The Amused Geek

The Force IS With Us!

2011-11-29T14:29:00.000-08:00

I had the opportunity to play in the most recent beta-test of Bioware's latest entry in the online game race, Star Wars: The Old Republic (AKA SW:TOR). I consider myself a casual gamer and have had experience with both Everquest and World of Warcraft. I have been eagerly anticipating this game and this past weekend did nothing to diminish that. I can honestly say that I haven't been this jazzed about a game since I first played Civilization (yes, Civ 1) many years ago.

From the first loading screen, this game pulls no punches. It is all about the struggle of Good vs. Evil. Most games have good guys and bad guys, but the bad guys are only bad to their opposition. Other than cosmetics, the Alliance and the Horde in Warcraft are pretty much the same. In SW:TOR, everything you do has the potential to move your character closer to light or darkness. Whether your budding Jedi is forgiving enemies or trying to find peaceful solutions or your up and coming Sith is executing prisoners or activating the shock collar on their slave (you read that right), you are frequently given options to embrace either the Light or Dark sides of the Force. There is FINALLY a game that actually encourages players to make the choice to be either a saint or a demon.

This is also a beautiful game. The Jedi starting world of Tython is green and peaceful except where the dreaded Flesh Raiders have become a blot on the landscape. The Sith starting world is the bleak and desolate Korriban. While Tython looks like the kind of place where you might want to hold a picnic, Korriban looks like you just know that you are going to get sand in that one spot in your armor where it will cause a nasty rash. The Senate Tower on Coruscant really looks as big and imposing as the movie version. It just looks shiny!

The game-play I experienced was just as impressive. Was it kind of linear? Yes, but every quest was made me feel like what I was doing mattered. Trying to get to a cache of Dark knowledge before it gets out, striving to become the favored acolyte and earn the right to become the apprentice to a Darth or trying to recover a stolen city-killer bomb made every quest feel like I was directly involved in the story. This game is intensely story-driven and all the parts I experienced felt like I really was a character in the saga. While there we some "get quantity X of item Y" quests, they were all worked in to the story and all made sense.

The voice acting is superb. That's especially important in this game because all of your quests and important NPC encounters are fully voiced and your responses are also voiced. I had my doubts about how this would work, but this past weekend put those to rest. I found myself looking forward to the next decision point or quest turn-in. This is a vast difference from any other online games I've played and it worked seamlessly for me.

Now for the disclaimers: I only got about 20 hours of play in over the weekend (Drat that pesky need to earn a living!) so I didn't get as deep into the game as I would have liked. I played three different classes (Sith warrior, Jedi consular and Republic trooper) to a maximum level of 12. I never made it to my own spaceship and I only played in one group mission (called "flashpoints"). That being said, I think that Star Wars: The Old Republic will be taking up a great deal of my free time for some time to come.

The Amused Geek rating: 5 out of 5 lightsabers, all red!

My Take on Newt's NEW Contract...

2011-09-30T23:26:00.000-07:00

One of my Facebook friends posted a link to a video with a pretty huge claim “This is THE man that knows how to put America back on a path to growth and prosperity.”, he said. He also said that he would really like to know if anyone disagreed, and why. It turns out that the video was Newt Gingrich presenting his “21st Century Contract with America”. It's a long list, but here it is. I will quote Mr. Gingrich's proposals directly from his website.

1. Repeal Obamacare and pass a replacement that saves lives and money by empowering patients and doctors, not bureaucrats and politicians.

This appears to nothing more than leaving the heath insurance companies in charge of medical care in America and make it easier for them to do so. It also does nothing to help the millions of working poor that cannot afford any kind of health insurance even if deducted from their income tax. I think that the meager health care reform that made it through Congress didn't go nearly far enough. I support single-payer health care, the so-called “Medicare Part E (as in Everyone)” Health insurance companies spend 12.5-30% of premiums on administration costs and profits. Medicare? A paltry 3-5.5%. There's where you eliminate waste.

2. Return to robust job creation with a bold set of tax cuts and regulatory reforms that will free American entrepreneurs to invest and hire, as well as by reforming the Federal Reserve and creating a training requirement for extended federal unemployment benefits to encourage work and improve the quality of our workforce.

In this clause, Gingrich wants to replace the National Labor Relations Board, repeal Dodd-Frank and Sarbanes-Oxley (passed by Congress to combat corporate corruption) and lower corporate taxes even further as well as abolishing the Estate Tax. He also wants to mandate job training programs for extended unemployment qualification, but thinks that “This program should be delegated to the 50 states so each can experiment with the best way to use unemployment compensation as a job training program.” Can you say, “unfunded mandate”? He also wants to reform the Federal Reserve, blaming them for the mortgage crisis when it was in fact greedy and unregulated mortgage lenders packaging and selling junk mortgages that sent the market spiraling out of control. This is nothing more than a naked attempt to give the mega-corporations even more freedom to profit at the expense of American workers.

3. Unleash America’s full energy production potential in oil, natural gas, coal, biofuels, wind, nuclear oil shale and more, creating jobs, stimulating a sustainable manufacturing boom, lowering gasoline and other energy prices, increasing government revenues, strengthening the dollar, and bolstering national security.

This is nothing more than “Drill baby, drill!” without giving a damn about the land, water or air that the oil, natural gas or coal lies beneath. The American bio fuels industry is hopelessly married to corn even after scientists have proven that you can get FIVE times more energy from switchgrass. Gotta keep those corn farmers happy. Nuclear energy is only going to work if folks want a potential Fukushima reactor in their area. Oil shale is still a non-renewable resource. When it's gone, it's gone for good. This clause of the contract also calls for the replacement of the EPA with something less “anti-job”. The EPA isn't there to protect jobs, it's there to protect the environment from those who would destroy it for profit. One could add that I am unaware of anything called “nuclear oil shale”, but that would be petty.

4. Save Medicare and Social Security by giving Americans more choices and tools to live longer, healthier lives with greater financial independence.

Privatize Medicare and Social Security? Again? Place American retirement funds in the hands of “the free market”? Do the names Enron and Tyco ring a bell? How about the current market volatility that has caused massive swings in not just American, but world markets? Do you really want to trust the same fine people that gave you the mortgage crisis? Count me out.

5. Balance the federal budget by freeing job-creators to grow the economy, reforming entitlements, and implementing productivity improvement systems, such as Lean Six Sigma, to eliminate waste and fraud. Pass a balanced budget amendment to keep it balanced.

I actually agree that we need to balance the federal budget. Instead of doing it on the backs of the lower 99%, lets let the top 1% do the patriotic thing and pay their fair share of taxes. Let's implement productivity improvement systems, but start with the biggest discretionary spenders in the budget first. That would be Defense for those keeping score. Then we can go to Medicare and Social Security. The problem that I have with most of the “balanced budget” proposals that I have heard is that they demand that the government never spend more than it has, even for disaster relief. Everyone from families to businesses to the government has to sometimes spend money not on hand. If you do so unwisely, like starting two wars at the same time you cut taxes, you are going to run into debt issues. Remember, we had a budget surplus when President Clinton left office.

6. Control the border by January 1, 2014 and establish English as the official language of government; reform the legal visa system, and make it much easier to deport criminals and gang members while making it easier for law abiding visitors to come to the US.

As I recall, the United States has TWO borders and and three seacoasts. I have to assume that Gingrich is talking about the US/Mexico border. America's immigration system is broken. I don't know how to fix it. Newt talks about what needs to happen, but says not one concrete word about how to do it. Since 2005, the Republican solution for control of the Mexican border is a series of walls and fences blocking nearly 2,000 miles of border. Wasn't it President Reagan that said, "Mr.Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”? Why are Republicans so hot to build their own walls? As far as English-only laws go, what happens to the vast number of legal immigrants and citizens that speak the language poorly or not at all? English-only would effectively disenfranchise the citizens and deprive the legal immigrants of government services. Please remember that we are now and always have been a nation of immigrants.

7. Revitalize our national security system to meet 21st century threats by restructuring and adequately funding our security agencies to function within a grand strategy for victory over those who seek to kill us or to limit American freedom.

