New driveway rules at the Castle:
1. One must always observe the men with lighted batons
2. One must drive between the yellow rotating beacons.
3. Maximum speed in the driveway - 2 mph
4. No cell phone use while operating the car in the driveway without hands free headset
5. Repeat violators will have their vehicles fitted with bumper car surround bumpers.
DJHJD
Friday, December 01, 2006
Thursday, November 30, 2006
thoughts don't trump feelings
The more I think about it, the more I think that my "health" issue yesterday was anxiety, not blood glucose.
I've been noticing that, even though I have my thoughts reigned in, my body is still reacting to stressful input from my environment just as if I were plagued with the negative thought and worry.
It seems that our bodies react automatically BEFORE conscious thought kicks in. In the movies "What the bleep do we know?" and "Down the Rabbit Hole," it infers that our biochemical response is based on interpretation perception and that our perceptions are largely non-visual and non-verbal; I've been seeing over the last few days that the extra-perceptual response happens before the conscious thought can kick in and be altered based on new perceptions and understanding.
Yesterday, my conscious thoughts were settled and balanced, and my body was running the full on anxiety response.
Tonight, in our class, we did the module on forgiveness. Of course, having to lead the module on forgiveness, I had to focus on my own issues of forgiveness, starting with the clangorous irritants that were so present in my life. What is it in myself that I'm not happy with? What is it that I don't like and haven't forgiven in myself that has it be so upsetting?
Very interesting stuff.
I've been noticing that, even though I have my thoughts reigned in, my body is still reacting to stressful input from my environment just as if I were plagued with the negative thought and worry.
It seems that our bodies react automatically BEFORE conscious thought kicks in. In the movies "What the bleep do we know?" and "Down the Rabbit Hole," it infers that our biochemical response is based on interpretation perception and that our perceptions are largely non-visual and non-verbal; I've been seeing over the last few days that the extra-perceptual response happens before the conscious thought can kick in and be altered based on new perceptions and understanding.
Yesterday, my conscious thoughts were settled and balanced, and my body was running the full on anxiety response.
Tonight, in our class, we did the module on forgiveness. Of course, having to lead the module on forgiveness, I had to focus on my own issues of forgiveness, starting with the clangorous irritants that were so present in my life. What is it in myself that I'm not happy with? What is it that I don't like and haven't forgiven in myself that has it be so upsetting?
Very interesting stuff.
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Happy Hump Day dynamics
So, last night my BG was 119. I looked at the meter and wondered "what the heck happened?" Considering that it was 340 when I came home, and I'd eaten dinner (again with the zero glycemic load) and had two glasses of wine, what's the deal?
This morning, it was 157. It went UP? It's whacked. Still that's a more confidence building number than is 280, like yesterday morning. My vision is better today too - I feel less like I'm in a haze.
John II is struggling with uncertainty. He's just feeling like the world's against him. I don't really know just how to help him.
later
Okay, so that was interesting. I went to a client's office to meet him and to pick up paperwork, and he didn't answer his phone. The receiptionist wouldn't let me by, and after calling, emailing again and sitting there for 20 minutes, I went back to my office.
By the time I got back to the office, I felt terrible. I couldn't think, I was dizzy, and I was having a hard time breathing. I thought about going home and emailed John (across the office) that I was going to leave. John popped into my cubicle, and he was quite concerned at how bad I looked. He insisted that I not drive and he called John II to come to the office from the gym to pick me up and take me home.
He showed up about 15 minutes later; out of breath. He'd run every light on Smith St. on the way. We left the office, stopped at Costco to pick up my prescription refills, and came home. He's going with me to my doctor's appointment today, at which I'm going to request that they put me on Byetta.
I think it's time to stop chasing the clients who can't manage their money and focus on something that the structure of my new job will promote.
This morning, it was 157. It went UP? It's whacked. Still that's a more confidence building number than is 280, like yesterday morning. My vision is better today too - I feel less like I'm in a haze.
John II is struggling with uncertainty. He's just feeling like the world's against him. I don't really know just how to help him.
later
Okay, so that was interesting. I went to a client's office to meet him and to pick up paperwork, and he didn't answer his phone. The receiptionist wouldn't let me by, and after calling, emailing again and sitting there for 20 minutes, I went back to my office.
By the time I got back to the office, I felt terrible. I couldn't think, I was dizzy, and I was having a hard time breathing. I thought about going home and emailed John (across the office) that I was going to leave. John popped into my cubicle, and he was quite concerned at how bad I looked. He insisted that I not drive and he called John II to come to the office from the gym to pick me up and take me home.
He showed up about 15 minutes later; out of breath. He'd run every light on Smith St. on the way. We left the office, stopped at Costco to pick up my prescription refills, and came home. He's going with me to my doctor's appointment today, at which I'm going to request that they put me on Byetta.
I think it's time to stop chasing the clients who can't manage their money and focus on something that the structure of my new job will promote.
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
We must restrict free speech online to stop terrorists from destroying an American city
From americablog
Go to Russia or Tehran if you hate freedom this much. I have had it with Republicans who hate America, who hate our freedoms, who hate what this country stands for, and who think that the only way to save our freedoms from the terrorists is for us to destroy those freedoms first. Honestly, how do these scaredy-cat, quaking-in-their-boots, America-haters even dare call themselves patriotic Americans? They are terrified of their own shadow, these Republicans.
Interestingly, and incredibly stupidly, Gingrich made this announcement at a freedom of speech dinner in New Hampshire. That's a bit like declaring that we all need to eat more veal at a PETA rally in San Francisco.
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich yesterday said the country will be forced to reexamine freedom of speech to meet the threat of terrorism.
Gingrich, speaking at a Manchester awards banquet, said a "different set of rules" may be needed to reduce terrorists' ability to use the Internet and free speech to recruit and get out their message.
"We need to get ahead of the curve before we actually lose a city, which I think could happen in the next decade," said Gingrich, a Republican who helped engineer the GOP's takeover of Congress in 1994.
We already lost a city, Newt. It's called New Orleans. And it was your party, the Republicans, who lost it. You were more concerned about furthering some neo-con agenda abroad than actually protecting Americans at home.
Go to Russia or Tehran if you hate freedom this much. I have had it with Republicans who hate America, who hate our freedoms, who hate what this country stands for, and who think that the only way to save our freedoms from the terrorists is for us to destroy those freedoms first. Honestly, how do these scaredy-cat, quaking-in-their-boots, America-haters even dare call themselves patriotic Americans? They are terrified of their own shadow, these Republicans.
Interestingly, and incredibly stupidly, Gingrich made this announcement at a freedom of speech dinner in New Hampshire. That's a bit like declaring that we all need to eat more veal at a PETA rally in San Francisco.
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich yesterday said the country will be forced to reexamine freedom of speech to meet the threat of terrorism.
Gingrich, speaking at a Manchester awards banquet, said a "different set of rules" may be needed to reduce terrorists' ability to use the Internet and free speech to recruit and get out their message.
"We need to get ahead of the curve before we actually lose a city, which I think could happen in the next decade," said Gingrich, a Republican who helped engineer the GOP's takeover of Congress in 1994.
We already lost a city, Newt. It's called New Orleans. And it was your party, the Republicans, who lost it. You were more concerned about furthering some neo-con agenda abroad than actually protecting Americans at home.
I've concluded that people who sell Phaetons are out of their minds
My reply to a VW salesman in Seattle:
I've concluded that the market for a W12 Phaeton 4-seat is without logic
or reason. I've found an 06 CPO for $79,999. Yours at sticker.
Another at $89,000. An 04 with 700 (for real) miles on it for $69,000.
And 04 CPO with 7500 for $56,000. Two are advertised as Papillon Silver
Helichrome, but are really Silver Mirror. No one knows what it is that
they really have, and those that do charge
30% more.
And my auction/market research shows that all of these prices are an
invitation for me to pay from $16,000 to $45,000 for the first year of
driving.
My decision for today is to have a big martini and think about this
further later.
I've concluded that the market for a W12 Phaeton 4-seat is without logic
or reason. I've found an 06 CPO for $79,999. Yours at sticker.
Another at $89,000. An 04 with 700 (for real) miles on it for $69,000.
And 04 CPO with 7500 for $56,000. Two are advertised as Papillon Silver
Helichrome, but are really Silver Mirror. No one knows what it is that
they really have, and those that do charge
30% more.
And my auction/market research shows that all of these prices are an
invitation for me to pay from $16,000 to $45,000 for the first year of
driving.
My decision for today is to have a big martini and think about this
further later.
I AM NOT SHOUTING
Now, I'm a wannabe Agile-muda-scrum-meister, seventh veil, third sudoku, sixth psi. I know how things are. I have literally wrecked more than two different organisations and my theoretical knowledge is going to be used to wreck yours, if you'll let me. I have done all the research I need to do, reading 5 books, and watching seven movies, including Back to the Future, a story of refactoring reality. With the tricks I have learned, I know how to behave to be the most effective. Here are my tricks.
Distortion
Everything I hear will be processed by my brain in such a way as fits in with my world view. I will tell you back something I've heard about you and you only get to confirm or deny it. I will relay your thoughts up and relay management's thoughts down in such a way as to impose my beliefs on how everything should run. This method is called the sushi method as it leaves everything redolent of fish.
Anger
Generally people like to keep peace. If I show fits of anger when faced with even minor disagreement, it will discourage debate on larger issues.
