Happy Ramadan

(photo by George Breed)
Well, Happy Ramadan if you're Sunni. If you're Shia, you have to wait until tomorrow. If you're Michelle Bachman, you're full blown batshit psychotic either day.

Republicans being Republicans

I really shouldn't be surprised when the party of greedheads behave like the greedhead bastards that they really are, but I did sort of think that they'd be a little more subtle about it during the election season. Yet, the senate republicans actually came right out and filibustered the "Bring Jobs Home" act:

Washington (CNN) -- Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked the No.1 item on the president's congressional "to-do-list," refusing to allow a vote on a bill that would give tax breaks for companies that "insource" jobs to the U.S. from overseas while eliminating tax deductions for companies that move jobs abroad.

With job creation the top issue this campaign season, and outsourcing being blamed as a big contributor to the high unemployment rate, Democrats saw the bill as an election-year winner. Sponsored by Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Michigan, who is running for reelection, the bill made it to the top of the "to-do list" for Congress President Barack Obama unveiled earlier this year.

The Bring Jobs Home Act would provide a 20% tax break for the costs of moving jobs back to the United States and would rescind business expense deductions available to companies that are associated with the cost of moving operations overseas.

www.cnn.com/2012/07/19/politics/senate-bring-jobs-home-bill-blocked/index.html

It would be somewhat amusing to keep a scorecard of how many of these same republican senators campaign on the issue of "jobs", and blame Sober Panda Time for the weak employment numbers. In fact, I'm ready to give a (very small and worthless) prize for the first time McConnell or one of his cohorts says "Jobs, jobs, jobs" during a campaign speech. Because you know they will.

How Do I Get That Kind of Job?

OK, dear readers who keep stopping by, here's a long overdue political post.
If you're paying any attention to today's news, you've heard that Ol' Willard R-Money is catching a bit of flak over whether he stopped running Bain Capital (the bane of the working person) in 1999 or not. My favorite response to this comes from Booman at the Booman Tribune (one of the best on the blogroll), who notes this:

If, as Romney claims, he did no work for Bain Capital between February 1999 and 2003 then he received roughly $400,000 for work he didn't do.   The alternative is that he committed a felony, which even his defenders at FactCheck.org acknowledge. The $400,000 is significant because it was salary or compensation for work, and not interest payments or dividends or some other capital gain. But that doesn't mean that Romney didn't make a fortune on the roughly 6,000 jobs (at a minimum) his company destroyed in the four years in question. Let's be clear about this. Whether or not Mitt Romney was actually making day-to-day decisions for Bain Capital in the 1999-2003 time period, he was the CEO, chairman of the board, lone stockholder, and 100% owner of the firm. Even if he wasn't doing any work, he was being paid for work. Even if he didn't even look at the deals that cost at least 6,000 Americans their jobs, he profited from those transactions.
That's what makes it strange that he would use his absentee ownership as an excuse. If his partners had made bad deals and lost Bain Capital all its money, does anyone think Romney wouldn't have been upset?
Who gets paid nearly a half a million dollars to do nothing? 
www.boomantribune.com/story/2012/7/12/16519/4359

Yeah, that's the kind of job I need: one that pays me $400,000 for doing nothing. Sure would beat being a poor college student. It's for reasons like this that, despite all his flaws, I support Sober Panda Time in 2012.
(also, Happy 100th Birthday to Woody Guthrie on Saturday.)

Giant Wombats

Yeah, I haven't been able to put up many posts lately. So I hope you'll appreciate a prehistoric giant wombat as a token reminder that this blog still exists.

A mass grave of prehistoric “giant wombats” – a marsupial the size of a rhinoceros – has been discovered in Australia, according to reports.
The discovery of about 50 diprotodon skeletons was the biggest to date and could shed light on why the animal become extinct, BBC News reported.
Diprotodon, a relative of the modern wombat, was the largest marsupial that ever lived and had a pouch that was large enough to carry an adult human.

According to the Australian Museum, it was “widespread across Australia when the first indigenous people arrived, co-existing with them for thousands of years before becoming extinct about 25,000 years ago.” Fortunately for the people, diprotodon ate plants.
(a mass grave of three-ton wombats found)

To heck with cloning mammoths or dinosaurs. This world needs three ton giant wombats!
(Perhaps we could send several to this year's republican national convention, just for fun.)
Anyway, thanks for stopping by!

Not Dead Yet!

