Best Political Jabs... EVER!!!!

From an informal Christopher Hitchens interview on election night. On the prospect of George Allen losing his race in Virginia:

"I... think it would be very nice for Mr. Allen in Virginia to lose. He needs to relax and find something else to do in his life."

But the best line about the electorate, said without cracking a hint of smile, in the classic dry, droll, English, self evident manner:

"By all means, stupid people should be represented, but not by stupid people."

Hat Tip: Insta-P

WE WON!!!!

Observation Of The Day!

Pigeons are smart enough to play in the street without getting hit by cars. Can't say that of a human.

A comment by Adam Fastman (Somerville, Massachusetts) from This Article about the long term memory capabilities of birds.

Now I wonder if pigions would fair better than humans when designing electronic voting machines.

PS. What, did you really think I couldn't tie a story about bird brains to todays elections?

Pandora's Box...

... blasted opened with nuclear ambitions. It probably, no, certainly would have happened sooner or later. I've been arguing this inevitability for quite some time, the last two years at least, with the specter of N. Korea or Iran developing the capabilities. There is no way to stop it (and no Mr. Hewitt, nuking either country won't stop it, that would just make other countries feel more compelled to acquire it). But it would be very hard to argue our involvement in Iraq did not accelerate the process. Thank you very little, theocons.

Fill In The Blank

I was thinking about Kerry's statement and wondered where it could be more appropriate.

"You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, you, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck _____________________."

The response jumped out at me like a cornered mouse; judging from the amount of drop-outs that work in the industry --- "

...in Hollywood".

"...doing govenrment work".

"...being a Senator".

"...being the President".

"...working as a pool guy". (Ha Ha)

Any one else want to play?

Kerry On.

"You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, you, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq."

Go ahead. Just keep chewing on that elitist foot. Must be tasty. It's in his mouth so often. How can a politician be so tone deaf? Isn't this the same guy who showed up for a enviro-rally bashing SUV / gas guzzler owners, but during the same campaign shows up in Detroit to campaign and says he owns and drives a Dodge 600 and recently bought a Chrysler 300M and a Chevrolet SUV. Oh, but he doesn't own the SUV, his wife does. "The family has it. I don't have it". So I guess that makes that little bit of hypocrisy OK? Then there was the U.S. soldiers were in Iraq "terrorizing kids and children" comment he made earlier this year. Kerry is no smooth operator.

So maybe Kerry did mangle a joke. I've certainly butchered pretty much every joke I"ve ever tried to tell, so I'll take Kerry at his word. None the less, did he not hear how that sentence came out? It would have been very easy to recover by adding "Mr. Bush did not do his homework!". The right wing spin machine would still have had a field day, as they would have chopped up the audio to exclude the Bush reference, just as they chopped the audio on the Michael J Fox commercial to make it sound like Fox was saying Jim Talent is against all stem cell research (Hannity's lie). But these type of media manipulations are easy to refute. But Kerry now has his own verbal equivalent of a hanging chad. His intent simply was not clear or concise. Like it or not, regardless of what he intended, it sounded like he was talking about the troops.

As sad as Kerry's remarks were, I'm just as troubled by the response from the audience. They cheered. It appears many Democrat supporters still cling to the stereotype that the men and women who enlist in the military do so because, well, they're not smart enough to do anything else.

PS. I forgot that Kerry is one of those who got us "stuck" in Iraq since he voted for the war. I guess he didn't do his homework either.

The Truth Can Be Such A Tricky Thing

I'm not going to address his comments concerning Michael J Fox, as Mr. Fox is more than capable to defend himself, and Rush Limbaugh has apologized for the comments. I'll concentrate instead on the substance within the comments. Here's what Rush said about the Illinois Constitutional Amendment 2:

"All stem cell research is legal today in Missouri. Jim Talent does not seek to criminalize it, as Michael J. Fox asserts in his television commercial. The truth is that Amendment 2 would put human cloning in the Missouri Constitution. Michael J. Fox is participating in this disinformation campaign."

