Many paths up the mountain...

2011-12-27T09:51:00.000-06:00

I'm not a cynic, I'm a sceptic - I try to question information but not motives.

~ Penn Jillette

Steve Jobs' last words...

2011-10-30T15:12:00.001-05:00

Oh, wow. Oh, wow. Oh, wow.

2011-07-22T22:17:00.000-05:00

"The bed is a bundle of paradoxes: we go to it with reluctance, yet we quit it with regret; we make up our minds every night to leave it early, but we make up our bodies every morning to keep it late.”

~ Charles Caleb Colton

2011-04-03T15:08:00.000-05:00

Don't acquire what you can't afford...

90 square foot apartment in downtown Manhattan

2011-02-13T15:48:00.002-06:00

Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.

~Benjamin Franklin

2011-02-13T15:47:00.002-06:00

Do not ask for success unless you're ready to conquer the behaviours that would sabotage success.
~ Melody Beattie

2011-02-13T15:46:00.002-06:00

How great it is that not a single person need to wait before changing the world.

~ Anne Frank

Do you smell something?

2011-02-13T15:45:00.001-06:00

Behave so the aroma of your actions may enhance the general sweetness of the atmosphere
~ Henry David Thoreau

2010-12-14T17:23:00.000-06:00

Being with someone you love is high on the list of life's great pleasures. But so is vanishing for days into a cherished pursuit with no one to answer to. So is not having to deal with another person's schedule, stomach or tiresome shtick. And in case you haven't heard, marriage, for all its hype, can be a real bummer sometimes. I've been lonely married and I've been lonely single, and compared to the torture of sleeping beside someone you no longer love, or know has left the building, or maybe are hoping will choke in his sleep, lonely single is a walk in the park.

~ Wendy Dennis, 'Are You Dating Yet?'

2010-11-25T23:16:00.002-06:00

A man is what he thinks about all day long.

~ Emerson

2010-11-25T23:16:00.000-06:00

A man is what he thinks about all day long.

~ Emerson

2010-11-17T13:22:00.000-06:00

Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule.

~ Stephen King

2010-11-15T18:44:00.000-06:00

"What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence."
~ Christopher Hitchens

2010-11-15T18:43:00.002-06:00

“…the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; those who are in the shadows of life; the sick, the needy and the handicapped.”

– Hubert H. Humphrey

Songs, or elections, whatever

2010-11-03T08:52:00.001-05:00

“I hate a song that makes you think that you are just born to lose. Bound to lose. No good to nobody. No good for nothing. Because you are too old or too young or too fat or too slim or too ugly or too this or too that. Songs that run you down or poke fun at you on account of your bad luck or hard traveling.

I am out to fight those songs to my very last breath of air and my last drop of blood. I am out to sing songs that will prove to you that this is your world and that if it has hit you pretty hard and knocked you for a dozen loops, no matter what color, what size you are, how you are built, I am out to sing the songs that make you take pride in yourself and in your work.”

~ singer-songwriter Woodie Guthrie

2010-10-15T10:00:00.002-05:00

WYSIWYG: Enjoying life is the direct result of a favorable attitude

~ read on a Bahama vacation chat list...

2010-10-13T20:47:00.003-05:00

Every day people are straying away from the church and going back to God.

~ Lenny Bruce

2010-09-24T12:17:00.002-05:00

Artists understand that new isn't for everyone. It's not even for most people. Pass them by. They can catch up later.

~ Seth Godin

I gotta admit, I see his point...

2010-09-20T17:02:00.000-05:00

The spectacle of high-income Americans, the world’s luckiest people, wallowing in self-pity and self-righteousness would be funny, except for one thing: they may well get their way. Never mind the $700 billion price tag for extending the high-end tax breaks: virtually all Republicans and some Democrats are rushing to the aid of the oppressed affluent.

