Nothing But Love :: golf blogger

Vote November 4

One person who read this blog at one time sent me an e-mail.

She said, VOTE.

While Mickey Mouse is registered to vote in Florida, it won't be voting.

You can vote; so, don't be a mouse. Make your voice heard. One vote can make a difference, especially if it combines with others.

So, to our two readers, please cast a ballot in this historic election. Go HERE for more fun and games.

Dim Bulb

I read that Sarah Palin was in Toledo, Ohio, today beating the drum for more drilling in the United States, which has only 3% of the world's oil reserves and uses 25% of the world's oil. That does not work toward energy independence.

She repeated what has become the Republican mantra, "Drill, baby, drill," to the crowd.

She was speaking before a crowd at a solar energy start-up company, Xunlight Corp.

Did she realize what she was saying?

The Who at Auburn Hills

Mick had never seen The Who live in concert; so, we drove three hours and 45 minutes to the Palace at Auburn Hills, which is somewhere in Michigan. It's hard to say where it is -- someplace near Detroit, but not in Detroit. Because I heard a rumor when I was in Toledo last week that part of I-75 was closed and the rest of it was under construction between the Ohio line and Detroit, I stopped at the Triple-A office to get road construction reports and maps.

I say "maps" because Janet at Triple-A, who told me to sit in the far cubicle and she would be right with me, gave me "maps," one set of maps marked with a pink marker and one set of maps marked with an orange marker, denoting two separate routes to The Who concert.

I thanked Janet for her help. Tacked to the fabric-covered temporary wall of the cubicle was an 8 1/2-by-11 inch piece of paper in a clear plastic project folder. The name "DIANE" was printed in blue and yellow ink on the paper. I stood up and passed the next to the last cubicle, in which an elderly, silvery-haired woman was seated behind the desk. She wore a large plastic name tag, a red AAA logo emblazoned on the white and blue background, announcing "Hello, My Name Is BETTY." Like the cubicle I had visited was named "DIANE," Betty's cubicle had a name, too -- "KATHERINE." I passed three other cubicles in the Motorists' Services section, none of which were named after Betty or Janet; so, I surmised that the cubicles did, indeed, have names, maybe in honor of former Triple-A employees, like public buildings are named after former public servants or craters on the Moon or Mars are named after -- well, maybe not like the craters on the Moon or Mars.

I drove, and Mick was reading the maps. I tried to follow his instructions; and for the most part, I followed his directions until got off some highway at Exit 83, which I was told to do by a sign that was flashing "Palace Traffic Get Off at Exit 83." I saw a bunch of signs along the highway that was supposed to take us to the Palace that had arrows pointing to the right and to the left and straight up, which in sign language in Michigan, I thought meant "Go Straight Ahead," but maybe I was wrong because on the road ahead, the Exit 83 road, there were no signs pointing anywhere for the Palace.

Okay, so, we were lost. I told Mick that maybe I was supposed to have turned right where all the police cars and emergency vehicles, lights ablaze and flashing, had gathered around an SUV that lay on its side, glass pebbles scattered around, in the middle of an intersection and a traffic cop angrily waving his flashlight, commanding me to go to my left around the SUV -- and that's where I should have turned right, which was probably a driveway that went straight to the Palace and the parking spot right near the door, but I was following the orders of an angry officer of the law, angry because he wouldn't get off in time to see The Who ... or not.

We were lost on a dark, unlit road somewhere in Michigan. And then, Mick's phone said, "Turn left." And I said, "What the hell? You have a GPS thing on your phone?" And I didn't turn left, and Mick said, "Yeah. The map shows we're two miles away." He was cheating. I had all these maps from Triple-A, none of which really showed where the Palace at Auburn Hills was located; and all the time, Mick had this secret GPS lady in his phone, who said, "Make the next legal U-turn."

