I was afraid to look at the news this morning, lest I see some fresh horror contrived by our “representatives” in DC. Silly me, I should have known they’d have done absolutely nothing. I’m not an economist or anything, so I’m too stupid to understand the complex part of all this stuff. To me (and to most reasonably intelligent and non-insane people, I suspect – in other words, non-teabaggers), it should seem pretty straightforward. You spend money on whatever, and then you have to pay for it. If you run up your credit card balance, you still have to pay the bill. You can say to yourself, “damn, I gotta quit doing that,” but you still have to pay. You don’t just say, “eh, I’ve been spending too much, so I’m not gonna pay, because paying the bills for the shit I already bought is the only way for me to get my spending under control. I don’t have a revenue problem, I have a spending problem.”

Well, I guess you could do that, but then you’d get labeled a deadbeat, and nobody will lend you any money (or, if they do, it’s gonna be at a really high interest rate).

So you do what good little consumer-citizens do: you pay your bills, you pay down your credit card balance if you can, you stop buying shit you don’t need (like shoes, food, and underwear), and, if you can manage it, you “increase revenue” by doing that most American of things that made George W. Bush so proud (because he never had to do it): get a second and/or third job (preferably something at minimum wage so the Walton Family can make more money).

Oh, and if people who can afford it have been sponging off you without paying their fair share, you maybe ask them to chip in just a little bit extra, what with times being tough and all (good luck if they’re rich, though, ‘cuz they don’t think they need to pay for anything – and goddamn it, they just plain resent being asked and quit engaging in class warfare, you socialist bastard!).

I think “regular” people also conflate the “debt” with the “deficit.” I mean, sure you try and keep your debt manageable, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing (be better if people would listen to Jesus – or Allah, for that matter – and not make a profit off of money changing). But it’s not so bad to go into debt to, say, buy a house. Or a car (assuming you can make the payments). And if the water heater goes and you need to put a new one on the old Visa card, well, cold showers really suck (bad enough now, but when the ground water temp gets down to about 45 degrees, fuggedaboutit). So that’s debt.

The deficit, though, that’s not so good. If you make, oh, say, $1,000 a month, and your bills – mortgage, taxes, utilities, food, and minimum credit card payments – are $1,001, you’ve got a deficit. So now you’ve gotta start buying your lattes with the Mastercard and filling up your gas tank with your Visa ($4 a gallon while the oil compaines make billions in profits at your expense – that’s supply and demand, sucker; hey, it’s cheaper than Starbucks coffee).

Your debt goes up, and so does your deficit, unless you get another job or start selling shit (like that iPhone you just had to have because if you don’t have an iPhone, then, well, you don’t have an iPhone) or quit drinking that shitty Starbucks coffee. Or maybe drop your health insurance, ‘cuz you just can’t afford it anymore.

Then your car craps out, and you live out here in “regular” America, so mass transit isn’t really a viable alternative so you’ve gotta fix it if you’re gonna get to your second job on time, and the water heater goes (damnit, I thought I just replaced that thing), and then all the stress catches up to you, and you’re sick all the time ‘cuz you’re exhausted, and not only do you not have health insurance anymore (because universal healthcare is “off the table”), but when that heart attack kicks in, you can’t work, so not only does you debt increase, but your deficit is huge, and the bank that was happy to take your tax money (back when you were working) to get “bailed out” isn’t gonna bail you out, ‘cuz, unlike them, you’re nowhere even close to being too big to fail (hell, you’re too small to even think about – just a bug on the windshield of that juggernaut known as the “free market”).

But you’re a good little teabagger, so John Boehner and Mitch McConnell and Michele Bachmann are all gonna be there to help you.

Right?

Hello?

Rush? Glenn? Grover?

Anybody?

I am just so very, very proud and happy that these two guys hold the economic fate of Western Civilization in their very able hands. Two pasty-faced white dudes, maybe half a chin between them.

We begin this weekend in July, but when it’s all over, it’ll be August. Yes, difficult as it is to believe, we are about to enter into the dying days of summer. Bummer. Of course, you folks where the heat and lack of rain has been downright deadly (as opposed to just a nuisance) are probably looking forward to some relief. I, however, have visions of 10-foot high snow drifts dancing in my head. Of course, winter is still a ways off, and we’ll have football season to look forward to, when we can all root for the Minnesota Vikings to win the Super Bowl behind a Hall-of-Fame clinching performance by their new/old QB, Donovan McNabb – who, say what you will about him, I’m pretty sure won’t be caught in any sexting scandals – after watching Syracuse win a BCS bowl game on or about New Year’s Day. Hey, we’re still undefeated, so I can dream.

