I have been unseeingly busy. This is the result of some new resolutions and unfinished business from the past melded with extra issues to manage. Happily, it is so far pretty much a matter of application and follow-up.
Not much to add here for now.
Strange days for sure. Normally this time of year, the ground is frozen and snow and ice blanket the landscape. Since it has been warm and dry, the roads up here, are dusty and dry, like some Arizona trail. No complaints though, a mild winter is always welcomed over the alternative.
Thank all you for following the blog. Good health and good cheer for the new year. Stay healthy and in touch.
Best Wishes,
Drew/Andrew/Andy/Hanuman-rao/Chupamango
So 2011 was a boner. Too much protesting and not enough anti-testing. 2012 will be here soon, giddy and with a steering wheel in hand.
Some predictions to lose money on:
The New Hampshire Primary will be a Snow Job: An otherwise quiet winter will go out the window as the storm of the century meets the NH Republican Primaru 2012. In the space of 12 blinding hours, travel will cease and the numbers will come out in complete jigsaw pattern. Turnout low and the box of chocolates results from Iowa will strangely match NH’s limp performance.
The Sec will cry for a re-do, after all we oh so quietly sacrificed a full delegate load to be first in line. Now our Tampa bound delegates will not only be half-assed in delegate count, but also totally divided due to that fine NH weather. Tough luck, the weather was just fine in December.
Repression: What happens when the recession lingers and the depression wants in. You have, we have, we all have a REPRESSION. What a cute construct. It is just so provacative. Can’t wait till they come out with body bags printed with “I didn’t survive the Great Repression”.
Tea and Cossacks: In a would have been strange 30 years ago turn of events, the Tea Bitchers (Baggers) go down and dirty with the fawn like Occupiers. The resulting gestation leads to a truly Cossack ready protest movement. No longer just content to throw the bums out, this new, improved, and saber ready crowd will escalate to throw THE SYSTEM out. Time for democracy 20.12. Oh let’s hope our revered military does not have to take sides. Talk about broken hearts. And just back from the last war (who the hell scgedules these things anway?).
Corporate Sponsorship, of the Military: What the hell. We have had the Complex since Washington recrossed the Delaware. We name stadiums and the like by sponsor. How about The Miscrosoft Air Craft Carrier, Bennington and Jerry’s Infantry School, the Walmart-agon, even a soldier’s dying view will be an Aleve ceiling sign.
Pretired: Among the homeless, the ones who got a piece of Freddie and Fanny Whack, the cot talk will be about being “pretired”, kind of retirement at gunpoint. Of course the wise shall say “You are not trying hard enough”. There seems to be an example of that from the good olde days.
Oh year, the Titanic.
Said the person in the lifeboat on the icy Atlantic to the person in the icy Atlantic “You can do it, you can make it, look I did”, precludes the reality that “hope” and “opportunity” are not enough. Some small percentage will make it, but who counts those that don’t? Not much interest in exchanging positions either.
Maya-optic Trends:
Now that Oh-bomb-aaaaah! can get no love, and with Bush 2 a nightmare of recent vintage, it will be really nice (if totally unobtainable) that the next Prez will be knight in shining armor material. Instead the US of Hey will lurch in 2012-2013 from crisis to crisis, giving an ever growing pile of intractables to its Calamity-in-Chief.
(And then there is Justin Beiber)
To all the fine readers and followers of this blog, and the millions that hope someday to read it, the folks at Wooglin USA would like to wish all a Merry Christmas and a Happier New Year (the last one was a doozy). To visually express our holiday cheer, I have enclosed a photo of our rather modest holiday display.
The recent CBS/Yahoo Republican Presidential deabte at Iowa’s Drake College was a beat the meat fest, with saucy language, and a whole lot of plain off the cuff bluster. The shakedown goes as follows:
One, Two or Three: The subject of the spy drone falling into Iranian hands came up. Peryy and Romney were in accordance that there were three options: destroy, retrieve, or the one both slammed Obama for–doing nothing.
In truth, if that matters, he consulted with the military on the options. More later.
Besides maligning the Chief, they talked bravado about destroying or retrieveing the drone in question.
Destroying entails military action of the destructive type on a sovereign nation, not at war with us, on whom we had just put a spy plane into their airspace. Destroying would lose a lot of friends worldwide, most heavily in the Muslim world. The stockmarket would flip, gas prices skyrocket, and Iran would have justification to being brazenly attacked in an act of naked agression.
