Kerry and Obama

Notice any similarities between Sen Kerry in 2004 and President Obama post 2008? On the one hand you had a decorated combat veteran running against an AWOL TANG and the other a "not-white" elected President - neither of whom is a GOPper. Bandaides and Birtherism.

Cretins.

AWOL Media

NBC And "The Donald"

I just got done watching Lawrence O'Donnell get done imploring NBC Entertainment to have something to say about Donald Trump and itself. He was considerably more eloquent than I could be but I'd like to go a bit farther.

Since NBC rode "The Donald's" personality to profit and provided a platform for the furtherance of his public personnna it would behoove them to have something to say about racism, dog-whistles, and generally rotten personal ethics ... along with getting as much distance between them and this cretin as possible. Shoot, I'd probably even let them get away with some "Who coulda known," crap in the process.

So, Now There's Birth Certificate ... And?

Well, it seems the drumbeat of stupid finally provoked the President to get a copy of his "long form." It is a fact that nothing would satisfy some, but some will now pivot into the more ... blatant ... racism that The Donald is now espousing. OK, he was born in Hawaii but he sure didn't earn his way. Not into school, not into Harvard Law, not into graduation and certainly not into the White House. One of them couldn't - it just isn't possible; especially if the Donald couldn't get into Harvard...

What does this say to a minority? What exactly would one have to do to in order to be measured a valid success? I've just spent the last month travelling across the deep South West and Old South and I've had just about enough of this shit to last a lifetime without the media playing stupid along with the GOPpers.

ARRRGGHHHH

Takng A Little Ride

Some few people may have noticed a bit over a month of no posts on this blog. Well, Harley Davidson played a rather large role in that lack. Back in March two friends and I faced with the presence of snow and stinking weather forecasts trailered our bikes south to Las Vegas for a week of riding without frostbite.

***Click the pics for full size***

That would be the Grand Canyon shot from the South Face. We rode a 580 mile loop from Las Vegas around the North Face to the South Face through Flagstaff back to Las Vegas. The problem with the North Face was that it was closed due to snow, deep, deep snow.



This piece includes a bit of the problem with the whole loop - Flagstaff is about a mile elevation and the Grand Canyon is up hill from there - ie. damn cold on a motorcycle. You'd think that if there were two live brain cells talking to each other amongst three boys from Baker City, OR at 3500 ft elevation surrounded by mountains that this little factoid would have entered our thinking. Nope. Popsicles.

Riding around Las Vegas for a week certainly doesn't explain a month. That would have a lot to do with my thinking process that included being south of snow and my son's home in Bartow, Florida about 40 miles east of Tampa. A map was generated which used "other than Interstates" diagonally from Las Vegas to Bartow. Quickly, Las Vegas - Phoenix - Show Low, AZ - Roswell, NM - Lubbock, TX - Dallas, TX - Lufkin, TX - Alexandria, LA - Baton Rogue, LA - New Orleans French Quarter - and I-10 to Tallahassee, FL and I-75 to Bartow, FL. The return trip duplicated the route minus I-75 & I-10 running up into GA east of Tallahassee and cutting across GA & MS & LA by way of Dothan, AL to Natchez, LA. The entire trip, including the Las Vegas riding totalled just over 8,000 miles with the side trip down to Key West, FL and other tourist type things in FL.

My object in the trip was to use full access roads, primarily US Highways and to a lesser extent State Routes. A motorcycle is not a reasonable method of short travel times. Given that, the opportunity to stop in smaller places and meet folks from "real life" as opposed to Freeway stops and to see the country closely pays dividends. The freeway portion of the first route was the result of a cold front in TX and northern LA - I just had to get south to near the Gulf to get away from freezing my hind end off, highs in the lower 40s are pretty brutal on a bike with no windshield or other cover when covering hundreds of miles per day. Both ways I averaged mid-400s miles per day a bit short of my goal of 500 miles, but interesting places and some cold weather interfered.



The VLA in New Mexico, not all that far from the infamous Roswell. From a distance some very large strange mushrooms out by the horizon, kinda spooky.



Kayaking east of Tampa, and yes that guy is a rather large alligator not a stone's throw away. My son and I were in a two-seater and spent around 4 hours seeing things up close and quiet.



A couple blocks from here and you're swimming to Cuba or getting your bike very wet in the waters off Key West. Mainland to Key West is 140 miles. This place is a sort of R-rated Disneyland mostly dedicated to separating you from your money, fun though. I don't guess there's any way to get farther from Baker City, OR.



This is the second time I've seen my model bike on the actual road. This was ridden by a gal in the Lakeland, FL HOG Chapter. I spotted the bike on the way to a rally in Leesburgh, FL.



