable.

As for the massacres, Campaign 2012 has decided that the National Rifle Association knows best. Massacres have been going on long before guns were invented, so we can't blame today's problems on the proliferation of guns - at least not if we want to win an election.

As for these unmentionables (dare I mention global warming and gun control), we can at least be content with bipartisanship at work. Republicans and Democrats alike have swept the issues under the rug at least for now.

Next week we will go to the polls and vote. Nowhere on the ballot will we have an opportunity to express our views on the unmentionables. Well, maybe there is. If we re-elect Obama, we have the best chance of climate issues and gun control issues being tackled. Re-election should give him the balls to fight The NRA and big business.  After all, he can't run for a third term so he might as well go for it- Congress be damned.

It is not enough to express condolences in the after effects of a 'Sandy' or a 'Columbine'. It is not enough to commit ourselves to rebuilding. We need a commitment to do the things to keep us from destroying ourselves.

Science Indeed Is The Key To Growth.

Neal F. Lane makes a good case for the importance of science and technology in fueling our economic engine in his NY Times op-ed column, Science Is The Key To Growth. As Mr. Lane puts it, "it is astonishing that Mr. Romney talks about economic growth while planning deep cuts in investment in science, technology and education. They are among the discretionary items for which spending could be cut 22 percent or more under the Republican budget plan, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities." Astonishing indeed.

He also points out that "According to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the plan, which Mr. Romney has endorsed, could cut overall nondefense science, engineering, biomedical and technology research by a quarter over the next decade, and energy research by two-thirds."

 

For a man who touts himself as a smart business man, Romney sure looks stupid when it comes to science and technology. Science and technology made this country. Science and technology created the jobs that made the American dream possible. Science and technology gave us the semiconductor devices which put the information age in every one's hands.

 

If we needed a reason to sit Romney in a corner with a dunce cap it is his Luddite view of scientists and engineers in our society. I guess he may even consider them another segment that is irrelevant. It is obvious that this man became a billionaire not because of the use of technology but because of his abuse of technology. 

 

I don't know how November 6th will play out. I do know that I dread the thought of a Romney presidency. We sorely need Barak Hussein Obama for another four years. 

 

Tigers Purr Away The Series

The Detroit Kittens were eaten up by the San Francisco Giants, puting an end to my career as a prognostigator. No problem! The pay was lousy.

Looking forward to MLB reruns of the 2012 baseball season. Sure beats the hell out of football. Speaking of football- on the other hand let's not. Lets talk about Chief Wahoo - on the other hand , lets not. How about baseball forecasts for 2013? There will be baseball in 2013.

My name is Tony Rugare, and I don't approve of this message.

For What It's Worth

The Giants beat the crap out of the Tigers last night 8-2. The sports experts have all sort of takes on this unexpected outcome. Not surprisingly, most comments have a lot to do with the Tigers' Verlander and the Giants' Sandoval - the big bust and the big bomber. Not one sportswriter has come up with the real culprit behind the Tigers ineptness. It wasn't Verlander's fault. The guy was a victim; a victim of the New York Yankees. The damn Yankees doomed the Tigers when they caved in during the ALCS and dropped four straight games to Detroit. New York knew they didn't have a shot to get into the series, so they deliberately embarrassed themselves. The strategy? Make it so easy for the Tigers in mid October that they would be as as rusty as a Model A in late October. Sour grapes on the part of the Yankees but it's working so far.

The other factor behind the Tigers loss last night was the Giants. Yes the Giants had something to do with the Tigers loss. Not so much their bats and pitching - their looks. The Giants are the scariest looking team in all of baseball. They make Al Qaeda look like a bunch of altar boys. I wouldn't want to meet Angel Pavan in a dark alley. That Pence guy looks like he would like to use his bat to bash a few heads. And those beards - enough said. It was almost like watching a bunch of hoodlums playing a Little League team; one exception - that Posey guy looks almost normal. I don't blame the Tigers for running for cover.

So where do we go from here? Beats the shit out of me. Damn Yankees!

Polling Poles

I've already voted, so current polls have no bearing and my choice for POTUS. Even so, they do have a bearing on my mental health. Obama or Romney is a shoo-in depending on which poll suits Blitzer. Obama by a whisker. Romney closing the gap. I'm convinced that none of these political polls are reliable. Before taking the bridge over poll results, I decided to consult with poles that I trust.

• The Pole who lives next door said that the outcome of the election will depend on which candidate visits Poland in the next few days.
• The Telephone Pole showsObama supporters are leading the race in collect calls and Romney supporters are leading the race in robo calls.
• The Dance Pole unequivocally has Democrats  outspending Republicans for lap dances.
• The Ski Pole indicates that the United States will be on a slippery slope no matter the outcome. Romney might have the edge because of his Utah ties and CEO experience.
• The Fishing Pole has Romney ahead hands down. He's still fishing for an identity.
• The Flag Pole has Obama overwhelmingly ahead He's earned his stripes in the past four years.

• A major disappointment was the Totem Pole. The Totem Pole people said in no uncertain terms that they would not touch the election with a ten foot pole. It has something to do with Native Amricans wanting to be poltically correct.

Go Tigers???