What the Illinois Amendment 2 says:

2006 Ballot Measure
Constitutional Amendment 2
Stem Cell Initiative

Submitted October 11, 2005

NOTICE: You are advised that the proposed constitutional amendment may change, repeal, or modify by implication or may be construed by some persons to change, repeal or modify by implication, the following provisions of the Constitution of Missouri – Sections 2, 10, 14, and 32 of Article I; Section 1 of Article II; Sections 1, 21, 22, 23, 28, 36, 39, 40, 41, and 42 of Article III; Sections 1, 14, 36(a), 37, 37(a), 39, and 52 of Article IV; Sections 5, 14, 17, 18, and 23, and subsection 17 of Section 27 of Article V; Sections 18(b), 18(c), 18(d), 18(k), 18(m), 19(a), 20, 31, 32(a), and 32(b) of Article VI; Section 9(a) of Article IX; Sections 1, 6, 11(a), 11(d), and 11(f) of Article X; and Section 3 or Article XI.
THE PROPOSED AMENDMENT

Be it resolved by the people of the state of Missouri that the Constitution be amended:

One new section is adopted by adding one new section to be known as section 38(d) of Article III to read as follows:

Section 38(d). 1. This section shall be known as the “ Missouri Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative.”

2. To ensure that Missouri patients have access to stem cell therapies and cures, that Missouri researchers can conduct stem cell research in the state, and that all such research is conducted safely and ethically, any stem cell research permitted under federal law may be conducted in Missouri, and any stem cell therapies and cures permitted under federal law may be provided to patients in Missouri, subject to the requirements of federal law and only the following additional limitations and requirements:

(1) No person may clone or attempt to clone a human being.

OK. Rush is not lying in that statement, he's just horrifically misleading. The amendment DOES put cloning in the constitution... by BANNING IT!

PS. He's on right now, and he JUST NOW flat out lied. He just said that the amendment does not deal with stem cell research at all, that it is an attempt to legalize cloning.

Again from the bill: 2.(1) No person may clone or attempt to clone a human being.

PPS. I just realized why Rush is so upset over this amendment. He has no offspring to carry on his legacy. The amendment bans cloning. If this trend catches on, there will be no way for Rush to continue running his empire forever, and his brand of conservatism will die with him.

Pornography in the News... Literaly !!!

From an article running on the MSNBC news site: Federal prosecutors and the FBI in Connecticut are investigating whether a high-ranking staff member at one of the country's most venerable Anglican churches possessed child pornography, sources tell NBC News.

Isn't it funny that the very people who were sooo up in arms about the evils of pornograghy, religious conservatives / republicans, and passed all these stiff laws against it, are the ones who keep getting caught?

So you gotta let me know, da da,da. Da Da Da, Should I stay or should I go....

... or "What's it all about, Alfie???"

My blog cohort and friend Citizen Deux is questioning his place in the blog world, and whether he still has the drive to continue on the adventure that is blogging. What are my thoughts on the subject of blog retirement?

When playing in a band becomes more chore and less fun, I will put the bass in a closet, take a sabatical, and walk away from playing music for a while. I must admit I have thought about doing the same thing for my blog too. Some times it feels like a big waste of time. But then I think, how much time does it really take out of my day to write a post; I mean the thing that eats my spare time is visiting everyone elses blogs. So if I cut back on anything, it will be surfing through all the other sites.

I could take a few weeks off from blogging - a self imposed exile. For various reasons I have gone that long between posts on a few of occations. But in the end I couldn't quit. Hell, I'ld probably end up posting more during my exile than I do now. Anyway. I have a feeling we will all have alot to blather about with the elctions two weeks away.

Updates On Stuff....

