More End of Year Loonies - 2011

Most of these pictures have been published along with an AP story. The volume of nuttiness building to the end of the year is swelling to a large crescendo. I think the goal is to crush our good natures and spirit. I'm still happy, hope you are, too. One of the great things about attaining some substantial age and experience is that we've seen this stuff before, haven't we?

Adios

Protest !!

Went to town to pick up mail this morning. It’s a little town…quiet this time of year. Old gal walking down the sidewalk with a protest sign under her arm. On her way to protest something. End the war, probably.

We have a gaggle of about a half-dozen scraggly old farts in town that gather some weekends on the corner outside the post office to protest the war. It’s not much of a war, but then they aren’t much of a protest mob either. They were a lot more active when GW was in office but seem more comfortable with Barak as CIC. Funny how that works with these folks, isn’t it?

Her sign read, “WWJB? – Who Would Jesus Bomb?” First thought that came to my mind was that Jesus didn’t have any bombs back then…not that he couldn’t have had some if he had wanted them. However, I’ve heard that the last time God got irked with us, he just flooded the earth, drowned everyone, and started over again. Maybe she hadn’t thought her question through thoroughly enough.

Anyway, it got me to thinking about protests. Those back in the late sixties were pretty numerous and large. I didn’t participate in any of them myself, although they were going on in the neighborhood. Had a war to deal with and after that, I had to work to eat, pay the rent, buy food, gas the car, and romance some ladies. There was a lot of protesting going on in my old neighborhood, but since I was done with the war by then, I turned more toward my own account and let the others deal with their own problems.

However, it did seem to me that those old protests had a certain character to them that latter day protestors can’t quite replicate. Where is their Abby Hoffman and Wavy Gravy? They tried a Woodstock redux in 1994, but it fell short, didn’t it? The old one was filled with some real grime where the redux had a kind of tofu feel to it. Maybe it’s just me, but if you’re going to get caked in mud and really get f**ked up, shouldn’t the folks in the background and all around you be caked in mud also? The weather was nice in 1994 and the folks in the background appear to have been nicely dressed for an afternoon outing.

One of the iconic sixties pictures is shown below…there is no doubt they are f**ked up…heck, I would reckon that they may have been in another dimension. One thing is certain, they were authentic to their time.

Adios

Random Thoughts - 112511

A Heartbeat Away !

Bear with me a bit, my friends...experimenting with a way to alert you in the main blog that something new has been published here. The canned software doesn't allow me just to blink the button.

As for this bit of nonsense...well, not many words necessary, is there?

Suspend Democracy – Vote Democratic

The stream of outrages and stupidity flowing from the Democratics is approaching ridiculous limits. I can’t keep up with all of them and putting up links to proofs—published videos, articles, and pictures is time consuming.

If you came here from the EH blog, I’m trusting that you respected the Link button’s warning, “CONSERVATIVES ONLY”…you did respect that caution, didn’t you?

I trust that regular readers will have developed their own methods of finding information. Further, I have reached the point in life that I no longer relish an opportunity for persuasive argument. It’s my opinion that the left has become so radicalized that any attempt at having a rational discussion is wasted time.

The listing that follows will be an ongoing log of outrages that caught my attention. They are listed together with enough factual information that you can find the details on your own, should you want to do so. It is in no way comprehensive but does highlight some of the more important and/or subtle occurrences that I believe worth keeping in mind.

26 Sept. 2011. NC Governor Beverly Perdue (D-NC), at a Raleigh, NC Rotary Club luncheon meeting – “Suspend Congressional elections for 2-years”.

14 Sept. 2011. Peter Orszag (D), former Obama administration Director of the Office of Management and Budget, in the “The New Republic” – “Why We Need Less Democracy”.

The Supremes

One of the better illustrations of why elections matter.

Saving the World

This is one of those examples I like to put together as an illustration of the "Theater of the Absurd" which is difficult keep up with these days. Nancy, a California gal, said she was trying the "save the world as we know it." Chester, a Texas gent, did save a big chunk of it.

