The Golden Grasshopper

We got to see the Golden Grasshopper today on our little bus trip to Boston, but not much else. The trip down took longer than expected leaving us with just enough time to grab something to eat at Quincy Market and hop back on the bus. Traffic was so bad we were almost late for Lion King at the Opera House. But we made it just as they flashed the lights. The show was awesome and we had a fun day, even if the weather sucked. We knew it was supposed to be raining and windy, so we didn't even bother bringing the camera. Now we just have to figure out how to get back there when the weather is nicer. There is no way I will attempt to drive around those streets myself. City driving normally isn't a big deal to me, but that place is nuts on so many levels, there is no way we would ever get in and out in one piece.

One of my fellow tax preparers is working for the Census Bureau. She knew I had taken the test back in December and asked me Friday if they had called me yet. They hadn't and I made some half-hearted comment about contacting them. When I got back in cell range (there is better cell coverage on China's Tibetan Plateau than we get here in the Live Free or Die state), I had not one, but two messages from the Census Bureau. I called and was basically hired on the spot. I start two weeks after the end of tax season. Sweet, if temporary.

Obviously, our major preoccupation for the last couple days has been Debbie's mom. It now looks like open heart surgery is imminent, but we won't have a firm date and time until sometime tomorrow. There really isn't any more news than that, so please refrain from jamming the hospital switchboard or calling her cell or the phone in her room. We'll update everyone via phone, e-mail and Facebook as soon as there is anything to update. Right now, she needs rest. If you want to send her a message, you can do so here. A volunteer is running the messages up to her room every few hours. Marge is getting a kick out of them, so keep 'em coming!

With everything else going on, I haven't had the time to dig up stuff on the web other than watching the ruling party implode as they try to create a constitutional crisis. This will not end well.

Peggy Noonan has an interesting take on the mental health of those we elect to the highest office. Current events certainly support her theory. It is often said humorously that the lunatics are running the asylum, but that may be literally true. That hardly makes America unique in world history, but it's still a hell of a way to run a railroad.

Well, I need to see if I can get some sleep. I'm wide away from too much napping on the bus ride to and from Boston, so I don't expect much in the way of success.

Crazy Couple Days

We got a phone call yesterday from Debbie's mom; her trip to the doctor turned into a trip to the hospital with a possible heart attack. The "possible" turned into a "yea, you had one" and a two-night (so far) stay at St. Mary's in Saginaw. Yesterday and today was the whole "hurry up and wait" routine and a battery of tests. No definite results yet; the heart cath that was supposed to happen today, then tomorrow, then today, and now tomorrow again will probably be the thing that settles was the next step is.

Other than that bit of excitement, not much going on other than work, work, work. My office is either full of people all day like it was yesterday, or completely deserted like it was today. At least I had time to clear out a bunch of stuff that's been sitting in the file cabinet and do some dusting and what-not. The glamorous world of tax prep, eh?

The downsizing of Detroit is back in the news. I'm not sure of the reason for all the hand-wringing about how to force people to move out of mostly-empty neighborhoods. It's seems pretty simple to me. Announce that after such-and-such a date, those neighborhoods will no longer have city water, city sewer or city trash pickup. Also, after that date, any 911 calls will go to the county sheriff's office like they do for anyone else living outside the city, and the residents will have to form up a volunteer firefighting unit just like other rural people have to do. In exchange, set up a homesteading deal where residents will be granted title to adjacent vacant lots on the condition they clear abandoned buildings, garbage, etc. In other words, grow up and be self-sufficient. Oh, wait; my bad. We're talking about Detroit, the land of total and permanent dependency.

One of the things Jerry Pournelle frequently mentions on his web site is that unrestricted capitalism will result in human flesh being sold by the pound, if not at your local grocery store, then at least via some form of special order. Are we seeing the first step towards humans as food animals? The most disturbing book I think I ever read was Through Darkest America. Is this a path we want to be on?