The Car is working good. No more overheating on Grapevines, no more taching 4000 RPM's at 70 mph, and no more getting a sucky 19 MPG. The crappy 3 speed automatic tranny is now sitting on my garage floor. It's lighter by 100 lbs at least, and is getting about 24 on the highway. It handles better with the Full Time 4 Wheel Drive tranny delivering power to all 4's. The acceleration is still a bit choppy at times and there's a slight knock in cylinder # 3. I may have done some damage to one of the main bearings the last time it overheated. Even so, it's quite a fun car to drive. Very perky and nimble. Can't waite to get 'er in the snow. And if the engine problems get bad, well, I'll just throw a new one in it and that will be that. Did I mention I can't waite for the snow?

The Career change is on track, if going slower than I'ld like. I'm waiting for Fresno Unified to start calling. I bought some nice slacks this weekend, so clothing wise, I am be ready to be My Sub!

Politics??? I re-registered to vote, left the sad excuse of the Republican party, and am once again a card carrying Libertarian. All I need now is the card to come in the mail.

Truer Words.......

Lets all sing the Doom Song!

David Bernstein, one of the cool lawyer bloggers at The Volokh Conspiracy, offers his thoughts on the impending expiration of the Republican majority:

Looking Forward to a Republican Defeat?:

I don't blog about partisan politics that much, mostly because it doesn't interest me that much. I must say, however, that I'm not sorry the Republicans are poised to lose the House to the Democrats. The Republicans came in under a reformist platform in '94, and gradually lost their zeal for anything but reelection. By now, I can't think of a better advertisement for term limits than the Republican majority in the House, and I don't think I'll ever forgive Anthony Kennedy for his vote in U.S. Term Limits v. Thornton (declaring state-imposed term limits for federal office-holders unconstitutional), which was not only completely wrong on the merits, but allowed the culture of corruption (K Street, earmarks, etc.) and reelection-at-all-costs to transfer itself so quickly from the Democratic majority to the Republican majority, except that, by all indications, it has gotten worse. Twelve years of Republican control of the presidency from 1981 to 1993 led to a generation of lazy Republican sycophants who were more concerned about keeping their sinecures than in achieving any principled goals they had once believed in. The shock of defeat in '92 led directly to the Gingrich revolution, undone unfortunately because Gingrich was a much better revolutionary than leader (I still can't believe how he whined to the press about the seating arrangements on the airplane on the way back from Rabin's funeral, and I've never understood how he let Clinton get away with accusing the Republicans of "shutting down the government" when the Republicans actually passed a budget that Clinton vetoed!) Defeat for the Republicans in 2006 is even more richly deserved than in '92, and hopefully, if it does come, it will lead to a the emergence of a Repbulican presidential candidate in '08 and Congressional leaders who will restore some of the reformist fervor of the early Reagan and Gingrich years.

UPDATE: I should mention that I'm very disappointed that the Democrats haven't taken the opportunity to even remotely hint that they'll behave any better than the Republicans.

When did the Republicans jump the shark? For me it was the flap over veggi-girl. Citizen Deux is bieng coy about his feelings, or maybe he never saw the fin leave the water. For Scoot, I suppose it was when they were elected into office.

"Doom Song" courtesy of Invader Zim.

PS. Do know that I am not making fun of Terri Schiavo, MSRIP.

Sepparated At Birth!

Amagonnajihad


















Spock

Album Cover Wars Pt 1.

It has begun...



Note: This cover isn't involved in the skirmish, but it should be.

Hat Tip: Althouse.

Cliffie ...

HERE is one of the songs you wanted. I'll get the other song for you tomorrow.

PS. For those not in the know, Cliffie is my guitarist in RareForm. We have a couple of gigs coming up and there are a few songs we need to learn. This is one of them. HERE are a couple of songs from RareForm.

New Blogtopus Entry!

Welcome all to the site of Bryan and Sarah!

B is the original, and best, drummer for Chris Plays Guitar. I love working with him because he has an inherent feel for the groove, a steadyness, that so many drummers these days seem to lack. Sure it's geat to have fancy chops and be able to show off a bit, but if you don't or can't stay in the groove for the entire song after throwing down some nasty hi-hat work, then what's the point. B understands the "Pocket"! Sarah, B's wonderful wife, is a hoot, smart; she is tons of fun to be around.