And before the summer ends, there will be the Great NY State Fair. If the thought of end of summer makes you want to kill yourself, The Fair will provide you the tool for a tasty suicide: The Big Kahuna Donut Burger.

It’s a quarter-pound burger placed between a grilled, sliced glazed donut with your choice of cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato and onion — all for about 1,500 calories.

Mmmm. I think I’d probably go with a fried cake as opposed to glazed. I mean, how well will the glazing hold up on the grill? Eat you heart out (literally), KFC Double-Down!

But before you throw yourself on burger of death, there’s still a little bit of summer to go, and it’s a big weekend in these parts, as it’s Harborfest in my (and Mrs. Art’s) old stomping grounds, Oswego. I highly recommend it (assuming you got there on Wednesday, got a motel room, and plan on staying at least until Monday, ‘cuz trying to get to Oswego (let alone drive around town once you get there) this weekend is all but impossible.

Once you get your vehicle parked, you’ll be able to stumble around drunk with everybody else and visit the various venues to check out the weekend’s entertainment, which includes Pink Floyd tribute band “The Machine,” “Barenaked Ladies,” and “Herman’s Hermits,” all culminated by the world famous Grucci Brothers’ fireworks show (rather spectacular, I must say, being launched from a barge out in the harbor).

Or you can head on over to the Northeast Jazz and Wine Festival (because what’s one without the other?). The jazz is free, but I assume they’re charging for the wine.

If jazz and wine aren’t your thing, there’s always the K-Rockathon, which is all about beer and Heavy Metal. I think. I don’t recognize the groups (not a surprise, as I haven’t really been up on the whole Heavy Metal scene since Ozzy was still with Black Sabbath). Oh, except I’ve heard of “Stone Temple Pilots,” but can’t say as I have any of their tunes on my mp3 player. They must be good, though, ‘cuz they want $45.

There’s more, of course, but it’s time to quit talkin’ about it, and get out there and do it. After all, winter’s coming.

Like most “real Americans,” I like to keep tabs on all things “Celebrity.” So naturally the first place I head to in the morning is the Crappington Post’s “LA” page. While intently following the story about Angelinians Angelinans Angelicans them people out there in LA rioting on Hollywood Boulevard in protest of the failure of our government to protect the rights of the people over corporate interests over some friggin’ DJ or something, I noticed something even more important: Prince Friedrich Von Whatshisface got his wife, Zsa Zsa Nolastnamerequired a billboard for their 25th Anniversry.

Apart from being stunned to learn that ZZ isn’t dead yet, I was struck by what a romantic gesture this is. I mean, what more perfect gift for a bed-ridden, legless, 150-yr old husk than a billboard she can’t go out and see? Ausgezeichnet, Mein Prinz! I certainly hope this gets you out of having sex. :yuck:

I also saw a story about somebody who is apparently a “star” of a “show” called Real Housewives of Beverly Hills or something. Didn’t really read the story, but I was drawn to the photo of said star, because, at first glance, I thought to myself, “holy shit, somebody smacked Julia Roberts in the face with a very hot frying pan!”

Of course, there’s other news out there besides Hollywood celebrity type stuff. For instance, Amy Winehouse’s autopsy was inconclusive. Which I think means there’s a possibility she isn’t actually dead. We may not know until October, which I think is pretty unacceptable. If she’d been found dead in Las Vegas, Miami, or NY, CSI would’ve had this wrapped up in less than an hour. My guess is that Michael Jackson’s doctor had something to do with it.

Well, much as I’d love to keep my nose buried in the important news of the day, I’m afraid it’s off to more trivial pursuits – paying the bills. Another long day locked in a windowless room beckons.

I seem to have arisen with a rather nasty headache this morning, which is odd, because it’s not like I got drunk last night or anything (maybe that was my mistake right there).

Must be from watching last night’s KO. I really need to stop paying attention to all this political stuff. It only irritates me. The latest, as you have no doubt heard, is that the Speaker of the House pulled a Boehner with his latest “plan” to create a short-term “fix” for a problem that really didn’t exist, which nobody likes (yes, John, nobody wants anything to do with your Boehner), and which won’t even save the amount of money it was purported to save.

