Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Kurt Elling - Awesome

If I had to choose for my desert island, I would absolutely choose Kurt Elling.

Oh. Did I forget something in that question? I meant, a recording to have on my desert island, along with my wine and cheese and sunglasses, it would be just about anything from Kurt Elling. However, this particular performance is just fantastic. My Foolish Heart, and so much more. He is such an amazing singer. He is just incredible to see live, in concert. I would settle for the recording on my island, but I would kidnap Kurt to have him all to myself.

His band is pretty kick-ass, too.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he will be at Spoleto Festival this year. He wasn't there last year, and he had been attending every other year for a while. I know he's bigger now - and nominated for another Grammy Award - but I will be pleased like all get out if he shows up.

If not, maybe this year's Montreal Jazz Festival. I now live just 90 minutes away from this great city to the north.

Warning: the very end of this You Tube video cuts off, but every second of your time is well-spent watching and listening to what's there. Enjoy.

Monday, December 7, 2009

Can Dogs Be Too Cute and Too Funny?

I wonder. I recognize that I come across as a crazy dog lady sometimes, but the moments of sheer joy I get from my dogs are so breathtaking to me. I am overwhelmed with happiness when I watch them interact. Frankly, they don't even have to do that. They can just be like Miller, sixteen and a half years old and still willingly and adorably wanting to run and play with the two year old and the five year old. He's not really interacting with Fred and Homer much, because they kind of leave him in the dust, which he doesn't seem to mind in the least. He seems perfectly happy to still be enjoying the party. So cute.

Today was a great day of dog time for me during my lunch break. I drive 35 minutes home to walk the dogs, feed Miller some lunch, and then spend a little time with them before heading back to the office )35 more minutes on the road, today with wet snow all the way) for our afternoon session. Fred and Homer ended up sitting together on the loveseat in front of the Christmas tree. They were adorable, so I quickly grabbed the camera, and of course, the moment I point it towards them, Homer jumps down. I put the camera down, encouraged Homer back up, and then grabbed the camera again. As I approached the sofa, Homer decided to join me and leaped from the loveseat, right across in front of Fred, and onto the sofa. Oy. I urged him back next to Fred. He seemed content to stay there for the moment, but this is when the Puppy ADD really kicked in: first he looked left, then he grabbed his little green rubber froggy toy, then while he was down that way, he licked his privates, and then scratched his head. He looked out the window. And finally he gazed in the same direction as Fred - sort of - which was the look I was going for. It was at this point that I finally really looked at Fred for the first time in a few minutes. His eyes were becoming slits, and he was leaning against his brother Homer, starting to fall asleep:

I mean, seriously, how freaking cute is that? I think it's SO cute.

The other photos from today's Too Cute to be Believed Photo Shoot:

And this, the close-up that was worth all the trouble:

Am I wrong about the cute?








Sunday, December 6, 2009

I Love the Christmas Season

I am not religious and therefore I do not celebrate the season in the way Christians might like. I like the feeling of the season, the thought that we could possibly all get along, even love one another, as the good people that we should all want to be, and try to be. I like the lights and the Christmas music and the holiday concerts. And the holiday parties. I like dressing the boys up in their red and green scarves. And I am loving catching pictures of the boys in front of the tree. I haven't been able to get a good shot of Miller yet in front of the tree, but the little boys make it easy, since they like the back of the loveseat and it sits just in front of the tree.

Merry Christmas, or Happy whatever other holiday you celebrate this time of year.









Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Doing Our Homework

I found this link to a fascinating discussion of the Senate Health Care Bill. It was posted to the Atlantic Magazine website the day of the vote last weekend to allow debate to continue. If nothing else this article is a great justification for the debate to move forward. Considering that it has some solid support from some pretty well-respected experts in the field, why on earth would we not want to know more and talk and at least try to come to some sort of compromise?

Here is a link to the article. It's well-written and gives a lot more detail than we're used to seeing. Take some time over this holiday weekend to read it.

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/11/a_milestone_in_the_health_care_journey.php

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

A Dinner Menu

Thanksgiving is coming up next week. My sisters Dana and Deb, and Deb's fella Darryl and I are heading over to the wonderful Turtle Island Cafe here in Willsboro for their Thanksgiving Buffet. Many of the people who read this blog have heard me speak of The Turtle before. We are SO lucky to have such an amazing restaurant here in my little Adirondack town. Here is a link to their current winter menu:

http://www.turtleislandcafe.com/daily.htm

They have regular daily specials, too. And their expanded summer menu is fantastic and full of local fresh produce and cheeses.