Anyways, thanks to the Zera's for being good people.

PS. The Chris Plays Guitar link is fixed. So go visit, and enjoy the music.

How To Rebuild a Car! UPDATE 2.0

I'll tell you when I'm done.

I will be in grease monkey mode for the day. Today I am replacing the head gaskets in Murphy, the $500 87 Subaru Turbo Wagon. While I'm getting grimey, I figured I would change the transmission from the crappy 3 speed automatic that is in the car now, to the manual 5 spees Full Time 4 Wheel Drive tranny with locking differential. The current tranny gets horrible gas mileage, and the manual will do better, plus the manual will be more fun to drive. Wish me luck!

DAY 1 - Got the heads off and the crappy 3 speed auto tranny out of the cavity. Also had to remove both 23 spline half shafts to replace with 25 spliners. I started at about 10:00 AM and stopped around 7. Took a few breaks, did lunch, and waisted some time looking for misplaced ratchet or sockets. All in all - a very productive day.

DAY 2 - The day in a nutshell. The ultimate goal - to at least get the new tranny mounted. I had some extra jobs to do today (you know the equation, work = money = more Subie parts; this is like an adiction), so I started early, 7 AM'ish. I pulled the shift lever for the automatic, then went to work for a couple of hours. During the day I went to pick up the 25 sline halfshafts. Got home and found one of the new halfshafts was a 23 spliner. Crap! That means another trip to the store. I ended up doing a lot more running around than I wanted, waisting sevaral hours. I got the crappy 3 speed auto tranny out from underneath the car. Man - that thing is heavy! I forgot to secure the torque converter, so of coarse it came off and spilled tranny fluid everywhere. Funny thing is that when I was installing it a year and a half ago, I did the same thing. At the end of the day, I got the Full Time 4 Wheel Drive tranny up into the tranny bay, plus I also cleaned the cylinder heads and prepped them for install. I couldn't get the one halfshaft to slide onto the differential stub. I fear I have the wrong one. Will try again tomorrow. I think, if I get the halfshaft issues resolved, I will tomorrow have brought Murphy back to life.

DAY 3 - Have more work today and again started early. I managed to get the halfshaft on the tranny stub. It was just a matter of finding the right angle of attack. The stck shift is installed too. I forgot how short the throw is on the shift. Thats all for now. Today I will post some video bits documenting the job.

I worked more than I thought and only had a few hours to work on Murphy. I pulled the old auto pedal assy. (which includes pulling the steering wheel of coarse) and installed the new clutchy one. But I ended up taking the new one out to check if the accel pedal was tha same as the old one. The travel distance to the floor seemed awful short. Also, I had to dissasemble my dash because I couldn't get the speedo cable from the FT4WD tranny to stay on. So it was kinda a two-steps-forward-one-step-back kinda day.

Bill Clinton...

... is EVIL!!!!!

How Not To Drive, Pt 1

One time, in band camp....

The year - 1991.

At the time my ride was a 1979 Honda Accord hatch, a cute little FWD car purchased in a time of my life before I discovered the joy of 4WD, and the band equipment hauling mojo of a Subaru.

My college band "Outta Hand" used to practice in the art building at Fresno State (my drummer was palsey walsey with the dean of the art dept... kiss ass). We would smuggle beer and other "musician assistants" into the room where we practiced. Well I never smoke while I play because it makes me play crappy, and I didn't drink that night, though I can't be sure of that .

We ended practice around 10:30 pm and load the band stuff in our cars. I was the last to leave. To leave the school parking lot you had to make a turn around an island to get to the exit. Well, they had recently rebuilt and widened the island and, while the concrete was set, they hadn't filled in the island yet. So I make the turn around the thing like I normally do, but I guess that wasn't good enough or wide enough because the next thing I know I jump the island curb and ended up getting stuck, much like in cartoons where the car ends up balancing on the edge of a cliff. It had rained that week, the center of the island was a mud pit, and the front end of my car was stuck in the mud like a diving hippo. Since the car was front wheel drive, there was no hope of getting any traction and pulling myself out. Needless to say, the tow truck driver had a great laugh that night.

