Sign of the times

Prince Nelson Rogers; R. I. P.

Quote for the day (Secular Royalty Division)

There are people who are unhappy with everything. - Prince




The Prince is dead---long live the Prince . . . .

I spied a spider . . .

I am really semi-phobic about spiders, but for some reason I look them as subjects for my photos. This is a specimen of a common breed around our yard who loves to hang out on a patch of calla lilies.

"What're you looking' at?"

Getting ready to grow sumpin'

The posts lately on my little piece of the blogosphere have been few and far between, but here's one that shows what happens when the beast come out of winter hibernation.

My wife and I constructed a new garden bed, using some scrap wood from our refurbished back deck. We are planning to expand our food growing this year, and this is the first stab at it. The black plastic is to slow the redwood and other roots from invading the bed, and the mesh underneath the box is to shut out the voles and gophers. We filled the bottom with some goat manure from one of our neighbors, then soil from a local nursery, then compost from our compost pile, and then more soil. My wife has already transferred scallions from a large pot into the new space, as you can see.

The endeavor took us most of the afternoon, but it is so satisfying to begin a project that will yield edible rewards. And my wife and I do make a pretty good team, if I do say so myself.

Quote for the Day (Ahead of His Time Division)

"Puritanism. The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy." -  H. L. Mencken

Quote for the day (Stuff that still applies EVEN MORE Division)

(Via Bette Midler)

We could be heroes, just for one day . . . . .

David Bowie was something both of and beyond pop culture. Boundaries seemed to mean nothing to him. R.I.P. to the Thin White Duke.

Open carry for me, but not for thee

The decision not to indict the Officer who shot down a 12-year-old in Ohio is a horrible way to wrap up 2015. Charles Pierce (via Esquire)says what needs saying:

Is there any real point in being angry any more? Is thre any real point even to be surprised? There certainly is no point in emphasizing the damn irony that Ohio is an "open carry" state so, even if the cops assumed Rice was 18, and they also assumed his gun was real, they had no cause even to stop him, let alone open fire. Listen to the spiel that Wayne LaPierre unspools every time he's in a room with more than four people listening: arm yourselves, because the world is a hellscape of violent Others who are coming for you and your children. At its heart, open carry is about open season on the people who scare you. It's certainly not about an absolute Second Amendment right that applies to black people as well as white. Open carry is about You and the Others, and so is the training of our modern, militarized police forces. If only Tamir Rice had not been born with that congenital ability to become huge and threatening the way he did in the mind of Timothy Loehmann. If only…

These guys are okay to carry anything, but a child who is darker can't have a toy gun without being shot down like a dog.

Quote for the Day (Recently Deceased Rocker Division)

Death is an inevitability, isn't it? You become more aware of that when you get to my age. I don't worry about it. I'm ready for it. When I go, I want to go doing what I do best. If I died tomorrow, I couldn't complain. It's been good. - Lemmy Kilmister

R. I. P. Lemmy.

Stevie Ray blows me away!!!

Close Encounter of the Deer Kind

Usually the deer around here don't linger too close to our house, so imagine my surprise when I entered our bedroom and found this one outside the bedroom's sliding glass doors

It seemed to want to avoid acknowledging me . . . .

. . . until I made a bit of noise . . .

  

. . . then it decided to mosey off.

The deer are a major source of poop which I scoop up with a shovel and put in our compost. It seems to decompose quicker than the horse or goat shit we have used. I don't know if that is merely anecdotal, or a scientific fact.

If the world made sense, this would happen:

Via benediction

It is truly crazy to incite violence against abortion providers with lies about "baby parts", and then to become self-righteously offended when the connection between your words and someone's violent actions are pointed out. The right-wingnuts own the Planned Parenthood murders. They have cried fire in a crowded theater until some bastard started a blaze, and then they act surprised? Please . . . . .

Happy Day of Stuffing (Your Face)

(VIA Daily Funnies)

The 2nd Amendment is More Powerful Than the 7th Commandment

People's right to bear arms always seems to be more important than people's right to expect not to be killed. Or that their kids not get killed in school. Andy Borowitz sums it up, as usual.

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) – Americans who are opposed to being shot, a constituency that has historically failed to find representation in Washington, are making a new effort to make its controversial ideas heard in the nation’s capital. 

“When you bring up the idea of not wanting to be shot with members of Congress, there’s always been pushback,” Carol Foyler, founder of the lobbying group Americans Opposed to Being Shot, said. “Their reaction has been, basically, ‘Not being shot: who’s going to support something like that?’” 

Foyler, however, believes that the right to not be shot, much like women’s right to vote, the right to same-sex marriage, and other rights that were deemed controversial in their day, may be an idea whose time has finally come. 

“For years, we’ve been talking about the right to not be shot and people have been looking at us like we’re out of our minds,” she said. “But recent polls show that a vast majority of Americans, in fact, do not want to be shot.” 

While Foyler and other anti-being-shot activists believe that Washington may finally be receptive to their radical ideas, Wayne LaPierre, the executive vice-president of the National Rifle Association, is doubtful. “People who don’t want to be shot are a very narrow interest group,” he said.

Repurposing an old trash can into a hive

A few days ago I noticed some activity around the handle of an old trash can we have in our yard. We use it for small items we will eventually take to the dump, but some bees had another idea:

The hole in the handle is big enough for them to get in, and apparently them are now calling this can home. We have a neighbor who keeps bees, and my theory is that these are refugees from her hive. Whatever the case, the are doing their thing now in our can. 

Quote for the Day (Real Pro-Life Division)

"I do not believe that just because you're opposed to abortion, that that makes you pro-life. In fact, I think in many cases, your morality is deeply lacking if all you want is a child born but not a child fed, not a child educated, not a child housed. And why would I think that you  don't? Because you don't want any tax money to go there. That's not pro-life. That's pro-birth. We need a much broader conversation on what the morality of pro-life is."
Sister Joan Chittister, O.S.B.

Good Dog

Keystone Progress Daily Funnies .: Far Left Side, July 26, 2015

Quote for the Day (Rocker Speaking Truth to Power Division)

. . . [C]orporations don’t have children. They don’t have feelings or soul. They don’t depend on uncontaminated water, clean air, or healthy food to survive. They are beholden to one thing — the bottom line. I choose to speak truth to this economic power. - Neil Young (via Jim Hightower on Alternet)

Trump's the rump of the GOP field

 Ah, Donald Trump consistently shows what a hypocritical dumb-ass he is (via Alternet):

The Donald's going to have a hard time doubling down on this one.  

Politico is reporting that Trump, while speaking at a Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa Saturday, told the crowd, "[Sen John McCain] was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured." The two men had been engaged in a media war over the past few days. 

Trump's slight was reportedly met with a scattering of boos from the crowd. 

McCain was held captive in a North Vietnamese prison camp for five-and-a-half years, while Trump received four military deferments between 1964 to 1968.

"Ya big baby!"

I have no trouble that Trump avoided Viet Nam---I won the draft lottery myself, and avoided that awful and illegal conflict, but for someone who utilized his wealth and connections to stay out of the fight to then critcise someone who did wind up in the fray (many of whom had no choice in the matter because they weren't as fortunate as The Donald) is inexcusable. Trump never seems to have any trouble finding a lower pit to bark his bilious statements from. He is a worthless waste of the air he breathes, and that he is taken seriously says more about the quality of our corporate-loving media and the depths the GOP has sunk to that it does about his sorry ass.

Quote for the day (Pending Best Late Night Host Division)

Wow, history moves fast. It’s hard to believes that gays achieved full constitutional personhood just five years after corporations did. - Stephen Colbert