Let's cut everything else but spend more on Defense? Wrong again, Newt! Let's run the Defense Department through the “productivity improvement systems” you mention in clause 5, find a way to pay our brave men and women in uniform a decent wage, fully fund the VA care that they deserve and re-tool our military to adapt to the current world situation. The days of standing armies slugging it out toe-to-toe are over. Modern war is guerrilla tactics, armed militias (Libya, anyone?) and small-unit actions. Less General Patton and more Seal Team 6.

8. Maximize the speed and impact of medical breakthroughs by removing unnecessary obstacles that block new treatments from reaching patients and emphasizing research spending toward urgent national priorities, like brain science with its impact on Alzheimer’s, autism, Parkinson’s, mental health and other conditions that knowledge of the brain will help solve.

This from the same party that blocked the single most promising avenue of research into multitudes of medical conditions? I speak of stem-cell research, of course. Do I support new avenues of research? Hell, yes! Would I support a virtual gutting of the FDA to do so? Hell, no! I am a diabetic. I used to take a particular drug to help control my diabetes. It turns out that the drug's manufacturer wasn't quite forthcoming on ALL the studies to the FDA, and some of those studies found that the drug increased risks of heart failure, stroke and death. The reports were so strong that my doctor pulled me off the drug immediately. I am talking about Avandia. Without the FDA, these studies might never have been discovered and I might still be taking a dangerous drug. I'll keep the FDA and its' regulations, thanks.

9. Restore the proper role of the judicial branch by using the clearly delineated powers available to the president and Congress to correct, limit, or replace judges who violate the Constitution.

There is a reason why Supreme Court Justices are appointed for life. It's because if a Justice can be removed as a result of an unpopular ruling, said Justice would be tempted to frame their decisions in the light of whatever ideology happened to be in power at the time. The Supreme Court is supposed to disagree with the Legislative and Executive branches when they are wrong. That's what they are there for. Tampering with that would unravel the entire “checks and balances” required by the Constitution.

10. Enforce the Tenth Amendment by starting an orderly transfer of power and responsibility from the federal government back “to the states, respectively, or to the people,” as the Constitution requires. Over the next year, state and local officials and citizens will be asked to identify the areas which can be transferred back home.

Let the states decide? We've tried that before as well. Remember the Civil War? That started as a debate over whether the states or the federal government should decide which human beings were people and which were property. We had the same problem with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Some states just didn't want to apply the law fairly, if at all. If a nationwide program is going to be administered fairly to all Americans, it cannot be left up to the states to decide how to administer it. This makes as little sense as letting the various state National Guards handle national defense. If you want all Americans to be treated equally, federal authority is necessary.

Anyone that wants to know why I disagree with this political platform should now understand. If left in the hands of a corporate America that has steadfastly refused to police itself and is interested in nothing more than naked greed, average Americans will be driven farther into economic serfdom than they already are. Mr. Gingrich's first contract didn't work. I fail to see how his second one is any better.

Eric Cantor - Heartless Bastard

2011-08-27T13:10:00.000-07:00

Just when I thought that Congressional bullshit couldn't get any stupider, House Majority Leader Cantor (R-VA) has lowered the bar yet again. Not content with his part in attempts to gut the American safety net for the poor and disadvantaged, striving to make the country a better place for the wealthy and corporate interests, this sorry excuse for an imitation human being has shocked even The Amused Geek.

Even the most vehement small government proponents can agree that one of the things that government should do is to provide disaster relief. Whether hurricane, earthquake, flood or man-made cataclysm the federal government is expected to step in to save lives, continue essential services and offer help to rebuild. This is something that civilized governments do.

This is too much government for Cantor. Joplin, MO was struck by what the nerds call an EF5 multiple-vortex tornado last May. In Amused Geek-speak, Joplin was bent over by nature, used violently and left in the road. Over 150 people lost their lives, over $2 billion in property was destroyed and it made the top 10 list of deadliest tornadoes in US history. Any human that gives half a rat's ass for their fellow humans would start looking for what they can do to help. Cantor showed up on "Face the Nation" and proclaimed that any money spent on disaster relief would have to be offset by budget cuts! Mr. Cantor, your programmers need to flush your memory cache.

Last week, with Hurricane Irene taking aim at the east coast, an earthquake struck where earthquakes don't normally strike, in the state of Virginia. The 5.8 quake, mild by California standards, caused some minor damage and rattled nerves from DC to Chicago. Heartless Eric took the opportunity to remind everyone that he wouldn't approve disaster funds without budget cuts. This came AFTER the epicenter of the quake was announced to be in Mineral, VA. The fine folks of the Mineral area could rest easy, knowing that FEMA would come to the rescue if needed save one small point. Mineral, VA resides in the 7th Congressional district and is represented by (wait for it...) Eric Cantor. He was publicly turning his back on his OWN DAMNED DISTRICT!!!

I would normally ask if Eric was dropped on his head as a child but I know folks that suffered childhood head trauma that have grown up to be kind, caring and all-around wonderful people. Perhaps Eric Cantor is the world's only surviving heart donor. Mr. Cantor, have you been kowtowing to your Corporate Masters for so long that you've forgotten who votes for you? Are you just another Republican that believes that the wealthiest 2% of Americans are somehow more deserving than the rest of us?

I have said it before and I will say it again. If you make less than $250K a year and you vote Republican or even Tea Party, you are supporting a candidate that is NOT working for you. The masks of humanity are slipping. Cantor has spoken of "class warfare". Folks, the war has been on since I can remember and the rich are WINNING!!! Eric Cantor is just the latest and most blatant example of that. If there is any justice left in the world, someone will run against Cantor in 2012. They should play the footage of Cantor demanding his quid pro quo before he stoops to help those that elected him at EVERY opportunity. Then we can get this heartless bastard out of Washington and out of our hair.

Those that cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it...

2011-08-15T16:27:00.000-07:00

George Santayana's quote was just barely selected as the title for today. The other candidate was,"Did we learn NOTHING from Hebert Hoover?" Average Americans are out-of-work, losing their homes, unable to afford health care and falling deeper into that hole on a daily basis. America's corporate overlords, on the other hand, are posting massive profits and setting records for earnings. Apple, America's second most valuable corporate overlord, recently had more cash on hand than the U.S. Government!

Against this backdrop, our government once again broke out its' fiddle and chose to use the economy as kindling for a partisan pyre. Seventy-eight times since 1960, Congress raised the debt limit without trying to run America into a bridge abutment. This time, thanks to the Republican's stated goal of making Obama a one-term President, the rules changed. This wouldn't have been a problem if the Democrats had grown a set of balls and not caved in, as usual.

The problem is simple, even if the solutions aren't. The Republicans are unwilling to consider any legislation that causes the rich to pay even a single dollar more in taxes, even though they pay less in taxes now that at any time in recent history. At the same time, they want to cut government spending at a time when the economy for real Americans needs stimulation the most. The Democrats want to make the economic landscape more friendly to the middle and lower classes, but lack the spine to stand up to their Republican opposition. President Obama tries to "be the adult in the room", but doesn't show the strength or inclination to call the GOP bluff. That leaves us with a government that makes Charlie Sheen look like the epitome of wisdom and coherent thought.

The future bodes no better. The recent Republican debate gave us the number of candidates that would support a measure that coupled spending cuts with tax increases at a 10-to-1 ratio. None. Michelle Bachmann comes off as ill-informed at best and bat-shit crazy at worst. Mitt Romney can't shake his past liberalism in Massachusetts and Rick Perry is trying to run for the presidency of a nation he wants to secede from. In normal times, Democrats should be looking forward to another term in the White House, but our President is looking more and more like a spineless weakling on a daily basis.

That brings us back to my alternate title. I hear lots of talk about "double-dip recession", but I think we may be on the brink of a depression. The last time we were here, the capital-D Depression that all economic crises are measured against, Herbert Hoover decided to keep taxes on the rich low and drastically cut government spending. This resulted in the biggest economic collapse in history, marked by so-called "Hoovervilles" where the poor huddled for survival, which lasted until the election of Franklin Roosevelt. FDR opened the federal purse strings and put people back to work. While most people believe that WWII ended the Great Depression, most of the groundwork had already been done.

