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A
Silly Gamble 
(02/28/05)
Gambling is one of those self-inflicted
scourges, like smoking, alcoholism and voting for George Bush, and
usually afflicts the poor and ignorant the hardest. Still, we allow
companies to grow tobacco and to advertise beer on television, and these
plagues actually kill a half-million Americans a year.
Retail-dom
Redux
(02/25/05)
The two we’d picked out at the store
would have cost $108 with tax. The same bottles were delivered to my
door for a total of $42. Of course, you can’t test after shave on-line
yet, though computer-scents are probably not far down the road, but my
goodness that’s a big savings.
Raped
(02/24/05)
He was released from prison after a
group of San Francisco law students with the Innocence Project presented
irrefutable DNA evidence to a judge who ruled that the man was not the
rapist. The rape victim also recanted her identification of the man as
her assailant.
The
Un U.N.
(02/23/05)
Maybe U.N. doesn’t stand for United
Nations. Maybe it just means "un" as in, not. After decades of
supporting the once-venerable institution, I fear my endorsement must be
withdrawn.
Justice
Belied
(02/22/05)
If you think justice is written in
stone, think again.
For instance, you
may have heard about the MP who got into trouble for flashing her
breasts during a mud-wrestling party an Army camp in Iraq. The party was
to celebrate one troop replacing another on the front lines of the war.
Borgata
Babes
(02/21/05)
The Borgata casino has succeeded by
dressing their employees to advantage and promoting their Borgata Babes;
they insist that their new policy is perfectly legal. But public
opprobrium aside, why shouldn’t they be allowed to hire sexy looking
people to attract business?
Socks
It to Me
(02/18/05)
Of course, that might be a very broad
brush, since it is one store in one chain in one shopping center on one
evening. On the other hand, this is an upscale mall, with a Nordstrom’s
at the other end, which suggests that traditional retail may be in for
some turmoil.
Extraneousness
(02/17/05)
Who knows where ideas come from?
Sometimes the strangest thoughts fill our heads. Unless you’re brain
dead. Just think about some of the contents of the dreams that you
remember. People and places and things mingle in ways that just don’t
make sense. Unless maybe you’re a Jungian on heavy meds.
Black
and White and Red
(02/16/05)
It may be that we will always be
reading news items of police killing black teens, but each time there is
a fresh edge on the story, one that cuts different ways. The latest was
of a 13-year-old boy in Los Angeles. He was shot to death after he
rammed a police cruiser with a stolen car at four in the morning after a
high-speed chase.
Korean
Blackmail
(02/15/05)
One supposes that if the populace were
unoppressed they would recover in a couple of generations, but the
problem is how someone might let their people go. At the moment, a
pint-size psychotic is dictating life to the country, and seems content
with the direction -- downward -- in which he is bringing them.
Miscellaneous
(02/14/05)
A new study says some of them at least
now believe that people can suffer broken hearts due to tragic or
shocking events. Well, duh, and doncha gotta wonder whether or not their
white coats shouldn’t buckle in the back. But Happy Valentine’s Day
anyway, to you and yours.
Hoots
in Charge
(02/11/05)
When The New York Times business
report came on WQXR, it was noted that the market liked the move a lot;
there was a six percent hike in H-P’s stock. Asked the reader,
"How’d you like to leave a company and have the stock go
up?" Then he laughed. Too bad Congress won’t impeach The Bush Boy
for similar mismanagement.
Morality
Play
(02/10/05)
Their criminality, abetted by
Annan’s stingy sense of discipline, is what gives the American right
all the ammunition it needs to discredit the world body, which gives the
UN none of the standing it needs to be used to replace the U.S. as the
world’s policeman and to put an end to the insanity of war on our dear
blue planet.
Gum
Gummint
(02/09/05)
Yes, there are some brilliant
and wonderful people in government, but they are few and far between.
The best and the brightest usually dissipate their whirlwind appetite
for progressive change when confronted by the intransigent idiots who
dominate and stagnate the bureaucracy.
Hail,
Mary
(02/08/05)
The actual sporting contest was
almost eclipsed by all the hoohah regarding the half-time show. Shelved
long ago were plans for showing Janet Jackson’s other breast, and for
most of the past year there has been an incessant palaver about how to
vanilla-ize the 2005 game.
Who's
to Say?
(02/07/05)
Then there was the recent survey of
high school students who think expressing one’s own personal opinion
is not necessarily a reasonable exercise. Nor do they think that
newspapers -- as if they actually read them -- should be able to say
what they want if the government doesn’t like what they would say.
Dangerous
Morality
(02/04/05)
We scandalize the Christ Consciousness
before an anxious world and make them wrong for calling us on it. We
give credence to public deceivers, backing platitudinous piety at the
expense of our integrity. We let others do our thinking for us, and turn
deaf to objections.
Strange
Indeed
(02/03/05)
Said the new goat-owner, "I called
animal control. They told me to call the sheriff. The sheriff said call
animal control. Then they gave me an emergency number for loose
livestock." Nobody answered.
Crippled
Asses
(02/02/05)
It says something about our political
process when long-lamed liberal Ted Kennedy is one of the more cogent
voice among Democrats. He’s bright and articulate and right on some of
the more critical issues of our time, like health care, education and
Iraq, but he’s hardly a viable standard bearer.
Courting
Insanity
(02/01/05)
I wish our court system worked better.
It seems more like an entertainment forum, for legal gladiators and
high-profile clients. Scott Peterson, Robert Blake and now Whacko Jacko.
