First Blog of 09

Hello. I said in the last blog that I would try to find a list of well-known people who had died in '8. Wikipedia has a huge list of late people, a lot of whom I did not know because they were involved in sports or science or politics in various countries, and there were listings of animals, such as the world's oldest polar bear or gorilla et al. A lot of people were famous at one time, but when they died this year the media was so into politics, and then the economic crash, that no one's life and death was of any meaning (it happens I guess). Solzhenitsyn died, and whatever he meant 30 or so years ago meant not much to the modern news business, and besides, he had shit on the West when he lived here in exile, so there may have been some sourness about him. He was one strange Russian. I suppose the lesson is--do not totally depend on the network newssources for your information. Here is my list of people I found that it was of interest that they had passed away. There are lots more I have not included. Betty Page, Sunny Von Bulow, Odetta, Paul Benedict, Nina Foch, Miriam Makeba, Michael Crichton, Yma Sumac, Studs Terkel. Tony Hillerman, Mr. Blackwell, Edie Adams, Jack Narz, Neal Hefti, Barefoot Sanders(Texas judge with links to LBJ), Bill Melendez, Don LaFontaine, Margaret Truman, Sir Edmund Hillary, Earl Butz, Maila Murin(was Vampira in Plan 9 from Outer Space), Robert Fagles(translated the Iliad and Odessey), Sir Arthur Clarke, Paul Scofield, Ivan Dixon, Joe Feeney, Harvey Korman, Sydney Pollack, Dick Martin, Robert Rauschenberg, Leyla Gencer, Eddie Arnold, Ted Key(drew Hazel), Will Elder(drew Little Annie Fannie), Leonard Pennario, Beverlee McKinsey, Dody Goodman, George Carlin, Cyd Charisse, Jim McKay, Bo Diddley, Mel Ferrerr, Yves Saint Laurent, Eula Beale, Norman Dello Joio, Estelle Getty, Tony Snow, Evelyn Keyes, Killer Kowalski, Jerry Reed, Larry Harmon(Bozo the Clown), and Jo Stafford. Terrible shame that Couric, Norville, and the other mainstream newsers never noted the passing of most of these folks. Yes, I know that many of these people were old and had finished with their talents, but here they are in my list. You all take care. Di di mau!

End of 08 and Good Riddance

It is New Years Eve, and I am watching the FoxNews crew in Times Square. And it is cold in the midwest. I suppose the biggest thing in my life that has happened this year is retirement, and it is taking some time to get used to the Old period of life, but we will roll with it. People on TV keep listing things that happened in 8( some of which I had put down the memory hole) that I should list for the historical record. The election campaign, the economic crash that has hit much of the world, the war in Gaza, the Olympics in China, the monster earthquake in China, the hurricane in Burma, the hurricanes that wrecked Galveston and the gulf coast, a bunch of tornadoes that hit lots of places in the US(and Parkersburg Iowa), the spring floods that destroyed Cedar Rapids and drowned Iowa City, the cholera epidemic in Zimabwe(little covered in the US), the drug gang wars in northern Mexico, Chavez bringing the Russian navy back into the west hemisphere, the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, the little girl in Florida who was maybe killed by her mother, O J getting sent to prison, the firing of John and Marlena from Days of Our Lives, the freaking out of Britney Spears and her comeback, and the deaths of: Heath Ledger, Bernie Mac, Paul Newman, Tim Russert. Eartha Kitt, and Charleton Heston. Now it is midnight in NYC and the Clintons pushed the button that dropped the big ball and then hugged and kissed one another. Many other well known people died this year, and I should look up an obituary list to find who I forgot, and make a list on my first 9 blog entry. My mama said that a guy she knew down home died the other day out in the lot while feeding his goats. This is going to be all for right now. Maybe the new year will be better than 8, but we will probably have to live with the messes that have taken place in the old year, but some cleansing of the soul after the several years of the worship of the golden calf(as FDR said) may be in order. Let us see what happens in the next 365 days. You take care. Di di mau!

