I voted this morning. The line was around the local elementary school where I vote at 6:30AM. It’s never even been close to that crowded before. And watching some of the morning news shows before heading off to work, long lines and record turnout are being reported from across the country. It’s good to see.
Let’s hope we don’t fuck up somehow.
Add comment November 4th, 2008
Here are a few items for your consideration regarding our very own United States of America:
Now tell me honestly, can we not point the finger of blame at Corporate America for this laundry list of national disgraces?
Add comment August 4th, 2008
Poor Maureen Dowd.
You know, the red-headed middle-aged NY Times columnist and sometime TV pundit who specializes in snarky, borderline nasty columns aimed at the personal habits of prominent politicians, and who for some unknown reason is considered attractive by a lot of the middle-aged men who pass themselves off as TV pundits (I guess, in a sort of bitter and sad but hard way).
Today her column focuses on why it’s hard to satirize Barack Obama, using the recent in-poor-taste New Yorker magazine cover as a focal point.
Poor Mo. She’s whining because she can’t make proper fun of the black guy. Aww.
Hey Maureen, last time I checked, there were TWO candidates for president, as well as the current “president,” whose incompetence should be providing a steady source of dark humor for years to come.
I guess it’s more fun to knock the democrats, eh Mo? (I still recall her memorable columns in 2000 criticizing Al Gore for his wardrobe choices. Yeah, real important issues.) Or maybe it’s because all these pundits just LO-OVE the crazy old white guy so much. After all, John McCain IS the straight-talk candidate, isn’t he?
1 comment July 16th, 2008
I take the train to work every day; roughly an hour’s ride. I do like to drive into work once every week or so, just to keep my routine fresh. But mostly I’m a train commuter on Metro North Railroad’s New Haven line.
The only things I don’t like about taking the train are:
Ah, but today there was a surprise! One of the cars on the train this morning was a BAR CAR! Now don’t get excited, the “bar” portion of the car was not in operation. But for some reason I still can’t figure out, most commuters don’t like sitting on the bar car. The bar car does not have the rows of two- and three-passenger seats of the other cars, in which you often feel yourself pressed in like a sardine. No, the bar car simply has limited bench-type seating along the sides of the car, so there’s no seat in front or in back of you, just the strategically-placed cup holders (good for coffee!). So I’m enjoying some rare personal space on my morning commute.
Now if only they had that bar working.
July 16th, 2008
It’s been a while. I’ve been “busy.”
Busy adjusting to a new job with a longer commute but better pay. Busy twiddling my thumbs while I wait behind this gigantic creative block that has stood in my way all year.
The big block has apparently moved out of my way, and I’m back baby. So what’s been happening in the world while I’ve been “busy?” Let’s take a look.
The presidential campaign is upon us, with one party nominating a crazy old man and the other party nominating the proverbial fresh face. The corporate media (AKA “the mainstream media”) is in love with John McCain. I think they want to get down on their collective knees and suck on his straight-talk express. “WHAT A MAN!” I can hear all those TV pundits and attractive newsreaders breathlessly admiring the old coot, their eyelashes batting like a school girl’s.
Not that I’m in love with Barack Obama either, mind you. His recent statements in support of policies that I find questionable on a good day smells fishy to me, like a bait-and-switch (hey I used to work in retail). Obama’s great strength and the main reason he defeated Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination is that he presented himself as a different kind of politician, a harbinger of hope and inspiration.
Recently, however, the O-man has:
Meanwhile, I have yet to hear Barack come out with a detailed and PUBLIC plan for either our energy woes (high gas prices, importing too much foreign oil, not enough focus on alternate sources of energy), or our economic woes (the economy stinks unless you’re really wealthy). Yeah yeah, I know he’s got a bunch of policy statements on his web site, but that’s hardly the same thing as getting out there in front of the cameras and making a major speech on either of these important issues. In my opinion, such a public forum as a major speech has a much stronger effect that hard-to-find policy statements on a web site. A different kind of politician?
