Surprisingly Busy for the Bush Economy

Golly, I’ve had more business in the past few weeks than ever before! I’m designing Web sites like a maniac, and I’ve had two people call me already today about doing wedding photos! I hope I get a photo shoot or two to look forward to over the summer — I like doing Web design, but I really need to get away from the computer and go outside every now and then…

Things keep up like this and I may be able to get away from the print shop and actually work for myself! It’s getting harder and harder to keep up the freelancing and the day job both, as well as the charities. (By the way, if anyone needs a Web site or a pretty photo or anything, see www.hippieboydesign.com — I’ll be glad to help!)

I may also be getting back into music again in a limited capacity. I certainly don’t have time to be in a “real” band again, but maybe a jam session or two mightn’t hurt…

Darwinism at Work

You know, over the past few years I think I’ve accidentally bred a species of dandelions that know how to duck when they see a lawn mower.

In an odd twist…

…a homeless guy bought me an ice cream cone yesterday. I guess I looked hungry. (Well, he’s not really homeless any more, but he was for a long time.) The ice cream truck in our neighborhood is, I kid you not, a 1980s conversion van with the words “ice cream” spray-painted on a piece of cardboard in the window and a pair of 20-year-old fuzzy dice hanging from the mirror. The two 20-something kids who drive it (I think of them as Cheech and Chong) must have found a tape of the traditional “ice cream truck jingle” or something ’cause I don’t think they have a loudspeaker or anything — they just play the song on their tape player really loud and leave the windows open.

Hoochiemama!

Never, under any circumstances, no matter how desperate you are, ever mix a piece of Orbit Raspberry Mint and Orbit Maui Melon Mint together. Ever.

Man, that’ll twist your face up…

Sorry…

I just now realized I haven’t written in days and days. Sorry ’bout that.

An Open Letter

Dear Senator Clinton,

I’ve learned a lot about you in the past fifteen months as you’ve campaigned for the Democratic nomination for President, Senator Clinton, and you have some very admirable qualities. Your knowledge of world events is extensive, and you’ve shown that you’ve cultivated a wide-ranging group of supporters within the Democratic network in Washington D.C. You’ve shown how admirable it can be to “stick with a fight,” and how important it is to keep plugging along…

However, I strongly urge you to quit now. You’ve shown us the qualities of determination and tenacity, but what you’re teaching us now is that determination and tenacity are but a short step away from stubbornness and willful ignorance. Senator Barack Obama has all but won the nomination, yet he cannot concentrate on the general election while you’re still in the race. Your continuation of this prolonged nomination process is, at this point, doing nothing but helping the opposition, wasting money, and hurting the environment. While Republican nominee John McCain is free to concentrate on his run for the White House, you’re stalling the Democratic party, miring Senator Obama in a mudslinging contest in which he doesn’t wish to engage or continue.

Please, Senator Clinton, do the right thing and step aside for the good of the country. Please.

Thank you for your kind attention,
Christopher L. Radloff

…from laughing.

My sister sent me a link to the top 50 comedy sketches of all time. I haven’t watched all of ’em, but I did notice one sketch missing.

Way back in the days of yore, people used to work in front of live audiences. Here’s a sketch where Carol Burnette is supposed to be telling her Mama something. Tim Conway ad libs some goofy story. They do the sketch again. Conway ad libs a completely different story…

Random Thoughts on a Friday

1. Number One was an angry rant. When I re-read it, it sounded childish and petty, so I deleted it. Feel free to continue on to Number Two.

2. I wish I had enough money to quit my job. I’m burned out, angry, grumpy, and generally unhappy. I don’t know if it’s anyone’s fault, particularly, though I tend to be upset at my bosses. It’s just the way I feel.

3. Dumb quote of the day: Republican Representative John Duncan — “… it seems rather elitist that people with academic degrees in health think they know better than parents…”

When did being “elite” turn into a bad thing? When did it become a sin to be educated and trained? Personally, I WANT my doctor to be one of the elite! I want the people governing me to be elite. I want the people teaching today’s children to be elite.

Rep. Duncan was talking about sex education. His view is that the parents should be in charge of educating their children about sex, and he’s right — parents should teach their children about such things. But they’re not, so the schools have to instead. And if the schools are doing it, what’s wrong with having an educated professional in charge of the program?

It seems miserably backwards to me that we should choose those who are to educate our children based not on their education and qualifications, but rather their lack of such education or qualification.

4. I’m tired of getting political “jokes” e-mailed to me. I’m getting probably 15 or 20 anti-Hillary e-mails a day. I’m hoping Obama gets the nod in the primary, but I don’t wanna see anti-ANYONE e-mails. They’re rarely funny, and all they do is prove, once again, that our nation can’t decide politics on issues — we depend instead on slurs, slander, and cheap humor. Don’t get me wrong, a good political cartoon can make a definite statement, and so can a well-turned phrase. But the vast, vast majority of what I see is merely ignorant name-calling. I don’t want to see it in my e-mail any more.