You see, the rich are different from you and me: they have more influence. It’s partly a matter of campaign contributions, but it’s also a matter of social pressure, since politicians spend a lot of time hanging out with the wealthy. So when the rich face the prospect of paying an extra 3 or 4 percent of their income in taxes, politicians feel their pain — feel it much more acutely, it’s clear, than they feel the pain of families who are losing their jobs, their houses, and their hopes.

~ Paul Krugman in The Angry Rich Op Ed in the NYT, Sept 19, 2010

2010-09-17T13:00:00.000-05:00

I
didn't
shoplift
the pootie!

~ Jerry in Jerry MaGuire

2010-08-14T10:52:00.000-05:00

Anyone who would use religion as their reason to cause unhappiness to another is guilty of a great sin.

These sins are committed first against their children. They have learned nothing from their faiths. The extremists of both Christianity and Islam, for example, follow lives of violent repudiation of the beliefs of their own religions.

~ Robert Ebert, while commenting on Christopher Hitchens' book on Religion.

2010-08-08T17:56:00.003-05:00

When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete, everybody will respect you.

~ Lao Tzu

2010-06-13T14:28:00.002-05:00

Dance like no one is watching. Sing like no one is listening. Love like you've never been hurt.

~ Mark Twain

Wisdom read on Twitter

2010-05-24T13:37:00.000-05:00

If your mother drives you to school -- you ain't no gangsta. Pull your damn pants up!

Two moves? He's a player!

2010-05-09T16:08:00.000-05:00

He's got two moves:

Squeeze the Charmin, and poke around down there like he's trying to pop a balloon.

~ Earl's mom, talking about Earl's dad's canoodling skills, on My Name is Earl.

I can't think of a reason, either!

2010-05-04T21:23:00.000-05:00

All right, I'm out...

Why should I stick around here if there is no chance of us making out?

~ Puck on Glee

Eternal truth...

2010-05-02T01:18:00.000-05:00

Every time a couple gets married, two single people die...

~ Leslie Knope on Parks and Recreation

Just kidding...

2010-04-27T19:43:00.000-05:00

Hitting is not always wrong... I mean, if it hadn't been for the hard smacks to the face, how else would I have learned not to talk when my parents were drinking?

~ Comedian Jim Norton, responding on Red Eye to criticism that England still allows spanking.

Say what you want, I think he gets it...

2010-04-26T10:29:00.000-05:00

Borrowing may make the lives of Albany politicians easier. It may delay our inevitable day of fiscal reckoning past one more November election. But borrowing to help close our budget deficit, by itself, does not do a single thing to help improve our long-term fiscal condition. In fact, it makes an already bad situation worse. And it violates virtually every principle of responsible budgeting.

~ David Paterson, Governor of New York

David Paterson, Governor of New York

Eternal truth...

2010-04-24T09:51:00.002-05:00

It's not the lying that screws people up,

It's the finding out.

~ Joy on My Name is Earl

2010-04-07T12:04:00.000-05:00

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

As I was saying...

2010-04-06T19:22:00.002-05:00

If you propose to speak, always ask yourself, is it true, is it necessary, is it kind?

~ Buddha

As a person who typed in many a program...

2010-04-02T20:26:00.000-05:00

I'm glad the Apple ][+ came with schematics for the circuit boards. I'm glad it encouraged a generation of kids to tinker and explore. I'm also glad that I don't live in the effing '70s and have to type in programs from a magazine anymore.

Joel Johnson's response to Cory Doctorow's bashing of the new iPad.

In the late 70's and early 80', I used to regularly visit the Periodical Room at the Iowa State University library, and peruse the computer magazines. If a program struck my fancy (backgammon! or a printer utility...add lower case!), I'd copy the programs (at 10 cents a page), run home, and type the program into my Apple ][+ (48k memory and two floppy disks, with an amber screen monitor).

2010-03-24T22:18:00.000-05:00

If we can but prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people, under the pretense of taking care of them, they must become happy.

~ Thomas Jefferson, 1802

Now where are my running shoes?