Grate
Expectations
(01/31/05)
Give her credit, she did acknowledge
that there would be difficult days ahead. That was so Americans didn’t
have any untoward expectations about our 150,000 soldiers coming home
any time soon from a country that despite the turn-out is still at war.
Kid-Cuffin'
(01/28/05)
Society has a right to be protected
from dangerous individuals, of whatever age. If the parents don’t
supervise their children, then the next, and often last, line of our
defense are the schools. After all, we’re talking about people who
lack mature consciousness and can’t be left to their own devices.
Bits
& Pieces
(01/27/05)
If you’ve been worried about the
destructive power of The Bush Boy naming people to the Supreme Court,
you can get a jump on terror with the current black-robed nine. They
just voted that the police can use drug-sniffing dogs on your basic
traffic stop.
No
Lead in the Pencil
(01/26/05)
The piper is going to have to be paid.
And hopefully in time for an awakening before the 2006 elections. Maybe
even dramatically enough to shift at least one chamber of that
Twain-marked house of inherent criminals on the hill.
Breaking
Dawn
(01/25/05)
I sit in a large soft chair in the
living room, looking out into the densening fog; McDuff, a West Highland
Terrier, in my lap and Lola, a long-haired chihuahua, sitting on my
shoulder. If I wouldn’t disturbed them, it would be a perfect time to
put pen to paper but we three are all so comfortable.
Democracy
by the Dozens
(01/24/05)
The problem was that Bush
sounded like he was ready to launch a religio-political crusade against
any and all who disagreed with him and/or who had oil or something else
we want. Ironic, isn’t it, that he terrorized the planet through his
dozens of references to democracy and freedom?
It
Ain't Ham
(01/21/05)
For the longest time I was basically
free of spam. Then I followed an e-offer I mistook for legitimate. Then
I got an email from my bank that wasn’t from my bank. Now half my
email is spam.
Lying
in State
(01/20/05)
She will be our international coquette,
less obstreperous than the current whore. Adhering Nazi-like to the
policies dictated by Premier Cheney, she will besmirch America’s
legacy and our future before the world. We can only hope that some day
history will tell the truth.
Jetting
It Wrong
(01/19/05)
Airbus unveiled it’s latest passenger
jet yesterday, the double-decker A380. The stats on it are kinda
staggering. For instance, its wings are almost as wide as a football
field is long and it’s tail reaches as a high as a seven-story
building. It can carry 555 passengers further on less fuel with less
environmental damage than the current widebodies.
Choice
and Truth
(01/18/05)
He wasn’t relegating women to
second-class citizenship; he was saying that gender-wise predilections
should be studied. To say that there aren’t innate differences between
the sexes is absurd. To say that we shouldn’t learn more about the
differences is heresy.
Tess
(01/17/05)
I met a snake last week. No, not a
red-state Bushie but an actual serpent. A six-year old python named Tess.
She’s a cutie, about four pounds, what with a coupla mice working
their way, albeit involuntarily, through her four-foot length.
Miscellany
(01/14/05)
Another study reports that medical
interns who work 24 or more straight hours tend to drive dangerously.
Yes...and? The question is why people actually get paid to conduct
research. Isn’t it obvious to any idiot that when you work long hours
you tend to be drowsy, whether you’re a doctor or dockworker?
Don't
Bug Me
(01/13/05)
People need privacy so they can have
some peace and quiet so they can reflect. If they didn’t reflect,
there’d be little to set them apart from the beasts in the field.
People also have a right of privacy as citizens, that is, to be
protected from unwarranted intrusions into their personal lives.
Bits
& Pieces
(01/12/05)
Television viewers shouldn’t need to
be warned that watching might atrophy the brain. Probably too late for
most. Like the guy who is suing NBC over "Fear Factor" for
showing people eating rats that had been bite-sized in a blender.
Mud
in Their Eye
(01/11/05)
The once-mighty CBS News has been
failing for more than two decades, delivering pap instead of journalism.
If they’d been doing serious news during that time, they wouldn’t
have stumbled over a real story.
What's
News?
(01/10/05)
Edward R. Murrow said news is that
which interests and affects the largest number of people. News is
the reporting of history being made as it happens. News is the
examination of facts surrounding the critical issues facing the
community. The news is a collection of stories that provides a snapshot
on the state of civilization.
Pandora's
Voice Box
(01/07/05)
However, and it’s a big but, the
thought of being trapped next to some twit carrying on serial mindless
chats from coast to coast is stultifying. Like, um, you know, no
way...it’s bad enough to hear these people on the ground.
Numbers
of Note
(01/06/05)
In the midst of the grief, let us humbly
observe this Malthusian fact: our Earth is grossly over-populated, with
probably five billion more denizens than is ecologically viable, and on
average 170,000 die every day. Finally, in truly human terms, this
question: why does it take a natural disaster to organize the world to
do good?
Trash
Floats
(01/05/05)
Apparently a massive media campaign is
planned to sell the snake oil. But two-thirds of us don’t think it’s
a good idea, nor do the true conservatives in Congress. It’s going to
be a tough sell but hey, they sold a war on a stack of lies.
Indifference
(01/04/05)
Said Yashinsky, "Fear not your
enemies for they can only kill you; fear not your friends for they can
only betray you. Fear only the indifferent who permit killers and
betrayers to walk safely on the Earth."
123104
(01/03/05)
Writing the 366th day of
2004 into history, preparing a delicious dinner for one, sipping a glass
of champagne. I waited until noon, and with no plans to leave, started a
bottle of Piper Sonoma. It won’t make it to midnight, but neither will
I.
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