We've all heard of road rage. It's one of those diagnosed conditions that comes about in society occasionally. Like when anything comes along -- video games, cell phones, iPods -- there's some downside to it that shows itself. Kids with wrist problems, hearing loss.
Road rage has probably always existed. Two stagecoaches met and one driver was stabbed. Fortunately we're going fast enough now that it's hard to stab someone. It pops up most noticeably when the roads are clogged with people and we all want to get somewhere. I think driving wouldn't be half bad if it weren't for other drivers.
I was feeling a different kind of rage today, and watch for it, the designation is coming, as prices go up, as people try to do more shopping at one time because of high gas prices. You'll be in the check out lines in stores with people having twice as much stuff in their cart more often. Checkout lane rage. It's coming. I felt it today.
We went to one of the big stores. Starts with a W and ends with Mart. And for some unknown reason -- maybe something of what I just said above -- there were twice as many people there as usual, blocking up the aisles, kids running screaming, all those cash registers with their incessant beeping, old, coughing, slow checkout people. And you start thinking this is ridiculous. I can't make it through this line. Even the self-serve checkout stations -- which people used to avoid -- are full.
What would the rage look like? Well, I don't do anything like that. It's more just internalizing it, thinking I need to avoid this in the future as much as possible. But there are a lot of people out there who are already on the edge. I don't know. I can see them ramming a shopping cart into your back. Verbal abuse. Especially, let's say you have someone with a screaming kid in their cart, and they have a full cart, and they look up, and there's five people already in line. It could be we'll need some psychologists on staff out there, or turn up the soothing music, or hire more checkout people.
This is a rage that's coming. The real solution might be to get up at 3 in the morning and buy your groceries then.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Not That There's Anything Wrong With That
...but does this look like a guy who's going to take us beyond the Bush years? Or does this look like a guy who "embraces" Bush with his whole heart?
McCain's Abilities to Educate
I see the Republicans are in fine form so far this year, still insisting that up is down, wrong is right, and that they have some connection to reality, when in fact they don't.
When it comes to Iraq, it's been propaganda since before day 1: Weapons of mass destruction, we've turned every corner, we've endured the last throes, Mission Accomplished, victory was at hand before the statue hit the ground. Then long after the American people had had enough of the Administration's lies, spin, and deceit, John McCain decided to pin his hopes on stay-the-course, more-of-the-same, even if it took a hundred years!
Now he's taking on Barack Obama: "I would also seize that opportunity to educate Senator Obama along the way," he said, referring to a proposed trip together to Iraq.
That's a laugh for so many reasons. One, Obama was right about the war from before it began; McCain was wrong. The war was unnecessary, a pet project of Bush and the neocons. It has been a disaster on so many levels it's ridiculous. So, if anyone needs an education on Iraq, it's McCain himself. This is like Grandpa driving the family car in the ditch, then trying to tell everyone else how to drive. "Just sit back, Grandpa, we're almost home."
The choice couldn't be clearer -- you'd actually think McCain would try to be "against" the war instead of "for" it, for the sake of perception. But I guess once you've pinned your hopes on something, you may as well be all in. Either we want four more years of George Bush's policies of stay the course, up is down, being bogged down in someone else's civil war and calling it victory, or we want something better. McCain promises endless war, in Iraq and anywhere else he may choose. We need something better.
John McCain is the student who needs an education, because so far he has failed.
When it comes to Iraq, it's been propaganda since before day 1: Weapons of mass destruction, we've turned every corner, we've endured the last throes, Mission Accomplished, victory was at hand before the statue hit the ground. Then long after the American people had had enough of the Administration's lies, spin, and deceit, John McCain decided to pin his hopes on stay-the-course, more-of-the-same, even if it took a hundred years!
Now he's taking on Barack Obama: "I would also seize that opportunity to educate Senator Obama along the way," he said, referring to a proposed trip together to Iraq.
That's a laugh for so many reasons. One, Obama was right about the war from before it began; McCain was wrong. The war was unnecessary, a pet project of Bush and the neocons. It has been a disaster on so many levels it's ridiculous. So, if anyone needs an education on Iraq, it's McCain himself. This is like Grandpa driving the family car in the ditch, then trying to tell everyone else how to drive. "Just sit back, Grandpa, we're almost home."
The choice couldn't be clearer -- you'd actually think McCain would try to be "against" the war instead of "for" it, for the sake of perception. But I guess once you've pinned your hopes on something, you may as well be all in. Either we want four more years of George Bush's policies of stay the course, up is down, being bogged down in someone else's civil war and calling it victory, or we want something better. McCain promises endless war, in Iraq and anywhere else he may choose. We need something better.
John McCain is the student who needs an education, because so far he has failed.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Bobby Kennedy -- Next President of the United States
Bobby Kennedy has been in the news lately, and will be again in a few days when the 40th anniversary of his death comes around.I got this magazine at an antique store a couple years ago. At first glance, you'd think it was prepared for the 1968 campaign. But the term of office it predicts for him starts in 1973, and he will succeed President Johnson. So what is the copyright date? 1965. The publisher, M.H. Weston and the G.C. London Publishing Corp., of New York, was out there way ahead. At 50 cents a copy they were looking to make some money. The text was written by Bob Waters.
What follows is the main text from the last page, page 66:
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JFK 'lit a torch that spread across the world. We must keep that torch glowing . . .
As surely as this motion moved Bobby to his brother's side while Jack was President, as surely and securely as it moved him to the side of Jack's widow, and as surely as it moved Bobby to the Senate, that motion — the irresistible force — is moving him to the White House. All that remains is whether his foes in both parties can erect an opposition that will prove to be an immovable object for that irresistible force.