Does the government spend a lot of money on stupid shit? Yes. Hell, we just spent (and continue to spend) trillions of dollars and too many American lives on wars that were never necessary. The economy will not improve until the majority of struggling Americans have money to spend. America's corporate overlords have had ample opportunity to step up to the plate and have not. If the private sector can not or will not end this soon-to-be second Great Depression then the public sector must.

Scope or Grope

2010-11-23T01:14:00.000-08:00

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. - Benjamin Franklin

This pearl of eternal wisdom from one of America's founding fathers has been much in my mind of late. I have often spoken out against the tyranny inflicted upon our citizenry by our government in the name of protecting us from terrorism. Ever since the attacks of 9/11, the reaction of the American government has been to toss the Constitution out the window and subject Americans to a seemingly endless intrusion into our daily lives and a steady erosion of our rights. Even a change of party control of the White House and Congress hasn't slowed this nonsense. Nowhere is this assault more overt than at America's airports.

In an effort to gain a measure of security, air travelers have gradually had to surrender their freedoms as well as their dignity. At first the requirements were tame. Have your carry-on x-rayed, be ready to get the electronics out for a visual. If you want to see a TSA line slow to a halt, travel with my beloved wife, the Lovely and Talented Cathy. The collection of electronic devices she travels with would boggle the mind. Then some moron tried to light his shoes up. This is where things got silly. Now all air travelers had to take off their shoes to have them x-rayed. It still amazes me that the vast majority of passengers just stood for it. That was bad enough, but everything changed when the next sphinctroid decided to hide explosives in his shorts.

This brings us to the sad state we are in today. Anyone that wants to fly out of a major airport in America has two choices if the want to get on their airplane. The first option is to be subjected to a "full-body scanner". An x-ray machine that sees through your clothes and lets a "remote operator" see an image of your naked body. I really don't give a husky fuck how remote the operator is. If I wanted to pose for porn, I'd put it on the net and find a way to get paid for it. The second option is even worse. If you choose not to be "scoped", you have to submit to an "enhanced pat-down", which is TSA-speak for "touch every place that an explosive could be hidden" and if you think that your breasts, crotch or ass are off-limits you WILL get an unpleasant surprise. If a police officer did this without a warrant or witnessing a crime, they would be up on charges!

My question is this: When did wanting to travel by air become a criminal act? When did possession of an airline ticket become probable cause? The 4th amendment to the Constitution is a very clear statement. "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." Why hasn't someone sued over this?

Some people are muttering on the Internet about an "opt-out" day on the day before Thanksgiving. The head of the TSA is pleading with travelers to submit to the scope rather than slow the lines down and opt for the grope. He wants people to not "tie up people who want to go home and see their loved ones". If I was flying this holiday, I would absolutely opt-out. If that is what it takes for the government to wake up and start following the Constitution again, so be it.

Immigration Consternation

2010-05-13T18:38:00.000-07:00

I got an email today from a family member that shall remain nameless (you know who you are) that got my hackles up. It was one of those "tea party" racist anti-illegal immigration screeds that would be right at home in the state of Error-zona. I'll spare the Faithful Reader some of the gory details, but a couple of salient points spring instantly to mind. This email called for all immigrants to:

"Get a sponsor"

"Get a job"

"Live by OUR rules" (emphasis theirs)

And the clincher...

"Learn the language like immigrants have in the past"

Forgive me if I seem out of touch, but doesn't that make every white person in this country the descendant of an illegal immigrant? If history is anywhere near correct, the first white people in America had no sponsorship, the native population had no employment for them (and was ignorant of the concept...), needed assistance from the native population and forced THEIR language and customs on the natives that weren't killed outright. Don't even get me started on the other ethnic groups that came to this country, willingly or not, since then.

The only other logical position that comes to mind is even less flattering. Since the "Europeans" (France, England, Spain) stole this land from its' native-born population, perhaps the "logic" being used is more of a "we stole it first, so stay the fuck out" mentality. What these "tea party" chowderheads tend to forget is that EVERYONE in America is descended from immigrants. Save for the Native Americans, everybody in America is the progeny of someone that came to these shores looking for opportunity or was dragged here in chains by those exploiting opportunity. Everyone in America is an immigrant, most of us are descendants of those who made their own legal sanction.

One of America's greatest strengths is the diversity of her population. This nation was built and has been maintained by people that WANT to be here. The mingling of cultures and customs has kept our nation lively and interesting for over 200 years. While I agree that immigrants should be legal, the culprit is an overly restrictive immigration policy, not the folks trying to find a better life. As some of my hip-hop acquaintances say, "Don't hate the playa, hate the game." Seems extremely fitting in this case...

Interesting Times

2010-04-01T20:28:00.001-07:00

There is a Chinese curse that supposedly goes, "May you live in interesting times". Life since I last filled this space has been that kind of interesting, for damned sure. First came the night that my darling Cathy wound up in the ER after a series of events that ended up with her suffering a concussion so severe that she had a grand-mal seizure. Headaches and dizzy spells persist to this day.

That would have been enough for most folk. As those of you that know me are aware, I am NOT most folk... Next, one of our dogs backed up. Shasta, our 3 year old yellow Lab, suddenly quit eating, started vomiting and got lethargic. Since one of her nicknames is Kangagogo (equal parts kangaroo, gopher and goat), we knew that the next stop was the vet. $2,700 later we had a small plastic bag of hard, smelly, unidentifiable "stuff", Shasta had a lovely new scar and I began to wonder what was next.

I didn't have to wait long. The morning of Shasta's surgery, I went out to my truck and it wouldn't start. After replacing the battery, a week later I took it in for an oil change and got asked, "Do you know that your water pump is leaking?" Then it was new brakes (all 4 wheels). Have I mentioned that it has been an expensive time as well?

Things have calmed down somewhat. There's been good stuff, as well. Managed to spend time with all the family over the winter holidays. Got my world rocked by Avatar. I had a wonderful experience auditioning to become the new Public Address Announcer for the Sacramento Rivercats (our local AAA baseball team). While I didn't make the final audition, the initial callback was a blast! Being in that booth with a microphone in my hand was such a rush! Cathy and I will celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary later this month, and that's a serious milestone given my history as a serial monogamist. My beloved continues to amaze and inspire me in ways I never dreamed possible.

Well, that pretty much brings my life up to date. Lots to look forward to in the coming months, and I hope to resume commentary on whatever leaves tracks on my brain. Stay shiny!

The Dragon is Winning

2009-12-10T14:11:00.000-08:00

I had occasion to visit my local Emergency Department last night. Everyone is recovering, thanks. While there, I saw a large percentage of the patients treated were there due to conditions that were better suited to an office visit to the family Doctor. Too many of our people are unable to acquire health insurance and are relying on already overloaded Emergency Departments. Part of why President Obama got elected was his willingness to be our knight to fight the dragon that is the American Health Insurance Industry. Unfortunately for us, the Legislative Branch is outfitting our knight with tissue-paper armor and a foam rubber lance.

The news over the last few days has been full of the "compromise" on health care reform. The idea of a true "public option", already mortally wounded, was euthanized for a relative mess of pottage. At least the House passed a bill that had a "sorta kinda" public option and increased competition. The Senate, under the gutless and spineless leadership of Harry Reid, sacrificed American health care reform on the altar of the pimps that are the health insurance companies that have been turning our health care system into a series of exorbitantly priced whores and the American people into the "johns" that are overpaying to be serviced or being forced to do without. The problem is that nobody ever died from not getting laid. People are dying every day from insufficient health care.

Senator Reid has been so preoccupied with placating the conservative members of his own party, the so-called "Blue Dogs", that he has squandered the hard-won mandate of the people. The solution is simple, Senator. You need to grow a set, sit these dipsticks down in your office and explain certain facts to them.

FACT: Most of the American people, according to multiple polls, want a robust public option and the competition that will result.

FACT: The only people that will actually benefit from the current bastard child that is the "compromise" will be the health insurance companies. Not only will people be mandated to buy their overpriced products under penalty of law, but the highest-risk segment of the population (those 55-65 that will eventually be covered by the limited Medicare expansion) will no longer be their responsibility.

