My post yesterday, expressing delight that Kinky Friedman will be on the ballot in November for Texas governor generated some dialogue. I described Kinky as liberal-leaning, to which someone who appears to be decidedly NON-liberal-leaning expressed disagreement. No, my visitor insists, Kinky is not liberal. Kinky is, in fact, far more Republican than liberal he suggests. Admittedly, Kinky frequently behaves irrationally and without ensuring that his utterances correspond with his thought processes, but Kinky is most decidedly liberal-leaning. Despite his occasional detours into madness, Kinky is PROFOUNDLY liberal. Among his attributes that seal it, for me, are:
- His live and let live attitude about religious beliefs.
- His professed belief in the truths upon which the ten commandments are based...he does not give a whit about their religious basis, he simply believes the messages they convey speak to the fundamental values of most of humankind (he would like to see them back in schools in Texas, though he admits they may have to be renamed the Ten Suggestions)
- His focus on education for youth
- His belief that gays should enjoy the same rights as the rest of us...this, in a state that not long ago enacted legislation that might as well may homosexuality a capital offense
There's more, of course...I believe he is deeply liberal, despite sharing some views with Republicans. I suppose, if I were to delve deeply into my own mind, I would find that I have plenty of conservative ideas...I just can't think of many at the moment.
Vinyl Memories
A post on Perils of Caffeine in the Evening brought to the front of my mind my own collection of LP records and the turntable that I have not used in years. As I read from his list of LPs...Chicago Transit Authority, Cream, Santana, Jethro Tull, Joni Mitchell, et al, I realized I have many of the same ones, along with a collection of classical music; a scattering of "country" in the style of Jerry Jeff Walker, B.W. Stevenson, Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys (yes, the guy going for Governor); Jimi Hendrix; and a bizarre mix of stuff ranging from John Phillip Sousa to Enya and Broadway scores. My turntable is not working (even if it were connected to the other components of my system), thanks to a broken belt that I have never taken the time to replace...or have replaced.
I'm beginning to think my CDs will, before long, suffer the same fate as my LPs. I've begun ripping MP3 files...it's only a matter of time.
Another Secret Weapon Against Terror
As I drove home from the office today, I heard reports of the latest atrocities against privacy. Seems the Feds have been looking at SWIFT bank records since 9/11, looking to see who is transferring monies to and from the U.S. (and elsewhere, I am sure). No need for judicial oversight, of course. The Feds interviewed seem genuinely SHOCKED that there would be any concerns over such practices...how could we even THINK they would use the information they collect through such nefarious means in inappropriate ways? I wonder, as I write this and consider what other things I have written in this very public space...what will their reason be to come take me down to their offices for a little chat? If you're reading this, W and gang, I won't use a weapon to resist, but by god I will refuse to go.
Turtles and Such
Yesterday, and again today, at mid-day, I took a brief stroll from my office down to a creek near my office. It's not particularly pretty, what with the roughly-poured concrete on the banks to minimize erosion. There's an unremarkable bridge over the creek and not much in the way of housing or businesses in the immediate area, so few people have reason to walk down there. But I enjoy it. I enjoy it because it is a respite from the world of offices and fluorescent lights and parking lots, and smokers gathering around the doors to the building (I was one of them until September 2004, when my cardiologist told me, after the bypass surgery, that I would die if I kept it up).
The creekbed and the surrounding banks, except for the carelessly-scattered concrete, seem very wild. I looked down at the creek from the bridge and was mesmerized by two very large turtles sunning themselves on the bank, just an inch or two from the water. I saw fish darting through the water, popping to the surface, I assume, to suck down some of the mosquito larvae floating on the surface. A mother duck and four very small ducklings were swimming in the creek yesterday; when I leaned over from the bridge to get a closer look, the mother visibly tensed up and the ducklings madly paddled their webbed feet as if trying hard to move fast enough to fly, but instead succeeding only in jetting away from their mother at breakneck speed.
Today, I notice many dragonflies hovering over the water, seeming to be watching the water below for signs of food. Suddenly, they zipped down to the water's surface and skipped along touching the surface and then bouncing up again, as if they were pebbles thrown by an expert in skipping rocks.
This same spot is a frequent stopping place for blue herons, egrets, and other water birds that are so amazingly graceful. It only take ten or fifteen minutes for my stresses to melt away.
When I return to my office, the stresses seem to return before I even open the door.
Neologisms
The following was lifted, verbatim, from an interesting blog entitled Dick Jones' Patternan Pages (June 22 post). All the credit is his, and the email to which he refers as the source.
Hasbian, noun
A former lesbian now turned heterosexual. Also known as a wasbian.
SINK SCUM, acronym
Single, Independent, No Kids: the Self-Centered Urban Male.
Slackademic, noun
A perpetual student who prefers the safety and comfort of academic life over the trials and tribulations of the real world.
Body Nazi, noun
Extreme workout & weightlifter obsessive who regards his unmusclebound peers as mere drones in the great hive.
Chainsaw Consultant, noun
A consultant brought in from outside the firm to make utterly ruthless & cold-blooded decisions that will leave management with clean hands.
Cube Farm, noun
An office consisting entirely of identical cubicles.
Ideas Hamsters, noun
Employees with a morbid ability to generate ideas 24/7.
Mouse Potato, noun
One who survives on a diet of pizza, warm coke & the Internet round the clock.
Squirt the Bird, verb
To transmit a signal to a satellite.
Starter Marriage, noun
A 6-to-12-month marriage favoured by helium-brained film & pop stars, which, when it sunders, leaves no lasting traces in the form of progeny or property.
Stress Puppy, noun
One who thrives on constant levels of stress that would fry most people’s wires in 30 minutes.
Swiped Out, adjective
A debit or credit card that has been exhausted by excessive massaging of the magnetic strip.
Chips and Salsa, noun
Foodstuffs as symbols for, respectively, hardware & software.
Flight Risk, noun
The guy with the sly smile in your department who's believed to be about to hit the road for greater things.
Percussive Maintenance, noun
Hitting delicate electronic equipment with a weighted object, or simply the flattened or bunched hand, so as to make it work.
Uninstalled, adjective
No more "We're going to have to let you go". Just a key stroke & you're uninstalled.
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