Bipartisanship

I wouldn't have trusted the Republicans from day one ... and I didn't.

Anyone who trusts them to put forth a bipartisan effort on something that would help the Democrats (responsible healthcare legislation) is a fool. After all they've done and said, after all the yakking of the right wing talking heads, after all the crazy teabaggery, after even assassins showing up at the president's events, you're still expecting the Republicans to put forth a good faith effort?

If you think anything remotely like that, I understand the Optimist Club is always looking for new members.

Personally, I'm a member of the Lion's Club. I think we need to rage on the Republicans with the full force of a lion, and maybe take a bite out of their rear flank for good measure. There's nothing more disgusting to me these days than the Republican party. And I'm adding some of our Democrats In Name Only (Ben Nelson, Max Baucus, etc.) to that group.

Watching The Music Man

I'm in the process, following my own patented way of watching movies, about 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes in the evening during exercises, of watching "The Music Man."

This is one of those VHS tapes we've had around forever. Where we got it is lost in the mist of time. Maybe Goodwill, maybe a garage sale, no one knows. But I've seen it over the years in various boxes and most recently in a closet.

Since I've been in the mood to launch out and watch a few things I've never been interested in before -- such as "The Shaggy Dog" and "West Side Story -- next up was "The Music Man."

I'm about -- I dunno -- maybe 35-40 minutes into it. They just had the scene with the public meeting in the school gym, where Prof. Harold Hill jumps out in a band costume and leads everyone in the song "76 Trombones." I've sung that song over the years and didn't know much about where it came from. I also didn't know all the lyrics. Still don't.

It's fun to see Shirley Jones doing her thing as a young woman. And Ron Howard in there as well.

One thing about VHS I don't miss, at the beginning is a documentary on the making of the film and other subjects. Instead of just pushing one button to skip through it, I had to FF through it, taking about forever. That feature should've been at the end of the film, since it presupposes the viewer has already seen the movie.

The Time Of Cutting Chickens

We're sharing at a meal tomorrow, chicken. So the time of cutting chickens has come again.

The great mystery of cutting chickens continues to fascinate me. I would love to know precisely the right way to do it. The last time I did it by myself and didn't do too bad a job. This time I watched on one chicken, somebody else do it, but about had a nervous breakdown when I saw the knife going toward the hand. That can't be right.

There are joints where you can hit it precisely. Wiggle it here, wiggle it in the other place, then bring the knife through confidently, like a monk.

Someday I will know how. This is my vow!

Phillip Craig Garrido

Thinking about Phillip Craig Garrido, the man who allegedly kidnapped Jaycee Lee Dugard nearly two decades ago when she was just 11-years-old ...

If he's found guilty and you need someone to throw the switch, just ask.

The Republicans' "Great White Hope"

Oh my, how can these Republicans get up and say such things? I can easily picture all kinds of racist thoughts taking place in private, but to go to some public venue and spout this kind of thing is beyond belief.

The latest to lament on the fact that we have a black president, and that we should do something about it, is Kansas Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins (R-KS), who says the GOP must find its "great white hope" to lead them back to power.

The term of course comes out of boxing, from back in the day when there was a black boxer who was the champ. So who can we get to bring the title back to its rightful owners, the white folk? We need a "great white hope." That's what the word "white" is there for. It was a racist thing.

The Republicans might want to think about how this is playing with the voters. We're making progress on some of these issues. They might want to come along as well.

Michael Steele On Teddy Kennedy

"For close to five decades, Senator Ted Kennedy followed in his family’s long tradition and served his country with great distinction." - RNC Chairman Michael Steele.

Good grief. Save it.

If You Can't Do It Right

I was trying to do something nice for someone today that involved pouring a liquid. But I was at a weird angle and needed to reach. I spilled a little, then continued pouring and of course I spilled more. It was embarrassing.

So I apologized and cleaned it up.

Driving in the car I made up a little song that essentially repeats over and over these lines to some trite tune: "If you can't do it right then don't do it. Do not do it if you can't do it right."