Night after Christmas '08

Cold and icey on Christmas Day, but supposedly it is going to get up in the 50s Friday, after more ice snow. Will have to see how such weather comes about. Tragedy and sorrow on Dec 25 this year; Eartha Kitt and Harold Pinter both died, and some doofus in California dressed up as Santa and walked into his etranged wife's house, and killed her and her family and set the house on fire, and thankfully then shot himself. So far nine people are listed as dead in this mess. I just got done watching a tape of a 1947 western with Robt. Mitchum called Pursued. Complicated plot about a family feud and who in the past did bad to who among 2 families. Not totally successful story, and with a somewhat sour "happy" ending, but interesting. Deserves more than one viewing. Some good acting by Judith Anderson, who is always watchable. Not much world news was covered today on the news channels, except for lots of stuff about the people still stranded in airports. I have been in something of a depression and gloom cloud for the last few days, but keep hoping that it will end very very soon. And supposedly a lot of people in New England lost their power Again in another ice storm out there. Some dude in St. Peter's lunged at the Pope during Christmas mass last night. This is going to be all for right now. You take care. Di di mau!

Cold Christmas Eve

It is cold and icy tonight in the midwest. No traffic much on the streets past my hootch, No crows in the trees outside my window--which is one good thing . Tomorrow I am supposed to drive home to see the family. I hope the interstate is clean enough so I can drive on it. People are still stuck in airports all over the country and Amtrack is screwed up so that a lot of people cannot even get train rides. The news people never cover whatever the weather situation is for bus travel. Tomorrow it is supposed to rain and get icy again. The winter this year started early in Nov, and has not changed for 2 months. Maybe in early 09 we will start getting toward an early spring, but nature will have its way. With the bad weather, and the economic crash, and all the emotionalism of the election campaign, good riddance to 08. And on a personal note, my retirement happened. So far, I am still settling into the world of Not Working. I still miss my gang I was with for 35 years. A couple of days ago there was a major mess in Bethesda Maryland when a big water main broke on a major highway and a lot of cars got stranded in the water and had to be rescued by helicoptor. Mark Felt, who said he was Deep Throat and ratted on Nixon, died at 95 a few days ago. The war in Iraq seems to have fizzled out as a news issue and except for such oddities as an Iraqi reporter throwing his shoes at Bush is getting little coverage. And nothing much is being covered anymore about the terrorist raid in Bombay. The bribery scandal with Governor Blago is ongoing, and the car company bailout is the ongoing issue, and there is an upcoming mess with California going broke, and old man Maddof and his losing of 50 billion in his ponzi scheme is a continuing story. It is now Christmas day, and I am watching the ceremony from the Vatican. Hopefully Obama will have a successful beginning of his presidency. There is a news article in Drudge that military honchos are planning for a situation where troops have to called out to settle the riots that may break out if the US economy crashes so bad that the fabric of the country falls apart. You all take care. This will be all for right now. Di di mau!

Cold and Awful December Night

The main news as of now is the very cold and snowy weather stretching all across the US, from one side to the other. It snowed the other day in Vegas Baby, and an ice storm in Nuengland knocked out power to about a million people another storm is pounding the region right now, and a fifty truck and car pile up happened in Michigan, and Iowa is now getting minus 25 wind chills and mucho ice is all over the road system. Maybe it will get up to 30 degrees by Christmas, but the forecast keeps changing day by day. Some global warming expert the other day on Foxnews tried to explain that having very cold weather actually verified global warming, because very extreme weather really meant that the earth was getting warmer and warmer. Political news is all about Governor Blago announcing that he will not resign, and Obama trying to distance himself from Blago. And O picking an anti-Gay preacher to give the prayer at O's inauguration is stirring controversy. Foxnews made a big deal of getting a farewell interview with Cheney, with a bunch of digs at Biden. I watched it this evening, but did not hear much sensational. Should get a paper tomorrow to see if I missed anything Cheney said that was historically important. Mobs of people today at my local Walmart, so I went to a local Kmart, and it was crowded too. Watched a dvd last night of Talladega Nights, which was not actually very good. Ferrell tried hard to bring Ricky Bobby to life, but the movie was just not that great. Good movie to see once and then move on. In Venezuela Chavez is trying to close a huge shopping center in Caracas, because he does not the people to overdo Consumerism. This is going to be all for right now. You all stay warm, because this winter will be over in about 3 months, and then spring and heat will return, and it will again be shorts and sandals and tshirts time. But last spring we got floods and tornadoes. I also this weekend watched Sideways, which wowed the Oscars crowd, but it did not impress me. Two middle aged guys drinking wine and drooping in their midlife crises. The Patriots and Arz. Cardinals played their game this afternoon played their game in a snow storm. Always something to watch. Di di mau!

