What seems like a hundred years ago my dad, a pretty smart guy, taught me the difference between Republicans and Democrats.

A Republican doesn't do anything.  Nothing.  If something goes haywire, they wait for it to fix itself....you know, like a broken clock is right twice a day if you just leave it alone.  Their prime objective is to maintain the status-quo as they would like it to be.  Republicans want everyone to behave.

A Democrat does everything.  Lots of busywork.  If something goes haywire, they come up with 900 solutions and can't decide which one is best.....so, they end up doing nothing.  Their prime objective is their version of utopia, which of course, might not be utopia for everyone although they do try to please.  Democrats want everyone to be happy.

Basically, said my pa, being a Republican or a Democrat doesn't mean much.  A politician is a politician and that's what you should keep in mind when you listen to their speeches.

I reckon that's why I'm still an undeclared voter.

But, politics have changed since my dad's time.  It's all about  money now.  It's not about achieving goals or striving towards ideals or the betterment of the citizenry.  It's about how much money a candidate can generate for their party.

Well, I don't really give a shit how much money a candidate can raise to spend on getting elected.  That aspect of if seems so far out of sync with the function of what an elected representative is meant to do.  Their job is to reflect the wishes of their constituents, not represent the wishes of their donors.  Their job is to respond to the people, not bend to the will of religious leaders.  They are supposed to listen to their public and respect their demands, not take instructions from a 'higher order' and carry out their bidding.

Something went horribly wrong somewhere.

A few years ago, Sen. Ted Kennedy gave an extended interview on NPR.  I forget the name of the interviewer and I cannot find the links, although it was recently re-broadcast around the time of his death.  But, he spoke of how politics had taken a turn for the bad about 40 years ago, about how politics no longer served the people, but served the master instead.

Well, the way I look at it, there are more of 'us'....people....than there are masters and I'm asking.....

Why have we subjugated ourselves?

Man, I need a smoke.

I live in District 1 of Michigan; Bart Stupak territory.  I am completely stunned by the inclusion of the Stupak-Pitts Amendment into the House HCR bill.

People on the left are calling him a Blue Dog.  He isn't.  Over on the right, they call him a liberal.  He isn't.  Fer cryin' out loud.  If he's not one or the other, then I reckon that makes him a moderate.

I voted for him in 1992 and every two years after that.  It was him or the other guy, a Republican, and that sure wasn't gonna happen.   But, I was relatively happy with Bart's efforts.  I was especially pleased with his involvement in getting the Great Lakes Compact resolved.  He is pro-active when it comes to protecting the valuable natural resources of his district.  I mean, he called up Canada and yelled at them to stop burying their toxic waste so close to their edge of Lake Huron. 

• He voted for the Afghanistan War but against the Iraq War. 
• He is for the withdraw of troops in Iraq. 
• He thinks the US should bring and end to the violence in Darfur. 
• He has taken a stand to end human rights abuses.
• He's pro-union.
• He is for the improvement of many social programs. 

And, according to Project Smart Vote's Political Courage Test, here's the kicker:

"Congress can provide health care by simply allowing all Americans access to voluntarily 'buy in' to the Medicare, Medicaid, Children's Health Initiative and Federal Employees Health Benefit Package."

Yeah.  He would have been a strong supporter of single-payer.  Actual Health Care Reform....not Insurance Reform.

So, then he co-sponsored this amendment, gumming up the works, causing a lot of anguish among those who have been so closely following the whole procedure.  He is Catholic, so his views on abortion are not unexpected.  But, he is not in D.C. to represent the Catholic Church.  He's there to represent his constituents, of which I am one.  And, I am not a Catholic, not a Christian, and I am Pro-Choice.  I am also very pro-environment, pro-union and a socialist.

I don't know who I'm going to vote for in 2010.  Stupak has said that he doesn't care if standing firm on this issue costs him the next election.  I think he's serious.

I am very disappointed in my C-Street congressman. 
I feel like I've been schtupped.
Schtupped by Stupak.

Man, I need a cigarette.

There has been some discussion about education on this side of the Cafe over the past few days so it was kinda karma funny I was forwarded this e-mail from a long time friend about the subject.

I have left it exactly as I received it, except I omitted the photo at the top.  (It was a class posed outside their 1895 Kansas schoolhouse.)   If you have already received this e-mailing, I apologize for wasting your time.  But, I did think it was interesting and could foster more discussion of our national education policies and what is good about our school systems and what is......well, not so good.

