Palin Promotes Brutal Killing of Wildlife

This is powerful.

Letter From Someone Who Knows Sarah Palin

Dear friends,

So many people have asked me about what I know about Sarah Palin in the last 2 days that I decided to write something up . . .

Basically, Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton have only 2 things in common: their gender and their good looks. :)

You have my permission to forward this to your friends/email contacts with my name and email address attached, but please do not post it on any websites, as there are too many kooks out there . . .



ABOUT SARAH PALIN

I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarah since 1992. Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her father was my child's favorite substitute teacher. I also am on a first name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more City Council meetings during her administration than about 99% of the residents of the city.

She is enormously popular; in every way she’s like the most popular girl in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice and won't vote for her can't quit smiling when talking about her because she is a "babe".

It is astonishing and almost scary how well she can keep a secret. She kept her most recent pregnancy a secret from her children and parents for seven months.

She is "pro-life". She recently gave birth to a Down's syndrome baby. There is no cover-up involved, here; Trig is her baby.

She is energetic and hardworking. She regularly worked out at the gym.

She is savvy. She doesn't take positions; she just "puts things out there" and if they prove to be popular, then she takes credit.

Her husband works a union job on the North Slope for BP and is a champion snowmobile racer. Todd Palin’s kind of job is highly sought-after because of the schedule and high pay. He arranges his work schedule so he can fish for salmon in Bristol Bay for a month or so in summer, but by no stretch of the imagination is fishing their major source of income. Nor has her life-style ever been anything like that of native Alaskans.

Sarah and her whole family are avid hunters.

She's smart.

Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000 (at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about 670,000 residents.

During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had given rise to a recall campaign.

Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a "fiscal conservative". During her 6 years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over 33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation (1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they benefited residents.

The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration weren’t enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it with indebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Palin encourage the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? or a new library? No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on a piece of property that the City didn’t even have clear title to, that was still in litigation 7 yrs later—to the delight of the lawyers involved! The sports complex itself is a nice addition to the community but a huge money pit, not the profit-generator she claimed it would be. She also supported bonds for $5.5m for road projects that could have been done in 5-7 yrs without any borrowing.

While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office redecorated more than once.

These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city.

As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a budget surplus in Alaska. Rather than invest this surplus in technology that will make us energy independent and increase efficiency, as Governor she proposed distribution of this surplus to every individual in the state.

In this time of record state revenues and budget surpluses, she recommended that the state borrow/bond for road projects, even while she proposed distribution of surplus state revenues: spend today's surplus, borrow for needs.

She’s not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideas or compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that weren’t generated by her or her staff. Ideas weren’t evaluated on their merits, but on the basis of who proposed them.

While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin's attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the Librarian are on her enemies list to this day.

Sarah complained about the "old boy’s club" when she first ran for Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of "old boys". Palin fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people, creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally grateful and fiercely loyal—loyal to the point of abusing their power to further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged happened in the case of pressuring the State’s top cop (see below).

As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla’s Police Chief because he "intimidated" her, she told the press. As Governor, her recent firing of Alaska's top cop has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her pleasure and she had every legal right to fire him, but it's pretty clear that an important factor in her decision to fire him was because he wouldn't fire her sister's ex-husband, a State Trooper. Under investigation for abuse of power, she has had to admit that more than 2 dozen contacts were made between her staff and family to the person that she later fired, pressuring him to fire her ex-brother-in-law. She tried to replace the man she fired with a man who she knew had been reprimanded for sexual harassment; when this caused a public furor, she withdrew her support.

She has bitten the hand of every person who extended theirs to her in help. The City Council person who personally escorted her around town introducing her to voters when she first ran for Wasilla City Council became one of her first targets when she was later elected Mayor. She abruptly fired her loyal City Administrator; even people who didn’t like the guy were stunned by this ruthlessness.

Fear of retribution has kept all of these people from saying anything publicly about her.

When then-Governor Murkowski was handing out political plums, Sarah got the best, Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission: one of the few jobs not in Juneau and one of the best paid. She had no background in oil & gas issues. Within months of scoring this great job which paid $122,400/yr, she was complaining in the press about the high salary. I was told that she hated that job: the commute, the structured hours, the work. Sarah became aware that a member of this Commission (who was also the State Chair of the Republican Party) engaged in unethical behavior on the job. In a gutsy move which some undoubtedly cautioned her could be political suicide, Sarah solved all her problems in one fell swoop: got out of the job she hated and garnered gobs of media attention as the patron saint of ethics and as a gutsy fighter against the "old boys’ club" when she dramatically quit, exposing this man’s ethics violations (for which he was fined).

As Mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork from Senator Ted Stevens. Lately, she has castigated his pork-barrel politics and publicly humiliated him. She only opposed the "bridge to nowhere" after it became clear that it would be unwise not to.

As Governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and budget guidelines, then made a big grandstand display of line-item vetoing projects, calling them pork. Public outcry and further legislative action restored most of these projects—which had been vetoed simply because she was not aware of their importance—but with the unobservant she had gained a reputation as "anti-pork".

She is solidly Republican: no political maverick. The State party leaders hate her because she has bit them in the back and humiliated them. Other members of the party object to her self-description as a fiscal conservative.

Around Wasilla there are people who went to high school with Sarah. They call her "Sarah Barracuda" because of her unbridled ambition and predatory ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be made point guard on the high school basketball team. When Sarah's mother-in-law, a highly respected member of the community and experienced manager, ran for Mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her.

As Governor, she stepped outside of the box and put together of package of legislation known as "AGIA" that forced the oil companies to march to the beat of her drum.

Like most Alaskans, she favors drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She has questioned if the loss of sea ice is linked to global warming. She campaigned "as a private citizen" against a state initiaitive that would have either a) protected salmon streams from pollution from mines, or b) tied up in the courts all mining in the state (depending on who you listen to). She has pushed the State’s lawsuit against the Dept. of the Interior’s decision to list polar bears as threatened species.

McCain is the oldest person to ever run for President; Sarah will be a heartbeat away from being President.

There has to be literally millions of Americans who are more knowledgeable and experienced than she.

However, there’s a lot of people who have underestimated her and are regretting it.

CLAIM VS FACT

•"Hockey mom": true for a few years

•"PTA mom": true years ago when her first-born was in elementary school, not since

•"NRA supporter": absolutely true

•social conservative: mixed. Opposes gay marriage, BUT vetoed a bill that would have denied benefits to employees in same-sex relationships (said she did this because it was unconsitutional).

•pro-creationism: mixed. Supports it, BUT did nothing as Governor to promote it.

•"Pro-life": mixed. Knowingly gave birth to a Down’s syndrome baby BUT declined to call a special legislative session on some pro-life Legislation

•"Experienced": Some high schools have more students than Wasilla has residents. Many cities have more residents than the state of Alaska. No legislative experience other than City Council. Little hands-on supervisory or managerial experience; needed help of a city administrator to run town of about 5,000.

