Stoned ...

And not the good way.

You all know about my garden hijinks lately. Well, come Wednesday, I'll be building one of these:

Pic from here.

On Wednesday at 0900, they drop a couple tons of flat stones* in my yard. The bright side is that it's only gonna be 6" high and 50' long (a border around the center bed). Shoulda never took the Mrs. with me ("Do you remember those stone fences we saw in the Azores? Wouldn't one of those be beautiful?") when I went out pricing flagstones this afternoon. We also came away with 12 more plants** while we were there. Still ain't found flagstones for the walk ...

*And, believe it or not, it's cheaper than the cast stuff they sell at the Home Depot and regardless of the material, I'm still lugging a couple tons of stuff, 20lbs at a time. I have to agree with the Mrs. that the real thing will probably look better and more authentic.

**Note to Jay in NC: I'll let you know what we got when I plant 'em on Sunday.

Update:

The stone fences in the Azores the Mrs. was talking about. This is on Ponta Delgada.

Maybe I do need one...

When I turned 65 I started getting all kinds of ads for old people shit, including the little electric scooters.

Just as an aside, a lot of these have 'disconnect' switches in the back. The operator can't reach it from the seat. I had a lotta fun with this feature at the VA hospital. Vets ain't exactly known for being politically correct, but we wouldn't leave the guy stranded for much longer than for him to realize he'd been had. I don't do it to the old farts who use 'em at the supermarket. But I digress.

One of the features of the scooter ads is usually something like "If one of the following has happened to you, you need our scooter!"

Q: Have you fallen in the last year?

A: Yeah, I fell off my trials bike, dipshit.

Here's one I could live with. I wonder if Medicare will pay for it...:

Thanks to colinfurze, UK.

The asylum is getting crazier by the minute

The Rude Pundit follows up on Fixer's post:

Let's add one more piece to this puzzle. Expressing what must be the angst felt by a great many people who once proudly called themselves "conservative," if not "Republican," once-proud conservative Andrew Sullivan wrote this week, "Conservatism cannot be defined as whatever is the most extreme right-wing narrative of the moment. Time matters. Conservatism needs to be flexible enough a governing philosophy to be able to correct for conservative ideology itself. When such an ideology threatens fiscal balance, a prudent foreign policy, and a thriving middle class, it has become the enemy of real conservatism, not its friend."

He's right. However, the exigencies of time and the actions of fools change things. 19th-century liberalism is nearly the mirror opposite of today's liberalism. Eisenhower Republicans would think that today's GOP is filled with barking mad idiots and then wonder why in the fuck would leaders pay attention in any way, shape, or form to the maddest of them all. Sorry, dear, once-loyal opposition, but "conservative" has been co-opted and remade in the image of the extremists, much in the way that "Christian" now generally means "fundamentalist" in the United States. Whatever Buckley-esque resonances of decades past you may want it to have, "conservative" now means a devotion to untenable financial policies, obeisance to the needs of corporations and the very wealthy, regressive social policies, and, indeed, belief in things that are demonstrably false. The word belongs to the nuts and to the imbeciles and to those who profit off their devolved sense of the nation and the world.

What do you do, in such a relationship, where you have been abandoned by the progress of the world beyond your reach? If you have any sense, you break up. It's that simple. And you try to figure out how to make your life have meaning again.

(Note: unless it becomes absolutely necessary because of some event or other, this is the last time the Rude Pundit will talk about the godforsaken fucktardery of birtherism.)

You'll be back, Rude-Man. Those fuckers won't quit even when they're full of embalming fluid.

Yes, Boehner is really 'boner'

Weiner: ‘Who is Boehner fooling? What am I, like, Anthony Waynor?’

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) brought the house down last night at the Congression Correspondents’ Dinner, touching on the proper pronunciation of his name, his “seventies Jew-fro” that adorns with Twitter page and the proper method for engaging with journalists in live videos to show the proper amount of respect.

Video too!

Headline of the Day

Arianna: The Huffington Post is not a ‘lefty’ publication anymore

It's not on my reading list any more either. Ya still got a nice rack for an old hide, Red.