The 1972 campaign has begun. It is a strong, well-balanced and keenly-planned campaign. It must be strong enough to carry Bobby back into the Senate in the 1970 elections and keep his head high in the political heavens until the 1972 convention. But it has begun. The Kennedy touch is illustrated daily in New York's newspapers and wire service reports that touch across the land. There is Bob Kennedy with a son skating in Rockefeller Plaza (he's a very good skater), there is Bob Kennedy throwing snowballs, Bob Kennedy visiting a hospital for children and then one for the aged. Bob Kennedy is on the move and his moves are calculated and are being chronicled.
But the real ammunition for the campaign is still in the Kennedy armory. That will be used gradually but always effectively while he is in the Senate.
Every time Kennedy gets to his feet in that chamber it will be to add another plank to the platform he will present to that 1972 convention. Bobby will be 46 then. He won't be a callow rich kid running on his father's money and his brother's name. By 1972, the name "Kennedy" will be synonymous with blunt, aggressive, fearless utterances the world and nation will be familiar with. The legislation he will champion and fight doggedly for will endear him to minorities, working men and small businessmen. The word "Liberal," when applied to Bob Kennedy, will be spelled with a small "l." The Gore Vidals of the Liberals (capital L) will continue to dislike and distrust him. Bobby will want it that way. The plan says that the confidence of the people does not lie in either extreme, but the middle can be as wide as he wants it.
In his tribute to his brother which appears in the posthumous edition of Profiles in Courage, Bobby points out: "...There will be future Cubas. There will be future crises. We have the problems of the hungry, the neglected, the poor and the downtrodden. They must receive more help. And just as solutions had to be found in October of 1962, answers must be found for these other problems that still face us. So that wisdom (President Kennedy's) is needed still."
Kennedy's record in the Senate — the one he'll bring to the convention — will be punctuated with Civil Rights — his main course. He will strive for legislation to bolster both physical and moral strength, especially among the nation's young. Kennedy will champion the need of preserving natural resources and wealth — other nations will earn any U. S. dollar giveaways.
Bobby Kennedy already has a slogan. It was delivered by his brother Jack:
"We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth from this time and place to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans — born in this [century], tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage — and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world."
Bobby says, "What happens to this country, to the world, depends on what we do with what others have left us."
And Ethel says, "He's a doer."
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Note: In the quote from President Kennedy the magazine had it "born in this country" instead of "this century." And "Everytime" was printed as one word.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Garage Sales for McCain
There was to be a fundraiser for Sen. John McCain Tuesday in Arizona, but it was canceled after poor ticket sales, with no one wanting to come. The headliner at this event was to be the ever-popular President George W. Bush. (Pardon me, I need to scold the people of Arizona for a moment. Don't you know this is a man of history and destiny? He's president! He's going to be on commemorative plates someday. He'll be on that list of presidents your kids have to memorize in fifth grade.) President Bush has fallen on some hard times. 9/11 was the high point of his presidency, and from there it's been all downhill. He used to handpick his audiences, but I always thought that was more for selectness rather than necessity. Shame on you, Arizona!
The article about this says, "Tickets to the event were to range from $1,000 to $25,000 for VIP treatment. Money was to go toward McCain's presidential bid and a number of Republican Party organs." Organs? Are the Republicans looking for organ donors? I knew McCain was old and in bad shape, but I had no idea he was that far gone.
We must bring in money! Although the $1,000 to $25,000 stuff is probably out. My idea is how about garage sales for McCain? Like, if you're having a garage sale, direct the money to make up for the failure of his other fundraiser. Isn't it worth getting rid of some of your stuff for a good cause? CDs you don't want, old candle holders, trivets, pictures off the wall, that old sofa in the den, bars of soap from motels, whatever you can get together. Price it to sell, in the 25 cents to $1.00 range. And we'll have ourselves a president!
The article about this says, "Tickets to the event were to range from $1,000 to $25,000 for VIP treatment. Money was to go toward McCain's presidential bid and a number of Republican Party organs." Organs? Are the Republicans looking for organ donors? I knew McCain was old and in bad shape, but I had no idea he was that far gone.
We must bring in money! Although the $1,000 to $25,000 stuff is probably out. My idea is how about garage sales for McCain? Like, if you're having a garage sale, direct the money to make up for the failure of his other fundraiser. Isn't it worth getting rid of some of your stuff for a good cause? CDs you don't want, old candle holders, trivets, pictures off the wall, that old sofa in the den, bars of soap from motels, whatever you can get together. Price it to sell, in the 25 cents to $1.00 range. And we'll have ourselves a president!
Friday, May 23, 2008
How Expensive Smoking Is
I don't smoke. So I don't usually keep track of cigarette prices. But the other day I was in line at Walmart, and it happened to be the line where the cigarettes are. The prices were scary!
Marlboros were in the $56 range for a carton. The highest priced ones I saw were Virginia Slims, which were just over $60 a carton. 10 packs to a carton.
I do see the signs also when driving by convenience stores, and it seems like I saw some advertised that were in that general price range, not quite Virginia Slims high but in the upper 40s or lower 50s.
That would be getting to be an expensive habit, say, if you were a 3-pack a day smoker.
Marlboros were in the $56 range for a carton. The highest priced ones I saw were Virginia Slims, which were just over $60 a carton. 10 packs to a carton.
I do see the signs also when driving by convenience stores, and it seems like I saw some advertised that were in that general price range, not quite Virginia Slims high but in the upper 40s or lower 50s.
That would be getting to be an expensive habit, say, if you were a 3-pack a day smoker.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
John McCain is Bad
What a day it's been in the world of religion! The Republican candidate for president -- Senator John McCain -- has denounced, renounced, and rejected two of our most highly respected pastors. This from a supposedly conservative Republican. He just totally dumped on them!
I've heard of having religious doubts -- but I've never heard of this kind of wholesale rejection in such a sudden way. You know, it usually goes like this: fervency in the faith, then cooling off, then quietly picking at doctrine, then shopping around the different faiths, then dropping out of sight, then final rejection. The whole process can take up to a week. But John McCain got the job done in one day!