Can you imagine what Admiral Chester Nimitz might have said if Nancy had corrected him as Barbara Boxer, another California gal, corrected a general some months ago when he respectfully replied, "Yes, Mam?" She wanted him to address her as, "Yes, Senator." One of them was rude, the other was not.

There is one substantial person in this picture.

German Chancellors

The picture of today's German Chancellor in her rain attire got me to thinking what she might look like juxtaposed with another German Chancellor most of us recall. Don't you wonder what is going on between those 4 ears? The book is written about what was going on between 2 of those ears, the other is still playing out and not likely to be nearly so dramatic. But could there again be an Adolf? Of course there could. Beware, my children...be careful who you trust.

The rest of the story in this picture is interesting. The guy on the left was tried and hung; the one on the right was so morally certain of his mission that he shot himself in the head before he was given the chance to explain his performance...then hung.

The Ant

By popular request,

The ANT
AND THE
GRASSHOPPER
This one is a little different ......
Two Different Versions .....
Two Different Morals


OLD VERSION:

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and
laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.
Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed.
The grasshopper has no food or shelter,
so he dies out in the cold.

MORAL OF THE OLD STORY:

Be responsible for yourself!



MODERN VERSION:
The ant works hard in the withering heat and the rain all summer long, building his house
and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while he is cold and starving.

CBS, NBC , PBS, CNN and ABC
show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with
a table filled with food.
America is stunned by the sharp contrast.

How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is
allowed to suffer so?

Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah
with the grasshopper and everybody cries when they sing,
'It's Not Easy Being Green ..'

ACORN stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, We shall overcome.

Then Rev. Jeremiah Wright
has the group kneel down to pray for the grasshopper's sake.

President Obama condemns the ant
and blames President Bush, President Reagan, Christopher Columbus, and the Pope for the grasshopper's plight.

Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid exclaim in an interview with
Larry King that the ant has
gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper,
and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.

Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity
& Anti-Grasshopper Act
retroactive to the beginning of the summer.

The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of
green bugs and,
having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government Green Czar and given to the grasshopper .

The story ends as we see the grasshopper and his free-loading friends finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in, which, as you recall, just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around them because the grasshopper doesn't maintain it.

The ant has disappeared in the snow, never to be seen again.

The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident, and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize and ramshackle the once prosperous and peaceful neighborhood.

The entire Nation collapses bringing the rest
of the free world with it.

MORAL OF THE STORY:


Be careful how you vote in 2012


I've sent this to you because
I believe that you are an ant!

You may wish to pass this on to other ants , but don't bother sending it on to any grasshoppers because they wouldn't understand it anyway.

Adios

A Leftist View of 9-11 - part 3

Tuesday’s blowout election for Weiner’s former seat, New York 9 is probably a good indication that there is a storm gathering. You remember Anthony Weiner from last May-June, don’t you? And that Florida Airline’s “Hot Dog” fares? Great New Yawk shtick.

Drudge’s Wednesday headline (above) hammered it home. It was the first time since 1923, or 88-years, that New York 9 switched parties—they elected an “R” by a 9-point margin in a district that is about 80% registered “D”. Talk about the ground trembling--that's actually a 20-point shift in a district that favored our "D" prez by 11-points in 2008. Add the switches of the VA governor, the NJ governor, Teddy Kennedy’s MA senate seat, and a Nevada 2 red/blue switch, and one can palpably feel the 2012 storm gathering.

Nevertheless, there are a few more things I want to capture here that came to light during my short-term, rocky relationship with a Class of 1965 lefty. His favorite web sites tended to be Truthout and Common Dreams. At the lower portion of the Common Dreams page are several boxes divided into many more links. It’s about as good an aggregation of this kind of stuff as I’ve found…might be worth a look just to keep yourself advised of what these folks are thinking and doing.

I haven’t included any conservative links as I believe you probably already have your own favorites and are keeping informed through them. I don’t think they are as numerous as the leftist sites and they don’t appear to be as vigorously linked together.

Adios

A Leftist View of 9-11 - part 2

“Youth ages. Immaturity is outgrown. Ignorance can be educated, drunkenness sobered, but stupid lasts forever.” Aristophanes, 5th Century B.C.

