Another "I forgot it is here" installment

I'm afraid to even look back to see how long it's been since I last posted here.  I see that in Shot's Shack it was shortly after the last San Diego Comic Con. I normally do both blogs one after the other or within a day or so, this probably means the last PARTING SHOTS around the same time.  Lots of has happened since then, but in a way things remain pretty much the same.

I'm still working at the City of Orange Public Library, here in Orange, CA.  Donna and I are still living in Lake Forest and we're happy knowing that Kristina is happy living in San Diego with Sarah.

At this point I don't know that I have anything to add to the political conversations going on in the country.  I'm disappointed in some of the things that President Obama has done, and disgusted by what the GOP (the political party my father identified with, but never registered with) has become.  It is now home to the most vile folks not hiding under white robes.  Anti-gay/choice/education/science/regulations but pro-gun, so that makes them pretty popular with a certain segment of the population. They are also believers in that gun-toting, friend of the rich, Jesus Christ, so right is on their side.

Once again, just a reminder that if you really want to keep up with me you can find me on Twitter and Facebook.  If I'm not busy with Farmville or #FollowFriday, I might even respond to something you post.

Take care and see you in a few months.

Quickie comments on recent events (Delayed from original posting date.)

Mixed opinions from the Supreme Court this week on a couple of major issues. 

Thumbs down for their decision on the Voting Rights Act, which will provide cover to the Republican legislatures in some states to further block the rights of those who may not vote they way they like (i.e. Democratic/Progressive).  Texas jumped right into it within a few hours and we can expect other states to do the same.  Have to protect their 'majorities', after all.

Much better news for the equal rights of gays & lesbians. Prop 8 is done for and it seems, from polls, that something like that will never be able to get passed here again.  I would not be surprised if some GOP legislators try to get something before the California House, but it wouldn't get far.  Sadly, states will still be able to individually ban gay marriage and not recognize those performed in other states, but the tide is turning
on this issue.

                                 

I admit to mixed feelings regarding the Edwin Snowden affair.  I think most of us knew the government was watching over us, but were a bit surprised by how much they were.  For that we should be grateful that it has become public and perhaps something can be done to curb the practice.  On the other hand, I'm certainly not going to call him a 'hero' as he basically took it on the lamb after spilling the beans.  The places he first went to indicate to me he is going to hand over information to folks not known for their own interest in civil liberties and freedom of speech.

That's it for me for today.

Just some misc. stuff

I hope to finally get around to doing my San Diego Comic-Con report over on Shot's Shack, but just had some non-comics stuff to say.

I have sympathy for my friends & family in Norwich, CT.  I just saw on the news this morning that they have had heavy rains and flooding the past couple of days.  My family had to leave our Bolduc Lane house three times, while I was growing up, due to the Shetucket River overflowing its banks.  I was too young to recall the first time, but old enough the other two times to help my mom pack some stuff.  Once we actually had to be rescued by firemen in a rowboat, since we had hoped to wait for my father to get home from where he had been working. That time my parents had to replace just about eveything due to water damage in our first floor apartment.  Fortunately, I have heard from my nephew Teddy's wife, Autumn, that they are all fine and suffered no damage.

Not so much sympathy, but I also feel bad for my friends in NYC who had been supporters of Carlos Danger...er, I mean Anthony Weiner. Wow! The guy has really doomed himself, at least politically.  He was actually leading in the polls by double digits, but this latest revelation has dropped him by more than that.  I think for his own good and for his family, he should pack it in (no pun) and leave the Mayoral race to other candidates.  Why split the Dem vote when we know the GOP will be shoveling millions into the up-coming campaign?

Yeah, that's what I did on Thursday night of Comic-Con!  Having a few beers before and after certainly didn't hurt.  Silly, perhaps but something I have wanted to do for years.  Donna, Kristina & Sarah convinced me it was time to do it or shut up about it.

Later, folks!!

STACKRIDGE Stackridge 09 Slark

 A song I fell in love with back in the early '70s.  You don't have to be in an altered state to enjoy it either. :-)

San Diego harbor

Just go for it, already!

Let's just go ahead and have the impeachment and get it over with, shall we?  The GOP has been waiting for this moment since January of 2009 and it appears they have enough to get it started.  Will it go anywhere? Probably not, but it will allow them to stir up the base and some independents through November of 2014.  This will let them get that same base motivated to give them control of the Senate and a bigger majority in the House.  Good news for those who want to block and/or undo everything accomplished over the past five years.  I'm sure if they could figure out a way to resurrect Bin Laden, it would make everything perfect.

Personally, I think they might as well impeach Biden and if they are really clever they can take down Hillary.  These Presidential elections never seem to work well for the Republicans, so maybe we should do away with those and allow the new Republican Senate & House choose who gets the Oval Office from now one.  Better to use all that campaign money to get anti-union/anti-women/anti-minority politicians elected in all states so we can keep everyone in the proper place.  Democracy is such a messy process and doesn't seem to always go the way it should.

Be nice if we could replace the White House Christmas tree with a cross we could burn every year, wouldn't it?  See you in re-education camp, comrades!

Thoughts on politcal matters.

I don't really have much to say about anything but the occasional feeling of guilt I have about not posting has got to me today. 