Quite frankly, I am beginning to wonder if Arne has the stuff.  I don't really give a crap if he has a good jump shot or not.  I'm having "Heckuva job, Brownie" flashbacks and we just don't want to go there, now do we?


(Sorry for the all cap intro.......that's how it came in the mail.:o)



COULD YOU PASS THE TEST LISTED BELOW?
 
WELL NO BECAUSE OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM HAS CHOSEN NOT TO TEACH IT.
IT'S CALLED "DUMBING DOWN".

EDUCATION ADMINISTRATORS TODAY TEND TO TEACH TO THE LOWER HALF OF THE STUDENTS TO GET GRADUATION RATES UP.  THAT'S WHY SOME SCHOOLS HAVE ADOPTED "HONORS, OR ADVANCED" COURSES, WHICH ARE PROBABLY EQUIVALENT TO A '50'S TO MID '60'S CURRICULUM!


What it took to get an 8th grade education in 1895...

Remember when grandparents and great-grandparents stated that they only had an 8th grade education? Well, check this out. Could any of us have passed the 8th grade in 1895?

This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina , Kansas , USA . It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina and reprinted by the Salina Journal.   

                               8th Grade Final Exam: Salina , KS - 1895
  
                                                Grammar (Time, one hour)
1. Give nine rules for the use of capital letters.
2. Name the parts of speech and define those that have no modifications.
3. Define verse, stanza and paragraph
4. What are the principal parts of a verb? Give principal parts of 'lie,''play,' and 'run.'
5. Define case; illustrate each case.
6 What is punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of punctuation.
7 - 10 Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.
 
                                       Arithmetic (Time,1 hour 15 minutes)
 
1.. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
2. A wagon box is 2 ft. Deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft.. Wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3,942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1,050 lbs. For tare?
4. District No 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?
5. Find the cost of 6,720 lbs. Coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft.. Long at $20 per metre?
8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance of which is 640 rods?
10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receip
t
                                   U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)
 
1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided
2.. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus   
3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
4. Show the territorial growth of the United States   
5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas   
6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.
7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton , Bell , Lincoln , Penn, and Howe?
8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, 1865.
 
                                  Orthography (Time, one hour)
                            [Do we even know what this is??]

1. What is meant by the following: alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, syllabication
2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?
3. What are the following, and give examples of each: trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals
4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u.' (HUH?)
5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e.' Name two exceptions under each rule.
6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.
7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: bi, dis-mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, sup.
8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.
9. Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, site, sight, fane, f ain, feign, vane , vain, vein, raze, raise, rays..
10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication. 
 
                                   Geography (Time, one hour)
 
1 What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas ?
3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
4. Describe the mountains of North America   
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia , Odessa , Denver , Manitoba , Hecla , Yukon , St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco   
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.
7. Name all the republics of Europe and give the capital of each.
8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?
9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.
10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth

Notice that the exam took FIVE HOURS to complete.

Gives the saying 'he only had an 8th grade education' a whole new meaning, doesn't it?!   Also shows you how poor our education system has become and, NO, I don't have the answers.

                                *******AMEND BELOW*******

Pseudocyants pointed out in comments below that the e-mail I cited in this blog is listed in Snopes as false.  This is an important distinction and it was not my intention to lead anyone astray.  I'm glad to be able to clear up the problem, and make amends and apologies.
 
(Thanks, cyants.   I visit Snopes frequently.  That I did not this time was my bad.)

What I was trying to do, and obviously failed at, by copying this e-mail into the blog was to raise the point of our failing educational system.  I wasn't really expecting anyone to take the actual test. :o)  I didn't.   I've been out of school too long to even want to try.

What I was hoping for was to further the discussion that had been ongoing over the past few days about the decline of the quality of our education system,  how we are failing our students, how they are losing their edge as we face a more global economy.

Our kids are not going to be able to keep up if we don't give them a solid base to build from.  Norseman had a blog up the other day outlining some solutions.  And in cmaukonen's blog the point was raised about how we learn to learn.

Arne Duncan is the new U.S. Secretary of Education, yet he is not an educator.  He's an administrator.  He's only interested in the bottom line, as in...test scores....when we know that test scores are not a good measurement of intelligence or how a student will function once out in the 'real world'. 

In the intro of the e-mail there was mention of "education administrators today tend to teach to the lower half of the students to get graduation rates up".   (That alone should have sent me to Snopes right away because administrators don't teach .)  But, it's a valid point, I think.  Administrators are having teachers aim at improving the test levels of the lowest scoring students and in the process are leaving the non-struggling students out in the cold, many of them becoming discouraged and bored out of their skulls.   They are not given an opportunity to push their own intellectual curiosity because they are made to wait for their classmates to "catch-up".