PS. Exhaust systems have always been my Achilles heel. The week before, I had, for the first time EVER, completely sealed the exhaust system after replacing the head gasket. No leaks at all. It was purring like a kitten. It figures I would completely trash it within a weeks time.

Five Years

Is it selfish,

To be happy to still be alive?

A day so long ago,

Yet still so close to the heart.

We were all changed, but at least we are still alive.

So many lives lost.

Gone forever but still in our hearts.

I breathe. In. Out. In. Out.

And I thank God I was not on a plane...

In a building...

Or on the streets...

In harms way on that fatefull day.

I cry today for those who were.

So much bitter sorrow.

The taste of anger and fear.

Yet I am here.

So I breathe. In. Out. In. Out.

Sometimes that's more than enough.

Maybe the spirits of those taken that day,

Or the essence of family and friends who have gone before,

Can feel through me the air I breathe.

So I breathe. In.

Oxygen flows from lung to heart.

And feel the comport.

It brings a smile.

I am happy.

I am here.

We are all here.

I Am Free

Or maybe liberated... Mostly.

Today marks the end of my life as a pool boy.... mostly! I sold most of my accounts to a fellow sole proprietor pool jockey this afternoon. I have for the longest time been bored and exhausted by the line of work I was in. Some background is in order.

I started in the pool business in 1990, taking a part-time job at Leslies Pool Mart in order to pay rent / bills while finishing my last two years of college at Fresno State U. I didn't want to apply for the opening because I figured my class schedule would clash with the work schedule, as both were during day hours. Joel, the rather largish guy working there at the time, almost forced me to fill out an application anyway, insisting the job schedule was indeed flexible enough to accommodate school and work. He was right, but the job required working week-ends. Oh well, I was used to that. The manager was a very cool cat named Cheng. Yes the name is Chinese, but he is the most American person I know. He became a mentor and wonderful friend to this day. He even let me borrow his Vet once to go out on a date with a girl named Charity. I got none. Wonder why! But I digress...

During my senior year Cheng left the old store and opened his own called Swim World. I quit Leslies and helped him open his store. I worked there for six months. When I graduated from college, I left the pool business behind and headed to San Diego... the very next day! I had some money left over from my student loans and decided to hang out at the beach for a while. That is part of the truth. I had transferred from San Diego to Fresno to complete my degree, and wanted to be back there with my family and friends. OK the beach did sing her siren song in my ear. San Diego has a much larger gay community and is considered more gay friendly than Fresno, so I figured SD would be a better place to finish the process of resolving internal conflict and at last come to terms with reality that I'm kinda gay-ish. But the important thing is that I was done with the pool business.

When I ran out of money I went to work at the local Movie-Plex. Nine months later the dead-endedness of the job got to me and I went to work for a pool supply wholesale house called Pool Water Products. Worked there a year then move to LA to try and pursue a film career. Worked at a video processing firm, got bored, took a detour, got distracted by other opportunities that turned out to be a mirage, was humbled and deservedly smacked down by the hand of life, and ended up in San Diego a few months later. I needed a job ASAP, so I looked toward the field where I had the most experience and skill.

Action Spa Repair was the next line of pool / spa related employment. I have always been good with tools and fixing things like cars, and radios, and TV's, and cars (several Fresno State classmates still owe me CD's for auto work performed while in college), so the idea of becoming a spa repairman had strong appeal. It was a good match; I draw great satisfaction from the ability to fix things. I was happy to do the work and learn how to fix yet another type of machine, but the downside was that I usually had to work six days a week. I was getting annoyed that work took up so much time. It seemed all my friends had do much more time to play than I did (hey I was young). Another problem was finances. Randy, my boss, paid well, but the combination of school debts and debts incurred from my stupid mistake mentioned above was dragging me down financially. In early 96, Cheng called me to ask if I would come back to Fresno to manage his new store. This would look good on my resume, and since living in Fresno is much kinder to the wallet, I took the job.

