D.C. Quagmire?

Is it possible for both parties to lose?

David Brooks asks,

Bob, what do you think about the state of our political parties?

Is it possible for both parties to lose at the same time?

Bob Herbert answers,

I think both parties are misreading the public’s mood on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Whatever individual polls might say, most ordinary Americans are fed up with those conflicts and have no stomach for the rising casualties that would accompany an expansion of the fighting in Afghanistan. The conservative trend you mentioned is, I think, a manifestation of the desire to wind down the extraordinary drama of the past several years and begin to focus, in a prudent, common-sense way, on the myriad problems facing us here at home.

Yes, a lot more was said in this dialogue, but this is what I come away with.

Pooch's Point of View? (I think not!)

From the Lost Angeles Times, a poor rendition of a Dawg's point of view.

Every self-respecting athletic Dawg deserves his/her daily run without no stinkin' leash.

And 'pooch' is a term of disrespect.

Take a hike, Donn. A one-way walk into the surf.

Senate Bill 1495 - Service Dogs for Veterans Act

Al Franken's 1st Bill:

A bill to require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to carry out a pilot program to assess the feasibility and advisability of using service dogs for the treatment or rehabilitation of veterans with physical or mental injuries or disabilities, and for other purposes.

Get The Picture?

Wikipedia:

Condoleezza Rice headed Chevron's committee on public policy until she resigned on January 15, 2001, to become National Security Advisor to President George W. Bush. Chevron, for unspecified reasons, honored Rice by naming an oil tanker Condoleezza Rice after her, but controversy led to its being renamed Altair Voyager.

Healthcare? We're Good Enough Already!

One Sees Heaven, Another Sees Hell

One Sees Heaven, Another Sees Hell


Tourists going through Santa Barbara on this beautiful fall day, are probably looking with envy at our Santa Ynez Mountains, wishing that they could live here too. But I look at those mountains through a different prism.

I was driving up a street on May 5 of this year, with a good view of the mountains, and I saw a small puff of smoke which turned out to be the birth of the Jesusita fire. And today I write this blog to the regulated sound of planes flying over, spreading hydromulch as they go. Their task is to plant the beginnings of another, far-far-off forest to replace what we once had.

When I look at the mountains, I do not see a scene of majesty. Instead, my mind sees frightened little animals trying desparately to stay alive. I see courageous little animal mothers covering their children with their own bodies to protect them. And five months later, I see those who are left searching in the rock and ash for nourishment which is no longer there.

A fire wrought by Nature is part of Nature’s history, as well as its recipe and nurture for the rest of time. A fire caused carelessly or purposely by Man is a weapon either of wanton pleasure or evil malice.

In the days since the fire, I have greatly increased my birdfeeding stations, and it is a joy to realize that I am now feeding birds which may well have come here to seek refuge.

ARW
10/7/09

Puppy Rescued By Oldest USA KIA in Iraq Rescues GI's Memory (Right Back!)

When Major Steven Hutchison was killed while serving in Iraq, he was, at 60, the oldest American casualty in either of the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan. His unit, who had come to love him like a father, devised a unique way to honor their fallen leader -- and it involved a puppy.

Hutchison had enlisted in the Army in 1966, served two tours in Vietnam and was awarded a Bronze Star before retiring in 1988. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks he wanted to return to active military duty, but his wife Kandy Rhode wouldn't hear of it.

Married three times before, Hutchinson was devastated when Rhode died from cancer in 2006. "A part of him died," Hutchison's brother Richard Hutchison told the Huffington Post.

In July 2007, at the age of 59, Hutchison "signed up for the Army's Retiree Recall program," reports the Los Angeles Times. He was sent first to Afghanistan for a year and then onto Iraq where he joined the 2nd Battalion, 34th Armor Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division.

Though Major Hutchison vowed he'd never fall in love again after the death of his wife, the seasoned military man fell surprisingly hard for a stray yellow puppy his unit found while leaving an Army base near Basra. According to the Los Angeles Times, Hutchison scooped the puppy into his arms and took her to his armored vehicle.

Hutchison named the puppy Laia [sic] (for Princess Leia, according to Stars and Stripes) and snuck her back to the base. Stray animals in Iraq are typically euthanized the same day they are caught, reports the Los Angeles Times, and service members are not allowed to keep any strays as pets.