"...behold this carousel of whiny self-victimhood"

Here's a coupla ¶ from Glenn Greenwald on Richie Rich's Pity Party.

For billionaires to see themselves as the True Victims, to complain that the President and the Government are waging some sort of war against them in the name of radical egalitarianism, is so removed from reality -- universes away -- that's it's hard to put into words. And the fiscal recklessness that the Kochs and their comrades tirelessly point to was a direct by-product of the last decade's rule by the Republican Party which they fund: from unfunded, endless wars to a never-ending expansion of the privatized National Security and Surveillance States to the financial crisis that exploded during the Bush presidency. But whatever else is true, there are many victims of fiscal policy in America: the wealthiest business interests and billionaires like the Koch Brothers are the few who are not among them.

[...] They single-handedly fund advocacy groups and covert campaigns on a wide variety of highly controversial issues that adversely impact huge numbers of people. That they expect to be able to do that without any vigorous response or opposition or anger is just reflective of their oozing sense of entitlement: the same syndrome that leads them to perversely believe that the True Victims in America's political culture are its wealthiest and most powerful.

This strain of delusional self-victimization is not uncommon. One commonly finds those who are the strongest and most powerful convincing themselves that they are the oppressed and the marginalized. Many Americans believe that -- as they invade, bomb and occupy countless Muslim countries -- that they are the ones being victimized by the Muslim world, while many Israelis and their loyalists believe that the nuclear-armed, constantly invading, occupying and bombing nation is the real victim of aggression and militarism in the Middle East. [...]

This is exactly the psychological affliction that leads Wall Street plunderers and tycoons and billionaires to see themselves as the victims of the resentful lower-classes and the "radical egalitarians" who run the U.S. Government. Even as they get richer and everyone else gets poorer, even as the very few remaining restraints on their political power are abolished, even as the disparities in wealth and power grow ever-larger, they become increasingly convinced that everything is stacked against them, that there is a grand conspiracy to deprive them of what is rightfully theirs. All of this could be confined to a fascinating, abstract psychological study if not for the fact that the people who think this way exercise the most political power and continue to exercise more and more.

But...but...but...nobody was supposed to know...our Supremes said so...the peasants have found out and now they don't like us...waaaaaaaah...

Note to the Kochs et alia: you are crunchy and will taste good with ketchup. If there's anything left after cleaning.

Huckabee: All Americans Should Be Forced at Gunpoint to Listen to David Barton

This is at Talk To Action.

While most eyes were on the Conservative Principles Political Action Committee conference in Iowa on Saturday, many of us who follow the religious right were more interested in another conference, also held in Iowa, on Thursday and Friday. This other conference was the Rediscover God in America conference, where all the same potential 2012 Republican presidential hopefuls that appeared at the Saturday's Conservative Principles PAC conference told us what they really think -- that America should be governed by biblical law.

Sure, there was a lot of talk about important issues like the economy at the Conservative Principles PAC conference, but it was at the Rediscover God in America conference that we learned that all of our economic policies should be based on the Bible. And who did we learn this from? None other than Christian nationalist pseudo-historian David Barton, who kicked off the conference with a lengthy presentation of his usual historical hogwash. Then, one by one, as the potential Republican presidential candidates took the podium to let the audience full of pastors know just how Christian they are, each began by gushing about what a great historian and good friend David Barton is.

You can read the rest of this, and there's video with Suckabee's 'gunpoint' comment left in although it was edited out of the webcast. Edited out for good reason - Huckeeboy let their true feelings slip out.

Yes, to these crazies we should all be forced at gunpoint to listen to the lies and rantings of the American Taliban. Do what the religious right wants or they'll shoot you. Good Xtians to a man and damn white of 'em.

Not getting involved ... (revisited)

Being I've operated with both of these aircraft, one has to wonder how uninvolved we're actually becoming:

...

