Musings and Meanderings

The RNC Day Two Catching Arnold now. Apparently he became a Republican cause he liked Nixon. That's old tricky Dick for those of you who don't remember him, or live in the retroactively re written history that the rest of this party lives in. Maria does not look amused nor happy to be surrounded by Republicans. I'm sure the ghost of her cousin will be haunting her tonight. Apparently its ok to respectfully disagree and still be patriotic as long as you are a Republican according to Arnold. But if you are a Democrat and participated in "the True Lies Convention" I guess you are not.... I would like to remind readers what Howard Dean said at the DNC: We are not going to be afraid to stand up for what we believe in ever again. We are not going to let those who disagree with us shout us down under a banner of false patriotism. Personally I found his speech to be jingoistic and highly offensive. It also showed a lack typical lack of a grasp of the facts. But I

The RNC Day One. Catching the McCain speech tonight. So far the McCain reason to re-elect Bush is that he waged war on Saddam Hussein. A war that we started, the first war America has waged without direct provocation in modern history. There is no link between Iraq and 9/11. Multiple reports have determined this. However I am on record that this war was necessary, but it was was predicated by lies and deceit. Then they trotted out the family survivors of the 9/11 flight. But they didn't say anything as to why we should re-elect Bush. Guess this is going to be a 9/11 fest. Nothing wrong with celebrating and remembering 9/11. But to politicized this event as some sort of memoriam to the greatness of George Bush is revolting. What happened tonight with these three women is completely shameless. Completely shameless. I hope the 9/11 family survivors protest this most strongly. And then came Rudy. How can you not like Rudy. But Rudy, we didn't finish in Afghanistan. I

Odds and Ends Day trip to NH Alex and I set off at 9am for NH to see Dad and Kathy yesterday. To our great delight cousin Anne also came out to visit, though she arrived a bit later in the afternoon. We got there around 11am having made great time. Dad was out so Kathy and I had a nice chat about life, the Universe, and everything. Dad came back with the NYTimes (NE Edition) so we consumed that, looked at the pictures I brought from scout camp and Giants Training Camp. I brought the Giants pics cause they were taken with the old camera Dad had given me. Kathy made this mad good lunch and the neighbor's children Chelsea (13) and Tayor (15) came over. We did a little birthday celebration, as it was Chelsea's birthday tomorrow (13) as well as Alex's on Monday. They are the ones that took such good care of Kathy when she was stuck in NH after breaking her ankle. They also played with Alex when he was out this summer. The kids went swimming later in the neighbor's

ONE WEEK TODAY In a lot of ways this has been one of the toughest weeks. At nine o'clock tonight I hit one full week cold turkey from cigarettes. The days are pretty easy, but the nights are not. I try to stay awake as long as possible so I literally collapse in exhaustion so Im not twitching. As the week has progressed it has been better bit by bit at night. I do tend to twitch a bit btw 930 and 1130, but that was my most intensive smoking time. So I've been mega crabby to Alex and Liza, but I'm trying not to be. Its really not easy. Like a thousand tiny pins in my nerves. And my head buzzes starting around dinner time. So whine and complain. But ya know what. Its my blog and I'll whine if I want to.

I get more and more depressed I don't think that the American Public is capable of making an informed choice for any elected position, nor for that matter, an informed choice on anything. I'm convinced there is no left wing media, nor right wing media, its simply Corporate Media. If it doesnt fit into a byte or sound bit, then it doesn't go out. There is no place for complicated facts, intimate discussion nor intense investigation of the issues. There is only time for sound bits and talking points. America does not read anymore either, newspaper readership is waay down, magazines like Time and Newsweek are so dummied down so as to have a reading level that would not challenge a 7th grade student. So as long as the Right Wing is controlling the agenda, there is no hope for progressive America. I'm sure I'll be less paranoid and depressed tomorrow.

Some Odds and End Most important On Saturday Night, in the MIDDLE of a cigarette, I said FUCK THIS, stubbed out the cigarette, then I poured the 3/4 of a pack into my hands and broke them in half. Shoved them in the trash and said NO MORE. I had been waiting for some closure, ie the end of a pack, at night, so I coud start the hypothetical new day by quiting. That day never came, so I figured it was symbolic to finish half way through and break up the pack. Its now over 60 hours, no gum, no cigarette. Doing the Pachyderm CT method again. I thought of chewing the nicorette gum on Sunday night but I remember though I quit with it once, it really just drags out the cravings over weeks, and I finally just had to go cold turkey on the gum too. Sunday night was tough, literally crawling out of my skin, last night not as bad, I was sucking on throat lonzenges yesterday. Alex is back for good Well traveling boy is home for the summer, that is the 18 days that are left. We have

