LIFE IS JUST A BOWL OF CHERRIES

To the Senate: Health care NOW!

2010-02-24T07:29:00.001-05:00

On health-care reform, the strategy of President Obama and Democratic congressional leaders is psychologically understandable -- as well as delusional. Obama's health reform gamble raises questions of judgment By Michael Gerson Washington Post Wednesday, February 24, 2010 That's the least fervid of the opposition. Listen to talk show hosts such as Mark Levin and you'll hear accusations that

The Day Decorum Died

2009-09-09T22:20:00.002-04:00

The 'Honorable' Representative Joe Wilson of South Carolina shouted "You lie" at the President of the United States while Obama was delivering a speech about health care to a joint session of Congress.As President Obama addressed a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night, the nation's rapidly deteriorating discourse hit yet another low.It happened at 8:40 pm, just after the president vowed

It's socialism to study hard?

2009-09-06T11:29:00.006-04:00

As have others, LJBC has been catching a breath since Barack Obama's inauguration.One blogger who has not been quiescent, remaining vigilant, is Jack Curtin at I Have Heard the Mermaids Singing. Here he comments on the ridiculous yet atrocious attacks on the occasion of the President of the United States speaking to the nation's schoolchildren.As incomprehensible as it might seem, some folk on

"This campaign came to an end"

2009-08-26T07:52:00.005-04:00

In 1980, at the Democratic Convention, Senator Edward Kennedy said this:And may it be said of us, both in dark passages and in bright days, in the words of Tennyson that my brothers quoted and loved, and that have special meaning for me now:"I am a part of all that I have metTo [Tho] much is taken, much abidesThat which we are, we are --One equal temper of heroic heartsStrong in willTo strive, to

233 years ago

2009-07-04T08:15:00.004-04:00

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the

Tiananmen Square and me

2009-06-04T05:21:00.001-04:00

In meager solidarity with the Chinese people, I noticed that on the 20th anniversary of the massacre at Tiananmen Square, this blog (and my other —beer— blog) was blocked from viewing in China by the communist government.Of course, I should mention that all of Blogger.com (the hosting server for my blog, provided by Google) was blocked, as was Twitter (my account: Cizauskas), and some other sites

Sonia Sotomayor is a reverse racist ... NOT

2009-05-31T09:03:00.005-04:00

Sonia Sotomayor is a reverse racist, Rush Limbaugh said on his radio program last week. Actually, he dramatically WHISPERED it, basing his incorrect reading on only one case, while ignoring ninety-five others.Of the 96 cases, Judge Sotomayor and the panel rejected the claim of discrimination roughly 78 times and agreed with the claim of discrimination 10 times; the remaining 8 involved other

For this weekend: Truth and Vigilance

2009-05-23T09:17:00.003-04:00

Forget torture for a moment.Vice-President Dick Cheney is verbally attacking President Obama as putting the nation in harm's way.The most ludicrous of all the arguments used to try and salvage at least some portion of George W. Bush’s reputation and legacy has always been “he kept us safe.” To even begin to accept that, you have to pretend that 9/11 never happened and that his flawed and failed

Baltimore due for a Lithuanian Dynamo Hum

2009-03-25T07:34:00.001-04:00

With my surname of Cizauskas, this story of cultural convergence piqued my interest.Musician and composer Frank Zappa (1940-1993) was born in Baltimore, and spent boyhood years in a Park Heights Avenue row house and at nearby Edgewood Arsenal. His family moved to California in 1952, but Charm City plans to honor its native son with a statute from Lithuania, which will be placed somewhere in Fell

For my Dad

2009-03-01T04:41:00.001-05:00

Albert C. Cizauskas, my father, would have been 89 years old on 1 March 2009. Here is, in 1948, at the Consulate General in Batavia, then Netherlands Indies.

They don't write speeches like this anymore

2009-02-12T04:36:00.001-05:00

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that

Blogging history made

2009-02-10T07:06:00.002-05:00

President Barack Obama's first prime-time press conference made history of a sort. The President called upon a blogger to ask a question.Sam Stein of the liberal Huffington Post ... asked about a cause popular on the left, the creation of a truth and reconciliation commission to investigate Bush administration wrongdoing. The president said he hadn't seen the proposal by Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (

"I do solemnly swear"

2009-01-20T08:25:00.009-05:00

It was six minutes late, but two-hundred thirty-three years in coming.Today, at approximately 11:56 AM 12:06PM, Chief Justice of the United States John G. Roberts, Jr. administered the Presidential Oath of Office* to Barack Hussein Obama, who said:I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability,

Is Palm back?