That's a good way to think. Why do it if you can't do it right? If your mind tells you it's a disaster waiting to happen, do not proceed. If the angle is bad, change the angle. If other circumstances are against you, do what you can to make things better.

From now on, no more proceeding with a 99% disaster likelihood. If I can't do it right I won't do it. I will not do it if I can't do it right.

Same Old Story

I had the great idea today of going out for a picnic for dinner.

So all things were arranged, the getting of the appropriate food, the plans, everything packed up.

Then when we got there, the park, it was the same old story that picnickers for generations having been telling, the bugs!

It seems like it's been colder recently, and I heard a guy say he and his wife went for a picnic yesterday and there weren't any bugs.

But there were for us. Some kind of little black bug that I can't identify. They seem to like to land right on your plate and stay there. They don't move when you swat at them or pick them up with a wet finger. So they're not into defense.

Plus some were landing on my shirt, my hair, my arm. Anywhere.

After a while of that, we packed up our stuff and left for home. After that I enjoyed the fruit -- cantaloupe and grapes mixed -- in the comfort of our home. No bugs.

Some Weird Food For Sunday

At the store I had a weird craving for some things, including chocolate milk, bagels, sorghum, and popcorn.

Sorghum? Yes, I like it once in a while. I already had half a jar on hand but it's been setting in the cupboard for years. I don't know if it goes bad. So I bought a different one.

Then the popcorn. I was making it and reading the sorghum label and it said it was used for popcorn balls. So I dipped a few pieces of popcorn in sorghum and it tasted pretty good, like a popcorn ball taste!

One of these days I'll have to learn to make popcorn balls.

So for dinner, long after I had the popcorn, I had a bagel, some chocolate milk, some grapes we already had, and a radish. We already had a bag of radishes.

People Feeding Ducks

We were at a lake a while ago and saw a big family -- must have been 12 kids, not as two parents' kids but as a larger family together -- throwing bread in the lake. The ducks were going for it, of course, and ducks were even swimming in from down shore to get in on the action.

I was grumbling about it to myself and one other person, since you're not supposed to feed the wildlife. Something about if they get a taste for human food, next thing you know they'll be wandering the aisles of our groceries stores pooping everywhere.

They kept it up, the people feeding them. Then some seagulls who also happen to be in the area came swooping in, and they were virtually diving in over the family's heads, trying to get the bread in midair. That's tough to do, but some where going down to the surface and picking it up quickly. One intelligent seagull actually landed on the water. But then when a kid lobbed a piece of bread toward it, it got scared and few away. So not so intelligent!

I watched the family for 10 minutes or so. That's how long it took, either to use up all the bread or to lose interest.

I was hoping the seagulls would carry one of the kids out maybe 15 feet, drop him or her, so I could see the frantic parents diving in. That'd teach them to feed the birds! But of course seagulls aren't organized enough to manage it. We don't live in a perfect world, alas.

Another Bad Muffler

I hate it when someone drives by with a bad muffler. That "RRRRRRRRR" noise grates on my last nerve. Get it fixed!

I was outside walking the dog one day, like 6 or 7 in the morning, and some guy in a truck on his way to work, probably, comes "RRRRRRRRRRR'ing" by. I didn't mean to turn and look, since I don't want him to feel any worse about it than he probably already does. But before I could check myself I had turned.

He looked right at me and waved. So that's better than fingering me for looking at him.

I've had bad mufflers a few times in the past. It's embarrassing. So I've gotten them fixed as soon as possible.

Random Names Virus Tweets (Collect Them All)

There's something wrong with my PAULSON computer. Like right there RICKY. I'm typing along and it inserts a name at random BERTHA.

As far as I can GLENN tell it's stealing from my 140 MARGARET characters. So if WEN HO LEE I have a thought, I need to THOMAS TRAIN abbrevia

This stupid thing POLLY! This has to be a virus BUSCHMACHER. Buschmacher? Is that even a name. Probably. GERMANIC FLU. That's ridiculous.

