More Friday Stuff

On the subject of weather…funny, but you never hear the global warming denialists when it’s 98 degrees in the shade, which Chris Hayes touches on a bit here…



…and I’m wondering if this will be the new theme song for the state of Colorado – I personally like this video because it contains absolutely none of the white stuff whatsoever, among other reasons :-)

Friday Stuff

Many of us here in Lower Makefield Township, Bucks County, PA are currently mourning the loss of Greg Caiola, someone who served in township government for a few years as a Democrat and who tirelessly gave of himself on behalf of our community.

I guess it’s possible to compile a list of projects and initiatives that Greg was involved in on behalf of LMT folk, but I can assure you that it would be a lengthy one and there probably would be an accidental omission or two. Speaking only for myself, I first met Greg when he came to Le Manse Doomsy with Ron Smith a few years back when they both ran for LMT supervisors (they won). Afterwards, I ran into Greg a couple of times while working a phone bank or I was involved with some type of “get out the vote” effort (not blowing my own horn by any means – many others work harder at that than I do, and I’ll try to “step it up”).

I should probably give you a bit of background on what has happened in our township over, say, the last 15 years or so. We used to have a completely-Republican-dominated board of supervisors run by a guy named Wes Hackman, who, as nearly as I could tell, was pretty much a rubber stamp for any development project that came his way. One such project was the Octagon Center by Matrix Development Corporation, a proposed big-box retail complex that would have decimated our community (I can already hear the “Lower Makefield snobs” snickering…at least WE didn’t just roll over for the latest Home Depot, Regal Cinema, Target scheme, all of which we have right down the street anyway). The movement that sprang up in response, I believe, ushered in an all-too-brief period of “good government” in our township, some of which is noted here in a post where Greg provided the details, a period that helped elect Greg, Ron Smith, and Steve Santarsiero to the LMT Board of Supervisors also.

(And by the way, I hasten to add that this “movement” also included some Republicans who worked tirelessly against the Matrix project. I’m not going to go all squishy and tell you that I have common cause, so to speak, with these people, but only a fool would argue that they don’t cherish this community also.)

And speaking of which, Steve (among others) has pointed out that Greg definitely reached “across the aisle” to the other side when he was a supervisor and working in other capacities for the township. You have to do that to get things done around here (and again, there are actually some Republicans you can work with, though that number is shrinking).

Greg’s passing, though, is much more than a loss to our civic life, of course. It is no doubt a crushing blow to his family and friends, who have our deepest sympathies at this time.

And I don’t know if this clip of Jeff Daniels as newsman Will McAvoy is the best tribute to Greg, even though it should be required viewing as far as I’m concerned, but I thought of Greg when Will summed up at the very end (the spirit of how we could be better as a people, I mean - clip is NSFW)…



…and I kept trying to think of a song for this sad occasion, and this is all that came to mind – can’t think of one that’s better.

Wednesday Stuff

Brand new year, same old income inequality (here)...



...and yesterday and today are the only times I can play this song, so here it is (George was a lovable goofball - can't believe this tune is 40 years old).

Tuesday Stuff

I couldn’t let the year come to a close without acknowledging this story – here is more on the legendary genius of Alan Turing, and while I’m sure he had no desire to also be a ground-breaking figure on the issue of LGBT rights, that is what happened…



…and ZOMG! You mean our glorious private sector actually GETS STUFF WRONG??!! Color me shocked (yes, I’m removing my tongue from my cheek). But look – OBAMACARE WEB SITE OBAMACARE WEB SITE OBAMACARE WEB SITE FREEDOM FREEDOM FREEDOM SHUTUP SHUTUP SHUTUP!!!…



…and I suspect that, if your server tonight at Applebee’s or Macaroni Grill, for example, could tell you their story, it would go something like this (here)…



…and here’s a story of technology perhaps taken a bit too far…



…and I’m sure this question will be answered by a few people in a little while…



…and I firmly believe every word of this song – best wishes to one and all for a happy 2014.

Monday Stuff

Gosh, I didn’t know that Former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich was a get down, jammin’ kind of guy, as noted here (though, when it comes to tunes by Queen and the Repugs, the lyrics of “Death on Two Legs” are a better fit – good message as always, though)…



…and yeah, what about that Kenyan Muslim Socialist pre-zee-dint of ours and his supposedly worst fifth year in the history of the universe…



…and Texas U.S. House nut job (redundant?) Steve Stockman wants to clean guns with the tears of liberals, or something (here)? The only thing funnier than that is the thought of this looney tune running for the U.S. Senate. And the only thing funnier than that is what will happen to the fabled Repug “brand” if he actually wins…



…and here’s a little number for our “worst to first” Philadelphia Eagles – nice job.