tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-154993772024-03-13T00:07:50.839-04:00Barking Up TreesGreetings from the Occupied Capital of America!Barking Up Treeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12607988862083199144noreply@blogger.comBlogger1396125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15499377.post-67538743889551523902015-03-12T13:57:00.000-04:002015-03-12T14:09:33.565-04:00what's for lunch...?<div class="_5pbx userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrOQYM4aZJHyTtnKRN63Fq1VQBdNHeUZKNInAqqVTfXbHExO7YPnFMMcHPpF_oGwMaQw4U4YPLgOtl8us4Zzhx00F_Li46mMdNvaj2JL2dRGQgXDqN_Q3OgrWK9G6f8Qjljq_u4g/s1600/usatsi_8086924.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrOQYM4aZJHyTtnKRN63Fq1VQBdNHeUZKNInAqqVTfXbHExO7YPnFMMcHPpF_oGwMaQw4U4YPLgOtl8us4Zzhx00F_Li46mMdNvaj2JL2dRGQgXDqN_Q3OgrWK9G6f8Qjljq_u4g/s1600/usatsi_8086924.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
I've
been part of Patriot Nation since 1971, so I know whereof I speak when I yawn mightily at the collective freakout *we're* having at yet another #24 (Ty Law, anyone?)
departing for parts known. Thanks for the memories, Darrelle Revis! <br />
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We're fresh off a 4th Superbowl victory out
of, uhm, 6(!!) this century, and the noise is reminiscent of wildebeasts suddenly startled by the croc popping up in the watering hole. A good time for the Lord's Prayer "In Bill We Trust" methinks.<br />
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Just get us
to the playoffs with the home field advantage ferchrissakes and Tom
Terrific will carve up whichever poor-slob Turkey that finds itself on the Gillette carpet, and the passel of nobodies-in-pats-unis now (& then) on
the other side of the ball will fill the gaps as needed (thanks to the best coaching staff in the game), and we'll see
you in the AFC final and maybe even the frickin' Superbowl in '16, what the
fuck!</div>
Barking Up Treeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12607988862083199144noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15499377.post-72239180593330657372014-07-09T17:20:00.001-04:002014-07-09T19:13:28.342-04:00oh hey, yahhhh? you betcha... !<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/hqAVuE524Gk" width="480"></iframe><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I noted a couple of days ago that it was 37 years ago to the day when I was standing on the front porch of my mother's house on Lexington Street in Woburn, Massachusetts. I know this because the postman was delivering her her mail, and one piece for which she had to sign. She remarked aloud, "Oh hey, today's '7.7.77!'"</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />The postman sounded surprised and nodded, "Oh yeah!"
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />My mother nodded too and asked rhetorically, "Isn't that interesting?"
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Nodding some more, the postman acknowledged, "Sure is!" Both still nodding, neither sure as to how to extricate themselves from this bit of comedy.
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Years later, I would be able to compare it to a scene from the movie 'Fargo'--"Oh yahhh, you betcha!"
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />And a few years later, I can show you what I mean...</span>
Barking Up Treeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12607988862083199144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15499377.post-81574810067222352172014-04-30T11:57:00.001-04:002014-04-30T12:33:42.024-04:00get off my lawn... !<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Charles M. Schulz, it turned out, was a bit of a curmudgeon who isolated himself from friends and family, perhaps best illustrated when he said thru his avatar Linus Van Pelt, "I love humanity. It's people I can't stand!" I pondered this as<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"> I had an exchange recently on Twitter with a woman offering one of those soporific thought-munchies about expecting others to do unto you as you would do unto them, a reversal on the biblical golden rule from the Sermon on the Mount (I think), and which she's now deleted, wonder of wonders. My response was a simple: "But what if one is a misanthrope?" It was one of my many attempts at humor, but it also made me wonder subsequently if I wasn't in fact a misanthrope... or just a curmudgeon.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">Food4thought!</span></span></div>