That’s what blogs are for.

5. United States President G. Walker Bush has disappointed me. He has once again stood in front of the nation and failed to take responsibility for his actions. Instead of acknowledging that his policies may be flawed, he’s telling everyone that the current political and economic mess is Congress’ fault and that there’s nothing he could do about it.

Whatever happened to Democratic President Harry S. Truman’s famous “The Buck Stops Here” philosophy? Whatever happened to the notion that we must hold our public officials accountable, including the President, for their actions? Yes, Congress plays an important part in public policy, but I don’t want to hear excuses. Get the job done, dammit.

Republican Presidential hopeful John McCain is already showing signs of continuing the Bush/Cheney/Rove policy of blame-shifting. He has publicly denounced an attack ad being run by the North Carolina Republicans as being false, but claims he’s powerless to stop them from running the attack ad. Isn’t he kind of the guy in charge these days? Doesn’t he have control over his own party? Why won’t he step up to the plate, do the right thing, and declare attack/smear ads be stopped? Because then he’d be held accountable…

6. I get an e-mail roughly three times a day, the same message, listing the various ways Christianity has played a part in American history. At the end it says, “It is said that 86% of Americans believe in God. Therefore, it is very hard to understand why there is such a mess about having the Ten Commandments on display or ‘In God We Trust’ on our money and having God in the Pledge of Allegiance. Why don’t we just tell the other 14% to Sit Down and SHUT UP!!!”

Well, I have problems with that.

My first question is quite simple — who’s trying to change our money? Is someone seriously trying to change the Pledge of Allegiance? No. Oh, sure, some whacko comes up every now and then who wants to make waves, but no one takes them seriously. This is NOT an issue, as far as I can tell. Liberals do believe in the separation of church and state, but I don’t see anyone getting freaky about it… Most liberals are, after all, Christian — just like Jesus, the most famous progressive of all.

My second problem is a bit more touchy. It’s my opinion that if your faith in God is so weak that you need to be reminded of Him every time you spend a dollar to buy yourself some Ho-Ho’s, you have more problems than you know. If you truly had faith in God, you mightn’t feel so threatened.

My third problem with the e-mail revolves around the base logic of the last sentence, quoted above. Iowa passed a law recently banning cigarette smoking in bars and restaurants. This has caused quite the upheaval — the level of chest-thumping and moaning by smokers is incredible; they feel their rights are being violated, and that the government has no right to tell them what to do. One survey I saw said that some 82% of Iowans are non-smokers. So why can’t we tell the other 18% to sit down and shut up? That’s what the e-mail said about religion… So, if the smoking minority are upset about their rights being trampled by the majority, don’t you think they’d also be vocal about the religious majority trampling the rights of the minority religions? Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to be working that way.

Personally, I fail to see where another person’s beliefs threatens my belief in God. We are a Christian society, by and large, and part of Christianity is accepting other people. Acceptance. Compassion. You know, those values. They pertain to other people, too, you know.

7. A meme… SkylersDad memed me a while back. I haven’t forgotten, I’ve just been busy. Until now. It’s a simple one — list five relatively clean web sites you like. Feel free to play…

Torso pants — Odd t-shirts. Fun site.

I Can Has Cheezburger — lolcats

HippieBoy Design — My site. Go there. Buy a website or something. Please.

Weather — I live on this site waiting and hoping for good riding weather…

Drew — My buddy’s site. He’s trying to work his way out of the print shop too.

8. I’m tired. Shoot. I just caught myself sleeping. I think I was snoring. Not good when you work ten feet from the boss’ door.

9. I’d best get something done. Have a good weekend, ever’buddy!

They made it!

I don’t know why my pictures are always so dark after I upload them. They look fine beforehand… Anyway, we rode 100+ miles up the road, met the bus with the soldiers, and escorted them 100+ miles back again to see them reunited with their families.

What an experience! What an experience.

I’ll write more later.

Coming Home

Thirty area National Guard soldiers from here in Sioux City are coming home Wednesday. You can bet we’ll be escorting them into town! It should be similar to THIS, only without the bone-numbing cold… I’m taking the day off work Wednesday, polishing my bike, making sure my flag is ready…

Welcome-Homes are MUCH better than funerals!

Watch out for motorcyclists!

Randomizations:

1.) It is NOT a requirement to be a Republican in order to own a flag.

2.) I wish he could have.

