Category Archives: The Culture

Why Trump?

Posted on January 25, 2016 | 3 comments

“What we are seeing is a public that is coming to the conclusion that the game is rigged. Vote Republican or Democrat and the results are the same and always at odds with the wishes of the people. There are other social forces at work, of course, but the people in charge are undermining the legitimacy of the system over which they preside.”

So we see a Trump riding to the rescue. Except he’s not likely to turn out to be any less crooked than the rest of them. The system needs an overhaul. But I  have no idea how it’s to be accomplished. Armed revolution? Revolutions usually turn out badly, the American one was one of the exceptions. Unless you were a Tory. But that was long ago. In a much smaller and more heterogeneous galaxy far, far away.

Via The Z Man.

3 Comments

Posted in Blogosphere, Evolution, History, The Culture

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Three feet of global warming and plastic bags

Posted on January 24, 2016 | 5 comments

My friends in the Shenandoah Valley have had about all the global warming they can stand this weekend. Richard T., Mr. B’s godfather and my old Vietnam bud, spent his time driving his vineyard’s tractor equipped with snow plow trying to save his neighbor’s prize bull and cows from burial under three feet of drifting snow. Meanwhile, as our Little Barry Hussein prepares his executive orders supposedly involving climate change:

“I also anticipate lots of dumb laws and regulations that will greatly diminish the convenience of everyday living, even more so than that stupid plastic bag ban my municipality enacted a few years ago. Though a soothsayer I am not, I predict such legislation will have a ripple effect across the world’s economies, resulting in increased unemployment, higher prices, and a less enjoyable standard of living overall.”

Oh, yah. As usual, however, Austin’s plastic bag ban wasn’t about the environment, but graft for the ruling party. The Democrats, of course. I was reminded of that the other day when I asked for a plastic bag at HEB, meaning the 25 cent red job they sell now for folks (like me) who refuse to carry European-style shopping bags like good little drones of D.C.

Instead the young clerk handed one of the old-style free plastic bags which now cost, get this, $1 each. Had to specify the 25 center. Astounding? Only because you don’t understand our crooked politics that masquerades as environmentalism.

Via Skanlyn.

5 Comments

Posted in Blogosphere, Obamalot, Rancho Roly Poly, Texana, The Culture, Weather/Climate

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Ol’ Blue Eyes

Posted on January 24, 2016 | 3 comments

Made a new friend the other weekend at Torah Study at Beth Shalom, a fellow a few years older than my almost 72 who is from Round Rock, up the road north from the rancho.

Turned out we were driving the same make and model of cars, Honda CRVs, though his was newer. Did not however snap to his interest in Frank Sinatra. Said he was playing Ol’ Blue Eyes’ CDs everywhere he drives these days.

I still prefer Andrea Bocelli, among others, but I was curious to learn of the land rush in Sinatra memorabilia and recollections since his 100th birthday back on December 12. A Jack Daniels commemorative whisky, among other things.

And that his body was secreted in a Jewish funeral home prior to burial in 1998 to spare the family from the inevitable paparazzi:

“Though Sinatra wasn’t Jewish, he was a big activist for Jewish and Israeli causes, including a youth center in the Arab town of Nazareth. It seems fitting then that when he faced ‘the final curtain,’ he was given the solemnity he deserved…”

Via Jewniverse.

3 Comments

Posted in History, Music, The Culture

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Adios, Ziggy Street

Posted on January 20, 2016 | 2 comments

The city government played along for a while. Then they got serious.

Yesterday they removed the David Bowie street sign that Ziggy Stardust fans had got up in place of Bowie Street, an apparent reference to slave dealer and Alamo icon James Bowie, though the history on the original sign is unclear.

The change was less about slavery than about the rocker who finally fell to earth the other day, dead at 69 from cancer, the great destroyer.

Nice try, Ziggy fans. Keep pushing the formal petition. You never know, what with the slavery angle in a city as politically correct as Austin, you just might succeed. After all, Ziggy already has a whole constellation to himself.

Via KVUE.

2 Comments

Posted in Blogosphere, Cancer, Music, Science/Engineering, Space, Texana, The Culture

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Rule 5: Tara Lynn

Posted on January 14, 2016 | 4 comments

Plus-size-model-Tara-Lynn-20

About time we got back to the plus-sized models that are my favorites. Tara’s a start.

4 Comments

Posted in Obsessions, The Culture

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It’s getting deadly out there

Posted on January 10, 2016 | 6 comments

I already knew the traffic on Austin streets was intolerable. I suspected more than the usual number of people were dying in crashes or being run down. I didn’t realize how bad it was–102 dead in 93 wrecks last year. Up 62 percent from 2014.

Or that 34 percent of drivers in those 93 crashes either had suspended licenses or never had one to begin with. Gee, I wonder who they could be. Wink, wink.

6 Comments

Posted in Texana, The Culture

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Too funny, too true

Posted on January 8, 2016 | 3 comments

antitheft

Got this from sportswriter friend Cedric Golden of the daily. Made me laugh. Reminded me of the mechanic the other day at the dealership who was amazed at the 5-speed in my Honda CRV. Hardly ever see them, he said, but he heard they were fun to drive. If you know how, sure. Even Mr. B.’s driving lessons are strictly with an automatic. Manual is a complete mystery to him.

3 Comments

Posted in Evolution, History, Science/Engineering, The Culture

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