FACT: You are now part of the Senate majority. If you want to continue to get your prestigious committee assignments, the nice offices and all the other trappings of being in that majority, you have to do one thing occasionally. That thing is to sit down, shut up and support the party that got you elected when it needs you.

In a perfect world, that would have happened already. Senator Reid's spine, having the consistency of a soggy graham cracker, precludes this scenario. Why is America the only industrialized nation that doesn't guarantee health care to ALL of its' citizens? Until and unless our elected officials start listening to the voters instead of their corporate contributor$ we will never get the government of the people, by the people and for the people that we have been promised for so long. Write, call or e-mail your Senators and Representatives and demand the health care you deserve. Tell 'em The Amused Geek sent ya.

Eyes on the Prize...

2009-10-09T20:35:00.000-07:00

This morning, President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. After making a very modest acceptance speech, the President announced that he would donate the accompanying cash prize ($1.4 million… chump change it ain’t) to charity. Among the expected partisan shit-storm surrounding this great honor, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele was quoted as saying, “What has President Obama actually accomplished?” Even a staunch conservative named Pat Buchanan called Steele's comments "a Kanye West moment". Let me spell some of it out for ya, Mickey…

First and foremost, Obama ended the eight year era of “cowboy diplomacy” and unilateralism that was propagated by the Bush administration. Instead of “Yee-haw, I’m goin’ in… Cover me!” President Obama relied more on “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” Wasn’t that quote attributed to one of the other sitting U.S. Presidents to win the Peace Prize? Teddy Roosevelt, I believe it was. Rather than “stay the course no matter what changes” our President engages other nations, friend and foe, to achieve a mutually satisfactory conclusion. Didn’t we have a sitting President that won the Peace Prize for that, too? If you answered Woodrow Wilson, you win today’s no-prize!

Then there’s the whole issue of climate change. Instead of ignorance, denial, repudiation, lies and outright stupidity towards the whole concept of man-made climate change, Obama has acknowledged that this is one of the most important and difficult issues we face as a planet today and has started us down the long road of moving to cleaner and more renewable energy sources. That’s more that any President before Obama has been able to accomplish. Didn’t we have a former Vice-President that got the Peace Prize for his work battling climate change? Al Gore, wasn’t it?

Finally we come to the vast improvement in the world’s view of America. Instead of rampaging through situations trying to hammer every problem into the administration’s image, our diplomatic corps is trying, at the direction of the President, to find peaceful solutions to the world’s conflicts. Using the carrot and keeping the stick in reserve. Didn’t we have a former President that won the Peace Prize for helping do just that? President Carter, as I recall. I haven’t even started on nuclear non-proliferation. Hell, Bush couldn’t even pronounce it! Have I also mentioned working tirelessly to undo the clusterfuck that was left by Mr. Bush and his administration?

Does President Obama have a long record of successful conclusions? Not yet. "I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many transformative figures that have been honored by this prize," he said. "I will accept this award as a call to action, a call for all nations to confront the challenges of the 21st century." Some of us feel that, while a bit premature, that if President Obama’s reach does not exceed his grasp, he could wind up wining this august prize again. Chairman Steele, stick to being the poorly trained lapdog to the intellectually deficient and the morally bankrupt. It is, after all, what you do best.

Glenn Beck, President of Cracker Nation!

2009-09-15T18:51:00.000-07:00

Fox commentator Glenn Beck has been bloviating for what seems like forever about his precious "9.12 project". Now, in fairness, the 9.12 project website has a disclaimer distancing itself from "the Glenn Beck Program, Glenn Beck, or any radio station, Cable TV Network, etc. ". A little farther down the page you will find a small shrine called the Glenn Beck Feed, however. For those who have better things to do than listen to the lies and innuendo that these neocon nit-wits spew, the stated goal of this gaggle's website is to be "a place for you and other like-minded Americans looking for direction in taking back the control of our country." Some of them marched in Washington, DC over the weekend. I noticed some disturbing trends...

First was the size of the crowd. I've heard claims of upwards of 500,000 by Beck and the Fox bozos. Judging by the authenticated pictures I've seen, that number is off by an order of magnitude (Lop off a zero for you non-math geeks).

Second was the obvious level of hatred in the crowd. I don't think Ive ever seen a group of people more riled by fear and outright ignorance. Even at the height of the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, I didn't see people espousing violence against any American, even (or especially!) Muslim-Americans. I'm willing to bet the Secret Service will be putting in a lot of overtime just based on some of the signs I saw on the news.

Third, and scariest of all, was the make-up of the crowd. I have yet to see a picture, ANY picture, of a single person of color attending this hoe-down. No black, brown, yellow or red faces whatsoever. Just an unbroken stream of white, most of them looking to be in need of a bit of health care. One person (and hats off to them) even went so far as to dub this the "Great White Waddle". I'm old enough (barely) to remember (from TV) the racial struggles in this country in the 1960's. The last time I saw a crowd this white being this angry at a black man there were hoods involved.

All of this got my brain running on its' hamster wheel. These people don't want government-run health care but are unwilling to give up their Veteran's and Medicare benefits, think that they have "lost control of 'their' country" just because America elected a black President and think that social justice equals socialism. I think it is high time for these crackers to form their own country. Let's call it "Cracker Nation", a nation built on fear, ignorance, hatred and deceit.

Think about it... a place where all these people that are afraid of people that are different from them can go and be out of our hair. Fixed Noise can be their Ministry of Dis-information, Lou Dobbs for Immigration Minister and of course: Glenn Beck, President of Cracker Nation!

All kidding aside, this wave of scared white people scares me more than almost anything that came out of the Bush administration. Frightened people in large groups worry me, and when people like Beck, Dobbs, O'Reilly and Limbaugh use those fears to agitate scared people it amounts to nothing more than incitement to riot, pure and simple. Wait a minute... plying on fears and ancient hatreds... those tactics sound familiar... THAT'S IT!!! The same tactics Osama binLaden used to incite the 9/11 attacks!

And so we have come full circle. Amazing, isn't it. I think Sinclair Lewis said it best. "When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” Two excellent reasons to be wary of excessive patriotism and religion, don't you think? And if you don't think, why are you reading this?

Students and Technology

2009-08-26T12:35:00.000-07:00

The Constant Reader knows of the high esteem in which I hold my beloved wife, the Lovely and Talented Cathy. Her latest project is another stunningly wonderful idea. She has started podcasting and a new website, Student Tech. This podcast covers all the nifty technological goodies she has found helpful in her quest for her doctoral degree. It also shares ways to save money and blow off steam with low-cost fun, since keeping your sanity is just as important as gaining an education.

In addition to learning all kinds of stuff, you will also get to hear the beautiful voice of the woman that is the light of my life. Check out Student Tech and tell her The Amused Geek sent you!

The Lion Sleeps

2009-08-26T12:07:00.000-07:00

America lost perhaps its' greatest liberal champion last night. Senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy lost his battle with brain cancer. This man, born to wealth and privilege, never ceased to battle for the rights of those less fortunate. Kennedy spent more that 47 years in the U.S. Senate and left his stamp on every major civil rights and anti-poverty legislation presented to that body. He will be missed.

It seems ironic to me that the darkest day of his career may have done more than anything else to extend Senator Kennedy's life. His brothers, John and Robert, came to early ends in possesion or pursuit of the nation's highest office. Ted could have easily become President had it not been for the tragic "Chappaquiddick" incident. He remained in the Senate and probably did more good for the disabled, poor and under-privleged over his long Senatorial career than he ever could have in a four to eight year Presidency.

Your labors are done, old lion. Rest well.

Tyranny of the Wingnuts

2009-08-09T18:48:00.000-07:00

In the days since I've last updated this missive, a disturbing trend has come to the fore. People (and I use that term loosely in this case) staring at the President's birth certificate still claiming that he's not a citizen, Medicare recipients railing against "government run health care" and the right-wing screaming meemies (This means YOU and your kind, Plush Windbag!) spewing talking points that are intellectually bankrupt and morally reprehensible.

