From cigarettes to pipe and roll-ups

I went to the Tobacconist the other day, elitist that I am, for the express reason of saving money on my smoking habit.

I spent less than $70.00 to stock myself up with enough tobacco lasting for at least two months. I bought a pipe, two sample bags of pipe tobacco, a pack of 100 pipe cleaners, a three prong gadget for manipulating the tobacco in the pipe bowl, a cigarette rolling machine and cigarette paper. I laughed when the salesman showed me the cigarette rolling machine. It bought back so many memories of the 60’s as I thought cigarette rolling machines had become more sophisticated. “This is all I’ve got” he sheepishly apologized, still a bit stunned by my outburst of laughter.

I was paying over $60.00 for a carton of cigarettes that lasted me less than a week so when I found I no longer needed my useless cell phone unless I bought a new one in order to go to another cell phone company and the money I was saving on that, going to the Tobacconist was “no big deal” as the man says on television.

Each month I am saving a little more to make contributions to political candidates and other causes. I have become hooked on the difference my few dollars make to the receiver and makes me feel. I never knew that before. Even $5.00 is appreciated and makes a difference. I am amazed, truly amazed!

Now the touchy part. I am not downsizing my budget to support “down ticket Democrats”. A recent diary I read has vindicated me in my resolve and I may be hung up in the “crazy old uncle” syndrome but be that it may, that’s the way it is and I may be here for a while. As far as up-coming races, I trust people will know who the good guys are this election cycle, tightened their belts and get him into office. For my immediate contributions, I am waiting to hear of the 50 state people opening up an office in my area so I can send pizza over to them and maybe a pack of cigarettes or two and I hope some future Obama wannabe’s are there. I very much like that super idea and will support it until the election. Pelosi, Reid, Conyers et. al., can go to hell, now where’s my walker at. Hester, HES-TER! (Mumble….flush….mumble….)
Fighting for the dignity of my Ancestors,
God bless Bill Gates, WPFW, C-Span and the spirits of the unborn for the help,
BB
P.S. Couldn’t do this without my SS and Retirement checks. It wasn’t as easy for a Black man to get those as you may think. Most of the poor whites and Neo-cons tried to get me to "loose my cool" but Dunbar High School and Howard University had prepared me. Go forth and "Be a credit to your race" was our marching order. (Smile) At Dunbar, Ms. Thelma Huston, maiden sister of Charles Huston was my senior English teacher. I vividly remember her excusing herself from the class to go to the office to listen to the radio. When she came back, she announced that her brother and his team had successfully won the Brown Vs. Board of Education case. As I remember, the repor in the class was no different then before she excused herself to go to the office; listening and learning. Right afterwards, the Principal had an emergency assembly wherein he made the formal announcement to the entire school body. "Ah, I remember it well!" I am so glad whites and the new arriving Jews did not go to Dunbar. That would have disturbed the whole dynamics of the school as it does today. White students and white teachers? Jewish students and Jewish teachers? I know I would have been a drop-out. That's the kind of guy I am. The curriculum? The attitude of the teachers towards me? No thank you!!

One big step for DKos, one giant step for mankind

The Herculean work performed by diarist selise is without question a historic landmark for DailyKos. The diarist has presented the blogosphere a political diary minus the bias reporting and manipulation of facts so common in Neo-con accounts. That is why we are in the state we are in and is what makes this diary so special.

It is my opinion selise has named names of our contemporary foes in the House and it is now up to us to do what we have to do. I know I will do what I can. I look at it this way; getting the known end product foes out of our congress will be out first step in saving mankind as we know it. I know that may sound aggressive but those people are shaping mankind and the planet we live on and they should not continue in a position of power. They have to know many of us do not want our country run this way.

Dear Dkos members and other progressives,
After careful consideration, I have decided not to run for re-election and will accept your generous offer to pay off the balance of my mortgage with the instructions to never again run for public office. I will contact your lawyer’s office for preparations.

Also those un-patriotic representatives are preventing good people stepping forward to provide service to our country.
What decent person would look forward to working with Pelosi and Reid or Conyers and the likes? That is why they stay away but if they know the public, Dkos members, has provided for them an atmosphere in which to really advance democratic ideas and if the institution is built, they will come. Everybody likes a winner.

There is a big job ahead of us and as it now stands, I don’t want those warped minds anywhere near President Obama. It seems we are going to have our own “concerns” with him regarding some of his political decisions.