2009-01-08T17:29:00.007-05:00

The geek in me is happy.The godfather of the handheld computer, Palm, which has been teetering on the precipice of irrelevance, may have come back from the brink.Palm, today at the Consumer Electronics Show, has announced the release of the Prē phone.And despite all the Consumer Electronic Show hype, the Prē may be the phone/device that Palm should have released several years ago. It's the iPhone

Reasons for a beer today

2008-12-21T11:01:00.005-05:00

It's the Winter Solstice today. The hours of daylight now begin to increase.And ...There are less than 30 days until George Bush leaves the White House.Two reasons for a beer!

Engagement is NOT appeasement.

2008-11-21T21:35:00.003-05:00

"Engagement is not appeasement. Diplomacy is not retreat."So said Republican Senator Chuck Hagel. Speaking at the Johns Hopkins School of AdvancedInternational Studies, he continued:There is always going to be a certain know-nothing element to democracy. That is their choice. But in a world that is so vitally interconnected, it does help if you try to understand the other side.More here.Talking

Veterans' Day

2008-11-11T08:53:00.002-05:00

Thank a veteran today .. and honor the memories of all before ... and work for the improvement of all veterans' health care now.VeteransForAmerica.org

Tickets to the Inauguration

2008-11-07T06:25:00.003-05:00

A disgusting but expected thing: scammers and scalpers may already be wreaking their mischief on the Inauguration.The public should also be aware that no website or other ticket outlet actually has inaugural swearing-in tickets to sell, regardless of what they may claim.Tickets can only be attained from your US Senator or Congressman.The tickets are free; they will not be distributed to

Watching history

2008-11-06T07:32:00.004-05:00

I Twitter-ed watching the election results. [Twitter may have been overwhelmed; some of my posts appeared out of the order in which I had texted them. So I've reordered them in the order I actually had sent them. Typos abound: forgive my thumbs.]Time to open the Lagavulin now11:41 PMI NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD SEE THE DAY11:02 PMNBC calls Pennsylvania for Obama. Obama now at 103 to 34 for McCain.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

2008-11-04T23:03:00.007-05:00

I never thought I would see the day.There are red states; there are blue states.But there is only one UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.Voting[UPDATE: Watching History]

My vote

2008-11-04T18:58:00.006-05:00

Coffee brewed and getting ready to leave for polls. Chair, book, coat, umbrella. And photo ID.-- 5 AMTaking my 82 year young mother who had her hair done yesterday so she'd look good for Obama.-- 7 AMOne hour and 20 minute wait at Poll. [So said an exiting voter.]-- 7:10 AMA through K line is maybe 5x the size of the L through Z line. Why dont they subdivide the line? Falls Church VA.-- 8 AMDone!

Exit Exit Polls, stage left

2008-11-04T17:57:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Nate Silver at www.fivethirtyeight.com I've learned much about polling data and technique in the last 5 months. Aggregating and analyzing most major polling data, Mr. Silver has had a better predictive track record in the primaries —and so far in the campaign— than any one major polling service, network, or print news organization.And he's a sports statistician by trade!Mr. Silver had

What you need - to vote in Virginia

2008-11-03T18:17:00.001-05:00

Here is a guidebook in a pdf file listing the requirements for voting in person in Virginia.Go to http://maps.google.com/vote to see where your voting polls are located.

Redskins lose, Obama wins?

2008-11-03T04:31:00.006-05:00

As it turns out, the Washington Redskins football team have been a very accurate predictor of US presidential elections.Whenever the Redskins lose their last home game played before a national election the party in power loses. And, vice versa, if the Redskins win, the challenging party wins.This prognosticating record began in 1936, when the team was still the Boston Redskins. From Snopes.com:

Report voting problems and successes

2008-11-02T11:00:00.005-05:00

The Washington Post has set up a page at which to report on voting experiences on Tuesday 4 November. It's projects.washingtonpost.com/2008/vote-monitor.And, follow breaking elections stories from the Post on Twitter at: twitter.com/PostVoteMonitor.

Beagles for Obama!

2008-10-30T06:17:00.015-04:00

There is no false Virginia; there is no real Virginia.There is ... the Commonwealth of Virginia.No matter whom one votes for.... except if you're a Communist, says brother Joe McCain.

McCain falls behind; no, wait, he surges to a draw.

2008-10-23T06:16:00.001-04:00

24 hours, 2 polls, 2 diametrically opposed results.Reuters says:Democrat Barack Obama's lead over Republican rival John McCain has grown to 12 points in the U.S. presidential race, with crucial independent and women voters increasingly moving to his side, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Thursday.With less than two weeks before the November 4 election, Obama leads McCain 52

It was a very good year

2008-10-10T04:17:00.006-04:00

Today is my day for my year ... of the glass half-full and the glass half-empty.To offer commentary, here's —philosopher and singer— William Shatner, from the early 1970s on the Mike Douglas Show. ... with my apologies to Frank Sinatra.Keep passing the open windows, and stand clear of the closing doors.