PILSON. That just popped up. SAM ADAMS. It's getting worse TONY. I'm pulling the plug LILLIAN. The backspace JAMES ST. JAMES doesn't work.

ADDAMS FAMILY. WEN HO LEE. Wen Ho Lee? Isn't that the guy who was accused of being a spy? And found not guilty. RED SOVINE. Teddy Bear guy?

It's maddening. JOHANNA. Where's it getting these names? HENRIKSSON. Looks Swedish but I've never been there. I shower so I don't swed.

PAGLIACCI. RENFIELD. Renfield I know. He's the fly eating DECLAN guy from Dracula, not DECLAN. Isn't that ELVIS Costello's name?

I need to turn it off MARGARET. Weird stupid computer. Stupid FLINTSTONE computer. Bye.

The Late Show

I'm watching the movie "The Late Show," which stars Lily Tomlin, Art Carney, and Bill Macy.

The way I watch a movie, as I've said before, is 10-15 minutes a day while exercising, so I have to stop and restart several times before I get the job done.

With "The Late Show" I'm having a hard time restarting, since it isn't appealing to me very much. It's great seeing Art Carney, that's for sure, and Lily Tomlin. Bill Macy -- I think I'll look him up -- it seems like he was the guy who played Maude's husband. (Yup, turns out he was.)

I always loved Art Carney on "the Honeymooners," like everyone. And Lily Tomlin on "Laugh In" and various other appearances.

The movie has a lot of good stuff going for it. It's just been hard to restart, because I usually want lighter fare when I'm exercising. At least nothing to be nauseated about, which is what I am when guys have bloody noses a lot or there's a body in a refrigerator.

I'm definitely in the last half of it -- I can just feel it -- so I want to see how it works out. But it's really really tough to care.

Harper Valley PTA

I love the old song -- sung by Jeannie C. Riley, written by Tom T. Hall -- "Harper Valley PTA." I always have loved it, because I love the "Mama" in it and her attitude.

The PTA doesn't think Mrs. Johnson's bringing up her little girl in a good way, since she, Mrs. Johnson's wearing mini skirts and apparently running around with men and going wild. She doesn't deny it.

But the PTA happens to be meeting that very afternoon. And she wears her mini skirt into the room! (And maybe she ought to have a couple of the men with her, looking at the PTA gals and licking their lips.)

Mrs. Johnson's tactic of rebuttal is to point out the hypocrisy of those who are gathered, thinking themselves to be the moral arbiters of their generation. These include Bobby Taylor, who's asked Mrs. Johnson out for a date seven times. And Bobby's wife who uses a lot of ice when he's away. And Mr. Baker, whose secretary had to leave the town. And Widow Jones, who doesn't keep her window shades pulled completely down, and must be doing something in full view of passersby, that, frankly, I'd like to know more about.

In addition to these hypocrites, we have Mr. Harper -- of the famous Harpers, I guess -- who missed the meeting because he's at Kelly's Bar again. And Shirley Thompson, sitting there with gin on her breath.

Mrs. J sums it all up: "Then you have the nerve to tell me you think that as a mother I'm not fit. Well, this is just a little Peyton Place and you're all Harper Valley hypocrites!"

That's my Mama! the little girl seems to say. Because she celebrates what happened: "No I wouldn't put you on because it really did, it happened just this way. The day my Mama socked it to the Harper Valley P.T.A., the day my Mama socked it to the Harper Valley P.T.A."

I love Mamas like that. My actual Mama's like that. She doesn't run around with men and go wild like Mrs. Johnson. But if push ever came to shove, she'd definitely "sock it to 'em!" And good.

Contractual Obligation Blog Post

Blogger is supposed to put red and blue M & M's in my computer room. This is not being done. I found some other colors in the mix.

Also I need a box of Puff's tissues, a hand towel folded in fours, and a single square paper towel on top of that.

