Monday, January 9, 2012
Little Junior's Blue Flames - Mystery Train
Maybe the greatest 45 RPM record of all time, but you know me, I try never to exaggerate.
Following The Rules: Republican Primary Edition
In Navy boot camp we learned a lot of rules, including detailed rules for how to fold and stow every item of our clothing. The white hats posed a special problem: it was physically impossible to fold them in the prescribed manner. It couldn’t be done. As soon as you let go of them they flipped back open. We had “lockers” that consisted of a few small shelves and one drawer that could be locked, and we were subject to lots of locker inspections, some by surprise. Our company commander, a first class Bosun’s Mate named Richard Passion (no lie!) had a simple solution to the white hat problem. We had only two, and one was always with us, and we were told to keep the other one in the drawer at all times. I consider this a simple lesson in the nature of rules.
Rules, let’s face it, are meant to be bent, broken or ignored. (Bent, in the case of the white hats.) But how? When? What are the rules when it comes to breaking the rules?
Some time later I attended a good Tae Kwon Do school for a couple of years. Great exercise, that. Our teacher was a very accomplished Korean gentleman who had lots and lots of rules. Rules of posture, form, sequence of muscular contractions, rules for attendance, rules, rules, rules, and you broke them at your peril. If you weren’t careful, he’d use you to demonstrate a new technique. So one day one of the bright lights makes the observation that the teacher often violates the rules of form and posture when he is demonstrating something. “And when you have a sixth degree black belt,” he said good naturedly, “so can you.” So having a license to know better is an excuse for breaking the rules.
My favorite rule-related-rule is, “don’t get caught.”
Rules can get you in trouble though, sometimes following the rules can land you in a world of shit. Sometimes rules are contradictory, and following them can lead you down the rabbit hole to the land of impossible situations.
Like the Republican primary. I’m not a big fan of the whole primary process, but the Republican primary just seems crazy. Any Republican running for president must prevail in the primaries, but if they follow the rules for getting the nomination they will probably find that they have rendered themselves un-electable in the general election.
The rules for the Republican primary require that the candidates be against lots of things that the American people are clearly for. For example:
They must be anti-Gay: most Americans just don’t give a shit who someone wants to kiss. “My cousin (or nephew, or son) is Gay . . . so what?” Or, you hear a lot of, “if they want to get married, it’s their funeral!” Not an issue for most people.
They must be anti-abortion: most Americans by far think that this should be a private matter. Don’t listen to the big mouths. They’d have an abortion anyway if they got raped, or if a doctor told them that the baby would only live a month or two and in pain, and probably even if they were forty-three and got pregnant by accident. They’d keep it quiet though, and that’s the whole fucking point! It’s private!
They must be anti-pornography: the American people have spoken most eloquently on this point, with their credit cards, and they are clearly in favor of pornography.
They must be anti-immigrant: most Americans are not overly concerned with immigrants. And definitely most Americans don’t want to start picking their own fruit. Unless your name is “Running Deer,” your people are immigrants.
Alert the media! The new thing to be anti- is contraception! Amazingly, some of these Republicans think that they can score points by being against contraception, because after all, contraception is anti-life. Obviously, they will lose the good will of most Americans on this issue.
So the Republican candidates alienate most of the electorate on their way to the nomination, which in my estimation is not a good plan. And that’s only the “Social Conservative” stuff! Along with it comes the “bomb Iran,” the “return to the gold standard,” the “jail Federal judges who step out of line,” and a host of other weird stuff that Americans don’t want.
Worst of all, they must be against Socialism, or what passes for Socialism in America. Here they are even more out of step with most Americans. Americans love their government’s small gestures at Socialism. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Unemployment Insurance, and even the new Affordable Healthcare Act, Americans love that stuff.