It seems like the airwaves are filled with people shouting bullshit at the top of their lungs under the impression that volume can replace truth. On the news recently I saw elderly person after elderly person crying about how a public insurance option would mean that old people would have to die rather than get the health care they deserve. Do you honestly think that a country that specially designed a government-run single-payer healthcare system JUST for the elderly would make these same people end their lives due to a lack of healthcare? What color is the sky in your world? You sure don't live here! By the way, all of you who are screaming that America doesn't have a government-run single-payer healthcare system just for the elderly, it is called Medicare.

This mess is so pervasive that there is even a name for it. They are called "astroturf movements" because they claim to be coming from the "grass roots" but are fake. The Republican party is behaving like it believes that this is what the people want. Take that lying and barely literate village-idiot-of-the-tundra (could Dubya and she be related? Scary!), Sarah Palin. She is blathering on about how the Obama healthcare plan would create panels that would decide whether a citizen would live or die when, if Palin had the intelligence and integrity to read the actual bill, she would know that what is being offered is voluntary end-of-life counseling to the terminally ill. Palin, you lying guttersnipe, you have no room to chastise the press for "makin' stuff up"! Senator McCain, your selection of this moron didn't kill your campaign, but it did put it out of our misery.

The Constant Reader will know that I am a recent but devoted convert to liberalism and social justice, and I want to ask a favor. Please write, call, email or send a carrier pigeon to your Senator and your Congresscritter telling them that you want healthcare reform WITH a public option, and tell them that The Amused Geek sent you. I especially want you to write if you have the ill-fortune to live in a Congressional district represented by a Republican. I don't have much of a following, but perhaps we can make the Geek voice heard!

Grim Reaper Working Overtime

2009-06-28T22:09:00.000-07:00

Is death just in the air, or what? In the last seven days we've lost Ed McMahon, Farah Fawcett, Michael Jackson and Billy Mays died today. On top of that, Walter Cronkite is reported to be gravely ill. Seems to be a bad week to be famous.

I normally wouldn't comment about this, but I am amazingly most moved by the sudden death of Billy Mays. One of my recent guilty pleasures has been the show Pitchmen on Discovery. It's the story of Mays and Anthony Sullivan and how they find and pitch products. High-brow television it ain't, but it was fun and I'll be sorry to see it go. For all his bluster in public, watching him on TV turned him into a real person. I guess you can't ask for more from putting yourself in the public eye like that.

Brain Droppings

2009-06-26T22:13:00.000-07:00

(with all proper credit to George Carlin) Too much shit going on in the world for my brain to absorb these days, but my biggest fan that I'm not married to commented that I've not written lately. So for my favorite waitress, Sharon at the Pancake Palace in North Highlands, here we go...

Am I the only one that finds the latest Dos Equis commercials, featuring "The Most Interesting Man in the World", utterly fascinating? "His personality is so magnetic, he is unable to carry credit cards." Amazing!

The World Series of Poker is in full swing down in Las Vegas. Jeffrey Lisandro has already won an incredible THREE bracelets this year! It is one of my fondest dreams to play in an event someday. One of those bracelets would look really good on my wrist!

Michael Jackson is dead. Big, fat, fucking, hairy deal. The only person that started as a poor black boy and ended as a rich white woman finally overloaded his body. I really don't care what finally killed him, but what I want to know is how or why he went from black to white and what was up with all the cosmetic work... I heard one today that said how Jackson's body is going to have to be recycled because of all the plastic.

Finally, is it just my imagination, but is President Obama not living up to the hype? He's had ample opportunity to live up to his promises and it seems like all we're seeing is more of the same. He has a Democratic Congress and a popular mandate. Shouldn't he be giving the Republicans a dose of their own medicine? Isn't that what we elected him for?

Seven Justices, One Spine

2009-05-26T15:06:00.000-07:00

Today the California Supreme Court, in a 6-1 decision, upheld Proposition 8. The top court of the state that I used to be proud to call home has effectively made it legal for any group with sufficient money and hatred to force any group they disagree with into second-class citizenry. The one place in America that should be on the forefront of equal rights for all has taken a giant step back toward repression and apartheid. I am saddened not only by the loss to the gay and lesbian wing of the human community, but by the fact that one of the larger demographics that voted for this abomination in the first place was the African-American religious community. It wasn't all THAT long ago that they were the ones forced to ride on the back of the bus...

I am reminded of a poem I first heard in grammar school. We were being taught about Anne Frank. It was an evil time in world history, and I am most assuredly NOT trying to compare today's events to the Holocaust in any way, shape or form. There was a poem, written by Martin Niemöller that has remained in my head ever since. It seems especially appropriate today:

"In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;

And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;

And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;

And then... they came for me... And by that time there was no one left to speak up."

All of you that are members of some kind of minority whose rights are protected by law and the state Constitution, look to your rights. The gay and lesbian community learned today that the state constitution is no longer protection from the neanderthals who prefer religion over reality. We all learned that the law that is supposed to protect the rights of those that need protecting can be overturned for no better reason than the hatred of those that fear you. We also learned that the courts put in place to redress the wrongs of bad law will do nothing.

The lone bright spot in all of this is that the California Supremes didn't retroactively annul the gay and lesbian marriages that took place while we were an enlightened state. To those who were married in that golden time, I salute you and wish you the best. To those seeking equal rights, it is ironic that I suggest to you, perhaps Ohio?

Dick

2009-04-26T20:15:00.000-07:00

There is a lingering plague afoot in this nation. After a thorough high colonic, the parasite that caused this pestilential eruption lingers, continuing to spew filth and corruption. I speak of none other than our former Vice-President, the incredibly aptly named Dick Cheney. This scion of corporate corpulence, this Sith Lord with his hand firmly wearing his former boss like some sort of demented flesh sock puppet, the being that single-handedly orchestrated the greatest single assault on our Constitutional freedoms since King George III, has risen from the slime of his "undisclosed location" to show the moral bankruptcy that characterized the administration of Bush the Younger.

Hyperbole aside, I am constantly amazed at the unmitigated gall of this Dick. Since skulking out of office, he has done nothing but criticize the foreign policy of the Obama administration. On closing Gitmo: It's a bad decision. It's a first-class facility (ABC News). When President Obama officially ended torture? "President Obama campaigned against it all across the country, and now he is making some choices that, in my mind, will, in fact, raise the risk to the American people of another attack." (CNN) The crowning glory came on April 20 when the most secretive government official since that other Dick (Nixon, for you young'uns), who has fought tooth-and-nail to exert executive privlidge wherever possible (and in a few impossible places), was quoted by UPI as saying that the Obama administration didn't release enough information!

After the work-product from the twisted hobgoblins that made up the Bush "Justice" department was made public, Dick had the nerve to say, "One of the things that I find a little bit disturbing about this recent disclosure is they put out the legal memos, the memos that the CIA got from the Office of Legal Counsel, but they didn't put out the memos that showed the success of the effort." (UPI) The implication is that there are volumes of interrogation reports and other documentation of all the plots foiled by America's descent into Inquisition. From Dick's own pen, the truth is somewhat underwhelming.

Dick filed a request for documents from his old office under the Freedom of Information Act. Apparently he had a file labeled "Detainees" in his office. From that he wants the documents that, one assumes, will vindicate his torturing of prisoners. So, how many memos does Darth Cheney think it will take to clear his "good name"? Two, total pages: 21. Is there anyone out there still buying the bullshit?

President Obama made a mistake when he said the the CIA operatives that followed orders to torture shouldn't be prosecuted. The saving grace of that moment was when he said that investigation and prosecution of the torture incidents was up to the Attorney General. AG Holder, the very reputation of the American nation and her people is at stake. Lady Liberty was not just assaulted, she was clubbed, dragged into a dark alley, sodomized and her purse ransacked for cabfare. It is essential that you order investigations and, where the evidence indicates, prosecutions. To make any investigation more than a fancy cover-up, you MUST follow the evidence wherever it leads, even if that destination is the highest office in the land. The ghosts of torture victims throughout history cry out for the restoration of America's reputation as that shining beacon of freedom and liberty that she has been in the past, and is on her way to being again.

Tempest in a Teabag

2009-04-15T23:04:00.000-07:00

Today is tax day. Corporate right-wing fucktards attempted to stir up the populace and claim it to be a grass-roots movement. Conservatives, if that is the state of your grass roots, your lawn is dead! One of the largest gatherings was here in Sacramento, but they couldn't even out-draw the worst team in the NBA, our very own Kings.

