Christmas Time Is Here!! And I'm Freezing My Tush Off

In order to smoke my cigars, I am obliged to sit outside in my backyard spot so as to avoid stinking up the house. But baby, it's cold outside...

Our Christmas lights went up on the house today. Tree's not up yet, though.

My band is playing for a Christmas party on the 14th and another on the 21st. So I am learning to play some Christmas songs. I love it.

What do I want for Christmas? I'd really like to get a decent, high definition video cam. I want to make a lot of YouTube videos in 2011 -- I figured out how to do it this year, and it isn't that difficult with the Windows movie maker application, but I do need material. I want to make some music vids most of all.

This year, 2010, I advanced my musical abilities exponentially (I play bass), but I have much more to learn, and learn I will. I'd also like to take some lessons on upright bass from a good professional jazz bassist, but that will require an actual income. I have a tax preparation job lined up for the tax season (Feb 1 through April 15); the pay is lousy but the experience will add to my resume. I am a CPA but my background is in audit and accounting, not so much in tax.

Then if I was to find some fantastic windfall, I'd like to buy a fretless Fender Jazz bass; I don't really need one, I'd just like to have it!

Wifey is still grieving over her mom's death on November 10th and this Christmas will be a bit sadder than most. Her brother the Catholic Priest returns to the Philippines next weekend and we won't see him again for three years.

Still, I think it is time to shake off my melancholy and lethargy and try to squeeze as much living as I can out of life. I want most of all to just play bass, and play it very well, at a professional level. I am late in life and wish I could add 30 years to my life span, just so I could study music and achieve the professionalism that I desire. However, I will play until my fingers bleed until the time I die, and then they will have to pry the bass from my cold, dead fingers!

Merry Christmas!

French Defense League Opposes Islamization

I found this video at Gates of Vienna.  Apparently, there is now a French Defense League in addition to the English Defence League.  Vive la France!

When the Old Meets New: Norah Jones Sings Elvis's "Love Me"

Norah Jones is a beautiful young singer whose lilting, melancholy voice is perfect for this old Elvis tune.  She captures the spirit and sentimentality of the original.  For me, there is no better balm for the suffering soul than music.  It is the major focus of my life at this point.

Wikileaks and Treason

The scum at Wikileaks, some European based, anti-American site, is again securing secret documents from the US and distributing them to leftist news outlets for publishing throughout the world.  Some American newspapers are publishing these secret, official documents, too, and in a time of war.  How is this not treason?

I found these graphics related to Wikileaks on the web.  Hmmm, for some reason they seem vaguely familiar....

An Islamic Christmas Tree, an Islamic Christmas Wish (Photoshop)

A Somali (read:  Muslim) teen, who is a naturalized citizen of the United States, attempted to bomb a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland, Oregon.  Ah, the spirit of the season!  Brotherly love, peace on earth, goodwill towards men!  Or not.

To capture the perpetrator's sentiments, I included his mug shot in the Photoshop below, complete with an Islamic Christmas tree symbolizing the wishes of so many Muslims worldwide on this festive season of the year.

Read all about it here.

An Islamic Tree Lighting Ceremony?

Crazy White Gang Creates Scene In Shopping Mall (Video)

Hat tip View From the Right:

Dennis Miller on Jay Leno Show: "Nancy Pelosi Is Bat Shit Crazy"; Photoshop

Via The Hill Street Blahg:  Dennis Miller is very funny in describing Nancy Pelosi as so "batshit crazy" that he swears she must sleep upside down!



I was so inspired by Miller's description that I decided to Photoshop it:

Janet Napolitano Demonstrates How to Enjoy TSA Groping Technique (Photoshop)

Update: Doug Ross Journal labeled this "Photoshop of the Day."

North Korea Fires on South Korea

This morning various news agencies are reporting a warlike provocation by the communist despotism known as North Korea.  Apparently, the North Koreans launched an artillery bombardment of a South Korean island, without warning and with no justification.  South Korean armed services went on high alert after returning fire.