Blog in a Time of Chaos and Confusion

Van Johnson died the other day, and TV Guide noted that Paul Benedict(the very tall guy on the Jeffersons) had died, and both deaths were brushed off as hohums in the media. That happens, and the Big stuff of the week was economic news and political scandal, and the finding of the body of a little kid in Florida who may be the little girl who has been missing for several months. Congress did not give the car companies the billions they wanted to stay in business. The Governor of Illinois was busted for supposedly trying to sell Obama's Senate seat to the highest bidder. And an old financier from NYC (he was once head of Nasdaq) was snitched on by his sons for running some kind of Ponzi scheme that lost at least fifty billion. On a news website some money expert said that common investers need not worry about getting affected by the fifty billion dollar loss because Madoff had only dealt with a small number of very rich people, and the only folks who would feel hurt by the scam were very rich people in Palm Beach. I have doubts about such Don't Worry About It statements. Maybe we were due for a cleansing from worshipping the Golden Calf which has been going on for a couple of decades, but the scourging will be painful for everybody. And that comment about the golden calf comes from a quote I read by FDR. I hope O does not get crushed by the financial crises and the foreign problems that wrecked the Carter regime. Oh, yes--an ice storm in New England has left about a million people without power. With most states broke or near it all that was needed was a giant weather disaster that will have to be paid for. I am going to close this blog entry now. Every thing I am writing about is some human misery. So, you all take care. Di di mau!

Sunday Night Awaiting the Storm

The title could refer to the coming economic crash(which is already here) but is about the upcoming blizzard the weather people say will be in the midwest early or late Monday. One weather guru the other day said that the snow will pile up all winter and will make for a long awful winter. I suppose that if that happens we will get floods like we got last spring. We will see what happens. A not cheerful weekend re world news, but most of what was on cable TV related to O's cabinet appointments. OK, OJ got sentenced to at least 9 years in prison, and got very weepy in the court room, and then Fred Goldman got in front of the cameras and gloated. Someone up in Ames Iowa killed a couple early Saturday morning. A guy under suspicion is being searched for after disappearing from the town, but so far the story is being kept vague by the police. Odetta died the other day, and yesterday Sunny von Bulow finally died after being in a coma for 28 years. It was revealed that Klaus is still Alive and living in London. The Bears beat the Jags real bad today, the Packers lost by three points to Houston, and Northwest Missouri State pounded Northern Alabama is their small college playoff. I am happy about all these scores. This is not a really deep historical events account tonight because I have felt like a dud for several days and cannot get my spirit up. And this is Pearle Harbor Day and is the 11th anniversary of my Dad's funeral. I think the economy and my financial future are getting me down. The last I heard there are still a bunch of people who got laid off from a window factory in Chicago still hold up inside the building demanding severance money from the company, and several yuppie left wingers are hanging around playing 60s and demonstrating with the workers. Fans, I am going to wind up this blogging, and need to grease me with Vicks and take a nap. Will return in the very near future. You take care. Di di mau!