Schadenfreude and beer

2008-09-30T19:03:00.007-04:00

From the Washington Post, Sunday 28 September, p. A3:While New York City hasenjoyed the fruits of Wall Street's decade of dizzying success <...> for many, who didn't share in the spoils, there is a certain sense of schadenfreude — enjoying the new misery of the formerly wealthy.<..>"It's going to take their breath away, because they're going to have to deal with the reality that all the rest of

In DC, a sad day for books & records

2008-09-30T18:41:00.005-04:00

From olssons.com:Olsson Enterprises, Inc., trading as Olsson's Books & Records, Record & Tape Ltd., and Olsson's Books announced today that it has closed all of its locations and petitioned the U.S. Bankruptcy Court District of Maryland for conversion of its current Chapter 11 protection to Chapter 7.The reasons given for the petitioning were stagnant sales, low cash reserves, and an inability to

Spinning the prez debate

2008-09-27T06:11:00.009-04:00

Results from a CNN poll of television viewers of last evening's presidential candidate's debate in Mississippi between Senators Obama and McCain hadObama winning overall by a margin of 51-38. The poll suggests that Obama is opening up a gap on connectedness, while closing a gap on readiness.Specifically, by a 62-32 margin, voters thought that Obama was “more in touch with the needs and problems

another abrogation

2008-09-24T05:59:00.006-04:00

Substitute Commander-in-Chief for Secretary (of the Treasury) and there's a frightening sense of deja-vu to the 1-trillion dollar* bail-out bill as submitted by the Bush administration.Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.Paulson's

Socialism

2008-09-21T20:10:00.010-04:00

We're told: We need smaller government, we need less regulation. That is, until greed and catastrophe threaten to ravel the warp and woof of the nation. Then we're told that we must privatize profits and socialize the risk. How ironic it is thatGeorge W. Bush, champion of privatizing the Social Security program, decides to socialize the U.S. financial system instead.But who will pay the 1

Priorities?

2008-09-19T05:49:00.004-04:00

A memorial in Falls Church, Va. to 9/11 victims has been removed ―by the artist― after complaints ...... complaints about nudity."The Dust Cries Out," built by Northern Virginian artist Karen Swenholt, was installed Sept. 8 on Great Falls Street in Falls Church. It features two life-size nude figures resembling the dust-covered survivors of the Twin Towers collapse, with arms reaching toward the

Beagles for Obama

2008-09-18T20:41:00.013-04:00

Ethel Mae shows her preference. Beagles for Obama Originally uploaded by cizauskas

Business Socialism

2008-09-17T05:32:00.002-04:00

My Republican friends tell me: you liberals, you just want to redistribute wealth, you just expect government handouts.Robert Reich —Secretary of Labor under President Clinton— had the proper response, which he wrote this Monday on his blog, before the US government takeover of AIG.a free-market-loving Republican administration is presiding over the most ambitious intrusion of government into

Hurricane relief (and a useful charity resource)

2008-09-14T09:31:00.004-04:00

A good resource for matching donation to need.

Putting lipstick on the pig (the post-convention bounce, that is)

2008-09-14T07:26:00.007-04:00

538.com has offered up an interesting analysis of the post-convention (ok, Palin) bump for McCain.He is indeed up ... but most of that gain is in strong Republican base areas. He/she is appealing to those states where the Republicans should have already been strong. A better measure of tracking the election will be available at the end of September, when the convention speeches will be gauzy

The Dust Cries Out

2008-09-13T12:04:00.012-04:00

The Dust Cries OutOriginally uploaded by cizauskas Walking the dogs this morning, I stopped to view The Dust Cries Out, a sculpture, only erected this week, commemorating the victims of the 9/11/01 attacks.The sculpture can be found at the city limits of Falls Church, Va.Then ... I saw this note which had been placed by someone on the back base of the sculpture.[UPDATE 2008.09.14: Local

Remembering

2008-09-11T06:59:00.005-04:00

I was having a cup of coffee in the living room of my rowhouse in Baltimore, Md. On the television set was the ABC network's morning show. That was much to the vexation of my stepdaughter, who would have preferred the more appropriate Clifford the Big Red Dog.It was 8:45 in the morning; she and I would soon be walking to her school.A breaking news report interrupted the program.My stepdaughter

"Iron my shirt," part 2

2008-09-08T05:41:00.000-04:00

Seantor Hillary Clinton and Governor Sarah Palin. "What if," Anne E. Kornblut asks in the Washington Post, "the roles had been reversed?"What if, back in the 1990s, Clinton had announced the pregnancy of an unmarried, teenaged daughter? Would the Republicans have declared it an off-limits family matter and declined to judge her, or would it have turned into a national scandal that hurt her

A 12 billion dollar victory?