So, yes, we are failing our young people by giving them an inferior education.

We must find some workable solutions.

That's was what I was trying to say by way of the copy and paste e-mail.
 

The top military officials are first and foremost MILITARY.  They're in the war business.  It's what they do.  So, of course they are asking for more troops in Afghanistan.  It may seem, to some, that President Obama is hesitating in his decision about troop increase in Afghanistan, but if it was me making this decision, it wouldn't be hesitation holding things up; it would be the waiting for better Intel.

I would not think it wise to depend wholly upon my war advisers because their view is limited by their profession.  It's no fun being a general in peace time....there's nothing to do.  Well, at least there is nothing to do that involves blowing shit up, which is what military personnel are trained for.  I mean, do they take boot camp classes on international diplomacy, finance, and cultural differences or do they learn how to shoot a gun?  But, in wartime the top brass keep busy being busy; they have purpose. 

So, there is no surprise, at least not to me, that McChrystal wants more troops for Afghanistan, because if he tries really, really hard, he just knows he can win, plus he actually gets out from behind a desk.  I mean, really.  When is the last time any wartime general in mid-campaign said, "This is useless.  I'm done.  Let's go home."?

But, Karzai's government is corrupt.  Everybody knows it's corrupt.  I held out a little bit of hope that Abdullah Abdullah could become a player, but that hope was dashed when he dropped out of the election.  Probably to save his own hide.....and I ain't blaming anybody for not wanting to get killed before their time.

So, why should we be there to help a corrupt government hold onto power?  I can't think of a reason.  And I hope President Obama has this question in mind while he is deliberating.  I also hope Secretary of State Clinton is wisely using her skills in deciphering intent of Karzai's government.

Our military is stretched awful thin right now, but our saber still rattles the loudest. How long will that last if we keep sending troops into war? We are not a bottomless pit of eligible soldier material.  I think we should begin withdrawing.  Start sending our equipment home and start removing troops.  Our military's basic function is, after all, to be used as a defense.......not as an offense.  They exist for our well-being.  Not the Afghans or the Iraqis well-being.  Yes, I know I'm being simplistic and we have bases all over the world 'protecting our interests' and blah, blah, blah.

If the Afghan people want a transparent, central government, let them make one.   If it is what they want, they have to call upon their own will and power to build it, like we empowered ourselves to build our own government in our colonial times. 

If what they want is what they had, a loose collection of tribal governments, let them go back to it unimpeded.  I know 'tribal government' sounds scary to most of us.  It sounds wild and unpredictable and you just don't want to be anywhere around a tribal government because you might get your throat slit at any moment or they will eat your liver raw or something like that.  But, that is not how tribal government works.  It's an effective government form that functioned well enough for centuries in Afghanistan and since it is their territory, it should be their choice. If they choose to take control of their future by building a central government of their own devise, and find they need our help, and ask for it, then we can go back and help, whether it is with our military aid or our financial aid.

We can leave.

We can return.  If invited.

Otherwise.  We can leave.

Last May I published a blog containing a letter that my great-grandmother had received from the soldier and friend who had been with her son on the day he was fatally wounded during the Second Battle of the Marne in 1918.  Relating the story of my Great-Uncle Harry was a way to honor all the fallen on Memorial Day.

Now, to honor the veterans, the ones that made it home,  on this Veteran's Day 2009 I would like to continue the story by taking a closer look at the writer of the letter.
                      
Although Mr. Elder was later wounded in WWI, he made it home to Indiana in one piece, living on a 120 acre farm and working for General Electric until 1955.  He also built and ran a filling station along the road near his farm.  In his final years he would spend winters in Florida and go fishing nearly every day even though he had become hearing and vision impaired.  Although he never had children of his own, he married a widow with three kids and they all considered him their dad.   He was a month shy of his 101st birthday when he died.  How did I come to know all these details?  Serendipity, I suppose.  A spot of good luck, perhaps.  But, I have come to think of it as a bunch of tiny miracles strung together.  This is the only explanation that gives me satisfaction.

Read more »

Man, I am so glad I'm not in the Wisdom Dispensing business.  Especially not with a dilemma like this one facing several groups in and around Nantucket Sound.

• Windmills.  It's getting hard to find a place where they are welcome and if we want to keep the lights on, wind energy is one beautiful thing.  Green tech.  How can something that benefits in so many ways be considered a pariah?

Windmills for renewable energy = good.