Kudos to diarist selise and I hope someone does respond to the offer of writing a definitive diary on the conduct of the Senate regarding FISA et al.,
Fighting for the dignity of my Ancestors,
God bless Bill Gates, WPFW, C-Span and the spirits of the unborn for the help,
BB

Looking back at FISA's year in the House
by selise
Fri Jul 11, 2008 at 01:42:00 PM PDT
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/11/75618/7060

FISA closure vote “Yes” means what again?

not 20, but 27. 27 Dem Senators voted "No" (5+ / 0-)
on FISA. only 19 Dem Senators voted "yes". the extra vote in the 28 is Bernie Saunders. And none of the commenters in this thread questioned the numbers? I'm sorry, I'm not trying to pick on you or the commenters here, this mis-perception is everywhere on this site. and it's a damned shame, no matter how one feels about failure of the Dem leadership to block the FISA vote, or Obama's decision not to filibuster.
by jennifer poole on Thu Jul 10, 2008 at 10:43:11 PM PDT
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/7/11/01545/3460/430/549785

FISA closure vote “Yes” means what again?
Block the FISA vote? Yeah, right. Uh..tell me again what that means? You ‘fuse'n me! Stop talkin' so fast! OK. And a “Nay” vote. Uh…tell me again what a “Nay” vote means to the bill? I listenin’ hard now.

I stopped watching both the Senate and Congress sessions on C-Span due to the fact I understood everything going on up to the vote and would get frustrated and lost. When the people would be voting, that writing came up telling you what the vote was all about, I would almost always get confused. The wording was so backwards. They always uses conflicting words I.e., it was up following a downward trend that never recovered or something like that. I just gave up.

Now with this FISA vote, I generally think I understand what went on but not with 100% certainty. I do not know what a “closure vote” is and the like. Maybe if someone would tell me what went on like, tell me a story like, using the Three Little Pigs or something as a format? I promise I’ll understand for sure then. Promise. Swear. Cross my heart and hope to die. Lil' feet just'a hop'n 'round'n ready to go!
As always,
BB

Son spanks father (Update)

Just when you thought you have seen and heard it all regarding the good Senator Obama, out pops another off-message news cycle.

In my opinion, it was all too obvious Sen. Jackson has had some heated discussions with his father, Rev. Jackson. I would find it very plausible Jr. has used the same language he published yesterday in private talks with his father. That kind of language had been “honed” and was no big surprise for the Sr. Jackson to hear. I believe the jealous Sr. Jackson has teased his son for a long time regarding his feelings about Sen. Obama and his position in his organization. I tip my hat to Jr. due to the fact his father knew if he went public, his son was not going to passively sit by and let him get away with it. Sr. knew exactly what he was doing and it was unfair of him to use his dinner partner to do it with. What did Rev. Jackson do when he learned his mic was still on?

Mr. Jackson Sr., deserved the full vitriol of his son and I don’t think Shakespeare ever thought of that scenario. Talking about family dynamics…….I could be proven wrong to think things have changed in the Jackson family during dinner time. I would love to be there this coming Sunday after church. Is there any institution in this country going to be the same after Sen. Obama? (Smile) Now things are being challenged in Germany even before his plans have been finalized.
-Lord have mercy, Hester, what are we gonna do with that boy?
-He’s YOUR son Willie, leave me out of it. Tried tuh tell you. Everywhere we went, everywhere, things changed. From the baby sitter to Sunday School to over to your sister’s house. Everywhere!! I tried tuh tell you but you wouldn’t listen. You deal with him now. YOUR son, Barack, Hu-SEIN Obama, was a handful!
As always,
BB
(Update) Now that Sen. Obama is going to Germany, the Jewish newspapers are going to take advantage yet again to tell us all about Hitler and the Holocaust. I look forward to the press not telling us that it was Jackie Robinson’s Black soldiers unite that liberated some of them from the death camps. Eventhough Mr. Robinson was not in the unit at the time, it did happen. Let’s see the German Jewish newspapers run’n tell that significant piece of history while fussin’ up a media frenzy as to where Sen. Obama’s speech should take place. Sen. Obama's father was in WW11. Wouldn't the irony be perfect if he had just missed being placed in one of those units? Sort of like the two messengers in Romeo and Juliet.

When you can’t say something nice, ponder.

