Thursday, July 31, 2008

"What's Goin' On?"

The latest presidential poll data has the race very tight, with Barack Obama's slight lead in certain "battleground" states getting slighter. I wonder why. Obama is bright, articulate, young, vigorous, inquisitive, intelligent, well-read, a teacher, a lawyer, etc. McCain is none of these. He may be intelligent, but has yet to prove it. But wait, he is experienced!! Yes, he was a prisoner of war and he was tortured. OK, what else? Experience? He was/is a member of the Keating 5. What else? He tells bad jokes. His picture is next to flip-flop in the illustrated dictionary of politics. He hired the infamous Swift Boat liars to help his campaign. His economic adviser was (and probably still is) former Senator Phil Gramm (R-TX) who thinks that there is no current economic problem and states that the country is composed of whiners. Of course, Gramm's wife was a director of ENRON and she and Phil have yet to be implicated for their malfeasance in that crime family. What else? He kissed W after he (McCain) was swift-boated by Rove and company. The upshot? I have to state what is on my mind...racism. The country still fears a black man. Remember the primaries in West Virginia and Kentucky?

Monday, July 28, 2008

Holy Incompetence, Batman!!

So the nice lady at Social Security left me a message on our land line telephone stating that I needed to supply them with a certified copy of my birth certificate because I had lost my old copy in a basement flood. No, she said when I called her back, I could not provide copies of all of those documents that I have that are based upon previous presentations of the lost birth certificate. I had to re-prove my birth, in case I was trying to establish a false identity and steal my own meager benefits. So I contacted the City Clerk for my esteemed home town of Woonsocket, RI and found that I had to send a check via the USPS to get a copy of the birth certificate. No, there is no way to order via the internet or telephone or fax. No, a credit card payment is impossible. Send a check in the mail. OK. I received said birth certificate. Unfortunately, it had no birth date on it. How in the hell can a city clerk's office send out a birth certificate without a birth date on it? Of course, each person with whom I spoke at the clerk's office refused to take responsibility for omission and blamed a "part-timer" for the mistake. There was no answer as to who was supposed to check the "part-timer's" work. In any event, the clerk's office would get a complete copy in the mail, if I would just repeat my data to them. I offered to fax the date-less copy to them, but they stated that their fax machine did not always work. Would they send my new document via overnight mail? No, they do not have that capability. Because it was the city's mistake, however, the office would send two copies of the document in today's mail. Let's hope that they put the same date on each!

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Who Framed Roger Clemens and the Fountainhead Follies

Oh my god, they are trying to frame Roger Clemens!! Wait, maybe he did lie! What, a Texan lying? A Texan doing drugs? Roger is just like W??!!?? You mean that both of them are not holier than thou? (Dabottadem in RI-speak) You mean that they are as fallible as you and me? Say it ain't so, Joe!!!

As the economy continues to tank, even TV commercials are picking at the scab. Allstate insurance has their current spokesperson (the former President of the USA - at least on "24") mentioning a "recession" (it's on TV so it must be true). The upshot is that Ayn Rand's crackpot theories as expressed in her minor science fiction novels "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead" have been shown to be the malarkey they truly are. That so-called leaders such as Andrea Mitchell's husband (didn't he used to be somebody?), Phil Gramm, W, Slick Willie, Robert Rubin and the rest of the Chicago School of Economics devotees and Ayn Rand boot-lickers should quickly and publicly apologize for their errors and withdraw from polite society. (Oh, there are many others, but space and hunger prevent me from naming them all, including the many so-called liberals among them.) Deregulation has been a freaking disaster: energy (remember Enron? Gramm's spousal unit was a Board member - any jail time for her? I think not); airlines; banks (remember the Hatch-St. Germain Act and its aftermath; plus the current Gramm sponsored debacle?); telecom; etc. Sure, telephone calls are cheaper than the 70's, but last I checked Ma Bell was re-assembling here dismembered parts and now these bums are beyond the law). I could go on, but low blood sugar is attacking me! But I rant and rave...and I saved another $100 in shrink fees!

Friday, July 11, 2008

Remember the Keating 5

As IndyMac tanks and FreddieMac and FannieMae teeter on the brink of collapse, please remember this: Neil Bush (yes, W's brother) was bailed out and John McCain (yes THAT McCain) was absolved of complicity in the bank failure that was such a horror in Texas, Arizona, Ohio, Florida, Oklahoma and Rhode Island, amongst other places, in decades gone by. W does not want to see any lenders get bailed out this time (Oh, really!?!?!?!?!?) - after all, Neil and Jeb are into other things now and Happy Jack is running for W's seat. Interesting to note that McCain, a war hero, and John Glenn, a space hero, both managed to wriggle out of the Keating mess. Can't have our heros dripping in doo doo, can we??? C'est la vie!!

Stinkin' Excuses

One of my not-so-humble correspondents who hails from Tejas claims that he cannot get past the password to respond to my blog. What is he talking about? Being the right-wing boomer that he is, he probably is semi-illiterate when it comes to computers. Maybe he needs to hire someone to figure this out. Even my sister figured it out. Tejas-man must be just too damned smart for this stuff. Since he could not respond to the blog, I have reproduced my pointy-headed, commie-pinko reply to his tirade against me..."...since you haven't read it, you have no right to lambaste me...yet...so are you stating that Jesse Helms was a lunatic lefty since he was racist, ignorant of economics, a mean-spirted character assassin, naive in foreign affairs and held in disdain all who did not agree with him?? Any password block that exists is on your system...I would not block anyone from replying. Air America failed (wait, it is still on the air...) because of lack of advertising revenue, which is controlled by polemicists such as you and your ilk.