• Local economy.  With the high national unemployment rate, retaining jobs is imperative.  Folks gotta eat and pay rent.  The local businesses are concerned new regulations, that would result if Nantucket Sound was turned into a Traditional Cultural Property, will hamper the economy.  They have a point.

Viable local economy = good.

• Wampanoag.  The four directions, north, south, east and west, are traditionally significant for a good many Native American tribes.  Facing east figures prominently for the Wampanoag who need an unimpeded eastern view in a particular area of the Sound to carry out their religious ceremonies.  But, the proposed windmills are gonna be in the way.

Religious Freedom = good.

So, we have windmills on one side, local businesses on the other, and Injuns in the middle facing east.....and everybody is right! 

So who gets to be righter?

Like I said, I'm glad I'm not in the Wisdom Dispensing business and I have to admit, in this particular instance, I have no idea which path I'd take.

The title of this blog was prompted by several recent blogs here on TPM that sort of strung themselves together in my mind. 

First, from TheraP,  came two entries relating the story of Terry-Lynn from another blogger, Doxy.  This led to tmccarthy publishing Modern Day Trail of Tears. Today there is Rutabaga Ridgepole's Detroit Demolition Disneyland about the decay of the Motor City, once a bastion of the middle class.

Somehow, in my mind, these blogs melded together for me and it made me think of loss.  Loss of life.  Loss of ability.  Loss of caring.   Loss of ourselves.

I don't know what the purist's definition of middle class is;  to me, being middle class meant earning enough money to generously cover your needs, have some left to put in a savings account, a little bit to have fun with, but most of all, it meant being able to pay taxes.

I know I'm probably in the minority here, but I've always considered it an honor to pay taxes.  To give a portion of my earned dollars to the government in return for the work it does on my behalf.  I do not necessarily agree with how government spends every dollar I send them, but I do not begrudge the dollars I send them.

The tax dollars that the Great Middle Class sent off to Washington, D. C. helped to build a strong nation.  Oh, yeah, we had problems, but we were solid underneath.  We felt secure.  We were sure of our identity and destiny.  Maybe, just maybe, we were a little uppity on the world stage, but we were kind, too.  Generous.  I liked that about us.

That's all gone now.

The Middle Class has been wiped out.  Genocide.  I don't think that is too strong of a term.  Genocide, a relatively recent word introduced into our vocabulary, is defined by the United Nations, in part, like this:

 The convention defines genocide as any act committed with the idea of destroying in whole or in part a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. This includes such acts as:

• Killing members of the group
• Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group
• Deliberately inflicting conditions calculated to physically destroy the group (the whole group or even part of the group)
• Forcefully transferring children of the group to another group

Deliberately inflicting conditions calculated to destroy a group.  Is this not what happened to the American Middle Class?  Were they not deliberately eliminated by a plan of the wealthy to absorb their incomes?  I mean, why go after poor people?  They haven't got anything worth taking.  But, the Middle Class......

When tmccarthy published Modern Day Trail of Tears, the title really grabbed me.  The original Trail of Tears story is a cruel one. A lot of people don't even want to think about it, but it happened.  There is no escape from history, except by revision, but thankfully there are too many people who will not allow that to happen.  I include bloggers in this group.

Thinking about the original Trail of Tears, a deliberate attempted genocide, made me correlate it with what has happened, is happening, with the Great Middle Class of America.

The Middle Class has been systematically removed from its wealth like the Cherokee were removed from their lands.  The Middle Class has been force marched into the Poor Class.  Families that derived their Middle Class income from two jobs, especially manufacturing jobs, have been decimated with very little hope of recovering.  Our manufacturing base has been crippled by greedy owners shipping good paying jobs to where cheap labor abounds.  The sentence I just typed has been typed by others a million times, I'll bet.  But, has it had any effect?  No.  Just like protests against the forced removal of the Cherokee from their homes and onto the Trail of Tears, all will be ignored to benefit those behind the scenes that hold the power.  And now they hold all the wealth.

Anyway, today, this is what is on my mind.  It saddens me.  It angers me.  An entire class of people, essential to the general welfare of the country, decimated. 

If that's not genocide, what is it?

A little something for Devil's Night, for Halloween, for All Hallow's Eve, an Injun storyteller's favorite legend to tell at this time of year.  The Windego.  Retold by me.  And pronounce like this:  Win-dee-goh.  It's a rather long story so you might want to get a cuppa hot cider, spiced or spiked, your choice, get comfortable where you sit, turn the lights down a little.  Set the mood.

After all, it's time for trick or treat......


                                                   .................................hahahahaha.