In the family of nations, North Korea has long been viewed as a pariah, governed by political fanatics with hair-pin triggers.  This event follows, by only a few months, an unprovoked North Korean sinking of a South Korean Navy ship with substantial loss of life.  The North Koreans, or Norks as some call them, seem to be spoiling for a fight.  South Korea and the US, however, have endured many of such provocations since the 1953 armistice in order to avoid war.

North Korea has been developing nuclear weapons for several years now and are selling their nuclear technology to other rogue states like Iran.  It seems only a question of time before the Northern fanatics trigger a new war in Asia, one that could involve nuclear weapons.  If they are going to do it, what better time for it than now, when a wimp is president of the United States?

47 Years Ago Today

Today marks the 47th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, shot by an assassin in Dallas on November 22, 1963.

In a 2008 post I describe my memories of that terrible day.

Read it here.

Saturday Night Live on TSA's Full Body Groping at Airports

Thoughts on a Funeral

My mother-in-law, Sally, has been laid to rest.   Her funeral was held Saturday, November 20 in St. Christopher's Catholic Church in San Jose, California.  The priest who presided was her own son, who flew in from the Philippines to deliver her eulogy and lead the services. 

I knew my mother-in-law for 37 years.  I met her on the same night that I met my future wife.  Two people, who didn't particularly like each other at first, grew to love each other in the years that followed.  Sally didn't like this white guy who she was sure was out to seduce her daughter; and the white guy (me) didn't like this combative hen who was ready to scratch my eyes out for sniffing around her prize chick.  I married her prize chick, without her permission, and then things began to improve. 

When our baby boy came along, Sally was overwhelmed by the child's perfection (as perceived from a grandmother's eyes), and came to visit him every weekend.  She just wanted to sit and stare at him.  She said he was the most beautiful child she had ever seen.  On his first birthday, Sally gave her grandson a big cake, without icing, placed on her coffee table where he could tear into it with his tiny hands, stuffing the pieces into his mouth.  I loved that she did this.  It made me realize that Sally and I were kindred spirits.

When two bloodlines mingle in a single child, it represents the juncture at which two families join together and become one.  Nothing unifies two people like a common love for the same child, a child to whom both are related, me as the father, she as the grandmother.  We became fast friends from that point on and loved each other like any natural relatives would.  And Sally didn't object when almost all of her younger daughters married Americans, one by one, adding greatly to her supply of beautiful grandchildren, several of whom (the boys) were pall-bearers at her funeral, while others (the girls) sang.

November 20, 2010, the day of interment, was rain-soaked, blustery and cold.  After the service, we followed the hearse to Oak Hill where Sally's body was placed in one of those wall tombs where many are laid to rest.  Her spot was about half way up the wall, in the middle.  I always wondered how they got coffins into those high spaces.  They use a special lift, with places on either side for workmen to stand, and raise the coffin up to the open space where it is slid head-first, on rollers, into the space.

As the coffin was lifted skyward toward its final resting place, I was struck by the sight of two of Sally's sons, one of them the priest, holding each other and sobbing loudly. Encircling the scene was a crowd of uplifted faces watching the coffin's ascent, drenched in tears and haggard with grief.  One of Sally's daughters shouted a last, emotional message: "I love you mommy!"

Sally, you were loved.

The coffin was inserted into the space, which was then sealed with a square metal plate using common white spackle. Secured over that was the decorative stone plate, bearing the name and dates of the deceased, i.e. the year of birth and the year of death. Sally’s read:

S.... T M.......

1926 - 2010

How strange it seemed to me, to see her familiar name like that:  as an inscription on a tombstone.  How odd, that a person so loved could be reduced to such brevity.

Our final act of the day was to retire to Sally's favorite restaurant, Khan's, to eat and visit with one another before departing.

New Tie for Muslim Men: An Obvious Phallic Symbol?

I saw this over at Atlas Shrugs.  It's the new Islamic necktie for men.  Supposedly, the new tie takes the shape of the sword of Imam Ali,  cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad.  The new tie combines two Muslim icons:  a turban (with decorative fringe) and a curved, Islamic sword.