Urgency
I will speak animatedly on matters which concern me and I will confer a sense of urgency about everything. Coupled with my apparent temper, this will make people want to do things to either appease or avoid me. Either way, they're playing things my way.
Confusion
As all stories are already distorted by me, there will be some confusion anyway. However, I will try to create more confusion with huge multi-partite explanations of anything I'm trying to stop you doing your way. These explanations will be too big to understand, will involve over-use of the whiteboard, with diagrams that you don't understand, and will, ultimately leave you more confused and unafraid to ask any more questions lest the explanation goes on longer. Alternatively, you'll think you understand but this illusion will fall away once you've left the room, or once you ask for a minor point of clarification which I'll explain in a way to make you feel you understood nothing. I will secretly change everything I've told you immediately after telling you, so that even if you understood it, you'll still not be doing what I now want.
(Un)reasonableness
I will act as though I'm a calm, rational and friendly person. I will believe that I am all of these. I will even understand your point of view. However, deep down, everything has to be done my way and I will not admit that, nor make it possible for anyone ever to do that. If possible, I will bring more people into the organisation who naturally do things in a way which sounds like my way. I will create an inner circle with them in, but we'll still not have a consensus on how it's done.
Interception
By creating a barrier between the worker and the management/strategy team, I will further a sense of mistrust between groups. I will also know of everything that is going on. This will prevent me ever getting bored as there is no pie which doesn't have my finger in it. I will extend the finger/pie metaphor further by going for a poke in the fridge in the morning. The purpose of interception is to impose myself on everything and avoid there being a critical mass of things I've not had a go at threatening to knock me off my self-created pedestal.
Possessiveness - to keep control, I must ensure that I have the opportunity to do anything and everything that comes up. If I'm stuck with colleagues in the management team I will try to spread myself very thinly across all events so that I can lay a claim to any idea that is good, or any area for which ideas are needed. If possible, I will have a piece of paper, email, or a whiteboard or flipchart drawing to back up any discussion that comes up. As a fallback I will claim to have started thinking about any new areas as soon as they're mentioned. In order to increase my possession of management issues, I will angle to get any colleagues tied up with less-managerial tasks, which I will pass off as temporary help to the team they're working with.
Acidity
Acting unpleasant or angry whenever provoked will ensure that people learn to leave me alone. Another good trick to increase my harm is to virtually hold my temper in front of the people who are a threat and then have private venting sessions against those people with my cronies and upper management. This level of acidity will enable me to grow, though it may reduce the viability of others.
I AM NOT SHOUTING
Where possible, I will deny any of these practices, even while doing them. I will not allow self-awareness or respect for others to hold me back. If faced with complaints that I cannot deny, I will act contrite, but only temporarily.
Distortion
Everything I hear will be processed by my brain in such a way as fits in with my world view. I will tell you back something I've heard about you and you only get to confirm or deny it. I will relay your thoughts up and relay management's thoughts down in such a way as to impose my beliefs on how everything should run. This method is called the sushi method as it leaves everything redolent of fish.
Anger
Generally people like to keep peace. If I show fits of anger when faced with even minor disagreement, it will discourage debate on larger issues.
Urgency
I will speak animatedly on matters which concern me and I will confer a sense of urgency about everything. Coupled with my apparent temper, this will make people want to do things to either appease or avoid me. Either way, they're playing things my way.
Confusion
As all stories are already distorted by me, there will be some confusion anyway. However, I will try to create more confusion with huge multi-partite explanations of anything I'm trying to stop you doing your way. These explanations will be too big to understand, will involve over-use of the whiteboard, with diagrams that you don't understand, and will, ultimately leave you more confused and unafraid to ask any more questions lest the explanation goes on longer. Alternatively, you'll think you understand but this illusion will fall away once you've left the room, or once you ask for a minor point of clarification which I'll explain in a way to make you feel you understood nothing. I will secretly change everything I've told you immediately after telling you, so that even if you understood it, you'll still not be doing what I now want.
(Un)reasonableness
I will act as though I'm a calm, rational and friendly person. I will believe that I am all of these. I will even understand your point of view. However, deep down, everything has to be done my way and I will not admit that, nor make it possible for anyone ever to do that. If possible, I will bring more people into the organisation who naturally do things in a way which sounds like my way. I will create an inner circle with them in, but we'll still not have a consensus on how it's done.
Interception
By creating a barrier between the worker and the management/strategy team, I will further a sense of mistrust between groups. I will also know of everything that is going on. This will prevent me ever getting bored as there is no pie which doesn't have my finger in it. I will extend the finger/pie metaphor further by going for a poke in the fridge in the morning. The purpose of interception is to impose myself on everything and avoid there being a critical mass of things I've not had a go at threatening to knock me off my self-created pedestal.
Possessiveness - to keep control, I must ensure that I have the opportunity to do anything and everything that comes up. If I'm stuck with colleagues in the management team I will try to spread myself very thinly across all events so that I can lay a claim to any idea that is good, or any area for which ideas are needed. If possible, I will have a piece of paper, email, or a whiteboard or flipchart drawing to back up any discussion that comes up. As a fallback I will claim to have started thinking about any new areas as soon as they're mentioned. In order to increase my possession of management issues, I will angle to get any colleagues tied up with less-managerial tasks, which I will pass off as temporary help to the team they're working with.
Acidity
Acting unpleasant or angry whenever provoked will ensure that people learn to leave me alone. Another good trick to increase my harm is to virtually hold my temper in front of the people who are a threat and then have private venting sessions against those people with my cronies and upper management. This level of acidity will enable me to grow, though it may reduce the viability of others.
I AM NOT SHOUTING
Where possible, I will deny any of these practices, even while doing them. I will not allow self-awareness or respect for others to hold me back. If faced with complaints that I cannot deny, I will act contrite, but only temporarily.
Daily diary of Sisyphus
So, not only is the uncertainty of the housing situation on my shoulders, I get to bear the anxiety of Bram, John and anyone else surrounding the situation. The input runs the gamut from the subtle "Do they evict people in December?" to full-blown emotional melt downs. In the middle of it, I maintain the peace that I possibly can.
Tonight, I have to re-visit my "to-do" list and see where I am. I think I've made some progress.
Tonight, I have to re-visit my "to-do" list and see where I am. I think I've made some progress.
Monday, November 27, 2006
Baptists who aren't anti-gay? Are they anti-Baptists?
What if Christian leaders are wrong about homosexuality? I suppose, much as a newspaper maintains its credibility by setting the record straight, church leaders would need to do the same: Correction: Despite what you might have read, heard or been taught throughout your churchgoing life, homosexuality is, in fact, determined at birth and is not to be condemned by God's followers. Based on a few recent headlines, we won't be seeing that admission anytime soon. Last week, U.S. Roman Catholic bishops took the position that homosexual attractions are "disordered" and that gays should live closeted lives of chastity. At the same time, North Carolina's Baptist State Convention was preparing to investigate churches that are too gay-friendly. Even the more liberal Presbyterian Church (USA) had been planning to put a minister on trial for conducting a marriage ceremony for two women before the charges were dismissed on a technicality. All this brings me back to the question: What if we're wrong? Religion's only real commodity, after all, is its moral authority. Lose that, and we lose our credibility. Lose credibility, and we might as well close up shop. It's happened to Christianity before, most famously when we dug in our heels over Galileo's challenge to the biblical view that the Earth, rather than the sun, was at the center of our solar system. You know the story. Galileo was persecuted for what turned out to be incontrovertibly true. For many, especially in the scientific community, Christianity never recovered. This time, Christianity is in danger of squandering its moral authority by continuing its pattern of discrimination against gays and lesbians in the face of mounting scientific evidence that sexual orientation has little or nothing to do with choice. To the contrary, whether sexual orientation arises as a result of the mother's hormones or the child's brain structure or DNA, it is almost certainly an accident of birth. The point is this: Without choice, there can be no moral culpability. Answer in Scriptures So, why are so many church leaders (not to mention Orthodox Jewish and Muslim leaders) persisting in their view that homosexuality is wrong despite a growing stream of scientific evidence that is likely to become a torrent in the coming years? The answer is found in Leviticus 18. "You shall not lie with a man as with a woman; it is an abomination." As a former "the Bible says it, I believe it, that settles it" kind of guy, I am sympathetic with any Christian who accepts the Bible at face value. But here's the catch. Leviticus is filled with laws imposing the death penalty for everything from eating catfish to sassing your parents. If you accept one as the absolute, unequivocal word of God, you must accept them all. For many of gay America's loudest critics, the results are unthinkable. First, no more football. At least not without gloves. Handling a pig skin is an abomination. Second, no more Saturday games even if you can get a new ball. Violating the Sabbath is a capital offense according to Leviticus. For the over-40 crowd, approaching the altar of God with a defect in your sight is taboo, but you'll have plenty of company because those menstruating or with disabilities are also barred. The truth is that mainstream religion has moved beyond animal sacrifice, slavery and the host of primitive rituals described in Leviticus centuries ago. Selectively hanging onto these ancient proscriptions for gays and lesbians exclusively is unfair according to anybody's standard of ethics. We lawyers call it "selective enforcement," and in civil affairs it's illegal. A better reading of Scripture starts with the book of Genesis and the grand pronouncement about the world God created and all those who dwelled in it. "And, the Lord saw that it was good." If God created us and if everything he created is good, how can a gay person be guilty of being anything more than what God created him or her to be? Turning to the New Testament, the writings of the Apostle Paul at first lend credence to the notion that homosexuality is a sin, until you consider that Paul most likely is referring to the Roman practice of pederasty, a form of pedophilia common in the ancient world. Successful older men often took boys into their homes as concubines, lovers or sexual slaves. Today, such sexual exploitation of minors is no longer tolerated. The point is that the sort of long-term, committed, same-sex relationships that are being debated today are not addressed in the New Testament. It distorts the biblical witness to apply verses written in one historical context (i.e. sexual exploitation of children) to contemporary situations between two monogamous partners of the same sex. Sexual promiscuity is condemned by the Bible whether it's between gays or straights. Sexual fidelity is not. What would Jesus do? For those who have lingering doubts, dust off your Bibles and take a few hours to reacquaint yourself with the teachings of Jesus. You won't find a single reference to homosexuality. There are teachings on money, lust, revenge, divorce, fasting and a thousand other subjects, but there is nothing on homosexuality. Strange, don't you think, if being gay were such a moral threat? On the other hand, Jesus spent a lot of time talking about how we should treat others. First, he made clear it is not our role to judge. It is God's. ("Judge not lest you be judged." Matthew 7:1) And, second, he commanded us to love other people as we love ourselves. So, I ask you. Would you want to be discriminated against? Would you want to lose your job, housing or benefits because of something over which you had no control? Better yet, would you like it if society told you that you couldn't visit your lifelong partner in the hospital or file a claim on his behalf if he were murdered? The suffering that gay and lesbian people have endured at the hands of religion is incalculable, but they can look expectantly to the future for vindication. Scientific facts, after all, are a stubborn thing. Even our religious beliefs must finally yield to them as the church in its battle with Galileo ultimately realized. But for religion, the future might be ominous. Watching the growing conflict between medical science and religion over homosexuality is like watching a train wreck from a distance. You can see it coming for miles and sense the inevitable conclusion, but you're powerless to stop it. The more church leaders dig in their heels, the worse it's likely to be. Oliver "Buzz" Thomas is a Baptist minister and author of an upcoming book, 10 Things Your Minister Wants to Tell You (But Can't Because He Needs the Job).