And I need a 20" box fan set on medium blowing approximately 20 degrees away from where I normally sit. Blowing to my left.

A lot of this stuff isn't being arranged to my satisfaction.

(As far as water, I want a pitcher of tap water with some professionally made ice in it.)

Old Man Summer

Summer is quickly starting to seem like an old man to me.

As far as the season goes, it's getting too old to cut the mustard. I was hearing what sounded like locusts today. Which I usually associate with the onset of fallopause. Cold flashes.

The trees look tired. The squirrels are carrying around food. It's cooler than usual. The sky looks gray.

The last hurrah can't be too far off. Everything is accelerated. Nature's giving up.

Krugman Nails It

Paul Krugman nails it today in his column, "Republican Death Trip." Speaking of the right-wingers and their despicable lies and distortions about President Obama and health care reform, he says,

This opposition cannot be appeased.

That's exactly true. And I have to hope that President Obama knows what he's doing in continuing his dance with the extremists, including supposed "centrist," Charles Grassley. These people are stabbing him in the back. Like it or not, there's no bipartisan heaven just up the road.

The time for kicking ass has come. President Obama has the power to do it if he chooses.

But, as Krugman says,

What’s still missing, however, is a sense of passion and outrage — passion for the goal of ensuring that every American gets the health care he or she needs, outrage at the lies and fear-mongering that are being used to block that goal.

Please, please, please, Mr. President. Take these despicable Republicans down. And get the job done for the American people.

You wanted to be president to bring "change we can believe in." You're there ... Now do it!

No Palin, No Gain

Michpalin Bachpalin, congresspalin from Minnesota, complains that people are trying to "palinize" her. That's ridiculous!

But of course if it palins like a palin and it palins like a palin, it could very well be a palin.
Afterall, no palin, no gain.

Being in politics is a very palinful thing sometimes.

Personally I think Michpalin Bachpalin is crazy enough to qualify for the honor of being palinized, but I'll leave the job to others.

The original Palin, of course, is as crazy as they come. And it might be hard to top her, although Bachpalin might succeed.

Michelle "Palin" Bachmann

Michelle Bachpalin, the crazy Congresspalin from Minnesota, pleads with her supporters not to let the opposition "palinize" her.

Apparently Michepalin is referring to the original Republican scourge, former Alaska governor, Sarah Palinmann, who has marginalized herself with her extreme, wacky, fruitcake ideas and statements.

Bachpalin might want to check her record. The only one palinizing her has been she herself. If you're palinizing around with Palins, don't be surprised if some of the stink wears off.

In all seriousness, we hope that Congresspalin Michpalin Bachpalin is completely defeated and humiliated in the process. Although, to be fair, with her wacky Palinesque views, we can't imagine what it would take to humiliate her.

Arlen Specter's Townhall Meeting - The Real Dope

I only saw the 3 minute snippet of Sen. Arlen Specter's townhall meeting. Of some dope who stood up and railed at him for being corrupt, having cronies, etc.

And as much as I can't stand Sen. Specter, and hope he loses in the Pennsylvania primary, at least he let the old fart speak his mind. Of course it turned out he didn't have much on his mind, just a lot of generalized griping. But the guy got to leave of his own freewill, so that was something.

Try that at a Republican rally, by the way. He wouldn't have gotten in in the first place, like the old Bush rallies. Even if he had a T-shirt that seemed anti-Bush, or even a bumper sticker on his car in the parking lot(!) he would've been ushered out or excluded. (And these are the loudmouths these days complaining the most about access to their representatives.) And as for speaking his mind -- which he did -- the Republicans would've drowned him out with "USA! USA! USA!" That's how much they believe in free speech.

Now, in addition, we have some clown -- excuse the language, actual clowns -- who thought it'd be a good idea, something allowable, to take a gun to see President Obama speak. A gun! I don't remember that policy in the Bush years either, for all their crowing about Second Amendment rights.

