Drink Me

Watching Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell on CNN this morning smugly mouthing over and over his talking points brought me to a question. If they win back the Congress how do they plan to govern?

Mitch just repeated over and over, "The Democrats are cramming it down the throat of the American people". What sexual fantasy were the Republicans having when they came up with that "talking point?" What the hell?

Mitch calls health care a privilege. What would Mitch expect from you for your privilege?

When they discredit Obama with their hypocrisy and lies and sexual fantasies, what do they plan to do next? How do they plan to govern?

I wonder if they expect the Tea Party to "go away" and let them have all the rewards?

Do they believe it is better to govern in hell than serve their country?

What will they do for the banks, the corporations, the health insurance companies if they win control again. But what happens when you destroy the system? How do they plan to govern?

If America repeats itself and gives the current Republicans control again, do they expect them to govern differently than before?

Stealing Richter's Scale

The massive earthquake in Chile brought to light the fact that "they" have replaced the Richter scale.

"The Richter magnitude scale, also known as the local magnitude (ML) scale, assigns a single number to quantify the amount of seismic energy released by an earthquake. It is a base-10 logarithmic scale obtained by calculating the logarithm of the combined horizontal amplitude of the largest displacement from zero on a Wood–Anderson torsion seismometer output. So, for example, an earthquake that measures 5.0 on the Richter scale has a shaking amplitude 10 times larger than one that measures 4.0. The effective limit of measurement for local magnitude ML is about 6.8.
Though still widely used, the Richter scale has been superseded by the moment magnitude scale, which gives generally similar values."

Charles Richter

"Developed in 1935 by Charles Richter in partnership with Beno Gutenberg, both of the California Institute of Technology, the scale was firstly intended to be used only in a particular study area in California, and on seismograms recorded on a particular instrument, the Wood-Anderson torsion seismometer. Richter originally reported values to the nearest quarter of a unit, but decimal numbers were used later. His motivation for creating the local magnitude scale was to separate the vastly larger number of smaller earthquakes from the few larger earthquakes observed in California at the time.
His inspiration was the apparent magnitude scale used in astronomy to describe the brightness of stars and other celestial objects. Richter arbitrarily chose a magnitude 0 event to be an earthquake that would show a maximum combined horizontal displacement of 1 µm (0.00001in) on a seismograph recorded using a Wood-Anderson torsion seismometer 100 km (62 mi) from the earthquake epicenter. "

So in this era of naming everything after a Corporation I'm surprised "they" didn't sell the naming rights and name the new scale the "FOX News Magnitude Scale" or the "Weather Channel Measure of Magnitude". Why take away Richter's name away from the measurement? First it is only a refinement, not a completely new system. Secondly who the hell are "they"? The U.S.G.S. uses the new one but are they the"they"? Why not call it the Richter II Scale or the New Richter Scale or the Richter/"they" Scale?

Jeez guys, give the man back his credit!

If 1=1, then 2=10, 3=100, 4=1,000, 5= 10,000, 6=100,000

7=1,000,000, 8=10,000,000, 9=100,000,000, and 10= 1,000,000,000

So if one equals one joule then ten equals one billion joules of energy.

Technically 10 is not the highest force that could happen.

-----VOTE NO FOR THE U.S. SENATE----- Stupid Old Man Screws Millions of Americans

One Senator (Jim Bunning) who is not running for re-election blocks an extension on unemployment and COBRA health insurance. The bill had full support from Democrats and Republicans. Why do we have to put up with this imperious behavior from a stupid old man who believes himself to be the Kentucky Messiah?

It is too bad there isn't some simply way to transfer all of the anguish-harm-and pain men like this cause directly into their own nervous system. Is it arrogance, hubris, or dementia that makes them think they should be able to exercise such actions and ANSWER TO NO ONE ABOUT WHAT THEY DO.

What kind of SCREWED up system is the U.S. Senate that they have these archaic dumb ass rules? And of course our Oklahoma Senators are among the worst offenders.

As I said before, let's impeach the whole crowd. All of them. Hose out the whole place. If they can't fix themselves then there should be a wholesale expulsion. Then let us reform and remake the Senate into a reasonable arm of the legislative branch or, if not, then take them out of the Constitution.