But, the major "was hooked," Sgt. Andrew Hunt later emailed to Hutchison's family, according to the Los Angeles Times. The military man allowed Laia to sleep with him at night and sit in his lap while driving around to visit the unit's Iraqi counterparts.

On Mother's Day, May 10, 2009 -- two days before he was to go on leave and one month shy of his 61st birthday -- Major Hutchison was killed by a roadside bomb while patrolling with his team in Al Farr, Iraq, near Basra. Laia was not with him that day; he had left her behind at the base. He was buried in Scottsdale, Arizona on May 19 and is survived by his mother, brother, half brother, half sister and two adult daughters.

As a tribute to Major Hutchison, Sgt. Hunt secured approval to send Laia to the United States and worked with the U.S. Embassy in Iraq and SPCA International's Baghdad Pups to transport the lucky pooch to America and place her in a home, which costs the non-profit animal rescue group about $4,000.

Major Hutchison would be happy to know that the scrawny yellow puppy he rescued is now happily living in Michigan with the family of a special agent who worked with Hutchison's team in Iraq. Though Laia lost one of her legs to an infection, she is doing well.

Source

Zennie Abraham Says Jimmie Carter Was Right

There Are Liars, Damned Liars, and William Safires

Coyotes Are Among the Refugees from Human-Caused Fires

Progress

The Way Things Are....

Funny

Wow! What a week!

With all that we see and hear about the health care initiative, I thought it was important to see what the positions of medical professionals are.

Apparently the American Medical Association has weighed in on the new health package:

• Allergists voted to scratch it, but Dermatologists advised not to make any rash moves.
• Gastroenterologists had sort of a gut feeling about it but Neurologists thought the Administration had a lot of nerve.
• Obstetricians felt they were all laboring under a misconception. Ophthalmologists considered the idea shortsighted.
• Pathologists yelled, "Over my dead body!" While Pediatricians said, "Oh, grow up!"
• Psychiatrists thought the whole idea was madness, while Radiologists could see right through it.
• Surgeons decided to wash their hands of the whole thing.
• Internists thought it was a bitter pill to swallow, and Plastic Surgeons said, "This puts a whole new face on the matter."
• Podiatrists thought it was a step forward, but Urologists were pissed off at the whole idea.
• Anesthesiologists thought the whole idea was a gas and Cardiologists didn't have the heart to say, "No."
• In the end, Proctologists won out, leaving the entire decision up to the assholes in Washington.

Thank God It's Saturday!

Not Funny

Letter to Christine Romans, hostess, CNN Your Money

I turned to your program this morning, hoping for some enlightenment about our financial problems. But what I found was a group of economists sitting around flipping the many pages of a congressional bill on the subject and laughing hysterically. By the way, I have seen many congressional bills that thick in the past, so it was not unusual.

Perhaps I am missing something, but I did not think this was a laughing matter, and I cannot think of a shred of information I got from the program.

Since I am fairly financially comfortable, I hope that I will get through this tough time without too much trouble. For that reason, your program was a complete waste of my time. On the other hand, if I had been a person with serious problems on my mind, I would have been deeply offended and more worried than ever.

8/22/09

A Very Sad Time at My House

The time has finally come for me to sit down and write about my dearest cat, Mooch. (All of my cats are my dearests, by the way, but, as you can see from the pictures, he was my dearest dearest.)

Mooch was riddled with several diseases, the last and most lethal of which was cancer, and the time finally came to end them for him.

So many people believe that animals, even dogs and cats, are incapable of knowing and showing love the way human beings do. The pictures above certainly show how wrong they are. And in fact, the inability to know and show love is fast disappearing from the human species.

Mooch and I slept nose-to-nose every night, and I will miss him terribly for every remaining night of my life.

The rest of my cats have continued to search for him, especially Sylvie. I have a fairly roomy U-shaped house with a large screened-in porch which they can enter from either side at will in order to birdwatch, so they are gradually returning to their favorite pastime of birdwatching. But FOUR is a very hard number for me to cope with. When I check on them before going to bed each night, I continue to find myself searching for the FIFTH.