But unlike the attack aircraft used in the war’s first days, these planes fly low to the ground and fire cannons instead of dropping bombs. Experienced in Iraq and Afghanistan, the A-10’s 30 millimeter “Avenger” guns to shoot holes at ground targets; the A-130 loiters over its targets at 15,000 feet before firing its 25 mm, 40mm and 105 mm guns. If you want to take out enemy tanks, trucks and artillery pieces from the sky — with friendly dudes on the ground nearby — these are the planes you fly.

...

The other side ...

Of the Cattle Dog coin.

Remember about a month an a half ago, when I posted a vid of my little idiots dogs roughhousing while I was trying to blog? Well, this is the other side of the coin, when they're beat and don't want to be bothered.



Sorry but you'll never get that minute back. Heh ...

And yes, that's the Beeb on in the background.

I realize ...

We've been dumbed down to the lowest common denominator but shouldn't an elected representative know a little about geography?

The old joke goes that most people can't find whatever country the United States is at war with on a map.

...

I mean, I guess sitting on the House Foreign Affairs Committee doesn't require knowing much about anything "foreign". Seems believing anything French is no good is qualification enough.

Oh yes ...

You see it all the time. Women fake rape to get abortions. Christ ...

Summing up ...

The political discourse in America in the beginning of the 21st Century. The Rude One:

...

Something's seriously fucked beyond fucked when, in order to be considered at having a real shot at winning Republican primaries, you gotta not just go nutzoid anti-choice and anti-gay (which is stupid enough), but you gotta at least leave the door open for genuine madness in order to appease the inmates at the asylum.

Getting crazier by the day too.

Progressive crazy ...

See, this is what gives political adversaries ammo:

... I'm not sure that this kind of gimmickry doesn't diminish the seriousness of PETA's cause ...

They want San Francisco to change the name of the "Tenderloin" district. Mr. Aravosis calls it right.

... I think it important that someone keep pressure on the food industry to better its practices, make them as humane as possible, etc. But is complaining about the Tenderloin district really worthy of PETA? ...

Dennis Kucinich is another one. He has some great points, and does some great work for the progressive cause, but his dives into the realm of nutty diminish his message and makes it too easy to disregard everything he says.

Let the conservatives play on the crazy side, but if anybody's gonna take progressives seriously, they gotta get away from the nitpicky shit that makes them look like obsessive nuts.

In this day and age, with the conservative opposition research machine going full bore, it might help the cause if those on our side with a national forum thought about what they are about to say before they opened their traps.

Isn’t it time for a no-fly zone in Arizona?

I've been having a hard time finding something to get worked up enough to post on today. Usually it's easy. The Repugs have gone from shooting themselves and each other in the foot to blasting each other's feet off with high explosives. I like that, but it's getting so common I've become blasé, jaded even, about it. Ho-hum. I mean, Fixer's garden and my snow are more interesting.

Libya? Opinions are all over the place, including mine. ¿Quien sabe?

I came when I found Laura Flanders combining the two! Joe Arpaio is a self-serving bully who likes to humiliate inmates with green baloney and pink underwear, which is easy since they're in his jail, and take law enforcement resources away from the important stuff like safeguarding the community and blowing them on grandstanding and publicity seeking. Using a TANK to bust up a chicken fight fer chrissake?!

Right-wingers love this asshole, which is reason enough to dislike the pig.

Text at AlterNet.

Thanks to lauraflanders.

Not getting involved ...

It just gets better:

President Obama has a signed a secret presidential finding authorizing covert operations to aid the effort in Libya where rebels are in full retreat despite air support from U.S. and allied forces, a source tells ABC News.

...

Mark my words, this is gonna bite us in the ass.

Off to the garden center for more junipers ...

Update ...

In a comment on my earlier post, Gordon said: "We will, of course, require photographs of this marvel as it develops." Ask and ye shall receive:

Yesterday, I laid out the perimeter and the bed around the tree. There was nothing here but the big ol' maple and the gnarly old wisteria in the corner (you can barely see it on the far left in the 2nd pic) When I was a kid, this was my baseball field (home plate was about 10 feet to the right of the maple). When I took these two, I'd started putting in the heather and creeping juniper.





