Don't Forget to Vote

That Sneaked by Me

Newsreader:  He snuck into the compound.

I know the word has been around longer than I have and that it is accepted as a common variant for the past tense of the verb sneak.  What I don't know is why I am so offended by  it.  Everyone does it.  There must have been a pedant, a martinet, somewhere in my past whom I cannot sneak away from.

(btw, The prepositional  ending does not offend me.  In this instance.)

And even as I typed this I hear from the toob, "dattah" when the speaker clearly meant "data."  Now that offends me, and rightly so.

Biden

Vice President Joseph Biden, addressing a crowd of fundraisers from the Turkish and Azerbaijani communities in Washington:

"The dullest audience I have ever spoken to. Just sitting there, staring at me. Pretend you like me!"

This on the day after he talked about the President's big stick.  The man removes his foot from his mouth only long enough to change feet.

Land of Opportunity

The News at Noon on the local station ran a piece about people collecting large amounts of money from the IRS (who collect the money from me) by the ruse of declaring dependency of beaucoup nieces and nephews, most of whom still reside in Mexico.  And the recipients aren't even citizens.  Some collected amounts into five figures.

I am so mad I can scarce see the page to check my typing.

Talk about "earned income!"

The container for the thing contained has sprung too many leaks.

Belaboring the Obvious

Tease on CBS Evening News, just before going to commercial:
"What's behind the dramatic increase in bird strikes (on airliners)?"

Conspiracy!  Ooh, Bilderbergers!

Pelley returns to air, poses the question to Captain Sully.

Sully:  More birds and more planes.
Me:  Ya think?

I love the news.  It's so...

I Want to Be Your Voice in Washington

TV ad, politician running for congress.  "I, I, I, I, yi, yi, yi."
Then, "I helped Governor turn a deficit into a surplus, blah, blah blah..."  (So did anyone who voted for him; is that what you mean?)
If you think I'm wonderful now, "just wait until I get to Washington!"

Okay, I can wait.

Here's a problem.  One is inclined to adopt the "throw the rascals out" approach to an election.  Then he sees the competition.  Rethink!  Or, does it matter?

What's on Your Drawing Board Now, Al?

Al Gore has been inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame. It had to happen sooner or later to the man who boasted in March 1999 that "I took the initiative in creating the Internet." Gore's honor was announced Monday at the Internet Society's Global INET 2012 conference in Geneva, Switzerland. He was cited for having "made significant contributions to the global growth and use of the Internet." In April 1999, when his widely mocked remark had become talk-show fodder, Gore joked, "The day I made that statement, about the inventing the Internet, I was tired because I'd been up all night inventing the camcorder."   --msn.com

That'll teach us to make fun of him.

A prophet is not without honor save in his own country. --Jesus of Nazareth

Quick! My Sunglasses!

Guess what popped up on my homepage this morning.  The glaring whiteness of Blogger's new look.

Your Tweets Can Be Subpoenaed

"Twitter's license to use the defendant's Tweets means that the Tweets the defendant posted were not his," the judge wrote in a decision filed Friday. --Yahoo News

Which is to say, even if you have deleted them, your tweets can be subpoenaed. That is, you can hide them from yourself, but you cannot hide them from Big Brother.

New and Improved

Anytime you see something being touted as "new and improved" you can almost certainly be assured that it will be alien and aggravating.

(Thinking especially in the realm of electronics. Thinking "new versions" of OS, thinking fb, thinking Blogger, you name it.)

Just let us enjoy that with which we are familiar!

Okay, I suppose if the world really worked the way I am thinking, we'd still be sitting in caves scratching pictographs into the walls.

"Falling" It Is

Falling in love is a visceral
anti-intellectual response to
a visual misperception of reality.

World Affairs at the Dinner Table

We were discussing a number of Middle East issues which led to a recent Obama decision to delay "talks" with the Iranians and Bibi's objection that that was giving the Iranians a free pass.

Mrs. Warr said, "No one could make that many awful decisions if it weren't on purpose."

Oh, Please Give Me a Break

Heard today that a group of "parents" is suing Apple because their kids are addicted to games on the I-Phone and it is costing them "a lot of money."

Question: Who bought the kids the dern phones?

Resolution: Take the dern phones away and give the kids something to do. Or lock them up until they magically become independently wealthy.

Sheesh!

