s h e l l s h o c k e d . . . 1.27.05
pal of mine on the left coast passed along word re something happening at the Daily Kos some days back, again, for reasons too tiresome to repeat, ourowndarnself's not getting 'round in the ether the way I used to so there's a lot of stuff getting by me, thanks to pals who provide a heads up. In that same spirit or passing along word, thanks to Stumpy Delko, et al, we caught sight of error on the part of the newspaper of record re ad purchase by Not In Our Name that didn't run when it was s'posed to, and shite if ourowndarnedself not days late and more than a few dollars short, I am Very Sorry that I didn't get around to mentioning this when I first ran across it. Did they make good on that ad? Mind ye, am only buying the Sunday NYT,
(Ahhhhh Yes, there t'is, ye foolish boy, all of page thirteen, ignorami indeed...)
perhaps the Weds on occasion, so igorami that I be, I just don't know. While I am here and mindful of doing so, PLEASE be sure to add to your list of bloggos favoritos (if ye have not done so already) the efforts by C. Jensen (whose near decision to cease raising hell in blogville gave me a bad case of the blues, glad (!!!) to see you decided otherwise C.J.) and S. Baum, their respective contributions being BookNotes and
Ethel the Blog, good and good for ye, so pass that linky goodness along to alla yr pals, por favor...
oh yes, shellshocked, what is that about, Jaundiced Prosimian? Referring to my own psyche upon waking the morning after the election and realizing that the bad dream I am currently living thru is going to be running for another FOUR GODDAMN YEARS. I am certain I am not the only one was left dazed and confused when waking to that ugly reality, and it Just Doesn't Stop, Doe't It, Binky? That $40 mil blowout party the cad-ministration threw for themselves recently, the confirmation of Condi "Only a Mother Could Love This Face" Rice, the soon to occur confirmation of that scumbag Gonzales as Att'y G., all the smokescreen created via the cad-ministration's sturm & drang on the issue of Soc. Security; oh dear, has a lobotomy ever been a more attractive alternative? Did you catch the Moron-In-Chief's performance in yesterday's press conference? shellshocked? oh yah, datz me, babeekakes...
oh yah, yourstruly always advising regular visits to Ralph, where welcome diversion awaits...
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mea culpa... mea maxima culpa... 1.25.05
goshdarnitall, guess I'd better get myowndamnself back here before my seeming indifference & inability to respond in a timely & coherent fashion to emailers & snailmailers alike results in further loss of contact w/pals and fellow co-conspirators; yesssssss, ol' Juicy Porkbutt hisowndamnself's still alive and kicking, sometimes moreso than others. There had been attempts to come back here and make note of one thing or another that got under my skin, yet again, something about the lack of immediacy one is stuck with when dealing with dialup as opposed to broadband connection of one kind or another, well, it just makes what seemed to be (at one time) second nature more of a chore. The aberration you'll find here shall provide some measure of proof of earlier attempt to pick up the pieces, must've been all the time yourstruly has spent recently with the care and feeding of Pop's cockatiels & 'keets that influenced our assumption of penguino identity. By the way, those two girls (named Leala & Becky-- after brother K's daughters-- were separated from Fred & Wilma (the poppa and momma birds) some weeks ago, as those prolific egg layers are currently attending to clutch of FIVE new eggs, nearly all two weeks old now. L. and B. are sharing quarters with Jr. Birdman & Lolita, and poor Jr., putting up with three females in his world, particularly those two new arrivals, little piggies they are, planting themselves right in the feed bowl until their hunger is satiated, Jr. putting up with being threateningly henpecked until the girls have finished enjoying their repast
meanwhile, Lolita minds her own business...
yes, that is an indentation you see inserted there, some mention by pal of ours who expressed their occasional dismay with visiting hereabouts, some difficulty with my insistence of that rightside align that I am so fond of. Some of you may also note the appearance of "I" in these paragraphs, again, notes from the underground have occasionally inquired as to "Why the insistence upon the Imperial We, big guy, eh?" and I suppose I am just tired of attempting to explain. The feeling of using that personal pronoun is a lot like wearing some brand new shoes, they kind of fit, but boy, at this moment they are really uncomfortable.
