BusterStronghart@Gmail.com
Filled up the car with $2.08 gasoline. Last fill was 7 days ago. Total was about $31.00.
If gasoline was $1.25 a gallon; the difference would be about $600.00 per year!
Just think, I am giving that $600 to the enemy in Arabia and to the fortune 500 oil companies--and I am not spending it on my family.
If this were a tax imposed bu the democrats would Bush, Limbo, and that little twerp, on Fox be screaming their heads off?
Enjoy your money Mr. Bush.
Thursday, October 28, 2004
BusterStronghart@Gmail.com
there has never been so much distrust of the voting process as there is now. Not in my memory, anyway. This all started after the vote of 2000. The extremists on the radio haven't helped either. Their constant ad homimum attacks have made people feel that the other side is vicious, crooked, mealy mouthed, stupid--and worse, anti-American. Can you imagine Kerry as an anti-American?
We're in a dangerous place right now.
there has never been so much distrust of the voting process as there is now. Not in my memory, anyway. This all started after the vote of 2000. The extremists on the radio haven't helped either. Their constant ad homimum attacks have made people feel that the other side is vicious, crooked, mealy mouthed, stupid--and worse, anti-American. Can you imagine Kerry as an anti-American?
We're in a dangerous place right now.
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
BusterStronghart@Gmail.com
Fanatic: A man who does what the Lord would do, if only He knew the facts of the case.
Fanatic: A man who does what the Lord would do, if only He knew the facts of the case.
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
BusterStronghart@Gmail.com
Does each step carry me only further into empty space? Is that where I have been living?
What is the measure of all things. What is the measure by which I should measure myself? Is my ruler too long? Or is it my cock that is too short?
Does each step carry me only further into empty space? Is that where I have been living?
What is the measure of all things. What is the measure by which I should measure myself? Is my ruler too long? Or is it my cock that is too short?
BusterStronghart@Gmail.com
Perhaps life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? Perhaps to be too practical is madness. To surrender to dreams--this may be madness. To seek treasure where there is only trash. Too much sanity may be madness. And, maddest of all, to see life as it is, and not as it should be.
Don Quixote
Perhaps life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? Perhaps to be too practical is madness. To surrender to dreams--this may be madness. To seek treasure where there is only trash. Too much sanity may be madness. And, maddest of all, to see life as it is, and not as it should be.
Don Quixote
BusterStronghart@Gmail.com
from Art Theil's sports column: ...(Kurt) Schilling's right ankle, soon to be the most celebrated baseball joint since Toots Shor's saloon in 1940s New York...
from Art Theil's sports column: ...(Kurt) Schilling's right ankle, soon to be the most celebrated baseball joint since Toots Shor's saloon in 1940s New York...
BusterStronghart@Gmail.com
from Art Theil's sports column: ...(Kurt) Schilling's right ankle, soon to be the most celebrated baseball joint since Toots Shor's saloon in 1940s New York...
from Art Theil's sports column: ...(Kurt) Schilling's right ankle, soon to be the most celebrated baseball joint since Toots Shor's saloon in 1940s New York...
BusterStronghart@Gmail.com
from Art Theil's sports column: ...(Kurt) Schilling's right ankle, soon to be the most celebrated baseball joint since Toots Shor's saloon in 1940s New York...
from Art Theil's sports column: ...(Kurt) Schilling's right ankle, soon to be the most celebrated baseball joint since Toots Shor's saloon in 1940s New York...
BusterStronghart@Gmail.com
from Art Theil's sports column: ...(Kurt) Schilling's right ankle, soon to be the most celebrated baseball joint since Toots Shor's saloon in 1940s New York...
from Art Theil's sports column: ...(Kurt) Schilling's right ankle, soon to be the most celebrated baseball joint since Toots Shor's saloon in 1940s New York...
Thursday, October 21, 2004
BusterStronghart@Gmail.com
There's little escape from her black hole of abulia. Abulia: the inability to make decisions.
There's little escape from her black hole of abulia. Abulia: the inability to make decisions.
