Pawprints From Space

As you may have gathered... assuming anyone is reading this... we have a few City elections coming up and thus silly season has begun. Silly season typically starts a month or two out from the election. It is safe to say we are there. We have mayoral candidates and their trusty sidekicks disrupting council meetings with schoolyard taunts regarding various aspects of male genitalia towards those who disagree with them. Followed a day or so later by a threat to file a complaint/lawsuit claiming other council members were in violation of open meetings laws when having a brief conversation prior to the official start of the meeting. So how does this person who feels so violated know what these other two were talking about? Unless he was standing right there. And by standing right there and not calling fellow council-folk to task on the spot (or at least reminding them with a gentle 'hey guys, not a good idea') does this not make him culpable? If not standing right there, eavesdropp...

You may not remember all the back and forth over whether the Hubble Telescope should be repaired or allowed to simply die... how it was too dangerous to send a repair team up to fix it, etc... Well if there was any doubt as to whether or not it was worth the risk, the new images released this week ought to put those doubts to rest. If you haven't seen them, check them out at the Hubble Web Site Of course this service mission is being billed as the last service mission to the telescope - partly because the shuttle fleet itself is being retired not too long from now. It was only fitting that the repair work be done this year - which in case you missed it - is the International Year of Astronomy. So called because this year marks the 400th anniversary of Galileo's use of a telescope to view the night sky. Back then of course HE didn't have to worry about light pollution. Even though I live in small city Ohio and am surrounded by farm land it is still not possible to get far en...

The Mayor's race here is starting to get "interesting". Yesterday we learned that the opposition candidate (and by that I only mean the guy NOT currently in office) was served with a "cease and desist" order by the local NBC TV station because his YouTube campaign ad not only used copyrighted news broadcast footage without permission but it was altered in such a way as to change the meaning of the reporting. Funny that this bit of info did not make it into the local paper this morning. It was on the 6 p.m. news last night, plenty of time to make the press... Today the candidate called yet another press conference (he did that earlier in the week too, code enforcement issue) to rant about a company called Global Energy - a project that is admittedly on hold. I didn't see the entire report as of yet but from what I gathered the gentleman was casting aspersions over the fact that the City's has "dropped the ball" on this thing, that permits have e...

It appears the real audacity of President Obama's hopes was bipartisanship. As the health care reform debate continues to move along - flaring up here and there in town hall meetings, talked about on all the news programs and talk shows (please note, there IS a difference between journalism and entertainment, to whit: The CBS Evening News is journalism; Glenn Beck's radio show is entertainment), ranted and raved over on the editorial pages of those papers still in existence, blogged about, etc. - the one thing that seems clear is that there will be no bipartisan effort on this subject. Over the weekend some administration folks stated that the so-called "public option" might not actually be necessary to passing the bill. This "public option" has been the big beastie under the bed for those opposed to the potential legislation. Republicans have been screaming about the addition to a "public option" from Day One. Some have guaranteed that there will ...

In all the brouhaha over health care reform and the economy; let's not forget about Iran and what its people are going through. In typical agenda setting fashion, the media has turned its attention away (for the most part) from Iran and the aftermath of the elections. By doing so the topic has lost its "top of mind awareness" and when that happens Americans tend to think the problem is over. It is not over. The media has simply gotten bored with it. They are setting the agenda for what we are to think about, not exactly what to think mind you but certainly what to think about. The famine, for example, in Ethiopia hasn't gone away simply because we haven't seen it in the news lately. Those arrested in Iran are facing trials that are travesties of justice. Some of the clerics on the ruling council are calling for the execution of those who have taken part in the protests, people are being killed while in custody, women are being raped and now Mr. Ahmadinejad is sayi...

The yelling continues across the country at the various town halls. The misinformation continues to fly from both sides. And in our area no one wants to hear about it. Not that I can completely blame them. I did find an interesting link to a summation document on the White House web site. Check this out: http://www.whitehouse.gov/health-insurance-consumer-protections/ It boils down what the President's thoughts on the subject are. Gee, don't see "single payer plan" on that at all. In fact, he doesn't seem to be for that one bit. The public option is just that, an option. It isn't the only option, just one of them. The insurance companies would compete for our business along with this option. Competition is a good thing. As the President noted, Fed Ex and UPS do quite well in competition with the US Post Office. What I like about the President's ideas are the elements aimed at that insurance industry. I mean come on, when I moved to Hartford the Aetna comp...

Been a while, been busy with the new kitten funny how a small fuzz-ball can take over your house, your life and your wallet. But I have been paying attention to the "news" and other assorted insanity ... The fact that we have a version of democracy that allows us to shriek and yell and be idiots in public towards our public officials is a good thing. Freedom to speak one's mind without fear of being locked up (most of the time) is a good thing. The ability to act like a rational adult and discuss our concerns with each other as if we actually are civilized beings is a much better thing. I am referring of course to the recent outbursts during town hall meetings regarding the proposed health care reform bills. I say "bills" because as I type this there are at least four of them in one stage or another of development. This too is a good thing, it means there are options, there are things we can discuss and tweak and refine until we get something that will work. I a...

