Nothing's gotten better in one year?

I was just doing some blog clean up and went back to last June (6/12/09) and saw the following comment in a post.

"I started but didn't finish a few halfassed posts about the gangster administration in DC. And about how the lifestyle nazis are in charge. And about how it's funny that Bush was portrayed as a dictator who was using a crisis to take power, but Lord Obama is just doing it for the people. Crazy ass world, my friends."

"So, just for the hell of it, here's "Master Jack" with the refrain: "It's a very strange world we live in" which seems appropriate for my attitude right now."

I tell you folks, things may have changed since then...but if so, they've gotten worse.

Yeah, let's have more of them there 'sin taxes' in Florida

Florida needs to balance our budget.  As I've noted before, we've increased 'sin taxes' on cigarettes because, well...hell, who gives a rats ass about smokers, right?

Well, guess what?  If you smoke, we might just screw you over again. Maybe not right now, but sometime.  Other states are considering it....and we need the bucks.

Across the country, states big and small are facing significant budget gaps.  In California, the worst case by far, candidates for state office are debating how to close a $19 billion budget deficit.  In Florida, meanwhile, another multi-billion dollar budget hole is on the cards, and looks set to grow with oil drilling off the Florida coast now off the table.  Still other states are facing similar situations, if on a less disastrous scale.  While many serving in statehouses nationwide will advocate for spending cuts, as opposed to tax increases, in some states, tax hikes are already being put on the table, with so-called “sin taxes” demonstrating renewed appeal.
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In Florida, where ongoing budget woes are anticipated, concern exists that legislators could jack up cigarette taxes again.  Last year, the State Senate—including its Republican members, led by Senate President Jeff Atwater and budget committee chief J.D. Alexander—unanimously voted to increase cigarette taxes by $1 a pack.  The House ultimately played ball, too, and Gov. Charlie Crist gave a thumbs up to the tax hike, which was expected to bring in anything from $700 million to $1 billion.
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At the end of the day, taxing those with a hard-to-break habit looks like easy pickings to those on the search for easy money.  But, critics say, revenue from cigarette tax increases is more akin to Fool’s Gold than anything else, and those attempting to close state budget deficits should be wary of relying on them.

So read the rest of it. 

Hey, Fool's Gold (above) is still gold(en) right?

Father's Day 2010

My Dad has been dead for a lot of years. But he's never been forgotten by his children or his wife.

The following is an excerpt of an unpublished short biography I've tried to write about him. I started this in 1998, but never finished it.  Probably because to tell his whole story might cause pain to others. Anyway:

Now this isn’t a sugary testimonial or paean to a father that never was. I watched a lot of television growing up, sure, but I did not live any life scripted in Leave It to Beaver, Ozzie and Harriet or Father Knows Best.  Hell, I never knew anyone even approaching Ward Cleaver, Jim Anderson or Ozzie Nelson while growing up. No, this is about a real life, a real person, as remembered by someone who was there at least part of the time.  It can’t be accurate in every detail, but it will be truthful in spirit.

I do know I met lots of people who liked him very much. Never anyone who hated him.

Dad, you may have been an ordinary man, but your beliefs, principles and actions were rather uncommon. I thank you for your commitment to our family, I respect your ability to persevere against long odds and I admire your ability to forgive the unfairness of life, fate and too many people. You are a role model for those who had hard lives, who have been angry and who have been hated, but who have also loved deeply. And I love you. But you know that.

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I’m afraid I can’t make Dad heroic, a mover and shaker of the world or even particularly memorable to those who didn’t know him.  He never seemed to think any of that was important.  I do remember his gentleness, how he held his wife, kissed her, hugged his children and pretended (I think) not to hear words that could cause a quarrel. I didn’t understand how right he was until I found my own wife and life. He showed me that you could be a man and a gentle man, a loving man.
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Dad was something of an enigma to me.  That doesn’t mean I ever really spent any time thinking of him that way.  I just knew while growing up that he was different from me.  Well, maybe I was different from him.  He was calm, soft spoken, quietly humorous, constant yet low key in his religion.  I saw him excited only a few times in my life. Most of them involved a “sport”—wrestling.  He liked wrestling!
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Oh yeah, being gentle doesn’t mean being soft. One night-I think I was about 16-I made him so mad by hurting my sister that he put his fists to me-for the first and only time.  He missed, mostly, but did push me against the wall and I hit my head.  I literally saw stars and I was pissed! But I also was very shocked…this wasn’t at all like my dad. There were few rules my father chose to strictly enforce, but striking, hurting or teasing my sister to tears was at the top. (Actually striking, hurting or teasing my mother was at the top, but I never was that mean or stupid.)

