Eastwood Made My Day plus 60 Shades of Barack

I have been reading and listening to the critiques of Clint Eastwood’s speech/soliloquy. I don’t watch political conventions so I never saw the live version.  But an advantage of the Internet is you don’t have to. After watching Eastwood all I could say was – awesome! All of us can only hope -assuming we even reach his stage of life- that we could go out and ad-lib a sketch as he did at the Republican Convention. My guess is that many of the detractors of his speech -and there were several from both the liberal and conservative media factions- if they ever do reach Mr. Eastwood’s age,  is that they will be lucky if they are not sitting in some nursing home in a urine-filled Depends while grunting to get the night nurse to change them; instead of standing in front of a huge live and televised audience hammering home your opinions. In fact other than  Bill Clinton, I doubt if there is a major political speaker, within my voting lifetime, that could have pulled it off at all. Certainly our current POTUS could not. He has trouble speaking, even with the teleprompter assisting him with his normal speeches. Not only was Mr. Eastwood able to get his points across, he did it in a humorous and entertaining manner. Face it most politicians would have fumbled the Eastwood piece to the point the audience in the convention, and at home, would have lost interest in the speech within the first couple of minutes. Bravo Mr. Eastwood, you certainly brought the beef and in a manner most people half your age could not have accomplished.

In another interesting political moment, it seems that a painter has created a portrait of current POTUS Barack Obama. The artist has painted Obama shading totems analyzing 60 of President Obama’s defining moments since he took office. There was no mention in the article by Liz Klimas, if President Obama plans on obtaining it, to use as his Presidential Portrait for display in the White House. The article and a depiction of the portrait can be found at this link.

Related articles

• ‘Eastwooding’ makes the rounds on the Web (news.yahoo.com)
• Three reasons Clint Eastwood worked for Republicans (humanevents.com)
• Dirty Harry Mocks Obama (ironicsurrealism.com)
• Clint Eastwood’s speech backfires on the Republicans (boston.com)
• ‘Eastwooding’ Is Now Happening Everywhere (fox4kc.com)
• Dotty Old Clint Eastwood Gave the Best Speech of the Week (reason.com)
• Clint Eastwood – Clint Eastwood’s ‘empty Chair’ Speech Becomes Youtube Sensation (contactmusic.com)
• Three reasons Clint Eastwood worked for Republicans (conservativeread.com)
• Romney Thought Clint Eastwood’s Speech Was Funny (buzzfeed.com)

Stirring the Pot of Legal Shades of Gray

Mug shot of Rod Blagojevich. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Okay, so I was reading the articles on QCOnline, by Kristy Mergenthal, covering the trial of the Geneseo woman whom faked being ill with cancer and flimflammed local citizens into donating around a $100,000 dollars to assist her with living. If there is anything that is as sure as death and taxes in my family – it is almost assured that if a member of familial-Scoundrel lives past the age of 50 they will probably face a battle with some form of cancer before they are eventually called home to be with God in Heaven. In these more of familial-Scoundrel tend to win more and more of those battles than they did in past decades. So I have to admit I find it extremely reprehensible that anyone would fake the set of tragic events actual Cancer victims and their families must endure, in order to scam money and seemingly in this case, some sort of broken-wing syndrome for attention.  Still, as I was pondering the story , I was bemused by remembering an old television commercial – (in fact I believe it was used by her current attorney) – talking about how the legal system is many shades of gray.  And despite the fact that were I the judge, I would literally throw the law book at the defendant and hit her solidly in the head with it – before sending her to incarceration along with Illinois Gov.’s Ryan and Blagojevich – I have decided to extrapolate upon the incident in “shades of gray”!

One of the things that seems to be an irritating ulcer on this case is that the defendant lied for personal gain. And if the storyline is correct she told some whoppers.  Uh  not  that doesn’t happen on an everyday basis in the real world. If I had a dollar for every time I witnessed a lie someone used for personal gain I would have so much money I would belong to the 1% of societies well-to-do instead of milling around with the most bottom-seeded of the 99% sifting through the leftover coffee dregs of worlds money pool. If there is a reality of life – it is that people lie a lot, every day.  They lie to strangers, they lie to friends, family and most of all they lie to themselves so that they can rationalize all the lies they have told in order to leap through the rings and hoops of life’s daily obstacle course. I have read several different estimates but most seem to hint that the average person lies four or more times a day. Heck I have seen salesmen/women lie four times in a matter of minutes.  But I guess that wasn’t for personal gain.

