While Mrs. gd! and I were upstairs cleaning, the cats were downstairs having their own little Christmas celebration. After we caught them, we decided to give all the animals their Christmas gifts. Baby and Buddy loved theirs (see gallery), but Monty seemed unsure about his “miracle balls” (little clear balls with a tiny mouse and some rattles inside). Bailey just returned to napping on the laundry after he saw his gift (a rope toy for tugging).
I hope everyone in internetland has a Happy Holiday Season!
December 23rd, 2005
Posted by
Rob |
General comments |
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Man, there is just no other way to put it… John Cornyn may be the most dimwitted man in the Senate:
“None of your civil liberties matter much after you’re dead,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a former judge and close ally of the president who sits on the Judiciary Committee.
Get that? There is no longer a place for liberty in these here United States (formerly known as the “Sweet Land of Liberty”). Cornyn’s moment of actual anti-American idiocy was in response to the Senate stalemate over the renewal of the “patriot” act.
Thankfully Russ Feingold was there for the perfect retort:
Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), who has led a bipartisan filibuster against a reauthorization of the Patriot Act, quoted Patrick Henry, an icon of the American Revolution, in response: “Give me liberty or give me death.”
He called Cornyn’s comments “a retreat from who we are and who we should be.”
I am very wary of running another senator in 2008, but Feingold’s stock sure has been rising lately here in get donkey! land.
December 20th, 2005
Posted by
Rob |
General comments |
2 comments
Here is how our federal government is “protecting” us from shadowy networks of freedom haters:
One F.B.I. document indicates that agents in Indianapolis planned to conduct surveillance as part of a “Vegan Community Project.” Another document talks of the Catholic Workers group’s “semi-communistic ideology.” A third indicates the bureau’s interest in determining the location of a protest over llama fur planned by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
Llama Fur– it’s the new yellow cake.
December 20th, 2005
Posted by
Rob |
Politics |
2 comments
From CNET.com
Thousands of airline passengers unexpectedly found themselves stranded in line at U.S. border checkpoints in August, after a Department of Homeland Security computer crashed.
At Miami International, some 4,500 frustrated travelers waited in cramped conditions. Airport staff handed out bottles of water and coloring books with crayons for children during the wait for the computer, which checks identities, to come back up.
“This incident was extraordinary,” said Greg Chin, an airport spokesman. “In other cases when the computers have been down, it has only been for less than half an hour.”
Here is one of the reasons why DHS is having computer problems:
The holdups can be attributed in part to the Homeland Security Department’s antiquated computer systems. The agency’s mainframes do not share data and are accessible only by some offices. An upgrade to Microsoft’s Windows 2000
operating system failed because of application incompatibilities, which meant one division had to undertake a cumbersome reversion back to Windows 95.
Windows 95!? Man, aside from scaring the crap out of me, articles like this one are really making it difficult for me to suspend disbelief when watching movies like Enemy of the State or TeeVee programs like Threshold that portray government agencies as having actual technology and stuff.
December 15th, 2005
Posted by
Rob |
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Back in the comments of my previous NY-19 post, there is a debate brewing about the bona-fides of one of the candidates. I think the purveyors of take19 have some great advice:
If you want to see Ben and the other four candidates vying for Sue’s seat, they’ll all be at the Peekskill Democratic meeting tonight (12/15) which begins at 7 p.m. in a room at the Field Library in downtown Peekskill.
As a group — we formed Take19 last year to take back the 19th district — we’ve met with all five of the candidates and each has their plusses and minuses. Though we don’t plan to endorse anyone right now, we’re more than a bit concerned with some of the misinformation being pumped out into the blogosphere about Ben, primarily on DailyKos and primarily by some of the same people who have posted here.
So if you’re tired of being spun by a few posters, come to tonight’s event — there’s more info on the Peekskill Dems site — and make up your own mind about the candidates. Clogging the blogosphere with misinformation about the candidates only helps Sue Kelly. Many of us are working way too hard to see that happen yet again. (emph. mine)
I don’t think I will be able to make it tonight, but hopefully others will, and can see the candidates for themselves. I hope there are more events like this one.
One thing I would really hate to see is this primary become a circular firing squad resulting in a politically wounded Democratic candidate. Obviously, people are going to have primary favorites, and they should talk up the strengths of their preferred candidate, but attacks on the other Democratic candidates benefit no one. I think it would be better for people to keep the focus of the race on where it should be — defeating Sue Kelly. After all, each of the candidates running would be an improvement over the current congressperson.
