Wednesday, June 24, 2009

GOP Slop

What part of the November election results do the Republicans still not recognize? They lost. And they lost big. And one of the reasons they lost (among many) is that they are the party of the SAME OLD THING. They apparently do not understand the meaning of "change." To wit: Sen. McCain's bleating about Pres. Obama not being "tough enough" in his statements regarding the Iranian electoral crisis.

This is the same kind of jingoistic bellowing that got us into Iraq in the first place, much to all our regrets. If Sen. McCain has something to say about Iran, let him say it himself and take the consequences. Last time I looked the President of the United States does not have to take talking points from losers.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Greetings from Israel

Hi, there.

We are visiting our son, daughter-in-law and our grandchildren and great-granddaughter in Israel at the moment. We arrived the day after the latest elections and just who will head the new government is still up in the air. We heard the Obama stimulus package passed and will be signed soon and we hope it works.We are sure there is still more work to be done to get the economy moving again.

But since this a vacation,and we are having a wonderful visit and seeing some sights we did not see on many previous visits to the Jerusalem area, we will not comment at this time on world and national affairs. Which I am sure my devoted reader will appreciate.

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Correction

In my previous post I made a factual error about the number of votes cast for Mr. Obama. The actual total was close to 70 million, not 50 million as I wrote. I have since corrected the copy within the blog.

My bad.

Friday, January 23, 2009

When Losers Weep

I have tried to stay away from political comment on this blog. But a story in today’s New York Times about Bush loyalists carping about Mr. Obama’s inaugural address got to me.

“There were a few sharp elbows that really rankled and I felt were not as magnanimous as the occasion called for,” the Times quoted Bush loyalist Karen Hughes as saying about the inaugural address. Was she expecting laurels for the man who steered the ship of state into dry dock?

“Taking shots,” accused Marc A. Thiessen, a former White house speech writer. And Karl Rove wrote that Bush critics “in a last angry frenzy…distorted his record, maligned his character and repeated untruths about his years in office.” Rove complaining about distortions and untruths? Give us a break!

What part of the word “change” do GOP partisans not understand? Did Mr. Obama not win the presidency on a campaign of change?

Why then are they surprised that, with the world as his audience, Mr. Obama outlined the changes he had in mind?

Almost 70 million American voters got it. Why can't the GOP guys and gals? How about trying to work with the new guy instead of crying that their guy got dissed?

It’s probably not possible for professional distorters and frenzies like Hannity and Limbaugh to CHANGE. After all, misinformation and hate is their bread and butter. Some people will always swallow the swill that feeds their own prejudices. Better they should choke on it.

As for the rest of us, let’s just keep our cool and work through the problems.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

The End of Frustration

Forgive me for not being sorry the football season is almost over. Forgive me for preferring to see my favorite TV programs in their entirety (on DVR, of course). A pox on those interminable football games and the insipid post-game programs that delay everything else on the channel.

Forgive my Frequently Ineffective Operating System for not recognizing that the program I schedule to record has started late and thus will finish later than anticipated. I don’t know how many “ends” of “60 Minutes” or “Cold Case” I missed because football games went long and worse, were followed by the usual gaggle of ex-jocks endlessly exclaiming over this play or that in post-game “wrap-ups.”

Curses on the infamous “Heidi” game which started all this wall-to-wall and then-some coverage of the play-by-play, etc. For more on that “watershed” moment in TV coverage of football see:

http://national-football-league-nfl.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_heidi_game.

I know I’m in the minority, at least as far as TV football programming is concerned, but I feel better just getting this off my chest. After all, isn’t that what blogging is all about.

So on to the Super Bowl and goodbye football until next season. Yaaaay.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

A Pilgrim in the Land of FIOS

What a day! I spent 30-45 minutes with Charming Charles of Dallas, a super techie from the kingdom of FIOS, who, bless his heart, took all the time we needed to connect my laptop to the same programs I have on my PC. Of course, it never dawned on me to have this done when FIOS Triple Freedom was originally installed. Who thinks of these things?

Anyway, I met Charles only because I had tried to perform the same function on my own. (Not only did I not succeed at that but I ended up enrolling in a different Verizon program I’m not sure I wanted. But it wasn’t a fatal mistake it just wasn’t what I was looking for.)

I did try those on-line Help menus but they were a total waste of time. Why is it that the FAQs never include my Q? Which means the suggested answers never answer my question. You really have to brace yourself to slog through voice mail menus ad nauseam in order to reach someone like Charles who actually understands your objectives and can help you do it.

It took three transfers before I got to Charles but in the final analysis it was worth the wait. Not only was he patient and knowledgeable but he also was an amusing phone companion while all the connecting was going on. It was fun.

When all was said and done it was a pleasant afternoon. The wife had gone shopping and the time I had set aside to get this task done was well spent, thanks to Charles. Long may he serve the Lords of FIOSity.

There’s more, if you’re up for it.

My son insists on dragging his parents into the digital age, bless him. His latest gift was a Sony Digital Photo Frame. You load your photos and it plays them back in a variety of ways, the most popular being a slide show.

Trouble is he just left us with it and of course I couldn’t get it to work because I didn’t have the right equipment. The good news is that he did and a week later, he and his #1 Son made a house call and the Photo Frame is now in digital heaven seamlessly sliding from one family photo to another to our mutual pleasure.

If there is any lesson in all of this, it’s that we muddlers still need personal contact with SOMEONE to safely navigate the digital world.

Stay tuned.