Here's the Boobie

It's Friday, and I'm back from California, so it's time for a Boobie. Enjoy.

Road Trip

In an attempt to test the healing of my shoulder I'm heading out to California to do some work on my late mother's house in preparation for sale. I'm not sure how physically or psychologically ready I am, but here goes. Luckily I'll have some help available, as Zymurgian (long time readers may remember him) will be going with me. He knows that he'll get to do all the heavy lifting, as I'm still at a 5 lb. limit on my right arm. Thanks, Zym. We're gonna try to have some fun while there, visiting breweries and beaches as soon as the work day is done. Should be back Tuesday, but who knows what I'll have for home Internet, as my connection is sporadic at best. Look out Bay Area; I'm on my way.

Ahh! Baseball

It's the most wonderful time of the year. The start of Baseball season. I do love Baseball, as it signals Spring and Summer, and gives you a perfectly good reason to drink beer in the afternoon.

And the numbers. The only way I managed to pass college statistics was Baseball. Today's great baseball statistic: Jordan Shafer hit a home run in his first major league at-bat. He became the 99th player ever to homer first time up. So the next player to accomplish this will be the 100th. That's kinda cool (but only if you're a Baseball fan).

A Response to the Latest Gun Violence

Another week of senseless tragedies and mass killings as a result of nutjobs with guns leads me to repeat my favorite proposal. What we really need is not 'gun control', but 'bullet control'. Think about it. Guns don't kill people; bullets kill people. A gun without bullets is a club. So I'm advocating that we impose strict restrictions on the purchasing of ammunition, limiting wackos to one bullet each. I'll call it the "Barney Fife rule" (only readers of a certain age will understand that reference). One bullet is enough for most self-defense situations, used properly. If a wacko decides to go on a rampage but only has one bullet, there's a limit on the amount of damage that they can inflict. Perhaps they'll use it on themselves without feeling the need to murder a bunch of people first. Most of the wackos will be reduced to merely fondling their guns and listening to Lush Rimbaugh's hate speech in response to their paranoid delusions, which is a lot safer for the rest of us.
(Disclaimer: OK, I'm not being serious. I do believe in the right of gun ownership, and have owned guns most of my adult life. But there is a certain logic to the idea as a way to reduce the lethal incidents.)

Iowa?

When thinking of America's more progressive states, Iowa isn't usually one of them. But Iowa has now legalized gay marriage, which is great. I was tempted to make some snarky comment like "all four gay couples in Iowa celebrate" but that would be wrong.
Whenever debating the issue of gay marriage I'm reminded of Branch Rickey's comment on integrating baseball that "people in the future will look back and wonder what all the fuss was about." Because it really is a very simple issue: equal rights. The law should never discriminate against any group of people, and 'separate but equal' is NOT equal.
So I say "good for you, Iowa!"

Boobies Behind Schedule

A day late on the Boobies. I couldn't get a steady internet connection yesterday, and the weather wasn't conducive to exposing Boobies anyway. April snow and 50 mph winds. The joy of springtime in the mountains.

Not Pistachios!

Another 'Salmonella in our Food' case, and Obama hasn't fixed the FDA yet. What's taking him so long anyway?
But I'm taking this one personally. Peanut Butter? Eh, I can live without it. And I don't like children much, and they're usually sick with something anyway. Lettuce? Grossly overrated filler for salads and sandwiches that can easily be replaced with much tastier vegetables.
But Pistachios are one of the truly great foods. Healthy, tasty, and they come in that cool organic packaging. Pistachios go perfectly with beer and baseball, and the season is about to begin. This one pisses me off!
Obviously, food safety should be a basic right in a modern civilized society. It's not that difficult to avoid salmonella contamination, and it's less expensive than massive recalls, so the food industry should be doing a better job of it. And the Government should be insuring that foods are safe as part of what we pay taxes for. We need to demand it.
I'll start by demanding safe Pistachios, dammit!

Added: Actual news coverage:

TERRA BELLA, Calif. (AP) -- It could take weeks before health officials know exactly which pistachio products may be tainted with salmonella, but they've already issued a sweeping warning to avoid eating the nuts or foods containing them.

http://www.azdailysun.com/articles/2009/04/01/news/national/20090401_us_ne_193721.txt

Over 2 million pounds recalled...that's a lot of nuts...I'm not happy.

"Toxic" is not a Good Brand Name

Branding is now a science, and "Legacy" polled better than "Toxic". I certainly would rather sell my assets as if they weren't "Toxic". Even at a discount "get your Toxic Assets here" isn't a great sales pitch. Customers also respond better to "Vintage" than they do to "Old".

Beyond AIG

Ok, I'm throwing my 1.3 cents in on the AIG bonus outrage, the biggest controversy of the week.

Yeah, the bonuses are an outrage. Huge rewards for greed and failure can't be justified in good times, let alone an economic crisis. Collecting millions for losing billions is a hard act to justify. It's an 'in-your-face' action by members of a group of elites who consider themselves above the rules of common decency. And the hard working public has every right to be outraged.

