Friday Music Potion #9
January 29, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Hello weekend. Nice to meet you. I wish Montpelier would hurt my ears tonight. Pariah Beat? Are you up for it? See you there.
Until then, warm up the ears with this:
Economic Update
January 29, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Today’s headline: Economy growing but no jobs.
Translation: Working man, you’re fucked.
And What Did You Do Today?
January 28, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Howard Zinn, R.I.P.
January 28, 2010 | 2 Comments
I’ll join the chorus of radicals who are taking a moment to acknowledge the death of Howard Zinn yesterday. Zinn lived a long, amazing, committed and principled life. His words and work have pulled me out of many activist funks. Zinn was simply inspiring by, as Thoreau counseled, using “his life as a counter friction to stop the machine.”
“If you want to end terrorism, you have to stop being terrorists, which is what war is.”
— Howard Zinn
From the Boston Globe obituary:
On his last day at Boston University, Dr. Zinn ended class 30 minutes early so he could join a picket line and urged the 500 students attending his lecture to come along. A hundred did so.
Rest in Peace, Howard. You earned it.
Music Break (Wednesday Edition)
January 27, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Lame video. Great song. Turn away and turn it up.
Farm Show Tales
January 27, 2010 | 1 Comment
It was fieldtrip day in homeschooling land – again.
Yesterday: The Vermont Farm Show.
Mission: Maple sugaring education.
Reason: Dreams.
No, Reason!: Habits.
That’s better.
–
Besides walking into the Barre Auditorium to the sight of Governor Jim Douglas and Lt. Governor Brian Dubie bowing to the just-arriving Maple Princess and saying, “we’re not worthy, we’re not worthy,” the Farm Show was as expected: Carhart & wool plaid, baby. And little animals and even littler – yeah littler – samples of farm goods for show. Say that fast. Nevermind.
I needed catalogues and contacts for a proposed new maple sugaring adventure (read: oh no). And being the sly entrepreneur I decided a day marked “maple day” at the Vermont Farm Show would be a good place to be. I’m smart that way.
While I got want I wanted (read: confusion), I also got entertained by my daughter, Bel, who called out from a booth deep within the auditorium masses: “Dad, look! The ATV-riders club! And stickers!”
Ah, a chip off the old block. Sarcasm rocks. Unless, of course, it doesn’t.
Bel plastered the refrigerator with the ATV magnets she took (as offered) at the ATV-riders’ table. She also provided me with a copy of the “holiday edition” of the club’s newsletter.
Taste this little nugget that was inside from the column, “From Our Vice President…”:
How about the guy at ANR’s Proposed ATV Rule meeting that brought his chainsaw, then fired it up? Now that was different. I’ve been involved in many meetings during my time with [riders’ clubs], and not once has someone fired up the Husky at one. That was truly a proud moment in anti-ATV history, NOT!!
Cool. Thanks for the plug. Because it was, indeed, a proud moment. You know, what they used to call “democracy.”
But thanks for the magnets.
–
On Being Deb Markowitz: I like Deb Markowitz. For non-Vermonters, she’s the Secretary of State, a Democrat who is now seeking the governor’s office.
I like her because that’s what you have to do when you live in small-town Vermont and you know her and her family because of the not-so-strange fact that you, too, are a living, breathing person occupying Central Vermont. It’s just because of that. No more.
But her politics? Milquetoast liberal, at best.
And in a Democratic primary filled with fellow milquetoasters, Markowitz has got to up her feistiness quotient when it comes to the core liberal issues. Markowitz did just that yesterday by publishing an op/ed calling for a “no” vote on the re-licensing of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant – this session. As in: Now.
Good for her. Now let’s see her lobby for it and turn her grassroots “donors” into grassroots activists.
It’s not lost on this writer that Markowitz is playing a not-so-veiled game of hot potato with the Vermont Yankee issue. By calling for a vote “now,” Markowitz is throwing it into the laps of three of her primary challengers: The three who are members and leaders in Vermont’s Senate (Peter Shumlin, Susan Bartlett and Doug Racine).