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
BusterStronghart@Gmail.com
I voted today along faster than most voters will, so my 7 minutes tells me to expect at least 700 minutes for a hundred voters. But remember, I think that I am faster than most voters will be.Prediction: long lines, shouting, accusations.. There was a very short line, three people before and plenty of voting machines to work with. I signed in, they found my registration, reminded me that I had an absentee ballot at home, asked me to destroy it, and passed me on to the "inspector" whose job it was to show me the machine and set me up for voting. It took her a few seconds and I finished voting about seven minutes later... The machine worked fairly well--of course, I am half-way smart and I could easily read the resolutions and already was familiar with them. I think I moved
I voted today along faster than most voters will, so my 7 minutes tells me to expect at least 700 minutes for a hundred voters. But remember, I think that I am faster than most voters will be.Prediction: long lines, shouting, accusations.. There was a very short line, three people before and plenty of voting machines to work with. I signed in, they found my registration, reminded me that I had an absentee ballot at home, asked me to destroy it, and passed me on to the "inspector" whose job it was to show me the machine and set me up for voting. It took her a few seconds and I finished voting about seven minutes later... The machine worked fairly well--of course, I am half-way smart and I could easily read the resolutions and already was familiar with them. I think I moved
Monday, October 18, 2004
BusterStronghart@Gmail.com
We live in interesting times. Tomorrow I am going to vote early so that I can get a look at the new voting machine--new in the sense that we did use it for the primary on Aug 31--but then the ballot was only a page or two.
Now the ballot has expanded to ten pages. This means that people unfamiliar with computers will have to learn how to move from page to page, from candidate to candidate, will have to figure out which judge is running under what party's banner. Then they may want to check their votes which is a new thing to learn...Finally they will have to find the button marked "CAST YOUR BALLOT." Many people will forget to press this BLINKING RED LIGHT button necessitating the following procedure. Two people from different parties must go to the machine and press the button together. Then an affidavit must be filled out and signed by the two poll workers (Inspectors) of different parties and their Clerk.
As a paid poll worker (my only paying job) I think that we will have trouble getting everyone to vote by closing time. Anyone on line at 7:00 PM may vote--even if we have to stay until midnight. Under some circumstances Governor Bush can extend voting hours as long as he wants. Let's say that there is a thunderstorm or blizzard--he can extend the time at which people may get on line. Or perhaps a shortage of Republican voters.
I am imagining myself pushing seniors through the process, then helping the halt to get to the machine, then teaching others how to move through the electronic ballot. Of course, we also have the Provisional Ballot to deal with too. That is used when we think that a voter is unqualified, at the wrong polling place, or has no identification. That voter gets to uses a provisional ballot, after signing a paper attesting to his good heart and soul. This must be witnessed by two poll workers of different parties. Luckily there are a few Naderites at my poll.
Our polling place is in the Plumber's Local on Andrews Avenue. Three out of four faucets in the Men's Room were leaking on Primary Day.
There is supposed to be a post election party in our building--nonpartisan, of course--but I think I'll be home too late to attend.
We live in interesting times. Tomorrow I am going to vote early so that I can get a look at the new voting machine--new in the sense that we did use it for the primary on Aug 31--but then the ballot was only a page or two.
Now the ballot has expanded to ten pages. This means that people unfamiliar with computers will have to learn how to move from page to page, from candidate to candidate, will have to figure out which judge is running under what party's banner. Then they may want to check their votes which is a new thing to learn...Finally they will have to find the button marked "CAST YOUR BALLOT." Many people will forget to press this BLINKING RED LIGHT button necessitating the following procedure. Two people from different parties must go to the machine and press the button together. Then an affidavit must be filled out and signed by the two poll workers (Inspectors) of different parties and their Clerk.
As a paid poll worker (my only paying job) I think that we will have trouble getting everyone to vote by closing time. Anyone on line at 7:00 PM may vote--even if we have to stay until midnight. Under some circumstances Governor Bush can extend voting hours as long as he wants. Let's say that there is a thunderstorm or blizzard--he can extend the time at which people may get on line. Or perhaps a shortage of Republican voters.
I am imagining myself pushing seniors through the process, then helping the halt to get to the machine, then teaching others how to move through the electronic ballot. Of course, we also have the Provisional Ballot to deal with too. That is used when we think that a voter is unqualified, at the wrong polling place, or has no identification. That voter gets to uses a provisional ballot, after signing a paper attesting to his good heart and soul. This must be witnessed by two poll workers of different parties. Luckily there are a few Naderites at my poll.
Our polling place is in the Plumber's Local on Andrews Avenue. Three out of four faucets in the Men's Room were leaking on Primary Day.
There is supposed to be a post election party in our building--nonpartisan, of course--but I think I'll be home too late to attend.
Monday, October 11, 2004
BusterStronghart@Gmail.com
Reasoning often leads to desired, preferred conclusions.
Prescription for certainty.
