TWTW

This is the week that was. Just phenomenal. From the campaign gaffes to the Wall Street melt-down.
As today's New York Times says---the sound of the bubble bursting. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/weekinreview/21leonhardt.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper&oref=slogin
I've long subscribed to the theory that when a country/economic entity begins to make money by making money, i.e., letting the financial sector become dominant over the manufacturing or other sectors of the economy, decline results. The dotcom correction, the housing bubble, the trade deficit, and now the latest financial snafus illustrate this. I wonder how many people with money in various funds, saving for their retirement, can define financial derivatives, cdo's, tranches, hedge funds, or the myriad other "financial products" they are involved with, wittingly or not. Let alone understand them. And now the government is going to spend something like $700BILLION to $1TRILLION to buy these tarnished "investment instruments". That's OUR money!!!!! If the Federal Government can raise this money for the purpose of rescuing financiers-turned-gamblers it can certainly raise this sum to fully fund the Social Security endowment and Medicare so poor working people don't have to trust their retirement savings to those same gamblers, which is what the privatization of Social Security is. I believe the money would be better spent in this way and in reimbursing small investors for their losses thanks to the financial mismanagement of their investments by these same gamblers. John McCain has voted to privatise Social Security. He still believes in this. I'm sure Sarahcuda has some canned response along the same lines.

I live in a region of the country where "NOBAMA08" bumper stickers significantly outnumber the ones that read "IF YOU ARE NOT OUTRAGED YOU ARE NOT PAYING ATTENTION." Perhaps this week will get more of these people to pay attention.

The Captain's Latest Plan

What a week!!!! Financial melt downs, bail outs, campaign peccadilloes, yuck!!! But the Pirate Dogs have a new plan for us------ Monday we were watching The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC. Usually the crew pays attention when dogs appear on screen but that insipid Purina One commercial with that overly compliant and obviously dim-witted Retriever-type dog makes them ignore the tv. But the story that followed the ad, that's another story. Captain Roid perked right up as Rachel related Google's plan to green itself up by moving some, if not all, of its computer centers to barges in the ocean. The reasons she cited for this action were reduced costs (hence more profit) in real estate taxes and upkeep and using water to cool the computers which should enhance the company's greening up image. But what drew the attention of the Captain was one of the possible downsides of the plan. Ms. Maddow talked about weather disasters such as hurricanes being a hazard to the barges. She also mentioned pirates as a potential hazard. The Captain then proceeded to the Nargle and came up with her plan---taking over Google!!

Imagine----you or your child searches for information on computer chips. Normally you would find a picture like this:But instead, since the Pirate dogs now control "The Google", you get their interpretation of your search parameters---Chip Turks (otherwise known as rawhide flips), of which they have a treasure chest full:

Going to the doctor, or searching a site like WebMD for information on your skeletal malfunctions normally would lead to something like this--
But our crew of buccaneers has taken over and their image is of their favorite treat: BONE-turks:
Finally, your fourth grader needs to do research for a civics paper, the topic is agriculture, and she googles wheat. When the servers were land based, she'd probably have gotten an image like this:

But after the takeover the monitor displays a portrait of Crow's Nest Weetzie!!!!!

So good luck to Google and all its users if they go ahead with their offshore plan. And happy (belated) talk-like-a-pirate day from Capt. Roid, First-mate Leny, and Crow's Nest Weetzie!!!

"ARRRGH!"

Equal Time

First, a word about comments. I moderate the comments on this blog. I try to be fair and reasonable and I hope that readers who honor this blog with comments do so in the spirit of the blog--open discussion, expanding the mind, and a little fun. So I don't allow comments from "Anonymous" to appear. I've had a couple from this moniker and they were personal attacks like you're an eastern liberal and why don't you move back there. I welcome and encourage comments on any post but please keep them in the spirit of the blog. Even if you don't agree with something that appears, present your arguments. I pledge to try to be fair and as impartial as I can be when moderating comments. And the Pirate Dogs promise too.....

