And Now for Something Completely Different

Mama Mia! He’s-a beautiful!!!

Hi, Susie. Thanks for stopping by. Anything you want to tell us about - oh, I don’t know - the your family’s future, maybe? Anything you might want to “add”?

#Rant “Death Panels”

Off topic, but this came up today. During the recent yelling and screaming about Death Panels, why didn’t the supposedly liberal biased MSM didn’t do more with W’s signing of a bill allowing hospitals to remove life support purely as an economic decision? It seems as though there’s a death panel if I ever heard of one. More ironic the biggest supporters of the bill were the “Right to Lifers”. So offing Grandma because the family can no longer afford her care is fine, but counseling Grandma on end of life options is a “death panel”. Geeze, how do we get reality back into the discussion?

#End Rant

Cheers,
Jay

Not that I’ve ever had any money or anything, but I still hate bankers. The interest rate on our trailer, you wouldn’t believe!

http://www.salon.com/comics/tomo/2009/08/25/tomo/index.html

Just Jay,
I think it is now irrefutable that a significant portion of the American population, the reality-challenged, paranoid, easily frightened portion, has once again lost its effing mind. Jeebus, how many times in my life? It’s already a pretty big number.

We are, collectively, amazingly hostile/ignorant, especially for the world’s top dog, actually adamantly ignorant and quite prone to primitive superstition as a stay against the challenges posed by the fact-based world in which we all live, whether we like it or acknowledge it or not.

Bush’s “great awakening” was nothing more than a rehash of that Puritan meme, and no more connected to reality or the global common weal than it was then. What a bunch of dunderheads. Unfortunately, we are finally at a point in the history of the planet and its ecosystems that we can no longer muddle through, and dunderheads are no longer just interesting sidenotes.

We, meaning the people who actually determine where we are headed, are doing stupid incredibly well, but, hey, what’s that got to do with the quarterly bottom line?

And Joltin’ Joe, I know where you can get that glass navel you so desperately need. Bring your buds with you. They could use the surgical implant as well.

Howard Dean is doing an admirable job yanking the Obama administration over towards the left, at least on health care issues. Even if Dean had been given a top post in the cabinet, I bet Howard would still be pulling hard on Obama’s sleeve, trying to get his attention - his left sleeve, of course.

(Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out.) I sense a disturbance in the Force. Good. (Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out.)

An anagram of my real world name, which shall not be spoken here, is “Bum Revenges Rat”. Totally a lie. Oh, “Bum” seems to work well enough, but if Fanny were to be shoved in front of, say, a subway train, I certainly would not be looking for blood. Actually that’s not entirely true - I would get some satisfaction from viewing the remains.

If you’re interested, give this url a try.

http://www.deanjackson.dj/nameanagram

So… is Adam coming back, or is this it?

Jen, I don’t know about Adam, but Bill Murray is scheduled to be appearing in the Lurker’s Lounge tonight. His first set begins at 11:00 PM and has been known to sing the theme from Star Wars, if enough money is thrown onto the stage.

A woman at work yesterday started a pool betting on when the first right wing Birther, terrorist, tax dodging, anti-abortionist, patriotic teabagger will bellow into a microphone, bitching about how many goddam tax dollars are going into the memorial and burial services for Chappaquiddick Teddy and how that will absolutely wind up ripping the tit out of his great granddaughter’s mouth. I put $20.00 on the Monday by 6 PM slot. I’m feeling good about my chances.

Thanks for the giggle, Cooper.
Your Friend,
LOYAL, LIMBLESS CRAP

Sally, you definitely need a new publicist. “SYMBOLIC PARALLELS” is a much better, and more comforting anagram - has almost a new age feeling to it. Peace.

So my anagram came to “Alas! Sham Madman”.

I’m not sure how to feel about this. Does it mean I am not actually the madman I pretend to be? But the whole point of posting as Aunt Sam is to clarify that I am not a man.

And why the “Alas!”? Wouldn’t one be relieved not to be a madman?

b(&b)~ it’s great to see you! I’ve been thinking about you/s. How are you and the baby?

And I looked Hedera up on Facebook. If one wanted to find me on FB, one could search Sam Adams- like the beer- and I would be the female Sam wearing a green shirt with The Man Of My Dreams giving me a buss on the cheek. Just sayin’.

OK, my name becomes “Fan Now Hi-jacking Satan”. Some days certainly feel that way. Life here is slow, hot and boring. And probably pointless.

Someone in Obama’s inner circle needs to read a history book about past occupations of Afghanistan. Bringing these people kicking and screaming into the 19th Century will take decades with no guarantee of less corruption or increased security against terrorist attacks. Americans should realize that terrorism is now a fact of life and no amount of good works or good intentions towards the Afghans, or anyone else, is going to fix that.

We would be well advised to stand down here and in Iraq and quit pouring the lives of American soldiers and fortunes borrowed from China down these gigantic rat holes. We need to come home and fix America.

So how are things in the good ol’ US of A?