•political maverick: not at all

•gutsy: absolutely!

•open & transparent: ??? Good at keeping secrets. Not good at explaining actions.

•has a developed philosophy of public policy: no

•"a Greenie": no. Turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores and disconnected parking lots. Is pro-drilling off-shore and in ANWR.

•fiscal conservative: not by my definition!

•pro-infrastructure: No. Promoted a sports complex and park in a city without a sewage treatment plant or storm drainage system. Built streets to early 20th century standards.

•pro-tax relief: Lowered taxes for businesses, increased tax burden on residents

•pro-small government: No. Oversaw greatest expansion of city government in Wasilla’s history.

•pro-labor/pro-union. No. Just because her husband works union doesn’t make her pro-labor. I have seen nothing to support any claim that she is pro-labor/pro-union.

WHY AM I WRITING THIS?

First, I have long believed in the importance of being an informed voter. I am a voter registrar. For 10 years I put on student voting programs in the schools. If you google my name (I REMOVED THE NAME), you will find references to my participation in local government, education, and PTA/parent organizations.

Secondly, I've always operated in the belief that "Bad things happen when good people stay silent". Few people know as much as I do because few have gone to as many City Council meetings.

Third, I am just a housewife. I don't have a job she can bump me out of. I don't belong to any organization that she can hurt. But, I am no fool; she is immensely popular here, and it is likely that this will cost me somehow in the future: that’s life.

Fourth, she has hated me since back in 1996, when I was one of the 100 or so people who rallied to support the City Librarian against Sarah's attempt at censorship.

Fifth, I looked around and realized that everybody else was afraid to say anything because they were somehow vulnerable.

CAVEATS

I am not a statistician. I developed the numbers for the increase in spending & taxation 2 years ago (when Palin was running for Governor) from information supplied to me by the Finance Director of the City of Wasilla, and I can't recall exactly what I adjusted for: did I adjust for inflation? for population increases? Right now, it is impossible for a private person to get any info out of City Hall—they are swamped. So I can't verify my numbers.

You may have noticed that there are various numbers circulating for the population of Wasilla, ranging from my "about 5,000", up to 9,000. The day Palin’s selection was announced a city official told me that the current population is about 7,000. The official 2000 census count was 5,460. I have used about 5,000 because Palin was Mayor from 1996 to 2002, and the city was growing rapidly in the mid-90’s.

McCain: No One to Talk About Congress Recess

McCain himself hasn't shown up for his job in Congress since April and now he criticizes Congress for taking their normal recess. Is anyone fooled by this?

John McCain's "Earnings" Since April 9

John McCain, the old geezer currently running for president for the Grand OLD Party, has not shown up for work in the Senate since April 9 of this year. Simply has not shown up.

Anyone out there with an actual job? How would it go over with the boss if, say, it's July 29 and you haven't been to work since April 9? Would you be expecting full pay for the time missed?

Here's what John McCain's "earnings" are from his job as senator since April 9: $51,345.08.

Do you find that slightly amazing, troubling, mind blowing? McCain gets over $50,000 for not showing up to work even one single day! By way of comparison, the median household income in the U.S. in 2006 was $48,201.00 for the year. And I can guarantee you the average guy has to show up before he gets paid.

Great work if you can get it, huh!

Hey Hey Hey Hey

I'm not much into just miscellaneous, stream-of-consciousness posting. So I let it all go, and next thing you know my blog archives have dates like 2003 and 2004 on them, long ago in the past and nobody cares about them.

I heard the other day that with the copper shortage, and we're running out of other elements, rare earth types of elements, that someday we might be "mining" old landfills, picking through old computers and monitors, whatever junk there is with at least a trace of these elements. I can see me with my prospector's pan, standing at the dump, sifting old Del Monte cans and assorted what-not, looking for precious materials.

That's a case of the old being shut away, buried, covered up, but someday the past might be our key to the future. Maybe we need to build a big cellar where we put future landfills, with a really big cellar door over the whole thing, and a really big staircase leading down to the cellar, and just have our junk on big shelves down there. We could check it in, when the dumptruck shows up. Things like carrot shavings and turkey bones -- we'll probably never need those -- put these in one section. Then things that are hard and durable, like old computers, car batteries, etc., put on the big shelves.

But no one wants old blog posts. I check around various blogs and I see the archives from 2003 and I'm impressed that they go back that far, but really, who's opening them to read what they said then? The only way you would is if you were searching for something and it popped up on Google. Like a review of Roxette's "Look Sharp!" album. But just to get someone's take on the issues of the day -- probably not.

Like this particular post -- probably not.

McCain's Agenda Not What We Need

This is a quality ad from the AFL-CIO, focused on the money John McCain would have us keep wasting in Iraq. We could be using that money for schools and other things of national importance. The bottom line: McCain's agenda is not what we need at this time.

Cartoon Taken From Ms. Amy Somebody's Blog

John McCain -- Not an Elitist!

He only owns 10-13 homes in the range of $10 million. That officially makes him a common man, not an elitist.

Here's an interesting tour of the country. Can you name all the places John McCain lives? I suppose a better question would be could John McCain name all the places John McCain lives?

John "Crash" McCain

I used to have an autographed book by "Wrong Way" Corrigan. Isn't that cool? An aviation name that everyone knows, even if it's used as a joke. You show up an hour late, say you got lost, and someone says, "Wrong War" Corrigan.

About John McCain. We all know he was supposed to be some kind of hero in the military. But you tell me, would you like to ride with John McCain flying? It's easy to say he's a hero -- and hold him at arm's length, put him on a pedestal. But would you seriously get into a plane with him at the controls?

What's all this about? What am I getting at? McCain crashed five aircraft! Is that typical for an Air Force guy? I seriously don't know what is typical, but you'd expect if everyone crashed five aircraft we wouldn't have many aircraft left!

Now, whether he actually knew what he was doing at the controls of a plane doesn't say anything about how good a president he would be. But it doesn't help.

Here's the run-down, and this site looks like it might know something about the military. I haven't looked at it enough to know exactly their politics. But it looks like they're equal opportunity criticizers of our candidates!

Here's "Crash" McCain's record of crashes:

• The first during a training flight in 1958 when he plunged into Corpus Christi Bay while trying to land.
• In the Mediterranean, the hard partying McCain lost a second aircraft. Someone said: "Flying too low over the Iberian Peninsula, he took out some power lines which led to a spate of newspaper stories in which he was predictably identified as the son of an admiral."
• Flight instructor McCain lost a third aircraft while flying a Navy trainer solo to Philadelphia for an Army-Navy football game. Timberg wrote that McCain radioed, "I've got a flameout" before ejecting at one thousand feet. McCain parachuted onto a beach moments before his plane slammed into a clump of trees.
• McCain lost his fourth plane on board the Forrestal on July 29, 1967 when a rocket inadvertently slammed into his bomb laden jet. McCain escaped, but the explosions that followed killed 134 sailors.
• McCain was transferred from the badly damaged Forrestal to the USS Oriskany. Shortly afterwards, on Oct. 26, 1967, he was shot down and captured by the Vietnamese.

