The Rally to Restore Sanity

John Stewart and Stephen Colbert pulled it off.

They had a rally that basically said, "Let's not pretend that the hate-mongers we see on cable television and listen to on the radio represent us." 

They basically said what I have believed all along.  Few of us are purely Republican or Democrat.  We all want the same thing. We all work together every day to make our country strong.  Metaphorically, we all merge by taking turns, "you go then I go then you go etc."  Every now and then there is someone that tries to cut along the shoulder and crowd in at the last minute; but they are in the minority.

I strongly recommend that you watch clips on Youtube.com and read about it.

I went to see Playing For Change last night.  It was at a small venue in Petaluma.  There were about 150-200 of us there.  Here is a clip of them playing: video Playing for Change.

I took my three kids and two of their friends.  They all loved it.  I have watched this video every day for 9 days and have had 9 great days.  Maybe there is a link.

I just noticed that two things are missing from this election cycle.  First of all, George W. is not on the campaign trail.  What is that all about.  I leave it to you.

Secondly, the GOP is not campaigning on "Look what we have done for you." Instead, they are saying, "We will do the same thing and you will get something different from the last time we did that."  I wonder if that is going to work.

I know the GOP will pick up some seats and I'm glad for that.  Every elected official should know their job is on the line if they can't perform.    As for me, Boxer is history.  Pelosi is history.  The rest....I'll have to give it some thought.

I have taken up blogging with a fury.  Here is a list of links to my blogs: My Blog Links.

I seem to have a lot to say.  It's all part of my bigger plan to save the world.  Speaking of which...

Up, up and away...

Notes from the road

I landed in Chicago on Monday.  On Tuesday, they have the worst storm in 70 years!  Fortunately, I spent most of the day inside and it blew right past.

They have odd driving habits here.  Three times in two days I found myself stopped in a lane simply because the guy ahead of me thought that parking in traffic was a good idea.  I'd be sitting there behind some guy and traffic in the other lanes would be flashing by.  Eventually, I would scoot around him to find that he had simply stopped, maybe to check a map or buy a newspaper.  In California, we shoot people that do that.  Fortunately, I left my bazooka at home.  Otherwise, I may have shot from the hip before checking with the local customs.

Microsoft is a dying breed.  You heard it here first a few months back.  Now it's official.  Their stock has fallen 17% over the last few months.  Their browser is garbage; their Office Suite is garbage; their attempt at a social network is an embarrassment;  they have no tablet; the Zune was antiquated by the time it was brought onto the market and their new phone - who cares about it?

Apple is fighting the good fight but I think their business model will bring them down in the end.  They are too much of a "closed" system.  You are either an Apple person or you are not.  Android it more open - and it's in keeping with the Google philosophy of "as free as we can make it."

Since I am from the Bay Area, I have to say, "How 'bout dem Giants?"  In reality, I am less enthused.  My team is the New York Yankees farm club also known as the Oakland Athletics.  They have been bad for a couple of years and I have tired of them losing every prospect that shows some promise.

I watched Glee last night.  The story line is sort of a cheap glue that holds the singing scenes together.  I was surprised at how much I liked the singing.

I have suddenly found, at the young age of 52, that music is more than just Rock and Roll.  There is this video that I make a point of watching every day.  It makes me feel good.  I have watched it for 7 days in a row now and have had 7 good days as a result.  To find it, go to Youtube.com and look for "Playing for Change."  Once you get there, watch their video of "Stand by Me."

I noticed that Meg Whitman has a "Look how nice I am" ad out now.  After 140 million spent on attack ads, she has fallen to a distant second.  Now she is wisely trying a different route.  One thing of note, she is not as philanthropic as most billionaires.  Her only major gift was $50 million that she gave to preserve an open space near some property she owned.  It seemed more than a little self serving.

I have decided that it's time to leave Afghanistan.  Please forward that to Obama.  If we want to fight terrorists there, just keep our spy network up and then attack from drones.  We are trying to help people that really will go along with anyone that promises not to kill them when they walk to the store, or to the local poppy field.  Let the Taliban have the place.  If the people don't like it, let them rise up.  So long as we are there, they are content to let us do the dying.  I would much rather we send our money and our help to places like Indonesia where they are either swimming in the latest tsunami or running from the nearest volcano.