I wonder if you are like me and are getting tired of politics, especially the Washington variety.  I thought, or rather hoped, that the last election would dampen down things and make some folks a bit less strident.  I obviously misjudged how much Obama is really hated by the other side and how they really believe that another two years of blocking everything is going to improve their chances in 2014 and further down the line. Last year I was signed up for a number of newsletters and regular e-mail updates for Democratic & progressive causes.  I unsubscribed from about half following the November results and am dropping more as I receive them.  I know at this point that I am going to be burned out by early next year when Congress gears up for another campaign.

I'm not going to try to predict what the Supreme Court will decide regard DOMA and Prop 8.  I think we can guess that both will be a split along obvious lines, with DOMA probably considered unconstitutional.  Folks much smarter than I am (pretty much the majority of you reading this) seem to feel that the Court will kick Prop 8 back to the state courts, where it was already decided to be against the state constitution.  This won't do anything on the national level but will get Califorinia to where it should be and perhaps nudge a few others to make the right choice.  We'll have to wait and see, while hoping for the best.

Hard to imagine.

I don't know what it was but for some reason I was jolted by the realization that forty-four years ago I was graduating from U.S. Navy boot camp in Great Lakes, IL.  A few weeks later I was reporting aboard the USS Boxer (LPH-4) in Norfolk, VA.  I posted a video the other day which gave an overview of the Boxer's history and what it was like serving aboard her.

1969 was certainly an interesting year for me, what with the beginning of my first enlistment and later getting one of those 'Dear John' letters guys in the service always seemed to be receiving.  Martha (known to everyone as Mitt) was a wonderful girl and I can understand looking back that we were probably ill-suited.  I believe I was told she was married shortly after the break-up, but I never really had a desire to check up on her. Hope all worked out well for her, wherever she may be.

Not really anything to add, but when the wave of nostalgia hit I just wanted to share.

USS BOXER (CV21/LPH-4)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSq1Fipxfrk

Looking Back

Watching the Weather Channel this morning, with their coverage of "Winter Storm Nemo" not only reminded me of one of the reasons we don't regret our move out to SoCal, but also of being a kid.

I can vividly remember days when the street in front of our house (on Bolduc Lane, in Taftville, CT) would be unplowed for a couple of days at a time.  My friends and I could make snowmen, forts and have great snowball fights out there, without fear of a city or private plow wrecking everything.  The priority was the highway near us, which before the Connecticut Turnpike was opened, was one of the major routes to Rhode Island.  This was especially true for larger trucks, so it was pretty well maintained.

Across the highway and up the hill was a large, sandbank, sometimes used by the city for the roads, which was a great place for sledding.  It was also the perfect place during the rest of the year to play cowboys & indians or 'war' with one side up top and the other trying to get up with out being 'shot'.  I'm sure that is now all so non-politically correct and offensive, but it certainly never seemed that way to us.  Small towns like Taftville, were pretty white and generally made up of families that had been there for generations.

Anyway, while I certainly don't miss the days of having to shovel the sidewalk in front of Donna's mom house or digging out our cars in Brooklyn & West Haven, it does still make me nostalgic.

If you are out there in what the Weather Channel is calling "Nemo", stay warm, and be careful if you have to drive on the roads.  I'd like to see you all back safe & sound for next time.

Is it really a New Year already?

Man, are they starting to cut weeks out of the year or is time just rushing by too fast for me?  I'm pretty sure it's the fact that I'm getting older and know that I only have a limited amount of time left.  Not to get all depressing, but let's face facts.  Sixty-two is not really middle-age, is it?
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Does this still sound like me?

A brief introduction is probably in order, for those of you who don't feel obligated to visit here simply because you know me.

My name is Steve Chaput and I'm a librarian at a University in New England. For close to fifteen years, prior to coming back to my home state, I had been a public librarian in Brooklyn, NY. Having been born and spent most of my life in New England I just felt it was time to move back, if only to escape the hassle and rudeness which seems to be growing in The City. I'm also a Navy veteran, having joined the service back in 1969, when the U.S. was still deeply mired in Vietnam. If you want to peg me politically, you can think of me as somewhere to the left of almost any politician who still calls himself 'Liberal'.

If I'm doing this Blog thing correctly I would assume to eventually make an A** of myself. Feel free to drop me an e-mail and let me know if I'm living up to that. :-)

The above was the opening of my very, first blog entry written on 1/29/03.  At the end of this month I will have been writing this blog for ten years.  You can see by the index that I was very active for several years, but have cut back to only a few posts a year recently.  As I've said before, just about everything I have to say on any given topic I cover on Facebook & Twitter, plus the occasional videos I put up on YouTube.  I don't plan on completely dropping either blog, since you never know when the other 'social networks' will start charging or do something that even I can't put up with.  It's nice to know that I will have these as fall backs in that case.
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Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season, with time for family & friends.  Mine was pretty laid back, since Donna had to work, so we didn't go anywhere worth mentioning.  I expect that may change since we would like to travel back east for a family event in the Spring, plus we have a discount certificate for another Carnival cruise that we need to use before 11/2013.

If you have seen the review on YouTube or Facebook you already know that I went to see THE HOBBIT last week and totally loved it.  I should probably post it over on Shot's Shack later for folks who don't travel to the other sites.

Finally, and another reason that my blog posting probably won't increase anytime soon is that Donna & Kristina joined forces to buy me an iPad for Christmas.  As if I was already addicted to my iPhone, having this larger toy is even more dangerous.  Btw, if you have either of the same devices, check out The Simpson's Tapped Out and friend me.

That does it once again for me so I'll be on my way. Peace out!