3.) We went to the family farm Thursday night. My uncle was back from Africa to visit for a few days (remind me to tell you HIS story sometime — it’s quite something). We talked with my uncle, pinched the cheeks of several small adorable children, and saw this out the back window…

4.) Where’s the lapel pin? I even went to his website. Plenty of flags, but no lapel pin. Evidently it’s a mortal flaw for Senator Barack Obama to be seen without an American flag lapel pin, but Senator John McCain doesn’t need such things…

Isn’t it time to start thinking about the ISSUES rather than who wears lapel pins and what someone’s minister said?

Truthfully, if you’re going to get into that sort of mudslinging, here’s a tidbit for you… Senator McCain actively sought the support of Rev. John Hagee, a minister who called the Catholic church a “false cult system” and a “great whore.” Senator McCain said Hagee, “supports and stands for what I believe in,” and said he was “proud of his spiritual leadership.”

Turns out Rev. Hagee also believes he can read God’s mind, as in 2006 he said, “I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God, and they are — were — recipients of the judgment of God for that.” Just a few days ago, McCain said, “I’m glad to have his endorsement.”

Digging a little further, it seems that Rev. Hagee was actually defrocked and is not allowed to preach in some churches. He’s been in trouble with the IRS for earning millions of dollars per year as a televangelist and not paying taxes, and, like Senator McCain, had a messy divorce. He’s consistently made anti-Catholic and anti-Jewish remarks. (He’s been criticized by the Christian Research Institute for publishing a book in which he claims that the Christian church should reject the Jewish people as Jesus never claimed to be “the Messiah of the Jews, but only the Savior of the Christian Church.”)

Meanwhile, the North Carolina Republican Party has been airing an ad showing Senator Barack Obama’s minister saying outrageous things (“not ‘God bless America,’ no, ‘God damn America'”). Senator McCain claims to be a party leader, but he can’t seem control his own people enough to get them to stop airing the ad… McCain does repudiate the ad, but is ineffective in stopping it.

Speaking of Senator Obama’s minister, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, here are a few facts for you. Rev. Wright served both in the Marine Corps and the United States Navy, graduated salutatorian from the National Naval Medical Center, treated United States President Lyndon B. Johnson after Johnson had surgery, and received three letters of commendation from the White House. Rev. Wright is not just a minister, but is a professor of divinity and holds a doctorate. The man does seem to have developed some radical views, though, leading Senator Obama to condemn the pastor’s remarks and distancing himself from the pastor’s views, though Obama does not condemn the man himself.

Anyway, the point of this whole rant is that Senator McCain’s campaign should probably quit throwing stones at Senator Obama, as those stones can quickly be turned against them. And, to me, THIS WHOLE THING IS STUPID. I want to know who’s going to support our troops by getting them out of Iraq, who’s going to go after al-Queada, who’s going to get our economy moving again, who’s going to make solar and wind power affordable… Those are the things I want to know! In spite of my little rant about ministers and lapel pins, I don’t really care about that sort of thing at all… I care about the soldier I helped bury a few weeks ago. I care about the increasing number of homeless people in my neighborhood. I care about the words “food shortage.”

Truly random thoughts on a Saturday…

1. How many times in your life have you heard “Wonderful Tonight” by Eric Clapton? How many times have you WANTED to hear “Wonderful Tonight” by Eric Clapton? Probably not that many times…

2. I still think Senator Obama is the best of the three (Senators Clinton and the other guy both owe too many people too many favors). People say Obama is “elitist.” As Jon Stewart put it on the Daily Show (all quotes paraphrased because my memory sucks and I’m too lazy to look them up), “Okay, pick which one of the millionaire senators is from your social class.” Mr. Stewart also had a point a few days ago when he said, “What’s wrong with ‘elite’? Isn’t that a GOOD thing? I really don’t want someone like me to be president — I want the best, the smartest, the elite.”

But I still wish Governor Richardson had made it further in the process… Oh well.

C) Sometimes more Brot and less Bier might make the photos turn out a bit better. (Translation — drinking beer while tweaking photos may lead to colorful discoveries.)

4) Proof that I’m old: I just discovered lolcats a few days ago. Proof that I’m immature: I can’t quit looking at them.

V) Tastes may change with age, but I still hate peas.

6) This is funny, and I wish I’d thought of it myself. (I found it HERE.)

7) After all these years, the bass player on Paul Simon’s “Graceland” album still amazes me. Next time you hear one of those songs, listen for the bass…

Oh, and Victor Wooten is a god. Proof of that can be seen in the video below. The man does things with a bass guitar that are borderline impossible. I swear he changes the laws of physics to suit his whims…

8) I ran out of ink in my printer today, and that made me feel like a failure. Why do I take those things personally? “Gaaah! If only I’d kept better track of the ink levels I wouldn’t have run out! I’m a failure! I suck!”

9) See the video below for some rather inappropriate gambling humor.

X) It’s a warm 60+ degree Saturday and I’m stuck doing computer work all day. Sucks. Ah well. Beats being homeless, I guess.