Perhaps it is the amount of money involved. Okay that is a lot. But then how is her lying about her health, to gain large amounts of cash,  any different than the panhandling guys or gals holding signs at the numerous road intersection asking for money. Sure they only get a few bucks at a time. And many of them are in dire need of the money they take in standing in the sun all day, while begging. Still, I also remember being shocked by an old newspaper article, from a few years back, where one of the people interviewed was making more annual income standing at crossroads a few times a week – than I was putting in 40-50 hours a week at my fulltime job. So it was certainly evident his homeless signage wasn’t all that truthful. In all honesty some dude annually making between $20,000-$30,000 tax-free dollars a year, with a phony sign, isn’t all that different than what this Geneseo lady is accused of doing for personal gain. Her lies were just more hurtful. But basically her crime was just another form of panhandling.

In fact what is she accused of  – that people don’t shell out $20 or more per person every time they enter a movie theatre. She told a lie. She told a lie that was a story. She created a fantasy that entertained people by making them feel good about themselves as altruists and humanitarians.  Kind of like walking in to a movie theatre except instead of putting mega bucks into the pockets of Hollyweird elitists, some poor woman bettered her life with assistance of would-be philanthropists –> just needing aa cause to rally behind. She evidently needed the money and put it to use to better her family. And how many people would have run to help her if she had just said – hey I need some cash and the milk of human companionship in order to survive.  Probably not many. She would have had better luck standing on Billy Wolf Road with a sign saying homeless – need money to buy food. Of course then Big Brother Government Child Welfare Agency would have been all over her looking for reasons to take her kids.  It’s not like she bilked multiple millions of dollars from Dixon, Illinois taxpayers to build a horse farm or something. Though I am guessing that is something a Government Bureaucrat might do.

I am not excusing what she did. I am not saying she is some innocent victim. Nope she is the perpetrator of a crime not a victim. But when you look at what she is charged with how is her actions  any different than what is usually classified as the public nuisance of panhandling. What makes her crime anymore worse than the panhandler pulling 20 G’s a year holding a homeless sign.  And if we are convicting her for lying – are we next in line for the numerous deceptions we perpetrate on society?  Hey maybe she should have hired me for her legal defense instead of Jack “Many Shades of Gray” Schwartz. I’m no lawyer but I did once sleep and conference at a Holiday Inn – so I must probably be some kind of expert. Nah, she wouldn’t want me as her attorney- I’d still throw the law book at her and lock her up with Ryan and Blago.

That finishes this Stirring of the Pot while playing at Devils Advocate.

QCOnline Story by Kristy Mergenthal

Related articles

• Committee moves on panhandler vote (limaohio.com)
• 500 shades of gray. (iseeshadesofgray.wordpress.com)
• Shades of Gray (normalisadryersetting.wordpress.com)
• Fifty Shades of Grey… the Brit Way – Living (brit.co)

Wind Power Gasping for Air – Erie asking Where’s the beef

I see where subsiding for wind power my be on its last leg, under a new budget. I guess that makes it put up or shut up time for those hawking the benefits and savings from wind power. I personally hope that wind power “will” have a future, if we are to ever free ourselves from spending money with countries like Venezuela and Middle Eastern countries that will take much of that money and use it on anti-American propaganda and in some cases fund terrorist groups that will use violence on the US and/or allies. But as much as I hope it has a future, I am not sold it will.  The industry faces performance expectation obstacles that includes cost of maintenance financial difficulties,  plus NIMBY issues, even from Big National Supporters  – like the late Ted “and when I returned – Mary Jo and the car was gone” Kennedy.  

It was around four years ago when the little town of Erie, Illinois – about a ½ hour drive Northeast from the Quad Cities – eagerly jumped both feet into wind power, hoping to reap savings for their school system. They also ran into a NIMBY hurdle from a local big shot, whose farm the windmill encroached.  The problems were settled and the windmill built. But evidently the expected windfalls for the school system has not happened. Last year, the press reported that Erie was considering selling off its windmill operation as it has underperformed for the town. The last reports I read sounded as if the town was still asking – Where’s the beef? There was supposed to be a board discussion in late September of 2011, but I have yet to see any reports that give a final answer on the subject of staying the course versus selling off the windmill. That new technology underperforms is no big surprise. But if wind power is going to be a part of freeing the world from funding evil empires like Hugo Chavez and Iranian Mullahs,  it must learn to stand on its own two legs and operate at nominal expectations. The Erie School experiment has not been very promising. At the very best, it seems that the project is gasping for air. 