. The Yankees have joined my list of favorite teams who stunk up the joint. In my defense, the blog post in which I predicted that the Yankees would go all the way contained a typographical error. I misspelled 'Yankees'. I really meant to type 'T-i-g-e-r-s'. That being the case, I'll be rooting for the Tigers to go all the way. As a precaution. I'm not specifying what 'all the way' is. Also since I've shown that I am a notorious speller, I cannot guarantee that I spelled Tigers correctly. The spell checker that I use came up with 'C-a-r-d-i-n-a-l-s' and 'G-i-a-n-t-s' as possibly being the correct spelling. It will take me at least a week to get the spelling straightened out but I'm sure I will come up with a winner. Damn Yankees!

Rest In Peace Endeavour

 The headlines say, "Endeavour finally reaches permanent LA museum home". Its journey to the museum at the California Science Center has been described as “a logistical headache that delayed its arrival to its museum resting place by about 17 hours” . The key words are “resting place”. The journey was more like a funeral procession. The retirement of Endeavour is a step backwards in our exploration of space. Asking our astronauts to hitch a ride on a Russian space ship is embarrassing. Next thing you know they will be riding in the back seat of a Chinese space vehicle. Yes, we sent Curiosity to Mars but it’s not the same as an American space vehicle carrying American astronauts into outer space. Private corporations are supposed to pick up the slack. I’m sure that will happen only if the price is right ( will they outsource the work?). Until then we must rest on our laurels. We’ve been doing a lot of that lately. Rest in peace Endeavour.

Bronx Bombers Bombing Out

On October 5, 2012, in a fit of nostalgia I picked the Yankees to go all the way in October ( Damn Yankees). Here we are on October 14, 2012, and the Yankees are sucking hind tit to the Detroit Tigers - down 2 games to none. In retrospect, I should not be surprised. It has nothing to do with the Bronx Bombers imitating strike out kings. It has nothing to do with bad officiating. It has nothing to do with Derek Jeter breaking his ankle. It has a lot to do with my ability to pick a winner. I'm afraid that I may have cursed the Yankees. Sure, it's a best of seven series. All they have to do is beat Verlander twice, put some cork in their bats and pay off the umpires. No, they're done - you can stick a fork in them.

I'm through as a prognosticator. I might pick Obama to win the election. I'm pulling for him - I'm just afraid I will curse his chances if I go all out and proclaim him the winner in November. No, no! No politicking until after November 6.

Hell, just one more for the road. The Cardinals will win the National League pennant and the Yankees will beat their ass in the Series. If that works, I might get back to blogging about politics.
Damn Yankees!

Turning The Pages

Reading a good mystery book is an experience in restraint. As the plot thickens and the author teases with red herrings, the pages are flipped with abandon. The temptation to turn the pages to the final few in order to determine whether or not the “butler did it” is overwhelming. When the final page does arrive, the emotions are far ranging - from disappointment to elation,

Living life is not unlike reading a mystery book. Surprises abound and anxiety rules the day. Life can be perplexing, challenging and frustrating. Life is reluctant to reveal its mysteries. There is always the temptation to turn the pages to the final page. Some succumb to that temptation and leave behind more questions for others than they care to have and a hurt that never heals. Others prefer to read every word of life’s story and turn the pages slowly. When the final page is reached the meaning of life is revealed. Life was not a mystery story after all, it was an adventure.

 

 

Damn Yankees!

Thank God for baseball’s playoffs. If all we had to look forward to this month were presidential debates, campaign speeches and the fate of Big Bird it would be grounds for finding a quiet padded cell somewhere. Not that baseball can’t drive you up the wall. The failure of your favorite team to achieve post season honors however, is not a reason for taking the bridge. Which brings me to the Cleveland Indians? On the other hand, I don’t want to go there. Words cannot express my disappointment with their performance. I’ve gotten to the point where I’m adopting my boyhood team as my favorite to go all the way in October. Yes, I’m going to root for the damn Yankees.



Pop's favorite Yankee-Joe DiMaggio

Rooting for the Yankees shouldn’t be too difficult. I did it for many years. My father was a rabid Yankee fan. I don’t think he ever had a baseball in his hands. I suspect that names like DiMaggio, Rizzuto, and Berra on the Yankee roster had a lot to do with his loyalty. I can still remember the radios on the front porches in our neighborhood tuned in to Yankee games vividly described by Mel Allen and his inimitable, “How a-bout that?!" Yes, damn it, I can root for the Yankees again. I don’t care for Alex Rodriguez but I have the utmost respect for Derek Jeter. There is always C.C. Sabathia to root for - a product of the Cleveland Indians. I can do it - if I can tune out the obnoxious fans.

Obnoxious Yankee fans could be the deal breaker. The last I heard, Rudy Giuliani was still wearing a Yankee hat. How the hell can I root for something he roots for? Damn Yankees, why don’t they take his seasons tickets away from him on the grounds that he doesn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground? I may have a hole in my head, but regardless of Giuliani, I’m going to root for the Yankees to get in the Series. I’m also going to root for Obama to kick ass in the next debate.

Damn Yankees! Don’t let me down. Not being able to pick a winner will raise havoc with my self esteem. As for you Obama, you have a job to finish before you go back to Chicago and root for the White Sox. Just do it!