Only a complete idiot would equate a couple guys fishing from a row boat with a commercial fishing trawler when discussing sustainable fish harvesting. Obama may be a great many things, but the man isn't stupid. This has nothing to do with saving bluegills from extinction via little boys with fishing rods, and everything to do with eliminating self-sufficiency. From fencing off millions of acres at a shot from hunting to eliminating sport fishing to banning people from having a couple chickens in the back yard for eggs and meat to government-run auto companies to government-run health care to government bans on salt, it all reflects the neo-liberal view that no one must be allowed to fend for themselves. We must all live in a state of perpetual dependency on our self-appointed masters.

Since the profession's birth, the cry, "Kill all the lawyers," has been a common sentiment among the non-lawyer'ed. Here's one reason why. A single sentence containing 303 words, followed by a second containing 343 words, written in such an incomprehensible way that even another lawyer can't figure out what is being said. Why anyone would think this sort of nonsense makes them look smart or scholarly is beyond me.

A couple climate quickies: the reason why any carbon emission agreement that excludes China and India is a complete waste of time, and a new way to measure ancient ocean temperatures that confirms that both the Roman Warm Period and the Medieval Warm Period were in fact very real and very widespread; at least hemispheric if not global.

Government is a one-way ratchet; always increasing and never decreasing. Kansas is being forced by a budget crunch to be a minor exception to that rule. But read closely. The Kansas schools have half the students they had ten years ago and a quarter of what they had in the 1960's. This "draconian" belt-tightening plan will close fewer than half the school buildings and eliminate less than a quarter of the staff. And how much would you like to bet that by the time all the lawsuits are over, not a single staff member will lose their job and the vast majority of the school buildings will still be operational? A closely related story about government employment. I guess the answer to all our economic problems is that we should all work for the government.

In two other closely-related economic stories, February set another record for the monthly federal budget deficit, and the Canadian dollar with hit parity with the US dollar and may even shoot past it.

And enough; I really must get to bed.

Another Dog Post

Doggie romping in the snow:

Danger On The Mountain from Walker Parks on Vimeo.

(If you have a large monitor, I wouldn't watch this full-screen if you have recently eaten.)

Not Many Words

Not much to say today other than I wish I could sleep past 3am. That would be nice. But given that I can't seem to, I guess I'll mess around here. Work is still slow-but-steady. At least most of the returns coming now are more involved and sometime even require a bit of research. All of which makes the days go by a bit faster.

The weather continues to tease us with temps in the high 40's and low 50's (that's 7C to 10C everywhere other than the US). If this is a head-fake and we end up buried up to our necks in snow a couple weeks from now, there are going to be a great number of very angry people, including yours truly.

So anyway, I'm up at 3 o'clock this morning with nothing better to do than read about the Democratic party shooting itself in the foot. Obama has chosen to surround himself with Chicago thugs that are about as subtle as a brick through a window. The November elections will be interesting; even more interesting will be Hope-n-Change's response to losing the majority in one or both houses. Will he do a Bill Clinton, or will he double down with his juvenile "Guess what? We won." attitude? As much as I'd like to see the Democrats implode, it would be a disaster for the country. I never thought I would say this, but I'm becoming nostalgic for the Clinton years when the worst we had to worry about was Waco and Ruby Ridge. We can hope that The One learns the right lessons from the November elections.

And as always, the British press has an interesting perspective on US politics:

Mr Obama benefited in his campaign from an idiotic level of idolatry, in which most of the media participated with an astonishing suspension of cynicism....

The root of the problem seems to be the management of expectations. The magnificent campaign created the notion that Mr Obama could walk on water. Oddly enough, he can't....

There are lessons from the stumbling of Mr Obama for our own country as we approach a general election. Vacuous promises of change are hostages to fortune if they cannot be delivered upon to improve the living conditions of a people. The slickness of campaigning that comes from a combination of heavy funding and public relations expertise does not inevitably translate into an ability to govern. There is no point a nation's having the audacity of hope unless it also has the sophistication and the will to turn it into action. As things stand, Barack Obama and America under his leadership do not.

