NEON GODS

On Borrowed Time

Even though my laptop is residing (I hope) on a HP technician's worktable waiting to be repaired, my wife has generously allowed me time on her laptop so I can pay the bills, read my emails, and even blog if I can do it fast enough...!  So, take note America, I'm back and ready to rumble (okay, that should read: I'm ready to rant and whine as usual).

--Trakker

Did you miss me?

Sorry for the pause in posting, things have gotten busy here lately.  After two weeks away at the cabin I drove home Tuesday night in time for my daughter's wedding Wednesday morning (it was her second, this time a small ceremony at the courthouse because her new husband's Army reserve unit was shipping our for the middle east the next day).

I came home to a stack of bills, a lawn that badly needed mowing, and an empty refrigerator.  The car needed an oil change and my wife insisted on hitting every store in suburban Maryland looking for a cupcake carrier that would safely carry a dozen cupcakes without disturbing the frosting to an outing she's having with her old college roommates this weekend.  Yes, we finally found one (and she graciously made a couple extra cupcakes for me).

I'll be in Maryland for a few more days then head back to West Virginia because the leaves are changing and will be at their peak next week.

--Trakker

Comments

Every so often this blog attracts a commenter who disagrees with me, but who is incapable of articulating their reasoning or uses juvenile logic.  At first I give them the benefit of the doubt and answer them in the hopes of getting an intelligent response, but when the same person keeps making inane comments that are meaningless, insulting, or juvenile, then I ignore them, and if it continues I start deleting their comments.

My blog is a place where I rant and let off steam.  I don't always make sense and I may not always be consistent (and sometimes I'm even wrong!), but I always like to read an intelligent comment on what I've written (except when it comes to posts about guns - I've heard EVERY gun nut argument before).  What I don't appreciate is juvenile trolls who trash my blog's comment section.

--Trakker

Goliath, Meet David.

Glenn Greenwald is a focused blogger who delights in puncturing pompous asses like Joe Klein when they defend, praise and suck-up to the GOP-lite, corporate-sponsored Democratic Party.  I read Greenwald almost every day and it has become evident that when Greenwald attacks the Villagers, it's like shooting fish in a barrel.  He routinely exposes them as shallow, lazy, overpaid, hacks and he does it without seeming to break a sweat!

Yesterday Joe Klein tried to fight back.  It was pathetic.  Read his whiny tantrum here, then read Glenn's rebuttal here, and then go back and read the comments to Joe's post.  There are some really sharp writers out here in the blogosphere and a lot of them showed up to roast Klein.

My favorite was this by juniusredivivu (on page 2 of the comments):

The reading today is from the Book of Klein, chapter 73, beginning at the 13th verse:
.
And there were those who muttered against Klein, for there was discontent in the Land of Bafflegab, and the Centrists were discomforted. And there arose a mighty man of valor, that was named Greenwald. And around him were acolytes, many and pathetic, and they did say many unkind things, even unto publishing alarmingly accurate reports of things said at picnics, which did mightily enrage Klein, so that the blood rushed to his head and the steam out of his ears. And Klein took up his word-processor to smite them. Vast was the word-processor, of sounding brass and luminous silicon, and the length of it was seven bull-sh*ts, and the width of it was three. And the prophet Hoekstra blessed Klein and anointed him with his own manly juicings, and Klein went forth to battle. And as he issued from the Gate of Broder, through which a camel may not fit, the face of Klein was terrible, and his chariots numberless as the secret WMD sites of Iraq. And Klein came down unto the Plain of Fisa, and confronted Greenwald, who was a stripling youth, armed only with a sling.....

Priceless.

Before the Internet and blogs, pundits like Joe Klein - who writes for Time magazine - were widely accepted as experts and independent columnists.  People took them seriously.  Now we have dozens of bloggers who write intelligent opinion pieces everyday that put shallow, power-worshiping writers like Klein to shame, and yet who do we still find writing for Time magazine?

--Trakker

Everything is Slower in August

August is supposed to be a slow month for politics.  It's also the month I spend as much time as I can at our cabin in West Virginia to escape Washington's heat and humidity.  At 4,000 feet one can sit on their deck and read in relative comfort, and the evening temperatures dip into the 60s and sleeping without air conditioning is a real plus.

There is a trade off however.  If politics is slow in August so is our Internet at the cabin.  Maybe that's a sign that I should put away the laptop and enjoy the woods and wildlife (every evening a dozen or so wild turkeys waddle through the meadow below the cabin).

But like any addiction, I spend an inordinate amount of time on the Internet each day getting my political fix (at least I can do it on the deck!).  Blogging is not easy with slow Internet service so my posts this month will be slow as well.  (I did write a guest feature on my daughter's natural living blog about the virtues of Amazon's Kindle here).

