Mother Nature is playing games again

Last week I was working out in the yard in a t-shirt and short pants; woke up to snow this morning and it is still coming down.  At least it's light enough that it isn't sticking much.  Sort of plays hell with the blossoms on the fruit trees, though.

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Warning: rant ahead

I'm curious to see how the situation in Arizona ends up with their new law on illegal immigration.  I think they have some bad wording in it; where the law says the police can ask for proof of citizenship if they have reasonable cause to think the person is an illegal, I don't really like that phrase.  Reasonable can mean different things to different people, and there is a high possibility of that being severely abused.  The law should be more clear and specific.
That said, I don't see a problem with the intent of the law; to curb the flood of illegals coming in. Basically the law says the same thing that the federal law says.  The only reason it passed is because the federal government refuses to enforce it.  They have the manpower and money to go after harmless gun owners, they have the manpower and money to wage war on marijuana, but they can't seem to get their shit together when it comes to securing our border.  This has been going on for several years, and the people in the state are tired of the federal government sitting around with their thumbs up their asses while they are getting a deluge of smugglers, thieves, and murderers coming in along with the illegals.
For some time now, the federal government has managed to poke its nose into a lot of areas that are not really their business; the Constitution tells what powers the government has, and it has overreached them badly.  But securing our borders against invasion is one of the things that is specifically spelled out as the responsibility of the federal government, and they have been shirking that duty for decades.  So to the assclowns in Washington DC and the White House, if you don't like what they are doing, then get your heads out of your asses and do your job like you are supposed to be doing.  If you won't, then STFU.
Just my opinion.

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 Supposedly, the House and Senate are working on some sort of financial reform to try and stave off a repeat of the mess we're in today.  The problem is that we have the same sort of crooked partisan politicians that helped get us here in the first place.

"Stupidity got us into this mess, then why can't it get us out?"
- Will Rogers

My feeling on it is that both sides will bicker, insult each other, and finally jam together some sort of abortion like the health care fiasco.  You have to remember, these guys may have been voted in to represent you, but they are working for themselves.  Any time one of them gets an idea for some sort of funded bill, they all line up for a chance to cut a fat hog in the ass.  And guess what? John Q. Taxpayer is the hog.

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Looks like some people are getting ready to run against Chavez in the Venezuela elections.
My personal take is that either he'll find a way to eliminate them from running, he'll rig the elections, or he'll find some excuse to cancel the elections. 

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 Who says America doesn't have royalty?

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Any favorites or comments on this bunch?

         "Abracadabra" by Steve Miller Band
         "Kind of a Drag" by The Buckinghams
         "Low Down Mojo Blues" by Blind Lemon Jefferson
         "Watching and Waiting" by The Moody Blues
         "You Ain't Going Nowhere" by Bob Dylan
         "Edge of a Broken Heart" by Vixen
         "A Hard Road" by John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers
         "Dark Night" by The Blasters
         "The Look of Love" by Sergio Mendes & Brazil 66
         "No More Mr. Nice Guy" by Alice Cooper

One in five Americans is a deluded fool

according to this poll.

Nearly 8 in 10 people in the country say they don't trust the federal government and have little faith it can solve America's ills, the survey found.

In other words, one in five people trust the federal government.
Hell, I haven't trusted the federal government since Nixon was president, and I trust each administration less than the last.  Give the results of the poll a read, you might find it interesting.

But Matthew Dowd, a top strategist on Bush's re-election campaign who now shuns the GOP label, says both Republicans and Democrats are missing the mark.

"What the country wants is a community solution to the problems but not necessarily a federal government solution," Dowd said. Democrats are emphasizing the federal government, while Republicans are saying it's about the individual; neither is emphasizing the right combination to satisfy Americans, he said.

I think he's probably right, bigger government is not the answer to everything.