I have no idea how many bikes were at the rally. For about a mile the street was parked both sides with bikes backed in side by side and about 6 blocks of downtown also had bikes parked side by side on the center line.



Before I left Las Vegas I had a 30K mile service and on the return trip the next 5K had turned over outside Roswell, NM so after spending the night Sunday morning I went to the Harley dealer to see about that. Closed. Being shut out of my service and Harley coffee I went to a nearby gas station to at least get coffee. This bunch rolled in and as per usual my bike invited conversation and the up shot was I went on a run with the Roswell Eagle Riders and Scuffy put me up for the night.



Monday morning I got my service at this dealer. Yes, aliens are, well, a thing there.



At least it was pretty warm up here. I suppose just being here made it worth a picture.



Northern Arizona and southern Utah are the Navajo Reservation and the country is spectacular - so much so that a camera doesn't really capture it. The wind eroded buttes and plateau faces make it easy to see how people could get mystical about the country.

The last day was 620 miles from Price, UT home and it involved once being over a thousand feet above the snow line, lots of cold and rain off and on including a down pour in Boise. A rough last day and one that made me very happy to be home from a trip that started 3/19 and ended 4/20.

Every place I spent any time I found people being nice to me. More than a couple times I had people trying to kill me with their vehicles, which is why you stay very alert. The bike performed flawlessly and a hat-tip is due some Harley dealers - Henderson, NV Harley (service), Lakeland, FL Harley (tire replacement), Roswell, NM Harley (service). This is about absolute friendliness, timeliness, and quality of service. I stopped at too many dealers to note for coffee, a stretch, and maybe a T-shirt and found with only a couple exceptions the same dedication to customers or just a Harley rider from far away. As I noted, this bike starts conversations, especially being a rare cruiser bike* so far from home.

*A cruiser has no windshield, faring, or built-on bags, rare is 2500 in the world ever. This is the FXSTSSE3 - Screaming Eagle Springer Soft-tail CVO (Custom Vehicles Operations). Screaming Eagle is Harley's performance and pretties division and everything on the bike is from them other than the stock main frame. It is a pretty hot-rod Harley with outstanding handling and power.

Roswell Eagle Riders

Politicians All The Same

Recently a commentor noted that after watching "Inside Job" he's decided all politicians are all the same. Well, I think that's a bit of a stretch considering Paul Ryan's plan, the Ohio/Michigan/Wisconsin mess, and the blatant support the rich Republican agenda.

That isn't exactly the same as saying that both or either Party is on your side. I suppose that short of hate, racism, and xenophobia; how much they're not on your side is the real issue. I'd love to be able to say that one of the Parties makes a point of looking out for the interests of those who lack real wealth. Yes, one can point out obvious exceptions and I'm happy to say a good chunk of the Oregon delegation fits that description; but outcomes are what matter. Outcomes suck regardless of which Party held the majority for the last 30 some years if wealth isn't your status.

Here's the real rub, and Republicans seem to understand it, the new middle will be somewhere between Democrats' half-hearted agenda and the new Republican lunacy. Much more of this crap and the middle will be somewhere to the right of Atilla the Hun.

GOP Defining Insanity

One of the "recovery community's" sayings has to do with insanity. 'Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results.' In regard to the "modern" GOP is would seem that both they and the voters suffer from mind boggling insanity. If it just stopped with a political party it would be bad enough.

What just kills me is that over the past four decades the GOP drives the country into a ditch and the Democrats partly dig it back out and the voters put the GOP back into that driver's seat. They then proceed to crash the car again and we're in a worse position than before since it was only partially repaired previously. As your shampoo bottle says, "wash, rinse, repeat."

I admit to some pretty strong feelings about the Democrats' inadequate ability or dedication to putting the wheels back on the wrecked car. I sure the hell don't understand, even with all the social warfare crap, the voters' decisions as demonstrations of sanity. Other than their self-labeling I cannot understand the idea of the GOP as being fiscally responsible and I sure can't see how their victims see it.

The Nuclear Power Solution

The news coming out of Japan is ugly and scary in regard to nuclear power. I'm willing to give on the arguement that that siting would address much of what's gone wrong in Japan. In this nation it isn't all that difficult to avoid tsunamis. It isn't exactly easy to stay away from fault lines and some of the quiet ones pack a real wallop when they do let loose. It does seem that the problems in Japan are due to flooding rather than shaking and that much is reassuring - to an extent.

The issue of safety is still real, one of the real expenses of a nuke plant is just that - not the actually very expensive nature of getting power that way. Take out safety issues and it still is expensive. Since the cost of failure is so high safety simply can't be taken out.

Waste is a lot bigger issue than just the question of what to do with the expended fuel rods, everything that has had anything to do with those rods becomes waste that has to be disposed of in a real serious manner. It sure isn't a case of just digging a hole and dropping the stuff into it.