--Trakker

Weird Year, Rough Week

This has been a weird year, personally, with a burst water pipe flooding our cabin in West Virginia last January and then recently an auto accident that totaled my car.  Both losses were covered by insurance and both insurance companies worked hard to make the incidents and losses as painless as possible (State Farm and Progressive respectively).

However, the damage to the cabin had to be repaired and it has taken 6 months to fix (plus some extra work we've been putting off for years).   We drove out yesterday and saw the completed work, it looked great.  We can't wait to go back and spend a week or so there, getting it back in order.  The cabin is on a winding dirt road near the top of a mountain, nestled in the woods next to the Dolly Sods Wilderness Area.

Owning two homes is crazy and I don't know if we can really afford both now that we're retired.  Two homes means two mortgages, two electric bills, two water bills, two of everything, and just making sure all the bills get paid on time is a chore, but having a small house near Washington, DC, with it's cultural events, jazz, museums, and theater, and a cabin four hours away where we can go to hike and relax in the woods is priceless (if only).

Finding a replacement car has been a chore, in fact it consumed most of the week.  Deciding on the makes, models, and years of acceptable replacements, then tracking them down (most of the more desirable cars are purchased within a day of going on the market - so we had to be quick).  Our car that was totaled was a 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee (worth so little that even this small accident made it not worth fixing).  I loved that car and it was worth far more to me that what the insurance company gave me for it, so it's no surprise we finally bought another Jeep, a 2004 Grand Cherokee with just 22,000 miles on it.

I hope this explains why I haven't post much this week.

--Trakker

Forced to Ditch Archie, Sonia Soars

David Brooks has a thoughtful review and analysis of Judge Sonia Sotomayor's achievements that is well worth reading, but the passage that was most illuminating to me was this:

After her father’s death, her paternal aunts and grandmother convened an emergency meeting with her mother. They had noticed that Sotomayor was devoted to Archie, Casper and Richie Rich comic books, and they were afraid these comics were distracting her from her studies.

Evidently they put a stop to her comic book reading and Sonia went on to become a superb student, earning scholarships to Princeton and Yale, and is now a Supreme Court nominee.

I, on the other hand, continued to read comic books right through high school, maintaining my record as a mediocre student (if flunking Latin and chemistry can be described as mediocre), went to work in a factory after high school, and ended up joining the Air Force.  Granted, I did finally get a degree and a job in government, but just think of the success I might have achieved (Senator Trakker?) if only I had ditched those damn comics!

I never liked that snooty Veronica much anyway.

--Trakker

Mark Sanford

It's been painful watching Mark Sanford's mid-life crisis.  He would be fine in a country like France where people understand human nature and accept it.  But this isn't going to end well in uber-religious South Carolina where a man who strays must repent, reject his lover, and return to his wife and pretend to love her.  Then, if you are a Republican, nutty religious people will forgive you. If you are a Democrat you will always be the spawn of the devil so forget even trying.

--Trakker

I admit it:

I don't know who Jon and Kate are.  I don't want to know who Jon and Kate are, or why their names keep popping up everywhere.  I know the names of too many people I just don't give a damn about already.  Please don't burden me with more.

Thank you.

--Trakker

I Blog Because I Can't Play the Harmonica.

I thought that with the election of Obama and the change of administrations, my anxiety level would decrease, and I could shut down my blog and use the extra time for something exciting, like playing dominoes or learning to play the harmonica.

In fact, I worry about the future of our country just as much now as I did when the Republicans were in charge.  After 8 years of Bush neglect, our nation is now in crisis.  Fortunately we have a President who campaigned for office on the promise of change, so liberals now have a chance to accomplish some of our goals (re-regulation of the financial sector, health care for all, investigation of who authorized torture, etc.).  Unfortunately, the Republicans and conservative Democrats in Congress are still a powerful force against any meaningful change.  Some of our country's problems need fixing right away, but the wealthy and the corporatists are digging in for a lengthy battle.  They still run the country, and we have got to fight to take back some of that control.

Changing the subject a bit, has anyone else noticed the huge change in the face of the Republican party lately?  For eight (long) years George Bush was the face of the party. He was on TV 24/7.  Dick Cheney? Nowhere to be found (literally).  Now Dick Cheney is on TV 24/7 - and we can't shut him up (unless someone tries to get him under oath).  Bush?  Nowhere to be found.   Amazing! The face of the old Republican party is now the universally despised Dick Cheney (in case you wondered, Rush is the face of the NEW Republican party).

There is a lot going on in Washington right now.  I've written a few posts that have never gotten posted because by the time I finished they had become old news (and then there was the post I wrote at Panera Bread one morning that just disappeared into their server and - poof!).  I'm trying to decide what I want this blog to become.  I thank those of you who have emailed me suggestions and links. I read the links and always feel better informed and even amused.

Thanks to all who drop by Neon Gods from time to time.

--Trakker