Some folks think the tie is just another Islamic phallic symbol, like minarets and scimitars.  I am outraged that anyone would read sexual references into these perfectly innocent symbols of Muslim traditions.  Some people just have dirty minds, but what are you gonna do?

Some people think my "saber" in my blog banner is also a phallic symbol.  NO IT ISN'T.  It used to be, when I colored it pink, but now that it is back to silver it is just a sword, nothing more.  I am so upset by this discussion that I think I will go outside and smoke a cigar.

Posting Will Be Light Due to Funeral

Today is the wake for my mother-in-law.  Tomorrow there will be a mass for her and then burial.  Due to these events, blogging will be light if done at all, and will resume Sunday.

TSA Offers Two Airport Screening Techniques

Revenge by Photoshop: Nancy Pelosi's Pie

I found this great photo of Pelosi on the web and immediately thought that it was only the first of two pictures.  I created the second photo with Photoshop.  I call it, "Revenge by Photoshop."  I can't really hit Pelosi in the face with a pie, but I can do so in in my imagination.  Satisfying!

Heroic Dog Survives Afghan War But Not Homegrown Bureaucrat

From the U.K. Mail Online:

Target the dog lived through explosions in war-torn Afghanistan, saved the lives of U.S. soldiers and was featured on Oprah - but she couldn't survive a brief stay at an Arizona animal shelter.

An employee at the Pinal County facility was today on administrative leave after euthanizing the shepherd mix by mistake.

'When it comes to euthanizing an animal, there are some clear-cut procedures to follow,' said Ruth Stalter, director of the Animal Care And Control centre.

'Based on my preliminary investigation, our employee did not follow those procedures.'
....

The idiot who killed the dog is someone I would personally love to horsewhip, but the army sergeant who adopted the dog is partially to blame.  He did not license the dog nor get a microchip for it, either of which would have quickly identified the dog to the shelter and saved its life.

Dogs are such loving, loyal and trusting animals, and often we simply do not deserve them.

Cartoon Video: Hi, I'm a Tea Partier, Revisited

Mastering the Internal Revenue Code

Last night I finished a three month tax course in individual income tax; it was the best tax course I have taken in my decades of bean counting.  I received an overall grade of 97% of all possible points in the course.  Yes, I am ready for the tax season.  One thing I noticed while studying the nitty-gritty of tax rules for ordinary citizens:  the tax rules are ridiculously complex, serpentine, ambiguous and difficult.  There are a million rules and two million exceptions to those rules.  There is no way in hell that any normal, bright and educated citizen could possibly do his own taxes and get it right.

Still, I enjoyed the course.  It was a study in madness, and now I am in a position to (1) do tax returns and (2) write horror novels.

Lew Rockwell Slimes Veterans

There's something about LewRockwell.com that turns my stomach.  Maybe it's the fact that far-left hate-America types are pretending to be conservatives.  In keeping with their usual stomach-churning activity, one paleo-kook named Laurence Vance wrote a hate piece against American veterans.  It's called "Thank a Vet?"  Read it if you have a strong stomach.

A Death in the Family

My mother-in-law passed away early this morning.  She had been in a hospice for over a year and knew she was going to die.  In the last couple of weeks, she made a point of calling all of her relatives, including children still in the Philippines, to tell them goodbye and that she loved them.  Many others came to see her in the hospice.

I spent time with her last week, sitting by her bedside and listening to her stories.  She was a wonderful mother-in-law and a great friend too.

One day last week when I went to see her, she was trying to stand up, holding on to her walker.  Since she was blind from inoperable cataracts, I announced my presence as I entered.  She pointed to her left and asked me who the lady was standing nearby.  I told her there was no one there.  When Mrs. Chomper came in, she also asked her who the stranger was standing a few feet away.  "Is that a statue?" she asked.  My wife replied that there was no one there.  How my mother-in-law could see anything, being blind, is rather strange. Still, she insisted that she perceived this person's presence.

It immediately occurred to me that my mother-in-law was having predeath visions, fairly common among the dying.  My father had them too, a few weeks before his death in 1991.  He kept asking who "those people" were, the ones standing over by the fireplace.  No one else could see them, however.

