Category Archives: Politics

June 17, 2016 · 22:11

A Not-So-Friendly Warning

There’s a very large brush fire burning into its third day about 100 miles to the northwest of here. Dozens of houses have burned, whole towns are in the fire’s path, Highway 101 between Southern and Northern California has been shut down with flames on both sides of the road, and the “sundowner” winds have been gusting every night, fanning and spreading the inferno. As of tonight it was 20% contained, but there were concerns that it could get completely out of control again if the winds didn’t die down.

This morning, with the winds shifting from the north, LA was brown and smoky, over 100 miles away. I guess that’s not as surprising as it might have been a few weeks ago, when we saw that huge fire in Canada spreading smoke all the way to Atlanta.

As if that isn’t enough, it’s going to be a scorcher all over the US SouthWest this weekend. We’re expecting 94°F tomorrow, 104°F on Sunday, and 109°F on Monday. Up there in the fire zone, aside from, you know, the radiant heat of thousands and thousands of acres burning in your face, it’s only supposed to be 97°F.

On the other hand, in places like Phoenix, Arizona, it’s supposed to be 119°F on Sunday, and I notice that the forecast there is for the highs to be 112°F or above for the next nine days, as far as the current forecast goes out. There are whole swatches of this part of the world that are expecting the highest temperatures EVER RECORDED at those recording sites. Not the highest temperature on that day in history – the highest temperatures ***EVER*** recorded at those spots.

Then I saw the news that the very last recording station on Earth that was still seeing CO2 levels under 400 parts per million has finally reached that symbolic level. It’s in Antarctica, about as far away from anything human as they can put it. The last time the CO2 levels hit this height was over four million years ago. From this point onward we almost certainly will never see any spot on Earth recording less than that in our lifetimes. Or our children’s lifetimes, or their children, or their children…

All of that made me think that, in an effort to be totally transparent and up front with everyone, I should let y’all know:

If you ever, EVER come to my site, my timeline, or my face wanting to tell me that CO2 isn’t causing climate change (100% bullshit), that human activities aren’t driving that CO2 increase and climate change (unbelievable 100% bullshit), that scientists haven’t really proven that there’s climate change (you’ve got to be freakin’ kidding me 100% bullshit), that it’s “just a theory” (bullshit 100% ignorant of any clue what the scientific method is or what the word “theory” means), or anything along those lines, I will as politely as I can ask you to piss off and never darken my door again.

If you’re stupid enough to ignore that request (and I’m betting you are if you’re spewing any of the aforementioned bullshit) then I will do everything I can to show the world what a moronic, ignorant, clueless, illiterate, uneducated, imbecilic, cretinous, witless buffoon you are. I don’t for a second think that any of the mountain of evidence and facts that I’m going to shower on you will change your mind, but the rest of us will have fun laughing at you and pointing.

Then I will block your ass and take whatever measures are necessary to never hear from you again. Life’s too short to spend it putting up with the intentionally ignorant.

For those who think this is a policy which stifles a free exchange of ideas – get a clue. Look up “false equivalency” for starters. Put simply, if I say 5+5=10 but you think that 2+8=10 and someone else says 15-5=10, we can discuss how each of us got to ten. On the other hand, if I say 5+5=10 but you say 5+5=37.89927837128 because there’s a conspiracy founded by some secret society and the aliens are really running the whole thing, then we have nothing to talk about and it’s a waste of breath for me to do so.

I just wanted y’all to know!

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Filed under Disasters, Freakin' Idiots!, Los Angeles, Politics, Weather

May 8, 2016 · 21:15

Twitter Ten Thousand

Last August I reached a milestone on my Twitter account, posting my 5,000th tweet. Twitter says that I joined some time in February 2009, so it took six years and seven months to post 5,000 tweets.

Today, less than nine months later, I posted my 10,000th. Granted, many of them are re-tweets, particularly of photos of the Earth taken by astronauts on ISS. Plus other space stuff. And airplane stuff. And science stuff. Still, that’s a lot of tweets.