2008-09-07T08:02:00.002-04:00

Senator Obama appeared last week on Bill O'Reilly's program on the Fox network. O'Reilly, ostentatiously using big words like "perspicacious", behaved like, well, O'Reilly: "Why won't you say 'I was wrong about the surge,'" he badgered and interrupted.Obama politely responded: Despite the surge, "the Iraqis still have not taken responsibility. We [the US] are spending $10-12 billion dollars per

Gustav: so far, so-so good

2008-09-01T12:48:00.005-04:00

In New Orleans, it's so far so-so good, but remembering that the city's submersion three years ago occurred after Katrina had moved past, any assessment of the city's current safety needs to wait. The fate of the neighboring lands is not so good.NEW ORLEANS - A weakened Hurricane Gustav slammed into the heart of Louisiana's fishing and oil industry Monday, avoiding a direct hit on flood-prone New

Sarah 'Connor' Palin

2008-08-31T06:11:00.007-04:00

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, Senator McCain's choice for Vice-President, appears to have high quotients of political smarts and personal integrity. She counters the youth and good looks of Senator Obama campaign with the same for the Republican side.But I disagree diametrically with many of her views.And her elevation to vice-presidential candidate removes the foreign affairs experience —or lack

A right-er gets it right

2008-08-28T05:33:00.013-04:00

Here's President Clinton last night at the Democratic Convention:[In 1992] We prevailed in a campaign in which the Republicans said I was too young and too inexperienced to be commander in chief. <...> Sound familiar? It didn't work in 1992, because we were on the right side of history. And it won't work in 2008, because Barack Obama is on the right side of history.Sometimes the political right

Wake Up, America

2008-08-27T04:57:00.000-04:00

It's Election Day 2008. We Democrats are giving America a wake-up call. <..>If there was an Olympics for misleading, mismanaging and misappropriating, this administration would take the gold. World records for violations of national and international laws. They want another four-year term to continue to alienate our allies, spend our children's inheritance and hollow out our economy. <...>We

The hope still lives

2008-08-26T04:54:00.010-04:00

And may it be said of us, both in dark passages and in bright days, in the words of Tennyson that my brothers quoted and loved, and that have special meaning for me now:"I am a part of all that I have metTo [Tho] much is taken, much abidesThat which we are, we are --One equal temper of heroic heartsStrong in willTo strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."Ted Kennedy, at the Democratic

Obama/Biden

2008-08-24T05:37:00.006-04:00

Congratulations to Senator Barack Obama on his selection of Senator Joe Biden as his Vice-Presidential running mate.Senator Biden's passion, smarts (foreign affairs), and experience bode well for electoral victory, and for crucial benefit to the nation come 20 January 2009.With the feral Rove/McCain smear hounds unleashed, Obama needed a pit bull to cover his flank.If only "clean" Joe Biden can

Fast times with hydrogen car

2008-08-20T06:21:00.003-04:00

A local official in northern Virginia recently employed a unique method to demonstrate proof of concept for 'green driving'.Falls Church City Council Member Dan Sze became the first local official in the country to drive the Honda Clarity - the world's first series production hydrogen fuel cell automobile <...> he was promptly stopped by a Park Police officer after being clocked going three times

An award; activists fight sprawl in Nevada

2008-08-15T16:57:00.008-04:00

Carol Cizauskas and I have the same last name. In fact, we are sister and brother.Ms. Cizauskas is a freelance journalist. A story she wrote last year for the Reno News & Review has just been awarded the Nevada Press Association first place award for best business news story in the 2007-2008 year.Growing outActivists fight sprawl into areas remote from the Truckee MeadowsBy Carol CizauskasReno

It was a dark and stormy night

2008-08-14T05:10:00.009-04:00

Theirs was a New York love, a checkered taxi ride burning rubber, and like the city their passion was open 24/7, steam rising from their bodies like slick streets exhaling warm, moist, white breath through manhole covers stamped "Forged by DeLaney Bros., Piscataway, N.J."That, written by Garrison Spik, is this year's winning entry in the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest.The contest, sponsored by the

Olympic Fright

2008-08-09T09:06:00.005-04:00

lucky flowers on 8.8.08Originally uploaded by cizauskas I found the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics to be simultaneously tedious and discomfiting.For me, just one drummer in a jazz quartet can transcend a moment more so than thousands of drummers with what appeared to be blood stains on their foreheads.For me, the scene had ramifications of totalitarian might. Or as Tom Boswell of

Have laptop? You're under suspicion!