Barking Up Treeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12607988862083199144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15499377.post-73052494332333400632014-04-24T13:39:00.001-04:002014-04-25T00:33:58.790-04:00life is cheap, you say... ?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5jzfx_XN0teaIwmYRMC1CBvWiXblCYqgdpX3GhnRD7h0skyx3Xu3hDUM_fD2Q3s67ULzrF72a9txkkp_N4vnEBPWR-X4kFZpAy-jvlPTRL_KaOg4aIRe_RHM1sMzEPSkNGAwQ8g/s1600/hoboken-robbery-silver-handgun-300x176.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5jzfx_XN0teaIwmYRMC1CBvWiXblCYqgdpX3GhnRD7h0skyx3Xu3hDUM_fD2Q3s67ULzrF72a9txkkp_N4vnEBPWR-X4kFZpAy-jvlPTRL_KaOg4aIRe_RHM1sMzEPSkNGAwQ8g/s1600/hoboken-robbery-silver-handgun-300x176.jpg" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">I see American society spiraling toward a more volatile if not unrelentingly violent feudal system controlled exclusively by the obscenely wealthy who would without a care bludgeon the masses whose lives they deem as cheap. I am, at rest, progressive in thought, and did at one time fervently believe the motto engraved atop the Supreme Court's building facade: "Equal Justice Under Law," an ideal now proved to be at best beyond reach, or at worst a hideous fraud... all to my gloom and disillusionment. Should one not then avail himself of weaponry with the expressed intent of putting it to useful purpose when the metaphorical balloon goes up and as he just happens to be in the way? Or perhaps just before... would he be a hero then or a villain?</span></span>Barking Up Treeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12607988862083199144noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15499377.post-79123962513252272432014-04-17T22:13:00.000-04:002014-04-17T22:13:07.825-04:00fix it... !!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUU_KZE6GnyBvzbMIP7ywJGMTWzpJt31m3vYX1v4OwYUeQ9AclkJkvcVVE4N0lmGY0-QJsHl00DTT39nY0qtkp41nbfp1NWmbb4JHSJNrLzNAxcv0xfPUCVKl6EDarM4gfIvTJOA/s1600/Big+Papi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUU_KZE6GnyBvzbMIP7ywJGMTWzpJt31m3vYX1v4OwYUeQ9AclkJkvcVVE4N0lmGY0-QJsHl00DTT39nY0qtkp41nbfp1NWmbb4JHSJNrLzNAxcv0xfPUCVKl6EDarM4gfIvTJOA/s1600/Big+Papi.jpg" height="228" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">I *must* be getting old because I object to the beat-to-death incorporation of Neil Diamond's (a Brooklynite, not Brooklineite!) 'Sweet Caroline' for the 7th-inning stretch at Fenway. Oh, I get the fans love to jerk off to the 'So good! So</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"> good!' rhythms, and that it wakes them the fuck up to survive the final 1-1/2-to-2 innings, gahd forbid extra frames, but haven't they heard: it's a song about Caroline Kennedy at the age of 5, and the 'touching me/touching you' inspiration is way past creepy. And, Jesus Christ, it's been 13 years since 9/11. I mean, Irving Berlin's "God Bless America" is a lovely anthem and all, but group-nationalism TWICE a game is bullshit! Either get rid of it or the national anthem before the start of the game or both! And shove the flag-lapel pins up yer ass while yer at it!! And couldn't we just pipe in a recording of John Kiley's cover of 'Take Me Out To The Ballgame' for old-time's sake? And make the Sox wear knickers and SOCKS again. No more with the bell-bottom pantaloons!! This is BASEBALL, not 'Dancing With The Douche-cups!'</span></span></div>
Barking Up Treeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12607988862083199144noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15499377.post-43334967620116248772014-02-08T22:42:00.003-05:002014-02-08T23:01:14.239-05:00... movie review: Concussion...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6NuVVQxCTHo0rhFoBFm4GPHRKyGCwVMLqf3J7j8qod8d7krNvHRkAcqhRNdHKNTHyqttIA8ioW_AZCvKXNVu1fdZqljpjUjtEdiXAdne3fz1FAKfGVsSLPxDltN9XLN-i9JgtfA/s1600/MV5BMjMxNDAyODI0Ml5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNTAzMTUzMDE@._V1_SX214_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6NuVVQxCTHo0rhFoBFm4GPHRKyGCwVMLqf3J7j8qod8d7krNvHRkAcqhRNdHKNTHyqttIA8ioW_AZCvKXNVu1fdZqljpjUjtEdiXAdne3fz1FAKfGVsSLPxDltN9XLN-i9JgtfA/s1600/MV5BMjMxNDAyODI0Ml5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNTAzMTUzMDE@._V1_SX214_.jpg" /></a></div>
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A well-made independent film is the remedy to the malady that is <i>Hollywood</i>. Predictability is lost in the Indie, as is the viewer's self-awareness.<br />
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Were I to fancy myself as one with an eclectic taste in choosing what to watch next, right or wrong, it is that discovery of a diamond in the rough that reassures the ego as having made the proper choice whereas box-office is rarely a proper indicator by which to go. </div>
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Having said that, it's good to know what people like or do not when the sampling is significant enough to weed out the stand-alone. At the other end of the spectrum, my Netflix queue, for example, is maxed out such that I cannot now add another film without subtracting something else. The quickest and easiest factor to make that decision is the film's popularity. Ultimately one must decide which to jetison based on mass appeal--who's already seen it and didn't like it? Far easier to delete film No. 487 from my queue, which has 1.9 stars, vs. No. 325 at 3-1/4, the difference between the audience actually liking or not liking the thing.</div>