OK, back to my original question. Anyone want to go on a ride with McCain at the controls? The odds would be with you. He's due for a streak of good luck.

Out of that list, the worst one is the fourth. There he is and a rocket inadvertently slams into his bomb laden jet. Somehow he escapes, but explosions kill 134 sailors! That was a disaster to say the least.

Mercy by Duffy

Have you heard a song by Duffy called "Mercy" ? It's cool.

It's got a clean throwback sound, almost like '60s Motown with a 2008 edge. I was wondering with Gnarls Barkley if we wouldn't hear more stuff like this coming along.

It's a Waste to Give Money to John McCain

Hi everybody, Slouch Loleen here.

This day brought an interesting, devasting poll, over at Newsweek.

"Barack Obama might just be getting his post-primary national bounce. A new poll from Newsweek gives him a 51%-36% lead over John McCain, up from a 46%-46% tie a month ago," writes Eric Kleefeld.

Wow, a 15 point spread! With him already gasping for air, it looks like John "Crash" McCain might be going down again!

John McCain Confused on Social Security

I would call it confusion, poor memory, or spacing out. To be generous. On the other hand, maybe he's consciously flip-flopping, flim-flamming, and trying to slip one by us.

In this video on privatizing Social Security, he wants to have it both ways. He was for privatizing, now he plays word games to say that's not what he's for.

McCain vs. McCain! Or just confused.

Coming Home from Iraq: "Not Too Important"

John McCain reminds us once again of his idea about staying in Iraq for a hundred years or more. He seriously thinks it's no big deal. You go to war and you stay there. You go to war and you never get back to peace. You can't leave because things are too unstable, but then when you get it stable you also can't leave.

So today his newest outrage, his latest gaffe is this: That it's "not too important" to ever bring the troops home. As far as McCain cares, leave them there forever. What does he care?

McCain's Manned Mission to Mars

John McCain is calling for a manned mission to Mars.

If that sounds familiar, remember a few years ago George Bush also put forward some talk about going to Mars. Just talk. If only he had a third term to get it accomplished...

McCain called Ray Bradbury's 1950 novel, "The Martian Chronicles," concerning humans colonizing Mars, one of his favorite books as a child.

"I am intrigued by a man on Mars and I think that it would excite the imagination of the American people if we can say, 'Hey, here's what it looks like," he said. "We know that now, and here's what may be there and let's all join in that project. I think Americans would be very willing to do that."

Contacted for comment, Plixney XQ89, chief spokesmen for the Martian central government, said, "We're still studying his proposal. But going by the Republicans' history of achievement, we aren't expecting it will be accomplished successfully any time soon."

McCain Seeks to "Make Matters Worse"

This Idiotic Attitude Disqualifies John McCain

Headline today: McCain Criticizes Obama on Iran.

Because, you know, Obama said he would sit down and talk with the Iranians concerning their affairs, nuclear and otherwise. McCain's brainiac idea is that you shoot first, talk second. In other words, why deny ourselves a good shooting war when we don't have to? Why not kill and be killed? And then let the survivors pick through the ashes, and, if it's like Iraq, afterwards say, "Oops."

"It's hard to see what such a summit with President (Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad would actually gain, except an earful of anti-Semitic rants, and a worldwide audience for a man who denies one Holocaust and talks before frenzied crowds about starting another," McCain told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Link.

Way to characterize it, Senator Hogwash.

Yes, "It's hard to see" what anything might accomplish till you actually do it. So, since "it's hard to see," why do anything? Of course it's easy to see what can be accomplished when you let your guns overrule your diplomats. Hundreds of thousands of people die, untold misery is unleashed, and you are a hated despot. But, hey, don't let common sense get in your way.

We do not need Bush III. We do not need any more cowboy diplomacy.

Remember when diplomacy was the first option? For McCain -- a warmonger -- war is the only answer, always the answer.

Yes! Obama!

What a relief it would be (will be?) to have these folks in the White House instead of the current bunch.

It'll be a lot better as well having all that young vigor and energy in there than, let's say, old John McCain about to fall over.

What was it they said he had, in his medical records? "Harmless vertigo" is the answer. Just what we need, him spinning out of control down the stairs.

Let's leave the dinosaurs in the museum!

This is America. We want to be forward-looking. Our best years are yet to come. Not just some old guy's hazy memories!

Hilarious Stuff

This video is very thought-provoking. It's hilarious at one level. We've got this incompetent old codger running around, running for president. And he's his own worst enemy. He either doesn't know the facts or can't keep the facts straight. It's the ultimate irony that he rides around a bus called the Straight Talk Express. He's taken so many curves he's lost!

Sometimes I wish these videos were shorter. This one I wish were longer. It's extremely entertaining. The only disaster about it would be if this incompetent old codger were actually elected. Then we'd be trading one crumb for another. And we need something better this time!

Anyway, watch the video. It's a real disaster. McCain hasn't got a clue.

Great Elvis Blog

Here's a link for a great Elvis blog, Gonna Have a Clambake.

Elvis was the most fantastic everything, of course. No one cooler, no one with better songs, which I can hear a thousand times and still enjoy. Best "comfort food" ever.

As for the song, "Clambake," that's an odd one. "Mama's little baby like clambake, clambake!" The movie has some really good parts, but I don't think it has enough "romantic payoff" in it. Meaning for me, Elvis and Shelley don't really get it on enough. There's too much pull from other forces, too much denial. I want a lot of kissing, a lot of hugging, all that.

And I believe Clambake is the one that has the song, oh, what is it? With the kids on the playground equipment? The little girl who is afraid to go down the slide? CONFIDENCE! You need C-O-N-F-I and a dence," or something like that. I hate that song. That's not one I could listen to a thousand times. And the girl really has something to be terrrrrrrrrified over, such a measley slide, too.

It's been a while since I've seen the movie, although I guess maybe it's only been a year or so. But I've seen quite a few others in the meantime and after a while they run together. Let's see, Elvis is a rich guy, an oil man's son, who wants to play poor to see if girls will love him for him. And he trades places with this poor guy who wants to be rich. Then they're at a hotel in Florida, and the guy from Great Gildersleeve is the doorman. Bill Bixby is in it, as a suave rich guy, a real lady's man, of course Elvis' rival. Elvis becomes a ski instructor. He ends up with the girl, as usual, but, as I said before, there's not enough loving throughout. In this one Shelley Fabares is very "hard to get." He has to preach to her, in song, something like, "You have everything, everything but love."

I know it's common blather to discount Elvis' movies and say they're crap. But I've never thought that. They're not Oscar-worthy, to be sure, but they're great for looking at Elvis. They're better than home movies, since he's a character. And they have great songs, again, that's a minority opinion that I hold. But I've been an Elvis lover since I was just a baby, and once it's bred into you like that, it's hard to deny.

An Assassination Crazy

Here's someone who shouldn't be on TV. Liz Trotta? No, I never heard of her before either.