I made an illegal U-turn; and rather than congratulations, she tersely said, "Turn left in point five miles." I obeyed; and, with her meticulous instructions, we arrived at our destination on the right in less than five minutes. The Palace wasn't a palace at all, but more of an edifice -- the Edifice at Auburn Hills.

When we got to the arena floor to check out our seats, Section B, Row 20, Seats 5 and 6, the warm-up act was playing. We weren't, not meaning to be disrespectful to the three guys on the stage, late at all, in spite of Mick getting us lost. Inside the arena, Detroit Pistons banners hung from the steel beams up above. And I noticed another banner ... a "NEIL DIAMOND" banner. And under Neil's name was printed "16 Sellouts." Next to that banner, apparently in second place with 11 sellouts, was "BON JOVI."

We wandered out of the arena after we found our seats to ... prepare for the concert and have something to eat -- cheeseburgers. At the intermission, we headed back into the arena, and we passed the line of those who wanted to ... prepare for the concert was longer than anyone should really have to wait to ... prepare for the concert.

A guy with a handlebar mustache was sitting in the seat next to mine. He stood up, thinking I was going to try to get past him -- he kept going up, as I pointed to my seat, but he kept getting taller and taller, as if in some Looney Tunes cartoon; and, finally, he stopped growing at 7-2, towering a foot above me, smiling broadly, and enthusiastically saying, "This is gonna be a great show." That he was brobdingnagian turned out to be a good thing because during the concert he was clapping and gesticulating wildly, his arms and elbows having plenty of room above my head, with no fear that someone like me would end up choking him. He would bend down to his new, tiny little friend and and yell in my ear, "Pete is fucking awesome tonight," and "Roger sounds great tonight," and "Pete is better than ever," and "Who's the fucker on bass?"

Pino Palladino. He played with Clapton at the end of May. He played with John Mayer at Blossom Music Center July 1. And he seemed a bit embarrassed to be playing solo, standing in the spot on stage that had belonged to John Entwistle for so long until he killed himself with cocaine at the start of the U.S. tour in 2002, even though Pino had been playing with the band since Entwistle's death.

The concert was the first stop on a limited tour. And as The Tall Man pointed out, Pete Townshend played better and sounded better than I had heard him before, with the band starting the night with the traditional "I Can't Explain," the crowd down on the floor standing until Roger Daltrey ended the night with a hoarse "Tea and Theatre," and an acoustic Pete, mixing up old Who standards with a few newer tunes in between. For the two Who-ligans standing behind The Tall Man, they got some relief when The Tall Man sat down a couple times with sore knees; and one of them exclaimed, "Whoa -- there they are!" while laughing.

Mick was thrilled -- he thought the band was great. They were on stage for 2 1/2 hours. And our seats were center stage, not too far back. No binoculars necessary. The young woman in front of us offered us ear plugs, which we politely declined. Sometimes -- well, once in a great while -- there are advantages to being a little deaf.

We came across the car in the vast parking lot and didn't have any real difficulty, a Toyota Yaris in a sea of American autos, trucks, and SUV's, making our way out of the lot, following the orange detour signs to I-75 South, the route The Tall Man recommended back to the Buckeye State and the Ohio Turnpike. I don't remember the route I took, but made a left onto West 9th at 2:45 a.m. and dropped off Mick at his red Ford pick-up.

And I think I did a good job in the oral argument before the court of appeals in Toledo at 10. Didn't fall asleep on the drive there or the drive back or during the hearing. Time will tell.

SORRY ABOUT THE CLOSED COMMENTS THING -- FIXED IT.

WON'T GET FOOLED AGAIN

dear l,

yesterday morning when we went out to breakfast, i made a snap decision not to call you on your bullshit for the sake of family peace. i'm not doing that again. that's a courtesy that has to run both ways --which it clearly doesn't. when you say that it's a no-brainer that colin powell endorsed barack obama because he's black, you insult colin powell, barack obama, all black people, and ANYBODY who supports obama. you have decided that colin powell stands for nothing, and that barack obama has only achieved all that he has ONLY BECAUSE THEY ARE BLACK. but most of all, you demean yourself.