As for cats’ ability to feel and express love, it is often hard to catch the most revealing shots by camera. Last year, I was lying on my bed doing exercises with my feet on the bed and my knees raised. My therapist took successive shots of Mooch coming to the rescue, but she was unable to catch the best—when he laid his arm across my ribs and DARED her with his eyes to continue with the exercise of bending my knees from side to side, which was, in the eyes of my cat, abnormal, and possibly harmful, to me.

Animals, especially those who are loved, and those who are rescued and loved, is ever-lasting from both sides. A mother loves her child from birth, but pets are loved until their deaths if they are lucky. The birth of a child is generally happy, but the death of a loved pet is always heart-wrenching. So far, I have fourteen little caskets waiting to be buried with me. I am just sorry that I did not bring those from 30 years of living in the Bay Area down here with me. And, as painful as it will be to me, I hope I will outlast those remaining, because I would not want them to undergo the grief which I have felt for those who are gone.

Single-Payer Health Care

Opposed only by the Very Rich and the Very Moronic Working for Them

Full Faith & Credit

Thoughts and Ruminations

Why is it that government costs on almost every level are cut by cutting from the bottom, where the need is highest and the over-all effect upon the nation as a whole is the greatest?! Two of the most important needs are severely affected—health and education, especially the latter. What makes human beings human is the awareness of the various worlds around them, and the ability to reason. And both of these abilities can only come through education and the quality of the education received.

Is Sen. John McCain running for President again? Republicans tend to think of war as the first tactic to consider, and I see he has been on the news quite often lately, berating Pres. Obama and his ability to lead. And that reminds me, Vice Pres. Dick Cheney evidently doesn’t realize that he is no longer President, either.

So far as I know, the religious right doesn’t disapprove of keeping animal populations down by exercising birth control (or shooting for sport.) What, exactly, is their position on the smothering blanket of human beings drawing ever tighter around the globe?

And speaking of religion and the growing population, it is becoming more and more apparent to me that peoples with differing religious and/or political beliefs simply cannot live together as a single nation. There is no way that religious and political views can merge into a government that satisfies and serves more than one point of view at a time. Religion, especially, cannot and will not compromise.

There is only one solution to the overpopulation problem, and that is the unrest and annihilation of most (if not all) of the human race by the final choice we have made—constant war and subjugation. Religious groups, in particular, are eager to spread “Democracy” around the world. But, whether they realize it or not, Democracy as they know it can only spread as it has in this country, by proseletization by the religious right of non-believers, either in person, or by inserting it into the government which will control us all.

ARW
6/23/09

Lessons, Learning, and Relationships

For over two years, now, I have needed caretakers to help me around the house. The morning helper is here for two hours, during which she helps me bathe, feeds my cats, fixes my breakfast, and makes my bed.



When making my bed, whether or not there is a cat on my bed, most of them have simply sort of pulled my blankets up to the top and smoothed them down. A few days ago, I decided to give them lessons in bedmaking, as anyone who has been in the service can recall. So far, I have given bedmaking lessons to three of my helpers, with excellent results, and as I was relaxing on the couch just now, it occurred to me that the lessons were not just in bedmaking.



First of all, without realizing it, I was teaching and they were learning geometry, possibly without ever having taken it in school. The bed and the bedding were squares, and they were learning that you cannot make them relate to each other by just pushing the wrinkles of the sheets farther across the matress. They have to figure out where the middle of the head of the bed is, and the middles of the sheet and blanket are, and then to relate them to each other in squares. The sheet must be longer at the head of the bed, and the blanket a few inches shorter so that the sheet can fold over the blanket to protect your face from the rough surface of the blanket. The bottom edge of the blanket thus can be tucked in farther at the foot of the bed.



This is followed by learning to pull up the resulting extra bedding hanging out of each side of the foot of the bed. The helper learns to pull up that extra bedding into a sort of triangle that folds down neatly at the side. All of my students were absolutely amazed at what they had done!



As I relaxed on the couch, I realized that I had actually taught them a little geometry without mentioning the word. But what was even more important was that they were delighted with what they had done. And most important, each of them and I were drawn even closer to each other by their pride in themselves and my pride in them.



ARW

6/21/09

Are Christians being oppressed in America?

Read And when I feel my finger on your trigger.