Uh, not so much.
But when all is said and done, I’d much rather have a corporate-backed Democrat as president than a corporate-backed Rebublican president any day of the week.
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Meanwhile, my beloved Los Angeles Dodgers really suck this year yet are only 1 game out of first place in the hapless NL West division. Yet more off-season money was spent on questionable free agents (Andruw Jones, not even hitting his weight). Super Joe Torre was hired to bring a championship to LA, but marquis manager is no miracle worker. But hey, we’re only one game out of first! We got us a pennant race baby! Well at least until we discover that we have no good substitute for the now-injured closer Saito.
Well my stop is coming up soon on this train, so I’ll end here.
2 comments July 16th, 2008
I can’t believe that there is an actual possibility of having a President John McCain. I don’t think Hillary Clinton can beat him, and I’m not sure about Barack Obama.
The mainstream media, which influences most voters’ opinions on such matters, wants to get down on their knees and collectively suckle at the teat of McCain’s Straight Talk persona. No WAY that Candidate McCain gets any bad media coverage unless he flips out on camera somewhere and starts singing “Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran” again (although lots of nonthinking Americans who think its cool to bomb third world countries would like that), or rips the hearts out of living babies on live TV. I’d much rather see Mitt Romney as the GOP nominee in November because he seems like the ultimate empty suit to me, has done nothing BUT change his positions on virtually every issue, and could easily be defeated. Most people cannot see through McCain’s general insanity.
Hillary on the other hand automatically invites bad press coverage, the same kind of negative media saturation we experienced back in the heady days of Monica Lewinsky and Paula Jones. Does anyone really believe that we will NOT hear those reruns again, ad nauseum? And do we really want another traitorous Democrat in the White House? I say traitorous because Bill Clinton, while he was a successful Democrat and did preside over eight years of peace and prosperity (no small thing, true), also dragged the Democratic party to the right politically so as to co-opt enough of the conservative-leaning voters to win elections. They are very good at that sort of thing, but that sort of thing just gives conservative policies more credence. I think that has been bad for progressive and liberal policies.
So that sort of leaves Barack Obama by default, I suppose. But I’m not sold on the guy, nor am I sold on the idea that disgruntled independent voters all across the country will let themselves vote for a black man for president. I don’t know, maybe they will. There’s no way of knowing. I saw the O-man in person back in the fall at a campaign rally in Manhattan. He is an impressive speaker, and he seems to have the potential to be a transformational figure. But I don’t feel particularly moved by his vague message of change; I wish he’d talk about the details.
The upshot of all this is that the Democrats still have the edge in the election, and at the very least, they are usually quite competent at running the government. I’ve had enough of Republicans looting the treasury for their rich corporate elite friends and themselves.
1 comment February 1st, 2008
Happy New Year all! Here’s the story of a fun recent experience I had in the brave new world of online dating.
In an attempt to spice up my non-existent social life, I joined a couple of online dating web sites a few months ago. An exciting and horrific experience all at the same time. Single people in my age group (I’m 50) find it hard to meet similarly single people in real life; we’re all busy and most people have settled into long-established family-oriented social groups. Anyway, I’ve actually done pretty well in terms of phone numbers and dates. It’s a numbers game really; throw everything against the wall and see what sticks. I’d like to share a recent experience that demonstrates both the thrill and horror of online dating.
All’s fair in love and war, I know. But this was downright spooky. Silly me for falling for it. I met this woman on an online dating site, and like most men, I was attracted to her pictures and physical characteristics, but not overly so. She was attractive, but there were some common points of interest (similar cultural background, attitudes, the same age, both like a lot of the same music, etc). Anyway, she contacted me and invited me to chat (online dating sites typically have their own instant messaging systems), so we did.
We had one of those great two hour IM chats and really hit it off. I’m not a fool, and I’m very perceptive about people. I’ve gone on quite a lot of first dates, and even a couple of second dates with women I’ve met online. Anyway, so the IM’s turn into phone calls. You know the drill: excitement on both parts as we discover we have a lot in common and enjoy talking. We set a date for that upcoming Friday nite.