2010-03-22T17:58:00.002-05:00

You’re gonna die. You’re gonna die. And nobody’s gonna care which version of the iPhone you used to make something on Twitter, or to go and post about your latest date on Facebook.

And I’m not even talking about legacy; I’m talking about the fact that I personally feel most alive when I’m making something, and I feel least alive when I’m being led around by some obnoxious use of my attention that I wasn’t aware of.

To me, that’s the thing. You can buy the jogging shoes and you can buy the Runner’s World, but until you put them on and walk out the door every day, you’re just a fat man.

2010-03-03T21:36:00.002-06:00

There’s a famous Zen story that goes:

A monk told Joshu, “I have just entered the monastery. Please teach me.”
Joshu asked, “Have you eaten your rice porridge?
The monk replied, “I have eaten.”
Joshu said, “Then you had better wash your bowl.”
At that moment the monk was enlightened.

...and democrats

2010-02-26T18:29:00.003-06:00

"Bullies crumble when you hit them back..."

~ Andrew Brietbart

farsighted...

2010-02-26T16:34:00.002-06:00

Being happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect;

it means that you decide to see beyond the imperfections.

~ Read on a plaque in a family restaurant, Sullivan, Missouri.

I miss Alan...

2010-02-17T08:44:00.000-06:00

We are at a point right now where it doesn’t make a damn whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican if you’ve forgotten you’re an American.

~ former Senator Alan K. Simpson, Republican of Wyoming, lamenting Washington’s lack of political will to confront the soaring national debt

Eternal truth...

2010-02-13T11:08:00.000-06:00

The good thing about darkness and rain is that they hide tears.

~ Wendy Button

2010-01-24T13:04:00.002-06:00

So what's the point of wishing for something that will never come true?

~ 'becca (the daughter) on Californication

We both agree on this...

2010-01-05T13:04:00.001-06:00

Although I often grow weary of her incessant Bush-bashing, I do agree with this:

If we can’t catch a Nigerian with a powerful explosive powder in his oddly feminine-looking underpants and a syringe full of acid, a man whose own father had alerted the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria, a traveler whose ticket was paid for in cash and who didn’t check bags, whose visa renewal had been denied by the British, who had studied Arabic in Al Qaeda sanctuary Yemen, whose name was on a counterterrorism watch list, who can we catch?

~ Maureen Dowd, Dec 29, 2009 op-ed

2009-12-13T21:44:00.002-06:00

"Here's to plain speaking and clear understanding..."

~ toast by Gutman (Sydney Greenstreet) to Spade (Humphrey Bogart) in The Maltese Falcon

A concept familiar to me

2009-12-12T14:57:00.000-06:00

Faith is a gift that I have yet to receive...

~ from Angels and Demons

Read on another blog somewhere...

2009-11-29T10:29:00.001-06:00

A farmer was working in his field when a young boy came running.

“Papa, sister is in the hay loft with the hired man. She has her skirt up and he has his pants down. THEY ARE GOING TO PEE IN THE HAY!”

“Son, your observations may be accurate, but your conclusions are not.”

The global warming “scientists” are representative of the son – we are “sister”, and Al Gore is the hired man.

2009-11-04T11:19:00.002-06:00

A surtax on high-fructose corn syrup would probably be more effective... than anything we cold do for the health care system, just because of obesity.

~ Richard Kravitz, a University of California at Davis Professor of Medicine.

food baggage...

2009-10-26T17:47:00.001-05:00

“There are some people who eat an orange but don’t really eat it. They eat their sorrow, fear, anger, past, and future.”

- Thich Nhat Hanh

Starry NIght

2009-10-19T11:47:00.003-05:00

“For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.”

-Vincent van Gogh

Therapy by proxy...

2009-10-08T19:46:00.003-05:00

Jonathan:

I have a chance to work with Jim Jarmish - my whole life could change!

Therapist:

Mmmm, sounds like an illusion to me. Lives don't change; we simply become more comfortable with our core misery...which is a form of happiness.