Since I'm not cooking for Thanksgiving I am planning a special dinner for Saturday night while Deb's still here. Here is the menu (I can't wait!):

Starter: Portobello mushroom parmesan over roasted broccolini

Entree: Ribollita with crusty bread

Cheese course

Dessert: Limoncello fruit salad

I have made this ribollita soup before and discussed it here on this blog. It is the most amazing, hearty soup. One of the many wonders to be found in Florence, Italy. I highly recommend trying this. It's not hard to make and the payoff is incredible.

The limoncello fruit salad will be a first for me. It's an Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa) recipe that you can get on the Food Network website. Yummy. Looking forward to a great week of culinary delights!

Oh, and what's for dinner tonight, you ask? Nothing quite so special as all of the above, but a classic comfort food meal from my childhood: hot dogs, baked beans and mashed potatoes!

Allez cuisine! as they say on Iron Chef America!!!

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Loved Real Good

That's what Bailey would have said about his time with us. The big guy passed away on Thursday after a brief illness. He had a long series of troubles with his health over the years, so I think that he did pretty well for a big dog. He lived to be about 8 1/2 years old, and he lived in grand style for a guy who was adopted out twice from the shelter - and then brought back both times. His time before that could not have been great, either, or he would not have landed in the shelter in the first place.

Bailey was a handful, as anyone who knows me and has heard me speak of him can attest. Of course, when he met new people he came across as the perfect gentleman:

Note: I had to mask the identity of the person in this photo as she is massively paranoid about her picture getting splashed all over the Web. It makes me laugh that I actually did this for her, because, honestly, how many people are really reading my blog? Snort.

Seriously, he really was the greatest dog with visitors and on outings (except in the car - ugh). Calm, great on a leash when we would hit the farmers markets or take a walk on a trail. He was amazingly better behaved out and about or with guests.

Huh...

Bailey was a lucky boy. He got to go on vacation...this is the Big B lazing on Deb and Darryl's bed at the house we rented in the Shenandoah Valley (we had 6 dogs in that house and left it spotless...with no damage, Miller! - but that's a story for another time):


He also vacationed in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Maine, the Catskills, and finally lived the vacation life in the Adirondacks in upstate New York. He also went on lots of local excursions, like this trip to Cape May, New Jersey, and a ride on the ferry:



Everyone who knows me recognizes the little guy sitting there next to Bailey. That's Fred, or as Bailey used to call him, "My Thanksgiving Present." I adopted Fred because my sister and I were looking for a dog to befriend Bailey - and to keep Bailey out of Boo's sights. Bailey wasn't Boo's favorite brother - Boo never forgot about all those times that Bailey stepped on him when he first came to live with us. But getting Fred was just the ticket: Bailey and Fred were best buds from the get-go. They played great together, despite Bailey's substantial size advantage:


And he was know as "My Thanksgiving Present" because we brought him home on November 22nd, four years ago, and the day before Thanksgiving. Bailey was never happier, I don't think, than he was those first few months with his new pal.

My 16 1/2 year old Lab/Golden mix Miller is the most patient of fellows. He was always so great with Bailey, despite the fact that Bailey really could be such a nudge. This is Miller and Bailey, hangin' in the backyard in Glassboro:



I am pretty sure that not a day went by in the nearly 6 1/2 years that I called Bailey mine that I didn't yell at him. He wasn't the smartest dog in the world. My vet back in New Jersey, who was when I lived down there and remains to this day one of the great veterinarians that I have had the pleasure to take my dogs to, used to say that Bailey was a lot like a GQ model: "Beautiful on the outside," he said, and then with just the most perfect hesitation he added, pointing up to his own head, "but not a whole lot up here."


He was such a pretty guy, everybody said so. The disease that he suffered from, it was known as masticatory myositis, or basically a deterioration of the muscles, manifested itself almost exclusively in the loss of muscle around his skull. This is why the bump on the top of his head was more and more noticable. We're pretty sure that muscles elsewhere had started to be affected. And there were other things that were going to be trouble for him. I am not a religious person and do not believe in prayer or "blessings", but I do think that it was fortuitous, maybe, that he had such a short illness because he was going to have a hard time of it with the other difficulties we found from testing.