2008-08-01T05:09:00.001-04:00

Innocent until proven guilty has been one of the assumed rights of our Constitution, affirmed repeatedly by the Supreme Court, and popularly enshrined as a pillar of our national liberty.Federal agents may take a traveler's laptop computer or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing, as part of border search policies the

How to SAVE YOUR ENTIRE BLOG (blogger.com)

2008-07-30T05:07:00.003-04:00

Not being very technically savvy, I was pleased to find this advice on how to archive all the posts of my blog. In one easy step.I did so. My advice is for you to do so as well. Now!From Dummies Guide to Google Blogger (beta):Blog Backup has always been a bit of a problem for bloggers ever since the advent of the New Blogger. In Classic Blogger it was easy by using the Httrack utility from

Digital theft?

2008-07-27T09:40:00.007-04:00

So let's get this straight.You buy a song. But the retailer says it would be better for you that you don't actually own the song.It would be so much better, the retailer tells you, that it should keep the song. It will allow you to play it anytime you wish (but not quite with any music-playing device you own).But then ... the the retailer, who now has your money (and that of millions of others)

Just the news please

2008-07-26T05:43:00.002-04:00

On Thursday, when Senator Obama was in Berlin, Germany, MSNBC ran a news story with this sub-headline:Obama addresses 200,000 in Berlin;McCain eats at German restaurant.No matter a person's political affiliation, that was not a "fair and balanced" juxtaposition.McCain is currently running ads in which one hears crowds chanting "Obama, Obama" as the narrator asks who is responsible for rising gas

Twitter's utility, part2

2008-07-22T07:14:00.008-04:00

Twitter. Think of it as a mini-blog service of sorts, and a group messaging tool. Posts to it, called Tweets, are limited to 140 characters.Rob Pegoraro, IT columnist/blogger at the Washington Post has written a column about his experience with Twitter. Other than disapproving of its too-often down-time, he generally liked his experience.Twitter has become my public notebook, in which I jot down

Nations label their domestic opponents as terrorists

2008-07-21T05:07:00.004-04:00

[Bishop Eliezer] Pascua, general secretary of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, gave nine lectures on a tour from California to Nevada to Chicago [in early summer 2008]. He spoke not just to re-trace the details of several of what he counts as nearly 900 illegal executions since President Gloria Arroyo took office in 2001, but to prick American consciences.“Continuing to support

tasteless at the New Yorker

2008-07-16T08:06:00.000-04:00

Tom Toles, of the Washington Post, today published his political cartoon take on a recent New Yorker cover.Satire is effective when it is slightly askew, when a certain lack of realism indicates that it is indeed satire. When the satire is represented in an overly arch and/or realistic manner, it disguises the intent of the satire, and instead becomes an inside, wink-wink, joke.Jack Shafer of

Firefox 3.0 crashes

2008-07-06T13:15:00.003-04:00

Aargh! Not now!I'm planning for a trip, and the new Firefox 3.0 crashes on me. I don't have the time today (or the inclination) to follow all the heretofore unpublished tricks to forestall problems with a supposedly stable, wonderful, alternative to Internet Explorer.In Firefox's defense, it is an open-source and non-profit browser project. And its previous iterations have been stable and so much

Over Stimulus check

2008-07-01T17:44:00.010-04:00

I received my $600 stimulus check today.And it had the phrase "overstimulus" printed on it.Wooh hoo! Now I can pay a portion of my gas credit card.That's an OVER stimulus?Don't think so. Unless I've been 'over-stimulizated'.

Real 'Slow' Networks: no DRM, finally

2008-06-30T08:04:00.007-04:00

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Digital music seller Rhapsody is launching a $50 million marketing assault on Apple's iTunes, offering songs online and via partners including Yahoo Inc and Verizon Wireless, Rhapsody said on Monday.The songs will be sold in MP3 format, which means users of the Rhapsody service will be able to play them on iPods.Before now Rhapsody, jointly owned by Real Networks Inc and

You do NOT have the right to vote!

2008-06-29T07:07:00.002-04:00

The 15th Amendment to the US Consitution states that "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." The 19th Amendment states that a person's sex may not be used to deny or abridge the right to vote.But NOWHERE in the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, or any of

a morality lesson

2008-06-20T07:43:00.003-04:00

Peggy Noonan, in the Wall Street Journal on Friday 20 June, offers a 'moral' analysis on the meaning of Tim Russert's life.After Tim's death, the entire television media for four days told you the keys to a life well lived, the things you actually need to live life well, and without which it won't be good. Among them: taking care of those you love and letting them know they're loved, which

They paved the river and put in a parking lot?