As regular readers may have noticed, I hate the Republicans like the Inquisition hated heretics, so for me it’s all fun, all the time, watching them fall all over themselves to paint themselves into a corner in this primary season. Most often referred to by rational people as “the Republican clown car,” this group of candidates has set new low water marks for common sense and common decency. Later on this year I will thoroughly enjoy watching them try to explain “what they really meant” when they said these things.
Rules, let’s face it, are meant to be bent, broken or ignored. (Bent, in the case of the white hats.) But how? When? What are the rules when it comes to breaking the rules?
Some time later I attended a good Tae Kwon Do school for a couple of years. Great exercise, that. Our teacher was a very accomplished Korean gentleman who had lots and lots of rules. Rules of posture, form, sequence of muscular contractions, rules for attendance, rules, rules, rules, and you broke them at your peril. If you weren’t careful, he’d use you to demonstrate a new technique. So one day one of the bright lights makes the observation that the teacher often violates the rules of form and posture when he is demonstrating something. “And when you have a sixth degree black belt,” he said good naturedly, “so can you.” So having a license to know better is an excuse for breaking the rules.
My favorite rule-related-rule is, “don’t get caught.”
Rules can get you in trouble though, sometimes following the rules can land you in a world of shit. Sometimes rules are contradictory, and following them can lead you down the rabbit hole to the land of impossible situations.
Like the Republican primary. I’m not a big fan of the whole primary process, but the Republican primary just seems crazy. Any Republican running for president must prevail in the primaries, but if they follow the rules for getting the nomination they will probably find that they have rendered themselves un-electable in the general election.
The rules for the Republican primary require that the candidates be against lots of things that the American people are clearly for. For example:
They must be anti-Gay: most Americans just don’t give a shit who someone wants to kiss. “My cousin (or nephew, or son) is Gay . . . so what?” Or, you hear a lot of, “if they want to get married, it’s their funeral!” Not an issue for most people.
They must be anti-abortion: most Americans by far think that this should be a private matter. Don’t listen to the big mouths. They’d have an abortion anyway if they got raped, or if a doctor told them that the baby would only live a month or two and in pain, and probably even if they were forty-three and got pregnant by accident. They’d keep it quiet though, and that’s the whole fucking point! It’s private!
They must be anti-pornography: the American people have spoken most eloquently on this point, with their credit cards, and they are clearly in favor of pornography.
They must be anti-immigrant: most Americans are not overly concerned with immigrants. And definitely most Americans don’t want to start picking their own fruit. Unless your name is “Running Deer,” your people are immigrants.
Alert the media! The new thing to be anti- is contraception! Amazingly, some of these Republicans think that they can score points by being against contraception, because after all, contraception is anti-life. Obviously, they will lose the good will of most Americans on this issue.
So the Republican candidates alienate most of the electorate on their way to the nomination, which in my estimation is not a good plan. And that’s only the “Social Conservative” stuff! Along with it comes the “bomb Iran,” the “return to the gold standard,” the “jail Federal judges who step out of line,” and a host of other weird stuff that Americans don’t want.
Worst of all, they must be against Socialism, or what passes for Socialism in America. Here they are even more out of step with most Americans. Americans love their government’s small gestures at Socialism. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Unemployment Insurance, and even the new Affordable Healthcare Act, Americans love that stuff.
As regular readers may have noticed, I hate the Republicans like the Inquisition hated heretics, so for me it’s all fun, all the time, watching them fall all over themselves to paint themselves into a corner in this primary season. Most often referred to by rational people as “the Republican clown car,” this group of candidates has set new low water marks for common sense and common decency. Later on this year I will thoroughly enjoy watching them try to explain “what they really meant” when they said these things.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Bee Song Ha! Ha! Ha!
I accompanied a friend of mine to a psychiatrist's office one time and the good doctor asked him, as they will, "what time is it?" My friend responded, after some thought, that it was "Springtime?" He failed that test, big time.