I had adopted a new dog not all that long ago, Homer, another Beagle mix. It might have been a sign that Bailey wasn't himself when he didn't greet Homer with open paws. He seemed a little peeved sometimes with the new kid on the block, when he wasn't being his usual sweet self, like this:


So, as with all of the dogs that I have loved and lost, I will get over this. I will cry suddenly at the least mention of Bailey's name, as I am right now as I type this. But I have three wonderful dogs that make me laugh and feel so good and return all of the love that I give them, and more. There will be other dogs in my life, eventually. Bailey was special, and he required a special family to be with. I feel lucky to have been able to give him a good life. I wish I could do it for more dogs.

As I mentioned, I am not religious, but I do believe that if there is a heaven then these two boys, Bailey and Boo, are up there playing - together for a change - with all of their other dog buddies and cousins that have left us. I'm sure there is a great party going on up there, with Bailey barking long and loud, which he was wont to do for no good reason at all.



Rest in peace, my sweet boy.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Barack Obama, Writer

Here is a fascinating GQ article about Barack Obama as a writer. The article talks about him being the first president since Teddy Roosevelt to write large percentages of the speeches that he gives. You know I like a good writer. And based on the major speeches he has given so far, he's damned good at it.

Barack Obama's Work in Progress
Over the past few years, we’ve gotten to know our president as a lot of different things: campaigner, lawyer, father, basketballer. But what if Obama’s first and truest calling—his desire to write—explains more about him than anything else? Robert Draper recounts the untold story of the first man since Teddy Roosevelt to serve as author in chief.

Read the entire story here:

http://www.gq.com/news-politics/politics/200911/barack-obama-writing-books-writer-robert-draper

Friday, October 9, 2009

The Nobel Peace Prize


I think Shimon Peres said it best about Barack Obama winning this year's Nobel Prize for Peace:

“Very few leaders if at all were able to change the mood of the entire world in such a short while with such a profound impact. You provided the entire humanity with fresh hope, with intellectual determination, and a feeling that there is a lord in heaven and believers on earth. Under your leadership, peace became a real and original agenda. And from Jerusalem, I am sure all the bells of engagement and understanding will ring again. You gave us a license to dream and act in a noble direction.”

Friday, October 2, 2009

The National Parks - America's Best Idea

Oh my, what a wonderful series this was. Ken Burns can do no wrong, I do believe. Even when he is only acting as a producer, as he did with the brilliant documentary series "The West" about the great stories of the settling, and dislocating, of the American West, his presence is felt - passionately - throughout. His heart was evident in this series, as producer and director, and as one of the people working the camera in capturingvistas of America. I read some brief comments that Ken Burns made about making this particular series, about how special it was to be on this adventure with his own children, showing them the wonders of the great landscape of this country. I find it amazing how he is able to find just the right people to present the stories, how they are so eloquent and impassioned and plain interesting in the telling of the his chosen topic. One of the interviewees who was most interesting is also the writer for the series, Dayton Duncan. He also wrote the series "The West". So interesting, as were all of the people who spoke, and all of the heroes of America who worked so hard, and endured so much to protect these important places across our country.

I pulled a list of the national parks, all 58 of them (this does not include national monuments, seashores, waterways, battlefields and other sites that are also included under the umbrella of the National Park Service). I have only been to 8 of the national parks. As it turns out, that's a big number compared to other people I've spoken to this week. I really do need to work on increasing that number. I've been to a lot of the monuments and other entities of the Park Service, but I'd still like to see more of these, too.

One day.

Two of the national parks that were featured are Arches and Canyonlands in southeastern Utah. This area of the country is just full of incredible sights. Here are just a few:

My day at Arches started out in bright sunshine with brilliant blue skies:























As you can see from the picture of this gnarly tree, the skies grew ominous. This change occurred over the course of one short hour.















These last three shots above were from Canyonlands National Park. It's a pretty spectacular place. I have not yet been to the Grand Canyon, but there is so much beauty in these smaller canyons, I'm not convinced I need to go to the Grand Canyon.


But I still want to!


But there is so much more to see.



I also got this shot of a coyote who was hanging around waiting for someone to throw something from a car on the way our of Canyonlands.

There is so much to see. I can't wait to head out west again, but watching The National Parks makes me want to head to any of the great national parks, not just the ones out west.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

I Prefer The Pretty...

I don't like to mar the look of my blog with too many photos of myself, but here is one that is tempered by the sweet Fred and Homer as we sat at the park at Schroon Lake, New York. The boys were fascinated with the finish line of a bike race, and even treats would likely not have drawn their attention back to the camera. They are cute boys, however, and here are a few photos to show you, all from our Schroon Lake outing on Saturday:

On Vacation


A shot of President Obama playing with his niece Savita while vacationing at Martha's Vineyard. Sweet.