The Great Debate

To watch or not to watch. That is the question and I do not have an answer yet. The hours are dwindling by to a precious few and soon I must step up to the bar and decide whether or not to watch the Obama-Romney debate tonight. Methinks that as long as I'm going to the bar , I'll order a few stiff drinks to help me make my decision. Watching the Yankees clinch the AFL Eastern Division title is an attractive alternative to the debate. Watching the Indians play in an empty stadium is not an attractive alternative - it will take a "lost Weekend" worth of drinks to make me watch them - I'd probably think they were going to the playoffs.

 I've listened to Obama and Romney so much in the past few months that I don't see why I should waste my time watching them tonight. I'm just about convinced that I should watch the Yankees. By the way, I've adopted the Yankees as my favorite to win the the Series. The nice thing about that is, if they don't, I won't really give a shit - damn Yankees.

I don't know why I'm having this great debate. After all, the High Primal will make the final decision and she could care less about baseball. I also forgot to mention that I've already voted by mail. Hope Obama doesn't fuck up.

Don't Answer It

Earlier this year, I brought my phone service into the twenty-first century and added Caller ID. Little did I know what a life saver it would be during a presidential election campaign. It may be my imagination but it seems that calls requesting political donations or calls purporting to be some kind of a survey are far more frequent and numerous in this campaign than in past campaigns. Could it be because of SCOTUS opening up the flood gates with its ruling that corporations are people? Whatever the reason, Alexander Bell’s contraption keeps chirping away seeking my ear from mid-afternoon into early evening. If it weren’t for the Caller ID feature on my phone, I wouldn’t have time to eat a decent meal or enjoy a quiet evening. Not exactly a good way to lose weight or stay awake.

I keep getting calls from Washington, D.C., I suspect its Barak inviting me to dinner or seeking my views on national affairs. So far I’ve ignored the calls and passed them on to my answering machine. He must be pissed, he never leaves a message. Caller ID identifies calls from places I’ve never heard of, like Big Bend, WI. I Googled Big Bend and found that it is a metropolis of 1290 people evenly divided between males and females. No information about sexual orientation. What surprised me is that the median income is about $68,000. One of these days I’m going to answer a call from Big Bend just to find out what an affluent cheese maker sounds like.

Then there’s Napoleon, Ohio. It turns out that it’s a small town in Northwest Ohio with a much lower median income than Big Bend. I probably should answer some of the calls from Napoleon before its funds dry up and it meets its Waterloo.

The private number calls present a challenge. I choose to ignore them and let my answering machine do the talking. In almost every case the private number machine doing the calling does not want to interact with my answering machine doing the answering - very snobbish. Still it makes sense. Since it is a private number, it does not want to share it with me, it just wants to intrude on my privacy.

I forgot to mention that if I’m watching TV and the phone rings, the Caller ID information flashes on the TV screen. I don’t even have to get off my ass to check my phone. How did I ever get along without such a feature? I understand that new phones have audio Caller ID. I have mixed feelings about that. During a political campaign there are so many calls that a phone constantly announcing who is calling would drive me up a wall. They should leave well enough alone (have you ever wondered who “well enough” is and why everyone picks on him?).

If Congress ever decides to do some legislating, it should come up with a law regulating political phone calls. Making them illegal would suit me fine.

On the bright side of things its down to 35 days before we select the savior of our country. After that, my Caller ID will receive a much needed rest.

Nice Going Bibi

(Photo from the NY Times)

Netanyahu's "show and tell" presentation to the United Nations must have been an embarrassment to the White House. With all the aid money we funnel to Israel, one would think that Israel could have put forth a classy power point presentation. Somehow a sketch of a Keystone Kop bomb just does not get me excited. A giggle perhaps, but no urge to kick the shit out of Iran. Think back to Colin Powell and his weapons of mass destruction presentation before the Security Council. Now that was class and expensive, although not as expensive as the stupid war it got us involved in. Getting back to Netanyahu and his bomb, I hope it at least got Iran thinking that Israel doesn't know the difference between a Keystone Kop bomb and a nuclear bomb. That should dispel any fear that Israel is a nuclear threat, in which case there is no sense in Iran going broke trying to become one. Nice going Bibi.

New Choppers On The Way

You know you're old when you outlive your dentures. It seems like it was only yesterday when a dentist told me that "these dentures will last a lifetime". It took twenty-five years for the old choppers to bite the dust. Actually, they were having a hard time biting anything. Today another dentist again told me, " these dentures will last you a lifetime". I'm betting that the second dentist has it right. Can't really blame dentist#1 for his optimism. I'm sure that his actuarial tables had me long ascended into the choir silent by now. Assuming I can keep my other body parts under control, I'm tempted to make dentist#2 a loser also but my age says "don't push it". Let's see - new plumbing for my heart, prostate brachiotherapy ( love that word), colon repair, carotid artery reaming, and now new dentures - I'm beginning to feel like the bionic man. What's next, hearing aids? Nawh, enough is enough. Besides, I might begin to understand some of the political gibberish going on. Can't wait for the new choppers to get here - I'm getting sick of oatmeal.