Read more »

Fuhgeddaboud da Blue Dogs for the moment.  It's the moderate Dems in the House that are farking us over right now in the HCR debate.  And it's that old bug-a-boo abortion that is the major sticking point.

40 Dems line up against federal abortion funding in healthcare bill.

Lead by Bart Stupak (D-MI)

The Republicans are giggling.

Here is C-SPAN video and closed captioning transcript of Stupak's interview yesterday where he discusses his perspective and responds to phone calls and e-mails during the program.

Now the Heritage Foundation is distorting Stupak's stance by cherry picking blurbs from last weekends Cheyboygan, MI townhall to make it seem he will torpedo the entire bill if he doesn't get "an opportunity to vote on an amendment stripping abortion from health care reform"  That isn't true.  The Heritage Foundation is lying.

I hope everybody on Capitol Hill is happy because they've just given me a headache.  So, I'm sharpening the tines on my pitchfork just in case.  In the meantime, I'm repeating my mantra....

We will get significant HCR
We will get a decent public option
Lobbyists will burn in hell

It is written.

I thought I was done with the Guantanamo thing in Michigan, but I came across this article in CQ 

In the first post I put up in the Guantanamo series, I pointed out that Rep. Pete Hoekstra was using the situation to his advantage in a bid to be the next governor of Michigan.  And now, nearly three months later, Rep. Anna G. Eshoo of California, is of a like mind, referring to his intention to run during the hearing.

 Hoekstra didn't like it much, but that's too bad. 

Maybe if Dave Munson, the guy that headed up the opposition to Gitmo detainees at Standish Max, hadn't been invited as a witness to a hearing about "the executive branch violating the rules for keeping Congress 'fully and currently informed' of intelligence activities" the connection would not have been made. 

The Republicans said,  "Munson would illustrate how the Obama administration's refusal to share information with the intelligence panels was part of a broader problem with executive branch transparency."  

At last report, detainees at Standish Max was a no-go, so why was Munson brought in to re-hash a dead issue?  Could not the Republicans have brought in a better example?  The Democrats did.  Some former staffers from the Church Committee.  It's like the 3th grade science fair....the brainy kid brings in the foaming volcano and the doofus brings in a rock from the driveway.

Although....it was a Fox News report that brought out the no-go Gitmo North story.   And, ya know, I didn't find any other major media service come out with a similar story.....

Hmmmm.

Interesting.

I don't hate opera, but I never understood it.  I reckon it wouldn't be the first time a diva belted out a second verse just when you thought the dang thing was over.

Twice a year, sometimes more because I do have vision problems, I visit an eye doctor.  Every time...and I mean every single time...the exam starts out with my face smashed against that...that...that clicking eye thingie.  I don't know what it's called, but most likely everyone knows what I mean.  You look through the eye holes and read the chart on the wall, then the examiner clicks different lenses into place and you read the chart again.

Click, click.
"Is it better this way?"
Click, click.
"Or this way?"
Click, click.
"This way?"
Click, click.
"Or this way?"
Click, click.
"Number five?"
Click, click.
"Or number six?  Which is better?"
Click, click, click, click, click.
"How about this way?"

Then, at the end of this forever, you find out if you need different glasses or not.

"This is your health care reform."
Click, click.
"With a public option?"
Click, click.
"Or no public option?"
Click, click.
"Weak public option?"
Click, click.
"Robust public option?"
Click, click.
"Or no public option?"
Click, click.
"With a trigger?"
Click, click.
"How about with a co-op?"
Click, click.
"Or no public option?"
Click, click.
"Public option or co-op?  Which is better?"
Click, click, click, click, click.
"Decent public option with an opt-out?"

At the end of what seems like forever in this back and forth discussion, when the vote is counted, when the bill is signed.....

We will have significant HCR.  
We will have a decent public option.  
And lobbyists will burn in hell.

It is written.

Once upon a time there lived a girl in a magical land.  Now, this girl was just an ordinary girl, she wasn't a fancy princess or anything cool like that.  Just a girl, one of many, who lived in a magical land.

Of course, there were fancy princesses living in this land, too.  Lots of 'em.  And one could easily believe that the ordinary girls might be jealous of the fancy princesses, but it wasn't that way at all.  Although, this particular ordinary girl secretly coveted a possession that all  the fancy princesses had but the ordinary girls did not:  a sweet little pony.

All the fancy princesses had a sweet little pony of their very own but the ordinary girls were ponyless.  Completely and utterly ponyless.  It was very sad, when you thought about the ponyless ordinary girls.

