If I Only Knew Now What I Thought I Knew Then

Ah, the absolute certainty of Youth! When I was just out of college I knew everything. So what happened? As I get older I get wiser, maybe, but I find I know so little compared to my younger years. How sad. At this rate I'll know nothing pretty soon.
Bad enough I've forgotten most of what I learned in school---even if most of it is now outdated. In no time I'll be a tabula rasa, God forbid. Is this what happens when you get old? It's almost like Alzheimer's, in a way; I'm always meeting new facts, and the old facts don't look familiar either.
There's so much I'll never know, so much I'll never have time to get to, so much I'll never be sure of again. Sigh.
Youth is indeed wasted on the young. Why wasn't I twice as snotty when I had the chance? Now that I'm 61 it's expected I'll be grouchy. It's assumed I'll be a know-it-all. Worse, it's considered cute at this age. Oh well...

Is This Global Warming Or What?

I'm not sure but I'd say the GOP really botched their call of Global Cooling. Yes, we certainly did have a lot of snow and all that. Even so, all that snow and rain was well within the parameters predicted by the warming scenario, and we all know now that the so-called "e-mail conspiracy" among left-wing meteorologists was concocted by the GOP and their pet weather-mongers.
So what's happening? Well, it's hot enough to set records here in the Northeast. Looks like it won't be breaking anytime soon, either, which is dangerous for people, animals, and plants. Not to mention the fact that farms are having to spray their fruit trees to keep them from cooking on the vine---literally. Then we also have to wonder how the BP mess will affect weather, too. All that wonderful Corexit (does it have an "e" on the end? I can't remember) and oil in our oceans---face it, it's not just the Gulf of Mexico that's had accidents---probably will end up in our rain clouds world-wide very soon. It's the oceans that drive the weather cycles, which scares the hell out of me and should scare you as well. We don't need this weather situation getting any worse, but don't hold your breath.

Be Careful---Your Web Cam Can Be Spying On You

I've just bought a new laptop with a built-in web cam, and while the photo to the left isn't impressive, just imagine if I'd been stupid enough to go naked when it snapped this. Mind you, I'm 61 and not inclined to do daring things, but hardly anyone seems to think twice about computing "in the buff", as it were. They should.
While at the present moment I can see no light indicating any cam action I must nevertheless be concerned; after all, remember how employers, principals, and government officials all gleefully spy on us for whatever reasons they feel are "necessary"? It happens more often than you think---or care to imagine. Frankly, I wish they would mind their own business, but how much would you care to wager on that? Never happen!
I've often toyed with the thought of wearing some ghastly body suit that would make it appear I'm naked. Something really sickening, you know. Maybe open sores running thick, yellow pus. Or perhaps something like the chest-bursting creature from ALIEN. I know it's childish, but you have to admit that there's hardly any point in being an adult if you can't be childish at times. That, by the way, is my favorite Tom Baker quote from Dr. Who.
Let's all be childish and do some absolutely squalid (there's a great British word for you!) pranks to get even with Big Brother. If not (or you're a coward like me), then just cover over the web cam lens. After all, do you really want to make it easy for them?

Don't Go Near The Water---Forever

Mmmm! Don't you just love swimming at the beach? Well, you won't much longer. This is the current state of the waves washing up on Gulf shores, and it's not getting any better---probably never. It looks rather pretty, actually, something like liquid amber, perhaps. Nevertheless, it's deadly, and lots of pretty things are deadly in nature. This, unfortunately, is not nature; at least it's not what nature should be doing to us.
This, I'm afraid is what "nature" will be looking like for at least the foreseeable future. How "foreseeable", you ask? Let's just say that most scientists doubt BP will be able to plug this hole. Ever. Sometimes I have a sneaking suspicion they don't really want to plug it. Just think how much the price of oil might rise, and we all know supply and demand has little, if anything, to do with prices. If the supposed "law of supply and demand" did apply, then how come prices have been able to remain relatively stable thus far?
No, we're screwed, folks. Even if they manage to plug this hole by August (which is looking to be maybe August 2011, if we're lucky) those billions, possibly trillions, of gallons will have poisoned the entire Gulf already. Not only that, but projections by NASA predict that the entire Gulf Stream will be nothing but oil---all the way up the east coast as far as the Carolinas---before heading off toward Europe. And as if that's not bad enough, the dispersant will have been sucked up into the clouds to enable the entire North American continent to be poisoned by oily rains. Not to mention the usual hurricanes as well. Better start praying, but don't expect God to answer. He's probably on vacation---permanently.
Oh, and I wouldn't drink orange juice, either.

