Poor, poor, pitiful preachers.

Mr. Jon Swift had a post on his blog (http://jonswift.blogspot.com/2006/06/warren-buffett-turns-against-god.html)--go visit and leave some love. I wrote a comment and realized, after it posted, that the post was done in June and that the most recent comment on the thread was a week old. Hey I ain't wastin' this (it's been edited to be more profane)!

Dear Mr. Swift, Sir:

This is my first visit to your fine KKKristian KKKonservative blogplace (that would be YOUR fault for having a link to this place at "Jesus' General").

I think some of your commenters are nervous nellies. They think GOD will get umbragificacious with Warren B.? Nothing could be further(farther? whatever) from the truth. Warren is doing GOD'S work. Every dollar that he shifts to Billzebub Gates for doing satan's work is one dollar more that has to be offset by the righteous fundraising apparatus of Mr. Reverend Robertson, et al. GOD'S just havin' hisself a little fun with his peeps' is all. Why look at how he got Oral Roberts to go all jiggy, back when he said, "Oral, son, GOD gots to have some benjamins; 'less of course you wanna get benched." The man worked miracles--IN JESUS' NAME!!

Yeah, OL' YHWH is just sittin' out on the glider on his paradaisacal porch, sippin' some fine sacremental Pinot Noir, and havin' a time with Moses, Leviticus, Abraham and the rest of the GOP (GOD'S Own Posse) while David (another oneathem "1 Name" artists) plucks a mean harp--is that "Stairway to Heaven" I'm hearing or just the music of the spheres?

Oh, btw, that bit of scripture? It really said.

"I'd rather stick needles in my eyes (something JESUS would do from time as a party prank, like changing water in to wine or healing lepers, etc.,.) than be caught smokin' a "Camel Frost". Dudes, it's like kissin' Mary Mags. Gimme oneathem straight, high tar Luckies or, better yet, a Fatima."

Those Essenes, what a bunch of kidders

A good cop

Notice: My blog's timestamp is screwed up. This is actually being posted at 9:43 PM (EST) on Wednesday, 11/04/09.

I have mentioned to a few folks that I was going to put up a blogpost about an issue that I feel is important. That it involves a young man I've know for his entire life, the son of one of my best friends makes it much more personal than most of the things that I talk about here.

I've known Brad Jardis' dad about 40 years, and I've known Brad's mom for something like 35 years. I have known Brad Jardis since he was a very young boy. In the time that I have known Brad he has gone from being a curious and very determined child to a smart, hard working, honest and very courageous cop. He's a good son, from a good family, who has always acted as a professional in his LE capacity and who has always been cognizant of the fact that he is first and foremost an officer of the LAW.

Brad has been a police officer since he was eighteen years old. He graduated the NH State Police Academy before he was 19. He has served ably and honorably on three different departments. In the ten years that he has been a uniformed officer Brad has worked his share of petty and major crimes, domestic disturbances and drug busts. He has also volunteered his time as a counsellor for crime victims.

Brad is currently at loggerheads with his employer, the Epping, NH PD because of his integrity, honesty and outspokeness. He is a member of LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) an organization that is made up of law enforcement professionals who believe that the current policies of most law enforcement agencies, re: criminalization and prosecution of drug use is misguided and counter productive. His public stance on this issue is amply documented and it is a major reason, if not THE reason, that his employer is attempting to deprive him of his livelihood and his good reputation. Suffice to say that Brad is being "railroaded" by his department and his union. The charges are trumped up and Brad is fighting them. As is usually the case with fighting city hall, they don't bother to post the rules in a concise and clear way, so that gets added into the mix.

Following the links at the bottom will allow you to familiarize yourself with the situation.

Brad is a bright, energetic and earnest young man. He and I have had some fairly "energetic" discussions in the area of politics. We don't always agree, but we always respect one another's viewpoint. His positions are never based on anything but logic and his reading of the U.S. constitution and the laws of the United States. He's the only guy I ever met who actually keeps a copy of the constitution on his Blackberry. More to the point, he understands it as well as--and often better than--many people who are older and have made the study of that document a passion of their lives. I have suggested to Brad that going back to school and working toward a degree in law would be a great way to channel his energy and passion about justice. Whether he ultimately remains as a police officer or moves on to another career, he has my total support as my friend and my "nephew".

I would be quite happy if any of my readers want to take this post and re-post it. It would be a nice if it went viral and brought the sort of attention to his employers that they are most certainly trying to avoid.


