Annette Snyder runs a cool blog called Fifty Authors From Fifty States. She just put up a post by me. Have a look, then check out all the others.
It’s Friday
So it is. I’ve been crunching away on line edits all week and having a good time. The weather has been pleasant, at least compared to last week, and a couple of mornings I’ve been able to turn off the air and open the windows while working. I loaded up the CD changer with classical—Respighi, Strauss, Grieg—and did fresh ground coffee.
During breaks, I’ve been playing with pictures again. You know, you make damn near anything fascinating, even beautiful in a dark, bizarre way, with enough patience and mods. For instance:
Someone pointed out that in the past something like this would have taken a dozen Kodalith masks and posterization steps. …
Pathological Hypocrisy
I thought I might leave this alone, but some itches are too difficult to leave unscratched. Others have posted about Rick Santorum’s unbelievable hypocrisy over abortion. You can read the article here.
Basically, Mr. Santorum has it in mind to use the law to prohibit a medical procedure his wife had to go through in order to save her life. As the piece makes clear, in October of 1996, Karen Santorum underwent an abortion in the 19th week of pregnancy in order to save her life from an infected fetus. She had a 105 degree temperature. She would have died without the procedure.…
Teach the Controversy (!)
I wasn’t sure I’d do this, but I’m really pissed off.
This morning I opened my front door to find a flier lying on the porch. I thought it was another local contractor ad or announcement of a barbecue-and-rummage sale, so I scooped it up to glance at it before dropping it in the recycle hopper. Instead, I find in my hand a vile piece of unconscionable poison. And it seemed like it would be such a nice day!
I’m not going to dignify this crap by citing the source. The header of the two-side sheet reads: The Holocaust Controversy The Case For Open Debate. …
Pathetic
Representative Andrew Weiner has admitted that the now-famous snapshot of cock-in-shorts really is his. I have only one reaction:
What the hell is wrong with these people?
I am a photographer. I photographed all sorts of things, even naked people, and I have taken more than a few photographs for laughs. But I was never tempted to mail any of them to someone just on a lark!
This is beyond juvenile behavior. Sorry. It’s not even so much that boys will play with their toys, but there must be something about being able to tweet that scrapes a few I.Q. points off. …
Will ‘E Or Won’t ‘E?
Mitt Romney has declared his candidacy for the GOP presidential nomination. I don’t have a lot to say about him, other than about his declaration at the same time that one of his priorities (it’s too early to tell if it’s number one or just one of the top three or four) is the repeal of Obamacare. My reaction: How’s that going to get him elected?
See, Mr. Romney put something in place for Massachussetts that is virtually identical. The main difference is, you know, he—a Republican—did it, not someone else, a Democrat. Oh, and it’s a state thing not national.…
Memory Day
It’s Memorial Day. Lot’s of flags flying around the neighborhood, most of them made in China. Barbecues will permeate the air with the hunger-inducing aroma of charcoal and burning meat, the pop-spritz of cans opening will mingle with the sounds of conversation, laughter, and portable stereos pumping out classic rock or C & W quasi-patriotic gunk.
We bought a push mower this morning from Home Depot. Go green.
I would like to take a few moments to tell you what I feel and have felt about this country.
I grew up on a steady diet of John Wayne and wanting very much to make my dad proud. …
Still Here
So, it’s the 23rd of May now. I heard on the radio this morning someone claiming that we’re now in the Tribulations and that we’ve got 153 days before the actual end of the world. That might be just about enough time for me to finish the rewrite on my desk and the new novel I am now half-finished with.
I thought about writing something scurrilous and amusing, but why? People who would laugh at it don’t need to be reminded that this was silly and those who wouldn’t laugh likely wouldn’t read my blog anyway. And there’s the story about the kids whose parents, utterly convinced that this was the weekend, had quit their jobs and went on Mission, handing out tracts and stopped paying attention to the college fund the kids were acutely aware of. …
Aye of Newt
Okay, I’ve been trying to get some sense of how the GOP intends to retake the White House in 2012 and not having a lot of luck. Now this nonsense with Newt Gingrich.
On Meet The Press he was asked what he thinks about Paul Ryan’s budget plans—plans which include massive eviscerations of social programs like Medicare—and he made one of his rare reasonable statements. He criticized the budget as, basically, right-wing social engineering and went on to say social engineering from the Right is as bad as social engineering from the Left. Think what you will about the merits of that in terms of national policy, it is nevertheless a self-consistent, reasonable statement. …
Rapture Ready
This weekend, it’s supposed to be all over. Harold Camping of the Family Radio evangelist organization has announced the Rapture for May 21st—at six P.M.
In my own little patch of interest, the SFWA Nebula Awards will be given out this weekend. If Mr. Camping is right, this will be the last of these. Going out in grand style, that.
I don’t have a lot to say about this other than it’s silly. It’s one more reason that makes me wonder about the people who follow this kind of nonsense. I can’t help but think that, beneath all the sanctimony and babble, a lot of these folks are just, well, unfortunate. …