Helen Thomas---A Sad Goodbye

She was the journalist they loved to hate. Her questions at press meetings were blatantly biased and loud, and she made her colleagues writhe in embarrassment whenever she stood to challenge a president. But she had courage and a style all her own. She asked the tough questions no one else dared to bring up, and her loss is our loss as well.
She had to be tough to succeed in journalism. Women were few and far between in the world of political journalism when she began. She had to be loud in order to be taken seriously by men in those days, and she wasn't ashamed to be unladylike, either. That she was biased against Israel in no way detracts from her devotion to journalism; she was honest about where she stood, unlike many of her male colleagues, and although I often cringed when she railed against Israel I respected her just the same. This is America, after all, where unpopular opinions are supposed to be feely expressed. She wasn't inciting hatred hatred for Jews. Shame on the cowards who used her latest remarks to oust her! Why should she have been forced to apologize? What, she hurt someone's tender little psyche? This Political Correctness is despicable, and soon none of us will be able to speak freely if this continues.
So she said Jews should go "home", back to Germany and Poland. All right, that may have been insensitive, but surely not the same as saying they should be gassed. If you haven't noticed, neither Germany nor Poland gasses Jews anymore, and Jews have gone to live there in the last decade. She has always been a gadfly, so why should she change now? If she had condemned the Palestinians and demanded they go "home", I doubt if anything would have been said about it.
Yes, I'm a Jew and I care about Israel, but I also care about free speech. The Peter Zenger case, if you'll recall, gave journalists the freedom to report without fear of reprisal. In her case, she had been asked a question and answered it. Opinionated? Yes, but that's Helen Thomas. Her colleagues who, it seemed, used her unfortunate remarks to finally get rid of her should be ashamed. Personal vendettas have no place in journalism.
Goodbye, Helen. We'll miss you. God bless.

Why Can't We Accept The Truth?

I'm going to address two topics, both of which can't be stressed enough. First, Obama is not responsible for BP's mess, and he can't do anything to stop it. Those of you who are screaming that he isn't "doing enough" are angry, and I accept that, but your misplaced anger is playing right into the hands of the same GOP that gave BP the right to risk the very thing that has happened. It was the GOP who clamored for the deregulation of industry ever since Reagan took office. The GOP who, under Bush41 and 43, used the excuse of Free Markets to gut consumer protections---not the Democrats. The GOP who gave corporations the right to buy Congress under the idea of Money=Free Speech. So, if more money equals more speech, then who is it that has the most money and therefore the most "free speech"? Corporations. Is it any wonder, then, that our Coast Guard in the Gulf wears badges with the BP logo, and refuses to tell WE THE PEOPLE what's really happening down there? If BP can silence the Coast Guard, then how can our president find out what's going on? Face it, Obama is being lied to by BP, the Coast Guard, and quite possibly Fox News and the GOP. Fox News is pushing Sarah Palin for the GOP contender, and she wants to continue BP's free-wheeling drilling approach. Most of the up and coming GOP stars are Hard Right. Do we really want to hand this country back to the party that started this whole fiasco?
Take a look at the image above, folks. That bird is us. Wake up. It's not Obama, it's the Republicans who bear the brunt of what is happening, and they couldn't care less what happens to us. They are too busy celebrating their victory this November, because they've gotten you to believe their lies. All they want is to win, and they don't care how. In fact, if Obama could solve this crisis they'd be in trouble. The truth is, the GOP wants it to get worse. Rush Limbaugh stated flat out he "hoped" Obama would "fail", and he speaks for the GOP.
Vote the Democrats out of Congress this November and you'll have the same GOP that gave us the financial crisis, the two wars we didn't need, and the deregulation of BP. Do that, and we're all going to wind up covered with oil. The perpetrators are BP and the GOP. Remember that.

It Might Be Us Next

To whomever created this picture, a million thanks!
Seriously, though, this oil spill is far worse than BP wants us to think. In a Democracy Now broadcast, Amy Goodman was taken for a tour of the spill in a Coast Guard helicopter and, spotting the BP logo on the Coast Guard pilot's badge, when she inquired as to why the Coast Guard should be wearing such badges, he gave her a lame answer.
So why should the Coast Guard be wearing such badges? Does our military and police now work for BP? It sure looks that way, I'm afraid. The press is kept away from seeing the full extent of the spill, and workers are made to sign an agreement (coerced, actually) that they will say nothing to the media. What's going on here? Even the Coast Guard won't answer questions, and that should worry all of us.
In undeveloped nations, such corporations as BP become the de facto police and military of these countries. In short, these corporations might just as well be the governments of such nations.
So, has BP become our de facto government? Have they allowed our president to view the entire spill? After all, who has the kind of money to enable them to buy both houses of Congress? And we all know just about every congressman and senator is in BP's pocket.
The future looks black---with oil oozing right up the East Coast on the Gulf Stream. How long before that happens? It depends on when---not if--- the next hurricane hits the Gulf region. Prepare to see the spill on your beach in a few months. Prepare to see tar balls and dead sea birds all the way up to New England. Then prepare to see the Gulf Stream sweep the spill out into the mid-Atlantic Ocean, perhaps as far as Europe. Don't, however, expect to see our Coast Guard or Navy helping us. They have far too much to do protecting their new master from us. Welcome to the future of government. We all belong to BP now, I suppose. The United States of British Petroleum. How nice.