I will really miss my mother-in-law.  I loved her, and I told her so frequently in these past few final months of her life.

My French Friend Kate; Learning to Speak French

When I was a student in high school, French was my favorite subject,  In my first quarter, I received my usual grade of C.  Then the teacher offered us students the names of pen pals to write to in France, and I started writing to one Daniel Boulart, near Lyon.  I would write to Daniel in both English and French, and he would write to me in French and English, and so we were able to better learn each other's language.  Actually communicating with a real French student in his language was inspiring.  My grade in French went to an A and stayed there throughout high school.

When I visited Paris in 2007, I was surprised to see how much French I remembered.  I even had a conversation with a French store clerk in a drug store, a pretty young woman.  Further inspired, I began to read French blogs in earnest and my vocabulary increased.  I met a French conservative, Kate, who often visits Saber Point and leaves comments in French.  Kate does not speak English, and my conversations with her increased my skill even more.

Last week Kate sent me a CD of excellent jazz, a CD called Jasmime, which features a piano player and a string bassist, playing lovely old standards in jazz.  Since then Kate and I have been trading emails, and I find I can usually understand her without using the dictionary.  I wanted to write to her in French, even though I knew I would make mistakes in my French, but I didn't know how to put the accents into the French, e.g. français, étudiant, Août, etc.  I found a webpage that shows how to do it, using the Alt key and a numeric code for letters with accents.  Today I wrote her some emails in French, complete with accents.  She replied that she was pleasantly surprised at my French.

If I could spend six months in France, I feel certain that I would become fluent in the language.

Ted Rall's Death Wish

Ted Rall

One of the slimiest communist toads to ever befoul the air with his breath is Ted Rall, a far-left cartoonist.  He is so depraved that he made fun of the death of Pat Tillman.  Ted Rall hates the United States and minces no words.  Today Big Government reports that Ted Rall and other communists have openly called for violence and revolution on  Marxist MSNBC.  Rall writes in his book An Anti-American Manifesto:

A war is coming. At stake: our lives, the planet, freedom, living. The government, the corporations, and the extreme right are prepared to coalesce into an Axis of Evil. Are you going to fight back? Will you do whatever it takes, including taking up arms?…

I guess I shouldn't be too hard on Ted, though.  I too have occasionally fantasized about violent revolution, with the end result being a liberal hanging from every light post and telephone pole.  I call these dark episodes my "black flag" moments.  They are not to be taken literally or seriously.

But go ahead, Ted; start something.  Start something so we can finish it.  To borrow a phrase, "make my day."  Fulfill my fantasy, Ted.


Related Post:  Leftist Cartoonist Ted Rall Calls For Violent Revolution on MSNBC

Pamela Geller on "We Won, Now What?"

Pamela Geller has written a stirring call to action at American Thinker.  It's called "We Won, Now What?"

She gives a pretty complete list and I can't think of much to add, if anything.  Well maybe one, holding Nuremberg-style trials for the leftists who have sold this country down the river over the past sixty years, that is, those who are still alive.

This is a fight to reclaim the American Republic.  It will have to go on for decades to come and it won't be easy.  However, it must be done if future generations are to live in freedom and prosperity rather than the gray mediocrity of socialism, or the tyranny of sharia law.

.....

Delusional Democrats: the Stogie Report on Incipient Insanity of Libtards

Let's see, we Republicans picked up 63 house seats, six senate seats and a bunch of state legislatures in the election last Tuesday.  It was a historic route of the Democrats and a political tsunami by anyone's measurement.  However, liberals and leftists are spinning it all as a big loss for the Tea Party because even more Republicans weren't elected.

Here's the Stogie Insanity Report for Sunday:
1.  Leftwing websites like Firedoglake are celebrating their great "victory" over the Tea Party.  Well it's good to see the silver lining in every cloud, I suppose.  Yes, it could have been even worse for the Democrats.  Instead of being turned out in record numbers, the voters could have tarred and feathered the bastards and ran them out of town on a rail.   Feel good about yourselves, Democrat activists!  What a great victory for your side!  Let's all sing along: "Happy Days Are Here Again, dum, dum de dum!"