Even with the threat of radioactive clouds removed; I don't see how nuclear power is a good or important part of our power sources.

Why Am I A "Lefty"?

If you were to peruse the entire catalogue of this blog (better have some time) and could tell me exactly how it is that "Lefty" makes any sense whatever; I'd like to know.

I don't mean it is inaccurate today, what I mean is - What The Hell?

The Pinata Of Wealth

Bill Mahr is a funny guy - I'm not. If I could say this as well as he has, I'd get paid to write this rather than amusing myself. But then you can go see why
the rich are like a pinata.

Language on the clip could be an issue - if such a thing is an issue where you are right now.

RepubliKlan - Only Fair?

I'm pretty fond of the construction "Confederate Party of Republicanism" but it really is way too long to hang on some one as a Party title. I've made the case that the "Democrat Party" insult is a nice cue that the lying is about to start, or is the Party meme. I've never cared for "Rethuglicans" because it seems somehow childish and isn't really descriptive.

I realise that "RepubliKlan" is in some ways an insult to the Klan since they're at least up front with their hates. The congruence I find is that both groups are based around hatred even though the organized political Party is more fond of dog whistles than clearly stated fear and hatred.

The Union debacles in various States should point up the dangers in this country of not maintaining real power in numbers and cash. You become one of those minorities that is targeted by the Plutocrats and the RepubliKlans and they do win elections ... or had you noticed?

I suppose there are Republicans, some few - somewhere...

RepubliKlan Peter King

The title might be unfair to the Klan itself. The Klan are pretty equal opportunity haters in that there are a lot of blacks and Jews in the country along with their other targets. Peter King on the other hand doesn't have the nerve to get all equal opportunity in his hate fest. Admittedly inaccurate statistics put the number of Muslims in the US at somewhere between 0.5% and 1%. It would probably be fair to compare those percentages to McCarthy's targeted group.

This isn't to suggest that the RepubliKlans don't use all kinds of dog whistles to attack larger groups of minorities like blacks, Hispanics, and gays. The difference is getting up in front of people with blatant hater politics. Peter King is a rat bastard coward and that is all it is. Terrorism exists in the US and it includes White Christians in real sizable percentages - but since that is part of his base it must be ignored. What? You don't think it's his base? Excuse me while I wet my pants laughing.

GOPer WI Senate Vote

GOPer Senators in WI vote to strip public union rights as a stand alone bill. Congratulations fuckwits, there's your election in action. You're in for more fun as your votes play on ... and on ... and on. I suppose somebody will have to try to clean up the mess, somewhere down the line. Good luck to them. And yes after attempts to clean it up - you'll vote the same way again.

RIP David Broder

Since Broder was emblematic of what the WaPo has become, including its failure, I suppose there'll be a huge wake for him. I hope he can RIP, considering his body of work that could be questionable. There sure will be a lot of dead people questioning his writing, if you believe in that kind of thing. In the interests of letting him RIP I won't piss on his grave.

BTW MSM - the fact that someone can string words together and find someone stupid enough to pay them for it doesn't make them worthy of respect. I'm sure you won't notice in consideration of your own paychecks.

Gas Price Riches

Anybody remember the last time oil prices spiked? Anybody remember the disconnect between supply, demand, and price? Anybody care to remember who got real large money for playing the oil market?

Want to take a look at supply, demand, and price today? Nah*, 'cause somebody is getting all kinds of wealth from the situation.

*this would depend on your status as plutocrat/plutocratic enabler and the ones screwed.

Hey Wisconsin* WTF Did You Expect

*Fill in with your choice like OH, MI, FL. IN, ETC

In Wisconsin half of you bothered to vote. Half. That means about a quarter of the eligible voters picked your elected officials. How many of you teachers didn't bother, how many of you public janitors didn't bother, how many whatevers of you just didn't bother?

That begs the question of how many of you ignored your actual interests to vote against Obama or for some social right wing hobbyhorse that you won't get. In point of fact regarding the "Family Values Party" not only won't you get but that they don't bother with themselves.

You folks are providing endless amusement fot the national media. What the hell, you haven't listened to what the GOP has actually had to say? You didn't pay any attention when reputable analysis said, "liars, liars, pants on fire"? Are you now saying, "We thought we were voting for reasonable responsible Republicans," and continue to believe in the Easter Bunny and Santa? You can tell yourselves all the fairytales you please about the existance of such a creature to continue your tribal identity bullshit - just don't expect the rest of us to believe along with you.

You didn't expect it, you got it, now you don't like it, you wouldn't do it again. Bullshit. You'll do it all over again. You'll continue to believe the goddam fairytales because you want to. I've watched your bullshit get repeated for decades and, yes, you can stuff your St Ronnie up your...