December 15th, 2005
Posted by
Rob |
Beacon, NY-19, Politics, Where I Live |
2 comments
I came home from the gym this morning and caught Bailey daydreaming in front of the Christmas tree. Luckily he was not motivated enough to get off the couch when he saw me and I got a couple of shots of him lying there. The good news about this picture, even though Bailey is doing something he shouldn’t technically be doing, is that a year ago Bailey would not have been able to get up on the couch. He has developed arthritis in his old age. About six months ago, our vet recommended putting him on Cosequin. It’s been just awesome. Bailey is not gimpy anymore.
BTW, if you click through to the small gallery, you will see photographic evidence of which animal rules the roost.
UPDATE: Of course Buddy, refusing to be upstaged, also posed this afternoon…
December 15th, 2005
Posted by
Rob |
General comments |
2 comments
Republican Sue Kelly has held my “new” Congressional district since, I believe, 1994. In fact, I do not believe she has ever faced a serious challenge. Well, that is about to change. Perhaps emboldened by the big Democratic gains in the area back in November, there are now 5 announced Democratic candidates vying for her seat.
They are:
I don’t yet know enough about any them to pick a favorite. I do know, however, that John Hall is/was the lead singer of the band Orleans. He took on the Bush Campaign last year when they attempted to use the Orleans song, “Still the One” at campaign stops. Aydelott, who was formerly a Republican, was the first to enter the race and, has raised $200,000 since Labor Day .
take19 is a blog that is completely focused on the race. They have the scuttlebutt on the dealings of Sue Kelly.
The DCCC has a Races to Watch site where you can find your own district. Interestingly they seem to be framing the overall congressional campaign strategy as a referendum on Tom DeLay. That seems like a good idea to me. Here is what they have to say about Sue and Tom:
Some facts about Sue Kelly and how tied up Rep. Kelly is with Tom DeLay…
- Sue Kelly has taken $12,020 from Tom DeLay’s ARMPAC. No surprise that Kelly voted with Tom DeLay 90% of the time between Jan. 1 2004 and March 31 2005.
- Sue Kelly voted to weaken the ethics rules in a move that many say served only to protect Tom DeLay.
- When Republicans realized it was “impossible to win the communications battle” over the gutted ethics rules, Kelly flip-flopped and voted to put the old rules back into place.
- When Democrats offered a solution to clean up the House by strengthening ethics rules, Sue Kelly voted twice to make sure it never even came to an up or down vote.
- Sue Kelly voted to allow DeLay to continue serving as Leader even if he is indicted.
With all these candidates, the primary should be interesting. I’ll update the blog as I learn more about the candidates.
[UPDATE 12/6/2005] It turns out that Ben Shuldiner was the first candidate to officially enter the race as Radha Iyengar notes in the comments :
Ben Shuldiner was actually the first candidate to enter the race, filing with the FEC long before Judy Aydelott.
Ben is the founder and principal of a public school in New York City. His school has had enormous success and for this he was named the Greatest Public Servant under the Age of 35.
I apologize for the oversight.
December 1st, 2005
Posted by
Rob |
Beacon, General comments, NY-19, Politics, Where I Live |
28 comments
Two springs ago, Charles, Ted, and I went to photograph the gigantic Presidential head sculptures created by David Adickes, the Houston-based sculptor of very large things. The heads were created for a sculpture garden in Colonial Williamsburg, VA.
A couple of weeks ago, Mrs. gd! and I decided to develop several rolls of film that had been sitting around since our move. Among the rolls was this collection of photos from that lovely day.
For more on the heads, check out these two posts from Charles.
Enjoy!
December 1st, 2005
Posted by
Rob |
General comments, Texas |
no comments
We registered on Tuesday evening at the local big baby emporium. It was one of the most confusing things I have ever done, but it was fun to use the little gun to zap bar codes (I am easily amused). We spent a lot of time in the stroller/carseat/travel system section utterly clueless about what we needed. Thankfully they had people there who seemed to actually know what they were talking about and were not there to push the most expensive item. We also found out about the great bassinet/pack-and-play debate. The pack-and-play won.
One thing that I am still confuesd about are crib bumpers (never thought I would write that sentence). One of the helpful helpers in the store said we needed at least two sets in case of late night projectile poopsplosions and stuff. I went onto the registry this morning to add another one, and I saw in the comments that several people consider crib bumpers to be pastel pythons of infant death. Who’s right?
Opinions on this baby stuff seem almost as contentious as the Mac vs PC religious debates. The stakes are a quite a bit higher, however. It’s scary to know that a product you purchase with good intentions could be dangerous. It’s also frightening not to know what these dangerous products are, and who is full ‘o crap in their opinions about them becasue, good gawd y’all, there sure are a lot of strongly-held opinions out there.
December 1st, 2005
Posted by
Rob |
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