Winter Is Here

Was gone from the keyboard for several days--gone home to the family for Thanksgiving, which we celebrated with what has become a tradition of having a dinner of buffalo, instead of turkey or hog. Daddy started it several years ago when buff eat came onto the market, and that has been our tradition ever since. The news the last several days has been all about the terrorists' attack on the hotels in Bombay(Mumbai). One couple from Wales who got caught in their hotel room at the Taj are now complaining that the bad guys were watching CNN which was giving the locations of where people were hiding in the Taj. More on the story as it develops. The Bears got whopped by the vikings this evening. I should be in bed in total grief, but I will try to bear up under my sorrow. The big regional news around here is the first winter storm which has rolled across the USA. It began to snow big wet flakes Friday morning and kept snowing for at least 26 hours(really). O'Hare airport is all off schedule, and Interstate 35 was very slick this afternoon, and the streets of Des Moines are very icy and the wind is blowing loudly. So, Winter has arrived, but according to forecasts the temp should get up to 50 degrees by the middle of the week. The news for the last several days has been mainly the Economy, India(and Pakistan), and the weather. And there has been lots of news on the chaos in shopping centers on Black Friday with mobs of people rioting for bargains. One security guy at a mall on Long Island was trampled to death by the mob when the doors opened. O may officially nominate HRC for SecState this week. Gas prices have fallen to $1.57. . This may be all for right now. I do not have much more to tell the world. You all take care, and I will have more the next time I blog. Di di mau!

45 Years Ago

Bad title, but this is the 45th anniverary of JFK's murder. That many years ago. I was in a typing class when the teacher told us the news that he had been wounded, and then the principal came in and said he had died. In the territory I lived in no one really liked Kennedy, or Bobby especially, but it was a shock that such an event had actually happened. And that afternoon we got our first snow of the season. I remember the sleet and the ice in the middle of all the trauma. And that is my memory of Where Were You When You Heard About It. It snowed in the midwest early this morning, but melted very fast. Just more wind and ice air tonight, and is supposed to get into the high 40s tomorrow. The Iowa Hawkeyes pounded Minnesota into the ground this afternoon 55-0 and won the bronze pig they always play Minn for. Last night I watched a video of Daddy Long Legs--a 1955 cinamascope musical with Astaire and Leslie Caron, which I had never seen before, and was not very good, despite it being a chance to see Fred and Leslie dance, which is always something to behold. And I am now watching a local station late night showing of an episode of Monk, who I have gotten hooked on watching. Not very good stories, but fun to watch Shaloob act. The stock market went up yesterday over 8,000, but layoffs are going on all over the country--including some big business outfits in Des Moines, and a number of people are being laid off by the city. The wife of the Governor was snitched on the other day by someone downtown who saw her smoking in the governor's official car. She has promised to never do it again. One of the problems with Iowa's antismoking law is that it encourages snitching to the Law. HRC is due to become Sec of State. This is going to be all for right now. I want to slide in a late Saturday night video of some movie I will pull off the shelf, and report on it next blogging. You all take care. Di di mau!

Cold Windy November Night

The title says it all. It is down to 11 degrees tonight and we are getting our usual evening howling winds. Sometime in the next several days the first snow is supposed to fall, but so far nothing has happened. For some lighter stuff, a flamingo the other day at the city zoo got enough growth in his clipped wings and flew away from the flamingo pen and landed at the nearby public golf course, where he walked around the links for a while till he was cornered and put back in his pen at the zoo. A lady driving north of Ames the other morning got distracted and drove her car into the back of a rendering company truck. She was not hurt but has inspired jokes about driving her car into a dead wagon truck or a guts truck. Anyway it was a very messy stinken situation. The stock market today fell to 7,555, the lowest average since March of 03. And national unemployment is at 6%. The 3 big auto corporations sent their head honchos to Congress the other day to ask for money to stay in operation, but today they were turned down till they came up with plans to reform their companies. The media spotlight has been on the fact that the big guys all flew to DC in their very expensive private jets. O is picking his cabinet, with HRC probably getting Sec of State. The others all are Clinton relics, who may be very smart but all are DC wheeler dealers, with things they have done that should be explained. The First Lady of Iowa, Mrs. Culver, Confessed today that she had broken the law by smoking a cig in a state limo. Someone had seen her doing it, and snitched to the state health gestapo. I think this is going to be all for right now. The carmakers' crisis is what has been all over the news the last few days, and the ongoing Wall Street crashing. There are a few financial "experts" who are showing up in public claiming than things are going to get much better by late '09. We will see. You all take care in this frigid climate. Di di mau!