~ from HBO's Bored to Death

Patience is a Virtue...

2009-10-02T12:04:00.002-05:00

A Tennessee State Trooper was patrolling late at night off the main highway.

He sees a couple in a car, with the interior light brightly glowing. He carefully approaches the car to get a closer look. Then he sees a young man behind the wheel, reading a computer magazine. He immediately notices a young woman in the rear seat, filing her fingernails.

Puzzled by this surprising situation, the trooper walks to the car and gently raps on the driver's window. The young man lowers his window.

'Uh, yes, Officer?'

The trooper asks: 'What are you doing?'

The young man says: 'Well, Officer, I'm reading a magazine....

Pointing towards the young woman in the back seat the trooper says: 'And her, what is she doing?'

The young man shrugs: 'Sir, I believe she's filing her fingernails.'

Now, the trooper is totally confused. A young couple, alone, in a car, at night in a lover's lane ... and nothing obscene is happening!

The trooper asks: 'What's your age, young man?'

The young man says: 'I'm 22, sir.'

The trooper asks: 'And her ... what's her age?'

The young man looks at his watch and replies: 'She'll be 18 in 11 minutes...'

2009-09-27T21:56:00.001-05:00

“Wisely, and slow. They stumble that run fast.”

- William Shakespeare

2009-09-14T20:54:00.001-05:00

"Fear less, hope more; eat less, chew more; whine less, breathe more; talk less, say more; love more, and all good things will be yours"

~ Swedish proverb

Proportional Experiences

2009-08-27T15:13:00.004-05:00

I read this about motorcycle riding and I liked the concept of "proportional experience". It can (I imagine) apply to flying...or playing in a band...or tennis...or a relationship...

"One of the cool things about riding is that it's a proportional experience. The more passion we put into it, the richer the reward. It's entirely our call; therefore, we all get exactly what we want."

Motivation

2009-08-27T15:08:00.001-05:00

"Think of motivation and passion as going hand in hand.

If you lose passion for the things you feel are important, motivation never sticks around for very long.

Remind yourself everyday of the things that are important in your life."

~ Bob Greene

Apple stole my classic pickup lines!

2009-08-25T00:21:00.004-05:00

"...some say I'm too fast"

"When you're ready to compromise, call me..."

From the latest 'Get a Mac' ad.

2009-08-24T13:48:00.002-05:00

"You can't quit. I'll make your life a living hell."

"It already is."

Frank the ghost to Dr. Pincus in Ghost Town.

Ouch!

2009-08-20T16:53:00.000-05:00

“If there is anything that we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could better be changed in ourselves.”

~ C.G. Jung

Immutable Law of Computing...

2009-08-17T10:39:00.002-05:00

Fix a computer for a friend or family member and you'll be tech support for life.

The Law of Data Entropy...

2009-08-17T10:37:00.001-05:00

Whatever can be erased, eventually will be erased.

A little too close to home...

2009-08-12T21:49:00.004-05:00

Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!

Ha! Ha! Ha!

Ha! Ha!

It's funny because he's fat!

Mr. Chow on The Hangover

Karma Compromisers

2009-08-12T21:41:00.002-05:00

There are people in my life who I disagree with;

There are other people in my life who bug me;

And there are people in life who I think are Karma Compromisers - if you hang out with them you literally put yourself in harm's way as far as Karma, because they are that bad a person.

Dennis Miller, talking about Nancy Pelosi, on the O'Reilly Factor, August 12, 2009

Dumb like a fox...

2009-08-12T14:06:00.000-05:00

The Barber and the Kid

A young boy enters a barber shop and the barber whispers to his customer, "This is the dumbest kid in the world. Watch while I prove it to you."

The barber puts a dollar bill in one hand and two quarters in the other, then calls the boy over and asks, "Which do you want, son?" The boy takes the quarters and leaves.

"What did I tell you?" said the barber. "That kid never learns!"