Of course, Shumlin, Bartlett and/or Racine could take the lead on making such a vote actually happen this session. Imagine that. And, by so doing, they could also declare to Democratic primary voters that they’ve demonstrated an ability to lead on a very important issue in Vermont.
But then I remember this: They’re all Democrats.
Drats. Foiled again.
–
But all I really wanted to say about Markowitz was this: Why did she involve herself in a back-and-forth with Peter Buknatski via the comments section at Green Mountain Daily. In terms of trying to show gubernatorial judgment, that’s a certain disqualifier. Let’s hope the Secretary of State and gubernatorial-wannabe learns to use her time more wisely in the future.
–
The right-wing wields teabaggers. The left-wing coddles milquetoasters. And so it goes.
Busy Enough For This
January 26, 2010 | 1 Comment
All These Things (Monday Edition)
January 25, 2010 | 2 Comments
It was a moment not unlike many others. Wait. That’s too wordy. I could also say it was a common moment. But that’s boring. And short. Worse, it would lead to the necessity of even more words so as to get closer to the goal: Novel.
Good luck with that.
–
There’s nothing like a cold rainy day in January while being held hostage by a barnyard of animals demanding your attention.
Make. It. Disappear.
All of it.
–
Memo to Vermont Democrats: Ask your gubernatorial wannabes to produce something tangible from their currents seats of power before offering an ounce of support to their campaigns. This is especially true for the three candidates who have powerful positions in the Vermont Senate: Peter Shumlin (President), Doug Racine (Chairperson, Health Committee) and Susan Bartlett (Chairperson, Appropriations Committee).
If Shumlin, Racine and Bartlett want us to believe that they’re great leaders, let’s see some political leadership during this current session. Shumlin, for example, should be putting his Senate leadership to use by calling for a vote this session on whether or not to re0license Vermont’s 40-year old nuclear power plant – Vermont Yankee. Shumlin’s rhetoric has been great on this issue of late, even declaring that “if the vote was held today, he’d vote ‘no’ on relicensing.”
Okay, Mr. Senate President, let’s see the vote. As the leader of that particular political body, Shumlin can make that vote happen. And Vermont Democrats should demand that he orchestrate such a vote THIS SESSION to prove that he is, indeed, a leader.
Similarly, Racine – as the Health Care Committee’s chairman – should produce by stewarding through some meaningful health-care legislation through his committee. Racine-the-candidate likes to say he’s for universal health coverage. Well, let’s see Racine-the-committee-chair produce it. Because if you can’t lead a committee, how can we trust you to lead a state?
The same, of course, goes for Bartlett, the leader of the Senate’s Appropriations Committee. Vermont Democrats should be demanding that Bartlett use her powerful position to bring forward and usher through some progressive budgetary measures. Bartlett could, for example, champion the obvious need to raise taxes on the wealthiest Vermonters so that they, too, could “partake in the pain” of this recession. Bartlett is in the perfect position to bring some justice – and sanity – to the right-wing drumbeat of “cut taxes,” “cut services,” and kill (government) jobs as “the only” solution to our economic woes.
Bartlett-the-candidate wants us to believe that she’s a “real Vermonter” who understands the challenges facing Vermonters – real and unreal alike. Well, let’s see Bartlett-the-budget-leader use her current powerful political position to champion economic justice by putting tax increases on the same table that “tax cuts,” “service cuts,” and “job cuts” have been on for years.
The message from Vermont Democrats should be clear: Show us the leadership now, or get out of the race.
–
Oh wait, I forgot, it’s all Nader’s fault.
Fucker.
–
Oh wait, that was in 2000.
Still a fucker.
–
The liberal’s communion: The Body of Nader. Amen.
–
Next year, let’s knit.
All kinds of things. Just all over the place.
Almost recklessly.
So as to gain the attention of the knitters.
And all that.
–
I turned on a Sunday talk show long enough to hear a pundit declare that Obama’s political troubles were the result of his “clinging to a far-left agenda.” And there was no laughter afterward, just pensive looks of agreement as they nodded and noted their positions of power. They must somehow keep pumping life into the charade of a two-party government, so as to occupy the minds and time of those predisposed to rooting for “teams.” Groupthink: The necessary ingredient for manipulation. And when it’s bad, it’s really bad with a group. Or state. Or nation.
