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Night scene on Park Street

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Last night we went to Hartford to see an old friend of mine, who I hadn’t seen since High school. We went to a pizza place in Hartford, just around the corner from where I lived until I was six. When we left, what did we see but this old car sitting by the curb. I’m not usually into cars, but this one impressed even me. Check out that hood. There’s about an acre of metal there. The thing looked like it just left the showroom, and somehow I managed to get an almost blur free image.

I briefly considered trying to somehow tie this in to politics. You know, an American car, Romney advocating bankruptcy, Obama to the rescue and all of that, but it was way too much of a stretch, so I’m just going to leave it that it’s going up because I like the picture.

 

 

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Lazy Sunday

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Honestly, there are times when blogging becomes a difficult ordeal. I just can’t bring myself to comment on current events. Partly this is because, deep down, I know I lack the talent to adequately address our current situation. To think that people out there, all over the country-indeed, all over the globe, are having to take Little Ricky Santorum somewhat seriously. And Thomas Jefferson and James Madison thought that they’d gotten theology out of politics! Not so, not so, Little Ricky’s putting it back, and to listen to him and the tea party folks, it’s just what Tom and Jamie would have wanted. But, as I say, I lack the skills to express the proper mix of outrage and mockery mixed with shame for a 21st century country that could come to this. To think that those of us who would like to spare our country the humiliation of presenting Little Ricky to a stunned world as a potential president must hope for a Romney candidacy. I am not among that group, by the way. Should the gods in their infinite caprice give us Ricky, then the world will just have to be stunned for a while. In the end, it will all have been for the best.

Anyway, as I have nothing to say on the subject of Santorum, Jeremy Lin, or any other current subject, I thought I’d put up some pictures. I’ve been fooling around with a fisheye lens I got for Christmas, as well as a close up lens I’ve had with a while, and submit herewith a few pictures.

This is a picture taken from the UConn Avery Point campus, goosed a little in Snapscan, the Ipad App of the Year, and I think deservedly so.

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My wife bought a Weeping Pussy Willow at Trader Joe’s a few weeks ago, and the catkins are now coming out. A very early sign of spring.

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We live near Haley Farm State Park, where this was taken.

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And,finally, yet another sign of a coming spring. This year the anticipation these tiny signs usually bring is tempered somewhat by the fact that we really haven’t had a winter.

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Friday Night Music

Friday, February 17, 2012

So, I’ve been trying to keep these things topical and timely, but what with things changing so fast in the crazysphere, it’s hard to keep up. Even Adele,this years Grammy sensation, probably never figured that by the time she got to sing this song, Newt Gingrich would be old news yet again. Besides it’s not easy to find songs about birth control, aspirin, or the intersection between the two. So this will have to do.

UPDATE: This is not my week. This is a fake, which I should have realized, but since it’s a well done fake, I’m leaving it up. Seems to me, though, that if someone was going to fake it, they should have gone after Ricky.

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A tank for every town

Thursday, February 16, 2012

All hail to the townsfolk of Keene, New Hampshire, who are opposing the acquisition of a $285K armored vehicle for their town’s police force. As the Occupy movement has brought into sharp focus, our police departments have, behind the scenes so to speak, gradually morphed into paramilitary organizations staffed by people just off the Star  Wars set. All this the result of the anti-terrorist mind set-keep ‘em scared-that the Pentagon and the U.S. government generally has used so effectively since 2001.

These behemoths are manufactured in Pittsfield, and the spokesperson makes what he believes to be a persuasive case for the proposition that every Podunk in the country needs its own tank:

Jim Massery, the government sales manager for Pittsfield, Mass.-based Lenco, dismissed critics who wonder why a town with almost no crime would need a $300,000 armored truck. “I don’t think there’s any place in the country where you can say, ‘That isn’t a likely terrorist target,'” Massery said. “How would you know? We don’ t know what the terrorists are thinking. No one predicted that terrorists would take over airplanes on Sept. 11. If a group of terrorists decide to shoot up a shopping mall in a town like Keene, wouldn’t you rather be prepared?”

Were I to be struck by a meteor, I would probably feel like it would have been good to have built a meteor shelter, but looking forward from my present vantage point, I’m just not convinced I should invest money in one. The same logic would seem to apply here. There are literally thousands of towns in the US. A tank for every one seems a bit much, but as they all share Keene’s peril, presumably each needs its very own tank.  And Oh, by the way, someone actually did predict that terrorists would take over planes, you can look it up. 