As I sit here, it is Sunday, January 8th. The year is 2012, in most of the world anyway. I'm oriented in all dimensions, I am. Here in Thailand, furthermore, it is the year 2555, Buddhist Era. To my knowledge, this is the only system that counts back to the birth of a religious entity. (I'm not an expert on Islam, don't they count back to a pilgrimage or a revelation or something?) You got other ideas? Look it up. That other one was the Emperor Augustus's idea, and the rest was sheer coincidence.
But the year, 2555. In Thai it comes out, "bee song ha ha ha." Thai Interneters don't write "LOL," they write "555," as in ha! ha! ha! So it's going to be a year of fun, one could only hope with a name like that. I hope so anyway, but I wish us all luck. It might be a bumpy ride.
If you missed it, please go back a couple of pages and check out "They Are Our Teachers," dated December 20th. I'm kind of proud of that one.
As I sit here, it is Sunday, January 8th. The year is 2012, in most of the world anyway. I'm oriented in all dimensions, I am. Here in Thailand, furthermore, it is the year 2555, Buddhist Era. To my knowledge, this is the only system that counts back to the birth of a religious entity. (I'm not an expert on Islam, don't they count back to a pilgrimage or a revelation or something?) You got other ideas? Look it up. That other one was the Emperor Augustus's idea, and the rest was sheer coincidence.
But the year, 2555. In Thai it comes out, "bee song ha ha ha." Thai Interneters don't write "LOL," they write "555," as in ha! ha! ha! So it's going to be a year of fun, one could only hope with a name like that. I hope so anyway, but I wish us all luck. It might be a bumpy ride.
If you missed it, please go back a couple of pages and check out "They Are Our Teachers," dated December 20th. I'm kind of proud of that one.
Santorum To Mother Of Cancer Survivor: Sick To Blame For Pre-Existing Conditions, Should Be Charged More
Santorum To Mother Of Cancer Survivor: Sick To Blame For Pre-Existing Conditions, Should Be Charged More: pDuring a town hall in Keene, New Hampshire this morning, Rick Santorum told a mother whose son survived cancer that people with pre-existing conditions should pay more for health care coverage because they make poor health care choices. While specifically exempting the woman’s child from personal blame, Santorum insisted that the sick cost more to [...]/p
So, let's face it, these people are just un-fucking-believable. Can we please just take profit out of this equation? Like the civilized countries? Oh, excuse me, Americans are not particularly aware of what's really going on in the world. Look it up, people! The rest of the developed world laughs at your so-called health care. (And your vacations; and your "sick days;" and your pensions . . . you get the idea.)
So, let's face it, these people are just un-fucking-believable. Can we please just take profit out of this equation? Like the civilized countries? Oh, excuse me, Americans are not particularly aware of what's really going on in the world. Look it up, people! The rest of the developed world laughs at your so-called health care. (And your vacations; and your "sick days;" and your pensions . . . you get the idea.)
ABBA Bang-A-Boomerang
A great song from ABBA, and I don't care what anybody says. I took a lot of flack from my LA hep cat friends in the late 70's for loving ABBA (pre-"Dancing Queen" anyway, I embrace the wide range of normality but even I have limits), but I didn't care. I know what I like, and I still love this cut, among others by them.
The pictures that accompany this vid are great, totally revealing of another phenomenon all together. It's always interesting to me how some of these Europeans can seem so hip and so square all at the same time. Did I say square? Doofy, even.
It's the smaller European countries that can pull this off. Holland is my favorite European country, I love the Dutch. They personify this whole thing, the cool/square thing. Definitely go to Holland if you can, it's a great place, but you'll notice that the Dutch dress like blind people who didn't have much of a closet to choose from in the first place. Mixing colors and patterns, weird shirts and combinations, there's a Dutch talk show floating around, check it out and you'll see what I mean.
But ABBA . . . what's not to love?
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Grand Finale With Trainee Croc Wrangler
You've got to love this kid. He came on at the end of the show and they let him man-handle a small croc. And the other man holding a croc, notice how he has taught that particular croc to wave at the audience. All in all, a pretty good croc show, don't you think?
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