Since I haven't posted anything for about six weeks, here's a quick post to say:
"I'm not dead yet! I'm feeling better!"
Short story: I'm in school full time, and enjoying it. Minneapolis is way too humid when it gets hot. I don't have regular internet access, and I have a hard time thinking about posting while I'm in the library or the school computer lab. Hopefully, I'll have this all remedied soon and can share more drivel with you. Thanks again to those who dropped money on me. It has really helped.
And, above all else, remember this: Homemade pizza should always have at least four different toppings!

Supermoon! (and fresh blegging)

On Saturday (May 5) at 11:35 p.m. EDT, the moon will officially turn full. And only 25 minutes later the moon will also arrive at perigee, its closest approach to Earth — a distance of 221,802 miles (356,955 kilometers) away

.
So, tonight is a "supermoon", which, naturally, I wont see. Ever since I moved to Minnesota, anytime there's an interesting astronomy event the weather is guaranteed to be cloudy. Meteor shower? Total overcast. Eclipse? Worst (and the only big) storm of the winter. Tonight? Completely cloudy with rain all night. I'm beginning to think Minnesota doesn't allow sky watching. It's also Cinco de Mayo and Kentucky Derby day, so there's plenty to celebrate.
Blegging: I know that it was only a couple of months ago that I blegged at you (and I'm totally grateful to those who gave donations. I hope you all got my "thank you" emails), but it's a new month, and again I'm struggling to meet my bills.
On a positive note, after way too many months of beating my head against the wall of underemployment I have decided to change my direction. I'm going back to school! From talking to my advisor, I guess being a 53 year old college student is a new trend. I'm going to start with recertifying in some old skills that I haven't used in over thirty years, and then expand into an exciting new modern field (medical records technology networking, if you really want to know) where I can hopefully find a decent job!
Which is another reason why I'm blegging: before I can actually collect financial aid, I have to pay a variety of fees for admission, registration, and transcripts (having attended seven different colleges seemed like a fine idea at the time, but now I have to pay for seven different transcript requests) which aren't that big individually, but add up to a challenge while I'm having trouble keeping the lights on. Once I get through these next few hoops, I'll be fine for the future (although I'll get to have a wonderfully large amount of student loan debt, which is a new American trend) and hopefully engaging in a whole new future. I just need some help right now.
I know this is a tough economy, and times are tough for most everybody (damn, I forgot to have any friends in the top 1%!), but any help you can drop on the paypal button on the right will be greatly appreciated!

Odd, but very cool

I've been a lifelong fan of Bob Dylan, but I never thought of him as someone on whom a Presidential Medal of Freedom would be bestowed. Looks like 'Sober Panda Time' has pretty good taste, judging by his choices:

The White House announced a slate of 13 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients Thursday — a list that includes folk singer Bob Dylan, former secretary of state Madeleine Albright, former Israeli president Shimon Peres, novelist Toni Morrison, and former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.

Other notable recipients include astronaut and former Sen. John Glenn, University of Tennessee coach Pat Summitt, Girl Scouts founder Juliette Gordon Low (posthumously), and Polish resistance figure Jan Karski (posthumously).

The Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, is presented to individuals "who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors."

"These extraordinary honorees come from different backgrounds and different walks of life, but each of them has made a lasting contribution to the life of our Nation. They’ve challenged us, they’ve inspired us, and they’ve made the world a better place. I look forward to recognizing them with this award," President Obama said in a
statement.

The ceremony will be in "late spring," according to the White House.

Dylan has had a 50 year long recording career, which is pretty remarkable all by itself, but I doubt that he ever expected this honor.
Added: While Dylan has done some movie bits over the years (I still enjoy his role in "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid"), today's music stars are only suited for playing aliens on screen.

I Knew It!

I was always certain of this, but now science confirms: beer makes men smarter. From a study at the University of Illinois, Chicago:

a recent study published by the University of Illinois in Chicago claims that drinking only a few beers may, in fact, make men more intelligent.

The results of the test were quite interesting to say the least. Participants who consumed two pints of beer finished their problems in a cool 12 seconds, compared to non-drinkers who required 15.5 seconds.

"We found at 0.07 blood alcohol, people were worse at working memory tasks, but they were better at creative problem-solving tasks," psychologist Jennifer Wiley explained.

"We have this assumption, that being able to focus on one part of a problem or having a lot of expertise is better for problem solving," she continued. "But that’s not necessarily true. Innovation may happen when people are not so focused. Sometimes it’s good to be distracted."