One of the asshats at the Washington, D.C. protest managed to get that prayer-meetin' busted up when they threw a box of teabags over the fence at the White House, earning the ire of the Secret Service who treated it like a possible bomb, and rightly so. I noticed that the tea was from Wal-Mart. It seems that even the right-wing, while protesting the tax policies that are cutting taxes for 95% of Americans, can't afford to shop at better than Wal-Mart.

The funniest thing about this whole thing is that none of the neo-cons or their mouthpieces at Fixed Noise seem to know about the "other" definition of "teabagging". The left-wing media has been one long scrotum joke for about a week now. It shows, once again, that you just cannot fix stupid (with all credit to Ron White)!

Five Decades!

2009-03-29T21:43:00.000-07:00

A week ago, I reached one of those milestone birthdays. 50 years ago last week, I was brought into this world. I have had time to think about my life and I'm amazed at the changes that have occurred. ATMs, PCs, SUVs and a whole host of other acronyms that have come about. Hell, fifty years a website involved spiders! I am very glad that I didn't have to endure one of those cheesy black-balloon and geezer joke parties. Cathy and I went to Reno, where my birthday spanking was well and truly applied by the denizens of the Peppermill poker room. Now if I could just stop those AARP cards from arriving...

Moment of Clarity

2009-03-20T01:06:00.000-07:00

I was in the shower, one of the planet's best thinking spots, mulling over the latest chapter in the saga of the bailed-out financial institutions when I had what my wife, The Lovely and Talented Cathy (TM) so eloquently calls a "brain cascade". That's what happens when one thought leads to another, then another, eventually leading to an epiphany of varying scale from "cool" to "OMFG!"

The thoughts that added to the cascade were that the last bonus I got, my stay bonus when I got laid off last year, had 42% sucked off the top by the Feds and that when I did my income tax this year the unemployment insurance I got was taxable income on my form 1040. Add hot water, soap and a major case of hamster brain...

The two ideas that sprang to mind were these. First, make any bonus awarded to anyone with a base salary less than $50,000 per year taxable as if it were a regular paycheck. No more getting just over half, just tax it as if it was a regular weekly/bi-weekly/monthly paycheck. This would put more money into the economy by keeping the bonus in the hands of the employee, not the Feds. The best part is that if some greedy corporate bastard tries to dodge the law by paying a CEO $50k a year with a $50 million bonus, it gets taxed like they make $50 million A MONTH!

Idea #2 was either the PR move of the year for any Republican or the ultimate "gotcha" for any Democrat. Introduce a bill making public Unemployment Insurance exempt from federal tax, retroactive to tax year 2008. This will provide a small reduction in the tax bills of those who need it most and will stimulate the economy of a record number of Americans by cutting taxes. Republicans can use it as a centerpiece of the "cut taxes is the only answer" BS they spout, and Democrats can just say, "You want tax cuts so damned bad, here you go!"

I wonder if this could gain any traction?

Random Bravos and Bitchslaps...

2009-02-18T00:23:00.000-08:00

Too much information swirling through my brain tonight... A few random comments

Alex Rodriguez: Am I the only one that is tired of all these baseball players that refuse to admit to steroid use but keep apologizing for getting caught? A-Rod, Bonds, Tejada and all the rest of you need to just say "I did it. It was all over the place. Once baseball ruled it was cheating, I quit." and then get past it. Until you do that, shut up already! Bitchslap!

Bud Selig, Comissioner of MLB: Take the home run record away from Barry Bonds and give it back to your buddy Hank Aaron? Only if you are ready to take away every record, award and performance bonus from everyone else in the Mitchell Report, dipstick! Bitchslap!

Hank Aaron: Always one of the most classy guys in baseball, for publicly telling the world that the home run record belongs to Barry Bonds and that Selig has the wrong idea, BRAVO!

Bristol Palin: In an interview with Fox "News", she said that relying on abstinence was "completely unrealistic". She also said that having her baby was her choice. Just remember that your mother, Caribou Barbie, would take that choice away from all women in America. BRAVO!

I know there is more, just not tonight.

Super Sunday

2009-02-01T22:13:00.000-08:00

Who'da thunk it? I tuned in to the Super Bowl and a football game broke out! After the Cardinals made every mistake you possibly could and overcame a couple of questionable calls by the officials, it took a last minute TD to put the Steelers on top. A really good game to watch by any standard. If anyone doubted Kurt Warner's credentials for the Hall of Fame, I think that was put to rest. It didn't hurt that I had the Cardinals +7 either!

Of course football isn't the only reason to watch the Super Bowl. It may not even be the main reason. The Super Bowl commercials are traditionally as much or more fun than the game. Was it my imagination or were this year's commercials kinda flat? In fact, I think the big winner this year was NBC! My favorite had to be LMAO with the Hulu ad with Alec Baldwin and the Heroes Football Game close behind. Of the "commercial" commercials, my top two were shown in the same break. The Pedigree "Crazy Pets" and Bud's "Stick" (I still think of it as "Fetch") were my favorites. Monster.com also had a good one with "Need a New Job?"

The biggest waste of $3 million: Cash4Gold. Ed McMahon and MC Hammer babbling about how you can sell your "excess" gold. Like anyone these days has EXCESS gold... I feel sorry for Ed McMahon. Between his "Tonight Show" and "Star Search" work and all those commercials he should have never had money troubles again. If it can happen to someone like him, some of us should thank our lucky stars.

Yes, We Did!

2009-01-21T22:23:00.000-08:00

President Obama. I STILL think it sounds cool! I got to watch the whole inauguration ceremony live, and except for that sanctimonious hypocrite Rick Warren it was a wonderful experience. Aretha was in fine voice and as one of my co-workers said, "There are only a few places you can wear a hat like that.", but she pulled it off with style. I still think she should have sung "Respect", but tradition must be served. Perhaps in four years?

Our new President is about to sign an executive order to close the gulag at Guantanamo. That's a great first step, but I think that more needs to happen. In the unlikely event that someone with the ear of President Obama reads this, my advice as an American that longs to see his country regain the moral high ground is this: Please order Attorney General-Designate Holder (Still Designate thanks to partisan Republican bullcrap) to investigate the illegal wiretapping, eavesdropping, no-bid contracts and, most of all, the use of torutre by the Bush administration. If sufficient evidence is found, those responsible should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. If that means that the former President and Vice-President go to jail, so be it.

I am not advocating a "witch-hunt". Merely following the evidence wherever it leads, even if (and especially if) it leads all the way to the top. The U.N. Special Investigator on Torture, Manfred Noack said today that, "The American government has a clear obligation to prosecute members of the Bush administration for war crimes" as a signatory to the U.N. Convention on Torture. Mr. Noack specifically named Donald Rumsfield and former President Bush. In fact, under those conventions, the U.N. might be able to start prosecution on its' own!

Wouldn't it be better for us to clean our own house than to let the rest of the world do it for us?

Feeling vile...

2009-01-05T22:01:00.000-08:00

Why is it that a simple cold will turn the average human being into a quivering shell. I've come down with one and I feel like a mass of barely-congealed bat crap. Of course it has to show up while I'm in my probation period in my new job so I can't take the time to get over it. We can have people live in outer space, connect the entire world to one another and have pills to cause erections and grow hair but we can't cure a simple bloody rhinovirus? SIGH!

Year-end reflections

2008-12-22T20:17:00.001-08:00

We have come to that time of year where those of us that aren't beating ourselves senseless preparing for the annual Winter Greed and Hypocrisy Festival (AKA Xmas) start reflecting on the year that just passed. This has been a year of real highs and lows:

LOW: Gas passing $4.25/gallon this summer.
HIGH: Gas dropping to $1.60/gallon this fall.

LOW: Getting laid off after over 17 years with ADT.
HIGH: Getting hired with Comcast in December.

LOW: Being broke all summer.
HIGH: Winning tickets from a local radio station to be able to take my darling Cathy to her first ever honest-to-goodness rock concert!
BONUS HIGH: It was Carlos Santana, the seats were GREAT, and Carlos was on his A+ game!