Time To Sound Retreat

 In today’s NY Times op-ed column, America’s Inevitable Retreat From the Middle East, Pankaj Mishra paints a thought provoking picture of the waning power of the United States in the Middle East. As Mishra points out:

 “Republicans calling for President Obama to “grow” a “big stick” seem to think they live in the world of Teddy Roosevelt. Liberal internationalists arguing for even deeper American engagement with the Middle East inhabit a similar time warp; and both have an exaggerated idea of America’s financial clout after the biggest economic crisis since the 1930s.
It is the world’s newly ascendant nations and awakened peoples that will increasingly shape events in the post-Western era. America’s retrenchment is inevitable. The only question is whether it will be as protracted and violent as Europe’s mid-20th century retreat from a newly assertive Asia and Africa.”

Thought provoking indeed. What I got out of it:

• Whether we like the word or not we are retreating from Iraq and Afghanistan. The mission was not successful. We never should have been there in the first place.
• We are not good at nation building. Nations are built internally, not externally.
• Democracy works for us but not necessarily for others.
• Keep the hell out of Syria!
• Israel is not our ward.
• The sooner Israel faces reality and ceases to be a loose canon, the sooner there will be peace in the Middle East.
• Keep America strong through aggressive social policies which will insure that we can all go about our business with our head held high.
• Isn’t it about time that the United Nations takes on a more proactive role in world affairs?
• If the United Nations is to be strictly a debating club, it may be time toquestion its usefulness..
• Let the world know that “Don’t Tread On Me” still means something to us.

God just might be an Englishman

It is easy to succumb to moods of depression as we are bombarded with stories of massacres, religious intolerance and insurrections. It is easy to be bewildered by the outrageous claims of political campaigns. It is easy to question our identity, as labels such as 47 per centers, 1 per centers, 99 per centers, free loaders, elitists, rightists and leftists are tossed at us. It is easy to go into a rage as religious zealots, terrorists and insurgents snuff out lives in the name of God, a poltical cause or both.

While feeling down about the woes facing us, I recalled the words , "if you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs", from Rudyard Kipling,s poem "IF".  I last read the poem in elementary school. Reading it again, made me speculate that powerful words like Kipling's could lend credence to God being an Englishman. If I could prove that God was addicted to tea, that would make my case. Now what does that have to do with the price of tea in China? Absolutely nothing, I love cliches. Let's leave it that the Englishman is telling me that if I keep my head screwed on right, I should be able to navigate through these troubled times. 


 IF

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools: If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!' If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!
 - Rudyard Kipling

He or She Lived Well

Upon the death of a dear friend of his, my son posted the following in Facebook. It's the perfect obituary and one we should all strive for.

"It's a beautiful thing when someone dies at an old age and you find yourself smiling at beautiful and funny memories of him or her. There can be no doubt that person lived well."

Wanted - Rewards Advisor

I predict that within the near future there will be an economic meltdown rivaling that of 2008. It will have nothing to do with sub-prime loans, hedge funds or derivatives. It will have a lot to do with the new economy that is thriving these days. The dollar has been supplanted by points; those points that you earn on your loyalty card or your credit card. The competition among department stores, supermarkets and credit cards is fierce. There are double points, triple points, bonus points, gas discounts and air miles. Deciding which credit card to use in order to maximize your points or where you should buy your groceries can be mind boggling. I daresay it easier to understand derivatives. I wouldn’t be surprised to soon see ads touting the advantages of employing a ‘Rewards Management Advisor’.

I’m old enough to remember Green Stamps. Life was simple then - you bought what you needed, received some stamps, pasted them in a book and redeemed them for a piece of junk. We still have an ice bucket to remind us of the good old days. Credit cards? The only challenge was qualifying for a card with super low interest and an astronomical credit line. Loyalty to a supermarket? No card necessary; just good quality at a reasonable price.

So do you play the game? To each his own. Personally, I'm too old for games. I can however envision the day when the rewards market will come crashing down. People will suddenly find out that there is no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and that the only rewards in life come through hard work and a little luck. In the real world there are no points given for greed. ( I'm writing this on a Sunday morning and felt that the last two lines were appropriate for the day.)

Having concluded my homily, I must admit that it was a bit idealistic. Actually I'm a pragmatist and I'm willing to play the rewards game.I’m considering increasing my readership by awarding points for every hit on my blog. I hope to find a rewards advisor willing to take on this formidable task at a reasonable price - like free. Well maybe I could offer him all those points I’ve accumulated on my cards.

Messing With Ave

As a wannabe suave blogger, I've decided to misbehave and mess around with ave. The High Primal does not feel I'm depraved and gave her blessing. Under other circumstances, messing around has proven to be a grave error sometimes resulting in an early grave. So here it goes:

Better to be a knave than a slave.

Better to be a brave slave than a depraved knave.

The brave deserve more than a wave.

The brave deserve to have their names engraved.

I crave to explore a cave.

The road to hell is not paved.

It was a close shave but he forgave me.

During a crime wave many people misbehave.

I've saved the best for last.

Whether  I gave it my best, I’ll leave to you, but a rave for my post would make me your slave. 

Prophets For Profit

It seems to me that  much of the viciousness in the name of God is caused by those who would make a profit from a prophet, whether they be Christians, Jews or Muslims. It's too bad that during the era when prophets uttered their sacred word there were not tape recorders or better yet 'You Tube' to record and preserve the true word. Lacking an unbiased source of the the sacred words, we are left with what someone thinks they heard and worse yet with someones interpretation of what someone thinks he heard. Too often the objectives of these 'someones' or  teachers is political, monetary or all of the above but rarely spiritual. The masses being what they are - gullible and in need of believing in an after life far more comfortable than this one - can be molded into  snarling beasts, all in the name of God. War, Crusades, Jihad, massacres, murders, ethnic cleansing all in the name of God. God damn them!

