Month: December 2004

It’s 55 degrees outside ….. the snow has almost melted ….. the radio announcer just said that if this isn’t a record warm temperature for New Year’s Eve it must be close. Sigh.

While the Emperor stubbornly sits on his ass in Crawford and turns a Norwegian official’s comments about rich countries being stingy into a fascist agit-prop campaign against the UN, « donations via Amazon to the International Red Cross are over $2.3 million and rising ». With the death toll topping 80,000 today and climbing, every penny will…

It’s hard for me to write anything about Christmas without coming across as cynical and bitter and old and jaded and all that stuff. So I won’t. I’m thankful for Frank and for Bayley and for David and all my other friends. I’m thankful for my nice, comfortable warm home and a full stomach. I’m…

Looks like « USAirways’ CWA unit is the latest union to cave to bankruptcy/liquidation threats » ‘Reservations and gate agents at US Airways approved a new contract Thursday that cuts pay by 13 percent and provides the airline some of the relief it says it needs to avoid imminent liquidation. The Communications Workers of America, which represents…

Looks like United wins another one; « Independence Air is about to scuttle its independence »: ‘Independence Air, which has struggled since its launch six months ago as an independent low-fare carrier, has been asked by bankrupt United Airlines to return as a feeder carrier, a company spokesman said on Thursday. Rick DeLisi, a spokesman for Independence…

2004-12-26 01:04:59 We spent quite a bit of time driving around in the Jeep today. The seven inches of snow and hard-packed ice on side streets were quite fun. The Grand was rock-solid and never slipped or slid unless I forced it to. In some ways, it’’s a bit boring. But I’‘ve never been accused…

Well, I see that, on a day which is supposed to be the holiest to ‘Jesus is my hero’ types like himself, the « Emperor delivers his most hypocritical Christmas message ever » ’[The Emperor] on Saturday urged Americans to help the neediest among them by volunteering to care for the sick, the elderly and the poor…

On Christmas Day, the one day of the year when ‘Goodwill Toward Men’ is supposed to prevail, comes news that « our post-retirement future is in the hands of a buncha nuts and partisan political hacks »: ‘Nearly everyone agrees that it will be hard, perhaps impossible, for [the Emperor] to overhaul Social Security without bipartisan support….

I switched the tires on the Bobcat today from the smooth good-weather ones to the knobby snow/mountain tires for winter. It’s time to go try the thing out on the snow and ice. I’m eager to get back in shape and get things going so I can be ready to do some serious riding this…

         « Our Life in Michigan – Christmas Day 2004 »

« Our Life in Michigan – Christmas Day 2004 »

« Our Life in Michigan – First Big Snowfall of Winter » It’s really grand out there, but this stuff is so dry and fluffy, one cannot make a decent snowman [sniff]. Still, it’s about time we had something fluffy and white on the ground. The beagle, however, much prefers the couch …

It took a while … a very long while … but finally a « Florida appeals court has upheld an award to a flight attendant who blamed secondhand smoke on airliners for bronchitis and sinus disease »: ‘A state appeals court upheld a $500,000 award to a flight attendant who blamed secondhand smoke on airliners for her…

The weather today was sunny and it got up to 40 degrees, which is actually the warmest it’s been in at least 5 or 6 days. We’ve had a run of blustery, chilly weather here in southeast Michigan. On Monday night the temperature went down to 1 degree below zero, which is probably the coldest…

‘From The Observer comes a great article about the « one man who remembers the 1914 Christmas Truce »: ‘The words drifted across the frozen battlefield: ‘Stille Nacht. Heilige Nacht. Alles Schlaft, einsam wacht’. To the ears of the British troops peering over their trench, the lyrics may have been unfamiliar but the haunting tune was unmistakable….

I had to run over to Auburn Hills this evening and the Jeep passed the 500-mile mark with no problems. The biggest shock has been the abominable gas mileage: 13.4 on the first tank, which was just driving around Ann Arbor. This evening driving home, the monitor said I was getting 18. 13 and 18…

Amendment 2 went into effect as the law in the state of Michigan at midnight. I don’t really have anything else to add.

« Was the founder of the Republican Party and our Greatest President gay? »: ‘The subject of the 16th president’s sexuality has been debated among scholars for years. They cite his troubled marriage to Mary Todd and his youthful friendship with Joshua Speed, who shared his bed for four years. Now, in a new book, C. A….

« Peace On Earth, Goodwill Toward Men won’t fit under this Christmas tree »

Wow … it’s been a hellacious eight weeks. Ever since my poster presentation on October 20, it’s been one wave of insanely intense schoolwork after another (although, as always, procrastination stuck its head in there along the way as well). I watched election coverage and updated the results all night on Election Night for the…

Let’s sing some C(onsumerism)hristmas Carols, shall we? All together now: « To the tune of Let It Snow »: ‘Oh, the war in Iraq is frightful, But for Lockheed and pals it’s delightful, Since the Pentagon continues to pay, Let ‘em stay, let ‘em stay, let ‘em stay. ‘Insurgents show no signs of stopping, Americans can’t stop…

More snow overnight in southeast Michigan, a welcome sight … but the temps rose as the morning went on to 37-38 degrees, so the snow melted pretty quickly. The skies stayed gray all day, though. The snow was still a nice sight. I walked to Kroger this afternoon and reveled in the white and the…