2008-06-19T06:14:00.001-04:00

I'm no meteorologist, but ...5 observations from the Great Midwest Flood of '08:"With that volume of rain, you're going to have flooding, said Donna Dubberke, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. "This is not just because someone put in a parking lot."Elwynn Taylor, a meteorologist at Iowa State University attributes the flooding in recent years to cyclical climate change."We've

Tim Russert

2008-06-13T17:51:00.011-04:00

Tim Russert, NBC Washington, DC bureau chief, and long-time moderator of Meet The Press, has died.Tim Russert always seemed to me the amazing combination of tough questioner --inside man of the press-- and common man, with whom you would want to have a beer.But Mr. Russert was obviously not a common man, considering his skills, the accolades being given him, and the prominence to which he

Hang On Little Tomato

2008-06-11T19:16:00.014-04:00

Grow your own tomatoes ... and when you don't, buy from local farmers!Kim O'DonnellWashington PostA Mighty Appetite Are tomatoes from local growers (farmer's markets etc.) safe provided they are washed thoroughly? The FDA has issued a very long dizzying list of domestic and international tomato spots NOT affected by the outbreak, and if you can come up with a way to make sense of it, give me a

The rich are cooler than you or me

2008-06-09T19:19:00.009-04:00

Fox network bloviator Bill O'Reilly announced today that we Americans should save energy by raising our summer thermostats to 71 °F. I certainly can't afford that setting. Mine's hurting the wallet as it is set at 80°F.The rich indeed are different than you or me. They're more comfortable this summer.

Much green needed to go green

2008-06-08T10:51:00.007-04:00

By 2050, the world population will top nine billion. Where's the food, water, and energy going to come from?Samuel Bodman [U.S. energy secretary] attending two days of meetings in northern Japan among energy chiefs from Group of Eight industrialized countries and other top economies, said the surge in world oil prices was largely a simple problem of supply and demand.Production has stalled since

Some reasons why I supported Hillary Clinton

2008-06-08T07:30:00.001-04:00

... and why I now support Senator Barack Obama for President of the United States of AmericaSenator Hillary Clinton's Concession Speech7 June 2008I ran as a daughter who benefited from opportunities my mother never dreamed of. I ran as a mother who worries about my daughter's future and a mother who wants to lead all children to brighter tomorrows. To build that future I see, we must make sure

Proud to be an American

2008-06-04T05:02:00.005-04:00

This morning, I'm proud and thrilled to be American.A divided party? Ha!A long powerful debate strengthens democracy.Hillary? Despite some gaffes, and her husband's diminution of his legacy, she proved herself to be one tough broad. And someone whose best days - and best days for America - are still in front of her. I have more admiration for her now than when she announced her candidacy.But so,

HRC to suspend campaign Tuesday evening, 3 June

2008-06-03T11:13:00.004-04:00

AP: Clinton to concede tonight BY BETH FOUHY | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON – Hillary Rodham Clinton will concede Tuesday night that Barack Obama has the delegates to secure the Democratic nomination, campaign officials said, effectively ending her bid to be the nation’s first female president.The former first lady will stop short of formally suspending or ending

Betrayal of trust

2008-05-28T08:40:00.003-04:00

Like rats scurrying from a sinking (sunken?) ship, President Bush's erstwhile comrades desert him. I'm no fan of the President and the havoc he's brought upon this nation (and the world). But the betrayal of Bush by his past Press Secretary Scott McClellan (and others before him) almost makes me feel sorry for Bush ... almost.McClennan has written a book in which he tells of the dissembling,

Phoenix rises

2008-05-26T08:01:00.004-04:00

Another reason to celebrate on this Memorial Day:This image shows a polygonal pattern in the ground near NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander, similar in appearance to icy ground in the arctic regions of Earth.Phoenix touched down on the Red Planet at 4:53 p.m. Pacific Time (7:53 p.m. Eastern Time), May 25, 2008, in an arctic region called Vastitas Borealis, at 68 degrees north latitude, 234 degrees east

Twitter's utility

2008-05-26T07:29:00.011-04:00

Twitter is a messaging service, limited to 160 140 characters, accessed on mobile phones and the web, and whose raison d'etre is "What are you doing?" I began as an unbeliever, and if not now a believer, I have become a regular user.Dan Farber of CNet has a good take on its relative usefulness.I first learned of the recent tragic earthquake in China via Twitter messages from people I follow on

No April emails

2008-05-04T09:20:00.005-04:00

When you submit a public comment here on the blog, it usually will be posted.But in April, any private messages sent to me via the Feedback/Guestbook Form may have been lost.There apparently had been problems with the feedback hosting page. I apologize if I failed to respond to any emails.The problem has been, I hope, corrected. Try again!