The short story is this, cut to the chase. These people are rabble, hooligans, and obviously very selective in their outrage. Bush was overtly -- with malice -- trying to trample people's rights and they didn't let out a peep.

It's Interesting Being Old

I've never had a problem with old people or the eventuality of getting old.

Right now I'm old if I'm thinking of ages I used to think of as old. I'm not 60 yet. But I think I read that Richard Nixon resigned the presidency when he was 61. Wow, that was young, and the guy seemed like he was around forever when I was a kid. Because he was.

I have a theory that no one is really old, but people are always the same kid they always were. You see a 90 year old person -- and if everything's functioning right, the same kid's in there somewhere.

This theory I think helps me relate to older people. Because I'm always thinking they have the same buttons we all have -- or had as kids. Just relate to them as much as equals, because we are, and everything is fine. There's no condescension and no kissing up to them based on age.

(I might've said some nasty things about John McCain's age in the campaign. But that was just political mischief.)

The Intelligence of Dogs

I saw an article earlier this morning about the intelligence of dogs.

They did some experiments with dogs as to their ability to figure out basic arithmetic problems, and, according to what it said, they can handle number up to around 5. Like if you have five pieces of meat, maybe, they can keep track of how many they have left.

Maybe that's not the best example. Since my dog could keep track of a whole truck of meat.

As to the linguistic abilities of dogs, they can learn the meaning of somewhere under 200 words. And of course they can pick up your tone of voice, anger, all that.

An interesting detail is they don't seem to understand equity, I think the word is, like equal or lesser or greater values of things. Like say you gave one dog a steak and your dog a biscuit. The fact that each got something makes it OK, but if the one dog got a steak and your dog got nothing, that would not be good.

I like to think my dog is very very smart. But it sounds like, from the article, that if they have the level of a two or three year old child, you're getting about the best they can be.

Microwave Popcorn

Microwave popcorn. What'll they think of next?

I'm loving this. The popcorn's in a paper bag. You take the plastic wrap off. You put it in the microwave. You wait a few minutes. And voila! It makes popcorn.

As far as I can tell, it's about the same as regular popcorn. Comes out hot. Tastes good. Not much difference. But talk about convenient!

We live in exciting times.

Maybe next time I go to the movies I can sneak my microwave in and save money. Movie popcorn seems fairly expensive.

Twitter

I don't know about Twitter. It doesn't seem to be going well. At some point if you don't actually know the people, isn't it pointless?

Plus I'm wondering what the Twitterquette is about how many posts you should make. Wouldn't everyone get sick of it and "unfollow" a person if he, say, posted 1000 tweets in a day? It might be interesting to try.

Standing Up To The Republican Mobs

The Republican party is shameful. This message against their vile rabble rousing ought to be repeated over and over.

More Cash For Clunkers

The Republicans have decided to allow a vote on more money for the "Cash for Clunkers" program.

I think the turning point came when Harry Reid told a little white lie, that the cash would go for the Senate Republicans' reelection campaigns. Because, of course, that would be cash for clunkers.

[Allow laughter to die down. Heh heh...]

Speaking of clunkers (cars), why don't we, the taxpayers, buy up all the clunkers, then put them in a huge storage facility and just keep them till they're classics, then sell them at a huge profit?

I've seen it plenty of times that a farmer will have an old 1919 Ford or something in his field, worthless as can be. But then a collector will show up and give him a few thousand dollars just for the old carcass.

There was a place I was at in Nebraska that had old cars lining the river bank, at a bend, to keep the river bank from washing away. It was ugly as can be but apparently effective. I always wondered if some of those cars would've been classics by now had they not been stuck on the river bank.

We're Out Of Iced Tea

Hey, hey, how's this for a daisy chain of blogging? I just wrote a blog post at Dada Boheme explaining my blog posts at Grandma Slump. And now I'd like to comment on one of the true elements in the Dada Boheme post. About the iced tea.

