A California Carol

I only wish something like this would happen! Things look bad here and I don't expect them to get any better.

We already have a 10% cut in the Library budget and we are supposed to plan for further cutbacks. Fingers crossed!

Well, Happy Holidays anyway.

Books = Gifts

They really do, you know!

Of course, my "Fra-gee-lee" (it's Italian)leg lamp Christmas ornament was an amazing birthday present. Thanks, sweetheart!

Down Goes Gov. Blagojevich! Does This Help Obama?

Is this going to allow the GOP to start pushing for investigations like we saw throughout the Clinton administration? At least it is going to give the Right something to talk about for months, using it to get contributions from the base.

By the way, Donna is back home and the doctor told her the biopsies were negative. They found no trace of cancer in her thyroid. Whew!

Also, my doctor tells me that the stress test was good and my heart will keep beating for a while. Just have to watch that cholesterol. hehe

Take care and easy on the eggnog!

Star Wars Vs. Star Trek - DMP Edition HQ

Passing this along for fans of both series. Nicely done!

Dedicated to The Child. :-)

We had a very, nice Thanksgiving out here. Donna's BFF, Fran, is visting so the three of us had a great dinner, that Donna really went out of way to cook. Fran was good enough to bring us some Italian bread & pastries, which we're still enjoying.

On the positive front, the specialist has told me that I DO NOT have glaucoma, but will have to have my eyes checked again since I do have cataracts beginning in both eyes. My mother had them, as did her mom, so I guess it shouldn't come as a surprise. I'm still awaiting the results of a stress test of my heart, which I'm hoping will show good news as well.

Donna will be going in on Dec. 8th for a thyroidectomy. I'll be taking the day off to be with her that day, but she may have to stay in for up to two days. We have our fingers crossed that all will go well.

Like most folks, we have been watching the ongoing drama in Mumbai the past few days. Interesting to find out who may have been behind it, with the Indian press & public believing it to be 'official' sanctioned by the Pakistani government, despite their denials. Naturally, with the crisis still going and little actual information it didn't take long for U.S. "terrorism experts" to announce that it was obviously the work of Al Qaeda or of individuals with ties to them. I saw one such 'expert' who looked barely old enough to be in grad school. How do you get that kind of gig? Shouldn't you have done something besides attend a few classes taught by somebody else who never did anything of note?

Sorry, this sort of thing just pisses me off. Of course, it's all because of Obama anyway!

We're still working with my blogs filtered here at work, but for some odd reason they are not during the weekends.

Have a busy month ahead of us out here. We're going to be watching somebody's cat for a week around Thanksgiving and Donna's BFF, Fran, will be coming out to stay with us for a few days. Saying much about either will just get me in trouble, so I'll leave it at that. :-)

Don't have much to say about it, but Donna will be having some surgery in early December. You never know about things like that, as it depends on other tests and how her general health will be at that time. I'll keep you all updated and appreciate the nice, e-mails folks have sent asking about her.

Unfortunately, the fire season seems to be off to a start, with hundreds of acres and dozens of homes already burned. Odd that one of the big fires up Santa Barbara way happened the very, day after the state-wide disaster drill. We are all hoping that we won't see a repeat of last year's dozens of fires, which cost billions that we certainly don't have.

I'm currently taking part in an online class on legal research for librarians. Pretty interesting stuff! Not sure now much use I will get from it in my daily work, but it's good to know that I'll have a list of great sites & resources if I do.

That seems to be it for now! Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Alone - Veteran Support - IAVA

I wanted to share this with you, if you haven't had the chance to see it yet. I believe it was on the Rachel Maddow program that I first saw it. Then a link was sent via the IAVA newsletter, to which I subscribe.

Donna and I both had doctors appointments on Tuesday, so we didn't have the opportunity to attend any Veteran's Day events. I did watch some of the ceremonies on television.

Donna is doing a bit better, with her foot healing. It looks as if she may be taking a leave of absence from work, so that she can take care of some other health issues. That includes a possible surgery in early December. I'll have more on that when I know more.