No doubt these delusional Democrats could spin any disaster as a great blessing in disguise.  For example, a nuclear attack on the US would be a bad thing, but at least the resulting nuclear winter would finally put an end to global warming.  Or to use that old standby, "Aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?"

2.  RINOs like Bloomberg, that giant ass who now runs New York City as mayor, made a statement that the newly elected Republicans are somehow stupid, i.e., they can't read and probably don't even have passports. Another benefit of Tuesday's route is that it has smoked out the stealth Democrats among us, forcing them to show their true colors:  as arrogant, elitist snobs, who think the only way to govern is to bankrupt the government, the citizens, all businesses, wildlife, microbes, minerals and plankton in the sea.  Run up every credit card to its absolute max and then ask for a new debt ceiling.  Tax everything that moves, and if it doesn't move, tax it anyway.  Tax, tax, tax, tax, until all life on earth is obliterated and the planet has become a  frozen ball of ice drifting in empty space....

3.  Democrats everywhere are offering lame excuses for their electoral route.  The key reason they lost:  Obama wasn't enough of an extrovert.

Meanwhile, the female version of Bozo the Clown, Nancy Pelosi, continues to grin widely for the cameras with a cat-who-swallowed-the-canary look of satisfaction on her face, as if she knows something wonderful that the rest of us do not.  Perhaps, when they finally fit her for her strait jacket, they can get one in a soft pink pastel to match her best business suit.

.....

Swami Stogie's Prior Political Prognostications, Reviewed and Reconsidered

Back in 2008, after Republicans suffered a massive defeat at the polls, Time Magazine published a cover with the GOP elephant captioned "Endangered Species?"  Pundits were saying the Republican Party had been wiped out, eroded to a regional party doomed to spend eternity as minority in American politics.

"Nonsense," shouted Swami Stogie.  As he consulted his crystal ball, he issued proclamations and prognosticans that rival those of Nostradamus.  Let us see what the wise Swami predicted amidst the dark and swirling mists of long ago.

On October 3rd, 2008, the Swami awoke with a feeling of certitude that Obama would win the election.  He wrote:

My intuition is often very accurate. This morning when I woke up, I had a strong feeling of certitude that we Republicans are going to lose this election and that Barack Obama will be the next president of the United States. It wasn’t a panicky feeling or a worried feeling or a feeling of fear, it was a calm realization, an inner knowing. It told me in a quiet but clear voice that the election is lost. The inner voice presented it to me as a done deal.

The reason is simple. Americans just get tired of the same brand, the same color, the same style and want to make a change. It’s a gamble that they are willing to take, that some way, somehow, someone new may have the answers to the country’s ills just as he promises. They just want a change, and not for any deep political or philosophical reasons, but as a simple reaction to boredom. That's the main reason Hillary lost to Obama. The public is tired of hearing about the Clintons. It's an old book that they've read before.

It’s as if they (the voters) have been driving a blue car for eight years and now want to buy a green one or a red one. After having been on a diet of bland food for eight years, they decide to throw caution to the wind and eat a banana cream pie. Whole. Screw it, they say, I’ll worry about the consequences tomorrow.

This need for change, any change, even potentially dangerous or harmful change, is somehow buried deep in the psyche of humans and is not entirely rational. All the debating and cold analysis won’t change enough minds to make a difference. Obama will be the next president because America wants a binge and will have it. After the binge will come the hangover and the violent retching over the porcelain throne, followed by the election of Republicans as sanity returns.

It's sad, but politics is somewhat cyclical, like the annual rites where religious penitents cut themselves with knives or whip themselves with chains. Pain must be inflicted and blood must be shed, and who knows why. Obama's election will be America whipping itself. America will bleed and it will be painful, but then the healing will begin.

On November 6, 2008, the Swami ate his usual breakfast of Yak curd and bean sprouts, and then wrote:

Some advice to depressed conservatives and Republicans: keep this [2008] election in perspective. Politics is cyclical. The tide has rolled out but it will roll back in again.