----------------

today, bill and i voted. yay! poor bill. an elderly gentleman started talking to bill and said, "son, you look like a lawyer." i thought bill was going to cry right then and there. how mean.

i asked the clerk if mickey mouse had been in to vote yet. she said, "nope. not yet." i'm waiting for that cuz mickey mouse is ABOUT AS REAL AS BILLTHEPLUMBER. pffft.

--------------------

i don't know why bill and i are so totally consumed by this election. our "interest" intensifies the older we get. poor you -- the reader -- you might want to plan on being somewhere else other than the nbl in 2008.

and so i leave you with this:

Keep a Liddy On It

"I'm proud of you, I'm proud of your family. It's always a pleasure for me to come on your program, Gordon, and congratulations on your continued success and adherence to the principles and philosophies that keep our nation great." -- John McCain, November, 2007.

G. Gordon Liddy. Maybe not too many remember him ... that's the way they want it to be. "Say it ain’t so, Joe. There you go again pointing backwards again," said the Republican vice-presidential candidate. Yeppers, I'd say they don't want you to remember that G. Gordon Liddy was one of the principled men who planned the Watergate burglary, wanted to kill a couple people to cover up the Watergate burglary, and did several other things to keep our nation great.

You remember -- Watergate. Nixon. President Nixon resigning because of Watergate, because he and his supporters, Liddy among them, thought that they were above the law.

Watergate? Forrest Gump reported the break-in. Remember now? How about Kirsten Dunst in Dick. Come on. Okay ... okay ... okay ... how about Redford and Dustin Hoffman in All the President's Men

G. Gordon Liddy. That's the guy. A good American? Listening to Hitler made Liddy feel giddy. He "killed and killed and killed" animals, so that he'd be "ready ... like a machine." He told listeners over the airwaves the best way to kill federal ATF agents.

G. Gordon Liddy. Principles and philosophies that keep our nation great? A convicted felon. A treasonous bastard. Old friend. There I go again pointing backwards again.

So, John McCain pals around with Gordon Liddy. Fundraisers at the Liddy home. Campaign contributions by Liddy. Appearance on the Liddy radio show -- last year. Oops ... sorry ... pointing backwards again.

Liddy is a domestic terrorist of the first order -- one who sought to destroy our democratic system from the inside to win at all costs.

What does that say about John McCain -- that he would consider that Liddy adheres to "principles and philosophies that keep our nation great." Sorry ... "pointing backwards again."

And the association with Liddy doesn't end with John McCain. Palin wanted him to shill for more drilling in Alaska. Oh, oh ... "pointing backwards again."

Nobody could make this stuff up.

Truth is always stranger than fiction.

The Black Keys

The Black Keys made an appearance at the E.J. Thomas Hall Saturday night. I am pleased to say that I wasn't forced to choke anybody. I am not pleased to say that I expected the show to be better than the concert in Indianapolis, since it was a homecoming, of sorts, for the band from Akron, Ohio; but the Indianapolis concert was better, in spite of the extra-curricular activity at the show's conclusion.

The J-dogg said their Toledo show, which I was not permitted to attend, was much superior; so, we were disappointed.

The crowd in Akron seemed older than the audience in Indianapolis; so, that might have been the reason for the subdued reaction by a much larger hometown crowd. And while alcohol was served at the Vogue in Indy, more so to one particular gentleman than anyone else, the brew was flowing more freely in greater portions to nearly everyone in the audience in Akron -- almost like a Cleveland Browns game.

I wondered about that.

E.J. Thomas Hall is on the campus of the University of Akron, which is a state-operated university.