One of the best dates, first or otherwise, that I’ve had. Easy conversation, lots of connection points. And she turned out to be gorgeous. She obviously liked me, because she was open and friendly and started doing the touching thing that women do - she commented on how she liked my nose, ran her fingers through my hair, touched my arm a lot. We met for drinks, and had a few but not enough to be drunk. She had two glasses of wine over a two hour period and I had the equivalent in beer. In the middle of 3-4 hour date, she invited me to her place the following Friday night to make dinner for me, even asking me what I liked to eat. We had a wonderful lingering goodnight kiss.
Well let me tell you that I was amazed! I’m a cynic; this sort of thing doesn’t happen to me. Well perhaps I should have looked closer at that old saw “if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.” We chatted online the following day for a few minutes but she was working so I told her to give me a call later when she had some time, which was not an outrageous request because she had called me before.
I never heard from her again.
I left short emails and one phone message on Sunday, then I knew she was out of town with her children for a couple of days to Vermont (that’s what she told me). I figured I would keep the spirit of the thing going by leaving an email greeting, and then my phone messages were ignored. She even ignored my IM’s. Now I’m not one of those obsessive types, I wasn’t calling several times a day, nothing like that. And I had several other options at the time. I simply needed a resolution.
Finally, I heard from her on the following Thursday, a terse one-line email message that said simply “You’re a nice guy but not for me.” Ouch! I was going to write back and thank her for finally coming clean, but my email address was blocked!!
So after some analysis of the situation, I have determined that either she was a nutjob or married/attached. There were some small number of possible red flags. She claimed to be using her maiden name in some legal situations but professionally went by her married name. She’d been married three times (not twice as she had previously told me), she claimed to have had a monstrously large number of abortions in her youth. I let all that go temporarily. Blinded by beauty and charm, I guess. In retrospect, I think that she either DID like me but on second thought became embarrassed at her overly friendly behavior, she was married and was simply having fun (or getting revenge), or she’s a true nutjob.
Live and learn, eh? Live anyway, I’m STILL meeting women through online dating. And this experience has given me yet another story to tell. Hope you all enjoyed reading it.
4 comments January 3rd, 2008
The baseball season is all but over for this year’s edition of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and once again we are on the outside of the post-season looking in, pressing our dirty hands and tear-stained faces against the glass, wishing that it was our beloved Bums in there playing for a championship in place of our hated NL West division rivals. Alas, it was not to be for this year’s Dodgers. However, for the many suffering and disappointed Dodger fans, it’s never too early to take a critical look back at the season and point a hopeful eye to the future.
Here is my own list of events and decisions that most affected the Dodgers’ year, in order of impact, with the full knowledge that hindsight is always 20-20:
It’s never all bad news. 2007 wasn’t a complete bust for the Dodgers. Some good things happened, and those good things could be good omens for the future.
Many of us salivate in anticipation of another offseason. Why? The offseason gives the General Manager a chance for a do-over. Each season is essentially a do-over. Offseason moves excite us, worry us, drive us insane, make us cheer; it’s all we have until the spring comes again. Here’s what I think the Dodgers should do this offseason:
Really, we need ARod to walk away from New York so the Dodgers can sign him. The Dodger lineup looks downright scary with ARod in the four hole. Without ARod, or a slightly lesser version of ARod (power hitter), the Dodgers will once again be at the mercy of Ned, Grady, the kids, and more small ball. Of course it’s all guesswork right now, but I think we can count on a couple of things next year, barring injury.
Anyway, those are my thoughts right now. It always feels good to purge, especially at the end of another poor Dodger finish.