"Governing a great nation is like cooking a small fish - too much handling will spoil it."
-Lao Tzu 

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Warning: floral photographs ahead

We've been getting some nice spring weather for a few days. Around here, that usually means Mother Nature is setting up to sucker punch you with a hard freeze or a snowstorm just when you get teased into thinking that spring is really here. Hopefully we won't get that this year.


Part of my front yard; the three photos under  it are closeup shots within that area. The daffodils are miniatures; they are only an inch across

Future strawberries
















My blood plum is blossoming nicely
















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Looks like there are people concerned with the tea party movement; the government propaganda corp main stream media  keeps trying to paint them as a bunch of extremists and terrorists in the vein of Timothy McVeigh.
What a load of bullshit.
Back when Bush was president, there was all sorts of complaints and accusations of all kinds, and we were told that  from those people that “Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.”  When anyone criticizes the government now, however, we are told that it is sedition. 
More bullshit.  Make up your minds, you two-faced assholes.
In this country we have the right to disagree with our government; as long as we are not violently rebelling, it is the right of any American to disagree and try to change, through legal means, the government.  I disagreed with the Republicans of the Bush era on many things, and I don't see why the current bunch of hypocrites-in-office are any better.  The fact that they are using their lapdogs the media as willing partners says a lot about how low both the politics and the Fourth Estate as fallen.  I am an independent, and I know a lot of other independents and tea party followers, and I am getting a bit tired of seeing them vilified by people who don't have a clue what they are talking about.

"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."
-H. L. Mencken

 We have enough enemies without trying to manufacture them for purely selfish political reasons, from either side of the political spectrum.

"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it."
-Mark Twain

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Went to a local gun show Saturday; found a few odds and ends, but nothing serious.  First one I've been to in a while, so I enjoyed the time.   Ammo was selling like popcorn at a ballgame, but they didn't really have any good deals on anything I was in the market for.

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Does Breda know about this?

Librarians in New York's oldest library have uncovered a surprising borrower with overdue books: George Washington.

The first president of the United States of America borrowed two books from the New York Society Library in 1789 but failed to return them.
Adjusted for inflation, he has since racked up $300,000 (£195,000) in fines for being some 220 years late.

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Any favorites in this batch?

         "Runnin' with the Devil" by Van Halen
         "I Won't Back Down" by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
         "Time of the Season" by The Zombies
         "I Don't Know Where I Stand" by Joni Mitchell
         "Ship of Fools" by Robert Plant
         "As Tears Go By" by The Rolling Stones
         "Never Comes the Day" by The Moody Blues
         "Prabhati" by Ravi Shankar/Sir Yehudi Menuhin
         "Red, Red Wine" by Neil Diamond
         "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" by The Animals

A couple from the list

Unexpected consequences

A volcano erupting beneath a glacier in Iceland has shutdown air travel in the UK and a good portion of Europe.  There could be some climatic effects also, I would imagine.  Volcanoes have affected the weather in the past. 
I'm just wondering how long before some idiot blames the volcano on global warming.

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For those who like to skinny dip and get in tune with Mother Nature, this should make your whole day.

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For those of you who are hopelessly out of touch with things, today is Tax Day; better get your return in if it isn't already.

"The difference between death and taxes is death doesn't get worse every time Congress meets".
- Will Rogers

There are some in DC who are making noises about a VAT (value added tax), such as a lot of Europe uses.  Believe me, you do not want such a thing.  It just makes it easier for the federal government to squeeze harder on the taxpayers.


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 Thinking about going to a gun show this weekend, haven't been to one in ages and it might be nice to see what's new, and possibly pick up a trinket or two.  Can't afford to go all out for BAG Day (Buy A Gun Day, April 15).

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"Pancho and Lefty" by Willie Nelson
"Get Together" by The Youngbloods
"He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" by The Hollies
"No Fair at All" by The Association
"Some Velvet Morning" by Nancy Sinatra
"Over the Rainbow" by James Galway
"Summertime" by Reneé Olstead
"Guinnevere" by Crosby, Stills and Nash
"Two out of Three Ain't Bad" by Meat Loaf
"You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" by Dusty Springfield

The last two in the list:

One of his best, in my opinion.