Retrieving has many of the same great negatives. You can’t just walk into Iran like getting the baseball from Mrs. Smith’s backyard. Already there was one clear case of violation of airspace (something we’d not tolerate). Sneaking in to get what surely won’t be left on the front stoop will be just about like defectating publicly in a mosque.
Somehow hearing the above from Rick Perry was no big surprise. He is Texan through and through. It is heartfelt sentiment that repercussions be damned.
What was a HUGE disapiontment was that cool, calculating, moderate Romney would jump without reflection into the same thought pattern.
Romney could have said “It is unfortunate that it was lost. We can’t retieve or destroy it without coming across as a bully. Spying is risky. Sometimes you lose. Move on.”
Taxes, Taxes, Taxes:
Michelle Bachmann gets the spotlight on this. First a little background:
Republicans have for a long time advocated as a main theme: Lower taxes.
They also pushed: Family Values–we are looking out for you.
Bachmann is also an IRS tax attorney.
Bachmann also signed the Norquist pledge to NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER raise taxes.
At the debate she pushed that EVERYONE pay at least some federal income tax to “have some skin in the game (enjoy the benefits of federal goverment)”. She, in various media formats, threw around numbers from a $1 on up.
Some thoughts:
Outright class warfare and what a sellout. You push a concept (raise taxes) you swear to fight to your last breath against. Maybe people don’t pay income taxes because THEY DON’T HAVR AN INCOME. It is rumored to be tied to the “Jobs, Jobs, Jobs” mantra.
Hey go ahead tax the homeless, babies, kids, people living in their cars, the frozen elderly. Can’t wait till you tag the illegals on this. You hand them citizenship for buck. Bet they’ll claim citizenship by “having skin in the game”.
And then how much money will cost to process $1 a year tax. I am guessing a heck of lot more than the meager “symbolic” amount raised. So much for a “pare down the govermnet” conservative.
And this is the big kicker. Bachmann hates and has every intention of destroying Obamacare. One of the hated aspects, by the conservative crowd, is that it forces EVERYONE to buy into it. Funny how it is ok to tax EVERYONE (check your wallets streetpeople), but god forbid there is a universal medical plan that EVERYONE has to buy into.
Stupidity? Irony? No just pure fear for the future. Outhouse thinking is not the way to show the way. Please iron out your policies before you have a policy malfunction in public.
Growing up in New Hampshire in the 60′s and 70′s I strangely remember the first time I saw the Boston Bruins logo. It was on Edson Street in Nashua and a friend was wearing a Bruins shirt. For some reason I was mesmerized by the black and gold and the design. The design was subtle but strong. To this day, some forty years later, I still get the same feeling that I got when I first saw it–a slight chill of awe.
At my stage in life, I wonder much about “might have beens”. There are certain occupations that seem unbeatable. Nurses and lawyers comes to mind. Both are in demand everywhere. with a wide application potential. Both entail lots of blood, gore, and bearing bad news.
A happier career choice would be to be a musician, guitar player to be specific–the Goldilocks instrument that is not too big nor too small.
But the career that strikes me as extremely cool is that of a cartoonist. I met a real live one some months back. He has many clients. One is the Hippo Press, i.e. the link to the meeting.
http://www.silentfilmlivemusic.blogspot.com/
Impacting public opinion by imaging current affairs is just so cool. To work as a lone artist, in the comfort of home, with cocoa and cookies at hand and yet knowing those thousand words will roar like a thousand bombers—silently moving thousands to thought and action.
I am well are that all these careers entails talent, committment, practice, patience, and even some luck. One just does not magically become a cartoonist. But to Peter Noonan, I say congratulations on your (drawn) line of work. Best wishes for great success and the awesome beauty (and responsibility) of your craft.
Please check out his work…
Mare Nostrum: There goes the neighborhood. In the Mediterranean Basin the following countries have had a change of leadership at the top, this year and not by choice: Greece, Italy, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia with Syria teetering. Such rapid change can lead to instability with so many new and inexperienced faces in the crowd. Reshuffling the deck may work out in the end. But there was similar reshuffling after World War 1 and that was a bad hand.
ABC: Speaking of change, ABC Nightly News has a stable of new faces. I suspect cut backs. Hire younger talent, cheaper, cause this recovery is in recovery. Diane Swayer seems to have vanished from the anchor chair. Goerge Stephanopoulis, David Muir or Dan Harris would be worthy replacments. But don’t say (ABC execs) they are “reporting tonight”…they anchor from the anchor desk. How much effort does it take to tweek some wording and graphics for your broadcasts?