Obviously she's on Wingnut-TV, the Fox News Channel (wait for laughs to die out...) And she's doing a little commentary on Hillary's gaffe about not being able to drop out of the race because, you know, Bobby Kennedy got assassinated in June. Hint, hint.

This Liz Trotta person -- I'm taking someone else's word for it that's who she is -- not only can't distinguish Barack Obama from Osama bin Laden (don't they check a person's basic abilities before they get a job at Fox?), but she thinks it would be a good idea for someone to "knock off" Obama.

And she has a good laugh about it.

It's amazing to me that people like this Liz Trotta can seriously get on TV and joke around, and even suggest it would be a good idea, that our presidential candidates should be assassinated. This is just stunning!

Can anyone do anything about this person?

John McCain and The Holy War

Elevator Ghost -- Freaky

It takes a while to get to it, but it's freaky when it appears. Apparently it's a hoax, but the video saying it's a hoax doesn't say much. Nice special effects at the very least! You'll notice the guy who's in front of the ghost, though. Just before he starts walking he reaches behind his back slightly and does something. His hand movement doesn't seem natural for someone preparing to walk straight ahead.

Bush's Third Term

I couldn't have said it better myself:

"As we near victory in one contest, the next challenge is already heating up," Plouffe wrote. "President Bush and Senator McCain have begun coordinating their attacks on Barack Obama in an effort to extend their failed policies for a third term."

Any way you slice it, McCain's run for the presidency is seeking an extension of George Bush's term. It would vindicate, validate, and perpetuate George Bush's failed policies. It would be a prescription for war, war, and more war, crazy economics, international cowboy diplomacy (meaning mindless bluster), and a further eroding of our stature in the world.

McCain is running right, yet giving feints to the center. He's milking that maverick nonsense for all its worth, but his Strait Jacket Express went into the ditch a long time ago.

This country made a severe mistake in allowing it to be close enough to tip the election to George Bush in 2000. Then with the advantages of the White House, he squeaked out a disastrous win in 2004. Disastrous for us. But enough is enough! We have tried stupid and it has failed. It is time to try smart, for a change. No to McCain.

P.S. - David Plouffe is Obama's campaign manager.

Slouch Takes Huckabee Down

We're sending out several thousand raspberries in the general direction of Mike Huckabee on this fair day, for his boneheaded, botched "joke" about Obama facing gunfire backstage at the NRA convention. What a thing to have on the tip of his tongue!

Way to go, Mike. That's one of the fastest acts of political suicide I can remember! If you had any aspirations for the Republican nomination for vice president, common sense tells us you just gave it up. (Of course, knowing the Republicans -- a sadder group of airheads, boneheads, and morons we can barely imagine -- they might retire McCain and run you after all. But even they probably still have at least three functioning brain cells and would have to know this ain't going to poll well.)

Maybe you better get some of that real sincere contrition thing going. And next time you feel like flapping those pinkish things that make up the outer edge of your mouth, just try it for a change shutting up.

Yeeesh!

Yea For The Davids

Hmm, who is Goliath in this deal? It's David vs. David on American Idol!

And I'm for David Cook.

David Archuleta sings well enough -- but he's very boring. David Cook may be boring, who knows, but he looks like there could conceivably be something interesting about him. Archuleta is a professional "wanna be" (and "gonna be"); he'll be very successful. Cook seems more like someone who is taking life in stride.

It was interesting seeing their visits back home. (And I'm glad Syesha got booted, even though I liked her quite a lot). Archuleta's visit back home was so boring I was actually looking down, reviewing some books I bought at an antique store the other day. Syesha's was so-so, but I figured she'd be leaving, so who cares? Cook's was the best -- I happened to be in the Kansas City area the day he was going to be there, but nowhere really near where he was, so it was nice to see what I was missing if it would've been possible to be there. The "Dream On" song playing in the background (to me) seemed to give his video presentation the edge. Maybe that's a psychological way of American Idol pushing him. Gives him an edgier feel.

Also it was cool seeing his brother, who originally was the Idol contestant, which I hadn't heard before.

So...who should win? David Cook.

Possibly a Racist Incident

I was out today, and in a parking lot, trying to get out. Then as I was backing out there was an African-American guy on a bike, and I heard him yelling, not at me, but at someone who apparently had been there (passing by) but was no longer present.

The person or persons in the passing vehicle had apparently yelled the N word at him, because that's what he was saying, and also he yelled F-U, and repeated what they said to him, as much to himself as to them.

I thought oh crap, I don't want this happening to people, this guy. Then I tried to follow him, but he was faster on the bike and went into a liquor store. Then I waited around, and he was buzzing across the parking lot, and I drove up not-too-close, then thought better of it. I didn't know really what to do, say to him something supportive was my thought. But here I am in my car and if I try cutting him off it might look like something else.

Anyway, he was very fast on that bike, and my thoughts weren't keeping up, and he went his way and I went mine.

In other news...

The Iraq war continues, setting a new record in length, surpassing the old record of lengthiness previously given to the period of time between Boston albums.

Happy "Mission Accomplished" Day!

It's May 1, otherwise known as the day the Iraq war ended, with President Bush's stirring message to this grateful homeland: "Mission Accomplished!" Break out the champagne, uncork a bottle of sparkling cider, dump a tub of water and ice on the coach, kiss someone's sweetheart in Times Square, the long war -- a month or so to that point -- is over.

"War is over, if you want it, war is over now...." President Bush wasted no time achieving a massive victory, from Shock and Awe to landing on the deck of the U.S.S. Something-or-Other, his bulging crotch piece symbolizing perfectly the virility of a nation that would not, could not be stopped.

The war was swift, the message to tyrants everywhere certain: Don't mess with the man, and we are the man!

Now we have peace in our times!

Will Jason Go Home Tonight?

For all of Jason Castro's cuteness, and I probably should use quotes because it's wearing out fast, I don't know if cuteness can carry the day when someone has to go home.

The guy has no range for singing the big stuff. He has the range for singing plinky little ditties, like around campfires and birthday parties. Still, he has the national stage, so he'll probably be a big star when this is all over. Doing plinky stuff.

Up on the big stage, they're all expected to be able to belt it out. All expected to have pipes like a church organ. But his pipes are like a kazoo. It ain't his fault. We sing with the throats we have, not with the throats we want.

I hope he does finally get canned, since it has to happen sooner or later. There's no way he's going to prevail and beat David A. or David C.

One other thing, the constant look of absolute cluelessness on Jason's face bugs me.

When Does The Hundred Years Begin?

I'm a stickler for detail. If someone like John McCain -- a straight-talker if ever there was one -- tells me the Iraq war needs to go on another hundred years, I want the facts. Such as, just a thought here, when does the hundred years begin? I can figure out when it ends, essentially at some distant point when we're all long gone.

Has the 100 years already started? So if we've already had five or six, can we subtract that from the 100 and celebrate the optimistic truth that we're practically there? Only 90-some to go?