2 comments October 4th, 2007
Ahh, the joys and mysteries of driving in
The highways are crowded and constantly under construction, secondary roads are filled with potholes this time of year, and
I drive to work every day. It’s an easy commute, about 25 minutes at most, with only one slow spot and that’s only in the morning. So I can’t complain about my daily drive to work. However, the rest of the time, and especially on weekends, I do have to drive to get around. And that’s when I’m forced to ask myself this question – why do people drive the way they do?
Read on to learn more about these mysteries and their probably causes.
Here’s one of my favorites.
You’re driving along, keeping pace with traffic, which is light to moderate. There’s a big gap behind you; the closest vehicle to your rear is far away. Now here come Mr.I’mInAHurry. He’s waiting to turn into traffic. He clearly sees the huge gap behind you, yet chooses to pull in in front of you VERY SUDDENLY, forcing you to put on your brakes. And utter a string of obscenities that would shock a sailor.
But now Mr.I’mInAHurry has decided he’s no longer in such a hurry. In fact, he’s apparently decided that now that he’s cut you off, he wants to drive as S L O W L Y as possible. But I can’t help but wonder, why was he in such a hurry to cut me off when there was ample room for him to pull safely behind me, yet now he appears to be moving in slow motion?
I have determined that this mysterious behavior must be caused by one of two things:
Additional note: Mr.I’mInAHurry also makes frequent appearance merging onto highways.
You know this person. He’s the guy next to you in the right lane at a two-lane traffic light. The big black and white sign directly on the right IN CLEAR VIEW OF EVEN A BLIND PERSON indicates that vehicles in the right lane MUST turn right. You know the sign, the one with the straight up and down arrow pictured next to an arrow pointing to the right. Now, you’re in the correct lane for going straight, the left lane. The road ahead narrows to a single lane. There may even be a sign indicating such.
Yet when the light changes, the Rebel Without a Cause goes straight, cutting you off. He’s such a rebel! Yeah man, he’s rebelling against the system. He’s sticking it to the man. Actually, he just stuck it to you and me by cutting us off.
I’m always left shaking my head in bewilderment at the Rebel Without a Cause. Why the blatant disregard for clearly posted rules, rules that even an anarchist like me can easily observe?
Once again, I have determined one of two causes of this mysterious behavior:
Red means stop. Green means go. Red means stop. Green means go. Got it?
Apparently not everyone gets that most basic rule of driving. In fact, it’s often one of the very first things we learn when we take driver’s education. Yet where I live, when a traffic light turns green, nobody moves. They sit. They stare. They pick their noses. They think about I don’t know what. But they do not move.
What’s the delay anyway? If you drive in a place like
There can really only be one cause of this most aggravating of driving mysteries:
Of course, driving mysteries are hardly confined to suburban and urban driving. Take for example the case of the stubborn driver in the left-most lane on the highway. She refuses to increase speed above the posted speed limit. There’s a growing line of cars building up behind her, and there’s plenty of room in the middle lane for her to safely move over and let the cars behind her pass. Yet she absolutely won’t speed up or move over. Angry drivers behind her beep their horn, they tailgate out of sheer frustration, they flash their headlights, all to no avail. Ms. Stubborn ain’t movin’.
I mean, what’s it to her anyway? It IS the passing lane, after all. Why stay where she’s neither wanted or needed? Is she totally unaware that she is single-handedly creating a traffic jam?
This mystery can have only of the following causes:
Here’s a driving mystery we’ve all encountered. You’re driving on the highway, minding your own business, grooving to some good music, enjoying the open road. Then all of a sudden, you run into heavy traffic. You’re at a standstill for miles and you don’t know why.
Then you pass the source of the traffic jam – a cop is giving somebody a ticket on the side of the highway. And EVERYONE is slowing down.
Why are they slowing down? Do they actually believe that the cop is going to stop what he’s doing, jump into his car and chase after some OTHER speeder? Of COURSE he’s not. He’s BUSY! In fact, this is the BEST time to speed up – the cop is BUSY!!! He’s giving somebody else a ticket! Yet all the drivers slow down out of fear of the cop’s authority.