Friday, September 25, 2009

I LOVE This Story

Here's the link, but I've copied it in here to read. I love this woman.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_working_at100

NJ woman celebrates 100th birthday — at work
By SAMANTHA HENRY, Associated Press Writer Samantha Henry, Associated Press Writer Thu Sep 24, 6:22 pm ET


PARSIPPANY, N.J. – Astrid Thoenig got dressed, went to work and sat at her desk smiling Thursday as she slid her finger gently under the envelope flap of yet another identical birthday card. They don't make that many that say "Happy 100th."

Thoenig was interrupted by a steady stream of deliverymen bringing bouquets, chocolate-dipped strawberries and stacks of cards to the Thornton Insurance Co. in Parsippany where she's been answering phones, keeping financial records, handling payroll and typing up documents for more than 30 years.

"It's another day — it's hard to explain," Thoenig said of turning 100. "I don't feel old, and I don't think old."

Born Sept. 24, 1909, in Bloomfield, N.J., Thoenig's earliest memories start in 1918, when she witnessed something so traumatic, "it erased all memories of my childhood before that."

"I remember coming down the stairs from my bedroom and saw these two coffins in the living room: one white, for my sister, and the other for the grown person," she said, recalling how the flu pandemic of 1918 killed her father and her 10-year-old sister within hours of one another. "To see my father and sister — of all the things I can't remember — that's very vivid in my mind."

Thoenig, her remaining sister, and her mother also were infected but survived. Her mother lived until 101 and her sister, who suffered permanent hearing loss from the illness, was 95 when she died. A few years ago, scientists tracked Thoenig down and took blood samples from her as one of the few remaining survivors of the pandemic of 1918-1919 that killed an estimated 30 million to 50 million people worldwide, including thousands in New Jersey.

As Thoenig turns 100, her grandson, 43-year-old Peter Thornton, said she couldn't have picked a better era.

"If you had to pick a dramatic century to live, it has to be Astrid's," he said. "The invention of the automobile and the airplane, television and computers, the moon landing and two world wars. 1780 to 1880 would have seen changes from a musket to a rifle."

Thoenig says "thinking young" has helped her take a century's worth of technological changes in stride. The daughter of Swedish immigrants, she credits her strong constitution, a wonderful family and getting up every day to get dressed and go to work with keeping her mind sharp.

Thoenig once sewed all her own clothes and still dresses elegantly, accenting with gold jewelry, colorful glasses and a full head of blond hair that makes her look decades younger. Her strong, agile hands come from a lifetime of typing, knitting and embroidering.

Married twice — her first husband died from injuries that earned him a Purple Heart in World War II — Thoenig started working shortly after high school, and has held positions at banks, lawyer's offices and for the borough of Caldwell.

Her current job is her favorite — working alongside her son, John Thornton, and grandson Peter at the family-owned insurance company.

"I'm 67, and one of our jokes is: 'How can I retire before my mother does?'" John Thornton said. He says his mother is a meticulous worker, reviewing contracts, preparing the payroll, making sure bills are paid, and is always pleasant company.

Thoenig credits her son for giving her the job, taking her to work — although she still drove until age 98 when a botched hip operation made it difficult to get around — and always being patient.

The growing stack of birthday cards may have identical motifs, but the messages inside them each touched her in their own way. Some, sent by people she's never met, were from seniors who continue to work and are inspired by her example: "I'm at my job 37 years and still love it," someone wrote.

She took special delight in a bouquet from her dentist with the message: "This is only the beginning!"

New Poll From NY Times/CBS News

I think the article in the New York Times ( http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/25/us/politics/25poll.html ) regarding the results of this poll seems to be negative on the numbers as it relates to Obama, even though all of his numbers as compared to Democrats, and especially, Republicans in Congress are quite better.

An excerpt:

There is evidence of public distaste with Washington that washes across both parties. Nearly two-thirds of respondents said they believed that Republicans in Congress were opposing Mr. Obama’s bill only for political gain; just over half said Democrats in Congress backed the bill for political reasons.

Just 30 percent said they had a favorable view of Republicans in Congress. By contrast, 47 percent said they had a favorable view of Congressional Democrats.