Fortunately, there’s no hurry, and Papa John will go back to the table and pull something else out of his ass (I would have said that he’ll try and pull his Boehner out of his ass, but, spineless as he is, I don’t think even he is flexible enough to manage that one; in fact, he’s pretty rigid for a spineless prick. Ah, perhaps that’s it. Spineless, yet turgid. Engorged with orange blood. Boehner is perhaps the only Orange Man I feel loathing towards).

There’s only one thing that will make me feel better. I need a puppy. I’m just afraid that the way things are going, I’d be forced to eat it one day in the not too distant future.

Oh well, on to last night’s Daily Show, which will apparently feature a Juan Williams Pity Party. Whoopie.

OK, well, Monday’s over with. I guess Obama was on the teevee last night. I didn’t watch, but I assume whatever he said was so stirring that he moved the Republicans to realize that they ought to declare victory and move on. Let me just look at the news sites…. Hmm. Nope, guess not. Well, I guess there’s nothing anybody can do, so I wonder how this will affect me, personally. ‘Cuz if there’s one thing I’ve learned from the teabaggers, it’s that the only thing that matters is, me, me, me. Ideally, other than the embarrassment of living in a third-world country on the down side of the roller coaster (I think we’re somewhere between Constantine and Valens on the scale of Empiric Decline), I’ll remain unaffected. I hope so, anyway. It’s hard to tell, what with everybody changing their story all the time. All I can tell for sure is that everything kinda sucks these days. You know, as I reflect upon my life, it seems that everything I’ve been involved with “used to be” great before I came along (or, at the very least, turned to shit rather shortly after my arrival on the scene).

I mean, I was born in 1960, so I came in at the tail end of the 1950s when the USA was the world’s hero, we could do it all, men were men and women were damn glad of it. People could not only live on what they earned, but could afford to buy a house, raise a family, send their kids to school if they wanted to, and keep their stay-at-home wives well-stocked in state-of-the-art vacuum cleaners and the fancy dresses and pearl necklaces needed to operate them (and even have time to go to “the club” on Saturday to play a round of golf). Well, white people could do all that, but that was OK, ‘cuz there weren’t all that many non-white folks back then, and those that were around were valued members of the family (you know – maids, butlers, and “man servants” or whatever Rochester’s official job title was).

Now look at us. We can’t pay our bills, we have to bribe the Russians – the goddamn Russians, ferchrissakes – for a ride into space, the few jobs that actually still exist suck, “union” is a dirty word, rich people are so goddamn selfish they don’t want to help out the old and the sick, and we’d be hard-pressed to invent a potato peeler, let alone innovate our way out of Global Warming.

I was a Steelworker when factory work changed from a career where both workers and the company felt loyalty to one another for life, to just a transient job where “labor” became a drag on profits that needed to be eliminated, and unions needed to be squashed like a bug on the windshield. I was a union (IATSE, baby) movie projectionist in what was a great (and relatively lucrative) trade, just as automation took over and forced union people out in favor of 17-yr old kids who could be trained to thread a projector and push a button (and damn the product on the screen). I became a member of the State Workforce, which almost immediately seemed to transform from a job where you didn’t make a fortune, but you had security and good benefits, to a vilified profession and scapegoat for all that is wrong with the world.

I got into this whole IT thing when it was the up-and-coming, A Number 1, best career in the whole wide world. Now? Meh. A transient position that’s better outsourced to kids who can share an apartment with 10 other geeks because they’re willing to spend 16 hours a day coding, and be paid in Red Bull and Nachos.

When I was born, a Democrat was JFK. Now a Democrat is, well, I have no idea what a Democrat is any more.

My real fear is that, in the not-too-distant future, I’ll look back on 2011 as “the good old days.” Oy.

A “two banana emoticon.” I like that.

“Adequately describing the way I feel about going to work this morning is going to require a two-banana emoticon.” At least.

Yes, there was once a 2BE that was quickly banned because it was deemed offensive by some. You know liberals – always ready to take offense at something.

I believe the complaint was that it depicted “banana rape,” though, as I recall, the two bananas in question appeared to both be consenting (quite happily so, based on the expressions on their little faces) adult bananas. Alas, rather than offend anyone, I removed it. We aim to please.

