Some adult language...

Um, yeah. Last week was eventful, and provided a LOT of reasons for a complete change of government in the US. At the presidential level, there's not going to be any change for two-and-a-half years. Not much to be done there but grit our teeth and bear it. At the congressional level, in about five weeks it is time to "throw the bums out".

I've attached a cartoon on the subject from Erin Lindsay's comic strip, "Venus Envy". She says it one hell of a lot better than I ever could.

What the hell happened to the country I grew up in? How has the public managed to let themselves be stampeded into giving up over two centuries of hard-won freedoms in just a few short years?

An act of provocation that succeeded beyond its wildest aspirations, a lot of big lies and a slew of smaller ones, and people hand over the keys to their lives. IF (and its a huge IF) the terrorist threat is ever totally eliminated, do you really think this government will return the power they've taken? Return to us the liberties we've docilely handed over to our masters?

WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK THE AL QAIDA BOMBERS WERE TRYING TO ACCOMPLISH? You think it was about killing a few thousand New Yorkers? Destroying some expensive real estate?

Bullshit. The goal -- the ultimate goal of ALL terrorism -- was to create a political change. They wanted to change us into something that would help them in their battle against western civilization.

Ya think they succeeded?

Have they changed us? Changed our government, our society into something that wont -- can't -- effectively oppose them?

How do you fight fascists? By becoming fascist? I don't think so. The changes we've made in our government -- in our society -- by surrendering our liberty don't do a blessed thing to make us safer.

It's claims to the contrary, the government hasn't stopped or prevented a single terrorist attack in the US. The power the bastards in Washington have grabbed isn't about making us safer. It was never about making us safer. The purpose of unfettered power isn't safety. The purpose of unfettered power IS power.

Back in the saddle again...

I'm posting again. Can you tell its election season?

Actually, I've been planning to resume for a while, but between one thing and another, well, you get the idea. *sighs* On the good side, I'm feeling much better now. Seriously.

No, really.

Okay, I spent about a week in the hospital last month. Congestive heart failure. Not fun, especially when they were trying to purge the excess fluid from my system and overdid it a bit, and my blood pressure kept crashing. Not a bit fun.

Ah well, I'm back now, and mad as hell. More follows...

A cry for help...

Gosh, I can't think of what to say.

Literally.

I've had weeks when I felt better, but then, that's not altogether unprecedented. Day after tomorrow (Monday) I've got more heart surgery, but again that's hardly novel either (note the use of the term "more" surgery). Even ranting about Little George doesn't excite me much right now.

*Sighs.*

Oh, and I don't "do" April Fools Day. It's always struck me as an excuse for wanton cruelty. Yes, some things are at least relatively harmless ("Do you have Prince Albert in a can?), but most are designed to find humor in building up a persons expectations and then dashing them. Oh joy. What fun.

BTW, the image is copyright and TM Studio Ghibli, from the excellent film "My Neighbor Totoro". It's now out on DVD -- Buy it. It's well worth it.

I guess I could ask for a bit of help. There's a piece of music I've been looking to identify for years. I don't have a clip of it to post here. If I did, I guess I'd know what it is and not have to ask. It's used (or was when last I visited) in the film in the French pavillion at Epcot. It's used in the film "Beauty and the Beast" in the opening under the narration. And in the Woody Allen / Peter Sellers version of Casino Royale, it's played onscreen by David Niven (at the piano). I've long suspected it's by DeBussy, and it's identified as such in Casino Royale. I've looked and listened for years, and never been able to identify it. Sad, really, since it's obviously something famous, and my cultural education seems to be lacking. Anyone able to help?

Piper's been hard at work on the new server. We fimnally (!!!) recieved the final missing parts yesterday, and today she got the furschlugginer thing built. Next we (read: Piper) get to install the OS, software, and test the heck out of it. Then we migrate the Site and bring it up. I figger at the current rate we'll have everything in place by roughly, oh, 2055.

While I'm writing this, we've been watching SVU on the DVR. Would that sentence make a lick of sense to anyone from, say, 1995? Even 2000? For that matter, try explaining "blog" to someone from "2000". I'd be happy to try -- anyone got a spare time machine available?

What the heck did we all do before we had computers at home? (This question doesn't apply to anyone born after, oh, 1975.) How'd we fill the time? I was never a particularly heavy TV viewer, but I did one heck of a lot of reading. Books. On paper. I still read things on paper. The New York Daily News. Magazines. A few books that aren't available in any other form. The rest is either on the computer or, more likely, on my PDA. It's just so convienent carrying a whole stack of books in something the size of a slim paperback.

Power grab...

I grew up in the era of LBJ and Tricky Dick. If either one of them had tried to arrogate this much power, well, there'd be holy hell to pay. I hope there will be now. I don't care if it's Little George or President Hillary or anyone in between, NO president should have that much power. They talk about the "slippery slope? I fear we're well down it and teetering at the falling-off point.

Click This!

Just a few things I've run across that you might find of interest...

If you like all things Disney but are a bit lost with all the changes they're going through, these links might give you a bit of perspective.

It's not that I've lost my interest in politics. Here's one site I check out every day. WARNING: It's a liberal Democratic site, so persons who aren't might risk seeing something that doesn't conform to their worldview. Okay, okay. But keep in mind I'm a conservative Republican. So think just how disgusted I've gotta be with whats going on to faithfully follow TPM.

BTW, ya see the Donald over there? It's copyright and TM 2006 by Disney. Just giving them their props. Speaking of ducks (we were, weren't we?) who do you consider the best "duck" artist? The acknowledged master is, of course, Carl Barks, the "good duck man". Some prefer Keno Don Rosa, the spiritual successor of Carl Barks. Others prefer other artists (well, duuh!). There's too many to list here. Who's your favorite?

G'night, all!

Nothing Much...

I'm still generally feeling better than I was before the defibrillater/pacemaker was installed. There's been good days and bad days, of course, but all-in-all the good days have been more common this month.

This isn't to say I'm feeling anything like I did before the heart attack. I get up to do stuff at 10 in the morning, and by 2 PM I'm just about ready to nap for the rest of the day. *sighs* Oh, well. I do what I can.

One sad thing is that I used to be a neat freak. Well, that's gone now, given my inbility to do more than the minimal amount of stuff around the house. (Can you say sty?) Piper and Pickles do their best to help, of course, but the bottom line is that there's lots of things I used to be able to do that I can't do any more. At one point the two of them decided to give my place a good housecleaning. I tried to help, just a bit, and within less than ten minutes I'd collapsed and wound up in the emergency room that evening (and inpatient for several days, too!).

In cooking, well, lets just say that the microwave has been my friend. And no, modern pacemakers don't freak at microwave ovens. Much. (err...) I have to worry more about things like, of all possibilities, security arches. I've been told by the doctors that, reassurances in the literature to the contrary, it would be a Bad Thing for me to dawdle in a store's security arch, and, oh yeah, don't even think about going through a metal detector. *shrugs* I'm told that I show them my "implanted device" ID card and the TSA folks will take me around the arch and do a 'pat down' search. Oh, that sounds like fun.

Enough of the 'pity party'. I'm alive and vertical, which is a whole heck of a lot better than the alternative. Piper and Pickles have been better friends than I deserve, and it's largely through their efforts I'm doing as well as I am.