I understand that Obama has lost some of the sheen from his early, crazy-high numbers from just after his election. When you get pummeled they way he has been you are bound to lose some percentage points. People believe all kinds of shit, thus the popularity of the Limbaughs and the Becks, though it seems that the conservatives haven't gained much from their machinations on TV and radio, based on the popularity of their party in this poll.

My favorite part of these numbers is Obama's popularity at this point in his presidency versus previous presidents:

At 56 percent, Mr. Obama’s job approval rating is similar to what President Ronald Reagan’s was at this point in his first term (53 percent); President Bill Clinton’s was at 43 percent. Still, Mr. Obama’s approval is down from 68 percent in the spring.

The article failed to note, however, where Obama's immediate predecessor, George W. Bush was during a similar timeframe. Bush started at about 57% and hovered there and in the low 60s at or about his inauguration. He fell to the low 50s during the first months of his presidency, all the way through to 9/11. So when Obama was in the high 60s Bush was in the low 50s.

Lest we read too much into these approval ratings, Bush's approvals went through the roof in the days following 9/11, as this chart shows:


He was unable to sustain these high numbers because he was an idiot, as we all now know. And what this chart does not show is his rating at the end of his presidency, which ranged from an average 22% to one low of 19%.

When it comes to numbers, I think I'll stick to watching Numb3rs on CBS rather than dwelling on this NYT/CBS poll!

Friday, September 18, 2009

What A Surprise...

...Those people in D.C. last week don't know what they're talking about. These people in this video are as scary as it gets.



Thank you, Andrew Sullivan, for the link.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Shelburne Museum

I have been to some great museums in my time. I was lucky enough to live for most of my life across the river from the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The steps made famous in the movie "Rocky" make up the approach to this wonderful museum at the end of the Ben Franklin Parkway. It's in Fairmount Park, a beautiful tree-laden, statue filled park along the Schuylkill River in the City of Brotherly Love. It will always be one of my favorite museums. And Philadelphia is home to other world-class museums as well, like the Franklin Institute and the Rodin Museum.

As I said, I have been to a lot of great ones: the Louvre, the Musee D'Orsay, the Pompidou and others in Paris, the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Gallery of Art and all of the other great museums of Washington, DC, MoMA and the Metropolitan in NYC, the Gibbes in Charleston, SC, the Uffizi and Accademia in Florence, Italy, Grounds for Sculpture in New Jersey, the Vatican museums in Rome, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Huntington Library and the Getty Museum in California, the Tower of London. And so many others. Unlike my great friend Sharon, I LOVE museums.

But much like the Grounds for Sculpture museum near Trenton, NJ, I believe that Sharon would love the Shelburne. It is unique and one of the great museums that I have visited, and as you can see from the incomplete list above, I have been to a lot of the great ones.

Here is the link to visit the Shelburne online: http://www.shelburnemuseum.org/

But you should go there yourself. Here are some snapshots of my visit there last week with my sister Dana.

A nearly perfect rose in one of the Shelburne's many gardens.




Outside and inside the Ticonderoga, a side-wheel passenger steamboat built in 1906.












The Round Barn, built in 1901 and made famous by American folk artist Warren Kimble, in the distance while on the 1920's vintage carousel.












A lighthouse built in 1871 which now houses works by Warren Kimble. This American flag is my favorite.




This is just a taste of all there is to see at the Shelburne. Dana and I could not get into everything on our one day there. We purchased an annual membership as we need to go back to experience the rest of this great American museum. It is truly a Vermont treasure.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Bill and Barack's Excellent Lunch Date


Two of my favorite men heading out of Il Mulino Italian restaurant in Greenwich Village. They got together for lunch today following Obama's speech on Wall Street. Love both of them so much.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Once Again...I Stand With Andrew

I cannot say it better, so I will let Andrew Sullivan speak for me:

Tea For Two
A reader writes:

I attended my 1st tea party in Worcester, Massachusetts 4 months ago. I am a conservative independent and went because I see this country going in the wrong direction FAST. Bailing out car companies. Bailing out Wall Street. The so called "stimulus" debacle. Tripling our deficit in 3 years.

Do you think I was a big George Bush fan? No. I was not. He was a big spender too and he never vetoed anything. But Andrew....comparing the spending of Bush compared to Obama is like saying eating a jelly bean is just as fattening as eating a whole cheesecake. TRIPLING the deficit in 8 months??? Earth to Mars.....do you even get this??

