Wednesday, October 31, 2007

The New TV

I don’t usually blog when I buy a TV (I don’t usually buy a TV; I’ve had good luck with them) but this is a real steal at twice the price…. (unfortunately for you – none of you – you can't get it). I found it at the J&R clearance store… used (very slightly, apparently, although you can’t tell at all), refurbished (i.e., factory refreshed & tested etc), with a 3-month store warranty which is plenty for an item with exactly one moving part (the “on” button).

61” 1080p Samsung DLP (same projection technology digital movie theaters now use).
Worked yesterday, works today, I’m sure it will work tomorrow.

$1300+tax. Beat that, buddy. If it craps out a year from now I'm still ahead.

The old 3-CRT rear-projection (“ol’ Tiny” we’re now calling it) is seen to its right, next to the stairs, looking all dejected. The HD Tivo, beneath the new one, is saying “ ‘bout time, jeez, what does an overpriced piece of bleeding-edge technology need to do to get noticed around here”.






how to make an awful song even worse

Some noise has been made about this photograph of Barack Obama keeping his hands down while the US National Anthem was being played at an Iowa event recently (yawn indeed).



(click through the photo and scroll down to view video)

Perhaps he was actually honoring the anthem by not honoring the performance. In 33 years of being subjected to that cat-in-a-hydraulic-press of a composition I have never heard such an acoustical dismemberment. Not only would I have not saluted or otherwise praised the singer, I would have come at her with an axe no doubt to loud applause from those in attendance still capable of hearing.

Saturday, October 27, 2007

it must be done in order

Please take notes:

Eat it. Lick it. Snort it. THEN fuck it.


(click for story)


The above quote might be the most shriekingly alarming portion of the child-custody-related news story except for the fact that her lawyer's name is Thomas Paine.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

a poem to a squirrel

you, or some of the other many squirrels who look like you,
over the course of the summer
ate all of my sunflowers
which are hard to grow on a rooftop.

i tried scaring you, and shooing you,
and smelling and sniffing you off
but you kept coming
and eating my sunflowers and my tomatoes
and digging up my whatevers
which are hard to grow.

i was angry.

i could have poisoned you;

i could have shot you.

i could have waited patiently reading a book
and at the right time thrown a rock at your head
and (if aimed right) could have gone right back to
reading my book as you lay dying slowly
in the neighbor's yard (i did think of this).

Instead, I bought cage traps and did
the only thing I knew to do
which is caught you and moved you elsewhere
to be a blessing instead of a curse.

I don't know if you who I caught this morning, specifically,
in the cage right now, ever ate any of my sunflowers.
It is my limitation that all squirrels
look alike

but my husband is late with the car
and it's raining hard
so you have to wait in a cage in my storage room
in the dark
with your head (as I've seen you many times today
as I went to look for a tool or fetched back the dog
who could not help but sniff at your terrified body)
pressed motionlessly hard against the door that you can
never open, thinking final thoughts,
for many hours,
with only the remaining half of a small green tomato that you once treasured, and
a shallow bowl of water to keep you company, as they say,
until I can take you to the park.

Monday, October 22, 2007

That's My Bank

[...]Democrats said they noticed an occasional Clinton-friendly tone from Mr. Drudge, whom New York magazine quoted as saying on his program: “I need Hillary Clinton. You don’t get it. I need to be part of her world. That’s my bank.”

News story


Thursday, October 18, 2007

There's Always a Turd in Every Box of Chocolates

It's perfectly legitimate for a genetic scientist to say things like "blahblahblah [something specific] because genes"....

But it's truly dismaying (although since the '04 election decreasingly surprising) when somebody as indisputably intelligent (despite his race) as James Watson says something like:

[although he hoped everyone was equal in terms of intellect] "people who have to deal with black employees find this not true".

Link goes to a truly flabbergasting news story.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Last night on the NewsHour I saw a report on these people out in California who work for a program (managed by the state and paid for by the DEA) called

Campaign
Against
Marihuana
Planting

They basically scour the hills of the state looking for marihuana plantations and destroy them. What a life. But what got my attention is that the guy running the operation was wearing the most DARLING little hat... Anyone know where I might be able to get a CAMP cap?


Friday, October 12, 2007

October Surprize

http://images.salon.com/opinion/conason/2007/03/02/al_gore/story.jpg

Al Gore, predictably, has won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to promote awareness in global warming and other environmental issues (jointly with the UN Panel on Climate Change, but who cares; they don't have an Oscar). This now officially makes for a dark horse candidate on what is STILL an open field in the Democratic party primaries (don't tell me people are being polled in favor of Hillary Clinton because they think her Bush-lite foreign policy is sound or that her health care plan, above any of the others, is so great).

While my guy Obama may be stuck in second place for reasons as yet unknown, it does present a unique opportunity here.... Potential scenario: Obama doesn't do well in Iowa which means he's "dead", according to people who own better crystal balls than I do. I certainly don't agree with that; Bill C lost Iowa & New Hampshire in '92 and I think he won the presidency but I'd have to look it up. In any case, let's say that happens and he decides to drop out... Now here's how I would like to see that play out:

A press conference is called at some location. Obama gracefully thanks his supporters blahblah says the dream is not over and will continue to live on... fade out...

Elsewhere, later that day, Al Gore announces that he thinks there is a need for an experienced, yet fresh voice to join the current political debate and that he's decided to run for the presidency... and that just to show that his campaign will not be about politics as usual he has decided to announce his running mate from day one... and that he would like to introduce his running mate right now.... and out walks....

The image “http://www.judiciaryreport.com/images/Barack_Obama.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.
.... which immediately prompts the Nobel Committee to rescind the Peace Prize for reason of Al Gore setting off a nuclear explosion in American politics...

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Fifth Anniversary Rally


Yesterday I attended a rally on the steps of Borough Hall (Brooklyn City Hall, pre- 1989 incorporation)






....to mark the fifth anniversary of the speech given in 2002 by then- Illinois state senator Barack Obama -- at a time when such things were rather unpopular -- decrying the notion of going to war with Iraq as a "dumb", "unnecessary" (and other choice words) war. Full text of 2002 speech here. Full text of 5th anniversary speech delivered in Illinois by Senator Obama is found here (and really gives a complete picture of what the man is about, in the full context of a presidential race).



There were plenty of volunteers handing out signs etc and (after things got going for a while) plenty of attendees.

I brought my own sign:



(photo taken before the rally started)