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Sunday evening
So, I actually did it - I got the laundry room closet completely cleaned out and organized. I put ALL of the nails, screws, fasteners, clips and nonsense into the little drawer unit that I bought - put all of the tools away, threw away nearly a trash can of empty bags, containers and boxes. Now, the breakfast room is empty again. And, I have to get some work done that needs to be mailed out tomorrow morning.
I've been avoiding Twitch's calls today.
Had a dream last night about tromping through a frosty field next to a car dealer, to look at a Phaeton. It was quite vivid - I could feel the hard, uneven ground under my feet, the briskness of the air, I could see the sun coming up, the first rays of dawn coming through the trees. The car looked funky. It was what I wanted, though. Interesting stuff.
My BG has been sky high for days, and this weekend, it's been outrageous.
I came home from church today, measured around 300, then took a nap. It's been around 210 since. Bleh. I'm really working to avoid food that will kick it up, but what I really need is more exercise, less stress, less weight and different meds.
Have to pick Bram up at IAH in the morning. Then, I guess I'm working from home.
Bram's on his way to St. Louis, and John's been gone since two hanging out with friends. He's not answering his messages, so he's likely got his pants on the floor somewhere.
I'm fixing to go to bed, I think. I'm not really tired now, but the kitchen is cleaned and I don't want to start on work related projects at this point in the evening.
Just wrote a note to SAM, who's been hiding out again.
Been just worn out listening to people call and carry on about their "stuff." Not that I mind, but .. I need some SPACE. Today, when the phone was ringing, I was feeling like heaving it into the pool. I'm feeling very angry lately, I guess. I wonder what that's about. Maybe I'll work on that tomorrow.
Not that I haven't been doing good, helping people out listening to them. I have. But, aside from John's looking over my shoulder at my food consumption, I hardly feel like I'm involved in all of this - just putting out..
Blah, blah.
I'm starting to get used to the Imperial.
After church today, I was thinking. Thinking, thinking. I was talking about the difference between how one WANTS to feel and how we perceive something will make us feel. I was thinking about the Phaeton thing, and thinking about how much MORE secure I'd feel if Ruby were all trimmed up and running well, and I could drive it for another three years for FREE.
Better. Much better.
It's almost tax season, and you know? I'm just not into it.
I have a bunch of accounting/book keeping to get caught up on this week.
(sigh) I'm tired.
Okay, enough whining. I can assert that the new gas dryer is a miracle. It dries the clothes in no time flat, without overheating them. This should be saving me about $70 in electricity by itself a month.
I've been avoiding Twitch's calls today.
Had a dream last night about tromping through a frosty field next to a car dealer, to look at a Phaeton. It was quite vivid - I could feel the hard, uneven ground under my feet, the briskness of the air, I could see the sun coming up, the first rays of dawn coming through the trees. The car looked funky. It was what I wanted, though. Interesting stuff.
My BG has been sky high for days, and this weekend, it's been outrageous.
I came home from church today, measured around 300, then took a nap. It's been around 210 since. Bleh. I'm really working to avoid food that will kick it up, but what I really need is more exercise, less stress, less weight and different meds.
Have to pick Bram up at IAH in the morning. Then, I guess I'm working from home.
Bram's on his way to St. Louis, and John's been gone since two hanging out with friends. He's not answering his messages, so he's likely got his pants on the floor somewhere.
I'm fixing to go to bed, I think. I'm not really tired now, but the kitchen is cleaned and I don't want to start on work related projects at this point in the evening.
Just wrote a note to SAM, who's been hiding out again.
Been just worn out listening to people call and carry on about their "stuff." Not that I mind, but .. I need some SPACE. Today, when the phone was ringing, I was feeling like heaving it into the pool. I'm feeling very angry lately, I guess. I wonder what that's about. Maybe I'll work on that tomorrow.
Not that I haven't been doing good, helping people out listening to them. I have. But, aside from John's looking over my shoulder at my food consumption, I hardly feel like I'm involved in all of this - just putting out..
Blah, blah.
I'm starting to get used to the Imperial.
After church today, I was thinking. Thinking, thinking. I was talking about the difference between how one WANTS to feel and how we perceive something will make us feel. I was thinking about the Phaeton thing, and thinking about how much MORE secure I'd feel if Ruby were all trimmed up and running well, and I could drive it for another three years for FREE.
Better. Much better.
It's almost tax season, and you know? I'm just not into it.
I have a bunch of accounting/book keeping to get caught up on this week.
(sigh) I'm tired.
Okay, enough whining. I can assert that the new gas dryer is a miracle. It dries the clothes in no time flat, without overheating them. This should be saving me about $70 in electricity by itself a month.
Sunday - pre-church linkarama
This article on Daily Kos points out that the democrats were savaged by union voters in previous elections after supporting NAFTA and other programs that seem clearly anti-labor in the US.
This next one discusses the ridiculous nature of tort reform arguments. A short and good read.
This one is a discussion of how honest the administration is in its pursuit of known or suspected terrorists. Feel safe, everyone! They only care about spin, not interdiction.
And here is a partial answer to my friend Jimmy's question of yesterday - what's up with the US Dollar? Not much, it's all DOWN. Requires basic understanding of economic theory, and some ability to process and connect the dots. A new paper bank to step in just in case JPMorgan Chase and/or the Bank of New York cannot settle transactions? Okay, why doesn't that strike one as a warning that a giant economic meteor is headed toward our country?
That last just gave me a headache. I have to run to church now.
This next one discusses the ridiculous nature of tort reform arguments. A short and good read.
This one is a discussion of how honest the administration is in its pursuit of known or suspected terrorists. Feel safe, everyone! They only care about spin, not interdiction.
And here is a partial answer to my friend Jimmy's question of yesterday - what's up with the US Dollar? Not much, it's all DOWN. Requires basic understanding of economic theory, and some ability to process and connect the dots. A new paper bank to step in just in case JPMorgan Chase and/or the Bank of New York cannot settle transactions? Okay, why doesn't that strike one as a warning that a giant economic meteor is headed toward our country?
That last just gave me a headache. I have to run to church now.
Friday, November 24, 2006
To tree or not to tree, that is the question
Black Friday… sitting in the living room, enjoying the new stereo rack, the sunlight, the peacefulness, and watching Will & Grace. In a moment, I plan to pull EVERYTHING out of the mud room closet (laundry room, for your Texicans and southerners) and then reorganize everything.
Then, have to run by Costco to pick up meds, and go visit Chuck. Then, come back here and more relaxing.
Who am I kidding? I have a grant proposal to review and grade/respond to, letters to write, more office stuff to pack up and get ready for taking to the office.
And Ruby needs to be cleaned. Deep cleaned. Dry cleaned, actually.
Went for a walk this morning – which I’m two weeks late on executing. Went around the neighborhood, and as I was walking, I noticed the SAME HOUSE just a few blocks away. It was reversed, but the same floor plan. Beautifully groomed. Painted, clean, smashing. That’s only a hint of how gorgeous this house could be.
Only ten days to go before the foreclosure on this house. Will they accept my offer before, or am I going into the high-intensity uncertainty of post-foreclosure negotiating? Mitch has pulled his headboard out of here, which was the next to last bit of his stuff that he had here. His motorcycle is now outside under a tarp, so it’s no longer annoying me.
