political comment

Sometimes the web can make you feel good.

I find myself on twitter a lot. I enjoy seeing.hearing what people who I choose to "follow" are doing. One of those reasons is because I tend to pick people who I find interesting. So it's a sort of self-fulling loop.
One of those persons that I chose to follow is a republican. Not just a regular republican but a right wing republican with his own blog and his own video blog. I can't recall where I discovered this person and how I came about following him. But I enjoy keeping an ear on what "the other side" is up to. I don't comment on his tweets, and usually I don't comment on his blog posts. I feel like it's not my place to be the "troll" on his thoughts and opinions. By all means he's free to post what he believes in. But... (You knew there was a but coming right? :)
The other day, I read a post on his blog. It was (I think) by another person as it was listed under commentary. The title of the blog was something like "Why I'm through with the Republican party". It was a short post actually. Only 8 paragraphs. I read through the 7 paragraphs and they all were criticisms of the current party and basically pointing out how they are not the voice of a "true conservative" anymore. I even found myself agreeing with some of his/her points. But then... In the last paragraph, he starts with "But I will continue to support the Republican party..." (there was a vague disclaimer attached to that sentence something like if they act like how they promised on the campaign trail).
I couldn't believe it. Here was a poignant expression about how the GOP is losing it's way, and it ends with the author claiming he'll still support the party?! I couldn't help myself to post a comment. I tried to be respectful, and not use personal attacks (like so many internet comments), but I also pointed out how I didn't understand the thinking and and logic.
I went back today, to check the blog post to see if I had raised the ire of all the other Rep's on that site. I was expecting to get an earful, but much to my surprise the article is not there. Earlier today, I got an error that said the website is being re-designed so perhaps it was just a technical glitch, and once the web designer gets around to it, he'll fix the link, but for now, I can't help but wonder... did I have anything to do with the pulling of the article because they read the article and said "gee, he's right, that doesn't make any sense".
I'll try to remember to check over the next few days and see if it reappears. If it does, I'll update this post.
(note: I realize I'm being vague, and not listing the blog. I don't want to drive either other Reps or Dems and start a comment flame war.)

Funny photo | SF compost

This morning I read over on the Inhabitat blog that San Francisco has jut made it a "law" (seems odd to think of this as a law) that the city will now add mandatory composting to their waste management. I applaud this effort (though I'm a little confused how it all will work - I'm sorry, I can't see how this will a) Not smell! (because people will not know what is the right thing to compost or not, and because people are lazy (and/or stupid) and they'll just put anything they want into the compost catagory) and b) not attract rodents.
But hopefully they have it all figured out - because I know first hand - no wait, I guess it's "second hand" that my ma also composts for their small backyard garden. It's really a good thing.

All of the above said... when I looked at the photo above, I just had to laugh at the guy in the lower right hand side. He's just got his head down, and is pinching his nose as if he has the worst tension headache. I can just imagine him as one of the mayor's advisers and he's thinking to himself, 'THIS will be a disaster!' :)

(if you can't see it, you can click on the image to enlarge it).

Iran Election thoughts...