Andrew responds:

Look: the only reason the deficit has tripled in eight months is the recession, which Obama inherited. And I know of no serious person who really believes the federal government should have sat back and let the US economy spiral into the abyss rather than try to stabilize it with a bank bailout and stimulus. To blame Obama for what amounts to inheriting an emergency bequeathed him by his predecessor is plain loopy. And to blame him for future deficits which were a function of all those who came before him, is equally misleading and disingenuous. Yes, blame him for deficit spending once the economy recovers. Yes, perpare a plan for real government downsizing when and if we emerge from the Bush fiscal wreckage. But give the president a fricking break.

The circumstances of this past year have been extraordinary. If the position of the right is going to be: no bailouts at all, no stimulus at all, and spending cuts now to balance the budget, then they should say so. Instead we get this adolescent hysteria, combined with no serious alternative set of proposals.

Really, my fellow small government independents: Grow up.


http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/09/tea-for-two.html#more

Signs of the Lunatic Fringe

I do not consider myself a progressive; I think of myself as simply hardcore liberal. But I do appreciate the column by self-described progressive columnist Paul Begala over at The Huffington Post. I will copy it in here, and provide a link. He says exactly how I feel these days about these extreme views from the right. I will say it here as I said throughout George Bush's terms as president: I hated his politics and I hated his policies and I will always believe that the President of the United States should be smarter than me, and he most certainly was not. Our current president is a lot smarter than me, and I just have to hope that he can weather all the insanity going on with this minority of people out there who look crazy and have the potential to act crazy.

A SIGN OF THE TIMES
Paul Begala, CNN Political Commentator

The sign said it all. It was not some last-minute message some meth addict scrawled in crayon on a scrap of cardboard. No, this sign was professionally printed. White block letters on a blue background, the four-word message was in all caps. Someone had to have thought this through. Someone wrote it, edited it, planned it, designed it, ordered it, paid for it. Someone approved it, printed it, distributed it. And then someone thought this was a message he or she wanted to convey to the world. Thank goodness someone had the courage to take a photo of it, and then Huffington Post had the guts to post it on its home page.

The sign made me nauseous, made me embarrassed, made me wonder if at long last there is no decency on the far right. The sign said:

"BURY OBAMACARE WITH KENNEDY"

Oh, I get it. Sen. Kennedy is dead, and these slugs want health care reform to be dead too. That is so clever.

Fourteen days after Edward Kennedy was laid to rest in the company of his fellow American heroes in Arlington, right-wing hate-mongers decided to use his burial to make a cheap point about their opposition to health care reform.

What would they have done if liberals had printed signs that equated Ronald Reagan's burial with the hoped-for death of George W. Bush's plan to privatize Social Security? Or Bill Buckley's painful passing with the GOP's loss of the White House in 2008? Or the demise of my right-wing former colleague Bob Novak with the expiration of the Bush tax cuts? You can't imagine that, can you? Because, while we progressives have our moments of frustration and our occasional lack of couth, there is nothing I can think of that compares to the sick, savage sign that the teabaggers were waving in Washington.

The inmates have taken over the asylum. The ever-sunny Reagan is dead. The congenial Buckley is dead. The old-school conservative Novak is dead as well. In their place is the party of Joe the Shouter and Joe the Plumber and Sarah the Death Panel Screecher.

They hate Pres. Obama - even though he has bent over backwards to accommodate Republicans. They hate tax increases - even though the Democrats have cut taxes for 95% of Americans. They hate health care reform - even though Ted Kennedy fought his whole life to get them the same health care millionaires like him already had.

There was not, to my knowledge, a sign that said, "Let's Bury Medicare," even though Medicare is precisely the sort of single-payer, government-run, socialized health insurance the whack-jobs say they hate. Nor did I hear about a sign that said, "Let's Bury Tricare," although the military health system is as socialized as Britain's, its beneficiaries (including, according to Newsweek, Congressclown Joe Wilson of South Carolina) are very happy with their socialized health care. Nary a sign, so far as I know, decried the Bush prescription drug entitlement, even though it ballooned the deficit, enriched the pharmaceutical companies and furthered the supposed slide toward socialism. Nor, I'm told, were there any signs criticizing the $2 trillion Mr. Bush's unjust, unwarranted, unwise war in Iraq will cost our children and grandchildren. Nor ever a single sign about the Bush tax cuts, which helped squander the Clinton surplus. If this were about fiscal policy, the protests would have happened long ago.