In August I thought about noting the 5,000th tweet with something at least thoughtful instead of just another smartass remark (is “smartass” one word or two?) or a retweet. At the time I was still looking for a job, despite having not acknowledged that explicitly in my work here, so I referred vaguely to “the 400 lb elephant” and a second “meeting.” Because for various reasons I didn’t want to use terms like “unemployment” or “interview,” I was being obtuse.

With the 10,000th Tweet here, I again was looking for something less “fluffy” to post. It occurred to me that the 5,000th tweet was, in retrospect, about the biggest concern I had in life at the time. So what has me on edge today?

Oh, yeah, THAT. But rather than go off on a rant regarding one particular person or another, I wanted to address the more general problem. (I now notice that I had the dates off by a few weeks, but that doesn’t change the point I’m trying to make.)

At this rate, I should be hitting 15,000 tweets about mid-January. Let’s say, about January 20th. Which, the way things are lining up right now, will be a rather historic date in American history.

Let’s hope that by February 1, 2017 we’re not asking ourselves, “What in the hell were we possibly thinking?”

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Filed under Paul, Politics

April 19, 2016 · 23:13

Weltanschauung No Mas!

“The practice of cow tipping is generally considered an urban legend…”

Well, there goes my weltanschauung! What other bucket list items of my (not) misspent youth are also urban legends?

“Streaking?” No, actually that was a well documented thing in the early 1970s. We actually had someone streak a high school basketball game in my Vermont home town. While he was wearing a ski mask or something to make himself less instantly recognizable, most of us knew who it was. It was not the huge mass hysteria that the oh-so-very-NOT-liberal-mainstream-media of the day made it seem, but it was more commonplace on college campuses (“Thank you, Captain Obvious!”) and in places like Southern California.

“The Chicken Gun?” I can’t say if it’s really true or not, but I first heard of it from a close, trusted friend (we still miss you, Gary!) who happened to be working at a naval base in California where they actually did the testing. I’m not saying that he was pulling my leg, telling a tall tale, or even just passing on a story he had heard, but I’m willing to give this one a solid “maybe.”

Most of the urban legends out there are either so ridiculous (the babysitter and the phone call that’s coming from inside the house!), so bizarre (Mr. Rodgers was an ex-Navy SEAL sniper with dozens of kills), or so simply freakin’ STUPID (on {insert date here} Mars will look as big as the full moon!) that they don’t get more than about two seconds’ thought from me. And I always check Snopes first. (If we could just get a built-in “Snopes/bullshit filter” for FaceBook…)

That’s one of the problems with the current Presidential campaign. A good number of things that are actually being said are so bizarre that you would at first just figure it was some cockamamie satire or joke spreading around the internet. But when you see the quote or the story in the New York Times, and Reuters, and on CNN, and every other legitimate news outlet, it must be true. You’ll even see the video.

“Huh, he really DID say that! Damn! And he’s still in the Presidential race!! I wonder what Howard Dean thinks about that?”

With any little snippet being bizarre enough to be true, and every good urban legend containing the seed of truth, we’re now seeing a flood of full blown satire articles and urban legends being passed around social media, all taken as fact. Today’s favorite of mine comes from Ted Cruz’s time as attorney general of Texas, when he defended a law banning sex toys. The short version is that he said there was no Constitutional right to masturbate.

But now I’ve seen a couple of stories that blow that one little bit into a whole diatribe, where the scourge of American masturbation that’s sweeping the continent is a bigger threat than ISIS.

Um…no.

Wouldn’t our world be a better place if more people went out tipping cows and spent less time idolizing bizarro whack jobs as “leaders?”

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Filed under Politics

April 16, 2016 · 23:20

Our Duty As Citizens

Yesterday I was agitated and pissed off with the state of what passes for news coverage these days, as well as the collective train wreck in an asylum that is our current political circus. I was frustrated, discouraged, having a crisis of faith.

I still am, but then I read this:

Stonekettle Station – Two Wolves

If you’ve read it also, continue on. If not, go read it now. It’s long-ish but worth every second.

Seriously. This means you. I’ll wait right here for you to get back.

Okay?

I have nothing but admiration for Jim Wright. The man has a wonderful way with words, he puts up with no bullshit, and he has the background and experience to back up what he says when he shuts down the dimwitted, clueless, and often only semi-literate trolls who seem to infect every corner of the internet these days.