Later, when the customer leaves, he sees the same young boy coming out of the ice cream store. "Hey, son! May I ask you a question? Why did you take the quarters instead of the dollar bill?"

The boy licked his ice cream cone and replied, "Because the day I take the dollar, the game's over!"

Think about it...

2009-08-09T13:13:00.001-05:00

Two parrots sat on a perch.

After a moment, one said to the other: "Do you smell fish?"

Don't mess with Cops

2009-07-28T10:17:00.006-05:00

The recent Harvard Professor vs. Cambridge Policeman brouhaha sure has sparked debate.

I can see both sides.

As for my own potential behavior in that situation, I think the Neely Tucker sums it up best in the Washington Post: “One of the common-sense rules of life can be summed up this way: "Don’t Mess With Cops.”

"It doesn’t matter if you are right, wrong, at home or on the street, or if you are white, black, Hispanic, Jewish, Muslim or whatever. When an armed law enforcement officer tells you to cease and desist, the wise person (a) ceases and (b) desists.

The End."

Mmmm...makeup!

2009-07-23T12:27:00.005-05:00

"Ok, girls, today's lesson is makeup.

First, we start with the eyes.

The eyes are the nipples of the face."

~ from The House Bunny

If only...

2009-07-18T16:37:00.003-05:00

"Everything I do is more fun when you are doing it with me."

- Jordan to Perry (Dr. Cox) on Scrubs

2009-07-17T11:58:00.000-05:00

“I really don't think life is about the I-could-have-beens. Life is only about the I-tried-to-do.

I don't mind the failure but I can't imagine that I'd forgive myself if I didn't try.”

~ Nikki Giovanni

Makes some things a bit clearer...

2009-07-17T11:31:00.002-05:00

"Good people will do good things, and bad people will do bad things. But for good people to do bad things—that takes religion."

~ Steven Weinberg

To which Freeman Dyson adds:

"Weinberg's statement is true as far as it goes, but it is not the whole truth. To make it the whole truth, we must add an additional clause: 'And for bad people to do good things—that takes religion.'

" The main point of Christianity is that it is a religion for sinners. Jesus made that very clear. When the Pharisees asked his disciples, "Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?" he said, "I come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance."

Only a small fraction of sinners repent and do good things, but only a small fraction of good people are led by their religion to do bad things.

Ewwwww!

2009-07-16T11:38:00.002-05:00

1st hiker: "Is that a Hobbit over there?"

2nd hiker: "No, it's a hobo and a rabbit, but they're making a hobbit."

The first rule of traveling...

2009-07-10T09:27:00.002-05:00

If, in a given situation, you have a choice between having a good time and having your dignity and you can't have both...go for the good time.

Based on rigorous research...

2009-07-06T22:25:00.001-05:00

From Simplemarriage.net:

To put this discussion into perspective, let’s review the characteristics of strong, stable, and satisfying marriages. While it is understood that there is not one way to have a stable and satisfying marriage, there are some common factors worth highlighting. Research states these characteristics as: investment in the well-being of the beloved; respect; admiration; sexual desire; intimacy; commitment; exclusivity; and understanding.

Oh, man...I'm hosed.

2009-06-30T10:08:00.002-05:00

“Everytime I start thinkin’ the world is all bad, then I start seeing some people out having a good time on motorcycles and it makes me take another look.”

Steve McQueen, On Any Sunday

A truism?

2009-06-11T13:08:00.002-05:00

Happy wife - happy life.

It rhymes so it must be true.

I learned a new word today!

2009-06-10T20:08:00.001-05:00

bodacity (noun form of bodacious)

- heard on Kung Fu Panda

Found on my Mom's refrigerator...

2009-06-10T15:02:00.002-05:00

The man who does not read good books has no advantage over those who can't read them.

Here is a fella with strong opinions...

2009-06-08T17:55:00.006-05:00

"You can pretend Obama's massive spending spree didn't happen.

