Tuesday, July 27, 2010

"Life isn't fair" to poor BP CEO

His cluelessness blogges the mind.

BP replaces CEO Hayward reports 17 billion loss - Road Runner

Damn Elderly Freeloaders

Because Jill always says it so well:
Okay! So, a person who retires today probably entered the workforce in the mid to late 1960s. They acted in their self-interest, let's say, and this led to some "superior outcomes for the whole." It was so "me-first" of those people to not consider the possibility that decades after they started contributing to the nation's wealth, that another generation of idiots would come around and destroy it, leaving us with no other choice than to push those aging former societal contributors out onto ice floes to die! What jerks! Where was their foresight? Why weren't they smart enough to get way into toxic mortgage-backed securities? They could be the ones holding America hostage today!"
http://brilliantatbreakfast.blogspot.com/2010/07/dispatch-from-topsy-turvy-universe.html

Monday, July 26, 2010

UnF--kTheGulf: F-Bomb-a-Thon Video

CSI: Prairie Town

CRIME BEAT: Woman takes break; loses car, friend: "A Pueblo woman left her friend in her car while she took a bathroom break at an East Side convenience store early Tuesday morning and when she returned, the car and the friend were gone.
Tracey Roe said she had parked her 1993 Mitsubishi Expo at the gasoline pumps at the 7-Eleven, 804 E. Fourth St., at about 4 a.m. Tuesday and went inside to use the restroom, according to a report by Cpl. Gil Ladrini.
Roe said when she returned outside, the car was missing. She estimated her loss at $4,500."

One wonders - is the friend missing, too? Is this a hijacking with a kidnapping? Is anyone looking for the friend? If the friend took the car, did they just borrow it for a few hours? Maybe they left to grab some chirizo and egg breakfast burritos with green chili (because at 4 A.M., that stuff is delicious) and would be right back. If your friend steals your car, you need to end that friendship with a sternly worded Tweet. Does the estimated loss include a monetary value of loss of friendship?
Who ended up with the second burrito? These Chieftain reporters should really ask a few more questions.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Prairie Sunday and the nature of Evil. With Cats.

I missed posting for Caturday as we were in Denver for a brief visit and not only was I struck by the green-ness and abundance of beautiful landscaping and flowers, I actually enjoyed the heavy traffic and congested I-25. I miss light rail. I miss HOV lanes. (More...)
      I  was also struck by nine mosquito bites, so on Sunday morning I am icing and salting said bites (works about half the time), sweeping up tiny litter fragments that seem to be everywhere and anywhere the cats found an interesting place or new surface upon which to catch those 18 hours of napping. In between these two activities I ponder the two posts below, and consider what we consider evil.
     Growing up fundamentalist, we pretty much understood that sinning was most likely sexual in nature. Anger was bad, also, unless it was 'righteous' anger. Drinking, smoking, cussing and playing cards - also sin. Hard work, personal responsibility, patriotism, capitalism, faithful membership in a Bible-believing church, witnessing, voting Republican - all good. Jesus loves America better than any other country, so if we can just get back to prayer in schools, the Ten Commandments posted in every public building, oust those liberal activist judges and Godless politicians He will bless our nation once again.
     So we vote for any 'family values' politician that claims to be one (in word of not deed) and they sell the government to the highest bidder. We vote for people who want to keep the Bush Tax Cuts so that the top 2% wealthiest people in the U.S. don't have to pay any tax, shifting the burden to the lower and middle class. We're OK with forcing people into bankruptcy because someone in their family got sick and the price of what insurance wouldn't cover was astronomical. Because a public option would be socialism and your pastor told you Jesus loves a free market. No child in this country goes hungry because they could eat off the dollar menu at Taco Bell if they wanted to. Because an oil spill is a act of God and not the result of ignoring precautions because we value profits over people.  
     It's popular to hate the government; remember WE are the government. Before you yell that Jesus hates socialism, note that we pool our taxes to pay for the community good: roads, highways, parks, recreation, a police force and fire fighters. What if we also pooled our taxes to ensure everyone had health care coverage; higher education was free. Productive citizens who can innovate, invent and become that 'shining city on the hill' again.
     Explain to me how that is un-Christ-like. But be careful thinking. It could lead to dancing.