Spam gotcha

2008-05-01T05:58:00.001-04:00

Those wavy wierd letters that one is required to type into many website forms to verify that one is a human? They have a name: CAPTCHA, that is, Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart.Unfortunately, the HALs of our word have recently cracked the code.Microsoft and other Web companies say that they are interested in creating human verification tests that are

Reason for hope

2008-04-29T22:16:00.007-04:00

It's a reassuring analysis as to why McCain can't win:As we slog through the seemingly unending mire of the Democratic primaries, a meme has taken hold: the longer Obama battles Clinton, the more likely it is that McCain will win the election. Nonsense. McCain is a weak candidate in a year when Republicans are running against their own party. Barring some unforeseen catastrophe, there will be a

The President and my mother

2008-04-29T20:39:00.020-04:00

The former President of the United States asked, "And where did you work for me?" He asked again, "Where did you work?"Jimmy Carter was signing copies of his new book, A Remarkable Mother, a biography of his mother 'Ms. Lillian', at a bookstore today in McLean, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C.It was an efficient signing.We were wanded by Secret Service agents at the door and then moved

Load up the Pantry

2008-04-25T07:10:00.000-04:00

Load Up the PantryStockpiling staples like rice and pasta, etc.: that's what the Wall Street Journal, this morning, has encouraged shoppers to begin doing in the United States.Alarmist, yes. But it's yet another real sign of the world-wide economic maelstrom. And, that is indeed frightening.

Super-voters

2008-04-23T08:46:00.002-04:00

What's the deal with super-delegates anyway? Are they bad for the democratic process of the Democratic Party? And in the Republican primaries, one vote more than the opponent yields the winner all of the votes. Is that fair?We've had similar super-voters in our presidential elections since the U.S. Constitution was ratified over 200 years ago. They're called Electors -- of the Electoral

more customer dis-service from Microsoft

2008-04-23T05:54:00.000-04:00

I've stated before that I don't steal music. But the big music companies treat me, and millions of other music consumers, as if we do.It's not just the music labels who use new-speak Digital Rights Management (but are indeed relenting as they see profit in sales) but it's also the providers, such as the increasingly irrelevant RealMusic, and nearly everyone's (not me!) darling Apple, and nearly

Clinton wins ... Pennsylvania

2008-04-22T21:43:00.002-04:00

Clinton drew her usual strong support among senior citizens and white women, and narrowly won the votes of white men.She even was competitive with Obama among whites under 30 years old, a group that has favored Obama in many states.Obama won the support of black voters and college graduates of all races. A quarter of Obama's supporters were black, and half had college degrees.Three in 10

Bitter?

2008-04-16T05:15:00.006-04:00

You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton Administration, and the Bush Administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it's not surprising then they get

First Lady? First Beer?

2008-04-03T18:36:00.002-04:00

I learned several years ago about Cindy McCain —wife of the Republicanic presidential candidate.I learned that she was an Anheuser-Busch distributorship heiress. I just hadn't realized how much of an heiress she was: try $100 million plus. Cindy McCain is Hensley's chairwoman and holds at least a 20 percent stake in it, according to Arizona corporate records. She works mostly on strategic

Earth Hour, and a 30 terrawatt thirst

2008-03-31T19:04:00.001-04:00

We turned the lights out Saturday at 8pm for Earth Hour. I made certain to turn off the computer and printer at the wall, disconnect the router, turn off the microwave clock, and unplug the wireless network receiver and television set. I turned down the heat.I probably missed a few. The exercise made me realize how many appliances are actually on at any one time.Of course Earth Hour was a

The ethos of the New Deal is gone, part 2.

2008-03-30T19:31:00.013-04:00

Prior to 1932 the US, despite its lofty democratic foundation, offered the mass of its citizens not a whole hell of a lot more than, say, India. More or less, people were on their own. There was a tiny overclass, a vast underclass, and a group who were actively oppressed—in some cases enslaved. They scratched out an existence on the farms or in the factories, their kids took care of them when

"The ethos of the New Deal is gone today."