However, I wake up every morning at 4:00 or so, and have to quiet the finance committee meeting in my head.
18:40 – same day
Home alone. Alone. ALONE! John’s off visiting some girl, and Bram’s in Illinois. I’m watching Star Trek Insurrection. I visited Chuck this afternoon at P&J’s. I left 90 minutes ago; they’ve already taken him back to TMH.
Holy shrikes, Batman.
The pool guy cleaned today, the pool looks good again. Cleaned out the under-stair closet today; pulled EVERYTHING out of the mud room closet. Pitched out a bunch of stuff, have to organize and sort the rest. Pulled the books out of the under-stair cabinet that never got unpacked, pulled out the Christmas lights.
So, the question is – do I put up outdoor Christmas lights? Do I just forget it? I have a bunch of white mini-lights for the backyard that we recovered from the attic, and my parents’ old big colored lights for the front. I guess tomorrow that I’ll pack up the Marvin the Martian stuff, and put out Christmas in the morning.
I’ll wait on the tree thing until NEXT weekend. I guess.
Then, have to run by Costco to pick up meds, and go visit Chuck. Then, come back here and more relaxing.
Who am I kidding? I have a grant proposal to review and grade/respond to, letters to write, more office stuff to pack up and get ready for taking to the office.
And Ruby needs to be cleaned. Deep cleaned. Dry cleaned, actually.
Went for a walk this morning – which I’m two weeks late on executing. Went around the neighborhood, and as I was walking, I noticed the SAME HOUSE just a few blocks away. It was reversed, but the same floor plan. Beautifully groomed. Painted, clean, smashing. That’s only a hint of how gorgeous this house could be.
Only ten days to go before the foreclosure on this house. Will they accept my offer before, or am I going into the high-intensity uncertainty of post-foreclosure negotiating? Mitch has pulled his headboard out of here, which was the next to last bit of his stuff that he had here. His motorcycle is now outside under a tarp, so it’s no longer annoying me.
However, I wake up every morning at 4:00 or so, and have to quiet the finance committee meeting in my head.
18:40 – same day
Home alone. Alone. ALONE! John’s off visiting some girl, and Bram’s in Illinois. I’m watching Star Trek Insurrection. I visited Chuck this afternoon at P&J’s. I left 90 minutes ago; they’ve already taken him back to TMH.
Holy shrikes, Batman.
The pool guy cleaned today, the pool looks good again. Cleaned out the under-stair closet today; pulled EVERYTHING out of the mud room closet. Pitched out a bunch of stuff, have to organize and sort the rest. Pulled the books out of the under-stair cabinet that never got unpacked, pulled out the Christmas lights.
So, the question is – do I put up outdoor Christmas lights? Do I just forget it? I have a bunch of white mini-lights for the backyard that we recovered from the attic, and my parents’ old big colored lights for the front. I guess tomorrow that I’ll pack up the Marvin the Martian stuff, and put out Christmas in the morning.
I’ll wait on the tree thing until NEXT weekend. I guess.
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Tuesday before Turkey
Holy schmoly, Batman!
Where to start? What to leave out (in the interest of future reviews by people who's current shenanigans could embarass them?)
How about how fabulous my new stereo rack is? It's kind of like this, but it's nicer, and the color is perfect. Black glass tempered shelves, and nearly 5' 5" tall. I got everything placed, and then Matticia hooked everything up for me last night. It's FABULOUS. I keep looking at how glam it looks, and how much better it is than the perenially str8, crappy stand that Mitch had loaned me.
John's extra refrigerator is already serving well in the mud room, taking the overflow of Bram's exuberent food purchases. His gas dryer is saving me money on a day to day basis. YAY!
Bram leaves for the weekend tomorrow evening. John's in town all weekend. I have a list of "honey do-s" that's as long as my leg. Plus, I have a ton of accounting work, computer cabling and such to do. And, the Imperial to clean.
The garage is such a huge improvement EXCEPT for Mitch's gigantic California King sized headboard, that is always in the way.
Greg the incredible yard stud is doing the backyard tomorrow, and he's coming to weed/feed next week, as the clover is overwhelming the backyard. Matt the pool cleaner is coming tomorrow to sanitize the pool after the big winds and Barney's pool deposits from a week ago.
Tomorrow afternoon, I have to re-organize the mud room closet to take out some things that are no longer needed and to make things easier to find. And clean up the kitchen to make way for the Thanksgiving day feastifying.
Ruby needs cleaning in the WORST way.
I'm moving cubes on Monday. I have to plan my assault on the new cube tomorrow. I want to see how I can get my metal desk in there along with the existing cube furniture. I think that there's room. I know that I also want to bring up my rolly-cart file cabinet.
And hang up all of my myriad diplomae, and wall art.
Maybe a measuring tape.
By Monday, I have a bunch of documents, reports, spreadsheets, accounting and tax amendments that need to be done, cooked and ready to mail out.
A working weekend. Again.
It's nearly time for me to skedaddle, so I can jet home, take stock of what's happened since I left this morning, and make a grocery list. Maybe something good is waiting for me at the UPS store.
Chuck's almost cooked, and should be sprung loose from the medical penetentiary tomorrow.
Been thinking about the law of attraction, the law of cause and affect, and things that have always felt they didn't work for me. Hm. Pondering, pondering.
Okay, off to plan my next moves.
Where to start? What to leave out (in the interest of future reviews by people who's current shenanigans could embarass them?)
How about how fabulous my new stereo rack is? It's kind of like this, but it's nicer, and the color is perfect. Black glass tempered shelves, and nearly 5' 5" tall. I got everything placed, and then Matticia hooked everything up for me last night. It's FABULOUS. I keep looking at how glam it looks, and how much better it is than the perenially str8, crappy stand that Mitch had loaned me.
John's extra refrigerator is already serving well in the mud room, taking the overflow of Bram's exuberent food purchases. His gas dryer is saving me money on a day to day basis. YAY!
Bram leaves for the weekend tomorrow evening. John's in town all weekend. I have a list of "honey do-s" that's as long as my leg. Plus, I have a ton of accounting work, computer cabling and such to do. And, the Imperial to clean.
The garage is such a huge improvement EXCEPT for Mitch's gigantic California King sized headboard, that is always in the way.
Greg the incredible yard stud is doing the backyard tomorrow, and he's coming to weed/feed next week, as the clover is overwhelming the backyard. Matt the pool cleaner is coming tomorrow to sanitize the pool after the big winds and Barney's pool deposits from a week ago.
Tomorrow afternoon, I have to re-organize the mud room closet to take out some things that are no longer needed and to make things easier to find. And clean up the kitchen to make way for the Thanksgiving day feastifying.
Ruby needs cleaning in the WORST way.
I'm moving cubes on Monday. I have to plan my assault on the new cube tomorrow. I want to see how I can get my metal desk in there along with the existing cube furniture. I think that there's room. I know that I also want to bring up my rolly-cart file cabinet.
And hang up all of my myriad diplomae, and wall art.
Maybe a measuring tape.
By Monday, I have a bunch of documents, reports, spreadsheets, accounting and tax amendments that need to be done, cooked and ready to mail out.
A working weekend. Again.
It's nearly time for me to skedaddle, so I can jet home, take stock of what's happened since I left this morning, and make a grocery list. Maybe something good is waiting for me at the UPS store.
Chuck's almost cooked, and should be sprung loose from the medical penetentiary tomorrow.
Been thinking about the law of attraction, the law of cause and affect, and things that have always felt they didn't work for me. Hm. Pondering, pondering.
Okay, off to plan my next moves.
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Someone bought him a clue as an early Christmas present
From this morning's Houston Chronicle
Judge calls for easing of drug penalty
Citing felony docket loads, he asks Perry to cut sentences for minor possession
By BILL MURPHY
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle
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UNDER A GRAM
Two long-serving local officials disagree about jailing people for possession of small amounts of illegal drugs.
The debate
State District Judge Michael McSpadden
•The cases clog court dockets and further crowd jails without addressing the underlying causes of drug abuse. Prosecutors and police use such cases to pad their statistics.
County Commissioner El Franco Lee
•Residents in some neighborhoods complain that they are under siege by street criminals. Zero tolerance, including arrests for drug possession and even jaywalking, helps reduce the perception and the reality of criminal activity.
Common ground
•Lee and McSpadden agree the drug problem is complex and that long-term solutions will include better use of specialized drug courts that can offer drug treatment as an alternative to jail.
But after more than two decades hearing felony cases in Harris County, the former prosecutor is calling on the governor and Legislature to reduce sentences for low-level drug possession.
"These minor offenses are now overwhelming every felony docket, and the courts necessarily spend less time on the more important, violent crimes," he recently wrote to Gov. Rick Perry.
Nearly twice as many defendants in Harris County were sent to state jails last year for possessing less than 1 gram of a drug than in Dallas, Tarrant and Bexar counties combined.
McSpadden recommended making delivering or possessing a small amount of drugs a Class A misdemeanor carrying no more than a year in county jail.
Gov. Rick Perry is aware that bills may be submitted in the upcoming legislative session that call for reducing penalties for possessing small amounts of drugs or drug residue, said Kathy Walt, the governor's spokeswoman.
"He is willing to look at anything that the Legislature presents him, and he wants to hear the debate in the Legislature about the pros and cons of the issue," she said.