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<i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2296697/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Concussion</span></a></i>, a story about a bored lesbian house frau choosing to bust a move to a more exciting lifestyle, is one such film and where I must depart from the group. The people gave it 2.9 stars, although I give it 4.0. I liked it very much.</div>
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I'd forgotten how it got onto my queue until I saw Maggie Siff enter a scene; she of <i>Sons of Anarchy</i> fame. Then I remembered that one Salon critic recommended the film. Couple that with the fact I generally like girl-on-girl activity. <br />
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What can I say? I'm red-blooded and American.</div>
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I'm not into spoiler alerts; but suffice it to say <i>Concussion</i> is an intelligent character study with sound and tasteful production, direction, and writing values, and doesn't devolve into the typically maudlin estrogen-poisoning a la, say, The L-Word. Ten minutes into it, I didn't think I'd like it, but I found myself being surprised at every other turn.</div>
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Shorter g.: I like that in my lesbians. Recommended.</div>
Barking Up Treeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12607988862083199144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15499377.post-24237993420863160832014-01-27T01:22:00.003-05:002014-01-27T02:07:50.100-05:00if you want peace, work for justice... <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPIOQZjM-sVoWzf_Vp8h2wEs8xyfMb2mlYcZpe-qHT9531cIobQGH_0EkFet-nr_XfINGOAkJOLNoG9rmgos1yT_Q03gxa3RQ44oCZyb8Ra-vLF_8mKNTRhp_nTFqc57TsxzKtXQ/s1600/google-zip.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPIOQZjM-sVoWzf_Vp8h2wEs8xyfMb2mlYcZpe-qHT9531cIobQGH_0EkFet-nr_XfINGOAkJOLNoG9rmgos1yT_Q03gxa3RQ44oCZyb8Ra-vLF_8mKNTRhp_nTFqc57TsxzKtXQ/s1600/google-zip.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">I wonder if <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/01/25/san-franciscos-guerrilla-protest-at-google-buses-swells-into-revolt/" rel="nofollow"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">this</span></a> isn't what Venture Capitalist Perkins was on about when he threw out the word "Kristallnacht" (see post below on my wall) to the Wall Street Journal:</span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;">"Just before Christmas, a window was smashed on a Google bus in Oakland,</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">across the San Francisco Bay. Last week, protesters doorstepped a Google engineer who they claimed was involved in working with the government to develop eavesdropping techniques and “war robots” for the military. “Anthony Levandowski is building an unconscionable world of surveillance, control and automation,” they wrote on flyers left near his house. “He is also your neighbor.”</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><br />Perkins didn't just call it a Kristallnacht, but a <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/01/25/san-franciscos-guerrilla-protest-at-google-buses-swells-into-revolt/" rel="nofollow">'<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">progressive Kristallnacht</span></a>,' meaning anyone who dares question Corporate is a Nazi. But of course!<br /><br />Yes, parallels there be perhaps. But let us consider the targets of those who would oppress us; not 'Jews' necessarily as Perkins and his Oligarchic friends would have it, but 'Plutocrats,' as in it's the Plutocrats who control Wall Street and the U.S. Media and the hi-tech industries, ergo the American government and, by extension, We The People of the United States... and the world! So, when they legislate and gerrymander our voting rights away from us, or when they steal our money from us and claim it as their own, showing little mercy or compassion and are kindly rewarded by the White House and Congress, one can only wonder what recourse? Short of a violent uprising as a response, or submitting outright, what is there for the have-nots to do?<br /><br />The answer, again of course, is to die.</span></span></span>Barking Up Treeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12607988862083199144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15499377.post-65278860325357652422010-06-10T15:23:00.005-04:002010-06-10T17:23:48.393-04:00brother, can you spare a grand... ?<blockquote></blockquote>Although, I don't think dropping said grand on a weekend to go see <a href="https://ems.resrunner.com/_events/652/;jsessionid=TBEyEXsP9kU8Gjpn6Mwuq8gnsETNVtbbEfAUKhsHcbg="><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;">my team</span></a> get killed sounds too practical in this economy. It is, however, a luxury certainly.<div><br /></div><div>Can I catch it on local TV?