And I got the answer. Heading for the main artery out of Akron, less than a mile from the concert hall, I honored the "PREPARE TO STOP" sign, as the traffic was funneled into one lane along the left curb of the one-way road, about a half dozen Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers and a couple Akron police officers operating a sobriety checkpoint.

We left before the concert ended. We were practice, I guess. The trooper politely announced why we were being stopped and asked if we had any alcoholic beverages to drink, to which we both replied, in unison, "No, sir." He wanted to see the expiration date of my license. I handed it to him, "Expires Wednesday." He smiled and said, "Happy birthday, and drive carefully, sir."

The J-dogg pointed out, "Nice guy. Didn't expect that."

That One?

The Republicans running for high office can only give the American people ... ummm ... gobbledygook. They are contaminating American society with it.

But I have to say that the McCain/Palin camp has not yet floated a story about a Black, out-of-wedlock baby -- oh, yeah, it's been used already, against McCain in 2000, and by the same people running McCain's campaign now. And besides, there's already an out-of-wedlock preggers girl really out there on the campaign trail with her mother!

That rumor, however, will surface because McCain/Palin continues to make up ... ummm ... gobbledygook; McCain and Palin have nothing substantive to offer the American people except a promise (wink, wink ... again, wink) that it'll be all better, really it will (wink, wink), once they get elected -- can't say how right now, of course, because that stuff is ... well, top secret, just like the troop escalation that McCain supported in Iraq was kept top secret until several weeks before it was implemented -- you know, the surge. It would be very, very stupid if someone disclosed the war strategy before it happens -- that's what McCain says. Naive. Doesn't have the experience. Doesn't know what he's talking about. But if you go back, there was discussion of the escalation of the war in Iraq, "the surge," for weeks before it happened, with McCain out supporting Bush, as he has for the past 8 years.

Gobbledygook -- the word was made up, interestingly enough, by Fontaine Maury Maverick. Maverick.

So, we are left with McCain/Palin using Jeffersonian tactics -- well, Jefferson did have Black, out-of-wedlock children, but that's another story -- Jefferson's handlers called John Adams a "hideous hermaphroditical character, which has neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman." McCain and Palin are making all sorts of outrageous claims about Barack Obama and Joe Biden that have nothing to do with character and ability to lead the nation.

We really haven't had any explanation about Sarah Palin, the maverick Governor, who was, along with her husband, a card-carrying member of the Alaska Independence Party (Oh, she wasn't? Why did Lynette Clark, head honcho of that group, say she was?), the goal of which has been to secede from the lower 48 and Hawai'i. She spoke at the group's annual convention in 2008, telling them to "Keep up the good work," using none of the phony down-home, folksy manner she uses now. Alaska Country First. Yeah, right.

And we have Senator McCain, who has been advised by close friend and former U.S. Senator, Phil Gramm, who was the architect of the bank de-regulation schemes, the result of which we are witnessing with the demise of greedy money lenders and speculators, but, more importantly, the decimation of the middle class. (By the way, the Palins have a net worth well in excess of $1 million; so, her characterization of herself as one of the "Joe Six-Pack" crowd is a bunch of hooey. And she billed Alaskan taxpayers for 312 nights spent in her own home during her first 19 months in office, charging a "per diem" allowance intended to cover meals and incidental expenses while traveling on state business, getting over $16,000 tax-free. We should all be so lucky.)

And McCain has no real plan -- oh, yeah, he wants the Treasury to buy mortgages at face value from the money lenders and the speculators (many of whom are "banks" in Europe and other parts of the world, which has contributed to the world financial crisis). Many of these speculators bought the mortgages in bundles at discount; so, McCain is all in favor of allowing the speculators to make a killing, huge profits, at the expense of the American taxpayer. And how does that help the homeowner, yeah, that one, the one really getting folded, spindled, and mutilated in this crisis.

Say it ain't so, John.

Senator McCain, I really cannot believe that honest, hard-working people actually plan to vote for you.