Today, I planted the rest of the shit around the tree and the anchor shrubs in the perimeter. The lilacs are on the perimeter, every 5 feet, but they're hard to see. They came as saplings (see 3rd pic) and they are tiny. If I knew they would have been this small, I would have waited and bought mature bushes. I can just picture my yard rabbits having a field day with them but we'll see by morning. Might be the last thing they eat (where's my .22). Heh ...



Update:

I put this in comments (for our pal Jay in NC) but it'll probably be easier here (using the above pic as reference):

...

Perimeter:

On the corners are Dwarf Alberta Spruce
In the middle is a Japanese Holly
The Lilacs are of the Old Fashioned variety, standard color

Bed (l to r):

The fan looking things are Broom Evergreens
The purple shrubs are a combination of Heather and Heath
The plants with the green and white leaves (closest to the tree) are Wintercreepers
The green plants closest to the edge are Blue Star Juniper
The little round grass balls are Blue Fescue

...

***

Click pics to make bigger.

I still have to get the stones for the border around the tree and I have to head up the street to 9 Brothers Gravel Yard (a good, mostly, buncha Italian boys who I went to school with) to look at flagstones for the walking areas.

If anybody wants to know which shrubs are which, let me know and I'll put up a list of what I used.

Update Zwei(Thursday):

So I got a little carried away this morning. Heh ... I added some depth to the perimeter, pairing an English Dwarf Boxwood (l) with the Alberta Spruces. In front of the old Wisteria(r), I put two more clumps of the Blue Fescue and Sweet Flag Variegatus. I also stuck a Blue Pacific Shore Juniper(c) with the Japanese Holly.

Thankfully, I got everything planted before the rain really started, but it's been a constant drizzle all morning. I wasn't gonna take the little mud balls dogs out with me but the Mrs. is in Hartford on business and I'd be damned if I trusted the two of them alone in the house for 4 hours while I'm playing in the dirt.

Now you have us out in the rain?

Shopping Day

We're off to The Big City to spend some of our Gummint Welfare rockin' chair money! Keep working! Heh.

See yas.

Hypocridiot-O’-The-Day!

The whackjob wingnut M.O. in a nutshell.

VIDEO: Oops! Michele Bachmann demands freedom of speech… except for the L.A. Times
...

Priceless. Just perfect. Watch all the way to the very end:

Fox News ate my nuclear dolphins

If it's Wednesday it must be Morford, who's all, er, aglow in the wake of the disaster in Japan.

It is 2011 and here is what we know: Reality is fluid, fact is malleable, cause and effect completely uncertain. We know what we don't know, but we also know the opposite. We are told multiple stories, versions, ideas, adaptations of truth that cannot be verified or confirmed, because our global media has lost nearly all credibility, largely because of, well, you, because everyone wants it all for free, the value of an engaged, highly informed populace has plummeted, and also because media conglomerates have shamelessly whored out their once-respectable newsrooms as a profit centers.

Result: Fox News. Result: Andrew Breitbart. Result: A shamelessly malevolent GOP that openly loathes its own constituents and fellates the rich like never before. Result: The truth simply doesn't have much of a chance. Wait, does it? Maybe it does. After all, positives abound.

There has never been a better time to be an optimist. There has never been a better time to be a fatalist. There has never been a deeper collective urge to tune out all the careening white noise and dash off to the woods with a packet of poppy seeds and a copy of "Sailing to Byzantium" and start your own cult.

Except that the woods are full of pesticides, meth labs and redneck Tea Party inbreds who think Obama is a Muslim Nazi socialist, guns are for licking, and you, yes you, are a despicable godless commie pervert for caring enough to read this column right now.

Damn right I am!

So much ...

For "handing over responsibility":

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is engaged in a fierce debate over whether to supply weapons to the rebels in Libya, senior officials said on Tuesday, with some fearful that providing arms would deepen American involvement in a civil war and that some fighters may have links to Al Qaeda.

...

We're still paying for our interference in Afghanistan in the '80s when we armed the "freedom fighters" against the Soviets. How long will we pay for this?