Another long blog break Yea its been a bit since I blogged last. Two weeks I think. The first week I was at Rotary Scout camp with Alex and the troop. From the 8th to the 14th, fresh air, exercise and a bit of sun. The bug count was pretty low cause it has been a cool summer. We didn't get any rain till the end of the week which is astounding because for the previous three weeks we had gotten rain every evening, sometimes very heavy. Now this was not roughing it in any sense. We slept in Canvas tents on wooden platforms on cots. We ate at the dining hall and got three carb laden meals a day. The food was barely passable but I guess it was good for camp cooking. They site has some excellent showers as well so we were not wanting for cleanliness if that was wanted. The boys were very programmed, from 9 to noon and 2 to 430 they were in merit badge classes. Alex earned his basketry, leatherworking, finger printing, emergency saftely and mammal studies merit badges with hi

I Robot. Back in the beginning of July when I heard that this movie was coming out I decided to (originally) re read my copy of I Robot. Haveing done so, I decided to re read the 4 "Robot Novels". Having done so I decided to re read the 5 Foundation books as well. Yea it was a great tour de force of some of Asimov's great works, and now that I have read the final Foundation book I'm going "back" to his later books on the Prelude to Foundation. Reviewing or discussing these books would be a couple of days blog on their own. No, my point is that I have been immersed in Asimov for 30 days, reading nothing else in the way of fiction. With this mindset I took Alex and Lucas to see I Robot with some trepidation as well as some excitement. I cannot say I was disappointed. I have been trying to come up with an analogy as to just how this movie fits in with the worlds that Asimov created in his four Robot Novels and the final Foundation Novel. Its not reall

Thoughts on Fundamentalism in general, and Islamic in particular Of course what is being practiced by these fanatics in Iraq today is not Islam. I know you know that so don't think I'm preaching to you of course! Through out time immorial individual or small groups of men have used the guise of their Religion to further their strictly political or power ends. These people have never represented the face of their true faith, but have always perverted it to gain their own ends. Alas in today's highly armed world, these small groups of fanatics are able to wreak ever increasing destruction, all while wrapping it up in the blanket of their fundamentalism. Probably more than ever before in human history fanaticism threatens world peace and individual freedoms. I see no difference between the Islamic Fundamentalist who blows up Christians, the Judaic Fundamentalists who seize Palestinian's homes and property or the Christian Fundamentalist who kills "Abortion D

WHAT liberal media??? I don't think I've ever done this, but today's blog is simply a copy of an op-ed piece in the NYT discussing the absolute tavesty of the so called cable news channels in their coverage of the Democratic Convention. No wonder there was no bounce, if this is where the Average American gets their news. No way could I have said this better. So here it is. Reading the Script By PAUL KRUGMAN Published: August 3, 2004 A message to my fellow journalists: check out media watch sites like campaigndesk.org , mediamatters.org and dailyhowler.com . It's good to see ourselves as others see us. I've been finding The Daily Howler's concept of a media "script," a story line that shapes coverage, often in the teeth of the evidence, particularly helpful in understanding cable news. For example, last summer, when growth briefly broke into a gallop, cable news decided that the economy was booming. The gallop soon slowed to a

I hate to say I told ya so... Last Thursday I believe, I hypothesized upon the chances that the Republicans would be able to stay positive in the next few months. Slim to none would have been my conclusion. In this Sundays NYT, one of the front page headlines reported this: Bush Planning August Attack Against Kerry WASHINGTON, July 31 President Bush's campaign plans to use the normally quiet month of August for a vigorous drive to undercut John Kerry by turning attention away from his record in Vietnam to what the campaign described as an undistinguished and left-leaning record in the Senate. Mr. Bush's advisers plan to cap the month at the Republican convention in New York, which they said would feature Mr. Kerry as an object of humor and calculated derision. Calculated Derision? Humor? Makes me think I'm back on the elementary playgrounds of Dilworth Elementary. It's the same feeling I got when these people first got into power and I began rea

The Dead at SPAC By all rights this should be a review of the Dead show tonight at SPAC. I'm sure many of you know that I'm a big fan and love the newly re-formed Dead. In the time that they were on hiatus as a band, before they reconstituted as The Other Ones and then as The Dead if feels as if each artist got a better feel for who they were as individual artists. When they came back to together their sum being the greater of their parts was even more powerful because of this new identity. Also frankly, and this is heresy to many Dead Heads, I feel very strongly that from the mid 80's to the end in 97 Jerry Garcia really dragged the band's sound down. I do miss his voice that is for sure, but his drug induced playing really got on my nerves near the end. As a consequence I don't really listen much to the shows I have from that time period. So if I'm such a fan, why am I not there this evening? I'll tell you. The cost. Now it's not because