The late and great Dusty Springfield

World Peace with rainbows and unicorns

Evidently there is a big get-together to decide on non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, arsenal reduction, and keeping bad people from making nukes.  Sort of like when one of the first acts of the League of Nations was to outlaw war.  How did that work out, guys?  If our politicians are to be believed, all we have to do is get everyone to pinkie-swear to be good, and utopia will follow.
It seems to me that there are better things to be doing than what amounts to a large group wet dream; if you can't enforce this sort of thing, why bother?  Do you really think people like Ahmadinejad of Iran or Kim Jong-il of North Korea really give a rat's ass what anyone else thinks?

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A group of researchers claim that spanking children turns them into bullies.
What a crock.
It's been my experience that kids who are undisciplined are the ones with problems.  I could understand if they were talking about kids who get knocked around by abusive parents, but spanking a kid is totally different.  What they might like to consider is the fact that more aggressive obnoxious kids are just the sort that end up getting spanked, not the other way around.  When I was a kid spanking was used by most parents, and we didn't turn out more aggressive or violent than the young people growing up now. 

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 Looks like one of the airlines has decided to start charging for carry-on luggage.  Traveling by air is already a major pain in the ass; you have the security theater of the TSA, the long lines, excessive delays, uncomfortable seating, so now they are going to add in extra fees.  Good way to discourage even more business, dumbasses.  If you make it expense and irritating enough, more people will decide to start driving distances that they used to fly.
Of course, this is a chance for the nanny-state to come to the rescue; Senator Schumer has decided that this is the federal government's concern.  Look, I think the extra charge is stupid, but this is no reason to involve the feds; carry-on luggage is not a human right.

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This TV looks like something RobertaX would like.

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         "Colours" by Donovan
         "Fever" by The McCoys 
         "Smuggler's Blues" by Glenn Frey
         "Dallas" by Johnny Winter
         "Come Away With Me" by Norah Jones
         "My Mirage" by Iron Butterfly
         "Cherokee" by Dave Brubeck
         "When the Levee Breaks" by Led Zeppelin
         "Fresh Garbage" by Spirit
         "Brown Eyed Girl" by Van Morrison

Winter takes a break

It hasn't snowed in a couple of days; it's nice to see temperatures a little higher for a while.

More of my silly photos.

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Looks like the idiot diplomat who caused the airline problems is being sent home.  Good riddance.  Everyone else has to follow the rules, why shouldn't he?  Especially since a lot of the security theater on the airlines was caused by the sort of scum that he had been visiting.  Some people think he is being picked on, but I don't; if you're going to act like an asshole, expect to be treated like one.

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Jeez, what ever happened to creativity?  Seems like Hollywood can't come up with anything new; just recycle old movies, throw in a bunch of CGI compensate for what is usually a bad rewrite, and then call it art.

H/T to Den of Geek!


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The Republican Party is already trying to formulate strategy for 2012.  The first thing they might want to do is clean up their act and pull their heads out of their butts.  If they're going to spend their campaign money on partying, they better count on alienating a lot of their supporters.
With the unpopularity of the Democratic Congress right now, the Republicans have a chance to gain some ground back, but I think if they do it will be by accident.  The last couple of elections have shown most of the public to be fairly evenly divided between Democrat and Republican.  But there is still a few who are independent/undecided.  These are the bunch that say who wins or loses.  The Republicans pissed off the independents last time, and they either abstained or threw in with Obama.  Right now most of those independents are not liking the Democrat's way of running things; it wouldn't take too much to swing them over to the other side.  If the Republicans expect to get their votes, they need to make some changes.
1. Quit obsessing about gay marriage/civil unions; what consenting adults do is no one else's business.  If two people care about each other enough to commit, let them do so.
2. Try going back to the original ideals of the Republican Party that said small government and less taxes.  You guys are just as bad as the Democrats when it comes to spending and expanding the federal government.
3. Try easing up on the "War on Drugs".  Keeping meth and heroin away from kids is a good idea; wasting money and manpower to bust some guy with a couple of pot plants in his basement is stupid.
Just my opinion.