It’s strange, but I’ve thought of that incident several times over the years and was eventually able to put myself in his place. I never thought of it as abuse (it wasn't) and I never doubted I deserved it. What I eventually became clear on was...all in all, Dad showed remarkable restraint that evening.

Happy Father's Day, Dad.  Your children and your wife have never forgotten you. And we love you. And we miss you still.

Update - I've just enjoyed Pat Austin's post about her dad.

When my opinion changed

About abortion that is...well, actually about partial birth abortion.  As I noted in this previous post  "Now I'm pro-choice and used to be virulently pro-abortion, but have moderated over the years."

My real moderation has been about partial birth abortion.  I'm still pro-choice but I used to believe it was okay to kill a fetus anytime if it's your body/your choice. Hell, it was easier than actually having to think about the issue. But I must admit I always knew that killing a kid as it was being born was wrong.  Just wouldn't admit it.

That changed with the following picture because I could no longer ignore that there was a viable child in the womb...not just a mass of undifferentiated cells.

Now I know there have been questions about what this 1999 surgery picture is supposed to mean (see Snopes) but that was never the point for me. Yes, it would have been a more exceptional tear jerker if the fetus had grabbed the surgeon's hand but I'm willing to accept it was only a reflex.


But the point for me was: this 21 week old fetus appeared to be a fully formed baby-in-waiting....no longer a clump of cells.

That did it for me-no more evasions. I could no longer escape the knowledge that partial birth abortion was infanticide.

Hey, I was still pro-choice....but I was against murder.  Still am.

Ocala/Marion County-Center of Entertainment Universe

Well, sort of.

No, this isn't a post about John Travolta...or Bobby Goldsboro or Mel Tillis for those of you as old as I am.

No, this is even more current.

On the reality TV timeline, Denny Chapman recently moved into a spacious Los Angeles-area home with the best marksmen - and markswoman - in the country. Meanwhile, James Hammortree recently dumped trash on Yager's bed in the fighter house in Las Vegas.

In real time, the Ocala men have watched their reality TV lives unfold from their homes, just as the rest of the world has. The shows airing now were filmed months ago, and confidentiality contracts prohibit them from discussing upcoming episodes.

Chapman is on "Top Shot" and Hammortee is on "The Ultimate Fighter."

Hey, we take our celebrities as we find them.

Did I Miss It?

I mean, today is June 6th, right?

D-Day remembrance, right?

I've been busy this morning and just had a chance to turn on the computer...and the television...and looked at the local newspaper.

Apparently I'm wrong.  Hell, the History Channel has had a weekend of ice bound truckers (or something) but nothing about the hellish memories and incredible sacrifices that were made in June 6, 1944.

Maybe I'm wrong and don't remember well.  Hell, I am getting on in years.

But I choose to remember.

Missing President Bush

I was thinking of posting on this, but Pat Austin does it so much better.

And we both miss having George W Bush as President. He was a class act for 8 years of his presidency, and remains so today.

Character tells.

Damn...it's going to be a very long time until November 2012.

How Not To Stop a Oil Spill

NEW ORLEANS – BP's stock plummeted and took much of the market down with it Tuesday as the federal government announced criminal and civil investigations into the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and BP engineers tried to recover from a failed attempt to stop the gusher with an effort that will initially make the leak worse.

Attorney General Eric Holder, who was visiting the Gulf to survey the fragile coastline and meet with state and federal prosecutors, would not specify the companies or individuals that might be targeted in the probes into the largest oil spill in U.S. history.

"We will closely examine the actions of those involved in the spill. If we find evidence of illegal behavior, we will be extremely forceful in our response," Holder said in New Orleans.

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Yep...that's the way to stop a disaster.  Threaten a law suit.  Send in the lawyers, by god.

Of course, this could put a new spin on the old joke: "What do you call 10,000 lawyers at the bottom of the ocean?  A good start."

Hmmm, now that I think of it, lawyers should have been part of the "top kill" method.