Video - Sara and Grandma

Just a quick post - this is Sara and my mom, taken at her nursing home in California on 6/22/11. The activity for that day was "Sing with Rex." This was Rex singing the ABC song to them.

Praise From a Snake

"I worship the ground Paul Ryan walks on. I hope he doesn't run for president because that would ruin a good man who has a lot of work to do." -Dick Cheney, May 2011.

Hopefully this endorsement from snake-oil salesman Dick Cheney will be the final death knell for Ryan and his budget proposal to reduce taxes on the rich while at the same time eliminating Medicare. The recent congressional election in New York, in which a Democrat won for the first time in decades, could be a sign that the tide is definitely turning. If Republicans are going to continue pushing this Medicare-killing agenda, expect them to be completely decimated in the 2012 election.

I wonder how Cheney would feel if he weren't a federal employee, receiving free, taxpayer subsidized health insurance. In the days before "Obamacare", would he even be able to get health insurance? Normally, once you've already had five heart attacks, insurance companies won't even go near you with a ten-foot pole. After all his heart attacks, the guy would either be bankrupt or drowning in debt. If the guy had a heart (which he doesn't), he would realize that Ryan's proposal (giving insurance vouchers to seniors), is preposterous, and would leave the frailest members of society without care.

I'm not even sure you can call the GOP a party of "conservatives" anymore. This is a party of radicals. Extreme, right-wing radicals. A party that attacks teachers, education, unions, the elderly, the poor, and the environment (to name but a mere few.) They are anti-civilization, and need to be stopped.

Ramblings #10

Ooops, wrong again!

It seems that Harold Camping's prediction that Doomsday would come last Saturday didn't come to pass. As 6pm approached on Saturday, we were at Costco. Surprisingly, it wasn't very busy in the store. It's usually always busy whenever we go, but this time it only seemed to be at 50% of its normal capacity.

I thought to myself: This is not a holiday weekend. Why is this store so dead today? Could people really be that stupid that they think The Rapture is really going to happen at 6pm??

I really hope that wasn't the reason. I always thought that Austinites are a bit smarter than that.

So anyway, now the guy says that October 21st will be the end of the world. Jeez, dude, give it a break. It didn't happen on May 21st, and it's not going to happen on October 21st. If anybody out there really believes this, then please write me a check and post-date it for October 22nd. You have nothing to lose, right?

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The hardcore liberals out there are going a bit too far over the Osama Bin Laden execution. There seems to be some anger directed towards Obama for killing an apparently unarmed man. As a liberal myself, I have no problem with with the Seal team did. Sure, it would have been nice to bring Osama back here for a trial, which would have undoubtedly lead to his execution anyway. But this way saved us time and money, not to mention all the fanatics that would be kidnapping Americans demanding Osama's release. Obama made the right choice. Osama Bin Laden is now just becoming a small footnote in history.

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As an update to my ACL post, it seems like we'll be going after all. Christy informed me, too my surprise, that she is a Stevie Wonder fan, and wants to see him Saturday night at the festival. It seems that Stevie Wonder is very popular in Taiwan. I never knew this, nor did I realize she liked him. Oh well, you learn something every day. So, with Coldplay on Friday night (a band that I actually like), and Stevie on Saturday, it seems the show won't be a total washout.

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Christy also found a new job last week. A job where she can finally utilize her Mandarin abilities. I always felt her previous job was a bit beneath what she was capable of. So now she will finally be making a decent salary. With China pretty much owning the United States these days, I think knowing how to speak Mandarin will be pretty essential in the future.

Doomsday is Here!!! (tomorrow)

I was planning to write this tomorrow, on the actual "Doomsday" that everyone is talking about, but figured I better do it now. I don't think I will have time tomorrow, as I will most likely be running for my life, trying to escape from being dragged into the pits of hell.

I really love all these doomsday prophecies, just to get the reactions from the people who actually believe it when it doesn't happen.

A famous fortune teller in Taiwan predicted a major earthquake on May 11th with a magnitude of 14.0 on the Richter scale. Taiwanese people ran out and bought expensive earthquake shelters. Obviously it didn't happen, and the fortune teller later said "Ah...I was just drunk when I made that prediction."

This time, some evangelical Christian broadcaster (and nutjob) named Harold Camping has got everyone stirred up about the supposed upcoming apocalypse on May 21st. I even read a story about some fool who spent his entire life savings of $140,000 to place advertisements all over town, warning people about "Judgment Day." The guy could have just gave me that money, and I could have placed his warning on my blog!

Camping has made this prediction before, claiming the end of the world would be in 1994. When that didn't happen, he said his "calculations were wrong." So, what will he say this time? I guess they will just keep pushing it back, like the Jehovah's Witnesses keep doing with their Armageddon predictions. I think the Jehovah's Witnesses have the lead on the number of failed predictions, as they mention specific dates in 1875, 1914, 1915, 1918, 1920, 1925, 1941, and 1975. I guess they finally gave up their prophecies when they realized how ridiculous they looked.

As for me, being an agnostic, I don't believe any of it. I believe that the world as we know it will end eventually, but not because of God's "Judgment Day." It will be because of what man has done to this planet. The drilling, the cutting down of the trees and rainforests, the pollutants going into the air every day, our overpopulation. All of these are contributing to global warming, and will someday cause a major catastrophe. Maybe not in my lifetime, or even my children's lifetime, but it can't go on like this forever.