You're a well-respected pastor -- in this case, you are two separate men -- and John McCain is among your flock, milling around, asking polite questions about angels dancing on the heads of pins, and perhaps you're delving together into the end-of-days, when suddenly it's Apocalypse Now, not for the world, but for a very precious relationship, one you've treasured, the relationship of brothers in the faith. Finished.
Yes, this has been quite a day. Pastor John Hagee and Pastor Rod Parsley, both what I would call fairly moderate voices in the church (a bit liberal for my taste, if truth be told), were simply rejected, disposed-of, thrown under the bus by John McCain. You've heard of the kiss of Judas? John "Judas" McCain went all the way on the first date! This is a fickle, fickle man, even an apostate. A flaming apostate!
We've all heard some of the supposedly "radical" things that Pastor Hagee preaches. He called the Catholic Church the Great Whore. But really, who hasn't read Revelation and made that connection? Do you reject a guy for stating the obvious? And all that business about New Orleans destroyed because of a parade. I would have destroyed it simply for those Zatarain commercials, but, hey, that's just me. But the topper, the real biggie appears to be Pastor Hagee's assertion that God raised up Hitler to hunt the Jews so they would go back to the Promised Land. So what's the big deal? That six million were killed? OK, point taken, but it's easy to misspeak...
So one pastor down. Rejecting one pastor was a terrible thing for McCain to do. But then there was another. And I've seen this scenario play out time and time again: If a man sins once, it takes away his determination to resist, and subsequent sins are easier. Common sense. John McCain fell into that trap. He proceeded recklessly on the very same day to renounce and reject Pastor Parsley. For what? For saying that God established America in order to destroy Islam? Now, I am not going to say much about that; I'm not Salmon Rushdie here; I don't want to die.
All that aside, let me conclude. My point is that John McCain, if he truly respected these men in the first place and considered them brothers, would have sat down with them and resolved their theological differences, then extended forgiveness, and parted as friends. But he didn't.
Bottom line: John McCain is bad.
I've heard of having religious doubts -- but I've never heard of this kind of wholesale rejection in such a sudden way. You know, it usually goes like this: fervency in the faith, then cooling off, then quietly picking at doctrine, then shopping around the different faiths, then dropping out of sight, then final rejection. The whole process can take up to a week. But John McCain got the job done in one day!
You're a well-respected pastor -- in this case, you are two separate men -- and John McCain is among your flock, milling around, asking polite questions about angels dancing on the heads of pins, and perhaps you're delving together into the end-of-days, when suddenly it's Apocalypse Now, not for the world, but for a very precious relationship, one you've treasured, the relationship of brothers in the faith. Finished.
Yes, this has been quite a day. Pastor John Hagee and Pastor Rod Parsley, both what I would call fairly moderate voices in the church (a bit liberal for my taste, if truth be told), were simply rejected, disposed-of, thrown under the bus by John McCain. You've heard of the kiss of Judas? John "Judas" McCain went all the way on the first date! This is a fickle, fickle man, even an apostate. A flaming apostate!
We've all heard some of the supposedly "radical" things that Pastor Hagee preaches. He called the Catholic Church the Great Whore. But really, who hasn't read Revelation and made that connection? Do you reject a guy for stating the obvious? And all that business about New Orleans destroyed because of a parade. I would have destroyed it simply for those Zatarain commercials, but, hey, that's just me. But the topper, the real biggie appears to be Pastor Hagee's assertion that God raised up Hitler to hunt the Jews so they would go back to the Promised Land. So what's the big deal? That six million were killed? OK, point taken, but it's easy to misspeak...
So one pastor down. Rejecting one pastor was a terrible thing for McCain to do. But then there was another. And I've seen this scenario play out time and time again: If a man sins once, it takes away his determination to resist, and subsequent sins are easier. Common sense. John McCain fell into that trap. He proceeded recklessly on the very same day to renounce and reject Pastor Parsley. For what? For saying that God established America in order to destroy Islam? Now, I am not going to say much about that; I'm not Salmon Rushdie here; I don't want to die.
All that aside, let me conclude. My point is that John McCain, if he truly respected these men in the first place and considered them brothers, would have sat down with them and resolved their theological differences, then extended forgiveness, and parted as friends. But he didn't.
Bottom line: John McCain is bad.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Can Ipods Be Traced?
This is something I was wondering tonight. If I plug my Ipod in and iTunes is on, of course it recognizes my Ipod by the name I originally put in. But let's say some kid jumped me in the dark and stole it and took it to his home and plugged it in. Would iTunes on his computer recognize it as my Ipod? Or would it simply be a new Ipod as far as his computer was concerned, to which he could give it a new name?
I'm thinking it also goes by whatever its serial number is. Because it seems like when you plug it in the first time it registers it somehow with iTunes. So that if I reported it stolen, they would be able to disable it. I don't know.
But people buy Ipods secondhand. So somehow they need a way to rename it.
I'm thinking it also goes by whatever its serial number is. Because it seems like when you plug it in the first time it registers it somehow with iTunes. So that if I reported it stolen, they would be able to disable it. I don't know.
But people buy Ipods secondhand. So somehow they need a way to rename it.
Monsters
I had a good name for a monster last night, which is a monster who is fat, and maybe political. Rotunda! He could be in the line of great, stomping-mad monsters: Mothra! Godzilla! Rotunda! Both monstrous and rotund.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Perry Mason's Car
In my spare time, ten minutes here and there, I'm reading an old Perry Mason novel. It was first copyrighted in 1933 but this edition was printed in 1945. Some of these old books -- like Triangle Press or Goldsmith (mostly adventures for children) -- are very lightweight, physically. You lift it and it's like there's nothing there.