Jack-

Great to hear from you. Always a relief. Sorry that you’re now stuck in the quagmire in Afghanistan. Interesting to hear your perspective on the futility of being there. Do you think it would have been the same if we had kept the focus there from the beginning instead of diverting most of our attention and resources to Iraq, and more importantly, if we had focused more of our efforts (or at least more efforts) on promoting education (a la Three Cups of Tea) and other positive alternatives to radical fundamentalism?

Aunt Sam- Thanks…good to be back. The little one is doing great. She’s just turning 5 months and is currently a kick to be around. Recentish pics on our blog. We’ll probably post a new one or two sometime this weekend.

Tried looking for you on FB, however there are over 500 Sam Adams (including our dear mayor), and so far you aren’t one of the first 300 I’ve gone through.

Happy Saturday all….

A CNN source with very close to the U.S. Secret Service confirmed to me today that threats on the life of the president of the United States have now risen by as much as 400 percent since his inauguration, 400 percent death threats against Barack Obama — quote — “in this environment” go far beyond anything the Secret Service has seen with any other president.

I guess because W went around constantly whistling (way off key, BTW) “Happiness is a Warm Gun”, that made him seem much less threatening to the survivalists among us. Fluently speaking “red-meat wacko” as a second language probably helped, too.

David, I thought of you (and cooper) while I was watching the launch live on BBC World News. I guess the Brits are more appreciative of our space program than we are.

Aunt Sam, THANK YOU for reminding me of “But Not the Hippopotamus.” How I loved reading that book to Laura, one of my surrogate children. She graduated summa cum laude from Stanford last year, and I take credit for my early interventions with her.

David (#23) and Cooper,
Never seen a shuttle go up, but I was in SoCal when they were landing at Edwards and I was able to see one come down. Up until the very last minute when they flared into the landing it was an incredibly steep descent. More of a controlled fall than a glide, and it happened very quickly. Very impressive, especially since the crew had to get it right the first time, no possibility of a go ’round.

Gregory (#30) And yet the White House is so cowed by the NRA that they won’t even protest the gun carrying nuts at Obama events. Anyone else wishing the D’s would grow a backbone?

Jay

My new name is “JOY! MANIC MR.”

Meh…

Southern longleaf, Canadian softwood, western cedar, or Douglas fir, !taP s’tI?

Finally! WWDTM deigns to honor my little hick town with a visit. Anybody else going to the NYC show October 22?

There are surprisingly few anagrams for “Ann.”

My full name results in “Drunken Fallen Mania,” which, on some weekends, sounds about right.

Hedera, “You all drive drunk” is hysterical. Sad, but hysterical.

And you all should come over to the Felbernauts Facebook page!

#Rant Health Care Reform

There was a story in the paper today that some Democrats have proposed a fine of $3800.00 per year for anyone who doesn’t have health insurance. What idiot came up with that???? Let’s follow the reasoning. We’ve got a bunch of people who can’t get health insurance they can afford. I know, let’s take more of their money away. That will really help them afford health care. A minimum wage earner in Washington, one of the highest in the nation would lose 20% of their income, boy that’ll show ‘em. Teach ‘em not to be poor. Just once, just once, I’d like to see a proposal that smacks the richest of the rich upside the head and takes 20% of their income away. Is this the change we voted for????

# End Rant

On the lighter side of health care, there was a full page ad in the newspaper for a vaccine against shingles. At the top of the ad it said the vaccine was for people 60 and over. In the “Safety Information” portion of the ad, it said the vaccine was not for people who were pregnant or planning to become pregnant. My knowledge of reproductive technology must be slipping. I didn’t think pregnancy was a concern for 60 year old women.

Cheers,
Jay

OK, on the other side of the coin, my brother-in-law’s mother was past 60 when her last child was born. Just sayin’

My mother, no, but my father was 52 when I was born. Still, dee, it does sound like fun to be able to chuckle with the sweet little old ladies.

63-year-old becomes oldest known woman to give birth
April 23, 1997
Web posted at: 9:40 p.m. EDT
LOS ANGELES (CNN) — A 63-year-old woman who lied about her age in order to be eligible for fertility treatment gave birth late last year to a healthy baby daughter — making her the oldest woman on record to give birth, doctors said Wednesday.

The woman delivered the 6-pound, 4-ounce baby girl by Caesarean section after undergoing in-vitro fertilization at the University of Southern California’s clinic. The woman’s 60-year-old husband provided the sperm and the eggs were donated.

Question answered, dee. We do have to stop writing off women’s various potentials prematurely. Just sayin’.

Guess the question now is whether any woman over 60 ever became pregnant without in-vitro fertilization. My purely unscientific guess, since I am aware of the normal biological factors militating against it, is that somewhere in some non-modern culture in a very healthful context, it has happened. Would love to know.

50 reasons why Obama should NOT have won the Nobel:

http://joshfulton.blogspot.com/2009/10/obama-wins-nobel-peace-prize-he ll_10.html