Campaigning is not governing. Obama needs to learn this. The question is, will he?

The national ID card is back on the table. I'm of two minds about this. As a libertarian, a national ID card would be yet-another nail in the coffin of federalism and another push down the road to making Washington DC into the Imperial City. But another part of me understands that federalism is dead and buried, the sod grown over the unmarked grave, and its location forgotten. Not even Bones could find it now. Will whatever federal agency put in charge of this make a hash of it? Will innocent people have their lives destroyed through bureaucratic incompetence? Will it fail to fully address it's primary selling point (in this iteration, illegal immigrants)? Certainly. The No-Fly-List is exhibit A in any discussion of just how badly a move to a national ID card could go. The thing is, I'm no longer convinced that given the current political reality, the alternative is any better. I know despair is a sin and all, but.... (shrug)

Gas prices around here are edging back up to the $3/gallon mark as oil pushes higher. The article argues whether the price is up due to expectations of a resumption of the climb in global demand, or "technical factors." I suppose that's an important point to some people, but I can't see myself smiling as I pump $4/gallon gas because it's only due to "technical factors."

Fred Phelps is an ass. Advancing the political cause of your "church" by disrupting the funerals of soldiers is morally bankrupt in every way. I'm sure a psychiatrist could put a label on whatever is wrong with him and his little inbred band of followers.

But.

The Supreme's are now weighing in on the case. Boundary cases involving free speech are a minefield and have been for several generations, but they are important none the less. It is unfortunate that this one will center around such an unprincipled ass.

Well, time to get ready for another fun, fun day.

Walkin' in the Sunshine

We took advantage of both a day off and the nice weather to take our first walk around the 'hood. We took the camera and snapped a few. We're going to try to make a habit of it (yea, right) as long as the warm, dry weather holds out. It looked like everyone else had the same idea; we had lots of company out on the streets both on foot and on bikes. We had considered digging our bikes out of the storage shed, but figured it would be more trouble than it was worth. I'll probably take a few minutes to air up the tires and what-not after work one night next week in case we get a sudden impulse to do something more physical than walk from the couch to the jellybean jar. It isn't likely, but you never can tell.

Other than that, not much happening today other than dishes, laundry and getting ready for another week of the same ol' grind. Next weekend we will be taking a day-trip down to Boston to hang around a bit and see Lion King. Debbie saw it up in Toronto, but this will be my first time. It will be a nice excuse to get out of the apartment. We're a little concerned about the weather, but even if we get the rain that is predicted, it will still be a nice trip made better by the fact that I don't have to do any of the driving.

I'm gradually working my way through the 1,300+ free songs I grabbed from Amazon last week. The vast majority are worth every penny I paid. A few are worth another listen and a handful or so have already made it to a playlist. I expect to have a few hundred after the first cut and likely less than a hundred when it's all said and done. But at least I get some new tunes without having to spend money.

I generally avoid any news about awards shows because I like what I like and could care less about what some committee thinks about it. No number of ugly statues are going to make me like something or someone that I don't, and vice-versa. But I was intrigued by this:

A dispute over what Cablevision New York should pay for ABC’s free-to-air broadcast signals turned ugly at the stroke of midnight Saturday as the Disney-owned network made good on its threat to cut the signal, putting into doubt whether the cable system’s three million area customers would get to see the Oscars Sunday night....

Should the dispute not be resolved in the 19 hours or so until the Oscars will be seen by everyone else, ABC could and should stream it live. No special video players. No registration. No questions asked: Surf on over to ABC.com and join our Oscars party. Just leave the webcast going after the red-carpet show is over.

ABC could easily do that. They likely won't. For one, the affiliates would scream bloody murder. If the networks start streaming live shows on their web pages, local affiliates become more or less superfluous. They're close to that now; streaming shows (live or otherwise) simultaneous with their broadcast would pound the last couple nails into the local affiliates coffin. I expect the TV industry to look very different in a few years.

It's late and there is work tomorrow.