<blockquote></blockquote></div>Barking Up Treeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12607988862083199144noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15499377.post-904421309068385652010-06-10T10:48:00.006-04:002010-06-10T11:03:24.933-04:00please pass the serotonin...I am finding the news just a little more depressing each and every day, particularly discouraging that our elected representation seems either incapable or unwilling or both to fix the problems laid before us. No, instead it's every greedy little punk bastard for him- or herself, which, of course, I can identify with. Although, I'll be looking to fix in a different way: Boy needs his "<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/07/technology/07brain.html">dopamine squirt</a>.</span></span>"<div><br /></div><div>Ach! And not a methadone clinic in sight...</div>Barking Up Treeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12607988862083199144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15499377.post-57251150444305763352010-05-31T18:59:00.003-04:002010-05-31T19:59:32.365-04:00on this memorial day...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://thebsreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/americanflag01.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 364px; height: 309px;" src="http://thebsreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/americanflag01.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Acknowledging the service or our fallen troops and the great sacrifices made by all in the line of duty. Thank you!Barking Up Treeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12607988862083199144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15499377.post-65801504938243383012009-05-10T16:45:00.007-04:002009-05-13T18:10:59.640-04:00to mom on mother's day...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUsbB-3ctz1lAVAe2lUzkb9pEUGi8AWpAw7hlwoLr2VFD9FCAIdCDaS9gGo4zRe7DHLZ2a_oKdvWT2iv7UA7niauK3FAxfeh7aailDV_xlU0dKHSBBjplNvlQSw99LqbqelgCaLA/s1600-h/mom.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUsbB-3ctz1lAVAe2lUzkb9pEUGi8AWpAw7hlwoLr2VFD9FCAIdCDaS9gGo4zRe7DHLZ2a_oKdvWT2iv7UA7niauK3FAxfeh7aailDV_xlU0dKHSBBjplNvlQSw99LqbqelgCaLA/s400/mom.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334300424170446258" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Mary Emily Catherine Johnson "Jackie" Ammons</span>: 1926-2009<br /><br />On this Mother's Day, Mom passed at 6:15 a.m. Eastern.<br /><br />Your children miss you, Mom.<br /><br />----------<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Update</span>: <a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://www.legacy.com/MaineToday-PressHerald/Obituaries.asp?Page=Lifestory&PersonId=127247084">Obituary</a> for Jackie Ammons...Barking Up Treeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12607988862083199144noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15499377.post-30230105062894089002009-05-07T14:31:00.002-04:002009-05-07T14:41:54.000-04:00joe the bummer quitting the gop... ?<a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/05/joe-the-plumber----quitting-the-gop.php?ref=fp2">This</a> reminds me of when Ed Koch, then the mayor of New York, dared the United Nations to pull up stakes and out of the city, saying it would disappear out of the minds of the world if it did so.<br /><br />Either Joe the Bummer suffers delusions of grandeur, thinking the media or assorted knuckle-draggers will still come a'calling if and when he disassociates himself from the Repos, or he's aware this will allow him to step out of the limelight and go back to what's left of his real life. If it's the latter, then he's smarter than I ever gave him credit for.<br /><br />Now as for how low the GOP has sunk when even the Bummer can't be seen with it...Barking Up Treeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12607988862083199144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15499377.post-3788446501673820362009-05-04T11:26:00.003-04:002009-05-04T11:28:55.459-04:00blue gold: world water wars...<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p><object height="350" width="425"><param value="http://youtube.com/v/Ikb4WG8UJRw" name="movie"><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://youtube.com/v/Ikb4WG8UJRw" height="350" width="425"></embed></object></p><p>I discovered this via DailyKos, reminding me of when John McCain was getting grief from Colorado Republicans during last falls campaign because he was saying water from the Colorado River ought to be accessible in Arizona. I remember thinking, that could get ugly. Clearly I had... <span style="font-style: italic;">have</span> no idea...</p></div>Barking Up Treeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12607988862083199144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15499377.post-8982655913292658972009-05-04T11:12:00.002-04:002009-05-04T11:21:46.115-04:00friends like these...A day after Arlen Specter says he didn't promise Democrats a rose garden, he implies Republican indolence as <a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/04/specter-jack-kemps-death_n_195584.html">a cause in Jack Kemp's death</a>.