The judge said the Houston Police Department and District Attorney's Office are clogging court dockets and causing crowding in the county jail and state jails by bringing so many drug-possession cases against those found with pipe residue or a sugar packet's worth of cocaine.
But District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal said state law makes no distinction between residue and up to a gram of a drug. Under state law, a person caught with either should be charged with possession of less than 1 gram, he said.
"That's what the law says we should do," he said. "We don't get to make the facts. We don't get to change the law."
Police officials and County Commissioner El Franco Lee said McSpadden is oversimplifying a complex problem. HPD goes after low-level dealers and buyers when neighbors complain that they cannot go outside because there is an open-air drug market or a parade of addicts buying drugs from a store or home.
"I guarantee you there are more of my constituents who want their property protected and want more police on the streets than there are people complaining about the nature of the charges brought against those arrested in their neighborhoods," Lee said.
Fears retaliation
In the dozens of apartment complexes that dot the Fondren area in southwest Houston, many law-abiding residents know nothing of the policy debate over whether low-level drug offenders should be charged with drug possession or a lesser crime. But they know fear firsthand.
"There are gunshots going all night. The security guard would sit in his car all night. He was afraid to get out," said a part-owner of an apartment complex on West Airport. She requested anonymity because she fears retaliation.
The owners took steps to make the complex secure, installing lights at the rear of the property and repairing a fence. Drug dealers shot out the lights and made new holes in the fence to make sales, she said.
As for her investment, "I can't sell it because it's 30 percent empty," she said. "The good people are moving out."
Crack-residue cases are a way of addressing a neighborhood's needs, said HPD officer Jason Streety.
"Even little frivolous charges are a good way to get those causing problems off the street," he said. "In a high-crime area, you gotta take what you can get."
HPD Executive Assistant Chief Mike Thaler said narcotics or other special units may target a park or a basketball court if neighbors have complained that drug sales are occurring there. Police will try to arrest dealers and users, who sometimes are charged with drug possession for having a pipe with crack residue.
Incarcerating thousands of drug offenders convicted of possessing less than 1 gram of a drug is expensive. It cost more than $59 million to hold more than 4,800 such prisoners in state jails last year, based on Texas Department of Criminal Justice figures.
Commissioners Court is mulling over building two jails for at least $267 million because current jails are overcrowded.
On some days, as many as 800 people are in county jail awaiting trial or serving time for low-level drug charges, said sheriff's department Chief Deputy Mike Smith.
Last year, 1,869 of 4,418 offenders serving time in state jail for committing offenses in Harris County were convicted of possession of less than 1 gram of a drug.
Not included in these statistics are hundreds of low-level drug offenders who were in Harris County jail awaiting trial or who cut deals, pleaded guilty and served county jail time.
Little deterrence
McSpadden, a Republican not known for being anti-police or anti-prosecution, estimated that more than half the cases for possession of less than a gram of a drug in his court are crack-residue cases. The county and state do not keep records on whether a drug case stems from possession of residue.
Those caught with crack pipes should be charged with possession of drug paraphernalia, a Class A misdemeanor — not drug possession, McSpadden said. People convicted of carrying crack pipes can be fined $500 and put on probation.
Possession of less than 1 gram of a drug is a felony that often lands people in state jail for six months to two years.
McSpadden said prison and jail sentences aren't good deterrents. "Unfortunately, it is obvious that the demand for drugs will not diminish, no matter what the consequences are," he wrote Perry. "I changed my mind a few years ago when it was obvious the 'war on drugs' was a complete failure and should be considered as symbolic at best."
McSpadden asked Perry to work with state lawmakers in reducing the sentences for low-level drug-possession offenses.
Perry spokeswoman Walt said the governor supports creating drug courts, believing that they have a better record of preventing future drug use among addicts. But those who violated drug laws should be prosecuted, she said.
Continued prosecution
McSpadden says the HPD is trying to pad drug-arrest statistics and make itself look good in the eyes of the City Council.
Rosenthal said prosecutors have debated whether residue cases should be handled as paraphernalia cases. At the end of these discussions, Rosenthal decided they would continue to be prosecuted as possession cases.
He said some prosecutors argued that HPD officers working extra hours to tackle drug problems in a neighborhood "pick the lowest hanging fruit" and arrest low-level drug offenders to justify overtime.
Thaler denied his officers had that motivation.
"The real objective is to make people feel safer. There are areas that feel under siege," he said. "People feel uncomfortable, and they can't go to the park because dealers are selling drugs. We are trying to maintain order."
McSpadden said HPD could get addicts off the street by charging them with possession of paraphernalia.
The judge and the district attorney do agree that drug courts appear to be more successful than prison sentences in helping addicts stay off drugs.
Three state district courts in Harris County serve as drug courts. Judges in any of the state district courts can refer addicts to these courts if the addict makes a case he or she wants to beat the habit.
In the drug courts, addicts can plead guilty and get treatment and intensive social services while under supervision.
McSpadden and Rosenthal said more money should go to creating additional drug courts.
bill.murphy@chron.com
How much is a gram?
•A gram of a powdered substance is about the amount that a sugar packet holds, but even smaller amounts, such as residue in a pipe, can result in conviction.
Inmates in state jails in 2005
•Inmates serving time for possession of less than a gram in Harris County: 1,869
•Such defendants in Bexar, Dallas and Tarrant counties combined: 969
•Total such prisoners in Texas: 4,846
•Annual cost of incarceration: More than $12,000 per inmate — $59 million a year
Sources: Texas Department of Criminal Justice; Judge McSpadden; Commissioner Lee
State District Judge Michael McSpadden once believed that long sentences would deter drug sales and drug use.
Judge calls for easing of drug penalty
Citing felony docket loads, he asks Perry to cut sentences for minor possession
By BILL MURPHY
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle
TOOLS
Get section feed
Subscribe NOW
RESOURCES
UNDER A GRAM
Two long-serving local officials disagree about jailing people for possession of small amounts of illegal drugs.
The debate
State District Judge Michael McSpadden
•The cases clog court dockets and further crowd jails without addressing the underlying causes of drug abuse. Prosecutors and police use such cases to pad their statistics.
County Commissioner El Franco Lee
•Residents in some neighborhoods complain that they are under siege by street criminals. Zero tolerance, including arrests for drug possession and even jaywalking, helps reduce the perception and the reality of criminal activity.
Common ground
•Lee and McSpadden agree the drug problem is complex and that long-term solutions will include better use of specialized drug courts that can offer drug treatment as an alternative to jail.
But after more than two decades hearing felony cases in Harris County, the former prosecutor is calling on the governor and Legislature to reduce sentences for low-level drug possession.
"These minor offenses are now overwhelming every felony docket, and the courts necessarily spend less time on the more important, violent crimes," he recently wrote to Gov. Rick Perry.
Nearly twice as many defendants in Harris County were sent to state jails last year for possessing less than 1 gram of a drug than in Dallas, Tarrant and Bexar counties combined.
McSpadden recommended making delivering or possessing a small amount of drugs a Class A misdemeanor carrying no more than a year in county jail.
Gov. Rick Perry is aware that bills may be submitted in the upcoming legislative session that call for reducing penalties for possessing small amounts of drugs or drug residue, said Kathy Walt, the governor's spokeswoman.
"He is willing to look at anything that the Legislature presents him, and he wants to hear the debate in the Legislature about the pros and cons of the issue," she said.
The judge said the Houston Police Department and District Attorney's Office are clogging court dockets and causing crowding in the county jail and state jails by bringing so many drug-possession cases against those found with pipe residue or a sugar packet's worth of cocaine.
But District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal said state law makes no distinction between residue and up to a gram of a drug. Under state law, a person caught with either should be charged with possession of less than 1 gram, he said.
"That's what the law says we should do," he said. "We don't get to make the facts. We don't get to change the law."
Police officials and County Commissioner El Franco Lee said McSpadden is oversimplifying a complex problem. HPD goes after low-level dealers and buyers when neighbors complain that they cannot go outside because there is an open-air drug market or a parade of addicts buying drugs from a store or home.
"I guarantee you there are more of my constituents who want their property protected and want more police on the streets than there are people complaining about the nature of the charges brought against those arrested in their neighborhoods," Lee said.
Fears retaliation
In the dozens of apartment complexes that dot the Fondren area in southwest Houston, many law-abiding residents know nothing of the policy debate over whether low-level drug offenders should be charged with drug possession or a lesser crime. But they know fear firsthand.
"There are gunshots going all night. The security guard would sit in his car all night. He was afraid to get out," said a part-owner of an apartment complex on West Airport. She requested anonymity because she fears retaliation.
The owners took steps to make the complex secure, installing lights at the rear of the property and repairing a fence. Drug dealers shot out the lights and made new holes in the fence to make sales, she said.
As for her investment, "I can't sell it because it's 30 percent empty," she said. "The good people are moving out."
Crack-residue cases are a way of addressing a neighborhood's needs, said HPD officer Jason Streety.
"Even little frivolous charges are a good way to get those causing problems off the street," he said. "In a high-crime area, you gotta take what you can get."
HPD Executive Assistant Chief Mike Thaler said narcotics or other special units may target a park or a basketball court if neighbors have complained that drug sales are occurring there. Police will try to arrest dealers and users, who sometimes are charged with drug possession for having a pipe with crack residue.
Incarcerating thousands of drug offenders convicted of possessing less than 1 gram of a drug is expensive. It cost more than $59 million to hold more than 4,800 such prisoners in state jails last year, based on Texas Department of Criminal Justice figures.