It is as I feared and actually expected. The stimulus package is six months into its two year life span and the public (or at least the pundits) are complaining that everything isn't all better yet. Well the unemployment tsunami has slowed and if the states weren't hanging onto the money to patch holes in their budgets and putting it to work as they were supposed to their projects might very well be further along. In our little community we received some stimulus money for projects that we had had no idea how to fund, no ground hasn't broken yet but the projects are further along now than they were. "Shovel ready" after all does NOT mean that the crews have been hired and are just standing around... it means the plans have been approved and so forth now all we need is the funding. Oh sure, all across the country money will get redirected and misdirected but if even three quarters ends up where it supposed to things will improve. Financial institutions aren't l...

President Barack Obama entitled his second book "The Audacity of Hope" and yes perhaps it was audacious for a young African American man without benefit of an elite family background to aspire to greater things. But look what he accomplished! The way I see it today however, the real audacity of hope is coming to life in Iran. It is audacious to think that after 30 years of tight-fisted rule by a small number of clerics groups of outspoken people taking to the streets can honestly hope for and achieve change and freedom in their lives. And yet they are calling for it. Despite arrests, despite being killed, despite clerics now calling for the participators in these demonstrations to be executed... they have hope. They want change and now their government knows it. A government that is frightened and now weakened by this vast out pouring of anger at them. It must be quite a shock for them to realize that the control they have isn't as powerful as they had thought. Once upon ...

A young woman died yesterday. Neda Soltani. I didn't know her. And yet when I heard about her today on the news, saw the cell phone video of her bleeding to death from a gunshot wound I cried. 27 years old, a philosophy student. Gone. Sources told NBC that she was not involved in the protests yesterday, she was walking on a neighboring street when she was shot in the chest by alleged plain clothes Basij on a motorcycle. She has come to symbolize the struggle over there now. Being called by some the Angel of Iran, by others the Voice of Iran. Either way, the government forbade mosques from holding memorials for her and she was quickly buried. They don't want her to become a martyr. Too late for that, she became one the moment she was shot. Half a world away, knowing no one in her country there are tears tonight for Neda.

Good grief! I haven't posted since April????!!!! Okay, random rant and comment time then, buckle up this is gonna bounce all over the place: Other than to be an idiot, why would a volunteer at an event for a local art gallery sponsored by one political party wear a T-Shirt bashing that party? Sources confide that this person does this at every event - he finds the most obnoxious shirt possible in counterpoint to whatever the sponsor stands for and that's what he wears. Even when asked not to. When asked last evening to change his shirt, he refused, cited free speech and convinced the organization that they would lose this volunteer if they pushed it. The VP of the Board caved since he is one of their best volunteers and the shirt stayed. Personally I wasn't offended since it made him look like the small minded moron that he apparently is. Coordinating volunteers for a fun event that includes beer is a hell of a lot easier than coordinating them for an event that aims to cur...

This November our little city will hold elections for Mayor. So far there are three candidates and the primary is just under two weeks away. I did not make it to the candidate forum sponsored by neighborhood associations tonight but I did attend the first one and I doubt the rhetoric has much changed since then. One candidate has been our Mayor for several terms. He is competent, calm and in full command of the facts. Next is a former sheriff who has convinced himself and is trying very hard (for about three years now) to convince the rest of us that the city is going straight to hell - crime is out of control, housing is falling apart all around us and the immigrants are going to steal our jobs in our sleep. Vote for him or else we're doomed, we're all going to die. Candidate three has been on city council for some time. He represents a particularly troubled part of town and is the only minority on the ballot. Unfortunately he also struggles with putting a coherent sentence to...

I am presently a good 14 hours into a bathroom update (not counting the exhausted sleep of last night). This should have been a simple one day event. Nope. Not in this house. As some readers may know, anything troublesome in this house has its base in water. This project revealed another level of that problem. I ventured into the project with the idea of pulling up the old vinyl because, due to some odd staining, I believed there to be mold growing beneath it. The other simple part of the project was to replace an old, water-hogging toilet and faucet. The vinyl was stubborn and finally came up but left its felt backing stuck to the subfloor. Apparently someone had used what I like to call "adhesive-from-hell". So off to Lowe's to find an antidote to adhesive-from-hell. That accomplished the goo was applied. Oddly enough even after using the entire bottle and three hours of waiting and scraping nothing was happening. Upon closer inspection a "mushy" area was pull...

Ah Spring! Early Spring means very few flowers but one thing you can generally count on is the bright shiny face of a pansy. Can't find any ANYWHERE! Found heather supposedly hardy heather but it is only hardy to Zone 6, this in Zone 5 so it'll be dead this time next year. Bought it anyway. And some rosemary. Had to buy something.... it IS Spring after all. And Spring makes me think of Summer which makes me think of all the days gone by when hours were spent writing adventures and poems and assorted silliness. Gotta love the silliness. I miss the silliness. Speaking of silliness... have you seen the MoveOn.org chart showing the tax rate that the wealthiest will pay under the Obama plan? Quite a bit lower than they paid under Reagan (who was praised all during the campaign as the gold standard). Kinda sad to have your hero end up being harder on "those who create jobs" than the vile Democrat in office now. Hard pill to swallow, eh folks?