I ponder thoughts regarding Sen. Obama and his “Yes” vote for the passage of FISA. I ponder his feelings of the “No” vote of Sen. Clinton and the “Absent vote” of Sen. McCain. I ponder his thoughts dealing with those facts when they are presented to him front and center. I ponder his feelings regarding the “mechanical problems” of his plane two days before his FISA vote. I ponder his decision to voice regrets in having his family interviewed to be put on public television. I ponder his thoughts regarding reasons Rep. Nancy Pelosi took impeachment of President Bush off the table and the resulting conducts of Reps. Conyers and Reid. I ponder his feelings and thoughts regarding the failed attempts to get Karl Rove in the witness chair of the requesting committee and finally I ponder his thoughts why prior to their elections, Presidents Clinton and Bush had to witness an execution of a human being.

I ponder as I wander. Will the same forces motivating Sen. Obama to voice “Yes” on the FISA bill remain in place for other bills about which his constituents have strong contrary feelings? Will Sen. Obama seriously consider Sen. Biden as Vice President? A person who has been around the political barn so often both the barn and the trench he has made could be called “The Biden Consistency Way?” Would he know he could not have a better more sincere person to cover his ass and be a true friend? He's "A good guy". In my opinion, Sen. Biden does not know how to be any different. Good American stock! Don’t come any better or affable.

And really finally, I ponder if Sen. Obama has thoughts if some white folks and most Neo-cons like you, everything will be alright and no Black has ever walked in his shoes towards being the President of the USA so we just don’t know and could not imagine in our wildest dreams. I ponder how often Sen. Obama wishes we could know what he knows, especially us Blacks. (We know enough, Barack and still love you.)

(Coda) Does the good Senator think all you have to do is to please white folks and Neo-cons in clever and sometime innovative ways “…and the heavens will open up?” A lot of us Blacks do have jobs and have to make efforts to keep them.
Fighting for the dignity of my Ancestors,
God bless Bill Gates, WPFW, C-Span and the spirits of the unborn for the help,
BB

“Yes We Can” R.I.P.

Buried in un-marked grave somewhere along the Gaza strip.
As always,
BB

‘Twas the night before Gaza….

Gaza is the model for world domination. The stealing of land after Katrina; FISA lost of Fourth Amendment; arrest for carrying sign "McCain=Bush" on public property; Crumbling infrastructure. At the time of this post there are 78 comments. All good. All informative. All recording the collective feelings of this faithful night.
As always,
BB
P.S. Sanctions for Zimbabwe for Human Rights violations. How many sanctions does the U.S. and Israel have? How many for other countries? Who are they?

I will not forget this.
by noweasels
Tue Jul 08, 2008 at 10:35:40 PM PDT
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/7/9/12542/87469/613/548569
Sample comments:
Jonathan Turley really got to me too (20+ / 0-)
He called out the political bullshit of Democrats in allowing incalculable damage to the fourth ammendment for short term political gain.
When enough of us get outraged by this, then some game playing politicians will respond to save their own political careers, but not because they understand, treasure, and protect the Constitution.
We need a new breed of Democrat in congress.
In a democracy, the most important office is the office of citizen.- Louis Brandeis
by crystal eyes on Tue Jul 08, 2008 at 10:47:53 PM PDT

And
"concealing a crime that is in plain view" (16+ / 0-)
Exposing the president in committing at least 30 felonies is not something that democrats want to see. The response would require guts, something which Democrats apparently lack.
In a democracy, the most important office is the office of citizen.- Louis Brandeis
by crystal eyes on Tue Jul 08, 2008 at 10:58:48 PM PDT

Watching Sen. Obama walk the high wire

If is not a good feeling watching the Democratic Congress below looking up watching Sen. Obama walking the high wire. The audience "clap" and “Ahh” with each foot he places in front of the other. They gasp when he sways too much either to the left or the right. His heavy balancing bar firmly in hand. Wiping their brows when he regains balance. They pause with each gentle breeze. Baited breathes. Nerves of steel. Indiscriminately intertwining. Capricious airborne disturbances.

The Democratic Congress momentarily take their eyes off Sen. Obama while reaching into purses and pockets paying meandering food vendors for “must have” then it’s back to looking upwards, “ooo-ing and ahh-ing” at Sen. Obama slowly moving towards the end of his walk. Heavy balancing bar. There are whispers in the crowd below. Whispers Sen. Obama can not hear. Encouraging chants not heard from his altitude. He feels their presence but can not let his thoughts wander.

Are they Telecom lobbyists? Moving within the audience? Slipping money into pockets and purses? "Money for your campaigns," the lobbyists nod. Looking skyward one last time. "Ooo-ing, ahh-ing, clapping" they continue. Sen. Obama has completed his walk. He descends. Places his heavy balancing bar aside. “Tomorrow, the FISA vote,” he muses.