There were other highs and lows throughout 2008, most of which I have chronicled here. On balance, there was more good than bad this year, the bad was all endurable, and 2009 looks promising. I have friends, a family that loves me, two nifty doggies and most of all the love and support of the lovely and talented Cathy! Life is pretty good.

What a month!

2008-12-19T20:38:00.000-08:00

Well, it's official... My long unemployment is finally over. One week ago today I began working for Comcast here in Sacramento. I am in training to become an Advanced Services Representative, providing technical support for Internet and digital phone customers. I think I'm going to enjoy this. The training is challenging. I haven't had to study this hard since my short college career, and I have a head full of bees by the end of the day, but I think I'm doing well. I had forgotten how bloody short weekends are...

The Music Industry

2008-12-03T23:37:00.001-08:00

The music industry really needs to get with the times. A case in point, from my own recent experience: I have recently gotten interested again in the music of AC/DC for the first time since college. Since I am fully in the digital music age, I roll on over to iTunes to buy some tunes. Lo and behold, AC/DC has exactly ZERO songs on iTunes...

Undaunted, I went to the AC/DC website. There you can buy every CD and a lot of LP releases that the band has ever had, but NO digital music. In desperation, I roll over to Dimple Records, my favorite local used CD shop, to see if I can score a "greatest hits" CD. It appears that AC/DC, whether out of some artistic premise or to simply keep selling the ol' catalogue, has NEVER released a greatest hits collection!

This is a story of a person that wants to get his favorite songs by a particular group in his selected format in a legal fashion. The only way for me to get my favorite AC/DC songs legally is to buy most of their albums in their entirety, rather than getting just the good stuff. Not that I would ever do so, but I think I now understand why black market music is so popular. Because I can't afford to buy a dozen or so CD's, there is no way for me to legally have AC/DC on my digital player of choice. Instead of $20 or so, the band will get nothing from me. How does that make sense?

Missing in action...

2008-11-26T16:59:00.001-08:00

Sorry to be missing lately. Between the job hunt and getting ready to host a Thanksgiving dinner this year, life has been a touch on the hectic side. Perhaps after the holiday I'll have more to say and more time to say it...

Life is pretty sweet...

2008-11-16T16:48:00.001-08:00

I have a wonderful wife (the wise, wonderful, intelligent and INCREDIBLY sexy Cathy), we have a couple of nifty doggies (Roobee and Shasta, more on them later), a pretty cool house-mate and my extended state of unemployment may be ending. I don't want to jinx it, so I'm not going to say more. Money may be tight, but other than that, life is good!

Chomping at the bit...

2008-11-12T16:39:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow marks the release of the new World of Warcraft expansion: Wrath of the Lich King. I know that MMORPGs are tools of the devil, but I enjoy them. They also keep me from getting jealous of the time that my beloved darling, Cathy spends working on her Doctorate. Besides, WoW is a fantasy game where a character can go around using a big, honkin' GUN! That and the expansion will let players build magical motorcycles! My character, Yinthalas happens to be one of the folks that can (eventually) build the bikes, so yeah, drool factor is high.

Computer games with guns, bikes and hot night-elf babes... What's not to like?

Thank you for your service...

2008-11-11T00:01:00.000-08:00

Today is Veteran's Day here in America. It used to be a MUCH bigger deal than it is today, and I don't think that is fair. Yes, our wars are less altruistic since the Korean conflict, but that is not the fault of the veterans that served so gallantly. While our Commanders-in-Chief have showed questionable morals and judgement in choosing our battles in recent years, our troops have showed their honor and bravery in the finest tradition of our armed services. Ladies and Gentlemen of the Armed Forces, past and present, I offer my heartfelt thanks for your service to our country. I am honored to live in the country you defend.

Dedicated to my late Grandfather, William Kenneth Pettigrew, USN in WWII. I miss you, Pop.

COMPLETELY Blown Away!

2008-11-10T21:51:00.000-08:00

I have spoken at great length of the injustice visited on California by the passage of Proposition 8. Folks, I have no words to describe something I heard tonight. Countdown on MSNBC is one of my all-time favorite news programs. Yes, Keith Olbermann is unashamedly liberal, but that isn't the main reason why I watch. Mr. Olbermann is perhaps the most eloquent, erudite and most intelligent commentator on television today. I have been a fan of his since I first discovered him on ESPN, where he was one of the few on that network that didn't assume that all sports fans had a room-temperature IQ.

Mr. Olbermann commonly uses the editorial, in the form of a "Special Comment" when something happens that he (and most of his viewers) simply cannot let stand unchallenged. Tonight was such a night and his target was Proposition 8. Those of you that know me are well aware of my talent for the use of the English language. I, in my wildest dreams, can only aspire to one-tenth the talent of this man.

No matter your stance on Proposition 8, please go listen to tonight's' Special Comment. If you can listen to his opinion, answer the questions he poses honestly and NOT support the utter destruction of this abomination of marital apartheid, you can quit worrying about your soul. It is already lost.

One step forward, one step back...

2008-11-05T10:54:00.000-08:00

It is the morning after the most historic election in American history. I rejoice with my nation for its' selection of the first non-white President-elect but I am ashamed of my state for its' narrow approval of bigotry and hatred. Barack Obama will be our next President, but California gays and lesbians have been relegated to second-class citizenship by the forces of ignorance.

Barack Obama won the Presidential election by over 7 million popular votes and smashed John McCain in the Electoral College 349-173 (North Carolina is STILL too close to call), exceeding the expectations of everyone except the folks at FiveThirtyEight.com whose last prediction was 348.6-189.4! Senator McCain showed all the class that his campaign never did in his concession and President-elect Obama (Doesn't that sound COOL?) gave an acceptance speech that gave me chills. I think the best picture of the night was Rev. Jesse Jackson, without shame or embarrassment, openly crying for joy when the election was called. Calling yesterday historic is the understatement of the century.

My joy was tempered with sorrow when the results for Proposition 8 were released in California. With nearly 10 million ballots counted, the forces of bigotry, hatred and intolerance outnumbered the side of equality for all by just over 420,000 votes. The news here is reporting plans that the "Yes on 8" people are going to go to the courts to have the thousands of perfectly legal same-sex marriages performed in the fleeting moment of equality in California ANNULLED! Not satisfied with successfully gaining legal cachet for marital apartheid, the scared and ignorant want to re-write the past that doesn't fit into their world view. This issue has moved me back to disgusted.

The message that I draw from all this is that while we have, for the most part, moved beyond race as a nation there is still bigotry to be fought in America. We will only be a nation of equals when no one group's fears and hatreds are manifest in our laws. We took a step yesterday, but we aren't there yet.

VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!

2008-11-04T00:01:00.000-08:00

Did I mention you should go out and vote? I have voiced some pretty strong opinions in this blog since I started it, and while I hope you will support Barack Obama and defeat Proposition 8, let your voice be heard, no matter your point of view. Democracy only works when citizens exercise their franchise. So go vote already!!!

Bringing the funny!!!

2008-11-03T12:15:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd take a break from the news and share one of my favorite pastimes on the Web - Webcomics! Everywhere you look on the Internet you can find comic strips that will brighten your day, give you a smile and are downright nifty! This is by no means a complete list, but here are a few of my favorites:

PvP - Created by Scott Kurtz, this strip tells the story of day-to-day life at a computer gaming magazine, if your magazine has a large blue troll on staff and a cat that plans to dominate the world. Good stories, great characters and sharp artwork make this strip fun to read.

Sheldon - Dave Kellett's story of of a ten-year-old kid software billionaire, his grandpa, his talking pet duck (you gotta read the strip) Arthur, and Arthur's lizard son (you REALLY gotta read the strip) Flaco. Squee!

Sinfest - From the fertile mind of Tatsuya Ishida, nothing is off limits here. Sex, religion, drugs and politics all get lampooned with rapier wit. Definitely not safe for work but required reading in the funny department!