There is excellent reading/viewing/listening « at the Oral History Project of the Urban School of San Francisco »: ‘We went through a number of Dr. Mengele’s dreaded selections where we would have to remove our clothes on the pretext of a medical checkup. During the time between while we stood in line waiting for Dr. Mengele to…

« Our Life in Michigan – Snowy Saturday »

I’m getting close to my first fillup on the Grand. Since it’s a bigger tank, it will probably cost me more, even though it gets me further down the road. After one week, I’m even happier with the Grand than I thought I would be. The more I look at it, the things that I…

An historic moment: « the first US passenger jet to land in Vietnam since 1975 lands at Ho Chi Minh City ». Oddly enough, it was flown by bankrupt United Airlines, and odder still, carried as a passenger … wait for it … David Hasselhoff, of all people. ‘United Airlines Flight 869, from San Francisco, arrived in…

Rain all week ….. the occasional patch of blue sky ….. even eerie fog and gloom on Tuesday (I think it was Tuesday). But no snow. Aargh! It’s supposed to snow 1 to 3 inches tonight. I’ll believe it when I see it.

Sadly, I haven’t actually ridden the bike in a month. What with the new drug for the arthritis, and the subsequent nasty allergic reaction to aforementioned drug, and the onset of cold and rain, the Bobcat is in the basement attached to the stationery stand, awaiting a more opportune time to get out and about….

So Ann Arbor middle schoolers today tell explicit jokes about incest during their lunch periods. Who knew?

Apparently, « Imperial troops are putting wounded Iraqis out of their misery by shooting them in the head », kind of like you’d put down a horse: ‘A U.S. soldier pleaded guilty at his court-martial Friday to killing a severely wounded 16-year-old Iraqi, the military said. Staff Sgt. Johnny M. Horne Jr., 30, of Winston-Salem, N.C., was…

What did I hear this afternoon wafting from a window of a classroom in Mason Hall but Bob Dylan’s “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue,” not as the soundtrack to an anti-war protest in the Diag as it probably was on this campus almost 40 years ago, but as the soundtrack to what was probably…

Ah, yes. Today it was back to the Ann Arbor I know and love. I was on the bus coming home tonight, sitting next to the window. A woman on a cell phone sat down next to me and started yacking. This went on for five minutes. I pulled the cord to ring the bell…

As often as I complain about etiquette and rudeness, it would be downright impolite of me not to include acknowledgment when a day happens like today, in which not only was the town of Ann Arbor socked in with fog (!!!), but several random episodes of politeness occurred as I made my way through the…

Looks like the « ‘how I love the smell of Napalm in the morning’ boys are firmly in control » of the Imperial military: ‘The US has already admitted that it used napalm during the siege of Baghdad. The truth was reluctantly confirmed by the Pentagon after news reports corroborated the evidence. The military has tried to…

An excellent commentary from a reader of the Los Angeles Times named G. Llloyd Helm appeared in today’s edition: The other day I was in Barnes & Noble and an ugly fact came home to me. I can’t afford to buy books anymore. I used to pick up a book every week or two and…

Thieves steal DVDs from public libraries in Macomb County and sell them to pawn shops. A candidate for a spot on the Lapeer District Library Board was denied a spot even though he was the only candidate running. He also not coincidentally happens to be gay. One of the county commissioners, a Democrat from Columbiaville,…

Not to beat a dead horse. But I will anyway. On September 13, Arnold Schwarzenegger signed AB 2208 into law. The law in California now requires insurers doing business in California to treat domestic partners the same as married partners for purposes of coverage on home, health, life, auto, and renters’ policies. The insurance code…

Thanks for checking back in with me; I’ve been sick for two weeks (I won’t bore you with the details). I hope to start gearing up the postings back to a more readable level soon.

Some fascinating reading is to be found in « The Assassination of Danilo Anderson » ‘I remember on September 21, 1976 the FBI vacuuming the broken glass on Embassy Row’s Sheridan Circle, after the bomb ripped through Letelier’s car. “These people are pros,” an FBI agent commented. The FBI arrested two of the Letelier-Moffitt killers,…

« Molly Ivins is freaked out ». It’s a great column, but the ending is … a tad naive, I’m afraid. ‘In the name of Jesus Christ Almighty, why are people representing our government, paid by us, writing filth on the Korans of helpless prisoners? Is this American? Is it Christian? What are our moral…

‘Where one burns books, one will soon burn people.’ —Heinrich Heine « Alabama Fascist calls for ‘gay’ book purge » ‘A bill by Rep. Gerald Allen, R-Cottondale, would prohibit the use of public funds for “the purchase of textbooks or library materials that recognize or promote homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle.” Allen said he filed…

Bill Moyers, « in a speech to People for the American Way »: ‘Of this, I am sure, you can be fearful or free, but you cannot be both. If you are fearful, you put yourself at the mercy of priests and princes and accept their conceits and usurpations as the health of the state…

The clever and — you have to give this to them, tactically and strategically brilliant — proponents of Amendment 2 spent hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of dollars in the months leading up to the election insisting that the amendment was all about “protecting marriage.” On the rare (very rare) occasions when the media…

Q. Who would you rather be run over by? (a) A driver behind the wheel of a Cadillac Escalade sporting a “KEEP HONKING WHILE I RELOAD” bumper sticker. (b) A bicyclist with a gray crate tied by bungee cord to the back of her bike, the crate sporting a peeling, faded bumper sticker bearing the…