Related articles

• Wind power: debunking geographic smoothing (seekerblog.com)
• Panic in the Wind Power lobby? (hotair.com)
• The Dark Side of Wind Power (bigthink.com)
• Wind power plug pulled in Illinois (wattsupwiththat.com)

Merry Christmas 2011

With all the revelry and distractions that goes on this time of year, for those of us that celebrate Christmas with family, friends or even in solitude; it is easy to lose track of the reason for the celebrations. And on this eve of the mass celebrating Christ  I offer up the following reminder of the extraordinary story that is the reason behind our numerous forms of celebration – from the King James Bible, Luke,  Chapter 2 verses 1-14:

1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.

2 And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.

3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)

5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

12 And this [shall be] a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!

May God Bless us Everyone.

I Shopped on Cyber Monday

It was not as exhilarating of a roller-coaster ride experience as braving Black Friday can be. But then I didn’t have to waste my Thanksgiving Holiday by joining feral  mobs gathered outside in the freezing cold, while surviving on rations of rodent tartar and pooled cement pond liquids foraged from the parking lots/Tent City/Outhouses of the Big Box Stores. Nope. Instead I waited until Monday and from inside the heated comfort of my home with two bathrooms; I was consuming mass quantities of Mt. Dew, hot meals, Moon Pies and Almonds while I spent Monday Afternoon surfing the Internet to purchase Christmas presents. And a process that normally creates days upon days of endless shopping, eating numerous inedible fast food meals plus generates an expense approaching a kings ransom to keep my vehicle traveling from store to store comparing bargains was over 80% finished – using the less excruciating experience of Cyber Monday. Nor was I crowded up against shoppers – unhygienic from living 24 hours or more  in a Big Box Shanty.  Neither was I pushed, shoved, attacked or pepper-sprayed during my online shopping excursion. Did I get the big bargains I would have by going out on Black Friday – probably not. But 29+ years on this planet have taught me that bargains are mostly in your head, as most sales are just the same numbers regurgitated in a different configuration. That is one of the reasons companies can feel  comfortable offering price guarantees on their products.  Are there some huge one-of-a-kind savings during any shopping frenzy? You bet there are always some great buys used as leaders to attract crowds. More often than not those products -though a great bargain- are outdated and/or limited quantities. The only real loss for me is that I actually get fascinated when observing the shopping madness that turns shy little soccer-moms and walker-grannies into raging Godzillas in search of the next Blue Light  Special; as long as the violence is controlled and kept below the Ali-Frazier “Thrilla in Manila“.  But since I Cybered Monday, I will be done with my holiday purchases in a manner of days. That means I will have plenty of time to wander the Big Box Stores at a distance, practicing the Star Trek Prime Directive of non-interference, while I observe and ponder the holiday shopping rituals of  humans regressing to primeval states of existence and survival tactics.

The Ersatz tea party aka Occupy Wall Street

I have been following the media driven Occupy Wall Street movement with mixed emotions. I generally think that protest is a good thing. I also think that many of the  OWS  protesters are just well meaning people that are frustrated about the current financial challenges, facing all Americans across the nation. However many of the faces of the movement also project as violent individuals through personal statements and/or group actions. Others seem outright criminals involving theft and/or property defacement . And many come across in some of their demands as just covetous parasites. Other demands seem to be attempting to manipulate the movement for embossing personalized special interest causes. And while many like to compare the Occupy Wall Street to the Tea Party Movement the two seem polar opposites in the manner in which they expressed their message. I do think some of their concerns are similar. But the Tea Party was/is an orderly gathering seeking a change in government policy: the ersatz tea party, aka the Occupy Wall Street Movement -while containing some debate-worthy themes and issues- is morphing into a movement rife with individuals and organizations seeking to use class warfare and fear as a method to promote anarchy, violence and a Cloward-Piven inspired Socialist revolution.

Socialism 101

The Occupy Wall Street Hypocrisy! –> All Pigs are Equal but some Pigs are more Equal than Others!

Related articles

• Rant about Comparisons between Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party. (ferrellgummit.wordpress.com)
• Protester defecates on police car (theblaze.com)
• Protester Arrested After Threatening Reporter (hotair.com)

Breathtaking

I am never sure what or when a piece of art will stimulate my senses, past  a simple compliment stage. However on occasion I come across a piece of art that does dazzle my sensibility. While following an internet link I stumbled upon a video called Tempest Milky Way on Vimeo, by  Randy Halverson. It is the type of video that can leave an individual in awe of the work as well as the subject. I can think of no descriptive words to say that will do it justice, except to say I found it an exquisite production to watch. Link to the video follows. 