Or team: Go JETS.
Bastards.
–
You seem different.
–
Is that a new haircut?
–
Here’s a link to a New York Times article on Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens. A good read, but frightening to realize how far to the right the court has swung. Surprise, surprise.
–
And, finally, another link that might help explain my whereabouts last Friday.
–
But this has nothing to do with my whereabouts:
–
We’re well into this new week and you haven’t done one, damn thing for me. Fix it. Now.
Monday Morning Warm Up (featuring: The Minutemen)
January 25, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Until I was the man who had to read the meters, man.”
– Mike Watt, The Minutemen
Fragments, Part (whatever)…
January 21, 2010 | 1 Comment
1.
And I thought about you as I sat to gather my thoughts.
Come here, little thoughts, we’ve got people coming to check on you from time to time.
But you’ve been a bad little collection of thoughts, so easily distracted and willing to venture down paths that lead to: Nowhere.
Again.
2.
I’m on the side of the little man in the late-night talk show wars. Yeah, the one getting $42 million to walk away. Fight the man!
3.
Yesterday we traded homeschooling for truckschooling, and off we went. To farms, mostly, to gather the material needed to continue the notion that we like farms.
At the dairy and beef farm, we gathered beef from a nice French Canadian man who’s family jumped the border a generation ago and they continue the dream in smaller parcels today (“if a kid wanted a farm, my dad and granddad gave ‘em the land they needed to farm”). And farm tidily, I might add. We got the whole tour – from the automated back-scratcher (for the cows, not us), to the milking parlor, and to the giant freezers marked “meat.”
And so, with a box of meat in tow, off we went to the horse farm.
The lady limped out of her house to greet us.
“Rule number one,” I explained to my daughter (because, as we’ve discussed before, every moment is a homeschool moment), “do not ask about riding lessons from someone in a cast.”
“Duh,” replied Bel, our sarcastically-astute daughter. It was, as I realized later, a chilling and mostly accurate retort I heard for much of the day (But, honey, you’re not officially a teen until August! Good luck with that.).
We were in pursuit of a children’s saddle that would fit Bel’s increasingly-chunky Quarter Horse. Mission accomplished. Because the lady in a cast was apparently learning her lesson about being around horses and willing to part with any and all of her horse equipment – and cheaply.
She reached for the saddle we were most interested in – a classic, circa 1970’s, full of real leather, Simco saddle – with flower pleats! But her hand was chewed up, an indent that was masquerading as a future scar quickly made itself known as she reached for the saddle.
“Ouch,” I said. “Horse bite?”
“Yes,” she returned. “And an infection and an abscess and weeks of antibiotics.”
Cool. Gotta love horses.
I made her an offer for the Simco. Not surprisingly, she accepted – cast, scar and all.
“Wear a helmet,” she said to Bel as we loaded the saddle into the truck.
“Ya think?” I thought, as I limped back to the truck.
P.S. We would like to thank the cow for its extensive contributions to our farm visits yesterday.
4.
Fucking Democrats.
And that’s all I care to say about that right now.
5.
Well, other than this: Why do the Democrats think a response from a series of election failures based on their wimpiness and ineffectiveness should be remedied by more wimpiness and ineffectiveness?
Just wondering.
6.
I do believe they call that bright thing in the sky, “The Sun.” It has just poked me on my shoulder, apparently knowing that I need it.
7.
Fetch me my horse. And you, yours.
8.
Hello woods.
Recent Comments
- Automotive News » Blog Archive » Auto Repair and Other Car Solutions | Hood Coachwork Design on Boy Done Pondering
- Barre PD on Boy Done Pondering
- Sarah Palin on Boy Done Pondering
- Jim-Carrey-Wat.jpg – ImageChan | Jim Carrey Celebrity Monitor on Boy Done Pondering
- New England Patriots have a busy day in shaping 2010 roster – ESPN … | New England Patriots NFL Announcer on Boy Done Pondering
- Sarah Palin on It’s Sugaring Time
- mentor? on It’s Sugaring Time
- dilldawg on It’s Sugaring Time
Posts