Links:

http://www.theunionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Epping+officer+suspended%2C+alleges+harassment&articleId=8738624e-5502-4f5e-9bb3-0bc45f22549b

http://gamma.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Selectmen+deny+Epping+officer%27s+bid+for+public+hearing&articleId=e99f3b6d-556a-4a1b-9e1b-890912a46d06

http://copssaylegalize.blogspot.com/2009/10/leap-speaker-in-nh-legal-battle.html

http://freekeene.com/2009/10/30/free-keene-hits-the-raw-story-via-heroic-cop-brad-jardis/

http://rawstory.com/2009/10/claim-cop-turfed-pot-legalization/

http://www.theunionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Wrongful+death+suit+to+go+forward&articleId=89ae4274-a613-421f-a106-fa3fad3486e9

http://forum.freekeene.com/index.php?topic=1786.msg21054#msg21054

Good Morning:

For those of you who might be unfamiliar with my vital statistics, suffice to say that today has been a long time coming. For the rest of you, I have officially crossed the line; I will be, henceforth, a curdmudgeon, fogie, old fool or whatever it is you're calling men who are the over 59 in your neck of the woods.

I share a birthday with some notable folks including Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (can you imagine what his fucking driver's license must have looked like?!). There are others, including--but not limited to--Georges Bizet, French composer; John Heisman, American football coach; Richard E. Byrd, American explorer; Minnie Pearl, American comedienne and singer; Klaus Barbie, Nazi war criminal; Billy Barty, American actor; Marion Ross, American actress (Richie Cunningham's mom); Bobby Knight, American basketball coach; James Carville, American political operative; Mike Eruzione, American hockey player; Nancy Cartwright, American voice actress (the voice of Bart Simpson); Pedro Martínez, Dominican Major League Baseball player;Midori, Japanese violinist. Now then, with the exception of Klaus B., Bobby Fucking Knight and James Carville, that's a pretty good group.

I thought of the accomplishments and achievements of that group of people and thought I could best express my feeling about turning 60 this a.m. by quoting one of them. For those of you who think that just by getting old I will be forced to grow up--"Eat my shorts!".

I'm going to boogie till I party and puke like it's 1999.

For your edification, a recently discovered fragment from Genesis.

Mr. Snake: "Honey, I'm home!"
Mrs. Snake: "Oh, good, dinner's nearly ready; I just have to constrict a couple of more voles. How was your day?"
Mr. Snake: "Oh, you know, same ol', same ol'. I slithered around in the garden for a while, curdled the cow's milk, scared the poop out of Eve--that kind of stuff. Oh, btw, if you haven't already done those voles, hold off. I had a late rat and I'm not terribly hungry."
Mrs. Snake: "Oh, that's alright honey, we'll just have them for breakfast (if you don't mange them during the "Survivor--The Neolitihic Dinosaur Era" marathon, tonight). Say, did you take a meeting with the creator and straighten out that whole talking thing?"
Mr. Snake: "Yeah, that was a waste of time. He says that it's just not part of the gig. It was a "one time" event, he got what he needed and we get the shit end of the stick. He says that although the downside is that we are feared, reviled and extirpated by those idiot Two Leggers--and have no way to explain what happended-- that there is an upside. We'll never have to tithe OR pay taxes. He thought his little joke was pretty hilarious, what a prick! I just wish I had hands for long enough to flip him off, the asshole!"
Mrs. Snake: "Oh, honey, don't do that to yourself; YWHW kicks your ass around enough as it is (it's just an expression--snakes don't have asses). Hey, how about I fix you a nice V&A (Venom and Antivenon), light on teh "A", you kick back and watch some of those cobra/mongoose pornos and we just kick back and twine our brains out? The voles aren't going anywhere."

You can please some of the people all of the time...

This post was written in reply to something someone said over at ScienceBlogs re: the Nobel Peace Prize.

The general public seems ambivalent about Mr. Obama's having been awarded the prize and the GOP is of course making hay out of it. I am just weary of it all:


Nomen Nescio:

The nature of the Democratic Party has always been to fracture into a lot of different, competing groups. The nature of the GOP (at least in the last 40 years) has been to place party unity above principle, integrity and honor. that "nature" has proven to be a game winner, if winning elections is all that one cares about.

I accept your criticisms of Obama and the dems as valid. I'm an independent and always have been. I'm left on social issues and centrist on most other stuff. I don't vote democratic tickets because I like them. I vote them because I perceive them to be the party that will do the least damage to my country.

