Meanwhile, Ohio continues to accelerate its race down the toilet. Talk about a death spiral. Exene and I left Ohio in 1993 -- 19 years ago. It was a different state, then; it still was some semblance of itself remaining when we left the sinking ship, before the GOP had its way with the place.
Seriously, though -- the state GOP has dominated Ohio for most of those 19 years, so, following their ideological claims, the state should be thriving, since it's followed Republican policies for so long.
And yet, hmmm, it's in freefall. Funny, that. In fact, their condition parallels most Republican-dominated states: economic freefall, widespread destitution. It's almost like their cockeyed economic tropes don't actually deliver what they claim they to. Huh. It'll take Ohioans another 30 years to make that realization.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
G-Ain't
So, looks like no G8 for Chicago, after all. No doubt Obama, Inc. are sweating having riots in the home city in an election year; they're opting for Camp David for a more secure place to conduct business. The NATO summit will still be here, so there'll still be enough craziness to go around, for sure.
Speaking of that, it's Stupor Tuesday. No doubt the GOP will continue cutting its own throat. There's not enough voter fraud and voter suppression in the country to enable them to win this year. They'd have to create massive ballot bonfires to be able to prevail with whatever candidate they belch up at this point.
Romney's the only actual threat to Obama in the general election, but only because Obama's the most Republican of Democrats to ever be President; he makes Bill Clinton look like a radical by comparison. But the Republican voters want some serious fascist Kool-Aid this year, and won't stomach Romney, it would appear. Gonna cut their noses off to spite their faces. It's going to be a GOP flameout of epic proportions. Maybe they're banking on a putsch or something, but, in terms of elections? No way. Obama's going to mop the floor with whichever sorry soul the GOP trots out. Except, of course, for this last dirty trick up their sleeves. But doing that would create a situation where there would be a president-elect robbed of even the semblance of legitimacy; it would make the Bush/Cheney electoral theft of 2000 seem almost quaint by comparison.
That's not to say Obama's particularly good; he's been a big disappointment precisely because he's governed so far to the right. In the overcooked atmosphere of today's politics, if he were actually governing as a moderate, the GOP would declare him a socialist -- oh, wait, they already have. Actual Republicans from the 90s back to the 50s would look at Obama and recognize him as one of their own. Only cross-eyed Republicans from 2000 onward fail to see that. The beast is eating its own tail, and it's not pretty (although, as somebody from the left, I welcome that partisan ugliness endemic to the GOP; let'em eat their own tails). It's just unfortunate how much it's cost this country for the last 30+ years.
Anyway, onward into the abyss.
Speaking of that, it's Stupor Tuesday. No doubt the GOP will continue cutting its own throat. There's not enough voter fraud and voter suppression in the country to enable them to win this year. They'd have to create massive ballot bonfires to be able to prevail with whatever candidate they belch up at this point.
Romney's the only actual threat to Obama in the general election, but only because Obama's the most Republican of Democrats to ever be President; he makes Bill Clinton look like a radical by comparison. But the Republican voters want some serious fascist Kool-Aid this year, and won't stomach Romney, it would appear. Gonna cut their noses off to spite their faces. It's going to be a GOP flameout of epic proportions. Maybe they're banking on a putsch or something, but, in terms of elections? No way. Obama's going to mop the floor with whichever sorry soul the GOP trots out. Except, of course, for this last dirty trick up their sleeves. But doing that would create a situation where there would be a president-elect robbed of even the semblance of legitimacy; it would make the Bush/Cheney electoral theft of 2000 seem almost quaint by comparison.
That's not to say Obama's particularly good; he's been a big disappointment precisely because he's governed so far to the right. In the overcooked atmosphere of today's politics, if he were actually governing as a moderate, the GOP would declare him a socialist -- oh, wait, they already have. Actual Republicans from the 90s back to the 50s would look at Obama and recognize him as one of their own. Only cross-eyed Republicans from 2000 onward fail to see that. The beast is eating its own tail, and it's not pretty (although, as somebody from the left, I welcome that partisan ugliness endemic to the GOP; let'em eat their own tails). It's just unfortunate how much it's cost this country for the last 30+ years.