First off, let me admit I am not following the Iran Election events closely. But that being said, I have a few thoughts I want to throw out there...
I am very much into twitter now as a means of communication, mini-blogging, and in general keeping an eye on whats going on in the world. A trend I see on twitter is people making their avatar green to show support for the Iranian people who are protesting for democracy and legitimate elections. I have refrained from taking part on this bandwagon. For fear of sounding callous (which I'm not), I don't see the point. In fact, someone on twitter said it nicely... "it's like putting the yellow ribbons on our trees and cars to show support for the troops". It's a superficial sign that shows what you think, rather than actually helping in a meaningful way. Again, if you are supporting the Iranians and want to show solidarity that's great, but I would hope that the people doing this are also doing more than just changing their avatars.
Another item that I really just noticed today (Sunday), is that the republicans are now using this event to criticize Obama. You have two lines of critiques... one: He's meddling in other countries affairs too much, or two: he's not doing enough. The cry today coming from the right wing is that he's not doing enough. Yet, I hear them claim this but I don't hear what it is they want him to do. In my opinion, he's handling it well for the moment. He's raised concern over the legitimacy of the election, and condemned any violent behavior and at the same time praised the protestors for peacful demonstrations. That to me sounds like the right thing to do. It's up to their lawmakers and lawenforcers to determine if the election has been rigged or not. We (as a country) should stay out of their affiars. I think back to when our election was possibly stolen in When our president was "appointed" by the Supreme Court. I would not have listened to another countries leader regarding the election.
So, I'll continue to follow this news with some minor interest. I support the Iranians who are passionate enough to protest (matter of fact, WE should learn a lesson from them if our election is ever called into question again). I hope the people in Iran continue to demonstrate peacfully, and I hope it is all resolved in a favorable way that is best for the Iranian people.
(disclaimer: I reserve the right to change my mind on any of this upon learning further information).

not much to say

no really... I've been trying to think about something to blog about for the past couple days and nothing has struck me.
I'm enjoying the time spent now visiting with "west coast" family as they are in town now for their vacation.
I'm still keeping an eye on political stuff, but to be honest I'm also trying to take a brake from all the mud slinging and negativity.
I'm sort of in mid-limbo on my hobbies - mostly frustrated with my whole lack of space in my small apartment to do anything.
I guess the only bit of good news is that I FINALLY got around to shelling out the money to buy two new tires for my truck. I've needed them for a while, yet kept postponing it until I made up my mind about keeping my truck or selling it and gettting a Prius. I still want a prius, but I'm not ready to go into debt again just yet (or deplete my savings to buy a car). So the new tires will buy me some more time to make up my mind.
So that's about it for now.
I hope to have more intersting topics soon.

cartoon

I don't recall where on the internet I found this one - Sorry for not giving attribution.

kid on a plane...

I just remembered another small story about my plane ride home from vacation.
I had a transfer in PHX Arizona, and when I got on the plane, I was sitting about the 4th row back.
People were filing into the plane as we were boarding.
Then there was a small gap in the flow of people, and the stewardess (or is it hostess? I forget what the PC term is now)... brings on a younger kid. I'm guessing him to be around 8 years old perhaps. So she seats him two rows in front of me in a middle seat between two other women.
She fills out some paperwork and the plane continues to board, and in a short amount of time, we're off and on our way.
I don't recall exactly when it happened but it was around the time when the "Flight attendants" (That's the PC term!) start to get ready for the first round of drinks and peanuts. I placed my order for a tomato juice (no ice), and I'm waiting (like the rest of the plane) to be served our little cup of beverage. I'm not really paying attention, just sort of looking forward, when I see something move at the top of the chair that the kid is in... What the? It's brown and scaly! It's literally slithering! First thing to pop in my mind is Samuel Jackson Cursing about Snakes on a PLANE! And how could this be happening - Just like the movie!?
Then all of a sudden the snake's head appears and it's obviously fake - whew :)
The guy who was the row in front of me (who would be directly behind the kid) let out a big sigh too - I think he might have been actually scared. The flight attendant walked past, then started joking with the kid about his "real snake" - yeah! Laugh it up kid!
Luckily the kid had no other surprises in store, but there for a second, I was fooled, and couldn't believe what I was seeing.

Karma is calling...

Ring Ring - Karma is calling.