And on it goes... In the uproar over the AIG bonuses finger pointing has become an art form. Who knew what and when? Who added what to which bill and why? How dare they (AIG) use bailout money for bonuses (and give some to their partner banks while they were at it)!?!! And yet when the President was out and about this past week traveling hither and yon the folks asking him questions didn't mention AIG, unless they were members of the media. Could it be that the average person is more concerned about the state of their own household "economy" than AIG? Or do we all simply have burn out? I'm thinking it is a bit of both. Heard an interesting story on NPR that cast some of the blame for the mess we're in WAY back to the Commodities Futures Modernization Act of 2000. Hmmm, that wasn't this Administration then was it? Lots of the same people were in Congress then though weren't they? You see, these lovely derivatives (such as credit default swaps) that sent the...

The tulips, irises, and daffodils are peeking up through the soil. Younger trees are just beginning to bud (you can see a bit a green if you look closely) the older trees seem to know better and are waiting a little bit longer. Isn't that funny? Even in the plant kingdom the elders are more cautious than the brash youth. I am a bit concerned about the flower bulbs though. While another hard frost won't hurt them, snow and ice especially would damage their leaves and stunt the flowers a bit. The leaf damage is the worst since it is the leaves as they die back later (after a good several weeks of producing chlorophyll) that feed the bulb for the following year. The weather is going to be flirting with 50 degrees from today through to next Saturday (which is the first day of Spring) but you just never know. We've had nasty weather in April. Have not yet completed research and plans for the now empty spot where once a mighty blue spruce stood. That part of the yard looks horrib...

As many of you know (assuming there are even "many" of you out there) I simply love words. I like to play with them, use big ones in sentences and watch the faces of the folks in this town freeze up as they try to figure out what the hell I just said and so forth. We over-educated folks have to have SOME fun after all. Well, heard a new one on the radio (NPR of course) the other day that made me shriek in delight (that is the only shrieking I ever do since my terror scream is more like a cross between a shout and a growl, but that's another story). Punditocracy Yup. They have a class. Or at least a classification. Those "experts" whose job it is to tell you what to think about, what to talk about at the proverbial watercolor. Yup, the agenda-setting media and politically minded folk who sally forth on all things cultural and political. Keep in mind I said 'what to think about' not 'what to think', there is a difference, a fairly significant one t...

You'll notice I titled this with a reference to "Chicago Politics" not Illinois Politics. This is partly because the media are still reporting the on-going insanity from Chicago as if that city was in fact the capitol. I say again... it is not. Now Senator Burris seems to be gathering support from Chicago which, in my opinion, ought to make anyone with half a brain suspicious. The state governmental seat is in Springfield, a good 4 to 5 hours south of the windy city. Ladies and gentlemen of the press, how about if we start reporting on statewide governmental matters from there? The Trib will still be commenting and you can gather quotes from them with those new-fangled telephone things. Or - oh hey! - the Internet! I find it interesting that the support being rolled out by the media for Senator Burris is coming from this or that pastor of this or that African-American church. That's nice. That's fine. Is it the only support though? And - I'm sorry I have to go...

Another Saturday night after a long week that included a seminar today on the Fair Labor Standards Act, which actually went better than expected. In my silly world another Saturday night means not doing much of anything. In tonight's case it meant (gasp!) cleaning the aquarium, catching up on show TV shows that I had taped during the week and eating various junk food. Ah yes, the single life is full of such riotous joy! Trust me, after "une certain age" it ain't all it's cracked up to be. Although even at an early-twenty-something I'm not sure it was all it was cracked up to be. But that is another tale, for another time. I do have one rant to rave on about. I have been seeing many an aspersion cast at the song Kumbaya of late. Now I went to Girl Scout camp as a child. I loved it. Being out in the woods, the campfires, the s'mores and YES! DAMN IT! singing Kumbaya - complete with assorted hand gestures around said campfire. It was great. It is a fond memor...

As you know, one of my favorite commentators/editorialists is Leonard Pitts Jr. of the Miami Herald. Once again, he has a good point. For the full text of his thoughts check out: http://www.miamiherald.com/living/columnists/leonard-pitts/story/914575.html Today he is talking about how we really don't talk about race. Not in any meaningful way. We dance around it, we don't listen to each other (not really at any rate)... we simply don't "get it" when folks of one race are trying to talk to folks of another race... neither side gets it by the way. Pitts doesn't shy away from pointing out that there is fault on all sides. He doesn't have to do that. After all, he is African-American, he could jump on the Sharpton bandwagon and see racism everywhere and blame the non-African-Americans alone for this silliness but he doesn't. So it got me thinking. When was the last time I had a meaningful conversation about race with a person of another race? Sad to say it...