Reasoning often leads to desired, preferred conclusions.
Prescription for certainty.
BusterStronghart@Gmail.com
The hard reality for many of us is that this is, essentially, a pretty conservative country. Norms that are taken for granted throughout the rest of the industrialized world are anathema to many Americans, including gay rights, universal health care, six-week vacations, gun control and the maintenance of a minimal social safety net.
SUSANNA RODELL is editorial page editor of the Charleston Gazette. (West Virginia)
The hard reality for many of us is that this is, essentially, a pretty conservative country. Norms that are taken for granted throughout the rest of the industrialized world are anathema to many Americans, including gay rights, universal health care, six-week vacations, gun control and the maintenance of a minimal social safety net.
SUSANNA RODELL is editorial page editor of the Charleston Gazette. (West Virginia)
Friday, October 08, 2004
BusterStronghart@Gmail.com
Re
From me to Gross:
It was hard for me to accept the tossing out of the hotel scene, and the overt anti-Semitism in the restaurant. I did not find it believable. I don't think that there has ever been another fiction that I found so unbelievable.
Why? It has something to do with my faith in America, and my lack of experience with anti-Semitism. Of course, I admit that my usual denseness makes me miss what others see; and my defense against anti-Semitic actions or words has always been to deny them--or to realize-rationalize that the remark came from a lowlife, not anyone whom I respected.
Elsewhere I have described the Ohio Wesleyan Sigma Chi incident, which was the only time in my life that I was ever directly affected in a meaningful way.
So what happened in the Katz household that protected me from knowing that anti-Semitism existed? Well, our parent's friends were mostly in mixed marriages like my father and mother. The families that weren't Jewish never expressed any overt indications of anti-Semitism. Dad never discussed the anti-Semitism issue--I don't think that it was an issue to him. His male friends were Jewish, Italian and a few Irishmen including one horse-playing priest and all other friends always were in our house or he was at theirs'.
Mother's side of the family seeemed fully accepting, as far as I could see.
It just didn't come up. When we went to Bermuda and he wanted to play mid-Ocean he found a way, although I think that later he did acknowledge that his Jewishness was a problem to be worked around. Mother and Dad vacationed at the Greenbriar, which later I learned was not a place to which Jews went--but....
and now to dinner, more later....
From Gross to me:
We are Jews by default. We are Jews because we are not Christians. We did not choose to be Jews, nor do we practice Judaism. Notwithstanding, we are not welcome in the society of our own country. That is humiliating, especially for a child. They long term effects of that exclusion are what we need to examine in order to understand ourselves.
From me to Gross:
Michael, something's wrong with your thought process here. The reverse is true also. Non-Jews are outsiders because they are not Jewish. Is that a tautology or what? We are Jews because we call ourselves Jews, we do not deny our Jewishness, and finally others call us Jews. The fact that some Jews insist that we are not Jews is irrelevant. That's their opinion.
"Notwithstanding, we are not welcome in the society of our own country."
Well, we are not welcome in some parts of our country. So? Do you welcome everyone, anyone into your home? the fear of the stranger is a part of the human dynamic. Some people overcome it. Others overcome their fear of the stranger to a small extent. The most fearful never overcome it.
"That is humiliating, especially for a child. They long term effects of that exclusion are what we need to examine in order to understand ourselves. "
I don't deny the sense of humiliation in others. I see it in X, and now, for the first time I see it you. I know it exists in me--but I do not relate it to being Jewish.
I was never accepted by groups--Malkin was asked to join a baseball team, the Spiders, long before I even knew him. Coincidentally, I knew other members of the team. they wouldn't have me--I was left out. Not unusual for me, but there was a sense of loss, of humiliation, yes. But it had nothing to do with being Jewish.
Boy, did I long for one of those Maroon rayon jackets with Spiders scrawled across its back.
But it was not to be. I had to peer through the cyclone fence and watch them practice. I was alone, only my trusty, loyal Schwin Phantom waiting patiently at my side.
Much later in life, when I received two luggage tags from Western Union as a prize for something or other, I put them on my luggage, proud to be a member of the Western Union team. At age 50 when Gary Miller gave me the HM letters that Coach Q. didn't give me, I still felt cheated, left out, and the falsity of my late award overwhelmed any proud or good feelings that Gary's gesture should have engendered. The fact that I knew I didn't deserve the letters from Coach Quinn made Gary's letters meaningless. But I wasn''t part of the team. Was that humiliating? It had nothing to do with being Jewish.