There is no “but…” to follow that. I want to thank Mr. Wright for writing and posting this, not just because I needed to read it and be reminded of what he says, but because I really needed it at this particular time.

Last night I wondered if we shouldn’t just look the other way, let ignorance be bliss, and hope that the good guys won. Tonight I have been reminded that it doesn’t work like that.

I also absolutely loved Tomorrowland. Its deeper message wasn’t lost on me and while it was fun on a surface level, there were plenty of parts that I found to be quite moving and powerful. Mr. Wright absolutely nailed the reason why it hit me that way.

Of all of the great lines in the Stonekettle Station piece, the one that hit me the most in re-reading it was, “…it is our duty as citizens to be optimists.” I hadn’t looked at it that way, but he’s absolutely right. That’s my big takeaway.

So go buy a Tesla and get tickets to Mars. If you can’t do that, get solar panels or a windmill. If you can’t do that, at least go buy a DVD of Tomorrowland and watch it, both for fun and maybe for a little bit of badly needed inspiration. Whatever you do, go vote, and demand leaders who are optimists and actual leaders, not hucksters who are using fear and hatred to find a lowest common denominator.

Most of all, don’t ever forget that the real Tomorrowland is actually out there waiting for us to build it. Do your best to be a good citizen, do your duty, and be optimistic. I’ll do my damnedest to do the same.

The old line says, “The meek will inherit the Earth – the rest of us will go to the stars!” Maybe it won’t be meekness that keeps them here, but fear, anger, hatred, and ignorance. Whatever it is, we can’t leave them behind if we don’t go.

I’ll meet you in Low Earth Orbit. Or at Clavius. Or the Valles Marineris overlook resort.

 

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Filed under Death Of Common Sense, Moral Outrage, Politics

March 1, 2016 · 22:06

Not A Coincidence

On my little commute to work I have something like eight gas stations that I pass most mornings. (There are a number of primary variations on the route since this part of the world is flat and has lots of very orderly north-south and east-west streets, so I don’t necessarily pass every one of them every day.) There are two Chevrons, a Mobil, two Union 76, a Shell, an Arco, and two “independents.” Last week I made an interesting, if hardly original, observation about their pricing policies and timing.

Last Wednesday night, I noticed another significant drop in the posted gas prices. Unleaded regular, self serve, debit-cash-company card (heretofore known as “gas”) was down to $2.13/gallon, the lowest I’ve seen it here in SoCal since March, 2009. Mind you, that’s still almost a dollar a gallon higher than the rest of the country, but that’s a different rant. I saw that exact same price on every single one of those gas stations, except for the Arco which is still doing their cash-only experiment and typically is fifteen to twenty cents cents cheaper than everyone else. They were at $1.99/gallon.

Thursday morning it was $2.39/gallon. Not at one station mind you, but at every single one of them, except for the Arco – which was back up to $2.19/gallon or something. (I tend to ignore Arco since I tend to be as cashless as possible, so I’ll ignore them from here on out.)

Thursday afternoon it was $2.49/gallon. Not at just one or two…

Friday morning it was $2.59/gallon. Not at just the Mobil or just the Chevrons…

Saturday morning it was $2.69/gallon. Every. Single. Station.

If I didn’t know better I might just think that pattern is not the result of pure market conditions, the proverbial “invisible hand” that Mr. Smith postulated. I just might be tempted to think that maybe all of those humongous, multi-national, mega-billion dollar companies were working together to screw us over.

Good thing that we’ve got the balancing force of our government to regulate those semi-monopolies and protect us little folks from being taken to the cleaners with no recourse or other options! Good thing that the good and altruistic members of our state and federal government, executive, legislative, and judicial branches included, all are working hard at keeping a tight rein on any possibility of any corporate shenanigans!

Wait… What?

I am soooooo disillusioned! If I’m not careful, I could become cynical.