VOTE NO FOR THE U.S. SENATE

Impeach The Senate : A Modest Plan

Ted Kennedy and George bush pushed through an "accountability" school testing program eight years ago that defied common sense and the normal population distributions of basic statistics.

Now tonight 88 school teachers, all of the the staff at a small Rhode Island high school, are being fired because their students are "low performers".


(NECN: Josh Brogadir, Central Falls, RI) -" The Central Falls school board has voted in favor of firing the entire high school teaching staff. However, the teachers are not going quietly. This has been an angry battle - a teachers union vs. a superintendent of a struggling school district where something had to change - in this case, perhaps the most drastic decision in Rhode Island education history."

Each and every teacher was fired:
"One by one their names were read, as if it were classroom roll call."....
"But how did it come to this unprecedented action in the state of Rhode Island and perhaps the nation? At one square mile, Central Falls is the state's smallest and one of its poorest communities.

It has also ranked in the lowest 5 percent of districts in the state year after year meaning the federal government gave Superintendent Frances Gallo 4 choices:
- Shut the school
- have it taken over as a charter school
- follow a transformation model,including longer school days and teachers eating lunch with students
- or what's called a turn around plan, fire all the teachers at the end of the year.

After the union didn't sign off on option three, she went with option four."I thought I moved substantially away from my initial design and request and apparently it wasn't good enough," Superintendent Dr. Frances Gallo said. "

"But despite recent improvement, those numbers are alarming - only 7 percent of high school kids are proficient in math standards and 52 percent drop out before graduation."

Mine:

The required measurements by law are total bullshit. The way it is set up there will ALWAYS be some school FAILING in every district. Up till now State and district systems have played the game across America and kept their schools and staffs from being obliterated. But not here and not now.

If such a law is good enough for the teachers then it should be good enough for the turkeys that passed it.

Since the U.S. House has passed 290 bills this secession but the Republicans in the Senate have gone on STRIKE and will not pass any bill, thus showing a proficiency of far less than the students in Rhode Island I think the whole damn U.S. Senate should be fired just like these 88 teachers.

They make laws like this, then the principle should apply to them as well.
We all know that they are hypocrites and selfish self serving crooks. It is appropriate that they be dismissed without due process for failure to perform the function for which they were hired.

FIRE ALL OF SENATE NOW.

How? Have the House Impeach them each and every one. Then the 100 Senators could not sit in judgement on themselves. Only the quorum of one: the President Pro Temp would be able to vote for or against conviction.

Yes it is legal, and it is a whole lot more moral than firing every teacher at one high school.

Yes Vice President Biden is the President Pro Temp and would be the sole decider as to the guilt or innocence of each Senator.
Do it Nancy!
Go for it Joe!
Let's at least have some fun from these expensive incompetent fools.

Alternate Tea Party Images

Deanna has sent my mind down an obvious but here-to-fore not considered pathway on the
symbology of the current Tea Party "movement".

Examine these:



























The cast of possible character is enormous.

Opium, Laudanum, Cocaine, and Health Care for the Poor

When ignoramuses like Fox's Glenn Beck start painting American History with spray cans like forth grade vandals I just get pissed. Those..those..PROGRESSIVES...
















You know, those progressives like Theodore Roosevelt that sneaky bastard. You know the guy who pretended to be a "Muckraker", just another name for "Liberal" the dirty bastard that shut down all those cheap Patent Medicines in favor of regulated, GOVERNMENT REGULATED, and much more expensive prescription medicines, that cowboy that turned loose government regulation on American Capitalism.

The level of ignorance by these self deluded micro messiahs is appalling. Someone needs to take Teddy's Big Stick and stick up their....somewhere... painfully.

(click on picture to see it better)

Here's an example of those damn Progressives and their meddling in the "free market economy" a simple editorial cartoon from the 1905 June 5th issue of Colliers, The National Weekly.

Rush the Ditto already has his Soothing Compound, if the Progressives hadn't banned Baby's Soothing Syrup and we could get some for Beck maybe we could help with the hyperactive verbal diarrhea from which he suffers.

In 1905 it was the Patent Medicine Trust that was buying Congressmen by the pound. In 2010 it is the Health Insurance Company Trust, you know that group exempt from monopoly regulation by the "Progressives" like Senator Evan Bayh, who's highly paid wife is a director of a Trust Company.