On the other hand, there are a lot of higher percentage threats for which I’d rather be prepared that we never seem to get around to preparing for. I’d like to be prepared for global warming. I’d like to be prepared for the foreign competition that will crush us in the coming years, as we reap the harvest of right wing attacks on, and defunding of, our public educational system and our relentless extermination of middle class jobs. It is so very strange that we always seem to be able to afford the very expensive things we don’t need, but can never find the money for the things that we do.

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Freedom of religion in the New Gilded Age

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

 We have recently been apprised of a newly discovered age old constitutional principle. Actually, two, if we want to go back a few years for the second. Senator Blunt, (R-MO), tells us that his proposal that all employers be allowed to impose their moral values on their employees is merely a restatement of 225 years of received constitutional wisdom. Who knew? A few years ago, we were told that corporations are people. The implications of these two novel, yet newly age old, constitutional principles have not yet been plumbed, and I intend to plumb them, or at least start plumbing.

Corporations being people, it follows as the night the day that they may become members of a religion. Not only that, they are free to start their own religions, which, given their unique spiritual needs, they may very well decide to do. While a corporate religion might be relatively unconcerned with issues like abortion or gay marriage, it would no doubt have strong god-inspired objections to engaging in such sinful behavior as bargaining with unions, complying with environmental regulations, manufacturing safe products, or doing or not doing a thousand other things that might offend the tender consciences of its adherents. Banks might form a sect for those who believe that regulation of financial instruments is offensive to god, and they might therefore, in good conscience, indeed impelled by god almighty, justifiably demand the right to engage in their holy rites of financial legerdemain, unhindered by regulation. Who are we to gainsay them? If a corporate conscience is offended, we can’t impose upon its religious freedom by making it obey neutral laws, can we?

 

As for myself, I am contemplating starting my own religion as well. I predict it will outsell Christianity in a heartbeat  You see, it offends my conscience to render unto Caesar, though I have no problem with Caesar rendering unto me. In fact my religion requires it. This, as anyone can see, improves on the Christian formulation. Some might argue that it might make for an unsustainable society, but no sacrifice is too much to impose on society so long as one tender conscience is spared. Actually, now that I think about it, my religion is nothing new. The banks beat me to it. 

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Somebody explain please

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

This is an actual tweet from a Republican Congressman about Obama’s birth control rule:

RT @RepJackKimble: American men, make no mistake this is President Obama’s plan to make you wear a condom.

Is there anyone out there who can parse his logic? 

 

UPDATE: Well, shame on me, for not doing a bit of googling before posting this. In my defense, the Huffington Post was taken in too. The thing is, Republican Congressmen are so stupid these days that it was far too plausible:

 

The fictional Kimble claims to be from California’s 54th district — California only has 53 districts — and his twitter page is adorned with corporate logos including Cargill, Fidelity Investments and Toys R’ Us. At first glance, Kimble’s posts appear to be in line with conservative ideology, but they are in fact subtle digs at the conservative movement. 

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Both Sides get their say, but one shouts

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

This morning I ranted at my long suffering wife after reading this paragraph from this morning’s Times:

Now, the comment deadline ushers in a critical phase. Equipped with arguments from every side, regulators will turn their focus to completing details of the rule.

The article is about the comment period that recently closed regarding the Volker rule. The article itself led off with several paragraphs detailing the massive numbers of comments that were submitted by the financial industry and their high priced lawyers, accountants and enablers. How, I ranted, after reporting on that, can you say that the SEC had heard from all sides?

Well, of course I had no objective data to confirm my preconception, though I would have bet both my fortune and my sacred honor that I was right. Well, it turns out I was right, as this portion of a comment, submitted by  Occupy the SEC shows:.

Of the comment letters received about 90% are from financial institutions, and another 5% are from foreign governments objecting to the priority the US regulators have gifted to US traders in US Government Bonds. The remaining 5% are from ordinary folks, like Mr. Volcker, Occupy the SEC and other public interest groups.

It’s interesting that 95% of the comments reflect the views of the 1%, and the views of the 99% are embodied in the comments of the remaining 5% of commenters.

The system is gamed from the start. The Volker rule itself is a Rube Goldbergian device to accomplish what could more easily and effectively be accomplished by reenacting Glass Steagall, something that worked for more than 50 years. Because the simple expedient of separating commercial banks from investment banks is off the table, the SEC must engage in complex rulemaking to try to reach some of the same objectives the simple solution accomplished with ease. The rule as proposed by the SEC is already shot full of holes, and now the banks are circling in for the kill.