-Girl, did you see that?
-Sure nuff! What we gon' do with that boy?
-I know what I'm gon' do with him, what'a 'bout Congress? Why, I've gotta good mind tuh..
-Fix yo dress, Sadie, Pa’s commin.
-(Together) Mornin’ Pa.
Fighting for the dignity of my Ancestors,
God bless Bill Gates, WPFW, C-Span and the spirits of the unborn for the help,
BB

TidBits #25

The letter I got today was basically a “Thank you note.” You would have thought I sent them five hundred dollars instead of the twenty five I did send them. Since reading Dkos and getting used to sending money to radio stations and political campaigns, I had no idea such a small contribution could be so much appreciated. This was a local radio station.

My biggest surprise was the absence of a return envelope and a donation card asking for another contribution. I am very impressed and thank them for their courtesy of simply acknowledging my donation. Class!
=====================================
Chris Matthew is beginning to irritate me. He appears to have become a trouble maker with Obama/McCain campaign issues. His analyses are off-kilter and, in my opinion, give the impression of being of the tasteless and slimy varieties. I hope it is just a phase one of us is going through.
=====================================
It’s the comparison, stupid! It’s basic communication skills, dummy! If you want to drive a point home, make a comparison. If Sen. Obama is said to be “shifting to center” and if you knew what you are talking about, you would fully explain what the “left” side of the issue is.

For example, “Sen. Obama has shifted to the center of the issues and as you know, and if you did not know, the leftist feel the issues should resolve thus and so and the right feel the issues should be solved thus and so. So you see folks, he has taken a centrist position which is thus and so.”

But then how many of those people themselves know what a leftist, centrist or right view of an issue. More pink slips in mail boxes next payday? They say politics is not for the faint of heart and I would posit the profession of reporting it is not for the wannabe. Sen. Obama had to make two speeches yesterday due to the fact some of the reporters were political reporter wannabes. Inapt, I say. Hard to understand political language.
=====================================
Michelle Willis should know when to use a period. In my opinion, always manages to kick over the bucket of milk. She should write her thoughts and see what I mean. Most of the time I take the advantage of yawning before she starts to give her opinion about something. I take that to be more polite. Andrea Mitchell’s interview today with Sen. Egelburger was a porcelain figurine. Glad Pat Buchanan is a distant memory and {{Rachel Maddow}} is slowly but surely becoming front and center. Love her!
=====================================
Exits Al Wynn, enter Danna Edwards (Dist. 4 MD)
Endorsed by Steny Hoyer, “She’s going to do very well”. (The Gazette June 26) She is backed by some group from California and my barber says she has yet to visit his barber shop to introduce herself to the other guys and the patrons. =====================================
“Prince George’s officials rally against slots” (The Gazette June 26) speaks of one of the rationales for getting slots. “…5.5 of the revenues will go to local governments, about 50 percent to education, 33 percent to license the machines and 7 percent directly to the horse racing industry”.

In Washington, D.C. when they bought in the lottery, most of us were disappointed when we did not get the promise to have some of the revenues going to education. We learned, many years later, money can not go into the education funds of a city that easily. If seems, if memory serves me correctly, that the educational budget, with a lot of money coming from the government, could not be supplemented. We felt screwed. We were screwed. Somebody knew this before we voted for the lottery to be set up in Washington, D.C. and some reporters than as now are lazy dumb ass shit heads and I am still pissed off about my two books!
=================================================================
It is appearing Ms.Clinton has some serious financial problems. More than meets the eye and that was publicly exposed.
Fighting for the dignity of my Ancestors,
God bless Bill Gate, WPFW, C-Span and the spirits of the unborn for the help,
BB

Walter Mosley, “A spoonful of sugar….”

Both books were awful! Awful, you hear! In one of the books I knew I was in trouble when the main character admits to forgetting his wife’s birthday for years. They had a daughter in college. And he’s living with her. That’s simply impossible! Truly fiction of the absurd! He r mother or a friend would have at least sent a card or invited her out to diner. In the second book, the narrator was an angel. Me?? I had to assume the personification of an angel?? I did not even try to finish it. Both books were complete disappointments. I want my money back. (Mumble..)
As always,
BB

Sen. Obama dances The Washington Pretzel (Update)

When I posted Madame Albright dances The Washington Pretzel, I could not think of anyone else who knows how to dance what I envision a graceful political dance.