One day the ordinary girl whispered her secret desire to a group of friends.  "I'd like a pony, too!"

Her friends laughed out loud.  "What!  Are you nuts?  You can't have a pony!  Yer just an ordinary girl and ordinary girls don't get to have sweet little ponies."

"But, I want one," she said, "And there's no reason I can't have one.  It's not like it's against magical land law or anything for me to have a pony."

"Oh, there's tons of reasons you can't have a pony!" the friends exclaimed.

"Name one," the girl demanded, but the friends could not name one good reason why an ordinary girl could not have a pony.  And, becoming emboldened by their silence, the ordinary girl marched right over to the nearest pony dealership and asked to see the dealer in charge.

"I would like a sweet little pony," she said clearly, "To go, please.  And I would prefer a spotted one."

The dealer snorted, because he had seen this kind of demanding behavior before.  "Show me yer princess crown and you'll get yer pony."

The ordinary girl frowned.  "I do not have a crown.  I'm not a fancy princess.  I'm just an ordinary girl who wants a sweet little pony."

The dealer snorted again.  "Look, kid.  You can't have a pony because you don't have what it takes.  Fancy princesses have acres and stables and silos with grain.  They have sturdy fences and watering troughs and gold plated pony carts.  They have what it takes to keep a pony."  The dealer laughed in a very rude manner.  "You, on the other hand, ain't got shit."

Well, this was true.  So, the ordinary girl walked away, sad and dejected, until it occurred to her that if she worked hard and saved her money she could buy pony food and a place for it to live.

She got a job.  She worked forty hours a week steady and volunteered for all the overtime that came up.  She also sold Tupperware on the weekends.  Pretty soon she had enough savings to buy a few pony sized acres.  She saved some more and built a cute little pony sized barn.  She built a little hayloft and filled it with little pony sized bales of hay.  She put in a watering trough.  And, she ordered a nifty wooden pony cart with custom upholstery.  She did everything she was supposed to do according to accepted pony regulations except of course, she was not a fancy princess.

She returned to the pony dealership and looked over the inventory, picking out a very pretty gray pony with white spots and shiny black hooves.  "I'll take that one," she said to the pony dealer, pointing out her prize.

"No, you won't, " said the pony dealer,  "You cannot have a pony."
"Why can't I have a damn pony?"
"It's not that you can't," the dealer said smugly, "It's that you're not a princess."
"Look, asshole," she began defiantly, "Ordinary girls in other countries get to have sweet little ponies and they're not princesses.  I want a damn pony!"
"Ordinary girls do not have pony pastures."
"I do!  I have several pony sized acres in the countryside!"
"Ordinary girls do not have stables."
"I do!  I have built a snug little pony sized barn!"
"Ordinary girls do not have pony food."
"I do!  I have a good supply of pony sized hay bales and more!"
"Fence?"
"Got it!"
"Trough?"
"Got it!"
"Pony cart?"
"GOT IT!"
The dealer gave the ordinary girl a sly look.  "Crown?" he sneeringly asked.
The ordinary girl gave him the stink eye.  "I do not have a crown but I WANT A DAMN PONY!"

The dealer sighed.  "How about this...I'll allow you to rent one of my ponies.  You can take it home, feed it, let it stay in your barn.  But, the second you need to hitch it up to your pony cart and go anywhere, I'll be wanting my pony back."

The ordinary girl stared at the pony dealer very hard.  "You know," she said tersely, "I only look stupid.  I'm not gonna pay you cash money for the privilege of  feeding and sheltering one of your ponies if you won't let me hitch it up to my pony cart and take a tool around the magical land."

"Then I suggest you get yourself a chicken  because you ain't getting any pony from me....and don't bother asking any of the other sweet little pony dealers because we're a personhood now and we got rahts.  We don't have to sell you nuh-thin'."

So, the ordinary girl got a chicken because she did not want her acres and barn to go for naught.  Having a chicken was okay, but it was too small to pull the pony cart, so she planted flowers in the pony cart and parked it on the front lawn for decoration.  As the time passed, she would stare at her free range chicken and think about how if she ever got sick, she could make chicken soup and it would make her feel better.  But, if she ever got really, really sick, the chicken would do her no good at all, for the wee hen could not pull the pony cart loaded with flowers plus a terribly sick person to the Charity Hospital.

Nope.  Having a chicken was just not going to fix anything.

"I want a damn pony!" the ordinary girl said for the seven hundred and eighty-sixth time.

Meanwhile, as the ordinary girl had been busy building her farm, the other ordinary girls had been taking notice of what was going on.  At first they all laughed.  But, when they saw all the hard work the ordinary girl was putting into her efforts to get a sweet little pony they began to go, "Hmmmm."