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Filed under Freakin' Idiots!, Los Angeles, Politics

February 11, 2016 · 22:59

By Their Bumper Stickers Shall You Know Them

I don’t think it’s ever a good thing to judge total strangers based on a first impression or some potentially superficial facet of their persona. But I’ll make an exception for bumper stickers. If you’re passionate enough about something to start advertising it as you drive around, you’re fair game for a snap judgement based on the advertising you choose for your vehicle.

Two cases in point from LA’s streets:

First, I’m one of those guys who, either for altruistic reasons or for neurotic reasons (or both), will flash my headlights at someone who’s driving at night with their headlights out. About 98% of the time it’s totally ignored – someone who’s clueless enough to be driving without headlights is also so brain dead or distracted behind the wheel that they simply don’t notice anyone flashing their lights. About 1% of the time it actually works – they get the signal, recognize it, go “Oh, shit, that’s me,” and turn on their lights.

The other 1% I ran into on my way home tonight. His custom plates were something like “GOD♡4EVR” and there were at least a half dozen bumper stickers on the back gate of the minivan asking if I had been saved, warning me that in case of the Rapture the car would be empty, and so on.

Coming up behind them I could see that the tail lights were dark, and as soon as we got to a darker stretch of the road it was obvious his headlights were off as well. The brake lights were working fine, so the problem was obvious. I flashed my lights, once, twice – nothing. We were coming up on a light that had just turned red, there was no one else around us, so I switched lanes and pulled up beside the guy. I rolled down my passenger window and honked, trying to get him to look over so I could tell him what’s wrong.

Nothing. I honked again. Still nothing. I tapped the horn a third time and let my car drift forward a few inches so that I could see the driver better. Isn’t the normal reaction to at least glance over and see who’s honking and why?

The look on this guy’s face said it all. It was a middle aged white guy, balding, collared dress shirt with no tie but buttoned all the way to the top. He was staring straight ahead and scared shitless. There was no way on Earth he was going to glance over and make eye contact.

MY GOD SOME LUNATIC ON THE ROAD HAS BEEN FLASHING HIS LIGHTS AT ME AND NOW HE’S HONKING AT ME IT’S PROBABLY ONE OF THOSE GANG INITIATION THINGS THAT I HEARD ABOUT ON HANNITY OR THE 700 CLUB AND IF I LOOK OVER THERE IT WILL BE A LOW-RIDER FULL OF GANG MEMBERS JUST WAITING TO BLOW ME AWAY SO WHATEVER YOU DO DON’T LOOK! DON’T LOOK! DON’T LOOK! DON’T LOOK!

I left him alone and gave him plenty of space, not honking or flashing any more. About a block later he turned off into a subdivision which, coincidentally, had a serious lack of street lighting. It was almost comical as I went by to see how he suddenly slammed on his brakes in the middle of the road and finally turned on his lights.

Do I think he suddenly said, “Ah ha! That’s what that guy was trying to tell me!” Or do I think he’s at home on some whackjob website perpetuating that stupid urban myth?

Second guy, while I was taking a quick walk around the block at lunch yesterday. A guy is trying to parallel park. He’s got a Prius. He’s trying to parallel park into a spot big enough to easily fit an Escalade. The key work is “trying.” Once, fails. Pulls out and tries again. Fails. Pulls out and backs up to try to pull forward-ish into the spot. Fails. Pulls back out and tries the parallel parking again. Fails and almost hits the car that’s already parked there.

I was going to stop and give him some hand signals or help (remember, altruistic and/or psychotic) when I saw the not one, not two, but three “Ted Cruz” bumper stickers.

For all I know he’s still trying to park that sucker.

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Filed under Freakin' Idiots!, Los Angeles, Politics, Religion

January 29, 2016 · 22:17

WWALD?

I ran across this picture from my trip to DC last May.

IMG_008179_2015-05-11-iPhone6 small

Many diverse thoughts coalesced (coagulated?) and I had the most pleasant fantasy flash through my head.

By whatever means, summon Abraham Lincoln back from his grave to today’s world. Abraham Lincoln, tall, strong, rail-splitter, a hero in his prime. The first President from the Republican Party.

Fill him in on the current Presidential election. Let him watch the debates and the speeches. Let him research the positions of the candidates.

Then let him go visit the Republican National Committee.

