Well, not in so many words. However, it is the logical extension of his and other “big oil” hating politician’s arguments opposing offshore and ANWR drilling on account of estimates that we will not see the oil from these deposits come to market for another 10 years. I guess they oppose all projects where the benefits are beyond a certain (under a decade, apparently) time horizon. Why bother preparing for manned flights to Mars or mapping the human genome. How about road projects? Why bother starting construction for the next Big Dig or the cursed Texas super highways if we will not see the benefits until a decade hence. How can I sign up to join to these self described Progressives! Their use of the term is down right Orwellian, making a mockery of the word so as long as their myopic excuses persist to block expanded drilling. Not that McCain is that much better on the issue since he cannot come to grips with the ability of modern technology to virtually eliminate the environmental impact of drilling. Certainly any new drilling operations in and around this country will be far more environmentally sound and better monitored than the wildcatting now underway in countries were their citizenry, at least for outward appearances, are less concerned about environmental issues. And don’t even get me started on Senator Sam the Eagle (John Warner) and his proposal for a renewed national speed limit.

-G

My two Long-hair Chihuahuas and I drew an audience yesterday afternoon as they both defecated on the apartment grounds. The gallery included a couple with a rather slow-looking terrier-ish dog. Their looks telegraphed that they were “watching me”. …making sure my dogs’ crap made it into their “Poopy Pouches” (yeah, that’s the brand-name). I guess what bothers me the most about that, is that to be watching me to verify if I was or was not the offender in the complex that does not pick up after their dog - they would have to be thinking me potentially stupid to not pick up after my dogs with an audience - an audience with a telegraphed penchant for tattle-talery, no less. The irony of them thinking of me as that clueless, is that the piles being left unattended on the grounds are about the size of my dogs’ heads. You’d think they could safely elliminate me from their little impromptu lineup. If they would’ve just been a little friendlier, I could have fed their appetite for dog crap police work - as I know who the offender is, and her beagle. Who in god’s name keeps a beagle in an apartment anyway?

News of the alleged “pregnancy pact” at a Gloucester Massachusetts high school got me thinking about where we now stand as a culture. The stigma once associated with teenage pregnancy has been appropriately removed from society, but at what cost. Many of these girls are but a few years removed from playing with dolls and Barbies. They apparently have not matured enough to realize what an incredible responsibility it is to be a mother. They see others that have given birth near their age and did not have to give up any of the fun of being a modern teenage girl in high school. They likely see only the benefits and none of the added stress in their peer’s motherhood. As a larger concern is society coddling adolesents to their and our own detriment?

Newt Gingrich hit upon this topic during a speech in May that this story immediately brought to my mind:

–G

(Go to 6:57 in this video, if you’re not familiar with Jim Gaffigan)

The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut

Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Funny. Scary (not “Boo”, scary). Surprising.

It’s been a while since I’ve read a book, that I actually wanted to finish. This did the trick. Reading a 300+ page book in about a week is no small feat for my slow-reading ass.

As the first line would indicate, this book is hilarious at times, and disturbingly bleak at times in it’s outlook on our role in the universe. And twisty. It’s got some twists.

I’m not good enough to describe more, without ruining things…but this was one of my favorite quotes - only for the simplicity that so easily disturbed me - from a letter from father to son, that was something of an apology:

If I wasn’t a very good father or a very good anything that was because I was as good as dead for a long time before I died. Nobody loved me and I wasn’t very good at anything and I couldn’t find any hobbies I liked and I was sick and tired of selling pots and pans and watching television so I was as good as dead and I was too far gone to ever come back.

And finally, this short quote made me laugh out loud:

Unk was at war with his environment. He had come to regard his environment as being either malevolent or cruelly mismanaged. His response was to fight it with the only weapons at hand - passive resistance and open displays of contempt.

Remind you of any jobs you’ve had?

Rest in Peace, Mr. Russert.

Yeah. I did it. I’m a little ashamed. Not too much though.

I wanna see the chick on the Rosetta Stone commercial, speak a language other than English.

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First, an upper level low and an associated dry line pushing into the Fort Worth area late this afternoon will be giving us a decent chance for significant hail! Exciting. From the Storm Prediction Center (SPC):

And, in an email from my younger sister

Another response to “Hispanic population increase is challenge for U.S.“.

So I guess we also need to cater to the all the other minorities in large cities too. They don’t call it China town for nothing. We will need everyone who works in customer service to be polyglots in order to make this country work. Sure that makes sense. Lets make all the people who speak the official national language, English, take time away from their lives in order to cater to immigrants who can’t be bothered to learn the language. I would be ashamed to move to a country and expect the country to change their policies to accommodate myself who was too egotistical to take the time to learn their national language.

So the plan would be to only learn Spanish because non English speaking Hispanic immigrants can’t learn English. So in essence we are stating that they are not intelligent enough to pick up a second language? Or is it because they would not be able to afford english as a second language classes? What happened to the immigrants who tried hard to learn English and have now mastered it? Why has that turned into such a bad thing? My father came to the United States at the age of nine with this family not knowing a word of English and has learned to speak perfectly. My mother while stationed in Panama had to learn Spanish in order to speak to my husband’s family while he was away. Did the Panamanian government set up English speaking programs for its citizens in order to communicate to the military stationed there. I think not.

Whats that you say? The military was not a large enough minority group to warrant such changes as it does in the states? Try telling that to the Haitian immigrants in Florida, the Russian immigrants on the eastern seaboard, the various Asian immigrants living on the West coast, and the Japanese immigrants in the Hawaiian isles. Just to start. “We won’t take the time to enforce a learning of your native language because you’re nationality isn’t penetrating every square inch of the United States yet. Give it a few years; who knows?! We’ll cross that bridge when we get there. In the mean time work on learning English because no one can understand that gibberish coming out of your mouth.”

COME ON!!! Lets get real. Would Mexico do it for us?

Just my two cents!

“Hispanic population increase is challenge for U.S.“, state reads the headline in the El Paso Times today.

“It all started back when salsa replaced ketchup as the best-selling condiment,” said Cheryl Howard, a demographics expert and sociologist at the University of Texas at El Paso. “Hispanics used to be concentrated in definable U.S. locations.”
Mexican-Americans lived in the five Southwestern states, Cubans lived in Florida, and Puerto Ricans lived in New Jersey.

But the census shows they are turning up in big numbers in states including North Carolina, Massachusetts, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Washington and Virginia.

“The challenge is being able to provide services, such as education, health care, police, postal and so forth, to populations who may not speak English,” Howard said.

I’ll give you two guesses as to my idea for providing those services.