Back then we killed our people with Patent Medicine today we do it with profitable neglect. It is time for another Progressive President to once again clean out the muck.

Come on Barrack, stop trying to be Lincoln and act like Teddy!

Red Dirt Overkill????

Dispite the fact that I have lived through the Oklahoma City Bombing and it effects, I still feel uneasy with Homeland Security's push to make everybody their eyes and ears. Is this crossing the line? Will this do more harm that good?

It kinda reminds me of the Cold War paranoia I lived through in the 50's and 60's.

Dig that sky in the background. Ominous! Dig those attitudes!

Neighborhood Terrorist Watch?

Here is the stuff you need to do straight off the Web site.

Identifying suspicious activity is not a difficult science.

Rely on your judgment.

Your suspicion of a threat could be confirmed with only one incident or it could take a series of incidents.

Your suspicions will need to be based on: Experience, Judgment and Common Sense.
To assist in recognizing and reporting suspicious activity, consider the following guidelines to help make an informed decision.

1. Stay alert in your daily travels and routines and get to know:
Who your neighbors are
What cars are normally in your neighborhood
Who regularly makes deliveries at work and in your neighborhood

2. Staying alert is NOT about becoming paranoid. Staying alert is being aware of one’s surroundings. Be alert to indications of possible trouble. They may include:
A local activity that could indicate problems in your community. (One of the clues that led to the recent break-up of a terrorist plot was that several of the cell members were spotted celebrating in an apartment complex on the anniversary of 911.)
Previous activity or crimes.
Controversial issues being debated.
Suspicious thefts.

It is impossible to identify a terrorist by:
Appearance
Nationality
Language
Age
Sex

You can ONLY identify a terrorist threat by observing or hearing about suspicious activity that may lead to a criminal act.Information provided in part by NationalTerrorAlert.com.

1. If you see suspicious behavior, do not confront the individuals involved.

2. SALUTE: Take note of the details.

S - Size (Jot down the number of people, gender, ages, and physical descriptions)

A - Activity (Describe exactly what they are doing)
L - Location (Provide exact location)

U - Uniform (Describe what they are wearing, including shoes)

T - Time (Provide date, time, and duration of activity)

E - Equipment (Describe vehicle, make, color etc., license plate, camera, guns, etc.)

If you perceive an immediate threat to yourself or to public safety, please dial 911 immediately.
To report suspicious activity, please contact your local police department or FBI....

Here are a few examples to consider when trying to identify suspicious activity:

1. Unusual Interest in High Risk or Symbolic Targets
Maybe you are at a high profile location or perhaps a National Monument and you notice a person nearby taking several photos. That’s not unusual. But then you notice that the person is only taking photos of the locations of the surveillance cameras, entrance crash barriers and access control procedures. Is that normal for a tourist? No.
The following should cause a heightened sense of suspicion:
Suspicious or unusual interest
Surveillance (suspicious in nature)
Inappropriate photographs or videos
Note-taking
Drawing of diagrams
Annotating maps
Using binoculars or night vision devices
Unusual or suspicious activity does not necessarily mean that terrorist activity is happening, but be aware of the following suspicious behaviors:
Individuals acting furtively and suspiciously
Individuals avoiding eye contact
Individuals departing quickly when seen or approached
Individuals in places they don’t belong
A strong odor coming from a building or vehicle
An overloaded vehicle
Fluid leaking from a vehicle, other than the engine or gas tank
Over dressed for the type of weather

2. Fraudulent Identification
Many of the 9/11 terrorists were in the country illegally and using fraudulent IDs. Altering or using false government identification in any way and for any purpose is against the law.
Fraudulent ID’s include:
Driver’s license
Social security card
Passport
Birth certificate
INS identification
If you believe someone is using or has altered government identification, please notify the law enforcement authorities. Do NOT request to see another person’s ID when not appropriate. Allow law enforcement to do the investigating.