You can pretend Hillary Clinton didn't go to China to beg the Chinese to keep buying T-bills

You can pretend Geitner didn't recently go to China and drew loud laughter and scorn for suggesting Chinese assets are safe.

You can pretend all this massive spending that has taken place since TARP 1, which Senator Obama approved and voted for is all Bush's fault.

But all that is the stuff of unicorns and pixy dust. In this real world, Obama's massive spending is wrecking the US Economy."

~ from a reader's comment to an article reporting that a Chinese Finance Minister want U.S. bonds to be issued in yuan instead of dollars.

The meditation phrase for today is...unicorns and pixie dust

A Concise Definition...

2009-06-05T09:23:00.001-05:00

Sanctimonious - hypocritically pious or devout

The meditation word for today is...sanctimonious

The Dunning-Kruger Effect

2009-06-02T09:18:00.002-05:00

The Dunning-Kruger effect - those who are least competent tend to have the most wildly inflated estimates of their own knowledge and competence.

They don’t know enough to know that they don’t know, as it were.

It's not exactly Sun Tzu...but it works for me!

2009-05-16T12:24:00.003-05:00

"In war - as in loving,

you've gotta keep on shoving.

Or you never will receive

your just reward."

~ General George S. Patton

2009-03-27T14:37:00.000-05:00

“Mistakes are the portals of discovery.”

~ James Joyce

2009-03-27T10:20:00.002-05:00

"Once one assumes an attitude of intolerance,
there is no knowing where it will take one.
Intolerance, someone has said, is violence to the intellect
and hatred is violence to the heart."

~ Gandhi

My company got reorganized again today...

2009-03-27T10:09:00.002-05:00

"We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams, we would be reorganized.

"I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization."

~ Generally attributed to Gaius Petronius Arbiter, but more likely paraphrased from Charles Ogburn, pp. 32-33, "Merrill's Marauders: The truth About an Incredible Adventure", Harper's Magazine, Janyuary 1957.

2009-03-26T18:44:00.005-05:00

Computers are like an old testament god -

a lot of rules and no mercy.

~ Joseph Campbell

The Power of Myth

2009-03-26T18:40:00.002-05:00

We must be willing to get rid of the life we planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.

- Joseph Campbell

from Scrubs...

2009-03-02T15:55:00.003-06:00

"Ok, here's the low down...

In three hours my shift ends, at which point I will be leaving you and meeting with my ex-wife for a celebratory 'Best Doctor in the City' date with is guaranteed to end with crrrazy hotel sex.

I'm thinking six-inch heels, a leather mask, fishnet stockings...

Who knows? She may even get dressed up!"

- Dr. Cox

If the shoe fits...

2009-02-21T15:15:00.001-06:00

I have the body of a God...Buddha

Yeah, but what did he know?

2009-02-12T17:44:00.000-06:00

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams!

Live the life you've imagined."

~ Thoreau

Fractured Wisdom...

2009-02-06T19:12:00.003-06:00

The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong in the broken places.

But those that will not break it kills.

It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially.

If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.

- Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms

So...what's your story!

2009-02-04T13:36:00.002-06:00

You can have either a great excuse or a great story.

- read in Glamour magazine (of all places), Sept 2008 issue

Dang!

2009-01-21T21:40:00.000-06:00

“He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have”

~Socrates

My latest favorite joke:

2009-01-12T13:25:00.002-06:00

A zen master walks up to a hot dog stand and orders one with everything...

Yes, We Can!

2008-12-14T20:06:00.001-06:00

"I won't insult your intelligence by suggesting that you really believe what you just said.”

-William F. Buckley, Jr.

2008-11-19T23:10:00.001-06:00

“Be content with what you have,

rejoice in the way things are.

When you realize there is nothing lacking,

the whole world belongs to you.”

- Lao Tzu

Multitasking...

2008-10-31T16:55:00.002-05:00

This comes from the 43 folders web site:

Multitasking is the art of distracting yourself from two things you’d rather not be doing by doing them simultaneously.