The Poo-blic-cans: Not quite 12 Angry Men, the Republican Presidential Primary field is like soda shopping—so many choices and so much fizz. Here is my read on the menu:
Mitt Romney: True Romnivores like him cause he “looks presidential”. True he has done a catalog of interresting things and spawned an army of Romnettes, but he is shallow, ready to morph into the moderate cool head on all issues everytime for every audience. He is very conditional and only 30 years out of date.
Newt Gingrich: Far more entertaining than Mitt, Newt is a sly guy. He is less likely than Mitt to venture capital America down the Great Wall. But he lacks the detachment needed to solve the nation’s problems without destroying the nation.
Michelle Bachmann: Michelle is a true firebrand. It is ironic that she is an insider (Congress) having been in the belly of the conservative beast (attorney for the IRS). Her beliefs are rock solid in the Ron Paul model. But she is too quick with the simple solutions. Knee jerk reactions can be very deadly if nuclear tipped ICBMs are part of the process. If the US every needs a “bad cop” ambassador, Michelle’s your woman.
Hermann Cain: Profoundly impressive, energetic, and intellectually progessive Hermann is a throw back to the days of old. Self made and self assured, he is closest of all to the everyman American. He has separated himself from the Evil Establishment to the bane of the DC puppeteers. Unfortunately his ship of state needs to be fully fitted out.
Rick Perry: Another amalgamate with spunk and funk. Perry comes across more as a cowboy clown or a frat boy than someone who can face and solve the nation’s ills. His secessionist “joke” from years past puts a damper on my support for him. He has the T factor working against him too. Big talk, big hope, big dissapointment.
Rick Santorum: Thoughtful, measured, beyond script—but with some scripture—Santorum is more downhome than corporate Mitt. Rick S. has a smooth style backed with plenty of experience. He has shades of the better side of Bill Clinton without the panic button reactive nature of some of his fellow runners.
John Huntsman: John is very likeable on many levels. He is a can doer, wise in the ways of the East, and willing to frame issues in clearer focus. With a smaller field, he’d cut a brighter path. I prefer John over some of the other spotlight monkeys.
Ron Paul: I came onto the post ready to pull for Paul. My admiration for Paul has not diminshed. But Santorum and Huntsman give hope over the robotic Perry and Romney. Ron Paul, hated and despised by the Establishment media and power browkers, is by that very measure a man who will not waver. Many think Paul crazy. But Ron is the sobberest of the bunch. He ALONE is willing to cut the crap and face that little thing called $15 trillion in debt. I don’t agree with all his positions, but the man is no stooge. He is no weenie, no showboater, no prima donna, no pancake acrobat. Love him, hate him, just respect his gutsy gumption.
Gary Johnson: A man lost in the shuffle. Cut from the same cloth as John Huntsman, he would be a fine president if things in the nation were not so screwed up. Sorry but you are no Ron Paul.
Buddy Roemer: Hey look at me. At least you got on my blog. There are bound to be issues with a dozen or so serious candidates. You all can’t fit on stage.
Andy Martin: Now here’s a local loco. Actually he’s from Chicago world and Andy is not really his name. It gets better. Oh he’s a conservative and rates airtime from Brian Tilton on WTPL-FM. Fair enough, open mike is a noble community service. But despite his first to declare and getting a cute five year old girl to cheerleader him on an ad, I just don’t feel comfortable about a candidate who advertises he played on Elm Street (in Manchester, NH) as a kid. I hate to use the terms “daffy” and “batty” for someone smart enough to pass the bar. But it is hard to vote for someone who is not even himself (put that on your bacon).
Vermin Surpreme: Since we are this far out in right field. Don’t know much about this guy. He is not my neighbor and I figure he is not on the Mittsters short list for YP. He took some of the spotlight from Obama when Barak came to the state recently. Talk about splitting the vote.
This might be the Year of the Rat. But I dare say and do declare this the Year of the Protest. Never in human history have so many “taken it to the streets”. Remember Tunisia, Egypt, and Wisconsin late last winter. Syria, Yemen, Iran, the word spread to hit the pavement. The Tea Party and the Unions rocked and rolled. Great Britain joined the fray. And then came Greece and the Occupy movement. With 45 days left to go in 2011, it is a fair bet Pavement Power will continue to expand the “fight by foot”. I hope all these protests are not linked to the unprecedented number of quakes we’ve had.