About the Republican convention--I found I was glad I had a mute button. Sarah Palin was impressive in front of the microphones. But I got sort of bored by the rest of the speakers. From Mitt complaining about "liberal Washington"(!!!!?!!!?!!) to Rudy's almost-imitation of a hockey mom (pitbull, no lipstick) to the endless paeans to John McCain's bravery and maverick credentials--my father was a hero in WWII and he was not qualified to run for president. There was so much about patriotism, strength under the duress of torture, and maverick tendencies that I almost thought they weren't going to nominate McCain but had switched to Mel Gibson, who played all those roles (lead character in The Patriot, tortured in Braveheart, and the inimitable "the name is Brett" Maverick). Then I remembered he was born in Australia, so they must have been talking about McCain.

I have always respected John McCain, his service in the Navy and the Senate. I think I even wrote in his name on my ballot in 2000. But he wasn't a ship captain or exec, he was a fighter pilot. This plays well with his maverick identity but not his leadership as an officer. That experience was negligible in that he didn't have command responsibilities like Ike or JFK. His votes over the last year against the environment, against the prohibition of torture, against the new GI Bill, and for the misguided efforts in Iraq have eroded this respect and, for me, raised doubts about the very independence he so promotes. As for Sarahcuda, I hope I soon hear what she thinks rather than the same canned sound bites from the convention she has so far uttered at every whistle stop. And I don't think it's sexist to want answers to her feelings on God and government, or the internet rumor that her son only joined the army because the other option was jail on a vandalism charge. It's out there and should be addressed. After all, it's as least as relevant as Obama's having attended madrassas. "Sauce for the goose, Saavik." (Leonard "Spock" Nimoy to Kirstie "Lt Saavik" Alley in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)

Labor Day Weekend

So the traditional end of summer has come. Here in Eastern NM it's pretty rainy, cloudy, and humid. More than we usually get, much less than Down East.


I watched the DNC last week and will hit the high spots such as they may be of the RNC this week if Hurricane Gustav doesn't force its postponement. Instead of Sarah Palin (who???????) all the talking heads, or I prefer Frank Rich's term "bloviators", are tracking the storm. It looks like the Big Easy is gonna get clobbered again. Hopefully the present administration is performing as well as they are talking about their preparedness. Pray for the Gulf Coast.


Speaking of prayer, "[T]hey believed in America as they believed in God-they could not really ever expect that America might collapse and God yet survive, no, they had even gone so far as to think that America was the savior of the world, food and medicine by one hand, sword in the other, highest of high faith in a nation which would bow the knee before no problem since God's own strength was in the die." Describes the current royalty under Dubya, doesn't it? But this passage is about the Republicans from Miami and the Siege of Chicago by Norman Mailer written in 1968. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.



Ever note the similarity between Antonin Scalia and Julius Hoffman??? Both think it's ok for defendants to be shackled and gagged in the presence of the jury. Fair trial??? About as fair as a good dunking chair in Salem MA.



I see Rush Limbaugh's pleas for a repeat of Chicago in Denver didn't happen. A few protesters, a couple yahoos with guns investigated for a possible assassination plot. I don't think I understand why there won't be massive protests in St Paul. It's McCain who's come out for the draft. Of course, we don't need a draft. Dubya and "Dead Eye Dick" both learnt the lessons from their Vietnam draft evasion--the National Guard!!! So they send the Guard to do multiple tours in the Middle East. What the hell, they'd just dodge a draft, this way they have to serve!!! Get with the program, McCain. By the way, does John McCain really think so little of women that he believes he will pick up their votes by having a female running mate?? I am certainly no fan of Hillary but her speech Tuesday last was very good, especially when she asked her supporters if it was her or what she stood for that was important. Maybe the Rovians running the McCain "campaign" should have listened in.........

Shelfari

In the right hand column I've added a new feature---a link to Shelfari. Hopefully I'll be more consistent in updating it than the rest of the blog. I hope it's a feature readers will appreciate.