2008-03-27T04:48:00.008-04:00

"'The era of big government is over,' President Clinton proclaimed, and, with a stroke of his pen, stripped welfare from its moral underpinnings. Social Security, one of the last tangible policies of the New Deal era, has been divorced from the spirit of Roosevelt's vision.... If we reject this conservative framework, we can replace it with our own. If we argue that government has a

Easter thoughts

2008-03-23T19:44:00.004-04:00

On this day of peace and hope, please take the time to remember:[and honor] 4,000 dead Americans. 100,00+ dead Iraqis. Two trillion in direct and indirect costs. Civil war raging. Al Qaida rallying. Pakistan destabilized. Afghanistan forgotten. Every reasonable justification for the war refuted.from: Low on the Hog

Not guns OR butter, it's guns AND butter

2008-03-21T09:06:00.006-04:00

FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) -- Gun rights advocates say they are planning to bring firearms into some Fairfax County restaurants each Saturday in April to challenge statements by Virginia's Senate majority leader.Richard Saslaw has said on the Senate floor at least twice in recent weeks that customers who bring guns into restaurants in urban areas of the state are asked to leave.People can carry guns into

A nearly- Spring morning storm, in Virginia

2008-03-16T09:11:00.002-04:00

Politics and beer

2008-03-15T09:38:00.000-04:00

"I don't know why anyone would want to be a politician," said the person sitting on the next bar stool over. "Our democratic republic, as fragile as it is, survives because there still are citizens who do," I replied, and returned to the beer at hand.Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries began in January 2008 when I noticed that I had been posting quite too often on matters political over at my beer

Foul innuendo

2008-03-15T09:37:00.007-04:00

In anonymous whispers, Senator Barack Obama has been alleged to be a Muslim. To a paraphrase a famous sotto voce Seinfeld episode: "He's a Muslim ... not that there's anything wrong with that."First of all, Obama is a baptized Christian. In February of 2007, I wondered aloud how long it would be before his non-Anglo-Saxon name would become an issue.And. although not true, would it really matter

My father

2008-03-01T05:33:00.011-05:00

Many cherish a day that holds personal significance. Today, 1 March 2008, is mine. I celebrate the life of my father, Albert C. Cizauskas. He would have been 88 years old.Please read more.It holds other memories as well. If I might be forgiven the indulgence to paraphrase Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke: "I had a home in Baltimore, at the foot of Federal Hill."

Sports columnist Wilbon is well

2008-02-29T07:31:00.001-05:00

This is month-old news, but sometimes you get so wrapped in your own things you miss the others.Michael Wilbon, the beloved Washington Post sports columnist and co-host of ESPN's Pardon the Interruption, had a minor heart attack early Monday morning. Absent from Monday's PTI, Tony Kornheiser announced Wilbon wasn't feeling well and had been experiencing some minor chest pains (he was replaced by

2009.01.20

2008-02-29T06:51:00.009-05:00

President Bush reacts to a reporter's question during a news conferenceat the White House in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2008. AP Photo/Charles DharapakUS Presidents' terms originally did not conclude until the 4th of March following the November election. The 20th Amendment moved this forward to the 20th of January.FDR was the first President inaugurated on this new date, in 1937.The next

Whose presidential platform is this?

2008-02-28T16:24:00.005-05:00

Adopt single payer national health insurance Cut the huge, bloated, wasteful military budget No to nuclear power, solar energy first Aggressive crackdown on corporate crimeand corporate welfare Open up the Presidential debates Adopt a carbon pollution tax Reverse U.S. policy in the Middle East Impeach Bush/Cheney Repeal the Taft-Hartley anti-union law Adopt a Wall Street

Hillary's snowfight tonight

2008-02-26T06:08:00.001-05:00

To frankly remain viable in the Democratic presidential delegate race, Hillary Clinton—like a challenger in a prizefight—must score a knockout or—at the least—win on all scorecards in tonight's Cleveland Ohio debate, in a snowstorm. A draw would go to the leader—and isn't that a remarkable thing in this Democratic primary season!—Barack Obama.

Dancing with McCain

2008-02-24T06:56:00.002-05:00

We're about to spend a trillion in our occupation of Iraq. Osama bin Laden is at large. The country is in a recession. We're dependent on other nations for our cash reserves and oil.But what's important this week?John McCain had lunch ... with a woman ... nine years ago.Frank Sinatra once saw a man dance with his wife in Chicago.Egads! Enough already.

Barack Obama is Your New Bicycle

2008-02-23T06:16:00.012-05:00

This is hilarious:http://barackobamaisyournewbicycle.com/One could daydream for a second or two, hoping that that link might be the snarkiest political attack of this election cycle. Of course, it has already not been so; Pandora opened her box long ago.Do I care if Hillary Clinton served on the board of WalMart? Do I care that past POW John McCain talked to lobbyists? Yes.But do those, and