The move to Fresno proved to be a good decision. I managed to get myself out of debt, had more free time to relax, and even -- gasp -- find love! After four years I was sick of working for the man, and decided to strike out on my own. In January of 2000 Frog's Pool Service and Spa Repair was born. The plan was to steer the business toward the more profitable spa repair side of things, and have just a few dozen pools to keep income flowing during periods when spa repair business was slow. Then in a year or two, when I earned all that money from spa repairs, Greg and I would move to San Diego. As it turned out the spa side of the business never really developed into a stable business, so I became a pool jockey. Meanwhile, we took advantage of the low real estate prices here and bought a really really cool house! So much for plans.

I have for the last few years found myself less and less enthusiastic of the realities of running your own business. Sure, you can earn good money, be your own boss, etc, etc. But it sucks watching the money you earn fly right back out of your wallet in order to buy the thing you need to keep the business going. It wasn't so bad when I started six years ago, but then, gas was selling for a buck twenty five or so per gallon. The three dollar plus prices for petrol have eaten into profits, and the price of pool chemicals, chlorine, acid, etc, has almost doubled in the last three years. And I am just burned out on the job. You can make a great deal of money in this line of work, but like any other job, you have to love the work or the challenges it presents to get the most out of it. It was time to move on.

Over the last several years I have been trying to position myself to be able to change careers. In 1998 I went back to college to earn a second degree as a geologist, specializing in seismology. Calculus killed that plan after the first semester. In late 2000 I took some IT networking courses offered by Cisco. The classes were free, but during the summer of 2001 I started missing too much time due to the summertime demands of my pool business. Plus the tech industry was still reeling from the tech bubble bust of 2000, so jobs were still quite scarce. What to do? What to do?

In late 2004, a new plan of attack took shape. Over the last several years I have discovered a love of history, especially the revolutionary period of 1776. I had also been studying economic / market concepts so I can one day be a wise(r) investor. I had flirted with the idea of teaching and the time felt ripe to pursue that goal. So I enrolled in the masters program for education at National University. When I was close to finishing with the core of my classes, I would sell the business, thus freeing my time to pursue a teaching career. As the winter of 2005 came to a close I was poised to sell my business and move into the role as a teacher. And there I stayed... until now!

I finished most of the school requirements in Feb of this year, but have not had the opportunity to move into the classroom, as selling the business turned out to be a lot more of a challenge that I had anticipated. I placed my ads in the local pool supply wholesale distributors in mid February, thinking that the route would sell quickly and I could be free to apply for subbing jobs within a month. I hate it when I'm wrong. I had a buyer lined up in March, but his finances fell through. In April, another buyer wanted to take a look at my route. But as bad luck would have it, a fellow spa repairman passed away during this period, and potential buyer #2 inherited the core of his business and now had no time to take on more responsibilities. During the summer I had a few nibbles here and there, but nothing came of them. Last month I struck gold. Bruce, a local pool man with 22 years experience was trying to expand his pool route, and set to buy pools from another serviceman. At the last minute the other serviceman decided to sell to someone else, and Bruce came across my ads and gave me a call.

This brings us to today. Yesterday, Bruce signed on the dotted line and purchased the bulk of my pool accounts. Teachers in California only get paid once a month, so as of this moment I am at least one month away from an official paycheck. But I am keeping a few pools to provide a bit of extra income during the time it takes to find and start a teaching job. And the funny thing is, that all of a sudden I am getting a few calls for spa repair jobs, so my income this month may not be as low as I expected. Funny how stuff just kinda works itself out. But the bottom line - I am free from the shackles of my old job. I am now free to pursue and start building a new career in teaching.