<br /><br />Setting aside Kemp, being a former member of Congress, as having access to the best health coverage money can buy (short of buying a human organ on the black market, say), Specter is fast exposing himself to rank & file Dems as being <a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/05/specter-i-did-not-say-i-would-be-a-loyal-democrat.php?ref=fp1">absolutely worthless as an ally</a>. And it's beginning to look like Ed Rendell will have to eat his words about there being no Democratic primary in Pennsylvania next year.Barking Up Treeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12607988862083199144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15499377.post-28140136388285308572009-04-27T15:23:00.002-04:002009-04-27T15:30:40.962-04:00maine embarrasses itself...The good people of Maine have <a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/4/27/724835/-Collins,-Republicans,-Killed-Off-Enhanced-Pandemic-Preparedness-">this</a> to answer for:<br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><blockquote>Do you want to know who to blame for the US not being optimally prepared for an influenza pandemic? Start with Republican Senator from Maine Susan Collins[.]</blockquote></span></span>... which is not to absolve the Maine Democrats either. Tom Allen ran a monumentally half-assed campaign against Collins up here last year, and the Maine Dems therefore <span style="font-style: italic;">owe</span> it to the rest of the country to find somebody better suited than nominating a milquetoast like Tom Allen for the Governor's chair next year.Barking Up Treeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12607988862083199144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15499377.post-69125176590725613012009-04-27T14:16:00.001-04:002009-04-27T14:17:50.752-04:00could get interesting...Obama admin <a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/04/obama-official-conservative-dems-are-bad-guys.php?ref=fp4">targetting the Blue Dogs</a>?Barking Up Treeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12607988862083199144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15499377.post-36298383351921598792009-04-22T00:53:00.003-04:002009-04-22T01:10:54.625-04:00then it's *possible*...Rene Descartes had a lesser-known thought, likely far down the pantheon ladder than, say, from <a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cogito_ergo_sum">The Cogito</a>, and which is essentially this: If my senses sometimes deceive me, then <span style="font-style: italic;">it's possible</span> they always deceive me.<br /><br />Which has nothing really to do with my thought on the Cloris Leachman of Congress, Jane Harman, who must've pissed off some Intel bastard, who in turn leaked to the public <a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/4/21/722815/-Harman-on-NPR:-Train-Wreck">her being wiretapped</a> making sausages with an Israeli agent... except to say that if the bastard leaked on her, then <span style="font-style: italic;">it's possible</span> s/he will, when the time comes, leak on the other 534 stupid bastards that are also members of Congress, and who almost certainly were thoroughly wiretapped as well.<br /><br />This could get ugly.Barking Up Treeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12607988862083199144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15499377.post-14251608615654359852009-04-13T11:48:00.004-04:002009-04-13T12:41:44.872-04:00you think you got problems... ?Say a guy is unemployed, his unemployment having just run out, and here he's earned so little taxable income in the previous year that he doesn't qualify for renewal. He's pushing 50, hasn't gotten laid since sometime during his marriage a million years ago, and, to top it all off, it's <span style="font-style: italic;">Monday</span> - but, y'know, he wakes up, falls outta bed, turns on the box and... finds out <a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://www.smh.com.au/world/warning-that-pakistan-is-in-danger-of-collapse-within-months-20090412-a40u.html">it's worse than he thought</a>.Barking Up Treeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12607988862083199144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15499377.post-40693733567937421822009-04-10T11:50:00.005-04:002009-04-11T09:41:53.504-04:00so who knew arizona state was an accredited institution for higher learning... ?<a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=77468182141&h=bXETk&u=guQzQ&ref=mf">Get a load</a>:<br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><blockquote><span style="font-family:verdana;">Arizona State University has announced that it will not award an honorary degree to Obama when he gives the school's commencement speech on May. 13.</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />“Because President Obama’s body of work is yet to come, it’s inappropriate to recognize him at this time,” said University spokeswoman Sharon Keeler, as reported by the ASU State Press.</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />Keeler said ASU only awards honorary degrees to “someone who’s really outstanding, who has made outstanding contributions in their field."