The study participants who drank beer also solved 40% more of the problems posed to them compared to non-drinkers. "Sometimes the really creative stuff comes out when you’re having a glass of wine over dinner, or when you’re taking a shower," Wiley added.

.

Anybody who's ever hung out at a bar with me knows that I'm great at problem solving after a couple of pints. And my friends are, too. In fact, we can usually solve most any problem by the third pint.
(BTW: sorry about the paucity of posts. Life is trying to test me, but I'm still kicking.)

Posting What I Post

(Alternative title: "I like to post about the things I post about when I post about the the things I post about when I post about things).
I recently read that on average 2 million blog posts are generated each day. Which I'm certainly not responsible for. But it did get me thinking about "what I post, and why I post it" and if I should be doing it better. I tend to lay off posting about the "controversy du jour", as among those millions of posts someone said what I'm thinking better than I would say it. Or has a "LOL Cat" of it. Also, I'm lazy. For example, just putting up a post that basically says "racism is bad, and it killed this kid in Florida" has a kind of pointless point to it, as many other blogs have already made the point more eloquently.
So instead, I tend to post things that interest me that are not mainstream. For example: Jane Fonda will play Nancy Reagan in new film. I find that to be a delicious irony. "Hanoi Jane" as the wife of republican saint Ronald Reagan. That's the kind of thing you couldn't make up in a piece of fiction. Fiction has to be believable.
Also, this reminds me that some of what I find amusing doesn't translate well across generations. The woman I live with (who is 21 years younger than I am) didn't see any humor in Jane Fonda playing Nancy Reagan. For her the Vietnam War was a chapter in her history book, and Ronald Reagan was president when she was born rather than an actor who shared a movie with a chimpanzee. The humor was lost on her, but she did agree that I should include it in a blog post, because "most of the people who read your blog are older" she said. Which is likely true, and I think I like that.
So, just because I haven't posted about 'something' doesn't mean I don't care about it. It just means I don't have anything original to say about it. Or, this is "my blog" so I can be as lame as I want to. And I really thank you for reading it (cuz' you only had 1,999,999 other posts to choose from.)

GOP Agenda: Death to the Poor

OK, I'll admit that I really don't understand republican thinking. After the whole "war on women" series of completely misogynist proposals, I figured they'd try to tone down the crazy. But now they've doubled down with Paul Ryan's latest "budget plan", a dangerous, intentionally vague proposal that goes beyond brutality toward anyone who isn't rich. Just read the analysis from the CBPP's Robert Greenstein:

The new Ryan budget is a remarkable document -- one that, for most of the past half-century, would have been outside the bounds of mainstream discussion due to its extreme nature. In essence, this budget is Robin Hood in reverse -- on steroids. It would likely produce the largest redistribution of income from the bottom to the top in modern U.S. history and likely increase poverty and inequality more than any other budget in recent times (and possibly in the nation's history).

Every single one of the worst ideas the GOP has ever had are all in the package. Give tax breaks to the richest Americans, while raising taxes on the poor and middle class. Obviously, cuts vital programs while expanding military spending. Privatize Medicare, dismantle Medicaid, virtually eliminate food stamps, and defund every other domestic government program. Heck, it even has a feature to sell off millions of acres of public lands. And, of course, the plan will actually increase the debt.

The Ryan plan isn't going to pass. It's DOA in the senate, so Sober Panda Time won't need to ink up the veto pen. But that doesn't mean that it isn't important. In case you hadn't noticed, this is an election year, and the republicans intend to use the Ryan plan as a campaign focal point. They really believe that they can sell this gilded turd to the voting public. That's the part I just don't get: you're running a campaign that has already attacked people of color, women, anyone who enjoys sex, and educated people, and now your attacking anyone who isn't rich? How do you sell that to voters? "Death to the Poor" isn't a campaign slogan that I thought would ever be a winner. But that is literally what the republicans are running with.

Vernal Equinox

Happy first day of Spring. I'm always happy to see Winter leave, even if here in Minnesota it's been the mildest winter in over 20 years. I'm not a fan of cold. Instead, I'll now be bitching about hay fever.

Added: And just to make some of us feel old, Bob Dylan’s first album was released 50 years ago today.

RIP, Peter Bregman

Sad news that we've lost peter bergman, of firesign theater. While I usually shy away from eulogies, if you're among those of us who mispent many hours smoking herbs and listening to firesign theatre, then you understand that the world will be a less absurdly silly place without him.
("No, only half a key. I had to split it with the sound effects man")
As I was lamenting the loss of Bergman to the woman I live with, I came to realize that firesign theatre is a unique type of humor. I played a few vignettes for her, and she said "I don't get it" while I was laughing. It's truly one of those things where you can divide the folks who "get it" from those who don't. Perhaps it was the times (and the herbs), but the Bergman influence has always been a part of how I view the world.