On May 7, 2009 the Swami once again held forth as he discussed the "death of the Republican Party":

We are hearing a lot of silly comments from Democrats and liberal Republicans lately. They say that the Republican Party is all washed up, fini, kaput. Some of the liberal Republicans like John McCain and his daughter Meghan say we should try to be more like the Democrats.

Today Mark Steyn, filling in for Rush Limbaugh, rebuts this. He says that this concept suggests that we must have an express lane and a regular lane to liberalism -- and that it is wrong. He says a two-party system must have two parties -- not one and a half parties. We must make the case for liberty and let the Dems be the one party that supports big government. We don't need "Democrat Lite." I agree.

On KSFO Radio this morning, guest Richard Viguerie of ConservativeHQ.com said the same thing. He said that if you want to sell a product, you must differeniate your product from all the rest. A second Democrat Party is neither needed nor does it provide the consumer with a clear choice. As a result, there is little motivation to make a switch.

It is foolish to project all of our tomorrows on what the situation is today. After the 1994 Republican Revolution, when we achieved majorities in both houses, many Republicans predicted the end of the Democrat Party. It was a vain hope, because politicians have a great talent for shooting themselves in the foot. Right now, Obama is shooting himself in both feet with a howitzer. Bad policies will come back to haunt him and a reaction will eventually set in. Or, as I said when Obama was elected, the tide goes out but will come back in again. Politics tend to be variable.

Remember when the GOP's fortunes were at a low ebb with the resignation of President Nixon? The American electorate reacted with a vengeance to Watergate and Nixon's pending impeachment (which wasn't pursued because President Ford granted him a pardon). They reacted and voted in the second most leftwing President in our history (Obama being the first), i.e. Jimmy Carter. Many pundits said then the GOP was all washed up. However, Carter fouled things up quite thoroughly and was booted out by a landslide for Ronald Reagan.

The political situation in this country is never static and it is foolish to believe that it is. We'll be back, count on it.

Yes, the political disaster of 2008 even now is righting itself as the full karmic reconvergence permeates the ether, sending the minions of Marx scurrying in fear among the catacombs of the political undead. However, the reconvergence of light and truth did not begin on November 2nd, 2010; it began on November 4th, 2008.

The California Definition of Insanity (Cartoon)

Glenn Beck Gloats Over Democrat Defeats! Outrageous!

.
Oh wait a minute, no it's not.  Enjoy the gloating here.

Hat tip the Other McCain.

Eat Your Damn Gavel, Nancy Pelosi

Celebrating the End of an Error.

"Americans Say No to U.S. Decline"

From the U.K. Telegraph:

While the Conservative-led government in Great Britain has already embarked upon a $130 billion austerity cuts package, shedding nearly 500,000 public sector jobs, the US administration has defiantly remained with its head in the sand, while still talking in terms of further stimulus spending. That position is unsustainable. Dramatic spending cuts (with the exception of national defence) must also be coupled with a pro-growth agenda of lower taxes, private sector job creation, free trade and economic freedom.

After the immense damage of the last two years, the midterms have offered the United States an opportunity to reverse course and get back on its feet. The world needs a powerful, successful, dynamic and prosperous America, where individual liberty and freedom are the driving forces, rather than the overbearing deadweight of federal government. The American people have spoken, and the White House must be held to account.

Some Downers Among Our Great Victory

I am happy to see the Republican wave swamping liberals nationwide.  However, here in California it is only depression for conservatives.  Barbara Boxer won reelection, and Jerry Brown is back in as Governor Moonbeam.  The state will continue its downward spiral into insolvency, unemployment and high taxes.

Other downers are that Harry Reid and Barney Frank, two of the vilest members of the far left, also won reelection.  Needless to say, I won't be joining those who have left the state for Nevada.

I am going to bed and watch the election returns on Fox until I fall asleep.  Tomorrow I will think about my continuing future here in the Land of Fruits and Nuts.