This might be like on Seinfeld. Where it's four or five days, but today is already half over, the weekend goes fast, and you're out early on Monday. It's like a blink of an eye, hardly any time at all.

Of course 100 years, even if it's only 90-some to go, does take a while in terms of the way we reckon time by the passing of our lives. Meaning the veterans we have from the Iraq war will be doing like the guys from Normandy do every decade, going back over to salute and look around, and get together with aging Iraqi friends, etc. The big difference, unfortunately, is the war will still be raging around them. So they'll have to salute, then immediately get back in the vehicle and skedaddle out of there.

Let's say a veteran is 25 today, he's back over there when he's 75, so that's only 50 years from now. He'll be over there saluting and skedaddling, sorrowful no doubt, and thinking to himself, "Only 50 more years to go, which I'll never see." And really, most of us like to actually see the end of projects or actions we had some part in. But nevermind that in this case. There's no end in the traditional sense of things.

The milk is spilt, no reason to cry. Just need to clean it up, even if it takes a century to do so. Thank you, John McCain, for your visionary abilities, your straight-talk, and your desire to end this foul war, even if we never live to actually see it done.

Chicken Being Barbecued

It's spring and we have something good going on the grill, chicken, with some kind of BBQ sauce on it, I think Cookie's. It's been going for about 45 minutes and I'm hoping it will be ready in the next 15 minutes. It ought to be. They're not the biggest, hugest, thickest pieces, so they'll probably be OK. And good.

(I don't want to brutalize John McCain too much for his 100-year war plans (no, I don't want to much), but if he were grilling chicken, it'd probably take him 12 or 13 years to get it done. But if he were making an entire meal, you wouldn't want to get your bib out yet, because it wouldn't be on the table for another 35 years at the very least!)

A Circus DVD

It's sickening to hear TV playing in another room, when you yourself are not the one watching it. The "other" got a DVD of a movie about the circus, "The Greatest Show on Earth," from 1952. I don't believe I've ever heard of it, but it looks good. It's in color, and I like circuses.

But to hear it from the other room, ugh! It sounds like it has a circus brass band going constantly, and circus music gets tedious after a short time. So maybe I won't watch it.

Labels and Categories

I'm wondering why I should keep coming up with "labels for this post." Is anyone really doing anything with those labels. On one of my other blogs -- Antique Clippings -- I thought it was important (correct that, I had no idea but the blank was there) to put in categories for everything. And of course over many months and many posts, you lose track of being complete.

There weren't that many good pointers for what the purpose of the labels was, nor was there any real guidance on how to do multi-word labels, like Woodrow-Wilson. So at first I had fairly long labels, like "The Ellis Herald, Ellis, Kansas." That would be ONE label. And others with common words, more common than Ellis and Herald. So what happens is if you start a label with one of those words, it automatically fills in with something from a previous label, and it's a mess. Definitely you need the hyphens in there if you're going to do it at all.

So I've been pretty faithful about putting the labels in each post. I like to have things nicely organized, even if clutter doesn't bother me. But now I'm thinking about the value of it all...it sucks to do it if there's no real purpose.

I Love It

I usually have Ad Block Plus going. Not that I don't like looking at ads. I really don't mind them a bit. But a number of months ago there was one extremely annoying one -- which I don't remember the name of -- that basically took over the computer. It had pop-ups going every which way, popping everywhere, and there didn't seem to be any good way to close them. In fact, it seems like it was advertising a program to get rid of things just like itself! That's pretty good, like roaches appearing in Raid commercials.

But what I love -- since I had Ad Block Plus turned off for a few seconds -- were the John McCain ads appearing on my blog. That's funny. I can't stand the guy, hope he loses, hope he wipes out, hope he ends up on the dung-pile of history. And here are ads advertising the guy! I hadn't anticipated that.

My Great-Great-Great-Grandmother

My Mom wrote me the other day, that she has discovered where one of my great-great-great grandmothers is buried. I can't think of Grandmother's name right off the top of my memory, but it turns out she is buried fairly close to where I grew up.

It's hard to get too excited, though, when you realize you have 18 great-great-great grandmothers, and that many great-great-great grandfathers besides. Of course each one was necessary, but how to keep track clear back there!

Maybe A Hundred 2

It's unbelievable that this is the best the Republicans have to offer us, maybe 100 more years in Iraq. But that's what the Straight-Talking John McCain said, even offering at some point "a million" years as an option.

But at least there's an end in sight! And by the time the Jetsons or Captain Kirk are actually born, we'll be there! Then we'll be fighting the Romulans, Klingons, or Attack of the Robot Maids.

So, buy those war bonds today, and let your great-great-great-great-great grandchildren cash them in.

Maybe A Hundred

Collectable George W. Bush

Of course there's no president more vile, despicable, and, as Daffy Duck might say, "detessssstible" than George W. Bush. And anyone who might have an intolerance for unpleasant things, for instance, cat puke on the dining room table when you wake up or your house on fire at bedtime, knows exactly what I'm talking about: the man's no good.

But for that very reason -- because George W. Bush is so bad that it nearly causes us to heave just from the thought of him, or, worse, the sound of his voice or sight of him -- he's collectable. It's the villains, the turds of history that command the big bucks. And I'm afraid I'm not going to have much G.W.B. memorabilia to cash in, since I wouldn't be able to live in the same house.

I was thinking of a local store going out of business, and I remember a few years ago they had a truly heaveworthy piece of "artwork," with George bowing his head in prayer and along side of him were George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, hands on his shoulders, also deep in prayer. A piece of garbage like that -- and however you define garbage this either qualifies or sets the new standard -- is going to be valuable someday. Collectable, 1) Because it has to do with this despicable creature we were dumb enough to allow within five light-years of the White House; 2) Because it is a sign of our times, the whole post 9/11 time of national insanity. You remember how it was, when we had the weak and fearful driving by with American flags attached to their driver's side window (I always thought, Hey, you afraid you might forget what country you live in?).

In the future -- fast forward -- it will be no other way -- anything from this period relating to any of this, and to our "Beloved Leader" is going to command some bucks.

So, if you have a George W. Bush doll in his military get-up from a few years ago, hang on to it. Or if you happen to have the picture I mentioned -- and are smart enough to read this blog at the same time -- hang on to it, too!

American Idol - Jason Castro

The other one on American Idol I think is having real troubles is Jason Castro. I don't like the whole dim bulb routine that he's been giving since the very beginning. Please, know something about something.

The biggest redeeming factor for him is the cuteness thing. For the vast majority of folks, no doubt, he is extremely good looking. Who knows what his hair is like if you unraveled it? It might be smelly and ratty and nothing worth having, but in the face he has that broad face, big smile, interesting eyes, etc. When it comes to the singing, not so much.

He's done some cool things, with the guitar and everything arranged in a minimal way. But after a while it starts to show that he has no range, no second act. He might make a few records, and be the male Colbie Caillat, with that kind of breezy in-your-ear sound. He has hit record potential, but his singing, compared to the others, really is limited.