Pirate Dogs Bios #3: The First Mate

We met at the Stratham NHSPCA shelter. The celebrated Tan Dog, Saint Hannah, had been put down because of a recurring cancer and at that time, the Captain wasn't exhibiting the personality she later developed. So we joined the line on an autumnal Tuesday morning for the debut of the latest dogs entering the NH shelters from other states' kill centers. Since people in NH pay attention to and follow spay policies and recommendations, the state has a paucity of animals available for adoption and imports dogs from other states. The animals arrive on Thursday, spend a few days being examined and evaluated, and are made available for adoption on Tuesday of the following week. So we arrived right at the time of the shelter's opening, at the very front of the queue. ( If you are in the market for an animal who'd benefit from your love and attention, check them out http://www.nhspca.org/ )

We passed several dogs we'd seen previously and wished them well. Then at the back of the kennel there was a large cage. A black form ran to the very back of it. Too shy?? We almost passed by but then the creature rushed forward to the door of the cage, grasping a rubber ball in its jowls, talking to us intensely and pleadingly. It was more than we could stand---I spread my arms in front of the cage and sent my wife to get a leash so we could get the dog out of the kennel. The sign on the wall said "Ella."

Ella bounded out of the cage and was so appreciative at the attention. One wise policy the NHSPCA has is having the existing pet(s) meet the prospective adoptee to determine their ability to get along. The Captain and Ella hit it right off. Would that we could foresee how well.......

So we took Ella home. We quickly realized that "Ella" sounded too much like "Emma", the Captain's given name, so we renamed the newest addition after a couple of our favorite New Mexico locales--Ella was christened Magdalena Cochiti. Of course that's far too many syllables for a dog to comprehend, so we call her Leny (pronounced lane-y), a contraction of Magdalena.

Leny is a Sharprador, i.e., a Labrador Retreiver Shar-Pei cross. She's actually more of a Flop-ra-dor in behavior, using the Shar-Pei fighting tactic of suddenly lying down--flopping--- to get under her adversary. A strange mixture---mostly a Lab's black body with a face that has massive jowls and thanks to Shar-Peian wrinkles, Leny frequently sports a worried or concerned expression.

As previously noted, Leny was thought to blame for some destruction in our house and joined the Captain on the CPS Nargle. Leny has the propensity to skin problems that afflicts Shar-Peis. We'd had her less than a week when she barreled around the corner of the house, slipped, and impaled herself on a cut-back rose bush. This required her to be confined in a lampshade for several days

and the wounds flushed with betadine. What a way to bond with your new puppy--lifing it into the bathtub, flushing her wound out, lifting her out of the bathtub, not cuddling her but rather all the while hoping to keep her away from your body so you don't stain your clothes with the solution......Wonder what Leny thought of it all?


She has fully recovered and is as sweet as she was in that cage in Stratham NH. Condemned to an Ohio kill shelter as an "unclaimed stray" she found her way to NH and now lives with her family and the Pirate Dogs in NM. Leny comes immediately when summoned and is never more than an arm's length away, waiting for a belly rub. "Unclaimed Stray"???? Please..........

Random Thoughts

So my brother from Washington state was here for a visit. He brought the western WA weather with him. It's been rainy and sorta cool the last week. Not at all what one would expect in New Mexico in August. So we'll blame my brother. Why not? Just to let you know how cool it was, my niece-in-law, stopping on their trip from Maine to California, commented on the weather. She expected it to be much warmer!!! And she's from Maine!!!! I think there's still snow on the ground there.

The chile harvest is in. I spent the requisite hour or so getting my chiles and having them roasted. I can relax for another year knowing that I have these freezer bags full and ready to go. Most of the fun is standing in the roasting line chatting with other shoppers and exchanging recipes. And when you get home, peel a chile, stuff some cheese in it, wrap it in a tortilla (preferably a fresh one from the local tortilleria) and microwave it.....culinary heaven.

I see politics as usual is firing up as the Olympics wind down. There was a piece tonite on BBC World News America about the Russian freeze of the Czech spring 40 years ago. The Democratic party convention starts Monday in Denver. I wonder what the cable and network news will have to say about the Democratic convention in Chicago in 1968. Remember Crosby and Nash---"Please come to Chicago....We can change the world."

I wonder if we did.............................And if so, for the better??