Archive for August, 2009
A Bone Fragment Dominates the “News” in the United States
I turn on the television at 9:54 p.m MT hoping to be engaged and/or stimulated by news or discussion. What do I find? Nothing. Oh, then again, everyone’s fixated on “a bone fragment” in California.
A sense of peace comes across me. Nothing more important’s happening in the entire world…
Zen Rocks – Save Hundreds of Dollars and Build Your Own
I live in Colorado where everything is Zen and expensive. I’m not rich but I love the look of topiaries and “Zen rocks,” which I like to put here and there on my deck and in my garden. Unfortunately for me, “Zen rocks” sell for $60.00 to $120.00 around here.
Solution? Buy a tube of construction adhesive and glue three or five or seven flatish rocks together, one on top of the other (the biggest at bottom — and never an even number – Mother Nature doesn’t do it that way). Total cost? Roughly 50 cents because with that one tube of construction adhesive you can make a bunch of them.
Smoke from CA Wildfires in the Air in Colorado
I live west of Denver. Today I noticed an orangish tint to the sunlight, something we experience here when there’s a forest fire in the area. I hadn’t heard of any so I chalked it up to the changing light of the coming Fall. But I heard on the local news just now that it’s due to the California wildfires, 1,000 miles away.
Small world.
Maira Kalman – Always a Treat
Pursuit of Happiness: I Lift my Lamp Beside the Golden Door.
Those Amazing Animals
We arrogant humans have historically underestimated the intelligence, skill and amazing adaptations possessed by animals. The more we learn about them, I pray, the more we’ll respect them (if we don’t kill them off first).
For example, scientists have discovered that lizards use a third eye to steer by the Sun. Amazing.
I read the other day that a hummingbird’s heart can beat over 1,000 beats per minute when in flight and their wings can flap something like 50 times per second. And, insofar as their bodies function at such a fast pace, they go into a state of starvation if they don’t eat for four hours. Fascinating. How they make it to Costa Rica and South America for the winter, I’ll never know, but I sure respect the heck out of them for doing it.
Oh, and the other day I read too that a dog can attain the intelligence of an average 2-year-old human. Hey, I beg to differ. You can’t leave a 2-year-old human home alone.
I Thought Republicans Were Against Frivilous Lawsuits
Not when you’re a professional victim, apparently: Carrie Prejean Sues Pageant for Religious Discrimination.
Fox “News Has the Oldest Median Audience of Any Network
So says the entertainment magazine, Variety:
Fox has gotten quite a bit older over the past few years, as the percentage of its audience that are teenagers has dipped from 12 percent in 2004 to 8 percent in 2008. Conversely, the chunk of Fox’s audience that is between 50 and 64 has risen from 18 percent in 2004 to 26 percent in 2008.
[...]
The oldest-skewing cable network remains Fox News, with a median age of over 65, followed by CNBC, GSN, Hallmark and Golf Channel.
Hehe.
Taxes
Here’s an interesting chart from The Economist showing how people are taxed around the world. (The U.S. ain’t so bad.)
Who’s Going to Take Care of All the Pets Left Behind After the Rapture?
Ever wonder what’s going to happen to all the pets that will be left behind after the Rapture, when all the “good people” on Earth rise to Heaven and us bad people stay down here? Well, hey, some body’s got to think of these things and, fortunately, someone has.
Sign up here to add your name to the list of people who will care for a pet (or two) that will be left behind when its family goes to live in the sky with Jesus: Eternal Earth Bound Pets.
Jenna Bush Hired as a “Reporter” For the Today Show
Yet another kid of a rich and famous person gets a job filtering the news for us, based on their last name and their aristocratic position in our society. And these are the same people who are against affirmative action. They’re the same people who “didn’t get a handout,’ and who claim that they clawed their way to success through sheer blood and guts. They made it “on their own” and you can too!
The wonderful Glenn Greenwald says it all:
They should convene a panel for the next Meet the Press with Jenna Bush Hager, Luke Russert, Liz Cheney, Megan McCain and Jonah Goldberg, and they should have Chris Wallace moderate it. They can all bash affirmative action and talk about how vitally important it is that the U.S. remain a Great Meritocracy because it’s really unfair for anything other than merit to determine position and employment.
Shocker — Fox News’ Audience Doesn’t Think Global Warming is Real
This is a poll that’s up on their “green” site (which, btw, hasn’t been updated since July 15).
Ed Schultz in Boulder, Colorado
Just got back from a town hall meeting with a bunch of rowdy Boulderites and Ed Schultz. It’ll air tomorrow on the Ed Schults Show. Great time. While I have problems with Ed, he’s performing an invaluable service in the fight for the public option. He is one pissed off dude, as are those of us who see the Democrats being their usual wimpy selves and caving on this.