They’ll be thrilled beyond belief, squeeeeing themselves apoplectic with his presence. At the next Republican presidential debate, parade him up on stage as proof that God has anointed them as the Chosen leaders of our great country.

Of course, you can’t have the reanimated and revitalized Abraham Lincoln on stage in front of CNN or ABC or Fox in a modern suit – it would ruin the impact. He would be dressed as we see him in Matthew Brady’s photographs, as he’s portrayed above.

And just for an added touch, because he asked nicely, let him carry his axe. It’s iconic.

Squeeee!

Lincoln, the current campaign, the candidates, his axe, all on stage together. Just imagine it!

And you thought “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” was a stupid, flop of a movie. Nope.

IT WAS PROPHECY!!

What Would Abraham Lincoln Do?

A guy can dream.

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Filed under Farce, Photography, Politics, Travel

December 15, 2015 · 23:18

Tuesday Night At The Movies

I’m staying off of social media as much as possible for the next week or so. It’s not so much because I don’t want to hear any “Star Wars” spoilers (although that’s a point), but also because I absolutely can’t stand hearing about the Republican Presidential candidates and their latest debate.

This is relevant because tonight The Long-Suffering Wife and I went out to see a movie AT NIGHT and IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WEEK for the first time since we were dating, fifteen years ago. I’m not sure it’s an absolute “benefit” of having a house empty of small critters, but it most certainly is a difference.

We saw “Trumbo,” which was excellent – but disturbing. Seeing how people were persecuted and hounded by hateful, simple minded, fear-mongering, power-abusing, right wing demagogues who were only concerned with power and seeing who could shred the Constitution faster than the next guy, all because those evil bastards in Congress could get away with it and their targets dared to think differently than they did – it was a bit sickening.

The as the credits rolled I remembered that we were missing the Republican debate tonight…

As they say, sometimes the punch lines just write themselves.

Go see “Trumbo.” I would suggest taking a Republican Presidential candidate along with you, but why waste $12? I guarantee there’s not a single one of them who would understand it. After all, there’s so much confusion concerning who the bad guys are and who are the good guys.

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Filed under Entertainment, Politics

December 7, 2015 · 22:40

Roller Coaster

(It’s another disjointed ramble, I fear, but I’ll try to keep it short.)

I like roller coasters, always have. My kids all learned to love them. Then there are the roller coasters off of the rails without all of the OSHA-mandated safety backups five deep, like going and flying aerobatics in a T-6 or catching a ride in a P-51.

And the Space Shuttle or Soyuz or Dragon or anything else that’s in the pipeline? Bring it on. You need to “man-rate” the SpaceX Dragon. Just put in a sleeping bag and some snacks and I’ll man-rate that sucker for you on the next launch. (Rhetoric, I know, since the odds of being allowed to do that are just about the same as having the USS Enterprise land in my back yard with Kirk, Spock, and friends. But I really would do it. In a heartbeat.)

It’s the mental roller coaster that’s beating me up tonight. Adrenaline’s a wonderful thing (ask for it by name!) and it’s gotten me through the last month, but it might be wearing thin at the moment. Or maybe there’s just too much news about a certain bigoted, ignorant, hate-mongering piece of shit who is running for President. It could go either way.

Getting the job was fantastic! Having my mother pass away, while not unexpected or even a bad thing given her condition, was a blow.

High! Low!

The job’s going great, I loved it my first week! Our poor dog is literally on her last legs, starting to lose her last semblance of mobility, in more and more obvious pain.

High! Low!

Orbital launched a Cygnus cargo vehicle to ISS yesterday on an Atlas V, and SpaceX is hoping to launch their return-to-flight Falcon 9 by the end of the year. Just about anything related to American politics.

High! Low!

I feel like a piece of taffy being stretched just a bit too thin.

Then comes the healing power of music. Just when you need it most, you get “88 Lines About 44 Women” popping up (the unedited version to boot!).

Go ahead. Turn it up, way, Way, WAY up! Sing along.

I don’t know if we’re headed up or headed down on the roller coaster, but as long as we’re singing, I guess it’s better than not being on the ride at all.