Krugman’s piece (see Part 1) drew a lot of fire Monday and Tuesday…and Donald Rumsfeld publicly cancelled his NYT subscription describing Krugman’s piece as “repugnant.” I would have thought he had cancelled his subscription years ago.

The picture of Krugman with President Bush is a bit of a surprise, given the amount vitriol President Bush has endured from the man over the years. Krugman is a short man…about 5’7”. That old Randy Newman song is playing in my head about now.

Jousting recently with my 1965 Highlander Facebook former “friend” provided one useful thing…a window into the world he uses for his sources of “information.” It’s a collection of linked blogs and websites, possibly managed by many of the same people, most of them pretending to offer erudite opinions, but generally copying one another and stumbling over their own pretense. One only needs to read a couple of paragraphs to recognize the repetitive drivel.

It’s likely that these sites are feeding the growing outrage that tends to boil over on our streets in violent ways, for vague reasons. If you know why these gangs of vandals do what they do, you’re ahead of me. Anarchists, I think they call themselves. They do some damage, get their skulls cracked, are arrested and hauled away. When they’re done about all I’ve seen is the results of stupidity and bad behavior. Maybe that’s the point.

Anyway, if you are like me…relatively ignorant of aims of the far left, yet somewhat troubled by your ignorance…read on in Part 3.

Adios

A Leftist View of 9-11 Part 1

This Paul Krugman op-ed appeared in Sunday’s New York Times. It speaks for itself.

Of interest is that Krugman declined to permit any comments from others. I don’t recall seeing this done before.
Generally, I'm willing to add almost anyone as a Facebook "friend" as long as we have some kind of common connection or our paths crossed at sometime in our lives. I have yet to "unfriend" anyone in the Facebook space, but I have been "unfriended" by 2 former Highlanders I never knew at EH all those years ago. One was a 1961 and the other, a 1965.

Leftist politics was at the root of both events. Apparently neither of my former “friends” had the fortitude to deal with the fact that I am a conservative who is unwilling to sit quietly and accept leftist propaganda as gospel, as Mr. Krugman’s “no comments” decision seems to illustrate. One “friend” took exception to my occasional inclusion of a piece in the blog that reflected my conservative nature. After one (of several) particularly snarky message from him strongly suggesting that I not use “our” Highlander blog for any political content, I felt compelled to remind him that the blog is mine to do with as I wish. Others are welcome to contribute to it or take what they wish from it, or just ignore it. I’m ambivalent about it’s acceptance, although I’m flattered if you like it.

Furthermore, I thought it useful to remind him that I didn’t know him 50-years ago at EH where he was a moderately visible elder Highlander, nor do I know him now.

The other former Facebook friend is apparently an unbridled leftist who kept feeding me a steady flow of so-called “news” stories taken from a collection of leftist websites he frequents. I or anyone was invited to comment on his posts. However, it was quickly evident that neither he, nor his other leftist friends wanted to debate anything rationally. The invective-filled flurry of retorts to pretty much anything I posted clearly illustrated an intolerant far left dogma existed there, rather than a rational debate. However, it was sometimes fun to pitch a bone in just to see the resulting frenzy—they were that predictable. Of course, as most Texas boys can attest, even zapping ants with a magnifying glass out on the walk can only hold one’s interest just so long.

My 1965 Highlander former “friend” pitched one of his stink bombs out on Facebook a couple of days ago and apparently left his computer for the day, leaving 4 of his weakest “activists” behind to carry on the “discussion.” All they could muster was a string of invectives calling me about every nasty thing they could pull from their limited vocabularies. Not once did they address the issue, so intent were they in hurling their silly invectives. I don't think I've encountered such low and childish communication since Jr. Hi. Perhaps, not even there as I was a big kid who the smaller ones generally wouldn't provoke.

Now, for a large part of my professional career I was the principal wordsmith for a medium-size company, charged with communicating with my peers at many of the largest corporations in the world. In that role, I learned to be careful about what I wrote and if I were angry, to put those responses off until tomorrow in order to see if I still felt as strongly about the matter then as I did at the time. More often than not, I didn't, so I saved myself from some potentially embarrassing attention to ill-chosen words. And angry people can sometimes become solid friends later on.