Winter Sunday Night

Not very original title, but here we go. The Bears got shamed by the GBPs this afternoon 3-37. I should read the sports page tomorrow morning to see what happened, but the Bs will be back--we know that. Meanwhile life goes on. And I will not hide in bed in grief. Last night I put in a video of The Rainmaker--with Matt Damon and Danny DiVito and Mickey Rourke and a bunch of other actors--filmed in Memphis and slightly similar to The Verdict. A kid lawyer learns the nature of real life. I got half way through the thing and should finish it this evening or tomorrow. But I replaced it in the vcr with a really strange flick called Secretary, with Spader and Maggie Gyllenhaal as a boss and his strange secretary with an S&M fixation, and he gets one too, I think. A 2 character movie I am not sure why was even filmed, but it is intriguing enough that I should watch it again to see what it is really about. It seems to have gotten good reviews, so maybe it is Very Deep. I decided to not sit in front of the TV today to see more talking heads being gloomy about the world economy. Yes, things are very bad, but drowning in the talking about it for hours at a time will fuck you up. The other news is the current fires sweeping across southern California in the Orange County area. Geraldo says right now that 50, 000 people are fleeing from the flames. A 500 unit trailer park burned, and yesterday the fire was into Yorba Linda(Nixon's hometown). Not sure yet about the fires getting into Anaheim. There was a thing on this afternoon about the Jonestown suicides. I had forgotten that this is the 30th anniversary of that horrible thing. And on the 22nd will be the 45th anniversary of JFK getting killed. That long ago! This is going to be all for right now. I just do not have any more to right about I have deep insight into. You take care. Di di mau!

Winter Weekend in the Dark

Here we are on a dark cold windy Saturday night in mid November. Nothing unusual--it is normal seasonal weather, but the gloom and the economic mess seem to be getting into peoples' heads--everyone seems to be very grouchy, including me. Fox News is doing a series on TV and The Presidency tonight, and is covering the Lewinsky scandal. Actually an interesting show; I had forgotten or not thought for a long time about some of what went on. Busch met with 20 world leaders to discuss the world money crisis, and O is picking his crew and staff. That is the bare summary of events in the last few days. I am trying to come down from the campaign, and have gone into world affairs shutdown, but will come out of it soon. I am not feeling overly healthy and Up right now, and have been having trouble relating to other human beings, but will get back to normal acceptable social behavior soon, I hope. I' better get better. No nervous collapse like I had about 30 years ago. Enough of that! I watched a tape last night of Kings Row, the movie where Ronnie gets his legs cut off and says "Where's the rest of me?" Interesting somewhat daring movie for 1942--a lot like Peyton Place--hidden evil secrets in a pious small town. Like PP KR has too many characters you cannot keep straight, but there is a great scene at the end where Bob Cummings has to tell off Ronnie for laying around letting Anne Sheridan baby him, and Ronnie sees the light and gets fired up to start living. Vintage Ronnie! This docu on Fox is now into Gore and Bush and the campaign of 2000, and it is very interesting, and fair. I hope it gets rerun again so I can tape it. One thing they have not shown is the Snickers commercial with the donkey and the elephant trying to outdo one another on who invented the internet and who still wears his dad's pants and who invented pants. A classic TV political ad, even if the real message was to get you to eat Snickers. This is going to be all for right now; it is getting late or early. You all take care. Di di mau!

Cold Cold Cold

Very dark and cold on this Sunday night. We have winter every year, so there should be no trauma or sadness about it, but I feel gloomy for some reason, and want to blame it on the season. Poor me. I am going to have to accept O as president, even if I am leary about him being our Leader. I am leary about his biography and a lot of the people he listens to, and a lot of his ideas--such as that the Constitution and the total of American history suck. The other day he made a comment about his bi-racialness and referred to himself as a Mutt. No one in the media made anything of this, but it bothered me. Going on to other things, I am half watching a video of Our Friends and Neighbors--a high rated movie which seems to be about a bunch of yuppies with relationship angst. They fuck and they talk and so far that is all they have done. Some time I will have to just sit and watch what it is that they are doing. Maybe there is something in this flick, but so far I have not seen much. I found a video at a thrift store of The Time Machine--from 1960 with Rod Taylor and Yvette Mimieux--that is a favorite with the geeks on Big Bang Theory. Maybe sometime I should actually read HG Wells' original story. A somewhat dated and clumsy movie, but in 1960 nuclear destruction of the world was a very topical situation--actually it still is. I hope O matures into a good president from a Chicago slacker hustler. This is going to be all for right now. You all take care. Di di mau!