Hey, we already had a march on Washington. It was held on November 2, 2008 and WE WON. So Dems, suck it up and get this done!
It’s Almost New Product Time
Remember back in 2002, when Andy Card said, “you don’t roll out a new product in August” (that “new product” being the lies that led to the invasion of Iraq)?
Well, August is coming to an end and September is upon us. Wonder what “new product” the GOP will roll out this fall.
One Year Ago Today
We were all Googling “Sarah Palin,” because John McCain announced that he had picked her as his VP 24-hours earlier:
“She’s exactly who this country needs to help me fight the same old Washington politics of me first and country second,” the presumptive Republican nominee said at a Dayton, Ohio, rally of about 15,000 supporters, who welcomed the surprise pick of the relatively unknown politician with cheers and flags.
“She’s got the grit, integrity, good sense and fierce devotion to the common good that is exactly what we need in Washington today,” McCain said.
(Gee, “the same old Washington politics of me first and country second?” Isn’t that exactly what the Republicans are doing with health care right now?)
Short and Not So Sweet
Here’s a succinct little post about how — astonishingly – the right co-opted the health care debate with “partisanship, paranoia and greed.” It should be inducted into the “Hall of Fame for political con jobs.”
Newspapers Getting Ripped Off by Bloggers?
You know how newspapers are fond of saying that they’re being ripped off by bloggers and that’s why they’re in decline?
Well get this. Here’s a blogger who was ripped off by a newspaper.
HOA Fees?
I’m watching “House Hunters” on HGTv and I’m amazed that people are willing to spend upwards of $200 per month on HOA fees (not to mention their mortgage).
People Waving From Limousines?
I don’t remember a time when a presidential or senatorial funeral procession wove its way through the streets of Washington, D.C. on a hot summer’s night and the occupants of those limos rolled their windows down — and kept them down — and waved to the people along the way.
Let’s pay attention. No matter the temperature — hot or cold — let’s pay attention the next time a Republican dies. Will their family acknowledge the common folk?
Memories of Grandpas
One of Ted Kennedy’s grandchildren (video is dark so I don’t know her name) said that she loved visiting him at Hyannis and waking up early in the morning and going out on the porch to find him there, starring out at the sea. She said she’d sit with him and they would “talk and talk and talk.”
What a wonderful memory. I never met my mother’s father and though I spent considerable time with him — he died when I was in my late teens — I don’t remember my father’s father saying one word to me.
Grass Roots Mourning
It’s really something to see the crowds materialize along Ted Kennedy’s funeral route; along the way from Hyannis to Boston, in Boston proper and is evening, lining the streets of Washington, D.C.
Now what’s what I call a grass roots event (I say, as CNN runs chyrons about the corporate-sponsored “TeaParty Express.”)
“Explosive” Cheney
Fox is touting an appearance Dick Cheney will make on Fox tomorrow, saying it’ll be “explosive.” Translation, for those of us who have not been brainwashed by Fox: He’ll lie his ass off.
Teddy Loved All Things French
Edward M. Kennedy, Jr., spoke today at his father’s funeral. One of the things he said was that Teddy “loved all things French. The cheese. The wine. The women.”
I’m willing to bet that Fox will play a clip of that over and over again. After all, it confirms to the righties that they’re justified in loathing the guy. That’s all they need to hear.
Poor George
I’m watching the mourners at Ted Kennedy’s funeral talk amongst themselves while they wait for the service to begin. George W. and Laura Bush, Bill and Hillary Clinton and the Obamas are sitting together. Hillary and Laura talked to each other (with George sitting between them) for a few minutes and Bill and Barack Obama talked to each other for a bit. All the while, W. looked so uncomfortable and out of place. He seems unable to make small-talk. And he seems to have developed a tic whereby he moves his jaw from side to side.
Overall he looks rather pathetic.
20,000 In Line for Ted
A Kennedy News tweet at 10:55 p.m. ET:
Turn to C-SPAN. It’s 11:00 p.m. on a work night. People like you and me are paying their respects to a guy who cared about them.
You won’t see this on Fox (but you would if we were talkin’ about the death of a rightie, though the people filing past would have been bused in).
UPDATED @ 11:20 p.m. ET: C-SPAN dropped coverage.
Parents: Wear a Helmet
One of my pet peeves is watching parents bike with their kids. The kids are wearing helmets but the parents aren’t.
Hello! Parents are role models. Your kids are watching you. What must the kids be thinking? When I grow up I don’t have to wear a helmet?
Talk to your local ER doc for more info.
Shocker! Real Americans Appear on TV
C-SPAN is airing live coverage of people filing by Ted Kennedy’s casket. They’re average people — people in sweats and ugly cheap clothes (my opinion). Fat people, skinny people and disabled people pushing walkers and in wheelchairs. Poor-looking people and rich-looking people. Americans.
The kind of people you never see on TV.