Can We Have An Adult Conversation About Iran?

(Because the American president with a funny name met with the Isaerli prime minister with a funny name to discuss the Iranian president with a funny name)

One current political issue that keeps driving me into episodes of screaming crazies is the whole topic of Iran and nukes. It's like the media and the politicians are going through a bitter divorce with reality, so they deny even the most basic facts about the situation. Both AIPAC and the republican presidential candidates would have you believe that Iran is just about to start WWW3, nuking Tel Aviv sometime next week, regardless of the real facts.

Let's start with a simple reality, as shown in the chart above: The US and Russia have the vast majority of the nuclear weapons on this planet, by such a magnitude that if Israel and France piled all there nukes together it would still be only a tiny fractional threat. Fact number two: Iran is only approaching the capability of low enriched uranium, which is a long way short of weapons grade (damn, I need Sweaterman to give me numbers on this) uranium. And, as North Korea has proven, having weapons grade uranium doesn't mean you have a working nuclear weapon. But the third, greatest, fact to me is: why would Iran want to commit suicide by using a nuke against Israel? Yes, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has used some very provocative rhetoric, but he's not in charge of Iran. Clerical Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is, and a week and a half ago, Khamenei gave a major foreign policy speech in which he said:

“The Iranian nation has never pursued and will never pursue nuclear weapons. There is no doubt that the decision makers in the countries opposing us know well that Iran is not after nuclear weapons because the Islamic Republic, logically, religiously and theoretically, considers the possession of nuclear weapons a grave sin and believes the proliferation of such weapons is senseless, destructive and dangerous.”

Now, you don't have to believe him. But let's use some basic logic: what would Iran actually gain by attacking Israel with a nuclear weapon? There is, simply, no profit for Iran in such an attack. Far more likely is that Iran would like to develop the capacity to build a weapon, which would then be a far more valuable bargaining chip toward ending sanctions.

Don't get me wrong; Iran is not our friend. They're hostile (with some justification) to America's and Israel's interests throughout the region. Sanctions have made our relationship even more adversarial, but we're still a long way from any legitimate grounds for war.

So let's consider what would actually happen if, worst case scenario, Iran actually did develop a nuclear weapon: regional escalation. Saudi Arabia (Sunni) would most certainly want a nuclear deterrent to (Shia) Iran, as would most likely Turkey. The risk of nuclear weapons falling into the hands of terrorists or extremists would increase (although the greatest risk would still be from Pakistan and the unsecured remnants from the former Soviet Union) slightly.

Then, let's compare the risks of military action against Iran by either Israel or the US...(think about it for a while. I'll save that for another post.)

(BTW: Thanks to those who've hit the Paypal button. Any additional help is greatly appreciated)

Missed Anniversary (And Blegging)

Somehow I completely missed this blog's fifth anniversary, back on Jan. 28th. Which proves that I'm not very good at blogging. Still, five years is a long time for a blog, and at least a few of the posts have been worth reading (I hope).
Which brings me to the 'blegging': I'm asking for help. After having almost no work in January, I haven't gotten any work in February (even through the temp agencies), and I'm now desperate. A new month brings a fresh set of rent and bills, but I'm broke. So I'm hoping someone would be able to drop something on the Paypal button on the right.
I last asked my readers for help about four years ago, and several of you were able to make small donations, which was huge at the time. I realize that most of my readers are struggling, too, so I'm not expecting much. Over the past four years, I've had a few times where I was able to drop a few coins on other poor bloggers as a way of repaying the help I received, and I'm really hoping to be back in that position soon. But right now, I'm desperate. If you can help me, anything you can drop in my Paypal account would be greatly appreciated.
Also, if any of you are looking for an inflatable kayak, I have my Saturn for sale on Craigslist: 13' Inflatable Whitewater Kayak. It's a great little duckie that I didn't get to paddle very much.
Thank you for reading me, and I hope to keep this blog going for many years to come.

Leap Day

Ah, that wonderful extra day that gives us an excuse to hold the Summer Olympics and the presidential election. One of which I really enjoy while the other is a bad addiction that I've never managed to kick.
One special reason I enjoy Leap Day is that it's one of my nieces birthday, specifically her sixth birthday. She deserves a birthday drink, as not many kids celebrate their sixth birthday while in college.
Also, be sure to look before you leap today.