After the Election

Obama won the election Tuesday, as if anyone needs to be told that. I have not actually heard any newspeople say what the results by number of the win were. O got over 300 electoral votes, so that put him over the top by 10:30 p.m, and Mc threw in the towel. I was not happy that big John lost, but am accepting the result. O got a briefing today from Intelligence honchos, and supposedly the transition procedures have started smoothly. Maybe O will grow up and grow into a President of the whole country, even though at least half the population seemingly hates him, and the other half think he is God who will give us(or them) Manna and Money. Hopefully he will get away from his stuff about how the Constitution sucks and the course of American history has sucked till the minute he Arrived. It is going to be a time of social turmoil for a while, I am afraid. What else has happened in the last 2 days? Winter is on the way across the midwest, and probably will get to Des Moines soon. Foxnews reported that Putin is trying to get Med out of power, so he can take over the top job again in Russia--no surprise there. Nejad is trying to make nicey to Obama. The stock market is back way Down, after the election. Gas prices today are at $1.80. Probably there will a shootup around Thanksgiving--a holiday gouging. We will see. Apparently Youtube's system crashed tonight--just when I was ready to find some videos of 0ld-time French singers--Frehel, Sablon et al. Katie Couric tonight was in a state of woe over a big dip in retail sales, and the troubles small stores and small businesses are having. And in town this morning a guy came into his living room and found a guy who had been robbing driveup banks all over town asleep on his couch. The robber was an older homeless guy who was always on camera wearing a yellow ball cap. So he has finally been caught. More on this will be on the ten p.m news in a while. One thing I need to get away from is getting up at 2 a.m to watch Red Eye on Fox. Silly but interesting program. Kind of a TV version of Bob and Tom. I like Greg Gutfeld, though. It was 40 Years Ago this week, in Nov. 68, that I began my Army era--leading to the Mekong delta. Was it really that long ago? Yes, it was. This will be all for right now. I have stated my murky views on the political and historical situation with Potuselect Obama. I do hope he works out as a president. Some of the blog coments I have read about him are vicious and hateful and the others are so up in heaven I don't know what the middle ground is among Americans. You all take care. Di di mau!

Hello, We Are Back in Blogland

Goofy title for an entry, but I had to take the laptop to puterworld to get cleaned out, and it took a while for the geeksquad to get to it, but we are back in action for my many devotees. So, this entry will be a summary of a bunch of notes I made over the last week or so. Last Saturday La Palin came to Des Moines and gave her standard speech before 10,000 people who cheered her wildly. A couple days later Fox put one of her speeches on TV and she had husband and the kids with her, and little Trig was wrapped in a baby Republican elephant wrapper. This past Friday BHO came to town for an outdoor rally downtown, which blocked the main streets through town for several hours. Several thou people including went to see him. We heard him because it was difficult to get to the park site where he was at. He needed to have been put on top of a high podium so everyone could look up to see him. The speech was his standard one about changing everything. The speech did not seem to really rouse the crowd, unless you are a devotee and dote on his every word. He has been making some comments I do not really like to hear--about the Republicans being Nazis, and the Constitution being a dog because the Founders did not include anything in it about Redistributing the Wealth. And there is a little too much in his speeches about Him Changing Everything. I hope he does not have or get a Great Leader complex. The polls supposedly have him ahead of McCain. I just do not like Obama. He will probably become President, but I am not one of his fans. The Phillies won the World Series against the Rays, but America did not seem interested this year. I did not watch Obama's half hour show about himself on TV. The strangest show on TV of all time was Dirty Jobs Monday night with Mike Rowe out in Colorado helping some people dock the tails and castrating some sheep. Rowe and the gang biting the balls off the lambs with their teeth was a very strange and memorable TV event. Winter is coming on and this is the season when I watch movie videos, and I have watched a bunch of them over the last week. Do not bother watching Sadler's movie about the Zohan--it stinks really bad. Leatherheads is Clooney's movie about pro football in the 20s, and it is not really good either. I rented The Sting the other day, because I have never seen it, and was not impressed with it. Maybe I should watch it again to see what wowed the audiences in 1974, but maybe I just do not get wild over Paul and Robert as a team. And Sting is very long. And I watched a Japanese movie--An Actor's Revenge, and an old Fassbinder movie--Ali-Fear Eats the Soul, about an old German lady and her Moroccan boyfriend. Interesting movie you want to keep watching to see what happens to them in 70s Munich. And I found a tape of the old 40s movie The Devil and Daniel Webster. Not really very good, or maybe just dated. Or maybe it just brings back bad memories of high school English classes. I am going to get some classic John Wayne movies to watch some time this winter, but more on that next time we blog. Oh, how can I forget to relate that I finally found at a thrift store a VHS of a flick I have been looked for for a long time--Three in the Attic--a minor 1968 cult classic from American International about a college dude who has 3 girls on his string, and they lock him in an attic and take turns screwing him into a vegetable, but the flick actually has a happy ending. And Yvette Mimieux is the main girl, and she was actually quite a looker. Where is she now? Well, this will be all for right now. You take care. Di di mau!