Pretty soon, they were talking amongst themselves and saying that they would each like to have a pony, too.  And why could they not have a pony?  Like it had been said before; it was not as if having a sweet little pony was against magical land law.  The only reason they were denied a pony was because they were not fancy princesses.

That just didn't seem fair or equal or noble or honorable or even half way nice.  Yep.  The other ordinary girls began building their own pony farms and quite without them knowing it, a pony farm movement was born.

Now, the leader of the magical land had heard reports about the ordinary girl and her desire to have a sweet little pony.  "Nothing will come of this," the leader's advisers advised,  "It's been tried before.  Fuhgedaboudit."

"We shall see," said the leader thoughtfully, and the leader kept an eye on the ordinary girl and how she built up her farm and how the other ordinary girls built up their farms and became quite vocal in their demands to have a damn pony.  They had demonstrations and rallies and would march side by side with their chickens who were equipped with tiny pitchforks.

Truly, the ordinary girls and their movement could not be ignored and the leader thought some more, deciding that the ordinary girls were right to want sweet little ponies.

When the pony dealers heard which way the wind was blowing, they asked to speak to the leader.  "You seriously can't be thinking of giving ponies to these ordinary girls, can you?" they bellowed.

The leader gave the dealers the stink eye.  "Why?  Would you have a problem with that if I did?"

"But...but....but, they're NOT princesses!"

"There is no magical land law that states that ordinary girls can NOT have a sweet little pony."

"But....but....but, we were working on a big plan to rent out our ponies to these girls and then snatch them back when they needed to go anywhere!"

"You know," said the leader,  "That's mean.   That's just flat ass mean.  I really hate you guys.  Get out of my castle and take that bad smell with ya."

The leader called all advisers for a conference.  "Sweet little ponies are not exclusive to fancy princesses according to magical land law.  Ordinary girls should have ponies, too.  So should ordinary boys.  Pony dealers smell bad and from now on they shall have to pay a bad smell tax if they want to stay in the pony business.  If they do not like this deal and cannot make it work, well then, it's gonna suck to be them because I will just expand pony Magicare and pony Magicaid and all the pony dealers will be S.O.L.  I would like you advisers to write up a decree stating this statement I have just stated and nail it to the castle door where everybody can read it."   The leader  looked worried for a second.  "Um,  Everybody in this magical land can read, can they not?"

"Everybody except the football players," the advisers advised.

"In that case, make it a pictograph," the leader declared and went fishing.

Of course, the ordinary girl was ecstatic when she learned she would be able to have a damn pony.  All the ordinary people were happy.  The fancy princesses were happy, too, but that was because most of them didn't know what was going on.  After all, they already had their ponies and didn't give a crap.  

The ordinary girl found a nice gray pony with white spots and shiny black hooves and took it home to live with her on her farm.  She also kept the chicken for she had become very fond of it.  She never made soup.

And so, they all lived happily ever after, even the pony dealers, because business was never better.

Well, happily ever after until it was time for immigration reform.  Holy crap. I don't even wanna think about that.

The End

Net Neutrality.   This was one of those things that I didn't know if I was fer or agin until I did some research.  Holy crap.  Talk about information overload.  Took me all day to sift through it, but I concluded that I'm fer it.  

On this upcoming Thursday the FCC is supposed to vote on taking the first step toward approving formal net neutrality rules.  They've just been floating along with informal Internet principles for four years, but now they find themselves having to make it more concrete because telecom giant Comcast has challenged their authora-tay.

Yeah.  Big business is in there wanting loose regs so they can fark us over a little bit more, make us pay for what we already have.  Oh, and look who wants to help 'em......the Polar Pound Puppies, our friends, the Blue Dogs.

Here is an excerpt from the letter they sent to the FCC:

The FCC should "carefully consider the full range of consequences that government action may have on network investment," the Democratic letter said. "In light of the growth and innovation in new applications that the current [regulatory] regime has enabled, as compared to the limited evidence demonstrating any tangible harm, we would urge you to avoid tentative conclusions which favor government regulation."

Now, I don't know much about anything and I've got a boat load of evidence to prove it, but I do know this:  If the Blue Dogs are agin it, I'm fer it.

What makes this even more confusing for me is there was another letter sent to the FCC by a coalition of minority groups indicating they had some of the same concerns as the Blue Dogs.

Huh?

Minority groups and Blue Dogs barkin' up the same tree?   Did I fall into an alternate universe and not notice?  That's nuts!  It can't be right.