We really were out to eat at a fancy restaurant -- fancy by local standards. And we really were having iced tea, which was pretty good too. Not like the crappy iced tea you get at Burger King, which tastes like some kind of powder three or four generations from any DNA connection to actual tea. This was good tea.

I was scrunching the lemon down with my straw, poking at it, terrorizing it, trying to extract all the juice I could, then swirling it so that lemon pulp was clouding my glass. That's beautiful, and incidentally, a pretty nice description of what I was doing. Then I was taking sips, so much so, in fact, that after a time of drinking it -- I wasn't rushing -- the glass became progressively emptier, and I'm an optimist about half-empty, half-full glasses ... but no amount of optimism could deny that this glass was finally ... empty.

The waiter, who seemed pleasant enough, saw me flagging him like he was a cab. He saw what I wanted and indicated to me these terrible words, "We're out of iced tea." OK. I might've looked disappointed but not overly so. He listed off the brands of soda pop I could get but I settled on water, which he brought.

Pretty soon there were a few individuals in the process of moving from one table to another and they came by us with a waiter accompanying them. So we could hear them clearly make their drink order, which was "Iced Tea." We looked at each other and chuckled, "They're going to be disappointed."

Maybe five, eight minutes went by. And coincidentally our own waiter was coming to our table. I said to him, chuckling, "How is it you run out of iced tea?" He's starting to explain, "We brew it in the morning and----" He doesn't have a chance to explain further, because we and he can see those folks' waiter approaching their table with a tray that has four full glasses of iced tea on it!

[Insert that it was an uncomfortable moment for someone, our waiter. It was also uncomfortable for me, because I hated to see him in that situation.] He excused himself, saying something like he would go check on the tea situation, but I didn't catch the exact words because I felt embarrassed. I'm a compassionate person, which is no secret.

He brought the new glasses of iced tea, didn't say "Sorry about that" or anything, which was just as well, because I preferred to overlook the whole thing.

Anyway, I wasn't really even in the mood for another whole glass, having already drunk the water too.

Cash For Clunkers

I'm just starting to notice signs at local car places about "Cash for Clunkers" and stories about it online. Now I'm seeing a story that John McCain will be opposing more money for "Cash for Clunkers."

Why McCain is opposed to it, I don't really know. His campaign was sort of a clunker and he got all kinds of cash for that.

When it comes to Brainiacs who know what good legislation is (or bad) I don't think we should be looking to McCain. After all, his idea of a great president (vice president who might have to step in) was Sarah Palin. And we know what a clunker that idea was.

I don't think my own personal clunker would qualify for this program. Not that I've looked it up, since I'm not in the market for a car. But I think it has to be a gas guzzler and mine gets fairly good mileage.

But I'm not opposed to subsidies for other people's cars, since it's all meant to stimulate the economy. They used to just send us a check. Now they're channeling the money into a program like this, which seems more efficient. Go right to the point of sale where someone is actually spending it.

McCain and the Republicans (clunkers every one) will be opposed to this. They are, after all, afraid that something might work. They're invested in the idea that Obama must fail. So they can stand back and complain about how he failed, i.e., precisely what they wanted. (Hint: The Republicans are no good.)

Twitter Account

I'm a little late to the Twitter scene. I looked up an old friend of mine on there who has around 100 followers. The stuff he's got on doesn't seem extremely interesting to me, very tech oriented, but he has all these followers from somewhere.

So I have an account finally. Under the name of "dbkundalini" in case anyone ever sees this and is interested. Somehow I got two followers. Which could be like when you go on MySpace, how "Tom" instantly becomes your friend. Maybe these same two followers are followers of everyone. It would seem very strange to instantly have two followers when I barely said anything. But I've said a few things.

I'll try to say a few things once in a while, whatever. Right now I'm doing my Grandma Slump character thing. Which I think is funny even if it's all a tad diffuse. I don't know if this guy is supposed to be crazy, eccentric, or exactly what. Because it's all made up as we go along.