Rain on a Dark Night

OK, the whole world has been waiting for this blog entry. It has been 12 days since I have sent anything into cyberspace, and my devotees are drooling, so here we are again. I got busy with life activities, and world events have gotten so heavy I have been weak at sorting out what is happening. The world economic crisis is ongoing and the stock markets have taken some alltime dives, and outfits all over the US are throwing people off the payrolls, but fuel prices are going down into the 2.50 a gallon range, which is good, even though some "expert" today on NPR said that will be bad for the environment and people will begin driving more again than they were when gas was 4 bucks a gal. Screw NPR and All Things Considered. It appears that Obama has enough voters lined up to make him President, even though the more the guy talks the less I like him. That is my own opinion and I'm stickin to it. And Biden said the other day that he knows that sometime in Obama's first 6 months the Us will be attacked by somebody or some country that wants to test Ob's Resolve. Wish Biden would tell what he knows from secret sources. Only 10 days left till the election. Get the thing over with. The flap of today was that the Republicans have spent 150 thousand to style-up Palin's clothes and makeup to make her a stunner. She is supposed to be in Des Moines Saturday afternoon. I would like to see her downtown but may not get to. Will have to check tomorrow about getting a ticket to her show. I got a flu shot the other day and have been in a droop ever since till I get the immunity built up in me. A prelude to winter arrived in the midwest this afternoon and it has been raining dreary and the temp. has been dropping. Long pants in place of shorts are now in order and sweat shirts and flannel shirts are flying off the racks at thrift stores. So it seems that the national uniform of shorts and tshirts and sandals are to be put away or tossed out till next spring. It happens every year--the course of Nature on earth. Maybe next spring we will not have the tornado and flooding mess we had this year; can only wait and see what happens when next spring arrives. I have some opinions about the economic crisis that are not very nice and my attitudes about a lot of current happenings are very grouchy, so I will not inflict my readers with what I really think about a lot of things. My idealism I had back in the 60s seems to gone far far away. And I am getting more sour as I get older. That's just It, I guess. I think this is going to be all for right now, so you readers can get some sleep, as I need to too. You all take care. Di di mau!