This particular title is "The Case of the Velvet Claws," written by Erle Stanley Gardner. I guess I'm midway through, around page 160 out of 310. So far it's basically a paint-by-numbers mystery, the young woman shows up telling an incomplete story with some lies. Perry, a lawyer acting like a detective in certain ways, has to figure out all the angles. Then there's a murder, and the police are involved. That's about where I am now, with Perry, Della Street (his secretary), and an private-eye kind of guy helping Perry.
The thing I wanted to jot down here has to do with Perry's car, which highlights how different it was with cars back then.
Page 35 - "Perry Mason flipped away the cigarette and pressed his foot on the starter." I'd sort of forgotten about cars I've ridden in where there was a thing on the floor to push to start it. I may be wrong but it seems like it was closer to the middle of the car. That's been a long time ago!
Page 79 - "Slowly, deliberately, Perry Mason took his hand from the automobile door catch..." Is that the same as the door handle?
Page 79 - "jerked open the door of his machine..." You don't hear that very often.
Page 82 - "His car was in the garage, and he nursed it into action, moved out into the rain before the motor was fully warmed." So it would be better to get the motor fully warmed up before driving it.
Well, I guess that wasn't too much about the car, too many differences from the way we do things or refer to things. His smoking, now that would be something to document. Perry is smoking a lot, even lighting new cigarettes off his old ones. He's in some serious trouble, so I suppose that explains it.
This particular title is "The Case of the Velvet Claws," written by Erle Stanley Gardner. I guess I'm midway through, around page 160 out of 310. So far it's basically a paint-by-numbers mystery, the young woman shows up telling an incomplete story with some lies. Perry, a lawyer acting like a detective in certain ways, has to figure out all the angles. Then there's a murder, and the police are involved. That's about where I am now, with Perry, Della Street (his secretary), and an private-eye kind of guy helping Perry.
The thing I wanted to jot down here has to do with Perry's car, which highlights how different it was with cars back then.
Page 35 - "Perry Mason flipped away the cigarette and pressed his foot on the starter." I'd sort of forgotten about cars I've ridden in where there was a thing on the floor to push to start it. I may be wrong but it seems like it was closer to the middle of the car. That's been a long time ago!
Page 79 - "Slowly, deliberately, Perry Mason took his hand from the automobile door catch..." Is that the same as the door handle?
Page 79 - "jerked open the door of his machine..." You don't hear that very often.
Page 82 - "His car was in the garage, and he nursed it into action, moved out into the rain before the motor was fully warmed." So it would be better to get the motor fully warmed up before driving it.
Well, I guess that wasn't too much about the car, too many differences from the way we do things or refer to things. His smoking, now that would be something to document. Perry is smoking a lot, even lighting new cigarettes off his old ones. He's in some serious trouble, so I suppose that explains it.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
How Stupid?
Exactly how stupid do you have to be to do something like this?
BAGHDAD_A U.S. Army soldier was removed from Iraq after he shot a Quran full of bullets and marked it with graffiti, the U.S. military announced Sunday.
U.S. military officials, fearing a backlash as a result of the desecration moved quickly to resolve the case after Iraqi police found the desecrated book May 11 at a shooting range in the predominantly Sunni Muslim area of Radwaniya in western Baghdad.
Pounding your head against a nail stupid. Scratching your back with a gun stupid. Stupid like George Bush stupid. Moron, dense, dumb, foolish stupid.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Eckhart Tolle - Part 1
I took a nap today, and woke up with what I'm calling "interesting fears." Without saying everything about my existence and what's coming up (all quite benign), I get a few worries that creep up on me. So I'm busy being busy in my mind about that. It's dwelling on the future instead of the now, to use the little I know of Eckhart Tolle's vocabulary.
But after I wake up, and it's a nice, though blustery, Saturday afternoon, and it's a little warm, and I'm all alone except for the pets, and there's no sound, it's like a thought morass. A swamp up there with interesting places to slip in.
Using the word "interesting" two times like that is itself interesting, to me. Because I was listening to a CD lecture by this same Eckhart Tolle while laying down, willing to doze off, which happened. The CD -- I'll eventually listen to it again because I dozed off maybe 20 minutes into it -- was the first of a series of talks given at Findhorn Retreat. And he uses the word "interesting," right at the beginning, as what their time at Findhorn won't be. There's an audience there and they laugh. Now, since I have earbuds I can hear everything, I'm listening for the laughter of the audience. My mental picture of them is of people wanting to go along with what Eckhart has for them, yet also looking for the interesting. Hence, every little titter in the audience appears to be someone looking for a reason to stimulate an outburst of laughter from the others and an encouragement to Eckhart Tolle to say other funny things, thereby making it interesting.
But he says at the beginning it won't be interesting, and the reason exactly why that is is escaping me in part. Let me hack it out: because interesting means analysis, like analyzing an oak tree instead of being with the oak tree. But what's wrong with analysis? I guess it's a mental digging (future oriented) instead of a mental awareness (present oriented), thereby postponing the joy/stillness instead of being in the already-always-there stillness. The topic for the retreat, I think, is stillness.
Right at the beginning, Eckhart Tolle has this very low-key delivery, and I'm thinking, Yeah! But then it becomes more conventional a presentation. But like I said, I'm busy dozing off not too far into it, waking up once and it's over with, dozing back off, then waking up with "interesting fears." I might have exorcised some of them by writing this.
But after I wake up, and it's a nice, though blustery, Saturday afternoon, and it's a little warm, and I'm all alone except for the pets, and there's no sound, it's like a thought morass. A swamp up there with interesting places to slip in.
Using the word "interesting" two times like that is itself interesting, to me. Because I was listening to a CD lecture by this same Eckhart Tolle while laying down, willing to doze off, which happened. The CD -- I'll eventually listen to it again because I dozed off maybe 20 minutes into it -- was the first of a series of talks given at Findhorn Retreat. And he uses the word "interesting," right at the beginning, as what their time at Findhorn won't be. There's an audience there and they laugh. Now, since I have earbuds I can hear everything, I'm listening for the laughter of the audience. My mental picture of them is of people wanting to go along with what Eckhart has for them, yet also looking for the interesting. Hence, every little titter in the audience appears to be someone looking for a reason to stimulate an outburst of laughter from the others and an encouragement to Eckhart Tolle to say other funny things, thereby making it interesting.