Time to go back to work.  Some people think I have come to Chicago to help them make Gummy Bears;  The truth is, I am here to save the world...

Up, up and away...

jim

I had a dream - of sorts

I had a dream last night where Sarah Palin and John Boehner (Republican leader) were on a stage answering questions from the press.

Questioner: "Mrs. Palin, given that your highest level of education is an undergraduate degree in journalism, why is it that you feel qualified to run a country?"

Palin: "Well gosh," wink, wink, "Joe the Plummer."

Questioner: "Mrs. Palin, I am curious about your understanding in economics given that you propose we return to the same policies that got us into trouble to begin with.  Perhaps you could tell us what, oh, how about you tell us what fiduciary means."

Palin: "You betcha.  A Fiduciary is where they keep the birds at the zoo."

Questioner: "Interesting." Then turning to John Boehner, "Sir, the Republican party wants to reduce spending.  Perhaps you could tell us what you would cut, given the opportunity."

Boehner: "I don't have to answer that but you can bet I'll hold meeting about it and then a pledge and then lots of other stuff."

Actually, I'm not sure if this was a dream or not.  It all seemed so real.

Now I have a couple of questions that have been bothering me.

Why are there no Baptist Al-Qaida?

How come the door-to-door bible people don't say, "Good morning sir, we'd like to talk to you today about Jihad."

And here is the biggest question.  How come the press and our government spend so much time spreading the fear of one or two individuals living in caves and eating mud soup?

Some American Al-Qaida make a video telling other sociopaths to kill at random and what do we do?  We spread the word.

"Attention everyone, a cave monkey wants people to blow themselves up in your neighborhood.  Be afraid."

They then go on to say, very importantly, "The threat level has been raised to orange."  They leave out the part that the level has been at orange since that entire kindergarten-like system was created.  They also ignore the fact that no one even knows what that is suppose to mean.

Europe shut down for a couple of weeks because some guy in a sheet said "Bombs are a-comin."  I don't know why they even bother to tell us about this stuff.  It's not like we are going to have a sudden outbreak of Hitler Youth that will call in an tell on their parents.

Security should just do it's thing and leave me out of it.  Should a bomb suddenly snuff me out in an instant, that's just fine.  At least I will have lived free of fear.

By the way, am I the only one that thinks "no cruel and unusual punishment" shouldn't apply to terrorists?  I don't think we should torture them but turning them into eunuchs that then spend the rest of their lives wandering how they are going to please 75 virgins with no equipment (the eunuchs not the virgins) seems like a fine idea to me.

Here is a link to a music video that I intend to watch every morning.  It makes me feel good.

http://www.youtube.com/user/PlayingForChange#p/a/C122061BDC373B4B/1/Us-TVg40ExM


Right now it's dark and raining outside.  I have to go out into it none-the-less.  There is nonsense afoot and I have a world to save.

Up, up and away...

Jim

I wouldn't vote for me

I have been silent lately.  There are two reasons for this.  First of all, I was on vacation, during which I attended my college reunion (Go Navy!).  Secondly, no one in the political world is behaving the way I want them to.  This means that I can either attack all of them or I'll just hang my head and cry.

I am going to go with the crying option.

I see this woman, Christine O'Donnell during a debate and think, "Really?  This is the best we can do?"  I think I could find a better candidate at a Hooters.  She doesn't know the first thing about the constitution.  She thinks the earth is 6,000 years old, created during God's "Busy Week."  She thinks that masturbation will send you to hell and the fable of Adam and Eve should be taught in school.  She thinks her best selling point is "I am just like you."  I'll tell you right now that I would make a terrible politician.  If her slogan is accurate, then she is off my list of Cute Girls I Want to See In Office.

Both sides have gone so negative that they should have to post viewer warnings before the ad airs.

Here are my guidelines for voting:

1. If you are in office now, I will vote you out.
2. If you go negative, I will vote against you.
3. I will not vote for someone that is trying to "buy" the office.
4. If you tell me to vote for you because you go to church, I will vote the other way.
5. If you stay above the fray and tell me about yourself, I will listen and be inclined to support you.
6. Party affiliation does not matter.
7. I need to trust you to do what YOU think is right.
8. If Fox news supports you, I will not.
9.  I will not vote for someone that is clearly insane.