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Still listening to the moldie-oldies...

         "My Back Pages" by The Byrds
         "Thelonious" by Thelonious Monk
         "Crystal Blue Persuasion" by Tommy James & the Shondells
         "Green-Eyed Lady" by Sugarloaf
         "Just to Satisfy You" by Waylon Jennings/Willie Nelson
         "Beyond the Sea" by Bobby Darin
         "King of the Road" by Roger Miller
         "Someday Never Comes" by Creedence Clearwater Revival
         "Dog and Butterfly" by Heart
         "Reasons for Waiting" by Jethro Tull

Some from the list:

A favorite of mine; have no idea what it is about; you have to remember it was written by Bob Dylan.



One of Jethro Tull's best.

If you believe in prayers, now is a good time

I'm hoping that the miners in the W Virginia mine blast will be found alive.  This sort of thing has a habit of not turning out well.  Here in Utah we have a long history of mining, and have seen tragedies of this sort ourselves, some quite bad over the years.  Good luck and best wishes to all of those miners and their families who are involved.

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Was hoping for spring, but got another couple of inches of snow during the night.  Didn't feel like going out in the cold for pictures today.  We could use a little bit of that global warming, Al.

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Was watching the POTUS's response to a woman's question about being overtaxed.
Damn, but that guy isn't worth a damn at speaking without a speech all written up and on his teleprompter. (Which has me wondering; if something happens to him, who is next in line, Joe Biden or the teleprompter?)
I thought GW was bad, but even he didn't babble on in three different directions for that long and to no perceivable purpose.  All the Big O had to do was answer/respond to the question, but he tried to turn that into some sort of half-assed campaign speech.
Just my opinion.

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 This gizmo is hailed as being great for developing countries, but I think it looks like a damn good idea for industrialized countries also.  I wouldn't mind having a couple around here or when a person goes up camping.  Looks like it could also be good for emergency situations, and is fairly cheap to manufacture.

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Lack of sleep and the weather has me a bit down; when that happens real old music tends to cheer me up.   I'm not one for a lot of nostalgia; the world has changed, and sitting around pissing and moaning about how things used to be better isn't really my style, but for some reason the sounds I listened to growing up seem to make me feel a little better.  Make of that what you will.

         "You Didn't Have to Be So Nice" by The Lovin' Spoonful
         "Gypsy" by The Moody Blues
         "To Sir with Love" by Lulu
         "Rebel Rouser" by Duane Eddy
         "Wichita Lineman" by Glen Campbell
         "Runaway" by Del Shannon
         "Willow Weep for Me" by Chad And Jeremy
         "Squeeze Box" by The Who
         "Kicks" by Paul Revere & the Raiders
         "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane

The last three in the list:

This was the first anti-drug song I remember; came out in 1966, if I remember right.



How can anyone not cheer up when hearing this old classic?



Anyone growing up in the sixties is familiar with this one.

Hope you had a good Easter weekend

This was one of the coldest ones we've had in years.
Snow off and on all weekend, so much for spring.  At least it's melting away by noon each day. The flowers are taking a beating at times, but still coming back for more.  Getting a little more wildlife out there, also.
More silly pictures, double-click to enlarge.

The magpies have a nest they're working on.

The robins are wandering about.

We have whole flocks of doves; they eat a lot of weed seeds.

More varieties of daffodils.

I'm not sure what variety of mushroom this is, or whether it's edible; my neighbor might know, since she harvests a lot them at different times of the year.