Anyway, onward into the abyss.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Whew
Had stomach flu over the weekend, most likely norovirus, judging from the symptoms. I had hoped to make it through gastroenteritis season this year unscathed, but no such luck. Got wrung out like a dishcloth Saturday, although, thankfully, after about 10 hours of hell, it promptly ceased. It was like a gastrointestinal Mongol horde riding over me, then, having decimated all that they surveyed, rode on. B2 has already had this one. B1, so far, has not caught it. Nor has Exene. Anyway, nasty bug, but I'm actually glad it hit over the weekend, as it let me just hunker down and deal with it, versus being at work or something.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Friday, March 2, 2012
Irony Man
The boys were thrilled to have me pick them up tonight. As we were walking back, watching the rain turn into winter mix, we were humming the melody to "Iron Man" -- waiting at an intersection, this babe was with her date, standing next to us. When she realized what the boys and I were singing, she joined in -- I didn't realize it until I heard her, and she looked on and smiled in approval, bobbing her head -- her look cracked me up, because she was processing that, like this image of a dad and his boys singing "Iron Man." That amused me, and her boyfriend/date was like "What song is that?" (HUH?!) and she said "Iron Man! You know?" and she sang a few more lines of the melody. Sorry, dude -- you're in dire trouble manwise if your girlfriend knows Black Sabbath and you don't -- that's too much woman for you! He probably likes Dave Matthews Band. I thought about mentioning that B1's FIRST SONG he'd ever sung was "Iron Man" -- like when he was two or something! But I held back, for the sake of the guy, who clearly had no idea what the song was.
Then, a few blocks later, the boys and I were heading home, and this cab pulled up and this older woman walking with two canes worked her way across our path. I stopped the boys so she could make her way (I framed it like "Hey, [B2], let's wait for your brother to catch up." Once she'd passed us, I said "Alright, Gentlemen, let's go." (I tend to call the boys "Gentlemen") -- the older woman said "And you ARE a gentleman!" That caught me off-guard. I just blushed and thanked the lady. For me, it's just self-evident to be courteous, but anymore, not being an asshole practically qualifies as courtesy, so actually being courteous must seem otherworldly?
Then, a few blocks later, the boys and I were heading home, and this cab pulled up and this older woman walking with two canes worked her way across our path. I stopped the boys so she could make her way (I framed it like "Hey, [B2], let's wait for your brother to catch up." Once she'd passed us, I said "Alright, Gentlemen, let's go." (I tend to call the boys "Gentlemen") -- the older woman said "And you ARE a gentleman!" That caught me off-guard. I just blushed and thanked the lady. For me, it's just self-evident to be courteous, but anymore, not being an asshole practically qualifies as courtesy, so actually being courteous must seem otherworldly?
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Off the Deep End
Seems like a Leap Year is the perfect time to consider the ongoing drive toward war with Iran. The latest bout of saber-rattling on our part, relative to Iran, is reflective of a long-simmering neoconservative wet dream about going to war with Iran. It's something they've wanted to do since the Bush/Cheney co-presidency -- hell, I saw the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as Rounds One and Two for the war with Iran, as a rather pernicious Round Three.
Anyway, when the Republicans lost the White House, the drumbeat for war with Iran was somewhat muted, although the war drums did pick up volume at two discrete intervals in the Obama years, among DC policy elites. And now that's kicking up again, with more force than I've seen before, so I'm more than a little worried that our country is seriously contemplating a war with Iran.
This would be a disaster for our country, and an apocalypse for Iran. I really, really hope we don't do this. I remember reading up about Iran and seeing that its rank-and-file populace had several key qualities:
Now, left to its own devices, I believe that Iran's theocracy will eventually be toppled by a "Persian Spring" much in the way that the Arab Springs have been scuttling dictatorships throughout the Middle East (again, dictatorships America has supported for decades).