Humiliation, disappointment, loss each exist apart from being a Jew.
mek
Re
The Plot Against AmericaPhilip Roth.
From me to Gross:
It was hard for me to accept the tossing out of the hotel scene, and the overt anti-Semitism in the restaurant. I did not find it believable. I don't think that there has ever been another fiction that I found so unbelievable.
Why? It has something to do with my faith in America, and my lack of experience with anti-Semitism. Of course, I admit that my usual denseness makes me miss what others see; and my defense against anti-Semitic actions or words has always been to deny them--or to realize-rationalize that the remark came from a lowlife, not anyone whom I respected.
Elsewhere I have described the Ohio Wesleyan Sigma Chi incident, which was the only time in my life that I was ever directly affected in a meaningful way.
So what happened in the Katz household that protected me from knowing that anti-Semitism existed? Well, our parent's friends were mostly in mixed marriages like my father and mother. The families that weren't Jewish never expressed any overt indications of anti-Semitism. Dad never discussed the anti-Semitism issue--I don't think that it was an issue to him. His male friends were Jewish, Italian and a few Irishmen including one horse-playing priest and all other friends always were in our house or he was at theirs'.
Mother's side of the family seeemed fully accepting, as far as I could see.
It just didn't come up. When we went to Bermuda and he wanted to play mid-Ocean he found a way, although I think that later he did acknowledge that his Jewishness was a problem to be worked around. Mother and Dad vacationed at the Greenbriar, which later I learned was not a place to which Jews went--but....
and now to dinner, more later....
From Gross to me:
We are Jews by default. We are Jews because we are not Christians. We did not choose to be Jews, nor do we practice Judaism. Notwithstanding, we are not welcome in the society of our own country. That is humiliating, especially for a child. They long term effects of that exclusion are what we need to examine in order to understand ourselves.
From me to Gross:
Michael, something's wrong with your thought process here. The reverse is true also. Non-Jews are outsiders because they are not Jewish. Is that a tautology or what? We are Jews because we call ourselves Jews, we do not deny our Jewishness, and finally others call us Jews. The fact that some Jews insist that we are not Jews is irrelevant. That's their opinion.
"Notwithstanding, we are not welcome in the society of our own country."
Well, we are not welcome in some parts of our country. So? Do you welcome everyone, anyone into your home? the fear of the stranger is a part of the human dynamic. Some people overcome it. Others overcome their fear of the stranger to a small extent. The most fearful never overcome it.
"That is humiliating, especially for a child. They long term effects of that exclusion are what we need to examine in order to understand ourselves. "
I don't deny the sense of humiliation in others. I see it in X, and now, for the first time I see it you. I know it exists in me--but I do not relate it to being Jewish.
I was never accepted by groups--Malkin was asked to join a baseball team, the Spiders, long before I even knew him. Coincidentally, I knew other members of the team. they wouldn't have me--I was left out. Not unusual for me, but there was a sense of loss, of humiliation, yes. But it had nothing to do with being Jewish.
Boy, did I long for one of those Maroon rayon jackets with Spiders scrawled across its back.
But it was not to be. I had to peer through the cyclone fence and watch them practice. I was alone, only my trusty, loyal Schwin Phantom waiting patiently at my side.
Much later in life, when I received two luggage tags from Western Union as a prize for something or other, I put them on my luggage, proud to be a member of the Western Union team. At age 50 when Gary Miller gave me the HM letters that Coach Q. didn't give me, I still felt cheated, left out, and the falsity of my late award overwhelmed any proud or good feelings that Gary's gesture should have engendered. The fact that I knew I didn't deserve the letters from Coach Quinn made Gary's letters meaningless. But I wasn''t part of the team. Was that humiliating? It had nothing to do with being Jewish.
Humiliation, disappointment, loss each exist apart from being a Jew.
mek
Monday, October 04, 2004
BusterStronghart@Gmail.com
What is wrong with Phillip Roth? -- two of his characters in his latest book: Louise Swing ( a singer with a big band) and her husband, the saxophonist, Sy Axman. Is this supposed to be funny?
And here's a great line from the book: "The pompous son of a bitch knows everything--it's too bad he doesn't know anything else."
What is wrong with Phillip Roth? -- two of his characters in his latest book: Louise Swing ( a singer with a big band) and her husband, the saxophonist, Sy Axman. Is this supposed to be funny?
And here's a great line from the book: "The pompous son of a bitch knows everything--it's too bad he doesn't know anything else."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)