The real shame is that thinking responsible people get screwed repeatedly by you.

Fuck you and the horse you rode in on.

Fox Lies

Since* that isn't a "news flash;" anything new on your mind I've missed?
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*I just want that title posted

GOP Budget "Balancing"

Lately there's been a lot of rhetoric and even proposed bills that are based on the "morality" of deficits or the absolute requirements of State governments to keep budgets neutral. Somehow "budget crisis" doesn't mean shit about budgets and the revenue stream versus expenses.

You could start looking at this from the point of extending the BushCo tax cuts for everybody; whether they could afford it or not. Once that head-scratcher went through - damn near everything else follows because the issue is no longer about a budget.

Go ahead and look at the Federal GOP's ideas about correcting the budget, then move on to the various states that are or aren't in the news. Michigan has escaped the notice of the news world and offers up some real meat. Wisconsin and Ohio and to an extent Florida have caught a bit of notice. Everywhere you turn there are tax cuts and slash and burn in general public interest items. Buried inside all this shit are ideological/plutocratic agendas like union busting or even, in Michigan, town busting.

None of the real issues of budgetary considerations are addressed. Those of you who've accused me of being an excessive partisan can kiss my ass. BYW - you GOPlite (D)s can line up right behind them.

Sen Crapo - Is That kraypoe or crapp - oh

So Sen Mike Crapo (R-ID) gets time on LO's Last Word to grind out horseshit that fixing the tax code (not such a bad thing in itself) would let the tax rate for the top get lowered to 28% or lower. This would be important for the "job creators" and not affect the rest. You have to have your head stuffed so far up your backside to believe this GOP canard that ... ah well. This is, naturally, in the midst of the GOP hack-and-slash budget rhetoric.

If you'd like to track the concentration of wealth in this country with something that correlates the one place you can look is the tax code and the tax rates. When even LO doesn't laugh this shit off the stage I think it's time to give the hell up.

Plutocrats - friends to all.

Goddam, utter stupidity followed by banal stupidity - followed up with lame David Brooks (Bobo) who can't ... Appleby's Salad Bar guy. The guy who makes his living making false equivalences and outright falsehoods as a balanced moderate. This is what we need is the enablers of plutocrats given even more fucking air time without accompanying bitch slaps.

Yes the NYT still pays this idjit real money instead of bananas.

Democrat And Democratic

When you listen to someone talking about politics one clue that you're about to hear canned lying talking point is contained in the difference between "Democrat" and "Democratic" in usage. I give you WI State Senator's usage - "mess left behind by Democrat Governors." I am registered as a "Democrat" but I belong to the Democratic Party and as an elected official I would be referred to as "Democratic *Office* at whatever level of office.

It is a GOP insult tactic no different than (G)rand (O)ld (P)lotocrats would be other than in regards to actual accuracy. It tells you from its utterance that the person is not serious in any manner about the Party he is referring to - it is an immediate dismissal. There is no "Democrat Party," no such thing other than in the fevered language of the Right. Maybe they don't like the association of "Democratic Party" with democratic behavior or democratic process. But then I have no idea why they still associate themselves with A Lincoln in any terms.

I'm not complaining in the least about their usage - it is a nice verbal cue to the lying that is about to commence. Maybe the "( )" usage I made should have been (G)rand (O)ld (P)ervaricators ... I'll stick with Confederate Party of Republicanism though.

Things That Go Bang

Lately there's been a lot of talk by people about Libya and "no fly zones." It almost seems as though thinking about what you are proposing before saying something might make them seem ... I don't know ... wimpy. Some of these folks come from a background that ought to make them familiar with ordinance and what it does.

You can't just tell someone they can't fly; you have to make it impossible. That means air defense systems must go away and the way to do that is to break them and that takes things that go bang. Stuff that goes bang does just that and anything anywhere near it gets broken also. Whether the targeted entity makes any effort to place such systems with public cover or not it will not be the only thing broken. Men, women, and children who have no stake in the continuation of Ghadafi will be part of the damage. They will be killed or badly injured.

Taking out the infrastructure of air defense means that you have attacked a nation. What ever lofty goals precede the action - it is an act of war to bomb a nation, which Libya is. We have been at war in Iraq, Afghanistan, and in actuality, Pakistan - all primarily Muslim nations. We are not making a lot of friends with our things that go bang. We especially are not making friends with the innocent casualties that keep happening.

Maybe the videos of smart weapons and plain distance has blurred our ability to understand just what the effects of ordinance are. There is a lot of heat, a lot of fast moving air, and a lot of flying stuff composed of the stuff that was broken and the stuff the broke it. None of that is good for organics - like humans.