But he says at the beginning it won't be interesting, and the reason exactly why that is is escaping me in part. Let me hack it out: because interesting means analysis, like analyzing an oak tree instead of being with the oak tree. But what's wrong with analysis? I guess it's a mental digging (future oriented) instead of a mental awareness (present oriented), thereby postponing the joy/stillness instead of being in the already-always-there stillness. The topic for the retreat, I think, is stillness.
Right at the beginning, Eckhart Tolle has this very low-key delivery, and I'm thinking, Yeah! But then it becomes more conventional a presentation. But like I said, I'm busy dozing off not too far into it, waking up once and it's over with, dozing back off, then waking up with "interesting fears." I might have exorcised some of them by writing this.
Fake Names
Yahoo: Think twice before you sign up for an online service using a fake name or e-mail address. You could be committing a federal crime.U.S. prosecutors turned to a novel interpretation of computer hacking law to indict a Missouri mother on charges connected to the suicide of a 13-year-old MySpace user.
What about "a rose by any other name..."? Maybe it makes a difference what you're doing with the fake name? Of course, I suppose buried in all those things you agree to when you sign up for things there are provisions, codicils, and blind alleys that refer to these things. And if somehow you get them, the website, implicated in legal troubles by your actions, then you're going to have troubles.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Mike Huckabee's Disastrous Joke
I can't believe it. Mike Huckabee jokes about Obama diving to avoid gunshot in an imaginary assassination attempt.
I watched the video at CNN, and he's going on in a very demur way, pandering to the NRA but apparently in sincerity and without malice. He's used to making speeches, sermons. He's got the goods when it comes to personal restraint, more or less. But suddenly there's a loud noise backstage and he comes out with a totally worthless quip about Barack Obama diving for the floor because someone's pointing a gun at him. It makes you wonder. How did Huckabee have that thought cued up and ready to go at a second's notice?
I know how it goes when you're giving a speech. You feel like joking around, but this is a place for caution, because afterwards (maybe 30 seconds afterwards) you're kicking yourself, wondering, 'Why did I say that stupid thing?' But Huckabee melted right back into his serious policy pandering and appeared oblivious to the disaster that his quip was. (I quit watching about 20 seconds after the quip, so if he realized his stupidity and apologized, I missed it.)
This is a disaster for Mike Huckabee. This is something a serious presidential or vice presidential candidate should not be joking about. It is sickening, and I hate all joking about presidential assassinations (or candidates).
We're coming up on the 40th anniversary of Bobby Kennedy being gunned down, in early June. And it wasn't funny. Or MLK or JFK. Not funny at all.
I'm a Democrat, but I wanted to punch a guy out who I worked with at the time when President Reagan was shot. The guy made a joke about it, like he thought it was a good thing. And I'm still steamed about it just thinking of this idiot.
I watched the video at CNN, and he's going on in a very demur way, pandering to the NRA but apparently in sincerity and without malice. He's used to making speeches, sermons. He's got the goods when it comes to personal restraint, more or less. But suddenly there's a loud noise backstage and he comes out with a totally worthless quip about Barack Obama diving for the floor because someone's pointing a gun at him. It makes you wonder. How did Huckabee have that thought cued up and ready to go at a second's notice?
I know how it goes when you're giving a speech. You feel like joking around, but this is a place for caution, because afterwards (maybe 30 seconds afterwards) you're kicking yourself, wondering, 'Why did I say that stupid thing?' But Huckabee melted right back into his serious policy pandering and appeared oblivious to the disaster that his quip was. (I quit watching about 20 seconds after the quip, so if he realized his stupidity and apologized, I missed it.)
This is a disaster for Mike Huckabee. This is something a serious presidential or vice presidential candidate should not be joking about. It is sickening, and I hate all joking about presidential assassinations (or candidates).
We're coming up on the 40th anniversary of Bobby Kennedy being gunned down, in early June. And it wasn't funny. Or MLK or JFK. Not funny at all.
I'm a Democrat, but I wanted to punch a guy out who I worked with at the time when President Reagan was shot. The guy made a joke about it, like he thought it was a good thing. And I'm still steamed about it just thinking of this idiot.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
So Long, Roy Lee Harmon
Anybody up for another round of beating up on Roy Lee Harmon? Me either. It seems like a dream anyway, like yesterday wasn't even real. It was real, though, I'm sure, because I can see the posts still there.
Columnists may come and
Columnists may go and
Never change your point of view.
When I run dry
I stop awhile and think of you
So long, Roy Lee Harmon.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
I'm Going To Leave It Alone
Just poking around in the West Virginia newspapers, I see there was an ongoing kind of feud -- at least hard feelings -- between Emile J. Hodel and Roy Lee Harmon in the '60s.
I quoted from the 1962 column by Hodel but it must not have started there, and it certainly didn't end there. I also saw one from 1964, and I believe there were a few others on the list (at newspaperarchive.com) from Hodel's paper that probably were more zingers flung Roy Lee's way.
But I'm pulling back. I'm going to leave all that alone. There's no one who cares. And even if I could be persuaded almost to care, just think of the research that it would take to flesh it out, and then I'd have what exactly? A barrel of bad blood between an obscure Appalachian poet and the son of a West Virginia news publisher? And the ink they spilled between them in this ancient sniping?
More or less -- this is my intention as of this writing -- I will leave Roy Lee Harmon in the past. He's a'mouldering somewhere -- his grave is not to be discovered at findagrave.com -- and we shall simply let him moulder.
(Long live The Beatles!)
P.S. -- I only have one more Roy Lee Harmon-related post that I intend to make, but that will not come today.