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Still not convinced, but wavering

Monday, February 13, 2012

As regular readers (if any exist) of this blog all know, I am agnostic shading slightly toward atheistic with regard to the existence of god. Today I write that despite recent events,  I remain so, though I admit that my lack of faith has been shaken by recent developments.

Some might argue (though oddly enough, so far as I know, no one has) that only a good and loving god could have raised Ricky Santorum to a commanding lead in the polls. Certainly, they might say, no purely natural explanation can be given for the fact that, if only transitorily, the majority of one of America’s two political parties has embraced the 13th century, thus almost miraculously enhancing the chances that the semi-sane party will prosper. As they might go on to say, this is proof not only of god’s loving kindness, but of his (or her) highly developed sense of humor. Only the god who watches out for fools, drunks and the United States of America could have given us such a gift, and as a bonus, they might say, he has induced the entire Congressional delegation of the Republican party to make common cause with the pedophile enabling Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church to make contraception unavailable to millions of American women. Only a god, they might say, with a keen sense of irony could have arranged events in such a way. Not only that, they might say, but we liberals get to watch the Republicans frog march themselves to their doom, against what one must hope is their better judgment, drawn ineluctably by the logic of the situation they have created for themselves, for truly has it been said, as you sow, so shall you reap. Manna from heaven, it could surely be argued, was not a greater or more unlooked for gift.

 

I admit that this is all certainly evidence that is consistent with the existence of a god. (Loki maybe) But while such seeming happy miracles are necessary elements in the theist’s case, they are not sufficient to prove it.  No, I would say that in order to make his (or her) case, god would have to deliver the presidency, the House and the Senate to the Democrats this fall. This would require that he (or she) prevail not only against the money arrayed against the hapless Democrats, but more miraculously, against the Democrats incredible talent for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. There could be no natural explanation for such an outcome this year. Alternatively, he (or she) could give us Ricky in August. What fun that would be.

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The leeches condemn the leeched

Sunday, February 12, 2012

 This article in the New York Times has already engendered a lot of comment. Dean Baker says that the economics of the piece are a bit off (worth reading), but the real importance of the piece is the fact that governmental benefits are used most where they are condemned the most. Our blue state money is exported to red state beneficiaries, who condemn us for voting for it, and insist they don’t really want it, or at least don’t think anyone else should have it, all the while never considering doing without it. It contains some interesting character studies, such as this one about a tattoo artist who condemns his customers for getting benefits from which his family has benefitted and which he will obviously need himself:

Brian Qualley, 49, has a sister who survived a brain tumor but was disabled by its removal. The government pays for her care at an assisted-living facility. Their mother scrapes by on Social Security.

Mr. Qualley said that the government should provide for those who need help, but that too much money was being wasted. Mr. Qualley, who owns a tattoo parlor in Harris, north of North Branch, said some of his customers paid with money from government disability checks.

“They’re getting $300 or $400 tattoos, and they’re wearing nice new Nike shoes that I can’t afford,” he said, looking up from working a complicated design into the left leg of a middle-aged woman. “I guess I shouldn’t say it because it’s my business, but I think a tattoo is a little too extravagant.”

But Mr. Qualley said he did not want to reduce benefits for the current generation of retirees. Rather, he said his own generation should get less, because they have time to prepare. This is a common position among the young and healthy in Chisago.

Mr. Qualley said he was saving some money for retirement, although, he added, “I don’t have a 401(k) or anything like that.”

“I also have a job that I don’t necessarily ever want to — or have to — retire from,” he said.

What if his hands start to shake as he gets older?

“Actually,” he said, the electric needle falling silent in his hand, “it’s my shoulders and neck that bother me most.”

Saving for retirement, but no 401k? Social Security here he comes. 

There’s a great graphic on line showing where the folks on government benefits live. I can’t reproduce it here but suffice it to say that it’s not unlike the soda/coke map I discussed in a recent post. 

I come back time and again to the obvious solution:it’s time to re-open negotiations with the Confederacy. 

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Friday Night Music

Friday, February 10, 2012

Okay, there’s one topic that dominated the news this week. Who would have thought, in this day and age, that in the midst of a depression the party out of power would want to make access to birth control a central issue in the campaign. I say it again, Obama is the luckiest guy on earth, though sometimes he does seem to fail appreciate the gifts he is given.

Anyway, this song seems pretty appropriate. A song from the women of America to the Bishops of America. Okay, you have to mentally modify the lyrics a little-but just a little. After all, bishops don’t go out with girls. Their preferences lie elsewhere.

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