Party Platform - Cliff Notes Version

The republican presidential candidates in two sentences:

"Don't regulate corporations.
Do regulate Women."

President's Day

Um, 'Happy President's Day', I guess. I'm old enough to remember when we celebrated Washington's birthday and Lincoln's birthday as individual holidays. But now we get one holiday to celebrate all our presidents, even the ones we'd rather forget (would anyone say "Happy Nixon Day"?). So today, I'm celebrating Millard Fillmore, our 13th president, because I doubt anyone else will. Ol' Millard should best be remembered for this:

Fillmore was also a staunch defender against foreign intervention in Hawaii. France's Napoleon III attempted to annex the Hawaiian Islands, but was forced to withdraw after a strongly worded message from Fillmore suggesting that "the United States would not stand for any such action."^[17]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millard_Fillmore

Yes, he saved Hawaii from the French for us. Also, I seriously doubt we'll ever have another president named "Millard". Although we are at risk of a "Willard".

Really Grand Larceny

Sometimes there are things in the news that go way beyond my small brain capacity to comprehend, like when I read that in Italy police seize $6 trillion of fake U.S. T-bonds. I mean, counterfeiting $100 dollar bills I can grasp. But phony billion dollar T-bills? You can't spend those at the liquor store; the clerk wont have change. The total scope is amazing to me.

The fake securities, worth more than a third of U.S. national debt, were seized in January from a Swiss trust company where they were held in three large trunks.

Most of us (unless Bill Gates or Warren Buffet happen to be reading this) would consider a million dollars an amazing sum to have. We fantasize about what we'd do if we won the lottery, but it's usually a fairly mundane level fantasy: travel, buy a yacht, indulge our family and friends, that kind of luxury. With 6 million million, you could easily buy several countries. Or finance a couple of major wars...wait a minute...has anybody dusted those bills for Cheney's fingerprints?
(h/t to Pissed on Politics for the link)

Republican Valentine, 2012

Last week, I posted about the republican attack on contraceptives, calling them The Forced Chastity Party . They really want to stake their position as the "anti-sex" party, I guess. Now the top republican presidential candidates are all vowing to attack...porn:

The conservative group Morality In Media is head over heels today after all three top Republican candidates promised to go war against the distribution of porn. In a written statement, Rick Santorum said, “Federal obscenity laws should be vigorously enforced. If elected President, I will appoint an Attorney General who will do so.”

Not to be outdone, Mitt Romney gave a statement to the group that said, “(I)t is imperative that we cultivate the promotion of fundamental family values. This can be accomplished with increased parental involvement and enhanced supervision of our children. It includes strict enforcement of our nation’s obscenity laws, as well as the promotion of parental software controls that guard our children from Internet pornography.”

That's right, folks: just in time for Valentine's Day, 2012, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, and Newt Gingrich All Promise To Ban Porn. I'm quite certain that they actually believe this will be a winning issue for them, but here in modern reality lots of regular folk enjoy porn (if you believe the Internet, anyway). As an election issue...well, it could make the debates more entertaining.

Sober Panda Time

Attention America: There's an election in 2012, and you have to make a choice.

I've taken to referring to President Obama as "sober panda time" (for an explanation see: Anagram Fun ), but the reality is he's still our best choice. Not great, but, I mean, consider the alternatives:

Mitt RoMoney...he reminds me of Kryten from Red Dwarf, but he's a simple rich corporate bastard who will promote the corporate interests and pander to a theocracy. And go to war with Iran for no good reason.

Newt "the newt" Gingrich...a thieving hypocritical bastard who will promote the corporate interests and pander to the theocracy. And go to war with Iran for no good reason.

"Santorum" (yeah, go ahead and google it)...a straight ahead theocrat, with a side of pork barrel corporate interests. And would start a war with Iran for no good reason.

Ron Paul...will never win. A racist who would legalize pot, but ban abortion. Although, he probably wouldn't go to war with Iran.

And that's it. That's all that is on the menu. Your choice is between sober panda time, who's been decidedly mediocre, but is sane, or a bunch of loonies. I (as an extreme liberal) am not thrilled with sober panda time, but he's been reasonably competent. The alternatives are flat out insane. So this is my political position for the rest of the election cycle: Vote for Sober Panda Time! Re-elect Sober Panda Time! At least he's not insane, greedy, or likely to start a war with Iran.