He practices a scorched worth policy;
Burns his friends to find his enemies. --David P. Torbet

Call the Vet!

News bulletin: Former Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich was bitten by a penguin at the St. Louis Zoo.

I hope the poor penguin has had its rabies shots.

Polygamy and Slavery

Polygamists in the family trees

Similarities in Obama and Romney’s roots.

Another teaser from the WaPo. But what has it to do with anything? Neither party mentioned practices nor condones the practice. So who cares? It is like making me responsible for the fact that my great-great grandmother was a slave holder. Oh, wait. There are those who make the claim that that is my responsibility. How ridiculous is that?

We may all be the product of our ancestors' choices, but we are not responsible for their choices.

To Slant or Not To Slant

Mitt’s woman problem? Headline on WaPo opinion piece.

And what springs to mind? And what was intended? No, no. Answer the questions before you read the article (since chances are that 92.3%* of the people who see the header will not read the article.)

*Keep in mind that statistics cited by BW are made up on the spot.

Senator Lugar

Dick Lugar: Too mild to be memorable? --WaPo, April 9,2012

Clark Kent was noted for being "mild-mannered" was he not?

I have great respect for my Senator. I would have had greater respect for him had he announced his retirement. I mean, he's old. I mean, he's even older than I (by a small margin.)

Thurmond and Byrd come to mind. Is it really necessary?

Who Knew?

Obama: Women are not an interest group -- Marshalltown, Iowa Times-Republican, front page headline, April 7, 2012

I cannot speak for the President, but speaking for myself, I respectfully disagree. I have always been interested in women.

"Backward, Turn Backward, Oh, Time...

Headline: Levi Johnston knocks up another girl

Apart from the fact that this is not news, is none of our business, and I don't care a whit about Levi (with all due respect to the poor deluded girl), the crudity of the announcement in the press is depressing.

I am "uptight" you say, a Neanderthal living in another time, long past. Perhaps. But in fact I grew up learning manners and civility, and respect for others, and I still possess a greater appreciation for that than I do for the tripe that spews from the media today.

B. Caesar Obamus

Judge Jerry Smith of the 5th Circuit is "troubled" by Mr. Obama's statement regarding justices who would overturn the will of the Congress. Judge Smith has demanded a response from the Justice Department by way of clarification of the President's stance. Judge Smith is exactly right to be troubled.

(Scroll down for our original post on this topic.)

Caveat: Do not take your news from this source. We merely point you in the right direction. Research is required.

Quiet!

"There's zero correlation between being the best talker and having the best ideas.” --Susan Cain, author of
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

President Cannot Be Serious

Say it isn't so:
President Obama offered a firm defense of his health-care law, saying Monday he remains confident that the law will be upheld by the Supreme Court and warning that "unelected" justices should not overturn the will of Congress. --WaPo, 4-2-12 (Emphasis added.)

Few days ago Bob was critical of "liberal" pundits, suggesting that they needed some lessons in civics. Now, oh, my stars and garters, the President needs to be spanked and sent back to school.

It probably is too late to ask, But what is the country coming to?

Update: Judge Jerry Smith of the 5th Circuit is "troubled" by this. He got it exactly right, and we should all be troubled. April 4

Lights, Blue and Red, and Loud Hooter

(All of this after he left us standing beside the road in ninety degree heat for twenty minutes while he sat in his air conditioned cruiser and did what ever he did, which included writing me up.)

Me: We've been coming to Rockport every winter for years. We spend six weeks here, pay our rent, buy our groceries and pay our utilities. Much as we like Rockport, this may have to be our last year here.

Cop: That's your prerogative.* (Oh, wow, Johnny^ is a college graduate!)

Spouse (to me): Just doing his job? All he has to do is harass old people?

Extraneous irrelevancies: He kept talking about "We can't have fifteen-year olds running around on these." Do I look 15? "That's a license plate holder; it's where the plate goes." Duh. "Golf carts are legal if they are licensed." Does this look like a golf cart? "This is Texas." Repeatedly. Wow, thanks. We've been here for twelve straight weeks and had no idea. And, "I'm just doing my job." Which is what provoked the spouse to the above comment.

Not an April Fool Joke.
*Rockport-Fulton Chamber of Commerce, take note.
^Spouse designated him "Picklehead" which I thought a little excessive. But I like it.