And remember when John McCain said that talking with enemies is stupid -- well, McCain's hero, General Petraeus, General Petraeus, General Petraeus (Are you sick of hearing his name yet?) says , "I do think you have to talk to enemies."

What?

And let's talk health care, Senator McCain. You said, just before the financial mess your man, Phil Gramm, started with de-regulation, which you supported: "Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation."

Now, what? Got any more bright ideas.

And get a haircut. You give "bald" a very bad name.

DID YOU GET THIS EMAIL?

this is the text (in part) of an email bill received yesterday:

We are in great danger. The terrorists are fanatic Muslims. They believe that it is okay, even their duty, to kill anyone who will not convert to Islam. It has been estimated that about one third or over three hundred million Muslims are sympathetic to the terrorists cause... Hitler and Tojo combined did not have nearly that many potential recruits. So... We either win it - or lose it - and you ain't gonna like losing...

Remember Obama said in his book "Audacity of Hope", 'I will stand
with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction'.....what
better place for the Muslins to control our country than in the office of the president of the USA. If you ever forwarded an e-mail, now's the time to do it!)

here's my question. did you get this email from anyone? if so, did you forward it on? i hope you did what bill did. here's what bill REPLIED TO ALL:

My IQ went down 15 points just opening this crap, and you are just trying to piss me off.

Here's the actual quote from "Audacity of Hope," not something made up: "Of course, not all my conversations in immigrant communities follow this easy pattern. In the wake of 9/11, my meetings with Arab and Pakistani Americans, for example, have a more urgent quality, for the stories of detentions and FBI questioning and hard stares from neighbors have shaken their sense of security and belonging. They have been reminded that the history of immigration in this country has a dark underbelly; they need specific assurances that their citizenship really means something, that America has learned the right lessons from the Japanese internments during World War II, and that I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction."

don't tell me that (a) people aren't stupid, hateful, ignorant, etc., and (b) the republicans -- and a fucking SHITLOAD of ignorant white people -- aren't scared shitless. people WANT to believe this stuff -- that's the real pity.

Balls!!!

So, Barack Obama was born in 1961 and was eight years old when the Weather Underground, in protest against the Viet Nam war, in which over 50,000 Americans were killed (now, even though the Congress cut off funds for that debacle and the USA left that country (picture the helicopter at the embassy making one last pick-up; picture the helicopter being pushed off the deck of the ship into the ocean), the USA trades with Viet Nam and has normalized relations with the communist government there), bombed a couple vacant buildings. Members of the Weather Underground were prosecuted; some went to prison, even though they may have been on the lam for years and subsequently turned themselves in.

Bill Ayers and his wife turned themselves in -- they were punished long ago. Oh, Johnny Boy, say it ain't so; there you go again, looking at what happened in the past, if I can use what your running mate said in unresponsive answers to questions in the Debate to Nowhere last week.

What is revealing about this presidential campaign? A subpoena that has been upheld as proper and legal by Alaska courts is being ignored by Sarah Palin, which lawlessness has been endorsed by John McCain (Substitute "Dick Cheney" for "Sarah Palin" and "W" for the latter).

Of course, United States v. Nixon doesn't apply because this subpoena is a matter of state law, but it sure is instructive inasmuch as she was claiming executive privilege, as Nixon had done -- and who, by the way, lost the argument 8 - 0 in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Gov. Palin claims to be above the law. She also claims that her husband, Todd, is above the law. How bright can someone be to allow one's spouse access to private personnel files? How trustworthy?

McCain supports her position.

MORE OF THE SAME.

Can anybody else see what these two candidates for the highest offices in the land are doing to this country? Why don't McCain and Palin just come right out and say what they mean? Stop beating around the Bush. Barack Obama is a Black man; how could you vote for him?

Of course, they wouldn't say it that way -- the sentence has a semi-colon. Elitist. They'll say it in the vernacular.