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Filed under Dogs, Music, Politics, Space

November 17, 2015 · 22:07

Too Much World News

I’ve always been one who wanted to keep abreast of the news, even when that meant the evening news with Huntley and Brinkley and the Chicago Tribune. Or the Springfield Times-Reporter and John Chancellor. That interest in current events and world news became an obsession when I was a midshipman at Annapolis.

One of the “learning exercises” that is used to train plebes is to have them memorize massive amounts of information, then regurgitate it on command of any upperclassman or officer. This is, of course, impossible by definition. It teaches many things, among them how to think under pressure, how to keep track of large amounts of data and multitask, how to fail and still keep going, how to prioritize your time, and so on.

One of the particular techniques used for this is the delivery of a morning newspaper every day, usually before dawn. If everyone else is up at 0600, plebes need to be up at 0500, scanning the paper for details and news that might be of particular interest to the upperclassmen in their company. These are the ones most likely to be grilling you at breakfast. You learn quickly that this one’s favorite baseball team is the Yankees, his favorite player is Lou Piniella, so you need to know the score of last night’s game, what Piniella did, where the Yankees are in the standings, who the winning and losing pitchers are, where they’re playing tonight, who tonight’s starting pitchers are… Tomorrow you get to learn that all over. And the next day.

Multiply that by twenty or thirty or more. This one hates baseball but loves NASCAR. This one is keeping track of the development of the F-14 Tomcat fighter. This one wants to know anything significant about Detroit, his home town. That one follows politics and economics and wants to know what the Dow Jones is doing. And so on, and on, and on.

One of the side effects of surviving this (sort of) is that you either never want to see a newspaper or news report again, or you become neurotically obsessed with the news. Since most of the young men and women there are extremely bright, well educated, in touch with the world, and being trained for leadership roles, it’s almost always the latter.

Flash forward forty years, where 1974’s stream of information has become more like Niagara Falls. The internet, social media, FaceBook, Twitter, hundreds of channels of cable television, multiple 24/7 news channels…

As you might imagine, this is like giving a heroin addict a lifetime supply and an IV the size of a garden hose.

This is not to say that I spend all of my waking hours trying to “drink from the fire hose” of information. I manage to stay quite functional, thank you very much. But I do have a much higher than average interest in the news and keeping track of almost anything that I find interesting, be it local, state wide, national, or international. In my case, this also extends to interplanetary, interstellar, and intergalactic, as you may have noticed from some of the previous 1,000+ posts.

One of the serious down sides of this that I’m seeing is the almost overwhelming depressing tone of so much of recent news. Whether the terrorist attacks in Beirut, Paris, and Egypt, or just about anything coming out of any of the US Presidential candidates, it’s difficult to stay optimistic and upbeat some days. Yet, there’s that phobia, that fear (thanks, Annapolis!) that something important might get missed or overlooked if I turn away.

I find more and more that I find myself reaching my limit and turning away. I don’t know if it’s me getting older, or weaker, or if the news itself has just gotten to be more horrible. Actually, I think it’s just an effect of the sheer volume of information and news available today, not necessarily the nature of it. If the internet and social media had been around in all of their glory during the American Civil War, World War II, or even Vietnam, I’m sure we would be seeing horrors that would match anything that Daesch is doing or Trump is spewing out of his ignorant face. (Sorry, did that come out loud?)

So now that we can see cell phone videos from inside the theater where more than 100 people died on Saturday – I don’t need to. Now that we can see videos of Jihad John decapitating innocent hostages – I don’t need to. Now that the Republican presidential candidates seem to be trying to constantly one-up each other to see who can be the most ignorant, reactionary, clueless, and tasteless – I don’t need to watch.

Many people are responding to the deluge of hate, anger, and terror by posting pictures of kittens or puppies. Or penguins. That may be a better option for me right now. I’ve got stories to write, another major adjustment in my life to make, and enough stress in my every day life to keep me on my toes. I don’t have to pile the troubles of the entire world on top of that.

I no longer care what Bob Guida’s favorite football team did today or what happened in Detroit. Google it yourself.

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Filed under Freakin' Idiots!, Not My Float, Politics, Religion