The ONE THING that could give a shot in the arm to the theocrats in Iran would be -- you got it -- American invasion of Iran. It would be exactly what those dunderheads would need to unit their guardedly pro-American populace against an invading foreign nation.
It's very frustrating, because if our country pursued peaceful diplomacy with Iran, engagement instead of aggression, it would put the theocrats at odds with their own populace, and would erode what little legitimacy those creeps have on the reins of power.
But our foreign policy is so tone-deaf to this kind of stuff, that I'm worried that we're going to rush headlong into war with Iran and have a fight on our hands that is far worse than the Pyrrhic victories in Iraq and Afghanistan. And it's just so damned needless, even by our own standards of pointless warmongering.
A war in Iran, should it actually occur, will be a disaster, and will set back healing the wounds between the US and Iran for a generation or more.
Obama has, unfortunately, governed much like the "third term" of the Bush/Cheney co-presidency, continuing so much of their policies that it's caused this country incredible harm. It would be a terrible shame if he continued along that path and went to war with Iran.
So, I'm hoping we're not stupid in this, but hoping against American stupidity is like hoping that the sun isn't going to rise. And, yes, cynics will point out that Iran has tons of oil (and, gee, that wouldn't possibly motivate us to go to war, now would it?) but the vastly larger population in Iran, the terrain, and everything about it would make Iraq seem like a walk in the park by comparison.
And it would absolutely give those tottering theocrats -- who are in serious danger of being consumed and overturned by their own people in a few years -- a stranglehold on power as they sought to unite their country against "The Great Satan."
The above opinion is, of course, completely outside of the mainstream. The "Beltway Consensus" about Iran is something like this: "We should invade them NOW." (hawk position) or "We should invade them LATER." (dove position) -- and it's sad but true, reflecting just how little range of opinion is allowed in this issue of vital national importance.
Our country does not need another pointless foreign war. We really, really need investment at home, not squandering money abroad.
Anyway, when the Republicans lost the White House, the drumbeat for war with Iran was somewhat muted, although the war drums did pick up volume at two discrete intervals in the Obama years, among DC policy elites. And now that's kicking up again, with more force than I've seen before, so I'm more than a little worried that our country is seriously contemplating a war with Iran.
This would be a disaster for our country, and an apocalypse for Iran. I really, really hope we don't do this. I remember reading up about Iran and seeing that its rank-and-file populace had several key qualities:
- They liked American culture -- yes, they disliked our government's hostility to their own country, but the people of Iran had a surprisingly positive view of America. Sadly, their rank-and-file were far more positive about Americans than the rank-and-file American is about Iranians.
- They were more than a little disenchanted with the reactionary theocracy that has ruled Iran since the 70s. The Iranian Revolution has failed to help everyday Iranians live better, and they know this. Much of that revolution's energy came from Iranian resistance to the dictatorship of the Shah (who was our man in Iran for generations)
Now, left to its own devices, I believe that Iran's theocracy will eventually be toppled by a "Persian Spring" much in the way that the Arab Springs have been scuttling dictatorships throughout the Middle East (again, dictatorships America has supported for decades).
The ONE THING that could give a shot in the arm to the theocrats in Iran would be -- you got it -- American invasion of Iran. It would be exactly what those dunderheads would need to unit their guardedly pro-American populace against an invading foreign nation.
It's very frustrating, because if our country pursued peaceful diplomacy with Iran, engagement instead of aggression, it would put the theocrats at odds with their own populace, and would erode what little legitimacy those creeps have on the reins of power.
But our foreign policy is so tone-deaf to this kind of stuff, that I'm worried that we're going to rush headlong into war with Iran and have a fight on our hands that is far worse than the Pyrrhic victories in Iraq and Afghanistan. And it's just so damned needless, even by our own standards of pointless warmongering.
A war in Iran, should it actually occur, will be a disaster, and will set back healing the wounds between the US and Iran for a generation or more.
Obama has, unfortunately, governed much like the "third term" of the Bush/Cheney co-presidency, continuing so much of their policies that it's caused this country incredible harm. It would be a terrible shame if he continued along that path and went to war with Iran.