It was painful tonight, like Simon said, the two minutes was forever.

American Idol - Brook White

I could barely watch Brook White tonight after she messed up and had to start over. In fact, I went and fed the cats and just barely listened to what sounded like a pathetic, desperate performance after that.

I started out a real fan, but lately she acts like she's about to fall apart. She did that with a song a few weeks ago, started off and started over, and I don't like it one single bit. It really ruins it when you (me, the viewer) has to sit there and here this stopping and sputtering and then feel uncomfortable all the way through because some other disaster might befall her.

She definitely has a lot of talent. But I think she's gone as far as she needs to go on the show.

The Everlasting Birthday

At one of my other blogs I have a newspaper piece about a guy's birthday party, his 80th.

Charles D. Fessenden passed his eightieth birthday at his home in East Brownfield, on the Fryeburg road, Thursday, the 14th. In the evening a few of his friends and neighbors gave him a surprise party, which he greatly enjoyed. They carried refreshments of ice cream, cake, cookies and saltines. Besides the family those present were: [list of names]. The evening was spent in general conversation and telling stories, which caused much merriment. After wishing Mr. Fessenden good health and many returns of the day, they left at a late hour with many memories of the evening.

There's usually no record at all of someone's birthday party, and of course there doesn't need to be. As for myself, I wouldn't like to open the newspaper everyday and see what I was up to, descriptions of my birthdays, etc. But there it is for this old guy from long ago.

It sounds like a great time for the folks there, with the refreshments, conversation, and merriment. It has a kind of everlasting feel, then, with them leaving "at a late hour with many memories of the evening." Like they're still out there somewhere mulling it over.

SOS Coast Guard - Final Entry

I remember I was writing a little about that Bela Lugosi serial, SOS Coast Guard. I finished watching it. As I recall, the main character, hero, was Terry Kent. And it had a happy ending. Kind of a weird ending, [SPOILER ALERT], with Thorg being shot in the cave, then falling backwards into the water, never, we assume, to be seen again. But he IS seen again.

Dr. Whatever, Bela's character, doesn't win. The scientist formulates the antidote to counteract his terrible gas, and no, it wasn't Beano.

Lately, I've been watching the other Bela serial I have, "The Phantom Creeps." It definitely has its moments. In this one, and it says it on the DVD box, too, you are rooting for Bela to conquer the world. It'd be kind of cool to have Bela Lugosi conquer the world, then be holding all us hostage for, what exactly? What would Bela want from us? It's ridiculous to want to conquer the world.

And it's even more ridiculous when he talks about destroying the world. Why would he want to do that? Where would he be then?

Getting Rid of Old Computers

I suppose it's an environmental nightmare, old computers, what to do with them. I was given the task today of cleaning out some old junk in order to get rid of it. Which always carries with it various thoughts. Such as "I remember the day I got this," "I remember when this was brand new and I was trying to keep it from getting scratched," etc.

Today the junk being gathered included old computers, which are around probably everyone's house who's had more than one computer in the last 15 years. One of the computers to be gotten rid of today was a Magnitronic (I think) brand. It was the first PC I owned, and I got it in 1996. It had a one-gig hard drive that came with it. And we had installed, a couple years later, a seven-gig hard drive. So those were both in it. Last time I tried to start it, after it had been in the basement for a while, it wouldn't work. Hung up somewhere on the booting.

This old computer I used quite a bit. I used to do a lot of graphics work, and there came a time when the monitor was so darkened, I had to adjust the brightness on the graphics to be way overexposed just to see them clearly, then remember to adjust them back when it came time for saving. So I know the monitor was no good!

The other old computer today was gotten in 2000, and had the Windows Millennium operating system. I really liked it. Fast and pretty efficient. It was a fine computer, except for various troubles that developed along the way. It actually developed troubles right away, but I always had work-arounds. Then I took it to get it fixed one time and the technicians made it worse. I could barely boot it up without having to go to Safe Mode or watch it continually telling me that I had an improper shut-down (which I didn't) and it needed to check the hard drive for errors. I guess on second thought that computer was a piece of crap. But when it worked, it worked great! And I did like it.

I destroyed the hard drive in that one a couple months ago. I have a twisted bit of metal on my shelf. That's my 60-gig hard drive, hopefully destroyed beyond recognition. For my Magitronic (whatever it is), I took out the two hard drives and will destroy them someday. It's not an easy process! They don't call them HARD drives for nothing.

I also -- and this was one I nearly forgot -- remembered I had an Image Writer printer for a Mac (1980s) and so I got rid of it. And I do believe, yes, I'm 100% certain, I have an old Mac (from the '80s) somewhere, not here at the house, and it needs to be retrieved and disposed of. Last time I tried to turn it on, it wouldn't work.

Spam Spam Spam

I try not to read much spam. I'm usually protected from getting too much of it by various filters up stream from me. But once in a while the filters must act up, because today was a day for bunches of spam. Like close to 200 messages. Most of them things like "MailerDaemon..." something or other. Which got quite repetitive. Big list of stuff like that.

One had a look like it could be an actual message, but no one I knew. I didn't open it directly, since I never want to give them hope. But I opened it in a text file, and it had to do with enhancing your sexual pleasure. With 'enhance' and 'pleasure' both spelled wrong. It looked like it was from Holland or one of the other nether regions.

Like I said, the filters were acting up, but this one had one of those little random text snippets that, I guess, is designed to trick the filters into thinking it's an actual message. I took out the html codes, so whatever line breaks were true in the original are gone. Here's this important text as it stands now:

Never sleep or wake in peace. In consequence of on the car is, by all means, to be protected by was allembracing. Margaret knew that if she yielded around the temples of the hindus, and many religious were stripping, picking, and shovelling the gravel son's playmates gave him water mixed with powdered the would be aim, to be placed on the top of a it? Confess now, don't you feel a little better? Of all kinds of metals.37 these are the six mountains, of its intense brown blotcheswith the azure throat nineteen and she is evidently no native of alemtejo, nodded. Speech had suddenly left him. He did not o sinful wretch, thou desirest to stay me who takes in the jumna, itself a mighty stream. As would i love you better than i do? She asked.. isbdneldjbaaabiida.

"Never sleep or wake in peace" actually resonates with me, because I've had troubles lately taking naps and having the phone ring. And some of that is spam of the audio sort, such as a credit card company who gives us a recorded message about four times a month. But today I took a long nap, and, hard to believe, the phone didn't ring once.

"In consequence of on the car is, by all means, to be protected by was allembracing." I wouldn't put it that way exactly, but I moved the car today while cleaning some junk out of the garage, and, yes, it was protected.

"Margaret knew that if she yielded around the temples of the hindus..." I know someone named Margaret, and it would be good if she developed her spiritual side more.

"Confess now, don't you feel a little better?" I don't feel so badly, although there's really nothing to confess. I'm happy to proclaim it.

"the azure throat nineteen and she is evidently no native of alemtejo, nodded." Much too young for me.