But it's small potatoes. 1/1000th of the bailout money. The bonuses are merely a symptom of the failure of the greater economic Ponzi scheme that came to dominate the past decade. AIG, and a host of other major financial institutions, have engaged in a long running scheme to generate huge sums of money by exchanging paper "obligations" with no regard for actual value, knowing that they wouldn't be subject to any oversight under the shrub administration. Deregulation meant that no one would be held accountable until the house of cards collapsed, and now we're seeing some of the vultures tearing off the last bits of flesh from the rapidly decaying corpse.

The real problem, yet to be solved, is that the overall economic system is now untenable. The value of a dollar is based on a belief system that is no longer realistic, but nobody wants the consequence of the dollar collapsing.

The Obama administration inherited this mess (amongst many), and is now tasked with finding some sort of fix. The current firestorm over the fatcat AIG executives is great theater, and the political and populist outrage will dominate the media for a while, but in the end it's only a distraction. It's a simple story to explain, as opposed to the complexity of the real economic issues ahead. The real challenge will be finding a way to stabilize the current economy long enough to allow repairing the underlying fundamentals and to establish regulations and enforcement to prevent future collapses. And that is going to be a hell of a lot more difficult than scapegoating a few greedy bastards.

(BTW: This doesn't mean that I think the greedheads shouldn't be held accountable-they should. And we have a right to try to recover their ill-gotten gains, although I'm skeptical about the current congressional efforts. I'm just saying that this shouldn't be our focus. The real problems are much larger.)

Added: Congress is trying a new tax...like that has worked in the past.

An Inside Look

Name that hardware! Yep, I'm sharing an inside look at my humerus, complete with artificial ingredients. Feel free to comment with naming suggestions or any other good advice.

This is actually a test post, as I now have home wireless internet access (albeit spotty), and hope to return to regular posting.

The Unexcused Absence

Because I really have no excuse for not posting for so long. I have moved into a new abode, which is a good thing. It's a tiny little place, too small to be called a cave, so I refer to it as a "grotto". While I really could use more room, the rent is cheap for this area so I can't complain. And I'm in the heart of downtown, which is great.
I could complain about physical therapy, otherwise known as torture thrice weekly, but it is helping. The shoulder is improving and the pain decreasing, except when the sadistic bastard therapist is working me. "No pain, no gain"? Isn't there some middle ground? Oh well, I've suffered worse.
I'll try to be a better, more consistent blogger in the coming weeks, but I make no promises.

Friday the 13th Boobies

Any day with Boobies is a good day. And it's bad luck to be superstitious.

Boobies of the Next Generation

Because the future calls for more Boobies!

Patience Now!

There is a parallel between the nation's economic situation and my shoulder (ain't that an egotistical little analogy?) and that is the total lack of patience. Based on the news media, a lot of the public seems to be upset that Obama's stimulus program hasn't fixed everything yet, and I'm incredibly frustrated with my pain level and continued inability to use my right arm.
Both situations are going to take time before we see any noticeable improvement, but nobody really wants to hear that. Instant gratification is what we expect. So, Mr. Obama, could you please hurry up with that economic miracle? And fix my shoulder while you're at it. Thanks.

Hooray for Boobies!

Nice to be able to post the Friday Boobie this week. Okay, it's a commercial sellout Boobie, but at least it's here.

I am on the loose

Yeah, I'm out of the hospital-released on Monday, but just now making it to the library. The surgery seems to have gone well and I'm healing on schedule so far. Which means it's still painful, but only when I move. Luckily, there are medications for that (though I'm not sure whether they're trying harder to prevent pain or movement; they seem to reduce both).
I'll try to post a lengthier update soon.

This Time, for Sure

God, I'm sick of dealing with health issues. Tomorrow morning I'm having another surgery on my shoulder to return it to proper alignment, and (hopefully) it will begin healing. I'm really tired of being in pain, and I really don't like pain medications, but most of all I'm really tired of feeling like I'm whining. I want to get back to focusing on politics (the rethuglicans campaign of obstructionism is crying out for snark) or sports (look! a 23 year old swimmer with a bong! a baseball player using a substance! shocking, I tell you) or weird animals or anything but my shoulder. But the shoulder must be fixed, and then I must begin dealing with Mom's house (way too much stuff) and find some way to make a living. And quit smoking. And quit whining.
So it's off to surgery. Wish me well, and I'll be back in a couple of days.

Returning to Normal?

I'm (sort of) back, and doing my best to maintain a positive attitude. My Mom did pass away on January 25th, and the funeral was on the 31st. She passed peacefully, and I'm thankful for that. The funeral was quite large, as my Mother had a huge circle of friends and all the family as well. I made it through delivering the eulogy, but I was pretty broken up afterward (I went through the same when my Father passed 16 years ago). I'm trying to remain upbeat and not get too depressed, but it's not easy. Hope to post more soon, but I still have another surgery coming, need to find a place to live, and deal with my financial desperation, so there may not be a lot of posting.

A Boobie's Perspective

It's Friday, and this Boobie is looking for something to celebrate.

Last Booby of January 2009!

Because I had a bit of time this mornin'.........