Commissioners Court is mulling over building two jails for at least $267 million because current jails are overcrowded.
On some days, as many as 800 people are in county jail awaiting trial or serving time for low-level drug charges, said sheriff's department Chief Deputy Mike Smith.
Last year, 1,869 of 4,418 offenders serving time in state jail for committing offenses in Harris County were convicted of possession of less than 1 gram of a drug.
Not included in these statistics are hundreds of low-level drug offenders who were in Harris County jail awaiting trial or who cut deals, pleaded guilty and served county jail time.
Little deterrence
McSpadden, a Republican not known for being anti-police or anti-prosecution, estimated that more than half the cases for possession of less than a gram of a drug in his court are crack-residue cases. The county and state do not keep records on whether a drug case stems from possession of residue.
Those caught with crack pipes should be charged with possession of drug paraphernalia, a Class A misdemeanor — not drug possession, McSpadden said. People convicted of carrying crack pipes can be fined $500 and put on probation.
Possession of less than 1 gram of a drug is a felony that often lands people in state jail for six months to two years.
McSpadden said prison and jail sentences aren't good deterrents. "Unfortunately, it is obvious that the demand for drugs will not diminish, no matter what the consequences are," he wrote Perry. "I changed my mind a few years ago when it was obvious the 'war on drugs' was a complete failure and should be considered as symbolic at best."
McSpadden asked Perry to work with state lawmakers in reducing the sentences for low-level drug-possession offenses.
Perry spokeswoman Walt said the governor supports creating drug courts, believing that they have a better record of preventing future drug use among addicts. But those who violated drug laws should be prosecuted, she said.
Continued prosecution
McSpadden says the HPD is trying to pad drug-arrest statistics and make itself look good in the eyes of the City Council.
Rosenthal said prosecutors have debated whether residue cases should be handled as paraphernalia cases. At the end of these discussions, Rosenthal decided they would continue to be prosecuted as possession cases.
He said some prosecutors argued that HPD officers working extra hours to tackle drug problems in a neighborhood "pick the lowest hanging fruit" and arrest low-level drug offenders to justify overtime.
Thaler denied his officers had that motivation.
"The real objective is to make people feel safer. There are areas that feel under siege," he said. "People feel uncomfortable, and they can't go to the park because dealers are selling drugs. We are trying to maintain order."
McSpadden said HPD could get addicts off the street by charging them with possession of paraphernalia.
The judge and the district attorney do agree that drug courts appear to be more successful than prison sentences in helping addicts stay off drugs.
Three state district courts in Harris County serve as drug courts. Judges in any of the state district courts can refer addicts to these courts if the addict makes a case he or she wants to beat the habit.
In the drug courts, addicts can plead guilty and get treatment and intensive social services while under supervision.
McSpadden and Rosenthal said more money should go to creating additional drug courts.
bill.murphy@chron.com
How much is a gram?
•A gram of a powdered substance is about the amount that a sugar packet holds, but even smaller amounts, such as residue in a pipe, can result in conviction.
Inmates in state jails in 2005
•Inmates serving time for possession of less than a gram in Harris County: 1,869
•Such defendants in Bexar, Dallas and Tarrant counties combined: 969
•Total such prisoners in Texas: 4,846
•Annual cost of incarceration: More than $12,000 per inmate — $59 million a year
Sources: Texas Department of Criminal Justice; Judge McSpadden; Commissioner Lee
State District Judge Michael McSpadden once believed that long sentences would deter drug sales and drug use.
Friday, November 17, 2006
Cheers and Jeers: Rum and Coke FRIDAY!
From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...
Today is Howard Dean's birthday. I can think of no better way to celebrate what he's done for our team than to cede this space to some of his words from March 15, 2003, when he addressed the California State Convention in Sacramento. I believe it belongs in the pantheon of great and influential political speeches. At a time when many leaders in our party were spending more time with their noses in the "Triangulation For Dummies" handbook and less time opposing President Bush's reckless agenda, Dean's plain-spoken words and line-in-the-sand fervor broke the spell of complacency. His opening line shook the room:
"WHAT I WANT TO KNOW IS...what in the world so many Democrats are doing supporting the President's unilateral intervention in Iraq!
What I want to know is why the Democrats in Congress aren't standing up for us, joining every other industrialized country on the face of the Earth in providing health insurance for every man, woman and child in America.
What I want to know is why so many folks in Congress are voting for the President's Education Bill---The "No School Board Left Standing Bill"---the largest unfunded mandate in the history of our educational system!
As Paul Wellstone said---as Sheila Kuehl said when she endorsed me---I am Howard Dean, and I'm here to represent the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party! ...
I want a Democratic Party that will balance the budget. Bill Clinton balanced the budget and, starting in 1993, without a single Republican vote, kicked off the greatest 10 years of economic growth in this nation's history. No Republican president has balanced the budget in this country in 34 years. If you want to trust somebody with your taxpayer dollars, you'd better elect a Democrat because the Republicans can't manage money.
I want a government which will give us a foreign policy so when we walk down the streets of the capitals of our friends we don't have to worry about watching our backs wherever we go as Americans. ...
In our state, everybody under the age of 18 has health insurance. We have made Medicaid into a middle-class entitlement. If you make $52,000 a year or less in Vermont, everybody under 18 in your family is entitled to Medicaid. We charge if you are at the upper-end of that: We charge $50 a month, that insures everybody in your family under the age of 18. Now, if we can do that in a small rural state which is 26th in income in the entire country, surely the most wealthy and powerful society on the face of the earth can grant all of its citizens health care. I am a Governor, and I am a doctor, and I have done it. ...
We are not going to beat George Bush by voting with the President 85 percent of the time. The only way that we're going to beat George Bush is to say what we mean, to stand up for who we are, [and] to lift up a Democratic agenda against the Republican agenda. Because if you do that, the Democratic agenda wins every time.
You can read the whole thing here. And don't forget to sign the DKos Guest Book.
Happy Birthday, Governor...and many blessings on your camels.
Today is Howard Dean's birthday. I can think of no better way to celebrate what he's done for our team than to cede this space to some of his words from March 15, 2003, when he addressed the California State Convention in Sacramento. I believe it belongs in the pantheon of great and influential political speeches. At a time when many leaders in our party were spending more time with their noses in the "Triangulation For Dummies" handbook and less time opposing President Bush's reckless agenda, Dean's plain-spoken words and line-in-the-sand fervor broke the spell of complacency. His opening line shook the room:
"WHAT I WANT TO KNOW IS...what in the world so many Democrats are doing supporting the President's unilateral intervention in Iraq!
What I want to know is why the Democrats in Congress aren't standing up for us, joining every other industrialized country on the face of the Earth in providing health insurance for every man, woman and child in America.
What I want to know is why so many folks in Congress are voting for the President's Education Bill---The "No School Board Left Standing Bill"---the largest unfunded mandate in the history of our educational system!
As Paul Wellstone said---as Sheila Kuehl said when she endorsed me---I am Howard Dean, and I'm here to represent the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party! ...
I want a Democratic Party that will balance the budget. Bill Clinton balanced the budget and, starting in 1993, without a single Republican vote, kicked off the greatest 10 years of economic growth in this nation's history. No Republican president has balanced the budget in this country in 34 years. If you want to trust somebody with your taxpayer dollars, you'd better elect a Democrat because the Republicans can't manage money.
I want a government which will give us a foreign policy so when we walk down the streets of the capitals of our friends we don't have to worry about watching our backs wherever we go as Americans. ...
In our state, everybody under the age of 18 has health insurance. We have made Medicaid into a middle-class entitlement. If you make $52,000 a year or less in Vermont, everybody under 18 in your family is entitled to Medicaid. We charge if you are at the upper-end of that: We charge $50 a month, that insures everybody in your family under the age of 18. Now, if we can do that in a small rural state which is 26th in income in the entire country, surely the most wealthy and powerful society on the face of the earth can grant all of its citizens health care. I am a Governor, and I am a doctor, and I have done it. ...
We are not going to beat George Bush by voting with the President 85 percent of the time. The only way that we're going to beat George Bush is to say what we mean, to stand up for who we are, [and] to lift up a Democratic agenda against the Republican agenda. Because if you do that, the Democratic agenda wins every time.
You can read the whole thing here. And don't forget to sign the DKos Guest Book.
Happy Birthday, Governor...and many blessings on your camels.
Late Night Snark...with real marshmallow bits!
New Rule: There's just something about a crew cut that says, "You can trust me." This is Montana's new senator, John Tester. I don't know much about him. And I don't need to. His hair says it all. "I'm friendly, I'm dependable, I'm literally level-headed." If hair could smile, it would look like this. And most importantly, it's hair that says, "You will never ever, ever, ever find me snorting meth with a gay hooker."
---Bill Maher
-
"Donald Rumsfeld has resigned and the new Secretary of Defense is a guy named Robert Gates. He's a close friend of the Bush family...yeah, that always works out pretty well. Rumsfeld took it pretty well. He said he's eager now to move on to try and legalize torture in the private sector."
---David Letterman
-
"It has not been a good week for the Republicans. Actually, this election was like a divorce: they got rejected, insulted and lost the House."
---Jay Leno
-
"On Tuesday night, in an ironic turnaround, Iraq brought regime change to the U.S."
---Amy Poehler
-
"Today is Veteran's Day, so that won't affect anyone in the White House."