Guacamole

2008-10-07T21:40:00.001-05:00

Peel and remove the pit from a couple of ripe avocados.
Mash well
Hit with a few splashes of fresh lime juice.
Add in a few shakes of Tabasco sauce, a little Kosher salt and a nice shake or two of chili powder.
For good measure, I add a few TBS or so of chopped cilantro.

One time I added chopped tomatoes and was nearly beat over the head with a bag of chips. Apparently I broke some guacamole rule.

2008-08-24T17:27:00.003-05:00

Bobby:

"Dad, why do you always hate what your don't understand?"

Hank:

"Bobby, I don't hate you!"

Drilling in Afghanistan

2008-07-30T10:39:00.002-05:00

Excerpts from Thomas L. Friedman's essay, Drilling in Afghanistan...

You can read the entire essay here

"Sometimes in politics, particularly in campaigns, parties get wedded to slogans — so wedded that no one stops to think about what they’re saying, whether the reality has changed and what the implications would be if their bumper stickers really guided policy when they took office. Today, we have two examples of that: “Democrats for Afghanistan” and “Republicans for offshore drilling.”

Republicans have become so obsessed with the notion that we can drill our way out of our current energy crisis that re-opening our coastal waters to offshore drilling has become their answer for every energy question.

Anyone who looks at the growth of middle classes around the world and their rising demands for natural resources, plus the dangers of climate change driven by our addiction to fossil fuels, can see that clean renewable energy — wind, solar, nuclear and stuff we haven’t yet invented — is going to be the next great global industry. It has to be if we are going to grow in a stable way.

Therefore, the country that most owns the clean power industry is going to most own the next great technology breakthrough — the E.T. revolution, the energy technology revolution — and create millions of jobs and thousands of new businesses, just like the I.T. revolution did.

Republicans, by mindlessly repeating their offshore-drilling mantra, focusing on a 19th-century fuel, remind me of someone back in 1980 arguing that we should be putting all our money into making more and cheaper IBM Selectric typewriters — and forget about these things called the “PC” and “the Internet.” It is a strategy for making America a second-rate power and economy.

But Democrats have their analog. For many Democrats, Afghanistan was always the “good war,” as opposed to Iraq. I think Barack Obama needs to ask himself honestly: “Am I for sending more troops to Afghanistan because I really think we can win there, because I really think that that will bring an end to terrorism, or am I just doing it because to get elected in America, post-9/11, I have to be for winning some war?”

The truth is that Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Pakistan are just different fronts in the same war. The core problem is that the Arab-Muslim world in too many places has been failing at modernity, and were it not for $120-a-barrel oil, that failure would be even more obvious. For far too long, this region has been dominated by authoritarian politics, massive youth unemployment, outdated education systems, a religious establishment resisting reform and now a death cult that glorifies young people committing suicide, often against other Muslims.

The humiliation this cocktail produces is the real source of terrorism. Saddam exploited it. Al Qaeda exploits it. Pakistan’s intelligence services exploit it. Hezbollah exploits it. The Taliban exploit it..."

Welcome to Holland

2008-05-28T22:16:00.001-05:00

Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans...

Welcome to Holland

Nothing to Wear...

2008-05-27T13:24:00.005-05:00

From Reese Palley's great sailing manifesto, Unlikely Passages:

‘Shed cares, shed guilt, shed family and friends who bore you. Shed banks and accountants and doctors and taxi drivers and most of all shed the damned lawyers.

Shed the devious accents of land. Shed the salesmen who seek to lengthen your indenture. Shed aches and pains, shed embarrassment of flab and shed the flab itself. Then shed your clothes.

It is, after all, the only condition in which they will allow you back into Eden.’

An old song says it best...

2008-05-27T13:16:00.005-05:00

Good-bye to things that bore me,
life is waiting for me.
I see a new horizon;
my life has only begun,
Beyond the blue horizon
lies a rising Sun.

- Beyond the Blue Horizon, 1930, Whiting, Harling, and Robin.