God Is Not A Politician

Much ado has been made about the platforms of both the Republican and Democratic parties. Platforms are meant to stand on but it looks like the platforms built in Tampa and Charlotte are a bit fragile and the standard bearer of both parties will be best served by finding another route to the White House.

There's no way in hell that any president is going to make Jerusalem the capital of Israel. I doubt that even the Jews expect that to happen. I'm willing to bet that even God cringes at the thought that Jerusalem is the sole property of the Jews. God? The platforms also messed around with God. One would think that a platform can't be built unless the carpenter is a deity.

It is interesting to note that the Democratic Party is going to finish a formidable task that God started. It concerns you and me. It seems that God imbued us with a potential. What that potential is, varies. Evidentally the Almighty did not imbue us with a way of achieving that potential. The Democrats however,  will fix that by promoting programs which will make it possible for all of us to achieve our potential whether it be good or bad.

Of course the Republicans claim that the Democrats are Johnny-come- lately in the God name game. They have always claimed that God is a Republican. If so, that explains why there are so many atheists and agnostics. Come to think of it, neither party has a plank in their platforms designed to garner the votes of non-believers.

I’ve noted that both presidential candidates are treading lightly on their parties platforms. Good move.

It's About Dignity

Finally got around to watching and listening to some political rhetoric at the DNC last night. Glad I did. My favorite line came from Joe Biden not Barak Obama. During his speech, Vice-President Biden reminded us that "A job is a lot more than a paycheck, it's about dignity, it's about respect". This cuts to the core of the problems facing our country today. Unemployment fosters a deterioration of values. Not only because it does not put food on the table but because it eats away at one's self respect. Without self respect there can be no dignity. Without dignity there cannot be a gentle society.

 Neither party thus far has committed to concrete programs for putting people back to work and that's too bad. Everyone should get up in the morning feeling like a productive member of society. Would that someone would come forward with an aggressive program such as FDR's Works Project Administration (WPA). The WPA was the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency, employing millions of unskilled workers to carry out public works projects including the construction of public buildings and roads.

I remember my father coming home after a days work with a pick and shovel at the height of the Great Depression. I remember him coming home with soiled clothes and frozen ears. The WPA  had provided him with work. In spite of all the cruel remarks and jokes made about someone working for the WPA, the WPA had provided dignity for him as well as work. Dignity working with a pick and shovel? Of course - he was improving his country's infrastructure. More importantly, he was earning the respect of his family.

Are you better off than four years ago?

The Republicans are pulling that "are you better off than you were 4 years ago" gimmick. I for one would have to say maybe yes, maybe no. So you want a yes or no answer - well, life is not that simple. In some ways I'm better off, in some ways I'm worse off.  As far as my health is concerned, I'm definitely better off because of two successful major operations - otherwise I'd be dead and this post would be non-existent. Although alive, I'm four years older and the bones tell me I'm not better off.   I do know one thing, if on January 21, 2013, the Republicans had not embarked on a scorched earth campaign to make the man with the funny name a one term president, I  would without question be better off today. Romney and Ryan ( sounds like a vaudeville act - guess who's the dummy) please ask me again when President Barak Obama completes his second term.

Thanks Clint!

Chair available

We should all be thankful for Clint Eastwood's appearance at the podium last Thursday night. By speaking to an empty chair he demonstrated the proper role for esteemed actors of both parties in today's politics -- please give us your money, get your sleep during prime time and leave the politicking to the politicos who know how to handle bull shit (very carefully).

 Actually, I can relate to someone over 80 speaking to an empty chair. It's a lot like my blogging. I'm sure the Cleveland Indians also can also relate to Eastwood's gimmick. They play baseball in a stadium full of empty seats and get the same results.

Thanks Clint. Hopefully George Clooney and Morgan Freeman were watching your performance and will keep away from Charlotte. No matter the bad press, I love your movies, especially those where you talk to your horse and that's no horse shit.

A sure bet to clinch last place

The tightest race in the American League is between the Indians and the Twins for last place in the Central Division. Only 1.5 games separate these wannabe baseball teams. It should be a neck and neck race for the next 30 games but I have a feeling that the Indians will outsmart the Twins. Rumor has it that Manny Acta has suspended batting practise for the remainder of the season hoping this will motivate his players to relax more during a game. This should result in more strike outs. It's a desperate move but the stakes are high. No one can accuse the Indians of mediocrity - they are doing their best to be the worst team in baseball. Go Tribe!

Musing about Isaac

• Isaac is making the Republican PR people earn their keep. They are being forced to compete with Mother Nature for headlines. Me thinks they will lose the battle. I'd rather be watching a shivering reporter out in a tropical storm than an interview with a male right to life blowhard.
• I can't get too excited about a political party which picks Florida for a convention in the middle of hurricane season.
• I wonder if some relative of Isaac will rain on Obama's party in the Bank of America stadium. Bank of America? Didn't know they hob nobed with the Democrats. Why do politicians insist on challenging Mother Nature?
• Isaac may very well do convention viewers  a favor and keep Jindal home.
• A hurricane may not hit Tampa but a pseudo category 3 hurricane will rage through the convention hall regardless; bullshit will be flying around at 120mph, causing extensive damage.
• Will Mother Nature finally put an end to mega poltical conventions?
• Romney plans to reintroduce himself to the American public if Isaac gives his OK. I knew there was something phony about him right along.