"Speech had suddenly left him." That's a strange feeling, when you simply have nothing to say. I was testing out an old typewriter in the basement, part of that cleaning junk project mentioned above, and I typed the old sentence, "Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country." I couldn't think of anything else. And it stuck on the 'r' (badly), and a couple other letters (not so much.)

"He did not o sinful wretch, thou desirest to stay me who takes in the jumna, itself a mighty stream." This sounds like maybe 'Heart of Darkness,' I don't know. The jumna has an African sound to it, plus the Congo is a mighty stream. Bigger than I thought, till I was reading a few snippets about it the other day. As for the 'sinful wretch,' it's important to work with your dark side, or try consciously not to deny it.

"As would i love you better than i do? She asked.. isbdneldjbaaabiida." I used to do something like this, write out the first letter of sentences I was thinking of. It was a sort of code, but not one to be deciphered later. Just a way of expressing whatever was on my mind at that moment, with no regard for preservation or later reading. So what could this be? I hate to guess!

McCain's 100-Year Timetable

It's been real refreshing for Senator John McCain to tell us the Iraq war will be over in 100 years. Finally, we can all breathe a sign of relief, now that we know the end is in sight.

But I have one big concern, and I think it could be fatal. As we all know from the past few years, we've resisted setting a timetable for withdrawal. President Bush has repeatedly said that the terrorists then would simply wait us out, then take over. So, if we said we'll be out by Jan. 20, 2009, they clearly could just sit tight till then, then come out of hiding on the 21st.

Now that McCain -- perhaps foolishly -- has told us 100 years, we are torn. Of course we're relieved to know the end is in sight. He surely wants us to have that assurance, and the more credit to him for that attitude. I say "perhaps foolishly" because now the terrorists have a date to work with. The saving grace, slight as it is, is that the current breed of terrorists will be dead by then. But there's nothing to say that they won't pass on this news to future generations. If they, let's just say, write it on a slip of paper -- something as small as that -- and put it in a time capsule, to be opened, say, in 98 years... I'm starting to think the risk is too great.

So, anyway, we have time to deal with the situation, I'm not saying we don't. After all, Mr. McCain probably won't live another 100 years, and it's equally likely that he won't be in office as president at the end of that span. In those years -- and I hate to take away the benefits of his no doubt heartfelt assurances to us -- we will just have to hope (and pray) that we have a president (or a few) who will make the end of the war less definite. We generally like wars to end, that's typical. But we cannot end this one because of the danger that the enemy might want to keep it going!

Words Easy to Misspell

I have to think about the word 'misspell' itself, because it seems like a tricky one. It's never good to see someone complain about spelling, then misspell a word in their complaint. How often I've seen that. Or use some other phrase or bit of grammar in the wrong way. (But of course who really makes the rules?)

Probably everyone has seen that little snippet of text that has everything misspelled in it. It's come around on email a couple times. Even with so many mistakes you're still able to read it, and pretty fast at that. Because, as the old scientific theory goes, and it appears to have experience and testing validation on its side, your eye isn't really looking at the words to examine them in detail as to their component parts. But there's just a quick connection going on with your brain, and it doesn't make any difference whether they're spelled right or not. There has to be limits, obviously. The first letter should be right, I would guess. Otherwise it's the Jumble.

I've been looking at a lot of articles from the 1920s and before. And words were spelled differently back then. Like postoffice as one word. One newspaper, maybe trying to be zippier, spelled words like tho, thru, altho. And kidnapper, which to us usually has two p's, only had one (I checked the dictionary the other day and either way is judged OK by the dictionary folks.)

I appreciate the spellchecker. Is that one word or should be it hyphenated? Firefox is flagging it. But it looks OK to me.

John McCain -- Man of Endless Wars

John McCain says he wouldn't mind it if we stayed in Iraq and kept the Iraq war going for another 100 years! In fact, he added to that that if it were 1,000 or 10,000 years, or even a million years (1), it'd all be the same to him. Now there's a man who has a long-term plan!

You can't say John McCain doesn't have vision. I mean, you're president for eight years tops, and he's already looking a million years ahead. I've heard of big ambitions, but don't Americans like things to actually end? Think of the dread and loathing we used to have when they put, "To Be Continued" at the end of a TV episode. We didn't want to wait one stinking week for the thing to end. But we have a guy (serious candidate, one would think) who doesn't think in terms of beginning and ending. He just thinks in terms of beginning and persisting, beginning and continuing, going and staying.

It'd be funny to sketch out what if all our presidents were as ambitious as John McCain, ambitious at keeping wars going. We'd still have around 30 years to go with World War II. We'd be close to the end of World War I. If it started in 1914, we'd have only about 6 years to go till it ended. Let's see, the Revolutionary War would be long since completed. But the Civil War, just around 1965 we finally got that settled. What about Vietnam? John McCain was a POW in Vietnam. So if we were still there, he'd still be there. He won't get out of that Vietnam jail for another 70 or 75 years. Settle in, John!

This long-term view of what a good war should be is insane, of course. But kind of funny. We have a serious (?) candidate for the White House whose main platform is endless war? Is there anyone in his or her right mind who will vote for that?

This is literally worse than the highway department. They get the interstate ripped up and it's a lifetime job to get it fixed. You go to work the day after high school and by the time you get done with a good stretch of road, you're ready for Social Security.

Let's put John McCain in charge of something that is endless and harmless. Like give him a mountain of beans, give him about 40 acres to work in, and have him count beans. That'll save us a lot of trouble!

SOS Coast Guard 2

As basically "good" as SOS Coast Guard is, and it isn't great, there is a real groaner moment in episode 2. Which was necessary in order to preserve Thorg's life so he can stay in the serial all the way through. Unfortunately it made the Coast Guard look a lot more incompetent than they would be in real life. But such are the movies!

They've got Thorg. He's swam out of the Carfax wreck, but the Coast Guard sees him. Terry tackles him on land, they fight, then Thorg rolls into a net and the net rolls into the sea. But instead of anyone rescuing Thorg then arresting him, they shrug their shoulders, like 'he's gone.' They say 'No one could escape from the net' and walk away, the poor guy out of mind.

Well, hey, ha ha, you aren't just going to leave a body to rot away at the shoreline. Please. But it's for the plot. He can't be taken into custody already and he can't die and you need fights. So of course Thorg survives!

Elvis Music as Comfort Food

There's no greater audio comfort than Elvis singing.

SOS Coast Guard

I'm rewatching an old serial on DVD, 12-parts, called "SOS Coast Guard," starring Bela Lugosi.

I watched it a few years ago, maybe five years ago. And so I've halfway forgotten it, except for the basic plot, which is that Bela is an evil scientist trying to melt the world, or to have the power to destroy and conquer.

So I popped it in -- and I only watch a little bit at a time, while exercising -- and I'm thinking, ho hum, I'll never make it through this. But it's actually quite good, better than I remember. The first thing I notice is the great special effects, or, I should say, lots of action. The special effects are great for what the budget had to be, which is low.