These tea parties are, at least for some, more about hate than high-minded debate. Anyone who needed proof need look no further than the sign captured in the photo on the front page of the Huffington Post.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-begala/a-sign-of-the-times_b_284779.html


A collection of the signs at Saturday's DC gathering:





This child, as you can see, is the one who was holding the sign just above. A parent allowed a child to carry that sign, and to wear that t-shirt. This is a perfect sign that the right has gone off the deep end.











<-- I will never understand a parent allowing a child to carry something like this. An absolutely disgusting threat.

And my favorite sign, the one circled below, shows just how delusional these people are. They don't remember all of the spending during the Bush years? The enormous deficit that Bush and his party built up? That they squandered a surplus left by the Clinton administration? I'm sorry to have to say it, but they are delusional or stupid. Neither one is good for this country.

Monday, September 7, 2009

What a Bunch of Wimps...That Would Be Those on the Right Who Were Afraid of Obama's Address to Schoolchildren

Here's the text of the speech. I think the hysteria emanating from the right wingers in this country is sad, pathetic and chicken shit. Get a grip. Think, just a little bit, for a change before you act on the crap you hear from the Becks and the Limbaughs and the other idiots whose only, ONLY reason for existence is to vilify absolutely anything that has Obama's name on it. It's a disgusting way to act. The criticism of this speech is just the most recent example of over-the-top, completely out of touch reactions we keep seeing from the right. You are looking more and more like the lunatic fringe. That is certainly how I see you.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA'S BACK TO SCHOOL ADDRESS, PREPARED REMARKS FOR SEPT. 08, 2009

The President: Hello everyone – how’s everybody doing today? I’m here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we’ve got students tuning in from all across America, kindergarten through twelfth grade. I’m glad you all could join us today.

I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it’s your first day in a new school, so it’s understandable if you’re a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now, with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you’re in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could’ve stayed in bed just a little longer this morning.

I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday – at 4:30 in the morning.

Now I wasn’t too happy about getting up that early. A lot of times, I’d fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I’d complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and say, "This is no picnic for me either, buster."

So I know some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But I’m here today because I have something important to discuss with you. I’m here because I want to talk with you about your education and what’s expected of all of you in this new school year.

Now I’ve given a lot of speeches about education. And I’ve talked a lot about responsibility.

I’ve talked about your teachers’ responsibility for inspiring you, and pushing you to learn.

I’ve talked about your parents’ responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your homework done, and don’t spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with that Xbox.

I’ve talked a lot about your government’s responsibility for setting high standards, supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren’t working where students aren’t getting the opportunities they deserve.

But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.

And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself.

Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide.

Maybe you could be a good writer – maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper – but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor – maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine – but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.

And no matter what you want to do with your life – I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You’re going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can’t drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.

And this isn’t just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.

You’ll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You’ll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You’ll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy.

We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don’t do that – if you quit on school – you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country.

Now I know it’s not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.

I get it. I know what that’s like. My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn’t always able to give us things the other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn’t fit in.

So I wasn’t always as focused as I should have been. I did some things I’m not proud of, and got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse.

But I was fortunate. I got a lot of second chances and had the opportunity to go to college, and law school, and follow my dreams. My wife, our First Lady Michelle Obama, has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn’t have much. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.

Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don’t have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job, and there’s not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don’t feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren’t right.

But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home – that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying.

Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future.

That’s what young people like you are doing every day, all across America.

Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jazmin didn’t speak English when she first started school. Hardly anyone in her hometown went to college, and neither of her parents had gone either. But she worked hard, earned good grades, got a scholarship to Brown University, and is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to being Dr. Jazmin Perez.

I’m thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, who’s fought brain cancer since he was three. He’s endured all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer – hundreds of extra hours – to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind, and he’s headed to college this fall.

And then there’s Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods, she managed to get a job at a local health center; start a program to keep young people out of gangs; and she’s on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college.

Jazmin, Andoni and Shantell aren’t any different from any of you. They faced challenges in their lives just like you do. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their education and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same.

That’s why today, I’m calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education – and to do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book. Maybe you’ll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you’ll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all kids deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you’ll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, I hope you’ll all wash your hands a lot, and stay home from school when you don’t feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter.

Whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it.

I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work -- that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you’re not going to be any of those things.

But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won’t love every subject you study. You won’t click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.

That’s OK. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who’ve had the most failures. JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter book was rejected twelve times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, "I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

These people succeeded because they understand that you can’t let your failures define you – you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently next time. If you get in trouble, that doesn’t mean you’re a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to behave. If you get a bad grade, that doesn’t mean you’re stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying.