3. Regular Gatherings
Terrorists, when not acting alone, need to meet with their conspirators and often times work within a cell. Pay attention to visitors and guests that:
Arrive and leave at unusual hours
Try not to be noticed
Act in a suspicious manner
Park an unusual distance from the meeting
Have an unusual number of unrelated people living together
Not all people who maintain privacy are terrorists. But people intent on doing illegal acts want to be left alone.
Some signs that may raise your suspicions:
They only let you into the apartment or house with plenty of prior notice
They change the locks often
They keep certain rooms off limits
They cover tables and other pieces of furniture
They never allow maid service in a hotel room
They only take hotel room service outside the door
They only accept deliveries at the hotel’s front desk or outside a closed door
Deliveries are a common method for terrorists to carry out their attacks. Be aware of:
A vehicle with hazardous material parked or driving in an inappropriate area
Unusual deliveries of chemicals or fertilizer
Unattended bags or boxes in a public access place
Fire extinguishers that may have been moved or tampered with
Unusual or unexpected mail

4. Unusual Purchases or Thefts
Terrorists need supplies to carry out their attacks and accomplish their goals.
Pay attention to purchases, rentals or thefts of:
Police, security, public utility, mail carrier, or airline uniforms and equipment
Explosives
Weapons
Ammunition
Propane bottles
Toxic chemicals
Vehicles able to contain or haul hazardous materials

5. Additional suspicious activity may include:
Someone bragging or talking about plans to harm citizens in violent attacks or who claims membership in a terrorist organization that espouses killing innocent people.
Suspicious packages, luggage, or mail that have been abandoned in a crowded place like an office building, an airport, a school, or a shopping center.
Suspicious letter or package that arrives in your mailbox. (Stay away from the letter or package and don’t shake, bump or sniff it; wash hands thoroughly with soap and water.)
Someone suspiciously exiting a secured, non-public area near a train or bus depot, airport, tunnel, bridge, government building, or tourist attraction.
Any type of activity or circumstance that seems frightening, strange, unusual or out-of-place within the normal routines of your neighborhood, community, and workplace.
Someone unfamiliar loitering in a parking lot, government building, or around a school or playground.
Anyone asking a lot of questions—especially concerning routes or loads or drop-off times.
Recruiters should be alert for unusual employment applications. Don’t assume it couldn’t be an inside job.
A truck driver returning to his or her vehicle from a restaurant or truck stop should make sure no one is loitering around the truck. Watch out for walk-arounds.

Information provided in part by NationalTerrorAlert.com.
Office of Homeland Security Home Oklahoma.gov

Is this being duplicated in other States?

So what do think about this approach?

Stimulus (A.K.A. Recovery) Act Money Congressional Hypocrisy Terminology

The extraordinary increase in hypocrisy concerning crapping on and smearing it all over something in Washington as Congress does and then running home and taking credit for it with ribbon cutting cheese & grin behavior when the money gets to their districts, calls for some new political nomenclature.

I am proposing the new term BOKIMBY : "But OK In My Back Yard" (Bow Kimbie).

So now you can quickly say Congressional BOKIMBY, or Republican BOKIMBY, or Democrat BOKIMBY and deliver a paragraph of information in two words.

My thanks to whom ever created NIMBY as a term.

Get Oklahoma Red Dirt Ready!

Has anyone else noticed that the first few seconds of the Homeland Security TV spot about getting "Oklahoma Red Dirt Ready" looks kinda like a nuclear bomb going off over the prairie?

Glenn Beck Mocks Teddy Roosevelt & Calls Hoover a "Progressive" to a Cheering Crowd

(Why are their eyes always so close together, and why do they all have the standard issue smirk?)


OK, I confess I watched Glen Beck making his speech at the CPAC convention co-sponsored this year by the John Birch Society that was broadcasted on CSPAN.


It was a damn fine stand up routine. Glenn says he is a self educated man, a self made man as well. Well that I believe. Based on his knowledge of history, economics and political science I can see that he had little or no direction in the art of critical thinking much less logic.

Now sources indicate he made $28 million last year. So when Glenn says the world is not fair he is a fine example of that.


I heard calls for Glenn to run for President from the audience. I would really love to see him on the ballot. Tinker Bell could run as his VP and then I would know for certain that I was living in Never Never Land.


What have you done to my country?

You Can Help Yourself, But Don't Take Too Much

Kentucky 1937
LIFE Magazine :
Photographer: Margaret Bourke-White


Them that's got shall get
Them that's not shall lose
So the Bible said and it still is news
Mama may have, Papa may have
But God bless the child that's got his own...