But, it was:

"As organizations that serve communities that are among the most severely impacted by a lack of access to technology, we urge you to keep your number one focus on the need to get everyone connected," said the letter, signed by representatives of the Hispanic Technology and Telecommunications Partnership, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Asian American Justice Center and other groups. "We are concerned that some of the proposed regulations on the Internet could, as applied, inhibit the goal of universal access and leave disenfranchised communities further behind."

Hmmmm.  Is somebody being played here?  Why, yes.  Yes, they are.

Farking astroturfers.   Plus the big telecoms have saturated D.C. with lobbyists to influence the outcome of net neutrality rules.  And of course the minority groups and Blue Dogs fell for their shtick.  Lobbyists are effective.....that's why they proliferate.  Lobbyists will  be outlawed one day!  I just know it!  Awww, crap.  I think I just fell into that alternate universe again.

Why are there so many dumb asses in Congress?  There.....now I'm back in reality.

My reality is this:  My PC is literally the last stop on the phone line.  I mean literally.  The physical phone line ends at my house, it doesn't go any farther and yes, I live in the boonies.  I'm lucky I have dial-up.  On a good day, I connect at 26.9 kbps.  Usually, it's 24 kbps, so all those lovely embedded vids in the blogs are mostly wasted on me.  I was told that DSL would be available for me in 2008....I'm still waiting.  Satellite, although still pricey, is more of a realistic option than before so things are looking up. (Pun intended)  So, this net neutrality stuff had me concerned that I was going to be stuck in dial-up hell forever or have to pay higher service fees because of my remote location.

But, there's one thing that keeps me looking on the bright side of the net remaining neutral.  My Prez wants me to have broadband.


Links of interest

Haaavaaaaad says yes to net neutrality.

The part of no repeats itself.

 And repeats itself again

Good Stuff.

My hair caught on fire today.  This is nothing out of the ordinary.  My hair catches on fire at least five times a week.  Metaphorically, of course.

Today I'm gettin' the hot brain from the economy.  The first news story I read this morning had this for a headline:
Colorado minimum wage to drop as living costs fall.

The minimum wage in Colorado is dropping four cents, or about a buck sixty a week for a forty hour work week.  And of course, the employers could always keep the wage as it is now so the werkin' stiffs don't have to absorb the loss.  So, while the story made me shake my head, I was not really on a rampage.  

I saved that for this headline:
Major U.S. firms on route to award record pay in '09

"According to the Wall Street Journal, employees at 23 top U.S. investment banks, hedge funds, asset managers and stock and commodities exchanges were likely to earn about 20 percent more than they did last year."

Yeah.  So the person earning the least can somehow make do with a little bit less, but the people making the most don't have to because they get a whole lot more without even trying.  If there's any fairness in these situations you'd need a super-duper magnifying glass and a pair of jewelers tweezers to pick it out.  

And so the gulf widens.  The rich get richy-er and the poor get poory-er.

I'm so glad Obama says:
'Our Economy Is In Better Shape Today Than When I Took Office'

What?  WHAT?

Am I living in the same country as the Prez?  

This is the scary part.  I was always asking myself this same question when w was in office.

Once we get done with the health insurance reform, you know, that thing that has nothing to do with health care, maybe then we can concentrate on delivering a model of care that actually helps people be healthy, get healthy, stay healthy.  It seems so little to ask, does it not?

And yet....here we are.  What number are we now in the world in terms of healthy citizens?  I forget.  Doesn't matter.  It's all crap numbers anyway because health is not a damn contest.

Obviously, we need a different health care model because the one we have now ain't werkin' so hot.  I mean, we run around and fix this little outbreak and that little scourge and scratch our heads and wonder why there's a trend toward a certain kind of cancer in this area but not in that area and little kids are still getting brain damage from eating lead paint chips.  There's sick people all over the place and it's not necessarily from poor genes or bad luck.  Our atmosphere is sick.  Our soil is sick.  Our water is sick.  Our society is sick.  So, of course, we are going to become that in which we live.  Sick.

We need a different health care model other than the finger in the leaky damn one we have now.  There are all kinds of models to choose from.  Individual counties and states have developed programs to learn from and on a bigger level there are the Medicare/Medicaid programs as well as the Veterans Health Administration.  Active military has Tri-Care.  But there is another nationwide health delivery system model that is routinely overlooked.  One that is more holistic in its approach, taking extra steps to provide not only medical care but preventative care and spiritual care as well, incorporating the needs of the whole person...not just the blood and guts part.

Read more »