This little story is going to haunt me for some time now until I can find a way to rectify it.
This past week I was on vacation. I went to the west coast to visit family and take in the sights and sounds of sunny California. I had an awesome time (as always). (One of the highlights was seeing a press conference with Arnold "The Governator" himself! It was a situation we just sort of lucked into by chance and it was pretty cool. I hope to post photos soon.)
But the story is this...
As I left California I had a connecting flight in Phoenix AZ. I arrived at PHX only to learn my flight had been delayed an hour. I didn't let it bother me at all, and took the time to eat my sandwich (that my sis made for me with some extra surprise goodies) at the little kids table that happened to have some old Popeye cartoons playing. (it was funny actually, here I am sitting on these little stools meant for kids eating my lunch and watching cartoons, and behind me was another TV with a story I was hearing in the background of how a man was recently shot... I conciously made the effort to tune it out, and enjoyed my Popeye.)
After lunch, I wandered over to my gate, and sat down to wait. As I approached my seat, I looked down and saw that someone had dropped a $1. Cool! I asked the guy sitting one chair away, if he lost a $1 - the expresion on his face was priceless. It was as if I wanted to come up with a story about how it was his, but his mind just froze so he said "no". I asked the other guy on the other side of me, if it was his, and he just said no. Woohoo!
But then... As I was sitting there, I noticed a small black object under the chair across from me. It looked like it might be a cell phone but I wasn't entirely sure. I wasn't ready yet to get down on my hands and knees to go reaching for a piece of plastic trash like off of some luggage or something. Just as I was getting up the nerve to crawling for it, this young guy walks in front of me and sits down. Ugh, I really don't want to ask this guy to move now, just so I can crawl under his chair. I sit patiently and wait for him to get up. The more I look at it, the more I'm convinced it's a cell phone. The kid across from me was a strange one. He was dressed in a skull shirt, had a big skull metal belt buckle on (that he was mighty proud of cause he was polishing it and meticulously tucking in his shirt so it was visible.) He had on some Skull "Van" Sneakers and carried around two drumsticks covered in electrical tape. The kid also had a heavy brow which gave him a neanderthal look, with messy blonde hair. He proceeded to start taking stuff out of his small duffle bag. mostly clothes. He seemed oblivious that I was watching him closely, or for that matter, that there were even other people around him (it was very crowded for some reason). This kid fascinated me, and disgusted me at the same time. As he was dumping his clothes on the floor, he picked up a pair of underwear (presumably his!) and smelled them! Who does this? Sure, I might have picked up a shirt that I had laying on my floor when I was a teen to smell the pits to see if it was dirty or clean, but underwear? No way. He repacked his bag, then proceeded to really dig his finger into his nostril like there was no tomorrow. Not just once either. I was thinking to myself, does this kid have any social skills at all?!
He then bends over to pick up more of the clothes when he lets out a 'gasp' and grabs the cell phone! I was like a deer in headlights! What do I do now? Do I confront this mentally unstable guy? I watch him, in the hopes that he'll do the right thing and turn it into the desk for "lost and found". He starts looking all around. Then once he's sure no one is looking he opens the phone and starts pushing buttons (didn't make a call). I still didn't know what to do, and then realized I had let too much time slip by to say anything. I SO wanted to just say to him "I saw that, and hope you'll do the right thing and return the phone." But I didn't.
Shortly later, he picked his stuff up, and walked over to the wall near his gate and sat down and started playing with his drum sticks. I thought maybe he was drumming along to the music playing on his ipod... then I realized, he didn't have any headphones in. He was just "air drumming" like crazy.
Eventually, they announced that the flight he was waiting for was transfered to a different gate and he got up and left.
I so wanted to tell someone, but chickened out for fear of getting involved.
All I could imagine was how some innocent person was going to have all sorts of problems with their lost phone. Possible billing issues if the kid decided to run up the phone bill, or worse yet, get all the contact information out of the phone. I felt really bad for not doing the right thing, and acting faster when I saw it.
I fear now that someday that karma train will come around and get me back for this. As I was sitting in the airport wondering how it would hit me (ie: would I lose my phone now too?!), I thought - wait a second... if I believe in Karma, then that means the person who lost their cell phone must have also done something wrong! So the karma train was gettin back at HIM and not ME! :)
I know I still should have acted sooner or said something, and this will haunt me for a long time now.