Yes, the strong gets more
While the weak ones fade
Empty pockets don't ever make the grade...

Money, you've got lots of friends
Crowding round the door
When you're gone, spending ends
They don't come no more

Rich relations give
Crust of bread and such
You can help yourself
But don't take too much

Mama may have,
Papa may have
But God bless the child that's got his own...
He just worry 'bout nothin'
Cause he's got his own

---Billie Holiday & Author Herzog Jr.

Let The American Heath Care System Fail

Let this mutant monster die.

We actually don't have to do anything really. Just back off and let it fail. It is well on its way to failure right now. Don't think so? Just look at Wellpoint and California. They are losing the profitable clients and are pricing the non-profitable clients out of their business. Soon health care policies will be too expensive to own. Let's just let it die a natural death. Of course it will cost hundreds of thousands of human deaths meanwhile while it dies. There will be a lot of families go bankrupt. No matter. We will just trade the sick of today for the wellness of those tomorrow.

It seems the contemptible Republicans and the spineless Democrats can't do their jobs and get something passed, so let's just wait until it dies. Wait until all the current system goes belly up. Then we will have to rebuild it without any private capitalism and make a completely government mandated universal health care system. You know one like the ones in Europe created as part of the American Marshall Plan after WWII.

Look Up and Smile

What is this thing that looks like a small dragon fly flying around outside a NASA lab?



UAV: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles



If you are wandering around Pakistan look up.
If you are watering your crop of.... anything.
Sunbathing?



Some of these vehicles fly on hydrogen.
Some of these fly on solar cells and batteries.
Some use plain old JP.




Some are small and some are as large as a 767.
(Don't this look like that WWII German jet?)



Some are controlled by the guy a few blocks from them. Some are controlled 16,000 miles away. Some are controlled by an autonomous computer in Maryland.




Some fly for a couple hours. Some can fly on station for years.

Some just see you. Some kill you outright. Some tag you to be killed. Some just follow you around till the guys that want you get there. Some just relay your cell phone calls.

Some cost a few hundred dollars. Some cost way too much.

Look up. They are up there right now. You can't hear them. You can't see them. They are not coming they are here.

Oh yes, and some are the size of dragon flies.

The Coming Insurrection - The Invisible Committee-Beck's Plan: Make Them Afraid, Very Afraid

So I am watching Glen Beck on Saturday night. Not really on purpose mind you, but I was flipping by and he was talking about insurrection with two experts I had never heard of nor recognized and I paused. Here he was re-hashing the fear mongering of the French book called "The Coming Insurrection" by the Invisible Committee. He has been promoting the horrors of this book for a couple of years.

OK, OK, let's see what this awesome work of inspiration said, that it so aroused Beck's intellectual and patriotic concerns.

The Coming Insurrection - The Invisible Committee: Is available in HTML and pdf at this site.

So I read it. Boring. The Invisible Committee's sophomoric understanding of their own fantasies is to organize communes? Whoops, I recognize it! It is a roll-playing script. It's like the premise documents guys write to do group roll playing. It's missing the scoring and power level stuff etc. but that's what it reads like.

Beck, Beck, Beck dude this ain't nothing. There's no real blueprint here, not even a good outline for a block party. Man, go get a copy of Che Guevara's "The War of the Guerrilla". That book is a step by step way to do an insurrection. I mean if you want to do one, do it Che's way. He helped father the longest running insurrection in modern history.

Beck, buddy, this book you are currently trying to scare people with wouldn't even make a good comic book.

Maybe he is counting on his audience not actually reading the book (did he read it). Even the 9-12 people can read however. Guys, know you enemy, is the second rule of fighting someone. WET is the formula. W=Weather, E=Enemy, T=Terrain are the basic things the U.S. military teaches you to know before going into battle. So, read the book. Know your enemy.

Now really if this book is the organizing point for your enemy, you've got no worry. There ain't enough there to...heck I've already said that. Now if someone starts distributing "The Art of War" and/or "The War of the Guerrilla", then MAYBE you should listen to Beck.

I can't believe that I actually read the damn thing, at least now I know that the French still aren't a threat to anyone.