Not funny Mitt

"No one's ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place that we were born and raised." - Willard Mitt Romney

So no one ever asked to see Mitt Romney's birth certificate. Hard to believe. I've been asked to produce mine a number of times. In fact, if you apply for a marriage license, most states require proof of identification. Proof of identification and a birth certificate go hand in hand. Did Mitt and Ann come up with some other gimmick. Oh, I forgot - they are members of an elite group whose identity is not subject to proof.

Of course I'm speaking for the 99 per centers. 1 per centers could very well have found some loop hole when it comes to proving who they are. In reality, Romney is still trying to prove who he is - not much luck so far. Only kidding Willard, I mean Mitt - you have to inject a little humor in a campaign, I know you understand, you said so. By the way Mr. Romney, a low blow is rarely humorous. If you've ever been kicked in the balls, you know what I mean. Forgive me, I forgot that you have no caglione. If you had balls,  you would recognize  birthers for what they are - racists.

About Gaffes

I'm sure he would not agree but Todd Akins committed the mother of all political campaigning gaffes when he said, “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. But let’s assume that maybe that didn’t work or something, I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be of the rapist, and not attacking the child.”  His words, notwithstanding, a subsequent apology caused an uproar.I suspect that Akins considers his words a gaffe only in the sense that they caused the opposite reaction than he intended. The gaffe did serve to expose him for the ass that he is and will continue to be.

 It seems to me that Campaign 2012 as compared to past political campaigns is tainted by more than the usual number of gaffes. Both parties have experienced "I wish I had not said that" moments. Obama "the private sector is doing fine" and "if you created a business, you didn't build it". Romney discrediting the Brits handling of the Olympics and better yet letting us know that Anne drives two Cadillacs ( I  believe it is one at a time).

What I don't understand is that these people have all kinds of aides charged with keeping them out of trouble. The fact that they don't, is exemplified by a Romney aide who compared going from primary campaigning to general election campaigning to shaking up an "Etch A Sketch".

According to Buddha avoiding gaffes is simple; "Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or  ill." Good advice, but then again, Buddha was not a politician -  or was he.

As plain as the nose on Chief Wahoo's face

The Cleveland Indians are on a tear. Not satisfied with being a contender at the All-Star break, they have apparently resolved to clinch last place in the AL Central Division. The Twins will have something to say about this but in the end they will graciously give up their hold on last place. Of course, the Indians could suddenly change their minds and accept mediocrity as compared to being a solid loser. Be that as it may, you can stick a fork in the 2012 season; it's done!

It won’t be long before the sports writers and the fans call for someone’s scalp or scalps. The General Manager, the Manager, the coaches are already circling their wagons. Even the owners will be called upon to sell the team and let someone with a true commitment to winning take over.

This is all nonsense. The reason for the annual collapse of the Cleveland Indians is as plain as the nose on Chief Wahoo’s face. The Chief long ago placed a curse on the Indians. Until he is granted his hard-earned retirement, the team is doomed to be the laughing stock of MLB. That the owners don’t understand this, is testimony to their lack of baseball acumen.

Get rid of the Chief! The cost will be minimal - just some minor changes in the uniforms. Sure, some bigoted fans will tear up their season tickets but that loss of ticket purchasers will be minimal compared to the number of fans lost as seasons such as this one become the norm. It is time to take the Chief’s curse seriously. It is time to bring the Cleveland Indians into the twenty-first century.

Sticking Their Nose Where It Does Not Belong

Romney For President of Poland

I feel better about Romney running for president. A recent campaign ad made it clear that Lech Walesa has endorsed Mitt Romney for President. What a relief; Romney is running for President of Poland. Not true? Don't tell me that the venerable Pole, Lech Walesa, would interfere with our politics. Incidentally, there is no truth to the rumor that in return for Walesa's endorsement, Ronmey agreed to be baptized a Catholic when he goes to the choir silent.

Bibi Netanyahu is also sticking his nose in our presidential politics. Bibi is no piker. He may try getting us involved in a war prior to our election. Rumor has it that Israel is itching to strike Iran's nuclear facilities and feels that the United States has an obligation to make sure they are successful. That sure would put Obama between a rock and the hard place. Why doesn't Netanyahu get it over with and join Walesa in endorsing Romney for President ( my preference would be for President of Israel).

I wonder why Obama hasn't picked up such influential endorsements? I hope it's because he knows better.

Too old to vote?

I’m ready to vote. The issues are clear to me. Waiting another 84 days to vote will only cloud my mind - not the issues. I’m tired of the attack ads. I’m tired of Romney’s smirk. Actually I’m tired of the whole process.

　
There has been much talk about the Republican strategy of pushing for stringent voter ID regulations. The strategy is designed to minimize the impact of minorities and the poor but it will also affect the aged.