oh, yourstruly had some fun on Saturday (am even trying to capitalize where I am expected to, and I sure hope you appreciate the amount of trouble I am taking to "straighten up and fly right"...), watching C-Span's taped coverage of Condi Rice's confirmation hearing, and, by the way, pretty interesting debate going on right now and even though you and I are aware of the likely outcome, I take small exultation in seeing this stuff go on the record as I firmly believe history will not be kind to Ms. Rice and her ilk/counterparts in the cad-ministration. Something else we've (Oops!)-- I've made a habit of recently is bringing home the NY Times on Sunday- okay, let me back up a little and provide thee with a bit of background: the local fishwrap is, plainly and simply, one of the world's worst excuses for a daily newspaper (their website? oh, don't ask...), particularly for a city of well over 500K in population. The fact that is in the stable of Gannett Newspapers accounts for part of any reasons for this fact, but (in my not so humble opinion) a more telling factor is that El Paso has garnered the distinction of being one of the least literate cities in the U.S. of A., and it seems to be that if you have a population that is not terribly interested or inclined to read, well, like Who Cares If The Newspaper Is Any Good, you know what I mean? Here is chunk of linky goodness leading to that study, see for yourowndarnedself. Okay, so I am (admittedly) certainly not what you might consider any manner of Civic Booster in re to EPT, no matter the extent of my personal ties to the locale, it is nevertheless distressing/dismaying/disheartening (take your pick) to come face to face with this kind of reality. I'll include this link from local weekly attesting to fact there is at least one other individual who is as disappointed with the El Paso times as yourstruly; Hear Hear, Mr.Hillstrom. Now this is not to say that the good citizens of EPT are content with the fact of their seeming ignorance, here's a bit of news re the efforts of some civic minded folk in response to the situation, and I'll refrain from any more comment than what I've appended via title entry attached to that link. I'm afraid now that I've again begun to demonstrate my tendency to wander far afield from my intended purpose when initially mentioning recently acquired habit of bringing home the Sunday NYT whilst attending to our shopping chores (you know that you cannot buy alcohol in El Paso until after Noon on a Sunday? I cannot tell you how many times I have intended to purchase a nice bottle of wine for dinner during my Sunday morning shopping trip only to have the check out clerk inform me AGAIN of that horrible little fact...), SO, as I wind my way back in that direction allow first to mention how great the pleasure of actually reading a newspaper, in that tactile and immediate "hands on" way that most of us are accustomed to performing, in comparison to viewing the content on-line, even if one decides to print it out and read in one's easy chair, instead of with laptop alap, or chair pulled up in front of monitor. Yea, verily, in some way, some form some of us will still require something that will provide that physical experience of ingesting the news with paper in hand. Okay then, a couple of things from last Sunday's paper: On Television, Torture Takes a Holiday by-line credit to Frank Rich; don't know 'bout you, Binky, but this bothers the crap outta me, particularly as methinks that EPT likely be one of those places that would prefer to promote that Intelligent Design crapola- The Crafty Attacks on Evolution; from the magazine (or should that be "Magazine"?), Dean of Disaster, way too brief Q&A w/Simon Winchester; and from Sunday Style, oh ohh ohhhhhh..., how we empathize with Ms. Sherlock's struggles, Like New (With a Few Broken Parts) (altho', truth be told -- apologies to TNT for stealing their hoops promotion line -- we've -goshdarnitall, there I go again- not indulged in the Singles Shenanigans for some leeetle while now...); we'll (DAMN!) wrap up my appreciation for the Sunday NYT with a reference to the Book Review, briefly hearken back to earlier mention of my Saturday's enjoyment in watching C. Rice avoid squirming when posited some pointed inquiries re the cad-ministration's policies in re to the treatment of captured Iraqis, we present A. Sullivan's review, Atrocities in Plain Sight; extra special chunk of linky goodness, first chapter of Torture and Truth.
Before I hie myowndamnself off elsewhere (what exactly are thee doin' out dere, Jumpy Punkinhead? some of ye might be asking, perhaps more on that next time, katz und kitteezz...) I'd like to pass along a couple of items culled from recently received New Yorker magazine, please (!!!) pass them along to pals of yours, in particular, this timely item by H. Hertzberg, Unsocial Insecurity, alongside the
most recent S. Hersh story (and mentioned many times in many other places...) The Coming Wars.
Some of ye might be asking, hey Jojoba Pinkyshears, isn't there anything nice 'bout El Paso Del Norte. ahhhhh, sure there be, Binky, forgive my tendency to wallow in the negative, methinks it has a lot to do with my disappointment over the events of November last, but there be some good in the local environs, mind you, after spending most of the last thirty years in the S.F. Bay area, most places would suffer in comparison, yea, verily. Do know that yourstruly reacquainting himself with the area and I've discovered some peachy keen-ness, more of which I'll be sharing with you as I get used to his new pair of shoes, okay? Likely be some further tweaking & foolin' round w/the layout and content hereabouts, sorry 'bout losing the content attached to the Emperor Penguin, but what the hey, eh? Meanwhile, we (goshdarnitall, old habits die hard...) leave with some quick & dirty linky business: Good & Bad in EPT; The Pages Within; Conscientious; ManOverBoard (that last being something kinda new by the mad monk behind the many faces of pssst;
A View from the Peak (egads, who knows how long I'd had this one cadged away, meaning to mention it for months...), and of course the usual suspects here and here, updates to both allies & les autres in near future. toodle loo, meine freunden!
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the complicated web of lies and deceit that defined November & December