</span></blockquote></span>Well, let's see: community organizer goes on to the Illinois State Legislature goes on to the United States Senate goes on to the Presidency of the United States. Never mind that Ms. Keeler (and evidently everybody in the ASU administration) is beyond stupid, the question ought to be whether anybody who ever received a degree from Arizona State, be it honorary or legit (and all those are now called into question), who's done more vis a vis their respective bodies of work?<br /><br />Meanwhile, let us imagine we have an honorary ASU degree in one hand, and a genuine Juris Doctorate from Harvard w/Harvard Law Review in the other. Which way, do you think, the scales tip?<br /><br />ASU, the world sneers at you today!Barking Up Treeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12607988862083199144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15499377.post-17861473208256021132009-04-09T11:33:00.001-04:002009-04-09T11:36:09.836-04:00so what's the prob... ?Why wouldn't Obama cooperate with an impending World Court indictment of Bush & Cheney for war crimes? Because if the issue is "political" (i.e., the reason Obama is reluctant to pursue it through the Justice Dept.), then by all means, were a WC indictment to come down on Obama and his in the future, emphasis on "were," then a Republican president could, and should, cooperate just as readily.<br /><br />Political problem solved!Barking Up Treeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12607988862083199144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15499377.post-42645722567921996232009-04-05T09:35:00.001-04:002009-04-05T09:37:00.376-04:00mobile shoot...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeiTNWX3d7XzERx01ObVW8Rt4N-ceIF4vkTzNO2xhlWJ1iuKl4CFjEPs0bEhc1DrRpEi7l2pCPLUl8BB7i6SUKo7KzMCqb96I-Est5Q3KvJ3e9QFYL7LHf7hd9y1dxa38IGH1tdQ/s1600-h/orchid.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeiTNWX3d7XzERx01ObVW8Rt4N-ceIF4vkTzNO2xhlWJ1iuKl4CFjEPs0bEhc1DrRpEi7l2pCPLUl8BB7i6SUKo7KzMCqb96I-Est5Q3KvJ3e9QFYL7LHf7hd9y1dxa38IGH1tdQ/s400/orchid.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321200770138543282" border="0" /></a><br />I'm always amazed by the quality of pictures a cell phone can take when one considers the proper lighting. This orchid was a gift to my mother at yesterday's shin-dig.Barking Up Treeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12607988862083199144noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15499377.post-57836736404445439802009-03-30T21:13:00.003-04:002009-03-31T07:57:31.458-04:00a grand facebook debate...<span style="font-weight: bold;">Heavynews</span> notes that, at the end of business Monday, the flag of an occupying power was finally brought down and the skies over Florence, Ala., are clear again.<br />7:31pm<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Barking Up Trees</span> at 7:44pm March 30<br />the u.s. is pulling outta iraq... ?<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Heavynews</span> at 7:50pm March 30<br />Well, if they are, it's only to intensify the battle in Afghanistan. Good. I'm more concerned that we quickly pull U.S. forces out of Detroit.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Barking Up Trees</span> at 7:50pm March 30<br />or out of north america, eh... ?<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Heavynews</span> at 8:07pm March 30<br />Only if we're going to mass them at the Mexican border. That'll stimulate some economies.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Barking Up Trees</span> at 8:10pm March 30<br />uhm, does it matter if mexico's also in north america... ?<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Heavynews</span> at 8:18pm March 30<br />I always regarded "North America" as more a political distinction than geographic, easily distinguished as those places where ice hockey is played. Mexico is much more analogous at this point to Central America's fake governments front for drug cartels. Besides, mister, when we get through annexing them, they'll be the 51st state. Or maybe the 52nd. Or, if you're our president. the 58th or maybe 59th.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Barking Up Trees</span> at 8:19pm March 30<br />i'll consider that an endorsement...<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Heavynews</span> at 8:27pm March 30<br />I would vote for you, if only to expose you ... and to get you out of the education system and stop your poisoning of young minds, But that's just me.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Barking Up Trees</span> at 8:29pm March 30<br />dude, didn't they tell you... ? mississip is in the minority... america is a blue state... but that's just me... ;)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Heavynews</span> at 8:50pm March 30<br />Yes, well, you would think that. Something tels me you're conflating "majority" with "right," and that particular heavier-than-air craft rarely gets off the ground for long.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Barking Up Trees</span> at 9:01pm March 30<br />agreed... ! (surprise!)... all i know, aside from parrying your assertions rather effectively, is that what is "right" is we stop acting as an imperialistic modern-day rome, killing the brown-skinned aliens because we can (might making right, as you appear to have it), or is it not your concern that we're, at the same time, as rome was, spiraling the porcelain punchbowl because of that precise arrogance to which you allude for the past 8 - nay, 50 - years... ?