Thursday, August 14, 2008

What's Goin On? (III)

A guy walks into a UU church and shoots "liberals" because he (the shootist) can't find a job. A guy walks into the office of the chair of the Arkansas Democratic Party and shoots the chairman because he (the shootist) wants to volunteer. A swiftboat assassin publishes a book attacking Barack Obama and it (the book) shoots (pun intended) to #1 on the NY Times Bestseller list. Nevermind that most of the information in the book is unsubstantiated or an outright lie, or that the sales for this book are inflated by bulk-purchasing programs of right-wing hate/nut groups. It is open season on any and all who are not right-wing nutcases or haters. Here it comes - I'm going to clearly state it - a vast right wing conspiracy to drive anyone not a right wing nutcase or a liberal hater into hiding. I challenge all of us who are not nuts or haters to put a stop to this immediately.

Travels With Bubbie

Bubbie's business has taken us "on the road" of late: one journey to Northern California and a second to Western Washington, both by automobile. Even at $4+/gallon, gasoline is less expensive than flying. The Bay Area and Marin County haven't changed much since our last jaunt there in the spring. Bubbie had her meeting in Emeryville, we hung out with family in Corte Madera and San Geronimo, and Pop and I ate oysters fresh at and from Drake's Bay. Cousin Jack was nowhere to be seen, heard or felt, neither in the town nor the city.

The trip back to OR via the Redwood Highway was spooky. The forest fires plaguing CA had driven many of the forest folk to seek shelter along the coast in and about Arcata and environs. All of the motels were full of desperate folks, as were the streets. Even though they roll up the sidewalks at 8 PM thereabouts, at that hour lots of sullen-looking people were sitting around every available table at just about every venue. We scurried home.

WA was more the usual. Again, Bubbie had business in Bellevue after which we headed to Port Townsend and Chimicum for more family revelry (and more oysters for me). The combination of tourists and trust-fund-babies in PT is always remarkable and this last trip did not disappoint. H. Bert Frank, like Cousin Jack, was conspicuous with his apparent absence.

Friday, August 1, 2008

What's Goin On? Part II / Oh, Blackwater...

Unemployment is up; economic growth is down. The cynic in me states that it is now time to attack Iran, or North Korea, or Venezuela...let's make it Venezuela. Bush hates Chavez because Chavez was actually elected by his people, not appointed by his daddy's judges. Venezuela is close by, has lots of oil and we haven't already destroyed their oil-production infrastructure with a previous war. Nah! That just might affect the November election adversely. The following thought gives me chills...

It will be interesting to see what the Bushies do to maintain power come November if McCain is somehow behind in the polls despite all of the coming swift-boating and race baiting. Blackwater USA has announced that it is curtailing its Iraq operations and will concentrate on its security operations. Hmmm...Blackwater has approximately 30,000 operatives on its on-call list and its HQ (in NC) is a relatively short drive from Washington, DC. In keeping with the GOP's history of October surprises, wouldn't it be amazing if the Bush-Cheney crime family were to announce that since we are at war, al Qaeda is in the streets of DC, and our armed forces are otherwise engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Constitution (what little still remains 7.5 years after the coup) is herewith suspended and Blackwater has been deputized to defend the country. Science Fiction you say? Granted, but just keep in mind that the Bush-Cheney family also stacked the Supreme Court with toadies, arranged for the 2000 coup, ignored the Saudi connections to 9/11, ignored the "chatter" prior to 9/11, fabricated an Iraqi connection to 9/11, illegally and immorally attacked Iraq, botched the occupation, cemented the 2000 coup with the 2004 takeover of Ohio, outed Valerie Plame, set new standards for scandals and corruption that make even the Grant and Harding (mis)administrations blanch, set aside the constitution, violated the law at every turn, ignored the courts and congress, etc, etc, etc, etc. Going on will do no good for my disposition. When it happens, I told you so...If it doesn't happen, I will be very happy that I was wrong.