Archive for April, 2009
Nothing Succeeds Like Secession
Tuesday, April 28th, 2009 | Diplomacy, Politics | No Comments
The recent talk about Texas seceding from the Union made me think about the good it would bring about. The first question would naturally be why didn’t they think about this when George Bush was governor (Did I really use the word think and George Bush in the same sentence? Shame on me!)
Now don’t get me wrong I don’t want to lose Texas from the Union. If we did where would I get my Texas Toast? I know that in reality we would never let Texas secede. We more or less settled the secession question with that little Civil War thing.
Does Texas realize that it has the largest border with Mexico of any of our states. With the lack of Federal funds to help them they might as well change the name of El Paso to Ellis Island and avoid that bothersome fence building. Do the Texans really believe that Mexico will honor their borders? I know that Texas won their independence from Mexico but in all fairness it was with the help of lots of Americans, both Houston and Austin were born in Virginia. I’m not so sure that the Mexicans have gotten over losing Texas and they may want it back. By seceding, Texas would be a separate country responsible for its own defense. This might be something to think about when you consider that they can see Mexico from their door step.
How Dare He?
Tuesday, April 21st, 2009 | Diplomacy | No Comments
A quick perusal of my blog would give a person the idea that I think that President Obama can do no wrong. I hate to disillusion people, but this week my opinion of him changed.
At the 5th Summit of the Americas, President Obama shook hands with Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and also accepted a book from the dictator. Pat Buchanan was one of the people decrying this act. He, like alot of the right , was perturbed that Obama did not defend our country while the members of the summit had the nerve to criticize our government. The fact that he didn’t at least walk out leads the right to belive that he is weak.
President Obama afterwards defended his actions by the weak excuse that Venezuela has about one six hundredth of our defense budget and also claiming that they have oil. I’m beginning to believe that Presinent Obama is unaware how a President should act. Since I am a patriot I will try to help.
First he has to realize that if we have a six hundred to one advantage then we should use it to show we are not weak. If we only used one three hundredth to attack Venezuela we would still be able to successfully wage another two hundred or so wars . If you really want to prove you aren’t weak, Mr President we could attack North Korea or Iran. If we really want to prove we are crazy and consequently should be feared we could attack NATO.
How dare Mr. Obama shake hands with a dictator and then even accept a book. Doesn’t Mr. Obama know that the proper thing to do when a dictator offers to shake your hand is to respectfully decline with the explanation “no you’ve got cooties”. Then he goes and accepts a book from that same dictator; well we might as well give him the keys to the White House.
The final straw was when he wore a suit and tie to the meeting. nothing says you are weak like wearing suits. He goes without the suit jacket in the Oval Office why not here? If it had to be a suit, couldn’t it at least been camo with a flak jacket. The way he is acting the summit nations might start to believe that we want peace and cooperation in the world. How dare he?
Not The Time To Party
Tuesday, April 14th, 2009 | Politics | No Comments
Okay this one may be short, I’m still waiting for my invitation, but I don’t think that even if I go to one of the April 15 tea parties I don’t think it will cause a revolution. This is no time to be partying.
I blame it on our culture, that we have decided to demonstrate to our government that we too can be wasteful. I think we would be better served by studying the previous Tea Party for some help.
First the tea that was destroyed didn’t belong to the people who threw it overboard. It seems that the New Sons of Liberty are following the BYOT policy and are bringing their own. So these people are protesting the wastefulness of government by wasting tea bags.
Next, and I hope I am wrong about this, I get the feeling these people are leaning more towards the Andy Warhol prophecy then to do the hard work of changing things. Andy Warhol predicted that in the future everyone will have 15 minutes of fame and I fear that many of these people are joining the ranks of Americans who believe it is a Constitutional right (many of these people also believe that the Constitution guarantees them Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.) I’m hoping that this will not make the same monumental change that Hands Across America did, although I feel it will.
Finally I think that if these people want to be taken seriously they have to find a different name. The first tea party was led by The Sons of Liberty a name that denoted their ideals. With the new protesters the Media has sort of named them as they often do. They are calling them Tea Baggers. Am I the only one who watched that episode of Sex and the City where Samantha explains that tea bagging is when a lover take a man’s genitals in her mouth. Is the Media making fun of them? If not, it may may make it difficult to hear their voices
Circus,Circus
Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 | General | No Comments
Last Friday, I went to the Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus and I have a question: Is nothing sacred? Last time I was at the circus was sometime in the late 80s and at that time it could arguably be called the Greatest Show on Earth. Now, I think that it should be called Circus Lite.
In the eighties there were three rings and they all had something going on in them for the most part. It was like a fireworks display; the first ring would have something amazing then the third and finally the center ring would top it all. They had three aerial acts, two or three high wire acts and the clowns were mostly peripheral.
That was in the eighties, when there was only one tour I suppose. Now there are three tours: the gold, the blue, and the left over. Okay the last tour is called the red tour but it should be called the Vincent Benedict tour.
Vincent Benedict was the name of the Danny DeVito character in the movie, Twins. After they took all the good genetic material for his brother, Julius with what was left over they formed Vincent. This pretty much sums up the red tour.
They had one high wire act that I couldn’t see because of the angle. For a grand finale they had double wheels of steel that weren’t all that impressive.
Another reason I was not impressed was that I was expecting a Pre show and I didn’t get it. I must have missed the small asterix next to the 10:30 show that meant that it was one of only two shows that were designated an educational show( boy, did I get an education) and therefore despite having paid the same price I wasn’t entitled to the Pre show. I wasn’t the only one surprised,because three days before the show I got a message from Ticketmaster that reminded me to arrive early for the pre show. On the day of the show there was a woman selling programs (at $15) that said that the only way I could get an autograph was if I bought the program. The person taking the tickets was no more knowledgeable.
I admit that I should have paid more attention but in my defense when I was looking for the best seats on Ticketmaster I had to go through so many of those idiot word boxes (captchas) that I should get a pass for not noticing the notice.
The only thing that made it worthwhile was that my twelve year old loved the show. It was the first time he had been to the real circus. Unfortunately, because of the afore mentioned problems I don’t know if he has been to the Real Circus