Remember James Stockdale, Ross Perot’s running mate in the 1992 election? Admiral Stockdale became the patron saint of seniors when in a debate he uttered, "Who am I? Why am I here?" The confusion caused by Voter ID regulations coupled with a never ending election campaign will bring about mind fatigue for many senior voters. Navigating the mine field of voting regulations may very well result in some of the aged lamenting; who am I and why am I here? If you don’t know who you are, you will never get by the ID requirements.

So what’s my point? I’ve forgotten. Hold it, I remember - I’m tired . No, that’s not it. It had something to do with my voting. The strategy to keep minorities and the poor away from the polls by making it more difficult to vote, also affects the aged.   Many in the  generation that survived The Great Depression, fought World War II and made the U.S.A. into a superpower  will be kept from voting because of confusing ID regulations and the manipulation of voting times.

As for the minorities and the poor, they can be kicked around only so long before they take matters into their own hands. Ultimately they will have their say. Hopefully it will be in the voting booth.

 One must also ask, why isn’t the United States, the champion of democracy, aggressively adopting policies of making it easier to vote , rather than more difficult.

RYAN-ROMNEY?

RYAN-ROMNEY? I'm probably way off base but I don't think the GOP's gift to the electorate is a Romney-Ryan ticket. The Grand Old Party has slipped one over on us. The conservative wing of the party has won the battle for the selection of the man to run the country. The power on the ticket will be Paul Ryan.  Mitt Romney will run as the presidential nominee in name only.

 There is no way a Paul Ryan would have gotten through the primaries as a presidential candidate but he can make it in Tampa. Ryan is destined to be the GOP's pseudo presidential candidate. Romney the business man has been outdone by the politicians and should start getting his tax havens in order. Hispanics, African-Americans and female wannabes president in the GOP will have to wait until 2016.

Obama-Biden have their work cut out for them. Hope they don't play it conservatively. In my humble opinion, now is the time to go after the juglar vein. We can't afford to have a Paul Ryan running the country.

To do or not to do

The High Primal's version of  'going green' is to keep ‘to do’ lists in her head. At her age, getting to them is a challenge but that little sapling in the forest will be forever indebted to her.

Committing a ‘to do’ list to memory may seem like a trivial way to mount an assault on global warming but in the case of the High Primal it’s a big fucking deal. Why, you ask? How many people do you know who make at least three drafts of a ‘to do’ list. Add to that, five drafts of a shopping list and we are talking about a lot of little saps in that forest who will grow up to be big saps and beget more little saps.

I might add that committing a ‘to do list’ or a shopping list to memory is no big deal for the High Primal since rarely did a final draft do its duty. Shopping lists never made it to the super market so shopping was done purely on the basis of what looked good. You didn’t know that shopping lists are home bodies? The ‘to do’ list, intentionally or unintentionally, got lost or became a ‘put-it-off list’. In some cases, today’s ‘to do list’ simply became: do today what you forgot to do yesterday. (The latter only works if you can remember what you forgot to do yesterday.)

The moral of this story is that having a memory, good or bad, sure beats having Alzheimer’s and can do wonders for those saps in the forest.

Blogging 101- According to Buddha

He just does not get it

My blogging inevitably leads to some posts which are pure ranting and raving. This in itself is not necessarily bad; the anger is what gets out of hand now and then. There ought to be some blogging guidelines for impetuous bloggers.

From the sayings of Buddha, one could develop "A Blogger's Primer" or even "Blogging 101- According To Buddha". I reserve the right to write such a book, but for now I'd like to share some sayings of Buddha with blogging in mind.

• There is nothing so disobedient as an undisciplined mind, and there is nothing so obedient as a disciplined mind. ( The last time I tried to discipline my mind, it told me to go fly a kite.)

• You will not be punished for your anger; you will be punished by your anger. ( don't go off half-cocked .)

• Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of  throwing it at someone else; you are the one that gets burned. ( Let it all hang out .)

• With our thoughts we change the world. (Fat chance!)

 One of my rant and rave posts, "Whistling In The Dark" prompted this post. I was out of line with my anger. The gentlemen in Washington have a right to take a vacation while Rome burns - it says so in one of those amendments - something called the freedom to loaf. Gun control can wait until the  the NRA puts a gun in every household. By that time it will be dog eat dog time but it would have done wonders for the economy. Never mind the drought , our vacationers will do a rain dance on the beach after getting permission from their favorite lobbyist.

 If there were a "Blogging 101- According To Buddha" course I might have received a C-. I always try to set my sights high so the best thing is to pretend I never wrote this post.

Whistling In The Dark

Congress’ version of ‘Nero Fiddling While Rome Burns’ is to take a five week vacation. I guess our esteemed representatives must have made some deal with the Devil ( or their lobbyist masters) to put on hold anymore massacres ala Aurora, Colorado and to put on hold any further disasters caused by global warming. The poor bastards have been working awful hard. Bringing a nation to its knees by playing political games instead of legislating is hard work. What makes it so difficult is choosing the lobbyist with the most money.

Charles Leck through his ‘ad astra’ blog has been on a tear lately trying to bring his reader’s attention to the necessity to do something about global warming for the benefit of our children. His quest is well taken but the reality is that we are not hurting enough yet. It will take a disaster of major proportions before our politicians will dare incur the wrath of big business by implementing regulations which will keep global warming at bay. Remember a bullet to the head of a Congresswoman was not enough to influence any meaningful gun control legislation.