I quoted from the 1962 column by Hodel but it must not have started there, and it certainly didn't end there. I also saw one from 1964, and I believe there were a few others on the list (at newspaperarchive.com) from Hodel's paper that probably were more zingers flung Roy Lee's way.
But I'm pulling back. I'm going to leave all that alone. There's no one who cares. And even if I could be persuaded almost to care, just think of the research that it would take to flesh it out, and then I'd have what exactly? A barrel of bad blood between an obscure Appalachian poet and the son of a West Virginia news publisher? And the ink they spilled between them in this ancient sniping?
More or less -- this is my intention as of this writing -- I will leave Roy Lee Harmon in the past. He's a'mouldering somewhere -- his grave is not to be discovered at findagrave.com -- and we shall simply let him moulder.
(Long live The Beatles!)
P.S. -- I only have one more Roy Lee Harmon-related post that I intend to make, but that will not come today.
Roy Lee Harmon — In Danger?
I only read that one column by Roy Lee Harmon, the one on The Beatles, written about here and here. But now I might have to go back and check out a few of his other columns, however many there were.
Just glancing around a bit at newspaperarchive.com, I came across an article on the editorial page of the Post-Herald of Beckley, West Virginia (May 22, 1962, p. 4), that says some things about our Roy Lee Harmon. And it doesn't look good, but obviously these were things that were public knowledge at the time.
Maybe I'm starting to see some psychological insights here that give this anti-Beatles article a whole new slant. In an article headlined, "Roy Lee Harmon Is In Uproar At Wayne," by Emile J. Hodel, Roy is called a "character," with "eccentricities." Hodel says, "There was a time when he had difficulty controlling his appetite for booze and it led him pretty far astray at times. He certainly was not a very dependable person in that period. We understand that he has mastered himself in that respect and does not drink at all now — hasn't for some years. But Roy Lee has always tended toward martyrdom — perhaps a martyr complex if there is such." Hold that in mind a moment.
Hodel continues, "Roy Lee Harmon has always been so absolutely convinced that he is right that it irks some people. And Roy always has difficulty in not injecting something of himself into anything he writes..." Which brings me to this Beatles article. Roy is a martyr, seen in the things he said about culture and American tastes, all that. And he is "so absolutely convinced that he is right," which is also seen in his very drastic slams against the Fab Four, calling them "stupid," "psychotic," and "idiotic looking." Their music he labeled "noise." Remember, this guy was a poet laureate for 41 years! (LOL! He had a cob so far up his behind he was spittin' corn! But, of course, we all have problems. Perhaps even I have some psychological difficulties. Who you lookin' at? OK, don't do it again.)
But Hodel's article doesn't just center on Roy's personality, per se, but on difficulties he was having at that moment with enemies. He had irked someone, it seems, by his writing, and was now "going around armed ... And he apparently believes that someone is trying to kill him. There can be little doubt that Roy is being harassed." So that's serious!
Hodel quotes Roy Lee, something Roy Lee wrote in the Wayne County News: "From now on I intend to protect myself and my property. It is a hell of a note when appeals to the prosecuting attorney and local detachment of state police avail nothing. My life was threatened — by telephone — again last week. On two nights we had to work very late at our plant. And two nights there were tough looking characters skulking about outside ... When we got ready to leave ... at midnight, a car, with dim lights on and the engine running, was parked in front of the place ... And this is Wayne County, in the land of the 'free and the home of the brave' — in 1962. It seems a little more like Chicago in the days of Al Capone ..." It goes on for a bit more, but I'm going to glance down and try to summarize what was at issue.
He called the issue, what he was facing, "intimidation ... cloak and dagger business," and guesses, "Maybe it all came about because I have written and published the truth." He and his paper, the Wayne County News, was apparently printing some articles about government business. He says the paper will "print the truth so long as I live," and that crime and "sorry government" flourish when newspapers are gutless.
Getting toward the end, and this is interesting, "The people are with and for the News — and many are afraid to say much or do anything .... Some are pantywaists who would rather take what they are getting than act like citizens."
Hodel concludes this article on Roy Lee Harmon with this (dismissive) teaser: "There is a lot more, but it will have to wait. Roy Lee always could eat up space in a newspaper." It looks like Hodel was applying that "martyr complex" stuff to these issues Roy Lee had, or imagined he had.
Just glancing around a bit at newspaperarchive.com, I came across an article on the editorial page of the Post-Herald of Beckley, West Virginia (May 22, 1962, p. 4), that says some things about our Roy Lee Harmon. And it doesn't look good, but obviously these were things that were public knowledge at the time.
Maybe I'm starting to see some psychological insights here that give this anti-Beatles article a whole new slant. In an article headlined, "Roy Lee Harmon Is In Uproar At Wayne," by Emile J. Hodel, Roy is called a "character," with "eccentricities." Hodel says, "There was a time when he had difficulty controlling his appetite for booze and it led him pretty far astray at times. He certainly was not a very dependable person in that period. We understand that he has mastered himself in that respect and does not drink at all now — hasn't for some years. But Roy Lee has always tended toward martyrdom — perhaps a martyr complex if there is such." Hold that in mind a moment.
Hodel continues, "Roy Lee Harmon has always been so absolutely convinced that he is right that it irks some people. And Roy always has difficulty in not injecting something of himself into anything he writes..." Which brings me to this Beatles article. Roy is a martyr, seen in the things he said about culture and American tastes, all that. And he is "so absolutely convinced that he is right," which is also seen in his very drastic slams against the Fab Four, calling them "stupid," "psychotic," and "idiotic looking." Their music he labeled "noise." Remember, this guy was a poet laureate for 41 years! (LOL! He had a cob so far up his behind he was spittin' corn! But, of course, we all have problems. Perhaps even I have some psychological difficulties. Who you lookin' at? OK, don't do it again.)