Right now, the most interesting candidate is the guy running on the platform of "The Rent is Too Damn High."  This guy is great.  I would not vote for him due to rule number 9 above.

I noticed the military was going to allow gays to openly enlist.  I immediately felt relief.  It's like we finally grew up.  I understand that this has since been changed.  Apparently, Obama wants congress, not the courts, to change this rule.  He is probably right.

On the subject of Gays - the cub scouts booted out a gay dad.  I understand that the cub scouts are a "club" and within their rights to do this.  However, it seems bigoted to me. This is like kids on the playground not letting one of the children play because he is Jewish or too tall or left handed.  My son was in scouts for a while.  It turned out to be an organization dedicated to selling popcorn and cookies outside of the local grocery stores.  That's not the way I remembered it.  He would ask me when they would do something fun.  I kept saying, "soon."  Eventually, I gave up and let him drop out.  In 2 years, they had one overnight camping trip and hundreds of hours of cookies selling.

Debe posted a picture of a pig we once had years ago.  Her name was Sweet Pea.  This pig was smart.  I used to try and come up with ways to keep the dog food out of her reach.  I would hammer away at some contraption in the garage.  All the while, she would sit there next to me watching.  Almost as soon as I said, "There, she will never figure out this one," she would be into the food.  Once she actually pushed stuff over to make a stairway up to where the food was.  She could have passed college entrance exams if she knew there would be food involved.

I am in Cleveland today.  I haven't had a weekday at home since October 7th.  I will get home by noon tomorrow so that counts as a partial day.  Next week, I'm off to Chicago for a week.  There is some work there for me to do.

Also, I have a world to save and that seems like a good place to start.

Up, up and away...

j

Lessons For Me

Every now and then, I find myself overwhelmed.

This always mystifies me.  It does so for two main reasons.  First of all, I tend to be very confident in my own ability to "handle" things.  It doesn't matter if that is true or not; just so long as I believe it's true.  Secondly, it's never the big stuff that seems to make my load suddenly too heavy to bear.

Take right now for example.  I am at the airport, heading off to Washington D.C. where I will meet up with my wife for a week of Bliss.  A week from tomorrow, I will have my USNA 30th class reunion and we'll watch Navy beat up on SMU.

So why do I feel to overwhelmed?  It could be that vacations are simply hard work.  I think that is part of it.  I know how to do my job - it's NOT doing my job that is confounding.  Vacations are like climbing onto a wooden ship and heading off into unexplored territory - hoping I remembered to pack enough oranges to stave off scurvy.

I also think my mind/body or soul, knows that everything is going to be just fine so none of my spare energy packs have been activated.  When something Big comes along, I can see it and my whole world jumps into action.  No problem.  It's the small stuff though that seeps through the cracks and builds up slowly, like plaque on your teeth.

So, what do I do when I get into one of these "unjustified" funks?  I'm glad I asked.  I need to remind myself that there are tools.  Here are some of mine (a list).  I would encourage you to add yours if you wish.

1. Stay in the moment.  Right now, I am wolfing down a $15 airport special - bagel stuffed with cheese, eggs and bacon.  How can life not be good?

2. Don't hold onto balloons that take you places you don't want to go.  My wife gave me this one.  It basically says that there are all kinds of things that are placed in front of you.  Don't treat them like a balloon, grabbing onto one and allowing it to carry you away to a bad place, all of which is really only in your mind.  Mark Twain said (while quoting someone else), "I've lived through some terrible things in my life...some of them actually happened.
3. Do a good deed and don't tell anyone about it.  I use to go to the ice cream places in airports and pay for a cone, giving the salesperson the following instructions, "Please give a cone to the next little kid that comes along and looks like he needs it."  I would then leave and not look back.  I always felt good when I did that.  It's kind of like paying the toll for the car behind you.
4. Make a gratitude list.  For this, I recommend www.worldgratitudelist.com.
5. Remember your families and friends.  Be thankful that they are in your life.  They are important to you and you are important to them.
6. If something is out of your control - let it go.  If you don't know what I mean, look up The Serenity Prayer.
7.  Remember, if you do what you did, you will get what you got.  To change your situation, you must change your thought, your words, your actions...
8. If someone crosses you, let them off the hook.  Being tailgated?  Say out loud, "You are off the hook."
9. Talk to God.  I mean it.  I'm not saying "Go to church and pray."  I am not a big church fan myself.  But when the going gets a little rough, I find a quiet place, and talk to God.  I do it out loud.  I bitch and complain and blame but in the end - I always end up saying Thank You.
10. Blog.