At that time, I said Sen. Clinton loses points for the dance due to the fact she inserts a little Arkansas hoe-down movements which disqualifies her.

The Washington Pretzel, in my opinion, is the ability to nuances your way through a conversation and especially questions regarding answers on the diplomatic level. Further and in my opinion, Sen. Obama does this well. Not as well as Madame Albright perhaps due to his newness dealing with reporters and the like but there is no doubt in my mind his abilities will be quickly refined and some reporters will hear it and respond appropriately to hearing a Black man speak like that with no social or class barriers on their part.

Sen. Obama will soon learn, as most of us already know, most reporters and political commentators only know and speak one language: Pedestrian and perhaps a little Curse. They quickly become confused with diplomatic language and the higher up the diplomat, the less the uninformed understand what he or she is saying i.e., Allen Greenspan. Mr. Greenspan dances a combination of The Washington Pretzel with his own version of the rules and no one would dared to criticize him. A sight to behold, I grant you, but hey, that is The Honorable Allen Greenspan on the dance floor so best you hush your face! At least he is trying.

Well nuanced statements are beautiful to hear and when they come “Trippingly off the tongue” they create a certain sophistication that captures and satisfy the poetic soul like no other. (Smile)
Fighting for the dignity of my Ancestors,
God bless Bill Gates, WPFW, C-Span and the spirits of the unborn for the help,
BB
(Update) Looking at Stephanopoulos this morning made me understand a particular danger of nuanced speeches. As in the case with Sen. Obama, the opponent can manipulate speeches to appear they are saying the same thing. I saw it coming with Sen. Hillary after the pundits and commentators began twisting and rewording things Sen. Obama was saying insisting Sen. Clinton was saying the same things. “We’ve got no argument there” they would end their manipulation adding, in final authoritative tones, “So you see now, there is really no difference between the two of them”.

The cloning (usurping?) of Sen. Obama’s remarks were successful for the un-informed and average listener. In a while, we will be hearing “Obama and McCain are neck and neck in all the polls and there is no difference between what they say on the major and critical points.” A tacky maneuver in my opinion and totally lacking in critical thoughts and originality but somehow it works. Looking forward to hearing Sen. McCain nuancing sentences while reading a teleprompter.

Good ol’ Australian Lamb

I’ve not had a good lamb shank in years. I would periodically buy one or two through the years but there was a period they just did not taste good to me.

Many years ago, the US and Australia had disharmony regarding whose sheep was Ba-ba better. Australia did not want to buy Ba-ba US due to the fact they were raised on steroids so the US stopped importing Ba-ba lamb from Australia. The ban was later lifted after some years.

I went shopping today and bought two Ba-ba lamb shanks, cooked them both this afternoon and I have left a half shank to enjoy later in the morning. I used a James Beard recipe which I modified as I usually do.
Dredge in salt and pepper flour, brown in four Tsp. Butter, two Tsp. Oil. Added a big pinch of oragano and garlic granules, one cup of water and one cup of the Chardonnay I also bought today. Cover, SIMMER two hours 'til very tender. That was dinner. Delicious.

It has been a long time since I have enjoyed meat. Any meat. It just doesn’t taste the same anymore and I have not enjoyed beef for a long while now. I still long for a good hamburger on a Sesame bun with strong mustard and a thick ring of onion but to actually go get one or fix one myself is just a fleecing fantasy. I hope my Ba-ba Australian lamb memory would stay around for a while. Re-kindled memories of how good beef, pork and chicken used to taste here in America. (Sigh)
As always,
BB

Freaked Out!

I love this kind of shit! When I get excited, can’t help myself, I am excited.

Good mastery of the writing form, a short vignette, no distracting parenthesis, believable metaphor, good word choices, etc. I note the names of the characters are metaphors and I could only get one of them; Luthor. I lost the identity of a character for a few sentences. No problem. I will read again. Still enjoyed it. Hat tip to diarist AgentONeal.

Opening paragraph:
From the gaseous bowels of the deepest swamp arises the grim visage of the Legion of Doom headquarters! Into the night sky it climbs, lit only by the moon, and the eerie, ever-present glow of pure, unadulterated evil.
Meanwhile, at the Hall of Doom...
by AgentONeal
Sat Jul 05, 2008 at 09:11:49 PM PDT
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/6/01149/83900/976/547181Opening
As always,
BB
P.S. I’m reading Mosley’s latest right now and what a contrast in reading materials this evening. (AM?). Looking forward to more of AgentONeal and hoping my neighbors do not get too concerned about me making so much noise. (Smile)