---Seth Meyers
-
"As a result of this week's election, the new Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, is now the most powerful woman in the country. After hearing this, Oprah Winfrey said, 'Yeah, right'."
---Conan O'Brien
-
---Bill Maher
-
"Donald Rumsfeld has resigned and the new Secretary of Defense is a guy named Robert Gates. He's a close friend of the Bush family...yeah, that always works out pretty well. Rumsfeld took it pretty well. He said he's eager now to move on to try and legalize torture in the private sector."
---David Letterman
-
"It has not been a good week for the Republicans. Actually, this election was like a divorce: they got rejected, insulted and lost the House."
---Jay Leno
-
"On Tuesday night, in an ironic turnaround, Iraq brought regime change to the U.S."
---Amy Poehler
-
"Today is Veteran's Day, so that won't affect anyone in the White House."
---Seth Meyers
-
"As a result of this week's election, the new Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, is now the most powerful woman in the country. After hearing this, Oprah Winfrey said, 'Yeah, right'."
---Conan O'Brien
-
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Tuesday blogarific
Another fragmented day.
I have been working on finding a new car (I said six years ago that I would drive the wheels off of Ruby, and I have done so) and working on getting my house purchase contract in place. Got the latest foreclosure postings in the mail yesterday, so the clock is ticking on “buy or pack.”
Going home early today to make a blizzard of copies that I have to deliver tomorrow, and to help clear more out of the den. And maybe have a nap.
So, yesterday I was at the doctor’s office. I was down eight pounds in three weeks. Yesterday morning, my BG was 147 (yay!!) this morning, after eating (mostly) appropriately all day, and having nothing but some lean red meat after 3:00 in the afternoon, my BG was 246. There’s just no rhyme nor reason to it.
I have to re-cast client’s financial data into something that makes sense, as it’s all jumbled and when I asked them to re-work it, they replied “here’s the original data again.”
Gotta love that.
I have been working on finding a new car (I said six years ago that I would drive the wheels off of Ruby, and I have done so) and working on getting my house purchase contract in place. Got the latest foreclosure postings in the mail yesterday, so the clock is ticking on “buy or pack.”
Going home early today to make a blizzard of copies that I have to deliver tomorrow, and to help clear more out of the den. And maybe have a nap.
So, yesterday I was at the doctor’s office. I was down eight pounds in three weeks. Yesterday morning, my BG was 147 (yay!!) this morning, after eating (mostly) appropriately all day, and having nothing but some lean red meat after 3:00 in the afternoon, my BG was 246. There’s just no rhyme nor reason to it.
I have to re-cast client’s financial data into something that makes sense, as it’s all jumbled and when I asked them to re-work it, they replied “here’s the original data again.”
Gotta love that.
Monday, November 13, 2006
Living life is better than living a lie
From today's Houston Chronicle.
Today's topic: flaunting homosexuality. Exhibit A: Doogie.
Meaning Neil Patrick Harris who, in another life, was the title character in Doogie Howser, M.D., the tale of a boy genius who becomes a doctor. Recently, Harris was outed on a gossip Web site. His response in a statement to people.com said in part:
"I am happy to dispel any rumors or misconceptions and am quite proud to say that I am a very content gay man living my life to the fullest."
That was it. The world continued spinning and the seas did not boil.
Still, one suspects the news was greeted less than warmly in those bastions of social conservatism where, as one gentleman indicates in the new movie Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, they hope to make it legal to string homosexuals up by the soft parts. Indeed, one suspects the most — pardon my language — liberal response in those parts would be something along the lines of, "Fine, he's gay. Why couldn't he keep that to himself? Why do they have to flaunt it? I don't go around announcing that I'm straight!"
Put aside that Harris was forced into his announcement by an individual who called him out online. Put aside, too, the fact that one "flaunts" one's heterosexuality whenever one publicly canoodles with a sweetie of the opposite gender.
Concentrate, instead, on this notion many social conservatives have that homosexuality is best dealt with by being ignored, denied, kept from public view. Why, they ask, in letters to editors and Web sites done up in red, white and blue, must homo-sexuals "flaunt" their "deviant behavior"? "Flaunt," meaning to acknowledge in any way their sexual orientation.
Which brings us to Ted Haggard. Until earlier this month, he was senior pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs and president of the National Association of Evangelicals, an influential preacher who had George Bush's ear. Neither the church nor the NAE has been known for its friendliness toward gay people. So there was quite an uproar when Mike Jones, a gay prostitute, dropped the bombshell allegation that he'd had a three-year sexual relationship with the preacher. Haggard initially denied even knowing Jones but then recanted, admitting that, on at least one occasion, he sought a massage and bought meth from the gay hooker.
On Nov. 2, Haggard stepped down from the NAE presi-dency. Two days later, his church fired him. He has confessed to "sexual immor-ality" and will spend the next three to five years in "restor-ation," a process that report-edly involves confrontation, counsel and rebuke from "godly men."
This all raises two questions. One: between this guy, the late gay-bashing former Spokane mayor, James West, Pat Robertson biographer Mel White and Michael Bussee and Gary Cooper, leaders in the "curing homosexuality" move-ment until they fell in love with one another, can't we now safely assume any conservative who rants about the homosex-ual agenda is a lying hypocrite gayer than a Castro Street bar?
And, two: Wouldn't you much rather be Neil Patrick Harris than Ted Haggard just now? In other words, wouldn't you rather be a content gay man living life to the fullest, than a closeted gay hypocrite living lies to the fullest? Especially since lies are so frequently found out.
That's the fallacy social conservatives miss. In a culture that allows gay people room to be gay people, there is no need of lies. In a culture that does not — i.e., theirs — lies are rampant. And that's unfortunate, not simply for the person in question, but for all the people in his or her life.
And here, I'm thinking of Gayle Alcorn. She and Haggard have five children. They've been married 28 years. That's a long time to sleep next to a lie.
Today's topic: flaunting homosexuality. Exhibit A: Doogie.
Meaning Neil Patrick Harris who, in another life, was the title character in Doogie Howser, M.D., the tale of a boy genius who becomes a doctor. Recently, Harris was outed on a gossip Web site. His response in a statement to people.com said in part:
"I am happy to dispel any rumors or misconceptions and am quite proud to say that I am a very content gay man living my life to the fullest."
That was it. The world continued spinning and the seas did not boil.
Still, one suspects the news was greeted less than warmly in those bastions of social conservatism where, as one gentleman indicates in the new movie Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, they hope to make it legal to string homosexuals up by the soft parts. Indeed, one suspects the most — pardon my language — liberal response in those parts would be something along the lines of, "Fine, he's gay. Why couldn't he keep that to himself? Why do they have to flaunt it? I don't go around announcing that I'm straight!"
Put aside that Harris was forced into his announcement by an individual who called him out online. Put aside, too, the fact that one "flaunts" one's heterosexuality whenever one publicly canoodles with a sweetie of the opposite gender.
Concentrate, instead, on this notion many social conservatives have that homosexuality is best dealt with by being ignored, denied, kept from public view. Why, they ask, in letters to editors and Web sites done up in red, white and blue, must homo-sexuals "flaunt" their "deviant behavior"? "Flaunt," meaning to acknowledge in any way their sexual orientation.
Which brings us to Ted Haggard. Until earlier this month, he was senior pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs and president of the National Association of Evangelicals, an influential preacher who had George Bush's ear. Neither the church nor the NAE has been known for its friendliness toward gay people. So there was quite an uproar when Mike Jones, a gay prostitute, dropped the bombshell allegation that he'd had a three-year sexual relationship with the preacher. Haggard initially denied even knowing Jones but then recanted, admitting that, on at least one occasion, he sought a massage and bought meth from the gay hooker.
On Nov. 2, Haggard stepped down from the NAE presi-dency. Two days later, his church fired him. He has confessed to "sexual immor-ality" and will spend the next three to five years in "restor-ation," a process that report-edly involves confrontation, counsel and rebuke from "godly men."
This all raises two questions. One: between this guy, the late gay-bashing former Spokane mayor, James West, Pat Robertson biographer Mel White and Michael Bussee and Gary Cooper, leaders in the "curing homosexuality" move-ment until they fell in love with one another, can't we now safely assume any conservative who rants about the homosex-ual agenda is a lying hypocrite gayer than a Castro Street bar?
And, two: Wouldn't you much rather be Neil Patrick Harris than Ted Haggard just now? In other words, wouldn't you rather be a content gay man living life to the fullest, than a closeted gay hypocrite living lies to the fullest? Especially since lies are so frequently found out.
That's the fallacy social conservatives miss. In a culture that allows gay people room to be gay people, there is no need of lies. In a culture that does not — i.e., theirs — lies are rampant. And that's unfortunate, not simply for the person in question, but for all the people in his or her life.
And here, I'm thinking of Gayle Alcorn. She and Haggard have five children. They've been married 28 years. That's a long time to sleep next to a lie.
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Mellowed out from meditation class
No reflections of the sun. As it turns out, the Phaeton isn’t Papillon Silver Heliochrome – it’s just plain silver. It’s still an awesome car, and it’s just the one I would want – low miles, loaded to the hilt, cheap .. but, it’s not Papillon Silver Heliochrome.
(sigh)
Teaching class today on prayer and meditation. It’s a good class. We’re also settling into our new space (with POWER!) I’m working on arranging the stereo equipment and such on breaks.