What Price For A Cat?

The animal in question


When my son's cat Hektor went missing and was gone more than 8 days I had given up hope of finding him. My wife had found data that indicated that one in three cats gone more than a week eventually are found. Even so the weather had been so bad, so wet, and cold that survival seemed slim.

So when I went out to my truck two days ago to go to the grocery store and I heard a yowell
that was most definitely Hektor my adrenaline spewed out. Actually the cry was very faint, hearing it was sort of like hearing your name called out in a noisy crowd. So where the heck did it come from?

There are two homes that are empty to the west of my house. One house is in Repo and the other Limbo. So risking trespassing charges (for the third time since I had looked here before), I began searching the outbuildings around the house and then tapping on the windows of the houses themselves and calling Hektor's name. Eventually I tapped on a door window and heard his meow in side. Sure enough I could see him trapped inside the house.

OK, here's my cat, that is being mourned by wife and child (it doesn't matter that the child is 28) and he is alive in a locked house and there is no way I'm going to leave him there. There is also no way that I know of to get him out by calling someone. The house is simply closed up and in limbo, no foreclosure, no realtor, no contact info at all. So How do I get him out? All the doors are locked, all windows are closed and locked. There is a cat size hole where the air conditioner pipes went in.

I am not cat sized.

Finally I found a door that could be jimmied open without damaging it. I went in obtained the cat and came out. All the while I expected the cops to show up and arrest me, but I was OK with that. This damn cat was worth the hassle and the cost. Not to me, maybe, but certainly to my family, OK to me too.

How much are we willing to pay for something important ? How much pain, discomfort, hassle, are we willing to endure?

The same night I read about the five year old kid, Kyler VanKnocker and the insurance company HealthAmerica that wouldn't kick in another $110,000 to possibly give the kid a chance at life.

His family had already bankrupted themselves to save him. What else could they do? What price was this kids life worth? Indeed what price was anyone's life worth? An age old question?

I'm going to ponder on this. I'll get back to you on it.

Senator Inhofe Uses Family to Mock Climate Change

Inhofe family builds "igloo" in Washington to mock Al Gore climate change concerns.
Then the Senator post pictures on his facebook page.
At least this got more coverage than his "speeches" in Copenhagen.

He of course knows nothing about why the all-time record snow occurred. Pacific current warming?, ENSO?, El Nino? What's that?

Makes me so proud to be an Oklahoman.

Health Care Death Panel Condems Five Year Old

Kyler VanKnocker, Five Years Old

Sarah Palin was correct sooner than she thought she would be. A Death Panel currently operating under the existing health care system has decided to let a five year old die because of the high cost of his medication.

There are Death Panels!

One Thing Is Just Like The Others

Take a look at these pictures of play grounds and see if you can figure What they all have in common.....

...with the blog you are now reading?

The Law Is Not Sitting Well With America ?

Republican leaders such as Kit Bond keep saying that the Obama Administration should not have "Miranda-ized" the Christmas under-ware bomber.

I guess elected representatives simple don't know what the Law of the Land requires. The FBI, your local State Police, of county sheriff can't arrest you without "Miranda Rights" read to you or anyone else arrest in America regardless of citizenship or status. That's what SCOTUS has ruled to be Constitutional Law of the Land.

Joe Scarborough, ex-Congressman and MSNBC pundit, says that "Miranda -izing" the bomber doesn't sit well with the American people.

The Law doesn't sit well with the American people?
The Senate and Congressional leadership doesn't know what the Law is? They are willfully ignorant of the Law?

Wait, wait, I may be wrong about this. SCOTUS has recently overturned hundred year old Law and precedence, maybe they can overturn this too. I mean, if it doesn't sit well with the majority shouldn't we get rid of it?

Shall we throw out "Miranda Rights" and revert to the Law as of the McCarthy era?
Does the Tea Party whine "we want our country back" mean the one from 1950?

My suggestion is that we cancel the Fox drama "24" and shut down "Nic At Night" they are having to much influence on our current politics.

How Is That Hope Thing Working Out?

Actually, what Palin said in a nasal-y voice was, "How's that hope-y, change-y thing workin out fer ya?"