Our politicians will argue that they can’t tackle issues like gun control, global warming, Social Security and health care and still expect to be elected. The fact of the matter is that they probably would dare snub the big money lobbyists if they had just one champion willing to get on his horse and lead the charge no matter the political fall out. Such a champion has not come forth. The odds of one coming out of the closet are pretty slim.

No, it will not happen after the November election. The day after the election it will be time to start Campaign 2016 and that costs money.

I hope some group takes a page out of the Tea Party success story and comes up with a third party movement willing to mess with the real issues confronting the country.

If I may resort to some clichés we need a battle royal with the big money interests. We need to rake our representative s over the coals starting with The White House. Only a pitched battle will do the trick. I know that I’m whistling in the dark and at best talking through my hat. Why the clichés - hoping to prove that my clichés are as stupid as those floating around Washington and the campaign trail.

On this Sunday morning, this is the Gospel according to Tony. Go in peace and hope the AC does not break down.

Wimpy Campaign Slogans

As the brawl called Campaign 2012 drags on, one thing is for certain. If a knockout punch was to be delivered based on the choice of a campaign slogan, the brawl is destined to be a draw. Romney would have us "Believe In America" while Obama orders us "Forward". I wonder how many millions went into these unimaginative slogans.

 Romney wants me to believe in America but so far the America he is trying to paint is not the America I believe in. I suspect that when push came to shove the choice of a slogan had nothing to do with coming up with something catchy. It had all to do with wrapping a flag around himself and hope that would cover up his desire to steal my America.

Obama says "Forward". That makes sense. No candidate would ever yell backward - or would they. The question remains however, forward to what? Someone who came up with "Yes We Can", can do better than "Forward". At least the "Yes We Can" had some substance behind it. Mr. President, get bold, then there will be no problem in marching forward.

In any case, the bumper stickers have been printed  but you would never know it from the rear end of cars. That's another story in itself. In the meantime I will continue to believe in America and I'm anxious to march forward to a brighter and smarter America.

 I'm Tony Rugare, and I approve this message.

Dilemmas Galore

I'm caught on the horns of a dilemma! I should be joining in the outcry over gay marriage statements made by the Chick-fil-A Restaurant  President and COO. The politically correct thing to do is to boycott Chick-fil-A but that's where the dilemma horns start jabbing my rear. You see, I've always felt that a Chick-fil-A sandwich is pretty shitty. Obviously such a conclusion reveals that I have partaken in this delicacy. I have - only because the High Primal loves them and many years ago I vowed to go through this marriage for better or for worse. Whether the occasional indulgence in a Chick-fil-A sandwich contributed to my heart by-pass is another matter. The point is , I can't join in the boycott of Chick-fil-A - it would be hypocritical. I'd be making no sacrifice and quite possibly, I would put a strain on my marriage. Wouldn't it suffice to say that I hate Chick-fil-A. I wouldn't feel deprived if I never ate one of their sandwiches again. I think their CEO is an asshole. I will do my best to wean the High Primal from Chick-fil-A sandwiches. Enough said!

 As an aside I read where some former Boy Scouts are returning their Eagle Badges to the Boy Scouts of America in protest over their ban on gays. Another dilemma! I should be packing up my Eagle Badge and return it to whence it came from. Damn it all - as I recall I worked pretty hard for it.  What good did it do John Kerry to return his Silver Star. Cost him the presidency, that's what. I might still make a run for the presidency, so I'll let my heirs worry about disposing of my Eagle Badge.

Gay bashing,WASPS & Headlines

This news is a bit old , but it really raised my hackles when I read about it. That's not unusual since most of the news these days raises my hackles. What in hell am I getting at? The damn Boy Scouts have reaffirmed their stand on gays. No gays allowed! I suspect that any Scout turning in a gay Scout or leader will qualify for a "Gay Basher" merit badge. At least this news has cleared up something I've wondered about since the days I was a Scout. Now I know what the "on my honor I will do my best to keep myself ...... morally straight" in the Boy Scout Oath really meant. Sneaky SOB's, they  should be made aware that gay bashing can be dangerous for your health. It was reported today that the Chick-fil-A spokesman has died . Did it have anything to do with the furor caused by his boss' biblical opposition to gay marriage? I wonder.

Then we have one of Romney's aides letting something out of the bag about his boss. The aide said that  President Obama doesn't understand " the Anglo-Saxon heritage shared by Britain and the United States",  The implication was that his boss does. So be it - another reason to support Obama. It's high time that Anglo-Saxons, aka WASPS, begin to understand that there is more to our heritage than the people who settled our original thirteen states. A look at the people populating the streets of London reveal that Britain and the united States have diversity to celebrate. I doubt that a man like Romney is capable of understanding this phenomenon.

What's worthy of a front page headline? The Olympics - no. A massacre in Syria - no. The sale of a sport's franchise - yes, yes yes! Ohio's largest newspaper carried this front page headline this morning:

BROWNS' NEXT BOSS READY TO TAKE BALL

Oh my God, the Cleveland Browns football team is going to be sold. Great! that will keep all the bad news from around the world off the front page for a few days. Don't worry about the rust belt. As long as sports survive , it will squeak along.

There goes the neigborhood - Apple officials said to consider a stake in Twitter!

Last and least, I survived the Olympic Games opening ceremonies - I didn't watch!