Hope this piece hasn’t rambled too much…there is more to say that I will put into a couple of follow-on posts.

Continued in Part 2

Adios

Theater of the Absurd

Yesterday's headlines reflected a common theme regarding the budget circus going on in Washington. The mashup tells the story better than I could.

Am I mistaken, or were these jobs once held by adults? Peggy Noonan, one of my favorite writers had one of the more amusing quotes of the day....do you know what "fop sweat" is? I got the ferret thing. And Nancy is trying to save the world as we know it...I'm so proud of her.

Adios

Palin – She Is What She Is

After spending a lot of money, crowdsourcing, and finding that Sarah is what she appears to be…a hard working Conservative hiding nothing, it takes a UK news outlet to publish this weekend’s email witch hunt results.

I’m not a fan of clichés and try not to use them, but I do like the current, “it is what it is” cliché. It’s succinct and so often true.

Adios

Crowdsourcing – Vote Sarah!

A new buzzword entered my sphere this weekend—crowdsource. It’s another of those non-word words introduced into our daily discourse by younger, tech-centered members of our society. In past decades, their youthful exuberance and immaturity has been moderated by older generations of adults applying “adult supervision” which appears to be utterly absent today.

In what appears a Leftist-driven obsession with a private citizen who might mount a campaign for President in the next election cycle, writers from a number of large newspapers issued a call for public assistance to comb through over 24,000 pages of emails related to Sarah Palin’s time as Governor of Alaska.

Sometimes, when I see a particularly ridiculous or repugnant piece of writing offered under the banner of what we once considered “mainstream” media, I like to find a picture of the author just to see who is trying to influence my thinking…these days I think that’s important. The news articles shown nearby show small pictures of the authors along with the headlines.

“Crowdsourcing” is somewhat related to how new software is released in “beta” form for the public to try out and report problems. Although the approach is counter to how I was brought up—to take responsibility and do it right the first time—today it is a broadly accepted method used to solicit and obtain free labor to accomplish a complex task. If people are foolish or twisted enough to contribute their time to silly enterprises, that is their business.

Sarah Palin obviously triggers convulsions in Leftists. For that reason alone, I’m for her and if she and Michelle want to TEAM up, I'm for it. Vote Sarah…if she decides to run!

Adios

P.S. What an entertaining weekend--Weiner & emails.

A Breath of Fresh Air - A Teachable Moment

The ditty was "God Save the Queen" Britain's national anthem, not "America" as a background melody to a particularly dulcet toast. Listen carefully as Queen Elizabeth turns slightly to offer some advice after he finishes ('set it down"). At nearly the same moment, note his head toss as a finishing flourish. Emily Post, Letitia Baldridge, and Miss Manners have been showing the way on etiquette in these matters for nearly a century...but someone must read the books first in order to learn.

Queen Elizabeth and her family have been at these functions for many years...centuries, actually. If you are interested in learning more about her and her family, there have been 3 very well-done films made within the past few years: The Queen; Elizabeth; and Elizabeth the Golden Age.

She has been fulfilling her part in the long history of England all her significant life. One way of looking at this flub is that it's true that what goes around, comes around. As one of his first acts in office he shipped the bronze bust of Churchill back to England and replaced with Martin Luther King. That was his prerogative, of course, but it struck many people as being in poor taste. Wonder if the Queen had a private chuckle? I would imagine so.

God Save the Queen

18 Worst Email Mistakes

Andrew G. Rosen, On Tuesday January 18, 2011, 2:10 pm EST

Most of us rely on e-mail as one of our primary communication tools. And given the number of messages we send and receive, we do it with remarkable success.

But as with anything, the more e-mails we send, the more likely we are to screw one up. And simple e-mail mistakes can be disastrous. They can cost us a raise, promotion--even a job.

With a new year upon us, this is the perfect time to go through some of the worst e-mail mistakes employees make and how to avoid them.

1. Sending before you mean to. Enter the recipient's e-mail address only when your e-mail is ready to be sent. This helps reduce the risk of an embarrassing misfire, such as sending an important e-mail to the wrong person or e-mailing a half-written note.

