Category Archives: Blogs' Archive

There is something obstinate and perverse about human nature – well, certainly about mine at any rate.  You can usually spot when somebody expects nothing but agreement in the comments to their post.  For one thing, it’s usually a vague, lalala premise.  For another, most of the existing comments are like ‘Absolutely,’ ‘you hit the nail on the head,’ ‘I couldn’t agree more.’  Yet for some reason I am tempted to point out the logical flaw in their stupid argument, even though I know this is not going to make me new friends or convince anybody.

Such a thread came up today.  ‘I believe there is good and evil in  both parties.’  I couldn’t help but point out ‘No, there is no good in the Republican party.  They are all bad.’

Which is true.  Trump has goons beating up non-Trump fans at his rallies, Ben Carson is a babbling lunatic who thinks abortion is like slavery and that he can outlaw liberal speech, Carly Fiorina seems to be keeping a low profile which may actually be a smart move because everything she can actually point to as experience has been an incredible disaster but if she can keep out of sight until all of the boys have killed each other, she’ll be it.
Jeb Bush is a Bush, and is horrible, but actually doesn’t seem to want the job much and is probably dead in the water.  Huckabee, Cruz and Santorum are crazy for Jesus, but the  broader electorate, if they actually have to face a Democrat in a debate, will realize that they’re just plain crazy.

Chris Christie?  If he were a top tier candidate, his gaffes would be headline news.  Today, he was kicked out of the quiet car of the train for talking too loud on his cellphone.  Jerk.
Rand Paul?  Do you remember the scene in ‘Brother, Where Art Thou’ when George Clooney revealed that he was in prison for impersonating a dentist?  Do you remember how loud you laughed  when you heard that charge?  Good.  Now think of Rand Paul.

That leaves them with John Kasich (who says government shouldn’t do anything about global warming, nope, not government’s problem) and Marco (doesn’t know how to drink water) Rubio.

There is nothing but fools, demagogues, opportunists, and crooks on the Republican side.  Whoever is their nominee, it’s a slam dunk sure bet they will be a horrible, horrible person.  That’s all they’ve got.

I had a pleasant day this morning, which descended into chaos in the afternoon, but it’s all good.  Helena and the kids took off this morning for an event at Palladium, and let me sleep late.  I had a good morning on the computer, writing several very clever, short poems which I was very pleased with, and posted them here and there, mostly just as comments on other people’s posts, that’s kind of what I do, I react – does that make me a reactionary?  Anyway, they almost all got completely ignored, but I enjoyed writing them.

Then, I went for a walk in the park, smoked a joint, watched people using the park in their different ways, walked into the center and bought a new pair of glasses, which I needed.  I had two pairs.  One is missing one of the arms, and the other is O.K. for reading if I hold the book close to my face but makes me dizzy  to use while walking around.  These new ones are a bit better, super light weight, and only cost 99 crowns.

Then I came home and had a bit of free time on the computer until people started to show up.  My wife’s cousin Waldek.  Then her sister, dropping off two of her kids.  (everybody was in town for Helena’s event at Palladium.)  Then, my mother in law, with  Lenka’s 3rd kid.

Now, I had to play games and got totally kicked off my computer and everybody was speaking in Czech which, no matter how well_intentioned or pleasant the topic, sounds like a bunch of yappy chihuahuas.  I love living here, and I do make the effort to speak it when I need to, but the language is an out and out assault on the human ear.

Now,  I’ve finally got the computer back, but I’m in a darkened room filled with people who want to be sleeping and are disturbed by the sound of the keyboard, so I’m done for tonight.  Dobrou noc.

It certainly has been a good week for Hillary Clinton.  First, Joe Biden announced he’s not running.  CNN, and other mainstream sources, were all gushing about how this was good news for Hillary Clinton, as if Bernie Sanders was not even in the race.  Obviously, it’s as good for Sanders as it is for Clinton.  Add Biden into the mix, and the probability of either one of them getting the nomination drops, instantly, from 50% to 33%.

Then, her appearance in front of the Ben Ghazi committee, which is getting absolutely rave reviews.

I haven’t watched any of it yet, but that’s on the agenda for this weekend.  It’s always nice to see somebody make Republicans look like idiots, but it’s not really a challenge.