Mia culpa, I confess, I watched her speech last night My curiosity out weighed my pure disdain.
Disrespect and sarcasm oozed from her pores as she put down the President and all of his efforts with her quarter-thoughts and halftruths spiced up by outright-lies. Feeding the beast raw meat, she was as nervous as any new zoo keeper feeding the tigers. Speaking too fast and initially not giving the audience time to respond she read her speech from a script on the podium (no elitist teleprompter you see). Even so she slipped up time and again with improper breaks and once referred to Alaska when she meant America.

Underlying her words in the speech and in the Nerf ball Q&A afterwards was seeping a fear that she might actually have to be a leader and earn her position. I think she is greedy for love, adulation, money, and stroking, but scared to death of being in power and having to deliver.

The media keep referring to this as populism. Bullshit, I'm a populist, have been all my life. These guys, and Palin specifically , are Pseudo-Capitalist drones. Somewhere on Wall Street in a secret facility are people at the remote controls manipulating these primative Cylons as they go about their masters' will.

A Song For A Tea Party : I Ain't Got No Home

The Tea Party Convention is full swing today. Most of them think they are something new. Some know otherwise. Some of the money grubbers try to make them think they are the New Revolution of 1776. Old Ben, and Tom and George would gag at that.
Seems that you can't get into the Convention unless you pay them $550. Shit, Woody Guthrie would have sat outside their gig and sang for free.

What goes around comes around. Take a look at this song from 1931.
Here is Billy Bragg singing it for you.

Don't it sound current?


I AIN'T GOT NO HOME

I ain't got no home, I'm just a-roamin' 'round,
Just a wandrin' worker, I go from town to town.
And the police make it hard wherever I may go
And I ain't got no home in this world anymore.

My brothers and my sisters are stranded on this road,
A hot and dusty road that a million feet have trod;
Rich man took my home and drove me from my door
And I ain't got no home in this world anymore.

Was a-farmin' on the shares, and always I was poor;
My crops I lay into the banker's store.
My wife took down and died upon the cabin floor,
And I ain't got no home in this world anymore.

I mined in your mines and I gathered in your corn
I been working, mister, since the day I was born
Now I worry all the time like I never did before
'Cause I ain't got no home in this world anymore

Now as I look around, it's mighty plain to see
This world is such a great and a funny place to be;
Oh, the gamblin' man is rich an' the workin' man is poor,
And I ain't got no home in this world anymore.

--WG

"I Ain't Got No Home" is a traditional Woody Guthrie song. The earliest recording came in 1931 by the Carter Family, as a gospel song called "Can't Feel At Home." It was also recorded a few times as "This World Is Not My Home," before Woody Guthrie adapted his version as "I Ain't Got No Home." As Guthrie wrote about it, "this old song to start out with was a religious piece...but I seen there was another side to the picture. Reason why you can't feel at home in this world anymore is mostly because you ain't got no home to feel at."
(from the liner notes to Hard Travelin')

Just a note to my Tea Party friends, Woody was a Socialist (at least, as he said, he was in the Red all of his life).

What Do the Brown Pelicans Know? Ask Them.

So the sea lions leave San Fransisco and now the Brown Pelicans won't leave Oregon for their summer feeding grounds in California.
(See Pelican Story)
Now we got giant squids showing up by the hundreds along the beaches of Southern California.
(See Squid Story)
Maybe we need to talk to the animals.
They may have something to say.

Good For Life at Ten Two and Four: DR.PEPPER

Now for some mental bubble gum:



Waco Texas is the home of my favorite daily drink (Diet version).



Once upon a time when I was young our family attended a Farmers' Co-op picnic where soft drinks were free and unlimited. I drank 18 bottles of Dr. Pepper that night and bragged about it for weeks. That's nine 12 oz cans of modern DP. The old DP came in 6 oz bottles, yep, same as those new "half cans".



So we went to the Dr.Pepper Museum.



It was about a 4 out of 10 museum. Not for kids.



It was OK, but could have been so much more.



Now if you love bottle and corporate histories then this place is for you.

A little more kisch like this would liven it up a bit more.

In Nam we used to have the Oklahoma Air NG bring us cases of Dr. Pepper when their Red Ball Express came to our base. We paid them 30 cent a can and sold them for $1 at our bar. Otherwise DP was not available in Vietnam.