Okay, now for today's food tip.

I learned this from my wife and I love it.

Take, 1 cup of corn and 1 cup of diced apples and 1/2 cup of diced smoked cheese and mix with two big tablespoons of sour cream.  By "diced", I mean the apple and cheese chunks should be the same size as the corn.  This is a delicious side dish.

I'm off to our nations capital to meet with the other Super Heroes.  There is a world to be saved...

Up, up and away...

j

The Teacher's Edition to Life

I don't know much about, well just about anything.  However, I have this theory.  It goes like this, "Say it like you mean it and people will believe you."  This is not something new.  Politicians have been doing it from the beginning of time. Televangelists do it by the truckload.  Everyone does it.  I'm just jumping on the bandwagon.

So, if you want to know the answers the all of the important questions, you can either turn to the back of the book or read on...

Question #1: How can we create more jobs in California?
Answer #1:  There are two things you can do.  First of all, give companies a reason to come here.  We don't need to make money off of the company itself.  Let's make it off of the income tax its employees pay.  Right now we have neither the company or its employees.  Let Intel come to California and not pay corporate tax to the state for 5 years.  In the mean time, jobs are created, taxes are paid, homes are built etc.  Secondly, change the labor laws in the state.  California is the only state that mandates overtime after 8 hours in a day.  The result is that we only have 8-hour workdays here.  There are no short weeks.  Everyone commutes 5 times a week.  You could have overtime over 40 hours as the only overtime rule.  This means that people could work ten 12-hour shifts in a 3-week period instead of fifteen 8-hour shifts.  That's 5 more days off every three weeks or 87 more days off per year.  That's 87 fewer commutes; savings in gas and road repairs and savings in traffic reduction.  All of the other states do this.  Why not California?

Question #2: Is Meg Whitman really a man?
Answer #2: Possibly.  However, I think this stink over her maid is overblown.  I'm more concerned about her lack of experience than I am about who she hired to clean her windows.

Question #3: Which cars have the highest percentage of assholes behind the wheel?
Answer #3: This is an easy one.  BMWs by a large margin.


Question #4: What's the best movie I have seen this year?
Answer #4: Easily it's The Social Network.

Question #5:  What makes people want to tailgate?
Answer #5: A big car with an aggressive driver equals a man with a small penis trying to overcompensate.

Question #6: Why don't we always get what we pray for?
Answer #6: We do.  We just don't know it all the time.  When we signed up for This Life, we signed up for the journey, not the finish line.  The anticipation of Christmas is always better than the actual event.  Life's like that.  If we knew everything and had everything then where is the adventure?  Life is an E-ticket.  Ride the Matterhorn.  If you want to ride Dumbo, that's the next line over.

Question #7: What's the best sport out there?
Answer #7: High school wrestling - period.

Question #8: What did John Lennon do when his grandfather told him his sex drive would never go away and what did Alexander the Great do when he saw there were no more worlds to conquer?
Answer #8:  They both wept.

Question #9: What is NaNoWriMo?
Answer #9: National Novel Writing Month and it falls in November.  I am in a NaNoWriMo contest in which I have to write a 50,000 word book during the month.  Wish me luck.

Question #10:  How do I decide to write another blog entry?
Answer #10:  When it looks like people are done reading my previous one (unusually 2-4 days) and when I feel the need to unload (like after a guy in a BMW tailgated me this morning).

Last Question:  Do you have any more answers for us?
Last Answer:  Yes I do, but they will have to wait.  I have a world to save.

Up, up and away...

j