Yep, getting hotter..

http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/the-u.s.-middle-class-is-being-wiped-out-heres-the-stats-to-prove-it-520657.html?tickers=^DJI,^GSPC,SPY,MCD,WMT,XRT,DIA

Is it getting hotter in this pot, or is it just me?

Brilliant at Breakfast:
 "Conservative so-called 'values' are working exactly as planned: If you choke off education to all but the very wealthy, you create a population that is unable to think critically and has no skills. This makes for people who will accept utter horseshit as just an alternative point of view to factual information, who will believe that despite the preponderance of white males at the head tables of the corporations that actually run things in this country, that whites are being besieged by minorities, who can't handle science that flies in the face of the idea that a man in the sky created earth in six days just as it exists today, and most importantly, who are willing cannon fodder. An uneducated population can't handle information society jobs, which allows those heading the corporations to send them all overseas, to countries where education IS still a priority."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/23/education/23college.html?hp


Monday, July 19, 2010

Me, post-op

For those of you who mentioned it, yes that photo is me, post-op from the Bahamas.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Iz Caturday!

What I know for sure:

Afternoon naps are a must.
Afternoon naps with cats, even better.
Every household should own a Roomba.
If I had unlimited resources I would have a driver on staff. Even for 7-11 trips.
If I had a driver on staff I've have him drive to the 7-11 in Las Vegas.
The word 'awesome' has had its day.
The word 'sucks' is still o.k.
I want to own a set of 1000-count sheets.
Fresh brewed coffee is one of God's finest inventions.
If I had thousands of dollars I would get my nose fixed.
If I had thousands of dollars, I would get my nose fixed in the Bahamas.
Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia is their best flavor.
Dick Cheney is still a dick.
If you have skin that tans, nails that grow and a naturally beautiful smile you are way ahead of the game. You might even have a driver already.

Thanks, John Shore

Wow - my 5:30 A.M. ramblings on one of my new favorite blogs, http://johnshore.com/2010/07/17/those-ignorant-laughable-fundamentalists-right/ posted my comment and I feel like I won an Oscar.

Let me clarify: I did not intend to be snarky towards fundamentalists. Heck, I am one. I am snarky towards legalism, the spirit of religiosity and Christian-ism. The good news is that the Lord brought me out of that. And that's another post...

Friday, July 16, 2010

Prairie Party Life in July

Ah, the prairie. Hot. Dry. Tumbleweeds to a minimum, replaced by tiny, baby tumbleweeds. Firecrackers still popping off. When they cease exploding at night, you'll know Fall has arrived.

Slow walkers, slow jaywalkers and people in even slower walkers. Slow cars, most clunkers that were the only family car before the recession. Front and side yards full of more clunkers, a sign of wealth or luck or thriftiness in Bessemer. Considered part of the yard art in most neighborhoods.

The family restaurant in walking distance is trying hard to become the bar the neighborhood citizens demand. Crushed ice only, six or seven small bottles of hard liquor, four wine glasses. Actually, three of them broke and so we stopped at Wal-Mart and bought another six. They've been out of orange juice for a week. They are planning to expand the building, purchase an ice machine that produces cubes and pick up another dozen tumblers.





A corner business at "D" Street and Victoria has tried to be a chicken place and then a brat works stop. Each lasted about two months. I looked into the chicken place one afternoon - it had a clever logo and may have been pretty tasty - and the woman (owner?) was at the counter, tapping her pen and staring across the empty room. It could be my imagination, but she looked dejected. I vowed to stop by there soon. I forgot. When I remembered, the eatery was gone.

I stop by the Colorado Workforce office, not to find a job but for other business. I take a number and sit at one of the small tables, with others looking for work on the office computers and placing phone calls on the office phone. Looking for jobs, asking for rides, counselors helping them apply for jobs that, as far as I can overhear, they have no hope of attaining. I am the only one with a 3-G phone and carrying a Kindle. I feel self-conscience and zip it shut before they call my number.

A recent trip to Denver reminds me we have no Costco, Maggiano's, Old Chicago, suburbs, decent zoo, suburbs, subdivisions, light rail, great bus system, Cherry Creek Mall or a Whole Foods. I imagine I sound like a snob. I have to admit the residents here don't seem to need them.

As I peer above the enclosed patio of our condo, I can see the top of a tree in the light post where 'our' dove (Eurasion Collared Dove, I think) used to perch every morning this spring:


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