No one’s born being good at things, you become good at things through hard work. You’re not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don’t hit every note the first time you sing a song. You’ve got to practice. It’s the same with your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right, or read something a few times before you understand it, or do a few drafts of a paper before it’s good enough to hand in.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don’t know something, and to learn something new. So find an adult you trust – a parent, grandparent or teacher; a coach or counselor – and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals.

And even when you’re struggling, even when you’re discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you – don’t ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.

The story of America isn’t about people who quit when things got tough. It’s about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best.

It’s the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and found this nation. Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a Depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded Google, Twitter and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other.

So today, I want to ask you, what’s your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country?

Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I’m working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn. But you’ve got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don’t let us down – don’t let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.

Monday, August 31, 2009

Rest in Peace, Senator Kennedy

I admired Ted Kennedy so much. I need not add more to the beautiful and heartfelt tributes from this weekend. They stand quite well on their own as a testament to how special he was. I will simply suggest watching this, perfection in performance, a wonderful tribute to the man. Listen to the words, or read them below. It is no wonder that Teddy loved this song, it had so many parallels to his own life story.



Unfortunately, the beginning of the performance is not recorded here. Brian talked about how he and Teddy would greet each other, always singing Broadway show tunes. It somehow does not surprise me that one of my favorite Broadway performers and one of my favorite politicians knew and liked one another.

There are other recordings of Brian Stokes Mitchell singing this song on You Tube, but I don't think any of them can compare with the time and the place and the emotion of this one.

The song, as many people already know, was written by Mitch Leigh and Joe Darion for the musical Man of La Mancha.

To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go

To right the unrightable wrong
To love pure and chaste from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star

This is my quest
To follow that star
No matter how hopeless
No matter how far

To fight for the right
Without question or pause
To be willing to march into Hell
For a heavenly cause

And I know if I'll only be true
To this glorious quest
That my heart will lie peaceful and calm
When I'm laid to my rest

And the world will be better for this
That one man, scorned and covered with scars
Still strove with his last ounce of courage
To reach the unreachable star

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Oligarh? Oligarhy?

This guy is an idiot. A fool. Take a look:



Who else are idiots? Fools? The "network" that gives him a platform for this idiocy, Fox News. Who else, do you ask, are idiots and fools? Sheep? The clearly intelligence-deprived people who watch him, listen to this bullshit, and believe it.

How did the right become so riddled with fools?

Oh, and the word is O-L-I-G-A-R-C-H. Or O-L-I-G-A-R-C-H-Y.

An idiot who can't spell and can't perform simple arithmetic...yeah, that's someone I want to listen to.

Jerk.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

A Beautiful Summer Day

On this sad day when I mourn the loss of Senator Ted Kennedy I find myself enjoying one of the nicest days this summer. We had a little rain, but in between that rain I mowed the front yard, did a little weed whacking, took a break when it got too wet, then finished the back yard. I let Homer stay out of his crate while I mowed the back, and he was a good boy and didn't chew anything he wasn't supposed to. The boys then enjoyed a really pretty, bug free afternoon outside. Fred and Homer played chase and tennis ball. Bailey rolled around in the freshly mown grass. Miller did an unexpected perimeter walk along the fence, and then trotted down the hill. He really seems to get a kick out of doing that. He looks all 6 of his 16+ years when he does it. Adorable.

The garden looked really pretty today. Yes, my stakes for tomatoes are bare, but other things in the garden look terrific, and I have been harvesting vegetables and herbs from it for some time now. I just made a zucchini and asparagus salad from zucchini from my garden. I should consider asparagus for the garden...I certainly eat enough of it.

I present to you, the glories of the garden:






Yes, that is Fred, that white and orange blotch in the middle of the picture. He wouldn't come in when the rest of the lot came in. I took this shot through the screen on the porch. Fred likes the garden...he and Homer use the paths as their own Le Mans course. But what Fred really likes, as you've heard before, is the sun. He stayed out about fifteen minutes longer than his brothers, resting, undisturbed by his little brother Homer, who can be a pest because he wants to play almost all of the time they are outside.

It was a nice day for all. I spent some of it crying about Ted Kennedy, but a lot more of it contemplating what a good man and public servant he was. And hearing about him all day, and reading about him on the internet, it made me wonder what exactly it is that is so wrong with wanting to give every American access to good and affordable health insurance.