The thing I can’t quite figure out is why now, how was this Ben Ghazi hearing different from all previous Ben Ghazi hearings?

Possibly it’s because it’s the first one since multiple Republicans have more or less confessed (on the witness stand, they could just say that’s not  what they meant, but it was what they  meant) that the whole thing was a political tool, and they know perfectly well Hillz didn’t do anyhing wrong.  Possibly it’s the heightened drama of the Presidential election.  Possibly, it was a fortuitous combination of questions and answers.  Possibly, it was television.

Probably a bit of all that.

Then, today, Lincoln Chafee dropped out.  Webb’s out, and Biden’s not coming in, so it’s now a 3 person race.  O’Malley has no chance, and I’ll tell you why I think so:  earlier today, I was thinking about the race and suddenly I couldn’t remember his name.  It was like “Well, there’s Bernie, and Hillary, and Molloy, no, that’s not right, Maloney, that’s it, no, that’s not right….” for about 10 minutes.

The way I see it, if I’m forgetting him, other people are, too.

So, it is now a two person race.  That’s good for Hillary.  And Bernie.  One of them will be the nominee.

It was about five minutes to 6 when Helena called, mostly to say she’d be home late from work, but she  started off just by casually asking “Are you at tennis?”

Oh, shit.  We have to leave the house at about 20 to 6 to get to tennis on time.  I’d just been watching TV (Discovery Channel, talking about the Battle of the Bulge.  WWII is sort of like  Chimpanzee behavior or people who claim to have been  kidnapped by aliens – I just can’t get enough.) and Isabel  was on  the computer playing SIMS and  we’d both  completely  forgotten.

So, she got ready in about 2  minutes and we were out the door, at a brisk pace.  On the way she said “Today is our forgetting day,” and I knew what she meant because this morning we went one stop too far on the Metro and she was almost late for school.

I said “Yes, but one stop on the Metro is no big deal because you just turn around and go right  back” and she said “Yes, but if I’m late to tennis  I don’t get a bad mark.”

She’s as scatterbrained and forgetful as I am, but her priorities  are in the right place.

If  Benjamin Netanyahu was an American, he would be a Teabagger.  His statement that the Holocaust wasn’t really Hitler’s idea, the Arabs talked him into it, is so incredibly nuts it’s unbelievable.

According to Bibi, the guy on the left was calling the shots.

I’m not  sure if it’s a violation of Godwin’s Law, a reverse Godwin, or what, exactly.  It is certainly revisionist history, clearly incorrect (the Arab leader Netanyahu says gave Hitler the idea met with Hitler in November of 1941 – the Holocaust was already in full swing), and totally unnecessary.

It is possible that I don’t understand the Israeli people (I lived there for almost 7 years but, to be honest, I’m not sure I’ve ever understood the Israeli people), but I can’t imagine this is going to be a popular position there.  The Holocaust is the most pivotal event of modern Jewish history (more so than the founding of Israel, even, because the founding of Israel might not have happened without it.  A handful of Kibbutzim in British Palestine is not a state.) and there are plenty of people in Israel who take history very seriously.

But, we will have to wait  and see.  As I said, I do not understand the social dynamics of that country, and can’t understand how he ever got to be Prime Minister in the first place.

In American politics, it looks like Paul Ryan might not get to be Speaker of the House after all.  The Teabagger caucus doesn’t think he’s right-wing enough.  Seriously.

And Joe Biden has officially announced he is not running for President.  There was a time when just not announcing that you were running was enough to not run, but that standard is not high enough  any more.

The thing about it that pissed me off was that, in the article I read about it, they were talking about how this would affect Hillary’s chances.  They never mentioned Sanders once.  This election is not just between Sanders and Hillary, or between Sanders and whatever buffoon eventually gets the Republican nomination, after all of the others, one by one, have said something even more egregiously ridiculous than even Netanyahu, but between old media (newspapers, magazines, TV) and new media (facebook, twitter, etc…)  I predict a win for new media, thus for Sanders.

The part of Biden’s announcement that amused me (I like old Joe, I really do) was when he said “I may not be a candidate, but I will not be silent.”  We never expected you would be, Joe.