South Dakota Bans Abortion

It will be interesting to see what happens to the mainstream perception of South Dakota now that the state government has taken the steps to completely outlaw abortion. In many ways, their action is the conservative equivalent to Massachusetts' legalizing gay marriage.

Of course there are differences. In Mass, the state supreme court ruled that gay marriage was legal and in South Dakota it was the state legislature that moved to ban abortion. But what is similar is that each state polarized itself to a political extreme. Completely opposite extremes of course.

I should be horrified by what has taken place in SD, but am not really - I was expecting it given the direction the country is moving - civil liberties are being curtailed. In some ways, this move will bring a major issue to the front of the national debate. And maybe Massachusetts will get out from under the political issue microscope for a while. I have always been annoyed by the conservative reference to "crazy liberal Massachusetts". Well, I think that will pale compared to how many people will refer to South Dakota

By the way....

What exacty is an "Emirate"?

Emirate (noun)- A territory ruled by an Emir.

Oh.

Hard to Fathom

The Bush presidency is one of those historical enigmas, a mistake of logic, that will be discussed and studied for many years to come.

The recent UAE ownership of American port management (and security) is a recent example of how this administration was simply not meant to be. Yesterday, Bush adamantly states that the contract was a "good thing to America" and to "trust him". He also said he would counter any attempt by Congress to put it on hold by hitting any such attempt with a veto. This morning, his people say the President was "not aware" of the involvement of the UAE.

What? If he did not know about it, why was he so adamantly defending it the day before? Is he really so foolish? Oh, yeah. The main thing to remember about Bush and Cheney is that they simply cannot admit they made a mistake. They will defend this decision no matter what happens.

I was surprised to learn that we outsource the management of our ports to other nations at all, regardless of which ones Christian, Muslim, or Hindu. It seems ridiculous to me.

Presidents Day and Kia

Do current and former Presidents get to celebrate on Presidents Day? Do they get a card? It would appear to be an unattractive market for a Greeting Card company, as it is pretty small.

In any event, the rest of us get a day off and that is good. But there is one thing I hate about it - the Kia car commercials.

These commercials start with the line - "Do not ask what you can do for Kia. Ask what Kia can do for you". This is just terrible. It is an attempt to market to Presidents Day using the words of President Kennedy - "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country". Now, I get the point - it sounds all presidential and blah, blah, but it insults our intelligence. I just hate it.

It implies that we might, for some reason, be looking to do something "for Kia", like we are volunteering for a Kia Army or something. What? It is a freaking multinational company. The most likely thing I would do "for them" is picket their labor practices in a third world country.

It also mocks one of the most memorable lines from a Presidential Inaugural speech. I wonder if some children today would hear the original line and thinks of Kia. That line belongs to history, not to a tagline to a third rate minivan.

Funny how commercials work - generally, if you remember the product it has made its point. I will not forget Kia, that is for sure.

Parking Wars

So, we thought we could get off with an easy winter this year, but our arrogance defeats us:


Of course, I live in the purple area, right alongside the gray bubble

Naturally, this storm is occurring over the weekend, so it can interfere with my ability to go to the clubs instead of my ability to go to work.

I am not looking forward to the Parking Wars. Street parking in these situations generally is reduced to 10%. And once you have shoveled out your car and created a space, you have basically lost it. I love watching the people in their cars cruising the area stalking you as you shovel, waiting for you to take your car out so they can steal the space. In the past, I just leave my car there and take the subway, but not this year, now I need my car every day to get to work.

I know I can "mark" my space with a lawn chair or something - but I know I cannot rely on that. In these extreme circumstances, that shoveled space is the most valuable piece of real estate on the hill. I will still do it, but will be sure to use something that I do not mind losing.

So far I have avoided major conflict in this area, but have witnessed it.

This is the only thing about winter that I really hate. I don't like cold or snow, but I really hate the Parking Wars.

Cool Stuff

As I have said before, where would we be without the internet? It has been a long time since I have had to get a car repaired, but I am really surprised by this new trend, where they put photos of your car during the repair process onto the web so that you can be a part of it. This is my car in the "dis-assembly" process. Pretty cool stuff, huh?



Cool Stuff

Personal Fowl?