Still miss reading and posting on Blogger, but it's still blocked on my office computer. Posting these videos gives me a chance to sort of work around that.

For the next two days, here in SoCal there will be a disaster drill taking place, called the Big Shakeout. All city agencies and many state departments will be taking part in a simulated response to a massive quake. You'll probably see something about it on some of the national news shows.

Take care! I'm thinking of you all.

No on 8 PSA: CONSTITUTION

Donna and I spent a couple of hours yesterday holding up signs and waving to traffic in Mission Viejo. Along with The Child and dozens of other folks we were hoping to bring attention to Prop. 8 here in California.

No on 8! Equality for all!!

Think about the issues and the candidates you are going to support. If you haven't already please get out tomorrow and vote!

It actually does, no matter what some in the Blogosphere would have you believe. Is the Democratic candidate my first choice of those who initially ran? No, he actually came in fourth, but he was the best choice I had by the time the primaries came around to California. I've grown to have more respect for Obama and certainly feel that he will actually try to make things a little better for the average American.

The McCain campaign has been going downhill from the beginning. Any respect I had for the Old Man is completely gone at this point. The Palin choice certainly didn't help matters in my mind, or apparently in the mind of a great number of his fellow Republicans.

Wow, I can't ever remember so many people publically declaring themselves for the candidate of the other party. Sure, you'd get somebody like Zell Miller (back in 2004) or Joe Lieberman (this year), who unhappy with the Democratic nominee would turncoat and speak before the Republican Convention. This year, especially in the past month, it seems that every news cycle has another well known conservative/Republican politician coming out for Obama.

In case you're wondering, the new filter system at the library appears to allow me to post only on weekends. Don't ask why? I'll continue to try and get here during the week, either by posting videos with commentary or jump on a public terminal during lunch. Still unsure if I want to create a seperate website or see if another posting service can get around the filter.

Anyway, have a nice weekend and be sure to vote this Tuesday, if you haven't already!

Elvira - Haunted House music video

Since I might not have a chance to blog tomorrow...Happy Halloween!!

Obama or McCain- Why You Should Vote

I wish I was able to access Blogger from work, but it's still blocked. Felt this video was pretty effective, so it was worth passing along.

Just so you know everything is going smoothly out here. I'm heading to the eye doctor for a checkup and new glasses this Friday.

October 24, 2008: The Day in More Than 100 Seconds

Certainly a bit more than 100 Seconds, but I really want to recommend TPM. They and the Huffington Post are keeping me sane out here.

We're still blocked at work and I'm going to have to figure out something. Might be time to find out something other than Blogger if this keeps up.

Take care, have a good weekend and vote early if you can!

Britney and McCain in 2008

Well, yeah...who wouldn't??

The Library has decided to block (AGAIN!!) Blogger, so I won't be posting much. I have to log on when I'm on break, so it means trying to find a public computer along with everybody else.

I'll try to stay in touch, here and at Shot's Shack, but far less often.

By the way, Donna is feeling a bit better, but still not completely over her cold. I seem to be on the verge of catching one, starting with a scratchy throat. Sigh...

Remember, California voters, NO on Propositions 4 & 8, Yes on 2!! My two cents!!

While I seriously doubt that Sarah Palin's appearance on SNL will change the mind of any voter, I'll give her credit for doing the show. I do wonder how her fellow Alaskans will feel about it though?

At this point I think Palin is moving to establish herself for her own reelection campaign in her home state (should she decide to do that) and for 2012, where she will probably run for the top spot. Palin will have four years to campaign for the White House and has already shown that a certain part of the Republican base will align with her. This was McCain's last and best shot, so we can count him out, even if he doesn't decide to retire from public service at the end of his current term. Romney (aka The Anti-Christ), Huckabee and a few others will be maneuvering to become the favorite, knowing that Caribou Barbie will be in competition.