<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Heavynews</span> at 9:23pm March 30<br />I feel like Frank Sinatra on SNL listening to Luther Campbell of 2 Live Crew. All I'm hearing is clicks and buzzes. Better luck at MyDD.com or DailyKos.Barking Up Treeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12607988862083199144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15499377.post-33670641811670018482009-03-22T22:58:00.002-04:002009-03-22T23:07:55.594-04:00christopher walken...Sogand sent this over to <a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://www.02.01.snc1.facebook.com/people/Greg-Ammons/1362151574">my Facebook</a>, so don't shoot me if the <a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://twitter.com/cwalken">CWalken</a> here is not the same Christopher Walken that talks like a warped vinyl-45. Even so, this is some funny stuff and may very well put Walken in a class with that King of the One-liners, Henny Youngman. A sampling:<br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><blockquote><span style="font-family: verdana;">She said I should talk more about my cat; that people like that sort of thing here. I didn't know I still had a cat. Explains a few things.</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />8:53 AM Mar 20th from web</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><br />There's a kid on a Pogo stick in front of my house. It's nearly midnight so let's assume he's been drinking. This should end well for him.</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />7:41 PM Mar 18th from web</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><br />Someone corrected my last post; said it's "frightened by" not "frightened of." Know what else I'm frightened of? Crazy people.</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />6:29 AM Mar 18th from web</span></blockquote><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></span>Barking Up Treeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12607988862083199144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15499377.post-26212534805308510042009-03-22T17:09:00.004-04:002009-03-22T17:28:52.776-04:00as the sun-flurries abate...<a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/opinion/22rich.html?_r=1&ref=opinion">Frank Rich</a> once again gets me to thinking. In today's Times he is quoted: "The White House seemed utterly blindsided by the public’s revulsion at the moneyed insiders’ culture illuminated by Daschle’s post-Senate career. Yet last week’s events suggest that the administration learned nothing from that brush with disaster."<br /><br />I wondered how it could be they were in fact blindsided. And then I supposed it's because the American people hadn't raised so much as a stink about the Daschle/insider types being promoted from failure over the last ten years. But then I remembered much of what I have read and written on the Internet about the more prominent corporate media as having been wholly insufficient in covering the bubbling cauldron of contempt that was surfacing from without even as it worked in concert with the propagandistic manipulations of the Bush/Cheney oligarchy. It is that same corporate media that is now only too happy to broadcast and act as megaphone to the uncapped rage and varied frustrations of We The People, all the while gesturing furtively in the direction of President Obama and his administration as though they're the culprits responsible for the bind in which we find ourselves.<br /><br />Well, Obama did promise Change!, didn't he? And at times he seems a tad slow off the dime in effecting change, our impatience for immediacy notwithstanding. Moreover, perception of the president's finance team as perhaps not being up to the task of dealing with the crises is very real, and, in large part, *looks* to have been well earned. Whether his luck and/or skill is once again underestimated, one can only hope. Meanwhile, one can only shake one's head at the preposterousness that is today's Republican party and at the members of which who feign the populist's outrage at all things Wall Street; for let us never forget they are indeed the loathsome lot responsible for the interesting times in which we live.<br /><br />It says so right here.<br /><br />Oh, and so says We The People the last two election cycles... lest you think me mad.Barking Up Treeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12607988862083199144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15499377.post-55829636796070451152009-03-01T01:06:00.001-05:002009-03-01T01:07:23.502-05:00another one bites the dust...<a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29447376/">Paul Harvey: 1918-2009</a><br /><br /><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Harvey">And now for the rest of the story...</a>Barking Up Treeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12607988862083199144noreply@blogger.com0