2. Forgetting the attachment. If your e-mail includes an attachment, upload the file to the e-mail before composing it. This eliminates the embarrassing mistake of forgetting it before hitting "send," and having to send another e-mail saying you forgot to attach the document.

3. Expecting an instant response. Don't send an e-mail and show up at the recipient's desk 30 seconds later asking if they've received it. They did, and they'll answer at their convenience. That's the point of e-mail.

4. Forwarding useless e-mails. I've never seen a single e-mail forward at work that was beneficial. Whether it's a silly joke or a heartwarming charity, there's never a time to share an e-mail forward using your work e-mail.

5. Not reviewing all new messages before replying. When you return to the office after a week or more away, review all new e-mails before firing off responses. It might be hard to accept, but odds are, things did march on without you. Replying to something that was already handled by a co-worker creates extra communication, which can lead to confusion, errors, and at the very least, wasted time for everyone involved.

6. Omitting recipients when you "reply all." Unless there's an important reason to omit someone, don't arbitrarily leave people off the response if they were included on the original message.

7. Including your e-mail signature again and again. Nor do you need to include it at the end of an e-mail you send to your long-time co-worker who sits six feet away. If you have your e-mail program set to automatically generate a signature with each new message, take a second to delete it when communicating with someone who knows who you are. It's always wise to include your phone number, but the entire blurb with your title and mailing address is often nothing but clutter.

8. Composing the note too quickly. Don't be careless; write every e-mail as if it will be read at Saint Peter's Square during the blessing of a new Pope. Be respectful with your words and take pride in every communication.

9. Violating your company's e-mail policy. Many companies have aggressive spam filters in place that monitor "blue" language. From that famous four-letter word to simple terms, such as "job search," don't end up tripping the system by letting your guard down.

10. Failing to include basic greetings. Simple pleasantries do the trick. Say "hi" at the start of the message and "thanks" at the end. Be sure to use the recipient's name. Be polite yet brief with your courtesy.

11. E-mailing when you're angry. Don't do it. Ever. Recall buttons are far from a perfect science, and sending a business e-mail tainted by emotion is often a catastrophic mistake. It sounds cliche, but sleep on it. Save the message as a draft and see if you still want to send it the next morning.

12. Underestimating the importance of the subject line. The subject line is your headline. Make it interesting, and you'll increase the odds of getting the recipient's attention. Our inboxes are cluttered; you need to be creative and direct to help the recipient cut through the noise. You should consistently use meaningful and descriptive subject lines. This will help your colleagues determine what you're writing about and build your "inbox street cred," which means important messages are more likely to be read.

13. Using incorrect subject lines. Change the subject line if you're changing the topic of conversation. Better yet, start a new e-mail thread.

14. Sending the wrong attachment. If you double-check an attachment immediately before sending and decide that you need to make changes, don't forget to update the source file. Making corrections to the version that's attached to the e-mail does not often work, and it can lead to different versions of the same doc floating around.

15. Not putting an e-mail in context. Even if you were talking to someone an hour ago about something, remind them in the e-mail why you're writing. In this multi-tasking world of ours, it's easy for even the sharpest minds to forget what's going on.

16. Using BCC too often. Use BCC (blind carbon copy) sparingly. Even though it's supposed to be a secret, it rarely is. Burn someone once, and they'll never trust you again. Likewise, forwarding e-mail is a great way to destroy your credibility. When people send you something, they aren't expecting you to pass it on to your co-workers. The e-mail might make its way back to the sender, who will see that their original message was shared. They might not call you out on it, but they'll make a mental note that you can't be trusted.

17. Relying too much on e-mail. News flash! No one is sitting around staring at their inbox waiting for your e-mail. If something is urgent, use another means of communication. A red "rush" exclamation point doesn't compare to getting up from your desk and conducting business in person.

18. Hitting "reply all" unintentionally. This is a biggie. And it's not just embarrassing; depending on what you wrote in that e-mail, it can ruin your relationship with a co-worker or even your boss. Take extra care whenever you respond so you don't hit this fatal button.

Now it's time to fess up: Are you guilty of any of these common work e-mail mistakes? Any you'd like to add to the list?