It just occurred to me that, when I silence my mind (we just did that exercise,) I fall asleep. Quiet the noise in head = immediate snoozing.
Maybe that suggests that I’m over doing things.
We’re about to do the forgiveness meditation. It’s cool stuff.
I spent some quality time with the Frontgate catalog yesterday – there are SUCH COOL Christmas-y things in there. I should run through a Garden Ridge to see if some of those things can be found there instead of paying through the FG Design nose. There is a hanging swag wreath thing that would be perfect on the front under the porch light.
Today, I have to find myself a new mailbox to replace the one that was nuked over the weekend following Hallowe’en. I want a Rubbermaid mailbox that’s indestructible. Do you think I can find one that also has a self-closing door? Our mail lady can’t seem to get that door closed.
Last night, I was so excited to find that I had finally received my VHS copy of “The Boys in the Band.” I was ready to sit down and watch it and .. it’s a bootleg copy of Eddie Murphy’s stand up routine (the one where he’s wearing a red leather outfit and talks endlessly about how he’s not gay?) Bastards. So, I protested the PayPal payment, and blah, blah. Back to Amazon, I guess to get a real one.
That’s what I get for trying to find a bargain.
So, again I take up the question “Is Barney too old?” John II (new, from work) thinks that Barney’s extremely uncomfortable from arthritis and so on. He’s willing to tote Barney to the SPCA for me, but I need to at least spend some time with him (Barney) before we do this. Which I can’t possibly do until Sunday evening, at the earliest.
I got home from teaching class, closed the garage door, pulled out all the stuff in the Buick, came into the patio and .. there’s Barney – stuck in the hot tub. He’d clearly been there a while, since the hot tub was all murky and dirty from his fur (he likes to get into the flower beds and roll around.) I pulled him out, and he was shivering from the cold (the water’s only about 78 degrees now.) He looked pathetic but now, he just smells like a landfill. You’d have thought that all that bleach water would have helped, but it was just the opposite.
I had a phone call today from an unfamiliar, Orange County telephone number – I was trying to bring things in from the car to the church, and when I answered, a woman’s voice began speaking to me “Do you know who this is?”
My last girlfriend – from 1980. Yikes!
(sigh)
Teaching class today on prayer and meditation. It’s a good class. We’re also settling into our new space (with POWER!) I’m working on arranging the stereo equipment and such on breaks.
It just occurred to me that, when I silence my mind (we just did that exercise,) I fall asleep. Quiet the noise in head = immediate snoozing.
Maybe that suggests that I’m over doing things.
We’re about to do the forgiveness meditation. It’s cool stuff.
I spent some quality time with the Frontgate catalog yesterday – there are SUCH COOL Christmas-y things in there. I should run through a Garden Ridge to see if some of those things can be found there instead of paying through the FG Design nose. There is a hanging swag wreath thing that would be perfect on the front under the porch light.
Today, I have to find myself a new mailbox to replace the one that was nuked over the weekend following Hallowe’en. I want a Rubbermaid mailbox that’s indestructible. Do you think I can find one that also has a self-closing door? Our mail lady can’t seem to get that door closed.
Last night, I was so excited to find that I had finally received my VHS copy of “The Boys in the Band.” I was ready to sit down and watch it and .. it’s a bootleg copy of Eddie Murphy’s stand up routine (the one where he’s wearing a red leather outfit and talks endlessly about how he’s not gay?) Bastards. So, I protested the PayPal payment, and blah, blah. Back to Amazon, I guess to get a real one.
That’s what I get for trying to find a bargain.
So, again I take up the question “Is Barney too old?” John II (new, from work) thinks that Barney’s extremely uncomfortable from arthritis and so on. He’s willing to tote Barney to the SPCA for me, but I need to at least spend some time with him (Barney) before we do this. Which I can’t possibly do until Sunday evening, at the earliest.
I got home from teaching class, closed the garage door, pulled out all the stuff in the Buick, came into the patio and .. there’s Barney – stuck in the hot tub. He’d clearly been there a while, since the hot tub was all murky and dirty from his fur (he likes to get into the flower beds and roll around.) I pulled him out, and he was shivering from the cold (the water’s only about 78 degrees now.) He looked pathetic but now, he just smells like a landfill. You’d have thought that all that bleach water would have helped, but it was just the opposite.
I had a phone call today from an unfamiliar, Orange County telephone number – I was trying to bring things in from the car to the church, and when I answered, a woman’s voice began speaking to me “Do you know who this is?”
My last girlfriend – from 1980. Yikes!
Tell me this wasn't a broad rejection of the conservatives
Dead woman wins election in US
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Marie Steichen died two months ago but she won a battle to become a county commissioner for a small South Dakota town in the US elections, an official said.
Jerauld county auditor Cindy Peterson said that the election list closed on August 1, and while Steichen died from cancer in September her name was kept on the list for Tuesday's election.
Steichen beat a Republican rival by 100 votes to 64 and Peterson said she believed that voters knew the woman was dead but wanted to make their political point.
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Marie Steichen died two months ago but she won a battle to become a county commissioner for a small South Dakota town in the US elections, an official said.
Jerauld county auditor Cindy Peterson said that the election list closed on August 1, and while Steichen died from cancer in September her name was kept on the list for Tuesday's election.
Steichen beat a Republican rival by 100 votes to 64 and Peterson said she believed that voters knew the woman was dead but wanted to make their political point.
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Dallas turns blue
Dallas turning Indigo Blue
By kos
on 2006
It may take a while to turn Texas Blue, but at least Dallas is headed in the right direction.
The home of glitzy restaurants, million-dollar condos and six-figure Neiman Marcus holiday baubles has a new distinction that has nothing to do with its oversupply of Hummers and BMWs.
Dallas County still calls its historic courthouse Old Red, but on Tuesday it went "blue."
A national wave of Democratic voting and changing demographics swept Republicans out of power in the county as the GOP surrendered 42 judgeships, the district's attorney office and the county judge's seat.
Twenty-six years after a Ronald Reagan landslide put Republicans in control, Democrats retook the courthouse in a similar, surprising sweep.
"We didn't expect it, but it's fun," Democratic Party Chair Darlene Ewing said Wednesday. As late as 10 p.m. Election Night, she had been predicting Democrats would win, at best, 10 or 15 judicial contests.
"This is what happened in 1980, except this time they did it to us," said Michael Walz, executive director of the Dallas County Republican Party.
The county elected its first black district attorney, defense attorney Craig Watkins, who was outspent by more than 15-to-one by Republican Toby Shook, a 22-year veteran prosecutor who held a management post under District Attorney Bill Hill, who is retiring.
Let me stress what happened -- there were 42 contested judge races (12 Republicans ran unopposed). Republicans won just one of them, and in that race, she was holding on to a 6-vote lead out of 375,000 votes cast with votes still left to be counted. That is epic.
Elsewhere in Texas, Dems did pretty well. They abandoned gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell early, focusing instead on state legislative seats and the judgeships. And if you wonder why judgeships are important, note that (as documented in Crashing the Gate), Karl Rove helped build the rise of the Texas GOP by winning judgeships. You see, the party that holds the judgeships controls the flow of corporate contributions. (Probably the best argument against partisan elected judges).
In the state legislature, Democrats picked up four House seats (and maybe a 5th) while losing none. This outgoing session is 87 R 63 D. A down note for the evening, Republicans picked up an open Senate seat, making that body 20-11 in the GOP's favor.
By kos
on 2006
It may take a while to turn Texas Blue, but at least Dallas is headed in the right direction.
The home of glitzy restaurants, million-dollar condos and six-figure Neiman Marcus holiday baubles has a new distinction that has nothing to do with its oversupply of Hummers and BMWs.
Dallas County still calls its historic courthouse Old Red, but on Tuesday it went "blue."
A national wave of Democratic voting and changing demographics swept Republicans out of power in the county as the GOP surrendered 42 judgeships, the district's attorney office and the county judge's seat.
Twenty-six years after a Ronald Reagan landslide put Republicans in control, Democrats retook the courthouse in a similar, surprising sweep.
"We didn't expect it, but it's fun," Democratic Party Chair Darlene Ewing said Wednesday. As late as 10 p.m. Election Night, she had been predicting Democrats would win, at best, 10 or 15 judicial contests.
"This is what happened in 1980, except this time they did it to us," said Michael Walz, executive director of the Dallas County Republican Party.
The county elected its first black district attorney, defense attorney Craig Watkins, who was outspent by more than 15-to-one by Republican Toby Shook, a 22-year veteran prosecutor who held a management post under District Attorney Bill Hill, who is retiring.
Let me stress what happened -- there were 42 contested judge races (12 Republicans ran unopposed). Republicans won just one of them, and in that race, she was holding on to a 6-vote lead out of 375,000 votes cast with votes still left to be counted. That is epic.
Elsewhere in Texas, Dems did pretty well. They abandoned gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell early, focusing instead on state legislative seats and the judgeships. And if you wonder why judgeships are important, note that (as documented in Crashing the Gate), Karl Rove helped build the rise of the Texas GOP by winning judgeships. You see, the party that holds the judgeships controls the flow of corporate contributions. (Probably the best argument against partisan elected judges).
In the state legislature, Democrats picked up four House seats (and maybe a 5th) while losing none. This outgoing session is 87 R 63 D. A down note for the evening, Republicans picked up an open Senate seat, making that body 20-11 in the GOP's favor.
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