Here in the Northeast (or at least in my neck of the woods), the heat wave has broken. It was a mere 87 degrees yesterday, and it even felt a bit on the chilly size with a nice little breeze and low humidity. And right now it’s only about 61. Quite a nice night for sleeping. No rain, of course, but that’s supposed to end today as well, though I don’t know if that will do a whole lot of good for the grass or not. OK by, me – I’m saving a lot of diesel by not having to cut it. Hopefully the pool will fill up a bit, though, as the level really dropped a lot yesterday.

Several marriages took place across NYS yesterday, as some couples got waivers from the 24-hr waiting period so they could get hitched ASAP. The first ceremony took place at a second or so after midnight in Niagara Falls, and here, two fellas that have been together for 18 years were among the couples that were finally able to tie the knot.

Happy people. What the hell is wrong with that?

Of course, there were protests.

On the day hundreds of same-sex couples throughout New York shared their vows, groups in Buffalo, Albany, Rochester and Manhattan organized to protest the new law.

That list doesn’t include Syracuse, I’m proud to say.

Oh well, this joyous (downright gay, you might say) weekend is behind us (no pun intended), so I guess it’s time to get ready for work. And there aint enough bananas in all of Ecuador to adequately express how I feel about that.

I was catching up on Friday night’s Bill Maher yesterday, and, in yet another example of how everything revolves around Syracuse, British humorist Martin Lewis (which would be a great name for a comedy team) was on, and when Bill asked him if he was sure he was British, Lewis said “no, I’m actually from Syracuse, and this accident is just a cover.” I didn’t know he was from here (and we all know each other, so it seems odd that I wouldn’t), but I think it’s more just one of those things like being Irish – the only two kinds of people are those that are and those that wish they were.

Sadly, the show went downhill quickly from there, as the funky-looking mayor of a town in PA didn’t contribute much, and Donna Brazille was about as useful to the show as she was to Al Gore in 2000. That left some loudmouth schmuck who talked over everybody and is a real douchebag. He is most definitely not from Syracuse.

The highlight of the show would have to be John Turturro who was very interesting to listen to as he kept “Marc’s Chair” warm.

I may have mentioned that I’d ordered some parts to rebuild my rather ancient computer. Well, I did that, and now have something a bit more modern with twin 23-inch widescreen displays. Quite nice, I must say.

The big decision for me was whether to go with Windows or Linux. I really would have live liked to go with Linux, but, in the end went with a 64-bit version of Windows 7 Professional.

First, I wanted dual displays but wanted to use the on-board video on the motherboard I bought, so as not to have to buy a new video card. It supports dual displays, but only under Windows.

Second, it’s easier for me to connect to my work computer (ostensibly why I spent money on this in the first place) with Windows – and way better with dual displays.

Also, I have a Zune, and, while I can use it with another computer, I wanted to be able to sync it using this computer, and that’s limited to Windows (which is a huge drawback of the Zune, but which I make do with because of the music subscription which I can share through the XBOX).

Plus, I wasn’t familiar with Windows 7, and if you’re gonna be in the IT bidness, it’s a good idea to stay up on as much as possible. And I was able to get Win7 really cheap thanks to my educational affiliation.

So, anyhow, Windows 7 it was.

I went with a clean installation, and it was very, very simple. Probably the easiest Windows install I’ve every been involved with – on a par with Linux Mint, which, like Ubuntu, is designed for grandma. The hardware was a different issue, though. Specifically, the hard drive I was using (something I didn’t replace), which gave me trouble.

Anyhow, I eventually got it all installed, but had lots-o-problems. Specifically, blue screens, video issues, freeze-ups, etc. I would love to have blamed Microsoft for being “buggy”, but it seemed much more like a hardware issue.

Yesterday morning I booted to an Ultimate Boot CD, and ran some diagnostics. Memory was OK, but I found a sector with an un-correctable error (and another that showed as UNRDY – “unready”). I remapped the bad one, didn’t seem to have an option to do anything with the UNRDY one except to erase it, which I opted not to do, and rebooted.

So far, so good (which I hate to say out loud). No doubt, this bad sector was the problem with the “old” PC, so now I have yet another MB, CPU, and RAM kicking around. Oh well.

AS for Windows 7, so far so good. I don’t see anything too much different about it (it nags me when running an install, but no more than OSX or Linux do – something that Vista was very bad at, form what I understand). Except it seems to be able to go out and find drivers and updates for my hardware and software and install them for me.