Lawrence Auster: "The Democratic Party Deserves To Be Destroyed"

Lawrence Auster of View From the Right expresses my sentiments exactly:  the Democratic Party deserves to be destroyed.  He writes:

Lawrence Auster

Never, never forget what the Democratic Party is and what it has done. They are not a legitimate American party. They are a criminal, leftist party that is alien to this country. In the name of meeting a national economic emergency, they passed one of the biggest spending bills in history, and then loaded it with gifts for their favorite special interests, thus showing that they weren't spending that unprecedented amount of money and putting the country in unprecedented debt for the sake of the country, but for the sake of their corrupt constituencies. For that breach of faith alone, the Democratic Party deserves to be, not just defeated, but destroyed. Then, the next year, against the will of the country, they used legislative legerdemain to push through a nationalization of health care that would destroy one of our premier industries and turn America into a bureaucratic nightmare from which there could be no escape. For doing this, they deserve to be, not just defeated, but destroyed.

And this is the party whose leader, the president, recently told Hispanics that they should look on all Americans who oppose the legalization of Hispanic illegal aliens as their "enemies" whom they should "punish." The Democratic Party is the party of nonwhite ethnic retribution against whites.

The Democrats are not a legitimate political party. They are a gang of looters and destroyers, whose only aim is to seize wealth produced by others and give it to themselves and their friends. They are a criminal leftist party, and they deserve to be driven out of American politics.

I'm not predicting that what the Democrats deserve to get, they will get. I'm just saying that this is what they deserve to get. But with the anti-Democratic surge that has been building, it is not impossible that over the next 36 hours my fantasy will become reality.

Reason TV: What We Saw at the Stewart-Colbert Rally to Restore Sanity

The liberal comic and airhead Jon Stewart held a rally at the National Mall in D.C. last Saturday, allegedly to "restore sanity" or "restore fear," take your pick. Reason TV was there to film the event and ask questions of people in attendance. It is amazing how vacuous and vapid were the responses. See for yourself in the video below.

The Vote, November 2nd, 2010

This morning, before having even one cup of coffee, I went to the polls and voted.  So did Mrs. Chomper.  We voted the straight Republican ticket as we generally do.  Okay, as we always do.  We are quite predictable that way.  In the primaries we voted for the Tea Party candidates, but in the general election, we vote for whoever the Republican candidate is.  We voted for Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina, though we didn't vote for either in the primaries.

My voting was fast and efficient.  I always mark up the sample ballot in advance, so that I know who to vote for and what to vote for or against in the propositions.

Whatever you do today, vote, vote, vote.

San Francisco Giants Win World Series!

The San Francisco Giants won the 2010 World Series tonight, defeating the Texas Rangers 3 - 1 in game 5.

In recent times, when the Giants made the playoffs or even the World Series, they seemed a fragile affair, an unlikely, star-crossed champion for whom anything could and probably would go wrong, and at the worst possible moment.  In this World Series, however, I did not have that feeling.  The Giants seemed tough as nails, no BS automatons, an unemotional ball-batting and pitching machine, cold-blooded, resolute and unstoppable.

This was the first Giants World Series win in 56 years and the first ever since moving to San Francisco from New York in 1958.  I have waited for this victory since 1962, when the Giants lost to the Yankees in the 9th inning of the 7th game.  I was 17 years old.  Forty-eight years is a long time to wait, but the waiting has ended.  The San Francisco Giants are World Champions.

I love Texas and admire the Rangers.  My parents and older brother were all born in Texas.  My great grandfather, a Confederate veteran of the Civil War, is buried there, as is my decorated uncle who took part in the invasion of Normandy (on D-Day + 1).  Many other relatives are buried there as well. Two of my favorite cousins live there.  I would have been born there had not the Axis started World War II, and I am still mightily pissed off at being denied the honor.  (My father was sent to New Mexico to train air corps flyers on how to use the Norden bombsight, and I was born in Carlsbad.)

For these reasons, I wish the Rangers well.  May they soon win a World Series and more in the future.  However, 2010 belongs to us, the Giants players and fans, and we could not be denied.

Giants History:
The Giants baseball team has played in 18 World Series and won six of them, in 1905, 1921, 1922, 1933, 1954 and 2010.

The Giants played in the World Series 18 times:  1905, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1917, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1933, 1936, 1937, 1951, 1954, 1962, 1989, 2002, and 2010.