There's a new television program premiering, Life on Mars, in which the lead character finds himself back in 1973. I'll take a piece of that action if McCain is elected -- send me back.

The U.S.A. is turning into Idiocracy.

Balls!!!

Feel free to discuss this amongst yourselves.
_____________________

Ooops -- sorry. Can't be like Idiocracy because the President is Black. Balls!!!

What? You Want McCain for President?

Yesterday morning on National Public Radio:

Steve Inskeep (NPR): Given what you've said, senator, is there an occasion where you could imagine turning to Gov. Palin for advice in a foreign policy crisis?

McCain: I've turned to her advice many times in the past. I can't imagine turning to Sen. Obama or Sen. Biden, because they've been wrong. They were wrong about Iraq, they were wrong about Russia. Sen. Biden wanted to divide Iraq into three different countries. He voted against the first Gulf War. Sen. Obama has no experience whatsoever and has been wrong in the issues that he's been involved in.

What????

Well, okay -- she was in the PTA.

Tuesday, during a question-and-answer session with the editorial board of the Des Moines Register in Iowa, John McCain got a little testy when it came to the experience of his choice for vice-president, disagreeing with the fundamental premise that she doesn't have a great amount of experience, citing her PTA experience and her relative proximity to foreign countries (if this was a man we were talking about, everyone would be rolling on the floor laughing their asses off). I know what McCain is doing; it is similar to the philosophical position taken by one of the great thinkers of our time:

Now, on a more serious note, the general in charge of all things Afghanistan, General McKiernan, and good ol' General Petraeus, Senator McCain's personal talisman, both absolutely, positively need more troops and other aid "as quickly as possible" in Afghanistan.

And what about Iraq? McCain's man, General Petraeus said to the BBC, “This is not the sort of struggle where you take a hill, plant the flag and go home to a victory parade… it’s not war with a simple slogan.” I guess there is no "Mission Accomplished." Petraeus said that he didn't think he would ever use the word “victory.” Apparently, however, McCain didn't see that interview. Or read it. But we know that Sarah Palin read it -- she reads everything.

How does the U.S. generate more troops?

It turns out that there will be no withdrawal of troop strength from Iraq. I'm no military scholar, but it sounds to me as if the word "DRAFT" should be mentioned pretty soon -- and if McCain is elected, that will happen so that he can have adequate army men to play his real game of Risk to dominate the globe -- we already know about his desire to keep troops in Iraq for decades, his desire to neuter Iran, his feelings about starting up a Cold War with Russia, his consulting with Sarah Palin on foreign policy (Made-for-TV movie bio of Sarah Palin, starring Barbra Streisand, in "On a Clear Day, You Can See Russia").

Those who want McCain in the White House are out of touch with reality. Totally daft. The U.S. has become the world's bully. Under McCain and Palin, as under Bush and Cheney, the U.S. will continue to be the world's bully. The bully -- the one kid on our block hated by the rest of us, the kid who, through intimidation, recruited his toadies, who also hated him, and who, sooner or later, left the bully's gang so they would not be hated.

What Barack Obama said is most instructive on the greatest philosophical difference between he and McCain: And one last point I want to make. It is important for us to understand that the way we are perceived in the world is going to make a difference, in terms of our capacity to get cooperation and root out terrorism. And one of the things that I intend to do as president is to restore America's standing in the world. We are less respected now than we were eight years ago or even four years ago.

Back in the day of the Viet Nam war, I had planned my getaway to Canada. Yes, color me Dodger Blue, a potential draft dodger. Now, there is no safe haven anywhere in the world -- every place is fair game to the U.S. military machine because terrorists are everywhere ... you just don't know -- they are everywhere -- your next door neighbor, your cubicle mate, one of your family members, could be a terrorist.

No one man can terrorize a whole nation unless we are all his accomplices. -- Edward R. Murrow, 1954

This is far worse than even George W. Bush could imagine.

McCain/Palin for Armageddon. The Bible tells us so.