There really can be only one of two reasons this mysterious behavior continues:
Ooh look, an accident! Ooh look, a dead animal on the side of the road! Ooh look, a cop is giving some poor guy a ticket! Ooh look, a construction crew!
More like, “Ooh look, the assholes in front of me aren’t paying attention!!!”
Why do we care so much about what’s going on at the side of the road when our attention should be on the road ahead of us? Is there something intriguing about some other guy’s traffic plight? Are we simply craning our necks to get a look at an injured or dead body? Do we want see a severed head? What gives? Really, I want to know.
This mystery has been the cause of millions of highway traffic jams. And all it takes it one person to slow down and sneak a peak at the exciting action on the side of the road to delay everyone else. I say, who cares? I have no desire to ogle some dead or injured bodies, or delight in some big shiny ambulence, fire truck or cop collecting fees for the state by writing tickets. Who gives a shit anyway? I’m not five years old anymore. I want to get to where I’m going. I don’t want to sit in traffic.
Again, the causes of this are most likely one of the following:
Okay I’ll admit it – I hate SUV’s. They get awful gas mileage, they’re unsafe (just look at the fatality numbers in rollovers, the most frequent type of SUV accident), and they block my view of the road ahead.
I once saw a TV program about defensive and smart driving. They interviewed a professional race car driver, whose expertise behind the wheel I wouldn’t challenge. This guy said he NEVER lets himself get stuck behind a large vehicle because it obscures his vision, making driving that much more hazardous. Visibility is important in driving; you really need to see where you’re going so you can anticipate what’s up ahead. It’s just common sense.
Yet everyone goes out to buy these big useless tanks. Why? Because they’re advertised on TV, that’s why. People like to be seen in these big metal beasts because it makes them feel successful, and we all know that in a consumer economy, our success as individuals is measured in what kind of stuff we can buy and show off. “Oh look at me, I’m driving a big SUV. I’m a member of the club, I’m successful!! Just like those actors in the TV commercial!” Please, spare me your low self-esteem. I can’t see past your truck, dammit!!
The automobile manufacturers have a lot of responsibility for this problem, as they have continually marketed SUVs because they’re profitable. Forget that they guzzle too much gas, a commodity that the planet is running low on. Forget that they’re inherently unsafe, especially to smaller vehicles. Forget that you can’t see past them.
Now, I can understand it when a person who has a business needs a big vehicle with a lot of storage space. Or a family that goes camping every weekend. Stuff like that, okay, I can accept those as legitimate reasons for needing a large vehicle. But what’s everyone else’s excuse?
I have narrowed down the reasons for this mystery to the following:
Repeat after me – when you talk on the phone while you’re driving, your attention is diverted from driving.
Why all this telephone activity in the car? What’s so goddamned important that it can’t wait until you stop or arrive at your destination? People survived for decades without the need to call others on the phone while in transit. Why did this change? Why don’t people realize that it’s dangerous to let your attention be called away from driving?
I hate this because when the person in front of me is talking on the phone, they inherently know that their attention is diverted from driving, so they slow down to a crawl. So now I have to slow down because some idiotic soccer mom needs to gab to her friends? I don’t think so.
Also, whatever happened to privacy? Since when do we need to be connected all the time?
Yeah, I have a cell phone. Yeah I have it with me when I drive. And yeah, I let people leave messages for me so I can get back to them, WHEN I’M NO LONGER BEHIND THE WHEEL OF THE CAR!!!!
I’m all for laws banning cell phone use while driving. And I’m all for the vigorous prosecution of drivers who violate those laws. Forget speed traps, there’s millions to be made pulling people over for talking on their cell phone!
This mystery has only one possible cause:
So there you have it. These are some of the driving mysteries that drive ME crazy when I’m on the road. After careful examination of all of these mysteries, I can come to only one conclusion:
PEOPLE ARE STUPID!
Thanks for reading, and be careful out there.
6 comments April 17th, 2007