And finally, my vote for King of the Funny:

Schlock Mercenary - "The Online Comic Space Opera by Howard Tayler" This is the story of "Tagon's Toughs" a 31st Century mercenary company. Sergeant Schlock (the title character) is a cheerfully sociopathic carbosilicate amorph with a penchant for three things: His Strohl Munitions plasma cannon, solving problems with superior firepower and 55-gallon drums of "Genuine Imitation Ovalkwik". Mr. Tayler has managed to bring the funny on a consistent basis, without missing a day, for over EIGHT years! His artwork has progressed from the primitive to the supremely polished, but the stories started strong and got better from there. If you only take one of my recommendations, check this strip out!

There are a zillion webcomics out there and my little list barely scratches the surface of my browser list. Sniff around and check some out. Let me know if you find more goodies!

Fear and loathing in America...

2008-10-29T18:01:00.000-07:00

(With apologies to the late Hunter S. Thompson)

With the election drawing near, I am beginning to dread turning on the TV. All I hear and see is the fear and hatred of the backward-looking elements of our society. I hear how the folks that show up at Republican rallies are the "real" Americans. I hear how Proposition 8 will "force our children to learn about gay marriage" as if two people loving each other was the moral equivalent of disemboweling a puppy. I am so VERY tired of hearing about people that think if you don't do things as they do, you have no right to exist. I have said before that there is too little love in the world. There is also too little tolerance, civility, polite and considerate behavior, personal responsibility and the basic human virtue of kindness.

We live in a society that invented and refined "road rage". A place where a naked sword is perfectly acceptable television fare but a naked person is pornographic. A place where armored gladiators can hurl their bodies at each other with intent to destroy, but a woman flashes her chest at halftime and it spawns repercussions that we feel to this day. A nation where the followers of a mythical man that preached universal love for your fellow man can support turning a significant portion of the population into second-class citizens.

I just finished watching Obama's half-hour ad. Why is Obama the only one espousing kindness and tolerance? Why are the Democrats the only ones trying to get the majority of Americans a break? My fondest current hope is that America will see through the bullshit that the McCain campaign and the "Yes on 8" campaign are spouting and show up at the polls to make sure that both McCain and "Proposition Hate" go down in flames. We will see in one week.

Politics Redux

2008-10-23T15:55:00.000-07:00

As I said a few days ago, the upcoming presidential election is the most important in decades. After eight years that began with a stolen election and got worse from there, we are being asked to make a choice between a war-hero, long-time alleged "maverick" Republican and a new to the scene, charismatic Democrat.

John McCain claims to be a "maverick", but voted with his president 90% of the time. He claims to be a reformer, but wants to continue the Bush administration's war and tax policies. He claims to know how to run America, but then picked as his running mate Sarah Palin, AKA "Caribou Barbie", a relatively unknown, scandal-plagued Governor of the only state in the Union that gives oil money to its' residents. The "Oil Dividend" came to just over $3,200 to every man, woman and child in Alaska in 2008.

Barack Obama is the most charismatic figure in American politics since JFK. Like Kennedy, he backs up his image with one of the sharpest minds in the arena today. He wants us out of Iraq as quickly as is safe and to focus on the REAL target of Afghanistan and Pakistan to dig bin-Laden out of his hiding place. The Bush tax cuts for the wealthy would be allowed to expire and tax relief would be focused on the lower tax brackets in an Obama administration. To fill in the gap in his foreign-policy experience, Obama selected Joe Biden (Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee) to be his VP candidate.

As the campaign has progressed, the "maverick" has proposed plans that sound more and more like the Republican party line and has tried to use that party's "slime and sleaze" tactics of attack ads, character assassination and distraction with petty sniping over discussion of the real issues. The "celebrity" has been hammering home the problems facing our country, his plans to fix them and pointing out the other party's lack of ideas that will help anyone other than corporate America and the very wealthy.

Folks, if the last eight years have taught us nothing else, it has taught us that the office of President of the United States is far too important to fill with a "fishin' buddy". It should go to the brightest bulb on the string, the sharpest knife in the drawer and the one with ALL the sandwiches for the picnic. Please cast your vote for the candidate BEST able to lead this country out of the mess it has gotten itself into. Vote for Barack Obama.

I fear for this nation's survival if we don't.

Season's end...

2008-10-20T18:08:00.000-07:00

It is with great regret that I mark the end of the season for my beloved Red Sox. As a baseball fan, it has been a good year. My hometown AAA team, the Sacramento Rivercats won everything there was to win in their division for the second straight year. My National League team, the Giants, actually showed some signs of developing a pitching staff. Combine that with the deep playoff run of the Sox (not to mention that the Yankees got pwned!), and "baseball ben berry, berry good to me".

Baseball has been losing ground to football for several years as the "national pastime" and a lot of people don't know why. The late, great George Carlin summed it up VERY well in his routine "Baseball vs. Football". If you want a great sports-related laugh, check it out.

You were the Grand Master, George. We miss you.

Into the political maelstrom

2008-10-18T22:18:00.000-07:00

It is election season, as you all know unless you've been off-planet or under a rock. In addition to the most important presidential election in several generations (more on that later), there is Congress to decide. Most states have various measures on the ballot, and we here in California have an major issue of basic human rights to decide.

A while back, Gavin Newsome (San Francisco's mayor) and the S.F. City Council decided that there was nothing in the California State Constitution that stated that applicants for a marriage license had to be of opposing genders, and ordered the Clerk to act accordingly. The swarm of gay and lesbian couples that obtained marriage certificates, finally equal in the eyes of the law, was nothing sort of astounding. Needless to say, the social conservatives filed suit, the process was stopped and the couples that took advantage of an all too short window immediately filed a countersuit. The California Supreme Court, in one of its' wiser decisions, overturned a previous initiative that tried to limit marriage to heterosexuals only as unconstitutional and Proposition 8 was born. Proposition 8 will alter the California constitution to state that marriage is only legal between one man and one woman.

Since then we have heard how "the will of the voters was overturned" and "churches will be sued over their beliefs" and "gay marriage will be taught in schools" and a metric buttload of other crap about how "marriage has to be defended". The enemy of marriage is not MORE marriage, it is DIVORCE! If you want to "defend" marriage, outlaw divorces. The murder rate will jump, but what can I say.

Why on earth should a loving, committed couple be prevented from all the advantages of a civil marriage, regardless of gender bias? The religious folk say that "God wouldn't approve". Got some news that you won't want to hear, bible-thumpers. Freedom of religion also includes freedom FROM religion. Just because the god-fearing sheep think that non-believers will burn in an imaginary hell does NOT allow them to mold our society to their beliefs. A marriage is not legal until the paperwork is filed with the government, no matter how many god salesmen say otherwise.

I've been married to Cathy for over eight wonderful years. She is not my first wife. My previous marriages ended for different reasons, but not one of them ended because of successful gay and lesbian couples. If two people want to unite their lives they should get all the advantages that the traffic will bear, regardless of whether they are male, female or one of each.

Civil unions aren't the answer either. "Separate, but equal" has never worked and is unconstitutional. There is not now and has never been enough love in the world. Who are we to judge where two consenting adults find it? Folks, I urge you to support equality for everyone. There is NO rational reason why a gay or lesbian couple shouldn't enjoy the same legal benefits AND responsibilities that Cathy and I enjoy. There is also no reason why those couples shouldn't enjoy the same protections that are afforded to those allowed to marry legally.

We say that we are a tolerant society of equals. Prove it. Vote yes on Proposition 8 if you are in California and back similar measures if you aren't. Predjudice is illegal. Don't legalize it.

Diving Right In...

2008-10-17T22:15:00.000-07:00

Well, here I am. With the encouragement of my lovely wife Cathy, I am jumping in to the blogosphere to share my views and opinions with the world. The title of this missive is a fairly accurate representation of my view of most of the human species. Humans in general and Americans in particular (but by NO means solely) seem to have cornered the market on industrial-grade stupid.

We live in an age where hot coffee has to carry a warning that it is hot so some moron doesn't sue when they drop it in their lap! We live in a place where people are so lazy that you can go out and buy pre-fabricated, frozen peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with the crusts removed! I used to think that this was the height of lazy until I stumbled across a product in the supermarket the other day. The Mexican baking company, Bimbo, has a product called "Pan Tostado". Genties and Ladlemen of the audio radiance, this product is nothing more than TOAST!!!! We have finally become such a decadent species that we can't even pull out a fracking toaster?

Yet another sign of the apocalypse...