They're out on a raging sea, the boat tossed on the waves. The rear projection film shows waves like mountains, and every once in a while a hundred gallons splashed on everyone. It looks quite deadly, like you wouldn't want to be out there. But there's Bela, in the film called "Boroff." He seems like the calmest one on board.

The Coast Guard comes to the rescue of their ship, the Carfax. Boroff is the first one in a big bucket to be ferried across to land, via a rope. He's photographed, recognized, runs, and immediately kills the main hero's (Terry Kent) brother. Shoots him dead, then escapes. So that's quite an opening!

The first episode was longer than I expected, too. It went on and on. The biggest drag about episode two, which I'm just into, was the inevitable recap of episode one. But I advanced through that and got right into number two. They kill another guy at the beginning of episode two. A scientist, a lab guy, who doesn't want to play ball with Boroff and Thorg, his idiot- (yet surprisingly competent) strongman underling. Thorg is a mighty man, a great swimmer, a great fighter. Somehow Boroff was responsible for his demented, mentally hamstrung condition. Thorg shaves Boroff, who taunts him, that he knows he (Thorg) would like to cut his throat. But he's very dependent, docile, and obedient....so far.

Yah hah

Unused blogs age fast. Just another dead-end.

I hate to let this one die. Even though it's purpose is at present purposeless. I like the name, though, and it must endure for that reason, if for no other!

I was writing about the CDs I was getting. But there hasn't been too many lately. Except one day I got 15 or 16 at one time. And some I've actually listened to. The whole thing of getting them on my iPod isn't very handy, but a matter of step step step. (I don't like putting them directly into iPod's format because it isn't useful for anything else and I'd rather have them as mp3's since I can use that format in various ways.)

Anyway, one of the CDs was an oddball for me, a few actually. "The Very Best of Conway Twitty." I've had Twitty tracks before, an album here or there, but never for listening. Except for the old single, "It's Only Make Believe." This album has 10 tracks, and the only one I'd ever heard before, besides "Make Believe" was "Hello Darlin'". But I got it on the iPod and listened to the whole album a couple times.

"Don't Cry Joni" is the weirdest track. It's about a guy 21 and a girl 15, but she's too young, so he goes off somewhere else. Then five years later when he wants her, and she has vowed to wait for him, he finds she's already married. The other tracks are pretty good, good enough anyway, in a very twangy, affected country style.

Check Out This You Tube Video

Watch the latest videos on YouTube.com

Slouch

I just noticed what some of the Ad Sense ads were, picking up on my "Slouch Loleen" name. Slouch Jeans, Slouch Bags, and now I can't remember what the other one was.

Slouchy, seems like Devo had a song, like "My baby's getting slouchy." I think I originally got part of it, I know this is so, the Loleen off a Firesign Theatre album, unless I misheard and now misremembered that. But it seems like there is a section, yes, I recall clearly, on "How Can You Be In Two Places..." where a whiny guy is saying something to "Miss Loleen."

The other bit, putting it together, goes way back. And that's all I want to say about it.

Other recent acquisitions

I was detailing some of my music buying, which I try to get used, especially at thrift stores when possible.

Some of this I don't know what I'll ever want it for. But, you know, Christmas eventually comes, so any Christmas album is good. I got Jim Nabors' Christmas CD one day, then the very next day there was a big front-page article about him in the newspaper insert magazine. And I had just been wondering aloud if he was even still alive. Turns out he is.

I got Michael McDonald's Hallmark Christmas album. For some reason these Hallmark albums show up pretty often. And I also got James Taylor's sometime in the last year.

Here's probably an obscure CD: Vacation Bible School songs from Group, Sing & Play Roar Music. 10 Action-Packed Songs Kids Love! It's not opened so I don't know what I'll do with it precisely. But I have some ideas.

Here's one that is virtually out of my league as far as interests, but I got it anyway. A Reader's Digest CD, "The Most Beautiful Melodies of the Century," including tracks by Damian Luca, Romantic Strings, Henry Mancini, etc. Another one is in that same realm, "The Greatest Show Tunes," including tracks by Stanley Black, Mantovani, Frank Chacksfield, and Ted Heath. Now those are oldies! I haven't listened to any of this yet.

Others a little more mainstream include Roberta Flack 'Best of,' Neil Diamond, '12 Greatest,' a couple Patty Loveless CDs, a Trisha Yearwood one, a few k.d. lang. And there's been several others.

Goodwill

This blog could essentially consist of my near-daily jaunts to Goodwill, but of course it won't. That's only about 50% of my life, so whatever the rest of it is, that has to be included too.

It was amazing today, the number of people in Goodwill. I actually started counting and got up to about 25 and there were more customers than that. But since I was essentially tripping over little kids darting in and around the clothes racks, I needed to focus on walking.

It's like a social scene in there, mothers, children, me. A couple mothers were near the CD place, so I had to squeeze in there, although I could see there wasn't anything new. When you see the stock a few times you can just tell by the color of the edges and other clues that they're the same.

What I Got At Goodwill Today

Nothing. I didn't get a thing.

I've been buying quite a few CDs lately, though. They get them in and I have a wide range in musical preferences, so I've picked up all kinds of things. The last one I got, which would be yesterday, was "Now 13." I've never had one of the "Now" CDs before. And this one goes back to 2003 and I'm not familiar with the songs on it. So it's setting down by the CD player.

At another thrift place I got Chris Isaak's "Forever Blue" and a children's one, Cicely Mary Barker's "A Flower Fairy Alphabet." I have another Chris Isaak CD, which I've heard before and it is all right. But I wouldn't consider myself a huge fan, since that CD and hearing him on XM Radio a few times is my extent. As for the fairy one, I like fairies, but not overly much. If only I could be convinced by a few personal appearances, I'd probably like them a lot more! It's cutesy. And that one isn't even opened. I was thinking 'put it on eBay' but I went there and there are already a dozen copies, with the cheapest being down in the $2 range. This one cost me $1.00, so that doesn't sound like a fast way to easy riches.

Queen of the Roller Derby

I've been trying to think of a cool name for a roller derby lady. This was a challenge to me today while at Walmart. The phone rings, and 'Can you think of a good name for a friend who skates in the roller derby?' It needs to be sort of funny, tie in with a personality idea, be snappy, etc.

The only word I could think of was Violence. But there's nothing too funny about that. Since then I've thought of some that aren't very great. Hell On Wheels was one that has to be over-thought-of. I had a Greek word I saw in some reading and it was about the same as INXS, which I sketched out as Enexes. Whatever it means, it sounds mildly menacing. But there's nothing obvious about it as funny or roller skating. Cross that, it doesn't have to have anything to do with roller skating.

It seems like the best way is to start with a phrase, then misspell the words in some way, such as, Apocalypse, "I'll-Kick-Your-Lips." Not so good. Maybe for 'menacing,' The Menace wouldn't be bad, but how to make it funny? It's harder than it sounds.