Performance is vastly improved (but then you’d expect that, what with the hardware upgrade), and I decided to order a new hard drive, since they’re pretty cheap these days, and the MB supports SATA3. And USB3, too (now I need to find some USB3 devices).

Oh well, time to get some more coffee, I guess. Slept in ’til 5:30, so the day’s half shot now.

Oh, and I almost forgot, Happy Same Sex Marriage Day, to those of you who are getting married today – the first day that’s allowed here in the Empire State. Just as it is with “opposite marriage,” I truly appreciate your not inviting me, though if you want to post pictures of the reception, I’d be happy to have a look.

And if anybody gets any photos of Kristian bigots’ (or recently unemployed County Clerks’) heads exploding when Adam and Steve say “I do,” I’d like to see them, too

Mazel Tov!

So, Barry got mad. I guess. That’s what the people who tell me what other people said after I listen to what other people said, said. And, oh, the commenters at the TPM (among others) are just enthralled with him. To paraphrase one of them, he’s so darn smart, he’s not a step ahead of everybody else – he’s 20 steps ahead. Yep. He’s a regular f*cking Ninja. Roll over on, like damn near every negotiation you’re involved in (typically before negotiations even start), and then get mad (he was mad, right?) when the bad guys aren’t satisfied with how far you’ve rolled and figure they can just keep squeezing you (which, really, is a pretty reasonable assumption – hell, it’s probable the most reasonable assumption the teabaggers and wingers are capable of). So, happy as Obama apparently was to sell out Medicare and SS (oh, except it was all part of his stealth plan to force them to be mean and stupid so he’d look reasonable), the crazier wingnuts apparently wouldn’t go for it. So, the Conventional Wisdom goes, Obama looks like a maverick (watch out for mavericks) by bucking his own party and being “reasonable” while the Republicans look like, well, Republicans. I don’t know about you, but I feel better already.

Well, it was a hot one last night. Tough on the dogs, as we don’t have the a/c going, and they seem unwilling to get into the water (except for our poor, dried-up ponds, which they would be happy to get in, but right now wouldn’t even get them muddy). Not quite as hot here today, but not exactly cool. I feel bad for them.

I also feel bad for the rest of us (those who aren’t loaded with money), because it seems that the fake debt limit crisis is about to lead to very real cuts to Social Security and Medicare, and fake tax increases maybe sorta kinda some day in the future (but probably not), and President – once again – appears to be leading the charge in favor of appeasing the right wing of the Republican party in order to get a deal – any deal – no matter who it screws over. And by “who,” I mean “me” (and you, too, I reckon, but mostly me).

Bernie Sanders is talking tough (I love me some Bernie), as are the members of the House Progressive Caucus. I promise not to be disappointed when that does no good what-so-fucking-ever. The President has aligned himself with the Republicans, who will turn around and shit on at the first possible opportunity. Wait. They’ve never actually stopped shitting on him, which is pretty astounding, given that he’s the best thing that’s happened to them since Ronald Reagan.

This is a darn shame, and bad timing as I’m calculating just when, if ever, I can retire. I’m shooting for 14 years from now, with an outside chance at 12, and an only in my dreams 5 (when I can retire with a pension that would barely cover the mortgage payments – I should probably start negotiating with the Town, utility company, grocery and pet food stores, etc., to vaguely agree to pay them down the road some day sorta maybe, probably after I’m dead. I only wish I could have Obama negotiate on their behalf).

So, I guess I’ll just go with my backup plan, and retire for two days at a time.

At this point, I’m starting to wonder whether or not four (or eight) years of Romney will really be all that bad a thing. Certainly, I’d have to grudgingly hope for (if not actually support) a second Obama term if the alternative is, say, Bachmann or Palin, but beyond that, I’m not so sure Obama is actually a better alternative. It all depends on if the idiot Democrats decide that Obama was somehow not Republican enough, which is apparently the conclusion that Obama and/or his advisers have come to. Frankly, I think it’s the opposite, and if losing the White House get us somebody with the spine and conviction to turn things around and give the country back – at least in some small part – to the people, then I’m all for it.

I’ve kind of decided that my thinking, “well, he’s not as bad as <insert name here>” has been incorrect. In fact, I think he’s done just enough triangulation to appease enough of the “base” to keep the next RFK from running a primary campaign against him, while screwing working people, the middle class, old people….

Even the “gains” (crappy healthcare reform, for example) have been vague and largely overstated.

Good thing it’s Friday.