But Hodel's article doesn't just center on Roy's personality, per se, but on difficulties he was having at that moment with enemies. He had irked someone, it seems, by his writing, and was now "going around armed ... And he apparently believes that someone is trying to kill him. There can be little doubt that Roy is being harassed." So that's serious!
Hodel quotes Roy Lee, something Roy Lee wrote in the Wayne County News: "From now on I intend to protect myself and my property. It is a hell of a note when appeals to the prosecuting attorney and local detachment of state police avail nothing. My life was threatened — by telephone — again last week. On two nights we had to work very late at our plant. And two nights there were tough looking characters skulking about outside ... When we got ready to leave ... at midnight, a car, with dim lights on and the engine running, was parked in front of the place ... And this is Wayne County, in the land of the 'free and the home of the brave' — in 1962. It seems a little more like Chicago in the days of Al Capone ..." It goes on for a bit more, but I'm going to glance down and try to summarize what was at issue.
He called the issue, what he was facing, "intimidation ... cloak and dagger business," and guesses, "Maybe it all came about because I have written and published the truth." He and his paper, the Wayne County News, was apparently printing some articles about government business. He says the paper will "print the truth so long as I live," and that crime and "sorry government" flourish when newspapers are gutless.
Getting toward the end, and this is interesting, "The people are with and for the News — and many are afraid to say much or do anything .... Some are pantywaists who would rather take what they are getting than act like citizens."
Hodel concludes this article on Roy Lee Harmon with this (dismissive) teaser: "There is a lot more, but it will have to wait. Roy Lee always could eat up space in a newspaper." It looks like Hodel was applying that "martyr complex" stuff to these issues Roy Lee had, or imagined he had.
Roy Lee Harmon
I just took Roy Lee Harmon to task for his take on The Beatles in 1964. That's a long time ago, and when I said, "So sorry, Roy Lee Harmon," it wasn't with any terrible derision or brusqueness. What's it to me, after all, if Roy didn't like The Beatles? In fact, it's more curious and interesting to have someone dismiss a phenomenon, when obviously all the facts aren't in, and time does tell. He could have played it middle-of-the-road and thereby been safer, and consequently more boring.
My post was prompted by that, the bold derisiveness of his comments. He was so instant to dismiss them, and even used over-the-top words like "stupid," "idiotic," and "psychotic" to describe a group that he had to have known only a very little about. I think that's very curious. He seemed to be a guy lamenting what he saw as a cultural slide, one more nail in the coffin of a more respectable, demure culture. Screaming teenagers don't inspire confidence, I suppose.
I decided to Google Mr. Harmon, and, guess what, no big surprise, he has passed away. And not recently either, but 1981. (So, that's what you get when you blog on articles over 40 years old; the authors are retired or dead.) Here's his obit.
He died at the age of 80, was from Beckley, West Virginia, and is described as a poet, politician and newspaperman. He was the author of six books of poetry and was state Poet Laureate for 41 years! 41 years?! In his last book, published in 1978, he spoke of his death to come: "[T]he shadows darken, my old eyes dim, and I believe that somewhere just around the bend I shall encounter Death the Dark One. And when that happens, I shall thank God of all creation who has allowed me to live so long in my beloved hills of West Virginia and write my poems."
He worked at The Raleigh Register and retired from newspapers in 1965. So our article, the Beatles article in question, was right there at the edge of his career, virtually. One more year on the job and he would have pulled out his hair when The Monkees came along!
Mr. Harmon's published books included "Hillbilly Ballads," "Around the Mountains," "Up the Creek," "Unto the Hills," "Rhymes of a Mountaineer" and "Roses in December." He was a lifelong member of the Poetry Society.
Burial was to be in Blue Ridge Memorial Gardens in Prosperity.
This could very well be my last post on Roy Lee Harmon, although I'm real tempted to write one or two more. Stay tuned!
My post was prompted by that, the bold derisiveness of his comments. He was so instant to dismiss them, and even used over-the-top words like "stupid," "idiotic," and "psychotic" to describe a group that he had to have known only a very little about. I think that's very curious. He seemed to be a guy lamenting what he saw as a cultural slide, one more nail in the coffin of a more respectable, demure culture. Screaming teenagers don't inspire confidence, I suppose.
I decided to Google Mr. Harmon, and, guess what, no big surprise, he has passed away. And not recently either, but 1981. (So, that's what you get when you blog on articles over 40 years old; the authors are retired or dead.) Here's his obit.
He died at the age of 80, was from Beckley, West Virginia, and is described as a poet, politician and newspaperman. He was the author of six books of poetry and was state Poet Laureate for 41 years! 41 years?! In his last book, published in 1978, he spoke of his death to come: "[T]he shadows darken, my old eyes dim, and I believe that somewhere just around the bend I shall encounter Death the Dark One. And when that happens, I shall thank God of all creation who has allowed me to live so long in my beloved hills of West Virginia and write my poems."
He worked at The Raleigh Register and retired from newspapers in 1965. So our article, the Beatles article in question, was right there at the edge of his career, virtually. One more year on the job and he would have pulled out his hair when The Monkees came along!
Mr. Harmon's published books included "Hillbilly Ballads," "Around the Mountains," "Up the Creek," "Unto the Hills," "Rhymes of a Mountaineer" and "Roses in December." He was a lifelong member of the Poetry Society.
Burial was to be in Blue Ridge Memorial Gardens in Prosperity.
This could very well be my last post on Roy Lee Harmon, although I'm real tempted to write one or two more. Stay tuned!
If You Don't Care For Music, You May Like The Beatles
I came across an interesting article written right at the beginning of Beatlemania in America. It had the title above, "If You Don't Care For Music, You May Like The Beatles," and was written by Roy Lee Harmon, published in the Raleigh Register (Beckley, WV, Feb. 7, 1964, p. 4).In the article, Harmon is quick to dismiss the Beatles as no-talent morons. He says they are "a motley, idiotic-looking group," then later calls them "idiotic looking" again with "psychotic actions which constitute anything except music." Plus they're "wild and stupid."
