A Few Words About a Few Things

There's a new version of Windows coming, and I don't expect it to break the pattern Microsoft has established of releasing rushed, half-baked products full of glitches and security holes. Other writers have kindly understated that some users had problems with Vista. Some problems?! Vista is the biggest whore Bill Gates ever pimped, and that's saying something, because Millennium and 2000 weren't worth a shit either. I hope I never have to buy another version of Windows; I hope I can buy an Apple next time and tell Microsoft to kiss my ass.

In the meantime, I work with two computers, one with XP and the other with Vista. When I first purchased the XP model, I deleted the Microsoft word processor and spreadsheet that came with it and installed WordPerfect and Quattro. The Vista machine came with Microsoft Office, which I deleted and replaced with Star Office. I quit using Internet Explorer, as soon as I learned about Firefox, and have since switched to Google Chrome (thanks to a comment someone made on this blog).

"Stupid is a condition; ignorance is a choice," is a line from Non-Sequitur by Wiley Miller.

A critic of Max Blumenthal's book, Republican Gomorrah, summed up the concept as ..."fear of freedom propels people into authoritarian settings."

Fear is a common tool used by the neo-cons to shape public opinion in this country. If you aren't aware of this shadowy group of would be fascists, do some research, because they have been a major force in our nation for some time, and had almost complete control during the reign of George II. They are the ones whipping up fear and hate towards immigrants, gays, members of other religions and anyone else they can blame for the world's problems, in order to turn people to their own views.

Fascists understand the power of faith and work to bury knowledge, while teaching people belief is more important. They sweep climate change under the rug, along with evolution, facts, reasonable arguments, and reason altogether to promote belief systems, which the masses are too willing swallow.

Our military enterprises are supposedly to protect us and to spread democracy. Actually, they are merely acts to spread and maintain the most powerful empire the earth has ever seen. They also serve to make the war-makers more powerful and wealthy. Their lackeys can't see reality through the massive propaganda raining down from the media sources they control.

Be independent. Go beyond questioning authority to questioning everything. Search for reliable sources, rather than just accepting what the corporate media pumps out. Those same corporations manufacture the weapons used to kill "them" around the world. Promoting war is part of their advertising campaign.

Don't believe their us and them campaigns. We are all humans, and that fact is more important than all those trumpeted differences. Make peace where you can. Help everyone any way you can.

Since I'm trying to keep my rants brief these days, I will stop there, with just one footnote.

Been there, done that long ago, haven't done it since, won't do it again.

Inauguration Night @Elks Club

When Bob Wire started playing at the Democrats' Victory Party, I headed upstairs.


Bob turned in his usual energetic performance and pulled a newly written song out of his hat. That one put the boogey on the floor. It was dance time.



The music ended too soon for me. Programmed as I am by the standard late zootown music times, I arrived too late for Tom Catmull. When Bob and the Magnificent Bastards wrapped up their set, the music went canned upstairs.

A Democrat flaunts his flag, as celebratory dances continue.

There was still live music downstairs at the the Bush Be Gone Bash.

Mountain Grip, a guitar trio from Bozeman, warmed up the crowd at the Bush bash. They had a folksy, easy-going sound, but the lack of a drummer weakened their presence.




Crowd pleasing local group, Delta Function, laid down a nice riff, as the music continued into the night. The Elks Club Bar had Moose Drool in the bottle for $3, and I splurged for two, one for each floor.


Warning: Rant Ahead

I am one of the malcontents not happy with Obama's let-bygones-be-bygones attitude towards the crooks who have been raping our country for eight years, while setting half the world on fire, in their greedy grab for power and plunder.

Put them in stocks in city squares and parks to be ridiculed and reviled for their crimes. These people committed incredible atrocities, because they couldn't care less about human life or the Christian values they claimed to uphold. All they cared about was the money, which brings us to the bail out bullshit.

It reminds me of the nazis, plundering France as they withdrew. I know, as soon as these fascists took power, they proclaimed they couldn't be compared to the nazis, because it was rude. Only heathen liberals could be so rude. Dammit, they've acted a lot like the nazis. Try this exercise: take a WWII movie and picture W and his cronies as the strutting nazis. You will see they fit right in.

Back to the bailout. It represents the trucks being loaded with the last of the loot, before the villains race for their fortified strongholds. It was ironic the Bushes seemed to be preparing to flee to the same area some nazis did. If they planned to live in Texas, why did they set up the huge compound in South American mountains? I think, at that point they really thought they might be pursued or prosecuted, after leaving power. Later, they realized they could get away with the whole thing, free as could be.

How in the hell does an outfit like Bank of America charge those outrageous interest rates on credit cards and still wind up in line for a handout?

We've been giving our banks and corporations money for years, and they claim to have lost it all and now our government will replace it with more money, taken from our taxes. The industries, which created this disastrous crash are being rewarded with more money. Fuck them. Give us affordable health care, adequate nutrition, and take care of those who have no homes and little food. It would be nice to make some improvements to education, after we dump that 3-Rs, standardized-testing load of pig-wallow, which claimed to leave no child behind, while dumping millions of them in the street.

I recognize a rant, when I start one. Perhaps I should change the subject. Yes, it's true--Dennis Miller became a sell-out, working for the propaganda arm of the organized crime operation which took control of our government. Oh, and now do we get to shout, "Shut up," at Bill O'Reilly? I try to be tolerant, even of the other side's views, but, damn, it is hard to ignore that loud-mouthed gas bag.

I just posted my tribute to Martin Luther King, and I want to return to MLK day for another quote, "A time comes when silence is betrayal." We cannot just become silent about the crimes committed in our names.

The war is not over. The new fascists are still with us, masquerading as patriots and holy people, and they aren't defeated, only slightly humiliated. They will continue to twist the truth to meet their ends, they will continue to push for profit at all costs and they will continue to terrorize people with their constant wars. This time we must go beyond outmaneuvering them in an election and actually, "Throw the bums out." Or better, throw them into their own prisons.

This isn't the end; it's the beginning. We must not let them get away this time. We must not turn our backs as Bill Clinton did on the crimes of Reagan and George I. If they get away, they or their allies will return with lies and bribery to seize power again. Can't let that happen.

We must go beyond just ending the war to dismantling the military/industrial complex, and removing their power forever.

Peace now, please.