I know a number of republicans who told me that voting for Obama would not change anything. I told them they were wrong, because, I said, if Obama got elected my nation would die more slowly. Most of them laughed at my joke; I wasn't kidding.

There is a shitload of anger (rage, actually) in a lot of peoples' hearts these days. People who don't know a fucking thing about the process of governance talk openly about killing the man they say is ruining the USA. What would be funny, if it wasn't so tragic is that they are being played like fiddles by the reichwing and the people who stand to profit most by the continued divisiveness.

We expect Mr. Obama to be someone who is different from his predecessors, someone who is better than other politicians. We are disappointed that he is not--and we should be. That is OUR nature, to be disappointed when promises are not kept, when we feel we have been lied to and played for fools. Perhaps our disappointment will be fleeting, perhaps it will be profound. Maybe Mr. Obama will suddenly make a momentous change, as did Mr. DeKlerk upon becoming the leader of South Africa. Who knows? Not me, certainly. All I can do is all I can. I will continue to believe that there is purpose in this presidency, even though I don't understand what that purpose might be. I do wish Martin Luther King, Jr. was here to help, to lend his counsel.

I won't be around twenty years from now (miracles of modern science notwithstanding) but I'd like to think my country will be. Is that an odd notion for someone who doesn't open his mail because it might hold bills?

Bounty

Well, I finally got my kitchen sink installed (temporarily, anyway) in my kitchen island.

I was looking for something to do with the produce that I had piling up in the fridge and I thoughgt to myself, "GigundaSalad".

Starting with the incredibly sweet heirloom, organic tomatoes I picked up at the Oswego Farmers' Market, a couple of days ago. These tomatoes are old europe at its best. IIRC they are called "German Stripes". They are as sweet as a peach. Chopped them into largish chunks.

Then I added about half of a red onion (approximately baby's head size), a pair of cukes, 2 ribs of celery, a handful of calamata olives, 1/4 cup of capers, 1 nice braeburn apple and some frozen corn and peas. Then I opened a can of black beans and a can of garbanzos (drain the garbanzos, RINSE the black beans--unless you like very dark salad). After a thorough stirring of the ingredients, I let them rest in a 4 qt stainless bowl.

I then made a dressing with OJ, cider vinegar, white balsamic vinegar, canola and hazelnut oils, GARLIC (yes, that much!!) salt, black pepper, powdered ancho chilies, basil, oregano, a tablespoon or so of brown sugar, about a 1/4 tsp of curry powder and a healthy pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg--quantities are all "to taste". Total volume of dressing was about a pint. It's macerating in the fridge for a few hours.

Four days later:

Ummm, umm. Good Salad. I ate about 2/3 and gave a couple of friends some to try. It was a little on the sweet side of sweet/savory. Next time I'll use less OJ or no apple.

Wasn't it nice that I wrote a post with no overtly political stuff in it?

Oh,yeah, fuck Glen Beck.

Compare and Contrast

Ted Kennedy will be laid to rest tomorrow, near the graves of his brothers Jack and Bobby. While I don't believe in an afterlife, I do believe that all three of Joe's boys, each with foibles of his own, did perform heroic service in their duties to their country and deserve to be laid in the hallowed ground of Arlington.

Senator Kennedy's life, warts and all, has been thoroughly examined, for at least the last 41 years, so I won't be doing that.

What I will say is this.

Ted Kennedy has been criticized as a drunkard, a murderer, a serial philanderer, a "limousine liberal" dilettante, a fellow traveller, a terrorist appeaser and a traitor (and that's not an exhaustive list, by any means) by the reichwing idiots who are rejoicing at the news of his death.

It is ironic, imo, that so many people who hate the late senator (and, yes, "hate" is the correct tense) are alive because of his tireless advocacy for those who needed help and whose voices could not be heard. So many social welfare programs, which many of his critics benefit from, were championed by Ted. If there IS an afterlife, Ted must be chuckling to himself as he listens to their insults and whining.

I look at the role models for the fundies and reichwingers: Frist, Reagan, Falwell, Nixon, Gingrich, North, Dobson, Limbaugh, Coulter, Hannity, Palin and the "Plumber"--a melange of self-absorbed, paranoic, manipulative and delusional opportunists--and all I can think is "give me a boozy womanizer who actually gives a fuck about somebody else, any day."

Rest in peace, Ted.