Psychotic? Idiotic? That all seems pretty harsh. I'm trying to think of any psychotic actions the Beatles might have shown (and this was written before they actually got to America.) Maybe "woooo" and shaking their heads?
As I said, Harmon declares that the group is "a no-talent group," and laments, "In spite of the fact that this gosh-awful group has no talent, I predict these boys will get rich in America." He says one reason for this is that the "American people today would rather wallow in the gutter than gaze at the stars," with American taste having sunk so low that "mere words can hardly describe it."
Harmon notes that Ed Sullivan arranged to have the Beatles on his show, but gave this piece of sage advice: "Don't watch them or listen to them if you have a queazy stomach."
Well, anyway, I guess we all know how that turned out. It was sort of disclosed in the course of time that the Beatles did have at least a smidgen of talent, and went on to do some work that (so far) has stood the test of time. So sorry, Roy Lee Harmon!
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
In Cold Blood
The book's been around for over 40 years. But I just got around to reading it this week. I'm up toward the end. The trial for the suspects is happening. I've actually read at the end, since I wanted to see if a detail was mentioned that I saw on an old newspaper microfilm. It was.
Everyone's read it probably. But it's one of several million that I never got to, actually never had an interest in. I'm not into crime that much. I'm trying to think of why I started it--- oh, yeah, I was at a garage sale and there was a copy of it. I was looking for a copy of it in my basement, though, one day, figuring I had it, so maybe the subject was mentioned somewhere. I never found it, but at this garage sale there was a copy.
Anyway, it's a great book, Truman Capote, of course. A murder case in Kansas, 1959, getting to the bottom of it, then dealing with the suspects once they're caught. I didn't know any of the details, as it turned out, since I just hadn't paid attention to it. The name of the people killed, all of it, all of it was new to me.
Now I've looked up several of the stories on newspaperarchive.com. And have checked out some of the details from those sources. Including one story I saw today about one of the suspects, convicted by this point and on death row, Richard Hickok, who signed up to have his eyes donated after he was hung. The story told that they took them to, I believe, the University of Kansas Medical Center, and a woman got one and a man got the other. So that's why I was looking at the end of the book, to see if this was mentioned, and it was. In the book it's in a couple quick sentences, and seems more sarcastic.
It's definitely a page turner, if you haven't had a chance to read it. There's a few sections that could've been cut down, like Perry Smith's personal details go on too long. As to the police at that time, they seem a little out of touch. At one point, I mean, they know the suspects are in Kansas City, they know what kind of car they're driving, they know the license number. Yet they're still able to leave town, proceed all the way to Florida, then across country to Albuquerque, then to Las Vegas. Only at that point do the police notice the car and pull them over. Wouldn't you expect a little quicker capture than that?
Everyone's read it probably. But it's one of several million that I never got to, actually never had an interest in. I'm not into crime that much. I'm trying to think of why I started it--- oh, yeah, I was at a garage sale and there was a copy of it. I was looking for a copy of it in my basement, though, one day, figuring I had it, so maybe the subject was mentioned somewhere. I never found it, but at this garage sale there was a copy.
Anyway, it's a great book, Truman Capote, of course. A murder case in Kansas, 1959, getting to the bottom of it, then dealing with the suspects once they're caught. I didn't know any of the details, as it turned out, since I just hadn't paid attention to it. The name of the people killed, all of it, all of it was new to me.
Now I've looked up several of the stories on newspaperarchive.com. And have checked out some of the details from those sources. Including one story I saw today about one of the suspects, convicted by this point and on death row, Richard Hickok, who signed up to have his eyes donated after he was hung. The story told that they took them to, I believe, the University of Kansas Medical Center, and a woman got one and a man got the other. So that's why I was looking at the end of the book, to see if this was mentioned, and it was. In the book it's in a couple quick sentences, and seems more sarcastic.
It's definitely a page turner, if you haven't had a chance to read it. There's a few sections that could've been cut down, like Perry Smith's personal details go on too long. As to the police at that time, they seem a little out of touch. At one point, I mean, they know the suspects are in Kansas City, they know what kind of car they're driving, they know the license number. Yet they're still able to leave town, proceed all the way to Florida, then across country to Albuquerque, then to Las Vegas. Only at that point do the police notice the car and pull them over. Wouldn't you expect a little quicker capture than that?
Captchas
I've been coming up against captchas lately. One day I had too many blog posts on one of my sites, and every post over the limit requires a captcha to go on. They're a drag, but apparently necessary, and effective against spam.
I could look it up, I guess, as to precisely how it works. A computer supposedly can't read it, it takes a person. But I'm a person and I have a hard time making them out. Some of the ones at blogger are so squeezed together and twisted around that they're virtually indecipherable. But I have a theory -- sometimes it works this way -- that if you take a more intuitive approach to it, they're actually easier. When you start reasoning it out, weighing the alternatives, for me, that's when I get them wrong.
It's funny, though, if you get it wrong a couple times, they give you a slightly easier one. Maybe it just seems that way and is a coincidence, but there are definitely some easier ones.
Who are these people with automated programs and what are they doing to crack the captcha?
I could look it up, I guess, as to precisely how it works. A computer supposedly can't read it, it takes a person. But I'm a person and I have a hard time making them out. Some of the ones at blogger are so squeezed together and twisted around that they're virtually indecipherable. But I have a theory -- sometimes it works this way -- that if you take a more intuitive approach to it, they're actually easier. When you start reasoning it out, weighing the alternatives, for me, that's when I get them wrong.
It's funny, though, if you get it wrong a couple times, they give you a slightly easier one. Maybe it just seems that way and is a coincidence, but there are definitely some easier ones.
Who are these people with automated programs and what are they doing to crack the captcha?
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