So...let's say that wacky ol' Harold Camping is correct, and tomorrow is indeed our last day on earth. How will I spend it? Thankfully, it's a Saturday, and I'll be at home with my family. It would suck to be stuck at work when the world ends.

Ramblings #9

Yesterday, as I was driving to work in the afternoon, I noticed the price of gas was $3.69 a gallon. 8 hours later, as I was driving home, it was $3.75 a gallon. It had just jumped 6 cents in a matter of hours. Just a few days before that it was $3.65.

I must say, this is really starting to piss me off, and I live in a state where gas is cheaper than most everyone else in the country. (Poor California, their prices are already over $4.00).

Some people like to blame Obama, but is it really his fault? Personally, I think it's just those greedy scumbag oil companies, who are now making billions in profits off the backs of us working stiffs. Sure, they'll try to say it's because of Libya or Syria or some crap. I think most of us know by now that those countries supply very little oil to the U.S. It may not be Obama's fault, but he better start cracking some whips here. I don't enjoy paying close to $35 to fill my small tank (I have a Honda Fit.)
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Speaking of Obama, I'm glad the guy finally released his birth certificate. Hopefully this will make the redneck "Birther" movement disappear. But I doubt it. In its place you are likely to see the "Transcripters" instead. Rednecks wanting Obama to release his college transcripts. Please, people, just get a life. Just accept the fact that a black man is president. And, if gas prices keep going up, he's not likely to remain the president that much longer anyway.
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So, it seems that we will indeed be going to Taiwan this year. We've bought our tickets, so there's no turning back now. We're also going to be visiting Thailand on this trip. It seems one of my relatives is sitting in a prison in Bangkok and we decided it would be best to pay them a visit and give them our support. (My vagueness on this topic is because I plan to write about this in more detail at a later time.) Stay tuned.
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The Taiwanese girl (the one I met here in the US) who dumped me 8 years ago because I didn't drive a Honda has now added me as a friend on Facebook. Why, I don't know. But pretty crazy, isn't it? I should probably point out to her that now I do drive a Honda.

Easter 2011

Here's a few pictures from the annual Easter Egg Hunt outside the hospital where I work.

Ramblings #8

I think that if someone were to cut the hair of Paul Ryan (Republican Congressman from Wisconsin), they just might find the numbers "666" etched into his head.

It's obvious that America is in a dire financial situation, but Paul Ryan's ideas of how to balance the budget are a bit extreme, to say the least. Ryan would basically reverse everything that FDR and LBJ started. Medicare as we know it would no longer exist. Seniors instead would have to rely on vouchers for health insurance.

On "Real Time with Bill Maher", Maher asked RNC Chairman Michael Steele what would happen to seniors when the vouchers ran out:
"We don't know yet." Steele replied.
"They're S.O.L." said one of the other panelists.

This whole exchange pretty much sums up what will happen to the poor, the middle class, the elderly, and the sick if the GOP ever has complete power. They will be S.O.L. (or..Shit Outta Luck, for those who don't know)

This outright attack on the elderly is pretty bizarre, considering that seniors are the base of the Republican party. Seniors also vote in large numbers. This just doesn't make sense.

Paul Ryan's budget cuts pretty much every social program out there....but, he wants to cut taxes on the rich from 35% to 25%, and increase defense spending. What a surprise, huh? That 10% cut for the rich alone would cost the country over 4 trillion dollars in lost revenue.

I don't look forward to the future that the GOP have laid out. A future where tax cuts for the rich are paid for on the backs of the middle class. As weak a president as Obama is, how could I possibly ever vote Republican when these are the values they stand for? Raising taxes a few percentage points on the rich won't hurt them, but throwing seniors to the wolves in their golden years certainly will.
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I want to take back any positive thing I might have said about Donald Trump in one of my previous "Ramblings." Now that he's reversed his opinion on numerous topics, and become a Tea Bagging birther, he's just become a big, orange clown with bad hair.
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Bon Jovi is accusing Steve Jobs of killing the music business. This is what he said:

"Kids today have missed the whole experience of putting the headphones on, turning it up to 10, holding the jacket, closing their eyes and getting lost in an album; and the beauty of taking your allowance money and making a decision based on the jacket, not knowing what the record sounded like, and looking at a couple of still pictures and imagining it."

Sounds a bit like the ramblings of an old man, but I sort of agree with him. As a kid, I used to love listening to albums, and I would often come home from school, go to my room and just zone out the rest of the day with the music. An iPod isn't really a good substitute for a vinyl record with trippy artwork.

However, when I was a kid, I didn't really own that many albums, either. Maybe about 50, with the bulk of them being Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin. So my musical exposure was pretty limited. Now thanks to the internet, I've got more music than I could ever possibly listen to. I've got hundreds, if not thousands, of songs from almost every genre of music. I just recently downloaded "The 99 Most Essential Opera Masterpieces" from Amazon.com for 99 cents. 99 cents for 99 songs! And opera, no less! Would I have listened to opera 30 years ago? Hell no. But now I do. So...sorry Bon Jovi, but I don't think you have a very good argument.