It was good to see Colin Powell come out for Obama, but I don't think anyone truly expected him to back McCain. I think there is just to much difference between the two men on various domestic and international issues. We'll see how the Right plays this, but I think the matter of race will certainly show it's ugly head. As even John McCain's buddy, Tom Brokaw brought it up the folks at Fox will feel that gives them a free pass to go in that direction.

That's it for now, unless something else happens later.

If you had asked me about a month ago, I would have said (and I believe may have) that I felt John McCain had the election all but sewn up. The Palin choice seemed to have invigorated the campaign and it appeared the PUMA crowd was going to vote for McCain to get even with the Dems for NOT picking Hillary. Who knew that the bottom was going to fall out of the financial system and change the dynamics of the entire campaigns?

It will be interesting to see what happens tonight in the last debate. I'm willing to bet that McCain does bring up Ayres at least once, if not more, since if he does not he is going to be hit by his own backers and the media. It will seem at this point that he doesn't have the courage to confront Obama and "courage" is the last thing he has to run on. It is a no win for McCain now since the polls have shown that the issue only appears relevant to a small portion of his base, which would not have voted for Barack or any Democrat in any case.

This is also why the Republicans & their media tools are pushing the non-story of ACORN and voter fraud. They realize that they may in fact lose, and lose big, but want to dirty the victory before hand. It doesn't surprise me that FOX is running with this, since everything else they have thrown at Obama has not worked. The disappoint is seeing CNN give coverage to the issue, although a network that gives a platform to right-wing dimwad Glenn Beck would probably do anything so as to appear 'objective' on the issue. I expect them to bring in some 'experts' on the side of lynching so as not to offend some in the Republican base. Just my two cents!

On the personal front, Donna is feeling better, although she still has a cough. We're hoping to recover some of the money we put up for the cruise last weekend, and Carnival says they may let us roll some over for a future booking. We'll see how that works out. We're planning ahead for next year when we would like to take a Caribbean or Panama Canal cruise to celebrate our tenth anniversary. Can you believe that??

In case anybody is wondering, we are pretty much between the major fires out here. Actually nearer to the ones which burned thousands of acres in Camp Pendelton south of us. The other fires are pretty far north, but may effect the area where Elayne's brother lives, and may still as far as I know.

Probably have something to say tomorrow about the debate, especially if the Old Man takes a swing at Barack before it ends. :-)

Cindy Sheehan lambasts the Bankers' Bailout

I approve this message! Go Cindy!!

John McCain's Rage is a National Security Concern

I fully expect that we are going to see McCain lose it one of these days. Something which, in a way would be good for aht public to know about, but something the Senator has so far been able to control.

With the McCain/Palin campaign reaching the desperation phase in this election, they have announced publicly that they are going to 'turn the page' on the financial crisis and begin attacking Obama even more. If you can't get somebody on the issues attack their character, even if you have to make things up and take them out of context.

This video discusses the actual case of the Keating Five, in which John McCain was deeply involved. It's not quite fourteen minutes long, but should deliver enough information for people to make up their minds.

Check it out & pass it on!

It is not getting much play, except on some 'progressive' radio talk shows, but this article from the Army Times should get you thinking. Why, suddenly, would the Bush administration decide to bring these Army troops home to perform functions normally conducted by National Guard troops?


According to the article:

They may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control or to deal with potentially horrific scenarios such as massive poisoning and chaos in response to a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive, or CBRNE, attack.

Training for homeland scenarios has already begun at Fort Stewart and includes specialty tasks such as knowing how to use the “jaws of life” to extract a person from a mangled vehicle; extra medical training for a CBRNE incident; and working with U.S. Forestry Service experts on how to go in with chainsaws and cut and clear trees to clear a road or area.

The 1st BCT’s soldiers also will learn how to use “the first ever nonlethal package that the Army has fielded,” 1st BCT commander Col. Roger Cloutier said, referring to crowd and traffic control equipment and nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals without killing them.

Are we expecting something perhaps at the end of this month or in early November, that might...oh, I don't know...affect elections?

Just wondering.