More Crash News and other things

The financial crisis is now worldwide. In NYC the stock market closed today at c.8,400--down from c. 10,000 at the first of the week. Around here companies are already beginning to lay off people. A money expert was on the radio on KOA in Denver last week and he spent 2 hours predicting a total Depression coming, which could last till 2020. We will I suppose have to prioritize spending and necessities. In Des Moines yuppieness was getting out of hand anyway--too many people getting too rich too young too fast. I know that is a cruel attitude to have toward other people, because I could start feeling a retirement funds crunch myself. Watch who you accuse of w0rshiping the golden calf, because I have done a lot of it myself. A guy last night on the north side of town got an ear bitten off in a fight. And we have had really nice weather in this before-winter spell. I seem to be trying to function according to the lyrics of old songs from the early 30s. cuz we seem to be reliving the era just now. Not much money oh but Honey aint we got fun. I will not try to rehash the totality of the campaign and the Crash, which can be found on lots of news websites. Have been looking through youtube and found lots of music videos of all kinds of music and have been looking at Bollywood music and have discovered an Indian singer dancer named Helen, who is several really strange videos(dancing in a bottle et al) The whole of human endeavorness seems to be on the Web, and I should start putting myself on a schedule so that I do not spend all my waking hours sitting at the desk looking at the Web. But it is addictive. I guess I have not tonight sent anything into cyberspace of any importance to anyone else on earth, but this is My blog. Palin got her hands slapped by the Alaska legislature for firing her ex-brother in law, and Wm. Ayers has been made the big issue of the week. What did OBH know about him and did he approve of him being a violent bomber from the 60s? A number of TV news commentators do not seem to know what the Weathermen actually were. Since the Nam era was 40 years ago I guess a lot of people would not know the full details of everything from the period. Having been a little kid in the early 50s I do not know the full details of the McCarthy era, except that the older people I was around were suspicious of Communists and anything they thought might be Communism. This is going to be all for right now. If the Crash becomes Total very soon I will type something about it. So you take care. Di di mau!

The Crash Et Al

The House voted down the bailout bill today and the stock market crashed c. 770 points--the biggest or second biggest drop in its history. Wachovia Bank went under. Pelosi caused the bill to be voted down by giving a very partisan speech that made the GOPs mad, or the bill was full of pork barrell addedintos, or yaddayadda. Drudge and the WSJ sites and all the news and opinion sites have the accounts of what happened. W is going to give a speech tomorrow morning. And 33 people got killed in Bagdad by a car bomb, and it got reported on the back page of our local paper. Saturday in Des Moines a guy got killed and his son injured when the truck they were driving behind blew a back tire which flew into their pickup. Big Bang Theory was funny tonight, as was 2.5 Men. Sheen and Cryer and good actors, whether I like the premise of the show or not. Am currently watching a late night cage fighting match from Sioux City, which seems to be the state capitol of cage fighting. McCaine is in town for the night to meet with some local business leaders tomorrow. A local yuppie bookstore went broke today in the new east side of downtown yuppie block. It is the 3rd or 4th upscale store to close in the area in the last year. The owner was blaming the big stores(Borders and Daltons), but the main reason may be that books have reached 40 bucks for a hardcover, and even the upscale folks cannot afford the prices. I guess this will be all for right now. The nation's economy is the main news and more expert people on the web can explain it better than I can, even with my brilliant knowledge of world affairs. Interesting that I keep mentioning websites for the news instead of print news. Must be the 21st century way of getting information. Di di mau!

Sad Saturday Night

The national money crisis is still not settled, and the Debate last night with JMc and BHO was not earth shaking--I thought. B seems to have kept giving his standard speech, and on foreign affairs kept talking about using 21st century diplomacy and not 20th century diplomacy--whatever he meant by that. Fifty years ago the Kennedys were going to start doing New things in the world, and not that old Ike stuff, and JFK ended up laying the ground for Nam. I was not too impressed with either candidate. Just my own opinion. Teddy Kennedy had a seizure yesterday; I assume he will die in the near future. Paul Newman has died. He was around acting for almost 50 years, and has been in our lives. Not a good sentence, but he was around for a big chunk of my life--and made a large bunch of classic movies I should some time rent to watch. The more movies I think of he made the more I start remembering, even if I have only seen a few of them. I left a message on another website about Newman method acting like crazy in The Left Handed Gun, in which he chewed up the screen as Billy the Kid. And there is my favorite Cool Hand Luke, and also Slap Shot. I should get out my video of Hud, which I have trouble watching cuz I snivvle when the cowboys have to shoot the old man's pet longhorns. I was brought up with cattle. This is going to be all for right now. I will blog more next time. You take care. Di di mau!