OOO, that felt good..."

"And it's 1, 2, 3, what are we fighting for? Don't ask me I don't give damn, next stop must be Iran..." sorry Country Joe.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Is Anyone Reading This?

Seriously. Of course, writing these little essays is better than therapy at $100 for 45 minutes (or so I think). Since I have not had any comments posted for some time now, I am guessing that no one is reading or that nothing that I am writing about strikes any of you in any way, shape or form. Please let me know via your comments on the blog itself. The self-gratification is good, but even brickbats, insults and bashing from right-wing, born-again Red Sox fans would be better. Oh, and how about those New York Football Giants!!! It was lovely to see those Dallas and New England fans sputtering and fuming. So, batter me back. By the way, what was your choice for the best rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" as presented on ESPN's Baseball Tonight? My 2-year old grandson Gannet (who knows the lyrics courtesy of his fanatical dziadziu) clapped and cheered for John Pizzarelli's entry. I voted for Gretchen Wilson (who made the final cut).

Profiles In Courage: July 2008

1) Kudos to the director of a state agricultural laboratory in North Carolina who refused to place flags at half staff for Jesse Helms. Seems as if he did not want to honor the memory of one of that state's leading racists. For following his conscience, this man was asked to resign or be fired. Since he was able to, he took early retirement.

2) Kudos to the 28 senators who had the chutzpah to vote against the FISA bill. The Democratic majority and those who claim to be upholders of the Constitution (4th Amendment in particular) should be ashamed!

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Has Success Spoiled the Red Sox Fans???

There is no question that Yankee fans have a history of obnoxious arrogance. Some would say that the team's historical sucesses have spawned this reality. Also historically, the Red Sox and the Cubs, as well as their fans, have been deemed "lovable" by many. Having been verbally abused for being a Yankee fan by many a Red Sox fanatic, I have always felt that Boston fans are among the worst on the planet - Bill Russell is among the many who agree. However, sports pundits have acclaimed the Boston sports fan as among the best. Similar to WMD in Iraq or that Iraq was involved in the World Trade Center attacks or that W has been over-mis-underestimated by the left-wing media (short of The Nation and Mother Jones...Oh, they mean Rupert Murdoch, I guess), repeat these calumnies, canards and lies often enough and the muddled masses say it must be so! Sorry, brethren, but it ain't so! An example follows as written in the Boston Globe about a Cape Cod "Fanatic."


By Maddie Hanna
Globe Correspondent / July 8, 2008

A Falmouth man accused of using a bat to beat a man he allegedly thought was a New York Yankees fan pleaded not guilty at his arraignment yesterday in Falmouth District Court.

Robert D. Correia, who faces charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and malicious destruction of a motor vehicle, was ordered held without bail, pending a dangerousness hearing scheduled for tomorrow.

On Friday, police said, the 20-year-old attacked a New York man, who police said was driving away from a Fourth of July fireworks display in Falmouth. When police arrived about 10 p.m., the fight had died down, Falmouth Police Chief Anthony Riello said yesterday. The initial investigation found that a group of young people from Falmouth had accused the man and his family of being Yankees fans because their car had New York plates, Riello said.

A Nashua man died in May after he was run over by a vehicle driven by a Nashua woman in what was called another fan dispute turned violent. Ivonne Hernandez, 43, was charged with reckless conduct, aggravated drunken driving, and second-degree murder. Police said she slammed into Matthew Beaudoin, 29, near a bar.

When the situation escalated Friday, police said, Correia hit the man with a bat. The man suffered injuries to his head and body. He was released from Falmouth Hospital, Riello said.

Riello said he did not know how many people were involved in the fight. He also did not know whether family members or bystanders had reported the Yankees taunts.

Robert Nolan, a Falmouth lawyer who represents Correia, said his client had been in his apartment nearby when the argument began. He grabbed a bat and went outside in an attempt to break it up, Nolan said. He dismissed the idea that Correia had swung at the man out of team rivalry.

"There's an awful lot of talk about this guy was attacked because he was a Yankees fan," Nolan said. Correia "never heard a word about Red Sox, Yankees, New York, anything like that."

Local authorities have withheld the name of the alleged victim. The New York Post has identified him as William Nestor, 29, of Northport, N.Y. The newspaper also reported that Nestor was in his car with his wife and parents when a group of rowdy young people approached.

"They were yelling, 'Yankees! Yankees!' " Nestor told the Post.

Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O'Keefe said what started the argument was "largely irrelevant." Still, he said it was appalling that violence would enter an argument about baseball.

"I think that the idea of introducing a baseball bat into a verbal argument that people are having over whether or not somebody likes one sports team versus another sports team is absurd," O'Keefe said.

Nestor could not be reached.

Riello said police would issue a warrant today for another Falmouth man suspected of being involved in the altercation. The man, who allegedly threw himself into and damaged the New York family's car, will probably be charged with malicious destruction to a motor vehicle, Riello said.

Maddie Hanna can be reached at mhanna@globe.com.
© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.