So, I'm hoping we're not stupid in this, but hoping against American stupidity is like hoping that the sun isn't going to rise. And, yes, cynics will point out that Iran has tons of oil (and, gee, that wouldn't possibly motivate us to go to war, now would it?) but the vastly larger population in Iran, the terrain, and everything about it would make Iraq seem like a walk in the park by comparison.
And it would absolutely give those tottering theocrats -- who are in serious danger of being consumed and overturned by their own people in a few years -- a stranglehold on power as they sought to unite their country against "The Great Satan."
The above opinion is, of course, completely outside of the mainstream. The "Beltway Consensus" about Iran is something like this: "We should invade them NOW." (hawk position) or "We should invade them LATER." (dove position) -- and it's sad but true, reflecting just how little range of opinion is allowed in this issue of vital national importance.
Our country does not need another pointless foreign war. We really, really need investment at home, not squandering money abroad.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Arcadia
I had picked up "Midway Arcade Classics" (1 & 2) for PS2, and am amused to play some of those old games that I played back in the day, like Spy Hunter, for example. My boys both love that one, and it cracks me up to hear them singing the "Peter Gunn Theme" from time to time. What amuses me is how playable those old games remain. I think they're more playable than a lot of far more advanced games that came out since then. Amazing to think I was 13 when that game came out. I haven't even shown the boys Tempest. B1 will lose his mind when he sees that one, I'm sure! I was 10 when that one came out! Lordy! One of my favorites, for sure.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Friday, February 24, 2012
D'oh, Canada
Well, so much for the "Saskatchewan Screamer." While it was sloppy-snowy-wet this morning, I don't think the city got more than three inches of snow. The winds are definitely howling right now, and it's pretty chilly, but the amount of snow was paltry, compared with the usual breathless weather coverage of it. Deal with it, people -- it's SNOW. It's still WINTER. It's not the snowpocalypse! Sheesh. I sometimes think the newspeople build up this kind of stuff for lack of anything otherwise newsworthy to report. Chickenshittery carries the day.
I'm glad to be home, though, with the steam heat going, having a beer, and otherwise just savoring my Friday. Work's been crazy-busy all week, which has worn me out more than usual by the end of the day. I've always been a morning person, anyway, and do my best work in the morning. By day's end, though, my brain is fried.
I bought B1 some new shoes today; since I'd gotten his brother some new shoes the other week, I check out B1's shoes, too, and could see that he's due for some knew ones. At the rate the boys are growing (B1 is now 4'11" and B2 is over 3'10"), I'm going to be having to get them shoes every other month, I swear! Already B1's feet are just a little bit smaller than Exene's, which is amazing. I think B1's going to be about 6'6" when he grows up. He's going to be a giant. But lordy, it's going to be a challenge to get him clothes when he's a proper teen. I can see that already.
I'm glad to be home, though, with the steam heat going, having a beer, and otherwise just savoring my Friday. Work's been crazy-busy all week, which has worn me out more than usual by the end of the day. I've always been a morning person, anyway, and do my best work in the morning. By day's end, though, my brain is fried.
I bought B1 some new shoes today; since I'd gotten his brother some new shoes the other week, I check out B1's shoes, too, and could see that he's due for some knew ones. At the rate the boys are growing (B1 is now 4'11" and B2 is over 3'10"), I'm going to be having to get them shoes every other month, I swear! Already B1's feet are just a little bit smaller than Exene's, which is amazing. I think B1's going to be about 6'6" when he grows up. He's going to be a giant. But lordy, it's going to be a challenge to get him clothes when he's a proper teen. I can see that already.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Oh, Canada
So, I guess we're supposed to be hit by a "Saskatchewan Screamer," the term trotted out by the weather folks -- a big-ass winter storm heading through. It's purportedly heading in here around midnight, dropping 2 to 7 inches of snow. We'll see if it happens.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Fat Tuesday
Hope everybody has a great Mardi Gras, the most corpulent Fat Tuesday you can possibly have! In Chicago, with so many Poles here, they call it Pączki Day, in honor of their yummy Medieval uberdoughnuts. I don't think I'll go through the effort and wait in line for any Pączkis at the good bakeries today, but it is tempting, because they really are good. My favorite bakery for getting them is Dinkel's, but it's like me and half of Chicago. At least on the North Side -- it's like waiting in line for tickets to see a band. And I hate waiting in lines, and with work and all, I'd only be able to get there at the end of the day, so I'll pass on that today, but only with some reluctance.