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I'm going to miss the space program when they shut it down.  Some people consider it a waste of money, but knowledge is valuable.  And a lot of spinoffs came out of it; the sophisticated electronics we now enjoy, and a lot of new and useful materials.

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I'm afraid I have to agree with this article;  much of the media has been manipulating the political scene; every time I hear someone wetting themselves talking about the "extremists" in the tea parties, I wonder where they were when the left wing was raising a ruckus, and was treated a lot different.  I never liked Bush, but I think it quite hypocritical when people who made all sorts of insults and allegations against his bunch get upset if someone hints that our current POTUS is not The Messiah.  Politicians are the same on either side; if you think one side has a moral superiority over the other, then I've got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you; cash only and small bills, please.

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Helluva deal with the earthquake on the west coast; I'm actually surprised the casualties weren't higher.  Good luck to those people in California and Mexico who are having to deal with it.

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         "Against the Wind" by Bob Seger
         "Grazing in the Grass" by Hugh Masekela
         "No More Words" by Berlin
         "Sonata for keyboard in A major, K. 322 (L. 483)" by Andrés Segovia
         "Goin' Through the Motions" by Blue Öyster Cult
         "Born Under a Bad Sign" by Cream
         "Gold Dust Woman" by Fleetwood Mac
         "The Old Man Down the Road" by John Fogerty
         "Find Another Fool" by Quarterflash
         "From the Beginning" by Emerson, Lake and Palmer

One of my favorites of Seger's.



Nice oldie.

More pirates captured

NAIROBI -- A U.S. Navy warship exchanged fire with suspected Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean early Thursday, the latest salvo in a growing international effort to curb piracy in one of the world's most strategically important shipping lanes.
Shortly after midnight, the suspected pirates fired on the USS Nicholas west of the Seychelles Islands in an apparent attempt to seize the ship and hold it for ransom. The 453-foot frigate returned fire, sinking one of the pirates' boats and seizing the mother ship, the Navy said in a statement. Five men were taken into custody on the Norfolk-based Nicholas.

I still don't understand the reasoning, why are we capturing pirates?  As I see it, there are two reasonable approaches to this:

1. Blow the ship and its crew out of the water; problem solved, and it sets an example.
2. If you don't want to scuttle the ship (it might be worth something) , deep-six the pirates and keep the ship.  Again, problem solved, and it sets an example.
Just my opinion.

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Mother Nature decided to play an April Fool's Joke on us today; we thought it was spring around here.  When I got up this morning, things were different.

View from my front porch.

Backyard
                                                                                

I'll sure be glad when real spring arrives.
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I think someone needs to tell the POTUS that he won the healthcare vote.  He seems to feel that he needs to go around campaigning for it.   If he already won, and it is going to make life better, why is he trying to sell it so hard?  And why isn't it required for politicians and their aides?  And why is the federal government getting its grubby little hands into it in the first place?

"Governing a great nation is like cooking a small fish - too much handling will spoil it."
-Lao Tzu

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The military is still booting out gay soldiers.  I thought this administration was going to do something about that?  If you've got someone who is fit, capable, and wants to serve in their country's armed forces, who cares what they do on R'n'R as long as it is with a consenting adult?

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And of course, I imagine by now everyone has seen this dumbass.



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Oldies and eighties hits abound.

         "Twilight Zone" by Golden Earring
         "Nights in White Satin" by The Moody Blues
         "Cat's in the Cradle" by Harry Chapin
         "California Nights" by Lesley Gore
         "Welcome to My Nightmare" by Alice Cooper
         "Sunset Grill" by Don Henley
         "Alone" by Heart
         "Hungry Like the Wolf" by Duran Duran
         "All Along the Watchtower" by Bob Dylan
         "Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way" by Waylon Jennings


Most people prefer the Hendrix version of this song, but I think there is a lot to be said for the original. I also like the video this guy put together.



One of Waylon's best.