Tempest Milky Way

Pizza Pizza Pizza Yum Yum Yummy

If you are hungry for pizza today 05/31/2011 only, one of my favorite (okay, ya got me – I full admit I am a pizza addict and there are not many pizza restaurants that are not on my favorites list) pizza restaurants is offering a five year anniversary special!!! Fields of Pizza in East Moline is offering a $5 deal on any 12″ pizza with up to five toppings. Oh Yeah – I got mine already!!! If you never had their pizza it is similar to Harris Pizza. AT $5 it is a good time to try one if you have never eaten there and even better time if you already know what favorite pizza they make to tantalize your taste buds. Yum-Yum-Yummy!!!

 

Details at the following link—> Fields of Pizza!!!

Barack Obama – Campaign Trail 2012

After viewing the memorial service, created to honor the tragic victims in Tucson, I tried to find words that would best describe those services. It was claiming to be designed to heal the country- following the deadly Arizona shooting spree. All the talking heads of the major News organizations I tuned in, seemed to  agree that Obama shined at the event. Though many of them thought the crowd was disrespectful. In retrospect I thought the event contained some powerful words from all the speakers. Sure, the event had some leftwing rancor hidden among the messages. But I have come to expect that at any event run by the Progressive factions that run the Democrat Party. The overall tone was nowhere near the outright  politicization  at other Progressive memorial services such as at Paul Wellstone’s memorial.  Part of the events purpose was to also qualm  the despicable bile and vileness heaped upon Sarah Palin and the Tea Party by the Progressives attempting to associate Palin and the Tea Party to the Arizona tragedy.  I am not sure it succeeded. Despite the powerful messages about unity, somewhere during the event, I felt it lost the spirit of healing and turned into a Barack Obama political Big Top Circus Campaign Rally. And other than speaker Daniel Hernandez, I think all the others fell short of offering up the reverence and deep felt expressions of sorrow that John Boehner displayed on the floor of Congress. Like Hernandez, the Republican Boehner seemed to understand the situation.

I do think that the individual that best understood the somberness of the event – was not any of the political bobble head puppets that took stage – but young Daniel Hernandez. Of all the speakers, he alone actually attempted to dispel the spotlight off of himself and instead spotlight the victims and their families. Bravo, the young man’s attitude should be an inspiration to any American! The young man might actually have a future in politics or elsewhere, assuming that the political galleries can get over the usual Michelle Obama led bigotry that he is a roly-poly.

Concerning the rest of the speakers: Napolitano, Brewer and Holder were properly respectful of the event and those that they were there to honor, though the crowd was not.  I think they understood what the event was supposed to be. And though I think Barack Obama went on the stage to do the same; somewhere in the process he went into Campaign 2012 mode, playing to the crowd and the camera.

Though I thought that Obama’s speech had some powerful messages in it, despite a couple of hidden jabs, it was clear midway through his speech he understood this was a moment he could capitalize on the exposure the moment offered.  In fact if he was intending to be respectful of the victims of this tragedy -wither  his prestige as an elite orator lacks the ability to lead respectfully or instead he just chose to allow the crowds campaign rally environment.  In fact his speech tone went from respectful to fiery and devoid of empathy. He posed and preened to the camera always offering up that plasticized regal “looking towards the future” side-profile that has become famous on Barack Obama memorabilia and posters. It saddened me that all of his powerful words started to lose their message as he turned what should have been a somber memorial event honoring the Arizona victims – into Barack Obama on the Campaign Trail 2012.

What others are saying

• Obama and Palin: A Tale Of Two Speakers (blogcritics.org)
• Paul Wellstone Memorial – Redux
• Obama Calls For Civility, Without Casting Blame (outsidethebeltway.com)
• Tucson Memorial Service Created Confusion (dakotavoice.com)
• Barack Obama calls for an end to ‘sharply polarised’ US (guardian.co.uk)
• Obama’s call to ‘moral arms’ at Arizona memorial – BBC News (news.google.com)

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

Luke 2: verses 1-20 (NIV)

¹ In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ² (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³ And everyone went to their own town to register.

⁴ So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵ He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷ and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

¹⁵ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

¹⁶ So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. ¹⁷ When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸ and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹ But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰ The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.