Monday, February 20, 2012
BJ Blows
I love this takedown of Billy Joel...
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/the_spectator/2009/01/the_worst_pop_singer_ever.html?wpisrc=obinsite
A performer who I have described for most of my life as making "music for non music lovers." Much the way there are writers out there for non-readers (Stephenie Meyer, etc.), comedians for people without senses of humor (Dane Cook, Colin Quinn, etc.), intellectuals for non-thinkers (Newt Gingrich, etc.), artists for non-art lovers (Jeff Koons, etc.), directors for non-movie lovers (Michael Bay, etc.), restaurants for non-food lovers (Olive Garden, etc.), and so on.
Well said! For me, it goes back to my childhood, when a certain tone-deaf sibling would caterwaul to his songs. She had all of his LPs and probably an eight-track or two. I remember actually looking at his albums and playing them on my folks's hi-fi and thinking, even as a kid, "Wow, why does my sibling like this?" I didn't even have a musical aesthetic, yet, and I STILL disliked it, found him just dreadful on the ears. It's hard to pinpoint it, too -- I know I wasn't analyzing lyrics back then; it was the actual sound. The songs themselves, and how he sang them. I hated it. And then, when I could actually decipher what he was singing about, I disliked him all over again, in newer and deeper ways.
Aesthetically, artistically, and musically bankrupt, he is. His success speaks volumes about our country. And to friends, semi-friends, non-friends, and acquaintances who might say "Aw, come on, Daibh, don't be so judgmental; he's not THAT bad." I'd say "Oh, he's WORSE."
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/the_spectator/2009/01/the_worst_pop_singer_ever.html?wpisrc=obinsite
A performer who I have described for most of my life as making "music for non music lovers." Much the way there are writers out there for non-readers (Stephenie Meyer, etc.), comedians for people without senses of humor (Dane Cook, Colin Quinn, etc.), intellectuals for non-thinkers (Newt Gingrich, etc.), artists for non-art lovers (Jeff Koons, etc.), directors for non-movie lovers (Michael Bay, etc.), restaurants for non-food lovers (Olive Garden, etc.), and so on.
Billy Joel, they can't stand you because of your music; because of your stupid, smug attitude; because of the way you ripped off your betters to produce music that rarely reaches the level even of mediocrity. You could dress completely au courant and people would still loathe your lame lyrics.
It's not that they dislike anything exterior about you. They dislike you because of who you really are inside. They dislike you for being you. At a certain point, consistent, aggressive badness justifies profound hostility. They hate you just the way you are.
Well said! For me, it goes back to my childhood, when a certain tone-deaf sibling would caterwaul to his songs. She had all of his LPs and probably an eight-track or two. I remember actually looking at his albums and playing them on my folks's hi-fi and thinking, even as a kid, "Wow, why does my sibling like this?" I didn't even have a musical aesthetic, yet, and I STILL disliked it, found him just dreadful on the ears. It's hard to pinpoint it, too -- I know I wasn't analyzing lyrics back then; it was the actual sound. The songs themselves, and how he sang them. I hated it. And then, when I could actually decipher what he was singing about, I disliked him all over again, in newer and deeper ways.
Aesthetically, artistically, and musically bankrupt, he is. His success speaks volumes about our country. And to friends, semi-friends, non-friends, and acquaintances who might say "Aw, come on, Daibh, don't be so judgmental; he's not THAT bad." I'd say "Oh, he's WORSE."
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