Blogging My Life

Being raised in Indianapolis, and spending time in Alaska as an adult, I am spoiled for having snow at the holidays. I really wanted to see some snow when we woke up on Friday, but I'll take it today.

Front Porch Snow 

Backyard Snow 

I know...I know, I'm lame. I've let the New Year come with no postings. None of the thoughtful, insightful commentary you've come to expect. I attribute this appalling lack of attention to you, my dear readers - all three of you and you know who you are - to the new X-Box system and all of the fine games I now own, and to the new porn site subscription (wow, the movies really are longer!). And yes, ladies, I am taken. Anyhoo...I'll be back to posting, just as soon as I finish playing MechAssault, or Halo 2 (again) or Splinter Cell, or maybe................................

Thank heavens the holidays are almost over! This means no more dodging death at the hands of Eastside hicks who have no clue how to operate a pollution machine in the big city. Now it's back to dodging death at the hands of the regulars who drive in the city every day and still have no clue how to react when they see a person on a bike.

Happy Solstice to all! Light a candle tonight and thank the Sun for coming back and making the days longer. That's the reason for the season.

I get so tired of the myopia and jingoism I hear today. In this season that's supposed to be about "Peace on Earth, and good will towards men," why is it that all we hear is "God bless America?" As though God would only be concerned with a portion of creation rather than the whole. It seems to me that we would all be better served by the attitude expressed by Tiny Tim, who says in the Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol , "God bless us, every one ."

The old comedian, W.C. Fields had a routine where he would be talking or trying to do something, and a young kid would be trying to get his attention and in frustration Fields would say, "Shut up kid, you're bothering me." This is basically the response given by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to an American soldier in the Middle East who asked why the soldiers deployed over there didn't have the equipment neccessary to fully armor their vehicles. Click on the link above to go to the New York Times op-ed piece. This link takes you to a Bloomberg article covering the same thing.

I have been giving a lot of thought to my friend who voted for Bush. I feel bad that I was so quick to insult my friend's intelligence. This person has been a real friend over the years. I guess I just thought that I knew him better, and that I was angry at myself for not having the power of persuasion necessary to bring him out of the darkness and in to the light.

Okay, so U.S. forces have cleared out Fallujah only to have the insurgents pop up in Mosul. So now we're gonna clear out Mosul. This could go on a long time. In fact, as Jerimiah has said, this could turn out to be a big version of "whack-a-mole." You know the game, you stand there with a mallet and wait for a "mole" to pop its head up and then you whack it. Unfortunately, one doesn't really "win" a game of whack-a-mole. Its a timed game. The moles will continue to pop up as long as you stand there and put quarters in the machine. The insurgency in Iraq is the same way. As long as we're there, the insurgency will pop up to fight us. I hope the American people get tired of this very soon and that they will tell Bush to get out of Iraq and focus on the war on terror, which is more important than the war in Iraq.

Well, the holiday season is now, truly, upon us. The good things about the holidays are all the time off work that comes around, getting presents, and the holiday parties. The bad thing about the holidays is the fact that the Christians use this time of the year to tell us, over and over, that "Jesus is the reason for the season," which is patently false. This year, I really want to make a t-shirt that says something like, 'Jesus is not the reason for the season. For centuries prior to the birth of Jesus, cultures across the globe had solstice festivals dedicated to their own gods. (The winter solstice is December 21, for those who didn't know.) As Christianity spread, the early Christian church kept the festivals of the locals and inserted a Christian theme or person as the focus of the celebration. So it could be said that any number of gods are the "reason for the season."' But I don't think all that would fit on one shirt.

They blink too! They belong to a girl at work named Karli, who reminds me of Sprizee because she has a thing for pink.  

Granted, we have been friends for a long time now. I've always thought that my friend held the sme political views I do, but until now it's never mattered. And to tell truth, I don't know that he did vote for Bush, I'm very certain he did though. I just can't shake the feeling of betrayal at the thought of some one I know voting for Bush without me being able to change their mind.

I have a friend who, I’m very nearly certain, voted for Bush. He told me as recently as a week prior to the election that he was considering voting for Bush because of the terrorism issue. I’m thinking very seriously about cutting him off as a friend. You see, the problem isn’t necessarily that he voted for Bush, it’s that I no longer respect him for coming to that decision. Having succumbed to America’s jingoistic view of Muslims I now think that perhaps my friend doesn’t have the intellectual agility I originally credited to him. Is there any one else out there who feels betrayed by a friend who voted for Bush? I’m interested in reader’s opinions on the matter so please post a comment.

This essay is definitely worth a read. Invest the time and really read it and then post a comment telling me what you think. I think that this idea, or something close, may well become the political philosophy for the Democratic party for the foreseeable future.

My highest endorsement. 

Me testing a bike for ABC's new fleet. 

Jesus, protect me from your followers.

The mood around the city was very somber yesterday. People looked shocked and bewildered, as though trying to make sense out of how things could have gone so wrong. But there is no mystery as to what happened. The Christians put him back in office. Despite the fact that George Bush lied to the American people about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Despite the fact that he lied to us about Iraqi links to Al Qaeda, Despite the fact that he lied to us repeatedly about conditions in Iraq, including the Abu Grahib prison scandal, Despite the fact that he continues to tell us that he has made America and the world a safer place when terrorist attacks worldwide have increased, Despite the fact that his administration’s planning for the war in Iraq was, at best, incompetent, in that we didn't have enough soldiers on the ground to do the job, we didn't have the proper body armor/equipment armor, we never secured the borders thereby allowing thousands of foreign terrorist fig...

Well kids, tomorrow is the big day when we all get to exercise our right to vote. I registered to vote this year for the first time since 1990 (see, I am an old curmudgeon). I have maintained for several years now that we do not need a third party in this country, we need a second party in this country. We have been fed a steady diet of "Republicrats" for too long now. But this year, I had to register in order to vote against Bush. Do you know the difference between an optimist and a pessimist? The optimist says that this is the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist is afraid that the optimist is right. -- Dr. Hobson (one of my philosophy professors) I tell this little joke only to say that I am not necessarily optimistic for the future, irregardless of who wins.