Not sure how I feel about this story. There are so many things that cause my brain to work on overtime to process:

• There is a chicken named Boo Boo, because, reportedly, she is easily frightened.
• It was apparently a pet?
• Mouth to Beak CPR?
• She was placed in a cardboard box by a heater (anyone smelling BBQ chicken?).

Jeez - when I see dead chicken, I grab the Chardonnay. I like the part where the lifesaver had to admit that they do not know how to get a pulse on a chicken.

You can't make this stuff up.

Manual or Automatic?

So I picked up my rental car this morning. Nothing special, but acceptable replacement for mine while it is in the shop. Only one problem, it is an automatic transmission and I am pretty much a manual kind of guy.

My problem with the automatic transmission is that I want so badly to grab the shift and change it. My body yearns to push into the clutch and change gears. This does not bode well for the automatic transmission.

I was thinking about it this morning as my foot went to push down the non-existent clutch. I must not be the only person who has this transition problem, but they make the problem worse by putting the shift for automatic right where it is for manual transmission. Why? Remember when the automatic transmission shifts were on the steering column? No mistaking them there. Now they sit right in the middle, so that it looks to my eye and feels to my arm just like the manual transmission shift that I have to grab and pull regularly throughout the driving experience.

I keep wondering when I am going to slam on the brakes when I am thinking I am hitting the clutch. Pray for me people.

Finally getting the car fixed

I've gone dark recently - sorry. Have been dealing with some things - some good, some not, but all taking lots of my time (thank God for wine). One of these things, the damage done to my car by a reckless truck driver will finally be dealt with tomorrow.

I am just praying the car comes back in good shape. I have nightmares of Dateline hidden camera investigations about what goes on in auto body shops. I almost expect to hear Jane Pauley or Stone Phillips voice saying "we'll return to Jack's story following the Dateline timeline".

Supposedly I am dropping off my car and will be given a rental car of equal quality for the duration of the repair job, which should take three weeks.

I was originally told that this rental car would be paid for by the other party's insurance company, which has assumed 100% liability. However, once I contacted the adjuster and told her that my car would be out of operation for three weeks, she is backtracking (almost as fast as the Bush administration following Goober-in-chief's suggestion we break our addiction to oil). Never the less, I have given the rental car agency their billing information and intend to stand and fight.

I never asked for anything more than getting the fair repairs to my car, and the ability to still drive while my car is in the shop. I did not pretend to be injured (I could have, right?), I have not exaggerated the damage. So why the hell is a few hundred dollars so important suddenly? I mean the damned insurance company (again, not mine, which has been very helpful) has tons of money and I am squat to them.

The Perfect Wine Glass

I was perusing Crate and barrel with the lovely Jen recently, and I could not help but admire some of the stemware, some of the cabernet glasses in particular.

What I liked about these particular glasses was not their design. They were not crystal, there was nothing terribly unique about their shape, the glass was not extra thick or colored. No, what I liked was their immense size. You see, these glasses held 22.5 ounces of wine. I did some quick English to Metric measurement conversion in my head (yes, really, I lived in Europe after all and it is a handy skill there) and realized this was almost an entire 750 ml bottle of wine. Excellent.

There is new meaning to "I just had a few glasses of wine". I might need to buy some.

Addendum to yesterday's post

Today I experienced absolutely no need to stop at a red light, and was actually in a bit of a hurry tot get to work. Therefore, every ligtht was red.

Further evidence.

The Meaning of Life?

I think I got a glimpse into the meaning of life this morning.

Every morning when I drive to work, I have to stop at about 5 or 6 red lights before finally getting to the highway - these are long lights, and cause the majority of the delay I have in getting to work.

Today, when stopped at the first one, I decided to use the time to change CDs. However, the light turned green suddenly and much more quickly than usual. Startled and "honked" into action by the guy behind me, I moved forward and all my CDs went flying all over the car. Dammit. However, I knew I would be forced to stop at the next light and could begin scooping them up, and with all the other lights, certainly finish it before getting to the highway. Right?

Well, like Moses parting the Red Sea, all of the lights were green and traffic just flowed through, denying me a stop before the Turnpike. It was then that it occurred to me. Whenever I want to get a red light, I do not. Whenever I want to get a green light, I do not.

Have you ever noticed that when you lose something, and then give up looking after searching endlessly, that you will later find it when you are looking for something else? The same principle applies here.

Although I do not fully understand the phenomenon, I am sure it has something to do with the Meaning of Life.